Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; the elements taken from Frozen are obvious, and while this version of Zorro is taken mainly from Mask and Legend, I've incorporated elements of his history from other adaptations. Even the original idea for this fic was inspired by the artwork of shishyoukai on DeviantArt, although I have created my own narrative for it; the artwork only inspired the idea of a certain sister becoming Zorro.

Feedback: Always appreciated

The Frozen Fox

Even if a part of her wondered if she should be taking such pleasure in seeing her grandfather angered, Elsa couldn't stop herself being amused as she took in his reaction to the latest report from the soldiers.

Elsa wasn't sure what had prompted Zorro to start mounting these solo raids on her grandfather's private shipments, but so far there had been no sign that the man in the mask was taking anything that other people would have needed. Her grandfather hadn't even bothered to make official announcements about the raids, which reinforced Elsa's belief that whatever was being taken was something that was only important to her grandfather but was of no interest to anyone else. Her father had been allowed to take greater responsibility for dealing with more general matters while her grandfather took a step back from his usual public business, but Elsa wasn't sure what he actually expected to accomplish. Even if she didn't fully understand what her grandfather did on a regular basis, she felt fairly sure that he didn't have much experience at dealing with that kind of situation, so it wasn't as though he was offering some unique experience.

Frankly, from everything she'd heard when her grandfather thought nobody was present, Elsa was fairly sure she was the only member of the royal family who'd had actual direct contact with Zorro, and she… well, Elsa wasn't sure how to define her thoughts on the man in the mask, but she knew that she likely didn't see him the same way as her grandfather. Where Zorro was an irritant to her grandfather at the very least, and her father seemed to be relatively indifferent, the way Zorro had been so polite to her during their brief meeting in the palace…

Elsa knew that she should think of him as her family's enemy, but she could only think of him as her grandfather's problem rather than an 'enemy'. After all, so far he hadn't done anything that would threaten the kingdom as a whole, and frankly Elsa had found him to be… well, she wasn't sure what she thought of him, but her opinion was generally positive.

It was with that uncertainty of thought in mind that Elsa found herself walking along the docks, taking in the people around her as she thought about the man in the mask. She wasn't sure what he was actually trying to do in Arendelle on a longer term, or his exact reasons for coming to her country in the first place, but if Zorro just wanted to cause chaos there had to be easier ways to do that than this… whatever kind of campaign he was mounting against her grandfather. There was something about Zorro's assaults against her grandfather that suggested some kind of grander plan, but Elsa had no way of knowing who had essentially made the first move.

Am I a bad granddaughter for not giving my grandfather the benefit of the doubt?

She couldn't believe that Runeard would ever do anything to hurt their people, but Elsa felt that there was a difference between a ruler who would do nothing to hurt the kingdom and a ruler who felt he had to do anything to protect the kingdom… and why did she feel an itch at her back when she thought about this…?

"Your Highness?"

"Mmm?" Elsa shook her head as the question drew her out of her thoughts, although she smiled warmly when she realised who was addressing her. "Oh, Miss Menzela; my apologies-"

"It's Anna, remember?" the shop-owner smiled politely at Elsa, shrugging nonchalantly as she fell in step beside Elsa, her simpler dark green dress matching well with Elsa's own dark blue attire. "I hope I didn't disturb you-"

"Not at all," Elsa was quick to reassure the other woman, content to walk with someone rather than continue on her own. "I was just… thinking about things."

"Anything in particular?" Anna asked, her tone casually curious as they fell into step.

"There have been…" Elsa began, lost for the best way to say what she was about to say before she decided to just go with it. "Are you aware of Zorro?"

"Zorro?" Anna repeated with a thoughtful nod. "The name… rings a bell; I have heard stories about that man from back in California…"

"He's from California?"

"The tales… began back there, from what I have heard," Anna shrugged. "I never saw anything myself, but I have heard some interesting stories… of course, America has a few such tales."

"Such as?"

"We can discuss those later," Anna waved a hand nonchalantly as she turned to smile at Elsa. "Right now I'm more curious about the tales you've heard about Zorro right now."

"It's nothing particular," Elsa said with a cool shrug. "There have been reports of him… can I trust that you won't share this with anyone else?"

"If a friend asks me to keep a secret, I will keep it," Anna nodded.

"There are reports of Zorro attacking transport coaches around the country."

"I see," Anna nodded, her expression giving nothing way as she looked at Elsa. "Are the drivers-?"

"Oh, nobody has been harmed," Elsa affirmed quickly. "He only seems to be taking things from the coaches after incapacitating their drivers; he never inflicts any serious damage."

"Good to know," Anna replied with a relieved smile before adopting a more curious expression. "Does anyone know… what is he actually taking from these coaches?"

"Nothing significant, so far as I know," Elsa said, shaking her head as she considered everything she knew about the matter. "Actually, it's the question of why he's doing this that is the problem; we don't know if he's actually looking for anything in particular or… well, I don't know what else it could be."

