I would like to thank roxygoth, BurningFox6, krystal lazuli, and LukeJames for beta reading and helping me improve!

Feedback is always appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen. Frozen is owned by Disney. I only lay claim to Prince Edmund, Prince Lucas, and Master Stephen.

Chapter 9

Edmund and Lucas entered the town, admiring the snowy environment and the Christmas decorations on the structures before them.

"Wow. This is an incredibly nice wintry scene before us. Am I right?" Lucas asked.

"Indeed. Seeing the town up close is just as nice as the snowy forest we rode through when we harvested the ice," Edmund said.

"Yeah. The town is tastefully decorated everywhere you go. Arendelle must really enjoy celebrating Christmas. I cannot help but wonder what kind of traditions the kingdom has during the holidays," the Belgian prince elaborated.

"I am sure they enjoy it a lot. Maybe we could ask Anna and Elsa what they usually do when Christmas rolls around," Edmund stated.

"We should, and in the process let them know what we normally do for the holidays," Lucas replied.

"Agreed," the English prince said.

After the two princes walked around for a little while and greeted any of the townspeople that acknowledged them, they found themselves reaching a café. The café looked very busy on the inside based on what the two men saw through one of the building windows.

"This must be the café Master Stephen was talking about earlier," Lucas said.

"It must be. Let's go check it out, shall we?" Edmund suggested.

Lucas nodded. "I could use something hot to drink about now, and I am sure you could too."

"Yes, I could. I would also like something to eat since it is lunchtime now," Edmund replied with a smile.

As soon as Edmund and Lucas stepped inside, they saw the café was crowded. There was a line of considerable length, and every table had people sitting at them. However, the two princes really liked how good the place smelled. They liked the aroma of cinnamon among other assorted seasonings and spices, and whatever food was being served from the kitchen. Edmund and Lucas also enjoyed the atmosphere and cleanliness of the place.

The two princes chatted as they waited in line for their orders. To their surprise, the line moved along at a rather swift pace. It would not be long before it was their turn.

"Good morning gentlemen. What can I get for you two today?" the owner greeted with a grin.

"I would like a turkey sandwich and a green tea please," Edmund said.

"Of course!" the owner exclaimed and turned his attention to Lucas. "What about for you sir?"

"Same thing please," Lucas replied.

"Of course! We'll have those ready shortly!" the owner said with a smile as he began preparing the food and drinks for the two men.

As Edmund and Lucas waited for their sandwiches and tea, they found an open table to sit at. Once they had made themselves comfortable, they began to talk about the café.

"That was a very good first impression, don't you think?" Edmund asked.

"It sure was. Not only is the owner very nice and attentive, but the place is also clean and smells amazing," Lucas replied.

"That and the atmosphere is cozy as well. It is nice and warm in here, as opposed to how cold it is outside," Edmund added.

"Yes sir," Lucas agreed.

After a little bit, the sandwiches and tea were ready for the two princes. "There you go gentlemen! Enjoy!" the owner said as Edmund and Lucas paid for their food and drink before making their way back to the open table.

"Thank you, sir," Edmund said.

"I appreciate it," Lucas added.

"You're welcome! Have a nice day, gentlemen!" the owner stated enthusiastically.

"Thanks, you too," the English prince replied.

"I hope you have a great day as well," Lucas stated.

The two princes then started to enjoy their meals.

As Edmund and Lucas enjoyed their food and drink, they looked outside the window they were seated next to. It was a cloudy day. The clouds were a dark gray, hinting it might snow soon.

Soon they were finished consuming their sandwiches and tea.

"How did everything taste, gentlemen?" an employee asked as he went to clean their table for the next customer now that the two men were finished eating.

"Really good," Edmund said.

"I enjoyed it a lot," Lucas replied.

"I am thrilled you two enjoyed the tea and sandwiches. Have a nice day!" the employee exclaimed cheerfully.

"You as well. Thanks," Edmund responded with a smile.

"I hope you have a great day too. We will see you next time," Lucas stated, beaming.

The two princes left the café to go explore the rest of the town.

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Stephen had just patrolled through the entire castle, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. He was pleased the figure had not even bothered to return. After what he had heard about the figure, however, he was determined to remain as alert as possible. If what Edmund and Lucas said about the figure was true, him being able to teleport at will, then Stephen knew of the strong possibility the figure would come back. Stephen was certain the figure would return to the palace with a different strategy in mind, and possibly more men as well in an attempt to overwhelm everyone in the castle.

