The mountain meadows were bathed in the early morning sunlight, the fjord in the distance was still cast in the shadows of the peaks for a few more hours. Frederick had been helping his father with the reindeer up above the cliffs over Arendelle the past few days. His brothers were down there. Frederick had hoped to get them to come along, but they'd fallen too far behind with their tutors, so they had to stay back and study. They had originally asked Inga to come along, too, but she pointed out that this week was when people were going to be arriving for her party. Frederick knew that she was only really talking about Henry, and wasn't just in one of her moods.
Most of their work was done wordlessly, and they each knew what they needed to do, as did the reindeer. Sven, in particular, seemed to take his usual delight in directing the younger reindeer.
Frederick hadn't spent any significant time alone with his father since he'd gotten back from the naval training, spending most of his free hours studying for the entrance exam to the Corona Naval Academy, and his father had plenty of business with the trade guilds to occupy his own time. In spite of this, there wasn't much for them to discuss that they hadn't already talked about.
His mother was slowly coming to accept the idea that he would go to the Naval Academy in Corona at some point in the future. Once or twice, when Inga had gone to bed before everyone, Frederick had pointed out that he already knew the royal family there, and besides, his sister would probably want to visit Corona anyway, so it wasn't like he'd be all alone in another country. Of course, he never brought this up when Inga was in the room.
The sun grew stronger as it rose in the sky. It was getting to be a warm day. Frederick rolled up his sleeves, realizing too late that his father was staring at his arm. He frantically tried rolling the sleeve back down, knowing very well that it was pointless.
"What's that?" his father asked calmly, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, um…" Frederick realized it was pointless to lie, but couldn't get himself to answer his father's simple question.
"I mean, I know it's a tattoo," his father chuckled lightly, "I'm just wondering if you snuck out recently or if you've been managing to hide it all this time."
"Everyone on the ship got one this spring," Frederick explained, "it was sort of… I guess it was an initiation thing?"
"And… What other kinds of initiations do they have?"
"This was the only thing I really know about, but they wouldn't tell me much of anything about the others," Frederick answered. "They said I wasn't old enough yet for the next one."
"Oh, really?" his father said, giving a bit of a frown. "If you're already old enough for a tattoo, I'm not sure I want to know what they think you're not old enough for."
"Please don't say anything! I really hate the idea that they're going to change anything just for me."
"What do you mean?"
"It's nothing. It's fine. I worked hard, and they know I'm not a freeloader. I just… you know, don't want to be one of those-" Frederick stopped himself, trying to think of how to phrase what he wanted to say.
"I don't think you'll be one of those," his father replied, smiling, "but I hope you'll talk to me about anything, especially before whatever they're planning next."
"Sorry, I'll ask you first if they're doing another tattoo," Frederick said sarcastically.
"That's not really what I'm worried about," his father chuckled.
"Then what are you worried about?"
"Never mind right now." His father gave an audible swallow. "We'll talk about this another time."
Frederick frowned, not sure what to say. "The captain said I did good work, and I exceeded his expectations."
"So I heard," his father laughed. "That's a good thing. Don't worry about what I said."
"Oh," Frederick replied.
He stood and looked around, trying to remember what he had been doing a few moments before when his father saw his arm.
His father was sitting with one of the reindeer in front of him, cleaning some twigs out of one of the hooves. He looked at Frederick and took a deep breath. "Don't let your mother see your arm, though."
"I wasn't planning to," Frederick insisted.
"So, you're going to stick with the navy?"
"I mean, we talked about this…" Frederick picked up the youngest reindeer, Tom, who was starting to wander off. "The academy in Corona, you know?"
"I know."
His father sat down on a nearby rock, and Frederick set down little Tom, and swung himself up on a branch nearby to get a full view of the meadow.
"I probably won't go until January. Jorgensen will be coming, too."
His father nodded. Frederick wondered if his father might not like the idea of his being gone, even if his mother was the only one who had said anything.
"I think you mentioned he's in town this week, didn't you?"
