Chapter 4
There are a few things that the whole world undoubtedly finds beautiful. One of them is clearly the smiling face of a child, especially if it is an adorable little girl with cute braids.
The Arendelle's princess was running holding the hand of his friend Steven, leading him to her big sister's room. She was so happy to have her friend back that she didn't paid attention to what he was trying to tell her. She was less bored since Elsa and her spoke again, but it was only little moments, her big sister not wanting to risk than their parents discover it.
But now that Steven was there, she surely would have much fun. When she arrived at the door with blue snowflakes, she knocked calling, excited.
"Elsa! Elsa!"
The voice of the little girl interrupted the crown princess lamentations. Since her little sister was gone to see what this cry was, she did not stop worrying. Except when she had nearly frozen her, two and a half years ago, nothing ever happens in this castle. Then the scream had frightened her to the point of losing again control of her powers. Hidden behind the bed, leg against her chest, Elsa was trying, somehow, to contain her powers and emotions. But she had only succeeded to limit the ice formation around her, even her blue dress was affected.
Very worried, unable to know what was implying her sister's voice, Elsa ran to the door, leaving traces of ice behind, and asked to the little red haired.
"Anna? Is everything okay?"
The little sister, understanding Elsa's anxiety, replied happily.
"Yeah, don't worry. It was nothing serious. It's actually the opposite."
This calmed the big sister, but her concern was replaced by curiosity. Anna did not even give her time to formulate a question.
"Guess who's baaaack?" Anna said with an amused voice.
Taken by surprise, Elsa did not know what to say. The little red haired, meanwhile, looked at the boy she had brought with her ... and was a little dismayed, discovering him trying to get his breath back as if he had run a marathon. She remembered what he said last week about his physical abilities.
"You really are not a sporty person." She admitted.
"I... told you." Confirmed Steven between two breaths. "Have mercy of my heart ... Unlike Link ... I have only one."
Before the redhead could ask him who he was talking about, Elsa intervened, stunned.
"Steven? Is that you?"
The boy ended to regain a normal heartbeat before answering on a casual tone.
"In flesh and bones, failing breath." He looked through the keyhole. "How are you there?"
The light voice of the boy, that she immediately recognized, pleased Elsa. One of her ice blue eyes met the chocolate brown one of Steven before moving back, a little surprised but smiling. She also hoped to see him again. Although their meeting was a bit ... impressive, for one as for the other, it had been a good thing for her.
"I'm fine." She Informed. Then, remembering earlier, she asked him. "Wait, were you the one who screamed?"
"Uh ... yes, it was me." He admitted with embarrassment. "I felt from the roof. It is allowed in this case, right?"
"You felt from the roof?!" Yelled the Snow Princess. "Are you okay?"
She had asked him with a worry tone that surprised Steven. It felt funny for him to hear so much concern from a little girl, because he was actually much older. He hesitated before answering nicely.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Do not worry. I'm just not ready for a Leap of Faith."
he added in thought, with a curious mixture of disappointment and relief.
'Forgive Me Master Ezio!'
Before he could think more, the crown princess asked with an anxious voice.
"But why did you climb up there?"
The Geek exclaimed, a little shocked that she could question his common sense.
"You think I'm Nathan Drake or what? I did not climb. I appeared there unintentionally."
"Who's Nathan Drake?" Asked innocently the little red haired.
Steven told her, like a scholar talking about a subject he mastered perfectly.
"A treasure hunter adventurer. Excellent climber but big nuttery ... That's why I like him, actually. I'll tell you his adventures someday."
He said it without thinking for a moment how he was going to talk about a third-person shooter to a nineteenth century's princess. But Anna seemed delighted at the idea of a new story full of adventure. Her older sister would like to listen it too. But she was intrigued by what Steven said before.
"Wait a minute ... you say you 'Appeared' on the roof?"
Steven, seeing no reason to lie to a dream, explained calmly to the two princesses that he seemed able to appear anywhere, and that was how he arrived in their rooms.
And while Elsa opened wide the eyes of curiosity and anxiety, Anna's eyes did it of amazement.
"You mean you can do magic?" She asked.
Steven did not know what to say. Could he say it was Magic for something that seemed normal in a dream? Seeing the eyes of the amazed girl, he preferred to play it safe by telling her.
"You might say that."
