1908,
The Garden of Linnea Castle,
Arendelle
"The princess had never realized the strain placed on her sister's marriage due to their forced separation; she had never witnessed it until that moment. She knew they kept in strong contact due to letters and planned visits, but this had been the first time she had ever seen the pain of their parting. Usually, the king left in the early hours of the morning, before dawn and while the rest of the household slept, to avoid the pain of parting from his beloved-"
"But because the children had wanted to say goodbye-" Thyra started, and he nodded.
"But the queen was right, she was the ruling monarch, and the council that would have disposed of her for treason were dead, couldn't she have-"
"You don't abolish laws as a monarch, Alexander." Magda cut her nephew off; the young man turned to her. "It's not that easy, especially laws as ancient and old as that. It takes time- years, really- before any real change can be seen in regards to laws such as that."
"Ancient laws are much harder to abolish or change. They lived with it, and by then, they had devised a strong system that served them well."
"What about the queen's council, Grandpapa? The new council?"
"Men and women sat upon the new council, Una, love. The daughter of the Northuldra, Lord Bismarck, several men and women of various backgrounds- poets, scientists, scholars. The queen wished for a diverse council, who would help her to build Arendelle up instead of tear her down. The ideas she wished to implement to move her country forward were unlike any ever seen before- the right for women to vote in local elections, the unionization of farmers and checks on businesses, the building of ships, which would create more jobs. And those were just the start. The queen desired to expand her reach beyond Arendelle; she wished to create alliances with her distant, faraway neighbours- Britain, the Lost Colonies, even faraway China and the Turkish empire. She wished to create global trade that would greatly benefit not just Arendelle, but other countries, form alliances that would last for centuries."
"Did she do it, Grandpapa?" Ludi asked, awestruck. He glanced at her.
"She did, Ludi. By her twenty-ninth birthday, she had formed alliances with the Lost Colonies of Britain, and exchanged correspondence with several wives of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and even met with the Sultan in eighteen-fifty-five." The children exchanged excited glances. "But that would be jumping ahead in the story."
"Why did she wish to create so many alliances, 'papa?"
He thought a moment; it had been the constant question on everyone's lips when she had first suggested it, and he remembered the arguments that had broken out over such desires.
"- do you even understand the first thing about the Ottomans, Eliza?"
"I know that they are people, just as the Northuldra, just as the Irish, just as we are! What difference does it make in regards to their beliefs? Darling, they are people-"
"The Sultan has a harem, Eliza! A harem! Meaning he has taken multiple wives and has multiple children!"
"You have multiple children!"
"From one woman, not... fifty or sixty or a hundred!"
"Are you really so closed minded to the rest of the world, my love? How can you look beyond the sea your islands reside in and not wish to explore the rest of the world?"
"I do! But I know better than to reach out to an empire half-blind, without any thought to their culture or customs and want to change them!"
"I don't wish to change them! I wish to get to know them and build treaties and create trade and perhaps even an alliance with them! The last thing I wish to do is change them!"
"You insist on meeting with them-"
"When did the man I love turn to hating others so?"
"I don't hate them, Eliza. I worry for you. If you insist on travelling to meet them, then I am coming, regardless of whether you like it or not."
"The king was not exactly happy about her persistence in meeting with the Sultan; but again, that is a chapter we have not yet reached. That will come later. Now, where were we?" Lisi tugged on his sleeve, and he turned to her.
"Right after she'd had the last baby, Grandpapa."
He nodded. "Ah, yes, that's right. Sof, as her family called her. Yes, that was... eighteen-hundred and... fifty, I believe. Yes, eighteen-fifty. The king and queen managed to keep their hands to themselves for a while," Soft snickers from the adults were the response and he chuckled in soft agreement. "Well, a year at least. Which for them, was-"
"A feat." Alexander spoke up and his grandfather chuckled softly, as did the other adults.
"But wasn't it common for couples to have many children back then?" Pia asked, glancing at her parents.
"It was, Pia, because the child mortality rate was so high, due to poor hygiene, poor nutrition-"
"But they were royalty." The girl cut her mother off. "Why were they having so many children if they were royalty?"
"Childhood mortality wasn't just contained to the poor, Pia." Grandpapa spoke up, and the girl turned back to him.
"They lost children, didn't they? The king and queen?"
"That would be jumping ahead, sweetheart." The girl sat back, confused, as he continued. "Now, the princess gathered her courage and worked on building a friendship with Lord Bismarck that slowly blossomed into more, and the children grew. Things settled down in the months after the executions of her old council, and the king and queen were able to get away more, spending time at both Jannicke and Halsten with their family; on the princess's request, Lord Bismarck would join them at Jannicke on occasion. And it was during one such family getaway at Halsten that the queen received a letter."
"Who was the letter from, Grandpapa?"
He smiled softly. "It came from Britain."