It was nearly October, and the mornings were getting chilly. Inga grabbed a shawl before she left her room. She was going to be meeting with her mother for festival planning later in the morning, but she wasn't ready for that, and she wasn't hungry. She walked the halls of the castle aimlessly, eventually coming upon the empty ballroom. Frederick sometimes played when he had too much on his mind, perhaps she could do the same. It had been a long time since she had tried playing, but Henry had said she should try again, anyway. She looked through the sheet music, settling on a simple piece she remembered playing as a child, and after a few false starts, the fingerings and the melody came back to her, and she began to play, only pausing occasionally to check the music. Perhaps Frederick had the right idea.

She finished the piece and sat silently. Suddenly, she heard a noise from the doorway.

"I don't think I've heard you play in years." her mother said. "I was expecting to find Frederick here when I heard the piano.

"Oh! You weren't waiting for me, were you?" Inga asked.

"Of course not, but the sound does travel from this room, you know." Her mother was smiling. "You can play a bit more if you like."

"That's the only piece I remember how to play," Inga admitted. "If you're ready, I'm happy to get started."

There was a fire already blazing in the fireplace when they got to the study, and Inga took off her shawl as she sat down across from her mother.

"Have you eaten yet?" her mother asked as she sat down. "I'm having some breakfast sent up here, and I'd be happy to share."

"I'm not hungry, but thank you."

"I suppose you have a lot on your mind right now," her mother said. "I've started to realize Frederick likes to play most when he has something on his mind."

Inga nodded.

"We still haven't really had time to talk… it's still a few weeks until the Harvest Festival, so we don't need to do anything this morning, nothing official, I mean."

"Oh, are you sure?" Inga asked.

"Unless you have some idea to change things up from how we've done them every year, I don't think there's that much to plan, anyway." Her mother laughed a little. "But I've been meaning to find some time to talk with you for a while… I'm sorry we haven't had time."

"What do you want to talk about?" Inga asked, a bit more bluntly than she had intended.

Her mother stopped smiling. "Look, I know that- I know you and I have avoided certain topics for a while now."

Inga swallowed. Ever since she had learned about Lars the year before, they had found ways to pretend that nothing had happened. "Yes, I know."

"I just- I want you to- if you're planning to get married, and especially if you really want to get married sooner rather than waiting, I want you to feel like you can ask me anything. It's important. We're alone here."

Inga looked back down at the desk, intently studying the lines of the wood, avoiding her mother's eye. "Look," Inga began, swallowing again before looking up directly at her mother, "are you going to give me one of those speeches about what happens in a marriage?"

"That's not exactly what I meant… Though I suppose if you want?"

"I mean…" Inga hemmed, "there are a lot of books in the library, you know."

"Well, I have to admit, the librarian keeps track of which books you've been reading, you know. I know you've read all of those."

"Oh," Inga said, flushing a little. The books hadn't really explained that much, but at least it would save having to discuss it with her mother. "That… wait, the librarian tells you what I've been reading?"

"Don't worry about it, she felt the need to tell me, and I told her to go ahead and let you."

"Um, fine. Then what did you want to talk to me about?"

Her mother sighed. "I don't know. You could ask me questions, I suppose?"

Inga thought about it a bit. "In that case, I- I've been thinking- I've been thinking about when Anton and Peder were born. I've never talked to you about that."

Her mother blinked. "That wasn't what I was expecting you to ask about."

"We don't have to talk about that, though," Inga quickly added.

"No, no, I don't mind, I just… I guess I never realized that it was something we hadn't talked about."

Inga sat silently for a moment. "With Isabel and all, I've just… I've been thinking about that. And then, Edith was telling me… she was actually in the room when her own mother died. I hadn't known that. I guess I knew it, but, you know, it was just kind of… there?"

Her mother nodded, looking pensive. "I have to admit, I didn't know that, either. Halima was a friend of Kate and Edith's mother, you know. I remember when she died, and we were discussing how to help out, but then the twins were born… General Mattias was helping, of course, since he would have been acting as regent if anything had happened, but it was several months later before it even came up that they had taken in the two girls. Mattias was only ever discussing official business with me right then."

"Why was Father never in line to be the regent?" Inga asked without even thinking about it. "I mean, General Mattias knows what he's doing, of course, I just- I know in a lot of other places, it would have been different."

"He was originally going to be, but he turned it down. At this point, I don't think it matters any more. Not really."

"I hope not. Please."

