A/N: Shorter than I had originally planned but I wanted to get something out to you all. Things will start to pick up a bit from here, this story will take coarse over several years so there will be some large time jumps coming up in a few chapters. Just a heads up. As always I do not own Frozen nor it's characters they belong to Disney. Please leave a review. they are always appreciated.

A Ride

Word that Elsa had accepted a private invitation with a suitor spread like wildfire and Elsa found her schedule fuller than usual. She was only able to accept one to two invitations per week due to her work schedule so she'd been unable to spend time alone with Prince Pieter. They'd been able to see one another and speak during the various engagements that were set up but they were inevitably interrupted.

Most of the private outings she'd been on were neither here nor there, the suitors were gentlemanly and attentive but Elsa felt nothing like she did when Prince Pieter spoke to her. While it was frustrating to spend time with gentlemen she had no interest in, it was encouraging that maybe she had been right about Prince Pieter and should try to find a way to spend more time with him.

What made things worse was that Anna had entered confinement, finally with 6 weeks left in her pregnancy; which meant Elsa no longer had her sister to help her during the multiple engagements. To cap it all off Rapunzel and Eugene had left to return to Corona before the seas got too bad and Rapunzel began showing much. It had been a tearful goodbye but they had all promised to see each other with the new babies in tow during the next summer, this time with the Arendellian family going to Corona.

Elsa was drawn from her thoughts when she heard herself being called. She looked up to see Prince Oskar walking her way in his riding attire, they were scheduled to go for a ride through the farmlands to the capital's west.

"Your Majesty, don't you look positively radiant this afternoon." He smiled widely at her showing all of his teeth. Elsa returned his smile with a tight-lipped one and a slight incline of her head. She'd decided several weeks ago that Prince Oskar was a rather odious man. Since word had spread about her acceptance of private invitations he'd managed to schedule himself three times in two weeks. Elsa felt waves of repulsion roll over her at the thought of spending another afternoon with the man but she needed to keep Sweden happy for as long as possible.

"It is a beautiful autumn day Your Highness, a splendid idea to go for a ride," she said instead and began mounting her horse before he could try to take her hand to kiss it. He beamed at her. "Ahh yes, it was a rather magnificent idea of mine wasn't it." Elsa could only grin and nodded before kicking her horse, Balder, into a gallop hoping to keep as much space between herself and the prince as possible.

Elsa did truly love to ride, it was the one activity growing up, even after the accident, that she was able to continue to enjoy; for some reason, she'd always felt calm around animals, especially horses, and never lost control of her powers. Every Sunday, while the rest of the family attended Mass in the chapel, her father would allow her and Gerda to take a short ride along the back walls of the city. Elsa yearned for Sunday every day of the week, counting down over and over again.

Elsa was too lost in her thoughts, navigating the trails by mear motor memory than actually paying attention, so when a loud shot rang across the sky she wasn't prepared for her Balder to spook, it was only by mear dumb luck and a little pure athletism that she was able to hold on and not be thrown, the horse then took off down the path at full speed. Elsa first gathered her composure and then tried to calm her horse to no avail. He ran, panicked for several minutes, Elsa nearly had it under control when a rider came out from the tree line right in front of her; her horse bucked again, this time she was not so lucky as she was tossed from its back. She hit the ground hard, the air rushing from her lungs, her head collided with the earth and she fell into nothingness.

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Voices; they came to her first, in a swirl of black, color, and pain.

"What the hell were you doing, you were supposed to just spook it a little so I could save her, not nearly kill her." came a furious familiar voice.

"It's not my fault that it fucking startled like that." came a gruff reply

"It is when you shoot a shotgun not 5 yards away." came a third voice.

"Shut up Val, you're the one who caused it to throw her."

" I was trying to stop them from getting too far ahead." snapped the third voice.

"Shut up you two, it doesn't matter right now, the guard will likely be here soon in his scouting mission for the shooter, you're lucky I sent him in a different direction, and the ladies maid will have gotten help by now, now go." the familiar voice instructed as pure darkness took Elsa into its embrace again.

She was pulled from the depths of unconsciousness from voices again, though there was a new one.

