Chapter 18
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"WE, the Council of Arendelle, must be consulted on matters like that!" Axel Nicolai Herlofson states in a loud voice as he enters the room.
Silence.
"Your Majesty." Anna says into it. Everyone looks at her with surprise. "You're supposed to say that."
Herlofson glares at Anna. She glares back."Princess Anna. Queen Elsa." He bobs his head to two sisters. He taps Gunnerus, "You're sitting in my chair."
"No. Councilor Herlofson," Queen Elsa points to the chair next to her. "You are, after Councilor Lennart, the next most powerful Councilor and as such, you will sit next to me."
'Hmmm... sitting away from her would allow me to pass notes to everyone, basically unnoticed. But, sitting next to her might be better?' He mentally shrugs. 'Either way has benefits and letting her have a small victory will make her the person that is pushing things, not me.'
He bows, sweeping his hat off his head in a very exaggerated gesture of respect. 'I had not expected her to be this aggressive. That's smarter than I thought. If I do not push back, she takes control. So, I will push back. When I push she will collapse, like the young unprepared girl that she is.' He thinks.
Elsa's fist, still behind her back, grows colder.
Everyone watches him as he slowly walks to his new chair. He smiles, enjoying the attention. 'Still, having Princess Anna standing behind me might be awkward. But, probably not. She isn't a threat, except physically, given that she hit Prince Hans. On the other hand, baiting her, so she attacks me has some benefits. It will show just how young and unprepared they are.'
"Queen Elsa," He says, as he stands next to his chair facing her, "If I may give a piece of advice?"
She nods her head, "I will not refuse advice, Councilor. I just may not follow it."
He slowly shakes his head, "We," He waves his hand to the other councilors, "have decades of more experience than Your Majesties. It would greatly simplify matters, especially, in these early days, if you would sit back, listen and learn." His smiles, "You are young and very inexperienced. Allow us to guide you."
"Sit. Councilor." Queen Elsa bites off, glaring at him.
A pause.
"Can't you obey my sister?" Anna states into the silence.
He scans the room, and seeing that Elsa's and Anna's pressure on him isn't winning them much support, smiles. "Of course, Anna daughter of my friend Agdar." He sits, wiggling his fast ass in chair, getting comfortable.
"I am the Queen of Arendelle." Elsa states to the room. "I will lead Arendelle. Your advice is welcome. But, I will choose Arendelle's path, I will not allow myself to be guided around like a blinkered horse."
A whispered stir, sweeps the room.
Jacob All thinks, 'I really, really wish that she'd consulted me.' A flick to Henrik, 'We both do. She, obviously, has a plan, but what is it? If I interrupt... am I helping or hurting her? Since she had time to consult, but did not, I have to assume that if I interrupt I will not be helping her. Hmmm... All her life she's been taught to keep her powers secret. That is making her too secretive... So...maybe... She's so young, inexperienced... She needs help? I do not know?'
"As I was saying, there will be changes, Councilors." Queen Elsa begins. "One of which, I repeat, will be punctuality."
"Emergency Meetings always causes problems." Herlofson drawls.
Queen Elsa nods. "Yes, they do. Which is why, Councilor, I am not going to demand a reason for your lateness." Pause for emphasis. "This time."
Anna frowns, 'Shouldn't he be addressing Elsa as Queen or something like that. Now that I think about it, I would have expected more Your Majesties from all the councilors.' A glance at Kai, who is slowly turning beet red. 'He hates it even more than I do. But, he can't interrupt. I can.'
"Since I, unfortunately, missed the opening of this meeting have you addressed your sorcery?" He smiles, cruelly.
"I have, Councilor. My powers are under my control." Elsa says in a firm voice. Her fist is white from the covering snow.
"And my sisters powers are not Sorcery!" Anna moves to stand be her sister, and so she can look at his face. "The Trolls never said anything about that!"
"Trolls?" "Who said anything about trolls?" "Don't they eat people?" Are just some of the comments that sweep the room.
"Trolls?" Herlofson asks. "Asking trolls for advice? That's not a Christian thing to do." He points to Gunnerus. "I'm sure that the Church will state that we should do something to about that."
Everyone looks at Gunnerus. Who sputters. "Off hand, I don't remember any verse that mentions Trolls. And... ah. I'd have to report this to the Bishop, so he can make a ruling on it. It would be inappropriate for me to do so on the spur of the moment."
