Life being unnecessarily difficult lately, so ideas are a bit scarce. It should all ease up in two more months so speeds will be low until then. Also, learning how to write properly along the way so had to rewrite this chapter from the ground up after I got some great tips. Hope there is some improvement at least :)

Malo Ken 17: Thank-you for your truly kind words and support and no worries at all! I'm just glad someone enjoys my work and reviews it :D

ElsaLuver: I hope this chapter clears your doubts on chapter 24. Also, thank-you to you too for reviewing! It really helps a lot to view this story from the third person perspective. Not gonna lie, my silly brain forgets to jot down the ideas and explanations on paper after thinking up about them.

"Aren't they gonna be worried that you're missing?" Anna asked, concernedly leading the Coronans to their rooms.

"Oh no no! Gale conveniently kidnapped us right in front of mom and dad, so I bet they must have figured out that we're here. They won't be worried," Rapunzel answered.

Iduna sighed in relief and smiled apologetically. "I sure hope that we could have done things a bit more regally…"

"Are you kidding! As much as dear old Eugene might complain about the cold here, we had a total blast soaring the wild skies! It was amazing!" Rapunzel jumped in glee, spreading her hands out to imitate flying.

"Did you enjoy it too, Cassandra?" Mari asked, curiously. She wasn't quite familiar with the mysterious blue haired girl, but being a social animal, she aimed to make a good friend.

"For the most part, at least until Rapunzel's hair decided to yeet its bindings and entangle us right as we headed for a stormcloud. Honestly, I've never been more afraid of getting zapped before in my whole life!" She answered, casting a wary glance at Varian's tiny metal instruments and Eugene's gold embedded sheath.

"Wow, that must have been an ordeal—" Olaf said, narrowing his eyes at Eugene disapprovingly, "—and all because a certain someone was greedy enough to embellish their sword with gold and silver!"

"Gahh! Stop targeting me you little snow goblin!" Eugene flailed his arms around as if hurt.

No one could help but snicker at that. Eugene seemed to have been Olaf's favourite punching-bag since he first met him!

"It doesn't look as if we'll be going home soon…" Rapunzel sighed.

"Oh don't worry about that, you can stay here as long as you like," Anna said. "We'll all come up with a solution to this whole fiasco together."

Rapunzel beamed. She still wasn't quite sure on how they got involved, but it happened and she was rather glad, albeit terrified. She knew she wasn't the only one too. Together, was one word she truly loved.

"Something troubling you?"

"Not really, it's something just very silly," Elsa answered, shrugging.

"You know, even the silliest of things can invite a really hefty price," Anna said, pushing Elsa's locks onto her shoulders.

"Look at you giving off mature vibes!" Elsa laughed and then simply sighed, "It's mother and father. They've changed…a lot."

Anna giggled, "Understatement of the century! I'm not sure if I even recognise them anymore! Are you absolutely sure we didn't pick up two random people who looked like our parents?"

Elsa laughed, "no silly! Of course we didn't! It's just that…they're not overprotective like they used to be. It's almost like they're just there in the background and I have a strong feeling that it wouldn't have been like this if they weren't gone for all these years."

"True that," she said, undoing the last of the threads of Elsa's dress. "They'd be rushing over to the walls and organising defences and search parties to track Narsilla down!"

"And keep us in our rooms just in case she decides to give us a sudden visit," Elsa grinned.

"Mmhm," the redhead nodded enthusiastically, pulling apart the dress to expose her back.

"Is it bad?" Elsa asked.

"Well yes, but not as worse as I had expected it to be," Anna said, running a finger along the side of the gash. The black, blue and purple had faded away into a dull red and the inner skin had repaired itself to a good degree, although the parts of the torn skin itself had started to dry up and cause even more stingy pain. "I'm surprised you actually even healed up within what? Three days?"

But Elsa was lost in her own little stream of thought.

"It's almost as if they suddenly woke up and decided to give us a chance to handle these things, isn't it?" Elsa's analysis was deep as she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Had they changed because they went in a world where they had gone through something or was it someone who changed their minds after they came back to Arendelle?

There was a knock on the door before Anna could answer.

