EDIT: 6/19/2016
No words were exchanged between the two sisters for several long moments; Elsa simply stood with her back against the trunk of a tree while she heaved air into her lungs back and forth. Anna, however, simply let her jaw drop open as the news fully registered in her mind. The rest of the world, meanwhile, went about its business.
Anna broke the silence first. "…Middle-Earth?" she said, "As in THE Middle-Earth?! With the wizards and dwarves and elves and dragons and—omigosh omigosh omigosh, this is AMAZING! I never thought that-I mean, you know, this is such a big deal for me, because obviously I've never been to another world but now—here I am, here you are, here we both are!" She then gasped and continued, "We have GOT to see it all, right now! But where are we gonna go first? It's just so hard to choose! Ooh, I know, we've GOT to see where the—"
"We've got to go back," Elsa said as she stood back up straight again, "Right NOW."
"WHAT? But we just got here!" Anna protested.
"And the sooner we get back home, the better," Elsa declared. She walked very quickly back through the bushes to the spot where they landed, scanning the grass around her for something with the intensity of a hawk desperate for a bite of mouse-flesh. Anna quickly figured out what it was she was looking for, and her hand grazed the side of her swollen pocket gingerly as she followed after her back into the clearing.
"Look, Elsa, it's alright," she said, "I'm pretty you haven't set off another Frozen Summer in Arendelle, so there's no rush to get back—"
"It's not that that I'm worried about," Elsa said, pulling back branches and brush, never taking her eyes off of the ground, "Our mere presence here is putting everyone here and back home in terrible danger."
"Danger? What kind of danger? How are we putting anyone in any danger by just being somewhere?" Anna asked.
"You wouldn't understand," Elsa said.
"At least give me a chance! We're here now, so you might as well tell me what you're so afraid of, because I'm pretty sure it's not anything to do with your powers!"
Halting in her tracks, Elsa gave out a deep, regretful sigh. She turned to Anna and said, "Just before I came home, I was told that there were forces at work within this world, more evil and dangerous than you or I could imagine. If someone aligned with such forces found out about us, where we came from, and how we got here, then they'd try to find the Star Gems, and use them to get to our world, and probably others as well. That's why Gandalf had me take the Star Gems back to Arendelle; that way, no one here would use them for evil. You have no idea what kind of damage they could do in other worlds."
"Oh, well that's easy," Anna replied, "We just don't tell the bad guys where we're from!"
"I'm not taking any risks, Anna," Elsa declared, "Now, help me find the Star Gem so we can get back home before anyone notices we're gone."
"It's okay, I've got it right here," Anna said. She pulled out the velvet bag from her pocket and dangled it in the air. "See?"
Once she turned around to see it, Elsa rushed forward to snatch it out from Anna's hand. Anna, however, proved to be the faster of the two, yanking the prize out of her reach and keeping it there, regardless of how many times her sister made the attempt by nearly clambering over her.
"Anna, give it back!" Elsa protested, "We can't stay here; we have to—"
"Then why are we here?" Anna questioned.
"What?"
"If we're not supposed to be here to begin with, why are we here?" Anna asked. "You know how it works better than I do."
Backing away and drawing back her hand slowly, Elsa gazed at her suspiciously. "What are you saying?" she asked.
"You know what I'm saying," Anna said, "It's pretty obvious; you wanted to be here, Elsa. You missed Middle-Earth so much, you wanted to come back. You said so yourself that you wanted to see your friends again."
"Not like this!" Elsa said.
"I'm not saying we have to be stuck here forever. Just hear me out, Elsa," Anna said. "Look, those little people back there, they were….?"
"Hobbits," Elsa answered, "They were all hobbits."
"Okay then, so that means we're in the Shire, right?"
"How would you know about—?"
"I was in your head a couple times, remember? Anyway, so that means that Bilbo Baggins lives around here, right?"
Elsa became quiet for a moment while she averted her eyes away, but obviously her whole expression had become softened by the very mention of Bilbo's name. Anna hadn't expected this; she knew from the memories she had seen while trying to contact Elsa that the two had been friends, but this suggested something deeper than she had initially suspected…
"He spoke of being from here," Elsa answered, "Yes."
"Well then, why don't we just stop by his house for a while?" Anna proposed, "Like I was saying last night; we'd drop by really quick, have some small talk, you two can catch up over some tea—unless he doesn't have that or you prefer something else, but that's beside the point—and then we'd be back in Arendelle before sunset! Or not, but that depends on how long it takes for you to finish a conversation—but my point still stands!"
