Operation Fimbulvetr

    >Prince Edvard, youngest son of King Espen II of Arendelle looked across the table at the assemblage of black-clad strangers. The red bands on their arms bore a curious device -a black spider had been smashed against a white saucer. Its nature, alien to European heraldry, afforded him no reassurance of their intentions.

    >"You mean to make war in the east, and you would have Arendelle drive away their winter in aid of this enterprise?" He asked.

    >"I have been instructed to ask your Kingdom for precisely that, Herr Aren. We are prepared to make things very comfortable for you as compensation" the strange man replied. His thin mustache crinkled as he drew up his lips to assume an imposing air. He drew up the shoulders of his pinstriped suit.

    >Did he mean to threaten them? Arendelle? Unassailable behind their ice as the Swiss were behind their mountains? The Prince wondered what the curious men could possibly offer other than a promise, possibly false, of neutrality.

    >After all, he thought they had offered such assurances to the self-described "Man of Steel" who thought himself safe beyond the banks of the Volga and yet now came seeking Arendelle's aid in destroying him.

    >"What would you need from us? You have planes. Armored cavalry. Surely victory will come as quick as thunder in the face of you "lightning attacks" The Prince asked.

    >"Herr Aren, I have been ordered to secure the service of one of your... witches", the man replied. He immediately regretted his words.

>"Forgive me, mein Herr, I did not mean to imply anything. The kindness of your family's Eismaschinen is well known to us" the thinly mustached man retreated to his native tongue in embarassment. He swallowed and tugged nervously at his tie. The pin on his collar bore the same device as the armbands the men standing behind him wore, but the impertinent one's was cast in gold.

>"How can they waste gold on such petty things and expect to win a war?" Prince Edvard mused to himself.

>Another man, suited in gray and black, laid his hand on the pinstriped one's shoulder. The smartly dressed man rose from his seat and this other one and set his hat emblazoned with the most ridiculous insignia yet, a silver skull and crossbones, beside him.

>"We know you command the ice. We have held from your borders to spare ourselves the fury of your winters. We ask only that you give us the power to end another", he offered.

>"In exchange of what?" the Prince asked, already tired of these odd men dwelling even on a ship in his harbor.

>"The Fuhrer has permitted us to offer you whatever you would ask for destroying the Soviet with your power" the gray-suited one offered with a straight face.

>Prince Edvard composed his response with care - these Germans were ridiculous, yes, but they had already seized many of Arendelle's neighbors.

>"And If I demanded The Southern Isles? What would your "Fuhrer" say to that?" he replied.

>"They would be yours" the gray one promised.

>Prince Edvard cast his eyes up from the desk. His gray-green eyes met the steely blue of the man across from him.

>"How could you promise that any son of Arendelle accompanying your forces would be out of danger?" the Prince asked.

>"They would be protected!" said the pinstriped one, from the corner where he smoked nervously.

>"We would die for them as for the Fuhrer himself, Herr Aren" pledged the more serious and soldlierly of the two.

>The fear of an eternal winter blanketing the Rheinland in snow; the horrific tales of an invincible army of men composed of living ice holding the Finnish incursion against Arendelle's border only 23 years earlier, when they had captured Weselton in only two weeks of fighting, and with no human casualties for their own forces; both weighed heavily on his mind. The Reich had seized The Southern Isles without effort; but they would gladly give it back if it meant even one of the crown family's icemasters would lead the blitz east into Stalin's armies; and possibly be persuaded to turn the fury of its winters against the Soviet. He could not return home in failure. His own family's lives depended on it.

>"The Southern Isles, and anything else you would ask, they are yours" he continued.

>The Prince extended his hand across the table to take that of the gray-suited one. In ten minutes he had doubled the population of Arendelle without a drop of blood spilled on snow.

>Prince Edvard shook hands with the gray-suited man. The prinstriped offered his as well but was eschewed. His remark of witchcraft could not be taken lightly.

>Edvard stepped out of the steel bulkhead door of the frigate into the winter air and looked in comfort at the splendor of the ice surrounding him. Clad only in thin, grey, woollen pants and a festive red sweater embroidered with designs of reindeer and snowflakes, he looked down the deck and saw sailors in full-length coats and furred hats trembling, rubbing their hands together to try to provoke some warmth from within themselves. He strode down to the gang plank and alighted from the frigate as if taking a walk in the summer breeze. The cold never had bothered their family.

>"Herr Aren! We cannot linger in these cold waters long" the pinstriped one called to him.

>In charity to the poor sailors Prince Edvard passed his hand over the smoke-belching stacks of the engine room. Until morning the boilers would be free from fighting the cold of the icy sea.

>Edvard returned to the castle, waving at the townsfolk as he passed. When the gates to the doors to the great hall shut behind him, King Espen beckoned to him.

>"Excellent news, father. The fools have given us the Southern Isles without so much as a shot fired" he told his patriarch. The grandson of Queen Elsa patted him on the back with thanks for a job well done.

>"Who are we to send among the dogs to keep our bargain, my son?", he asked.

>"I would leave that to you, father" Edward deferred.

>"Oh, nonsense. I have put this matter in your charge because I knew you would choose wisely. Of all my sons you have the best head for strategy. Now, who will it be? Surely not one of the girls?" the King asked.

>Edvard thought of his daughters, Bodil and Frida. He would not see them suffer were the plans of the ridiculous dupes waiting in the harbor to fail. Nor did he wish to impose on his two older brothers, Georg, the next in line for the throne, or Edmund, the middle, who was busy with his own children in annexed Weselton.

>"Myself, father. I will go" he offered.

>"In the morning, then" The King replied.

>"In the morning" Edvard affirmed.

>Dinner was made more interesting with the news. Edvard's wife Ylva worried more than his daughters. Still in their early teens, he hoped they would one day rule the Isles he'd just won for them.

>"Will it not be dangerous husband?" Ylva asked with concern as they lie in bed that night.

>"Of course. There is danger in doing nothing. The easterners are not as easily cowed by our snow, and if we allowed them onto our borders we may lose more than land. The greatest danger of this war will be in their underestimating me." the Prince tried to comfort his wife.

>The prodding of his daughters awakened him. They shook his shoulders and kissed him on his cheeks until he opened his eyes. He took them in his arms and hugged close against his chest to soak up their warmth.

>"Let's all sing a song before your papa leaves. Which ones do you know?" he asked his girls.

>Bodil, 12 years old with bright blonde hair and his same gray-green eyes, and Frida, 13, head covered in sandy-colored braids, and icy blue eyes, looked up at him as he sat back on the bed and set them on the ground.

>"Olaf taught us a new song yesterday. He said it was Mother Anna's favorite" Frida replied. The words whistled out of her mouth through the gap in her teeth. An accident at the docks when she was 9 had knocked one of her incisors loose and her crooked smile would be with her forever, but to his eyes it was as beautiful as the sun.

>"What did he teach you? The one about Summer?" Edvard asked.

>"No he taught us a new song. He said you didn't know it" Bodil replied to him.

>"Well will you teach me, so I can sing it while I'm gone?" he asked her as set her on his knee.

>"Okay papa. Frida, you start" Bodil urged her sister.

>Bodil and Frida sang a stirring duet for him about love being an open door. Ever true to his word, Olaf must have known it was Anna's favorite. Castle Arendelle had never shut its doors, except the huge ones opening into the hall, since the time Queen Elsa and her sister had lived in the castle. They didn't even close the doors in their rooms at night. They didn't have to.

>Edvard tried hard to remember the words, and took his girls in his arms to carry them down to breakfast. They ate eggs and sausages and hot cocoa with Ylva.

>Before he left the castle, Edvard stopped by old Olaf's room in the attic.

>"Hiya, buddy! You got big!" Olaf called out to him when he stepped through the door.

