Disclaimer: all the characters, locations and items in this work are trademarked by Disney, Sega and Ubisoft, unless noted otherwise. All original characters, if not related to existing characters, are owned by the author.
Chapter 5 - (500) Days of Winter, Part 1
Two weeks after the shipwreck
"Very good, my young apprentice, you are mastering the bow and arrow much faster than all the apprentices who came before you", Adéwalé praised, after Jason's arrow embedded itself in the wood, just inches from the center of the target.
"Master, you only had three apprentices", said the blue-haired young man, raising an eyebrow. He still couldn't believe how fortunate he had been for Adéwalé to have been chosen to be his master and trainer in the Hunters' Guild.
"Precisely', confirmed the ex-slave, with a wry smile. Swallowing, Jason pulled another arrow from his quiver, before launching it at the next target; this was the first skill they were working on. According to his Master, this "lighter" part of the training would last for six months; only then, and only if the Guild leaders judged that the exile had really learned all that had been taught, would he receive permission to begin to accompany Adéwalé on hunting expeditions.
Even then, he would only go as an observer for four months, without permission to carry arms for the shadowing period. Then, he would begin to receive his weapons little by little, one every month, as he adjusted to the work pace of the hunters.
It was a routine of sheer patience, but Jason knew that, just as in hunting, it was also necessary to be patient in life to achieve his goals.
However, there was still one subject he needed to clarify with his master: his skill. After all, if he and Adéwalé were to have an apprentice-master relationship, Jason felt it was absolutely necessary to talk about this little detail.
But that was not something he wanted the whole Guild to know, at least, not yet.
"Master?" The young man called, causing Adéwalé to look away from the target at him.
"What happened, Jason?"
"There's something I need to tell you, as a matter of confidence."
Two months after the shipwreck
"Your Highness?" A female voice called, accompanied by knocks on the door.
Elsa was already awake, looking through her bedroom window into the snow-covered town. "Gerda?"
"I have come to tell you that breakfast is ready, and that there is a council meeting still scheduled for this morning before the winter solstice celebrations, Your Highness."
"Okay, I'll just get ready and go", said the princess. The sound of footsteps moving away from the bedroom door confirmed that the Chief Maid had heard the queen and had probably left for the castle's dining hall. Quickly, Elsa moved away from the window and, channelling her power with all of her concentration, she turned the sweater into a green ice dress, with Arendelle's coat of arms embroidered on the upper left side of her dress.
Usually, she wore her ice blue dresses, but the green color was a tribute to her sister - her parents said green was her favorite color, and Elsa made a point of wearing that color on special occasions.
Anna.
Elsa found it difficult to contain a sob - even after thirteen years, she still suffered as she remembered that tragic night, especially since, for a while, she wondered if she had been responsible in any way for her sister's death, even with the Royal Doctor's autopsy indicating that she had suffered a brain hemorrhage due to the fall of one of the piles of snow that had been erected during what should have been an innocent play between the two sisters.
However, her parents insisted that everything had been a tragic accident that could not be avoided. Even if that were true, the princess could not stop her heart from bleeding a little more at every memory of her sister.
Elsa, you know there's nothing that can be done, said a little voice inside her mind. The best you can do is live, and honor Anna's memory.
But if that is true, answered another voice, in a more somber tone, why have you not been able to get rid of guilt? Is it because… you have your share of responsibility in her death?, asked the voice, causing a layer of frost to begin to spread through the room.
Stop this! Elsa, you know that's not true, Anna slipped from one of the piles of snow and hit her head on the ground! That was an accident, there was nothing to be done!
Are you sure?
"I AM!", shouted the princess, beginning to pace around the room - which was beginning to look like an iceberg. "She's dead, and it was an accident, so shut up! Shut up! Shut the fuck up, for the love of all the gods!"
The voices vanished from her head, and the ice scattered around the room began to recede. But not the terror the second voice had brought to the surface.
New knocks on the door were heard. "Your Highness, is everything alright?", asked a new voice, probably belonging to one of the royal guards posted to carry out the security of the future monarch. "We heard shouts, and we came to see if everything is alright."
