** Present Day - March, 1841 - Eight months after the Coronation of Queen Elsa **
Anna was still fuming when she stormed back into the castle. She went to her room, threw off her cloak and flung herself onto the bed. Kristoff and Elsa were both plotting against her today. Why were they being so difficult?
Elsa had always made her feel inadequate, not by saying or doing anything, just by being Elsa. Even Hans had said so. "You're no match for Elsa!" he sneered as he slammed the door and left Anna to die. What happened on the fjord after that didn't change how Anna felt, because once she had been told why Elsa had locked herself away … Anna realized that even her sacrifice didn't measure up to Elsa's.
All those years she sacrificed herself for me and I never appreciated her. So I died for her, so what? Phhtt... what's a few minutes against thirteen years?" Anna was working herself into a state of self-pity.
"I'm just the spare, I'll always be just the spare. She says she wants to teach me the things I need to know to be Queen, but why bother? Who would be stupid enough to put me on the throne? If I'm just the goofy childish one, no one would want me on the throne instead of Elsa. Elsa's beautiful, she's elegant and refined; I'm just a klutz who trips over her own feet half the time. So why should I bother to be anything else?" Anna's thoughts fought with themselves in her head.
Anna must have dozed off because the knock on her door startled her. "Anna? It's time for dinner." It was Elsa. Well, let's see how she likes being ignored for a change, Anna thought.
"Go away, Elsa, I'm not hungry." Anna was being petulant, and she knew it, and she didn't care. She waited for Elsa to say something to coax her to dinner. She needed Elsa to coax her; she needed to know Elsa needed her.
The silence stretched out so long that Anna finally realized that Elsa had simply left without so much as a word. "Well, that just proves it. She doesn't really care."
Anna was in too foul a mood to admit how unfair this was to Elsa, how her rejection of her sister might have hurt so much that Elsa could say nothing. She couldn't see through the door and watch Elsa wrestle with her own guilt; she couldn't hear her sad, quiet sigh as she decided that Anna had every right to send her away as she had done to Anna for so many years.
Feeling smug in her self-justification, Anna dressed for sleep and crawled back into her bed.
She had troubling dreams again that night, ones she hadn't had in months. The dreams where she scratched feebly at a locked door, her almost inaudible cries for help unheard. Freezing to death alone and unloved.
Anna was late for breakfast the next morning, as usual. Elsa glanced at her and quietly murmured, "Good morning, Anna." as she sat down. Elsa was more hurt than angry; the sting of Anna's rejection had caused an uneasy sleep for her as well, with guilty dreams of all the times she had rebuffed her sister haunting her.
Elsa was almost finished eating. They had settled into a routine where meals started on time, and Anna either got there before the table was cleared or wound up scrounging from the kitchen later. Breakfast was still the most problematical meal of the day. Anna usually managed to be on time for lunch and dinner.
Mumbling something that could have been "Good morning," Anna asked for a bowl of groats and some tea.
The silence was oppressive as the two women riveted their attention on their breakfasts. Anna chafed in discomfort at Elsa's impersonal gaze, determined not to speak first.
Drinking the last of her coffee, Elsa dabbed her lips with her napkin and rose to leave the table. "I'll be busy with the Admiral all day, so I probably won't see you until this evening." she said to Anna.
"This evening? What, at dinner?" Anna didn't bother looking up from her fascinating groats, drawing little Olafs in them with her spoon.
Elsa sighed. "No, Anna. We are having a small gathering this evening for the Royal Council members and some of the nobility and gentry. Remember? I thought you were the one who loved parties." Elsa mentally chided herself for the sarcasm. She moderated her tone of voice into something more cordial and went on, "I know you'll enjoy it, and it will be a good opportunity to get to know the Council members better." A pause. "Kristoff was invited, too. I hope he'll come with you." Elsa waited for some response from Anna.
Anna stirred her groats for a moment and glanced up at Elsa. "Thank you. I'll see you this evening, then."
Elsa just nodded and left.
"Great. I forgot all about this 'gathering', and I bet Kristoff did too. Now I need to go find him and make sure he's got his formal clothes ready." Anna grumbled to herself. She usually did like parties, but today was just not the day for one.
Elsa berated herself as she walked to her study. "How could you be so aloof? You know she didn't mean anything by pushing you away last night. She's entitled to be by herself if she wants to be. You were too hard on her yesterday, she's not used to that."