The princess seemed ready to scream with joy. With no memory of Elsa's powers, she felt like it was the first time in her all life she had a special and magical person in front of her.
However, from her room, Elsa was completely dumbfounded. If what Steven was saying was true, did means he was like her? It was hard to believe. But that could explain how he was able to get in and out of her room without her noticing. But a detail intrigued her more. She asked, dreading the answer a bit.
"Why did you not tell us about it?"
Do not feeling the worry in her voice, the Geek calmly replied.
"I did not know I could do that before I met you."
And before that Elsa could ask more, her sister began to jump, imploring Steven.
"Do the Magic! Do the magic!"
That surprised the geek and made laugh the little blonde girl, this attitude recall memories to her. Even if she feared it a little. The last time Anna had insisted to see magic, it ended badly. But the little boy began to hesitate as if he were, unfortunately, going to say something disappointing. He then confessed with embarrassment.
"I'm ... sorry Anna, but I do not do it willingly."
"Really?" She questioned, with a less cheerful face.
This intrigued Elsa even more.
Then, as if fate had decided to make fun of them, the three children heard a man's voice shouting.
"Anna?!"
The three children tensed. They knew that voice. It was the father of the two girls: King Agnarr. Anna and Steven looked each other's; eyes filled with fear. He mustn't find Steven. The redhead did not think her father could hurt his friend, but she did not want to lose him. Especially now, she had just met him.
Judging by the sovereign's voice, and footsteps echoing in the distance, he was close. And coming in their direction.
The children knew what to do: Steven had to hide. Immediately.
They looked for a place to go, but there was nothing in the hallway, no furniture nor sufficiently thick curtains. And the princess knew that the other rooms were closed, because they were usually for guests. So, they thought to escape into another corridor.
They could go back at the bifurcation which they had come, but the king seemed to be coming from there unfortunately. Anna and the geek looked to the other side, but the corridor ended on another room. It was a dead end. Thus, there was only one solution remaining.
The red-haired princess whispered to the door with a panicked voice.
"Elsa! Open the door. Quick!"
"What?" Said the blonde.
"Hurry up!" Murmured the geek in turn. "I have to hide."
Elsa understood why. She rarely went out, but not to the point of not knowing how the hallway was, so that her room was the only possible hiding place. But despite the urge to do so, she could not do it.
"I ... cannot." She replied, very tensed.
"Excuse me?" Exclaimed softly the boy.
"Please Elsa!" Implored her little sister. "It's for Steven!"
The crown princess really wanted to open this prison door, just a little to let this so weird but not bad young man enter. Her trembling hand was only a few inches from the handle. But she could not. She was scared. Too scared. Anna was also on the other side. If she opened it, even only a little moment, she might come as well, and perhaps discover again the cursed powers she wanted to protect her from. The more she was concerned, the more frost were forming on the door, making the tension grow even more.
She held her head in her hands, closing the eyes of fear and tension. The idea of never see Steven again crossed her mind, like the memories of when she hurt Anna, her parents faces and the ice powers she has. Close to explode, she could only repeat with a sad tension.
"I ...can... not ..."
These words stunned Anna and Steven.
"Anna ?!" They heard behind them, turning and freezing with fear.
Steven saw the great slender silhouette of a man entering the hall. During the second he looked in another direction, Steven imagined this blond man with a mustache asking him a lot of questions, treating him like a criminal and sending him into the dungeon. It reminded him bad memories. He really wanted to be elsewhere.
Anna was as anxious than her big sister. Then the eyes of her father looked at her. She had a breath of fear ... but then was confused by seeing his smile and sigh of relief.
"Anna! There you are." he Said, hugging, astonishing his daughter.
She did not know what to say, as Elsa, which now looked through the keyhole.
"I searched you everywhere." Informed the king.
Anna was a little disoriented, his father acted as if Steven was not there. A stranger, with strange clothes, moreover, should have worry or, at least, surprise him. She cast a glance behind her ... and then blinked. Steven had simply disappeared. As if he had never been there.
Before she could get surprised more, his father let her go and told her.
"Your mother and I were looking for you everywhere. Why you did not answer?"
Anna tried to lied spluttering.
"I ... I did not hear you ... You were looking for me?"
His father asked her anxiously.
"You didn't not hear it?"
Anna did not have to think a long time to understand.
"You mean the scream?" She suggested, reluctant to talk about this.
