As Frederick walked toward the family's wing of the castle, he saw Nanny carrying Baby Linne toward the nursery.

"Hi!" Frederick called out, then put his hand to his mouth when he realized the baby was sleeping. He managed a stage whisper. "Are Mother and Father in their room?"

"Yes, dear," she told him. "Be sure to knock first."

Frederick approached his parents' bedroom, and realized that Nanny must not have closed the door all the way. There was hushed talk between his parents, and as he approached, he began to hear what they were saying.

"...but there's no way. We have to do something about him," he heard his mother say.

"But why?" his father insisted. "It's not his fault, and besides, people like him. You're the one who wanted to avoid a scandal. Sending him away-"

"Might be better than trying to pretend everything is perfectly normal when you know it's not… not now."

"You're right, I know. We need to figure something out. But-"

Frederick had the feeling he wasn't supposed to be hearing any of this, and as much as he thought they might be talking about him, he didn't feel comfortable eavesdropping, so he loudly knocked on the door and cleared his throat somewhat dramatically.

His father opened the door a crack. "Oh, it's you," he sighed in relief. "What is it, Frederick?"

"Is Mother there?" Frederick asked, already knowing she was inside the room.

"Yes," Kristoff opened the door to let his son in. "What's the matter?"

"Sorry," he walked over to his mother sitting on the bed. "Our Ambassador to America quit to get himself a farm out west. I guess they're giving them out free?"

"Wait," his mother began, "What are you talking about?"

"Inga said you need to meet the council yourself to pick a new ambassador," Frederick explained. "Also we were wondering how much longer you'd be leaving us on our own."

"Oh…" Anna sighed, looking up at Kristoff. Frederick wondered what he'd done wrong, since he wasn't sure who else they might have been talking about.

"I'm sorry," Frederick apologized, "Inga's the one who told me to come here. I can go. I didn't mean… whatever is wrong. I'll go now."

"No, wait," Kristoff told him, walking over. "Is that the letter?"

"Yes," Frederick replied, realizing he was almost eye level with his father. He slouched a bit. For all the times during the summer that he had tried to act more grown up, he suddenly felt unready.

"Can you leave it with us?" his father asked.

"Of course," Frederick said, handing it over. "It's not like I can really do anything with it."

"Thanks," Kristoff sighed. "Why don't you go take a break now?"

"No, really, it's fine," he insisted. "And Inga will be expecting me, anyway."

"Thank you, Frederick," his mother smiled. "Do you need anything else?"

"Um, if it helps," Frederick spoke before getting to the door. "Admiral Sorensen told me he'd like to take me out on the training ship this spring. I told him I'd have to ask you first."

"That's fine, I guess," his mother replied, seeming somewhat distracted.

"Great, thanks!" Frederick replied, making sure to close the door completely and latch it as he left.


With Frederick out of the room, Inga pulled out the envelope she had grabbed a few minutes earlier. She realized she didn't know what Henry's handwriting looked like, and hoped the letter wasn't going to be some generic official thank you for attending the coronation, especially after going to the trouble of hiding it from her brother. Opening the letter, she wasn't disappointed.

Corona, September 4th, 1864
Dear Inga,

Thank you for the letter you gave me before you left Corona. I hope your trip home was uneventful, and that it was as quick as you said it would be. You still need to tell me what you meant.

I won't be able to answer most of the questions from your letter just yet. I'll need to find a chance to talk to my parents alone, since I get the feeling there might be things best discussed in private. Forgive me if I'm jumping to conclusions.

As far as the other part of your letter, don't worry, you didn't offend me at all. I'd like to think I have a thicker skin than that. I hope you'll write back. I promise I'll write more when I can. If we can't talk, this will be the next best thing.

Sincerely,
Henry

Inga stared at the letter, very glad that she'd kept it away from the official correspondence, even if there wasn't anything that could actually be evidence for any rumors. She realized she wanted a more private place to write a reply. Folding up the letter, she placed it in her pocket, and got up to leave the room. Just then, Frederick was returning.

"Finished already?" he asked her.

"I need a break," she told him. "It's getting late. Let's go into town and get dinner."


"I'm a little cold," Elizabeth told Lars. He wrapped his arms around her as they looked at the fire.

"It does get cold earlier here," he admitted, "especially up here in the mountains."

"I think I'll get used to it," she smiled, leaning into him.

"So," he began, "you really don't mind that my mother will be so close?"

