Warden Busby blushed embarrassedly when Queen Elsa called for him. As unusual as it was for him to be around such a beautiful woman, it was not a pleasant thing to tell her in-person why exactly he let her would-be murderer out of prison.
"Your Highness," He said, bowing low. The queen, ever the polite royal, returned his bow slightly.
"Warden..." She sat down, across from him. The last time he was here, she had socialized with him slightly, and learned that he was a great fan of chess. A board was set up. She waved her hand invitingly. His eyes lit up, and he sat. The two played a couple of rounds, each winning one.
"You don't stand a chance against him," Busby said, not thinking. Elsa inhaled sharply.
"Oh?!"
"Yeah, Hans has been playing chess for years," the warden had a habit of not thinking about the words coming out of his mouth whilst really involved in a chess match.
"Is he any good?"
Warden Busby let out a sharp laugh, "Ha! He's brilliant! Why, I beat him once, it took me playing him ten hours before he lost. And even then, he probably threw the game. Let the prisoner go anyways."
Elsa's right eyebrow lurched upwards, "Really?"
"Yeah, 'king's errand' or whatever nonsense they're calling it these days. Ha! got your rook."
Three moves later, Busby lost his queen.
"What exactly is this king's errand? With Meridian so close, I could help..."
Busby waved his hand, "Has to do with some sensitive family issue."
"I'm sensitive to family issues," She placed a hand over his assuringly, "Please, for me?"
Whether because the warden was a very lonely man getting up in his years speaking to a lovely young woman, because she had a right to know, or because she was a chess-friend, he opened his mouth, "I... he's looking for the heir to the throne. I suppose you don't know very much about the Westerguards?"
Elsa shook her head. Busby released a long sigh, forgetting the game, and lifted the burden from his heart, "About... ten years ago, there was an... incident. The eldest brother was king, and afraid that his brothers were plotting to seize the crown. Hans invited him out, being 13th, he was no threat to the king. But... there was an accident. Now, oddly enough, the second eldest hid an illness for years, so when the king died, it came out the second in line was also not fit for the crown, which leads us to Archer."
"...?"
"Archer seized the throne by the end of the day."
"The day when his brother died?!"
"...yes.
"That was... quite rapid."
"Indeed, and, within hours, Hans received a captain's commission in the royal navy."
"Ah...!" It appeared to Elsa that the efficiency of the Southern Isle government was, perhaps, dependent upon foreknowledge.
"However, it seems as though the queen, and the crown prince escaped. She fled, pregnant, overseas. Of course, Archer suspected someone assisted her escape, but it was only recently that he began to suspect Hans had something to do with her disappearance."
"Did he?"
"...I can't-"
Elsa held up a hand, "How would he do that?"
Warden Busby, his heart full of loneliness, turned back to the board, "...the night I won a game, he arrested this 'Captain Blacksails', infamous pirate, lives between Arrendelle and Meridian. Talks to him about prison. Within hours, a 'steamer-trunk special' was loaded onto Blacksail's boat, and I never saw him again."
Elsa digested this information, "Sooo... Blacksails delivered a package, so, where is he?"
Warden Busby smiled as warmly as possible, "Know that, your majesty, and you will know where Hans is...
Hours later, Queen Elsa was in her study.
"As you can see, Anna-"
"You go crazy when there's a mystery afoot?" Anna looked around her sister's room, nothing short of shocked by Elsa's manic need to organize information. There were papers everywhere with strings attached and drawings explaining details.
"Listen!" the elder girl continued, "If you'll just be patient, I'll explain why I'm doing what I'm doing. And I'm doing this for you and Sophia."
"Sophia?"
"Hans brought her here for a reason. I think that somehow she has a connection to the missing crown-prince to the Southern Isles!"
"...is he going to hurt her?"
Neither sister said a word as silent understanding passed between them.
"We need to find him now."
"And find him we have. Apparently a favorite port of Captain Blacksail's was a small town in the mountains."
Anna's eyes lit up, "Kristoff was going that way! Wish I could have gotten a ride from him."
Elsa shook her head, "Look, as far as I can figure it, this is what happened; Archer hired Hans to take out the king, but the Hans betrayed him by hiding the queen and her unborn son. He came to Arrendelle to find her more than he did to try and take over. I mean, maybe the whole marriage thing was just a back-up plan. Anyways, so he hides the queen for almost ten years. Archer is looking everywhere for her. Then it hits him; it was Hans all along. Of course, if he says anything, then he'll implicate himself. So he 'hires' Hans to find the crown prince!"
Anna frowned, "And so? How does having the heir to the throne help him?"
"...it doesn't."
Anna bit her lip, "Sooo... if there's another 'accident' and Hans returns home empty-handed..."
"Then Archer would be very, very happy."
The younger sister made a hurt sound, and her face scrunched up as if in pain, "How could... anyone live like this?! Plotting against brothers, hurting friends... it's inhuman."
Elsa ignored this, "Just promise me you're not going to go off on another adventure and try to fix this!"
"...yeah, there's no way that's going to happen.
A.N. I think we all know where this one is going...