For All Of Us

In Elsa's absence, the rest of the privy council meeting had gone well. Heinrick had impressed the men with his academic knowledge of Arendelle and its neighbors. Either that or it was his infectious easy manner. Some of his knowledge was somewhat dated, but that was to be expected. He was forthright about his desire to take a whirlwind tour of the kingdom when time permitted so that academics could be translated into hands-on experience. By the time he was done speaking, the mood of the meeting had changed from adversarial to intrigued interest. He had set up meeting times with most of them during the coming week, none of them taking place at the castle. He would meet with them each at their location of choice, preferably somewhere that represented where they each did their work. Regarding his visit with Halvord Odem, Anna forewarned him: "bring ear protection."

Over the next several days, Elsa watched earnestly for Ambrelle. That is, as earnestly as she could while juggling kingdom responsibilities. Olaf remained an excellent indicator of whether Ambrelle was around or not. "She comes around at night," he had told her. Whenever it was, it hadn't been at a time when Elsa could get together with her. Until several days after her first appearance. The weather was seasonable and rainy. Elsa met with Anna in the family dining room.

"She came back last night," Elsa said.

"How do you know?" asked Anna.

"Olaf told me. He's out there with her now, I think."

"In the rain?"

"I don't think he cares that much, and I know it doesn't bother Ambrelle."

"It doesn't?

"No. You know how it never snows on me?"

"Yeah ..."

"Well it never rains on her."

"Oh. Huh. Does she like, repel water? What happens when she wants to take a bath?"

"You can ask her. I'm pretty sure it's something she can control."

Elsa looked out the window at the steady rain. Ambrelle hadn't asked, but she suspected the girl hadn't eaten in a while. She contemplated sending Gerda out with a tray of food, but then her thoughts took her in a different direction. "I'm going to take her some food," she said.

"In this?" Anna gestured out the window to the rain.

Elsa nodded.

"Take an umbrella."

Several minutes later Elsa exited the castle into the garden juggling an umbrella and a tray of food, trying to protect the food from the extra-large drops that cascaded off the tree leaves. Sure enough, Olaf was with Ambrelle on the bench facing the bay. He was chattering away. Elsa cleared her throat loudly enough to be heard over the rain and chatter.

Olaf's head swiveled around 180 degrees and he exclaimed, "HI Elsa!"

She smiled. "Hello Olaf." Approaching further, she said, "Ambrelle, I've brought you some food."

Ambrelle was sitting with her hands folded in her lap. As Elsa had guessed, she was dry. She looked up and smiled. It wasn't quite the cheerful smile Elsa had seen at other times, but it was at least a genuine expression of gratitude. "Thank you, your majesty," she said quietly.

"Oh, here, let me give you some room," Olaf said. He hopped off the bench.

As Elsa sat, she suppressed her wince as the wet bench immediately soaked through the bottom of her dress. Ah well. The umbrella wasn't big enough to protect her legs in a sitting position anyway. It meant changing clothes when she was done. She passed the food to Ambrelle. Ambrelle regarded it, picked up a bread roll, and began to nibble on it eagerly. "You know," Elsa offered carefully, "the castle has escape tunnels. When you're not out at sea, I think you would actually be safer inside. Especially when you're sleeping. There are people you could count on to give you advance warning if someone was coming."

"Like me," said Olaf. "I'm awake all the time. It's pretty boring at night, but I keep the guards company. They've taught me a lot of dice games. I've gotten so that I win about half the time."

Elsa resisted the urge to inform him that a chipmunk could win about half the time. It was a good thing he didn't have any money to lose.

Ambrelle didn't answer. She just continued to eat in silence.

Elsa looked out over the bay, the water barely distinguishable from the clouds in the falling rain. After Ambrelle had eaten the roll and moved on to a simple crepe, Elsa spoke again. "Ambrelle, you're going to have to forgive him," she said at last.

Ambrelle stopped eating. Her breathing grew more rapid for a minute, and then returned to normal. "He saved my life," she said, barely above a whisper. "Over and over. I would be dead so long ago if it wasn't for him. So many times, it would have been so much simpler for him to leave me behind, but he didn't." Now her voice dropped to a whisper. "I should have gone with him. I don't know why I was so stubborn."

