They didn't say much after that. Kristoff seemed satisfied enough with her answer, and Anna was a little too angry at the moment to initiate another conversation with the ice-harvester.

She knew he meant well. Anna did her best to remind herself that Kristoff didn't know Elsa nearly as well as she did. Still, any insult to her Queen, innocent or not, was enough to put the Knight in a sour mood.

Anna did understand where he was coming from. Elsa, as her liege, had total authority over her. Furthermore, the Knight knew just how much she had invested into this relationship. Elsa was pretty much her...everything at this point. If she lost the Queen, Anna knew she would crumble.

But it didn't matter. She wasn't going to lose Elsa. The Queen loved Anna just as much as Anna loved her. The only thing that would separate them is death. And as long as the conspiracy didn't get its way, that wouldn't happen for a very long time.

/

They stepped inside. It was a rather large building, which was to be expected. This was more than just a permit office; it was the city government's Eastern Center of Economic Regulations. In other words, it handled the tax collection and regulation of nearly half of the capital city's businesses.

Anna and Kristoff moved into the lobby. The room was large; its floor was the color of gold, reflecting the light from the candles hanging on the walls. At the far end of the room, beyond which was a door that probably led to a myriad of inner offices, was a wide counter. Three secretaries were sitting there, and two of them were currently talking with other visitors. Five city guards stood watch throughout the room, stationed beside its empty walls.

The Knight made her way to the only unoccupied secretary, a woman roughly thirty years of age. Her hair was blond, though not nearly as light as Elsa's, and her large red lips were spreading out into a slight smile.

"Hi," she greeted as Anna approached. "Can I help you, miss?"

Anna nodded, returning the smile. Her animosity was reserved for Drexel, not his employees. "Yes. I'd like to speak with your manager...if he's around. His name is Drexel, right?'

The secretary frowned. "I'm sorry, miss. Mr. Drexel is currently busy, and he doesn't usually make it a habit of speaking with visitors. You'll have to make an appointment for sometime next month. Are you sure it's anything I couldn't help you with?"

Shaking her head, Anna allowed the smile to drop from her face. "Look, I'm sorry, but this is really important. I need to speak with him...today."

"I'm sorry, miss, but he is unavailable," the secretary replied, her voice harder now. "If you leave your name with me I can tell him you were looking for him." She looked at Anna expectantly.

The Knight took a breath. "I'm...Lady Anna. Knight of Arendelle, member of the Royal Council, and personal attendant to Queen Elsa." Anna knew that while no portraits of her visage had ever been made, the physical appearance of a woman courting the Queen must be public knowledge. Her blond streak, the scar on her cheek, and the sword she carried would be enough to convince most of her identity.

A gasp sounded from the secretary. Her face turned stark white. She looked around, panic and indecision plain on her face.

"My...my apologies, milady. I'll fetch Drexel straight away!" Hurriedly rising from her chair, she bowed briefly before disappearing through the door behind her.

Anna did her best not to smile. She didn't enjoy intimidating a young woman who was only doing her job. Yet she couldn't deny a certain degree of satisfaction in using her position to get Drexel off his ass.

The door opened to admit the secretary and a short, middle-aged man. His hair was graying, but it retained a few prominent streaks of black. His stocky frame hinted at a past as a warrior, but time seemed to have atrophied his fitness.

To her surprise, he showed almost no surprise at being face to face with such a...notable figure.

"Ah, Arendelle's most successful gold digger and the upstart ice harvester. And what can I do for such fine young people?"

Anna scowled. "What you're going to do is give Kristoff the permit he deserves and let him compete with your friend fairly."

Drexel smirked. "No, I don't think I will. You may outrank me, but you're not in my chain of command. You have no legal right to order me around anymore than he does. So get out of my building."

"Maybe I don't," Anna agreed. "But Queen Elsa does. I tell her what you're doing and she'll come down on you like an avalanche. Save us both the trouble and write the permit."

