Note:

Yeah. Never listen to me. I said I wasn't gonna have it but SURPRISE – the OG chapter was way too long and I had to take it to the chopping block. So, here's twenty! Twenty one will arrive whenever it does. This fic is definitely pushing 28-30 chappys, but we shall see.

Disclaimer:

I own nothing. I own this fic, plot, and my original characters. Yada, yada, yada – Frozen is Disney's.

Happy Reading!

-JQ

Chapter Twenty: Discussions and Decisions

[Vennesvurg, Sweden]

Tina and Karl scavenged through the entire castle for a majority of that afternoon, trying to find Lindahl. Tina and Karl ended up finding Lindahl in the middle of a discussion with Arnold, in the middle of the courtyard. The king told Arnold and Lindahl about what he and Tina had witnessed, about an hour ago, in the library. At the news, Arnold and Lindahl knew that this was a bad thing – it was not commonplace for Royal Councils to conduct themselves without the King or Queen. Because Karl and Tina had shared this information with them, Lindahl felt that it was time for them to know about what he had been trying to do with Arnold's help.

Lindahl and Arnold carefully led Tina and Karl down into the room where they had all of their research (or lack thereof) thus far. They shared their efforts of trying to locate the alleged 'treaty' between Botarskal and Vennesvurg about the arranged marriages. They told them that thus far, neither themselves – nor Katla – could locate any information about said treaty. No documents, no meeting minutes, no drafts – absolutely nothing. Arnold added that he and Lindahl started compiling a list of things they had reviewed for Katla, to tell her that they came up with nothing. But now that Karl and Tina had witnessed a council meeting happening with the attendance of the king, they figured that there was more to this mystery than a treaty about an arranged marriage. The four friends then began putting their heads together to try and figure out what was going on in Vennesvurg Castle.

"That doesn't make any sense..." Lindahl said, as he tried to analyze the information that Karl and Tina had just given them earlier. "The council always needs to run things by you before convening."

"And you guys said that you saw Malkvist leading the others?" Arnold asked. Tina and Karl both nodded in unison.

"Right," Karl confirmed, "I don't know if he was actually leading the meeting, but he was the first to leave out of all the attendees."

"He's your Royal Advisor, right?" Tina inquired. Karl just nodded.

"He used to be my father's advisor." Karl told her, "But of course, dad died so now Malkvist is my advisor."

Tina just shook her head. "That guy looks so ancient." she noted, thinking of the Advisor's rugged and cold appearance. He looked much older than her father and certainly way more grumpy. "There should be some sort of rule about advisors and retirement."

At the princess' comment, Lindahl perked up. "Wait – we do have a rule about that." he said, running over to the king's bookshelf, behind the desk. He scanned the spines of each book before landing on a leather-bound book that said Vennesvurg's Council and Advisory Protocols. Once finding it, he peeled it away from the shelf and brought it to the desk. As he flipped through, Tina, Karl and Arnold just stared at one another. Once Lindahl found the passage he was looking for, he pumped his fist in the air to signify his victory. "Aha! I found it!"

"Found what?" Karl asked, as he walked over to his assistant. Tina and Arnold followed the king's path and they all hovered around the book. Tina was the first to follow Lindahl's fingers on the page, so she started to read aloud for the others.

"...should any member of the royal council exceed two consecutive terms..." she began carefully, "... 'consecutive' meaning immediately prior or after, and 'terms' meaning a king or queen's reign...said member must cede their position to a successor..."

Arnold then continued, as he was closest to the next page. "...should a member fail to choose a successor before the next term's coronation, a successor shall be appointed by the next term's reign within 35 days of the coronation."

"Do we know when Malkvist's term began?" Karl asked Lindahl. The blonde man hummed and began to think. He, himself, had no idea. For as long as he had known Karl, he had known the advisor. Lindahl shook his head at the king.

"Sorry, Karl." he said, "I have no idea how long Malkvist has worked for your family's council."

"There's gotta be some sort of record of it, someplace." Arnold thought out loud.

"I know that my father kept a ledger of his councilmen." Tina stated, "Although...I'm not sure if we have a similar reason to keep track of their appointments. But we can try to look."

"Okay then," Lindahl agreed, "let's split up and check for records. I'll head to the archives with Arnold, while Tina and Karl can check the king's study." nodding, the four adults dispersed in hopes that they could get to the bottom of this mystery together.

...

[Arendelle, Norway]

"You called for me, Queen Anna?" Asked Lieutenant Mattias, as he entered her study. The queen just nodded and beckoned him closer.

"Yes!" she said, gesturing to the chair that was opposite her own, "Please, have a seat." the lieutenant did as he was told and sat directly across from the queen. He watched as she shuffled some papers on her desk. "Okay, I have a question for you."

