A/N: Lookit that... a third chapter in as many days! (I must have too much spare time.) Enjoy!

Lelo (Guest): Yeah, Elsa doesn't think much of the council either... that's why she yells at them. ;) For Elsa's Queen-speak I basically just don't use contractions, and tweak it till it sounds right.

Chapter 6

An Unpleasant Visit

After about an hour of indulging in every kind of chocolate the castle kitchens had to offer (which was quite a bit, and there was some the kitchen staff didn't even know about), Elsa kept her promise and took Anna to the ballroom, which was also the castle's throne room, with said throne on a dais at one end of it. They proceeded to build snowman after snowman, just like Anna always wanted.

"Hey, Elsa?" Anna asked her, in the middle of assembling a snowman body. "Did you mean what you said, about wanting to remedy my inexperience?"

"You mean, teaching you about affairs of state, and politics, those sorts of things?" Anna nodded, and Elsa said, "Of course I mean it, Anna. I could teach you myself, I suppose..."

"But, don't you have your own duties to worry about?" Anna inquired.

"Yes... but you can learn quite a bit from observation," the Queen said. "It wouldn't hurt to have you sit in on more Council meetings. I could teach you how to help with the paperwork, too; you can learn a lot from reading trade agreements and such."

"But that sounds really boring," Anna complained. "Even learning how to use a sword sounds more interesting."

Elsa rolled her eyes, amused by her sister's selective tenacity. An idea came to her, and she said, "You know, Anna, if you helped with the paperwork, I would have more time to spend with you."

Anna sighed, defeated. "Fair point," she said, and moved on to the next snowman.

After building a small army of non-magical, non-living snowmen, Elsa tried to teach her sister to skate, but the attempt failed miserably, with Anna falling down fairly often.

"Come on, Anna," Elsa teased, pulling her sister up for the half-dozenth time. "How will this look tomorrow, in front of all those people?"

"I don't have to skate if I don't want to..." the strawberry-blonde said stubbornly, still unsteady on her feet.

"I insist, Anna," Elsa said firmly. "Let's just work on your balance, for starters..."

This went on for another hour, by which time Elsa was convinced that Anna was going to need a lot more practice.

"We'll try again tomorrow, Anna," the blonde sighed, dispelling the ice and snow in the room. "Maybe Olaf can help..." A thought suddenly occurred to her, and she said, "Anna... why don't you go find Olaf, and introduce him to our guests from Corona? I'm sure they'd like to meet him."

"Okay... sure!" Anna said, running off. For some reason, she poked her head back in the door a moment later, before taking off again, but Elsa paid it no mind as she left the room by a different door.

As she wondered absently when she would get around to using the throne room for its intended purpose (holding court), she made her way to the barracks, to the office of the Captain of the Guards. Rolf had come here after the meeting to go over lists of possible recruits.

Knocking before entering, she strode in and said, "Captain, a moment?"

"Certainly, Your Majesty," Captain Rolf said. "What can I do for you?"

"I am going to pay our prisoner a visit," the Queen replied. She felt a little guilty not telling Anna she was doing this; no doubt her sister would have insisted on joining her, so she could put another dent in Prince Hans's face. But at least someone would know where she was going, in case something happened. Not that that's likely, Elsa thought. "Can you spare some men to accompany me?"

"Of course, Your Majesty." The Captain gave a shrill whistle, and several men came marching into the office. "You and you," he said, singling out two of them. "Escort the Queen to the dungeon, please."

"Yes, sir!" the two Guardsmen echoed.

"Thank you, Captain," Elsa said, and left, the two guards flanking her.

"Excuse me," Anna asked a guard out in the courtyard. "Have you seen my sister's snowman, Olaf, today?"

"Yes, Your Highness," the guard replied. "I encountered him on his way to the stables. Said something about looking for your cousin...?"

"That sounds about right," Anna laughed, and added in a more regal voice, "Thank you, Guardsman. Carry on." She dashed off toward the stables.

After searching the castle and not finding Olaf, Anna had figured the next logical place to look would be the stables, since Sven and Olaf seemed to enjoy hanging out together. Now it seemed Olaf was a step ahead of her: she could hear the Prince of Corona's excited voice, evidently telling one of his stories, when she arrived at the stables.

