Elsa made her way to her sister's room to join her for breakfast. She had seen Kristoff in the courtyard heading out to the stables, so she knew she would find Anna alone. Elsa gave a little knock before pushing the door open.

"Anna?" she asked.

"Oh, good morning, Elsa!" Anna said, emerging from the bathroom, drying her hair. "Sorry, I forgot the time!"

"Not a problem," Elsa smiled. "I was surprised you would want to see me so early."

Anna gave her sister a teasing glare.

"I really can't stay up late like I used to," Anna sighed. "I don't know why I scheduled so many things for today."

"You called the council together, then?" Elsa asked.

"Yes," Anna smiled. "And Inga asked to meet with me and Kristoff before that, so I think they're finally going to say they want an engagement."

Before Elsa could reply there was a knock at the door. Elsa got up to answer, and held the door open to let Kristoff in, who looked oddly agitated.

"Kristoff? What's the matter?" Anna asked.

"Idiots trying to smoke by the stables again," he grumbled, stomping to the window and pacing a bit, wringing his hands.

"The stable master is generally good at chasing them away, I think," Anna offered.

"Yes, he got them to stop lighting up at first, and then I chased them away," Kristoff replied.

Elsa walked back slowly toward the table by the window. "If you two need to talk alone, let me know."

"No, Elsa, I was hoping you'd be here," Kristoff insisted.

"What is it?" Elsa asked him.

"It's just, I was waiting just inside the stable door, because the types who promise not to light their cigarettes nearly always just wait for someone not to be watching to light up again…"

"Of course," Anna agreed during Kristoff's pause.

"So, I overheard some gossip, and I need to decide if it's just a stupid misunderstanding or if it's something we need to be worried about."

"Well?" Anna prodded.

Kristoff let out a long breath before he started to speak. "The men we caught smoking seemed to think that Prince Henry had… had a girl in his bed last night."

"Oh…" Anna looked at Elsa, who was furrowing her brow. "But what made them think this?"

"I guess a chambermaid saw someone going into his room last night, and she seemed to think it was Dagmar's daughter," Kristoff muttered, "though I'm not sure which is worse, if it was her or Inga…"

Anna sighed. "I know he was dancing with Johanne, but that's hardly-"

"Johanne?" Elsa asked.

"Dagmar's daughter," Anna explained, "She was wearing the same dress as Inga last night, and they had their hair done up the same way."

"Oh. Isn't Dagmar's daughter younger than Inga?"

"Sixteen," Anna clarified, "not that it matters for this sort of rumor."

"Do you think you should talk to Inga?" Elsa asked.

"If there's anything-" Anna stopped to collect her thoughts. "If Inga was the source of the misunderstanding, I'm not sure if I should be the one to ask."

"I'm sure it's nothing," Elsa insisted, "but I'll go talk to her."

Inga quietly left her room and walked down the hallway. She and Henry still had a few hours until they were supposed to meet with her parents. After that would be the council meeting, and they could hopefully write to Henry's parents and get married not long after that.

"Inga!" she heard her aunt call out behind her.

"Aunt Elsa, were you looking for me?" she asked as she turned around.

"Yes, in fact, I was," her aunt replied. "Do you need to be anywhere in the next few minutes?"

"No, I wasn't going anywhere until lunch, to be honest," Inga admitted.

"Could we talk in your room? Would that be okay with you?" her aunt asked with unusual urgency.

"Oh, I guess so, sure," Inga agreed, wondering whether her aunt suspected something.

Inga closed the door after they entered.

"Mind if I sit down?" her aunt asked, motioning to the table by the window.

"Please, go ahead," Inga told her, walking over to sit next to her.

"Inga," her aunt began. The tone made Inga feel even more nervous. "Your father overheard a rumor down by the stables this morning."

"What rumor?" Inga asked nervously.

"There seems to be some talk that Prince Henry was… that he was spending a lot of time with another girl at your party last night."

Inga couldn't help but laugh with relief. "He asked her for the first dance because he thought she was me, because she was wearing the same dress, and… He was with me most of the rest of the time. I'm pretty sure Frederick can vouch for the times he wasn't with me."

"They… they heard that someone saw her going into Henry's room last night. But I assume this is a misunderstanding, too?"

Inga felt a little uncomfortable at this, but decided to clear up that confusion, too. "I did go up to Henry's room after the party, because he had a birthday present for me. I think someone might have seen me there."

