Freya was shuffling through the crowd. The city was a bit of a maze now reconstruction was so far underway. The lake melting back to its usual state and the reduction of the city walls added to the cramped feeling, especially now so many had come to Arendelle today. The Sun felt blazing, it was not a particularly hot day but she was still readjusting to having real seasons again. It had been a gradual process though; the resistance had always thought Elsa's death would revert everything back to normal immediately but that was not to be.
A few days after the spires came down the troll creatures Anna had mentioned emerged from the mountain. As they were basically rocks they had been sturdy enough to survive the fall, Freya had had lengthy a debate with Anna whether they technically counted as part of the rubble or not. They failed to reach a conclusion as neither would budge on their stance. Either way, the trolls were dazed and confused when Anna went to meet them. Anna recalled events as best she could for them after they had been frozen and hidden away by Elsa in one of the far towers. The trolls had answers for her too; Anna's recent magical condition was hard for them to miss after all. Freya did not exactly understand the whole magic thing but Anna explained it to her as best she could. The lead troll examined Anna's face first. It had been partially healed in Corona, despite the troll calling it shoddy work it ended up saving her life. When the ice from Elsa's attack joined with the scars, the dormant magic keeping her face together overrode the spread, stopping it completely. The magic had resided in her for long enough for some of Elsa's power to be transferred to her as well. This was how Anna explained it any way, in honesty Freya thought Anna knew just as little as everyone else but just hid it better.
The abilities she gained were explained to her by the trolls. They nowhere near as potent as Elsa's had been but it allowed her to gradually roll back the permanent winter across the Empire. It was a slow process though and there are still a lot of areas still currently stuck in winter. The process for Anna is physically and mentally draining so Freya would do what she could to keep Anna's spirits up. This was helped by the fact to lift the winter away, Anna would have to enter a meditative state and in her words "think loving thoughts." It forced a more positive outlook on life for her, if only for a few hours a day.
The coronation had been a few months ago now, Freya kept making Anna almost laugh at the worst possible moments during the ceremony. Freya did a poor job of behaving as seeing Anna in a fancy dress was funny enough, let alone the fact she had made no effort whatsoever to hide her iced arm, shoulder and face. Some of the onlookers were gawping away, some literally with jaws hanging open.
It was nice to see breaks in Anna's steely attitude as being the Empress was a demanding job. Apart from Freya misbehaving every now and then, Anna's time as Empress was going as smoothly as it could have considering the circumstances around it. Sebastian really was scarily good at dealing with nobility and peasant alike. He was setting up diplomatic meetings, mediating treaty negotiations and generally putting down problems before they even arose. Freya would occasionally sneak a peek into these things, it was mostly boring talk about reparations or transferring back power of a region into Lord whoever's hands. Anna would always be fidgety during these meetings but diplomacy was her job now and Sebastian kept her in check whenever she looked particularly impatient.He would also keep her away from anything violent or to do with the military saying "it would only encourage her." Freya had to smooth that one over by convincing her that keeping away would help her deal with the remaining pockets of Elsa's winter.
The cleaning up was therefore left to Jasper, using the remaining resistance to keep some form of order in the city whilst the imperial guard is recalled and reformed. As for the army of ice warriors, once the news of Elsa's death had reached out across the world, most simply gave up and let the sun melt them away. Contingents of the more independent thinking ones had done what they could to retreat to the mountains, Anna had ordered for them to be left alone as they had only been pawns in the old Empire's actions. Freya had watched crowds of them walk by in the distance, masses of the things doing their best to stick to cold spots so they could make their journey to the mountains where it was cold enough for them to survive. Despite the menacing appearance they were quite docile now, acting similarly to a herd of quiet animals without Elsa's corrupting influence. Jasper arranged a constant watch near their known locations to be sure that they would stay away from any settlement borders. Anna had now ended the winter in most areas surrounding the mountains so most of the year it was too warm for them to try anything anyway.
Jasper had also led a mass search of the tunnels to round up any remaining cultists. He had not said a word to Freya when he came back out of them. Anna later told her what had happened down there from Jasper's report. Besides the chilling atmosphere dissipating a few cave-ins from the towers falling, the remaining cultists destroyed the frozen and then committed a ritualistic mass suicide. They must have been lost without their divine. The bodies of those that fell defending Anna had been collected, but Nat's body was yet to turn up anywhere despite thorough exploration and mapping. Nat had remained an elusive mystery to the very end. Freya wanted to help Jasper through everything, the tunnels took a toll on him and he was a little sterner in general since Hans had died. Anna told her to leave him be, he needed time and was burying himself in work to get away from it all.
Freya had stuck around in the palace and intended to stay, she probably would have done regardless as there was nowhere else for her to go. She liked Anna and Jasper, even Sebastian's dry wit was growing on her. However Hans was the reason she would stay for good. She will never forget his last words, whispered in her ear on the way back from Arendelle.
"You're the best thing in my life, but now I need you to help Anna for me." She had not questioned it at the time, too weary to give it much thought. Anna had vowed always to be honest with Freya so finding out exactly what had happened to Hans was no struggle. Even if he had survived he would not have seen her again, at least not for a long time. She resented it at first, that Hans was the stooge and had no plans of taking her with him or even telling her about it. Over time though she realised it was his way of looking out for her, that he wanted a normal life for her as opposed to being hidden away. He knew if given the option she would have gone with him. Or maybe it was just because in the end he thought Anna needed her more than he did. She never did learn to fully read him, she would never truly know.
If anything she was able to mourn privately with Anna, which until recently was all she could do. Publically Anna could not endorse regicide, she had argued with Sebastian numerous times about honouring Hans properly. He had always refused until unrest amongst the workers and peasantry regarding Hans had reached boiling point. Eventually Sebastian caved when Anna convinced him giving Hans a small memorial would help quell the resentment the Empire had garnered amongst the people.
A monument had been erected today, not far off the palace entrance. Thousands had gathered to pay their respects to "The hero of the Southern Isles." Freya had been out exploring outside the city and lost track of time for when it was unveiled. She still got a kick out of the fact snow was no longer everywhere and underestimated the number of people that would flock to the city. Sometimes she would just lie in grassy fields and enjoy the blue skies. Anna would join her on the rare occasions she could get away from Sebastian and the palace. Lying out there was her favourite pass-time second only to pestering Anna when she was supposed to be working.
Anna was in the palace meditating whilst this was all happening. Even though she instigated the memorialisation, Sebastian's condition for letting the memorial be put up was that she could not be seen mourning the man who killed her sister at the risk of raising red flags amongst the nobility. Staying away worked toward the timid shut-in type Anna was doing a poor job of playing. Everyone still thought she had been hidden in the palace all these years and only emerged because she had no other choice. Due to all this Freya was wandering the city alone, trying to make her way through the crowds to see Hans' memorial.
She overheard various conversations as she slipped through any gaps she saw, hearing how one man stood up to a god in the name of freedom. The others who fell on that fateful day would silently be remembered by the knowing few.
Slowly but surely she worked her way through the city, eager to see what these people had all gathered for. When she got through to the front she saw it. It was a single black column, in the middle Hans' name was etched in gold with the insignia of the Southern Isle's beneath it. The column was surrounded by wreaths, flowers, letters and various trinkets that had been left by all those who owed him so much. However Freya was blinded to everything put down honouring him, as one particular object grabbed her attention. To everyone else it was just another object of respect. It leaned on the base of the column in the centre of all the pieces. It was a battered, but familiar shield.