Instead of shooting back a sharp refusal, Elsa took a small step backward, anxiety furrowing into her brow and littering the foliage around them with small snowflakes. "I don't know, Anna," she said softly, the hesitancy in her voice all too obvious, "I don't think that he'd…I mean, it's been so long, I don't know if he even…"
Before she could say anymore, Anna replaced the bag back into her pocket and clasped Elsa's hands in her own. "I don't think he cares how long you've been gone," she said, "I think he'd just be happy to see you—no, I know he'd be happy to see you… I know I was."
The air slightly warmed as Elsa looked up into her eyes again, but that same hesitancy still lingered in her face.
"I promise," Anna added, "That once we're done here, I'll give the gem back, we can go home, and I'll never bother you about coming back here, or anywhere else not in our world. Deal?"
Once again, silence pervaded for a moment or two while Elsa quietly deliberated over the matter. Before Anna was ready for it, Elsa spoke again.
"Anna…Do you think I'm, you know, over-dressed for the occasion?" she asked.
"You look fine, Elsa," Anna assured her.
"Still," Elsa said, sliding her hands out of Anna's, "I can't exactly parade around in this, can I?" With a wave of her hands, a hooded cloak of royal blue shimmered into being; Anna watched in awe as tiny threads and plates of ice ducked and weaved around each other creating layer after layer until they tightened around each other, and the resulting cloak wrapped itself around Elsa's lithe form.
"How do you do that?" she asked.
"Like I do everything," Elsa replied as she pulled up the hood, "Very carefully. Now come on, and try not to draw any attention."
"Yes, ma'am," Anna replied, following along after her. Once Elsa took the lead, Anna jumped and grinned like a little girl. She positively couldn't believe her luck; she had always wanted to meet the brave little hobbit in person rather than see him through someone else's eyes, and it was a fair enough compromise to seeing the whole of Middle-Earth.
A quick moment of clarity struck her at that moment. "Oh, Elsa," she said, "You did get rid of the icicles back there, right?"
"Of course I did."
"Oh, thank goodness."
Breaking out of the forest brush and stepping into the warmth of sunlight the two women wandered through knee-high grass until they found a dirt path well-worn by years of footsteps, hoof-beats and cartwheels, which they immediately followed into the village of hills and mounds made into houses. As they went their way, Elsa's vision panned across the landscape back and forth, never staying on one scene for long; as a child, she had never been allowed to run outside of the castle grounds, and as a result had never even seen farming before she left Arendelle. In her prior stay in Middle-Earth, she tried her hand at raising vegetables to supplement her diet, but her efforts had never produced results that would've been allowed on the royal table. Now she watched as hobbit farmers directed their plough-pulling cattle across dirt plots, hobbit workers plucking away in vegetable patches with various tools, and so forth. The level of skill and efficiency they possessed struck her as utterly fascinating, all of it; what she wouldn't have given to be able to get dirt under her fingernails again and see what it was really like to spend a day sweating in the fields…she looked over at Anna, and was hardly surprised to see her gazing around at the sight in a similar manner of fascination, and gave little smiles and waves to the tiny hobbitlings they passed by.
The deeper into the limits of the town they went, the two of them crossed the paths of more hobbits of every kind. The good majority of their outfits were decked in bright colors, mainly consisting of green and yellow, as they went about their day buying goods from vendors, herding similarly-sized sheep and cattle along, and other things. Along the side, they saw as some carried large barrels along, played board games, and a good number sat by the side of the road puffing large clouds with the help of long, narrow smoking pipes. It was all just like how Bilbo had described it to her so long ago, perhaps even a little better; she remembered his offer to come here with him as well, and now that she saw the Shire with her own eyes, she imagined what it would've been like to live out the rest of her days in the comfort of these rolling hills, as far away as possible from the despair of her youth…it certainly would've been a welcome alternative to the cave she had been living in last time.
However, she did notice that there were a lot of suspicious looks cast their way; here or there a hobbit mother would restrain her children and speak in hushed voices towards them, while a few elder hobbits would squint while puffing away at their pipes. She wondered, why were they acting this way?
To her surprise, Anna answered that question in a lowered voice. "I guess they aren't used to people of our…stature, huh?"
Of course, that had to be it. Now she could imagine how Bilbo felt all that time, surrounded by people of a different height.
"By the way," Anna asked as they came upon a curving path in front of a small, humble hobbit hole, "Do you know where we're going? Where exactly is Bag End?"
"Oh, um…" Elsa said, trying to bide some time, "…I'm pretty sure it's somewhere around—"
"You don't know, do you?" Anna said.
"No, no I don't," Elsa admitted.
"Well, that's okay," Anna said, "We can just ask…that guy for directions!"
Before Elsa could stop her, Anna came up to the fence of the hobbit hole before them. There knelt a stocky hobbit with wavy blonde hair and hazel eyes, reminding Elsa of Kristoff in a strange sort of way. Dressed in soil-dusted clothing, he stooped over a row of vegetables, with a trowel in hand.
