Chapter Three: The Morning After

Despite the blissful, hormone-induced sleep that followed, Elsa did not rest well. She woke up a few hours later to find only the fabric of her dress between her side and the unforgiving planks of a wooden table, and nothing at all between her skin and the warm air of the forge. Elsa's head was still filled with sensual memories as she lifted it from the meaty cushion it lay upon, the forearm of. . . what was his name?

Oh.

Oh no.

She was on her feet in a moment. The sudden rush of conflicting emotions caused a sheen of ice to blast out in a radius around the Queen as her bare soles touched the packed earth floor, and the sudden change of color was enough to shake her back to reality. She couldn't let her powers run away with her like they had at her Coronation. The room's dull orange, a product of the ever-glowing coals of the forge fire, turned to midnight blue in a blink. Everything was glazed in ice.

And then just like that it was okay. The man (Raugval?) turned over in his sleep in response to the chill, and Elsa realized other than him she was comfortably alone. Her powers settled.

When the blacksmith's apprentice had shifted in his sleep, her dress was fully revealed lying empty on the table. She carefully took it and donned it again. Elsa wondered what her hair looked like, but there wasn't time for that. She only delayed long enough to jot down two notes on some parchment she found lying around the workshop. There was only one relatively unblemished piece, and she saved that for the second. The first she crammed into the blank space at the bottom of an inventory list of some sort:

Ser,
While I don't regret what happened this past night in
it's own right, it would put me in a difficult situation
if it were to become known. It will not become known.
If the following note is not enough to convince you
of keeping your silence, then I beg you to remember
that disobeying an order from the crown is Treason.
Burn this note.

Elsa didn't sign it, but her final touch was instead to underline It will not become known again. Then she moved on to the cleaner parchment:

To Ser Teon of House Whorl,
Castle Quartermaster and Master of Coin,

I decree that the suits of armor decorating the castle be
made open and available to the armorers of Arendelle
and their apprentices for study. Furthermore, each
apprentice shall pick one suit to have and use as
they see fit, up to and including working, reworking,
and selling the metal.

The exceptions to this are the armors of historical significance.
The armor of my father, King Agdar, the armor of First Queen
Johanna, and all the Queens and Kings may be studied,
but shall not be given away.

This she marked with her usual regal signature. The Snow Queen turned to look at the sleeping man again. He was her subject, with a right to her concern and her influence as much as all the citizens of Arendelle. But at the same time he was so much more than that now. He was a liability if anyone ever discovered what had transpired within this forge. He was a threat if he got it into his head to try and use that leverage for his own benefit. He was. . . her lover, if only for a night.

He was a source of distress. A light snowfall in the room reminded her why that was a problem.

"Goodbye. . . Ragnvaldr."

The town was quiet. The trip was nerve-wracking, and Elsa would have given her title for a good hooded cloak, but she didn't meet a soul on her way to the castle.

Then she got to the bridge. She could simply walk through and hope the guards didn't notice anything amiss about her. Elsa was confident in her ability to put them at ease if need be. Or she could make another break over the wall. The sky was just starting to brighten to the East.

After a moment of thought, she decided that without a pattern to draw conclusions from, the knowledge of her being out and about at night was the lesser of two evils. If she were to be seen using her powers to try and slip past her own security it would cause much more alarm. A pang of regret for her actions the night before and the risks she had taken disturbed her, but she reminded herself that everything could still turn out for the best as long as she played this situation correctly. She just needed to be clearheaded about it.

She flicked her hand and a flat sheet of ice came into existence between her fingers, almost the way the ladies' decorative fans did at balls and parties. It formed a hexagonal fractal pattern, and she turned its sheer face to hers to make sure nothing was noticeably out of place with her appearance. With deft strokes her hair lost most of its tangles and she rearranged her dress to be less conspicuously disheveled.

Elsa strode across the bridge to her castle. The four guards on the wall stirred and one of them disappeared. When she was ten meters from the gate she stopped, but no one challenged her. How was this usually done?

A noise caught her attention: A small door recessed into the wall opened and the flickering glow of torchlight gave her a brief warning before the second guard emerged from the sally port.

"Who goes there?" he called out.

Elsa had to shield her eyes, undignified as it was, because of the contrast between the darkness of the night and the guard's torch.

"It is I, Queen Elsa," she said with as much strength as she could muster.

"My- my Queen!" He almost dropped his torch in his rush to stand at attention. "Are you alright, Your Majesty?"

