It was a sunny but cool afternoon, and the shadows were already stretching out, the sun starting to settle over the ocean. Kristoff headed out to the stables, much later than he had intended to head out. He had told Frederick that he would meet him after lunch, and while that was true, in a way, the lunch meeting had gone much longer than he had anticipated.

Kristoff couldn't remember anywhere near this much negotiation when he and Anna had gotten married. At the time, he had thought there was a ridiculous amount of involvement from the Royal Council on wedding matters, and it had never occurred to him that it would be so much more complicated now, other than the reasons he thought it should be complicated. It got to him how, during the meeting itself, everyone acted as though this were a perfectly normal situation, not two young people getting married much more quickly than he thought prudent.

But Anna was right; if Inga and Henry both wanted to get married, anyway, they shouldn't delay the wedding. Covering up the pregnancy would benefit no one at this point. This was hardly a cover-up, of course, as everyone seemed to understand what was going on. Hopefully, most people wouldn't be paying too much attention to the exact timing when the baby came. It still wasn't clear where Inga would be living come the spring, and he wasn't entirely sure where she would want to live. Kristoff didn't want to stop her if she wanted to be living away from them now, but he still felt sad about the idea that she wouldn't get to choose.

Some light was coming from the stable, and he could hear Frederick humming something from inside. He knocked on the door.

"Oh, there you are, Father!" Frederick called, looking up. "Did the meeting really go that long, or did you just forget about me?"

"I didn't forget about you," Kristoff laughed.

"So, everything's settled then?"

"No, but I hope that will happen when they meet again tomorrow."

Frederick sighed. "I would have thought everyone would try to speed things up with everything…"

"Well, just because they're getting married sooner doesn't mean they can skip over all the formalities and negotiations," Kristoff said. He was not sure if Frederick actually suspected anything, and he wasn't entirely sure if Inga would have told her brother anything. The two were close, but she often treated her brother like a child still, so she might not have confided too much just yet.

"Good point. Corona is obviously going to want to have some say in their next heir," Frederick said as he finished up with what he was doing and walked over.

Kristoff looked at Frederick, still not quite sure if he was making the point he thought he was.

Frederick stopped right next to Kristoff, and spoke very quietly. "It's going to happen soon, isn't it? It's the only thing that makes sense."

"What do you mean?"

"Inga. She didn't say anything to me, but everything else, it just makes more sense if she is."

"Is what?" Kristoff asked, looking directly at his son. Frederick could play these games sometimes, and he didn't want to be the one to say it first.

"Look, if she's not pregnant, just say so," Frederick said, "don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, though."

"Fine, Frederick, you guessed right, she is," Kristoff told him.

"I wasn't trying to snoop or anything, I just started thinking about it the last few days," Frederick told him, walking aimlessly elsewhere in the stable, obviously not actually intending to do something.

"No, no… I didn't think you were snooping," Kristoff told him, watching his son looking for something to do. "Would you like to go somewhere right now, or were you really planning to shovel the horse manure this afternoon?"

"Oh, um, no. Let's go," Frederick said, going over to his reindeer. "Hello, Olive, let's go."

They went out with the reindeer and rode toward the meadows above the cliffs. The first frosts had already begun at the higher elevations, but it was too soon in the season to find any ice to harvest, even up in the mountains. For now, it was still comfortable enough in the middle of the day on a sunny day like this, and there were hardy plants for the reindeer to graze on while they talked.

"Are they going to the cabin after the wedding, like Lars did after his wedding?" Frederick asked after they had passed the edge of the town.

"What about Lars?" Kristoff asked, wondering if Frederick had, in fact, figured out even more through his time alone with his thoughts the last few days. Had he somehow figured out the truth about Lars?

"Just, you know, they spent some time at the cabin after they got married. Inga and Henry won't have very much time to themselves, either, so I was wondering if they were planning on that, too."

Kristoff sighed in relief. "Yes, I hadn't spoken to them about it, but I think that would be a good idea. I think they'll be heading to Corona the same time you are, at least that was the arrangement people were talking about in the meeting."

"Will you miss Inga?" Frederick asked.

"Yes," Kristoff answered without having to think. "I'll miss you, too, of course."

