Like any good retainer, Kai worried about his master's personal and business affairs as if they were his own. There were all the standard cares associated with the office and running a large estate and the added cares of two young women in the house, one of whom destroyed everything she touched and the other with a mysterious ice-curse. He fretted over rent and tax collection. He worried about the chief landholders of Arendelle and their satisfaction with the Regency Government. He was uneasy with letting Princess Anna jump around the gallery hall like it was some sort of circus, and constantly hoping she would begin to follow her sister's example and learn some sense of responsibility. He was concerned about the ever-growing middle and merchant classes and their opinions on Arendellean tariffs. He constantly thought about Crown Princess Elsa's efforts to hide her ice and hoped that she might open up a little more to her sister, at least. He was troubled about Arendelle's relationship with their more warlike Weasel Town neighbors.
Kai had never much liked their chief trading partner to the east. The Kingdom of Westleton was aggressive, a bully on the open market, and that Duke who seemed to run all of their foreign affairs… He had been an officious and pompous little man during the reign of King Agdar and he expected no change now that a regency government was in place. King Agdar, at least, had always been very firm, and the Duke of Weasel Town had seemed quite charmed with Queen Idun. Indeed, who was not? Whenever she attended a function or event, the ambassador had even made a point of pretending to have manners. But it had always seemed to Kai that the Duke was always trying to, well, weasel, something out of the Kingdom of Arendelle. Like he was trying to take advantage of his King, his Government, and his People.
That had always left a bitter taste in Kai's mouth.
And now the little man was coming back to Arendelle. Probably backed with the hoard of thugs he called his personal guard. The Treaty of Guldone, establishing the terms of trade between Arendelle and Weasel Town would expire at the end of the coming summer, and the trade did have some benefit to Arendelle. Even if only to keep a friendly diplomatic relationship with Weasel Town. Yet despite the fact that the Government had only just come out of mourning for the late King and Queen, and that the late fall, early winter weather would make maritime travel extraordinarily uncomfortable at best, Weasel Town would send their delegates to Arendelle to begin negotiations for the next two-year's agreement. Kai sincerely wished that Arendelle could just make them sign something for a longer term than two years. He also recognized that this was a hopeless fantasy and that they would want to come back every two years in the hope of bullying an even better rate of exchange for Arendelle's very rich, very expansive stocks of hardwood timber, iron ore, coal, and fine woolen cloth. In return, Arendelle would be flooded with useless and very shoddy manufactures, cheap trinkets, and, of course… all of the weapons and armament used to equip Arendelle's modest navy, and even more modest army were imported from Weasel Town.
Kai sighed. Maybe they should just enter into an alliance with Southern Isles. He was currently sitting at the desk in his office, going over the previous year's treaty at the behest of the Crown Princess, so that he might be able to offer something of value to the rest of the Regency Council. At least the Weasel Town delegation would not have access to the palace. The Crown Princess had been quite adamant that no strangers were to be granted entry past the ever-closed gates. The Regency Council had felt that she was missing a very good opportunity to show off the riches and power of Arendelle and, though no one quite dared to suggest it to the young Crown Princess, her own personal beauty, to a very important trading partner, but they let the matter drop. She refused flatly to meet with any foreign dignitaries and with her usual expressionless mask of regal indifference; she had promptly left the meeting, pleading illness. She had left behind a room full of bemused councilors. The Duke of Nordhavn, the chief of the council, was as unflappable as ever, and with a calm observation about the draftiness of this particular hall, he had picked up the thread of the meeting and they continued as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Kai rose from his chair to stretch his legs. The portly steward was starting to feel his 56 years, now, and the little aches and pains… as well as his baldness… were testament to each and every one of them. At least his hair was still the rich auburn it had always been. Well, he thought, I don't suppose you can have everything.
He took a few steps around the room, and then with a disgruntled glance at the papers on his desk, he opened his office door. He would take a little walk to stretch his legs, and see that everything in the palace was running smoothly. He took off down the hallway, idly looking at the expensive wallpaper, examining the state of the princely carpets. Ensuring all of the flowers were fresh. Everything seemed as it should be. He stopped to casually look out of the window, in order to assess the state of the palace gardens.
It was snowing outside, and the soft, white powder was only just starting to stick to the flagstone walkways that meandered throughout the palace grounds. The weakening winter sun was about halfway through its progress across the sky. The days were getting very short, it would probably be dark in only a few hours. Kai smiled at the calm, peaceful serenity of the scene before him.
A loud crash and muffled shouts rudely tore his attention from contemplation of the winter frost enveloping the gardens. He turned toward the direction of the noise, trying to determine where exactly it had come from. The sound of shouting wafted up the nearby stair well. With an expression of dawning comprehension, he sprinted as best as his portly physic and old legs could carry him. It was an action that he felt did not befit his age nor his dignity, but there was only one individual in the Royal Residence who could possibly have caused such a tremendous crash and make quite so much noise.
He raced down the stairs, breathing heavily. He glanced from side to side anxiously before finally locating the object of his alarm.
Princess Anna of Arendelle had, in her enthusiasm for everything she did, apparently decided that the stairs were for lesser individuals, and had taken the railing at a little too fast a pace. The result was that she was now sitting up, looking around with equal parts guilt and amusement, in a pile that had been until a few moments ago, a fine display of three full sets of plate armor.