>He hadn't been up to the attic in five years and the things inside all seemed new to him, but still familiar. He was surrounded by things from the past. Old paintings adorned the walls; including paintings of Queen Elsa and Mother Anna done in their youngest days. A bicycle built for two sat in the corner next to a pair of mannequins wearing gowns. Olaf was playing with dolls; Edvard recognized them immediately as the two wonderful women who'd given Arendelle its family gift over ice and snow forever.

>"Any advice for me before I leave, Olaf?" Edvard asked the unmelting figure of mystery.

>In the 95 years since he'd been created Olaf had been watching over his family with love. Some of the castle staff still found him unsettling, but as the first guardian of the realm Olaf held a place of respect in the court even higher than himself.

>"Only if you give me a hug first" Olaf told him.

>Edvard bent down and put his arms around the frosty old snowman. The flurry hovering over Olaf rained snowflakes down on his hair. When he let go of Olaf he realized he really did feel warmer. A very special love magic burned within Olaf. It never weakened with the passage of years and he could pass it on to anyone who touched him. When you hugged Olaf, Edvard realized, you hugged Elsa and Anna in the warm flesh.

>"It's not safe out there alone. Take this with you" Olaf said, and handed the Prince a shard of ice.

>"What is it?" he asked

>"I don't know. But Elsa wants you to have it" Olaf replied mysteriously.

>"Well, thank you Olaf" Edvard said, and hugged him again. He closed his eyes and felt two sets of arms wrapped around him, in addition to Olaf's twigs. It was enough to move the Prince to tears, and in his mind he swore he could see the faces of the old Princess and the Queen, just as they had looked so long ago. He never wanted the moment to end, but collected himself and tore away from Olaf. It felt as unpleasant as ripping out the hair on his arms to let go, but he did, and put the shard in his pocket before he left.

>At the main entrance to the hall his older brother, wife, and two daughters awaited him. He kissed them good bye and set off back down to the docks.

>"I don't understand it, it's the middle of June. How can it be so cold?" he heard the sailors complaining on the tall grey ship.

>"These lands are cursed. They say an old woman lives up there on the mount and blankets them in ice to punish them, for something" another answered him.

>"How can they stand it?" the first pleaded.

>Edvard embarked the ship and a purser took his bags from him. He'd brought several changes of clothes and a fine uniform for affairs of state. He represented Arendelle to the world now and wanted to put his best face forward at all times.

>Finally the frigate steamed away.

>Once they'd passed beyond the turn from the fjord into the sea, Prince Edvard watched from the stern as the flurry of snow over Arendelle coalesced and disappeared.

>"So long as they really do think the land cursed, they won't even care about us" he mused.

>"Mein Herr, do you have a moment" he heard someone call out to him. He turned and saw a proud officer of the Kriegsmarine extending his hand. Edvard took it and clasped his other hand around it. Somehow this one seemed familiar to him.

>"Have we met?" Edvard asked.

>"Well, yes. We met at your cousin's wedding. I am Gustav, son of a noble family of Corona" the young man replied.

>"What's got you mixed in with this bunch?" Edvard asked.

>"My father. His contribution to the war effort - was his sons" Gustav replied.

>"It would seem the same is true for me" Edvard mused.

>The ship passed out of sight of Arendelle's rocky defenses entirely and picked up speed as they set out on the open sea. The wind blew warm through his hair and the sun shone brightly on Prince Edvard and Gustav as they stood next to each other on the deck. The crystal in his pocket grew no warmer, he found. Even for him it felt cold somehow, as if trying to keep his attention. He took it in his hand and wasn't sure why, but he could feel another hand holding his.

>He replaced the shard and turned toward Gustav, took his hand and shook it once more, then set off to find the purser and get in out of the sun in his cabin.

>He found the cabin smaller than he'd hoped. A desk, a bed, and a chair mounted on wheels were all that awaited him. His bags were thrown in a corner carelessly. Edvard fished the garment bag with his uniform out of the pile and hung it upon a pipe overhead.

>"The swine don't even respect our clothes, much less our independence" he said to no one in particular.

>Edvard closed the cover over his porthole and turned on the lamp on the desk. The summer sun was harsher on his eyes than he liked. The two sides of his family had come from Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. His father, King Espen, was son of Elsa's first child. Both he and all Anna's children had shared the same father. Queen Elsa's second born, a girl, had been born to a different man. That line lived now in old Weselton, where they helped his brother cement Arendelle's dominion through marriage.

>Curiously to him the secondborn line did not possess the power to drive ice and snow from the air. The cousin Gustav had mentioned was of that line. He remembered the wedding well; it was only three years since Hildr had married into Corona's royal family, before Germany had made their mutual defense pact, mostly by threatening Corona with invasion if they didn't acquiesce to the demands of the Reich for a watchful guard against the East.

>"Clearly it's become more than a guard" Edvard thought. The plan he'd received in advance of the embassy had spelled it out. They meant to invade the great Soviet empire.

>He took off his shoes and sat at the desk. If nothing else the room was carpeted, and Edvard relaxingly scrunched the fibers between his toes. He rolled the chair over to his suitcase and opened it up onto the bed to take out a book on the subject of diplomacy.

>He turned back to the desk to read but as soon as his eyes fell on the page he felt overwhelmingly sleepy. Something about the lolling of the ship waves cast a spell on him. He could barely keep his head up and so he left the book there and turned back to the bed to remove the suitcase. Once it was on the floor he laid down in his berth and passed out as soon as his head touched the pillow.

>He awoke to someone knocking at the bulkhead door. It wasn't a sound he'd grown accustomed to in Arendelle. The doors had always open in the castle, and he started up with confusion.

>"Herr Aren, are you awake, sir?" the voice called out.

>Edvard recognized it as as Gustav's.

>"Is it a matter of any importance?" he inquired.

>"The captain wishes to luncheon with you" Gustav responded.

>Edvard shook the sleep from his head and got up from the bed

>He found himself without hunger but, not one to decline a friendly invitation, slipped his shoes back on and opened the door.

>"Good. Please, follow me" Gustav indicated, and led him to the Captain's Mess.

>"Ahh, welcome, your highness. Please come in" the captain spoke as soon as he appeared in the threshold. Edvard entered and sat down at his table.

>"Radzimierz Lis, Imperial Navy of Corona" the Captain stood from the table and introduced himself.

>Edvard tipped his head respectfully. Captain Lis gestured toward an empty chair at his table and Edvard sat down. The table was set simply, and the meal ready even simpler. It seemed to have come all out of cans, the sickening gray hue of pasteurization hung over everything, from the peas to the milk.

>Arendelle had never needed to embrace the modernity of canning, and by comparison to that at home the food was tasteless. The luxury of freezing was sadly ubiquitous only in his own kingdom, Edvard thought. For politeness' sake he ate enough to appear sated.

>Captain Lis sat back and smoked a pipe as his guest nourished himself. He was an older man, gray around the temples, and had the air of respectability about him one would find in a career military man committed to serving his country in good faith. Edvard saw in his glances a suspicious analysis and wondered if they'd expected him to eat anything at all.

>"My thanks to you, Lis. I wonder, could a drink be produced for me?" Edvard said.

>"My own stock is at your disposal, Herr Aren, though we of course have no ice available here" Lis answered as he gestured to a wet bar in the corner, with emphasis on the word ice that betrayed his suspicions.

>Edvard rose from the table and poured himself a glass of Acuavit.

>"You've never seen it, have you? The Ismakt." Edvard said as he turned back to Lis.

>"I have not" Lis admitted between puffs on his pipe.

>Edvard concentrated his gaze on the glass of pale yellow liquor. Frost sprang from its surface and the liquid inside froze solid in an instant. If he wanted he could freeze the ship apart and it was important they know that. Though their dedication to their monarch - a distant cousin of Edvard's - was absolute, even men of Corona were not entirely trustworthy.

