It was Tuesday morning. Despite the sun, Inga felt a sharp chill in the air as she opened her window. She shivered a bit as she washed and changed into a dress appropriate for the weather. After dressing, she took a deep breath, left her room, and walked to the study.
"Inga!" Frederick greeted her cheerfully. "Are you helping today?"
"Inga?" her mother asked in confusion.
"Yes, I thought you might like some extra help."
"Well, thank you," her mother replied, handing her a stack of letters.
Frederick gave her a sideways glance, which she pretended to ignore. They got through everything very quickly, with no conversation aside from the occasional discussion of who should get a particular letter.
"That's everything for now, I think," their mother told them when it wasn't quite lunch time, "Can you come to the meeting with Corona this afternoon? Your father will be at the trade guild meeting."
"Do we get a choice of meeting?" Frederick laughed. "The trade guilds usually serve better food."
The Queen glared at him. "Not today."
"I'll be there," Inga piped in.
Frederick nodded and got up, mumbling something about finding Anton and Peder for a ride, and letting the door slam after him.
Inga remained sitting across the desk from her mother. She didn't want to be rude and run out with barely a comment like her brother had just done. He could get away with that, but she couldn't, not today, at least. She needed to prove that she wasn't still upset.
"I didn't mean to pry yesterday," her mother told her. "I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me."
Talking with her mother was exactly what Inga wasn't ready to do. Perhaps later. She nodded and maintained eye contact, doing her best to stay calm and composed.
"You don't have to come to the meeting this afternoon, you know."
"I'd rather come, but thank you," Inga said as she stood up, doing her best to hide any hint of emotion. "I'll see you in two hours."
"You're up early," Hilde commented as she sat down by her brother, who was staring out the window of the breakfast room. His food was untouched.
"Am I? The sun rises so early here, you know."
"That's in the summer," she corrected, "Sunrise is a half hour later here than in Corona now. I checked the almanac before we left."
"Really?"
"Yes," she said, rolling her eyes, then looked around the room to confirm that they were alone. "Now, since you've dragged me along on this trip over a month earlier than planned, will you let me know if there's anything going on? My maid keeps asking me questions."
Henry flushed. "What? You haven't… have you been telling her? I mean, what have you been telling her exactly?"
"Relax, I just ask her enough questions to get an idea of the general gossip. I swear I haven't been the source of anything, why would I want to do that? Besides, she only asks me about you because your valet never tells her anything interesting. I have better things to do. But... Do you know what they're saying about you today?"
"Today? Were they saying things before?"
"Nothing any of us do is really private, you know that, don't you? Of course they were talking. To be fair, I've never heard any interesting gossip about you except for the morning after the coronation ball. They talk about me, too, though apparently the only interesting thing about me is my clothing, so I give them that. And they talk about her…" Henry looked up wide eyed.
"Fine, tell me."
"It seems, when you went missing for a little while after we first arrived, you met up with a girl in the marketplace. My maid told me she saw this herself."
"Oh," he mumbled, "I guess I forgot that there were people around."
Hilde raised her eyebrow. "So, she saw something? Because some staff here heard the same whispers in the marketplace, about the foreign prince flirting with the first girl he met. As usual, your valet has nothing interesting to tell about you."
"I was in the market yesterday, and I suppose it could be called flirting."
"That's an odd answer, especially given last night at dinner..."
"You already talked to me about that."
"And I would have talked to you more if I'd heard about what happened in the market!"
"Fine, you're going to tell me I'm exposing her to gossip, I get it."
"So Inga was in the market? You could have said so when I asked and saved me a lot of trouble."
"Oh, I thought that was what they were saying."
"No, actually, so now half of Arendelle thinks you're a terrible flirt. Nevermind that, are you going to tell me what's going on with you two?"
"I don't know."
"Is she not interested, then?"
"That would make things simple."
"You sure are cryptic this morning."
"If there's something to share, you'll be the first to know."
