Elsa walked down the corridors and tried to contain her disappointment in herself. She really had no self control, and she wasn't fit to be Queen. She should resign and let someone else take over. Who, though? Who could she trust that would be responsible enough to take her place and was a good enough person to rule wisely? Not any of her advisors, that's for sure.
Maybe they were right, maybe she needed a king? But if she did need a king, she wanted to get one on her own terms, make sure he was good husband and father material, and someone who would rule wisely, not with an iron fist. Or worse yet, listen to the advisors constantly and not have a mind of his own. That would really be terrible.
She glanced down at the floor out of habit, and was surprised to see no ice or snow or anything wintery at all lingering there and mocking her inability to control it. Perhaps all she needed now was to be able to control her anger, rather than just her powers?
She raised her hand to open the door to the library as quietly as she possibly could. She knew the librarian was quite prone to late nights and tended to sleep through the day, preferring to not be disturbed during his slumber. She knew all this, and yet this time she felt that she truly needed his guidance. He was the only one so far who'd helped her without judging her at all. Who knew it was so difficult being Queen? She hadn't, that's for sure. She'd thought it'd be all cups of tea in the garden and "off with his head!" But apparently it was more complicated than that, and gut instinct wasn't enough to navigate the tangled webs of palatial life.
She thought maybe she'd try and find what she was looking for without the help of the librarian, but he had a strange tendency to know, even in his sleep, whenever someone had entered his domain. Maybe even now he was stirring in his slumber, ready to yell at her for waking him when she'd done nothing but try not to disturb him, but he wouldn't see it that way.
She tiptoed through the dusty shelves, bending over gracefully to pull her icy heels from her feet so as to be as silent as possible. She'd tried to convince the librarian to let more light in here to liven up the place, but he was convinced that it was bad for the books' longevity, claiming that they would rot away in the sunlight and all their colours would fade with the exposure. Her countering argument had been that in the sunlight it would be easier to see the books and they could save on oil for all the lanterns he used down here to keep the shadows at bay. He was an old man now, and she humoured his superstitions, though she didn't believe in them.
With a loud clanging noise she tripped over a lantern resting on its floor, its light now extinguished as it lay on its side. She cursed under her breath, wishing she wasn't as clumsy sometimes. She was Queen, she was supposed to be graceful all the time, having been brought up as the heir to the kingdom. What would people think of her if she tripped over in public? That she was a fake, that's what! She may dislike all this responsibility, but she didn't want that.
"Elsa? Is that you? I thought you weren't coming down until tonight?" came the crotchety voice of her mentor from the stairs that led to his private quarters.
"It's me, Obita, don't worry. I just accidentally knocked over one of your lanterns, I'm sorry if I woke you?" she yelled back at him, as his hearing wasn't the greatest.
"Quick, child, get out of the shadows!" he yelled impatiently, gesturing to her with a gnarled hand, his fingernails clawed with lack of use.
"Don't be silly, the shadows can't eat me, Obita. I don't know where you get these silly stories from," she told him, half trying to convince herself.
"It's not the shadows themselves you need to be scared of, child, but what dwells within them. It is there that you will find the true monsters," with this ominous speech, Elsa couldn't help but run for the brightly lit stairs, still not exactly sure what she was running from, but happy to be safe again.
He smiled sweetly at her. "Now what was it you wanted to inquire about, my dear child?"
"Oh nothing much, just wondered whether you've found anything yet?" she paused momentarily. "And I kinda had another moment with my advisors in the meeting I had today," the last she said in a rush, hoping he would be so distracted he wouldn't notice. It was not to be.
"No, dear child, I haven't found anything of consequence yet, but they do say that good things come to those who wait!" he chuckles good-naturedly. "Now what's this I hear about abominable snowmen throwing people out of meetings?"
Elsa smiled sadly at him. "How you find these things out without ever leaving the library is beyond me," she avoided the question, quite deftly, she thought.
He tapped his nose. "I have my ways, dear child, now no more of this avoiding the question nonsense! I'll have none of it in my library!" and his chest swelled up with masculine pride at his wonderful creation.
"Yes sir!" she saluted comically, hoping to bring a smile to the little man's face.
"Elsa," he threatened, wagging a finger at her.
"Alright, alright. They were all getting distracted and off topic and all I wanted to say was that I wanted to stop all this suitor nonsense and they all laughed at me, especially this idiotic one named Gaston so I threatened to have him thrown out but he just wouldn't stop and none of them were listening so I just had him chucked out and ended the meeting before I ended up doing something even more drastic!" she spoke all in a rush, trying to defend her faults in character, leaving out the conversation between her and Prince Eric, feeling that it should remain between the two of them. Lord knows she'd done enough things wrong already in her short life. She hated that she kept inadvertently adding to the list.
