Note:

Jesus Christ – I'm so sorry this one took forever to upload. I had a last minute panic about how I actually wanted to end this work, and went back and forth with my team (a.k.a. IRL friends) with the format of my last few chapters. In the end, we ended up coming up with something relatively new and (as my friends like to say) 'my style' of writing. Additionally, some stuff went down personally, and I had to take some time to just sit and think things through like someone who is over the age of 25. anyway, I hope you like Chapter Twenty-Three – I'm sorry if it's shorter than the other chapters, but I promise, it had to be chopped down for the next addition. I'm not sure when that will be up, but I promise that this work is not going to be forgotten. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR PATIENCE!

Disclaimer:

I do not own the Frozen Franchise, and its' characters – I only own the plot of this story and my original characters.

Happy Reading!

-JQ

Chapter Twenty-Three: But...and Then What?

[Arendelle, Norway]

Now that Tina's sisters have made their stance on Elsa incredibly clear, it was time for the group to come together and work on a plan of action. Anna called everyone she needed into her study for their first official meeting. Once everyone was settled, Anna gave Princess Katla the 'go ahead' to explain everything she knew about the treaty between Vennesvurg and Botarskal. She was as detailed as she could be with the minimal information she had gathered thus far, with the help of Lindahl. The gist of the treaty was that King Hallgrimur and King Oswald wished to strengthen ties between their respective kingdoms. There was no real timeline for this deal – all that Katla knew was that it was supposed to be a marriage between the youngest children of King Oswald and King Hallgrimur.

"Is that really the term?" Elsa asked, once Katla was finished summarizing all that she knew. The crown princess eyed Elsa quizzically. Although they had seemingly 'aired out' the supposed drama between them after breakfast, she was still showing signs of hesitancy towards the platinum blonde. However, she shook her head – this was supposed to be for helping Tina. She could deal with her negative feelings towards the ice wielder later.

Katla just nodded. "Yes. The advisor of Vennesvurg – I believe his name was Malkvist." she began to explain, "He kept reiterating that the major term between the kingdoms was that they swore their 'youngest children' to one another explicitly."

"I don't really understand that, though." Elsa commented. She was only Queen of Arendelle for three years, but she knew enough to know that it made zero sense.

"What do you mean?" Mattias questioned.

"Well, for starters, Botarskal has been very reclusive for a number of years – even my father described how little we knew about your kingdom." Elsa began, as she paced back and forth in front of Anna's desk. "Back when I was queen, I didn't even know that Hallgrimur had more than one daughter. I only knew when Tina told me so. The only princess that the world knew about was Princess Arnkatla, and only because it's mandatory for allied kingdoms to know the successor of a kingdom when they reach the age of reign." the fifth spirit explained. She remained firm in the notion that the terms Katla reiterated were not sound. "There's no way for any of the kingdoms to know that Botarskal had more than one princess, and it's not contractually possible to make a deal about someone that we won't know will even exist. Therefore, the term 'youngest child of King Oswald and King Hallgrimur' seems grossly inadequate and could be written off immediately." at the former queen's statement, Mattias, Anna and Princess Gilly nodded along – agreeing to every word.

"She's right." Queen Anna said, after hearing her sister's analysis of the situation. "The only way that term could be accurate is if on one hand, they said 'children' in advance, which means it's inadequate. On the other, if they made it recently, there should be documentation of a visit or some sort of other meeting between the kingdoms in the last 18 years."

"But – according to Lindahl and Katla – there is no further documentation." Princess Gilly said aloud, as she sat and tapped her fingers against the arm of the chair she was currently sitting in.

"So..." Lieutenant Mattias began as he moved from his original spot, against the bookshelf, "the reasons we know may have also been made up."

Kristoff let out an elongated whistle after hearing all of this new information. "Dang..."

"So..." Princess Finn said, fiddling with her thumbs on her lap, "...where does that leave us now?"

"The only thing we know for sure is that King Karl's council has been meeting without him." Anna stated, as she finished writing down some notes from what was just discussed. "Lindahl last wrote to Katla, suggesting that we need a spy to infiltrate the meetings."

"That's a good idea." Elsa told everyone, "As the king, Karl can appoint anyone to his council at minimal notice."

