"…So Zelena's planning what now?"
Anna sat on the edge of a desk in the sheriff's office, listening to Regina explain her theory on the Wicked Witch's ultimate plan.
"She has a symbol of courage from David, and we'll assume that she's getting a symbol of wisdom from Mr. Gold," Regina mused. "Robin Hood is hiding my heart from her, but if she gets it, then all she needs is a symbol of innocence to complete her time travel spell."
"And that symbol is… Mary-Margaret's baby…?" Anna cringed when both Emma and Regina nodded at her. "That's just wrong."
"Yeah, but as much as I hate to admit it, it means that we still have time," Emma said. "Zelena can't cast her spell until that baby is born, so until then we have to do what we can to prepare."
A proactive plan was a good plan, and Anna was ready to jump in and do her part. She stood up from the desk and bounced on her toes, ready to get started. "All right, what can I do?"
Regina crossed her arms and smirked. "You can watch Henry for the afternoon."
"…What? Oh, come on!" Anna looked to Emma for help and only got a sheepish grin in return. "I just found out the other day that Zelena is for sure hiding Elsa somewhere, and you want me to forget about that and babysit?!"
"Anna, it's just for the afternoon," Emma told her, trying to calm her down. "We all want to find Elsa, but we have to be smart about this. Zelena has Mr. Gold's dagger; we can't just rush in."
"Her magic is stronger than mine, too," Regina added. She rubbed her shoulder, still sore from the showdown she had with her half-sister several nights ago. "The only chance we have at beating her is if I can teach Emma how to use her magic. Henry can't find out about this. He won't understand."
It made sense why they were asking her to look after him; everyone else was otherwise occupied, and she heard Henry complain in the diner the other day that Killian did nothing but take him out on boat trips whenever he watched him. He needed someone relatively normal to hang out with, but she still wasn't thrilled about the idea.
She was more focused on everything Zelena said and did when she faced her at the farmstead. She held an urn through the whole encounter, cradled it rather like it was a precious, fragile artifact. It was important, but Anna had no idea what it was or where it came from. She was about to argue her point on why she couldn't help them, but one sharp look from Regina silenced her before she could even squeak out a word.
"You owe me a favor, freckles. I'm collecting."
So it wasn't the worst way to spend her day off from work, but her impatience to get back to the investigation made time slow to a crawl. The fact that Henry wasn't quite himself didn't help, either.
Like Olaf and Marshmallow, Henry had grown much during his year away from Storybrooke. He was still a smart, quick-witted boy who enjoyed tales of fantasy and adventure, but his love for fairy tales was gone, replaced now by stories crafted in video games, graphic novels and movies.
He was good friends with Anna during the first curse, and their friendship continued long after her memories returned. He looked up to her like an older sister, but now he only saw a stranger whenever they met. He even referred to her as "Mom's friend" before she took him on the town tour that afternoon.
Ick. That made her sound old.
Anna did her best to make the tour interesting for him, showing off all her favorite places to shop (including Oaken's General and Consignment, of course), and even a few places that Nina favored during the curse. Henry was thrilled when she took him to the classic arcade, and he later dared her to sneak up into the clock tower when they stopped at the library.
After the tour was over, though, Anna realized she didn't have much else to show him that would hold his interest. She decided to take a chance by going for a walk down one of Storybrooke's many nature trails, but it resulted in boredom for the both of them. They had trouble finding a topic to talk about, so Henry filled the void by telling her all about a video game he'd been recently playing.
It was something about angels, demons and a guy named "Tyrael". Anna lost interest when Henry started talking about the game mechanics, but she grew concerned when he stopped talking altogether.
He looked around the woods, confused. "Hey, where are we going? We walked past that sign three times already."
"…No we didn't."
"It says "Nature Trail Starts Here". I'm pretty sure we did."
Anna couldn't tell him that she was walking them in circles to kill time. Emma wasn't due back at the sheriff's station for another two hours, and Anna had no idea how to keep Henry occupied until then. The conversation was turning stiff and painful, and everything she suggested to do was met with an unenthused shrug. The nature trail was all she had until a dark, looming shadow soared overhead.
She slowed her pace, knowing she'd alert Henry if she just stopped walking, and scanned the dense pine branches above. If it was a flying monkey, they were screwed; she didn't have her sword and they wouldn't make it back to the main road fast enough to get help. She knew it was a risk bringing him into the woods, but she thought they would have been safe this far from the town line.