The brown-haired man was about to patrol the castle again when Captain William walked up to him.

"I greatly appreciate you taking the time to help guard the castle, Sir Stephen. Have you seen anything unusual?" Captain William asked.

The brown-haired man shook his head. "Nothing so far Captain. I was just going to keep patrolling the castle the entire day to make sure everything stays that way."

The captain was thankful to have someone who was protective over the royal couple. He never thought any guests that came to Arendelle would even think such a thing. As much as he appreciated it though, Captain William was beginning to think he should take his turn helping the guards. That way Stephen could get a chance to relax, and maybe get something to eat so he did not starve.

"While I am immensely appreciative of you doing whatever it takes to keep everyone in the castle safe, I think I should patrol the castle now. The last thing I would like is for you to go the entire day without eating anything just to go around the palace. After what you did, you deserve to relax and do something more leisurely," Captain William suggested.

"Are you sure about this Captain?" Stephen asked with concern in his voice.

The captain nodded. "Absolutely. In fact, I was thinking that maybe we should take turns patrolling the palace. I will take the first watch every morning for a few hours, then you can take the next watch for a few hours, and so on. That way you and I both can get some time to ourselves and do whatever we like when we are not guarding the castle. Since I am the Captain of the Guards, it is my job to ensure Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, Sir Kristoff and everyone else in the castle is safe from harm."

"That is a great idea. Thank you, Captain," Stephen stated gratefully.

"Of course, Sir Stephen. Now go ahead and get something to eat. I will come and get you to patrol the castle again in three hours," Captain William said with a grin.

Stephen beamed in thanks as the captain went to work guarding the palace. Satisfied that the captain came up with a great plan on who would keep watch, the brown-haired man walked to the kitchen to get something to eat.

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"Wow! Check this out!" Lucas exclaimed as he and Edmund soon entered the part of the town where the rich people resided.

"Yeah! There are Christmas decorations everywhere you go, especially over here!" Edmund replied excitedly.

"Not only that, but everyone here is also very approaching and courteous. Arendelle is probably the best town I have ever been to outside of Ostenda," Lucas remarked.

"I agree with you on that. This only makes me happier about staying here for Christmas," Edmund said.

"Me too," Lucas replied with a beam.

As the two princes continued to explore the wealthy area of the town, a certain building caught their attention. It was a building with a circular sign that had two swords crossing each other.

"That looks like a weaponsmith. Should we go check it out?" Edmund asked.

"Sure! I would like to see what kind of weapons they have," Lucas responded as the two men made their way to the weaponsmith.

When they entered, Edmund and Lucas saw that it was a large building with numerous weapons lining the walls of the entire shop. Swords, axes, spears, daggers, maces, hammers, mauls, sabers, bows, crossbows, and longbows of every kind were hanging neatly from the walls of the shop. Along with the weapons were many suits of armor with matching shields to go with them.

The man who owned the weapon shop looked up from his work when he saw the two men enter. He smiled and greeted, "Hello gentlemen! Welcome to Theodor's Weaponry, home of the finest weapons in Arendelle! How may I help you two today?"

"Hey there. We were wondering if we could have a look around and see all the weapons you have," Edmund responded.

"Of course! You may look at as many weapons as you like, gentlemen. If there are any questions you have about a particular weapon, then just let me know," Theodor stated.

"Thank you, Theodor," Lucas said.

"Always my pleasure," Theodor replied with a smile.

Edmund and Lucas were fascinated by how vast a selection the weaponsmith had. While both princes had their fair share of weaponry in their respective kingdoms, they were not expecting such a wide variety of weapons to choose from in a kingdom the size of Arendelle.

The English prince was looking through the swords and bows as those two weapons were his bread and butter when it came to weaponry. While he could fight with any type of weapon, he always preferred swords and bows. He continued browsing through the two weapon types and thought every single one of them was very interesting. As he was finishing his scanning of the weapons, one sword and one bow in particular caught his attention. The bow was ultramarine and was shaped like the wing of a phoenix. It reminded him of the sea back home in England. Similarly, the sword Edmund was looking at was also ultramarine at the grip of the sword and had a blade with the appearance of solid gold.

Theodor noticed the enthusiasm of the English prince and walked over to him. "Ah, I see that one of the swords has really caught your attention! This is the most powerful sword in the entire world! It's called Thunder Delmoreblade."

