The small crowd in the room had taken a step back to let it all happen. Even Nat had perked up again as she enjoyed the fights in the ring, she possessed the odd combination of loving every minute of combat but breaking down at any slight hint of emotional turmoil. Freya was right about this distracting from the tension as they all looked on. She looked over at Hans; his expression was surprisingly encouraging all things considered. It was unclear whether it was real confidence or if he was doing it for her benefit, even after all this time it was hard to tell the real from the fake. Anna's expression was completely different, it looked like she was analysing every move Freya made. Being the attention of such a gaze was uncomfortable to say the least, she was sure Anna had not blinked the whole time. This was all for her after all, yet she said nothing and merely observed from afar.
Anton went for a standard sword and shield. Freya hated the wooden weapons, their weight always felt wrong and it threw her balance off at times. She picked two long daggers, she held them backhand and made sure to switch up her grip as well as her stance regularly when she fought. Anton would fight to his full ability and snarky comments or trash-talk would have no effect, if anything it would just make her look daft so she refrained. They now stood at opposite sides of the ring. They stared at across in an effort to work each other out. From what she had seen Anton's success came from his consistency, surprises from him were rare and largely unnecessary.
The noise from the audience died down as Jasper stepped forward.
"I don't want either of you hurt, one killing blow and then it's over," he said. "Wait for my signal."
This worked in her favour; she would just need to catch him out once to win this. As they continued to stare each other down this bout became as much about pride to Freya as it was about helping Anna. Jasper hopped out, once he was clear the word "begin" rung in her ears.
She immediately moved to the centre where there was more room to manoeuvre. Her opponent stepped forward slowly but purposefully. Freya's game plan was simple in theory, stay light on her feet. If she kept moving a chance would arise. He threw out a high jab with the blade. Freya side-stepped and gave his shield a hit for good measure. His grip was strong; it would take more than a few light attacks to challenge his defence directly. She ducked under a horizontal slash and pivoted away from a quick follow-up stab. She shifted back to put some space between them, Anton was measuring her as well, seeing exactly what he was dealing with. He lunged forward. She spun avoiding the blade and threw out an attack of her own. The strike she threw out met Anton's shield. He then forced his weight forward and pushed her back with the shield, she back-stepped gracefully as the two paused in their stances. Freya briefly took in her surroundings, the small crowd was captivated. Win or lose, the way she would almost dance around the ring tended to catch the eye of those around her and the fact this fight had a lot riding on it only added to the spectacle. The pressure of it was nagging at her slightly but she put her thoughts aside as Anton stepped forward for another attack.
It was a stalemate of continued attacks that she would artfully dodge and counter into a strong defence. She doubted that more than a minute had even passed but the pace of the fight was constantly quickening. Her opponent was doing what he could to catch her out; Freya had remarkable reactions and the speed to match forcing Anton to be increasingly aggressive. A high thrust of the blade from Anton was where she finally saw an opening. He misjudged the distance of a lunge and over-extended his stance slightly, leaving his back leg further from his body than usual. She moved toward him, in one motion evading the blade and sweeping away his leg from underneath him. He fell back onto his knee. He was off-balance so now was the time to strike, but her manoeuvring had caused her to be facing away from him. She turned at the awkward angle to go for a winning strike. As she dived in, Anton managed to re-adjust himself. She had gone all in on this attack and could only watch as a shield was raised in her path. She crashed into it as Anton used the momentum to throw her over himself. In the blink of an eye she had gone from jumping at him to on the floor with a wooden sword touching her neck. It scratched at her skin as Anton stood over her with a stern expression.
"You'd be wise not to challenge me again whelp," he said as he threw down the wooden weapons. The fight's end caused a commotion as the spectators were drummed up into a hive of excited activity. Freya stayed on the floor, staring up at the ceiling going over how she had gotten so close to winning. Anna popped into her vision, she appeared upside-down and was looking right at her.
"I'm sorry," Freya said, Anna walked around to the right side of her and offered a hand which Freya took. The rest of the room was still a hub of noise and activity around them. As Freya was pulled up, Anna leaned in close and spoke softly,
"That fight was yours you know," Anna said.
"Sure doesn't feel like it," Freya said brushing herself off.
