17. A Skilling For Your Thoughts

Professor Holmboe stared at the sum Elsa had written and ran his hand through his tousled hair. "What a waste to put a crown on that head," he said to no one in particular.

"Were you talking with her about this before?" asked Mandelbaum.

"No," answered Holmboe. "The moment she walked through the door was, to the best of my knowledge, the first time she saw this question. And then she spent the whole meeting sitting with her back to it... Even Gauss himself currently does not think such a function is possible."

"Is she right?" asked Sinibaldo.

"I will need more time to analyze it ... but being familiar with Queen Elsa ... it's safe it assume that she is," Holmboe said slowly as he tried to work it through in his head.

"Does Her Majesty often do things like this?" wondered Scurr.

"Oh, only with certain subjects," Holmboe said with a smile. "With other matters, she is like a babe lost in the woods. We find it quite endearing."

"So you're not afraid of her?" angled Newark.

"Heavens, no," Holmboe said bluntly. "You are much safer working with Her Majesty than you are with nitrogen trichloride and hydrogen fluoride and suchlike. The Snow Queen is self-aware and communicates and cares about your well-being whereas all these impersonal chemicals and reactions obviously are not and cannot."

"Good point," Homberg allowed. "There are certain advantages to a force of nature that can reason and empathize and has self-control."

"You'll see there's nothing to worry about," Holmboe encouraged. "But now I really must ask you to make way for my students."

They filed out, putting their magic ice samples in their satchels or coat pockets, and each seemed lost in his or her own thoughts.

"Not quite what I was expecting," Papadopoulos chuckled. "But then again, I really didn't know what to expect."

"I was expecting someone a little more ... feral," said Homberg. "I guess I forgot that she was raised a princess."

"A perfectly genteel royal with the power to create, annihilate, and manipulate forms of frozen water with a mere thought, and to instantly remove and restore the thermal energy in a system at will - or by accident," remarked Newark.

"Sir, perhaps you shouldn't be here if you are that anxious," Scurr stated. He was not overly fond of Myrcia, either.

"Or that suspicious," Duffin added. She was definitely not fond of Myrcia.

"I did not mean to antagonize, my fellows," Newark said placatingly. "It was merely an observation of known facts. Substantiated proof of such power is beyond astonishing, as I'm sure Miss Duffin knows better than anyone else. Now if you will excuse me, I am headed to the library to see what our predecessors have to say about the Snow Queen." He sauntered off toward the stairs.

"I am, too," said Sinibaldo. "Although now I am more interested to explore what Queen Elsa seems to know 'effortlessly.' She could possibly expand our understanding of thermodynamics not via experimentation with her magic but rather by simply asking her the right questions."

"Going to town to look for Olaf," volunteered Papadopoulos.

"Me, too," said Homberg. "I have never tracked down a free-ranging snowman before." The Prussian naturalist and Greek priest left together, striking up a conversation about the birds of the Peloponnese.

"We should see what's in the library, too, Waclaw," Mandelbaum said to his assistant. "Although I doubt I will find anything that will help me with my most pressing problem."

"Which is, sir?" Kowalczyk asked.

"How to prepare my wife for Queen Elsa's manner of dress," Mandelbaum said with a self-deprecating smile. Kowalczyk laughed into his hand.

"If you hit upon a solution, please share it with me, Prof. Mandelbaum," said Scurr said with a commiserating grin. "I would hate for Irene to make a scene at tonight's dinner."

"Gentlemen, I have a feeling your wives will handle it better than you think they will," Duffin said with a smirk. "Now, your daughters, on the other hand, might be a bit on the impressionable side."

"Oy, vey. I didn't even think of that," Mandelbaum said, eyes wide. Kowalczyk blushed slightly.

"Fortunately, Beatrice is not old enough to pick out her own outfits," Scurr said with relief. "And won't be for a long time, if her mother has anything to do about it."

"They say the first forty years of being a parent are the hardest," Duffin teased. The fathers laughed nervously.

"Come on, Waclaw. Let's see how much we can glean before the Queen does whatever is planned at the waterfront," Mandelbaum said as he nodded to Duffin and Scurr, and the Poles took their leave.

"And you?" Scurr asked Duffin.

"I am going to town to do more research on Arendelle's general history," Duffin told him, "although I would love to find some people who have been here long enough to remember Queen Elsa's birth or at least the time before the gates were shut. If she really was born with powers that strong and yet the populace didn't suspect they had a magical princess, there is obviously more to the story."

"And what eight year old has the mental and emotional capacity to make a decision about isolating herself? What kind of parents would stand for it?" mused Scurr. "My son is nine and as bright as he is, the most serious thing we let him determine for himself is what book to read."

