Disclaimer: All Disney stuff belongs to Disney.

A/N: This story doesn't have a cliff-hanger at the end of each chapter. It builds more slowly to important climactic moments. That said, if you're bored at the end of ch.1, please hang in there until ch.4 or 5 to see if you're intrigued. I hope that you find it interesting, poignant, dramatic, and different. If you enjoy, PLEASE post reviews! And if you lose interest along the way, DOUBLE-PLEASE let me know where and why! Thanks! :)

(More notes at the bottom)

PART ONE: White Birds

The Working Committee

She wore a deep purple silk dress, high necked and sleeveless, with a hemline that just brushed the floor. About its neck, waist, and hemline, in a slightly deeper shade of purple, was the pattern of snowflakes. Her platinum blonde hair was in its comfortable braid, trailing over her left shoulder. It was adorned with the occasional silvery snowflake which matched the larger snowflake pattern throughout the gossamer silver shawl that she wore about her shoulders, and the silver shoes that peeked from beneath her dress with each step. She strode slowly down the castle hallway clutching her neat pile of papers. She was tired, but it was a nice change of pace to not be in a hurry. She was going to be one of the first ones to arrive at her personal council chambers, if not the first.

Life had been hectic for the past several months leading up to Anna and Kristoff's wedding. Naturally, Elsa had been as deeply involved as her station would permit. Yes, there was always the daily responsibilities of governing Arendelle, but Anna was only going to marry once, Elsa preferred to assume, and she wasn't going to miss it. She had definitely been burning the candle at both ends until the wedding day, which had gone off without a hitch. That was now nearly three weeks ago.

Elsa had urged Anna to set a wedding date a little later in the year than mid-March, as the mountain passes to Arendelle were still closed and all the invitees would only have the option of arriving by ship. But Anna was ready to go, and wasn't one to wait. Elsa had had an ulterior motive though: she had hoped to sidestep the terror of putting Anna on a ship for their honeymoon.

"We'll stay within sight of the shore the whole time!" Anna had assured her. Elsa fought through the mental image of the ship being smashed on the rocks during a storm.

So for the past three weeks Elsa had exchanged one stress for another: a stress that had been under her control for a stress that was beyond her control and with far higher stakes. It had taken its toll on her. Anna and Kristoff were expected home tomorrow, and Elsa dearly hoped there would be no delay, as she would be a breath away from panic otherwise.

Elsa opened the door to the council room and stepped inside. She was indeed the first one there. Indirect light poured through the large windows at the far end of the room, bathing a portion of the left wall and bookshelf in its glow. Beyond was the north side of the fjord. She could hear the muted sounds of gulls. Elsa set down her papers at the head of the table, clasped her hands in front of her, and slowly walked towards the glowing windows. As she did so, the cliffs on the far side of the fjord loomed larger and larger until their tops, the evergreens, and the blue sky finally came into view. Now she was standing in the sunlight. She closed her eyes, and basked in the light, and warmth.

Please Anna, she said to herself. Don't be late.

It was definitely the beginning of Spring. Besides the evergreens, other trees and plants were beginning to peek forth in their new Spring green hues. Spring flowers were even starting to pop up. Spring was Anna's favorite season, and therefore Elsa loved it vicariously. Of course, for her, there would never be any substitute for the serene, enveloping, pristine warmth of winter. She recalled that her mother's favorite season had been summer, and her father's had been autumn, so between the four of them there was always someone who was trying to corral the family outside all year round. Until the accident.

The vista through the window was magnificent, and yet so familiar that Elsa hardly even noticed. She wasn't focusing on any particular spot. So familiar except for all those swirling specks of white at the periphery of her vision. So many white birds... Gulls, of course, and starlings, and swallows; scissortails and herons and swans. There seemed to be a bumper crop this year.

She heard the door behind her open and a man cleared his throat politely. It was Bishop Norgaard - even if he had not cleared his throat, there was something distinctive in the simple way he opened a door. He was the oldest member of the privy council by far, and one of the few entrusted with the secret of Elsa's powers since the very beginning. As such, he had been her staunchest supporter, encourager, and in a distant way, a father figure.

"Good morning Your Majesty," he smiled as he settled into the chair to her left. "How are you today?"

She regarded him with a nod as she began to move back to the chair at the head of the table. As was his manner, he was dressed in a simpler form of his normal vestments: an off-white robe with gilded stitching and a deep red stole, with no hat covering his thin grey hair despite the still crisp temperatures outside. "Good morning Bishop. I'm ..." Elsa began, but then stopped. He would know better anyway. She sighed.

He gave an understanding smile. "Best to focus on those things that you can control," he said gently as she passed him and sat. He gave her a pat on the arm.

The things I can control, thought Elsa. That certainly wouldn't include Anna.

Bishop Norgaard took a breath before resuming speaking, but before he could, the door opened once more, admitting High Admiral Naismith, the highest ranking officer of the Arendelle military, Julius Bernard, Arendelle's treasurer, and Halvord Odem, the chief guildmaster. "Good morning, Your Majesty," they each said in turn, before taking a seat.