"Really?" Drexel snarled. "You honestly expect me to believe that Her Majesty would discipline an important official simply because her pet asked her to? Please. You may be smitten but it's obvious to the rest of the world that you're just her toy. Your looks are worth enough of her time that she'll give you a room, but I doubt they're enough for her to take action against me."

The Knight scowled. The events in Lucrania were not exactly common knowledge, and so the fact that Elsa had rescued her from hell wasn't known by everyone. So people living outside the Castle could perhaps be forgiven for not completely believing that she and Elsa were in love.

To simply assume that she meant nothing to Elsa, however, was just plain stupid. And honestly, Anna was getting tired of it.

"Fine. You could just write the permit now and let that be the end of it. But I tell the Queen and she'll probably fire you for corruption," she threatened.

Drexel glared at her. "I'll take my chances. You think I'm afraid of you? You may think you're better than the workers in this city because the Queen dolled you up and handed you a title. But nothing can ever change the fact that you're a lazy street rat who was handed everything because the Queen enjoys fucking her. Yet you have the gall to walk in here and act like you're better than me? Someone who's worked their entire life to scrape out a living?"

Anna sighed. She didn't want to get Elsa involved in this; the Queen had enough on her place as it was. But she would if she had to. It wouldn't take Elsa that long to deal with, and the monarch hated corruption as much as Anna did. That, coupled with the Knight's pleading, would certainly be enough to convince Elsa to take action against him.

/

"Don't worry, Kristoff. The Queen won't let this stand. Once I get back to the Castle and tell her what's going on, you'll have your permit within days! And Drexel will probably be out of a job," she promised as they walked back.

The ice harvester frowned. Anna knew why. It wasn't out of any sympathy for Drexel; it was reluctance to have the Queen intervene on his behalf. Smiling, the Knight tried another tack.

"It's not just for you, Kristoff. Even if it didn't involve anyone we know, Elsa would want me to tell her about this. There's no way she would ever tolerate this kind of corruption, no matter who's involved. She's a stickler when it comes to fairness under the law," Anna promised.

Kristoff nodded.

That matter settled, the two of them returned to his office. They spent several hours catching up with one another. Anna learned more about the business of ice-harvesting than she had ever dreamed she would. Even to her inexperienced mind, his plan seemed quite remarkable. Thanks to his experience in the field, he knew what he was doing. Once he got his permit, Anna was confident that his business would be more than successful.

Harder to deal with were the ice harvester's own questions. He was curious; the general populace knew the basics of the horrifying events that had occurred in the Castle two months ago, but the details were a mystery to them. And unfortunately, Kristoff didn't have the people skills to notice when specific topics made her comfortable.

First she described the disaster that had been her Knighting ceremony, as well as the resultant political fallout. Then Anna moved onto the capture of Jocasta, mentioning briefly (and downplaying) her visit to the dungeon. She did, however, admit to Kristoff that she was having difficultly recovery from her time in the interrogator's hands.

"Then, when we finally had a breakthrough...someone poisoned her. The night of the attack, I woke up seconds before men with crossbows entered our room and tried to shoot us in our sleep. My reflexes saved both our lives...but a minute into fighting I had a panic attack. When I woke up, Elsa was holding me in her arms and crying. Kai was just...gone," Anna managed.

Kristoff winced in sympathy. "It wasn't your fault," he said, and Anna nodded glumly.

"That's what everyone keeps saying," the Knight replied. "But I guess that's not even the important part. What is important is that when and if we're attacked again, I go off into la-la land for a second time. Elsa could lose her life because I can't control my own mind!"

Strangely, the ice harvester nodded thoughtfully.

"...What?" Anna asked uncertainly.

A light sigh entered the air as Kristoff seemed to come to a decision. "I might know a way to help you," he revealed. "Or, at least, Pabbie might know. His magic can rid people of unwanted memories-"

"Wow," Anna gasped. If that was true, then she could forget that any of her torture had ever happened. It would be hard to have visions of her time with Jocasta if she couldn't even remember what the interrogator looked like...let alone what had happened during their time together. Her heart began to race with excitement.

