Summary: Three years before Elsa's coronation, the kingdom was controlled by a corrupt prime minister and his subjects. Three years after her parents died, Anna didn't always stay in the castle. Now, after regaining the monarchy, they must now try to correct what has been wronged.
**Note: Post-Frozen this takes place after the Frozen movie as well as all the chapters after it. Two years after Chapter 6**
~Takes place after the Frozen canon events~
It was morning time in Arendelle and the royal sisters were dining accordingly. It had been 5 days after the melting of the summer blizzard, and soon everything was beginning to settle in peacefully. Of course nothing would go back to the normal way it was before–back when the castle doors were locked and no one had known of the older sister's winter powers.
And it all still felt strange to Anna. She was not used to the opened curtains upon the dining hall and her older sister willingly sitting with her as they ate their breakfast, free from awkward silence. Instead, they had fallen into a comfortable silence, enjoying their food and each other's company.
"So what's on the agenda today, sis?" Anna asked, breaking the silence as she shoved a spoonful of oatmeal into her mouth. Kristoff had gone off to the mountains the day before to start his first day as the Arendelle Official Ice Master and Deliverer. This left Anna boyfriend-less until he came back. Unfortunately, she didn't plan anything ahead of time. She had hoped that she could tag along with her sister and maybe help out with anything in the castle to keep herself from falling into boredom. God knows the last time she was bored had turned out.
Elsa swallowed down her food before speaking, "I'm meeting with all the kingdom's subjects to transfer the power back to the royal family."
Anna scrunched up her nose in confusion, "What does that mean?"
"It means that I'm taking the power back from the Prime Minister, officially," Elsa explained, "Didn't your tutor tell you these things?"
"He tried. But anyway, I thought that all happened during your coronation," Anna replied.
Elsa shook her head, "No, the coronation was the act of giving me the title of Queen of Arendelle. They didn't officially give me full power until this meeting came up."
"So what do you do during this meeting?"
"I am just going to sign the legal documents and look over some agreements then take oath into the reign. And I suspect the subjects may want to go over the politics and brief me in on everything that is happening with Arendelle."
"Hmm. Interesting," Anna commented and shoved another spoonful of her oatmeal in.
Elsa raised her eyebrow at her sister, "Anna?"
"Yes?"
"You realize you can't come with me to the meeting."
"Wait, what? Why?" Anna questioned as she jumped up on her seat, she added, "I was lying when I said it was interesting, I think it's actually boring. You might need me to entertain you!"
Elsa giggled and shook her head, "It's not that, Anna. It's just a very strict meeting and only ruling monarchs as well as certain subjects can enter. Boring as it may, it has to stay serious. A long time has passed since the last time the royals had to regain their power in Arendelle. It's only fair we follow the traditions."
"But what am I going to do all day?" Anna whined. She couldn't help it. Even if she was an 18-year-old Princess, she didn't have any responsibilities thrust upon her. Elsa had no mind to marry her off (Mind you, it's only been a few days since the incident with Hans) and she took no interest in any of the basic Princess activities.
As much as Elsa hated to admit it, she knew that Anna could find something to do. Besides, she had been doing it for the past 15 years; what's 3 hours got? "I am sure you can find something to do for three hours," Elsa said, "Anyway, the meeting ends at 2 o'clock so we can do as you please for the rest of the day."
The first statement bothered Anna, but after hearing her sister say that they were free to what she wanted later, she soon forgot her unnerve and settled in being happy. "Alright. But I am holding you to your part of that deal."
Elsa gulped, "Okay." She was beginning to regret letting Anna choose the rest of their day's activities.
Her sister only smiled and ate her oatmeal in silence.
Elsa had gone into the council chambers with the subjects an hour ago. Anna found herself walking around the village marketplace near the port. The first activity Anna had planned was to bake some pastries with Elsa. She had been going around, selecting some ingredients when a docking ship caught her eye.
The ship was just like all the other ships in the port except for one feature. It had royal blue sails erected, standing out from all the other dirty white sailed ships.
