Chapter 21: Magic in the Library

Elsa stared at the man before her, her mouth going slack at the realization of his identity.

"Ignasi?" She asked incredulously.

The young prince practically jumped out of his skin and turned to see Elsa, his eyes growing to the size of saucers, "Y-Your majesty!"

"Ignasi, what are you doing here?"

"I uh...I'm sorry if I've caused you any inconvenience...I-I can leave if I'm a bother..." He stuttered, nervously glancing at the abandoned open book on the table.

He began to stand up and move around the table to leave the Queen in peace, but she held up a small hand, stopping him. He turned to her with fear and confusion in his eyes, which made her question why he was so afraid.

"No, no its alright but...why are you here at such an hour?"

He glanced to the clock above the fireplace and looked to the ground sheepishly, "Well I'm afraid I was having difficulty sleeping, your majesty. May I ask you the same?"

Elsa exhaled deeply, "Same as you."

She turned her gaze to look at the book he had been glancing at, his hand now slowly traveling closer to it. She looked to the book, his hand, then back to him, "So what are you reading?"

His hand froze and he reluctantly reached out and picked up the book, handing it over to Elsa. One look at the title, and she was thrown into the swirling world of confusion once more. The cover read: "A Brief Overview of Magic."

Why would Ignasi need to know about magic?

She looked up to meet his glowing eyes of amber, shrouded in a certain guilty innocence that a child being scolded would display. A look of contorted confusion spread across her face as she looked back down to read the letters again, as if they had changed their order, and back to Ignasi.

"I can explain, your majesty..." He began shakily, putting up his hands in a motion of surrender.

She interrupted him once more, shaking her head, "There's no need to explain yourself, I'm not upset, Ignasi."

He visibly relaxed, his shoulders returning to a more comfortable position as he let out a small breath he had been holding. He feared what the Queen might think of his reasons as to why he had been prying on the secrets of magic. There were many things he had been researching, that he did not wish to explain to her, but he knew it would be rude and disrespectful to hide things from her.

Well, here we go...

He took a deep breath and contemplated his words carefully, "Admittedly I was genuinely curious upon hearing of your incredible abilities before my arrival. I'm not sure if you're aware, Queen Elsa, but news of your specific predicament traveled fast last year."

Elsa shuddered upon the topic of her mistake last year, and closed her eyes in an attempt to rid herself of the memories she was sure were to follow.

"Yes, unfortunately, I am well aware of the spread of that news amongst the kingdoms. " She frowned slightly.

"Well I, for one, was intrigued immediately and upon hearing that I would be coming to stay here while...well you know...I decided to try to learn more about magic. However, any material that could be salvaged from our recently destroyed library, was useless in my quest. So naturally, while I was exploring the castle earlier today, I discovered the library and spent most of the day searching for more information."

Elsa nodded slowly, processing his words, and took a few steps closer to the table, setting the book down once more. Ignasi, in the meantime was afraid of what she was thinking and how she would react to his reasoning. He turned to look at Elsa who seemed lost in thought as she stared meaningfully at the book, tracing the faded gold letters of the title with her finger.

The young girl slipped through the shadows being cast in from the moonlight that lined the hallways. She knew the consequences of being caught in her little expedition, so she accordingly proceeded with caution. She had been contained in her room for months straight now, not allowed to leave for any reason. All meals were brought to her, and she spent every waking moment in that increasingly small room of hers.

She hated the fact that her father had forced this upon her, but she knew it was her fault. She was an uncontrollable menace, she had almost killed her sister and she never stopped reliving that dreadful night. It haunted her every time she closed her eyes, and being stuck in that room all day did not help the cause either.

She had finally made her way to her original destination, and peered from behind the thick curtains she was hiding behind. She narrowed her eyes and saw a dark figure patrolling the hallway and silently cursed to herself. She honestly had no idea what she had said, but it was something she had heard her father mutter when he was angry. After contemplating what to do about the guard, an idea popped into her head.

She waited until the opportune moment when the guard had his back to her, and she quickly formed a small snowball. She threw it down the hallway in the opposite direction of the guard. It hit a painting hanging on the wall, causing it to fall with a loud clatter. The guard immediately snapped his attention to the direction of the noise and ran past the curtain she was in.

