Krista hummed loudly, for the sake of making some sort of sound so the dark didn't completely consume her. Coming from the mountain she'd been humming a tune her mother had sang to her a million years ago, but by this point the young girl was just making random noises. She was sure her reindeer calf, Suri, had stopped enjoying it a good while ago.

Suri was pulling the dinky little sleigh through the dark woods, as Krista travelled in the back with their single block of ice from that day's haul. The ice harvesters were nice to her, they would've let her ride in the big horse-drawn ice sled if she had asked, but she preferred to go by herself with Suri. They did enough providing for her, after her parents...

She hummed louder, blocking out the bad memories. This single block of ice would have been kind of worthless had it not been hers. As much as she disliked it, people pitied her, so much that they'd buy her tiny block of ice like it was the most precious thing they had ever seen. Though they didn't pity her enough to offer her a warm bed every night, leaving the little girl to fend for herself sometimes. Suri was a blessing, not only was she Krista's only friend but the reindeer calf did what it could to help out. And sometimes the homes she got weren't exactly the best, there were some really terrible people out there. She'd rather hang around Suri.

"Cut through the heart, cold and clear." she sang under her breath the ice harvester's song, "Strike for love and strike for fear..."

Suri whined in protest, clicking her hoofs on the ground to make a point.

"You sound like a choking cat," Krista said in a goofy voice, Suri's voice, she liked to pretend it was. "Please shut up." Krista pretended to be offended, "That's rude, Suri! Just for that, I'm going to SING LOUDER. See the beauty sharp and sheer, split the ice apart! and break the frozen heart." The last part she said it in a manly way, like the ice harvesters did when they sang in the mountains.

Krista laughed as Suri snorted and stomped the ground, clearly displeased.

"Think of my singing as motivation. The sooner we get home, the sooner I'll stop!" and so they went faster. By home she meant the abandoned hut they'd been sleeping in for the past few days.

All of a sudden, two people on horseback raced past, and Suri stopped to watch. One of the horses was leaving a wake of ice behind it.

"Ice?" Krista tilted her head, then she looked back at the horses that were racing out of sight. She grabbed the reins and turned the sled around, "come on, Suri!"

• • •

They followed the trail of ice all the way to the Valley of the Living Rock. Krista had heard rumors about this place from the elder ice harvesters, but she figured they were just stories so she didn't stay up past her bedtime. She hopped off the sleigh at the edge of the valley, peeking out with Suri right next to her.

Down below, surrounded by rocks, were 4 people. A redheaded man with a neat beard, unlike the ice-harvesters untamed ones, holding the hand of a little boy with really light hair who looked very scared, trying to hide behind the man's legs. The woman had blonde hair much like Krista's, and in her arms was a redheaded boy wrapped up in a blanket. Krista gasped quietly.

"I think that's the king and the queen," she told Suri, "Only one person has that kinda hair, and it's the prince," she recognized the heir, who was a few years older than her.

"Help, please! It's my son!" the King cried at the pile of rocks. Krista had to press a hand to her mouth so she didn't laugh.

The feeling quickly left her when a bunch of rocks began to tumble down the valley towards them.

They'll be crushed, she thought, with half a mind to reveal herself and say something.

But, shockingly, the rocks stopped moving at their feet. The rocks then unfolded, revealing bright faces. They had of course rocky skin, but with human features like big ears at the top of their heads and massive noses, and their clothes looked like they'd ripped a patch of grass from the ground and decided to wear it as a tunic. Most of them had different colored crystals hanging around their necks which glowed faintly in the dark. In their dry grass-like hair some of them had flowers. Maybe the girls?

"Trolls...?" Krista said, puzzled. She almost screamed when the boulder she'd been leaning on sprang up.

"Shh! I'm trying to listen," it... she said. It had a girl's voice. With her stubby hands she pulled them closer. Krista whimpered softly, still surprised and a little afraid the elder's stories were actually true. Suri, on the other hand, playfully licked the troll's face.

"Cuties!" the troll gushed, eyeing them both and hugging them closer, "I'm gonna keep you," Krista smiled at that, a nice warm feeling settling in her chest. The nice feeling of being wanted. The troll's attention returned to the valley below. "Oh! Grand Pabbie will help them."

The crowd below parted for a troll as old as the Earth, slow and careful in his steps. Krista could tell him apart from the others because he had bushy grass eyebrows and a sort of beard made of the stuff too. That and he had way more crystals than any of the others, with a soft yellow glow.

"Your Majesty," the troll king, Grand Pabbie, or whatever he was, nodded respectfully at the King. Then he looked at the prince, whom he had at eye-level, "Born with the powers or cursed?"

"Born," the King replied, placing a hand on his son's shoulder, "And they're getting stronger," he added as an after-thought.

Grand Pabbie gestured at the Queen to bring the younger prince closer. She did, kneeling down so the troll could reach him.

"Ah, it's just his head," the old troll sighed, "Good thing it was not the heart. That is tricky to change. But the head can be persuaded."

"Do what you must," the King said.

"I recommend we remove all magic. Even memories of magic... to be safe," the troll placed a hand on the prince's forehead. "But don't worry. I'll leave the fun."

Once again Krista almost screamed when Grand Pabbie pulled out a glowing blue energy from the young prince's head. It's like she was there, watching the moments of the young prince's life through the eyes of someone that had been there. What Krista assumed must've been his memories floated above him. Grand Pabbie changed all of the magical memories to ordinary memories- snowball fights indoors with the boys in their sleepwear changed to outdoors on the winter fjords with them in winter gear, building snowman's and forts indoors also changed to the outdoors. Grand Pabbie then placed a hand on the still sleeping boy's forehead, thus placing the new ordinary memories back in his head.

"He's gonna be okay," Grand Pabbie said, getting a sigh of relief from the royal family in return.

"But..." the prince with the icy magic frowned, "He won't... he won't remember I have powers?"

"It's for the best, Elliott," his father said with a kind smile. But Elliott just looked worried.

"Listen to me, Elliott. Your power will only grow," Grand Pabbie explained, using his magic troll powers to bend the Northern Lights to his will, conducting them to show the blue silhouette of an adult Elliott creating beautiful snowflakes, "There is beauty in your magic..."

Elliott smiled tentatively, pleased by the pretty snowflakes and the friendly-looking human silhouettes around him. But then the image changed sharply to red, and the snowflakes turned into spikes, all-too similar to the ones he'd created in the ballroom.

"But there's also great danger. You must learn to control it," the troll said firmly, in the Northern Lights display the human silhouettes panicked and started to attack Elliott because of the spikes. "Fear will be your enemy."

Elliott gasped and stumbled back, terror clear in his blue eyes. The King caught him and put an arm over his son. "No. We'll protect him. He can learn to control it, I'm sure... until then...

"We'll lock the gates.

We'll reduce the staff.

We will limit his contact with people

and keep his powers hidden from

everyone... including Andy.

• • •

Andy watched, confused and sad, as they transported Elliott's four-poster bed to a new room. As they transported his clothes, his toys, his books... everything. Leaving a huge empty space where his best buddy used to be. He caught Elliott's eye as he was slipping inside his new room, and he smiled.

Elliott probably attempted to smile, but it came out more like a grimace, his stormy eyes full of pain. Andy wondered why.

"Elliott."

But the door clicked shut, and no matter how many times Andy knocked and pleaded and threatened, it did not open again.