Chapter Three
Elsa couldn't speak for a minute, awestruck by the woman's arresting beauty. She opened her mouth, willing words to come forth, and closed it when no words came. She could not tear her eyes away from the woman's alluring beauty, endowed in a luscious white dress with layers of sequins in the shapes of snowflakes. Her earrings were also snowflakes made out of pure ice. It seemed to Elsa that everything this curious woman wore was made out of ice. Her snowflake necklace and its chain were crafted from delicate ice, just as the rest of the lady's accessories, clothes, and high-heel shoes poking from under her dress's hem were.
"Who are you?" Elsa whispered.
The woman's smile thinned, red lips shrinking from fullness into a hard line. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees.
"Do you mean to say you do not know who I am?"
Elsa flinched at her words' iciness; as though sensing her worry, the woman's expression softened. Now she looked kinder, less intimidating.
"I did not mean to offend you," Elsa apologised in a small voice.
The lady chuckled without humour.
"Quite the opposite, my child." With one regal movement, the woman stood up. Her height and way of carrying herself, even just standing still, made for an imposing figure.
"You still haven't said who you are," Elsa said, voice still small and timid.
A flourish of the queen's hands and snowflakes the size of pigeons fell from the ceiling. Elsa gaped as she looked up—this woman had snow powers just like her!
I've found someone just like me, and she is awfully kind too.
"I am the Snow Queen," she announced grandly, "A lonely woman longing for the companionship of a child who has the power of snow and ice just as I do." Now the woman bowed her head, an indulging smile pulling her mouth upwards. "And at long last, you have come to me."
"How did you know I have powers?"
"I can sense others with snow magic like mine," the Snow Queen explained, "And you are the first I have known for a long time." Now she lowered herself so she was at Elsa's height. "Now my dear child, what is your name?"
"Elsa."
"Did you come here to Oz alone?"
Elsa blinked at her, confused. She didn't know of any place named Oz.
"You do not know of Oz? Pity, that," the snow queen shook her head, "Oz is the great and mysterious land beyond your world, surrounded by a deadly desert."
"I can imagine," Elsa agreed, "Deserts are very dangerous—there are scorpions and snakes for a start."
"Scorpions? Snakes? What are these things you speak of?"
"You don't have them here?"
"No, I cannot imagine we do. They are of your world?"
"They are very dangerous creatures that live in the desert," Elsa explained, "Scorpions have large stings on their tails, and snakes are…legless lizards."
The Snow Queen's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh my, the poor things. How do snakes manage to move without limbs?"
"They…slide along," Elsa shrugged, "Snakes move in winding patterns."
"Oh…I see," said the woman, though she still looked confused, "Ah, never mind all that now, Elsa. Now, tell me, did you come to Oz alone?"
"No, I was with my sister, Anna. She kept tagging after me."
"Do you still want to look for her?"
Elsa frowned, folding her arms, eyes looking up at the older woman from under furrowed eyebrows.
"Not now," she declared, "she deserved to be lost."
A gleam twinkled in the Snow Queen's dark blue eyes, but it was gone before Elsa could ask what had pleased her so much.
"We needn't worry now," the woman soothed, "you are with me now. This castle could be your new home if you so desired."
Elsa cast another glance around the room, marvelling at the delicate patterns of frost on the windows like the breath of Jack Frost. Snow still fell from the ceiling, settling on Elsa's little shoulders and thick blonde hair. At last, she had someone else to talk to who also had snow powers. Her sister didn't have any magic at all. People without magic weren't very fun—quite boring, really. She still puzzled over the statues. Pointing them out, Elsa directed another question at her new friend.
"Did you make those sculptures yourself?'
The Snow Queen narrowed her eyes, her warmth evaporating without warning.
"Do not ask me again about the statues."
Elsa bit her lip, cringing, lowering her head. "Yes, Snow Queen."
The Snow Queen reached out a soft hand and patted Elsa's head. The kindness in her face reappeared like nothing had happened.
"Good girl," she purred, "So understanding."
Elsa quickly decided to bring the conversation back to a previous topic, a much safer one that her friend had seemed happy to talk about.
"Can you tell me more about Oz?"
"I certainly can, if you would like to hear about it tomorrow. Surely you are very weary from your journey?"
Elsa had not paid a single thought to whether she was tired, but now a weight of fatigue settled upon her. She yawned, rubbing her eyes. The Snow Queen smiled down at her with great indulgence.
"Poor child, you really are tired," she said, "come and you can sleep at my feet. But first, let me kiss you, as I ought."