Her mother gave a deep sigh. "No, I don't think it should be an issue. And I suppose the Council will finally come to a decision between you and Frederick now that the marriage is on the table."

"Are they even still discussing that? I haven't heard anything about it in ages."

"It occasionally will come up, and nobody can agree on anything, same as before, but of course, now if I try to withdraw the change in succession motion, they won't agree to that, either."

"Even now with the, what did they call it, the foreign marriage proposal?" Inga asked. "Frederick and I were talking about it a while ago, and we didn't think they would want, well, someone in line for the throne of Corona…"

"You probably don't want to know most of the things the council has said about these things. But, as far as Henry-"

There was a knock at the door, and the breakfast that her mother had asked for was brought in.

Her mother got up to sit at the nearby table where the food was set.

"Let's not talk about succession politics right now?" she said, waving Inga to join her.

"Fine," Inga sighed as she sat down. She had hoped the discussion would continue, since it was a distraction from the food, and she really did want to know what the council had been saying about her.

"Inga, are you sure you're not hungry?" her mother asked after a few moments.

"I suppose some toast would be good," Inga said, taking a piece. "Thank you."

As Inga nibbled at the toast, her mother sat across the desk thoughtfully buttering her own slice, and putting a small amount of raspberry jam on it.

"You look tired, Inga," her mother commented after a few moments. "It's wonderful that you've been helping so much with Isabel, and I do value your help with the harvest festival, but I hope you're taking care of yourself."

"I'm fine," Inga insisted. "Really I am. And you're probably right about waiting until next summer for the wedding. I've been thinking about a lot of things, of course, and... I don't want to disappoint anyone."

"No. That's good…" her mother paused. "You're not going to disappoint anyone."

"I hope I won't."

The young Princess Anna of Arendelle had been in Corona for nearly a month, and Queen Elsa and the Crown Princess Rapunzel of Corona had been quietly discussing how much longer she could continue being around in public without raising suspicion. There had been a ball that evening, and after everyone else had left, Elsa knocked on Rapunzel's door.

"Yes, Elsa?" Rapunzel had gotten to know the young queen well over the last few months.

"Are you alone?" Elsa asked.

"I was going to call for the lady's maid in a minute, but yes, I'm alone. Eugene's still in Arendelle, remember?"

"Yes, of course," Elsa acknowledged as Rapunzel waved her in.

"So, what is it?" Rapunzel asked.

"I'm thinking, maybe, we should go ahead and travel to that cottage you were telling us about, but I'm not sure if Anna feels ready. That said, if you have an excuse to travel for another month or two, perhaps…"

"Should I go back to Arendelle?" Rapunzel suggested.

"We should get him, except… no, someone needs to be here with Anna, and I'd rather I did, but if you go back to Arendelle without me, that would be odd. Plus, I've told you about the woman who will be coming here. I should be the one to bring her. At any rate, it's already questionable that I've been gone for so long. I'll need to stay at least long enough that nobody gets too suspicious. Especially after, you know-"

"Last summer?" Rapunzel replied.

Elsa nodded.

"Of course. So perhaps I should stay with Anna while you go back to Arendelle. I've wanted to get to know her better, anyway."

"I hope you're right," Elsa said. "I wish I could say for sure she's not like herself, but I'm really not quite sure what normal is for her these days."

"That's understandable."

Just then there was another knock on the door.

"I-" Rapunzel hesitated, "I didn't call the maid yet. Hello?"

"Hello?" Anna called back.

Elsa ran to the door and opened it before Rapunzel had a chance to so much as take a step from where she stood.

"Elsa?" Anna said, obviously surprised to see her sister here in Rapunzel's room.

"What's the matter, Anna?" Elsa asked.

"I… I came here to ask Rapunzel something, but I guess I was going to tell you a little later, anyway…"

"What is it, Anna?" Rapunzel prodded.

"I've had enough of pretending. Wherever it is you have in mind for us to go when the time comes, tonight made me realize… I'm ready to go."

"We were just talking about that, actually," Rapunzel began.

"Wait, what?" Anna exclaimed. "I didn't think anyone heard my conversation with the crown prince of Maldonia…"

"Um, what?" Elsa asked. "What did he say? What did you say?"

"I know you danced with a lot of young men tonight, was there something in particular about him?" Rapunzel asked curiously, hoping she didn't sound like she was prying too much.

"Oh, um… nothing really. I mean, it's just- he was very direct. I guess he wants to get married and have an heir as soon as possible, and it was just- a bit much. He was asking me, and I had to excuse myself."

