Elsa tried again, ice forming over her fingertips and ending in a wicked sharp point. The ice extended over the two top segments of her finger, and bent to the contour of her fingers perfectly. Nathan nodded approvingly and gestured to the burlap bag full of sand affixed to a small wooden pole that was stuck in the ice that still covered the ground.
Elsa coiled her body like a spring, putting her weight of her back leg. She felt energy build in muscles that she had never found much use for before, and when Nathan snapped his fingers, she would let it all out.
She waited…
She waited…
Nathan's fingers slid across each other and made a loud popping sound. As soon as she heard it her body exploded into action like a spring. Her back leg extended, sending her forward at a high speed. Her arms tensed and moved behind her as she moved through the air. Her forward leg extended and touched the ground, providing both a means of dissipating any extra momentum she had and a means of ensuring that she was still in control of the movement.
Her other leg came down a short distance behind the first. As it hit the ground Elsa's other leg went forward into a more lunge-like stance. Her arms came forward as she came within striking distance of the burlap sack, and the ice over her fingertips glistened in the afternoon sun. She pulled her fingers into the hooked shape that Nathan had suggested to her and brought her arms whipping out in front of her.
The icy claws that she had fashioned for herself moved quickly, and Nathan's voice echoed in her mind as she remembered what he had told her. "Don't catch too much of it on your hit. That will make too much resistance, and you're his will get caught midway through. That's almost the worst thing that could happen, because than you are stuck to them." The sharp tips of the claws met the burlap, and she was surprised with how little resistance the bag offered. She put just a little more force behind her blow and the bag was torn open, sand spilling out onto the ice.
Nathan clapped and stepped between her and the bag. "Nice job there." he said "Remind me to be ready if I piss you off."
Elsa smiled uncomfortably and shuffled around for a moment before saying "Nathan… I'm not sure that I'm comfortable learning this stuff. I mean… for you it's easy, you kill people all the time, but for me…" she looked down at her feet and said "I just dint want to hurt anybody."
It was Nathan's turn to shuffle uncomfortably. He said "Well… there could be a situation where I'm not around to help you, and you've got to look out for yourself. Besides…" he smiled at her reassuringly "… you can dull the points on those. That won't do much more that cause a little bit of pain."
Elsa rolled her eyes and said "Oh boy!" sarcastically. Nathan sighed than said "Now it's your turn to teach me something." He pulled a rune from one of his many pockets and placed it firmly in his palm. "How do I use ice?" he asked with a casual voice.
Elsa laughed and said "So you really was to do this? What, shadow isn't the best thing anymore?"
Nathan turned the rune over and said "No, it's just that I have access to it, so I may as well use it, right?" Elsa nodded, then stepped towards Nathan. She said "Ok, I'll help. What do I need to do?"
Nathan closed his eyes and focused on the rune. He could feel the power thrumming in his hand and said "Tell me where your power comes from. How you access it." than set about exploring his own power reserves. He felt nothing but the shadows he normally made into spells. Elsa's voice rang out through the darkness, saying "Well… I guess I get my power from my will to do things."
Nathan focused on his "will to do things" and only felt the shadows writhe a little more. "It's not working." he said flatly as he continued to try and get the shadows to change to ice. They didn't, and he heard Elsa sigh exasperatedly. She said "Well than try the cold out here. I don't know!"
Nathan tried to focus on the frigged air. It stung slightly at his exposed skin, but didn't feel at all magical. Elsa's voice rang out again in the darkness, saying "here, maybe this will help." He heard Elsa moving around, than felt a patch of very cold air form on the back of his neck. He winced at first but quickly got used to the feeling. As his skin numbed, he felt something change.
The shadow that he was used to started shifting. It was difficult to detect, but it was changing. The mass was starting to move more quickly as if blown by a winter wind. He focused more on the feeling of numbness and the shadow started to dissipate.
It was replaced by a cool blue light. Nathan recognized the light as the kind of energy that Elsa had blasted him with. He cautiously tried to manipulate it. It felt much different than the shadows he was used to. As he tried to move it like he would the shadow, it jerked and twisted in his mental grasp. He grunted and said out loud "How do you control it?" while he wrestled to shape it.
