Hiii! Sorry it's me again. Thanks so much if you reviewed before, hopefully this chapter is worthy of more!

Trayton leaned forward as Sven raced through the small town of Brendon, their shadows stretching long in the fading light. Mary's inn was near the water, on the other side of the village. Elsa was wrapped in a thin blanket he'd found in the saddlebag. Trayton had run out of cloth late that morning. He'd been changing her bandages every hour until then, and he could tell it had been needed. The current one was almost soaked in red, dripping slowly every few seconds. The amount of blood Elsa had lost was extremely concerning, but Trayton could only press harder and pray. And if that wasn't frightening enough, it seemed Elsa had other injuries as well. Trayton had only stopped twice to give Sven a rest and relieve himself, but during the second break Elsa had rolled onto her side and thrown up. She hadn't eaten anything recently, and Trayton feared she had a severe concussion. Add to that the nasty cuts across her arm and forehead and the hard ride through the mountains; Elsa was not in good condition.

The sun was just starting to set when Trayton galloped into town. Everyone stopped to stare at the frost covered man on the reindeer, but he didn't stop until he reached the inn. Sven had barely even slowed to a walk when Trayton jumped down, Elsa in his arms. He knocked impatiently at the door until a small boy opened it. Trayton couldn't tell which twin was standing in front of him or recall either of their names, but he didn't have time or inclination to ask. "Where's Lady Mary?" He demanded frantically.

"She's right here, where's the fire-" the matronly woman appeared behind the boy, wiping her hands on a towel. She froze in her tracks when she saw Trayton. "Y-your Highness," she stumbled. "You only just left not even a week ago, what are you..." she trailed off as Trayton pulled back the blanket covering Elsa's face.

"I need your help Mary, this woman doesn't have time enough left for questions." Mary nodded in shock, gesturing for him to follow her. She led him inside, to the room where he'd woken up after being shipwrecked what seemed like an eternity ago. Trayton carefully set Elsa on the bed, wincing as she cried out weakly.

"She doesn't look good," Mary whispered. "How long has she been like this?"

"She was attacked early last night," Trayton said vaguely. "I tried to slow the bleeding.

Mary's eyes widened as she prepared a bucket of water and some clean linens. "Spirits, she's lasted that long? Either the weapon missed anything important or she's extraordinarily stubborn," she said. "Now peel off those useless rags so I can look at the wound."

Trayton did as he was told. Mary used a small knife to widen the hole in Elsa's dress and Trayton paled at the sight of her stomach. The wound oozed thick, maroon blood and a slightly yellowish fluid. The swollen skin around it was streaked red and looked tender. Mary hummed in disapproval, examining it closely. "It's infected. She's lucky all her organs are probably fine, but infection alone will be life-threatening if I can't treat it. Take Andrew and Mark, my boys, and collect some herbs. Tell them to keep an eye out for Yarrow and St. John's Wort especially."

Trayton nodded and ran to get the young twins. It wasn't hard; they were listening right outside the door, along with their sister, Hannah. "You heard?" He asked, not caring that they had been eavesdropping. They nodded and dashed to the back door, Trayton following in their wake. Twenty minutes later they sent him back to the inn with a small stack of long plants, some with large yellow buds and others with tiny white ones. They promised to return soon with much more.

When Trayton entered, Mary was still cleaning Elsa's wound as gently as she could. Her forehead was covered in bandages and a washcloth was draped across her eyes. She was still unconscious, but it was a fitful sleep. "Thank goodness," Mary said, reaching for the herbs. She crushed the flowers into a bowl and poured some water into it, mixing until it was a pasty yellow mush. "This will fight the disease," she said, smearing the stuff over the wound. "Now roll her on her side." Trayton did as instructed, and soon Elsa's back was treated as well. Then he helped Mary wind a clean bandage around her body several times. She put the rest of yellow goop under the bandages across Elsa's face and arm as a precaution.

"She's very beautiful. Who is she?" Mary asked after a long silence.

Trayton didn't answer for a minute. "She's Queen Elsa of Arendelle," he finally replied. He trusted Mary to keep her identity safe, and after all she'd done, she deserved the truth.

"She's the Queen?" Mary gaped in shock. "I didn't think she had ever left her castle, let alone the city! No one even knows what she looks like..."

