Chapter 6

The sea was big. Kristoff had heard the stories, told in the tavern over a mug of ale when everyone was snug and safe, of sailing for days with no land in sight. These were tales of enormous whales or strange foreign lands both separated from Arendelle by great distances of water. In fact, he knew that there was a lot of water that separated Arendelle even from its nearest neighbors. But those were just stories, and stories no matter how vivid did not prepare him for the experience of standing on the deck of a merchant schooner entirely surrounded by water as far as he could see. The deck was shifting beneath him, a reminder that this was not his beloved land, not even his beloved but treacherous ice. It was the endless deep sea. The sea was big, and suddenly he felt very little.

He was also well out of his element. All around him the crew of the schooner bustled and hurried, lifted and toted, pulled and hauled, working the boat. He recognized them as people who were not afraid of hard work or danger … very much like his brother ice-harvesters. He himself had grunted and sweated as they were doing, and except for this damn formal clothing he was now wearing he could have been one of them. But as to what it was they were doing … well it could have been setting the silver for tea, or using magic to make a castle for all he knew about it. It was mesmerizing, watching the sailors run up and down the ropes to where the sails were attached, pulling in or letting out sail. And they yelled out mysterious calls to each other like: "Give way to leew'rd. Set the headsails! Loose the foretops'l," a language Kristoff had never heard before.

Sadly the one person who might have interpreted this language was still in a foul mood and not speaking to him. He and Fitz hadn't exchanged more than a few words since boarding, their sparse luggage stowed in the closet they were calling a cabin. They had only exchanged a few more before that. Fitz was not in the mood for talking, she had made that clear. Every time Kristoff tried to start a conversation Fitz snapped something short and irrelevant and walked away. The first few times he had tried to talk to her about Elsa, and that had set her off. By now he had given up on relationship advice, he just wondered what the hell a "maintops'l" was.

Fitz meanwhile looked everywhere but at Kristoff. She didn't even hide the fact that she was staring at the crew, judging them and finding them lacking. She alternated this with staring absently off to the horizon. Usually Kristoff wouldn't mind being left to his own devices, and he favored silence himself. However even he realized that this silence was a defense, a facade that kept Fitz from doing anything more than distancing herself from her problems and from Elsa. It was a wall that trapped her with only her own thoughts of blame and embarrassment ringing in her ears. Fitz with her silence and prickly mood isolated herself as effectively as Elsa ever had with a locked door.

And Kristoff was no Anna. He worried that he didn't have the strength, the patience, or the incredibly frustratingly annoying pigheaded stubbornness of his fiance. He feared he was missing the very tools it might take to get Fitz to open up and let him in.

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Anna brushed past Kai as she made her way into the room. She sighed as she took in the scene. Stacks of paper were neatly piled on the Queen's desk, and Elsa was hunched over the sheaf in front of her completely oblivious to the rest of the world. More telling, however, was the empty tea cup and tray that had been set off on a side table, with what Anna recognized as her uneaten lunch. Elsa hadn't moved from her study all day.

"You know I had a punctual sister, once. She was wonderful. You never had to wait on her for tea. I wonder what happened to her?"

"Very funny, Anna," Elsa grumbled, keeping her eyes fixed on the work in front of her. "I am almost done here." She pointed to a chair that was at the side of her desk, and Anna sat. "I have this document and then an impromptu meeting with Admiral Naismith, but he said it would only take a moment. Then we can go down together."

But Anna wasn't listening to her, she had her own agenda. "You really weren't fair to Kristoff."

Elsa looked up. "I can't finish if you keep talking to me."

"But you weren't."

With a heavy sigh, Elsa put down the paper she was reading. "Yes, Anna, you are right. I wasn't. I will apologize to him when he returns." She waited just a moment to make sure Anna didn't have a response, then she picked up the document and began again to read.

"Not that you weren't right to be angry. Fitz should have come and told you herself."

Elsa fixed her concentration on the words in front of her. This was the last thing. She had gotten herself behind yesterday, but by forgoing lunch, and with some judicious culling of the less important matters she was almost caught up. She just needed to finish this last series of documents.

"You're going to find it funny …." Anna's voice cut through Elsa's concentration like a hot brand, leaving a burning pain in its wake.