"Yes, I'm fine", Elsa lied without hesitation. It was a little more than two-and-a-half years before she would take the throne, and being seen as a madwoman would not help her.
"Are you sure?", asked the guard, in a worried tone.
"Absolutely", replied the princess, quickly opening the bedroom door. When she saw the guard with whom she had spoken, Elsa decided to take on a more professional tone. "I'm going to breakfast, so make sure I'm protected."
"Your Highness, that is my duty."
"Yes, and I congratulate you on that, but on special days, like solstice ceremonies, your duty is twice as important, so… well, you know what to do, Corporal."
"Certainly, Your Highness."
Elsa nodded before turning and walking towards the dining room. However, she was not sure if she would have an appetite this morning.
Not when she could still hear the warring voices in her head.
Five months after the shipwreck
"Where is she?", shouted one of the soldiers as he tried to contain the bleeding from his left arm as he ran through the deserted streets of the Royal City at dawn. "I'm going to gut that damn girl as soon as I give her a good lesson!"
"I know as much of her whereabouts as you do!", replied another soldier, sword in hand. "But, you'll have to restrain yourself. The princess and the regent want her alive!"
"May they be damned!", roared the first soldier. "That wretch almost ripped off my arm, and I want to end this bitch at once!", he added, moving on without realizing that the second soldier had stopped running.
With a mournful expression, the second soldier brought his hand to his waist. "Too bad I'll have to explain this shit, this isn't my best quality", he murmured, before pulling a throwing knife and tossing it at his companion. The first soldier fell to the ground seconds after the weapon penetrated his back, close to his heart. "But, if you take into account that the bitch must also have throwing knives, I just need to put the blame on her…"
From the top of a roof, watching the soldier begin to forge a crime scene to escape any suspicion, was Aeris.
Clad in her Daughter of Mylai's robes and with her head covered by its hood, she tried to catch her breath, knowing that her pursuers would never have imagined that she was anywhere near them.
Or, in this case, pursuer.
Half an hour earlier, Aeris had killed her eleventh target, a private at the time of the massacre - one who had been one of the most vicious men in the torturing of the Mylai residents.
Now he was a sergeant, and he lived in a barracks in Royal City's downtown - which had made his assassination a hundred times more difficult. Most of the previous targets had required her to invade their homes at night or, in some cases, take care of the subject discreetly in the middle of the street (nothing that a gift offered by her mentor, well affixed to her right wrist, couldn't help).
However, raiding a barracks was another story, so she had spent a week preparing a uniform to infiltrate the place - while setting up a hideout on one of the nearby roofs to guard her Daughter of Mylai's clothes.
Killing the bastard had been easy - just stealing the key of the male dormitory from one of the guards, entering the room and repeating the same ritual as on the other occasions, with a few changes. For example, the fact that there were at least thirty soldiers inside the dormitory forced her to gag him before stabbing him in the heart, and waiting for him to die before fleeing.
However, luck was not always on Aeris's side. As soon as she left the dormitory, she ran into two other soldiers, who had screamed in fury at the sight of bloodstains on her uniform; she quickly drew her sword and wounded one of her opponents in the arm, then ran full speed out the barracks before the military could realize what was happening.
However, this didn't prevent the soldiers she had met on the way out of the barracks from pursuing her. Before they reached her, however, Aeris had taken advantage of the chute from a residence, and taking off the hood that she had hidden under the helmet to use as support, used the chute to climb onto the roof, leaving the sight of the two soldiers.
Aeris restrained a curse when she realized that, coupled with the unwelcome attention her previous actions had attracted, this unexpected confrontation would put Arendelle's Armed Forces on full alert for the next few weeks.
The Princess and Lord Regent had already been warned by the military leaders about the wave of assassinations of active and reserve soldiers and officers in the last nine months, motivated by the Mylai incident - at least, that was what the brotherhood's spies had discovered.
The future queen's silence about the massacre had cemented Aeris' belief that, just as had happened with the late King Agdar, Princess Elsa also supported the men and women responsible for the bloodbath.
This only strengthened her determination to end the life of the monarch personally.
