Chapter 3: Return to Arendelle

Aidan tosses his bag that had been slung across his back at Kristoff, waving at him nonchalantly and says: "Won't you carry that for me, Christopher?"

Kristoff glares right back at him and drops the bag onto the ice, letting it slide some distance away. "Carry it yourself. I am not your servant. And it's Kristoff, not Christopher."

Aidan smirks widely at Kristoff and shakes his hair out of his face. "You are no servant, indeed. Being a servant would imply that you would get paid for carrying my stuff, which you are not."

Sven happily dances across the ice and slides towards Aidan's bag, hooks it onto one of the branches of his antlers and brings it right back to Aidan, his tongue lolling happily from his mouth.

Aidan pets Sven gently on his head and motions dramatically to Kristoff. "Good boy, Sven! At least you know how to treat a new friend."

"You are NOT a friend." Kristoff replies, not too kindly, and he stomps off. Sven seems to disagree judging by his happy expression.

I groan internally when I realize I will be stuck with this company for a long while. Kristoff I can handle, I dare say, as well as Olaf and Sven who are just overly happy. Aidan might be a different story, however. His overconfidence and lack of manners get on my nerves, but I think he is also capable and skilled. We will need him, even though I hardly want to admit it.

Aiden earns back a little bit of my respect when he takes his bag from Sven's antlers and repositions it on his back once again. He must have just wanted to antagonize Kristoff a little. Not that that is a sign of good behaviour, not at all. But it's a whole lot better than Aidan actually treating companions as slaves to obey his every order.

As if he hears me think, Aidan pops up next to me. "Would you like ME to carry your bags, my queen? Or are you more of a humble nature and would you insist on carrying mine?"

I grit my teeth before I answer. "In case you didn't notice, Aidan, I do not really have anything at the moment. We'll need to go back to Arendelle to get some supplies before we go after Anna and Hans."

"Do you really think that's a good idea? Last time I spoke to your citizens you weren't exactly on their good side," Aidan says and stays annoyingly in front of me as I continue to walk towards Arendelle over the frozen fjord.

I tighten my jaw and force myself to keep my head high. "We can't just leave Arendelle in ignorance while we go on a trip to save the world from Anna. They deserve to know what is going on. And if they decide to take it out on me, that it's their every right. I will gladly accept the punishment they deem fit."

"That's admirable, but foolish. Foolishness will get you killed. I say we find supplies somewhere else."

I whip myself around and sternly poke my finger against Aidan's chest. "It was you that convinced me to go on this trip and that I have responsibilities to uphold. Don't you go crawling back now I intend to face my problems for once instead of running away from them, and you can't stop me! So either you follow, quietly, or you turn back to your Ashen Mountains and take your rudeness with you!"

I glare for a long moment into his golden-flecked eyes, then shove him out of my way and continue towards Arendelle. After I've walked a little while I can hear his footsteps behind me, quietly following me and I cannot help but smile a little.

The fjord is still completely frozen, and although Kristoff is slipping and sliding left and right, I have no trouble with the surface underfoot. Even Aidan has a moment where is ends up lying flat on the ice, a fire storm brewing on his face in annoyance.

I work to keep my face straight and walk up to him, look down on him and give him a small smile. "What's the matter, Sir Aidan of the Ashen Mountains? Can't handle a little ice?"

He grumbles a bit and avoids my gaze, scrambles up and stomps towards Arendelle once more.

I exchange a glance with Kristoff who is wearing a satisfied grin and I nod lightly at him.

Snow is still falling when we arrive near the edge of the castle, close to where the bridge comes in from the mainland and connect to the castle. The bridge, however, is too high to jump up to, and the stone struts have no indents to grab a hold of.

Aidan is leaning casually against the wall of the castle. "How about a nice staircase, my queen?" There's a challenge hidden in his voice and although I intent to take up that challenge, I hesitate.

My ice has brought so much destruction and pain already. But a simple staircase should be within my power, shouldn't it? I feel Olaf brush against my leg like a kitten made of snow and gaze up at me.

"Don't worry, Elsa. You made an entire palace of ice! You even made me! You can do it!" Olaf flaps his little twig arms happily as he motions violently towards the spot near the bridge.

I brace myself and close my eyes, then let the cold spread through my hands and through my fingertips, flow from my fingers and swirl in white and blue tendrils against the ice. From the lake rises a frozen staircase, similar to the one I had erected on the North Mountain. Only this one has cracks in it, and seems brittle and frail.

Aidan looked at me for a long moment before confidently striding up the steps.

I try to warn him: "Aidan, it doesn't look very stable!", and reach out to him, but he has already strode up the steps and reached the bridge's balustrade.

