A New Vision
Elsa wore a sleeveless lavender dress - the bodice of velvet and the skirt of satin - with a gossamer snowflake shawl. Her platinum blonde braid trailed over her left shoulder, dotted sparsely with tiny snowflakes. She stood on the balcony of her receiving room overlooking the courtyard below, watching the display overhead. It was remarkable to watch the tiny white bird darting to and fro, with the massive rumbling dragon giving chase as best he could. She could feel their joy. Her heart welled with joy along with them, to the point that her eyes clouded with tears. Lotus had been nimble before, but ever since she had helped him escape the black star, his aerial abilities had been shocking. Sometimes he moved so quickly, he almost seemed to disappear in one spot and reappear in another. Enceladus swung his huge head, snapping at him as though trying to catch a bug. It looked appalling, but she knew they were just playing with one another, and she didn't fear for him a bit.
"We shouldn't keep them waiting," came Heinrick's voice from behind her.
She sighed a peaceful sigh, then turned and reentered the room. Heinrick had readjusted quickly to having his stone back. Elsa rejoiced in seeing him up and around again. She returned his smile with one of her own. "I know," she said. "It's just that I haven't felt this care-free in almost three years, and I want to bask in it before it's gone."
"Does it have to be gone?"
She gave a wry smile. "It's not in my control, and experience tells me that it's inevitable."
He nodded. "Hopefully what's coming up next is just an uneventful trip and a celebration."
"Hopefully." She already had a sense of misgiving though.
Elsa walked to the table below the portrait of her father. Her mother's crown sat there now, on a finely crafted wooden stand under a glass dome. She had gone back and forth on whether to continue wearing it, or rather to return to her original persona of not wearing one at all. Special occasions, she had finally decided, except that when those occasions came, it would be a crown of her own making: a crown of ice.
She folded her hands in front of her and accompanied Heinrick at a leisurely pace down the spiral staircase to where Anna, Kristoff, Ambrelle, and Olaf were waiting. Ambrelle's demeanor had changed once again, but she still wasn't the butterfly Elsa had seen on their trip from Crescent Bay. At least her underlying terror was gone, timidity now being the only remnant. Part of her was still missing, and Elsa well understood the feeling. Elsa had feared Ambrelle would be traumatized by her last encounter with Ken. It had been pretty horrible. When she had asked her about it though, the girl had simply replied, "the last five years have been about the same, your majesty. It really wasn't much different." Elsa hated to hear that answer, partially because it felt so familiar. She sort of wished she hadn't asked.
"Are you ready?" she asked her.
"Yes, your majesty," she replied with a shy smile. She had acquiesced to Elsa's offer to provide her with an outfit: an off-white dress with a gilded beadwork pattern about the hem and waist. Her ornate beadwork necklace from Delavia hung about her neck, visible between the lapels of her off-white long-sleeve jacket which itself had the gilded décor on its lapels and cuffs. It was a vivid contrast to her jet black hair and evergreen eyes. If only there was something I could do about that scar, Elsa thought regretfully. Ambrelle would be traveling with them and attending the coronation just for fun, and then traveling further south where she could get passage across the great sea back to Delavia. They had made this plan when she told them of her decision: "I have to find him," she had said, "even if it's just to tell him that he's safe now."
They reached the dock, where Bishop Norgaard, Duke Pontius, and high admiral Naismith were waiting for them. The admiral was scowling. He'd barely spoken to Elsa since she'd told him that Anna was coming part way - to Corona. But this was for close kin, so Elsa had put her foot down. The three gave her a bow as she approached. She stood respectfully before the admiral and looked him kindly in the eye. "She won't be gone long," she reassured him. Then she took the bishop's hand. "Thank you again for filling in for us. You can save all the mail for Anna," she joked.
"I heard that!" Anna called as she made her way up the gangplank onto the King Agnar.
"May God watch over you both," the bishop replied with a fatherly smile.