"No, Anna, I will not!" Elsa's head snapped up, and her eyebrows furrowed. "I am trying to finish my work for today. Work which I was unable to finish yesterday because I spent most of it wallowing in whatever this nonsense is. So, if this endless distress is part of … of being with someone, quite frankly I don't have time for it!"

Anna's shoulder's drooped."I'll … I'll just wait for you downstairs."

"Good plan," Elsa said, bringing her eyes back to the document. She didn't look up again even when Anna shuffled out the door, closing it with a firm thud behind her.

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By some incredible bit of bad luck, the schooner carrying Fitz and Kristoff passed a frigate flying a variation on the colors of the Austrian Empire. The ship was heading toward Arendelle. Seeing it, Fitz puffed up like a cock in a fighting ring, but soon after the ship passed even that bravado was lost to a pensive stare. Kristoff, from his position at her side, could make a guess at the problem given her unusual reaction to seeing another vessel.

"You think that's the boat?" Kristoff asked.

"Of course it's the ship," Fitz answered tersely. "Didn't you see the colors?"

Kristoff merely shrugged. He understood that the flag on the top of the mast meant something. He just wasn't sure what it was.

"Good thing we ran off when we did. Wouldn't want to cause an international incident." Sarcasm dripped from Fitz's words.

Kristoff saw his opportunity to talk to her about Elsa, about how much the Queen cared for her, about how much running away wasn't solving the problem between them. "It's not like she had a choice, you know. He was already on his way. I don't think the Council understands …."

"Of course they don't. Why would they?" Fitz scowled but didn't turn away. "But I understand. Don't mistake that. This isn't the first time I've been in this position, an inconvenient person to have around when a "real" man calls," Fitz chuckled bitterly, "and perhaps not the last."

"Elsa isn't like that." Kristoff protested, at least Fitz was talking.

"Even if she isn't, Kristoff, the people around her are." Fitz paced as she laid out what she considered the facts of her life. "I am different, not what they expect, not what they want. Despite the Queen's fine words, different isn't good. Different isn't accepted – in Arendelle just as much as any other place in the world."

Kristoff intercepted her with a touch on the arm. "She cares more about you than about what people think. You're not giving her enough credit."

But Fitz refused to give herself false hope. She understood what was going on all too well. And all too well she knew how it would end. "It may not be that she has a choice. As you yourself so eloquently put it – just moments ago, this may not end up having anything to do with her desires at all. I am not a stranger to a royal court. I know what compromises have to be struck for the stability of a Kingdom."

"Fitz! You are not something that Elsa will compromise on."

"Of course she would … for Arendelle." Fitz said sharply, as fervent in her defense of Elsa as she was in her assertion that she wasn't good enough to be at the Queen's side. "She's a good Queen, a damn good Queen, and she would do whatever it took to ensure that well being of her Kingdom. And if that means marrying ..." Fitz's voice caught, "a man ..." she took a deep breath ... "and having children, she would."

With that flurry of words Fitz deflated, all of her self-righteousness, all of her stubborn certainty draining from her like water from the deck. Her tone turned quiet, almost contemplative; she dropped her stare from the distance to the deck at her feet. "And I don't think I could … I can't be with her … if things are like that." She turned to Kristoff, pleading with him to understand. "A year ago, with someone else, I would have … I could have made that compromise for appearance's sake. I could manage that compromise with anyone else, but I can't share her. I just can't." She clenched her fists in frustration, closing her eyes like a child wishing the hurt away, and when she opened them, they glistened. "It would drive me mad, absolutely mad. So I can't be with her if that is the case, but I won't live without her. I am stuck like some damn fish on dry land."

"So don't live like that or without her! Fight for her damn it. Stop running like a coward and fight!" Kristoff put his hand on her shoulder, surprised when she didn't shrug it off, even more surprised that she didn't even react to his words. Maybe it would take a different argument to get through to her.

"She is a good queen." Kristoff thought about the Elsa he knew. He tried to picture how she would react, to make his words the absolute truth and not just a wishful fantasy. But he didn't know Elsa well enough to really know her heart. No one really knew her that well, except perhaps Fitz – and definitely her sister. Which yeah – Anna, you certainly couldn't discount Anna, and he did know Anna. "You know, I don't think she would be that self-sacrificing. I mean, she did that whole martyr thing for thirteen years, and it didn't work out so well. I'm not sure she would do it again." He had to smile when he added his last thought. "And even if she wanted to, I'm very sure Anna wouldn't let her."

