We do not own 'Frozen' or any of its characters.

"Frozen Again: 'Love Never Ends"

Act VIII

Chapter 14

"Where I'm Meant to Be"

Once he had changed from his bulky and awkward masquerade garb into a less formal shirt and slacks while they discussed some pertinent matters on the King's mind, Agnarr had dismissed Kristoff for the night, seeing the boy was exhausted after all that dancing and ballroom excitement. Then the once again sighted King made his way under his own steam through the castle alongside faithful Mattias.

The General had informed his ruler of a certain person's presence whom the monarch full of new questions might find some answers from.

"Chief Yelana? May I have a word with you concerning what you referred to earlier at the Ball?" King Agnarr had quietly moved through the Arendelle chapel aisles to approach the woman twenty or so years his elder who was knelt down in a pew, praying.

"I knew you would come." Is all the mysterious Northuldran says at first as closed-eye Yelana continues to move her unspoken lips over the rosary clutched in her tanned, wrinkled hands.

Then the tan-skinned woman's soulful ebony eyes flash up at him abruptly.

"Yes… May I join you?" For some reason unnerved by her dark gaze upon him, courteous King Agnarr humbly asks permission to sit beside this respected Northuldra leader who had deep connections to both the spirits of the Enchanted Forest as well as his own family.

"The time is nearing when that question will be answered, and you will know you are not where you are meant to be, Gonagas (King). Iduna will understand—your destiny and hers are integrally connected still." The enigmatic older female speaks in her scratchy voice one more sentence before returning to her incessantly murmured rosary incantations.

Startled by her baffling forecast, Agnarr looks from enigmatic Yelana's bent over form to Mattias' tall straight one.

Destin Mattias shrugs from where he had been stoically standing in the aisle close to the door as both men await whatever tidbits of presentiment the Saami chief deemed to impart to the Ice King.

"Iduna will…understand…? What do you mean by that? Where am I destined to go?"" Agnarr asks, his heart feeling a dull ache that, though everything was finally right for his family at last and they were together after so many hard years, Yelana spoke truth.

He was home in his Arendelle, but perhaps Arendelle was no longer his home.

When Yelana takes her time in responding, the ginger King bows his head beneath the stained glass representation of Jesus' outstretched arms overhead, and he begins to pray.

Dear Lord, please give me wisdom to accept whatever You have planned for my life, and follow what is best for my children, and my people…

"I have much to explain of your path which I foresee forward, Agnarr. I will speak to you again when Iduna is ready." The Northuldran chief with an intuitive spirit finally speaks to the King of Arendelle who was hanging on every word. "But that will not be tonight, after what you have done. I think her anger at the stupid things you'd set in motion thus far will cloud Iduna from seeing your pure motive this time. I will speak to our songbird before I go to still the torrid waters between you." The older woman tosses over her shoulder, speaking to the powerful King as if he was still the Arendellian boy who lured their special daughter away from her native Enchanted homeland all those years ago.

But coming to grips now, decades later, that Iduna and Agnarr's relationship was both destined and of legend, Yelana's crinkled old eyes nod to Mattias for him to hold open the chapel door which she wordlessly passes through.

"You must've done something right to get her to say that. Whew." Looking to the King, Mattias gives a low whistle he immediately regretted being within the hallowed chapel walls as he gazes upward. "Sorry, Lord. I left my manners in the Forest." The pleasant older gentleman apologizes with that charming toothy grin which spread to Agnarr's face previously in consternation as Mattias ushers him out Arendelle Chapel's door.


WHOOO! WHOO!

Across the polar night sky tinkling with the iridescent snowflakes, a small owl cuts across the sky to a pair of handsome young men riding through the dark late night upon a golden dun steed.

They were both wearing officers' military jackets as they made their way on horseback across the kingdom's snowy fields towards where a quaint little cottage had been built in a cozy nook near the North Mountain's breathtaking landscape.

The nocturnal flying Strigiformes simply named 'Owl' hooted in the window he was hovering around to obtain instructions from his partner Cassandra as to where the tan-gray feathered bird was to lodge for the night under the strangely lit sky of this wintry foreign land.

The charcoal black haired female handmaiden had been cozily doted over by hospitable Princess Anna with cocoa, cookies and covers – all hot – inside the fancy paned window box.

While the icy windchimes danced within, gleaning all the attention, Cassandra surreptitiously awarded her feathered friend outside the window with a fingered sign of the letter 'V'.

That, to her intuitive winged sidekick, meant only one name to contact. And so Owl stealthily slips away under the cover of darkness to find him.


"Is the moon unusually cyclical tonight more than usual in this part of the northern hemisphere, or is it just me, Hans?" In the rear of the large saddle, Varian Gutenberg glances over to where his companion had been subtly startled to gaze up to the moon behind them.

Was silent Prince Hans craning his neck to glimpse the moon? Or was it the interesting display of aurora borealis illumination that was strangely emanating from inside the third story bedroom window of Arendelle Castle?

"She's a pretty amazing lady, isn't she?" In that selfsame fascinating moonlight, Varian sees beyond his scientific bent for once in his life. He adds his fixated attention on that same singular, third story window and the silhouetted young woman within he had instinctively recognized, even from the distance of the ground many meters below.

Was I dreaming? Or did Cassie not seem to dislike my fondling – ugh, fondness! – and actually accept my affectionate attentions tonight at last?!

"Indubitably. She is a breathtaking wonder of nature." A starstruck Hans answers from his lead position in Sitron's saddle. He himself was still in awe of Elsa's cryokinetic abilities now enhanced by her elemental magic. And that was all added to her Queen of the North Winter command of the aurora borealis lit sky he knew belonged to his powerful elemental beauty.

"I meant…Cassandra…up there in the window." A deeply blushing Varian's cute dimples show themselves when he realizes the crossed-wire two young men astride the four-beat gait of the fjord horse had two totally disparate females in mind.

Obviously the Danish Prince was daydreaming of another pretty woman.

"Oh, yes. Yes, of course. Miss Schmidt is incredibly formidable." The embarrassed, but slick tongued Dane easily backtracks in his blissful reference to his own fiancée when he realizes his gauche mistake to this young companion and reapplies his complimentary words to the tall dark-haired Prussian guardswoman he himself highly respected.

"Yeah, 'formidable' suits her pretty darn good. I like that." Varian smirks at the memories of Captain Schmidt in guardswoman action. "With all the costume changing and disguising going on at the Ball – by the way, congratulations on your engagement to Queen Elsa – I didn't get the chance to confess anything much to Cass like you recommended. Do you still think I have a chance for wooing her seriously, despite our ages being several years apart?" Moonstruck Varian muses as Sitron briskly trots through the snow towards the designated target of the cottage at the edge of the mountainscape.

"I mean, Princess Rapunzel and Eugene's ages are even more incongruent than mine and Cass'. Is it too much of a gap for her to see me as more than just a friend? I don't know if I'm imagining things, or if it was just the science of the party's animated dynamism, but it seemed that she was treating me in a different way tonight – oh, hi, Owl." Uncomfortable when it came to discussing matters of love, the alchemist raises his gloved arm by rote for the predatory bird Cassandra had trained since it was a wee owlet fledgling to land its sharp talons around her forearm.

Varian did not at all appear as recreant as the brilliant young mechanic sounded on the heady subject of women he was pondering aloud. But romance sensible Prince Hans was obviously too preoccupied with his own thoughts to oblige the inquisitive alchemist tonight.

"So, how did your meeting with the King go?" Varian abruptly inquires of the Danish Prince, having a feeling that weighty encounter was still preying on Hans' mind.

