Henry did his best to keep up with Frederick as he walked across the courtyard toward the castle. When he had last visited Arendelle in the fall, he remembered Inga's brother being suddenly taller than he was, having been around the same height when they first met. He had probably grown a little since then. Henry wasn't going to let it bother him.

"Frederick!" a man bellowed from across the courtyard. Henry whipped around and saw one of the castle guards walking over.

"Oh! Hi, Siggy," Frederick replied. "I just got back from the mountains. Have you been looking for me?"

The guard was nearly as tall as Frederick, but had brown hair sticking out from his helmet, and brown eyes, a little darker than Inga's hazel eyes.

"Meibel told me that's where you were. It can wait for later if you're busy right now," the guard said, glancing over at Henry.

"Oh, right! Have you met Prince Henry of Corona? He just arrived this morning. Henry, this is Captain Olsen of the castle guard, but if he likes you, you can call him Siggy."

"Your Highness." The guard gave a quick bow, then gave Frederick a friendly glare that made Henry wonder if he was witnessing some joke between the two..

"Hello," Henry said, sticking out his hand, which Captain Olsen shook enthusiastically, then he started to laugh.

"You should know, Ambassador Meyer has been asking around all morning since the ship from Corona arrived. He thought for sure he recognized the prince's valet coming into the castle, but nobody had seen you, and I have to be honest, the guards decided it was funnier to convince him he was imagining things. I let them. I hope that's not a problem."

"Oh, Ambassador Meyer?" Henry groaned.

Frederick laughed. "Siggy, you'll have to keep Meyer away from Inga at least until the party is over."

"Is that man going to be a problem, then?" the guard laughed.

"Oh, just that my sister thinks he-" Frederick quickly shut up, but Henry was quite certain what he had meant to say.

"At any rate, Captain, if you see him again," Henry offered, "just tell him I got lost on my way here. He'll have no trouble believing that."

The guard gave a quick smile to Henry, then looked over at Frederick again with a grin. "I'll try to remember my instructions."

"Careful if you tell Craig," Frederick interjected.

"He always takes things too seriously," the Captain responded. Henry was wondering if he was missing another inside joke between the two.

"But Siggy," Frederick interrupted in a serious tone, "how is it going for you?"

"Pretty well. Isabel is getting impatient now, and she's really annoyed that the doctor told her not to dance at the party. She was nervous before, but now I seem to be the only nervous one. Halima was perfectly willing to spend the evening with her at home, but she really does want one more social event before, you know..."

"Are her sisters helping?" Frederick asked. "Meibel seems to be over at your house more often than at Hudson's right now."

"I know they're coming and going quite a lot, but usually it's when I'm on duty, so I don't really know how much help they really are."

"Well, tonight I have to be here for dinner tonight, but I promised you dinner at some time, so do you want to meet at Hudson's tomorrow afternoon?"

"That would be good with me!" the guard agreed, "and it was nice to meet you," he added, nodding at Henry. He waved at them as he turned and headed back toward the castle gate and into town.

"Oh, right!" Frederick exclaimed, looking at Henry after his friend had left, looking at him, "I was taking you to your room."

"Right," Henry answered, "but if you'd rather get cleaned up right away, I can find it myself."

"No, I don't mind, and what's this about telling the ambassador that you got lost and he'd believe it? At any rate, it's really not out of my way, anyway," Frederick told him, starting toward the castle again.

Henry hurried along, following Frederick through one of the side doors into the castle, and up some stairs.

"My room is up that way." Frederick gestured toward another stairway as the two walked down the long corridor. "Just in case you need anything. Though I know you didn't come here to see me."


By the time Kristoff returned to the stables, Frederick was long gone. He made sure all the reindeer were settled, and then heard some commotion.

"Your Highness!" came a voice from the horse stalls.

Kristoff looked up and sighed. "Ambassador."

"Um, yes," Ambassador Meyer muttered.

Kristoff knew very well that there was something he was supposed to call him other than "Ambassador" but he really couldn't be bothered. If the man complained again, Anna would most likely politely assure the ambassador that she would have a word with her husband, and then the two of them would have a good laugh later. "Ambassador" was the compromise they had agreed to when the man was last in Arendelle several years before.

The Ambassador was simply standing there. Kristoff remembered that, unlike Kai, who was good enough to simply tell him what he needed to know, the Ambassador would wait like an idiot for the person of higher rank to speak.

"Well, you look like you want to say something to me," Kristoff said, trying not to sound too annoyed. The truth was it was a hot afternoon, and he didn't mind working in the heat, but he did mind having to stand around talking.

