Chapter twenty-three

Gleaming in the darkness

She knew the path to the dining room like the back of her hand by now.

As she headed there for breakfast, she shivered, pulling her coat tighter around her as she hurried down the hall. A cold snap had blown in the week prior, signaling the start of winter in dramatic fashion. Though thralls stoked fires in every room they could, the cold still crept into the castle's many halls. Not that she hadn't been in colder climates; she suspected spending so much time in Elsa's castle had spoiled her.

Elsa was already waiting for her as she entered the room. She quickly strode past the long table, gradually getting warmer as she approached the hearth and its roaring fire. Anna's place was set, a hearty breakfast laid out upon it.

"How did you sleep?" Elsa asked.

"Very well," Anna said. "It's been some time since I've gone to bed while it was still dark."

"And your room? Has it remained warm enough for your purposes?"

"It has for now," Anna said. "As winter stretches on, that may change. That window is starting to feel like a liability."

"Then we shall move you to a deeper room, soon," Elsa said. "Once you feel the need, of course. In the meantime, I will endeavor to keep things as comfortable as possible for you." She produced a flagon from her cloak and reached for a pitcher on the table. "Would you care for an iced flagon of milk?"

"I would love one," Anna said.

Curiously, though, while Elsa filled the cup with milk, she produced no ice of any kind. She passed it to Anna, a grin on her face. "Enjoy," she said.

Anna took the flagon by the handle, unsure of what to expect. When she put it to her lips, however, both the milk and the flagon itself were ice-cold. As she touched the flagon, she realized what Elsa had done.

"You froze the flagon, not the milk," she said. "That's brilliant!"

Elsa beamed with pride – not the smug, authoritarian aura that she had tried to project in their first couple of months together, but the natural luminescence of someone being praised for a job well done. "Thank you," she said.

Anna wanted to talk more, but found herself being pulled towards the colossal breakfast before her. Without directly asking, Elsa had gradually zeroed in on all of her favorite foods by trial and error, and her mouth had already begun to water. She dug into the food, savoring each bite. Elsa had a plate in front of her, but she suspected it was only for the sake of politeness that she ate at all. She seemed to take far more pleasure in watching Anna eat.

"The church never fed you this well, I would bet," Elsa said with satisfaction.

"No," Anna said, looking up from her eggs. "Not me, and not anyone below bishop."

Elsa scoffed. "Unsurprising," she said. "They've no respect for anyone or anything they think is beneath them."

Anna glanced up at her.

Elsa chuckled. "Well, I know for a fact they're beneath me."

"At this point, I'm inclined to agree," Anna said. "Have you seen what they've done to their city lately?"

"The Vatican?" Elsa said. "No, I don't suppose I have. I'll have to check."

"I wouldn't recommend it," Anna said. "It's hallowed ground. Any creature of the night that sets foot there will be repelled or vanquished."

Elsa laughed. "You mustn't believe everything your elders tell you, dear girl. Those fools think a few stained-glass windows makes the place sacred. You wouldn't believe how many churches I've been able to set foot in."

Anna's eyes widened. "Really?"

Elsa nodded. "The looks on their faces are priceless. Especially the ones that realize it was all their fault."

Anna mused on this. "Desanctification," she murmured. "I'd heard it could happen, but I didn't think…"

"Humans never do," Elsa said. "I would wager there's not one pebble of holy ground in all the Vatican these days."

"…Perhaps," Anna said. Still, she looked troubled.

Elsa, meanwhile, was also in thought. "Even so," she said, "I could still take a look at what they've done to the place. Even if every inch of ground between here and the Vatican were sacred, and all the air above it as well, I could bear witness to it in an instant, without any trouble whatsoever."

Anna stroked her chin. Elsa had seemed to put a good deal of thought into her words just now, which meant she must've been telling her something specific. She parsed the sentence carefully.

"…Then you have some powers of far-sight," she said after a while. "No – some artifact with that power, or else you would've done so immediately. A crystal ball, perhaps?"

Elsa looked impressed. "Closer than you think," she said. "But a crystal ball couldn't come close to its power. It's my most prized possession, and I think it's time I showed it to you."

"Oh," Anna said, not having expected such a rapid development.

"Finish your breakfast, then meet me in my room," Elsa said. With that, she disappeared in a pillar of flame.