Kai stopped short a few paces from the rubble containing Princess Anna. He was still breathing hard, and as it looked like the Princess was unhurt, he produced a pristine white handkerchief, embroidered with the royal crest of Arendelle, and wiped his brow. He breathed a sigh of relief that the seemingly indestructible Princess Anna was, apparently, still indestructible. Kai lowered the cloth from his eyes just in time to watch the Princess attempt to raise herself from the debris, only to place one of her hands on the cylindrical metal arm of one of the knights, lose her balance, and fall quite unceremoniously on her backside.
Kai attempted, and failed, to hide a fond smile as he quickly stowed the handkerchief back in his green and burgundy striped waistcoat and waded into the carnage.
"Princess Anna!" He exclaimed, his tone hovering in that zone between scalding and the indulgent fondness of a doting parent. The Princess looked up at him with big, blue eyes. It was exactly the same sorrowful expression a guilty toddler doing her best to look innocent might give her nanny. The effect was such that he could not help but smile broadly at her as he extended his hand to the young Princess. She accepted the assistance with only a little bit of trepidation. Kai had been picking her out of rubble for basically all of her life.
"What happened?" the steward asked, still providing a supporting arm as he assisted the Princess through the ruins.
"Oh…" she laughed nervously, "nothing." Princess Anna tried to look around nonchalantly, as if her crashing through all of the plate armor at the foot of the stairs was completely normal. Which it was, really. "I, well, you know… tripped…" she finished lamely, trying not to look at Kai, but instead making a show of dusting herself off and smoothing her red pig tails down into some semblance of order.
Kai did not have any children of his own, but he had been exposed to the royal sisters now for over eighteen years, and before that to the antics of a once boisterous Prince Agdar of Arendelle. He recognized all the signs.
"Where is your tutor?" He asked the Princess, narrowing his eyes in suspicion and now noticing that there was what looked like soot smeared on her face, on her green woolen blouse, and on her elaborately embroidered tan skirts. "I thought you were to study philosophy this morning with Master Oppert?"
The Princess's expression became even shiftier at the mention of Master Oppert, and Kai's sense that something had happened increased dramatically. Princess Anna was suddenly very interested in the purple crocuses embroidered on her leather slippers and along the base of her skirt.
"Weeelllll…" she began, drawing out the word in such a way that made Kai equal parts amused and irritated. Princess Anna tended to have that effect on people. "We finished a bit early today." Princess Anna of Arendelle bit her lower lip.
"Oh?" he asked, trying to draw more out of the young Princess.
"Yeah." She stated it quickly, with confidence, then she looked up at Kai and her attempt at maintaining that charade fell by the wayside. "Sooo… I may, strictly hypothetically, you know… accidentally of course… burned all his books?"
Kai blinked at her, not sure what answer he expected. Clearly, fire hadn't been part of what he was prepared to hear. Princess Anna's face was screwed up in an expression of uncertainty as she tried to gauge his reaction.
"And then… he… you know. May. Have fallen into the Fjord." Princess Anna was now bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet with her hands clasped behind her back. Kai recognized this as one of the Princess's nervous habits. "And then, he, well, perhaps may have hit his head pretty hard on, um, well… I don't know… the dock." She continued to watch Kai nervously, looking for any kind of reaction. Kai was still stunned into silence. "So now he's resting up in the parlor, where…" she hesitated. "Where it's dark and… um… quiet." She tapped her hands together nervously then smoothed her bangs, tucking some loose hairs behind her ear.
Kai continued to stand there without saying a word, flabbergasted. He really, really did not want the full details… but, well, he had to know the extent of the damage. And he needed to know if he would have to put a notice out for a new philosophy tutor. I was getting very difficult to find them for the Princess, anymore. It seemed like word had gotten out.
"Your Highness, how did the books catch fire?" he finally asked, tentatively, afraid of the answers that might result.
Princess Anna resumed rolling back and forth on the balls of her feet, a very small smile beginning to form on her expressive face. A twinge of fatherly affection surged through Kai. She was turning into such a lovely young lady. She would break the hearts of Europe one day.
"Well, we were in the library and I wanted to show him a project I was working on for my natural philosophy… I'm learning about, umm… volcanos." Kai continued to listen in horrified fascination as a mischievous twinkle gleamed in her eyes. "Well, so I built this mountain out of papier-mâché, and I think maybe I sort of forget what's really supposed to go in it to make it, you know… erupt." Princess Anna was becoming more and more animated as she told her story. She began to pace back and forth in front of him. "Well, I mean, they're supposed to spew fire, right? So I figured I needed some fire. Well… one thing led to another, there was a little accident, maybe? The table and all of the books caught on fire."
Kai continued to look at her in disbelief. "So then, how did he fall into the fjord if the two of you were in the library?"
"Heh heh," Princess Anna chuckled nervously, "I was just gonna get to that… Sooo, um… when I saw that, like, the whole table was on fire, well I couldn't just leave it there in the library. Yeash, Elsa would probably go ballistic if anything happened to her collection. Not that… you know… she would actually show it… She would just, like, be disappointed…" Anna resumed her pacing, though with a slightly more worried look on her face than before.