"Oh, yes. He'll be at the party, and so will Dahl,"
"And this Dahl, does he have a first name?" his father teased him. Frederick had mentioned Jorgensen before, and his father seemed bemused that Frederick couldn't really remember the first name of someone who seemed to be a good friend, but in his defense, everyone had gone by surnames on the ship.
"I- I forget," Frederick admitted.
"And is he going to the Academy, too?"
"He went two years ago," Frederick explained, "finished up this winter. He's actually a lieutenant now, but he's allowed to socialize when he's not on duty. He's only a year or two older than Jorgensen."
In the distance, he could see another ship entering the harbor. It was too far away to make out the flag or other insignia. Some visitors from the provinces and foreign countries had started arriving, and Inga had said that Henry would be coming in another day or so. She had mentioned that Henry wouldn't be bringing his horse, but that he had really enjoyed going riding the previous fall. Frederick had told her that Henry could use his own horse if he wanted, and he would ride his reindeer. When they had all gone riding together back in the fall, Frederick had seen that Henry had a way with the animals, but of course, the boy had no experience with reindeer. Frederick was looking forward to a chance to catch up with Henry, anyway, since he had a lot of questions about what to expect in Corona.
Frederick heard a rustling as his father went and retrieved the young reindeer, Tom, who had wandered off again. As he returned, he silently got out the lunch they had brought with them, and handed Frederick his portion. After a few minutes of eating, Frederick was tired of the silence.
"Do you think the weather will stay nice for the party?"
His father looked up. "Probably," he replied. "Did your brothers ask you about the piano? They seem to think you agreed to their plans."
"I kind of did," Frederick admitted. "Maybe tomorrow they'll actually practice with me."
His father chuckled. "I think they've been in enough trouble this week. I'll remind them this afternoon when we get home."
"Thanks," Frederick said.
His father started to get up, then looked down to the fjord before looking back up at him. "We should probably get going soon. It's getting hot even up here, and your mother has a lot planned."
The sun began to shine on the fjord as Inga sat on a wall near the dock, watching the ships come in. She had accepted that she was going to have a large party for her eighteenth birthday, this was simply the way that things were going to be. Her mother had forbidden her from helping with preparations, so it was out of her hands completely. Henry had written to her the day before to let her know she could expect to see him in a few days' time, and while she had written him back immediately, she hadn't heard anything else.
For now, she was enjoying the warm, sunny day, sitting by the harbor, staring into the glare of the fjord, watching the ships coming in, occasionally taking mental notes of who was arriving.
A voice from somewhere nearby startled her out of her reverie. "Your Highness."
As she looked around trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, she heard a chuckle directly below.
"Henry!" she gasped, looking at Henry standing right below, grinning. "You came early!"
"Well, I didn't want to get your hopes up yesterday if the weather didn't hold," he answered somewhat sheepishly, offering his hand to help her down from the wall where she was sitting. They stood facing each other, still holding their hands for a long while after she was steady on the ground.
In the last few weeks, Inga had worried it might be different seeing him in person after all this time. But it didn't feel different, or at least, she felt even more at ease than she had felt with him in the fall. She wanted to kiss him. She wondered what he was thinking about, and was almost feeling brave enough to ask him. But they were in the middle of the busy harbor. Duke Agder was nearby speaking with someone at one of the ships, and hadn't noticed her yet, but he'd recognize her if there was any commotion. The Duke always seemed to want to talk to her, never getting the hint that she was only being polite. This was too public.
She was dressed for a ride, so why not go for a ride? Frederick had wanted to go along, but she could apologize later.
"Follow me," she whispered to Henry.
She pulled on Henry's hand for a short distance, quickly dropping it when she thought people might be watching. Maybe no one would recognize them, but why take the chance? There had been rumors based off of practically nothing before he had even visited.
Still, everyone else by the harbor seemed to be busy. Inga walked swiftly in the direction of the castle, checking over her shoulder a few times to make sure that Henry was following right behind her, until a group of visiting merchants was walking towards the town, cutting off Henry's view of her for a moment.
She waved at him once the merchants had passed by, and he ran up to join her, though he seemed to understand, staying a respectable distance away from her.
"Are we sneaking around, then?" he laughed as he caught up to her.