He looks down on us from the bridge, a smirk evident on his face. "You should have some more confidence in yourself, my queen. You are obviously more capable than you believe yourself to be."

I tilt my head in confusion. His smirk almost seems genuine, his voice free of sarcasm. How odd.

When we have all reached the bridge and Kristoff has practically carried Sven up the steps, I look from the castle to the town a little distance away. Kristoff comes to stand by my side and hesitantly puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you sure, Elsa?"

I sigh heavily. "Yes, of course. It's time to face my subjects. They are more than my subjects. They deserve to know what happened. They deserve to do with me as they wish."

Aidan comes to stand by my other side. "Well, it looks like we don't have to go in town after all. The town seems to be coming to us." He points along the bridge where a large crowd is coming our way.

I close my eyes for a moment, then tighten my fists. I have to stand by my duty. I will not run away, not again. I look at the crowd again. They are not close enough to distinguish faces, but at least they are not bearing torches like they do in my nightmares.

I take a step in front of Aidan and Kristoff, and stop both of them when they want to shield me once again. I want to face the crowd head on, unafraid even though my hands slowly begin to shake.

The crowd is getting closer, and I expect screams and curses to erupt, but only silence follows. I can now recognize the Duke of Wesselton and his two bodyguards that I roughed up in my palace, walking at the head of the crowd. At about ten feet, the crowd slows to a halt. The Duke is hiding behind his two bulky bodyguards, and is glaring from behind one of them at me.

"Have you come to bewitch us all, wicked sorceress?! We'll have you burned for what you did to Arendelle!"

There goes a murmur through the crowd. No one is speaking out against him, but the murmuring isn't in agreement either. It's indecision that is prominent on most faces.

Kristoff steps forward, though, before I can stop him. "She is not wicked! She was just scared, okay!"

"Enough, Kristoff." I gently pull Kristoff back and step forward, my hands folded behind my back to not show their shaking. "I come before you at your mercy." I tell them calmly. "It's my fault that our beloved kingdom is cloaked in ice and snow. It is my fault that everyone is cold at night." I take a moment to look at all the faces. "I did not wish to freeze all of Arendelle. It was a horrible, horrible mistake because I was afraid of what you all would think of me if you found out about my powers. I only meant to make my way to the North Mountain and stay there."

A small girl steps forward from the crowd, a brave look of determination on her face. "But you are our queen! We would never hurt you!" she squeaks loudly, before her mother quickly grabs her by the arm and pulls her back.

"I know I acted out of fear, and it was far from rational. I would lift this winter from this land if only I knew how. I am afraid that if I try, I might make things worse." I gulp heavily, but continue anyway. "Please, let me finally take responsibility for my actions and devise whatever punishment you deem fit for me. I will take it without question." My hands are clenched behind my back, and my nails are digging into my skin. I manage to keep my head high, though, which is more than I expected.

A soft murmur goes through the crowd. The Duke, however, still glares at me.

"It's a trap, a trap I say! Burn the witch! If she will not bring back summer we will do it on our own!" The Duke pushes his two guards towards me, and both of them raise their arms, ready to grab me. I flinch and hold my hands in front of my face as I await their rough hands to grab a hold of me.

The murmur in the crowd turns to discontent, then determination. Several men grab the Duke and his guards from behind and pull them back, pinning their arms behind their backs. I lower my hands and watch as nearly everyone in the crowd glares at the Duke and his guards.

At the same time the guards were pulled back, Aidan manages to work his way in front of me and draw his falchion, adopting a defensive stand. Within a flash, the falchion rests against the Duke's throat and anger flares up in Aidan's eyes. "You will die before you hurt a single silver hair upon her head," he growls.

I stare for a long moment at Aidan's back in surprise, then gently grab his shoulder and pull him back. He gazes at me with a mixture of loyalty and reluctance to remove his falchion from the Duke's throat. He does so, when I lightly pressure his arm.

"With your permission, please remove the Duke and his guards from this vicinity," I ask the men who have taken a hold of them, and they all nod and retreat through the crowd, taking the Duke and his guards with them.

"Foul play!" The Duke yells as he his dragged from the crowd. "Foul play, I say! You will all regret- " his yelling is cut short when the man that is dragging him away puts a ball of cloth in his mouth.

A woman I recognize from earlier and happier years steps from the crowd. "Please, your Majesty, can you not tell us what happened?"

I nod lightly and fold my hands in front of me this time. "I will. You deserve as much for what I have done to you."

Kristoff gently puts his hand on my shoulder and nods encouragingly, and Olaf sits his plump little snow butt down next to me, his eyes as big as a child's minutes away from receiving a bedtime story.

