Chapter 21: No Escape from the Storm

As Elsa realized soon after calming down, refusing to meet with her Council that day solved none of her problems. It only added to them.

Or perhaps she could shift some of the blame for once. After all, she had been unable to meet with her Council because of the state she was in – a state that had been, if not entirely caused, then certain exacerbated by Arud. And given what Arud had said and done …

Something would have to be done about Arud.

So as soon as she could escape the watchful eyes of Anna and Nick, she penned a pair of notes, one to Chancellor Tennfjord and one to Madam Voll, asking them to meet with her privately in the morning before the larger Council meeting. When she was in her study, she noticed she had gotten a note from Arud. Even though she opened it with a sinking feeling, what she found was not what she had feared: he was simply asking to be excused from tomorrow's meeting, claiming illness.

So perhaps he isn't the biggest fool in the kingdom, Elsa thought with a faint smile, before putting the note away and leaving her study to find Anna and Nick again.

Still, by seven-thirty the next morning, Elsa was back in her study, occupying her time by looking through a certain file that her father had started and that Elsa had added to over the short years of her reign. At five minutes past eight precisely, a knock came from her study door. "Chancellor Tennfjord and Madam Voll," announced Kai, ushering them in.

Elsa rose, greeted them, and gestured to their seats. There was a tea service sitting on the desk, and she offered both of them a cup of tea. Then she opened her mouth, prepared to start the little speech she had planned out in her head.

She never got that far. Madam Voll's concerned expression stopped her. "How are you, my dear?"

Elsa shut her mouth.

Chancellor Tennfjord, who had been midway through pouring her tea, stopped. She slowly set the teapot back on the silver tray. She glanced sidelong at Madam Voll, then back at Elsa. She took a deep breath.

"It's a quite legitimate question, Your Majesty."

Elsa gulped. "I'm not in—as much danger of losing control as I was yesterday." She had eaten three full meals since then; she had had a full night's sleep, and though the thought of Hans in the city still made her heart start to pound, she could take some comfort in the fact that Captain Vilmarsen was doing everything he could. She had the reports to prove it.

And Kristoff would be home soon. The blizzard was starting to die down, and Elsa had sent a pair of guards to the ice-harvesting camp to ensure that he got back safely. Captain Olhouser had been clearly not happy about losing two of his men, but when Elsa had broached the idea to Captain Vilmarsen before she took her leave of him the day before, he had nodded once with his lips pressed in a thin line. Elsa assumed that meant her idea was a good one.

So, all in all, Elsa was much better than she was yesterday. But for some reason, saying so made Madam Voll and Chancellor Tennfjord exchange worried glances.

"Your Majesty," Chancellor Tennfjord finally said, "that's not what we're worried about."

"You might think you lost control, my dear," Madam Voll added, "but when you think about it, you actually kept a pretty strong handle on things, given the state you were in. Even when you were shooting the ice at the wall—well, you shot it at the wall. Not at that little toad—"

"Lovise," Chancellor Tennfjord interrupted.

"What? Toad is the least bad thing I might have said about him!"

Whatever Elsa was expecting, it wasn't this. She looked from Madam Voll to the Chancellor and back again, her face blank because she had no idea what kind of expression would be appropriate.

Finally, though, Elsa found a voice. "The … little toad would be Councilor Arud?"

"He's still a Councilor?" asked Madam Voll.

Elsa winced. But this was what she had wanted to talk to them about. "I …" She gestured to the file that still lay open on her desk. She'd placed some notes her father hand-wrote on the top. Even though they were dry and sparse, when she read them she imagined her father's voice reading them out loud, and that was a comfort, in a way. "I was looking through Councilor Arud's file, and … well …"

She glanced out the window, because at least the snow couldn't look disappointed when it looked back at her. "I was trying to determine what to do …" she admitted in a small voice.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Madam Voll and Chancellor Tennfjord exchange glances. "Your Majesty … I think, given his conduct yesterday …" Chancellor Tennfjord began.

"I know I have the right to fire him," Elsa replied. That lesson had been drilled into her head since she was a child. She was not permitted to pick her Council; the assembly of nobles chose the ones with offices, like Chancellor Tennfjord and Madam Voll, while the representatives of the provinces were chosen by the provinces. But she could dismiss any member for any reason. There were plenty of kings who had started off their reign by firing every member of their father's Council.

