Chapter 3 - Initial Contact

The one thing that was becoming increasingly obvious to Elsa as the hours of the morning stretched on was that she was entirely ungifted when it came to the finer points of the art of conversation. While she had little trouble following the multiple conversational threads that had erupted in the dining hall when she and Anna had sat down to breakfast with the dignitaries, actually contributing to said conversations was a different matter altogether. It often seemed to Elsa that by the time she had processed what had been said and formulated a response, the conversation had moved on without her. Or even worse, when the conversation hadn't moved on, she couldn't get a word in edgewise before someone else beat her to the punch, leaving her wholly frustrated.

Anna, on the other hand, had been wholly in her element, effortlessly reading the dynamics of the room and inserting herself into conversations at will. While Elsa had always known that Anna was the more personable member of the Royal Family of Arendelle, the breakfast had ruthlessly exposed the stark gulf between their personalities. In fact, had Anna not quite deliberately created conversational openings for her, Elsa was sure she would have been rendered quite literally speechless for the entire morning.

Not that Elsa minded taking a step back, leaving her far more affable sister to become the conversational focal point and centre of attention. Over the years, Elsa had become aware of Anna's desires to become more than just the second in line to the throne, a princess in a box to be pulled out in case of emergency. During the years of isolation, with the gates of the castle closed, there was little that could be done, especially from behind a locked bedroom door. Now, with the gates thrown open and dignitaries from across the continent at the dining table, it was Anna's time to shine and as far as Elsa was concerned, that was how it should be.

Taking a back seat also allowed Elsa to concentrate on getting through breakfast without any further ice-related mishaps, something she had thankfully avoided. For the entire time she was at the table, Elsa had caught a number of the dignitaries looking askance in her direction, as if expecting a recurrence of the events of coronation night. Despite being the subject of unwanted suspicion, Elsa couldn't really blame the dignitaries for their mistrust. She had frozen the entire kingdom, and had damaged a number of their ships, after all.

However, having averted another accidental self-inflicted diplomatic crisis, Elsa was rather relieved when the entire ordeal was over, with promises to hold private, but informal audiences with each of the visiting parties before their respective departures from Arendelle. While the meetings with the dignitaries had always been scheduled for the days following the coronation, Elsa suspected that instead of re-establishing closer diplomatic and trade ties with Arendelle's neighbours after the years of isolation, she would be spending much of her effort convincing them that she herself did not pose a military threat-in-being to the continent. After all, the last thing Arendelle needed right now was a potentially hostile army at the border.

With this very much in mind, Elsa found herself being led by her spirited younger sister out into the castle gardens, in search of the dignitaries Kai had spotted earlier. In contrast to the magical blizzard that had blanketed Arendelle over the previous two days, the weather had reverted to type, with a gentle breeze blowing over the fjord and the sun sitting high in a cloudless sky. Perhaps, Elsa thought, it was an omen of better things to come.

"Anna, slow down!" Elsa grumbled good-naturedly as she stumbled slightly, having lost her balance as a result of an over-enthusiastic tug on her arm.

"Come on, Elsa," Anna replied, not slowing down even slightly as she skipped along on the balls of her feet with seemingly limitless energy. "These dignitaries aren't going to meet themselves!"

"No, they won't," Elsa offered, even as she quickened her pace slightly to keep up with Anna. "But the dignitaries won't disappear if we get there thirty seconds later, either."

Anna stopped suddenly, causing Elsa to clutter clumsily into the back of her, having been caught unawares. Spinning around, Anna shot an amused look at her older sister, stifling a giggle at the unimpressed glare she received in return.

"What on earth was that for?" Elsa demanded in a slightly exasperated voice, straightening out her dress.

"Elsa, please don't take this the wrong way," Anna started, visibly wincing slightly in anticipation. "But can you at least try to lighten up a bit? You've been doing that all morning."

Elsa's face turned to one of confusion as she stepped back to look upon her sister. "What have I been doing, exactly?"

"You're overthinking everything," Anna clarified, placing her hands on her anxious sister's upper arms before giving them a firm squeeze. "It's not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes you have to just do things, you know?"

"I wish I could do that," Elsa replied in a wistful voice, her mind seemingly far away as she remembered the freedom she felt when she cut loose with her magical abilities near the summit of the North Mountain. Elsa had to admit to herself that unleashing a side of her that had been suppressed for most of her life had felt incredible, the possibilities limitless.

"Elsa?" Anna's slightly concerned voice interrupted Elsa's quiet reverie.

Elsa smiled reassuringly at her sister. "Sorry, just woolgathering. As I was saying, I wish it were that simple, but it isn't."

"Why not?" Anna asked, her eyes full of curiosity.

Elsa could think of many reasons why it was a bad idea to act without thinking. Reasons that included agreeing to marry a man who had fully intended to murder his way to the throne, or riding a flighty horse into the face of a raging tempest wearing nothing more than a flimsy ball gown. However, Elsa said nothing of these, knowing that her sister's impetuousness was also the only reason her head was still attached to her shoulders.

"I'm the Queen, Anna," Elsa eventually replied. "Everything I say, or do, reflects on Arendelle. In fact, when I act in my capacity as Queen, I am Arendelle, legally speaking."

