The princesses sipped from dainty teacups as they watched the dawn bring light to the fjord beyond the window. In the future, the room would be Anna's bedroom. She found herself reflecting on a brief time in between, when she and Elsa had shared the room as children.
They hadn't said much since Kirsten asked Anna to follow her. Even after the tea—a flowery brew with a spoonful of honey—was poured and tasted, Anna could not find words. Without her realizing it, Hans had become her anchor to home. Even when they'd bickered, his presence had been reassuring.
Now that was gone.
Kirsten moved to gently set her cup down on the small table between them. "It was what you said about keeping hope alive," she said. "That's why I believed you. The other troll hunter didn't offer that. He just seemed determined to add to his list of kills."
Anna glanced at the princess from the corner of her eye, again noting the likeness between Kirsten and Elsa. Now the morning light gave Kirsten's face a golden glow, but it did not diminish the sadness in her eyes.
"So... the first night you two were put in the dungeons, I went to speak with the king..." Kirsten explained.
The king, Anna thought. Not 'my father'. Kirsten was trying to put distance between herself and King Olaf.
"But I should have known he wouldn't listen to me," the princess continued, lowering her bitter gaze to the table. "If I hadn't said anything, he wouldn't have expected you to break out."
Then Anna understood. Kirsten was not just angry with her father but with herself as well.
"It's not your fault," Anna blurted out, sure she had interrupted. But she couldn't bear the princess's guilt.
Kirsten looked over to her, a little startled. Perhaps she had expected Anna to lay the blame with her.
"Do you mean that?"
Anna studied the young woman beside her now. She tried to match her up with her Great-Great Grandmother, the Queen Kirsten Anna's mother had spoken of. Queen Iduna had been somewhat shy among her husband's family at the start of her marriage. It had been strange, elderly Kirsten who'd nagged her into becoming comfortable in her own skin. Iduna had spoken of midwinter picnics in the forest and ice fishing as two of her peculiar Great-Grandmother-in-Law's famous pastimes.
But Iduna had also said that Queen Kirsten, while a confident individual, had kept to herself a great deal of the time. After a nostalgic chuckle, Iduna would tell her daughters, "She always seemed to know something the rest of us couldn't figure out."
It was thus that Queen Kirsten had become sort of an admirable figure of strength and mystery in Anna's mind. Princess Kirsten appeared to have a long way to go in becoming that woman.
Anna nodded. "Truthfully, I don't think anyone is really at fault. King Olaf doesn't understand much about the trolls... and the trolls don't understand much about the people of Arendelle. If both groups met halfway, perhaps there could be more understanding... what?" She stopped when she realized Princess Kirsten was staring at her.
"Oh, it's just... that's an equitable conclusion," Kirsten said, smiling.
"I was just thinking of my sister and myself. We used to be really close! Then there was an incident... which created a misunderstanding that spanned for years. It took a blizzard and a lot of badgering on my part to meet halfway, but I think we understand one another again..."
"A blizzard?" Kirsten asked.
"Err, ah, oh?! Did I say blizzard?! That's um... that's just a term we use back in Grimmstad. It means a really big falling-out," Anna responded a mile a minute, mentally kicking herself for not thinking before she spoke. But to her relief, the princess just laughed.
"You're so odd, Miss Anna!" The princess giggled. "But there is also something about you..." She narrowed her eyes as she looked over at Anna like a kind of specimen. It made Anna nervous.
"Is there?" she asked, blinking several times.
Kirsten nodded. "I'm not sure what it is, but I feel for sure you can be trusted."
Before she could think it through, Anna asked, "Is that why you were willing to reveal your powers in order to bail us out?"
The princess's giggling quieted but she nodded with a faint smile upon her lips.
"It must be tough," Anna said. "Having power like that with a father like King Olaf."
"You have no idea. But apparently it runs in the family."
As soon as she'd said it, the princess slapped a hand over her mouth. She realized she'd said too much.
Anna reached out and touched Kirsten's shoulder. "It's okay. You can tell me."
Kirsten relaxed a little but looked off toward the window. She wrinkled her nose and sighed in thought, glancing once at Anna before she took another sip of her tea. Clearly this was an uncomfortable subject for her. But Anna was dying to know more.
"Neither of my parents," she said at first. Anna's face scrunched up with confusion, but then again she knew for sure Elsa had not inherited her magic from their parents. "When I was a little girl and my powers first came to light, there were a few... incidents. It was a long time ago and I didn't know how to control it. No one got hurt, but the servants started talking."
