Nighttime had fallen long ago, but sleep, it seemed, decided to abandon Elsa this time. She restlessly paced around her bedroom in the dark, unable to tire herself. Never before did insomnia plague her as much as it did this night—and yet, it didn't do so for the reasons she'd grown accustomed to.

The thought of Gandalf and his band of dwarves kept coming back to her and keeping her up, no matter how much she tried to put them out of her mind. Why, she asked herself, why them? They were a minor occurrence, nothing more; as far as she was concerned, that encounter with them barely happened. So why did she keep thinking of them? How come she couldn't think of anything else?

"I need some fresh air," she said to herself.

A few paces later, she came up to the ice doors that sealed off the mouth of the cavern from the outside; the only thing it failed to block was the light of the moon casting exotic colors onto the floor. Pushing them aside, she stood outside her home and in the pale moonlight that seemed to add an extra sense of magic to the ice lining the walls outside of the entrance. Beyond the clearing that basically serviced as a front yard, there stood the forest; by day it was soft and comforting, but at night, it seemed dark and sinister. Only piercing beams of moonlight illuminated the shadows and the sounds of owls and other nocturnal birds broke the silence.

None of it deterred Elsa, however; the wolf-riding devils hadn't roamed this part of the country for a long time, and she had little to fear. A forest stroll would do her some good; for all she knew, she might even run into an angel this time. For all she knew, she definitely needed one.

Walking away from the security of her abode, she began wandering aimlessly through the thick, gnarled trees that made the forest, breathing in the fresh, clean air. Now she could think properly…so why did Gandalf and the Dwarves preoccupy her thoughts so much? Could it be because they had been so foreign to her? Was it because of the terribleness of the trouble they were in? What was it?

In the time that passed after she left her home, Elsa became lost simultaneously in the serenity of the night and her own contemplation. She hardly noticed the trail of frost that she left with every step, nor the snowflakes whirling around her. Too much was on her mind to concentrate on that.

What's wrong, Elsa?

Startled, she turned to see who had spoken, but found no one. It sounded so familiar…but perhaps it had been nothing. She continued along her chosen path; maybe a little bit further, she would finally feel the need to rest and come back home, and have totally forgotten about the dwarves when she woke up in the morning...

Come on, Elsa; don't lock me out this time. I've gotten WAY too used to that.

Elsa turned again, and tears almost burst like fountains when she saw her sister standing across from her. There she was, with her blue green eyes, strawberry blonde hair, and a gentle smile…what was she doing here? Elsa wanted to ask her how she could have possibly gotten here…but then she noticed how hazy, almost transparent her sister was, shimmering in the dark.

Then a new possibility hit Elsa, a horrifying, heart-breaking possibility, one that seemed all too likely given what had happened in the past. The wind and snow began to swirl faster and faster around her as she fell to her knees. "Please, forgive me" she began, "I'm so sorry…"

Oh come on, Elsa, I'm not dead! The vision assured her, doing her best to calm her, And I'm certainly not gonna haunt you, either. Besides, I don't think I'd make a very good ghost.

It took Elsa a moment to take in what she had said, but when it did, it made far more sense than a ghostly apparition. "So you're a figment of my imagination?" she deduced, "Great, then I must finally be coming undone." Sighing, Elsa turned and went further on into the forest. The vision, though it didn't walk, followed close behind.

It's that wizard guy, and all those dwarves, isn't it? She asked. You don't know whether you want to help them on their quest or not.

Was it really worth her time to entertain a vision? Perhaps this really was madness settling in…or perhaps madness had settled in a long time ago. Perhaps this was some manifestation of her subconscious speaking to her…then again, she needed someone to talk to.

"Why should I?" she asked.

Well, I think it would be good for you to get out and meet some new people.

She had to give the vision some credit; that definitely sounded like something Anna would say.

"I spent my entire life trying NOT to meet new people," Elsa replied, pushing back a low-lying branch out of her way, "And I assume that you already know why."

Well, if they're going up against a dragon, it sounds like they need all the help they can get.

"What does it matter?" Elsa replied. "I already said no, and they've already left."

Maybe you said no with your lips, but I don't think you did so with your heart. I think deep down, you really want to go.

Elsa stopped at that moment; she stood near the edge of a huge cliff overlooking the rest of the forest, and of the country beyond. Elsa stopped to take in the view; the forest trees looked for all the world like the shimmering skin of some strange beast, and beyond that stretched the vast plain littered with jagged rocks and lone trees. Up above, the stars sparkled innocently in the vastness of the sky.

And you know what? I really think it's a good idea, the vision insisted. You could least get a little bit of traveling and sightseeing in.

"They'd call me a monster," Elsa claimed. "That's what everyone else did."

Well, maybe this time you can be the hero, the vision suggested.

Then Elsa noticed a small yellow glow in the forest below, not too far away from her position. She was close enough to hear roars, yells, and screams; sounds of a struggle, undoubtedly. Someone had to be in trouble.

Then she noticed something about the sounds: the screams and yells belonged to familiar voices, which she had but heard only the day before.

She found zipping through the forest on a slide of ice, the wind blowing in her hair and causing her cloak to whip around behind her. Gravity propelled her along in her rush.

Eventually, she made out the golden glow of firelight peeking out through the trees and bushes, and upon getting closer, she heard voices bickering and arguing amongst themselves. She hopped off her slide and rolled onto the ground as it collapsed into pieces. Now in the foliage, she quietly made her way forward, until at last she could hear three booming voices overshadowing calls for help and pleas for mercy:

"Don't botha cookin' em. Let's just si' on them, and squash 'em into jelly!" one voice asked, malevolence writhing in the timbre.

"They should be sautéed, and grilled with a sprinklin' o' sage," a far deeper one contended.