Anna pondered over that last statement for a few moments, before taking Elsa by the arm and leading her through the garden once more, this time at a far more sedate pace. "You may be the Queen, Elsa, but you're not only the Queen."

Elsa raised a questioning eyebrow at her sister. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Despite having ice magic, you are still human, you know. Nobody's going to blame you for having some fun once in a while," Anna pressed her point, before a encouraging look settled over her features. "Least of all, me. God knows you need to live a little."

"I have fun," Elsa insisted, a little defensively. However, even she had to admit that aside from the few fleeting moments on coronation night in which she had built her soaring palace of ice in the mountains, she hadn't really done much that could be described as truly enjoyable since the accident with Anna in the ballroom all those years ago.

Anna rolled her eyes dramatically in response. "Sure you do, Elsa. You were reading some hundred year old manuscript last night, and you called that fun, too."

"That book is actually rather interesting..." Elsa started.

"It's written in Latin," Anna interrupted, raising the pitch of her voice dramatically and wearing an expression of mock horror. "Latin!"

Elsa chortled, amused by the antics of her younger sister. She had missed seeing this side of Anna during the years when they were separated, although she had heard stories from their parents and from Gerda about the mischief in which Anna had regularly embroiled herself. Having heard the occasional bang and crash from the corridor outside her bedroom door, Elsa had found those stories perfectly believable.

"You say that as if I should be freezing the castle courtyard as our own personal ice skating rink," Elsa said in a dry, deadpan tone, shaking her head slightly.

"Actually, that's exactly what you should do," Anna suggested, her eyes lighting up and a smile creeping across her face. "I know you weren't exactly being serious, but it's a great idea. Even if I can't skate."

"It's a terrible idea, Anna," Elsa groaned, rubbing her forehead with her hand. If the people weren't already afraid of her eldritch control over the cold, freezing things for her own personal amusement was almost certain to result in her being run out of town. "I think that everyone would like to enjoy the rest of summer without any more unexpected blizzards."

"Who said anything about a blizzard?" Anna asked rhetorically in response, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. "I certainly didn't. You're perfectly capable of freezing the courtyard without burying everyone in snow, you know."

Elsa worried at her lower lip with her teeth. "I'm not so sure about that, Anna."

"Well, I am," Anna said confidently, shooting a smile at her anxious sister. "You wouldn't be this close to me if you didn't think you could control it."

"I'm not sure I had a choice," Elsa said, looking across with affection at the young redhead before gently covering the hand Anna had placed on her arm with her own. "You can be very convincing."

Anna gave Elsa's arm a light squeeze, acknowledging the gesture. "Can I also convince you about that ice rink?"

Elsa laughed at the hopeful tone in Anna's voice, covering her mouth loosely as was her habit. "You can't even skate, Anna! But if it means so much to you, I will at least think about it."

"You will?" Anna asked in a slightly surprised voice, having expected to be rebuffed altogether. Even with the open gates and Elsa well and truly out of her room, Anna still found it difficult to adjust to the new environment, one where hearing an answer other than 'no' was now an actual real possibility.

"Of course I will," Elsa confirmed, feeling gratified at the surprise on Anna's face. "I owe at least that much to my favourite little sister, don't I?"

"I'm your only sister," Anna groused, sticking her lower lip out in a playful pout. "But you love me anyway, even though I'm not so little any more."

"Of course I do," Elsa admitted, the obvious affection in her voice tinged with slight regret at the casual reminder that she had, indeed, missed seeing her sister grow from the boisterous child she once remembered into the adult she now was. "But can I at least know why you think this is such a good idea?"

"Because you're still hiding, and you shouldn't have to," Anna explained, a little sadly. "I just think that most people... if you gave them a chance, they could come to accept the magic, rather than be scared of it."

"How do you know that, Anna?" Elsa asked in a quiet voice. "Even the castle staff are scared of me."

"I have... faith?" Anna replied, in an uncertain voice. As she saw a disbelieving look cross Elsa's face, Anna continued. "I know, that's not enough. But we still have an Interior Minister, don't we? Can't we get some of his people to find out what the people think?"

"Her people, Anna," Elsa corrected in an amused voice, stifling yet another laugh before continuing. "Out of all the ministers currently serving in the Council of State, I would like to think you would recognise Minister Schmidt."

Anna's eyes widened upon hearing the familiar name of the tutor that had, over the years, given her lessons on Arendelle's laws and traditions. While a kind and fair woman, Isabelle Schmidt had also been a strict disciplinarian during their lessons, something the somewhat hyperactive Anna had experienced first hand many times over the years. "Minister Schmidt, as in Isabelle Schmidt?" Anna asked, seeking confirmation of her suspicions.

"Yes, Anna," Elsa confirmed. "Isabelle is currently serving as Arendelle's Interior Minister. Although taking straw polls on the popularity of the current monarch is not generally one of her responsibilities, I'm sure she could work something out if you asked nicely."

"Are you saying that you want me to ask her?" Anna asked incredulously. "I don't even go to the Council meetings."

"Well, I'm certainly not going to do it," Elsa stated flatly. "If you'd like, I will let Isabelle know that you wish to speak to her regarding a private matter when we next meet, but that's as far as my involvement goes."

"I won't either, if you don't want me to," Anna said, visibly deflating in disappointment at Elsa's reaction. "I just thought it was a good idea."

