Chapter 5

A Ball to Remember

Anna pov

The ball was today. TODAY! Saying I was excited was an understatement. This was the biggest ball we had in a year. So many people were here. Here to dance and eat and sing. It was going to be great. The sad thing about all this was that it was winter. Winter meant that we have less light but now that night has fallen the servants have lit thousands of lanterns around the courtyard making them look like a field of fireflies from my room. Well technically it isn't just my room anymore. Ever since the wedding in the spring it has been our room. I looked from the window to see Kristoff putting on his suit for the evening.

"Isn't this exciting?" I asked

Kristoff replied dryly "Thrilling"

"You don't look thrilled" I mentioned

Kristoff sighed "I know that this is important to the kingdom, but you know I always feel out of place. Here at these events, in these monkey suits."

"Oh come on, you look adorable in your monkey suit" Kristoff gave me an unamused look. "Kristoff you do belong in this world no matter what you feel, and you belong with me." I ended and gave Kristoff a kiss.

"Although I may not so much exist in yours, considering what happened on your run after we were married." I continued

"It was in the mountains Anna; you were excited, happy and loud. Besides it wasn't a big avalanche."

"Yeah, but I think my loud woo was a little much. It was what caused it after all." Kristoff opened his mouth to continue but was interrupted by the music that could be heard from the courtyard below. I said "Anyway the musicians are starting we better get in there if we want to squeeze a dance or two in"

"Ha, I get the feeling you want me in there so you don't have to dance with any of those spry elderly nobles."

We entered the courtyard with everyone there. Everywhere you could see people were enjoying themselves; having small talk, dancing or just being there. Considering this was about strengthening the ties between kingdoms, I think it is safe to say we are going to be alright.

"There you two are." Jacob said as he walked towards us.

"Hey Jacob, how are things going on here?" Kristoff asked

"Very well actually, the ball activities and the people seem to be doing fine. No mishaps like some of the balls the previous king and queen sometimes had. Except….."

"Except what Jacob?" I asked

"Look at Elsa." He said

We all turned to look at Elsa standing before the crowd in front of the door to the palace. Wearing her usual ice dress she seemed to be a figure of grace that has caused more than one person to look upon her. Though she carried herself regally something appeared to be off with her. Jacob said "She has been acting like this since the beginning of the ball. I know that since everything happened, you two have had smaller balls only including those of Arendelle, but I can't help but feel something is wrong with her. Anna it might be best for you to check up on her, reassure her about all of this. After all she can't be nervous when she gives that speech of hers."

"Alright, all these foreign dignitaries are probably putting her off her game. I'll sort it out. Are you going to be ok Kristoff?"

"I'll be fine. Go on, your sister needs you."

Zig zagging through the crowd and almost knocking over one of the servants carrying glasses of champagne I finally was able to walk up to my sister. I asked "Hey, how are things going?"

"Fine" Elsa said uneasily

"Fine? Everything is going smoothly, everyone at ease and they're happy."

"Yeah I know but…..never mind just forget it."

"Elsa. I'm your sister, tell me what's wrong."

"It's…..I can't help but see some anxious glances. People looking at me from the corner of their eye, whispering about me, some even seem to shirk away from me when I get near. I think maybe this ball was a bad idea" Elsa said uneasily.

"Don't say that. People will naturally feel uneasy from things they don't understand. When this is all over they are going to love you." I reassured. Elsa gave me a worried look, but I gave her an encouraging nod that seemed to put her at ease. Elsa answered "Alright, I'll try to stop worrying."

"Oh, have you seen Sven or Olaf? I haven't seen them anywhere. I figured Olaf would be down here giving everyone a warm hug."

"He felt that since this was important to the kingdom that he should stay in the castle. I guess he decided a talking snowman would likely put people of edge. So to keep him and Sven occupied I left them in my room to look at the chest and read some books"

"Is he still insisting that the horn glows?" I questioned

"Yeah, his theory now of why it isn't glowing is because it's not snowing." Elsa said. We chuckled at the thought. After supper on the first day we had the chest Olaf wandered into Elsa's room to look at the treasures again. He told us when he open the chest the horn was glowing. After he came to tell us what he saw we ran up to the room to see what he was talking about. When we got there the horn was doing anything other than being a horn.