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"So you knew where she was going when she left, whom she planned to see?" Admiral Naismith had come to see the Queen as soon as he had both heard that Fitzwilliam was leaving Arendelle, and he had thought of the least offensive way of asking Her Majesty about the other woman's intentions.

"Of course I did Admiral, she told me." Elsa fixed him with a flinty gaze, choosing to ignore that she had heard through a third party. "The question is how did you come to know this?"

Naismith had thought this would be a touchy subject, so he was prepared with an answer. "Your Majesty, I would be remiss if I didn't monitor the actions of someone who moves so close to you, and who has such close ties to our enemies."

"Well then," Elsa sat up even straighter, her shoulders pushed back. She knew what monitoring meant, and while she might understand the rationale, it still stung that her lover was being spied on. "If you have been 'monitoring' her then you know she left with Kristoff, not someone I think we can suspect of colluding with Avalon."

"I am certainly not suggesting that Fitzwilliam is in collusion …."

Elsa cut him off. "Then what are you suggesting, Admiral? You asked me a question. I answered it. And yet I don't feel this subject has been laid to rest."

Naismith considered his words carefully, the Queen was clearly angered by the revelation that they watched Fitzwilliam. He didn't regret it though. It was his duty to protect her, even if she didn't think she needed protecting, even if the Queen couldn't believe Fitzwilliam was a potential danger. But there was another reason to be concerned about Fitzwilliam's leaving, one that they might both share. "I want you to understand that the way this looks to others, people outside your confidence, is not good. There are quite a few in Arendelle who have good reason to doubt Fitzwilliam, and who would see it as a sign of the Crown's weakness if you continue to allow her … access … after such a move."

"And I want you to understand that I trust Lady Fitzwilliam completely." Elsa was adamant, and she slammed her hand on the table. There was an answering crack as frost under it turned to ice. "I have no doubt of her loyalty to me. And while I cannot guarantee that she will come back to Arendelle, or even that she won't go home to Avalon, I have the utmost confidence that she would never betray me. And I will not have her intentions questioned … not by you ... not by anyone. Am I being clear?"

"Perfectly, Your Majesty." Although her insistence on Fitzwilliam's trustworthiness wouldn't help him rest anymore easily, it was not his place to argue with the Queen, as much as he might wish to.

So, with that in mind, he might as well move on to the next piece of business, moot though it may have become. "I had hoped that I might be able to offer her a commission after your next investiture. That she would be able to swear to you there."

"I hope so as well," Elsa said, intentionally keeping her reply in the present tense. Her fingers drummed on the table, the smallest sparks of frost shooting out every time they made contact.

This discussion was clearly over, and Naismith nodded and stood to take his leave. "If you will excuse me …."

Elsa brought her head up, and her eyes met his. "I do not know what will come of her trip, Admiral. But I am absolutely sure that she will not betray Arendelle."

Naismith had to agree that her faith was strong, and only time would tell if it was misplaced. "I understand."

Elsa felt the tightness in her chest abating. "Thank you, Admiral. I appreciate that."

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"I have news, my good man." Fitz had decided to cheer herself up with a trip to the quarterdeck. The captain of the vessel was a decent sort. He had even fawned over her a bit, which improved her mood measurably. And he had invited them, both she and Kristoff, to dine with him, also hinting at an opportunity to play cards. Fitz thought he might also have some decent spirits, or at least a good bottle of wine or two.

"Huh?" Kristoff was practicing walking on the deck. He finally managed it well enough that he didn't roll with the waves and could make something almost like a straight line.

"We've been asked to dinner and..." Fitz cocked her head, "Do you play cards?"

"What? Cards? Like what cards?" Kristoff wasn't much for games. He had played "bowl the troll" as a child … with his troll siblings, but other than that his life hadn't been one that included a lot of games and play.

"Like Whist?" Fitz replied.

"That's a gambling game – for gentlemen – isn't it?"

"Well not per se, but it can serve that purpose. It's not hard to learn, and it's very handy to know – especially on this trip."

"Why do you say that?" Kristoff was curious how cards was going to play into the problem of keeping Fitz from being kidnapped and dragged home to Avalon to be executed.