"But I'll be back every summer," Frederick said. "Inga probably won't get back here that often."

"I know," Kristoff sighed.

"I'm happy that I'll be in Corona and can see her more often, even if I'll miss all of you," Frederick said.

Kristoff stopped, patting Sven, and went over to sit down. He was happy to hear Frederick talking so nicely about his sister, in spite of everything he had come to realize, and a little relieved that he wasn't aware of too much else just yet.

The reindeer picked over some good lichen across the meadow as the shadows stretched across the landscape, and Frederick walked over to where Kristoff was sitting.

"Does Henry get some kind of party before the wedding?" Frederick asked.

"What do you mean?" Kristoff said.

"I know some people do that. One of the officers on my training ship last spring was talking about the party he had the night before he got married."

"What did he do?" Kristoff asked, genuinely curious whether Arendelle's navy lived up to the rumors he had heard about navies in general.

"Mostly they went out drinking. He said it was his last chance for a while to talk to some lady friends of his there, which doesn't make sense, since it's the town he lives in, so he gets back there several times a year."

"Um…" Kristoff was barely suppressing a laugh, and then remembered Frederick was asking about Henry having a party like that. "No, I hope Henry won't have that sort of party. But if you'd like to take him into town after the negotiations are done tomorrow, I'm sure that Halima would be happy to serve dinner to you."

"Oh, true, any other friends of Henry's are probably back in Corona," Frederick said.

"You know what, I'll come with you," Kristoff said. "I haven't had a chance to talk to him since he arrived."

"What about Anton and Peder? And maybe Siggy," Frederick suggested.

"Yes, those sound like good people," Kristoff agreed. "You can ask them this evening."

"We should get going before it's dark," Frederick said. "It's getting to be that time of year."

Henry sat on the bed as the clock chimed midnight. One more day until the wedding, and in the morning, they would meet once more to negotiate the final few things, so the marriage would be all but official. Frederick wanted to take him out to celebrate the night before. He had warned him that it would just be him and his brothers, and their father would be with them, too. Perhaps that was just as well. His mind wandered back to the night before he had met Inga.

Henry looked out over the city from his bedroom window, setting down his sketchbook. A few minutes before he had come up from the servant stairway to avoid some enthusiastic early arrivals to the upcoming Coronation festivities. Tomorrow was his and his twin sister's eighteenth birthday, and hundreds of people were arriving for the ceremony a few days later. Several young ladies from abroad seemed to assume that the point of the event was to compete for the hand in marriage of the heir apparent. He was under no pressure to get married, not from himself or from his family, and his father had warned him not to rush into anything. He'd need to ask Hilde if she was noticing the same thing from any young men on their ride the next day.

There was a knock at the door.

"Henry!" his friend Viktor shouted from the hallway before he even got to the door.

"Hello, Viktor," Henry said as he opened the door. "And, Ulden, you're not hiding very well. I see you behind that statue."

"Markus and Tobias are outside the gate," Ulden told him. "We wanted to keep this low-key."

"Low key?" Henry asked, laughing. "I'm going to be dressed up in a ridiculous costume in a few days, and you're telling me you're worried about keeping things low-key?"

"Well, you seem like a low-key kind of person," Viktor said, slapping him on the back.

"Fine, is this going to be a surprise, then?"

"Well, not exactly," Viktor said, glancing at Ulden, "but we don't want to talk about it here."

"I'll play along," Henry sighed, "just let me change first."

"It won't matter," Ulden smirked.

Henry had a bad feeling about this, but went along as the two grabbed his arms and led him outside and towards the town.

Once they were out on the street, Markus and Tobias joined them.

"It's not far," Tobias said jovially. "The finest in the kingdom, so of course it's near the palace."

"What place is this? Are we getting drinks?" Henry asked.

His four friends laughed in a way that made Henry uncomfortable.

They got to a well-kept building with an unmarked door. Markus knocked on the door, and an older woman opened it.

"Well, hello," she smiled, "and I've seen you've brought someone new."

"You don't recognize him?" Viktor asked, giving his friends a satisfied grin.

She looked at Henry more closely. "Oh! Your Highness! You'll forgive me, please."