"Excuse me, sir?" Anna said, leaning over the small fence, "Can you help us out?"
The hobbit looked up, surprised to see the two women, but thankfully not in a hostile way. "Yes, ma'am?" he asked. His accent, Elsa noticed, was rougher and less refined than Bilbo's had been—which wasn't too surprising, considering his obvious status.
"Hi, we're looking for Mr. Baggins," Anna asked, "Do you know where he is?"
"Of course I do," he answered, "I'm his gardener…what do you want with Mister Baggins?"
"We're just stopping to say hi—of course we're obviously going to say a lot more, I mean, we're pretty close—well, not me, I mean, she's close to him, but I'm sure he and I could be friends, but nothing serious, I've got a boyfriend after all and —wait, where was I going with this?"
Elsa stepped in to salvage the situation as best as she could. "We're old friends of his from beyond these borders," she said, "and we've never visited this part of the country, before. Could you please point us in the right direction?"
"Of course, ma'am," he said, "Any friend of Mister Baggins is a friend o' mine. You just want to march straight down that road," he pointed down the long row of hobbit holes, "and go all the way to the very end of Bagshot Row. It'll be the smial at the top of the hill with the great-big oak tree growin' on top. You can't miss it."
"Thank you, mister…?"
"Gamgee," the hobbit gardener replied, "Samwise Gamgee at your service, ma'am."
With that, the two sisters gave some more gratitude and said their farewells to the gardener, and started off down the direction where he had indicated they should go.
"Well, he was nice," Anna commented, "And so sweet! I wonder if they're all like that in one way or another…"
"Yeah," Elsa agreed, but her thoughts were elsewhere. Only now did she realize how real meeting Bilbo again had become, now that they knew where to go. True, she'd wanted this day to happen, but that had been under the assumption that she would never come back. Now that her assumption had been proven wrong, she didn't know what she would do, or what she would say once they go there. What would his reaction be once they saw each other? Would he be angry with her, claiming that she had led him on after all that he had offered to her? How would she explain herself to him?
"Hey, I think we're almost there!" Anna said.
Elsa looked up in surprise. Anna was right; as they came around the bend, just a little further down the road, they could see a large oak tree with twisted limbs and leafy branches that sprawled over the top of a hill, where four chimneys poked up incongruously out of the grass. Below that, the slope of the hill became very steep, ending in lush beds of numerous flowers set against sections of yellow walls and round windows that poked through the grass-covered parts of the hill, as if the hill itself had been trying to wash over a small house like the sea would.
They continued further on around two more bends of the road up the hill, and immediately they came upon a short wall of stone marking the perimeter of the place. The border was broken only by a wooden gate, flanked by a mailbox composed of small wooden barrels, which stood before a trail of stone steps leading up to a perfectly round door painted in green with a brass knob in the dead center.
Granted, it was no palace by any means, but even then, despite not knowing a thing about how hobbit society worked, Elsa would have to admit that the place did seem like someplace where only someone of great respect would reside in spite of its overall humility. The fact that it possessed a magnificent view of the lakes, rivers, and whole view of the Shire was proof enough of that.
Unable to contain her excitement, Anna grabbed Elsa by the wrist and practically dragged her along up to and through the front gate. They climbed up the stone steps, and stopped right in front of the door to Bag End. Here, Anna stepped aside and waved her hand to the front door, gesturing to Elsa. "He's your friend, after all," she reasoned.
Taking the invitation, Elsa cautiously stepped up to the door. She did so with breath bated with anticipation. She raised a clenched fist to rap against the wood…but she paused before she could bring down her knuckles, unable to move them.
"Just go ahead and knock," Anna encouraged her, "No big deal."
She's right, Elsa thought. Taking a deep breath, Elsa worked up her nerves and tried again…and yet again, she failed to do so, her fist hanging in the space between her and the door.
"Come on!" Anna whispered.
"…No, no, I—I can't," Elsa said, turning away, "I just can't."
"Why not?" Anna asked, "He's your friend."
"Exactly," Elsa replied, "I don't know if I can face him…"
Giving her a look of sympathy, Anna placed her hand on her sister's shoulder. "It's okay," she said, "I get it; it can be hard."
Elsa felt somewhat better after hearing that from her sister, but even then, a wall of anxiety stood between her and that door. Could she…?
Before she could stew any longer in her indecisiveness, Anna brushed past her, saying, "Leave it to the professional!"
Before Elsa could stop her, she rapped three times on the door. Elsa's jaw fastened at the third and final knock.
