A/N: Welp, I can no longer avoid usage of Corona character names. ;) That said, I'm still not going to label this story as a crossover.
PART THREE: SHEPHERDESS
The Proposal
As their carriage wound its way through the town, Anna's mood vacillated between excitement and melancholy. One minute she would point out some landmark to Elsa while practically hopping up and down on her seat, and the next she would retreat into unnatural brooding. It was painful to watch. For her part, Elsa worked hard to share in Anna's excitement when it surfaced, but she too was encumbered with the weight of the looming conversation they had ahead of them.
The weight, in fact, hung over the whole town. Although it had a festive appearance, the people all seemed weary and downcast. It makes sense, Elsa thought. They've been missing their princess for a month now. There would be those in Corona who, like high admiral Naismith, would remember the last time the princess went missing. For them, this would be a double blow - reconjuring all those memories of loss and despair.
In one of her quiet moments Anna murmured, "you're sure you're going through with this? There's a lot you can do, but you can't do it all."
Elsa took a long breath as she considered her answer. "How can I not?" she finally said. "There's a chance I can help, but I can't do it without them."
"You're sure of that too?"
"Yes, I am."
"How good is the chance?"
"I really can't say. It's something I've never tried before."
"Well," Anna mused, "so far you've done pretty well at things you've never tried before." She gave a weak smile.
Anna ran out of excitement once the carriage rolled through the castle gate. She just stared out the window, looking at nothing in particular, with dull eyes and a sagging face. As the jostle and rattle of the carriage gave way to the jingling of the horses' harnessing and the clop-clop-clop of their slowing hooves, she spoke.
"It's going to be so different," she droned. "This castle practically rang with her presence. She lit the place up." Her eyes fell to the carriage floor. "She lit the whole town up."
"It sounds like you two were birds of a feather," Elsa ventured.
"No," Anna contemplated. She gave a sniff. "Really, no. She was more like you and me rolled into one."
"Oh my."
"I'm not sure whether it was her or Eugene who hitched their wagon to the brighter star." She gave a small smile and a chuckle. "I swear, the two of them would compete. It's a good thing they got married."
Elsa was about to ask what on earth Anna meant by that when an attendant opened the door for them. Anna's eyes met Elsa's with an expression pleading for support. Elsa extended her hand and Anna took it firmly. Thus they exited together, hand in hand, onto the clean pale cobblestones. Anna didn't let go. From the carriage behind them, Heinrick, Kristoff, and Ambrelle emerged. Elsa had felt a little awkward asking Ambrelle to ride with the two men, but she knew Anna would need a little private time. As the three walked to join them, she heard a friendly greeting:
"Good day to you, friends," he said with a deep bow, "and welcome to Corona castle!" He was a portly fellow, well dressed, with obviously refined manners. The resemblance to Kai was surprising - a younger Kai, the way Elsa remembered him from her youth.
"That's Gershom, the chief butler," Anna informed her.
"Anna!" A new voice called from nearer the castle doors. Elsa faintly recognized him. The coronation was such a blur and the memories that overshadowed it, unfortunately, were the bad ones. He was handsome, around Anna's age, with dark hair and a decidedly less than regal swagger to his walk. "So good to see you again! And you've finally brought your lovely sister with you!" Then he looked past her. "Oh. And who's this?"
Elsa was somewhere between embarrassed and put off by his lack of decorum, but she didn't have the time to dwell on it before Anna abandoned her hand and threw herself upon him as she burst into tears.
Eugene held up his hands as though at knife-point. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said as he looked over her shoulder at Kristoff and Elsa with an apologetic smile. Once he saw that they weren't freaking out, he slowly brought his arms around her reassuringly. "Yeah, I know, Anna," he said. "She'll be sorry she missed this."
Elsa's heart ached. She wrapped her arms around herself as they all stood silently. After a minute she gritted her teeth and put her hand on Anna's shoulder. Struggling for an even voice, she said, "Anna..."
"What?" Anna replied dumbly.
"We should go inside."