"Don't worry about it," Henry said, glancing inside. "Wait, wait… will one of you please tell me what this place is? I have a guess…"

Ulden looked at the others, nodding before he spoke. "Henry, you're going to be eighteen now, so you need to become a man. They can wait til midnight if you prefer."

"I- what? I'm not interested, not like that."

"You Highness," the older woman said rather sweetly, "I have something for every taste, if that's the issue."

"Um… what? Oh! No, um, no thank you, that's not the issue."

Viktor pulled him aside. "Henry, when Tobias said this was the finest place, he meant it. They're all in the best of health, no disease or anything, and if you want to be extra certain, they always have a few who are… I guess you could say never used…"

Henry felt almost sick now. "Viktor, this isn't something I wanted to do, anyway, and you just made it sound so much worse. I'm going home. Good night everyone. Sorry to waste your time."

Henry started walking.

"Henry!" Ulden shouted.

"I said good night!" Henry shouted without slowing his pace. As he returned to the castle, the bells started chiming midnight.

Henry's head jerked up. He had dozed off. He reached over and grabbed his sketchbook from the table beside his bed, but couldn't focus. He leafed through, remembering where he was with each drawing. He looked in the drawers, and it appeared that James had thought to pack his older sketchbooks, as well. He found the book that he had been working through the summer he turned eighteen, the year before when he had first met Inga. He saw a sketch he had been working on the day before his birthday, when he had first seen the outfit he had to wear for the ceremony. It was unfinished, from when he had been interrupted that evening.

Tomas Pincar arrived in the empty dining room where Ambassador Meyer had suggested having a meeting once the first day's formal negotiations were over. The young man he had met the day before was approaching.

"Ah, Good morning, Mr. Pincar, so good to see you again!" he said. "Will His Excellency be arriving soon?"

"Yes, he will be," Pincar replied. "Thank you for being willing to wait for this meeting. As you might understand, the negotiations between Arendelle and Corona are keeping us very busy this week."

"The best things come to those who wait," Mr. Holst smiled."Will the negotiations be finished soon?"

"There is a second meeting this afternoon, to wrap up a few loose ends."

"Interesting, interesting…" Mr. Holst hemmed.

"Will this meeting be on the record or off, for the purposes of your paper?" Pincar asked hesitantly.

"If you can point me in the direction of more interesting sources, I would be more than happy to leave off record anything you or the Ambassador says this afternoon."

"Very well, I will keep that in mind."

Pincar began arranging the table the way that the Ambassador preferred for meetings.

"Tell me, Mr. Holst," Pincar said, trying to keep the room from being too silent. "How did you come to work for that particular newspaper?"

"They were hiring, you know how it is," Mr. Holst said.

"Did you grow up in Corona? Your name seems foreign… but of course, that means nothing."

"I've moved around quite a bit in my life."

"Very interesting," Pincar hummed. "Tell me more."

"I was, in fact, born in Arendelle, and before moving to Corona, we spent a year or two in Wesselton and the Southern Isles. The less said, the better."

"I understand, especially around here," Mr. Pincar nodded.

Ambassador Meyer entered.

"Ah, excellent, Mr. Holst, we meet again!" he exclaimed with a smile.

"It is always a pleasure, Your Excellency!" Mr. Holst replied.

"So," Mr. Pincar said, taking out his paper and pen, "we had, I believe, agreed that this will be off the official record unless we agree otherwise?"

"That is very agreeable to me," Ambassador Meyer smiled. "As always, Mr. Holst, I am happy to let you know what I know, off the record, of course."

The Ambassador sat down at his spot at the table, and Mr. Holst subtly set down a small envelope just to the side on his way to his seat across the table.

The second meeting wrapped up most of the loose ends. Inga and Henry would stay through Arendelle's Yule festival before leaving for Corona, and then she would live there. Anna assured them that they were no longer pursuing the change in succession, so any children would be heirs to the throne of Corona long before they would be in line for the throne of Arendelle.

Inga slipped out of the room immediately, and Henry's grandparents chatted with Ambassador Meyer as they left. Anna noticed Henry starting to follow Inga, but his father seemed to be pulling him aside. Soon, Rapunzel was the only person from Corona left in the room, and she came over to where Anna and Kristoff were standing.