"They do now," Trayton said with a sad smirk.

Mary looked back at Elsa in wonder and disbelief. "What happened? Has the castle been attacked? Why doesn't she have a royal physician? What about-"

Trayton raised his hands to stem the rush of questions. "I'm not really certain what happened yet," he evaded. "But I will say that there is too much treachery in Arendelle to bring her back now. Her safety must come first."

Mary nodded, moving to clean away the blood that she had missed wiping up. "Of course. And it's none of my business," she decided with a nod. "I'm honored you would share as much as you have, Your Highness."

Trayton shook his head. "My friends call me Trayton," he smiled weakly. "And you have every right to know who you're sheltering in your own home."

Mary stumbled out a thank you, then left to make supper. Trayton sat in the vacated chair next to Elsa's bed and leaned his chin on his fist. What was he to do now? He'd thought he could deal with her if she refused to unfreeze the kingdom, but the moment he'd seen her castle he knew he couldn't. Then he'd realized Elsa was Elaine, and what little remained of his resolve had crumbled instantly. How could someone so gentle and ladylike cause such grief?

"Sire?"

Trayton jumped out of his chair, reaching for his sword. Hannah squeaked in fear before he remembered where he was and relaxed. "I'm terribly sorry," Trayton said, looking down. "I was lost in thought."

Hannah nodded her understanding and came closer. She didn't say anything at first, just stared at Elsa. "I've never seen anyone so beautiful," she noted quietly.

Trayton could sense the underlying jealousy in her voice and put a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, she is. But there are many kinds of beauty, and some of those are far more attractive than the shape of a woman's face. Never let any man tell you otherwise." It was a lesson his mother had pounded into his head; a lady deserved to know that all her qualities were appreciated, not just her aesthetic ones. That had come after one of his brothers had humiliated a less-than-beautiful potential wife.

Hannah blushed furiously and nodded shyly. After a minute of silence, she spoke again. "She wasn't hurt in Arendelle, was she? I mean, there's no way you could get all the way here from the city in a day, right?"

Trayton blinked in surprise. "You are very perceptive, Lady Hannah. No, she wasn't attacked in her city. Nor was she attacked by any of her people. I fear there will be much more bloodshed before this is over." Trayton didn't want to scare Hannah, but he didn't want her to be in the dark.

"Y-you don't mean... War?" Hannah asked, covering her mouth as if she didn't want to say the words.

Trayton shrugged. "I cannot see the future, but I won't stand for regicide." He sat back down in his chair and leaned his elbows on his knees, pressing his fists against his mouth in determination.

Hannah probably left soon after, but Trayton was too focused on Elsa to notice. He didn't know how long he watched over her, but suddenly he was being shaken awake by a delicate hand on his shoulder. "Trayton, Trayton please wake up!" The fearful whisper was enough to pull him out of his stupor. He jumped to his feet and drew his sword, looking around for danger. He was surprised to see Elsa standing in front of him holding her side.

"M'lady, what are you doing out of bed?" Trayton demanded. "You-"

"Trayton, someone's here!" Trayton forced himself to move his gaze from Elsa's face to the closed door. Someone was walking in the hall right outside.

"Don't move," Trayton whispered. He cracked the door open to see who was there, but the moment he turned the handle it was flung open to reveal his brother. "Hans!" Trayton said in shock. "What are-"

"Move, Brother!" Hans said angrily. "The Duke told me how you turned on his men and protected the witch. I know you would never betray us, you must see she's tricking you."

Trayton positioned himself between the two royals. "No, she's not evil. It's you who've been fooled!"

Hans ignored his brother's pleas as he advanced on the injured woman. "Worry not, once she's dead you'll see the Duke was right." Hans shoved Trayton to the side and forced Elsa into the corner. Then everything seemed to speed up. Trayton found to his horror that he was paralyzed as Hans plunged his sword into the terrified queen's chest. She screamed in pain while Hans grinned at his victory. Ruby rivers of blood flowed from the wound, soaking the white bandages around her waist as Elsa tried to form words. "Your Highness, please," she forced out. "Please-"

"-wake up, Highness!" Trayton gasped loudly as he was thrown roughly into reality. He whipped his head around wildly, taking in the room he thought he'd just been in. "You were dreaming," Mary said in concern. Trayton breathed heavily as he tried to process what was going on. Elsa was still sleeping, covered in a mountain of blankets. Pain was etched into every line of her face, but she was silent. Mary was standing over him holding a metal pail filled with pink tinted cloth. "Are you alright?" Mary asked when she didn't get an answer.

