CHAPTER 17

The dawning of a new day brought gray skies to Arendelle. Snow drifted down from the sky, blanketing the kingdom with a fresh layer of white. Princess Anna stood outside as she had the previous day, waiting for the Prince-turned-trainer to arrive. She silently thanked the gods for the cloak she was wise enough to wear this time, hugging it close to her as she watched each of her breaths dissipate into the darkness.

The snow made the castle courtyard eerily quiet, the only real noises being the slight howling of the wind and her breathing. Anna looked back and forth, seeing only a stray flame from a lantern or candle in a window through the curtain of white. The stillness of the early morning lulled the Princess into a tranquil state.

Unfortunately, the calm was disturbed by the distant sound of clattering metal. The noise pierced the quiet air and caused Anna to grimace. The Princess hadn't the slightest idea as to what could possibly be making the noise, but she hypothesized that Mattias had something to with it.

The sound grew louder and louder until finally the Prince rounded a corner with a large sack slung over his shoulder, just as he had done the day before. The sack, which seemed to be the source of the clanging noise, was much larger than the one that held the practice weapons from the previous day. He also seemed to be struggling with it's weight.

"Good morning." Mattias called out to her. "Can you open the door, please?"

"Sure." Anna replied. She held the door to the castle's foyer open as Mattias carried the massive parcel through the threshold, grunting out a "Thanks" as he passed.

They made their way to the ballroom just as they had yesterday. The clanging of whatever was in the bag echoed loudly through the main hallways, and Anna noticed several workers peek their heads out of various rooms to see what was causing the commotion.

They finally reached the ballroom, and Anna mouthed an apology and waived to the servants still glaring in her direction before closing the door. There was a large crash just as the door clicked shut as Mattias dropped the large bag onto the floor. The man stretched his back out and let out a sigh of relief.

"Wow, that was heavy." Mattias exclaimed. "I have no idea how anyone was ever able to actually wear this stuff!"

"What do you mean, wear?" Anna asked as the Prince reached into the sack. She gasped when she realized just what it was that he removed.

Mattias was holding the helmet of an antique suit of armor. He lifted the helm up into the air and placed his free hand over his heart.

"Alas, poor Yorick!" Mattias proclaimed before thrusting the helmet into her hands. "Hold this."

"Mattias, where did you get this?" she asked as the Prince started removing more pieces of the armor.

"I found it." he replied while placing a chest plate down.

"You mean you stole it." Anna said.

Mattias looked at Anna as he removed a pauldron from the satchel.

"Borrowed." he corrected. "I'll put it back when we're done."

"Why do we need a suit of armor anyway?"

Mattias stood next to the now-empty sack and began to assemble the suit. He worked surprisingly fast and before long the armor was complete, save for the helm in Anna's hands. He moved to stand next to Anna and beckoned for the helmet.

"It's a visual aid for today's lesson." the Prince finally answered.

"If you say so..." Anna responded as she handed the final piece of the armor to Mattias.

He place the helmet on the shoulders of the suit and stepped back to admire his work.

"Perfect," Mattias said. "but this is for later. Before we use the suit, we'll be sparring again."

The Prince motioned towards the stolen table. To Anna's surprise, there were no swords laying there this time. In place of the weapons, there was a familiar-looking chess set.

"Mattias, did you take that chess board from the library?"

The Prince simply nodded in affirmation.

"That's Elsa's, and she is very fond of it."

"Oh." Mattias squeaked out. "Whoops."

"Does that mean that you'll stop 'borrowing' things?" Anna asked.

"Maybe." Mattias shrugged and sat down at the table, gesturing towards the seat across from him.

"Why chess? Why no swords today?" Anna asked as she took her seat.

"We'll use swords later," he answered. "but chess first."

Mattias picked up the white queen and twirled it in his fingers. He placed the piece back on it's square, exchanging the queen for a pawn.

"Just like dancing and sword fighting, chess is all about thinking ahead." Mattias placed the pawn two squares forward from it's initial position.

"The board is the battlefield, the pieces are the soldiers, and you are the general." he continued. "Just like a real general, you must manipulate the battlefield to your advantage and keep your troops alive. Strategy is key here, just as it is in a sword fight."

The Prince locked eyes with Anna before continuing.

