As The Seasons Turn

by wolfchic011

Elsa, Anna and their new family have settled into life in Arendelle after the events of the Council of the Four Seasons. But now that Theonia is returning to fulfill her new role in their lives, things may get complicated, particularly for the Snow Queen. As a new era of magic and goddesses looms on the horizon, what changes are coming to the world? Sequel to Council!

12. Memory Fails (part 1)

Chapter 6: Memory Fails (part 1)

When the time came, Erin died upon her books.

For the better part of the final decade of her life, Branna had had her host writing nearly constantly, filling the Temple library with her memories of the Mother's Realm: stories of her childhood and family, the battles to restore the Light Goddess, the end of the winter, and the multiple realms she'd visited.

Then one day, Erin's old heart simply gave out. The old woman collapsed upon her latest creation - the Legend of Treklynge - and breathed no more. In what to her seemed only a second but was in reality several years, Branna awakened in her next host, Ida, just as the young girl found the Temple library for the first time. Instantly, Branna guided Ida to the desk where Erin had died. Taking up the pen, she moved to finish the legend. They penned an ending, a solid conclusion that tied things together. But something felt off about the words on the page. Branna recalled them to be true, every word was from her memory. And her memory was infallible. She remembered every second of the War, every instant that she fought for her birth mother's freedom. She remembered being cast out because of her sister's sword, she recalled the pieces raining around them as the Mother shattered it.

She remembered wrong. But how was she to know?

By the time Asa came around, her knowledge of the Shard was a faded dream, with flashes here and there broken by scratched out words on a page. When Lydia woke them in the dead of night to record a vision, she was startled to remember the Orb and the possibility that it still existed.

The gap in her memory was alarming, in no small part because of the role the object had played for her sister's first host and the power it held. Several generations later, as Feiya, Branna came across Asa's scribbles again and experienced the same befuddlement that she had let the Orb slip from her mind.

The second such time this happened, she turned to her sisters. When Feiya mentioned the Orb, Død began to cry, while Livet and Isen fell into stunned silence. They had all forgotten it still existed. How was that possible? Vowing to recover it at last, Generation 62 combed the Earth as best they could, scouring for any sign of the magical artifact that could show them their home once more. They found nothing.

By the time their next generation manifested, they had forgotten again and retreated inside the Temple, mystified as to why an entire Generation had decided to leave the Temple for the untamed wilderness.

But the reason for these changes, for the lapses in memory that would ultimately backfire, was something none of the spirits could have ever fathomed.

Indeed, with their memories slowly and surely changing generation to generation, how could they have imagined the reason?

---

The North, Mid-Summer's Day, 1821

When Elsa awoke just before dawn, she wasn't surprised to see Theo crouching next to a small fire.

"Morning." The Guardian greeted crisply. She didn't look at Elsa but extended a steaming cup towards her all the same.

Elsa took a sip and was astounded at the familiar taste. "What did you make this with?" She asked, sipping again. It wasn't quite the same as her usual morning brew but similar enough to revive her.

Theo poured some for herself, masterfully avoiding the inclusion of any leaves in her cup. "Some herbs I found. Mostly lavender, some rosemary." She blew softly on her cup and raised it to her lips. "I find them refreshing at all times of day."

They sat next to each other in the pre-dawn light, sipping their tea and swallowing whatever words they had. Their shoulders touched ever so slightly, the Guardian's body warm beside hers.

Elsa fiddled with her cup, hating this silence. Things had gotten so much better between them in recent years; with teasing and conversation flowing easily as they spent more time together. Silence was their enemy. There was too much in the silence.

"We should talk…" Elsa finally managed to say, just as the horizon began to glow with the approaching sunlight.

"About what?"

"About…us."

The words were barely past her lips when she wished she could take them back. The single syllable dripped with implications in the resurgence of silence between them.

Theo did not acknowledge it. Maybe she was hoping to pretend she hadn't heard. But she did shift just far enough away from Elsa that the queen could no longer feel her warmth.

The loss hurt more than the silence.

"Morning!"

The bright shout behind them shattered the moment and they both turned away from each other.

Sophie scampered up to them and climbed into Theo's lap like a cat, careful to avoid her cup of tea. The young girl turned so she could squeeze the Guardian in a tight hug. To Elsa's surprise, Theo hugged her back.

"Thank you…" She heard the Guardian murmur. Wrapping one arm under the young princess, Theo rose and left Elsa behind with the fire and her frozen cup of tea.

Theo avoided further interaction with Elsa as Kristoff and Anna roused and the group prepared the sled for travel. Instead, she watched with a focused intensity, as if counting down the minutes until they could leave again. Sophie never left her side and quite often, the young spirit would slip her hand into the Guardian's.

To avoid freezing additional objects, Elsa took to conversing with Goren and Kristoff, planning their route.

Not three hours later, just as the sun crested the mountains around them, they were arriving at the Valley of Living Rock.

Kristoff unhitched Sven, letting the reindeer run free around their old home. Elsa crafted an ice ramp for Goren so he could move himself off of the sled.

Anna took it upon herself to summon the trolls.

"HELLO ALL! WAKE UP! WE'VE GOT TROUBLE!"

The rocks came to life slowly, reluctantly. The first few who woke avoided eye contact with them. Several glared at Goren suspiciously.

Elsa took a half-step in front of the scholar. She hadn't been back here since she'd been a child, scared and lost, without her identity. But even with her realization of her true identity, an undercurrent of fear would always accompany her here.

A small crowd had gathered now, several of the younger trolls greeting Kristoff eagerly.

Sophie stood beside her father and stared at the assembled creatures, her eyes blazing with curiosity and awe. As a young troll rolled past her to reach Kristoff, she followed it, mouth falling open as she examined the rock's grasses, lichens, and crystals. Kristoff chased her, reminding her to ask permission before examining the troll's ornamentations.

An older troll popped to life beside Elsa. "Your majesty…" She greeted with a deep bow. "What may we do for you?"

Elsa nodded to her. "I wish to speak with Grand Master Pabbie."

A ripple went through the crowd at her request. At first, Elsa feared she had somehow disrespected them, perhaps by demanding an audience or referring to the old troll with the wrong title. But then she realized the reaction of the trolls closest to her were less surprised and more dejected. Several had turned their faces away, as if in shame.

Elsa glanced over her shoulder at Kristoff but he merely shrugged.

The female troll bowed her head. "He thought as much. Please, be patient…he will come in his own time." Every troll in attendance lifted their face, gazing up at the edges of the valley around them. After a moment, the humans all saw what they were watching: a small, dark shape ambling down the long path.

Two younger trolls rolled forward to meet the shape, offering supporting arms that were graciously accepted. Slowly, the King of the Trolls stumbled into their view.

Kristoff's face fell. "Grand Pabbie…"

Elsa stared, her heart twisting. The old troll somehow looked even older than he had a few years back. His face was riddled with cracks, some fissures running so deep they changed the contours of his jaw. A piece was fully missing from his left shoulder, a gaping hole where rock had eroded.

Pabbie smiled but the action looked to be exacerbating his decay. "Welcome back my children!" He turned slightly and bowed to Elsa. "Your Majesty."

Elsa could only nod curtly in response. She didn't know what to say to him.

Pabbie turned as Anna coaxed Sophie away from her examination of the young trolls and over to her side. "So…this is my granddaughter…" The old rock lit up at the encounter.

Sophie immediately dipped into a curtsey. "Princess Sophie of Arendelle, Goddess of the Summer." She introduced herself, eyes shining. "It's an honor to finally meet you Grandpa Pabbie!"

The old troll smiled at the young girl. He reached out a crumbling hand to take her young one. "You have a firm hold of your soul, child." Pabbie observed. He patted her softly. "See that you keep it."

She nodded.

He turned to the adults, giving no explanation of his observation. "Now then…what brings you all here?"

"Tragedy."

As one, they all turned to Theo. The Guardian stared down the troll king, her eyes flashing between sorrow and anger.

"Welcome back, warrior…" Pabbie greeted her. "I see you're still holding your penance vow."

Theo scoffed. "No, actually."

Elsa shifted uncomfortably but no one seemed to notice.

The troll hummed. "Interesting." He gestured for Theo to approach him. "What can I do for you, protector of the Daughters?"

Theo walked forward and kneeled before him. "We need answers."

"To what questions?" The troll inquired, gesturing for his attendants to leave him. "I remind you that we are only so knowledgeable ourselves…we are not omnipotent like the Mother. We no longer have access to your former partner's scriptures."

Theo grimaced. "Perhaps not. But we fear this may be beyond the scriptures." She turned and gestured. Elsa extended her hand, allowing the gentle slope of ice to carry Goren forward from the sled.

There were murmurs from the assembled trolls, followed by a ripple of gasps as they began to notice his disfigurement.

Goren, to his credit, ignored them all. "Pabbie." He greeted the troll king, with a stiff incline of his head. Theo placed a supportive hand on his shoulder, her eyes fixed aggressively on the troll king. Elsa moved behind them, silently offering her support.

Pabbie's eyes roamed the younger troll's form. "What terrible tragedy has befallen you, my child?" He asked, crumbling eyes crinkling in concern.

Goren lowered his head. "I failed. I could not protect them from Him."

Pabbie exchanged a hurried look with the older female troll at his side. "What happened?" He demanded.

Goren glanced up at Theo.

"Something attacked the Temple." She began, barely pausing to let the creatures react. "Scara and Hans are missing and the Temple itself is in disarray. Whatever did this is ancient, powerful, and dangerous if it could overpower both Life and Death together. We need to know what it is."

Pabbie glanced between them. "There is nothing in the scriptures?"

"No…" She shifted uncomfortably. "It…I…"

Elsa stepped forward, standing in solidarity beside the Guardian. "It felt familiar." She told Pabbie. "Like…something we'd seen before and merely forgotten."

Pabbie said nothing so Elsa continued.

"It's part of a disturbing trend of late…things seem different…" She hesitated, uncertain if she wanted to bring up the vision she'd seen in her Mirror. "Even my walks through my ancient memories are more convoluted. Like something is trying to reach out to me and change what I know."

"And you wish to know what is causing this?" Pabbie asked.

Elsa fixed him with a hard look. "I know of only one type of creature that can alter memories. And your people were very closely tied to the temple until recently." She turned her gaze to Goren, "When all but one of you abandoned the Daughters under less than amicable circumstances." Goren lowered his head.

Elsa turned back to Pabbie, her ancient soul burning in her eyes. The entire clearing was silent for a moment as the charged energy between Elsa and the king of the trolls crackled through the still air.

"This is not our doing." Pabbie finally admitted. "This is something beyond us."

"Beyond you?"

"Beyond all of us." Pabbie clarified, indicating Elsa and Sophie in his gesture.

