The royal council chambers were in an uproar, although the royal family was trying very hard not to be. The kidnapping, the note, the demands and the deadline left a multitude of things to yell about, however.

"We can't win this auction!" the Treasury Secretary called out. "Six, seven years ago, we could have! Now we'd have to bankrupt Arendelle to outbid everyone!"

"So we don't," the Prime Minister offered. "We have rich allies. They'll outbid everyone and bring the princess back to us themselves. They can even arrest the kidnappers in the exchange for us."

"The kidnappers have to know that!" the Mayor pointed out. "They wouldn't try this if they didn't know one of our enemies could win, and let them off the hook. The Southern Isles alone…."

"In any case, several of our allies are more than three days away! They couldn't get their bid to us before the deadline," the naval captain pointed out.

"Then our main objective remains clear. We find the princess before the deadline," the captain of the guards announced. "The kingdom's sealed off and we're searching every building, lair and vessel in and around the area. And if they're waiting to read the bids in our newspaper, then we know they're still here. There's no way they could elude us for three whole days."

"There's a lot they could do to the princess before then," the Prime Minister dared to mention – in spite of the royal family's poor attempt not to flinch. "I'm sorry, your Majesties, but these people are obviously capable of anything. And there have to be at least more than one of them. We're all resolute in getting the princess away from them as fast as possible."

"Of course," Elsa got herself to say. "Then….all we can do is keep searching. We also need at least one open line of communication, so we can receive these….bids," she said with disgust, not caring to conceal herself in chambers for once. "Open a very small part of the docks to receive messages and ambassadors. Guard it heavily in case the kidnappers use it for an escape."

"What about our bid? We gotta at least try to outspend them! I mean, it'll look suspicious if we don't, right?" Kristoff did even less to conceal his emotions.

"We can try, but it would take a great deal to raise enough," the Treasury Secretary repeated. "If the Queen had married months ago, alliances with at least five different suitors might have put us over the top. Years ago, it certainly would have. But now look where we are."

Before he could go on, he was stopped when a flying ash tray happened to fly into his forehead. It didn't take long to see where it had come from. Although the ash tray belonged to the Mayor, he wasn't the one who picked it up.

"Anna!" Elsa stated first. "You just….attacked an official of Arendelle!"

"If I let him talk for five more seconds, you would have frozen him. I could tell. Or I might have thrown harder, smellier things than that," Anna growled. "If I threw it after he froze, he certainly would have lost an ear."

"Your….Your Majesty!" the secretary sputtered while rubbing his forehead.

"My daughter's gone, so don't Majesty me! I just saved your life and your career. Back off while people are still feeling sorry for you," Anna ordered.

"Anna, all of us are emotional right now. We don't have cart blanche to throw things because of it. It's not nice to throw at people," Elsa said evenly, like a Queen. "Let's focus on finding Joan and raising the money, not our anger. Okay?"

Anna was about to show her real anger, and rant about how she could be so….Queenly at a time like this. Until she caught the very smallest smile and wink Elsa could possibly give.

She knew Elsa had that "I'm gonna freeze someone" look in her eyes a while ago! Just like she knew it'd be better if she hurt him instead of Elsa – and Elsa was calm enough to know it now.

It sure felt good, even if it wasn't freezing good. It was the first time Anna felt useful in this whole thing, anyway.

She also knew this would be the perfect ice breaker with Joan when she came back.

When she came back.

If only telling herself that was easier than giving jerks a bump on the head.

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The guards had already started searching boats on the docks. However, the kidnappers were already set.

Joan's kidnapper was staying out of sight, since he'd actually been seen by Christian and a guard. He would stay in the captain's closet with Joan, while Robert's attacker untied the captain and instructed him to act like nothing was wrong. Otherwise, he would be the one who paid for it the least.

As such, Robert played his part when the guards and soldiers searched his boat. He claimed that his attacker was a new prospective crew member, and he played his part to the letter. They searched the boat from top to bottom, and even went into Robert's quarters to find nothing at all.

They didn't find Joan and her kidnapper cramped in the closet. They didn't hear Joan struggling not to breathe her limited air too hard. They didn't hear the kidnapper breathing quieter, or see him hold a knife next to Joan. All they saw was a ship captain and his new crew member, looking every bit like a dead end.

The guards left the boat, but the coast wasn't clear for another hour or so. When they were far enough away, it was finally safe for Joan and her kidnapper to be let out. At that point, they had to clear Joan's mouth before she passed out. But she knew by now she couldn't say anything too loud, if at all.

The captors took every possible item out of the room that Joan and Robert could use as a weapon. Once that loose end was tied up, they could leave Joan and Robert completely untied, but locked up in quarters. The kidnappers stood guard outside the locked door, and would be ready to shut them up if they got too loud or suspicious.

