Chapter 29 – A Series of Misjudgments

Anna clutched Kristoff's hand to avoid being separated from him in the crush of humanity in the marketplace. Arendelle's villagers were sorting through abandoned belongings and comparing stories with neighbors. The occasional argument broke out because there were too many people in too small a space. As the day began to wane into early twilight, people were getting tired and tempers were fraying.

Kristoff wound them through the maze of people and got them to the Village Green, where the Castle Guardsmen still had a headquarters. It was busier today than yesterday, mostly because Milgard was now bandaging Hamarian soldiers, and there were lots of them who needed attention. Anna looked around, eyes wide, at all the men dressed as ice harvesters in their blood-soaked clothes and splinted limbs. Some of them looked back at her with dull and empty eyes and she looked away, ashamed to see their defeat and misery. They got what they deserved, and she didn't feel sorry for them as a group, but when she saw them as individuals it was hard to feel contempt for their suffering. The giddiness and euphoria she'd felt in the castle evaporated as she took in what was around her. She held more tightly to Kristoff's hand, sobered by the fear that if things had gone differently, he might have been one of these men who needed bandages and splints, or worse.

Gustav spotted them across the Village Green and came striding over, wearing his most formal Council dress, including the topcoat with his Council ribbons prominently displayed. "Your Highness, and Kristoff," he greeted them.

"Hello, sir," Kristoff replied.

Gustav looked back the way he had come, then at Anna. "Your Highness, would you care to meet Lieutenant Markell? He's the commanding officer for the Hamarian soldiers."

"Why would you do that? She doesn't need to see him," Kristoff said, putting an arm around Anna's shoulders.

Gustav betrayed his surprise at the change between Kristoff and Anna by nothing more than slightly raised eyebrows. "Princess Anna is learning about foreign relations. While it would be nice to confine her lessons to the library, what's happened these past few days will be in Arendelle's history books," Gustav said to Kristoff, then turned to Anna. "Your Highness, if you would prefer not to meet him, I won't insist. Lieutenant Markell has surrendered to Captain Torvin, but the surrender needs to be ratified by royal authority. If you would rather not see him, I can ask Queen Elsa."

"They wanted to kill Elsa. They're not getting anywhere near her," Anna said hotly. "I'll do it, as long as Kristoff stays with me."

"Of course he can accompany you," Gustav assured her. He looked from one to the other and smiled slightly at them.

"Maybe someday I'll be as brave as you are," Kristoff said quietly, for her ears only, as they followed Gustav across the Green.

She smiled at him.

Gustav slowed his steps and filled them in as they walked. "Lieutenant Markell was injured when one of the snow beasts threw him into a wall, but he can still walk. His men have turned in their weapons and have been fully cooperative. His concerns are care for their wounded, and returning to Hamar."

"How about we just chase them back up the mountain and see how many make it?" Kristoff suggested.

"While I see the appeal of that, I'd hate to turn a bunch of mercenaries loose on the people who live in the hamlets and hollows on the mountainside," Gustav said. "Getting them out of our country as quickly as possible is as much to our advantage as theirs."

"Oh, the ice harvesters are on the lookout for them. Seen an ice saw? They won't tangle with that," Kristoff said. "They didn't have to come here. No one forced them into it, and they weren't fighting for any cause other than money. Let's turn the ice harvesters loose on them and see what happens."

Anna looked over uncertainly at the hard anger in Kristoff's tone.

"Yes, that's one of our options," Gustav said. "The wholesale slaughter of a defeated enemy is the right of the victor. They wanted to murder our unarmed population, so it would certainly be justified. But you may want to consider whether you want to lower yourself to act like they've acted, or if you can be true to the best that's in you instead of the worst."

Kristoff did not look convinced.

As they approached a group of Hamarian soldiers who were seated on the grass under the watchful eyes of the Castle Guard, one of the men struggled to his feet. He was a plain man with thickset shoulders. His arm was bandaged and splinted, immobilized against his side, clearly still causing him pain. Dried blood streaked his gray trousers and splattered on the upturned toes of his ice harvester boots.

Two Castle Guards stepped up around Anna, Kristoff and Gustav, swords drawn, giving a warning glare to their defeated enemy as their princess approached.

"Lieutenant Markell, I present to you Her Royal Highness, Princess Anna of Arendelle," Gustav said. "Princess Anna will hear your surrender."

Markell made a poor attempt at a bow, cut short by a gasp of pain. He gathered himself up and took shallow breaths, then said, "Your Highness, on behalf of my men, I offer a full and unconditional surrender and accept our defeat at your hands. I ask only that you spare the lives of my men, and assist the wounded. We will depart Arendelle as soon as possible. There is another column of men under Lieutenant Finley's command that were some distance behind us. We have not heard from them in two days. Should it be necessary, I offer my assistance to assure Lieutenant Finley that the battle is over."