"Shoot." he said, getting comfortable in his seat. He watched as Anna struggled to get her bearings. He wondered what this meeting was even about.

Anna took a deep breath and then started to explain. "If – say – Arendelle just so happened to be involved in an investigation into another kingdom..." she waved her hand around, trying to get her thoughts together, "...what would that look like? In a political-ish, battlefield-ish way?"

Mattias smiled, silently hoping that Anna never changes. "Are you asking me about the political implications of getting involved in a dispute between two kingdoms?"

The Queen snapped her fingers. "Yes! That."

"Well...if it directly involves Arendelle, then it is warranted." Mattias started, "If it doesn't involve Arendelle...it may look like a setup for the kingdom that's on their own." even after providing his answer, he still had no idea why he was being asked all of this anyway. "Why, Your Majesty?"

The redhead quickly looked around her study, as if she was making sure there was no one spying on her and Mattias' meeting. She got up from her seat and checked behind the window curtains and even peeled back a few books. Was it paranoid? Probably. But Anna knew that this information was too important to muck around with. "Promise not to say a word of this to anyone?" she questioned the lieutenant.

He let out a nervous chuckle; it was honest but her behaviour was a little worrisome. "You are literally the queen, Anna," Mattias reassured her, "you have my word whenever you wish."

"I know – it's still hard to get used to." Anna sighed, slinking back into the seat at her desk.

"I can understand that." He told her as honestly as he could. He hadn't been around King Agnarr, during his reign, but witnessing how King Runeard sometimes lost sleep over his plans and decisions allowed him to peer into the stress-fullness of running a kingdom. Because of this, hew knew that Anna felt the world's weight on her shoulders. Although he wasn't a father, he knew that Anna had viewed him as one over the years. He tried to convey his admiration and pride for her as best as he could. Carefully, he reached across the desk and took her hand in his. "So what's happening, Anna?"

She sighed again, for the millionth time, but having Mattias' hand on hers felt a little better. "So...you're gonna think I'm crazy..." she began, "but I've been in contact with Vennesvurg over Princess Tina's reasons for travel." she observed Mattias' reaction, making sure he was following along. He was as attentive as usual, so she continued. "It all sounded pretty suspicious, so I wrote to Botarskal about it. Apparently, there's no evidence of a treaty that discusses an arranged marriage between King Karl and Princess Tina." this piece of information troubled the lieutenant. He thought that a treaty, about a marriage that would bring about the union of two kingdoms, would have been heavily documented and even made in triplicate. Being an appointed member for the crown, he thought it was absurd that something like this has little to no back-up.

"So...what does that have to do with Arendelle?" the lieutenant finally asked. All this information had to have been for something important.

"I fear that me knowing about the marriage, in the first place, is going to involve us." Anna told him with a grave expression, "As such, Botarskal has asked that I meet with their crown princess to discuss the matter."

Mattias just nodded. "And what did you say?"

"Nothing yet." Anna answered before planting her face onto her desk in frustration. She groaned into the wood of the desk and whined a little. "I just don't want to get it wrong." she cried out. Mattias smiled sadly and got up from his seat. He walked around to where Anna was sitting and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I doubt that you would get it wrong." he told her with as much sincerity as he could muster. "You're a very thoughtful Queen, Anna. We all have the utmost faith in you." the queen looked up at him and smiled – truly grateful for him and his presence in her life.

"Thanks, Mattias." she said quietly, lifting her own hand so that she could place it atop his on her shoulder.

After a moment, Mattias jumped back into his role. After all, Queen Anna had just dropped some very important international information onto him. "So...when is the Crown Princess supposed to make an appearance?"

"She said she could be here within three days, once I tell her she can come." Anna said to him. "She has to stop here anyway, as she and her sisters will be expected in Vennesvurg for the engagement party." Anna rolled her eyes at that. If this whole thing about the treaty was true, then poor Tina had been suffering for absolutely nothing. "Whenever that will be, I guess. Either way, they will be welcome to stay here. I don't have anything against guests, in the castle. Especially if they are Tina's relatives."

"If you are positive about your decision then, I will start alerting the guards." Mattias said, already mentally planning out some things for security as well.

"Yes. Thank you." Anna said gratefully, before pulling him into a hug. "Poor Kristoff..." she said, shaking her head. Before Mattias could ask for clarification, she said: "...he's going to have to wear a neck tie again." Mattias joined the queen in laughter as they exited the Queen's study together.

...

[Vennesvurg, Sweden]

Tina was running mad. She had been looking through what felt like hundreds and hundreds of loose papers. She and Karl had been looking through all of King Oswald's old document folders, within the Vennesvurg King's study (which was now Karl's study). She wasn't typically someone who shied away from research – or reading for that matter – but sifting through the large mass amounts of royal documents, without so much as a single clue towards council member records, was getting quite annoying.

