In the wake of the festival, Martin had become nothing less than a hero among the men of the Royal Guard. Overnight, the squeaky, propriety-obsessed guardsman had changed into a celebrity in the eyes of his peers - 'the kid who saved Princess Anna', they called him.

Unfortunately, Martin was unhappy with his newfound status.

Sure, he liked his fellow guardsman viewing his fading bruise as the badge of honor that it was - proof that he was willing to serve Arendelle at any cost - but, nonetheless, he often avoided the subject altogether when approached.

Firstly, he found fault with his assumed title. He hardly considered himself to have saved his companion. In fact, there were several times where he would have been killed himself if it were not for the princess.

Beyond that, Martin simply did not want anyone getting the wrong idea. He was a part of the Royal Guard because he desired to serve the royal family, not because he desired the praise afterwards.

So as the other guardsmen at their posts along his path to the dungeon saluted the hero in his passing, he only awkwardly nodded and continued on his hurried way.

Martin was panting and, of course, sweating by the time that he arrived and pounded a few knocks into the prison's metal door.

After a while, it was apparent that there would be no answer.

The confused guardsman knocked again. He knew that there should have been someone on duty - there was a prisoner, after all. "Hello?" he called cautiously. "Open up."

Perking his ears, Martin could hear a loud, familiar snort carry outwards through the door. He recognized it instantly from many sleepless nights in the barracks. It was one of Isaac's classic, eardrum-shattering snores reverberating on the brick walls within.

"Why they keep putting you on night duties I may never know," the guardsman in the hallway muttered to himself before knocking one last time, now with significantly more force than before.

Inside, the noise finally jolted Isaac awake. "Huh?"

"Open the door already or I'll report you to the captain for sleeping on the job," Martin teased through the door. "Again."

Isaac rubbed the sleep from his eyes in a perhaps too-practiced motion and was at the door in an instant, unlatching and opening it as quickly as he could manage.

"You wouldn't," the plump guardsman said once the other had entered. He locked the door back up rapidly and dashed back to his seat at the guard desk as if he were afraid that his friend would take the chair instead. "You know they have me pulling double shifts since the festival incident. I've had to work the prison overnight and then the castle gates until it's almost dinnertime - they act like I'm a statue, or something."

"You're about as competent as one," Martin brushed off the complaint, eyeing a conspicuous pool of liquid on the guard desk. "A snoring, drooling one."

Isaac shot the other guardsman an unenthusiastic glare. "Anyway, I feel really bad about what happened. Queen Elsa and Princess Anna seemed pretty upset that I left my post."

"Upset that you left your post?" Martin almost laughed. "Yeah, I'm not so sure about that one."

"I thought I had a good reason. I didn't know that they would be so angry," the prison guard pouted. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be in the infirmary with Queen Elsa?"

"Yeah."

Isaac shrugged his heavy shoulders and grunted. "She's probably pretty mad at you, too, then," he said.

"Somehow I doubt that," Martin shook his head. "Considering she's the reason that I'm here in the first place."

"What do you mean?"

"Queen Elsa herself had assigned me to escort-"

"No way," Isaac blurted out. "Queen Elsa's been sleeping for three days straight. She didn't assign you to do anything."

Martin narrowed his eyes and stared at his friend. The other guardsman just looked back at him with utter cluelessness.

"Isaac, I was just in the infirmary. Queen Elsa woke up."

"She did?"

Martin nodded slowly. "Amazing," he quipped.

"Is she okay?"

"A little worse for wear, but the doctor said that it was nothing that couldn't be fixed."

"Good. You said she gave you some orders?"

Martin rolled his eyes. "Right, I did. She said that I was to release Mrs. Daleon and-"

"What?" Isaac interrupted again. "No she didn't. Queen Elsa would never order the release of her own assassin."

Martin's eyes peeked out of mere slits.

"She would, actually," he sighed out. "I would know, you know, since I was just in the infirmary with her when she gave me the order."

"She did?"

"Yes."

"Seriously?"

"Yes!" Martin chirped in frustration. "Listen to what I'm saying. A very awake Queen Elsa just told me very clearly that I am to have you release Mrs. Daleon and then escort her to her home."

"But I can't take her home," Isaac said. "I have gate duty, remember?"

"No, I didn't mean..." Martin trailed off hopelessly. At least his friend had the whole compassion thing going for him. "Never mind. Just unlock the cell for me, I'll handle the rest."

The prison guard reluctantly rose from his seat and produced a ring of keys from one of his uniform's many pockets. Together, the two guardsmen approached the cell at the back of the dungeon.