"I could – and perhaps, given his … outburst, I would be encouraging gross insubordination if I did not fire him. But … ladies, I am worried. Arud is … popular in town."

"If the people find out how he tried to browbeat their Queen, I predict he would be a great deal less popular," Madam Voll harrumphed.

"He's popular with the merchants in town," Elsa went on. "With the men and women of business. With ship owners and bankers."

It was the last one that made Chancellor Tennfjord's eyes widen, and Madam Voll stifled a gasp. They both had been briefed on what Olaf had been able to tell.

"So you're afraid that firing him …"

"Would make things worse," Elsa nodded. She hesitated. "Perhaps—perhaps putting short-term unpopularity before long-term stability is not the best of ideas …"

"No, no," Madam Voll said before Chancellor Tennfjord could say anything. "With—with a certain prisoner on the loose, and the pamphlets, and the stable fire—the last thing you need is for anyone else to decide that they have more imaginary grievances against you."

Elsa glanced at her hands. She folded them together and laid them neatly on her lap. "Are they really as imaginary as all that?"

"Yes," said Chancellor Tennfjord in a tone that brooked no argument.

Elsa's eyes widened. But before she could say anything, Chancellor Tennfjord went on.

"However, all the same, the idea of him continuing to serve in the Council at this time is simply unsupportable. So perhaps …" Chancellor Tennfjord leaned back, tapping her chin. "Ah. A leave of absence."

"Oh, yes!" replied Madam Voll. "That'll do it. Put him on an administrative leave of absence! I don't think the story's gotten around yet, so everyone will probably think he got caught stealing from the government."

Chancellor Tennfjord turned a baleful glance at Madam Voll. "What? That's what they'll think!"

"I understand that, Lovise, but you're talking about it as if it were a bonus."

Madam Voll's only reply was to grin.

The Chancellor rolled her eyes. "In any case. Your Majesty, would you like me to draw up a notice?"

"Chancellor, I can handle that—"

"I'd like to," replied Chancellor Tennfjord. "Truly, Your Majesty. The last thing you should be worrying about is the proper wording for this. I shall have one of my clerks draw up the notice for Arud and another brief statement for the press. You need only to sign the former, and then you can stop thinking about Arud until he becomes the most pressing matter on your plate."

"May that day be soon in coming," Madam Voll sighed.

Elsa couldn't find words. She licked her lips and tried to swallow a few times. "Thank—thank you. You didn't—thank you."

Chancellor Tennfjord only smiled. "You are most welcome … my dear."

Elsa felt much more in command of herself when she finally met with her Council. The fact that she was able to start the meeting without anyone shouting at her helped immeasurably. "Good morning, everyone," as the last Councilor took his seat. "I apologize for the delay in this meeting."

The Bishop's, Jarl Casper's, and Madam Voll's mouths all opened to protest, and those were just the ones Elsa saw immediately. She held up her hand. "As we could all see yesterday, I was not well. I should have realized that I was not in a state for the meeting beforehand and canceled, rather than wasting all of your time. However, that was yesterday, and …" She took a deep breath. "I think it would be best if we got started, don't you?"

There was a series of nods from around the table. Councilor Omdahl spoke first. "Your Majesty …"

Elsa blinked; this had to be the first time she had seen the older woman looking anything less than completely confident and sure of herself. "Yes?"

"What steps have been taken to keep you and the Princess safe?"

"Ah." Elsa swallowed. "As I'm sure you all noted, the gates have been shut." Her Councilors nodded; doubtless they all remembered what a hassle security at the castle had been before the Great Thaw. Now it was swiftly progressing into a nightmare. After all, the castle had triple the number of people in it than it had back then.

"This is a temporary measure," Elsa went on. "As soon as Master Westergaard is back in prison where he belongs, the gates will be opened again."

Somewhat to her surprise, that caused worried glances to be exchanged among her Councilors. It was Councilor Hagebak, the kindly representative of Cajhus, who spoke first. "Your Majesty, are you sure that's wise?" He ran a hand through his brown hair. "There's still the matter of the … dissenters …"

Elsa hesitated. "I know," she finally admitted. "But I think …" She tapped her fingers on the table. "My people need to know that I am here for them. That I am here for them," she repeated. "Not some … heroic prince riding into town out of a fairy tale, here to save the day from the wicked witch." Elsa swallowed, hoping to remove some of the bile that threatened to clog her throat. "The dissenters have been trying since January to convince the people that I am not here for them, that I do not have their best interests at heart. I cannot let them win that battle."