"UGH!" Tina said, slamming a record book closed. She thought that something labelled 'Records' would be something but no. "Who the hell labels a folder 'Records' and stuffs it with notes about meetings with women at a brothel?!" she tossed the offending folder over her shoulder and Karl just watched as all of his father's secrets were being simultaneously exposed and thrown away. There was comedy in the moment, but he didn't laugh as much as he wanted to. They had a job to do.

"Well – my father, certainly." Karl answered, as calm as ever.

Tina groaned in disgust. "Did your mother know about it?"

"Oh yeah. Big time." Karl said, "But he was the King and she was the Queen. She had her fair share of...footmen or...the like." he had a vague memory of his mother insisting that she only had male servants after dinner service. "Ew."

"Well, hopefully we can get to the bottom of this." Tina said, already starting on another pile of more terribly named folders. "I think I'm organized but I'm not organized enough to keep a double life, full of... 'records'..."

"Same." Karl said, laughing at the thought. "I am a terrible liar."

Three pages into a new document, Tina had had enough. "Fuck!" she exclaimed in frustration. "We can't keep looking through these! It's useless."

"But it's got to be someplace." Karl said with a hopeful tone.

"Yeah – not this place." Tina said, standing up and heading for the door. Karl just watched her as she walked away. Before he could question her, she began to bark orders at him. "Come on – we need my handmaiden."

"What?" Karl said, mildly dazed. "Whatever for?"

...

Princess Tina and King Karl ended up tracking Ingrid down, as she was leaving the kitchens. She was just leaving, after being scolded by the chef for eating too much cheese and grapes. Once they found her, Tina told her about the 'treaty' conspiracy and how they had growing suspicions about Malkvist. Ingrid smirked, knowing exactly what Tina needed.

"Well, if you're looking for shady dealings," Ingrid said with a roll of her eyes, "You won't find it in the castle docs. You're going to have to gossip."

"Yes!" Tina said with glee, "I knew I could count on you and your sneakiness!"

"Aw." Karl whined, "I'm no good at gossiping."

"Lucky for you, little boy, I am." Ingrid told him with a smirk. "Now get a load of this." she then turned around and pointed directly at Anton, the King's butler, who just happened to also be in the hallway. "Hey – you!"

"Me?" he asked, making his way over to the handmaiden and the young royals.

"Yes – big man. Can you answer a question for us?" Ingrid questioned.

Anton just nodded, still confused. "Certainly."

"What about a few questions?" Tina tried, getting all up in Anton's space. The butler just shrugged.

"Yes – of course." Anton had no idea what was going on, but he knew that if the King and Princess were involved, it was apart of his duty to assist them in any way that he could. Satisfied, Tina backed up and Ingrid began her line of questioning.

"How long have you, like, worked as a butler for Vennesvurg's royalty?"

"Ah, let's see now..." Anton said, tapping his chin with his index finger. He was obviously trying to piece together his own memory. "Probably since Oswald was first crowned – on his 19th birthday." the butler explained, "I, myself, was also 19 at the time." Tina and Karl smiled – this was the best information they had received all day. Ingrid, however, let out a long groan; she was undoubtedly over all of this 'investigative stuff' already.

"Right." the handmaiden said, trying to hide her incoming yawn. "Tina – ask your question. I'm bored." after rolling her eyes, the princess stepped up to start asking her own questions.

"Okay, Anton..." the princess began, "Who was Oswald's Advisor?"

"Malkvist." he said, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And before that?" Tina followed up, "For Karl's grandfather; who was his grandfather's advisor?"

"Hm...I wasn't around then," Anton said very honestly, "but I think Brunhilde knows. She was here before Oswald's coronation." at this piece of information, Karl and Tina let out excited squeals in tandem. Anton and Ingrid did not appreciate the octave that was just used, but they were happy to see the young royals happy.

"Perf." Tina said, grabbing both Karl and Ingrid by their hands. She started tugging them towards the kitchens to find Brunhilde. Before they could round the corner, the princess looked over her shoulder and shouted at the butler. "Thanks so much, Tony!"

"My name's Anton!" he shouted back, only a little annoyed at the nickname. He didn't quite like nicknames.

...

The unsuspecting trio ran through the halls and raced their way to the kitchens. Once they arrived at their destination, they found Brunhilde prepping her work station for dinner service. Once they reached her station, Tina jumped in and began to ask the questions. Thankfully, Brunhilde had a great memory, and was able to recall a lot in her time at the Vennesvurg castle.

