Chapter Twenty-One
Braced as she was, the uproar that greeted them still caught Anna by surprise. The crowd gathered in the throne room indicated that while most of the runners had not returned, they had certainly reached their intended recipients. Either that, or word of mouth traveled faster than the runners could. Princess Anna suspected the latter might actually prove the most true.
Taking a deep breath, she strode through the crowd in a clear line to the throne. Court advisers and delegates alike crowded her, but took unconscious steps back when they realized Olaf walked beside her. Anna was so used to the snowman that it puzzled her they should react with such aversion to such a cheerful being. It was only as she was ascending the dais that it occurred to her that they might fear Olaf as a representation of Elsa's powers.
Her realization was confirmed as she turned to face the assembled personages and settled into the throne. The French delegate stepped forward, an accusing finger thrust at Olaf, who had taken a seat at her feet. "Have you inherited the Queen's powers, now that she is dead?" he demanded. "Did you bring that… thing… here to intimidate us?"
Olaf barely had a chance to utter a hurt and confused, "Wait, what…?" before the rest of the crowd burst into similar questions.
Princess Anna fought the urge to stand. Kia had recommended she appear as relaxed as possible, and sitting denoted a calm disregard to defense. At the moment, however, Anna wanted dearly to go on the offensive. She forced her fingers to uncurl from the arm of the throne, instead reaching to touch Olaf's head. The snowman turned to her, the hurt of his confusion turning his powdery complexion icey. She smiled at him, and in his answering smile found a calming warmth.
Looking up, Princess Anna called out, "Gentlemen!" The reasonable tone of her voice startled many of them into silence. Their confusion rippled outward until the room was still but for a few scandalized whispers. She waited a few more moments before continuing, "First, I will say, the Queen is most certainly not dead. I will explain more in a moment." While the whispers turned into excited murmurs, she swiveled her gaze to the French delegate. "As for Olaf, he is here as a friend and part of the Royal family," she stated sternly, then allowed her mouth to relax into a sly grin. "Frankly, I'm surprised you find him intimidating."
Much of the murmurs turned to snickers as those gathered took in Olaf's diminutive size and compared it to the Frenchman's gangling height. The delegate's face flushed red, though he attempted to ignore the sound. To regain his dignity, he cleared his throat and squared his shoulders. "We hear rumors of the Queen's death, and you bring her… her golem… to this meeting. What else are we to assume?"
Princess Anna sat a little straighter herself, clasping her hands together to keep them from forming fists. "I would expect you to assume that perhaps you do not have all the information, and would perhaps like to be a bit better informed before making further assumptions," she said. She waited while another ripple of muttered conversation passed through the crowd before adding, "Now, I know you have questions, but I ask that you hold them until I have finished speaking."
Acceding nods stuttered through the room, some more grudging than others.
"Excellent." Taking a deep breath, Princess Anna began the tale. She shifted it slightly to match the original public story, that the Queen was checking on reports of distressed status among the outlying villages. She omitted any foreknowledge or current knowledge of strange storms and stranger beasts. All that she advised was that the Queen's party was attacked by a great white beast during a snowstorm, resulting in minor injuries to the Queen and a number of missing soldiers. Summing it up, she stated, "It is possible it was one of the great white bears that sometimes wander down from the far North. The Queen's letter was unclear on that, possibly because she was still recovering from her injuries at the time she wrote it. We will know more once she returns."
Olaf raised a snowy eyebrow at Anna's version, but she was too busy mentally patting herself on the back for a confident delivery to heed his concern.
The confidence lasted only as long as it took for the gathered assembly to digest the information and begin launching questions. Most of them amounted to, "How soon will the Queen return?" or "How severely was the Queen injured?" Others seemed to be questioning the details of the story, or demanding to know what would come of various trade and kingdom concerns. Not a one seemed to care how Elsa was as a person, or how her friends and family were taking the news of her injuries.
Their lack of personal concern made Anna's skin itch and burn. Her clasped hands tightened until her knuckles were white and her lips pinched into thin lines. Just before she burst into angry yells, however, her eyes caught one bit of stillness in the emphatic crowd.
