The Calm

"What are we going to do, my Queen?" Fairy Mary asked Queen Clarion, "If what you surmise is correct, then the pirates will surely be back for the Blue Pixie Dust, and we need what we have left to keep the Pixie Dust Tree revitalized until the next Autumn Revelry!"

"You're right, Fairy Mary, and those men will not care that all fairy life depends on it," Queen Clarion responded, "They would tear apart the island looking for it, perhaps even destroy the Pixie Dust Tree if they believed it hidden inside. We will have little choice but to defend our home."

"But we're not fighters, your Majesty!" Fairy Mary protested, "We have no skill in using our talents in combat, and our small stature isn't likely to do much against such big and mean humans like those!"

"Perhaps we can be of help," offered a deep and kind male voice behind the Queen.

Queen Clarion spun around and gasped in surprise when she saw who it was as she said, "Lord Milori?"

"My Queen," Lord Milori said softly with a bow. As he reached for her hand and tenderly kissed the knuckles, Queen Clarion blushed and stammered, "What….why….how…?"

"Our new human friend made it possible for us to cross the border without you having to use any of the Tree's magic or Tinkerbell crating another machine," Lord Milori answered while indicating the tiny snow cloud hanging over his head, "She said that she had some information as to what the pirates may be planning, so I insisted that she take me along."

As she looked past him Queen Clarion saw that a number of winter fairies had accompanied him, including Periwinkle, all with their own snow clouds, and that Elsa, along with Tinkerbell and her friends were with them. "That is right, your Majesty," Elsa said with a curtsy, "I fear that what I did to send the pirates away won't keep them gone for long, and I thought that you might be able to help me understand why the pirates want this dust stuff so badly that they would kidnap me to help them get it."

"You can understand us now, Queen Elsa?" Queen Clarion asked.

"Yes," Queen Elsa confirmed, "When I used my gift to let Periwinkle cross the border without harm, they both hugged me and their wings did….something to my heart. Ever since then, I've been able to understand everything you guys are saying."

"I see," Queen Clarion said with a glance at Tink and Perri, "Those two are certainly unique even amongst us fairies. As for why the pirates want our dust; as you had mentioned before, pixie dust can be considered to be very powerful, but it is an integral part of our life. It is what enables us to fly and use our magical talents to help with the changing of the seasons in the human world, and it helps us to awaken a fairy that arrives here after it is born."

"Awaken it…after it is born?" Elsa asked.

"When a baby laughs for the first time, that is when a fairy is born," Queen Clarion explained, "but it is only when they are sprinkled with pixie dust from the Tree that they truly become a fairy. Every laugh gives birth to s single fairy, and only the first one, so I send out my fast-flying fairies to use their power over the winds to guide them all here."

"But if it's only the first laugh that becomes a fairy, and the laugh only gives birth to one, then how can Tinkerbell and Periwinkle be sisters?" Elsa asked.

"Forgive me, I should have said that most laughs give birth to only one," Queen Clarion corrected herself, "However, on extremely rare occasions, a child's first laugh is so powerful and full of delight and wonder, a single laugh cannot hope to contain it. When that happens, the laugh splits in two and, should both halves find their way here, then two fairies may be born from that one laugh."

"So that would mean that Tinkerbell and Periwinkle….are twins?" Elsa asked.

"Twins….yes, that human term would probably be most appropriate to describe the relationship between Tink and Perri," Queen Clarion confirmed, "There is still much that we don't know about fairies who are born this way, but we have seen that they do share a unique connection. They seem to have the ability to do things together that no fairy can do alone. You, your Highness, seem to have experienced this for yourself."

"I see. But what does all this have to do with why the pirates want it?" Elsa asked her.

"In addition to waking fairies who are born and giving us the power of flight," Queen Clarion explained, "it can also give inanimate objects the power of flight. Even humans and animals can fly when sprinkled with the dust, so long as they think happy thoughts. That was how Tink and the others brought you here when you passed out, even though you weigh so much more then they could carry."

"The power of flight!" Elsa said with a dreadful realization, "If the pirates could make their ship fly, then they would be unstoppable! No navy in the world could hope to bring down such a vessel!"

"Yes, that does sound dire," Queen Clarion agreed, "However, the pixie dust that comes from the tree does wear off after a while. Not quickly, mind you, but enough so that we remain dependent on it, which is why we must be mindful to keep it healthy and strong."

