"I'll let you do the honors," Elliott sighed and tried to pretend he was not a grown man laying down on the carpet of his office. Instead he tried to channel his younger self, the one that had been a fearless snowman builder that enjoyed playing with his little brother. "Ask me anything."

Andy paused for a minute, thinking well and hard about it. He had not been given this chance to ask his older brother anything while growing up. Elliott felt bad for never offering the chance. How many questions must Andy have had? How many went unanswered, for years? Elliott figured at least half of those questions had been violently answered during his coronation party and during the nightmarish time that followed after. With the whole eternal winter business.

Finally, Andy spoke.

"Are you happy, Elliott?"

The question clearly caught the King off guard, because it took him a while to answer. It was an easy yes or no answer- it should be. But it wasn't. Not for him, anyway. Too many things had happened in too little time. "I'm...happier," he allowed at last. "Happier than I was a year ago, anyway. Things... have changed. Clearly." Elliott smiled crookedly, even if his brother couldn't see him as they were both laying on their backs. "Things are better now... how about you?" He asked when Andy remained silent, "Are you happy?"

"I think I am," Andy replied with an uneasy chuckle. "I didn't realize how sad I actually was until you ran off to that mountain. But... like you said. Things are better. They will keep getting better."

Elliott smiled at his brother's strong optimism. As of right then, things were actually kind of grim. The kingdom's financial situation was tough. The Southern Isles were breathing down their necks with threats- but things weren't completely terrible. Elliott wasn't alone anymore. Neither of them was."I believe it's your turn again," he said. "I kind of returned the question."

This time Andy didn't hesitate, "If you weren't king, what would you like to be?"

"Jeez, Andy, I've never really thought about it." He'd been born to inherit his father's kingdom. From the moment he had any sort of reason, he'd been taught all about Arendelle, about politics, he was handed every tool he'd ever need at an early age. He didn't know anything else, but he'd often thought about it. If he'd been born the baker's boy, he would have been taught a completely different craft. Hey, he could have been the son of an ice harvester, like Krista. His quill and ink would have been an ice-saw and a pickaxe.

"Come on," Andy rolled to his side, propping up his chin with his hand in a very un-prince-like position. "A blacksmith? A farmer? Oh!" his brother's face brightened, "An assassin?"

Contrary to what he showed in the North Mountain, Elliott was quite the pacifist. He didn't like fights, and he didn't like bullies. His father had taught him to try to maintain the king's peace at all costs. "Excellent career choices, but I'm afraid not. I think... I think I may have liked being an architect," he confessed.

Andy processed his brother's words for about three seconds before his face broke into a grin, "Yeah, yeah, I could see that! Your place at the North Mountain was incredible. And your sketchbook has some amazing-" the prince clamped a hand over his own mouth, "Oh."

"You went through my sketchbook?" Elliott was more surprised than angry, his eyebrows raised. He doodled in his spare time, when he was sad, or stressed- he just poured whatever he was feeling into the pages. Things that back then had been but fantasies- but now they could become realities, his powers had proved that.

"Um... yeah, uh... not exactly," Andy's face flushed with embarrassment. "It's gonna sound really pathetic but- you sometimes ripped out pages, balled 'em up and threw them away," Elliott remembered. He was also quite the perfectionist. No mediocre drawing was allowed to stay with the rest. Sometimes he even tossed them in the fire if he was particularly displeased with it. "So I'd fish them out of the trash, straighten them out and-" he laughed nervously, "Sometimes I colored them."

Elliott sat up, for some reason completely moved be Andy's words. His jaw tightened.

"I, uh... thought about slipping them under your door. I never did. My coloring wasn't very good, and it didn't do justice to your-"

"I'd like to see them," Elliott said. "The drawings of mine you colored."

His little brother opened and closed his mouth, still looking mortified. He didn't say he'd saved the drawings- but Andy just struck him as the type that would. "You... what? Really?"

Elliott nodded. "Really."