This is where Robert found himself alone with Joan for the first time. She was sitting on the other side of the room, clearly sniffling and clearly trying to stop. Somehow, he felt more helpless now than he did when the kidnappers were here.

He could assure her the kidnappers couldn't kill her, but he knew they could afford to hurt her a little. He could try to say she shouldn't worry about them hurting him, but he was too terrified to mean it completely. He could assure her that her family and the whole kingdom was looking for her, but she had to know that – and the kidnappers had already thought of everything to hold them off.

He could promise that her family, or some kingdom who liked them, would win the auction and bring her home. But he knew enough to know it could really go either way.

Both of them even living through this could still go either way.

"Don't feel…." Robert thought he heard Joan whisper. "Don't feel, don't feel…..no, it's conceal, don't feel…..or don't feel, conceal? What was it?" After another sniffle, she lamented, "What am I thinking? It didn't work for her, and she's magic!"

"Are you talking about your aunt?" Robert asked, knowing full well she was. But at this point, he had to say something.

Joan still looked too scared to talk, though. At least to him. Figuring he could give her one less thing to be afraid of, Robert said, "You can talk to me. They just don't want you to be too loud. They'll only hurt me if I mess up, and I didn't up there. I wish that was something I could be proud of."

Joan sniffled a few more times, as Robert slowly came towards her. "I can't remember if they said my name back there. I might as well say it now. I'm Robert."

After wiping her eyes, the princess looked up and got herself to say, "I'm Joan."

"I know that very well. And I know your family. Everyone does," Robert said, exhaling a breath at the end.

Joan took a few more breaths, as she started to appear more normal. Yet she asked, "Did they kidnap you because of me?"

"I'm sure they thought any captain would do," Robert figured.

"But they wouldn't kidnap captains if they didn't wanna kidnap me," Joan reasoned. This was a smart kid. Which probably wasn't a good thing in this case.

"Well, I'm too busy blaming them at the moment, okay?" Robert tried to be reassuring. Whether he was or not, Joan didn't look too different either way. Maybe that was half a win.

"He tried to get my brother too," Joan recalled. "He almost saved me. I didn't know he had it in him. I thought there'd be lots of time to know that stuff."

"I'm sure there's more than a few days left," Robert attempted to promise.

"At least Mom and Dad and Aunt Elsa aren't alone," Joan reflected. "They'll take care of him better than I did."

Robert didn't have any words or semi-false promises for that one. There was only so much he knew about making little girls feel better. He sure knew nothing about doing it under these circumstances. Heck, he only really knew how to do two or three things, period.

"If I'm rescued, I don't wanna be Queen. Or an heir. Even if Aunt Elsa's not married," Joan declared. "I don't wanna do anything but eat chocolate with Mom. And go riding and carve ice with Dad. And….and build snowmen with Aunt Elsa. Even if they're not alive….I really wanna build a snowman."

Joan wasn't crying, or even sniffling loudly, but Robert knew there was nothing he could do to cheer her up. Nothing anyone could do.

There was even a part of him that was jealous. This was a nearly 14-year-old girl, already blessed enough to be a royal – on most days – and she had so much more to live for and get back to, beyond titles and a castle, than someone almost three times her age.

Worse, the bitter irony of how that process started wasn't lost on him. Now more than ever.

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A whole morning and half the afternoon passed by with no news. The searches hadn't worked, the kidnappers hadn't left clues, and the few kingdoms that could send word back already had no clues, and would likely be short on their bids.

Every kingdom that received a note had to have someone working with the kidnappers in their midst. Yet none of them had been found either, as far as Arendelle knew. They certainly hadn't found whoever left the note in Arendelle, either.

All Anna, Kristoff and Elsa could do was direct the search and sit in the castle, in case the kidnappers came after them next. They certainly had to stay in case one of them came back for Christian. Every other important official stayed in the castle as well, to lend any support they could – including the suitors.

One of them came up to Christian and Joan's room, in spite of the guards posted there. Once they made sure he was clean, he knocked on the door. "Christian? May I come in?" Jorgen asked.

After a while, he heard, "Ok," and let himself open the door. There, he saw Christian lying on his stomach on the floor, besides his bed – not Joan's. There were a bunch of crayons on the floor, along with a few pieces of paper – one of which looked like the note from the kidnappers.

Jorgen didn't get a good look at the other ones before Christian covered them up. "No! I want Mom and Dad and Aunt Elsa to see it first!" he cried. Yet Jorgen got a brief look at the picture he was drawing – and of the likeness of Joan – before he turned around.

When it was okay to turn back, Christian had his drawing face down and covered by crayons. He didn't cover up the kidnapper's note, though. "What are you doing with this rotten thing?" Jorgen asked, drawing attention from the drawing.

