Michael’s Musings: Queen Anna’s birthday celebration – and a surprise guest…

Featured image art by Arute (@ast05water)

By Michael, trade minister of Arendelle

You may have read in The Arendelle Guardian, my fellow subscribers and readers, all about the celebration of our Queen Anna’s birthday on the 21st of June.

It was a roaring good time and I want to thank all of us who came together and made it the success it was! Sir Alan, Countess Vi, Commander Hilde, Gertrude, Hilde, Tess, Gerda, and myself all pitched in to make this celebration unforgettable! Even Queen Emerita Elsa, my Snow Queen niece, with the help of my Snow Princess great-niece Danny, made a couple of beautiful ice and permafrost sculptures to add a bit of frozen beauty to that lovely, sunny day.

No RSVP’S, no “By invitation only,” we wanted this open so everyone could wish our humble, kind, positive, energetic Queen a special “Happy Birthday!” She wields immense power, yet is very approachable and kind to all.

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Michael’s Musings: Happenings Behind the Scenes

Featured image art “Family man” by Arute (@ast05water)

By Michael, trade minister of Arendelle

Since the meeting with Countess Viola in the Grand House of the Family Mundilfari, we’ve been very busy with preparations for our friends. Several are to embark on the search that Yixin has set for our Queen Anna, the Emerald Dragon of the New Exalted. Strategies, logistics, plus the normal day-to-day: it gets hectic.

I have added some folks to my own staff to make sure this goes off as smoothly as possible.

Not only have I enlisted Selene Severin’s keen assistance in research and her flock of “ravens,” but I also have brought on board a young man named Gunnar Weighorst has come from Sweden to Arendelle with know-how in trade and business. He’s become very valuable in my Ministry staff, especially with the new trade pacts that Queen Anna has been wanting to establish with Great Britain, Peru, and Russia.

Gunnar and Selene have figured the ins and outs with Peru and Britain. Queen Anna and Queen Victoria have been friends for a while now, so that agreement may be easy. Peru is a bit harder, since they have their own economic troubles since the end of their war for independence from Spain. I have some hope for this to go through as we received some Peruvian Arabica coffee beans as gifts from Presidente Ramón Castilla y Marquesado’s trade cabinet. I must say, these beans make some of the best coffee I have ever had.

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Anna’s Column: House Bourbon, Meet House Arendelle

Today, I visited Kingdom Hall to listen to a performance of Francesco Durante’s Danza, Danza, Fanciulla Gentile. The last few weeks have been a relatively quiet time for the Arendelle Philharmonic (they’re preparing a new concert – I’m keeping my lips sealed about what they’re playing!), and we’re still in the middle of arranging for the composer Clara Schumann to visit our kingdom. I thought it was a good time to mention my new opera singer. The papers have been circulating her name, so maybe you’ve heard about her already.

Luna de Bourbon.

It was Kai that had been advising me on how to take Vi’s great cultural project forward. She’d provided a very solid foundation, what with a lasting grant that would pay the Philharmonic members’ salaries for five years and the running costs of maintaining Kingdom Hall’s considerable upkeep (Arendelle has never had a cultural center before). Although I don’t accept Vi’s old ideas of imperial rule, her hardheaded ideas of hard and soft power have their merits. Ever since we built Kingdom Hall, our position as a cultural influencer throughout Europe has grown in correspondence to our military and diplomatic victories – not just over Russia but in keeping fiefs like those of Will Harrison under control, and even against the British East India Company way back in the early days of my tenure.

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Michael’s Musings: Rumors, gossip and other lies…

“Found family” by Arute (@ast05water)

By Michael, trade minister of Arendelle

Life here in Arendelle is never perfect. However, it’s been great with the reigns of both queens Elsa and Anna. It goes without saying about how far we’ve come in this saga. The love we have for each other, the support of the folk in both lands of Arendelle and Northuldra, especially for the struggles the two young women have gone through since the hard, lonely years of their childhood.

They’ve made a ton of progress and encountered many milestones as life goes on. Yet the love they have for each other, plus for those who have come along the way – like Kristoff, Olaf, Sven, Sir Alan, a certain Uncle, and more.