"There is another kind of pixie dust, however, and it is that which I believe that the pirates are after," Queen Clarion continued, "Once every eight years, during the Autumn Jubilee, we perform a ceremony during which we shine the light of the blue harvest moon through the moonstone. This creates the mysterious and powerful blue pixie dust which we use from then until the next Festival to keep the tree strong and producing the pixie dust that we depend upon."

"Like the aspect of fairy twins, there is much we don't know about the blue pixie dust. However, through Zarina's experiments, we know that when it is mixed with our yellow pixie dust and certain other ingredients it can simulate the talents of other fairies. It is even powerful enough to temporarily switch the talents of our fairies, which is something that's supposed to be impossible. We've never tested it for the purpose of flight, because we need it for maintaining the Pixie Dust Tree, but it may be possible that it could be used for that purpose and that it may not wear off the way that the tree's yellow pixie dust does. However, if we were to surrender it to them, then I fear that the tree will stop producing pixie dust. If that happens, no fairy will ever fly again, and there will be no new fairies ever. It will be the end of Pixie Hollow," Queen Clarion concluded.

Elsa was in shock. She already knew that the pirates were bad, the worst representations of the human race. But for them to end an entire civilization of benevolent beings just to satisfy their own greed and lust for power…!

"I feel bad, though," Queen Clarion said, breaking into Elsa's thoughts, "You have been put though so much because the pirates desire what we have, and yet we know so little about you. Tell me, how was it that you had come by your gifts? Was there a magical artifact involved?"

Elsa was surprised by this course of discussion. "No, not that I'm aware of," Elsa answered honestly, "I've had these powers for as long as I could remember. My parents said that I'd been born with them."

Then, before she knew it, Elsa was telling them her story; how her sister would frequently come to ask her to create a wintery playground, and how she would always oblige. How that fun time had ended when she accidentally struck her sister with her powers, and to save her life both the magic inflicted and the memories of such were removed from Anna's head. How she spent more than a decade in isolation due to the fear of harming anyone she cared about again, not even emerging to attend the funeral for her parents when they were lost at sea. How she'd reluctantly opened the gates for her official coronation when she came of age, only for her anxiety to cause her to lose control of her abilities again, this time exposing her to the public. How she had run away to the mountains and briefly found peace, only for her well-meaning sister to track her down there, causing Elsa's anxiety of cause yet another outburst of power that found it's way to Elsa's heart. How she'd been attacked by the guards of the Duke of Weselton on his orders, and during that attack she'd been captured by Anna's fiancée Hans. Then how she'd escaped the imprisonment, fell into despair when Hans told her that she'd killed her sister, then narrowly escaped execution by the duplicitous Hans when her sister (who wasn't dead yet) had sacrificed her chance to save herself to throw herself between them, freezing solid just before Han's blow landed (an act which ironically saved Anna's life in addition to her own.)

Then she told of more recent events, how she had been using her powers to the public benefit. How her sister had found true love in Kristoff. How the friend she'd created, Olaf, had been enjoying seasons that no snowman had ever done before. How during the Winter Festival a mysterious stranger, Julian, used his own abilities to give her the greatest gift imaginable: he saved her parents from drowning at sea three years ago and returned them to her. How the Duke had heard of that event and, jumping to the wrong conclusions once again, decided to invade her kingdom to have her destroyed as a dark witch. How Julian had summoned legendary warriors from China and, along with Elsa herself, fought alongside them to defend her kingdom until Hans' older brothers came (apparently to apologize for their bother's actions) and forced the Duke to concede defeat and to take responsibility for his own short sighted actions. Finally she wrapped things up with Julian's departure and her abduction by the pirates.

"…which is where you had found me," finished Elsa to Tinkerbell and her friends.

"My stars, that is just so sad!" Rose sniffed as she tried to dry her tears, which had yet to stop.

"No one should ever have to live in fear of their own Talent," Lord Milori said in agreement as he patted Elsa's hand comfortingly.

"It would seem that you've been through far more than we've realized," Queen Clarion said consolingly as she placed her hand alongside Lord Milori's on Elsa's own.

"Part of me thinks that I should just return the crown to my father when I get back home," Elsa confessed, "I nearly killed my sister twice, I've had two attempts on my life by a man who feared what I'm capable of and believed me evil, and I was kidnapped by pirates who sought to have me cause considerable harm to your people. It just seems that my powers are destined to bring pain and suffering whether I have control of them or not, so I don't think that Arendelle needs a Queen like me."