"Oh," she mumbled distantly as she came away from Eugene. "Yeah. We should go ins-" her voice caught, then dropped to a whisper. "Inside." She took Elsa's hand again and the five of them followed Eugene into the castle. Right before entering, Elsa happened to glance upward and spot Lotus perched on one of the castle's spires. For some reason, it gave her a needed boost of encouragement.
The inside of the castle was colorful and festive, reflecting the character of the town. Unfortunately, it also reflected the same emptiness. "Come on," Eugene said as he beckoned. "Mom and Pop are this way. Elsa, they're gonna be delighted to see you. They haven't seen you since you were like, what, five?"
"Something like that," Elsa replied cordially.
Their shoes clop-clop-clopped along the hall.
"It's so quiet," Anna muttered.
Eugene didn't break stride, but she heard him sigh, and she saw his shoulders droop a bit as he continued to lead the way. "Come on in," he said as he gestured cheerfully for them to pass by him into the throne room. Elsa could see king Frederick and queen Arianna standing before their thrones on the dais.
"Queen Elsa of Arendelle," the herald announced. "Princess Anna, of Arendelle. Baron Kristoff, of Arendelle. Prince Heinrick, of Mittergaard."
"So good to see you all," said king Frederick in his deep kindly voice as he offered his wife his arm and then descended with her from the dais. They approached Elsa where he stopped an arm's length in front of her. "Thank you for your visit," he said. "And again, we're so sorry we couldn't make it to your coronation."
Elsa's eyes fell. "It's quite alright, your majesty; you didn't miss much.." she replied quietly. She heard a muted "hwoo.." in the background from Eugene. She gritted her teeth. Even after nearly three years, the sting of the international incident still goaded her.
A second later she heard Anna's harsh whisper. "Shut up, Flynn." She hadn't even heard Anna leave her side. It was a little more harsh that was justified, in Elsa's opinion.
"Ok, ok, sorry..."
Either the king and queen hadn't hear it, or they were used to ignoring it. "You've done so well for yourself and for Arendelle," Frederick stated. "Your mother and father would be proud."
"Thank you, your majesty," Elsa said deferentially. "And Arendelle will be forever in your debt for Corona's generous and steadfast support these past three years. I don't believe we could have made it without you."
"You're welcome," he said with sincere earnestness. "I have no doubt that Arendelle would have done the same for us."
Elsa gave a nod and a slight smile.
"And that will be last I'll hear of the formal titles," he said as he waved his hand dismissively. "You're my niece, Elsa. Now please introduce me to your companions."
Elsa took a breath, then turned and gestured to Heinrick. "This is prince Heinrick Christianson of Mittergaard. I made his acquaintance three months ago at the beginning of the matter between Mittergaard and Falster." She glanced back at the king. "You've been kept up to date on that, I'm sure."
"We have indeed," he replied. "And I commend you on your astonishingly successful peace keeping mission." He gave a low chuckle. "I would not have thought it possible, and honestly, we were preparing for the worst."
Elsa could make an intelligent guess as to what he meant: a new volatile neighbor with ambitions that could easily have extended to Ventner, and from there who could say how much farther. It was a frightening prospect. It was something Arendelle would have had to face eventually, even if it was only in support of Corona. In hindsight, she was very glad to have found out about it so early, and her decision to get involved early appeared to have been vindicated.
Since she had succeeded, that is.
"Our delegation to king Fenris' coronation has already departed," said Frederick. "Regrettably, due to the situation here at home, we are unable to attend. Please give him my personal apology."
"I will, Uncle." Elsa then noticed that Ambrelle had remained in the background, just inside the entrance to the throne room. "And this is Ambrelle," she said. "Ambrelle, please come." She beckoned for her to come forward. Ambrelle came timidly, her hands folded in front of her and her eyes on the floor. She gave a brief glance at the king and curtsied. "Your majesty," she said barely audibly.
"Ambrelle?" asked Frederick.
Her eyes shifted nervously as she stood there, unsure of what she was expected to do. "Your - your majesty?" she asked.