"That's it." Confirmed the king. "When we heard it, your mother and I were really worried. We were afraid that something happened to you."
Anna was always delighted to hear that kind of thing. Her parents always covered her with attentions and watching over her in all circumstances. But she had no idea, though they always had overprotected her, it was because of her 'accident' with Elsa that they had become so protective.
"Sorry to have worried you." She apologized, looking down.
His father smiled again, saying.
"Do not apologize. All that matters is that you're okay."
The king seemed to realize now where he found his daughter. He then asked her.
"But what are you doing here? You know that you mustn't bother your sister."
Anna was taken by surprise, so she answered with the first thing that came to her mind.
"When ... When I heard the scream, I was very scared ... So, I came to see Elsa ... Since I was not far away."
Luckily, her father was more easily fooled by her small lies, not like the queen. He accepted without any problem that she wanted to see her older sister in a moment of terror.
The King again took her daughter in his arms to comfort her. But when he did it, Anna could see over his shoulder and discover, hidden behind the corner of the corridor, the head with a strand of his friend. This one, with the smiling face of a prankster who avoided getting caught, did the move to ask her to be silent. After that, he disappeared from the girl's field of vision, leaning against the wall of the corridor.
He had to make an effort not to sigh. A part of him could not deny that, between relief and surprise, he felt a certain longing seeing Anna and her father.
The little boy then, remembering that he wasn't yet out of trouble, began to move stealthily in the hallway, far from the king and his daughter. He cast a glance back, to be sure not to be followed. Then he looked again in front of him, he froze, eyes wide, discovering a big and surprised servant. He was spotted again. He wanted to be elsewhere, very fast and very far this time.
The housekeeper stared. She barely closed her eyes that this strange little boy she had spotted had vanished.
Saying that it worried her would be an understatement. She thought for a moment, that she became mad, especially after the scream heard in the entire castle. This added to the fragments of ice that she found from time to time in the room of the Princess Elsa, she definitely thought that strange things, and quite disturbing, were going on here.
Steven had just blinked. Just once. A moment he was in the hallway of a castle, close to be catch by a servant, and a split second later he was outside, in an empty street, in the middle of wooden houses.
For a moment he stood motionless, trying to understand what happened. He visibly teleported again. Twice. Relief and wonder made him laugh. And as he looked at his body with fun, he said with humor.
"Wow ... It is better than the Enterprise's teleporter."
Finally, he took a moment to breathe and express his relief. He sighed a big blow before saying.
"That was close. I have almost seen the exclamation mark on her head. I'll never play again a Metal Gear game... the same way."
Curious to see how far he could go in his dream. He stroke the pose, concentrated by pointing in one direction, and proudly ordered.
"Beam Me Up Scotty!"
But nothing happened. Steven looked surprised and disappointed.
'That's strange.' he Thought. 'When I really wanted to go, I did. How come it's not working now that I'm trying. I have no more mana or what? '
The Geek then thought back to all the times he had 'teleported', not having a better word. The only thing he clearly remembered was a fleeting but strong desire to be elsewhere.
"Maybe it's like the Force in fact." He suggested. "It's not really a question of effort but 'Do' or 'Do Not'. No 'Try'... Damn! Where is Master Yoda when you need him? "
Steven sighed a great shot and tried again. He closed his eyes and imagined himself a little further, near the wharf in front of him, hoping not to appear above the water. The weather was more clement than he imagined, but he still didn't want to test the temperature of the North Sea. He concentrated hard enough to have a little headache.
But when he opened his eyes, he always was in the same place. He sighed in disappointment.
'This is clearly not today that I will claim to join the X-Men.' he Thought.
Then he remembered that he had left the castle without Anna and Elsa able to know where he was. He wanted to return there, but after seeing the anxiety of their father, he doubted that the area was safe for now. The few guards were probably ready to go into battle now. And however, not knowing how to use his special ability all the time, he didn't know how to get there. The doors were closed according to Anna. And he was not crazy enough to believe he would be allowed to enter only by knocking at the door, even if he was in a Disney world.
He could have believed he could do whatever he wanted, because he was certain to be in a dream. But he was not one of those who have this naive and optimistic belief. Honestly, who could claim to be in control of his dreams? If it were that simple, no one would have nightmares and every night would be a good night. Steven realized that a long time ago. So, he preferred to pass time before possibly returning to the little princesses.