"I disagree," Lord Milori said, "I think Arendelle, or any kingdom really, would be lucky to have a queen like you."

"But, lord Milori…" Queen Elsa started to protest, but Lord Milori raised his finger to silence her as he continued, "Let's look at your reasons for renouncing the throne. You said that you had came close to killing your sister on two occasions with your powers, but according to your story those were both accidents, and was before you had learned how to control them. Not that you have that control, do you think that could ever happen again?"

"No, but…" Elsa answered, but Lord Milori raised his finger again as he continued, "So that's out. Now your other reasons were that one person's fear and ignorance drove him to try and kill you, and another kidnapped you because he wanted to use you as a weapon against us. Sadly, there's nothing that can be done about that. There will always be darkness in the world; those who try to destroy that which they fear and don't understand, and those who seek power at any cost. The choice you have is in how you deal with that darkness, and that choice determines the kind of person you will be. You can run and hide from it, hoping it will pass you by. You can fight fire with fire, using your enemies' tactics against them. Or you can make a stand against the darkness, shining your own light to keep the darkness at bay and make the world a little brighter."

"Now let's look at what you have done," Queen Clarion continued, "We know that you tried running away before, back when you accidentally exposed your powers to the public. How did that work out again?"

"I wound up plunging Arendelle into an eternal winter," Elsa said sheepishly.

"Exactly, and from I learned about you just by listening to you speak about them that you care about your people enough to not make such a mistake again," Queen Clarion stated, "Then there was the actions you had taken concerning the Duke and the pirates. When the Duke surrendered and was at your mercy, you could have had him executed for his treachery, yet you chose to allow him to pick exile in exchange for your giving aid to his people."

"It was actually my father's idea," Elsa reasoned.

"Perhaps, but the choice to go with that idea, to show mercy rather than pursue vengeance, was yours. You chose mercy. That demonstrates both wisdom and strength of character. Finally, when the pirates had kidnapped you and submitted you to the torture of their fiery cage, you could have chosen to get your revenge when you had escaped. Instead, you decided to simply send them away."

"But you heard what I'd said when I found out what would have happened if I'd done what they wanted. I wanted to kill them," Elsa countered.

Queen Clarion shook her head sympathetically as she said, "And no one here blames you for the anger you felt then. But when you were in the heat of the moment, when you had the opportunity and nobody would have blamed you for going to those extremes, you did not. Once again, you chose life rather than death. If only the world had more people with your generosity and wisdom. I think that you would be doing your kingdom and the world a great disservice by not remaining Queen. But nobody can force you to remain, the choice is ultimately your own."

Elsa sighed and smiled wryly as she said, "You two would make natural-born parents, you already have the 'guilt trip' down." For some reason, this statement had Queen Clarion blushing as Elsa continued, "All right then, I'll hold off on making any rash decisions just yet. After all, we still have to deal with those pirates before I can even think of returning home."

"Okay, now that that's settled, tell us more about this Julian fella, sugah!" Rose interjected, "He sounds like an absolute dish! Do you think you'll evah see him again?"

"I don't know," Elsa confessed, "He has to find his way back home to make things right there, and there's no telling if he'll be able to return."

"Because of his country's law demanding his life in exchange for his accidentally killing his brother?" Sil asked softly.

Elsa nodded yes as she continued, "Of course he's powerful enough to force them to let him leave if it comes to that, but I know he won't because that's the kind of person he is. So I'll just have to hope that his parents, the King and Queen, will be kind and forgiving enough to pardon him, or at least mitigate his sentence, so that he may return. Until then this pendant and the waypoint stone back home are the only things I have to remember him by."

"That's the one you told us about? The one that lets you call for Julian's help when you need it?" Tink asked while admiring the craftsmanship of the pendant around Elsa's neck. When Elsa nodded yes, Tink added, "Why didn't you use it when you were trapped onboard the pirates' ship?"

"At first I was going to, when I found myself unable to use my powers on the ship. But then the Captain told me of my sister, then I couldn't risk it," Elsa explained.

"And now?" Fairy Mary asked, still clearly distress about their ability to fight.