"Hey Elsa! The nurse is here!" Alex's voice rang out followed by an oof.

"I am not your nurse, you bubblehead!" Rapunzel exclaimed angrily.

Both sisters burst into laughter as Anna opened the door.

"Not many girls dare to hit me like that!" Alex narrowed his eyes in reproach clutching his belly.

"Not many boys can actually get under my skin like you!" Rapunzel retaliated.

"And yet you still healed me," he smirked.

"Oh don't worry. I can hurt you as well," she smiled smugly, making Alex chuckle after her as she went in to heal Elsa's back.

"You two are one pair I never imagined would get along so well," Anna raised an eyebrow heavily leaning to sarcasm.

"Heh, it's basically me and you but ten times worse," Alex smirked.

"Oh right, I'll cut your head clean off but Rapunzel will knock it off your shoulders with a pan!"

"Scary but strangely accurate," Alex asserted, suddenly imagining Rapunzel knocking his head with her pan, repeatedly in a creepy metronomic rhythm. He sighed wondering how many strikes from a pan it would require to sever a head. The answer was a number he definitely did not like.

"And here I was, worried you'd be pissing Cassandra off more!"

"Who'd want to piss off someone who could stab you with a bunch of stalagmites on one thought?"

Anna just laughed. She figured that he must've told Rapunzel of the wounds they both sustained in the battle and she must've rushed over to help. They listened to Rapunzel's soothing melody with the golden glow warming their hearts.

"Say, don't these two other stones need some sort of incantations as well?" Anna asked.

"Valid question. I'm still searching for the answer."

"Got any leads?"

"Three so far, but each one is more likely to fail than the previous."

"I see."

"All done! How do you feel?" Rapunzel beamed as she untied her hair from Elsa's torso.

"Like there wasn't even a wound there in the first place!" Elsa smiled happily, weaving up the robe with a flick of a finger.

"It would still probably itch though. When I healed Eugene after he was stabbed, he told me the scar would constantly itch for a few days after that. It's probably just a side effect."

"I'd gladly take an itch any day over a gash," Elsa grinned.

"Hmm, the incantations might not be necessary after all," Alex thought out loud, recalling the part where Rapunzel had told them that Eugene's wound had healed just by Rapunzel touching him.

"What?" Rapunzel asked, bewildered and oblivious to the context.

"Nothing you have to worry about…yet," Alex said.

"Err okay…"

"Have you tried bringing someone back from the dead?" Alex asked out of nowhere.

"What? No! I haven't even seen a dead body yet!"

"You think she can?" Elsa asked.

"No, I'd be really surprised if that was possible on the contrary."

"What does that have anything to do with anyway?" Anna asked.

"There are limitations to what the stones can achieve. I wanted to know the extent of them before we used them."

"Well, the Sundrop can't exactly do much…ohhh!" Rapunzel's eyes widened in some realisation. "There was a moment when the Flynnolium on a blimp exploded and I was on it! My hair just curled up around me to protect me against the blast! Is that what you meant as a shield against alchemical attacks?"

"Erm…no…wrong stone altogether, but that certainly is quite interesting considering that Flynnolium is an alchemical compound. Would have been great to analyse it in person…" Alex said and then chuckled lightly with a small smirk.

"Wanna test it ou—ow ow ow ow ow ow!" Alex yelped in pain as Anna dragged him out of the room by the ear berating him with all the reasons why he can't plan explosions in Arendelle especially while risking someone's life while the other two just crackled away in glee.

The clock chimed eleven as Anna finally dragged her feet back to their room. She spotted the Revolute on the lintel above the fireplace, glinting slightly in the lamplight. The Flarestone in the hilt lay dormant casting a slight moonlight like luminescence. Kristoff had changed up and was just sitting in a rocking chair reading some books on duties of being a king. Kristoff really never seemed to be the type of guy who'd actually like night-time reading. She only got to know that about four months before. What other mysteries was that big bulky mass of his hiding? She wondered, but another thought hit her like a ram.

"Hey there! Been waiting for you—" Kristoff started to say.