"But the main issue is that we will need to send someone that Karl's advisor won't recognize." Princess Katla sighed in frustration.

"We already know that it can't be anyone from Botarskal." Princess Hinrikka added, "The council came to our kingdom to threaten us. Even though father had hidden our identities for years, Malkvist was sure to have made note of each of our faces with his creepy and beady little shark eyes."

"What if it was someone from Arendelle?" Princess Gilly asked. "Surely, we could find someone at the ready, here." there were some hums around the room, but Anna was quick to bring them all back to reality before they made any hasty decisions.

"But it can't be someone of status." the redheaded queen warned them, "Vennesvurg and Arendelle have conferences with one another's councils every year. They'd recognize someone like Mattias or Kristoff immediately."

"So...we need someone they won't know." Kristoff said, tapping his chin in deep thought.

"A commoner of sorts, perhaps?" Mattias supplied, assisting the prince out loud.

"Preferably a man," Elsa supplied with a hearty scoff, "considering how old school I remember Vennesvurg to be." Katla and Anna laughed at the platinum blonde's remark. Vennesvurg's council – and even former king – was quite conservative in their meetings with other kingdoms. Elsa used to think it was some kind of 'small kingdom' issue that men seemed to have.

All jokes about small kingdoms aside, they still needed an appropriate 'spy' for their mission. If they didn't find anyone soon, they'd run the risk of falling victims to the very real threat of time itself. Karl and Tina are supposed to announce their engagement one month before their wedding, which Katla mentioned would be sometime in the beginning of November. It was already the end of October, so everyone needed to think of someone to send and fast.

Before anyone could throw anymore ideas into the brainstorming process, a loud crash was heard from the corner of Anna's study room. Everyone followed the sound until their eyes landed upon Ryder, who was already bent over and trying to pick up the vase that he had accidentally knocked over. Elsa and Honeymaren just shook their heads while Anna grinned almost evilly. She leaned over towards Katla, nudging her to get her attention. Once the crown princess' attention was on the Queen, Anna nodded in the direction of the young reindeer herder with a large smile. Immediately understanding the redheaded queen, Katla smiled just as knowingly.

"S-Sorry, Anna!" Ryder cried out, scooping up the pieces of the vase. Once he gathered up all of the pieces, he stood and looked towards the queen apologetically. "I-I-I'm sorry for being so clumsy – I was just looking at all of the stuff you have a-a-a-and the conversation was getting kinda boring and I –!" upon seeing Anna and Katla's expressions, he began to become wary and nervous. "Why, uh, why are you both looking at me...like that?"

...

[Vennesvurg, Sweden]

A few days later, in Vennesvurg, Anton was minding his own business in the King's study. He was doing his usual late morning duties – dusting the shelves and tidying up the sitting area. He usually always did this before lunch, or at other times when it was unlikely for the King to really need him. As such, he was not expecting anything to come in as he was working. Nonetheless, he heard a knock at the King's door.

"Come in," the butler cried out, still dusting the King's desk. As he worked, in walked a Royal guard with a stack of letters.

"His Majesty isn't in the study?" the royal guard asked, as he walked over to place the stack of letters on the king's desk.

"Nay," the butler replied, "He is taking a stroll with Mr. Lindahl. I assume they will be playing polo after lunch."

"Ah – great to see this whole engagement business hasn't gotten him too stressed." the guard said jovially. Knowing just how stressed the young king actually was about this whole situation, in tandem with what was currently happening with the royal council and Malkvist, Anton did his best to not allude to anything unfavourable in this conversation.

"Yes, it's great to see how he is handling everything so far." the butler praised. At least this statement was true for Anton – he had seen the King grow since he was a toddler. From being ridiculed by his brother and father; being forced to take the throne amidst his family's untimely deaths, against his own wishes; and being forcefully betrothed to someone, Karl had gone through quite a bit in just under two years. Anton was proud, yet also felt immense pain for the weight that the young man had to carry on his own. "He is proving to be a rather strong young man. I hope Oswald is proud."

The royal guard just sighed and shook his head. "You and I both know that Oswald's pride was always reserved for the Crown Prince."

Anton proceeded to release a sound that was a cross between a scoff and a laugh. "Unfortunately."