"I-I'm fine." Trayton rubbed his hands over his face, trying to wipe away the last remnants of sleep. "Was just a nightmare..." Trayton stood up slowly. "Is everything okay? Did something happen?"

Mary shook her head. "You were tossing in your sleep, so I thought I'd get you up. You slept through breakfast, but dinner'll be ready soon. I hope you like vegetable stew."

"Thank you, Lady Mary," Trayton said sincerely. He looked back as he walked out. "And I thought I asked you to call me Trayton," he smiled. He had to go down the hall and through a large common room to find it. There were two men sitting at tables when he entered. Trayton assumed they were staying upstairs, but he made a note to watch them if they went near Elsa's room.

The food was hanging in a large pot over the fireplace. Trayton quickly found a bowl and spooned himself some of the stew. As soon as the smell hit him, he realized how hungry he was. His last meal had been... yesterday morning, before they'd found Elsa. The stew was slightly over-seasoned, probably to hide the fact that it was a bit watered down to make it last longer. Trayton thought it might've been the best food he'd ever tasted.

Halfway through his bowl, Trayton refilled it and another bowl too. He brought it to Elsa's room, where Mary was still watching over her. "Lady Mary, I wasn't sure if you'd eaten yet, so I brought you some. Better too much than not enough."

Mary smiled faintly as she accepted the bowl. "As it happens I have eaten, but I want to try to get something in the Queen. She probably won't be lucid, but we need to wake her up." Trayton nodded in understanding and took one last bite of his own meal before setting it on the end table. Mary told him to get more pillows from the closet and put them under Elsa's shoulders until she was almost upright, then dipped another washcloth in a bucket of water. "Hopefully the ice water will bring her 'round," Mary explained. Trayton had a fleeting thought that maybe hot water would work better on the ice queen but chose not to mention it for now.

Elsa leaned into the icy rag as soon as it made contact with her face. Mary huffed slightly in perplexity. "Not exactly the reaction I was expecting," she mumbled. Nevertheless, she kept pressing it against any exposed skin she could reach. After several minutes, she began tapping gently on Elsa's cheek. Elsa shook her head, but she couldn't avoid the hand calling her out of unconsciousness.

Finally, Elsa moaned pitifully and tried to push Mary away. "Haven't you done enough already?" She complained weakly. "Just finish me off, it's for the best."

Mary raised her eyebrows at this but didn't say anything. Elsa opened her eyes for a second, flashing her cold blue orbs. Elsa instantly relaxed when her eyes connected with Trayton's face. She closed them again and tried to smile. "Oh, Trayton. I thought you went to Arendelle. I'm glad you came back, I had no one else to talk to but Jack." Trayton seemed to remember her calling her ice man Jack.

"Uh, y-yes, your Majesty, I, um, returned. But you've been injured and we need you to eat now." He saw Mary nod in the edge of his vision.

"Are you inviting me to dinner, sir?" Elsa said in amusement. She still had her eyes closed. Trayton heard Mary stifling laughter as he sat in silence. He imagined he looked funny with his mouth hanging open. "Because if you are, I must warn you, I have many suitors. Although most of them are likely running in fear at the moment." Her drowsiness couldn't cover the sadness in her voice.

Trayton sighed as he gave up on responding and slid a hand under Elsa's neck. She cried out softly when he helped her sit up further. "I'm sorry, but you have to eat, dear," Mary said. She lifted the spoon to Elsa's mouth. She tried to avoid it but Mary was very persistent. Eventually they forced almost half the soup into Elsa.

"That will have to do," Mary said, obviously unsatisfied with their progress. "Hopefully it'll be enough to keep her energy up."

Trayton nodded grimly. "And now I'm afraid I have to ask you for a favor, Lady Mary. I must return to Arendelle, but I couldn't take the Queen with me even if she were in good health. Will you care for her until I return?"

