** July 15, 1840 - Dawn - Aboard Her Majesty's Ship King Agdar,
Flagship of the Royal Arendelle Navy **

Admiral Mikael Naismith was being shaken awake by his steward. "Sir, Sir! Come quick, Admiral! The Captain needs you on deck! Something terrible is happening!"

Throwing on enough uniform to maintain his dignity, Naismith ran from his cabin to the quarterdeck. The Captain of his flagship was pacing with some agitation, and there seemed to be more activity on deck than was normal for the morning watch.

"Captain Halvorsen, what is it? Are we under attack?" A quick scan of the surrounding waters didn't seem to show any hostile ships.

"No, sir. But we have received word from one of the dispatch ships from the squadron closer to Arendelle that the sea there has frozen over and there seems to be a blizzard howling over the kingdom!" Halvorsen was shaken. Frozen seas and blizzards were nothing new to the Royal Arendelle Navy, but it was the middle of JULY!

"What?!" Naismith was stunned by this news. He immediately realized what had to be causing this freak weather phenomenon, and his heart sank. The Queen!

"Set a course for Arendelle immediately, Captain." he ordered. "Just the Agdar; order the rest of the squadron to continue their patrol schedule."

"Aye, aye, Sir! But we won't be able to make port; the inshore squadron is frozen in place, the ice is too thick. It was lucky one of the dispatch ships was able to break free as the ice was forming."

"Nonetheless. Get us as close as possible. We need more information. Order the dispatch ship to accompany us." Naismith replied to his shaken subordinate.

"Aye, Aye, Sir! Bos'n! Set course for Arendelle! All hands, set all plain sail!" The Captain gave the orders and the ship's company scrambled to obey. The familiar routine settled them down.

Naismith returned to his cabin to finish dressing. His face gave no indication of his churning emotions as he considered what could have happened to cause the Queen to create such a freak ice storm. It could only have been something bad. Very bad.

** July 15, 1840 - Arendelle Castle **

"Well, that was quite a surprise." A dry comment from Bjorn Thorstad to the Duke of Weselton.

He and several other coronation guests were sitting in the library of the castle in front of a fireplace. A summer day in July had suddenly been plunged into a swirling blizzard.

It seemed that the reason the Queen had been such a reclusive figure was that she had been concealing magic powers that could create ice and snow. A secret she had revealed at the ball last night in a confrontation with her sister. A rather spectacular confrontation and magic display that ended when Elsa fled across the fjord. A fjord that froze as her feet touched it. Unfortunately, the ice spread and snow began to fall as she disappeared into the hills. It was already a foot deep.

"She almost killed me!" The little man was as agitated as a cat who had been dropped in the fjord.

"Slipping on some ice does not constitute being killed," Thorstad shot back. "Where is Prince Hans?"

"He is off on some wild-goose chase to find Princess Anna! Who does he think he is? He threatened me with a charge of treason!" The Duke's indignation had him sputtering.

Thorstad looked around. He and the Duke were far enough away from the other dignitaries huddled around the fireplace that they could not be overheard. He spoke in low tones, nonetheless.

"He thinks he is the Prince Charming that swept the Crown Princess off her feet with a proposal of marriage. And that he was left in charge of the kingdom when she went haring off after that sister of hers on some insane quest to rescue her." Thorstad hissed. "Now shut up. This is actually working out better for us than we ever dreamed. The Queen is gone, the Princess is now in charge, she delegated her authority to the man she has declared she wants to marry. And if neither of the sisters ever returns, well ..."

The Duke stopped sputtering. He hadn't thought of that.

** July 17, 1840 - Aboard Her Majesty's Ship King Agdar **

The Agdar had been sailing in futile circles for almost a day. They could see the castle from here, but they couldn't get any closer. The ice sheet was too thick.

That is to say, they should have been able to see the castle from here, if it weren't for the blizzard that had gotten stronger since last night. Visibility was down to almost nothing. The ice sheet kept creeping further out, forcing the Agdar to back off to remain free of it. The wind was so strong they had reefed in even the minimal sail they had set, and it was still moving the ship almost too fast for safety in these conditions.

As the wind rose, the Admiral's spirits sank. He could only imagine what was going on back in Arendelle, and none of his imaginings were of happy things. His concern for the Queen's well-being only grew. He knew her magic would reflect her emotions, and if this storm was any indication she was in terrible danger. He seethed that he could do nothing to help her.

"Ahoy the deck! Do you see that?" The lookout on the mainmast called down.

The wind suddenly died completely; the ship was becalmed. The snow stopped swirling;the flakes hung suspended in midair! Everyone on the ship scrambled to the railings to look toward their home. There still was nothing to see; the snow was suspended in the air, but it was still a long distance back to port, and the flakes still blocked their visibility like a thick fog.

The silence was broken only by the flapping of loose canvas and the creaking of the ship's timbers as it bobbed in place. Time stretched for what felt like an eternity but was only a few minutes.

