Nico had shadow traveled himself and Elsa to a giant pile of rocks a few hundred meters ahead of them. The two were hiding behind the rocks, and there were several rocks covered in moss around them. Nico was tired from shadow traveling twice in one day, but he hadn't traveled very far each time, so he would be alright
Elsa gasped; getting a good look around her. She squeezed Nico's hand; leading him down a small set of stairs to the middle of the rock floor area.
"Trolls, we need your help." Elsa said loudly and clearly. She moved her hair out of her face. "It is I; Elsa; crown princess of Arendelle. Born with the powers of ice and snow. I'm here with my friend." The rocks gave a shudder. Nico placed a hand on his sword, but Elsa stopped him and shook her head. The rocks rolled towards them, and turned into creatures. The trolls; Nico guessed.
"Elsa, you have returned after almost five years. What brings you here now? Where is your family? And who is this?" One troll who sounded older than the rest of the trolls stepped forward.
"Please; I know where my powers have come from. I have met my real mother." Elsa announced. "My family doesn't know where I am, but it's for the best. This is my friend Nico." She explained. "He's the reason I know."
"We warned your father that the girl he fell in love with was not safe." The old troll sighed. "If only he had been able to love his wife the way he loved your mother."
"I have met Khione, and she didn't love him at all." Elsa sighed. "She is a hateful, and if you will, cold being. She froze mine and Nico's hearts. No love can go in or out."
Nico looked around at the trolls. The older troll sighed tiredly.
"You have an ability your mother never even gives a second thought to, and it is vital in controlling your powers, Elsa. Though it will be difficult to use it with a frozen heart, with practice you can use it. That ability is love." He told her seriously.
"But my heart is frozen!" Elsa protested.
"Love does not need to enter or leave your heart. Just remember love, and it will thaw. It will be difficult, but you can use it." The troll promised. Nico felt Elsa lean against him. "As for thawing your hearts, only true love can thaw a frozen heart. If it was one of your heads, that would be easy; simple even. There are only two ways for your hearts to thaw. Either an act of true love from each of you, or Khione retracts it." Elsa looked dismayed.
"What would qualify as an act of true love?" Nico asked.
"If the two of you were older, true love's kiss, but you two are young." A troll from the side said.
"We're not together. We love each other, but like siblings." Nico said quickly. Elsa nodded furiously.
"Love comes in all shapes, sizes, packages, and types." The old troll assured them. "The same goes for true love. True love can be platonic or romantic. Love is love, no matter what kind of love it is, no matter who it's between." Elsa squeezed Nico's hand. He didn't respond.
He thought of the love that was trapped in his heart. The love he had tried to turn to hate, but couldn't quite manage to. He felt tears come to his eyes, though he disguised them with a yawn. The love he was forced to hide was a mistake; something he had to rid himself of. There was something wrong with him. He didn't dare tell Elsa. She would hate him. She didn't know the truth. She couldn't.
"I need a place to stay while Nico is gone. There is a war on, where he's from. He can't be here all of the time to take care of me. I can't stay at the castle, because I want to learn how do control my powers from you. Please; may I stay here and learn?" Elsa asked.
"I wanted to teach you how to control your powers when you were eight, and have you stay here, but your parents would not allow it." The old troll sighed. "Very well; though it will be very difficult to teach you to find and use the love while your heart is frozen, it is possible, and you will stay here, and we will teach you."
"Thank you." Elsa bowed her head. "Nico, how long until you think you can shadow travel us back to the castle?" She turned her head to look at him.
"I don't know… It may be a while." He admitted.
"That's okay," Elsa shrugged. "We can just walk."
"The two of you aren't going anywhere after walking so far to get here!" A female troll said, shaking her head. "Both of you need a meal and some rest." Elsa and Nico both felt slightly uncomfortable. They weren't used to anyone fussing over them. But they allowed the female troll to fuss over them, for it was kind of a nice change, after decided to just go with it.
There was another boy who came to eat with them—Kristoff. He was the same age as them. He had honey blonde hair and brown eyes. He was kind of introverted except with the trolls and his reindeer; Sven, who seemed to be his best friend. Kristoff wasn't as reserved as Elsa and Nico. He backed off both of them.
Secretly, Kristoff was kind of afraid of Elsa and Nico. Elsa because he knew about her powers. Plus, she was the crown princess of Arendelle. Nico because Kristoff didn't like the look of his sword at his side, and Nico had looked at Kristoff like he was an enemy. Nico and Elsa sat very close together. Kristoff was kind of afraid to even look at Elsa for fear that Nico would take that the wrong way. He didn't know that they cared about each other like brother and sister; Kristoff thought they were together. He had good reason; Nico was very protective of Elsa, she was wearing his jacket, and they just seemed like they loved each other in that way.
Elsa and Nico had decided to talk in English because most Arendellians did not speak the language, since they were in the part of Scandinavia that spoke Norwegian.
"Are you feeling better?" Elsa asked Nico.
"I was about to ask you the same thing." He replied. "So, you're feeling normal?"
"No; I feel like I could take on a whole army by myself." Elsa said with a shrug. "Before I met you, I usually felt lonely, bored, and afraid."
"Good then. That's good." Nico nodded. "I feel kind of tired, and like I could use a nap." He yawned a few seconds later
"We can walk to the town, and then walk back." Elsa suggested. "And minimize the amount of shadow traveling you have to do." She hadn't realized she had slipped back into speaking Norwegian, so Kristoff could understand. It was her mother tongue, so she sometimes accidentally spoke it when she was trying to speak other languages.
"That'd be best." Nico decided, still speaking English. Then he realized something. "Elsa, just now, you were speaking Norwegian." Elsa's eyes widened, and she glanced at Kristoff.
"Sorry for listening in, but if you need a ride, Sven can take you. I have a sled that works on both grass and snow." Kristoff suggested. Elsa and Nico looked at each other, and seemed to have a silent conversation, to Kristoff.
Elsa shrugged, and jerked her head at Kristoff. Nico took this to mean, Do you think we should? I personally trust him to take us there.
Nico pursed his lips, glared slightly at Kristoff, and shook his head. Elsa understood it as, I don't know. I don't trust him. He keeps looking at us funny.
Elsa huffed, rolled her eyes, and gestured at the trolls with her chin, then glanced at Kristoff. Nico got, Nico, we should trust him. He was raised by the trolls. They trust him, so we should trust him to take us to the edge of the woods.
Nico bit his bottom lip, and shook his head, looking slightly nervous. Elsa got, I don't know, Elsa… I don't want to chance it… If we make a mistake, I will have put you in danger.
Elsa sighed, lifted her hands slightly, glanced down at them, and jerked her chin at Nico's sword, and then at Kristoff. Nico interpreted it as, Nico, stop being so paranoid! I can protect myself if something were to happen. I have powers. You have a sword. He doesn't have either one. We'll be fine.
Nico chewed on his bottom lip, flickered his eyes towards Kristoff, sighed, and then nodded. Elsa understood this as, I don't like this, but fine. We'll let him take us on his sled.
The blonde girl smiled triumphantly. Nico sighed, and reluctantly turned to Kristoff.
"We'd like to take you up on your offer." He said to the blonde boy.
A/N: You know, you should check out the visuals for this story. They links are on my profile.