"It's not a terrible idea, and I can't say I'm not curious myself," Elsa explained in a conciliatory tone. "It's just that if you want to do this, I can't be involved. In fact, it would have been best if you hadn't mentioned it to me at all."

"Wait, what?" Anna asked, clearly confused. "I can't talk to the Council without your permission!"

"Of course you can, and to be honest, it is probably well overdue for you to start attending some meetings," Elsa corrected, shrugging slightly when Anna looked up at her sharply. "You are the heir to the throne of Arendelle, after all. In any case, you will not be addressing the Council. You will simply be meeting informally with an old family friend, who just so happens to be the Interior Minister."

"But why can't you be involved?" Anna insisted.

"Besides the fact that this whole thing is your idea?" Elsa asked, before sighing. "If it were known that an opinion poll was being commissioned by royal decree, days after I panicked and caused a snowstorm in the middle of summer, do you think people would answer honestly? People would deem me the most popular Queen in history out of fear of a repeat performance."

"But you wouldn't do that!" Anna protested.

"I wouldn't, but the citizens of Arendelle don't know that," Elsa explained, shooting a grateful smile in Anna's direction at the show of confidence. "Besides, think about how it would look, Anna. Everyone would think I was stroking my ego."

"Oh, I didn't think of that," Anna admitted, awkwardly tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear and feeling a flush of embarrassment at her lack of foresight. "I guess that if we do this... it would really screw things up for you, wouldn't it? Politically, that is."

"We, Anna? I have no idea what you're talking about," Elsa replied in an airy voice, feigning ignorance, before fixing her younger sister with a knowing look. "But I doubt Isabelle would let you get up to too much trouble. I have a meeting with her this afternoon, so I assume you'll be seeing her directly afterwards?"

Anna grinned at the implicit permission she had received from her sister. "You're the best, Elsa."

As she walked silently alongside her sister, Anna hoped that the results of her planned fact finding mission would come in showing a favourable opinion of Elsa. After growing up in isolation and then having to cope with having her secret exposed in the most public way possible, Anna felt Elsa was due for some good news for a change. On the other hand, if she was wrong and the results came in negative, Elsa didn't technically know that the impromptu straw poll had even taken place, did she?

As the two sisters followed the path around yet another corner, the small pond at the bottom of the gardens finally came into view, and along with it, two of the dignitaries that they were seeking. The two unknown figures were lakeside, with the smaller of the two seated on of the garden benches while the other was scattering food in the wind, resulting in a scene of slight chaos as the resident ducks competed frantically for the tasty morsels on offer.

Anna peered down towards the lake, trying to make out further details of the two figures in the distance. The small, seated dignitary seemed to be a girl with short, roughly cut hair, holding some kind of book or sketchpad. Remembering the seating arrangements at breakfast, Anna definitely remembered seeing her at the far side of the table, recognisable not just due to her distinctive hairstyle, but also due to her young age. At the time, Anna had been disappointed that she had not been able to speak with the only guest that had been around the same age as Elsa and herself, so she was looking forward to putting that situation to rights.

"Those two," Anna said slowly, desperately trying to recall the guest list to in an attempt to identify the two dignitaries ahead of them. Unfortunately, while she could place them as representatives of the Kingdom of Corona, their names remained elusive, lost in one of the darker corners of her memory. "They're the representatives from Corona, aren't they?"

Elsa squinted her eyes in response, trying to get a clearer view of the couple they were approaching. It seemed that her vision wasn't quite as good as Anna's, potentially due to all the reading she had done over the years under the flickering light of her treasured Carcel burner. However, as the figures in the distance gradually came into focus, Elsa could see that Anna was, indeed correct.

"Yes, that's Princess Rapunzel and her companion, Prince Consort Eugene of Corona," Elsa confirmed, a little wistfully as she recalled that the journey home from the celebration thrown to celebrate the return of the long lost Coronan Princess had claimed the lives of their parents. Inwardly, Elsa hoped that the seemingly happy Coronan couple had a much safer trip home across the treacherous North Sea.

"Rapunzel?" Anna asked in a slightly incredulous tone. "As in the lettuce?"

"Either that, or the violet rampion bellflower," Elsa suggested in a thoughtful tone, before her mind turned to her sister's tendency of blurting out the first thing that came to mind while rambling. While what resulted was never deliberately malicious, Elsa was under no illusions that a tactless remark to the wrong person could result in an extremely awkward situation.

"It would probably be best that you don't mention that to her," Elsa added pointedly after a short pause, wincing inwardly at the prospect of Anna unwittingly offending the young Coronan princess with a careless, throwaway comment. "She may not appreciate the reminder that she appears to have been named after a vegetable."

Anna let out a small snort as she stifled a giggle. "I'll be on my best behaviour," she replied, shooting Elsa an amused smile, an expression that was readily returned by the young monarch. With neither sister feeling the need to add any more, they rapidly approached the Coronan couple to greet them, although Elsa felt increasingly anxious about her first official diplomatic engagement with each subsequent step.

"Everything will be alright, Elsa," Anna added in a hushed tone, feeling the telltale minor drop in temperature that signalled Elsa's anxiety. "They're going to love you, you know. And I promise I'm not going anywhere."