Halvord spoke up right away in his deep gravely voice that always seemed to be a little bit louder than necessary. "Duke Pontius sends his regrets that he is unable to attend." Henry Pontius was the finance minister, the internationally-facing counterpoint to Halvord's role. "He has come down with a fever."

Elsa appreciated Henry's consideration. Fevers were nothing to be trifled with. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said. "When you speak with him again, please ask him if there's anything that we can do to help."

The door opened again, admitting Patrice Barr, Arendelle's chief diplomat, and Leroy Griffin, the interior minister. With that, the privy council was complete.

"Gentlemen," Elsa began, "since we expect that the mountain passes will be opening soon, let's begin with the state of our trade. Mr. Odem, did Duke Pontius discuss any of this with you?"

"He did, Your Majesty," replied Halvord loudly. Halvord was a master metalsmith whose work was known throughout Arendelle and abroad. Elsa could easily imagine that the sound level of his profession had taken a toll on his hearing and that he was not quite aware of his volume. He was a large man with a stern gaze and with thick arms which he always kept crossed when he was seated. He always arrived looking like he had just left the forge, and never carrying any papers, nor did he ever carry any out. Elsa had been irritated by this at first, until it became clear that he had a mind like a steel trap. She didn't think she had ever heard him tell a joke. "He reported to me that our balance of trade is 'holding up to expectations,' as he put it, but that as was the case in the prior two years, that balance is precarious. The sooner the mountain passes open, the better."

Two years. It had been two years since Elsa's coronation and the accompanying "Eternal Winter", as it had come to be called. At that time she had unilaterally severed ties with Weselton, their chief trade partner up to that point. It had been one of her first acts as queen... There had been times in the scramble since then that she had wondered if her decision had been hasty, but how could she have done otherwise? The man had tried to have her killed, and even now continued to spread disinformation about her and Arendelle as vindictively as he could – specifically that she was a wicked sorceress determined to conquer her neighbors and the world. No, even if she had not severed ties, the relationship between the two countries would have been altered beyond recognition, and likely beyond what she could stomach. If any on the council thought otherwise, they had not said so to her.

The trade vacuum left behind in the wake of those severed ties had required creativity and sacrifice on the part of her people, and ultimately the economic bolstering of close allies like Corona and Westhaven. She had definitely had to do some fast growing in her role as a new queen. She was grateful that, by and large, both her own people and Arendelle's allies had been willing to give her a chance to prove herself. On the advice of her privy council, she had not engaged in any international travel, but had been generous in extending invitations to foreign dignitaries to come visit Arendelle. The irony of this was not lost on her: instead of being confined to her room she was now confined to her kingdom, but she understood the necessity of appearing nonthreatening and the kingdom was certainly a lot larger than her room had been. She hoped that in the long run, even-handed leadership and good character would simply drown out the Duke of Weselton's smear campaign.

"Our stockpiles are doing well," Halvord continued, "particularly the fishing."

That would explain the birds, thought Elsa. Although Arendelle didn't rely heavily on fishing exports, it was a starter commodity for most of their other manufacturing work. Inexpensive food made for happy productive workers with money left to spend on other things.

There were other agenda topics through which the privy council meeting progressed without note. Admiral Naismith gave a report on the condition and location of Arendelle's navy. Elsa respected how seriously the Admiral had always taken his job. She could remember sitting in on council meetings when her father had been king. She remembered being amazed at how he seemed to know exactly where all their ships were, as if he were piloting each one himself. Even though Arendelle hadn't been involved in an international conflict in generations, her father was a strong believer in being prepared, and the Admiral certainly shared this vision. Elsa shared it as well. She was grateful for a reliable person to which to delegate this task. Her father had enjoyed being a student of military tactics, but it had never clicked with her.

The Admiral was speaking with his succinct military efficacy. "One of our sloops reached us this morning from Westhaven with news that two of our ships are escorting a damaged ship from Mittergaard to our port for repairs."

Elsa's eyebrows furrowed. "Mittergaard?" she said with a hint of incredulity. She used to know exactly where that was - along with a lot of other places - one of the many activities that had filled her time during her long isolation - but now she would have to look at a map to refresh her memory. She knew it was southwest - farther south than Westhaven, but she wasn't sure exactly where. She recalled that they had a long standing alliance with Mittergaard, but neither they nor Arendelle had ever called upon the other under its terms.

"Yes," replied the Admiral. "I'm afraid the message is a little light on details," he scowled here in a way that told Elsa that there would be a conversation with someone about this, "but they have an admiral aboard, so I can only assume it is one of Mittergaard's war ships. As far as I am aware they don't have very many of them, and the fact that it has been damaged may suggest involvement in some kind of skirmish. According to the report it's a smaller ship, and one of its masts is down, so it's making slow progress."

