Full moon for the next few days. Good, they could travel at night. Hans shook Anna awake to tell her of his plans. There might be bandits at night, but they'd be closer to the cities, so for tonight and tomorrow, they could travel by moonlight and avoid most patrols.

He lit torches with his fire magic and handed one to her before they started marching.

"This will get us close to the city, but what will we do once we reach Varisen?" Anna asked once they had been walking for around an hour.

"What happened to the girl who charged off into a snowstorm?"

"I learned my lesson, I almost froze to death, before I met Kristoff."

I suppose Elsa had to do a better job then. But Hans bit his tongue.

"Yes, you did come back with someone, an ice harvester, wasn't it?" A peasant, but unlike the other nobles, Hans understood the dignity of work and those who did it. If only nobles had to earn their titles as peasants earned their bread.

Although what good is ice harvesting when your Queen can make winter at the drop of a hat?

"Anyway, I heard from Conrad that they'll be shipping his late wife and son for burial. That would only be at the Royal Tomb, just outside the city. It's only royalty and their entourage, so, if we sneak in or disguise ourselves, we should be able to get right to the palace. Royal entourages bear certain kinds of scrutiny, and I know how to get around it.

"How come every plan you do involves disguise and lying?"

"What do you suggest, bashing our way through? That's just crude, and, if you recall, you ended up on Death's door doing that." Even if she learned her lesson, she was still far too direct. It had already gotten her into trouble. Anna didn't have any other answers.

"So what are you going to do with your brother, once we find Elsa?"

"I assume you mean Ferdinand? Well, I'm sure Samuel has his suspicions already, we'll just jump-start the procedure. We'll try him and execute him. I doubt there'd be a better way to do it, he'd just come back if we exiled him. Besides, that rarely works the way one plans." Hans didn't like the idea, family was supposed to be untouchable, blood is thicker and all. But Ferdinand didn't have such sensibilities, and would show Hans no clemency, he had already shown that. Laurent may have been an entitled type and the worst person to ascend to the throne, but if Hans wanted to kill him, he would have done it ages ago.

"How did your brother meet that witch?"

"Who knows, clearly she can pop up almost anywhere. How many places could she show up?"

"She turns into water when she does that, maybe we could, I don't know, keep her in a bottle or something." Anna mused aloud. She was right, the witch did do that. Worth doing if she showed up again, but for now, Hans needed to focus on what was in front of him. Anna's mind was going a mile a minute, was she still shaken from the whole fight? She shouldn't be. Once they got to Varisen, it would probably get worse.

Elsa was unable to sleep as she looked out the window. Just outside of her door, she could hear guards breathing very heavily. Sounded like the man had a cold, but even with that, he was preventing her from leaving. She looked out the window of the room and saw guards below, their torches gleaming silently in the night.

Okay, one day down, and no plan. So far, the only plans she had thought of were to disguise herself as a servant, similar to the tactic she used in Nanai, and making an ice bridge in the dead of night to escape. But all the servants came with guards, and in number, so she couldn't ambush one with a quick magic blast. And the presence of guards outside made escape via ice unlikely, they'd see it and give chase: Elsa had a hard enough time defending against those few assassins that attacked her from Weselton.

I really need to think of something. All the books she read as a girl only told her that people escaped from disguising themselves, using enough force, or secret passages. She didn't see anything with the first two, and the last one, well, this castle was Ferdinand's, and he'd know where all of the secret passages were.

Just as she thought that, she could hear a faint, firm knocking sound. Elsa ignored it until she heard it again. It wasn't coming from the doorway, it was on the other side of the room, where there was just an armoire and an old tapestry. Elsa took a quick peek behind the tapestry and saw only a stone wall.

Another firm tap, the sound of knocking on wood.

"Your Highness?" A hushed voice came from the armoire.

"Who's there?" She hushed her voice, but called out loudly enough. Hmph, how recently she did this with Hans, only to find herself subjected to it.

"Prince Alexander, madam." It did sound like him. She considered that it might be a trap, but not having any better options, she opened the armoire. The man was covered in dust and cobwebs, and flanked by a plainly dressed, but equally covered in dust, female servant.

