Chapter 16.

The meeting with Anna's council to discuss the drop in temperature of last night went well enough, all things considered. Sure, there were some difficulties at first, as most of them were paranoid and terrified of another assault. They tried to make Anna go along with General Haugen's proposal of capturing and interrogating everyone who live in close proximity to the castle and looked even remotely like an ice-wielder. Thankfully the Queen was eventually able to convince them that it wasn't necessary, and the whole "attack" was just an unfortunate incident regarding the Northerner refugee living in the castle.

Of course, this made them immediately demand that Anna either exile or execute the Northerner, but after over an hour of constant argument they realized they had no hope of changing Anna's mind, especially since I was clearly on her side. Finally, they reduced their demands to interrogating the Northerner in person, and unfortunately we had to agree to calm them down a little. I still don't know how we're supposed to do that if we want to keep my secret intact.

But more worrying of all, is that General Haugen didn't voice his suspicions about me being an ice-wielder, and yet he kept eying me the whole meeting. I'm willing to bet he has a plan to expose my true nature in front of everyone, so then there would be no doubt of who I really am. I'll have to be careful about that.

And even worst, is that the General wanted to talk to Anna in private after the meeting ended, probably to try and see if she's aware of my powers. I just hope the redhead doesn't say anything to fuel his suspicions. She does have a tendency to talk without thinking.

But anyways. There's one good thing about this whole mess; Anna told me to wait for her in her study. That's right. I'm finally gonna see the Queen's study! (not that I haven't seen it before, but I was feeling like dying back then). The place where Anna spends most of her days, and where the most important decisions of this kingdom are made.

I have to say, it's quite lovely, and it even has a cute sign outside that reads: "The Queen's studio". Though it's a bit different to what I was expecting. Knowing Anna I'd thought she'd decorate it with portraits of her family, or at least beautiful landscapes. But no. There's a just a single picture representing the North Mountain in beautiful tones of blue and white.

Though to be fair, the window is huge (actually, is more of a small balcony than a window), and wide open, with a beautiful view over the fjord. And there are some flowers at her desk, and some rather colorful cushions on a red sofa, all of which reflect Anna's bright personality. And her desk and bookcase are all messy, with papers lying everywhere without any order, and books thrown carelessly here and there, something I also expected from the young redhead.

I feel a strong impulse to put some order in here, but I refrain myself; I don't want to mess with Anna's things, more so considering some of the information contained on these papers is surely classified.

So, I decide to sit on the couch in front of her bookcase, and watch the beautiful landscape that can be seen from the window behind her desk, as I take off my wig and proceed to put my real hair up on my signature braid (a hand-mirror and a brush made of ice make the process a lot easier), while I wait for Anna to arrive. She doesn't take more than a few minutes though, and she comes in with a tray full of sweats and chocolates. I guess that's her idea of a healthy meal (not that I'm complaining; after everything that's happened today, I could really use some sugar).

"Hey." She says, setting the tray atop her desk, not caring about the documents being squished and wrinkled by it. "I figured you'd be hungry, so I stopped by to bring us some snacks."

"Why didn't you just ask a servant to deliver them here?" I ask as I approach, taking one delicious-looking muffin and eating it, while Anna picks up a chocolate cookie.

"Because I don't want anyone to freak out about a Northerner being in the Queen's studio?" She answers, raising an eyebrow like it's obvious. I guess she is starting to know me rather well. Or at least she's starting to realize just how much I hate this wig. I can't help feeling both impressed and flattered that Anna's been putting so much attention towards my actions.

"How did your talk with General Haugen go?" I ask, changing the subject as I now take a cookie that tastes just as good as did the muffin. At my question, the Queen grimaces, like her chocolate suddenly doesn't taste as good.

"Pretty bad." She admits, lowering her gaze.

"Let me guess. He suspects I'm a Northerner." I say, knowing full well that's what the General wanted to talk about with Anna even before she says anything.

"How did you know?" She asks, surprised.

"Well… I gave him pretty good reasons to suspect just that." I answer, feeling rather guilty. All our efforts to keep up this 'Coronan noble' lie are now in danger all because I couldn't conceal my powers.

"At least he doesn't have proof… yet." She answers, managing to sound pessimistic and optimistic in the same sentence.

