So anyways, FrozenRose1 hasn't been active as of late (I sure hope she's okay), so I've accepted another person to be a beta-reader.
Ladies and Gentlemen, meet RohnHazard. He/She/It/[redacted] has been very kind to offer help at a time when I needed it most, and I am very, very grateful, because this chapter was a pain to write.
All rights go to Disney as usual, and credit goes to RohnHazard for beta-reading and editing. Keep up the good work, you.
Chapter 15
It Gets a Little Lonely
Helge's Journal Observations, Passage No. 4:
To keep casualties to a minimum, the original plan was to have Elsa face the Spøkelse on her own...
It had to be adjusted.
"Hey Elsa, are you alright?"
Anna asked worriedly, looking up from the book she fished from one of Elsa's shelves in her study. Both girls had left what remained of their delivered breakfast on one of the wooden tables in Elsa's study.
The Queen of Arendelle had been massaging her temples with her fingertips for the past few minutes, jolted from her desk with a start. "Oh! Um... I'm okay, Anna."
"You big liar. Look." Anna snorted, flicking a finger downwards to the ground.
Elsa stared blankly at her little sister in confusion, and decided to follow the redhead's command. Only then did she realize just how badly her calf muscles burned and screamed at her in pain; the Queen had been tapping her feet up and down repeatedly without making a conscious effort to do so. The tic wasn't anywhere near inconspicuous either; the heels of her sculpted ice-shoes clicked against the floor in a rapid staccato.
Hastily, the Queen planted her feet down with a grunt, ending the rapid tapping short.
"Nervous, huh?" Anna said, smiling sympathetically to her older sister.
"No." Elsa snapped curtly. "On what grounds would a simple habit give you such assumptions?"
Anna stared at her sister, slightly open-mouthed in surprise. She was certain her older sister wasn't being harsh intentionally, but the remark stung anyway. The redhead even felt a dull ache in her chest, a bruise brought on by what felt too close to betrayal. How could her sister sound so snippy with one simple denial? How could anyone, for that matter?
Still, the Princess steeled herself, fully affirming herself that Elsa was just being reactive: The platinum-blonde lady's following actions, a pair of widened eyes and a mouth set into an "O" were evidence enough.
"Elsa, please." Anna began gently, hoping both can forgive and forget from this mishap. "I've had three weeks to learn whenever you are lying, but it's okay, sis. I'm a little scared too." The younger sibling paused, and tilted her head to the side in consideration. "Well, maybe less 'scared', and more 'terrified beyond belief', but there's not too much of a difference, is there?"
Elsa sighed, her face downcast with strife. " You? Nervous? We may have just one day left after this until... until that thing comes. And yet here you are, reading a book about animals in Africa as if you know we can win, while I sit here doing absolutely nothing like the neurotic mess I am!" The Queen rammed her pale hands up to her face, burying herself into them. "I'm... I'm scared, Anna."
The confession alone nearly drained Elsa of whatever heart she had remaining left, but she continued to press on. "This isn't how we're supposed to live, after three weeks of finally remembering what it was like to be family. Shouldn't I be someone powerful, a-and reliable, one who could face everyone's demons without feeling even a smidge of fear? What kind of older sister am I supposed to be, much less a Queen, if I'm here quaking inside of my own house?"
Anna rested the book gently on her lap, so she could look directly into those blue eyes that the two sisters shared. "Elsa, you're pretty mistaken about that." Anna sat up from her seat, and jabbed a thumb to her own chest. "Everyone's scared for their lives, sis! There's nothing to be ashamed about that!"
The Queen laughed rather wistfully in response. "For someone who says she's terrified, you certainly have an obscure way of showing it. Even Kristoff seemed so levelheaded with me last night..."
Anna crossed her arms and pouted. "That's totally untrue, Elsa! Of course we get scared! Like-... Hm, like..."
The redhead's voice trailed away, and she scratched her head, vigorously raking her mind for any memories to present as evidence. Eventually, she latched onto the first thought that presented itself within her mind, the freshest one as of lately.
"Oh yeah, didn't you remember the look on our faces when you sicced that giant monster at us three weeks ago, back up the North Mountain?" Anna huffed out a breath in amusement. "Man, you really knew how to make Marshmallow the Snowman pretty intimidating!"
Elsa snapped her head upwards in response, hardly believing her ears. She narrowed her blue eyes, peering at the younger sibling with suspicion.
"'Marshmallow?'" she repeated.
"Well, that was what Olaf keeps calling him." Anna stated matter-of-factly, as if this one response was the go-to answer for every enigma and oddity in existence.
