Author's Note: Sorry for missing the past few day's updates, everyone. I had my AP World History test on Thursday, and writing three essays when you don't really know what you're talking about tends to sap one's creativity. Then, I just didn't have enough time to write the chapter out on paper throughout the day yesterday (which I have a personal rule that it will always go on paper before I type it), but at least I had some extra time to plan it out, so I think it turned out for the better.

Chapter Seven - Royal Tour

Several days had passed since Elsa had met Serena, and she was beginning to forgive Hjadvaar. He hadn't brought the issue up again, at least, and that helped. She sighed, and accepted that he may not have been completely wrong about starting what he called a "domestic intelligence service", and that she might want to apologise for freaking out the way she had. That could wait, though. For now, all she wanted to do was relax in her bed and read a nice book while the morning sun flooded in through the window.

"Your Majesty, it's time to get up." Kai's voice said through the door. "You're scheduled to take a tour of the city today." So much for a vacation.

"Thank you, Kai." she said. "I'll be out in a minute. Have someone prepare a bath for me, please."

"At once, Your Majesty."

XXX

Freshly bathed and dressed in her most ornate ice dress to date, Elsa was feeling far better about going into town than when she had first awoken. When she arrived in the courtyard, she found it to be a hive of activity. Servants were running every which way, trying to organise the royal procession into something that somewhat resembled a straight line, which was being complicated by Olaf, who was wandering about getting snow on everyone, and distracting the horses with the prospect of stealing his nose.

"There you are." Hjadvaar said, approaching from the crowd and dressed in slightly more ornate armor than usual. "I was beginning to get worried about you. I was just about to organize a search party." Then he laughed in a short, cackling manner that sent shivers down Elsa's spine. "Are you ready for the tour?" he asked.

"Yes, but I don't see Anna anywhere. Have you seen her?" she replied.

"Hi, everyone!" the very person she had mentioned exclaimed, running out of the castle.

"Speak of the daedra." Hjadvaar chuckled to himself.

"Sorry I'm late." Anna said as she ran up to them. "First I overslept, then the bathwater had gotten cold and needed to be reheated, then there were some problems with me trying to put my shoes on the wrong feet, and time just sorta got away from me."

"Well, we're all here now, so we should probably get going." Hjadvaar said. "Now, where did Olaf get off to? Ah, there he is. I'll be right back." he said, moving off in the general direction of the snowman's telltale flurry. Elsa had to smile at herself as she and her sister took their places at the head of the procession, thinking about the first time her bodyguard had met the errant snowman. He had managed to shock everyone by only seeming curious about how they had managed to give him a personal flurry, only freaking out when the snowman gave him a hug. When Anna asked him how he was so unfazed by the whole 'talking snowman' thing, he only said something about 'getting used to strange things when studying Oblivion'.

"Is everything in readiness?" he asked, startling her out of her reverie. How could such a large man move so quietly, particularly wearing armor?

"Everything seems to be ready." she replied, quickly thawing her horse's reins.

"Let's get this going, then." he said, quickly hanging his shield and helmet on the saddlebow of a waiting horse, mounted, then took his usual position to the Queen's left. "Move out!" he said in a powerful voice, and the procession started out of the gates and onto the causeway towards the city itself. Then, something happened that nobody in the palace had expected. Instead of cheering and applauding the way they usually did, the assembled townspeople only pointed and whispered to each other.

Elsa shrank into her saddle. While the crowd wasn't threatening her, or even really menacing her, 13 years of isolation had made her nervous around crowds, and that combined with the dislike and disgust she could see etched onto many of the faces in that crowd made her distinctly uncomfortable.

"Witch!" someone shouted from the crowd.

"Whore!" another yelled from a different direction. Elsa shrank back from the accusations, as Anna started screaming at the crowd and Hjadvaar drew his sword and readied his shield, moving his horse between her and the throng before them.

"We should return to the palace now." he said, scowling at the assembled townsfolk.

"No." she said in a trembling voice, taking deep breaths to try to calm herself, and only partially succeeding. "There will be a tour of the city, regardless of the opinions of a pair of ignorant townspeople." Personally, of course, she agreed with him, and the prospect of facing that crowd terrified her. Hjadvaar only looked pointedly at her hands, and she realised she had frozen her reins again.

