Chapter Six

Elsa's slumber passed by her in a series of pleasant dreams uninterrupted by nightmares. She began to awake in the middle of a beautiful dream about a giant ice palace tucked in the side of a mountain covered in snow. Elsa had watched a majestic ice palace grow from the mountain's very earth. Ice pillars rose to greet the sky, and a giant chandelier of pure ice had hung from the ceiling. When she awoke, she had been striding out onto the icy balcony with a fierce song in her heart, singing to a pink sunrise. Elsa was sorry she had to wake up in the middle of this wonderful dream. Elsa wanted to explore the rest of that breath-taking ice palace, but her eyelids fluttered, glimpses of the waking world dashing away the ice palace in a heartbeat. She shut her eyes tight again, wanting to stay in that wonderful dream, but it was already too late, the palace dissolving to nothing like a snowman in the heat of summer.

Aww, she lamented, I wanted to explore that palace.

With a yawn, Elsa opened her eyes, stretching her arms over her head. For a confused moment, she didn't know why she was in her bed, until she saw that ice-crafted throne before her.

Oh right. I'm in the Snow Queen's palace, in the place called Oz.

Her new home.

"Good morning, my little friend," crooned the Snow Queen's soft voice from the throne, "Have you slept well?"

Elsa was about to say she was fine, but something had her hesitate.

"Wait, I slept since yesterday afternoon?"

"You must have been very sleepy," the Snow Queen said, "Never mind, I am sure you are well-rested from your slumber."

Elsa didn't feel well-rested—her limbs felt heavier and her thoughts were much more sluggish than usual. Nevertheless, she wished only to put the Snow Queen's mind at ease.

"I am very well rested, thank you," Elsa assured, sitting up properly so she could look again on the Snow Queen's enchanting face.

"I am very glad to hear of it. Do you wish for breakfast?"

Elsa's stomach answered for her with a loud growl. Gasping, Elsa clutched her stomach, as though holding it would make it keep quiet. She waited for the Snow Queen to show disapproval, but instead she smiled indulgently, blue eyes still icy as ever.

"I see," was all she said, "You are in luck, for I have the juiciest grapes right here. I do hope you like plump oranges as well."

Elsa thought oranges and grapes an unusual combination for breakfast, but she nodded eagerly. She'd eat anything right now.

"I like that you have plenty of food," Elsa complimented, "back home, we have hardly anything, because of so little money."

The Snow Queen brought a hand to her lips, pity in every feature.

"Oh my poor child, you have little in the way to eat at your old home?"

"Yes, I could say that," Elsa sighed, "so I'm glad I can eat more now."

The Snow Queen reached her arm over to the table next to her throne and brandished a plate of pure ice, on which sat plump grapes and orange quarters. With a benevolent smile, she presented this little breakfast treat to Elsa, who took it from her with eager gratitude.

"Thank you, Snow Queen," Elsa said politely.

"You are very welcome. I have saved only the best for your culinary delights."

Elsa closed her eyes as she popped a grape in her mouth, indulging herself in its tastiness. As she slowly chewed the grape, so as to savour its deliciousness, a thought occurred to her: she did not know the Snow Queen's real name, if she had one. Opening her eyes, she tilted her head in question at the lady on the throne.

"Do you have a real name?" she asked, "or are you simply known as the Snow Queen?"

"I have no real name, my dear," the Snow Queen answered, shifting her feet to rest on the footstool before her, "I am just the Snow Queen, and have always been so."

"Have you always lived here?"

"In Oz? For a very long time, yes, but I have also lived…elsewhere."

"Where?"

"High up on mountain peaks, where even the frigidity of the temperature does not kill me, even though it would be fatal to an ordinary human."

They chatted idly like this as Elsa finished the rest of her breakfast, her stomach now nice and full again after a night of sleep. When Elsa was finished, she stood up and offered the empty plate back to the Snow Queen, who took it and replaced it on the small table next to her throne.

"Now, dear child," the Snow Queen cooed, looking back at Elsa, who now stood on the steps before her throne, "I wish to ask you to do something for me."

"What is it you want me to do?"

"Do you like puzzles at all?"