"I have struggled with these powers for years. My father, the king, decided that it would be best to keep my powers hidden from all, even Anna. I thought I could learn control, but it seems that I can't, as you are well aware." I motion vaguely all around us, towards the winter that I set into motion. "I did not mean to, I promise you all, and I would thaw it if I only knew how."

I wait for a moment to let the crowd react and receive their judgement. The woman that stepped forward, murmurs for a moment with a few others in the crowd then steps forward again, a slight smile on her face.

"Your Majesty, we know you are afraid. Please do not fear us, and we will not fear you. We know it was an accident. Most of us still remember when the gates were still open, and we remember that time fondly. We know the late king and queen raised you and your sister well." The woman turns to look at the crowd for a moment, then turns back to me again. "We will wait out this winter, your Majesty, until you find a way to thaw it. As you said, it was an accident, and we will patiently await the return of summer."

I huff in relief as the crowd murmurs in agreement with what the woman said. But my relief is of a short duration when the woman asks: "Where is your sister, your Majesty? We saw her return from the mountain, but.. her hair.. it was as white as yours.."

"Anna is.. in trouble. She and Hans.. They've gone to the Southern Isles. I must go and.. try and get her back," I stumble over my words. Despite that my subjects have agreed to wait as long as need for this winter to end, I am not sure how they would react to the news that their queen turned her little sister in a cruel monster.

The woman from the crowd steps forward again. "If you are to follow Anna, then you will need supplies, of course. I will inform your staff that you will want to leave soon, your Majesty. By your leave, of course."

I take a step forward and grasp the woman's hands in my own. "Thank you.." I whisper to her as I hold on to her hands tightly. She smiles and gives my own hands a tight squeeze. "You're not alone, your Majesty," she whispers back, and I feel a simple smile of relief creep onto my face.

I stare in the mirror at myself and hardly recognize myself. Freya, one of the women in my parents' staff, or rather, my staff, is lightly brushing my white hair. No matter how she tries to part my hair to two sides, the strands just jump back in their place.

Freya had me put off my icy blue dress, and relinquish the crystal shoes. I'm wearing a light blue tunic with long sleeves fastened around my waist with a black belt. Soft black leather pants fit perfectly around my legs and black leather boots are tied up to my knees.

Freya hums so very softly as she gives up on my hair and puts it back in its braid. "The braid is nice, but you look lovely with your hair loose, your Majesty."

I nod slowly and observe myself in the mirror. "This was your mother's, your Majesty," Freya says as she gently puts a dark-blue, heavy cloak over my shoulders. It has a hood that can be put up if necessary, and light blue stitching of snowflakes along the edge.

"It's beautiful," I say breathlessly, my fingers trailing along the snowflakes. "Thank you Freya. For everything."

"It is my pleasure," Freya replies, curtsying slightly. She leaves me to look at myself a bit longer and retreats from the room.

I twiddle a little with the tip of my braid that is slung along my shoulder. I look myself up and down one last time, then say goodbye to my childhood room, for now.

As I walk down the hallway and go down the stairs, I can still hear Anna knock on my door, asking if I want to build a snowman. Memories of riding on our bike, having snowball fights in the ballroom and stealing chocolate from the kitchen hit me as I continue down the staircase. The staircase leads to the main hall, where Aidan is waiting.

He has exchanged his blood red cloak for a heavier one, in a darker red and golden stitching along the edge. My eyes widen and I halt a few steps from the bottom as I recognize the cloak as my father's. Aidan hears my footsteps halt and turns around towards me.

His eyes widen too and he quickly eyes me up and down.

"My Queen.. you look.." he starts, then he coughs loudly. "Ready, you look very ready," he finishes.

"As do you, Aidan. Tell me, who gave you that cloak?" I reply as I come down the last few steps.

"Someone of your staff, I believe. They said that it would be slightly less conspicuous than my other cloak. Why, was it not theirs to give?"

I finally come to a halt about two feet from him and gently grab the edge of his cloak. I let the golden stitching run beneath my fingers. "It was my father's."

I see Aidan tense at my words and I would smile if it weren't for the situation. "Do you.. should I leave it here?"

For a long moment I let the dark red fabric run through my fingers until I finally look up at Aidan and meet his eyes with my own. I gently pat de fabric and straighten it around Aidan's shoulders. "No, you keep it. My father would not have wanted it to gather dust in a closet. It's better if you put it to use."

I turn and stride towards the front doors, having had enough of this dreary palace for now, leaving Aidan in the main hall, confused and slightly surprised.