"Today, our sparring will take place on the chess board." Mattias said with a devious grin. "It's your turn; take command of your soldiers and vanquish your enemy."

Anna nodded and timidly reached for one of her pawns. She lifted the piece off of the board and began to move it forward and place it down.

"Remember," Anna jumped at the interruption. "always think ahead."

She nodded and finished her turn, mimicking the Prince and moving one of her pawns two spaces ahead. Mattias smiled at her and looked down at the board as he tried to think of his next move. After a few seconds, he picked up another pawn and moved it one space.

Now the game was in full swing. Anna moved one of her bishops, Mattias responded with a knight. Time went by and the amount of pieces on the board got smaller and smaller.

After about twenty minutes they had entered the end game, having only a few pieces each. Their kings were scattered from their original positions, having been put in check multiple times. Anna was down to her king, a knight, and two pawns. Mattias had his king, a rook, a bishop and a pawn.

"Check." Mattias said after moving his rook. He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of him, waiting for Anna to take her turn.

The Princess stared intently at her pieces, taking in as much information as she possibly could. Mattias had her king pinned in a corner, and moving it wouldn't get her out of check. She would have to block the rook.

Anna's gaze moved over each of her pieces as she thought of what each move would bring. She began to feel her head begin to throb as she stared down at the battlefield. Eventually the outlines of the pieces began to blur and her heart began to beat loudly. She noticed that one of her pawns was still completely in focus, the silhouette of the piece still sharp despite her headache. Her thought process became magnetized to the pawn as she thought of every move that the piece could make, three, four, five moves ahead. She thought of every single counter move the Prince could make if she were to move the pawn in question.

Anna couldn't believe how fast her mind was moving. Every second, another five moves flashed behind her eyes. The speed at which her synapses were firing only served to make her headache worsen, yet she managed to maintain a clearness about the battle at hand. Something in her head made her believe that she absolutely had to move the pawn in question, so that is exactly what she did.

Anna slid the piece forward to the next square before moving her hand to massage her throbbing temples. Mattias looked up from the game to see the Princess' eyes squeezed shut and a grimace on her face.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Anna opened her eyes and responded with a forced smile. "just a little headache. Nothing major."

"We can continue later if you'd like."

"No!" Anna replied curtly. "No, I'd like to keep playing."

"Alright." he replied before moving his rook across the board.

Anna looked back down at the board and began to analyze the possible moves. The board was once again blurry, and she rubbed her eyes in an attempt to clear her vision. Much like the previous play, one of her pieces was still in focus.

Anna looked at her knight. Everything it could do shot through her head almost immediately. One move in particular grabbed her attention, and she lifted the knight before placing it down on the square that her mind was focusing on.

Anna played chess often as it was one of Elsa's favorite things to do. She was in no way bad at it, but the Queen was much better, and Anna had yet to win against her. Mattias seemed to be just as skilled as Elsa, possibly even better, which is why the Princess was so surprised when she looked at the board.

Anna's eyes widened with shock as she took in the scene on the chess board. She looked up at Mattias to see that he also looked completely surprised.

"Checkmate..." Anna whispered. It took her mind a second to realize what she had just said, but the her brain and mouth eventually connected.

"Checkmate!" she shouted with glee. "I did it! I can't believe it!"

"Yeah, you did..." he said, completely dumbstruck as he stared at the board. "Very impressive." he muttered, barely a whisper.

The Prince looked up to see Anna's excited expression and smiled. He reached his arm across the board, offering his hand to her as a gesture of respect.

"Congratulations." he proclaimed as Anna shook his hand.

"Thank you!" she said joyfully. "I've never won before! I play with Elsa all the time, but she's so good at it, I can never beat her, and you seem just as good as her and I just can't believe that I was able to win and-"

Mattias' attempts to stifle his laughter stopped her dead in her tracks.

"You did very well, Anna." he said as his shoulders shook with each guffaw. "That was a well-deserved win."

Anna beamed from ear to ear and curtsied slightly at the Prince.

"You were a most-worthy opponent, Mattias." she said with mock formality.

"I am honored by your humility, Your Highness." Mattias bowed as he responded. "Now if we may move on, it's time for a bit of an anatomy lesson."

"Anatomy?" Anna asked, perplexed.

