07. PollyAnna

All the trolls gaped in astonishment. The huge snow-horse stared down at them with unconcealed contempt. This was obviously Sleipnir.

Even though Anna and Kristoff were used to seeing his teleportation arrival, there was still something disconcerting about it. As a matter of fact, Anna had been unnerved by the snow-horse from the moment of his unexpected creation. And perhaps she felt a little bit guilty about possibly pushing her sister to inadvertently make him.

While Elsa had made great time in learning to do many of the everyday things, like riding a bicycle, that she had missed out on during her years of isolation, her attempts to ride a horse had proved to be futile. The horses were simply too spooked in her presence. No amount of patient, quiet introductions, no quantity of treats made a difference, even with the most easy-going and well-trained ones. They had also tried using Sven as a role model to demonstrate to the other animals that Elsa was not a threat, but to no avail.

Anna was more frustrated by this than Elsa was. It limited their outings together to places that could be reached on foot in much less than half a day or that were serviced by a road decent enough for a bicycle to manage, or it required a carriage and all the associated personnel and other encumbrances - no chance of slipping away for a longer adventure off the beaten path without the castle staff knowing. And even with a carriage or wagon, the horses were still on the nervous and fitful side.

One day, after another fruitless attempt to gain the trust of any of the mounts, Anna made a few comments that may have been hurtful and unfair. Something along the lines of how incompetent the oh-so graceful and powerful Queen must be to fail to do something that clumsy and silly Anna (not to mention almost everyone else, from high-born to commoner) had mastered at an early age, or perhaps Elsa was just feigning inability in order to avoid doing things that Anna wanted to do with her.

With the stable staff looking on, Elsa had refused to respond and withdrew. She kept to her bedroom and office, speaking only when absolutely necessary and declining all food, for two days; Anna's awkward attempts at apologizing went unacknowledged.

On the third day, when Anna found her sister leaning on the paddock fence, she expressed her remorse again, and this time Elsa gave a slight nod of her head and a soft sigh. The Snow Queen had stared off into the distance and then moved her hands with a flourish, a gesture somewhere between conducting music and sculpting clay. And a magnificent snow-horse was formed: tall and athletically muscular, perfect conformation for a Thoroughbred, the body was white with just the faintest touch of blue while the hooves, mane, and tail were pure white. Once the glow of her magic had faded, his eyes opened -eyes that were the same blue as Elsa's- and he trotted over to his very surprised maker with an attentive and inquisitive expression.

And then he saw Anna and sneered. Once the snow-horse was sure Anna knew where she stood in his assessment, he ignored her and returned to Elsa, who stroked his head and whispered a tender greeting to him. From that moment forth, Sleipnir's affection and compliance were reserved solely for Elsa. The only other living things he found worthy of a respectful tolerance were Sven, Olaf, Marshmallow, and the Snowgies.

Anna was certain even then that there was definitely something from Elsa's subconscious involved, especially once they discovered Sleipnir's ability to teleport to Elsa. It was a marvelous feature, particularly from Elsa's point of view, but it was also kind of creepy.

Right now, Sleipnir had no interest in anything other than his rider. With astounding agility, he turned and navigated the amphitheater's opening before racing off into the night.

All of the trolls except Grand Pabbie and Bulda dispersed throughout the amphitheater, some of them talking amongst themselves, others returning to the ice playground equipment and sculptures. Olaf retrieved some carrots from the picnic basket and began feeding them to Sven.

"That did not go as well as it could have," said Anna.

"But not as badly as it could have," said Kristoff. "Are you sure you're all right, Grand Pabbie?"

"Physically, yes. But I admit that I am troubled," said the old troll. "I need to think long and deeply about all of tonight's events. There is strange and strong magic at work here."

"Will Elsa be OK?" asked Anna, wondering if they should go after her sister, not that they had any chance of catching up with Sleipnir.

