Shadowmane was by no means a weak horse. If Maximus and he were to compete for the top-ranking horse, he would win fifty times out of a hundred against Max. He was characteristically magnificent too. With pitch-black coat, thick mane, visibly muscular and towering with his head held up high in honor, he competed fiercely with the most beautiful of them all ever born. The only other horse he acknowledged as his superior was the water spirit, Nokk himself. If there was any relation between Maximus and Shadowmane, it was that of frenemies. Constantly bickering but quite warm towards each other in their hearts.

Shadowmane dug his hooves into the wet soil below and pulled hard, supporting the other three horses on his own as they struggled to traipse through the wet mud and gravel. Alex walked beside his horse at the lead pushing and pulling at the right times to lead them away from the dangerous slopes of the valley where the flow of water dominated over even the horses' ability to hold their hooves in place. One wrong step and they would all be dragged down the hill since Shadowmane was pulling the other horses with ropes tied to him. Kristoff and Agnarr watched the flanks of the other two horses and Anna and Iduna watched over the middle horse. Elsa was keeping an eye out on the dangerous terrain in the groves and signing to Alex to where he should lead the horses to.

"Are you sure this won't turn into a cyclone?" Anna yelled over the howling winds and the thundering rain clouds. She reckoned that they were almost at the top of the valley.

"I'm positive it won't, don't worry!" Kristoff shouted back.

The downpour of rain had started extremely suddenly and intensely as if a cloud had burst. There was a rather thick layer of low visibility, not from the fog but from the rain itself. She was surprised at Alex's solid navigating skills. He was an assassin after all! He had practically lived a third of his life in forests, trying to escape the law from other nations.

Alex held up a hand to indicate to the others to halt. He knelt and touched the ground as if trying to feel something. Anna wondered what he was doing before she felt the ground shaking beneath her feet and a sudden rumbling growing nearer. Her first thought was that the trolls had come to their rescue, but it soon changed to that of terror as she saw a huge boulder rolling down right at them. The horses were growing uneasy with every passing millisecond. She looked at Alex who was still knelt down, seemingly without a care in the world as the boulder headed straight for them. That thing was almost twice his height and just as wide. She painfully waited and watched with her breath caught up in her lungs as the boulder reached a staggering distance of just five meters away from him yet he didn't even move a muscle! A split second later, when the boulder was almost on him a giant wall of ice erected itself out of the ground changing the course of the boulder at the very last second. The boulder crashed into the wall with a thundering noise that made the horses rear up in fright and then rolled downhill from their left. Alex got up on his feet again to greet a panting Elsa as she slid gracefully over conjured ice. Shadowmane had somehow remained just as stoically calm as his owner.

Anna could see them talking about something. She couldn't make out what they were saying to each other but Elsa's face was quite happy. Alex smiled and beckoned them to move as he walked beside her. Soon, the mountain terrain flattened and the sun peeked from above the mountains. It was early evening and the sun was beginning to set. As they reached the top of the mountain, Elsa waved her arms and created a small shed out of solid ice that shielded them from the downpour. The sight that awaited them as they looked upon Arendelle at the bottom of the mountain was glorious, to say the least. The sun had turned a giant ball of red as it descended into the sea. The grey clouds covered half the sun as they stared into the beams of light. From their position, they could even see the horizon where the rain and the clouds ended. It was a sight of a lifetime with nature in full bloom. The unsheathed sword Kristoff was carrying glowed gently in the sunlight as if it were happy to be in the sun again after slumbering in the dark for hundreds of years. It entailed a new beginning, a new era whence they will never be able to return from.

Though no one said it, they could all feel it in their hearts. The times ahead were going to get seriously rough. Far more dangerous than ever. It was as the saying went, "The more power one has, the more dangerous the world becomes for them." Everyone there had grown stronger over the years. Now, the challengers had all caught up. Though no one was happy about the oncoming time of fierce storms and waves, no one was unprepared either. They had known somewhere inside them that that time would arrive sooner or later. Now, it was just sooner.

They waited there for a few minutes before starting to descend the mountain. That part was easy since the slope wasn't too harsh and the rains had dialed down a bit. It took them no longer than just an hour to get back to the outskirts of Arendelle from that point.

"You might want to hide that sword Kristoff," Alex suggested as they rode the trotting horses near the main entry into the kingdom. It was approximately eight in the evening.

"Sure. I mean I don't really want any more attention than I already get for being a prince, but I doubt that's your reason?" Kristoff asked, extracting a piece of cloth he found in the saddle storage.

