Ch. 6: History Lesson
It turned out I wasn't the only one to have a dream that night in the castle. Elsa had a dream of her own that turned into a nightmare.
Her dream started out pleasant enough, with her taking lessons on controlling her powers with me. The scene shifted and I was standing in front of her, holding a repaired fob watch in my hand. I departed for my own time and when I left the queen felt something break inside her. Once again the scene shifted but this time her powers were completely out of control. She had cast Arendelle into another permanent winter and now the people were marching on the palace carrying torches and pitchforks and demanding her execution. Finally they broke past the gate and rushed in.
Elsa waited in her room, too scared to think straight. The door handle jiggled and when it opened Elsa fired an ice blast without thinking. It was actually Anna who had opened the door, coming to get her sister out of the deathtrap the palace had become. The blast had hit Anna in the heart and she collapsed, shivering while her hair started to go white.
"You've doomed us all," she gasped just before she froze solid.
Before Elsa could even move the townspeople burst in and grabbed her, forcing thick gloves on her hands. They dragged her out of the palace to the town square where they had erected a pole and piled kindling at the base. Elsa was tied roughly to the pole while another approached with a torch and touched it to the kindling. The fire caught instantly and she could feel the heat as it got closer and closer.
Elsa woke up drenched in sweat and gasping as she frantically cast her gaze around her bedchamber before realizing it was a dream. She leaned back on the headboard and let out a sigh of relief. She was alright, the townspeople weren't trying to burn her, and Anna wasn't frozen. Elsa repeated this mantra in her head until she felt calm enough to get out of bed. As she walked out onto the balcony the fading moonlight washed over her, making her seem to glow with an otherworldly light. She looked out over the still quiet town and simply took the time to relax and think.
As the sun just barely started to rise, tinting the edge of the sky the faintest of oranges, she finally went back inside to start getting ready for the day. After taking a bath to rid herself of the sweat that was still clinging to her and drying off she put on a robe and dried her hair. After taking out another blue dress and putting it on, the blonde started to put her hair back in its customary French braid but her trembling fingers impeded her progress. After two unsatisfactory attempts, Elsa groaned in frustration and frost started to cover the mirror. That's when she decided to do what she normally did when life was particularly overwhelming. She started to sing.
"The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen.
A kingdom of isolation,
and it looks like I'm the Queen.
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in;
Heaven knows I've tried
Don't let them in,
don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel,
don't let them know
Well now they know
Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don't care
what they're going to say
Let the storm rage on.
The cold never bothered me anyway
It's funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can't get to me at all
It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me,
I'm free!
Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You'll never see me cry
Here I stand
And here I'll stay
Let the storm rage on
My power flurries through the air into the ground
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I'm never going back, the past is in the past
Let it go, let it go
And I'll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone
Here I stand
In the light of day
Let the storm rage on The cold never bothered me anyway!"
Singing was the one thing that always made her feel better when she was done. And after getting all that emotion out Elsa felt ready to face the day.
It was still early, too early for Anna to be up yet so Elsa decided to take advantage of the quiet while it lasted and go to the library to do some reading she wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. But when she got there she found a fire lit in the fireplace and one of the lamps on the table had been lit, casting light on the person occupying one of the chairs with a book.
"Daniel, I didn't expect you up this early."
"Oh, good morning your majesty. Yeah, I wasn't planning on being up this early either but…"
"But what?"
"It doesn't matter right now," I said and quirked a smile. "You look positively radiant this morning."
"Thank you," Elsa blushed. "You look rather handsome yourself."
"I can guarantee that's a compliment I'll remember forever."
"What are you reading?" she asked as she sat down in the chair next to mine.
"I am reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley."
"Is that a book you still have in the future you're from?"
"It's a classic when I come from. Mary Shelley was the first to write in a genre known as science fiction in my time. And reading it then it's still as powerful as it is today. Not everybody finds it as scary as people do now but it still brings up some compelling questions that scientists will struggle with for a very long, well beyond my time in fact."
"What is it like when you're from?"
