Inga struggled in the water. The young man had appeared out of nowhere, startling her horse, throwing her into the bay. He was a rough, dark-haired stranger. He came and lifted her swiftly out of the brackish water, the shock of cool morning air on her damp skin hardly noticed in his warm embrace, he carried her to his horse, and rode away with her.

As they approached the city, she asked him his name. He didn't say, but suddenly the city had vanished, and instead of the low hills of Corona she saw the steep cliffs along the fjord approaching Arendelle. The dark-haired stranger was now the leering redhead. Inga wanted to scream, but her throat wouldn't let out any sound. There was no escape. The man was taking her prisoner.

Inga woke with a start. She hated the dreams with the leering redhead, but even more, she hated that he had now intruded himself onto the more pleasant dream. She tried to remember the more pleasant beginning, but it was already fading. She usually had the other dream after someone brought up the stories about her mother. It always felt real, and she needed to bring herself back to reality.

The clock was striking six, and the sky was only just starting to get light, but she needed to sleep a little longer, since the coronation festivities that day would go late into the night.


Henry sat down at the nearly empty breakfast table.

"It's almost eight, you're barely going to have time to eat," his sister told him as he poured himself coffee.

"Where is everyone else?"

"They're already getting ready," she sighed. "I told them I'd wait for you. We're going to need to get into our costumes soon, too, you know."

"Costumes?" Henry laughed.

"You know what I mean," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'd hardly call what they were fitting us for yesterday regular clothing. We'll change before dinner, at least. You have something picked out to wear to dinner, right? Ask Father for advice if you haven't."

"I have something picked out," he grumbled. "Even I know this isn't some random state dinner."

"Well, of course," Hilde smiled. "You want to look nice for her, don't you?"

"What?" He looked up. "No. I mean, that's not it. I was going to, anyway."

"But it's extra motivation, isn't it?" she winked.

"Just… don't say anything more? Please?" he looked at her.

Hilde giggled. "This is about that viking comment, isn't it?"

"I'm never going to share anything with you ever again at this rate," he grumbled.

"I'll be good," she promised as she got up from the table. "I'm going now. I'll send someone to find you in a few minutes if you're not ready."


Elizabeth's sisters had been quite jealous when they heard that she would get to go to all of the Coronation events. Inga wore the new ballgown that Elizabeth had gotten her, but chose the old shoes she had packed from home, because there was going to be dancing. Inga had to call on the palace maids to help her fit into the gown. She wasn't quite sure how this would work with dinner and dancing, but it was slightly less painful than it had been a few days before.

Elizabeth and Inga had spent a lot of time together in the days since they had arrived in Corona though they had avoided certain topics of conversation. The times that Inga had managed to see Elsa, Frederick was usually there, too. He had been sticking with either his aunt or his sister since his encounter with the unknown ladies. Inga tried to be understanding, but there were several discussion topics that she couldn't bring up with either Elizabeth or her aunt when he was around.

The Coronation itself was a grand, formal affair like nothing Inga or Frederick had seen. Prince Henry and Princess Clothilde of Corona looked serious and formal, and Inga almost didn't recognize them from the other morning, both gazing vacantly over everyone's heads. There were people from dozens of kingdoms in the cathedral, and Inga was trying to remember if any of them had visited Arendelle. She knew no one from Wesselton or the Southern Isles had visited in her lifetime, and she eyed their representatives cautiously. After the ceremony had ended, she tried her best to listen in as names were announced heading into the banquet, but her family were considered special guests of the Corona Royal Family, and she was too busy being seated to properly hear or see when the guests of interest were announced.

Inga had hoped to possibly speak more with Hilde, but for the banquet she was seated on the opposite side of her parents and grandparents, near some young man she seemed familiar with. Frederick was sitting between Elsa and Prince Henry. Inga sat between her aunt and Elizabeth, and listened to the latter tell Lady Amelia of Wesselton about her father's ship, her recent trip to Arendelle, and her fiance's posting there. Elizabeth would occasionally check in on Inga, who would try to listen in on some of Lady Amelia's stories of Wesselton. Inga realized she knew very little about the country despite its being so close to Arendelle.

On the other side, Elsa was eating quietly, and seemed to be deep in thought. Inga wished that she could think of something to speak about, but all the things she wanted to ask seemed better for a less public setting. She could hear bits of conversation between her brother and Prince Henry to the other side, mostly about Frederick's newfound love of sailing, or the relative merits of horses versus reindeer. Looking around the room, she tried to identify anyone she had seen before in Arendelle, but she didn't recognize any of them.

"You should come to Arendelle some time," Frederick was telling Prince Henry, "then we can show you around."

Inga wished her brother wouldn't go inviting people they'd only just met to come visit, though she supposed that Frederick had every right to make friends. The two kept talking.

A moment later she noticed Frederick standing up, and heard Prince Henry as they walked past. "There's a good view from the balcony out there, why don't I show you?"

"Inga," Frederick spoke up, patting her shoulder, "you look bored, come with us!"

"Um, I guess so," Inga hemed, "Elsa?"