"So, of course I picked up the whole table and threw it and everything on it out the window." Kai nodded for her to continue. "So… Master Oppert happened to, umm, be standing between the table and the window… and… uh, he went out into the fjord with the table and all of the books. So, I mean, then I immediately ran out to the little dock there on the north side of the palace. You know, where you get that really great view of the North Mountain? And some guards helped me fish him out of the water. And, well, I guess I knocked him pretty good against the dock when I hauled him out."
The chief steward really had nothing to say to this. It seemed like not only would Princess Anna break the hearts of Europe, she would also break their heads. All he could do was examine the girl in front of him and marvel at the amount of damage that could be unleashed from one small person. Well, he conceded, not that small anymore. When had the little princess with her fearless love of adventure grown into the young woman before him? Kai tried to collect his thoughts; another unfortunate effect of speaking with Princess Anna, anyone who listened to her explanations generally needed a few moments to sort it all out. Kai suddenly felt a twinge of sympathy for whatever country or estate Princess Anna married into someday in the future.
"So, your morning schedule opened up, then." He stated as neutrally as he could. "And so what are you doing down here?" He asked. There wasn't much down this way that might interest the Princess. It was possible to access the official, more public, spaces of the palace this way, but little else. Anna looked sideways at the steward.
"It's snowing." It was a single statement, posited in a matter of fact manner, as if it explained everything. Kai remained silent. Sometimes, if you didn't say anything at all Princess Anna would fill the whole conversation herself. She hated silence, and would often do her best to overcome a completely silent room all by herself. Kai considered this with a pang of sadness. By the time the late King Agdar had turned sixteen he had visited most of the friendly nations in the region, and was beginning to make a name for himself as a very handsome and charming young man. Anna was so much like her father. It seemed a shame that she should be cooped up here with no real companionship and nothing to do with herself but terrorizing the staff and the furniture.
Things were so different now, though. Everything in the palace had been shut up for the last ten years, and even the King and Queen had only attended the most important state functions. Kai's thoughts wandered away from Princess Anna to the Crown Princess herself, who at that moment should have been meeting with Duke Nordhavn, the Chief of her Regency Council, and Baron Hovlund, the ambassador appointed to represent Arendelle in Weasel Town. He always thought about Crown Princess Elsa with a twinge of melancholy, but there was no reason to dwell on the past, and besides, Princess Anna was filling in the blank spaces in the conversation again. He did his best to nod patiently, and try to understand what sort of mischief he was preventing. She was dancing on the balls of her feet again in nervous excitement.
"… I mean, the sled was completely destroyed so… I thought, maybe there might be, you know something else I could use instead, and…" Anna trailed off and eyed him speculatively. "Is Elsa…?" she started to ask, falsely casual, and pointing vaguely in the direction of the Royal Study.
A wave of panic seethed through the steward, and he hurried to interrupt Princess Anna's train of thought. The last thing Crown Princess Elsa needed was for her sister to barge through her study while she was discussing current trade terms with her advisors. "I'm… I'm afraid Her Majesty is caught up in a meeting this morning with the Duke of Nordhavn and the Baron Hovlund, Your Highness. She does not wish to be disturbed." Kai stammered quickly. Now it was his turn to avert his gaze nervously. "She will be engaged all of this afternoon and evening with her tutors, as well."
"Oh," the Princess replied, her shoulders slumped a little and she looked downcast and gloomy. It was an unusual and unwelcome change in Princess Anna, and Kai regretted that he had to be the instrument of it. He cautiously raised his large, beefy hand and patted the young Princess on the back with a kind smile.
"Now, Princess Anna, as you said, it is snowing outside, so…"
"That's right!" She perked up immediately, all of the previous moment's melancholy dispersed to the ether. "And I need to get out into it before my mathematics tutor shows up!" Princess Anna turned to run up the stairs to fetch her winter cloak, boots, and bonnet from her room. She stopped after a few steps to look back at Kai. She wore a very stern expression that felt unnatural on the merry Princess' face.
"You won't tell Elsa about my philosophy tutor, will you?" she asked.
Kai smiled. "It will be our little secret," he promised. "I'll see what we can do about replacing those books, though, shall I?"
Princess Anna beamed at him and without another word; she sprinted up the stairs, making as much noise as she possibly could. Kai watched her go until she reached the landing on the second floor and ducked through the door into the passageway where her rooms were. He shook his head. Princess Anna was a real handful. He turned away with a soft chuckle and started to wander toward the staircase at the other end of this hall, where the rest of the royal establishment's administration took place. It was important that he get out occasionally to look after the household, after all, and it couldn't hurt to check in and see how Crown Princess Elsa was making out with her meetings and her own perusal of the Treaty of Guldone.
He passed through the empty and abandoned ballroom and traversed the darkened formal dining room and into the kitchens. Even though the palace staff had been running on a dramatically reduced number of footmen and maids, there were still some signs of life and activity in the kitchens. At least half a dozen undercooks and kitchen maids were already toiling away over hot stoves and preparing dough for breads and pastries. There was still Princess Anna to feed, who could eat enough for three grown men on active military service, and Crown Princess Elsa, who ate only when pressed, and the members of the Regency Council often had dinner at the Palace when there was some urgent matter to attend to, or they simply enjoyed eating at the Crown's expense. None of the upper servants would ever let the honor of the royal table be impeached, and the chef took great pains to maintain it. After a few pleasant words with the portly, good-humored chef to confirm that the kitchen budgets and supplies were in order, and he moved on, back up the hall, past the empty ballroom and towards the throne room.