"Oh of course not! There are a few Legion spies I've had my eye on and I'm not exactly keen on revealing much to them yet," Alex grinned.

"There are spies in the kingdom and you didn't tell us about them?" Anna asked, not even surprised anymore.

"They weren't really dangerous so I didn't want to worry you unnecessarily," Alex reasoned.

"No way spies aren't dangerous! They can take out whole kingdoms with their little gadgets and explosives if they want!" Olaf exclaimed, horrified.

"I'm pretty sure that those are assassins instead of spies," Alex laughed.

"Wait, so you have cool gadgets like a beam of light that can incinerate whole cities in one sweep!" Olaf asked, wildly jumping on Agnarr's back as he tried to keep Olaf from falling off the horse.

Alex frowned and looked at Olaf in confusion. "Are you sure you have been reading spy and detective stories? Because I have a feeling that you're reading a cross-genre fantasy novel."

"Have I? I cannot seem to recall when I transitioned to a different genre!" Olaf gasped in surprise.

"So you don't have a city-ending weapon?" Elsa asked, grinning.

"What? Hey, no fair!" Alex gasped, hurt. "Of course I do!"

"You have a city-ending weapon?" Iduna asked, perplexed.

"Well technically," Alex said, pointing at his staff. "I haven't tested it yet, but in theory, it can completely wipe out everything in a thousand-mile radius in one blastwave."

"You have got to be kidding!" Agnarr exclaimed in disbelief.

"I'm not. Have you ever heard of the Cloudstone incident that happened a few years ago?" Alex asked.

"Please don't tell me you were behind that!" Anna said, more in exasperation than surprise. 'Which incident was he NOT involved in!?' she wondered.

"We weren't really in the real world then, so we don't know anything about what happened in the past six years," Agnarr reminded. "Although, if I recall correctly, Cloudstone was a stone mining company which also dealt with some sort of criminal activities. Is that just about right?"

"Correct. To summarise the incident, I had been given an assassination job to murder the chairman of the company who was caught in child slavery and trading and other criminal offenses of a similar degree. He hadn't been proven guilty but everyone knew that he and his whole gang was in it. I had even seen it with my own eyes. So when I went there to do my job, he was already on guard. I was cornered by about a hundred people and I was too lazy to fight them off, so I just unleashed a large blastwave that completely flattened the one-mile large mining facility and a few miles of vicinity beyond that. There weren't any civilian deaths since it was a holiday that day, and the houses they all lived in were quite far away but oh well, the chairman did end up dying so my job was done."

"So you essentially killed a hundred people without even moving from your spot?" Iduna gaped at him.

"Well yes, but I was only intending to knock them out of my way. One hard lesson I learned that day was that the more the output of energy from the staff, the harder its energy was to control. In blowing up a one-mile radius while I only wanted to do a hundred meter one, I did break a few of my ribs due to the backlash." Alex recalled painfully.

"That hurt, didn't it?" Kristoff asked, skeptically. "Or did you just stand there looking bored and untroubled by the fact that your insides literally just snapped like some other times you've done that?"

"Oh no that definitely hurt alright," Alex grinned sheepishly.

"Imagine killing a hundred people by accident and being completely unfeeling about it…" Anna mumbled under her breath.

"Can you control shockwaves?" Agnarr asked, curiously.

"The staff has a device I like to call the Director. It essentially emits a single beam of pure energy. This energy expands outwards but doesn't travel very far. It's like a fast-moving arrow. If it passes from just a few centimeters away from your face, you can feel the air turbulence it creates. If you're far away enough from the arrow, you won't be able to feel it zip past you. Similarly, this creates a strong current of whatever medium it travels through. If I spread these beams out over a large enough area, it gives the appearance of a shockwave or a cannon shooting hundreds of tiny projectiles over a spread-out area. By controlling the amount and speed of projectiles launched, I can control the amount and direction of the energy of the blastwave to a certain degree. " Alex explained.

"Fascinating," Agnarr said.

"Look at you flexing your science brain!" Olaf teased.

"At least I have one," Alex retorted, smirking.

"Gahh! That was savage!" Olaf exclaimed, feigning death in Agnarr's arms as he tried his best not to fall off his horse, making everyone laugh.

As they talked, a lone rider galloped over to them from the direction of the main northern gates.

"Sir! Thank goodness you're back!" He exclaimed, pulling on the reins of his horse and stopping next to Alex since he was in the lead.

"What is it, Lucas?" Alex asked.

