It was a sunny day in Rizucia, and Anna's grand ship arrived to the sounds of seagulls and the waters gently lapping against the docks. The docks themselves were almost deserted, save for a few fishing vessels and a couple of small sailboats. To the crew's surprise, they managed to dock without incident. Anna and Kristoff disembarked. Then, a couple of Rizucian soldiers went up to the ship, armed with lances.
"I'm sorry," said one of the soldiers, standing up straight and looking forwards, "you have had a wasted journey. Rizucia is closed to foreign shipping. You must disembark immediately. Goodbye."
Kristoff cleared his throat. "Presenting Queen Anna of Arendelle!" he declared snootily while gesturing towards Anna. Anna smiled at the soldiers at gave a little wave.
The soldiers looked wide-eyed in shock. "Y...Your Majesty!" one of them stuttered. "Oh my, the Queen of Arendelle! Rizucia hasn't been visited by foreign royalty since…"
As the soldier stood counting the years, Anna interrupted him and put on her official tone.
"Could you please inform your king that Queen Anna of Arendelle requests an audience with him? We have a very special guest on board," Anna told him.
The soldier thought for a second. "I will do what I can. In the meantime Your Majesty, I'm afraid you must stay here. Please, do not leave your ship," he commanded.
Anna and Kristoff returned to the ship and told the others what was going on. The soldier went to tell his superior, who told his superior, and soon Anna's message reached the King of Rizucia.
Word got out in the town that a grand Arendellian ship was at the docks. The people of Rizucia were naturally curious about this strange development, and soon a crowd of a few hundred were milling around the docks. A small force of soldiers arrived at the ship, trying to move people on.
A man tending to his small sailboat heard the commotion, and put down the rigging he
was working on before making his way to Anna's ship. He bumped into a friend.
"Hi Stig," his friend said. "You're always at sea, any idea what's going on?"
"It's been such a long time," Stig replied while stroking his chin, "but I'm sure I recognise the flag on that ship. Purple and green with a gold crocus, I think that's...Arendelle?"
"Arendelle?" his friend exclaimed. "Why would an Arendellian ship sail here after all these years? Do you think it might have anything to do with the girl who hijacked your ship?"
"Maybe," Stig mused. "She forced me to sail east because I told her that Arendelle was the closest kingdom within sailing distance." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, whatever it is, it must be important for the Arendellians to risk coming here!"
After a short while, a large horse drawn carriage made its way towards the docks, flanked by soldiers armed with lances who made sure that the crowd got out of its way. As the carriage drew up to the ship, the soldiers struggled to keep the onlookers away.
"The royal carriage?" Stig exclaimed to his friend. "Well, now I really am intrigued!"
The King and Queen of Rizucia emerged from the carriage with their handler, and they quickly boarded Anna's ship, doing their best to keep away from the crowds. Kristoff was waiting for them.
"My apologies," the handler said to him, "but I think it would be best if we conducted the formal pleasantries here."
"Sure thing!" Kristoff said as he nodded before he went to fetch Anna.
The King and Queen of Rizucia dusted themselves down, and tried to make themselves as presentable as possible. They were both in their early fifties, and their clothes suggested that they left the castle in a hurry. The king had a well groomed, thick black beard, was quite tall and of medium build, and he wore a gold chain round his neck. The queen had blond hair and wore a dark brown dress, almost as if she was in mourning. They looked at each other nervously as they awaited the appearance of the Queen of Arendelle.
Soon, Kristoff appeared with Anna. "Queen Anna of Arendelle!" he announced, smiling confidently at her.
The Rizucian handler stepped forward. "King Sigurd and Queen Thyra of Rizucia," the handler declared. He stepped away looking quite proud of himself. He hadn't been able to say those words for some time!
The king and queen walked towards Anna, and they quickly exchanged customary bows and curtsies.
"To what do we owe this visit?" the king asked nervously. "We heard that you have someone important on board?"
Anna could see how agitated they were. She told them straight away.
"We have Joanna with us," she said.
The king and queen snapped their gazes towards each other and opened their mouths in terror. They turned back and forth between themselves and Anna a few times before the queen grabbed the king's lapel and tried to pull him away.
"She's here?" the king asked, panicking. "You're in danger! We have to get off the ship right now!" he said as he turned to leave.
