Elizabeth's mother was very distressed to see Inga return soaking wet and without a saddle. She offered a hot bath, which Inga decided to accept, since she didn't want to risk the first impression the Corona royal family would have of her to be sneaking into the castle wearing a soaked travel dress. While the bath was prepared, Elizabeth walked down the street to get someone from her grandfather's shop to bring over some dresses for Inga to try on, along with some shoes and underclothes. The shop was nearby, so by the time Inga had finished her bath, there were already a half dozen dresses laid out on Elizabeth's bed.

"Oh!" Inga exclaimed, clutching the borrowed robe closed. "Elizabeth, you really didn't need to do this!"

"Don't worry about it," Elizabeth told her. "Here's a clean shift and some drawers, and let me know when you're ready and I'll give you help with the corset."

"But… you don't have my measurements..."

"Mother's got a pretty good eye for these things," Elizabeth laughed. "She had it figured out by the end of breakfast."

Elizabeth left her alone for a few minutes. Inga felt the shift and drawers, and even she could tell they were cotton and not linen. They were very soft, if perhaps a little warm, and she decided to try untangling her hair with her fingers for a few minutes before putting on the corset. She had her hair in a loose braid when she heard a knock at the door.

"How are you doing?" Elizabeth asked her, peeking through the door.

"Just fine, thank you," Inga replied. "This is cotton, isn't it?"

"Yes," Elizabeth replied, then lowered her voice. "Don't tell Lars. He almost got into a fight with Grandfather over importing cotton last year. I barely managed to distract everyone and change the subject."

"Oh," Inga swallowed, not wanting to get into a political discussion herself.

"Don't worry, though," Elizabeth assured her. "Grandfather started getting his cotton from Egypt this year."

"Ah, I see," Inga murmured. She put on the new stockings, and the shoes only barely fit her feet. She hoped that her good shoes she packed in her trunk would be acceptably fancy for the banquet later in the week. She would barely be able to walk in the new shoes without getting blisters, let alone dance, if there was going to be any dancing. She hadn't thought to ask, still she didn't want to criticize a gift.

She looked down at the bed. "I suppose I will need help with the corset. I'm not used to having to work the laces in the back."

"I suppose you have maids to do that?" Elizabeth asked, trying to make conversation as she helped lace up the back.

"Only for fancy balls, usually, but- Oof!" Inga grunted as Elizabeth started pulling on the laces.

"Let me guess, they don't approve of tightlacing, either?"

"Well, my father doesn't," Inga had to confess, trying to catch her breath.

"I think I could have guessed that by now," Elizabeth chuckled kindly. "Okay, I'll stop there and we'll see if the dress fits. Mother can let out the dress a bit if we need to."

"Thank you," she gasped. Inga was glad to see that the dress just fit without having to make any further adjustments.

There was a knock at the door below, and a good deal of commotion downstairs. Inga assumed it was the saddle being returned, or perhaps the man from the road being directed to the stables. Elizabeth ran downstairs, and Inga went ahead and followed.

"Inga! You look different!" Frederick called from the front parlor.

"Thanks?" Inga replied skeptically, still trying to catch a proper breath. She looked around the front parlor. Elizabeth had gone to the back of the house to check on her mother. "Where's Aunt Elsa?"

"Oh, she left me here," he smiled. "She's going to go call on Lars's mother. She said it's not far, and that we should be back to the castle and changed by two. I guess they want to have tea with us? I hope it's not one of those teas where they don't serve anything to eat."

"Have you met them already, the Royal Family, I mean?" Inga asked.

"No, they were all out, I guess, or busy, or something like that," he informed her. "You should see our rooms, though!"

"I suppose it's a good thing I've got new clothes now," Inga admitted. "Which reminds me, I should probably see if the shoes Elizabeth left upstairs for me will even fit. It's almost noon, so we should probably get going if we don't want to be in a rush."

Elizabeth insisted on walking Inga and Frederick to Mrs. Nilsen's house so they could return to the castle with Elsa, and Elizabeth could visit with her future mother-in-law while the royal tea was going on.

When they got to Mrs. Nilsen's door, Inga could just see through the lace curtains that Elsa was sitting in the parlor.

"Oh! She's having tea!" Frederick exclaimed as Elizabeth walked ahead to knock on the door. "I hope this means there will be actual food at the castle!"

A woman who would look unremarkable walking around town in Arendelle answered the door. She was medium height and plump, and Inga could tell she had been blonde in her prime. She was smiling pleasantly as she opened the door.

"Hello, Mrs. Nilsen!" Elizabeth chirped as she greeted the older woman warmly and stepped inside. "I heard that… oh, there she is!"

Elsa approached the door. "I thought you would be heading directly back to the castle," she said to her nephew, then eyed her niece. "Inga… you look uncomfortable."

"I'm fine," Inga replied, forcing a smile.

Elsa introduced her niece and nephew to Mrs. Nilsen.

"I've heard so much about you two in particular," she told them with a touch of wistfulness in her voice. She seemed to be looking the two up and down, as if to check every feature. "I'm so happy for your mother. She deserves such happiness."

Elsa seemed agitated. "It's past noon now, we should be going. I'll call on you again tomorrow, Margit."

"Thank you so much for coming Your-" Mrs. Nilsen caught herself. "Thank you, Elsa, it was good to see you again after all these years."

Once they got to the castle, Elsa showed Inga to her room. Inga had to agree with Frederick that it was a very impressive bedroom. She quickly took off her new shoes, and took the stockings off to make sure she hadn't developed any blisters yet. She found her spare shoes in her trunk. She still had an hour until the tea, so she flopped down on the bed before putting her stockings or shoes back on. She really didn't want to bother anyone, so she left the corset laced up.

She hadn't realized she had fallen asleep until she heard Elsa calling from the other side of the door.