"So I landed right on Max," Eugene was saying, "and he leaped off of the castle wall down to a house in the town below!"

"Whoaaaa..." she heard Olaf say in awe.

"It was scary," Eugene admitted, "but then we landed in the street, and I said to Max, 'Okay Max, let's see how fast you can run!' And he really took off! It couldn't have been more than fifteen or twenty minutes before we were at Rapunzel's tower!"

"Was she all right?" Olaf wondered, as Anna walked into the stables.

"Well... sort of," Eugene said, then spotted Anna. "Hey there, Ginger!"

"Eugene," Rapunzel warned, then said, "Hi, Anna. We were just getting to know your friend Olaf! He's pretty funny!"

"He sure is," Anna said. Looking around, she asked, "Where's Pascal?"

Rapunzel walked over to one of the haystacks, acting nonchalant. "Oh, he's around here... somewhere!" Rapunzel's hand darted out, catching the little chameleon who had attempted to blend in with the hay. "Come on, silly, you know that won't work on me!" she told him, giggling and setting him up on her shoulder.

Anna laughed. "It's funny, 'cause I was looking for Olaf, so I could introduce him to you, but he seems to have gotten a head start..."

"Kristoff told me last night about your dinner, and how I ought to meet them," the snowman said.

"Really? How much did he tell you?" Anna wondered, her eyes narrowing.

"Pretty much everything," Olaf admitted, "but I don't remember all of it. I do remember being sad that you and Elsa were apart for so long. But everything's better now, right?"

"Right!" Anna said happily. Walking over to the Coronans, she said, "You must be Maximus." She held a hand out to the tall, white stallion, and he allowed her to pat him.

"I hear you're good with a sword," she cooed. Maximus grinned (which is quite a sight on a horse), and when she scratched him under the chin, he gave a soft neigh of approval.

"You ladies seem to have that effect on him," Eugene commented. "I couldn't get him to trust me for days!"

"That's because you were a thief," Rapunzel pointed out. "And sometimes, you still act like one."

"Aw, Blondie," Eugene whined. "I only stole your crown a few times..."

"A few dozen, maybe," the brunette shot back, poking him in the chest.

"Hey, listen," Anna said, trying to break up their argument. "Elsa might like to talk to the two of you later. See, she's kinda breaking off trade with Weselton—"

"Really?" Rapunzel said. "That's quite a gamble. But that miserable little duke deserves it."

"Well, she thought she could talk to you about possible trade deals before you leave," Anna finished.

"I suppose we could do that," the Coronan Princess said, thoughtful. "Eugene and I could go see her now, if she's available..."

"I don't know," Anna admitted. "I didn't see her in her study, or in the library, or in the storage closet, or in the throne room, when I was looking for Olaf. I'm not sure where she went."

"Why would Queen Elsa be in a storage closet?" Eugene asked, confused.

"Why would I be in a closet?" Olaf wondered, equally puzzled.

Anna mentally cursed herself; that visit to the upstairs storage closet had to do with her plans for later. "Never mind, I'll explain later," she said.

"That's okay, Anna," Rapunzel said. "We can go look for her later this afternoon."

"Yeah," Eugene put in. "I mean, it's not like she's down in the dungeon, right?" Anna laughed, as if that was the most ridiculous thing in the world.

Thinking about dungeons and swords gave Anna a brilliant idea. "Hey, I've got an idea!" she announced. "I just need to go and get some things. I'll be right back!" she said, as she raced out the stable door.

Of course, despite the absurdity, the dungeon was exactly where Elsa was. Striding to the end of the main dungeon hallway, her two escorts trailing her, she glanced at the gaping hole where her outburst (and a beaten-down door) the previous day had let a draft into the dungeon. With a wave of her hand, a solid wall of ice filled the hole in the broken cell wall, and then another appeared over the empty doorway.

"That should do, until it's repaired," she muttered. Walking back the way she came, Elsa motioned for her escorts to wait at the entrance, and turned down a side hallway, stopping at the cell door where two more guards were standing watch. "I'd like to speak with the prisoner," she said. "Alone."

"As you wish, Your Majesty," one of the guards said, unlocking and opening the door. Elsa stepped inside, letting the guard close the door behind her.