Goren frowned. "Beyond the Daughters?"

Pabbie sighed, making an odd gesture with his hand like he wanted to summon up his magic but lacked the strength to do so. "This world contains more magic then you realize...we are not the only things capable of change."

Elsa sighed, her hope that this would be simple fading. "So what memories are we missing? Can you tell that?"

"My magic cannot." Pabbie rolled his fingers experimentally. A small chunk of his thumb fell off. "But based on what you have told me, I suspect I know a story that might help."

Sophie leaned forward, her eyes alight at the mention of a new story. Anna placed a gentle restraining hand on her shoulder but said nothing. She watched anxiously.

Pabbie took a deep breath, casting his gaze upwards briefly to regard the thickening clouds overhead. "You have heard of a place called the Elevated Lake?" He finally asked.

Elsa glanced at Kristoff for confirmation.

"Yes, it lies on Arendelle's northernmost border." He replied. "It is a favorite place for the ice harvesters. We call it Bounty Pool."

Elsa nodded. That landmark she recalled from many an old Arendellian map.

Pabbie nodded. "We know it by another name: Treklynge."

Both Sophie and Theo flinched at the word. Elsa felt a tickle of recognition but could not recall why without glancing in her mirror. The brief glimpse into her mind showed her something beautiful and ephemeral: like mist in the wind.

"But…" Theo began.

"That's impossible. That place was destroyed during the War." Sophie finished. Her voice brimmed with Branna's certainty. Pabbie merely watched her, his gaze ladened with sorrow.

Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff all exchanged looks.

"What is it?" Elsa finally asked.

"It is the place under where the Great Tree once stood." Pabbie said in a reverent voice. "It's mightiest root once stretched down into that very pool and fed this entire world. Beings could freely pass between worlds by climbing it. This realm fed one of the Tree's largest roots. That lake was our connection to all the Realms."

Elsa gasped as the vision cracked across her Sight like lightning: a magnificent, twisting root buried deep within the center of the clearest body of water she'd ever seen. The surface sparkled like ice in the sunlight, the only ripples forming just at the place where wood met water. A slight shadow was cast from an enormous form above, light filtering through a dense canopy. The entire landscape was raised slightly from the land surrounding it: the water contained by a thick, rocky slope sliding into the lowlands. The wind brushed her face, sending her loose hair tumbling. She could feel tears dripping down her face as she Saw it. This wasn't just a vision, it was a memory. How could she have forgotten this?

"Millennia ago," Pabbie narrated as Elsa's vision faded, "before even the Mother came into being, there was already a war going on. A war between the foundational powers that shape the universe: destruction and creation. When creation triumphed in the age before ours, it brought the Tree into being. Treklynge stood as a sacred space, protected from destruction long enough that all other life began. Since then, we've been in a fragile state of barely outrunning destruction: our worlds allowed to exist merely because of the protection of the Tree."

Sophie blinked, obviously troubled by something. "But…"

"Yes…the Tree fell." Pabbie confirmed. "Because the Darkness found a way to poison the sacred grove." He sighed heavily and gestured to Elsa and Sophie. "I believe you all know what happened next."

The two human goddesses shared a look.

"But then…if the Tree is gone…how are the Realms still here?" Elsa asked.

Pabbie answered her with his own question: "If you block out the sunlight, does a plant die right away?"

Anna's face tightened. "How long do we have?" She asked, her voice hard.

But Pabbie ignored her question. "When the Tree scattered to ash," he continued, "a great quantity of it fell on this Realm. Most of it became an object." He shuddered. "Verdener."

"Sight across worlds." To her surprise, Elsa found herself speaking in unison with both Anna and Sophie. The three exchanged a look of bewilderment. Anna just gestured to Sophie as if that would explain everything.

Pabbie nodded. "It is a relic of great power: the coalesced remains of the original life craving a way back to its original form."

"But I thought it was evil." Anna commented. "Didn't it kill everything it touched?"

A ripple went through the trolls at her words. Even Pabbie seemed surprised.

"How do you know this?" He asked her.

Anna shrugged. "It was in Sophie's book…"

"What book?"

Sophie raced back to the sled and dug under her seat for her satchel. She returned with a slim red book clutched in her hand.

"It's all in here!" She insisted. She flipped open the book, revealing a sketch of a dark glass orb. Elsa's whole body was wracked by a shiver so violent that her mental ice palace quaked. She recognized this book…that orb…

Pabbie took it as if it were poisonous and traced the paper with a finger. "This…Branna wrote this?"

Sophie nodded. "Isen dreamed it. But Branna recorded it. It was a long time ago, when I was Asa."

The name sent Elsa's memories into overdrive. Lydia's face floated in her mirror, dull, sightless eyes staring back at her as endless possible futures twisted behind her. Elsa retreated as fast as she could, haunted by the look. Lydia's prophecies had always been dark and unsettling.

No one had seemed to notice her momentary discomfort. Pabbie was staring sadly at the small book. "Then you already know the story…"

He stroked the cover, choosing his words carefully. "After Død's cursed sword, Evigsmerte killed the Tree, the Mother shattered it. She meant for Død to never be able to summon it again, so that its power would never again be an agent of destruction. But of course, Død reassembled the weapon effortlessly, even in human form, when unstable enough. All but one shard."

He opened the book, effortlessly finding a sketch of a tree falling to ash. "From the beginning, when the pieces scattered, one pierced Verdener. Død attempted to retrieve it, this Glasskår pinens. But its time in the Orb had changed it. The shard had grown more powerful, sentient even. And it had corrupted the Orb. Even once it was removed, Død was never able to fit the shard back into Evigsmerte."

Elsa recalled the hairline crack in Hans' sword, the one he'd claimed Anna had made when she had broken it on the fjord.

"So both were now loose upon the world, each with their own dark and deadly powers available to those who sought them." He closed the book. "The shard is said to have been cast into the darkest place in this world: so that all who seek it must face the darkest fears and desires of their own heart before they can so much as lay eyes on the shard. As for Verdener…" He turned to Theo. "Your predecessor hid it."

She nodded but gave no indication that she knew anything about it. "So what does all this mean?" Theo demanded. "Has someone gotten ahold of one and used it to attack the Temple?"

Pabbie looked away from her. "Aside from the Mother, there is only one thing powerful enough to challenge the Daughters…"

He was silent for a long while, so long that Elsa could see Theo biting her tongue to stop herself from demanding that he speak.

"He has many names, most in languages no human could hope to hear." Pabbie turned back to them. "My people only call Him by what he appears to be in this world: the Darkness."

Theo was unfazed. "That's only a nightmare. He's a specter in the Mother's Realm."

Sophie was nodding in agreement but she seemed troubled.

"He's a force." Pabbie replied, with a slight edge to his voice. "The equal and opposite force to the very conciousness that formed the Tree."

Theo was silent.

"The Darkness should have been cast out of this realm when the Tree was destroyed." Pabbie continued, "He should be contained in the Realm Below, able to reach us only in nightmares and fear. But based on everything you've said, I can think of only Him as the culprit. This is disturbing news indeed if some of His power should be leaking through the divide."

"Would He himself come through?" Sophie asked softly. Everyone turned to her, startled by the uncharacteristic childish fear that darkened her young face. Kristoff stepped forward but paused, seeming unsure if he should hug his daughter in comfort.

Pabbie's face softened. "He is not here, young spirit." He assured her. "But someone is seeking the Orb and its power, probably in an attempt to aid Him. And they have clearly already retrieved the Shard if they have the power to overcome Life and Death. "

Sophie did not seem reassured.

"So what do we do?" Elsa asked, desperate for answers. "How do we stop them?"

"Find the Orb first." He suggested. "And protect it."

His decree was greeted by silence from the humans and gods present. None of them could quite articulate the feelings they were experiencing. Elsa was standing in a small snowdrift. Sophie was surrounded by anxious little sparks.

Pabbie gazed over them sadly, looking about as tired as Elsa did. "Now…I have told you all I know and suspect about this…is there anything else I can…?"

"Yes…" All eyes turned to the speaker. Theo fixed Pabbie with a resolute stare. "I need to speak to Garret."

The troll glanced around, eyes landing on Sophie and ending on Elsa. "I assume your predecessors have told you what is required for that." He fixed Theo with an inquisitive stare of his own, "are you sure you are ready?"

Theo held out her hands, the metal gauntlets glowing with a silvery warmth in the light of the troll king's crystal necklaces. A ripple went through the assembled trolls.

Pabbie raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Ah…they accepted you." He sounded surprised. "Well…then bring forth Åndensverd and submit yourself."

Theo knelt once more, removing the gauntlets slowly and placing them on the ground with the palms cupped. Drawing the sword, she plunged the blade between the fingers of the gloves, so that they appeared to be cradling the weapon.

Pabbie nodded. "Whenever you are ready, Guardian."

Theo closed her eyes, her face screwed up tightly like she were summoning her nerve. Elsa knew that face well; it was the same face Theo had worn outside her door a few nights ago.

After a moment of silence, Theo reached out and ran her finger along the edge of the blade. A thin line of blood soaked into the sword and dripped to the ground.

Sophie made a noise of concern but Anna gently shushed her. Pabbie had begun to speak.

Only speaking wasn't quite right; the old troll was producing a sound that none of them could hope to replicate. If Elsa had to place it, she would say it sounded like moonlight skimming the surface of a lake.

She shuddered, moved by the power of that sound. Even her Song could not match that.

The sword began to glow with a brilliant silver light.

Theo flinched, a tiny hiss escaping her lips. The light had begun to inch towards her, creeping along the ground until it touched the shadow she cast.

Shimmering forms burst to life in the air around them; each as solid as a cloud and less distinctive. Angry voices filled the air, the words barely comprehensible. People ran about them, many unfamiliar and some recognizable. Elsa saw one with a long, cloudy braid. Almost all of them seemed to be shouting insults or screaming in fear. Elsa sought out her doppelganger again but couldn't place it in the chaos. A towering pillar of white smoke rose above Theo's shoulders, clinging to her form and bending to whisper in her ear.

Pabbie frowned and gestured, causing the smoke to float away. The Guardian sagged slightly as it did.

These were Theo's dreams…Elsa realized. These were shadows of the horrors the Guardian saw each night.

As the haze cleared, a cloud of white smoke rose from the sword itself, forming a body around it. It swirled into a human form with large muscles and curled hair.

Theo's eyes shot open. "…Garret…"

The previous Guardian seemed to only be able to see her. His eyes shone with sorrow.

The woman's face relaxed in a way Elsa hadn't seen in years. "Garret…please…" she begged, staring up at him rapturously. "What must I know?"