"What are your plans for tonight?" Rapunzel asked them.

"Hopefully Frederick has already talked to Henry about this, but he was planning a small party for him. I'll be going with them."

"Will the boys need chaperoning, then?" Rapunzel asked.

"I hope not, but Frederick is bringing along some of his navy friends."

"Will they also be going to the Naval Academy?" Rapunzel asked. "Because if so, I should meet them."

"I think you'll have plenty of time in the next few days," Kristoff replied.

"I'm happy to hear that," she replied. "It's a bit less hectic to meet here than in Corona, if I'm being honest."

"I've never been there," Kristoff remarked, "But Arendelle is busy enough for my taste."

"And on that note," Anna said, "do you think you should be getting ready for Frederick's event tonight?"

"Yes, I probably should," Kristoff agreed, giving Anna a kiss and nodding to Rapunzel before leaving.

"Well then," Anna said after he had gone. "If you don't have plans, why don't we meet after dinner, then?"

"Henry," Eugene said, tapping on his son's shoulder before he disappeared from the meeting room.

"Yes, Father?" Henry replied.

"We haven't had a chance to talk this week," Eugene hinted. "Let's head outside."

"Good idea," Henry agreed.

They walked along, eventually heading out into the courtyard.

"I don't know how private it is here," Eugene said, looking around.

"Wait, follow me," Henry said, leading his father down to the side gate leading to the shore of the fjord.

"I see," Eugene laughed. "I won't ask how you know about this."

"Um, I…" Henry stammered.

"Let's walk some more. Do you want to talk, or should I do the talking?"

"You can talk," Henry said.

Eugene paused and thought.

"Have you been doing any drawing?" he asked, trying to keep it light for the moment.

"I've been too busy. Or not busy, not me really, everyone else is doing the work. But there's been too much on my mind, I guess."

"Nervous? That's natural enough," Eugene chuckled.

"I suppose you're going to tell me this is why we should have waited to get married?"

"No…" Eugene sighed. "Right, so, your mother and I guessed why the wedding is happening so quickly-"

"I was going to tell you," Henry interjected.

"So, then, last summer?"

Henry's face was red. "It was after her party. She came to my room, I swear, I didn't do anything to make her."

"I never said you did, but I'm glad to hear it. That would be no way to start."

"We didn't mean to let it get that far, but she didn't want to stop and I didn't and-"

Eugene held out a finger to stop him.

"You can stop now- you don't have to explain that much to me. Look, I suppose I should have given you more advice, that's on me," Eugene sighed.

"I know you were married for several years before Hilde and I were born, so I wouldn't expect…" Henry trailed off.

Eugene stared off at the fjord's water lapping at the shore by their feet. He hadn't expected Henry to have thought of that detail of their lives, and he had to admit to himself that he tried not to think about it if he could help it. Things had worked out now, and there was no need to dwell on the past.

"Life is funny sometimes, isn't it?" was all Eugene could think to say.

Henry stood silently looking out at a ship heading out to the ocean.

Eugene let him stare out at the water for a bit. The sun was already low on the horizon, even though it wasn't very late.

"At least I'm glad I didn't…" Henry trailed off.

"Didn't…?" Eugene prompted.

"Oh, um, I was just remembering on my birthday last year, right at midnight, some friends tried to take me to… you know…"

"The brothel?" Eugene asked.

"How did you know that?" Henry asked.

"They asked me beforehand. I told them I wasn't going to stop them if that's what you wanted."

"You knew?"

"It wasn't my idea," Eugene protested. "I just told them I wouldn't stop you."

"Well, I didn't," Henry said. "And that was the day I met Inga."

"I'm glad you knew yourself well enough," Eugene told him.

Henry and his father stood out on the fjord for a while, occasionally talking, with his father giving advice Henry wished he didn't have to hear from him. Henry wasn't sure which thought was worse: if his father's advice was something his mother was involved in, or if it wasn't. There was always something implied in his father's stories about his past. He knew everyone assumed that he would want something similar.

After moving on to other topics, they watched as the sun set, until finally some servants came out from the castle to collect crab traps they had set out on the fjord.

"It's pretty dark out, we should get going," his father commented. "I forget how early it gets dark here in the winter."