"How are we going to manage this?" Anna asked suddenly, panicking, her usual quirk of pacing around the room taking over her feet. "I brought us a little bit of time in hopes that we could do something other than what Alex told us we should about Vassar, but I don't even know if there actually is another way!"

Kristoff just blinked in confusion as Anna rattled through the list of kingdoms in the Vassar federation that could prove troublesome to try to negotiate with, along with all their noblemen and women who would much rather seek to cause a fight and about how some of the important traders would sabotage trade with Arendelle if the news got out about Runa's death and the consequences of not doing something about the entire world…

"Anna, relax!" Kristoff finally stopped her, laughing in uncontrolled mirth. "We'll figure something out, don't worry," Kristoff consoled her, seating her on the bed to calm her down. "I think I have a very basic plan ready. I just need a bit more time."

"You do? Oh that's great! I'm glad I didn't give in to that fight! Hehe," Anna loosened her torso and let it fall back on the soft cushion of cotton underneath, pulling Kristoff with her. Her face was red but washed with relief at his words.

"Don't get your hopes up though. I'm not the master planner that Alex is. That guy's unbeatable when it comes to these things!"

"Oh come on! Besting the unbeatables is what makes life more fun!" She smiled warmly and ruffled his hair.

"It is," Kristoff sighed. "But how about we make plans for our future family first?" He said cheekily and then widened his eyes in horror, seeing as they were both lying in bed. "Wait, no! Forget what I said!"

Anna blinked in surprise and looked at his rather extremely red face and burst out laughing. They sure hadn't planned anything after their wedding! Quite reckless but it wasn't as if improvisation wasn't an option…

"What do you think?" Anna asked as she twirled around to face him.

"Suits you," Kristoff commented on seeing the black colored jacket merged with the dark green dress. "Gives off a soldier-ish kind of vibe."

Anna looked rather pleased with herself as she headed off to wear her shoes. Normally, she'd wear heels, but since their discussion last night, she hadn't been able to sleep soundly with the thought of assassins roaming around to kill them. If she needed to fight or run, her best bet was to put on the same shoes that the soldiers of Arendelle did. Not only were they surprisingly comfortable to walk around in, but they were also large like gum boots and sturdy enough to sustain a full-blown attack of a sword on the legs, probably the only weak point she had in dual wielding. It was considerably harder to block or deflect attacks while having a sword in each hand as the power behind each block was reduced by a staggering amount of four times compared to that of a dual handed weapon like Elsa's sword or Alex's staff. This was made a few times worse again by the fact that the wrists needed to bend at some seriously awkward angles to even make one of her blades meet the aggressor's sword when it targeted her feet. This put her at risk of a weak block or a wrist crunching blow on her blades.

"Your majesties, the congregations have arrived," Gerda said from the doorway with an encouraging smile on her face.

"You don't need to address me like that, I'm not a king yet," Kristoff grumbled.

"Oh get over it, you! You're in line for the throne and the preparations for your coronation ceremony have already begun!" Gerda scolded.

"No one knows the pain of being respected too much around the kingdom," Kristoff sighed and shook his head, making Anna cough up a giggle from the corner of the room.

"Oh don't worry Kristoff, you're in the same boat as I was when I married Agnarr back then," Iduna said popping up from behind Gerda. "You'll get used to it."

"Mama! I–I mean, mother! How are youuuuuuohhh!" Anna squealed from the corner, toppling over as she tried to fit the boot on. Now, it was Kristoff's turn to snicker.

"I'm fine dear, just getting used to a whole new lifestyle again," Iduna giggled, and gave Gerda a quick nod of greeting. "I'm more worried about you two though, how are you holding up?"

"Well, we are under a bit of pressure from this thing, but nothing we can't handle," Kristoff replied. "Speaking of handling things, do you by any chance know where Alex is? I needed to grab a quick word with him before I greeted the council."

"Yeah I just spoke with him a few minutes ago. I think he's in the courtyard with Elsa and that strange person from yesterday," Iduna said, cocking her eyebrow inquisitively. "Do you know who he is, Anna?"

"Not really. I think I've seen him once before yesterday, but that was about two years ago. In any case, Reginald is a name that Elsa mentioned numerous times as one of Arendelle's allies, although I'm still not sure if he's an official part of our military."