"What happened!" This voice too was familiar, yet it was soft, and there was concern in its directness.

"What the hell are you doing here, she needs a doctor, not you."

"I am a doctor." came the frustrated reply.

"Bull."

"It's not, the castle physician was indisposed so I came, now tell me what happened or I swear to god…."

"Fine, her horse got spooked and she was thrown, I think she hit her head."

Elsa then felt soft warm hands on her neck pressing gently. Then they cupped her cheek and slid up behind to the back of her head, she groaned but remained in her semi-conscious state.

"She has a nasty head wound. We must be careful about transporting her. Head back quickly, have them bring a wagon and a stretcher. And be mindful that they say nothing to the princess yet, she can not be stressed in her current state."

Elsa heard gruff muttering and then the hoofs of a horse leaving quickly. The warm hand returned to her cheek, "You'll be alright My Queen." Elsa slipped back into darkness again though feeling safer than before.

The third time Elsa returned from unconsciousness it was due to a pain radiating from the back of her head to the backs of her eyes. She groaned and brought her hand to her head as she blinked herself awake. As the light penetrated her eyes she had to snap them shut as a new surge of pain filled her head. "Curtains." she choked out. A moment later the light penetrating her eyelids lessened and Elsa forced her eyes open again. She moaned and turned her heavy head to the side, there she saw Kristoff smiling at her worriedly, Gerda just behind him her face distraught.

"What happened?" her voice felt thick and dry, her voice coming at hoarse.

Kristoff gave her a lopsided smile, "Your horse threw you, you hit your head pretty hard. Doctor Olsen says you have concussion or brain contusion, something like that."

Elsa hummed and closed her eyes again, trying to remember. "There was a gunshot, Balder ran, then…." she trailed off, things got hazy here.

"Don't push yourself, dear," Gerda said sweetly and she brought a glass of water to Elsa's lips, she didn't protest the treatment, rather relished in the cool feeling running down her throat.

"The guards think it was just a hunter, though they didn't find anyone," Kristoff explained.

Probably Elsa thought, but then something pulled at her mind, a vague recollection, but it was hard to concentrate so she pushed the thought away.

"What else did Dr. Olsen say?" Elsa went to push herself up on her pillows but found both Gerda's and Kristoff's hands holding her down.

"The first thing he said was for you to rest, he'll be back soon, but he believes due to how long you lost consciousness…"

"How long?" Elsa shot up before anyone could stop her and the wave of dizziness and pain cause her to grimace and fall back down.

"Your Majesty, please." Gerda chastised.

Kristoff was far nicer when he spoke after a moment allowing Elsa to compose herself. "A few hours. We were actually starting to get worried." Elsa only acknowledged her words with a small head nod. "He is calling for at least three days of bed rest, and then at least two weeks of reduced work. After that, he'll reassess you."

This time Elsa slowly pushed herself up into a slightly inclined position, Gerda eyed her but just put a pillow behind her head to support it. "I can't be away from work that long."

"You can and you will." They all were startled to see at some point, rather astonishingly, Anna had waddled herself into the room. "I've already spoken with the Prime Minister and he's agreed that right now you need to rest and heal, he'll handle the day to day, and Kristoff will attend all meetings and report back to you."

This caused Kristoff to stare at her, his eyes as big as dinner plates, "I will?'

Anna carefully sat next to Elsa on her bed and looked at her husband in the chair, "You will, normally it would be my job, but as I am indisposed at the moment, you are the next royal in line to take Elsa's place."

His mouth hung wide, "I'm not a royal."

Anna chuckled and even Elsa gave a slight smirk, "you are, remember we got married, you became a prince."

"It's not the same, I'm not even in the line of succession." He stated.

Anna rubbed her face, Elsa could see she was getting frustrated with her husband, it would be rather amusing if Elsa's head was starting to pound from all the back and forth.

"It isn't your right, but you're still a member of this family, and my most trusted friend, please Kristoff, I need someone there to oversee things while I can't. You don't have to make any decisions, just report back to me." Elsa pleaded. She'd much rather go herself, but if Anna and Kristoff's little disagreement caused her head to hurt so much couldn't imagine what a council meeting would do to her.

