Lars and Elizabeth weren't the sort of couple to dance every dance. They had, in fact, met while both of them were avoiding the dancing at a party held by her father at their house back in Corona. Her sisters were all competing for the attention of the young officers by the tent in their back garden, and she had gone around to the front to avoid them. Lars had been dragged to the party by his brother Karl, who had been concerned about his brother's intense focus on his studies, and insisted he needed to take some time to have some fun. The party seemed to Lars to be mostly young ladies trying to catch naval officers, and he soon found himself quietly exploring the gardens, where he ran into Elizabeth.
This evening, Elizabeth's mother and sisters were monopolizing her attention any time she wasn't dancing. They were leaving in the morning, so Lars knew that Elizabeth felt obligated to spend time with them, but she had told him on more than one occasion that when she was away from them, she didn't miss them as much as she felt she should. As soon as Lars got himself away from Mr. Meyer, he made sure to find his wife and ask her to dance.
After the second dance, Lars was once again called over by Mr. Meyer, this time to meet someone who had spent several years working in America. He felt bad for abandoning Elizabeth at the party again, but at least, professionally, it was an interesting conversation. There were more dances while he talked with the other men, and eventually he was able to return and get in one more dance with his new bride.
The party was starting to wind down. He stood holding Elizabeth's hand while her mother and sisters excitedly told her about their travel plans, and all the things they would be able to do once they arrived in Wesselton. He looked around the room as they spoke. The Maldonian ambassador was speaking with Mr. Meyer, while the rest of the Maldonians had left for the evening. Frederick was pestering Elizabeth's father and Admiral Sorensen with more questions about the details of naval operations, and meanwhile he saw the Queen and her husband quietly leave. There was some commotion in the opposite corner of the ballroom, and he noticed Inga being led out by the steward.
Elizabeth looked up at him. "Do you think something's going on?" she whispered as her mother was busy discussing something with her sisters.
"I'm not sure," he murmured back. It did seem odd, particularly since the princess was normally allowed to come and go as she pleased. His wife was worried about her friend, and clearly not interested in the conversation with her mother. "Why don't you go check?"
Elizabeth nodded and tried to quietly go.
"Elizabeth, dear," her mother called, "are you turning in so soon?"
"No, of course not," Elizabeth replied, "I just wanted to check on Inga."
"You'll get plenty of time to talk to her, but we'll be leaving in the morning."
"I just need a minute, Mother, if you'll excuse me, please," Elizabeth said firmly.
"I think the Princess will be fine, dear," her mother replied.
Lars squeezed Elizabeth's hand. "I'll go see if there's anything happening."
"Thank you," she smiled at him.
"Now, what were you telling me, Diana?" Lars heard their mother saying as he walked away.
Lars saw Kate and Edith standing together off to the side of the room, exchanging guilty looks with each other. The sisters were discussing in hushed tones about whether they had gotten Inga in trouble or whether General Mattias would hear about their gossiping and they would be the ones in trouble. The General had left an hour before on their assurance that they would behave themselves.
"Ladies," Lars greeted them.
They both startled a little.
"Elizabeth was worried about Inga, so I promised I'd check on her. Do you know why Kai called her out of the room?"
"No, I swear, we don't," Kate blurted rapidly. Lars rolled his eyes.
"I didn't think there was a reason before, but now you have me suspicious," Lars smiled. He had noticed Inga taking a few extra drinks, but the evening was almost over and it didn't seem like the princess was likely to make a scene.
As he stood around waiting for the girls to say something more, he thought about what might be going on. Elizabeth had told him they were talking about his new position, but he couldn't imagine why that would be a problem. If Elizabeth was there, they might have been talking about Wesselton. Perhaps there had been too much talk of Wesselton; after all, Arendelle had no official diplomatic relations with them. He thought back to the briefings before he had arrived in Arendelle, and shook his head at their foreign policy. And they wanted him to work for them? At least with Wesselton they officially had no relations, unlike the Southern Isles, where they had quietly stopped sending each other ambassadors some twenty-one years before. Of course, he knew from talking to both Mr. Meyer and his father-in-law, Corona profited off of this ambiguity. He knew that Arendelle lived in fear of a naval attack from the Southern Isles, though he could never understand why this was an issue if that kingdom had long ago punished and exiled the would-be claimant to Arendelle's throne. Perhaps if he were working for Arendelle, he could convince them to be more rational in their foreign policy. Even if the Queen wouldn't listen to reason, her children seemed more open.
"We should go now," Edith announced, pulling at her sister's arm. "Good night, Mr. Nilsen."
"Good night, ladies," he replied, not sure how long he had been distracted in his own thoughts.
Elizabeth remained across the room talking to her sisters, glancing over and trying to move them that direction. Her mother had found her husband, and was discussing last minute details. The Captain came striding over to Lars.
