Our travelers were walking along the main street of the capitol of a magnificent kingdom of Corona, which was right under the kingdom of Kovir in the far north. They were surrounded by buildings in pastel colors, each of them was decorated with a thread of flags showing the national emblem - golden sun on a purple background. They were passing many market stalls, humans and non-humans smiling warmly. The atmosphere was almost identical to the one in Arendelle, it seemed as the conflicts of the outer world did not reach this place. Geralt was squinting his eyes every few seconds, all because of the dazzling sunlight. Anna noticed it.
"Get used to it, Geralt!" she told him joyfully. "The sun shines here the whole time!".
"So it's true what they say... "Because Corona took the sun, Kovir cries all year"" Jaskier quoted one of the rumors about the kingdom.
"Indeed!" Olaf confirmed happily. "Ah, I love coming here! I always have an occasion to sunbathe!" he added, to which Anna laughed lightly.
Roach roared, Loki replied with a murmur. Whatever the mares seemed to be discussing, one thing was certain - our heroes would've gladly discover what it was. They stopped at the castle gates, where the guard in the tower said:
"Stop! Who are you and why are you here?!".
"Princess Anna of Arendelle!" the blue-eyed woman answered.
"A witcher protégée, Olaf of Arendelle!" the snowman added.
"With us, Jaskier the bard and witcher Geralt of Rivia! We're here to surprise-visit my cousin!" Anna explained shortly.
"Hm... Andrew!" the guard called for his companion, who was on the other side of the wall.
"What is it, Longinus?!".
"Open the gate! And send someone to inform the princess about the visitors!".
"Aye aye!".
After only few minutes, the company got off their horses and waited in the courtyard. Jaskier glanced at the floor, where a mosaic depicting the national emblem was laid out of tiles. Anna was about to say something, however before she managed to open her mouth, the princess's enthusiastic voice reached the travelers' ears.
"ANNA! OLAF!".
A moment later, before their eyes appeared a slim figure dressed in a dark purple dress without slippers or any footwear on her feet. She slid down the stair handrail, the heroes were able to see her blond braid reaching from head to toe, decorated with all kinds of flowers. What's more, a small chameleon was sitting on her shoulder. The green-eyed woman ran up to the princess of Arendelle and hugged her firmly, she did the same with the snowman.
"How wonderful it is to see you!" she exclaimed happily. The wide, warm smile did not leave her face for a second.
"You too, Rapunzel!" Anna responded just as happy.
"We've missed you dearly!" Olaf added.
"Oh, I've missed you too! After all, it'd be three years since our last meeting!" Rapunzel noticed, then cleared her throat. "And who are these distinguished gentlemen accompanying you? Pardon me, sirs, Jacob probably revealed your indentities, but when I've heard about Anna and Olaf I've got really excited, ran and didn't hear" she turned to the brunet and the grey-haired man, then cleared her throat once again. "Nice to meet you, Rapunzel's my name" she extended her right hand.
"Julian Alfred Pankratz viscount de Lettenhove, nevertheless please call me "Jaskier", Your Majesty" the troubadour introduced himself and shook princess's hand.
"Geralt of Rivia, witcher" the monster slayer shook blond-haired woman's hand next.
"THAT Geralt?! I know you from king Foltest's stories! You'd disenchanted princess Adda!" Rapunzel remembered. "It's an honour to meet you in person!" she added, her chameleon nodded his head, agreeing with her.
"Pleasure's all mine" the witcher replied, smiling lightly.
"You must tell me about your adventures! Not that I don't know them from master Jaskier's ballads, "Of ice, nymph and bruxa" is my favourite, but I'd love to hear them first-hand! Oh! Pardon me for a moment!" she said and backed up a bit. She closed her left eye and captured the painting proportions with her fingers. She glanced communicatively at Pascal, whom nodded his head in agreement once again. "Would you like to pose for a painting?".
Geralt was about to answer, however he was stopped by the arrival of the brown-eyed brunet with well-groomed shoulder-length hair and a beard just as neat. All out of breath, he approached the bunch.
"Blondie, I'll never understand in my entire life where do you get all that energy from" he turned to the green-eyed woman and took a deep breath, placing his hands on his hips. "Hey Olaf. Anna".
"Hey!" they replied simultaneously.
"Dear guests, this is my husband, Eugene Fitzherbert" Rapunzel introduced her partner. "Eugene, behold the witcher Geralt of Rivia and Jaskier the bard".
"Seriously?! So the ballads about your company's adventures are true?! Olaf" he pointed at the snowman with his index finger "you're going to tell me everything in depth later".