"Of course," Mary agreed immediately. "But if things are really so bad, what can you do Your Majes- er- Trayton?" she corrected herself belatedly.

"I'm the only one who knows what happened in the mountains. If I don't clear her name, the kingdom will blame Elsa. They already fear her enough as it is."

Mary crossed her arms. "Why is that? Why has everyone turned on the Queen? Her laws have always been fair to us, so unless they're different in the capital it must be something else."

Trayton rubbed his mouth, temporarily conflicted over whether he should tell the truth or not. "I only tell you this because I dare not leave you alone with her and in the dark," Trayton finally warned. "And if you decide you don't want to take the risk, I will find some other solution, you have my word." Mary nodded slowly. She was clearly worried about what he was going to say next. "Queen Elsa... is not like anyone you've ever met. She's... different. She has magic."

Mary gasped in shock. She looked down at the woman lying in a fitful sleep, probably trying to figure out how such a frail bring could hold something so terrifying and powerful. "Did she curse someone?" Mary asked tentatively. "Is that why they attacked her?"

Trayton hesitated. "She didn't curse anyone... exactly... She froze the kingdom. Winter didn't come early, the Queen did."

Mary felt behind her for the other chair before sitting down heavily. "S-she's the cause of the rumors," she managed.

Trayton looked up sharply. "What rumors?" he demanded.

"Just whispers here and there," Mary said. "That an ice witch took control of the castle and that's why no one's heard anything from the city in weeks."

Trayton gripped the arms of his chair angrily. "She's no witch," he ground out. "I travelled with her for days and she showed nothing but kindness towards me. If she cursed the kingdom, it was not by choice. I would stake my title on it."

Trayton let Mary have a moment to compose herself. "Well then. Seeing as she hasn't hurt anyone that I know of, and you trust her so much, I'll do as you ask. It's not as if she's in any condition to go on a rampage, anyway."

Trayton smiled gratefully and pulled Mary into a crushing hug. "Thank you, Lady. You shall be rewarded for you generosity!"

Mary forced out a laugh. "You'd better let me go if you want me to live to see it," she said. Trayton set her down sheepishly and apologized for his forwardness.

A short while later Mary was preparing food for yet another journey across the mountains. Trayton even had new bruises on his back to make it even more like the day after he washed up on the beach. Unfortunately, now that he had nothing to focus on, his nearly dislocated arm was finally screaming for his attention, but it had to compete with the shallow stab wound in his side. He didn't want to tell Mary or she probably wouldn't let him leave. Then he realized Hannah might consider helping him.

Trayton found Hannah cleaning up the dishes in the common room. He cleared his throat to catch her attention. She jumped in surprise and nearly dropped the cup she was holding. "Trayton!" She cried in slight irritation. Then she remembered who she was talking to and bowed, stumbling an apology.

Trayton chuckled and raised a hand. "It's fine, it was rude of me to startle you. I was just hoping you could help me with something. I'm afraid your mother wouldn't understand if I asked her." Hannah's eyes widened as she hastily agreed to help him. The poor girl seemed desperate to please him. Trayton grinned and help up the sack of medical supplies he'd snuck off with when Mary wasn't watching. "Fantastic! You see, I sustained some injuries of my own, but I've been too busy to take care of them. If Mary finds out she won't let me leave."

Hannah took the bag from his hand. "I've seen Mother fix people up plenty of times, I'm sure I can do that. Let's use my brothers' room; they're never there if they don't have to be."

Trayton let Hannah lead the way upstairs. She shut the door quietly once he entered and laid out the supplies on one of the two beds. "Okay, where are you hurt?" Trayton unbuttoned his coat, revealing the bloody hole in his shirt. He continued to take off his shirt as Hannah paled. "H-how are you still standing? You haven't slept in what, almost three days?"

Trayton smiled, but it must've looked more like a grimace now that he didn't have to hide his pain. "I slept most of the night while Mary was tending to the Queen. But my injuries aren't as bad as they seem. T'is only a flesh wound."

Hannah nodded as Trayton finally stripped off his upper layers. From her stifled gasps he concluded that his bruises were forming quite nicely over the old ones. His shoulder was probably pretty ugly, too. "Trayton, I don't think you should be moving around," Hannah said. "Your back looks like a sick rainbow threw up on you and I don't even know how you're using your left arm."

