"Did Hans say anything else about the urn?" Elsa asked. "Anything at all?"

They walked through the woods at a brisk pace, with Kristoff leading the way, constantly alert for anything (or anyone) that wasn't supposed to be there.

It had taken a fair bit of convincing for Thomas, Loren and the last general, Amund, to allow her to accompany Kristoff on his quest to destroy the urn...Something about how the Captain would "fry them alive" if they allowed anything to happen to her...But Elsa wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, and soon she and the Ice Master were on their way to the ancient urn.

"Just that it can trap people like you and that it's really, really old."

"Do you understand what that means? There must have been others like me...I always thought Kaya and I were alone."

"You were never alone." Kristoff disagreed. "You had Anna."

"And I love her, but...we're not the same."

"Yeah, no, I got that." Kristoff stated in his usual sarcastic manner.

"You know what I mean." Elsa sighed. "We're sisters, and I love her, but I have this...magic. You should understand, I mean, you grew up with rock trolls."

Kristoff shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. "So?"

"So, you're human and they're, you know...rocks."

He scoffed. "They're family."

Elsa rolled her eyes. As if that explained everything.

"They just wanted what was best for me," He stopped as they came to a clearing, using his arm to move branches from a bush that was ahead of them out of the way. "I guess I never really felt alone."

Elsa sighed wistfully. "I wish I could see it like that."

Kristoff suddenly shot forward to grab Elsa's arm to prevent her from falling off the cliff that she hadn't noticed had appeared, as engrossed in their conversation as she'd been.

"Welcome to the North Valley." Kristoff chuckled. "The cave is about 100 feet straight down."

Elsa raised her hands confidently, asking if he would prefer a slide or a spiral staircase.

Kristoff gently reminded her that if they used magic, Hans could see it and be right on top of them. No, he suggested, they should use something a bit more...rustic.

Elsa rolled her eyes as the mountaineer proceeded to fling the edge of a rope down the side of the canyon.

Rustic, indeed.


Emma, still peeved that everyone now seemed to think she needed a babysitter (what with getting herself blown away by a snow monster and getting stuck in an ice cave...), trudged through the forest, David closeby as they searched Robin's camp in hopes that they would find some kind of clue as to who had cursed Marian, since they knew it wasn't Elsa.

She was surprised to hear what sounded to be the clanking of pots and pans coming from one of the tents and she drew her gun, demanding that whomever was inside come out. He was young, maybe mid-twenties with a buzzcut and a distinctly unhappy expression. The guy seemed very used to the put-your-hands-up routine, because he had his palms up and facing Emma in perfect experienced-con behavior.

"Who the hell are you?" Emma demanded. "What are you doing in that tent?"

"Well, depends who's asking." The stranger drawled in a Northern English accent.

"The sheriff's asking." Emma snapped.

"Never did like sheriffs very much." As a result of his accent, the 'much' came out sounding more like 'moch'. "Though you do seem like the decent sort, so I'm guessing you're not gonna shoot a man in the back."

In the moment it took for Emma to understand what the man was talking about, the dolt turned tail and ran in the other direction. Emma gave chase, but he was just about to outrun her when David came out of nowhere and tackled the guy to the ground.

"Two sheriffs?" The boy-man whined as David hauled them both off the forest floor. "Bloody 'ell. That's not even fair, is it?"

"Who are you?"

"All right!" The man shook off David's grip. "My name is Will Scarlet. Used to be a Merry Man until me and Robin Hood had a bit o' a fallin' out."

He'd barely finished speaking before Emma asked, then, what the hell was he doing in Robin's tent.

"Well, I 'eard what happened to Marian!" He glanced at David, who was keeping a close eye on Will in case he tried to run again. "Terrible thing." Looking back at Emma, he said, "But I kind of know something that might help."

"Robin's not here right now, so tell us."

"Look, I'm a thief!" Will exclaimed. "Always been a thief, always gonna be a thief. And when there's a blackout like the other night," He stuffed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels like a child, looking to the ground. "You know wha' a thief does?"