"So you don't think it's creepy at all?"

The Ice King laughed, the sound cracking a little. "Andy, it's... gods. It means so much. And it also hurts." He was determined not to cry, but his voice was still thick with emotion. "After what I did to you... for so many years... you were still trying to..."

It was almost too easy to imagine the young prince looking through the trash of all places for some connection to his older brother. It made Elliott's heart break; but it also made it float. The drawings he salvaged weren't even his best work; but the imperfect ones were perfect to Andy- perfect for him to color, to keep. "I'm sorry for everything," Elliott repeated, for the thousandth time in the last couple of days.

"I've told you; it's forgiven. I'm glad you giving me the cold shoulder is over," Andy smiled, dimples and all. "I'll show you my coloring skills some other time, I promise. Right now- it's your turn to ask me something!"

Elliott's smile slowly faded as what he wanted to do now presented itself before him. "I don't have a question at the moment, but... I'd like to tell you something." He took a deep breath, "I don't think I've ever told you exactly why I... shut you out."

"To protect me."

"Yes. But the whole story-" Elliott felt his skin getting uncomfortably hot. Remembering the night everything changed, when he shot his brother in the head with his magic- it was easily one of the worst moments of his life. Right beside freezing Andy's heart many years later.

"...Elliott. It's okay." Andy's lips were pressed together. "I know."

This he did not expect. He almost choked while trying to form his next sentence, "W-What do you mean you know?"

"After I... came back," came back probably meant when my heart thawed, "I came back knowing the truth- also, Krista told me some of it. She was there that night, when our parents took me to see the trolls, when my head-" he tapped his forehead, "when Grand Pabbie healed me and took my... my memories. I know, Elliott."

This time the one lone tear did leave Elliott's eye and he quickly wiped it away. This 20 question game took the most unexpected of turns- he never thought this would happen. That so many things would come to light. But he liked the honesty between them- it was very nice. "I hated myself," he was glad they were alone. His voice right then was not worthy of a king. "I hated them," he looked down at his hands, referring to his magic.

"Elliott, stop, you're making me cry too!" Andy wasn't as ashamed as him to be tearing up. He smiled and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "I was waiting for you to tell me yourself. And you have! ... Sort of." He sat up and grabbed Elliott by his wrists, "Your power is a gift. It backfired on you once a couple of times- but that's okay. It's past us now, yeah? You're going to be the best king ever, magic and all!"

This time Elliott didn't hold back. He took a shuddering breath and pulled his brother into a bear hug.

Krista

The Blizzard Dragon actually looked worse than the first time Krista had encountered it with Andy atop the North Mountain- when it had chased them out of Elliott's palace and over a cliff.

It looked like the dragon had fought with a tree and lost. Pine tree needles stuck out from its snowy coat, even whole branches. It was missing one sapphire eye, but the one that remained was blazing with fury. The most significant change; it was missing one of its wings, so it hobbled awkwardly as it ran after them, completely off-balance.

The weirdest thing was the thing atop its head. It was a really nice crown, with a shiny jewel in the middle. Fit for, well... a king. The crown was made of gold, not ice or snow, so the dragon had obviously got it from somewhere. Krista wondered if the Blizzard Dragon thought he looked pretty.

"What is that thing!" her uncle cried, hanging on to dear life as Suri raced at top speed.

"Not friendly," was Krista's reply as she focused on keeping the reins steady, to stop her hands from trembling. Her eyes widened when she realized something, "We can't go back to back to town! It'll follow us!"

Axel visibly paled. "Then what do you suggest?"

Krista had no useful reply for that. They couldn't take this thing on by themselves, even if it was maimed. She could try to cause some damage with her ice harvesting tools, but knowing her luck it would probably fail and the creature would just get madder. For a fleeting second she thought about going to the trolls- but what good would that do? Her family was tough, but she didn't know if they could fight enraged ice dragons, she didn't want to put them in any unnecessary danger.

"The only person that I think would stand a chance is in Arendelle," she said quietly.