But, there were still many targets before that day arrived, and she would have to plan each of her next actions much more cautiously than usual. She had no doubt that her mentor would ask her to be accompanied in some cases, for her own safety. As much as she enjoyed working alone on these types of missions, she was willing to swallow her pride if it was a direct order from her master.
She could not deny anything to the man who had saved her life.
"Well, well, well, and I thought I was the only one who liked to run on the roofs at this time", commented a voice, making Aeris freeze with dread. Noticing her sudden fear, the voice chuckled before continuing. "Calm down, piccola, I'm not a guard. In fact, they do not like me very much, so…"
Trying to relax - and failing miserably at it, Aeris turned around slowly. She saw a man in his forties with a yellow shirt, brown trousers and a hood of the same color, his violet eyes were analyzing her intensely. "Wh-who are you?', asked the female assassin, hating herself for being so nervous.
"They call me many things. Murderer. Tagliagole. Thief. But you… you may call me La Volpe."
Sometimes, Aeris forgot how the expatriate community in Arendelle was much larger than she remembered.
Seven months after the shipwreck
"Papa, are you sure I shouldn't go with you to the Guild?", asked Kristoff as his father tidied his bag over the horse's saddle. With a smile, Jonas turned to his son.
"Of course, Kristoff, this trip is just to renew the contract with the hunters. And we also have to take an order of ice to the Royal City, since Captain Rose will be arriving in fifteen days. So, my son, I need you to stay here while I go to the Royal City."
Kristoff nodded before taking the sled to Sven; he wasn't used to harvesting ice alone, but it was important that his father get this contract, so they would have food guaranteed for the next few months.
"Then, I'm going to go visit our friends before going to work, Papa."
"Alright, my son, and tell Bulda and Cliff I said hello. Also send my apologies, but this work is essential.", replied Jonas, as he mounted his horse. "It's a six-day trip to the Royal City, so I should be back in twelve days, Kris. Good luck till then, and may the gods be with you!", said the ice harvester, before spurring his horse, down the snow-covered trail.
Kristoff watched his father ride away, disappearing into the horizon; only then, did he notice that a hot breath that was warming his neck.
He hadn't realized that Sven, sensing the mix of emotions in his friend, had come to him in an attempt to catch his eye and cheer him on, even though he knew the chances of it happening were very small. Since Jonas was his only living blood relative, Kristoff couldn't handle loneliness very well.
Even though his best friend was still there, keeping him company, Kristoff had already been through too much trauma to be able to properly deal with his father's travels - even if they were spaced out and often very brief.
Taking a deep breath, Kristoff went to grab a leather sack from the sled, and took out two carrots, which made Sven's eyes widen at once - the vegetable was their favorite food, which made Jonas make an agreement a few years ago with a farmer: in exchange for ice to preserve the meat of slaughtered cattle, a part of the carrot harvest would go to the Bjorgmans.
Grinning at the reindeer's eager expression, Kristoff threw a carrot into the air - which Sven quickly grabbed. Laughing as he watched his friend greedily chew on the carrot, the ice harvester bit his own carrot, trying to ward off the bad feelings that assaulted him when his father was away.
And the memories.
The day they saw a pillar of smoke from miles away, while they hewed a frozen lake...
The moment of their return to Mylai, having had left a village full of life they were faced with a bunch of burning ruins and scattered bodies...
The moment they had found the corpses of his mother and youngest sister, incinerated and stabbed, inert in a pool of dry, straggly blood...
The day they had buried the bodies of his mother and sister, beginning their nomadic lives…
"No, no, I can't... they wouldn't want this", Kristoff murmured, before biting the last piece of the carrot and drawing a worried look from Sven. Seeing his friend's expression, Kristoff swallowed the last piece and mounted the sled. "Come on, Sven, let's go to the valley... maybe Grand Pabbie have some advice for this."
Nodding his head, Sven began to run down the snowy road, opposite the direction Jonas had gone. Their destination was the Valley of Living Rocks where their friends lived - the "love experts".
Neither of them spoke during the one-hour trip through the snow-covered forest, which, unlike southern Arendelle, where the seasons were more defined, spent almost 90% of the year covered in ice and snow, thanks to the mountainous geography of the place, and the cold winds coming from the North Pole. Kristoff was too lost in his thoughts to make any sounds, and Sven was focused on the path, determined to reach the Valley as quickly as possible.