"He goes to work." Emma supplied.

"Exactly! So I'm working me way down Main Street, when I break into the ice cream parlor and I see the strangest thing..." He paused, as if for effect. "There'd been no electricity for hours, but still all the ice cream was frozen solid."

David and Emma were sure their surprise was plain to see on their faces.

"Now-" Will continued. "How does something like that 'appen?"

There was only one way to find out.


Elsewhere, Hook and Elsa were on a hunt of their own for a clue as to who the caster of Marian's curse was, and where they might be hiding.

They entered Gold's shop because, according to Hook, if anyone knew of a way to find the culprit behind Marian's freezing spell, it would be the "Crocodile". Elsa busied herself with casually inspecting some of the items Gold had on display in his shop while Hook and Gold spoke quietly for a few moments.

Finally, Hook declared that Gold had agreed to help (Elsa hadn't pegged the pawnshop owner for being so readily helpful, but she didn't argue), and Elsa held out a lock of Marian's hair out to Gold.

"Someone cast a freezing curse on her." Elsa said as Gold took the lock of hair. "We need to know who it is."

Gold inspected the lock of hair for a moment and then said quietly,

"Well- you're in luck. Magic can change forms but never be destroyed..." He tilted his head. "We'll simply return it to its natural state."

With a wave of his hand, the older man had changed the lock of silver hair into a scattering of pristine snowflakes.

"Magic similar to yours, dearie." Gold said, addressing Elsa. "Though not quite the same. Much like a snowflake, each person's magic is unique."

"Poetic," Hook cut in sarcastically. "How does that help us?"

"Well magic seeks out like-magic. So if I set this free..." He blew softly into the fluttering of the snowflakes, sending them onto a path towards the doorway. "It should find its way home. Back to the person who cast it."


"I don't know. Looks pretty normal to me."

"It was bleedin' cold in there, I'm tellin' ya."

After getting into the shop, Emma and David stepped behind the counter, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

Emma noted that there were no sounds of a compressor hum, which implied there wasn't a cooling system in the building.

"Smartass over there was telling the truth."

"Check the back." Will prodded. "You'll see 'ow right I am."

The room was entirely frozen over; no wonder none of the ice cream had melted. The state of the room could only mean that the owner of "Any Given Sundae" likely had magic just like Elsa's.

Which also meant that whoever had been running that ice cream parlor had just hit the top of their suspect list.


"What are you doing?"

In the process of following the snowflakes, Elsa had watched as Hook, time and time again, marked various trees along the way using his tool of a limb.

"Leaving a trail." Hook said as he turned to start walking again. "I'm more accustomed to outrunning bad weather than following it."

Elsa followed. "Snow isn't bad." She disagreed. "And we're following magic."

"Try to outrun that too, given the chance."

At Elsa's laugh, Hook asked what was so funny.

"It's just that Emma has magic and you clearly don't want to outrun her."

Hook glared. "More like the other way around." He admitted grudgingly.

"Maybe she feels the same way about pirates as you do about magic."

"I've worked to change." Hook said, puffing his chest with pride. "Although, in fairness, being a pirate is not necessarily a bad thing; particularly a charming one- like meself."

"I think your self-appreciation is blinding you to a simple fact- this isn't about you." Elsa smiled, but replied with honesty. "It's about her."

"Is that right?" Hook said disbelievingly. "A few short days, and you know Emma so well?"

"We're a lot alike." Elsa gave a slight sigh. "When you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, it can be hard to let people in...To trust them. Even when they want what's best for you."

She knew that was true even for the most emotionally stable person, even when they didn't have magic thrown into the mix. Kaya wasn't a queen, but she was one of the most logical and stable people Elsa knew...And Lord knew how long it took to convince Kaya to let her in...

Hook looked at Elsa, as if seeing her in a new light for the first time.

He hated to admit it, but maybe the woman had a point.


Elsa and Kristoff entered the cave.

"There's the urn!"

It wasn't hard to spot, it was placed in a crevice in a large boulder in the center of the cavern.

