Disclaimer: I do not own the Frozen characters. But all the characters that are not from Frozen are ones I made up.
This story is inspired by my adorable, smart, sassy, bilingual, awesomly unique niece.
A snowflake landed on a carpet. This snowflake had the most intricate design, as if it were magical. That's because it was a magical snowflake, and it came from no other than the Snow Queen of Arendelle. More snowflakes landed around that first snowflake, creating a floor flecked with white snow.
Until recent events, the snow created by the Queen was usually not a bad sign. At least she fought more bravely against her negative emotions this time.
"Don't let fear win! Don't let fear win!" she drilled into her mind. But the more she told herself this, the more she feared fear would win. The situation is getting worse, and my powers can't do anything to help!
She walked to the window and looked at her kingdom as the people slept. No, pardon me, they should have been sleeping, but many of them were most definitely up and unable to gain any peace of mind, like herself. What made her most upset was that, even Olaf was gone. Who would be next? Sven? Kristoff, Or worse, Anna and her unborn child? The thought of her worrying more about her family made her feel disappointed in her selfishness, which caused the snowflakes to blow more depressingly.
That's when a happy thought burst into her mind and she quickly snatche dit so she could regain a positive attitude. Olfaf can't die, right? I can always resurrect him since he is my creation. Thinking about Olaf did make her feel better.
In the beginning Elsa loved Olaf mainly because he was the symbol of her childhood when she and Anna were happy. As she got to know Olaf, she realized that he was the embodiment of everything good in their childhood. He was innocent, silly, foolish yet teachable, compassionate, and lovable. That's why children loved him so much. When he loved, it was even more pure than a child's love, which is definitely a high standard.
If Olaf was wherever the poor children were, if they were all even in the same place, she could hope. And hope did fill her heart. Perhaps it would be the lovable snowman who saved the day this time.
Kay ran into her room, slamming the door behind her and reminding herself that there was still hope. She franticaly searched her room, tossing her books aside, flinging clothes from the pile of unwashed clothes, and flinging the clean clothes from her closet. There in the back of it, she found it; her money stash in a sack. She knew there wouldn't be enough for a fourney of four to Arendelle.
Not wanting her parents or her younger brother to hear, she poured the money out on her bed. She began counting the money and slammed her fist on the bed every time she lost count. This isn't the time to lose count! Why do I suck at using numbers! Finally, she organized the money in groups so that she could easily find what the total amount was.
Her heart sank.
There wasn't even enough for one person to travel to Arendelle. Not even on the slowest ship. Even though it was only a sea and a few fjords away, it would take her far too long to get to Arendelle on a regular ship. Three days! That's what her mother planned, but Kay couldn't wait that long.
The fastest ship, which was called the Surprise, was owned by the famous Captain Sinister, a merchant who had traveled to numerous places. If she an eighteen-year-old girl, offered this pathetic amount of money, the crew would no doubt make crude offers and mock her. The captain was not knwon to be sinister as his name implied, although Kay guessed that his grandfather was actually a pirate, but what harm could come to him by taking advantage of an odinary girl anyway.
There was one thing she could use as payment. One special gift. She pulled out the large clay pot that had a cloth wrapped around it, and undid the cloth to reveal what was in it: a golden swan. It was as if her grandpa had known she would need it on this day. This swan (it was not living) would be the perfect payment. Any pirate-no, any person would want it. And no one could steal it from her.
With a hopeful smile spreading across her face, she picked it up and wrapped the cloth around it. Her mother was in her bedroom packing, making it easy for Kay to slip away unnoticed. She almost slipped on her dark blue clogs, but stopped herself. She often wore her clogs when she went into town. Having that extra weight on her feet would be dangerous if the ship went down. Not that she couldn't kick them off when that happened. After five seconds of debating in her mind, she put on her soft black shoes. They would make less noise while walking.
She found her rusty bicycle and strapped her bag of money, a dress, food, and water onto the carrier. As she held the swan in her left arm, she used her right hand to hold onto the handlebars of the bicycle and wobbled as she sped away. With all the strength she could muster, she peddled as fast as she could across the cobble stones and gravel roads. If she slowed down, it would take her forever to get to the sea. It would take at least a day to bike to the sea, but she biked with all the speed she had in her.
Fortunately, the clouds covered the sun so that it wasn't beating down on her. But that didn't stop her lungs from rebelling against her as she grew exhausted. She had never biked for so long, especially with a twenty pound statue of solid gold in one arm. Along with those problems, her butt was sore from sitting on the bike seat for so long. She had to stop or she would faint from exhaustion.
After drinking some water and allowing her legs to rest, she thought about her niece again-sweet Adelaide-and quickly got back on the bicycle again. She had to try and reach the sea before dark.
