Greetings, General Mattias:
I bring warm wishes and good tidings from our elegant colonial port of Hong Kong – my playground where the future of the world – interconnectivity and cross-fertilization – is being acted out on a scale that the entire planet will replicate as we guide it away from Chang’e’s faithlessness and toward my lord’s vision.
The Ravens, your kingdom’s spies, have already identified the locations of the elixir of life across the world. Arendelle’s military reforms – which will place you among the middle-ranking military powers of Europe, a considerable step given Arendelle’s small size – continues smoothly. Most importantly, Project Stellar is almost complete. This will not only help to protect Queen Anna, but also bring Her Majesty’s strength and power to the campaign for the elixir.
The Exalted, Anna’s elite, are in a better position than ever before thanks to Project Stellar. Kristoff, Colisa, and myself reinforce our global reach week by week, month by month. Your queen and my master may have powerful enemies in the form of the Moonborn. But they have a nasty surprise coming their way.
Wishing you good health,
Peony Sinclair
“What’s so hush-hush, chum?” asked Michael, as he tapped Mattias lightly on his broad shoulder. The trade minister and Arendellian business magnate was following Mattias down a spiral staircase, which itself was located in a hidden room at the basement of Arendelle Castle. It was cold and dank. Mattias lit his oil lamp as darkness encroached around the two men. Michael pursed his lips – this wing of the castle was new to him. For all his familiarity with the home of the royals, he had never seen or been inside here before.
“You’ll see, old friend,” replied the supreme commander of Arendelle’s military, as if reading Michael’s thoughts. Their boots clacked quietly on the stone steps as they continued walking down, down, down. “Let’s just say that this is of great importance to Anna, and so she naturally wants to show you what she’s been working on.”
“Since when was this built?” asked Michael, trailing a hand along the curved, cold stone wall.
“Very recently.”
Michael raised a robust eyebrow. “You know I haven’t been too enthusiastic about my niece’s new propensity for… secretiveness. First those military reforms that she sprang on the government, and now this?”
“I’d put it more kindly as a newly discovered inclination for calculating when something is best revealed,” said Mattias. It was hard to tell whether he was being ironic or serious.
“Ha, where I do business in America, locals are suspicious of mouthfuls and roundabout words like what you just uttered. It risks being too complicated, and we don’t like our leaders to be overly complex. Look, I’ll support anything the sisters do,” said Michael, “but except for the very highest level of state secrets – those that involve her involvement in a cosmic war between Chang’e and Yixin, and the status of the Moonborn – I would advise you, and indeed the Exalted, to keep her moored, rooted, anchored in what she originally took the throne for: to unite Northuldra and Arendelle, and to make Arendelle peaceful and prosperous. I don’t even have an issue with our queen now deciding that our kingdom must also be powerful on top of the peace and prosperity. Indeed, we should be a great kingdom.”
Mattias felt Michael’s eyes on his back. “But I know that the American presidents always say that power corrupts. So Anna must never take the path of absolute power.”
“You got it, Uncle Mike. Anna would I mean that.” They finally stopped at a pair of great iron doors, and they loomed ominously over Mattias and Michael. “Are you ready, trade minister?”
Michael shrugged. “As ready as I’ll ever be – ”
The doors suddenly creaked and swung open, pulled by two of the elite soldiers in Anna’s Borealis Corps. They were burly men in winter army uniforms, and unlike the typical Arendellian soldier, the Borealis Corps men were in complete white and wore furry hoods instead of tall army hats. There was a faint glow of multicoloured lights in the otherwise completely dark chamber; Michael wasn’t sure what he was looking at yet. He and Mattias walked in, and Michael felt even stranger. “What are two of my niece’s crack troops doing here at this time of night?”
He was interrupted by Alan’s awestruck voice. “Oh, hey, Mike,” came the voice of the Borealis Corps commander, as the curious glow of yellow, green, and blue continued to shine. “Man, you have to see this. I’m still struggling to believe my own eyes.”
To Michael’s shock, Anna’s voice came out of the darkness. “Is Uncle here?”
Alan replied, “Yeah. You wanna show him?”
As if by Anna’s silent command, the lights suddenly blazed forth, and finally the dark room was illuminated at least to a much greater extent. Michael’s shocked eyes fell on Anna, and finally he saw what was glimmering: a set of crystals that encrusted a sleek set of armour, on which her shoulder’s pauldrons were emblazoned the Arendellian crest. The armour hummed with elemental magic, and Anna was holding a greatsword that was also encrusted with troll crystals, and a shield.
