Kristoff, Sven and Olaf returned to Arendelle that night, much to everyone's delight. But no one more so than Anna.
After refusing to release him from a hug for most of the evening, the two eventually retired to their bed chamber around midnight. And shortly after that, after winning the third game of chess with Olaf in a row, Elsa herself decided she was tired enough to sleep.
In her own bedroom, she stretched, yawned and walked around the large, empty room feeling a little empty herself.
Anna's lively demeanour and excitable laughter wouldn't fill up this room tonight. Elsa only had herself for company this time.
Before even undressing, she sat down at the edge of the bed, heaving a heavy sigh. She sat there for a long moment, letting a feeling of immense sadness trickle through her abdomen.
Oh, stop it! Pull yourself together Elsa, you have no reason to feel this way.
Just as she was about to stand up and start getting ready for bed, she saw it.
A strange shape whizzed quickly past the window.
Elsa felt her eyebrows go up in surprise.
Then it happened again, in one lucid motion.
Feeling a little nervous, Elsa wondered if she should go get a guard. But raw curiosity getting the better of her, she began to inch slowly towards the window, squinting out into the balmy summer night.

Meanwhile, Jack was perched carefully on the window's ledge, chastising himself for being such a moron.
He had underestimated how breezy it was tonight and had shot himself up on a gust of wind far too strong, causing him to zoom past the window like some uncoordinated, oversized bird. Had she seen him yet though? Maybe not.
He slowly lifted his head to peek in the window...and saw the queen inches away from his face, looking right back at him.

Elsa screamed.
Jack yelled.
The queen spun around and ran towards her chamber door, shouting manically for the guards.
"No, wait!" Jack blasted the window open with a small flurry and scrambled inside.
Elsa stopped at the sound of the window shooting open, turned back around and scowled at the intruder.
"Stay back!" she warned. "I can and will hurt you!"
"Don't!" Jack yelped, holding up two hands defensively and wondering somewhere at the back of his mind if this could possibly have gone any worse. "I'm not here to hurt you!"
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Yes, look -" Jack went to run towards her.
"Stay back I said!" and the queen shot a blade of ice at him.
As it sailed through the air towards him, Jack conjured and fired his own icy arrow. The two collided in mid-air and broke each other apart in a shower of ice shards.
Elsa gasped.
As the last of the frosty shavings hit the floor, the queen seemed too shocked and dazed to move.
Jack inched slowly towards her, still holding his hands up non-confrontationally.
"I'm not here to hurt you," he repeated calmly. "Please don't be afraid of me."

Elsa's head was spinning.
Who on earth was this stranger who had burst in her bedroom window? What did he want?
And he had the same powers as her? That was incredible!
And now, he was edging towards her, hands held up in the manner of body language's white flag. But could she even trust him?
Yes.
Something told her yes. In those eyes of his, there was no maliciousness or bad intentions. There was no desire to hurt.
They were quite kind eyes actually...and very attractive come to think of it...
"OK," Elsa shook herself free of these off-putting thoughts. "OK, I get it. You're not going to hurt me. But you are going to tell me who you are and what you're doing here."
"Of course," Jack said, breathing out a sigh of relief as he lowered his hands. "Of course. Thanks."
He smiled at her and for some weird reason, the queen found herself blushing.
"Eh, you're welcome!" she said quickly. "Now, I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle. Who are you?"
"Jack Frost," the young man began to explain. "And to be honest, I don't know how long my story is going to take."