For about five long seconds, not a single sound could be heard, not even an acknowledgement of a living being. Maybe Bilbo was out, Elsa theorized internally, maybe he's asleep, or maybe we're just going to have to go back to Arendelle…
But then there came the muffled noise of small feet padding across wood floors. Anna backed up to be by Elsa's side, a wide smile across her face. Elsa's heart, meanwhile, began to race, beating like a drum against her ribcage. This is it, she thought to herself. She braced herself for this long awaited reunion, anticipating what would likely be a very awkward but in the end happy meeting…
The door creaked open at last, and the inhabitant stood in the doorway, looking up at the two of them curiously.
But he wasn't Bilbo.
Elsa felt something within her collapse as she looked down at this young hobbit with dark brown curls of hair, soft facial features, and bright blue eyes dressed in a vest of brown velvet over a white buttoned shirt.
"Hello," the hobbit said, "Can I help you?"
The words struggled to escape Elsa's throat. "I—I—I'm sorry," she said at last, "But I think we're at the wrong address." She turned to leave, but Anna grabbed her by the wrist again, preventing her from going any further.
Turning to the hobbit, Anna said, "Hi, we're here to see Mr. Baggins. Is he here?"
The hobbit extended his hand towards them. "Frodo Baggins," he introduced himself, "at your service."
"Oh, well, pleasure to meet you, Frodo," Anna said, taking his small hand in hers and shaking it politely. "We're actually looking for Bilbo Baggins. Is he around?"
"I'm sorry," Frodo replied, "But Bilbo's…well, he's been gone for, well, a very long time, I'm afraid."
Every last possible meaning of those words clashed around in Elsa's head, but it was the worst one possible that occupied the greatest amount of space. But it couldn't be so; Bilbo couldn't possibly be…
I'm too late, she thought, mournfully surrendering to the terrible idea. I didn't come in time…and now I'll never see him again.
"…We're terribly sorry to bother you," she said to Frodo. "Come on, Anna."
But Anna didn't come with her. She turned back to Frodo and said, "Well, the next time you see him, could you let him know that Elsa and Anna stopped by for a visit, please?"
"…Of course," Frodo said, looking somewhat confused.
While the door closed behind them, Anna then came back to Elsa's side as they stepped back to the front gate. Elsa tried to hide the tears welling up, but what could she do?
But then the door swung back open, and Frodo rushed back outside again. "Hold on a moment!" he shouted out to the two sisters, who paused and turned in surprise. "Did you say Elsa?"
"Um, yes!" Anna said as she pointed to her sister, "She's Elsa, I'm Anna, but maybe you figured that out, already."
The hobbit came back down the stairs, awe widening his eyes as he looked at Elsa. "I don't believe it," he whispered, "It's you! It's really you! Of course it's you!"
"You know who I am?" Elsa asked, quickly wiping away the tears with her sleeve so that Frodo wouldn't see.
"Of course I know who you are!" he said as he ran up to them, "You're Uncle Bilbo's Snow Queen!"
"Uncle Bilbo?" Elsa asked.
"Well, strictly speaking we're cousins, but that's another story," Frodo explained, "You must come inside for some tea; I insist!"
Elsa almost refused, but with a quick nudge from Anna's elbow, the two sisters followed the young hobbit back up the steps towards the door.
"The 'Snow Queen', huh?" Anna commented along the way, "That's pretty catchy!"
"Please don't start calling me, that," Elsa said.
They were forced to duck down through the entry, but to their surprise they found that the ceiling was tall enough for people of their height to walk around in with little fear (though on the way in, the hanging chandelier in the entrance hall nearly clocked Anna in the forehead). As Elsa hung her cloak up on the nearby coatrack, they found that the roots of the oak tree itself had been incorporated into the architecture after being thoroughly polished through and through as they wrapped around and dug through the walls.
Frodo lead them into the parlor, where they began to observe how everything about the architecture was dominated by roundness, from the halls to the entryways—but it was far from being a bother at all. Again, Elsa remembered Bilbo's offer and, aside from having to deal with ducking around the chandeliers and underneath the arches, found the place quite to her liking. Some of it, such as the minuteness of the furniture, might have taken some getting used to, but even then she could imagine growing comfortable here…
"You must pardon my enthusiasm; it's not very often that I meet people from Bilbo's adventures," Frodo explained as he went into the kitchen, "Mostly it's just Gandalf, but I haven't seen him for a long time."
"Gandalf's still around?" Elsa asked, "That's good to know."
"Yes, usually he brings his fireworks with him when he stops by."
"Oh, I love fireworks!" Anna said as she sat down at the table.
"So do most of the children," Frodo replied, "But as far as everyone else is concerned, he's been labeled a 'disturber of the peace'."