"And who is this dragon slayer?" Her uncle's fear was changing to irritation. The dragon wasn't so fast anymore, and they had some advantage- but the steady trampling of the woods behind them reminded them the dragon was never too far.

"King Elliott," she said. She didn't know who had hurt the dragon that bad, she assumed it must've been Elliott somehow. If not him, who else?

Her uncle blinked at her, like he hadn't heard correctly, "The King?!"

Krista cried out as the dragon lost its footing and tumbled forward, almost smashing the sled, but Suri was quick enough to jerk the whole thing to the side to avoid becoming a pancake. She gripped the reins even tighter and urged her reindeer to go faster.

"Yeah, His Grace can probably handle this," Krista didn't want to, but they really did not have any other choice. "We need to get it to Arendelle."

Thinking about all the things that could go wrong made her head swim. What if the creature lost interest in following them and decided to attack the village instead? How would Elliott know to come out and help? What if he wasn't even in the palace? She really, really hoped she wasn't making a huge mistake.

Helena

Helena wasn't about to go around praising Arendellan-things anytime soon. But sweet heavens, did they make excellent krumkakes. Astrid's special cakes didn't compare to the amazing taste of these cake thingys Helena had scooped up from the kitchen after sort of making peace with General Winter.

"If only you had taste buds to experience this," she said, slowly nibbling on her third treat of the last few minutes. The kitchen staff had been hesitant about her request for snacks, but eventually they gave her a tray of the leftover krumkakes from last night's dinner.

"If only you had taste to begin with," the snowman shot back. Helena would've rolled her eyes if she'd actually cared about his insult. She was too busy wiping powdered sugar from her fingers against the expensive chair she was lounging in. She wouldn't have dared do something so gross back home, but this was Elliott's chair. The princess didn't care about damaging his furniture.

"Ha-ha. Good one!" Helena said drily. "Stupid talking snowman..."

The General scoffed, "Well, you're a criminal!"

"Mmm, yeah, that's me. The felon." This time the urge to roll her eyes was too great.

Helena had decided she'd rather coexist with the snowman in peace, she didn't want that stupid ice sword pressed against her throat ever again. So she was keeping her more biting insults at bay. She was never going to imply that he was a Meltling, even if he kinda was. If the princess had something strong going for her, it was self-preservation. She learned from her mistakes, and almost never repeated them. This whole hellish experience was one huge lesson she'd never expected.

"Here, have one," she shoved a whole krumkake inside the snowman's temple while he wasn't looking. It sunk easily and she pushed until only a tiny bit of the dessert was visible. The snowman's eyes bulged.

"Oi!"

So much for not having a death wish.

Laughter bubbled up in her chest. When was the last time she had truly laughed out of pure amusement?

"You are a savage!" General Winter yelled, pulling out the cake with his snowy lips curled into a snarl. The hole was small, like a bullet wound, but Helena could confirm that this thing didn't have a brain. He was hollow inside. For some reason, she found it hilarious.

Helena really wanted to reply, but she was laughing too hard. The indignant look on the snowman's face was just too funny. Her laughter soon died when a group of guards stumbled down the stairs, their faces panicked.

Her heart leapt to her throat, thinking they'd come for her. She was behaving!... Sort of. Was Elliott really-?

"What's the problem, men?" General Winter demanded, turning glare away from her and to the alarmed bunch. Helena inched closer to a suit of armor nearby, brushing her fingers against the decorative sword's hilt. She wouldn't be slicing anyone open because the blade was dulled, but she could still do some serious damage. They weren't taking her anywhere without a fight.

"There's a commotion outside," one of them said. "Something's attacking the village square."

The lankiest of the bunch scratched at his ear nervously, "They're saying it's a dragon!"

Helena gasped without meaning to. Something like dread settled on her stomach, or maybe it was anger. Whatever it was, it didn't feel good.

General Winter was a completely different story. There was a hungry glint in his ice shard-for-eyes. "The Blizzard Dragon. So we meet again."

