Elsa walked in the door of Klein & Gabler, a prestigious law firm on the 34th floor of the Prudential Center tower, to be greeted by the beautiful Italian marble lobby, replete with mahogany furniture and gold-trimmed… everything. The firm was beyond wealthy; its only serious competition was rival firm Wolfram & Hart. She'd spent much of the previous day sifting through the electronic messages on her phone and tablet, trying to understand who's who in the modern Elsa's life and work. After half a day of research and connecting the dots, she knew at least enough to work out the basics of who she needed to talk to.
"Ms. Beck!" A young, slender, raven-haired Chinese woman near the front desk practically shouted as she shot out of her chair. "We thought you got hit by a bus or something. What happened?"
"Oh, um, good morning," Elsa smiled, cringing slightly at the intensity of the woman's gaze. "My physicians aren't sure what exactly happened but… I've had some severe memory loss. Is Mr. MacDonald in?"
"He's in a meeting but should be available in a few minutes. Want me to come get you when he is?"
Elsa nodded. "Yes please. Umm, where should I wait?" she asked, looking at the rich Italian leather couches in the lobby area, the wall behind them littered with trophies and awards for the firm.
The woman cocked her head, something Elsa found quite cute, especially as she was very sharply dressed for someone so apparently young. "At your desk?"
"My… desk. I- I'm afraid I don't remember. Can you point me in the right direction, ma'am?" she asked, turning her head slowly to see a large open work area with a dozen long workbenches, computers and phones everywhere, and dozens of young workers milling about under harsh, sterile fluorescent light.
"Wow, you really don't remember anything?" The woman stepped out from behind the mahogany desk. "Come on, follow me. I guess you don't remember my name, either?"
Elsa shook her head. "I'm… very sorry."
"Magnolia. We just started working together." She walked Elsa to her desk; instead of being one of the sterile workbenches that the junior staff used, Elsa had a small interior office reserved for non-equity partners. The equity partners, of course, had the outer wall offices with the stunning views of the city skyline, and the senior partners had the corner offices.
"Thank you, Magnolia. I… is it all right if I ask you for help, while I navigate my… medical issues?" she asked, clasping her hands tightly behind her back to avoid appearing nervous. She recalled many of the names in her email, but Magnolia was not one she remembered from her research.
Magnolia chuckled. "Uh, yeah! I mean, I have to do what you say anyway, since I work for you. I'm your summer law clerk. Also, you usually call me Maggie."
"Great," she sighed with relief, looking around the small office. On the mahogany desk was a framed picture of Anna, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and standing next to a statue, her hand in an unfamiliar gesture with two fingers pointed up. Next to the desk was some sort of potted tree, and very little else gave her any indication of what her doppelganger was like. Elsa wondered just what kind of person her alter-ego was; after she'd opened the gates to the palace, she and Anna had gone on a decorating spree, putting up family portraits, pulling art out storage, doing everything to make the palace feel like home again. This Elsa's office looked so bare that one could be forgiven for thinking it was an empty desk.
"Can… can I ask what happened?" Maggie tendered, hesitating. Elsa smiled, gestured for her to sit down in one of the chairs, and recounted the last few days of her official story and amnesia for a quarter hour as Magnolia listened with rapt attention.
"Wow. That's intense. So you really don't remember anything at all?"
"Not a thing. That's why I've come in to talk to Mr. MacDonald; since I literally cannot remember how to do my job, I need to file for short-term disability." She'd read up on the basics of disability law, and with the urgent care clinic's diagnosis, she had enough proof for it.
A flurry of activity outside her office caught her attention, and just as Elsa stood up to close the door, a man in a refined Italian suit charged in, pressing a leather-covered folio against his chest like a shield. She appraised him quickly; probably close to Anna's age, athletic, with intense pale blue eyes and slicked back hair. She stood to address him. "Good morn-"
"Elsa! Thank God you're back. Listen, we don't have much time." He beckoned for her to follow him as he speed-walked across the office, Maggie chasing behind them with an armful of folders. "Jay from SITC is in The Pit, and that douchebag from Weselton Corp is on his way over. We need to get this settlement done today, because otherwise we risk going to trial. Kris fucked up the filing, so I need you to keep Jay from losing his shit. We can't afford to lose them as a client right now, and he's right on the edge of dropping us. If this goes to trial, we're probably fucked." Their power-walk across the floor brought them to a glass-enclosed conference room with "The Pit" artfully inscribed on a small brass label adhered to the door.
