Elsa woke up to a wonderful sound. It was the sound of Ciri and Anna's mingled laughter. She lay there on her back, eyes closed, a gentle smile on her lips, listening to the pair of them, joy in her heart. A sound she never knew she wanted and a sound she thought she may never hear again, mixed together. She had a feeling she might know what was causing the gale of laughter from Ciri. She felt Heins stir beside her, and knew he had woken up.

"Good morning," she said, giving him her sweetest smile and a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah," he grumbled, his tone showing he was still upset with her. Another peal of laughter split the air. "What are they laughing about?" Elsa smiled at him, tilting her head down and her eyes up, trying to look as innocent and cute as possible. "Oh no…" Heins sprang out of bed, threw on some clothes, and hurried out of the tent. As soon as he left, Ciri's laughter redoubled.

"Dammit Anna, what did you tell her?"

"Nothing!" Anna squealed between gasps, out of breath from laughter.

"Ciri, whatever she told you is a lie! I had absolutely nothing to do with that!"

Elsa got out of bed as Heins's protests mixed, then were drowned out by, the shrieks of laughter. She got out of bed and pulled some clothes on, then left the tent to see the rest of the camp beginning to rise as well. She saw Baldur and Leila coming out of their tent, looking around confused, Kristoff leaving his own with a yawn, Elsie walking towards them, rubbing her eyes, and through it all, Anna and Ciri kept laughing while Heins insisted it was all a misunderstanding.

Elsa decided she'd better rescue him. "Okay, okay, calm down everyone," she called, walking to the center of the camp with her hands held up. "We have work to do."

"Thank you, Elsa," Heins said, sounding exasperated.

"Questions about the Noodle Incident can be held until after we-"

"NO!"

The city of Weselton came into view later that morning. The city was a great deal smaller than Arendelle or Corona, but it still boasted a respectable amount of narrow streets and alleys that would let them move around undetected if they were careful. Getting in and out would be much simpler than in the aforementioned cities as well, as Weselton had no external wall, just occasional guard posts around the outside. According to one of Kristoff's sources within the city, they could establish a base in an old warehouse he owned near the edge of town.

At first, Elsa was nervous about being within the city, but as Kristoff pointed out, being hidden in a secure location was safer than staying in camps that could be found by anyone who happened to pass by. Besides, the Empire would have little to no reason to believe they would be in the city anyway. She had no rebuttal for this, so over the course of the next few hours, watched over by Gareth to make sure there were no Empire soldiers nearby, the group made their way to the warehouse in twos and threes. The Queensguard spread out to the various doors and windows to keep watch on the streets outside, leaving Elsa, Heins, Anna, and Kristoff to plan. Elsie and Ciri were going through the contents of the warehouse, gathering the food Kristoff's contact had stashed there in advance.

The four of them stood around a table with a map of Weselton spread out on its surface, with various landmarks and points of interest marked in an untidy scrawl. The city was quite old, and had grown like a weed, with no purpose or planning in its design, so it had become a roughly circular shape, spreading out from the small castle in the center of the city. The warehouse was situated on the outermost portion of the northeast section.

"So what do we know about the target? Arne, I think you said, right?" Elsa asked.

Kristoff nodded. "According to my contact, the target's house is here." He indicated a small clump of buildings built against the castle's southern outer wall.

"Way too close to the castle," Anna said. "Where does he work?"

"In the castle," Kristoff said.

"Shit," Anna muttered. "Okay, so what? We wait for him to travel out of town or something?"

"He's not the traveling kind, apparently," Kristoff said. "He's not left the city in months. I think Hans knows what he has, and he's not eager to give him up."

"Explains why he's so close to the castle," Heins said. "I wonder why they don't just have him live there?"

"Not much room in that castle," Elsa pointed out. "It's a quarter the size of Arendelle's." She looked at Heins. "Which one lives here again?"

"That dumb bastard Hubert," Heins spat. "Wish we could take care of him while we're here." Everyone turned to him. "What?"

"That's... not actually that bad an idea," Kristoff said, running a hand over his beard. "Hans has this guy, and he's apparently using him for something. If we try to get out with him, we'll have every guard in the city on our backs. But if we can cause a big enough distraction- killing the governor, for example- we can divide their attention and make it so they don't know what the hell to do before we're already gone. The chaos will keep them from being able to organize, and if we kill Hubert, there's going to be confusion about whose orders to follow."

"And in that confusion," Anna began.