"Well, at least Karl's got that nice gift from Botarskal." the royal guard said with a wink the butler's way. "I could imagine that a beautiful woman being sent from one of the biggest kingdoms in Scandinavia is a plus for his confidence, if you know what I mean." the way that the guard wiggled his eyebrows indicated that his innuendo would be less than favourable.

Unfortunately, I do, the butler said to himself. Anton wished that he could scoff or roll his eyes – he knew just how crude most men could be and would rather not indulge this kind of conversation. Princess Hrafntinna was certainly worth more than to be the talk among idiotic and sexist men in the guardroom.

"Yes, well, I'll see to it that his Majesty gets to that pile of letters, my good sir." Anton said quickly, trying to rush the man out without being too forceful. With a polite and firm nod, the butler returned to his dusting task.

"Thank you, Anton." The royal guard said, beginning to take his leave. "I'll see you at dinner time!" once the door was closed behind the insufferable young guard, Anton placed his feather duster on the king's desk and began to sift through the mail. He always organized it before Lindahl or Karl took a look at it.

As he looked through the letters, he noticed one that immediately peaked his interest. Quickly, he shoved the letter in his waistcoat's inner pocket before anyone else entered the king's study. Once the letter was secure – and out of sight – he carefully organized the other letters before leaving to find Lindahl and King Karl.

For now, his dusting duties could wait.

...

After about twenty or so minutes of looking for the King and Lindahl, Anton eventually found them. They were sitting on a bench in the castle's courtyard. As he approached them, they noticed him and proceeded to greet him with large smiles.

"Good afternoon, Anton." Karl said happily, "Are you here for me?"

"I've come for Master Lindahl, actually." Anton corrected. "Although, the letter would be of some interest to you as well." the butler then pulled the letter out from his pocket to hand to Lindahl.

"For me?" the assistant asked, as he reached out for it. The butler just nodded in affirmation.

"Yes, sir. The letter is addressed to you from Arendelle."

"Thank you, Anton." Lindahl said right as he tore into it to review the contents. The letter was indeed from Queen Anna, and she indicated that Tina's sisters were in Arendelle. The letter also indicated that they had picked a perfect spy to infiltrate the secret meetings and look for evidence to implicate Malkvist in the sham of a treaty. Lindahl grinned and Karl just watched his assistant intently.

"Well," Karl said, trying to lean into his friend to get a glimpse of the letter, "what does it say?"

"Round up Princess Tina and the others. Now." Lindahl ordered seriously as he stood up from the bench. "Princess Katla is in Arendelle and they have a possible spy candidate for us."

...

[Arendelle, Norway]

About a day later, Katla and Anna were sat in the dining room, prepping their 'spies' for their upcoming assignment. Unfortunately, their choice of agent was proving to be a little difficult. Ryder had never been involved in something even close to 'lying' before. Because of how nervous he was, the reindeer herder ran a multitude of questions and hypothetical scenarios by Katla and Anna in the hopes of getting everything right. Despite his good intentions, his additional questions were proving to be quite taxing on the Crown Princess of Botarskal.

"Okay..." Katla sighed, rubbing her forehead as if she was in physical pain, "...let's go over this one more time." the Crown Princess placed a firm hand on Ryder's shoulder, causing him to only wince a tiny bit. "You will be Erik Vaussen – apprentice to the advisor-ship program in Vennesvurg. That is all you need to say, upon reaching the location." she told him firmly. Once he nodded, she continued, "Remember to go over your role further with Lindahl and Arnold – both of them went through advisor-ships in their youth, and they know the ins and outs of what to expect."

"Yes, okay." Ryder said, "No more questions for you – all questions to Lindahl and Arnold – got it!"

"And Honeymaren?" Katla asked hopefully, "You recall your role, yes?" Honeymaren wasn't as enthused as her brother, so she had little to no questions at this point. She was pretty clear on what she had to do.

"I am Rita Vaussen – Erik's sister." Honeymaren repeated with a slight roll of her eyes, but smiling nonetheless. She was just happy that she could play a part in helping Tina get her freedom back. "I am going to be working as a new maid in the castle and I will follow Ingrid around all the time. All the while, I will be taking note of everything and writing to Arendelle as often as possible."

"Excellent." Katla said, squeezing Ryder's shoulder one last time and patting Honeymaren on the back with her free hand. She then turned to the redheaded queen and nodded positively. "I think our troops are ready, Your Grace."

