A/N: As usual, Tangled and Frozen aren't mine. Also, sadly, the prophecy isn't mine. It comes from the lyrics of a song that was cut from the movie. Lucky you, this is another longer post. I thought about trying to cut it, but I decided to be nice. Also, it makes sense in my head this way. Enjoy!
After deciphering the last of Prince Alvred's secret message, Susanna's hands began to shake. Entirely unlike herself, she began to weep as fear, sorrow, and hope overwhelmed her entirely. She found herself unable to pen the response she desired to make immediately, fearing its recipient might not return.
As the month passed, she fretted about her next letter, unable to compose it in her mind without asking about the Prince or the Queen, neither of which she could mention to the trade minister. Once written, she had to resist the urge to include a separate letter for the Prince, but could think of no reasonable pretext. Finally, she sent the monthly missive unadorned and waited anxiously for a reply, praying it would be in Alvred's familiar hand rather than that of a castle scribe.
She hoped in vain. Not only that month's missive, but the next two, came in that impersonal, perfect hand, leaving Susanna struggling not to cry as she read each letter to her father.
After sending her third response to the Minister of Trade, Susanna began to despair. On the surface she was her same, precise, responsible self; beneath, she was crumbing. What could possibly have taken him two months to accomplish? Had he disappeared or been found dead, and the King was deciding how to spread the news?
She walked to the docks to meet the messenger from Arendelle like a prisoner to the execution block, fearing more than anything what she would find in the envelope. Her heart shattered when she saw the envelope addressed in the scribe's writing, fighting to conceal her emotions as she walked back to her father's suite in the palace.
Instead of returning to the office as she had been instructed, she went to her chambers and slammed the door shut, opening the envelope with hands that shook and fingernails bitten down to the quick in the short walk from the docks. She had begun to sob as she pulled out the official-looking letter, then gasped in shock as another fell from inside it.
My dearest Susanna,
I hope I am not amiss in addressing you so, but my journey has left me too weary to mince words. I apologize for the concern I must have caused in the past few months. Although I had returned to the palace in time to send the last missive, I was abed for two weeks after it was sent. The physician says I should count myself lucky; I still have all my fingers and toes, though it took many excruciating treatments with hot water to keep them.
The Valley is real! I hope you do not think me snow-crazed, but I have seen it and the Trolls! I was gone so long because they took the time to impart some of their wisdom upon me, and faced a blizzard on my return. The Trolls of Living Rock Valley are truly wise, if more than a little silly. They know much of love, weather, and lore of Arendelle, and have a shaman of great power among their number, ancestor to the troll who gave us the prophecy mentioned in my research. He assures me that this is not the winter prophesied, and that it will end soon, using their magic to send it on its way. Even in the days I have been back, the cold weakens; the thaw is expected within the month.
The prophecy states: Your future is bleak
Your kingdom will splinter
Your land shall be cursed
With unending winter
With blasts of cold will come dark art,
And a ruler
With a frozen heart
Then all will perish in snow and ice
Unless you are freed with a sword sacrifice
The trolls assure me that the crisis may be averted if the sacrifice is true, although they cannot, or will not, tell me whether they know when it will happen. I have been warned though, to be on the lookout for the return of the old magic. Once, the royal line was gifted with magical powers, a connection to the Kingdom's elemental forces, among them ice and snow. Indeed at one point the gifts became so prevalent that they spread to much of the nobility as well, even some of the common folk, but they were always strongest in the royal family. When these powers begin to emerge, the time of the prophecy is coming. But the powers are beautiful as well as dangerous, and, if all goes as it should, predict a time of great prosperity in our land. This winter, they say, is a precursor to the emergence of these powers, a building of the elemental forces in preparation.
Once they had imparted this knowledge, the trolls insisted I listen to their lore about love. They can, it seems, sense love where it exists, and saw fit to lecture me until my ears turned red, and not with cold.
Their words put me in mind of you, and my hope for a favorable response to my message. So, as soon as I was recovered enough, I put pen to paper to write this letter, even if my brother insists I not resume my duties.
As the weather improves, so does my sister-in-law the Queen. The trolls' magic has given us this at least, although she lost the child in my absence. Their Majesties grieve in private, so please keep this information to yourself.
I await your reply,
Alvred
Alvred's story was incredible, but Susanna hardly absorbed it. Her tears had turned to tears of joy, which only speeded as she read of his continued hope. She penned a reply as quickly as she could and raced to give get it to the docks before the courier set sail on his journey back to Arendelle.
"Urgent message for the prince." She declared, handing it over, no longer concerned with having an appropriate pretext to hide behind. The months of waiting and worrying had made her realize how important Alvred was to her, as a friend and, hopefully, something more. With luck, Alvred would receive her message before the monthly missive, not due to be sent for two weeks. Then perhaps he would have more to say in his next letter. She blushed as she returned to the palace, attending her duties with a light, distracted air as she basked in the knowledge of her prince's survival and fretted about the King's response in turns.
A/N: ... sooo, thoughts? Will the King give Alvred the green light to pursue Susanna, or is the daughter of the ambassador not good enough for the heir? Will I make you suffer with more letters, or will they actually meet in person soon? You will have to wait and see (and review? please?).
In other news, I am in the process of getting set up with a beta to make sure there aren't a bunch of errors or inconsistencies in the story, and also to hopefully help me get through the part I'm currently stuck at (don't worry, its several updates away). That said, I'm hoping to make what is already written stretch until I get some input and get the next parts written. In that vein, would you all prefer I stick to the current update schedule (roughly every other day) until I run out of content and potentially have a lag after chapter 13, or should I start spacing updates some more? Please let me know!