Anna held her hand up to stop him. "It's okay! She doesn't have her powers any more!" she assured them as she smiled.
"What?" the king exclaimed. The queen let go of the king's lapel and lowered her hand. They both furrowed their brows as they stared at Anna. "Well...how?" the king asked with his arms out.
"Let me take you to my sister Elsa," Anna said. "She can tell you what happened."
Anna led the king and queen through the ship to meet Elsa. She introduced them and they began to talk.
"So she doesn't have her powers anymore?" the queen asked. "What happened? Is she alright?"
"She's fine," Elsa tried to reassure them. "Your daughter has been through a lot over the last few days."
"Can we see her?" asked the king.
"She's in the next room," Elsa replied. "But before you see her, there's something you need to know."
The king and queen looked at Elsa with anticipation, worried at what Elsa was about to tell them.
"She knows about the potion," Elsa sighed.
The king and queen both opened their mouths, looking totally aghast. They looked at each other fearfully.
"But how…" the king started to ask.
"We both knew we were going to have to tell her one day," the queen interrupted. "Oh, she must really hate us now!"
"She doesn't hate you!" Elsa smiled. "But she does have a lot of questions. Are you ready to meet her?" Elsa asked.
The king nervously nodded, and Elsa took the king and queen to the room where Joanna was sitting on a chair. She had clearly been crying.
The king and queen stood in the doorway and looked lovingly at Joanna. In turn, Joanna looked up at them with a frown on her face. So many thoughts raced through her mind. She tried to smile at them, but her smile quickly turned back into a frown. She couldn't bring herself to leave her chair. Joanna's parents walked into the room and crouched down beside her.
"Joanna…" the king said softly in his deep voice. "It's so good to see you safe. Are you alright?"
Joanna folded her arms, looked to the side and frowned. "I'm fine…" she whispered coldly. "I'm sorry for what I did to Rizucia…" she sighed.
"That doesn't matter now," her mother said, waving her hand. "We heard you lost your powers?" her mother said.
"I have Elsa to thank for that," Joanna said, still looking away. "She's done so much for me," she said as she began to raise her voice. "More than you ever did!"
"We did all we could…" the king said softly.
Joanna huffed. "I don't believe it!" she said as she shook her head. "Elsa has done more for me in two days than you did in my entire life! She understands me!" she shouted as she pointed to herself.
The king and queen both looked down, unsure of what to say next.
Joanna tried to steady herself. "Look, I know I need to try and make up for what I did here, but I wish I could go back to Arendelle and live with Elsa," Joanna confessed.
"You can't mean that," her mother insisted. "Rizucia is your home!"
"My home…" Joanna muttered as she gently shook her head and smirked. "I barely know this place! I've only glimpsed the town through the windows of the tower. You made a prison my home!"
"We are sorry for what we did, we really are," her mother replied. "We shouldn't have locked you up in the tower. It was for your protection, and the town's. We were worried that you'd do...well, what you did."
"We didn't know what else to do," the king insisted.
"I was locked in that tower for years!" Joanna cried as she made fists and threw them down. "You locked me up! I had no friends!" she wailed.
"We had to," her mother replied softly. "If there was some other way…"
"And you never once tried to help me," Joanna said as she looked at the ground. "Elsa knew how to take my powers away. Why didn't you?" she said angrily as she looked up at her father.
"But we tried Joanna!" the king insisted as he held his arms out. "We really did try!"
"How?" Joanna said despondently as she threw her arms out.
The king took a deep breath. "We know you know about the potion," the king sighed. "We got it from a man who we thought was just a legend. We were desperate to have a child, desperate. We needed to continue the family bloodline. I needed an heir," the king insisted. "And more than anything else, we wanted a child to love. The castle was so empty..."
Joanna shook her head as she listened to her father.
"We heard a rumour of a wizard who could help us," the king continued. "He turned out to be an old man who collected potions. It took us years to find him. We had to ride for five days to find his forest house. He promised us a child. We had to take the risk…"
The queen held on to the king's hand, imploring him to continue the story.
"After you were born," the king said as he looked at Joanna, "we knew straight away that you were cursed. We tried to find a cure."
Joanna rolled her eyes and gave a small, indignant laugh.
