Chapter 3

The ocean spray spritzed over the ship's railing as it slipped through the cresting waves, its sails caught up in the morning breeze. There was nothing to be seen in any direction except for the sparkling sea beneath the azure sky. Not a single cloud brushed the horizon nor did any birds flit through the sky, leaving the sun to make its daily trek in solitude. Oblivious to its isolation, the ship continued to surge forward, the dusky blue flag of Maneva fluttering from its tallest mast.

The crew worked all along the vessel, with tasks ranging from swabbing the deck to seeing to the rigging. Though the work was hard everyone was just grateful to be out in the sun after nights of howling storms and surging swells so fierce they nearly claimed the ship. Such tempests were common place in the Starden Sea in the spring and had sunk numerous crafts. However, the masts had held and when the sun broke the horizon to reveal a calm, beckoning morning they were all too willing to enjoy it. That is, all but one.

Pushing open the door to her cabin, Kresta stepped out onto the deck and took in a deep breath as she stretched her arms above her head. After letting out a refreshed sigh she brushed her brunette hair over her shoulder while looking out over the boundless ocean. The breeze tugged at her chocolate tresses and teased the hem of her skirt but she didn't notice, instead savoring the sun's light playing over her olive skin. After two days of squalls it was invigorating to feel its warm rays and to see nothing but clear skies from horizon to horizon.

Her emerald eyes lingered on the sea for a moment longer before she turned and made her way towards the main deck, passing a few crewman along the way. Though they each offered a polite greeting to her as she went by she couldn't help noticing that their eyes lingered a little too long in places that they shouldn't. Not that she blamed them, what with her flawless visage and toned calves. While most women might have been offended by them Kresta actually found it to be quite flattering, causing her to giggle to herself. Men, she thought with a smirk as she approached the stairs to the upper deck. Always so subtle with their intentions.

Kresta leisurely climbed the steps, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand as she went, until she reached the top before pausing to look around. She then caught sight of a particularly grizzly older man standing by the ship's wheel. As soon as she spotted him he also noticed her and gave her a mild bow. "Good morning, Princess Kresta. I was beginning to wonder when you were going to wake."

Her lips curled up into a smile as she returned the bow with a nod before walking over to join him. "Good morning, Captain. Unfortunately, the storms from the previous nights left me so exhausted I thought I'd sleep in this morning."

"An understandable decision, your highness." Turning away from her, he looked up at the spotless sky. "Luckily we're blessed with excellent sailing weather on this fine morning."

"That's a relief. I was beginning to worry that the storms would have delayed us."

"Not at all, your highness. You forget that this is one of the fastest ships in the Royal Navy. We should arrive in the city of Arendelle with time to spare."

Nodding, she also looked to the heavens. Oh good. I'd hate it if we missed the wedding. But that wasn't why she'd come to the upper deck. "Listen, captain, the reason I came up here is I wanted to see if you've seen my brother. I want to check up on him."

That drew a small smirk across his face, though his voice "Last I saw he was in the same place where he'd already spent the majority of the voyage. With his head over the railing losing his breakfast into the sea." The man cast her a glance out of the corner of his eye. "He's not much of a sailor, is he?"

Guess that figures. I'll bet he hasn't moved a foot from where I left him. Shaking her head, she started backing towards the stairs, intent on tracking down her brother. "I'm afraid not. Traversing the sea was never really his thing."

"A pity. Please give my sympathies to the young prince."

She gave him another smile, pausing at the top of the stairs. "I will. If you'll excuse me, Captain."

"Your highness," he replied, giving her a second bow before returning his attention to the placid sea ahead of them.

The ship pitched and yawed gently beneath her feet, responding to the waves breaking against its hull, as she worked her way across the deck towards the bow. While the slight rocking it created didn't bother her in any way it rendered her brother all but useless with bouts of seasickness. The ship's cook had offered up a few remedies that were supposed to help but they'd only followed everything else he ate into the sea shortly thereafter.

When Kresta did find him she was surprised to see that he'd managed to at least move from one side of the ship to the other, though he still had his head over the railing. She normally considered him to be a somewhat handsome man, with his chestnut hair and strong complexion, but his constant sickness gave his skin a decidedly green tone and left heavy bags under his jade eyes from lack of sleep. Though she might have enjoyed sailing but the sooner they got off this ship the better it would be for him.

Stopping beside him, she tried to think of something consoling but the best she could come up with was, "Good morning, Zach. How're you feeling today?" He didn't react to her voice, instead continuing to purge himself, so she leaned against the railing beside him, patiently waiting for the bout to pass while doing her best to ignore the sound of his retching.

After a while he finally managed to stop hacking out the contents of his stomach long enough to press the cloth he was holding to his lips. "Remind me why we're making this godforsaken trip," he muttered though the rag.

"To attend Anna's wedding," she replied calmly, watching the water lick against the ship's hull below. When his only response was a muffled humph she added, "You like Anna. Remember?"

His perpetual seasickness seemed to have temporarily abated as he turned his head to give her a baleful look. Judging from his bloodshot eyes she gathered he hadn't gotten any sleep in the night. "I can barely remember the girl at all. It's been, what, over a decade since we last saw her."

Unperturbed by his discourteous tone, Kresta shrugged and replied, "Well I remember her. A sweet, fun little girl who always wanted to play with everyone. God how I loved when they would come to visit us in Maneva." Her eyes saddened slightly as she found herself swept up in bittersweet memories. "I miss her."

Zach didn't appear to share in her sentiment, though, as his disgruntled disposition remained steadfast. "Why? It's not like we saw them all that often."