"I'm fine, be at ease. I just need to get into the castle. I. . . was taking a walk, and. . ." she trailed off when she realized she didn't have to mention why she was doing what she was doing to a guard, and bringing it up at all was a bad idea.

"Of course Your Majesty. I am at your service." He closed and locked the sally port door behind her, then turned and, unsure of himself, asked, "Would you like an escort through the grounds, Your Majesty?"

"No, thank you. You may return to your post." He turned to do so immediately, but she stopped him. "But first, Ser, what is your name?"

"Gerrik, Your Majesty. And I'm not a knight."

"Have you heard of the word 'sonder', Gerrik?"

He looked guilty. "No, Your Majesty. A guard doesn't often need for reading in his, uh, post."

"No, it's quite alright Ser, few people know it at all. I only just discovered it a few days ago while I was reading and had to find a dictionary myself. I bring it up because it's meaning came to mind. It is the feeling that each person we meet has a life as vivid and intricate as our own. What is happening with the guard right now that I might not know of, but that I could make easier if I did?"

"Well. . . we're a bit nervous, the guards. The Captain's got us on double shifts. Things are settling down since you thawed everything, but some people are still unhappy. There was a man down by the wharves-" He broke off, uncertain.

"Yes? What about this man down by the wharves?" Queen Elsa asked. She kept her tone gentle, but her mere presence was enough to remind him she was Queen.

"He lost his crop during the cold spell, and was ranting about your magic, Your Majesty." He said it as if he was admitting to a murder.

"Ah. If it helps, Gerrik, I am well aware of those tensions, although the details of this man in particular is new. My people have a right to be nervous. I did too much damage to suddenly be accepted, and as no one has ever seen something like this before no one knows how to handle me. I'll talk with Captain Kahv about it. Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

"As Your Majesty commands." He bowed and returned to his post.

Once in the castle she could follow the main path to the throne room and then twist around through the maze of corridors and stairways to her bedchamber, but the quickest route to her destination was a servant's entrance beneath the royal wing, just past the stables. Elsa made her way towards there. Once she turned around the corner of the stables, however, she saw a certain blond-haired official leaving the same door she intended to enter.

She stopped, for a moment indecisive about what to do. The moment to decide came and went as Kristoff quietly slid the door to the castle closed and turned to make his escape.

They locked eyes, twenty meters separating them.

The emotions that crossed the Icemaster's guileless face were clear. First, dismay at being caught. Then confusion and a little bit of hope when he realized this person already knew he was in the castle. He approached, and she looked around before ducking into the stables, out of sight.

He passed by the door, maybe seeing it as Elsa turning the other way and letting him continue, but was stopped in his tracks when a cold voice reached out to him. "Kristoff."

"Yes, E-" He caught himself as he entered. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

She was inspecting the grains in a wooden support beam. They were very interesting. She addressed him, but did not look at him yet. "Good. You may call me Elsa in private, but here we are in the stables, which is very much a public setting. Thank you for remembering." He would have somehow acknowledged this, but Elsa didn't see him open his mouth. "Kristoff, I have no moral high ground with which to work with here. What I am going to say can only be seen as hypocritical, but I feel I need to say it anyway.

"In the past few hours, I have faced two problems that you might be accustomed to; both getting out of and then getting back into this castle in the most discreet way possible. I left with Ragnvale-"

She stopped, took a breath, and started again; a technique from her oration instructor that happened to come in handy in everyday conversations.

"When I left with Ragnvaldr, I used my powers to get us up and over the walls so we wouldn't be seen together. This was not the right thing to do. If we had been caught it would have distinctively been me, and no other, because of my magic. It would not have been hard to put together that I had snuck out at the very least, and questions would have been raised as to why. Questions that can't be answered. Questions that would raise doubts as to my honor, and my rule.

"But on the way back in, because I am Queen and should have been in the castle already, the guards let me in through the front gate. I tried to put them as much at ease as possible so that it wouldn't cause too much of a scandal, and I believe I succeeded.

Elsa finally turned to the man, frozen in place by her words, and she realized there was very pointedly no snow falling around her. She smiled at him. "Kristoff, I now understand the pull that you and my sister feel for each other that drives you two to arrange these meetings." He gulped. "It is, frankly, none of my business as Anna's sister. But I can't just see her as a sister, I don't have that luxury. She is also a Princess of Arendelle.

"Now, on that front I have already been generous. I made you some bullshit title so that if you wished to court my sister, you would be able to do so without being dismissed out of hand. You have the potential to be married. In the future.

