AN: Hello, again! So.. this story. I hadn't seen much (anything, really!) written about how Elsa came to HAVE powers. It always boggles my mind how everyone in movie doesn't seem the least bit surprised by the fact that she has ice powers! So.. I decided to write about it. :) I have seen a bunch of different spellings for Elsa and Anna's parents. I've seen the queen being called Idunn, Idun or Iduna. The king is sometimes Agdar, Adgar, or Agnarr. So I just chose a name for each and went with that. I have no idea what they're ACTUALLY named lol. Again, as with all my other stories, this is UNBETA'ED so please forgive any mistakes. XO.
Chapter 1
In the dark of the night, a slender, pale hand pressed open the heavy wooden door. The hinges creaked and groaned and the hooded figure glanced about nervously. Seeing no one, she pushed the door all the way open and slipped inside.
The place smelled of dust and secrets. There was a stout sofa with dark wooden legs and purple velvet cushions against one wall. Two similarly styled armchairs sat a few feet across from it, a fireplace off-center on the wall perpendicular. Embers glowed in the hearth and candles flickered on the mantle, casting an eerie glow over the room. A doorway concealed by heavy drapes was immediately across the room from the timid woman who entered.
A raspy voice came from the shadows in the remaining corner of the room.
"I've been waiting for you, Your Majesty."
The cloaked woman jumped in alarm, staring into the darkness of the corner where the voice had originated from. "Wh-who's there?" Her voice was shaking despite her efforts and with trembling hands she pushed back her hood to reveal mahogany colored hair and light blue eyes.
An old woman wearing deep magenta robes moved silently from the gloom, gliding towards the royal near the door. The old woman's hair was pulled back into a bun, a few wisps hanging down before her eyes. She extended a hand to the hooded woman who stood, trembling. Rings festooned the long, crooked fingers. "Come with me," she rasped. "I have what you are looking for."
Tentatively, the brown-haired woman followed the elder through the heavy curtains at the back of the room. She found herself in another room with furniture that resembled that of the first room, but without a fireplace. Between the chairs and sofa stood a table with several candles burning in candleholders atop it.
"Please," the old woman gestured to one of the chairs. "Sit down, Your Majesty."
"How did you know who I am?" The woman's voice was slightly more steady now.
The old woman, who had turned to rummage through an old trunk in the corner, turned around with her eyebrows raised. "Didn't I mention already that I've been expecting you? I've known for a fortnight that you'd come."
The woman's blue eyes closed momentarily as she realized with a jolt that it had indeed been fourteen days ago that she had first entertained the idea of coming to see this old woman.
"The king does not know you're here, I presume?"
Her Majesty shook her head. "He does not."
"Very well, Queen Iduna of Arendelle. Please tell me how I can be of service to you."
Silently, Queen Iduna made her way through the castle corridors. The old woman's voice played in her mind. "You must make love at midnight for seven consecutive nights," she had said. "Your body is not meant to bear a child but with this spell you will. You must be warned, Your Majesty, your pregnancy will not be easy."
"I don't care," Iduna had cried in desperation. "I want nothing more than to be a mother, to produce an heir, but I've been unable to conceive for some reason…"
"You shall produce an heir," replied the old woman, looking deep into the queen's eyes. "But this will be no ordinary heir. She will rule the kingdom for you one day, sooner than you may think. Her life will be wrought with challenges, Your Highness, but a pure heart she will have."
"She?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. You will give birth to a little daughter almost a year to the day from your wedding anniversary."
December, then, thought Iduna to herself. It was nearly Spring now.
"Your Majesty," the old woman had continued, "what exactly are you willing to do to secure an heir for the royal family?"
"Anything!" Queen Iduna had burst out. "I want to be a mother more than anything in the world. I'd give anything to be pregnant."
"Anything?" The old woman's eyebrows raised. "Do you really mean that?"
"Y-yes," the queen had stuttered. "The royal family must produce an heir…"
The old woman was silent for a time. Then repeated once more, "Anything?"
"Anything," came the firm reply.
"Very well. When you have made love for seven nights, you must recite this verse on the last night. Listen closely.