"I'm the one who suggested it," she insisted. "I just hope that you don't mind. I…I know not everyone gets along with their parents."

He kissed her head. "No, it's fine. More than fine, in fact. I love that you get along so well with her, and… there might be times when I'll be busy, and I don't want you to feel lonely, or overwhelmed. We can't always count on having help."

"Thank goodness you seem to have learned to cook," she laughed, "or else we might all starve!"

"You're much more talented than I am," he assured her.

"I can bake some fancy pastries and cakes," she told him. "That will hardly feed a family. Your mother taught you how to make broth. Our cook always did that, and she liked to keep us out of the kitchen when she was making dinner."

"Well, it works out nicely, doesn't it?" He kissed her again. "It's all worked out rather nicely."


Inga was up early walking down the hall, meaning to get something from the kitchen before heading to the study. Turning the corner, she heard someone playing the piano in the corner of the ballroom. It hardly ever got used, especially since she had stopped playing a few years back. The twins preferred violin, and Sofia wasn't yet old enough to sit down for anything formal for very long. Frederick never put in much effort, but even then he seemed to play better than she did. Every so often someone in the family would say that they should try to find a way to fit the piano into the library so they could actually play it, or find a smaller piano for a corner of the library, but it never felt urgent enough to change anything.

Frederick was, in fact, the one playing. Inga stood by the door so she didn't interrupt him, then walked over when he was finished.

"That was nice. What was it?"

Frederick startled a bit. "Inga, I didn't hear you coming in. It's just… some piece my friend Edvard sent from Bergen."

"Well, it's nice. I didn't know you were still practicing," she smiled.

"I hadn't been, not really. This morning I just decided I would try again." Frederick shuffled around the sheet music. "It's a break from the correspondence. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind helping you with that. I'm just happy that I remember how to play."

"You know that's annoying, right?" Inga teased. "Being able to just sit down after the better part of a year and just play like that?"

Frederick gave a satisfied smile. "I played at Christmas last year, so I guess you're right." He shuffled through the stack of music on top of the piano. "Here, this one has something to sing. Why don't you join me?"

"You know I hate singing," she protested.

"No you don't, you just hated the voice teacher you had maybe a total of three lessons with," Frederick insisted. "Besides, I can't sing this high anymore." Frederick gave her a pitiful looking frown.

"Fine, but I can't promise I'll sing it well," she conceded, and Frederick began playing.

They needed to start over once or twice, but eventually Inga had to admit it sounded nice, especially if Frederick played loud enough to overpower herself. He insisted she sounded fine, and made her sing a second song.

At the end of the second piece, they heard someone clapping from across the room. Inga swung around, nearly knocking the music off the piano, and Frederick caught the pages, making sure they were secure before standing up and looking toward the far door.

"Very nice," said the man standing there. He was perfectly groomed and clean shaven, tall and tan, with jet black hair in the latest style from Paris, and what looked like a fashion house's take on a military uniform. "I had no idea the prince and princess of Arendelle would be so talented."

"And you are…?" Inga looked at him skeptically.

"Oh! I had thought you had been advised of my presence," he replied. "I had informed Her Majesty of my interest in meeting you."

Inga looked back blankly.

"Prince Tarkan of Maldonia." He gave a ceremonious bow as Frederick and Inga looked at each other trying not to laugh.

"Prince Agnarr Kristoff Frederick of Arendelle," Frederick replied, giving a very spot-on recreation of the Maldonian prince's bow. Inga was finding it hard to control her expression now, but quickly lost the desire to laugh when the prince was still looking expectantly at her, having barely acknowledged her brother's reply.

"Your Highness," she curtseyed. "Princess Anna Idunna Ingeborg of Arendelle. And I'm afraid that I must excuse myself, I was on my way… elsewhere."

"Where were you going?" Frederick whispered at her.

"Anywhere," she whispered back, hurrying to the side door toward the kitchen.


"Your Highness," Prince Tarkan bowed to Frederick after his sister had left the room.

"So," Frederick hemmed, "have you had time to see the countryside?"

"I cannot say that I have," replied Prince Tarkan, "and I did not come here to make idle conversation."

"You don't have to talk if you don't want to, but there's a lot you can do around here," Frederick insisted. "Just because my sister isn't interested, doesn't mean your trip needs to be a waste."

"You seem very certain that she isn't interested," Prince Tarkan sneered.