"Would you mind keeping an eye on things? I need to go prepare myself for the speech." Elsa stated

"Didn't you rehearse that thing a million times already?" I inquired

"Yeah, but now that everyone is here I'm a little nervous. I'll be right back." Elsa answered

Third person pov

Elsa walked down the halls away from the sounds of people to go to one of her favorite spots. An open balcony on one of the higher levels. The balcony was large and high enough that it allowed her to see most of Arendelle. See the shimmering lights of the town and what was beyond. The silence had allowed her to contemplate whether or not she should go through with the speech. After all it would not do any harm not to.

The very thought of all those people looking at her, listening to her, judging her made her stomach turn. She knew that the speech needed to be done in order to try to solidify the countries alliances. She did her best to turn her mind to something else to calm herself down. She focused on the glimmering lights of the town and the stars that were finally peeking out of the clouds. Suddenly a light snow fall started around her. "I must be more nervous than I thought."Elsa assumed. She then waved her hands and a wind she conjured up blew away the snow.

"Nervous are we?"

Elsa jumped in surprised and quickly turned to see a man in formal wear that was standing behind her. "Who are you?" Elsa demanded

"Ah forgive my lack of manners. I am Than Westerguard of the Southern Isles."

"Brother of Hans if I recall correctly." Elsa said cautiously

Than winched "Unfortunately for us. Fortunately for everyone else he is in some deep dark cell in god knows where."

"Wouldn't you know where he is being held?" Elsa asked

Than shrugged "If I cared enough to. Among my brothers growing up Hans was seen as an extra, a mistake, someone better left to be ignored. Though the later was an error, his actions proved the mistake part whole heartedly. "

Elsa nodded "Anyway what are you doing up here? Shouldn't you be down with the others enjoying the ball?"

Than grunted "Never been much been much for balls. I always preferred the woods near the town over the castle. Even with its size I found it to be…constricting."

Elsa chatted "If you don't enjoy balls or castles then why are you here? I did invite other members of your family; you could have simply had someone else represent the Southern Isles"

"Due to unfortunate circumstances they were unable to come, leaving me. You would know more than anyone it takes a lot to run a kingdom. Dealing with a variety of kingdom matters takes time and diligence. One of those matters happens to be this"

Than then withdrew a colorful box from the one of his coat pockets and held it out to Elsa. Guardedly Elsa reached out and took the box from his hand. It's not even Christmas yet and this is the second present I have received she thought. Elsa removed to lid to reveal what was inside. What was inside was a gold arm band. The arm band was relatively plain except for small diamonds embedded around a larger one in the center.

"After what happened with our brother, my family felt obligated to mend the bonds between kingdoms."

"And you think you can do that with an arm band?" Elsa said unamused

"An ordinary arm band would not do the deed, no matter how fancy it is. A magical arm band on the other hand might do the trick."

"What do you mean magical?"

"When we heard of your power and what happened last year we knew there must be a way to help you. For the past year we searched in tombs, ancient libraries and we found this. This arm band was used to control the abilities of those born with special talents. We believe that this will help you.

"I don't know. This all seems farfetched. Why should I believe that this thing works?"

"Queen Elsa, we believe that it can. Do you want to continue living your life like this; afraid every day that you will hurt someone, especially Anna. If it changes anything it will be for the better."

Elsa looked at the arm band dubious and glanced towards Than "Put the arm band on. Even if you have that love in your life to control you power, the fear is still there. Waiting to come out, waiting to hurt someone. I was here just a moment ago. Even being a little bit nervous was more than enough to make it snow. You do not completely have it under control. Worst case scenario you put it on and nothing happens. What is there to lose by putting it on?" Elsa took one last look at the golden arm band. In one motion she lifted the arm band from the box and slid it around her right arm.

When she put the arm band on immediately she felt a change. Every day it was the same that feeling of magic. That storm that she felt could rip trees out of the ground, destroy castles, and tear away flesh and bone. Now though it felt different. She couldn't feel the storm inside. She needed to test it.

She moved over to the railing and rested her right hand on its surface. Whenever she rested her hands on something ice formed around them (it was not as bad now as it had been). She then closed her eyes and focused. She remembered the fear, the pain, the loneliness she felt all those years. She opened her eyes to see nothing but the railing. There was no ice. Losing no time she removed her hand from the railing. Elsa focused on the love and emotions that she used since the Great Thaw and was able to conjure up snow and ice around her. She could not believe it. It worked just as he said it would. Her powers were under control, she wouldn't have to worry about freak accidents anymore. She was no longer a danger to those around her with this arm band.

"How does it feel Queen Elsa?"

Elsa responded with glee "It works perfectly, just as you said. Thank you Prince Than, I get the feeling that this did not come cheap to your family."

