Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: Written: 2019 - Licia

"You're sure it's her crown? Positive?"

The ice harvester nodded, and Elsa felt her heart began to pound. A moment passed, before he nodded, more sure than before. "I'm sure. It looks exactly like your diadem, snowflakes and all, just... smaller sized, so I think it fits into it. And judging from the diadem," He nodded towards the crown in her hands. "I think it's the missing piece."

"That's perfect." Her voice was so soft, he almost didn't hear it. After a moment, she slipped the diadem back into the bag at her waist and turned back to him. "So you believe me?" A moment passed, before eventually, he nodded.

"To an extent. I still don't see-" He stopped, sighing. "The trolls are my family. They took me in when I had no one. Bulda and Pabbie and-" He swallowed thickly. "They're the only family I have, Elsa."

"And I understand that, Kristoff," She replied, reaching out to take his hand. "But those same trolls who raised you, stole my sister from me, replaced her with a changeling... they've been reeking havoc ever since the death of the Prin-" She stopped, shaking her head. No, that wasn't right. The princess's death occurred before the queen's. "They've been reeking havoc above ground ever since the death of the queen and her son. It was her murder and his suicide that brought them out; their blood upon the stones that called them up to feast. And they have been targeting the Arendelle royals ever since, killing the daughters born of fair skin, blue eyes and blonde hair, never stealing, just killing. Drowning them," She furrowed a brow. "But why drowning? The trolls should know nothing of what happened to the princess at the river, if they were underground-"

Kristoff studied her, saw the worry in her blue eyes, the tension in her jaw. She was still beautiful, for Elsa had always been beautiful. She had gone from a scrawny, awkward little girl unable to control her magic to a gorgeous young woman with a firm grasp on her powers; going from an educated, yet unprepared newly-crowned queen at the tender age of twenty-one to one of the strongest, most revered rulers in her four short years upon the throne, and clearly, her time in the forest had done her good as well; there was a healthy glow about her skin, a light in her eyes that hadn't been there before-

And suddenly, it was gone, replaced with worry and fear and something Kristoff couldn't name.

But he could sense it.

It wrapped around the Snow Queen like a cloak, alerting her to and protecting her from the world at the same time.

She glanced down at the ring, newly placed upon her hand just a few short hours ago, and suddenly, Kristoff understood what it was.

Love.

Elsa was in love.

It was evident in the way she spoke about Hans, no matter the issues they were facing now, in the way she would absentmindedly fiddle with the ring, in the way she handled the staff- he would have to get a closer look at it when they had a free moment where they weren't discussing possibly overthrowing Elsa's sister- but perhaps the place it was most evident was in her smile. Despite everything, when she first mentioned her wedding, her eyes and smile had lit up as though from a thousand suns.

"Unless..."

He reached out, taking her hand. "We'll figure this out, Elsa." She started, pulled from her musings, to smile softly at him. A gentle squeeze was his reward. "Now, what do we need to do?"

She stood then, reaching for her staff. "I need to talk to... Anna." She stopped, the name tasting sour on her tongue.

"That's it? You want to talk? About what?"

She turned back to him, grabbing her staff. "The diadem, what else? I need to make her give it to me-"

He sighed. And she's back. Right to the heart of the matter, without any real thought or plan; the same thing she did when she ran off to the mountain all those years ago- no real thought process, no plan, no backup plan, just pure emotion. It nearly got her killed then, it could very well get her killed now. "Elsa, you can't go talk to- to her at this late hour, she's not up. No one is."

"You are."

"That's because for the last two years, I've battled increasing insomnia which has only gotten worse since-"

She narrowed her gaze, stepping closer to him. Despite his remaining seated on the sofa, she didn't tower over him by much; if anything, she tried to look like a stern schoolmarm, but the softness around her narrowed eyes spoiled the effect. "Since? Kristoff, since what?"

He sighed. Where did he start? Hans' note or the nightmares? Which would result in less blood loss?

The ice harvester jumped as something slammed into the ice at their feet, and he looked up to see Elsa slam the bottom of her staff into the ice near his boot. The gentle pulse of blue that glimmered beneath the surface of the wood brightened briefly. The temperature dropped, and a burst of snow shot towards him, hitting him in the face, but Elsa didn't apologize. "Answer me!"

Wiping the snow from his face, he glared at her. "What the hell?"

"Got your attention, didn't it?" She lifted her chin. "Now, tell me, Kristoff. Please." He sighed, and then pulled the note from his pocket, unfolding it and handing it to her. "What's this?"