Elsa's heart ached for the young woman. Blaming one's self. It was so familiar, yet when viewed from the outside, so pointlessly self-destructive.

"People make bad choices when they're mad or scared or stressed," Olaf said. "I heard that from an authority on the subject!"

Elsa gave a nod as she worked to suppress a smile. She paused for a long moment. "If I recall your story correctly, he relied on you and Bubble as much as you relied on him. It wasn't one-sided. You both needed each other." She thought for a moment. "You said you stayed here because you're tired of running. If he relied on you as much as you relied on him, I think he left because he's tired of running too."

Elsa thought a moment more. "It's Bubble you entrusted the choice to. He could have taken you anywhere, including where Johan is. He's the one who brought you here, and he's the one you trust the most. Right?"

Ambrelle shook her head slightly. "I don't know. I don't know what I think about anything anymore."

Elsa understood that sentiment. It wasn't long ago she was saying something very similar to Heinrick while sitting in the library in Cliffs' View. She felt she had said enough. "I'll let you finish your food. Please let Olaf know when we can bring you more. And please think about coming inside, at least at night." She rose to leave.

"Wait," said Ambrelle. Elsa turned inquisitively, umbrella in hand, and Ambrelle reached out and touched her dress. The water pressed out of it and dropped to the ground around her feet. Ambrelle looked up and smiled weakly.

Elsa gave a warm smile in return. "Thank you," she said.

Apparently her invitation had had some effect, because a few days later Olaf finally succeeded in getting Ambrelle to follow him into the castle. He hadn't particularly been trying, she just sort of followed him like a lost puppy. It was somewhere between endearing and pathetic. She hardly spoke and rarely smiled. Elsa wondered how long it would take her heart to heal.

Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Heinrick were meeting in the privy council room to discuss how his visits with the council members were going, and what preparations needed to be made for their trip to Falster which started in four days.

"By the way," Heinrick mentioned, "it's June fourth."

"June fourth?" It rang a bell. Elsa's eyes went from Heinrick's to focus on a point on the floor as she tried to recall why that was important.

"Elisabeth," he simply said.

Her eyes grew wide as it all flooded back. Her hand flew to cover her mouth. "Oh!" she moaned in self-reproving dismay. "I said I'd remember!"

"Don't be too hard on yourself," said Heinrick gently. "Rather a lot has happened since then."

Elsa still stood with a hand on her hip and the other on her forehead, her eyes closed in disappointment.

"Who's Elisabeth?" Anna asked.

"A girl we met in Mittergaard," Heinrick explained. "Her mother brought her for healing, but there was nothing we could do."

Elsa's voice was shaky. "She looked just like you, Anna - when...when I hurt you as a child..." she said distantly.

Anna pursed her lips. She could see that it had been a traumatic incident for Elsa.

After a moment of consideration, Elsa said, "it would seem fitting to visit the cemetery."

Anna had wandered over to the window where she looked out casually. Her eyes shot wide. "ELSA!" she shrieked as she slapped her hands down on the window sill.

Elsa's heart jumped. She rose quickly, sped to the window, and gasped in dismay at the sight. All around the periphery of the garden, what they could see of it through the tree cover, were small versions of those unsightly black balls, each about the size of a croquet ball, warping the view of the grass and the water behind them and blocking any escape from the castle grounds. "Oh, no..." Elsa lamented. She raced from the council chamber, across the hall, and dashed to the window in her receiving room on the other side. Her heart sank. Sure enough, all along the rampart and across the castle gate stood black balls of similar size. She gritted her teeth to keep from panicking. She inhaled sharply and shouted, "escape tunnel! Now! Spread the word!"

"On it!" Anna called. She turned and ran down the hall yelling: "SAFE ROOM! NOW! EVERYONE!"

Rushing back into the council chamber, Elsa ripped the mesh from her head - the crown went flying - and slapped it onto Heinrick's back. Her view immediately clouded. "G-GO!" she stammered uneasily.