Elsa looked over at Rapunzel, and she knew that they probably should have left the palace and city earlier. Anna had appeared to be enjoying herself despite everything, but perhaps it had been a façade all along.

"Are you feeling… did you-" Elsa seemed to be at a loss for what to say. "Anna… yes, of course we can go."

"Oh, good, yes, thank you," Anna said. "Please believe me, I know I can ramble on sometimes, but I didn't say anything about… this… to him. Or anyone."

"Oh, that's not what I was saying, Anna!" Elsa insisted, looking for a moment like she was going to give Anna a hug, but hesitating and grabbing her hand.

Rapunzel held back for a moment, then decided to speak. "We can leave in the morning, if you think you'll be ready, Anna."

"Yes, yes, I think I will be. I feel like I've been living out of my trunk for the last two months, anyway. Getting everything packed will be quick enough."

"It's settled then," Elsa said with a certain finality.

Rapunzel climbed into bed. They had been up late discussing more details of Henry's marriage proposal. They weren't going to forbid him from getting married, of course. He was eighteen- nineteen now, she had to remind herself. They had met Inga already, and they knew her parents and her aunt. The timing was what they were questioning. He had it in his head that they would be getting married right away.

"So, Henry has permission to get married now…" Eugene said.

"It doesn't seem like there's any good reason to stop him. It would be nice if he could be convinced to wait, of course, but I suppose if she says she's ready, there's nothing to do but wait for everything to be official. It sounds like Arendelle's royal council has their own doubts."

"He said the letter from your father should fix that."

"Oh, well, I don't see why they would insist on more than that."

"Hilde mentioned that Henry told her he's planning to go back in a few weeks. As much as I'm glad those two get along, I wish he'd just tell us directly."

"I don't think it's that he doesn't want to tell us, but that she knows how to get him to talk."

"You make it sound like his sister is torturing him," Eugene laughed.

"You know what I mean, though."

"Right, well, we can just send him back with the formal approval. It'll make it less like an old style royal marriage by proxy."

"I'm pretty sure that neither of them wants to get married by proxy," Rapunzel added.

"Do people still do that?" Eugene asked after a moment.

"I'm not sure," Rapunzel admitted, "but Hilde was saying that the wedding she went to last month was the first one there in a few generations where both the bride and groom showed up. Not that it matters as long as they send a representative."

"That sounds romantic," Eugene snorted. "Now then, did Hilde tell you anything about meeting anyone on her trip?"

"No, she didn't," Rapunzel laughed. "I can't imagine that she would put up with anyone forgetting details like this, though."

"Hilde has probably already thought through every detail, of course."

"She hasn't mentioned anything."

"I didn't say I think she has anyone in mind, I said I think she's thought through all the details already. There's a difference."

Rapunzel thought about it. "Perhaps I should ask her more directly. I don't want to be taken by surprise again."

"I'm pretty sure she wouldn't do that. But, now, we should get to bed."

The autumn sun shone across the palace terrace overlooking the kingdom of Corona. Rapunzel walked out to join Hilde for breakfast.

"Good morning, Hilde. Do you think Henry will be joining us soon?"

"Good morning, Mother," Hilde replied. "Henry already had breakfast and left, if you can believe it."

"Really? Did he say where he was going?" Rapunzel asked, sitting down at the table across from her daughter.

"Maybe he wants to write another letter to her," Hilde mused. "I swear, I'm not sure how he sent all the letters he wrote while we were on our tour, but one of the letters from his trip just seemed to appear on my desk when they weren't bringing around the mail."

Rapunzel looked at her daughter quizzically. "You say that Henry has been sending a lot of letters?"

"He was spending almost every spare minute on the ship."

"And did she write back?"

"I'm pretty sure she did. He wouldn't show me any of her letters, or, really, he tried to hide them. It was pretty obvious she sent a lot, too. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was still getting letters from her while we were at sea."

"I see," Rapunzel mused, realizing that she should probably ask Elsa if other members of the family were in the habit of writing letters the way she wrote to her. She had told her about it the previous fall, promising to start writing again. Rapunzel hadn't been expecting a serious letter quite so soon, but one of the first letters from this wind spirit was Elsa writing to let her know that Anna had become aware of the real identity of Lars Nilsen. She hated that the solution was to send him so far away, but it looked like a prestigious step up for him, at least. Lars and Karl had been such dear boys, and they had treated them almost like family, and Mrs. Nilsen was such a good woman. But what else could be done?

Now, as then, Rapunzel had reluctantly agreed that it would be prudent to keep the truth of this situation quiet.

