Lars woke up to a knock at his door.
"Mr. Nilsen," a servant said as he opened the door an inch, "His Excellency wishes to see you."
"What time is it?"
"Almost eleven, sir."
"Oh! Did the ambassador say what he wants to discuss?"
"No, sir."
"Thank you," Lars acknowledged. The servant left, firmly closing the door, and Lars quickly dressed, and walked down the long hall to the ambassador's room. He knocked on the door.
"Yes?" Mr. Meyer called from inside.
"It's Mr. Nilsen, sir."
"Oh! Please come in!"
The room was a similar size to his own, but facing toward the town. Lars had the feeling the ambassador had requested that.
"I've noticed that you've become friendly with the heir apparent," the ambassador stated.
"Yes," he confirmed, confused by the question, "Sir?"
"It's quite nice. He seems to be… an energetic young man."
"He is, sir."
"I noticed you were out riding yesterday, and I wondered if you might have learned anything about this morning's meeting."
"Meeting, sir?"
"Quite early, it seems. The queen had her council assembled. Does the prince know anything about this? Is there any chance he mentioned anything?"
"Well, no, sir," Lars began, "but, well…"
"Well?"
"We did encounter a member of the council riding back to Arendelle with a messenger. But no one seemed to have any idea what was going on."
"Curious…"
"Is there anything else, sir?"
"Now that I think of it, if you know the lay of the land a bit now, perhaps a short ride would do me some good. Do you have any obligations today?"
"No, sir. I would be happy to, sir."
As they walked across the courtyard, Lars wondered what they would encounter in the stables today, but it was all quiet except for the snorting of the animals inside. The pair mounted their horses, and Lars showed him the way out of town that he had been shown the previous day. The ambassador asked him if he had learned anything more about his family, and he had to admit that he had learned very little. What little he had learned may as well have been misremembered out of eagerness to please a visitor, for all he knew. Still, the ambassador was pleased to hear of his acquaintance with the general.
"You do know he will be the regent if anything happens before the prince's twenty-first birthday," Mr. Meyer reminded him.
"Yes, of course," Lars acknowledged, "though that isn't something I would wish on them. But why him?"
"He is very attached to the royal family, going back to the grandfather, and if you ask me, there's always some advantage to a potential regent with no… conflict of interest."
Lars nodded. "Sir, do you know anything about the general's ward?"
"Which one? All I know is that he and his wife take in orphans from time to time."
"To help in the tavern?"
"Not to my knowledge. I think the general's wife had been running that by herself for quite some time before they were married. I think as far as the wards are concerned, they've generally raised them and introduced them into society, such as it is around here…"
Lars tried to relax his face from the involuntary wince he felt it make at the ambassador's extraneous comment. He might not have learned very much of interest to Mr. Meyer, but he had gathered that the eldest royal children, at least, felt quite aware of the comments that were made by some of the visitors.
They had come to the path that Frederick had told him about the day before. Lars stopped his horse, and the ambassador pulled up beside him.
"Sir," Lars began, "do you see that path?"
"Yes, what about it?" the ambassador asked, looking to the dark, narrow trail the young man was pointing to.
"Yesterday, when we were here, the prince told me it led to trolls. I really don't know if he was teasing me or not…"
"Oh, yes, the trolls. They're real enough, I've been told," the ambassador said, continuing his way on the open trail they had been on.
"Really?" Lars said, catching up to him, "My mother had told us stories about them, but I thought it was only a fairy tale…"
"Some people would think the same about stories of our kingdom," Mr. Meyer said quickly dismissing the young man's concern, "but how much farther did you ride? I don't wish to get lost, and I had promised some other dignitaries I would meet them for an early dinner in the town."
"This was about as far as we went," Lars said, looking up ahead at the cliff along the fjord.
"Did you bring a pocket watch? I forgot mine, and I can never tell the time of day by the sun this far north," the ambassador said.
"No, sir, but it must be early afternoon by now," Lars told him.
The men turned around and went back into town. The ambassador's colleagues were just exiting the castle gates as they arrived, so Lars offered to return his horse for him. Mr. Meyer happily accepted the offer.
As he approached the stables, Lars heard angry yelling, and what sounded like the mysterious voice he had heard the first day.
"Hello!" Lars called out, not wishing to get in the middle of any dispute.
"Oh, it's just you," Kristoff said as he stepped outside, looking rather angry.
"Your Highness," Lars bowed.
"You really don't have to do that, you know," Kristoff said, chuckling quietly as his face softened.
"I could lose my position if I don't."
"Well, I'm pretty sure anyone who would care isn't around. Call me Kristoff."
"If you're sure…"
"So, you were out riding two horses at once?"
"No, just… the ambassador had lunch plans after we went riding. And… I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"Oh, nothing, really. What did you hear?"
"Nothing, really. And I really didn't. The ambassador has started asking me if I've learned anything, just so you know. Especially with that meeting this morning."
"Ah, yes. What does he know about it?" Kristoff said, his back mostly turned, focusing on finishing a few tasks.
"Nothing, which is all I knew, I promise."
