A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!:)
Thanks to CieloFede for beta-ing:)
Frozen789-Thank you! It's not ended quite yet!:)
johnpatgillespie-Thanks!:) I do like the name Anikka. A lot.:)
Dragonheart35-Lol, well thank you.:) Maybe these characters have gotten inside my head too much.:P Thank you. That makes me happy, 'cause it's REALLY important to me that Elsa and Anna remain their canon selves. I mean, obviously they change over a period of time, but I want my stories to be like what's going on after the movie.:) The ONLY non-canon things in my story-verse are Arendelle being on the Canadian side of Lake Erie and that it's technically present day but Arendelle has 1800s technology. Which doesn't even apply to this story at all, but anyways...:) (Lol, is it okay to say you're welcome? XD :P)
Fatten Saad-I agree-Elsa is awesome with children. It's a headcanon of mine.:) Hmm, I hadn't intended that, and it won't be happening in this story, but I think you may have just given me part of a story idea for a sequel to 'Mind Games' when I'm finished with it.;) (If I DO do that, I'll credit you for the idea.)
mctiffanygamingmc-Elsa spending time with the children is pretty adorable, now that you said that...:P And thank you:)
Emmazippy577-Yay, a new reviewer! (I think?:)) I just didn't think Elsa was instantly okay at the end of the movie. She's much happier; she has her little sister back; she knows the key to controlling her powers; but thirteen years of fear and isolation aren't going to disappear just like that. Therefore "my" Elsa acts the way she does.:) Thank you for all the positive words, and I'm so glad you like the way I write the Frozen characters.:)
On to the story!:) {SPECIAL NOTE: This chapter has Christian themes, and if you're uncomfortable with that, please feel free to skip this chapter.:) I promise this is the only one.}
"Anna, there's one more thing I'd like t-to do before we go home," Elsa said as the two of them started riding back in the general direction of the castle. I want to go to the chapel and talk to the bishop. I know he saw that ice I accidentally made on the orb and scepter at the coronation ceremony.
"The chapel, Elsa?" Anna asked in confusion as her sister stopped her horse outside the chapel. "Why on earth are we stopping here?"
"You didn't notice, but I messed up at the c-coronation ceremony…I frosted over the orb and scepter, and I know the b-bishop saw it. I just want to talk to him," Elsa explained. She paused in her tracks and looked up at the graceful lines of the building. Something that she hadn't remotely thought of since she was a young child ran through her mind…something she had completely forgotten isolated in her room for so long. "Anna…do you…do you think…that is, I mean…" Elsa sighed and scrunched her eyes shut. Don't ask Anna that. She'll think you're an idiot. A heathen idiot at that.
Anna frowned and gently hugged her sister close, being mindful of Elsa's sore shoulder. "Go ahead and ask whatever it is you wanted to ask, sis. I won't think you're bad or stupid or whatever, I promise," she said quietly.
Elsa pulled away from Anna and kept her gaze down, just frowning at her bare hand. It's like Anna read my mind… "I…if there's…if there's a God s-somewhere, do you…do you think he could ever l-love someone like me? I mean, I'm…I just…never mind. I want to go home. I shouldn't have come here." She abruptly turned away and started heading for home, leaving Anna with their horses. What's wrong with me? I'm twenty-one years old and I ask a stupid question like that.
"Elsa, stop it. Come back here," Anna said firmly. "You know we have Bibles back at home. We can read stuff together if you want. I'm not someone who's memorized a zillion verses-I thought that was boring when we were little and I didn't even try to memorize any after Mom and Dad died, but I remember a few. And Elsa?"
Elsa turned back to face Anna, her gaze questioning. I was ten the last time I even opened a Bible. Something about love being no harm to its neighbor and I thought that meant it was impossible for me to love anyone because I hurt Anna. And I was questioning whether there was a God at all because then why did I even exist? I just messed up things…
"Elsa, there's one verse that goes 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shan't-should not" Anna corrected herself, "-perish, but have everlasting life.' It says 'world'. That means you too. Like, everybody. Even somebody like dumb old Hans. Which makes no sense, but...yeah. Stupid Hans, too."
Elsa frowned, but she came back over to Anna. "How do you know God exists at all? No higher being in their right m-mind would make a living thing like me!" Maybe I'm a mistake? God made a mistake when He made me and that's why I'm all messed up?