"He's most probably not. There's frankly just too many laws governing the Arendellian militia, so I wouldn't be surprised if Alex vouched for one of his friends to help him out again," Kristoff said. "I'll go ask him that too!" Kristoff reassured and walked to the door. "I'll see you in fifteen minutes!"

"Don't be late!" Anna called after him. After all, it was an important meeting with the rest of the kingdom's officials in order to decide if Anna will continue to rule the kingdom or Agnarr and Iduna would take up the throne again. Although it was already unofficially decided that Anna and Kristoff will keep on ruling as a pair, it was to be made official and final today along with the date for Kristoff's coronation.

"I think I shall excuse myself as well. Kai needs me to help with the decors," Gerda promptly gave a small bow and turned on her heels

"Right, thanks for the report Gerda!" Anna smiled. A thought crossed her mind as she blinked after her receding figure. There was something odd about what Kristoff said. Alex never really did include the Arendellian military in high stakes situations. He insisted on using only his own mediums to take care of situations like these. She wondered if it was the army's general incompetence compared to the people he often recruited or if he was just being soft on the kingdom's forces… or was it something else? Something that she knew was the only thing that Alex was truly terrified of.

"Say Anna, why do you think Rapunzel and the others were almost taken to the dungeons yesterday even though they're friends?" Iduna asked, wanting the question to sound completely random, but it only ended up with Anna falling to a singular unfathomable conclusion.

"Sounds like you caught up with Alex by one step," Mattias said rounding the corner into Anna's room and gave a slight bow of greeting. "There are quite a few moles in our army and high ranking ones too."

"How? Do you know that for certain?"

"Yes. I never ordered anyone to take them to the dungeons. All I did tell them was to wait. That was because we needed to make arrangements for their stay and I was getting a bit crowded with military reports as well as the kingdom's problems."

"So someone who outranked you ordered some soldiers to make them fugitives?" Iduna asked.

"It could be anyone. I told the Coronans to wait, but I never gave anyone any orders whatsoever regarding what to do with them. It could be that someone who didn't recognise them just thought that they were people from the kingdom who snuck into the castle and arrested them for trespassing."

"That seems rather impossible. Rapunzel and the gang have come over to Arendelle countless times!"

"Exactly the point! Anyone should have recognised them, especially Rapunzel and Cassandra with their unique looks!"

"The only logical conclusion to draw from this is that someone wanted to do something to them, right under our noses!" Iduna said quietly.

Anna widened her eyes in horror. If something were to happen to Rapunzel or rather any of them in Arendelle, that would completely destroy the trust Arendelle and Corona had in each other. And she imagined that it was exactly what Narsilla wanted to happen.

"Alex told us last night that Narsilla's plan was to divide and conquer, while you were in the courts," Mattias said.

"He knows her plans?" Anna exclaimed.

"He hasn't only known about it, Anna. Remember all those thwarted assassination attempts? Who do you think thwarted them?" Iduna asked. She had figured that he alone could not have prevented so many disasters without overstressing himself or at least letting the others feel like they had actual danger lurking over them. He definitely had been using his powers as clan commander to coordinate counterstrikes against all these forces for a rather long time now.

It all lined up quickly with Anna. The reason he relied so much on his own methods to keep them safe. No one knew who in the army was an enemy, but it was already clarified that the Silverblood clan was an ally. Perhaps an even stronger ally than their own army if he trusted them to protect everyone. She couldn't help but wonder who these people were who swept in to guard them from these dangerous forces.

"Besides all that, ex-commander Sylvis was found to be missing and there was a murder beyond the northern walls the night before your wedding. The body has not been found, but the only conclusion we can draw is that he was the one who was murdered," Mattias said.

"What! Why wasn't I told of this before?" Anna asked. "He might still be alive! We could launch a search party…"

However much she hated that man, she couldn't just let him die. As the queen and as a human being, she couldn't punish him for more than he deserved.