"Hans wrote to me, a few days ago, gave me a quick rundown of everything." He stood and began pacing as her gaze quickly scanned the note. Her husband's quick scrawl spelled out everything that had been happening in the forest- from Elsa's changing moods, to the river's pull, to-

I fear something is going on with the chief, Kristoff. Yelena is far too content with what's happening to Elsa for it to be natural. She's Iduna's sister, Elsa is her niece, and yet, she seems entirely too complicit to have Elsa's well-being at heart. She appears, at least from this outsider's point of view, to be putting the tribe before family, something Elsa has never done. I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that Yelena wants the curse to go through, that she wants Elsa to die- be it in childbirth as the legend states or by other means- simply to give Ahtohallan and the Fifth Spirit what they want. And I fear that Elsa, so used to putting everyone else before herself, will play right into Yelena's hands. We have to stop her; if we can't stop Yelena, we need to at least stop Elsa; we have to keep her from going to far. If we don't, I fear she'll go too far and be lost forever.

"Hans... he thinks... he thinks that Yelena and the tribe... that they're... working on behalf of the river..." She looked up at him. "This isn't right; Hans doesn't know them. Not like I do. Yelena, Vanja, Honeymaren, Ryder, the tribe... they wouldn't do this. They wouldn't! I know them!"

"You only know what they're willing to show you, Elsa!" Kristoff wheeled on her. "Everyone wears a mask. You may not see it, it may not be physical, but it's there." He sighed, running a hand over his face. "The situation here is dire, and I can't do anything to stop it. She... she's cut off all trade with other countries- allies or otherwise. She's made enemies of everyone; the people are barely scraping by- they're starving, and she's-"

"Hoarding." Elsa finished. It was a characteristic she remembered from the myths her father would tell her. Trolls are greedy, selfish creatures; they will hoard all they see, for they believe it belongs to them. They will try and wipe out any who oppose them, and they covet true beauty. It is why Mama and I have done all we can to protect you from your sister, Lisbet. She is not who she seems, and she wishes to take you back to the Valley; for a human who possesses beauty such as yours, magic such as yours, is the ultimate gift. They wish to wipe out all who believe and use magic that they deem unworthy. Except for you.

He nodded. "I cannot count the number of times I have caught her gazing into the mirror, muttering about her hideousness, and how she wished she was as beautiful as you, how... gorgeous your hair was and your eyes and... that she needs you..." He sighed. "She spends... countless hours staring up at your portrait, muttering... just... disgusting things..."

Elsa winced; she had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly what kind of things the troll would utter under her breath. As he continued to talk, she leaned against her staff, the silk of their hand-fastening chord soft against her cheek. She sighed. This was so much more complicated than she had first thought. At first, I thought it was just about the river. That I need to die to give the Fifth Spirit a body, to appease the river, to break the curse. But now... with the trolls... and the... the Anna-changeling on my throne... with the missing piece of my diadem... how did things get to be so complicated, so fast?

Kristoff continued to talk, telling her of what else he'd witnessed the past few months, and how it had slowly started to build and go downhill not long after Elsa abdicated; how the Anna-changeling had told the people of Arendelle that their beloved queen had died in the Enchanted Forest, that by her right as Elsa's heir, she would be taking over as queen, that she would do all she could to protect the people of Arendelle and see that she prospered. He told her how the Anna-changeling had asked for Elsa's coronation portrait to be draped in black silk, as their parents' portrait had been when they'd been lost to the Dark Sea, how she'd wandered around for mere days in black mourning, before deciding she was done- well, well before the appropriate time-

"But then... I followed her one night, and..." He sighed. "I found her..." Silence fell. Kristoff bit his lip. How exactly would Elsa take this? What he'd witnessed was perhaps the most disgusting thing he'd ever seen- the teeth, the features, the- "But it wasn't her. It didn't look like her. Long, scraggly hair, nails, sharp, pointed teeth, a disgusting nose. She was wrapped in the blankets of your bed and she was-"

Was? There were only two things to be done in bed; sleep or-

Or what couples do. What you and Hans should be doing now, enjoying the carnal pleasures of the flesh.

She shuddered; she knew that women who suffered from hysteria were often told that regular sexual encounters with their husbands was the only cure, for it was believed to be brought on by too much fluid within a woman's uterus, and that pregnancy and childbearing had been the cure. Silly, male-perceived superstition from a very dark age, but none the less, it still had its hold in even some of the most developed cities in the world. Elsa held up a hand, silencing him; it took all she had to force the bile back down. "I think I have a pretty good idea of what she was doing, Kristoff, you don't need to explain it to me."