She slowly peeked her small head out once more, and waited until he was far enough away for her to make her move. A few moments later she silently burst out of the curtains and ran across the hall to the massive, intricately carved wooden doors. She slipped her small frame through the slight opening she made in the doors, and closed them behind her. Once inside, she leaned against the other side of the door and breathed out a large sigh of relief. She opened her eyes and a smile began to grow on her features, something that did not happen often anymore, at the sight before her.

She knew no one came inside the library at these hours, and that she could be alone. She had come here the night before, and found that it was a convenient way to escape the confines of her dismal room. She wandered through the towering shelves of books, and eventually worked over to the section of books she had been in the previous night.

She ran her tiny fingers along the spines of the books as she went along and stopped when a specific title caught her eye. The title read: "A Brief Overview of Magic" in shining gold letters.

"Wow..." She whispered to herself, "I knew there was more to magic!"

She opened to the first page and began to slowly read the large words on the page. It took her a while being as she was still fairly early in her private reading lessons, but she managed to make out a few sentences.

"DunBroc, Corona, Andulasia...I think I've heard of these kingdoms. Father said something about a meeting with them...that they were part of a Regional Council."

She continued to skim the pages and looked at the images to figure out why these kingdoms were in this book of magic. "I don't understand..."

"Elsa! What on earth are you doing?" A voice boomed through the library, making the girl jump an impressive distance from where she stood. She squeezed her eyes shut at the realization of its owner and slowly turned around. One by one, she peeked her eyes open and found them locked onto the cold green eyes of her father.

She swallowed a lump and attempted to form a sentence in defense, " I...father I was just..."

His eyes caught on the book clutched in her small pale hands and they narrowed at it, then her. He quickly retrieved it from her and held it out in front of her, shaking it as he spoke, "What were you doing reading this?"

"I was just...um...I was looking to read about Arendelle." She stammered, making up a hopeful excuse on the spot.

He looked confused for a moment, "Why would you think to find Arendelle in a book about magic?"

"I...well I figured since I have magic, Arendelle would be included in there. And that maybe I could learn more about my magic and be able to control them, and then I wouldn't have to stay locked up anymore!" She cried, pleading for her father to understand her reasoning, as well as consider letting her at least try to prove she could learn to control them.

The King's expression softened and he sighed as he crouched down to meet her eye level. He tucked the book under his arm and reached out to take her dainty little hand in one of his, and cup her cheek in his other,

"Elsa, there are things in this world that we will learn, and there are those that we may never know. And unfortunately we may never know why or how you got your powers. Just like the rest of the world may not ever know about your powers, at least we hope not. But what I do know is that there is absolutely no mention of Arendelle in that book of magic."

Elsa's face fell a bit, as her hopes of learning more about herself and her powers were crushed. She had gone all this time not knowing and she hated to think that she'd spend the rest of her life the same way.

"And I do not want to catch you trying to read this again Elsa, believe me, these are some of the things you should never have to know. That, and these late night expeditions...are less than acceptable."

She hung her head and nodded in understanding. She had been busted, and now she knew she'd have to be exponentially more careful. He reached up to the book shelf and plucked off another title, handing it to his daughter. This one read: "The History of Arendelle." The girl looked up at her father expectantly, to which he promptly responded.

"And since you have shown such an interest in learning about the history of our kingdom, I think this book would be more suitable for quenching your curiosity."

She looked down at the book, and suppressed a frown, looking up to smile gently at her father instead, "Um...thank you, father."

He patted her hand and stood up to walk beside her, "Now I think its best to return you to your respective room young lady."

She sighed and brought the book with her, while her father took the book of magic with him to his room. Most likely he was going to lock it up and hope that no one ever found it, very similar to what he had done with her.

She sat on her bed with the book open in front of her, attempting to read the pages. This time it was lack of interest that hindered her ability to continue reading it. She placed the book on her dresser and climbed beneath her covers, hoping to find peaceful sleep. She knew, however, that was very unlikely.

Her mind was still racing with thoughts about the book she tried to read earlier, and her father's weariness of it. She compared herself to that book often, just as he had that night. It was almost as if he was afraid of what she might discover in that book, just as he was afraid of what would happen if anyone else found out about her powers. She didn't know what he was hiding, but she was determined to find out what it was eventually.

Elsa finally spoke softly, still staring at the familiar book, "Why such a sudden interest in magic?"

Ignasi continued to stare at her, swallowing a small lump in his throat before answering, "As I said, I heard of your powers, and I also knew of a deep magic that ran through Arendelle. That was one of the many things my father had told me before he..." He trailed off, and Elsa thought she heard his voice crack towards the end.

