The glimmering lights of the aurora shimmered through the glass panes of the window, drawing restless sea-green eyes from the ceiling to the world beyond and a restless mind from its random wondering to thoughts of magic, thoughts of snow. With an excited giggle, the child climbed out of her bed and dropped to the floor before racing across the room to her sister's bed. Was Elsa awake too?
A quick peak showed that her sister was fast asleep.
Well, Anna knew just how to change that!
A few whispered words about snow and ice later, the two sisters were giggling and rushing downstairs to the ballroom.
As soon as they'd closed the door behind them, Anna cried, "Do the magic!"
Elsa smiled at her sister's request and summoned up a glowing ball of white energy before shooting it into the air, creating a mini snowstorm. As flurries reigned from on high, Anna let out shouts of delight and the two sisters began to play in the snow, building a snowman and skating around on magic ice, Elsa's latest trick.
The skating ended with the sisters falling into a snow bank which gave Anna the brilliant idea for a snow slide! Never able to deny her sister anything, Elsa summoned up the idea and the sisters played on it until Anna had another idea: snow jumping! She jumped from pile to pile as Elsa summoned them, each one a little higher than the last, but then Anna started to go too fast. Elsa could barely keep up! She cried out for her sister to slow down, but the child didn't listen. Desperate to keep her from falling, Elsa did her best to keep pace, but then her foot hit a patch of ice and her blast of winter magic went flying through the air. Instead of hitting the ground, it hit Anna.
The little girl tumbled from the sky and crashed to the floor. As Elsa watched in fascinated horror, streaks of her sister's auburn hair faded to snow white.
For a long moment, Elsa stared at her sister's body. No. No, this couldn't be! She couldn't have… She rushed to her sister's side and, with trembling fingers, Elsa brushed a hand across Anna's face. Ice cold. Her sister was ice cold. That could only mean one thing, her sister was dead.
Tears began to cloud her blue eyes as truth sank in. She had killed her baby sister. What kind-of monster did that? How could she have been so careless? She'd disobeyed her parents command and used her powers, now Anna was paying the price. A sob escaped her pale lips, echoing around the silent room and she realized that she couldn't stay here. What would her parents say? What if she hurt someone else? No, she had to go.
As tears streamed down pale cheeks, Elsa rushed from the room and through the twisting hallways of the castle. She had to go. She had to get out. She couldn't stay here. Not after she… Anna… What kind of monster did that?
"Your majesties! Your majesties!"
The terrified cries broke the king and queen from their slumber and brought them rushing to their bedroom door. Outside the room stood the captain of the guards, looking just as terrified as his voice had sounded.
"What is it?" asked the king as his heart began to race.
With a trembling voice, the solider spoke. "Sire, it's Anna. One of my guards heard something in the ballroom and we found her inside surrounded by, well, snow, sire. I don't know where it came from, but she's freezing and barely breathing. The palace healer is with her now, but she's not responding to him."
The rulers gasped and traded worried gazes. Snow? Elsa.
Doing the best to keep the fear from his voice, the king asked, "And what of Elsa? Was she with Anna?"
"No, my liege. Shall I have one of my men check on her?"
"Yes, please do so and report back to me. We will be in the infirmary."
The man nodded and rushed off down the hallway as the king closed the door and the royal rushed to ready themselves. Neither spoke, both too lost in worried thoughts of their young daughters.
Elsa trudged through the forest, carefully wiping her eyes on the back of her now grubby pajamas as the ground below her coated in frost. She'd been trying to stop it for hours, but she was too upset, too busy crying to control herself and so the frost spread out beneath her in a blanket of white that coated the green grass.
Given the fact that she wore no shoes, maybe the frost was a good thing. After all, it wasn't like it could hurt her. No, it could only hurt the people around her.
Fresh tears tracked down her face at the thought. Where could she possibly go? She couldn't go back to the castle. Even if her parents forgave her, there was no way Elsa could live with humans ever again. Her very existence was a danger.
She stopped walking and stared down at her hands. Why her? What had she ever done to bring this curse upon herself?
She stared up at the sky where the shimmering aurora still glowed and silently wished that the iridescent lights had never shone in the sky. If they hadn't, then Anna would still be… Would still be…
A sob escaped as her vision burred and she began to lower her gaze back to the ground, but then something caught her eye. The mountain, its snowy surface glowing faintly green in the aurora's light. A land of ice and snow where her powers could act up unnoticed. A kingdom of isolation where it wouldn't matter if they did. Yes. If there was anywhere that she could go to keep people away, it would be the mountain.
With a shuddering breath, Elsa blinked away her tears and set off towards the distance, snowy peak.