>Captain Lis' eyes grew wide with fear at the display of power. Once he saw his point had been conveyed Edvard withdrew the cold, and the glass thawed. The liquor inside separated as a disk of water sat atop the alcohol. Edvard swished it around in his hand and drank. The pleasant burning warmed him far better than the meager meal had done.

>"Tonight we will take port in the Southern Isles, and I am told you will disembark for the official transfer of authority in the morning. I hope that the accomodations are satisfactory to you, mein Herr" Lis informed him.

>"Quite. Might I visit your chart room before retiring, Captain?", the Prince replied.

>"It is at your service" he responded.

>Captain Lis called for Gustav and the younger fellow led Edvard to the room bearing the maps of the strategic theater. Their planned area of invasion was circled in red on a map laid open on a sidle table.

>"Leningrad" Edvard thought. Many converging lines fell around the cities of the Soviet empire, but the ones encircling the port city formed a large snowflake. He studied the map carefully. It wasn't a naval chart like the others. The emblem of the eagle sitting atop the smashed spider was emblazoned on the corner, but no name. Lines indicating planned troop movements stretched from the border of Corona into the western Soviet cities.

>Larger lines, running longitudinally, were marked with dates. The map planned for the seizure of Moscow and Volgograd by the end of 1942, only 18 months away. Leningrad, or as he had heard of it as a child, St. Petersburg, they planned to conquer by only by the end of summer. The snowflake drawn around it perplexed him.

>"If they think I'm going to give them an early winter..." Edvard thought to himself briefly.

>The ugliness of it flew from his mind when he assessed the strength in numbers of the troops committed to the invasion. Nearly 80% of the combined armies of the Axis would be thrust into the space between Corona and Volograd in only 18 months.

>"The fools!" Edvard shouted, and began laughing before he heard someone open the door to the chart room behind him.

>Edvard turned silently and saw the thinly mustached man, still in his pinstriped suit. The invertebrate tried to smile, but in his nervousness it seemed more as if he was in pain. His eyes flew to the map in front of Edvard, and he nervously stepped over to collect it.

>We shall dock soon, Herr Aren, do not dally in these cramped rooms. The sun on the deck is quite refreshing.

>Edvard nodded in agreement and chuckled to himself. Without further acknowledgement he slipped past the detestable man into the hallway and out onto the deck.

>They were approaching the northernmost of the Isles, and the sun still loomed high in the sky. Captain Lis may have said it would be night when they arrived, but that correct only according to the clock.

>When the ship docked, only Prince Edvard and the grey-uniformed man disembarked. They were met by a party of officials from the Southern Isles' defeated government escorted by several more men dressed in grays and blacks. The Isles' ambassador, a man he'd met before, called him aside.

>"Is it true? Do you mean to deliver us from these devils?" he asked

>"My solemn vow to you, Frans; they will be no more come dawn" the Prince replied.

>"Mr. umm, you know I never got your name." Edvard said to the gray one who'd accompanied him.

>"Sturmbannführer Geiszler" he coldly replied.

>"Yes. Leave me with the Islanders. Take these other men and have my things brought to the hotel in town" Edvard commanded him.

>The Major furrowed his brow with upset at being told his duty but bit his lip and ordered the others back to the ship. Once he was alone with the civilians Edvard reassured them by sharing his plans.

>"These wolves will depart soon, but I call upon you to expel them to the last. If they leave any spies behind, we must uncover them. Am I understood?" he said.

>The assembly of officials nodded in unison.

>They led Edvard to the hotel closest by and all sat down in the lobby. After a few minutes his bags arrived from the ship and were placed in the largest suite available. An envoy of the Southern Isles' King arrived within the hour and they held a minor version of court in the dining room. Though it had been two months since they were seized, there were few problems to report.

>"We have had few deaths, your highness, only 60 known, but we are grateful for your intercession. Had we known Arendelle held such sway we would have surrendered to you first" Frans told him.

>"Don't thank me yet, Frans. There are armed Germans sipping coffee in your cafes, with your women. When they've gone, then you may thank me" the Prince replied.

>"Of course you highness. Will it be soon?" Frans asked.

>"In the morning I shall travel to Amalienborg and accept the King's oath of fealty. When it is done, the Isles will be part of Arendelle and you will be free to ignore the war. These Germans fear ice on the Rheinland far too much to defy us" Edvard assured him.

>The court broke and the Prince retired for the night. An attractive blonde woman awaited him in his suite.

>"Magrid? How on Earth did you get here?" Edvard asked his cousin, a granddaughter of Anna's first child, when he turned the corner into the bedroom.

>She rose from the bed and came to his side, and kissed him on the cheek.

>"It's been too long, Edvard." the tall girl complained as she rested her reddish-gold head on his shoulder and stroked the side of his face, twiddled his ear between her fingers and ran her hand down the front of his neck over his adam's apple. She curled a finger beneath the neck of his sweater and traced her fingetips through the soft hair on his chest.

>Edvard took her by the wrist and lowered her hand from his neck. She was his favorite cousin, and in their younger days they'd enjoyed teasing one another this way, and some more privately, but that was long before either of them had married, which was the thing which bothered Prince Edvard Aren most about the Countess being there with him in a dark hotel room; at 9 o'clock in the evening; in the German-occupied Southern Isles more than 400 miles from her home in Austria.

>"Magrid, really. What are you doing here? Is Gerhold with you?" he turned his head and asked.

>"Gerhold? Why would he come to see you? He's been so busy at home" she answered

>Edvard remembered that her husband, Gerhold, had been an enthusiastic participant in the Anschluss. Always seeking more power for himself, he'd taken Magrid's dowry and used it to buy up millions of acres of Macedonia at the end of the last war.

>"Taken up with the Bavarians, has he?" Edvard turned and asked her.

>"Answer me. How did you know I would be here?" he asked without waiting for her to reply.

>"Spies are only useful if they know things others wish to keep secret, Edvard" she replied.

>"Spy?" Edvard said as his confusion turned to anger. If anyone but Magrid had just admitted to spying on him - on Arendelle - for the Reich, Edvard was sure a violent snowstorm would have broken out in the room.

>He squeezed her wrist tight and pulled her against him to search for the lie she was surely hiding behind her pale green eyes.

>She struggled and Edvard thrust her away. He thought back to when they were last alone, 13 years earlier - before she'd run from him to be married. She had been angry with him then, but he couldn't believe she would turn against him so completely as to spy on her own people.

>That was the most curious thing. Magrid had the same power he did. If they'd wanted someone to remove the peril from a winter invasion she would've done.

>"If they already had you why come for me? Answer me!" he shouted.

>"They mean to take Arendelle within the year. Soon they won't be stopped by the snow any more. I lied to them. I told them I needed you, Edvard. To save you" she replied as tears grew in her eyes.

>He remembered the map he'd seen earlier. He realized his own growing plans could've been anticipated by someone else who knew the extent of the Ismakt's ability - Gerhold.

>"Magrid, if you still love me, prove it by lying for me again. Tell Gerhold his plan is working. Tell him I trust them completely" he ordered her.

>"Of course, Edvard. Anything for you" she answered softly.

>He took her coppery curls in his hands and kissed her.

>With his lips crushed against hers, Edvard realized there was no passion in his embrace for Magrid. As a younger woman she would've taken his lead - they might have ended up on the bed in short order. Now neither of them was willing to take things as far, as fast. He released her and they stood silently next to each other.

>Magrid turned to leave and put an end to the torment of being alone with the man she loved but too insecure and suspect to show it.

>"Magrid, wait. Give me your hand" Edvard said.

>She turned back to him with loneliness in her eyes and offered her his hand. If it were still possible she felt would enjoy the warmth of him inside her as she had so many times before.