Unfortunately, life has those who will never be happy and will always complain and want to sabotage another’s happiness. Gossip and rumors do exactly that.

So it was no surprise, but indeed aggravating, to hear some malcontents in the kingdom saying untruths about my nieces and Kristoff. Too much of this will give places like Our Fair Kingdom a quarantining case of “rumoritis!”

So: let’s clear the air and let some truth shine in, shall we?

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ANNA’S DECREE – Searching for the Elixir

Featured image art by PURY (@puryartist)

The inner court had been assembled.

The beautiful Countess Vi, no longer regent but now having returned to her usual post of prime minister, stood alongside Commander Hilde on one side of the queen’s hall, at the right hand of the throne. Seated on it was Anna, who surveyed, with modest solemnity as well as a winning smile, the assembled women and men on her left side, who were facing Vi and Hilde: Elsa, Kristoff, Mattias, and Honeymaren.

“I’ve briefed trade minister Michael and Sir Alan about my next move, and now we’re ready,” declared the queen. “In liaison with Peony Sinclair and Queen Colisa of Chatho, the other members of my new Exalted organization, I wish to launch my search for the fragments of the elixir of life.”

The inner court exchanged nervous and terse glances with each other. The air was electric. At last, it had begun, and no less at a make-or-break time of diplomacy with Japan.

Anna was making good on her promise to Lord Yixin for being catapulted to international prominence.

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A MONARCH’S DESTINY: Queen rallies support for her grand agenda

Featured image art “The inner court” by PURY (@puryartist)

By Anna

Hi, everyone! Since returning to Arendelle, I’ve had more time to continue my personal column in this newspaper: it’s one of my favourite ways to reach as many people as possible, and I like to think my column will be a fair but heartfelt bellwether for my hopes, difficulties, and worries.

When I became queen, I told the kingdom right after my coronation that I wanted to be a different kind of leader, someone that could offer something different to past monarchs. I think my policies and vision for Arendelle will speak for themselves, long after I’m gone. Even if historians consider my reign to be a mediocre or even a failed one, they won’t be able to say that I didn’t aim high. I’m reaching for the stars, quite literally. Let me explain why.

The Exalted, which I now lead, is an ancient society of world leaders that was formed to find the fragments of a long-lost elixir: whether you call it the Holy Grail, the Philosopher’s Stone, or ambrosia, this is the fabled potion of immortality that humanity once possessed – until a war beyond the heavens, among the celestial bodies far above us, deprived us of that elixir.

That elixir wasn’t for everyone, to tell you the truth: its creator, a goddess who knows the spirits of Northuldra, had intended a select group of leaders, who’d have proven their wisdom and goodness, to lead humanity forever.

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A QUEEN REBORN: Anna resumes leadership of Arendelle

By Draco, Royal Correspondent for The Arendelle Guardian

Wasting no time upon her return to Arendelle, Anna has quickly resumed executive power over the kingdom, with her regent Viola Mundilfari returning to her usual post of prime minister while the queen moves to deal with a series of foreign policy challenges.

Anna held court for the first time in months in her throne room yesterday, sitting back on the austere and tall wooden chair that has remained the seat of Arendelle’s queens and kings since the days when Arendelle was but a small hamlet struggling to keep its people warm in the bitter cold. In quick succession, she laid out a bold agenda that matched her growing global clout:

A robust anti-opium smuggling campaign, aligning her views and Arendellian business with a growing number of European and American missionaries campaigning against the widespread trade of the drug that has devastated lives in China and across the world,
Draft treaties with Chatho, Vesterland, the Southern Isles, and Weselton – all former members of the now-defunct Entente of Small Kingdoms – for the establishment of Arendellian embassies in each respective country,
A new task force focused on the economy and the newest industries to propel Arendelle to greater prosperity and leadership in global trade,
An accelerated integration of Arendelle and Northuldra, making good on her promise early on during her reign to achieve the union of “the two lands as one” as part of her legacy as queen, and finally:
An outreach program focused on culture, politics, and business to yet more lands that are unknown to the average Arendellian citizen, including the reclusive Shogunate of Japan.

