Chapter 1- Arendelle Marketplace. 15 months after the Great Thaw.

Queen Elsa sat contentedly in the marketplace of Arendelle, watching the bustle around her. She loved this time of day, this time of year. The fall air is just crisp enough to tell her that winter (the real winter) will come soon, but the days are still warm and golden. Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf had decided to go on a picnic, (Olaf loved picnics!) so she was alone today except for her guards.

Since the Great Thaw 15 months ago, it had become her habit to spend one day a month in the town, making herself available to all her people to approach with greetings, news, problems, gossip, anything at all they wanted to share with her, in an informal setting. She held formal court, of course, where the high and low justice of the kingdom could be dispensed, and other business of the realm would be presented to her. She felt the need to connect on a more personal level as well. After 13 years of isolation, and the trauma of the Great Freeze, it would have been too easy to stay aloof from the day to day life of the kingdom and her people. She wouldn't let that happen. They deserved better. They deserved to know the woman who ruled them, and she would no longer hide herself from them.

It was late in the afternoon, and the day had gone exceedingly well. Elsa sipped at her tea, considered that it was time to call her guard captain to return to the castle. Something seemed to catch in her throat and she couldn't breathe. A cramping pain struck in her chest. She gasped and clutched herself, trying to speak.

"Captain!" she called out weakly, and collapsed. The guard captain, who was standing nearby watching the people in the square, whipped his head around and saw his queen clutching her chest and scrabbling weakly at the table, then gasping one last breath and becoming still.

"Guards! To me! The Queen!" he bellowed. "Is there a physician nearby?"

Fortunately, they were near an apothecary. A bewhiskered, elderly man in a leather apron ran out to the captain, looking at the Queen. "I am a physician! Bring her into my shop and let me see if I can help!" Two of the guards raised Elsa up as gently as they can, and carried her into the shop.

"Bring her back here and lay her on the pallet!" ordered the physician. They did so. "Captain, keep the crowd out of the shop. You and your men keep watch in the shop, my two assistants and I will do what we can for the Queen."

The Captain nodded and set his men to their duty, while two young women rushed into the back room with the physician. They hovered over Elsa, and the Captain turned to watch the crowd. He was afraid. Was this an assassination attempt? Or just some health problem stemming from the Queen's mysterious ice powers? He clenched his jaw grimly and watched through the door as best he could.

After a few minutes, the physician slowly straightened up and glanced at his two assistants. They looked back and nodded, then brought a linen sheet to the bed, which the physician slowly and gently laid over the Queen. The Captain felt his gut turn to ice. No, this can't be happening. The physician turned and walked to where the Captain stood.

"I'm sorry, Captain, but the Queen is dead. It seemed to be her heart. It just...stopped." he finished sadly and hung his head. The two women seemed to be choking back tears.

Numb. The Captain was numb. He looked at the sheet draped over the body of his Queen, the Queen he had sworn to protect. The sheet didn't quite cover her completely; he could see a lock of her platinum hair, her small crown slightly askew. The physician followed his glance, murmured an apology to the Captain and pulled the sheet up further and arranged it more carefully.

"Captain?" the physician touched his arm gently. The Captain's shoulders slumped, and he nodded slowly as he realized what he had to do next.

"Jorgensen!" he called to one of his men.

"Sir!" came the crisp response.

"Run back to the castle, RUN, I say, and bring back another squad of guards and a wagon. We must bring the Queen home."

He turned back to the physician. "I believe that you will be called to the castle to testify to what happened here. But first, we must bring the Queen back home."

"Of course, Captain. I am at your service.", replied the physician with a small bow.

Within the hour, as the sun was setting, the wagon bearing the Queen started back to the castle. A flag of Arendelle had been added to the linen covering Elsa's body, the crocus that was the symbol of her realm clearly visible. The Captain and his men formed an honor guard, and a small group of townspeople followed the wagon as it slowly made its way toward the gates of the castle in a somber procession. A bell began to toll when they entered the castle gates.