When she finally found what cast the shadow she held her breath; it was a flying monkey alright, but it was thankfully one that she was familiar with. His sandy fur stood out among the dark colors of the forest, but he hid among the branches to disguise himself from Henry's sight.
Kristoff, bless his little monkey soul, was Anna's guardian angel ever since the night he broke free from Zelena's control. He followed her whenever she left the cabin to make sure she was safe, and patrolled the woods surrounding his home at night to protect his sleeping family. Now as he perched high above the trail, he waved his paws at Anna, warning her to go back towards town.
She never questioned his judgement; if he was telling her to leave, then that meant danger lingered somewhere close by.
"Hey, you know what? Let's go get some ice cream," Anna said, pivoting and marching towards the road with a sense of urgency. "It'll taste good after all that walking."
Henry shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Ice cream in winter isn't weird or anything... are we going to that place at the harbor?"
"Nah, I know a parlor that sells way better ice cream than that," Anna bragged. "It's like it's made with magic or something."
Shhkt!
She dropped her hands to her sides and stared at the wall. Sharp, thick spears of ice pierced the smooth surface, striking deep against her desire to prevent further damage to the palace. The magic she cast extended beyond her grasp, and she realized that if someone had unwittingly fallen in her path… the mere thought of it made her sick.
Elsa swallowed hard and turned away, but even then she could not escape the destruction she wrought in the heart of her ice palace. The room, once bare, now resembled an obstacle course with spikes and pillars stretching to all corners of the sanctuary. Cracks in the floor encroached upon the giant snowflake within, and anything she created, sculptures, targets or otherwise, was made of ugly, cloudy ice. It was a clear reflection of the turmoil that had been hounding her for weeks.
She backed into a wall at the side of the room and sank to the floor, covering her mouth with her hand as she stared at the chaos all over again.
"…I can't do this."
Only three days passed since she returned to the North Mountain, and yet she was convinced that there was no cure to her magic's instability. Her utter loss of control during the storm several nights ago, along with Rumplestiltskin's unannounced visit, made her believe that her prophecy had already begun.
It made complete sense. She had trouble concentrating ever since her first slip-up at the council meeting, attributed to a relentless throbbing noise in her head that persisted every time she tried to clear it. The inability to focus made her feel distressed, and the fight to try to grasp clarity again left her exhausted. Olaf and Marshmallow did their best to distract her, but they could only help so much.
Even the light of Anna's gem faded in Elsa's predicament. It had been given to her in faith and love upon a belief that she would come out of her retreat triumphant. Now it hung heavy around her neck, a constant reminder of yet another promise she would inevitably break. She could not go home like this; she wouldn't. This ice palace, her sanctum of freedom, was going to be her prison if she didn't figure out something soon.
Elsa drew her knees up to her chest and buried her head in her arms. At least here, the only person who could be hurt was herself, and she had plenty experience with pain to know that it would only be a matter of time until she was numb to it again.
These thoughts threatened to drown her, swirling like a raging whirlpool in her mind. But through the noise and darkness, Elsa heard a peculiar squeak come from the far side of the room.
She perked her head up, thinking she might have imagined it until she heard it again. A tiny snowman hopped up on the base of an ice spike near the staircase, looking around as another jumped up to join it.
Elsa sighed as they made their way across the room. "What are you doing here?" she asked, opening her arms to receive the snowgies as they ran at her. "I thought I told you two to stay downstairs with the others?"
They tackled her stomach in harmless excitement, enjoying a hug before she set them in her lap. The snowgies tried to give her an explanation, squeaking over each other like they couldn't get their words out fast enough. Elsa looked down at them, puzzled as she couldn't translate what they were trying to say.
One of them gave up and sat down, pouting at her with wide, coal eyes. It looked frustrated.
Elsa managed a small smile. "I know it's my birthday, Liz" she started, trying to ignore the other snowgie as it climbed up to her shoulder. "And I know you all want to celebrate, but… I just need some time."
She cringed; she was going to have nothing but time if she didn't make a breakthrough soon.