"I always forget that you were here during the winter," Henry said. "It- it seems odd that you didn't go with Mother on that tour."

Henry could tell his father was looking at him, but with only some moonlight reflected off the water, he wasn't certain what the look was.

"I should speak with your mother," was all his father said.

They were almost back at the door in the castle wall, and they could hear the servants shouting at each other down at the water.

"Inga told me about Lars," Henry said quietly just before they stepped inside.

"She knows?" his father asked.

Henry nodded.

"Then I definitely need to speak with your mother," he replied, hurrying up the stairs.

Henry decided to go to the library. No one was around, so he walked around the room scanning the shelves. His eyes darted along the titles, some of which were clearly in runes that he couldn't read, but several were in French or German or English, so he looked to see what might distract him for a bit, running his fingers along the spines. He heard the door open and pulled out the book his hand was on.

He turned around and realized it was Inga, alone.

"Hello," he said, and set the book down on the table.

"Hello. Where is everyone?" she asked, looking around.

"I don't know," he replied, looking almost embarrassed. "I came here because I wanted to avoid everyone. Except you, of course. Did you have a good afternoon?"

"I suppose I did," Inga laughed, "Sofia found me right after the meeting, and she insisted I take her and Marie into town to buy some accessories to go with their flower girl dress."

"Are you supposed to tell me about those things? Or is it bad luck?"

"I think it's just my own dress that you're not supposed to see before the wedding. But what are you reading?"

Henry glanced at the table and picked up the book again, examining the cover. "It seems to be a German treatise on constitutional monarchy," he said.

"That certainly seems appropriate," Inga laughed. "Are you actually feeling up to serious reading after today's meeting?"

"Absolutely not, though I might steal the book to read later. I don't think I've seen it at home."

He set the book back on the table and took Inga's hand leading her over to a nearby chair. He sat down, still holding her hand.

"Should I sit over on the sofa?" she asked.

"You can sit down," he smirked.

"Oh, fine," she said, sitting on his lap, "but someone is bound to come in now."

"Then," he kissed her, "you hop up and find that book you were looking for."

"What book-" she started asking as he kissed her again.

"You'll think of something," he smiled, trailing his hand from her cheek down to her collarbone. "Maybe some genealogy of the House of Bielko"

"Just be quiet now," she smiled. "Someone's bound to come in any time now."

"What are you thinking, then?" he asked, looking up at her as she ran her fingers through his dark hair.

"I'm thinking…" she mused, "I'm thinking that I wish we could be done with all this now. I want it to be next week, after the wedding."

"Does it bother you that everyone expects you to live in Corona?"

"I can always visit here. It will probably be easier, anyway," she sighed. "We have to live somewhere, after all, and you've got more extra space in Corona, right?"

"It's not exactly crowded here, what do you mean?"

"Well, it's not now, but Sofia will move out of the nursery in a few months, and then the younger ones will in a few years, and there will be more of us..."

Henry sat back up. "You make a good point," he nodded. "So, what shall we name him?" Henry asked.

"Him? You sound certain," Inga snorted.

"I suppose we should have names for both, shouldn't we?"

"That said, I suppose you should get to decide. When your grandfather was talking yesterday, he was pretty emphatic about the fact that the baby will be heir to the throne."

"I hadn't thought about that. I mean- I had, I'm not a complete idiot, but… recently, you know…"

Inga kissed him. "So, were you named for someone?"

"No one has ever said anything, so I don't think so. Hilde was named for some medieval saint that Mother read about as a child, though."

"Really?" Inga asked.

"Father started calling her Hilde instead of Clothilde pretty quickly," Henry chuckled. "So, what about you?"

"I was called Inga pretty quickly, and, well, I don't remember if there was anyone named Ingeborg or if my parents just liked the name, but still it's the third name. Anna, obviously, is my mother, and Idunna was my grandmother. But Inga was the only name that stuck."

"Oh, how many names do we need to come up with?"

"It doesn't really matter, nobody pays attention to the extra ones, usually, except for anyone who asked you to use it. Anton and Peder have half the names of the royal council members from the year they were born, and I don't think I could tell you what the other names are. Most people stopped paying much attention to me once Frederick was born, and of course, most people outside of Arendelle wouldn't know who you were talking about if you called him Frederick."