He sighed. "Elsa you must learn to control your emotions, especially your anger! You could become dangerous to the people you care about!"
"I know!" she yelled. "That's why I came straight here, so you could help me, not yell at me and make me feel worse than I already do!"
"I'm sorry, Elsa, but you know how I feel about the magic," he sighed again. "If it were up to me I'd find a way to get rid of the magic entirely!" another sigh escaped his mouth. "But I know you need the magic to keep Olaf alive until winter comes around again and he's really rather good at keeping you calm, I suppose."
She nodded, glad that he agreed with her. Was there even a way of getting rid of her magic? If there was, would she want it? This required serious thought!
"Right then! To work, sweet child! We have serious work to do!"
"Finding books again, because you forgot where you put them?" Elsa asked in a blank tone.
"Don't be disrespectful, Elsa, of course we're going to look for books, where do you think we are? A swamp?" he pinned her with his beady eyes stare.
"With the way it smells," she murmured under her breath.
"What was that, child?" he asked, leaning closer to her with his rank breath.
"Obita, haven't you even heard of personal hygiene?" she held her nose delicately between two fingers until he leaned back again.
"Is it a type of book?" he questioned, twitching his nose as if sniffing out something delicious.
She rolled her eyes, despite knowing that it was unladylike. Who cared? It wasn't like anyone could see her down here, except Obita, and he obviously didn't care.
She spent the next few hours helping Obita sort out his shelves, and racing about the place being careful not to step in the shadows as she relit lanterns that had gone out while he slept earlier. Despite the outward appearance of boredom she gave off, time flew as she daydreamed of the future.
"Are you ready to practice, Elsa?" Obita asked her from the other side of the room, still furiously sorting books into neat piles while she took a short break from the surprisingly exhausting work. "I think maybe today we should work on you controlling... hmmm, perhaps it will work better if I don't tell you what I have planned?" the last mumbled to himself, but Elsa used an icy breeze to carry his words to her. It was a skill she figured she'd need so she could avoid any potential revolutions, even though it was unethical. Right now she still had no idea what Obita was going on about, but that was totally normal.
"Yes, Obita," and she got to her feet, summoned her shoes to her and walked across the room to him.
"Good good," he murmured. Then his whole facial expression changed entirely. "Elsa! You have been very naughty!"
She felt shocked. What had she done wrong? She hung her head in shame. If Obita was telling her she'd done something wrong, then it was probably important, and whatever it was, she instantly regretted it.
"You are unfit to be Queen of this kingdom! An Ice Queen! Please? You're no better at ruling than a puppy dog, all bark and no bite, and your bark isn't particularly scary either. Eternal winter? As if! You couldn't control your emotions for that long even if it killed you!" his whole demeanor had changed into something so unfamiliar that Elsa wasn't sure if he was even the same person!
"And Anna! Everybody knows she just puts up with you because she feels sorry for you! She knows who should really be ruling this kingdom and it isn't Miss Ice-Puppy here! That's the real trouble with you Elsa, you wouldn't even recognise betrayal until it walked right up and pinched you on the nose! Do you really think your sister actually cares about you? Or anyone else for that matter? Especially knowing how dangerous you can be when you want to!"
"Enough!" Elsa screamed, tears running down her face.
She had kept her hands at her side, and controlled the vehemence of her voice, yet let it be loud enough to get across how shocked she was, how surprised. And angry!
Yet somehow there was no ice or snow around her at all, except for her dress and shoes. She was surprised at herself. She didn't think she had that much control.
How much of what Obita just said to her to purposely make her angry was really true though? Was she really that naïve? Could everybody see right through her like the purest of ice? Maybe she needed to work on that once she'd worked on her anger management. A good poker face, that's what she needed.
"Did you mean all that?" she asked Obita softly while slowly looking up from where her gaze was glued to the floor.
"Of course not, dear child, I'm not that cruel. And your sister does care about you, otherwise she wouldn't have saved you from Hans, would she?" he brushes some invisible lint from his sleeve, probably to avoid looking her in the eye. She hoped he wasn't lying, because if he was she'd have him thrown out! She cared about him, and that's what would hurt the most should he ever decide to actually betray her. She hoped it would never come to that. Who else could she rely on when Anna was away?
She nodded in silent reply, her gaze falling back to the floor as she contemplated all the things she had learnt today. She turned and slowly began to walk out of the library, this time miraculously missing all the lanterns laying on the floor to hold back the shadows that Obita was so terrified of.
"Congratulations on your achievement!" he yelled after her as the door slammed shut behind her, courtesy of an icy wind that she carefully shut down after it had served its purpose.
She was hungry, and it was time for dinner.