Elsa didn't feel the need to push any further; those words were enough. While the Snow Queen had already guessed Olaf was a living personification of her inner feelings, what with his catchphrase "I like warm hugs" being something borrowed from her thirteen years ago, it was often hard to believe Olaf had descended from the Queen. He was perpetually cheerful, outgoing to a fault, and possessed a sanity that was questionable at best, if not downright bizarre.
"...I'm sorry about that, Anna." said Elsa. "About having the giant snowman kick you out."
"No worries!" Anna hastily responded, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "At least in my opinion, and only in mine because I couldn't possibly know what Kristoff and Olaf were thinking about at the time, it was pretty cool being chased through a forest, and then down a two-hundred-foot cliff!"
Less than a second was all Anna needed to wish she had kept a closer eye on her motor mouth; Elsa winced and shrunk away, as if Anna had been laying out a fiery barrage of insults and hateful venom directed at every being. With Elsa being who she was, the effect would have been all the same.
Ah, nuts. Elsa never really knew what happened after the incident with Marshmallow the monster, didn't she?
Now, I just told her that her creation nearly killed me, the one thing she had been striving to prevent for over thirteen years. How would you react, if everything you have to done protect someone was not only in vain, but could potentially harm them in the process?
Anna jerked her head violently to the side, sweeping away the potentially ugly images before they could form; if anything happened to the family and friends she had discovered three weeks ago...
Anna couldn't help but a little sick in her stomach for inadvertently hurting Elsa. Cursing her own insensitivity, the redhead slapped herself in the forehead in remorse, before sliding her hand downwards to cover her chatty mouth.
Okay Anna... I know you're not much for thinking ahead, but how can you salvage this conversation?
The Princess lowered her hand from her mouth to steal her sister a quick glance. She but sucked in a breath and opened her lips, but wasn't surprised to feel hesitation lodge itself in her throat: As Anna had no idea what was needed to be said, she failed to say anything that wasn't a quick word of encouragement, so she was forced to restart the process. This went on for quite a while because of her mental block, so the Princess constantly repeated the motions over and over. After some time, Anna was beginning to look strikingly like a fish struggling to breath in the air.
It was only until Elsa began to stare, when the redhead's voice finally broke out. "So uh... what are we supposed to do? About the big spook and all?" she asked, retreading their discussion.
Elsa sighed, almost out of relief for the return to the main topic even as grave as this particular one. The Queen furrowed her dark eyebrows in concentration, pushing her focus away from her melancholy. "Helge said there isn't much we can do with only an estimated day left on the clock." Elsa leaned her back against her chair. "It's frustrating. I feel like we really need to prepare at least something, you know? Maybe a simple practice regimen, or even just a book about monster hunting..." Although it would probably amount to nothing in the end. I told everyone I was going to better myself, but I find it hard to believe I can be a match with the Spøkelse."
Anna gave a hopeful smile. "Maybe you can-"
"-Anna," the Queen interrupted, doing her best to look appreciative, "I know what you are trying to say, and I would like to thank you for working so hard to keep my hopes up. But look: I'm not you. I've stopped taking leaps of faith years ago, after..." Elsa's soft voice grew more brittle, "...after everything we have gone through."
"Elsa..."
"Please, I'll try remaining optimistic for everyone's sake, including my own," the Queen said, pulling up the corner of her lips to make sure her expression appeared more genuine. "It's just that I would feel much better if we had a concrete plan, or know exactly what must we do."
Elsa's younger sister was just about to protest, annoyed at how cynical the Queen was being behind that hopelessly wooden mask, and yet...
The young lady bit her tongue, and clamped her lips shut in a rare pique of self-restraint. It was a little quality she practiced over the course of three weeks, starting with Elsa's rather eventful Coronation Day. Anna was unabashedly impulsive and pushy several times, much to the light chagrin to both her elder sister and her boyfriend, but her will and stubbornness nearly plunged an entire kingdom into an unnatural freak winter.
Of course, Elsa's stressed body language was nowhere near to that one level, but the Princess had no wish to repeat that achievement anytime soon.
This conversation is getting us absolutely nowhere. Anna thought to herself. I try to compliment her, but none of it is reaching anywhere close. Maybe...
..Maybe she just needs time. After all, even I still found everything about yesterday to be a massive shock! She probably needs a little while to adapt by herself.
Well, not that there's a lot of time left on the clock, but it's better than plunging Arendelle into chaos, before Spøkelse even arrives. Yeah... that sounds about right...
Anna looked up at the ceiling, scratching her chin in thought. "I wonder how he's doing, anyway? About Marshmallow, I mean." she mused out loud, hoping to offhandedly change the subject.
No one answered back.
Feeling somewhat parched, Anna stood up to pick her glass from the nearby table, and drank some water, swirling it around in her mouth. Unknowingly taking in too much, some of her drink squirted out from her mouth, dropping onto the floor. The water created a dark patch that resembled a deep stain more than anything else. Even though it was just water, a person like Elsa or Kai would probably panic and mistake it for grape juice.
