Chapter 14
The following Wednesday afternoon, Elsa and Anna knocked on the door to the lab. Elsa noted that the sign over the lab's door was missing.
This time only Alex and Sarah were waiting for them. Sarah was watering and measuring the height of several sets of seedlings in trays by the window. Alex rose from his seat as Elsa and Anna entered the room. Sarah noted the absence of a guard.
"Good afternoon," said Elsa. "What happened to the 'Land of the Giants'?"
Sarah said, "Good afternoon, Your Majesty, Your Highness. Ruth told us that in the local mythology, giants almost always symbolize forces of destruction. It's not quite the first impression we're trying to make."
Anna laughed. "True enough. Where is Ruth?"
Alex said, "Working on a history paper."
Elsa handed the lab journal to Alex and asked, "What are we exploring today?"
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Alex took the journal and passed it to Sarah who set it on a workbench which had a waiting quill, bottle of ink and blotter. "Before we arrived in Arendelle, I'd planned to use this second session to explore your control of freezing and thawing rates. Those plans were discarded during the first two seconds of your demonstration on our first night."
"What could you possibly see in two seconds that derailed your plans?" asked Anna.
"Gestures, Your Highness," said Alex. He turned to Elsa. "Your Majesty, every intentional act of magic I've seen you perform has been accompanied by a gesture. Before that demonstration, I'd never given any thought to how you communicated your intentions to the magic. Today we'll try to get a handle on it. So, Your Majesty, what is the purpose of the gestures?"
Sarah readied herself to take notes.
Elsa had never considered this question before, so she thought about it for a few seconds before answering, "Now that it's under control, when I do magic I visualize what I want. The gestures help me focus, gather power and act as a trigger. Before it was under control.." The room started cooling as Elsa's anxiety level rose.
Sarah stopped her writing and interrupted, "Your Majesty, if this is making you uncomfortable, we shouldn't dwell on that time."
"Thank you." Elsa relaxed, and the room warmed again.
Alex asked, "What determines the gesture?"
"Whatever seems right at the time. If I'm directing a blast of wind or snow, pointing or sweeping an arm seems natural. If I'm going to be spreading a layer of ice underfoot, stamping my foot seems natural."
"Would it work with words? Or gestures that are non-intuitive? If you had a clearly visualized purpose for the magic and just needed a trigger?"
"I'm not sure I understand."
Alex reached under the workbench and pulled out two small pieces of wood connected by a hinge. "Suppose you wanted to break apart a hinge. You could use repeated freeze-thaw cycles to force the screws out of the wood or spread the knuckles wrapped around the pin. A natural gesture might be the wave of a hand or the clenching and opening of a fist. A much faster one would be the closing and opening an eye. And it has the advantage that if your hands are occupied, you don't have to drop anything."
"Well, this would have helped when Hans had my hands shackled," thought Elsa. "Would you like me to try to break this hinge now?"
"I'd like to take some precautions first. Sarah, could you open the emergency supplies?"
Sarah got up and unlocked the green chest.
Alex continued, "I think eye and ear protection are important this time, as well as a box of ice surrounding the hinge, just in case pieces go flying." He handed out goggles and ear plugs.
Anna asked, "Why ear plugs?"
"When metal is bent, torn or broken it makes noise. I have no idea if that will happen, or how loud it may be. It's better to err on the side of safety."
Elsa waved a hand and the hinge and the area surrounding it on the workbench was covered by a box of clear ice two inches thick and a foot on each side. "What would you like me to try first, freeing the hinge pin or forcing out the screws?"
"Try freeing the hinge pin first, Your Majesty. If you can get a layer of water between the pin and the hinge knuckles you can freeze it and the expansion will probably force the knuckles open and free the pin. Especially if you do it repeatedly and confine the ice to the space between knuckle and pin. Start with whatever gesture feels natural, then try winking one eye."
Alex donned his goggles and put in his earplugs. Elsa, Anna, and Sarah followed suit.
Elsa waved her right hand and the hinge barrel frosted over. The hinge knuckles opened slightly and made a creaking noise. She waved again and the frost melted. She closed her right eye and the hinge barrel frosted over again. Again, the hinge knuckles creaked. She opened her eye and the frost melted. Elsa winked her eye rapidly, ten times in succession, and the hinge knuckles yielded with a groaning, and then a loud cracking sound, fracturing the knuckles, opening the hinge barrel and exposing the hinge pin.
Alex removed his earplugs, and so did everyone else.
Anna examined the hinge. "Whoa! No door is ever gonna stand in your way."
"Cell doors have hinges on the outside, much harder to visualize," thought Elsa.
"How complicated can your communication with the magic get, Your Majesty?" asked Alex.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, could you have the magic do a sequence of ten freeze-thaw cycles at high speed with a single gesture?"
"I can try. It's possible I can compress my control of my magic."