"But that is not something that is guaranteed, because it's not something I can guarantee. That is between you and Anna. But if you truly love her, you will make sure you do not ruin her honor. Because up to your wedding day, if and when you and she both say 'I do', she has every right to call this affair off between the two of you."

Kristoff looked heartbroken, and he put his palms over his eyes, but he found the courage to say what was on his mind anyway. "Elsa, I assure you Anna and I haven't done any. . . honor-breaking. We've only kissed, I assure you."

"I know, I talked with her about it. But there are other ways to break her reputation, Kristoff. That's what 'honor' means, not just her virginity." He grimaced and looked down. "Yes, as I said, I know full well the pull between you two. It's a heady feeling that can drive people to make stupid decisions." Kristoff looked up at Elsa again, not sure anymore what she was implying about herself and his smithy friend. "I'm bringing this up because if her honor is brought into question because of your relationship-say for instance you get caught trying to sneak into the castle-and in the future the unthinkable happens where you two do break up, what position would that leave her in? She would be ruined, Kristoff, with little chance of every having marriage prospects again.

"These are the things that I need to consider as Queen. This is why I brought up my own methods of sneaking into and out of the castle. If I had been caught with Ragnvaldr, it would have been the scandal of the fucking century. With my powers still not sitting well with much of the citizenry, it could very well have sparked a revolution. Depending on how things turned out, that one reckless decision could have put my head on a spike, and Anna's along with it."

Elsa never raised her voice, but her fear was palpable in the flakes of white now falling around her. "These aren't things that people want to think about. But as Queen, I have to consider them. It's my duty. It's my job. A few hours ago I acted rashly instead of thinking things through, and if I had thought it through I would have made a very different decision. This sort of sneaking around. . . when it comes to Anna it's not something that can be stopped completely, I know that. If she wants something, nothing is going to stand in her way, be it me or social conventions or even her own best interest.

"But climbing the walls at night, evading the patrols on the way to meet her, that has to stop, because it is too risky and the consequences are too dire. For Anna's sake, you can't take risks like that. As for me, the stakes are even more serious, as usual," she added, slightly bitterly. "I'm not likely going to be in a position to sneak off with Ragnvaldr or anyone else ever again. So, Kristoff, do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes. Anna and I have to stop sneaking around."

"No, you have to see each other, and the only way to do that is to sneak around. But you have to stop living on the edge. When I protested the idea of you and Ragnvaldr coming over, one of my questions was 'What if we get caught?' Anna's response was 'That's part of the fun.'" She looked at him. He rubbed an eyebrow in equal parts frustration and understanding. That's Anna alright. "You have to stop taking unnecessary risks. Bring it up to Anna, she'll take it better from you than me, and see if you can find better ways to do what you do. If you two need my authority for anything, mention to Anna that I'm her sister and of course I'll help. But don't mention that this caution was my idea. You have heard my arguments for why you two need to be more careful, act on them or don't.

"As for a safer way to deal with this situation in particular," she gestured first to him, and then vaguely around them, "I can't in good conscience let you risk detection by scaling the walls. You'll be staying in the guest wing for the night. We don't have anyone staying here currently so there shouldn't be any trouble from guards or servants or other guests; it's deserted. Tomorrow, walk out the front gates no earlier than the eight o'clock guard change. If they ask any questions, say you entered the castle with a message for me at seven. . . or whenever, sometime before the guard change. If they press you, tell them the message was about the summer ice stores. . . you know, something to do with your title. What I'm saying is bullshit it. Make it seem like you're supposed to be there, but whatever you do don't mention Anna." Kristoff looked taken aback. She hoped he was capable of it.

"Now, I'm going to bed. Wait at least five minutes before you leave these stables in case anyone glimpses me, and again: Be. Safe."

With that, Elsa headed for bed.

The morning after was rough.

Elsa had a meeting with her Council at eight, and she woke with only a total of maybe five hours sleep behind her. When broken up into three of four small chunks interspersed between Anna's little double date, the passion that Elsa had shared with Ragnvaldr (god she really hoped she got his name right), and the talks she had been in on the way back home, it wasn't nearly enough.

But the Snow Queen got up anyway, again fixing her hair so that she was presentable by the standards of propriety. It was just a council meeting, so she had a lot of freedom to work with than, say, treating with an emissary. Elsa hadn't donned her ice dress since she evaporated it the day after the thaw and set about her Queenly duties in more appropriate attire, so with a twirl of her body she cocooned herself in her magic.