The cell was mostly dark, the midday sun only barely coming through the barred window. The Queen waved her hand, making a ball of glowing ice appear above her palm. She then saw the figure sitting propped against the far wall, eyeing her warily.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty," the man said. "This is an unexpected pleasure."

"I'm afraid it is most unpleasant for me, Master Westerguard," Elsa said, her tone acid. Walking towards him, she stopped a safe distance away, yet close enough that she could see his face.

Hans Westerguard had definitely seen better days. Besides looking generally disheveled (being fished out of the water and thrown into a cell for a day had certainly left its mark), his nose was definitely more crooked than when she had last seen it, and he had several bruises.

"Admiring your sister's handiwork?" the prince said bitterly. "I didn't know she had it in her."

"You got what you deserved, for breaking her heart like that, naïve or not!" the Queen spat. "By now, I have heard about everything that occurred during my absence, and while I was down here. You should be grateful that you will not be spending the rest of your life in this cell, or be tried for treason and executed! And don't think I didn't consider both." Hans flinched at her tirade, and watched as she paced the length of the cell, trying to calm herself.

"What are you going to do?" Hans asked, shivering at the sudden chill in the room brought on by Elsa's mood.

"Tell me, Prince Hans," Elsa said, ignoring his question, "about the shackles. Were they already there, as I suspect?"

"Indeed they were," Hans said. "In fact, I doubt that particular cell had been used since they were made." Studying her expression, he grinned smugly and said, "Aren't you wondering why it is there, and designed the way it is?"

"I already know why!" the Queen snapped. "And I already suspected it had never been used. I can understand why my father rebuilt it." She sighed. "There was always the very real possibility that I would lose all control, and would become a danger to everyone, isolated in my room or not." Idly tossing the glowing ice ball from palm to palm, she added, "It turns out that even that special cell wasn't enough.

"But that doesn't matter now, for I have learned how to control my powers. It's something you probably wouldn't understand, Hans—love. Love will thaw." Elsa saw a flash of anger cross his features at her harsh words, but he remained silent. "Perhaps you will understand it someday, if you live long enough to atone for your selfish actions."

"You're sending me home, aren't you?" the prince asked, a hint of dread in his voice.

"That is correct," the Queen replied. "Tomorrow afternoon, you will be departing with the French ambassador on his ship. He has volunteered to deport you to the Southern Isles, where I will let your father and brothers judge you for your crimes. And despite the severity of your actions, I hope that they show you some mercy."

Halfway to the door, she turned back, and fixed her icy gaze on him. "As of tomorrow, you will be banished from Arendelle, so I sincerely hope that this is the last time we meet, Hans Westerguard," she said, her tone growing colder along with the room, "for if you are ever seen here again, I will not be so merciful." She turned and left without another word, leaving a stunned Prince Hans behind.

She closed the cell door and motioning for the guard to lock it. "The prisoner will remain here until tomorrow at noon," Elsa ordered, "at which time you are to escort him to the French ambassador's ship, and guard him on the journey to the Southern Isles. I will have Captain Rolf arrange for your return passage."

"As you command, Your Majesty," the guards echoed. With that, Elsa left the dungeon, and returned to the captain's office, her guard escorts in tow.

"Captain Rolf," she said upon entering the office, "I have instructed two of your men to accompany Prince Hans and the French ambassador on their journey to the Southern Isles. I trust that you can deal with their passage back?"

"Of course, Your Majesty," the captain replied.

"As for the Duke of Weselton's men, they are to be escorted back home tomorrow afternoon, as well. His two men are to be guarded and handed over to the proper authorities upon arrival in Weselton. Can you arrange this?" the Queen asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Captain Rolf said.

"That will be all, then. Good day, gentlemen," Elsa said. Pausing in the doorway, she smiled and said, "I don't suppose you've seen Anna recently?"

The captain chuckled. "With all of this paperwork, Your Majesty? Besides, it's hard enough to keep track of the princess's whereabouts as it is."

"I believe that," Elsa said wryly. "Thank you, Captain." She turned to leave.

"A moment, Your Majesty," one of the guards in the office spoke up. "If you're looking for your sister, I saw her earlier on her way to the stables, looking for your snowman."