>He took the shard from his pocket and put it in her palm.

>"Close your eyes and tell me - whose hand do you feel now?" Edvard ordered her.

>"He's only toying with me", she thought, and tried to thrust the cold crystal back to him, but Edvard closed her fingers over her it.

>"Please, tell me" he said.

>Magrid blinked in contempt at his game, and when she did for a moment she saw another face flash in her mind. She opened them and looked up at him strangely.

>"When I've touched it I feel a cold hand in mine. Whose was it?" He explained.

>"I don't know. I thought I saw mother again" she replied.

>Edvard's fingertips brushed over her palm as he took the cold thing back. Magrid clutched at her hand and wondered at the bitterness of it against her skin - how it was possible.

>"Leave me" he ordered her.

>Magrid looked up at him in disappointment and shame. She hadn't expected to be spurned - she'd only flown in the night before when Berlin had received the radio call that Arendelle had been given the Southern Isles. She'd been ordered to meet whoever they sent. Her wish it would be Edvard had come true, but her hope that they would still be in love with one another after so long had not. Dejected, she turned and left.

>When she appeared alone at the bottom of the staircase the Oberst to whom she'd been assigned accosted her.

>"Frau Gossel, you are early. If we'd known he was so easy to satisfy we wouldn't have spent the fuel" he poked at her, with a sleazy glint in his eyes.

>She buried her self-disgust for being reminded she hadn't slept with him as deep as she could.

>"Herr Aren wished to be left alone with his reading. He worries over the terms of the surrender" Magrid said.

>"Ah? We shall have to send him up some wine then. What of his condition to assist us? Will he leave with us tomorrow?" the Oberst asked.

>"Yes. He is eager to go to the front, for Germany. If you will excuse me, I wish to turn in, myself" she reported.

>The Oberst blithely dismissed her and returned to his command in the center of town. Magrid returned to her small room and leaned against the door. The cold spot on her palm was nearly numb. When she flexed the fingers on her hand it ached. She shut her eyes and tried to remember who she'd seen.

>The next morning at Amalienborg palace, Edvard accepted the transfer of authority over the Southern Isles from General Lüdke with the thanks of a grateful Reich. The Islanders rejoiced at the sight of the Germans' retreat from Copenhagen and festivities in the custom of Arendelle were held to celebrate the end of 14 weary months of occupation.

>Edvard himself was toasted and given a medal by King Christian. That night at the docks, the Isles' ambassador asked if he would stay and watch over them to prevent any German treachery.

>"No, I am afraid not, Frans. In three days time Georg will arrive, and our army with him. I am called to the East" he explained.

>With reluctance he bid the Isles farewell and embarked the ship of Corona again.

>The strange timing of Magrid's appearance worried him. Germany's possession of someone with their family gift over ice and snow would complicate his plans. Edvard was sure she could be trusted not to betray his efforts in the east, but when his plan swung westward again he wondered if she would hold to him, and her family, or Gerhold and his nationalist friends. Since 1917 the world grew ever more dangerous for monarchies, and Magrid's warning about a plan to seize Arendelle laid heavy on his mind.

>Gustav brought him some comfort with the news that they would land in Corona soon, and from there join the invasion force and move against the Soviet empire. Operation Barbarossa would soon commence with the Snow Prince on point.

>When they landed at Misdroy, Edvard could hardly believe he was in a country preparing to go to war. It was lively as ever in Corona. An early summer festival awaited them, and people danced in the streets. Beer flowed freely and attractive women in the native costume roamed in flocks seeking mates among the small number of men who had not been committed to the war. Boys not even old enough to fight were being doted on as if they'd already come home heroes.

>Edvard felt the curious looks of the townspeople who noticed him perplexing until he was confronted by a short brown-haired woman accompanying Geiszler.

>"Herr Aren, how do you not sweat to your death in that?" she asked him.

>He looked round at the others of the company making their way through town to the rail station - even the German officers had put on bright summer uniforms, but he still wore the woollen sweater and pants and hard leather boots he'd had on when he embarked in Arendelle, 70 degrees colder than it was in Misdroy. He was about to reply when another woman spoke up.

>"You know these nothern boys, Lise. Ice in their veins" she said.

>A bit shorter then Geiszler, and dressed far more conservatively, she wore a simple brown dress absent the unsettling spider pin.

>"Prince Edvard of Arendelle" he introduced himself.

>"Mina Eberhard, Army Intelligence. Welcome to Corona, my Lord" she rejoined him, and extended her hand.

>Edvard shook it and smiled as he admired her soft hazel eyes.

>Mina led them through town past still more celebration. In the square a concert was being held - a mixed crowd of men in uniforms of Germany and Corona sat on blankets amongst civilians with picnic baskets and relaxed in the spring sun as they listened to a quarter play Vivaldi. Edvard broke from the group Geiszler led and stopped to listen.

>"Their performance pleases you, Lord Aren? Shall I recruit an accompaniment of musicians for your group?" Mina asked him as she stepped alongside him.

>Edvard laughed nervously and turned to meet the gaze of the soft-faced woman of Corona. She appeared amused to see him hypnotized by the lively violin playing.

>"Haven't been to many outdoor concerts" he said, dreamily swept away by the beauty of it.

>It was true. Arendelle's rocky surroundings prohibited gatherings like this very often, except on the shore, and at any rate they'd held their concerts mostly in the great hall of the castle or the music hall in town. Seeing so many people happily gathered outdoors in the sun was a real treat to him.

>"Perhaps I shall request only a violinist" Mina said as she took his arm in hers and led him back to the group entering the train station.

>"Could we also bring along a flautist?" Edvard jokingly replied and walked with the dark-haired intelligence officer to the train. Her pace was quick enough for it to seem as if she was rushing him away from the grandeur of the revelry going on, and Edvard felt as if he was being managed.

>For the invasion to begin in only one week's time, and to seize both cities by year's end. In studying it Edvard noticed the pace of their movements were actually planned to increase in late fall.

>"If I may direct your attention to the larger map now" Mina called out to them

>Edvard and the others looked up from their papers. On the larger map Mina indicated to them a third group to depart toward the south. She described a three-pronged offensive to be undertaken by a force of men and arms greater than had ever been gathered together in the history of the world ready to take off from the borders of Corona and Andalasia and plunge into the Soviet Union.

>"This information will be repeated for you when we arrive at White Slope, but at present I shall endeavor to answer any questions you have" Mina explained.

>Edvard raised his hand to call her attention.

>"Yes, my Lord" she answered

>"Which group am I to be assigned?" Edvard asked

>"You are asked to accompany our northern group and with them capture St. Petersburg - er, Leningrad" she replied.

>The officers all asked similar questions - the two men of Andalasia were particularly concerned with the risks of the invasion stretching into a winter action. They were incredulous at the plan to seize so many miles in so little time.

>"The plan will be clarified for you at White Slope, gentlemen. My function is merely to brief you on the strategy" Mina explained.

>The Snow Prince felt no need to volunteer it.

>Once the briefing was over, only Major Geiszler, Agent Eberhard, and the Prince remained behind. The other countries' men returned to their own cars to confer orders upon their lessers.

>"Herr Aren, may I ask you a direct question?" Geiszler said to the Prince.

>"Does it relate to the plan, Major?" he replied

>"Yes, mein Herr. In my government there are those who worship your people, and those who do not entirely trust you. I am neither. I am a veteran of the last war - I have seen the power of Arendelle's hand fall in anger upon the East before. I do not question your loyalty. Regardless of what should happen to Germany or Corona, or the others; you will be safe behind your ice for as long as you like. I therefore question, on behalf of my government, your commitment to our cause" Geiszler responded.

>Edvard drew his hand into a fist and rapped lightly on the table. He looked across it at Geiszler in dismay.