"I was supposed to be kidnapped too," Christian said. "Maybe then Joan wouldn't be alone."

"But then the rest of your family would be," Jorgen reminded. "But you're here. That means there's some hope."

"Aunt Elsa thought one of you guys did it," Christian remembered. "Did you?"

"Well….I can only speak for myself. But since I'm an Isles prince, I know not everyone would believe me. Even if I'm from one of the nicer Isles," Jorgen reflected. "I know I didn't help them take your sister. I'm too obvious a suspect anyway. So are a lot of them, I suppose."

"If we don't gotta find bad guys here….there's nothing to do here," Christian said. "Just wait till Joan comes back or…."

"You seem to be keeping busy with mystery projects," Jorgen gestured. "I'm sure whatever they are will cheer your family up."

"They won't be cheered up till Joan's back! And I can't get her back! I tried!" Christian cried. "I had one chance to be a good little brother. Joan would have done it if she could….I mean, she's the good big sister."

"Good enough to be happy you're okay, I imagine," Jorgen came back with. "She'd want you to stay okay and keep them okay too. Even with small stuff. It's better than absolutely nothing, right?"

"I guess…." Christian conceded.

"All right, then. Go on, make something Joan would love when she gets back," Jorgen proposed. "We'll make sure she sees it as soon as possible. All of us."

Jorgen gave him a pat on the head before heading out, leaving Christian all alone again. When it was all clear, he uncovered his drawing – and the picture it was based on.

Christian had taken his favorite picture of Joan and the family, and was trying to draw it for the rest of the family. He was trying to trace it with his crayons, but it was hardly perfect so far. Still, as long as it looked like Joan and the family being together, he hoped it was the thought that counted.

In this picture, Joan and the family were in the Great Hall, as Joan's body was mostly buried in an Aunt Elsa made pile of snow. Her smiling head was still visible, however, with Christian hugging the right side of the pile, Anna and Kristoff huddled together on the left, and Elsa right behind Joan.

That was a great Christmas morning. Not the last one.

When Christian thought he'd done a good enough job, he got ready to show it to his family. He'd also hand over the kidnapper's note, since he was tired of reading it now.

Nevertheless, the guards still had to follow him as he left the room and tried to find his family. However, Anna and Kristoff weren't in their room, and Elsa was staying away from hers until it completely thawed. Since Christian had been in his room all day and the family hadn't visited him in a while, he had no idea where they were.

He figured if they were really busy, he should ask someone else where they were before he bothered them. So he went to the hall of guest rooms, in case a suitor could tell him anything.

He knocked on the first guest room door he found, but the owner of the room didn't answer. However, the door was unlocked, so Christian decided to peek inside. Soon enough, he went a step further inside, looking in the bedroom and bathroom to see no one was there.

Christian was set to leave right there and look for the others. On his way out, he noticed there were a bunch of letters and documents on the bedroom desk, though. He wasn't an exceedingly curious child, and he didn't invade privacy like Joan tended to do. But the need to think of things other than her kidnapped sister made him forget all that.

He went over to the desk, intending to take a quick look at the prince's writings. It looked like boring royal business stuff anyway, although even that might be a good change of pace. So he looked at it closer and closer….

….until he noticed something weird.

When he did, Christian looked at the open bottle of ink on the desk, with the prince's pen inside. He looked at the ink bottle label, then looked at the ink on the papers.

Then he pulled out the kidnapper's note.

After looking at this note longer than he should have, Christian was familiar with every word – and the blue ink it was written in. He figured it was written in blue to mock Aunt Elsa. But now….

As his imagination started to run wild, Christian looked on the desk for a blank piece of paper. Once he found it, he put the kidnapper's note down, sat down at the desk, and put the blank paper over it. Thankfully, it was thin enough that he could start tracing, with the prince's pen and his ink.

His blue ink.

He'd struggled to trace his family with crayons all afternoon, and his penmanship wasn't perfect, although he was well ahead of Joan's pace at his age. Regardless, all Christian had to do was trace a couple of letters, and hope that….

But when he finished tracing the words "Dear Queen Elsa" and looked at both documents, his hopes vanished.

The traced "Dear Queen Elsa" and the original on the kidnappers' note was exactly the same. Blue ink and all.

He even looked for another letter on the desk with the words 'Queen Elsa' on it – and it looked about the same too.

If they all looked the same, then….

Then the fact that the owner of this room was now coming inside was…..not good at all.

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The prince hadn't drank all his frustration away at Arendelle's seediest bar. But the little buzz he had on wasn't too bad, no one recognized him in his disguise, and he could somewhat forget about his chances – or lack thereof – for the Queen's hand.

He saw the writing on the wall by now. He hadn't screwed up like some of the other candidates. But he hadn't won over the Queen like some of the others either. Even they hadn't gotten far enough, which gave him some hope. Nevertheless, it was clear the Queen wasn't going to marry him, or anyone else in this group.