"Oh it wasn't. My brother paid quite a bit of coin for that arm band. Well, technically father was funding him so I guess you can say he paid for it."

"Your majesties"

Elsa Turned noticed that a guard was standing in the entry way "Forgive my interruption but it is nearing the time of Queen Elsa's speech."

"Thank you guard. Actually I don't recognize you, who are you?" Elsa said

"No one of importance you majesty, I was merely one of the ones that responded to your request for guards."

Nodding Elsa turned to Than "Well I better get to the courtyard to give that speech. Are you coming?"

"I thought it was supposed to be in the throne room."

Elsa stated walking towards the hallway "Yeah but with the larger number of people we had to change the location." She suddenly stopped and slowly turned towards him inquiring "Wait a minute. How did you know it was supposed to be in the throne room in the first place?"

Than said calmly "I had to suffer through more than one of my father speeches when he had an event. It was always in the throne room. I merely assumed you would do the same."

Elsa nodded in understanding "Anyway are you coming there is still some time until my insufferable speech. You might be able to grab something to eat beforehand." Than replied "I'll catch up in a bit. I want to enjoy this view. It's not every day I get to see Arendelle in its entire splendor."

Once Elsa had left the balcony the kindness plastered on Than's face disappeared in an instant. With a look of determination Than turned to the guard. "You heard what happened?"

"Yes sir."

"Tell the other men in the palace to ready themselves and then head to the meeting place. Tell them the queen is making the speech in the courtyard instead. It isn't the throne room anymore."

"Yes sir." The guard went into the opposite hallway the queen had, to spread the message among the men and then high tail it to the meeting place. Than then turned to the end of the balcony to look over Arendelle.

Than was surprised by Queen Elsa. She proved to be much more intelligent and cautious prey then he had expected. He cursed himself for letting the bit about the throne room leak out, but also applauded Elsa's observation for catching that. He was surprised though with her caution of the item. He actually had to use the story Hans came up with to get her to wear it. He figured that something that offered what she desired most would be too tantalizing to pass up. Heading towards the court yard he thought No matter, by the end of the day the result will be the same. By the end of the day, Arendelle will be ours.

Hans pov

We rowed for hours. We rowed through the late afternoon thankful for the early nightfall allowing us to keep out of sight. Well I didn't do any rowing. Just watching the men row in their separate ships was enough to make me feel tried. Perhaps coming by ship on a windless night was not the best way to sneak into Arendelle I thought. After rowing for so long we finally had Arendelle come into view. With renewed vigor the men paddled harder, determined to get there in time. With all the ships around it would have been difficult traversing between them. Luckily for us we made sure to pay off the dock master to keep the stations on the far side open. Good thing we did too, it left us a somewhat open path for us to travel to the docks.

Once we came to the docks Nolan and I made our way into town to the meeting spot. After all you don't send a small army into foreign territory unless you know the path is clear. As we made our way through the streets we found ourselves once again thankful that the majority of people were up around the palace. After all this walking through the streets we finally came to the crossroads near the merchant district.

After looking around Nolan said "It seems to our benefit and loss Hans that we are alone. I don't see Seth anywhere"

I cursed "Blast him! Where is he?"

"I am right here." Elkas said as he came out of the shadows. Alone I noticed.

I questioned "Where is Seth? He is supposed to be here to coordinate."

Elkas replied "Well good evening to you too Prince Hans; to answer your question he is in Weselton. He is organizing an alliance with the king and queen with the help of the duke. He'll meet up with us after we finish here."

Awful convenient for him

"His men are with him I assume." I said seething

"No, they are stationed on the other side of the city. After your contact meets up with you he will come to us and inform us to move."

"You came all this way just to tell us that."

"No what you are talking to is merely a projection" Elkas said as he suddenly vanished. After a stunned silence caused by this Nolan said "This night makes no sense to me." I replied "It isn't that much of a surprise that Seth isn't here. He was never much about getting his hands dirty."

"I get that, but its winter. Shouldn't there be snow?" I had to agree with Nolan it was already past fall and there should be at least some snow fall. "My guess is any snow that was around in Arendelle was melted by Queen Elsa. She is probably trying to give her guests less reasons to be reminded of her powers." Nolan countered "Or more likely the increase in temperature dealt with the snow."