Elsa gazed at it for a moment, considering before she said, "No, I don't think so. Not yet. He gave it to me to use in situations that I cannot handle myself, and I don't believe we've yet reached that point. The pirates got the drop on me before, this time I'll be ready for them." She tucked the pendant beneath her neckline and patted it as she finished, "Let's call this plan B. Besides, think that it'd be too hard to see him again so soon just for him to leave again as quickly."

"That's a good idea," Queen Clarion agreed, "The fact that Neverland exists both everywhere and nowhere at once, accessible by following the second star to the right until the morning, has kept our island a relative refuge of safety for many years. However, with more and more groups like the pirates finding their way here, it's becoming of greater importance that my people learn how to defend their home from those who would violate it."

"And I have some ideas on how to go about that," Elsa said, "But before we begin, I have something to ask. I understand that you fairies are responsible for maintaining the seasons?" When Queen Clarion nodded yes, Elsa added, "Which means that you visit the human world?"

"We refer to it as the Mainland, but yes," Queen Clarion confirmed.

Elsa nodded her understanding, then turned towards Lord Milori and asked, "And I'm guessing that it would be your fairies that would be responsible for winter?"

Lord Milori nodded and asked, "Was there something you were needing, child?"

Elsa nodded as she said, "If you can, I'd like you to send one of your fairies to Arendelle. I would feel so much better about all of this if I could be sure that my sister Anna was okay, and that she knew that I was as well."

Lord Milori nodded and said, "I would be happy to have Sled fulfil your request. He is one of the most talented Animal fairies I have."

"I would be honored to, my Lord," Sled agreed with a bow, "My snowy owl could have me there to check on this Anna and back here in no time. However, I don't know how I am to let her know that Queen Elsa is safe. Since she's human, I'm sure that she'd have the same problems understanding me that Elsa here had at first."

"Ooh, ooh! Take me! Take me!" an exuberant Gliss exclaimed as she bounced up and down, "I could use my frost to communicate with her using pictures!"

"What?" Sled said, sounding dismayed and uneasy at the thought of bringing the hyper frost fairy along.

"It's true," Lord Milori agreed, "Though there are some of my frost fairies that may be more effective at their jobs, Gliss is certainly more artistically inclined, which would make her more effective at this particular task."

When Sled seemed to still hesitate, Rose came over and ran her finger along Sled's jawline as she said, "Aww, let her come along, sugah! I'm sure that she'll be of great help, and you would be able to get back here that much sooner!"

Sled sighed, then he grabbed Rose's hand and kissed its knuckled as he said, "Okay, I'll take Gliss with me."

"Yay!" Gliss squealed as she gave Rose an enthusiastic hug, then she ran over to Sled's snowy owl and climbed on as she called out, "Come on! Let's go, let's go!"

Sled chuckled as he strode over to join her. As they flew off, Tink assured Elsa, "I'm sure that your sister is just fine."

"I pray that you're right, Tinkerbell," Elsa said as she watched them vanish into the distance, "I just hope that those two can convince her that I'm okay. Knowing my sister, she's most likely commandeering a ship and a troop of soldiers to come after me, and the last thing I need is for her to get any more involved."

Back at Arendelle, Anna was pacing around in her room fuming. If only she could get out of here, then she could have commandeered a ship and some soldiers, then she could have had her sister home by now! However, ever since those ugly, smelly pirates had grabbed her sister, her father had her locked in her room "for her own protection"!

Anna didn't want to be protected, she wanted to be the one doing the protecting! After all, when her sister had run off scared, wasn't she the one who went off to bring her back home? Granted that didn't exactly work out as planned, but when Hans tried to execute Elsa for "killing" her, Anna was the one who had saved her life, and in so doing saved her own. And when that stupid Duke had invaded to once again try and kill her sister, Anna had thought she had proven herself fairly capable in a scrap. She even had an informal invitation to join the Chinese army issued to her by the guardian dragon of the Hero of China for Pete's sakes! But her father had insisted that she trust the men under his command to find and rescue Elsa.

It had been nearly two days since then, however, and there had been no word from the searching ships! It was as if the pirates had simply vanished, and that was making Anna even more stir-crazy! While she might not have had any better clue as to where to start looking than the sailors that were searching, Anna was certain she could have figured it out!

