A/N: Hi folks! Boy it's good to be back. Apologies for being away, but you see I have a reason.
I just graduated from college! And since I'm fresh off such a big life achievement, I got caught up in my excitement and made plans to dominate the world. But as I was working on said plans, I came across this document on my laptop and remembered that I hadn't updated my fic in a bit, and so I figured...baby steps, right?
So I'm tempering my expectations for a bit. Today, the fic. Tomorrow, the world.
(LOL...the college part is true, the rest...well, consider this a non-denial denial)
In any case, I shall have more free time to write! I'm still keeping this a weekly update however, so I can focus on editing my other big fics.
Honestly folks, not writing for two weeks has had me in severe withdrawal...like I have dozens of story ideas...for this and other fandoms, actually. So here's to branching out.
...and conquering the world, too, ofc.
Ok, on with the story. Enter Alvar.
Let me know what you think of him. I rather enjoy reading your theories about this story!
-Sunday morning (somewhere in the Black Mountains)-
It was close to noon the next morning when they stumbled upon the tiny cottage Alvar called home.
Cottage was perhaps a generous word for the place, for it looked more like a bunch of wooden planks thrown together. Moss and vines seemed to have made themselves at home as well, for they grew up and around the structure, effectively steadying the unstable planks.
It definitely didn't look like the residence of a powerful sorcerer, but even so Kristoff was wary to approach the front door.
Anna was not.
Before the mountain man could turn to ask what their strategy should be, Anna had jumped off of Sven and hurried to knock on the door, "Hello!? Mister Alvar…could we talk?"
Kristoff yanked her back into the bushes, his eyes wide and incredulous, "Are you crazy? How can you just knock on his door when we don't even know what he's like?"
"Now you decide to be careful." Anna rolled her eyes. "If Grand Pabbie told us about him, then I'm pretty sure he's not dangerous."
"He might not be, but he's probably not friendly either. Remember, Grand Pabbie said he wouldn't be willing to help…" Kristoff trailed off as he took in the shambled appearance of the cottage, "He probably doesn't take kindly to visitors. Maybe we should wait and see what he does."
For all intents and purposes, it was a good idea – and probably a wiser strategical choice - but Anna huffed and waited for all of thirty seconds before her impatience got the best of her. "This is ridiculous. I don't have the time to play hide and seek."
She knocked on the door, louder this time. "Hello! Alvar, we know you're in there!"
There was still no response.
Kristoff wiped off a thin layer of dirt from the lone window and peered into the shack. "I think it's empty."
"Oh for the love of-!" Anna shoved the door open and made her way in. "Hello, anybody home?"
The floorboards creaked under her as she walked through the meagre abode. There was hardly anything worth noting. One small ratty bed sat in the corner of the room, its sheets clearly unmade. Across from it lay a small kitchen with utensils tossed asunder and a tiny fireplace.
Kristoff knelt down to check the wood, "It's still warm, he can't have left more than half an hour ago."
"Then he's probably off getting some herbs or something," Anna replied. There was a lone hook near what constituted a bed…the kind of hook that a traveling cloak may drape off of.
"Kind of small for a guy who can do magic, don't you think?"
Anna shrugged, her gaze drawn to a single bookshelf that stood opposite her. The covers of the books gleamed in the early morning light, the gold-lined spines reminding her of certain forbidden tomes that she'd once uncovered in her own library back home.
"Those look like magic books," She whispered as she pulled one out. "The Art of Dark Magic…"
Kristoff shuddered, "You had to pick that one?"
Anna shifted through the pages. The text was mostly illegible but the content seemed beyond intriguing…and yet she wondered how a person who apparently dabbled in dark magic could be the one to help her. "What's someone doing with a book like this?"
"Studying mostly."
The couple jumped at the unexpected presence, only to find a tall, thin, wispy man standing before them.
"Who are you? And what made you think you could enter my cottage uninvited?"