He passed by Gerda, his long-time friend and companion here at the palace. She was several years his senior, but had started working there only two years before Kai himself. She was now the housekeeper, and she administered her dominion with a sharp attention to detail and the dignity of the royal house. Kai had always rather liked Gerda's company. She had been a tall, willowy girl with a striking figure when he had first met her, and Kai thought she was still a rather good-looking woman. He had always thought she had very pretty eyes. The steward unconsciously ran his hand through the hair that no longer existed on the top of his head, and bowed gallantly to her as they moved past one another in the hallway. She smiled at him, an expression that lit up her face, then hurried off, muttering something about 'Princess Anna' and a 'badger' and something surprisingly like 'through the window.'
Deciding that discretion, in this instance, might be the better part of valor, he let her be on her way without asking any further questions. He opened one of the ornate doors to the throne room, and slipped in as surreptitiously as a man of his considerable bulk could. A little bit of light always managed to filter into this room from the row of windows in a gallery at the top of the structure. Someone had opened the heavy velvet curtain on one of the large glass windows that lined the outside wall of the royal audience chamber. Gloomy sunlight filtered in, and the window presented a lovely view of the fjord and the mountain range beyond. Kai approached the window to admire the view. It looked like the North Mountain was covered in deep snow, and the large snowflakes continued to fall from the sky at a slow, but steady pace.
After a few moments of marveling at the snow, Kai realized that he was not alone. A solitary maid was busy polishing the single ornate throne on the raised dais. The throne itself was simple, as was the fashion of the Arendellean monarchy. They tended, as a whole, to be very understated in their tastes and this piece of furniture, literally the seat of power, was a testament to that fact. It was a severe, high-backed mahogany chair. The velvet cushions and trim, bisected purple and green, were embroidered with the royal crocus that had represented Arendelle for six generations in fine golden thread. Kai nodded politely to the maid when she looked up from her work, then slipped out back into the hallway to continue his tour.
The grand staircase at the southeast corner of the palace was a little more ornate than the others. It was in the official, slightly more public wing, and was kept up to impress visiting foreign dignitaries, as well as the relatively peaceful nobility of Arendelle. Kai walked up this staircase and up into the hallway where most of the government offices were within the palace gates. Most of these were empty, and had been for the last ten years. The King had built a new government building just outside the gates after… the accident… but it was inevitable when running a country, even a small one like Arendelle, that some of the apparatus of government would remain inside. Now that responsibility for administering and providing the basic functions of government had been settled on the Regency Council, several of the offices had reopened, and four of the most important members, the Duke of Nordhavn himself as well as the chiefs of the treasury, defense, and justice had all been granted offices within the palace. None of them liked using them very much. The Crown Princess may have relented in granting permission to use these offices, but she kept most of the windows and doors tightly shut. Even in the warmest summer months.
This late in the morning, these offices were currently empty, with no sign that any of their occupants were in the palace. There was one exception. The door to the Duke of Nordhavn's door was open and his hat and heavy winter overcoat were still hanging inside. Kai wondered if he were still meeting with Crown Princess Elsa as he continued down the hall and up another half-flight of stairs to a very ornate landing. Fresh flowers lined the walls, plush red and gold carpet covered the floor, to his left, a set of curtained french doors led out to a balcony he knew overlooked the palace's courtyard. To his right, the set of very large, elaborately painted double doors remained closed.
Kai had just made up his mind to knock and announce himself when one of the doors on his right opened, and two men exited. The Duke of Nordhavn was an elderly man with a full head of grey hair. It was evident that he had been tall when we was younger, but with age had a developed a pronounced stoop. He still moved with animation and an energy that belied his years, however, and his grey eyes were sharp, and clear. He had a stoic, imperturbable personality. Nothing in government surprised him anymore, and he often found it to be amusing. He had been a member of the King's Council in the time of King Magnus, the late King Agdar's father.
The other man must have been the Baron of Hovlund. Kai had never met the man before, though he had seen plenty of correspondence from him in his official capacity as ambassador to Weasel Town. Kai's first impression was that he seemed very young and very handsome for such an important post. He looked to be, perhaps thirty. In fact, he seemed young enough that someone might have designs on the currently vacant position of royal consort. Kai felt a wave of ill-defined dislike for the young man and the steward struggled, with success, to keep a calmly detached expression.
"Your Grace, Your Lordship," Kai greeted them respectfully. "How were your discussions?"
The Duke maintained his ever stoic, slightly pleasant and amused expression, but the younger Baron's face expressed harried concern and doubt.
"Went very well," the elderly Duke smiled, he sounded genuinely pleased. The Baron, however, still looked pensive. "Her Majesty has quite an excellent grasp of law and economics. She is quite well versed on the history of our relationship with Westleton." The Baron managed to look even more doleful. "Her understanding of Grand Strategy, though by no means deficient, lacks some of the realpolitik nous that Baron Hovlund here would like, but I expect she will develop her own opinions on that with a bit more experience." The Duke smiled affectionately at his younger companion.
"Yes, well, I believe it's important to be firm with the Westletonians right up front in these negotiations and escorting their delegation with royal guards is completely reasonable!" The young Baron protested with some passion. "I've been serving as ambassador there for two and a half years now, and they are always trying to swindle something out of someone. Besides, we can get a much more pleasant and much more advantageous market for several of our commodities from the Southern Isles, or Corona, or Denmark, or even France or Prussia!"