Weselton's young delegate was simply watching her with a smug expression. Although he stood like the rest, his posture gave the lazy indication of lounging on a couch. When he caught Anna's gaze, he deliberately looked about the escalating assembly and smirked. One hand waved slowly from left to right, palm up, as if to say, "Well, would you look at this?" He then raised a single eyebrow in challenge.
At the same time, Olaf leaned against her leg. The snowman's cool weight helped ground her even as she bristled over the delegate's audacity. Taking another slow, deep breath, she called out, "Gentlemen!" It took a second call before they began to quiet. Lowering her voice to match, she said, "I am able to only answer a question at a time. Please, let's be adults and handle this in an orderly fashion."
Many sets of shoulders stiffened indignantly, but they did fall into a semblance of silence. Mutters and side glances abounded, however, and there was an odd sense of shuffling amidst them. Finally the Frenchman raised his hand and began speaking even before Princess Anna nodded acknowledgment. "As I heard it, it was a pack of monsters that attacked the Queen's party," he sniffed, "and that the Queen was gravely injured… indeed, killed, although you deny that aspect."
"There's nothing to deny," Princess Anna countered. "You'll see for yourself Queen Elsa's condition. I expect her to be arriving within the next few days." Pushing through the sudden excited murmuring, she added, "As for the variations of the tale… well, I suspect the man I found talking with the messenger in the kitchens may have embellished things a bit. One of your delegation, if I'm not mistaken?"
The Frenchman snapped his shoulders back and glowered at Anna. "There is no one among my party that would stoop to spreading sensational gossip!" His accent grew thicker, slurring his words.
"Odd," the Spanish delegate spoke up, his own lilting accent strong, "I could have sworn it was one of your men that told one of mine about the many monsters that ambushed the Queen's party."
"And one of mine, as well," added the Irish delegate a little hesitantly.
"One would wonder if the embellishments occurred then," the elder delegate from the Southern Isles commented, "as both your countries are known for your… ah, colorful yarns, shall we say."
One of the court advisers suddenly snapped, "Oh, who cares which of you told what tale? What matters here is the Queen's return!"
A sharp rap on the floor brought attention to the German delegate. Folding both hands over his ornate cane, he lifted his bespectacled gaze to Princess Anna. Addressing her as though the rest of the assembly was not present, he asked, "Yes, what does this mean for further trade negotiations, I wonder? Will the Queen be reassuming responsibilities upon her return?"
This was one point Anna was not confident on, despite Kai's coaching. Part of her wanted desperately to hand everything back to Elsa upon her sister's return. Another part wanted to hand everything over to Kai so she could attend to Elsa's health. Yet another part was surprisingly resentful of having to hand anything over, when she had only just begun to find her stride in dealing with royal duties. Hedging a bit, Princess Anna merely said, "That will depend upon the Queen's condition. Most likely she will need some rest, so I will continue in her place."
Without thinking, she reached down to touch Olaf's head. The snowman was being unusually quiet, and he leaned into her touch as much a distressed child or pet would. She dared a reassuring glance to him, and so missed the way many suspicious frowns that were traded among those gathered at her gesture. Several heads leaned together, murmured, then nodded warily.
The German's harsh accent rang loudly into the relative quiet. "You keep saying that the Queen was merely injured, yet you also state she may need rest. I find this uncertainty unsettling."
"As do we," one of the court advisers barked. "This muddling of the royal hierarchy is upsetting the normal course of business. Who are we supposed to report to, Your Highness? You? But what happens when the Queen is able to resume her duties? Many of our affairs require a consistent handling. We could accept a temporary change out of necessity, but this is turning into a ridiculous back-and-forth!"
Shock stunned Princess Anna into silence, which was a grievous error. Without an immediate rebuttal, those gathered began first speaking, then yelling their concerns. Some part of her mind retained enough since to numbly note that there were at least a small handful shouting their support of the Arendelle sisters. The sickly tumble of her stomach, however, focused on the large number that hotly contested the security of the Royal line.
Hadn't Elsa warned her about dissenters among the court advisers?
Something clicked. As she looked over the shouting assembly, she began to realize there was a pattern to those gathered. Those voicing against were all either court advisers or lower ranking members of the delegations, and they were scattered throughout the crowd with an almost mathematical evenness. The head delegates themselves remained silent, with varying degrees of satisfaction or concern touching their faces. Those shouting in support of the sisters seemed clumped in irregular groups.
