Alek poked his head inside the Queen's study. He suspected that his aunt had woken up early as usual and already settled in her study. Maybe this time he would get lucky and could scare her. He grinned mischievously. Aunt Elsa was hard to scare unlike his mama who would easily jumped and screamed whenever he startled her. His blue eyes roamed around the large room and found that her aunt wasn't at her desk. He caught her on the couch curled up in a blanket and he noticed a book laid on her stomach. He tip-toed his way and ready to launch his plan but once he could see her clearly, he stopped. His aunt was still asleep on the couch. He frowned.

Why would she sleep in here and not in her room? Alek felt a tug in his heart when he caught a line of exhaustion on her face. She must've overworked herself again. His mother had told him many-many times that aunt Elsa would not rest unless her job was done, so it was their job to make sure she also taking care of herself. He could not imagine how hard it must be for her to do the job. Everyday a lot of people needed her attention, she had to devoted her whole life to the service of the country and people, yet she does all of that wholeheartedly and not once he ever seen her complaining.

He brushed the lock of her platinum blonde hair that fell to the side of her face before landed a kiss on her cheek. He decided to just let her get some more rest. She needed it. Just as he was about to tip-toed back into the door, he heard his name being called.

"Alek?" her aunt asked.

The boy turned around and smiled. "Good morning, aunty!" he greeted cheerfully.

The Queen sat up and brushed her hair back with her fingers. A small yawn escaped her lips but her hand went up to cover it immediately.

"What are you doing here, darling?" she set aside the blanket and put the book on the table.

"I thought you're already awake, so I wanted to come and see you. Did you stay here all night aunty?" he went back to sit beside his aunt.

"I was reading then I fell asleep here, I guess." She looked at him and narrowed her eyes while the corner of her thin lips twitched slightly. "You wanted to come and see me, or you wanted to scare me?" she guessed.

The six years old prince gave her a cheshire cat grin. Well now, he was clearly busted. "Ah, how did you know that?" he chuckled.

"Oh, you little rascal! I knew it! Come here, you!"

His eyes widened when his aunt caught him by his waist and pulled him closer before she tickled his sides. He squealed and giggled uncontrollably.

Elsa laughed but kept a firm hold on the boy while he squirmed. His infectious giggles echoed through the room.

"Haha! alright! Okay, I give up! ha ha, aunty, stop!"

"Are you declaring your defeat to the snow Queen now?" she teased.

"Yes! Haha! You win!"

"What is that? I didn't hear that."

"I declare defeat!" he exclaimed.

Still laughing the Queen finally ceased the tickle attack and just hugged the boy before she landed a trail of sloppy kisses on his face. Her nephew took a deep breath but still giggled.

"You're silly, aunty." he snuggled closer.

"Oh, but you love me."

"Of course I do! Do you still have to work today? Can't we just enjoy the rest of the day playing with mama, Adeline, Grandaunt and Granduncle?"

A very tempting offer, Elsa thought. But she remembered the whole arrangement for conference today at nine sharp. It made her huffed. If she could, she would rather spend the day with the rest of the family. She took a glance at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. It was still half past five. The sun hadn't really set in yet. As an early riser, she would usually start her day with riding. She found it to be an enjoyable activity and helped her to think quietly and enjoy the nature before her hectic day begin. She landed her gaze on the book. She tried to find some answer about the kind of magic that the evil witch used like what Hans described. The book that her father had didn't have the answer.

"I'm afraid we can't, sweetheart. I have a very important meeting today with the guests that arrived yesterday." she answered.

The boy pouted slightly.

"But because it is still pretty early, why don't we go for some ride? What do you think about visiting Bulda and the rest? It has been quite a while hasn't it?" she continued.

Alek's face brightened just like that and he nodded eagerly.

"Okay, let's get you change into your riding outfit, then."

Elsa helped her nephew changed into his riding outfit before she changed herself. This early in the morning, the sun was just about to set in and it was perfect to ride. Not many people out of their houses yet. At least not until seven when it would really get busy in town. She usually just loved riding around town and enjoyed the scenery especially during summertime. By the time the sun finally set, the hills were bright with shades of yellow and green. The water and the sky was so blue and the air smelled very refreshing. It helped her relax. They went to the stables and the stableboy, Marius greeted them. He already prepared the Queen's horse, Frostie, as it was her usual routine to ride every morning.