Anna was in a rather irritable mood when she heard a gentle knocking, which prompted her to whirl towards the locked door and snap, "What!?" There was no answer however, and as she heard the knocking again she realized that it was coming from the opposite direction. As she slowly turned in confusion, she saw something that astounded her. A snowy owl was rapping, or rather pecking, at her bedroom window! She'd read about snowy owls, as that was one of the only things she had to do growing up when her parents had begun their practice of isolation them from the world (and her sister began shutting herself in her room), so she knew enough to know that they didn't live in this part of the world. What she found most astonishing, however, was that she swore there were two little people riding on the owl's back! One male & one female, they both appeared to be clothed in outfits made from bluish-green leaves! As she got closer to the window, she was pretty sure that she'd caught the sparkle of transparent wings on their backs!

"Fairies?" Anna asked in wonder as she opened the window to let them in, pulling her cape around her to stave off the cold air coming in, "Real live fairies?"

"Yes, we are!" Gliss started to yammer excitedly, "My name in Gliss, and this is Sled, and we have come…"

Anna thought that the tinkling voice coming from the fairy was rather pretty, but she couldn't understand what it was she was saying, so she started to apologize, "I'm sorry, but I don'…" Then Anna noticed something that made her breath catch in her throat. Over the heads of each of the fairies was a tiny snow cloud! While her exposure to the outside world had this far been limited, Anna know of only one person who could do that! "Elsa!" Anna asked them, "Have you fairies seen Elsa!?"

Gliss nodded yes, then she went back to Anna's window. As Anna watched, the female fairy, who seemed to have hair much like Elsa's, also seemed to have a gift similar to Elsa's as well, as she proceeded to frost one pane of the window. When she was done, the fairy had used the frost to draw a perfect likeness of Elsa!

"That's her!" Anna said excitedly, her heart speeding in her chest, "Where is she? Is she okay?"

The fairy turned to Anna's window to proceed to create another frost drawing on the second pane, this one of a number of fairies releasing Elsa from a cage over a fire just as a mean looking pirate came through the door holding what appeared to be a butterfly net.

"So you guys rescued her from the pirates? Thank you!" said Anna gratefully.

"It wasn't actually us us," explained Gliss, "It was….never mind, your sister will explain it to you later."

Gliss then turned back towards the window and created a third drawing showing Elsa standing on a beach somewhere using her ice powers to send the pirate ship away.

"Yeah, that's Elsa for you, all right!" Anna said proudly, "So then everything's okay? Elsa's coming home?" When she saw the two fairies looking at each other in concern, Anna asked, "What is it? What's wrong?"

When Gliss turned back towards the window, Sled protested, "Gliss! You're not going to tell her!?"

"She deserves to know," Gliss responded as she began her fourth drawing, one of the pirated ship headed back towards the island.

"The pirates are coming back?" Anna asked, "What are you guys going to do?"

Gliss then made a fifth picture showing two groups charging towards one another, Elsa and the fairies on one side, the pirate crew on another.

"You're going to fight," Anna said, "Please, take me with you!"

"Come on, Gliss," Sled said while mounting the owl, "It's time to go."

Gliss looked sadly at Anna, but she flew over and got back on the owl. Anna, however, was not deterred as she went to move between the fairies and the window as she said, "Please!? I'd been so worried about what had happened to Elsa, and now that I know what she's been through, what she's facing, I can't just sit around and do nothing, hope that it'll turn out all right! I want to help!"

"My Lady?" a guard's voice is heard coming through the door, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine! Thank you!" Anna called out loudly, then softer she said determinedly to the fairies with her fists planted on her hips and a crooked smile on her face, "Look, I'm going to follow you guys anyways, so you might as long take me with you!"

"Aww, let's just take her! It'll be fun!" Gliss said with a smile on her voice.

"Are you nuts!?" Sled said in disbelief, "That's not what we were told to do! Can you imagine how mad Elsa is going to be!?"

"Can you imagine how much madder she'd be if she tried following us on her own and wound up drowning?" Gliss countered in a sly tone.

Sled sighed in exasperation as he said, "I can't believe I'm doing this! Rose is never going to let me hear the end of it!" The he flew off the owl and began to sprinkle his pixie dust all over her.