"He might have been smart enough to go home already after the avalanche and the fire," Kristoff told him. He still had hold of Anna's shoulders, ready to pull her out of the way at a second's notice.

"We did not expect the attacks in the mountains," Markell admitted. "It was masterfully done, and completely unexpected."

Kristoff's glare didn't falter.

Anna drew up to her most royal stance and said, "I accept your surrender. We will tend to the wounded. Your men who can walk will leave at dawn tomorrow. The others will follow as soon as possible."

Lieutenant Markell nodded again.

Gustav leaned in close to Anna and whispered, "Money."

"Of course your men will pay for what they receive," Anna said sternly. "Your actions have cost Arendelle dearly. Obviously, your government knew what you were doing, even if they pretended to stay neutral. You will deliver a demand that your government representatives meet with our delegation about reparations." She looked at Gustav out of the corner of her eye and he nodded his approval.

"Yes, your Highness," Markell said, still breathing shortly against the pain in his ribs. "I beg the privilege of asking a question."

"Ask," Anna replied.

"Are the snow monsters gone for good? What are those creatures? I'd heard about your queen, but I didn't believe the stories." Markell's formality broke enough to let some of his shock and fear come through.

Anna's instinct to keep people from thinking Elsa was strange warred with her instinct to protect Arendelle by any means and she hesitated.

"Now you know they're not just stories, don't you?" Kristoff stepped in. "If avalanches, floods and fires aren't enough, we get out the serious stuff. You stay away from our country, got it?"

Markell gave Kristoff an uncertain look. "I didn't catch your name."

"This is Kristoff of the Castle Guard," Gustav introduced him. "He's the force behind the difficulties you experienced in the mountains. I advise you not to upset him further."

"Or the rocks under your feet get into the fight too," Kristoff warned.

"That happened during the flood," Markell said, swallowing hard. "I thought it was just your queen with the strange powers. I didn't know there was another one, even more dangerous."

"You just get out of Arendelle, and you don't have to find out what else I can do," Kristoff threatened him.

"Yes, sir," Markell said, still pale.

"Is there anything else? Or can I get the princess out of here?" Kristoff asked Gustav.

"That was sufficient," Gustav answered.

Kristoff nodded curtly at Markell and led Anna away from him. Gustav came with them.

"You know, Kristoff," Gustav said with a sigh, "Queen Elsa added a whole new dimension to the complexity of foreign relations with her unique abilities, and now you've complicated matters further."

"That's all right, sir, you've got Anna to figure it out for you," Kristoff assured him.

"Do things like this really get into the history books, sir?" Anna asked.

"Not the official ones, your Highness," Gustav said with a wry smile. "But where do you think fairy tales come from?"

~###~

Kristoff held Anna's hand as they walked with Gustav across the Village Green towards the clock tower, where they could see Captain Torvin and Councilor Vilrun in conversation. The sun was hidden behind the high clouds, and the shadowless light was dimming further as it began to sink behind the mountains. Kristoff was wishing he'd found a uniform coat to wear, or his ice harvester sweater, against the chill in the air. As they walked, people turned to watch him as word continued to spread about what he'd done to win the battle. All the attention was starting to make him nervous. Perhaps they were staring at Anna instead.

As Captain Torvin and Councilor Vilrun turned at their approach, Gustav quietly reminded Kristoff to salute.

Kristoff saluted. Torvin and Vilrun returned the salute, then greeted Gustav and Anna.

"Are the surrender formalities taken care of?" Vilrun asked.

"Yes, Princess Anna accepted Lieutenant Markell's surrender," Gustav said. "She stated that anyone who can walk leaves at dawn tomorrow. We'll tend to the wounded, and get them back to Hamar as quickly as possible. Lieutenant Markell will deliver a request for a meeting with Hamar's government representatives about reparations."

"Very good," Torvin said with a nod.

Anna gave Gustav an uncertain look and he whispered to her, "Look confident. You're doing fine."

"Yes, of course we want them gone as soon as possible," Anna added, switching to confidence.

"Gustav, we'd like to send Kristoff back up the mountain for a few days before you start giving him assignments related to Hamar, if that can be arranged," Vilrun said.

"I can spare him for a few days," Gustav said. "We ought to give Hamar a few days to learn who they're dealing with." He smiled, and then began to laugh. "Kristoff managed to leave the misimpression that he has magical powers over the mountain. Hamar may be very willing to cooperate with him, simply to avoid antagonizing him."

"It just kind of happened," Kristoff said with an apologetic smile.