After making sure her nephew was properly secured in front of her, she rode the white horse out of the castle. Now that she was familiar with the fastest route to get to the Valley of the Living Rock, she estimated they would get there just when the sun finally settled. It was still a little bit chilly outside but neither Elsa nor Alek was bothered by it. Elsa's mind drifted back into her childhood when she used to enjoy riding with her mother who happened to loved riding as well. Or how it would usually turned out to become sort of a race whenever her papa decided to join in. That was long before her isolation begun.

Thinking about her parents somehow made her heart beat faster. Especially about the possibility that they may be out there somewhere. She began imagining what they reaction would be if they could see her now. So much had changed in the last eight years. Would they be proud with what she achieved? Would they be happy that she finally could control her power? She shook her head and reminded herself to not get her hopes high, because that would only hurt in the end if that turn out to be not true.

They both arrived at the Valley of the Rock, just as Elsa predicted. The sun had settled. It brightened the entire valley. The warmth landed nicely on their skins. She unmounted herself and helped Alek down.

"Hey, everyone! It's me, Alek!" greeted the young Prince excitedly. His voice echoed through the valley.

In a matter of second, the rocks rolled to their direction. Surrounded both the Queen and the Prince. Once everyone turned into the trolls, Elsa recognised Bulda instantly. She gave her a warm smile.

"It's the Queen and Kristoff junior!" Bulda exclaimed.

Soon, every rock trolls in that place were jumping up and down, some even rolled around happily.

"Hello, Bulda. It's a pleasure to see you all again. Alek here surely missed you all." the platinum blonde nudged Alek.

Another male troll rolled closer to Alek and sniffed him. "Thank God, you are nothing like your father who would always has that lingering reindeer scent."

The Queen couldn't help but chuckled at their comical behaviour.

"We missed you too, Alek! Come come, I believed your cousins are eager to see you!" Bulda and almost the rest of the trolls turned their attention to him.

Elsa let the boy being dragged by the trolls before she noticed one troll who chose to stay quiet by her side. It was Grand Pabbie, the old wise rock troll and also the leader of the trolls. She turned to him and smiled politely. He gave her a respectful bow.

"Your Majesty, welcome." he said. "I sensed there's something that you wanted to ask me." the troll continued while he squinted his eyes slightly.

The Queen was actually impressed at his guess. Of course she had known him to be familiar with magic and had magic himself. She just didn't know that he actually could read minds.

"You can read my mind?" she levelled down to his height.

He chuckled. "No, ma'am. But I can sense something is bothering you. We, people with magic could always sense other magic around us."

"Well actually yes, Grand Pabbie."

She then proceed to tell him everything that Hans told her about the evil witch that killed the entire royal family of the Southern Isles. The old troll listened intently. Elsa noticed a change in his expression. He closed his eyes while his brows furrowed deeply.

"Hmm, it is odd, indeed." he murmured.

"Do you know some kind of magic like that, Grand Pabbie?"

"I do. I knew someone who once wielded that kind of power. It was a very long time ago. Before you were even born. A friend of mine. He lived in the village just outside the kingdom of Kongsberg. It used to be a light magic that commonly used for good. He helped a lot of people. Until he died suddenly and I didn't know what caused it, but I sensed a shift from his magic took form into a dark side upon his death."

"How could his magic turned if the wielder is dead? Aren't magic supposed to die with the person who wield it?" Elsa was confused.

"It supposed to. The only explanation would be, someone absorbed his magic before his death. That was why it turned into a dark magic, and why I can still sense it now."

"So, you're saying that this Regina witch, really exists? And Hans wasn't making it up?"

"Yes, the wielder of this kind of magic is very much exists. Very powerful and dangerous, indeed."

So it was true then. Everything he said, it wasn't just a wicked plan to overthrow her. She felt a slight guilt in her gut for accusing him. But who could really blame her? After everything he'd done to her and Anna, it would only be logical for her to be skeptical in every words he said.

"One more thing, Pabbie. Hans heard from the conversation between his father and Regina, that my parents are still alive out there somewhere. Do you… can you… Is there even a possibility that they may still be alive after all these times?"

Grand Pabbie took a longer pause this time. He seemed to be lost with his own thought.

Elsa waited anxiously. His behaviour clearly put her on edge. She didn't want to put her hopes high but the thought of that possibility made her stomach churned.

"I have a confession to make, Your Majesty." Pabbie said.

The Queen was a little taken back by his words.

"When the news of your parents demise came to me, eleven years ago, I was confused. Because I couldn't sense their spirits leave the earth. They just simply disappeared."

She shook her head in confusion. "I'm confused."