"I hope to find out more tomorrow, but the Queen is certainly ... different," ventured Duffin. "To see so much real magic on display is a dream. For years, I have traveled around the whole world in my search; and before I came here, I had seen precisely three artifacts that have any kind of genuine magical powers or provenance, and only one other person who has shown any evidence whatsoever of having magical powers. Only twice have I strongly suspected that someone was hiding some form of real magic from me. And only a handful of reports from by-gone days that have enough backing to make me think there is even a little truth behind them."

"By the time you leave Arendelle, you'll be sick of magic," Scurr bantered.

"Doctor, I will never be sick of magic," Duffin said in a mock offended tone. "Maybe sick of frauds and wild goose chases and legends with absolutely no proof, but never of real magic. So where are you off to now?"

"To town as well," he said. "I would like to meet Olaf. And I would like to hear what the locals think of their Queen overall; I am curious about what Holmboe said about Her Majesty being like 'a babe lost in the woods' in some things. Judging from what I saw this morning, I wouldn't think it possible."

They exited the building, and took the quick way down back to the old part of town. The commercial district seemed like a promising place to start, with the food stalls a top priority. Right now, finding a bite to eat was just as appealing as finding a talkative native. They stopped in front of a greengrocers' storefront, where an enticing selection of fruits and vegetables was on offer. A tall young man with sandy blond hair and a physique that suggested he made his living lifting heavy objects and had been doing so for a long time was looking over the carrots while the middle-aged shopkeeper was trying to interest him in the exotic oranges and prickly pears.

"They keep pretty well and they're very easy to eat on the go," the merchant said to the young man.

"Yes, but would Sven like them?" the young man asked.

"You'd know that better than I would. I'll tell you what, buy an orange and I'll give you one cactus fruit for free," the shopkeeper proposed. "If you and Sven like them, come back and buy more."

"Excuse me," interrupted Scurr, seeing the opening. "What does the cactus fruit taste like?"

"Oh, hello, sir," greeted the grocer. "Sorry, I didn't notice you come up. The prickly pear, as it's also known, tastes a lot like a melon. It's got small seeds throughout that you just eat along with the flesh, so if your teeth or digestion are bad, you may want to pass it."

"Well, thanks for warning me, Bjarne," the young man said with a laugh.

"Kristoff, we both know there is nothing wrong with your teeth or digestion. Or Sven's, for that matter," the merchant riposted with a smile.

These two were clearly at ease with each other. "I'd like to try one," said Duffin, also seeing the opening. "How much?"

"One skilling for five," Bjarne said.

Duffin reached for her money pouch but then remembered something important. "I am out of Arendellian currency. I used up what I had on Sunday and the bank wasn't open..." She looked hopefully at Scurr.

"Irene has all of ours. She took the children to do some shopping and sightseeing today," Scurr said with a wince, feeling like a fool. Their opening seemed to have closed.

"Tourists," Kristoff said with faux disdain.

"What currency do you have, ma'am?" Bjarne asked.

"Lothian shillings and pounds," Duffin said sheepishly.

"Hold on a minute, please," Bjarne said as he retreated inside his store.

"Been in town long?" Kristoff asked.

"We made port early Saturday," Duffin said. "My name is Carol, by the way."

"And I'm John," Scurr added.

"Nice to meet you. As you probably figured out, I'm Kristoff. And Bjarne there will be right back; I think he's checking his currency converter sheet. Don't feel embarrassed. This kind of thing happens all the time, and we've gotten used to it. Your currency isn't obscure, so you'll be fine," Kristoff reassured her.

"Your economy seems to be booming under Queen Elsa's rule," Scurr put forth. The opening had reappeared. "She must have quite the head for business."

"Understatements of the decade," Kristoff said with a level of amusement that was puzzling to the Western Islanders.

Bjarne resurfaced. "You're in luck, ma'am," he said as pointed out a line on a broadsheet to her. "The latest rate is five Lothian shillings for three Arendellian skillings, and that includes all fees. I'll be happy to exchange ten of your shillings even if you don't buy anything, but for any more than that you'll need to go to the bank."

"Thank you, sir," Duffin said sincerely as she rummaged through her pouch for the money. "I'll take you up on the exchange, and I'd like to try the prickly pears, one skilling for five."

Bjarne took her Lothian coins and returned with her Arendellian change and gave her her pick of the fruit. She held two of them out to Kristoff and Scurr, who took them gingerly and inspected them for spikes.

"Oh, they've been removed already," Bjarne said with slight annoyance. "What kind of establishment do you think I run? Just peel 'em like so and eat 'em. The waste bin is in the corner there."

"These are just like watermelon," Scurr remarked with pleasant surprise.

"And in a convenient package," Bjarne encouraged. "These come all the way from Spain, along with the oranges, courtesy of Queen Elsa's ice."