"Theonia, there is a reason the Guardian came to this realm." Garett's voice was as strong as if he had been speaking just over Elsa's shoulder. She flinched at the long-dead voice.

He died protecting me…

The old wound came to mind unbidden and she forced it down.

Theo was nodding. "I know…what were you trying to tell me in the dreams? Please, say it now!"

Garret didn't seem to hear her. "There was purpose to the Mother banishing her Children here…" he continued, his face tightening. "A purpose beyond punishment. The realms are in danger! This place was the only safe realm."

Theo seemed confused. "What?"

"Beware the Darkness!" Garett shouted, "He is returned; strong within human flesh these past years!"

The trolls all flinched, even Pabbie gasping at the insistence.

But the words meant nothing to Theo. "Who?" She demanded. "Who is he? What does he want?"

"Our legacy is forgotten! We were forbidden to know!" Garret was speaking fast now, as if he were running out of time. His voice was twisting, the timbre changing so swiftly, it seemed as if he now spoke in a thousand different voices all at once.

"Garret, you're not making any sense…just tell me: what are you trying to warn us of?" Theo pleaded.

But it was as if he couldn't hear her. "Ileana was right! Ileana was right! 'The War never ended! It has only begun!'" Garret held out his hands, cupping his palms together. "Verdener! Verdener!" He cried in his multitude of voices. "It is the only way home! You must find…!" But his voice vanished and the last word was silent. They were forbidden to hear what he told them of.

"Garret!"

His eyes darted around, his form well and truly fading now.

"The trials…" He said, his voice little more than a whisper of a thousand children. "The Valley…protect…our resting place."

As his form faded back into light, he stretched out his hand towards them. The last part of him to fade was his smile.

Theo collapsed to her knees, biting back bitter sobs as the light faded. "Don't…go…"

Elsa made a move towards her but hesitated to actually comfort her. She didn't know what to do…didn't know if she was wanted.

A deliberate shove sent her towards the girl. Anna gave Elsa a silent look when she turned back in protest.

Hands shaking, Elsa gently laid them on Theo's back and shoulder. The woman leaned into the touch for just a moment, her sobs quieting.

Pabbie was silent, a small crack widening quietly in his face. "I'm sorry, Warrior. That is all I can do." The effort seemed to have exhausted him. His attendants raced to his side and held him up.

"I must rest now." The old troll said. "Excuse me." With a bow in Elsa's direction, he ambled away, leaning heavily on his assistants. The other trolls drifted away from them, whispering to each other in low voices.

Elsa watched the woman under her hands worriedly. "Theo…" she whispered, her fingers stroking the woman's arm. "Theo…it's alright."

Elsa started as Theo's head snapped up. "They were taken…they were taken years ago…" The Guardian realized, her eyes wide with horror. "Hans and Scara…they've been gone for years and I never..."

Elsa stroked her back, trying desperately to soothe her. "You couldn't have known that this happened…"

"No. that's just it." Theo argued back, her back tensing under Elsa's hands. "I should have known that this happened. I should have known before this happened. The same way I always know when Sophie's about to throw herself off of a balcony. The Guardian is supposed to know."

Sophie watched them hungrily, her eyes darting through the space between them.

Elsa could feel herself losing her. She crouched beside Theo, trying to catch the woman's eye. "Someone came and took them, someone powerful and cunning." She stretched out a hand to brush at her face but stopped herself. That was too intimate, especially with everyone watching. "You cant blame yourself for what others have done…" She assured her. Her words didn't seem to be helping.

Theo swallowed hard twice. "What if it happens again…what if I'm not…"

"Not what?"

Theo didn't reply. She just stared at the scar on her forearm where she had bonded with Elsa.

"Scara and Hans are in danger." She finally said. "Because I wasn't there for them."

Even though she didn't say it, Elsa heard the implication in her silence. Because I was with you. Slowly, her hands fell from the Guardian's shoulders.

Kristoff came up to them, giving Elsa a supportive nod. "No use dwelling on our past failings. " He assured Theo pragmatically. He offered the woman a hand and pulled her back to her feet. "Where do we start?" He asked. "Where is this Orb?"

"If you want to find the darkness…" Came a soft voice from behind them. They all whirled and found Goren balanced unsteadily on his hands. The troll fixed them with a wary gaze. "…follow the shadows…"

---

As the adults gathered in a tight knot to whisper, Sophie climbed up to the crystal cavern. She'd never been to this Valley before; either as herself or as one of her hosts but her father's stories of his childhood gave her a perfect mental map of the Valley of Living Rock.

She paused before the entrance, remembering to bow before entering.

But to her surprise, her grandfather was waiting for her at the cavern entrance.

"Hello, little Summer." He greeted her.

Sophie frowned, unsure if she liked the nickname. "How did you…?"

"You're the child of my Kristoff and the inquisitive Anna…not to mention the soul of the world's greatest scholar." He smiled at her, his tired eyes crinkling fondly. "How could you not seek me out with questions?"

In that instant, Sophie made up her mind: she liked Grandpa Pabbie.

She sat down next to him, gazing up at him respectfully, ready to listen to what he wanted to tell her. Unlike Master Hildar, Pabbie was a bard of wisdom rather than a reciter of facts.

"These are challenging times, young Summer." He began. "You chose to become human too close to these events. Even Elsa is too young to be facing this now."

"I became human when it was necessary." Sophie insisted. "Doing so any earlier was impossible…and anytime after would have been worse."

The troll regarded her carefully, like he couldn't decide if her pragmatism was a result of her wisdom from her past lives or her youth.

"You know the stories of your great love, do you not Sophie?" The old troll asked her.

She nodded. "Of course. Elsa's mine." It was just a fact of her life; Elsa was hers and would always be hers, even if their former love story was concluded.

"Isen may be your soulmate but there is more than one type of love." The old troll told her. "And all love has the same weaknesses: erosion of trust and shattering of proximity."

"But it's meant to be!" Sophie insisted. "Elsa and I will always be together! I followed her here, just like my scriptures said I would."

Pabbie shook his head. "Just because something is written, it doesn't make it inevitable, little one."

They both glanced down at the clearing below. Anna had an arm around her sister, murmuring something to her. Kristoff and Theo were bickering over something, both of them shooting occasional glances at the sisters when they thought the other wasn't looking. As Sophie watched, Elsa glanced up, meeting Theo's gaze. The both of them froze than looked away.

"Words need actions, or else they ring false." Pabbie continued. "The legends were not merely written into being by you: they were created by choice, trust, and reaction."

The barbs of her Quill tickled her arm from inside her sleeve. But she was silent. She didn't know what to say.

Pabbie placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Your Scriptures have power, young one. Your old ones…and your new ones. Use them well. But it is your choices and your actions that bring them to life, remember that."

She could feel the stone of his hand crumbling silently even from this gentle touch. Tears pricked the corner of her eyes.

"Can I do anything for you?"

Pabbie's eyes widened at her offer. "Amazing…I never thought that the great Summer would extend me any courtesy again after what we did to your last generation…" His large eyes glowed with luminescent tears. "Perhaps your human form has given you greater patience after all?"

Sophie glanced around the clearing, seeing the divisions in her family and the heavy weight on all their shoulders.

"No," she replied, a hint of her true voice bleeding through, "just greater perspective."

Warming her hands, she let sand and heat flow into being around her. In several moments of fierce concentration, she molded sticky glass into the roughest of Pabbie's cracks, the glue hardening fast and holding him together just a little bit more.

The old troll smiled at her.

"Thank you…Branna."

---

With Kristoff refusing to budge on leaving immediately and her guilt weighing heavily on her mind, Theo found the warmth and brightness of the clearing to be too much for her. She stormed off to the shadowy rock outcrops, tucking herself alongside one where she was sufficiently hidden but dutifully able to watch her charges.

She could feel herself being torn in two. On the one hand, her duty was to the spirits, and she would not leave Hans and Scara to whatever fate had befallen them. On the other hand, Garret's demand had shaken her to her very core.

Protect our resting place.

That would mean returning. That would mean needing to see it again. The sword at her hip vibrated unnervingly, restless and begging to be drawn.

How can I possibly do both?

"Theo…"

The Guardian turned, surprised to find that Goren had dragged himself over to her.

"You shouldn't be walking!" She chastised him, moving to help him heft himself up beside her on the grassy ledge. "Please, Goren, promise me you wont hurt yourself further!"

"My health is of little consequence." The troll replied, "Before you leave this place, there's something else you should know. Something I dont want my fellows to know I told you."

Theo leaned closer but kept her eyes fixed ahead, scanning for any eavesdroppers. "What?"

The troll's grassy hair tickled her face as he leaned in to whisper in her ear. "From your Scriptures…what do you recall about Verdener?"

The word set off an explosion inside her head, the name echoing like a chiming bell. "Everything. Why?"

"It still exists." Goren hissed, his voice so low she could barely hear him. "And I think you know where."

She nodded. "I have a suspicion."

"So I'm guessing you also have a suspicion about it's true purpose."

"'Sight across worlds.'" She recalled.

The troll shook his head. "That's merely it's name. It has a greater purpose."

She turned slightly to him. "What purpose? What did your people know that the Daughters did not?"

Goren shook his head. "I'm not sure. It's a secret even to us. If anyone knew, it might have been my father. But his records were destroyed by Pabbie." He turned to face her completely, his stone face impassive. "But Scara had discovered something. I think you did too; sometime ago."

"About what?"

"A link back to the truth about the legends. And how they've changed."

Her stomach clenched at the insistence. "Legends cant change." She whispered, believing it less even as she said it.

"But they have." Goren insisted. "In my helpless solitude, I read as much as I could. And I discovered something: Erin's accounts were not the same as your own."

Theo turned to face him now, no longer thinking about eavesdroppers. "What are you saying?"

Goren fixed her with a grave look. "Something is manipulating the memories of the spirits for generations. Something powerful; more powerful than even Grand Master Pabbie. And I think it has something to do with Verdener."

Theo recalled the stories she knew about the ancient object; its curses and powers, the debates about its sentience. "You think the Orb is somehow altering our memories?" She asked.

"It is not beyond the realm of possibility." Goren conceded. "This object is made from the remains of the most powerful being to ever exist. And it held the magic of Død's sword for decades. It is indeed powerful. And dangerous. But what I can't fathom is why it would do such a thing."

"Maybe it isn't." Theo reasoned, dark thoughts nudging into her mind. "Maybe it's being used…" If the Darkness had the Orb already, what did that mean for them?

Goren nodded. "Or it is reacting to another powerful magic."

There was something else he was trying to say but he seemed to lack the words to say it.

"Goren?"

The troll blinked twice, fragile flakes of mica falling from his face. "I know you saw Ileana's Dark Prophecy." He began, "A long time ago, before you became who you are now."