She put her finger to her mouth as if to shush him, then turned around and walked on in through the gates. She could hear him following a short distance behind her on the cobblestones as she crossed the courtyard to the stables.
"Hello?" she called into the stable door. There was no reply. It was quieter than usual inside, with only the horses there today, and the stable hands were helping out with the ships down by the harbor.
Henry gazed at her as they both stood in the doorway, and she pulled him inside and closed the door part way. People were coming and going through the castle gate, but nobody was paying attention to the stables.
"It's a lovely day for a ride, don't you think?" she asked. She wanted to be alone with him, but she was feeling nervous now that they were actually alone. She had thought about this too much over the last few months.
She didn't wait for him to reply before she started talking more. "I'm already dressed for riding, and I was planning to go out this morning, but I decided to watch the ships unloading by the harbor for a bit, and I suppose that was a good thing?" She knew she was rambling, and she forced herself to stop.
"I-" Henry swallowed, staring intensely at her.
"I'm sorry," Inga apologized, "I should have asked first, or told you what I was thinking before I dragged you all this way, and I didn't even ask if you had everything with you from the ship."
"Oh, um, no, that's fine, James is taking care of that," Henry said, glancing out the door momentarily.
"James?"
"My valet."
"Oh, fancy," Inga giggled, then stopped, suddenly realizing how stupid that sounded. Of course he had a valet. Her family were the odd ones, what with her father never taking to the idea of having a valet, and with Frederick insisting on being just like the other boys training for the navy, she didn't see him taking on a valet any time soon.
"What about a horse?" Henry asked.
"Right," Inga said, "you mentioned that in one of your letters, and I told Frederick and he said he'd trust you with his own horse, and he can ride his reindeer," she told him.
"Really? Are you sure? Where is he?"
"He wanted to come along, but he's up in the mountains with Father and all the reindeer today. It really is fine, though, I go riding alone all the time."
"Oh," Henry smiled, "I guess so, then."
"Great!" Inga said, pausing to give him a quick kiss. Henry pulled her in to kiss her again, and she could feel the stubble on his chin. It scratched a little, but she didn't mind.
One of the horses snorted, and they stepped apart almost simultaneously.
"I- I was…" Henry cleared his throat, and gave a bit of a smirk. "We were going riding?"
"Yes," Inga swallowed. "And… it's nice to see you again."
"I missed you," he said, following Inga back to the horses.
"I know," she blurted out, "I mean… it was obvious from your letters."
She felt the blood rushing to her face. What was she supposed to be saying to him right now? She really wasn't sure though she knew very well that she probably wasn't supposed to have led him immediately inside an empty stable, and she supposed she should wait for Frederick to get back for the ride. That seemed a little too much like the sort of thing that happened in the books Kate and Edith enjoyed.
"This is his horse?" Henry asked, walking over to Frederick's horse, giving it some strokes as he whispered something reassuring.
"Yes, it is," Inga replied.
"So, will you be riding sidesaddle?" Henry smirked.
"Absolutely not," Inga glared, remembering her first day in Corona.
Inga tacked her horse carefully, and began leading it outside. Henry followed soon after, and offered her a lift up. She felt herself involuntarily shudder as his hand brushed her leg as she got herself seated, though he quickly moved to stroke her horse's neck.
He looked over and smiled at her, nodding for her to show him the way. She led the way out the front gate, the horses going at a slow walk because there were several people coming and going already. She glanced back occasionally to see that Henry was close behind her, and picked up the pace as they got towards the edge of town.
As they got further out of town, heading up along the cliffs, Inga slowed down a bit. Henry quickly caught up to her, and their horses kept the same, slow pace.
"It looks very different in the summer," he observed.
"It does, doesn't it?" she replied, looking over at him. "It's warmer, at least." It was warm, but she wasn't sure why she had said that.
Henry laughed a little. "It is warm, warmer than I expected. And I suppose I'll see just how late the sun can be up tonight."
"Well, it's no longer midsummer, so you've missed out a bit."
"I do feel like I've missed out on a bit," he said, looking pointedly at her. Inga quickly looked ahead.
"There's a nice meadow up this way. Would you like to see it?"