Anger prickled along her skin again. Suspicion bloomed into a near-certainty. Someone, or several someones, were taking advantage of the situation to deliberately undermine the royal line of Arendelle! Once again she found herself wondering at the strange timing of the trade negotiations, how the delegates were risking being ice-locked in Arendelle for the winter. Was all this a matter of convenience, or had this been planned for some time? Were the storms and monsters part of it?
Was her sister injured because once again, someone wanted Elsa dead?
Anna's mind kicked into a vicious high speed, her anger filling the sails of her thoughts. With an effort she heaved the ship of her mind about. Conjecture could wait. For the moment, she had to regain control of this meeting.
"Gentleman!" she called. Her voice was lost amidst the clamor of dissenting voices. "Gentleman!" she tried again. No change. "GENTLEMEN!" she bellowed, halfway standing from the throne. Not a head turned towards her. She sat back down, banging a clenched fist on the metal and wood of the throne's arm. The flesh of her fist made a meaty thump. An almost idle thought that something harder would have made a louder sound tumbled through the furious chaos that was her mind right now.
Something harder. A louder sound.
Princess Anna blinked, then leaned close to Olaf. "Olaf! Let me borrow your rock!" The worried snowman did little more than blink in surprise before handing her his earlier find. "Thanks!" she said, briefly kissing the top of his head before sitting upright again. Gazing at the writhing crowd of arguing people, she raised the rock above the arm of her throne. Without a word she brought it down.
A ringing reverberation silenced the raised voices, bringing a startled silence to the throne room.
Waiting until the last vibrations faded, Princess Anna said in a tone both calm and cheerful, "Now that I have your attention… gentlemen. I understand this is a concerning time, however I do ask that you have faith in my sister and I. We have both Arendelle's welfare and the welfare of our distinguished guests at heart. I had simply called this meeting to clear up any misunderstandings about what happened to Queen Elsa. Since we are now assured of her return, and all of you seem ready to move on to other matters that will require more… personal… attention, I suggest we adjourn for now. Dinner will be ready in the dining hall shortly, and as always all are welcome to partake. We will resume meeting arrangements tomorrow to further discuss individual issues."
It took all her effort to not cheer as the crowd, confused by her demeanor, immediately began shuffling towards the main doors of the throne room. Some lingered, with various expressions of belligerence and concern, but a smiling nod and a gracious shooing gesture urged them on their way quite before they realized they were leaving.
She maintained her position until Sergeant Jostein closed the heavy doors behind the last of the stragglers. At that moment she exhaled and slumped in the throne, causing her small crown to slide onto her forehead. With a grunt she sat up again and tried to straighten it.
"Wow!" Olaf said into the sudden quiet.
"What the snowman said," the Sergeant grinned. "For a moment, I thought I was going to have to call in my soldiers to quell a riot. Nicely done, Princess! I mean, Your Highness!" He saluted as an apology for the slip in address.
Anna chuckled a little weakly. "Don't worry about it… I'm just glad that worked! Here, Olaf, thank you for the use of your rock!" She handed the stone back to Olaf.
The snowman immediately placed the rock on the arm of the throne. "Oh, I think Sparky should stay here! It seems to like it!"
"Sparky?" echoed Anna, puzzled.
"Yeh, because it sparked when you banged it! Very nice special effects, there!"
"Special… you know what, nevermind. It worked. That's all that mattered." She gave the rock a grave nod. "Thank you, Sparky."
"Sparky says you're welcome!" Olaf said a little primly, then laughed.
"I think we owe more thanks than just to… ah… 'Sparky'," Kai intoned as he emerged from the throne's shadow. Ignoring Anna's startled yelp, he turned a critical gaze to Sergeant Jostein. "Cutting it a bit close, weren't you? I believe Captain Beorne would have had his soldiers at attention well before things had reached that point."
Sergeant Jostein managed to shrug while standing at stiff attention. "The Captain is a bit… well, let's just say he'd agree that I'm a bit more… relaxed than he is. I was betting our Princess could handle it, and she did!" He flashed a proud smile at Princess Anna, then tilted a sly grin at Kai. "Of course, I was standing next to a bell pull that would have alerted some of my soldiers just outside, had trouble really occurred."
Kai frowned, then gave a grudging smile in acknowledgment if not agreement of the Sergeant's tactics. "I suppose their immediate presence could have aggravated the situation, rather than eased it."