Anna looked down at her place, which was still mostly full of food. Then she glanced up at the door that would lead her to Elsa's room. Curiosity burned inside her, a towering, insatiable pyre. Reluctantly, she looked back down at her plate.

"Well, now that I know she might be watching…" she said with a sigh, picking up her knife and fork again.

xxxxxxx

Far too long later, Anna once again drew near Elsa's bedroom. She made the journey so quickly, she'd risked having her breakfast come back up again, so she took the last few steps more slowly.

The steel door that had once blocked her path was gone for good, and not just because of the damage. An oak door had replaced it - she'd said having an open doorway made it harder for her to sleep – but it was wide open every time Anna had approached, including now.

The room was dark, but by no means gloomy. Elsa sat on the lid of her coffin, legs crossed. Her pale face, hands and feet stood out against the room's dark red décor. "Enjoy the meal?" she asked.

"Quite," Anna said. "Your cooking is as exceptional as ever."

Elsa blinked. "How could you tell I cooked it this time?"

"Thralls can't get the eggs right," Anna explained. "They always break the yolks."

"Well, thank you," Elsa said, her cheeks turning pink. "It seems I can't get anything past you."

Seven months on, and the girl still managed to astonish her on a regular basis.

Anna shrugged. "It's imperative for those in my profession to pick up on patterns. You've seen it in my fights."

"Perhaps showing you this item would be a mistake, then," Elsa teased. "I shudder to think how dangerous you might become with a crystal ball, let alone this."

Anna grinned. "Well, should've thought of that before you made a promise, huh?" she said, taking a seat.

Elsa moved to scold her for her impertinence, but found herself unable to act against Anna's radiant cheer. The task of sating Anna's curiosity, Sisyphean though it might be, always brought her great joy. This, then, was sure to make both of them ecstatic.

"Indeed," Elsa said. "Since you're so eager, let's not waste another moment." She snapped her fingers.

From the corner of the room, the mirror sprung to life. Anna jumped as the shards rose from their pile and assembled into a large rectangular shape before her.

"What…is this?" Anna asked. For once, she seemed completely in the dark as to what it might be. She studied it from all angles, seeing only her own befuddled face staring back at her. "A magical mirror?"

Elsa chuckled. "I'm not surprised you've never seen one of these before," she said. "Only a handful exist in the entire world." She walked over to Anna's side, and the mirror swiveled to follow her. "Mirror," she said, "show me…show us the Vatican."

Their reflections faded from view as the mirror worked its magic. Anna processed the command Elsa had just given it. "You're not saying…this thing can actually…?"

Elsa smiled. "See for yourself," she said, gesturing at the image now forming in the mirror. Anna looked, and her jaw dropped.

The entire Vatican City was on full display within the mirror. They looked down on it, in all of its chintzy glory, from the smaller buildings abutting the city walls to the grand cathedral at its center. In the gloom of night, nothing sparkled, but the sheer opulence was plain to see.

"Behold, the Carpathian mirror," Elsa declared. "Simply say the word, and any distant place shall be within your reach."

"Astonishing," Anna breathed. She reached out to touch the mirror. "I've never seen a far-sight enchantment produce such a clear- oh!"

She yelped as her fingers passed through the mirror. She pulled her hand back quickly, as if it had been bitten.

Elsa laughed heartily. "Show me a crystal ball that can do that!" she said.

"Oh my…oh my…" Anna repeated those two words over and over. She reached out again, passing her hands through the mirror, then her head.

A thought stuck her, and she yanked her head back. "What can they see?" she asked, gesturing at the city before them.

"A beautiful girl and a vampire, in a black square a hundred feet above the ground," Elsa replied, causing Anna to blush. "But I doubt anyone is scanning the skies looking for us. Even if they are, I shall withdraw the mirror before any harm comes to us. In the meantime, let me see what they've done with the place."

The view in the mirror began to shift, gliding along to reveal the entire city. Elsa analyzed it all, but her eyes were soon pulled to the main cathedral. "Gaudy," she noted. "Very gaudy. Gold crenellations, marble columns, no shortage of stained glass."

"Take a look at the front door," Anna said.

Elsa looked at it. The thing was thirty feet tall, and it put her old iron door to shame. Delicately painted carvings of angels and saints covered every square inch, with jewels accenting them. It was also closed tight.