"No, thank you," their aunt smiled. "Please, you go enjoy yourselves."

Inga reluctantly followed her brother and Prince Henry out to the large balcony. She had fully intended to make it through the trip without having to think about foreign princes, though her misadventure the first morning had certainly made it all the more difficult. She was used to falling back on pure formalities when dealing with an interested prince, but she realized she couldn't address him as "Your Highness" without sounding almost rude at this point.

She gasped a little as they walked out on the balcony; it was indeed a very nice view. She might have to admit that it was one of the more spectacular views she had seen. She certainly hadn't seeen any cities like this. It wasn't yet dark, though the sun had set almost a half hour earlier. There was the thinnest crescent moon about to set, following the sun. Inga tried to see the different locations Prince Henry described to her brother. She recognized where their ship had docked a few days earlier, and the bridge they rode over that first morning was hard to miss, but the rooftops all looked similar, and blocked the views of the narrow streets. Elizabeth came outside just then, and Inga felt a little more comfortable when she saw her.

"Oh, there's our house!" Elizabeth exclaimed, pointing, "and I see the naval headquarters over there!"

"I think I recognize some of the places from our ride," Inga remarked quietly to Elizabeth, though she had to admit to herself that she wasn't entirely sure where she had been.

A moment later, Lady Amelia came outside and told Elizabeth that she wished to introduce her to an admiral from the Wesselton navy.

"Inga, I'll be right back," Elizabeth assured her as she followed her back inside, "I promise!"

"Are we missing dessert?" Frederick asked as if on cue, and walked back inside.

"They'll be serving dessert for an entire hour!" Prince Henry called after him. "Oh, nevermind. Your brother enjoys his food, doesn't he?"

"Yes, well, he's growing," Inga sighed.

Henry laughed, but didn't say anything. Inga glanced back at the door, hoping to see someone come back out, but nobody did. She wished she could breathe more freely. She was wondering if she'd even be able to dance later. She was also wondering if it was really just the corset. She was used to talking to men she could address formally, and she was used to talking to her father and brothers and people she could view as almost family, but she had never thought very hard about talking with someone who didn't seem to belong to one of those categories. When she looked back, she made eye contact with Henry. He seemed to sense her discomfort.

"Sorry," he said, looking away.

"What?" Inga looked back at him.

"Sorry for making things awkward the other day, I guess," he answered, looking out over the city.

"Oh, um." she tried to think of the appropriate reply. "Thanks."

"Thanks?" he repeated, looking at her.

"What was I supposed to say?" she asked, reminding herself that he wasn't actually standing that close to her. She couldn't touch him if she stretched out her arm. That was plenty of space.

"You could tell me that I wasn't making things awkward with you," he suggested petulantly.

"Why would I say that if it actually was awkward?" she asked incredulously.

"Because… um…" he sputtered, his voice cracking a little. "Fine, you're not flirting with me, then?" The moon had set an hour earlier and it was too dark out to see his face clearly.

"Nevermind, you're right, it wasn't awkward before," she groaned. She could feel him watching her, and turned to look the opposite direction. She was finding it even harder to breathe than at the beginning of the evening, and tried leaning on the railing of the balcony, but her dress made it difficult.

"I just thought-" he stopped himself.

"What?" she huffed. "You thought that I'm going to be teasing and giggling like those ladies from… wherever it is they're from."

"The ones from Wesselton?" he asked in disgust.

"Maybe? I don't know," she felt disarmed by his reply. "Frederick ran into them our first day here."

"They arrived the day before you," Henry explained. "I've been avoiding them, too. I'm eighteen now, so they had their eyes on me. I suppose your brother would be a good second choice. I'm… no, I mean… you're nothing like that, I know that."

"Oh." She swallowed, not sure how to respond.

"Your brother told me about what our Ambassador said, by the way," he chuckled weakly.

"Oh. That," she grumbled, slowly turning back around and rubbing her forehead. "I hope my brother made it very clear I came here in spite of that and not because of that." Inga realized she had managed to forget about the Ambassador's invitation since their arrival in Corona.

"I think he mentioned that," Henry snorted.

"It's so frustrating," she blurted out. "I really have no plans of marrying any time soon. And my parents aren't into, well... that sort of diplomacy, you know what I mean?"

He looked over at her. "Well then, I guess that's all cleared up now, isn't it?"

"And now I really have made it awkward, haven't I?" Inga blushed. At home she had almost gotten control over talking too much and saying things that could be left unsaid.

They both stood looking over the city for a few minutes.

"It's not that I don't want to get married eventually," she found herself saying, breaking the silence, "but when almost everyone has been throwing their princes and dukes my way since I was hardly more than twelve, it gets a bit tiresome."

"But you just said that's not what your parents want for you, right?" he asked, keeping his eyes focused on the city.

"No," she replied quickly. "It's definitely not their idea, but I don't think they really noticed that it was going on, and they really don't know what to tell me. They try, but it's obvious they have no idea what to do about me. I think their latest idea is trying to fix that, keep me from feeling like my only option is to get married, but that wouldn't stop the attention, just change who it's from."