"I suppose I would," Henry said, looking out at the fjord again. After a moment, he looked back at Inga. "You… you look very nice today."
"Thank you," she smiled, then laughed a little. "You certainly don't look like you've been traveling as much as you have been."
"I was home for almost an entire month," he reminded her.
They continued on through the woods. Inga saw the path to the pond, and closed her eyes, hoping she didn't look as flushed as she felt. But then, she could just say that it was a hot day if questioned. They soon arrived at her favorite meadow.
"Here we are," she announced, getting down from her horse and gently tying her to the tree at the edge of the meadow.
"It's lovely," he told her, stopping to tie up his own horse, then walking over and taking her hand.
Henry stood at the canvas, looking out his bedroom window to the Corona harbor, trying to identify the ships waiting to dock. It was his eighteenth birthday today, and his sister's, too, of course, and the ships were probably all visitors for the celebration.
The door opened quietly and James walked in.
"Good morning, James!"
"Your Highness, I didn't mean to wake you, especially not on your birthday of all days," James apologized as he entered Henry's room.
"Don't worry, I was already awake. I decided I'd try to wake up early today, you know, be awake for as much of my birthday as possible."
"Sorry, I wasn't aware."
"I only decided this morning. I woke up and saw it was already getting light out, so I decided I'd try painting the sunrise. Here, what do you think?" Henry picked up the canvas from his easel and turned it around to show his valet.
"That is nice," James said with admiration. "Would you like me to find a frame?"
"Oh, sure. But that can wait for next week. I don't want to give you extra work with all the Coronation nonsense this week."
"Very good, tomorrow will be the fitting for your attire."
Henry groaned. "Is it going to be as ridiculous as I think it will be?"
"I've selected something more to your taste for the ball."
"Thank goodness. Do you know who's coming? The only visitors I've seen so far are some ladies from Wesselton who are horrible flirts."
"I heard your mother mentioning there will be some members of the Arendelle royal family attending."
"Really? Which ones?" Henry asked. The family had fascinated him since he had been a child and his father would tell them the stories of his time in Arendelle at the ill-fated coronation there, but he had never visited, and the family never visited Corona, even though his mother spoke fondly of both the former and current queen.
"I believe a prince and princess are coming along with their aunt," James told him.
Henry didn't want to sound too nosy, but he knew one princess was almost his own age. There was a small copy of a family portrait he would secretly examine when he was younger, with the royal family and their five children-Henry knew there were more children now-and the oldest always caught his attention the most. She looked oddly serious.
"Thank you, James. I don't suppose I'll get to see anyone before the ball. At least today they don't have anything planned for me or Hilde."
"That reminds me, your sister stopped me on my way to your room just now, and she asked me to remind you that you promised her a ride this morning. Shall I lay out your riding clothes?"
"Yes, thank you James," Henry told him. "Oh, and do you know if everyone has arrived who's coming? I know the Coronation isn't for a few more days yet.
Henry went back to his painting, while his valet quickly set out the fresh riding clothes.
"Anything else?" James asked.
"That's all for now, thank you, James," Henry said, and his valet quietly left.
Henry set down the painting he had been working on. It was close enough to call it done. He looked down toward the harbor, wondering if that might be the ship from Arendelle. He really had no idea. But he might as well get ready for the ride with his sister.
The fjord sparkled down below, and Henry could almost see Arendelle harbor from where they sat, though he couldn't quite tell which ships were which. Inga smiled as she sat down under the tree, inviting him to join her with a wave of her hand.
She leaned her head on his shoulder. He looked at her almost in disbelief. His little sketchbook was in his pocket, and ordinarily any one of the things around him would have him pulling out the book and his pencil and starting to draw everything, but he just wanted to sit and enjoy the moment.
"This is nice," Henry said, putting his arm around her waist, wishing he could think of something more clever to say, but that would have to do.
"This is nice," she repeated, making Henry sigh in relief.
"And to think, a year ago we hadn't even met."
"To think I almost didn't go to Corona last year," Inga mumbled. Henry's stomach clenched a little thinking about the idea.
"Really?"