"See?" The Ice Master couldn't resist the opportunity to gloat just a bit. "I told you we could beat Hans the old-fashioned way!"

Elsa sighed, but she was smiling; at least they'd found the urn and could now destroy it before it could be used against her in battle.

"Do you mind if I use my magic now?" Elsa's tone was clearly sarcastic. "Or would you prefer to hack away at it with your ice axe?"

. Kristoff, ever-good-natured, scoffed at the light-hearted jab and rolled his shoulder.

"You know, my hacking arm is a little tired..." He gestured dramatically towards the urn. "I think you should do the honors, Your Majesty."

Elsa bit back a laugh. "Why, thank you, Ice Master."

The queen stepped forward, with Kristoff following close behind with the torch, and Elsa picked up the urn from out of its resting place.

The moment her fingers touched the urn, ice began to form on the surface of the container, revealing an inscription of some sort.

"Wait..." She whispered. "There's something written here! I think these are ancient Futhark runes..."

She lightly traced over the writing with the tips of her fingers, but eventually sighed in frustration and turned to Kristoff.

"I can't read it; what do you think it says?"

Half-joking, but also half serious, Kristoff responded. "I don't know- 'Dangerous Urn: Keep Away!'" At Elsa's look, he shrugged. "Just a guess. Does it matter? Let's just destroy it and get out of here."

"What if it can tell me whether there are others like me...I'm the only one in my family born with magic; I'd like to know why."

"Elsa, I know you want answers." Her future brother-in-law said placatingly. "But right now, we can get rid of that urn for your own good, and Arendelle's."

Elsa sighed and said stubbornly, "I want to know what it says...I might not get another chance."

Kristoff reached for the urn. "Elsa, you have to trust me on thi-"

"No!" Elsa snapped, holding the urn out of his grasp as she glared at him. Part of her knew she was being unreasonably stubborn about this (that's what Kaya would've said), but she couldn't help it. What if there were others like them out there?

Suddenly, footsteps sounded in the cave, and Kristoff and Elsa turned to see Hans and three of his brothers appear in the cavern.

Hans motioned to the urn as he nodded to his brothers, "Get the urn."

Two of his brothers tried to flank Elsa's left, but she quickly immobilized them with a few choice ice spears- pointed threateningly at their throats.

While Elsa was distracted, the third brother tried to come at her, but Kristoff jumped in front of her, blocking the blow with his axe and fighting him off.

Kristoff won the battle with Hans' brother, but unfortunately the last kick that sent said brother down for the count also left his back wide open to Hans himself.

"Enough, witch." Hans was clearly addressing Elsa. "Unless you want your sister to be left a widow."

Even with a sword trained on the back of his neck, Kristoff managed to muster enough sarcasm to scoff,

"You know, technically, she wouldn't be a widow...We're not married yet, so-ow!" His sentence was cut short by Hans pressing the weapon closer against Kristoff's neck in annoyance.

Turning his attention back to Elsa, he demanded, "Hand it over." When Elsa hesitated, he lifted his sword hand only slightly, but it was clearly intended as a show of conviction.

"Now."


The ice magic that Elsa and Hook had been following had finally led them to a small grove in the western part of the woods. The snowflakes settled with another bunch of snow that had been created apparently by the same person that cast Marian's curse. Nearby, there appeared to be a miniature replica of an ice castle, akin to the one that Elsa had built herself. They didn't look exactly alike, but the similarity was unmistakable.

"I'd say we're on the right track."

Elsa agreed, but then she saw what looked to be a woman in a pristine white gown step in front of the small-scale castle. Hook told Elsa to get down and used an odd-looking device to tell Emma where they were and that they had found the person who froze Marian.

After taking a closer look at the woman, Elsa commented that she didn't look evil.

"Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving, love, so let's just stay out of sight." He gestured to the woman in white. "I haven't a fondness for icebergs and I'd rather avoid being turned into one."

Still, Elsa couldn't help but be fascinated by her...Just who was she, what was she doing in Storybrooke, and most importantly:

What, exactly, was she after?