Varian remembered the look on the redhead's face when he emerged from King Agnarr's study, looking like he had just stared death in the face. Prince Hans had stiffly straightened his Prince Phillip's black pleather doublet he had been donning at the Masquerade Ball and strode from the royal library.

"Fine." Hans answers guardedly with closed eyes and a deep breath as he was yet digesting the outcome of what had happened at that significant meeting. He lets out a secret pent-up sigh in prayerful gratitude that he indeed had been able to deftly maneuver the King of Arendelle into allowing his eloquent subordinate to stay for the Christmas holiday here in the kingdom.

Hans was only too glad that levelheaded General Mattias and Kristoff were present at the end to perhaps help codify the King's sense of fair-minded balance and evenhanded rationality to give the Prince of the Southern Isles that triumph, at least.

But the rest of that discussion did not go entirely satisfactory. And for once, articulate Hans had no idea how he was going to break it to his Elsa.

"Though, right after the holy celebration here with the family, I've been deployed to the country's midsection, where the Sjoforsvaret shipbuilding headquarters reside. There, as the King's direct Vise Admiral Representative, I've been instructed to oversee the official sendoff ceremony of the refitted HmNos Gler and remain on board to inspect the craft to its seaworthy restoration. The Admiral commissioned me to captain it during its first month of voyage this coming January." With an exceedingly discouraged countenance, Prince Hans explains how - though he felt he had a win in his charmingly polite, insistent cajoling to remain in Arendelle for Christmas as he promised his Elsa - he also felt that deployment date would postpone any hope of a quick marriage.

"That's… good… Right? At least he didn't send you immediately back to India or Asia or the South Seas or wherever you go seafaring. Sounds to me like you'll be stationed in Norway a while, so you can still be fairly nearby Elsa as she prepares for your wedding here." Logical Varian says, not quite getting the whole Admiral/King versus his Vise Admiral/Danish Prince contentious relationship yet.

"Do you think Mr. Bjorgman won't mind if Owl stays with us in the cottage tonight? He won't be much trouble, I promise. I don't want to let Cass' little friend out of our sight. Gee, I miss Rudiger. I hope he's not too scared." Timid Varian pauses in the unsure musing of his relationship with Cassandra Schmidt to diverge his thoughts to the well-being of the small feathered friend on his arm, as compared to that of his missing raccoon buddy.

"Did you ever have a pet, Hans?" The spiky haired lad asks out of nowhere. "I mean, besides your horse here.' Varian scruffs Sitron's black and white mane in a friendly manner.

"I consider my dear stallion Sitron a friend more than a pet. A horse is a bit more independent than other of the smaller mammals humans grow close to. Hold on tight, I'll show you." With a saucy glint in his eye, Hans admits with a loving pat to proud Sitron's grateful muzzle. Then he urges the eager stallion to let loose to a rollicking canter across the snow coated field.

"Whoa, that's fast!" An exhilarated Varian still was young enough to chuckle with glee at the thrill of speed as he holds on tight to both his ever-present goggles and the horse's saddle straps attached to the rear cantle he was riding upon.

"I've never told anyone this, but…there once was a little kitten when I was very, very young." As Sitron slows while they near the cottage, Hans starts to speak softly and openly. "So soft and pale with tiny furry paws, and the most beautiful blue eyes that looked right through me. The wee kitten found me crying in the barn and was so sad and lonely she seemed to just want to be loved, like me." Fondly he recalls the minuscule motherless kitten he found in the massive equestrian Ladegården barn of his father's one day back in Egeskov when he was a boy of only three years of age.

"And what happened to the kitten?" Smoothing back his mussed hair, Varian asks with curiosity at the open ended feline conversation piece as he settles down from the lively late night sprint.

"My older brothers drowned her in the moat when they found out how much I cared for the tiny creature." Hans states, devoid of emotion, or at least trying to appear so.

"Drowned your kitten?! That's terrible! How could you ever forgive them?!" Varian's anger lashes out at the mere thought of such cruelty inflicted on not only a blameless kitten, but also a young child, especially by family members who were supposed to share a fraternal bond.

"Because that beautiful lady up there showed me how the Lord God created us all to forgive our brethren, no matter how wrong or malicious or spiteful their hearts may have been. We are all aspirants for pardoning on this earth. No one is irredeemable."

"That sounds like a God I should get to know more, considering how many 'brethren's forgiveness' I need after my own vindictive rampage back in Corona eight years ago. There are still some townspeople who steer clear of me. And I don't blame them one bit." Varian still held guilt for his violent, bitter crimes that no amount of human kindness or pity, he felt sometimes, could ever pardon.

No matter how many times Rapunzel assured the young man it was so.

I bet my Cassie must feel the same way for what she almost did, too…I can see it in her eyes sometimes…

Because you and I, we are the same…

"I'll be more than glad to answer any of your questions and share my faith of the forgiving Savior who takes away the sins of the world, and instructs us all to forgive other's trespasses, too. He gave pardon to each one of us — to anyone who asked truly, even a grave sinner such as I." Coming out from his doldrums for the Christian imperative, Hans reaches out to the younger man, remembering his own path to Redemption that needed some encouragement too, once upon a time.

"Thanks, Hans. When my mom died when I was real little, my dad blamed everyone, especially the Church, for not helping her when she was sick. So we never attended, not even at Christmas or Easter. But I've grown curious of the subject lately when I watched everyone else go to worship in Corona, it somehow binding them together. Cass, Princess Rapunzel, the King and Queen, even Eugene. But I was too scared to ask anyone about it, saying I was too busy with some experiment or another. I didn't want them to think I was so ignorant of what to do in a Mass, knowing I'd probably look like a dumb, numbskull kid who was stupid and awful for not belonging to their club." Varian opens up to Hans on this delicate subject of religion that the alchemist loner was never taught about, growing up as an outsider who thought differently than other people.

"The best thing about our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ, Varian, is that He came to this world to bring the outcast children—more than anyone—like lost sheep, into His loving fold. Faith in the Lord is not a club. It's our refuge. Right Sitron?" The redheaded Prince peers around to see the smiling face of his reliable golden dun steed nod in satisfactory agreement.

"You see, we are all God's creatures. I don't view my stallion, Sitron, as a mere pet, per se. So I thoroughly understand your attachment to your absent North American forest friend through my own sentiment for my boyhood companion, when those of the human race were not quite as welcoming." Hans empathized with like reformed loner Varian as he pets his Sitron, glad for this chance to take for a run the steed he had not seen for a long period of. It did both man and beast good to race out for an invigorating midnight ride across the pristine fresh fallen snow of Arendelle hillside in the moonlight, for old times' sake to clear his head.

The Prince of the Southern Isles himself required this unwinding after this glorious night's Masquerade adventure, renewing of betrothal and important commission. Not to mention his fiancée's luscious kisses that yet lingered in his mouth.

So what better way to top it all off than racing the wind with his beloved fjord horse beneath the experienced equestrian?

As he dismounts his steed and approaches the small cozy cottage, Hans now recollects the mysterious irony of life.

Here I am, after thousands of miles, endless oceans of water, and reams of dangerous adventure – back to sneaking into Princess Anna's abode.

Oh, pardon me, madam, Queen Anna's abode.

Smiling to himself at the small ginger girl's reprobation, the redhead leads Sitron and Varian out onto Arendelle's expansive estate property to its snowy white retral west this late at night.

"It is quite uncanny that this would be the only door open to me in this kingdom tonight." Hans snaps back to the chilly present as he strides up to the quaint cottage and gazes at it.

With an incredulous face, Hans simpers to himself now at the irony of it all that he would be staying his first night back in Arendelle under the feisty ginger Princess' personal roof.