While the unnatural chill disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, it had also alerted the Coronan dignitaries of their imminent arrival, with both turning to look directly at the two royal sisters. Having clearly been caught unawares, Anna watched as the petite Coronan princess gasped, her bright green eyes widening dramatically as she frantically scrambled off the bench. Stealing a glance at the book Princess Rapunzel had rapidly discarded in haste, Anna noticed a half-finished sketch of the lake.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting," Princess Rapunzel greeted in a slightly breathless tone, even as she swiftly slipped her previously bare feet into the shoes she had discarded earlier. Looking at her hands, which were still coated in charcoal, the young Coronan princess frowned, before tucking them behind her back and surreptitiously attempted to wipe them on the back of her dress.

"Princess Rapunzel of Corona," the russet-haired princess introduced herself once she had gathered a degree of composure, bending her knees in a curtsey even as her face reddened with embarrassment. "My consort, Prince Eugene," she added after a short pause, gesturing slightly in his direction, causing the Coronan prince to bow as was fitting with tradition.

Given the events of the last few days, Anna couldn't help but notice that the Prince's bow was slightly stiff and awkward, as if he were unused to the traditions of royalty. It seemed authentic in a way, quite unlike the perfectly rehearsed actions of the representative of the Southern Isles, a fact that put Anna slightly more at ease.

"Princess Anna of Arendelle," Anna replied warmly, bobbing a curtsey of her own. Reaching across to place her hand on the small of Elsa's back, Anna gently nudged her forward. "And my sister, Elsa... I mean, Queen Elsa of Arendelle."

"Well met, Princess Rapunzel, Prince Eugene," Elsa added, nodding her head slightly in greeting. "I hope your stay in Arendelle has been pleasant, so far."

"It's been great, really," Rapunzel gushed. "It's so...different from Corona. The town is so peaceful, it's like there's space to breathe and move around without tripping over people every two seconds. The people are so helpful and nice, too, and even though we're just visiting we've always felt so welcome."

The Coronan princess spun on the spot, gesturing first towards the snow-capped mountains that towered over Arendelle and then to the fjord. "And just look at the place!" Rapunzel continued excitedly, having paused to take a breath. "You have a beautiful kingdom, Your Majesty."

"Interesting weather, too," Prince Eugene added, his expression completely deadpan, causing Rapunzel to gasp loudly, before reaching across and giving her consort a solid slap on the back of his head.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel hissed, clearly scandalised, before looking apologetically at Elsa and Anna.

"Hey!" Anna reacted instinctively a fraction of a second later, biting back a surge of anger. As Eugene raised his hands in front of him defensively as he stepped backwards, Anna clenched her fists by her side, wondering whether there was something wrong with every single foreign prince or duke in Arendelle. Gritting her teeth, Anna resisted the urge to land a blow of her own, remembering her promise to Elsa. "What is wrong with you?"

Glancing across quickly, Anna saw Elsa take in a sharp breath as if physically struck, her body stiffening as her blue eyes widened in alarm. For a few brief moments, Anna thought her sister was going to turn and run as she had on coronation day, however apart from Elsa taking an uneasy step backwards, the moment passed without further incident. Sensing her sister's uneasiness, Anna shuffled across slightly, placing herself between Elsa and the Coronan prince.

"It's okay, Anna," Anna heard her sister's quiet voice behind her. "He didn't mean anything by it."

Fixing Eugene with an unimpressed glare, Anna could see the guilty expression on his face as the realisation that his attempt at humour had backfired badly. However, her attention was soon gained by another attempted apology from Rapunzel, her voice breaking slightly. Turning to face the Coronan princess, Anna's temper dissipated immediately upon seeing the mortified look on the smaller girl's face, her eyes glistening a little.

"Hey, it's not your fault," Anna offered gently, forcing a smile on her face, even if it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Does it matter?" Rapunzel asked in a bitter tone, turning away to hide her face as she tried to compose herself. "The Queen's upset, you're angry and... you both have the right to be. Father is going to be so disappointed. He had such high hopes..."

"Hopes for what?" Anna asked, curiously.

"Corona is a small kingdom," Rapunzel explained, wiping her eyes with the back of her arm. "One of the smaller kingdoms in the German Confederation. Most of our trade is within the Zollverein, but Father wants Corona to establish diplomatic relationships and trade routes overseas, too."

"The Zollverein?" Anna asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"The customs union between the German states," Rapunzel explained, before her voice trailed off. Anna watched as Rapunzel paused and bit her lip worriedly, as if debating internally whether to continue. "Until we joined the Zollverein, Arendelle and Corona used to be close partners in trade. Diplomatically too, especially since Mother's side of the family was from Arendelle. But Corona has had some internal problems in recent years, and we became more isolated. And three years ago..."

Rapunzel shrugged her shoulders hopelessly as she paused, yet again, not wanting to dwell on the accident that had claimed the parents of the princess and queen standing before her. "Father had hoped that Arendelle and Corona could start over, again. But I've messed it up."

"Well, you didn't," Anna pointed out again in as reasonable a voice as she could manage, before sending another glare at Eugene. Leaning in and lowering her voice. "Just between you and me, I don't think Elsa is as upset as you think she is."

"She looks pretty upset," Rapunzel stated, stealing another uncertain glance at the Snow Queen of Arendelle, who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.