With renewed determination, she continued her journey. But she wasn't a strong heroine and she needed to rest two more times. The tire on her rear wheel was becoming flatter. There was a good chance her bike would break down before she got there. Kay could barely see in the dark when she saw the lights coming from the ships and the docs. Now she just had to find Captain Sinister and his ship. She stepped off of her bicycle and grabbed her bag of belongings before she let it fall into the bushes.
"Farewell my rusty friend. May your next owner be kinder to you," she sighed dramatically. She snapped back into focus and hugged the swan close.
When she came to the docs, she recognized the Surprise and saw that some of the crew was still working aboard the ship. The rest was with Captain Sinister who was probably doing his ordinary business with other wealthy people. She decided to head for the ship and stepped onto the gangplank, when someone yelled at her. She looked up in shock and fear.
"Hey!" he shouted as he came towards her. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked with a grave frown on his face. ONly the slightest fear beat in her heart so she easily stood firm.
To her surprise he was only angry with her and expected her to leave. She guessed he was the boatswain since he was not with the captan and was carrying tools instead of a sword or the clothes that displayed an important rank.
"I need to speak to the captain," she explained in her usual soft voice.
"Then go find him! Don't come sneaking around here. Now get lost!" he barked.
"Sir, this is the fastest ship in the world and I need to get to Arendelle in the fastest means possible, " she insisted, though not in a louder voice than before. "I have payment."
She removed some of the cloth to show the swan's head. The boatswain didn't even open his mouth in surprise.
"You can't fool me. Get out of here," he demanded in a low voice.
But as he touched her arm to grab it, he was flung six feet away, which unfortunately for him was no longer on solid ground. He coughed and sputtered in the water, but his anger had left him with awe instead.
"You actually have it," he gasped after he climbed out of the water again.
"This might come to belong to your captain if you bring me to him, or if he comes here," she explained more confidently now that he was not agnry with her.
Captain Sinister.
He was younger than Kay always imagined, so she thought, maybe his grandfather was not a pirate. Maybe his great-grandfather was a pirate. Anyway, he wore a stylish black hat with black feathers off to the side, and he had mustache and goatee.
"Cap-" Kay began shyly.
"Who are you?" he interrupted. She was intimidated, but then again, she was intimidated by just about anyone.
"I'm Kay. My father's name is Petrus." In her opnion, it was best not to give out too much information, so she brought up her main issue, "I have to get to Arendelle-"
"Arendelle is in the opposite direction of my next destination. Why would we go out of the way for you?" But she had to get to Arendelle!
Normally, she would have apolgized and walked away. Instead, she took a quick breat and spoke:
"You don't want a swan of solid gold?" And she held her breat for being so blunt with someone of his status. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, she added: "I also have money. Only eighty, but I figured the swan makes up for that." She revealed more of the swan, but kept it close to her.
For one of the crewmembers it was love at first sight-not with Kay, the pure gold is what captured his attention. He reached out to touch it and as soon as he did, he was flung backwards just as the boatswain had been.
The Captain grinned.
"Welcome aboard!" he exclaimed warmly. "We will gladly take you to Arendelle in exchange for the swan. the money is yours to keep." He extended a hand, but Kay stood shocked for a moment. She was shocked at his sudden welcoming attitude, as if he had only been waiting for a sign that the swan was real.
"Wow! That's-"
"Wait!" the fallen crewmember said as he stood up and shook off the embarrassment. "How do we know she'll give it to us when we reach Arendelle?" The other two crewmembers with them nodded in agreement.
"That swan can only protect her. Not anyone else. She'll give it to us like she promised, otherwise someone will end up in prison," the Captain said it lightly, but Kay could sense the threat in that. She was a bit surprised at how ordinary and business-like the threat was, and felt guilty for thinking he might do something more sinister.
She had never even heard of anyone who did business with the Captain being murdered or severly harmed afterwards. Kay had judged this man as a crook, but she was thankful her bad judgement hadn't gotten in the way.
It was late, and Kay was exhausted, but she wouldn't sleep. She couldn't. Not while she had to focus on her whole reason for going to Arendelle. Kay's parents had received a leter from her older brother Jorgen and his wife Brenda. Adelaide was missing. She forgot what else the letter said, but she felt she had to do something. Now that she was on the fastest ship to Arendelle, she had no idea what she would even do. How can I even help, she wondered. If Adelaide was still missing, she didn't know how her being there would help.
Her eyelids were growing heavy, but she forced herself to stay awake. She had to focus on a plan. When she got there, she planned on doing some digging and immediately searching for her niece.
Sweet adelaide. Memories of her began to fill Kay's mind. Why does our family have to be split up like this?" she thought, or at least, why does she have to live so far away.