Her worried thoughts gripped her again until the snowgie on her shoulder jumped onto her head to distract her. It tapped its small round feet, enjoying the view of the icy obstacle course of spikes and pillars from its new perch. With an air of confidence, it squeaked three times, drawing Elsa's confused stare. The snowgie leaned over and met her eyes, smiling upside down as it repeated the phrase. Whatever it was trying to say, it sounded familiar.
"…Let it go?" Elsa guessed. The snowgie nodded, and she looked back to the room, dumbstruck. "I think I already did, George."
He hopped into her lap and opened his mouth, about to squeak an explanation until a tremor shook the ice palace and cut him off. The three looked around, wondering what happened until they peered through the floor and saw a white figure crossing the foyer below them. The angry voice that roared up the stairway clued them in to the source of the quake.
"GO AWAY!" Marshmallow's voice bellowed.
Olaf was heard trying to reign him back. "Marshmallow, wait! Calm down!"
Either the boys were having an argument, or something set the younger one off. Regardless, Elsa didn't have time to sit and sulk when the strongest of her snowmen threatened to bring the palace down. Liz and George scrambled into motion as Elsa got to her feet. They ran ahead, showing her the easiest and quickest route to navigate her magical mishaps and get to the staircase. Once there, the snowgies jumped on the railing and slid down to the main floor, Elsa following close behind as fast as her legs would carry her.
When she came to the upper landing, she paused to assess the situation. Marshmallow was glaring at the front doors of the palace, baring ice fangs and claws while Olaf tugged at his knee. Meanwhile, the other snowgies stood around watching, trying to squeak over each other, confused on what to do. The noise only added to the chaos in Elsa's head, and she put her fingers to her temples in a vain attempt to think through and drown it all out.
"Enough!" she yelled, throwing her hands down at her sides with the command. She didn't feel the magic that escaped her fingertips from the motion, nor did she hear when the ice spikes sprouted behind her, but the sight of it stilled every snowgie in the room. They stared in silence, and Marshmallow and Olaf turned back to look at her as she descended the curved staircase. "What is going on here?"
Olaf let go of Marshmallow's ice-capped knee, falling to the floor on his rear. "I saw somebody outside," he said, stopping Elsa dead in her tracks. "I ran in to tell Marshmallow, but he got mad and—"
"…We were followed…?"
She couldn't help the instinctive thought that the outsider was an assassin. Likely sent from the Southern Isles, King Servi must have refused her claim that the early winter sent to his kingdom was natural, not magic. She never could convince him of it before snowstorms froze the ports to both of their kingdoms.
Olaf stared at her, oblivious to the outrageous, worried thoughts running through her head. "Well, they seem friendly," he shrugged, looking up at Marshmallow and completely missing the horror on Elsa's face when she saw a white figure walking up the steps of the ice bridge outside. "She's all alone, too. Hey, maybe she wants to be friends!"
Elsa remained unconvinced, too focused on the looming danger to notice Olaf waddling towards the doors. George's squeak snapped her back to attention and she spotted him reaching for the handles. "Olaf, wait!" she cried, running towards him with an outstretched hand. "Don't—"
Marshmallow stepped in before she could reach him, but the golem only made things worse. He grabbed his brother by the waist and pulled him back, accidentally helping him open the doors to invite the intruder inside. Elsa slid to a stop in the open doorway, unsure what to do now that the stranger ascended the last few steps of the ice bridge.
It was a woman, unarmed and unaccompanied as she stepped up onto the final platform. She wore a white gown with a cape to match and walked barefoot, braving the ice and snow with a confident smile. That confidence, however, faded when she saw Elsa standing in the doorway, flanked on all sides by an army of miniature snowmen. Her mouth parted as they blinked back at her; whatever her purpose was, she seemed unsure of it now.
No one moved. No one said a word, and not even a squeak came from one of the snowgies. Still in Marshmallow's grasp, Olaf leaned over and tried to see the stranger from Elsa's perspective. "You know… she looks a lot like you," he whispered in awe.
Elsa noted the similarities and spotted the differences, too. But the one thing that stood out most about the woman was that her dress glistened in the winter sun like ice.
The stranger took a timid step forward. "Elsa… do you remember who I am?"
Sarah Fisher was a quiet woman, older, and from what Anna gathered before the second curse, she lived alone and ran Any Given Sundae by herself. She was kind enough and more than generous with her sundae sizes, but something about her was a little… off.