"Well, it's not too far off the truth! Rocks with big ears, indeed!" Vilrun said. "Speaking of which, do you need to check in with them to find out where Trixie and Vixie have gone?"

"Yeah, I can do that. I'm sure they went home," Kristoff said.

Vilrun gave Kristoff a speculative look. "Is there any chance I could accompany you? I admit I'm very curious about these creatures."

"Ah, let me think about that," Kristoff said. The idea of Vilrun sitting down with Bulda, Cliff and Grand Pabbie for a long talk about him freaked him out a bit.

"Kristoff, could we ask some of your ice harvester friends to assist us in getting the Hamarians back over the mountain? The Castle Guards will provide security, but if we had guides who are as knowledgeable as you are about the terrain and the weather, it would be helpful. We'll pay them, of course," Captain Torvin said.

"I can ask," Kristoff said. "I'll take off with Sven and Olaf in the morning to go find some of them, and meet you at Tanner's Wash. I mean, if that's what my orders are. What are my orders?"

"Princess Anna, do you have any orders you'd like to suggest?" Captain Torvin asked her with a wink.

"Oh, that's so fun! Let's see. Kristoff, I order you to do whatever you want to do to get rid of the Hamarians and get back home as soon as you can," Anna said.

"Works for me," Kristoff said with a shrug.

"Except you can't kiss me good-bye before you leave," Anna went on. "You're leaving at dawn, and if you come wake me up at dawn, I'm more likely to grump at you than kiss you. Too bad for you."

"Oh, we can just take care of that right now, then," Kristoff said.

He swept her up into a tight embrace and enthusiastically kissed her. Anna returned the kiss as whistles, catcalls and applause broke out around them.

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Anna said breathlessly when he released her.

Kristoff waved at their audience.

"You're dismissed, Kristoff. Get ready for a dawn departure. We'll plan on meeting you at Tanner's Wash," Vilrun told him, laughing.

"Yes, sir," Kristoff said with a salute. He walked off hand in hand with Anna.

Vilrun chuckled and said to Gustav, "I seem to recall you saying once that Kristoff was completely inappropriate as a suitor for Princess Anna."

"You're going to throw that back in my face, are you?" Gustav replied as he broke into a smile. "I'll have to borrow something I heard you say once. I'm happy to admit I was wrong about Kristoff."

~###~

Elsa woke up from her nap as the daylight dimmed to dusk outside her window. As she sat up, her head throbbed sharply once, then subsided to a dull ache. Her hand went to the back of her head and smoothed down the hair that still spilled loosely over her shoulders. She shook the folds out of her deep purple skirt and slipped her feet back into her shoes. Her black gloves were on the bedside table. She considered, and then put them back on. She was going downstairs, and the villagers might be more comfortable with her if she was wearing gloves. While she was beginning to think she could trust herself barehanded, no one else was used to the idea yet.

She decided to take the servant stairs that opened up in the corridor near the kitchen, where she wouldn't have to make a grand entrance. Perhaps no one would notice she was finally downstairs, and she could stay in the shadows and observe people without being noticed. Perhaps she could find Bern again.

A smile crept unawares across her lips at the same time an unfamiliar feeling tugged at her heart. She had never expected to feel understood by anyone, and yet that's what she had encountered in her conversations with Bern today. After a childhood of being cut off from the rest of humanity both physically and emotionally, Elsa had spent the past four months searching for connections. Today she had found a significant connection. Likely, that was all it was, she told herself. It wasn't anything like what Anna felt for Kristoff, she was sure of that.

A few months ago, Kristoff had told her about his own childhood, and the problems he still struggled with because of the isolation of his early years. He'd told her that you can't let people help you with certain problems. That had sounded true when he'd said it, and yet it hadn't worked out for her in reality. The more she let Anna help her and love her, the more progress she made in dealing with her strange powers.

Today, Bern had claimed that no one makes progress on their problems when they work alone, and that was closer to what she'd experienced. True, they were still her problems. Anna couldn't solve them for her, but Anna's love and acceptance had been invaluable in helping her find her path. Bern hadn't solved her problems either, but his thoughts and candor had also helped her along the path. Perhaps there was a happy medium between expecting someone else to solve your problems for you, and total isolation. The interdependence she was discovering now had brought her joy as well as progress.

Her thoughts turned back to Kristoff, and she wondered if he would truly let Anna help him, or if he simply wanted to kiss the princess now that he'd rescued her again. Anna was going to have a difficult time if Kristoff still insisted on emotional isolation even as he wanted physical closeness.

