Gustav was waiting in the front hall idly studying one of the paintings. He looked up when Torben entered. Before Torben could even open his mouth, Gustav placed a note into his hand.

Torben read it three times before his mind forced him to accept the words.

"Well, fuck," he said.

Gustav nodded soberly.

"Nicoline!" Torben called.

"Admiral," she said.

"Ready the Benevolence. Set a course for Arendelle. We leave within the hour."

Nicoline nodded and vanished down the halls.

"You gonna come with?" Torben asked.

Gustav raised an eyebrow.

"Fair point."

Gustav scribbled something else down on his pad of paper.

Lars is coming with you. I couldn't persuade him not to. Sorry.

Torben sighed. "Why the hell does he want to come?"

He's in search of true love.

"This can't end well."

Gustav snorted. Remember when he met the Princess of Agrabah?

Torben winced. "That tiger was pissed." Then he sighed. "Tell Lars he can tag along as long as he doesn't slow us down. We don't have any time to waste."

Gustav rolled his eyes. It's a week long trip. A few hours won't make any difference.

"First of all, a few seconds might make all the difference. Second, Adella owes me a favor."

Who's Adella?

Torben laughed. "That is a very long story, brother dearest, and I've got work to do."

He turned on his heel and walked away.

In the shadow of the North Mountain, the wind suddenly began to roar. The maelstrom grew and grew until it was nearly a hurricane.

Trees cracked and broke, the river was beaten into a fury, even the face of the mountain began to crumble almost imperceptibly, erosion taking its toll.

Just as suddenly, the winds died.

Anna raced downstairs, barely stopping to fix her hair into something that wouldn't terrify the guests. She couldn't wait to tell Elsa about Hjalmar. Elsa would be thrilled; no one could take a country seriously if it didn't have a Speaker.

Anna was thrilled, too. She'd been waiting for that dream pretty much her whole life.

She rounded the corner into the dining hall, nearly crashing into the wall, but froze when she saw the princes there.

It wasn't that she didn't like them, they seemed nice enough, it was just that they were kinda intimidating.

"Hi," she said breathlessly.

Prince Aleksander smiled at her indulgently. "Good morning," he said politely.

Prince Viggo didn't say anything. He was staring determinedly at the painting of Joan of Arc.

"So, have you guys seen Elsa yet?" Anna asked, trying to sound casual.

"We have not, but she informed us she would be joining us for breakfast soon," Aleksander said.

"Well, um, okay." Anna tried and failed to think of something to say.

Just then, Olaf wandered in. Anna sighed in relief. "Hi guys," Olaf said cheerfully.

Viggo jumped back in shock with a sound probably would have qualified as a squeak if it came from someone less muscly. Aleksander did a double take, then buried his face in his hands. Anna giggled.

"Hey Olaf," she said. "What's up?"

"Oh, not much," he said. "Summer's nice and all, but I'm really looking forward to not having to worry about melting."

"Yeah," Anna said sympathetically, "That's gotta be a pain."

Olaf hummed in agreement. "So who are these guys?" he asked.

Aleksander and Viggo still looked slightly shell-shocked.

"Right, yeah," Anna said, "Introductions! I almost forgot. Olaf, meet Princes Aleksander and Viggo of the Southern Isles. Princes Aleksander and Viggo of the Southern Isles, meet Olaf."

"It's...it's a talking snowman," Aleksander whispered.

"Uh huh," Anna agreed brightly.

"Elsa wanted me to tell you guys she won't make it to breakfast," Olaf said. "She has some trade agreement to go over or something. Queen stuff."

Anna sighed. Elsa was always busy these days. They hardly saw each other any more than they had before the Coronation.

"Hey, maybe after breakfast I could show you guys around the city," Olaf said.

Anna caught the princes' nervous looks.

"That's a lovely idea, Olaf," she said, "But I know the Arendelle a lot better than you and I'm not doing anything today. Why don't I take care of it?"

"Okay," Olaf said sadly.

"And then afterwards I'll take you to visit the ice gardens, all right?"

Olaf brightened up. He hugged Anna quickly and dashed off, probably to tell Elsa.

"T-talking snowman," Aleksander muttered.

"Um, yeah, pay attention," Anna said, rolling her eyes. "Now come on. Breakfast'll get cold."

"It didn't work! Why didn't it work!?" Alvilda screeched.

"Perhaps we misinterpreted the spell," Eyvindur suggested.

"Impossible. That spell was flawless."

"And yet here we are."

Alvilda slapped Eyvindur across the face, her nails leaving long stripes of blood along his cheek.

"Apologies, my lady. I meant no disrespect."