Anna tilted her head in bewilderment. She gingerly set down the item she had been holding back on the stall and hesitantly walked towards the ship, stretching her neck in order to peak at the faces of the passengers. As she reached a dock a familiar head popped up from the ship's exit.
The former maidservant of Arendelle made her way off the ship and caught sight of the Princess. She did a double take before she muttered, "Princess Anna?"
Anna could only step back in shock as she whispered, "Lise?"
A grin spread across the former servant girl's face and she laughed out loud. She ran off the ship and soon the Princess found herself hugging the girl.
Anna could not believe it. It had been 2 years since she had seen the former maidservant and though nothing had changed, girl seemed different. Anna berated herself remembering that she was no longer a girl, but a woman.
Lise still held the same light skin complexion and her dirty blonde hair in its normal loose and wavy form, but her face had matured and her green eyes had darkened. She had but grown a few inches, while compared to Anna who had grown 3 inches since their last encounter; the two girls were now almost of the same height.
Anna let her initial shock wear off and she mirrored the grin the 20 year old had greeted with her with. The hug ended and the two pulled apart, Anna the first one to speak.
"What are you doing here Lise?" Anna asked but she realized it was a bit unwelcoming so she added, "I mean–its not like I'm not happy– I am… I am happy you're here, but I'm just… What are you doing here, Lise?"
The older female laughed at Anna's stuttering. That was one thing that didn't change about Anna. She answered, "I came here to see you actually. Let's just say that we have some business that we need to take care of. But we must hurry, your highness, I can't stay long.
"Well we haven't got any time to waste then," said Anna, grabbing the former maidservant by the arm, "Let's go to the castle and you can tell me everything that's happened with you and Frida and this business that you have. And by the way, we're friends. So you don't have to call me Your Highness. It feels weird."
"What do you mean?" The news came as a shock for Anna.
"She had caught pneumonia, like her daughter. And I'm sorry, Anna, but she didn't make it," Lise explained.
The two ladies sat in the dining hall of the castle, the dining table cleared of the food from breakfast. They were alone in the large dining area since the rest of the staff had cleared out in order to prepare for lunch. Fortunately, this meant that they could talk without anybody interrupting.
Anna couldn't process what Lise had told her. She had asked Lise to tell everything about her life in the past 2 years. Lise had complied and told her everything. Anna had found out that Lise had found a husband a while back and had a toddler at home. Her husband was a retired sailor who recently worked as a patrol guard in the kingdom of Corona. They had a baby girl who had recently just turned 1 and life was good. Except when Lise got to the part about Frida.
Lise and Frida had been sharing a living space when Frida got sick about 8 months after the two had left Arendelle. She had somehow caught pneumonia and much like her daughter, didn't survive.
"She said that she'll say hello to Kylos for you," Lise said.
Anna looked down in sadness. The old woman had promised she would see her again. But now, she supposed it was pointless to be mad about an unfulfilled promise. She would not cry, Anna decided. She would be alright and be glad that Frida was with her family again. However, she could not help the lone tear that escaped its barrier.
"I'm alright," assured Anna as she wiped away the stray tear. She forced a smile on her face and added, "I'm glad she's found peace."
"She was good to us all," Lise agreed.
A moment of silence passed between the two in honor of the old woman's memory before Anna spoke again, "I have a feeling that's not the news you came here to tell me about."
From what she'd gathered, Frida had passed away a year ago and surely Lise would have found a way to tell her this sooner than now. Frida's passing was not what led her to return, and Anna was curious.
Lise gave her half a smile, "You're right." The dirty blonde turned to the shoulder bag she had worn ever since she had exited the ship. From it, she pulled out a corkscrewed glass bottle with a letter inside it.
The dirty blonde handed the bottle to the strawberry blonde haired girl and explained, "Frida told me to give this to you, Anna. You must hurry and open it while we are in private, I can't stay for long."