Ah... It's a shame I can't make the spot disappear quickly like Elsa could with the ice.
...Ice.
The readhead swallowed the rest of her drink, then shot a glance at Elsa sitting all by her lonesome. A brilliant idea began crystallizing and taking form. "Hey, Elsa!" she called out.
As Elsa was looking up, Anna drank more water, until she vaguely resembled a rodent with its cheek pouches stuffed to the brim. Without additional warning, she spat a jet of water aimed just to the right of where Elsa sat.
The shimmering projectile sailed gracefully in an arc, and slipped by Elsa before splattering itself against the wall.
Elsa blinked rapidly and was rendered motionless, her senses temporarily numbed from the sheer spontaneity. More than ten uncomfortably silent seconds passed by between the two, with the only movement being the water dripping its way down the wall.
"Anna!" Elsa snapped, finally admonishing after much delay. "What on Earth are you doing?!"
"Think fast!" Anna replied, and she squirted another jet of water at the very same spot.
But in the middle of the projectile's trajectory, the Snow Queen instinctively blasted it with a wave of ice magic from her fingertips. Right before Anna's water spout made contact, it solidified into an icicle instead, bouncing off its mark before hitting the carpet with a dull thud. There, the frozen chunk of ice laid innocently, as if it had nothing to do with anything.
"Anna!" Elsa admonished once again. "Just what the he-"
The Princess squirted yet another spout before the Queen could finish, forcing the platinum-blonde to put her concentration on freezing it instead.
This time, the magically-formed icicle struck the floor with its pointed end, standing proudly upright and quivering in place like a freshly launched crossbow bolt.
Elsa blinked, and barely registered Anna moving in the background, calling out, "Target practice!" as she hurried to reach for the water pitcher.
More spurts of water flew outwards in rapid succession, but Elsa finally comprehended what Anna was aiming towards. Bringing her arms outwards, the Snow Queen released her magic, firing one winter blast after the other with beams of frost and shards of ice. The new icicles too stuck to the floor with their pointed ends in with the exception of one, which plunged itself deep into a wall. The end result created a bizarre tableau, with the formed lines of ice jutting out so awkwardly and haphazardly that it brought Elsa into titters.
Her peals were contagious, setting Anna off in turn, until both were laughing at the sheer absurdity of the situation. "Let me grab some more water!" Anna exclaimed brightly.
Kristoff clomped loudly in the Palace hallways, probably alerting at least half the castle ahead of his presence. The young man had just came from a discussion with his troll friend and adoptive brother Helge, and he was left feeling somewhat emotionally drained afterwards.
As the sound of his curved boots continued to roll and echo like gentle thunder, the mountain man shook his head in disbelief; Anna and Elsa's home was a work of wonder, playing mind games on him by being a very, very cozy place... perhaps somehow a little too cozy for his liking. Everything in this castle was so luxurious, a complete shift from the shoddy night lodgings he occasionally didn't even have the cash to pay for. Of course, that didn't mean he was at all ungrateful for what the two sisters have done, but they went above and beyond what he hoped for when they offered a roof under his head three weeks ago.
Now, Kristoff lived inside a big fancy castle, complete with a full army of servants, fresh food every day, and the additional bonus of indoor plumbing. He also got to sleep in the same home as the Princess of Arendelle, of all people!
In other words, he basically achieved every man's dream... at least, according to the whispers behind his back: Every time he left for town with Anna besides him, Kristoff's ears would pick up snippets of gossips, almost always about this one lowly ice harvester standing nearby with the Princess. Frankly, he hated the newly acquired attention; being recognized by the whole country was, and still is, very disconcerting for the once-solitary man.
But hey, at least he gets to be literally closer to Anna and her family than he had ever dreamed about, and his best friend Sven finally got a place to laze around and hang out with companions whenever he wished. That sort of trade-off more than made every trouble worth the while.
These issues never did anything about the members on your side of the family, however...
Just as this little reflection closed itself off within the blond man's head, Kristoff heard faint giggling and squeals of delight coming from down the hall and around the corner. Entering the corresponding hallway, he spotted a single patterned door, the only one in place from one end of the corridor to the next. Naturally, the laughter could have only came from the room it lead into, and Kristoff had a rather shrewd notion about the culprit's identity.
Even more muffled jubilation slipped from beneath the door's threshold, piquing the mountain man's curiosity even further. The ice harvester walked forward until he was directly in front of the doorway, and grasped the brass handle firmly in his hand. He pushed the door open, and poked his head inside, hoping to see exactly what on Earth could possibly be so amusing.
Fwip!