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Happy Birthday, Queen Anna!

Featured image art “Queen of the realm” by hannah.digiart (@HDigiart)

A special Musing for a special niece and some fatherly thoughts

By Michael, trade minister of Arendelle (@of_michel)

Summer Solstice in Arendelle means that it’s Queen Anna’s Birthday! Unfortunately, this year, Queen Anna, her sister and my niece, Snow Queen Elsa and Kristoff Bjorgman, are away in China on important business, namely to see prince regent Yixin and confirm the Exalted’s new members.

What a year it’s been with Anna as queen. From the lowest low of losing “Most Favoured Nation Status” to that lowdown skunk Will Harrison*, to winning the war with Russia**… and now, a new Exalted with Queen Colisa, Kristoff, and Peony Sinclair.

Not too bad if I say so myself for my royal niece.

It’s also a time that in America, where I used to do business, that they celebrate the fathers of the family. On this day, Elsa and Anna go quietly to the shipwreck site in Northuldra to remember their parents, Queen Iduna and King Agnarr, in private. As they couldn’t do so this year, I went in their place to honour both their parents, as I was a close friend to them before their deaths. Honeymaren, Ryder, Yelena, and the other four nature spirits accompanied me as we laid the flowers and bowed our heads in loving remembrance. There are places in Arendelle that pay tribute Agnarr and Iduna for the public. This one is where the sisters can privately honour their parents.

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An Attack on One of Us is an Assault on Us All

Featured image “The First Vampire” by hannah.digiart (@HDigiart)

By Alan (@alannadeau2016 )

It’s been a while since I’ve last submitted an article here, but, with the Russo-Arendellian War long since over, and Anna having gone with my love, Elsa, and the others to the Forbidden City to visit Yixin, it’s given me some free time to do some more training and also to relax, spend some time with Vi, Michael, and Danny, among others.

But now, things have gotten serious yet again. Some crazy person has decided to stalk Viola the Countess – the First Vampire, if you will. Hateful messages, attacks on her own home which have forced her, Tess, and Hilde, to move to Arendelle Castle for the time being… This is ridiculous. Whoever this is, they have a clear vendetta against Viola, and I understand that. The Mundilfaris have done a lot of bad things over the years, decades, centuries even. Viola is the last in that line, and she’s changed over, but her surname and heritage remain. And some salty fool out there – someone in Arendelle – wants revenge.

Well, I’ve got something to say about that. Anyone that knows me should understand that it was only a matter of time before I sounded off about something like this. So here we go.

Whoever you are, whoever is doing this to Viola, I hope you’re reading this. I hope you come across this, because let me explain something to you. You do not, under any circumstances, mess with the countess of Arendelle. Don’t screw with Viola Mundilfari.

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Michael’s Musings: We’ve lost a special friend

Featured art “Comfort,” by Arute(@ast05water)

By Michael, trade minister of Arendelle

During the Russo-Arendellian war, my column went on a short hiatus. I was helping Queen Anna oversee the affairs of the Royal Household while the conflict raged on. We lost some good friends such as Sergeant Severin, while those like Commander Hilde Von Altheim took a massive hit while fighting Grand Duke Yaraslaf the werebear. Yaraslaf and Nykras have been defeated and the Russian forces defeated. The war is won. However, it is tempered in deep sorrow.

I was hoping to restart my column with a happier story. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

We lost a very dear, loving, and tenderhearted ally in Sora, who was a fallen angel and the guardian of Katina Romanov. Katina is the princess of Russia and the sovereign leader that launched this whole invasion. My own heart is still aching over the loss of this fiery and valiant, yet gentle and loving soul. She departed this world tragically. She was working to try and make Princess Katina see the error of her ways and forget this useless war. It was a plan that Sora and Elsa had planned early on. Instead of spearheading an all-out assault on the kingdom, Sora faked the fight we witnessed, and Elsa threw it to make it look like Sora won. Katina’s rage was so much at a fever pitch with Sora, she proclaimed:

“I release you from the service of the Romanov family!”

That’s when, literally, all Hell broke loose and claimed Sora.

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