The next day there was a great feast held in Arendelle, in the center of the city, for all the noble and royal guests. Everyone who came to the festival was on the Feast, except of Essenes. They stayed in the few modest houses around the temple, as they were humble. But greatest of the priests, including the three High Priests, were all present on the Feast. And Elsa, being the host, had to sit on the head of the feast.
But after the feast began, Elsa didn't eat anything, but rather stood up and walked from the table to breath the fresh air of the city and be a little alone. Elsa stood before the fountain at the square. She was looking into the water inside the fountain and stared in it, not thinking, just resting her thoughts a little. Elsa's eyelids became hard to hold. She felt as she wanted to fall asleep. She then came back to herself. I am not gonna sleep beside the fountain, she laughed at herself and with closed eyes, walked into opposite direction, and someone was on her way, though they didn't clash.
"Your...your majesty, I am sorry." he said, bowing his head. It was Isaiah, son of lord Aramir of Gondor. "I...I didn't notice you."
"Oh, no, I am sorry, lord Isaiah." she said. "I...I wasn't watching where was I going." Elsa looked into lord Isaiah's eyes and saw them...remarkable. They were dark grey, darker than that of his father lord Aramir. His hair was short and almost black, so was his small beard. His skin was fair, although less than like of her or anyone from Arendelle. Elsa felt some type of wisdom in him.
"Let's...let's keep formalities aside, lord Isaiah." she said. Elsa didn't like when people of her age to talk with her as a queen.
"As you wish." he stood up, as if she commanded him to. "I am sorry again, your majesty, I am in Arendelle for the first time so, I was exploring it and..."
"No, no, no, it's my mistake lord Isaiah." she said, but then realized what he said. "You are in Arendelle for the first time?" she asked him.
"Yes." he said, looking into the fountain behind her. "I mean I was in towns and villages of Arendelle, but I never visited the capital, and I must confess..." he looked around himself and back into her. "...Arendelle is a very beautiful city. Although, not in the way I expected."
She was curious at this. "And what did you expected, lord Isaiah?"
"Well..." and they started walking together without noticing. "...as a child I heard of warrior kings of Arendelle and that little child part of me still imagined it like a battle fortress. Not that I am disappointed, it is beautiful."
"Thank you, lord Isaiah." she said. "I guess you and your lord father made some...preparations, since you, well, came into the kingdom of the Ice Queen."
"Not at all, your majesty!" he said, shaking his head. "My father doesn't trust the rumours, but instead yearns to see the truth for himself. That and my uncle, lord Ondoher, already visited your kingdom once."
"Yes, I remember." she remembered. "It was after my sister's birthday last year. He came and stayed here two or three days and then left."
"Yes." he said. "And he assured us that nothing people say about you is true your majesty." he then changed his face from smiling to "Why did I say that?" look.
Elsa knew he didn't want to offend her, but she was curious about what are people saying about her.
"Like, lord Isaiah?" she asked.
"Your majesty, I really think it's unimportant and you...wouldn't want to know it."
"I see. It's that bad?" she said, but to herself. Some people still thought she is a monster. Isaiah just sighed and nodded. Elsa looked down.
"Your majesty, are you a monster?" he asked her, seemingly coldly. She was surprised at how he could say that. Her first impression of him was that he had manners.
"What...no, I am not." then she saw that he smiled.
"Then don't worry about what people who don't even know you say. It doesn't matter, your majesty, believe me. Those are just stories told by drunkards at the tavern table when they are bored. I just met you, but I probably can trust you..." he leaned a little closer to whisper something to her ear and Elsa listened. "...some people like to say that I am a bastard."
Elsa couldn't believe this. She looked at him and remembered lord Aramir. "You?" she asked him. "But, you and your lord father look very similar." the young lord nodded.
"You see, they can make up stories about me being a bastard, they can also make up anything other in the world. Your majesty, it isn't important what people would say about you. What is important is if you show them the opposite."
Elsa was surprised by wisdom of this young man. She thought she can trust him. "And what does lord Isaiah think?" she asked.
"Well, I just met you, your majesty, but I think if you were a monster you wouldn't thaw Arendelle back into it's first state." And they both laughed.