The cold patch on his neck dissipated and Elsa's voice said "You just have to calm down and do it. The more agitated you are, the more agitated it will be."
Nathan took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. The blue light stopped wrestling against him and he tried to shape it again. The light felt very different than shadow. It had much more raw energy inside of it. He was used to using shadow, something he formed spells out of like he was building something out of a solid. The ice magic required much more concentration to use and shape. The light spilled over itself and moved in ways he couldn't predict. Even when he was calm, the light that represented the magic inside of him still moved and jumped around of its own accord.
He was only able to get the magic into simple shapes, and even those were the result of wrestling with it for about ten seconds. The one that he ended up with was a cone. If he was right about what he guessed it would do, than it would project a cone of ice out in front of him. He took one last deep breath to calm himself, than locked the messily assembled cone in as a spell. It seemed to solidify, and the rune in Nathan's hand crumbled into ash.
Nathan looked up and found Elsa staring at his face intently. When she saw him looking at her she said "Well? Did it work?" in an anxious voice. Nathan smiled, and in response took a step back from her and brought his hand up. He focused his energy on the new spell and let his power flow into it.
A small glowing ball appeared in his hand and hovered there. Elsa looked at it with wonder, saying "Good job!" Nathan extended his arm and opened his hand in front of him. The ball disappeared, and in its place a gout of frost and wind was expelled from of Nathan's hand. It extended about twenty feet ahead of him, forming a cone. The ice on the ground it struck got thicker. The ground that wasn't already frozen was covered in a thin layer of ice that snapped and popped as it formed over the stone. Nathan smiled as he saw what his new spell did. It was certainly more direct than anything he had used before, and there was a feeling of power in that.
Elsa gasped as the spell shot out across the courtyard. She hadn't been expecting his first spell with her magic to be quite so large. The smile on Nathan's face as the spell swept in front of him was huge. Elsa couldn't help but feel glad that she was able to help him.
Nathan pulled his hand back and looked at her. He gave a low whistle and said "Wow, that's pretty big." In a low tone. Elsa laughed and said "Well what did you expect? How much power did you put into that spell?"
Nathan shrugged and said "Not too much." He started rubbing his hands together and said "Is it getting colder out here, or is it just me?" Elsa gave a little giggle and said "Well with you throwing ice everywhere, it's bound to get colder." Nathan nodded and said "Maybe we should head back inside."
Elsa looked briefly back at the shredded burlap bag and said in a sigh of relief "We're done?"
Nathan nodded and said "We're done."
The pair turned to the door and walked inside. The change in temperature was welcome to Nathan, but Elsa didn't seem to react, as usual. The pair asked a guard where they could find the rest of their group and were pointed to a rather large room filled with paintings. Inside they found a scene that neither of them had been expecting.
Eugene was facing off with Anna, both in fighting positions and holding frying pans as weapons. Nathan couldn't help but put a hand to his face and say weakly "What… the hell…" while Elsa started to laugh at the bizarre scene in front of them. Eugene turned from the apparent duel he was engaged in and said "What? You're out there" he gestured towards the door "teaching her magic, and I'm in here teaching her how to fight."
Nathan walked up to the pair of Anna and Eugene and examined them closely. He verified to himself that they were, indeed, using frying pans as weapons. He felt his head start hurting again and, while it could be from the concussion he was recovering from, he felt that the pain was more of his body's way of telling him to correct the situation.
He took the frying pan from Anna's hand and without saying a word set it down on the ground. He did the same to Eugene's frying pan, then turned back to the pair. "Look" he said in a flat voice to Eugene "if you are going to tech her how to fight, at least teach her how to do it effectively." Elsa and Anna were barely containing their mirth at this point, and Eugene looked like he was trying very hard not to smile. Nathan was glad that he had years of experience deadpanning his face, or he would probably be laughing too.
Eugene got his laughter under control and said "Have you ever fought with a frying pan?" Nathan stared blankly back at him, and he continued. "I'll take that as a no. Would you like to try it?" he said, picking his frying pan back up off of the floor. Nathan shook his head silently but Eugene continued trying to convince him like a door to door salesman. "Well I'm sure if you just gave it a chance…" Nathan shook his head again, but Eugene continued. "Ok, how about this: you have a duel with me, me using my frying pan, you using your sword."
