The Young Diplomat [Frozen II post-canon]

The Coronation

Inga struggled in the water. The young man had appeared out of nowhere, startling her horse, throwing her into the bay. He was a rough, dark-haired stranger. He came and lifted her swiftly out of the brackish water, the shock of cool morning air on her damp skin hardly noticed in his warm embrace, he carried her to his horse, and rode away with her.

As they approached the city, she asked him his name. He didn't say, but suddenly the city had vanished, and instead of the low hills of Corona she saw the steep cliffs along the fjord approaching Arendelle. The dark-haired stranger was now the leering redhead. Inga wanted to scream, but her throat wouldn't let out any sound. There was no escape. The man was taking her prisoner.

Inga woke with a start. She hated the dreams with the leering redhead, but even more, she hated that he had now intruded himself onto the more pleasant dream. She tried to remember the more pleasant beginning, but it was already fading. She usually had the other dream after someone brought up the stories about her mother. It always felt real, and she needed to bring herself back to reality.

The clock was striking six, and the sky was only just starting to get light, but she needed to sleep a little longer, since the coronation festivities that day would go late into the night.

Henry sat down at the nearly empty breakfast table.

"It's almost eight, you're barely going to have time to eat," his sister told him as he poured himself coffee.

"Where is everyone else?"

"They're already getting ready," she sighed. "I told them I'd wait for you. We're going to need to get into our costumes soon, too, you know."

"Costumes?" Henry laughed.

"You know what I mean," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'd hardly call what they were fitting us for yesterday regular clothing. We'll change before dinner, at least. You have something picked out to wear to dinner, right? Ask Father for advice if you haven't."

"I have something picked out," he grumbled. "Even I know this isn't some random state dinner."

"Well, of course," Hilde smiled. "You want to look nice for her, don't you?"

"What?" He looked up. "No. I mean, that's not it. I was going to, anyway."

"But it's extra motivation, isn't it?" she winked.

"Just... don't say anything more? Please?" he looked at her.

Hilde giggled. "This is about that viking comment, isn't it?"

"I'm never going to share anything with you ever again at this rate," he grumbled.

"I'll be good," she promised as she got up from the table. "I'm going now. I'll send someone to find you in a few minutes if you're not ready."

Elizabeth's sisters had been quite jealous when they heard that she would get to go to all of the Coronation events. Inga wore the new ballgown that Elizabeth had gotten her, but chose the old shoes she had packed from home, because there was going to be dancing. Inga had to call on the palace maids to help her fit into the gown. She wasn't quite sure how this would work with dinner and dancing, but it was slightly less painful than it had been a few days before.

Elizabeth and Inga had spent a lot of time together in the days since they had arrived in Corona though they had avoided certain topics of conversation. The times that Inga had managed to see Elsa, Frederick was usually there, too. He had been sticking with either his aunt or his sister since his encounter with the unknown ladies. Inga tried to be understanding, but there were several discussion topics that she couldn't bring up with either Elizabeth or her aunt when he was around.