Anna raised her hands in a mea culpa. "Sorry…we were looking for you and didn't see you anywhere so we thought we'd wait and -"
She stopped herself from rambling any further – nervous tic - and stepped forward with purpose, "Are you Alvar?"
The man curiously eyed the girl before him. "Yes…but how do you know who I am?"
"A friend-" When Kristoff gestured to her, she added, "Um, Grand Pabbie told us about you."
"Did he now?" Alvar replied as he dropped the basket he'd been holding onto the floor, "I didn't know he cared." He shrugged off his cloak and threw it onto the bed before making his way to the kitchen.
The couple followed nervously behind him as Kristoff added, "He said you might be able to help us with something."
Alvar grabbed a vessel and placed it on his makeshift stove, "That kooky old troll says a lot of things…doesn't mean you should believe them."
Beside her, Anna could feel Kristoff bristle at the insult. She shared his annoyance.
"Yes he did. Can you help?"
The man finally turned to look at the couple, boredom and a hint of irritation clear in his withered face. "You haven't told me who you are or what you want, and you want me to help you?" He released a mirthless chuckle, "Humans…"
The rude response only served to irk Anna to no end. It seemed they'd traveled all this way only to find perhaps the most inhospitable, caustic, ornery old man this side of the kingdom.
Of course, why must things be easy for me?
She plastered a forced smile on her face. "Sorry, I'm Princess Anna of Arendelle, and this is Kristoff. We came to ask for your help. You see-"
The man raised his hand. "Say no more."
Anna exchanged a surprised glance with Kristoff, hope flaring in her heart at his response.
Maybe this'll be easier than I thought.
"Wait? So, you'll help us?"
The old man poked at the dying embers and watched the fire roar back to life. Satisfied with the heat, he turned to cast a withering look at the couple. "No." He admitted bluntly. "I stopped you because there's no point in wasting your energy. I can't help you…." He paused and remedied, "Actually, I won't help you."
It took all of three seconds for Anna's surprise to morph into frustrated indignation, "What?! You don't even know what I need your help for!"
"And it doesn't matter." The man shrugged nonchalantly. He dumped a carrot into the boiling pot of water, "I don't help royals."
It was all Kristoff could do to keep Anna from punching the man. "Look, Alvar, whatever it is you've got against royals, Anna isn't like them."
The man shook his head, "Don't know if you're telling the truth, but even if you are, I don't care. I don't help royalty."
Anna felt her heart sink. She was supposed to convince this man to help, but how could she persuade someone so darn stupidly stubborn when he couldn't even be bothered to hear her plight?
"Y-You can't just turn us away! Please, Grand Pabbie said you were the only one who could help us."
Alvar chuckled to himself, "That old coot says a lot of crazy things… if I were you, I wouldn't take him so seriously."
It was Anna's turn to stop Kristoff from putting a hole in the man's face, "Please, you have to help! We-" Her eyes widened with a sudden idea, "We can pay you! Whatever your price is, we can pay it! Gold, jewels, whatever you want!"
The man rolled his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Thanks for the generosity, milady, but when you can make gold with the snap of your fingers, such offers aren't quite as appealing anymore. Now if you're quite finished thinking of ways to seek my help, I'd like you to get off my property."
"But-but…" The meaty hand of fear gripped her heart as she realized Elsa's last hope was rapidly fading. "Please, I'm begging you! We came all the way from Arendelle to get your help and-"
"Then I suggest you head back to where you came from." Alvar responded airily. "Arendelle is quite a ways from here, and I'd hate for you to be caught in the woods at night…" He gestured vaguely to the door, "You can start your journey from there."
A speechless Anna stared haplessly at Alvar, then turned to look at Kristoff, but the ice harvester had nothing else to add.
No…it can't end like this.
They'd suffered hours of relentless journey through beast-infested woods and ridden Sven practically into the ground in her haste to reach this man in the hopes that he could save her sister…and for what?
To be tossed out like day old trash without so much as a chance to state her case?
You've failed Elsa, just like I knew you would.