"I sent my best rider to fetch the wizard. But when he reached his house, he found him sitting in his chair, stiff as a board. His secrets died with him," the king said solemnly. "Ever since then we tried to find an answer. We scoured the kingdom for witches, wizards, warlocks, anyone who understood magic. But no one could help."
The queen looked at Joanna and gently smiled, as if she was imploring her to believe her father.
"Believe me, if we knew Elsa could help, if we knew the answers lied in Arendelle, we would have taken you there immediately!" the king concluded.
Joanna shook her head as she tried to digest her father's story.
"All those years alone," Joanna muttered, "and all because you took that potion. You cursed me!" Joanna yelled, folding her arms and crying.
"We didn't think it would harm you," her mother answered. "We thought it was going to harm us. But that wouldn't have mattered. If anything happened to your father, or if anything happened to me, that wouldn't have been important. All we cared about was your safe arrival. You were our gift."
"Really?" Joanna replied, surprised. "You were prepared to sacrifice yourselves for me? Was I really all that mattered to you?" she asked through her tears.
"Yes!" her father replied earnestly. "All we cared about was you. We wanted you more than anything else in the whole world. And when you arrived, we were so, so happy." he said as he held her hand with both of his.
"And you brought us so much joy, sweetheart!" her mother insisted. "I remember hugging you, tickling you, wrapping you up in a towel and blowing raspberries on your tummy. You brought light into our lives, it was magical!"
"Oh…" Joanna softly exclaimed as she looked up at her father and tried to smile again. This time, the smile stayed there.
"And now that you don't have your powers," her mother said, taking her other hand, "we can catch up. You have your whole life ahead of you. We can create more wonderful memories!"
Joanna turned to her mother and looked into her eyes. The smile stayed on her face.
"Do you think you can forgive us Joanna?" her father asked. "Will you come back with us? We can put all of this behind us. Make a fresh start."
Joanna looked her father in the eyes. "There's nothing I want more in the whole world."
On hearing her words, Joanna's parents leaned forwards and hugged her. Joanna flung her arms around both of them and shut her eyes. They held onto each other tightly. They were finally a family.
Anna and Elsa stood by the door watching as Kristoff stood behind them. Anna rested her head on Elsa's shoulder and they held hands. Still holding her parents tightly, Joanna opened her eyes and smiled at them. Anna and Elsa both smiled back, and tears of happiness welled up in their eyes. They felt privileged to see such a joyous reunion.
"I told you it could be beautiful," Kristoff whispered to Anna, who quietly nodded.
Once the embrace was over, the king got up and turned to ask Anna a question.
"Thank you so much for bringing her home, " he said as he wiped away a tear. "Would you like to join us in the castle for some refreshments? I'm afraid it's not in the best of states, but it's the least we can do, given what you've done for our family."
"Of course!" Anna replied enthusiastically. "We have a lot to talk about!"
Joanna got up out of her chair and ran towards the door. She opened her arms and threw them around Anna and Elsa.
"Thank you," she said as she held on tight. "Thank you for bringing me home!"
"Our pleasure!" Elsa replied softly.
Everyone from the two royal families got up and prepared to leave the ship, ready to go to Rizucia castle. A crowd of a few hundred were still mingling outside, now even more curious as they knew the King and Queen were on board.
Anna and Elsa baulked when they reached the gangway and saw the crowd.
"Woah," Kristoff said. "Big crowd!"
"Indeed," the king began to explain. "Yours is the first foreign ship to dock here for sixteen years! We'd best get to the carriage as fast as we can!"
They all made their way across the gangway, and the guards moved out of the way to let them past. Joanna stepped out. Stig, who had pushed his way to the front of the crowd, got a good look at her. His mouth dropped to the floor. He pointed at her and began to shout.
"It...it's her!" he shouted while stammering and pointing. "I'd recognise those eyes anywhere! She forced me to sail my boat away from here! She must have burned our kingdom!"
A disgruntled murmur went through the crowd.
"Get behind us!" a soldier commanded the royal party.
"Get her!" someone shouted.
The two royal families were trapped against the ship. The soldiers got in front of them and thrust out their lances. The angry crowd was inching ever closer.
"Dad! I'm scared!" said Joanna as the king held her.