"Do we think it's connected?" asked Councilor Omdahl. "Westergaard and the dissenters?"

Elsa closed her mouth and looked around the table.

Jarl Casper answered. "Well … if anything is likely to be connected … I'd say that is," he answered with a shrug. "Somebody had to convince Matsen to help the man escape."

"And Captain Vilmarsen doesn't think that Ha—that Master Westergaard planned his escape himself," Elsa added.

The silence when she said that was so complete that one could have heard Madam Voll drop a stich, let alone a whole pin.

"It …" Elsa heard her voice growing small and unsure again. "It should have all been in your report …"

Now it was time for several of her Councilors to look around like guilty children. Oh gods. They didn't read the report.

She decided she would worry about that later. "Jarl Casper, have Captain Vilmarsen and his men found out anything more about Matsen?"

"Ye-es," he said slowly. "I got his latest report as I came here. They found out … Matsen used to be a dockworker."

Elsa felt herself start to blink. Roahl – a ship's captain. "A dockworker," she repeated. "Might he have lost his job because of the embargo with Weselton?"

"No, he actually hasn't been on the docks since the fall before last, the fall before Your Majesty's coronation, that is," replied Jarl Casper. "He'd worked at the prison for several winters running. Last spring he asked to stay on, and since an older man had just retired, Master Gulbrandsen hired him. But … according to the other guards, he still went to the dockworkers' and sailors' pubs about half the time."

"So … he kept in touch with all of his old friends," Elsa said slowly, "and probably heard their grievances …"

Jarl Casper nodded.

"I … see," Elsa murmured.

A sudden banging on the table interrupted her reverie. "Every sailor, every dockworker must be questioned!" gasped Councilor Vang. The old man's hands were shaking, and his face was almost as white as his hair. "This—this is becoming perilously close to insurrection! And we cannot risk that! Not after all that has happened elsewhere on the Continent!" He looked around a little wildly. "Are we not in agreement?"

"Captain Vilmarsen has already assured me—" Elsa began.

"I am not talking about police work, Your Majesty! Captain Vilmarsen and his men are quite adept at catching scoundrels, thieves, and murderers, but when the taste of rebellion is in the air, you need more than what he and his men can provide! It is essential that every sailor and dockworker is rounded up and questioned until one of them breaks—"

"NO!"

The room grew cold, and every eye in the room turned to Elsa.

"Absolutely not," she whispered. She could see her Councilors' breath hanging in the air and found it difficult to worry about it. "No. I will not become a monster, Councilor, not even to fight a monster."

"A monster? Your Majesty, what on earth—"

"Is it not obvious? You are suggesting that I round up scores of men, plenty of whom are wholly innocent! And question them until they break? Councilor, I think we both know what that means, and I will—"

She banged on the table. Ice spread out under her clenched fist.

"Not—"

Bang!

"Have it!"

BANG!

The table had iced over completely.

"That," Elsa whispered, taking a deep breath "that is not how you stop an insurrection, Councilor. That is how you start one."

She glared at the Councilor, daring him to gainsay her. Councilor Vang stared back.

They stayed fix in that battle of wills until they both heard something that made them stop. It was …

… Clapping?

Elsa turned to see Chancellor Tennfjord lightly clapping her hands.

"Brava, Your Majesty. I do agree that the course of action Councilor Vang prescribed would be far more likely to cause problems than to solve them," said Chancellor Tennfjord. "However, I must ask you to let the room warm up a bit. I'm afraid my notes have frozen over."

"Oh – oh, I'm so sorry," Elsa replied. She took a deep breath, concentrated on snowball fights with Anna, and within a few moments the Council chamber was ice-free and warm again.

"Thank you, my—Your Majesty. Now, while Councilor Vang's idea is out of the question, I think there are some things we all could do to lessen this crisis. We can trust Captain Vilmarsen to do his job insofar as the criminals are concerned, but regarding the large proportion of our citizens who are not criminals …"

Chancellor Tennfjord went on, and Elsa listened, and slowly but surely, the Council began to get some work done.