It could have been because of the way she spoke. Her words were soft and carefully chosen, somehow always lacking a distinct emotion to back up what she said. Anna didn't speak with her much, but she could never quite tell when Sarah was happy, or if she ever was. It was like the emotional switch in her brain was turned off or broken; her brief smiles consistently felt far from genuine.
She was good at faking it when she had to, though, handling Henry's ice cream order as pleasant as anyone else with an ounce of hospitality. "I think you'll find that my rocky road is the best you can get in Maine," she smiled as she handed Henry a cone of her specialty. "And what about you, Anna? What would you like to try today?"
Anna put her hands in her pockets and rocked back on her heels as she looked at her options in the display case. Ice cream sounded good back on the nature trail, but now that she was here, she felt uneasy for some reason. It didn't sound as appetizing as it did thirty minutes ago.
"Carrot sherbet?" Sarah suggested. "I remember Kristoff was fond of that one."
"That's because Kristoff's a carrot-holic…" Anna said, wrinkling her nose.
"Hmm… why not go with Elsa's favorite, then? Mint chocolate chip is a staple."
Anna was about to agree until it dawned on her that Elsa only visited this shop once before Storybrooke Sarah managed to memorize her order from that one time was alarming, not to mention creepy.
Anna blinked, shaking her braided head. "…I'll stick with my usual," she said, feeling parched when she saw Sarah's unnerving smirk.
"One scoop of double chocolate fudge, coming right up."
With a meager smile, Anna took a step back and looked around the shop as Sarah made her order. The parlor hadn't changed much from what she remembered, keeping its quaint and traditional atmosphere with blue striped walls. Along those walls were several green speech bubbles advertising available ice cream flavors, and though they added some whimsy to the place, it was subdued by an alarming amount of mirrors. Those were new.
Henry didn't seem to mind the décor, nor did he notice that Anna was feeling uncomfortable standing in Sarah's presence. "Hey, you know, I heard my mom talking about someone named Elsa the other day. Same person?"
"Probably. She's my sister," Anna explained with a proud smirk. "Remember those paintings we saw in Oaken's shop? She made all of those."
"Oh, wow."
"She's quite the artist," Sarah added, drawing their attention back to the counter. She looked up at Anna as she scooped her ice cream, staring straight through her with a frigid gaze. "By the way, how is Elsa? Is she home yet?"
Anna swallowed hard, racing to find a way to tell her the truth while disguising it for Henry's sake. "She's… she's still in Boston," she said quickly, watching as Sarah's neutral expression soured. "She's gone by herself on some kind of self-discovery trip or something… but she should be back soon!"
She was kidding herself; if Elsa could come home, she would have done so already.
"Are you sure that's why she left?" Sarah's brows drew together, confused and angered that Anna's lie implied that Elsa was selfish. "She's not the kind of person who would go off on her own just for that. Someone must have driven her away."
"Maybe it was an art critic," Anna shrugged. "There's one in town that's a mean 'ol witch; I bet she had something to do with it."
Sarah grit her teeth, unamused by the ignorant claim that Zelena was the cause of the problem. "Anna, did you ever stop to think that maybe Elsa left because she felt betrayed by someone she loves?"
Anna opened her mouth to retort and closed it, silenced when she saw Sarah's lips twitch in a smirk before she turned her back on her.
"A critic's words can only cut so deep. Betrayal doesn't just hurt… it wounds and leaves scars." Sarah paused for a moment, reflecting on something as her hands ghosted over several containers on the back counter. She took a scoop from one of them and shook the contents over the chocolate cone. "Regardless of why she left, Elsa is gone for a reason only she knows, and I wouldn't expect her to be the same when she comes back."
She turned to face the counter again, pleased to see that Anna was stunned silent by her words."I hope you don't mind sprinkles," she said sweetly as she handed the ice cream to Anna with an unnerving smile. "Both cones are on the house today, too."
Normally Anna would jump at the mention of anything free, but she felt her stomach flip instead.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Henry," Sarah said, waving as he and Anna started to leave. "Come visit again before you and Emma go back to New York."
He stepped back towards the door, holding up his ice cream with an appreciative nod. "I will! Thanks!"
"Oh, and Anna…" Her words stopped the girl just short of her escape. "When Elsa does come home, be sure to bring her by the shop. We have so much to catch up on."