"Isaiah!" the feminine voice said. And then one young woman, little younger than Elsa herself, walked in. She had hair like Isaiah and she had deep blue eyes and Elsa thought her beautiful. She looked at her and Isaiah's face.
"Your majesty." the young woman recognized her. Then Isaiah approached the young woman and placed hand on her shoulder.
"Your majesty, this is my younger sister Arrana Gondor."
"I am glad to meet you." Elsa said. Lord Aramir did mention he has a daughter, she thought. "I am Elsa." and offered her hand. She seemed hesitant to take it, until her brother looked at her.
"Elsa!" the voice cried out. It was Olaf.
"Elsa, you gotta come because there is a very big danger 'cause some Rapunzel and Flynn's old friend appeared out of nowhere and she is just standing at the docks and doing nothing." Olaf said in heavy breath. Then he turned around and saw the two Gondors looking at him. "Oh, hi, I am Olaf, the snowman, he said."
Elsa massaged the bridge of her nose. "I..."
"Your majesty, our uncle told us about this snowman." Isaiah assured her.
"Oh." she said with relief. "Okay. Now, Olaf lead me..."
"Run as fast as you can!" and Olaf ran to the decks as fast as he could, and Elsa tried to follow him.
When Elsa arrived at the decks, she saw great multitude of people gathered in the same place. She succeeded to get through them and she found Flynn and Rapunzel standing few meters away from one woman that was dressed like some bandit or a pirate. She was slender and had wavy auburn hair and she had fair skin and brown eyes. On her left arm, she had a tattoo of roses and skull. She was smiling devilishly at Flynn and Rapunzel.
"I have no idea how you got out from prison, but I will..." Andal Dorris said, but Flynn held him.
The woman waved with her hand. "Keep strength for later, Andy." she mocked him. "I came just to present him."
"Whom?" Anna asked, bravely.
"You know him pretty well, princess." she answered. "You all do." she turned to the whole family of Arlic. Then she moved, and a boat was behind her, with some people on it, all pirates, except of one, blonde haired man in his late twenties, whom Elsa thought to be more royal in face...but still dressed like a pirate. One figure, however, didn't turn his face to them, but Elsa only saw his back.
When the boat landed, the people came out walking, and they were all dressed like pirates, just like from afar. They all looked like pirates, except of that blonde man Elsa noticed. His hair was put in a braid like a pony-tail and he had a blonde, short beard, and blue eyes. He was tall, little more than six feet. He seemed very manly.
That man who had his back turned, turned to them and he walked by everyone. All pirates, except one and that blonde-haired man, bowed to him. So did the woman that Flynn called "Lady Caine". Elsa looked in him.
He was around six feet and three inches tall. He had black hair, although Elsa remembered that he had reddish brown the last time she saw him. He had blue eyes, and the right eye had a pupil like a snake had it. He had a little longer beard than the blonde man and his face was unnaturally young, because Elsa counted that he should be around fifty years old, yet he looked like a man who is in his middle thirties, with no grey hints or worry lines. He was handsome, honestly, but no one wanted to see his face...and neither did Elsa. Elsa, and all royal family recognized who it was. It was the Red Snake...prince Aron of Arendelle.
All people moved few steps away when they saw his face. Those who never saw him, like Rapunzel and Robin, moved away because others did. He wasn't speaking. The Red Snake was just standing, mute and silent, not speaking. There was a great silence, only the sea waves were heard. He was just standing there, looking at all of them, and whole population of Arendelle stared at him, some of them had faces of hatred and wrath, while some were terrified, trying not to look in his eyes. So he was just standing, watching at their faces, not speaking...until he did.
"My niece." he said with evil smile and with...deep and dark voice, to Elsa. Elsa was trying to keep herself calm. She wouldn't return him the greeting with "Uncle."
The ten-years exiled prince of Arendelle glanced at the city. He then walked closer to the multitude and everyone moved away, except Joram, uncle Adan, aunt Arianna and aunt Willow...and lord Aramir of Gondor. Everyone had face of pure hatred and wrath staring at him, even Joram. Some even spat at him. Everyone wanted him gone. No one wanted him here. Not even Elsa. The Red Snake noticed it.
"It seems that everyone is happy to see me." he said, with an evil smile. Everyone present shook their heads.
