I am so very sorry to those who follow or read this story. I promised chapter 1 way back in June, already late. And here I am, 3 months later, just now posting it; just now finishing writing it. It's been a whirlwind of a summer. With all the traveling, sickness, celebrations and now with school starting back up, I have been busier than ever. Things just started slowing down last week, and I worked on this chapter over the weekend and today. I really wanted to have it up yesterday but obviously that didn't happen. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you thought. I am really going to try to have chapter 2 up by the end of this weekend but bear with me.


She was in a very unfamiliar place; where exactly, she couldn't tell. The view from the windows didn't help at all, as the landscape was drastically different from that of Arendelle. No fjords, no vast seas emptying into rivers, no towering peaks and hillside villages. Instead she saw dense forests and rolling farmlands. There were mountains, but much smaller than what she was used to; so much so that she almost thought them to be hills.

Wherever Elsa was, she was in a castle; more specifically, a throne room. On one of the adjacent walls, she saw a portrait of a very happy man and woman, and judging from their clothing and crowns, they were royalty. Suddenly, she started moving, but not of her own volition. Elsa felt something very odd and fiery burning within her heart, something she had ever only felt a glimpse of once before in her life, when she was being attacked by the Duke of Weaseltown's henchmen in her ice palace on the North Mountain. She felt hatred. It burned her to the core, painful. She felt as if at any second she would explode.

As she continued walking towards a man on the throne, who appeared to be the king in the portrait, with golden flowing hair and a beard to match, she was attacked by guards. It was then that Elsa felt the familiar sensation of ice flowing through her veins, towards her hands, where she unleashed her powers on the men. She looked down, watching the ice begin to form around her fingers, frosting her tunic and… trousers?

It must be a dream, but it felt so real, especially when she unleashed her icy might upon the guards attacking her. No! she thought. I don't want to hurt these men! I don't want to hurt anyone ever again! She tried to stop herself from flinging these men across the room and freezing them to the wall, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't. Everything started to speed up, images flashing before her eyes and emotions streaking like lightning through her heart: love- a girl in the corner about her age, hatred- Elsa's hands wielding a ball of ice magic and aiming it at the king's heart, anger- being knocked to the floor, despair- when she saw the girl frozen solid and crumpled on the floor, depression- as she held the girl in her arms and satisfaction- as she attempted to freeze her own heart, knowing it would all soon be over.

The last image that fled through her mind was the king, stalking over to her and picking her up by the collar and laughing maniacally as he chanted in her face

"It's your own damn fault, you fool! Your own damn fault!"

And as he dropped her to the floor, she glanced over once more at the frozen figure. But instead of finding the stranger, she saw her sister frozen instead, pain, fear, and betrayal forever formed on her face.

"No! Anna!" Elsa screamed as she opened her tear-filled eyes and jumped upwards out of her bed, unfortunately colliding with her 18-year-old redheaded sister.

"Ow! Elsa, are you okay!?" Anna questioned, concerned, from the floor as she rubbed her head.

"Yeah… I'm… fine. Ouch," Elsa groaned, massaging her forehead as well, knowing very well that would be bruised by the evening. It was only a dream, she thought, calming herself down from her nightmare and the sudden awakening that followed it. She conjured up a block of ice and handed it to Anna, who thanked her in return, and then proceeded to do the same for herself.

"Sooo….What was that all about?" the curious, pigtailed redhead asked her again.

"Nothing, just a nightmare I suppose." She didn't really want to tell Anna the details of her horrible experience in that dream world, especially the last part. Elsa shuddered just remembering it.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, I- I'd rather not, if that's okay."

"Elsa, you know you can tell me anything, right? We've established this," Anna asked her sister once more, worry plainly etching across her face.

"Yes, of course! I know that, Anna, and as much as I want to tell you- I really do- I just, don't want to relive it. Especially because y-," Elsa cut off, knowing she had gone too far to back out now.

"Because I was in it," Anna murmured quietly.