Steven stretched a good shot, just to relax and 'reboot' the machine. Then he declared cheerfully.
"Well ... I'm in a Disney world without console, or TV, or internet ... How could I imagine a place like this I have NO idea, but it's not a reason to be worried. "
He began to walk out of the street, ready to visit this charming little town with the energy of an MMO new player.
Then he entered on the square near the sea and stopped to breathe some sea air, contemplating the Nordic houses around him, hands in the pockets. Then he felt something odd on his foot. He thus stopped his short reverie curiously. It was as if something had slightly bumped on his shoe and was continuing to do it. The geek looked at his feet and opened his eyes wide, discovering a funny rolling dried fruit knocking against his shoe's sole, as if he was on his way.
The Geek didn't really know how to react. He had seen strange things, especially if you count video games and videos on internet, but an acorn attacking his left side, Never. He didn't know if he should take it, send it or directly crush it.
He preferred to step back to let it pass. But instead of continuing straight, the acorn swerved towards him and bumped against the tip of his shoes.
Steven then grabbed the fruit, discovered a Nordic rune on it and tried something, he threw away the dried fruit in front of him.
He watched carefully, without moving, and saw the acorn returning to him, to knock him again. Th Geek wondered in thought.
'Did I do something to make the Big Squirrel God angry or what? ... I'm not saying I'm necessarily innocent, but I would like to know. '
The Geek then heard a little grunt to his left. He looked through it and discovered, not so surprised, a little boy in warm dresses, and slightly frozen boots, and a very young reindeer who were staring at him curiously. What was strange in finding a reindeer in Norway and be observed like this when a strange acorn attacks you?
Steven saw the look of both looking from him to the magical fruit, then he ventured to ask.
"Is this little aggressive fruit yours?"
The northern child got out of his amazement and picked up the dried fruit. He watched the geek, from the feet to the head, very intrigued by the unique dress style of the young stranger. The Londoner began to be used to that look.
Then the young reindeer approached Steven, who stepped back surprised and worried. But the animal just wanted to smell him. He sniffed him, including its funny little strand, while the geek relaxed. The reindeer didn't seem threatening at all, the foreigner thought he was adorable with his big eyes and soft fur. His attitude surprised the little geek because, in general, animals did not like him very much.
But he was in his dream, then it seemed to him rather logical that he finally meets an animal that likes him. Steven therefore decided to enjoy this moment. He stroked the head and neck of the animal, happily saying.
"You're not bad isn't it? You're a good boy."
The reindeer seemed to purr with joy, if someone can say that for a reindeer. Anyway, he replied to the small one's flatteries by licking his face. The geek replied with a very amused "Yuk!".
"What's your name?" Steven asked him.
"Sven." Humorously replied a deep but human voice.
The young Londoner looked up at the other boy, the one who had spoken for the reindeer. Steven looked at him like a person who has done a very bad joke but still funny. He laughed suddenly before questioning him.
"And you, who are you?"
The little blond boy, who was to be the same age than Elsa, replied, crossing his arms.
"I'm Kristoff. Kristoff Bjorgman."
Steven threw a glance at his companion and asked.
"This reindeer is yours?"
" 'With me.' " Gently Corrected the blonde boy. "He is my friend, not my property."
Steven, first a little surprised, understood what he meant by that. There were many characters thinking like that in manga after all. He caressed the beast again and said.
"I'm Steven. Steven Ryan."
He bowed his head slightly by reflex, then corrected his attitude, extending his hand, that Kristoff shake. Steven then remembered the magic dried fruit. The Geek hesitated.
"Excuse me but ... what was that weird acorn?"
Kristoff seemed suddenly remembering he still had it in his hand, then something important.
"Oh yes that's right!" He Exclaimed. "This fruit was supposed to guide me to ... something weird that I have to bring to Grand Pabbie."
"Weird?" Steven intervened, a little flabbergasted.
The blond man, who looked at Steven, seemed quite embarrassed. All he could say, by passing a hand through his hairs, was.
"Uuuuuuh ..."
Steven then remembered what he was wearing and where he was. He looked himself for a moment and remembered that the wolf t-shirt, the silver chain and Elder Scrolls and Assassin's Creed's necklaces were not really fashionable in Norway at this time.