Anna was sure King Olaf had been thrilled about that.
"One day, I overheard them talking about my uncle... Prince Nils, my father's brother. He had been Crown Prince, actually."
Anna perked up in her seat. So the king had a brother! A Crown Prince brother! But then why was Olaf the king?
"My uncle had the same kind of power. Only, he... there was an accident... a bad one. Unable to face it, Nils ran away. My aunts had not even been born yet, so that left my father to inherit the throne."
Anna had to close her mouth when she realized it was hanging open. Dozens of questions poured through her head at once, each one vying to get out first.
"No one ever saw Nils again?" Anna asked, wondering what could have become of him.
The princess shook her head and drank the last of her tea, shakily setting the empty cup back on its saucer with a 'clink' that broke her silent pause. "Supposedly there was a woman involved. A woman my uncle wanted to marry. The, ah... 'blizzard' he had with his parents was about that. It was what triggered the accident. The servants said he ran away after that. No one's seen him since."
They both sat in pensive quiet for a few seconds. Then, Kirsten added, "I had known my father had a much older brother, but he never told me all that. I just thought Uncle Nils passed away. My father was very young at the time, so I'm not sure how much he remembers. But... I always had the feeling he never wanted to be king."
Anna's head was spinning with even more questions. "Wait, what about before your uncle? Did anyone else show signs of having the same magic?"
Kirsten shrugged, seeming to have finally relaxed about the topic. "I don't know... there's no record of it. Believe me, I've looked. And obviously no one talks about it, so who can be sure?" She raised her eyebrow. "Why so curious?"
Anna wanted so much in that moment to break down and tell Kirsten who she was. Then she could tell her all about Elsa!
But could that impact the future, her present?
It was a risk she wasn't willing to take.
"I just think it's wonderful that you have such a gift..." she answered, and it was the truth. "It's a shame your father doesn't feel the same way."
"It's hard for him to feel that way when he sees it as the family curse," Kirsten said. But the anger had dissipated from her voice. "Thank you, Anna."
Anna was just glad to see Kirsten feeling better. Now if only she too could feel better. It must have shown on her face, for the princess leaned toward her.
"Are you worried about Hans?" Kirsten asked.
Anna nodded. "And the trolls too... they're not all violent. They're actually quite peaceful! I would hate for something to happen to them all."
"Does your brother feel the same way?"
For a moment, Anna looked confused. Then she realized Kirsten meant Hans.
"He's not... ah—" she caught herself, "—I don't know how he feels." That applied to more than just about the trolls. She had seen so many different sides to Hans over the past week, it was getting hard to keep up with them all: Prince Charming, Scheming Villain, Bullied Brother, Anti-Hero, Unexpected Friend.
Friend? Should I really be calling him that?
"He's not your brother, is he?"
Anna could tell from the phrasing that Kirsten already knew the answer. There was no point in lying, but she didn't want to blow their cover. Doing so would reveal that Hans had lied and that she, trustworthy Anna, had been in on it.
Damn it, Hans.
"What makes you say that?" she asked with a laugh.
"The way you looked at one another when they took him. There was... something."
Anna snorted. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Or did she?
When Elsa finished telling Olaf about her meeting with the nobles, the snowman looked about ready to explode from the information overload. But he quickly snapped himself out of it with an animated shake of his lumpy head. Elsa waited for him to smile again before she resumed speaking.
She knelt on the floor in her room to more easily be on eye-level with him. The next part was very important. "So, Olaf... while I work on getting to know the other nobles, I was wondering if you could do me a favor," she said.
Olaf remembered what happened the last time he did someone a favor, but he couldn't possibly say no to Elsa!
He smiled. "Anything for you!" he said, and he meant it.
"Do you think you could spy on Lord Harald?" she asked. "It'll be too obvious if I do it."
"Spy?!" Olaf repeated in a half-gasp. Elsa looked concerned by this reaction until he jumped up into the air and wiggled his stick hands in excitement. "Of course! I just have to keep an eye on him and be sneaky about it, right?!"
"Um, yes, that's right."
"Like a secret agent!"
"Well, sort of."
"A mole!"
"Uh—"
"He'll never suspect me!"
"Yes, that's the idea—"
"I'll do it!" Olaf exclaimed, clapping his hands together.
Elsa giggled over his enthusiasm. She had been worried she'd have to ask Gerda. With Kai in his current state, there would have been no one else.
