Elsa

Elsa was scared. The beautiful young queen was standing in her study, clad in a simple blue dress. Her snowy blonde hair fell in waves around her shoulders, and her piercing blue eyes shone brightly. She had awoken very early that morning, and the sun had just begun to peek over the horizon, flooding the room with a reddish light. An ornate winged chair sat behind a grand oak desk in front of the window, intricate patterns carved into the wood. Opposite the desk were large doors engraved with Arendelle's symbol, a three petaled crocus flower with two leaves on either side. The walls were adorned with several large paintings: of herself, of Anna, of their family, of her father's coronation…

It was this last painting that held Elsa's gaze this morning. It had been five long years since her own coronation, when she had come of age at 21. A lot had happened since then, but she had not seen anyone from the Southern Isles since that summer. For months afterwards, gifts from the Isles had poured in in apology, but in her anger, Elsa had not accepted any of them, instead ordering the ships to return them or face never doing business in Arendelle again. Eventually, the stream of gifts slowed, then stopped. The last package had arrived nearly three years ago, a few casks of finely aged wine and a final note of apology.

Elsa knew that to be a good queen, she would eventually need to look past what one Prince of the Southern Isles had done, and eventually reopen relations with the country. It was with this in mind that she had ordered the casks brought to the castle, where she stored them in the cellar, intending to open them if and when the royal family paid her a personal visit, as a sign of a new beginning. This visit was now upon her. Prince Heins was to arrive at the end of the week.

Elsa yawned deeply and stretched, groaning in satisfaction and collapsing into her chair. She began to amuse herself by drawing patterns of ice on the large window behind her desk, moving her fingers slightly to create intricate spirals and shapes in ways she could not put into words, marveling at their beauty. Heins, Elsa thought. The royal family must not be the most creative bunch. Then again, with thirteen children, unique names would be hard to come by. I wish I never had to see anyone in that wretched family again.

Indeed, Elsa had often wondered if it was wise to reopen relations with the Southern Isles. Since her powers came to light five years ago, she had not once used her powers unintentionally. She knew she would forever remain in Anna's debt for that, despite the redhead's constant insistence it was "no big deal". Anna had stayed up into all hours of the night for weeks, searching through their father's old notes and the family library to help Elsa discover all she could about her powers.

Once, Elsa went to the library at night to see her sister face down on the table, a spreading puddle of drool her notes, forcing her younger sister to rewrite three full pages. After that, Elsa charged one of her staff, Kai, with ensuring Anna slept at least six hours a night. Time went on, and with Anna's help, Elsa gained full control of her powers- and that came at a cost.

Many kingdoms had reduced or eliminated diplomatic ties soon after her coronation. Corona was the only one that remained close allies, but that was mostly due to Queen Primrose being Elsa's aunt. Elsa could hardly blame them for being scared. She was the Queen, and with what she could now do, she understood why other countries were hesitant to deal with a monarchy where the queen has magical powers. She finished her design with a flourish, admired it for a moment, then thawed it to begin a new one. Despite the trouble it caused, she marveled at the perfection of her powers.

She had spent the last few years attempting to reestablish ties with the neighboring countries, and she was making good progress. After all, there are advantages to being her ally, and she had worked hard to convince them of her pure intentions. Regardless of her efforts, attacks, threats, and assassins in the night were abundant. Weselton in particular was especially troublesome. Most of the attacks were thought to originate from there, but the Duke was nothing if not careful, and they were never able to prove where the assassins received their orders. Elsa knew it was only a matter of time before one of them succeeded. She had no particular concern of her own life, regents die every day.

But last month, Anna and Kristoff were attacked on their way back from visiting Olaf and Marshmallow up on the North Mountain. Unfortunately for the would-be assassins, they made the mistake of threatening Anna in front of Kristoff. That was not a mistake anyone made more than once. Elsa never did find out exactly what happened that day. Anna refuses to talk about it, and Kristoff would only say that the assassins wouldn't be troubling anyone again. After that, Elsa resolved to put her own feelings aside and do what was best for Anna and the kingdom.

An alliance with the Southern Isles, no matter how repulsive Elsa found the idea, might be the only way to cease the attacks. The Southern Isles had the largest navy of any kingdom, and their army was second only to Weselton. Even better, they held no love for the Duke, a small, cowardly man who preferred to work in the shadows rather than open diplomacy. They would prove invaluable allies if Weselton attacked. After all, they did imprison Hans when he was returned to them, and his release is conditional on my approval. That's what they told me, anyway. But they haven't so far given me a reason to doubt them, and the gifts they've sent were worth several fortunes. They couldn't know I would not receive them...Could they? I just want this week to be over… Either way. I must be a good Queen, and a good Queen judges not by the actions of others.