"Of course! With pleasure!" Olaf responded joyfully.
"Amazing!" Eugene said delighted. "By the way, congratulations, lovebirds. The stanza about you in "Of ice, nymph and bruxa" is really adorable" he turned to Anna and Jaskier. "Anna, I hope that this mister musician right here is heaven's better than..." the former thief didn't finish, as Rapunzel nudged him with her elbow.
"Thank you. And I assure you, he's the best" Anna said, entangling her arm with Jaskier's, while the troubadour lightly smiled at her words.
"I'm glad to hear that" Eugene nodded his head, then turned to Geralt. "White Wolf, right? From the songs it seemed that you'd be more..." he looked at him from head to toe "terrifying".
Rapunzel and Pascal clutched their heads, Anna and Jaskier looked at each other tellingly, while Olaf was trying not to laugh. The same couldn't be said about Roach and Loki that roared loudly, as Fitzherbert's words amused them. The witcher replied with humility:
"Forgive me, noble sir, for not fulfilling your expectations".
"There's nothing to apologize for, happens to the best of us" Fitzherbert said in order to cheer Geralt up, although there was no need to do so. But he didn't know that. "Nevertheless, I'll gladly face you later! Never have fought a witcher... I wonder what such duel looks like. Do you accept the challenge?".
"I do" Geralt responded without hesitation, causing Eugene to smile widely.
Olaf clapped excitingly, looking forward to seeing his friends' duel. Rapunzel asked one of the guards to take horses to the stables, after which she and the rest of the group headed inside the palace. When the heroes were on their way to meet Rapunzel's parents, they were discussing many topics, including the reason behind the company's arrival (they were nearby, so the princess of Arendelle came up with the idea of dropping by), Olaf's witcher training (still in the phase of learning the theory, gaining knowledge about monsters, elixirs), the general mood of those gathered, or how people important to the court and the whole country were doing.
"How's Cassandra? Did she carry out the reform of army like she's been planning to?" Anna questioned.
"Oh, she did even more than that! In comparison to her predecessors, about whom I read a bit, Cass is the most prominent hetman in Corona's history!" Rapunzel praised her friend.
"And how's Varian doing?" Olaf asked with curiosity about the court's alchemist.
"He went to inspect something on the border with Kovir, so for the time-being we're without a sorcerer-counselor..." Eugene scratched his head. "Ah, wait, how could I forget! A few days ago a sorceress arrived here, she deputies the kid. Her name's Jennifer or something like that".
"Yennefer, honey. Yennefer" Rapunzel corrected him, laughing a bit.
"Yes, Yennefer, that's exactly what I said" her husband replied.
Anna and Jaskier bulged their eyes, Geralt perked up, and Olaf got really happy.
"Yennefer?!" the princess of Arendelle and the troubadour couldn't believe what they've just heard.
"Indeed. Do you know her?" the princess of Corona asked.
"Do we know her? Do we know her?! We..." the bard was about to give a speech filled with indignation, however the witcher disrupted him from doing so.
"Some time ago we met her. An intriguing and mysterious person. What's more, Jaskier owes her his life. Otherwise he would've died because of the djinn" he summarized, glancing tellingly at the poet.
"Hold on, hold on, a djinn?!" Fitzherbert blinked few times. "Olaf, all the more reason for you to tell me everything in detail! And even the smallest ones!".
"Aye aye, dear friend!" the snowman saluted.
"Perhaps this will finally convince Cassandra that Yennefer is not a threat... since she's came here, Cass is keeping an eye on her, I wouldn't be surprised if she was sending her owl to spy... although the sorceress doesn't come off as evil, Cass doesn't trust her. Yes, I was sceptical at the first too, but when we questioned her about her acquaintance with Varian, she was rather sincere... and she was very helpful over the last few days... she didn't seem to be phony... anyway, she can't be as rotten to the core as Gothel, right?" the long-haired woman said.
"Nothing beats her..." the blue-eyed woman stated, deep in her thoughts.
"Who's Gothel?" the witcher and the bard asked at the same time.