They lapsed into silence again before he spoke, slowly, to gather his thoughts. "It doesn't make any sense. Pabbie and Bulda adopted me. They... I know them. None of my family would do this-"

"Trolls are lustful creatures." She swallowed, trying hard not to think about what would have happened if she had still remained queen. At least abdicating helped keep you safe, regardless of what's going on in the forest. "They feel that because their offspring are so... grotesque, that they deserve the right to try and mate with humans. They are vain, ugly, disgustingly evil things that need to be eradicated, driven back underground and barred from returning to our world. It's why they steal human children; to make slaves, to mate, never to care for. Never out of love or care, but out of lust and desire."

She thought back to the stories Papa would read to her before bed when she was little, long before Anna had been born, back when Agnarr and Iduna had belonged to her and her alone. When the royal family had been a trio, not a quartet. Elsa was not ashamed to admit that she felt that Anna's arrival had stolen her place within her family, no matter how much she loved her sister, and that deep, deep down, in the deepest recesses of her heart, that the accident that night in the ballroom, though unintentional, was not entirely unwanted. If only Mama and Papa hadn't gone to the trolls... if only they had not asked them to fix her, if only they had let her-

She shook her head, casting the dark thoughts from her mind. It's the river, playing tricks on you. You love Anna, you-

"Elsa?"

Her blue gaze moved to Kristoff. "What?"

He shrugged. "You looked like you were going to say something." A partial shake of the head. "What is it?"

She bit her lip. "Why did no one let me know about what was going on in my kingdom? What about my council? They should be able to stop-"

"She dismissed the council not long after taking the throne." Elsa felt her heart plummet. Without a council there to check her actions, there was no balance, no one to keep-

"In two short years, she has taken my kingdom from a monarchy to a dictatorship. Why did no one-"

"She forbid your name to be mentioned within the castle, not long after you left. And then, a little over a year after, she banned your name from being mentioned in the city. So when you showed up that day, the townspeople were thrilled-"

"Because they knew I wasn't as she said." He nodded. "Why didn't you let me know?"

"She forbids all outside correspondence. She has cut off all trade, all our allies, she has isolated Arendelle, refuses to acknowledge the issues put forth-"

"As a true troll is want to do." She finished. They reek havoc wherever they can, sow the seeds of discontent and destruction, that is their own goal. The more they can keep people under their thumb, the harder it is to remove them.

"So the reason you haven't been answering my letters, is because she would intercept them." Elsa turned back to the note. "How did you manage to get-"

"Surprisingly? I was out harvesting ice. I'm allowed... periodic 'breaks' out of the castle. You know me, even when you were still on the throne, I would take my time away from Arendelle. I can't ignore the allure of ice for long. Once an ice harvester,"

"Always an ice harvester." She nodded.

"And I was far enough away from Arendelle that no one would intercept it." He sighed. "Though I was kind of surprised to see it was Hans writing to me. I would have expected him to move on once he was healed."

"I thought the same, but... things change." She glanced down at her ring again, an idea clicking into place. "Kristoff, she's asleep, right?"

"Should be, why?"

"And the palace is... guarded," She stopped. "Is General Mattias-"

"He's still here. Captain of the Guard. Took your... death really hard, Elsa."

"Good." He furrowed a brow. "That's... perfect actually." She then slung the strap of her staff over her shoulder; it bounced against her hip before she shifted it to lie across her back. "Come on."

"Elsa, what are you thinking of doing?"

She brushed past him. "I'm going to get the missing piece of my-"

He grabbed her arm, yanking her to a stop. "Oh, no you're not! Elsa, did you hear a word I said? Everyone may be asleep, but the guards are still up."

"And you said Mattias was still there! He knows me, Kristoff!"

"Elsa, her orders were shoot to kill, ask questions later. the only reason I'm able to get out and back in as I am is because Mattias caught me sneaking out one night, and agreed to turn a blind eye; to have all the guards turn a blind eye. Other than that, no one is allowed in or out at night. And she is not always asleep. I have passed by your old room, and heard her behind the locked door-"

The cold temperature was nothing compared to the frostbite he could feel start to form when Elsa slapped her hand over his mouth. "Don't. finish that sentence, Kristoff." She took a deep breath. "You mean it? Shoot to kill, questions later?" He nodded. "And she's up most nights?" Another nod. "Trolls are nocturnal. Direct sunlight will turn them to stone, and stone to dust, which would explain the Valley. But she's a changeling- still a troll, which means she has to have... a glamour or some other form of magic to... to be able to go out during the day." Her brain began to rack through a list of characteristics of changelings that she remembered from her studying of mythology, but she came up empty. A moment passed, before she turned back to him. "I lift my hand away, you swear to me you will never bring up that disgusting filth again."

He nodded vigorously and she removed her hand. "Elsa, we need a plan. We can't go storming Arendelle Castle without one. She's a changeling. Gods only knows the kind of magic she possesses."