Nathan raised an eyebrow and said "Does this mean I get to stab you?" prompting another round of laughter from Anna and Elsa. Eugene held up a hand and said "No. no it does not. Actually…" his voice trailed off and he looked passed Nathan at the door behind him. He continued where he left off, saying "…Rapunzel went to get some dulled practice swords, but she hasn't come back yet."
Eugene shrugged and said "I guess you'll have to wait until she comes back with them. Until then, watch what I've taught her so far!" Nathan groaned loudly and Elsa clapped him on the back. She said "Come on Nathan! You might learn something."
Nathan gave her a look that seemed to say "You can't be serious". She nodded, and he sighed and stepped back to the doorframe and leaned up against it. Eugene and Anna looked at him like they were expecting something. He waved a hand at them and said "Go, go, come on! If you're going to do it, go!"
The two smiled at each other and struck fighting stances with practiced exactness. Nathan couldn't speak bad about their form; it was sturdy looking, would allow quick movements, and provided adequate defense.
They both nodded to the other, than Eugene called out "Go!" and they both leapt towards each other. The frying pans came crashing together and locked against each other. The fight instantly devolved to a contest of strength, which Nathan knew that Eugene was bound to win. As he predicted, Eugene pushed his way through Anna's guard and her pan went spinning across the floor to clatter loudly against the wall.
Eugene put his frying pan up, pointed at Anna in the same way that one would put up a sword to show an enemy that they were defeated. Anna put her hands up and said "Ok, you win!" quickly. Eugene looked over at Nathan and said "See? Think of how much you could learn!"
Nathan was about to respond when a crashing sound came from the hallway he was closest to. He leaned over and looked back into the hallway and saw Rapunzel carrying two swords and struggling to pick a third one up off the floor.
He hurried out of the room and over to Rapunzel. He picked the third sword up off the ground and said "Need a hand?" She nodded appreciatively and Nathan took the rest of the swords from her arms. They started walking back into the art room. As Rapunzel entered, Eugene charged right for her and gave her a huge hug. She looked a bit startled by this, but returned the hug with a happy look on her face.
Nathan set the dull blades down and said to Eugene "Hey, can I talk to you about something?"
Eugene smiled over at Nathan and said "Yea sure." Dismissively before dashing over and grabbing a blade. "Look at this! Alright" he struck his fighting stance again "let's go."
Nathan sighed and grabbed one of the practice blades. It would be quicker to just beat him and talk to him after, he figured.
He raised the dull blade and gave it a few experimental twirls around his wrist. It seemed adequately weighted, so he rose it up and put himself into a fighting stance. Eugene smiled confidently and said "I've learned a few more tricks since we were kids." Nathan said blankly "I'm sure you have" than motioned for Eugene to come at him.
He took a cautious step forward, and Nathan didn't react. He took another, and again Nathan didn't react. He made a cautious swing at Nathan with no intent to actually hit, and Nathan again didn't react. He lunged forward suddenly with speed that he didn't have before. He was confident that he would hit Nathan with this strike.
Nathan stepped to the side and brought the bottom of his boot into Eugene's shoulder, knocking him to the ground. He went sprawling on the ground. Nathan stood over Eugene and rested the point of the blade on his chest, saying "So, ready to talk yet?"
Eugene pushed the point of the blade off of him and pulled himself to his feet. He started to say something angrily to Nathan about what he did. "Hey, what gives? I'm just trying to have a little…" his voice trailed off as he saw the still blank look on Nathan's face. "What's up man? Is something the matter?"
Nathan shook his head and said "No, no, I've just been thinking, since I'm mostly over my concussion. I figure that Gothel knows where we are, and we've got nothing on her." At the mention of Gothel's name Eugene's face paled and his smile fell away. Nathan continued "You came to Arendelle to help stop her, and to be totally honest" he spread his hands apologetically "you haven't done an awful lot. None of us have. Which is why I figure: we're just lucky she hasn't attacked again. I want to even the odds a little bit, you know? So I need you to tell me anything that you know about this bitch that you can."