Rapunzel and Eugene began to tell the story of a vile woman, whom was hailed as the worst monster Corona has ever seen. During her lifetime, Gothel was obsessed with the ideal looks, eternal youth. To keep it, she'd been using a magical flower born from the sun drop. However, when queen Arianna had fell ill with a nasty, unknown disease, king Frederic and his men had been seeking a cure. That's when he'd learned about the Sundrop Flower. Flower capable of healing all wounds and bringing people back from the death. The plant had been taken and used to make a cure for the queen. Shortly after Arianna's recovery, Rapunzel had been born. Born with the abilities of the flower, the source of them in her hair. Gothel, unable to cope with a ripe old age and many wrinkles, had kidnapped the princess and locked up in a tower in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't until the day before Rapunzel's eighteenth birthday that everything changed, for Eugene (then known under a false dignity, "Flynn Rider"), who had been running away from soldiers, appeared in the tower. The spouses briefly summarized their adventure, leaving the tower, going to the capitol, meeting many people, the good and the evil ones. Unfortunately, at one point they'd fallen for Gothel's intrigue, Fitzherbert ended up in prison, Rapunzel back in the tower. However the girl had realized she was the long lost princess, and the lanterns sent into the sky every year on her birthday were the symbol of hope that she'd return home one day. She'd confronted the woman whom to that moment she'd been calling "mother" as a result of manipulation since the very childhood - it did not end well. It could seem that everything was lost, when Eugene had come to the rescue. The young with help of Pascal the chameleon had tricked Gothel - they had placed Rapunzel's hair in such way that the women tripped over them and fell out the tower. The fall from high ended in her death by breaking her neck and smashing her head on a stone. Rapunzel, Eugene and Pascal on the back of the bravest horse in the entire kingdom, Maximus, had returned to the capitol and met the royal couple. The family had reunited, and then, like it'd been sung - "they lived happily ever tangled".
During dinner the company met with Yennefer. They exchanged pleasantries, nevertheless one could sense that there was a tension between the bard with the princess of Arendelle with the sorceress. The same couldn't have been said about the witcher and the snowman, who were happy to see the violet-eyed woman. During the feast the company was telling Anna's aunt and uncle about their adventures, while she was closely observing the raven-haired woman the entire time, the hetman was doing so as well, having joined everyone in the middle of the feast. After the supper, everyone went to their chambers. Anna and Jaskier, who were given a shared guest room, for some length were discussing the reason behind Yennefer's arrival. They came up with many theories, none of them had positive assumptions. Eventually, they felt sleepy and decided to finish this discussion the next day.
In the morning, when Anna was on her way to breakfast after getting all cleaned up, the raven-haired woman was walking not far behind her. The blue-eyed woman decided to talk with her, so, having breathed deeply, she slowed down. The sorceress quickly caught up to her and to her surprise, started the conversation herself.
"Good morning" she greeted.
"Hello" the princess of Arendelle replied.
A silence fell between them. However it wasn't for long, as Yennefer spoke up:
"Your Majesty's thoughts are getting more and more similar to a hurricane with every moment, I see that you want to ask about something, but are afraid to do so. Perhaps you'd like to say what is on your heart".
"You've been reading my mind?!" Anna did not hide her indignation.
"I insist" Yennefer ignored her companion's question.
"Eh..." Anna sighed protractedly. "Listen, I don't know why you've come here and said to be Varian's depute, but if you hurt Rapunzel or anyone close to me...".
"I don't plan on hurting anyone. The reason of my arrival isn't dangerous as well".
"You say so?!" Anna raised her eyebrows, not believing. She stopped, Yennefer too. It was also the first time they made eye contact during this conversation. "You won't spell anyone to be your puppet?! And to murder people who didn't like you?! You won't put us to sleep, so we don't get in your way?!" she questioned suspiciously, when a servant passed them by, she lowered her voice. "What are you looking for this time? Another djinn? A cursed ring? A magic cloak? Perhaps a book which will reveal to you all of the world's secrets? Or basically anything that will give you greater power?".
Yennefer began to lose her patience. She furrowed her eyebrows resolutely responded:
"I don't want that stupid power you're talking about. Imagine that my goal is much more ambitious than this. And what happened in Rinde was simply a solution of my problems back then".
"A more ambitious goal? What is it?" Anna crossed her arms on her chest.
The sorceress didn't manage to answer that her plans are out of the princess of Arendelle's sphere of interest, as both of them felt the lack of ground under their feet. Before they knew it, they had fallen into the depths of darkness.

~⚔️~

DUN DUN DUN!
Hopefully nothing bad happens to Anna & Yen (I mean, I know what happens next, but I'll keep you, my dear Readers, in uncertainty). Also, characters from "Tangled" enter the stage! Let's greet them with a great applause!
If you've noticed any errors, feel free to let me know.
Now I'll say goodbye to you, see you next time! Sending my greetings to all of you, be well!