Kristoff was wrenched from his thoughts as he felt Sven slow down at the same time as the surrounding climate began to shift - looking back, it was still possible to see the snow-covered trees and ground, while all that the ice harvester could see ahead was a forest in full bloom, with trees full of leaves and the ground covered with grass and wildflowers.
If it was someone else, chances would be that he or she would be frightened by the sudden change of season; but Kristoff, Sven, and Jonas knew that it had to do with magic.
Upon reaching the clearing, Kristoff pulled on the reins and Sven stopped running. Dismounting from the sled, the blonde man saw dozens and dozens of stones scattered across the valley - or at least they looked like stones.
"Guys, I'm here!", cried Kristoff, smiling as the stones began to roll; in a short time, he was surrounded by countless small and extremely happy gray creatures, surrounding him as if he were a member of the family.
And, in fact, he was a member of this family, as were his father and Sven.
Ten months after the shipwreck
"Milady? The correspondence has just arrived", announced a young woman in her early twenties, with black hair tied in a braid. She was holding a stack of letters in her tanned hands.
"Thank you, Francesca, you can put them on the table", said a young redheaded girl, in a simple white dress. She was sitting at a desk, scanning an official document with the aid of reading glasses.
Even as she read the document, she noticed Francesca putting the letters on a corner of the desk. However, when she saw that the other woman made no move to leave, she lifted her blue eyes, taking off her reading glasses. "What happened?"
Swallowing, Francesca held up a particular letter from the pile. "This letter, Lady Elise... it would be a common letter, milady, if it were not for the seal. We thought they were all in the hands of the Southern Isles, but it seems that is not the case…", murmured the woman, extending the letter to Elise.
The redhead's eyes widened as she recognized her uncle's family seal - the latest news she had had from them was that they had all been arrested when Westside Island had been conquered by the coalition between the Southern Isles and Weselton.
However, this letter was proof that, at least, one of them had escaped.
"Thank you, Francesca, thank you very much indeed. You may leave", commanded Elise, as she broke the seal on the letter. With a slight bow to her boss, Francesca turned and left the office as quietly as possible, trying not to bother her sovereign.
By the age of nineteen, Duchess Elise the Third, or simply Elise of Soleanna, had dealt with solitude more than she would have liked to admit.
Her mother had died when she was still very young, and the young woman had been raised by her father until a few years ago, when he too died, victim of an explosion that had partially destroyed the Kingdom Valley, where the old Royal Palace of Soleanna was located.
Elise herself had miraculously survived the tragedy, though no one knew how - the last thing she remembered was trying to reach out to her father, who was meeting with several scientists, in front of a strange machine that whistled endlessly and emitted lights which vibrated in a threatening way; then the machine had exploded and she had fainted, even with her father embracing her to protect her from the explosion.
Then, she remembered waking up at the Kingdom Valley's entrance, with her lucky charm at her feet, and the old palace in flames.
The damage had been so severe that the Kingdom Valley was declared a danger zone, and closed off from any access other than authorized personnel. The duchess was on this list of permits, but she only went to the old palace once a year to pay homage to her father and mother.
As she unfolded the parchment and put on her reading glasses again, Elise smiled as she recognized the code used in the correspondence. She had learned it from her father, and had taught her cousins when they had come to visit her, when they were still children.
After a few minutes of decoding the document, she began to read.
Dear Elise,
I got it. I'm no longer a prisoner of Weselton, I fled the doctor's lab some time ago. Forgive me for not contacting you before, but I had to make sure that this letter could not be deciphered if it was intercepted.
I cannot say, at least for now, where I am - the old Anthony is still after me. Yes, Elise, I almost didn't believe it when I was taken to the lab Weselton built on Westside Island for him to do the experiments that your father - my uncle - had prevented him from doing during his reign.
And from what I could discern during the year I spent there, the duke spared neither money nor people to help him do his dirty work.