As Elsa reached the deck, she looked up into the rigging. Lotus had left off his antics with Enceladus to take up a watchful perch on one of the spars. She smiled, and then her eyes swung to the north cliff face, where the towering dragon was perched watchfully also. I'm sorry you can't come, great one.
I understand, Mother, he responded. Consider Arendelle to be under my watch. Enceladus didn't have a face that smiled, but Elsa could feel the sentiment - almost daring someone to violate his territory.
Olaf waved from the dock where he stood by bishop Norgaard and the others. "Bye, Ambrelle! Bye, Elsa! Bye, Anna! Bye, Kristoff! Bye, prince Heimlich! Have a good time!" Then the happy sparkle faded. "I'll miss you, Ambrelle."
"I'll miss you, too," she called back lightly. "Thank you for ... for everything, Olaf."
As the ropes were cast off and the sails hoisted, Elsa made her way to her favorite spot: the bow. She stood there with her hands folded in front of her. Heinrick joined her there soon after and leaned casually on the railing with both of this elbows.
"So you'd rather be here than the Cynosure?" Elsa joked. "Over there you're an admiral! A prince! Over here, you're just a diplomat." She smirked.
He chuckled with a hint of embarrassment. "I can't come up with a witty reply for that," he said after a second. "Except to say that I can't consider being your diplomat a demotion. Maybe I'm just here to lend you a stone if you need one."
"Mmm," Elsa mused. "I might take you up on that sometime."
"Oh?"
"I haven't heard the whispers since taking it off. It's as if it gave me an entrance to a place that I can't get to any other way."
"Even with your heightened powers?"
She nodded silently.
"And where do you suppose that is?"
"I wish I knew. I wonder whether it even is a real place, or if it was some strange representation of something I have no way of comprehending." She fixed her eyes on the horizon as the ship began to make its way out of the bay. "Heaven? Hell? It wasn't either of those, I don't think. What I know is that there are a lot of people there. All the ones hunted by Ken, I think. And one of them is my cousin." She turned her eyes to him. "It's a pretty handy stone. It's good to see you up and around again. I will -" her voice trailed off and her eyes dropped as her face flushed slightly. "I will never forget your act of sacrifice," she said quietly.
His eyes met hers with a smile. "You're welcome. And I prefer the real you to the porcelain doll."
"Ugh," she clucked with a grimace. "If I taste scotch again in my lifetime it will be too soon!" They shared a chuckle.
Anna and Ambrelle had made their way to the bow as well. Kristoff was on the quarterdeck chatting with the pilot. "So," Anna interrupted cheerfully, "besides being able to hear your white birds, what else can you do now that you couldn't do before?"
Elsa was quiet for a moment. She wasn't sure how much she understood, herself. And of that, she wasn't sure how much she was ready to share. She interlaced her fingers. "Well," she began with a light breath, "I can tell where they are, now. It drove me crazy, before, that they could tell where I was but I couldn't tell where they were." She looked out at the horizon. "And -" she stopped.
"And what?"
She sighed. "I can feel the ice."
"Well that's nothing new - you could do that before."
"Yes, I could do it when I concentrated, Anna, but something has changed. I can feel all the ice. Everywhere."
Anna was wide-eyed. "Whoa."
"...All the time."
"Double-whoa!"
Heinrick's face showed concern. "That sounds like something that could drive a person mad."
"I suppose. All I can say is that it isn't." She looked up. "It's sort of like the sound of the wind in the sails, or of the waves. It's there all the time; all I have to do is pay attention to it."
Anna's face transitioned to enthusiasm. "Elsa, you've become, like, the ice spirit!"
"Excuse me?"
"You know, like Ambrelle's horse is the water spirit, and Johan's rhino lizard thingie is the fire spirit. You've become the ice spirit!"
Elsa huffed. "That doesn't even make sense, Anna. Ice is just frozen water."
"Well your ice isn't. Look, I'm just talking out loud here."