"No." Kai, the servant, dared to speak.
"No?" Aron asked, seemingly surprised.
"Not even the slightest." Joram said.
"In fact...we all hoped you would be gone forever!" Arianna judged him with her finger.
"And that you will never return!" aunt Willow added.
"I am sorry for disappointment." Aron said and walked back to his men. "I did not mean to disappoint any of you. However, life is harsh, isn't? You cannot always have what you want? No matter how hard you want or try." he glanced at the entire people before him. His silence had a voice of it's own. A threatening voice.
"Life is harsh..." lord Aramir spoke up, emotionlessly "...but unjust only because of people like you.." Aron's attention was caught by lord of Gondor's words.
"Lord Aramir." Aron said, placing finger on the scar on his neck. "My old friend. I thought...you were supposed to be dead." Aron then turned to people behind him, as they bowed their heads in shame.
"But, I am...happy, that you are alive." Aron said, with twisted smile.
"That 'happiness' is mutual." lord Aramir said, with disgust.
Elsa now shared the thoughts everyone else had. She didn't see a family member worthy of forgiveness. She regretted defending him a week ago while talking with aunts Arianna and Willow. Right now, Elsa saw what everyone present saw-a monster.
The heartless, cruel, sadistic mad-man, who loves to torture and knows no merits. A manipulator who does everything to get what he wants, an evil and violent creature. A deceiver, with a tongue that lies like a snake, and a murderer whose hands are red of blood, thus the name the Red Snake. But worst of all...he was a godless kinslayer. Aron Arlic received another nickname in Arendelle, the one that priests liked to call him the most...the Second Cain or Cain Reborn. The murder of prince Avnir was crime that will never abandon Aron's name. And now he wanted to play games and mock them?
"Why did you came back?" Elsa asked him, not allowing him to play games...and refusing to call him "Uncle."
Aron glanced at her with a sinister look. Aron started walking slowly towards Elsa. Elsa could feel her heart beating louder than ever before. Quickly, Grandan reached his sword but Elsa stopped him. "Grandan, everything will be fine." she said and just stared into Aron, wanting to run away from him, but controlling her instincts.
Aron looked like a tower compared to her, and even most men present.
"You have grown niece." he said. "Last time I saw you, you were small, like this, but now? A grown woman. You look like a queen should look like." he smiled, but it only fueled Elsa's frustration with him.
"Why did you came back?" Aron smiled when she asked him that.
"You are grown, but you have forgotten some lessons, niece. It is 'why did you come back'. 'Why did you came back' is incorrect grammatically, isn't it, Joram?" Joram was surprised, but didn't say anything.
Elsa now wanted to lash out at him, but she kept her voice as calm as she could.
"Why did you come back?" she asked him through gritted teeth.
"Simple." Aron leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Give me the throne of Arendelle, niece. It is mine."
Elsa wasn't surprised. "No, it's not yours." she answered shortly. Aron just sniffed and walked away from her and sat down on the ground.
"Nothing has changed, I see." he said. "Just a few new faces, but in essence, everything is the same." he chuckled. "You, all of you, still choose bad leaders instead of good ones. You are all blind to see the truth. Although, I cannot blame you for that." he said and got up. What truth? He approached one higher ground and stood upon it, and spoke in a loud voice:
"Lords and ladies. Kings and queens. My cousins. Servants and maids. Holy men and holy women. And especially you..." he glanced at all of Elsa's family. "...nephews and nieces...brothers and sisters. You all remember me and my face. I am honored because of that. I, of course, remember your faces too. All of you." his face was low and Elsa could swear she saw glimpses of the past in his face.
"You cannot forget me, and I cannot forget you. And because of that, you should all be grateful I didn't come during the festival, but the day after.
Grateful?, Elsa thought, It is your DUTY not to disturb the holiday. He thought people of Israel owed him peace. No, he owed them peace. Aron then raised his hands.
"I am Aron Arlic, son of king Arnold of Arendelle, brother of king Agnarr of Arendelle. I am foreson of Arlic, who was the foreson of David, Israel's most beloved king."
We all are. Elsa looked on her guards. Quite possibly even my guards are David's descendants.