"Just keep him happy while I get that asshole from Weselton and bring him up, okay?" the man said, dashing off while Elsa looked at Maggie, wide-eyed. With a deep breath, she shrugged and walked into the conference room…
… and fought with every ounce of her soul to not freeze the lone occupant solid. "Hans!" she hissed, glaring daggers at him, her hands hovering in front of her.
The red-headed man sitting in one of the leather chairs turned abruptly. "What the fuck?" He stood up abruptly, nearly knocking over his chair. "No one calls me that! Not you, not Lindsey, not even your precious Senior Partners. I don't care what you've been digging up on me - and don't think I haven't noticed - but that name is off-limits!" he shouted, instantly red in the face.
Elsa blinked. Of course, in this world, Hans would be different. Here, he was some kind of businessman instead of the thirteenth son of a royal crown. She noted, barely able to control her smirk, that he lacked his usual sideburns. She sat down at the end of the table, Maggie taking a seat to her right. "Sorry. Jay, is it?" she said without an ounce of emotion in her voice, gesturing at his chair.
He returned her glare before pulling his chair back under him and easing himself into it, his anger draining away to a resigned scowl. "Sorry. I… haven't heard that name in a while. Nothing good associated with it. How did you even find it? I hired a private investigator who told me he buried everything there ever was about… that name."
"I… it probably came up in a filing somewhere, I'm sure. Now," she coughed discreetly, "Jay, what seems to be the problem with the… settlement?"
Maggie slid a folder of papers in front of Elsa, silently praying that whatever was wrong with her boss could be covered up. Elsa was the only person she'd interviewed with at all the big area law firms that would even consider her as a law clerk despite her stellar academic record. Her friends in law school had suggested over drinks one evening that the problem wasn't her academic record as much as it was her not looking like the typical law associate. If Elsa got canned, she had no doubt her clerkship would be terminated immediately after.
"You know what the problem is, Ms. Beck. That bastard Weselton wants 22% as part of the settlement, and that will bankrupt SITC. We can't afford more than 16%, and even that's going to screw us over for years," he sagged, holding his head in his hands, elbows on the polished conference room table.
Elsa looked down at the papers before her. Amidst all the dense legal language were notes in her own handwriting, along with what appeared to be colorful little squares of paper in someone else's handwriting. In the margins on one of the first sheets, she read the basic terms of the settlement agreement. SITC - the Southern Isles Trading Corporation - and Weselton Corporation - were in some kind of dispute over a trade of gold ore. From her alter ego's handwritten notes, there was some kind of shipping accident, and SITC had lost a substantial amount of Weselton's gold ore.
In exchange for no admission of fault, SITC was to pay Weselton Corporation the market value of the gold plus a fee of 22%. If SITC did not agree to the penalty, Weselton Corporation would pursue a verdict admitting liability in court, which could permanently ruin the company's ability to keep its customers or find new ones. Elsa arched an eyebrow. "Remind me again please - Jay - we are certain that 22% is unmanageable?"
The red-headed man nodded vigorously. "And Weselton knows it, too. He had access to our financials as part of a failed merger two years ago. He's trying to put me out of business so he can lay claim to our ore processing capabilities, do a hostile takeover in bankruptcy."
Elsa stood up, and gave Hans' doppelganger a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Please excuse me for just a moment. Maggie?" She motioned with her head for them to step outside the room. Once she was in the corridor and the door closed behind her, she grabbed Maggie by the shoulders. "I'm completely out of my depth here, Maggie! What am I going to do?"
Maggie trembled. "I- I don't know, Ms. Beck! I'm just a clerk, I don't actually know anything about this kind of case."
Elsa took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and thought carefully. While the sovereign could do pretty much whatever she wanted, most of the time disputes in her court were handled by lesser magistrates or Crown courts. That said, as sovereign, she was expected to know the vast majority of the nation's laws, should a case be brought before her in open court. In Arendelle's laws, any agreement was null and void if it was made under duress, from arranged marriages to water rights for a farm. A fair amount of Europe and the United Kingdom followed similar principles.
Just as the idea occurred to her, the lawyer that had barged into her office came back, along with what she assumed was this world's Duke of Weselton. The man was almost exactly the same as the Duke of Weselton she knew - short, loud, obnoxious, overdressed, fake hair. She stifled a giggle behind her hand as everyone filed back into the conference room.