"That's why I... borrowed... that guy over there." he said as he gestured over his shoulder towards the suit of armor. "You need to learn where, well..."

"Where what?" Anna mused, even more confounded than before.

"This is going to sound a little barbaric, but," the Prince continued. "you need to learn where the 'weak points' are on the human body; where to aim for when you strike your opponent."

"Wait a minute," Anna interrupted. "no one said anything about killing anyone!"

"You wanted to learn how to defend yourself, Anna." he responded. "No rational person wants to take another man's life, but it is often necessary."

"Mattias, I don't know. That's..." Anna replied nervously.

"If you're not comfortable with this, we don't have to continue." the Prince offered. "Why don't we call it a day for now? That way you can take some time to really think about continuing."

"I- I would appreciate that." Anna said with a frown as she tucked a lose strand of hair behind her ear. "Sorry."

"No need to apologize." he responded and pointed at the suit of armor again. "I don't think our friend will mind waiting."

Anna giggled at the comment and a small smile returned to her face.

"Thanks for understanding, Mattias."

"Not a problem." the man responded with a smile. He gave a small bow before turning to leave the ballroom.

Anna wrapped her arms around her chest and took another look around the room. Her eyes found the suit of armor and a chill shot down her spine at the thought of actually killing someone. She closed her eyes and shook the morbid thoughts out of her head before leaving the ballroom.

Anna spent the rest of the day arguing with her own thoughts about whether or not to continue the lessons with Prince Mattias. She couldn't possibly imagine what it would be like to actually take someone's life; even thinking about it put a sour feeling in her stomach.

The Princess' mind went back and forth for the entirety of the afternoon as she searched for answers in all the usual places. Joan of Arc had nothing to offer her, nor did the bowl of chocolates that she found in the kitchens. Kristoff was not in the stables, but Sven was, and Anna spent almost an hour ranting to the reindeer, which occasionally grunted in response.

"Sometimes I forget that you're not a person, Sven." Anna said, disappointment in her voice.

In the end, the deciding factor was Elsa, as it usually tended to be. After her second bowl of chocolate, a bout of crying, and one broken greenhouse window, Anna had made her decision. Mattias had asked her what she was willing to do to protect herself and Elsa, and she had replied with "Anything", and she truly meant it. As such, she made the decision to continue her training with Mattias, despite the morbid reality of sword fighting's true purpose. All she could do was hope that it would never be necessary.

Anna was then able to make a very easy choice, which distracted her from her previous indecisiveness. If Queen Elsa were to find out, her training would most likely be over, and Anna didn't want that to happen. So she decided, rather quickly, to not tell Elsa about what Mattias was going to be teaching her.

Later in the evening, after the sisters had eaten dinner, they retreated to Elsa's finally-repaired study to relax for a little while. Anna still wanted to go into town with Mattias that night, despite cutting her training short this morning.

The Queen sat behind her desk and Anna took her place at the chair across from her. The two sat in comfortable silence for a moment before Anna spoke.

"I'm going into town with Mattias again tonight." she said.

"Oh?" Elsa replied with a grin. "You mean you're going to go 'spy' on the citizens again?"

"It's not spying..." Anna countered. "it's... it's a learning experience!"

Elsa put her fingers on her lips to stifle a giggle.

"Don't laugh, you jerk!" Anna exclaimed. "I'm helping the both of us by doing this, you know."

"I know, I know." the Queen replied. "Princess Anna, Spymaster of Arendelle, faithfully serving the crown."

"Hmm..." Anna looked up in thought. "I rather like that title. I accept the position!"

The sisters shared a laugh before once again falling into another amicable muteness. They looked lovingly into each others eyes, until Anna suddenly stood up and walked over to Elsa's balcony door.

"Come here." she beckoned towards the Queen, who stood and joined her side.

Anna opened the double door to the balcony and stepped outside. The setting sun illuminated the still falling-snow, which was much lighter than the blinding white curtain Anna had experienced early that morning.

"See that building down there?" Anna pointed towards the city below them. "The one with the flower on the sign?

Elsa leaned over the railing in the direction the Princess pointed, scanning the Arendelle skyline for the building in question. Eventually she found what she was looking for.

"That's a crocus." the Queen said.