"That's an awkward way to describe it, but so be it. Why don't you try to force one of the hinge screws out of the wood using closing and opening an eye as a trigger and then for the next screw compress the trigger. You can determine the number of freeze-thaw cycles it takes with the first screw and have your magic do that many cycles in quick succession for the second screw."
"Very well."
Everyone re-inserted their ear plugs.
Elsa closed her right eye and one of the screws holding a hinge wing to the wood frosted over and was forced a short distance out of the wood. She opened her eye and the screw defrosted. She winked and the screw was forced further from the wood. She winked eight more times before the screw was forced from the wood entirely.
For the second screw Elsa snapped her fingers. One of the other screws rocketed from the wood with a ripping sound and embedded itself in the surrounding ice box with a 'ping'.
Sarah scribbled madly to describe what had happened.
Alex removed his earplugs and goggles, and Elsa, Anna and Sarah followed his example.
"Very interesting. Could you please remove the ice shield Your Majesty?"
Elsa snapped her fingers and the ice box disappeared. The screw dropped to the workbench, rolled off, and clattered to the floor. Alex bent down and retrieved it, putting it back on the workbench and then examining the hinge carefully.
Alex asked, "Sarah, could you draw the hinge?"
Sarah nodded and drew a picture of the twisted and broken hinge knuckles and the scarred wood that remained where the two screws had been ejected.
Anna asked, "What's next?"
Alex grinned sheepishly and said, "Next, Your Highness, is something a little bizarre." He turned to Elsa, "Your Majesty, do you think it's possible your magic could respond to an external trigger? A sound for instance, or perhaps a flash of light?"
"Why would I abdicate control of my power to an external trigger?"
Alex looked uncomfortably at Elsa. "It might save your life. Please stop me if I'm treading on painful memories, but when the soldiers returned from the battle at the Ice Palace they told stories of what they'd seen there. One thing they saw was a sheet of ice with the tip of a crossbow bolt emerging from it." Elsa gasped, remembering the attack, but indicated to Alex that he should continue.
Alex said, "Gestures can be quick, but a shield of ice triggered by the sound of a crossbow bolt firing would have been faster." Alex reached into a pocket and pulled out a small metal clicker. "I don't have a crossbow, and wouldn't bring one into your presence if I did, but I do have this." Alex flexed the noisemaker and it made a loud 'click'. He opened a cabinet and pulled out a small mortar and pestle, removed the pestle and put it back in the cabinet. He placed the mortar on a workbench. "Your Majesty, can your magic fill up this mortar with ice when it hears the click?"
"I.. I'm not sure," said Elsa. She glanced at Anna. "It cost so much to bring my powers under control, that I'm not sure I can let go of that control. Even if I try, I may not be able to." She paused, trying to think of a way to express how weird she felt about this. "You're asking me to think about my magic in a way I never have before. As if it were something almost separate from me that I control rather than an intrinsic part of who I am. That.. mental model may be so wrong that I don't know if this can ever work."
Anna said, "I think you should try. It could save your life."
Elsa appeared ready to protest again, but changed her mind. "Very well, let's try."
"All right, Your Majesty, I'm going to get behind you so you don't see me making the click." Alex moved behind Elsa. "Nod to let me know when you're ready to begin."
Elsa gathered her thoughts, then nodded and waited anxiously. Three seconds later she heard a 'click'. The mortar remained empty.
"Oh well, not every idea pans out."
"I'm sorry, Alex."
Sarah said, "Your Majesty, you seemed very tense while you were waiting for the click. As if you were waiting to pounce. It may be that you need to relax for an external trigger to work. Why don't you and Princess Anna take the clicker and try on your own, when you won't have the pressure of Alex and me looking over your shoulder. The benefits if you succeed are surely worth the effort of trying again."
Anna said, "That's a good idea. We'll think of it as homework."
Alex said, "Please don't, Your Highness." He sighed. "I've seen how diligent my students are about homework."
Elsa chuckled. "I think this is important enough for us to actually do the work."
Alex handed the clicker to Anna and said, "Your Highness, Your Majesty, I wish you better luck at this than we had."
Elsa said, "Thank you, Alex. Will you be writing a report on this week's work next Wednesday?"
"Yes, although I hope to add positive results from Your Majesty's experiments."
Sarah finished writing up what hadn't happened, as well as her speculations as to why. Then she took the notebook and copied the dated measurements from the trays of seedlings. She blotted the writing, and as she was handing the journal to Elsa she asked, "Your Majesty, could you refill the water tub with ice? I'm running low on magically created water."
Elsa took the journal in one hand and waved the other, filling the tub with ice. Then she and Anna took their leave.
Alex and Sarah cleaned up and locked up the lab and then went home.
Anna grinned and glanced sidelong at Elsa as they walked to her office. "So, are you going to be blowing doors off their hinges instead of knocking?"
Elsa laughed. "Only if I am very, very angry."
"Whooee, remind me not to make you mad."
A/N - Of course the real reason for the gestures is that movies are a visual medium. But I like my reasons also. The paragraphs on the compression of the trigger were rewritten in response to PascalDragon's review.