"Huh?" Varian cocks his head at the indecipherable remark as he follows Hans' leading Sitron into the barn that Kristoff obviously had erected close by his newlywed home.

"Nuance." Hans responds with a roguish smirk nod to his big brother 'thief.' He seamlessly finishes accommodating Sitron in the cozy warm, small barn stall before he dares to cross the threshold of Princess Anna of Arendelle's new household, as charming as it may be.

"Oh, Anna. It looks like you've found a place of your own—chocolate fondue and all." Hans chuckles as he and Varian enter the cottage through its backdoor kitchen entrance near the barn stall enclosure obviously furnished for Sven.

The pair of visitors find a mess of foodstuffs on the counters—breakfast dishes unwashed in a dry sink, and some cookery still scattered on the table after weeks of absence, with the sticky coating of chocolate chip pancakes and the unmistakable scent of burnt coffee wafting around the homey kitchenette/small dining area.

The visage of varied underclothes strung across the hand crafted cabinets behind the stove, apparently left to dry there after some watery accident, made the newlywed cottage even more quaint upon first viewing.

"Hans? Varian? Sorry I'm late, but I had to go back to pick up Olaf. My father-in-law was not so discreetly giving me endless warnings for keeping tabs on you tonigh–whoops. Heh heh heh. Sorry, Anna - I mean me – I! – must have forgotten to clean up before we left for – umm – the Snow Palace in the North – Umm… I forgot that we just booked it, and left the house in a hurry. I generally do the cleaning up when I get off work at sunset, but it looks like I didn't do very well last time we were here. Wow, it's even messier than my Ice Harvester stall in town."

Hard-working man Kristoff comes bounding in with the admission of being the one to primarily keep house around here with his dizzy bride spending the majority of her time up at the Castle with Elsa and their folks during her sister's melancholic months of loneliness.

Well, looks like that's all about to be changed, thanks to this guy. The King's got a lot to unwrap on his plate in the weeks coming. But for the present… how am I going to explain to Anna her father's order for Hans to stay over here in her house for now? My Feistypants is gonna kill me when she finds out he's staying here! Argh!

Now wearing a tight borrowed jacket from the servant's hall cloakroom after his man to man chat with his unsettled father-in-law, Kristoff Bjorgman comes into his own kitchen with eyes bugging out at the unexpected chaos. In sheer embarrassment on his pink cheeked face, the tall blond mountain man goes around picking up the bits of incriminating clothing and messy plates and dirty placemats and napkins.

"Wow. Your house is a wreck. I didn't know kitchens could get so filthy. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. It's not a good idea to leave food out on the table, you might attract bugs or other invisible bac-te-ri-um. Oh, my. Looks like Anna's not being a 'good housekeeper' in the living room either, like Gerda and Eliana taught her." Obliviously rude Olaf, reciting some of his recent science book learning Varian had lent him along with the instructions for the 'wafflebaker', comments at the disastrous state of affairs the kitchen – not to mention the rest of the cottage - was left in.

He attended many 'good homemaker' classes where Gerda tried to pound into the haphazard Princess' ginger head the week before the wedding back in July.

Kristoff frowns down at the unhelpful snowman at his side for besmirching his sweet little bride, who couldn't help but be a mess, however she tried.

But Anna had an excuse this time. The young lovers had to leave the homey dwelling in much disarray after their secret early morning rendezvous had been quickly abandoned when that urgent message from GranPabbie arrived for Kristoff to leave for the North in crisis.

"No need to apologize. Varian and I are indebted for your hospitality in giving us a room for the night. We would only be too happy to lend our use to whatever task in setting the kitchen in order as small recompense. I am no stranger to this type of toil aboard ship, and I'm sure my young friend will assist in whatever's necessary to make this room shipshape." Hans and Varian exchange a comically weirded out look, as each begin to clean a section of the disaster, table and beneath it as well. Neither exhausted young man was even trying to imagine how the newly built house, where only two adult people resided, had come into such disorder.

That's when Hans, believing he was helpfully pitching in to assist Kristoff in the hasty cleaning job the 'cabin boy' had become quite adept at in his pirate ship galley days, ducks down to retrieve a runaway teacup –

And stands back up, hopelessly hooked inside a pair of Anna's discarded palest green silk stockings and lacy knickers around his bright red ears.

"Ha ha ha! Ho ho ho! Ha ha!" The three young men let out some pent-up laughter to relieve some of the tension each had been feeling after this monumental night attending a Royal Ball for the Queen.

"Hee hee hee? JustHans is tangled up in Anna's dirty old stockings? Heehee. This must be funnier than it seems. Just looks like a mess to me." While the three young men laugh it up, innocent Olaf comments as he heads to the food pantry for moralizing nourishment after being discarded by his girlfriend on this late night.

Owl flies in the window, lending his flying talon assistance to extract poor Hans from being entangled in the ginger princesses' lacy underthings any further.

Just what I always wanted.

"Right." Kristoff quickly grabs Anna's unmentionables off Hans' head and tucks the fabric frillies into his shirt with a shameful chuckle. "Let's start up a fire and get out of these coats before we get back to clearing the kitchen. Then I'll break out some real midnight snacks and Akvavit before we crash asleep for the night." Shedding his self-consciousness at the shared levity, Kristoff smirks. Then he reaches for a bowl full of unknown wet ingredients and oats he generally made for Sven that smelled of some sort of spicy berry laced hops and fermented beans.

"Whoo-whee! Stewed to perfection! The longer the better, that's what we Ice Harvesters always say up in the mountains! It'll put hair on your chests, boys! Maybe even give us the motivation to get this whole house spick and span as an early Christmas surprise for Anna in the morning, right?" Kristoff says encouragingly after a long swig of the freshly brewed liquor.

"Sounds like fun." Varian says toothily as he accepts the dishrag assigned to him by the inspired gift-giving enthused, fund-limited young husband who had been searching for a special, last-minute surprise present for his gal who hated the mundane chore of cleaning.

And it's free.

"Just follow my lead, guys! I'm an expert at cleaning the house!" Olaf's head enthusiastically emerges from being inside the excessively large cookie jar in Anna's kitchen pantry. The eager snowman had accompanied Kristoff earlier to his small abode.

The tall mountainman had dutifully brought home the despondent snowfriend at his little wife's request to have company tonight. Or more likely, get Olaf out of the castle and/or trouble, and leave all the guests scattered around the big house at peace.

"Cleaning is almost as fun as making the mess!" The ever-optimistic snowman starts his end of the 'cleaning' task by shoveling in his hungry mouth the remaining stack of chocolate chip, syrupy pancakes. Though Olaf was unaware he was dripping the sticky maple substance all over the floor as result of stuffing too much in his mouth.

"Gee, can't wait. Just like the old days on Captain Houtebeen's ship." With a grimace at Olaf for adding swabbing the deck now too to the list of after-hours chores, Hans shares a sarcastic grin with his fellow conscripted 'shipmate' Varian.

As for Kristoff, he pleasantly furnishes the pair with a flurry of sweeping brooms and washcloths, sacks of dirty dishes and piles of dry clothes to fold.

But the cleaning tasks reminded Varian of how much the science genius enjoyed doing the wash with the exacting ladies' maid with the bewitching eyes in Corona. So he didn't mind taking on that part, dreaming of pleasing his Cass.

"My head started reeling. It gave me the feeling the room had no ceiling or floor!" Lyrical Hans decides to quicken the tasks with his own waltzing with the broom around the room to the melodic song as Kristoff puts his muscle to the test to scrub the sticky table and stove.