Trayton shrugged his good shoulder. "My military instructors don't go easy on me just because I'm a prince. I suppose I'm used to it by now." Hannah didn't say anything, just shook her head. She applied some of the yellow paste Mary had put on Elsa's wounds and wrapped him up in about ten layers of bandages. They were tight, but they kept everything where it was supposed to be. "Thank you, Lady Hannah," Trayton grimaced. She blushed slightly and nodded.

"Yes, you did pretty well, dear." The two young adults spun toward the door to see Mary leaning on it. "You didn't really think I missed you sneaking off with that bag, did you?"

Trayton hung his head in surrender. "Sorry, Lady Mary. I should've asked first."

She laughed at his penitent expression. "Come on, I finished packing. You can be on your way now. It shouldn't take you more than two days at most to reach Arendelle on that reindeer you found."

Trayton thanked Mary for her help and hugged both women goodbye. On his way out he ran into the twins. He shook their hands and knelt down in front of them. "I know you can't help much with my friend, except gathering more of those flowers," he said. "But you're the only men I've seen around here strong enough to protect them. Can you watch over the women until I get back?" Mark and Andrew looked at each other with wide eyes before nodding solemnly. As soon as they thought Trayton was far enough away, they high fived each other. Trayton chuckled to himself. They reminded him of his own younger twins. A wave of homesickness caught him off guard as he left the Inn and mounted Sven. At least he'd be seeing Hans soon. No matter what he'd done in the past, he was family.

Anna had no idea how long she'd been kneeling in the snow. Prince Trayton, someone she hadn't known existed three days ago, just galloped off into the mountains with her sister bleeding out in his arms. She couldn't believe she'd let him, she had to go after him and-

"Anna?" Rapunzel's hesitant voice broke through her thoughts. "We should probably get back to the castle. I don't think we have the supplies to be out here much longer." She was twisting her fingers around nervously, as if she was afraid of making Anna upset. Or more upset anyway.

"Oh. Yeah. You're probably right. I mean, I left Hans alone with the Duke and all his men. Who knows what the weasel will try?"

Flynn leaned in and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I'm all for rescuing the ginger in distress, but we need to get our stories straight before we get back. Trust me, it won't look good if we all go back saying different things."

"He's probably right," Kristoff agreed. "Do we say the soldiers attacked without provocation? I think we have to tell the truth about that prince killing him." Kristoff pointed to the man with a sword sticking out of his chest. "But we can probably convince people the rest turned on him. I mean, it's not a stretch to say peasants hate foreign royals. They're not always the nicest people."

Rapunzel frowned. "What about Elsa? If we say Trayton helped her escape he'll be in trouble, but if we say he chased her off it'll make her seem like the bad guy."

Anna thought long and hard on that one. "Well... we could say that... um... Elsa tried to cooperate but the soldiers wouldn't listen, then they turned on Trayton when he said they should hear her out, then Elsa helped him get away so she must be good if she saved the Prince. Right?"

Flynn shrugged noncommittally. "It's the best we got, it'll have to do. Besides, it's the kind of dramatic, heroic thing royals love, yeah? Hopefully they'll eat it up."

Rapunzel clapped. "Good! Then let's get back, I'm freezing out here."

It took a full day to get back home, but Anna couldn't enjoy the thought of warmth. Not when Elsa was somewhere up in the mountains with a total stranger. Of course, the cold didn't affect her but that was beside the point! The point was Anna had finally had her sister back on coronation day, but she messed it up with her stupid questions. If only she'd known Elsa was just trying to protect her, she could've explained that she didn't need protecting! And maybe she could've waited a couple days before announcing her engagement... Speaking of which, Anna couldn't wait to be back in Hans's arms. He was so tall and warm and funny, she was sure everything would be okay once he was hugging her. He'd even promised to take care of Elsa... What could go wrong?

So I finally wrote a somewhat longer chapter! *yay!* A couple things:

regicide means the killing of royalty (if you care)

I picture Trayton as left handed, so go Lefties!

I know this was a bit of a filler chapter, so I'll try to put at least a little action in the next one, m'kay?