Prepared Speech
The lead escort ship had already entered the bay as the King Agnar passed the hundred-foot cliff north of the royal city. Queen Elsa was wearing a deep blue dress with a snowflake pattern throughout, and a gossamer shawl. She stood at the bow with Fenris and admiral Naismith. As the docks came into view, so did the crowd. The shore was packed - standing-room only - and the roar of their cheer reverberated across the water. Fenris and the admiral were taken aback, and looked to her for explanation. Elsa turned red. "He warned me," she said. As they got closer, they could see the multitude of crocus banner flags, small and large, being waved passionately by the people, and hanging from the lamp posts and flag poles.
"I wonder if my reception in Falster will be as good?" Fenris wondered aloud.
The admiral gave a wry smile. "Maybe after you've stopped a war, your majesty."
"'Your majesty,'" he repeated to himself. Elsa, the admiral, and the crew had been trying to help Fenris adjust to his new title. "That might have to be one of the first things I change."
"Titles are important," the admiral reminded him again. "They mean things to others, both inside and outside your country."
"Consistency is important too," Elsa added. "It's far too soon to be thinking about changing anything. You have to adjust to your country, and your country has to adjust to you. You have a lot of listening to do."
Fenris looked perplexed. "I'm -" he began, then stopped himself and breathed deeply. "I can do this. But I wish you two were staying longer."
They were close enough now that Elsa could make out the dignitaries on the dock. King Reginald was there with both of his sons, Victor and Heinrick. When Elsa saw Heinrick, she tensed. There would have been some awkwardness regardless, but knowing how she was going to disappoint him made her heart race. She put on a professional smile. "Excuse me, gentlemen; I need to get my thoughts together." She left them and walked towards the captain's quarters. There, she stood with her hands on the small built-in dresser, looking into the smaller mirror above it. "It's the right thing to do," she reassured herself. Then why did it feel so ...? It didn't matter how it felt. Most of her life didn't matter how she felt. "This is my burden," she told her reflection. Even if someone wants to help me carry it. Where did that thought come from? She scowled and *tsked* at her reflection, then turned, and began pacing the modest room. In a way, refusing Heinrick's help was harder than refusing Anna's. She felt responsible for Anna, but Heinrick was a more able helper, and the first person she had met that she had genuinely been able to see herself following. Why did it seem like she was only just starting to think this through? She had already made up her mind how to handle this. She came back to the mirror and stood up straight, balling both hands into fists. She gave her reflection a determined nod, and left the room.
Back on deck, the ship had come alongside the dock, and the sailors were throwing ropes to the dock workers. "Your majesty," admiral Naismith said. He gestured to where twenty of her guards stood at attention in two rows, leaving a walking path between them leading to the gang plank. Elsa took a resolute breath and took her place. She mindfully put on her smile and folded her hands in front of her. The gang plank was lowered, and admiral Naismith announced in a commanding voice, "queen Elsa of Arendelle!" The crowd erupted in cheers - with small purple and green flags waving in almost every hand - as the first ten guards crossed over, then Elsa, then the last ten, with the admiral bringing up the rear.
King Reginald stood forward from his sons and swept out his arms invitingly. With a beaming smile he announced, "welcome back to Mittergaard, your majesty!" The crowd cheered again. The flag waving was enough to make Elsa's eyes blur.
Elsa bowed her head in humble gratitude as she waited for the crowd to settle, and then replied, "thank you king Reginald. It is my pleasure to visit again." She wished it was wholly true. "And may I introduce to you also the soon-to-be-crowned king of Falster, Fenris Falster." The crowd gave a generous cheer, but not as jubilant as the prior one.
Even though it was a short walk to the castle, a royal carriage was there, drawn by four destriers. A footman opened the door as the king approached, and he, Elsa, and Fenris climbed inside. Outside the carriage, they were flanked by her queen's own guards as well as those of the Mittergaard royal family. It was a far cry from the chaos of her last visit.
The crowd thinned out as they left the docks and made their way along the "S" shaped road to the castle. King Reginald broke the silence. "So good to see you again, my dear!" he said with genuineness. "And you, king Fenris, I'm pleased to finally make your acquaintance."
Fenris nodded nervously. "I - I'm sorry - if there's something specific I'm supposed to say in response, please tell me."
Elsa gave a smile that she hoped would help set him at ease. "You're among equals here, Fenris. As long as you are respectful, that's all that is necessary. Of course, that's good advice for any conversation, not just one with royalty."
He nodded as though logging the advice for future reference. He looked king Reginald in the eyes and asked, "did you have a hard time adjusting to your role as king?"
Reginald answered right away. "Yes, and no. I had been groomed for the job, but it wasn't what I expected." Looking at Elsa, he added, "I'm sure you found the same."