"That was my thinking, at least, sir," Sergeant Jostein smiled amiably.
The Royal Steward huffed a little, shook his head, then turned to Anna. "How are you, Your Highness? That… was a bit more excitable than even I had anticipated."
Anna puffed her cheeks as she blew air between her lips. "Whew! I dunno. Relieved? Terrified? Furious? Really, really grateful that I didn't eat much for lunch?" She tried to run a hand over her hair, but ended up wincing as she pricked her fingers on points of the crown. "Ouch! This thing is a pain!" After a pause, she shot a wry smile at Kai. "In more ways than one."
Kai answered her grin with a solemn nod. "There are reasons why a king or queen ages more quickly than the general populace. Ruling demands much, at least from those that care about how they rule."
"It's too bad you can't simply smack'em with rulers," Olaf chirped.
The mental image that came to Anna's mind nearly set her into a fit of giggles. Trying to keep the borderline hysteria at bay, she removed the crown on her head. Turning it in her hands, watching the torchlight glint off the metal and gems, she thought about the entirety of the meeting. Most of the thoughts were heavy enough to outweigh the relieved hilarity. Looking over to Kai, she said, "Things are pretty serious, aren't they?"
"It… is not looking very good," Kai admitted. "I am hoping that Queen Elsa's return, and the proof that she is still whole and healing, will ease much of the tension. However…."
"My soldiers have been… noticing… some things," Sergeant Jostein. "Before today, I honestly didn't think much of it. Odd pairings wandering about early mornings or late nights. People conferring in odd places. I thought perhaps it was imagined coincidences, but after hearing some of the things some of those people were shouting..." His normally jovial manner subsided into seriousness as he looked from Kai to Princess Anna.
"They were shouting very not nice things," Olaf grumbled. "It's like they don't know you and Elsa at all!"
"Or don't care," Anna muttered. A flash of determination sparked her thoughts. Sitting up straight, she tucked her crown atop her head. "Well, we can't wait for Elsa's return to straighten things out. We need to find out how and why things are getting stirred up."
"Gossip is certainly fueling things," Kai said. "That would be at least part of the 'how'."
"And my soldiers and I aren't liking where some of these delegates are turning up," Sergeant Jostein added. "Intrigue may not be one of my sharp points, but when people keep showing up where they're not expected… well, definitely puts me and my men on alert."
Princess Anna tapped her chin. "It's like pieces to a puzzle, but they're scattered all over. We've been so busy looking at individual pieces..." She snapped her gaze to the Royal Steward and Sergeant of the Royal Guard. "Kai, I know we've already passed messages to the castle staff, but do you think you and Gerda can try to set up some kind of regular system? Maybe some kind of reports or a way to quickly pass along an alert?"
A small, sly smile quirked the corner of Kai's mouth. "I do believe that can be arranged, Your Highness."
"And Sergeant Jostein… I know your soldiers report to you regularly. Do you think we could start marking some of those reports for… I dunno… suspicious activity?"
Sergeant Jostein tilted his head with a grin. "We already do, to a degree, but I will make it a point to gather those related to our… guests. And some of our… court. Anything demanding immediate attention, I will send a messenger. Anything suspicious but not immediately alarming, I will send as a bundle at the end of each day. Will that suffice, Your Highness?"
Princess Anna nodded. "For now. I think we're going to just have to see how all this goes." She blinked, then looked to Olaf. "Olaf, in all your wandering about, have you noticed anything particularly odd?"
The snowman lifted his wooden arms in what passed for a shrug. "Define 'odd'? I mean, here's a lot of things you people do that I find odd. The things you do on what you call 'toilets', for one thing..."
"I mean," Anna hastily interrupted, "have you noticed people acting secretive? Like they had something to hide?"
Before Olaf could respond, Kai said in a droll tone, "I'm not sure it… he… understands the concept, Your Highness. How do you explain dark intentions to the perpetually innocent?"
Olaf frowned as sternly as the cheerful snowman was capable. "Oh, I understand dark intentions well enough. I saw Hans try to kill Elsa, remember? I understand fear, and hate, and how it can twist someone inside out. I just choose to live the life Elsa gave me with love." In the stunned silence that followed that proclamation, he turned to Anna. "I really don't know, Anna. I mean, I'm still learning each person. There's so many in this castle! So I'm really not sure what is odd for which person."
