"She's WHAT?" Kristoff demanded.
He was in the Throne room with Kai and Admiral Naismith. The Admiral had come to the castle immediately to meet with the Royal Council and review the message that had been delivered from the Weselton forces.
"Being held hostage, Master Bjorgman. I'm sorry," the Admiral apologized. He seethed internally at the situation that he found himself in. His hands were tied while Anna was in danger. He had immediately dispatched a fast sloop to inform Elsa of what was going on, and he himself would be sailing in a short while to meet her and discuss what their options were. He was afraid there weren't any good ones.
"What are you going to do about it?" Kristoff almost shouted. He was berating himself for being late.
"Nothing," replied Naismith. "Nothing until I can meet with the Queen and discuss with her what she wants to do about this situation."
Kristoff fumed, but he knew the Admiral was right. Elsa was the Queen, AND she was Anna's sister. They couldn't do anything to put Anna at risk until Elsa was back and part of the planning.
"I'm going with you." Kristoff's determined expression dared the Admiral to say no.
"Very well. We need to go immediately. We will be departing from the castle gate facing away from the town in a small sloop. I don't want it to be obvious to the Weselton force that I am leaving," Naismith said.
He turned to Kai, "Colonel Nordholm is in command of the forces here in my absence. He has strict orders to make no hostile move toward the Weselton ships. He is also going to brief the Royal Council in my absence. They should be arriving shortly for the meeting."
"What about Queen Elsa? Will you be returning here with her?" Kai asked the Admiral.
"Not immediately. We will meet her ship at sea, then put a small party ashore a short distance up the coast. We'll join up with a troop of Marines in the forest on the other side of the hills. I don't want Her Majesty to come anywhere near this town until we have a better understanding of what the Weselton commander is willing to negotiate. Colonel Nordholm knows where the rendezvous point in the forest is, and will be sending messengers to us with any updates."
Kai nodded his understanding. A footman came into the throne room and addressed Admiral Naismith. "Sir! There is a group of Weselton men at the courtyard gate demanding to speak to you. They offer their parole, but say that they must speak to you immediately."
"Very well. I will meet with them at the castle gates. Have the guards take their weapons, but tell them not to threaten those thugs in any way."
Kai, the Admiral and Kristoff followed the footman back to the portico in front of the doors of the castle. The three of them waited while the footman hurried across the courtyard to bring the Weselton men inside.
It surprised Naismith to see that the little party included the commander of the attacking force. "What are we discussing, sir?" he growled.
The Weselton commander was insolent as he smiled at the Admiral's obvious distaste. "The terms of your surrender, Admiral. Nothing more, nothing less."
"I cannot discuss terms without instructions from the Queen," Naismith huffed.
A sneer from the commander, "I realize that, Admiral. That's why I insist you take me to meet with the Queen."
"You can't be serious," replied the Admiral.
"I am deadly serious. I trust you with my life as long as my men hold the Princess Anna. I am authorized by the Duke to negotiate with your Queen. So take me to her. I am unarmed, and I give you my parole that I will attempt nothing untoward when I meet with her."
Naismith thought this over. He really had no choice. "Very well. But you will be blindfolded the entire time. I will not expose all of Arendelle's secrets to you." He gestured to one of the Queen's guard to blindfold the man, then they reentered the castle. The other Weselton men were escorted to exit the courtyard and return to their ship.
Once on the sloop, Kristoff paced up and down the deck, worried about Anna and worried about what Elsa would do. It had only been three months since her Coronation. She had worked hard to make up for freezing the kingdom and continued working to rebuild her relationship with her sister. He and Anna often talked about how Elsa felt she had to work to make up for what she perceived as her failures. He also scowled, thinking that he should have been with Anna, that he could have made a difference.
Naismith was lost in his own ideas about how he could have, should have prevented something like this from happening. Arendelle had been a small, out-of-the-way kingdom, of little note to the powers of Europe or even their closer neighbors, a peaceful kingdom, long past engaging in the predations of their Viking ancestors. Arendelle was content to keep its own counsel, fighting off pirates who preyed on its merchants but not having any desire to conquer anyone.