She nodded.
He added, "frankly, if the job is exactly what you expect, then someone else is doing the leading."
Fascinating, thought Elsa. Not for the first time, she wondered what it would have been like to have her father's guiding wisdom these past five years.
"What surprised you?" Fenris asked.
"People," Reginald said. "They still surprise me. Some people you expect to be helpful, and they aren't. Others you expect very little of, and they wildly surpass your expectations. Related to that, I'm regularly surprised at how much people can change, and how quickly. At least, it seems quickly. Then I have to remind myself that I haven't seen them in a while, and change is allowed to happen while I'm not watching." He grinned, and Elsa and Fenris followed suit. "A profitable thing about being a king at my age is that my perspective of time has broadened. I used to think five years was an interminably long time for plans to unfold. Now it's just another five years. Where people are involved, things happen slowly. The more people involved, the more slowly it goes. The only alternative is revolution, which has its place, but more often is destructive."
"How about you?" he asked Elsa.
"Forgiveness," she said quietly.
Reginald and Fenris both registered surprise.
"I've only been queen for two years," she said. "It's likely my answer will be different ten years from now." She looked at Reginald. "You've got me thinking about people, I suppose." She smiled. "I've been surprised at the ones who have been willing to give me a chance, and the ones who haven't."
Fenris ducked his head in embarrassment.
Elsa's eyebrows furrowed as another thought bubbled to the surface. She focused on a spot on the carriage floor as she added, "I've also been surprised at those who have seen things in me that I haven't been able to see myself. Like my sister, and H -" She stopped short, but it was too late, and too obvious. "Heinrick," she finished, barely louder than a whisper. When she looked up, Reginald was beaming. She bit her lip. Why does this have to be happening? she asked herself.
"You'll be pleased to know that, between his other duties, Heinrick has busied himself studying Arendelle's history and any other publicly available information he can get his hands on. You'll have to quiz him." There was that smile again.
Elsa brought her self-discipline to bear to keep from squirming. It didn't help when Fenris interjected, "what am I missing?"
"Hah!" Reginald chuckled. "Yes, let me fill you in. Queen Elsa has agreed to accept my son Heinrick as a suitor!"
Elsa wished she could claw her way out of the carriage.
"Oh. Um. Congratulations...?"
She gave a polite smile. Mercifully, they had arrived at the castle courtyard. A footman opened the door, and Reginald ushered Fenris out. Elsa made discreet use of those few seconds to take a couple deep breaths, and blow on her cold sweaty palms. As she was getting out, she saw Victor and Heinrick dismount their horses.
Heinrick walked directly over. "Thanks again," he said, gesturing towards the horse. "It's been such a joy to be able to ride again." That relaxed voice: it set her at ease at the same time as her mind screamed for control. Her genuine smile had already escaped, but she didn't know what to say.
"Come along, kids," Reginald called. "I'm sure supper is about ready." The group followed him into the castle.
Supper was difficult for Elsa: being attentive and polite, helping guide Fenris around his misgivings, and trying to stay disconnected at the same time. It was especially difficult because Heinrick was collaborating well with her on working with Fenris, which was exactly what she had told king Reginald she wanted from Heinrick, but right now she didn't want to allow herself to appreciate it. By the time the meal was over, she couldn't remember what she had eaten, and she was worn out. She steeled herself. The time had come. She gave Heinrick an uncomfortable smile."We need to have a private conversation," she said discreetly.
He grinned. "How private?"
Elsa flushed and looked at the floor, a look between irritation and exasperation flashing over her face.
Heinrick's smile withered away. "I see. Come on to your guest room."
He led her through the castle halls to the room looking east, the same one she had been in on her last visit. Her guards followed at a respectful distance, and as she entered the room, he instructed them to remain outside the door and prevent visitors. He gestured for her to sit on one of the pair of couches that faced each other, and he sat on the other. She sat with her arms wrapped about herself, her gaze on the low table that sat between the couches.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
Her eyes flickered to him. She opened her mouth to begin her prepared speech, but the words caught in her throat. "Heinrick," she forced out. She looked him in the eyes now. What was she going to say again? "H - Heinrick ..." she began again. "I'm being -" Her voice cracked. "I'm being hunted!" Her accumulated stress unexpectedly boiled over. She gripped herself more tightly and sank back into the couch as she began to cry.
"Elsa!" he said gently. He quickly joined her on her couch and placed an arm around her. He could feel her trembling. He pried her nearer hand from its grip on her arm and held it. "Tell me what's going on."