Trembling fists clenched at her side as Anna swallowed the painful lump in her throat. "I came to you because someone I care about is d-dying..." She stuttered on the word - the thought was still unimaginable - but anger fueled her past the grief.
"I came to you because Grand Pabbie told us we could trust you. He even made us promise we'd help you in return!
She took a step forward, her teal eyes burning with a deadly fury forged of heart-broken anger. "Hell, the way he talked about you, we thought we were going to meet this great legend who just needed a little push to remember what his life's purpose was… but you know what?! After seeing you, I think you're just a callous, cold-hearted, selfish little man who's shied away from the world and chooses to live in this miserable excuse for a shack because he was hurt at one point in his life!"
"You're so caught up in your own personal grudges and problems that I don't think you have it in you to care about anyone other than yourself…so perhaps you're right. I am wasting my time!"
Anna swiveled around, a raspy growl prying itself from her now hoarse throat, "Come on, Kristoff. Let's get out of here."
She headed towards the door, her rage barely contained within clenched fists, her mind swirling with the disappointment.
I have to find some other way…maybe go back to the trolls. I'll go all the way to the Caves of Gedref if I have to, but I most certainly am not going to let -
"I used to do that, you know. Care about other people, I mean."
The quiet words stopped them in their tracks. They turned back to Alvar, but the old man didn't seem to be addressing them, his gaze fixed squarely on the boiling pot of water.
"I used to help people find their purpose in life…their destiny, if you will." He smiled sadly, "I taught them to embrace their gifts rather than fear them, as my mentor once did for me."
He threw a radish into the pot.
"My entire life was filled with the study of magic and its applications. I reveled in the knowledge and cherished any opportunity I had to share it with the world. I did too…for centuries."
Centuries?! Anna exchanged a wide-eyed look with her partner.
"But things changed. What was once revered as a gift from the gods suddenly appeared demonic. The world began to fear all kinds of magic…and anyone who practiced it."
The sorcerer bowed his head, "People stopped asking me for guidance because they no longer believed their own powers to be a gift, only a curse."
When he looked up, Anna was shocked to find agony barely concealed in his old gray eyes.
"I was hunted, princess. Hunted by my patrons, my neighbors, even my own friends. The kings and queens that had once sought my counsel turned on me once public sentiment shifted. They didn't care about me, or how their betrayal shook me to my core. All that mattered to them was maintaining an image in the eyes of their public."
He turned away, a twisted mixture of despair and bitterness crossing his features. "And sacrificing me to save face seemed like a small price to pay for them, I suppose."
"I'm so sorry…" Anna whispered, tears forming in her eyes as she listened to his horrific tale, but Alvar didn't hear it.
"I barely escaped with my life. I ran with what little I could salvage and I didn't stop running for decades afterwards…not until I found myself here."
He gestured to his cottage, "This is the only place I can call home, because here, amongst the wild beasts, I feel safe."
"I don't worry that they will turn their back on me or that they'll feed me to the wolves…" He laughed and admitted, "The wolves are actually rather gentle, once you get to know them."
He straightened up and turned to her, "So when you presume I am callous and cold-hearted and selfish, perhaps you are right, princess. But I've learned the hard way that when the world cares nothing for you, there is no point in caring for it."
The cottage fell into dreadful silence as Anna wrestled with her emotions. All the anger she'd felt for Alvar now manifested itself as sympathy for the hard life he'd suffered through.
It seemed there were more similarities between him and Elsa than she'd expected.
She stepped forward, her voice barely audible above the crackling fire on the stove. "I'm so sorry...I didn't - I shouldn't have said what I did. I didn't know you-" She hung her head, "I'm sorry you suffered like that."
The man blinked in surprise at her unexpected words before his emotions shifted to a strange nonchalance born from years of concealing his pain. Unfortunately, it was a look Anna recognized.
"Don't be. Mistakes were made, and lessons were learned. That is the way of the world."