"Yes, just Ambrelle," Elsa spoke for her. "She arrived on our shores about two months ago with her companion Johan." Elsa bit her lip as she searched for her next words. "She ... played an important part in the -" She stopped mid-sentence. Her heart was in her throat. She clasped her hands in front of her. "Uncle," she began again, "I -" She hadn't had sufficient time to think through exactly how she was going to present this. From the beginning, she decided. "I'm sorry. My main purpose for visiting is that I need to fill you in on recent events in Arendelle. There's a connection to Rapunzel."
Frederick's and Arianna's eyes changed immediately - a naked spark, where there had been a carefully groomed exterior before. At the same time, Eugene interrupted from off to the right: "a connection? You know something?"
She wished she could answer with a cheerful face. She wished she could give their spark something to feed upon. Turning to Eugene, she answered, "I do. But it's going to take some time to explain. And it's not ... it's not the news you're looking for."
Her heart ached as she watched the spark go out.
"Come to my receiving room," Frederick said with a honed professionalism, "and tell us of it."
King Frederick's receiving room was ornate and comfortable, and spoke equally of history and family. In the center sat a set of inward facing sofas with a round table between them. Against the left wall was a large bookcase with a table in front of it large enough to seat twelve and a secretary's desk against the far wall. Against the right wall was a broad sandstone fireplace above which hung a painting of their reunited family: Frederick, Arianna, Eugene, and Rapunzel. Their faces were joyful. Other paintings and sketches adorned the room: Rapunzel as a child, Rapunzel as the young woman who had been returned to them, Rapunzel and Eugene, Rapunzel and Eugene in wedding attire.
There is value in loss, sprang to Elsa's mind. It certainly separates the important from the unimportant.
"Please, have a seat," Frederick gestured to the couches as he guided Arianna to a central position.
Elsa cleared her throat. "If I may, Uncle?" she asked as she pointed to the window. "I'd like to bring another party to our chat."
He looked back quizzically as he sat, but waved her on. "Certainly," he said.
Elsa walked to the window, her heeled shoes the only sound on the wood floor. She fumbled nervously with the latch as she sensed all eyes on her back. When it opened into the cool air, she extended her arm. Lotus immediately alighted on it. She drew him back inside as he looked over the group, repositioning his crystal clear wing feathers a few times before reaching a final resting position. Without even thinking about it, she ran her hand down his cool, soothing back. "I'll leave the window open for you, okay little one?" she smiled tenderly. Lifting her eyes to the group, she said, "This is Lotus." She could see Frederick's and Eugene's stunned faces as she began her return from the window.
Arianna's face showed something different though. Curiosity, but also familiarity? Arianna stood as Elsa reached the circle of sofas, transfixed by the bird. Then glancing up at Elsa she asked, "may I?" as she extended her hand. Elsa held Lotus up and he stepped readily onto her arm. "A peregrine," she stated with certainty. Then a genuine smile warmed her face. "You're beautiful!" She stroked his crystal clear beak with her knuckle as she stared into his clear blue eyes.
"Oh - that's right," Anna exclaimed. "Your great aunt Iona was a falconer, wasn't she?"
Looking up, Arianna answered, "yes. She always had birds about. It was more than half the fun of visiting. There were times we had to shield our ears though. It's likely the reason she was half deaf. And we always had to guard our plates!"
Anna chuckled.
Returning her gaze to Lotus, Arianna asked, "how did you do this?"
"I can't say that I know, except that the first time, I did it by accident."
"Olaf!" said Eugene.
Elsa nodded.
"Anna has told us about him, but we haven't met him." With a grin he added, "he sounds like a man after my own heart though."
Elsa sat and Arianna followed suit with Lotus still perched on her arm. Elsa folded her hands in her lap. "I created Lotus after Heinrick reached Arendelle because we needed a quick way to get information to Mittergaard about Heinrick's location and the peculiar provocation of the Falster ship. He continued to fulfil the need for quick messaging all the way up until I was about to enter Falster myself. On my way to Mittergaard though, we were ambushed by ships from Weselton who had allied themselves with Falster. That's when I created -" She paused somewhat sheepishly. "Lotus' big brother."