A fond memory came to mind. All the children in Arendelle adored Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, but Kay didn't think anyone adored them more than Adelaide. The morning after Anna and Kristoff's wedding, the whole family was having breakfast, and Kay's sister, Talisha, had been talking to Adelaide about Queen Elsa.
"Adelaide, are you a princess?" Talisha asked her, to which she of course nodded.
"Good morning, Princess Adelaide," Martin, Adelaide's young uncle, smiled cheerfully.
"No, it's Princess Adelaide Elsa and Anna," she corrected in her adorable two-year-old voice. Princess Adelaide Elsa and Anna. That was what they called her sometimes.
Well this princess certainly became a sassy princess. Kay was trying to explain something about the fjord but wasn't sure how to explain it to a two-year-old. As she was babbling on, Adelaide suddenly interrupted.
"Are you talking to me?" she asked as if she had gotten bored of what Kay was saying and suddenly realized she was still talking.
Everyone has had weird fears when they were babies or toddlers. Adelaide had a fear of being in water. And so she didn't like to bathe. Jorgen had already told her a few times that she should take a bath one night. When Talisha tried to encourage her to do so, Adelaide became exasperated.
"No! I'm not that dirty," she defended herself.
But she was also sensitive and kind like a princess. A cousin was at Kay's house one evening, and Adelaide asked where her daughter was.
"Hilde isn't feeling very well."
"Oh. Hilde is sick?" Our cousin didn't have to explain it in simple terms to Adelaide. At two years old she was able to speak fairly celar and understand things that most children at her age had difficulty understanding.
Suddenly, Kay was pulled out of her daydream when the boatswain came below deck. At first she thought he came down to speak to her about someting important, but he simply came down to get some more supplies.
"Excuse me, Sir," she began shyly, not entirely sure why she wanted to talk to him. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Besides the question you already asked? Go ahead," he smiled gently, and she couldn't help but laugh softly. Anyone could make her laugh, even when she was sad.
"Have you heard about what's been going on in Arendelle?" She fidgeted with my hands, which wasn't always because of my shyness, but in this case it was.
The boatswain's smile flipped upside down to form another one of his grave frowns.
"That's why you want to go to Arendelle. Was a child in your family abducted?"
"My niece," Kay answered, almost too softly. "She is the only person in my family who I truly miss. It hurts to be far away from her. For some reason it's not as hard with anyone else in my family. Now she's in danger and I'm so scared for her."
"I'm very sorry," he replied with compassion. "As a young father who is often away, I understand your sadness. And I miss two people that much. I don't like being away from my wife and daughter so often. I can imagine the fear your niece's parents must feel."
"How old is your daughter?" Kay asked thoughtfully.
"She is five," he answered.
"My niece is three. And she's too smart for her own good," She smiled at her memory before feeling her heart sink again. When she returned her gaze to the young father, she was surprised by his expression.
"I just realized something. Jacobus! There is a smal chance he can help. He only joined Captain Sinister's crew last week. Before then, he worked on a different ship."
The young father took Kay to this Jacobus. Jacobus was the Captain's most trusted crewmember, especially since they had been as close as brothers before.
"Jacobus, may we speak to you?" the young father asked a man who was writing something at a desk. There were a few open notebooks on the desk, but they were not sprawled notebooks all over the surface as the case would have been for Kay or even the Captain. None of the notebooks covered another one. This way he could look at them without having to close other notebooks and move them around.
"Speak," he instructed without turning his head from the book he was writing in.
"During your previous occupation, you occasionally sailed to Arendelle, right?" the young father asked for confirmation.
"Yes. It's ironic that I have to be dragged back there. Luckily, this time I don't have to set foot in Arendelle," he muttered, unable to focus on his work like he was pretending to.
Kay knew they were not dropping her off at the main port. It would be a two hour walk to the center of ARendelle, but the Captain had said there were some in his crew who did not want anything to do with that kingdom anymore. So you're the reason, I thought to myself with no angry feelings towards him.
"You don't even have to ask me your next question. The reason I hate Arendelle, is because I fear someone there." Jacobus turned to me. "These are dangerous times for even the Snow Queen herself."
I didn't have to ask my next question either. The story goes, that he received a letter on an ordinary day. It was sent from an old friend, but the friend also attatched another letter to it. A very serious letter in which the friend was being threatened by the perseon he discovered was the murderer he was searching for. The murderer even admitted to it, but he threatened the friend with magic.
Jacobus decided to do the brave thing and send the message to the famous Snow Queen. Surely, she could handle magic. But then the consequence of going against the murderer's threats happened. As soon as he stepped off the gangplank, he began to choke. His men had to carry him back onto the ship where he regained his normal breath. That's when he saw, in the water, an image of a person putting a finger to its lips. Ever since, Jacobus wanted to remain far from Arendelle, both out of fear and out of guilt for not being able to help his friend.