>"Arendelle cannot tolerate the Soviet. Whatever assistance I must render to aid in their defeat, will be given, and whatever must be done to secure the freedom of greater Europe. Does that satisfy your doubt, Major?" Edvard replied as he turned his palm upward as if to offer a helping hand.

>"It may not be good enough for him, but it certainly satisfies me" Eberhard added in from her corner with her hands clutched against her chest.

>Edvard hadn't noticed it happen but a flurry of snowflakes had materialized within the car as he'd spoken.
>Some of the flakes fell on the packet in front of Edvard and he realized his emotions had got the better of him. He raised his eyebrows and looked over at Agent Eberhard. She stared up in wonder at the unnatural flurry over her head. Geiszler did not change his expression but did turn to glance at the map again.

>Edvard banished the snow with a wave of his hand. Eberhard blinked at the sight in wonder.

>"I will be taken to my car now, Mina" Edvard ordered.

>"Yes, of course" she replied, still flustered from his unexpected display.

>Agent Eberhard led him to his own car, last in the line, and bid him to sit with her.

>"Thank you for showing me your power, my Lord. Despite the Major's apprehension let me to assure you - Corona has every faith in your commitment to our cause... as I have every faith in you as a man" Mina said as she turned and looked up at him

>She leaned in toward him with glistening eyes. Their golden tint caught the light of the lamps overhead and shone like the sun lay behind them. Mina put her arm across his chest and stretched up from her seat, and pounced upon him. Her cap flew off of her head and an avalanche of brown curls fell down around her. She pressed her lips against Edvard's and tore at the buttons on her coat. Once she'd got it off she began to unbutton her shirt. Once she'd gotten past the first three she shrugged it onto her shoulders.

>Edvard reached up and clinked his wedding ring against the wall.

>Mina looked over at the sound and sighed to herself in defeat. She crept back and sat on the couch and turned her head back to his.

>"Forgive me, Lord Aren. I was... unaware of your marriage. An intelligence officer" she said as she turned back and glared out at nothing in embarassment.

>Agent Eberhard collected herself and thrust her arms back into her coat, but didn't bother to gather her hair under her cap before replacing it.

>Edvard watched her hips swivel as she marched through the compartment door. The muscular development of her backside showed through the thin fabric of her skirt, and for a moment, Edvard wished he'd taken her as she desired.

>Mina let her face fall into a sour frown once she was out of the compartment. Once she reappeared into the meeting car with Geiszler she looked at him and shook her head in discouragement.

>"Damn" he muttered.

>Geiszler immediately went to the front car of the train once and sent a radio telegram to the Reich Ministry of Education in Berlin. Its contents were as innocuous as a weather report: "Snowfall not recorded".

>"I will endeavor to complete the harvest once we arrive in Whiteslope, Mein Herr" Mina said.

>Edvard recovered himself and felt the desire for a good, stiff, drink. He went to the mirror of the private toilet in his car. The stain of Eberhard's pale red lipstick lie across his face. He sighed to himself and washed it from his lips, and thought of Ylva and his daughters, far away in Arendelle.

>The train arrived in Whiteslope after sunset. Edvard disembarked the train in his black dress uniform to blend in with the military crowd. Agent Eberhard insisted on being his guide to the city and locked arms with him. When they'd made it out of the station Edvard stopped and turned to her.

>"Many thanks for Corona's concern but with your leave, I'd like to see the city on my own tonight" he said

>Eberhard considered his words but turned to him with a sad smile.

>"You are Corona's most honored guest, Lord Aren, I cannot permit you to go around unaccompanied. Were there be any accidents I would be held personally responsible. Perhaps if I were to invite some others along you would not find my company so troublesome" she said as if hurt by his request, and pouted at him with her eyes.

>Edvard tried to assert himself but Mina's pained concern overwhelmed the anxiety he'd felt since landing in Misdroy that he was somehow being led around at the nose.

>"Very well, Mina, if I am to be your guest let it be among others" he said

>Mina left his side for a moment and flagged down a passing taxicab. Edvard considered breaking his promise for a moment and disappearing into the crowd as best as a 6'2" blonde man in foreign military regalia could. He considered his best chance would be with the Andalasians. The party leaving the station were almost all as tall as he.

>Before he could decide, Mina returned to shutter him up in a taxicab. To his surprise it wasn't empty.
>The taxi Mina all but shoved him into was already occupied - by more women. Edvard turned back to object but the blonde and brunette sitting inside giggled and pulled him in by his lapels. He fell forward into the blonde's lap and felt someone turning his legs into the car behind him.

>Edvard took his face from between the blonde's thighs and uprighted himself on the seat, flustered. He turned to look at Mina as she sat beside him.

>"Is this how all the foreign Princes are treated in Corona, Agent Eberhard?" he asked.

>"Oh Lord Aren, I do apologize, but we must all share a ride this close to the front. Fuel is too valuable to waste" she replied.

>Mina leaned forward and rapped on the glass separating the driver's compartment. The driver opened a sliding window.

>"Destination?" the curtly inquired.

>"The Aristo" Mina answered.

>The taxi sped away and sat back for a ride he wasn't sure he should be taking, surrounded by foreign women. Since he'd arrived in Copenhagen and found Magrid at the hotel all the new faces representing the alliance had been attractive women.

>"Eberhard even threw herself at me in he train" he thought, and considered the strangeness of having so many attractive women directed at him in so short a time.

>The two already in the taxi introduced themselves as a singer, the blonde, and a flute player, the brunette.

>Mina introduced him as the Prince of Arendelle and they set upon him like cats hoping his scent would rub off on them

>"A Prince?" The blonde from whose lap Edvard only just extracted his butterscotch-toned head gleefully cried out.

>"Mina, you spoil us" the brunette added.

>The blonde fell against him and crushed his lapel with her cheek, then threw her arm across his chest. The brunette wrapped herself around his arm and and tried to tousle his hair, but found it frozen perfectly in place with ice. The blonde brought her head up from his chest suddenly and touched her cheek as if she'd fallen against the pavement.

>"What the..." both of them wondered, a second after the other.

>A flash of worry broke across Agent Eberhard's face as she pondered whether the Snow Prince would freeze them all there in the car - she hid it as quickly as it came.

>"I think perhaps our guest would prefer to relax before socializing" she suggested.

>Edvard detected a tremor of fear in her voice and smiled wryly. The two girls stared at him in wonder until the ride ended.

>Once they reached the Aristo Mina led Evard out of the car. The two perplexed girls came after him and rushed inside.

>"You are full of surprises, Lord Aren" Mina said.

>"Nothing makes a prince so much esteemed as setting a fine example" Edvard replied.

>"Machiavelli" he added.

>Agent Eberhard silently grumbled that she would prefer orders to ford the Rhine in a grandfather clock to infiltrating the Snow Prince of Arendelle's gabardine.

>"It would be easier", she sighed under her breath before leading Edvard inside.

>Uneager to risk further display of his ice powers, Mina directed Edvard into the hotel. The lobby thronged with more uniforms, of every country. Virtually no one, not even the women, was dressed casually.

>The Germans stood out for the smartness of their blacks against the others' bright colors. Edvard mused that with minor alterations his dress blacks might pass for one of them at a distance.

>Agent Eberhard kept close watch as he mingled with the crowd. Hands were shook, and in the case of a visiting noblewoman of Andalasia with flowing red-yellow locks, kissed. Edvard spent far too long in conversation with the Princess for Mina's liking - but, when she excused herself, she thought it lucky that the same serenity seen at the concert in Misdroy had fallen over him.

>Edvard was depressingly lovelorn as the Princess left. Mina carefully insinuated herself into the longing gaze that trailed Giselle's path into the performance hall. He sighed once her radiance, eclipsed by plain brown coats, vanished.

>"Might I be of any assistance in cheering his highness up?" Mina offered.