In his mind, Kristoff thought he would see a redheaded Princess and a platinum-blonde Queen to the right of his vision standing in the middle of the room, hunching over in guffaws, bright-eyed and in high spirits, their hands covering their mouths in a poor attempt to hide their wide smiles, looking like they were having a complete blast of a time.
Unfortunately, that pleasant image was replaced by the reality of a heavily distorted reflection of Kristoff's own large nose and brown eyes. He initially believed he was face-to-face with a rather terrifying clown.
Another blink was all it took to identify the source of the obstruction; with a gulp, the mountain man discovered that he was facing a rather crude-looking icicle, a spike that had embedded itself deep in the wood of the door he opened; the sharp-looking projectile had just grazed the man by the skin of his large nose, leaving a small but chilly sensation where it touched.
Kristoff stared dumbly at the quivering chunk of ice, too astonished to utter a single word. Yet, he didn't move at all; the fact that he nearly got an impromptu nose job did not exactly register with him at the right time.
Moments passed by in stunned silence, but the ice harvester eventually clued himself in; several seconds too late for an appropriate reaction, Kristoff leapt backwards in terror, and lifted a hand to his nose to feel for any missing chunks, the spot where the icicle made contact still tingling.
"Omigosh, Kristoff! I am so, so sorry! Are you hurt!?"
The mountain man first whipped his head to face his alarmed girlfriend, and then rubbernecked all around to gaze at the room's interior in bewilderment; Kristoff bore witness to many strange things in his life, but icicles jutting out of the floors like a bizarre garden display was a new sight to him.
His eyes twitched involuntarily at the shards of ice sticking out of the walls, the floor, and even a couple that had protruded from the ceiling. He was almost reeled in and spellbound by the sight; the icicles glistened when the sun's rays passed through the windows, creating subtle and ambient shades of colors throughout the whole room. Sometimes, the ice twinkled, like stars bright enough to shine during daylight.
In a way, the room nostalgically reminded him of his childhood home by resembling a well-lit cavern filled from top to bottom with luminescent quartz. All and all, the view was... rather lovely, actually.
Eventually though, Kristoff brought up the requisite willpower to tear his eyes away, albeit with great reluctance. Hyperventilating a little, he gave the two Royal Sisters standing before him a withered look.
Elsa and Anna blinked at the same time, and glanced at each other in silence.
Then, Anna lifted a hand up, and pointed a finger at her older sister. "It's all Elsa's fault." the Princess hastily muttered.
"You liar!" Elsa playfully snapped. "You were the one who started it!"
"You were the one who made the icicles!" Anna countered, pouting.
"No, it was thanks to you that we made this room a complete mess..."
"Ladies, ladies!" Kristoff interjected, holding his hands out to stop the two. He had just enough about silly sibling antics, even if they were only involving his friends this time around. "In any other situation, you two can talk all you want. But..." the ice harvester made a grimace. "...I just came back from the library with Helge."
Well, that certainly was enough to kill the mood. Upon hearing the troll's name, the Royal Sisters immediately hushed themselves, and nodded slowly for the ice harvester to proceed.
Anna came forward to dip her head a little. "Sorry about that, Kristoff..." The redhead tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear, and smiled awkwardly at her boyfriend. "So, what exactly did Helge say?"
Elsa straightened her back and folded her hands over each other, carrying all of the regal authority of a Queen. "I would like to ask the same thing, Kristoff. What must I do?"
Kristoff pursed his lips, his eyes not quite focusing on the women standing before him. "Yeah, about that..." He lowered his voice to a grave tone. "Things could get pretty ugly, fast."
That last phrase alone was enough to send chills up the Queen's back; Elsa swallowed hard, dreading the worst.
"To fix the problem, Helge is suggesting that we should move out as soon as possible." Kristoff continued. "Preferably as soon as possible, and on horseback."
"Move out?" Anna asked nervously. "A-as in leave the kingdom?"
"Well, yes." Kristoff answered bluntly. "Since the two of you are the Spøkelse' priority targets - no offense - we should be able to distract the thing by meeting it at a specific location; if we can get ourselves within eyesight of the monster, it will have no choice but to give chase."
It didn't take long for Elsa's mind to catch onto the rest. "If I can present myself in front of the Spøkelse early..." she mused, "it would be forced to face me first. The shade wouldn't be given the chance to even touch anyone! Of course!"
Out of impulsiveness, Elsa wrapped her arms around her little sister, happy that this one glimmer of hope for victory has finally presented itself after so much worry. "I-if I win... You'll be safe... everyone will..."
"Aw... Elsa!" Anna smiled back at her older sister, patting her gently on the back. She was happy too, now that the platinum-blonde seemed to have finally found some confidence within herself.
