The pale moonlight shone through the trees as she galloped through the forest. Dark circles covered her cheeks under her eyes, making the woman look even more ghostly. The pale freckles that were once obvious on her cheeks were almost gone, and though her white hair was once beautiful, it was now scraggly and hidden in a messy bun on the back of her head. The woman reached a long bridge connected to the small castle and spurred the horse on onwards to the gates of the castle. Jumping off her horse, the woman went up to the castle doors where two guards met her.
"And who might you be?" The first guard's thick accent matched his equally thick eyebrows as he raised his sword. "I don't remember the Queen instructing us that anyone might be coming.
The woman raised her hands. "Well, you certainly won't see this coming, gentlemen."
He looked hard at her and started to advance. "Wait… you aren't…" he started saying, but before he could continue, she swished her hand fiercely across her body and he froze in place.
She turned to look at the other guard, who hadn't said a thing and was trying hard to shrink into the shadows, as if the woman would not see him.
Raising her hand, the woman pointed at him. "If you do not want the same fate as your friend here, let me into the castle." The man nodded without hesitation and opened the door.
Turning back to her horse, she grabbed a little bundle from the small side carriage. Delicately, she held the baby in her arms and went in the castle doors.
Elsa looked around the empty-looking entrance hall and looked at the baby. "I'm sorry this must be your home for the next while… I never wanted for this to happen. But I know that I am not the best mother for you."
The baby looked up at her and giggled, reaching for the green pendant around her neck. Elsa smiled. "Looks like you've found an interest in that little thing." Sighing, Elsa took the pendant off from around her neck. "I guess you can have it now… Just remember me always, Evain." The baby grabbed the pendant and started sucking on it. The green pendant inside glowed in the baby's mouth, but Elsa knew that it would do her no harm.
"Elsa!" A voice sounded behind her, and Elsa turned around, raising one hand while carrying the baby in the other.
"Who's there?" Elsa looked around but saw no one.
A scuttling of footsteps sounded above her. She looked up and saw a woman wearing a pale pink dress running along a hallway around her, then turning and going down a set of stairs.
The woman came up to her and just stared. "I told you to never come here, Elsa. You put my family in too much danger."
"Eleanor, I did not come here to stay." Elsa narrowed her eyes at the woman she disliked so much.
"Then what did you come here to do? I don't want you to hurt my daughter again. What you did to her… She sees the wisps now. Who knows what else you've done to her." Eleanor put her hands on her hips and stared daggers at Elsa.
Elsa looked down at the precious baby, who had taken the pendant out of her mouth and was now staring at it as if it were some kind of hypnotizing device. "You must protect my child. She is… not safe in Arendelle."
Eleanor threw her hands in the air. "You think that I will protect your baby when you hurt mine? You have thought wrong, Elsa. I am not your friend anymore." She turned around with her back facing Elsa.
"Please! I know that you are the only ones who can care for her. You are the only Kingdom besides my own that is fully functional, and we are preparing for war. This child will stop the great evil spreading though the land when the time is ready. Please. She is so important." Elsa stroked Evain's silver hair and sighed, trying to not let the tears leak from her eyes.
Sighing, Eleanor looked at the baby. "I don't know, Elsa… if she is that powerful, then why can't you take care of her yourself? If she is the only one that can destroy the evil, I don't think I can contain her. Especially if you yourself cannot! I don't think it is a good plan."
"Don't think what is a good plan?" The two women looked up at the stairs at a large, red-haired man with a peg-leg.
Elsa smiled up at him. "Fergus! Please, take her!" She ran up to him and held out Evain, desperate.
Fergus raised an eyebrow at her and came down the rest of the stairs, taking the baby from her hands and examining Evain. "How old is she?"
"She is almost one. Your boys are about her age, correct?"
Nodding, Fergus studied Evain. "They're almost three, but they're as smart as five year olds." He looked up at Eleanor's bewildered face. "We can take her, Eleanor."
"But—Fergus – I don't know – Elsa can take care of her…" Eleanor looked as desperate as Elsa as she pointed at the baby.
Fergus just shook his head. "Eleanor, look at her! She is in need of our help. And I don't care what she did to Merida, it was an accident and it was a long time ago. I don't know what the circumstances are but…"
"Rapunzel and Eugene are dead." Silence followed this statement as Fergus and Eleanor stared at Elsa.
"But… how?" Eleanor clasped her hand over her heart and sat on one of the stair steps, closing her eyes. Fergus stood there, but you could see the pain in his eyes.
"A great evil is among us, and this baby is the only one who can stop it. Please take my Evain." Elsa took back the baby and stroked her face as she played with the amulet. "She will only become stronger as she gets older. I know it's a lot to take in but…"
"We'll do it." The response had come from Eleanor, who rose up from her position. She had a fierceness in her eyes that only a mother had; only this time, Eleanor was being the Queen, a mother of her country. Elsa could see that Eleanor knew the baby was the key to protecting the land and her family, and Evain was the cost to safety, the Queen would pay it.
Elsa looked down. Part of her had wanted them to refuse Evain, just so Elsa would be able to spend more time with her. "Take her."
Fergus nodded and took the baby from her arms. "We will protect her and treat her as our family."
"Thank you." Elsa turned and walked from the room without another word, although the woman was wiping many tears that had appeared on her dark cheeks.
Eleanor looked to her husband and then at the baby. "Oh Fergus… what are we going to do?"
Fergus looked at Evain also. "We will raise her, like Elsa wanted."
Eleanor opened her mouth to say something, but a door creaked open upstairs and they both turned to see Merida sneaking down in her nightdress.
"What are you doing down here? And what's that?" Merida pointed at Evain, crossing her arms.
Trying to force a smile, Eleanor walked up to Merida and put a hand on her shoulder. "Merida, meet your new little sister, Evain."