Being a parent was hard, as Elsa was discovering. Even though Anna was legally an adult, she looked up to Elsa as more than just a big sister. Elsa knew it, and knew that she was filling a role that had been missing in Anna's life since their parents had died. There were things Anna should have learned from a mother, or a father, that Elsa was forced to deal with now. Some things that Elsa wasn't sure she knew enough about to be able to teach—like emotional connections, and how to deal with strong emotions. 'Conceal, don't feel' had proven a feeble reed to lean on for her outside of Council meetings, and Elsa was still unsure of herself when a situation arose where that strategy was inappropriate.
"I'll make it up to her tonight. She'll enjoy the party, and we can talk afterward." Elsa rationalized. It was a good enough rationalization to get her through the rest of the day.
** July 19, 1840 - Arendelle - Villa of the Duke of Weselton **
The Duke was pacing back and forth, furious. "How DARE she confine me like this?"
Baron Thorstad looked at him blandly, concealing his contempt for his associate. "I'm guessing it has something to do with your two … gentlemen … trying to kill her. Just a guess, mind you." He sipped his brandy.
After the Queen thawed the kingdom and brought back summer, it had taken a day or so for her to be informed about all the things that had happened while she was absent. Thorstad had attended an emergency meeting of the Royal Council early this morning, where the Queen, her sister, and others had filled the Council in on the details of exactly what had happened over the three days of the Great Winter, as some were calling it.
The Queen had apologized for concealing her powers, and explained that the events had resulted in her gaining control over them. She had even demonstrated a small flurry in her hand, and created a small figurine in ice, delicate and precise in her control. "I can only assure you, gentlemen, that this power will only be used for the benefit of Arendelle now that I have learned how to use it properly."
Thorstad wondered if he was the only one who was skeptical of her confidence. Superficially, at least, the Council seemed to accept her explanation and assurances.
They had then moved on to the issue of Prince Hans and his attempt to take over the throne. During this discussion, it came out that the two subordinates the Duke of Weselton had sent along with Prince Hans to find the Princess had attempted to kill the Queen, repeatedly, even thought Hans had ordered that no harm should come to her. Thorstad wondered why she didn't just kill them, instead. She would certainly have been justified. He chalked it up to her being too weak-minded to do what needed to be done. Filing that thought away for later analysis, he listened to the Queen explain what she would do to the Prince and the Duke.
"Prince Hans will be confined until we send him back to his own kingdom. I am sending along a dispatch that explains what he did, and requesting that the King of the Southern Isles administer justice." she said.
Going on, she said, "And the Duke and his men will be confined to their villa until they sail. I am also cutting off all trade with Weselton."
"Your Majesty, isn't that a little … drastic? Weselton is one of our largest trading partners." protested Torbjørn Solheim. Solheim had replaced Anders Reinertsen on the council and had similar trading interests.
The Queen's face set into a grim strength they had never seen before her coronation. "No, Mr. Solheim, I don't think it is drastic at all. Murder is drastic. This is mere inconvenience. Arendelle's economy is strong. We have many other trading partners who will be ecstatic at the opportunity to take Weselton's place. With skilled negotiation, our merchants and traders should be able to increase their profitability with these new opportunities."
She had dismissed them on that note.
After the meeting, Thorstad had paid a visit to the Duke in his rented villa.
"So, when do you sail?" he asked the still furious little man.
"Tomorrow, damn that woman!"
"Look on the bright side; at least you aren't being sent back in a cell, with a request that you be imprisoned. Poor Hans will find a rather more unpleasant homecoming than you will." Thorstad pointed out.
"Bah! 'Poor Hans' deserves everything he gets. If he had only strung the Princess along with that 'true love's kiss' nonsense, he would be on the throne of Arendelle today. But no, he had to mock her and leave her to die; only she didn't die. Then he lied to everyone about the whole affair, and tried to kill the Queen in front of witnesses. To be foiled and exposed as a regicide by the very girl he scorned."
Thorstad had to admit the Duke had a point.
Just as the Duke was working himself into an even higher state of high dudgeon his butler announced another visitor. "Mr. Anders Reinertsen, Your Grace."
Reinertsen was even more agitated than the Duke, it seemed. "Is it true? She's cutting us off?" he said, with no preamble.
"Is what true?" asked the Duke. Thorstad flinched. He had not recounted the tale of the morning's Council meeting to the Duke. Apparently, others were not so discreet. Probably Solheim; he and Reinertsen were partners in many trade deals.
"I think I'll be going now." Thorstad took his leave. He really didn't need to listen to the two of them rant on about the evil monster now ruling Arendelle. He still had his own plans for altering that situation, and he no longer trusted Reinertsen's discretion or prudence. Whatever treasonous nonsense the man engaged in, Thorstad wanted no part of it.