The awful feelings seemed to churn in her gut. She had killed that thing! She cut off its wing and threw it down the abyss. How was it back, how was it possible? Did Elliott want to punish her by creating a new one and-

No, don't be foolish. The monster was attacking the village. Elliott obviously wouldn't be a fan of that.

Speaking of the devil, he trotted down the stairs seconds after, his freckly brother in tow. Helena pretended not to notice Elliott's red-rimmed eyes, like he'd been crying. Andy's flushed cheeks told the same story as the king's eyes. Had they...both been... crying? It threw her off, Elliott was always so composed and Andy always smiling... Helena didn't cry with her sisters, ever. She cried because of them. For a second, she envied the two boys.

"The Blizzard Dragon's damaging things for the Summer Festival and attacking the people," Andy said. "We need to stop it."

There was a tense silence, until Helena realized she was being directly spoken to. She raised her eyes to meet the prince's, and it was just as cringe-worthy as she expected. Things were still rough between them. She didn't expect them to forgive her, of course she didn't, but being despised was never a nice feeling. "What? Me?" she said.

"You got rid of it last time," Elliott said, his tone even. "I didn't see it- but I heard the fight from inside the ice palace. You are the only dragonslayer that we know of."

"A lousy one," General Winter added helpfully. "You did not kill it, your claim was false."

She flushed angrily, "I chopped off its wing and threw it down a cliff!" she jabbed a finger in Elliott's direction, "If His Grace made it indestructible, that's his fault!"

"Meltlings can be killed," Andy said with a hard edge to his voice. Helena almost winced when she remembered what General Winter had said; that Elliott had created a Meltling look-alike of her, and that it was Andy who had killed that one. It bothered her, but she couldn't exactly explain why.

"That thing's not gonna be excited to see me," Helena said unhappily. "Besides, why should I help you?"

She regretted it the moment the words left her, but it was Elliott who replied with an icy smile. "Because, princess, you owe us, to put it mildly. You owe us more than you want to admit."

She fumed in silence, but decided not to made this harder that it needed to be. She knew she'd end up helping one way or another. "Fine."

Elliott seemed surprised that she didn't argue back, or put up a more difficult fight. Truth was, she was tired. Of all of this. She never thought she'd wish for Astrid's presence until this day. It felt cowardly, but she really wanted her sister to get her out of this mess already.

"Okay, then. Guards, start heading out to evacuate the people," Elliott said, all business-like. The guards yes, sir'ed him and left. When it was only the two brothers, General Winter and herself, the king spread his fingers and waved them at her. A sword made of ice similar to General Winter's formed in her hand, and she yelped in surprise. The hilt wasn't as cold as it looked, and the balance of the sword felt nice in her hand. "You will help us."

Andy didn't look too sure about arming her, but he shrugged it off and started heading down the stairs, General Winter like an eager puppy right behind. Helena was about to follow when she felt Elliott's cold, ungloved hand on her shoulder stopping her. She canted her head to the side to look at him. "I'm giving you this sword to kill the Blizzard Dragon. Try to keep it away from my backside, if you would be so kind."

He didn't sound mean, and the sardonic side of her humor allowed her a small smile. "If it please Your Grace."

Andy

The first thing Andy did when he arrived at the chaotic village square was look for Krista.

He didn't know why, but his gut was telling him to. She was supposed to be harvesting ice up in the mountains with her jerk uncle, but some higher power told him she was here. The Blizzard Dragon had lost no time trampling flowers and flipping over carts. Alarmed horses without their riders galloped around the trashed center of the plaza, neighing and whining and basically not helping the situation.

The ear-piercing roar he'd heard back at the North Mountain days ago was back and terrorizing everyone. Children and adults ran around screaming. Andy's heart felt like lead. Elliott was going to get blamed for the dragon's craze. If Helena succeeded, she'd come out on top as the hero yet again. It had been an overall poor decision, but the princess was the only one that had successfully fought the dragon before. He was convinced Helena's heart was the frozen one, but it didn't seem to affect her courage. The girl was strong. The moment they arrived to help she immediately started barking orders about locating the dragon and ways to lure it away from the people. He begrudgingly admired that natural leadership.

