Reconstruction

Heinrick was still worn out the next morning when he awoke at dawn. He could hear voices at a distance outside his window. He dressed and peered out. They had indeed been followed. There was a gathering of several hundred people at a safe distance from the dragon, about half soldiers and half civilians. Heinrick was able to spot mayor Henry Thadeus, who seemed to be somewhat in charge, or at least in charge of disseminating information. He took a deep breath. Somewhere along the line here he was probably going to have to address that crowd. He doubted they would be as quiescent as the group the night before that had witnessed Elsa's ordeal.

He determined that he wasn't going to bother Elsa and Anna until they came out on their own accord, so he made his way through the unfamiliar castle until he heard voices, one of which he recognized as Victor's. He still had on Elsa's vest, so he was still walking normally. Following the noise led him to a dining area. Victor and Kristoff were seated there, apparently enjoying getting to know one another. Also present were their men and some of Elsa's queen's own guard. He was grateful to see that they hadn't all been killed. Victor and Kristoff nodded to him welcomingly and made space for him to sit.

"Have you seen Elsa yet this morning?" Kristoff asked.

"No. Have you?"

"No."

"There's quite a crowd outside," said Victor.

"Yes. I'm glad we're inside, with Elsa's dragon between us and them."

The other men nodded.

"We can't stay in here forever," observed Kristoff.

"I know," Heinrick replied. "I'm trying to come up with some kind of an approach to demonstrate to them that we didn't wipe out their royal family last night."

Just then, Hermod approached the trio and cleared his throat. "Prince Heinrick; baron Kristoff: queen Elsa has requested your presence in her room." They all exchanged glances and then rose hastily to follow him.

"I never thought I'd see the day," Victor repeated to himself as he watched his brother walk from the room.

When they arrived, Elsa was sitting up on her bed, with Anna still seated in the chair next to her. Elsa did not look well. Before anyone could even say "hello," Anna blurted out in a pleading voice, "would you please talk her out of this? She's being so … Elsa!"

"I have to talk to them," Elsa managed. "The people outside." Her voice was weak and breathless, but her eyes were like iron.

Great, thought Heinrick. Which one of them do I offend forever? After a brief hesitation, he said, "Elsa, I don't think you're up to this."

"This –," breath, "– is why –," breath, "– I'm here." Heinrick had seen that same look in the eyes of men holding swords – these were 'queen's orders;' not negotiable.

Heinrick looked alternately at Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff. "Alright, let's get you down there," he said at last. Anna looked aghast. "Hermod, is there some kind of a sedan chair or palanquin here?"

"Yes, I'll fetch it." He left the room.

"Elsa, you're going to kill yourself!" Anna begged.

"I'll be f – fine," she gasped. "I just need … to get through this."

Hermod arrived shortly after with two servants carrying the sedan chair. They carefully transferred Elsa to it, and then Kristoff and Heinrick picked it up with Anna and Hermod steadying it on each side. Thus they proceeded slowly down the stairs and out the castle's front door. Enceladus' head immediately swung to look at them. He leaned in close, and Elsa reached out a trembling hand and touched his nose. He rumbled gently and laid down on the grounds while still keeping a watchful eye on the crowd. They proceeded to where mayor Henry was standing silently. The entire crowd had become completely silent.

Elsa looked down an Heinrick. "I want to … s – stand," she said.

Heinricks jaw dropped. "Elsa, please," he said quietly, but she had already swung her legs over the side of the sedan chair. He and Kristoff quickly lowered it to the ground before she fell off. She held out her hands for their help, so they each got under one of her shoulders and slowly lifted her to her feet. He could feel her trembling. She looked over the crowd.

"People of Falster," she said with more strength than they had heard from her so far today. "It is with deep sadness that I bear to you the news that king Horatio and the rest of the royal family were murdered two months ago at the hands of Terence Falster and his supporters." She bowed her head as a wave of angry noise rippled through the crowd. Mayor Henry raised his hands in the air to regain everyone's attention and silence. When it had finally died down, she continued. "I arrived two days ago to meet with king Terence in an effort to seek peace between Falster and Mittergaard. His response was to attempt to have me killed as well." Another wave of noise. "Yesterday, when my people came to free me, king Terence was killed in the confrontation." Her trembling was getting worse.

A soldier, obviously a commander of some kind, stepped forward. "Your majesty, how do we know that any of this is true?" he asked.