Elsa smiled at the remark; it seemed like the sort of thing that Gandalf would be known for, given her own experiences with the wizard. While Anna made herself comfortable, Elsa found herself drawn to the mantle above the glowing fireplace. Above it hung the portraits of a hobbit man and a hobbit woman across from each other; based off of their features, Elsa had to make the assumption that they were relatives of Bilbo's, perhaps parents. She looked around the mantelpiece briefly before joining Anna at the table, having expecting something to be there, but she didn't know what that would be. Very strange…
Very soon, a fresh kettle sat over the fire, and the conversation began to roll forth while Frodo brought in food (enough for at least three meals) and as they waited for the water to boil: Elsa queried into what Bilbo had been up to after the quest, and Frodo explained that the moment he returned home, he found that his home and belongings were being auctioned off, since everyone had assumed he had up and died while being away for so long. He quickly settled the matter, however, and since then he had lived in relative peace, but in the meantime gained something of an unfavorable reputation, at least as hobbits were concerned.
"And he never married in that time?" Anna asked.
"No, he didn't," Frodo answered, "I asked him about it, and he said he could never find the woman for him."
At that answer, Anna looked over at Elsa with raised eyebrows, but all Elsa could do was draw invisible circles on the table with her finger.
The kettle suddenly whistled, and soon after they all sipped tea through tiny cups while Frodo continued his story, sharing details of what he and Bilbo had gone through together.
"So," Elsa said after he had finished, "What happened to him, in the end?"
"It's actually a very strange story," Frodo said, "We were celebrating his birthday party when he got up to make a speech to the whole crowd. But as he was going along, he said that he was leaving, and after saying farewell, he vanished right into thin air, in front of the whole crowd!"
At first, Elsa felt surprised and wondered how Bilbo could have pulled off such a feat—but then she remembered Bilbo's little secret treasure that he had shared with her. "Yes," she murmured, "That sounds about right…"
"What's that, Elsa?" Anna asked.
"Oh, nothing," Elsa replied, "Anyway, where did he go?"
"No one's seen him since," Frodo explained, "but the last time I spoke to Gandalf, he said that he had gone to stay with the elves."
The knowledge that Bilbo hadn't died was a welcome relief to Elsa.
"Speaking of elves," Frodo said as he poured Anna some more tea, "I've always been curious; Bilbo suspected that you had at least some elvish blood, and…"
"I'm pretty sure we would know if one of our ancestors was an elf," Anna replied with a gentle smile.
"I thought not," Frodo said, "It's just that-you must pardon me for saying so, Miss Elsa, but I can't help but notice that you seem…well…very 'well-preserved', to say the least."
"I'm not sure I understand," Elsa replied.
"Well, it's just that…" Frodo said, clearly uncomfortable with what he was going to say, "…The last time you spoke with Bilbo was towards the end of the quest, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, let me say that the past sixty years have been better to you than they have to Bilbo, and he was very well-preserved, too."
The teacup Elsa had been holding in her hands dropped to the floor and shattered to pieces. Frost materialized around her as the air grew colder and colder. Immediately, Anna reached out and latched her hand on Elsa's. It was enough to make the frost dissipate, but even then the chill remained hanging in the air.
"I'm so sorry," Frodo said, "I didn't mean to offend you…"
"Oh no, you're fine," Anna said, "Right, Elsa?" Elsa, however, could only give a weak nod, which as far as she was concerned was only a physical lie.
"Anyway, moving on," Anna said, changing the subject, "That must have been quite a party!" With that, the conversation went forth along its course, with Anna contributing more and more this time, but Elsa spoke not a word. Only one thing remained on her mind.
Sixty years…SIXTY YEARS! How is that possible?
After that, the rest of their teatime conversation went by uninterrupted by any unintended manifestation of Elsa's powers, while the subject drifted away from Bilbo to other things of admittedly trivial importance. For the most part, Anna and Frodo took up most of the talking, their topics ranging from favorite childhood memories to trading information about games to play in their spare time, including one called 'conkers' that Bilbo had taught to Frodo in his childhood. Elsa, however, remained utterly silent regardless of how often Anna attempted to nudge her back in, while the air continued to be unnaturally cool in the little parlor. Fortunately, it didn't call for alarm, but it was enough to make Anna rub her goose-bump ridden arms for warmth, while Frodo tossed a couple more logs on the fire. This concerned the younger sister to no end; she too had been surprised by Frodo's revelation, but she could hardly imagine how much it affected Elsa. But how could she address it? She couldn't just stand by and let her sister stew away like that in her state of distraught…
The question lingered in the back of her mind for some time, but between that and talking to Frodo, she couldn't come up with a solution to it, and that troubled her to no end. She couldn't even keep track of the time, up until Elsa suddenly stood up and said, "I'm sorry, but my sister and I have to go."
