Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; the elements taken from Frozen are obvious, and while this version of Zorro is taken mainly from Mask and Legend, I've incorporated elements of his history from other adaptations. Even the original idea for this fic was inspired by the artwork of shishyoukai on DeviantArt, although I have created my own narrative for it; the artwork only inspired the idea of a certain sister becoming Zorro.

Feedback: Always appreciated

AN: A bit more of a filler chapter as Anna takes her first look at what would have been her home, but I hope you like this first assessment of what Arendelle has become under Runeard's continued control.

The Frozen Fox

Standing at the bow of the ship that had taken her across the ocean, Anna smiled as she saw the unfamiliar land drawing ever closer after such a long period at sea. It had been difficult to make all the necessary arrangements to travel this far in a manner that would ensure that she remained secret until she was ready to make herself public, but she had been able to 'indulge' herself to a degree.

Where her mother had come to America basically in the middle of the Civil War, Anna's own journey from California to New York had been far more peaceful, able to take a couple of trains from California to New York rather than various discreet carriages in the middle of a war. She had still attracted a few stares with the amount of luggage she'd been transporting, but with the de la Vega name behind her most people dismissed her as an ignorant society girl, particularly when she was careful not to talk to many people while she was travelling. It made her appear somewhat distant, but it wasn't as though Anna was planning to spend much time with these people, and she still talked enough to be friendly. Alejandro had observed that she should aim to be discreet for the trip, but had advised her that she should still talk to the other passengers to prepare herself for establishing a social network at the other end of the line.

As for the actual voyage from New York to Arendelle, where her mother's voyage across the sea had been an unpleasant eight weeks of sailing, Anna's contacts with the de la Vegas gave her more options to make the return trip. She had managed to book passage on a suitable steam ship that would take her almost directly to the capital city, capable of making the journey in just under half the time of her mother's original voyage.

Transporting her horse across the sea had been the most difficult part, but fortunately only having one horse on the ship had made it easier to keep the animal in good condition, particularly when she had paid for its food as part of her own passage. The horse would be taken from the ship later that night, when most of the people near the harbour wouldn't see what they were doing, while Anna took steps to hide the animal somewhere discreet. Anna was already going to have most of her luggage taken off the ship later, so the horse could be 'hidden' among everything else if all went well.

Most importantly for Anna's long-term plans, Elena de la Vega had been able to telegraph ahead of Anna and make contact with some of her old schoolfriends from Europe to make the necessary arrangements for Anna to establish herself in Arendelle at the other end of the journey. Training to become Zorro had been Anna's primary focus, but she'd picked up a few other skills over the years while she was living with the de la Vegas. Working on her costume for her activities as Zorro had allowing Anna to discover that she had some talent in terms of designing clothes, which at least gave her a few ideas for what she could do as a cover once she reached Arendelle, but that still left her with the challenge of getting everything organised. Elena's contacts would help Anna get her foot in the door, and had made some arrangements for her initial arrival in the country, but they had all made it clear that Anna had to genuinely try and use that opportunity, rather than rely on them to keep her planned cover going.

Looking around Arendelle as her ship entered the port, Anna didn't want to admit that she was impressed at the city itself when she knew what the king had done to reach this point, but the city at least looked rather comfortable. The palace looked out on to the sea with large stone walls to keep out potential enemy forces, while inside the walls was a beautiful port city, houses gathered near the water and then spreading out across the rising hills behind them. The cliffs beyond Arendelle- the main city was also the name of the country, which was odd but at least less egocentric than some names Anna had heard over the years- created an imposing sight without being too intimidating, and the houses she could see were all painted in bright, reassuring colours as the ship entered the city. Anna was surprised to see some larger buildings along the cliffs beyond the port, but while the position seemed a bit precarious to her she could see that the building supports seemed to be very strong,

In some ways, the bright colours made Anna think of the ugliness that lurked underneath them. The common people probably didn't know the extent of what their king was doing to so many people in secret and assumed that he was genuinely dealing with troublesome elements in their society, which would justify the public peace she was now looking at.