When the secret of Queen Elsa's magic became public, that changed. He should have realized that there was now going to be more scrutiny of the little kingdom. The Duke of Weselton had apparently decided that if he could not enrich himself through honest trade, he would simply take what he wanted. The more cynical side of the Admiral worried that some kingdom might decide that Queen Elsa was a weapon, a weapon to be acquired and used. He still wasn't sure that wasn't one of the Duke's motivations for this attack. The Duke may intend to use Princess Anna as leverage to force Queen Elsa to serve his ambitions, ambitions that went beyond looting Arendelle.
He shook himself out of this grim reverie to notice that Kristoff had slumped to sit with his back against the mast and was forlornly staring off into nowhere. Naismith walked over and asked, "Master Bjorgman, are you okay?"
Kristoff looked up at him and replied, "No. I should have been there, I could have stopped them from kidnapping her."
Naismith shook his head. "No, you couldn't have. Master Bjorgman, think it through. Those men who took the Princess must have threatened her with weapons. Would she have gone with them otherwise, or would she have cried out for help?"
Kristoff had to admit, "She would have made a huge fuss. Anna is fearless, sometimes too fearless." He got to his feet to stand next to the Admiral. "But what's your point?"
"If you had been there, Master Bjorgman, what could you have done? You carry a belt knife, correct?" It was a rhetorical question.
"Yeah. And by the way, call me 'Kristoff', would you? I don't know any 'Master Bjorgman'."
"Kristoff, then. What could you do with a knife against three men who most likely had pistols? No one saw them display weapons, but we both know they must have shown something to Princess Anna to convince her to go along with them."
Kristoff had to admit that the Admiral had a point. That didn't make him feel any better, and he tried to continue to protest, "But, if I were there..."
"You would have done nothing to put the Princess in danger. If they had threatened to kill her at the first sign of your resistance, you would have done nothing to provoke them. At best, you would have been taken captive with her. However, since you have no value as a hostage, they would probably have killed you the moment they had you on their ship and out of sight." finished the Admiral grimly. "These men are vicious and desperate. Their force is too small to accomplish anything without the leverage their hostage gives them."
This recitation did nothing to relieve Kristoff's guilt at not being there for Anna, but his honesty forced him to accept everything the Admiral said, including the 'no value as a hostage' part. Anna would care, and maybe Elsa, but her concern for Anna would far outweigh her concern for him, as it should. Hell, HE cared more for Anna than he did for himself. If he could trade his life for her safety right now, he would do it without thinking twice about it.
"What are we going to do?" he looked to Naismith for an answer.
"I don't know. For one thing, I don't know exactly what the Weselton Commander is going to say to Queen Elsa. He refuses to discuss it with me." The man was blindfolded and down in the hold under guard where he couldn't see where they were or where they were going. Naismith had no intention of giving away any more information than he absolutely had to.
"For another, I don't know what the Queen is willing to do for the Princess. Theoretically, Arendelle has had a policy of 'no negotiations for hostages' for a long time."
"You know that Elsa, uh, I mean, the Queen won't let them kill Anna, policy or no policy!" Kristoff was as sure of that as he was the sun would come up tomorrow morning.
"I'm afraid I do know that," replied the Admiral. "In truth, I could not in good conscience advise Her Majesty to refuse to negotiate for her sister. Theory is one thing, but after what they have been through … no, just … no."
Kristoff could only nod glumly. The two women had been separated for thirteen years and had just begun to rebuild their relationship as sisters and best friends. Even if Elsa would be willing to follow the policy the Admiral had mentioned and let Anna die, her own death would follow shortly afterwards, once Elsa had taken her vengeance on the Weselton force. She would go berserk, killing every last man of them. She would sail to Weselton and kill the Duke. She would be happy to die in that attempt if that's what it took. She might die anyway. She simply wouldn't want to go on living if Anna were dead. He knew that in his gut, from everything he and Anna had talked about since the Great Freeze and everything he had seen with his own eyes every time the two sisters were together.
Naismith looked at the position of the sun in the sky and commented, "About an hour until we meet up with the Queen. We'll go aboard her ship and brief her, then see what this Weselton man has to say." He walked toward the bow to watch for the Queen's ship. Kristoff sat back down to brood.
Anna was pacing in the Captain's cabin of the ship where she was being held prisoner. She had to admit they were treating her well, if she ignored the whole 'being held prisoner under threat of death' thing. She worried about what Kristoff would do when he found out. She really worried about Elsa and what she would do when she found out. Anna knew something that no one else did; that Elsa was still very fragile emotionally and was subject to panic attacks.