"I was wondering," the Ambassador began, "it appears that a ship from Corona arrived today. Would you, perhaps, know who is on that ship?"

"Don't they tell you these things?"

"To be perfectly honest, this kingdom has not yet set up telegraph lines, so their messages are sometimes delayed."

"Well, I can assure you they've been talking about installing telegraphs. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to clean up. Have a good day, Meyer."

The Ambassador nodded, and stepped back so that Kristoff could get through, and as he walked across the courtyard, he could hear Meyer on his horse heading toward the town, most likely to learn what he could.

Kristoff was fairly certain that Prince Henry was on the ship. Inga had been quite guarded about what, if anything, was going on between her and Henry, but it was fairly obvious that she disliked Meyer's attempts the year before to frame her visit to Corona as an attempt to meet the young prince.


Inga's hands were shaking as she tried to get herself ready for dinner. She had bathed, and it had calmed her for a short while, but she had felt like she was still in a bit of a dream state then. Had she and Henry agreed to get married? Or had she just confirmed that marriage was a possibility now? As much as she hated the idea of being the center of attention, she realized that perhaps this was why people had ridiculous spectacles for these things. Everyone involved knew for certain what was what, and couldn't go back without making a scene.

She was starting to feel nervous, and she couldn't imagine eating now, but she also thought she might eat everything put in front of her with the same nervous energy. She didn't feel sick, it was something completely different.

It was still two days until her birthday, and she wasn't sure when Henry intended to ask her parents about getting married. Would he ask them tonight? Now she was feeling a little sick at that thought. Her fingers were shaking too much to finish getting dressed, so she rang for a maid to come help her. She arrived a moment or so later, a young girl, possibly younger than Inga herself, who had just moved in from the provinces.

"You're new here, yes?" Inga asked her.

"Yes, Your Highness." The maid gave a nervous curtsey.

"What is your name?" Inga asked, realizing that it perhaps had come out more brusque than friendly.

"Oline, Your Highness," the maid replied.

"Oline, you can call me Inga, if you like," Inga told her.

"Very well… Inga, I'll try to get used to that," the girl agreed, again with a nervous curtsey.

Inga smiled. "I just need to dress for dinner, but I think I'd like a bit of help tonight, that's all. We should probably start with my hair, though, so it doesn't dry all funny."

Oline nodded and got to work fixing up Inga's hair. As she was gathering the stray hairs around the top of her neck, the maid paused. Inga met her eyes in the mirror.

"Is something wrong, Oline?"

"Oh, sorry," she apologized, "but did you get hurt?"

Inga looked in the mirror at Oline's hands holding her hair and noticed the bruise on her neck. Oline was looking at it, too. A flash of memory flashed in her mind of Henry in the meadow with her in the morning. Then she remembered Frederick's comment. Her brother knew. Who else had seen? She hadn't run into anyone else on the way to her room, thankfully.

"I was-" Inga stopped herself, trying to appear calm as she tried to think of an acceptable explanation. She stared straight ahead, but was met by her face in the mirror blushing.

"If you like, I'll arrange the hair down like this," Oline told her, demonstrating with the locks of hair.

"Yes, thank you, that would be perfect," Inga replied rapidly.

Oline finished Inga's hair, and proceeded with getting her laced into something appropriate for dinner. After Oline left the room, Inga took a few moments to look at herself in the mirror before stepping out the door. She knew what her hair was hiding. She would try not to look as guilty as she felt at dinner.

Inga was still lost in her thoughts as she opened the door to the small dining room.

"Boo!"

Inga barely managed to suppress a yelp of surprise in response to the sudden voice from the corner.

"Sofia, what are you doing here?" Inga asked her eight year old sister, who was laughing hysterically at her joke on her older sister.

"Mama said I could have dinner with the rest of you tonight instead of with Nanny and the babies."

"Oh," Inga said, not sure what to think about this. Normally Inga enjoyed it when her sister joined them for dinner, but she had been hoping there might be some chance for Henry to bring up a serious question. "Did she say if anyone else was going to be here?"

"She told me that Aunt Elsa would be arriving tomorrow," Sofia reported with an obvious sense of pride at conveying news to her older sister.

"Good, I was wondering about that," Inga smiled. "Now, do you think we can surprise the next person who shows up?"

"Shh!" Sofia hissed, pulling Inga aside.

Anton and Peder walked through the door.

"Hello, Inga, hello, Sofia," Anton laughed. "Why are you hiding there?"

Sofia groaned in disappointment.

"You two are here early," Inga observed, genuinely surprised. "Where's Frederick?"