Anna gulped. "Uh… yeah. Sure."
She ushered Henry out the door first and followed close behind, glancing at the window for a split second to catch Sarah's cold stare through the blinds. It sent a chill up her spine and she shuddered, trying in vain to shake it off.
"Brain freeze?" Henry asked, laughing when Anna's worried face looked symptom of the headache.
"Something like that…" she muttered. "How's the ice cream? Is it okay?"
He nodded with a wide smile. "You weren't kidding. It's awesome, but it can't beat the rocky road we get in Manhattan," he bragged. "Yours looks good too. Brownie clusters in chocolate ice cream are the best."
Henry couldn't see that Anna had yet to take a bite from the freebie Sarah concocted. She stared at the sprinkles and felt her stomach growling against her will to resist.
The way she got it was just… wrong. Anna was all for giveaways when she could get them, but Sarah forced it on her like she had to have it. When she and Henry first walked into the store, everything was fine, but then when the topic changed to Elsa… everything Sarah said or did felt like it was backed with bad intentions.
Anna squeezed her eyes shut; it was a bad day in Storybrooke when she couldn't trust her ice cream.
"It's… it's great as always!" she lied, flashing a smile as she held up the mentioned cone. "It tastes even better today because it's free!"
Which makes me feel less guilty about doing THIS…
As soon as Henry looked away, Anna pitched her ice cream down a side street between Granny's Diner and the fishing supply store. She'd chalk it up as an accident if he asked where it went, but she'd thank her instinct to get rid of it if she saw what happened next. When the ice cream splattered against the pavement, it instantly froze in the shape of a sharp, white snowflake.
"Okay, so… can you notice the difference? Do you think she'll like it?"
Ambassador Baldor held his chin as he walked around the queen's desk, looking at the wood drawers and polished workspace. He smiled his approval. "You can't even tell what happened," he said in surprise. "I'm sure your sister will love it, Princess Anna. It's a very thoughtful gift."
"A-And what about the floors?" she asked, holding her hands together as Baldor took a tour around the room. "I mean, it wasn't in too bad shape before, but it warped a little after she froze it. And there was this really annoying squeak over by the globe."
Baldor traveled to the mentioned globe and stepped around its frame, checking for the telltale sign of age that the room had lived through. "No squeak," he grinned, catching the relief on his princess' face. "That's quite a lot of work the carpenters accomplished in such a short amount of time. It's been seven days now since she left, hasn't it?"
Anna looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "It feels longer than that," she admitted. "I just want her to have something nice to come home to after all that happened. Plus, it was her birthday a few days ago, so…" She rubbed the back of her neck, trying to imagine how that must have felt: out of control in self-exile on your 23rd birthday. Yikes. She was sure that Olaf and Marshmallow would have tried to make it special for her, but she doubt that Elsa celebrated much, if at all.
A knock at the door drew her attention away from the refurbished study. Kai let himself inside and bowed at the waist. "Sorry to interrupt, Ma'am, but your sister has returned. She just entered the courty—"
"Elsa's back!"
"Y-Your Highness, if I may caution you that she's with a guest…" Kai's warning fell on deaf ears as Anna bolted from the room. He sighed, shaking his head as Baldor laughed at his futile attempt to reign her back.
Anna felt like she couldn't run fast enough. She was so excited that she skipped a little at the thought of her sister returning home. A week without Elsa had caused Anna the same amount of worry, but if Elsa was coming back so soon, she must have found some success in the mountains.
She slowed her pace as she entered the foyer, wanting to welcome her sister back home with as much poise and grace as the queen held on a daily basis. But when the large doors opened and she was met with Elsa's triumphant grin, she couldn't help herself. She ran up to her and wrapped her arms around her shoulders.
"Welcome back!" Anna smiled, squeezing Elsa tight when the hug was returned. She broke away to look at her, holding her shoulders as she witnessed the warm expression she carried. Elsa was calm, not at all tense as she was when she had left, and her hands were uncovered and relaxed at her sides rather than tucked beneath her arms. "Wow, you look… different. I think."
"I feel different," said Elsa, laughing at the puzzled look on Anna's face as she tried to figure out what it was. The relief she felt undoubtedly brightened her eyes, and her smile was so wide and true that no one would know that something had been wrong with her. "I felt like I was spiraling out of control before, but I'm okay now," she said, nodding once as if to reassure both herself and her sister of it. "I'm sorry I had to leave you like that. I hope nothing major happened while I was gone."