"Are you sure we should just be letting her go?" Isaac asked as he started on the locks. "Shouldn't we ask the captain first, at least?"

"Queen Elsa's orders take precedence," Martin said, though he, too, was unsure. He looked through the entrance's grating to see the widow motionless on the slab in the corner of the concrete room, the scene illuminated by the rising sun through the singular window. How the woman had been sleeping with his friend's snoring in her ears Martin would never know. "I believe 'now' was the word she used."

Martin expected something else, but Isaac just whispered, "if you say so," before popping the door open. The suddenly taciturn guardsman allowed his friend to enter first.

"Mrs. Daleon?"

Dee was somehow finally awoken by the call.

The widow rolled off of the uncomfortable resting spot with a stiff-looking back and an appropriate grunt of effort. She was not at all what Martin had been expecting - she looked more like a pitiful innocent than any sort of an assassin - and indeed the woman seemed quite different to Isaac, too. Her shoulders were set forward not in aggression but hopelessness; her jaw clenched but unthreatening; her expression pained but reserved. The woman regarded them silently, her blank stare the only hint that she was even listening at all.

Dee was desperately trying to hold together something broken deep inside of herself, and for the moment she was succeeding. The guardsmen could not even begin to discern her true nature.

"Mrs. Daleon hasn't been talking much," Isaac explained quietly to his friend. Though he had spent more time with the woman than anyone over the course of her imprisonment, he was clueless as to her uncharacteristic silence. He had returned from the festival's confusion to find Dee changed - her wailing sobs replaced by a just as heavy noiselessness.

Over his several shifts since, the prison guard had not heard a peep from the cell.

Martin nodded. "Mrs. Daleon, I come with orders from Queen Elsa. You are to be released immediately and escorted to your home."

For a split second, the widow almost looked like she might say something. She did not.

"She was quite insistent that we leave right away," Martin continued in the absence of a response. "I don't expect you have any business to attend to here before we leave?"

Dee only glowered at the man, a crack in her otherwise neutrality.

"Okay," Martin averted his eyes with an uncomfortable glance in his fellow guardsman's direction. "Let's get going, then."

Isaac shrugged before turning and leading the way back out of the cell. Martin followed before Dee eventually sulked out into the hall behind him.

The footsteps and their ringing echoes were the only noises in the prison for a while.

"Thanks, Isaac," Martin finally said once they had arrived at the metal exit.

Isaac unlocked the door and then resumed his seat at the guard desk, already settling back into a suitable napping position. "No problem," he yawned. "I'll probably see you on the way back in. Gate duty, remember?"

"Right. See you then."

Both Martin and Dee were wordless for the remainder of their journey out of the castle.

The guardsman did not even try to speak to the released prisoner. He never had been the best at generating conversation. She did not exactly seem receptive to it, either.

It was only as the two emerged onto the battered courtyard that the widow finally made a slight noise. Dee seemed to view the charred bricks where the fireworks-stocked stage had stood with a suddenly returned interest.

Martin thought he heard her whimper.

The guardsman dared not ask her if she was alright, however. Dee's show of emotion was so fleeting that by the time that he had turned to look at her it had already been tucked away. Her mask of impassivity was applied with such a deftness, in fact, that Martin began to doubt if he had truly heard anything at all.

"Princess Anna?"

Anna awoke to a few uncertain knocks on her bedroom door. The princess lay in a mess of blankets and books and hair. She bolted upright at the noise, brushing the nearby Sea of Love (which she really had tried to start before falling asleep) off of the bed in the process.

"Princess Anna?"

"Yes, I'm awake," Anna called back, for once telling the truth with those words. She leapt off of her bed and dashed for her mirror, already starting to frantically tame her hair with her bare hands before she picked up a brush from her vanity.

In the hallway, Kai waited for the return of snoring. "Princess Anna?" the servant asked when he heard no such thing.

"I'm really awake," Anna giggled, rolling her eyes at her reflection. At least most of her hair had given into the brush and rested tenuously straight on her shoulders. She decided that that would have to be good enough and hurried to the door.

"So you are," Kai greeted the princess with a smile as she emerged. "Good morning, Princess Anna."

"Good morning," Anna returned the gesture. Though she regretted sleeping slightly - there was so much work to be done otherwise - the princess felt refreshed by her much-needed rest. "Any news on Elsa?"

"I was just about to go down to the infirmary to get an update," Kai said. "I must apologize, I have just woken up myself."

"I'll join you!"

"If you wish, though I would suggest that you see Mr. Bjorgman off first."