"We could grab Arne," Elsa finished. They locked eyes, and without speaking, both knew what the other was thinking. "I could get you up there, easy."

"You sure? Where would I land?"

"If I arc you right-"

"Hang on," Kristoff interrupted, looking between them. "I know you're not talking about ice-jumping Anna on top of the wall, right? It's twenty feet high!"

"Of course not, don't be stupid," Anna said, and Kristoff had just enough time to look releived before she finished, "It wouldn't be just me, I'd take some of you with me."

"While I take the rest and grab the target," Elsa added. "He won't get far with his legs encased in ice."

"Hang on, this is insane," Heins protested. "We can't just break into the castle and kill the governor!"

Anna grinned, a fierce glint in her eye. "Wanna bet?"

With the basic plan set, the Queensguard set about preparing for their mission. Elsie and Ciri proved their worth many times over in the next few days. Both of them were unremarkable, even more so than the other members of the Queensguard, who had caused enough trouble with Heins over the past two years that wanted posters for them hung on street corners across the whole of the Empire. They would slip out with the morning crowds, returning later in the evening, gathering as much information as they could. They would visit Kristoff's contacts, memorize guard numbers and locations of guard houses, track guard patrols, and try to learn both Hubert and Arne's schedules.

Arne, who turned out to be a weaselly looking man in his fifties, shorter even than Ciri, with thick glasses and a thin mustache, was meticulous about his routine. He left his house each morning at 7:30 sharp. He walked to the castle gates, arriving by 7:35. From there, he stayed within the castle, reappearing at the gates at 6:05. He was home by 6:10. He never strayed from his path, he never left his house once he had arrived there. He was never accompanied by fewer than six guards.

Hubert, on the other hand, was as unpredictable as he was cruel. Some days he never ventured beyond the castle, other days he would wander around the town drunk, accompanied by a cadre of guards. The guards were ostensibly for Hubert's protection, but in reality, they were no more than a pack of thugs who mostly just held husbands back while Hubert groped their wives. On more than one occasion, Elsie or Ciri would return to the warehouse shaking with rage and with tears in their eyes. At those times, they would often refuse to share specifics about what they had seen.

One day, Ciri, distracted with counting guards at a post, had not noticed his approach in time. He had already started making his way towards her by the time she saw him, a greedy and malicious grin on his face. This was told to Elsa by Elsie, who held a trembling Ciri close, explaining how she had intervened, drawing Hubert's attention to her instead while Ciri fled, then slipping away through an alley before he could reach her. The thought of Elsie going through that was painful enough, but when Elsa pictured Ciri being violated by that monster, her vision went red. She very nearly stormed out of the warehouse to go kill Hubert herself, right then, and both Heins and Kristoff had to hold her back to keep her from leaving. Elsa ordered that neither Elsie nor Ciri were to leave the warehouse again, and while Ciri in particular took the next day off in grateful relief, by the day after that, both were begging Elsa to go out again to continue helping, which she reluctantly allowed after admonishing both to be more careful.

The rest of the Queensguard had plenty to do as well. They had been carrying out operations like this under Heins's direction for years now. Their expertise shone through as they scoured the map of the city, mapping out escape routes and potential ambush spots by day, then spending their nights moving about the city undetected, breaking a lock here, setting up a trap there. Silas broke into the church one night and unlatched a window on the second floor of the bell tower, so that he could climb to the top before the attack to provide support with his bow. The rest of the time, they were making the equipment they would need for their plan, including a simple grappling hook of Kristoff's design, and a rather ingenious invention of Baldur's that produced explosive results.

The teams for each part of the mission were picked next. As Elsa was required to remain outside the walls and to capture Arne, she and Anna were the only ones with natural roles. Both Heins and Kristoff wanted to stay with their wives, but Heins was adamant that he be part of the team to kill his brother. According to Heins, they could draw his brother out to fight if Heins was there, so they decided to swap. Kristoff would come with Elsa to capture Arne, while Heins would accompany Anna into the castle to kill Hubert. Alan stuck with Kristoff on Elsa's team, and Cari went with Anna's. Baldur and Leila would go with Anna, as her team was likely to face more opposition than Elsa's. Silas would provide overwatch and arrow support from the bell tower of the church, which overlooked both the entrance to the castle walls and Arne's house. Elsie and Ciri would be stationed at two of the escape routes with plenty of Baldur's invention, ready to help cover the escape of whichever team might come their way. Gareth would be high in the air as an owl. If he noticed anything that would compromise the mission, he would fly down to join Silas and ring the church bells, which would be their signal to abort the mission. If something went wrong after the mission had begun, Silas would fire a flaming arrow to signal that one of the teams needed assistance.