She looked so dashing and mighty, like a throwback to the knights of old when Arendelle was emerging from the Viking age and its forebears were serving as barons and mounted soldiers across Europe.
Anna grinned at Michael. “What do you think?”
Mattias also smiled. “After Majestic Maximillian’s assault on Keep Mundilfari and his attack on the prime minister, Hilde and Alan approached me with the simple fact that even the two of them, strong and brave as they were, only managed to repulse him. Our prime minister was in mortal danger, and two of our kingdom’s best can barely beat back a Moonborn. We needed to ensure our queen could also defend herself.”
“Defend herself?” cried Michael. “Look, I really like your look, Anna, but you’re no fighter, not like Alan and Hilde. And you guys – Alan and Mattias, you two should know this.”
“She isn’t,” said Mattias, “but the fruit of Project Stellar will help even the odds, and allow her to enter the fray – even against those mighty beings that manipulate the elements, like Majestic Max. This is a suit of armour imbued with the magic of Grand Pabbie and the trolls, and blessed by the Four Spirits themselves. When wearing this, Anna can absorb any elemental attacks and redirect them back against the enemy.”
“This was my first time seeing this, as well,” said Alan, shaking his head. “I was just down here slightly earlier than you because I needed to bring my Borealis Corps boys here. But then I realized – my own sword and armor channel Hilde’s Von Altheim magic, right? It looks like Grand Pabbie did something similar for Anna.”
“With this magic sword and my heavy armour and shield channelling the powers of the elements, I’ll be able to withstand even the Moonborn’s attacks while reflecting calibrated counterattacks back at them.”
Mattias nodded. “This is what Grand Pabbie has promised,” he said, approaching Anna and gesturing at the various parts of her armour, from her form-fitting gauntlets to her glimmering greaves. “Amplified resilience for resistance from elemental magic, be it freezing temperatures or white-hot fire. The crystals embedded in this suit redirects the Moonborn elemental power back into the world, or, even more incredibly, stores them in the armour itself, which she can then use to magnify her otherwise negligible, all-too-human strength.”
“In other words, I can match the preternatural strength Alan, Hilde, and Vi possess,” said Anna, gazing in admiration at her sword. “I’m not someone to hide behind my own men. If we’re coming to blows with the Moonborn, I have to lead from the front.”
“Focusing any elemental energy within her crystals will allow Anna to use the troll magic within to ignite her armour, sword, and shield. Much like the Northern Lights themselves, her stellar luminescence will elevate her strength to far greater heights and even cleanse maladies like poison or paralysis.” Mattias peered at Anna. “I remember when you played dolls with Elsa when you were much, much younger. You always preferred to be the knight in shining armour.”
“And now I will be – not all the time,” said Anna, noticing Michael’s trepidation. “As much as I’m itching to test Project Stellar out, I still have plenty of pieces to move on the globe’s chessboard before we can challenge the Moonborn out in the open. I still have Kristoff, Colisa, and Peony Sinclair consolidating Arendelle’s international holdings and connections. Our allies, like Tileke, Fujiwara Takako, and Lady Kam – not to mention Hilde and Vi – need to be in position before we can retrieve even the first fragment of the elixir. Only then will we brace for the Moonborn to converge on us. Majestic Max tried to catch us early. He failed. And now I’ll make sure the next encounter goes our way.”
“I’m sure you will,” said Michael. He and Alan looked at each other, and even Mattias’ expression was ambiguous. They were certainly happy for Anna, and no one could deny how dashing and powerful she looked, like a medieval, redhead Valkyrie.
But…
Grand Pabbie? The Four Spirits?
Anna was no doubt marshalling everything she had for the elixir. For Elsa.
But also for Yixin.
This suit of armour was her declaration of war against Chang’e.
The moon goddess – element of all elements – would surely respond.
*
TO BE CONTINUED
The Arendelle Guardian 
Anna: “I’m not someone to hide behind my own men. If we’re coming to blows with the Moonborn, I have to lead from the front.”
Uncle: “I know! I still remember how you clobbered Prince Hans back a few years ago!” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Just look at your bad self there, niece. You, Selena with her Kuveldof amulet and armor with Hilde, Alan and when Vi gets back on her feet, you’ll be a force the Moonborn will have to rekon with!
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