"If he made me angry in front of everyone again, he'd have all the proof he needs." I answer, pretty much glaring at my hands, silently berating myself for not having more control over my powers.

"Hey, it's not your fault." Anna tries to make me feel better, placing her hand over my shoulder in a comforting gesture. "I'm sure if I had powers, I'd have frozen the entire kingdom as soon as I saw him taking innocent people as prisoners." She adds, giggling at her own statement, but that doesn't even make me smile. If anything, it just worries me more, because it reminds me of another concerning issue.

"But I was wearing gloves. Before this morning, they had been pretty effective in keeping my powers in check under any circumstance." I voice out my concerns. "It's almost like…" I interrupt myself before finishing that thought; it's too terrible to be said out loud.

"What?" Anna asks, obviously realizing I'm keeping something very important to myself. "What is it?" She prompts again, her eyebrows furrowing in worry. And, as tempting as it is to keep it secret, telling Anna about this is something I most definitely should do, if I want to succeed in concealing my magic.

"I-I…" I sigh, closing my eyes and hugging myself as I voice out my thoughts. "I think my magic gets stronger every day." I admit, almost whispering. But the moment the words come out of my mouth, I know them to be absolutely true. When I first arrived here, I could barely make my room slightly colder if I concentrated enough, and only used gloves because Anna insisted, not because I thought I could lose control of my powers. Also, the first time I had a nightmare I didn't freeze a thing, while the second time… well, I pretty much covered the entire hallway in ice.

How didn't I realize this sooner? I don't know. Maybe the transition was so gradual I only noticed the increase in my powers when they went out of control. But, if this goes on…. I don't even want to think of what could happen. Right now I feel capable of easily covering the entire capital of Arendelle and the fjord in snow if I so desire, but if my powers keep growing at this rate… what will I be capable of in a week? Or a month? Just the thought makes me shudder in fear.

"But… that's impossible." Anna says, interrupting my thoughts. "You're a full-grown adult, which means your powers are supposedly entirely developed at this point."

"What?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. I never heard something like that.

"Well, there haven't been any real studies made about this." The Queen explains. "But the soldiers that have served at the Northern Lands reported that people who become ice-wielders earlier in life are often more powerful than the ones who transform shortly before becoming adults. Some theorize this is because magic grows together with the person's body."

"So no adult can become an ice-wielder?" I ask, surprised by this new information.

"No." She shakes her head. "The oldest person to gain magical powers, according to Arendelle's archive, was a seventeen-year-old boy, and one year later he still couldn't even produce ice; just make things colder, implying his powers didn't grow at all."

"But my powers are growing." I protest. "I can feel it."

"Are you sure?" Anna asks, both concerned and doubtful.

"Yes, I am." I sigh, probably wishing more than the Queen that this wasn't true at all. I mean, my powers were already impressive a month ago, when I broke free of the ice-proof shackles, so now… they must be something beyond logic. And still growing.

"And I assume the more power you have, the more difficult it is to control it, correct?" Anna questions, and I can only nod with a sour expression, already realizing the implications of this before she voices them. "Then I guess it'll be very difficult, if not impossible, to keep your powers hidden too long."

"I can try." I answer, but even to my ears my voice doesn't sound convincing.

"But with General Haugen doing everything in his power to prove you're an ice-wielder, and the stress this implies, that doesn't seem likely." Anna muses out as a troubled expression appears on her face, and I don't dare contradict her, because deep down I know she's right. He's obviously dealt with ice-wielders before, and he'll surely find a way to prove I have magic sooner rather than later. But then what are we supposed to do?

"Maybe we can just… tell the truth?"

At Anna's unexpected and rather unreasonable proposal, I almost choke on the muffin I had just bitten into. When I recover, I look at her with wide eyes.

"Tell the truth? So they can kill me now instead of later?!" I pretty much yell in panic, but when I see Anna wince at my outburst, as well as a couple of snowflakes appearing over my head, I take a few deep breaths and calm down. "Sorry." I say.

"Don't be." Anna shakes her head, looking to the ground. "I know why you reacted that way, but… if we let General Haugen reveal your true identity to the people, it'll surely be in a way that makes you look like some dangerous monster. If we tell the truth instead, I could give a little speech, reveal my reasons behind the decision of you concealing you magic for so long, and make clear you're under my complete protection."