Alvilda sneered. "You aren't wrong. So I won't kill you just yet."

Eyvindur inclined his head gratefully.

"You have more ideas," Alvilda stated.

"It may be that a different sacrifice is required. You were never over fond of that one."

"Well, find me a new one."

"Yes, my lady."

The air was starting to warm up a little. Gunnar hoped that meant they were getting close. They'd been walking almost the whole day and he was exhausted.

Kristoff didn't look any more energized, but he had been carrying Sig the whole time and had refused to let Gunnar or Sven take him.

Honestly, Gunnar was torn between impressed and jealous. Mostly, he was just worried. Sig had snuck off before, but he was usually at least semiconscious. This time, he hadn't so much as cracked open his eyes since they had found him in Arendelle.

"How much longer?" Gunnar asked.

"We're here."

They were standing in a small valley littered with boulders. Kristoff laid Sig down gently in the middle.

"Hey everybody!" he called. "I'm home!"

The rocks started vibrating and soon unfolded into a whole...group of trolls. What did you call a group of trolls anyway? They blinked at him in perfect unison. Then...

"Kristoff's home!"

Apparently, trolls swarmed. Who knew?

"Woah, woah, woah. Guys, calm down," Kristoff said, grinning. "I need to see Grandma Taika."

The trolls sobered.

"You don't know?" one of them asked.

"Know what?" Kristoff demanded.

"There's old, evil magic stirring," another said.

"Oh, lovely," Kristoff snarked.

"Pabbie and Taika are holding the wards," a third put in.

"The Valley is safe."

"But they cannot relax their guard."

"Why do you need to see Grandma so badly anyway?"

"Wandering Speaker," Kristoff explained. "From the Southern Isles."

The trolls muttered among themselves for a few moments.

"Don't you worry about a thing, dearie, Auntie Hulda and I will take care of everything."

"Thanks, Ma," Kristoff said with a sigh of relief.

"You know, does it ever occur to you that you can come visit when it's not an emergency?" the troll asked.

"Bulda, leave the poor boy alone," yet another said. "The Speaker's our concern right now."

"Don't think this conversation is over, young man," Bulda said sharply.

Kristoff gave Gunnar a frightened look. Gunnar just shrugged. It wasn't like it was his problem.

"My lady, we are not ready."

"Not for the original plan, no, but I have a better idea. This one we can put into action far sooner."

"We will need inside information, someone who knows the enemies workings intimately."

"Oh, don't you worry. I have that well in hand."

Hans sank down onto the bench with a muffled groan.

"I am never looking at trout the same way again," he muttered despairingly into the mess hall table.

"I don't know what you're so fussed about," Thyra said, snagging an apple from the basket on the table. "I always knew they were a fishy sort." She paused. "That-that was a terrible thing to say. Kill me now."

One of the Blue Cloaks Hans hadn't been introduced to tried to oblige. He ended up flat on his back with a boot on his throat.

Hans tried desperately to pretend he wasn't surrounded by madmen.

Just as he thought he might succeed, Aron slipped in beside him.

"So, how was your first day?" he asked, casually grabbing a sausage.

When Hans looked at him, he started sucking on it.

"Trout," Hans said hoarsely.

Aron raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "Ah yes. I'm not surprised. Thyra doesn't have any use for weak links."

As if to emphasize the point, Thyra snatched a roll out of Simon's fingers and ate it in two bites. Simon just sighed and picked up another.

Aron leaned in closer. "You know, there's something strange going on around here."

"Oh?" Hans asked, trying to ignore the other man's breath in his ear.

"That Prince, the one who stowed away. What was his name?" Aron asked, making sure they couldn't be overheard.

"Sigurd," Hans said, barely moving his lips.

"Any idea what happened to him?"

Hans knew, but he had a feeling answering would be unwise.

Aron drew back, licking the grease from the sausages off his fingers.

"There's something moving on the wind," he said. "Something dark and dangerous and it will be upon us soon. I can feel it."

With that, he got up and walked away. Hans could only stare at the far wall in shock. Surely, Aron was just trying to spook him, yet another way to taunt the new guy. Yes, of course. That was all. And yet, Hans knew damn well he wasn't the only spare in the family.

No one ever cared about the spares.

"A fine plan, is it not?"

"I could not have formed a better, my lady, but how are we to bring him to us? As long as he is within a Skjaldborg, we will never be able to even contact him."

"Fear not, my dear Wind Lord. I know what I am doing."

Elsa turned away from the mirror with a frown. It was a gamble, of course, and a huge one, but if worst came to worst, she would have an ace up her sleeve.