Elsa had always admired Alex for his easy-going and down-to-earth attitude with his subordinates. In Arendelle or in most other kingdoms for that matter, the superiors never even tried to remember the names of those ranked lower than them. Yet here he was; never once disrespecting his fellow soldiers by forgetting their names or dismissing their hard work to earn the title of soldiers.

"It's the Coronan royals, sir! They arrived in the kingdom a while ago, completely unannounced, and are demanding to see her highness immediately! They don't seem to be in a bright mood though," the soldier meekly added.

"Wait what! They're here already?" Anna asked, surprised.

"You didn't inform Mattias that they were expected?" Elsa asked Anna.

"I-I really forgot! I'm so sorry! I also never thought they'd be here this early!" Anna cried.

"Doesn't it take at least a one-day trip to get here from Corona? That is if technology hasn't suddenly leapt in the last few years," Iduna asked.

"No, it does take that much time," Kristoff shook his head at the bizarre occurrence.

"Did they even have a chance to prepare for the trip?" Agnarr asked.

"So maybe that's why they're grumpy!" Olaf deduced off of Agnarr's concern.

"If I may interject sir, they've been waiting for the past four hours back at the castle. They were quite drenched when they arrived and if I may say so, quite murderously grumpy too," Lucas said.

Alex and Elsa immediately snorted and burst into laughter, surprising everyone else present.

"Four hours! They got to Arendelle in just two hours after we left for the hunting trip?" Kristoff gawped.

"Okay spill it out you two, what did you do?" Anna asked the two laughing figures.

"What? I didn't do anything!" Elsa exclaimed, throwing her hands up.

"We should apologize first," Alex suggested, still laughing and jerked the reins without waiting for any reply.

Elsa discovered then that Shadowmane was indeed the most powerful horse in all of Arendelle as the sheer speed of his acceleration nearly knocked her out of her senses. She quickly hugged Alex tightly so that she didn't slip and fall off the rear of the galloping behemoth.

"Hey! Wait! You don't get to run off like that!" Anna yelled as Kristoff spurred their horse into action.

"Race you back to the castle!" Alex yelled behind them.

"No fair!" Elsa heard Olaf yell back faintly as they had already almost darted out of earshot.

Kristoff and Anna, although riding a fast royal steed, quickly failed to keep pace with the wild majestic stallion that was Shadowmane as he raced at an unbelievable speed and agility.

The night-time scenery on the outskirts of the kingdom was as beautiful as ever. The waning crescent in the clear sky surrounded by specks of white and sparkling silver illuminated their surroundings, just enough that they could see the silhouettes of trees, houses and budding flowers flying past them. Small street lamps illuminated the narrow patch of the grassless path which led directly into the main kingdom of Arendelle and the northern great walls.

Elsa was always so awed by how beautiful nature could get, that she sometimes even regretted her decision to lock herself inside that room for all those years. Who knows how many of these beautiful summer nights she had missed out on!

She realized that she was still clinging to Alex with her arms wrapped around his waist quite tightly. Only half a thought of letting go had formed in her mind when Alex placed a comforting hand over hers, silently conveying to not let go.

Elsa sighed inwardly and smiled. She loosened her grip but pressed herself closer to Alex. It was slightly uncomfortable with Alex's staff on his back but nothing troublesome at all.

"You know, I'm surprised you don't have a girlfriend yet," Elsa said. He was popular among the girls in Arendelle, and for good reasons too. He was good-looking, smart, fast, strong, brilliant, dangerously manipulative, and exuded a certain sense of security that many would swoon over. Even dudes!

"Ah well, I've had a few in the past," Alex chuckled, seemingly prepared for that question.

"Really?" Elsa asked.

"They weren't exactly girlfriends, but just random strangers who kinda got a little too close up and personal over me," Alex explained. "It was all just one-sided."

"Let me guess. You scared them off?" Elsa started laughing, already knowing the answer.

"That and the fact that I'm basically a dork," Alex said.

"Haha, kinda makes sense but I wouldn't go as far as calling you a dork!" Elsa exclaimed.

"Well okay, but I'm still scary," Alex said.

"Can't argue against that though. The real reason I won't call you a dork is so that you don't straight up stab me!" Elsa joked. "Other than that, you're adorable too once someone gets to know you better than at first glance! I mean, look at Rapunzel! She's basically fond of you! And to even imagine she got so scared when she first saw you that she almost had Adira and Cassandra wrestle you down," Elsa recalled, shaking her head.