Anna shook her head. "No, no, it was fine! I mean, you owe me for having to sit in on those council meetings by myself," she joked, "but there wasn't much. I'm just glad you're okay." She looked at Elsa, happy to see that she was back to her normal self: poised, elegant and royal as ever. It was a complete contrast to just a week ago when she broke down and Anna found her huddled beneath her desk.
She couldn't get the image of that night out of her mind, and she hoped she'd never have to see her sister like that again. "Did you figure out what was happening?" Anna asked, disappointed when she saw Elsa shake her head.
"I'm still not sure. For the first few days, nothing I tried was working, and then…" She looked up at the arched ceiling in thought. "I mean… I did have some help…"
"Olaf?" Anna guessed with a smirk; she knew sending him along with Elsa was a good idea. Though as she looked around the foyer, the little snowman had yet to be seen. "Oh, hey, where is he? I want to show you guys something!"
Elsa smiled, resisting when Anna grabbed her wrist and started pulling her towards the hall. "He was right behind me with—"
She stopped as the door at the front of the room swung open, forcing Anna to put her surprise on hold. Olaf waddled in, then turned and walked back, out of sight. "Come on! This way!" he said. When he returned, he waved at Anna, bouncing in his step as he held the hand of an older woman, leading her inside the castle. She looked around in restrained awe, minding her manners in the company she was graced with as she followed the pull of the little snowman.
He let go when he got close to the royal siblings and ran at them. "Hi Anna!" he greeted, jumping into her arms when she knelt down to pick him up. He hugged her around the shoulders, laughing as she giggled, and he turned in her arms to gesture at the white-gowned woman he had led inside. "Look at who we found on the North Mountain!"
Anna smiled, but it weakened the longer she stared at the woman. White-blonde hair, like Elsa, blue eyes, again like Elsa, and a shimmering gown that respected her age but screamed power. This woman looked familiar too, and not just because of the similarities between her and her sister.
Elsa noticed her struggle, and she crossed the distance between them, gently urging her guest to come closer. "Anna, do you remember Sarah Fisher?"
She stilled at the name. That was the owner of the new ice cream shop in Storybrooke who had all the quality emotions of an icicle. "I hardly recognized you!" Anna nervously laughed, getting a chill up her spine at the woman's tight-lipped smile.
"We all look a little different in this world," said Sarah. Even those few words sounded forced to Anna, though Elsa didn't seem to notice. "Different names, too. I'm still used to calling you both Alison and Nina."
"Oh, haha, yeah. You used to work in the arts and crafts store before you opened the ice cream parlor, right? Well, welcome to Arendelle!" Anna greeted. She put Olaf down on the floor, remembering something he said when he introduced Sarah. "You met on the North Mountain?" she asked, suspicious when the two blondes and the snowman all nodded. "What were you doing all the way up there?"
"Looking for Elsa, of course."
Anna's heart skipped a beat. Typically, people who looked for the queen went to the queen's castle, not her retreat.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped, surprised by Elsa's warm touch. "She has ice magic, too," Elsa explained, grinning at her sister's wide-eyed stare. "She's been helping me learn more about my powers, so I offered her to stay here until she's prepared to make the trip home."
"Oh. Wow, I guess the ice cream place makes sense then," Anna said with a sheepish grin. "So… how long are you staying?"
She didn't miss the stern look Elsa gave her from the corner of her eye. Her question was rude, yes, but she always had a bad feeling about Sarah Fisher after the curse broke. The woman felt like she had something to hide, and Anna believed that she was faking every smile that spread across her lips.
Sarah laughed a hearty chuckle, amused by Elsa's reaction to Anna's straightforward question. "Don't worry, I'll only need a few days to rest and get what I need," she said, showing her a genuine smile for once. "And please… call me Ingrid."
"Are you alright?"
Anna blinked, realizing she had been staring out at the frozen pond and not paying attention to the conversation Henry was trying to have with her. They sat on a park bench near the water, enjoying the nice, snow-free day, but the quiet allowed Anna to become trapped in her thoughts about Sarah.
She shook her head and managed a smile. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I was just daydreaming again. What were you saying?"
