Chapter 4
Thread of fate
Now that the dance had ended, the crowds had somewhat dispersed, making it easier for Elsa to give her new friend a tour of the area around the market square.
"…and this the Cathedral of St. Olaf," she indicated, pointing to the majestic stone edifice before them as Ross stared in awe.
Despite their recent acquaintance, Elsa found it rather perplexing that the boy's presence could give her such a sense of peace and security. Then again, he was kind, friendly, and chivalrous, not to mention that he had an optimistic aura about him that reminded her of Anna; so much so, that she found herself being drawn to him.
'But...' she reminded herself, looking down at her gloved hands as they clenched and unclenched.
"This is amazing!" the redhead exclaimed, snapping her out of her reverie. He glanced around excitedly. "What else is there to see?"
"Well, there's–"
"You're a harpy! Didja hear me? You're a goddamn harpy!"
Startled, the two children turned to see an elderly couple engaged in a heated dispute, and by the looks of it, it was escalating into a very ugly situation. Ross could only stare in confusion as looked on, but Elsa was in complete and utter shock as that particular couple – Mr. and Mrs. Olsen – were known to be very loving towards each other and had never had a single quarrel in the entirety of their 50-year marriage. They were the couple that everybody aspired to be; yet here they were, locked in a brutal screaming match.
"And you're a beast, you good-for-nothing ingrate!" Mrs. Olsen screeched. "All you ever do is yell, complain, and throw out my pies instead of eating them!"
"As if I'd ever eat such garbage!" Mr. Olsen fired back. "Your pies are absolutely disgusting and you know it!"
As the Olsens argued on, Elsa and Ross slowly backed away from the irate pair and once they were a at a safe distance, they hurriedly walked away lest they get caught in the crossfire.
But as they turned around the corner, they stumbled across a very peculiar sight. At the far end of a deserted alleyway, they caught a glimpse of set of dark-colored rocks rolling away, but what made it even more perplexing was how they moved. Normally, loose rocks simply rolled until they crashed into whatever obstacle was in their way; however, these particular rocks were able to swerve and veer, avoiding such accidents.
Ross, who had never been exposed to anything supernatural, was the first to voice his thoughts. "What on earth was that?"
"They looked like rock trolls," Elsa replied, thinking back to her encounter with said beings a few months back. However, these trolls looked and behaved nothing like the inhabitants of the Valley of the Living Rock. For one, rock trolls often shied away from human settlements, and second there was an unnatural, malevolent aura to that particular group that just made her skin crawl.
"I think we should follow them," Ross piped up, breaking the silence that had hung heavy over them. He took a few steps forward, eager to give pursuit.
"Ross, that's a terrible idea!" chided Elsa. Something about those trolls just spelled bad news and she wanted nothing to do with them.
He stopped mid-step and glanced over his shoulder. "But don't you want to know what that was all about?"
Elsa chewed her lip at that. What Ross was suggesting was potentially dangerous and could lead to some dire consequences; but at the same time, she really wanted to know and someone had to look out for him. "Alright," she relented as curiosity prevailed over prudence. Very reluctantly, she accompanied him.
In the forest:
The silent breeze rustling through the leaves were all that could be heard as Elsa and Ross followed the rocks into the forest outside of town. It was getting quite cold too, so much so that even Elsa, who normally wasn't affected by the low temperature, was beginning to shiver. Beside her, Ross nuzzled himself even deeper into his scarf, his teeth chattering audibly.
Then just as the weather got colder it slowly began to change and get warmer as they reached a kind of rocky clearing with cracks on the ground that had warm steam coming out.
Elsa frowned as she walked pass them, she was never one to like hot temperatures, while Hans seemed to like it as he walked closer to the cracks and steam than Elsa did.
All of s sudden they noticed lights went pass them quickly,
"Did you see that Snehvid?" asked Hans to Elsa,
"I saw that Ross" said Elsa as they looked all around.
Strings of light, all of different colors hovered up above them, they seemed to be going in one direction which was where the crow was taking them.
"Snehvid" Elsa heard Hans gasp, turning she saw the expression of surprise in his face as he raised his arm and pointed at her.
At first Elsa looked behind thinking somebody was behind her, but when she saw nobody was she looked down at herself and gasped at what she saw.
Coming out of her chest was a single strand of icy blue color light, it went from her chest to her pinky finger and out towards where the lights were going, raising her eyes she looked at Hans before noticing that he too had a light string, but unlike hers which was icy blue his was green, much like the color of his eyes.