"See him off? I thought he wasn't leaving until ten."

Kai's eyes fell to the floor and suddenly Anna noticed the tiredness in them.

Surely the servant had been just as fatigued as she since the festival. He had been instrumental in handling the affairs of the kingdom in Elsa's incapacitation - already familiar with the duties from his stint as stand-in head of state prior to the coronation. Furthermore, the man felt obligated to join the sisters in the infirmary in the free time he did have, resulting in little to no sleep for the caring aide.

"I suppose we both overslept," Kai mumbled, embarrassed by his weakness. "It's nine fifty. Mr. Bjorgman should be setting off from the courtyard soon. I thought that you might want to say goodbye before he left."

"Thank you, Kai," Anna said. "For everything. I'll join you in the infirmary after I'm done. You'll make sure Elsa is alright, won't you?"

"Of course, Princess Anna," the servant bowed.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Anna nodded one last time before turning and darting down the hallway, strands of red hair flying out from their hastily-made arrangement in her rush.

When Anna reached the courtyard, Kristoff was just putting the last of his issued supplies into his sled. While a trip to the Valley of the Living Rock would only take a few hours, the ice master was scheduled to spend the night on the 'diplomatic mission' and thus was afforded a more than adequate load by the crown.

Kristoff was trying to fit a few wrapped gifts for his 'hosts' and a bag of carrots for Sven (to share) into the trunk when Anna crept up behind him under the terrace's front gateway.

"Thought you could sneak off without saying goodbye, huh?"

The princess's surprise elicited a small jump from her boyfriend.

"Anna," Kristoff groaned, dropping the final bags into the back of the sled before turning. Around the front of the vehicle, an already-harnessed Sven also greeted the familiar face with some fitting reindeer noises.

"Good morning," Anna grinned back at them both.

"You're supposed to be sleeping," the ice master replied flatly. "It's too early. I didn't want to wake you."

"It's ten in the morning!"

Kristoff thought about that for a moment. He shrugged. "Pretty early for me. And you need the rest."

"I needed the rest," Anna corrected him. "I feel pretty rested right now, thank you very much."

Kristoff glanced up at the princess's frizzy jumble of hair. If that wasn't a product of sleep deprivation, he wasn't sure what was.

Anna noticed his eyes and tried her best to pat the rebellious locks back down.

"I wanted to say goodbye before you left. It's your first overnight trip since we met, you know," the princess said.

Kristoff could not help but blush. "That's, uh," he coughed in nervousness, "that's very, uh, very thoughtful of you."

"I know," Anna squealed. She pulled Kristoff into a hug, nuzzling her head into one of the man's broad shoulders. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, too," the ice master whispered back, every trace of annoyance now gone from his voice. "You know, you could come with me if you wanted. The kitchen gave me plenty of food, and you could see Bulda and Grand Pabbie and-"

Anna pulled her head back from its resting place to look at Kristoff directly.

"I can't leave the castle until I know that Elsa's okay," she said.

"I know," the ice master frowned.

Soon, however, his downturned lips were covered up by the princess's own. Fifteen seconds later, after the lengthy kiss was over, Kristoff knew that he would not be able to go back to pouting for quite some time. Both he and the princess were blushing now.

"I should get going."

"Me, too."

The two broke up their embrace and the ice master took one final, still-distracted look to make sure that his cargo was secure. Satisfied, he rounded the sled and jumped up into the seat in its front.

"Thanks for doing this, Kristoff," Anna called behind him.

"All a part of the ice master's duties," her boyfriend said. Sven snorted as he started to pull the wheeled sled out of the courtyard. "I think it is, at least."

"Make sure that you don't forget anything that Grand Pabbie says about the Dark Mage," Anna continued, cupping her hands around her mouth to make sure that her voice would travel. "I expect a full report tomorrow!"

"Reports are definitely not part of the duties!" Kristoff shouted back over his shoulder. He kept yelling for a while longer, but he had grown too far away to be heard by the princess.

Anna smiled, shook her head, and watched across the bridge until the ice master and deliverer disappeared from sight.

She had started walking towards a nearby door - the one that would yield the most immediate path to the infirmary - when she heard someone call her name.

"Princess Anna!"

Anna was unable to immediately identify the voice. She was unaware that she and Kristoff had even had company in the courtyard. The princess looked to both sides, but she saw no one in the vicinity.

"Over here."

Isaac stepped out of a shadowy place under the archway connecting the terrace to the bridge and into the morning light.