"Heh, if you hadn't spread the rumor that there was a ghost in Arendelle castle that day, I wouldn't have been mistaken for one!" Alex looked back at her reproachfully.

"That was completely unintentional!" Elsa fiercely argued, but her grin gave her away.

"Ah yes! It's quite funny how almost all your pranks are unintentional," Alex played back, making her giggle maliciously.

"Well that said, the ladies in Arendelle are quite fond of you," Elsa smirked.

"Are they now?" Alex asked, mildly amused.

"Of course they are! I mean, who wouldn't love a strong, handsome, and a terrifyingly smart man?"

"Everyone to be honest," Alex stated.

"Mmm I don't think so," Elsa narrowed her eyes.

"Why's that?" Alex asked.

"Well, because I for one wouldn't mind such a guy," Elsa said slowly and carefully.

"Then I must say that you've got a questionable taste in men," Alex responded, completely missing her hint.

Elsa could see why he called himself a dork now.

"Why, that's mean!" Elsa exclaimed, feigning shock and offense.

Alex snorted in laughter. "You can ask any other girl you want of what she thought of a man who would constantly put her life at risk to win a game of chess, one who would not hesitate to kill people in front of her in some of the most brutal ways possible, one who would probably die in a war than get a natural death, one who would end up ignoring her every romantic hint just because he is just not smart enough to understand how women worked and also one who would end up-"

"Okay! Okay! I get your point!" Elsa stopped him in panic. "You're too intense for normal conversations sometimes," She said with a chuckle and shook her head.

"Ah well I always pride myself on speaking the truth," Alex defended.

"Heh. Not everyone wants to hear some sad version of life that's never gonna happen. Anyway, before you go into a lecture about the unpredictability of life, we should probably discuss something really quick," Elsa said.

"I'm always ears. What did you wanna talk about?" Alex asked curiously.

"About Kristoff keeping Revolute," Elsa said with heavy uncertainty. "I'm not sure if we should let him do that."

"You're right," Alex replied, catching her off guard. She hadn't expected him to cave that fast.

"If Kristoff does keep the sword around him, that could spell a lot of danger. A legendary superweapon like that needs to be in arms that can wield it and protect it from the wrong hands by doing so," Alex said.

"That's the thing. Kristoff isn't experienced in handling a sword! His main weapon of choice has always been a pair of hatchets. If it comes straight down to it, I'm not exactly convinced that he'll be able to protect the Revolute," she said.

Though she phrased the words to emphasize on the Revolute's safety, Alex could clearly hear her concern for Kristoff's life shine far brighter than that for the sword. The Revolute was a legendary sword that granted its owner powers beyond full-fledged empires. While almost everyone would be more than happy to let Kristoff wield such powers, some would always want it for themselves. It was that small portion that posed a risk, not only to a sword and whatever objective they wanted to fulfill with it but also to Kristoff himself as the sword's owner and guardian. Yes, while Alex, Elsa, and Anna also had weapons that theoretically could surpass Revolute in terms of pure and unrestricted power, their weapons were nowhere near as popular enough as Revolute. On the contrary, Alex had strictly prohibited anyone who knew about or owned the swords he made to not revealing anything about them until that was their last option before death. As a result, apart from them, no one else, not even people as close as Mattias and Yelena knew the true power of Alex's staff, Elsa's blade and Anna's dual swords.

"Kristoff can't protect the Revolute and you're worried that he might die trying to protect it, right?" Alex asked.

She simply nodded in agreement.

"Kristoff is a person who knows what he is getting into and he also has a plan to be able to get out of it," Alex told her.

"What does that mean?"

"It's just… a simple hunch… or rather a trust. Kristoff is someone who wouldn't die easy knowing that Anna would jump after him through seven circles of hell to beat him up if he left her just like that," Alex explained, making Elsa half giggle half grimace at the analogy.

"He's been quite the king even before he officially was to become one. He always thinks about what's best for the people around him and the ones he protects. He is kind, understanding and just; and those are simple qualities that qualify a person to be one of the better rulers of a kingdom," Alex said.

It was quite wondrous for Elsa to watch him praise her brother-in-law. Alex sometimes regarded Kristoff superior to him, even going as far as to argue with people that Kristoff was the better person, a better human of the two. Although Elsa sort of hated that kind of practice as it sometimes made Alex look extremely self-depreciative, she couldn't help it. She had argued numerous times that both of them were better than each other in individual fields but that had simply ended up in them going around in circles. The only salvation was that no one except her knew about that odd behavior of Alex.