"Please come in!" she called back, awkwardly working on sitting up without pinching her midsection more than it already was.

"We need to be downstairs in ten minutes," her aunt told her, trying to sound stern, but barely hiding a laugh, helping her niece get her balance and put her stockings and shoes back on.

Inga quickly checked herself in the mirror, and was glad that she had at least braided her hair right after her bath so that it looked presentable. Her aunt assured her that the back of the dress had avoided any noticeable wrinkling during her nap. After checking her appearance, they left the room. Elsa clearly knew the way they were going, but Inga felt disoriented.

"You seem to know this place. Did you and Mother also visit Corona on that trip?" Inga asked her as they walked along.

"Which trip?" she asked in reply.

"That diplomatic trip Mother was starting to tell us about a few nights before my birthday? I never got to ask anyone before we left, and Father doesn't seem to feel like talking about it, so I thought I'd ask you…"

"Oh, yes, that trip included Corona," Elsa replied.

"There were other trips?" Inga inquired.

"Not here, no," Elsa replied.

"So was that how you met Mrs. Nilsen?" Inga probed.

"Um," Elsa paused and briefly looked over at her niece. "She hadn't moved here yet."

"Oh, then that was a long time ago, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was," her aunt replied just as they arrived at the door to the garden patio.

Frederick was already standing by the glass door, looking out trying to see whether they were setting out pastries or sandwiches or anything substantial. Inga looked around, trying to see if anyone else besides servants were around. Someone announced the King and Queen arriving. They greeted each other politely, and the Corona royals motioned them out to the patio, apologizing for the lateness of everyone else. They waited for the others before sitting down, and Frederick fidgeted, so Inga suggested that he go look around the patio rather than standing grumbling right in front of the King and Queen.

Before much conversation could begin, a young woman with stylish brown hair showed up, and they were introduced to the Princess Clothilde.

"Sorry," the other princess quietly told her grandparents after her introductions had been finished. "Mother and Father are looking for Henry. I haven't seen him since we got back from our ride this morning. Something about a saddle."

As Princess Clothilde was saying this, the Crown Princess Rapunzel and her husband Eugene arrived, looking someone flustered. Both immediately cheered up on realizing that their guests had arrived. The couple were happy to see Elsa again after so many years. The Crown Princess asked if her sister had shared the letter she had sent, which Elsa admitted she had apparently forgotten to do, but the two of them would catch up after tea.

They were amazed at how much the children had grown; it had been a few years since an official portrait had been sent from Arendelle. They told Frederick he looked so much like his father. Inga had to nudge her brother when he started to make a face. The Princess Clothilde insisted that they call her Hilde, so of course the Prince and Princess from Arendelle told her to call them Frederick and Inga.

Just as they were about to begin the tea with only those present, the door to the patio opened, and Prince Henry was announced. Inga immediately felt herself flush. She recognized Prince Henry. He was the young man she'd met on her morning ride. He was focused on apologizing to his parents and grandparents, but when he turned around for his introduction, he gave a knowing grin. Inga quickly looked to see if anyone else noticed. Only Hilde seemed to.

They finally got to sit down and have the tea. Inga hadn't had a proper lunch, and in fact hadn't really had anything to eat since the plain toast at breakfast. She was nearly as thankful as Frederick was for the sandwiches being served along with the tea, though unlike her brother, she quickly filled up.

"So, Inga," Hilde asked her between sips of tea. "Have you had a chance to see much of the Kingdom of Corona yet?"

"Only a little," Inga answered. "I went on a ride with a friend of mine this morning, but it got… cut short…" She glanced over at Prince Henry, who was raising an eyebrow and smirking at her. Inga took another sip of tea and focused on the china pattern.

"I'm sorry about that," he interjected. "I did eventually return the saddle, so you know. I had forgotten the Captain's name by the time I got back to town, so I had to ask around."

"Wait, Henry," his sister interrupted. "That's what the saddle thing was about? I thought you told me she wasn't-"

"Well, technically…" he cut her off, but didn't complete his thought.

"I need to apologize for my behavior, I think," Inga confessed. "I'm afraid I might have been a bit rude."

"Don't worry about that," he assured her. "I think if you've been thrown from a horse, you have a good excuse."

"Inga, what's this?" Elsa asked with some alarm from across the table. "Is that why you got new clothes?"

"No, Elizabeth insisted on the clothes. Or rather, her mother insisted I take a bath at their house, and I didn't want to be arriving at the castle soaked, and at that point, it made sense to take the dry clothes. We'll pay for them, don't worry."

"Well, this is turning into a more interesting story than I was expecting, if I could only piece everything together properly," Hilde laughed.

"Wait, Inga," her aunt interrupted, "if you got thrown from a horse this morning, I think I should know."

"I'm fine, really," Inga insisted. "In your next letter, you can tell Mama that I learned my lesson about riding sidesaddle. Papa should be pleased."

Prince Henry laughed a little too loudly. Hilde looked at him quizzically. Inga tried to look at the view in the opposite direction from anyone at the table.

"Do you ride sidesaddle, then?" Hilde asked her.

"Not very well, obviously," Inga sighed bitterly, glad that Elsa had become engrossed in conversation on the other side of the table again.

"Ah," Hilde giggled. "I see now. The way Henry told the story this morning, some Viking Shield Maiden had emerged from the water and presented him with a saddle." Prince Henry glared at his sister.

Inga nearly spat out her tea. "I don't know if I should be offended or flattered."

"Vikings, what?" Frederick butted into the conversation with a mouth full of sandwich.

"Me, apparently," Inga snorted.

"Huh? How? You've practically never even been on a boat until last week," Frederick replied a little too literally.

"Thank you, Frederick," Inga laughed. "I can always count on you."