This caused her to look up from the book, and lock eyes with the young man before her. She could see him struggling to control the raw emotion clearly building up, but he turned and began to pace along the bookshelf. She couldn't see his face anymore, but she almost felt like she could feel the tears filling his eyes. She did nothing but stand there helplessly and watch him gain control of himself once more, and soon enough he turned back to face her again.

"I apologize, but...it has been a very hard time for my kingdom since my father was accused and seized," he said quietly, looking up to meet her cerulean gaze, "And to further answer your question, my father also told me many stories of an ancient magic that used to be in our kingdom as well. But I could never find any records of it, until I came here."

Her eyes widened at his words and her mind began to roar with the swarm of unjustified thoughts. She had gone her entire life thinking that Arendelle was the only other kingdom with magic coursing though it. She was the only one in her entire line of total family that had ever been born with her features of white blonde hair and powers over ice. But mostly because her father had specifically told her so many years ago that there was no record of magic in Arendelle.

"And what did you find on the history of Arendelle?" She asked, the curiosity inside of her building with each passing second of silence.

Ignasi walked over to the table where she stood, and turned the page of the book to a section dedicated to a familiar type of magic, "This page here tells of the trolls that inhabit this land, and have for centuries."

As he pointed to a section of text on the page, Elsa sat down in the chair closest to her and looked closer at it. Ignasi watched as her eyes skimmed the pages and her facial expressions gave him a good understanding that she was oblivious to this information. Elsa, on the other hand, was indeed surprised, as she remembered her encounter with the book, but she never actually got to read it. She wondered how the book had ended up back in the library, but figured her father must have eventually put it back there once he felt she had stopped going there at night. She never did stop going, however, and would go almost every night and hide in the corner by the fireplace with a new book.

As she read the history of the ancient magic in her kingdom, tears began to sting in her eyes. Not from the lone memory of her now late father, but from the fact he had deliberately lied to her. His exact words had told her that this book contained nothing of Arendelle, and that there was no other magic here.

Her sudden change of emotion did not go unnoticed by the young prince, "Queen Elsa?" He asked sweetly, "Are you alright?"

She looked up to meet his worried eyes, wiped her eyes, recomposing herself and clearing her throat, "Yes I'm sorry I just...this is all new to me. Well somewhat..."

He looked at her in confusion and she sighed and continued, " When I was younger I stumbled across this book and my father caught me with it. He told me that I would never find anything about Arendelle in this book, and that I didn't need to know what was in it."

"Elsa...I'm sorry to hear that." He spoke solemnly, his eyes directed to hers still.

She chuckled mirthlessly, almost bitterly, "Well at least your father told you of your background before he died. Mine lead a life of secrets and shame...and it was all directed towards me."

He gave her a sympathetic smile and as she looked at his eyes, she saw genuine concern in them. She didn't know why she felt so compelled to open up to him at this point and time, but she motioned for him to sit in the chair adjacent to hers anyway. As he did, she moved the book between them so that they could both share it and delve deeper into the world of magic together. The two continued to read on about the different types of magic that existed and varied greatly.

As they went through each of the different types of magic, she related them to any types of magic she had previously known about or witnessed firsthand. There were the forms of elemental magic, derived from Mother Earth herself, of fire and of ice. Those two were the most powerful of the forces, and were most likely given at birth. There were also the powers of light and darkness, that derived from the sun and the moon. Corona was a kingdom based off of light magic which was derived from the Sandman, and as Elsa recalled from her encounter, Pitch and his army of nightmares were the embodiment of dark magic. There was also the gift of seasonal magic given by the sprites that worked for Mother Earth. She assumed this was the power that Jack had, being as his job was to bring the season of winter around the world. The other three seasons had representatives as well, but Elsa had never personally met any.

"I actually met a sprite with the powers of the summer season once." Ignasi shared happily.

Elsa's eyes grew wide and a smile spread across her face, "Really?"

Ignasi laughed, "Yes, its always normally very hot in Noavida, and she explained to me that it was because the sprites all loved to stay there for long amounts of time."

"That's actually really cool, Ignasi! I personally know a winter sprite and he-" she immediately stopped herself as she realized what had slipped out. Ignasi still didn't know that the strangely white haired man also sharing the castle, was Jack Frost. She didn't know whether or not Jack wanted him to know who he actually was, but she figured it was not her place to tell Ignasi either way.