"So I take it you don't mind her magic powers," Scurr said nonchalantly as he finished the juicy fruit.

Bjarne exchanged a look with Kristoff. "Considering that her magic ice is what gets a lot of our imported produce here with little to no spoilage-"

"Well, look at the city boy, out of bed before noon!" an affectionately boisterous voice interrupted.

They all turned to see who spoke, and Kristoff grinned broadly at two men with builds not unlike his own, one of them about Kristoff's age and the other seemed to be a little older than Bjarne. "I'm shocked they let you two in town without a chaperone, Einar."

Scurr and Duffin looked at each other, then at the newcomers. The more, the merrier.

"Blame it on the open gate policy," the older of the two men jested as he walked up to look at Bjarne's stock.

"I'm surprised they don't close the gates when they see you coming," Kristoff chuckled.

"They run away when they see us coming," quipped Einar. "Those city boys are too soft. There needs to be more mountain boys like Dag in the ranks." The last sentence was said with an oddly serious tone, considering Einar's previous jovial mood. The younger man next to Einar looked at his feet.

"So what are you doing in town? Checking on Åsa?" asked Kristoff.

"That and dropping off a load. One of our last big ones before it gets too stormy for shipping and too cold for the townsfolk to need ice," Einar replied.

"Wait, you're ice harvesters?" Scurr asked incredulously.

"At your service, sir," said Einar, doffing his cap.

"What on earth does Arendelle need ice harvesters for? Your Queen can create it by the ton in an instant!" Scurr exclaimed.

Kristoff, Einar, and Bjarne exchanged bemused looks. The older men shrugged and let Kristoff handle the lesson.

"Because she would put a lot of people immediately out of work if she did that," Kristoff explained patiently.

"But Bjarne just said that Queen Elsa's ice is used to bring in fruit from far away," Duffin pointed out.

"That's special ice, ice that's cold but never melts, and it isn't for sale to the general public. It's available only by special dispensation-" Kristoff said.

"Overseen by the Royal Ice Master and Deliverer!" Einar broke in. Kristoff shot him a displeased look. He actually didn't mind interacting with tourists when they didn't know who he was. Anna likewise relished the chance to not be "the Princess," if only for a few minutes. He was sure Elsa would feel the same way if she ever had the unlikely opportunity to pull it off.

"-and usually reserved for our merchant and fishing fleets," Kristoff continued. "We use it to bring in perishable food and ship out fish and natural ice, and we are contracted by other countries to import and export their goods that need to be kept cool. There's no sense in trying to steal it because the Queen makes the ice so that if it ever leaves the ship, it vanishes. Plus, there's currently still a market for natural ice because some people, especially from foreign countries, aren't too sure about the safety of consuming her magic meltable ice."

"The Queen is that thoughtful?" Scurr asked, quietly impressed.

"Even better," Einar interjected. "She's told us that our days harvesting ice are numbered anyhow. That some mad scientist has already made ice using some kind of mechanical gadget and that it won't be too long before there's no need for us, with or without her magic. So she's offered all of us and our families a chance to learn a new trade or two at that university up on the hill. Pays our way, even gives us a living expenses stipend while we're at it. I don't know where she finds the money."

"It's from the royalties she gets for the use of her magic ice," Kristoff said.

"Well, that's even nicer of her, then," Einar praised. "My daughter Åsa is studying there right now. And this old dog might try to learn a new trick that's easier on my back and knees. I'd like to get this blockhead to join me in going there this winter." Einar gave Dag an encouraging nudge.

"I don't know, Einar," Dag said self-consciously. "I've never been to a real school..."

"Tut," Einar consoled him. "Neither have I. Neither had Åsa or a lot of the other mountain folk going there. Besides, there's a better chance of seeing Queen Elsa again if you're in town than if you stay out on a frozen lake."

Dag turned a shade of red that would have made the beets in Bjarne's shop green with envy. "Oh, hush, Einar!" he pleaded helplessly.

"We saw her last night, you know," Einar proudly told everyone. "Riding some kind of snow-horse over the mountains. Literally over the mountains."

Scurr and Duffin looked at each other again.

"Really?" asked Kristoff with perfectly convincing skepticism. He made a mental note to tell Elsa that she might want to be a little more discreet the next time she took a night ride to or from the Valley of the Living Rock. The trolls valued their privacy, and it wouldn't do for the Snow Queen to draw attention to their location.

"Yes, really," Einar rebutted. "Dag was ready to ask her to stay for dinner, but the lady was in a hurry."

"Einar, please, please be quiet," Dag implored, wishing he could dig a hole and hide in it. "I just never saw anything like that before..."

