Author's Note: Sorry for just sort of abandoning you guys. I had to do my finals on the last three days of last week, then I needed a day of downtime, then I had to perform at graduation of Sunday, and I just didn't have any time until yesterday due to family obligation. I finally had a chance to get this put together, though, so here it is.

SUMMARY: Due to the violence in the previous chapter, I have decided to summarize it here. In short, Hjadvaar gave Anna the Mace of Molag Bal to Anna to use as a very last resort, and the defenders of Castle Arendelle were pushed back to the throne room, taking heavy losses, while about a quarter of the population tried to kill the Queen. Hjadvaar demonstrated the power of the Thu'um to great effect, but eventually took an axe to the gut. He fought valiantly for several minutes, but slipped and fell. When that happened, Elsa created a wall of ice between him and the rebels, and created about two dozen snow giants, who then drove the rebels away. Following this, she and Anna went behind the throne to puke their guts out.

Chapter 9 - Battle Scars

Elsa awakened in her bed with a start, and immediately groaned and put a hand to her head to try to banish a splitting headache that had developed in her sleep.

"Kristoff, Kai, she's awake!" she heard Anna's familiar voice say, and looked over to see her sister standing by her bed, accompanied by Kai and Kristoff. "How are you feeling?" Anna asked, a concerned look on her face.

"My head hurts." Elsa replied with another groan. "I had a dream last night. I dreamed that there was a revolt, and Hjadvaar could do things with his voice and took an axe to his side, and I made a bunch of Marshmallows."

"Yeah, about that." Anna said, somewhat hesitantly. That wasn't a good sign. "That wasn't a dream. They're still cleaning the throne room, actually. I wouldn't go in there anytime soon." Elsa didn't know what to think, and was in fact too shocked to even frost the bed, much to everyone's surprise. After a moment, she threw the covers to the side and scrambled to her feet.

"Where's Hjadvaar?" she asked, then realised that everyone had turned to face the opposite wall, and that Kristoff was actually trembling slightly.

"Ah, you may wish to dress before you see him, Your Majesty." Kai said.

"I am dre-" Elsa said, before realising that she was, in fact, stark naked. "Oh." she said, feeling blood rush to her face. "Um, one moment." Of course it melted. she thought to herself as she created a new ice dress, referring to the one she had worn the previous day. I just hope I was already in bed before it melted. "Alright, I'm decent. Now, where's Hjadvaar?"

"He's this way." Anna said, turning back around. "You should blush more often, Elsa. You need more color." she remarked as she led the Queen out the door and down the hall. Elsa chose not to comment on that, instead concentrating on ignoring the fact that she had just been naked in front of her sister, head of staff, and her sisters' boyfriend. Eventually, Anna led her to a large room adjoining the throne room, where an impromptu hospital had been thrown together and filled with wounded soldiers, many of whom had been laid on tables, or even the floor. Elsa felt numb as she passed men with bloody bandages wrapped around their heads, torsos, and stumps of missing arms or legs. Finally, they reached a table where Hjadvaar lay as if he were sleeping, with Serena watching from nearby.

"He's been slipping in and out of consciousness." the Tamrellic woman said. "The healers managed to stop most of the bleeding, but it's a little touch-and-go. We didn't think we'd need very many health potions, and there's no way to make more here, so…" She spread her hands helplessly. Elsa simply stared at her bodyguard for a moment, then created a small block of ice and placed it on his forehead, somehow thinking that would help. To her slight surprise, he slowly opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Come to see me off to Sovngarde?" he asked in a voice filled with pain.

"Sovngarde?" Elsa asked, having no idea what he was talking about.

"The mead hall of the dead." the injured Nord explained. "I was promised a place when I slew Alduin the World Eater. Now, if you didn't come to see me die, I would like to do something about this scratch now that I'm conscious enough to think coherently. Serena, could you help me up and lend me a shoulder?" With some assistance, he managed to stagger to his feet, and leaned rather heavily on Serenas' shoulder, gasping for breath and cradling the wound on his side. After a moment, he raised his hands in front of himself, and they filled with a golden light, which then cascaded from his head to his feet as the Arendellians looked on in awe. When the strange light show ended, Hjadvaar stood up straight, with his arms by his side and no trace of the wounds which had previously covered him, save for some now unnecessary bandages.

"How did you do that?" Anna asked in a voice filled with wonder.

"I studied Restoration magic for a short time in Cyrodiil. It's not very difficult. Now, what happened after the fight?"

"Nothing particularly earth-shattering." Kai said. "After the Queen and Princess finished their - ah, business - behind the throne, you passed out from blood loss and fell on Her Majesty, knocking her out as well."

"That explains the headache." Elsa muttered to herself.

"Not long after that," Kai continued, ignoring the interruption. "This Serena woman appeared at the gate and demanded to see you. About fifteen minutes later, Master Bjorgman and the reindeer came galloping up the causeway inquiring about Princess Anna."

"It's Kristoff." Kristoff said. "How many times do I have to tell you, call me Kristoff."

"So there were no more attempts to storm the castle?" Hjadvaar asked in a surprised tone of voice.

"No, there were not." Kai answered. "Those snow giants seem to have scared everyone back in line."

"Oh, no." Elsa said, suddenly remembering the massive snowmen she had created the night before. "What are we going to do with them?"

"If I could make a suggestion," Hjadvaar said, "Let them take over my duties as your bodyguard for a time while I train new guards. There aren't very many left, if I recall correctly." Elsa considered Hjadvaar's suggestion.

"Alright. You start the new recruits in their training, then turn them over to any veterans we have left after a couple of weeks. After that, you can resume your normal duties."

"Yes, Your Majesty." He suddenly clapped his hands together. "Now, does anyone know where I can find a bottle of mead?"

~`~ ~'~

Fredrik trudged through the streets of Arendelle, muttering to himself. His entire role in the meeting last night was to be demoted from 'valued liaison to the people' to 'errand boy'. To think, him carrying instructions to a local forger to copy the Queen's seal and signature! He couldn't even read the letter he was carrying, due to it being in Italian for some obscure reason. Then, of course, he'd been kicked out before Esben had gotten his instructions. Finally, he arrived at the address he had been told to go to and knocked four times. After a moment, a slit opened in the door at about eye level, and an older-looking pair of eyes bored into him.

"What do you want?" the eyes said in a grumpy sort of voice.

"Bjarne told me to have you copy the Queen's seal and signature onto this letter, and that I was to pay you ten silver pennies for it." Fredrik replied, equally grumpy.

"Ten?!" the eyes exclaimed. "I'll take no less than fifteen!"

"I was told to give you ten. If you want to complain, take it up with Bjarne." The eyes glowered at him.

"Fine, ten. But you tell Bjarne that next time he expects me to work for so little, he'd better have a damn good reason."