"For the time being. Listen to me, Anna," Grand Pabbie said with great gravity. "Do not push your sister too much, even if you mean well by it. She has become incredibly powerful. Elsa is easily the strongest of any magical human in my experience; she rivals the very greatest naturally magical beings of old. And her might will only grow. Her innocence also ended much too soon and much too traumatically. That she never surrendered to the darkness is a testament to her spirit and a sign of hope for the future, but such a battle always leaves its marks. She is on the right path, though. Let her take things at her own pace, for your sake even more than hers."

Kristoff felt a chill that had nothing to do with the night air. Incredibly powerful magical humans and caring-but-impulsive siblings had already proved to be a disastrous combination. He was tempted to carve Grand Pabbie's warning in stone and place it somewhere prominent in Anna's bedroom. He also resolved to tell Elsa about this admonition as soon as he had the chance.

"But sometimes she needs a push," Anna insisted. "She gets so wrapped up in work."

"There is a difference between getting Elsa to take a break and harassing her to do things she doesn't want or isn't ready to do," Kristoff explained.

"OK, OK, I get it. Don't throw snowballs at the person who can turn you into an ice statue," Anna said flippantly. "Her control is nowhere near as bad as she says it is. She puts up with all kinds of irritation without so much as a flurry. Sure, she had a few moments when her subconscious told her magic what to do, but it never did anything dangerous, and I'm pretty sure it never will. This is Elsa we're talking about. The only times she has really hurt somebody are when she's scared that somebody is going to get hurt."

"And you've been that somebody both times, Feisty Pants!" Kristoff exclaimed.

"Then I know what I'm talking about, don't I? Look, if I'm not worried about Elsa's control, at least right now, then nobody else should be either. And Grand Pabbie just told her she needs to embrace all of her emotions to learn better control. Who better to help get her to do that than me?"

"Grand Pabbie also said Elsa would make mistakes learning how to do that!" Kristoff knew his girlfriend could be very single-minded on certain subjects, and he was beginning to suspect that the "do not push" warning had planted a seed in Anna that would lead to the opposite result. And why wasn't Grand Pabbie saying anything now to make Anna understand? Kristoff looked over at his adoptive grandfather, but the old troll was silent and expressionless. Maybe he was still a little out of sorts from being shocked.

Anna did not like all this pessimism. "They will only be bad mistakes if she's afraid of making a bad mistake!" she persisted. "If Elsa is feeling positive, they will be serpentidious mistakes."

"You mean 'serendipitous!' " Kristoff edited.

"Whatever. Besides, I think Grand Pabbie took her whining tonight too seriously," Anna went on. "This is Elsa we're talking about; she whines if she doesn't dot an i perfectly. So she messed up on three things in more than a year. One of those times she was sick somehow or other, but still made snowmen that are harmless and cute. And another time it was just a few little cracks on stones that will get cracks over time anyway. And the third time she made a serpentidious ... sereptid ... oh, forget it - a really useful snow-horse, even if he has a rotten disposition.

"It's already late September, and she's only had two panic attacks this year. She knows how to seal herself off, and she can clear away what she does during them. I mean, I feel horrible for her while it's happening because it seems like it's agonizing, but she claims it doesn't physically hurt, and she lets us comfort her afterward. So it's not at all like the 'end of the world.'

"Elsa loves her magic again and has people who support her, and that makes all the difference. She can do anything if she puts her mind to it and gets the right encouragement. She just knocked out a volcano in a few minutes! You've seen how she's using her powers to upgrade the harbor, what she's done to improve the mountain roads and passes, and the stuff she does at the magic shows. She's great! Her problem isn't that she's dangerous and lacks control and is going to wipe out all life in the cosmos; it's that she can't see and really accept how great she is."

Anna gave everyone a "So there!" nod. Kristoff knew better than to say anything to the contrary after a "So there!" nod. But he desperately wanted to remind Anna that Grand Pabbie told Elsa to embrace even her negative emotions, which would include things like fear and rage. He would definitely try to bring it up later, when Anna was in a less preachy mood.

"What magic shows?" Grand Pabbie finally spoke up. Kristoff could not fathom the troll's disinterest in the rest of Anna's impassioned speech.