"Oh," Anna's mouth seemed to purse as she twirled to face the uniformed man. She remembered him vaguely from the festival. He was the one who had told Elsa about William Daleon. "Isaac, right?"

"Yeah," the guardsman nodded.

"Were you spying on us?"

"What?" fear washed over Isaac's face. "No, no, no - I'm on gate duty and I didn't want to interrupt. I'm sorry, I-"

"Gate duty?" Anna eyed the shady spot from which the man had emerged. "Isn't that post supposed to be out on the bridge?"

"Well, uh, you see..."

Isaac was cracking under the princess's suspicious glare. It was nothing so severe as to get him to lock up, but the pressure certainly sped up his rate of speech.

"It was just so bright and hot and I've been assigned double shifts for the last three days and I'm really tired and I wanted to find a place to-"

Anna scoffed. He had been asleep in the darkness.

"It won't happen again, Princess Anna," the guardsman finished sullenly. "I promise."

The princess sighed.

"I can't really hold it against you," she broke the tension with a gracious smile. She remembered Kai's tired look and her own inability to stay awake the night before. Isaac's mouth dropped in awed gratefulness. "We've all been tired around here. Some more than others, of course, but..."

Anna's thoughts gravitated back to the queen's wellbeing.

"Anyways, if you'll excuse me, I must go check on my sister," she began to turn.

"Princess Anna!" the guardsman stopped her in a burst of courage.

"Yes?" Anna breathed out to calm herself before spinning back around.

"Listen, I'm sorry about leaving my post on the night of the festival," Isaac muttered, unable to look at the princess in his shame. "I know it upset you and Queen Elsa and I just wanted you to know that I'm truly, truly sorry."

Anna simply stared at the guardsman for a moment. He thought that his incompetence was responsible for the sisters' conflict at the party?

The princess was watching Isaac kindly when he finally braved a look back upwards.

"Don't blame yourself," she said. "All of that was my fault, not yours. Let's just say that Elsa likes to be informed about everything immediately," the princess's voice fell to a whisper. "No matter what it is."

"Thank you, Princess Anna," Isaac bowed shakily. Despite having been seemingly forgiven, he had still been fearing the moment of his inevitable apology for days.

"Is that all?"

"I think so."

Anna turned again. She was not in the least surprised when the guardsman interrupted her stride once more just a few moments later.

"Princess Anna!"

"Yes, Isaac?"

"You'll still tell Queen Elsa what I said, though, won't you? You know, since you're going to see her and all. She might still think it's my fault."

"I will," Anna nodded. "I'll tell her as soon as she wakes up."

"Thanks."

The princess took a few more steps.

"Princess Anna!" Isaac called after her.

"What?"

"She's not awake yet?"

"Huh?"

"I saw Martin earlier. He said that Queen Elsa was awake."

"He did?" Anna's heart skipped a beat.

"Yeah, he said she woke up and ordered the release of that prisoner - Mrs. Daleon."

"He did?"

"Is she awake or not?" Isaac asked, quickly becoming worried. He was unsure if he could handle being responsible for another screw-up. "Because if she's not, we might have a little bit of a problem."

Thoughts rushed through Anna's mind. She knew that Martin was trustworthy, so his words had most likely been true. Her sister was finally awake and, for some inexplicable reason, she had ordered the release of her own would-be assassin.

"I have to go."

The princess took off in the direction of the nearest door. This time, she did not even hesitate when Isaac continued to shout after her.

"Princess Anna!"

"Stay there!" Anna called back. "I'll take care of everything! Just try not to fall asleep again!"

Isaac obediently stuck to his post and could only watch as the princess disappeared into the castle.

Anna sprinted through the castle at a breakneck pace, taking the steps two at a time when she encountered a staircase and making messy-angled swerves through doorways as necessary. She reached the hallway leading to the infirmary in half a minute flat, but quickly noticed that her progress was blocked by a large man who had just emerged from the sickroom's entrance.

"Look who it is!" Balan bellowed with a characteristically confident and wide smile, stopping directly in front of the princess. "I was hoping that I would run into you before I left."

"Hello, Ambassador Balan," Anna replied. She quickly made an effort to both catch her breath and fix her undoubtedly critically messy hair in the presence of the dignitary.

Anna eyed the now closed door of the infirmary behind him - so close yet so far away with the chatty diplomat blocking her path.

She had gotten to know the man quite well during his recovery process. While he, too, had been injured in the Dark Mage's explosion, his injuries were nowhere near as severe as the queen's.