And the worst thing was finding out that Anthony acquired powers, although I don't know how - however, my body had to endure so many shocks during my imprisonment, that it is a miracle I didn't die.
Maybe I can credit it to my abilities, who knows?
As for my survival, you can rest easy: I'm working, and I intend to stay in my current profession until our egghead friend is arrested or says goodbye to this planet; then I will be able to accept the invitation you had made in case anything happened to my family.
Not to mention that I still have great memories of my last visit to the palace...
With love,
Mr. J
Elise blushed heavily as she read the last line written by her cousin; in fact, she would never forget that week he and her sister had spent in the royal palace - and that they had had several moments which would have made her father tear his hair out in anger if he were still alive.
That had been a few weeks before the invasion - and she had been barred from invoking the treaty of cooperation between Soleanna and Westside, since the Southern Isles had resolved to use her uncles and her female cousin as a bargaining chip, threatening to kill them if the archipelago send military aid to the battered nation.
Her male cousin, in turn, had disappeared after the invasion, which had broken Elise's heart - she knew of his abilities, and feared that the coalition would use him as a guinea pig, which had actually been confirmed by him in the letter.
But, he had escaped, and he was now free. Of course, she didn't know where he was, nor did she know if she would see him again for a long time, but just the fact that he had escaped captivity was enough to make her want to shed tears of joy.
But, she stopped, remembering the words of her father, the late Duke of Soleanna. Be a good girl, Elise. Remember, be brave. Don't cry, no matter what happens.
Instinctively, she reached for the necklace she wore, where a blue stone that emitted a faint glow rested.
A Chaos Emerald.
Twelve months after the shipwreck
"I can't believe it's been a year, Elsa", murmured a short-haired brunette girl in a black dress, who held two small bouquets of yellow cornflowers in her hands. "By the gods, it seems like just yesterday, we were talking on your eighteenth birthday!"
"I know Punzie", murmured another girl, also dressed in black and with her red hair clumsily tied up in a bun; she held two bouquets with blue thistles. "Papa always said that Agdar and Idunn were the type of monarchs whom Mama wanted him to imitate, but... thankfully that was not the case. Even so, I have some memories with them, basically of social events where the three of us …"
"I know, Mer", muttered Elsa, who was holding two white crocus bouquets. "Papa and Mama were always complaining in public when we acted mischievously, but behind closed doors... they always had fun, especially when some grumpier nobleman was our target."
With this, the three girls advanced towards the immense rune stones that had been erected in honor of Agdar and Idunn - since no proper ceremony had been carried out, because their bodies were at the bottom of the ocean, the monuments had been erected on the top of a hill in the vicinity of the Royal City, with inscriptions that detailed the lives and the deeds of the deceased monarchs.
"Father, Mother, a year later, and the pain is still present", the princess murmured as she and the other two girls placed their bouquets at the foot of the rune stones. "I wonder if it'll ever disappear or at least lessen until it's bearable... I just hope that you've found Anna on the other side." Elsa struggled to contain a sob as she spoke her sister's name in a loud voice. "I've never... I've never felt so alone as when I learned what had happened to you... I thought I'd had the worst time of my life when I was five years old, but knowing that you also died made me realize that while you were by my side to comfort me when Anna died, I have no one else to be with me now…", she could not complete the sentence, being interrupted by a stronger sob.
Seeing that Elsa couldn't keep herself from sobbing, the brunette and the redhead came and held onto her before her knees gave way. The two girls looked at each other: if it weren't for the current situation, it would be unthinkable to see the ever so calm and composed Elsa - the Ice Queen not only for her powers but also for containing her feelings in public eyes - in such a deplorable state.
"Calm down, Els... Remember, we're here with you", murmured the brown-haired girl.
"Even if we can't be here every day, you know you can count on us for whatever comes along", said the redheaded girl, stroking the princess' shoulder.
"Thank you, Rapunzel, Merida... you don't know how much this means to me", muttered Elsa, her voice choked. "It's still two years before the coronation, and I have to suffer at least once a week when one of the counselors says I need to make my parents proud when I'm actually queen. That alone is enough to hurt me…"
"Because that's their goal", Merida replied, causing Elsa and Rapunzel to face her. "Of course they aren't going to easily accept the fact that you manipulated them not only in naming Kai as your Lord Regent, but also other occasions when you were able to impose your opinion over theirs."