And yet... two, niggling little details clung to the back of the redhead's mind, one of which was inferred from Elsa's way of speech; while she finally spoke as if she can take the Spøkelse down once and for all, the Queen talked as if it was she and she alone who must shoulder the burden of fighting.
The other detail was the fact that the mountain man's face remained neutral and guarded, even as he nodded in approval. "Yeah, trolls can be pretty formidable, if they actually gave themselves enough time to think." Kristoff cleared his throat. "However, there's a bit of a catch."
Elsa released herself from her baby sister, and stared at the ice harvester in confusion. "'Catch?'" she asked.
Kristoff inhaled a long breath through his nose, not looking to happy with himself. "...We don't actually know where it could be coming from."
The entire room went still.
"Pabbie had pointed out routes in advance that the Spøkelse may be forced into taking by being trapped in Hel," Kristoff hastily added, "but there are too many possible choices. Helge is figuring them out, but it will be mostly guesswork from here on now. Pretty good guesswork, but the off-chance that we might choose wrongly is still very obvious."
Anna frowned at her boyfriend. "So... why bother leaving the kingdom? Why even take the gamble?"
Kristoff scowled, but he spoke with a voice that sounded more defeated than angry. "The alternative would be to wait until the Spøkelse finally arrives at our very doorsteps. If we chose that instead, the resulting chaos would be... something to talk about." Kristoff paused, before adding, "Well, that would be if there was anyone left who can talk afterwards."
"Kristoff!"
"Sorry Anna..."
All the while, Elsa just stood by her lonesome, her mind racing with the ugly images that birthed from Kristoff's words. In a way, the Queen saw the whole thing as some sort of a sick joke against her, her family's newfound peace and happiness, and especially the safety of the people who call her their Queen.
"Waitwaitwait, I've got an idea!"
Elsa whipped her head towards the direction of the voice. For some reason, she wasn't surprised to realize that Anna was the one who shouted.
"Eh?" Kristoff asked, having mirrored Elsa's reaction.
Even though Anna tried to appear grave, she clearly looked so excited and pleased with herself, practically bouncing off the balls of her feet. Her face came dangerously close to bursting into a smile. "We need to know exactly where this spook is, right?"
"Yes..." Kristoff answered warily.
Anna swung her hands out before motioning them downwards, taking a short breath to compose herself. "How about we go out into town?" she tried to suggest levelly. "Let's go ask any people for any recent and unusual sightings."
"Hm... I see your point," Kristoff commented, "but you're forgetting that we are searching for something that has only entered Arendelle' territory just last night, if it had even stepped a single foot inside yet."
"What, you don't believe I thought this through?"
"No, not rea-"
"Hush." Anna reprimanded. "Look guys, I'm serious here. The thing is, there's gotta be people in town who have contacts outside of Arendelle's borders, right? Merchants, farmers, those kind of people? Some of them are so busy, I bet they would practically have to leave and reenter the kingdom each and every day!"
Elsa's eyes widened in revelation, and she slowly nodded. "So... what you're saying is that there are citizens who regularly travel, and could possibly help us pinpoint the Spøkelse's exact pathway?"
When her baby sister eagerly nodded in agreement, the Queen felt light in response, almost giddy, out of newfound optimism. Unlike the Princess, however, Elsa was always thinking her actions thoroughly, her mind a hotbed of second thoughts for over thirteen years, up to this very day.
Already, the Queen suppressed her hopes down to a manageable level, and she faced Anna with solemn eyes. "Anna..." the platinum-blonde murmured. "If we just go around telling everyone about the Spøkelse, who knows what kind of chaos would erupt. We might even cause widespread panic..."
Anna merely waved a dismissive hand. "Pfft, it's not like we gotta do too much explaining, do we? Just ask the random person for unusual fogs or scary sounds, anything similar! We only need to ask for strange sightings, and be all subtle about it!"
Even in her cynicism, Elsa couldn't help but smile at this bundle of perpetually cheerful energy. "Anna, I'm frankly unsure if you are even capable of anything related to 'subtlety'..."
"Elsa!" Anna whined, completely flustered. She looked like she was in half a mind to pout and stomp her feet. "Please, I'm trying to tell-"
"Alright, alright!" Kristoff exclaimed. He planted his large hands on the Princess' shoulders to settle her down. "No need to say anything else, we get it!"
" I couldn't pass the chance." Elsa added, smiling a little sheepishly. "Sorry."
Anna visibly relaxed and smiled, looking affectionately at both her older sister and her boyfriend. "So... sounds like a plan?"
Kristoff stared at the Princess, his mouth pulled downwards into a frown.. "Anna..." he said. "I still don't think we should be going outside..."
Anna's smile faltered a little slightly.