Elsa nodded. "And that's it?"

"What do you mean?" Inga asked quickly.

"Inga, I'm not asking you for every detail of your evening. I just wanted to make sure you were aware of what people were saying."

Inga breathed in. "Yes, thank you. I appreciate that."

"Do you want me to leave you alone now?"

"No, no, you can stay. I don't mean to sound rude. I was just afraid there was something… about me."

"It was about you, obviously. You asked your parents to meet for lunch with Prince Henry. I think everyone knows what that's about now, but if he were doing anything like, well, what they're hinting at..."

"Henry asked me to marry him and I said yes, and I'm quite certain that… I'm sure there's nobody else to worry about."

Her aunt smiled. "Your parents were concerned about that. I can tell them there's nothing to worry about, then?"

Inga looked over at her aunt and sighed. "Of course."

They hugged, and Elsa left the room. Inga let out a huge sigh of relief after she closed the door again. She needed to find Henry and ask if he'd talked with his valet since the morning.

Henry walked down the corridor, trying to get himself focused and clear his head. An hour might be about the right amount of time to walk into town and back before lunch. He was about to go down the stairs, when he saw Inga turning the corner.

They both stopped. He walked toward her, trying not to look like a fool, and run and pick her up like he wanted to. Instead, she ran toward him, hugging him with enough force to wind him a bit. They kissed without even looking around to check if anyone was watching.

When they stopped, they stepped back, thankfully quite alone in the hallway.

"Did your valet talk to anyone?" Inga whispered.

Henry felt his stomach tighten. "He said he wouldn't tell anyone."

"That's good," Inga sighed in relief. "I guess someone saw me going into your room last night, but thought it was Johanne, which seems silly."

"Oh… well… you know who I was with," Henry smiled.

"Indeed." Inga blushed a bit.

"The ring is on my nightstand, by the way. The painting, too. Would you like me to bring them when we meet with your parents?"

"Sure!" Inga agreed, giggling a bit. "Would you like me to act surprised?"

Anna and Kristoff sat in the dining room that Kai had set up for their lunch with Inga and Prince Henry. Unsurprisingly, they were the first ones there.

"So what did Elsa tell you?" Kristoff asked when they had a few minutes with no staff in the room.

"She talked to Inga about it, and it was definitely a misunderstanding," Anna told him. "Apparently, she stopped by his room because he had a present for her, and that's when that chambermaid saw her.

"But why would they make up something about having someone in his bed?" Kristoff frowned.

"Because that's the best sort of gossip, of course!" Anna exclaimed, throwing up her hands. "Maybe it looked like she was going into his room, or coming out, and they wanted it to be more interesting than just standing around."

"So," Kristoff sighed, "I suppose they're finally going to tell us they're going to get engaged, and we'll go to the council, and sometime when everything has been signed and agreed to, they'll have their wedding?"

"Yes," Anna nodded. "I think next summer might be nice if they don't want too long of an engagement. We'll probably wait to set a date until we can discuss the details with his family."

The two quieted down quickly when they heard the door open. Inga peeked around the door before properly walking into the room. She was alone.

"Hi," she greeted them hesitantly. "Henry said he needed to get something from his room. I, um, saw him on my way here."

"Another present?" Anna asked.

"What?" Inga asked.

"Elsa told me he got you a present last night, and that's where the misunderstanding came from."

"Um, yes, but I forgot to take it with me."

"You forgot a birthday present?" Anna asked skeptically, looking over at Kristoff, who was rubbing his neck and trying not to frown.

They could hear Kai's voice out in the hallway, and the door opened.

"Prince Henry of Corona," the steward announced.

"Thank you, Kai," Anna told him, and he left them alone, closing the door behind him.

Henry gave a small bow. He was holding some kind of package in his hands, loosely wrapped in paper, with a string tying it together.

"Go ahead and sit down, if you like," Anna smiled, motioning for him to sit in the empty seat next to Anna.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," he said, taking a seat.

"And I think I already told you we can dispense with that," she reminded him. "At least, I hope so. It would get a little tiring, I think."

Henry nodded silently.

"So, what do you have there?" Anna probed, looking at the package he was holding.

"Um, it's… a present for Inga… I didn't have time to give it to her at the party last night."

"Inga?" Anna looked at her daughter, who also seemed to be a bit of a shade of pink now.

"Oh! Um, yes, thank you so much," Inga said quickly.