"Well," Frederick laughed, "usually if someone starts the conversation by telling her they want to meet her, that's the end of it."

"Perhaps in ten years she will regret being so quick to judge," Prince Tarkan sniffed. "I'm surprised that your mother is not more active in getting her children settled. I, for one, will be glad to have forged an alliance so that I may get on with the rest of my life."

"Um, I thought we were talking about getting married, what are you talking about?" Frederick stared at the other prince in confusion.

"Surely, someone in your position understands the importance, and isn't blinded by romantic notions."

"Well, I guess maybe for you?"

"I'm not sure what rumors about me have traveled this way, but I assure you they are all false," the Maldonian prince huffed.

"I really have no idea what you're talking about. I had to dance with your sister when I was in Corona, but I don't think she mentioned anything." Frederick frowned as he tried to remember any conversations he'd had at that party.

"Well, my sister knows when to hold her tongue. Still, I thought your family might be more amenable when the ambassador was explaining…certain things."

"Certain things?" Frederick was confused.

"I am sure you are aware, there were irregularities? That is, irregularities with the marriage of your parents."

"Why are you trying to sound so mysterious?" Frederick asked. "They got married by the trolls first, sure, and then they got married in the cathedral by the bishop because everyone expects that. So?"

"You'll beg my pardon, Your Highness, I did not mean to be rude. Apparently all is explained." Prince Tarkan bowed and left the way he had come in.

Frederick shook his head and sat back down at the piano.


"I think this is where you tell us congratulations." Anna told the silent council. "I've certainly been hearing enough whispers about the impending succession crisis for the last few years."

The council sat silently for another moment. The Bishop spoke up first.

"Your Majesty," he began hesitantly, "it truly pains me to say this, and no offense is meant, but as far as the law is concerned, you are not legally married."

"Well, you could vote to change the law," Kristoff interjected. "Isn't that what you're here for?"

"Sir," the Bishop said, giving a small bow to Kirstoff, "I'm afraid that changing the law would introduce… complications.

"Complications?" Anna asked.

"Yes, you see…" the Bishop sighed. "Legally, if your recent ceremony were recognized, the entire thing could be annulled due to bigamy laws."

"Wait, what?"

Anna could feel Kristoff's hand squeezing hers painfully tight.

"If everyone would excuse me," Anna spoke slowly and deliberately, "I would like to speak privately with the Bishop for a few minutes. The rest of you are dismissed. Thank you."

With much grumbling, the remainder of the council pulled together any papers they had brought in, and left the room. Anna placed her free hand on top of Kristoff's hand, and he relaxed his grip on her hand slightly.

"Your Majesty," the Bishop began once the door had closed and he was alone with Anna and Kristoff. "It would be very difficult to write the law allowing other ceremonies but not… claims of private exchange of vows. Your sister changed the law for exactly that reason. It's been the practice to look the other way for ordinary citizens, but in your case... I know you roundly denied having exchanged such vows at the time, but if, God forbid, anything were to happen to you, Prince Hans might bring up this marriage claim again."

"I understand," she sighed. "There could be bigamy claims, making any children Kristoff and I have illegitimate, and no living witnesses to deny it, and if there are no legitimate heirs, the legal spouse takes the throne. And they have… more warships than we have, even with Corona's navy."

"I am afraid so," the Bishop nodded. "I can perform the ceremony first thing in the morning, if you wish."

"That would be good," Anna looked up at Kristoff, who nodded quietly in agreement.


Inga grabbed herself a pastry from the kitchen following her escape from the ballroom, and ate it slowly on her way up to the study. She walked in without knocking, in the middle of a bite.

"Good morning," her mother greeted her. "Did you bring any for me?"

"You're back?" Inga spoke with a full mouth, swallowing a little too quickly. "And you might have warned me about that prince from Maldonia, you know."

"Who? Oh…sorry," Anna laughed a little. "He was definitely obvious about his intentions. He asked directly if you were attached, and as upset as you seemed to be about those rumors last week, I had to be honest. Did he… behave himself?"

"I suppose he was fine, just… rude, I guess?" Inga sighed. "I left Frederick alone with him before I came up here just now."

"How is Frederick doing?" Anna asked with some concern.

"Fine. He was playing piano this morning."

"That's nice to hear. He seemed to think he had done something wrong yesterday," she sighed. "I'm sorry about the past few days."

"Is everything okay?" Inga asked.