"Huh?" Anna said, confused at first by this sudden declaration. But then she looked out through the parlor window, and saw the sky turning multiple shades of pink and orange as the sun descended towards the horizon, and she remembered the promise she had made earlier. "Oh, yeah," she said sadly, "It is getting kind of late…"
"Must you go so soon?" Frodo asked, "I'm sure you must have traveled very far, though I don't know the distance; perhaps you could stay and rest for the night, and then leave in the morning…"
"Thank you, but no," Elsa said as she walked over to the coat rack, "We must be gone at once."
Anna simply sighed and said to Frodo in a hushed voice, "Well, thanks for having us on such short notice; I'm just sorry we have to go so soon. Royal duties, you know what I mean?"
"Of course," Frodo replied, "I've promised some friends that I would meet them at the Green Dragon pub, anyway. But are you sure you won't need any provisions?"
"Oh no, we're good," Anna smiled, "Trust me. We've got it covered."
Elsa called for Anna again, and she followed her older sister through the rounded doorway obediently, but with much reluctance into the refreshing warm evening air (relative to the chill that lingered throughout their visit, anyway).
"Thank you," Elsa said as she draped her blue cloak over herself, "For allowing us into your home on such short notice."
"You're welcome," Frodo said, "Shall I expect to see you again?"
A pause hung in the air before Elsa said anything. She turned away as she spoke. "No," she said, with a definitive air of finality. "Goodbye, Frodo Baggins."
After Anna gave Frodo more of her gratitude for his hospitality, the two sisters went on their way back down the road they came—but Anna took a moment to look back as the small hobbit quietly stepped back into Bag End, closing the door behind him in the growing distance between them.
"So, he was nice…," Anna quietly remarked to Elsa, "…guy makes a mean little cup of tea, am I right?"
Elsa, however, didn't even so much as look at her, keeping her gaze on the ground and her mouth closed. It remained that way as Anna followed Elsa down the hill and over the road through Hobbiton, where far less hobbits were out on the streets while golden lights began shining from the windows of the hobbit-holes in response to the dimming light outside. They continued on, passing a mill and crossing a bridge over a gently flowing river, and there the occurrence of hobbit-holes ceased altogether, indicating they had passed the village limits. But even then, they didn't stop walking on until the sun had gone out of the sky, though its light still shone over the horizon, and all they could see of Hobbiton was a small cluster of yellow lights nestled against the shores of a small lake.
They kept going, and Anna asked, "How far do we have to keep walking?"
"The further from civilization we are," Elsa explained, the sound of her voice a welcome reprieve from the silence, "The better off we'll be; we can't risk anyone seeing the Star Gem once we go home."
Hours passed on by mercilessly, and Elsa redirected their journey off of the road and deep into a thick patch of forest just on the wayside. Here, Anna had to make sure she had to stay close to Elsa in order to keep from getting lost in this especially dark place where the light only barely broke through the trees.
But then, once they reached a small clearing where the light came through all the way, she had to stop in her tracks. She knew what she needed to say.
"Elsa," she said, "I'm sorry I forced you to do this…and I'm sorry we didn't get to see Bilbo. I just…"
To her surprise, Elsa stopped at the sound of her words, and turned to face her. "No," she said, "I'm the one who should be sorry. Sorry to him…"
"Elsa?"
"Sixty years, Anna," Elsa said, "Sixty years went by in this world, but only eight months went by for me back home in Arendelle…."
"There's no way you could have known that…"
"I should have!" Elsa cried out, "But I don't understand how it all works! Only a few years went by for me the last time I was in Middle Earth, but only four months had passed by in Arendelle. What difference would eight months there make for here? Apparently a LOT, and now…" she fell to her knees, sighing out loud in the growing moonlight, "He's an old man, now…I wasted his years."
Carefully, Anna stepped forward. "You cared about Bilbo a lot, didn't you?" she asked.
Elsa gave the slightest of nods. "He…he was the first person in this whole world whom I felt understood me…everyone else valued me as a weapon. He valued me as a person…he was like a dear brother to me. I should have come back sooner, but I couldn't."
Anna nodded with new understanding.
With a deep breath, Elsa stood back up onto her feet. "But I can't change what's happened," she said. "Give me the Star Gem, Anna. We're going home."
Anna nodded. "One magic glowing rock of teleportation coming right up," she said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the velvet bag. Loosening the string, she looked inside and…suddenly became very concerned.
"Um, Elsa," she said nervously, "Is this normal?"
"What are you talking about?" Elsa asked.
"Well…" She held the open end of the bag towards her sister, who stepped forward to take a look. They both looked inside to find that the once pure white gleam of the Gem had dimmed. Now, it looked as though grey smoke had been trapped inside the gem, swirling around in thick, billowing clouds.
Elsa grasped and pulled the Gem out of the bag, holding it in the tip of her fingers as she inspected it. "What on earth…?" she whispered.
