The royal family of Faerentown were respected and admired by their people, but few knew what went on behind those golden doors.
The king and queen had failed to produce a son, and instead had twelve daughters, the oldest of which were twins, and the youngest who had been born wrong. They'd kept her locked up in her early years, until they announced that she had been trained to behave semi-normally in the presence of others.
Her family saw that she was clearly dumb; never speaking or playing, only eating what was in front of her and staying still and watching her sisters as they uneasily tried to act like she was invisible.
When the king and queen mysteriously died the same day and the twins took over the throne, they grew suspicious of all their younger siblings.
"We should definitely get rid of the creep," said one of the twins, and just like that, their youngest sister was cast out of her unloving home with nothing but a pair of boots and a cloak on her back.
Nora hadn't done much walking in her life, but when she found herself thrust out of the castle one morning, she tried her best to make her way to something better, to some sort of freedom that had only existed in her dreams. The freedom that had existed only in the sanctuary of her thoughts where no one could see it. She didn't make it very far, however, before she collapsed from exhaustion.
Nora lay by the side of the road for a while as passerby sped past, occasionally dropping a coin or two on her. She had no concept of money, though, and felt each coin as drops of shame that she was a creature worth nothing. until a kind man with a sled halted his reindeer to ask her if she needed a lift.
Nora looked up in surprise. No one had ever directed their speech to her before. At least, not for a long, long time. She opened her mouth and spoke for the first time, "Yes, please." She got up and climbed onto his sleigh, being careful to keep a distance between them.
"Where to?" asked the man. "Far away," she said. "Far, far away."
"Well I'm going to Arendelle; is that far enough for you?"
"Yes," said Nora, having no idea what Arendelle was. "Yes it is."
"Here you go, miss," said the man, jolting Nora awake.
"Thank.. thank you," she said. Another first. She had practiced that one by herself, only dreaming that one day she'd have an opportunity to say it.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" said the man.
Nora concentrated on the shape of her tongue. "Thank you," she tried again.
"Ah, you're welcome. Have you got a place to go to here?"
Nora looked around in confusion.
"I mean, it's cold outside. I wouldn't want you to freeze. But if you haven't got anywhere, the queen is very kind here and since I know her she'd probably take you in for the night, at least."
The Queen? There was another royal family here? But the man said they were kind. What was kind? Was that what she had left behind? Her heartrate and breathing were speeding up as she began to panic that she had not escaped after all.
"Hey, are you alright? I'll take you to queen Elsa. She'll take care of you, you'll be okay. Come on, Sven." They sped off again in the snow as Nora waited to see where her path was taking her.