Theo nodded, recalling the last book she had read as Branna's host.

"Do you remember the words?"

"Of course." She had recognized the line Garret had spoken from those terrible verses. They were burned in her mind.

Goren placed a gentle hand on her arm, just like he had so often in her childhood. "Heed them well, young Guardian." He warned her. "They may hold more knowledge than you realize. You always have the strength to do this; the wisdom will come when you need it most."

She covered his hand briefly, her heart heavy with the new knowledge. "Thank you…" She glanced around at the milling trolls, many of them stealing suspicious glances their way. "Will you…really be okay here? With them?"

Goren nodded. "My place is here. Perhaps I can convince more to help me preserve the legacy of the Spirits."

Theo stood. The sword tapped gently against her thigh, humming with starlight. "Then I will go alone." She declared. "I'll rescue Hans and Scara, I'll find Verdener. I'll make this all right again." That was her duty as the Guardian. And she would only die happy if she fulfilled it.

"Your task is not an easy one, Theonia." Goren recognized. His eyes shone with the last rays of daylight. "But I am so proud of you for choosing it."

"I'm not choosing to do this. It must be done."

"But you choose how it will be done. And that takes real courage."

---

Elsa couldn't face anyone. Her head was spinning.

Shrugging off her sister's comfort, she stalked across the valley. Her power crawled into the steam vents, choking off several with thick plugs of ice.

She lacked the emotional stability to remove them.

How could I have forgotten the Tree?

Her memories were endless, stretching back over 115 human lifetimes and even farther back into another world where the length of a human lifetime had been meaningless. She had never questioned them, only sorted through the onslaught these past few years, determined to hold each one in her human mind and celebrate the identity she had been ignorant of for so long.

If she couldn't trust them…who was she?

She was overwhelmed by an intense desire to talk to someone about this. Someone who could understand. But she feared that was no longer possible.

"Your Majesty."

The gentle voice jerked her out of her head and she was startled to find she had ascended the cliff in her wanderings, arriving at the entrance to Pabbie's private cave.

Sophie smiled at her but it quickly faded to concern once she saw Elsa's face.

"Elsa?"

Pabbie's eyes passed over her, seeing things her niece could not. "Go back to your mother, Sophie." He ordered her. "I must speak with Elsa alone."

Sophie nodded, giving Elsa's hand a slight squeeze before scampering off to find her parents.

Pabbie turned back to her, his eyes crinkled in sympathy. "I know this is a difficult time for you Elsa. But your intuition is strong to have sought me out alone."

Elsa sighed heavily, eyes on the thick trail of ice that had followed her up here. "Pabbie…can you…could you…"

He shook his head. "Even if I was strong enough…I cannot fix your memories Elsa. The sheer volume of them makes the task impossible. Whatever has been done to them must be undone by that same force."

She nodded. It had been a long shot anyway.

"Elsa…" Pabbie continued. "there was something else you should know."

She frowned. "Why didn't you say it before?"

"It is for your ears only. Come, Child of the Mother."

He lead her around the bend slowly, into another rocky cavern lit entirely by the crystals he and the others wore. Despite the stressful situation, Elsa couldn't help admiring the place.

"Beautiful…" she breathed, eyes landing on crystals that glowed the same color as her ice. The deepest parts of her memories stirred. "Reminds me of the Mother's garden…"

"This is what little she was able to send with you." Pabbie admitted, brushing a thick spike of red crystals protruding from a wall. "We keep it safe."

Elsa wanted to ask more about it but the weight of the present weighed on her. "What was it I needed to know?" She asked.

"You must know what is approaching." Pabbie informed her, his voice low and fast, like he feared he would crumble before he could tell her this. "Your family must face the greatest of challenges; it is only right that you, as their leader, know the true purpose,."

Elsa frowned. "What true purpose?"

"You must do more than protect Verdener." Pabbie told her. He leaned heavily on the crystal. "You must take it to Treklynge."

Elsa swallowed hard, pursing her lips tightly.

"I see this is not surprising to you…"

"I've seen it before." Elsa murmured. "In my Mirror, in my visions, in my dreams. Both Verdener and the lake."

Pabbie nodded gently. "I expect you have Seen more than that."

Elsa's composure collapsed at the mentions of her vision. "I don't know what it means." She confessed, biting back tears. "Everyone is dead and I'm out of control and Theo is…" But she paused here, unable to articulate exactly what had terrified her so much about her vision of the stabbed, winged Guardian. "…and at the end of it all…I go blind again."

Pabbie hummed thoughtfully, one finger on his chin. "I see. And you fear this is the future?"

"I know that it could be." Elsa insisted. "My visions have been wrong before. But rarely." The big exception being her vision of Branna's death so long ago. Since then, especially since she'd been confined to human forms, they'd been increasingly accurate.

"We dont know how much time is left before the Tree's protection fades…but every second we waste is one we dont have to act." Pabbie advised. "If I can convince you that this is important, would it ease some of your worry?"

Elsa took a shaky breath and nodded. "Where do we start?"

Pabbie touched a black crystal, making it glow white. "On this next full moon, an eclipse is due. The lake will be closest to the state it was in when the Tree last stood. If you were there with the Orb, Isen may be able to reawaken the pieces of the tree still conscious within the Orb."

Elsa was startled. "Why does it have to be me?"

"After the Tree, the Mother was the most powerful creational being in existence." Pabbie told her. "You are the oldest of the Mother's Children. The Head Councilor and the first of the Daughters to reincarnate. You must bring the Orb to the sacred place where it fell so your powers can reactivate it's communication power. Only then can we communicate with Her, seek her help in restoring Treklynge."

"Restoring it?" Elsa's eyes widened. "Do you mean…?"

The troll nodded. "Just as she nurtured the Tree in the past, you must give Her the chance to nurture a new connection between the Realms." Pabbie let the light from the crystal fade. "We wont get another chance for a thousand years Elsa…and it may be too late by then." He eyed her form sadly. "Humans are so tragically short-lived."

Elsa ignored the jab at her life expectancy. "Why haven't I Seen any of this?" She demanded of him. "Why haven't any of my hosts? If this is so important, why haven't I known about it?"

Pabbie shrugged. "Perhaps your Sight has a blind spot."

He'd clearly used the phrase indifferently. But Elsa still experienced a moment of inescapable fear. Her ice crackled around her feet, tearing into the stones and gouging out long scratches between the crystals.

Pabbie graciously ignored her magical outburst. "Why do you think you chose to reincarnate now?" He asked her. "After centuries of being formless and restrained in the body of others, why pick this particular time to attain your full power?" He took her hand gently, ignoring the ice crawling along his rocky fingers. "To do this. This is your destiny, Elsa."

A few years ago, his words would have been beyond gratifying to her. She had longed for a purpose, for some meaning in her long time as a spirit and her sudden reincarnation as a human. But now, his insistence only filled her with dread.

Pabbie gazed into her face, his ancient eyes unsettling her just as much as they had when she had been a child ignorant of her identity and frightened of her powers. "Find the Orb…offer it back to the Mother…restore our safeguard against destruction."

Elsa ducked her head. "I'll try." It was all she could do. If this was her purpose here, to protect the Realms from annihilation, she would do all she could.

But even her resolve could not shake her fear of her vision from her mind.

"Beware:" Pabbie continued. "…the Darkness never operates alone. And it can grow within even the noblest of hearts. All it takes is fear and mistrust. If He finds a way in, he will stop you with your own thoughts."

Elsa didn't know what to say to that. She very much feared that it was already too late for her in regards to fear.

So instead she just nodded and turned to leave.

But the old troll wasn't quite done with her yet. "I warn you, Elsa." He called, making her halt. "We can't recover what is lost, but we can reclaim what is past. Nothing else matters."

Elsa glanced over her shoulder, taking in the sight of the crumbling troll amid the last pieces of her home realm. "And Hans and Scara?" She asked. "Am I just to abandon them to their fate?"

Pabbie looked away. "Death always prevails. But Life has always found a way back."

---

They all eventually drifted back together: Elsa descending from the cavern with a heavy heart and Theo rejoining them with her eyes downcast.

The two divided lovers reunited, gazes meeting searchingly. But for what, neither appeared quite sure.

"Theo…"

"Elsa."

Both of them stopped, each unsure who should talk first. Silence stretched, both of them shouldering their own burdens and expectations. Elsa wanted nothing more than to fall into Theo's embrace and share all of her fears. But she couldn't.

"You go get the Orb." Theo finally said. She played with the hilt of the sword at her hip. "I'm going to find Hans and Scara."

Elsa's apprehension washed away in a flood of anger. "No! We are not splitting up!" She insisted.

"We have to." Theo pointed out. "How else are we going to do both?"

Elsa huffed in frustration, seeing her argument getting nowhere. "But you don't have to do this alone." She reasoned. "They're my sisters too."

"Let's not argue about this…"

"Who's arguing?"

Theo closed her eyes but said nothing in response. Elsa stood firmly, refusing to give so much as an inch. She wasn't going to let Theo run off on this self-imposed redemption quest alone. They would do this together. Somehow.

Anna, Kristoff and Sophie approached them, Kristoff leading Sven by the reins.

"You two ready?" The mountain man asked.

"Ready?" Elsa asked.

"It's a long way to the Northern Lands." Kristoff replied. "We'd better get going if we want to make headway before dark."

"Who is this we?" Theo asked. "I'm the only one who is going."

"And I told you, you're not doing this alone!"

Theo rolled her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "Elsa…"

Sophie marched right up to Theo and took her hand. "Anywhere you're going, I'm coming with you."

Theo stared at the girl, her expression wavering between gratitude and dejection.

Now it was Elsa's turn to try to argue the point. "Anna…" She began, turning to appeal to her motherly instincts.

But her sister wasn't having any of her exasperated pleas. "No Elsa!" She snapped, her eyes hard. "You remember what happened last time we were separated? Now, if my sister and my daughter are going, I'm going too."

Kristoff nodded his agreement. "Where Anna goes, I go."

Elsa shook her head, looking to Theo for help. The woman merely raised her eyebrows. "This is ridiculous." Elsa exclaimed, turning back to the group. "Someone has to go back and lead Arendelle!"

"Well it's certainly not going to be me…" Kristoff muttered.

"The council can handle things for a few days longer I'm sure." Anna pointed out. "What's the rush? I think this takes priority." She fixed Elsa with a look.

The sealed document and the reason for it weighed heavily on Elsa's heart. But really, what was that worth if all of creation ended instead?

"Fine." She finally acquiesced. She turned to Theo. "But we all stay together."

Theo said nothing, only watched Elsa with a look she couldn't decipher.

Sophie nodded. "United, our hearts are uncorruptible!" She cried, with all the drama of a stage actor. It should have been funny, her complete conviction in the statement. But no one felt up to laughing.