"The dragon," Frederick said with a hint of severity in his eyes.
"We heard about him, too," Eugene added with careful enthusiasm.
Elsa nodded with a bit of contrition. "There wasn't time to think," she explained quietly, "but I regret acting out of fear." She took a deep breath. "Lotus was captured just before I entered Falster. When I reached their capital, I discovered that it was king Terence Falster who had been responsible for his capture. He then captured me also and nearly had me killed. It was only by a magical ability that I never knew I had that I survived." Her eyebrows furrowed. "Somehow, to this day I'm not really sure how, I entombed myself in a crystal ball." She looked up at their contemplative faces. Then she turned to Heinrick and smiled. "Heinrick and his men, aided by Lotus and my dragon, arrived to free me. But Lotus had to sacrifice himself to wake me from the crystal ball."
Lotus unexpectedly sprang from Arianna's arm, covered the short distance in a few flaps, and alighted on Elsa's. She smiled and ran a hand down his back.
"While I was entombed, I dreamed," she continued. "I dreamed of a man who held a great crowd in his grip of fear. He turned and saw me, and he recognized immediately that I had magical powers. I've learned since that all the other members of that great crowd are other people who had magical powers at some time in the past, and that this man had hunted them all." She paused for a second, collecting her thoughts. "I've learned other things since then as well. I've learned that the existence of this hunter was known to my parents." She could see the surprise in their eyes. "I can only speculate that maybe that was one of the reasons they wanted me to conceal my powers. I've also learned that this hunter was responsible for orchestrating the ambush of my ship on the way to Mittergaard."
Frederick's eyebrows rose even further. "I had not heard this," he said grimly.
Arianna was starting to look dismayed. She knows where this is going, Elsa thought.
She gritted her teeth and interlocked her fingers firmly. Now came the hard part. "While in Falster for the second time, a little over a month ago, I received a letter from Anna telling of an attempt on my life back home. A ... a letter was received there, addressed to me. When it was opened, it destroyed everything in the room."
The room was dead silent.
Anna broke the silence. "The room was left like a tomb," she said sadly. "There wasn't even paint on the walls."
The connection was obvious. The pallor of loss hung over the room. Arianna unclenched her white-knuckled fingers and grabbed onto Frederick's arm.
"So ... she's ... gone?" Eugene asked distantly.
"Gone," Arianna whispered. "Oh, Frederick, this time our little light -" she pressed her forehead against his shoulder. "Is really ... gone..."
Elsa bit her lip. Her brow creased in contemplation. "I apologize." She shook her head sadly. "What I'm about to tell you might make things better, or it might make things so much worse; I'm afraid I don't know which. But I have to tell you." Looking up she said carefully, "she's not gone. She's ... trapped."
Arianna regarded her in confusion and disbelief.
"Another thing I've learned is that magical powers come in two ways. On very rare occasions, like mine, they come as ... as a sort of divine gift. And the power I have been given will end when I die." Elsa looked over to where Ambrelle sat with her hands folded. "Ambrelle, could you explain further?" Ambrelle visibly twitched at the call of her name. Turning back to Frederick, Arianna, and Eugene, Elsa noted, "Ambrelle also has magical powers."
Ambrelle spoke softly, almost apologetically, without looking up. "My power was given to me as a four-year-old child. It was passed on to me by another woman upon her death." Glancing up, she added, "she died saving me from drowning. When she did, I received her power over water."
"Tell them about Johan," Elsa prompted gently.
Ambrelle gave a dutiful nod. "My friend Johan has power over fire. It was received from his father upon his father's death. Their culture has great respect for this ability and there is a lot of history and ceremony surrounding it. He looks-" She stopped abruptly, her face marred by the memory. "He looked forward to the ceremony of his death when he could pass it on to ... to his son." She squeezed her eyes shut as she bit her lip.