"He was with us," Peder explained, "but then that Ambassador from Corona found us, and Frederick took him to the library for a few minutes. I don't know why anyone would want to do that."

Inga nodded. A moment later, she heard the voice of the new maid, Oline, directing someone to the dining room.

"Which room?" she heard Henry asking.

Inga stepped out into the hall. "This one!" she called out.

"Oh! There you are!" Henry laughed.

"Thank you, Oline," Inga told the maid, who curtseyed to both her and Henry before going off to get some more work done.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get lost. I was almost here, but I saw Frederick in one room, but he waved at me to go a different direction, and-"

"Ha! I think he'd found Ambasador Meyer, and didn't want him to see you."

Henry chuckled a little, but as he took Inga's hand, she could feel it shaking a little. "So… who else is here?"

"I forget if you've met Anton and Peder, or Sofia, but come on in." Inga gently pulled him in.


"You know we didn't actually have to invite him tonight, if you're uncomfortable with the idea," Anna muttered to Kristoff as they walked down the hall to dinner.

"If he's serious, it would be rude to leave him to fend for himself, and if he's not serious, well-"

"Well, at any rate," Anna interrupted, "I suppose we could have invited someone innocuous from one of the other countries that's visiting to make it feel a little less..."

Kristoff looked at her, his eyebrows raised, waiting for what his wife intended to say next.

She let out a sigh. "That's not happening tonight, anyway. I told Sofia she could come to dinner tonight, so any chance of having a serious dinner is probably gone."

"It's just as well. I'm curious to see what he's like without a lot of other people around or a formal agenda. Any official guests would turn it into yet another state dinner."

"That's a good point," Anna chuckled. "He doesn't seem to… well, I won't say anything, but we can see if he's better or worse, I guess. Frederick doesn't seem to have anything bad to say about him, so there's that, at least, and the ambassador hasn't been invited to dinner, so we have that to be thankful for."

"Frederick was telling me that he's going to let Henry borrow his horse while he's visiting."

"Really? Inga didn't tell me she had plans like that."

"Well, Frederick will be with them," Kristoff shrugged.

"Yes, make sure they have a chaperone," Anna chuckled before letting out a sigh.

"I guess that's what you could call him, then," Kristoff laughed.

Anna paused and looked out a nearby window at nothing in particular. "Do you think we've let her have a little too much time to herself?"

"What do you mean?" Kristoff asked, suddenly wondering if he should be more concerned.

"It's just- well, she knows she can come to us at any time, but I worry that she's gotten used to doing things without… I don't know… without asking? It's not that I want her to ask before making any little decision, but I wish I could feel more useful as her mother… I don't know if I'm making any sense."

Kristoff squeezed Anna's shoulder as they walked along. "I think I know what you mean."

"I'll talk to her tomorrow," Anna promised, "at any rate, I'll try."

Kristoff nodded.


Inga had reminded Henry about which siblings were which on the walk to the dining room, and he pretended that he had forgotten so that she could keep talking. The younger children had their dinner in the nursery, but even so, it felt very chaotic compared to what Henry was used to with a small family dinner. He quickly got separated from Inga by her sister Sofia, who was certain that she had very important things to tell her.

Frederick was discussing something with the steward, so the twins, Anton and Peder, had caught Henry up in a conversation.

"I remember when you were here in the fall!" Anton said. "I'm surprised you're back, because I thought Inga hated you."

"Wait, what?" Henry replied.

"No, Anton," his brother interrupted, "He's from Corona, not Maldonia. It was the one from Maldonia that she hated."

"Oh, sorry," Anton apologized. "Wait, you're from Corona?"

"Yes?" Henry said, not sure how this conversation was supposed to go.

"Is it true about the queen there?"

"Anton," his brother hissed, "remember what Frederick told us?"

"Oh, sorry, right."

Peder looked like he was trying to remember something.

"You have a sister, right?" Peder finally asked.

"Yes, I do, but she's traveling for a wedding this month," Henry explained.

"Oh, Hilde?" Frederick asked, coming back to join them. "Where is the wedding? Didn't you say Bielsko?"

"That's the place," Henry confirmed.

"Where is that?" Anton asked.

"It's a duchy in Silesia, I think," Peder tried to whisper.

"Is that the duke who Inga has to write to because everything has to be in Latin?" Anton asked.

"No, that's… Frederick, where is that one?"

"Hungary," Frederick replied. "I think I heard someone say he sent his grandson here. We should try to meet him tomorrow."

"How many people are coming?" Henry asked.

"Too many for Inga," Peder snorted.

