Elsa looked behind her for what must have been the twentieth time; still there was no one following. She guided her horse through back passageways, from the palace stables to the city walls. Outside, after one more look back, the princess finally breathed easily. She nudged her horse into a trot, and allowed herself a smile.
She hated to disobey and knew she was taking a great risk, but Elsa could not let pass a chance for her first breath of fresh air since before the winter snows. She agreed to confine herself to her room, to protect the kingdom from her magic. But no sixteen-year-old girl, even one as naturally solitary and cautious as Elsa, could be cooped up for very long.
She had taken every precaution, covering every inch of herself—except for her face, which was less than comfortable on a midsummer night. Out of the town and in the countryside she could relax, and at the midnight hour, she was unlikely to meet anything that would startle her into showing her true nature.
Once she entered the forest, she dismounted and loosely tethered the horse. Elsa listened for predators, but heard only crickets and the occasional owl. She was not so far into the woods that she needed the lantern, but she was glad to have brought one all the same. Leaving the horse to nibble at grasses and brush, Elsa strolled around and gulped hungrily at the air. She stretched her limbs and came out of the trees to the top of a slope overlooking Arendelle.
The palace loomed large and dark, with hardly any light at all in the windows. Elsa hoped that Anna was sleeping peacefully tonight.
"I wish you could be here, too," she whispered.
Her throat closed with unshed tears as she thought of her little sister, her pleas for attention, and her mistaken belief that Elsa wanted to keep her out of her life. Elsa could not count how many times she came close to revealing the truth, to telling Anna about the magic and the accident that prompted Elsa's seclusion. She couldn't; it would undo everything.
Elsa turned away from the view, her fingers itching in their gloves. Although she resented her powers, she was fiercely tempted now to remove one of those gloves—just one—and practice controlling them. But her bedroom in the palace was a cave of ice and snow already, after years of trying to suppress it all. There was no telling what might happen here if she uncovered so much as a finger.
The horse whinnied in alarm. Elsa hurried toward it, expecting to find a pack of wolves. The horse was rearing up, eyes wild, pawing at something with its front hooves. Elsa rushed forward to calm the animal down. She grabbed at the reins, dropping a glove in the process.
"Easy, boy!" she said, finally grasping the bridle with her covered hand. "Come now…there's nothing there." The horse snorted and danced, still agitated. "…Is there?"
Elsa looked in the direction of the steed's frantic gaze and gasped. A young man, dark-haired and darkly dressed, was standing among the foliage. He seemed amused.
"I seem to have startled your horse," he said, stepping out of the shadows.
At a better sight of him, however, the horse neighed loudly and reared up again, almost dislocating Elsa's arm.
"Don't you dare come closer!" Elsa shouted.
She made a sweeping motion with her uncovered hand, sending a jet of bright blue ice shooting toward the stranger. Almost quicker than she could see, he deflected the attack, and the ice struck a tree instead. The tree instantly froze from its roots to its topmost branches.
Elsa herself almost froze. She had never seen anyone—or anything—that could resist her magic. The very idea was terrifying. She grabbed at the saddle to mount the horse and flee, but the animal bucked her off, sending her sprawling into a bush. With one last whinny of terror, the horse turned and galloped out of the woods, back toward the palace.
The man was coming toward her. Elsa scrambled to her feet, but she was not fast enough. She shot out several more blasts of ice, one of them forming a wall, but he deflected or dissolved them almost instantly. Afraid of using her powers any more, Elsa turned to run in the same direction as the horse, but the stranger caught her by the wrist of her uncovered hand.
"Calm down, girl! I'm not going to hurt you!"
His grip was strong—and cold. Gasping for breath, Elsa twisted around to face him. As frightened as she was, she noticed that her magical energy was subsiding, as though this man's touch neutralized it somehow. Clearly his magic—for what else could it be?—was stronger than hers.
"Let me go," she said, her voice trembling.
"Tell me who you are," the stranger said.
"You dare ask who I am? After you try to steal my horse and then capture me?"
He chuckled. "Perhaps you have a point there. I had no intention of stealing that fine steed of yours. Even if I had, I expected to see arrows and swords before…" He looked down at her hand, turning it over to see the palm. Elsa responded by clenching her fist, and he chuckled again.
"Release me," Elsa said.
"But you might try to escape again. And you have not yet told me who you are."
"How do I know you won't hurt me?"
"If I wished harm upon you, don't you think I'd have done it by now?"
It made sense, but it did not make Elsa feel any better. "I didn't hurt you," she said. "You blocked me every time."
"It takes much more than cold water to harm me," he said. "I have a little experience with magic myself, though I had not expected to find it in Midgard."
"Midgard?" Elsa asked. "This is Arendelle."
"Which is in the realm of Midgard," he said. "Excellent. I was not steered wrong after all. And now, lady of Midgard, I must once again ask who you are."
She sighed, seeing no other option. "Elsa," she answered, thinking it may be safer to conceal her title.
To her complete surprise, the man smiled. Elsa could not help but think it a rather attractive smile—one that lit up a face that was otherwise pale and daunting, with a thin mouth, sharp cheekbones, and a cunning pair of eyes.
To her further surprise, he let go of her hand, took a step back, and made a courtly bow.
"I am Loki, of Asgard—the realm of the gods—and I am pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Asgard? The gods?" Elsa repeated. "You can't be serious."
He did not answer her in words. Instead, he stood up straight and pressed his hands together—one palm facing up, the other facing the ground. He drew them apart, slowly, and a kind of mist appeared between his hands. It became a bubble that grew as he brought his hands further apart, until it was the circumference of a large serving platter. Elsa held her breath as she watched. This was magic, certainly, and a kind she had never seen.