"It's almost funny, actually… I hadn't even thought about it until just now, and the way the ambassador talked about it made the whole thing sound like he was trying to play matchmaker, so I was set against going at all, but then, well, I decided I needed a change of scenery... I suppose it did me some good, didn't it?"
Henry chuckled. "I think you told me about the ambassador's ambitions. But trust me, you don't even want to know what some people were expecting of me that week."
Henry suddenly wished he hadn't said that.
"Oh… and then you were stuck with me all evening rambling on about not wanting to get married. I'm sorry about that."
"Sorry?" he asked, having no real idea what she meant.
"I just… I regret being quite so adamant last year that I wasn't going to be getting married any time soon. It was easy to say then, and now the idea of intentionally putting it off-" Inga stopped suddenly.
"Putting it off?"
"Oh, um…" She inched away from him.
Henry looked straight ahead, trying very hard to keep his breathing slow. He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but he didn't want to miss a chance if she did mean what he hoped. He felt at his pocket, but of course, he'd left that with James this morning.
"Inga?" he asked, looking back over at her.
"Yes, Henry?"
"Well, I mean, I wasn't feeling pressured to get married, I mean, I'm still not, or well, it's not something anyone has told me I need to do right now… um, but, I don't know if there's anything I need to do here, and I tried looking it up in our library before I came here, but nobody seems to have bothered writing anything down. I know we'd probably need to wait, I guess, I don't know, maybe not intentionally, but I thought you needed to be twenty-one, unless… I don't know…" He was ready to be swallowed up right then and there. He knew what he wanted to say, but he couldn't just say it.
"Wait, what?" Inga responded.
"If I had the wrong idea, just forget… just forget I said anything," he stammered, his voice strained.
"Wait, no…" she said, putting her hand on his, "I mean, yes, that's… that is what I was-"
He didn't care now, and kissed her before she could finish.
As they pulled away, he looked at her, anxious to see or hear something to put his mind at ease. She kissed him again, shifting herself over to straddle his lap, lingering and leaning over to him, and he began to kiss her more, following her neck to her shoulder blades.
"So…" Henry breathed, pulling away.
"Are we talking about getting married, then?" she asked.
He realized that neither of them had really said it.
"Yes, I was," he said, squeezing her hands, glad that she had made it clear. "Is that something- would you like to?"
"I really don't think I want to wait," she said quickly. Henry blinked a bit.
"Well, we probably need to let people know first," he laughed a bit nervously. "I mean, I don't think anyone would appreciate it if we just ran off and got married."
"We wouldn't have to go that far…" she began.
"Wait, what?"
"No, I mean, of course not, I mean, just… I don't want to think about all the details. I don't want to wait until I turn twenty-one. That seems so long, and I don't know if I can wait."
Henry wasn't quite sure what she meant. "I mean, you know, I suppose we could always go to Corona if you wanted. I hadn't really thought that far ahead, though. I-"
Inga started taking off the jacket of her dress. "It's warm today, isn't it?" she asked, leaning against him.
"What were you saying about waiting?" he asked, smirking a little in spite of himself, taking his own outer coat off before putting his arm on her mostly bare arm. He traced along with his fingers, trying to memorize the exact curves.
"What I mean," she began, sounding serious again, "is that there's going to be all sorts of politics and a big show of things no matter what, and I don't want to stretch that out."
"You need permission from your parents right now, don't you?" Henry asked, continuing to gently trace his fingers along her arm. "I know we both need some sort of official recognition, anyway, but from what I've heard it's more of a formality if you're old enough."
"Yes. But I… I can't imagine there would be a problem. Not with you."
"I won't have a problem," he replied. "I haven't actually said anything to my parents, but I don't think they'll mind you. What about you?"
"I mean, I don't think they'll mind you. They've met you, and they've met your parents, and… and I don't know if there would be any problems with that. Frederick seems to think there's been something going on for a while now."
"And what about you?"
"I don't mind the idea," she said, suddenly sitting on his lap facing him.
"I think I could get used to this."
Frederick and his father came down into town with the reindeer. The ship that Frederick had spotted entering the harbor from up in the mountains was now being unloaded, and even from the edge of town, it was obvious that the ship was from Corona.
"I should check on my horse," Frederick told his father, pulling ahead a little.