At first Anna didn't know what the male fairy, who seemed to be in an irritable mood, was doing by covering her in this dust, but then she gasped as her ponytails started to defy gravity and float up on their own! The female fairy then flew up towards her face and pushed up the corners of her mouth. Intuition kicking in, Anna closed her eyes and thought of the happiest memory she knew; that of her and Elsa playing together in the snow when they were kids. She knew that the memory had been altered, that they had actually played together in the castle by using Elsa's powers, but apparently it was good enough as Anna soon found herself floating in mid air! She could not believe it, she was flying! And then she was crashing butt first into the ceiling, but she didn't care as she was having the time of her life! As she taught herself to fly, with increasing success due to the female fairy guiding her here and there, Anna wondered if this was how Elsa had felt back when she was younger and not so touchy about her powers, how she felt now since she'd learned to accept them again. Anna remembered that Julian had told her that she might have had a power that hadn't shown itself, one that might have been taken away as an indirect result of her accident, and that she might still develop one later in life. While Anna knew that this flying was not of her own power, she still felt in this moment that she could really be of help to Elsa and that everything would be all right!

Apparently the sounds of Anna bouncing off the walls was enough to convince the guards that she was not "fine", as they burst into the room together with Anna's parents and gaped up at the sight of her flying around the room.

"Anna? What on Earth…?" Anna's mother gasped.

"Hi mom! Hi dad! The fairies know where the pirates took Elsa and I'm going to follow them and bring her home!" Anna said as they once again mounted the snowy owl, then as they flew through the open window Anna followed them and said, "See ya!"

"Anna, wait!" Anna's father called out to her, unable to catch her in time. Then he turned to his guards and said, "Follow her!"

"Yes, my Lord!" the guard said as he rushed off. However, as Anna's father turned back to look out the window it was apparent on his face that he realized he'd given an order that they would not be able to follow. They would not be able to keep pace with her as fast as she was flying, however she was managing to do so. He could only pray that both his daughters would be all right.

As Anna neared the edge of town, she saw Sven pulling Kristoff and Olaf in the new sled Elsa had helped her get for him. Apparently they were coming to see how she'd been doing since the pirate's raid. When Anna hovered and waved at him, Kristoff pulled hard on the reigns and goggled at her as he stammered, "Anna!? How….what…?"

"The fairies are taking me to where the pirates took Elsa!" Anna explained.

"By yourself? Are you serious!?" Kristoff exclaimed as Olaf looked up at her in delight.

Anna seemed to mull it over in her head then she turned to where the fairies' owl was flapping hard to hover in one place and asked, "Hey guys! Do you think you could…?"

"Hey Anna! How are you flying? I wanna fly too!" Olaf called up at her.

"Ooh, a talking snowman! Let's take them with us!" Gliss said to Sled.

"What!?" Sled said in disbelief, but Gliss didn't wait for his response. Instead, she flew over and dumped the entire contents of her pixie dust pouch all over them, reindeer, sled and all. As Olaf was always happy, he had no problem in achieving flight. Unfortunately, each one of his sections seemed to have a mind of its own and wanted to take off on a different direction, so Anna had to join Kristoff in the sled to keep Olaf from going to pieces. As for Sven, there was two things he did really well: pull a sled and keep an happy demeanor. It didn't even seem to matter to him that the sled was no longer on the ground as he began to pull it through the air after the fairies while Kristoff tried to hold Olaf in his lap.

"I am so getting grounded for this!" Sled moaned as Kristoff reached up again to catch Olaf's disembodies head, who was still laughing in delight, "I mean, who had ever heard of a flying reindeer?"

Meanwhile, in a nearby house, a little girl around seven years old is awoken by the sounds of tinkling bells. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she looks out her window in time to see the silhouette of a reindeer pulling a sled across the moon, with what appears to be a rather rotund gentlemen at the reigns, his hand by what appeared to be a funny shaped hat as joyful laughter rings through the air.

Her face lighting up, she ran out of the room calling out, "Mommy! Mommy! I just saw Saint Nick!"

"Oh honey, it's not even Christmas Eve yet!" a tired sounding young woman's voice can be heard in response, "Please, go back to sleep!"

As a new morning dawned in Neverland, Elsa began to feel a sense of accomplishment. After she'd assured them that the traps she had in mind for the pirates were all non-lethal, they had made great progress in getting them set up. While she'd been very fascinated by all of the fairies' talents, Elsa had been most impressed by Tinkerbell and her fellow tinker fairies. While their talent did not seem quite as magical as the talents, Elsa found their ability to make various tools and machines out of little more than pieces of bark, vines, and various bits of scrap (or Lost Things, as Tinkerbell called them) nothing less than amazing.