"I am home now. But while I was not home, I heard stories. And I checked them. Checked all of them. As good as I heard you all almost froze to death. By the hand," then he pointed at Elsa. "of my niece." Elsa's heart stopped beating. She looked at Anna. She was terrified as well.
"Yet, you kept her. You kept her as your ruler. You should reconsider it. But since you accepted a mass murderer, I thought you will forgive me, after that small incident ten years ago."
Incident?! Murder of your own brother is an incident to you?!
"After all, this is the woman who almost killed her own sister, isn't she?" when Elsa heard that, she looked down in shame. She remembered it. When she froze Anna's head...and later her heart.
"Look who's talking?" a voice said. It belonged to Joram. His eyes were furious, but his face cold. He pointed with his finger at him. "You." he repeated quietly again. "You!" he shouted. Elsa couldn't believe his voice had strength for that. "You, who was manipulative since you were a little boy!" Joram started walking through the docks, still talking loud enough for everyone to hear him. "You! Who murdered many innocent people! You! Who betrayed your own family at Halendor!"
Halendor? Elsa was surprised at first, but she remembered. It is a land in eastern Arendelle where there was once a rebellion against the crown, and Aron joined it. There was no concrete proof of his betrayal so he was spared, but everyone knew what he did there. It was almost three decades ago.
"You! You who murdered your own brother!" Joram shouted louder than before, and his voice started to break. "In a tavern fight! For what? Because you drank a bottle or two more than you should have?"
Aron turned at those words and climbed a little higher.
"Do you deny it?" Elsa asked him. He didn't turn to her. He continued to look into the distance. "Aron." she said, but he was just staring in the distance. "Aron." she asked him again and he ignored her.
"Aron!" she shouted with all her voice and frustration and he turned back to her.
"Of course I don't." he said with a smile on his face. "I am proud of it. But besides pride, how can I forget it? Because of my beloved older brother. He banished me alone, without any servant and gave me just a bag of thirty golden coins an expected me to live from that."
"That was mercy! You didn't deserve even a single agora!" Adan shouted wrathful. Then a great crowd started to grumble among themselves and to him. They cursed him, spat in his direction, even ladies and priests. Aron lost any voice to stop them. They all hated him.
And then, the earth shook, as Aron kicked the ground bellow him. It lasted just a few seconds, but enough for everyone to fall on their knees. They all then went silent and they were terrified. Elsa couldn't understand what kind of magic was Aron using or what trick was he doing. She stood up among the first.
"I will take that as an apology." he said and went down, walking to Elsa and her family. "I know all of you. I never forget the face." Aron then glanced somewhere else and started walking with his finger pointed at Rapunzel. "But you? I don't remember your face. No, don't bother to tell me. I know who you are, my niece. I heard of you. Though, people said your hair is still golden." Aron then looked at little baby Elsa in Rapunzel's hands. Rapunzel held baby Elsa in her arms tightly, and Flynn took out a sword, Andal Dorris as well. Aunts Arianna and Willow stood close to Rapunzel, aunt Arianna hugging her daughter, and both of them stared at Aron in fear. Aron just smiled and walked beside all his family. Elsa walked closer to her family. Freeze him! she said to herself.
No! she answered to herself. I am not like him.
"Anna." he whispered and Elsa fixed her eyes on Anna and him. "You are grown now. But you still have something childish in your face." Anna didn't change her face. She remained grim. Aron just glanced at Kristoff.
"Ice harvester, isn't it?" he asked. "Or Official Ice Master and Deliverer of Arendelle, isn't it, niece?" he looked at Elsa and she tried to control her anger. Aron walked to see his...family, until he stopped and stared into Ronall.
Aron smiled in the beginning, but his face became cold like stone, while Ronall couldn't keep his face still. His face was angry, he was pursing his lips and his blue eyes were fixed on Aron.
Elsa was afraid that Ronall will soon take out his sword and charge at Aron. When Aron turned away from Ronall, that took a load off her mind and she sighed in relief.
"You are all not happy to see me, I see." he finally said, without any sarcasm this time. Don't worry. I will not do to you what I did to them."
"To who?" Elsa asked, her curiosity stronger than her.