>"Yes, as it happens" Edvard replied and smiled back at her. For the first time in forever, Ylva was distant from his mind.

>"Will she be attending tonight's performance?" Edvard asked in reference to the ravishing amber-haired Princess.

>"Of course my Lord, as will we" Mina answered.

>"I should very much enjoy sitting beside her" he said.

>"Of course, Lord Aren" Mina replied, and ordered the seating usher to make it so.

>"Snowfall in June" Mina thought with a smirk.

>"Excuse me a moment, my Lord" Mina said, and ducked into the hall to hun down the stage manager.

>"Eberhard, Ministry of Intelligence. What were your planning tonight?" she inquired as she displayed her credentials to him.

>"Er, a medley of vocal pieces by Mozart and Haydn. What business is it of the ministry?" the flustered stage manager asked.

>"You will perform "Peaceful Times" by Grynt or this hall will be closed indefinitely" Mina ordered him.

>"Of course, but why?" he asked, startled, as his will failed him.

>"So I can catch snowflakes on my tongue" Mina wistfully answered.

>Perplexed, the stage manager turned and rushed off to gather his performers.

>Mina returned to the theater and found Edvard in the first row, flirting playfully with Princess Giselle. She took the seat to his left and waited for the concert to begin.

>The horn section opened first with lively alternating meandering tones. Edvard didn't recognize the piece at first - it sounded like so many others, and he continued to dote on the Princess. The piano joined in, and still he did not notice. Then the blonde whose lap he'd fallen into headfirst earlier drew a breath and sang.

>"This time is like no other for us in living memory. Breathe the air - take in the feeling of peace and harmony" she called down to him from the stage.

>Edvard broke from Giselle and grinned up at the stage in surprise.

>Agent Eberhard crossed her hands in her lap and waited for the inevitable.

>For the next hour variations of tone and melody played out on stage across a dozen instruments and two skilled voices. When it ended Edvard stood up and applauded. Mina stood up as well.

>When he'd expressed his joy enough Edvard fell back into his seat in hyperbolic excitement. He turned and smiled dreamily at Agent Eberhard.

>"Mina, did you do all this for me?" he asked, knowing full well that no one else could have arranged for the song, written by the most famous composer in Arendelle's history to commemorate the 40th birthday of Snow Queen Elsa, to be performed in a hotel ballroom in Corona.

>Princess Giselle bid Edvard goodbye and to Mina's delight he sighed as she departed. The presence of the Princess seemed to have touched something inside him. She'd seen the same effect in Corona's princes and if she hadn't a mission to attend to she would've misered bitterly to herself about what gave Princesses their strange power over their male counterparts - it pushed a Prince's senses to the peak of sensitivity to be around them, she knew from her training. If a Princess had been enlisted to her duty it would've been done by now.

>Edvard hung his head over the seatback to watch her leave and stretched his hand longingly after her. The largest medal on his chest clinked up against its pin as he laid back. "Beware the frozen heart" warned the ceremonial crest. Mina knew that now, with the glow of the Princess' magic combined with the stirring power of his national song lingering over him, Edvard's heart be the most thawed.

>Once most of the guests had left for their dinners, Mina hoped to split it in two.

>Remembering her earlier mistake of being too forward she merely put her hand on his thigh. She felt something hard there in his lap, and tested its length. She found it shorter than she'd thought likely for a man Edvard's height, but very hard, and oddly cold through the fabric of his pants. At its end she found not no bulbous tip, but an edge which tapered off and sharpened.

>In minor horror Agent Eberhard reconsidered the wisdom of her mission to capture the seed of the Snow Prince of Arendelle. Her fingers curled around it and she tried. Edvard turned his gaze from Giselle's departure and saw Mina bent over next to him.

>"Mina what are you -" was all Edvard said before ice struck out at her from his leg.

>It wasn't his ice, he knew immediately, as the cold of the ice shard he'd received from Olaf screamed out against his thigh.

>Mina screamed and Edvard sat up.

>Agent Eberhard fell to the floor and clutched at the icicle impaled through her hand.

>Edvard banished it in a panic and ran to the theater door to call for a doctor.

>"What the devil happened?" asked a plainly dressed officer of Corona while Mina was carted whimpering into the ambulence outside. Her hand was frostbitten and bled through the bandages wrapped round it.

>"She tried to... take something from me" Edvard answered sadly.

>Edvard sat down and took the strange chunk of ice from his pocket and closed his hand tight around it. Nothing happened and so he closed his eyes and tried to focus his own power into it. A bright light flickered on the insides of his eyelids and Edvard fhought he had suddenly been brought outside.

>He was looking towards the sunrise when suddenly his vision turned without him willing so and he saw his great aunt Anna standing next to him in a field of wildflowers, younger than he had ever known her. He looked down at his own body and saw he wore a pale aquamarine garment made from ice. Something touched his shoulder. He turned sharply to see what it was and his vision went black again.

>Edvard opened his eyes and saw a German officer standing before him.

>"Herr Aren do you feel well? The Doctor has not yet departed." the man inquired.

>Edvard blinked at him and tried to summon words from his throat but for his lightheadedness only exhaled noisily. He put his hand over his eye and breathed in deeply, then looked up.

>"Fine. I'm fine". Send no one" he said, and quickly replaced the ice shard in his pocket.

>He strangely felt as if a cold hand held his own and released it.

>Edvard remembered what had happened and looked up at the officer again

>"Will Miss Eberhard be all right?" he asked.

>"I doubt she will be injured long, my Lord. We have become exceedingly skilled at tending to injuries resulting from the cold" the officer replied.

>"Good. Good" Edvard held his head in hand and ran his fingers through his hair.

>The officer left him to his devices.

>Edvard left the ballroom and sat down at the Hotel Aristo's bar. The barman placed his order - scotch, neat - before him and Edvard froze it involuntarily as soon as it was in his hand.

>Edvard decided he had better just turn in early and left for his room. They'd given him the largest available, and to his gratitude no women, strange, estranged, nor familiar awaited him.

>He took the crystal from his pocket again, breathed deeply and focused his power into it, then laid down in bed.

>His vision flew away from him again - to the inside of a small cabin. He realized was on a ship, could feel it rocking in the waves. A book sat open in front of him too blurred to read. A knock came at the cabin door. The sound was muddled as if through a pillow held over his ear.

>"Elsa, can I come in?" a voice called through the door.

>"Elsa?" Edvard tried to think and dropped the book in his hands.

>He started awake and opened his eyes, back in his suite in Whiteslope.

>He rose from the bed and wandered to the window. A pale crescent moon shone down on him as he pondered what he'd seen. To he best of Edvard's knowledge both Snow Queen Elsa and her sister were long passed. He wondered why he would be seeing them in modern settings - his aunt Anna in modern clothes, as young as she'd been in the paintings on the walls in his castle.

>Far away, on a vessel sailing west through the Indian Ocean, Snow Queen Elsa looked up at the same moon and wondered why her great-grandson had run away after calling out to her from inside her mind.

>The Snow Prince stepped out of his suite into the hall and urgently walked down the stairs to the front desk.

>"I need to send a telegram immediately" he told the concierge.

>He escorted Edvard to the radio office in the steampipe-lined service hallway. Inside another Coronan soldier worked a telegraph machine, and a clerk busily filed messages for the guests and military officers. The preoccupied man hadn't noticed Edvard enter and kept to his work.

>"Soldier!" Edvard addrressed him. The clerk spun on his heels and snapped to a salute as if expecting to find an officer accosting him.

>"I must contact the Countess Magrid Aren in Salzburg, immediately" he told the clerk.

>He thrust a telegram transcription sheet under his hand and Edvard filled out the message for his beloved cousin - "A & E alive. Seen with own eyes".

>"It'll be sent in the morning, sir" the clerk told him once Edvard returned the sheet.

