A Second Tyranny

Reign

Author's Note:

It has been quite a while—over two months—since the last update! I have been juggling my college work with writing and other things I do during my spare time, so I'm sorry about that. I will try not to make the following chapter a long wait, but I can't guarantee it.

I know I said in the beginning that the story will be switching between the perspectives of just four people, but later on I think I also said that there'll be a chapter focusing on Arendelle being ruled by Hans. Well...this is it! It is told from Kai's POV, which should be a nice change.

By the way, I hope you've all had a great week!

KAI

The petitioner was a peasant around the age of forty. He walked down the aisle and paused before the dais to face Hans who was seated on Elsa's throne. Kai recognized him. The man lived with his wife and three children in a house in the village nearby Arendelle. Although Kai crossed paths with him during the times he spent in the village, they had never been close.

Kai, along with everyone else who lived in the castle, was told that someone wanted to petition the king. For what, they did not know. When Hans heard about the news he decided to hold court for him this morning in the great hall and insisted that they all attend.

There were several soldiers standing on either side of the dais. They were garbed identically in a black surcoat with the markings of a golden sugar maple on the chest. On their heads were gleaming black helmets, and fastened around their shoulders were midnight blue capes. Kai stood in one of the front rows next to Gerda, so he got a good view of the scene.

"Greetings, Your Highness. My name is Ralph. Thank you for receiving me." The man spoke up.

"My pleasure, Ralph," replied Hans. "What is the purpose of your visit today?"

"I come from a nearby village. I live in a house there with my wife and three children. We have lived a decent life together up to the day you inherited the throne. Ever since the beginning of your reign my family and I have been facing a food shortage," the man explained. "I am worried about my children. There is hardly enough food for each of the three meals to feed their bellies and they are growing skinner and weaker every day. My wife and I are both eating less ourselves in order to save whatever we have for our children, but it has not reduced their hunger."

Kai observed the villager for the first time. Beneath his rough brown tunic and beige trousers he already looked pretty thin himself.

He continued, "The weekly ration you provide for us is far from enough to support a family of five. We lack butter and loaves of bread, eggs and cheese, fish, peas, cabbages; but the thing we need the most is meat. Bacon, ham, chicken, and capon. Lots and lots of it."

The peasants from the village are responsible for growing all the food for Arendelle's people in farms and fields. When Hans became King he let that continue. But he did make a change. Instead of letting peasants eat their own food that they harvested, Hans took all of it in his charge. He kept three-quarters of the food for his men and himself, and distributed the rest as rations to the people who were here during Queen Elsa's reign before him. That included people like Kai and Gerda as well as the villagers. The new king provided an equal amount of food for each individual. For families the situation was different, depending on their size, meaning that larger families received more of it while smaller ones received less. No one believed that the rule was just or fair, least of all Kai, but they accepted all the same and lived with it ever since. This peasant was the first one brave enough to speak out.