"And so," Mr. Fischbach, the royal tutor, droned on in a monotone voice, "Weselton is known mostly for its trade, but also has a great monarchy in which there are- Your Highness?"

Elsa quickly focused her attention on him. "I'm listening." she said, giving him an apologetic smile.

Mr. Fischbach sighed. "Your Highness, you need to pay attention if you want to take over the throne. Your mother and father worked very hard to make Arendelle a successful kingdom, and I will not allow the future queen to inherit the throne without proper instruction. Now, Weselton has a very old monarchy…"

Try as she might, Elsa just couldn't keep her mind on the lesson. Her gaze turned to the locked window of the classroom, which had a near perfect view of the Arendelle Harbor. Large trading ships, small fishing boats, and every kind of boat in between docked here everyday, with all kinds of people traveling to and from Arendelle. Elsa watched the sailors bring a rather large ship into the dock. Must be a trading ship, she thought, searching for the country's flag.

"Your Highness?"

Elsa looked at Mr. Fischbach apologetically. "I'm very sorry if I was not paying attention to your lesson," she said, "I'll keep my focus on the lesson from now on."

He stared at her for a full minute, and then sighed. "Aside from your parents, I seem to have the most contact with you on a daily basis. I can tell when your mind is elsewhere, Your Highness. I can handle it as long as it isn't constantly happening, but I must insist that you must keep your attention here as much as possible. Now, let us please get on with today's lesson. Weselton's monarchy…"

Another hour passed before Elsa was allowed to go back to her room. She was just about to open her bedroom door when she saw Anna walking down the hall. Anna stopped in her tracks when she saw her older sister. They stared at each other for what felt like a century.

"Hi, Elsa," Anna finally said with a half-hearted wave. Her white streak of hair stood out against the light auburn braids, making Elsa feel slightly nauseous.

"H-Hello, Anna." she said, rushing to get in her room before her gloves froze over again. She shut the door just as small amounts of frost started to creep from her fingertips. "Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel." she chanted to herself, pacing the room as she tried to warm up her hands, "Conceal, don't feel."

Finally, the frost receded until her gloves were just slightly damp. She sighed and peeled them off, placing them on her desk. Her eyes wandered around the room, landing on the covered window. She went over to it and unlocked the shutters, letting the sunlight warm her skin. This window didn't have the harbor view like the classroom did, but she could still see the ships coming and going.

"I wish I could go somewhere," she said to herself, tracing invisible patterns on the glass, "Anywhere would be more fun than my own room." Frost followed her fingertips, but she didn't do anything about it, lost in her fantasies of far-away lands.

Suddenly, a commotion near one of the boats outside made her daydreams vanish. "What's going on?" she asked to nobody in particular as she tried to get a better view of what was happening. It looked like someone had fallen overboard one of the ships-the same trading ship from before-and people were trying to get them out. Elsa scraped the thickening ice off of the window in order to see better. A boy dived in after the person who had fallen and for a few tense moments, Elsa didn't see anyone come up.

"Please be alright. Please be alright," she whispered as she continued to scrape the rapidly reappearing ice off. Finally, two people burst from the surface, coughing and sputtering, but otherwise, they looked okay. Elsa relaxed, relieved that they were both okay. She leaned closer to the window, trying to see who had fallen overboard and who had saved them. The person who fell in looked like a young girl around twelve or thirteen years old. The boy who had dived in after her had a messy mop of brown hair that sort of reminded her of-

"Elsa?"

She jumped, freezing the entire window over. She looked behind her and saw her parents near the doorway. "Mama, Papa!" she said, trying to close the shades and reach for her gloves at the same time, "I-I didn't- I wasn't-"

"What were you thinking, Elsa?" the King said, rushing forward and closing the window for her, "Someone could've seen you use your powers!"

"Adgar, that's enough." the Queen said sternly, shutting the door behind her, "She didn't mean to leave her window open."

"I'm sorry," Elsa said, pulling her gloves as high as they would go, "I just... I wanted to feel the sun."

The King looked at her and nodded, going back to stand next to the Queen on the other side of the room. Elsa tried not to feel hurt, but she couldn't help it. She hated the distance between them. She hadn't even touched them in years. Elsa pushed down the feelings before they showed themselves through snow.

"What can I do for you?" she asked, being the good girl she had to be.

Her parents exchanged a strange look. "Elsa," the Queen said slowly, "Your father and I have been talking, and we've decided that you're old enough and mature enough for you to start coming out of the castle more often."

Elsa stared at them for a long while. "You…want me to come out of my room?"

"You're eighteen years old, Elsa," her father said, "You need to come out of here sometime. The people are starting to wonder what became of you." Elsa was only half listening to him. She was too busy trying to calm herself down. I'm not ready for that! She thought frantically, There's no way I can go out there now! What if I froze something? What if someone found out?

"I think the first thing we should do is hold a dinner party."

Elsa made herself focus on her parents. "I'm sorry, what?"

"If you're going to come out into the public again, we need to ease you into it slowly," the King said, "I think we should start with a small dinner party, with only you, us, and the council members."

"A dinner party?"

"It'll be fine, Elsa," the Queen said, "We can put it off until you're ready."

A dinner party. Maybe that won't be so bad. As long as I have my gloves on, I can go through with this.

"I…I think that's a good idea." Elsa said, subconsciously rubbing her palms together, "We can do that if you want."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," the King said. The messenger, Kai, poked his head in. "Your Majesties, there's someone here to see you. He says he has a message from Corona."