"Because I don't think this captain is all that sharp, and my brother is a veritable patsy at Whist. We can clean him out of half the Avalonian treasury. We will return wealthy and shower our beloveds with riches … I mean if there were any riches around here our beloveds didn't already own."

"Hmmmm ….." Kristoff thought about her words. He would still prefer a plan to deal with the immediate threat, but since any such plan would probably boil down to 'run like hell,' maybe there wasn't much point in thinking about it. But this was the first thing Fitz had seemed interested in since they began this ill-begotten voyage. And she had even used the word 'beloved.' He couldn't lose her now. "I don't play cards much, but the riches part – that sounds good."

"It's easy, and I am a good teacher. I'm also a rather decent player, or at least I seem to have some luck."

Pushing his other concerns from his mind, Kristoff hoped that Fitz played more with skill than luck, but he would take what he got. And if she was good … and if her brother really was that bad … well, Kristoff needed to buy Anna an engagement ring. He had thought he'd have to wait until after the remainder of the ice season to be able to afford something that wasn't too embarrassing. But perhaps there was a closer solution to that problem.

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"Yes, come in." Elsa looked up to see Kai standing in the doorway. Sometimes the butler gave off a presence that let her know he wished to speak with her even before he said anything. It was some preternatural butler magic, or maybe she had just missed the door squeak.

"Ma'am, I just wondered if you'd like me to bring dinner here for you?"

"No, no, I'm done. I just have this one last thing to sign. I'm sure Anna's about to tear the dining room apart."

Kai shook his head. "No, ma'am, the princess is dining in her own room this evening. I took the liberty of sending her dinner up. I didn't think you'd mind."

"No," Elsa shook off her confusion. "No, of course not." She had a sinking feeling she knew why Anna was in her room.

"And would you like to be served here?"

"No, not right now." Elsa stood up. "Just hold it, please. I'll send for it. There is something I need to do first."

"Very well, ma'am, and there is one last thing." Kai caught her before she could rush out of the room.

"What is it, Kai?"

"News came in a late mail package this afternoon. It seems His Highness of Luneberg will be arriving tomorrow, perhaps as early as the afternoon."

"Oh wonderful," Elsa sat back down heavily in her chair and put her forehead in her hand. "What am I going to do, Kai?"

"Well, tea if he arrives early enough. If not I think a semi-formal dinner in the small hall. The evening after you can invite some of the council perhaps for a formal dinner, and we'll use the large banqueting room. I understood you had some plans. Riding with Princess Anna was mentioned?"

Elsa rolled her head so that she was looking sideways up at her butler. She couldn't tell if he was teasing her. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Specificity would help ma'am, but hazarding a guess I would say 'be polite.' That is all that is required of you, and my recollection is that it is a skill that you possess. Admittedly one you might consider practicing this evening with your sister."

Now he was teasing, but only a little. "I'm sorry, Kai. I was pretty awful to Anna. Did she tell you what happened earlier?"

"Not precisely ma'am, but I overheard a very fervent conversation with Jean d'Arc."

"Poor Joan," Elsa sighed, and she shook her head. "I need to make amends."

"Very well, ma'am," Kai answered in what Elsa recognized as his "good girl, Elsa" tone.

"Oh, and Kai -" the Queen stopped on her way out the door - "if you could try to dig up some additional people to dine with me for the next few days I would appreciate it. I know we have a Baron or three loitering around in the countryside. It's time they earned their titles. And make sure that Master Sandvik is present for at least one dinner with the Prince. I want him to see the fruit of his labors." What she really wanted him to see was that she wasn't at all interested in some random Prince they dug up from the continent, or any other man for that matter, and she was fairly certain that idea would never occur to him unless he experienced it for himself.

"Excellent, ma'am. I shall attend to it tomorrow."

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She used Anna's knock, which was probably why it took a moment before before Elsa heard a soft, "Come in."

Anna was in her room, and her dinner was spread out on a small table, but it didn't look like she had been eating. Instead she was sitting on her bed in a pose that could only be called sulking.

"Hi." Elsa gave a little wave.

"Oh, hi!" Anna looked excited for a moment, and then she remembered she was angry. "What are you doing here?"

"I ummm, I came to apologize, Anna. Again. I am sorry I snapped at you." Elsa glanced down at her feet before looking back at Anna.