"You promise?"
"On second thought, no."
Inga arrived at the room for the meeting a few minutes early, and saw Frederick arriving as she got to the door.
"How was your ride?"
"Good. Did you have lunch? You hardly ate last night."
"I ate," she replied, leaving out that she had only grabbed a piece of toast with a bit of jam.
"Oh," Frederick interrupted before she needed to think of something else to say, "I ran into Elizabeth on my way here. She says Lars isn't feeling well, so I guess he won't be at the meeting this afternoon."
"That's too bad." Inga forced herself to stay calm. She remembered the encounter with Lars that weekend, and what she'd learned about him. Had Lars become too curious? "Did she say anything else?"
"No," Frederick replied, smirking a little, "but I guess if it was something in the food, you're safe."
Inga sighed, remembering that Margit Nilsen had seemed uneasy yesterday. Perhaps she would take her up on the offer of talking later. "Is anyone inside yet?" she asked Frederick to change the subject.
"Pretty much everyone else from Corona," he told her. "Do you want to head on in?"
"Let's go," she said, breathing to calm herself.
Everyone in the room stood when she entered. She caught Hilde's gaze first, then looked over to Henry, who looked back, blinking. Was he nervous? There was nothing they needed to say to each other this afternoon, which was good, because there was nothing she would want to say in front of other people.
Their mother arrived soon after, and the meeting began. Inga sat quietly, gazing at the books on the shelves immediately behind whoever was speaking at the moment. She kept count of the times her eyes accidentally met Henry's: six.
At one point, an official letter from Corona was passed around. She read it over, trying not to let herself be distracted by the differences between the King's handwriting and his grandson's. She wondered whether the King knew any details about why this shuffle of diplomatic personnel was happening, or was simply signing off on instructions from his daughter the Crown Princess.
At some point, Ambassador Meyer had mentioned that he would make a decision about which of the three men he would hire by the end of the week. No one was quite sure when Arendelle would have a location selected for a new consulate, and Inga felt almost ready to flip the table in spite of protocol when they realized that their questions were best discussed with Lars in person.
The business for the day was concluded. Everyone got up. Inga simply stood by her seat, unable to decide where to go. There were no more meetings for the day, and nothing that needed to be done.
"Inga?" Frederick asked, pulling her back to the present.
"What?"
"I asked if you wanted to get dinner with us. I was going to take them to Hudson's Hearth."
She looked around. Her mother had left, as had Ambassador Meyer. Kai was directing a young servant to clean up the room and get the furniture back to a better arrangement. Henry and Hilde were standing behind Frederick, looking at her expectantly.
"Oh, yes, of course," she replied, following behind as they left.
Wednesday morning wasn't quite as cold as Tuesday morning had been, but there was still a slight chill in the air. Dinner had been frustratingly uneventful. Inga couldn't help but notice that Henry had been nearly as silent as she was through most of it, and Frederick explained many details of Arendelle to Hilde.
But that was last night. Inga hadn't made any promises about helping anyone today. She was awake and dressed so that she could possibly go riding later, feeling somewhat restless. She picked up the book on her bed stand, and the letter from Henry fell out. There was no point in writing back right now, was there? Except, yes, there could be a point. Did he know where the garden was? Well, he could figure that out. Having written a quick note which she stuck in her pocket, she went to her dresser, opened the top drawer, moved aside a few things, and placed Henry's most recent letter on top of the other letters from him. She leafed through them idly, coming to the photograph at the bottom of the stack, picked it up, and looked at it. The formal portrait looked almost like a stranger, having all of his features, but none of the spark of seeing him in person. She still wasn't sure what had come over her the other night. She couldn't exactly say that she regretted her behavior, but at the same time, she wished she felt more in control of herself. As she looked at his picture, she wondered what Henry actually thought of the photo she'd sent him. His photo went back to the bottom of the stack of letters, and she carefully closed the drawer.
