Chapter 13

"Arendelle Meets Atlantica"

So, Elsa had agreed to let her guard down and reclaim her place as Queen of Arendelle alongside me. I will admit that part of her wished she would not have taken up the position of queen again, but our love was strong and the last thing Elsa wanted was for Arendelle to fall into evil hands.

Now we had arrived in Denmark to visit with King Eric and his consort, Queen Ariel. Dressed in our respective coronation gowns, we proceeded into their castle where the sounds of trumpets announced our arrival.

"Their highnesses, Queens Elsa and Anna of Arendelle!" Grimsby, the valet announced as we entered the throne room.

"Wow!" gasped Olaf taking in the sight of the throne room as he and Kristoff walked behind once again dressed in the same outfits from my coronation. "This outfit is tight on me."

"One hour, Olaf. One hour," Kristoff reminded him.

Stepping forward, Eric approached us and kissed my hand in respect.

"My kingdom warmly welcomes you both," he said. "My wife and consort, Queen Ariel and my daughter, Princess Melody."

Both Queen and Princess, dressed in matching periwinkle and pink gowns, curtsied to us and we curtsied back.

"Ariel," Elsa said, smiling as she walked up to her. "So, we meet at last. We have so much in common."

"Indeed we do, Queen Elsa," Ariel said. "You with ice powers and me once a mermaid. I think we're going to get along very nicely."

"Is it true you have ice powers?" Melody asked.

"Yes, but for the sake of my sister, they are being hidden," Elsa chuckled, showing Melody her gloved hands. "I don't want to bring an eternal winter to your kingdom."

Just then Olaf cleared his throat and directed Melody to look at him.

"Enchanted, I'm sure," he said to Melody, much to her amazement. "Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs."

"Well, in that case," Melody said with a smile, bending down to hug Olaf much to the amusement of Elsa and Ariel. "Since I've never met a snowman before…one who can talk."

"Olaf is a childhood friend of Queen Anna and me, Princess."

…

But as much as we wanted them to continue the introductions, there was much to be done and we had very little time. A dual threat against our kingdoms was upon us and time was of the essence. Leaving the throne room, we proceeded to the conference hall to continue the plans for action.

"He's getting stronger by the day, your highnesses," Eric said, looking at a map of Norway and Denmark. "King Frederick is looking to assert his dominance against us and allow Napoleon to form an alliance. More than anything, he will look to conquer our kingdoms and use them as puppet states for Frederick."

"What do you propose we do, Eric?" Ariel asked.

"I propose we join forces with the coalition being formed and try to eliminate Napoleon's forces. If we neutralize him, King Frederick will not have an ally to help him assert dominance over our kingdoms."

"If anything, he will order his top admiral, Villeneuve, to eventually bring a fleet of French ships here to block any possible escape."

"And you know this by intelligence?" I asked.

"Yes, Anna," Eric answered. "That is why we have to take the fight to Villeneuve and any other French ships that support King Frederick. I propose we form a close alliance with their top admiral, Lord Nelson."

The idea of joining forces with Admiral Nelson seemed to me like it was a far, yet desperate cause. Still, King Eric had the naval experience out of all of us in the room.

"What about Atlantica, Eric?" asked Ariel. "I can ask my father to provide underwater support from his forces. Look, if the mersoldiers attack from the bottom…"

"They will need to know who they are attacking, Ariel," Eric warned. "All ships are pretty much the same and the last thing any of us want is for any friendly fire accidents."

"Then my father will need to know," Ariel said, seemingly looking around for someone. "Where's Sebastian?"

"Who's Sebastian?"

Just then we heard a muffling noise and saw that Olaf was hugging a crab tightly.

"Uh, you mean him?" Olaf asked, presenting a frozen blue crab to us. "Sorry if I got carried away."

"This is Sebastian, my father's major domo in Atlantica."

The warmth of Ariel's hands managed to get the crab warm after a few minutes.

"Yes, my child?" he asked in his Jamaican accent.

"Sebastian, we need you to inform my father about our plans to attack the French fleets," said Ariel. "You are to inform him that Atlantica is to provide support against them."

Sebastian looked around in slight confusion, knowing how Ariel's father, the king of Atlantica, seemingly would much rather not be involved.

"If you say so, my child," he answered. "But, his majesty won't commit right away. You know that."

"Sebastian, please try," sighed Ariel, showing Sebastian around to all of us gathered. "We need his support."

Sighing, Sebastian agreed to our request.

"If you say so, Ariel. I'll see what I can do."

Ariel then passed the crab over to her daughter to take down to the beach. Once Princess Melody was gone, there was one more question to be asked.

"Does the British Ambassador to your kingdom know anything about this?" I asked.

"I've been in communication with him for the past month ever since Napoleon began his attacks on Europe," Eric said. "The best option is for one of Nelson's ships to come for us and bring us into Nelson's fleet. If we're lucky, Nelson himself could be the one to come to us. His ship HMS Rose is among the best of the British fleet."

Now it was a matter to see if Nelson and his fleet would come to our aide. If mad King Frederick would have his way, he would have sent his troops to take us prisoner simply for the crime of defying him as our kingdom.

…

But at that moment, the HMS Rose and her fellow ships were already en route to our kingdoms to bring us to safety. Very soon, we would be allied with Britain's best admiral.

…