"The people I defeated." be said. "I had my own men who followed from before, some that I found during my voyages and some that I paid to join me. And some of them," he looked at the blonde bandit and the man standing beside him. "were always mine." Two bandits stared at Aron, while the blonde one looked Anna in the eyes. She could see who he was and guess who the other bandit was as well.
"With those followers, I had to do something. During our travels, we did many things. We fought armies and defeated warriors. I fought armies and defeated warriors. We, I, slaughtered many monsters, that you cannot imagine in your wildest dreams. And I had to fight some people that loved me as much as you do. And I was ready to kill them in their own homes." he took out a dagger and started observing it.
"And I did. As a pirate in their eyes, as a bandit, as a murderer, I destroyed many of them. I tore down their cities of Garlok, Vindas, Bormin, Chalg Kandor, Filgoth, Bamon and all others. And after that, everyone gave me a new name, by which you all certainly know me.
"The Black Snake." Robin said, and all the eyes fell on him. "You are the Black Snake."
"Yes. And the Red too. You know it very well, Robin."
Everyone then glanced at Aron once again. Elsa was caught, even terrified by this.
"How do you know who I am? We never saw one another." Robin asked him.
"We have actually, once. But you don't remember it. But neither do I know you because of that." but he didn't continue to speak to Robin, but turned to everyone else instead.
"You all heard of the demise of those cities and those peoples. After some time, I remembered all of you. All of Arendelle. All of Israel. It's fertile lands. It's huge mountains. It's vast fields. It's historical treasures. Well, excluding Avalor, of course. And I realized that all the gold and lands and power of the cities in the West, and the East,"
The East? When did he go to the East?
"all of it combined is nothing compared to Israel. One Israelite golden coin is worth more than all the treasure of Agrabah. One piece of land here," Aron took some dirt from the ground in his hand. "is bigger than all the Western empire, where the Norsemen used to live. One drop of water is worth more than all the shore of the Landis coast. And yet, this is the land that birthed me. And because of that I give you what I didn't give to all those peoples." he sat down on a nearby rock. "A chance. Bow your heads to me, all of you." everyone's eyes widened. "Swear your fealty to me, say that I am the true heir of David. And I will re-create his kingdom. What can you lose? I only want to unite Israel. To accomplish the dream of my forefather Arlic, the son of Solomon, who was the foreson of Davd, our beloved king and father. Say that I am equal in greatness to him."
There was a moment of silence.
"You...you were far away for ten years and now you want us to bow to you?" Adan broke the silence.
"You could have easily made up every word you said!" Grandan Harson, captain of the guard, commented.
"Do you want me to bring you a chair...your 'majesty'?" one man standing beside lord Aramir mocked Aron. And some of them started to laugh, but most not and then the laugh stopped.
"Our forefather did many wrong things." Joram started to speak. "He had many wives and lovers. He was unfaithful to his first wife, Michal. Because of him, countless people lost their lives. He murdered Uriah the Hittite. He did not raise his children the way he was supposed to. He failed to punish his son and that cause deaths of millions in Israel. He fought many wars. But!" Joram shouted.
"He was a man of God! His heart was full of repentance! He tried to fix every wrong he ever did. Whenever he was given a chance for peace, he always chose it. Whenever a woman was pregnant with his child, he would take that child and keep it in his home. How much did he regret the murder of Uriah? He was regretting it his whole life! He made so many psalms about it! That is something that haunted him his entire life! All his life he served the Lord and Israel!"
Then Joram looked at Aron again. "That is why we love him and remeber him as the great king! And you, you are not fit to say his name."
"I will achieve greater things than he did." he said and he was smiling. "My name will be remembered far more than his. I will rule far longer than he did. You don't believe I will?"
"After this play? I really doubt it. We all do." Adan said.
"Of course, I am not crazy to expect that all of you will fall before me now." he said. "I will first take what is rightfully mine and then go on with all of Israel." then Elsa saw him turning to her. "My niece. Do what is right. Give me what is rightfully mine. Give me the throne of Arendelle and you will be a helper in changing the future of all Israel. When I sit on my throne, I will change everything."
He is crazy. "Your throne?" Elsa asked. "I am the queen of Arendelle and you are far down the line. I might have the children myself, and my sister will have them and my brother Robin, and then my aunt Arianna and then Rapunzel and her children. You are only standing after them."