"It's a skill that he doesn't like using; he brushes me off whenever I ask about it," Krisotff cautioned. "There's always a catch when it comes to this shit," he said glumly. "But he might just be able to help you."

\

"You've been unusually quite tonight," Elsa teased lightly as she moved her checker forward. "Something on your mind, dear? I thought you said your visit went fine? If you're worried about Drexel, don't. I'll deal with him tomorrow," the Queen smirked.

"Uh, well..." Anna said awkwardly. She'd been trying to find a painless way to bring the matter up with Elsa as soon as possible. If she wanted to lose her memories, one of them would need to make a visit to the trolls. As she was capable of traveling far faster (and safer) than her Knight could, the Queen was the only logical choice.

Elsa could make the trip in less than two days. Yet even one was still a lot of time for the Queen. It wouldn't be easy for her to blow off thirty-six hours' worth of meetings using some made-up excuse (even the Council wasn't trusted with knowledge of the trolls' existence.) Anna felt guilty just for asking her.

"No, just...thinking," the Knight muttered, biting your lip. It was a reasonable excuse. Elsa's skill in checkers had developed to the point where the monarch was more than capable of winning if Anna wasn't careful. Sadly, the same could not be said about the Knight herself and chess.

The Queen's eyes narrowed. "Dear, you're not a good liar. And as cute as it is when you bite your lip," she smiled reassuringly at Anna, "Please, just tell me what's on your mind."

Anna sighed. This would have to be done sooner than later, and there was no better time than the present. If it were just Anna's peace of mind at stake, the Knight would have at least waited until the Queen didn't have the matter of a conspiracy to deal with before asking her to fly across the country. But far more was at risk than that. Elsa could live or die depending on how ready Anna was for the next attack, and nothing was more important than the Queen's safety.

"Kristoff told me that the trolls have magic that can get rid of memories. We'd both be safer if I forgot all about my time with Jocasta. It'd be impossible for me to have flashbacks anymore, and I would actually be able to protect you during the next attack," Anna revealed.

Elsa frowned skeptically. "And how would that work, exactly?"

"I'd lose all direct recollection of the time period I chose. Which would be from when we arrived at the inn in Corona where were attacked to when I woke up in the Coronan Palace. I would still know what happened, since I'd remember talking about it later, and I'd know that I lost my memories. But I wouldn't be able to recall anything that happened with Jocasta," she said.

In truth, Anna was leaving out the part where Kristoff had mentioned that Pabbie was hesitant from using this kind of magic. The Knight didn't want to discourage Elsa from going, and if it was anything serious, Pabbie could tell the Queen himself.

The Queen's eyes shined with cautious optimism. "Maybe it could work," she said hopefully. "But magic has a habit of coming with a price, at least from what I've read in stories," Elsa noted.

"Really?" Anna questioned. "It doesn't cost you, me, or Rapunzel anything when we use our abilities. There's no price to be paid when it comes to our magic."

Elsa's lips curved upwards into a sad smile. "Isn't there? We can use our abilities on command without sacrificing anything directly, yes. But all three of us have had to go through hell; you and I still might not have seen the end of it. In both history and fairy tales, no one with magic has had an easy life. Some find their happy endings, but it's always a struggle."

Anna said nothing.

"If it gives us a chance to help you, I'll go," the Queen promised. "Next week I should be able to clear two days out of my schedule. Oh, don't give me that look Anna," she said upon seeing the surprise mounted upon the Knight's face. "We both know that I'm the one who has to go."

The Knight nodded in reluctant agreement. "I'm sorry for asking, but-"

"Don't be. As you've probably considered, this could help keep both of us safe. More importantly, it'll help give you peace of mind. I just...don't get your hopes up too soon, Anna. We don't know enough about this to be sure it will work," Elsa cautioned.

Anna nodded. "I appreciate it, no matter what happens."

Suddenly, the Queen smirked. "Besides, perhaps this will help alleviate my guilt for finally beating you in checkers."