They were words Anna had heard before, and the response…was just as painfully familiar. "I-I don't know what it feels like to be shunned for your magic. But I've seen how much it hurts, and I'd never do that to anyone. I think magic is special…it's a blessing, not a curse."
Alvar chuckled mirthlessly, "Everyone says that, princess, but no one truly means it."
The princess drew closer, but though she meant to refute his words, an admission tumbled out instead. "My older sister, Elsa…she has magic."
The words drew a surprised blink from Alvar.
Sensing his surprise, she elaborated. "She spent thirteen years fearing herself and her powers because she had no idea what people would say about her if they ever found out. She thought of herself as a monster…and all because she hit me once on accident."
The thought of Elsa brought a bittersweet smile to her face as she admitted, "I know she still fears her magic sometimes, though she doesn't always tell me. But I understand your pain, I've seen these scars before."
"You say she once hurt you?" Alvar asked, curiosity clear in his old gray eyes, "And yet you don't fear her…you don't hate her?"
"I never could," Anna replied without missing a beat. "I love my sister, and that includes everything that makes her special… especially her magic."
Alvar sat in stunned silence, perplexed by the person standing before her. Here was a rare manifestation of personal conviction, familial devotion and moral clarity…and in a royal no less. He chuckled at the absurd thought.
"I don't believe I've ever met anyone like you, princess. Royal or otherwise."
Kristoff smiled at those words, "Anna's special, that much I could have told you myself."
Hmm, special indeed. Alvar mused at the ice harvester's words before turning to the princess once more.
"Is she the reason you came to see me?"
The words dimmed Anna's mood, her worry for Elsa seeping through, "Something's happened to her…she's in a coma, and her magic - it seems to be fading away."
Alvar pursed his lips, a grim, inscrutable look in his face. As silence fell over the cabin once again, Anna feared that her breakthrough was short-lived.
Come on, please please please…
"I may be able to help."
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Really?! You can heal her?"
"I can't say for sure until I've identified the problem. But I will do what I can."
But even that half promise was enough to make Anna feel the weight of the world lifting off her shoulder.
"Thank you! Thank you!" Before she could think through her actions, she hurried up and pulled the man into a big hug.
It seems this one is full of surprises.
Alvar thought as he returned the gesture with an awkward pat of his own before pulling away, only to watch with mild amusement as Anna processed her behavior, "OH! I'm so sorry! I just got excited, and I hugged you, but I didn't even ask if you were okay with that, and I probably made you super uncomfortable, cause you're probably not used to it what with you living in the mountains all alone and all and – yeah, I shouldn't have done that."
She bowed her head, her eyes filled with a combination of repentance and fragile hope. "But you'll still help my sister, right?"
The man returned a soft smile, touched by the girl's steadfast devotion to her sibling. "I'll help, princess. In any way I can."
The gleam returned to her eyes, "Thanks Alvar, you have no idea what this means to me."
Kristoff cut in, his eyes darting to look out the window. "We should probably head back now. We'll be lucky if we can make it to Arendelle by sunrise tomorrow."
Anna agreed as she turned back to the sorcerer, "Grand Pabbie said Elsa had only three days left, and that was before we set out to find you."
Alvar picked up his cloak, "Then we haven't a moment to lose."
The fire was only getting worse.
She'd tried to the best of her abilities to quench the flames, but no matter what she threw at them, the mass burned ever brighter, as if she were only fueling it rather than trying to quell it.
She had since retreated to the far corner of her dais, the only place she could now stand and not worry about burning her feet as the rest of the platform became consumed by the hungry blaze.
Her voice, now hoarse from screaming for help, existed only to release a rattling cough as the smoke worked its way into her lungs.
Why she hadn't fainted from smoke inhalation, she couldn't say.
But there was clearly no way out, and slowly, Elsa had begun to accept that.
This is is…she thought to herself. This is how I die. Consumed by the flames that once haunted me in my nightmares, powerless to do anything other than to watch.
She collapsed into a heap and watched her world burn before her.