"All right, lad. Fair enough," Einar relented. Dag was like son to him. It was one thing to mortify the young man when they were amongst their fellow ice harvesters, but quite another to do it in the presence of strangers. "The rest of us were bedazzled, too. I must admit that the Snow Queen has been responsible for all of the unbelievable things I've ever been caught up in."

"Have you seen much of her magic?" Duffin asked, hoping that she had found an eyewitness to one of Elsa's early displays.

"Not as much as some that live here in town," Einar admitted, staring hard at Kristoff. "I saw her riding last night; and of course the Winter In July and the Great Thaw last year; and whatever that blizzard was when she was born."

"What blizzard when she was born?" Duffin asked casually, but inwardly she was whooping.

"I don't know what it was like here in town, but out in the country it was like the snow was ... dancing," Einar said, clearly still in awe. "The flurries would swirl, and the individual flakes would spin, but none of it ever seemed to stay on the ground for long. The wind would pick it back up. And there was this weird light to it. At the time, we thought it was from the aurora borealis that was peeking through the clouds. Then, the snow just stopped and everything was coated with ice crystals and frost. The clouds suddenly rolled out and all that was left was the aurora, the biggest I've ever seen, stretched across the whole night sky, shining on the ice. The ice and frost were gone by dawn."

"Whoa," gasped Scurr and Duffin. Even though Kristoff and Dag had heard the tale before, they also couldn't help listening raptly.

"It was just like that here in town, too," corroborated Bjarne with a faraway look. "Not long after the ice and frost appeared, they rang the church bells to announce the birth of the King's grandchild. We were all making jokes about a royal baby being born on the Winter Solstice during the most unusual blizzard and the biggest aurora that anyone could remember."

"So you suspected all along that Queen Elsa was magical?" Duffin asked.

"Oh, no, ma'am. It was just joking about the portents for the future. Nobody thought the baby had or would have the power to control ice and snow," Bjarne clarified. "Although I guess most of us who remember that day wrapped our minds around it quicker than some of the others did when her powers finally cut loose."

"Yeah, some of the younger ice harvesters -not Dag, by the way- were gibbering idiots for about a week after the Winter and Great Thaw," Einar recalled. "Of course, some of that could have been fear of being put out of business. But then we found out she was on our side, so we don't worry or think too hard about it. No offense meant to present company, but it's the city folk, especially the foreigners, who are the ones who need fancy explanations and smelling salts. Us mountain folk and old-timers know that sometimes it's best to just accept and respect nature rather than trying to discover all its secrets or thinking it can be brought to heel."

"So I guess there's no point in asking you where the Queen's powers come from," Scurr said bashfully.

"Eh, I personally think she's a nature spirit," Einar said with a shrug. "But now don't go asking me 'What's a nature spirit? Where do nature spirits come from? How did a nature spirit get in a human body?' You can turn it into questions all the way down. We've got to have starting points that we just take to be true."

"The Queen calls them 'axioms' and 'postulates,' " Kristoff reflected and immediately regretted it as Duffin and Scurr gave him their complete attention.

"You've heard the Queen talk about mathematics?" Scurr asked.

"Well, not very often, and it usually goes way over my head when she does," Kristoff said, trying to sound very off-hand and hoping hard that his stint as an anonymous local was not about to come to an abrupt end. Einar was looking at him very mischievously.

"Einar, I hate to break up this conversation," Dag interjected while holding Kristoff's gaze, "but Åsa should be getting out of class soon. And we still need to buy our supplies." Kristoff nodded thankfully to him.

"Right you are, lad," Einar said; the mention of his daughter's name brought the purpose of his visit to town back into focus. They picked out their produce, including some prickly pears on the recommendation of Duffin, Scurr, and Kristoff.

"The total comes to seven skillings, gents," said Bjarne.

Duffin immediately handed over the money. The Arendellians looked at her in surprise. "I'd like to thank you. You have been very patient with us," she said humbly.

"It's not necessary, ma'am," said Einar. "It was just talking."

"I insist," she said firmly. "You were very informative."

"Well, thank you, ma'am," Einar said gratefully. "Maybe we'll meet at the Harvest Festival, and I can bend your ear some more."

"I'd like that very much," Duffin said sincerely, recognizing a rich source of local lore, magic or mundane, when she saw one. She turned to Kristoff. "I'm sorry I only have two skillings left, so I'll have to make it up to you after I go to the bank."

"Please don't worry about it, ma'am," Kristoff said.

"Yes, don't worry about it," Einar said with a devious smile as he shouldered the bag with his provisions. "The Royal Ice Master and Deliverer there gets paid a fine salary, with a lot of perks on the side. Come on, Dag, let's be off."

Dag gave Kristoff a sympathetic look, and then doffed his cap to the visitors and Bjarne. The two walked off down the lane.

"The Royal Ice Master and Deliverer?" asked Duffin, astounded. "You're that Kristoff?"