Elsa looked at his hand around hers and took several ragged breaths as she tried to settle herself. "The last time I was here," she said, "in Falster, inside that crystal ball, I had a dream. At least, I thought it was a dream. But it's turned out to be something else. I was somewhere else, I think - somewhere real - and there was a man there, and a crowd of other people. I've learned since from the trolls that the crowd was a crowd of magic users, and the man was the one who had hunted them all. All of them! He turned and saw me, and now he knows. Then, on the way here, I met with a pair of refugees from ... somewhere, I'm not sure exactly where, and they said they had come all the way here to warn me." She looked into his eyes. "All those magic users, Heinrick - he hunted them all, and they couldn't stop him!"
Heinrick's eyes had turned grave. He drew her head to his lips, kissed her on the forehead, and sighed. "Oh, dearest Elsa," he said. "I'm afraid it's going to get worse before it gets better."
She tensed. "What do you mean," she breathed.
He let go of her, folded his hands in his lap, and looked down at the coffee table. "Some of the leadership from the Falster ships - the men we've been interviewing - told us of secret orders received directly from king Terence. I thought it was nonsense, until now." He looked at her. "They said the entire action of chasing me up to Arendelle was staged. It was calculated to lure you down here."
Her eyes grew wide as saucers. "What?" she whispered, stunned. Then she remembered her fleeting conclusion when she saw the Weselton ships, and that prepared ambush. And what was it that king Terence had said? He couldn't take credit for the idea of putting her in the kiln, nor the idea of pulling in the duke of Weselton as an ally. She put her fingers on her temples. "By him? That man who's hunting me? Why?"
"I don't know."
"Oh..." it came out as a desperate moan. She was beyond thinking. "Heinrick, what do I do?" she whispered.
Heinrick put his elbows on his knees and brought his interlocked fingers to his lips. "As a queen, there's certainly no way you can hide. Unless you abdicate, and live your entire life on the run, in fear."
Elsa bit her lip.
"I guess the alternative is to hide in plain view, so to speak. Stick yourself so far out into the public eye that any 'hunter' would have to challenge a crowd."
Elsa contemplated. "Is that realistic?" she asked. "There will always be times when I'm in private... And what you're suggesting could put that crowd at risk. What if this hunter doesn't care about hurting a crowd? If what you say about the staged attack is true, he's already responsible for the deaths of many of your men. Wait - he didn't ... he couldn't have ... surely he didn't trigger that whole war to target me, did he?"
Heinrick was still in thought. "What do you know about these two refugees?" he asked.
Elsa did a mental review. "Very little. I only spoke to them briefly. They say they have powers like me. They say they came to warn me about the man who was hunting me."
"Do you know they have powers?"
"No - I didn't ask for a demonstr -" Elsa stopped short. If this hunter was capable of orchestrating events at the highest political levels, this could also be a ruse. Elsa put her hands over her face. "I saw myself in them," she said. "Of course I simply believed them!" Although ... Johan might have been acting, but Ambrelle would have had to be a very good actress indeed if what she was doing was faked. In fact, Ambrelle looked just like Elsa felt right now: terrified of a fate she was powerless to change. The poor girl. She needs me, Elsa thought.
Wait - I might need her. Them. "Hold on." Elsa sat up a little straighter. "At first I thought that three of us together would just be a bigger target, but maybe not. Assuming they're telling the truth, which should be easy to determine, it might be that the three of us together can accomplish what none of us could do alone."
Heinrick nodded and smiled. "You're thinking," he said.
Yes. Thinking. Not panicking. This was already an improvement. "I have no idea what they can do, or what we could do together. And I don't have the trolls to help me figure it out."
"Why is that?"
"They're not exactly against what this hunter does," she frowned in frustration. "Their experience is that magic in human hands is pretty much universally bad."
Heinrick nodded slowly. "I can understand that perspective."
Elsa's composure was continuing to return. "This feels like a desperate plan, but at least it's better than ... better than just plain desperation. Thank you for your listening ear, Heinrick."
After a pause, he said, "if you're done, I have a - ahem - 'proposal' for you." He had a twinkle in his eye.
Elsa was surprised to find that her composure had returned enough for her to blush and smile slightly.
"Come with me to the family library." They left her room, and her four guards followed them to the library's entrance, where they again took up positions as the pair entered. The library had the familiar and welcoming colors and scent of books, and off to the left, next to a low table and two couches, sat a harpsichord.
"Oh!" Elsa beamed.
Heinrick took her hand and led her to one of the couches. Then he settled onto the stool and began to play. Elsa closed her eyes and allowed herself to be carried away by the music: complicated, entrancing, serene, and lovely. She gradually sank into the couch until her head was resting against its cushioned back. At a quieter moment she asked, without opening her eyes and with a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth, "do you mind if it snows?"
"As long as you clean it up, not at all," she heard him reply.