Varian then helps Olaf 'carefully' tackle the mountain of dishes – with swift, dexterous Hans vigilant and ready closeby to prevent Princess Anna's dishware breakage - before the three exhausted men turned in for a well-deserved, long winter's nap.


"So there you are, Iduna. I was wondering where you had got into, my beauty." King Agnarr whispers in the dimmed moonlight as he enters the royal master bedroom wearing the deep burgundy silk robe that Kristoff had furnished and fetched earlier for the costume immobile King to change into in his downstairs study, before speaking to Hans or Yelana.

Agnarr had half expected his wife of twenty-eight years to have accompanied the robe back down to the study. Perhaps she would help him undress and discuss the evening's winding down as the close couple had for countless nights together since their wedding took place on a New Year's Eve over a quarter century ago.

Even with his diminished sight miraculously restored, King Agnarr still had the propensity to reach out for his other half to be there for him to lean on, the shoulder to lighten his load of responsibility and burden and lead his often troubled and uneasy way.

But perhaps his new questions Iduna's fellow Northuldran incurred in his mind would wait. At least for tonight after his bride was so delectable in that unexpected masquerade costume.

"Surely you're not asleep yet? I could have sworn I saw your lovely eyes light upon me when I first entered the room." King Agnarr says enticingly to his often teasing Queen.

Silence.

"I daresay I look much younger now without that damnable costume's beard. A moustache is debonair, but a beard of such a length as that adds years to a man, wouldn't you say?" King Agnarr jovially strokes his once more delightfully bare chin as the smiling King disrobes and climbs into the king-sized bed alongside his wife.

No response.

"My vision's returned, and feel quite young enough to be worthy of sharing a bed with such a delectable creature. You were absolutely stunning tonight in your queenly ensemble, Iduna. And that Valkyrie warrioress…grr…She—you, my love…were breathtaking. I must say – no pun intended, my song – you are a sight for sore eyes in any outfit, min kärlek. And seeing you here waiting for me in our bed, makes you a sight for my sore arms, too..." Using his mate's own affectionate term for him that in Swedish meant 'my love' in moments of passion, Agnarr rather intimately glides his long limbs towards Iduna in a stretch that envelops his thin little woman.

His arms pull Iduna to his cold body that felt whole again for the first time in a long time, and eager for her warmth and comfort on this tough, emotional night.

But Iduna shrinks away, having heard – after much coaxing — the fundamental content of her husband's conversation with Prince Hans from a cornered Kristoff. So the fuming Queen was not at all agreeably responsive to her mate's mutely entreated touch.

The seething woman, after peeking in on her daughters and their slumber party guests to assure they were content, had already changed from her own costume into her nightgown and had gone to bed.

Purposely alone.

"It has been a fairly exhausting evening, my Queen, and I must say I can't blame you for retiring so early. But is tonight's commemoration of the birth of our first beautiful daughter not cause for some small, umm, celebration?" As he shuffles around on the bed in the struck silent room, Agnarr pauses to light the candle in a holder that he sets upon the nightstand to look his oddly silent wife in the eye before he settles back onto the bed with expectant open arms.

"Why are you sending Prince Hans north to captain the Gler?" But totally changing the subject, a stiff Iduna's detached, pointed voice and angry words throw cold water on her nuzzling hubby's ardor, causing Agnarr to immediately desist his petting.

"W-what?" The startled man pulls back from his romantic caresses which his bride of twenty-eight years never before denied, until now.

"Are you retracting from your word of honor, given in front of dozens of our esteemed guests, in allowing our Elsa to choose her own life's marriage partner, Agnarr?" Queen Iduna's indigo eyes open wide and accusingly up at the flabbergasted moustached man hovering near her.

"What?! Why—? No! Iduna, as you well know, my word is my honor. I am aware our Elsa has selected that young Dane despite the prestigious list of suitors assembled. And I have agreed to not second-guess her decision. She is an adult now – and a capable ruler at that – so I, as her proud father, will not stand in the way of her happiness." The temperature in the room drops suddenly when Agnarr attempts to dig himself out of the ditch he dug deeper this night.

"Then why are you sending her intended to sea again before the wedding is to take place?" A peevish Queen Iduna argumentatively props herself up on the pillow out away from her viably whole bodied man. "I was so proud of you when you conceded to wisdom and gave Elsa the freedom to select her own choice of suitor. You gave her the opportunity to acknowledge her true love for the man she was engaged to, despite your attempted interference before." Iduna evocatively clutches at her own ring finger with a plaintive look.

"Iduna. I have expressly given Vise Admiral Westergaard the commandership assignment of the refitted HmNos Gler because—"

"You are beyond the pale, Agnarr of Arendelle! Prince Hans is the one who will make our Elsa happy! Do you still hold such contempt for the 'Danes', as you crudely call them, that you really are blinded by hatred, not considering young love?!" Cutting Agnarr off, Iduna dramatically holds her heart, glaring at her husband more angrily than she ever had before her life.

"Iduna, please! It is for 'young love' as you put it that I have carefully deliberated this most advantageous stratagem. Understandably, you are not well versed in our Sjoforsvaret naval law protocol to know it requires an officer to spend so many hours on duty aboard ship before he can earn his stripes and bars to be more than a mere ceremonial rank officer. That Danish young man has only been inducted into our country and resided on our soil for less than the six-month requirement to officially become a Norwegian citizen. Surely, you recognize Elsa would wish for her fiancé to be a full-fledged member of our kingdom and have served in our Navy as a full, high ranking Sjoforsvaret officer, deserving of all the amenities before achieving the next step as the monarch Queen's consort before their wedding? I am only ensuring proper procedure for that to take place, my love, and what would be more fitting than to launch the very vessel this extraordinary officer is most familiar with?" King Agnarr wisely leaves off the sardonic 'since he's the one who originally crippled it and ordered it to go down in the Moskenstraumen during that sea battle with the pirate sea monster Draugen.' The intellectually proper Royal monarch and lifelong Naval man, who prided himself on knowing the rules and regulations of his beloved country and protocol demands of his Navy Forces backwards and forwards, flaunts his knowledge of naval statute before his incredulous wife.

"Then, seeing as that I, at the tender age of sixteen, had not been informed that I was absolutely required by naval law to serve as full-fledged officer on board ship, I must declare myself an illegal fraud in our marriage. Since it was not procedural when we pledged our wedding vows twenty-seven years, three hundred fifty-four days ago when I was yet a mere underage citizen of Sweden, had not lived a for many years on your glorious Norwegian soil beforehand nor served in your auspicious Navy. Not to mention being wholly unworthy by the standard the Sjoforsvaret rules and regulations to stand at the side of the sanctimonious King of Arendelle! Good night, Your Majesty!" And with that explosive remark that had King Agnarr totally stunned silent, Queen Iduna rises up from the bed. She indignantly crosses the room, throwing her robe over her still seething small frame.

Then Iduna storms out of the royal bedchamber in a huff after pausing with a pursed lip sassy, impudent glare at him in the large, ornate door before she leaves.

"Iduna! Don't be ridiculous! As a female you were never required to serve in – Wait! – the naval service-! "

SLAM!

An agitated King Agnarr scrambles to get his arms in the inverted silk robe to give chase to his irate wife and better explain his clumsy words that set her normally even temper off so ferociously.

"…as Prince Hans does, due to the fact he was in service to his country of Denmark. And our protocol has required for generations all Prince consorts must serve time in our armed forces, because he is a man. A man with a great responsibility to our country in the not so distant future…" He finishes his sentence, deflated, speaking to the bedroom door that had slammed in his kingly face.