Henry turned back to look around at the park. "You guys have weird winters," he noticed, spotting patches of green grass through the snowmelt. "It's still cold, but it's not bad out here."
"Yeah it's… normally not like this." Anna gulped. It was common to have some mild days mixed in with colder ones during wintertime, but this year had more than any other she lived through in both Storybrooke and Arendelle. She had to wonder if the weather knew that Elsa was gone; that perhaps without her, the season struggled to exist.
She wondered if winter missed Elsa just as bad as she did.
Henry leaned forward and looked at her. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked. "Sarah said something you didn't like, didn't she?"
Anna cringed. "You could tell?"
He gave her a look and Anna turned away, feeling silly.
"Right, I'm that obvious…" She sighed and sat back, rubbing her nose to stall as she tried to get her words together. "It's just… well, it's my sister," she started, glancing at him before she focused back on the pond. "I don't really know why she left, and when Sarah said that Elsa might change… I mean, I know she's safe… I think. And I know she loves me and she'll come home when I—when she thinks she's ready to, but…"
"You're worried about her."
Anna nodded, hugging her elbows. "Yeah, I am."
"Can't you call her?"
"She, uh… she won't turn on her cell phone."
"Maybe you should just go to Boston and look for her?"
That would be akin to knocking on Zelena's front door and asking for her sister back. "I can't do that!" she yelled, sitting up straight in panic of what the witch would do to her if she made such a move.
Henry shrugged. "I guess you just gotta believe that she's okay, then."
"Yeah, I…"
Wait… what? Did he just tell me to believe?
She looked at him as he dug in his pocket for something, awed that his heart shone through his muddled memories. "Here, hold out your hand," Henry told her, and when she didn't move, he reached out and took it, facing her palm towards the sky. "My mom said one of her friends gave this to her," he explained as he dropped a woven leather keychain into her hand. "She said that it made her brave when things got overwhelming or scary, so she gave it to me to help when we moved to New York."
The story made Anna smirk as she inspected the keychain. The leather was new with no signs of wear, but the golden pendant attached to it had a history. She knew because it was originally hers.
She smiled as she ran her thumb over the crocus etched into the metal, and felt her palm grow cold where it rested in her hand. She turned the pendant over, happy to find Elsa's snowflake still frozen to the gold. Just as she said, the ice survived an entire year without magic to sustain it.
"I think that's supposed to be some kind of crystal," Henry said, pointing to the snowflake. "You can hang on to it if you want."
The offer was tempting. Anna didn't have many possessions in Storybrooke, but the necklace that the pendant came from was one of her most precious treasures. She was once again "Mom's friend" in Henry's story, but she had given the necklace to him, not Emma, on a promise that they'd see each other again.
Somehow fate brought them back to this cursed little town in Maine, but Henry wasn't himself. The true believer who tried so hard to break the first curse still slept behind a veil of false memories. He stirred, but he needed help to wake up.
Anna gave the pendant one last squeeze before she handed it back to him. "Thanks, but this is yours," she said, silently urging him to be patient until they found a way to bring his memories back. "And thank you for talking to me. You're a good kid, Henry."
He smirked and looked away, embarrassed by the compliment. "Aw, well… for being an adult, you're pretty cool, Anna. Storybrooke's not as boring as I thought it was. But you know…" he gazed at the road at the edge of the park, contemplating something as Anna checked her phone. "We never got up into that clock tower."
Anna chuckled to herself; his spirit for adventure didn't dull from the curse, that's for sure. "Let's save that one for another day, okay? It's already four o'clock," she said, showing him the time on her phone. "Emma should be back from her investigation by now."
And I gotta get back to mine, she thought as she noticed a text message she missed on their walk to the park. If this curse isn't going to break any time soon, I have to learn more about what happened last year.
Though Henry couldn't remember a single minute about his time in Storybrooke during the first curse, Anna was thankful that his personality hadn't changed. Their conversation eased the tension she felt after what happened in the ice cream shop, and it encouraged her to keep up with her efforts to discover how Elsa fell into Zelena's hands and where she was now.
The text message she got at the park sent her to Mr. Gold's pawn shop. As the usual broker was currently being controlled and held under the watchful eye of the Wicked Witch, the store was temporarily under new management.
"It's about time you got a new phone!" Anna joked when she saw a familiar face standing behind the counter. "I thought you were going to keep using the shop's old one with the dial."
