Elizbeth's father, Captain von der Decken, had recommended allowing two weeks to sail to Corona, even if they weren't stopping anywhere else. The Captain of the ship they hired to take them had promised them to do his best, but the winds weren't always favorable this late in the summer.

Elizabeth settled right into her cabin and acquainted herself with the crew. She tried to get Inga involved, but after only a few minutes of feeling the ship rocking, the princess understood why her mother might have avoided traveling by ship so much. Elsa made Inga go up to the open deck as much as possible, but she was still mostly too miserable to talk much. Frederick, on the other hand, found every minute of the voyage thrilling, and quickly learned all about sailing. He was disappointed the evening when they learned that they were nearing Corona, and would make port the next morning, nearly three days early.

Their ship arrived at the entrance to Corona's harbor at dawn. The sky was just starting to get light, so they had to wait an hour until the harbor master brought out a pilot to help them dock. After the ship was secured and all papers signed, the crew quickly unloaded everyone's belongings.

Inga slowly started feeling better once she stepped onto dry land. She looked around in a daze. The city was larger than anything Inga had seen, and the castle was taller. There were mountains in the distance, but near the city there were only low rolling hills.

Elizabeth seemed to know everyone at the port by name, and quickly found a cousin of hers who had shown up with his wagon to take her to her own house.

"Inga," Elizabeth asked from her cousin's wagon, "would you like to come with me to meet my mother and sisters?"

"Um, I suppose?" Inga hesitated, not really feeling up to conversation yet. "Frederick, what about you?"

"I think I'll follow the porters straight to the castle," he told her. "I'm sure we'll meet up later."

"Elsa? Do you mind? I don't suppose you'd want to come along."

"Thank you, but I should stay with Frederick," her aunt replied.

"Oh, of course," Inga sighed. "All right, Elizabeth, I'm coming." Inga remembered to smile in spite of still not quite having recovered from her seasickness. She reminded herself that she had wanted to see new things and meet people, and this was what she was doing.

Elizabeth's family home was a bit of a distance uphill, just far enough from the noise and clamor of the harbor. Three teenage girls ran out front at the sound of the wagon approaching, and a woman stepped out the front door a moment later.

Elizabeth hopped out of the wagon before it had completely stopped, and reached out for Inga to follow. Elizabeth's sisters eyed Inga curiously. Their sister had written to them that she would be traveling with the Prince and Princess, but Inga realized that she was wearing a rather plain travel dress, and perhaps she didn't look the part. Elizabeth ran to the door to hug everyone as her cousin unloaded her things. Inga stood at the gate to the small front garden.

"And who is this?" their mother asked, gesturing at Inga.

"Oh! Sorry," Elizabeth gasped. "This is…" She paused and went back to the gate. "Inga," she whispered, "is it okay if I introduce you that way?"

"Yes," the princess laughed, "that's just fine. I'll have enough formal introductions at the palace later."

Elizabeth led her to where her mother and sisters were standing. "This is Inga, the one I told you about in my letter."

Inga was then introduced to Mrs. von der Decken, and Elizabeth's sisters Ruth, Diana, and Arianna. The girls peppered the princess with questions until their mother invited her in for some breakfast. Inga followed them into the front room, where they offered her a seat next to the window with a small table next to it with a lace tablecloth. Inga looked through the lace curtains to the street.

"Coffee?" her mother asked.

"Yes, please," Inga replied, taking the cup. She had barely eaten on the ship, and now she was starting to feel hungry again. One of Elizabeth's sisters brought her a plate of bread and pastries, and she cautiously took a piece of plain toast, taking some bites to help settle her stomach.

"So, Inga?" Ruth, the oldest of Elizabeth's sisters asked her. "What do you think of the city so far?"

Inga swallowed a slightly larger chunk of pastry than she meant to so that she could answer. "I haven't really seen it, not yet. It was hard to get my bearings on the way here from the harbor. It's very different."

"You should see the countryside," suggested Diana, the one who had brought the pastry plate earlier. "Do you ride?"

"Yes," Inga confirmed. "And it would be nice to go on a ride while I'm here, especially since we have a few extra days."