"I think everything will work out," Anna replied, standing up to leave. "If you'll check the schedule, there should be a few meetings that don't require me to be present. Would you be able to attend those?"

Inga glanced at the book. "Ugh. You won't make me meet with Maldonia, will you?"

"Oh! No, I'll take care of that one. Thank you for reminding me. Now, your father is expecting me to join him for breakfast. Don't forget to eat a proper meal, please!"


Anna sat in the garden, a newspaper open on the bench next to her. She stared off absentmindedly, not wanting to read the paper she'd brought with her. She was happy for the headline she read, but it had awoken memories she thought she had put behind her. It had been two months since her twenty-first birthday, a little more than two months, in fact. It was almost September. Olaf wandered over and looked at the headlines.

"Oh! The Crown Princess and Prince from Corona! I remember them! They had twins? Wasn't she the one you and Elsa were traveling with? And her husband, I remember he stayed here for a while. Anna?"

"Sorry, Olaf, what was that? I was a bit distracted. Hey, let's go for a walk!"


Kristoff was sitting at the table by the window with the breakfast set out when Anna came into the bedroom without knocking. Nanny had taken Baby Linne to the nursery for the morning. As she sat down, Anna pulled out a stack of papers she had hidden in the folds of her skirt.

"Inga came in just as I was finishing copying out the page from the law book," she told him. "She was focused on running into the prince from Maldonia, anyway, so I don't think she would have asked questions, anyway."

"Anna," Kristoff began, taking her hand. "Shouldn't we tell her? She's going to ask questions."

"But when?" she sighed.

"Maybe now?"

"Somehow, I had always imagined it being some kind of deathbed confession…"

"Really?" He looked at her.

"No, of course not," she told him. "It's just, you know, we lucked out not having any rumors about this. Our children aren't exactly good at keeping secrets, either. It would just take one of them saying something to Olaf and pretty soon every kingdom would know, and even if we've fixed the legal danger, we still don't need that kind of talk." Anna took a breath. "Maybe Inga could be careful now."

"I think she would be."

"But how do we tell her? It was a shock enough for you and me, and we knew… part of it."

"It was a shock enough the first time you told me."

"I kept questioning when I was going to tell you. Even after I told you, I second guessed myself. You seemed…angry."

"I was never angry at you, I hope you know it was only…him."

"Hans." Anna said it as if it were a curse.

Kristoff bristled at the name, closing his eyes. "And I don't think there would have been a perfect time." He looked across the table with a slight smirk. "Well, I suppose I'm glad I'm not just learning about it now. I have to say, a lot of things suddenly made sense after you told me."

"Honestly, I'm amazed there were never any rumors about the real reason for the trip to Corona."

"Trust me," Kristoff sighed, "everyone was convinced that you were going to be set up with a prince, it was only a question of which one. I almost believed it..."

"That still amazes me. It was the last thing on my mind during that trip," she paused.

Kristoff smiled a little. "That's what Elsa said when she returned the first time, before she disappeared again. I have to admit, it was hard to believe, since she didn't tell me why you would be hanging around in Corona for that long if you hadn't… met someone else."

"Sorry, I know it must have been confusing, not knowing anything…" she looked at him sadly. "At any rate, I wasn't just talking about what they were saying here. I suppose Elsa made sure that we never stayed in one place long enough for anyone to catch on that my dresses kept needing to be let out. And a princess getting new dresses certainly doesn't raise any eyebrows. But even in Corona, we only stayed in the capital for three weeks, and that was the longest we stayed anywhere, and then they were joking that the food was too good for me. Elsa and Rapunzel didn't say anything, of course, they kept quiet. And then Rapunzel found the house in the countryside not long after that. The story was that we needed a break from court life."

Kristoff sat silently the entire time Anna was talking. Twenty years after the fact, this was the most he had heard her talk about that time. He was still holding her hand, and the other one was nervously gesturing as she reminisced. "How much did Rapunzel have a hand in all this?"

"She knew how to keep us away from rumors in Corona. And she obviously has kept an eye on Mrs. Nilsen all this time. I hadn't realized when Elsa told me they had found someone that it was someone from Arendelle. I figured it would be someone from Corona, or maybe somewhere near Corona. It makes sense, though. She didn't need to explain a pregnancy that nobody had seen, and her husband was dead, so she didn't need to explain why the boy looked so different from his brother, and so much like-"

"He takes after you more."