"They'll see me as a monster either way." I answer bitterly, hugging my midsection and looking out the window to the city of Arendelle. Suddenly, it doesn't look so beautiful and inviting anymore. "That's all I'll ever be to them, just because I was cursed with this… magic." I spat the last word, looking at my gloved hands with anger and resentment. And I know, deep down, that this isn't the first moment I wished I was born normal.

"You weren't cursed." I'm surprised to hear Anna's voice as I feel her hands taking mine. I try to take a step back out of pure instinct, but she doesn't let me. I look up and I'm met with her beautiful eyes, kind but concerned. And honest. And I cling to her every word. "You were blessed. I know that now."

"It's difficult to see it that way when all my powers have ever done is get me exiled and cause me problems." I argue.

"Yes, I know." Anna sighs sadly. "But I want to change that. I want to make it so ice-wielders don't have to be exiled anymore, and can be accepted by my people." She says with determination shining clear in her eyes. "Your little speech inspired me quite a lot." She adds, smiling. "You'd be a better Queen than me."

"Don't say that." I frown. "You're a great Queen, you… wait." I pause, realizing what she said before that. "You heard what I said?"

"Every word." She answers. "You were pretty spectacular. I almost wanted to grab a pitchfork and start a riot myself." She giggles cutely. I smile at that, imagining the Queen of Arendelle herself starting a rebellion together with her people. "But then I remembered I am the Queen and could release the prisoners just by saying one word. Like, seriously, where did you learn to speak like that?" At her question my face falls slightly, remembering what I dreamt about last night.

"I have strong reasons to believe I am the Ice Queen of the Northern Lands." I confess, sighing. "I had another dream."

"More memories?" She asks, obviously trying not to appear overly curious. And failing. I nod.

"Fragments of memories, actually." I close my eyes, grasping at the partially-fading memories, and trying to avoid thinking of my little fantasies. "In many of them it was obvious I was someone important in the court of the Northern Lands, though it wasn't clear if I was the Queen or not."

"So… you were bossing people around or something?"

"Something like that." I shrug, not wanting to go into detail.

"I'm sure you were a great Queen, if that's indeed true." She assures me, but I only partially manage covering up a grimace.

"You know what they say about the Ice Queen. The ruthless self-imposed monarch that rules The Northern Lands with an iron first." To my surprise, Anna only snorts in response.

"And they also say Northerners are cruel and dangerous murderers." She answers giggling. "Honestly, Elsa, if half of what they say was true, I'd be dead by now." I'm about to protest, saying it's different because the Northern Lands are surrounded by a snowstorm all the time, which is proof of the Ice Queen's existence, but Anna interrupts me before I can even say a word. "What would you do if you were Queen of Arendelle?"

"I… what?" Is all I can say to her rather random question.

"If you were the Queen, not me, what would you do?" She repeats, eying at me with curiosity, but also as if she already knows the answer and is just trying to prove a point. I decide to indulge her.

"Well, I would declare void your father's rules about ice-wielders being exiled. I would give them equal rights to Arendelle's citizens. I would destroy the wall that separates the Northern Lands. I would… try to stop this nonsensical war."

"Exactly." Anna nods, as if she'd expected me to answer just that. "And I imagine that, if you were Queen of the Northern Lands, you'd want the same thing. Not taking over Arendelle, not having more power yourself, and not for ice-wielders to be seen as superior beings. Just to end this conflict."

"What are you trying to say? That I'm not the Ice Queen?" I raise an eyebrow, finding it difficult to believe that someone as powerful at me, with a position of power in the Northern Lands, could be something other than the Queen.

"What I'm saying, Elsa, is that even if you're the Ice Queen, you probably aren't an evil tyrant. I mean, isn't it far more likely you would come to Arendelle and talk to me, so we could come to a peace agreement, than spend so much time and effort maintaining a bloody and senseless war?"

"But then why did I go to Corona first?" I retort, refusing to believe Anna's words so easily even if I know she has a point.