I chuckled "Yeah that's more likely. We are only getting into winter now." Ever since that one snow storm weeks ago there has not been one snow fall since. Nolan asked "So where is our 'security' guild contact?" I shrugged and then heard the sound of a horse galloping down the street towards us. Nolan murmured "Speak of the devil here he comes" Riding a horse the contact dressed in the garb of the Arendelle guards quickly got off his horse and bowed to the both of us. "Report" I ordered.

"All has gone according to plan sir. Than has successfully gotten the Queen to wear the arm band. I have seen it with my own eyes." I nodded and motioned for him to continue. "The location of the speech has changed to the courtyard. The queen will soon give her speech and all of the nobility of the other kingdoms will be there. Ripe for the picking sir"

Nolan interrupted "Wide open spaces, lots of room to escape could turn bad if we don't play our cards right. The throne room had fewer exits, more controlled."

That is why we have our ace. "We'll have our forces circle them initially and Seth's forces will back us up, while everyone will be focused on her that is. We will strike at the end of this speech."

"Why not attack during the speech?" Nolan questioned

"It is undoubtedly about peace and the security of the kingdoms brother. I can't resist the irony of overthrowing this kingdom after something like that."

I turned to the guard "You go to where Seth's men are stationed and tell them what is going on while we gather our forces." The guard quickly mounted his horse and galloped off to where the men were stationed. While me and Nolan rushed back to the docks to round up our men.

Jack pov

*Morning of the day of the ball

It was a great day. The time for winter has come. I get to start the real snow storms, lots of snow and cold to go around for everyone. There will be fun and snow days and hearing the children squeal with laughter for the whole season. To commemorate the season I got myself a new blue cloak. Ok it was technically used. It had a couple of holes in it. I did get it from a to-be-burned-bin, but it was still a great day. As I walked through the woods in a mountain range I made sure to leave enough snow and frost in my wake so that even the animals knew that winter was here. I jumped into the air flying high above the trees and mountains. When I was high enough I stopped using my powers to fly and drifted gently on the air currents.

"Wind, tell me what you hear."

When I ask the wind he tells me what he hears and he hears everything. With the sound of the winds thousands of voices came into being. Whenever there is a child that needs some winter time fun I head their way to deliver. Usually I'll just spread winter fun as I go along but sometimes it's useful for making sure every child gets to have some winter fun. Especially in those out of the way places.

Come on, let's build a snow man.

There's fresh snow, let's go sledding.

Snowball fight!

It helped hearing the voices of the children. I was able to know who wanted a snow day because of it. Even with all the benefits that came with it, it was as painful as it is useful.

Mommy who is Jack Frost?

Nobody sweetheart it's just a myth.

I hear Jack Frost makes it snow. What do you think Timmy?

No one makes it snow it just happens.

I've been alone for years. I don't even know if I can even carry on a conversation with someone. I can see people every day, but it's rare to see another spirit. I know most of them don't like winter because it's cold but it still hurts to see them rush away to the other side of the world just to get warm. To my surprise I heard something, something familiar. If something was old it was usually faint. Pushing away the other voices I focused on that one sound, then like a rising chorus I hear it. The low haunting sound of a horn I knew all too well.

"Impossible. I must be imagining things." I dismissed.

Just as quickly as I said that, the wind stopped. Not as in it stopped telling me what it could hear. Stopped as in stopped blowing and I am now falling towards the earth. Tumbling through the sky I made contact with the woods below. Falling through the branches (hitting what felt like most of them) I finally landed into a snow drift. Not exactly an ideal way to land but I've had worse. I can feel pain like anyone else but the beneficial thing to being a spirit is that I have no bones to break.

Picking myself out of the snow I yelled "Hey, why did you do that?" The wind replied with the sound of the horn. "Come on she doesn't believe in me anymore. I know I made a promise but it hurts too much just to be near her." The winder blew even more making the sound even louder.

"Even if I went she can't see me."

That horn was meant for her emergency situations, when she needed me the most. Like getting lost in the woods or when she's in danger. She's the queen by now, nothing would happen to her. She must have like a billion guards protecting her. All those duties I saw the king and queen do was more than enough to make me go mad. I doubt she would have much time to go out and explore. If she was fine though, why would she blow the horn?

The thing that bothered me the most was the possibility that she believed again. If she believed again then that would mean she knows what the horn is for. If she remembered what the horn is for, then she could be in danger.

Filled with hope and fear I yelled "Wind, take me to Arendelle."

Trouble stirring up in Arendelle with Hans at the heart of it. Just what is his plan for the nobles of the ball?

Jack Frost has made his day view and shall be seen again.

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