08. Night Ride

Once Sleipnir and Elsa had cleared the amphitheater's entry way, the snow-horse was able to pick up the pace. The Snow Queen wanted to get far away from the valley as quickly as possible, and her mount was extremely willing to oblige. He settled into a gait that, while fast, was still comfortable and safe for Elsa as they followed the tree-lined trail.

"We don't need to stick to the path, Sleipnir," said Elsa with a grin. Leaving that valley behind made her feel better already, and the thrill of riding the fastest horse that ever existed helped her to push the bad ending of the visit out of her mind. Viewing some of Arendelle's justly-famous rugged natural beauty would be the perfect way to wind down on the way back to the castle.

Sleipnir shared his creator's frame of mind. Once the low-lying tree branches and other forest debris, not to mention possibly other travelers, were out of the way, he would be free to do what he was made -intentionally or not- to do: fly without wings. With her ability to generate direct routes for his enormous, quick, tireless stride, there was almost nowhere in Arendelle that they could not reach in less than an hour, despite the steep mountains and dense forests. He twitched his ears to signal his willingness.

"Get ready for a mountaintop ride!" Elsa exhorted, and a perfectly pitched ramp of ice grew out of nothing in front of them. Like the ice spiral staircase in the volcano, it floated in the air, and only the section of the slope in immediate use existed: As soon as Sleipnir's rear hooves pushed off, the ice disappeared beneath them; just before his front hooves touched down, the ice sprang into being. The rhythm of formation, annihilation, and hoof beats was flawlessly timed. The snow-horse had no doubt that Elsa could levitate him, should she ever desire it, although since he preferred his feet to touch something as he ran, he wasn't going to request it.

They reached the top of the mountain ridge, and Elsa connected the peaks with elegant ice bridges. She allowed longer spans of these to hold their shape, now that there was more room to work in and no risk of accidentally hitting another wayfarer. Sleipnir stretched out his long neck as he accelerated, and Elsa gathered herself into a tucked position on his back, her braid and ice cape billowing behind her. The Snow Queen's joy manifested itself as a wide stream of snow, training behind her like a long, diffuse cloak of glittering white layered on top of her blue ice cape.

A group of ice harvesters working by lantern light on a frozen mountain lake noticed a white-blue light illuminating one of the crestlines alongside them. It was getting brighter and approaching fast.

One of the harvesters, a young acquaintance of Kristoff, drew a sharp breath in terror. "A ghost!" he rasped.

An older man laughed. "No, Dag, my lad! It's Queen Elsa!" He pointed to the snow-horse and rider as they became close enough to make out as they galloped over ice viaducts that sprang into existence and disintegrated with sparkling glows.

All the men, though as tough and unsentimental as their working environment, felt reverence and wonder as they watched the white horse and pale rider leaving a snowy wake against the blue-black night sky surmounted by a fan of twinkling stars. This was a sight each one of them would treasure for the remainder of their lives. Dag's heart was no longer entirely his own, and he stared longingly well after the vision had sped out of view.

"We'll have to ask Kristoff to arrange a meeting for you, Dag!" the older man teased good-naturedly as the harvesters set back to their task.

"Oh, stow it, Einar," Dag said with an embarrassed grin. "A man can appreciate nature's miracles."

"That he can. So long as he also remembers he cannot tame them," Einar said. " 'Beautiful, powerful, dangerous, cold!' "

At that cue, the other harvesters struck up their old work song. Only the stars shone above the mountaintops for the rest of the night.

Elsa had never noticed the crew. She was again feeling one with the wind and sky, completely in harmony with her mount. They were taking a fairly straight course back to town, and it wasn't long before they reached the sheer cliffs of the fjord. Without the slightest hitch in his stride, Sleipnir leapt out over the drop-off, and a gently sloped ice ramp down to sea level met his hooves with precise timing.

As they neared the end of the ramp, the water ahead froze over, and Sleipnir made a surefooted hairpin turn back toward the settlement nestled around the rim of the fjord. Once again, Elsa's command of her magic was perfect; only the surface of the water directly underneath the snow-horse froze, and it returned to its liquid state as soon as they had passed. Whatever had happened when Grand Pabbie touched her was not affecting any other aspect of her control tonight.

They were nearly upon dry ground, and with an impressive jump, Sleipnir cleared some breakwater rubble and landed gingerly on a grassy patch, slowing to a walk in two steps. By design, they had arrived close to the Royal Stables, where Sleipnir generally stayed, even though he had no real reason to, other than to lord it over the stable staff and ordinary horses. Elsa dismounted and caressed his muzzle, removing his tack with a wave of her hand.

Together, the Snow Queen and the snow-horse approached the paddock. Elsa knew the stable doors were probably locked for the night and didn't want to wake the grooms, so she unlatched the gate to the paddock and left Sleipnir inside. He didn't need any of the care and feeding that normal horses required. Nor was anyone going to steal him. The stablehands would let him in his stall when they saw him in the morning. She curled her hand closed and reopened it, materializing three ice cubes, and offered them to her steed. He took them tenderly. She stroked his cheek. "Good night, Sleipnir. I'll check on you tomorrow."

"Good night, Elsa," the snow-horse replied. His voice was surprisingly thin and soft, as though coming from far in the distance. He didn't often talk, and when he did, it was usually only when he and Elsa were by themselves. "Sleep well."

Sleep sounded like a very good idea right now. She reached over the fence, gave him a pat on the neck, and turned toward the castle. The glow of her magic had alerted the night guards that she had arrived back earlier than she had told them she planned to. The tall doors were already open for her, the uniformed men standing at stiff attention as entered. "Welcome back, Your Majesty," the chief of the night watch said.

"Thank you. Princess Anna and Ice Master Bjorgman will return sometime tomorrow morning as originally scheduled. Please tell Kai that I want to wake up at six o'clock. May the rest of the night be uneventful for you," Elsa told him as she strode in. The doors shut firmly behind her.

"Yes, Your Majesty," he said with a brisk nod.

It was a relatively quick trip up the staircase to the royal family residence level, and a little farther down a hall to her bedroom, her prison, her sanctuary. It was a complicated and changeable relationship. Right now, Elsa and her bedroom were on good terms. She entered and closed the door, the sound was no longer as bleak as it once was. She did not lock it.

To get cleaned up, she blasted herself with a tight tornado of fine ice and powdery snow, scrubbing away the grit and grime from the day. She deposited the swirl in the tub, where she annihilated the frozen water and left the residue before rinsing it down the drain. While she could erase her own snow and ice from existence, she had no such power over any dirt and dust that might be mixed in.

A slight wave of her hand altered her ice-dress and cape to an ice nightgown, and she unceremoniously plopped herself on her bed, not bothering to turn down the covers. It was not quite midnight; the start of Monday's business was still well away. Within a few minutes, the Queen of Arendelle was fast asleep.

Author's Note - Think of something like the first flying bicycle scene from "E.T." except without the moon (because Elsa, Sleipnir, and Elsa's ice constructions are light-colored and/or give off a glow). The soundtrack is something like "Evergreen" by Two Steps From Hell.