Then she realized that it was not just a hollow bubble, but like an enormous crystal ball. Inside it, she saw images of mountains, rivers, buildings, and a golden palace of many towers.
"That is Asgard," Loki said, "where my father Odin reigns as king."
"You're a prince?" Elsa asked. "Do they know you have magic?"
"I am, and they do. Magic is a way of life in Asgard." Elsa frowned and looked down at the ground thoughtfully. He cocked his head slightly and waved his hands, making the bubble disappear. "But here, I imagine, it is not so widely known."
Elsa grimaced slightly as she looked back up at him. "My father is the king of Arendelle," she confessed. Loki raised his eyebrows, but considering the quality of Elsa's clothing and her horse, her heritage was hardly surprising. "I have to hide my powers from the kingdom," she went on. "I'm not even supposed to be out here—I should be in my room at the palace."
Now it was Loki who frowned. "Why should a member of the royal family be compelled to hide her power?" He seemed personally affronted by the idea.
"My sister," Elsa said. "I'm the only one in our family who has magic, and she doesn't know…" Elsa smiled, remembering. "When we were little, Anna and I would build snowmen and go sledding and have snowball fights—all in the palace ballroom. She'd wake me up and wouldn't let me go back to sleep until I'd make it snow for her.
"But something went wrong. I lost control, and Anna got hurt. The trolls in the forest healed her, but they also erased her memories of magic. And now I have to protect her, and learn to control…this." She held up her clenched fist. "I'm supposed to be queen someday, but everything I touch gets hurt."
Loki looked over his shoulder at the frozen tree. "So I see," he said wryly.
She dropped her arm. "I don't know why I'm telling you all this."
"Your secret is safe with me," he said. "I have no one in this realm to tell secrets to."
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Elsa asked.
Loki shrugged. "I like to explore other realms. My whereabouts are of less interest to my family."
"Then you're lucky," Elsa said.
"But I am not destined for a throne," Loki added. "That privilege will go to my brother, Thor. No doubt there'd be a greater fuss if he wandered off."
"Then you're really lucky," Elsa said. "Unless you wanted to be king."
"If Thor were better prepared for rule, I would care even less. Princes have more fun than kings, after all." Loki flashed another grin.
"And more than princesses," Elsa said. "At least in Arendelle. Poor Anna—she should be having more fun than she is now. Balls and banquets and dancing lessons and things. But she has to be locked up too, just to be safe. All because of me."
Loki turned away without a word. Elsa's shoulders slumped. The first new person she'd spoken to in years, and she managed to put him off with her self-pity and angst. But he only picked up her discarded glove and brought it back.
"Can't have any accidents now, can we?" he asked, handing it to her.
"Thanks," Elsa said. She pulled it back on. "Too bad I can't get the horse back just as easily. If he gets back to the palace stables, he's sure to give me away."
Loki responded by wiggling the fingers of one hand, creating a small, shimmering cloud. With a gesture, he threw it forward. Elsa watched it speed away, toward where the horse had fled.
"What's it like?" she asked, almost breathless. "To be so free, to not worry about what everyone thinks of your magic?"
"I never thought about it until now," Loki said. "Controlling it took a great deal of time and practice. My mother taught me much of it. A shame you have no one to teach you to hone your powers, but Midgard is hardly famous for its magic forces."
"I don't want to hone them," Elsa said. "I want to be rid of them! I wish I could wake up and it's all been a bad dream."
"Do not speak so," Loki said. "You have a great gift. It is the realm that is unworthy of it—not you."
"I didn't ask for this," Elsa said.
"Yes, I'm afraid that is how Fate works," Loki replied. "If I were honest, I would say that I did not ask to be the second son, and denied the throne of Asgard. But Fate deals everyone a few bad cards, and these appear to be ours."
Elsa was trying to think of a response when she heard a soft whinny and heard hoofbeats.
"My horse!" she gasped. The animal trotted into view, led by the shining cloud. Loki held up a hand and absorbed the cloud back into his palm. Elsa grabbed the horse's reins, but it was calm and did not try to escape this time.
"Thank you, but…I should go back now," she said, her voice tinged with regret. "I just meant to get some fresh air."
"I imagine you got more than you bargained for," Loki said, laughing.
Elsa mounted the horse and settled into the saddle.
"I'd invite you back to the palace as our guest," she said, "since you know our great secret already. But my parents will be furious, and Anna would be sure to ask questions—"
"Do not worry about hospitality, little princess," Loki said. "I fear that I am not the ideal houseguest, even from one royal to another."
"Oh." Elsa was not sure what else to say. She liked this stranger, and was unwilling to leave his company. But she had to get back before she was discovered. "Where are you staying?"
"I will return to Asgard tonight," he said. "I think I have seen all the best that Midgard has to offer."
It took Elsa a moment to realize what he meant. She bit her lip nervously, again at a loss for words.
"I must look for another opportunity to visit Arendelle in particular," he went on, stepping closer until he stood right beside the horse. "Perhaps in your wintertime, when you will be more"—again he glanced back at the frozen tree, now thawing and dripping in the warm night air—"comfortable."
"Do try," Elsa said, trying to sound casual. "Well, Prince Loki, it's been…delightful to meet you."
He took her hand in what she thought was a friendly shake. Pinching the tips of two of her fingers, he deftly slipped the glove off her hand again. Elsa instinctively made another fist. Loki coaxed her small, pale hand until it unclenched. His eyes did not leave hers as he brought to his lips and kissed it. Elsa almost wished there was less moonlight, that he could not see her blush.
"Farewell, Princess Elsa of Arendelle," he said, giving her one last smile.