"A golden crocus. The Golden Crocus, to be exact." Anna proclaimed. "That roof is where Mattias and I heard all those men talking about us."

"I see." Elsa replied. She squinted her eyes in an attempt to make out details of the building. In doing so, she noticed something about the building that concerned her.

"You said you jumped to that building, yes?" she asked.

"Yup."

"Anna, the nearest building is easily six meters away!"

Anna simply shrugged.

"You're crazy!"

"Feisty."

"Reckless!"

"Brave!"

Elsa frowned. She knew this was an argument that she was not going to win.

"Anna, I- just be careful. Please."

Anna moved toward her older sister and wrapped her arms around her before planting a kiss on her cool lips. She pulled away slightly, leaning her forehead on Elsa's own.

"Always."

Elsa smiled and Anna kissed her again. They remained in each others arms for a few more seconds before Anna moved away.

"I have to go get ready." she said. "I'll see you later, okay?"

Elsa nodded, a wide smile on her face. Another quick kiss and Anna turned to leave.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Anna."

The Princess smiled and departed, leaving Elsa alone on the balcony. The Queen sighed contentedly and turned to look out over her kingdom. She took in a deep breath of the brisk winter air before smiling and heading back into her study.

She turned away from the railing, but something in her peripheral vision made her do a double-take. What looked like a person was hanging off one of the spires of the castle. Elsa strained to make out exactly what she was seeing in the slowly-fading sunlight. She closed her eyes and rubbed them in an attempt to clear her vision, but when she opened them to look again, the figure was gone.

The Queen shrugged the incident off, blaming the phantom vision on fatigue from a long day of treaty writing and fact-checking. With an indifferent shrug, she entered her study and closed the doors behind her.

An hour later, the Princess made her way to the courtyard to wait for Mattias so the duo could begin their excursion into the city. Anna had donned her riding breeches once again, this time covered by a hooded cloak which served to keep her warm as well as shield her identity even more.

She stood next to the castle door to wait for Mattias, keeping her head on a swivel to avoid being surprised by the Prince like last time. After ten minutes of scanning the courtyard without an appearance from the man, Anna decided to go looking for him.

The Princess began to circumnavigate the interior of the castle walls in an attempt to find her missing companion. She looked in the barracks, the guard tower, and even the greenhouse, just to be sure. The castle was quiet as most of the staff had retired for the evening, and there was no one out of doors besides the occasional guard.

Anna was about to give up when a peculiar noise caught her attention. The distinct sound of two men laughing loudly echoed off of the castle's ramparts. The Princess was following the sound of the laughter when she noticed a plume of smoke and the soft glow of a bonfire coming from the stables. She approached the stables, quickly realizing she had found the source of the clamor.

As Anna got closer to the building, she was able to identify one of the voices. Kristoff was in the middle of telling someone a very enthusiastic story. She entered the stables as he recounted a familiar tale.

"-so she says, 'Please tell me I'm almost there', and she's only a meter up!"

Both Kristoff and his guest burst into laughter again. Anna furrowed her brow in annoyance and walked inside, crossing her arms angrily. Inside, she found Kristoff and Mattias sitting around a fire, eyes squeezed closed and shaking with fits of laughter.

"Ahem." she grunted. Mattias was the first to notice the noise. He sighed as his laughter subsided and turned towards the door. Upon noticing Anna, his eyes lit up.

"Snakker om sola..." he exclaimed. "Kristoff, look who's here!"

The blonde man wiped a tear from his eye and looked towards the doorway, finally noticing Anna.

"Anna!" Kristoff exclaimed as he stood up and threw his arms out to his sides. He stumbled towards the woman before wrapping his burly arms around her and lifting her off of the ground. "It's so nice to see you again! We were just talking about you!"

"Hmph, I heard." she growled as Kristoff put her down.

"Kristoff was just telling me about your adventure up the North Mountain." Mattias said as Kristoff returned to his seat. "What a crazy story! A talking snowman and a castle made of ice? Unbelievable!"

"I suppose so..."

"Why didn't you introduce me to Mattias before, Anna?" Kristoff queried. "He's hilarious!"

"I just didn't think to-"

"He makes the reindeer talk!" Mattias blurted out before falling into a cackling fit.

"Wait, what's wrong with- oh."