"You see, Elsa, I could feel other people's spirits as long as I had known and met them, pretty much everyone I came across. Usually when they die, I could feel their spirits lifted from their bodies and enter the afterlife. In case of your parents, I just simply felt disconnected from them suddenly."

"Aren't you supposed to feel that way when they died?"

"No, usually my connection with them would only be severed when they finally entered the afterlife. Death itself is a process, Your Majesty. From the moment they're dying, until they drew their last breath. Once they stopped breathing, their souls would slowly detached from their physical bodies. After that separation, their spirits would still be around the earth and watch over their descendant and family for a while before the door to the afterlife opened and angel of death came to lead them to the afterlife. Only then my connection to the spirit would be severed. With your parents, I couldn't even sense their spirits left their bodies. I felt a strong strange force before I became disconnected from them."

"Then what could possibly caused that?"

"At first I thought I was just simply being wrong, but with this new information, I think it makes more sense. The only possible explanation would be they probably still alive out there somewhere and their souls are trapped between two worlds."

Elsa was about to opened her mouth again when she became even more confused than before, but Pabbie held up his hand.

"Like people in a state of comatose. They are unresponsive, but not quite dead yet. Their souls trapped in what we called the astral state. It's an intermediate world between heaven and earth. Their souls are not in their bodies but they aren't dead, like an out of body experience they could observe what happened all around them, just don't have the power to do anything nor how to enter their bodies again. Dark magic has the ability to do that. It was used before to put people in eternal sleep." he continued.

"Like those in the fairy tale? Poisoned apple that Snow White took and what Maleficent used to put Aurora to sleep forever?" she smirked. Amused by his explanation. How could all of this relate to the story of those childhood fairy tales? Seemed too absurd and crazy to her.

"Exactly like that."

The platinum blonde chuckled. "Those are just a childhood fairytale, Pabbie. They can't be real."

The rock troll narrowed his eyes. His expression looked sombre. "Oh, they are as real as they can get."

"Okay, hypothetically, if what you're saying is true, and you feel that my parents are still out there somewhere, where would they be?"

"Not hypothetically, it's a fact! Before you were born, people don't believe in magic. But you experienced it yourself, you tell me, is that real or not? As to your question, I can't tell you their whereabouts because I don't know. But you do."

That shocked her. "M.. me? How?"

"Your connection to them is really strong because you are their own flesh and blood. The bond between a child and parents is the strongest."

"But I don't know how to do that."

"That's because you haven't mastered the full extend of your powers yet."

"I have control over my power now, Pabbie."

"Control is not enough, child. There's so much more you could do with your power."

"Then can you teach me?" she asked while looking down at her hands.

Grand Pabbie shook his head. "I'm not strong enough to teach you, Elsa. I know someone who could."

The Queen went silent. She honestly still didn't know what she should do. What Grand Pabbie told her was indeed puzzling and but still didn't give her a definitive answer. Did she really want to master her power? Because of its destructive nature, she was afraid she would only end up hurting a lot of people in the process. But she could not ignore every facts that just laid out in front of her.

The dark magic explained the attack of the Southern Isles and why it looked unnatural. Based on Hans's story, her parents are still out there somewhere being held by this Regina witch. This was supported by Grand Pabbie's claim that he never felt their souls leave the earth. The next possibility would be exactly like what Hans's heard from Regina's conversation with King Balder moments before he died, this witch could launch an attack to Arendelle. Her blood ran cold when she thought about the possibility that Arendelle might suffer the same fate as the Southern Isles. She'd be damned if she would let it happened.

Grand Pabbie noticed a change in the Queen's expression. A determination grazed across her face.

"Who is this person who could help me?" she finally gathered her courage.

"His name is Reidar. You could find him in Grindevald Fortress." the troll pulled out a rolled map from his pocket.

Elsa opened the old map. She frowned. It looked familiar. "This is just outside of Eldoran. What exactly is this place, Pabbie?"

"A sanctuary for people like us. Now Elsa, here's what you need to know,"

The rock troll used his magic to create an illumination of aurora above them. There was a dark shadow of a woman. She emitted a red light from her palm.

"This person who wield this kind of magic is indeed dangerous and powerful. You have to reach the full potential of your power to be able to go against her. The darkness could only be destroyed by the most powerful forces in the world." his voice sounded strained.

"Which are?"

"An act of true love, and pure magic. Those are two of the most powerful forces in the world. You've seen the first one up close eight years ago."

"What do you mean by pure magic?"