But as the King clumsily stumbles out into the exit corridor, Agnarr watches his wife enter Elsa's bedroom just down the hall. She locked the door noisily behind her with one last forbidding look in his direction that obviously said: "Leave me be."

"'Yet man was born to trouble, surely as the sparks fly upward.' Job 5:7 "

A flustered Agnarr feels some momentary solace in under his breath quoting Biblical hero Job, an individual who experienced physical, mental and emotional turmoil and as much agony and pathos as any man who ever walked on this earth.

With a resigned sigh in a cold brown study, Agnarr trudges back, slumped shoulders, disappointed at a promising evening's failure. The King flops upon a spacious empty bed for a now doubly anxious night of little rest, in deep consternation amid many reflective self recriminations.

I didn't get the chance to explain to you about my reason for sending Elsa's young man north to captain the Gler…And on top of that, there is something I must first settle before their wedding, for the future of Arendelle…

According to Yelana, the elementals now believe I am not where I'm meant to be…


Hours later, Christmas Eve Eve morn…

"Happy, merry, holly, jolly holy season's greetings here!

Me and my family've loads to do at that time of year!

Hanging wreaths, knitting mittens, Advent candles to wear!

We've lots of tradition things for that time of year!

Oh, happy, merry peace on Earth, faithful tidings of good cheer!

Ring church bells, light up trees, lingonberries everywhere!

Sugar rush peppermint sticks, cookie shaped reindeer!

I love sharing what fun we do at that time of year!

So-ohh! Happy, merry yuletide carols, sledding friends are dear!

Building cute snowmen is what we do in Arendelle, any volunteers?

Hot cocoa and saffron buns will make shivers disappear!

A skating frolic's our new tradition for that time of year!"

Olaf, the merry snowman certainly enjoyed the Christmas season, and would celebrate it with as much joy as any being ever did.

This new, modified version of his yearly festive song permeates the cold air of the outdoors as he flung open Kristoff and Anna's cottage door.

Olaf had been sure he heard a commotion of jingle bells and a sled approach from where he had been sleeping. Dreams of sugarplum fairies danced in his head in the empty tub that Kristoff pulled up for him last night in the cozy cottage front room.

The singing snowman rushes outside with squinting eyes that catch aglow at the nearby ice pond.

There, in the distance, he could just make out where two young men were in skates, first stepping onto the still water's frozen solid surface. Then his eyes light up like Christmas trees when he recognizes who one of the sleek figures is.

"JustHans! I'm an expert at the glide and pivot! Oof! Wait up!" Mid-sentence, excited Olaf stumbles down the icy patch front step in an unholy pile. His discombobulated body parts just then try to look up to hear the musical notes coming from another viewpoint in his confused snowblindness.

The tinkling bells did not emanate from the site of the young men at the pond in this early morning, dreadfully chilly weather Olaf was heading to. But rather they sounded from the decorated saddle and bridle of Princess Anna's old grey fjord horse named 'Kjekk.'

Princesses Anna and Sofia both had silently awakened in much anticipation of the coming day. Plotting in silly mimes, the like-minded friendly girls had gingerly snuck away from Elsa's soundly sleeping, smiling dream to gigglingly scamper through Arendelle Castle's third-floor secret exit to the stable area.

Kjekk, the aging fjord horse, had then quietly whisked the ginger Princess and her new friend to the cottage where a sleepless Anna wished to surprise her still fairly new husband with a morning kiss.

Sofia had a hankering to join early riser Prince Hugo for a quick, cross-country trek that the caramel-haired princess thought she spotted her athletic Russian Royal Prince outside the window at dawn heading towards.

TIPTOE TIPTOE…

Princess Anna stealthily sneaks into her rear room kitchen through its backdoor. There, her cute little nose scented the tantalizing aroma of hot coffee and frying potatoes of some sort with the silhouette of a tall man in the darkness at her stove.

Kristoff's making me a surprise breakfast?! How romantic! He must have sensed me coming home through our psychic link! Ooh, I love you so much, you gorgeous manly man –

"Guess who! My great big buttery, hunky morning beefsteak! Huh!?" Covering his eyes in the dark kitchen, Anna snakes her hands around the head of the tall man standing at the frying pan, flipping some sort of omelette pancake recipe that Kristoff obviously had no experience in cookery to even attempt.

Wait. Something doesn't feel right here.

In her enthusiasm to be spontaneously clandestine, Anna didn't notice the towel-covered man she snuck up on in the darkened cottage wasn't wearing much more than a robe, nor was he as tall or broad shouldered or wild haired as her mountain man.

Not enough muscles.

In fact, feeling in the dark down around this obviously male torso, back up to his head in the pitch black quarter of the kitchen, Anna was disgusted to find that the man in question also was sporting sideburns.

Hey! Who's been sleeping on my sofa?!

"I am impressed to find you awake at the crack of dawn, Queen Anna. But it pains me to have to inform you that I am not your 'big buttery beefsteak.' But I appreciate the morning hug nonetheless."

Smooth as velvet and smug as a fox…It's his voice!

Anna's sticky glomp stiffly freezes in place when the icksome reality of it all comes crashing around her bright red ears.

"Red?! What are you – ?!" Removing herself bodily from the half-dressed man, Anna only got that much out before the quick Dane stuck a freshly fried potato pancake in her wide-open mouth, which was about to unleash unpleasant noises.

"May I say in advance that I greatly thank your new husband for the hospitality of opening his home to Varian and I last night, when your father, the King made it explicit that there was 'no room at the inn', so to speak. King Agnarr had impressed upon Mr. Bjorgman to take myself and a tired Varian into your charming little cottage for the night." Hans pauses for air, with eyes assessing how to subdue her gingery wrath.

He watches Anna silently chew the rolled up pancake he had stuffed in her mouth, glad her contorted face indicated she was somewhat pleased with its flavor, at least.

"You and I have not always been on the best of terms, dear Princess Anna, and I acknowledge that is my folly entirely. But please hear me out when I say that I sincerely wish to express my eternal gratitude to you for bringing me back here when Elsa needed us most. I love—I adore—your sister and consider myself the most fortunate man on God's earth for her to choose me above all those other princes. Through this deep bond of love I feel for Elsa—and she for me— I hope you and I can build back our trust in one another. You gave me such unmitigated hope through our correspondence to bring me back to her kingdom, and in common safeguard of Elsa's emotional and physical welfare I pray we can expand our future affection as brother and sister, over the years as Elsa and I progress in the wedded bliss of holy matrimony. Thusly, to you, her most stalwart defender, I will forever vow to protect and preserve her happiness with all my heart, body and soul, Anna. As a start, did my special recipe potato lefse warm you up on this bitter cold Scandinavian morning, Princess? Care for another?" This entire rambling spiel was verbally expelled in a few quiet breaths as a tentatively smiling Hans deftly flips another potato lefse pancake with the expert spatula in his other nimble hand.

"Oo-kay." Anna responds with suspicious hesitation, but she accepts another pancake and continues to chew on it, mulling over all the words which verbose Hans just spoke so early in the morning.

"Good." Hans smiles and secretly sighs with pleased relief, thinking that exchange went rather better than expected. Anna, however, seeing his smug face, was about to open her mouth again, but the Danish smoothie sees this and once again cuts her off.