"Wait. I'm confused," Kay interrupted, the exhaustion evident in her voice. "so this friend saw a murder happen. How did he end up seeing the murder happen? Was the murderer stupid?" Jacobus blinked at her.
"The girl is half asleep," he remarked to the young father. "You weren't listening, child. I explained in my story that my friend was searching for this murderer because that was his job. He found the murderer, but of course the murderer cursed him so that he wouldn't tell anyone. But since my friend really wanted the murdered victim to receive some kind of justice, he begged me to help. What do I do? I foolishly think the threat only works on the person threatened, but no. Anyone with the intention of telling anyone important about this cannot step foot into Arendelle without choking."
At first, the young father thought the magical dead swan might protect Kay, and Kay wondered as well.
"What does the dead swan do?" he asked in a tone that said he already knew.
"It prevents people from hurting me physically," I answered uncertainly.
"Does it prevent you from hurting yourself when you fall or touch something you shouldn't?"
Now Kay understood, even though the exhaustion was making it difficult for her to keep thinking straight. Magic could harm her if it was "touching" her, but is she was "touching" it, that meant it would not protect her.
So all this information you gave me is useless? she wondered, but didn't dare speak the though aloud. It doesn't even have anything to do with the kid-
"You're saying that the murderer is the kidnapper?"
Instead of answering her question, he asked Kay one: "How many of the Queen's enemies do you know of who tried to attack her?"
"All of them," she answered before trying to hide a yawn. I know the royal family and their crazy stories very well, she thought a little too proudly.
"Good," Jacobus smiled, but it seemed like a forced smile. "Then here's who the muderer is: H-" He began to choke and panicked. At first Kay could only make out coughing. He was trying to shout: "Hai!"
That was all she needed. Hai! The murderer was Hai. He had returned to Arendelle,and apparently with the strong magic that he got from his far away travels. Suddenly, I realized that the young father was panicking, for Jacobus was lying on the floor. The deep redness of his face was beginning to disappear.
"He's dead," the young father affirmed softly. "He knew this would happen if he spoke the name." He sprang to his feet. "You need to lead the Queen, make sure she finds out that an enemy is in Arendelle, make her see for herself that he is the murderer, and you need to take the swan with you for protection against the murderer."
"Oh, but I can't," Kay tried to say forcefully, not timidly. "I promised-"
"Yes, I know. So promise to pay him back the swan in the future, after this conflict is solved," he explained.
And so Kay was provided with a plan. A plan she felt insecure about. But since she loved her niece so much, and since she trusted Queen Elsa so much, she was not going to let that stop her or even slow her down.
The Captain mourned bitterly for his friend, but agreed to the plan he had set in motion. He also decided to drop her off at the main port in the morning, so that Elsa would have no reason to be suspcious of her. Before she alighted the ship, she realized something.
"I am so sorry!" she said to the young father. How embarrassing! I never asked for your name. What is your name?" Even so, he gave me a warm smile.
"My name is Tijmen."
"Thank you for all your help, Tijmen," I replied sincerely, still never having lost the quietness of my voice.
Elsa stared out the window into the darkness yet again. Things were not going well. She had not been able to find Olaf. No one could find Olaf. No one could find a trace of the children, not even the smartest people. They had found too many clues that led to dead ends.
The stress was affecting her emotions negatively.
A knock sounded on the door, and a guard entered the room.
"Kristoff has returned from his search in the woods," he informed, then added with a sigh, "He found no trace of them." Elsa let out a frustrated breath and held her head in her hands.
"How can I possibly stop this conflict from getting worse? How can I stop it when I can't locate where the root of the conlict is?"
"I'm sorry, I have helpful advice for you." He added, "I'm sorry this is so terribly stressful for you."
"Thank you." But a new question came up. "Is Anna still asleep?"
For a moment his eyes wondered where her intelligence went, but this was soon replaced with a guilty glance before he answered.
"She is, Your Majesty. Although, she is also becoming more restless with concern for those children and this conflict."
Elsa's thoughts turned to her unborn nephew or niece. She was both excited and afraid. To the guard's shock, Elsa unexpectedly created another snowman, almost identical to Marshmallow.
"Guard the back of the castle," she ordered the new bodyguard. No one would lay a finger on Anna or her unborn child. She was determined to keep her family safe.
I hope you enjoyed reading this story.
So the golden swan is an idea that I got from Efteling which is a Dutch organization that is all about fairy-tales and folk tales, things like that. And I tried figuring out where they got it from, but there are so many different versions that I couldn't figure it out. But Efteling has their version of The Golden Swan where whenever they touch the swan they get stuck to it and each other, and that's the one mine is based off of. There will be more about this dead swan coming up.
I prefer writing original stories, but I wanted to try out fanfiction, so please leave reviews.