"There's really no point. He's most probably long dead and we wouldn't find his body even if we tried anyway. As to why no one told you before, Alex told us to keep this quiet for a few days. He wanted you to have a bit of a happier time, but I suppose stuff is a bit out of hand for me to keep this quiet. I'm sorry I'm springing this up on you, but I have to tell you that you cannot trust anyone, especially not the military."

"But we took almost every possible measure! How could the Legion still have gotten inside Arendelle!" Anna clenched her fist, even though she could find a horde of arguments against her own statement starting with the fact that they didn't even know who the enemy was until half a week ago, forget about filtering them out.

"The memories Elsa showed us dated back to about a hundred years," Iduna said. "Narsilla would have to be plotting things for a long time, slowly infiltrating Arendelle. If alchemy works like Alex says it does, we don't even know what she looks like or where she even is anymore."

"She can shapeshift?" Anna asked, astonished.

"I don't know, but it's a possibility that we can't ignore," Iduna answered.

"That's probably why Alex doesn't trust anyone other than Elsa," Mattias thought out loud, recalling that he only ever discussed things with her and usually kept everyone else a bit far away.

"Only… Elsa?" Anna tilted her head inquisitively, wondering why not anyone else.

"Because of her powers. Alchemy can replicate her powers only to a certain degree, but Alex can apparently tell the difference," Mattias informed.

"He can?" Iduna asked, surprised. She wondered what difference there would be between alchemically conjured ice and spirit ice.

"But Elsa isn't using her magic all the time!" Anna exclaimed.

"That dress of hers. It doesn't melt, does it?" Mattias tested. "The best alchemy can do as Varian told me is that it can keep reforming the parts of the dress as it melts away. Also, we're talking about clothes made of special spirit ice here. Normal or alchemical ice would be rigid and heavy and cold, not the opposite."

"But that still doesn't do much…does it? What if she's just wearing normal clothes?" Anna asked in argument.

"Good question, but I assume that he would be able to tell the difference as well. He's a bit abnormally sharp. To be honest, he is a bit too…how do I say it…powerful?"

Anna tilted her head and blinked curiously. Mattias did not seem to be the type who'd get flustered because of someone else.

Mattias laughed at the questioning look on Anna's face. "Don't worry about it, he's a pretty cool kid I'd like to have on our side!"

Anna laughed but in that split second, she missed the exchange of tension between Iduna and Mattias. He knew that Alex wasn't exactly a threat, especially to anyone he was close to

but he also knew exactly what people like Alex were capable of when they felt threatened. After all, Runeard himself was a calculating man like Alex was. The only thing that the past king lacked was enough power in his muscles and the darkness in his heart to acquire it. That was probably the only reason he failed in his conquest to conquer the Northuldra, but from their third person perspectives they could practically see the blaze of shadows and darkness around Alex's spear as he held it with taut biceps that would put even the strongest of warriors to shame with the balance he struck between leanness and musculature. It did nothing less than terrify them and for the future they were going to witness.

"Everything has been set up sir," Reginald said.

"Did you even get any sleep last night?" Alex asked him, concernedly.

"Six hours is plenty for me," he said, pointing at the clock tower which showed thirty six past nine in the morning.

"Wait, all the options are ready to be deployed already?" Elsa gaped in awe.

"Affirmative, your highness. Herbert is ready to convince queen Runa to take back the throne, we have eyes on a man we believe is Darius, we have two small escape artists from Corona ready to be taken prisoners under allegations of murdering queen Runa and we have also secured means to bribe or intimidate Vesterland into submission. We just need a few more hours to take positions and then we'll be ready."

"You work too fast, Reg, learn to take a break for once in a while," Alex laughed. "Honestly, you're gonna get yourself killed if you keep this up!"

"Racing full throttle ahead has always been my motto. Don't worry sir, I'll ensure I wait a long time before you join me in hell," Reginald said with a laugh.

Alex just grinned, "I'm counting on you for that."

"Any new reports on the spy mission?" Alex asked Reginald, casting a wary glance towards Elsa. If she got a hint that he knew where Narsilla was and if she found out that she was in Arendelle, she would most likely start another winter blizzard in the summer again.

"No suspicious activity to report about that, but the competition to the heir has fallen under the Blade," Reginald reported.