"I was making coffee and these protein-filled warm egg and potato pancakes for Mr. Bjorgman, awaiting his return from taking that Russian Prince Hugo up to the ski slopes. Earlier this morning, while Kristoff was out, a rather disheveled Minister Kai came by with these Arendelle ceremonial uniforms, inquiring about the Christmas Bell-ringing Ceremony for this afternoon which had to be altered due to Sven's absence. So I offered my services in any way I could to spare your poor husband of some of the burdens of this celebration responsibility. Mr. Gutenberg had many ingenious ideas on the use of some unlikely farming machinery for resurfacing and clearing the courtyard's densely snow-covered ice. We have checked the ice edge for thickness to ensure of no bumps or cracks while packing in the excess snow to use as containment for the skating exposition proposed last night. Varian and I have all morning already prepared it in anticipation for the day of festivities. I'm afraid the activity was a soiled one, so we both required bathing after lending our humble assistance at dawn to clearing the aforementioned courtyard ice for the skating frolic. I have since drawn another warm bath and have clothing set out for your husband's imminent return before we depart for the festivities at the castle." Hans' running off mouth and engaging green eyes motion to the couch to the cornflower blue suede winter jacket and navy striped inner shirt awaiting Kristoff where it sat upon the neatly folded sheets and pillows.

Hans had slept on the small couch uncomplainingly for a few hours between cleaning the house and clearing the 'skating rink' alongside Kristoff, Varian and several willing palace workers.

Apparently, all in a day's work here in the magical kingdom of Arendelle.

"Gee, sounds like you guys have had a busy morning already…" Anna couldn't help but snigger at the thought of prim Prince Hans having to do all this heavy labor for free. "Thanks for helping Kristly out, Hans." But the Christmastime goodness ingrained in her that the joyful gal was already starting to feel pricks Anna's conscience to show gratitude.

Though the thought of her hard-working Kristoff taking a bath was invariably tempting, the sun was coming up and Anna knew the she had to get back because Elsa and the other girls would be awakening soon.

"Ummm… I have to be getting back now." Suddenly unnerved by sharing this intimate breakfast alone with the alluring redheaded Prince wearing little more than a bathrobe towel, Anna awkwardly stands from her wooden chair and moves towards the rear kitchen door of her home. "When you see him, tell Kristoff –" She starts to instruct as Hans turns back to flipping more pancakes for the industrious Ice Harvester's plate to add to the stack he was preparing on the breakfast table.

"'Good morning, my great big buttery, hunky beefsteak''?" Cunning Hans could not restrain himself from teasing Elsa's little sister with whom he had so much emotionally confrontational history.

"Ugh! Why did I think I should ever bring you back here, you jerk?!" Like an abrupt thundercloud, Anna angrily grumbles, throwing a towel at Hans and her hands up in the air. Anna bangs the door as she storms out of her own little house, resenting ever having a hand in inviting one Hans Westergaard back into their previously uncomplicated, happy lives.

"We'll see you later at the skating party, Your Majesty." Hans rubs in one last jab to his favorite sparring partner as he puts a final potato lefse atop the stack and takes a long sip of his freshly brewed coffee as he watches a grimacing Anna leave.

"Mmm. Just the way I like it – dark." Hans murmurs into his mug of black coffee, surprising himself at how enjoyable it still was to bait the easily set off young woman.

"Behave yourself this Christmas, Westergaard." He reprimands himself with a stare in the pan's silvery surface which more than a bit of elbow grease gave back its original shine. "Father Christmas doesn't bring gifts to naughty boys, remember?" He chuckles to himself of the 'Julemanden' (Christmas man) who never left him any presents in Egeskov when he was a wee child, for just such a reason.

After all, Hans' father and brothers and teachers alike always deemed him a 'naughty devil boy' who 'didn't deserve Christmas presents' like the other young princes did.

"Maybe this year my shining North Star will make it different…" Hans says to his reflection wistfully, visions of his beautiful Queen Elsa of Arendelle enchanting his reinvigorated psyche.

Just then, a wet rat Varian in similar skimpy towel comes inexplicably shivering into the kitchen to collect with blacksmith tongs the two thin pieces of concave metal he had put into the stove earlier to quick dry his spiky hair.

"There! Dry as an autumn leaf in thirty seconds!" Using his pliable, youthful body as a live test dummy in yet another modern experiment, Varian Gutenberg proudly emerges from beneath the bowl shaped, special metal fabrication he had just invented to look at an intrigued Hans.

"Yes. And no doubt just as crisp." Glad Anna had just recently departed so she wouldn't be there to witness this scandalous scene in her kitchen, Hans reaches over and pinches the ends of Varian's long black hair spikes. They crumble off into his fingertips, thankfully only at the edges which touched the red-hot metal experiment.

"Heh he heh. Guess this one goes back to the experimental stage. Practice makes perfect, right? I'll work it out soon, with a little more observant study. He he heh." Determined Varian chuckles nervously at himself for jumping the inventive gun.

Again.

"Hope I'm not such a failure in the skating rink, too. I don't want to be a major disappointment, for Cass' sake." Varian sighs fretfully at his most recent scientific blunder, combined with the young alchemist hermit's anxiety at never really experiencing a day of skating out on the ice, nor even ever playing out in the snow with other kids his age at wintertime.

"Then, shall we go for a little practice to ensure that's not the case? You said it yourself about practice achieving perfection—if worked at and studied." Hans felt some similar outcast camaraderie with the young genius, and wanted to help advance his new friend's naïve attempts at romance now that his own was that close to being secured.


The morning dawned crisp and clear over the skies of Arendelle. The birthday Queen awakens with a warm kiss of the sunlight refracting light across the window from her cherished diamond snowflake engagement ring and onto her cheek.

Hans…You were utterly magnificent last night.

Elsa yawns and stretches her long elegant arm upwards towards the display of chimeric windchimes still hanging overhead of her nearby canopy.

There, her Black Knight Prince and she in fairytale Sleeping Beauty garb were yet timelessly dancing above.

"So beautiful." The platinum blonde whispers almost incoherently against one of Anna's pillows upon the mattress that she and Anna and their slumber party guest Princess Sofia had been sharing.

Lady Cassandra had already stealthily left Anna's bedroom for her early morning constitutional – rain or cold or shine – that kept the strict woman fit and strong and in tip-top shape, as per the tough woman's usual healthy regimen.

"Yeah, yeah. You've been drooling on that Red all night, sleepyhead."

Sitting straight up immediately, Elsa was startled to find herself the only slumberer yet reclined on the created ice canopy mattress.

"Oh, no! Did I oversleep?! How could I have done such a thing as hostess! Where are all the other girls?" The Ice Queen blushes a fetching shade of deep pink that gives the young monarch a lovely glow against the backdrop of the blue sky morning in the pristine beauty of their unmatchable Scandinavian homeland.

"They're all up and about, getting ready for the skating exhibition after breakfast. Don't sweat it, big sisty! Besides, that Smoothie spent the majority of his dreams with you, too, from the way he was mooning and singing and dancing over the frying pan back at the cottage like some lovesick schoolboy. You've got that Red wrapped around your little finger, Elsa." Anna teases her big sister with a crooked smirk at the recent recollection of the cozy early morning incident between herself and her former archenemy having an unexpected, very interesting rendezvous in her own homey little kitchen.

"Was he? You've seen Hans already this early in the morning?! I mean…ahem... Was he sautéing potato lefse?" Queen Elsa attempts to calmly rationalize, beyond lovesick herself, as she feigns tidying up the sheets and pillowcases while she rises from the bed. Her senses were instantly enticed on the subject of one Hans Westergaard who had come home to sweep her off her feet, just as her handsome dream prince, heroic knight in shining armor promised he would.

"Yeah. They're pretty good, too – considering Red made them. How did you know about his breakfast menu?" Anna licks her chops of the syrupy morning treat that she had swiped off the table. The smirking young wife recalls where she found versatile Hans - wearing little more than a towel as he was falling out from one of Kristoff's oversized nightshirts - dishing up breakfast for her hard-working man.