Kai nodded, not willing to express his opinion of this approach. Setting a troop of menacing royal guards on foreign dignitaries wasn't something King Agdar would have done, and though Crown Princess Elsa was difficult to read, there was nothing in her education or upbringing that might suggest she would favor such a course of action either. There was also that nagging, sneaking suspicion that he could not quite shake about this Baron. He was young, he was quite handsome, his dark brown hair was cut in the latest fashion, and his long sideburns neatly trimmed and brushed. The Baron Hovlund was also quite tall and muscular, and Kai was sure that he would look quite dashing on a horse or doing whatever it was romantic young men did these days. This time Kai was unable to hide his expression of disapproval, but the Duke clearly thought it was in relation to whatever it was had been talking about while he was lost in thought.
"We could get a better tariff rate, certainly," he patted Baron Hovlund on his dark grey, elaborately embroidered bunad arm. "But there are also the armaments we import, and the security of our defensive alliance against Sweden as well. And besides, thought the Duke of Westleton can be a grasping, ungracious man, the royal family themselves have been very polite and accommodating. They even sent a very nice gift on the passing of the late King and Queen."
The handsome Baron grumbled, but did not outright argue with the Duke.
"Now," the Duke clapped his hands together, "how would you gentlemen like to have a little drink and discuss a few interesting diplomatic missives Arendelle has received from the courts of Europe?"
The Baron nodded enthusiastically, and agreed heartily. Kai, on the other hand shook his head sadly. "I'm trying to catch Crown Princess Elsa before she begins with her tutors." He gestured to the closed doors of the royal study.
"Of course," Nordhavn conceded. "She is, I believe, just going over some of her notes on whatever mathematics she's gotten herself into."
Kai chuckled affectionately. "Yes, Her Majesty certainly has always loved mathematics. Even as a little girl."
"Well," the Duke smiled conspiratorially at his companion, "someone also seems to have gotten her majesty a rather newish publication on the subject. Something by a Peter Dirichetet."
The Baron smiled, and the expression lit up his handsome features in a pleasant way that made Kai want to ban him from the palace grounds. "Damned fool thing is written completely in French by some obscure German. I couldn't make heads or tails of it, but…" he trailed off with a broader smile and a shrug. He looked, Kai thought, disgustingly pleased with himself. "If you say Her Majesty was pleased, then I shall take your word for it."
Kai looked at his pocket watch. "I'm afraid I will have to continue this later, gentlemen, if you will excuse me?"
"Of course, we had best get down to that drink. Come Hovlund," he took his taller, younger companion by the arm. "My cousin, who married a Scottish noble…" Kai watched them wander off down the stairs. He shook his head. Surely it wasn't unusual for members of the nobility to give little gift to their monarch, was it? No. Of course not. It was important to curry favor for appointments… and… and such. He knocked gently on the study door.
"Your Majesty? Do you have a few moments?" Kai paused, listening for any sort of reply. It usually took her a few moments to answer when you did not have an appointment.
"Please come, Kai," she finally responded, with her soft, polite voice.
He opened the door quietly, and made sure to shut it softly behind him. He knew that loud or sudden noises could make it difficult to control her little… problem. He tried to surreptitiously inspect the room to check for any sign of ice. Other than being a little bit chilly, which one could reasonably expect given the very small fire in the very large and magnificent fireplace, everything looked clean, neat, orderly, and ice free.
"Was there something specific you needed, Kai?" she asked courteously, looking up from a pile of scattered papers and books littering the large, antique writing desk.
"Nothing specific, Your Majesty," he turned his assessing eyes to the Crown Princess. "I was just looking over the palace, taking a bit of a break from looking over those Weasel Town treaties. I thought I would stretch these old legs, and see if you needed anything, ma'am."
She smiled tightly, an expression that never quite reached her eyes, then grimaced. She looked like she wanted to say something, but wasn't sure how to express her thought. Kai took the opportunity to really look at Crown Princess Elsa.
She looked stretched, he thought, and thin. Her deep purple jacket seemed to hang off her in a way that it hadn't six months ago. The high collar of her blouse seemed a little looser. He would need to speak with Gerda about her eating habits before she was nothing but skin and bones. She looked pensive, wan, and pale, but then that was nothing new. She had looked pained and pallid ever since she had started wearing gloves shortly after the incident that was only ever referred to in hushed tones as 'The Accident.'
All things considered, she looked very pretty and well turned out. Crown Princess Elsa had a dramatic, ideal Nordic beauty and a well-poised, regal posture that set off anything her dressmaker chose to cloth her in. Kai knew the woman was disappointed that the Crown Princess would wear nothing but the most layers, in the most conservative cut, buttoned up from toe to chin. Kai had to admit that despite her grumblings, the royal clothier had done an exceptional job. The dark purple jacket trimmed with black velvet, deep burgundy satin, fine golden embroidery coupled with the relatively plain black bodice and pale blue blouse did more to set off the Crown Princess's stunningly blue eyes and strikingly blonde hair, pinned up in a tightly braided bun, than anything a more fashionable continental lady might wear. Kai smiled as she continued to look for the words to express herself. She was the spitting image of her late mother.