Inga quickly made her way down to the guest rooms, suddenly panicking when she realized she wasn't sure which one was his. She really had no excuse for being here if someone asked. Suddenly, a nearby door opened, and Inga stood to the side.
"Of course, Your Highness," she heard a lady's maid saying as she closed the door. "Oh, excuse me, Miss," the young woman gasped as she nearly bumped into Inga.
"Don't worry about it," Inga replied.
The maid nodded and went on her way. After a moment, Inga looked at the door the woman had come out of, and guessed that it was Hilde's room. She decided she'd take the chance that the door next to it was Henry's room, and slipped her note underneath, trying to head away quickly and quietly.
As she turned the corner, Inga stopped again as she heard a door opening, but the giggling and footsteps told her it was from the nursery. She turned around to see her sister Sofia running toward her.
"Where are you going?" Inga asked, trying to sound stern, barely hiding a laugh.
"Inga! Hi! We're going out to the garden, but I forgot my sweater. Do you want to come?"
Inga nodded and followed along.
Nanny was already in the garden with the younger children. Marie was fussing over the baby, and their little brother Karl was off finding things to climb on. Inga sat down next to Marie and the baby, and tried her best to simply enjoy the moment in the autumn sunlight.
"Come down, Karl!" Sofia shouted, repeating Nanny's admonishment from a moment earlier. Inga watched as her youngest brother found a way up the side of the wall, almost like a mountain goat. He giggled at every shout to come down, and climbed higher.
"I think that's enough now," Inga laughed as he started standing on the top of the wall. She climbed up to the top, realizing too late that she had no plan for getting back down. Still, she was glad she was up there with her baby brother, though he wasn't quite a baby anymore, was he? The other side of the wall went straight down to the rocks below along the fjord. She scooted over next to little Karl, and grabbed him as he walked over to her. He settled into her lap, and she decided spending a few minutes looking at the view wouldn't hurt. She could figure out the next step later.
Sofia had gone over to Marie and Baby Linne while Nanny ran off to find Kai. Marie was suggesting all sorts of games which weren't quite appropriate for such a young baby, and Sofia was making slightly less awful suggestions. Inga didn't want to turn around, since she'd have to start thinking about how high up they were, so she kept staring off in the distance, one arm tightly around her little brother, and the other gripping the edge of the wall behind her.
She heard some commotion behind her, and heard Anton and Peder shouting juvenile insults at each other. Peder shouted something especially crude, and there was a thud of bodies hitting each other, and Anton laughing. Letting out a sigh, Inga turned around as much as she felt she could safely do, spotting Anton standing near her sisters.
"Shouldn't you be with your tutors?" she shouted. "If you have so much energy, come help us down here."
"Sorry, Inga," Anton shouted back, "I'm too busy laughing at Peder."
"Laugh at him another time, help me out here!"
"Oh, fine. Peder, get up off the ground and make sure you didn't actually hurt that fellow from Corona."
Inga swallowed nervously, turning back around to out over the fjord. She was so focused on her siblings that she had forgotten about her note. She hadn't given an exact time.
"Okay, Inga," Anton called from down below, "I'll climb up, take Karl, and then you climb down and I'll hand him to you."
"Sure, why not?" she laughed nervously. She wondered if leaving her room this morning had been a good idea.
She glanced quickly down behind her and saw Anton's red hair. He quickly got to the top and sat beside her, facing back toward the castle. Karl giggled as he saw his brother, and Inga handed him over. She exhaled in relief, and started her way back down to the ground, thankful that she had dressed for riding, at least, so no one below would get a show.
As her feet touched the ground, she let go over the stones and tried to brush the dirt off, shaking the tunic, glad that it wasn't a light color. She still needed to help with Karl, but now she wished Frederick were here, since he was the only one of them really tall enough for this task. Where was he this morning? Probably talking to the Admiral, if he wasn't with the twins.