The two of them had discussed it shortly after Elsa brought back summer. Elsa had taken Anna for a walk in the garden for a private conversation, entrusting Anna with her soul and her sanity. Since then, there had been several episodes when Anna had comforted Elsa in the privacy of her room when the stress of governing the kingdom had overcome the Queen. Elsa had just enough control, hard-won over thirteen long years, to get behind closed doors when she felt she had an attack coming on.
Both of them had nightmares, they comforted each other when that happened. The panic attacks were different, more severe. Anna remembered the first time she had seen Elsa experience one.
It had only been a few days after Elsa had explained her emotional fragility to Anna and asked for her understanding and help dealing with it. Anna had come to dinner and was surprised to find out that Elsa wouldn't be joining her. Instead, Gerda had passed along a message from her sister explaining that she wasn't feeling well, would skip dinner, and could Anna join her later? Anna noticed that Gerda had an odd expression on her face as she gave Anna the message.
Hurrying through dinner, Anna went to Elsa's room as quickly as she could, not sure what she would find. She knocked, called out, "Elsa?" and waited for her sister to give her permission to enter. They had promised each other never to lock the other out ever again, but it was still courteous to wait. There was no sound from within the room. Anna took a deep breath and went in. "Elsa?" she called again.
Looking around the room, Elsa was nowhere to be seen. Anna heard a noise and walked around the bed to find Elsa on her hands and knees, vomiting into her chamber pot. "Elsa!" Anna cried and knelt next to her sister, putting an arm around her shoulders. It was clear that there was nothing else for her sister to bring up, but she was still convulsing and gagging. Anna could feel her trembling as she held her.
Finally, Elsa sat back on her heels and leaned into Anna's embrace. "Help me … Anna … I'm so scared," she whimpered. Tears leaked down her cheeks and her hands were shaking.
"I've got you, honey. You're safe. I'm here," Anna tried to reassure her. She looked around, noticed that Elsa had been undressing for bed when she was overcome. Her dress, stockings, and shoes were in an untidy heap near her wardrobe, and she was dressed only in her undershift. Anna hugged her and said, "Elsa, come on, let's get you cleaned up and in bed, okay?"
Elsa was dazed and passive. Anna was able to coax her to sit on the chair next to her bed, where she rocked back and forth hugging herself and weeping. Anna wet a towel with water from a pitcher next to Elsa's wash basin, and cleaned her hands and face. Then she poured some water into a cup, and held it to Elsa's lips saying, "Here, drink a little. I'll send for some tea once I've got you in bed, okay?" Elsa swallowed a few sips of the water.
Once that was done, Anna rummaged in one of the dresser drawers for a nightgown and got Elsa out of her shift and into the nightdress. Then she helped her get into bed. Elsa immediately curled herself into a tight ball and began crying even harder. Anna pulled off her own dress, kicked off her shoes and crawled in with Elsa, wrapped herself around the weeping girl and tried to comfort her with soothing whispers and gentle caresses. After a few minutes, Elsa turned to face Anna and buried her face in her sister's neck. Anna could feel her warm breath and the tears as they fell onto her skin. "Shh...it's okay, I'm here. You're safe, honey. Let the tears come until you feel better."
Gradually Elsa calmed down and her breathing became more regular. Anna continued to croon soft soothing sounds until she felt Elsa relax into a doze. She let her sleep until she was sure Elsa wouldn't wake up if Anna got out of bed. Moving carefully so as not to wake her sister, Anna slipped out of bed. She heard a soft knock on the door and went to peek out. It was Gerda.
"Your Highness," Gerda whispered. "Is the Queen okay? May I help you? I have some … experience … with her condition."
Anna knew that Gerda was one of the three people who had known about Elsa's magic before the Coronation day disaster. She nodded and opened the door for Gerda to slip in.
"She's asleep for now. But she was sick to her stomach before. Do you think some tea would help?" Anna spoke softly so they wouldn't wake Elsa.
"Yes. I'll bring some after I clean up the room for you. And something to eat. For both of you."
"Thank you, Gerda. This is new and … a little overwhelming for me," Anna admitted. Elsa stirred and moaned softly on the bed.