"You haven't-"

Elsa moved her checker out of the single corner, forcing the Knight to jump it with her nearby piece. It landed in the King's row, thus becoming a King but ending its turn. The Queen then moved another piece out of her back row, requiring Anna's King to jump and land in front of a row of two checkers backed into Elsa's double corner.

Completing the inside-out shot, Elsa jumped Anna's piece and the two that were lined up behind it, triple-jumping the Knight and leaving her with a dominant position.

Anna bristled as she stared at the result. For the first time, she had lost. Losing at chess was one thing, but being defeated at the game she had loved since a child was another thing entirely. If it had been anyone but Elsa sitting across from her, Anna probably would have tossed the board across the room.

"Good. Game," she gritted through her teeth.

The Queen smiled. "You fought valiantly, my dear Knight. Come on; let's go to bed. I think I know a way to make you feel better." In one smooth movement, Elsa rose from her seat and took Anna by the hand. Their fingers laced, the two women began to make their way back towards their chambers.

Suddenly, Anna didn't feel so angry any longer.

\

He looked around at the group assembled before him. It was smaller than it once was. The failed battles and schemes of the past year had taken their toll.

"We've had a breakthrough," he announced. "One of our newer members is a secretary in the city's eastern administration building. By pure chance, she came into contact with Anna three days ago."

His compatriots looked at him in surprise.

"Anna was there with a young, aspiring ice-harvester named Kristoff. Apparently, the two of them are friends. They were trying to get a permit for his business," he explained.

To his left, Rohan frowned. "It's a strange coincidence," the air-mage agreed. "But how is it of use to us? It's not as if she's going to return there."

He sighed. "Because we now know that Anna has someone she cares about...someone who isn't protected. Capturing him would be effortless. Once this ice-harvester is in our custody..."

"We can force Anna to come to us," a woman finished. "Elsa's most valuable protector will be taken out of the picture."

He nodded, not betraying any sign of the twinge of reluctance he felt. "Yes. The Queen has announced that she will be traveling on her own next week, for a period of nearly two days. That alone doesn't help us. She's far too fast to follow, and we have no idea where she will be going. But for thirty-six hours, she will be out of the way."

Rohan smiled, no doubt remembering his one-sided confrontation with the Queen. "If she accompanied Anna to this ambush, chances are we would all perish. On the other hand, Anna alone..."

"Will be all but helpless."

Responses:

WinterWolfDragon: Keep thinking that!

Sedryn: No spoilers. The only thing I'll reveal is something I've said from the very beginning. They're not related. It's not because I have a problem with Elsanna incest (I DON'T), but because I wanted a story in which a completely normal girl suddenly becomes important.

ClaireCooper: …

Lionheart: The answer may surprise you.

Scott G: Nope! She never will, sorry. I'm always glad to hear ideas, but this story is pretty set in my mind.

Shafili: I'm confused. Are you saying he has a crush on Elsa, or a crush on Anna?

Phuchess: Thanks! I was wondering how many people would see that art.

I don't believe in trigger warnings. To me, they remove suspense and tension. The last thing I want are for the surprises to be predictable. This story is rated M. There will be trauma and sections that are difficult to read, which chapters have those sections are a mystery. I like to keep my readers on their toes!

Shtoops: Which fic? And you will cry at least two more times. I know exactly when.

PascalDragon: Elsa will probably do that when she visits them next chapter.

ObsessiveImagingings: Fixed, thanks!

Strab: I'm not too sure what you're asking…

Syrathia: I love responding to reviews! Almost as much as I enjoy reading them!

FreelanceBum: He has an important part to play.

DVINM: Anna leading a Council might be drastic, but you never know. As always, you're spot on with your analysis of the chapter.

BreeBear98: Honestly, I don't know. I know what I'm going to write, but not how long it will take.

Invisiblewriters: Thanks! Yes, I am not afraid of fate or its cruelties.

Natureboy3: Kai was completely innocent, yes. I don't think Elsa would kick Anna out if their relationship exploded, which it probably won't. In Chapter 20 she actually told Anna directly that she would always have a home in her Castle even if their relationship ended.