"Valsson, one of king Terence's advisers, and chief butler Hermod," she gestured at him, "can corroborate this, as can other members of the castle staff. The mayor was also here yesterday and witnessed my rescue. And king Terence's remains are still in the throne room. You may … go see … for yourselves." Her knees gave out. Heinrick and Kristoff carefully lowered her back onto the sedan chair. She was in a cold sweat, and her eyes were blinking incoherently. It was obvious that she would not be able to remain upright in the chair on the ride back inside, so Heinrick instead scooped her up and began to carry her. Enceladus watched them with a suspicious rumble, but remained laying down.

"I'm going inside," they heard from the soldier behind them. By the time they reached the door, they had behind them the soldier, the mayor, and several other people brave enough to walk warily past the dragon.

After two days of care, Elsa was sitting up in bed and speaking coherently. Anna had been by her side continuously and looked exhausted for the effort. What sleep she had gotten was on the bed next to Elsa.

"Thank you for coming," Elsa said while eating grapes from the plate the castle staff had brought her.

"Of course," said Anna lovingly. "Anyway, I think your dragon would have torn our castle down brick by brick until he had found me."

Elsa shook her head slowly as she considered. "He hadn't even seen you before. It's not like you're the only redhead in the city, or even in the castle."

"Don't expect me to explain it to you," she said as she snitched one of the grapes. "Your creatures know what you know sometimes, I guess." A few more grapes. "What did they do to you, anyway? How did they put you in that cocoon?"

"They didn't. I did it. Somehow." Another grape. "Somehow. I don't know how." She looked at her hands. She squinted as she tried to make sense of the memories. She debated how much to tell Anna. "I remember hearing king Terence say he was going to try to 'bake the magic' out of me –" what did he mean he couldn't take credit for the idea? "– and then they sent me into the fire trapped in a kiln. I called for Enceladus, and I called for you. I'm sure that's why Enceladus stopped by the castle to pick you up." The memories were harsh and fresh. Her eyes focused on a point in the distance. "It got so hot; my ice couldn't keep up. I eventually just curled up and let whatever magic I could reach flow through me. I don't think I've ever channeled so much magic before. That's all I remember until I was laying at your feet."

Anna's face had grown steadily more pained. She was on the verge of tears. "Elsa, anyone else would be dead! We weren't sure if you were alive or dead! This is what I was afraid of. You're not invincible!"

Elsa nodded contritely and sighed. "I dreamed," she said quietly, changing the subject. Anna raised an eyebrow. She ate a grape. "I was on a featureless white field. I could feel Lotus perched on my shoulder, and I could hear Enceladus rumbling behind me. Ahead of me, about fifty feet away, was a man standing, facing away from me, and beyond him was a crowd of people, young and old. I can't really say how large the crowd was, but it was clear that they were all afraid of him. I could feel it. Then he turned and looked at me. He was an old man, maybe in his eighties, with short white hair, but he was spry – not hindered at all by his age. He looked surprised to see me, but the way he looked at me … I felt like a cow at purchase. Just … stock." She ate another grape. "He beckoned to me to come to him, and I couldn't resist. Enceladus got very defensive. He actually walked to stand over me. Then I heard my own voice saying 'wake up', but it was Lotus talking, not me. He said it several times, each time more urgently, and then he flew in a short arc and plunged into me and disappeared. I felt like I had been stabbed in the heart." She folded her arms across her chest just contemplating the memory. "It hurt," she declared, then added at barely a whisper, "more than the heat did. That's what woke me."

Anna was biting her thumbnail. "What do you think it means?"

Elsa shook her head slowly. "It was a dream, Anna," she said dismissively. "Perhaps it's a mixed up version of my remembrance of king Terence, and his domination of his own people. Or maybe it means it's not good to encase yourself in glass." In truth, it had her concerned too. Left out was the part that Enceladus and the old man had fought, but that the dream had ended before she could see the outcome, although she had felt the growing astonishment and panic of looming defeat. She intended to ask Grand Pabbie about it when she got home.

After several more days of care, Elsa was finally strong enough to walk again on her own, although her melancholy had only deepened. During that time, mayor Henry's runners had conveyed the news throughout the kingdom, and mayors from the closest half of Falster's towns and cities had congregated in the capital to try to hash out what to do next. Elsa wanted no part of it. Also during that time, they had sent a runner back to Cliffs' View with news that they were alive. It was clear enough in Balkirck that something had happened. The Falster military presence was melting away.