"Before hunting me," Elsa explained, "this man was hunting Ambrelle and Johan. He killed all of Johan's people."
The three were visibly shocked.
"He left off hunting them after my eternal winter. They actually came to Arendelle to warn me of him."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Eugene's voice was strained.
It was so close. If she had only known a week earlier. "I'm so sorry, Eugene; I didn't find out in time," Elsa replied. "All I knew was that he was hunting me. I didn't know until hearing Ambrelle's and Johan's story that he was hunting anyone with magical powers. And that was after passing Corona and finding out about Rapunzel's ... disappearance."
"Is he still hunting you?" Arianna asked.
"No. I bested him in Arendelle just five days ago. He's not hunting anyone anymore." She and Ambrelle exchanged a small smile.
"You're that powerful?!" Eugene marveled.
"No," she replied quickly. "In fact, in our previous encounter some weeks before, he stripped me of my powers almost completely." Her eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement. "But five days ago I was able to connect with that crowd - the ones he has trapped. They all gave me their power, and with the sum of it all, I was able to overcome him." She looked up. "And one of them was Rapunzel."
The three sat in quiet contemplation. "You're certain?" Frederick asked.
Elsa nodded.
"So, okay - trapped," Eugene said eagerly. "We can handle trapped! How do we get her out?"
Elsa frowned. "That's the problem. I don't know if I can." She ran her hand down Lotus' back. "I was able to free Lotus, but it was a special case. The hunter worked by conjuring deadly black balls. They would suck in everything, and whatever they sucked in would be physically crushed. Lotus was able to evade it by continuously flying in circles around it, like the moon traveling around the earth."
"Physically crushed...?" Eugene said in shock.
Elsa nodded. "I'm so sorry to bear you this news, but nothing physical of Rapunzel remains."
"But it doesn't stop there!" Anna quickly interjected.
"Hopefully," Elsa said. "Ambrelle, please tell them what you told me."
Ambrelle spoke quietly. "From my upbringing I was taught: 'dust though art, and to dust thou shalt return.' 'The dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.' For those with powers like ours, the hunter had to trap our spirits, because if he killed us, our power would be loosed to settle somewhere else."
Elsa watched the nods of understanding from the three. "I know this for a fact concerning Rapunzel," Elsa continued. "She spoke with me before my final confrontation with the hunter."
"So..." asked Frederick. "You think you may be able to free Rapunzel?"
"I don't know if it's something I can do or not. All I can say is that I'm willing to try. But -" she looked up at them in turn. "It won't be the same. There's a lot I can do, but I can't do everything. I will have to create her a new body - like I've done with Lotus and Olaf." She watched as the light went on in each of their eyes.
"She'll be a snow ... woman," Eugene stated in quiet recognition.
"I'm sorry," Elsa lamented. "It's the best I can offer, and I don't even know if I'll succeed. So before I even try, you need to decide if that's something you would want."
The three sat quietly. Frederick and Eugene stared at the floor, but Arianna's eyes were fixated on Lotus.
After some time, Eugene said, "Well I know what I want. But is it what she would want?"
"I can ask her," Elsa replied.
"It will be difficult for her to be accepted by the people," Frederick mused.
Elsa attention was drawn by Lotus. "Hmm?" Then looking back at the others she explained, "oh - excuse me. Lotus says I can give her any sort of body she might desire, and that it might be easier for her to be accepted if she has a body that's clearly different, like a snow leopard or a unicorn or some such."
Eugene grimaced. "One crazy white horse around here is enough," he said. Then he leaned on his elbow and rubbed his chin. "Again, I suppose it should be up to her." Then he dropped his head into his hands with a long sigh. "I want her. Not something else."
"Tell them the rest," Anna prompted.
Eugene looked up. "What?"
"Well..." Elsa began. She focused her eyes on Lotus as she stroked his feathered back. "There are plusses and minuses. On the positive side, she won't have to worry about typical injuries. She'll never run out of energy. And she'll never age. And on the minus side, she won't need sleep, she won't need to eat - although she can - but most importantly, although she won't age, her life will be tied to mine." She looked up again, sadly. "All my creations will perish with me."