"...he uh...he was drawn to the Northern Mountains along the border of Arendelle where I had um...created a palace."

"Wait you...what?"

She laughed nervously and explained further, "I made a palace of ice up on the North mountain."

"Holy Kresnik, Elsa that's incredible!"

Elsa blushed a bit and laughed openly at how they were so relaxed with each other, which was unlike any other time they spent together. She enjoyed being able to just let herself loose and talk to another royal as if it were nothing. There were no expectant counselors to watch and scrutinize her every move, she was just free with Ignasi.

Hours went by of the two just sitting in the library learning of magic and sharing stories with each other. It wasn't until Elsa felt herself constantly, uncontrollably yawning, that she realized how truly late it was. It wasn't even considered being late anymore, as sunlight began peeking through the windows in the library and the room became gradually lighter.

"Odin, Ignasi, we have been in here all night...literally!" She exclaimed, pointing to the sunlight beginning to stream through the stained glass windows. He turned to see what she meant and then looked back to her with a look of surprise and amusement on his face. Immediately both started laughing hysterically, to the point where they each had tears forming from their fits of laughter.

"I...I can't believe we didn't...didn't even notice!" Elsa cried between giggles, to which Ignasi only laughed harder.

"We completely lost track of time!"

As their laughter finally subsided a bit, they mutually agreed that sleep was no longer an option for them. As much as Elsa regretted not being able to sleep, she definitely enjoyed the way she spent her time for however many hours she and Ignasi were together. She was more than overjoyed that she had found yet another friend to confide in, but one that understood the pressures of royalty.

"Now the both of us will have to go through the day, without a single hour of sleep to run on." Ignasi joked lightheartedly, standing up and offering his hand to the woman before him. He would never admit it to her, or hopefully anyone else, but she was an exceptionally beautiful woman. And last night he had gotten to see her actually open up and let her true personality shine through. She was really a wonderful and incredible person.

"Let's hope it won't be too dreadful." She giggled, as she took his hand and stood out of her chair with his help. She looked down and realized she was still in her night robe, and he was dressed equally as casual. She giggled to herself at this, and proceeded to walk by his side. He extended an arm her and she gladly accepted, hooking her slender arm into his muscular one.

They walked through the castle to the dining hall, when they were unexpectedly met by Jack emerging from his room. The moment his eyes landed on the two, they grew wide and looked at Elsa with confusion before turning to Ignasi with them slightly narrowed. Elsa glared at jack for his hosotlity toward Ignasi, and he gave her a look back that pleaded to justify his hostility. Meanwhile, Ignasi stood there awkwardly as the two exchanged their bout of silent communication.

Elsa shot Jack one last glare which basically ended their silent argument and he sighed, "Well good morning Elsa..." He began before visibly grimacing and turning to face the young prince, "...and...Ignasi."

Ignasi flinched at Jack's harsh words, and Elsa was fuming with rage, of course, if she could physically be hot to the touch. She tightened her grip on Ignasi's arm and suddenly a wicked idea popped into her mind. She was going to teach Jack a lesson, and he was going to learn to play nice in the sandbox. She flashed a wicked grin at Jack and simply stated, "I guess we'll see you at breakfast then."

With that, she walked off with Ignasi who looked at her in bewilderment at her bold actions towards Jack. She only flashed him a grin and laughed as she plotted how she would torture the winter spirit for the duration of the day.

A/N: Odin that was a fun chapter to write! It was a tad bit shorter than the last one, but hey it was one of the first ideas I had when I first created Ignasi's character, so to actually sit down and write it was super fun! But anyways, things will start to pick up soon, and I'm considering adding about a 2 month time lapse within one of the next few chapters. (That would basically fast forward us to Anna's wedding, which will be a major turning point for many characters) so let me know what y'all would think of that!

Luna: Well aren't you a smart cookie? :) haha props to you for guessing who she found in the library, granted I'm not the best at being spontaneous and surprising with a story's events but hey, I tried! As always thank ya for your reviews and for showin some looove for this little story :)

Lyrke: First of all thank you so much for your loyalty and support for this story, it means the WORLD to me! :)) Second, I would like to say I appreciate your input on the question I asked, and i actually did take it into consideration, but for the purpose of this specific chapter I felt this would be better. But definitely in later chapters when everything gets all angsty and dramatic (oops spoilers lol)

ElsaTheSnowQueen2: Thank you soooo so much for your review and for your loooove! :) 3