"...At least, until you dress a little more warmly. The sun's gonna disappear behind clouds pretty soon, and I hear today's rather cold for summer." Kristoff grinned from ear to ear at his girlfriend. "Well, we can't just sit around and twiddle our thumbs while Helge does all of the work, eh?"
Anna beamed. "You got that right Kristoff! Come on, let's head out already!"
Literally hopping off from where she stood, the fiery girl bolted out of the doorway, with Kristoff following closely behind. "Outside, we go!" Anna's voice hooted with vigor. Both sets of their footsteps quickly faded in a decrescendo, until only the quiet natural ambiance of the empty Palace halls following in their wake.
Elsa shifted her eyes left and right, and sighed with herself, drinking in the tranquility of the now-lonesome room. Even though she didn't find much pleasure in it nowadays, but the Queen saw the solace as... well, something of a reprieve.
Those two... she thought to herself.
No sooner had that thought escape Elsa's head, when a flash of colors alien to the decorations of the Palace interiors caught her vision. Glancing to the side, found herself staring at two pairs of eyes, one blue, the other brown, peeking from the doorway in curiosity.
"Elsa?" Anna asked, her blue eyes shining brightly in the daylight.
"Hm?"
"Are... are you alright?" Both Anna and Kristoff stepped into full view, their faces set in concern for the platinum-blonde standing all by herself in her study.
Elsa nodded once. "You know, I think it's best if I stayed inside..."
Anna frowned, in light of her sister's sudden hesitation to move. "Why not? Didn't you enjoy your time outside yesterday? Are you..." the redhead gasped, her blue eyes wide as saucer plates. "...Are you still afraid?"
Elsa blinked twice in rapid succession, and violently shook her head. "Nonono, not at all! That would be ridiculous." Elsa sputtered ferociously, huffing a breath.
The Queen straightened her back, and lifted her chin up in an authoritative pose. "I just-... I just have work that needs to be done back in the castle, that is all. The files and documents back in my bedroom are growing more than I could care to count, and they have little concern for incoming threats. Only deadlines."
Elsa's companions continued to regard her with perplexed eyes and raised eyebrows, clearly skeptical about Elsa's behavior.
"Please, don't worry about me!" Elsa assured. "I think now's a good time for me to manage myself like a big sister now."
"But-" Anna began.
"Go on. I'm sure you'll be able to enjoy yourself." The queen flashed the two a warm, appreciative smile. "Besides, I'm not going to simply abandon you guys; once I'm finished with work, I will have have a little discussion with Helge involving the kingdom's safety."
Adding some finality to her tone, Elsa lifted a hand up to give an amicable wave. "Farewell, Anna and Kristoff. I look forward to your return." Elsa's smile grew a touch wider, and she saw fit to add, "Just... just try not to stay outside for too long, okay?"
Anna, taken by surprise because of her sister's behavior, could only wave back tentatively. She appeared hesitant, almost baffled with herself for mimicking her sister bt waving goodbye as well. "Um... okay. Okay then." She turned around, and walked out of sight, her footsteps following gently behind her.
"Come on, Kristoff..." her voice called, trailing off.
Kristoff stared at the Queen of Arendelle for far longer than she was comfortable with, before following suit and disappearing out of sight just as Anna had.
The silence that came afterwards was uninterrupted, at last.
Elsa folded her hands over her lap, and pursed her lips.
Why did you even bother to make up excuses?
After all, they already know.
"You can't issue an evacuation."
Elsa stared at the figure standing in front of her in the Royal library with narrow eyes, her gaze growing increasingly hostile. The muscles in her jaw contracted, and it was all she could to avoid gritting her teeth. "I'm sorry..." she said slowly, a touch of frost adding edge to her voice. "I'm afraid I didn't catch on to that. Tell me again, what did you say?"
The stout little creature in front of her, a granite-skinned troll by the name of Helge, raised his head out of the mountain of books he had gathered. He narrowed his eyes at her in turn. "If you want me to be clearer, then so be it: You shall not order an evacuation of Arendelle. Grand Pabbie had specifically told me to make certain you do not authorize such a position."
A very displeased Elsa scowled at the little troll, folding her arms and eyeing him with a glare cold enough to form icicles, without any magic involved or necessary. The effect it had on Helge was apparent; trolls couldn't break out in a sweat, but they could swallow and fidget nervously like there was no tomorrow.
"Look, Helge." she began, even more frost gathering in her tone. "I respect and appreciate everything you and your kind have done for Arendelle in recent memory. However, your decision to neglect informing me until later was arguably neglectful on your part, and I've frankly had a long, long day yesterday."
This time, the wintry magic of the Snow Queen expressed itself as a reality, with wisps of silvery mist descending from her left hand. "Give me one good reason why I cannot care for the safety of my own people as the Queen of Arendelle, before I freeze you into a block of ice, and leave you right here to thaw until the end of the day."
