Frozen Together Chapter 20

The conclave of nobles was no longer stranded in Arendelle by ice; they could leave any time they wished. But before they left, Queen Elsa asked their help in judging a difficult case.

There was no question that the Duke of Weselton was guilty of making an attempt on the Queen's life. All the nobles on the palace balcony had watched him do it. When he tried to claim self-defense, they almost laughed at him. He denied ordering his men to attack her, and they refused to speak at all, so that aspect of the battle on the ice could not be proven legally. But the rules for noblemen were much more lenient than the rules for common people who broke laws. What kind of punishment could they all agree on? The conclave decided that the three of them should be deported to their homeland, never to return to Arendelle.

"We would assign a much stiffer punishment if there was no royal blood in your veins," the Duke of Glauerhafen thundered at the much smaller Duke. "It will be enough that you shall return to Weaseltown..."

"Weselton! It's Weselton!" the Duke protested.

"...where you will try to explain to your people why all the kingdoms represented here are now observing a total embargo on trade with your realm," Glauerhafen finished.

"An embargo?" The Duke went pale. "No trade at all? You'll ruin us! You'll bankrupt us! I have debts I won't be able to repay! How could you be so uncivilized?"

"It's a much kinder fate than the one you planned for me," Elsa said, doing a masterful job of controlling her temper. "Now get this person out of my kingdom!" The Duke was led away under guard; his men followed him in shackles.

At Anna's urging, Elsa did not bring charges against Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. She allowed her younger sister to judge him, with the promise that she would intervene only if justice completely miscarried. Hans and Anna met in the library to discuss his fate.

"I have to banish myself from Arendelle," he began. "My intentions toward you at the start were despicable, and the fact that I changed my mind doesn't affect that. I've learned a lot about myself lately, and I don't like what I saw. You're a very trusting girl, Anna. You need a man you can trust. I'm not that man."

"You could change," she urged him. "You already know you did the wrong thing. Is it that hard to do the right thing?"

"Anna, I'm the worst kind of man there is – a scoundrel with a conscience. I'm bad at being bad, but I'm not any good at being good, either."

"If you kept listening to that conscience, maybe you'd get better at being good."

He shook his head sadly. "Anna, you're too trusting. Maybe I'd get better with the passing of time... or maybe I'd fall under the sway of another Duke of Weselton, offering me another shortcut to a life of power and privilege, no matter who else gets hurt." He waved at his injured leg. "I've learned a thing or two about people getting hurt, but that doesn't make me a fit consort for a real princess. Maybe, in a few years, I might be good enough for you, but I have a feeling you aren't going to wait that long. Not when there's a really good man close by."

"You mean Kristoff? But he's a commoner! I'm a princess! That's not allowed, is it?"

"Technically not," the Prince said thoughtfully, "but that's one advantage to having the Queen for a sister. She can make a nobleman out of anyone she wants."

"Kristoff... a nobleman?" She tried to imagine him in a fine suit at a formal reception. In her mind, he suddenly saw a speck of dirt on his fancy black shoe, so he took the shoe off, spat on it, buffed it clean with the sleeve of his dinner jacket, and put it back on, right in the middle of the reception. She had to giggle at the thought. "I think he's too rough around the edges to make a good nobleman."

"So he's a bit of a fixer-upper, but don't you write him off," Hans replied. "I've got a notion that a noble promotion might free some emotions for your Kristoff... wait, where did that come from? Anyway, social rank is adjustable; manners can be learned; but if he's a good man on the inside, that's all that really matters. I can't say that about myself. I wish I could, because I really like you, and I'm going to miss you. A lot." He sighed and shook his head. "I guess you're going to have to find someone else to finish your salads." He leaned closer to her, and for a moment she thought he might try to kiss her. But that wasn't his plan. Not anymore.

"I really envy the relationship you have with your sister," he said quietly. "That's something rare and very precious. Don't ever jeopardize that, Anna – not for a man, not for anything." He straightened sadly. "I need to get back to my ship before it leaves."

She threw her arms around him in an impulsive hug, which he returned. Then he let her go, turned away, and limped out of the room with his cane. He looked back several times, but he kept walking until he turned a corner and passed out of view. She almost asked him to stay. But the bottom line was that he was right – she needed a man she could trust, and Hans was not that man. Not today. Maybe not ever.

She sniffled and tried to maintain her composure. Maybe a little chocolate might have helped. But Gerda had put a lock on the chocolate cabinet, with orders from the Queen not to open it until tonight's ceremony was over. It was odd – she could swear she smelled chocolate! On a whim (or maybe it was desperation), she removed the lid from the candy dish on the end table.

Inside were twelve pieces of the best royal chocolate, and a little note in her sister's handwriting. "I have a feeling you're going to need this." Elsa was right. It helped... a little. Somehow Anna would make it through the rest of the day.

This was the day when the Queen of Arendelle would take up some unfinished business. The coronation ceremony was legally complete, but there was one traditional item on the agenda that hadn't happened yet. The new sovereign had to present herself to her people.

Elsa's appearance for that presentation had almost touched off another conflict. The noblewomen who had gathered for the coronation had taken her aside and encouraged her (some gently, some not so much) to look more like their idea of how a queen should look. Specifically, they didn't think her dress and her hairstyle were appropriate for royalty. She wanted to be a pleasing sovereign, and she'd had enough of conflict already, but she'd also had a taste of how it felt to be herself, and she wasn't willing to yield to their ideas of who she ought to be.