"You best get back in bed with her for now. She needs your warmth to comfort her. Otherwise she may start to have nightmares," Gerda shooed Anna back into the bed, then quietly tidied the room and left to bring back the food and tea for the two women.
Elsa relaxed again once she felt Anna in her arms, then positioned herself so her head lay where she could hear Anna's heartbeat. Anna could tell from the change in her breathing that she was falling more deeply asleep. When Gerda checked back on them, she found them both asleep. She decided that the tea could wait until morning; they needed the rest.
When morning came Elsa was better. She had a headache, but the panic attack had passed and she could function again. Feeling more herself, she even poked at Anna and tickled her to wake her. This was something she had practice at; Elsa always woke up earlier than Anna. "Morning, sleepyhead. Wakey wakey!"
Since Anna wasn't responding, Elsa took one of Anna's braids and tickled her nose. Anna sneezed and woke up, very grumpy. She looked around through half-shut, bleary eyes, focused on Elsa, groaned and then flopped back on the pillow. "Go 'way, wanna sleep..." and rolled over and pulled the blanket over her head.
Elsa giggled, then pulled the blanket away from Anna's face and sprinkled a little snow on her neck. This caused Anna to sit bolt upright and squawk, "ELSA! No fair!" while throwing a pillow. Ducking the pillow, Elsa laughed and hopped out of bed.
She went over to the dressing table. There was a tray with a teapot, cups and some skolebrød. Gerda must have slipped in with the tray recently as the tea was still hot. Elsa poured a cup and took it to Anna, saying "Here, honey, this will help."
Anna accepted the peace-offering with a pout, drank a sip and got out of bed to snatch one of the custard-filled pastries before Elsa ate them all. Anna had been too slow on one previous occasion and had learned her lesson.
Taking her own cup and pastry, Elsa went to sit in the window bay and watch the gulls flying over the fjord. Anna joined her and they sat companionably in the morning sun for a while. Finally, Anna swallowed the last of her pastry, licked custard and powdered sugar off her fingers and asked Elsa, "You okay this morning?" in a soft voice. Elsa nodded and sipped at her tea.
"Want to talk about it?"
Elsa took a deep breath and said, "No, but I should. I promised you I would talk to you about it. And … you really are helping me deal with it." The gratitude in her eyes as she looked at her sister warmed Anna more than the sunlight could.
"Soooo...what brought this on?" Anna asked gently.
A sigh, then, "Stress. I think it was the stress of the last couple of weeks catching up with me. You know it's been one thing after another trying to fix the mess I made with the whole 'Great Freeze' thing, I haven't been getting enough sleep, skipped a meal or two, and let myself get too tired. What triggered it was a flashback, I think. I was discussing some castle repairs with Kai when I suddenly had a vision of being locked up in that dungeon, with Hans and the guards coming to kill me."
She trembled, the tea-cup rattling on the saucer she held in her hands. Anna scooted over to hug her.
"Shhh...okay, I get it. Don't call up that memory again. We can talk about it again tonight if you want, and again and again; however long it takes to lay those ghosts to rest." Elsa leaned on Anna's shoulder and nodded.
They had talked about plans for the day for a little longer over more tea, then went their separate ways to prepare for the day's work.
That was the first time; it had not been the last. The attacks now happened less often but had not stopped altogether. Anna hoped that this invasion situation would not push Elsa into another one, with no one to help her deal with it.
"Please, Elsa, you need to be strong when you find out. We'll get through this, I know you'll figure something out, you're the brilliant one." Anna's thoughts chased themselves in circles as she worried.
"Okay, Anna, think. What would Elsa do? She'd figure out some way to fool these weasel's bastards into thinking they had a simpering weakling as a prisoner. Lull them to sleep until there's a chance to escape."
Anna felt confident she could play that part. She did it regularly. It was a defense mechanism, although she didn't think of it that way. In her heart, she worried about Elsa being deposed by people who hated her. Anna thought that if she acted the part of the goofy little sister, no one would ever consider putting her on the throne in Elsa's place. "Okay, sis, I can do this. One goofy, simpering Princess coming up. I'll distract them until you can figure out a way to put 'em on ice!"
She was too worried about Elsa to pat herself on the back for the metaphor.