"May I remind you, little sister, Prince Hans and I have spent many mornings making lefse together before." Elsa smiles, coyly enigmatic, to her sourly frowning younger sibling at the fond memory amidst tumultuous times on that dangerous pirate ship where she and Prince Hans first re-encountered one another.

"Oh, have you? Do tell, you Majesty! This sounds extremely intriguing!" Princess Amber emerges from behind the changing screen in Anna's bedroom where she had been primping over her skating outfit.

This latest, pale green velvet one was from the many in her heavy wardrobe trunk that this fashion plate young Princess of Enchancia was having the devil of a time deciding over.

"Well…I…" Elsa was beyond flustered by the sudden, intimating question from the curl-bobbed golden head beneath a tall, black sable fur winter hat for Russian nobility called a 'gorlatnaya'. The traditional British gold and silver sash adorned with teal puff balls that matched her brocade Bangalore scarf and pink knit shawl kept in place the layers of her frilly yellow dress over thick woolen chartreuse velvet stockings. It was a rather eye-catching design for Princess Amber's globetrotting, multicultural winter skating attire.

"How pretty you look, Princess Amber! We love frilly pom-poms here in Arendelle! It's just like Anna's!" Eliana, the little snowwoman exclaims with clapping hands of delight. She had been busying herself setting up Elsa's morning ablutions of washbasin and towel in a stylish manteau de lit scent of perfumed toilette.

The mercurial snowgirl had brought a bed gown for each of the slumber party members when she had called in several ladies' maids to see to their young mistresses' requested early morning wardrobe change.

"Oh. Maybe I should wear the other outfit, after all." The shimmering pale green Princess puts on a smile as her vanity flattens at simple Eliana's unassuming words.

But just as Amber was about to return to the changing screen for the umpteenth time, her best friends, Princesses Hildegard and Cleo, stick their heads back into Anna's crowded bedroom.

"It is good to see you up and about at last, your Majesty, after that wonderful Masquerade Ball and slumber party! But, for heaven's sake now, you must hurry up, you three! Those boys have already scarfed down their breakfasts and are itching to get to that skating rink!" Bossy Princess Hildegard announces in her snobbish tone with a flip back of her long waves of dark hair at Amber.

"That's the pink shawl Desmond gave you for your birthday last month, isn't it, dearest? He, at least, will be pleased to see you wearing it at last. Poor boy can't skate a lick though, bless him." The high and mighty Princess of Freezenberg states as she glances Amber up and down her long nose.

"You're wrong, Hildy! Desmond promised me that he has been practicing since last year's disastrous skating party. And James said that he has improved greatly." Princess Amber surprises herself by defending the shy, studious and rather unassuming prince of Burgundy who was obviously sweet on her.

"Yes, I was there when James was teaching Desmond. He's so much improved, staying erect on his skates now. Good morning, Queen Elsa." Wearing a frilly muslin hat, the more gracious Princess Cleo of Corinthia chimes in, looking very demure in a chocolate brown and tan dress that was completely fur-lined. She gains Amber's grin and a jealous Hildegard's chagrin, while Elsa and Anna exchange a look while sisterly braiding one another's hair.

"Well, we shall see, shall we not?"" Her own velvet skating cape adorned with gold and tassels, Hildegard flashes Elsa and Anna a winning smile. "They have no idea where Sofia disappeared to so early this morning. That blowhard Prince Hugo had been showing off to the King before they left before breakfast. Do you require any of our help in getting changed, Elsa dear? I'm sure Cleo wouldn't mind laying out an amazing skating outfit from one of Amber's many haute couture styles packed in that huge trunk from her layover in Paris that she's been going on and on about!" Princess Hildegard lends a sincere smile to the quiet platinum blonde Queen of this kingdom and kindly offers her best friend Cleo's services along with Amber's clothes.

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary, girls. Stand back and watch." Anna declares assuredly as she just finishes brushing out and braiding Elsa's stylish side braid up in plaits. She takes a step back from her sister to let the Ice Queen strut her stuff.

In an instantaneously dazzling display of magical ice sparkles, Elsa forms her pale blue Ice Queen gown around her tall, slender form. Then, after a second thought glance in the mirror, Elsa artistically outdoes herself before the fashionistas' admiring eyes.

In a silky display of aurora borealis imbued shimmering velvet pale blues and lavenders and lilacs swirling around her, a breathtaking formfitting skating dress transforms her normal Ice Queen attire down in subtle, gorgeous ways.

Her off-the-shoulder icy dress displayed verglas trimmings and crystalline iridescence all about the Northern Winter Queen's cryokinetic masterpiece.

"Told ya." Anna proudly smiles with a rub to her wobbly tummy.

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

Princess Cleo couldn't restrain her applause for the amazing Ice Queen's mesmerizing abilities. She even invoked normally blasé Princesses Amber and Hildegard to join in the bravo for Elsa's incredible artistic talent which beautifully bold exceeded where the finest seamstresses on the continent didn't dare to go.

"Shall we join the men downstairs now for breakfast, ladies?" Elsa never felt more confident and attractive in her ice magic, knowing her heart was secure with her lover at hand at last. And her family and friends too were all near and dear were close by to celebrate the Christmas holiday like she and Anna had only dreamed of long ago.

Leading the troupe of princesses in a girlish giddy, giggling group, a blissful beaming Elsa was all smiles to enter the bustling Dining Hall.

That is, until she found her dream Prince was not one of the ones present among the serious faced, staid group of dignitaries and emissaries who were scheduled yet to meet with the King this afternoon for dealings of the nation.

Elsa stops still in her tracks at the decidedly aloof aura of the spacious, populated breakfast area. Particularly at the cool atmosphere between her normally close knit parents who were each at the far ends of the dining room table not meeting each others' eyes.

"Good morning, my darling girl! How did you sleep after your glorious birthday night? Not too cold, I pray?" Queen Iduna purposely draws her daughter to her side of the long table where most of the guests had gathered at the dark-haired, older Queen's pleasant invitation after they filled their breakfast plates at the replete buffet.

"Don't all of you girls look lovely in your skating outfits! How bold and adventurous! Such fetching treats you will all look for your lucky young men! I envy your youth and vitality to go out and enjoy the cool, brisk air. It sounds much more preferable to instead of being cooped up in this stuffy place with boring meetings your obdurate father has arranged for our dull afternoon in this cold castle." Elsa's mother's smile seemed more than a bit bitter as King Agnarr rigidly rises from his uneaten breakfast plate to give his elder daughter a stately bow.

His eyes were trying to diverge from gazing upon Elsa's shocking bare shouldered, form fitting, and decidedly evening outfit this early in the morning.

"Did you find your slumber party pleasant, young ladies?" King Agnarr uncomfortably makes an attempt at conversation as he gives Elsa and each of her female guests a polite nod of greeting.

"The slumber party was very enjoyable, Papa. It was a wonderful idea. Thank you." Elsa cordially replies to her father for the group of nodding and smiling young ladies.

"I hope you didn't find it too cold and chilly last night. This castle can be uninvitingly arctic sometimes." Iduna's drawn indigo eyes pointedly dart to where her husband King Agnarr had been holding court across the long table with only friendly King Roland, the inquisitive, reformed Duke of Weselton and her obese cousin, Valdemar.

They each occasionally tried to strike up conversation with the dour faced King in the cold atmosphere he was propagating, but Agnarr had been taciturn all through the meal for his wife's aloof tone.