"You have one too" Elsa said as she pointed, looking at himself Hans saw that she was right,
"What is this?" Hans asked as he poked the string, it moved and flowed so he could not touch it,
"I don't know, I have never seen anything like this before" said Elsa as they continued their way, folloing the crow and lights.
Soon they came across a secluded ruin, and Elsa could only suppress a shudder as her shoes crunched on the rubble-covered ground. It was an eerie, foreboding place littered with broken stone statues and crumbling pillars that had been engraved in runes and some other undecipherable alphabet of a long-dead tongue. To make things worse, a thick fog had rolled in, making the already heavy atmosphere even more ominous.
It was here at this forsaken place that the light strands converged as they were absorbed into a large crystal orb that sat at the center of a crumbling stone dais and surrounding it were the dark rocks they had seen earlier that day.
Suddenly, there was a low rumble as one by one, the trolls dropped their disguises to reveal their true forms. Behind their hiding place, Elsa only barely managed to hold back a scream. Unlike their cousins from the Valley of the Living Rock, these trolls were absolutely hideous, especially with their craggy features, belligerent expressions, and jutting, yellow teeth. They wore ragged, rotting animal pelts for clothes and necklaces made of bones.
Elsa and Ross quickly ducked behind some moss-covered rubble. Given by the malevolent aura emanating from them, these trolls clearly up to no good. To make things worse, they were too close to flee quietly. Their best option was to wait and listen.
Grinning wickedly, the eldest troll, clearly the leader, strode towards the orb and reached into it. Much to the children's confusion, his hand phased through and he as he pulled it out, they could see him clutching a handful of colored strings, which he inspected one by one.
"I so do love the holidays," snickered a female troll, her voice raspy and grating, "The Winter Festival is just a smorgasbord of potential victims. As fun as it is to trick people into getting lost in the woods, nothing beats the thrill of meddling with the affairs of the heart."
"What are they talking about?" Ross whispered, only to have Elsa shush him as she inched closer to eavesdrop better.
"So which of these poor, unfortunate souls shall be our victims this time around?" asked a third troll who wore a necklace of jagged gem shards.
"That's a tough one," the female troll replied, sucking on her tooth. Just then, she grinned maliciously. "I've got it! What if we just pick a pair and trick them into becoming star-crossed lovers?"
Both Ross and Elsa froze at that. Having had read Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, they knew that being a pair of star-crossed lovers was never a good sign, even more so if it was to be caused by artificial means.
"Ooh, I like the sound of that," cackled the elder troll, clapping his hands in mean-spirited glee.
"We have to do something," Ross prompted, lightly nudging his companion. He did not like the idea of anyone – human, troll, or otherwise – corrupting an emotion as pure as love. His mother had always said that love was a concept that was important and special, and to tamper with it was a grievous sin.
The elder troll rifled through the strings. "Oh, how about these? They look perf–!" He yelped in outrage as his arm was hit by a freezing blast of magic.
"Ice?" Ross gasped, staring at his companion, his eyes wide with surprise. "What? You? H-how?"
"Long story," Elsa spat, glaring sharply at the trolls. All evidence led pointed to their involvement in the dispute between Mr. and Mrs. Olsen, and if her hunch was correct, most likely her parents too. To sow such discord was unforgivable as s they were hurting people in the worst way possible.
"We've been discovered!" snarled a male troll.
"So what?" scoffed another, "It's just a couple of brats, easy pickings if you ask me!" With a savage roar, he charged towards the children.
"Ross, look out!"
Snapping out of his daze, Hans quickly pushed Elsa aside and dodged to evade the attack. Adrenaline pumping hot in his veins, he grabbed a fallen branch to use as a makeshift cudgel and in one swift move, he swung it against the troll's back, knocking him down face first. "Hope you have a plan, Snehvid!"
"Yes, we fight." Elsa did not know where this newfound confidence was coming from, and this was probably the rashest thing she had ever done, but now was definitely not the time to ponder such things. They were sorely outnumbered– two children against six trolls, but if they had to die, she would much rather have them die fighting.
Yet another troll lunged at her, but Hans was faster. He parried the blow, allowing Elsa to counterattack with a wave of ice, freezing him in place.