Everyone thinks, 'He has no backbone.' or something similar.
Herlofson slowly shakes his head, "No matter. Trolls are monsters. What did you do with them?" His eyes travel up and down Anna's body, undressing her. Anna and Elsa blush as they realize what he is doing.
"Trolls are my friends!" Anna cries as she moves to stand next to him. "They are not monsters!" Her hands curled into fists, at her side. He eyes them with a small smile on his lips.
"Anna." Elsa says quietly, as she places a hand, not fist that is still behind her, on Anna'a shoulder, trying to calm her down.
Anna, after a glance to Elsa, takes a deep breath. "To answer your question, Councilor Herlofson." She says in an icy tone, "The Trolls gave me the knowledge," She places an arm around Elsa's shoulders, "That saved Arendelle."
"So...Trolls taught you both magic?" He replies. "I do believe that laws against witchcraft are still on the law rolls."
"No. My grandfather removed them." Queen Elsa states firmly.
"Maybe he had a reason?" Herlofson says in a semi-whisper. A soft susurrus of noise sweeps the room.
"And Grand Pabbie did NOT teach me magic!" Anna cries into the silence. "He simply gave me some advice."
"You are that much of a friend of a troll, hmmm?" He says in a musing tone, as his eyes glance at the audience around them.
"I'd MUCH rather be his friend than YOURS!" Elsa's hand on her shoulder stops Anna, again.
"Are you making an accusation?" Queen Elsa says in a hard tone.
Herlofson shrugs. "Of course not. It is, as you said, witchcraft is not against the laws of Arendelle. " He gives a hard glare at Gunnerus, "The Bible, of course, differs."
He shrinks into this chair...wishing that he had the power of invisibility.
Queen Elsa and Herlofson glare at each other.
Kai coughs into his hand. "Your Majesty. There was something else, that you wished to speak about?"
Queen Elsa hides a body-shake as she tries to calm down. 'Calm down. Getting into a fight over witchcraft, based on the Bible, is not a fight that I can win. Magic...' She mentally shudders. 'My powers...'
Anna takes a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm down, herself. Her fists are against her sides. 'Give me a reason, idiot and I will hit you.' She thinks.
Herlofson smiles, as he controls his breathing. 'Good. A couple more pushes and I do believe that Anna will hit me. That will convince everyone that these two girls are incompetent.'
The room buzzes in whispers. Jacob All, like many of the men in the room, thinks, 'This is very unexpected. I expected Queen Elsa to be a quiet girl and take time to learn how things work, not this rush to change. We knew nothing about her, that was a mistake, I should have tried harder to extract information from Kai.'
A glance around the room. The councilors and their staff and castle servants are very interested in the building argument. 'It's been years since anyone stood up to Herlofson. I do believe that he might be overestimating his power. These last few months, he has pushed harder and that might be backfiring on him.' He looks at Lennart. 'He was the last person to do it, when he backed the Bishop three years ago. That was when the Bishop began the Crown's partnerships with me and the shipyard. Now he is too old.'
Councilor Lennart is looking closely at Queen Elsa... What he is feeling and thinking is hidden under decades of experience.
Queen Elsa looks at the room. As she draws a deep breath.
Herlofson remarks, "We must discuss your hasty decision to allow the Foreign Envoys to leave before we could consult with them. And, of course, your wording on the ultimatum you sent the Southern Isles and the Declaration of War against Weselton."
Elsa looks at Herlofson. She replies in a calm sounding voice, "I have been looking forward to hearing about how you believe last week should have been handled, Councilor Herlofson. There are questions that must be answered." She sits downs. The room is silent enough that you can hear the soft leather of the throne crackle as it freezes as she does so.
'What is she doing?' is the thought across the room. 'Giving Herlofson the floor like that, why?'
Anna looks at Elsa, 'What do you want me to do, sister? How I wish that you'd shared your plan with me. You want me to do something, but what?'
Queen Elsa thinks, 'Now, we will see.' She looks around the room.
Captain Marcus watches Queen Elsa, a small smile on his lips.
'I have her now!' Councilor Herlofson thinks as he smiles and stands up.
"Queen Elsa." He begins.
Sigh...Real-life is causing problems...arggh.
Thank you for reading
jeff