Henry looked at Anna and Kristoff nervously, then back at Inga. "Inga, why don't you open it? And see what it is?"

Kristoff looked at Anna with an eyebrow raised.

"Of course," Inga said, taking the package and opening it. Anna could see a picture frame. Inga was smiling as she looked at it.

"So…" Kristoff said, trying to get a look at what she was looking at.

"Yes, of course," Inga mumbled, "you haven't seen it yet."

Anna gasped as she handed the picture over to her and Kristoff. Even if Inga's story about receiving it wasn't quite consistent, it was a beautiful portrait. "Henry, you had a painting of Inga commissioned?"

"Um, not exactly," he said.

"He painted that," Inga informed them.

"When was this?" Anna asked her, letting Kristoff look closely.

"When I got back to Corona at the beginning of the summer," Henry told them.

"Wow," Anna said, looking at the painting some more. "You're quite the artist. We had no idea."

"Thank you," Henry replied, looking over at Inga.

"It's very nice," Kristoff acknowledged, frowning a bit at the same time. Anna noticed that in the painting Inga was dressed unusually fashionably, with a dress that was much more low cut than Inga usually wore.

"I don't recognize the dress," Anna admitted.

"It's one of them Elizabeth's family got for me in Corona," Inga replied. "I wore it to the coronation ball last summer."

"I didn't realize they gave you a dress, or… how many dresses did they give you?" Anna asked with some confusion.

"Don't worry about it," Inga insisted. "I thanked them thoroughly, and anyway, Elizabeth told me they're going to use my name in their advertising."

"Wait, what?" Anna asked.

"She said it's normal," Inga told her mother.

"Oh, fine," Anna sighed. "Shall I ring for lunch?"

The lunch was served, and it looked like neither Inga nor Henry had eaten in days, from the amounts they ate of everything.

Once the food was cleared, Kristoff gave Anna a knowing look, reminding her they had not, in fact, gotten to the point of the lunch.

Henry seemed to pick up on this, and swallowed. "So… I've asked Inga to marry me," he blurted. Clearly too nervous to be anything but blunt, he pulled a lovely ring from his pocket and offered it to Inga, who was smiling as she took it. She seemed not to be surprised by the gesture.

"That's a lovely ring," Anna commented.

"He got it in Portugal," Inga explained.

"So he already gave it to you?" Kristoff asked.

"Um, yes," Inga replied, sounding flustered. "I mean, I didn't want to wear it at the party, since it might have drawn attention."

Kristoff nodded, looking a little uneasy.

"I guess it's safe to say you accepted, Inga?" Anna asked.

"Yes!" Inga replied. "So, once we have permission from the council, we can invite Henry's family and-"

"We can start planning then, yes," Anna interrupted, hoping Inga understood the time proper wedding planning would take.

"Oh, of course," Inga said quietly, looking at her place at the table, fiddling with the ring that was now on her finger.

"If we don't have any problems with the council, and I don't see why we would, we can start planning. Maybe next summer?"

"Next summer?" Inga asked. "Does it really have to be that long of a wait? I don't want anything fancy."

"I know," Anna began, "that's why I think we can get this ready by next summer-"

"But you-" Inga began, starting to sound like she might lose her temper.

"Times are different," Anna stopped her, glancing over at Kristoff, who was staring at the wall across from him.

"Different?" Inga asked, her voice rising. "The last time there was any sort of royal wedding here was yours!"

"I'm aware of that," Anna said flatly. "Look, I was checking up on the laws, because I was fairly certain you'd be asking about this, and they do have extra rules about marrying foreigners."

Henry looked away from Inga now.

"For one thing, Henry, does your family know about this?"

"Sort of?" Henry replied as a question.

"But, officially?" Anna asked. "Do you have a letter signed by your grandfather?"

"My grandfather?" Henry asked. "No, I haven't told them."

"Well, I suppose your mother can take care of that quickly enough."

"She doesn't know, either," Henry replied. "Not really."

"So your family doesn't know?" Anna sighed.

"I told my sister," Henry said. "I mean, I didn't exactly tell her, she asked if-"

"You can stop now," Kristoff said.

Anna sighed. "Look… you will have our blessing, but can you both be patient? I promise we won't make you wait longer than necessary."

Anna saw Inga's hands on the table, clenching into fists.

"Yes, we can wait," Henry said, squeezing Inga's hand.