"Indeed," replied their mother. "I'm quite surprised what good time you made getting here. And my husband wrote to me that the winds were with them on the way to Arendelle as well! Amazing luck."

Inga wondered if it had been luck, but kept the thought to herself. She took another bite of her pastry. Elizabeth's cousin had left with his wagon shortly after her belongings had been unloaded. Every few minutes another wagon or someone on horseback would pass by, and there were lots of people coming and going on foot.

"Inga?" Elizabeth called out, startling the princess a little. "Inga, did you doze off? Maybe a ride wouldn't be the best idea this morning."

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I was looking outside. It's fascinating." Inga hadn't fallen asleep, but she also hadn't been paying attention to the conversation. "I would like to see the countryside."

"You're sure?" Elizabeth pressed. "If you think so, you could borrow Arianna's horse."

"I don't want to impose," Inga hesitated.

"No, it's fine!" Arianna insisted, still looking somewhat awed at having a real princess in her family's front parlor. Arianna and Diana set about clearing the plates from the parlor as soon as they had finished. Ruth decided to stay home with her younger sister, while Diana insisted on coming along on their ride.

Once Elizabeth and Diana had changed into riding clothes, Inga followed them around the corner to the stable where their horses were kept. Since the family was all girls, they only had side-saddles, and Inga went along with it, thankful she had been taking lessons, but she was still feeling tired enough that she would have prefered a regular saddle, especially since she was wearing her travel dress, anyway.

They rode directly out of town across the bridge to the countryside. Inga kept up easily enough at first as they rode along the far shore, and she listened to the sisters as they caught up with whatever hadn't been worth including in their letters.

"Do you really think Mother will want to sail again?" Diana asked. "It's been ten years, and that time it was only because her sister was getting married in Wesselton."

"Well, what's the alternative?" Elizabeth sighed. "Wait two years until Lars gets a chance to visit Corona again? Elope?"

Her sister laughed. "You don't think he'd change his mind, do you? Besides, Uncle Leopold is an attorney, and worst case you'd get a nice Breach of Promise settlement."

Elizabeth glared at Diana.

Inga looked confused. "What do you mean by that?"

"Don't you have Breach of Promise laws in Arendelle? What do you do if a young man decides not to marry you after you get engaged to him?" Diana asked Inga.

"Oh, well, I suppose we do…" Inga thought for a moment. "Yes, I remember reading about that in one of the law books. But I don't think there have been any legal settlements recently."

Diana giggled. "Well, I suppose there are a lot of oldest children born early there."

"Diana!" her sister exclaimed.

"Someone's blushing," Diana teased, looking at Elizabeth. "You were happy enough not to have a wedding date settled before, you know…"

Inga could feel herself blushing sympathetically, and was glad neither sister was looking at her.

Elizabeth sputtered. "What? NO! We haven't… I haven't… not yet… I mean… No. Stop!"

"Fine," the younger sister declared. "I believe you. I was just teasing."

"If you dare say anything in front of Mother-"

"Aunt Clara's farm is nearby," Diana interrupted. "Let's go visit her."

"One word about this in front of Aunt Clara, and I swear…"

Diana laughed as she galloped her horse ahead, and Elizabeth sped up to catch up with her, disappearing from view where the shore curved ahead.

"I'll catch up," Inga called out, not sure if they heard. Her horse was still trotting along. She got it into a canter, and wasn't sure how fast she should go, since she had no idea where Elizabeth and her sister were going.

"Hilde!" a young man called out, and she heard another horse coming from a road nearby. The horse suddenly appeared, and her own horse bucked, and the next thing she knew she was in the water.

Inga stood up, happy at least to be only a little more than waist deep in water and unhurt, and very glad to be wearing her travel dress without too many layers of skirts. She was still completely drenched, and plodded to shore. A young man was standing holding both his horse and hers, which was still trying to buck a little, but calming down. He was staring at her.

"Hello," she grumbled as she stepped on to dry land.

"Hello," he replied hesitantly. "I'm sorry about that. Can I do anything?"