"Thank you, Guardsman," Elsa replied, and left. Oddly enough, she thought, that was the first place I was going to look...

In ten minutes' time, Anna had managed to find Kristoff, retrieve a frying pan from the kitchens, and procure a short sword from the castle (she hadn't wanted to go to the barracks; she might get in trouble with the Guards). Now she watched with amusement as Maximus and Eugene reenacted their impromptu duel.

"You should know," the Prince of Corona said, panting, "that this is still the strangest thing I've ever done!"

With uncanny timing, Maximus stabbed with the sword in his mouth in such a way that it knocked the frying pan out of Eugene's hand, sending it skidding across the floor of the stable.

"That is just freaky," Eugene commented. "Just like last time!" Glancing at the pan on the other side of the room, he looked at the horse sheepishly and said, "How 'bout two out of three?"

Everyone laughed, even Maximus, as well as someone who hadn't been there a minute ago. Anna looked over toward the stable door and saw her sister standing there, her hand doing a poor job of hiding her great mirth.

"I haven't seen you laugh like that in a long time," Anna said.

"Well, I thought he had just made that part of the story up," Elsa replied, grinning. "I can see I was mistaken."

"Yup," Anna said. "How did you know I was here?"

"Call it a hunch," Elsa said, smirking. Anna wasn't quite sure what to make of that remark.

By now, the others had noticed the Queen's presence. "Your Majes—" Kristoff and Eugene both began.

"Stop," the Queen interrupted. Smiling, she said, "Now, what have I told you two? We're all friends and family here, so there's no need for formalities—least of all in the stables, where no one can see us."

"Very well... Elsa," Eugene conceded. Gesturing to the stallion (who had put his sword down by now), he said, "Meet our good friend Maximus. As you just witnessed, he's a force—er, I mean, a horse—to be reckoned with." Everyone chuckled at his little joke, even Elsa, who walked up to the horse, holding her hand out.

"I had heard a rumor that the Coronan Royal Guards adopted frying pans as one of their official weapons," the Queen said, as she patted Maximus. "Was that your idea?"

"Actually, it was Max's," Eugene replied. "He served as Captain of the Guards for a short time." Everyone but Rapunzel, Pascal, and Maximus gaped at him. "It certainly put an dent in Corona's crime rate," Eugene said, "not to mention the apple supply." Pulling an apple out of a bag nearby, he tossed it and Max snapped it whole out of the air.

"That reminds me," Kristoff said, picking up an empty sack that had obviously had carrots in it until now. "If I stay here much longer, you might want to start stockpiling carrots..."

"That might be a good idea," Elsa said, laughing.

"Okay, it's my turn now, right?" Anna asked, retrieving the frying pan from across the room, then picking up the sword. "Ew, horse slobber..."

"Anna, no," Elsa protested. "You could hurt someone, or yourself!"

"You know, feisty pants," Kristoff said, "if you really wanted to learn, you could talk to the Captain of the Guards."

"Maybe I will," Anna said, "but not today. We still haven't given you that tour of the castle."

"Oh, yeah," the mountain man said. "I'd at least like to know one end of it from the other."

"I think that we can manage that," Elsa said. Addressing the Coronans, she asked, "Would the two of you like to join us?"

"We'd be delighted," Rapunzel replied.

"Very well," the Queen said. "Follow me, please..."

As Kristoff had not been in a castle before this week, he had no way of knowing that Arendelle's was actually fairly small as far as castles go. To him, it was the biggest labyrinth of rooms and hallways that he'd ever seen.

The first floor, where the entry halls, throne room and ballroom, some sitting rooms, the kitchens, servants' quarters, and dining rooms were located, went by fairly quickly, as Kristoff and the others had seen most of it already. For some strange reason, Anna was also trying to steer the tour away from the ballroom. She's up to something, the mountain man thought.

The tour proceeded up the entry staircase to the second floor, where, among more sitting rooms, guest rooms, the larger of the two libraries, and Elsa's study, was the Council chamber. "Best not to go in there unless you've been invited," Anna warned him. "Those crusty old men would eat you alive..." Kristoff gulped.