Anna loved this time of year, this time of day. It was a beautiful fall afternoon, and a perfect day for a picnic. Olaf loved picnics. He had talked Anna and Kristoff into joining him on the banks of the fjord. Sven was back at the stable, with a manger full of hay and carrots. Sven wasn't that fond of picnics, so he didn't mind if they had one without him, as long as they brought him the leftovers.

Olaf was "fishing", with a string tied to his twiggy fingers. He giggled as he waited for the bobber to show he had a fish! Since there was no bait on the line (Olaf couldn't bear to hook a worm, and neither could Anna) he would wait for quite a while. That was okay. He just enjoyed the company.

Kristoff and Anna lay back on a soft blanket, the remains of the picnic on a red and white checked cloth. They had finished each others' sandwiches along with dessert and chocolate, and now just rested, replete and at ease. Kristoff felt himself begin to doze. It was almost sunset, after all. He noticed that Anna had fallen silent, and was looking out over the fjord somewhat pensively. "Skilling for your thoughts, Feisty Pants?"

Anna sat up, startled. "Just...remembering."

Kristoff winced and pulled her into a little hug. They were looking out over the fjord near the path from the castle that Elsa had used to flee her coronation celebration. Anna had used the same path to run out onto the ice in search of Kristoff when she was freezing to death from Elsa's magic. Just about 50 yards away, Anna had indeed frozen to death as she threw herself in front of a sword meant to kill her sister; an act of true love that broke the magic and restored Anna to warmth and life. They both shivered a little at the memory. It had been a close run thing.

Fortunately, Anna's bubbling personality wouldn't let her wallow in gloomy introspection for long, and within a few minutes they were both laughing at some little joke, and Olaf joined in to discuss why he wasn't catching any fish!

It was starting to get dark in the shadow of the castle wall, and the evening air was becoming chilly, so they began to pick up the blanket, tablecloth and other picnic gear, ready to return to the castle and meet with Elsa for dinner. Just as they started to walk up the path, the castle bell began to toll. Not an ordinary toll, but a slow, mournful toll. That bell hadn't tolled that way since... her parents' deaths... Anna and Kristoff looked at each other and realized that something was very, very wrong. They dropped everything they were carrying and ran back to the castle, trailed by Olaf.

When they reached the castle courtyard, they saw a somber crowd milling in front of the church doors. Kai turned and saw them, and immediately came to Anna, followed by several other officials and guard officers. He bowed, and said to Anna, "Your Majesty!".

Kristoff stiffened and felt his blood run cold. There is only one person in Arendelle who can be addressed as "Your Majesty", and Kai was too experienced to make a silly mistake like that. A quick glance at Anna told Kristoff that she hadn't caught on yet. He braced himself for what was coming. This was bad, this was very, very bad.

Kai cleared his throat, and repeated, "Your Majesty...Queen Elsa is dead. Long live Queen Anna of Arendelle!"

Anna gasped and the crowd behind Kai chorused, "Queen Elsa is dead. Long live Queen Anna of Arendelle!" She staggered back into Kristoff, nearly falling to her knees.

"No, no, no, no, no this can't be happening. It isn't happening. I won't let it be happening..." Anna's thoughts turned to gibberish, her brain was frozen, her heart is frozen, again. "Not again, please no not again. Elsa, where is Elsa?"

She can't make her thoughts into anything coherent, the courtyard is spinning and it feels like she is spinning; she is falling and she would have fallen if Kristoff hadn't been there to catch her like some sort of crazy trust exercise.

"Anna, what's wrong?" Olaf asked. (Snowmen aren't good at nuance. He doesn't understand why everyone is so glum.)

Anna looked at him sadly. Lowering herself the rest of the way to the ground so she is at eye level with Olaf, she started to explain. Kristoff knelt behind her, supporting her. She suddenly stopped, closed her mouth and clenched her teeth, eyes widening.

Then she screamed "Elsa!"

Getting up, she ran into the church, followed by Kristoff and Kai. They are afraid that her grief has pushed her over some edge of hysteria.

At the front of the church is a bier with a body draped with the flag of Arendelle. Skidding to a stop, Anna drew a shaky breath, reached out with a trembling hand and slowly, hesitantly, tenderly folded the flag covering the body back to see her sister's face.

Anna fainted.