"No, but she made those parts of my childhood that much better."

That managed to crack a smile across his face, accompanied by a small chuckle. "Hey, I'm your brother. What did I do, make it terrible?"

Looking over at him, she returned the smile with one of her own. "Of course. You did destroyed nearly every toy I owned, after all."

He let another snicker and shook his head, looking out over the ocean. "Yeah, I guess I did do that," he said amusedly before his eyes became wistful. "At least now we know why they stopped coming. Who'd have thought Elsa was a… well, whatever you call what she is. What?"

Kresta had inadvertently let out a sigh at the mention of their estrangement with the sisters. Every summer they would come for a visit but one year it all just stopped and she'd never known why. But her young mind had come up with a reason. "Honestly? For the longest time I thought I was the reason they no longer visited. As though they didn't like me to the point they didn't want to see me anymore."

"Nonsense!" Zach replied, his grin returning in full force. "How could anyone dislike my sweet twin sister? That's my job." As he spoke he gave her a nudge with his elbow.

Nudging him back, she jokingly said, "Hate you too, brother."

They shared a fond smile for a moment before he looked back towards the horizon. Neither of them spoke for a few moments, simply enjoying the warmth of the sun and the meandering breeze. She always did enjoy spending time with her brother. Kresta liked to spend time with all her siblings but her other brother was too busy with all the responsibilities of being a king and she hadn't seen her sister in nearly a year. Not that I miss Gabriella, she thought with a grin. She's already living the dream.

"But you know, Ann's wedding isn't the only reason we're going. If I was going through all this suffering just to attend a wedding I think I'd throw myself overboard and put an end to it."

Zach's voice pulled her back to the conversation and she looked to see he was wearing a distant expression. "Oh, right. How could I forget?" she said, fighting the urge to laugh. "You're going to sweep Queen Elsa off her feet and make her fall madly in love with you."

Glancing over at her, he gave her an irritate look. "As you may recall Elsa and I got along quite well. A few more years and we would have been betrothed."

Nodding, Kresta looked down at the cresting waters below in time to see a school of fish pass under the ship. There had once talk of her brother and Elsa being engaged to one another. Something about strengthening the bond between the kingdoms. Her father had been particularly excited about the arrangement, since it would allow for both of his sons to become kings. But like most plans it fell apart. "Whatever happened to that plan, anyway?" she asked, watching the fish swim through the calm waters.

"I already gave you the answer," he replied, letting out a sigh. "They stopped coming, and even though I wrote her any replies I got were short and abrupt. Eventually it just fell by the wayside."

The memory seemed to make him a bit melancholy so she decided to try and distract him from it. "So, what? Now you hope to rekindle some old flame between you?"

That at least managed to drive him back towards irritation, which she supposed was better than being gloomy. Giving her a frustrated look and shrugging, he calmly said, "Stranger things have happened."

"Look, all I'm saying is don't get your hopes up. She's a young woman and a queen no less. I'm sure she has a list of suitors a mile long."

"And I'm a prince. Seems like a good match."

Alright, time to change the subject. Looking down at her hands, she said, "At the very least it'll be nice to see her again. Elsa isn't the only person I'm interested in meeting, though."

The comment clearly took Zach off guard as it took a few seconds for him to come up with a response. "What do you mean?"

"Haven't you heard?" Kresta asked, flicking her eyes over to him for a moment. His face was befuddled as he stared at her, which only made sense. It wasn't like they knew anyone there besides the sisters. Looking back at her hands, she continued. "Apparently she's not the only one with certain… talents in Arendelle."

"What are you talking about?"

Closely inspecting a finger, she brushed a bit of dirt from her nail "Word has it there's a man there who has supernatural talents like her, only where her abilities focus around ice he has the ability to conjure and manipulate flame." Though she was trying to appear to be only mildly interested, internally she writhing with curiosity. Kresta was dying to meet whoever this, what was the word… pyromancer and to see what he could do. The last reaction she expected from her brother, though, was laughter. "What's so funny?"

Shaking his head, he gave her a gleeful look. "It's kind of ironic, isn't it?"

"What is?" she asked, still not seeing what was so funny.

"Fire and ice," he replied with another chuckle. "How droll."

Giving her own head a shake, she gave a wistful smile. "I prefer to think of it as poetic."

It took a little while but eventually her brother's laughter subsided and he managed to calm down again. After taking another second to compose himself he gave her an inquisitive look. "Why do you want to meet this guy anyway?"

Again his response wasn't what she'd expected. What, you don't? "Why wouldn't I? Have you ever met someone who can summon a flame with just a snap of his fingers? I can't even imagine what someone with that much power within them looks like."

"Now it's my turn to say don't get your hopes up. For all you know this is just hearsay."

Shrugging, she looked back at the sea. "I hope not."

He seemed about to reply when the ship gave a particularly hard lurch, nearly toppling both of them. While she was able to remain upright and unharmed Zach clapped a hand over his mouth before leaning over the railing, his seasickness returning in full force. The sudden onset of his illness nearly caused her to lose her own breakfast but she was able to turn away in time to not see anything. However, she was still able to hear every sound.

Patting him on the back but still looking away, she said, "Wait here. I'm going to go get you some fresh water."

He managed to pull himself together long enough to say, "Get me a new rag, too. I think this one's done for."

"Sure thing."

With that she walked away as quickly as she could, trying to block out the sounds he was making. Despite what was now coming out of his mouth, though, his words had had some truth to them. It was possible, maybe even likely, that this man didn't even exist. If that was the case, though, she was going to be extremely disappointed. I hope he's real. Whoever he is, Kresta thought as she made her way below deck.