It grieved Heinrick's heart to see Elsa wearing black, but that was the color she felt comfortable in right now, she had said. To the people of Falster the appearance was that she grieved with them the loss of their royal family, but Heinrick knew better. He knew she was grieving Lotus. The first place she had gone once she was able to walk unaided was to the spot in the courtyard where Lotus had fallen. Heinrick had watched from his room's balcony. She had stood there facing away from him for a long time, occasionally wiping her eyes. Then she had lifted her hands in front of her and raised an ornate white pillar to a height of eight feet, with a statue of a falcon in flight mounted on its top. After standing a while longer before the monument, she had returned to the castle.

Today Elsa stood facing blankly out the windows, her hands folded in front of her. When she heard the door open quietly, she turned her head far enough to see that it was Heinrick. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Heinrick," she said slowly, as if groping to remember his name. She resumed her gaze out the windows. After a pause, Heinrick walked over and stood quietly beside her. There was a long silence. "I'm afraid to love," she finally said in a distant monotone. "The price is too high." She was silent again. Her gaze left the windows and focused on the floor. "When I love, my heart grows larger. But when it is lost, it leaves such a hole." Her voice cracked. Another pause. "My mind says he was just a bird, but my heart says he was more. Like a child? I can't say. Why can't I come to grips with this?" She took a long breath. In a near whisper she added, "I'm embarrassed to face those who have lost loved ones."

Heinrick took a quiet deep breath of his own. "Elsa," he began, "I can't say that I understand the relationship you have with your creations; what it's like to create something … sentient. But as someone who has dealt with a lot of holes in his heart, I can say that when you love anew, your heart grows larger, and the old holes are diminished on account of it."

Elsa considered quietly for several long minutes. "Thank you," she finally said. She leaned her head against him as they stared out the window together. After some time, she said, "he knew dying would wake me."

"Yes."

She wiped a tear away. "Why must innocents keep sacrificing themselves for me?"

"Because you are worthy."

"Worthy?" she huffed. "I'm just trying to do what's right."

"That's rare enough. But you are a queen, with phenomenal power at your fingertips, trying to do what's right. That's one of a kind."

That afternoon, Anna informed them that she felt things were in order enough that she could return to Arendelle. "The last thing they saw was me and Kristoff being carried away by your dragon," she said. "I know word can't have reached them about how things are going here, and I'm really abusing my privilege if I continue to shirk my duties to Arendelle."

Elsa was impressed to hear Anna talking this way. It was almost as if someone had … she looked at Heinrick. He was looking innocently at his fingernails. A slight smile played across her lips. "Very well," she said. I think I have recovered enough that I can create the portal for Enceladus."

"Oh, no – don't wear yourself out!" Anna said firmly. She and Kristoff looked at each other with a grin. "The ride here was so epic, we really wouldn't want to go home any other way! Right Kristoff?"

"Absolutely," he said with complete sincerity.

Elsa had to chuckle. "Ok, you two, just don't fall off." She walked with them to the courtyard. "At least let me give you a proper saddle this time," she said. She conjured a double saddle onto Enceladus' back, just ahead of his wings.

"No, not like that," said Anna. "We really just need one big saddle that we both can fit in." Elsa chuckled with embarrassment. Newlyweds, she thought. She did as Anna had requested, merging the two saddles into one larger one. Anna and Kristoff walked up Enceladus' wing and got settled. Kristoff still mounted the ice hooks, just for backup.

"You're going to be ok, right?" Anna asked. Elsa nodded. "Alright, Enceladus – get us hoooooooooo -" He sprang into the air and began his downbeats. Fortunately, Heinrick was there to catch Elsa.

"Thank you," she said. "For some reason I wasn't expecting that today."

Victor approached them from the castle door. "I think I ought to take my leave as well, brother," he said.

Heinrick nodded as they clasped hands in their warriors' salute. "Thank you, Victor. Tell father we should be coming a few days behind you."

"I will."

That evening, Hermod delivered the message to them that the congregation of mayors would like to speak with them the next day.

The next morning, Elsa stood in the entrance of the Falster throne room. The debris had been cleared away, but the room itself was still a shambles. She raised her hands before her and replaced the missing walls, windows, and roof with a reconstruction of ice. Heinrick joined her. "It's the least I can do," she explained. The room sparkled and glowed in the morning sun, like her ice palace. "Maybe it's just me, but I think it's a great improvement."

"Since I didn't see it before, I shall take your word on it," said Heinrick. "It certainly looks nicer than the rest of this depressing place!" From there, they met up with four of Elsa's queen's own guards and walked to the city where the mayors' meeting was being held. "How long will you wear black?" Heinrick asked.