"Maybe you wanted the monarchs to convince me to give you an opportunity, knowing you'd most likely be killed if you came directly to me." Anna shrugs. "But of course we can't know it until you get back your memories, so we should stop worrying about this, and instead focus on what we can fix." Saying this, she puts aside the mostly-empty tray and goes to fetch something at her desk. Understanding this is the signal for me to start working, I follow her and look at the papers she's holding.

"I want you to revise the laws imposed by my father about ice-wielders. See if there's a flaw or a loophole we can use to defend you, in case your true identity is ever revealed." She explains. "And maybe also a way to revoke those laws without the council getting too mad about it."

"And what will you do?" I ask as I take the papers on my hands, finding it slightly weird she isn't doing something so important herself.

"Throw marriage proposals into the trash, mostly." She mumbles grumpily as she sits and grabs one letter, opens it and tosses it to the other side of the room after reading only one sentence.

"Shouldn't you answer?" I say, though my heart did a little happy dance at her words. I know it shouldn't be, but it's a relief knowing she has no interest on getting married. Or maybe she's already interested in someone and that's why she refuses the others? I have to consciously suppress a burst of magic at that thought.

"Oh, I did answer the first few times." She informs me, and I go to grab a chair to sit myself next to her as she keeps talking. "But they kept insisting, saying I need a man to help me rule the kingdom." She rolls her eyes. "I know even here in Arendelle most think I'm incompetent, but that doesn't mean I need a man to boss me around."

"You're not incompetent though." I protest automatically. "You just lack experience."

"Even more reason to burn them!" She exclaims, taking another letter and throwing it into a fire. "Plus, I know most of them, and they are selfish brats!" She's practically glowing with anger now, and I realize this must be a sensitive subject for her.

"Hey, I just say you should be a little more diplomatic, but I'm actually glad you don't want to marry." Only after the words escape my mouth, I realize what I said, and mentally chastise myself. I just hope she doesn't think anything of it.

"Yet." She corrects me. "I will only marry when I can find someone I love." She says with determination, but then her expression sadness and she mutters under her breath. "Though that didn't work out well for my parents."

"What?" I ask startled. I was under the impression that Anna's parents were a perfect and happy couple. The Queen just shrugs.

"They were in love, that much at least everyone knows." She starts explaining, even though I thought she wouldn't want to talk about it. "In front of everyone, they put up a façade, pretending to be a happy couple that never fought. And they were good parents, so they never argued in my presence, but…" She pauses, pursing her lips and frowning. "Walls aren't as thick as they thought, and their arguments weren't exactly silent. At first I didn't understand what they fought about, but then I realized they argued over ice-wielders."

"What?" I repeat, not believing that, of all things, this is what made the relationship between former monarchs tense.

"My mother was from Corona, and so she believed what my father did with the ice-wielders was unfair, especially considering most were exiled as kids." She sighs. "She also believed that, after marrying him and becoming Queen, she'd be able to change his views. But he was stubborn, and never listened." She then pauses, glancing at the single painting that hangs directly next to the door. "That's why they eventually started sleeping in different rooms, and having different studies."

"This one was your mother's?" I ask, glancing at the painting obviously representing the fact that she wasn't against ice-wielders. I'm guessing she's who Anna got her rather liberal and accepting views from.

"Yeah…" She answers, distracted and melancholic. Like she's lost in her memories. Memories that are bittersweet now, because her parents are dead. I have the sudden urge to give her a comforting hug, but decide against it; I don't want to accidentally reveal my feelings for her.

Instead, I try finding something to say, to reassure her that she's not alone. That, even though her parents are gone, there are still plenty of people who care about her. But the words elude me, and the silence stretches for a little too long, until Anna seemingly pulls herself out of her trance.

"We should get to work." She says suddenly, blinking away unshed tears and grabbing another letter.

I want to say something, maybe to alleviate a little the pain she feels, but… I'm afraid bringing up the subject again will only make it worse. So, instead, I say nothing and open the first scroll, wishing I could do something more to help the Queen.

A/N: I'm back! And I gave you the Chapter of Exposition. I hope it wasn't too boring, but believe me, everything that was said here will be of importance later on the story, so I couldn't just skip it and go to the fun parts :P

Anyways, I hope you liked it, and that you leave a review if you did. Thanks for reading, and see you soon.

Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.