"Easy, easy!" Helge exclaimed, holding his disproportionately thick hands out in protest. "No need for any freezing anything here, Elsa!" He then paused for a beat, tilting his head to the side. "Although... being forced to stay in one place may help me retain consciousness for longer until sundown..." He shook his head, and coughed. "No no, much too impractical. I'm sorry, may I try again?"
Elsa blinked. She hardly expected Helge to be so scatterbrained, and lost much of her harshness just as he lost his train of thought. She glanced down her left hand, and was alarmed to see that it was enveloped in a tight flurry of swirling snowflakes.
Slightly panicked, she rushed to shake it away as one would do with stubborn tape. The snow from her fingertips, a product of her raised emotions, sputtered before ceasing to a stop.
Now that she was no longer clouded by rage, the fire that was the resentment at being told not to be a responsible Queen for once in her short reign extinguished rapidly, replaced by remorse and mollified shame. Shame for letting her temper get the best of her once again, shame for lashing out at someone who wanted to help her, with threats of freezing him, no less!
But maybe... for once, maybe this sort of outburst was justified.
So first you're pulling out excuses to not help your friends, and now you're putting the blame on others?
For some reason, this accusation only irritated Elsa. What do you expect me to do? Tell him that you agree, and let your people twist in the wind just because a troll said so? What would make him and Pabbie correct anyway, if they couldn't even hold a good track record involving you!
Apologize.
What are you-
Now. You can fret all you want afterwards.
Still feeling somewhat heated from her internal debate, Elsa inhaled deeply through her nose, letting her chest rise and fall slowly and gently. Already, the straining muscles of her face was alleviated of their stress; poor as the Snow Queen's relaxation techniques over the years may be, referring back to them at least provided some assistance in pacifying herself.
At least, the ice produced by the Queen was kept to a minimum this time.
Elsa bowed her head slightly to the little troll in apology. "I'm... I'm sorry about threatening to freeze you, Helge. It was rude and unforgivable of me to treat a guest so poorly."
Helge blinked twice at the Queen, before shaking his head and sweeping a hand briskly. "You have nothing to beg forgiveness for, Your Majesty. It is natural for you to express loyalty and responsibility for your subjects."
Seating himself back on the floor within his miniature den of books, the troll gave Elsa a level stare, his voice still hardened with stony resolve. "Unfortunately, I must continue to implore that you stop from evacuating the kingdom. Instead of the salvation you desire, doing so will only endanger the lives you have sworn to lead and protect."
An ember within Elsa's chest lit up, threatening to grow out of control once more. The Queen winced and chose to ignore it, keeping her main focus on hand before she could burst once more. "And exactly how would that happen, Helge? We all know the Spøkelse desired revenge against Adam, but lost its chance when it couldn't escape from the Lost Woods of Ravendall. Shouldn't it have replaced its feud to Adam's direct descendants instead, namely Anna and I?"
The platinum-blonde figure briefly fidgeted with her braid, her voice becoming hushed. "...I don't see how Arendelle's citizens fit into the grand scheme of things."
"Your Majesty, you must hear me out." The troll protested, lowering his head out of respect. "What you are going through is perfectly understandable. If this was any situation besides this one..." The troll sucked in a breath. "Elsa, if the Spøkelse of Ravendall was just another demon, evacuation of Arendelle would have been the first choice. Creatures like them frequently have a lust for human suffering, but they are merely predators; what is not directly in front of them does not merit any concern.
"But this demon... No, it isn't just any monster, Elsa. It used to be human. The Spøkelse carries a personal vendetta that will not be satisfied by a simple fight: it wants to hurt you, in every way possible."
The Queen's blood ran cold, sending pinpricks and needles up her spine like crawling spiders.
"You have seen how it behaved against Adam the Adventurer, torturing him and the whole of Ravendall with its power... And that was before he escaped from its grasp. I'm sorry Elsa, but an evacuation will inevitably send your kingdom scattering to who knows where-"
"...And it will be like throwing them to the wolves." Elsa finished. Already, her mind raced to make sense of everything that was given to her: Having the citizens of Arendelle trapped within the kingdom is not even close to ideal; they would be mere sitting ducks, with many available and ready for the picking before the Snow Queen can get to them in time. What's more, should Should Elsa and allies fail, everyone who called Arendelle their home will fall under the Spøkelse's machinations.
But... if she were to evacuate her people instead, there will be little knowledge of exactly where they might head; Innocent men and women might disappear from the face of the Earth, unprotected and alone within possible eyesight of the Spøkelse itself.
Neither available option was close to palatable, but what was the correct one?
Was there even supposed a right choice?