He gave a big sigh and nodded, "for you, alright."

"Thank you." Elsa gave a big yawn. Gerda then handed her cup of tea or something, "Dr. Olsen said it will help with your headache and help you rest." Elsa decided not to fight this either.

"Think about the bright side, no suitors for two weeks." Anna quipped as Elsa fell to sleep, not suitors, thanks be the Lord.

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Two weeks of bed rest and limited work had been extraordinarily boring. In the beginning, Anna would join her, reading her stories as Elsa had trouble reading without getting dizzy. In the evenings Kristoff would come and read her import missives or proposals and summarize meetings. She knew he didn't like it, but he was actually very good at getting to the point by telling her just the important details. Anna; however, as the second week moved on, became increasingly tired and would only stay for a short while, which meant Elsa spent several days mostly alone with her thoughts.

Today was her last day of limited activity, her headaches had subsided and the light wasn't sending her cranium into a raging pain. She'd decided she was done sitting in her room and decided to test out natural light in the garden. As she stepped into the subtle warmth of the autumn breeze with the cool crisp wind whipping around she sighed contently. The combination of warmth and chill wrapped her up like a blanket and she felt at peace for the first time in ages. She wondered around the garden until she came to the bench by the coy pond. The rippling water was soothing and the bench was placed just so that the sun came through the surrounding trees to shine directly upon it. The larks and grosbeaks could be heard singing through their day. A loon had taken up residents in the larger pound at the back of the garden though he could be heard all the way to Elsa. This is what she had needed the fresh air, warm sun, the sounds of nature. When had been the last time she had actually been able to enjoy the garden alone. Never quickly came to her mind.

"Two weeks, does it really take that long to recover from a bump on the head," said a familiar voice from the other side of the tree line. Elsa held still hoping whoever it was wouldn't turn her way at the end of the tree line.

"It was a pretty hard fall from what I understand, you were there weren't you?" said a second voice.

"I didn't see her fall, but I suppose it could have been. We are wasting time though, what is the point of us all being here? To stall the inevitable. She must marry and marry soon, the nations of Europe grow impatient."

The second man chuckled, "You mean Scandinavia and particularly Sweden grow impatient, Spain, however, has no skin in this game." Faces came to Elsa's mind, the first speaker was Prince Oskar and the second was Prince Phillipe of Spain. She's only attended one private outing with the young man, he was not lying when he said Spain was not invested in her marriage. He had come because she was a Queen, he was unwed, and should they like each other both countries would benefit. It had been a pleasant evening, but neither felt a connection and that had been that. She suspected he remained simply because he was enjoying his time away from his own court.

"You Spainards are too short-sighted. She is an absolute monarch, who is a queen, with magical powers. She will either be your enemy or your ally." Elsa strongly disliked what the Swedish prince was implying and his tone, it triggered something in her mind.

"What the hell were you doing, you were supposed to just spook it a little so I could save her, not nearly kill her." came a furious familiar voice.

"It's not my fault that it fucking startled like that." came a gruff reply

"It is when you shoot a shotgun not 5 yards away." came a third voice.

"Shut up Val, you're the one who caused it to throw her."

" I was trying to stop them from getting too far ahead." snapped the third voice.

"Shut up you two, it doesn't matter right now, the guard will likely be here soon in his scouting mission for the shooter, you're lucky I sent him in a different direction, and the ladies maid will have gotten help by now, now go."

Elsa held back her gasp just barely, Prince Oskar, he had caused her accident in a desperate attempt to what whoo her. Come to her aid like some knight in shining armor and she is a helpless damsel in distress. It was too low, too conniving, for Elsa's liking.

"What are you implying?" The Spanish prince sounded as unnerved as Elsa felt.

"You'll need to pick a side sooner or later, Phillppe, if she doesn't choose soon and she doesn't choose right, there will be consequences, and we have powerful supporters."

Elsa bit her lip as she heard the two men walk farther from her, their conversation fading away. Elsa felt as if she were punched in the gut. Sweden was preparing for war.