"You should now?" his father asked.
"The ship from Corona is here," Frederick explained, " and Inga had wanted to go riding when Henry got here, and I had told her he could ride my horse. I could ride Olive, obviously." Frederick patted his own reindeer as he said this.
"Well, that's generous of you," his father commented, smiling a little. "You go on ahead, I'll be there in a little bit. If you see him, tell him to come to dinner. I'll make sure Kai knows."
Frederick went on ahead, not too fast, since it was a busy time of day in the middle of town, but Olive was going fast enough that they were pulling ahead of his father and the rest of the reindeer fairly quickly. He slowed down as he entered the castle gates, and dismounted as his reindeer came to a stop in the courtyard outside the stables.
"Hello!" Frederick called out as he walked into the stable. Inga was putting away her saddle nearby. She'd been going riding by herself a fair amount the past few days, trying to avoid the preparations for her birthday party.
"Oh! Hello, Frederick!" Henry called out from the back of the stables.
"Wait, Henry?" Frederick said in surprise. "Were you already out riding?"
"Oh, um, yes," Henry said, "Inga said you told her I could ride your horse. I hope it was all right. I promise I was gentle. Thank you."
"That's fine," Frederick muttered, hoping he didn't sound angry. "I mean, I told Inga I trusted you with a horse, I had the feeling you wouldn't bring your horse for only a few days."
"Yes, that's true. Hilde and I both felt bad for bringing our horses along this winter. Traveling by boat was rougher on them than us. They're doing fine, but we'll definitely leave them at home now."
"Where is Hilde, anyway?" Frederick asked, not remembering if Inga might have told him something about that.
"She sends her regrets," Henry explained, "but she had already agreed to go to the wedding in Bielsko, though I couldn't tell you who is getting married."
Frederick wanted to make a joke, but thought better of doing so when he saw Inga looking over, and kept his mouth shut.
"How was your trip, Frederick?" Inga asked as she came over.
"The same as always," he said. He rolled up his sleeves to fill a bucket of water.
"Oh, right, Inga told me you're going into the navy," Henry said.
"Um… yes?" Frederick replied somewhat confused by the sudden question.
"I mean, just, I'd heard everyone gets tattoos in the navy," Henry explained, "I just hadn't seen one."
"What?" Inga interjected, "Frederick, what did you do?"
His sister ran over and looked at his arm.
"Oh… you did?" Inga groaned, "What did Mother say?"
"She doesn't know," Frederick said quickly, "and I'd rather keep it that way. Father said it was best to keep quiet about it."
"You told Father?"
"Not exactly," Frederick admitted, "but it was hard to hide. Anyhow, Henry's right, everyone was getting them. Father understood."
"Did he? Really?" Inga asked suspiciously, looking up at him.
As his sister looked away, Frederick suddenly noticed something.
"Inga, you know you have a bruise on your neck," Frederick commented.
"What?" Inga asked, her hand going to her neck nervously, and glancing over at Henry.
"Did something happen on your ride?"
Inga glared at him, then smirked a bit. "You know, Fred, if you don't say anything about this to Mother or Father, I won't say anything to Mother. Deal?"
Frederick felt somewhat suspicious now, but he was more than happy to go along. "Fine."
Henry cleared his throat a bit, and Frederick noticed that his face looked a little red.
"Are you coming to dinner?" Frederick asked him, "it's coming up soon, so you might want to wash up first. It was hot out there today, wasn't it?"
"I don't know," Henry replied, sounding nervous, "Inga?"
Inga's face flushed. Frederick interrupted before she had a chance to say anything. "When we were coming back from the mountains a few minutes ago, we saw the ship from Corona, and Father seemed to assume you would be coming to dinner if you were here, Henry, so you might as well go change."
Inga walked over to Henry, but Frederick couldn't help but notice that she stopped short a little farther away than she really needed to for propriety.
"I'll go get ready," she said, looking at her horse rather than Frederick or Henry. "Frederick, you can help Henry find where he's staying."
Inga looked up and gave a quick nod and wave to Henry, and left.
"Sounds good to me," Frederick called after her. "Henry, ready to go?"