Anna blinked several times. "You're learning… each person? Every person?"
"Oh yes!" the snowman exclaimed, his momentary seriousness disappearing in a happy flash. "Each and every person is just so fascinating! Their whole lives, every little moment, making up such a unique individual with such unique perspective! They're like snowflakes, but they're people!"
Sergeant Jostein hooked his thumbs in his swordbelt. "Little golem," he said, "You astound me more every day."
Even Kai appeared a little befuddled as he eyed Olaf.
Anna recovered a little more quickly. "Well," she said, "whenever you're wandering around… if you happen to see anything that seems, well, possibly mean or unkind, could you tell us?"
"You mean like Hans?" Olaf asked, tilting his head.
"Like Hans," Princess Anna agreed, suddenly feeling very tired and heavy. She didn't like involving the snowman in this. It felt too much like she was using a dear friend; yet, on the other hand, wouldn't friends band together? Subtlety really was Elsa's area of expertise. Taking a deep breath, Anna decided to try for her own: blunt honesty. "You heard all the yelling, you know the things they were saying. If people don't believe in Elsa and me… if they're afraid of Elsa… or worse, if they just want Arendelle for themselves… well… it wouldn't be good."
"Worse than not good! It was like they didn't realize at all how much you and Elsa love Arendelle! Elsa especially! She was willing to give up her life to protect it, and you were willing to give up your life to protect her!" He puffed up indignantly, causing his snow flurry to flail itself into a small blizzard. "I was halfway tempted to go fetch Marshmallow to knock some sense into them!" Abruptly he wilted, the blizzard fading into just a few snowy sprinkles. "But that would've made things worse, wouldn't it? It would've made people afraid of Elsa all over again."
Anna nodded, lowering herself to sit beside Olaf and wrap an arm around the snowman. Kai and Sergeant Jostein both moved a little closer, pausing when they were too uncertain how to show their concern. She glanced up at the men, smiled, then turned her attention to Olaf. "You're right, it would have… even though watching Marshmallow take care of them would've been pretty satisfying, I admit."
Olaf chuckled warmly, then looked up at the humans gathered around him. "We've got a good family here. You're asking me to watch for people that want to hurt that, right? That's the 'odd' that you mean?"
Sighing in relief, Anna nodded.
The snowman bounced up with determination. "That I can do! And I can be all sneaky about it! I can be a sneaky, snowy ninja! Except, you know, without the assassinations."
Anna chuckled. "Olaf, I don't even know what a 'neen-jah' is, but… just… thank you." She looked up to Kai and Sergeant Jostein, adding, "Thank all of you."
Kai offered a small, sincere smile. "You are daughter of my once-liege, a surrogate daughter to an entire castle, and my Princess. I could do no less."
Sergeant Jostein gave a small, grinning salute. "Every soldier hopes for a good leader, and dreams of a great leader. The soldiers of Arendelle are lucky to have two great leaders. We follow you and the Queen faithfully, Your Highness."
The Princess of Arendelle, sitting on the floor with a snowman and flanked by her Royal Steward and Sergeant of the Royal Guard, felt both a profound gratitude and a heavy responsibility for their expressions of loyalty. She knew that Elsa would have accepted such professions gravely and in a way that would make each man feel as though he was leading a small army. She was beginning to truly realize that her way of ruling was not Elsa's way. Kai's frequent comparisons, the young soldier-messenger in the kitchen, and Sergeant Jostein's own comments were making her aware of that.
Even the way she was looking to resolve the potentially volatile issue they were facing was different. Elsa would have either singled out the instigators for the public to judge, or she would have brought her powers to bear to quell things even before they started. She would not have thought to rely on those around her to build a network of information and support.
Blinking, Anna felt some of her awe of Elsa ebb and reform itself into respect. Her sister's way of handling things was Elsa's. It was time for Anna to do things her own way.
Bouncing up from the floor and a somewhat startled snowman, she clenched her fists before her chest and grinned. "Alright, let's do this!" she announced.
Then her stomach growled.
"Ah… right after dinner," she coughed, embarrassed.
The throne room rang with laughter, chasing away the last shadows angry shouting had left behind.