Elsa looked around, at the four people she cared most for in the world. All of them looked back at her with utter faith. The fearful vice around her heart loosened ever so slightly at the knowledge that she would not be alone for facing her destiny.

It was to be their last trip as a family. They might as well face the danger and uncertainty together.

---

Leaving the Valley of Living Rock was harder than she had anticipated.

Sven trotted along, Elsa's icy trail leading them northward, past even the peaks shrouding the North Mountain.

Elsa couldn't help but feel like they were leaving something precious behind. Something they could never recover. Sophie, bless her heart, was trying to lighten them all up with jokes or Kristoff's traveling songs. But their laughter was subdued, the melodies half-hearted. All of their thoughts were elsewhere.

Kristoff was unsettlingly silent as he guided the sled and still but for a single finger tapping unevenly on the wood. Theo crouched in the back of the sled, coiled like a spring with her eyes resolutely fixed on something none of them could see. Anna hadn't left Elsa's side since they'd exited the Valley, remaining within reach but not actually touching her. For that, Elsa was eternally grateful. As for Elsa herself, she'd been casting little anxious blasts of powdery snow all around them for the last few miles.

"Where now?" She asked Kristoff, as the mountains in the distance faded.

Kristoff shook his head. "This is the furthest Sven and I have ever traveled. Pabbie didn't exactly draw us a map." He eyed the Guardian at the rear of the sled. "Ask her."

"The lake is far to the north…" Theo replied, gaze focused on the horizon. "…past the Hanging Valley. But we cant go there yet."

Sophie nodded. "We need the Orb first."

"We need to find Hans and Scara." Theo replied curtly, utterly ignoring the girl. "They come first. Before any of this relic nonsense." She nodded westward. "Go that way."

Kristoff glanced to Elsa for approval but Elsa wasn't sure she could give it.

She turned back to the Guardian. "I know you're concerned Theo…but…"

"But what?" Theo snapped, rounding so suddenly on Elsa that everyone in the sled flinched. "Are you seriously considering abandoning them for the promise of speaking with the Mother again?"

Elsa took a step back, Pabbie's words curling in her chest. "Of course not. I'm just trying to…"

"To what?" Theo snarled. "Comfort me? I dont need your comfort; I need to do my job!"

"You are." Elsa argued back, barely managing to keep a grip on her temper with this unprovoked attack. "Protect us while we get the Orb. Then we can all liberate Hans and Scara."

Theo's face twisted in disgust. "You'd leave them behind in an instant." She spat. "You'd cast them all aside for some stupid object that you cant even touch…"

"Lay off!" Anna butted in, placing herself squarely between them. Elsa was relieved; her heart was twisting from the accusations. "You'd never speak to Elsa like that if it was her life on the line!" Anna shouted. "She cares too. She's just less reckless about it."

Theo turned her angry gaze on Anna. "You don't understand this, Princess."

Anna bristled. "Oh really?"

"GUYS!"

The shout from Sophie had them all deflating instantly. The child regarded them with thinly concealed worry.

"You're all forgetting something." She turned to Elsa, pointing one small finger at her. "You can reach her."

Elsa blinked. "What?"

"Død." Sophie told her. "You can speak to her. Reach out to Uncle Hans!"

Elsa exchanged a glance with Theo. The woman looked away from her, folding her arms tightly around herself. "I mean…yes but he's never answered me before." She had indeed tried to communicate with Hans and Død several times telepathically, as she had managed once during the Battle. But though Død was able to send her flashes of emotion, Hans refused to let her into his head again.

"He's never wanted to be found before." Theo reasoned. She turned back to Elsa, her face tight. "Just try? Please? It may help us find them."

Elsa looked around at them all; the others regarding her as their best hope and Theo with shameful desperation.

She nodded. "I'll try." She said to Sophie.

Her niece smiled encouragingly.

Closing her eyes, Elsa entered her mind palace. Only this time, instead of heading for the mirror, she turned down the hallways, making her way to the stairs and onto the balcony.

It had frightened her the first time, coming up here and peered outwards into the vast expanse of her untamed mind. But it was the only way to do this.

She reached out into the blackness, feeling for the aromatic tendril of sensation that stretched between her and Hans. When the scent of cloves surrounded her, she opened her mind to it.

Sister?

A searing pain ripped through her side, shaking her entire mental ice palace. Elsa stumbled and nearly retreated but the sensation of something being very, very wrong kept her clinging to the connection.

Hans?

"Elsa…?" There was a tug along the connection. "Elsa! Help! Help us!"

Before she could react, Elsa was pulled from her ice palace and hurled headlong into the emptiness. The scents of crumbling leaves and burned sienna were her only guide and reassurance that Hans was the one doing this to her.

When her journey finally slowed, she found herself in a nightmare.

Hans?

"Help…help us…"

Everything was dark and cool. The air was thick with moisture and the scent of blood and decay. Elsa tried to move and found she was shackled in place, her arms and ankles bound in chains. Pain radiated from her form anew at the movement, a scream that was not her own tearing from her lips.

Something pressed against her mind, probing desperately for access. It was only the faint scent of dying leaves that allowed her to recognize the presence as her sister.

Død flooded into her mind, the relief at escaping her nightmare palpable.

"Sister…"

A thousand thoughts flooded her mind in an instant: the Breath failing, Scara crying out in pain, a faint green mist, a spark of hope, unpalpable exhaustion…

As Død emptied her emotional woes into her mind, Elsa showed her the only thing she could think of to calm her: a vast, still lake with an enormous root stretching skyward from it.

"Elsa…"

Hans' voice was thin and reedy, as if he hadn't had a drink in days.

Hans? What is going on? Where are you?

Voices, a man's dark voice cutting through the thoughts and memories, shattering the sense of privacy within their shared mind.

"We're going to keep you just alive enough to be conscious. But we will never let you rest. And eventually, when your human form is weak and frail, the dormant power within you will burst free and claim your body. Then you will be ours, Autumn."

But she knew that voice.

Something emerged in her vision: an unfamiliar face with an unsettlingly familiar energy. Black eyes that stared and saw her within the illusion.

His gaze narrowed. Hunting her.

Elsa jerked backwards, rejecting the sight so forcefully it was pulling her out of Hans' mind.

Both Hans and Død struggled desperately to hold on to her but it was too late.

Elsa struggled to throw one last message to them as she hurtled back into her own mind.

We will find you Hans! We're coming for you!

"Elsa…"

"Elsa!"

Warm hands were on her shoulders, yanking her from the terrors of the vision. She fell backward, onto her sister's chest, her breath coming in short, hard gasps as she rushed back into herself.

Ice burst from her in every direction, sending a violent frost against everyone's clothes and many of the surrounding trees. Anna just held her tighter, soothing her with soft murmurs.

Everyone huddled around her in concern, waiting with baited breath as Elsa regained her bearings and processed what she had just witnessed.

"I…I…I know where they are." She finally managed to choke out.

Theo was in front of her instantly, her face creased with worry but her eyes hard with determination. "Where?" She demanded. The frost on her clothes had already vanished.

Elsa exchanged a glance with her sister. Then she turned back to the others.

"Weselton."

---

Weselton Dungeon, Mid-Summer's Day, 1821

Hans cried out, sagging against the restraints.

"Interesting…"

He panted, trying to hold onto Elsa's voice in his mind, to her cool presence and the images in her mind. For the first time in a long time, he felt a surge of hope brighten his dark thoughts.

She knows now…she can stop them…

Flickers of Isen's memories danced across his vision, a soothing escape from his current hell. A long lake, elevated above the surrounding landscape, water like a mirror…the moon reflected below as the eclipse overtook the celestial body…

Treklynge. It was beautiful.

"Most interesting." The Duke continued. He turned to his companion. "What is this…this Treklynge?"

Hans froze. How did they?

"It's a sacred place." The dark man replied. "My master knows it well. If the Daughters have an interest in it, it must be important indeed."

The Duke rubbed his hands together. "And this…thing, this…Verdener?"

Hans' head shot up at the name, Død flinching.

The Mercenary's smile made Hans shudder. "It is my birth rite. A treasure only I am worthy to possess."

The Duke pulled on his mustache, his beady eyes darting between Hans' broken form and the Mercenary's coiled one. "If Queen Elsa is to be at this…this Treklynge place by the next moon…that could be our chance to corner her."

The Mercenary did not give any indication of agreement. But the Duke took his lack of protest for such.

"Then we prepare and we leave." The small man declared. "When can you be ready, my boy?"

"I must confer with my Master for a time…"

"Prepare as you must, my boy. Meet us there if you need to."

The Mercenary inclined his head.

"We're done here." The Duke waved a hand at his companion. "Return him to his cell and let him rot."

The door slammed behind him, leaving Hans alone with the dark man.

The man turned to him and Hans flinched.

"I must admit." The man began, crossing steadily towards Hans. "I never expected you to yield such a treasure as Verdener for me." He pulled the Shard from Hans's side in a motion so smooth and fast that Hans barely felt the torturous device leave his skin. The man folded it away methodically into a waiting cloth, showing no more interest than if it were a blanket. "Still, my patience has paid off. You could still overcome this stubborn uselessness you have insisted on these past few years…"

"You'll…never…get…anything from…me." Hans choked out. The pain in his side was returning, cresting into a wave that threatened to overtake him. He fought to stay conscious. If he'd somehow spoken while Elsa was in his mind, what else might he unwittingly share with them?

"I have no further interest in you." The Mercenary said. "You are already lost. But in all the time we've had you, you've failed to do either of the things I thought you would be useful for."

Hans lifted himself as high as he could. "And what are those?" He asked, trying and failing to look the man in the eye. How could eyes be so dark?

Those haunting eyes regarded him coldly. "Summoning your sword…and summoning your protector."

This was news to Hans. "What do you want with Theo?" He inquired.

"Is that what she goes by?" The Mercenary scoffed. He was silent for a moment, staring at something on the wall behind Hans' head before he answered Hans' question. "I want what was promised to me." He spoke as if Hans should know what he was referring to.

"So why not just kill me?" Hans asked. His strength failed and he sagged against his restraints once again. "If I'm so useless, why not get rid of me?" Død coiled inside his head, trying her best to shield him with her cocoon of power. But they both knew it was useless. No matter what they threw at this man, nothing harmed him.

"You are only still conscious because of your earlier outburst. You may yet yield more unintentional secrets." The Mercenary reasoned. "If I were to kill you, the sword is lost forever. And my Master will not tolerate that again." He shifted closer, his cold breath on Hans' neck. "No, now I see how to best deal with you. I need you to do something for me."

Hans tried to snarl but the proximity of the man was making his heart race with apprehension. "What's that?" Død was tense inside of him, regarding the man with fear so potent it ate at Hans' heart.