"I think I remember your brother saying something about that, too."

"The less said, the better," she sighed. "But it's certainly not my idea, if you're talking about what I think you are."

"Well, he seems to think you're a better fit, anyway," Henry smiled, looking back at her. She tried to keep looking straight ahead.

"He just needs time to grow up," Inga insisted.

"And they're worried about nobody staying on the throne long enough for that to happen?" he smirked.

Inga glared at him. "That's not funny."

"Sorry." He looked at her.

"It's just… you know…" she stammered. "It's something I think about a lot."

"That and worrying about being married off, I take it?"

"Well, I'm rather worried about making a mistake," she began.

"Like me?" Prince Henry looked back at her curiously.

"Not exactly, I mean- no, not you. At least, I haven't heard anything bad about you…" she had been completely facing him, and turned herself to face away from him quickly enough that her skirts rustled and swung against him. "But that's not what I meant."

"What did you mean?"

"My mother… my mother, she had… well, everyone knows that story. Surely you've heard it if your father taught you… that vocabulary." she looked at him pointedly. "I mean, it's the usual thing, I'll be talking to some ambassador or other, and if I say that I'm not interested in getting married yet, they give a knowing nod and in hushed tones they tell me they can understand and they won't bring it up again. And they all think they're in on some big conspiracy by not talking about it around us."

"Um… Is this about the ice thing? Because I know about that. My parents were there, you know."

"Well, I only just learned about their visit right before I came here," she laughed. "So I suppose I should just be thankful to learn that family gossip hasn't gotten around to quite everyone."

He looked at her with a puzzled expression. "What did you just learn? I don't seem to be up to following the conversation."

"Just that your parents know my parents. I… I really hadn't known that. Especially not my father and yours."

"Oh!" he laughed. "Well, I can tell you all about it, I think. I suppose it's my fault they lost touch. Or, well, both mine and Hilde's..."

"What do you mean?" Inga asked.

"Mother always felt a bit guilty about missing your mother's coronation and wedding, but we were a few months old then," Henry explained.

"Of course, that does make sense," Inga replied. "I heard that they went rock climbing once."

"Yes, I've heard a little bit about that. I think the trolls made a bigger impression on my father. That's the story he liked to tell us when we were little."

"What?" Inga was incredulous. "Father hardly ever takes anyone outside the family to see them."

"Oh, well," he chuckled. "It was the holidays, and he missed Mother quite a lot, and nobody else was around, and apparently there was some festival about rocks? It never quite makes sense."

"No, that doesn't make sense," Inga remarked. "Why wasn't your mother there? Where was she?"

"She was on a diplomatic tour with your aunt and mother," Henry replied matter-of-factly.

"Really? They didn't mention that." Inga paused, trying to make sense of the different stories she'd heard. "Then again," she added, mostly thinking aloud to herself, "I never asked them about that."

"What did you ask them about?" Henry asked her, jolting her a bit with the realization she had been speaking out loud.

"Well, not both of them," she backtracked a little. "I haven't asked my mother, but she and my aunt write to each other all the time, so it's almost the same thing." She was rambling, and worse, not sure whether she should be saying this, though she couldn't think of any reason she shouldn't. "And, sorry… I had asked my aunt if the trip was where she met Mrs. Nilsen, the mother of… well, her son is the secretary for your Ambassador to Arendelle."

"Always that Ambassador, huh?" Henry laughed. "But, I think your brother was telling me about him and his fiancee. Now that I think about it, I remember him, at least a bit. His family used to come around to the castle here when they were younger. I remember his brother was almost the same age, just a year older, and they wanted to put them both in the Navy, and the brother did go into the Navy, but your friend… I can't remember, but for some reason, I think he was supposed to go into the Palace Guard, and then there was some kind of bother when he didn't."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know, exactly. I'm slowly getting better at following along when my mother and grandparents are discussing things, but I was younger when it happened. I just remember my mother starting to tell them to please let her know about these things. She wasn't mad… at least, she seemed very calm about it. At any rate, then he went into the Diplomatic School, and I never heard about it again."

"I never heard him say anything about the Palace Guard. I thought he was going to study law," Inga remarked.

"You know," he laughed a little, "you might be right. I don't know if I trust my own memory sometimes."

"I didn't say anything!" she exclaimed defensively.

"Don't worry about it," he sighed. "I should have a long time to improve myself. Though I suppose all this fuss today means that unlike your brother, I don't have time to grow up any more."

"If it makes you feel better," Inga offered, "you'd have three more years in Arendelle."

"Um, thanks?" he twisted his lips, looking straight ahead again. "I guess it serves me right fishing for compliments."

She glared at him, but he wasn't looking at her. She tried to think of something to say, and was starting to move her hand over to get his attention, when she heard someone coming out to the balcony, startling her a bit.

"Henry! There you are!" Hilde was smiling. "The music has started! You and I are expected out there!" She looked over and giggled a bit. "Inga, you'll probably disappoint some people if you don't follow us!"