"He has accepted that responsibility and well, he's expressly told me he's not going to just abandon it. I intend to hold him to his word for it," Alex smiled comfortingly.

That was his indirect way of promising to let nothing happen to Kristoff while he was there. Elsa couldn't help but smile at that herself.

"You won't be alone in doing that then," Elsa quietly said and hugged him.

"What's the matter? Is everything okay?" Rapunzel asked in a panic running towards them as they descended off Shadowmane.

"Relax Rapunzel, everything is fine!" Elsa soothed the princess dressed in pink while Alex stroked Shadowmane affectionately for helping out.

"Everything's fine? But then why'd you drag us out here so urgently!" Rapunzel asked. "And why did that grumpy old man almost treat us like prisoners?"

Elsa widened her eyes as she realized who the grumpy old man was and laughed nervously as Eugene and Cassandra and even Varian shot out of the castle into the courtyard where they were standing, presumably on hearing the commotion Rapunzel was causing.

"What's going on? Are you guys hurt?" Varian asked hurriedly.

"No no, we're completely fine. There's just been a series of misunderstandings," Alex said, handing over the reins to the stableboy.

"Misunderstandings?" Eugene asked, bewildered.

Three other horses with four people and a snowman came galloping into the courtyard and stopped before them.

"Wait, did you guys just openly roam the kingdom?" Cassandra blinked at Agnarr and Iduna as they jumped off their individual horses.

"What the! Aren't you guys supposed to be dead?" Varian dropped his jaw in shock. "Wait, no that didn't come out right," he quickly pressed a hand to his mouth and glanced frantically at Anna and Elsa making Iduna giggle at him.

"Okay, our minds are now overflowing with a thousand more questions so let's handle one thing at a time," Rapunzel said, shaking her head.

"Right. I'm so sorry you guys got dragged out here. I swear I didn't mean for Gale to do something like that," Elsa apologized.

"What did Gale do?" Anna asked.

"Well we were sitting in the gardens enjoying our summer tea and then Gale came out of nowhere and handed me this letter. She didn't even give me time to open it and just swooped us up and away!" Rapunzel said.

"And that's not even the worst part!" Eugene exclaimed bitterly. "She flew us through a bunch of rainclouds for half an hour completely soaking and chilling me to the bones!"

"Oh dear!" Iduna sympathized.

"And then after we get here, the guy in charge doesn't even know who we are! If it hadn't been for Kai, we would surely have been in the dungeons right now!" Eugene said, shuddering.

"Yeah no that would've been because you called the person in charge an old banged-up geezer," Varian said.

Agnarr burst out laughing at imagining someone calling Mattias an old banged-up geezer.

Anna shrunk more behind Elsa at every disaster they mentioned but Elsa was having none of it.

"It's Anna's fault she didn't inform Mattias that you guys were coming," Elsa smugly transferred the blame and stepped sideways, laughing with evil mirth.

"Hey no! It's Alex's fault! He's the one who sent the letter!" Anna quickly pointed at him in panic.

"What? I never told Gale to fetch them here!" Alex desperately defended himself.

"Oh really? Weren't you the one who told me that you plan on bringing them here as fast as possible?" Anna smirked.

"I said that but I didn't say that to Gale and I certainly didn't want this to happen!" Alex narrowed his eyes. "If there's anyone to blame then it's Gale!"

"No way! Gale is just a victim! She just heard what you said and then I'm sure she just wanted to help!" Iduna defended the wind spirit.

"Oh no mother, you have no idea how evil Gale truly is," Elsa said.

"Dear, I've been in the forest with Gale a few times longer than you have," Iduna smugly challenged Elsa.

"But that doesn't change the fact that Gale is absolutely evil when it comes to pranks!" Agnarr said, siding with Elsa.

"Says the guy who's only met her once in a game of hide and seek!" Iduna pointed her finger at him angrily.

"It wasn't a game! It was a complete dirty play of chasing each other!" Agnarr fired up.

"It wouldn't have been unfair if you actually knew how to fly!" Iduna countered.

"You expected me to learn to fly in a minute? You didn't even say a word during the whole time we were there about teaching me!" Agnarr put his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes at his wife.

"Stop bickering you guys!" Rapunzel started laughing and separated them.

"It is said that love between two people increases with bickering. Shouldn't we just let them fight so that they'll love each other more?" Olaf asked.

"Oh no no no! Not in this case!" Anna and Kristoff panicked and helped Rapunzel keep the two separated.