"Your Majesty." he said, looking back to the crowd, "As the man responsible for your safety, I feel it is my duty to inform you that I have seen situations like this before, and they always end in violence. I can tell that you don't even really want to face that, anyway." He continued to scowl at the crowd, where the insults had spread, and had been joined by jeers, coming in a wave of hostility. Elsa decided that her bodyguard actually had a good point.

"We're returning to the palace now." she finally said. The entire procession parted, and she, Anna, Hjadvaar, and Olaf rode back across the causeway to the safety of the thick palace walls, followed by the angry sounds of the crowd.

XXX

Throughout the day, everyone in the palace pondered the sudden change in the disposition of the people of Arendelle towards the Queen. Eventually, Elsa decided that she had probably made a mistake when she had rejected Hjadvaar's idea to form his "domestic intelligence service"

"Hjadvaar?" she began that evening in the throne room, somewhat reluctantly.

"Aye?" he replied.

"Do you remember how I didn't like the idea you and that Serena woman had a few nights ago? The one about the secret police?"

"Aye. You froze a good portion of Serena's room, if I recall correctly." She chose to ignore that last part, though she did feel a pang of guilt.

"Well, I've had a change of heart. Hire some people to see why I'm suddenly so unpopular, please."

"I'll begin looking at potential recruits tomorrow, Your Majesty." He began to pace. "I think we'll want to pay special attention to anyone throwing the word 'whore' around. So far as I'm aware, you've never slept with anyone but yourself, but several people in that crowd seemed to believe you had. Following that trail may be our best bet to finding the source of all this." He was interrupted just then by an exhausted looking soldier suddenly barging in through the main doors at the end of the room.

"Your Majesty!" the man gasped for breath for a moment. "A large group of townspeople is approaching the palace, carrying torches and tools, shouting 'Burn the lecherous witch!'." Hjadvaar's face suddenly took on a commanding look.

"Seal the gates and raise an alarm!" he said in a voice more fitting to a general than a Queen's bodyguard. "I want archers on the walls and spearmen in the courtyard. Everyone else should stay mobile to counter any threat that arises." He looked at Elsa and Anna. "Is there any other way out of the palace?" he asked, his face intent. A sinking feeling entered Elsa's stomach, and frost started to creep across the floor and up the walls.

"No." she said. Anna confirmed that a second later.

"Then we fight them off or die." Hjadvaar said, squaring his shoulders and placing his dreadfully horned helmet on his head.

~`~ ~'~

Fredrik raced through the empty streets of Arendelle, ignoring how tired he was becoming. After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the ill-maintained alehouse on the edge of town he participated in secret meetings at. He quickly went inside and hurried up a flight of stairs and down a corridor towards a partially open door, behind which someone was talking.

"It's still far too early for that, Esben." Bjarne was saying when Fredrik entered the room. "We need to get the rebellion almost ready before we can proceed with that."

"My men are getting impatient, Bjarne." the man named Esben said. "They're getting tired of waiting in the woods doing nothing."

"Have them raid some caravans, then. We'll talk more later." He looked up. "Hello, Fredrik. How goes the spreading of discord?" he asked, then looked closer. "God, what happened to you? You look awful."

"Do you remember how we were going to spread lies about the Queen to try to start a revolt?" Fredrik asked intently.

"Yes, of course. What does that have to do with anything?"

"It worked better than we expected."

"Well, that's good." Bjarne looked back to Esben. "You can tell those brigands of yours that we'll be advancing ahead of schedule." he said.

"You don't understand what I just said, Bjarne." Fredrik interrupted. "The people are rebelling now." A look of horror suddenly replaced the smug expression on Bjarne's face.

"God, they haven't been armed yet!They'll be slaughtered!" he said, aghast. Fredrik could only stare at him helplessly.

WARNING: The next chapter will be exceedingly violent, and it will be described in loving detail. If that would upset any readers, do not read the next chapter. I will summarize it at the beginning of the following chapter. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.