Elsa shut her eyes, and held out her hands in a surrendering gesture. "Okay, okay. I see your point. But... what about the people who regularly come in and out of town? How am I supposed to guarantee their safety as well?"
Helge sighed, tilting his head upwards in slight hope. "They should be alright, your Majesty. The Spøkelse can sense human life, but only in large groups; it's the evacuation of the kingdom that could cause everything to fall apart. Worst-case scenario, these people you speak of would be smart enough to avoid the Spøkelse's entrapping walls."
"You mean the dense ash clouds in Adam's recounts?" The news did wonders to alleviate the Queen's weariness. "So... what must we do instead?"
Helge gave Elsa a strange look. "Didn't Kristoff tell you already? We'll be heading out as early as tonight to confront the Spøkelse, long before it could reach anywhere close to Arendelle!"
Elsa frowned in concentration. "But... he told us that not even Grand Pabbie knows exactly where it could be."
Helge froze in place, his eyes briefly rendered dull from recalling this information. But then, he quickly reaffirmed himself, standing up as straight as his rotund body could manage. "Grand Pabbie had calculated every possible pathway, route, and meeting spots as soon as we received news of the Spøkelse's escape. We should have little worry for error."
Elsa continued to remain disquieted. She forced herself to look beyond Helge's apparent optimism, and forced herself to say the prevalent question festering in her mind. "What if... what if Grand Pabbie is wrong this time?"
For the second instance in a row, Helge froze to a complete halt. This time however, it took him much longer to recover, and for good reason; both were very aware the Troll King wasn't omniscient, in spite of his experience and guidance.
"Ah, say... where did Kristoff and Anna run off to, by the way?" Helge asked, hurriedly changing the subject.
Elsa tilted her head to the side in curiosity. "They both went off to ask the townspeople questions about any mysterious happenings. They're hoping to help by pinpointing a good location of where the Spøkelse could be lurking about."
Helge's eyes widened, and he slapped himself in the forehead. "Of course! I'm such an idiot, not even considering that Arendelle could help in its own way!" The troll began to softly chuckle, before growing into a full-on belly laughter. Full of mirth, Helge smiled warmly at Elsa. "Those two truly are quite clever whenever they need to be, no?"
Elsa couldn't help but feel the corners of her mouth curl upwards, and she nodded in agreement.
"Although," Helge asked, "why didn't you go with them?"
Elsa's face flushed a furious shade of pink, starkly contrasting her platinum-blonde hair and normally pale features.
Helge blinked in surprise. "Don't tell me... you're still afraid? Even after what you've did yesterday?"
"J-just one day isn't enough to change much!" Elsa flustered. Yesterday was enough as it is; she couldn't imagine being subjected to another day's worth of being the center of attention. The eyes, the pressing gazes, the clamor and the noise and the constant judgments and the whispers-
No... She just couldn't handle two days in a row. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself, her mentality stubbornly clung itself to the safety of her castle.
Helge furrowed his thick brows, and scratched at his tangled mop of grass-like hair. "Hm... it's the attention you fear, isn't it?" Elsa nodded in reply.
"Well, that's not hard to imagine, given that you are the Queen and all. Even without a tiara, you would be pretty recognizable on the spot."
Elsa chuckled sadly. "So the main reason I'm so afraid of leaving the comfort of my castle... is because I'm the Queen? Well, that sure is one big twisted joke at my expense."
The Queen paused for a beat, her mind beginning to trail off. "You know, I still had fun yesterday. It was really stressful, but fun all the same. The problem is that I keep feeling uneasy from everyone's attention. If only I had less of what makes me..." she gestured her hands towards herself, "me, I-I guess I can deal with another, um... outing."
Helge scratched his chin, looking at Elsa with a sudden interest. "If you had less of what makes you... you, eh?" He wriggled for a bit, and then brought his hands high upwards. With his thick arms, he pushed himself free from his mountain of books in a clatter, but not before grabbing a tome from the collapsing pile. He licked his thumb, and used it to sift through the worn pages. "Well, you're the Queen of Arendelle, and a natural-born sorceress besides. Nothing can be done about your magic, but..." The troll suddenly grinned toothily from ear to ear. "But, I'd like to think that isn't what makes you a Queen."
Elsa blinked at the troll, her blood running cold in realization. A sneaking suspicion began to touch the edge of her voice. "Is that... a book on the history of Sweden?"
"Why, yes! What's your concern?"
Elsa's tone dropped to a complete deadpan, and she felt herself stepping backwards unconsciously. "You're looking at Charles the Eleventh, aren't you?"
The troll nodded quite cheerfully.
"You can't possibly be serious..."
RohnHazard is much more analytic, so be prepared for a slightly longer waiting period between chapters. All of this is being done to maximize the enjoyment of you readers, alright?
See you guys soon, fans of Frozen.