"It doesn't work that way, Elsa," he said as he attempted to rise. His legs were floppy and uncontrollable, like they had been the first time he had used the stone in the valley of living rock. "It's a slow adjustment. Keep it - you're going to need it."

Elsa looked at him pleadingly.

Kristoff rounded the table, pulled Heinrick's arm over his shoulder, and grabbed him from behind by the belt. "I've got you. Let's go!" They hobbled from the room.

Elsa was momentarily frozen in gratitude. She put the mesh back on her head, wiggled it in place, and headed the opposite way down the hall from where she had seen Anna go, shouting the same message: "everyone to the safe room, NOW!" As she passed the spiral stairway she could hear Anna's voice shouting upstairs. The stairs themselves were crowded with people clambering down. The castle rattled as a -boom- echoed from somewhere, and a brief puff of wind ruffled Elsa's hair from behind. Staff members shrieked and shouted. Obviously Ken wasn't worried about the world beating a path to his door today. Elsa bit her lip and frowned in frustration at her feeling of helplessness. The flow of people dwindled with Anna among the last ones. Elsa joined her as they hastened the rest down into the dungeon.

"Did you see Ambrelle?" Elsa asked in breathless concern.

"No," said Anna. "She was probably on the ground floor. Hopefully she's already in the safe room."

When they got there, Olaf's dejected face gave them all the information they needed. "Oh, no.." Elsa moaned. After a second's consideration she turned and started to run back the way they had come.

"Right!" Anna announced boldly as she began to follow.

Elsa stopped on a dime, wheeled about, and said sharply, "no!" Anna's fists balled up and her face scrunched into preparation for battle, but Elsa cut her off. "Please, Anna, she pleaded, "I'm the only one we know he actually doesn't want to kill. And you need to get everyone through the tunnels." Anna hesitated in consideration and Elsa took the opportunity, racing up the stairs to the castle's ground floor.

-Boom-; the castle rattled again, and another puff of wind wafted passed her from behind. She scowled and ground her teeth as she ran. She kicked off her shoes so she could run quietly, then sped down the hall, stopping in each room only long enough to hiss "Ambrelle?" and then waiting a second to listen for any response. When she reached the throne room, due to its size, she spoke with quiet urgency. "Ambrelle!" She heard a faint whimper from behind one of the ornate chairs on the dais. It wasn't clear if it came from behind her center chair, or from behind Anna's chair on the left.

Elsa took quick quiet steps across the floor. "Ambrelle," she whispered firmly, "we've got to get out of here!" Ambrelle peeked from behind the center chair and came around it, pale and trembling. When Elsa had nearly reached the center of the room, the wind began at her back. Two black sphere's appeared, one in each of the doorways leading onto the dais at the front of the room. Ambrelle shrieked and hopped in place as Anna's chair immediately toppled over and began its bumping scraping journey towards the sphere on the left. All the decorative tapestries ripped loudly from the walls and rippled into the black spheres like kites on the wind. Elsa was dragged straight forward towards Ambrelle, and she realized as she went that there was a line of safety right down the middle of the room where each sphere's pull was offsetting the other's.

Ambrelle screamed in terror as the forward pull on Elsa abruptly stopped. It could only mean one thing. Elsa whirled around, and there was Ken, just inside the throne room, with a larger black sphere warping the view of the doorway behind him. The larger sphere's pull was now offsetting the pull of the two at the forward doors. The line of safety had now become a 'T', and Elsa was standing right at the crossroads.

They were trapped.

There was nowhere to run; nothing to do.

Except bluff.

Elsa was directly between Ken and Ambrelle. She narrowed her eyes coolly, calmly turned her body sideways to present a narrow profile, and raised her right hand as though poised to launch an attack.

Ken didn't smile. He didn't frown. He didn't laugh. He just regarded her with that cold professionalism - the same expression she recalled seeing in her dream.

A cow at purchase; just stock.