"Stop scaring him, Anna," Elsa chided, when she saw Kristoff's face. "After all, he may have reason to be invited in there, someday." Anna opened her mouth to reply, but Elsa held a hand up to stop her. "I'll tell you later," she said in a low, conspiratorial voice.

Is everyone up to something around here? Kristoff wondered. He followed the others as they ascended the spiral staircase to the third floor. Oddly, there were doors along the staircase as well. "Just closets," Elsa explained, when he asked about them. On the third floor, they stopped briefly outside the smaller private library. "We'll get that fixed, eventually," Anna said, gesturing to the window opposite the library doors, which had been temporarily sealed by a sheet of ice.

"That where you broke out?" Eugene asked.

"Yeah," Anna said, clearly not enjoying the memory. "We didn't have much choice."

"Would you like to see the library?" Elsa said, obviously trying to change the subject.

"Books?" Kristoff said. "I don't know..."

"There's all sorts of books in our libraries," Anna said cheerfully, opening the double doors and leading the others inside, "but in this room mostly histories and politics and such. And Elsa has read them all." Elsa glared at her sister. "Oh, come on, Elsa, you don't expect me to have read all of them, do you? Histories are boring."

"There's more than just books, Kristoff," Elsa said, ignoring her sister's comment. "There's a piano, and also a chess set, if you enjoy that." She gestured to the black-checked wooden board sitting on a table, the pieces set up for a new game.

"I've never played," the mountain man admitted, "but I'd be glad to give it a try sometime."

"Maybe later, then," the Queen said, sounding disappointed. Great, he thought, following her out of the library. Now I'll have to play a game with her just to make her feel better.

Elsa led them along the hall, past a door with a blue-and-violet pattern on it, without stopping. Noting the pattern's resemblance to snowflakes, Kristoff said, "Is that...?"

"Yes, that's my room," Elsa replied coolly, "and it's not part of the tour."

"Of course not," Kristoff said. "I meant no offense, Elsa."

"Well, I wouldn't mind showing off my room..." Anna said, pointing at the door down the hall. "Cousin, you interested?"

"Sure," Rapunzel said, dashing off after Anna to her room before Elsa could protest.

"I think my room is around here somewhere," Kristoff noted aloud, trying to make conversation.

"So is ours," Eugene replied. "This is the family wing, I guess."

"That's right," the Queen said, looking as nervous as Kristoff.

"Where do those doors go?" Kristoff asked into the uncomfortable silence, pointing to the double doors at the end of the hallway.

"Looks like a stateroom," Eugene observed. Elsa said nothing, and Kristoff sensed that something was bothering her.

"Those rooms... they belonged to our parents," Anna said, appearing out of nowhere with Rapunzel. Putting a comforting arm around her sister, she explained, "We... don't go in there much."

"I understand," Kristoff said, abashed that he'd brought it up.

"Come on!" Anna said, racing to the staircase. "There's still the castle grounds, the gardens, the dungeon..."

"Anna, no," Elsa called after her. "We are not visiting the dungeon!"

"Race you down!" was all Anna said, making a practiced leap onto the banister, sliding down as if she did it every day.

"I thought she'd grown out of that..." Kristoff heard Elsa mutter, as he watched Rapunzel take off after Anna.

"Wait for me, cousin!" the brunette called. The others watched as she hopped onto the banister and slid down after Anna.

"Like two peas in a pod," Eugene commented.

"You said it, pal," Kristoff replied.

A/N: You probably thought it was going to be Anna sword fighting, right? ;) I had written this chapter a month or so before I got a chance to see the Frozen story arc on Once Upon a Time, but since then I've dropped in a few hints of Anna's desire to learn. So that may yet happen.

–The conversation where Elsa encourages Anna to learn and help her with state affairs is a little hint of what I hope will be part of future chapters.

–I dropped in a few hints of Anna's sneaky plan for next chapter in the second revisions.

–Writing the scene with Hans was harder than I thought it would be.

–I nearly forgot to have the girls give Kristoff his tour of the castle; it didn't occur to me until the second revisions. The castle layout, of course, I mostly made up. Having Anna slide down the staircase was something I'd been wanting to do for a while.

Next chapter: Dinner, a sneaky surprise, and a letter!