Lise glanced at the grandfather clock in the dining hall that read 1:00. She had told Anna a while ago that she wasn't able to stay for long and that she needed to be back on the ship by 1:30, else the crew would leave her. The only way she had gotten to board the ship was for providing the sails for the crew, but that did not assure the crew that they wouldn't leave without her.
"What is it?" Anna asked, taking a second to pry her curious eyes from the bottle in her hands to look at the former maidservant.
"Frida had told me Kylos had originally given it to her to give to you," said Lise, "But before Frida died, she told me to give this to you under the same strict instructions her husband gave her."
She continued, reciting the instructions from her memory, "She said to give this to you in private, under no circumstances should I give it to you with any additional company. And I would not let anybody else touch or look at the letter in the bottle without my full trust and disclosure. Then she told me that I should give it to you in person after you sister's coronation. I would have gotten it to you a week ago but we were struck by the winter storm we were told that your sister somehow caused…" Lise trailed off, unsure how to finish that sentence.
Anna blushed, "Yeah, you see… um, long story short, Elsa has ice powers and she accidentally caused the summer blizzard…" She glanced at the dirty blonde sheepishly and shot her small smile before deciding that she wouldn't elaborate on it further. Anna shook her head then asked, "Anyway, why could you only give it to me after my sister's coronation?"
Lise shook off the bemused look she was sending the younger girl and turned serious once again, "I suggest you open it to find out."
Anna stared at her for a moment before glancing down at the bottle, annoyed that she was hesitating at the silly fear of opening a simple bottle. Two years ago, she had chosen to forget about everything that had happened. In those two years, she had successfully avoided the armory at all costs and made no attempt in sneaking out of the castle. Instead, she stayed inside and filled her mind with books and talked to paintings, a past time she was regrettably familiar with. Now, with the events of her sister's ice powers revelation and the aftermath that soon followed, it never seemed like the excitement would end.
Slowly, Anna's fingers roamed to the corkscrew of the bottle. She glanced at Lise who was watching her with anticipation. Before she would let herself chicken out, she yanked the corkscrew off the bottle and turned the glass bottle upside-down, sliding the letter out into her open palm.
She set down the bottle on the table and then opened the rolled up letter as if it were made of brittle glass.
The paper the letter was written on wasn't very special. One of its sides looked torn up, like as if it had been pulled out of a book. Anna had to keep herself from shaking the paper too much–in fear it would break. But it was the writing that caught the strawberry blonde's attention. The handwriting was something she had not seen in a long time, but it was still very familiar.
Anna realized she wasn't going to get anything done if she just she looked at the format of the paper instead of the content. She looked at Lise who only nodded her head at her.
The princess cleared her throat before reading aloud.
"Dear Princess Anna of Arendelle,
If you are reading this, this probably means that my time on earth has passed and I have not shared with you the information that I have been gathering on the days we have not had lessons. I have given Frida or some other trusted soul specific instructions on when and where to give this letter to you.
You may question the strictness of my orders, but you must understand that this is top secret information that I have been able to gather and may cause dangerous consequences if this letter fell into the wrong hands. It is my hope that perhaps this letter can be delivered to you before anything… inauspicious has happened to you.
I am sure you remember my suspicions toward the Prime Minister of Arendelle: Reno Quartremaine. I have been examining the rumors and the public uncertainty for the man and I have found many surprising details.
As it turns out, many know that Reno Quartremaine owns the Arendelle Bank, and part of a bank's jobs is to provide loans to people. What many people do not know is that Reno's agenda in getting that money concerns a great deal of blackmail and violence.
A few, but still a significant number of Arendelle natives have been swindled in the past few days. They are paying more than necessary for their loans due to blackmail of an anonymous character. I have found a connection between them; they all have an account in the Quartremaine Bank of Arendelle.
More trouble has come up. Alongside the blackmail there has been an increasing amount of violence. People are finding themselves robbed of their possessions and their houses damaged. And I have found one thing they all have in common; they all have ties to Reno Quartremaine. Every story I have heard of them, they have always been mentioning the Prime Minister's name.