Obviously he knew how powerless he had left her. He took his first steps towards her, and as he did, inky black spheres - each one about the size of a small marble - dripped from his fingers and floated in the air behind him. By the time he stopped about five feet in front of her, there was an entire cloud of them following him. He pointed a wrinkled finger at her face and said with slow calmness, "do not force my hand, snow queen." As he was speaking, the cloud of marbles floated forward. Elsa's hand dropped and her eyes grew wide as the marbles assembled themselves into a semicircular net, blocking her movement in any direction except off to Ken's left. The net then began to move, slowly herding her along the one path of safety until they reached the wall, with Ken following after.

"Elsaaa..." Ambrelle sobbed.

There, the web of balls settled about her body and arms tightly, from her neck downward, pinning her to the wall. She scarcely dared to breathe. She could feel each one tugging at her clothes, at her skin. One move, one twitch, and that part of her would be gone. Ken glanced over his work, and then turned and began to walk towards Ambrelle. Elsa looked at her in utter helplessness.

"No!" Ambrelle threw Elsa's ornate chair over and threw herself against the wall behind it, scrabbling madly as though looking for some trap door. "No, please!" The chair scraped and bumped along until it disappeared into the large black sphere on the right.

"Viera," he said, beckoning. "Aren't you tired of the running?"

"Pleeease..." she wailed as she pounded hopelessly on the wall.

"Aren't you tired of living in fear? Aren't you tired of being chased?"

Ambrelle turned, pressing her back and arms against the wall and gasping for breath. She focused wide panicked tear-streaked eyes on Ken.

"Come, child. It can end. Come. There is no pain. It can end right here, today."

How did I do it?

Ambrelle squeezed her eyes shut for several long seconds, biting her lip. Elsa could see every muscle in her body tense, and then suddenly, give way. She open her eyes again, blinking through her tears. Finally she gave a spasmodic sobbing nod.

"Come, child. It can end."

She took a shaky step forward, her sobs coming anew.

In Falster, in the kiln, how did I do it?

"Come."

"Y-yes," Ambrelle wailed as she took a second step. "I want it - I want it to end! I want it to end!" Another step. "Please!" she begged, "I just want it to end!"

Elsa closed her eyes and focused on relaxing.

...wwwwwwwwww...c...n...hhhhh...pp...

The bright disc of light beyond her closed eyes seemed to inch away slightly.

...tr...ssss...ssssss...p...ssss...

Ken's next call seemed strangely elongated. There was an area of brightness - her closed eyelids - but more broadly around it there was a slowly broadening blackness. A sea of blackness. Her mind called through it. She reached deeply. She reached broadly. She sunk farther, keeping her focus on that area of light as it continued to shrink into the distance. She knew somehow that, wherever she was, she could get back as long as she kept that light in her focus - all she had to do was open her eyes.

Broader, she reached. Deeper. There was fog behind her, she could sense it without looking, and like in her dreams, she felt as if she was falling towards it. She could sense it, but she wasn't afraid. There was motion to the darkness - that whispering wind that came and went - dreamlike. It played with her perceptions, leaving her wondering if she was imagining it all. It carried her along, pulled at her, stretched her.

Deeper, she reached.

...ttttttrrr...ssssssssst...uuuuuuss...

Broader.

All at once, she recognized that she was not alone. Behind her was ... someone. No, not one, many. So many - she couldn't tell how many. Who? She dared not take her focus off that shrinking point of light to turn and look.

From the wind resolved a distinct whisper.

...Queen Elsa! Take mine, queen Elsa...

Although a whisper, it had a child's intonation, right behind her ear, like the fluttering of a moth's wing. And with it, she felt something change. It wasn't a burst of power. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. Clarity. Focus. Everything brightened just a tiny bit.

Another whisper, the intonation of a man's voice:

Take mine, snow queen. Another slight brightening.

Take mine.

Take mine, as well.

Take mine, spirit mother.

Take mine, adanvdo ogitsi.

Take mine, your majesty.

Take mine.

Take mine, seirei no joō.

An unnaturally deep voice, speaking slowly in a language she had never heard, and yet she understood the words:

Take mine, human.

Take mine.

Take mine, regina spirituum.