"I mean – with all due respect, Elsa, that Councilor Arud isn't half as popular in town as he thinks he is."

Elsa blinked as she stared at Marte. It had been three days since she had put Arud on a leave of absence and she and her Council had decided what to do next. She hadn't seen or heard from Arud since. And in those three days … well, other than Kristoff coming home and the blizzard ending, nothing much had happened. Soothing statements had been sent to the press; Captain Vilmarsen was investigating; the Council was meeting; negotiations with Weselton went on.

Elsa was also getting a stack of letters every day, filled with questions from concerned citizens. It might have been more efficient to hold a large town-hall style meeting, like Petition Day, but in a rare moment of unity, both Captain Vilmarsen and Captain Olhouser had deemed that plan entirely too risky. So Elsa got the letters, she and Chancellor Tennfjord picked some that were representative of the whole, and both the letters and the replies Elsa wrote to them were printed in the newspaper. It was clunky, but Master Hummel was all-too-willing to cooperate, and it seemed to be getting the job done.

Somehow Elsa still made time each day for Anna and Olaf, and she made sure to see Nick, too. She also found the time to sit with Marte in the infirmary.

Soren's wounds were healing. He had managed to pull through all of this with no sign of infection. Doctor Spillum was slowly starting to wean him off the laudanum. He spent more time of each day awake, and Doctor Spillum had hope that he might make a full recovery. The scars would always be there, but he could live a more-or-less normal life.

But when Elsa sat with Marte, they couldn't always talk about Soren. And she knew Marte needed a distraction. However, it hadn't been Elsa who had brought Arud up.

It had been Marte.

She had the paper neatly folded on a table beside her. Elsa remembered that one of the letters that had made it into the paper had been about Arud's leave of absence. "Those folks," she said, sniffing toward the paper, "might try to pretend that Arud represents us all, but everyone knows he only cares about the people with money. He only got the job because he got all the rich folk to give money to the governor, to help him run for office."

"Indeed," Elsa murmured. Representatives like Arud were not elected by the people directly – they were appointed by the governor the province, then confirmed by the province's legislature. She knew her father had once explored the idea of having the Councilors directly elected by the people, but he had dismissed it as impractical.

Still, this was … interesting. Perhaps Arud wasn't as popular in Rosen as she had feared.

But he is popular with the merchants, and the bankers, and the ship-captains, Elsa reminded herself. He might be popular with the very people who will set your stables on fire …

Her gaze went to Soren, sleeping the sleep of the heavily drugged. People who don't care than an innocent person might be in those stables.

"And—I hope you don't mind me saying this, Your Majesty—but why don't you just fire him after the nasty things he said? Most of us would be cheering to see him gone!"

Elsa rubbed her temple. She had no idea how much Marte knew about what Arud had said. While she had stated only that the reason for Arud's leave of absence was that there were allegations against him that needed investigating, Master Hummel had managed to find a few little birds in the castle that were willing to sing. Elsa supposed she was lucky that all that was printed was that the "alleged reason" for Arud's sudden leave of absence had been "insulting remarks to the Queen."

Still, Marte might know no more than that … or she could know everything.

"It's … complicated," Elsa finally said.

"Oh?" asked Marte.

"I'm … trying to avoid making things worse," Elsa replied. "With … everything." She sighed, wishing she could just tell Marte everything, knowing that she shouldn't. "We have … reason to believe that the people who have been making so much trouble," she glanced toward Soren, "may not take it well if I were to simply fire Councilor Arud."

Marte followed Elsa's gaze. "Oh," she murmured.

"However, when things calm down …" Elsa deliberately let the sentence dangle.

"That's – that's good," Marte whispered. She looked at her father again and shuddered.

Elsa winced. "I'm sorry, Marte, I shouldn't have brought it up. I—"

"No, no, Elsa, it's not your fault that there are … nasty people in the world who do nasty things. Even the best Queen there's ever been can't do anything about that."

"And Asgard knows that isn't me," Elsa chuckled.

Marte turned to her with an expression that began as confused and ended as concerned. "You'll take care of yourself, won't you?"

"I should be saying that to you," Elsa replied.

"I'm not the one with a … particularly nasty person after me," Marte replied.