Elsa sighed. "I suppose it's time for a change," she said. The black melted to a crimson velvet as they walked, with elongated silver/white snowflakes in a line down her spine and dress to the hem. She waved out a billowing gossamer cape. Heinrick smiled in awe and approval.

They were greeted warmly at the entrance, and Elsa was brought to the front where she was seated as if she were the queen of Falster herself. She began to feel a bit nervous. What's this about? she wondered. After the mayor had settled the chatter in the room, he struck a small gong to indicate the official start of the meeting.

"Your majesty," he said, "we have agreed almost unanimously that we would like to become a protectorate of Arendelle." She gasped, wide-eyed. He turned to the gathered men. "So say you all?"

A chorus of "Aye," rose from the room.

"Ex – excuse me?" she stammered as an unseasonably cool breeze wafted through the room.

Mayor Henry looked back at her. He had obviously thought she would be flattered, or at least pleasantly surprised. "Uh ..." He glanced around the room trying to figure out how to recover. "My apologies, your majesty; I understand this may have come as a shock to you, but with no vestiges of the royal family remaining, we fear the country will devolve into petty power struggles. At best this will leave our government paralyzed, and at worst our country could fragment, or we could become a target for conquest." He looked over the assembly, then back at her. "We would at least like to be an Arendelle protectorate while we figure things out." There were many nods behind him.

Elsa was overwhelmed. She looked in disbelief from one face to the next. She wanted to yell "NO!" and flee from the room. She wrapped her arms around herself. "I'll … I'll consider it."

Back at the castle, it didn't take a lot of consideration.

"No!" she insisted. "I did not come down here to expand Arendelle's kingdom! I will not accept Falster as a protectorate! Think of what the world leaders will say!"

"If Falster becomes a failed state, the blame will not rest on you, but the people will suffer just the same," said Heinrick.

"If Arendelle is judged as an ambitious kingdom with a maniacal ice queen, both our kingdoms will suffer!"

Hermod cleared his throat. "Pardon me, your majesty; there might be another option, but it's far-fetched." They both looked at him quizzically. "Please come with me." He led them to the castle's library, and to the genealogical records, where he found a book and began leafing through it. "Crown prince Nielsson and princess Isabella did have a son," he said. "That was a little more than twenty years ago now. They gave him up for adoption." He shook his head in disapproval.

Elsa and Heinrick exchanged a glance. "Do you know why?" Elsa asked.

"I'm ashamed to say this about prince Nielsson, but he was a bit narcissistic. When he saw that the boy was born with just one arm, he didn't want him. He planned to have him killed quietly and report to the kingdom that he had only survived a few days. Princess Isabella had a fit." He glanced up at them. "Their marriage always was a bit rocky, I'm afraid. That was probably about the rockiest. Anyway, it was her assurance that if the baby were killed they would find her dead in the morning also, that stayed his hand - just long enough for her to convince him to leave the child anonymously at an orphanage and declare the same to the people – that he had died a few days after birth. Only a few of us knew. And of them, I'm the only one still alive... Ah – here we are." He turned the book and showed it to them.

"Fenris Falster; born May 12th, died May 14th." Elsa and Heinrick gaped at one another.

Heinrick was the first one to get his spinning thoughts back to Earth. "Elsa, do you know how many one-armed men there are in the world?" he cautioned.

"Yes, but one-armed twenty-year-olds named Fenris who were given up at birth?" she said. He looked skeptical. "Who want to study philosophy?" she added.

Hermod was looking back and forth between them with growing astonishment. "You – you think you know where he is?" he asked.

"I certainly think I want to talk with his adoptive parents," Elsa said.

"If he is indeed prince Nielsson's son, would the people of Falster accept him as their new leader?" Heinrick asked.

"Without a doubt," he said. When they looked unconvinced, he added, "it's all we know!"

Elsa looked at Heinrick. "Can we visit that orphanage?" she asked.

"Certainly. I can take you there. It's the next town east of here: Bieves."

"Now?"

"V - very well," he said.

The three of them reached Bieves by mid-day and left their horses with a boy of about thirteen years of age outside the orphanage. There were children running around everywhere. Elsa hoped that the horses wouldn't get spooked and end up kicking one of them, but the kids all seemed to have learned how much space to give unfamiliar horses. They let themselves through the low livestock gate that was keeping the goats and other small animals on the orphanage grounds, and approached the sprawling ramshackle house in the center. There was an old woman sitting on a rocking chair on the porch, working on patching pants. She looked up with a pleasant motherly face while her fingers continued to work uninterrupted. Then a look of recognition spread across her face. They know of me here? Elsa thought.