Then the snow began to move again-move up, swirling into the sky. The ice sheet broke up and swirled upward too. All of the ice and snow that they could see was rising into the air, coalescing above the now visible castle into a giant ... snowflake? The snow and ice shards made delicate chiming sounds like a million tiny bells, until an exquisite snowflake pattern formed into perfect geometric form, hung in the air for a glorious moment, then dissipated. The sky was cloudless, the sun shone with mid-summer brightness again and they could tell the temperature was rapidly returning to normal.

"Well, that was ... extraordinary." The Admiral had a gift for dry understatement. "Captain, make all plain sail immediately. I want us back in Arendelle at your best speed. Move this ship, Captain!"

"Aye, Aye, Sir!" Captain Halvorsen gave the orders and the crew made haste to get the ship under way.

"My Queen, I can only hope that was a harbinger of a happy ending for you." The Admiral thought to himself. She certainly deserved happiness, all the happiness she could find after so long with nothing but duty. He willed the ship to move faster.

** July 17, 1840 - Arendelle Castle **

The Duke of Weselton stood in stunned silence as the scene unfolded below them on the fjord.

The howling blizzard suddenly stopping, the snow suspended, floating in mid-air. Prince Hans drew his sword and approached the Queen, who sprawled sobbing on the ice paying no heed to the man about to end her life.

A scream, "NO!" and the Princess ran to put herself between the sword and her sister, freezing into solid blue ice. An icy statue that shattered Hans' sword and blew him back with some magic force. The Queen rose and sobbed in disbelief and horror on the frozen shoulder of the princess.

After a moment that seemed like an eternity, Anna melted into warmth and life again, into her sister's embrace, an embrace that it seemed would never end. The Queen then looked around, raised her hands, and the snow and ice rose up and disappeared as she brought back summer.

"He lied to us! Prince Hans LIED to us!" The startled exclamation came from one of the Guardsmen on the tower parapet with them. "He said Princess Anna was dead and the Queen had killed her! He wasn't going to execute the Queen, he was going to murder her!"

Weselton shuddered. What would have happened if Hans had succeeded? Would the winter have ended? Or would it have become eternal after all, until they were buried miles deep in ice and snow.

The Queen, her sister, and some other figures were now standing on the deck of a ship that had surfaced under them when the water melted. Princess Anna hugged the Queen and walked over to where Prince Hans struggled to his feet next to the ship's railing.

She punched him into the fjord. Apparently the engagement was off.

** July 17, 1840 - Aboard Her Majesty's Ship King Agdar **
** DOCKSIDE, Arendelle Harbor **

Taking Naismith's order for 'best speed' to heart, Captain Halvorsen threw the Agdar into the wharf with an abandon that would have stove in the bow had he not been such a good ship handler. The gangplank was run out before the dock hands had tied the ship to its bollards, and the only reason Naismith didn't run onto the quay was because he knew it was unbecoming of the High Admiral of the Royal Arendelle Navy to run down a gangplank like a seaman apprentice on his first shore leave.

He was met at the foot of the gangplank by a Colonel of the Royal Arendelle Marines, Colonel Lars Nordholm. Nordholm had been left in command when Naismith sailed with the fleet. He was in a heavy woolen winter uniform and Naismith couldn't tell if it was soaking wet from melted snow or simply sweat.

"Nordholm, what happened? Where's the Queen? Is she safe?" Naismith acknowledged the Colonel's salute as they walked briskly up the dock toward the castle causeway.

"Admiral, I don't know where to begin. To say this has been the most extraordinary three days of my life is simply inadequate. I don't think language exists to explain it." Naismith knew that Nordholm was as unflappable as a man could be, sanguine in the face of point-blank cannon fire. If he was rattled, it had been an extraordinary experience indeed.

"Priorities! The Queen? Is she safe?" Naismith snapped.

"Yes, sir, she is. Her party docked ten minutes ago, and I believe they are now in the castle courtyard," was Nordholm's response.

"Docked? Party?"

"The Queen, her sister the Princess Anna, a reindeer, a brawny fellow, and a ... a walking, talking snowman. They were out in the middle of the fjord when she ... melted it. Fortunately standing above a submerged ship that surfaced under them, or they'd have had to swim back." Nordholm shook his head at this last. "Oh, and Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. He's in custody, at Princess Anna's orders."

Naismith didn't know which part of this recitation boggled him the most. Arresting a Prince? Or the existence of an apparently living snowman? If Naismith hadn't seen that snowflake in the sky with his own eyes he would have thought that Nordholm was drunk and hallucinating.

They entered the castle courtyard to a scene of pandemonium. Naismith could see that members of the Queen's Own Guard had formed a perimeter around a small group of people, holding back a clamoring crowd that seemed to alternate between cheering wildly and simply applauding. He heard shouts of "Hurrah for Queen Elsa!" More people from the town were pouring into the courtyard by the minute. The Admiral and the Colonel had to elbow their way into the space surrounded by the Queen's Own. Recognized by the guardsmen, they were allowed through the line.