"It's a real wonder of engineering," Anna said, though all wonder had left her voice. "It weighs almost a thousand pounds and takes ten minutes to open. Perhaps that's why they never do."

Elsa glanced at her.

"Yeah, I know, hyperbole," Anna said. "They barely ever open it. Nobody inside ventures out, and nobody on the outside is allowed in."

"I certainly can throw no stones there," Elsa said with a shrug.

"I assure you, you could," Anna said. "Their reception to newcomers is colder than you've ever been." She pointed beyond the cathedral. "Take a look at the city wall."

Elsa looked around. "Dear me, that must be forty feet tall."

"Forty-one," Anna said. "Do you recall when the new pope was chosen a decade ago? He commissioned those walls, and a portcullis at the main entrance to the city."

Elsa snorted. "A portcullis? Rather defensive of him."

"To the few who criticized him, he just rattled off some scripture about how 'the wise man built his house upon the rock,'" Anna said disdainfully. "Not that many complained. Those priests were happy to put up a wall between them and the unwashed masses."

She pointed at the cathedral. "See that? It could barely be called a cathedral. All the bishops and priests at the top live there, feasting and drinking all day. There's not an acolyte in the city who doesn't know where their tithes are going."

Elsa seemed completely unsurprised by all of this. "I suppose you couldn't build those walls on prayers alone."

"Oh, that's the best part," Anna said, the venom in her voice now palpable. "Do you know how they paid the builders for that wall?"

Elsa shook her head.

"Indulgences," Anna said.

Elsa looked at her funnily, sure she had to be joking. Then, when it was clear she wasn't, she burst out laughing. "Oh, that is incredible!" she declared. "All those riches, and they made God foot the bill for them?"

Elsa took another look at the cathedral, this time with Anna's criticisms in mind. Upon closer inspection, she could see one wing that clearly looked like high-end living quarters. The walls, fancy though they might be, were thick, sheer things. It more resembled a castle than a cathedral.

"Paranoid, this pope," she remarked.

Anna shook her head. "Not so," she said. "His concerns are wholly valid. If the good people of this land knew what their tithes were going to, they'd ransack the city."

Elsa laughed. "Ransack a 'holy' city? You'd have to be mad to do that."

Anna's shoulders drooped. "I suppose so," she said glumly.

"And regarding your supposed 'good people', well…" Elsa trailed off when she saw how dejected Anna looked. Though the sight of the Vatican had temporarily filled her with anger, now there was only disappointment in her eyes.

"Well, never mind," Elsa said. "Such things are not for us to worry about." She tapped on the mirror. "This mirror can show you anything that exists in this world. Why not ask to see something you've never seen before?"

Anna perked up a little. "Oh yes, I had forgotten," she said. "Can you ask it to-"

"It can hear you just as well as me," Elsa said. "You may address it yourself."

"Oh, I see," Anna said. She turned to the mirror. "Excuse me," she said. "Could you please show me a Daybloom?"

The image of the Vatican faded. It stayed blurry for quite some time, much longer than it had for their prior request. Elsa took that time to search within her memory. "Daybloom," she said to herself. "Ah yes, that flower you mentioned a few months ago. The one that only blooms for three days?"

Anna nodded. "I scoured all the relevant texts in your library. Two confirmed its existence, but neither had so much as a picture."

"Then it must be rare indeed," Elsa said.

The mirror finally came into focus. It showed a wilted flower, once-white petals now grey and brown. It unfocused again, this time showing a tiny shoot, an immature bud in a pot on a windowsill. After fading away again, it focused one last time, this time on a seed buried in dirt, before giving up.

"Dear me," Elsa said, looking surprised. "It seems this flower is so rare, none currently exist in full bloom in all the world. That is an eclectic thing you quarry indeed."

"Please don't make fun of me," Anna said, looking disappointed.

"I'm not," Elsa said sincerely. "I'm genuinely interested in seeing this thing myself now. Never once has my mirror actively failed to find something."

The mirror folded in on itself a little, somehow managing to look ashamed about its failure.

"But if you don't mind me saying so," Elsa said, "your requests thus far have been rather…terrestrial."

Anna raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"Meaning, you're thinking in miniscule terms of what you could be," Elsa said. "Nothing is beyond this mirror's reach, not even the stars above."