Take mine, màthair nan spiorad.

Take mine.

Take mine.

Take mine, um al'arwah.

Take mine, geisterkönigin.

Take mine.

Take mine, móðir andanna.

So many voices, whispering at once, overlapping one another, and yet she could make out each one. Men's voices. Women's voices. Children's voices. Voices of creatures she could only guess at. How many?

Like the stars. Take mine, reine des esprits.

Take mine.

Take mine, madre de los espíritus.

Take mine.

Take mine.

Everything was so bright, she could barely make out the speck of light in the distance.

Take mine.

Take mine, jīngshén zhī mǔ.

Take mine.

On and on. Voice after voice. They crowded her mind. Urgently. Eagerly. Excitedly.

Take mine.

Take mine.

Take mine, pnevmatikí mitéra.

Take mine.

Take mine.

A final whisper; a young woman:

Take mine, my cousin. Now go - for all of us!

She was propelled forward, that dot in the distance coming at her at frightening speed. When she hit it, her eyes crashed open. Somehow only a few seconds had passed since closing them. Ambrelle had only advanced a few more steps. And something was catching up with her - she could hear the roar in her mind.

Ken's head snapped towards her in shock. He reached out a hand and said "Y-"

- - BOOM! - -

That which she was so accustomed to feeling flow around her at her command, she now felt coursing through her, almost of its own accord. The room rocked. Every stone seemed to jump in place. The sconces on the walls shattered along with the windows on the sloped ceiling. Dust and plaster shook from the walls and the ceiling. Ambrelle shrieked as she was hurled against the wall. As the rumble continued to reverberate through the castle, loose plaster from the ceiling and walls clattered about them, and about the large crystal sphere in the center of the room.

Within the crystal sphere, frozen in his moment of surprise, was Ken.

The tiny black balls surrounding Elsa melted away immediately. She stood still for a moment as the clattering gradually subsided. Most of it all quickly rattled its way into the three spheres, leaving the T-shaped debris-strewn path of safety clearly traced along the floor. A smile of awe and relief began to spread at the corners of her mouth. She was about to take her first step forward when she remembered that she wasn't wearing any shoes. Looking down, the casual thought passed through her mind, and she was instantly raised onto heeled shoes of ice. The thrill! She exhaled ecstatically! Then she raised her eyes once again. She stepped forward, crunching over crumbled debris, as the dust floated about, until she stood before the large crystal ball. She regarded it for a moment and then placed her right hand on it where Ken's outstretched left hand reached back towards her.

What just happened?! she asked herself. All those voices? She took her hand down and looked at her palm. Then she raised the other and looked at them both. They no longer looked old and tired. They almost glowed. What did they give me!? She turned her hands around as though showing them to Ken. "I don't believe you have stood before larger groups than this," she said. She almost laughed as she said it.

Can you see me? Her countenance changed as she once again placed her hand on the sphere. "Hunter ..." she said quietly. "Black wolf... How many other names have you borne across the years?" She paused as she studied his still-open eyes, his astonished expression. She took a deep breath. "I don't know if this prison will outlast my life. For the duration of my life, I may have to hunt the guilty, but you, you will no longer terrorize the innocent." Her hands dropped back to her side.

The two black spheres blocking the forward doors winked out, and simultaneously the one at the main door doubled in size, as though the three had merged together. With it came the unhindered gale force wind, reminiscent of her storm on the frozen fjord. It immediately stripped all the trim from the door frame, and all the wood within a five-foot radius around it also fell in, leaving a gaping hole. All the loose debris started to be dragged toward it. Ken's ball began to roll. "Oh!" Elsa exclaimed as she had to take quick steps to keep her feet under her. She quickly brought up a thick railing of ice to stop herself. Then she saw an unconscious Ambrelle sliding by, and quickly raised a second barrier of ice to stop her also. Elsa watched in silence as the wind washed over her, and all the debris on the floor slid into the ball. Strangely, ken's crystal prison appeared to be shrinking the closer it got. Was it a trick of the light? Apparently there was more widespread damage throughout the castle than she was aware of, because more debris from beyond the room came tumbling through the doors. Ken's crystal prison finally shrank to a point and disappeared as well. It seemed now that the black sphere itself was shrinking, its color appearing to lighten. Except ...