The king and queen rushed into the infirmary where the palace healer was doing his best to warm their little Anna, but when he saw them he frowned and shook his head. Nothing was working and the child was growing colder.
When the royal duo came closer to look at their daughter, they let out twin gasps of horror. Anna's once monotone hair was now swirling with white highlights. The sight confirmed their unspoken fears, there was no way their daughters chill was natural.
As the couple crowded close to their freezing daughter, the captain of the guard entered the room.
"Your majesties, I'm sorry, but there's no sign of Elsa. Given the ice and snow, I'm afraid that it is my belief that some sorcerer broke into the palace and…"
"No," the king said, cutting off the man's words mid-sentence. "This is not the work of some random mage and I know what we must do. Wrap the child in blankets to allay the chill and prepare our horses, the queen and I must seek help if we are to save our daughter."
"Sire, shall I summon an escort for you?"
"No. We must do this alone and we won't be going far."
Elsa walked for what felt like hours and the sun was rising in the sky by the time she reached the bottom of the mountain. She was exhausted, but she couldn't stop. She had to see snow before she could rest. That was the goal. She had to be where no one else could get hurt.
The king and queen raced through the forest, guided by an old map from the royal library. They knew that this was a long shot, that trolls where likely nothing more than a myth, but they had to try. No human could save their child.
When they arrived at clearing the map lead them too, the king dismounted and cried, "Help, please! Please, it's my daughter!"
From her horse where she waited, her child clutched close to her heart, the queen watched in trepidation. Would this prove a fool's errand? Eleven years ago, before Elsa's birth, she would have scoffed at the very idea of troll, but now… Now she knew that magic was no myth. If her daughter could summon ice and snow, surely trolls could be alive in the forest.
The king called out one final time and then they waited, silently begging for the legends to be true. Then the rocks began to move.
At first, they thought an earthquake was upon them, but no, the ground wasn't shaking, the rocks were moving of their own accord!
As the royals watched in fascination, the rocks tumbled down the mountain and surrounded them, staring at them with wide eyes.
These were no rocks. Trolls did exist!
After the king desperately explained what had happened, the oldest of the trolls came forward and motioned for them to bring the child to him.
With trembling hands, the queen gave her husband their daughter and he lowered her to the ground.
The elder troll ran his hand along her brow and breathed a sigh of relief. "There is magic within her, but it did not reach her heart yet. She can still be saved."
He did something with his hands and the queen almost wept with joy when she saw that her baby was breathing normally once more and that the color was returning to her cheeks. She opened her mouth to thank the troll, but the creature spoke again before either of the royals could offer their thanks.
"Where did the frost magic come from?"
The couple exchanged worried looks. They had kept the secret for so long that telling it to anyone, even this creature, seemed wrong. After a moment, though, the king answered the question. "Her sister, my eldest, Elsa. We don't know where she's gone, though."
The troll nodded, remembering the days of yore when all the rulers of Arendelle summoned ice and snow, but he did not speak of these things. The past was the past and trolls did not put much stock in yesteryear. They were a forward thinking species.
"I see. There is no way to hide what happened here, your majesties. Anna will forever bear the mark of magic in her hair and all will question how it came to be. But while Elsa's gift contains fear, there is also beauty and wonder in it. She can learn to control the gift."
Neither royal acknowledged the elder's words. Instead, they thanked him for saving their daughter and took Anna home, knowing that the old troll was right. After tonight, all of Arendelle would know of Elsa's powers for how else could they explain the markings on their princess, the disappearance of their heir, and the snow in the ballroom?
Elsa fell into the snow with a sigh of relief. She'd made it. After hours of walking she'd made it. She'd reached the edge of the snow. Her belly rumbled and the princess curled into a little ball. Food. She'd forgotten about that and she'd have to figure something out, but right now all she wanted was to sleep. She was so tired. So very, very tired.
Within minutes, the little princess was fast asleep.
If she'd stayed awake, she would've heard the soft crunch of feet walking across the snow and the gasp of surprise when the creature saw her. She would've felt the slim, but strong arms pick her up and carry her into the mountains. She would've seen kind, but worried faces looking down at her.
But she was asleep, so she heard, felt, and saw none of this until she woke up with a scream.
Little Anna slowly opened her eyes to see her mother watching over her and smiled. She'd had the most wonderful dream about Elsa playing with her and a troll kissing her. It had been so funny! She couldn't wait to tell Elsa all about it!
With a smile, the child sat up in her bed and looked around her room. The smile faded when she realized that her sister wasn't there and so she asked, "Mama, where's Elsa?"
Tears welled in the queen's eyes and she gathered her daughter into her arms. As she held the little one close she whispered, "I don't know, sweetie. No one knows."