"Hmm, one problem with your counting my niece." he said, turning to his crew, but not looking at lady Caine. "Almost everyone you mentioned is a woman, including you." and they all laughed. Elsa knew he was dismissing her because she is a woman...but no one in Israel did that. Does he think he is smarter than whole Israel? Elsa wasn't insulted by this. She actually found it funny...though lady Caine seemed not to.
"I am sorry Aron, but no one else takes it is a problem except of you." she said to him.
"Literally." Joram added.
"I see no problem with it." lord Vardil Dorman said.
"Why would that matter?" lord Aramir asked him, and everyone stood for Elsa.
"See?" she said to him.
"Perhaps." he said. "I disagree with their approval. But there is one thing that certainly bothers them. Your magic. How many of you almost died in it, lords and ladies of Israel? How many of you lost your loved ones in that cold winter?" he asked the nobles of Arendelle. Elsa curiously looked at them, and they all tried to avoid her eyes. Then she remembered. She remembered when Anna told her she froze everyone.
Monster, a voice in her heart said to her. People were staring in her and Elsa tried to avoid their eyes this time. Then, lord Arvid Ethac spoke up.
"First of all." he started. "Not many. But even the ones who did, queen Elsa didn't know what she was doing. She didn't kill anyone out of any selfish desire or jealousy, unlike you!" lord Ethac pointed to Aron. "People hate you and will hate you more than they can possibly hate queen Elsa. And I know I would rather choose queen Elsa than a kinslayer like the one I am looking at."
Lord Vardil then stepped in to stand beside Arvid. "I agree. I know queen Elsa as well. And even if I hated her, I would rather choose a dog for a king than you."
"Queen Elsa is better than you!" general Simon, son of Judah said. "Everyone is better than you!"
And all people shouted for Elsa. Elsa felt kind of...better. They weren't afraid of her that much as she thought (Although that was probably just because someone they were afraid of more than her was here.) Aron, however, still smiled, but so did others.
"So, let's consider the odds." Grandan said. "You came here and gave a failed speech and now you see no one among us is going to stand with you. Now you are just standing here and smiling with your band. You are alone, and there thousands of us. We can order archers to shoot a rain of arrows at you and you will be dead on the spot. What is your plan now, Red Snake?"
Aron then turned and whispered something to one of his men. "I don't have any. I will just show you something." he said to all gathered.
Then the man he whispered to went to the boat and came back to them. He then offered something to Aron, although no one could see what was it. Then Aron took it, came closer to the crowd and showed it to them and everyone saw what it was-it was a blue precious stone, like ice. Elsa raised her eyebrow.
"A stone?" Flynn asked.
"You are showing us a stone?" general Simon said.
"You are kidding with us, aren't you?" Aramir told him.
Elsa however stared for a little at the stone and saw it had a very unique trait...it had a symbol of crocus inside it. Anna noticed the same.
"Wait, I know that stone." Elsa said to the people. "That is the stone that belonged to Armund the Great, he made that stone a thousand years ago." she then looked at Aron. "It is suppossed to be in the Arendelle treasury."
"Is it?" Aron said and threw the stone on the ground and stepped on it, breaking it. "It no more is." he said.
"How did you stole it?" Elsa asked, not paying attention to it being broken.
"What a fool would I be to say how? It doesn't matter, after all." he said. "What do you say now, lords and ladies?"
"You think to impress us with this trick? You saw that stone, you could have easily made one like it." Adan said.
"You will need a lot more than that to impress anyone." Arianna said.
"Something like this?" then Aron threw one of his belts and it turned into a snake. On this, no one was terrified. They all laughed instead.
"That is an old trick, from the days of Moses!" High Priest Húrin said.
"A magician is not important." High Priest Baldor said.
"Are you even Aron the Red Snake?" lord Dorman asked. "The Red Snake we know was a lying manipulator, not a silly magician." Then, as lord Dorman laughed, the Red Snake took the axe and it flew at him faster than the wind. And blood poured out of lord Vardil Dorman chest, and he fell on the ground, mortally wounded. His servants immediately took him away. They all stared at the Red Snake, finally recognizing him and they all stopped laughing and became serious.