"I'd almost forgotten about Frederick's full name," Henry admitted. "Yours I'd memorized very, very carefully. I'd rather not say how long ago that was."

"Really?" Inga smiled at him. "I mean, I knew you managed to remember it when you proposed to me, and I know my full name is on all the official documents, so it would have been on what I sent back for the coronation last year."

There was a knock at the door. Inga and Henry automatically scooted to opposite ends of the sofa.

"Come in!" Inga called.

Hilde walked in, looking at the space in between Inga and Henry, and sat down on the chair nearby.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Hilde smiled.

Henry looked at Inga, but neither of them thought of anything to say just then.

"How was your afternoon?" Hilde prompted.

"The meeting was rather tiring, really," Henry said, though thinking more of the long conversation with his father.

"Oh, so you needed to rest, I'm sure. Especially Inga, I suppose? Wedding planning can be overwhelming, I hear."

"What do you mean?" Inga asked, looking at Henry again, who glared at his sister.

"I don't know, maybe you enjoy all of that, but I've heard so many stories of the bride getting overwhelmed by everything, and that's with more time."

"Oh, um… yes, it is a bit much. I'm looking forward to being done with all of the planning."

"I can understand that," Hilde nodded. "Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" Inga replied.

"For the wedding, I mean, of course," Hilde replied. "I know that Henry told me last summer you had wanted to get married sooner, so I suppose it's nice that you're able to."

"I'm sorry you didn't get more notice," Inga apologized. "I mean…"

Hilde looked at her, then Henry. "You're going to need to watch out for the gossip papers, you know. They're going to be speculating about such a quick engagement."

Henry realized he hadn't had a chance to speak with his sister.

"Gossip papers?" Inga gulped.

"I'm going to have to take a look at the papers here," Hilde replied. "I usually have my maid buy some wherever we go, to get an idea."

"I try to avoid them," Inga admitted. "There usually isn't much in them, anyway."

"Of course not. But, Inga, I'll let you know what I see. They can be quite vicious in Corona, you should be aware."

"I don't think it's quite that bad," Henry insisted. "The essays on the back pages are often very thoughtful. I usually skip past the first few pages."

"Of course you would," Hilde laughed. "You might change your mind soon enough, though."

Inga sat with Henry in the library listening to Hilde's conversation, when she heard a knock at the door. She was about to get up to answer it, but Frederick walked right in, followed by Sofia.

"See, I told you they'd be in here!" Sofia told him.

"Hello to you, too," Inga laughed.

"Henry, what time do you want to go out tonight?" Frederick asked.

"Go out?" Inga asked.

"We're going to take Henry out tonight," Frederick explained. "Father said it was fine, and he's coming along."

"Well, that's nice," Hilde said, looking at her brother.

"When will everyone else be ready?" Henry asked. "And who will be coming?"

"I've got Anton and Peder, and my friends who are going to the academy, and… is there anyone else you'd like to come?"

Henry looked at Inga and Hilde.

"No, Henry, don't look at me," Hilde protested. "And I don't know if Inga is supposed to come along to something like this, either."

Inga smiled. "No, go enjoy yourselves. I'll probably want to get some sleep tonight, anyway."

"Are you going to bed now?" Henry asked.

"Not yet, it's not even dinner time. But why don't you go ahead and get ready to go with Frederick?"

Henry agreed, and stood up and squeezed her hand, saying goodbye without a kiss, which she understood very well seeing Frederick, Sofia, and Hilde all nearby.

"Can I come with you?" Sofia asked Frederick as he followed Henry out of the room.

"I really don't think-" Frederick began.

"I'd like to have Inga show me around the town," Hilde interrupted. "Would you like to help us?"

"Oh, yes!" Sofia said.

Inga walked silently into town with Hilde, who would occasionally ask questions to try to keep some conversation going if Sofia wasn't pestering her with questions about Corona.

"So, Inga," Hilde began.

"Yes?" Inga replied.

"Where does one get a newspaper around here?"

"We always have them laid out in the library, so I've never gone seeking one out," she admitted.

"Meibel buys them at that shop," Sofia piped in, pointing at a nondescript tobacco shop. "Halima likes to have some available for her customers."

