Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Disney Company, nor do I own any part of the movie 'Frozen'. This work is purely for entertainment purposes and will never be used in any capacity to generate profits of any sort for the author.
Prologue – The Day of Prophecy
The day was the warmest one she had ever felt this far into winter. The warmth of the air made Ariella wish she hadn't dressed so heavily. She was beginning to sweat. How was I to know it would be as warm as summer out today? It was as cold as every other winter day this season when we departed the gates this morning, she complained to herself in her mind.
As odd as the temperature was, what made her truly uneasy was how far they had ventured into the forest outside of Castle Rhon. The woods were deathly still lacking even the faintest breeze, and completely void of sound except for the rustling of the brush underneath the hooves of their horses.
A sudden cracking sound to her left had Ariella's head snapping in that direction as she gasped in a sharp breath of air.
"What Ella? Do sounds of the forest frighten you so?" her older sister Annita asked in a mocking tone. It wasn't the sounds that frightened her, it was that there were no sounds. She had been in the forest hundreds of times with her sister throughout their childhood, but never this far, and never had it been this quiet.
"Of course not Annita, don't be silly. I was merely startled. The woods are so quiet today".
"Stop being a child Ella, we must find the Shaman and get back to the castle before father and mother decide we've been gone too long and launch a search party after us".
"If he even exists..." Ariella muttered under her breath.
"My lady," said Megan Theros, Annita and Ariella's handmade and childhood friend, "we should consider returning to the castle now. We've been searching for the Shaman all day, even deeper into the forest than any of us have ever been. How do we know we aren't already lost? Your father, Lord Lexa, will be furious if we return late and he finds out where we've been."
"Oh not you too Megan," said Annita exasperatedly. "Sometimes I could swear I spend my days surrounded by children instead of proper ladies.
In truth, they were only little more than children. Ariella and Megan being of age at thirteen with Annita being only two years their elder. "Remind me why were are trying to find this 'Shaman', who we're not even certain is a real person, again Annita?" Asked Ariella with every bit of frustration and annoyance she could muster in her voice. She was ready to be home and out of this unnatural heat.
"So he can look into my future and confirm that I will one day marry the prince of Arendelle and become queen, like I've repeated to you several times already". Replied her older sister.
"Annita, your marriage has already been arranged. Everyone already knows that you will marry Prince Richard when he comes of age next year. This is foolish, I'm going home."
As she pulled on the reigns of her horse to turn back in the direction they had been coming, suddenly her horse pulled up short. Directly in the path they had come down was campfire that had not been there before. Sitting next to it was a thin man with long flowing black hair, dressed in worn hunting leathers and a large cloak of white wolf fur, who was also previously absent from the road.
"I...I'm sorry sir," stuttered a very startled and confused Ariella. "I must not have seen you there before." Oh my, I suppose he is real after all. That or this heat has me hallucinating.
"I am surprised that you did not." answered the stranger in a soft voice that surprisingly carried behind it the weight of command that could have led legions. "I am the one you and your companions seek."
"Good day sir," interjected Annita. Is she's feigning this confidence or is she truly arrogant enough not to fear this man, thought Ariella. "I am the Lady Annita Lexa, daughter of Lord Frederick Lexa, the Lord of Rhon. This is my sister, the Lady Ariella," she said gesturing to the younger girl, "and our handmaid, Megan Theros," gesturing also to the handmaid.
The stranger stood and bowed low. He was much taller than Airella initially thought when he was sitting down. "May I presume that you are the one called the Shaman?" finished Annita.
"No presumption is necessary, my lady. I have already told you that I am the one you have been looking for. May I ask why you have come seeking me?"
"I require your knowledge, Shaman. I want you to use your magic to look into my future and tell me what it holds," replied Annita smartly.
A knowing grin began to creep across the lips the Shaman. "My Lady, have none of your instructors educated you to the fact that magic no longer exists in this world?"
"Of course I've heard this. However a moment ago we were all alone in these woods and yet, as if out of thin air, here you stand before us now." Shot back an impatient Annita.
Raising his hands and patting the air in defeat, and now with a full smile on his face the Shaman said, "You are much too clever for me Lady Annita."
Ariella sat there, fear growing inside her as she silenty took in the whole scene. His tone is light and but the longer this draws on the more frightened I become. We need to leave this place and this man.
Then she noticed something that she had not before. That fire is extremely hot for a flame so small. It felt almost as if the entire warmth of the air surrounding her was coming from this one small campfire.
A nervous bead of sweat rolled down her spine as she looked up from her trance.
"Sir, if you please, I did not come all this way to play games. Now, reveal to me my future. And hold nothing back, I wish to know it all," Annita commanded.
The Shaman's gaze shifted from Ariella's sister to her, and as their eyes locked she completed her plunge into a full panic. The playful smile he once wore vanished instantly from his face and time stopped for Ariella. At that moment all there was in her entire world were his two piercing grey eyes, and they were penetrating her to a depth she had never even known existed. She felt a connection to him then that she would have given anything to sever. A connection that left her without a doubt that he now knew something about her that not even she was aware of.
But then, as quickly as it had begun, the Shaman broke his gaze from hers and returned his attention to her sister. Ariella was left feeling violated, confused and worn. her heart racing as she gasped for air. I didn't even know I hadn't been breathing. What did he just do to me?
"I must warn you, my lady, knowledge of the future can be an extremely dangerous thing," said the Shaman, his tone much more urgent now but somehow no less powerful.