From love most deep a child I bear,
To rule the kingdom, true and fair;
A reigning monarch kissed with grace,
With ice-blue eyes and a lovely face.
Her power courses hale and strong
Within a world it naught belong.
When fate aligns to bring her strife
Will be the hour I give my life.
In her hand, Queen Iduna clutched the piece of paper where she had hastily written down the haunting verse. She somehow had to convince her husband, the King Agnarr of Arendelle, to make love seven nights in a row without telling him she had been to town to see the old witch. He had scoffed when she'd suggested it weeks before and she dared not bring it up again.
Reaching her bedchambers and quietly slipping out of her cloak and dress, the queen pulled her modest nightgown over her head and crawled into bed beside her husband. It wasn't common practice for married royalty to sleep in the same bed together, but Iduna and Agnarr were indeed very much in love and neither of them really wanted to sleep alone. Iduna always made sure to muss up her sheets in her private bedchamber early in the morning before the servants went to wake her to make it look as though she'd slept there. She always awoke before the sun anyway.
Closing her eyes, she visualized the scrap of paper with the verse written on it. From love most deep… and Queen Iduna of Arendelle drifted off to sleep with the words running endlessly through her mind.
For seven nights after the queen snuck out of the castle, two bodies came together in the royal bedchamber. Hips rocked, hands wandered, lips met and words swirled around like petals on the wind. Shuddered breaths and desperate cries built to a crescendo as sweet release was finally found.
Eight nights after meeting with the old woman, Queen Iduna found herself back in her private bedchamber for the first time in weeks, a crumpled piece of paper in her shaking hand. In a voice trembling with the knowledge that life as she knew it was about to change, she spoke the words as the old woman had instructed.
"From love most deep a child I bear," she began, and as the words formed so did an unseasonably chilly breeze. It flapped the curtains and rustled the tassels on the bedposts. The candle on the nightstand flickered. "To rule the kingdom, true and fair."
The window burst open and a blast of freezing air whirled around the queen, yet her voice didn't falter. "A reigning monarch kissed with grace, with ice-blue eyes and a lovely face." Her voice grew stronger with each passing word. The wind fairly howled around the room and Iduna felt small, cold flecks hitting her face. Snow? She couldn't fathom it but kept speaking.
"Her power courses hale and strong," Iduna intoned, her voice rising above the wind. Snow flurries erupted both inside and outside the castle walls. "Within a world it naught belong." The candle blew out in the maelstrom and the fire in the hearth was dying by the second.
Iduna knew she had to finish the spell. "When fate aligns to bring her strife," she bellowed as a full-on blizzard erupted. An ethereal blue glow surrounded her. She heard the shouts from other rooms in the castle as people hurried to close the shutters and block the undersides of doors.
Finally at the end of the spell, the queen mustered her strength and shouted, "will be the hour I give my LIFE!"
With a mighty roar the storm blew itself out, throwing the room into darkness. A shocking cold sensation hit the queen, doubling her over, hands clasped to her belly. Her mouth opened but no sound came out. The icy feeling spread through her veins, making her feel as though she was being frozen from the inside out. Wordlessly, the queen stumbled to her bed and fell into a heap on the snow covered blankets, the darkness mercifully overtaking her.
Minutes later, King Agnarr opened the door to his wife's private chambers, candle in hand. Quickly striding across the room, the king firmly closed the window and pulled the drapes. A gentle smile pulled across his face at the sight of his wife, slender and pale and always beautiful to him, sleeping peacefully on her back in her bed with her hand resting gently on her belly and a small smile on her face. The king lit the fire in the queen's hearth once more and kissed her gently on her forehead. "Good night, my love," he whispered, and then he was gone.
"Are you quite well, Your Majesty?" One of the castle servants hovered anxiously in front of Queen Iduna's face as she sat in a chair in her bedchamber. "You are looking very pale."
"I'm always pale," Iduna smiled weakly. "I'm quite all right, thank you."
"I shall fetch the doctor if it is your bidding, My Queen. You need only tell me."