"I'm not saying Elsa isn't a little sore," Anna pointed out. "She can be a little sensitive about... well, you know. But you'll find Elsa's pretty forgiving. She's nice like that."

Anna turned her head slightly to check on the subject of their discussion, who sported an impassive expression on her face, although she still wrapped her arms protectively around her middle. Raising a questioning eyebrow, Anna was gratified to see a wan smile cross her sister's face in return, dispelling any remaining fears of an imminent magical blow-up.

"I'm pretty sure Elsa's alright," Anna added in a reassuring voice, turning back to face the brunette princess in front of her. Taking a deliberate look up at the sky that she knew Elsa would notice, Anna felt a smile creep across her face despite the situation as she raised her voice slightly. "I think we'd both know if she wasn't."

"I heard that, Anna," Elsa added as she finally moved to stand beside Anna once more, a hint of amusement evident in the tone of her voice.

"That's because you were meant to," Anna laughed, before snaking her arm around Elsa's waist, effectively trapping her in place while also providing some much needed support. "Are we alright?"

Elsa gently placed a hand on Anna's head, causing the younger girl to look up sharply, a surprised expression on her face at the contact. When Anna didn't pull away, Elsa deftly tucked a few loose strands of her sister's hair behind her ear. "I'm fine, Anna."

"Well then," Anna said brightly, turning back to Rapunzel. "Now that's all cleared up, you clearly have a few things to discuss with my sister. Here's your chance!"

Looking up nervously at the queen, Rapunzel was relieved to find that outwardly at least, the pained expression had faded from blonde's features. The anxiety in Elsa's eyes, on the other hand, told her a different story, with the queen seemingly on edge, as if deciding whether to stay or take flight. Taking a deep breath, Rapunzel realised that she did, at least, have a chance to make amends.

"Firstly, I'd like to apologise for... that," Rapunzel started carefully, pausing mid-sentence to look meaningfully at Eugene. "Eugene isn't a bad person, but he often gets in trouble by doing or saying things he shouldn't. Which usually lands me in trouble, too."

Despite herself, Elsa smiled, the sincerity of the Coronan princess having taken her off guard. Clearly, the Coronan delegation were not seasoned diplomats capable of speaking in forked tongues, appearing to promise much while committing to nothing at all. Besides, Elsa knew inwardly that she too had over-reacted to an offhand comment that while ill-advised, was not hostile or judgmental in any way.

Certainly, an off-coloured joke about Arendelle's weather was a significant improvement over being branded a monster.

"Let's not dwell on it," Elsa suggested, finding herself warming to Rapunzel despite their rocky start. "But thank you, anyway."

"That certainly went better than I thought," Rapunzel said quietly, her eyes widening a little in surprise as she let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding as the tension left her body.

Having made the decision to get the remainder of the awkwardness over with, Rapunzel glanced backwards and beckoned Eugene to come forward, lifting her hand from her side slightly as a peace offering. As her consort approached with uncharacteristic caution, Rapunzel shook her head lightly in frustration, before rolling her eyes dramatically.

"Eugene," Rapunzel sighed in exasperation. "We talked about this."

"Look Blondie, you know I didn't mean it like that," Eugene tried to explain, before being cut off by a stern glare and a sharply arched eyebrow, causing him to gulp audibly. Turning to Anna, Eugene opened his mouth to apologise, only to be interrupted by the red haired princess before he could begin.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Anna said quickly, raising a hand slightly as a signal to stop. "Not to this princess, you don't," Anna added, before shrugging her shoulders and smiling encouragingly at Eugene to indicate there were no remaining hard feelings. Given that Elsa appeared to have forgiven the pair, Anna figured there was no reason to hold a grudge herself.

Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, Eugene turned his attention to Elsa. Despite the offense he had apparently caused with his misdirected attempt at humour, Eugene couldn't help but notice that the young queen's expression had softened, her eyes twinkling with amusement. Perhaps he would get out of this whole mess without having his pants frozen, after all.

"Your Majesty, I didn't mean to cause any offense," Eugene said, apologetically.

"None taken, I assure you," Elsa accepted graciously, stepping back as far as Anna's hold on her would allow in order to get a better look at the Coronan prince. "I do appreciate the sentiment, however."

"None?" Eugene asked in a dubious tone, looking questioningly at Elsa.

"Eugene..." Rapunzel warned in a quiet, but firm voice.

"No, I suppose that's fair," Elsa interrupted in a placating tone, smiling when both Rapunzel and Anna turned to face her. While Elsa had to admit that a complete stranger making light of the coronation incident was somewhat off-putting, the fact that Eugene felt comfortable enough to do so was not entirely unwelcome. Now that she put her mind to it, Elsa realised that Rapunzel, too, seemed to be completely at peace with the concept of her having unexplained magical abilities. With that very much in mind, Elsa made a mental note to undertake some further research into the presence of magical people in Corona the next time she had a few spare moments to herself.

"Anna and I had a rather sheltered childhood," Elsa offered as an explanation after a short pause. "We didn't get out much, so I'm somewhat unused to other people poking fun at my expense."