Elsa looked up as the King nodded. "Tell him I'll see him in the east parlor." Kai nodded and rushed out of the room. The Queen looked at Elsa. "Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked, worry showing through her face.

Elsa nodded and said, "I'll be fine, Mother."

Someone from Corona? Could it be…?

"I'll see you at the party, then." the Queen said as she exited the room.

As soon as the door was shut, Elsa bit her fist, trying to contain her squeals. 'Calm down, Elsa,' part of Elsa's brain told her, 'It's probably not him at all. It could be anyone from Corona.' I just saw him at the pier! She thought back, And he is from Corona now!

Elsa paced the room quickly, trying to get her thoughts to stop arguing. "There's only one way to find out." she said aloud after a minute of useless self-war. She went to the door and slowly peeked into the hallway. No one was around as far as she could see. She took a slow, deep breath and ran towards the east parlor, where she heard a discussion between three people.

"She's alive?" she heard her mother say, "After all of these years?"

"Are you completely sure of this?" her father said.

"Absolutely," said a voice that Elsa knew almost as well as her own. "Jack." she whispered, her smile growing bigger as Jack continued to talk. "I saw her with my own eyes. She's a lot like your daughter, Princess Anna."

Elsa risked a small peek into the room. Jack was standing near the fireplace, his hair still wet from his dive. He looked so much older than he did three or four years ago. "By the way, her name is Rapunzel."

"Rapunzel." the Queen repeated, sitting in a chair, "I can't believe my niece has finally reappeared after all this time." The King kneeled next to her. "Your brother must've had the shock of his life." he said with a small smile. The Queen smiled back. "He always was hard to scare."

Jack looked at the door then and saw Elsa peeking in. Elsa's eyes widened, and she almost backed away, but then Jack grinned at her and winked. She smiled back at him just as the King turned his attention back to Jack.

"Is there any other news you would like to share, Mr. North?"

Jack looked at the King again before Elsa could blink. "Actually, yes there is," he said with a knowing smile, "Princess Rapunzel would like to invite you to her wedding in two weeks."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"A wedding?"

"She's engaged? To whom?"

"She's getting married to Mr. Eugene Fitzherbert," Jack replied with a small grin.

Elsa nearly started laughing. What kind of last name is Fitzherbert?

"Well," the Queen said, obviously holding back her laughter, "This, ah, Eugene must be something special if Rapunzel wants to marry him so badly." "Forget what I said earlier," the King said, "This is the shock of a lifetime." J

ack looked at Elsa again with laughter in his eyes. Elsa shook her head, smiling back at him. It felt so good to see Jack again after all these years. "Well, thank you for the message," the King said, standing up, "When will you be returning to Corona?"

"In about three days, Your Majesty." Three days. I only have three days with him before he leaves.

"Your Highness?"

Elsa turned and saw Greta, one of the maids. "You're not supposed to be out here." she whispered.

Elsa looked at Jack one more time before turning back to Greta. "Of course, Greta. I was just heading back to my room."

Greta nodded and hurriedly escorted her back to the bedroom. "Oh, wait just a moment." Elsa said, hurrying inside. She came out a moment later with a piece of folded paper. "Will you please give this to the messenger from Corona right away?"

Jack was just walking away from the castle when something slammed into him.

"Ow!" he cried out, looking for his sister, "What was that for, Missy?"

"Sorry," Missy said, slightly out of breath, "I was just playing tag with some of the other kids and I wasn't watching were I was going."

Jack grinned as he saw six more kids staring at him expectantly.

"Well, who am I to stop you?" he said, "Go ahead and play."

Missy hugged him and ran off with her new friends.

"Be back in time for dinner, Missy!"

"I will!"

"Excuse me, sir."

Jack turned and saw one of the palace servants with a paper in her hand.

"Are you the messenger from Corona?" she asked.

"Yes, that's me."

The servant held out the piece of paper to him. "Princess Elsa has instructed me to give this to you right away."

Elsa.

"Thank you, ma'am." he said, taking the letter. The servant went back inside as Jack tore the letter open.

Jack, the letter read, Meet me by our lake tonight at midnight, if you can. We have a lot of catching up to do. Elsa.

Jack put the letter into his pocket, nearly exploding with excitement. Of course, he did see her a few minutes ago in the castle, but that didn't really count. Now he was going to actually talk to her for the first time in years. Jack made his way back to the little inn where he and Missy were staying in, suddenly feeling nervous.

He wasn't sure why he felt so scared. He was just going to meet his best friend in the whole world who turned into one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen and who was also the Crown Princess of Arendelle.

"Stop it." he told himself, trying very hard not to let that thought settle, "You're acting ridiculous, Jack. It's just Elsa." He lay down on the bed, covering his face with his hands. "It's just Elsa," he repeated, trying to make himself believe it, "It's just Elsa. It's just Elsa…"

Hey guys, I'm really sorry for making you wait so long for this chapter. Hopefully it will be good enough to last awhile. I might not post again for a few weeks, to be honest, but I do plan to continue Northern Lights, even if it kills me. (Hopefully it won't. *fingers crossed*) Anyway, if you have questions, suggestions, or if you want to scream at me for the long wait or about anything else bothering you in life, please review and/or message me and I'll get back to you when I can. See you all later. Bye bye!