Meanwhile Elliott was trying to keep buildings from collapsing by supporting them with ice columns. Andy remembered the dragon's spiked tail, how it could basically serve as a wrecking ball if BD swung it too wide. He got separated from the party following his gut instinct about Krista. People ran and shoved past him as they fled, he was the only crazy one going towards the angry roars and sounds of destruction.

"Prince Anders?"

"Axel?" Andy tried not to be too startled when he saw the grown man cowering behind an overturned cart. They were in a narrow alley without any people, but the dragon had been here. The trail of ice on the ground was evidence of that.

The man pushed back his long, long blonde hair and nodded. "I- I was with Krista, when we ran into- into that thing. She said King Elliott was the only one that could stop it. So we brought it here..."

He'd stopped listening after the word Krista. Every signal on his brain went off to saying she's here, gotta find her, she's here, and there's a dragon. "Be calm," he told the man who looked scared out of his mind. "Where's Krista?"

Axel gripped the wood on the cart tighter, shame clouding his face, "Um, she was... uh, the dragon... she said she was... going to buy time..."

Andy felt like he'd been struck with Elliott's cold magic. "You left her to fight alone?!"

"I-"

The prince held up a hand, silencing him. It was getting really hard to not loathe the man. "Stop. I don't wanna hear what you have to say. Just tell me where she is."

"Where the ships dock," Axel said lamely. No wonder this man had abandoned Krista when she was little. He was a coward through and thorough.

Andy was about to run off but he paused, meeting the man's defeated brown gaze, "You know, if you wanted Krista's forgiveness, this is a terrible way to go about it." And then he ran.


Andy arrived just in time to witness the overgrown ice lizard crushing a rowing boat with only its jaws, like it was a toothpick. The second thing he witnessed was tiny brave Krista throwing a fishing harpoon like a champion and impaling the dragon's shoulder. Andy couldn't help but cheer like a proud mom, which caused two things: one, for Krista to notice him. Two, for the dragon to notice him.

The dragon hissed and turned his full attention to Andy. "Hey buddy! It's been a while!" he said, as a flicker of recognition crossed the dragon's already very hateful eyes. Andy blinked in confusion. Atop the Blizzard Dragon's head was Elliott's crown from his coronation day. The fine gold caught the light and made it shine.

"Anders!" Krista yelled, a mix of worry and surprise on her face, "What are you doing?!"

"I'm not sure myself-" he had to dash to the side as the dragon stomped the ground and charged at him like a bull. They didn't have many bulls around these parts, but he'd read books on Spain and he felt like a bullfighter.

He jogged towards Krista while the dragon was busy crashing against the side of a building. She glared at him "That was stupid of you. One more second and you would've been a pancake-"

He silenced her with a kiss on her cheek, "I'm glad you're safe. And that your loser uncle if safe, too."

She muttered something about reckless prince but the blush on her cheeks betrayed her. He was about to make another lame joke when they were rudely interrupted by the ice dragon's furious steps. Half of its face had caved in from the impact, but he still looked ready to commit murder.

Krista's shoulders slumped, "I don't know what else to do. We've been playing cat-and-mouse for a while, and it still isn't tired. How can we-"

"Oh, boy."

Krista, the dragon and Andy both turned to look at who had just rounded the corner to find them. Helena's hair was out of her neat ponytail and around her face, her mouth set into a firm line as the dragon's eyes locked on hers. General Winter stood beside her, practically vibrating with glee.

Something in the dragon's gaze changed. It went from crazy rampage to unbelievably and thoroughly mad.

General Winter noticed this, too. "It remembers you!" he nudged the princess' leg excitedly.