"Well, son," he laughed, shaking Lars's hand, "we'll be leaving early, so I think this is goodbye for now. I know you'll write to us. Take good care of Elizabeth. Good night!"
"Good night, sir," Lars replied as his father-in-law left the room.
Elizabeth followed her sisters as her mother herded them out of the party. "I'll see you in our room," she told him as she walked with her mother and sisters up to their rooms, "see if you can find out what happened to Inga, and don't let Mr. Meyer keep you too long."
He saw Mr. Meyer shake hands with the Maldonian ambassador as they bid each other good night, and took his chance to leave the room. There wasn't much point to going to bed just yet, but if Mr. Meyer caught him, there would be another dozen dignitaries he needed to talk to, and they would often insist on taking him to late night drinks. He wasn't sure if it would be prying to look for Inga at this point, but Elizabeth had asked him. Still, it didn't sound like anyone else was in this part of the castle, with everyone either leaving for the town or retiring to rooms inside.
He walked out the door, and headed to the courtyard. The air was crisp, but not too cold, and the moon, though not full, still gave enough light to see his way around. He decided that a walk through the gardens might help clear his head. Ever since the new position had been offered to him, nothing seemed quite right. As he walked along in the moonlight, he thought of his conversation with Elizabeth before the party.
Elizabeth looked at herself in the mirror trying to decide what to do with her hair. "You never told me how fancy they get at this sort of thing."
Lars looked over. "It's not something I've really thought about. Dress for dancing, but it's not like it's some big occasion."
"Well," she said securing her hair, "it's the in between things that are tricky to dress for. How do I look?"
"Beautiful. What else do you expect me to say?" Lars smiled as she walked over.
"You've seemed a bit distracted the last few days. I mean, I know it's a big deal deciding on the position, but I get the feeling it's something else."
He sighed. "You're right. Maybe it's just being gone for a week, but it feels… something feels different now. We met with the Queen yesterday afternoon, and I could swear she wouldn't even look at me."
"Inga told me her mother wasn't feeling well last week. Perhaps she still hasn't fully recovered."
"But her husband, he had been so friendly, and he's made excuses of being busy the times I've run into him."
Lars sighed to himself. He hadn't discussed this with anyone else. If Mr. Meyer had noticed any difference in attitude, he certainly hadn't said anything, but he was focused on how they would proceed once things were more settled. Corona had mentioned sending royal emissaries, presumably to deal with the special situation. They hadn't given exact dates yet, but he wondered if some of his classmates from the School who were particularly jealous of his placement here would be candidates for his replacement.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the noise of one of the nearby small side doors to the castle slamming open, and he heard a rustle of silk as someone ran by. He quickly realized it was Inga. He looked back at the door to see if anyone was following, but the door was shut again. He walked in the direction she had run, but couldn't see anyone. Suddenly, he heard some noise from a nearby tree, and saw Inga sitting on one of the branches, noisily gasping for breath like she'd been crying. He wanted to call to her, but as soon as he looked up, he found himself quickly looking away, realizing that she hadn't taken any care of how her skirts were arranged. Even if he weren't married now, this wasn't proper for him to see, but Elizabeth was probably still stuck with her mother, and he had the feeling that Inga wasn't in a good frame of mind. As he walked closer to the tree, he noticed a nearby branch, which would avoid the awkward view he found himself looking at from below. Grabbing onto the side of the tree, he started climbing.
"Frederick, is that you?" she called out, not really hiding the sniffling sounds.
"No," Lars called out, hoping she wouldn't be too startled.
He saw her begin to stand up, holding on to the tree trunk. "Lars? What are you doing here?"
"I used to climb trees, too," he laughed.
"No, no, I mean… why are you out here? Were you looking for me?" she asked.
"Yes... Elizabeth was worried about you," he explained, reaching a nearby branch, a little out of breath. "She wanted me to check on you when you were pulled away from the party. Is anything wrong?"
"You can go tell them I'm fine," she told him with a forced calm.
"But-"
"I'm fine."
"Elizabeth said you seemed a little unhappy earlier."
"Everything was just fine earlier," she spat out, looking away.
"Is everything fine with your parents? I saw that they left a little early."
He looked in confusion as Inga began crying again.
"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked. Surely he would have heard something from the Ambassador or one of the other diplomats if her parents were ill. He couldn't think of any disputes they might have with Inga.
"You have to leave right now," she cried. He didn't know what he was expecting to hear, but that certainly wasn't it.
"Why? I want to know why you're upset. Is there something wrong?"
"I can't tell you." He watched as she carefully lowered herself to the ground.
"Fine," he sighed slowly, "it's personal, none of my business." He lowered himself from his own branch.
"That's just it," she said, almost shouting, "it should be your business!" She looked like she was trying to find a way out, almost like she was trapped.