Elsa shuddered. But Marte didn't apologize for bringing it up.

Finally she was able to answer. "Everyone's doing everything they can. Captain Vilmarsen is this close to asking permission to tear through every house in town," replied Elsa. "He's already searched every house close to the prison, in case Hans was hiding there and terrorizing some poor family. But there's nothing. No trace."

"He's bound to make a mistake sooner or later. He did last time!" Marte said loyally.

Elsa shook her head. Failing to take an animate snowman who could pick locks with his nose into account was not "making a mistake." It was being blindsided by events that no one with an ounce of sanity could have predicted.

But last time, Hans had the advantage of surprise on his side. Last time, he hadn't had a whole police force with their swords sharp and their minds out for blood on his trail. Last time, he'd had everyone fooled until the very last minute. Until he showed his hand to Anna.

Elsa looked up and blinked.

Until he showed his hand to Anna …

He could have stayed there with Anna until she had frozen to death. He could have pretended to weep with her and claim he had no idea why the kiss didn't work. Then … all he would have to do is show Anna's frozen body to the people, and the mob would take care of the rest. He could have even pretended to try to stop them if he truly wanted to look like a benevolent, caring ruler.

"He … he did make a mistake, didn't he?" Elsa asked.

"That he did! And he will again, just you wait."

Yes, Elsa thought. Even Hans didn't know everything. Even Hans could miscalculate. Even Hans was bound to mess up, sooner or later, and Captain Vilmarsen and his men would be ready to pounce when he did.

Elsa took a deep breath, grinned and turned to Marte. She was about to thank her, but the chiming of the bells forestalled her.

She sighed. "I need to go get changed for dinner," she admitted.

"That you do," Marte replied.

When Elsa stood, so did Marte. After a moment of awkwardly staring at each other, Marte hesitantly lifted her arms and Elsa just as hesitantly stepped forward. The hug that ensued was hardly one for the record books, but it was a comfort all the same.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Elsa said. "Give your father my best wishes when he wakes up."

Marte chuckled. "He's not going to believe that you were here to see him and me all this time until he sees it for himself." She grinned. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Maybe tomorrow," Elsa agreed, and she left Soren's room.

When Elsa stepped out into the hall, her eyes went wide at the overwhelming smell of boot polish. Then her nose wrinkled. She glanced sidelong at the guard beside her. Yes … that was where the smell was coming from. The man was tall, dark-haired, and too nervous to look at her directly. Oddly though, his boots weren't all that shiny. Perhaps too much polish had the opposite of the intended effect?

Shaking her head, Elsa headed down the corridor, hearing the guard fall into step behind her. Boot polish, button polish – and some of those colognes! – she honestly didn't know which was the worst. Perhaps it was important that her guards look smart, but at some point when the sky wasn't falling, she needed to have a talk with Captain Olhouser about how important it was that the guards did not make the Queen want to gag when she stepped too close to them.

Despite what she had said to Marte, she did not head directly to her room. Nick had agreed to dine with her, Kristoff, and Anna that night, and Elsa was going to try an ice dress. She already had the picture clear in her mind, so it wouldn't take much time to change. Besides, she needed to be alone.

Soon she was standing before the small door that led to the guards' training courtyard. "Wait here," she told the guard standing behind her. He ducked his head and nodded. "I'll only be a few minutes."

Then without a further word, Elsa slipped into the courtyard.

She took a deep breath, feeling the cold seep into her bones. Should she make something? The ice hadn't been as bothersome of late, but it couldn't—

The door behind her opened. "Sir, I said you could—"

"I know what you said, Elsa."

That voice—

Before she could scream, a rough hand was slapped over her mouth and a knife was at her throat. But if her mouth couldn't scream, her mind could.

HANS!

Thank you to reviewers Jacob Flores, bandgeek63 (hope the ice bucket challenge went well!), RJCA27, CrunchDeNumbers, homers8736, and Batman1809! And thank YOU, for reading the story up to this point!

And here is where I have to share some not-so-great news. We have reached The Day of Reckoning, when what I've posted has caught up to what I've written. With any luck I can get Chapter 22 done in time to post it up on Monday, but I can't make any guarantees. And of course, beyond that …

Anyway, thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing, and bear with me as we get through the last third or so of Winter of Discontent!