"Lucky me," Helena raised her eyes to the sky as if to say thanks to the gods, and then she drew the ice sword Elliott had made for her.

Andy flinched, hating the fact that he did. Krista squeezed his arm, noticing. "Who decided to was a good idea to give her a sword?"

"Elliott said she's the most qualified to kill it. Apparently she fought it before on the North Mountain." he rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly nervous, "but I don't know if she can. The dragon looks super mad."

Luckily, he was proven wrong. The dragon let out another guttural scream before charging at the princess and her snowy companion. Helena was fast. Faster than one would think. He dodged the assault easily and jabbed the sword against the monster's talon. General Winter mirrored her move, less graciously, but he also managed to stab the dragon where it hurt. It howled in pain and licked at its wounds, maybe trying to heal them. Whatever it was trying to accomplish, it was distracted enough; for now.

Next thing he knew, Helena was beside them. "I'm gonna need you two to distract it while I try to cut its head off."

Krista made an indignant noise at being told what to do by the princess, but Andy said "What kind of distraction?"

"Umm..." the princess scanned around for what she could work with. Finally, she pointed at a crate, "There's a tomato box. Get creative."

"I don't think-"

"Do it."

Helena ran to the other side of the dock and jumped behind an overturned boat, gesturing at them to do as she said. Helena's new best friend, General Winter, obediently followed her for the sneak attack. Krista rolled her eyes in annoyance. "She's going to ambush it," Andy tugged at the blonde's hand, "C'mon."

"I can't believe we're teaming up with your murderous ex-girlfriend to kill a zombie-like dragon," Krista said as they reached the tomato box. "And I'd like to stress the word murderous."

Andy shrugged. Of course this wasn't ideal, but what else were they going to do? Neither of them really stood a chance against the thing. Elliott was elsewhere, trying to keep buildings from collapsing with his magic. General Winter didn't stand a chance alone.

He studied the way the crate was positioned. It looked like it was about to be lifted by a machine, it was sort of balanced on a plank of wood. "Hey, maybe we can catapult it right into its ugly face."

Krista quickly caught on to his train of thoughts, "So we jump on that end... and the crate gets thrown straight at the dragon. Sounds simple enough."

"Together?" Andy gripped her hand and helped her up a smaller crate to the side so they were high enough to land on the plank of wood.

"Together," Krista replied with a small smile. Off to somewhere on their left, Helena made an annoyed sound telling them to hurry up- and Andy saw why. The dragon was done licking its wounds and was sniffing at the air, probably trying to find Helena.

It got a disappointed look on its face when he couldn't quite find his worst enemy. As consolation prize, he let his full attention fall on the prince and the ice harvester. This time it didn't charge, but started walking towards them with careful steps. For a second, Andy felt sorry for the creature.

"Do we jump?" Krista said in a low tone, barely moving her lips. Maybe she was paranoid the dragon understood.

"Not yet," Andy murmured back. "It needs to get closer."

Now, he was no expert in physics, but judging by the dragon's speed they would need to jump in a couple more seconds. They had to time this perfectly so the crate would hit him, and Helena was probably counting down in her head too, ready to strike.

He prayed to any god that would listen that this worked. The dragon's sapphire eyes were fixed on them, oblivious to the fact that if they jumped on the wooden plank the crate resting on it would go flying.

"Now!"

Krista hesitated and Andy had to tug her hard so they both landed on the plank at the exact same time. Andy craned his head back and smiled as the crate soared across the air. It happened almost in slow motion.

The dragon stopped dead in its tracks to stare at the incoming projectile. The only wing it had left on its back twitched, like he wanted to take flight but obviously couldn't. Small red circles tumbled out from the open box, a perfectly good produce wasted but sacrifices had to be made for the greater good. Andy never thought he'd be so happy to see tomatoes rain down from the sky. Even when some of them landed on him, the grin on his face did not change.

His calculations had been off by a little bit, and the crate exploded with a loud crash inches away from the dragon's face. "Uh oh," Andy said.

