Hans' sideburns were no more, even though he still had stubble on his face. His hair was very short to avoid attracting lice. He still had that scar running through his right eyebrow, and he was now older than he looked just like everyone else on the ship. He heard the sound of footsteps excitedly moving, and suddenly the door of his cabin burst open. "Good morning, uncle," a cheerful voice rang out. "The sun is shining and there are hardly any clouds in the sky." Hans glared at him as if to say, "Does it look like I'm having a good morning?" The voice came from Kai. A young man who appeared to be 18 years old, but of course he was older than he looked. He looked younger than Hans, but not by much. He had brown skin and short dark hair. Kai held in his hands a simple breakfast of boiled eggs and warm water. He placed it on a table. "Or maybe not-so-good morning," chuckled Kai. "I heard you screaming and crying. For a moment I thought you were being attacked." Kai looked down and saw that the pants Hans had taken off were wet.
"Uncle, what happened to your pants? Why are they lying on the ground? Why are they wet? And your underwear doesn't smell so good. Were you disturbed overnight by the swaying of the ship? Is that what caused you to wet your pants?" "Mind your own business, nephew," Hans grumbled through gritted teeth. "I've got to get some new clothes." But Hans first hugged Kai tightly like someone who'd hug a pillow. Kai smiled and stroked Hans' short hair, while saying, "It's alright, uncle, I'm here." Hans stood up and opened the closet where he found a new pair of pants and underwear.
After Hans ate the eggs and drank the water, he left his cabin, walked across the deck of the ship he was on, over to the side of the ship. Kai was indeed right when he said that it was a beautiful day. Hans saw beautiful mountains in the distance. Something about them seemed familiar to him. After thinking for a few moments, he realized that his ship, which was called THE THROWAWAY, had sailed into a fjord. Turning around, he noticed that his ship had docked at the port of a very familiar kingdom. "Not Arendelle!" Hans yelled. In fact, he yelled so loudly one could be forgiven for thinking that everyone in the kingdom could hear him.
Having heard him screech out, Kai dashed over to his uncle's side. "It looks like today just isn't your day," said Kai. "Is something the matter?" At first Hans struggled to speak as he remembered how horrifying the nightmare he had just had was. The thought of Queen Elsa finally getting her revenge on him after 23 years shook him to the bone. "What… are… we… doing… here?" Hans asked. "Well, you gave me permission to sail this ship," answered Kai. "So I sailed it to Arendelle while you were asleep." "But… but why did you think coming to Arendelle was a good idea?" said Hans, crossing his arms. "I'm a wanted man!"
"Come on, uncle! Do you think anyone will remember what you did 23 years ago?"
"But I'm a pirate. I've been a pirate for decades. Of course people are going to recognize me!"
"Technically you've only been a pirate for 2 years. After stealing this ship, you soon got stuck on that island where time seems to stand still. How long did we spend there? Was it around 20 years?"
"Nephew, don't remind me of that cursed land."
"I wonder if you're technically even a pirate, Hans," someone on the ship said. That person was Nathanael Gibbons, a low ranking sailor from the Southern Isles, until he took part in a mutiny. He had somewhat of a beer belly, looked to be in his 40's, and had yellow blonde hair. "What do you mean by that?" Hans asked him. "How many ships have you plundered?" questioned Gibbons. "Did I not take over this ship?" reminded Hans. "Did the mutineers I led not name me their captain?" "I guess that counts for something," admitted Gibbons. "But what other ships have you plundered?" "Be patient, Nathanael," Hans uttered.
"Hey, you promised us we'd be pirates, Hans!" someone else said. That person was Aaron Crowley, another member of Hans' crew. The ship had 4 crewmembers. Hans, Kai, Gibbons, and Crowley. "We're pirates!" Hans argued. "Didn't we plunder and take over this ship?" Both Gibbons and Crowley scoffed at him. Hans was about to argue with them when Kai ran over to him and said, "Uncle, there's the Arendelle Autumn Harvest Festival thing going on right now, and I don't want to miss it. We don't have all day." A bead of sweat trickled down Hans face. His lips began to quiver. Finally, Hans said, "Fine, just for today. But we'll leave this place as soon as the day is over. By the way, you haven't answered this question yet. Why did you think coming to Arendelle was a good idea?"
"You'd talk about Arendelle all the time. You seem to know a lot about Arendelle. About its history, about its people, and about its customs. You made Arendelle sound so exciting."
"Me and my big mouth."
"But I'm curious, uncle. How did you know so much about Arendelle? I know you've been here before, but you didn't stay for long."
"Once I thought Arendelle would be a good place to settle down in, especially in the royal palace, so I read many books about Arendelle," Hans said, leading Kai down the ramp of the ship. The moment Hans and Kai walked off the ramp onto the jetty, they were greeted by a guard. "Welcome to Arendelle," greeted the guard. That guard looked to be in his 50's and Hans had this strange feeling that he'd seen him before. "I feel very welcome, thank you," Hans replied before saluting him. "Wait!" the guard suddenly said. Hans froze in fear. "What is it, sir?" Hans asked. The guard looked at him with suspicion. "Haven't I seen you before?" the guard asked. "I don't think so," Hans replied. The guard looked at him suspiciously for a few more seconds, and then said, "Very well, but first…" The guard had a notebook and a pen in his hand. He handed both of them to Hans.