"Anton, please be safe, at least with Karl!" she called back up. Their little brother thought it was delightful being dangled down from the top of the wall. Inga caught his feet, and as Anton let go the little boy grabbed her around the neck, causing her to stumble.
She gave Karl a kiss on the cheek and set him down. Anton walked along the top of the wall until he could jump to the tree.
"You're just giving him more ideas, you know!" Inga shouted.
"Oh, hello, Kai!" Peder shouted behind her. Inga turned around to see Nanny picking up the baby and scolding the sisters for playing whatever game they had been playing. She walked over to Nanny and took the baby off her hands so that she could chase after Karl before he got into more trouble.
As she held baby Linne, she realized that she hadn't seen the baby nurse all morning, and was wondering when she would get back, since the smell was rather bad. Nanny was coming back with Karl, her hand gripping his wrist very firmly.
"Your Highness," she heard Kai's voice behind her, "do you need any help?"
"Yes, thank you, Kai, if you could," she answered before turning around, "where is-"
Kai was standing a few feet behind her, but facing away, and had been speaking to Henry, who was sitting on the ground a short distance away. He looked over and smiled.
"Thank you, I'm fine," Henry replied to Kai as he got up.
Kai nodded, and looked to Inga. "Your Highness?"
"Thank you, I'm fine," she responded without thinking, her eyes locked on Henry.
Kai nodded and left.
"Were you here this whole time?" she asked.
"Sorry," he began, "I got your note, and I came out to find you, and then, well, I didn't say anything because you were up on the wall and I was afraid you might be startled…"
"So you were the one my brother ran into?" she laughed.
"Um, yes," he mumbled, looking at his feet.
They stood silently, still several feet apart.
The baby squirmed, and Inga remembered she had meant to ask Kai about the location of the nurse. "I… I need to go," she mumbled.
Henry frowned. "I'll get out of your way."
"Oh, no!" Inga replied, flustered again. "Please don't go. I didn't mean it like that. It's just… the baby, um… she doesn't smell very good right now, and I was going to go ask Nanny to take over."
As if on cue, the baby nurse came over, apologizing for having slept so long that morning. Inga told her not to worry, and thanked her.
"So, um, you sent me a note?" he stammered.
"Of course," she said. She looked around. When she wrote the note, she had hoped the garden might be empty. "It's getting a bit crowded here."
"I suppose it is, but-"
She grabbed his hand and led him to the door in the wall that led down to the fjord. The wind was blowing in from the north, and she saw Henry shiver a bit as he walked down to the rocks with her. It hadn't rained recently, so the rocks were dry. She let go of his hand and sat down on the largest rock. Henry stood where she left him looking confused.
"Are you going to come over here? I won't bite."
He raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"Well, do you want to know how I send letters or don't you?"
"Oh!" he laughed, coming over. "I really had absolutely no idea why you brought me here."
She felt very conscious of how small the rock actually was as he sat down. Her hands were clenched in her lap. The air was chilly down here by the fjord, and he was warm. It wasn't so bad.
"So…" he hemmed after he had been there a moment.
Inga swallowed. "Gale?"
Henry grabbed her hand as the wind whipped around them. He looked at her with his mouth slightly open, like he wanted to ask a question.
"No, I don't have any letters," Inga declared. A second gust swept more directly around Henry, who tightened his grip on her hand. "Yes, that's him, you already know it is… so can you get his letters to me?" Henry was staring at her now, and she tried to ignore it, but a leaf hit her in the face. "No, I didn't exactly tell my aunt. If she tells you to stop… Fine, thank you."
The air was suddenly calm again.
Inga let out a long breath and looked at Henry again. "There, it's all settled."
"What's settled?" He was staring wide eyed.
"Your letters won't take two weeks to get to me any more."
"How?"
"That was the wind spirit," Inga explained, "You just ask, like I did, except you should probably be more respectful."
"I…" he stammered. "I suppose this explains a lot."
"Probably best if you don't tell anyone, though."
