Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; the elements taken from Frozen are obvious, and while this version of Zorro is taken mainly from Mask and Legend, I've incorporated elements of his history from other adaptations. Even the original idea for this fic was inspired by the artwork of shishyoukai on DeviantArt, although I have created my own narrative for it; the artwork only inspired the idea of a certain sister becoming Zorro.

Feedback: Always appreciated

The Frozen Fox

It might just be her official cover for being in Arendelle, but as she looked around her building, Anna couldn't help but feel proud at what she had accomplished here. The work on the shop might have been the most straightforward part of her current campaign, but actually preparing the clothes that would be sold in it had been at least partially her own work. She had hired various seamstresses to do the fine work on making the clothes, but she still insisted on being present before anything was approved to go on display. With a few other people on hand to manage the shop on a daily basis, Anna could deal with the business matters to ensure that the store remained profitable and still have time to be Zorro.

Once again, she was grateful for Alejandro's lessons. Obviously making sure that she understood how to go out as Zorro had been important, but it was also vital that she was capable of balancing her life as Anna Menzela to avoid attention. She wasn't sure that she could pull off the original Zorro's air of an uninterested fop, but Alejandro had assured her that she wouldn't need to go that far. For Anna, the goal should be to encourage subtle change as Anna and take more assertive action as Zorro where appropriate. Anna had hope that her recruitment policies so far should establish herself as someone willing to help the general population without being 'dangerous' to the king's more authoritarian policies, so at least she would be able to help as herself.

Unfortunately, even with that part of her plans basically resolved, the real challenge lay in the extent of what she had been learning about life in Arendelle beyond the superficial. Studying the newspaper archives had given her some interesting clues, but she obviously wasn't going to learn the king's shadier secrets when he had this kind of control over the general public. Comparatively few people were willing to actively associate with those the king had deemed 'undesirable', or at least they weren't willing to talk openly about that association, which left her with the challenge of finding them on her own.

Anna wondered if it made her a bad boss if she was more excited about engaging in illegal activity than helping her employees, but she shook that thought off. She was happy doing both, but it was hardly anyone's fault that this part of the business was more tedious than getting out and taking more direct action. She had even managed to arrange her schedule so that she could go out riding around the outskirts of the city for at least an hour each day around sunset, allowing her horse to stretch his legs without drawing attention to her activities too early.

And thinking of the city, Anna mused as she looked out of her window at the skyline beyond, it may be time to take another look around this evening…

The following night found Anna making her way along the city's rooftops, dressed in the form-fitting black outfit that she had designed for such an occasion. When going out as Zorro, her clothing would be looser and she would obviously wear the distinctive hat and cape, as well as her weapons, but for now she would be relying on her own skills if anything happened. It wasn't time to go out as Zorro yet, but this outfit was intended to help her identify more specific targets for when she was ready to make her more official debut.

She'd been making these patrols at irregular intervals over the course of the last few nights, but so far she hadn't found anything obviously worth investigating. She had done her best to scope out the guard quarters and the jail cells, but there was nothing there that she wouldn't fundamentally expect to find in such places in a busy city like this. She would attempt to take a closer look at the prison records at some point, but she couldn't organise a jail break when for all she knew she could be releasing genuinely dangerous prisoners. She might not approve of all of Runeard's policies, but there had to be a line between not likely certain actions and assuming that everything he did was evil. Even Don Rafael Montero had been a good father to Elena according to her stories, despite the horrible crimes he'd committed when he fought the original Zorro; whatever King Runeard was doing on a large scale, Anna couldn't just start assuming that everyone he arrested was basically innocent…

Shaking that grim thought off, Anna continued her current 'patrol', estimating the best way to get around the city and noting down some other options. She had practised some of Zorro's usual 'tricks' with Alejandro and Joachim, so she knew how to use the whip and cape to help herself traverse rooftops, but it was always a good idea to know what to do if those weren't available for some reason.

The whole experience was occasionally tiring, but the sheer exhilaration of it all was more than enough to make up for any fatigue. She was fully aware of the responsibilities she had to uphold once she put on the mask, but for the moment there was nothing wrong with enjoying herself as she took an unconventional journey across the city.

Eventually, Anna began to slow down as she found herself approaching one of the buildings that Runeard had officially set up as a place to house the 'enemies of the state'. The only reason he didn't officially categorise this place as a prison was that these buildings were more commonly used to house supernatural creatures rather than people who simply practiced magic or held beliefs that Runeard didn't approve of. Anna wasn't sure if these places were intended as long-term prisons or the king was going to move them somewhere else later on, but that wasn't particularly important to her own plans right now…

Anna's thoughts were drawn to a more immediate matter when she noticed one of the building's upper windows open, followed by a young man making his way carefully out of the gap. He was wearing simple clothes of dark trousers and a dark blue shirt, but he also had some kind of leather sling around his waist, with what seemed to be rocks in it.

It would have been just an odd sight if she had seen this man during the day, possibly him gathering an odd kind of collection for some reason, but watching someone go around with that many stones at night raised some interesting questions even if he wasn't coming out of that particular building. Anna hesitated for a moment, but with no more distinct plan of action in mind right now she turned her attention to chasing after the young man, keeping a reasonable pace along the rooftops. Fortunately Arendelle's buildings were all well-constructed, making it relatively easy for her to jump from one to the other even without her equipment, keeping her eyes on her target until he reached the edge of the city, in a particularly quiet part of town.

As Anna watched, the man gave a low whistle and a large reindeer came out from a nearby collection of trees and walked over to join the man, letting out a low rumbling sound as it nudged the man's face with its nose. Anna was puzzled at the way the man struggled to get onto the reindeer's back while still keeping hold of the collection of rocks, but that question was answered when she saw one of the larger rocks 'uncurl' to reveal that it was some kind of small stone creature with stubby arms and legs. As she watched further, she saw more of the 'rocks' uncurl into similar forms, clutching on to the reindeer and his rider as the horned beast ran into the forest.

It was a small thing to witness, but it gave her the first clear proof she'd had that people in the city were acting against King Runeard already, rather than just complaining about his policies or going along with everything he was doing because they were afraid at best or just didn't think at worst.

She'd been doing her research and exploring the city for long enough; with her business officially opening this week, it was time for the rich and powerful of Arendelle to meet their newest business owner.

AN: I hope these last few chapters haven't been too slow for everyone; coming up, things start to escalate as Anna begins rubbing shoulders with Arendelle's elite to find out more about what she's going to have to overcome to change this country…