Anna watched as Kristoff took a long swig straight from a bottle of what she could only assume was some sort of alcohol. She then noticed several empty bottles strewn around the fire.

"Care for a drink, Anna?" Mattias asked as he extended a bottle towards her.

"No, thank you." she said. The Prince shrugged and took a long pull from the container.

"Mattias, we were supposed to go into the city tonight." she exclaimed.

"Well," another swig. "I thought that since you didn't want to continue training earlier, that you wouldn't want to go tonight."

"I never said that."

"...dæven." An apologetic look came to the Prince's face.

"It looks like you messed up, Mattias!" said "Sven".

"Ppffffthahaha!" Mattias' serious demeanor melted away as he guffawed wildly. Anna rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." he said through jolts of laughter. "The reindeer thing kills me."

Anna shot daggers at him with her eyes.

"Anyway, since I didn't think you were coming out, I got to exploring the castle grounds some more. That's when I met Kristoff here, and he invited me in for a drink!"

"You promised me, Mattias." Anna declared. The smile left his face, replaced by an apologetic frown, and he placed his hands on his knees and stood up.

"You're right, I did." he stumbled a bit as he stood. "Let's go. I can still go. I'm fine."

Kristoff chuckled in the background.

The Prince took a step forward, but before he could put his foot down, he fell backwards, flat as a board. Both men burst out in more laughter. Anna glared indignantly at the Prince.

"Ow." Mattias said. "Sorry, Anna." The Princess threw her arms up in frustration.

"So what am I supposed to do?" she asked.

Mattias scrunched his face as he pondered the question. Finally, he sat up and leaned back on his hands.

"You can go alone!" he exclaimed.

"Alone?" Anna responded. "I don't think that's a good idea..."

"Sure it is!" he retorted. "You can handle yourself, plus you know more about Arendelle than I do, so you'll know where to go."

"But I don't have any weapons." the Princess countered. "What if someone finds me and tries to hurt me?"

Mattias furrowed his brow in thought as Kristoff began plucking on his lute.

"Ah, I have an idea!" he said. "Take this!" The Prince then undid the holster strapped to his chest and handed it to Anna, pistol and all.

"Are you crazy? I can't take your gun!" Anna cried. "I have no idea how to even use it!"

"It's easy." Mattias said. He removed the weapon from the holster and handed it to Anna grip first. "Just point it at the target and squeeze the trigger."

Anna examined the weapon in her hands. The grip was engraved with intricate carvings and the barrel was covered in ornate pewter embellishments. It was a work of art, and she understood why Mattias was so attached to it.

"Just point and squeeze?" she repeated, looking up from the firearm.

Mattias nodded.

"And you're sure I'll be alright?"

Another nod.

"Alright... I guess I'll go alone," she conceded. "but Elsa cannot find out. Do you understand, Mattias?

"She'll never find out from me." he pledged.

Anna nodded and took her cloak off. She pull the holster over her shoulders and tightened the leather straps before placing the pistol back in it's home and donning her cloak once again. A whistle made her look back up.

"That's... um..." Kristoff began, struggling to find the proper words. The Princess noticed his face reddening. "That's a pretty good look for you, Anna."

"I'll say." Mattias vehemently agreed. "I love a girl that's armed to the teeth."

"Shut up." Anna said as she turned her head away to hide her embarrassment.

"Just sayin'..." Kristoff shrugged and took another drink.

"Best get going then." Mattias said to her as a grin cracked across his face. "No sense wasting daylight!" Both men began laughing wildly once more.

"Ugh." she groaned. "I'm leaving." She turned to walk away, leaving the two men cackling maniacally at Mattias' terrible joke.

Anna raised her hood and headed towards the castle gates.

"This is pointless."

Anna mumbled her annoyance into the cold night air. She had been sitting on top of The Golden Crocus for the better part of an hour and all she had learned was that the local blacksmith was having an affair with the wife of a banker, and that a certain royal guard couldn't handle his liquor; she could still hear his snoring coming from the street below. All in all, it was nothing but useless gossip.

Anna stood up and stretched her arms, sighing when she heard a satisfying POP. She decided to head back to the castle and cut her losses for the night. The Princess adjusted her hood, drawing it tighter to her face, and began her trek across the city rooftops.