"Mr. MacDonald!" Weselton called shrilly, his nasal voice piercing the air of the room as he grinned wolfishly, the predator's smile as it closed in on its prey. "Is the agreement signed, or are we going to court?"
Elsa finally put the name to the face - the man who had crashed into her office was the Mr. MacDonald she had come to see about medical leave. Contrary to his brusque, bold behavior earlier, he looked cowed now, hunching over in his seat as Jay glared at him. The pieces began to fall into place for Elsa. SITC was their responsibility, and it was clear that they were on the rocks. She had no idea just how big a client they were, but it was important enough that MacDonald looked ill.
Anna, what would you do? How would you handle this? she asked herself, imagining her bold sister taking the initiative. Would she do something funny? Would she dive headfirst into the problem? Oh, Anna. I miss you so. Elsa took a deep breath and set her jaw, then stood up.
"No, Mr. Weselton, the agreement is not signed. The agreement will not be signed, and the case will not be going before the Cr- courts," she said in her most regal voice and posture. MacDonald and Maggie both sat up immediately in shock at the change in her voice; the senior lawyer's shoulders were practically brushing his ears, he was so stressed about this case.
"I beg your pardon, young lady?" Weselton peered at her through his ridiculously anachronistic monocle. "Now see here-"
"I am speaking," Elsa commanded, channeling the full power and authority of her crown; regardless of the time period or place, her tone brooked no dissent. "You were aware of SITC's financial situation and chose recompense that would be financially ruinous to the firm. So you presented them with a choice: either reputational ruin by forcing them before a magistrate, or financial ruin with a settlement they cannot afford."
She began to slowly pace, her hands behind her back, as she took a slow, even breath. She could feel the ghost of Anna's smile encouraging her on, settling her stomach. "Do you know, Mr. Weselton, what that is called in my coun- in my considered opinion? That is attempting to force an agreement under duress, and it's well-established in international law that an agreement made under duress is null and void." As she paced, the temperature in the room slowly grew colder.
Elsa spun on her heel, facing Weselton, whose jaw was open, his mouth soundlessly flapping like a fish out of water. "I think you will find that your case is without merit. You could put it before… before the Queen of Norway and you'd have no chance of winning. Now… I believe SITC would be amenable to an 11% fee, but certainly not 22%. If you agree right here and now, before this group of people, I will forget this attempt to blackmail SITC into signing your terms."
She sat back down at her seat and stared at Weselton, unblinking. She knew from years of hearing cases in open court that the first party to speak lost, so she simply bided her time as beads of nervous sweat broke out on the short man's forehead, despite the coldness of the room. Maggie, Jay, and MacDonald squirmed and fidgeted uncomfortably as she sat statue-still, her iron gaze unmoving from Weselton's eyes.
"Very well. In exchange for confidentiality about this entire incident, 11%, but not a dime less," Weselton said imperiously, his tone of voice mismatching his tentative glances towards everyone else at the table as he shivered. "My, it's cold in here, isn't it?", he laughed nervously.
Elsa gave no hint of emotion as she amended the agreement filing by hand, then slid the paper across the table. "Your signature, please." Her right hand twitched once as muscle memory of gaveling open court judgements returned to her, the ghost of the mallet kept on her throne during open court.
Once Weselton signed the paper and pushed it back across the table, Elsa permitted herself to smile. "Now, Mr. Weselton, I believe that concludes our business today. Someone will assist you in the execution of the agreement. In the meantime, Magnolia here will see you out. Good day, sir." she said, resisting the temptation to speak her usual words at the end of open court, "The Crown has spoken".
The little man stood up in a huff, glared at everyone in the room, and then stomped out like a toddler as Maggie held the door for him. Once the conference room door closed, Elsa turned to see Hans - Jay - clapping slowly as the room returned to a normal temperature.
"That was… impressive, Ms. Beck. Fucking impressive. Lindsey, I knew you had talented folks on staff, but you never told me you had a negotiator like this!" Hans exclaimed, clapping the head lawyer on the shoulder. "You've been holding out on me, brother. Better be careful or I'll poach her for my legal team!" he laughed.
The lawyer, Lindsey MacDonald, exhaled as though he hadn't breathed since walking in the room, his body finally letting go of the tension. "Yeah, uh, Elsa was on a different case, but I pulled her in because of how important SITC is to the firm."