Yes, Elsa of Arendelle had certainly grown up to be a very elegant and beautiful woman, if a very unhappy one. Kai approached the desk where she sat, stood at a respectful distance, waiting for her to speak. He glanced at the papers in front of her. The one at the top was scribbled over with circles, triangles, and symbols that Kai recognized as Greek letters, but that he didn't understand the significance of. A neatly stacked treaty sat on the side of the desk. It was heavily tabbed and looked well worn. A highly detailed military map of the shared border between Arendelle and Westleton lay beneath it. Her elegant scribble covered the margins of both documents. She had, he considered again also grown to be a very intelligent and thoughtful woman.
Kai couldn't help but notice a slim book by Peter Dirichtet was discarded to a pile of papers that looked like they had been relegated as less important, and Kai breathed a sigh of relief. She tapped her pencil thoughtfully against her lips and twisted it idly in her kid-gloved hand. Finally she spoke.
"I know you haven't finished looking over the Treaty of Guldone in its entirety, but have you looked over the section that details our mineral trade with Westleton, Kai?" Crown Princess Elsa did not speak loudly. She was usually extraordinarily soft spoken, as if the sound of her own voice might set herself off. She was nervous about something, though. More nervous than usual, even. Kai could tell by the way that she clenched her jaw and the way that she kept taking sidelong glances at the map on her desk.
"Yes, Your Majesty," he replied, somewhat taken aback by the question. He had rather imagined that he would be fetching her a cup of tea, or some sort of snack…
"They seem to want a lot of coal." It was a statement of fact. She smoothed her pensive, slightly worried expression into a blank, emotionless mask. Kai did not care for this change. He had never liked what it represented, but then Kai was only the steward, and his opinion on the subject had never mattered much.
"Yesss…" he agreed slowly, not sure what the Crown Princess was getting at nor where she was going. Unlike her younger sister, who always wore her heart on her sleeve, Crown Princess Elsa was not an easy read. It was almost impossible to tell what she was feeling, Kai was better than most, and could pick out a few of her expressions, but he had been with the family for over twenty years and had known her when she was only a tiny babe, full of smiles and joy and liveliness.
"They have plenty of coal within their own boarders," the Crown Princess asserted as fact. She looked at Kai as if she expected him to offer some affirmation of her statement.
"I suppose they do, Your Majesty," he nodded uncertainly.
"The Cahaht Mines alone produce almost as much coal as all of Arendelle's exports." She leaned back in her chair, then something passed over her face. It flitted quickly, but Kai couldn't help but notice that the room had gotten a little colder. The Crown Princess was now hugging herself, her breathing a little more strained. Kai leaned forward, concern written all over her face."
"Are you okay, Your Majesty?" he asked, careful not to get too close. He was well aware that the Crown Princess was very strict with her personal space requirements.
"Yes, yes," she assured him, waving him away with a graceful wave of her hand. "I'm fine." She looked the picture of grim determination, then her face smoothed and she sat up straight, and perfectly poised, once more. "I just…"
She was interrupted by another knock at the door. Kai watched her grimace as she carefully shifted some of the papers on her desk to cover where she had been resting her hand just a moment before.
"Your Majesty?" asked a respectful male voice with a slight French accent from beyond the closed door. "It is time for your French lesson, if it is convenient for you."
The Crown Princess's wide, somewhat panicked eyes shifted around the room like a small child caught in some wrong doing. They stopped on the clock. One o'clock.
"Yes, please, Monsieur Gaubert, please come in," she called, all business and all calm regality once more. She smiled apologetically at Kai. He noticed it still didn't reach her eyes. "We must finish this conversation later, I'm afraid," she said as she stood to see Kai out and great her tutor, and lead him toward a pair of chairs on the other side of the room, well away from her desk. "Two things, though, Kai. Please, have Master Ehman come to me when he's done with Anna's mathematics lessons this afternoon. And Kai, find out what the Westletonians want with all that coal."
Kai bowed deeply to the Crown Princess with a promise that he would see that both her requests were complied with. He smiled politely to the French and music tutor, a thin, middle-aged man with sandy hair and a small goatee who was always very fashionably dressed in the most current French styles. Gerda slipped in behind the Frenchman quietly, a basket of fancy work under her arm. They never left the Crown Princess alone with her tutors, just as much for propriety's sake as to ensure someone was there to whisk them away at the first sign of trouble. Kai and Gerda exchanged polite nods and friendly smiles as the steward stepped out into the hallway and was just able to hear the Crown Princess's greeting the French master with a melodious "Bonjour, monsieur Gaubert. J'espére que vous allez bien?" as he shut the door quietly behind him.
He turned one last, concerned look to the closed door, then made his way slowly back down to the government offices. He waved down the footman standing at the base of the short stairway and sent him off to deliver the Crown Princess's message to the mathematics tutor. He added that Master Ehman should not present himself any sooner than three o'clock. Princess Anna's study habits were often eratic and brief, and Kai did not wish to disturb Crown Princess Elsa's other studies, which were not known to be brief nor erratic. She depended on regularity and routine. The steward then wandered down the hallway of closed doors. Maybe he should join the Duke, after all? Whom else would he be able to make heads or tails of Weasel Town's seemingly abnormal desire for coal?
The Duke of Nordhavn's door was open, and Kai presented himself in the doorway and rapped politely on the doorframe.