The Mercenary fixed him with a piercing, cold stare, one that penetrated right to Død and made her shudder. "Hold onto a message. So that the next time your sister looks into your mind, she knows who I am. Why I am coming for her."

He held out his hand and moved it in front of Hans' forehead. Hans gasped as a lance of pain ran through his skull, embedding itself deep in his memories and holding fast. Looking at it made his vision go white, trying to ignore it only made it hurt more. Død seemed unaffected but Hans felt her concern for him. He sagged against his restraints again, panting heavily.

"Be sure she sees that."

The Mercenary rose, towering over Hans' slumped form. "Prove your use to me."

"Wh…why?" Hans croaked out. "Why are you doing this?"

The Mercenary took a moment to consider his question. "Let me ask you this, child of the Mother: would you kill the person you were closest to if it meant the end of a long and bitter war?"

Hans recoiled in disgust. "I'll never hurt Scara!" He declared.

The man nodded. It appeared his suspicions had been confirmed. "Pity then."

Snagging the lantern, he turned on his heel and left Hans alone in the darkness.

Weary from his torment, Hans faded into oblivion.

---

Sometime later, he stirred, taking his usual mental inventory of all his injuries. They'd forgotten to send the jailor to move him again. Or perhaps they no longer cared.

It made no difference to Hans.

His eyes snapped open, burning with defiance. The heavy darkness over the prison was finally gone.

Hans?

His resolve startled Død. She saw the path of reason in his mind.

The Mercenary was gone. Weselton had decided his use had run out. Autumn was approaching.

And now, with Elsa's unexpected connection, it only seemed right.

Hans summoned his strength, standing on his trembling tiptoes so that his arms had some sense of relief.

Death was nothing if not patient. And now, his time had finally arrived.

He waited on his tiptoes, breathing steadily, gathering his strength.

Patience.

He'd waited years. What was a few more minutes?

Finally, the dungeon door squealed open. Taking one final deep breath, Hans let himself sag again. He closed his eyes as the footsteps approached.

"They left you down here again…hold on…"

The young woman fumbled with her stolen key, her lantern casting unsteady light from the hook beside the door. Hans tried not to flinch as she finally got the door open.

Patience.

The brunette girl entered his cell, closing the door, but not locking it behind her. She offered him a shy smile. Helena had always been kind to him. She had cleaned his wounds carefully after his first session with the Mercenary and the Duke. She brought him tea on cold mornings and smiled at him when he thanked her.

He knew within a week what he would have to do if he ever wanted to escape.

It sickened him. But it was the only way.

Helena approached him, a rough wooden bowl in her hands. Carefully, she tipped it against his lips, letting the cool water touch his lips.

Hans took a measured sip. If he gulped, he would be lightheaded.

"Please…" He choked out between sips. "my hands…"

She moved immediately to remove his restraints. Why wouldn't she? He'd never harmed her, never done anything more than fall helplessly against her and quietly accept her care.

As the metal fell away from his hands, Hans reached inside his mind.

"I'm sorry."

Død stirred uncomfortably. Hans…Hans what are you…?

But with a focused determination, Hans shoved that voice into the tightest corner of his mind and silenced her.

He sagged against Helena as his restraints came undone.

"I'm sorry." He told her.

"It's alright." She assured him, already making to help him sit. She tutted at his injuries. "I've got just the thing for these…dont you worry…"

Hans remained against her, summoning his sluggish power. "No…it's not alright. I'm sorry…but if they suspected you helped me, they'd do something worse…"

He killed her as swiftly as he could, with a Breath so gentle she felt as if she were falling asleep. He wasted a few seconds catching her and laying her gently on the stones.

Before him stood the open cage door. Freedom.

Scara…I have to find Scara and get her out.

He tried not to think about how close in age the two were.

He staggered out of the metal cell to the dungeon door, his bloody feet protesting the movement. Stretching out his hand, he called to the wood in the door. It rotted instantly, his repressed powers making quick work of the prison. He listened only for a moment, hearing no signs of the guards. Then he dashed through the open doorway.

He blinked as he stepped out, drawing the power into his eyes. A faint green mist appeared before him, snaking down the long corridors and deep into the black center of the palace.

Scara…

She was here.

Frail as he was, Hans only managed a few steps before he needed to pause, gritting his teeth in pain.

I've felt worse. He tried to tell himself. This is nothing compared to my father's belt.

It was a hard sell. But it kept him moving.

He hobbled along, focusing on keeping the mist visible and his ears peeled for any shouting.

Død was still silent, still absent from his mind. But he could feel her shoved in that dark little corner where he'd kept her for so long.

I had to…it was the only way out of here…the only way to prevent them from getting the Sword or hurting Scara…

Several times, someone walked towards him and he had to tuck his thin form behind a curtain or suit of armor to avoid detection. He shouldn't waste power on leaving a trail of bodies. No, he needed this precious time to find Scara. Then he could kill every guard in his path to make their escape.

The mist led him in a twisting, upward path, climbing dark staircases so tight that his shoulders brushed both walls as he ascended. Four times he had to stop and gather his strength. But the sight of that mist kept him moving. He didn't need light so long as he had that path to follow.

She was here. He was going to get her out.

Some two hundred agonizing steps later, the staircase opened up into a dim tower room. Hans paused, confused.

This wasn't a dungeon; it was easily the tallest point in the whole city. It had clearly once been a bedroom or storage of some kind, there was even a disassembled bedframe he could barely make out against one wall. But the only source of light was coming from high above him, concentrated in a narrow shaft that fell towards…

His eyes rapidly adjusted and he raced forward into the heart of the green mist.

"Scara…"

She was here.

But four feet from her, a thick metal cage covered in a mass of greenery prevented him from moving closer.

"No…" He slammed against the cage. It did not so much as rattle from his force. Where his cell had been bare and dank, Scara's crawled with life.

Vines and branches grew out of the stones, frail for the lack of sunlight but stubbornly alive. The plants all curled and twisted unnaturally, filling as much of the cage as they possibly could.

Paradoxically, rather than reaching outward, they all grew inward a thick cocoon, wrapped protectively over a small, still body sitting in the weak sunlight.

The entire cocoon pulsed with a steady breath, the breather deep in slumber.

Hans nearly cried with relief. There she was. Alive.

"Scara!"

She stirred feebly, moving towards his voice. But she didn't wake.

Somewhere far below him, feet pounded on the distant stairs. Helena had been discovered. The guards were coming, time was running out fast.

Hans grabbed for the cell door, power snaking all around it. He pleaded for something, anything made of wood. Anything that could let him in to her.

All of it was metal. There was no time to find the key. He lacked the strength and the knowledge to reach it before the guards overpowered him.

The realization crushed him with all the weight of the world.

He had to leave her behind.

Stretching out, Hans probed their connection.

"Scara?"

To his surprise, he felt not the beautiful, shining girl that had become his everything but instead a blaze of warm familiar light.

Go…I will protect her as best I can. Keep my sister safe.

Hans nodded, his face twisting. He sent a tendril of his power inside the cage, letting it crawl among the many flowers and vines, darkening a path to her as the plants choked and died.

It wouldn't last long. But maybe she would see it. Maybe she would know he'd found her. That he would come back for her.

"I'll come back for you Scara…I'll tear this place apart to get you back…"

Gathering his wits and his resolve, he turned his back and ran towards the darkness before him.

He'd trod this path many times in life: the path of vengeance and merciless killing. If he cast himself this far back into the darkness, could he ever escape again? Would he ever return if Scara were not there to lead him back?

Right now, he didn't have the luxury of a choice. It was this or more torment.

He felt the approaching guards in the darkness of the staircase long before he ever heard or saw them. He merely stretched out his power, choking them where they stood. He stepped over their warm corpses and made for the sunlight at the base of the stairs. The effort was rapidly weakening him. He couldn't handle many more such killings.

The power coiled within him, lapping up the spilled blood like a dying man in a desert drank water. His fingers itched to feel a blade.

It was so easy…he just had to call it from that room in his mind and he could kill them all…

NO.

Hans grabbed his right arm in a vice-like grip to prevent it from reach out. They wouldn't survive another encounter with that Sword. Not this weak, not without Scara and especially not with Død so repressed in his mind.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and sprinted down the long hallway. Someone came at him from the adjoining room and his powers lashed out. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the servant drop, face still twisted in shock. There was no time for remorse.

Guards pounded up the stairs, cutting off his exit. Hans stretched out his power again but he was reaching his limit. Only half of the guards fell.

As the remainder charged, he saw the window across the hall.

Not even bothering to try the handle, he instead just threw himself through the glass. He tumbled several feet, bumping into shingles before encountering the solid reassurance of the castle's defensive parapet. The superficial scratches were nothing. He picked himself up and ran along the parapet.

He made it maybe fifty feet before he saw the second group of soldiers coming towards him.

Panting, Hans skidded to a halt, his vision swimming. He could just barely make out the city below, the second wall in the distance and the guards swarming out of his broken window.

They were going to cut him off. They had seen his power waning and were cornering him like a wild animal.

He knew what he had to do. The only problem was, the one that knew how to do it was pushed far down in his mind.

Hans snapped his eyes shut, resisting the overwhelming urge to just collapse and give up. He probed deep into his mind.

"Død? Død! Please!"

Where had she gone?

This time he'd made sure to force her into a less dark part of his mind: his memories of his mother and those few happy years with Scara.

But she was still and silent.

"I really need you now…come on…"

Desperation set in as he felt the footfalls shake the rocks he stood on.

It would be so easy to just reach for the weapon…

He bit his tongue fiercely to halt that particular train of thought. The pain sent a lance of adrenaline through his skull.

Something deep in his mind stirred.

The wind around him bent slightly, whipping the ends of his beard into a frenzy.

"Come on…please…please…"

The soldiers surrounded him, yelling for him to stand down. He could feel their weapons pointed at him from all directions. All but one.

He summoned the last of his strength and called to his power. With a massive blast of wind, Hans threw himself from the parapet.

For a moment, he fell. And it felt wonderful. His vision began to fade to black as the last of his strength vanished.

Then the wind caught up to him. A tornado of leaves caught him, Død's presence cradling his form.

She was here again, sharing his flesh, controlling their power while he faded away.

Hans…hold on.

With a gust that shook the stones, the autumn wind blasted him clear across Weselton, cresting the city wall and whisking them into the untamed wilderness.

Into freedom.

---

Kingdom of Arendelle, Mid-Summer's Day, 1821

"Thank you for joining us today, Prince Leif."

Reba was used to being invisible. She actively cultivated the illusion of her insignificance: her body language non-existent and her eyes constantly lowered.

So what she was about to do was terrifying.