...That familiarity. It was more distinct now. Almost as if...

Could it be?

Elsa looked at the palm of her hand again. Then she held her hand out to the sphere and allowed the power to flow through her, towards that point of familiarity. Toward one tiny white fleck circling around its outside, like a tiny moon around a large planet. The smaller the sphere shrunk, the larger the white dot grew under her power, until finally, Elsa recognized it as a white bird. It reminded her of the way Enceladus had evaded that huge sphere in the sky. That sense of familiarity grew. The ball got smaller and smaller. The bird got larger and larger. The black sphere finally winked out with a crackle, and a white bird streaked across the room and crashed directly into Elsa, knocking her off her feet and thrusting her backward through the air. "Ungh!" she cried as the breath was knocked out of her. She had barely had time to raise her hands in defense. Elsa couldn't see for the feathers. "Stop it!" she spluttered. She fought it away as she struggled to a sitting position, and the bird finally calmed itself to the point where it could fold its wings and press itself against her chest. She reached down in wonder. "Lotus?!" she said in utter disbelief.

He cocked his head and looked up at her. Yes, Mother, he said. She could feel his joy and relief.

"Wait - I can - I can hear you?!" Elsa began to laugh and cry at the same time. "I can hear you! How can it be?" She wrapped her arms around Lotus and squeezed him in a hug. "How can it be? I felt you be destroyed!" Her tears rolled down her cheeks and trickled over his head.

I was in your dream, Mother. With you and my great brother. You didn't feel my destruction. You felt me pierce your prison. I have been circling the black star ever since. Thank you for giving me the strength I needed to finally break free!

A new voice in her mind, low and ponderous: My little brother is free! May I visit?

Elsa could scarcely believe what was going on in her head. Could it all be real? You may! You may! Just give me some time to get everything straightened out here!

With one hand Elsa held Lotus close to her chest, and with the other she helped herself back to her feet. It was then that she noticed that her collision with the bird had knocked her snowflake-shaped mesh across the room. She put her hand on her head just to be sure of what she was seeing, and her face lit up in joy and gratitude. She would be able to return it! "Oh, L-Lotus," she stammered as she enfolded him in another hug. "This is all so wonderful!"

Ambrelle. Elsa turned as practical concern crowded back into her mind, and took quick steps to where Ambrelle still lay on the floor. Lotus hopped up onto her shoulder as she knelt and sat on her heels, put one hand under Ambrelle's head, and took the girl's hand with her other. She was breathing, somewhat raggedly, and as Elsa looked her head over, she didn't appear to be badly hurt. Elsa leaned down close to Ambrelle's ear. "Ambrelle," she said softly. She waited a few seconds. "Ambrelle, it's over. You're safe now. You're safe." She couldn't keep from smiling as she said it. "We're all safe."

Elsa rose, and then she raised Ambrelle up on a perfectly contoured bed of ice that floated in the air like a magic carpet. "We need to get her to Dr. Maher," she said to Lotus as he hopped back down onto her arm. On the way out of the room she picked up the snowflake-shaped mesh and set it next to Ambrelle on the ice bed. The throne room's main entrance floor was ripped out where the large black sphere had hung, revealing the service rooms below it. Elsa repaired it with ice, and then they picked their way along the wrecked halls and stairs until they had reached the heavy wooden door of the safe room at the back of the dungeon. "Do you suppose we'll find anyone here?" Elsa asked Lotus. Ice spread from Elsa's foot under the door, and a second later they could hear the wooden beams being dislodged by a pillar of ice on the inside, and tumbling loudly to the floor. It gave a low loud creak as Elsa heaved it open. She entered, guiding Ambrelle's floating bed behind her which she then settled onto the floor. "You're going to have to -" Elsa began, but Lotus hopped off her shoulder and alighted on the floor before she could finish. She smiled. You're practically in my mind now, aren't you, little one? Elsa pressed open the entrance to the catacombs and slipped through with Lotus following behind her. What to do now? The people could be anywhere, even out one of the escape tunnels.