He nodded, looking out. She felt his grip on her hand loosen a bit, but he didn't let go.
"Sorry I didn't warn you," she said, running her thumb along the side of his hand, "but it's not like it would have made that much sense."
"You're not much for giving warnings, are you?" he smiled.
"Oh, right." She could feel the blood rushing to her face. She looked away, then quickly looked back again. He was still looking at her.
"I'm pretty sure we're both awake this time," he laughed.
"I…yes? Of course..." Of course what? She looked into his eyes.
Henry's free hand reached over to her cheek and she turned toward him, interlacing her fingers with his other hand. As their lips met, she felt his hands move around her waist, and moved her hands under his coat. She hadn't realized her fingers were starting to feel cold until then. She wasn't sure how much time had passed when they stopped, both breathing heavily, noses touching.
"So…" he breathed.
Inga rested her head on his shoulder, her hands still under his jacket. She wasn't sure what to say. This was comfortable, and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to move, though they would eventually have to. "I'm hungry," she muttered, wondering why she was saying this before she even finished speaking.
"Um…" he sat up a little, smirking. "Actually, I am, too. I didn't really eat breakfast this morning."
Frederick had spent the entire morning down at the harbor talking with the Admiral. The Admiral was preparing to sail to Bergen that afternoon, leaving Frederick on his own for lunch. He wasn't sure where anyone was, so he went to the castle kitchen. Coming in from the outside, he forgot that he now needed to duck on the last step down, and hit his head on the beam overhead, letting out a scream.
As he stood rubbing his head, he heard others in the kitchen, so he carefully ducked down and walked in.
"Hi, Frederick," Inga laughed nervously, quickly finishing tying off her hair in a loose braid. "Did you hit your head again?"
"What makes you think I did?" he chuckled. As he looked around for what he wanted to eat, he noticed Henry standing at the other end of the table. "Henry? Good, I told you you should feel free to come down here if you're hungry, I'm glad to see you did."
"Um, yes, thanks," Henry mumbled, walking back toward Inga to pick up the half eaten sandwich sitting next to her.
"Were you talking to the Admiral this morning?" Inga asked.
"Yes," Frederick answered while he reached for the food he wanted, "and he's heading to Bergen this afternoon."
He stood eating, watching the other two finishing their sandwiches. Henry seemed a little too focused on his sandwich, and Inga wasn't usually the type to fiddle with her hair in public. He wasn't sure why they were acting oddly. His sister might think she was hiding something, but she wasn't.
He heard something coming from the hallway inside, and looked toward the door behind his sister and Henry. It creaked open, startling the two, and Frederick saw their mother come in.
"Mother!" he called. "Are you joining us for lunch?"
Their mother stood for a moment looking somewhat perplexed at the group in front of her. "Thank you, Frederick, I think I will. Could you get something for me?" Frederick quickly put something together for her.
"Hello," Inga greeted, trying to sound less awkward than she had clearly been the last several minutes. As their mother walked to the opposite side of the table from her. Frederick set down a plate with a sandwich. "How was your morning?"
"Oh, fine. " their mother replied with a smile, "I met with the council. Nothing actually got settled with anything they were talking about."
"Do they ever settle anything?" Frederick groaned.
"Certainly not today, and one duke was trying to impress me by quoting a book he'd obviously never read. Not that I've had time to read it, but Inga would have been helpful."
"I think I know who you're talking about," Inga sighed with exasperation, turning to Henry. "Ever since Karl was born he's acted like we named him in honor of that man and thinks we'll be impressed if he drops his name. I'd like to go back and change my brother's name if I could just to avoid it. I've asked that duke enough questions, I know for sure he's never read anything beyond the local newspaper, let alone anything on economics."
"Have you read Mill?" Henry asked, looking at Inga.
Their mother startled slightly, not having paid full attention to who was sitting at the table.
"I meant to, actually, earlier this summer. I've… I should find my copy," she smiled a little. "Have you read Ricardo?"