"Well, needless to say, we will be staying with your firm as long as Ms. Beck here litigates our major cases. I'll have my team start drawing up the papers for the settlement and for your new retainer. Golf tomorrow, man?" Jay asked as he gathered his personal items into a briefcase that appeared to be highly polished leather and gold trim, not bothering to wait for the nod from the head lawyer.
After Jay's departure, Elsa released all the tension she herself was holding in, sighing and letting herself sink into the chair. Lindsey looked across the conference room table at her, leaning far back in the plush office chair, his oddly out-of-place leather cowboy boots on the table. "That was… unexpected, Elsa. I didn't think you had it in you."
Elsa wasn't sure how to react to that statement. The various emails she'd seen in her inbox from MacDonald hadn't given any indication of what kind of working relationship they had, save that he was her superior and an equity partner at the firm. "I… saw a lapse in Duke- err, Weselton's judgement. He's full of bluster and hot air, but in the end, he's a coward who will fold when the pressure is on."
"How could you know that?" the lawyer asked, running his hand over his product-laden hair. "This was Kris' case, you've never interacted with the little shit before today."
"I've… known people like him in the past," she said, clearing her throat. "I was actually coming to see you before you came into my office. It's… it's a personal issue that I will need some time to resolve." The confidence she'd channeled in the negotiations evaporated as she stared at her hands. Worry grabbed her stomach in a fist and squeezed. She had no idea whether this reality was permanent or not, but she couldn't afford to screw things up and leave a mess behind, or wreck this Elsa's life.
"Fuck, Elsa, do whatever you want. Go on vacation for a month, I don't care. Do you realize how much the SITC settlement means? Jay's over the goddamn moon. He wanted to try to settle for 16%, was hoping for 14%, and you forced Weselton's hand at 11%. Do you know how big a deal that is?" Lindsey practically shouted, a lopsided grin on his face. "The ship Jay lost was carrying 5,000 tons of high-grade gold ore worth $6.2 billion. You forced Weselton to give up $682 million today in settlement penalties. Jay's not going to forget that - you basically saved his entire company in one pen stroke. And that means we can name pretty much whatever retainer we want, which is going to make me look great to the Senior Partners. So yeah, you do whatever you want for the next month, okay?"
Elsa breathed out, nodding slowly as though the news wasn't a surprise. It would seem I managed to save the Southern Isles today. I wonder if this Hans is just as much a treacherous asshole as the one from my time, she thought to herself. "A-all right. I'm not sure how long I'll be out, but I'll be sure to stay in touch."
The two shook hands and departed the conference room as Lindsey went to brief the Senior Partners and Elsa headed for her office to pack up. Even though it was the start of the workday, she didn't want to press her luck by sticking around and revealing the truth.
As she headed out the door, Maggie flagged her down, racing after her. "Hey, Ms. Beck! Elsa! Did you get a chance to talk to Mr. MacDonald?"
"I did, yes. I'm to take some time off, but be available with this," she waved the iPhone in her hand. "So if you need me, please feel free to… um, reach me." She paused, looking at Maggie, who was practically jumping up and down as excitedly as Anna - her sister Anna - did when she was bursting at the seams to say something.
Maggie looked at Elsa as though she had descended from the heavens itself. She pressed her hands together in front of her and practically squealed, "That meeting… I am amazed, Ms. Beck. To have even been willing to do anything with your… handicap right now, much less save a major client for the firm! I hope you don't mind me fangirling a little, but I want to be half the lawyer you are someday! How did you even know what to do?"
Elsa smiled, gently resting a hand on Maggie's shoulder, which the clerk immediately covered with her own hands, smiling. "I should hope that you are substantially more of a lawyer than I am feeling right now, and I suspect you already are. As for the meeting… a little luck, a little magic, and a lot of life experience. You'll get there someday." She turned and walked out the door, waving over her shoulder as she headed for the elevators and the world outside.
Author's NotesMagnolia, for those who don't know, is the literal translation of the name Mulan.
Jay is a nickname for Johannes, which is also shortened to… Hans.
There is an anachronism by design in this story; the concept of a contract being signed under duress being invalid as far as I could tell didn't exist as a concept in international law until 1891, at least according to Black's Law Dictionary. Sir Francis Bacon apparently introduced the concept in the 1600s, but that applied to English law only and wouldn't have been applicable in the joint kingdom of Norway and Sweden :)
And yes, I might have borrowed Lindsey MacDonald from a different franchise.
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