>"Morning?" he asked.

>"Military correspondence has priority this shift, sir" the clerk replied.

>"This message is of the highest military priority to the Kingdom of Arendelle. You will send it now" Edvard commanded him, straightening his posture to appear as authoritative as possible.

>"Sir, my orders are clear" the clerk replied

>In no mood for the pettiness of foreign military necessity, Edvard reached across the desk, took the young man by his short brown tie and froze it solid in his hand.

>"You will send it tonight"

>Edvard released his grip and the clerk's tie fell to the ground and shattered.

>"Tonight. Y-yes sir" he complied with fear in his eyes.

>Edvard stormed out of the telegraph room and into a Coronan Lieutenant who held a hand up to stop him

>"Excuse me sir. Major Geiszler of the Wehrmacht wishes to see you immediately" he said

>"Tell the Major he can see me in the morning. I have other plans" Edvard replied and shoved his way past.

>He cast a trail of ice upon the floor to impede anyone's following, and seconds later heard the Lieutenant crash to the ground.

>Edvard slipped from the service corridor out to the rear of the hotel. There in Corona, unlike his home, there were no mountains to be found, no snowbound peaks to which he might retreat and clear his head. The blasted hill country lacked even any buildings taller than 5 stories. He walked around to the street and roamed toward the outskirts of the city until he found a millpond still in the night.

>With a blast of ice he froze it over and and erected an ornate, closed-in gazebo from the flat surface. The idea of Elsa and Anna still being alive was unfathomable. The Coronation of the last Snow Queen had occurred in July of 1845. It was now June of 1941 and somehow he'd seen both her and her sister in the flesh, and felt Elsa's hand in his, as had Magrid. He took the ice crystal from his pocket again and placed it on the snowbed next to him. He didn't dare grasp it again so soon.

>600 miles away in Salzburg, Magrid received an urgent telegram. Knowing her great-grandmother and great Aunt still lived brought tears of joy to her eyes.

>When the shock passed Magrid realized that what had happened in Copenhagen hadn't been a delusion or dream, she had genuinely felt Anna's hand touching hers, and suddenly remembered that she'd felt the same thing years earlier.

>She rushed to the cabinet in her sitting room that held all the souvenirs of her life before she'd married Gerhold - she'd been happier then - with Edvard as her constant companion and lover. The two of them had roamed the sweet summer hills of Arendelle and Weselton and spent winter nights huddled in front of fire in warm cottages. For her 17th birthday he'd given her a present, a rose sculpted from his own ice. When she'd held it she remembered dreaming she held him in her arms.

>Magrid opened the cabinet, and there the rose sat, frozen solid as the day he'd given it, not a crystalline petal out of place. A flurry of her own creation stormed above to maintain its perfect form.

>She took the rose from its crystal vase and held it to her breast again.

>In Whiteslope, Edvard started up from where he lie on the snowbed. He felt the phantom embrace of his beloved cousin and swiveled his head groggily to ensure no one had crept into his tiny ice fortress unknown to him. He was struck dumb when his eyes fell over the crystal shard beside him and he knew the arms around him were real.

>Edvard lied there - secure for the first time since he'd left Arendelle - warm in Magrid's arms. He could feel her breasts against his back as if she were pressed against him, and nestled himself further into his snowbank bed. Suddenly he wondered if Magrid could see through his eyes the way he had Elsa's. He leaned over the side of the bank and traced a message in the ice:

>"Snow falls on the crocus. It does not die. 'Neath the white blanket, safe it shall lie" - written to commemorate the fifth year of Queen Elsa's reign. Edvard hoped if Magrid could see it she would soon contact King Espen with news of Elsa and Anna's reappearance. He could not risk sending word of it through the monitored radio waves - If they were captured a ransom threat could halt his plans for Arendelle's part in the war. Edvard built up the snow over his body and rolled onto his side. With Magrid's arms still around him he fell back to slumber.

>He awoke to a tapping, an angry, loud, rapping against ice. His tiny redoubt vibrated. Edvard stood up from the snowbank and brushed loose flakes from his coat pockets. Young soldiers of Corona and Germany were gathered around the mill pond. One of them threw stones at the icy walls as if to test their strength. Edvard shoo'd the walls away with a flick of his wrist and the next stone fell long and met only water. He walked to the shore amid the amazed crowd and found the same Lieutenant Major Geisler had sent to him the night before awaited.

>>58022180
>"I will see the Major now" Edvard said.

>In the meeting room at the Aristo, Geiszler and his Coronan counterpart awaited him. When Edvard entered the room the Coronan officer stood and accosted him.

>"Do you always make your presence known to foreign spies, Prince Aren? We could have arranged for a freezer if you wanted to be reminded of the icy wastes of your homeland" he growled.

>"Spies are of no concern to me, Major, nor to Arendelle. It would be better for the Soviet Union for know I was coming than not - they may even flee our advance" Edvard said
/
>"Do not risk our surprise so lightly, mein Herr. Germany is counting on speed to take the east, not only fear" Geiszler added.

>"The exact subject for which I wish to speak with you, Major. I have not been informed exactly what part I will play in the invasion - other than the destination of Leningrad, so close to our eastern border I cannot even guess. I want to know - now - why I was called to leave home" Edvard demanded.

>The Coronan Major clucked his tongue and breathed heavily through his nose.

>"Very well. In 1 hour the briefings for Operation Barbarossa will begin at the war college. You may feel free to be driven, or skate there, if it suits you, my Lord" he said with annoyance.

>Edvard bowed his head and left. Downstairs he briefly considered taking the Major at his challenge and riding a ribbon of ice across the town.

>"Enough fun for one trip" Edvard said, and instead climbed into a touring car.

>Once they arrived he was glad to see that at least here someone more than military men and women crept the grounds. Students who'd seen him that morning at the mill pond waved in admiration and whispered to their friends. Edvard strode across the campus happy in finally receiving the welcome he expected as representative of Arendelle's royal family.

>In the lecture hall he joined a party of Andalasian officers and sat with them in hope of learning the Princess Giselle's whereabouts.

>"Ah, I apologize Lord Aren but she has gone west to Switzerland and safety. I must ask - why are you not behind your own borders? Why call a prince to an invasion?" asked the Andalasian Colonel.

>"Arendelle answers the call for a free Europe" Edvard explained simply.

>"Hmm. Pleasant to have all the nations' support, though, will you act in more than an advistory capacity?" the Colonel asked.

>"We're about to find out" Edvard answered.

>A Coronan officer stood at the front of the hall and called the room to attention.

>"Gentlemen, if I could have order - we stand at the precipice of an invasion three years spent in planning. Over 8 million men await orders. Today you will know why they have been called to duty. Now, if I may have the lights"

>The lights in the hall blinked off and a projector whirred to life in the back of the room.

>"The plan: Operation Barbarossa. A three-front attack from the borders of Corona and Andalasia with the intent to destroy the Soviet begins in two days time."

>On the screen large black lines swept out from the borders of the country bearing the three sigils of the primary forces - the spider of Germany, the blazing sun of Corona, and Andalasia's cuckoo. They fell quickly over the caricatures of Soviet troops and descended upon three cities.

>"Leningrad, Moscow, Kiev. These - gentlemen - are your objectives. Once they are taken, the Soviet armies will be on the run, and we anticipate the invasion will be complete by December 1942.

>Grumbling filled the hall as the assembled men talked amongst themselves of the ambitious nature of the plan. The Andalasians in particular were concerned about a prolonged winter action.

>"Now, I know some of you can read maps, and Moscow seems a long distance at 18 months away. There is one part of this plan which did not fall into place until 3 days ago"

>On the screen still images of snowflakes flew down from Arendelle's east border and over Russia in a wide, sweeping, front.