"I liked Ricardo more," Henry declared, looking like he was seeking Inga's approval.
Frederick wasn't sure if he should leave the conversation wherever it was going, or if he should begin some other topic with his mother, but Kai entered at that moment.
"Your Majesty?"
"Yes, Kai?"
"His Highness has told me he will not be attending the dinner with the Belgian Ambassador. Is there anyone else you would like to attend?"
"Oh," their mother sighed. "Inga, Frederick?"
"Um, sure," Inga replied. Frederick thought she looked a little uncertain about their mother's invitation.
"I can be there," Frederick said immediately.
She smiled, "Kai, we'll be there at six."
After the steward left, she finished the sandwich Frederick had made her as they sat silently. "Thank you," she said as she stood up, "I should go find your father now. I'll see you this evening."
"I should get going," Henry said, "I promised Hilde we'd go on a ride this afternoon."
"We have several hours, would you like company?" Frederick asked.
"If it's not an imposition," Henry replied.
"None at all," Frederick laughed, "and besides, it looks like Inga is already dressed for riding."
It was late afternoon when they got back, with a little over an hour to get ready for dinner. Inga bathed and dressed, trying to get her hair arranged as best she could. There was still half an hour until dinner, but she had nothing to keep her in her room.
Walking down the hallway, she saw Elizabeth looking at the family portrait painted when Inga was nine.
"Elizabeth?" she called out.
"Oh, Inga, hello," Elizabeth responded. "You look well."
"Thanks, I kind of have to, dinner with some Belgians tonight. How are you?"
"I don't want to take up your time if you're in a hurry," Elizabeth responded apologetically.
Inga frowned, realizing she had made it sound like she was brushing her off. "I'm not in a hurry at all. What's wrong?"
"I feel like I should ask you that question. You seem fine this evening, and I don't want to pry, but, I know there was something upsetting you the other night, after the ball."
"It's… it's complicated," Inga sighed. "There are a lot of things we don't want to know about the people we love."
"I don't know if that's really true," Elizabeth protested, "though… I think Lars isn't telling me something, and I wish he would tell me. He was talking with his mother after dinner Monday night, and he's seemed upset ever since. He was talking to your father this morning, and he went out for a ride, but he's not back yet."
"Oh," was all Inga managed to say. Lars knew the truth now. She wondered why they hadn't met him on their ride, but perhaps they went a different way. She hoped he hadn't gone too far.
"I… I should probably get going. Mrs. Nilsen told me to meet her for dinner soon."
It was Thursday. Walking along the corridor, she heard Ambassador Meyer's voice coming through his door. Her childhood instincts to listen in on foreign visitors got the best of her, and she slowed down for a moment on hearing him mention the royal orders from Corona.
"You'll train him, of course."
She heard a muffled "yes, Sir" from Lars, and hurried on her way, not actually interested in the conversation, but glad to know that Lars was well enough today. She continued on her way to the study, hoping to find her mother.
Entering the study without knocking, she saw her mother was alone.
"Good morning," Inga said, walking in.
"Good morning," her mother replied, watching her closely.
"How are you today?" Inga asked coolly, expecting some small talk about the dinner the night before.
"I'm fine," her mother replied, pausing and looking down at the papers in front of her. "Do you know that the ship from Corona is leaving tomorrow?"
"No," Inga said, her throat tightening a little.
"They're leaving one of the candidates here for training, I don't remember which. I think they're going to England next. Their emissary told me all of this earlier this morning."
"That's good to know," Inga replied, shifting uneasily, finding it suddenly hard to focus.
"Here," her mother quickly changed the subject, handing her a large stack of letters. "Why don't you start on these?"
Inga walked across the courtyard. She had the entire afternoon to herself, but couldn't decide what she wanted to do. As she passed by the stables, she saw her father stepping out, wiping his hands. She stopped, he saw her and walked over.
"Hello," she mumbled.
"How are you?" he asked, stopping a few feet away.