It took a moment for the Admiral to realize that he was looking at the Queen. She was clad in a shimmering dress of blue material that glittered like ... ice? Her platinum hair was in a single braid trailing over her left shoulder, totally different from the hairstyle she had worn for the past three years. Her sister was clinging to the Queen's arm and grinning at her. Most amazing of all, the Queen herself was smiling, the smile transforming her features from a winsome beauty into a truly transcendent loveliness. She seemed to glow. There was joy in her eyes, joy that had been cruelly stolen from her thirteen years ago and not seen since.

He was speechless for a moment. Nordholm poked him. "Admiral?"

Shaking himself, the Admiral stepped closer to Elsa and said, "Your Majesty?"

She turned to him and held out her hand. "Admiral! It is so good to see you again! We have some catching up to do, it seems!" Her radiant smile would have melted a glacier.

"It seems we do, Your Majesty. May I suggest that we move your party inside the castle? Perhaps close the gates?"

Still smiling, she shook her head. "We won't be closing the gates, Admiral. But I agree that we should go inside for some privacy. There are things that we need to discuss. Many things."

The Admiral nodded, then turned to Colonel Nordholm. "Colonel, get a platoon of Marines in here to help the Queen's Own maintain order. It looks like this celebration" and what exactly are we celebrating?, he wondered to himself, "will be going on for some time."

"Aye, Aye, Sir! Your Majesty!" Nordholm saluted them both, then turned and jostled his way through the Guard line, off to gather up more Marines.

Several hours later, Naismith's head was still whirling as he tried to assimilate everything he had heard. Whirling like the small snow flurry over the little snowman's head, which apparently kept him from melting in the heat. He heard the Princess call the snowman "Olaf", so that must be it's ... his? ... name.

They were gathered in the dining room. Kai, Gerda, and other servants bustled in and out with food and drink, refreshing everyone's needs as requested. The Queen had eaten very little, but the Princess Anna was eating enough for both of them. Naismith noticed that the two women never let go of each other, their arms stayed entwined no matter what else they were doing. Since he knew the Queen had not touched anyone in almost ten years, he assumed that they both needed the reassurance that this was not some dream they would wake up from; that this was real and that they were together again.

It was a small group: Elsa, Anna, the snowman, the burly fellow whose name was apparently Kristoff, the Admiral, and the Captain of the Queen's Own Guard. The reindeer had been turned over to the head groom for stabling. With orders that he be supplied with carrots, of all things. Nordholm was in command of the Marines and Guardsmen controlling the celebration going on outside.

The Captain of the Guard had a sour look on his face, as if his coffee was laced with lemon. Naismith thought he knew what that was about, but they would discuss it once the Queen dismissed them.

"Your Majesty, may I ask you about Prince Hans? He is in custody in comfortable quarters, but I need to know what the charges against him are." Admiral Naismith inquired. In following the narrative of the last three days, a narrative presented from several different viewpoints, with much cross-talk and exclamations of confusion, he had lost track of why exactly the Prince was under arrest. He needed to be certain.

Queen Elsa lost her smile for the first time since he had first seen her in the courtyard. "The charge is attempted murder, Admiral. Several attempted murders. We will not be trying him here, but sending him home with a full account of his crimes, and a request that the King of the Southern Isles administer justice for those crimes. Until we can arrange for his transportation home, please keep him confined in those comfortable quarters and under very close guard. I do not want him to escape."

She seemed to be running out of energy, her giddy liveliness draining from her. Based on the tale he had just heard, he was frankly amazed she wasn't asleep on her feet. He wasn't sure if she had slept at all in the last three days. She certainly hadn't in the last 24 hours.

"Admiral, I think we need to wrap this up for tonight. Is there anything that you need from me that can't wait until morning?" she asked. Fatigue was clear in her voice.

"No, Your Majesty. Not from my point of view. I believe I have all the information I need for the moment," he replied. "However, I think you have one last task before you can retire for some well-earned rest."

She looked at him. "And that would be?"

"Just listen for a moment."

The group fell silent, and a muffled chant could be heard. "Elsa, Elsa, Elsa!" It was the crowd in the courtyard, calling for their Queen.

"It seems that your people are not yet finished celebrating your return." The Admiral smiled at her. She smiled back, then rose, pulling her sister to her feet as well.

"I think I must indulge them, then, considering what I just put them through. Come, Anna. Let's go out on the balcony and thank them. You too, Kristoff, Olaf. They should see the true heroes of this whole debacle." It seemed that the Queen was still indifferent to the heroism that looked back at her every day from her own mirror.

"Your Majesty!" Elsa looked back at the Admiral. He bowed deeply. "I will be at your service tomorrow, whatever time is best for you." She simply nodded and left, Anna in tow. Kristoff and Olaf followed them.

Naismith turned to the Guard Captain. "Captain, I believe you and I need to discuss how the Queen wound up imprisoned in her own dungeon. Do you suspect disloyalty or treason in your men? Shall we go to my office to continue this conversation?"

The Captain gulped visibly, then saluted. "Yes, sir."

Naismith suspected this would be only one of several ... interesting ... conversations he would be having about these events.