But Anna was up in an instant, pulling her back to her bed. "Apology accepted, and I'm sorry if I pushed too much. I know you have a lot on your mind; I just forget sometimes. Do you want to talk about it?" Anna gestured grandly at the space she had just occupied.

Elsa sat down primly on the edge of the bed, then with a long frustrated cry she flopped backwards and stared at the ceiling. "Oh Anna, I just don't know how to deal with this, with … with Carolina leaving like that … with this Prince … with everything."

"Yeah," Anna sighed. "But she's only gone to see her brother; she'll be back."

"Will she?" Elsa was genuinely concerned. "And that still means she sent Kristoff instead of coming to speak to me herself, and she's still living in that …that inn. And I don't know what to do. I can't even start to do anything if she won't speak to me, if she can't be in the same room with me."

Anna took a deep breath, steadying herself. Then she said,"Elsa, I have some news for you that might be a little hard to hear."

"What? That I am the world's worst person to be in a relationship with? That I don't deserve anyone because I don't know how to be with anyone?" Elsa sat up looking completely despondent. "Anna, I know that already."

"No," Anna put her arm around her sister and hugged her close. "You're really not the worst person in the world at a relationship. Fitz is."

"Carolina?" Elsa looked up from where she had buried her head in her sister's shoulder.

"Elsa, she is completely LOST when it comes to this, you do realize that, right? And she's terrified."

Now Elsa was dumbfounded; she was blinking slowly, and her mouth hung open as she looked around in confusion. "Carolina? Fitz? My Fitz? Millicent Carolina Fitzwilliam, former Captain of HRM's ship of the line, the Vigilant – frightened? Lost?"

"Yep, that's the one." Anna nodded sadly.

"But Anna," Elsa started gesturing wildly, "She's so in charge and so together all the time. She always has an answer. She doesn't get flustered. She takes me places, and makes sure we spend time with each other, and makes me hot chocolate on the top of my ice palace, and all those wonderfully romantic things. How can she be the one who is lost?"

"Well, yeah, kinda like you seem so together and QUEENLY most the time."

"That's not fair, Anna. I learned to do that. It was part of my training to be Queen." Her tone turned bitter. "Although apparently we skipped over my training to be a real person."

Anna was tempted by Elsa's last statement, but they could discuss where Elsa had been failed by her upbringing later, right now she had to make a point about Fitz. "And you don't think that looking completely confident even if you're in way over your head wasn't what she was taught? I mean it's hard enough to be a woman and go to sea, but I think it would be even harder to be the Captain, the Captain of a ship in Avalon's enormous, impressive, very man-filled Navy, and not look like you had everything together. It would be almost as hard as not looking as if you had everything together as the Queen of Arendelle."

Elsa's brows furrowed as she considered this for the first time, but her doubts had deeper roots. "She's been with a number … I mean, she never talks about it willingly, but it seems like quite a lot of other ... er … women. I think she knows what she's doing. Romantically – you know, speaking."

"Well, I'm sure that she's been with other people ... uh, romantically, if that's what you're saying. In fact, we can pretty much guarantee that." Anna didn't really think that any of these liaisons had involved romance, either, but she wasn't going to go there with her sister. If that was the euphemism Elsa wanted to use it was fine with her.

"Yes. And women all more experienced than I." Elsa still hadn't forgotten about the Comtesse d'Artois.

"But Elsa, she didn't love them." Anna reached out, touching Elsa, bringing her head up so that she would see her eyes. "I mean she didn't leave her career or her homeland for them. She didn't commit treason for them. She didn't risk her life. She didn't love them, and she loves you."

But Elsa was off before Anna could even finish her thought. "Yes, and I'm the reason she had to leave so much behind. It's my fault she's stuck here. How can she possibly ..."

"Elsa!" Anna was not going to let this head down the path of self-loathing again. "She doesn't think she's stuck! She has never said to me that she wants to leave, that she misses home … not to Kristoff either, and he's like her only friend here. She's said she wants to sail – that she needs something to do … but never ever has she even implied that she wished anything had turned out differently than it has."

"Wait … wait," Elsa held up her hand as she just realized something. "You said she loves me? Did she say that to you?" Her tone turned sullen. "She's never said it to me."

Anna felt so much love for her stupidly blind, emotionally Lilliputian sister, she wanted to hold her and kiss her until she recovered from this crisis. But that wasn't going to solve the larger problem. It was time to teach Elsa to fish for herself instead of just feeding her creamed herring. "Elsa, only you can answer that question. What does it feel like to you?"