"… write down your names here." Hans became all these at hearing this. The guard once again looked at him with suspicious eyes. "Well?"
Clang! Clang! Clang! They were interrupted by the sounds of a metal bucket hitting the pavement repeatedly. Hans, Kai, and the guard, turned and saw Bae thrashing around because he had a sticky bucket of paint stuck to one of his hooves. Bae accidentally threw Gerda off of him, off the harbor and into the water. Kai ran off the jetty. Hans followed behind him, shouting, "Nephew, don't act too rashly!" The guard also followed them. Kai then dived into the water to rescue Gerda. He tried grabbing hold of Gerda, but Gerda refused this. "I'm ok," she said, with barely a shiver from the cold. "I'm a good swimmer." "Thank goodness," smiled Kai while shivering from the cold. But it seemed to Kai as if Gerda wasn't at all affected by the coldness of the water. "You're cold," said Gerda. "You'd better get out of the water before you get sick."
The two of them were quickly fished out of the water when Hans and the guard pulled them out with ropes. Gerda and the guard then ran over to Bae and helped Bae get his hoof out of the bucket. Now the guard had completely forgotten about his business with Hans. Fortunately, Gerda wasn't carrying her bag on her when she fell into the water, otherwise her sketchbook, which was in the bag, might have gotten wet. Her bag was attached to Bae's saddle. Meanwhile, Hans and Kai walked over to a tourist stand and got a map. "Where do you want to go first?" Hans asked him.
Meanwhile, Gibbons and Crowley grumbled at having been left on the ship. "If Hans thinks he can keep us on this boring ship without expecting mutiny then he's very much mistaken," Gibbons said. "It's no fun staying here, while Hans gets to explore this place with his nephew. Hopefully he gets to plunder a few items." Crowley nodded, and then he looked ahead and saw something very familiar. Crowley pointed at four figures that were running down the jetty. They jumped onto the ramp and ran onto the ship. "It looks like we've got company," he pointed out. "It's been a long time, hasn't it gentlemen?" one of the figures said. "I'd recognize this ship anywhere." It was Liz. The figures turned out to be Liz, Merry, James, and Finn. Gibbons and Crowley were speechless, for they knew them. "It's been a long time, Liz," Crowley finally said, a smile forming on his mouth. "How are you?" "Growing older, Aaron," Liz replied. "Sometimes I try plundering the highways, though most of our attempts at plundering are not successful. But neither you nor Gibbons have appeared to age since the last time I've seen you. What's your secret?"
"It's a long story," began Gibbons. "It's a story that begins with a compass and-" "Hold on there!" interrupted Liz, pointing at Merry. "This is my daughter, Merry." Gibbons and Crowley smiled nervously at Merry.
"First things first," continued Liz. "There's a heist I'm planning, but I'll need a few weapons I hope you can provide." "I hope there's some plunder in it for us," said Gibbons. "Of course," said Liz, barely able to conceal the smirk which was forming on her face. "But the captain isn't here!" warned Crowley. "Don't worry, Aaron," replied Gibbons. "We're doing the captain a favor. Someday, he'll thank us for this." "Good point," Crowley remarked.
Meanwhile, Gerda had just sent Bae back to the stables, and was now meandering around the streets of Arendelle. She carried her bag with her in case she needed to take out her book to take a few notes. Inger went with her. Seeing an old fisherman with a net of fish, she said to him, "Excuse me, sir. My name is Gerda. I have a few questions for you, if you please. I'd like to know how the strange winter that happened 23 years ago affected your business. Did your fishing boat get damaged? Did the winter affect the migration of fish?" "No, my fishing boat didn't get damaged in the winter," the fisherman answered. "I don't know whether the winter affected the migration patterns of fish." Inger scoffed at what Gerda was doing. "We're wasting our time," Inger said. "Who'd want to do research about an event that didn't even happen?" "What are you talking about?" said Gerda, who was a bit angry. "Every rational person knows that the strange winter that befell Arendelle all those years ago couldn't have been caused by Elsa," Inger explained.
"What? You don't think Elsa has ice powers?"
"I think Elsa had certain abilities that science can't yet explain, but there's no way she could be powerful enough to cause a snowstorm that could be powerful enough to kill thousands, or even millions of people."
"Then how did Arendelle freeze?"
"Maybe it had something to do with the effects of pollution. If Elsa really had that much power, people would be right to fear her."
A large frown appeared on Gerda's face. "Go find mum," Gerda said. "She's at the town hall. I'll meet up with you there later." Inger skipped quietly away until she disappeared into a crowd. Around half an hour later, she went to the Arendelle Library to have a look at some books on Scandinavian Myths. There was a boy there who appeared to be around her age, who was reading a book in the children's section.