"Mother?" Hilde asked.

"Yes?" Rapunzel said, startled.

"Would you like some cream?"

"Oh! Yes, thank you."

Hilde passed the cream, and then stared contemplatively over her cup across the terrace.

"So, when do you think they'll actually have the wedding?" she asked.

Rapunzel thought about this. Hilde and Henry had only just turned nineteen, and even this seemed too young now. Inga was barely eighteen. Even though they could get married now, since there were no real legal barriers, surely it made sense for them to wait a little while. True, they didn't need to worry about money or things that some young couples needed to be concerned with, but there were so many things, surely they would want a little time to spend together and not simply through letters.

They could invite Inga to come to Corona, perhaps during the winter. Hadn't Henry mentioned that Inga's favorite brother, the one who had visited with her the year before, would be coming to attend Corona's naval academy? That would be a nice opportunity for her to get to know the kingdom better.

Anna and Rapunzel sat by the fireplace of the cottage where they were staying. It was in an isolated valley near the edge of the Kingdom of Corona, a perfect spot to hide away from prying eyes. A midwife had been stopping by once a week to see how things were going, and she was paid well to make sure that she didn't voice any of her suspicions about her latest clients, and also to make it worth her while not to take on any other clients.

"Do you think Elsa will be back soon?" Anna asked. "We stopped at so many places on our way here, I really don't know how long it takes to sail from Corona to Arendelle. And besides, I was seasick most of the time, so it was hard to know how many days had passed. I do wish I knew how long it's supposed to take, though. Should I worry?"

Rapunzel remembered a few weeks after her wedding, hearing about the King and Queen who had been lost at sea on their way to Corona for the royal wedding. It was a strange business, since nobody could remember any storms on the way, and the ship had never been found, but strange things that couldn't be explained often happened at sea. She and Eugene had decided to attend Queen Elsa's Coronation three years later upon her coming of age partly as a diplomatic gesture, partly as a personal gesture, and entirely without any hint of what was to come.

She had quickly offered her help to the young Queen and her sister once the thaw had happened, which they had gratefully accepted, since they didn't feel they could fully trust many of the other advisors, and they felt a certain affinity because of their respective upbringings, even if the topic wasn't discussed very much.

She had gained their trust, so she was the one they turned to with this secret. It was the sort of secret that could bring down kingdoms. It had been an open secret for several years how close Arendelle had been to having a succession crisis, and then at the Queen's own coronation, for a brief time, it seemed that both the Queen and her sister were dead, and the next in line was some duke, a very distant cousin, who hadn't even bothered to show up to the coronation.

Unless the princess was married.

And after the fact, the evidence that no marriage had happened rested not only on having no witnesses, which was legal, but that they had not consummated the relationship.

As much as Prince Hans was not popular in his own family, that same family would love to have control over Arendelle. They could not learn about this child.

Rapunzel knew this also meant that the child could never be more than a favored family friend. She and Eugene had been married for several years, and they had no children to show for it. The temptation of taking this of Princess Anna's as her own was strong, but people would talk, and people would see.

Anna pulled the shawl a little tighter around her shoulders.

"Are you comfortable, Anna? I don't think there's any need to worry about your sister. We'll hear back soon, I'm sure."

Anna nodded. "Have you heard from your husband?"

"As a matter of fact, a letter arrived just this evening. It takes a little longer, of course, because we can't simply have the post delivered here."

"What did he tell you?" Anna asked.

Rapunzel knew she wanted to hear about the friend they had to leave behind, who couldn't be told any of this.

"He told me about the ice harvest he got to see. He wanted to help, but nobody let him, and he was disappointed about that."

"I've been told it's difficult work," Anna said. "If you write back, you can tell him I'm well, but I miss my friends. Please?"

"Of course," Rapunzel promised.

Inga had begun regularly visiting Isabel at lunchtime. Isabel was doing much better, and even getting up and about and eating proper meals again. Now that Frederick's friends from the Navy were home visiting their own families, he had been coming with her on her visits to Isabel's house. Inga laughed silently to herself thinking about how much more often Meibel seemed to show up at the same time, though Inga tried to encourage her sister Sofia to come along occasionally just in case.

Today Meibel had been playing with Sofia the entire day, and Captain Olsen had the day off, so it was just Isabel and her husband, along with Inga and Frederick at lunch, and it was quite nice and relaxing, though Inga had trouble following everything Frederick said, and simply agreed when he asked her a question. Inga was still feeling too preoccupied with everything going on to eat very much. It had to be nerves, she was quite certain of that. Stress and nerves. Her mother was right; she probably needed to get more sleep. She would do that as soon as the Harvest Festival was over.