"People who was born with magic in their blood. Like you and Alek. What this woman has, is not pure magic. She may at some point had contact with magic otherwise she could not bear to use and control it because not everyone could have magic, but she wasn't born with it. This power that she has is contained in an object. If you want to stop her, you have to find and destroy the source of her magic."

"An object like what?"

"Well, it could be anything. From a ring, necklace, wand and other objects." he let out a long yawn. "I think it's already time for my nap. Good luck, Your Majesty, God be with you."

The leader of the trolls bowed to her before he rolled around and camouflaged himself back into a rock.


As King Frederic predicted, the other members of the Northern Alliance wanted to put Hans on the throne. A new intelligence that just arrived this morning reported that Weselton had already tried to enslave the people of the Southern Isles. It made her despised the Duke even more. She could never understand why a person would do such a terrible thing in order to gain something for themselves. Made her glad that she cut any business with that weasel.

"Queen Elsa, surely you could understand that the former prince did what he did in Arendelle's best interest, right? You didn't know how to control your power nor how to stop the winter. Maybe in his mind, the only thing that could save Arendelle from complete destruction would be to kill the source. I think we could all justified his action." Prince Wils said.

Everyone in the room went silent in an instant. It was the first time the Prince of Vakreta had ever said something longer than a sentence. Yet, his words felt like a thousand arrows hitting her from all sides. The fire inside her ignited immediately upon his statement. She clenched her jaw and fisted her palms. If the temperature around the room dropped significantly she didn't notice that.

Prince Draco from the kingdom of Kongsberg shook his head at Prince Wils as if to say he didn't know what he was talking about. But it seemed the man was too oblivious about the effect his statement had on the Queen.

"You seemed to be forgetting something, Your Highness. His crime, was not only for his attempt to behead me, but also for what he did to my sister, Princess Anna. Did you know what he said to her? What his initial plan on marrying my sister? Even without my power being revealed, he already hatched a plan to get rid of me once he managed to marry her. His exact words were 'I figured after we're married, I have to stage a little accident for Elsa'. Now, how could you possibly justify that?" her voice was steady but held an icy tone.

The older man said nothing, but his gaze told Elsa that he did not like being wrong. Well, behind those quiet facade it seemed at the core the foreign ambassador of Vakreta was also an arrogant bastard. She thought.

This discussion was going nowhere. It seemed to her that most of them believed they could just convinced her to give Hans back his title, just like that. Not bloody likely! They all talked about the suffering the citizen of the Southern Isles endured to her as if she was some sort of coldhearted tyrant who would not give a damn about it. Tried to gain her sympathy by making her looked like the bad guy in this situation. Now it was time to use their own words against them.

"My decision still stand. I will not relinquish Hans Westergaard's title!"

The murmurs among the other members started to buzzed around the room. They were all started talking at the same time. Voicing their opinion, trying to reason with her.

"ORDER!" barked King Frederic. His voice boomed and immediately ceased them quiet.

"If you would let me finish, gentlemen!" Elsa continued louder and firmer this time. Her voice was sharp with annoyance.

"I will not relinquish his title, UNTIL he proved himself to be capable of running a kingdom! Surely, we do not want the people suffering because of incompetency, do we gentlemen?" she stressed the last sentence without missing a hint of sarcasm.

"Don't be cryptic, Your Majesty, just elaborate, already!" Prince Wils groaned and rolled his eyes.

"I want to assess him and give him a chance to prove himself that he could run a kingdom. I want to do it, on my term."

"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Queen Victoria who kept quiet during the entire discussion finally spoke up. Her head tilted slightly, like she was intrigued with the idea.

The Queen of Arendelle smiled this time. She had a tremendous respect for the United Kingdom's sovereign and her way of thinking. She revealed her plan to every members of the alliances. She came up with the idea when she rode back from the Valley of the living rock to the castle after her morning ride and visit with Alek that morning. She thought it would be the best alternative than just giving him back the title without any guarantee that he would not just destroy his own kingdom once he got that title back. If she was going to do it, she had to be a hundred percent sure. She didn't worry about punishment anymore. That man had been through enough during eight years of his imprisonment.


A/N: I know I promised to update yesterday, but again real life can be a pain in the butt sometimes, I had a wifi problem in my apartment, thankfully it was fixed this morning.

Even though Grand Pabbie can't confirm nor deny about whether or not the late king and queen of Arendelle are still alive, it seemed Elsa already had a plan in her mind and how to deal with Hans's problem.

Thank you for everyone who has been kind enough to stick around with the story. I hope you enjoy this. As usual, Reviews, Follows, Favourites would be very much appreciated! :)