Most of the ambassador's wounds were of the flesh, manifesting themselves in deep scars across his body. The blemishes were unsettling to look at and surely painful to bear, however they had done little to restrict Balan in ceaselessly talking to the princess during her many infirmary vigils.

Anna and the diplomat had talked about countless things over the previous days - of their respective kingdoms' people, customs, and dormant alliance - yet still Balan looked unfamiliar standing in the hallway.

In the young woman's mind, he had forever been the weakened shape in the sickbed - a perception incongruous with the foreign agent's now returned elegant attire (which hid the majority of his injuries) and proud posture.

Anna almost was uncertain that it was the same man until her eyes scanned over his face and quickly looked away from the line of missing flesh that traced its way from his left cheekbone to his ear - his sole visible scar. After seeing that, she was sure.

"I have been released," Balan continued slowly, noticing the princess's focus. "Of course, my recovery is ongoing."

Anna smiled politely. She glanced over to the infirmary door again. She supposed that it would be improper to brush off the ambassador without explaining herself.

"My sister, is she-"

"With that in mind, the doctor said that I am not yet fit for sea travel," the man's voice overpowered Anna's. Balan had, of course, picked up on the princess's anxiousness, but he still had far too much to say. "It would seem that I am stuck in Arendelle for the time being. One of the better places to be stuck in, in my opinion."

"Oh?" Anna asked emptily. "You're welcome to stay at the castle if you'd like."

She was ready to offer him anything if it meant getting past him.

"It wouldn't be any trouble?"

"No," the princess shook her head quickly. "Listen, is Elsa-"

"If I were to stay in the castle, it certainly would make our meeting easier to arrange."

The meeting - Anna recognized the word with a silent groan. All of her conversations with Balan in the infirmary had inevitably drifted towards the mysterious conference.

The ambassador had explained innumerable times that he had come to Arendelle as not only a party guest but a diplomat. Balan was almost always talking of his visit's vague political purpose, however he had always insisted that the real discussion was of far too much importance to be had outside of an 'official meeting between two capable, healthy parties'.

Anna assumed that now that he had been released he was ready to get on with just that.

"I was actually just talking to Queen Elsa about it," Balan said with a slight frown.

"She's awake?"

"Oh, yes," the ambassador replied. "It would seem that she is in no condition to be resuming her duties, however. I suppose that you will still have to represent Arendelle in our conference."

"Yes, of course," Anna forced a smile. In all honesty, her mind was not on the meeting at all. "I'll have to check my schedule right after I-"

"How about tonight?"

"Tonight?" Anna gulped. Again, her eyes were drawn to the sickroom's entrance just beyond the ambassador's wide frame. "Tonight's good, I guess."

"Fantastic!" Balan looked even more proud than he had before, one step closer to his vague, grand goal. He grinned at the princess in triumph; she returned the effort in mere reciprocity, all the while trying not to look at the scar on his face.

"Will you be taking me to my lodgings?" the ambassador asked.

Anna's eyes widened. Surely he would not keep her from seeing Elsa for even longer. "Will I be-"

Thankfully, the young woman's mutterings were interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming from behind her human obstacle.

Kai appeared on the far side of the hallway. The servant was making his own way to the infirmary with a glass of water for the queen, his drooping eyes on the ground.

"Kai!" Anna practically shouted out in recognition.

"Princess Anna!" the man suddenly stood at attention, nearly losing his grip on the cup. He quickened his pace until he had reached the ambassador's side. "What is the matter?"

"Kai, Ambassador Balan will be staying at the castle until he is well enough to travel," the princess said in the most proper voice that she could manage.

"I will show him to a guest room right away," the servant nodded in response, instantly understanding the situation from the Anna's voice.

"Are you in a hurry?" Balan asked the princess, though he already knew the answer. He smirked in such a way that Anna could not tell if he was offended or not.

"No, no... Well, yes," Anna scrambled. "I mean, no offense to you, of course. I came here to check on my sister - I haven't seen her since she woke up."

"I have never felt so absolutely unimportant," Balan joked. For some reason, the comment still felt serious. "I suppose that is all fair enough, however. Tonight, then?"

"Tonight," Anna agreed, blushing.

"I'll find you," Balan said - it was a promise.

"Queen Elsa requested this," Kai handed the cup of water over to the princess.

"Thank you, Kai," Anna found herself expressing her great gratitude to the servant for the second time that day. He merely nodded and then returned to his duty.

"Right this way, Ambassador Balan."

The two men proceeded down the hallway in the direction that Anna had come from.

Finally free, the princess wasted no time. In one smooth motion, she took a deep breath, stepped forward, and burst through the infirmary door.