"Where do you think we and the whole planet came from if God doesn't exist?" Anna asked. Anna didn't consider herself a Christian expert, not by a long shot, but she was determined to help her sister as best she could. I haven't even read the Bible myself at all in forever. I shouldn't be talking to Elsa about this. She should talk to someone else, not me.
That's a good point. "Okay, so God exists. Why would he create s-someone like me?" Elsa asked. "Maybe I'm a mistake. Or…or some bad demon thing m-messed me up?"
Anna's hand flew up and slapped her sister across the face before she could stop herself. "Oh my goodness, I am so, so sorry, Elsa! I-I…you said that and it was so horrible I just…I just…smacked my sweet sister in the face! I'm sorry!" Good grief, Elsa's shiner isn't even gone yet, and I bopped her in the face. That was mean! She just grabbed a very shocked and confused Elsa and hugged her tightly, unable to keep from crying. Elsa thinks she's a mistake?! And she suggested some hellish thing of some kind did something to her?! "Elsa, you are NOT a mistake! And you know no weird creepy thing did something to you. You were-"
"Born with your abilities," a man's voice finished. "Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, do come in. I overheard part of your conversation just now. Your majesty, I would like to speak with you, if that is convenient."
Both sisters jumped and turned to see the bishop standing right in the entrance leading into the chapel. Elsa bit her lip and balled her free hand into a fist as she slowly walked into the chapel. The last time he saw me, I lost control. And I just said all those things right in front of the bishop and I didn't even know it! What must he think of me?!
Bishop Amundsen just looked straight at Elsa for a moment before speaking. "Queen Elsa, you seem to have many questions, which is quite understandable. If I may have permission to say a few things, and then you may ask whatever questions you like?"
Elsa just nodded and kept her mouth firmly clamped shut. I'm so afraid I'm going to say the wrong thing. I sounded like an idiotic child outside.
"You were born with extraordinary abilities over ice and snow, Queen Elsa. It didn't come from anywhere. It was just part of you, like your sister having lots of freckles and strawberry blonde reddish hair. You froze the water at your private christening as a baby; your parents were terrified and angry, sure that you would be labeled a witch and a freak. They wondered what they had done wrong to be 'punished' by their first daughter being born 'cursed' and 'defective' like that." The bishop paused for a moment, noticing Elsa was starting to tense up and ice had begun spreading under her feet.
Elsa kept her right hand gripping her skirt tightly and her left one just balled into a fist since her arm was still in the sling. Elsa's blue eyes were wide, her body trembling slightly all over. I have to know. Calm down, Elsa. "Please go on," she said softly. Elsa felt a bit better when she felt Anna's arm securely wrapped around her. Thanks, Anna. I need you with me.
"Your parents went so far as to suspect you were a child of Ska∂i and other such nonsense. After much deliberation, I came to the conclusion that I still hold today. All the more so since I've seen you as that baby with the unexplainable abilities, a very well mannered little girl, and the grown-up girl…woman I see today. While I have no explanation for why you were born with powers over ice and snow, I can say with certainty that you are not cursed, defective, a freak, a witch, or anything else of the sort. You were born that way-how can a baby practice witchcraft? it can't!-and pardon me for saying so, but you were the prettiest baby I have ever seen before or since."
Elsa turned bright red at that comment, but didn't say anything.
The bishop went on, "If anything, you would be some powerful angelic being no one has heard of before, not a witch. But all suspicions aside, I think the most likely scenario is that you are simply a human girl with extraordinary abilities, and that's that. Perhaps you are a sort of chosen one that God granted divine powers to because you're destined to do something important with them as the monarch of Arendelle. Queen Elsa, you have a loving heart, just as your sister does. Do you wish to know the last thing that solidifies the fact that you are no 'mistake' or otherwise?"
Elsa gave one slow nod. "I think so." If Bishop Amundsen doesn't think God made me like I am by accident and that I'm not a mistake, I should believe him…
"If your parents had simply told you one simple thing when you were small, none of the events surrounding your coronation would have happened. 'There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.' Queen Elsa, your sister's love helped erase your fear; and then your own love for your sister and your country enabled you to erase the physical manifestations of that fear. God loves you even more than you love Princess Anna, if you can fathom that." Bishop Amundsen gave the young queen a slight smile. "I sincerely believe that you will be and are being already one of the best rulers Arendelle has ever seen."