"I really don't understand. If it's my business, you should tell me!" He grabbed her hand. She quickly pulled it away.
"It's not my secret," she sobbed, turning around and starting to run. Lars hadn't been looking around, and was nearly as surprised as Inga was when she bumped into her father. Lars gasped when he saw him standing there. He hadn't seen him walk up. Inga collapsed in the grass where she was standing and buried her head between her knees.
"I'm sorry, I really don't know what's going on." Lars said as he approached Kristoff. Lars wasn't sure what else he could say. Had he been imagining Kristoff's avoidance of him, or was the reason the same as Inga's reaction to seeing him tonight? Or was it worse now? After all, a young lady screaming and crying, trying to get away from a young man?
"It's nothing you did," Kristoff replied, stepping a little closer to Inga, "but you should probably go back inside now."
"I… sorry again, I hope she feels better soon," Lars stammered. Hurrying back up the path, he heard Inga's muffled sobs.
Kristoff tried not to slam the door as he walked into the bedroom. He stood rubbing his forehead.
"Where is she now?"
"I left her with Gerda to get her ready for bed. I think she'll be better with some sleep," he sighed, sitting down and taking off his shoes.
Anna stared at the ceiling. "That didn't go well."
"We didn't exactly plan it," he replied flatly. "We probably should have let Inga keep gossiping with those girls. She knows enough not to believe what she hears."
"How are you so calm right now?"
"I'm not calm, I'm exhausted," he replied, collapsing into bed. "She was right, though, it wasn't the right time to tell her about that."
Anna quietly opened the door to the library and walked in, though it was more of a waddle. She didn't remember Inga or Fred being quite this large so soon, nor was she this big when she was in Corona, even if she had felt so at the time.
"And then she unfroze!" Olaf exclaimed. Inga cheered and giggled. Kristoff had fallen asleep, sprawled across the sofa, snoring. Little Frederick had toddled over and was plucking out notes on the mandolin in the corner.
"Hi, Mama!" Inga exclaimed, "Olaf was just about to get to the part where you punched the mean man!"
"Olaf, are you getting them worked up before bed?" she gently chided him.
"No, Inga asked for the story!"
"Well, why don't you go tell Nanny that it's time to get them to bed?" Anna smiled as he wandered down the hall, and walked over to Kristoff. "Honey, you fell asleep."
"I…" he muttered, sitting up quickly, "Okay, I did. Here, you need to sit down." He scooted over and gently tugged her hand. She sat down.
"I'm fine, really," she smiled. "I wrote to Elsa this morning that it will probably be a little longer. The midwife thinks maybe another month."
"You were working too late again," he said, rubbing her belly.
"Mama!" Inga interrupted, "Why didn't you let Papa punch the man? He says you wouldn't let him."
"Inga," Anna sighed, "how many times have you heard this story now?"
"I don't know. A thousand?"
"Well, it's time for bed," she told her, cuddling Frederick who had just climbed up on her lap.
"Mama, what if you had married that man?"
"What?"
"What if you had married that man?"
"I… I don't know, but you wouldn't be here asking me that question."
"Why not?"
"Because I wouldn't have married your Papa."
"But why does that matter?"
"Because…" How long was Inga going to continue questioning? "Oh, good, here's Nanny. Good night, Inga, I love you."
"Night, Mama, night night, Papa."
"Good night," Kristoff said, leaning over to kiss her forehead. They watched as Nanny led Inga and her brother to the nursery.
"Anna, do you think maybe you should tell her?"
"About what?"
Kristoff raised an eyebrow.
"Oh… she's so young, but I guess at some point... Maybe we can talk about it tomorrow night."
"Let's go to bed now. You've been working yourself too hard." Kristoff helped Anna up off the sofa.
"I'm fine. Besides, I think at this point I know what I'm doing."
"Have you thought of any more names?"
"Not really, no. Several members of the council had suggestions this afternoon," she laughed.
"Well, there's still time for figuring that out," he smiled.
Anna clutched at her belly. "Maybe not…"
Lars arrived back at his room in a daze. He washed his face, and changed for bed, trying to figure out what had just happened. He spent several minutes pacing, finally giving up and lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. The door opened.
"Lars, I didn't expect you to be back already," Elizabeth said cheerfully.
"I avoided Mr. Meyer," he replied, trying to sound equally cheerful, knowing she would see right through it, but he was too tired, and it was too late at night now. He could censor himself around her, but he could never keep up the act he put on for diplomatic functions.
"What happened? Did you find out why Inga had to leave the party?"
"No, I didn't… that is, I didn't find out why she left. I ran into her later. She was upset."
"Did she say why?"
"No, and… it was very confusing. Her father found her. I'm really not sure what was going on."
"Well, let's just sleep on it. I'll see if I can find her tomorrow. Maybe she'll be more willing to talk to me."
"I suppose you're right."
