Elsa watched with fascination as the foreigner moved with grace and agility. Such skillsets were rare, to say the least, and Elsa could only wonder how the stranger, Kaya, would use the weapon that she had so calmly discarded when she had saved Anna.

Kaya slowed to a stop, and inexplicably looked up.

She's good. Elsa thought. Kaya's senses must be something extraordinary if she was able to feel Elsa watching from so far away. Kaya nodded and then proceeded to ignore her.

Feeling slightly embarrassed to have been caught staring, Elsa retreated back into her office that had once been her father's. She heard a knock at the door and bade the knocker to come in.

Anna gave a cute little wave as a greeting before turning to close the door behind her. She looked as if she had something specific to say.

Elsa smiled fondly at her sister and waited at a window that would also enable to continue watching Kaya train by herself. Anna came to the window and followed her gaze.

"Interesting woman, isn't she?"

"To say the least." Elsa responded before she could stop herself. "Is something wrong?"

Anna looked a little sheepish. "Oh, it's nothing."

It was definitely something (with Anna it never wasn't), but Elsa didn't ask.

She didn't have to wait long.

"Sooo..."

Elsa quirked an eyebrow and waited for Anna to continue.

"Now that Lockhart's out of the picture, you are going to need someone to take his place." Anna said.

The queen saw where this was going, and to be honest, she'd thought along the same lines herself.

Elsa laughed. "She doesn't seem like the kind of person who would stay somewhere permanently at a moment's notice."

"Well, you paid Lockhart a fair amount, right?"

"Doesn't look like money could sway her either." Elsa paused. "What makes you think I'm desperate for her to stay?"

Her sister giggled. "You said that, I was just impressed by how she didn't even have to touch the Captain of Arendelle's army to send him running."

"I agree she's talented, but she doesn't seem like one to bend."

"But you want her."

Elsa's mouth dropped open, shocked that her sister would make such an implication.

Anna seemed to realize her unintentional innuendo and hurried to clarify. "As Lockhart's replacement?"

Now feeling silly that she had allowed her mind to wander in such an improper direction, Elsa felt her face turn red as she blushed.

Then her sister seemed to really catch on. "Unless you want her..."

Elsa blinked. "I-"

The second princess of Arendelle pointed a finger in Elsa's face and glared. "Don't even try to lie to me, Elsa."

"I admit I find her...attractive," she confessed. "But..." She'd be a fool to act on such a feeling.

"Elsa," Anna said, placing a hand on Elsa's arm. "You know I'll always love you, no matter what, right?"

The ice queen felt her heart melt at her sister's statement. She opened her arms and found herself enveloped in a hug that was not unlike the one they had shared after Hans had tried to assassinate her.

They separated and Anna bounced a little on her toes. "Well, I'm off to bed." She waved as she reached the door. "Goodnight, Elsa."

Elsa smiled warmly as her sister departed. "Goodnight, Anna."


Kaya tried not to look like she was in too much of a hurry as she walked around the walls that surrounded the palace. She knew where the shadow had scaled the wall, and she didn't have to guess where the dark figure had been headed.

Finally, she spotted the guard that had been one of the gentler men that had dragged her to the palace in chains. Thomas, she recalled.

He caught sight of her and nodded. "Good evening, Miss Le-"

She ignored his greeting. "You might want to have someone process the queen's chambers." She proceeded to gesture in the direction of the main wing of the palace.

He looked bewildered. "Why would I-"

Kaya resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she started walking away. "Just trust me. Or don't. I don't really care."

Thomas narrowed his eyes. "What should they be looking for?"

She raised a mocking brow, as if to say, "What do you think?"

He hurried off. Kaya didn't think he would've needed a detailed explanation as to why she made the request that she did, but she supposed she should be grateful that he trusted her so easily. Or maybe she should be worried instead.

Kaya almost chuckled at the thought of Lockhart's face as he seemed to reason out her special ability. The man must have, at some point, had some suspicions as to how she'd known that Ada had the finger marks that she did. She certainly couldn't have known from directly seeing the injuries, because of the barmaid's outfit, so how?

As she'd grown older, her magic had allowed her to see a sort of aura that surrounded each person uniquely. Even for someone like the Snow Queen, who was probably the most comfortable at sub-zero temperatures, every living being generated a certain amount of body heat that was unique to that particular creature. All humans had a body temperature within a few degrees, but with enough practice, it was possible to make distinctions of slight differences in heat. Of course, it had taken years of training to be able to distinguish one person's heat signature from someone else's.

She hadn't known for certain that the assassin was headed to the Queen's room, but who else could he have been sent for? Certainly not the princess, unless the plan had been to take a hostage to blackmail the queen, but Kaya doubted that. The heat signature (quite obviously lower than anyone else's at the palace) that was characteristic to Elsa had been the same as the room that the assassin had crawled into. Unless Queen Elsa made a habit of sleeping somewhere other than her own chambers, of course.

If she'd had her father's temperament, she would've left Queen Elsa to her fate, as it was no one's fault if not the queen's that the palace guard was not trained sufficiently to anticipate these matters. But Kaya had owed Elsa a debt for letting her off so easily after kicking Lockhart's ass, and now it had been repaid. She started to walk leisurely back to her room after considering the possibility that the guard might be too late to save Queen Elsa.

Kaya paused at the stairs, staring at the air in front of her, lost in thought. Sighing, she turned on her heel and started in the direction she had last sensed the queen's heat signature.