"Elsa, quickly, it's his heart!"

Each step toward James became increasingly hotter as Elsa worked against the waves of heat to reach him. The grass around his body had dried up and was beginning to smoke.

"You need to put ice in his heart, but don't completely freeze it!"

Elsa knelt down and shielded her face from the heat with one hand. She slowly lowered the other hand onto his chest and was greeted with a searing pain. She fought the beating waves of his heart until, finally, her ice had taken hold. His heart was only half frozen but it was enough to stop his combustion and stopped the waves of heat from charring his surroundings.

"What happened?" Elsa asked as she inspected her hand, it was painfully red and started to blister.

The elder troll shook his head. "I've never seen anything like this. He has been grieving for so long that he has lost all hope."

"What do you mean?"

"For magical beings such as ourselves our power lies within our heart. But, to keep our power from consuming us, our head keeps our heart in check. His head has lost all hope of living and it has caused his heart to burn uncontrollably."

"What would have happened if I had not froze his heart?"

"All energy, magical or not, tries to find a balance. If you had not froze his heart, all of that energy would have been released with disastrous result."

Elsa shifted uncomfortably. "So, is he safe? He won't explode, will he?"

"He shouldn't, as long as you keep ice on his heart. It will melt slowly as long as he does not use his power but you will have to reinforce the ice once every day until we can find a way for him to regain balance."

The troll placed his rocky palm on James' forehead; his eyes slowly cracked open.

"How do you feel?" Elsa asked.

James slowly sat up and rested against a nearby tree.

"I don't know, I have a weird feeling in my chest. If I remember correctly how my sister described it, it feels...cold."

"You don't feel cold?"

"I do know when something is cold but I never actually experienced what cold was. What happened?"

"You were dying, you heart was burning too hot so I froze it just enough to stop it. The ice should last a day or more as long as you do not use your power."

James snapped his fingers to to see if he even still had his power and the flame in his hand was extinguished as soon as it sparked in order to heed the queen's warning.

"What now?" He asked.

"There is so much more I wish to tell you." The elder troll instructed. "But both of you should get some rest and come back tomorrow, if possible."

"We will." Elsa said. "Thank you for your help."

James finally stood and began walking back to the horses with Elsa.

"What is going to happen to me now?" He asked.

"Unless you prefer the dungeon I can arrange for you to stay in one of the castle's guest rooms."

"I can't do that, I'll just stay at the inn in the village."

"How? Your gold and your sword have been confiscated by Captain Tiberius and who knows when he will give them back. I am ordering you to accept my offer, disobey and you can sleep in the dungeon."

"Fine, I accept, your majesty."

"Please, just call me Elsa, unless formality is required."

James then helped the queen mount her horse and they both stopped at Oaken's Trading Post (and Sauna) to get a burn salve for Elsa's hand before heading back to the castle.

Elsa was in the garden savoring the last bit of daylight with Anna before dinner. Elsa had been constantly thinking about James since she showed him to his room when they got back from their meeting with the trolls. Anna was too busy describing her first experience of ice fishing with Kristoff to notice her sister was not paying attention.

"Elsa...Elllllsa."

"Huh?"

The queen focused back to Anna.

"You okay, Els?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a busy day is all."

"Well it seems you are not done yet." Anna pointed to Captain Tiberius approaching them. "Just don't be too late for dinner."

"I won't." Elsa smiled at Anna as she left.

The captain greeted Elsa in the usual manner. "I apologize for it being so late, I had a spot of trouble finding you."

"Don't worry about it. I assume you are here to inform me of your findings?"

"Yes. As it turns out, the coins are from the same kingdom as our...guest. From what I could gather from the merchants is New Callette is a week's journey west across the ocean. Their main exports are tobacco, silver, and high quality steel weapons and armor which explains the sword. The most interesting information I found was about the royal family itself. The king was a commoner who married the queen. Together, they had a daughter and three sons."

"Is that all?" Elsa asked, she was trying to hide her eagerness to rejoin her sister.

"No, just about a year ago the three princes were caught in a mysterious fire, the eldest was the only survivor but he soon dove off the cliffs into the sea, he was never found again. Your majesty, I do believe our guest is the eldest heir. We must send notice immediately, his family deserves to know."

"We can't. He needs my help, until then, no one is to know who he really is."

"I am sworn to secrecy, your majesty, as always I trust your judgement but for everyone's safety I shall have two guards escort him at all times."

James was in his room that he was granted for his stay in the castle. After a bath and some fresh clothes he stepped out onto the balcony despite the biting chill of the winter air. It was not long before he was shivering violently but he did not care, all that mattered was he was finally feeling cold. He gazed upon the forest covering the mountains and was reminded of home, and the fire. Such memories would normally set him ablaze but his frozen heart managed to stave off the heat for now.

He heard a knock on the door and walked over to investigate.

"Yes?"

"Sir, the queen has asked me to invite you to dinner this evening, will you be attending?"

"No, I am feeling rather tired and was just about to go to bed. Thank you for the offer."

James was very awake and could have stayed up for hours; he hated lying to the first person who showed him kindness since he left his home but he was not ready for any other questions the queen had for him just yet.

Author's Note: I apologize for the long delay in updating this chapter, I had a bit of trouble putting this together and ended up rewriting it a couple times. I hope you enjoy the story so far and I really do appreciate reviews and feedback.