"I'll not say it again old man, tell me what my future holds," all courtesy left Annita as she reached the end of her patience.
The Shaman looked behind him to his deceptively small fire, and Ariella witnessed one single tear roll quickly down his gaunt cheek and disappear into the back of his hand as he wiped it away from his face. He turned back to Annita. Where only moments ago a smile had spread across his face, now only a look of grave concern existed. He uttered one soft, slow word. "Death."
The tension in the air was palpable. With a nervous laugh, Annita said, "well of course death, you old man. All men die. I want to know about the happenings in-between." Though it was evident to Ariella, by the look on her sister's now pale-white face that she understood the Shaman meant there were going to be no 'happenings in-between'.
In an effort to lighten the atmosphere and draw everyone's attention away from her predicted imminent demise, Annita continued. "Very well then. What have you to say of my sister Ariella? Are you going to tell her that she is going to die as well?"
"Eventually yes. As you say, all men must," replied the Shaman.
He turned once again from sister to sister. "However, Ariella, when the time comes for you to bear your first child, magic will in three ways re-enter this world. The first will be through your first-born. After that, by one who receives an inheritance. Finally, following both of the others, a visitor to your own home."
Ariella sat there, her mind racing so fast she could hardly even stop to close her mouth once she realized it was gaping open. My first-born? One who receives an inheritance? A visitor? Who are these people and how am I supposed to recognize them? Beyond that, what am I supposed to do once I have recognized them?
The Shaman interjected into her thoughts with a sympathetic and soothing voice that immediately caught her attention and calmed her. "Child, I don't expect you to understand right now. All that I want you to remember is that when your first child is born, and this world once again bears witness to a power not seen in ages, you must raise it deliberatley. Teaching it love rather than fear."
Still unable to speak or fully comprehend the words being spoken to her, Ariella just nodded her head.
"I'm going to die but Ella gets magical children?" scoffed Anitta. "Perhaps we were wrong about your power after all. Ella, Megan, come. It is passed time we returned to the castle."
Ariella's gaze stayed locked with the Shaman's for a quick moment more before turning her eyes toward the ground and muttering a quick "thank you." She hurried her horse to catch up with Megan and her Anitta, feeling infinitely lost and confused.
The three rode back to Castle Rhon in complete silence.
I understand the need for the steps, but did there have to be this many of them?
The stone steps leading up to her family's burial garden had never bothered her before but being eight months pregnant certainly made the climb particularly arduous this time.
Usually Ariella used the time she spent climbing the large steps in self-reflection and reverie of her beloved parents and sister who had been taken from her too soon by the plague that swept the land seven years prior. This time, though, it was all she could do just to keep her breath.
Finally she reached the garden and approached the three monuments that marked the resting places of her parents and sister. The sadness and pain of loss she felt all those years ago began to well up inside her once more as she lit the candles on each monument. When it came time for her to lay the flowers at the feet of each of the large, ornately carved stones, tears began to slowly trickle from her beautiful blue eyes. Remembering hurt, but every year it hurt just a little less. She continued to hold on to the good memories she had of fishing with her father in Castle Rohn's courtyard pond, knitting and sewing with her mother over warm cups of spiced tea, and playing in the forest with her sister and Megan, even if her sister had been a slightly self-absorbed and pretentious as she got older.
And of course she could never forget how thankful she was that her husband, the now King Richard Vangrath of Arendelle, was not one of those poor souls claimed by the plague. Even though the arranged betrothal had fallen to her after the passing of her sister and parents, she had come to love her Richard as she had never loved anyone else before in her life.
A voice from be behind brought her back from her pensive state. "Your Grace, you're like to catch cold if you out here much longer," said Maggie the groundskeeper as she handed the queen a steaming cup of tea, which Ariella excitedly accepted after brushing a brunette lock of hair from her face.
The physical exertion of her ascent had warmed her so much that she hadn't noticed the cold when she reached the garden, but now as that warmth quickly escaped her body even through her multiple layers, she was thankful for the hot drink.
"Thank you, Maggie" said Ariella as she took the first sip of warm tea.
"My my Your Grace," said the older women, noting the size of the queen's stomach, "you and the King certainly don't like to waste time do ya now? Why, the wedding was but nine months ago, and already you look to be about seven months along."
"Eight," Ariella corrected with a smile.
She was unspeakably excited about the birth of her and King Richard's child in but one short month. Though every time she thought about she still remembered that day in the forest. "Magic will enter this world again through your first-born child," the Shaman had said. "You must raise it deliberately teaching it love rather than fear." But who is the inheritor? And who is the visitor?
Ariella shook herself away from her thoughts just in time to hear the groundskeeper ask her, "If I may be so bold Your Grace, what will you be naming the child?"
The Queen replied, "If it is a boy it will be named for my father, Frederick. If it is a girl we will name her for my mother..." before she could continue, Ariella had to take a pause to choke back the welling tears.
With the sadness being stricken away by the promise of a new family, she was able to return a genuine smile to her beautiful features and finish, "Elsa."
A/N
I want to genuinely thank you for taking the time to read the first installment into my first ever story. I truly hope you've enjoyed the prologue and I absolutely CAN NOT wait to delve right into this story with you. I'm going to do my best to keep chapters coming at least weekly, but I make no promises. I'd love to hear your thoughts and constructive criticisms for each chapter, so please feel encouraged to review. Til next time - TUS