"Ah, yes, I understand ..." consented Steven. "But ... What does it all mean?"
Kristoff replied simply.
"That I have to take you to the trolls."
"The trolls?" Steven questioned.
The spirit of the Geek then started to think. When he sought the word "Troll" in his memory, he directly found a gray, giant and repulsive monster screaming in the Moria.
His face changed, in a moment, from curiosity to terror. He bellowed in the second.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?! NO WAY!"
Then he ran away ... to falter, slow down and collapse breathless on the ground, six feet away, under the incredulous eyes of the reindeer and Kristoff. They approached Steven who lamented muttering.
"Ooooh ... Critical failure on Constitutiooon ..."
This geeky weakling still had not recovered from the little race that Anna made him do. It would have taken him a while. Kristoff and Sven looked incredulously at him before the blond asked.
"Why did you run ... tried to run away?"
Steven rolled onto his back, and then replied on a pathetically tired voice.
"You want to take me to see giants who eat humans around the fire laughing ... What did you expect?"
Kristoff and his friend seemed completely shocked by what had just said the strange boy. The small Nordic then replied with nervousness.
"I do not know who told you such stories, but it's a dirty liar!"
'He is insulting Tolkien isn't it?' The Geek thought irritably, but too exhausted to replicate.
Kristoff explained then, eager to correct Steven's preconceived ideas.
"First, Trolls are very small actually. They do not eat people; they avoid them in general. And they are the nicest persons that exist ... Well, they are a little overbearing at times, but except that they are great. "
Steven felt well how much Kristoff meant what he said. He thought that in this dream world, the rules had to be different. Trolls could be represented in various ways after all. And Kristoff mustn't know the author of the greatest literary works of all human history. It was the only logical explanation to why he did not understand why he thought that.
'It's weird.' he Thought. 'Why all those in my dreams are ignorant?'
He put this detail, very serious for him, aside and said to the blond.
"Okay. I believe you ... I'm sorry."
Kristoff and Sven smiled again, accepting his apology, and the young man gave his hand to Steven to help him getting up.
The geek then took off the dust of his shirt, questioning the boy.
"Still, I do not understand what you all have against me."
"What do you mean?" Asked Kristoff.
"Wherever I go I am treated like a criminal. The last time someone wanted to see me, I finished in jail. I'm not the Napoleon of crime dammit!"
Sven and Kristoff threw a look to each other again, but this time of misunderstanding. He ventured to ask Steven, to be sure.
"You're ... a criminal?"
Steven replied, quite irritated.
"The only things I did since I left my home is play, listen to music, take care of my strand and help children. If have a good time, be stylish and help others are crimes I commit Phoenix Wright for the trial ... And if you don't know, this is the greatest lawyer of all time. "
Kristoff and Sven had again a misunderstanding look. But the young Nordic recovered his serenity, understanding that Steven wasn't mean, just not very lucky. He asked him.
"Okay so you want to follow me anyway? Grand Pabbie looked really eager to see you."
Steven then asked to the little Nordic.
"And what guarantee me that following a young Ice harvester to trolls will not get me into more trouble?"
There, Kristoff seemed confused.
"How do you know I am an ice harvester?"
Steven had a smirk and lifted the index, declaring.
"Firstly: You have warm dresses and you still have some ice on the boots. It is clearly summer, seeing the absence of snow, that means you were in altitude, where there's still ice and snow. "
He raised a second finger.
"Secondly: Sven's fur is not thick enough to hide the red marks around his neck, probably because of a rope to pull charges regularly."
Kristoff stroked the animal, promising.
"Don't worry Sven. As soon as I have the money, I offer a real harness."
The reindeer groaned with joy and Steven ended, as if nothing had happened, raising a third finger.
"And thirdly: I could have thought you were a young woodcutter or sled driver. But you did not need to go on top of the mountain to find wood and, with all due respect to him, I cannot imagine Sven transporting anything else than a child for now. "
To avoid offending the animal, Steven had said this stroking his head again. It apparently worked. Kristoff was slightly speechless. But he recovered quickly and admitted, laughing a little.
"Well ... You're the Smart kind apparently."
Steven nicely stated, as if he had said the obvious.
"Actually, it's elementary my dear Kristoff."