"It's… different. Very different from what you have now. There are so many inventions coming in the next decades that you won't believe how much of an impact most of it has on the future."
"Really? Can you give me some examples?"
"Alright, pretty soon, human civilization is going to become increasingly dependent on electricity. We're going to start using it for all sorts of things, lighting for instance. In 1890 Thomas Alva Edison will invent the light bulb. Think of it like a candle that runs off electricity and lasts longer. But before that Alexander Grahm Belle invented the telephone in 1876. The Telephone allowed for people to communicate with people long distances away instantaneously. The phone was a handheld device with a piece that you hold up to your ear to hear what the other person is saying and a piece for you to speak into. Using this, you can send your voice to the other side of the world and talk to someone else who has a telephone.
"Next, the horseless carriage will be invented in 1896. It's not that great at first. The first horseless carriage's top speed is nine miles per hour and with a one and a half liter fuel tank its range is limited to five miles. Nevertheless it'll prove that personal motorized transportation is possible and it paves the way for Henry Ford to make the first mass produced automobile for the masses, the Model T. By the time it goes out of production in 1927 half the world will have one.
"The next big invention is radio, the transmission of sounds through the air by electromagnetic waves. The radio will become the world's favorite form of entertainment with drama shows for kids and music and news for adults until the invention of television. Television works in a way similar to radio except with television you also get a moving picture to accompany the sound."
"A moving picture?"
"I know, it sounds absolutely impossible right?"
"If I didn't believe you were a wizard or that you're from the future I'd think you crazy."
"Well, I've been called that a few times before," I shrugged and earning a small grin of amusement from Elsa.
"Is there anything else?"
"Those are all the really big inventions that will shape the world I come from so I don't have anything else for now. Besides, I don't want to tell you too much. Who knows what will happen to the timeline then."
"What do you mean?"
"Time travel is a risky business. Every time someone travels through time they run the risk of altering history possibly for the worst. There's also the concern of the butterfly effect. That idea stems from the theory that a butterfly flaps its wings and it creates a bit of wind that gets stronger as it travels across the globe and by the time it reaches the other side of the world you have a storm. The effect as applied to time travel is that you create ripples in the timeline that get bigger the farther they move through time and when you get back to your own time you arrive at a future vastly different from the one you knew."
"How do you know all this? You must be one of the smartest people alive."
"Smartest? I don't think so. There are plenty of people smarter than me. Those are the people that are making the technology of the future. For example, in a little over one hundred years, after years of research and hard work, the world will be watching their television sets to watch as the first man steps foot on the moon."
"What, you mean the moon that appears in the night sky?" Elsa asked incredulously.
"Yes, that big crater pocked white orb we see hanging in the sky at night. In 1969 there will be a man walking on its surface. And the men who made the technology to make the seemingly impossible feat possible were all way smarter than I am."
"Well you're still the smartest man I know."
"Thank you, it helps when you've studied history. Speaking of which, if I can't get back to my own time there's a good chance I'll be around for the moon landing."
"What do you mean, you said that happens in 1969."
"Yes, I did. But wizards age at a slower pace than non-magic people. I'll probably look a little over middle-aged by the time it happens."
"Is there anything a wizard can't do?"
"Make food out of thin air and create life," I answered immediately.
It was then that the clock chimed seven-thirty.
"It's breakfast time, I'd better go pry Anna out of bed or she'll be there all day."
"You're the early riser in the family then?"
"Yes, someone has to be to get the other out of bed before noon."
"I'll meet you in the dining hall then, alright?"
"That's fine. I'll be there shortly."
"If you need help just let me know. I have a spell that will get her out of that bed quicker than you can saw 'chocolate.'"
"Sounds tempting. If it comes to it I'll call for you."
"Alright, assuming you can get her out I'll meet you all in the dining hall."
A/N: Another update for you all. So sorry for keeping you waiting so long for Daniel to start training Elsa, this took off in a direction different from what I had planned. We should be getting to that next chapter. And possibly the first appearance of... Olaf.