"Thunder Delmoreblade? That is certainly a name that suits this amazing looking sword," Edmund said approvingly.

"Indeed. Delmore is a boy's name that means of the sea and originated in France," the weaponsmith explained. "I also noticed the bow you were looking at as well. The bow is referred to as Whispermarino Phoenix."

"Those names are very fitting for weapons that remind me of the sea," Edmund said with a smile.

"I am glad you think so. Marino also means of the sea, but is of Latin origin rather than French origin," the weaponsmith smiled back.

"If it is not any trouble, is there anywhere in the shop I can maybe test out the weapons?" the English prince asked, unwilling to cause any unnecessary trouble.

Fortunately, Theodor nodded. "There are rooms to test out the melee weapons as well as rooms meant for ranged weapons. Which weapon would you like to test out first?"

"May I test Thunder Delmoreblade first please?" Edmund asked.

"Certainly," Theodor said as he grabbed a tall ladder from behind the counter and set it in a position to climb up and reach Thunder Delmoreblade. Once he was high enough to reach the sword, he carefully withdrew it from where it hung high up on the wall, and climbed down slowly, taking care not to drop the weapon or injure himself. As soon as he reached the bottom, the weaponsmith handed the sword to Edmund.

Once Edmund had the sword in his grasp, the weaponsmith led the English prince to a room to demonstrate. "Here you are sir!"

"Thank you very much Theodore. I will make sure to return Thunder Delmoreblade once I conclude demonstrating," Edmund said cheerfully.

"You're welcome, sir! Please test it out as long as you like," the weaponsmith stated.

As soon as Edmund had gotten settled into the room to experiment with the sword, Theodor saw a saber and a longbow had gotten the attention of the Belgian prince.

"That saber is referred to as Pelagiostorm, and the longbow is called Pikelongbow," the weaponsmith explained.

"Those are very interesting names. I heard Pelagios is a boy's name that is originally from Greece and means from the sea," Lucas said.

"It is indeed," Theodor replied in agreement.

"May I test out Pikelongbow first please? That way I do not have to worry about getting in Edmund's way of testing out Thunder Delmoreblade," Lucas suggested.

"Of course! His name is Edmund, eh?" Theodor stated.

Lucas nodded.

"What is your name, young man?" Theodor asked curiously.

"I am Prince Lucas of Ostenda in Belgium, and Edmund is the prince of England," the Belgian prince greeted.

Theodor's eyes widened in surprise. He had not expected any princes in his shop. For the sake of being polite, he respectfully bowed. "It is my pleasure to serve you, Your Highness."

Lucas chuckled. "That will not be necessary Theodor. You can just call me Lucas."

"As you wish, Lucas. I shall get Pikelongbow for you now," the weaponsmith smiled as he got the longbow for Lucas. As soon as Theodor handed the longbow to Lucas, he led him to a shooting range that had six difficulty levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert, master, and extreme.

"I would like to do the extreme difficulty please," Lucas requested.

"Are you sure about this? No one has managed to hit every target in extreme mode," the weaponsmith said.

The Belgian prince shrugged. "It does not hurt to try, right?"

"Of course! Let's see what you got, Lucas," Theodor stated as he and Lucas went to the shooting range. Having practiced with bows and longbows since he was a little boy, Lucas could handle anything that was thrown at him when it came to archery.

With Pikelongbow ready to shoot, the weaponsmith and the Belgian prince entered the extreme difficulty section of the indoor shooting range. Next to the entrance was a quiver of practice arrows. Locking himself in, Lucas took an arrow and drew it back. To the astonishment of Theodor, Lucas not only managed to hit every target, but he also hit them all dead center in the bullseye.

"Wow! That was a dazzling display! You're the first one to hit the bullseye in extreme mode!" the weaponsmith praised.

Lucas was pleased by the commendation. "I appreciate the compliment. It is just that I have been using bows and longbows for many years, and the Captain of the Guards in Ostenda trained me aggressively in sabers and archery. Personally, I think the hard work has paid off, and I will continue to work on my skills every day to make sure they stay sharp."

"Such fine young men you and Edmund are," Theodor praised.

"Well, we try," Lucas said with a smile.

The weaponsmith grinned back. "Would you like to test Pelagiostorm out now?"

"Yes please," Lucas replied as he let Theodor hang Pikelongbow back up before the weaponsmith went on with getting Pelagiostorm for the Belgian prince.