"I'm fine," she answered, hesitating a little. "I'm sorry, by the way, for everything I said to you."
She looked him directly in the eye, and it felt painful.
"You already apologized," he reminded her, "but thank you."
Inga swallowed hard and took a strong breath. "How are you?"
"Fine," he answered, "I won't hold you up if you're meeting people in town."
"I'm not really sure what I'm doing right now," she said with a nervous laugh, trying her best not to avoid crying in this public place. Her father stepped forward hesitantly. Inga stepped forward, and leaned in as he hugged her tightly.
"You'll be fine," he told her.
"Maybe," she replied as she stepped back, "but probably."
"Good," he smiled, "now, go have lunch."
Inga turned the corner to her room and saw Henry standing there.
"Hi," he smiled.
"Hi," she replied, biting her lip a bit. "I heard you're leaving tomorrow?"
"Yes." He looked at his feet, one hand fumbling in his coat pocket. "I'll write to you, I promise."
"I know," she beamed.
He pulled his hand out of his coat pocket, holding onto something small. "I wanted to give you this."
"I still have the photo you gave me before," she blurted out.
"No, this is… um, here." He pushed the envelope into her hand.
She opened it up and saw a small pencil drawing that looked almost exactly like the photograph she'd sent him, but it was only of her. She blinked, staring at it. Her nose wasn't quite right, but she liked his version better than the real thing. It was beautiful, and he'd made it for her. She couldn't think of what to say.
"You don't have to keep it if you don't like it," he added quickly.
"Why? No… I mean, I do like it, but, what is it? I mean, I know what it is, but-"
"I drew it on the way here," he said. "Or, well, I started drawing it. I won't show you the ones that didn't work. I hope it's not… I don't know-"
"I love it," she interrupted. "Thank you." Inga couldn't help but hug him. She could hear him gasp a little from the force she hit him with, but soon he held her close, as well. As they pulled away, she saw him smile a little less shyly, and there was a definite gleam in his eye.
Inga sat at the harbor early Friday morning, watching the ship from Corona sail away toward the open sea, heading for England next. They had been up before dawn loading the ship, and Inga had barely managed to get up when it was first light out, so her goodbyes with Henry had to be awkwardly public. Now, she hugged her legs and sighed, listening to the bustle of the morning business picking up behind her.
"Inga?" She heard Elizabeth call out behind her.
"Oh, hello," Inga smiled, stretching her legs to hang over the ledge where she was sitting. "What are you up to this morning?"
Elizabeth looked up. "Lars was up early to meet with the Ambassador and to train his replacement. I saw the ship being loaded, and I thought I might come take a look. How are you?"
"I'm fine," she said, "would you like to join me?"
"I don't think I can get up there," Elizabeth admitted.
"That's not a problem," Inga said, lowering herself down to the quay. "Were you going anywhere?"
"Not in particular. So, you've been well?"
"I… I think so," Inga replied honestly. "How is everything with…" she couldn't manage to finish her question, but looked meaningfully at Elizabeth.
"Better, I think. He had fallen asleep by the time I was done with dinner the other night, and since then he's been up early and working. I suppose he'll tell me what was going on when he's ready."
Inga could only nod in agreement as they walked along.
"They were talking about trying to get over there before winter," Elizabeth said after a moment. "If we sail to England next month, we could take a steamship over."
"So soon? You wouldn't even be here for Christmas, you know."
"I know, but Lars has decided it's imperative to have the post filled now."
Inga frowned, but it wasn't her place to interfere. "I'm sorry you'll be missing it."
"I am too," Elizabeth said, touching Inga's arm. "You have to promise to write. I'll write you, if you don't mind, of course."
"Yes, please," Inga said. "And, please promise you won't stop writing me, even if it takes longer to reply sometimes. It's always disappointing when someone stops writing."
"Of course," Elizabeth exclaimed. "But for now, it's a beautiful day. Let's enjoy it."