Eugene's playful countenance was completely gone. He nodded and motioned for Rapunzel to come over and join them. Elsa and Anna, who were chatting with Rapunzel, saw the motion and accompanied Rapunzel over. The group congregated around Nathan, who looked around and said "Let's find a better room for this, shall we?"
They relocated to a room that resembled an office room, with a long table set with chairs running up and down either side with one chair set at each head of the table. A large window was set in the wall behind the end of the table gave an excellent view of the frigid Fjord. They all took a seat at the table and Nathan said to all of them "It's been nearly a week since Gothel has attacked, and we still don't know anything about her." Faces around the room fell, and he continued. "I don't really fancy waiting around for her to attack again. Do you?" he asked, looking around at all of them.
They all shook their heads simultaneously. Nathan said "Good, so let's even the odds a little bit here. She knows where we live, so let's find out a little something about her. Do you two know anything about her?" he asked Eugene and Rapunzel. The two nodded and Rapunzel said "Well… we know where she did live, but that was a long time ago, and we're not even sure…" Nathan cut her off by saying "I don't care. Right now I'll take any info I can get."
Rapunzel asked Elsa for a map of Corona. Elsa sent for one to be retrieved by a servant, who scuttled off quickly saying "Yes my queen" in a nasal voice. Nathan began to feel something happening, like a shadow was falling over him. As the royals around him talked amongst themselves until the map was brought, he thought on what he was feeling. It wasn't a bad feeling, no. quite the contrary, I held a kind of nostalgic charm to it. Like he was falling back into a routine that he had dropped for some time. Than it snapped into place. Hunting. Other people hunted deer or pig in forests, he hunted men and women in cities. The two weren't so different. A smile crept across his face as he felt the familiar cogs and wheels shutter back into life in his brain that had remained still for so long.
He would need a location, possible contacts, his gear, whether or not the target was guarded. True, this information was usually provided for him, but a little scavenger hunt was fun every now and again.
The map that had been requested was brought, and all, except the servant who brought it, crowded around it. Nathan saw the key to the map, and was surprised to find that Corona was essentially the same size as Arendelle. He had heard stories about the riches that Corona possessed, so he had always assumed that it was a rather large kingdom.
Eugene laid a finger on the castle and started to trace a line out from it, whispering to himself. Nathan asked him what he was doing, and he replied "Trying to remember the way." Nathan shrugged, waited a moment, and then asked "Is it well hidden?"
Rapunzel was the one to reply this time. "Yes, very well. I doubt that you could find it without our help, even with your powers." Nathan was about to ask how a tower could possibly be hidden so well when Eugene let out an "Aha!" and slammed his finger down on the map. This arrested the question Nathan had been about to ask, as his finger was in the middle of a large ravine.
"It's right there. I'm sure." He picked up a small pencil and traced a light line from the castle of Corona to the ravine and circled the middle of the ravine. Nathan drew a small pad of paper and a pen from one of his pockets and began copying a crude replica of the map down. It was a few moments before he was satisfied with his version, but after he was he folded the paper up and placed it in a different pocket, one he reserved for mission-sensitive documents.
He took a step back from the table and said "So is that everything you have, or do you have any other information?" Eugene and Rapunzel shook their heads sadly. "No" Rapunzel said "I wish there was more we could do, but…" her voice trailed off and Eugene picked up where she stopped "…But Gothel was a horrible woman, and we assumed she was dead. We avoided the tower as much as possible, you understand…"
Nathan nodded and turned to the window. He put a hand to his chin and gazed out at the icy water. "I'll leave tomorrow. I'll go alone." He knew that either Eugene or Rapunzel would voice some objection, so he preempted that by saying "I want as many people here as possible, just in case Gothel decides to strike again."
He looked out over the water and his attention was drawn by a large building that's lights were burning bright in stark contrast to the buildings around it. Nathan could see a pipe near the bottom of the building, spilling out a dark red and brown muck into the water below. He thought he recognized the sludge spilling out. Nathan called to Elsa and said "Is that where whales are processed?" pointing the facility out to her. She nodded, and Nathan said "I would like to visit before I leave tomorrow." He looked up at the sun, still high in the sky. "It's only late afternoon. There should be time today." He said, then turned away from the window.
Authors Thing:
Strap in everybody, the plot is starting to move again.
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