"Come in! Come in!" The usually subdued Duke of Nordhavn exclaimed happily as soon as he saw Kai. "Come and grab a glass and pull up a chair." He motioned toward a side table where a crystal decanter and several fine crystal glasses stood. The Duke looked genuinely pleased to see him. Kai was sorry to see that the Baron was still there, swirling his own crystal glass of amber liquid, and stretched out languidly on his chair. The younger man did not look pleased.
"Thank you, Your Grace," Kai a polite genuflection as he entered the room. He poured himself a very small measure of the liquor, and then sat on the high backed chair next to Baron Hovlund.
"As I said, Kai, this is a Scottish whiskey that my cousin was so kind to send me. She married a Scot when she was quite young, but we have kept in touch over the years. She was always a lovely, lively girl." He smiled at the old memory, then lifted his glass in Kai's direction. "May I propose a toast to Her Majesty, Elsa of Arendelle?"
"Long may she reign," Kai responded, with a smile. The Baron said nothing, but lifted his glass as well. Kai touched the crystal glass to his lips and took an experimental sip. It was very good. Perhaps he should speak with the Butler about acquiring some for the Crown? There was no entertaining now, but Crown Princess Elsa's coronation would be a large, magnificent affair. This seemed like the sort of thing they might wish to serve to some of their more honored guests. He shifted to make himself more comfortable of the straight backed, wooden chair.
"I was just chatting with young Baron Hovlund here about the prospects for Arendelle under the rule of Queen Elsa," the Duke said, bringing Kai into the conversation the two men had been having before he joined them. "We believe the future looks quite bright."
The Baron only nodded, he smiled faintly, but he was clearly not interested in saying much in the presence of the chief steward.
"Of course," Kai smiled, taking another sip of his Scottish whiskey. "I'm certain there are several governments in Europe that will envy us our future monarch."
The Duke chuckled. "Yes, some of the stories of that young lad in Denmark… that Prince Eric? What with that wedding fiasco?" he laughed again.
"Well, to be fair," Baron Hovlund spoke up, a gleam of amusement in his eyes, "he is married now, and they have a lovely little girl."
"Well," the Duke smiled, "to more serious matters… actual governance. Our Crown Princess Elsa seems to have a remarkable facility for application. Reads absolutely everything we send her. And she's sharp. For all that she doesn't speak very loudly or swagger about the place like a young peacock at meetings of the Regency Council, the questions that she does ask? And the notes she sends back about the documents we send her?" The Duke laughed again. "Well, I've never seen so many powerful men put in their place by a little slip of a girl. She can't weigh more than what? Seven stones?"
Kai was very pleased to hear these positive reviews, and was proud on her behalf. He grinned. Of course she was well read, she had never been allowed to do much more than that. As far her intelligence… "She takes after her mother that way," Kai observed.
"A true gem among river stones, Queen Idun," the Duke conceded. "Quiet, soft spoken, but controlled King Agdar with a velvet touch of steel. It was a black day for the ladies of Arendelle when he married Princess Idun of Lynndalle."
"But I believe it was quite a happy day for their fathers," Kai laughed softly. "Serves him right to have two pretty daughters."
There was a moment of silence as the two older men sipped their drinks and contemplated their late King and Queen. They had been very popular, and both men had many fond memories of them professionally and personally.
"Bah!" The Duke broke the silence. "She will be a force to be reckoned with. She just needs a little more confidence. She's timid enough to be a debutant at her first ball!"
Kai refrained from mentioning that the Crown Princess had never attended a ball, and that she was indeed a debutant into any sort of society. And the definition of society Kai was using included meetings with two other people to discuss trade agreements.
"Maybe if we could get her to open up these gates, get her out into the world. She's clever enough to make even some of those big countries sit up and listen!" The Duke exclaimed, bringing the crystal decanter to the table and pouring himself another large measure. He offered more to the other two men. They declined.
"It doesn't hurt matters that she's certainly pretty enough that they'd all be more than happy to listen to any thing she had to say to them." The Duke set his decanter down and lounged back in his chair.
Kai chuckled. "So long as they were able to do it in a private audience?" A sly gleam lit in his eye, "Perhaps if it's confidence you're looking for, there's always Princess Anna? You'll have no problem getting her to open up the gates and get out into the world!"
"Good heavens, no, man!" the Duke exclaimed, laughing quite hard now. Baron Hovlund even snorted into his drink at the thought. "Princess Anna has absolutely no concept of responsibility, and very little inclination to apply herself to anything of a serious nature! No, Crown Princess Elsa has the discipline and capacity that Princess Anna most certainly lacks."
"Come now, Your Grace," Kai laughed, "Princess Anna is a very bright girl. She's just high spirited. She takes too much after her father."
"Yes," the Duke drawled wryly, "if we could just somehow combine the two, and get a Crown Princess Elsa with Princess Anna's confidence and sense of adventure…"
Now Kai laughed in earnest, "You want another Emperor Napoleon? We would rule half the continent and the other half would have been accidentally set on fire!"
The Duke and Baron both laughed at this, but soon the Baron began to glare moodily into his glass. A pleasant silence descended on the three men, and the Duke slipped a little more of the Scottish whiskey into Kai's glass. The Baron stretched out his long, high booted legs and crossed them at the ankle. A decidedly disgruntled air hung around him. Kai did not mind openly examining the man. He knew his position in the royal household, and he knew that openly assessing a young nobleman was well within his remit.