>The dates projected for Soviet capitulation faded out of view and returned a moment later. To the amazemenf of all in the room the invasion plans had moved up by 14 months. Moscow was now projected to fall by late October - Leningrad by the end of August - Kiev and the areas beyond soon after the new year.

>"This, gentlemen, is the new plan: A concurrent strike from the north to occupy Soviet forces in the defense of their strongholds, allowing ours to link together into one continuous front and rush to victory. The details of his plan are still being worked out by our strategists, but there is someone here today who can explain it with ease. Prince Aren - please come up to the front" the man finally finished his presentation.

>Edvard froze in his seat and looked around the room nervously. He'd been asked to speak at weddings, state dinners, even in the state church, but never for such a large audience. Finally the Colonel beside him slapped him on the back in encouragement and Edvard came to his feet. He nearly tripped on the shoes of the man between him and the aisle, but recovered, and with as much grace as he could recover, glid to the front of the room. Someone had set the motion picture on a loop, and above Edvard's head the sweeping arrows of invasion force and the sweeping arc of the glacier intersected again and again as he spoke.

>"I-" Edvard spoke, and then choked on his words and coughed.

>"Could I have a glass of water, please?" he asked the men stting at the table to his right.

>A glass was poured and handed up to him. Edvard sipped from it, swallowed and rubbed his eyebrows with his other hand. He smiled to himself after a moment's thought and shook his head in silent agreement.

>"Let me show you what they're are going to be in for!" Edvard shouted.

>He threw the water into the air - the men in the first row gasped and cringed - but didn't get wet. They looked up at the flurry building above their heads in wonder.

>Snow flew from the ceiling in icy gusts and blanketed the men sitting in the hall. Many began shivering, and Edvard brough the temperature in room low enough, quickly enough, that the film in the projector at the rear snapped. The reel whipped around its spool as he brought more ice into being and made the snow larger. Hail fell in the aisles and a freezing wind spiraled down threatening to pull all the heat from the bodies of the assembled officers.

>"Enough of this!" a General of the Wehrmacht shouted from the rear of the room.

>The lights came back on suddenly and Edvard stopped the snowfall.

>"The Arendeller will desist from freezing our officer corps" he demanded.

>The Coronan officer who'd begun the presentation stood again.

>"Hopefully your questions about the timing of the invasion are put to rest. With Arendelle's assistance victory will come swiftly, and surely, to our allied forces. Now, if the general staff will accompany me to the conference hall we will continue in greater detail" he said.

>30-40 of the men rose and followed the man of Corona into the hallway. The others spoke amongst themselves. Edvard gathered the snow from around them and skirted it out a side window, then walked back to the Andalasian group he'd sat with. They patted him on the back and shoulders.

>"Incredible display, your highness - if only we had as many of you as we have tanks we wouldn't need to fight at all!" a Captain told him. He stepped out of the hall with them and past a number of students who played in the new snow outside before it could melt, flinging snowballs at each other and the passersby. One threw a rapidly melting ball to Edvard - he froze it again and nearly threw it back before he realized the weight of the thing he'd been called to do.

>"When Leningrad - when Moscow freezes - will their people frolic in the snow as these young men do? Will they praise the name of Arendelle, or curse it to their deaths?" he thought angrily to himself.

That night, Edvard met his invasion team at the front. One of Corona's General staff and Geiszler awaited him in the command tent of the 16th Army Group.

"Thank God for new faces." The colonel cheered as he stood and extended his hand to shake Edvard's. "These German boys don't have any spirit in them! Nothing but grunts and grimaces. But you! Not just a civilian but royalty, come down among us. It's like being back in the capitol." He released his grip and offered Edvard his own seat. "Now then; the snowstorm at the briefing was a thrilling novelty but we're a bit closer to practical application of power, so I must know what you can really do. How large of an area can this Ismakt affect?""

Edvard cocked his chin upward inquisitively. "Oh, around 400 square miles. With myself at the center, indefinitely."

"400?" The General interjected.

"Queen Elsa covered Arendelle county three feet deep in as many days. I'm sure I could do the same, if not more. To be honest I don't know."

The General stepped over to his map table and studied it with a compass in his hand. "What about projection? How nasty could you make it for the enemy… 500 miles distant?"

"When I was a boy, King Espen made it snow out of season for the Faroe Islands. That's around 450, but it depends on the weather. I can't make it last long at that distance."

"Long enough to spoil a harvest?" Geiszler spoke up for the first time.

Somewhat taken aback, Edvard's eyebrow twitched quizzically. "Why, might I ask?"

The General answered straightaway: "To take the fight to the enemy's larder, my boy. The Soviet might be able to match our numbers, but take away his breadbasket and we take him out without a shot. Could you do it?" He motioned for Edvard to come and look at the map. A red pencil line was drawn around the southern Ukraine. "Could you do it - tonight?"

Edvard left the tent and looked up at the night sky. Cloudy - that was good. Cirrus clouds showed a low high-altitude temperature and the sky was streaked with them tonight. With Geiszler and the general looking on, Edvard cupped his hands in front of his face and blew into them gently, whispering instructions for his creation to head southward and wreak havoc on the fields and livestock of the peasant farmers the Red Army would need to feed any resistance. He turned his palms skyward and the cloud creature rode a shimmering pillar into the sky, billowing size as it went, finally bellowing its hopeful farewell to him before it departed to harry the Ukraine. Edvard touched the crystal in his pocket for any sign of reservation for but a moment before the general rushed up praising him for his effort.

"Amazing! Simply amazing! That'll throw a wrench in their five-year plans. Tell me, how long will it be snowing for them?"

"Oh, four or five days. They melt after that, this time of year. Dreadful business, freezing the countryside. All the animals…" Edvard complained quietly, but Geiszler and his friend were already back in the tent telephoning their success to the command post in town.

"If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I'd like to get one more day of rest in a proper bed before we strike out". Edvard excused himself to no one.

The nex day's New York Times landed heavy on the desk of the American president - the weather section's report on a bizarre cold snap was the only hint of Arendelle's son accompanying the assault into Soviet territory. By June 25th, snow blanketed a third of the Soviet-occupied territory. Pre-winterized Coronan troops swept across the landscape like hot knives through butter, taking towns as far in as Minsk from the bewildered and rapidly freezing Soviet troops - giving a new meaning to the German's conception of blitzkrieg. So many of the Reich's objectives had been captured in so little time, Edvard's unit was officially renamed the Snowstorm batallion. When the command team halted for the night in Minsk, Edvard recalled all of his snowstorms. A dozen tiny snowmen fell to the ground before Edvard and lent him back the last of their cold before twinkling out of sight.

"I say, Lord Aren, what's the meaning of letting up now? They've only had a few days to enjoy this break from the heat! Should've given them a good week to really get into the spirit of it!"

Edvard frowned at the General disapprovingly as the two of them retired into a garrisoned restaurant. "There's no point in spoiling the land, killing the peasantry. Why take territory just to burn it all down?"

"The gains we've made are due to surprise - an advantage which will disappear as this mechanized spearhead penetrates further. Prepared troops with winter kit will advance to face us - I don't give us another 50 miles before they show up - but they won't last long without fresh food. Harvest begins in a week, my lord. Without a wheat crop the Soviets will be completely devastated, but the sooner we take the land for ourselves, the sooner we can begin feeding everyone from our own stores. The only thing you will be spoiling is hope for the enemy."

Edvard turned and looked back outside. A clear, moonless night left the sky black and streaked with the smoke trails of advancing aircraft. Hotter than it had been the night they set out, he justified a few more days of winter as a holiday for himself and cast a bolt skyward. Snowclouds spread in every direction and Edvard walked back into the restaurant where the officers made themselves comfortable. An unknown German colonel patted his Coronan colleague on the back and pointed to Edvard.

"Congratulations, General, I think you've finally got the boy into the fight."