"Why didn't I hear this from you?" the Duke demanded as Thorstad left. He got no answer.
"Bah, let him go!" The Duke was now even more determined to get his revenge on Queen Elsa. He turned to Reinertsen. "Well, are you going to just sit still and let this so-called 'Queen' pick our pockets?" he demanded.
Startled, Reinertsen said, "What can we do? She's cutting of all trade between Arendelle and Weselton!"
The Duke began pacing again. "There is more than one way to exploit the riches of Arendelle, if a man is strong-minded enough to do what has to be done."
"What are you talking about? Treason?" sputtered his guest. "I want no part of that!"
"'Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.' " quoted the Duke. "If we prosper, she won't be able to call it treason, you fool. She'll be deposed by all the same toadies who are gushing over her today. Who would tolerate a monarch that can't protect her kingdom? They'll turn on her in a heartbeat."
Reinertsen looked at him skeptically. "What are you thinking, Your Grace?"
"We'll not discuss it here. The very walls may have ears. I think you should take your usual end of summer holiday in Weselton this year." the Duke looked at Anders. "Don't you?"
Reinertsen just nodded thoughtfully.
** Present Day - March, 1841 - Eight months after the Coronation of Queen Elsa **
"What do you mean, you aren't coming?" Anna had gone to find Kristoff after breakfast and remind him of the gathering planned for that evening.
Kristoff rubbed the back of his neck. He was unsure of himself dealing with gentry and nobility and all the rest of the pomp surrounding a royal family. He could tell Anna was mad at him, even madder than she had been when she flounced off after their unnerving conversation at the inn.
"Anna, you know I just don't mix with that kind of high-born crowd," he tried to explain.
"Don't you think you ought to start getting used to it?" she demanded. "Sort of warm up to the idea? Get used to hanging out with someone other than Sven?"
She had a real knack for cutting right to the heart of a matter. And cutting his heart in the process. "Anna, I just meant ..."
"No, I get it. You don't want to associate with 'royals'. Fine." And she flounced off again. He really hated seeing her disappear into the castle at that pace. He couldn't catch up and try to explain. Explain what? He didn't know what to explain.
He stuck his hands in his jacket pockets and decided to go talk to the one person he knew would understand.
"I just don't get it, Sven. We've been friends for eight months, and I still don't know how to stay out of trouble with her." He fed a bite of carrot to his reindeer, then took a bite himself.
"Females, buddy. Who can figure them out? There's a reason you don't see any little Svens prancing around, you know. I'm not the best source for advice on females." Sven chomped his carrot contentedly.
"But, I love her. At least, I think I do. I just get all gooey inside when I'm with her!" Kristoff mourned. "And even gooier when she's not around and I miss her."
"You sure that's not just the chocolate? And I've been meaning to mention, you seem to be putting on a little weight, lately. Too much chocolate, not enough time on the ice." Sven looked at the carrot in Kristoff's hand hopefully. He got another bite.
"It's still winter; not a lot of demand for ice this time of year." Kristoff protested. "And I am not putting on weight! It's these winter clothes, they make me look … bigger!"
"Something is bothering you, buddy. What it is?" Sven could always tell when his human had something on his mind, sometimes even when Kristoff didn't know himself.
Kristoff just held the carrot out to Sven without taking his bite. There was no sound except chomping for a few minutes, then..."I don't think I'm good enough for her. I don't know if SHE thinks I'm good enough for her! Every time I have to dress up and go to the castle for one of those parties, I think everyone there is laughing at me behind my back, or that my cravat is crooked or something." He snorted. "And eight months ago I didn't even know what the heck a 'cravat' was!"
Sven cocked an eye at him. Kristoff knew that look. "Okay, Elsa is never anything but warm and friendly to me. I like her, now that I'm not scared of her anymore. She never gives me anything but good feelings. She even touches my arm when she talks to me, and I know that means she trusts me. And since she's the Queen, I guess she's the only one who counts. Well, except for Anna, of course."
Kristoff put his head in his hands and groaned. "Anna! How am I going to make up with her when I don't even know what I did?"
"You'll figure it out eventually, buddy! Anna isn't the most subtle person in the world. I'm pretty sure she'll let you know!" Sven managed to snag the carrot laying next to Kristoff without too much trouble, as distracted as Kristoff was. "Cheer up! At least you won't have to get all dressed up tonight!"
Kristoff just groaned again.