And there is this one story that is very important you should hear. I had been digging deeper into the suspicions of the Prime Minister when I came upon a murder. As it turns out, this was one of the Prime Minister's close lackeys who had been fired the day before he had been murdered. Upon searching his house, I had found a letter speaking of conspiracy.
The man talked about the Prime Minister planning something after the next Queen is crowned–Princess Elsa. What didn't make sense about his letter was about how he talked about the Prime Minister's sudden interest in geology and a few certain stones and opals. I can not fathom anything of what the man was warning us of, but I do know is that Reno has a network of both nobles and villagers under his command. If what I think he is planning is an usurping of the throne, I fear for you and your sister's safety.
But I do know that you are both safe while he is in power of the throne. If he were to kill you before Elsa was crowned Queen, he would be immediately on the target list of everyone in the village. But if he waited until Elsa is crowned, the people would put their trust in the Queen. And if something unfortunate were to happen, the throne would be handed back to him, since he would be well behaved during the time of his first temporary ruling. By now, the kingdom would have already gotten used to his ruling and may possibly just give him full power.
It may not make sense, but there is some sort of conspiracy going on. It is vital that you keep this to yourself and find evidence–quickly might I add–of the Prime Minister's corruption before something grave were to happen to you and your sister.
~Your faithful Master-at-Arms
Sir Kylos Borregard~"
Anna turned to Lise with astonishment written all over her face. The content of the letter was certainly not light. All the information was dumped on to her with sudden force she wasn't sure how to begin. As an alternative, Anna only stared at Lise with shock and a facial expression that asked her to explain the letter.
"I have done some additional research with my husband and he's correct," Lise spoke, motioning to the paper, "The Prime Minister won't do anything until Elsa is crowned Queen because by then, he will be trusted by the kingdom and power will be easily handed to him. Nobody has anything solid or concrete on him, and even if anyone were to convince the Queen of his treason, he'll be able to win the trial and then everybody would doubt the Queen. He'll be able to gain power either way unless somebody finds solid evidence of corruption and treason. Other than that, you've got to be wary of him. If his plan goes correctly, nobody would suspect him of causing the Queen's doom because he could have easily done so during his reign."
Anna kept silent during her whole explanation, her face contorting to the thoughts running through her head. It wasn't until Lise finished that an interval of silence surrounded them. Anna gathered up her thoughts and voiced them aloud, "So what you're saying is that the Prime Minister hasn't done anything to harm us yet, but he will soon, unless he is found guilty of some sort of heinous crime?"
Lise nodded her head, and Anna jumped up in her seat shouting, "T-That's just crazy! Elsa's the Queen! He can't do this!"
"He can and probably will. Elsa's only a new Queen."
"We have to tell Elsa," Anna exclaimed, jumping up as if she didn't hear what Lise had said.
"No wait, Anna, you have to listen to me," Lise grabbed the distressed princess by the wrist.
"She's up there," Anna protested, trying to tug away from the older girl's clasp, "She's up there with him, stuck in a room with him. You heard the letter, she's in danger! I need a sword, there's not enough time to fetch the g-"
"Anna, listen to me!" Lise shouted. The distressed Princess stopped fighting her hold and turned her full attention to the woman. Lise was being serious, and Anna knew better than to ignore her demand–she found out the hard way with Elsa. Instead, Anna just looked at her with questioning eyes, pleading her to explain quickly.
"We can't go against him, not now. Not until you have solid proof of this corruption Kylos is talking about," Lise stated, "And he can't do anything yet. You told me he was up there giving the throne back to Elsa, right?" Anna nodded her head in confirmation; "He won't do anything in front of the delegates and the court, not while there's other people around. Privately, however…"
Lise rubbed her forehead in frustration, "It is really complicated. You know how you said that Elsa has 'ice powers'? I have a feeling that the Prime Minister knew about them long before you did." She took a deep breath and sighed, "The point is, none of us knows what he has planned. All we know that he starts the game after today and his endgame will involve destroying Elsa somehow and gaining power. We don't know who is working for him, so we can't tell anyone, even those we trust the most because he already knows our weaknesses. We can't get anything on him… not publicly, not yet."