Before panic could get to him, two wonderful things happened.

One, Helena leaped from her hiding spot and sliced the dragon's slender neck with the ice sword like it was butter.

Two, Elliott had joined them just in time to send a horse-sized blast of snow shaped like a fist straight at the dragon's exposed back.

Both attacks combined resulted in the dragon's defeated sound of anguish and its death. The Blizzard Dragon burst into a million pieces, both ice and snow. The only real thing that remained was Elliott's crown, which was picked up by Helena.

"No fair!" General Winter waddled out from behind Helena's hiding spot, looking furious, "You didn't let me destroy the last Meltling!"

"Your legs aren't fast enough old man," the princess rolled her eyes and held out the crown to Elliott. "I believe this is yours?"

Elliott wiped some sweat from his brow, his face lined with worry. He accepted the crown, "Thanks." Using his powers seemed to have left him tired. Andy didn't blame him. He was exhausted himself.

Before anyone could do so much as think about celebrating, a ramp smacked against the dock and made them all turn to see. Andy almost didn't register the sound of a trumpet announcing the arrival of royalty.

"No way," Helena's eyes got wild, "How?"

They had been so busy protecting the village from the Meltling attack, Andy hadn't even thought to look out at sea to watch out for any incoming visitors. It's like the Southern Isles ship materialized out of thin air, like it had made a sneak attack of its own. This ship was way more grand and fancy than Sophia's had been... it could only mean one thing.

Andy brushed his hair back with his fingers so his bangs weren't in the way when the Queen of the Southern Isles practically glided down from her ship. She looked so regal, with her head held high and her shoulders straight. Her blonde hair fell down her shoulders in lazy ringlets and her smile was cold. She wore a red gown with long sleeves, braided with a gold color. She had a powerful sort of aura, and it made Andy nervous.

Behind her followed another woman in a blue dress, probably a sister, who felt way less threatening than the queen. Their faces were very similar, but the color scheme was different. This woman had dark auburn hair like Helena's, but her eyes were blue. And then she had... a scar. On the left side of her face. It was thin and deep, from the corner of her eye to her chin. It didn't take away from her beauty, but it sure was striking to look at. How did something like that happen to a princess?

"That was quite the impressive display," the older woman said. She looked at each and every one of their faces, frowning slightly when she saw General Winter, but if she felt any discomfort she didn't let it show. Her serene face finally landed on her younger sister's. "Helena," Queen Astrid said with a soft smile. "It's good to see you."

Andy could see the inner struggle on Helena's face. Half of her seemed relieved, the other half was angry. Her lips didn't seem to know whether to smile or to snarl.

She finally settled for a forced smile and bow of her head, "I feel the same, my queen." Her eyes flickered up briefly to the woman in the blue dress, "Maddy, you too."

The girl with the scar smiled a little, but Astrid didn't acknowledge her younger sister's words. Instead she gracefully stepped over dragon guts and sloshy tomato remains and made a bee-line for his brother. "And you must be Elliott. I've heard quite a lot about you."

The king of Arendelle had stiffened beside him, cold radiating off him. Andy discreetly poked his arm. "... Yes. I'm Elliott. And you are Astrid," he finally said. He bowed, "It's... a pleasure. Truly."

Like they were old friends, the southern queen hooked her arm through Elliott's in a seemingly friendly gesture. But Andy could see her nails digging in, "We have much to discuss," her voice was too sweet for the icy look on her face. "Let us talk somewhere private."


For all the people who asked for brotherly fluff- there ya go, at long last! lol

summer is over, and i'm back in school. it's a tough year. I don't know how often i'll be able to update, but i'll do my best! I'm going to put up a word counter or 'progress' bar for future chapters on my profile. any questions, feel free to go on my tumblr where i post loads of frozen or send a PM here. i didn't have time to proof-read, soo pls excuse any mistakes.

Reviews are encouraged and i love reading them :) thank you for keeping up with this story!