"Anyway," Frederick said, "I think I'll check if Mother and Father are on their way."

"Are we going to have to have dinner with every visiting prince?" Anton asked his brother.

"What?" Henry asked. He knew Inga had complained about how many foreign dignitaries her mother had ended up inviting, but she evidently hadn't told her younger brothers. Not that she needed to, of course. Perhaps he could bring it up with her parents after dinner.


They walked in silence the remaining short distance to the family dining room. They could hear lots of noisy talking and laughter coming from the room, and stopped outside the door and looked at each other, wondering what they would find inside.

"Mother! Father!" Frederick called as they walked in, nearly having to shout over the continuing conversation the twins were having with Prince Henry and Sofia's simultaneous conversation with Inga who was sitting in the corner.

Inga looked up, giving a light nudge to her sister Sofia, who looked up and went to sit down at the table. Inga slowly stood up, looking slightly flustered and biting her lip.

"Oh, here they are. I told you they'd be here soon," Anton exclaimed to his twin brother. Peder shrugged, clearly not actually interested in arguing the point.

Kristoff had remembered Prince Henry looking about the same, except in the fall, he had seemed a little more confident, at least what little he had seen of him. Perhaps it was the formality of the dinner where he had seen him before, he couldn't be sure. At the moment Prince Henry looked like he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be introduced before saying something, and was looking around for some hint. Inga walked over to them, though looked at her brother Frederick to see if he would possibly save her some of the awkwardness.

"Oh!" Frederick laughed, "Sorry, Henry, did you meet our parents before? Mother, Father, you remember Henry? He was here last fall, of course."

"Of course, Frederick," Anna smiled, turning to Prince Henry, "it's very nice to see you again. I hope your parents are well."

"They are, thank you," he replied, bowing slightly. Inga had stopped nearby, looking nervous and flushed. Henry glanced her way.

"Should we ring for dinner?" Inga asked, looking directly at Kristoff.


No one had sat down yet, so Inga sat next to her mother near the end of the table, since that was where she usually sat when there were guests. Henry stood a moment longer, looking at Frederick to see where he would sit.

Inga caught a glance from her mother, and stood back up. This wasn't exactly a formal dinner, but there was a guest, and her mother still felt some need to follow protocol. With the council's indecision, if they were going by official rank, Inga needed to be at the other end of the table. Henry was second in line, while she was behind everyone except for her sister Sofia.

"Henry, why don't you sit here?" she suggested.

He came over and stood looking expectantly for where she would sit. She was about to sit down next to him, when Sofia grabbed her arm.

"Inga!" her sister exclaimed much too loudly, "I learned about this in etiquette today. You sit next to me down by Papa!"

Inga sighed and followed, looking apologetically at Henry.

The food was brought in shortly, Anton and Peder dominated the conversation, complaining about being made to stay and study instead of going to the mountains, and asking Henry about his voyage. Sofia told Inga about the details of etiquette that she had learned earlier in the day. Inga was trying to think of the kindest way of telling her sister that she had learned all of this years before, all the while trying to listen in if Henry was getting a word in edgewise.

She glanced at her father a few times during the meal, and he seemed to be watching her mother, who was also failing to get a word in edgewise over the twins' conversation.

Sofia had turned her attention to their father, and was patiently explaining to him all the things she had about proper meal etiquette and had been explaining to Inga within his earshot only a few minutes prior.

"...and how is your mother?" Inga heard her own mother asking Henry. The twins had finally gotten sufficiently hungry that they forgot about eating.

"Quite well," he replied, "and my sister sends her regrets, but she had promised to travel to Bielsko some time ago."

"Henry," Frederick interrupted, "I meant to ask-"

"Dessert!" Peder shouted as the door of the dining room opened for the final course.

As they finished the dessert and began to get up, Inga hoped perhaps they would be heading to the library, and perhaps could have a better conversation there. Her mother personally took Sofia off to bed, which Inga hoped would mean a quieter time in the library, but then Frederick and their father both discussed being very tired from their work in the morning, and excused themselves.

Anton and Peder were talking amongst themselves, ignoring everything else.

"So," Henry whispered, "is your mother coming back?"

"I honestly don't know," Inga sighed.

"Because I have to admit I'm quite tired, too," Henry told her.

"Tomorrow, then?" Inga asked.

"If Meyer doesn't find me first," Henry chuckled, giving Inga a quick kiss.

"Good night, then."

"Inga, are you up for a game of chess?" Anton suggested.

"No thank you, Anton, I think I'll be heading to bed, too. Tell Mother I'll talk to her in the morning."