"But, but … she's never said it. She even … kind of avoids it. You know. That word."

Anna couldn't believe Elsa didn't see the scary symmetry. "Wow, I can't imagine why someone would hide their feelings when they were upset or frightened or unsure how other people might react. Do you?"

Elsa scowled at her sister. "Very. Funny. Anna."

Anna shrugged and asked innocently, "Have you told her you love her?"

"Well …." Elsa's scowl turned into an embarrassed sigh. "No."

"Don't you see it? You two are … you're alike. OK, you're not exactly alike, but when it comes to expressing how you feel." Anna nodded sadly. "You're both terrible at it. You can show it. When you're alone anyway, that's for sure. And the rest of us can see it … I mean, there are sparks flying between you two all the time ... and the good kind of sparks, the kind that make a nice warm fire … not the kind that explode in your face and have shrapnel … oh, I suck at metaphors, but you know what I mean."

"I kind of do," Elsa admitted, and it scared her just a little.

"So take it from there. What do you think you have to do?"

"I don't know Anna, I'm still trying to digest that Carolina is frightened of anything."

"Come on – think. If Fitz is bad at this. If she hasn't been talking to her ... her sister … her wonderful understanding … insightful …."

"I get the point, Anna."

"... Brilliant sister about her feelings for the last year … learning that getting drunk and running away … or freezing the kingdom, building an ice palace and running away … isn't the best way to cope with a problem. Who do you think needs to take charge of this discussion? Her or you?"

Elsa looked over at her sister in alarm. "You mean, I have to start that conversation. About ... our relationship? About … love?" She was shocked …. or appalled … or both.

Anna shrugged again and said lightly, "One of you has to be the grown up."

"Excuse me?" These things aside, Elsa considered herself pretty grown up.

"Oh," Anna rolled her eyes. "So how about while you're being a grown up, you practice 'not shooting the messenger' and 'not snapping at your beloved younger sister who only wants the best for you'?"

Very well, she had her there. "I said I was sorry, Anna. I just felt so overwhelmed."

Anna recovered instantly. "So, now that the Fitz problem is dealt with, everything else should be a snap." Anna snapped her fingers.

"A snap? Really? A snap?" Elsa was gesturing wildly again.

"Seriously, what are your other problems?"

"The Prince is coming tomorrow."

"And? We will deal with him, you and I."

"Anna …" Elsa warned, "You must be polite."

"I didn't say I was going to kill him and throw him in the fjord. Sheesh. But we've done the 'useless suitor shuffle' before, this time it's just for a longer more intense period of time." Anna made a ticking motion as she checked off her sister's troubles. "Next problem?"

"I have a council that still insists that I need to marry and, you know, have a child." Elsa rubbed her temples, another headache was threatening to form. Something about having this many people worried about her personal life and her ability to procreate made her brain swell.

"Which shouldn't be a problem once we make the official announcement of my engagement to Kristoff. You already had a plan, you just forgot it at the wrong moment."

"My ... our ... sex life is the subject of bar room … um, conversation … and brawls."

"Oh please! I know, you know, not everyone is going to love our every decision, not even your decisions, our beloved Queen. And I'm not sure anyone is actually judging our sex lives, Elsa. At least anyone who counts. For one, I don't actually have a sex life at the moment, something you have been rather insistent on."

"The perception of improper behavior is as bad as the improper behavior itself," Elsa quoted their mother. "But I am pleased to hear from you that you're not engaged in anything inappropriate."

Anna shrugged, "We have more of a foreplay life."

"Ahhhhhh!" Elsa covered her ears. "La, la, la, la, la!"

"Right says, 'Queen Oh Yes! Carolina, Oh ...'"

"Anna!" Elsa's jaw dropped just before she threw a snowball right in Anna's open mouth.

"What?" sputtered Anna, spitting out snow. She gave Elsa an innocent smile and patted her on the cheek. "It's rather endearing. My little Queen, all grown up." Then she bolted. She recognized that look in Elsa's eye, and the way she was holding her hands over her head meant she was conjuring a giant snowball. If Anna could just get to the portrait room, she would be safe. Elsa wouldn't dare bury her in snow surrounded by all that priceless art, would she?