Anna's shoulders dropped in disbelief. Here, she could do something, prevent a possible evil from befalling on Arendelle and her sister. But here she was, being told to keep quiet in order to protect the ones she loved. She looked down at the table, but let her eyes stare at oblivion. "We can't do anything?"
Lise nodded in verification, crestfallen. The maidservant glanced at the clock and sighed once more, "Anna, I have to go. I'm sorry that I can't help you collect evidence. And as much as I would love to stay…"
Anna kept staring in a daze but asked, "How long have you known you were pregnant?"
The question surprised Lise, but she replied anyway, "Three months."
Anna smiled and finally glanced up at the maidservant. Locking eyes, Anna moved towards her and hugged her old friend. A sob caught in her throat, but as she hugged the older girl she whispered in her ear, "I understand."
The two pulled away and exchanged watery smiles. The dirty blonde croaked out, "I'm sorry Anna."
Anna shook her head in refusal of the apology, "Don't be." She knew it was too good to be true. Lise had a husband in Corona, and she was pregnant. She wouldn't break up a family. She tugged on the older girl's arm and led her out of the dining hall and into the hallway.
The family she had made those years ago was leaving her. Two of them had died, and one of them was starting a family of her own. But Anna chose to see the good that came out of ordering Lise to get on the boat with Frida. She would not see this girl die under hapless circumstances, and she intended to keep it this way.
"Anna, I'm not going to leave for good, you know," Lise reassured her as the two walked towards the castle doors.
Anna pulled the door open for Lise and smiled sadly, "Maybe one day I'll visit Corona." The two hugged once more and Anna said, "Be careful. And I hope you have a good life." Good-bye.
"And to you, Princess Anna. You'll overcome this, I have faith." And I wish the same to you too. Good-bye. The dirty blond 20-year-old former maidservant curtsied to her royal friend and shot her one last smile before walking out the door, not looking back.
Anna stared after her until she walked out of the castle gates, and then turned her eyes to the ground and she fought to keep back tears. She stayed there for a minute or so before taking a deep breath and shutting the castle doors.
The strawberry blonde haired Princess walked to the council room where the meeting was just ending. She seated herself on the windowsill on the hallway opposite the council room and stared out of the castle, a past time she was familiar with. From there she could see the dock, and her eyes immediately caught the ship with the royal blue sails leaving the port. She watched it exit from her line of sight for a few minutes before the council doors opened.
Delegates and subjects departed from the room, carrying various papers tucked into books trapped under their arms. It took a while and Anna counted as at least 20 people exited the council chambers before the line of people diffused in the hallways and cleared the door into the chambers.
Anna hopped off the windowsill and walked to doors. As she approached she saw something that made her eyes narrow. Elsa was talking to none other than the Prime Minister–Reno Quartremaine as his subjects lurked in the shadows, keeping watch over their master.
"Anna." It was Elsa who called her as soon as she had seen Anna enter through the doorway, stopping the discussion with the Prime Minister.
"Hi, I was just wondering how the meeting went," Anna said, partially lying as she advanced toward Elsa while keeping a watchful eye on Reno.
The Prime Minister wore a small smile on his face; one that Anna could tell was fake from miles away. She could tell that he did not like being interrupted from his conversation with the Queen. Nevertheless, he kept quiet, shooting her a quick, mild glare that no one else but Anna caught.
"It was successful," replied Elsa, "I was just talking to the Prime Minister about the loose ends that he has been working on to tie up that will soon be passed to me as reigning monarch."
"That's… good," Anna commented, unsure of how to reply.
"It is," said Reno, interrupting the sister's conversation, "And it is important that we discuss this in private."
"Whatever you say, you can say in front of my sister, Reno," Elsa retorted with an upturned eyebrow.