Anna rounded it out. "And she'll always feel ice cold."
Eugene slumped back in the couch with a huff and stared at the ceiling. He brought his hands up to his temples. "This is crazy," he stated with emphasis. "This is like one of those storybook wicked witch offers!" He straightened suddenly. "Oh. I mean ... I didn't mean that like it sounded," he finished contritely.
Elsa wrapped her arms around herself as Anna glared.
He held his hands out in dismay. "I mean, how am I supposed to know what to say?" he exclaimed. He stood, paced once, then twice, and then sped from the room leaving the door open behind him.
Elsa looked back at Frederick and Arianna. Frederick was staring at the floor. Arianna was staring at Lotus. "I'm ... I'm sorry," said Elsa. "I decided I should tell you what I knew. I hope you can forgive me if it was the wrong decision."
"I'm willing," said Arianna quietly.
Frederick looked at her quizzically.
"If the alternative is for her to remain trapped ... forever ... then it's really no decision."
After a moment's pause, Frederick nodded. "When you put it that way..." he said as he looked into Arianna's eyes. There was a sheen of tears in his own. "I'm sorry, my love. I've been thinking only of our perspective. Of course she would want to be free. In whatever form that took." He looked back at Elsa. "Yes, you should try."
The receiving room had been cleared of everyone except Elsa, Anna, and Heinrick. Elsa sat on the couch pensively, her hands folded in her lap. Anna sat on her left, and Heinrick on her right.
"I guess I need to start with a body," she said to the room. She formed a bench of ice directly in front of her. Looking up at the family portrait on the wall, she waved out with one hand and snow swiftly piled up starting from the feet and ending at the top of her head. "Does that look about right?" she asked Anna.
Heinrick turned aside, red-faced. "Are you sure I should be here?" he asked while facing away. He had already given up his vest with the stone, so he didn't really have a way to escape, poor guy.
Elsa and Anna shared a moment of muffled amusement. "Whoops," Elsa said. "Sorry. Let me fix that." She waved again and a shimmering tan slip dress settled from the sparkling wave. It was ankle-length, split on left and right to just below the knee.
"Yeah, about right," Anna replied. "Can you do something more natural with her hair?"
Elsa cupped her right elbow in her left hand and brought her right hand to her chin in contemplation. "I've never tried creating hair. You don't suppose feathers would do, would you?"
"No."
Elsa concentrated and formed a thin dark strand of ice in her hands. She held it out to Anna.
Anna took it and waved it back and forth. "It's like my hair first thing in the morning..."
Elsa frowned in frustration. "If it's flexible, it white snow," she explained, "and if it's dark, it's rigid ice."
"Well what about all the colors of clothing you make?" Anna asked.
"That's different," said Elsa. "That's just cloth. I can't give her cloth hair, can I?"
"Hmmmm..." Anna thought for a while. "The feathers. How small can you make them?"
"As small as I need to, I think."
"So how about tiny dark feathers on a strand of snow?"
Elsa focused and tried it. The result was still coarse, but it was flexible, and passable.
"That'll work," Anna said. "Maybe you can do a redo later if you come up with something better. Y'know - change of hair style."
Elsa concentrated, and the snow-woman's head reduced to a bare scalp. Then from it, the dark strands pushed forth until they had reached the same length as shown in the family portrait. "If it's not good enough, there's always a wig," Elsa concluded. She took a deep breath. "OK Heinrick. Time for your stone."
He handed her the vest and she reshaped it into a bandana she could tie under her chin. She set it in place on the top of her head.
"First try..." she said nervously. She placed her hand onto the snow woman and closed her eyes.
A/N: Time for Part Three! I'm so excited! There were a couple different ways I could have gone with this, and I've settled on one that I think is right. It neatly ties together a lot of things from the earlier two parts. It also gets to the heart of why someone would be given power over ice, of all things. I hope you enjoy!