"You forget Kristoff, I'm stronger." As if to prove her point, Elsa conjured a small flurry in the palm of her hand.

Instantly, Kristoff reached over, taking her hands, ignoring the cold. He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Changeling magic is... entirely different to yours. It's... stronger just in a different sense. It's not like anything you've ever dealt with. It's... what Pabbie uses, except Pabbie is old. Over time, a troll's magic will weaken, as they get older. But her... she's still fairly young, in troll years. Trolls are strongest when they're around her age. Your magic won't be enough to defeat her. We need a plan, Elsa. We need to talk to Hans and formulate a plan."

She sighed, knowing he was right. If she went storming the castle now- "What do you suggest? We talk to Hans now? I'm sure he'll still be up, since it was supposed to be our wedding night."

"No. Not now. Not tonight. Tonight, you go back to the camp, back to Hans, and enjoy your wedding night. We'll get together in the next few days and figure out a plan."

Elsa crossed her arms under her chest. "I don't think he'll want to see me. I stormed out on our wedding night, even if the argument was... mutual." She finished lamely at his look. Kristoff sighed, reaching up to lift her chin.

"Elsa, it was an argument. All couples have them; it's a sign of a healthy relationship, when you can argue with each other and not have it turn to violence. You stormed out instead of striking out. That's a huge thing. You value each other, and understand that not talking to each other better than hurting each other physically. Most couples don't understand that."

"I still walked out."

"True. But you can also walk back in. And it would probably be a good thing you returned in one piece so Hans knows you didn't go storming the castle and getting yourself hurt. Come one, I'll go with you."

She sighed, admitting to herself that he did have a point. They left the palace, bid goodbye to Marshmallow, got the Nokk and Sven out of the stable and left, heading back down the mountain. Once just outside of Arendelle, they took off for the forest. "Hey Kristoff?"

"Hmm?"

Elsa bit her lip, glancing at him from her place on the Nokk's back as he rode Sven beside her. "How do I know... you're not a changeling?" The look on his face was such that she tried not to laugh. "What? It's just a question."

A moment passed before he finally spoke. "Because I spent the first seven years of my life in an orphanage. Those who run orphanages are notoriously superstitious; I remember a baby was left on the doorstep when I was... maybe five, and the woman who ran it refused to take it in because it was so sickly and thin. She left it out in the storm, muttering that it was a Fae child, and she would not put the orphanage or the children in it at the mercy of the Fae by taking it in. I never knew if it was a Fae child or not, but it froze to death." Elsa shuddered. "If I wasn't human, they wouldn't have taken me in after my parents died."

"But you were raised by trolls-"

"If your asking if I spent time underground in the troll realm, no, I didn't. Pabbie and Bulda and all of them were always wonderful to me. They're the only family I have. They wouldn't hurt people. At least, I thought they wouldn't-"

"Maybe it's because you're not magical."

He nodded. "Maybe."

When finally, they reached the camp, Elsa was relieved to see it was still dark out. They rode silently through the camp towards Elsa's hut, just as Hans and Honeymaren exited the hut. Elsa furrowed a brow; the other woman had the bowls and cups in her arms. They were discussing something, and both looked up at the sound of hoof beats. A flash of relief appeared on Hans' face, and he hurried to her, reaching up to help her dismount. "Thank the Gods," He pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her hair. "I was so afraid you'd-" He stopped, pulling away as Sven pawed the ground. "Kristoff? You went to-"

"I told him everything, Hans. All of it." Elsa replied as her husband bit his lip. "He's on our side. He also... kept me from storming the castle."

The redheaded man nodded, meeting Kristoff's gaze. "You got my note then?"

"I did. I told her everything. And... when we get a chance, we'll get together and form a plan." He stopped, but Honeymaren nodded softly to him.

"Don't worry." She glanced at Hans. "There's been some... new discoveries."

"Discoveries?" Elsa glanced between her husband and her cousin.

Hans sighed. "Not here." He pulled her close, sliding a hand along her hip, his lips brushing her ear. "We're going to be spending our wedding night somewhere a little more private, if you'll still have me. After we fill you and Kristoff in, of course." She met his gaze, brow furrowed, but slowly, she nodded. "Good." He took her hand, moving to lead her to where Ryder was waiting with the reindeer. She refused to move, confused. "Less conspicuous."

She nodded, and he released her hand, letting her speak to the Nokk. The water spirit watched the others as she spoke, and then neighed softly once, before turning and dashing from the camp, back to the Dark Sea. Once gone, Elsa turned back to the others, hands on her hips. "So, where exactly are you three taking Kristoff and I?"