Follow your ice, Lotus advised.

Elsa regarded him quizzically, but then decided to at least give it a try. With another tap of her foot, ice spread quickly along the floors of all the tunnels. Elsa closed her eyes and concentrated. From her youth she retained a fuzzy memory of the map, but now she could feel her ice everywhere as it spread. The entire layout of the catacombs came together in her mind. Then she found them. They hadn't gone out one of the escape tunnels. That was probably a good thing. Once that secret was out, among a crowd so large, it was no secret anymore. Or more likely, Elsa mused with a slight smile, Anna was just plain lost. At the point where her ice had reached them, Elsa raised a pillar with the words "ALL IS WELL." The last time any of them had seen her, she hadn't had the power to do this, so she hoped they would be able to accept that it wasn't a trick. She withdrew her ice from all the tunnels except for the path leading back to the safe room. Then she sat against the wall and waited. Lotus fluttered onto her arm, his wide wings fanning her face and ruffling her hair as he did so. She could feel the difference of not having the mesh in place on the top of her head. It made her smile. She sat and stroked his feathers as she continued to bask in his joy.

"You called it a 'black star,'" she said to Lotus. "What does that mean?"

I don't know how to explain. The best I can say is that it's a star that consumes, instead of one that gives.

"And every time I felt that familiar feeling, I was feeling you?"

Yes, Mother.

"I don't understand, Lotus. There were lots of those black spheres, and I felt the same familiar feeling from all of them, even when there were several at once!"

That was the hunter's power: to make the black star appear in many places at once. Like the reflection from a shattered mirror. But there is only one.

Elsa contemplated this, but it was just plain hard to get her head around. "Even all those little ones that were surrounding me?!"

Yes.

She shook her head in disbelief. "So all that stuff that fell into it, what happened to it all?"

The black star's pull is so strong, anything that falls into it is crushed.

"But you escaped because you could keep flying around it continuously?"

Yes. It was difficult when things were falling in. Many times I was only barely able to dodge them. It was difficult and lonely: I didn't know if there would ever be any escape. But sometimes I would see you, and that would lift my spirits. I purposed to keep flying as long as there was still a chance of seeing you again. And also so that if you were pulled in, and I could reach you, you would not perish alone.

Elsa couldn't breathe. She felt like she had been punched in the chest. She stared at her bird in stunned amazement. She had heard Olaf express feelings, but hearing it from a bird who had heretofore been silent took her completely by surprise. "I think those are the kindest words anyone has ever said to me," she whispered.

Lotus simply cocked his head in response.

When the others arrived back at the end of the trail of ice, they found Elsa sitting against the tunnel wall, clinging to a white peregrine falcon with her eyes squeezed shut and tears rolling down her cheeks as her chest heaved.

Anna stood mystified. She looked at Kristoff for ideas, but he simply shrugged.

"Elsa?" she asked cautiously.

Elsa looked up and gave a breathy chuckle. She wiped her eyes. "It's Lotus," she gestured with a quivering voice. "He's alive!" She hugged the bird hard again, and then added with a smile, "so is Ambrelle. She's through there in the safe room. Dr. Maher doesn't happen to be among you, does he?"

Kristoff shook the dumbfounded look off his face and answered, "as a matter of fact, he is. I'll let him know he's needed."

"Where's Ken?" Anna asked.

"Gone!" Elsa beamed. "Sucked into his own black sphere! And I have my powers back! Like I've never had them before!"

Anna nodded her head uncertainly. "And where's your snowflake hat...?" she asked.

Elsa understood immediately that Anna must be wondering if this was all crazy dazed rambling, but she was too happy to care. Just the question made her chuckle, which she knew didn't help her case. It would all be obvious soon enough.


A/N: This is another chapter that has been written for a long time. It's so gratifying to finally have it down! Google Translate is a wonderful thing!

Yes, I know you can't exactly fly around a black hole. Don't bother me with physics. :P