As Elsa prepared to follow Rose to check on how far along her fellow Garden Fairies were on the Poison Ivy barriers and the snare traps, she saw something in the distant sky that made her pause. At first she thought it was some sort of large bird. Then, as it got closer, Elsa thought that her lack of sleep was making her see things, because she was a bit to old to believe in Saint Nick. Then, when it was bright enough for Elsa to recognize a familiar reindeer wearing the special harness she herself had commissioned, as well as those riding in the sleigh he was pulling, Elsa's jaw dropped as her heart was torn between a range of emotions; relief, disbelief, fear, anger.

"She didn't!" Elsa said in angry disbelief the same time as she heard Rose say, "He didn't!" in the same tone. As she turned towards Rose, whom she saw was hearing the same look of outraged disbelief she herself had, they said together, "They did!" Then they turned and stalked towards the new arrivals.

As Kristoff brought Sven in for a landing, Anna could not believe how beautiful this island was! She could have sworn that she'd seen actual mermaids swimming in the lagoon that they'd flown over, but she had no way of confirming this as she couldn't have understood their guides even if she'd asked them. When the sled came to a stop, Anna saw that they had gathered a rather sizable crowd as fairies wearing all sorts of different outfits came to see. Of course Sven was especially excited to see all the new faces, and he was especially friendly to one fairy wearing an orange and amber outfit, giving her a slobbery kiss that left her drenched.

As Anna looked around her, she finally spotted emerging from the tree line the face she most wanted to see. As she started to wave at her, however, her hand froze in mid air and her greeting lodged in her throat as she saw that Elsa didn't seem happy to see her. As a matter of fact, both Elsa and the fairy flying next to her looked rather angry!

"Uh-oh!" muttered Kristoff nervously, and Anna could swear that he was voicing her thoughts, "Duck and cover!"

"Anna, what are you doing here?" Elsa asked in an anger born of concern as the female fairy with her began yelling in her tinkling voice at the male fairy who brought Anna here, "Didn't you get my message that I was okay? Why would you put yourself in danger like this?"

Anna, somewhat put off by her sister's attitude, frowned slightly at Elsa as she said, "You do realize that what you just said was contradictory, don't you?"

"What?" Elsa asked, thrown off by Anna's question.

"If you were okay, then my coming here would not be putting me in danger," Anna explained, "If my coming to you would put me in danger, then you would not be okay. It's contradictory."

Elsa, refusing to let Anna evade the question like this, asked again, "Why are you here?"

"I'm here because my only sister is getting ready to fight with a bunch of fairies against the pirates who had kidnapped her!" Anna answered, "I'm here because I wanted to help!"

"The best way you could have helped was by staying at home where it was safe!" Elsa countered.

"Do you honestly think that I could have done that?" Anna asked her, "Just waited patiently back at Arendelle, not knowing if you would be returning from who-knows-where alive, if at all? If I'd played it safe last summer, then you would not be here now to yell at me!"

"I know that!" Elsa yelled back at her, tears forming at the corners of her eyes, "But do you know how much it killed me then, to see you standing there as a lifeless ice statue? Do you think that I could bear to go through that again?"

"I feel exactly the same way about you!" Anna reciprocated as she stepped out of the sled, "I've already attended one funeral for people I cared about! I'm not ready to attend another one for you!"

"You guys shouldn't fight," interjected Olaf as he clambered out of Kristoff's lap, "It sounds like you guys both care about each other enough to want to protect the other. You should just accept that your sister feels the same way. And Rose, it sounds like Sled had only brought Anna along because he was concerned about what would happen if she followed him on her own, and he'd brought us because he knew we'd protect her."

"Wait, Olaf? You can understand them too?" Elsa asked him in confusion.

"Uh, yeah? I guess so," Olaf answered, apparently unable to understand why he wouldn't.

" 'Too'? As in you can understand what the fairies are saying?" Anna asked her sister.

"Yeah," Elsa confirmed, "It's sort of a long story, but something happened to me shortly after my rescue, and now I can understand them. Olaf's right, though, we're not accomplishing anything by fighting now, and it's not exactly any safer standing around here, so come with me and I'll introduce you to the others."

Anna sighed happily as it seemed that Elsa's anger was spent, and she started to walk towards her.