"Why are they coming all the way here?" asked Elsa.

"That I don't know," replied the Admiral.

"Interesting. Do you have any concerns, Admiral?"

"Not at this time. Most likely pirates, or storm damage. We'll know in a few days."

"Thank you, Admiral." Interesting indeed. She had never met anyone from Mittergaard. Probably the men in the room knew of people there, but this would be her first opportunity to meet anyone. First impressions were important. "Do we have any other agenda items then?" she asked.

She immediately sensed the uncomfortable hesitation in the room. Eventually all eyes rested on the Bishop, who cleared his throat and began, "Your Majesty, I bring this up because it's far better dealt with proactively, and privately." He paused, searching carefully for the right words. "We've grown aware of some sentiment in the general council, particularly now that your sister is married, that the interests of Arendelle would be well served with a king at your side."

Her eyes widened. "Excuse me?" she squeaked, as she instinctively removed her hands from the table and put them in her lap. Her vision began to go black at the fringes. All she could picture was Hans: Hans, so noble and polished; Hans, and the sound of his sword sliding from its scabbard; Hans, and Anna jumping in between to save her. She gripped her fists tightly to keep herself under control, but the room was already palpably cooler. Yes of course her sister was now married at age 20, and she was 23, coming up on 24 in a few months, but she had spent years withdrawn from everyone. The only person she was close to was Anna, and that relationship had not exactly evolved typically. The prospect of attempting to forge the same kind of relationship with someone else was overwhelming. She didn't even know how to begin.

"I - " she stammered. In the general council she had to maintain unflinching decorum. Here, she knew she could count on a little more grace, but she still needed to strive for something a little above her urge to run screaming from the room. "I … It's only been two years. I'm still figuring out how to be a queen!" The desperation was evident in her voice.

"I know, Your Majesty, and rest assured that we think you're doing a great job," said the Bishop reassuringly. He paused for a moment so that the others in the room could give their slight nods of agreement. "Don't misunderstand me. At this point it is merely some sentiments, but it will grow. No one is expecting you to invite suitors to the castle next week, or even this year, but at the same time, please recognize that if it is not planned for, it won't happen by accident."

Won't it? Elsa thought to herself. I thought love was supposed to just happen. That's how it was in the story books she used to read as a child. But not when you're a queen, she realized. It's true; she could just as easily isolate herself in the rigors of ruling as she had in the years in her bedroom. It would be the most natural thing to do, in fact. The Bishop was right. She sighed and gave a nod as she made the deliberate effort to mitigate her tension.

"When it does finally come up in the general council," the Bishop continued, "far better to say that you already have a plan in place than to be taken off guard." He was absolutely right. It was the same principle of preparation as what was required of the Admiral. Elsa very much appreciated her privy council's investment in steering her around land mines like this.

Julius spoke up. "Er, perhaps you could form a working committee from some of the members of the general council to assist you in this?" The rest of the men in the room stared at Julius in a moment of stunned silence. The man knew his books, but his people skills weren't the best. The silence was finally shattered by Halvord's deep booming laughter. Elsa strained to suppress a smirk at this unlikely reaction.

"It - it was just a suggestion," a red-faced Julius said.

Author's Notes to the reader:

Why revisit Arendelle after all these years? In my case it was my disappointment with the "Frozen" sequel. If only it had been as good as its trailers...

Following that, somewhere along the line it occurred to me that there must be some good fan fiction out there. I'd never looked for such things before, but that's what lead me here, via the "Frozen I.C.E. Awards" search result. I have enjoyed those stories immensely, but the problem is, I ran out of them... So I decided to write a new one. I've never done anything like this before, either! It was a wonderful experience - attempting to put myself into the heads of these characters whom I love so much. I will probably continue to do so.

Some notes:

- I used some character names and personas from grrlgeek72's "Worthy Queen of Greatness" trilogy, which I highly recommend.

- The "Anna gets kidnapped" storyline has been beaten to death...

- The "someone close to the queen is a traitor" storyline has been beaten to death...

- I'm tired of reusing the same old bad guys, except, well, you've got to have some context.

- I'm very tired of the masochistic treatment of Elsa. Sometimes it seems like authors are trying to one-up one another.

- The characters are a few years older than they were at the end of F 1, and I've tried to capture that in their maturity level.

- I also like to imagine that I'm writing for a similar audience as in the movies, so nothing graphic or gratuitous here.

This story doesn't have a cliff-hanger at the end of each chapter. It builds more slowly to important climactic moments. I hope that you find it interesting, poignant, and dramatic. Among other things, I've also striven for a plausible love story for Elsa, which I've only seen successfully done in thefireplanet's "Songs of Ice And Snow" (also highly recommended).

I hope you enjoy, and if you lose interest along the way, PLEASE let me know where and why.

Ha! Just rewatched "Frozen Fever" and "Frozen 2" and noticed that my orientation of Arendelle is like, way off. But the maps in those two don't match each other either, so: artistic license.