"Thanks" said Elsa before shrieking and shooting ice behind Hans, freezing a troll,
"Thanks back" said Hans before they both began to fight the trolls off, though for Elsa it was easier as she had ice magic, then Hans yelled as one troll grabbed his stick, he yelled as he did a tug a war before letting go.
The stick went flying through the air, the trolls froze as they saw the stick soar towards the orb, they yelled as they ran to try and grab the stick but to use as it made contact with the orb breaking it.
Almost instantaneously, the clearing was engulfed in a flash of light so bright that both Elsa and Ross had to shield their eyes. All around them, they could hear the trolls' anguished screams as they were exposed to the blinding glare, and just as suddenly as that, the light died down and all was quiet.
Carefully peeking through the cracks of their fingers, both Elsa and Ross were baffled to see neither hide nor hair of the rogue trolls. Instead, they found themselves in a clearing full of dark, jagged rocks!
"Wow, so the stories were true…" Ross murmured. He had heard of how trolls turned into stone when exposed to light, but he has never expected to personally witness it himself. Dazedly, he reached out to touch one of the petrified trolls only for it to crumble into a pile of dust.
He stared at it dumbly for a good while, and after a few moments, his adrenalin-addled brain was able to register the gravity of their situation. "That was quite a stroke of luck, eh Snehvid?" he said, laughing nervously. "We make quite the team, don't we?"
"Yes, we sure do," Elsa replied, laughing as well. But then her jovial expression fell. "Ross, about the ice–"
"Was that your big secret?" he asked, although not unkindly. Elsa blinked at his this. She had expected him to hurl accusations or flee screaming, but he had done neither and merely stuck by her side without question. "It's okay," he went on, "It did startle me at first, but I think it's cool, no pun intended."
"I am afraid of hurting people... years ago I hurt my sister by accident...since then I decided its best to keep people out" said Elsa honestly,
"You should not" said Hans "Your powers make you unique, special and your sister..." He paused as if thinking before saying "I think you are hurting her more by doing what your doing now".
Elsa remained quiet as she though about it while they began to make their way out of the forest,
"You should not lock yourself out Snow and if it helps, we have been together for a long time and nothing bad happened" said Hans after a while to break the silence.
With that the unlikely pair made their way back to town, it was only when they were out that they realized how much time had passed as the sun had set leaving the skies dark.
"Oh no! Its night time! My parents are going to kill me!" Said Hans in a panic.
Elsa eyes were also wide in panic at that as well as she had been gone for far too much of a long time.
"I have to go!" said Elsa as she knew that her parents and palace staff surely noticed her being gone,
"Me too! But will I see you again?" said Hans as they quickly began to move towards the town,
"I don't know...you?" said Elsa unsure,
"Same" said Hans as they arrived to the towns fountain.
When Elsa was going to leave Hans stopped her,
"Wait..." he said before reaching into his pocket and holding something out "In case we do not, its a sea shell I found at the coast of Corona".
Taking it Elsa admired the sea shell, it was a pretty one as it was white with purple freckles on it. She smiled in delight as she had never she seen a sea shell before other than in books.
Pocketing it Elsa looked at her ungloved hand before opening it, gathering her ice magic there she shaped it and formed it before handing Hans the object "Something to remember me by, it will never melt".
Holding the object Hans smiled as he held it, it was a snow globe made out of ice, the base was hard blue ice, the globe was crystal clear while on the inside it had a mountains with a magnificent palace and a little flurry of snow.
"Thank you Snehvid, I will treasure it always" said Hans holding the snow globe close,
"No, thank you Ross and I to shall treasure this and our time together" said Elsa with a small smile.
No more words were spoken as they stared at one another for the longest time. It was as if they wanted to take a good look at one another so they would never forget how they looked before slowly backing away in opposite directions.
"Good bye Snehvid" said Hans softly,
"Good bye Rosenrod" said Elsa before they turned around and began to walk in opposite directions, Hans towards the docks and Elsa towards the palace of Arendelle.
Neither of them looking back as they felt that if they did they would hesitate to part.
Though if they had taken a moment to look the would have noticed their strands of light which were connected to one another.
Later at the Arendelle palace:
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself young lady?" said Agnarr sternly, his arms crossed as he looked at Elsa who was currently sitting on the center of her large bed.
Elsa said nothing at first as she played with her wet braided hair and straightned her night dress as she though, did she regret her little escape? No, she did not regretted it even if it got her in a lot of trouble. During the short time she had fun, she danced, she met somebody and most of all she was not afraid.