The young harvester was thinking that this young weird boy was more and more likeable. Certainly, he looked a little confident, choleric and as athletic as a mold ... But he felt no evil in him, and Sven seemed to appreciate him. He was a very good judge of human nature, Kristoff long knew. He then asked again to Steven.
"So, you want to follow us?"
Steven thought a moment, studying him as if he was a package that he doesn't know the content, but was potentially dangerous.
"What would be different from the time I was arrested?" Steven questioned.
"Well ... Trolls have no jail." Informed the little blond.
Steven asked, very concerned.
"Do they practice torture?"
"NO!" Kristoff exclaimed, shocked by this.
"... Well then let's go." Finally accepted the geek.
He did not see why he would not do it. He had nothing better to do since the castle was obviously closed. Better to follow his dream where events seemed to push him. However, he prayed for it to not turn into a nightmare.
Kristoff and Sven turned and began walking requesting Steven to follow them.
But just as he was about to start walking, Steven jumped at a man's voice behind him.
"Kid." It said.
Steven turned then suddenly discovered the last thing he would have expected. Before him was a tall and old man, with a well-trimmed mustache and wearing a navy-blue costar, staring at him with all his terrible height. His look and his face seemed full of anger. Steven was very frightened by him.
The tall man then ordered him, with a menacing voice, but that might be pleasant in other circumstances.
"If Grand Pabbie can do something for you to leave without returning, I advise you to listen carefully. You put the world in danger by your presence."
The boy with pendants froze with fear, like facing a giant ready to crush him. He then heard Kristoff in the distance who called cheerfully, which made him turn to him.
"Hey Steven! Are you coming?"
Steven turned around again, but this time, the man had disappeared. Steven faced Kristoff and was intrigued that he was smiling normally. It was as if he had not seen or heard the old man threatening the geek.
'Now I'm seeing G-man in my dreams.' Thought the geek. 'That's new.'
The young Londoner concludes that it must be one of these typical bizarre things of dreams, like the fact that he can teleport in a Disney world that he had never seen except on internet images.
Concluding that it was nothing particularly worrisome, Steven smiled, leaved this incident in a corner of his head and joined Sven and Kristoff, who walked towards the woods. The harvester asked him to hurry up a little, the sky getting cloudy.
Then they went, unconscious of the angry look the man with a mustache had on them, at the exact spot where he had spoken to Steven. No one seeing him or feeling his presence.
Meanwhile, inside the castle, the Queen Iduna finished hugging her little red-haired princess. She left her daughter's room and asked her, nicely, to not get out before she comes back. However, A little sad to be stuck here, she accepted with a nod. Her mother closed the door and ordered to a guard to not let enter or leave anybody except the king and herself. He confirmed the order and stand to attention, firmly grasping his spear.
The Queen then returned in the royal office, where she sat on a chair and sighed, taking her head with a brown bun between her fingers. She and her husband were really scared when they heard this horrible scream. It was like someone was going to die. The king and her feared the worst for their children. Since this accident with Elsa, two and a half years ago, they had promised to keep their beloved Anna away from danger. This is also why they closed the doors of the castle. So when they heard this terrible voice, they feared that something happen to their child once again. Something even more terrible than a magic accident.
The two sovereigns ordered to all the guards to search in the castle to find the origin of this scream. But they also started looking for Anna, to be sure she was okay. They ran in all directions, calling her at each corner of the corridors. Fortunately, the king had found their daughter. The queen, really worried, had hugged her really strong, after which she had returned her to the room to keep her safe.
As she waited for her husband to return, announcing the results of the research, fearing what he could have possibly happened. The sovereign heard someone knock on the door and it opened. She saw Gerda enter, one of the last maid the castle because she was one of the most effective she and Agnarr ever had at their service. True to her reputation, Gerda entered with exactly what was needed to help the queen to relax.
"I bring you tea, Your Highness." Announced the servant.
The Sovereign thanked the domestic. But as she approached, Iduna could not help but notice that she was very tensed. Gerda, from time to time, looks elsewhere, and the slightest noise seemed to stress her. And when she poured the tea, she started spilling the cup when the fast pace of a guard filled the hallway.
Seeing what she had done, the servant apologized.
"I'm sorry your highness."
Far from being angry, the queen told her it was nothing. But she wanted to know what was troubling Gerda. It was a trait of her character which made her a so popular sovereign, she was very gentle and compassionate towards her subjects.