She crouched in her rafter hiding spot, braced between two beams, perched above the heads of Elsa's council like one of her ravens: still, silent, and listening. From her spot, she had a clear view of Elsa's fiance as he graciously thanked Elsa's council for permitting him into the day's meeting.

Duke Percival, in particular, seemed thrilled to have Leif in Elsa's customary seat. He launched right into business of the kingdom, beginning with the duration of Elsa's planned absence and the transition into the usual Queen's Absence Orders that Elsa had laid out some years prior.

The meeting continued on as usual, with each council member giving their report and their comments on particular matters. Leif remained silent through it all, watching and listening carefully.

Reba raised an eyebrow but didn't risk any further movement in her risky position. At least he seemed to know his place.

As the time came for the intelligence report, Master Tyron rose and began a dramatic proclamation about his suspicions regarding Weselton spies hiding among the refugees.

Reba rolled her eyes. How was this man still employed? Granted, Elsa only kept him on as a figurehead to hide Reba's own work. But certainly she could appoint someone at least semi-competent at the job? She'd found the real spies weeks ago and they weren't refugees. One was a nobleman she'd labeled Carrot (on account of his red hair) and the other was a more slippery lower-class fellow she'd called Dark Water. He'd appeared at the Ring once or twice and drifted in and out of the city every week like clockwork. She'd set Jarl to report on his movements. The young Ear had pouted at the boring assignment but kept up with his updates.

And that's why she was here, clinging to the rafters above her thoroughly oblivious "peer". Because of the note from Jarl Agog had delivered to her just this morning.

Dark Water has left Arendelle.

If he had truly gone, then things were beginning to move.

She waited out the remainder of everyday kingdom business, her fingers growing more and more numb as she clung to her spot. Finally, Duke Percival adjourned the meeting.

One by one, the other members filtered out, several lingering to offer congratulations to the lucky prince who had (in the words of Duke Percival) "made Queen Elsa come to her senses".

As Bishop Tyr closed the door behind him, leaving Leif alone, Reba made her move.

Silent as a bird, she dropped. Her feet made no sound upon the carpeted floors but her quiet clearing of her throat made the prince whirl around.

"Greetings, Prince Leif."

He looked around, probably for where she possibly could have come from so quickly and silently. "What? Who are you?"

She was about to compromise everything. But she was prepared. She couldn't let Elsa down. "My name is Anya. I'm Elsa's eyes and ears around her kingdom."

Leif's brow furrowed in confusion. "But…I thought…" He chuckled and gave her a sympathetic smile. "Do you work with Master Tyron, young lady?" He asked her.

Reba's gaze was unwavering. She waited until the smile slipped off his face before speaking again. "Master Tyron knows a fraction of what I know. And for good reason." Her gaze narrowed. "I run the Queen's information network. Not him."

Leif seemed startled but he recovered quickly. "How can I trust you?" He scoffed, looking her up and down. "You're just some kid off the street who snuck in here! I am many things, but I am not a fool!"

Reba reached into her pocket and extracted the scroll. She tilted it so that he could see Elsa's distinctive ice seal upon it.

Leif gasped.

"Now," Reba continued, stowing it away. "Elsa instructed me to make contact with you if the need arose." She pausing, gathering her courage. "Elsa is in need of some assistance in her absence. And for that, I require your help."

At the mention of Elsa, Leif's face snapped into an expression of concern. "Help? With what?"

Reba supposed she should be grateful that he still wasn't dismissing her outright. Many of the others on Elsa's council would have accused her of stealing and thrown her out. Perhaps Elsa had chosen wisely in selecting a partner. Only time would tell.

---

Leif considered the young girl in front of him, this Anya. She was slim, possibly twelve years old, with distinctive red hair. If she hadn't just flashed him the very document he'd signed mere days ago, he never would have believed that this child was the head of Elsa's information network.

Anya was watching him just as closely, strands of her fiery hair loose around her face. "Before Elsa left, did she mention anything about Arendelle's Evigsmerte gang?" She inquired.

Leif shook his head. "No…she did not." He shifted uncomfortably, disturbed both by the young child's accent and official tone. "What are they?"

"Ruffians." Reba replied. Her eyebrows came together in contempt. "Scum of the worst kind who think they can threaten Arendelle."

"Wait…" Leif pondered something. "She may have mentioned them actually…not by name…but…"

He recalled a few days prior, when the young Queen had summoned him to her office quite suddenly after their walk in the gardens…

"So…do you accept, Prince Leif."

"Your maje…Elsa…" he corrected himself. "I'm honored but I must admit, I'm a little flustered at your sudden turn-around."

He saw her twitch but didn't know her well enough to know what that meant.

"It's purely a matter of security and state." Elsa informed him. "I'm sorry if that sounds callous of me, but I feel honesty would serve our partnership best."

"I…I agree." He cleared his throat. "So…you wont be offended if I say that…that your haste alarms me?"

"For the past several weeks, I've been given an ultimatum by my council." Elsa turned to the window and it was then that he noticed a slight reddish rim around her eyes. Again, he did not know what it meant. "It appears that…certain very vocal and potentially violent segments of my subjects find the idea of me remaining unwed to be…disagreeable." Elsa's vision narrowed and he felt the temperature in the room drop slightly. "My advisors therefore see it necessary for me to have…assistance in running my kingdom. A husband to present alongside me at royal functions as a display of strength to appease my subjects. But, there is no requirement of producing an heir. Sophie will be next in line for the throne."

An addicting feeling of opportunity took root in his chest. "Elsa…"

Elsa turned back to him. "If it is agreeable to you, I wish for you to be that assistance. You would be free to live your life as you desire within Arendelle, I would only require you at public functions."

Could his life really be turning around this quickly? It all felt like a dream.

"We will sign the engagement announcement now." Elsa continued, moving to her desk and picking up a pen. "But it will remain sealed until I return. In the meantime, acquaint yourself with my people, my council. They will be yours as well." She extended the pen towards him.

"The choice is yours."

He took the pen, noting but again, not understanding the slight rime of frost that coated it. "If you desire it, then it shall be my honor."

"That's the one." The girl said aloud, as if reading his thoughts.

"So…why are they dictating the decisions of Elsa's council?"

"They are terrorists," Reba declared, anger flashing in her eyes, "dissatisfied with a magical queen that rules alone. They have threatened a coup publically if their demands are not met."

Leif drew back, horrified that such a thing lay hidden under Arendelle's beautiful surface. "What are you going to do about them?"

"I myself will do nothing." Anya told him. She gave a slight nod. "My boys on the other hand, have been hard at work on them for some time."

He almost asked but decided it was best not to. He got the distinct impression that this child would not answer him.

Leif moved back to the table and sat in one of the empty chairs. "So why do you need me?" He asked.

Anya nodded, seeming glad that he was getting down to business. "Ordinarily, I communicate directly to Elsa when action is needed. But she's gone. You now sit on the council, something I cannot do." Anya inclined her head to him. "I need you to be my voice."

What did politics have to do with this? The answer was quite clear to him. "I can lead a battalion into their headquarters." Leif insisted. "If the General knows, I sure he would agree. We can root them out, arrest the leaders and this whole thing will be over." It would surely solidify his place among the people of the kingdom he was to co-lead and prove his dedication to Elsa.

"You know nothing of Arendelle." Was the girl's flat response. "These are Arendellian men, with Arendellian wives and children. Arrest or kill them and you turn their wives into widows and their children into orphans. And that breeds resentment and fuels further dissent." She shook her head. "It is not Elsa's wish to destroy them, but to compromise with them."

"So she wishes to give in to their demands?"

"Elsa's only wish is to protect her kingdom." Anya insisted. "She feels that acquiescence will provide the assurance her people need that the city will not erupt in violence once more." The girl let him stew with that for a moment before continuing: "So I will give you my reports on their motives and movements. And if action is necessary, you will be my voice in lieu of Elsa."

Leif took a moment to consider, stroking his chin. After a long pause, he nodded. Anya seemed to take that to mean their business was done. The child walked to the door and cocked her head, listening for footsteps on the other side.

"So…her engagement to me…" Leif asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer. "It is only because of this threat? I am the solution she found?"

Anya regarded him with something that was not quite disdain but it was close. "You're the solution she never wanted." The spy said. "But she's selfless enough to take you."

Quick as a shadow, the child slipped out the door and vanished.

For a moment, he was slightly offended. And then, like he'd been hit with a burst of sunlight, he understood: Elsa's sudden about-face on his offer, her red-rimmed eyes, and the reflexive, involuntary way she had chased her retreating guard from the brunch meeting all clicked together and made perfect sense after all. The mystery of Queen Elsa was laid bare before him.

His heart, previously timid from the haste of the whole arrangement, jumped for the woman who was to be his future wife.

He was more determined that ever to be her perfect partner. In whatever way she needed.

---

Reba vanished into her secret passage halfway up the balcony staircase and began the climb to her office.

She still felt uneasy about this whole thing. At least Leif seemed to trust 'Anya'. That would make this whole process smoother.

Agog met her at the crest of the stairs, sensing her discomfort and soothing her by preening her hair. She scratched him absently, missing her young companion fiercely.

There was no turning back now.

At this very moment, Dagrun and Neal, smeared with soot, were sitting in on an important Evigsmerte meeting, sowing rumors of Elsa's engagement. By sundown, Reba would have the full report of their planned movements and reactionary measures should the queen's suspected husband not meet their demands.

She glanced up at the clock face, papered with her notes, sketches, and plans for these dissatisfied men. By the time Elsa returned, they'd be ten steps ahead of the traitors. She'd make sure of it.

Her eyes hardened.

No one threatened her Arendelle. Not without getting past her first.

And while Elsa may have favored diplomacy and self-sacrifice to protect her kingdom, Reba had no such illusions. Elsa's wishes were not her own and so long as she was in control, she would chase a better outcome than Elsa could have hoped for. And now she would have Leif to help her achieve that very outcome.

If everything went according to plan, Evigsmerte would shatter and crumble to dust.

Reba felt the papers weighing heavily in her breast pocket, their contents pressing on her heart. Placing one hand over them, she nodded to herself for reassurance.

If she succeeded, then all would be as it should be.

---

For the next two days, they traveled north as quickly as they could. Kristoff only stopped when Sven needed rest, otherwise they took turns napping uneasily in the back of the sled.

But when they reached the edge of the Northern Lands, conversation became tense.

The choice was simple: head east towards where Theo indicated the Orb to be. Or head west to Weselton to find Hans and Scara.

"I'm telling you, the only way we can do both is if we split up."

"And I told you we weren't going to do that!"

"Guys…" Kristoff finally broke in, pulling the sled to a stop in a small grotto. "Give it a rest…" He went around to Sven and offered the reindeer a carrot. "We're all sick of hearing you two have this argument."