This came as something of a revelation to Rapunzel, who'd spent a significant amount of time amongst Corona's children since escaping the clutches of the captor she once believed to be her mother. An only child herself, Rapunzel couldn't help but notice that even the closest of siblings were quick to tease each other while playing, although such banter was usually good natured and rarely resulted in anything more than a frustrated huff before the recipient responded in kind. Although Rapunzel found it unusual that Anna as a younger sibling was somewhat overprotective of her older sister, she didn't imagine that Elsa would have been spared the occasional ribbing when the situation suited.

"Not even from Princess Anna?" Rapunzel ventured, deciding to probe further.

"Especially not from Princess Anna," Anna admitted with a slight sigh, sensing that the Coronan princess was inadvertently straying onto the dangerous ground that was their years of separation and deciding to answer for both of them. "Elsa and I didn't get to see each other nearly as much as you might imagine."

Anna paused, her face contemplative as she thought back on the years where the closest she could get to Elsa was across the table of Castle Arendelle's dining hall, on the rare occasions they shared meals. During those lonely years, Anna had become more familiar with a certain white door adorned with blue rosemaling than the person who hid behind it. Despite being in reality no more solid than any other door in the castle, that particular door seemed to Anna to be as impenetrable as the famed Fortress of Luxembourg.

During the countless hours that she had spent sitting in the hallway trying to understand why it would open to everyone but her, Anna hadn't realised that the answer had been literally staring her in the face within the rosemaling painted on each of the four inset panels, in the form of a large, neatly stencilled snowflake. Now that the secret that had kept Elsa hidden away was out in the open, the irony of those snowflakes seemed especially rich.

"Or as much as we would have liked," Anna added after a few moments in a far quieter, contemplative voice, almost as if she was talking to herself.

Rapunzel blinked at the reaction of the younger of the two royal sisters of Arendelle to her question, and the sadness that had made itself clear through her voice. Glancing up at Elsa, Rapunzel noticed that while the Queen's face was impassive, her far more expressive eyes were also tinged with regret. Anna's answer had made it clear to that the sisters had been separated when they were younger, although the reason why remained elusive to Rapunzel. Certainly, Elsa's subsequent guilty expression seemed to convey the impression that the elder of the pair believed herself to be responsible.

Thinking back to the aftermath of the argument that had erupted between the pair during the coronation ball, Rapunzel remembered that Anna had seemed as surprised as everyone else at the barrier of spiked ice that had erupted from Elsa's hand. She hadn't been near the pair at the time, but having heard the story from those who had in the hours afterward, Rapunzel had been led to believe that the young Arendellian Princess hadn't even known her older sister was magical.

As far as Rapunzel was concerned, it didn't make sense. How could two sisters live in the same building for so long, with one not knowing the other could create snow on a whim? Not to mention that if the sisters had been separated in order to maintain secrecy around Elsa's powers, what could Elsa have possibly done, that she felt guilty to this very day?

"Well, it certainly looks like you two have mended things between yourselves," Rapunzel offered, presenting an opening for either of the Arendelle royals to take, if they wished. She didn't mean to pry, but she knew that if she didn't get to the bottom of the mystery in her head, it would bother her for weeks.

"Oh goodness no, it was never like that," Anna replied, unwittingly taking the bait, even as her arm tightened around Elsa's waist. However, there was a seed of doubt within her, one that had resided there for the last thirteen years. Even though Elsa's magical abilities were no longer hidden, Anna couldn't help but wonder whether there was something more behind the abrupt manner in which Elsa had effectively shut her out of her life.

Anna craned her neck to look around at Elsa, her eyes questioning. "It wasn't something I did, was it?"

"No, definitely not," Elsa answered, moving quickly to put her sister's anxious mind at ease. "It wasn't your fault, Anna."

After a momentary pause in which Elsa watched the tension bleed out of the eyes staring back up at her, Elsa smiled back, before gently ruffling Anna's strawberry blonde hair affectionately, taking special care not to dislodge the ribbon holding the bun together. "The worst part of it all was having to send you away when you tried to lure me out of my room, knowing that you probably thought I hated you. And just so you know, I always did want to build that snowman."

"Well, you have me back now," Anna said simply, subconsciously leaning into the hand that Elsa had placed on her head. A smile crept across Anna's features as an amusing thought occurred to her. "And you've built me two snowmen in the last three days."

"If you don't mind me asking," Eugene started, his memory having been prompted by the topic of snowmen. "Where is your little snowman? We ran into him after the storm lifted yesterday."

Elsa gasped slightly in horror as she realised that she had forgotten about Olaf, who was most likely walking around somewhere, completely unchaperoned. Mentally cursing herself for her stupidity, Elsa hoped that Olaf had at least stayed within the boundaries of the castle walls, and had somehow managed to avoid the Duke of Weselton and Prince Hans of the Southern Isles.

Elsa couldn't think of a scenario where a living snowman running around the town terrorising the locals would end well. As harmless as Olaf was, he would serve as just another reminder to the people of Arendelle that they had an ice-powered queen on the throne. A presumably unwanted reminder, at that.

"I must confess that I don't know exactly where Olaf is," Elsa admitted sheepishly. "I do hope he didn't startle you too badly. I can't imagine there's any living snowmen in Corona, after all."

"He's a rather charming fellow, actually," Eugene replied, having taken a liking to Olaf during their brief encounter the previous afternoon. "That is, once you get over him being, well... alive."

"And does that bother you?" Elsa asked Eugene, cringing inwardly at how small her voice sounded.