Inga sighed as she walked along the market square. She wasn't feeling very well, but she only had a few more shops to visit to make sure that everyone in the area that would be used for the Harvest Festival was aware of which day it would happen and how long the streets would be closed off to regular business. It was mostly a formality, but every year there were a few new people who were happy to learn about things. Inga was surprised at how many had never heard of the Harvest Festival before she spoke with them, but of course, perhaps it wasn't what Arendelle was famous for.

"Your Highness!" one of the shopkeepers called as she stepped out.

"Oh! Mrs. Jensen, I was going to visit you next! Are you busy?"

"No, of course not!" the woman replied. "What is it?"

"Nothing in particular, I've just been going around making sure everyone around the market square knows when the Harvest Festival is happening. You wouldn't believe how many people have never heard of it before."

Mrs. Jensen chuckled. "Oh, I believe it. I see quite a few foreign visitors in this shop, you know."

"Indeed," Inga smiled. "Is there anything in particular you would like to do this year for the Harvest Festival?"

"I think I'll be doing the same as always, but I'll let you know if I think of anything. Now, I need to get going for some errands. Nils is inside minding the shop. Have a nice day, Your Highness."

"You too," Inga said, walking on to the next shop. The shop was dark inside and there was a sign that they would return in two days, so she left one of the cards the castle had made under the door.

The last few shops were more people who were familiar with the festival, and excited, but with no real questions or other concerns, and Inga was able to muddle through, despite feeling increasingly eager to get back to the castle and rest. As she returned to the castle, she made a point of walking around to the side entrance, away from the crowds, hoping that nobody would see her, and it worked. She made it back to her room without even seeing a servant in one of the hallways. Her lunch must have had something she shouldn't have eaten. She hoped that the others weren't feeling bad, but she would need to skip dinner tonight.

Before returning to her room, Inga sat down by a window in the upstairs hallway. She had the list of the shops that she had visited, and looked over it to make sure she had visited them all. Now that it was October, the weather was starting to feel ready for the festival. As she double-checked the list, she felt a little tired and wanted to rest her eyes. She leaned her head in the palm of her hand, and closed her eyes, just for a moment.

"Inga?" Frederick poked her, startling her. She looked around in a daze for a moment, trying to remember how she had fallen asleep.

"What? What time is it?" she asked.

"It's just three, but at lunch you said you'd come riding with me later. What happened?"

"Did I? Sorry, I fell asleep after I got back from visiting the shops. How did you get in here, anyway?"

"We're in the hallway," Frederick pointed out. "And you agreed when I asked you at lunch. There's still a bit of time before dinner, if you'd like a short ride."

"I suppose it's best that I don't go riding with you. Wouldn't want me falling off a horse again, would you?"

Frederick frowned, looking at the papers scattered next to her on the window bench. "I don't think you need to put that much work into the Harvest Festival. Anyhow, if you need sleep, maybe just go back to your room and do it properly."

"Good point," she sighed, getting up from the seat, "and as far as the planning goes, I'm not doing anything more difficult than speaking to the shopkeepers in town."

Inga stacked the papers, slipping them into the folder.

"When is Henry coming?"

"Who told you?"

"It's obvious, I think."

"Well, of course it is, I guess," Inga sighed.

"Besides, I think he said as much in one of the letters."

"You're not reading my letters, are you?" Inga asked.

"Not really," Frederick insisted. "But the ones that come in the official post, you've started leaving those out, you know."

Inga sighed and stood up, feeling a bit lightheaded.

"Wait," Frederick stopped her, "have you had lunch? I'm hungry."

"No thanks, I think I'll go take a proper nap. I'll see you at dinner?"

As she walked back to her room, she wondered if she was fine. She wasn't entirely certain she should be sleeping this much, but if she slept, it was that much less time until she could see Henry again.

She closed the door to her room, and wrote a quick note to Henry before laying down for a nap.

October 2nd, 1865

Dear Henry,

The planning for the Harvest Festival is going well. Let me know when you think you'll arrive. I'm excited to see you again. I know it's only been two months, and perhaps I'm being overly dramatic, I don't know. Frederick knows you're coming, and I suppose everyone else does, too. I've taken to leaving your official letters out where they can be seen.

Now, I'm going to send this to you and dream about you.

Love,

Inga

"Gale?" she whispered out the open window, letting the letter go.