"Well bless my soul; I remember you!" she said. But she wasn't looking at Elsa. She was looking at Hermod. "How long has it been, child? Twenty years? Thirty?"

Hermod looked left and right like he wasn't sure who she was talking to. "M - me?" he said.

"Why yes! You're the one that brought us the one-armed boy - Fenris!"

He was flabbergasted. "Why - why would you remember that?"

She grinned knowingly. "Because you are the only one who was followed the next morning by an emissary from the crown offering us a fortune if we would turn the child over!" Hermod's jaw dropped. "That hadn't happened before and hasn't happened since!" Then more quietly she added, "we could have run the orphanage for years on that sum."

"But you didn't do it?" Elsa ventured.

"Of course not, beautiful! Even back then I had been around long enough to know what that was about: a mother who wanted the child spared and a father who wanted the child dead. Or some such. The details vary, but the story is always the same. But to have it be an emissary from the castle! That was a new one!"

"That rogue!" said Hermod, wide-eyed. "I never knew!"

"So what did you tell him?" Elsa asked.

"I told him I didn't know anything about it, and that he should check with the orphanage over in Andermill." She gave a mischievous chuckle. "Then a few days later, word reached us that crown prince Nielsson and princess Isabella had had a son, but that he had died a few days later." She shook her head it disapproval. "I decided it would be best if I kept the whole matter to myself. But I always wondered what fate had in store for that boy." Her eyes became piercing. "And now we've heard that the royal family is all dead, and you show up after twenty years. Who are you, anyway?"

"Oh. Uh ... I'm chief butler Hermod, of the castle staff."

"Hmm..." her eyes narrowed. "And who are your lovely friends?"

"This is prince Heinrick of Mittergaard, and this is queen Elsa of Arendelle."

"Oh!" she exclaimed as she dropped her sewing project. "Dear me!" She put her hands on the arms of the rocking chair and began working her way to her feet. Elsa quickly stepped forward and placed her hand on the woman's shoulder firmly enough to prevent her from rising. She looked up in confusion and slumped back down in the chair.

"No, honored one," Elsa smiled. "It is we who rightly stand for you - in recognition of the cause to which you have devoted your life."

The woman's confusion melted into a smile of personal fulfillment. The creases on her face seemed to glow with the memories of ages past. "It has been my privilege and my joy, your majesty," she stated with conviction. It was so compelling that Elsa felt the tug to abandon her throne and join the orphanage staff right then. But she had her own cause to which her life was devoted. May I be able to smile that smile at her age, she thought.

"Do you know what became of Fenris?" Heinrick asked.

"A couple came by just a few days after he'd been dropped off. The woman looked like someone from around these parts, who knows, maybe Mittergaard even, but the man was obviously a foreigner," she gestured at Elsa, "pale, like you." Then she corrected herself. "Well, not quite that pale. Anyway, they said they had been unable to have children of their own. There were lots of little ones here, as you can see, but once she saw Fenris, she didn't look at any of the others." She mused. "A big heart, that woman had. So off they went with him. I'm afraid I don't know where."

Elsa and Heinrick exchanged a glance. "Thank you so much – I'm sorry, what was your name?" Elsa asked.

The old woman shrugged. "No one calls me anything but 'mother' around here."

It felt right to Elsa as well. "Thank you so much, Mother. You've been very helpful."

As they turned to leave, the woman spoke up: "er, your majesty, before you go?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Would you be willing to tarry and say a word to the children? We have often referred to you as an example of grace and dignity, but none of us ever imagined we would meet you in person. It would mean so much to them!"

Elsa's put her hand over her mouth as she tried to contain her tears. "Oh … oh, Mother…" She didn't know what to say. The task at hand had some urgency to it. After a moment's thought, she said, "there's something we have to do right now, but I promise I will come back." The old woman looked skeptical. "I promise," Elsa repeated.

The old woman smiled. "I shall hold you to it," she said, with all the authority of a mother.

As they mounted their horses and prepared for the ride back, Elsa said, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to reroute Anna and Kristoff's flight."

They rode in contemplative silence until Heinrick spoke up. "We should give him the option. Right now you and I are the only ones who know who he is – assuming we're right, of course. It's a life-changing course he would be choosing. You know how heavily the crown can fall upon your head – and you were even groomed for the job." Elsa could only nod.