"I agree", murmured Rapunzel. "Els, they know that this is still a painful affair for you, so they'll always bring this up to hurt you. It's the way they found to challenge you without being at risk of retaliation", added the Princess of Corona.
"I already know that, girls, but that doesn't change the fact that this subject is still too painful for me... does it stop hurting one day?", asked the princess, regaining control over her own legs.
Merida and Rapunzel didn't respond, simply because there was no good answer to that question.
"Come on", murmured the princess of DunBroch. "Gerda and Kai are waiting for us in the carriage to take us back to the castle."
Elsa nodded subconsciously as she looked at the bouquets deposited at the foot of the stones that marked the tombs of her parents - and for a simple tomb in the space between the monuments, where, below the dates of birth and death, the following words were inscribed:
Princess Anna of Arendelle
Beloved daughter and sister
"If there is any comfort in the death of someone we love, it is to know that the person is going to a place where there is no sadness, cruelty and pain."
This was Elsa's greatest consolation: to know that her sister was in a better place than this world, where the rule was to the the worst possible people survive.
Fifteen months after the shipwreck
"Very good, you're getting better and better, Aeris!", praised the 50-year-old instructor after the assassin blocked a blow with the wooden sword.
"Thank you, Master Baptiste, but I feel like I still have much to improve", she replied, turning her left foot before setting herself on guard.
"If I didn't know there is always room for improvement, I would say that's silly", said Baptiste, a black-skinned man with tight brown eyes - rumor had it that he had the ability to find hidden enemies through the walls of hiding places, which would explain the shape of his pupils, which resembled those of a snake. "But, I must say, at your age, I would have lost badly in a fight against you", continued the swordmaster, before striking another blow.
Aeris couldn't keep her cheeks from flushing with the praise - considering that Baptiste was one of her Mentor's most trusted men, a phrase like that coming from him was enough to unnerve anyone.
But luckily, not even a compliment could stop her from focusing on her training - and indeed, when she not only avoided Baptiste's attack but also turned her training sword over his to disarm him and strike his knees, knocking him to the ground when he least expected it, she could not help but smile - it was another victory for her resume.
"Wow", the instructor murmured, before accepting the outstretched hand of Aeris to rise from the clay floor. "May I be honest, Aeris?"
"Of course, Master."
"If you aren't elevated to the Brotherhood Council in the next five years, then I can say with 100% certainty that the Mentor is becoming senile", the man concluded as he attempted to remove the dirt from his robes.
Aeris let out a good-humored laugh at Baptiste's joke; she knew that the Mentor was far from being as senile as the old beggar who lived near her old house in Mylai, but the idea, though somewhat disrespectful to the man who had saved her life, was funny if she thought about it.
"Master, you jest", the girl replied, amused, before taking on a more serious expression. "Also, you know that for a new counselor to be elevated, it is necessary for a current member to die or be arrested, and I don't want that to happen to the Brotherhood."
"Okay, you're right, I'll take back what I said. But, I still think you'll get to the Council in no time, my girl. You're not only very talented with the sword, but also extremely intelligent", praised the swordsman, leaving Aeris even more flushed, if that was even possible. "You just need to be less clumsy outside of missions", he joked.
"Oh, please, Master, is it not possible for you to keep reminding me of the closet with all the Brotherhood's china which I overturned while trying to find the kitchen! All the brothers and sisters are already having fun at my expense because of it!", whined the assassin, making a little pout, causing Baptiste to suppress a laugh.
"The china locket, the mentor's favorite vessel, our blacksmith who was knocked out by your hood, no one knows how, the bed you broke when you threw yourself on it after a mission... the list is huge my girl, and I could be quoting examples for hours on end. "
Aeris only strengthened her pout, so the swordmaster could no longer hold back the laughter; after laughing until he ran out of breath, he said goodbye to her, going to another section of the farm, where he would train a group of novices.
The girl, in turn, would only have one more training lesson in two hours, so she had plenty of time to kill before the next activity.
