Whoa. That was a long hiatus! Let me tell you something about writer's block: It sucks. I had no motivation after I posted the last chapter to continue, but when it suddenly hit me...I HAD TO WRITE IT. If I don't post something for awhile, that's probably why. So sorry for the silence. Hopefully you all enjoy this bit.

...A Queen May Cry

It was raining the day they had been married.

Many thought it was a bad sign, but the Queen strayed far from the chatter. No matter what the weather, an arranged marriage for political alliance was as unlucky as one could be. Especially when they were the only marriageable heir left. Elsa had rejected multiple "romantic" advances from neighboring countries and sordidly burned them all within a matter of seconds. Normally, an eternal freeze would satisfy her but these correspondences needed to be shelled from existence. For every letter that came in a week, there was a fire to be burned in the great hall of Arendelle's castle.

"That's the last of them!" Anna grunted as she dragged the final bag of Royal Decree's across the polished floor.

"You'd think they would know when to give up." A letter addressed to her Majesty requested her presence in a Kingdom East of Corona where their cousin lived. Elsa had read it over multiple times and wondered whether to burn it or not. It was brash, much like the rest, but less persistent and written in the Prince's hand (or so it had been signed).

"What's that one?" Before she could throw it in, Anna caught at the corner of the paper and snatched it from her sister's hand.

"I was about to burn that one."

"No you weren't, you were reading it." Anna chuckled, settling into one of the armchairs beside the fire and skimmed it over. Her face slowly set into an expression of sweetness.

"What's that look for?" Elsa fidgeted nervously.

"I think you should respond to this one."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous!" Anna dodged her sister as she once again tried to win back what was stolen. Wriggling her brows and laughing at the failed attempts, Elsa gave up and fell beside Anna into a separate chair where she stared into the flames.

"Whoever Prince Riordan is, he comes off as a little-"

"What? Not worship-y enough for you?!" Anna teased lightly as she poked Elsa's arm.

"No!" She brightened. "But he doesn't come off as interested either."

Pondering a moment on that, Anna knit her brows together and read the letter again. It was not long before she nodded in agreement.

"But maybe that's the point."

"I don't understand men."

"Neither do I."

Elsa laughed, "Yet you managed to snag one."

"Kristoff is an exception." She declared confidently. As far as his background went, only a handful of people knew about his childhood and two of them were a snowman and a reindeer. Kristoff was not a "man", he was as much a reindeer as Sven was a human. Which was a compliment.

"Do you really think I should respond to this one?" Despite the control over her abilities, Elsa still managed to form new habits to calm the storm. The most recent was constant chewing of her nails, which were in poor shape as of late.

"It couldn't hurt," that was true. "You never know, he could be the one."

A comfortable silence passed between the two sisters before Elsa said anything.

"Fine," she sighed. "Kai!"

Even on the day he first arrived, which was unannounced and unflattering in the most indecent way, it was raining. His ships were large and well stocked with weaponry that the slightest sight of their sails sent the folk of Arendelle into a frenzy. Prepared for what could only be assumed as an invasion, Elsa stood at the front lines with her poorly numbered Kings-guard ready to fight. It was both a relief and an irritation when a young man dressed in slacks and an untucked shirt spilled his way down onto the dock with one guard beside him.

Drunk was the future King of Arendelle.

"Queen Elsie! We were just in the neighborhood when I told my dear friend, Rolland, that we should sneak a surprise on her Majesty." He must have thought himself very funny, but Elsa was not having any of it. Neither was the sober guard behind the drunken fool, for he attempted to hold back his charge once he glanced a look in her direction.

"How dare you." She hissed. Riordan's head snapped up and his eyes cleared for a moment.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"You have done multiple things wrong, and the first was docking your armada without a warning of your arrival. You singlehandedly threw my people into a fit and improperly addressed me by the wrong name. I have to ask you to leave." Elsa turned on her heel and gave direct orders to her men to see them off. The rain picked up as she sought shelter within the castle walls and it was evening around the time Kai came to beg for her presence in the Great Hall.

"It appears that the strangers have not left."

Furious, Elsa glided on ice as she made her presence known in the expanse of the Hall. Kneeling before the throne, the guard who had accompanied the drunk bowed his head until she addressed him. Little sparks went off behind her eyes and they were pleasant.

"Your Majesty, I must extend a deep apology for my Lord's indecency this afternoon. He set course for Arendelle before I could make haste. We have no messenger birds aboard the ship and could not send word to you, else wise I would have done so myself." A shadow passed over his handsome features and Elsa feigned her anger, for she was too much absorbed in memorizing everything about him. When he lifted his eyes to meet hers, something inside her chest unwound and hitched up again. How strange.

"Did I not order your immediate dismissal?"

"You did."

"I should have you punished for your disobedience, Captain-?"

"Rolland, majesty. "

Perhaps it was his respect and humility that won her over, but either way, she later accepted Riordan when he requested to visit on official terms. Then when he proposed their marriage, she accepted, and it had been raining. Three long months later, the wedding came and went with a storm that seized the whole of the fjord.

Perhaps the rain had been a bad sign, for the Queen now stood beside her window staring out into the vastness of the water as she waited. Rain covered all of Arendelle and not a soul could be seen walking the pavement of its beautiful city. What had been recovered of the late King was not enough to bury, but it would be done nonetheless.

This is my punishment for not loving him enough. She thought sadly. A knock at her door interrupted the swelling pity in her stomach and she pulled her veil to cover her pale face.

"The carriage is here to take you." Gerda whispered solemnly into the empty silence.

Elsa said nothing as she left the room of the inn. Outside, the rain seemed to keep itself from touching her as she made her way to the waiting carriage. It would be Rolland escorting her while Finn would be accompanied by the entirety of the Queens-guard.

They did not make eye contact as he opened the door for her. This would be the 10th day that they had not spoken but three words to one another. And as much as she missed Riordan, she missed Rolland's comforting voice more.

"It was raining."

"My Queen?" He asked stiffly once settled in his seat across from her.

"When you first came to Arendelle, it was raining. Do you remember that?"

"I do."

"You came to me and apologized for the disruption," she sucked in a deep breath to hold back her impending tears. "I never should have allowed you to return. Perhaps he would still be alive if I had rejected your gesture."

Rolland, who was always composed, reached for her resting hands and squeezed them.

"Look at me, please." The pleading quality to his strained whisper forced her hand. A flash of the man she first met in the Great Hall reflected now in his weathered eyes. It was the first form of affection she had received from him since the fire.

"It was raining on our wedding day, too." The shallow mask she wore finally broke and tears escaped her. Guilt washed over the Queen in the desolation of her fallen marriage and she was left to pick up the pieces of her noble husband's sacrifice. He was dead because she had loved another man and she was sick with herself because she was grateful that it was not Rolland's funeral they were attending.

"Elsa…" His voice lingered, as if he knew what she was thinking and agreed. They were as guilty as the conspirators who had committed the act of violence.

He breathed. She breathed.

They came as close as foreheads touching and sought comfort in whatever was left of the other. The death of the King was just one more thing that had brought them closer and it was the one last thing that still stood between them.