Inga relaxed a little and nodded silently in agreement.

Since most of the council had been planning to be in town for the week, anyway, gathering a quorum for the afternoon following the party hadn't been a problem.

Inga and Henry had to stand behind Anna while the council sat down. Anna looked at the group around the table. Most of them would have no problems approving the engagement, even considering the insufficient planning on Henry's part regarding the approval of Corona. Still, some of the council would be sure to cause trouble even if every member of the royal families of Arendelle and Corona had been in the room for the meeting.

After the formal statements that were always necessary at the beginning of these meetings, Anna began.

"Thank you all for coming to this meeting today." She paused, and as expected, heard some muttering from some of the members. "I wish to discuss a proposal of marriage that my eldest daughter has received from Prince Henry of Corona."

There was now a mix of nodding and grumbling, likely depending on whether the particular council members had been paying attention at the party.

Henry and Inga were each asked to verbally affirm that each of them did, in fact, consent to this engagement. Anna was glad that Inga seemed to remain calmer with the council through all of this than she had been when the two of them were alone with herself and Kristoff.

"And do we have a letter from the King of Corona?" one of the oldest council members asked.

"I don't anticipate any objection from my grandfather," Henry replied, having rehearsed some better wording in the hour since their lunch.

"Fine," the old man nodded, "so when he's sent his official statement, we will make the engagement official."

"We have to wait for the engagement to be official?" Inga interjected.

"I think we're all fine with His Highness from Corona officially courting you, Your Highness, but there are political issues to be aware of for anything beyond that."

"Why don't we excuse the two of them for that discussion, then," Anna suggested, not sure if Inga would be able to remain calm.

The meeting continued after Inga and Henry left the room. The council all agreed that they would consider the engagement official as soon as they had received a signed and sealed letter from the King of Corona stating that his grandson had his blessing.

There was some discussion of the fact that Henry was not only a foreign prince but in the direct line of succession, and a few people who expressed a desire to encourage the princess to consider native nobility if this did not work out. Anna gave vague answers to those concerns, avoiding argument, but not agreeing with anyone.

One trade guild member mentioned something about rumors, but Anna quickly shot down that line of commentary.

"There are always rumors," Anna insisted.

Eventually, the meeting concluded, with no further decisions than those that had been made while Inga and Henry were still in the room, and after the other members filtered out of the room, Dagmar was the only member of the council remaining.

"That was exhausting," Dagmar sighed with a bit of a chuckle. "I remember now why I mostly stay in the countryside these days."

"Yes," Anna giggled a bit in return. "How are you doing today?"

"Not too bad, all things considered." Dagmar paused. "What was that comment about rumors?"

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Have you heard anything?"

"No, but you have me a little concerned."

"I don't think it's anything," Anna insisted, forcing away any doubts about Inga's side of the story. "Mostly people who mistook your daughter for mine at the party, then created an entire story around it."

"Oh my," Dagmar replied. "Well, even I mixed them up yesterday."

"I have to warn you, though, someone thought they saw Johanne going to Henry's room."

"Well, that makes sense, too," Dagmar said, "since we're all staying in the guest wing."

"You have a very good point there," Anna smiled. "I just wanted to make sure you knew what some of the whispers were."

"I appreciate that," Dagmar said. "Hopefully they'll die down while we're in the countryside."

Kristoff sat in the garden while Frederick and his brothers played an ever-evolving game involving a ball and running around. It was still fairly warm out, and nobody felt like following any one set of rules for a game today.

He noticed some of the council members starting to drift out of the castle and head back into town. The boys were absorbed in their game, so Kristoff slipped back into the castle.

It was supposed to be a simple enough meeting, but neither Inga nor Henry had put very much thought into the official formalities of getting married. As much as he didn't want his daughter rushing into anything, few of the council members seemed to be concerned about that, and more bothered that they or their sons or nephews would be missing out on a chance to marry into the family.

Kristoff was glad to find Anna back in the bedroom already, since they still hadn't had a chance to talk privately since lunch.

"Everything is settled and nothing is settled," Anna declared as soon as he walked in. "They can call themselves engaged as soon as we have official word from Corona."

Kristoff nodded, sitting down next to Anna.

"I didn't want her to feel pressured, but of course now she's frustrated that they might have to wait a year." Anna leaned her head on Kristoff.

"The year will go by quickly enough, I'm sure," Kristoff sighed.