"I prefer to discuss it in private, Your Majesty… Perhaps, tomorrow?" His voice always seemed to make Anna uncomfortable, and Kylos's letter may have explained why that was.
"Yes, um, perhaps you should talk to Kai about squeezing it into my schedule," said Elsa, "Besides, the meeting is over and I want to spend some time with my sister, if you'd please."
The Prime Minister put on a fake grin once more and bowed to Elsa, amusing Anna who knew that he didn't like bowing to anybody above him. "Of course Your Majesty," he forced out, "And if you don't mind, I'd like to stay in the council chambers a while longer, I must gather my belongings."
"Permission granted," stated Elsa, nodding to him before directing her attention to her younger sister, a grin spreading across her face that she had kept stoic the duration of the meeting.
"Hey, glad to see you've survived," Anna managed to quip even though she snuck a few subtle glances at the Prime Minister talking to his minions. For some reason, their suits looked similar.
Elsa let a tiny giggle escape from her mouth, "Just barely," she joked, but realized that her sister was somewhat distracted, peering over her shoulder at the Prime Minister. Elsa raised her eyebrow, but didn't question her sister's actions. Instead she asked, "You said you had something planned?"
Anna snapped out of her stupor and hoped that her sister didn't suspect anything. She replied, "Yeah, I did." She focused her eyes to Elsa and told her what she had planned.
"I planned a baking day. We were going to make chocolate pies," she said.
"Are we still going to do it now?" Elsa asked, catching the way her sister was talking in the past-tense, as if she had something else planned.
"What? No. What gave you that idea?" Anna remarked, her voice going an unusual octave higher.
Elsa sent her a smirk, "The fact that I can tell that you're lying. Honestly, Anna you're a bad liar."
That's what you think. The words Anna thought best left unspoken. Though she managed to find some humor that she had been able to sneak out of the castle since she was 11, never got caught, and nobody but a select number of allies knew of her actions.
"If you say so," Anna shrugged, "C'mon, I bet you're hungry. The sooner we make that pie, the faster we can eat it."
Elsa laughed as she strolled past Anna and out of the door to make her way towards the kitchen. Anna followed after her, but decided it was an opportune time to spy on the Prime Minister. The faster she could confirm Kylos's suspicions, the faster she could get to finding evidence against him. Looking around the hallway to see if anybody was in sight, Anna leapt behind the heavy window curtains, quick enough that as soon as she hid behind them, the Prime Minister walked away with his two subjects.
"First day of employment, I assume you have questions, Birgir." The Prime Minister asked to one of his subjects.
"What I don't understand, boss, is why you let the Queen live during your reign," the minion, Birgir, inquired as soon as they stepped out of the room, "Surely with your power, you could have just killed her." He handed Quartremaine a piece of paper.
"No use," Reno replied, as he looked over the contents of the paper, "She stayed in the castle, never long enough for me to enact. And It would look too suspicious if I did and I needed to get the people to trust me. Additionally, there was always the other heir."
"So what now?" the second one asked.
"We wait," Reno stated, folding the paper back up, "until then, tell the rest of the men to meet at the Bank instead of my mansion. I will give them further instructions of what is to happen next. There is no use for them to come to me now that I have handed the power back to the Queen." Before he stepped off, he added, "And make sure you tell them to dispose of Prisoner 113, he knows too much." After the statement, the Prime Minister and one of the guards departed one way, as the other departed another way.
Behind the curtain, Anna's mouth was opened in shock. Sure she had had doubts about the subject, but the conversation had more than just crushed the doubts. This man just admitted to conspiring to kill the Queen and no doubt were the same man who ordered the kill on Kylos.
Anna clenched her jaw. She was going to have to fight to protect her sister once more.
Heh, playing clichés here. Sorry for it being such a long chapter, I never planned it to becoming a 5,000 word chapter. Since it was one of the first of the Post-Frozen chapters, I thought that it needed to be a bit special. I promise the other chapters won't be as long as this one. Originally, I had written it longer, but I rewrote it so I got the vital stuff down. Most of this was just conversation anyway.
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