"I see," Alex said, decoding the message.

"What does that mean?" Elsa asked.

"Well, it basically means that one of the top people in the underworld has been murdered. His death is quite a blow to my plan, but nothing you should worry about. It's related to the fallout in the underworld I was talking about," Alex dodged.

That was the truth but not entirely. The Blade, was a codename they had given Narsilla and the competition to the heir meant Muzan, the third rank in the Silverbirds. If he had perished, that meant that almost half the blackblood clan and three other full-fledged military kingdoms had complete free reign with little control over their lust for more land and wealth, one of them which was Aislecia. Narsilla had hurt the underworld where it hurt most and now, the chaos was on its way to reaching peak.

"You do realise in which position this puts us, right sir?" Reginald asked, his usually calm gaze now showing signs of turmoil.

"I do, but let's hold off on the Obsidian Crest for a bit," Alex said.

"I feel like it's more of a battle of cool names than anything else now," Elsa sighed.

"Heh if the enemy has some cool name like The Forsaken Legion, we just needed to have Obsidian Crest on our fingertips," Alex smirked.

"Are you certain, sir?"

"Yes Reg. We can't start playing right away with one of our trump cards."

"I see. But should I at least put them on standby?"

"That would be great, but do that later," Alex said and then turned back to Elsa.

"Anyway, the Obsidian Crest is a special branch in the Silverblood clan that's reserved for some seriously intense action. There are two others namely the Rippler Forces and the Imperial Sentinels but those are under the commands of other high commanders."

"Let me guess, these special forces are exactly why that stereotype is still around?" Elsa grinned. While most of the Silverblood clan wasn't comprised of assassins, the stereotype that connected Silverblood to assassins had continued over more than a hundred years.

"Precisely. At least in the Obsidian Crest, everyone is a hardened assassin or a warrior," Alex said. It was quite expected for everyone to have so many questions about these things in the Underworld since all the information regarding these communities was opened to the world just about three years ago. Even so, most people still didn't know much including the royals.

"And what was the plan for this Obsidian Crest then?" Elsa asked, raising her eyebrow. She had it figured out, again. She just wanted confirmation.

"Killing the troublesome nobility of the entire Vassar Federation and toppling over a few kingdoms like Aislecia and Himhelgard," Alex answered nonchalantly.

Elsa frowned. "I can understand you wanting to topple Aislecia because its king has wanted to capture Arendelle for a long time, but I can't see why you'd want to topple over Himhelgard! We're practically not even on speaking terms!"

"And for a good reason too. Himhelgard is actually the operating base for the Blackblood clan. The leader who got killed was one of the nobility of Himhelgard in post, but he was pretty much the king of that place. Without a leader to hold them back, the entire clan would fall under Rosetta's command and I bet that Narsilla is using her for exploits such as assassinations and looting even more wealth for her pawns."

"That's a rather uncomfortable situation," Elsa thought out loud.

Alex looked at her curiously. She wasn't asking any questions he had expected her to have.

"What?" Elsa asked, tilting her head in question.

"Nothing, I just thought you'd ask where exactly the Shadowjade was in Ahtohallan or other more…normal questions?"

Elsa raised an eyebrow at the phrasing.

"You said that it would be a miracle if I were able to get it out. I assumed that it was in the depths where I'd freeze before ever even finding it."

"That's my hypothesis at least," Alex smiled. He was always surprised at how quickly she always caught up to him. "Only Narsilla would know exactly where the stone fell."

"Or the black rock tablets beneath the Dark kingdom?"

Now Alex couldn't help but do a double take. One of her steps had fallen directly in line with his and he was certainly two steps ahead of everyone else and thinking four steps ahead.

"It's possible, but how'd you know?" He asked incredulously.

"I overheard you and father talking on the balcony. If two out of three kingdoms had secret tunnels beneath them and both the kingdoms were known to hold some ancient knowledge in these tunnels, it only made sense that the third kingdom in the trinity had some secret tunnels beneath it as well and one of them to hold something like the other two. Besides, I suspect that Rapunzel used one of these tunnels to get into the Raven's stronghold even though she did say that they snuck through the sewers. Does that make any sense?"