"You were impatient, going for it all on half a chance. If you'd reset your stance before re-engaging he'd have been on the back foot and you could have forced a real chance to strike on the next one or two attacks," she said.
"I guess," Freya said. Battle strategy was the last thing she felt like listening too. Anna sighed.
"It's important to you I'm accepted by these people isn't it?" she said.
"And to Hans," Freya said.
"You really think telling them why I left the empire will help?" she said.
"It can't hurt," Freya said. Of course it depended on the story, resistance types were usually pretty open and accepting but Anna was an entirely different case. If anything it could give her some credibility if respect or acceptance were off the table. Anna stood in the centre of the ring and took a deep breath. She looked slightly nervous, it was not a look that suited her but she soon shook it off and returned to her usual scowl.
"It's my turn to speak," she said, this got the attention of the room cutting off the humdrum of activity so suddenly that even Jasper was surprised. She commanded a level of attention with almost no effort; it was impressive if not worrying.
"Done letting a child fight your battles for you?" Anton remarked. Anna ignored it
"Most of you here have no reason to trust me, but I simply ask that you listen," she said.
"Your empire never gave us a chance," a voice from the crowd called out amongst other jeers, it sounded like Tobi, Freya did not like Tobi very much. Anton raised his hand to silence them.
"I will listen to have you have to say," he said, stubborn honour had its uses. This was enough to get most on board to listen but there was still a comment or two that slipped through. Anna closed her eyes and took a few seconds to gather herself and let the negative comments die down. She opened her eyes and began speaking.
"Despite what you may think I have no loyalty to the empire. I was in the palace for years watching my sister unravel. The lands froze and people died as she showed less compassion for anyone and anything. I was not alone in this, the man I loved not only had to go through a life-long friend dying but also watched me suffer through my sister losing grip on her own sanity. He took matters into his own hands, he knew the trolls from the Valley of the Living Rock well and sought them out to try and heal Elsa. He was convinced her violent and paranoid was the magic influencing her mind," Anna paused; she remained stoic as she recalled these events.
"Elsa had eyes and ears everywhere, she discovered his intentions. She hunted down the trolls and froze every one of them she came across; she keeps them as trophies now. As for Kristoff…" she wavered momentarily but kept her overall composure.
"The man I loved was executed for plotting against the Empress. That is the day I had nothing left. The man I intended to marry was killed and any hope for my sister's redemption was crushed in that brutal moment when the axe fell. I left the empire and never looked back that same day." She then unsheathed her sword and stuck it in the ground in front of her.
"You don't have to like me, you don't even have to respect me but if you imply for one second that I don't deserve to be amongst you then you should try and strike me down right here, right now," she said. Hushed murmurs followed, Freya's heart skipped a beat when Anton stepped forward and took the sword.
"I will not forgive you for your idleness when Arendelle destroyed this world," he said. He held the blade flat in his hands, then offered the hilt back to Anna.
"But I will stand by you in your fight to make it right," he said. Anna took the sword and gave him a slight nod. Freya exhaled loudly in relief. Even after all that seriousness, now all Freya could think about was who would win in a fight between Anton and Anna. Despite not seeing her in action yet she reckoned Anna would win, she could out-stern Anton at the very least. Freya knew she would have to ask Anna about this Kristoff guy later, she doubted it was easy to tell a bunch of hostile strangers that sort of thing and would want to talk about the whole experience now it was out, even if she pretended otherwise. Freya had the advantage of being a child and everyone already knowing her story when she first emerged, she had sympathy and no responsibility by default.
Freya went over to Jasper.
"You think everyone will be okay with Anna now?" she asked.
"They'll be one or two who might kick up a fuss but I'll set them straight," he said. Something occurred to her, Jasper would still have been in the guard when it all went down.
"You must have known all that stuff, why have you never said anything before to smooth things over?" she said.
"Not my story to tell kid, that's the kind of stuff people have a right to keep to themselves," he said.
"I think she did want to keep it to herself to be honest," she said.
"Ha, I think your little stunt played a large part in convincing her to tell everyone. Anyway Hans and I have a plan to sort with everyone so you can get going," he said. This was it, the big plan that she was so excited to hear about. She had helped put it in place as well, she may have lost her fight but she had won Anna over. Freya hopped up onto a box and eagerly anticipated the coming meeting.