And the Snow Queen planted a tender kiss on one of Elsa's cheeks. The girl tried not to shiver for the kiss was colder than anything she'd felt before. An icicle of cold shot through her, and though she wasn't aware of it, her heart transformed completely into ice. But with the kiss came strange warmth, like the icy room had thawed in the heat of a summer sun. Elsa no longer felt the extreme cold from the Snow Queen's arguably more powerful magic. Maybe someday Elsa's own magic could be as powerful as her new friend's.
The Snow Queen's second kiss—planted on Elsa's other cheek—caused the girl to forget all about home and everyone she loved. She no longer recalled—or missed—the acres of free space to run around and play in the suburbs, nor the modest little working-class house she called home for all her life. She didn't remember building snowmen or ice-skating with Anna, nor did she remember her mother and father's love. Her beloved sister might as well have been a stranger she once passed on some nameless gravel road. Her parents might be some other couple in love living on the other side of the suburb. Her heart was now completely frozen, but Elsa did not freeze—not yet.
"I should not kiss you a third time," the Snow Queen said, "For it shall be fatal if I did so."
Elsa looked at her with questions in her eyes. "How?'
"You shall pass from this world if I kiss you again. But let us now dwell on happier things, my dear child."
And taking Elsa's hand, the Snow Queen grandly gestured to a space at the foot of her throne.
"You may sleep here, my child, and we shall talk together. You are welcome in my home."
Elsa walked to the foot of the queen's throne where she sat down on the step that the Snow Queen wished her to settle on. Awe still in her eyes, Elsa gazed up at the Snow Queen.
"Now, what do you wish to know of my country?" purred the queen.
"Everything."
The Snow Queen's eyebrows shot up. "Really, child? And do you know all there is to know of your world?"
"No, it's impossible."
"And so it is the same with the Land of Oz. One—except that witch Glinda—cannot possibly know all there is to know of Oz."
"Is there a reason everything here is yellow?"
Snow Queen shrugged. "The Winkies are obsessed with the colour yellow. I don't fancy it myself, and have always meant to change the carpeting and draperies in this old castle."
"What are the Winkies?"
The Snow Queen's gaze flickered to the statues. "They are people who live here. The only thing they ever do here is work with tin. They worship the Tin Man in his castle."
"Who is the Tin Man?"
"Think, child. What does his name imply to you?"
Elsa, having had met no one made out of tin or straw in her world, simply gave her answer.
"He works with tin."
"He is tin, and since the Wicked Witch has died, they have designed a castle of tin for him to reside in and asked him to be their new ruler."
"But…aren't you a queen?"
The Snow Queen sniffed, warmth absent in her eyes. "I suspect they are scared of me. The Winkies will run from their own shadows if it startles them enough."
"I'm not scared of you."
Maybe a teensy-weensy bit, but not much.
"Thank you, my dear, you are the first to not be afraid in my presence." The Snow Queen paused, inviting Elsa to offer another question.
"Is the Winkies' country the only part of Oz?"
"Why no, child, there are three other lands in Oz. We are in the West, in the old castle of the Wicked Witch of the West."
"The Wicked Witch of the West?"
"She died not long ago, but she was very old. She held the Winkies under her rule, asking them to do work for her, which they willingly did. Then a little girl threw water over her, melting her, on the old Wizard of Oz's request."
And so Elsa asked more questions, the Snow Queen revealing to her of the different locales of the lands and their peoples. Elsa learned of the Emerald City that glowed so bright and green that everyone who visited or lived there had to wear sunglasses day in, day out, lest they were blinded. The Emerald City, Elsa also learned, was where the Wizard of Oz lived. The Emerald City was nestled at the centre of four lands, including the Snow Queen's homeland. The Munchkins—whose favourite colour was blue—lived in the East, the Gillikins country—great lovers of the colour purple—to the North, and finally the red-loving Quadlings—where Glinda the Good Witch resided—lived in the South.
All of this talk of geography and many different lands and people begun to make Elsa drowsy. She tried to remember everything the Snow Queen said, but it mixed up in her memory. She began to think the Quadlings in the North and couldn't remember whether the Gllikins were fond of red or purple.
"Who is Glinda the Good?" Elsa asked very sleepily.
"I do not speak of her," the Snow Queen said, "but my goodness, dear child, you are really tired. Come, lie down at the foot of my throne, and there you shall have sweet dreams."
Grateful for the Snow Queen's generosity, Elsa lay down at the foot of the throne, where she closed her eyes. She didn't see the glimmer of triumph in the Snow Queen's cold gaze as she reached out long fingers to stroke Elsa's hair.
"Have sweet dreams, my little companion," she murmured, "I am grateful you have chosen to stay. I shall not be so lonely anymore."
Elsa drifted off into a deep slumber, feeling very safe and secure in the hospitality of her new friend. Not once did she think of or dream about her little sister lost elsewhere in Oz.
A/N: Next chapter, we will finally find out what happened to Anna!