Walking at a leisurely pace, with no destination in mind, she let her memories wander to a few days earlier, when, returning from an escort mission at the Royal City harbor from the Thieves' Guild - a partnership between the Guild and the Sons of Mylai began after the meeting of the assassin with the Guild's leader, La Volpe, on the roofs of the capital of Arendelle -, she saw, for the first time in years, her father and brother, in the distance.
She was not surprised to see that her father had aged quite a lot since the last time they had met, but she was shocked to see that her brother had turned out to be, practically a muscular bodybuilder.
The two were delivering some ice packs to a shop near the harbor, while Aeris was escorting a member of the Guild to one of the anchored ships, where a cargo of Chu-Nan's smuggled weapons waited to be disembarked.
She was sure that had she not been busy with her work, she would have gone out of her way to hug her father and her brother, even after more than six years away from them.
But, at the same time that the happy feeling had spread after seeing that they were alive and well, a twinge of self-contempt was staining the joy she had felt.
She was sure that if her father and brother knew what she had become - and worse, what she had done from the age of eight to fourteen! - they would disinherit her.
For, said a little voice in her brain, who in his right mind would want to be from the same family as a girl who has killed more than twenty people, wounded so many people, and committed the most varied possible crimes, among them aggression, threat, extortion, loan sharking, fencing, etc.?
The Sons of Mylai, which had emerged as a political organization, had expanded their range of actions since the beginning of their partnership with the Thieves' Guild, becoming one of the continent's largest criminal organizations in just ten months.
Aeris had doubts as to whether this was the right course for the Brotherhood to follow, but considering that she owed her life to her Mentor, and that, since the age of eight, her entire life had been linked to her brothers and sisters, she couldn't imagine what she would do if, one day, she decided to leave the group.
Moreover, the Sons of Mylai only released their members from the oath they had made if they had a good argument, to be accepted by the Council - and, furthermore, even if a person were allowed to leave the Brotherhood, he or she had a moral and professional obligation to help the group whenever possible.
One day, if I can talk to Papa and Kris, will they accept me? Will they ask me to leave the Brotherhood? And, if I accept their request, would the Council accept it?
She wasn't sure she would want to find out the answers.
Eighteen months after the shipwreck
"Help, somebody help me!", Kristoff shouted, holding onto his ax harder as he tried to keep a wolf pack away from his father who was injured and unconscious on the sled, as Sven tried to keep him warm, even in the midnight chill.
Trying not to panic from the growls, which approached in a threatening way towards the partially damaged sled, Kristoff cursed himself for the millionth time that night. Since half of the trouble that had brought him, Jonas, and Sven into this situation could easily have been avoided.
Starting with the decision to harvest ice for business and fish on the frozen lake near the North Mountain.
The idea had been presented to father and son by a colleague, who said he knew a lake in the far north of the country near Arendelle's main summit, where he had found, not only the best ice he had ever seen, but also the best fish.
Although the place was quite remote, the possibility of obtaining excellent ice and fish sounded very tempting, which made the Bjorgmans decide to make a trip to the North Mountain.
They had spent the day sawing out blocks of ice in the lake and depositing them on the sled. They then caught some fish at night to roast over a fire before they slept; they did not want to have to make the trip back to the Valley of the Living Rock in the middle of the night, since the probability of predators lurking in the forest was great.
Except that the predators had decided to leave the forest that night.
Jonas and Kristoff were asleep when the howls of the wolves woke them. They had quickly picked up their belongings and tossed them onto the sled, before getting in the vehicle and hitching up Sven, who had also woken up with the howls. They then fled away at full speed, being pursued by the wolves.
The problem was that the snow that had fallen during the day had covered the whole floor - and hidden some natural traps.
During the escape, the sled struck a sharp stone, flipping and throwing its two occupants away. Kristoff was fortunate enough not to hit anything other than snow, but Jonas had injured his arm when he hit some rocks hidden in the ice as he rolled on the ground.
Sven, who had stopped running when he felt the sled rise from the ground, ran to protect his best friend's father while Kristoff picked up an ax that had been thrown out of the vehicle before he positioned himself in front of the wolves, in a threatening way.
