Frozen: A reimagining
Chapter 1
When Elsa was very young, she nearly fell in a fountain. She and her mother had been walking through the castle gardens and stopped to admire the flowers. Elsa sat back on the fountain's edge but lost balance, falling backwards. Instead of falling into the water, her hand hit something solid and cold. Looking behind her, she saw that slab of ice had formed, just a little bit bigger than her hand. Elsa looked at it with wonder, her eyes growing big. Queen Iduna gasped in shock and covered her mouth with her hands. Quickly, she grabbed Elsa's hand and pulled her into the castle. She brought Elsa to her room and instructed her to stay there and not come out until she came back. After the door closed and her mother's footsteps faded away, Elsa stood in the middle of the room, wondering if she'd done something wrong.
"Agnarr!" Iduna called as she ran into the King's study. Her husband looked up from his desk
"Iduna? What is it?" He asked with worry.
She looked around the room and saw the castle staff starring at her.
"Please, we need a moment alone," She said to them, trying her best to sound calm.
The staff politely bowed to the King and Queen and then left the room. As soon as they were gone, Agnarr rushed over to Iduna, taking her hands in his.
"Iduna dear, what is it?"
"Agnarr it's Elsa!" she exclaimed, letting her head fall to his shoulder.
"Elsa?!Is she hurt?!"
Iduna shook her head.
"No, she's alright. Agnarr, where is that book? The family heirloom?"
The Mountaintop Tome was a large and worn book. When opened it almost completely covered the entire surface of the King's desk. Agnarr had difficulty believing her at first, but he trusted his wife and knew that she would never lie to him. Together they searched through the thick pages. The book was very old, and some sections were either too faded to read or had been blatantly destroyed. Iduna spotted a small except that was still legible. They only found small fragments detailing the dangers of Elsa's powers. One part even mentioned how Arendelle once spend half a year in a devastating winter when someone possessing the powers of ice lost control.
"We can't let anyone know about this." King Agnarr said. "If our people knew, they would be terrified."
"But what can we do?" Iduna asked. Elsa would one day ascend to the throne, and she needed the people to have trust in her to rule. If her secret was ever discovered, an angry mob may storm the castle on a witch hunt. Iduna couldn't stomach the thought of her child being chased out of her own kingdom, thrown in a cell for the rest of her life, or worse. She only wanted to protect them.
The gloves finally arrived. He had the finest tailor in all of Arendelle hand make them. Each side was made of a cold resistant material, ice couldn't get in or out. As she slipped the little blue glove onto the hand of his eldest daughter, he explained their purpose.
"These gloves will help you keep the ice inside. Remember, conceal it, don't feel it."
Elsa nodded, although she did not fully understand. She liked her powers and she wanted to share them with Anna. They could have snowball fights inside and ice skate on Anna's birthday in the spring. But Elsa had never been the type to disobey. If her parents didn't want her to use her powers, she wouldn't.
The next day Elsa and Anna were playing outside, running through the garden. Elsa ran through a small puddle and looked back to call out to Anna. She watched as her little sister slipped and hit the ground, hard.
"Anna!" Elsa cried out and ran by her side.
Anna's knee had been scraped up badly. Tears started to stream down the redhead's face and Elsa saw the ice out of the corner of her eye. Looking over, she saw that the puddle she'd splashed through had frozen over. Realizing she caused Anna's injury, guilt set in her stomach.
"Anna, I'm sorry!" Elsa whispered. She was starting to tear up herself. Elsa called out until someone from the castle staff came to help. A doctor was called in to clean and dress Anna's knee, and Iduna tucked her into bed early. Anna complained that she wasn't tired but Iduna insisted that rest would make her feel better.
Iduna walked Elsa to her room and closed the door.
"Elsa," She said softly, but also seriously. "What happened today?"
"I accidently froze a puddle and Anna slipped on it." She said nervously. "Am I in trouble?"
"No Elsa, I know you would never hurt your sister. I'll talk to your father, why don't to stay in your room for the rest of the day?"
Elsa frowned but nodded. After her mother left, Elsa took off her gloves and tried to play with her dolls, but they kept icing over. Elsa was frightened. First, she hurt her sister, and now she couldn't even touch her own things without freezing them. Elsa quickly changed into her nightdress and hid under the covers, trying to ignore the thin layer of ice that collected on top of her blanket.