She went down to the throne room, big and grand enough for any ball, and stepped through an adjacent door. She arrived a few minutes early and her council was mostly assembled; only Kahv, Captain of the Castle Guard, had yet to arrive. There was Ser Teon Whorl, Master of Coin and Quartermaster. There was Lady Urdea, she was the High Chancellor and had been Steward in the years between the King and Queen's death at sea and Elsa's Coronation. The Royal Minister was a Bishop named John, he had been the one to present Elsa with the ceremonial scepter and ball during her coronation. Commander Seth, of house Ra, had been the general directing Arendelle's armies for longer than Elsa even knew. The newly appointed Foreign Adviser was Lord Uther, a recommendation from Lady Urdea that she made shortly after she stepped down as Steward of the Realm. Governor Bisho was a timid fellow, in the week since Elsa started attending the council she got the impression he felt like a small fish in a big pond. he was invited because his position was on the books as part of the Council, not because he contributed. Finally there was Greg, the scribe. A scholarly fellow, bespectacled and with a robe not unlike a monk's, he took notes and handled paperwork when it came into play.

She sat down at the head of the table and waited. There was already a bit of chatter between Ser Teon and Lady Urdea about the state of the country's resources.

"-it's not that we don't have enough as a collective, it's that some people were hit harder than others, and because of the resulting scarcity they can't afford to buy what they need."

"And this happens all the time," Ser Teon countered. "The crown can't afford to rebalanced things every time something throws a kink in the system. It balances itself."

"That depends on who the people blame for the 'kink in the system'. If it was a harsh winter in January, we could sit idly by and watch our people starve, although should is far from the right word. For those of us with some semblance of," she muttered something that was certainly obscene under her breath, "conscience it would be a hard winter, one that we write down in the annals, one whose ghosts come back to visit us in our dreams many years later. But we would survive another year, sure. This wasn't a particularly harsh winter, it was a magical accident caused by our Queen here. The people blame us for this hardship. If we do nothing, they will be tearing down the gates of the castle within a month!"

Kahv entered the room then, which caused enough of a disruption for Elsa to smoothly intercept the conversation, "What of this man that I've heard has been ranting about my magic down by the docks?"

"Your Majesty," Bishop John said, "This is the first I've heard of him, but I recommend caution. I don't think it wise to respond harshly to this man. There are long-established laws about street preaching. As much as I might wish otherwise, the soothsayers and savpriests are tolerated by the guards even if they climb up the chapel steps to get a better vantage to shout from. So long as this man isn't impeding those around him, he has a right to use this public space as his venue."

"I don't mean for us to move against the man, I want to know how long he's been out there. Surely if I had to find out in such a roundabout way as talking with the city blacksmiths, the council that is meant to keep me informed has some information on him?" She looked around, her eyes lingering on Kahv a moment longer than the others.

He took the hint. He wasn't going to get away with playing dumb. "Your Majesty, I have heard about this man. The city guard came across him three days ago, the day of the ball. I heard of him that night. I talked with Captain Herald and he mentioned it, and there is now talk among the guard. I doubled the castle guard in response, and Captain Herald mentioned that in the interest of security, it would be best if the man was dealt with."

"Dealt with." It bordered on being a question, it just wasn't.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Did he specifically mention how?"

"No, Your Majesty."

Elsa started to get annoyed, so she got more to the point. "If you were in his position and decided to deal with this man, how would you go about it?"

"I would schedule the patrols so that one went through that area of the docks at least once an hour, and instruct the men to make him feel unwelcome if they saw him. Telling him to move along, to be quiet, and the like."

"You've been on patrol yourself, correct?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. I was a Sergent in the city guard for thirteen years."

"If you were on patrol, and the man you were instructed to intimidate did not do as you told him, is it likely that the man would be harmed?"

He kept his face stoic. "Yes, Your Majesty. It is likely that if he did not follow orders he would come to harm."

"I see. Greg?" Elsa asked. She turned to the scribe. "Draft up a summons to Captain Herald, of the city guard. Have him attend me at his leisure. I'll sign it later. Now, shall we officially get started?"

There was a murmur of agreement. This was the part Elsa had needed to practice at, she'd botched her first council meeting as Queen. Not that it mattered. They didn't need to chip a piece of wood to sit down and talk about Arendelle's problems, but it was tradition. Lady Urdea produced a birch branch eight centimeters in length and an ornate knife and handed them to Elsa. With two quick strokes at slightly different angles and a tiny bit of prying she took a solid notch out of the segment of branch.

