Born or Cursed

It was already quite dim by the time the sisters reached the valley of living rock. They entered holding one another's hand, then separated to try to rouse the boulders.

"Hello!" called Anna. "Good morning! I mean evening! Grand Pabbie! Cliff! Bulda! We're sorry to wake you before dark!" Everything remained still and quiet, except for the occasional hiss of the nearby volcanic vents. "Come on you guys, Elsa needs to talk to you!"

The rumbling began, followed by the gathering of the rolling crowd, followed by the cacophony of welcome. "Anna! Elsa! You look wonderful! You look pale! Are you hungry? You're going to waste away on that castle food! Where's Kristoff? Any news on a little one yet? Are you staying for dinner?" There was no hope of answering them all, or even of keeping track of who spoke before whom. Elsa and Anna clasped each other's hand once again and just smiled into the noise. It only started to settle when Grand Pabbie slowly made his way to the front.

"So good to see you two!" he said sincerely. "Elsa, I'm so glad you've returned safely from your mission to the south. I was worried for you."

"Thank you, Grand Pabbie. It was difficult, but successful. A lot of lives were saved."

"Yeah - she did great," interjected Anna. "But she had a weird dream."

Grand Pabbie returned his quizzical gaze to Elsa. "Oh?" Elsa nodded. "Come with me, child." He waved them along, and they followed as he walked slowly to the periphery of the circle. The commotion resumed behind them. There he turned, and said, "tell me of it."

Elsa sat on her heels on the ground and Anna followed suit. Elsa glanced at her sister as if seeking moral support. Then she began. "In my dream I was standing in a featureless space, and about fifty feet ahead was an old man, facing away from me. Beyond him was a crowd of people of all ages, and I could sense their fear. They were afraid of this man. He turned to look at me and I could see the surprise on his face. He knew I had magic. I don't know how, but I know he knew, and yet he didn't fear it in the least. Although he wasn't fearsome to look at, the casual - almost flippant - way in which he looked at me was frightening. He beckoned for me to come to him. I didn't want to - I wanted to flee, but I also wanted to stand my ground. And yet I began stepping towards him, as if being pulled."

Anna slipped her arm around Elsa as she continued.

"I had with me two of my creations, one a peregrine falcon and the other a white dragon." Grand Pabbie raised an eyebrow at this. "They both became very agitated. My dragon began to engage the man in my defense, and my falcon began to try to wake me from the dream. My dragon swung with his tail, but the man appeared to cut through it, even though he was unarmed. Then my dragon blasted him with a massive torrent of ice crystals - razor sharp - but the man held up his hand and the crystals all just disappeared into his hand. At this point my dragon seemed trapped. He couldn't stop his blast, even though he wanted to, and the exertion was gradually killing him. He was starting to turn grey." Elsa was crestfallen at the memory. "Before I could see more, my falcon succeeded in waking me up."

Grand Pabbie gave a nod, folded his hands, and closed his eyes in thought for a long minute. "The crowd," he asked at last. "Were they magic users?"

Elsa was surprised at his question. "I - I don't know."

"Let me help you," he said, gesturing for her to lean forward. He placed his hand on her forehead. Her brow furrowed in concentration.

"Yes. Yes, they are. I mean were."

He nodded. "Elsa, do you remember the first time you came here, I asked your father if you were born with your powers, or if you were 'cursed.'"

"Yes," she replied cautiously.

"Time was of the essence, and the word 'cursed' was chosen for the sake of brevity. Even if your powers had been received later in life, I would personally consider it more of a blessing than a curse in your case, since you are making such good use of them. Unfortunately, it is the people who misuse power who are more readily remembered, and so the word 'curse' is what gets associated with the power itself. But really it's the person who curses the power, not the other way around."

Elsa and Anna nodded, both wondering where this was going.

"It is far, far more common for people to receive powers later in life. In fact, even in my many years, I've only known of a handful who were born with them like you, and that was so long ago. Those who are born with their powers have them all their life, and take them to the grave when they die. However," he said with emphasis, "those who receive them appear to pass them on."

"What?!" said Anna in astonishment.

Elsa's eyes were wide. "Grand Pabbie, how can this be? There would be people like me everywhere."

The old troll shook his head. "They're not passed on in a hereditary sense, Elsa. It's a deliberate action - a bequeathment. And once done, the original wielder no longer has them."