"Hey the little guy knows our romance more than you!" Eugene teased Cassandra, making her gag and sputter in complete disgust and shock.

"Okay, that's that. We should get inside. I'm dying to get a sandwich!" Anna quickly said.

"Mm yeah me too," Elsa agreed.

"Some hot chocolate would be even better ladies," Iduna said, putting on her 'teacher voice'.

"Iduna stop! You'll make us drool in front of the guests!" Agnarr laughed.

"Hey! Come on! Olina's hot chocolate is a delicacy you won't find anywhere else!" Anna grabbed Rapunzel's hand and ran into the castle.

"We aren't just going to stand around until they empty the bowls, are we?" Agnarr asked, placing a hand on his son-in-law.

"Hell no! I got a competition to win against Anna on who can eat the most chocolate in one go!" Kristoff exclaimed excitedly and ran in after them making the others chuckle.

"I just changed my mind. He might indeed die too soon," Alex told Elsa, shaking his head and laughing. No one had ever beaten Anna in her appetite for chocolate. Many would just fall sick before they even ate half the chocolate Anna stuffed in her mouth in one go!

"Then fix the bridge, Stevenson! If the queen has already ordered you to do that then why did you come to me for advice?" Mattias asked, exasperated at this point.

"Because it's just a little crack! The council doesn't want to spend the kingdom's hard-earned money on a little brick!" Stevenson argued.

"Little brick or no, it's a crack in the middle of the bridge! It's bound to get bigger with every step a person takes. And we soldiers have disciplinary drills on that bridge. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is when we are marching on a broken bridge?" Mattias asked.

"Oh please! How dangerous could it possibly get with a six-inch crack on a stone bridge!" Stevenson retorted.

"Extremely dangerous!" Varian said, walking into the room. "With each step a platoon takes on a bridge, it's like a ten-ton giant jumping on it! I know I haven't got a say in the matters of a kingdom, but as an engineer's advice, I'd get that one fixed the first thing in the morning or you'll be dealing with a bridge collapse in as soon as just two days!"

Stevenson just looked weirded out more than concerned at a random stranger walking in and advising something, but that soon changed when he saw the people walking in from behind him.

"Your highnesses!" Stevenson mouthed in surprise as he stared at the Arendellian and Coronan royals, each one with a cup of hot chocolate in their hands.

"You heard the man," Alex spoke authoritatively to Stevenson. "Get that bridge done by tomorrow."

"Uhh yes! Sure thing!" Stevenson hurriedly said at seeing Anna walk into the room looking curious as to what the subject was. He definitely didn't want to get scolded for not following the queen's orders straight away by the queen herself.

"What's wrong?" Anna asked, looking between Mattias, Stevenson, Alex and Varian.

"Noth-Nothing your highness! Please excuse me. I-I have a matter that I should attend to immediately," Stevenson quickly bowed and hurriedly left the room.

"Okay…?" Anna frowned slightly after him but didn't pursue the matter.

Mattias sighed and turned to Anna.

"I'm glad you're back Anna," Mattias smiled and gave her a curt bow.

"Mattias, there's really no need to bow! Anyway, I'm really really sorry I didn't tell you they were coming!" Anna said pointing at the Coronans.

"Ah don't worry about that. They informed me of their identities just in time," Mattias said. "Also, thank you for your advice, young man," he said, turning to Varian.

"Oh, no sweat. I was just doing my job hehe!" Varian replied.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Mattias asked curiously.

"Yep. Got it right here!" Kristoff said, proudly holding up the wrapped sword.

"What's that?" Cassandra asked curiously. She had already guessed what it was from the shape but failed to understand the specialty.

"Something we best don't discuss out in the open," Alex said smiling.

"Right," Mattias said.

"I bet the council room is quite empty right now. Shall we?" Alex said.

"Right now?" Elsa asked, looking around at everyone.

"Mmhm," Alex said. "Mattias, you'd better come too."

"Why are we going to the council room?" He asked curiously.

"To discuss a few important objectives of political, historical and critical nature," Alex said.

"Err… Okay," Mattias responded, bewildered.

"Is that why you also called us here?" Rapunzel asked.

"Yep," Alex said.

"Oh well, in that case, I really don't know why I got dragged into this so I'll just go and…" Varian started.

"Oh no no no! You're welcome to join us! I daresay, you'll probably be one of our greatest assets in the coming conflict," Alex said.

"Oh okay," Varian sounded a little surprised but agreed to attend the meeting.

"Awesome. Let's go!"