"Oh, Elsa gives a magic show every Saturday during tourist season. Olaf and Sven are in it, too, with short comedy skits," Anna said brightly. "We have less than a month left before the sea gets too stormy, so if you want to see one you'd better do it soon or you'll have to wait until next year. We can probably set up a hidden spot for you to watch from."

"What tourist season?" Grand Pabbie asked.

"Now that the word is out about Elsa's magical powers, a lot of people want to see for themselves. So they come from all over by the boatloads. It's been fantastic for our economy. And considering that a lot of Elsa's other policies already gave a big boost, our citizens are thrilled she's the Queen. We've had to build more inns and hotels, and some people rent out spare rooms in their homes. The Minister of Tourism said that we've had over three thousand non-diplomatic visitors to Arendelle this year."

"So people come from far away to see Elsa's magic ... and she performs for them?" Grand Pabbie asked with delighted amazement. From viewing and changing Anna's early childhood memories, he knew that Elsa was a natural-born entertainer, at least when she felt at ease in the company of someone. Although that inclination had been curbed by circumstances in the intervening years, it was evidently still there. This gave him even more to think about.

"Well, yeah," said Anna. "She didn't exactly want to at first, because she has more than enough to do being the Queen, but it's only an hour and a half show. Even though she will never admit it, she likes doing it. And the more she uses her magic in front of other people, the less scared she is of using it in front of other people, so the less of a chance there is of zapping somebody or freezing the world. Kristoff and I have seen how good her control is under pressure with everybody watching."

Kristoff sighed and fished another carrot out of the basket and offered Sven the tip end before crunching thoughtfully on the rest. He and Elsa would need to be on guard. Fortunately, the Queen of Arendelle excelled at contingency planning.

A group of troll children chose this moment to ask him and Anna to push them on an ice swing set. Quite frankly, he was ready for something to lighten the mood before trying to get a little sleep. Anna seemed to be on the same wavelength. They smiled shyly at each other before helping the youngsters on to the swings. Sven joined in, using his antlers to push two trolls at a time.

Bulda and Olaf remained close to Grand Pabbie, who was ready for a serious meditation session. He waddled over to another of Elsa's ice sculptures, a snowflake. There were a few different (of course) snowflakes among the ones she made for the trolls, but this one seemed surprisingly simplistic compared with the others.

It looked like an equilateral triangle that had smaller equilateral triangles growing out of the middles of each of its sides. On the smaller equilateral triangles were yet smaller ones growing out of the middles of their sides. Then Grand Pabbie held it closer to get a better look at the details. His breath caught.

He conjured a viewing orb to magnify the sculpture beyond what his naked eyes could see. He selected one edge of the snowflake and zoomed in repeatedly. There was no end to the ever smaller triangles, no limit to the detail. He did this with the other five edges and got the same result, no matter what section he looked at or how much he magnified it.

"What is that, Pabbie?" asked Bulda. "It's beautiful. It looks like it goes on forever."

"I think it does," said Grand Pabbie, somewhat hoarse with awe. "Elsa made an infinitely detailed sculpture."

"Oh, she makes that one and other stuff like it all the time," Olaf said casually. "She calls them fractals. She's tried to explain them to us, but I don't understand equations. Or math. Only the nice professors and scientists seem to understand her a little bit when she talks about things like 'self-similarity' and 'expanding symmetry' and 'nowhere differentiable' and 'continuous process.' They say Elsa is a genius, but I think they're wrong because even though she's magical, she doesn't live in bottle."

"Olaf, sweetie, you're thinking of a genie. A genius is something else," said Bulda with a laugh.

"Yes," Grand Pabbie concurred. "Elsa is something else." He had a lot to think about.

Author's Note - The ice sculpture I'm trying to describe is, of course, the Koch snowflake. ( wiki/Koch_snowflake ).

Also, Sleipnir should not look like a "cartoon" horse. Imagine him to look just like Secretariat, except white and slightly taller, and without the kind expression unless he's looking at Elsa.