"Oh! But don't step…!" Elsa started to call out in warning, but it was too late. As soon as Anna had stepped forward onto a seemingly level patch of sand, she heard a crack like thin ice breaking and her foot fell through into nothingness, momentum carrying the rest of her forward. As Anna yelped in surprise, her body twisted around instinctively and she landed hard on her bottom in what appeared to be an ice-coated pit.

"…there," Elsa finished sheepishly as she looked down to see her, "Sorry, should have warned you about the pitfall traps we have lining the area around here. Are you okay?"

Anna stood and rubbed her bottom as she answered, "Ow! Yeah, nothing broken except my backside."

Elsa chuckled and reached down as she said, "Here, let me help you out of there."

"That's okay," Anna said, "I think I've got this." Then Anna concentrated and, before Elsa's disbelieving eyes, she flew out of the pit and landed just outside of it.

"How…?" Elsa asked Anna, her eyes wide with surprise, "How did you…?"

"It was the fairies," Anna explained, "They sprinkled some dust on me and now I can fly, so long as I think happy thoughts. "

"Of course, the pixie dust," Elsa said in realization, then more softly, as if to herself, "It all comes back to that, doesn't it?" As Elsa turned and walked towards Sven, she said to Anna, "I know that you wanted to be here, and there's little that we can do about that now, but I don't know what you hope to do. I mean, you didn't even bring any weap…OW!"

That exclamation was accompanied by a metallic thunk as Elsa's right foot struck something buried in the sand. "What in the world?" Elsa asked as she started to unearth what her foot had hit. Then, as she pulled it out, Elsa said wryly, "You have got to be kidding!"

As Elsa held it up, Anna could clearly see what it was: a cast iron frying pan. Anna could even make out a seal imprinted on the bottom that identified it as having been one that was forged and sold by a local blacksmith in Arendelle!

As the fairy Olaf had Identified as Rose said something to Elsa, she replied, "Yes, I remember how you said that things that are lost on the Mainland wind up washing ashore here, but how and when did someone manage to lose a whole frying pan over in Arend….oh, I see now! It must've been during the battle with the Duke! Julian must have missed one."

As Elsa looked at the frying pan now as if it were made of something more precious than iron, Anna held her hand as she said, "You see? This was meant to be!"

Elsa looked at Anna askance as she asked, "There's no talking you out of this, is there?"

"Nope!" Anna confirmed with a smirk, "You're fighting, then so am I!"

Elsa sighed then handed the pan to Anna as she said, "Here, keep hold of this. There's no telling what happens to things that are lost here!" When Anna grabbed it and tied it to a rope she slung around her shoulders, Elsa led Anna towards the tree line, while a couple of fairies showed Kristoff and Olaf the way and still others unharnessed Sven, as Elsa said to them, "Now come with me. I'd like to show you what other surprises we have for the pirates when they get around to showing their faces here again."

James could not believe the indignity of it all! He had went from being a Boatswain to being Captain to a mere Cabin Boy! To add insult to injury, he and Smee were now both dangling from rope harnesses like worms on fishing lines as they worked to remove the last of that witch's ice from the ship's aft. This part was the trickiest, as one wrong swing of the hammer or poorly placed chisel would leave them with an unusable rudder, and the Captain had made it no secret that if he so much as chipped it then he'd have the men cut his line and leave him to drown.

Still James felt a certain satisfaction as, with one last swing, the rudder was finally freed of the ice and the men pulled him back aboard. Black Adder took one look as James was hauled over the railing, then he turned back towards the others and said, "Now, men, the time come! When we set out on this here venture, I had promised you we'd become the most powerful crew ever to have sailed the seven seas! Did you think that I'd let some witch queen and a handful of pixie pests make fools of the crew of the Jolly Roger?"

"No!" the crew cried out in unison.

"Did you think that I'd let a bit of ice make me give up, when the ultimate treasure is so close to being within our grasp?" the Captain asked them.

"No!" the crew cried out again.

"Are you ready, men, to take back that which rightfully belongs to you?" the Captain asked them.

"Yes!" the crew said.

"Then turn about and set the sails!" the Captain ordered, "To Neverland and infamy!"

As James watched the men cheer coarsely as they followed the Captain's orders, James allowed himself a small smile. Suddenly it didn't matter as much to him about losing his position. He still had his life, and with that a chance to regain his title as well, not to mention a little revenge along the way. We'll meet again soon, fairy, James thought to himself, and when we do I'll take great pleasure in making you watch as I pluck the wings from your friends backs one by one!