She was almost back to the castle when a strange noise caught her attention. The source seemed to be behind the building she was standing on, so she moved to the edge of the rooftop. As she grew closer, the sound grew clearer and louder. Anna couldn't determine what the noise was exactly, but it sounded like...

'...Muffled screaming...'

Panic hit the Princess like a brick wall. The sound was muffled screaming, she was sure of it now. She peered over the wall. To her horror, she was right.

There were two people in the alley, a man and a woman. The man straddled the woman, who was lying on the ground, flailing wildly. He held a large knife in one hand while his other hand covered the woman's mouth. Suddenly, the man yelled and recoiled his hand; the woman had bit him.

"Help!" she screamed. There was a smack as the man struck her across the face.

"Shut up!" he growled.

Anna gasped in horror at the scene playing out before her.

"What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!" she said to herself. "Think, Anna, this woman needs help!"

Her hand then found it's way to the pistol strapped to her chest. She drew the weapon from it's holster, holding it out in front of her.

"Not that..."

There was something she could do, and it was exactly what made her so uncomfortable about Mattias' lesson earlier in the day. Fueled by fear and panic, her heartbeat accelerated and her hands started shaking. Tears began forming in her eyes.

Anna made her decision.

This woman, one of her people, needed help, and she was in a position save her. It was her duty as Princess to serve her citizens; she just never imagined that serving the people would entail... this.

Anna gripped the pistol in her right hand and stepped toward the ledge. It wasn't a far drop; she would be able to jump down to the ground below with no issue. She wiped the tears from her eyes, took a deep breath, and stepped over the ledge.

Anna landed with a thud on one knee, immediately drawing the attention of the assailant. The startled man scarmbled to stand up, pointing the knife at her as he did.

"Who the hell are you?!" he yelled, fingers shifting around the hilt of the blade in his hand.

Saying nothing, Anna lifted the pistol and pointed it at the man's chest. Luckily, the darkness of the night masked the nervous shaking of the weapon and the hood on her head masked the tears streaming down her face.

"Whoa, hey, don't shoot!" the man begged when he saw what Anna was holding. "I'm leaving!" The assailant dropped the knife and ran out of the alley. Anna managed to keep the pistol trained on him as he absconded.

When he was finally out of sight, Anna broke down. The pistol fell to the ground and she dropped to her knees. She had gotten lucky; she didn't have to pull the trigger. Still, the thought of almost having to take a life made her sick.

Anna could only hear sobbing, though it wasn't her own. That's when she realized that she wasn't crying; it was the woman that was being attacked. The Princess immediately scrambled to the woman's side, helping her up from the snowy ground. Before she could react, the woman embraced her in a death grip.

"Th-th-thank you!" she sobbed. "Th-thank you s-so mu-much!"

The lump in Anna's throat kept her from responding. She just held the traumatized woman in her arms for what seemed like hours, trying to comfort her. Anna knew that she had to be strong for the woman, so she held back her own sobs.

Eventually, the woman let go. Anna picked up Mattias' pistol, holstered it, and walked the victim out of the alley and to the nearest inn before heading back to the castle. Before she could leave, the woman reached out and placed an arm on her shoulder.

"Thank you, again, for saving me." she whimpered. "He would have killed me if you didn't show up when you did."

The Princess didn't react. She simply stared into the distance.

"Can I know my savior's name?" the woman asked.

Anna peered over her shoulder at the woman. The darkness of the night combined with her cloak had kept her identity unknown, and she decided to keep it that way.

Without a word, Anna ran back to the castle.

A/N

Hiya folks. I'm still alive. I swear. And look, I posted chapter 17 to prove it!

Learning time!
'Snakker om sola': 'speak of the sun', part of 'Snakker om sola, så skinner'n', which is Norwegian for 'Speak of the sun, and it shines.' (like 'speak of the devil')
'dæven': Norwegian for 'damn' (or so I was told)

Now that that's out of the way, I have good and bad news:

Bad news- I'm probably only going to be updating once every two weeks now, which sucks, but I want to make this thing good, and that takes time.

Good news- The next chapter is basically written already (it was originally part of chapter 17, but it was getting too long) so it'll be out sometime next week.

I also feel terrible for doing this to Anna, but it's all part of the bigger plan.

Hang in there, folks!

Love forever,

Cosmic