"…Oh, that DOES sound quite nice!" the first one agreed.

"Never mind the seasoning," yet another voice ordered, "We haven't got all noight! Dawn ain't far away; let's get a move on!"

Elsa moved to peer around a tree, and recoiled at what she saw; three huge, elephant-skinned monsters wearing scraps of leather clothing stood around a bonfire, above which several dwarves were strapped to what she could only guess was a massive, crude rotating spit; the other dwarves were lying not too far away, stuffed into large burlap sacks with only their heads poking out.

Her mind raced to find a worthwhile solution to the problem; but how could she fight three giant creatures on her own? Judging from the cuts and bruises on the monster's legs and arms, it seemed that the dwarves had tried and failed. There had to be a wiser solution…

Just then, a new voice popped up, saying, "WAIT! You are making a terrible mistake!" The owner, one of the dwarves, stood up in his sack and…wait a moment. Elsa recognized something different about this one; in the firelight, she could see that this one didn't have a single hair to show on his face, and also had a pair of pointed ears. He was even shorter than the other dwarves, no more than three feet at the most. Perhaps he wasn't even a dwarf to begin with…

Above the protest of the others, the non-dwarf continued, "I meant about the seasoning."

"What about the seasoning?" The monster in the apron inquired.

"Well, have you smelled them? You're going to need a lot more than sage before you can plate this lot up."

That surprised Elsa to no end, not to mention resulted in an eruption of angry protests and accusations of treason from the dwarves. Why would he say that?

But, rather suddenly, it dawned on her.

He was buying time.

Then she got an idea. Concentrating hard, she managed to muster as much of her power as she could, and focus a small glowing ball in her hands. The not-dwarf continued with his 'cooking tips', much to the chagrin of the others, but Elsa didn't hear any of it. This next trick was going to be big, and she needed to focus.

By the time she felt ready, though, the beasts didn't seem to be taking the not-dwarf very seriously anymore. "You think I don't know wot you're up to?" One of them growled, "This lil' ferret is taking us for fools!"

"Ferret?" the not-dwarf protested.

"FOOLS?" the monster in the apron gasped.

She then stepped forward into the open before them all. "For some reason," she smiled, "I wouldn't doubt that."

The beasts turned in surprise, only to find themselves blinded by three powerful blasts of ice and wind. They probably would have stumbled and fell on top of their victims, had Elsa not been fast enough to encase each one of them in a cocoon of solid ice.

It all happened so fast. By the time Elsa managed to slow down and catch her breath, the sun had risen, exposing a rather comical scene of giant creatures frozen in place and dwarves popping their heads out of a layer of fine snow.

A few moments passed, and she began to hear a sound that she had never heard before; cheering. The dwarves were cheering for HER. It was such a strange, foreign experience to her, and as such she struggled to remember the proper way to respond to it.

"Miss Elsa, that was incredible!" She turned around to find the non-dwarf right behind her, beaming at first, but then shying away once they made eye contact. "Erm, I mean, well, that was, in the nick of time, if I should say so."

She bent down to help him out of the sack. "You weren't too bad yourself, Mister…"

"Baggins," he said as he pulled himself out, "Bilbo Baggins, at your service,"

"And, you're not a dwarf?"

"No, actually, I'm a hobbit of the Shire."

"I've never heard of a hobbit, before."

"Well, most people don't seem to have."

Just then, a long shadow covered them all. "Well, Miss Elsa," Gandalf's voice said from high up on a rock, "it looks like you've stolen my entrance." He climbed down to meet them, beaming. "Let me just say I didn't expect to see you, again."

"Neither did I expect to see any of you," Elsa replied.

Gandalf then took a look at the frozen beasts quite admirably. "Well now," he remarked, "this is quite a scene, isn't it? Most aren't so lucky when it comes to dealing with trolls, or quite so efficient."

Trolls? They were trolls? Elsa's mind flashed back to the small round creatures of stone that she had encountered years before; surely these horrible creatures couldn't be one and the same? But before she could dwell on it any further, Gandalf, to her horror, raised his staff and whacked at the ice covering one of the trolls, shattering the layer to pieces. It all fell off like a broken shell, but instead of an angry troll, there stood only a large statue of an angry troll.

"It turned to stone?" she asked.

"Yes, of course," Gandalf explained, "Sunlight will do the trick."

One of the dwarves on the spit spoke up. "Pardon me, but if anyone could help us down, I'd be graciously obliged."

A few hours later, all the dwarves had been freed, and many of them had taken to mocking the huge statues that had once threatened to devour them. Elsa and Gandalf, meanwhile, stood afar off with smiles on their faces. Thorin, at that moment, came up to the two of them. "Where did you go off to, I may ask?" he said to Gandalf.

"To look ahead," Gandalf replied.

"What brought you back?"

"Looking behind. Nasty business. Still, you're all in one piece."

The dwarf then turned to Elsa. Despite the fact that she was far taller than him, she felt somewhat intimidated in the presence of this warrior. "And what about you?" he inquired of her, "What brought you to the rescue?"

She had to gather her thoughts for a moment. "I was thinking about your offer, and about your quest. I realized that I certainly wasn't doing anyone any favors just sitting alone in the woods."

"Your point being?" Thorin asked.

"That I've decided to join you on your quest", she replied.

At this, Gandalf beamed brighter than ever. Thorin, meanwhile, rolled his eyes, and shouted, "Balin! Do you still have that contract?" Gandalf then whispered, "Well, it seems you CAN be persuaded, my dear!"

"It all depends on who's doing the persuading," she smiled. It was then that she noticed Bilbo a short distance away, beaming as well, but ducking away when he realized she had looked in his direction. She chuckled to herself, thinking how funny 'hobbits' were.