"What is disturbing you Gerda?" She asked sweetly.
"Nothing my queen. Everything is fine."
The Sovereign laughed a little, showing that she wouldn't be angry if she had a problem.
"I see that something troubles you." She clarified. "You can tell me anything."
The servant, in other circumstances, would certainly have stayed silent. Only this time, she thought it was a better idea to be honest, because it concerned all the castle, even if it might seem strange. The maid then put down the teapot.
"Well, actually ... There's indeed something your highness ... But you will surely think I'm crazy or a liar."
The queen then told, with great gentleness.
"Gerda, I know you for long time. I know you're not crazy. And I believe what you say. So do not worry and tell me everything."
The housekeeper hesitated a moment. But she was persuaded, both because she had faith in her queen, because she no longer felt able to keep her concerns for herself.
"To tell you the truth ..." Began the housekeeper, ensuring that there were no intruders. "I believe that the castle is haunted."
The Sovereign with a brown bun did not reacted directly, she was too astonished. This statement was the last thing she expected to hear from Gerda. She masked a laugh by clearing her throat before asking.
"What makes you believe that?"
Gerda explained.
"Well, firstly, I heard strange noises in the hallway last week ..."
Iduna was not so surprised by that. She had forgotten this incident, because no one had found the cause, but it did not surprise her that someone else heard it. This proved that the king and her had not dreamed.
"And then there has been this scream." Gerda added.
The queen tried to calm her on this point, although she was not herself reassured. But it was her role to calm the fears of her subjects.
"I'm sure it was nothing." Tried Iduna. "The guards will find out what it is and we'll forget this incident."
"Perhaps my queen ..." Continued Gerda. "But just now ... You'll certainly not believe me, but in a hallway, near the bedroom of princess Elsa, I saw a little boy, the same age as your daughters I would say."
This time the queen's eyes widened. A little boy? Here? In The castle? It was impossible. There were no other children besides her two daughters. The doors were closed, and the sovereigns had strictly forbidden to let new persons enter.
"A little boy?" she asked, surprised. "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely." Gerda confirmed. "And a very strange one. His clothes were singular. His top sported an impressive drawing, a real paint. There was wolves and northern lights beautifully represented on it. And his pants had three small chains on his left side. And what about his hairs? He had a curious little strand. I have never seen anything like this all my life. "
The queen tried to relax and told to her maid, believing her.
"It is indeed very curious. But I do not see what there's to worry about in this story. You didn't talk to him? Why did you not bring him to us?"
"That's the most disturbing moment your highness." Gerda continued, voice trembling slightly. "When I saw him, he was gazing behind him, so I could observe him a few seconds. But at the moment he turned, and his eyes met my own ... He disappeared. "
Iduna widened her eyes again, really surprised.
"W ... What?" Stammered the queen.
"As I said." Gerda stated. "He literally disappeared. He did not run. I have not lost sight of him. He vanished. Gone. Nothing. One moment he was there, the next second, gone."
The queen had difficulty to believe this. Gerda must have dreamed; it was the only explanation. But actually, it was not. Iduna was the mother of a girl with ice powers. She had met trolls and saw their magic. So, the idea that the castle could be haunted was not so impossible. But it made the sovereign even more worried than before. Especially knowing that Gerda said to have seen him not far from her daughter's room.
She did not believe it. but after all she had seen, and because of the confidence she had in her maid, she could not help but give her the benefit of the doubt.
"Listen Gerda ..." Hesitated the queen. "Maybe it was just your imagination ..." She hoped so. "But if you ever see this sort of thing again... Come to tell me."
The concern of the maid did not diminish, but she was relieved to have been listened seriously.
The queen, however, felt worse. She tried to calm down by thinking that it was probably nothing, in a few days she would forget all that. She hoped it really much.
But if it happened again ... She did not know what she would do. Should she tell this to her husband? She feared the worst. She was afraid for her beloved daughters.
Gerda left the room, leaving the sovereign alone with her concerns about these noises, scream and little boy dressed strangely. Was it nothing, really? These noises in the hallway and this little boy? Was there really a ghost in Arendelle?
Or was it worse than that?
List of references:
Zelda, Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, Star Trek, Metal Gear Solid (yet) Star Trek, Star Wars, X-Men, Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Basil Private detective, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, (yet) private detective Basil, Half-Life.