"Not really, no," Eugene stated truthfully. Eugene did have to admit to himself that being the consort to a magical princess who could heal all kinds of ailments at will made a living snowman somewhat easier to accept. However, while Elsa's abilities were now a matter of public record, Rapunzel's were still somewhat of a national secret. A secret that was not his place to divulge.

"That's not really what you were asking though, was it?" Rapunzel piped up in an even tone, reading between the lines slightly.

Anna looked up sharply at Rapunzel, slightly taken aback by the forthright nature of the Coronan princess. "Excuse me?"

"What I suspect your sister was really asking is whether we are bothered by the fact that she is even capable creating a living snowman," Rapunzel explained further, smiling slightly at the way Anna had moved to defend her sister once more, as if on instinct. "Let alone freezing the summer."

"Well, does it?" Anna asked curiously, tilting her head slightly as she matched Rapunzel's gaze with her own.

"No, it does not," Rapunzel answered, before crossing her arms across her chest and raising a challenging eyebrow. "Should it?"

"I don't think so, no," Anna replied nonchalantly, as if the events of the last few days were the most normal thing in the world. "I mean, it's not like Elsa meant to freeze Arendelle. Or me, even. Actually, especially not me..."

"I couldn't agree more, actually," Rapunzel added with a smile after Anna's awkward rambling trailed off. After noticing an uncertain, disbelieving look settle on the young monarch's face, Rapunzel decided to address the queen directly. "Your Majesty, it's not like you did it on purpose. You made a mistake. That hardly makes you the kind of person Corona needs to worry about."

Elsa frowned, her mind instantly recalling the tussle she'd had with the Duke of Weselton's men in the ice palace, moments before her eventual capture. As kind as Rapunzel's words were, Elsa found they provided little comfort. Not with the knowledge that Coronan princess was wrong, and certainly not with the newfound knowledge that there were indeed certain circumstances where she was fully capable of deliberately killing in cold blood.

"Elsa?" Anna's anxious voice broke into Elsa's dark thoughts. "Getting a little cold, here."

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry!" Elsa gasped, snapping back into the present. Quickly dispelling the wind that she had so carelessly conjured, Elsa looked at the Coronan royals, who exchanged a few words between them that Elsa didn't quite catch. "Is everyone alright?"

Rapunzel smoothed down her dress, before meeting Elsa's uncertain gaze with a calm, reassuring one of her own. "We're fine, Your Majesty."

It was with a certain amount of dread that Elsa turned towards Anna, knowing her sister had likely once again borne the brunt of one of her accidental magical outbursts. Yet she found herself looking straight into two wide, teal eyes, as full of life as they were of love.

"I've never been better, Elsa," Anna piped up before Elsa could even get a word in edgewise, beaming up at her clearly anxious sister. As she watched Elsa let out a relieved breath, Anna rolled her eyes playfully, before muttering under her breath, making sure her voice was loud enough to be overheard by everyone present. "Such a worrywart."

Rapunzel couldn't help but let out a slight chortle at Anna's comment, which had caused the face of the young monarch to flush with embarrassment. It was obvious to Rapunzel that Elsa's concern for everyone present had been genuine, which only reaffirmed her opinion that the formerly elusive Queen of Arendelle was not a threat to anyone, despite her undoubted ability to rain icy retribution on anyone who wronged her, or Arendelle itself.

Yet Elsa's uncertain reaction to her previous comment implied to Rapunzel that there were likely to be some exceptions to the Snow Queen's restraint. From what she'd seen unfold on the frozen fjord from the confines of Castle Arendelle, self-defence did not seem to be one of them. After all, Prince Hans had moved to decapitate her, and she hadn't even twitched a muscle. Looking at the two sisters in front of her, Rapunzel couldn't help but wonder if one of those exceptions had strawberry blonde hair.

"I'm a little surprised that you're still here," Elsa broke the silence carefully, still clearly embarrassed at her loss of control. "But I would like to thank you for how very accommodating you have been of my... condition. I'm not so sure the remainder of the delegations will be quite so understanding."

"That would be their loss," Rapunzel replied graciously, dipping her head slightly in acknowledgement. "For Corona at least would like to stand with Arendelle, as we once did, not so long ago."

"The terms would need to be discussed further," Elsa responded in a cautiously non-committal tone, although her surprise at the offer was obvious to everyone present. As much as she had warmed to the Coronan delegation and wanted to grasp the opportunity before her with both hands, Elsa knew that the success or failure of any agreement between their nations would lie in the details. More than ever, Europe was a powder keg, waiting only for its fuse to be lit, once more. The fallout from the Napoleonic wars had given birth to Arendelle itself, born from the demise of the larger kingdom of Denmark-Norway, and Elsa was determined that the young nation she had been entrusted with would not be destroyed by the next European conflagration.

"In principle, however, Arendelle would look forward to re-establishing relations with Corona," Elsa added with a smile, before a stray fact about the Royal Family of Corona floated into her consciousness. "Especially since I believe you are as much a daughter of Arendelle as you are of Corona."

Rapunzel's green eyes widened in surprise, before she nodded in confirmation. "Mother was from Arendelle, yes."

Elsa quickly covered her mouth as she gave a small laugh at the startled expression that had flashed across the Coronan princess's face. "Just something I remembered reading in the Almanach de Gotha. I trust you are aware that this makes you a citizen of Arendelle, by virtue of your mother's heritage?"