However, the blonde ice harvester knew that he couldn't keep predators away for long. The blood draining from Jonas' wound was leaving the wolves drawn by his prey.
"Help! Please, somebody!", Kristoff shouted, his voice hoarse from shouting for help.
Surprisingly, a new voice answered in a hurried tone. "Here, what happened?"
Feeling his hopes renewed, the ice harvester shrieked again in the direction from which the voice had come. "My father is wounded, and a pack of wolves is trying to attack him! I won't be able to hold them off for long!"
"I'll be right over!", answered the voice. In the next second, Kristoff couldn't believe what he was seeing.
A blue blur came out from near a huge pine tree and ran toward the pack, striking one of the wolves and throwing it against a tree with overwhelming force. Then, the blur jumped into the air before shooting itself like an arrow against two other animals, breaking their bones.
After landing on the ground, the blur revealed itself as a person, dressed as a hunter, with a dagger in his right hand and a sword at his waist, and a crossbow with a quiver of arrows behind him. Even with the hood, it was possible to see strands of royal-blue hair bathed in moonlight.
"Get your father and run, I'll take care of the rest of the pack!", shouted the hunter, before jumping and shooting himself into the air against another wolf, leaving a blue blur wherever he passed.
Kristoff didn't think twice; running to his father, he lifted and lay him on Sven's back, before mounting the reindeer. "Come on, Sven, now!"
"I'll catch up with you!", exclaimed the blue-haired man as he stabbed the dagger into the neck of a wolf trying to bite his arm.
Kristoff thanked the man internally, whoever he might be, though he didn't dare to look back. The most important thing, at the moment, was taking his father away from danger. Other things, such as the sled, ice-harvesting materials and clothing could be replaced or repaired.
Not a life.
Forty minutes later, Kristoff and Sven were in a glade, with Jonas lying on the snow and wrapped in his son's coats. His wounds were bound with what was left of the older Bjorgman's shirt. He was currently lying in front of a newly lit fire with some of branches the young man had collected shortly after arriving just five minutes ago.
"I only hope that he's managed to get rid of the wolves, Sven. That, and I want to thank him very much for saving my father's life", muttered the blonde, warming his hands by the flames.
"I hope so too, Kristoff. By the way, how did he do that? I mean, I've never seen anyone as fast as him", "replied" the reindeer, with his "voice" provided by Kristoff.
"I don't know, but I know that if he hadn't appeared, we wouldn't be alive any more", concluded the young man, causing Sven to utter a nervous bleat.
"By the clothes, you can tell he's a hunter. Is he from the Guild, or does he work independently?", asked Sven.
"I do not know, maybe I'll ask Olaf or Marshall when I meet them again."
"Or, you can ask now", replied the hunter, making Kristoff jump. "Sorry, I just got here", the man murmured, in a slightly guilty tone.
"No problem", said Kristoff, rising from the floor and holding out his hand to the man. "I wanted to say… thank you very much. If it wasn't for you, we would have turned into wolf food, starting with my father."
"You're welcome, my friend, I couldn't just let that happen", the hunter replied, squeezing Kristoff's hand as a smile spread across his scarred face. "I have some rabbit meat in my bag. Are you hungry?"
Kristoff's stomach answered him with a loud audible noise, causing the hunter to burst into laughter. "My name is Jason Ryan Smith, at your service."
"Kristoff Miles Bjorgman."
Author's note: This is the first part of "The 500 Days of Winter"... some new faces have appeared in this chapter. The main objective of "The 500 Days of Winter" is to show what happened during the three years between the sinking of the HMAS Vålerenga and the coronation.
It's interesting to know everything that can happen in almost 36 months, right? In the next chapter, we will learn more about these events which occurr during Kai's regency.
Thanks to walard and Striga for their good work - I'd say that part of this fic is theirs. And to my brothers AceVermin143 and SeniorCrescent for supporting me.
Well, as you know, I love receiving reviews (as every writer does). So, if you would be so kind, please leave a review, it's what fuels me to continue with this story - knowing that you are reading and sending feedback about it. Thanks to the guests for their reviews!
See you next chapter!