Alex let out a laugh. "Yes, that makes perfect sense! I don't yet know for sure if there actually are these kinds of tunnels beneath the Dark Kingdom, let alone if they'll even hold the knowledge we need, but there is a chance nonetheless."

"Great! At this time, a chance is all we need!" Her eyes twinkled with hope.

"So are you going to visit the Raven's Stronghold then?" Reginald asked.

"Yup. I feel like it has a good chance of explaining all these ghosts of the past that have come to haunt us," Alex answered. "Oh and Elsa's coming with me so you'll have to keep an eye on Anna and Kristoff."

"Me? Why do you need me for?" Elsa asked bewildered.

"Cause that water memory thingy you do comes in handy at these ancient graves."

"You got it, sir!" Reginald beamed happily and then turned to Elsa. "I won't let any blades get within a hundred miles of them!"

"Thankyou Reginald. I appreciate it," she smiled warmly.

"We do too, Reginald," Kristoff smiled, coming down the porch. "We are truly grateful for your help and all you do to keep us safe."

"Oh no need to mention any of that, your highnesses. Honestly, I am simply doing my job, that is all!" Reginald bowed down to Kristoff, who reciprocated one himself, completely oblivious that a king or even an heir should not bow down to anyone else according to customs unless they are outranked or equally ranked. Nevertheless, he was beaming happily at the man.

"I only heard half the conversation. What is it you seek inside the Raven's Stronghold?" Kristoff turned to Alex.

"A few secrets scattered about that might be helpful for us to get a better understanding of the ancient alchemy that Narsilla uses," Alex said.

"Oh, are you leaving right away?"

Kristoff speaking so politely and putting his training to be king to use was throwing Alex a bit off, but there was nothing wrong about it whatsoever.

"Well, this is probably the only few hours of free time I'm gonna have for a few days before Vassar's plan of attack is heard by the other officials of the kingdom. I'll be getting busy with my duty as a military advisor so yeah. If Elsa's okay with it, I was planning on scouring it out as quickly as I can," Alex said.

"Seriously? You sir, do not have any need to satisfy their insatiable hunger!" Reginald grumbled. He absolutely hated the military council. "Most of those incompetent plebs should be milking bulls!"

Alex and Kristoff burst out laughing while Elsa just snickered a litte and recomposed herself, an old habit. There were very few people in the entire kingdom who knew that he mostly relied on factors so little that it was almost impossible for normal people to keep track of. None of them could figure out why he would take a simple average of the enemy soldier's salary into the equation when something like that was so much more inferior to strategically

placing their own kingdom's units so that they could face off a threat. Naturally, most of these officials still believed that he threw a dice and thought up a plan as he moved his tongue in the council room speaking of factors trivial and wild and then claiming that these could upend the entire course of action. Only he seemed to know that if even one soldier was dedicated enough in a battle, that one person alone could take down the entire Trinity if they wanted. He had years of history to prove that such battles had happened starting with the war between a clan of dedicated warriors called the Marathas and invaders called the Mughals who outnumbered them thousands of times over yet they challenged a full on empire and won the generations long war to a great extent.

"Annoying, but necessary," Alex grinned. "You'll understand once you become a minister."

"You mean never," Reginald asserted.

"So what did you wanna talk about, Kristoff?" Alex asked.

"I wanted to ask if we could do a combination of your plans for Vassar?"

"A combination?" Alex asked, wondering where that was headed.

"If we're able to find Darius, what if we tell him to remove the troublesome nobility from his kingdoms? If they're not on their posts anymore, they can't lead an army right? Even a bit of delay would be lifesaving since we might just be able to convince the other nobles of our innocence before they reform their army."

"Why would you think that Darius would be so willing to take over the throne when his very own council is out to slaughter him?"