Then, two weeks after arriving in Weselton, the day of the attack had come. Anna was bouncing on the balls of her feet, her face full of grim determination. Heins sat cross-legged on the floor, his eyes shut, breathing deep, slow breaths. Kristoff stood next to his wife, rolling his shoulders and stretching. Elsa paced back and forth, clenching and unclenching her fists.

"It's time," Silas said from his perch near the roof, peering out of a window at the dark sky. It was just past midnight. He jumped down and looked around at all of them. "Good luck." He slipped out of the door without another word.

There was a flurry of activity as Silas left. Everyone wore their light armor and weapons underneath coats and cloaks. Elsa strapped on her bracers as Ciri and Elsie approached her.

"Good luck," Elsie said, curtseying.

"Good luck," said Ciri. She stood there for a moment, then darted forward and wrapped her arms around Elsa. "Stay safe. Please."

Elsa hugged her back. "You too," she whispered in her ear. Ciri stepped back, her face set. "Good luck to you both," Elsa said. "See you soon." The pair nodded and followed Silas into the night.

"See you all at the wall," Elsa said to the rest of the group, as they lined up near the door. They would all be taking different routes to the rendezvous, to prevent drawing undue attention before the time was right. Baldur and Leila left next, followed soon after by Alan and Cari, then Anna and Kristoff. Elsa and Heins left last, meandering through the streets arm in arm, appearing for all intents and purposes a couple out for a nighttime stroll. The streets were sparsely populated, but not empty. Elsa felt her heart pounding in her chest as she tried to walk casually, but as she focused on walking casually, it felt like she forgot how to walk.

"Relax, honey," Heins said after a few minutes. "Think about something else."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, anything."

"How about noodles?" she asked, grinning at him.

"Ugh… for the last time, it wasn't what it looked like."

"Suuuure," Elsa teased. "You really should be proud, I've never seen anything like that before."

Heins gave her a playful poke in the ribs. "I would be proud, if I was involved, but I wasn't. Still can't believe you told A-" He stopped himself just in time. They had already decided not to use each other's names just yet, in case a curious citizen was listening in, and the bounty on their heads would test even the most staunch supporter of the kingdoms' restoration. "Your sister."

"It certainly cheered her up."

"I suppose, but wasn't there anything else you could tell her?"

"What else takes your mind off something like that?"

"Nothing. We're here." They had just turned into the deserted alley where they were to meet the rest of the Queensguard. It was an ideal spot, the mouth of one end ending ten feet before the wall on the exact opposite side of the main gate, and the other end leading back towards Arne's house.

Elsa blinked. She almost hadn't noticed. "Well done, Heins." He inclined his head. Elsa peered up at the bell tower. She could see a faint figure there, his right arm held up at an angle.

"We're on," she whispered, and the rest of the Queensguard seemed to materialize out of thin air in the alley. They had gotten very good at remaining unseen over the past few years. Anna and Kristoff crept over to them. Elsa and Anna both hesitated, unsure of what to do, then they reached out at the same time, each pulling the other into an embrace. "I love you, sis. Stay safe."

"I love you too. Stay safe." They broke apart, and Heins moved next to Anna, and Kristoff moved next to Elsa. The four of them looked at each other.

"Watch each other out there," Kristoff said. "You're more important than the mission. We all are. Don't be afraid to abort. We can't help anyone if we're all dead."

"Agreed," Heins said. "Take care of each other," he said to Elsa and Kristoff.

"You guys too," Elsa said. "Alright, line up." Anna, Heins, Cari, Leila, and Baldur arranged themselves in a straight line, facing the castle's outer wall. Elsa got in front of them, knelt down, and pointed at each in turn. Each one answered with a sharp, determined nod. "Okay. Good luck." Elsa put one hand on the ground, then raised three fingers on the other. She put one down, one more, and… now!

She thrust a pillar of ice underneath each of them. They extended their legs at the same time, sending themselves soaring into the air towards the wall. Elsa dissipated the pillars with a wave of her hand as they reached the zenith of their arcs at the very top of the wall, landing almost noiselessly on the narrow battlements. Elsa waited with bated breath for the all clear signal.

"There it is!" she whispered, as she saw Anna wave once from the top of the wall. "Let's go." Elsa led the way back along the alley, towards Arne's house, with Kristoff and Alan following close behind.