"Is it broken or something?" Anna asked.
"I don't know," Elsa said, "But we should try it anyway, just in case. Hold my hand, and think of Arendelle."
Anna did so, and Elsa grasped the dim Star Gem tightly in her hand, closing her eyes. Closing her eyes, Anna concentrated her thoughts on Arendelle, thinking of its snowcapped mountains, rugged fjords, the castle, and of Kristoff, especially. They stood still for a few moments, waiting, listening…but the night remained undisturbed. Not even a breeze trickled through the foliage.
Anna blinked open her eyes, and saw no golden shards pass by them at all. They still stood there in the forest clearing.
"Nothing's happening," Anna reported.
Frustrated, Elsa let go of Anna's hand and looked at the Star Gem more closely, confused. "No, no, no, no! How is this possible? It should have worked! We should be back home by now…"
Snowflakes yet again began to dance around them in a twisting spiral.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Anna said, "Maybe it just needs…"
"Anna, I can't," Elsa said, "I don't know what's wrong with it, and I don't know how to get it to work."
"Wait…you mean we're stuck here?" Anna asked.
Elsa glanced over at her for a moment, with panic in her eyes. She didn't say anything else.
The situation began to dawn on Anna with unprecedented speed, and she realized what price her desires had cost her. The fjords and the northern lights: gone. The castle, the guards, and all the servants: gone. Winter days sledding down the slopes and winter nights spent by the fire with a cup of hot cocoa: gone. Olaf and Sven: gone. And Kristoff…tears began to well in her eyes. She never gave him the chance to hear her answer…How could she have done this? This was all her fault…
But then, an idea came to her, and everything seemed to get a little brighter with it.
"Of course!" she said, "We just need to find someone who knows how to fix it, like Gandalf!"
"Gandalf is a wandering vagabond," Elsa said, "There's no way we'd be able to find him quickly…not without arousing unwanted attention, anyway."
"So, that just leaves…oh, I got it!" Anna declared, "That elf guy from Rivendell!"
"Lord Elrond?" Elsa asked.
"Yeah, he'd know about this kind of thing, right?"
"Anna, Rivendell would take us months to travel to," Elsa said.
"Do we have any other options?" Anna asked. "Besides, we probably have plenty of time to get there; what's a couple of months here to Arendelle, anyway? Don't answer that question, because I'm no expert."
Elsa's response came sooner than she expected. "Alright," she said, "we're going to Rivendell. But we have to move swiftly; there's probably a town further down the road that we can pick up provisions in."
"Don't you think we should find somewhere to rest for the night?" Anna suggested, "Heck, we could just—" But then she found herself shushed by Elsa. Nearly about to protest, she saw the searching look in Elsa's eyes as she peered around the forest, the same look she had worn before the Phantom launched its attack.
"What's wrong?" Anna whispered, but Elsa didn't answer. With one hand she clutched the dim Star Gem as tightly as possible. The other she raised into the air, and a glowing orb of ice materialized within her fingers.
"Get behind me, Anna," she instructed under her breath, and Anna complied accordingly, watching the shadows with new fear.
Something snapped somewhere. The two spun around at the noise, but found nothing. This did nothing to abate the rising panic in Anna's heart. She was on high alert, attentive to every possible movement in the shadows. Now she started to understand what Elsa meant when she had said there was danger to be found…
Suddenly, a thick crunching sound came from behind them. The two sisters spun around again, and Anna yelped at what she thought was going to be some horrific creature intent on devouring them…
Instead, they found themselves looking into the twinkling grey-blue eyes of an old man with a long silvery beard and bushy eyebrows who held a twisted, gnarled wooden staff in one hand. He wore long, flowing grey robes and a blue, pointed hat with a broad rim.
The ice orb that Elsa held dissipated immediately. "Gandalf?" she said.
Anna's fear turned into surprise. Here was an actual figure from Elsa's adventures…and a real, live wizard to boot! She became very excited, having at last met a professional wielder of magic.
"Elsa? I never thought I'd…Why have you come back?" Gandalf asked, "It's not safe to be here at all!"
"I know, and I'm sorry," Elsa apologized.
"Yeah, it was my fault," Anna admitted, stepping out from behind her, "It's kind of a long complicated story…Oh, I'm Anna, by the way, Elsa's sister."
"You must return to your world at once," Gandalf declared, "Both of you."
"I know, and we're trying!" Elsa said, "But the Star Gem won't work!"
"What do you mean?" Gandalf said.
"Take a look for yourself," Elsa said as she handed him the Gem, "Maybe you can fix it."
Gandalf took the Gem in his gnarled hands and looked over it carefully, turning it over and over again to look at each individual facet. The concern on his face, meanwhile, only seemed to grow.