"I wouldn't worry too much," Kristoff paused, trying to remember what he had been telling Sven before he was interrupted, but he was pretty sure he hadn't said anything too specific. He turned back to face the young man, "So you know, there's a good chance if you say anything interesting, I'll be telling my wife about it."
"Oh, and then the council will hear about it, and whatever I say will make its way back to the ambassador…"
"Don't worry about the council. We're… they're… the less said, the better."
"I see. So," Lars thought for a second, "it's you against them?"
"Hm, now I think I'm the one who should keep my mouth shut."
"Well, that's nice, to have an ally like that. I hope when we get married it's like that…"
"We?" Kristoff stiffened.
"Whenever that is… It could be a while, of course. Who knows when we can get all the family in one place…"
"Which family?"
"The family in Corona."
"Your mother and brother?"
"And her mother and father and sisters. Getting them all in one place would be difficult."
"Who are we talking about?"
"Elizabeth, my fiancee?"
"Oh," said Kristoff, letting out a relieved breath.
"What?" Lars asked.
"Nothing…" Kristoff paused, "So, you've known her for some time?"
"Yes. I'm sorry, did I not mention her before? Who did you think I was talking about? Oh…" Lars began to flush.
"I didn't say anything," Kristoff smirked.
"No, no, she's very nice, but I hardly even know her, so even if I weren't already engaged..."
"You'd be surprised."
"I… really should just..." Lars had finished settling the horses, but stood still, wishing he could disappear.
"Have you had a chance to eat?" Kristoff suggested, "You got left taking the horses back while they were off eating, you must be hungry."
"I'll go out later," Lars said, "I don't really want to run into them… no, that sounded wrong. I just mean, they probably wanted to have a more private conversation."
"I'm about to head to the kitchen. As long as you're not too picky, there's plenty to eat."
"Oh, actually, that might be nice. I really didn't want to impose, but I know I was told I could…"
Kristoff nodded and walked out the door, waving Lars to follow. They crossed the courtyard and went in a side door directly to the kitchen.
"Sandwich?" Kristoff offered, taking out a loaf of bread and a knife and cutting off some slices.
"Sure… is there ham?"
Kristoff reached up for one of the meats hanging above and cut off a few slices.
"Thank you," Lars said as he took the sandwich. "You know, you're much friendlier than the ambassador led me to believe."
"I hope you haven't told him that," Kristoff laughed, "I have a reputation to keep up."
"Oh, no, I haven't," Lars replied earnestly.
Kristoff smirked. The two ate in silence for a few minutes. Lars finished and looked around for a way to clean his hands. Kristoff handed him a clean towel.
"Just so you know, I probably offended that ambassador of yours the last time he was here. I really don't remember what I did," Kristoff confessed, trying not to laugh.
"Um, yes, he might have mentioned something about that," Lars said nervously, "in fact, I think he told me that nobody other than the queen was worth seeing at diplomatic functions."
"I won't argue with that," Kristoff smiled.
Lars fidgeted slightly, realizing that he might sound like a horrible flatterer now.
"So," Kristoff broke the silence, "I haven't heard much about the ride you took yesterday. Did you enjoy the views?"
"Yes, very much… I… learned a lot."
"I wasn't aware of my son being a source of state secrets…"
"Nothing like that… at least, I don't think so… but I realized I should have paid more attention to my mother's stories…"
"Which stories would those be?"
"All of them, really… most of them my mother had said were real, I just didn't quite believe her. But even she thought the trolls were just stories to scare children…"
"Is that so?"
"I don't know, really. That's what my brother and I always figured. The other stories, we'd sometimes argue about whether they could be true, but those, she always told us she saw them, even if we didn't believe her. With the trolls, it was just stories from her mother, and she probably heard them from her mother…"
Kristoff nodded, and began to walk outside with Lars following.
"I have to be honest," Lars continued, "I thought he was just teasing, but then Mr. Meyer seems to take it seriously… and his sense of humor is… well, that's not his idea of a joke."
"But you didn't see them for yourself?"
"No, it was right before we headed back into town for lunch. Frederick just told me when I asked where one of the paths went…"
"Ah, good to know."
"What?"
"Never mind," Kristoff said quickly, "Your family is from here, I remember. Have you found any of them?"
"Not really. Nilsen is far too common of a name, I think. And my mother isn't the most social of people, so it's quite possible that anyone who really knew her isn't around any more, for one reason or another."
"Well, at this point, do you really want to learn more, or is that ambassador making you feel like you should know more so that you don't feel like he hired you by mistake?"
"Umm…" Lars hesitated, "That was more why I started asking around. Now I think I'm actually curious. Just… I realize that I know so little, and there was that thing Halima said… I told the ambassador that she was probably just being polite saying she might have remembered my mother, but I really hope there weren't so many young widows with babies right then… I'm rambling. There are a lot of possible explanations."
Kristoff looked like he was about to ask something, but shook his head to himself and walked on.
"But you know," Lars continued, "I was thinking I should write and ask my mother. Why don't I go do that now? Thank you for lunch!"
Lars ran back inside the castle and walked up to his room. Closing the door behind him, he went to his desk and took out the stack of his mother's letters. He read through, and there was nothing that stood out about Arendelle. He got out a blank sheet of paper, and began writing.