"Let's go there, then!" Hilde declared.

In the front of the shop, there were the various domestic and international newspapers that Inga was familiar with, but also several that seemed to contain more pictures, and had very provocative headlines. Hilde went straight for those publications, leafing through them. Sofia looked on curiously.

"Ah, yes," she hemmed, giving a slight smirk, "I'm all but married off to the younger brother of the Duke of Bielko now, according to this paper."

"What?" Inga exclaimed.

"Well, are you?" Sofia asked bluntly.

"I danced a set with him at the wedding last summer, but that was all," Hilde explained, then smiled a bit. "The bride's brother was more to my liking, I must admit."

"This is all new to me," Inga admitted. "Henry hasn't told me about any of that."

"He didn't ask me," Hilde replied. "He can be a bit forgetful sometimes. He didn't even tell me I was invited to your wedding, though I'm sure it was an oversight."

"We've been… busy," Inga said.

Inga wanted to say more, and ask what Henry had told Hilde, or what she had guessed already, but Sofia was obviously listening closely. Hilde raised an eyebrow, and then looked over at Sofia, clearly understanding the difficulty of speaking freely.

"Sofia," Hilde said. "Which papers are your favorites?"

"I don't know," Sofia said. "I haven't looked closely at some of these before. Meibel told me that Halima refuses to have some of them around."

"I see," Hilde nodded.

Inga looked at some of the trinkets on display. She had come into this shop once or twice when helping prepare for festivals, but had never looked closely at what they sold. There were lots of trinkets for sale, which seemed to be for visitors to bring back to their home countries.

"Is this an official portrait?" Hilde asked, picking up a small illustrated card from a rack. "It looks like it's supposed to be your family."

Inga looked at the card. It appeared to be a rough etching of the photograph they had gotten of the entire family the year before.

"I suppose it is," Inga said. "I would hardly recognize it, even though Henry used the original photograph to draw my portrait."

"Did he?" Hilde smiled. "Yes, I think I've seen that photo. He was a bit secretive about it this spring, but I suppose nothing was official then."

"Excuse me," an old woman said from behind. "Are you going to buy anything, or just stand there?"

"Pardon us," Inga said, backing up.

"Oh! Your Highness! I'm so sorry!" the woman exclaimed.

"Don't worry about it," Inga said.

"And congratulations to you!" the woman said with a nod.

"Thank you," Inga smiled. "Hilde?"

"Of course," Hilde laughed, setting down the card and stepping aside.

Inga looked back inside the shop and saw that Sofia had gotten distracted with one of the Corona papers, and whatever she was reading seemed to be more interesting than coming over to join Inga and Hilde.

"Oh no!" Hilde suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Inga asked.

"It's Holst!" Hilde whispered. "He's one of the worst. I think he saw us, and we have to be polite."

"Your Highness!" the man exclaimed, striding over to their location.

"Mr. Holst," Hilde said. "I'm surprised to see you here in Arendelle."

"It's a funny thing, really," he replied. "I've been here before, or, at least, I was born here."

"I was not aware," Hilde said politely but somewhat dismissively.

"When was this?" Inga asked.

"A little over twenty years ago."

"Is that so?" Inga replied. She was about to ask if he knew Mrs. Nilsen, but then thought better of it. "And then you moved to Corona?"

"Yes, though we lived in a few other places, as well," he replied, looking eager to continue talking to her.

"Mr. Holst," Hilde interrupted. "I can fill her in on your background. Why don't you ask your questions and leave us to our walk?"

"Mr. Holst?" Sofia called out from the other side of the shop, holding up the paper. "Like Ludvig Holst in the newspaper?"

"The very same," he smiled wryly.

"Sofia," Hilde said, stepping between Mr. Holst and the young girl, "I think we need to be going now."

"But-" Sofia whined.

"That might be a good idea," Inga agreed, grabbing her sister's hand and following Hilde into the square.

"I like to think I know how to handle Mr. Holst," Hilde whispered in Inga's ear. "But it takes practice."

Eugene walked into the library, which was surprisingly quiet compared to the previous evenings after dinner.

"Where is everyone?" he asked.