"Well, with all the witch business going on in town, David said that communication is more important now than ever. I agreed," Belle laughed, showing off her new cell phone for Anna to see. She pocketed the device and returned her focus to a book she had open next to the register. "I think I found that information you were looking for."
"About the urn?" Anna asked, heading straight to the counter. She rested her forearms on it as she peered at the large tome, recognizing runes from her homeland on the worn pages.
"Yes, well… some information at the very least. According to this book, the urn is ancient, dating back to before recorded history in the Northern Kingdoms." She turned the book around, showing Anna the page she had it opened to. There was a sketch of the urn on one side, perfectly replicated from what Anna remembered of it, and a wall of futhark runes detailing the urn's information was written on the other. "It says here that it gives off an unnerving presence to magic users, like some kind of dark, foreboding aura. To anyone else, it's just an urn."
"Does it do anything?"
Belle shook her head and looked down at the open page with a disappointed frown. "Whoever wrote this never found out."
Anna placed her hands on the counter and leaned back, trying to pick up where the author left off. "So whatever it does, it probably only works on people with magic, right?"
"Sounds like it, yeah. I'm not sure it would do anything to someone normal," Belle shrugged. "Why? What are you thinking?"
"…I'm thinking that Zelena stole Elsa's magic," Anna said gravely, staring at the picture of the urn and skimming the notes in the margins. "I mean, if the urn's enchanted, it makes sense, right? And I'm thinking that if Elsa's powerless, she can't escape from wherever Zelena's hiding her. That's why she hasn't come home: she can't."
Belle nodded, liking the theory though she was quick to find a flaw. "You told me before that her snowmen couldn't see her heart or recognize her emotions when we came back. Even if she lost her magic, they should still be able to find her."
"…So maybe Zelena ripped her heart out and stuffed it in the urn?" Anna suggested. She looked up at Belle in hopes that her idea was plausible, but when the fair brunette slowly shook her head, she was forced to rethink the urn's purpose. "I guess not, huh? No point lugging that urn around if she can just carry her heart."
Anna huffed, frustrated that she couldn't do more with the information she had. She drummed her fingers on the counter, focusing on the sketch and what was engraved on the urn's face. "What do these runes mean?"
"You can't read them?" Belle asked, surprised when Anna shook her head. "I can't either and I was hoping that you could. Its futhark, but… ancient. Probably from when the urn was first forged."
Anna looked down at the open pages and ran her fingers over the words, able to read the other runes so easily when she assumed Belle had to do some translations to extract the information she needed. As she studied the lines, Anna picked up on a few things about the book. For instance, it was written completely by hand, likely with a quill judging by the ink. And as she studied the runes she could actually read, she noticed the shape of their curves and points, recognizing the handwriting of the author. "Belle… where did you find this?"
"It was sitting on a shelf in the library," Belle said, unconcerned. "It wasn't recorded in the card catalogue, so I assumed that it came back with us after the missing year. Why? Is there something wrong?" she asked. Anna stood in silence, staring at the page for a moment before she started rapidly flipping through the book. "What is it? What did you find?"
"This is my sister's," Anna whispered, quickly skimming the pages as she turned them and catching Belle's confused stare from the corner of her eye. "It's a memoir thing the monarchs of Arendelle pass down to their heirs after their rule. I didn't know she started hers."
Belle stood back and watched as Anna tore through the tome, stopping once in a while to read a passage before continuing on her reckless pace. "W-Wait, if Elsa wrote everything in there, the she knew about the urn," Belle realized. "She must have had it at one point to be able to draw it, but then how did Zelena get it? She couldn't have been in Arendelle, could she?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out," Anna said, seething when she ran out of written pages and flipped through a thick section of blanks after the last entry. "Come on sis, there had to be something going on that made you disappear like this. Give me details or a clue… something."
As she turned through the blank pages towards the back of the tome, she noticed drips of ink dotting the corners at random, as though Elsa had drawn a quill from an ink pot over the book as she opened it. Holding her breath, Anna slowed her reckless pace and carefully flipped through each page, unsure of what she was looking for until she finally found it.
Ink was splattered across the last page in haste and the writing was just as frantic, scrawled in large English letters instead of the futhark of the tome.
"DON'T TRUST INGRID"