"Oh. Well...I may be dating myself, but I started just before Oswald was crowned." she told the trio, in response to being asked who the advisor was before Oswald. "The advisorship was passed over the terms – it was Malkvist, I believe." before they could celebrate, Tina doubled down to be sure about her answer.

"You believe? Or was it so?" the princess asked again. The servant just smiled and nodded.

"It most certainly was," Brunhilde confirmed, as she rolled out some dough on her cutting board, "he was the one who laid out my duties on my first day."

"Yes!" Karl exclaimed, hugging Brunhilde around her shoulders, "Would you be willing to answer these questions, before a royal transcriber?"

The servant just nodded. "Yes of course, Your Majesty."

"Excellent!" Tina said, "Now let's get this information to Lindahl and Arnold." before leaving, Tina returned her attention to Brunhilde and beckoned her closer. "Please keep this interaction to yourself for now. This is on a 'need-to-know' basis."

The servant nodded; her expression becoming rather serious. "Of course, Your Highness." she then let out one of those delightful old lady chuckles, "You don't work in a castle, for as long as I have, blabbering information away, deary." and with one final wink, she kicked the young adults out and continued on her prep work for dinner service.

...

Back in the secret room, down in the Vennesvurg Castle's basement, the trio reconvened with Lindahl and Arnold. They also told Gunn-Britt and she was down for joining their 'anti-treason' brigade, as it would be great to have some tactical muscle on their side. Once everyone was accounted for, they shared their info and talked about how they questioned the castle workers for it because sifting through records was proving to be more trouble than it was worth. It made sense in retrospect – if Malkvist was hiding how long he was to be employed as an advisor, and the council was meeting without the king, surely they would have hid all of the requisite records.

"Great work, guys." Arnold praised, "Even though you had to resort to consulting a devil." he began to glare at the handmaiden. Said handmaiden just shrugged.

"I prefer 'fallen angel', thank you." Ingrid said, sitting on the edge of the room's only table.

"So...what do we do now?" Karl asked, feeling nervous. "I've never had to investigate treason. What do with all this information?"

"We must use force." Gunn-Britt suggested. "I can train you all in combat." everyone mostly ignored her because none of them were the 'fighting type'.

"Well, first, we need to find a way to infiltrate one of those so-called 'council meetings'." Lindahl stated, "They're having them without Karl for a reason. We need to know why that is."

"But how do we do that?" Arnold asked.

"We'll need a spy." Tina told the group. "It's the only way we can get passed them."

"But who can we employ?" Karl said rather anxiously. "Malkvist knows all of us and we aren't exactly great at covert operations."

"I'll write to Katla." Lindahl stated, "Hopefully she'll have a suggestion."

...

[Botarskal, Iceland]

A few days later, Crown Princess Katla received letters from both Arendelle and Vennesvurg. Both letters indicated good things. Arendelle's letter was from the Queen and it illustrated that Botarskal had their full support in figuring out the mystery of the treaty. Additionally, Queen Anna stated that she would love to host the Crown Princess and her sisters, on their way to Vennesvurg. The Vennesvurg letter was from Ethan Lindahl, and it stated that Princess Tina, King Karl, and Ingrid had found a key piece of information about Vennesvurg's Royal Council. It wasn't much yet, but it was promising, considering the abysmal state that their investigation was previously in before. Katla summarized these things to her sisters and they were one hundred percent behind whatever she was planning next.

The Crown Princess felt as if she had enough new information to finally fill in her sisters about what was going on. As such, she called them all into her study to discuss a new plan of action. She showed them the correspondences and the theories that she and Lindahl had been developing. The other princesses were a little cross at Katla being so secretive, but they were just glad to hear that there was a possibility of them preventing their Tina from getting married.

"It says that they need a spy." Rikki said, after reviewing Vennesvurg's letter for a third time. "But they cannot use anyone who is already there."

"Simple," Gilly stated, "now that Queen Anna is on our side, we could use someone from Arendelle."

"Excellent idea." Katla stated, oddly proud of her (Gilly wasn't usually the type who was known for having great ideas). After all, she was the reason that the sisters were not allowed to have skyr unsupervised. "But I won't illustrate the plan in writing for secrecy." Katla stated, walking over to her desk. "I'll tell her in person."

"So who's going and who's staying?" Finn asked timidly, fidgeting with the hem of her vest. Katla sat back in her seat and pondered the thought thoroughly.

"Well, by our laws, I cannot have my immediate successor travel with me." Katla stated, trying to figure out what to do. She smiled, suddenly, realizing a loophole that her sisters would be pleased with. "However...technically, my heir is my son..." she turned around to see Rikki already smirking while Finn and Gilly still sat there, on the edges of their seats. Katla just continued to smile from ear to ear. "...so..." she began, wearing a sly grin, "...who's up for a little family road trip?"