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After Lucas bid them farewell, Anna and Kristoff decided to spend some time together. With the two princes traversing the town, Stephen guarding the castle, and Elsa in her meeting, the couple had the whole castle to themselves.

"Now that it's just you and me, what would you like to do Kristoff?" the princess asked.

"I don't know. What would you like to do Anna?" Kristoff countered, unsure of what he and his girlfriend would do.

"Well, since Elsa is in her meeting and the three guests are preoccupied, I was thinking of maybe going around the shops in town and look for Christmas gifts to get for everyone," Anna suggested.

The ice harvester pondered this. "Go around town? Just you and me?" While he and Anna had dated for nearly five months, Kristoff was not exactly used to being seen in public with her.

"Of course, Kristoff! We've been dating since mid-July! What's wrong with going out into the town together?" the princess said.

"Nothing. It's just that before I met you, I was never romantically involved with anyone. Because of that, I have no dating experience and I'm worried I might screw it up," the ice harvester explained sincerely.

"You won't screw it up, Kristoff. Life wouldn't be the same without you in it. You're the best boyfriend any girl could ever asked for," Anna praised.

Kristoff shook his head and chuckled, appreciating the compliment. "How did I get so lucky?"

"We met when we were trying to stop an eternal winter in the middle of summer that Elsa accidentally unleashed?" Anna said with a raised eyebrow.

"Sounds about right," the ice harvester responded as he noticed Anna bring something out from behind her back in her hand.

"Whoa hold on. Is that mistletoe you have in your hand right now?" Kristoff asked.

Anna laughed. "Yes, it is! Do you know what you're supposed to do when you and another person are under mistletoe?"

"I assume you have to kiss?" the ice harvester guessed.

"Yes! Now just shut up and kiss me, Kristoff Bjorgman," the princess stated.

The ice harvester laughed as he wrapped one of his muscular arms around Anna's waist and placed his other hand gently onto her cheek. "Of course. Anything for you, Anna." He then leaned down and their lips met in a warm, passionate kiss.

Once the couple pulled apart after running out of breath, the princess was the first to speak. "Before we go around town, can we get something to eat first? I'm hungry."

"Sure," Kristoff replied as the couple headed towards the Great Hall.

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Once Edmund was finished with testing out Thunder Delmoreblade, he was ready to try out Whispermarino Phoenix.

"I have concluded my evaluation of Thunder Delmoreblade. A fine sword it is," Edmund praised.

"It thrills me to hear you like it, Prince Edmund," Theodor replied.

"You can just call me Edmund," the English prince said. "I assume Lucas gave you both our names?"

The weaponsmith nodded. "He did. You two seem like admirable men."

"Thank you for the adulation," Edmund said gratefully.

"Of course! Would you like to analyze Whispermarino Phoenix now, Edmund?" Theodor wondered.

"Yes please," the English prince replied.

As soon as the English prince had the bow in his possession, Lucas walked up with Pelagiostorm. "Before I go to try out the saber, may I watch Edmund and see how he does in the shooting range?" the Belgian prince asked.

"You certainly may," Theodor replied.

"Thank you. I would like to see Edmund's archery skills," Lucas stated.

"Me too. Do you think you'll be able to hit the bullseye on every target in extreme mode? Lucas was the first to accomplish the feat," the weaponsmith stated.

"Well, there is only one way to find out," Edmund replied with a shrug.

The three men then entered the extreme difficulty room of the shooting range. Once Edmund drew his focus on the targets, he grabbed an arrow and pulled it towards him. Theodor was once again stunned when the English prince managed to hit the bullseye on every target dead center just like the Belgian prince had done just a few moments ago.

"Impressive! You're just as great an archer as your friend, Edmund!" the weaponsmith praised. "How on Earth do you do it?"

"Hard work and lots of daily practice," Edmund said modestly.

"Well, you two are the greatest archers I've ever seen. No one else in the kingdom has even come close to your skill level," Theodor said.

"I believe every archer can be great in their own right as long as they dedicate themselves to practicing daily," Lucas replied.

"Yeah. Practice makes perfect, I am correct?" Edmund asked.

"You are correct, Edmund," the weaponsmith answered.

The English prince beamed. "Now then, I think you have a saber to test out, Lucas?"

"Oh, right. Thank you for reminding me," Lucas said.

"You are welcome," Edmund replied as the two princes continued having fun testing out Theodor's weapons.