Elsa and Theo backed away from each other, both of them refusing to make eye contact with anyone else. Anna glanced between them, one hand stroking her daughter's sleeping head.

"Just…take a walk or something." Kristoff suggested. "Please? You're not helping anyone right now."

Theo gave a stiff nod and leaped out of the sled. Before Elsa could even get down, she was halfway across the clearing, stopping abruptly and pulling out her sword.

The rest of them watched worriedly as the Guardian carved the air in elaborate, deadly patterns, venting her frustration in aggressive yells against imaginary enemies.

Elsa made a move towards her but found a gentle hand on her arm.

"Elsa…" Anna gave her a sympathetic look, her hair frazzled from two days of non-stop travel and bickering. "Maybe we should split up. Sticking together like this is only making you two more frustrated." She shot a glance at the distant woman. "Why not let her go off to find them while we head east?"

"She's not going alone." Elsa insisted.

Anna sighed, recognizing her sister's stubborn conviction. But to Elsa's relief, Anna didn't question it. She wasn't sure she could explain it if she had to. All she knew was that if she let Theo out of her sight, bad things would happen. Bad things like a sword through her chest. She saw the images from her vision every time she closed her eyes. They were headed for something. But she was determined to not steer them into what she had Seen.

"Probably dumb to ask this," Anna began, "but why are you so hell-bent on going after the Orb? Instead of rescuing Scara and Hans?"

Elsa flinched, not expecting the question. The truth was, it had eaten away at her these past few days. She'd barely been able to sleep or meditate without thoughts of what she'd seen in Hans' mind tormenting her. But Pabbie's words had her in a strong grip:

Find the Orb…offer it back to the Mother…restore our safeguard against destruction…Nothing else matters…

"I fear that…if Weselton gets it…then we will have no chance at all." She finally answered.

As usual, Anna saw straight through her. "But they dont. Not yet." She took Elsa's hand. "So what is it? Really?"

No more secrets.

That's what they'd promised.

Elsa took a deep breath. "There's a deadline." She admitted.

Anna frowned. "What?"

Elsa folded her arms around herself. "Pabbie told me…he told me that if we take the Orb to the Lake by the full moon…I might be able to contact the Mother and restore the connection between the realms."

Her sister was silent for a long time. "What?!" She finally blurted out, loud enough that Kristoff looked up and Theo momentarily paused her attack forms.

"I'm afraid…" Elsa continued, once the others had returned to their activities. "…that if we dont prioritize this…something far worse will happen than Hans and Scara getting hurt." She looked up at her sister, eyes pinching. "Anna, he made it sound like it could be…the end…of everything."

Anna nodded slowly. "Wow…yeah. That is a lot to think about…" She tapped Elsa's hand in thought. "Why you?" She finally asked, a wry smile twisting her lips. "Why is it always you who needs to shoulder the heavy destiny?"

Elsa stood a little straighter. "This is who I am, Anna. The daughter of the Mother. In human form." But even as she said it, she feared facing her destiny.

Anna squeezed her hands. "I know." She said. "I just wish you had someone else to take some of the hardest magical destiny things away from you sometimes." Sighing, Anna pressed her forehead against Elsa's.

Elsa closed her eyes, drinking in the relief of a blackness that was free of the horrors of the future.

"I think you'd better talk to her." Anna advised, pulling back slightly. "She might change her mind if she knew what was really at stake."

"She wont." Elsa insisted, resisting the urge to turn around. "Scara means everything to her."

Anna gave her a look. "Not everything."

---

As Elsa squared her shoulders and walked over towards her Guardian, Kristoff leaned over the side of the sled.

"You know…" he said softly, glancing down at their daughter. "we could probably handle the eastern journey alone if we had to…"

"I'm not leaving her Kristoff." Anna replied, not even bothering to turn around.

He sighed. "I know you dont want to Anna, but consider what she's just told you." He stroked his daughter's hair softly. "If we want to both save the world and the other spirits, we might not have a choice."

"We always have a choice." Anna insisted. "And I choose to believe that we can do this all together."

Kristoff was wise enough to know not to argue the point further. But his heart ached with the need to protect his girls, no matter the cost. And all he had to do it was Sven and a sled.

Could he keep them safe on this journey?

---

Theo's sword forms had become unpredictable but still with that fine amount of control. A light sheen of sweat clung to her, making her skin appear to glisten in the morning light. Elsa fought the urge to lean closer and smell that sweat once more.

Not the time.

Thoughts of Leif came to her, almost as an afterthought.

Not possible.

"Theo…" She began, standing alongside her so she wouldn't be tempted to soothe her tight shoulders again. The sword paused in its attack form, the wielder listening carefully.

"It's not that I dont care about Hans and Scara…" Elsa insisted. "I saw inside Hans' mind; I know the horror they are facing…It's just…I'm trying to think of the big picture here."

Theo's face twisted but she said nothing.

Elsa tried logic; it usually worked on Theo. "The Orb is powerful…and dangerous. If it falls into the wrong hands, the whole world could be doomed. If we find the Orb first, then we might have leverage to get them back."

"If we have them beside us, no army stands a chance." Theo replied. In two swift motions, she flipped her sword around and sheathed it.

Silence stretched between them again, Elsa unsure what else she could say.

"If you wont prioritize them, I will." The Guardian insisted. "But you're not giving me much of a choice with this insistence that we stay together."

A wash of exasperated concern ran through Elsa's veins, making the ground around them glitter with frost. "This isn't another self-imposed obstacle you see between you and your redemption!" She chastised her. "This is serious."

"Do you think I don't know that, Elsa?" Theo turned to face her and for the first time, Elsa saw the true depth of emotions sitting in her face. "I know the legends about the Orb, I know how badly the Daughters feel that they need it, especially with the realization that it has been wiped from your memories." Her face darkened. "I wont deny that it is powerful, that it would give us an undeniable edge in whatever is to come. But I also know that that relic has caused nothing but pain since it was discovered. Bartholomew buried it, somewhere even Erin and Ileana did not know. Leave it hidden Elsa, no good can come from it."

Elsa shook her head. "I cant." She admitted. Even without Pabbie's words, she just felt that it was the right course of action. "It has to be protected from the wrong people. And I'm still not going to let you cast yourself into this rescue alone because you feel like it will earn you forgiveness."

Theo took a deep breath, seeming to chose her words with great care. When she spoke again, it was with a quiet conviction that Elsa hadn't heard in years. "I wasn't just given a second chance at life for you, Elsa. My redemption must fit a lifetime of sins, not just those I leveled against you." She turned away. "You feel that your duty is to your people, here and in the Mother's Realm. That is your priority. My duty is to all of you. I wont abandon them because some ancient power is tempting us."

Elsa saw her chance, her opportunity to lay the truth at Theo's feet: the true scope and horror of what they were facing. But even now, she saw how Theo trembled with the need to sprint to Weselton and tear open the cell where Hans and Scara were held prisoner.

She had seen how Garret's command had impacted Theo, how she had agonized over her choice, over the benefit of having such a powerful object as the Orb in hand, and finally chosen her vows over anything else. Her heart sank. She couldn't force this on her again, she couldn't selfishly keep her near because of her own insecurities. This was her destiny, not the Guardian's. And even if she didn't like it, she'd have to face it without Theo at her side.

So instead, she sighed. "There's nothing I can say to convince you?"

Theo shook her head. "Please. If what you saw is true, they are in more danger than we thought." She turned to Elsa, practically pleading. "They need me."

Elsa looked away, a bad feeling settling in her lower abdomen. But for Theo, she would swallow the fear and trust that, somehow, everything would be alright.

She placed a hand on Theo's shoulder. "Alright…" She agreed. "We'll seek the Orb…you can go find them."

Theo bowed her head. "Thank you." When she raised her face back to Elsa's, the Queen saw the barest hint of happiness there. It warmed her heart to know that she had given Theo come measure of relief in all this chaos. Her grip tightened, pulling the woman just a hair closer.

"Theo…be…"

The moment shattered as a crossbow bolt tore out of the twilight and ripped across the top of Theo's other shoulder. She hissed in pain and surprise, even as she reflexively snatched the bolt from the air, halting its progress towards Elsa's face.

Anna cried out in concern, already moving towards them. The commotion woke Sophie; the princess sat up, disoriented but alert.

Theo whirled towards the shooter, eyes blazing. Her vision narrowed as she spotted someone.

"There!" Kristoff shouted, pointing at the ridge above them.

A dark figure crouched there, slinging a crossbow across their back as they turned to run. Elsa shot ice at the shooter but he vanished long before her icicle made it that far.

"After him!" Sophie shouted, jumping up on Sven's back. The reindeer huffed in agreement, rearing for the chase.

"Wait."

Theo pressed her fingers down over the tear in her shoulder, staunching the blood. "We have to proceed carefully." She examined the bolt in her hand. "Weselton steel. He's a marksmen, trained to hit moving targets at long distances…if he'd wanted to kill you, he could have." She glanced up at the ridge, her brow furrowed. "He wants to be chased."

Sprinting back to the sled, Elsa dug a linen cloth from Kristoff's travel supplies and passed it to the Guardian. "Why would he want that?" She asked.

"He must know who you are." Anna reasoned, one hand on her sword. "Why else would he attack you?"

Theo nodded in agreement, already wrapping her wound one-handed. "If he is indeed from Weselton, he's probably under orders to kill you on sight. He'll try again soon."

"So what do we do?" Kristoff asked.

Theo pulled her makeshift bandage tight with her teeth and tied it off. "I let him lead us to Hans and Scara." She declared, all thoughts of splitting up clearly gone from her mind at this new threat to her charges. "And we keep Elsa and Sophie out of his hands." She nodded to Kristoff. "Everyone be on your guard."

They all piled back into the sled and Sven took off after the assassin. Theo perched at the front of the sled next to Kristoff, nose tilted out like a hunting dog. Her gaze remained steadfastly focused forward as they raced up the incline and over the ridge-top. Over the years, Elsa had seen Theo fight off a great many attackers, both in simulated and actual combat. She was intimately familiar with the woman's stances, her expressions, and her intense focus when the Guardian was engaged in seeking out a victory.

There was something different in her posture this time. A kind of fear in her stance. Or was it desperation?

Elsa regarded the wound, worry creeping in. Theo often got hurt, but usually it was in face-to-face combat or contests of strength. She was impossible to surprise. Her reflexes, combined with the Grace of the Mother gave the woman heightened senses that bordered on supernatural. But this…

The blood was staunched for now but the bandage proclaimed the weakness to everyone.

Elsa shuddered, that bad feeling in her stomach spreading.

It felt like a crack in her Mirror.