"Oooh!" Olaf suddenly said. "Gyda can help! And Sofia!"
"Sofia?"
"She works in the kitchens!"
"I think the fewer people that are in on this, the better..."
"We can trust Sofia!" Olaf assured her.
"Are you sure?"
Olaf nodded. "The more, the merrier, right?!" He knew she felt a little lost without Anna, Kai and Kristoff around.
Elsa smiled half-heartedly. "I should leave for Lady Cathrine's now... remember, don't let anyone catch on to what we're doing. And Olaf, you mustn't tell anyone about my suspicions."
"You've got it! My lips are sealed!"
"Now... do you think you can distract Harald so he doesn't figure out where I'm going, at least not right away? I'd rather he not try and stop or follow me."
Olaf saluted. "I can do that!"
"Great. Thank you, Olaf!"
They hugged before she left. Then Olaf was left to hunt down Lord Harald.
Olaf spent the rest of the morning skulking and creeping about the palace like a little maniac on a mission. He learned in the first half hour that Lord Harald was not an easy man to find. He had first searched all the places Olaf had seen the man thus far: the Great Hall, the council chamber and the east stairwell. When none of those places turned up any results, Olaf next checked the courtyard and the stables.
Whenever possible, he ducked out of sight from passing guards and servants, remembering Elsa's request to keep his task a secret. If he were seen looking for Lord Harald, no doubt someone would ask questions. Olaf would prefer not to lie if it could be avoided.
He had no luck at the courtyard or stables, nor in the library or the kitchens. It wasn't until he was heading back to Elsa's chambers that he encountered Lord Harald, by chance, coming down the stairwell from the third level of the palace.
Ahah! Olaf thought, stopping in place and staring at Lord Harald as the noble made his descent.
Lord Harald hadn't noticed him right away. When he did, he gave a start.
Olaf tried to decide on the spot whether His Lordship looked like he was up to something. Unfortunately, just having a dark, well-trimmed beard was not much to go on. Neither Kristoff nor Hans had facial hair and they were polar opposites in their trustworthiness.
Unless one counted Hans's sideburns...
Olaf narrowed his eyes at the increasingly disturbed Lord Harald approaching him on the stairs. Somehow judging a human based on his amount of hair didn't seem fair. Kristoff had loads of hair in other places to make up for the lack of hair on his face, for example.
"What are you doing?" Lord Harald snapped, having grown impatient with Olaf's scrutiny.
Olaf put on his widest smile and waved to the grumpy noble. "Good morning! My name's Olaf and I—"
"You like warm hugs, yes, I know. I heard your spiel before!"
"Queen Elsa isn't feeling well this morning. She knows you have to return to Grimmstad, so she asked me to accompany you to breakfast," Olaf said. He wanted to point out that it seemed like Lord Harald also felt unwell and could use a hug, but he thought better of it.
"What do snowmen eat?"
Olaf paused before laughing hysterically.
Lord Harald was visibly perturbed by this response and decided not to ask Olaf any more questions.
At breakfast, Olaf just sat and watched Lord Harald eat his meal. Occasionally, he would ask what a certain food tasted like. Most of the time, Lord Harald could not think of an answer. If Olaf could not eat food, how could he understand words like 'buttery' and 'crumbly' about a pastry?
Finally, Lord Harald was spared further questioning when his manservant entered the dining hall. Liam stalked directly to His Lordship and whispered something into the older man's ear. Olaf watched with keen interest when Lord Harald's eyes grew bigger.
"What? Are you sure? But..." the lord trailed off, glancing at Olaf on the other side of the table. Olaf hoped they did not hear him gulp.
But the moment passed. Lord Harald quickly said, "You must be mistaken. Go see that the carriage is ready."
Liam flashed Olaf a mild glare before taking his leave.
"So... Lord Harald," Olaf spoke up, attempting to appear as unfazed and normal as possible. He also wanted to stall Lord Harald from getting up to leave just in case Elsa had somehow not left the palace yet. "Do you... miss... being regent?"
The question was met with raised eyebrows and an awkward silence.
A/N: Smooth, Olaf. Smooth.
Oh and you can apparently ignore my last author's note. I will just do what I've been doing on the schedule I've been doing it on (har, not at all a redundant statement). My point is just that I will still plan to update within every 7-10 days with whatever length of chapter feels necessary or doable.
Thanks for reading!