Elsa looked down, eyes closed, and nodded her head slightly. Every time Anna had shown up in one of Elsa's nightmares, it was always Anna frozen solid in one way or another, a painful reminder of the day on the ice where she had almost lost her sister. She hated reminding not only herself of the pain she had caused, but she hated reminding her sister of it too. Anna had had nightmares for two weeks following, of being frozen solid, but they had gotten through it together. And now, here she was, reminding her sister of that terrible event once more.

"Elsa, it's okay. I'm over it. That was three months ago. The night terrors stopped two weeks after and since then I have been wonderful, especially because I've gotten my sister back, and that's the most important thing to me," Anna tried to reassure her elder sister. "But if you don't want to tell me, then that's fine. I understand."

Elsa nodded, considering her options, and finally settling on telling her sister once she's had the time to try and figure out what the dream was about to begin with.

"So, what were you doing in my room anyway, Anna? You never wake up before I do," Elsa giggled, more focused on why her sister had been in her room in the first place.

"Well, remember last month at my birthday when you were sick and you promised that in July you would take a weekend off for just the two of us to spend some time together? And remember how Kristoff has been gone all week harvesting ice? Well, guess what day it is!"

"Umm, Friday?"

"Yep!" Anna squealed, barely containing her excitement.

"But Anna, I have meetings planned for today and tomorrow with very important trade partners and-"

"No you don't."

"-if I don't meet with them I will- wait, what did you say?"

"I said you don't have any meetings. When you made the arrangements in the first place, when you sent out the letters I swapped them with my own, from 'you' of course, but setting the dates for next weekend. Don't worry, I checked your schedule and worked everything out because I am a master at surprises."

"Oh. Okay," Elsa truly didn't know what to say. If Anna had put that much thought into this whole situation in order JUST to spend the weekend with her, who knows what she could do. She would really have to keep an eye on the feisty redhead. She smiled. "Okay then Anna, I'm all yours. What do you have in mind for the weekend?"

"Well, remember how I've always wanted to go camping?" Anna grinned cheekily.

"This is going to be a long three days," Elsa mumbled under her breath.


That same day, a two-and-a-half day's travel out of Arendelle...

Espen looked down upon the distant town from the peak of the mountain he was standing on. The ground on the mountains was covered in snow, nothing like his homeland of Ysteriath, where the mountains were low to the ground and covered in trees, not high rocky peaks like this new kingdom. It had been a year since the tragedy that had befallen him back home. Well, it's not my home anymore, he thought bitterly.

Espen had traveled far from Ysteriath in just one year. He had left his homeland to the west and traveled east, away from the budding province of Germany and up through what the people of the lower lands called The Frozen Country, for its vast expanse of untamed land and its harsh and vicious winters. He had continued north to the high country of the vast and towering peaks, and traveled south along the coast and over mountain ranges to the southernmost point of the large and mountainous terrain, to the small yet profitable and well-known kingdom of Arendelle. In all reality Arendelle was a mere three week's journey by boat from Ysteriath, but he figured no one would look for him so close to the kingdom he had run from, and if anyone had followed him, the roundabout path he had taken to get to Arendelle was so complicated there was no way anyone could have tracked him.

Arendelle from afar was still quite the magnificent city, beautifully placed on the edge of the water in the fjord. All around him, the snow on the mountainside glittered, and he could feel the pull of winter and cold from deep within his veins. No. I mustn't use my powers. I can't.

"Well Andar, I think we've found our new home," Espen informed his steed who stood beside him. Andar whinnied in agreement, exhausted from traversing unknown and treacherous country for longer than he would have liked.

Espen hopped atop his stallion, and set out on the final leg of his journey. He knew not where he would end up in the small kingdom of Arendelle, or who he would meet, but he knew a good place to start.

"I'm thinking we look for work in an industry we could fit in, don't you think?"

Andar snorted.

"Alright then. It's settled. We look for a place we both can work. I hear harvesting ice is a big thing up in the high country, and from what I have seen, Arendelle is very adept in that department," Espen suggested.

His best friend gave a little nicker.

"I'm sure there is something you can do. I mean, they have to transport ice somehow, right?"

At that Andar kicked into a canter, excited to get their new life started.

"Easy there, bud. I know you're excited we're done traveling but let's try to get there in one piece, okay?"

Another whinny.

"Okay. Now we just have to find where to apply for the job."