"Now that our beautiful and regal Queen Elsa is here where she's meant to be, seeing to her guests, if you will all excuse us. Minister Kai and I must instruct the servants to see that all the fireplaces are to be well-stoked. It has been brought to my attention we must ward off the inclement weather drafts for our guests in this centuries-old establishment that obviously requires some updating." Agnarr responds in kind to his wife's frosty comments, with an overly obliging attitude to relieve his Queen's complaints of their substandard home.

The large-set Councilor of Arendelle, giving Chancellor Esteban a wary glance, peers in at his King's word to join them. He had begun, at his wife Gerda's prompting, setting up the Christmas decorations since dawn to preoccupy him now that the birthday masquerade decor had been taken down.

"After breakfast concludes, I hope to see you young people, as Prince Hugo had prodigiously wished, enjoying the fresh air and bright sunshine upon our kingdom's morning landscape that I'm sure my gifted daughter will make even more advantageous for winter sport. Will it not be most pleasant to view the ice skating festivities with our girls and their new friends later on in the afternoon once we conduct our meetings with the visiting dignitaries, my Queen? Then we may all converge to ring the bell together at the ceremony to start the Christmas holiday season for the villagers, as scheduled." Agnarr extends a gentle smile and invitation to the woman who had been giving him the cold shoulder all morning since she arrived at the breakfast table. He had been eagerly awaiting to make amends with her after last night's argument.

But so far Iduna had not relinquished her irritation at him.

"On second thought, I would prefer to be excused from attending the negotiations, Agnarr, as you would obviously better attend to them with Minister Kai. So that at least one of us may courteously play the role of royal spectator of the skating competition for our daughters and their guests, out of respect. Perhaps I will even take the opportunity to go into Arendelle to visit our citizens and take part in their holiday celebration start already this morning. If you'd be so kind to escort me, Chancellor Esteban?" Iduna, though, continues her quiet protest against her obtuse mate with the detached words, devoid of the royal couple's usual affectionate nicknames as she turns to her dear friend from Avalor instead of her husband.

"But of course, my poco avé canora (songbird). Johanne and I were planning on attending the skating competition ourselves. I am enthusiastic to view the presentation as it has been many years since my last outing to a true skating exhibition. We will surely keep one another warm. If that is all right with you, my dear friend, Agnarr?" Esteban poses the unassailable query in a way that it would be undiplomatic for Agnarr to deny.

"…Good. Yes that will be fine. Please do, keep one another… warm… I will see you afterwards for the Bell Ringing Ceremony, my love." King Agnarr says, awkwardly tripping over his own words as he tries to gain Iduna's unattainable smile.

"Roland, Miranda, gentlemen." A defeated Agnarr - and drawn-faced Kai, too - witness how the tall, debonair Peruvian ambassador addresses the Enchancia royals before he stands to attention from his seat to gentlemanly lift Iduna from hers.

Then the suave Avaloran wraps a familiar arm around their lifelong servant, Johanne, who was just coming around the corner from attending to Elsa and Anna while fetching Iduna's coat.

Giggling like a schoolgirl again, Johanne was on cloud nine, allowing urbane Esteban to assist her putting on a grateful Iduna's coat and hat. The ashen haired ladies maid happily attends to her mistress Queen a few mornings more before her planned relocation to Avalor where she and Chancellor Esteban would marry and reside in the future, much to her sad older brother Kai's melancholy.

With the removal of her hairpin beneath her own hat with deft hands, the roguish South American royal deftly loosens the gray-haired ladies maid's bun tresses. It hung more loosely and lovely to frame her face as Johanne had been styled the night of the Masquerade and she was his red-hot flamenco partner.

"Now, I am ready to face the cold, whenever you are, ladies." He says with a flirtatious raised eyebrow look at his more sedate fiancée and her Queen.

"Oh, you are incorrigible, Chancellor." As Esteban leads she and Iduna on each extended arm out towards the rear access cloak room, Johanne chuckles at her fiancé's frivolous behavior.

"This is true." Esteban comments with a tender smile down at her as he strokes his curled moustache.

The once stoic, plain woman attempts to smooth back a loosened lock that framed her indisputably yet handsome face that possessed that certain glow upon it that manifestly screamed :' I am loved, at last.'

The other female now at the table watching this tender exchange wore that same unmistakable expression raises her eyes to catch a glimpse of the svelte silhouette racing across a distant pond. There, Prince Hans' peerless visage was giving instruction to an awkward, knobbly legged young man flopping in all directions on the frozen outdoor surface.

"There you are, my handsome one. Here in Arendelle with me, right where you're meant to be." In a whisper of enchanted breath directed at the window, Elsa's spirits instinctively rise as she keenly watches her Hans elegantly glide across the frozen pond. Her spirits were lifted when her dashing Dane rights the inexperienced youth to his wobbly feet before displaying his own ample set of moves like a skating pro to ice dance, jump, and spin before Varian's jaw-dropped amazement.

The redhead, as if sensing eyes upon him, just then looks up towards Arendelle Castle, striking quite a provocative pose as he shields his eyes from the sun to see into the far-off window.

But just then Sofia and Prince Hugo come riding up to him, gesturing for Hans and the dark-haired inventor to jump on the horse drawn sleigh Kristoff had furnished to pick up the skaters and bring them to the courtyard.

"Ready to go and play at our Arendelle 'winter frolic', Elsa? Isn't that a funny name for a skating party?!" Anna receives a mental signal from her Wind Whisperer husband that he and the most important attendee were soon to arrive at the courtyard.

Anna finishes shoving yet another piece of jelly rye toast into her hungry mouth as she had been noticing her sister's big blue eyes widen and flash in lingering anticipation to soar along with that talented Red's every smooth move.

"I like it." After taking only a peck or two of her breakfast in her excitement that the others had already partaken of, the no longer sleepy-head beauty Queen Elsa had snapped awake now. She gives a polite curtsy to her father the King and a queenly nod to all the other guests at the dining table who had been left behind in the room.

As she exits the Dining Hall, Elsa catches sight of a few of the visiting dignitaries waiting at the King's study to meet with the monarch, including the last of the spurned royal princes or two who merely award the off-limits Ice Queen with a disdainful bow of respect.

Then an excited Elsa takes Anna by her giggling, squeezed hand to lead the other bundled up princesses out through the rear exit towards Arendelle's courtyard, knowing outside there was someone she was destined to be with waiting for her to dazzle him.


min kärlek – my love in Swedish

min kæreste – my dearest in Danish

Gonagas - King in Saami

poco ave canora - songbird in Spanish


'Ten Minutes Ago' – by Santino Fontana from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical 'Cinderella'


Hello, Frozen friends!

Skating frolic time in Arendelle!

Our dashing Dane is where he's meant to be at last! Prince Hans has worked overtime this morning (making Anna pancake breakfast and all in a domestic fresh from a bath towelly way Elsa would have probably preferred to see ;)

But Elsa's excited to be joining her handsome prince out on the skating rink now!

Looks like King Agnarr is in the doghouse with his wife after she found out he's sending Hans north on deployment, without hearing his true reason that she may look more favorably upon. We'll see if the Ice King can get himself out of this one…He has a lot on his mind after a talk with Northuldra Chief Yelana…hmmm… metoo...(I had to delay a bit to digest for our story the latest background from the new book just came out about Iduna and Agnarr's youth. Sigh…There'll be a few early chapters to revise again in Book 1 "Frozen Again: 'Faith, Hope and Love'" concerning their first meeting after I get the chance to read the new 'official story'…'Dangerous Secrets'. ;(p

Happy early Christmas tidings of good cheer in these frolicsome Book 4 'Love Never Ends' chapters! Hope this gets you in the merry season mood after this year of madness we must turn to the Lord to survive and keep smiling! :)

God bless as festive November begins!

Haruka