Which meant the last several months were nothing but a waste of time. He would fail his kingdom, prove he couldn't form valuable alliances after all, and get absolutely nothing out of it. Some prince he turned out to be.

No wonder he was reduced to going into disguise so he could drink with lowlifes in peace.

"I'm telling you, if anyone kidnapped those royal brats, they'd be the richest men in the world!"

Speaking of lowlifes….

The prince conspicuously went closer, overhearing more from these two clearly unwise criminals.

The first one went on to say, "The Snow Queen would give an arm and a leg if anyone took them. Or at least every penny in Arendelle. It'd be the heist of a lifetime if you could pull it off!"

The second man answered, "How's that supposed to happen? She loves them so much, won't she have 'em guarded all the time?"

"Oh come on, you know she's not big on closed gates and isolating people! Not anymore!" the first man pointed out. "All we'd need is some way in the castle, a way out, and maybe a guy on the inside! She'd be too scared of us killing them to freeze us! By the time we let them go, we'd be rich and gone!"

"We?" the second man asked. "You know, if it's we, why take the chance? Can't we give them to someone who won't freeze us?"

"Yeah….yeah! A bunch of kingdoms would pay two arms and legs for them, just to hurt her!" the first man cheered. "Why not give them all a shot? They'll bankrupt each other and then we'll get it all!"

The prince began to see a window of opportunity. The more these guys sounded serious, the more cause he had to take them in for threatening the royal family. Then the queen would melt for him for sure.

Then again, just because they were talking didn't mean they would do it. But if they did….he would have the inside track to stopping it. If they tried anything serious, and then he stopped them, he could get proposed to on the spot.

Heck, if they actually took the kids first before he stopped them, that'd be even better!

At that point, the prince realized how drunk he was getting. He realized it enough to stop thinking stuff like this – but not enough to confront these potential kidnappers. In the end, he settled for just letting them on their way, regardless of whether they were serious or not.

But they stayed in the back of the prince's mind. Especially as time went on and he got absolutely nowhere.

He tried to tow the line. He didn't get way too forward, and he wasn't way too nice. He thought he was a perfect blend – not mean enough for the committee to think he was evil, and not way too nice enough to make Princess Anna think he was secretly evil. But even that wasn't working.

Nothing was working. There was no winning strategy, no perfect balance, no magic formula to make the magical Queen fall in love with him. Or at least marry him for political gain.

More and more, his first thought that this was a giant waste of time was looking safe. He really was going back home with nothing and no one but embarrassment.

Well, forget that.

It wasn't his fault the Queen didn't know how to love a man, or hide her lack of love enough to marry one. It wasn't his fault she waited until she was old to start looking for suitors. If he could have courted her 10 years ago, then he might be more inspired.

But it wasn't his fault she was too in love with her blasted family to love anyone else. That annoying princess, that lunkhead pretend prince, and those oh so precious kids of theirs. It was like he spent more time courting them than the Queen, since the Queen treated them like her own children.

It wasn't his fault she was too lonely to know the difference! Or that they wouldn't just tell her to love him! Heck, she'd do anything they told her to do anyway!

At this point, he didn't even want them to tell her. But he deserved something for all this wasted time.

Heck, those kidnappers would get more than he would if they ever….

And there it was. In one glorious burst, there it was.

A perfect way to get repaid.

He fine-tuned just how perfect it was before he came back to the tavern, and found those would-be kidnappers. They already had the plan – all he had to do was fill in the blanks.

Blanks like giving one of them a way into the kingdom. Like dropping off a note explaining the rules of their auction. Like employing men to go to every other kingdom in the land, and drop off similar notes at the time of the kidnapping. Like coming up with the idea to do it on Elsa's upcoming birthday. Like making sure they would escape when the time was right.

Like getting a cut of the winning bid – which would still be so big, the kidnappers would be set for life even with a smaller share. They weren't equipped to argue with that. By the time this golden opportunity became clear, they didn't want to.

"It's going to be perfect," the prince summed up. "You take them at the right time before the ball, hide them on a boat, wait for a big enough bid, and I'll make sure you get out to see the winners. Then when we drop them off, we split the biggest payday ever three ways."

"And this isn't a trick?" the first man – Joan's future kidnapper – made sure of. "You're not gonna squeal on us so the Queen would squeal for you?"

"I might have a while back. But this is a much easier reward," the prince answered. "Just do your plan to the letter, and with my backing and resources, we'll all get what we want."

"Well.…then here's to getting what we want," the second man proposed. "Your Highness."

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And yet for all that, his Royal Highness, Prince Devin, was now confronted with the one wrinkle of the plan he didn't see coming.