The meeting was getting tense until Princess Anna stood up next to her sister. "I'd like to say something, if I could.

"Every one of us is an actress. We play a role in public that isn't the real 'us.' Some of you think you're better than regular people, but you act humble so you don't cause trouble. Others would love to live on the wild side a little, but you act serene and sedate because that's what everyone expects of us.

"Queen Elsa has had to maintain some kind of act all her life, without a break. For years, she had to act like she didn't care about the people she loved the most. When that finally ended, she had to stand up in front of everyone and act like she had everything under control, when she was really right on the edge. If anything good came out of what's happened this week, it's that she has finally found out who she really is, and she doesn't have to cover up her true self any more.

"But now, you want her to cover up her true self, and go back to living a lie? Ladies, I say this with all due respect: I don't think so."

A countess from a small inland kingdom stood up. "Are you suggesting that Elsa is the only one of us who's had a difficult life?"

Anna looked at her calmly. "How many crossbow bolts were aimed at you this week?" The countess sat down meekly. Anna went on.

"Queen Elsa is still going to have to play the role of the calm, collected noblewoman in public, just like the rest of us. The day may come when she's comfortable with that role. But you're asking more than that of her. You're asking her to deny who she is! You want to take the one spark of life and individuality that she's ever known, and snuff it out, so she can be comfortably miserable, just like you.

"Please don't do that to my sister." She sat down.

In the end, they compromised. Elsa kept her ice-blue outfit, but agreed to cover her neck and shoulders, and close up the slit. She kept her hairstyle unchanged – Anna refused to let her back down on that one – and no one objected to the ice-crystal cape. One baroness even asked her where she got it.

Anna waited until the noblewomen had filed out of the conference room to join their husbands, then leaned conspiratorially towards Elsa. "It really doesn't matter, you know," she grinned. "They'll all be gone in an hour or two, and you can dress any way you want."

"Anna... they're right, in a way. I'm a public figure now. People look up to me. Mothers will tell their daughters to grow up to be like me. I do have to meet some expectations that aren't my own. But thank you for standing up for me." She let her side-braid trail through her hand. "I'm glad I didn't have to give this up."

A few hours later, as the sun was beginning to set, Elsa and Anna stood inside the palace, just behind the balcony door. They could hear the bustle of the crowd in the courtyard below them. It sounded like half the kingdom had gathered for the presentation of the new queen.

Anna laid a hand on Elsa's shoulder. "Are you nervous?" she asked quietly.

"Not really," Elsa answered. "I know there aren't any Dukes in the crowd, just nice, ordinary people like your Kristoff." Anna blushed, which made Elsa smile.

At the stroke of six o'clock, Kai stepped out onto the balcony. "Ladies and gentlemen, good citizens of Arendelle! Welcome back to the palace. The time has come. Allow me to present to you... your newly crowned sovereign... Her Majesty the Queen... Queen Elsa!" He stood aside, Elsa stepped out, and the crowd cheered and clapped enthusiastically. A few shouts of "The Bringer of Summer!" could be heard here and there, mingled with cries of "Long live the Queen!"

Elsa had meant to look solemn and regal through the entire presentation. But the sight of all those people, wishing her well, touched her heart in a way she hadn't expected. Tears welled up in her eyes. She almost turned away, but Anna stepped up behind her, a hand on her arm.

"They love you, too," she whispered. Somehow, that was just the right thing to say. Suddenly, Elsa actually felt like celebrating.

Twin jets of sparkling ice shot upwards from the balcony and burst overhead in a crystalline spray. Some of the people in the crowd realized that their Queen had done it; most of them thought it was some kind of royal fireworks. They all cheered. Anna, of course, knew exactly who had done it, and she felt like celebrating, too. Her sister was finally free to be herself! She couldn't contain the joy that flooded her heart.

"Let it show! Let it show! You don't have to hide anymore!
"Let it show! Let it show! Your life is an open door!
"There you stand – no more masquerade!
"You're the queen! Reign on!"

Elsa smiled and murmured, just loudly enough for Anna to hear her –

"I'm loved; there's no reason to be afraid."

The End

o

A/N
The story behind the story:

My only complaint with "Frozen" is that Elsa spends most of the movie so miserably unhappy. There's nothing wrong with that, from a storyteller's point of view. But I adore Elsa and I hate to see her that miserable. If I wave my fanfic-writer's magic wand and make everything better for her, that would result in a boring story. So I took the middle road; Elsa still had a lot of things go horribly wrong, but she didn't have to go through them alone.

I find it slightly amusing that, among the many reviews this story has gotten, one of the most repeated comments is that people like how I made Hans less evil than he was in the movie. I present him as the flip side of Elsa – both of them are confused and trying to find themselves, but Elsa is guided by a positive influence (Anna), while Prince Hans is led by a negative one (the Duke). A couple of reviewers didn't like how I changed Hans, but then, one of them also didn't like me using my rewrites of the songs. You can't please everybody, I guess.

As I often do, I threw in an assortment of references to other stories, including Shrek, Star Trek, Bugs Bunny (in two places), The Little Mermaid, and Wicked (also in two places).

You may enjoy this story's sequel, "Thawing Together."