She was the opposite of Kristoff. She wanted emotional closeness, but still clung to the idea of physical isolation. Her gloves were a comfortable barrier, along with her refusal to dance, and the formality she maintained with everyone except Anna and Kristoff. She'd drawn Bern into that inner circle today as well. He would have to respect her limits, the same way Kristoff did. She found herself hoping that Bern had a love interest hidden away somewhere. He was so kind, handsome, funny and intelligent; he must have a dozen ladies hoping for his attention. Part of the reason she could enjoy Kristoff's friendship so much was because Anna was always there. Even when Kristoff had carried her home last night, Anna had been there. Friendship was safe; romance was not.

Bern had carried her all the way back from the North Mountain, unconscious and injured, protecting her from the people who feared her and wanted to kill her. He'd held her bare hands when she hadn't been able to tell him no.

The step froze beneath her foot. She stopped on the staircase and backed up. The next step froze too. Her hand on the banister was still safely in its black glove. Her train of thought pointed out that the gloves weren't just to keep her power in safe bounds; her gloves were a barrier that kept her from risking contact with anyone else. Unbidden, her memory replayed for her the look on Bern's face when he'd first seen her that morning with her hair loose, and the way they'd both blushed when he'd admitted to touching her bare hands.

She kept backing up the stairs, and the stairs kept freezing. She didn't have feelings for Bern, but she began to suspect that he might have feelings for her. An image presented itself to her mind of Bern putting an arm around her the way she'd seen Kristoff encircle Anna so easily. She couldn't let him do that. Anna could sprawl over Kristoff and let him kiss her and like it. But the idea of that much contact with another person was anathema to Elsa. She'd always cast her physical isolation as a way to protect other people from getting hurt by her powers. Anna loved her enough to touch her without getting hurt. Last night, Kristoff had claimed the same ability. She hadn't hurt either one of them. Apparently, she'd spent the greater part of a day nestled in Bern's arms, unconscious, when he'd brought her back from the North Mountain four months ago. She hadn't hurt him either.

It was possible Bern didn't think of her as a sister. If he could touch her without getting hurt, then would he expect her to allow it? If she wouldn't hurt him, then why was she so afraid that he might reach for her hand? She didn't want to see Bern again after all.

No one really needed her downstairs. They didn't even know she was coming. She had the perfect excuse to go back to her room and rest until her head felt better. As she went back up the steps, the stairs froze beneath her feet, spikes of hoarfrost jutting out around the edges. She got back to her room and shut the door. Snowflakes appeared and hung in the air. Elsa tried to stifle her feelings, but she wasn't as good at that as she used to be, and they kept insisting she feel them instead of concealing them. And there was no use in trying to consider Bern's perspective; that's what had set off all this fear in the first place. She'd only come out of her room four months ago. She thought she'd made so much progress, but this was all it took to show her that she still had such a long way to go.

~###~

"I can get the other end of it, Riks," Bern told the guardsman. He picked up the divan and helped Riks maneuver it back to its place in a corridor.

Everyone at the castle worked to put the castle back together as the villagers departed for home. Bern was downstairs, helping out where he could and talking to people who wanted to talk. When he saw Lady Marda at the food tables in the ballroom, he walked over and she handed him a stack of empty soup tureens.

"Follow me with those, would you?" she asked him.

Bern carried a load of dishes to the kitchen, where the maids still looked shocked and uncomfortable to have a ranking Lord and Lady helping out with common labor. He deposited the dirty dishes on a table and got out of there to reduce their awkwardness around him.

As he left the kitchen, he saw something unusual about the servant staircase at the end of the corridor and walked down to see what it was. The stairs were coated with melting ice and frost. He returned to the kitchen and fetched a handful of towels. He dropped a towel on the stairs and mopped up the melting ice.

Bern's gray eyes were pensive and the corners of his mouth pulled down. He'd frightened her. He'd known better than to say so much to her, yet he simply couldn't stop once they'd started to talk. It was too much, too soon for her. He'd loved her for so long now, yet she was still so new to life and love. If anything was to happen between them as he hoped, it would all have to go at her pace, not his.

Gerda was next to him now. She took a cold sopping towel from him, wrung it out into a bucket and handed it back to him.

"When you check on her, please tell her I'm sorry I caused her distress," Bern said as he rubbed at the frost on the next step.

"May I speak candidly, milord?" Gerda asked him.

"Of course."

"You're not the cause. She's still wrapped up in herself and her own fears more than is good for her. Don't let this persuade you to give up on her," Gerda said.

"Am I that transparent?" Bern asked ruefully.

"Tolerably so, milord. You should have seen your face when you brought her in from the North Mountain. She can trust you, and someday she'll admit that," Gerda said.

"Thank you, Gerda," Bern said.

"Here, take those back to the kitchen while I go help her," Gerda said. She handed Bern the bucket of wet towels and went up the stairs.

Bern took the towels to the kitchen and wondered how long it would be before he could be the one to go help her.