"Greetings. Pardon the intrusion, but I thought you may want to leave our brother's hospitality."

"I do. What is your plan?"

"That we leave. This passage will lead us to Samuel's room, and from there, we can exit the palace much easier. My servants will take you to my ship. It'll keep you safe as the rest of the plan unfolds."

"Rest of the plan?" Elsa didn't like this, there were so many plans going on and she didn't know what they were. Alexander clearly was against Ferdinand, and that meant he was a better choice. She nodded, she could figure the rest out later.

Alexander led her down stairs and through passages, and outside the palace without even being seen. So at least he delivered on that. He then led her through twisty alleyways. If there were any transients, or other unpleasant folk like the thieves back in Kipplevost, they didn't disturb her. Perhaps it was because she wasn't on her own.

They reached the harbor quickly.

"You'll stay here, for now. My servant will come by in the morning." Alexander bowed in respect, then darted away with the servant in tow.

At least she was safe, for the time being.

After hours upon hours of walking, dawn was starting to break. The cursed Prince and that little twit Princess were walking all night, and they had finally made their way to a graveyard. Not too far away from the city, but far enough not to have anyone around. This was where the honored royalty were laid to rest. All a load of nonsense.

The Crone smiled from her hidden vantage point. What an interesting path to take. She couldn't fathom what was going through either of their heads, Hans had magic enough to force his brothers' acceptance, even if the Burning Curse had its own limitations. And, if they wouldn't, they could burn as so many others had done before them. Subterfuge and trickery had its uses, but what good was it in comparison to raw, primal power? None. What did he plan to do here?

"Are we here?" Anna asked. Clearly, neither of them were aware of the hidden woman in their midst.

"Just about." Hans returned. He started looking around. Anna couldn't see anything other than graves and some high walls.

"This part of the graveyard is for honored servants, soldiers, people who devoted their lives to the Westergard family. Past the walls over there is for the royals themselves."

"There's no guards here?"

"Why would we need them? We're not like some of the cultures down south, we don't bury our dead with valuables, and locks on the crypts would deter any vandals from getting inside." Hans walked around the walls, Anna followed him until they reached a gate.

"No one's here. It doesn't look like anyone's been here for a while." She was peering at the walls. She was right, it had been a while since a royal was laid to rest.

"Hmmm…Conrad definitely said his wife and son were dead, and he certainly acted odd. They haven't even buried Father and Laurent here? That's…that's really weird." Hans leaned against the wall.

"With everything's that going on, maybe they waited." Anna remarked. It was, but it was certainly a lot more different than the little girl thought. In fact, there was to be a procession the following day for one of those stupid royals, whichever one it was. But it had been waylaid, broken wheels on the wagons, the oxen too spooked to draw the carts. All harmless, minor things, something easily done out of sight, by a witch.

She hadn't done it to get the little Prince alone here, she had no idea he would go this way. She had wanted to delay the royalty so they were all in the palace when the cursed Prince got there. Perhaps, if there was a battle, his hand would be forced. But, now that she knew it, perhaps she could employ another sort of trick. Persuasion, no? That little Princess didn't want to kill Hans willingly, but willingness was not needed to gain the curse, just performing the killing blow was. This place was setting her on edge, The Crone could tell simply from the antsy way she paced. With a little of the Crone's magic, she could set both of them over the edge. An accident, heat of the moment, fog of war, however it was rationalized.

The two of them walked into the walled-off, crypt area. Carefully, the Crone dissolved her form into water, and crept across the desolate ground to the crypt itself. Once there, she returned to her normal form, and started to create a fog. Actual fog required a damp that was only slightly present, but this was only an illusion: Any who disbelieved would find it disappear before their eyes. Such was the weakness of illusions. But their greatest strengths spoke in wishes. Illusions gave a person the ability to do something they couldn't. And so, even if they knew it was fake, they would want it to be real. And such desires overcame rational thought all the time.

If she did this right, the fog would be the least of their worries.