"Wonderful." Anna said with slight exasperation to her tone. She was also a little winded by all of Ryder's follow-up questions. "And it only took Ryder five times to get it! I consider that a win!"

"Hey – don't complain!" Ryder laughed, pretending to hit Anna with a stern look. "I spent nearly all of my adolescence learning about healing and I still don't understand one bit about remedies."

"Yeah," Honeymaren added, "if something happens to me and he's all I have to lean on – just let me go." at this, Anna followed Honeymaren's lead as they both released hearty laughs. Even Katla managed to crack a smile while shaking her head at their antics.

"Is there anything I can do?" Elsa asked, shyly. She was standing at the doorway of the dining room the entire time, waiting for her chance to step in if necessary. As Elsa began to walk towards the crown princess, Anna met her halfway.

The redhead placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, tenderly. "Elsa – I know you want to help but –!"

"You're entirely too recognizable and your..." Katla said, cutting off Anna, "...your...situation with Tina may compromise our mission." the crown princess then narrowed her eyes at the ice wielder while continuing her statement. "Vennesvurg's adultery laws are some of the most archaic out there. Do not put my sister's life – or yours' – on the line." Katla then pointed her finger into Elsa's chest, to emphasize her point. "You will stay here, or clear your head in the forest. Do not step one foot within the boundaries of Vennesvurg until our plan has resolved. Do I make myself clear?" Elsa understood Katla's strict demeanor about this situation, but she desperately wanted to help out as well.

"But, Katla, I –!"

"Do I make myself clear, your highness?" Katla asked again, a little more aggressively. Elsa sighed and relented as she nodded her head in defeat.

"Perfectly..." the fifth spirit told the crown princess, "...sorry." and with a huff, Katla bowed toward the platinum blonde and stormed her way out of the dining hall. Anna and Elsa watched as the princess marched away.

Taking advantage of being alone with her sister, Anna turned back to Elsa to continue what she was trying to say before. "I know that you want to help and I know you care for Tina, but Katla's right; this is important."

"I know." Elsa said, hanging her head in shame, "I just...I want Tina to know just how much she means to me and how much I regret not being honest with myself." Anna's ice blue eyes scanned her sister's and knew that she was telling the truth. Over the last month or so, Elsa had been steeling herself away from everyone again. But here – and now – Elsa was back to her regular honest self. For this, Anna was happy.

"I know, and you can tell her that after our plan works and she's free once more." Anna said, hugging her sister tight. "And once you have it all sorted out, you and Tina can work on whatever you need to freely, without the arranged marriage hanging over your heads." Elsa gave her sister a small smile at that thought.

"Yeah...I guess you're right." Elsa said, before tugging the redhead in for one more tight hug. "When did you become the smart one?" the ice wielder asked with a smile in her tone. Anna just laughed and held onto her sister.

"I guess when it was your turn to fall in love." Anna joked. She felt the platinum blonde tense, but didn't let her go. "Love makes you do crazy things – including your mind and what you choose to do. It's a weird thing, but you'll get the hang of it." with one last squeeze, Anna gave her sister a kiss on the cheek and pulled away with a smile. "Goodnight, Elsa! I'll see you at breakfast, in the morning!"

As Elsa watched her sister walk away, she reflected on what Anna had just said to her.

Love makes you do crazy things...

Elsa knew that what she felt for Tina was strong. She also knew that Tina had put the word 'love' in her letter, but Elsa hadn't yet made that connection for herself. Granted, she could agree that 'love' could be synonymous with 'romantic feelings' so she guessed that it would have to do for now. She just didn't expect Anna to use the word to describe her situation so freely and easily. No matter – it would all make sense once she and Tina finally had a real talk about what was happening between them. No more dancing around things; no more stress of a marriage looming over them. She couldn't wait to tell Tina everything that she had come to realize, in their time apart, and she desperately wished that she could kiss her with her entire soul.

Love makes you do crazy things... echoed in her head once more.

Grinning, Elsa had a new idea.

Yes.

"Romance makes people to crazy things, indeed." Elsa smiled, as she rushed up to her room to begin her preparations for her individualized plan. The ice wielder knew that she had to be careful; this plan was going to have to be a secret, as no one could know what she was about to do.