Looking Elsa said "I kmow what I did was wrong father, I worried you and mother, but I am not sorry for what I did" she paused then continued "I danced father, I was around people, I was not afraid and...I met the most wonderful person in the world and if I could do it again, I would change nothing in a heart beat"
Agnarr looked quite angry but before he said anything Iduna quickly intervene "What was the name of that person my dear?" She asked, true she was not happy that Elsa disappeared like that, but she was happy that her daughter did not stay cooped up in her room like she had bee doing for months.
Elsa looked and smiled before saying "Ross, his name is Rosenrod and he taught me that I should not be afraid of my ice magic rather embrace it...and.." She looked down before saying softly "That I was hurting Anna more by staying away...so from now on I will not stay locked up, I will go out and spend time with my sister, as I should have done from the very begining".
Iduna stared, her eyes teared up before she ran and embraced her daughter, instead of pulling away Elsa hugged her back happy, "Thank God Elsa, I am glad you want this now" said Iduna crying happy,
"I do mom, I really do" said Elsa as she burrie her head ontu her mothers shoulder, enjoying a hug which she had not gotten in a long time because of her fear of her powers.
The scene was so touching that even Agnarr's anger left and was replaced with happiness for his daughter.
Meanwhile:
"I am very disappointed in you young man" scolded Alexander as Hans sat on a stool in the middle of the boats cabin quietly while Amelia watched from the side of the room, she too was angry that Hans ran off like that, scaring them half to death.
"I am sorry father" said Hans quietly yet repsectfully,
"You should be! Do you have any idea how much you scared your mother and me when we woke up and we could not find you anywhere!" said Alexander "We though that you were kidnapped or worse!"
True he never liked to shout or punish Hans, he loved him like he would to any son, but he had to be firm as he wanted Hans safe and he could not let him do something like this again.
"I am sorry, but father, I had to go... I was meant to go this way as I met a girl, her name is Snow white, she is so beautiful and brave" said Hans then added with a smile "She taught me what real bravery was, it is facing your fears even though your scared, to do the right thing even if its not the easiest thing to do"
Alexander paused as he looked a bit surprised at the words which came out of his mouth, but it lasted for a bit before saying "Regardless what you did was wrong and you will be punished accourdingly, you will be a cabin boy till we get back to Corona".
Hans stared, for a moment both Alexander and Amelia though that he would cry and beg for then punishment to be taken off or something, but instead Hans nodded and said "Yes father, I did something wrong and its only fair that I be punished, I hope that you two forgive me for my actions"
Both parents stared shocked at Hans before he said "May I go to bed? Since I will have to get up early tomorrow to start my cabin boy duties".
Nodding slowly Alexander and Amelia let Hans go, once he left the room Alexander asked "What just happened?", Amelia just smiled and said "I think Hans is on his way to becoming an adult"
Sadly for both Elsa and Hans...It would take many more years before their paths would cross again...
The next day at the Arendelle palace:
Anna hummed as she merrily got out of bed, which was surprising as she usually always slept in, kicking off the covers and blankets she moved to get up only to be startled when she saw her big sister Elsa in the room.
She stood at the door in her night dress, seems as though she had been waiting for a while.
"Elsa?" asked Anna confused and a bit happy as she was glad to see her sister after so long,
"Hi Anna" said Elsa with a smile as she walked over, closer to her sister,
"What are you doing in my room?" asked Anna,
"I...was wondering...if you'd like to spend the day with me, we can play, talk" said Elsa then added "Build a snow man".
As soon as those words were uttered Anna's eyes lit up before she screamed "Yay!" then ran over and hugged Elsa tightly, for a moment she grew tensed before she relaxed and wrapped her arms around Anna.
"I missed you big sister" said Anna softly,
"And I you too" said Elsa as she pulled away and said "Come on, we have a lot to talk about",
"You can talk while you do my hair and I do yours next" said Anna happily.
The next few hours both girls laughed and giggled, Elsa told her story as she brushed Annas hair, by the end of it Anna shouted "I knew that a troll kissed me!",
"You were not kissed by a troll Anna" laughed Elsa.
To be continued...
Authors note: Such a sweet beginning, but how will this affect the future? You will have to wait and see. Please be on the look out for the new chapter and also if possible please leave a review and tell me what you think so far. All opinions matter.