"We were just talking about that," Rapunzel replied, gesturing at Anna and Elsa. "Frederick took it on himself to take Henry out this evening. Everyone else is in bed, I suppose."

"I hope they don't misbehave too much," Eugene chuckled.

"Kristoff is with the boys," Anna said. "Or, he'll be in the same room. They're supposed to be at Hudson's."

"I'm a little bit worried, though," Rapunzel added. "Eugene, did you know that Ludvig Holst was on our ship coming here?"

Eugene groaned as he joined them on the sofa. "Yes, I warned Hilde about him the other day, though she seems to know what she's doing."

"Who is Ludvig Holst?" Elsa asked.

"He's one of the worst gossip writers," Anna said. "I'm familiar with his work."

"Worse than that," Rapunzel said, looking at Eugene.

"When he was younger, his mother tried to blackmail me," he said. He suddenly realized that Anna might not appreciate his usual glib telling of the story. "I won't bore you with the rest."

"It might be important to know about him," Elsa said.

Rapunzel took a breath and lowered her voice. "He's about the same age as Lars Nilsen, and… we had been giving particular attention to him and there were rumors… Mrs. Holst knew that we had been in Arendelle around the same time she had, and tried to take advantage of that."

"Oh," Anna said.

"Who is his father, then?" Elsa asked.

"Every single newspaper he's written for is owned by the same man, so I think there's your answer," Eugene said.

"And who is that?" Elsa prodded.

"That's an excellent question," Eugene laughed. "He goes by a pen name and nobody has ever seen him in person."

"And you allow this?" Anna asked.

"Do you stop them?" Rapunzel asked.

"Well," Anna hemmed, "I suppose there's nothing officially against it."

"We've always lucked out," Elsa admitted.

"I can guess why," Eugene smirked.

The sisters stared at him quizzically.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but there are still people who think they're going to end up in a block of ice if they offend you."

Kristoff found Frederick waiting in the hall when he and his friends were set to take Henry out to celebrate. Kristoff was rather flattered that he was to be included, though he would have preferred to stay in for the evening. At one point before they had left the castle, Kristoff asked if Henry's father was coming with them.

"Oh! I forgot about that!" Frederick said, running over to Henry. "Henry, did you invite your father?"

Henry looked surprised. "I hadn't thought about that."

"Should we wait while you get him?"

"Um, I didn't realize he was supposed to come," Henry said awkwardly. "I'm not sure where he is now. I saw him earlier, but I'm not sure where he went. He was looking for my mother when I saw him."

"Would you like me to get him?" Kristoff offered.

"I don't want to bother you with that," Henry said.

"Just forget I brought it up," Kristoff said. He wasn't sure if Eugene would feel offended or not, but Henry seemed to be flustered enough as it was.

After some brief discussion, the boys quickly settled in at Hudson's Hearth, and Kristoff sat in a corner with Mattias, which allowed him to have a fairly pleasant and relaxing time.

Initially, Meibel was sitting with them, listening in, so they tried to keep the conversation appropriate for her. Soon, though, Meibel had fallen asleep, resting her head on Mattias's shoulder.

"I'm going to miss Frederick when he's at the academy in Corona," Mattias said. "I'm happy for him, very happy for him, don't get me wrong."

"He wants his adventure," Kristoff replied. "I'm not sure if Anna likes it, but she doesn't want to control him."

"I can understand that," Mattias agreed. "There's always a risk when people are away."

Kristoff nodded, and they looked out to the middle of the room, where the boys were getting rowdy. Kristoff realized he hadn't told them to limit what they were imbibing, and decided to start listening in at least a little bit.

Frederick's navy friends were putting their arms around Henry, starting to make some comments relating to the rumors that had been circulating after Inga's party the summer before.

Kristoff cleared his throat. "Here, Mattias, let me help get Meibel up to bed."

Frederick's friends looked over, looking like they'd been caught, which, Kristoff thought to himself, they had been.

"I can walk up," Meibel said, sitting up before Kristoff had a chance to carry her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Kristoff apologized.

"Don't worry," she replied, standing up.

She seemed remarkably awake for having been asleep a moment before.

"Good night, Meibel," Mattias said.

"Good night, papa," she said. "Good night, Frederick!"