Elsa's shock was plain as Grand Pabbie's words sunk in. "No longer has them..." she repeated. In her mind's eye she could see Anna being struck as a child. She could feel the pain of their separation that just went on and on, deepening over time. She could hear the pleas of her little sister at her door who just couldn't understand. She could feel the years of struggle, battling and battling to the point of being driven mad trying to keep her growing powers under control. She could feel the raw shock of that catastrophic coronation. She could see Anna dropping to one knee again, the second time she was struck, and then turning to ice as she stood protectively over her. She couldn't breathe. How often I would have given them up, she thought. The train of thought was too much for her. She wrapped herself in her arms and began to cry.

"Elsa, no!" said Anna. "It's OK. It's OK. You're OK!"

"Oh, how much pain," she stammered through her tears, "how much pain could have been avoided!"

Anna put her arms around Elsa and pulled her into her embrace.

"They were a curse," she sobbed through gritted teeth. "I spent years longing - yearning - to give them up!"

"Elsa," Grand Pabbie said gently, placing his hand on her shoulder. "When you were a child, you didn't think of them so, and by the time you did, the damage was done. As I said, it is the person who curses the power, not the other way around. I am so sorry for what happened. We all are. But you are here now. You both are. You must let go of the past."

Elsa covered her face with her hands. "It's so easy to say," she gasped. "But it just keeps coming back. Something unexpected happens, and it all comes back. Must I be always on my guard? I'll lose my mind!"

"What keeps coming back is regret, dear child. And as an old troll, who has seen others like you come and go, it is the regret that keeps you from becoming a curse to your powers - because you have seen that path, and you know how dreadful it is."

"But I thought fear was the enemy," Anna said.

"There is a difference between fear and awe, princess Anna. The one is self destructive, the other is healthy."

Elsa was starting to get back under control but she remained leaning on Anna with her arms wrapped around herself. "Little things," she said quietly. "Seemingly innocent things I do have unintended consequences. I created bouquets of flowers in Falster and now people are fighting over them."

Grand Pabbie shook his head in disappointment. "And what do you think about that?" he asked.

"That I shouldn't have made them."

"Did you make them for a purpose, or just to indulge yourself?"

"For a purpose - as a gesture of goodwill to the Falster people."

"Then I'm thankful that you are the one with the power, and not any one of them," he smiled.

Elsa returned the smile weakly.

"So," said Anna, "about this ... this bequeathment: doesn't that mean that there would always be the same number of people in the world with magical abilities?"

"That's the other half of the story," Grand Pabbie began. "The story goes that humans were never intended to have magic, and that where they do, it's a 'leak', so to speak - a leak of power that was intended for some other purpose, and one that needs cleaning up."

"Cleaning up?" Elsa said with growing concern.

"Yes," replied Grand Pabbie. He intertwined his fingers in front of him and looked reluctant to say more. "And, as you might expect, it's someone's job to clean up."

Elsa sat bolt upright. "The crowd!" she exclaimed. "The old man!"

He nodded.

"So many..." she gasped.

"Can he be stopped?" Anna asked.

He took a long, deep breath. "Anna, what I am about to say is going to be very difficult for you to hear. It is the perspective of someone who has lived long upon the earth, and has seen the effects of magic in human hands, time and time again. Even if he can be stopped, and I don't know that answer, it is not in the best interest of humanity - of the world, even - that you do so."

"But..." began Anna, "but that's not right! What if the person with the power is a good person?"

"Consider, Anna," he replied kindly. "A good person, with the best of intentions, passes their powers down to someone else. They don't know what that person is going to do with them - good or bad." He paused. "And more often than not," he shook his head sadly, "it goes badly."

Anna thought for a moment. "The dream, Grand Pabbie. Does it mean Elsa is being - is being hunted?"

"I don't know. That you had the dream is very concerning though. I would take it seriously."

Elsa had been deep in thought during this exchange. She looked up with an almost pleading look on her face. "Grand Pabbie, did my parents know about this?"

"They did."

Elsa reeled. That was honestly not what she would have preferred to hear. This put an entirely different spin on 'conceal, don't feel.' She put her hands to her temples in shock.

After a prolonged silence, Grand Pabbie placed his hand on Elsa's shoulder again and said, "you have much to think about, dear Elsa. I will help you as much as I can, but I don't know that it will be much." He walked past them back to the gathering of trolls.

The sky was pitch dark as they began their ride home. Elsa formed a glowing snowflake to give the horses light to see by. After a while of silent riding, Anna said, "that's the first time I've felt like the trolls weren't exactly on our side."

Elsa was lost in thought. Finally she said quietly, "that's the first time I've felt like I can't be safe anywhere."