"Thank you," Iduna said again, trying to smile reassuringly. The truth was she felt terrible, but nobody knew she was expecting yet. It had only been a week since she'd spoken the verse and the storm had happened; too early to know she was pregnant. Except she did know. She just felt it.
After dismissing the servant, Iduna laid her hands on her still-flat abdomen. She leaned down, curling over herself. "Hello, little baby," she cooed, feeling foolish. "I know you're in there. I…I hope you're doing okay." How silly, the queen thought to herself, yet she kept talking. "I love you already, my sweet little girl. How strange to think I already know just about when your birthday will be. A winter baby."
The queen leaned back, smiling despite her fatigue. Yes, this would be an unusual pregnancy, she was sure of it. An unusual pregnancy that came about in an unusual way. But it was necessary. There was no one else to produce an heir - King Agnarr was an only child and she had married into the family.
Suddenly, a shiver raced down the queen's spine. She felt her fingers and toes instantly become cold. She pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders, shuddering. There was no breeze, she noticed, so what had made her cold? Teeth chattering, Iduna stood up from her chair and made her way to the vanity and glanced in the mirror. Her eyes widened in shock. Her lips were a purple-blue color and her face was drained of all flush.
Weakly, she retreated to her bed and crawled beneath the covers fully dressed. There she huddled, shivering violently for several minutes. All she could think about was how unbelievably cold she was. Slowly the sensation began to pass and feeling returned to her extremities. The whole thing left her feeling very nervous. However, the queen had never been pregnant before, nor had she really known anyone who had. Perhaps that's a normal side-effect of early pregnancy, she mused, pushing herself out of bed. Distraction would be her friend in this situation, she decided, and went about her duties.
Three weeks later, the king and queen were sitting in the dining hall having breakfast. Queen Iduna had found it increasingly difficult to hide her misery from her husband and the castle staff. She had confided only in one of her handmaids when she had found the queen vomiting profusely in the bathroom one morning when she came to draw the queen's bath. Her nausea was getting out of hand, though, and the queen knew it wouldn't be long before her husband would catch on.
"So the trade routes are all up for discussion," King Agnarr was saying. He waved his fork around as he spoke and the sight of the thinly sliced salmon flopping through the air was making Iduna's stomach roll like the ocean during a tempest. She laid her fork down and gazed into her lap, willing her insides to settle. "I've sent letters to Weselton, Corona and Idria and am in the process of… My dear? Are you all right?"
King Agnarr's green eyes widened in concern as he took in the sight of his wife. Her face had drained of color and her lips had turned a worrisome shade of blue. Her whole body was trembling. "I'm c-cold," she whispered weakly before slumping in her chair.
"Help!" The king cried, leaping out of his chair, his fork clattering onto the plate unceremoniously. "Someone help!" He rushed around the table to his wife's chair, gathering her into his arms and standing there, clueless as to what to do. Several staff members ran into the dining hall after hearing the king's shout. One rushed right back out to fetch the palace physician.
"Agnarr," the weak voice from the woman in his arms snapped his attention down. "The… baby. Th-the baby…"
Confused, the king knitted his eyebrows together. "The baby? What baby? Do you mean… Iduna? Are you with child?"
The pale brunette smiled wanly. "Yes, love. And she'll be lovely." And with that, the queen fell unconscious again.
King Agnarr was at once elated and epically confused. As he looked down at his lovely wife, he felt a great fear grip him as he realized just how ice cold the woman in his arms was. Her lips were parted slightly and her breath puffed out in a shower of ice crystals. The king's arms tightened around his wife. So she's with child, he thought. Finally we'll be parents. Finally we'll have an heir.
Within the hour, the palace physician had confirmed the pregnancy, although he was at a loss to explain the extreme temperature changes the queen was experiencing. He stated that it was not, as far as he was aware, a common complication of pregnancy but he couldn't produce an explanation. The physician and the king chalked it up to an anomaly with the queen's pregnancy. The queen, however, had a suspicion.
After the physician left and the king had returned to his royal duties, the queen begged off to her bedchambers and requested to be left alone to rest. As soon as she was alone, she threw back the covers. She had no intention of resting.