"That's the problem with the kind of men who choose that sort of life," Anna shrugged. "They choose lives that simultaneously put them in the public eye and keep them out of it; you have to wonder who would do that."

"You think that Zorro is… dangerous?" Elsa looked uncertainly at her.

"I think that it would be a bad idea to get too comfortable around a man who spends his time going around in black in hot weather," Anna noted, before looking around herself and shrugging. "Granted, Arendelle is a bit cooler than California, so the heat is less of a concern, but it takes a strange kind of man to decide to wear all that black and go around exerting himself like that."

"Possibly," Elsa conceded, allowing herself a thoughtful smile. "But on the other hand… it does give him an interesting look…"

"Interesting?" Anna looked at Elsa with a curious smile. "Have you met him before?"

"It was… a brief encounter in the palace a few weeks ago," Elsa noted, surprised at the smile that spread across her face at the memory. "He was… he came by to have some words with my grandfather, and then I… I had a run-in with him when he was leaving."

"I see," Anna said, still looking at Elsa with a cautious expression the princess wasn't sure how to define. "And he was… safe?"

"He was… most charming, actually," Elsa said, hoping that her cheeks weren't as red as they felt as she thought about that brief meeting. "He was very polite, and he didn't… well…"

"Oh," Anna said, her cautious expression shifting to a smile. "Is there-?"

"Not like that," Elsa said, shaking her head urgently even as she wasn't sure what she wanted to say. "I know that he's a criminal I can't trust, but he was… I mean… we have courts to confirm if someone has good reasons for committing crimes; it's not fair to just judge him when he hasn't actually hurt anyone yet…"

"A fair assessment," Anna noted, giving her a polite nod. "After all, he may be a show-off, but he has… done a great deal since he became active in Arendelle; whatever our doubts about him, he's definitely good at what he does."

"Doubts?" Elsa noted.

"Just in the sense that we don't know why he's doing all this," Anna clarified. "I always feel it's important to never just accept anything no matter who told us how things stand."

"Question everything?"

"At the very least, be sure you're satisfied about why someone is doing something; don't just assume you know how things stand," Anna said. "Elena de la Vega spent years unaware of just how corrupt her father and an old friend of hers actually were before they did something to make their agenda clear."

"Elena- your old mentor, right?"

"That is… one way to say what she was to me, yes," Anna said, a wistful smile on her face. "She was almost like a second mother to me even before my own mother…"

The pained expression on Anna's face at that comment made Elsa feel suddenly awkward about the direction of this particular conversation.

"I… I'm sorry," she said, looking around for a moment and relieved when she saw a clock. "Actually, I should be getting back to the palace now; I have a meeting with my grandfather soon."

"Of course," Anna nodded at her in understanding, initial awkwardness forgotten. "It has been… good talking to you."

"The same," Elsa smiled back at the shop-owner. "You have… certainly given me a lot to think about."

As Elsa turned around and walked back towards the castle, she found herself wondering if this particular walk had just left her feeling even more confused than she had been when she started. She'd come out simply to relax and take her mind off her troubled thoughts about her grandfather, and now she found herself considering the idea that her father and grandfather were doing something wrong…

She had always told herself that they were doing their best for the people, but just because they believed they were doing a good job, did that necessarily mean that they were right? Like Anna had pointed out, it was always possible that parents could make mistakes, and while she didn't want to think that her family were as 'corrupt' as Elena de la Vega's (whatever Anna had meant by that), the question was still there…

Elsa was so lost in her thoughts as she walked that she only registered that she was back in the palace when she tried a door and found out that it was locked. A part of her smiled at the notion that coming back to the palace from these walks had become so routine that she could do it on automatic, but that part was pushed down as she heard a conversation from the other side of the closed door.

"…must be dealt with," her grandfather's voice said.

"But is it really worth-?" another voice said.

"This amateur is already proving an inconvenience; it is best to eliminate that inconvenience before it becomes a genuine threat," her grandfather said. "Your men have already proven inadequate-"

"Sire, you are asking me to countenance letting killers into our country to hunt one man-!" the second voice said (Elsa was fairly sure this man was the captain of the guard, but she hadn't heard him enough to be sure).

"I am asking you to permit action to be taken to stop a problem before it becomes more significant," her grandfather corrected. "I am not even asking you and your men to do anything; all I want from you is to… look the other way while my hired assets deal with Zorro."

Deal with Zorro…

Elsa wasn't sure what her grandfather was talking about, but she doubted that 'deal with' in this context meant anything good for the man in the mask. She had no idea what she could do about this latest discovery, or even if there was anything anyone could do about whatever her grandfather had planned, but she was left with the sense that she wanted to do something…

Once again, a part of her regretted how quickly she was thinking the worst of her grandfather in favour of a man in a mask she knew so little about, but the rest of her knew that she was making the right choice. Just because her grandfather was the king didn't mean that he had to be right all the time, and whatever he was planning against Zorro did not sound like it was a good thing.