"It worked when it brought us here," Elsa explained, "but now we can't get it to operate. Is there some spell we have to chant?"
Gandalf didn't seem to hear them, however, as incoherent words mumbled past his lips and into the night. However, Anna did manage to catch some of the things that he said, including things like "Not possible," and "intertwined destinies," and, "Could it be?"
All the same, however, his eyes glimmered with an odd sort of fear, and Anna felt that he was putting pieces to a puzzle that she couldn't understand together.
"Can you fix it?" Elsa asked.
Gandalf looked back up at the two of them with sadness in his eyes. "No, I cannot," he answered.
"Why not?"
"Because this may be part of something greater and more terrible than you can imagine…" he said. Then, he started to head through the foliage. "You must come with me at once," he said, "We have urgent business to attend to at Bag End."
"Bag End? We just left there!" Anna said.
"Then that will save us time on introductions," Gandalf replied, "and more time to sort out some answers! Hurry, the both of you!"
Several hours later, and after Gandalf had reined in his horse somewhere safe, the three of them were coming back up the stairs to Bag End in the dead of the night. Fortunately, the lights inside the hobbit hole still glowed golden, so it seemed that Frodo had returned from that 'Green Dragon' place that he said he was going to. Barely coming within a yard of it, Gandalf rapped the door urgently with the butt of his staff. There was no answer at first, and Gandalf met the delay with yet another rapping. Immediately the door swung open, and there stood Frodo again, looking very surprised to see them all again. "Gandalf, Elsa, Anna! What are you…?"
"Hi, Frodo!" Anna said, "We lied!"
Gandalf, however, leaned down and grabbed Frodo by the shoulder with that same desperate urgency.
"Is it secret?" he whispered, "Is it safe?"
At first, the hobbit seemed confused, but then he appeared to catch on as he let them all inside. Anna and Elsa, on the other hand, were still oblivious to what was going on, but they went along anyway, shutting the door behind them and going into the parlor, while Frodo went over to a chest nestled beneath the roots of the tree and began to rummage through the contents, pulling out some rolled up papers as he went.
"Gandalf, what's going on?" Elsa asked, but the wizard ignored her. At the sound of a crow outside, however, he whirled around and pointed his staff at the noise.
"Here it is!" Frodo said, and he held up an envelope sealed with red wax. Immediately, Gandalf snatched it out of his little hand and went to the fireplace where, to everyone's surprise, he huddled down and tossed it into the burning fireplace.
"What are you doing?" Frodo asked, obviously concerned over what would happen to the contents of the envelope. Anna and Elsa came over and watched, curious as to what Gandalf was trying to do.
Upon exposure to the heat, the parchment from which the envelope was made from began to blacken and wrinkle away as the small white tongues of flame scrambled over and devoured it, distorting its shape. Gandalf, meanwhile, grabbed a pair of tongs and pointed the business end towards it.
As the parchment burned, it peeled and curled away to reveal a small, plain gold ring nestled in the ashes, reflecting the fire's glow in its surface.
"Bilbo's ring?" Elsa said.
Everyone looked over at her in surprise, especially Gandalf. "You know about this?" he asked, "How?"
"He showed it to me before I came to you," she admitted.
"And you didn't tell me of it?" he asked.
"I—I didn't think it was important," she explained.
Grumbling, Gandalf turned his attention back to the fireplace, and plucked the ring out with the tongs. He held it in the air before turning to Frodo. "Hold out your hand," he instructed the young hobbit, with "It's quite cool" as an assurance.
Frodo did so, and the ring dropped into his palm. No sound of pain emanated from his lips. Anna, meanwhile, leaned in a little closer to see the ring.
"What can you see?" Gandalf asked, standing back up on to his feet, "Can you see anything?"
Frodo turned the ring over a couple of times in his fingertips, looking as Anna did for anything out of the ordinary. "Nothing," he said, "There's nothing."
Anna stood back upright, somewhat disappointed. What had this whole thing been about, anyway?
"Wait," Frodo said, and both Anna and Elsa leaned back in, curious to see what he had found. On the band, there appeared twisting, elegantly flowing letters of some strange language, written in finer strokes than any hand they knew capable, glowing like fire in the metal and casting red light across the walls of the room. Frodo told Gandalf of this, making the observation, "It's some form of Elvish. I can't read it."
Elsa and Anna turned to look at the wizard, whose back was turned to the three of them.
"There are few who can," he said in response, the tone of his voice as dark and serious as his expression as he turned to face them, "The language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here."
"Mordor?" Frodo asked.
Mordor…Anna had never heard the word before in her life, and yet somehow the sheer utterance of it filled her with an odd sort of dread. She looked over at Elsa, and there she could see a similar dread in her eyes as well.
Gandalf went on. "In the common tongue, it says,
One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them."