In the end, it took the better part of sixty minutes to tell her everything, from his life as a human boy in 1710 to his adventure with the guardians three hundred years later, to the reason why he had been sent back in time now.
By the end of it, they were both sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room, only a few paces apart.
"Wow," was all that Elsa could think of saying after he had finished. "That's a pretty crazy story you've got there!"
"It's all the truth!" Jack was quick to tell her. "I promise, I'm not lying to you."
Elsa let out a small laugh, which made the muscles in Jack's stomach tighten.
"No, I know you're not," she said and Jack smiled gratefully.
"I've heard plenty about magic and time travellers and even the guardians before," Elsa went on. "My great-grandfather was part-warlock and actually had some dealings with them when he was ruler. Something about North and how much noise the sleigh used to make going over Arendelle on Christmas Eve!"
They both laughed.
Then Jack frowned, thinking.
"If your great-grandfather was part-warlock," Jack said slowly. "Is that the reason why you have the powers you do?"
Elsa smiled sadly, and Jack couldn't help but notice her pallid skin tone, her expressive blue eyes, the slender curve of her jawline. She really was beautiful.
But why the heck did that thought make his stomach act like a little acrobat?
"They don't know," she responded with a gloomy tinge in her voice. "Sure, it could be, but it could have just been a random happening either. They don't really know much about people who were born with these abilities, they know a lot more about the people who were cursed with them or given them through magic."
Jack nodded, trying to imagine what it would have been like if he had harboured his powers since the day of his birth in 1692. It probably would have been stressful at times growing up with such abilities...most likely confusing...almost definitely frightening...maybe even lonely.

"There's still one thing you haven't told me though," Elsa said, pulling Jack away from his musings.
"Hmm?" he blinked at her.
"Why did you come here tonight? And why on earth did you try to sneak in through my bedroom window?"
Jack couldn't help but laugh at himself.
"I'm sorry about that," he said. "I considered getting an audience and coming to see you during the day but the Man In The Moon said that I shouldn't draw attention to myself while I'm here. I think going to see the queen of a kingdom might fall into the category of not exactly being incognito!"
Elsa chuckled at this and it made Jack smile.
"Thing is, I need your help," he said. "From what I know, Gulsvig is an exceptionally powerful spiritual and a really cunning wizard. If I'm going to find that plant before he does, I'm going to need some supplies."
"Of course," replied the queen, nodding seriously. "What exactly do you need?"
Jack smiled gratefully again and Elsa found herself feeling a little hot under the collar.
"Thanks!" he said cheerily. "Thing is, you and I both know that ice is a strong weapon but it can be weak against earth and plants. Especially magic plants! So I need a dagger, just a normal one, to hack through the root of the plant. And a sack to throw it in once I'm done. Probably a shovel too, now that I think of it. I want to do this without using too much of my powers, it'll help keep me subtle like the Man In The Moon wants."
Elsa nodded, considering this.
"We have all that here," she said. "In fact..."
She climbed to her feet, briskly left the room, and was back in under fifteen minutes with a large sack. She passed it to Jack who opened it and saw a shovel and a small, sharp dagger inside.
"Perfect, thank you your highness!"
"No problem," Elsa smiled at him. "Anything else?"
"No, this is great!" Jack grinned, clambering up as he still looked with a grin into the sack. "This mission will be a piece of cake now!"
"Hopefully," Elsa said. "Do you know which way to go to find this Quondam plant?"
"Yeah, don't worry, I have a map!" Jack said, getting excited now. "So I guess the sooner I go," – he suddenly paused, his face fell – "the better."
Elsa was stunned by the feeling of disappointment in her chest.
What the hell did she think was going to happen? That he'd stay with her in this bedroom forever? She blushed again at the mental implications of that last sentence.
But Elsa was a royal, a ruler, and she had to conduct herself as one. She had to do what was best for her people, for all people.
"Well, then you best be on your way," she said in her most ceremonial voice. "A lot of people are relying on you Jack!"
Jack smiled, a little disappointedly himself.
"Right, thanks again," and he turned back to the window.
With each step he took, both their hearts sank.

Just as he gripped the frame to step out, Jack stopped.
"Hey, your majesty?" he ventured.
"Yes?" Elsa replied, a little more breathlessly than she liked.
"You listened to all of my story tonight," he said and then turned to face her. "And I was rude enough not to ask about any of yours."
Elsa looked at him in surprise and then smiled, moved by his thoughtfulness.
"Well...once you get the plant and are returning those objects here to the castle, why don't I tell you?"
Jack nodded.
"Sounds great to me your highness. Bye for now."
And he made a move to climb out the window.
"Wait, Jack!"
"Yeah?" he turned around once more.
"You can call me Elsa."
She didn't know what possessed her to say it. It was totally random, unnecessary and a little bit inappropriate to be honest.
But then, the way Jack smiled at her after she said it...made her feel like she had done the right thing.
"OK," he said amenably. "Thanks for all your help Elsa, I'll see you soon."
And with that, he was gone.