"Love will thaw…" Elsa whispered. That's exactly like what the trolls said, just worded differently. God loves…stupid me? Stupid, constantly half-terrified, abnormal me? Loves someone who accidentally froze her little sister to death? "How can God love someone who h-hurts her very best friend?" Elsa asked, her voice faint.
"Queen Elsa, you do not earn God's love. It is simply there for you. He even loves people like that prince that tried to kill you."
Elsa dropped her gaze to the floor as a sudden thought crossed her mind. "If…if God loves me, why d-did…why did He let me live l-locked in my room for so long? I…I'm…I…it hurt…hurt so much…" Elsa's slender body was suddenly wracked with sobs, and she turned away and buried her face in her sister's warm shoulder. I didn't think anyone loved or cared about me at all…I knew Anna didn't hate me or she wouldn't have kept knocking…
Anna did stop knocking multiple times, and you thought she didn't want to bother with you anymore.
I know now she never stopped caring about me though. Elsa didn't move; she felt safe with Anna's arms hugging her tightly. She needed her baby sister to be close to her right this second.
Bishop Amundsen's expression hardened. "Princess Anna, what does she mean, 'locked in my room for so long'?" he asked in a deathly calm voice.
Anna realized no one knew what had gone on behind the closed gates of the castle for all those years. "Our parents kept Elsa isolated in her own room after the castle gates were shut," she said quietly, unsure of how much information Elsa would want her to say.
"Queen Elsa, weren't you only…eight then?" the bishop asked.
Elsa slowly pulled away from her sister and nodded as she tried to wipe her face and stop crying. Snowflakes floated down around her, and she felt mortified, even though she knew the bishop wasn't angry or disgusted with her. Get it under control, Elsa. Why did you even ask that?! That's private business! Personal information I didn't want anyone to know!
"You do know any information you may choose to share will remain confidential. There is no need to worry that all of Arendelle will know their new young queen was forced to stay confined to her room for years on end when she was a child," Bishop Amundsen assured Elsa.
Elsa barely knew Bishop Amundsen, so she didn't completely trust him to not say anything if she tried to explain her past. So Elsa just reworded her question to make it a bit more general. "If God loves everyone…even someone like me…why does He let people l-live hurting and in pain? Why do bad things happen for s-seemingly no good reason?"
The bishop wished he could just give Elsa a hug, queen or no. Elsa's big blue eyes were haunted and sad, despite her obvious efforts to remove herself from her questions. She looked like a scared and lost little girl. The young princess Bishop Amundsen remembered may have been perfectly well mannered every time he saw her, but little Elsa still had a naïve and mischievous innocence about her. Twenty-one-year-old Elsa seemed, quite honestly, like she had been abused inside for a long, long time. Which is most likely true, he thought to himself. "Queen Elsa…I cannot answer that question exactly. But do remember that 'all things work together for good to them that love God, who are the called according to His purpose.' Perhaps your personal experiences have made you stronger in some way. Perhaps they will make you a better ruler than you might be otherwise. Perhaps they make you understand others' feelings better."
Elsa's expression brightened as she remembered how she was able to use her own past and personal issues to make two little girls feel better. That actually makes sense. Not complete sense, but at least I have some sort of reasoning that's actually logical. "Thank you. I still don't quite understand everything, but that does m-make sense. Thank you for being willing to t-talk to me and not just toss me out of the church, or label me some horrible thing," she said.
"Quite welcome, my queen. You do know the monarch of Arendelle would have the right to remove the bishop from his position if he or she did not like what the bishop was saying about him or her," Bishop Amundsen told her, his stern expression barely hinting at the reassurance he was trying to give Elsa.
Elsa shook her head hard. "I might have absolute power, but I would never, ever do s-something like that. There will be a freedom of religion policy in Arendelle as long as I sit on the throne," she said firmly. What right do I have to force people to follow beliefs they don't really truly believe in? That isn't fair. "Freedom of speech as well," Elsa added.
"A word of friendly warning: freedom of speech is perfect until someone else does the talking."
"I know. But I refuse to be a dictatorial tyrant," Elsa announced confidently. I will never, ever be a so-called 'Elsa the Terrible'. That is not me. I will be the best and most fair monarch I can be.
A/N: And I assume if you made it all the way to here, you read it and hopefully I didn't offend anybody.:)
Please let me know what you think of the logic regarding Elsa's powers.:)
I just didn't think there was any way Elsa would just accept everything without questioning it...so, Elsa asked lots of questions.:P I think most people in her position would.:)
Next chapter coming soon!:)