Elsa was surprised to hear Ambrelle speak up: "Unesdala Adanvdo," she said quietly. All eyes shifted to her. She looked about with a hint of nervousness. "Your majesty, I remember when we were traveling here, you said no one had ever heard of anything like you. You said you look like the ice. Maybe the ice doesn't belong to you. Maybe you belong to the ice. 'Unesdala Adanvdo.' Ice spirit." Looking up at Elsa, she flashed that smile - the one of poise and confidence that came out so rarely. It seemed to add weight to her words.
"Triple-whoa," said Anna.
Elsa didn't know what to make of this. She had no words - she just stood staring.
After several awkward seconds, Ambrelle looked aside uncomfortably. "I'm - I'm sorry, your majesty," she said.
"No - no - it's okay." Elsa quickly put a reassuring hand on Ambrelle's shoulder. "You have nothing to apologize for. I'm just trying to figure out what all this means. I'm sorry for making you feel uncomfortable."
Ambrelle returned a wooden smile.
The following day, as they approached the port at the lovely royal city of Corona with its many flags bearing the seven-pointed sun on the purple background, Elsa stood brooding on the bow, her hands folded in front of her. All these inviting sights she had imagined seeing - that she had so often looked forward to seeing - and now she was here to deliver news that would be dreadfully unwelcome. Anna joined her, put her arm around her, and leaned her head against her. Elsa leaned her head in return.
"Why?" she whispered through gritted teeth.
Anna's only reply was a melancholy sigh.
"I know without question what has happened to her. So there's no question that it's time to tell them to abandon their search." She paused in thought. "But at the same time, from my journey through that darkness, I know that she's ... she's ... alive, somehow. Reachable. Wouldn't they want to know that? Wouldn't her husband want to know that?" After a pause she looked down at Anna in contemplation. "If it was Kristoff, would you want to know that?"
Anna thought for a minute. "Yes," she said. Then, "well, no."
Elsa huffed. "Which is it?" she asked quietly.
"It would be nice to be able to tell him I love him. But I think I would only want to know if he was happy."
Elsa's heart ached. "How am I supposed to know if she's happy? Would you be happy if you were trapped and couldn't get back to Kristoff?"
"No," she said conclusively.
Elsa sighed again. "Why do they have to be trapped? And our cousin just got there. There are so many others who have been there for - for - for who knows how long? Just trapped. It's dreadful!"
A quiet voice behind them: "they have to be trapped, your majesty." They both turned. They hadn't realized that Ambrelle had come up behind them at some point. Her hands were folded and her eyes were focused on the deck. "Being adanvdo diniyoli, the 'spirit children' they are, if they were killed, their power would be loosed and would settle somewhere else."
Based on what Elsa had heard from Grand Pabbie, Ambrelle was right. Elsa's sadness gradually gave way to a rising tide of rage. Her face twisted into a scowl and her hands balled into fists. "&^$%& his legacy!" she cursed with a stomp of her foot.
Anna and Ambrelle were taken aback. They gaped, wide-eyed.
Elsa cleared her throat. "Sorry," she said firmly. "I'm sorry." She took a cleansing breath. "Well that's it, then." She exhaled in disappointment as she turned to face the approaching city once again. "I won't tell them."
You helped me escape, Mother, Lotus' notion floated through her mind.
Elsa gasped.
END PART TWO
A/N: Yes, there will be a Part Three. :) But it's going to take me some time to flesh it out.
I hope you enjoyed part two. I certainly did! I think it turned out better than part one! Please leave reviews and let me know what you think. Do you like the characterizations? Do you think they are on? Off? Do you like the plot? Does it make sense? Does it have holes? (I can think of a few...) Is the pace good? The descriptions? Are there parts that could be improved? I value your feedback.
Thanks in advance.
Oh - some of you might be wondering why I seem to be avoiding using the names of certain specific Corona persons. My primary reason is because I don't intend this to be a "crossover" story. I've also enjoyed seeing if I can pull it off as a literary device. :)