"Oh, don't mind him, Kai," Duke Nordhavn told him, watching the steward observe their younger companion. "He's only a bit put out that the Crown Princess didn't seem to show any interest in his handsome face, manly figure, or his gallant manners. We old men getting sentimental about lovely ladies is doing nothing to improve his mood. I suspect it's been a very long time indeed since our good Hovlund was last crossed in love."
The Baron huffed indignantly. "She almost had a fit when I tried to kiss her hand. Really!"
"I did warn the young fool," Duke Nordhavn explained to Kai with a rather uncharacteristic roll of his eyes. "I said: The Crown Princess does not like strangers and she does not like to be touched in any way. Keep a respectful distance and don't speak too loud. Honestly, Hovlund, I'm shocked she let you stay."
Kai looked at the handsome young man now with something that might be most adequately described as a mix between loathing and horror. It did not seem as if there had been any problems, though… It appeared her Majesty was really learning control. He focused on the Baron's face, and his expressive, chocolate eyes. Good Lord! His eyes were the exact color of chocolate! He resolved never to mention that analogy to Her Majesty. Chocolate seemed to be one of the only things she genuinely enjoyed. It certainly would not do to associate that with this man.
"Well, I don't know how you woo a woman who refuses to let you anywhere near her," the Baron protested.
"I suppose you don't," the Duke replied coolly. "Or perhaps you take it a bit slower. She did like your gift, though. At least you have that, my friend."
Kai listened to the exchange with a sort of fascination. The Regency Council had no actual authority, or mandate, to marry their underage monarchs, nor any other member of the Royal Family. The monarch, even while still in their minority, would be required to get the approval for any nuptials, if they desired to marry before coming of age and ascending to the throne. Kai supposed that even though there was no power within the council to marry Crown Princess Elsa, that wouldn't necessarily stop them from encouraging their young charge in a certain direction. Even though the Consort of the Queen Regnant had no actual power or authority, it was still a very attractive position. The House of Arendelle was very rich, and the Crown Princess was quite possibly one of the most beautiful women in Europe. The Crown Princess was delicate, though, and they would have to be very careful in looking for an appropriate suitor. A bad match could crush what spirit she had. Then there was the little matter of her, well, of her curse…
Kai knew he hadn't liked this upstart little nobleman. He fixed Baron Hovlund with a look of suspicion that merely served to make it appear as if the steward had smelled something funny.
"How can you even tell she liked it, Nordhavn?" he grumbled, taking another small sip of his whiskey, then swirling the rest around in the fine crystal glass.
"Hovlund, you are as mopey as a beardless boy," the Duke accused. "I know she did because she didn't stop looking at it the entire time we were there."
Kai did not like the sound of that. Still, she had been looking at the book, not at the Baron. His spirits lifted. Unfortunately for him, this same line seemed to lift the Baron's spirits as well.
"Still," the now mollified Baron went on, "I'm not sure how to understand her. She's a bit like a statue: very beautiful, very poised, but very cold and expressionless. Do you think she feels anything at all, Nordhavn?"
Kai did not agree with most of this. He knew the Crown Princess could actually be very expressive. It was just that other than Regal Poise, and Royal Indifference, most of her expressions were varying degrees of Sorrow, Guilt, Worry, or Fear.
"You know what some of the council say?" The Baron continued. "That she has a touch of ice. That she's cold and completely unfeeling. That's why her royal emblem is that snowflake."
"A Snow Queen?" the Duke snorted at the absurdity. "That emblem is the same one her father and grandfather had before her when they were the heir apparent. It's as old as Arendelle itself."
Kai's frown deepened. He did not find the quip amusing in the least. Baron Hovlund didn't seem to find it very funny, either. He finished off the last sip of his Scottish whiskey and stood up, tall and straight. He glowered petulantly, and Kai did not think him quite so handsome as he had before.
"I think I will take my leave, Your Grace, Master Kai," he bowed and made to leave.
"Oh, wait!" Kai exclaimed, wanting to ask both of these men the Crown Princess's question before the party broke up for the afternoon. The Baron turned back around in the doorway. "Coal?" He exclaimed. "Her Majesty asked me to find out why they want so much coal."
There was no question who 'they' were. The Duke began to laugh again, in an affectionate way. "Sharp. What did I say? We didn't even think of that, but now that you mention it, they were quite adamant about the quantity and cost of coal two years ago. The details are, I'm sure buried in the documents, but I remember the matter quite well now that you mention it."
Baron Hovlund, kept his face neutral as he considered Kai carefully. "Steam," he finally said. "They're building a railway, steamships…" It seemed as if this was an idea that had just hit him. "That could be a problem… if they want to lay rail along the southern border… they could quite easily start encroaching into our territory. I need to go look at my maps!" he exclaimed suddenly with a worried look.
Kai casually sipped the rest of his whiskey. He was certainly not impressed. The Duke looked slightly amused.
"What do you think of my young friend, Kai?" the Duke asked nonchalantly, after the young man's footsteps could no longer he heard jogging down the hallway. He rested his chin on his hands.
"I must say that I think he's a little temperamental," Kai replied. "He reminds me a bit of a spoiled child."
The Duke grinned and finished of his own whiskey in a big gulp. "I couldn't agree more. He's not appropriate. And besides, he has no chance anyway. We'll have him back of to Westleton as soon as possible."