The first council she hadn't had the accuracy to cut the thin wedge from the wood, and the uneven marks were evidence under her fingers. She had simply given up and sliced a bit off with her ice. Considering how her magic was causing much of the unrest in the kingdom, it would have been far from diplomatically ideal to do so again.

"This council is now in session." It was the sixth and final notch in the birch wood, so she handed it to Greg. On Monday they would start anew, her second week as Queen. "Now, where should we start?"

"The effects of the food shortage are still being felt around the country, Your Majesty," Ser Teon offered. "As the High Chancellor has implied, due to the. . . nature of the shortage, it might be prudent if we pacify the populace in some way."

"Shortage? The word is appropriate, in so much as people are going hungry. But I thought I heard you say there is enough food to go around, it's just not going around."

"Lady Urdea said that, Your Majesty."

"I'll accept that Lady Urdea said it, I had just arrived and wasn't paying my full attention. Now, as Quartermaster, I'm asking you, Ser Teon, whether it is correct or not."

"I would disagree with it. It is factually correct, but it implies a simplicity that isn't true to the nature of the situation. If we are talking about redistributing what we already have, that means taking from citizens who have been spared from the worst of this accident. Those citizens are going to be trying to sell what food they have at the street prices, and will feel cheated of the opportunity to do so if we take their property."

"And these citizens feeling cheated is more important than the citizens who are starving. . . why?"

Lord Teon let out a long-suffering sigh, then smiled and said, "Your Majesty, it's going to make a lot of powerful people angry if you take their property. It is impinging on their rights, and regardless of the circumstances it will cause more unrest that it will quiet. You seemed displeased when a man speaking treason on the street was treated badly, and yet you seriously consider violating the rights of the people that keep this kingdom on its feet?"

"Hmmm. . . alright, it might not be the best idea. What do you recommend? Surely you don't suggest we do nothing?"

"I do indeed suggest we do nothing, but if Your Majesty thinks this situation requires action then I would say we first ask our allies to the south for provisions, and if that is not enough then we buy what we need from merchants in such countries as Corona, Fredrikstad, even so far south as Kiel and Hamburg."

Elsa's heart skipped for a moment when she thought the shrewd man was going to mention the Southern Isles. They would not be taking any help from the likes of Hans Westergaard.

"Does anyone have objections to this plan?" Elsa asked her council. High Chancellor Urdea scowled slightly but kept silent. "This opens up a whole host of other questions as well. How many of my people are going hungry? How much food do we need? Someone needs to be officially responsible for organizing this effort. Do we have any volunteers?" No one moved. Elsa panned around them twice, but this time her cold stare wasn't enough. "Alright, I'll lead this myself. Ser Teon, budget in fifty Kroner for expenses, I'll-"

"Your Majesty," Urdea interrupted. "It's fine, I'll do it. Heaven forbid we get the food from those who have enough already," she shot a glare at Ser Teon, "But the decision has been made. No need to bother yourself with it, we know you already have enough demands on your time."

Elsa dipped her head graciously. "Thank you, Lady Urdea. We're not done yet, however. Ser Teon, budget in fifty Kroner for expenses, and be aware that it may increase dramatically if we do need to buy these provisions. This situation is going to get worse before it gets better, I'd like to send the letters to our allies out at once. We should send formal petitions to Corona, Kvenland, Fredrikstad, Hamburg, Nokskov, and Thisted. Not Kiel, they will likely still remember how my father sided with Hamburg, and besides they didn't send a delegation to my coronation. Lord Uther, as Foreign Adviser is this a fair assessment?"

He nodded and said, "We might add Nogreaw to the list. They have been open in their sympathies for us, particularly since the King and Queen's passing. Their tribute to the funeral was the most lavish we received. They mean us well."

"Agreed. In the meantime, I don't know if it will have much of an effect or not, but this castle won't serve a meal that is more than one course until this crisis is over. Lady Urdea, see to it that Gerda is informed and that our stores of food are distributed properly."

There was some tittering at this, but the High Chancellor smiled and said, "A fine plan I think, Your Majesty."

"That's that. General Seth, Lord Uther, is my country at all in danger of war?"

Similarly blunt, it was Seth of Ra who answered, "Yes."

"The Southern Isles, or the Duchy of Weselton?"

"Either. Both."