"Simple. We just get rid of the council or at least incapacitate them! That way, we'd be doing him a favour so we could ask him for a complete alliance in exchange! We could tell the other…uh…'good council' that the 'bad council' MIGHT be the one who MAY have murdered queen Runa in trying to pull off a cou-de-tat for the throne. That way, the bad council will get punished and Vassar will be indebted to help us out! Darius will have free reign and we might be able to control his actions. If we tell him that Narsilla was the one who killed Runa and that the greedy council was following her orders, we would be able to tighten our hold on the entire federation by trading some of our defences. If he doesn't listen, we could still intimidate him into submission, although that is the very last thing I want to do right next to conquering Vassar itself."

Alex just stared at him with his mouth agape.

"You think it's a good idea?" Kristoff asked, looking between the trio for a few seconds that seemingly stretched out into years.

"Elsa, don't you dare start giggling!" Alex warned as a smile crept up his own face and Elsa started to laugh.

"Honestly sir, I feel like lord Kristoff should take your place as clan leader as well," Reginald said, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Oh shut it you," Alex berated the man. "You're not worthy enough to be ruled by him!"

Kristoff just looked bewildered between them.

"The idea is just frighteningly simple if we could pull it off right," Alex explained. "So much so that I can't say if the enemy is even expecting it or not! That said, it is a great plan to start off with other than those of my own."

Kristoff beamed.

"So now, to get rid of the council…"

"You do realise that I mean that no one should be assassinated, right?" Kristoff quickly interrupted Alex before the assassin leader ordered his clan to bring Vassar down to its knees.

"Hehe, right," Alex laughed, nervously averting his eyes, getting an amused-disapproving look from Elsa.

"How exactly do you plan on getting rid of half of Vassar's council without getting help from any of its leaders though?" Alex asked.

"Hmm, I haven't yet thought all that further yet, but I just thought you'd like to know what we had in mind. We still want to rely on negotiations though," Kristoff chuckled, "but that department is all you and Anna, and perhaps you too, Elsa, if you're willing to help that is..."

"I'm not that great at negotiatio—"

"Anna is too undertrained to handle this and I look like I'd cut off a few hundred heads if they start arguing with me," Alex smiled smugly at Elsa. "You're our last ray of hope, O great goddess Elsa! Please! Save us from this abominable apocalypse!" He joined his palms and bowed over dramatically, snickering in mirth.

"Oh you little…" Elsa narrowed her eyes and snapped her fingers to send a magic snowball right into his face, almost knocking him over in the process.

"Kristoff! The council is awaiting your presence!" Kai called out, bowing courteously and suppressing a grin.

"Be right there, Kai!"

"Oh and your presence has also been ordered in the military office, Alex. They say it's an urgent meeting." The butler told.

Alex, in the middle of wiping his face, stared at Kai in horror.

"Guess they found out about it a little sooner than you expected?" Elsa asked, still smiling and started to move to the castle.

"Well, if that's the case, we'd better run then."

"Wait, what?" Elsa whirled around towards Alex but he was already halfway to the main gates of the castle, running low to the ground. "Hey!"

"Alex!" Kristoff exclaimed in surprise as the trio looked at the two black dressed assassins racing out of their sights.

"He ran away?" The usually composed Kai was now trying his best to not show his shock. "The general will surely be giving him an earful when he returns!"

"Going with him?" Kristoff asked Elsa, amused.

"Better than just sitting around doing nothing," Elsa reasoned with a grin and bid him farewell and luck as she conjured up a path of ice and started skating on it after Alex. Only a non human being could keep up with the inhumane speeds that Alex could reach on foot.

"Are you running away from the council meeting?" Elsa asked, raising her eyebrow as they ripped through the town towards the docks to see if they could catch a trader or a ferry to the Dark Kingdom.

"It's not my fault! The military council is scary!" He pouted.

Elsa couldn't help but burst out laughing. She knew he was joking, but even the idea of him being scared of something his own presence was terrifying to was completely out of the world!

"Also, I don't mind keeping up the speeds, but we're probably gonna look stupid if we keep running," Elsa pointed out amused as they slid through the third southern gate.

"Oh right," Alex smiled and gradually came to a walk. The thought had crossed his mind, but he wanted to see how well she had recovered. She was a little out of breath, but that was expected or actually even better than his expectations. Artificial healing didn't replenish lost blood after all.

He wanted to gauge her capability to pull off what he had truly wanted her with him for.