Anna put a hand to her chin. "Really?" she said. "All right, then. Mirror, please show me the Morning Star."

The mirror straightened itself, blurring and refocusing once more. This time it showed a metallic whip with a spiked ball on the end.

Elsa giggled. "I think she means Venus, mirror," she said.

Hastily, the image vanished from the mirror. When it refocused, it now showed a starry sky. Anna instinctively searched for constellations, but she stopped as the mirror zoomed in on the central image.

A swirling yellow-orange ball of rock and gas came into sharp relief before her eyes. Storms whirled around it as if whipped by demons, and lightning sparked all across it. As the mirror zoomed closer, each cloud became sharp and clearly defined. Anna stared, mesmerized.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Elsa said.

Anna turned to her. "This is what stars look like up close?"

Elsa shook her head. "Venus is no star, Anna," she said. "It's a planet, like Earth itself."

This revelation only pried Anna's eyes open wider. "There are other planets?" she said, swiveling back to look at it.

"There are nine, at least that we have found so far," Elsa answered. "If there are more beyond, we just don't know how to look for them."

Anna hesitantly reached out a hand towards the mirror. Elsa gently grabbed it.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," she said. "Space is no place for a human. You could never survive it."

"You could?" Anna asked.

Elsa grinned slyly. "Mirror, show me empty space, shielded from the sun."

The mirror swirled again, switching to a view that was nothing but stars. Elsa glanced at her, and Anna realized she must've been leading her to this point this whole time.

Elsa backed towards the mirror, eyes locked on Anna the whole time. "Behold," she said, taking one last step and leaning backward, as if jumping off a cliff. She fell back, to a point.

As she passed through the mirror, she stopped falling and began to float. Now weightless, she looked back at Anna, who was gaping. She raised her hands in front of her, palms pointing back at the mirror.

Now, to see if this will work with ice.

Streams of ice erupted from her palms, of relatively small, yet precisely equal power. She floated backwards, away from the small rectangle through which Anna watched breathlessly. Then she dropped her arms to her sides and really let loose.

She soared up – at least from Anna's perspective. To her, there was neither up nor down now. She blasted through space, leaving twin trails of ice behind her. She looped around, twirling and flipping as she did so. She put one arm in front of her and one behind, causing her to spin around at great speed. All of these moves, once performed with fire, now took on a new beauty as the icy trails persisted, hanging in the air for seconds before dissolving. Where she had once done them on her own, now she had an audience – one utterly captivated by the sight before her.

Every glance she stole back at Anna, the girl seemed more in awe. She clasped her hands together, and her face sported the widest smile Elsa had ever seen. She seemed to not be saying anything – just as well, as Elsa couldn't hear her in the vacuum. Her negative thoughts about the church seemed a million miles away, and in a sense, they were. Elsa felt her own chest swelling with joy as her ice did exactly what she wanted it to.

Now, for the real stunt.

She flew to a point where Anna was looking down at her. Picturing herself on a flat surface parallel to the mirror, she pointed herself diagonally up and shot off. She curved as she did so, forming the shape of an upside-down fishhook. At the hook's tip, she reversed course abruptly, then drew its mirror image. She ended up back where she'd started, where the tip of her trail was just starting to fade. She then flew behind the shape she had just drawn to examine it, then looked at Anna through it.

She could tell at once that Anna loved it. The heart shone brightly against the backdrop of space, and through it she saw Anna's eyes welling up with tears. Instantly, any anxiety of a failed gesture died in Elsa's mind. Surely, this must be as romantic as a gesture could be.

Anna opened her arms wide, and suddenly Elsa felt a powerful desire to be between them. The empty space between them was now intolerable.

She pointed herself at Anna and shot forward. She must've been quite the sight, shooting through space with her cloak billowing around her. Anna's tears of joy dripped down her face as she held her arms open.

As Elsa passed through the mirror, she felt gravity take hold of her again. Anna grabbed her just in time to take the both of them down together. They fell to the carpeted floor, wrapped in each other's arms.

"You're amazing," Anna whispered, still crying.

"That would not have been possible without you," Elsa said.

"You're the most amazing person in the world – the entire cosmos," Anna said.

Elsa shook her head. "The most amazing person in the world is right in front of me," she said. "Believe me, I've checked."

Though she had been in the cold depths of space a moment prior, she had never felt warmer.