At Elsa's look Lord Uther explained. "Despite Prince hans' crimes, his country could very well take the incident as provocation, Your Majesty. It's harder since you didn't kill him, but still possible. Weselton is angry enough to fund a war, but not to start one. It's a monetary issue with them in the first place; the cessation of trade with us. The problem is that these two disparate states could very easily find common cause against us. The Duke and prince Hans worked in tandem throughout the incident, albeit unknowingly. If they were to try and rally our enemies against us with criticisms of your ice magic. . ." he trailed off, but Elsa understood. Her magic was a barrier between Arendelle and other states, the same as it was a barrier between her and her people. It was a potential threat that would always be viewed with wary eyes.

"Who could we call upon if we were faced with imminent war?"

"About the same list as those whom we will be calling on for food, and it's likely that they will only abide by one or the other, Your Majesty."

The grizzled General added, "A war is a serious thing, 'Mam. It's not something one commits to lightly. For practical considerations, there's no need to expect one for another five weeks at the earliest, just counting how long it would take for the Southern Isles or the Weselton forces to get here. If they do mobilize, Lord Uther's ears will hear of it long before there's boots on the ground."

"The General is correct. Your Majesty," Lord Uther prompted, "There is one other thing. Have you considered any of the suitors for your hand?"

Elsa had been rock solid up until that point. She could hold her own, she could mediate the constant tensions between her Master of Coin and her High Chancellor, she could handle decisions that would mean life or death for her starving subjects, for the Arendelle military forces, for a man down near the docks who thought her naught but an ice witch; she could do all this without the slightest chill in the air or an errant snowflake.

The first mention of her suitors and the temperature dropped ten degrees, while at the same time she felt an opposite warmth on her cheeks. She knew it, and she knew her advisers and officials all knew it, and that made it worse. But Elsa realized that the sooner she addressed the question, the sooner this horrid feeling would end. Timidly she said, "No. No, Lord Uther, I have not."

"I understand that it is more complicated than solidifying an alliance between Arendelle and another state," he continued softly. "Believe me, I do. But your hand and your sister's hand are immensely powerful diplomatic weapons. Would it be inappropriate to make a list of suggestions?"

Elsa let out a nervous laugh at his impeccable courtesy. "No, Lord Uther. Go ahead. As Foreign Adviser, it's your job. I understand that."

"In that case, Archduke Yolout of Holstien would be first, and by far. Your Majesty, his family's wealth outshines that of our entire country, and that's not an exaggeration. He is a distant cousin of Louis the fourteenth." There was a bit of murmuring at that. "His interest in you, I think, is rooted in your magic. I don't know any more than that, and it's only speculation.

"Second is Prince Christian of Fredrikstad, to the East. He has not come to court you, so it would require a four day trip at the least, but uniting Arendelle and Fredrikstad would improve our position greatly. Now that trade with Weselton has ended they are a more profitable port than we are, but most of all they have a military that outnumbers us six to one on land. Although we match them at sea, it would make up for our own lack of a strong standing army. Even together, Weselton and the Southern Isles would think twice before declaring war against a united Arendelle-Fredrikstad force.

"Third is Kvenland, and I'll admit there's not much to recommend. Kvenland is smaller than us, less prosperous than us, and altogether an average state. If we were to unite with them we would not be hurting our own prestige, but we would not be increasing it either. We would gain a modest increase to our military forces and our yearly taxes, both of which are helpful for the trials we can foresee."

Lord Uther cleared his throat and concluded, "If you marry anyone else, Your Majesty, it will not likely be for diplomatic reasons."

"My Lord, you mention Kvenland. Why this country over, say, Nogreaw or Hamburg? They are very similar in size and strength, which is to say they are all lackluster. What makes you favor them?"

"They are the safest bet, Your Majesty. Of the 'lackluster' options, as you say, King Agyre and Queen Genevieve of Kvenland have seven eligible sons and four daughters. Two of their daughters have already been married to ally states, ensuring them allies should they have need. Their ability to marry into status is better than others, certainly better than ours, and if any of the 'lackluster' states were to grow in the next few years it would be Kvenland for this reason. And, Your Majesty," he cleared his throat again, "If you were to decide that allying with Kvenland was best for Arendelle, you, uh, would have an array of options as to your potential husband."

The warm red glow returned to Elsa's face, she could feel it. "Ah." But then something tugged at her mind. "So, the Southern Isles similarly has an advantage in diplomatic power, having so many sons?" Unconsciously she turned to General Seth as she continued, "Who have they wed their sons off to?" With that subtle motion of her head, everyone knew the topic had changed from love to war.