"Well, it's my own stupidity for riding sidesaddle," she groaned. "My father was right." She looked at the now calm horse and at the saddle, and proceeded to begin unstrapping it from the horse, all the while muttering the words she overheard her father saying when he first saw the sidesaddle hanging in the castle stables. She wasn't supposed to have heard, and most of the words were ones she wasn't supposed to even know, let alone speak, but she was certain nobody would understand her here.

The young man raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You're from Arendelle, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Inga looked up briefly from working on the saddle, then had to wipe some soaked hair out of her face. "Is it that obvious?"

"My father taught me a few of those words," he laughed, a bit embarrassed. Inga suddenly thought he looked almost more like a boy just then, though she could tell he hadn't shaved that morning. "He told me never to say them in front of a lady."

"Ow!" Inga felt her knuckle get pinched by the buckle she was unfastening, too distracted by this stranger. Immediately she put the hand to her mouth rather than swear again. "You're lucky I'm not a lady, then," she told him as she went back to undoing all the straps. "So, your father is from Arendelle?"

"No, but he visited once. He's visited a lot of places, though…" he was almost starting to ramble, but stopped himself watching Inga finishing up with the saddle.

She lifted it off the horse and nearly threw it on the ground, looking around for any sign of Elizabeth and her sister.

"Can I help you with anything?" he asked again.

"Um, no…" she hesitated. "Well, yes, can you give me a lift up to the horse?"

"Are you sure?" He looked concerned. "What about the saddle?"

"Leave it," she groaned. "I'll have much better luck bareback."

He shrugged and gave her a boost up to the horse. The horse seemed confused by someone sitting without a saddle, but Inga managed to calm it. She looked down at the saddle, and remembered it was borrowed from Elizabeth's family.

"Ugh," she sighed, then looked up at the young man. "That's not my saddle. I need to return it, but I really don't want to be carrying anything right now. Maybe one more favor? Could you hand that up to me?"

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I could return it for you. Where are you staying?"

"Well, the stables…" she paused, trying to remember if there was an address.

He laughed. "Stables? You're staying in the stables?"

"No," she glared. "I'm trying to remember. I only just arrived. I borrowed this horse from my friends, well, not exactly. One is a friend, and then her sisters... I only just met them, and I'm not sure if I like-" she heard herself rambling. "Sorry. The stables. They weren't too far from the harbor… It belongs to the family of Captain von der Decken, I don't know if that helps."

"I can ask if anyone knows them," he offered. "I'm sure I'll be able to find the right place. Are you heading back now? I can make sure-"

"No, I should continue this way and find my friend and her sister." She looked ahead, and hoped that they hadn't taken any turns up ahead. "Thank you, though. For holding my horse, and returning the saddle for me. Are you sure it's not a problem?"

"No, no, please, no problem at all," he insisted. "Are you sure you'll be fine?"

"Yes, just fine. Thank you again, but now I really need to find my friends." Inga rode off.

She heard the young man's voice behind her. "Hilde! There you are!"

After several minutes, she saw Elizabeth on her horse waiting where two roads met.

"Inga!" Elizabeth gasped. "You're soaking wet! And where is your saddle?"

"Sorry," Inga replied. "I didn't see a crossroad, and the horse got startled by another rider, and I got thrown into the water. I took the saddle off, but he'll return it to your house. At least, he said he would. If he doesn't, I'll pay for a replacement. I don't know what I was thinking."

Elizabeth looked at her. "At any rate, Inga, you need to change clothes. I told Diana you might have gotten lost and to just meet us back home, so we'll go back to town. You could get a new dress, you know. This is a good excuse."

"I brought plenty of clothes," Inga protested as they turned to return to the city.

"I saw your trunk on the ship," Elizabeth almost scolded her. "You really didn't bring that many clothes, and we'll be here for at least a week and we're going to the Coronation and the Banquet. Plus, I don't know, but I expect your aunt has some more plans for you."

"But…"

"If it makes you feel better," Elizabeth cut her off, more gently this time. "I'll be taking you to my grandfather's shop, so you'll be doing us a favor by patronizing our business. How's that?"

"Oh, fine," Inga relented "but you're starting to sound like my mother."

-End of Chapter-

[Note: Breach of Promise of Marriage is best explained in Gilbert and Sullivan's "Trial By Jury"]