Thinking of discretion reminded Anna of the most important thing Alejandro had told her; she had to be careful to draw out the moment when she actually made her debut as Zorro. Not only did she need to take her time to confirm what was going on in Arendelle in depth, but she had to be sure that she didn't give the wrong people any reason to associate her with Zorro by going into action too soon. The goal right now was to establish herself in this city as Anna Menzela; she could act as Zorro once she had the right connections and knew where to strike. She might have the advantage that people may not assume her Zorro was a woman, but that wouldn't stop people from guessing she had some connection if the man in black showed up so soon after she arrived.

That resolve in mind, Anna left the ship, one of her lighter bags on her back- she'd send for the rest later- and set out for a walk through the town. For the capitol of a country, the city was relatively open from the start, the port leading into a large open square, stalls set up along the sea-side of the open area and houses on the other. The palace was at the end of a short bridge, but even if she was here to topple the king, visiting the palace wasn't Anna's priority right now. She would make her way there eventually, but just charging in and killing the man not only wasn't what Zorro would do, but it wouldn't guarantee that anything would change. If she wanted to change things, she had to ensure that Runeard's family wouldn't just continue his current policies once he died, which meant a more careful campaign against him.

Moving on to the streets beyond the main port, Anna walked through a few more streets, observing the surprising contrast as the large homely houses were replaced by larger but more impersonal constructs, as though King Runeard was determined to draw a line between the homes of the common people and the more defensible structures he'd created further out. Making a mental note to look up the history of recent construction in Arendelle later, Anna finally reached the hotel that had been identified as her initial accommodation in the city, walking through the doors and up to the front desk.

"Hello," she said, smiling politely at the clerk at the other side. "My name is Anna Menzela; I was told that you would have a room for me?"

"Ah, Miss Menzela," the young man smiled at her. "Yes, you're booked into room five, and I believe… yes, this was left for you."

"Thank you," Anna smiled, as she took the offered package and her room key before walking upstairs. The room itself was simple, with just a bed, a table and a toilet and sink, but all she needed was somewhere to rest her head and leave her bags while she sorted out her real house. The ship's crew had been paid to help her unload the rest of her luggage to the building that Elena's contacts had found for her, but Anna had made it clear that she wanted to scope that area out by herself first. Checking the contents of the package, Anna was satisfied to find not only the key and deeds to the building (along with notes to submit relevant copies to certain legal offices as soon as possible), but also a piece of paper that seemed to be a plan for the building itself.

With sunset still a few hours away, Anna left the hotel after making quick arrangements for the evening meal. Having already spent her previous walk getting a feel for the city, it didn't take long to find her way around the streets to the building that had been purchased for her own personal residence. The house was currently out of use, but even a casual glance could see that the problem was mainly that it was dusty rather than there being anything wrong with the structure itself. According to the letter sent by Elena's contacts, this passage had previously been used to help smuggle some of the city's resident magic-users and their associates out of Arendelle. The house had officially belonged to a baker and his wife as a second home in the main city, allowing them to claim that they were renting it to the people who were using it to sneak out of the city. The couple had been forced to sell it due to the recent rising taxes, but Elena had been able to make arrangements for some of her contacts to purchase it on their behalf.

As she walked through the door and looked around the building's interior, Anna nodded in cautious approval. The ground floor was suitably large enough that she could maintain a good-sized shop, the front area set aside for customers and a rear where she could actually make the clothes. Following the instructions in the package, there was also a well-concealed basement level, which included a hidden door in the rear and a tunnel leading to the outskirts of the city. The tunnel was large enough to let a couple of people walk through it at once, and once Anna followed it down to the bottom she found a fair-sized cave linked to two large tunnels on either side. Looking around, she could quickly confirm where she might put a feeding area for her horse and where she could set up a training circle to keep herself in shape until she was ready to go out.

"Set up a planning area to keep track of what I've done and need to do, get things together up top, take a ride every night so nobody gets bored…" Anna muttered to herself as she assessed the area, before she gave herself a final smile. "I think this could work."

She would still need to establish herself as a suitable presence in the city, but from Alejandro and Elena's stories, the trick in infiltrating high society was to act elite and then let everyone else come to their own conclusions. She had the money thanks to the de la Vegas' support and the inheritance her mother had left her, and all being well she'd have the resources necessary to make an impression once she got her shop together. The trick was to follow Alejandro's instructions and do it all so carefully that nobody realised her real agenda until she was ready to put on her mask…