Elsa moved away from him as far as possible. Aron then glanced into all the crowd. He took another axe and Elsa's heart started beating when he shouted and everyone wanted to flee. Aron then laughed and threw the axe to the ground.
"It was always easy to scare you. Always." he said and snapped his fingers. When he did that, the clouds hid the sun from the face of the earth and everything was darkened. Aron sat back on his rock.
Then he looked at Elsa again. "Niece, give me my throne." he looked down. "Or I will have to take it myself."
Elsa then raised her hands, ready to use her magic if she has to. "I would give it to a snake rather than you." Not that there is great difference.
"You will not give me my throne?" he asked her.
"No." she said. Elsa didn't want to give arguments, she thought it obvious.
"Good." then he turned to the nobles of Arendelle. "Will you rebel against her to follow me?" he asked them. They all looked at each other and at the place were lord Dorman was standing, but they stood firm.
"Not even in our madness." they said.
"You are already mad." he told them. "Since you all chose to not give me the throne. Good then." then he turned to lord Aramir. "Will you fight alongside me, lord Aramir?"
Lord Aramir's face was irritated. "What kind of question is that? Are you out of your mind? Never!"
"No?" Aron said seemingly disappointed. "Too bad..." he turned back to the boat, wanting to enter it again. But then he looked at lord Aramir once again. "...for you." he threatened the lord of Gondor. He wanted to enter the boat. "Alright then. I will take it myself. You have all made a mistake. You all disobeyed me with this. You all missed an opportunity. Don't blame me when the war falls on you.
"Aron!" Elsa heard a voice say. Aron turned immediately. He recognized the voice like she did. It was Rhaena, her grandmother...and his mother. Aron looked at her with a malevolent face. Elsa didn't like it, so she immediately came to stand before her grandmother.
"Grandmother, please leave." Elsa begged her.
"No!" she cried and pushed Elsa away and stepped little closer to Aron, but still far. The Red Snake was not smiling, he was wrathful.
"You are still alive?" he said with hatred. "You should have died by now, you are of no use to anyone."
"So are you!" another voice spoke up. Elsa looked and saw it was Sigurd Frost. He and Aron looked at one another with same faces of hatred, no smiles in them.
"And you?" Aron said. "You are old, too. You should be dead."
"And you are a fool." Sigurd said. "You should have died on the sea."
The Red Snake seemed ready to kill both of them at any moment. But he didn't.
"I don't have time for the two of you." he said and entered the boat. Elsa then noticed something she didn't the whole time while he was talking with them-on his face, he had a scar. Scar that spread from his nose to bellow his right eye. It was nothing terrible, but a line of scar was seen on his face. Elsa remembers he had that scar even few years before he was exiled. She just never paid attention to it.
Then Aron said to the people. "You all made a bad choice." he told them and then turned to Elsa, with small smile "You should have...let it go, niece." Elsa's eyes widened. Then all of Aron's men came back to the boat. Lady Caine was still standing.
"You should have bowed to him while you all could." she said with a demon's smile and entered the boat herself. As the boat went away, it was lost from the sigh in just few moments. People present stayed on the decks for that time.
"What just happened?" Flynn asked everyone. That's the exact question everyone was asking.
"I have no idea." Elsa answered him.
I guess this meeting with Aron sounded pretty lame or unimaginative, didn't it? Well, no, I intended it to be this way. And Aron is more interesting than what you got here. I am saying this just so that you might not say this is just a bad copy of Kingsmoot:)
See you later:)
Edit: So, yeah. I was re-reading and thinking about this chapter over and over again. And I realized how horrible the first version was.
"You don't believe I am able to sack you." who talks like that? I am ashamed of that version of the chapter.
You see guys, the way this fanfic started was thanks to Aron. He was the reason I started to organize this story in my head and then post it here. He was the reason this fanfic exists. And in the first version he was so horribly represented. This new version is better, but still far from a masterpiece, but it is a masterpiece compared to the first version of this. I will probably edit this chapter once again, I don't know when, but when I know how to present Aron even better (without contradicting anything that happens in later chapters) I will. Until then, this remains the chapter that introduces Aron to the story.
Happy New Year my friends, let's hope it will be better than 2020:)