"I didn't know that, actually," Rapunzel admitted, her face flushing a little as she dropped her gaze.

"Well, now you know," Anna piped up, her voice as bright as it was gentle. "And on behalf of Arendelle, welcome home."

Author's Notes

Firstly, thank you for all the lovely reviews and PMs. As any writer will tell you, they give a writer confidence that they are doing something right!

This chapter took a long time to write. And re-write. And re-write again... And to be honest, I'm still not completely happy with it - turns out that writing dialogue when there's four people in a scene is difficult, and that I well and truly bit off more than I can chew. That said, it does lay the groundwork for where I do want to take this piece, so I couldn't very well abandon the chapter. I do hope that the next chapter won't take as long, but won't make any promises.

Now for this chapter's explanatory notes:

1. Anyone who's read my other short, Restoring the Balance, will already know what a Carcel burner is. For those who haven't, a Carcel burner is a predecessor to the paraffin/kerosene fuelled hurricane lamps we all recognise today. Before petroleum-based fuels became commonplace, the fuels of the day (likely to have been whale oil in Scandinavia) were too thick to reliably travel up wicks to power a lantern. The more common solution to this problem was the Argand burner, which has the oil reservoir at the top, allowing for a simple gravity-fed system - with the drawback that they were dangerously top heavy and the reservoir blocked the light in one direction. Carcel burners solved the problem by placing the oil reservoir at the bottom, with the fuel being driven up the wick using a small wind-up clockwork pump in the base. These (like all complicated clockwork mechanisms) were expensive, so were restricted to wealthier folk. I'm certain the Royal Family of Arendelle would have owned a few!

2. Anna and Elsa briefly refer to the Council of State in their conversation about Anna's fact finding mission - which is an actual thing. Known as Statsrådet in Norwegian, it is effectively equivalent to the Cabinet in the United States. Cabinets also exist in Westminster Governments, however, a key difference between the Norwegian Council of State and the Cabinet in the United Kingdom is that the monarch leads, and participates in the Council meetings. Any decisions made by the Norwegian Council of State are considered by convention to be those of the monarch, and are known as Royal Resolutions. It is common for the current heir to the throne to attend these meetings, so Anna will need to attend. Eventually.

3. Speaking of the Council, while Norway doesn't currently have a Interior Minister, the position existed between 1846 until the end of 1902, when its duties were assigned to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade, Shipping and Industry. Having been renamed a few more times since, the position is now known as the Minister for Labour and Social Affairs. And they still don't take opinion polls on behalf of the Monarch. As a completely unrelated aside, I may have appointed Kristen Bell's great-grandmother to the position...

4. Rapunzel is in fact named after a vegetable. Opinions vary on whether that vegetable is the lettuce commonly referred to in English speaking countries as Lambs Lettuce, or whether it is instead a reference to the edible flower known as Rampion Bellflower. In the original Brothers Grimm tale, Rapunzel was named after the vegetable by Gothel, as her biological mother had a craving for it during pregnancy. As both the vegetables listed above are known as Rapunzel in German, we don't actually know what the vegetable in question was.

5. Rapunzel makes reference to the Zollverein in her conversation with Anna, which was a real thing, too. In the period of history where Frozen is set, Otto von Bismarck hadn't yet unified the German States into a single country. Instead, there was a loose confederation of independent states known as the German Confederation, which was meant to be an attempt to co-ordinate their economies and to bring the states closer together (somewhat similar to the role of European Union today). The centrepiece of this was a Customs Union known as the Zollverein, which eliminated internal customs duties and tariffs charged on trade between the German member states, while maintaining them for imports from other countries outside the agreements. Corona didn't exist in reality, of course, so I inserted it as one of the smaller, weaker German states.

6. When she gets lost in her memories, Anna compares Elsa's perpetually closed bedroom door with the Fortress of Luxembourg. Known as the Gibraltar of the North, the fortress (actually the fortifications around Luxembourg City) was gradually built over a period of nine hundred years and was said to be effectively impregnable to external attack. The demolition of the fortress (which was a fifteen year undertaking) was a condition of the Second Treaty of London to avoid a war between Prussia and France, although significant remnants still stand and are now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Somewhat ironically, France and Prussia went to war in 1870, anyway.

7. The very existence of Arendelle required me to retcon history. The most convenient way for me to do this was to have the combined kingdom of Denmark-Norway having been broken up into smaller states including Arendelle and the Southern Isles as part of the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, that were governed by the victors of that conflict (also conveniently explaining how Elsa's father ended up with an Iron Cross, which was a Prussian military decoration awarded to soldiers who fought against Napoleon in the wars of 1813, despite Denmark-Norway being allied to Napoleon). In reality, what actually happened was that the kingdom was broken up by the Treaty of Kiel, by transferring control of Norway from Denmark to Sweden. Despite an unsuccessful independence movement, Norway wouldn't become independent until 1905. While I've tried to be historically period-accurate, this was somewhat unavoidable. Hopefully, I won't have to do it again...

8. The Almanach de Gotha was an actual, real publication. It was basically a directory of all the nobility and royalty across Europe, including their lineage and family trees. Some more light reading for Elsa during the lonely years of separation!