"It depends," Elsa said, "I prefer puzzles to do with maths or words."

"Oh, very much fortunate!" the Snow Queen cried, clapping her hands once, "for I have a word puzzle for you to play with!"

"Where?"

Now the Snow Queen's face fell from its happy expression, melting back into a cool blankness.

"If you solve this puzzle," she said in a flat tone, "you will be able to leave the castle if you so desired without repercussion. If you succeed, I will gift you also a pair of ice skates."

"But I don't wish to leave."

"I know. This is why my gift is especially for you and your willingness to stay as my companion. Come with me."

Standing up, the Snow Queen offered a hand to Elsa, the latter taking it without hesitation. The Snow Queen's hand was also colder than ice, but Elsa did not feel this, for she was numb and immune to all cold.

Elsa and the Snow Queen stood now before the frozen Lake of Reason, upon which the throne itself resided. There were fine little cracks in the ice, and tiny ice floes bobbing in the clear, still water. If Elsa had not been immunised to the freezing temperatures by the Snow Queen's kiss and her freezing heart, she would have shivered violently before the river.

"See over there?"

The Snow Queen pointed at a pyramid of ice blocks before them. They were neatly arranged into the pyramidal shape, sitting strong atop a thick layer of ice. There were no cracks or groans from the ice to suggest that the pyramid of ice blocks were in any danger of falling into the still river.

"I would like you to help me arrange them into a word—and not just any word," the Snow Queen instructed, letting go of Elsa's hand, "When you do give the word, I will free you."

Elsa stared sideways at her companion. "There are lots of words to choose in English, but how am I to know it isn't in any other language? There are millions."

"Do not fear, for the word is of the English tongue."

Elsa stared at the ice blocks, thinking about how many words were in English—how could she ever solve this riddle?

"Can you give me another hint as to what the word might be?"

The older woman smiled her indulgent, never-reaching-the-eyes smile.

"My dear child, all you must do is think of the common quality of rays and lines. I shall leave you alone to have fun with the ice blocks, shall I?"

Elsa nodded, assured the Snow Queen would only be a short distance away on her beautiful throne. She'd be safe and secure here in her new home. As Elsa gingerly stepped out onto the ice, she could hear the Snow Queen's robes moving and swishing as she returned to sit back on her little throne. The temperature again dropped dramatically in the middle of the frozen lake, but Elsa still did not notice. Neither did Elsa see that she was slowly turning into ice, like the few statues in the Snow Queen's throne room.

Standing inches away from the base of the ice block pyramid, Elsa tilted her head this way and that to try and figure how the Snow Queen's cryptic riddle. What had she meant by the common quality of rays and lines?

Did she mean words with ray or line? Or words related to lines and rays?

Her brain was slow, so slow, as she tried to figure out what words she knew had either "line" or "ray" in them. All she could think of was sunray and lineage, and not much else.

Why am I still so tired?

Deciding upon a word, Elsa now took apart the pyramid of ice blocks, pulling them out one by one with her bare hands. Placing them very gently on the ground, she tried to form the word "sunray", but to no avail. Not giving up yet, she tried "lineage" and "coastline" and "clothesline", yet none of them fitted either. With every word she got wrong, the more worried she became—what if she never solved it? What if she stayed here for good?

What is the word? What does it have to do with geometry? Why isn't that word working? Why didn't that other word work either?

Elsa didn't notice that her powers had gone out of control, fresh frost jutting out from under her feet and snowflakes began to dance around her as she worked in the middle of the Lake of Reason.

What is the word?

This little phrase ran around and around in her head as she desperately tried to figure out the puzzle until she ran out of words containing "ray" and "line" that she knew and tried to no avail.

And all the time, she never noticed her feet, legs, arms, hands, and her whole body turning into ice. Her brain grew even more sluggish with the cold, energy sapped by the freezing atmosphere as dizziness took a hold of her.

Keep figuring it out… she persuaded herself, you'll figure…you'll figure it out…

A/N: I'll be going away on holiday for about ten days to Australia, so there will be at least a week's delay before posting up the next chapters. So here's a very short one (compared to the previous chapter anyway) to see you through till then. :)