I have frozen the ground, the crops, the trees, Elsa thought. I have done it all. Me.

She had compared herself to Jacob in the Bible. Now, it seemed as if she was more like God, causing nationwide destruction with a flick of her wrist. Except her people didn't deserve it at all.

Deep inside, did I mean to hurt them? Is this my revenge for the way they looked at me before I ran away?

"I'm such a fool," she whispered. "I can't be free."

Anna was saying, "You don't have to be afraid." But Anna was not the one with ice in her fingers.

I'm trapped, Elsa thought. Not trapped in my room anymore but just as trapped in my own powerful, terrible body.

She flattened herself against the wall of the castle, because she was shaking too hard to stand.

Worthless. Fool. Weak.

I am losing her, Anna thought. Elsa was panicking, wailing like a lost child. She was shaking. She was saying something but Anna couldn't understand what she was saying.

"What was that?" she asked gently.

" No escape from the storm inside!" Elsa was staring off into space, talking to Anna but not really seeing her.

It reminded Anna of seeing a feeble-minded little girl once in the castle kitchen, panicking over some broken dishes and the loud noise that they made. She remembered how gentle her mother had been with her until she calmed down. Maybe if she was really gentle...

"We'll reverse the storm you've made," Anna said softly. "We can work this out together - "

"There is no "we"!" Elsa sobbed, turning away.

"We'll make the sun shine bright."

"I can't!"

A wave of heat burst in Anna's chest. The wave got colder and colder until she wanted to shrink away from it. But couldn't. She felt goose bumps on her skin, all along her upper body, her arms, her shoulders, her breasts.

She opened her eyes. She was on the floor and Kristoff was shaking her, his face frightened and pale.

After Elsa forced Anna and the young man out, she wiped her tears away. Seeing Anna on the floor had brought her back and a terrible calm had come over her. She knew now that her emotions were reflected in the weather. She had to remain calm at any cost, had to suppress the fear and the self-loathing that kept trying to rise in her.

"Hi!" said a voice. "I'm Olaf. And I like warm hugs."

Elsa turned around. A living snowman stood, smiling sweetly at her, carrot nose sticking out.

"Olaf?" Elsa whispered. "My Olaf?"

"Well, you built me. So I suppose I'm yours." The snowman shrugged. "Not really sure whose I am. I mean, it's not like there's book I can open to look up my family history." He brightened. "Or is there?"

Elsa was amazed. Here was a friend. A friend whom she could talk to and most importantly, a friend she couldn't hurt. And if she had created him, could she do it again, create another?

"I built you," she said. "And I, uh, am very glad to see you." The words sounded stilted.

"Great!" said Olaf. "So, how about that hug?"

Elsa leaned down and put her arms around the snowman, hesitantly. She had not embraced anyone since she was three and the gesture felt strange.

Olaf gave a sigh of contentment. "Thanks. Kristoff wouldn't hug me. Said he's not the hugging type." He proceeded to run about the room and admire everything. The floor was so shiny, the windows were so perfectly clear...

Elsa stood in the center of the room watching him. "Olaf," she said. "If you wanted to stop feeling…to stop feeling anything….what would you do?"

Olaf stared. "Why would I do that? There are so many wonderful feelings out there. I love feelings. Well, I can't stand being tickled…but I kind of like it too at the same time. Weird, right?"

Men's voices. Elsa heard them suddenly and clearly.

She rushed to the balcony. There were four men, heavily armed and fighting to get through. One looked familiar. Where had she seen him before?

"Wow," said Olaf next to her. "They look…determined."

Elsa winced. "I was thinking murderous and cruel."

Once, when Elsa had been fourteen, her mother had sat her down and explained that, as a woman, Elsa would have to learn to protect herself.
"You're beautiful," she had said. "There will be men who will try to take advantage of you."

Elsa had rolled her eyes and said, "Mama, I'm not beautiful."

Her mother had ignored that. She had proposed to teach Elsa some simple self-defense moves. Elsa had approached this lesson, as she approached all of her studies, intently and seriously. But as she practiced, she kept thinking, if a man tries to grab me, I will not waste my time with kicking and punching. No, I will freeze his feet to the ground and freeze his hands to his sides. And she had felt guilty for feeling this way.

Now, she looked down from her balcony and saw her snowmen going down. She saw a man with a bow and arrows. He looked up at her and the intent in his eyes was clear. He was here to kill her.

And she knew suddenly quite clearly, that she might have been foolhardy, might have made mistakes, but this was not something she deserved. She would defend herself just like her mother had once told her too.

"Olaf, you have to get away from here," she said. "I don't want them seeing you."

"They can't hurt me with their arrows," said Olaf. "You made me flexible that way."

"They have the means to make fire," said Elsa. "You have to leave. Come back later. Come back when I've turned them away."

Please come back, she thought. I could not stand to lose the only friend I have.

"I'll come back," Olaf said. "I will." He scampered off, down the steps.

Anna was pacing and muttering to herself. "What am I going to do? I can't go back to Arendelle with the weather like this."

Kristoff frowned at her. "What's wrong with your hair?"

Anna scowled. "I just fell off a cliff. You should see yours." Something occurred to her. "I wonder where Olaf is."

Kristoff grinned. "He said he wanted to get to know the brilliant woman that had created him."

"Well, it's been an hour. She hasn't thrown him out yet?"

"Apparently not."

That hurt. That Elsa would allow Olaf to stay but not her. "Well, he won't stay long."

"Not to change the subject," said Kristoff. "But your hair...is white."

Anna felt a tremble run through her. The pain she had felt in her chest before had subsided to something like pins and needles, like the kind you got in your foot sometimes. Except that it would not go away. It was awfully annoying. She rubbed her chest and stopped when she saw Kristoff studying her.

"It's because she struck you, isn't it?"

Anna began to shake her head but stopped. "Did you see something?"

"Well, I saw a blue jagged light...coming towards you. What did you see?"

"I didn't see anything. But I felt...something."

Why did it feel as if she was growing colder by the minute? Had her cloak gotten thinner or had her shoes lost their fur lining?

Kristoff swallowed. "You need help."

"That's the third rude thing you've said to me today," Anna said, trying to jest her way out. She had to. She didn't know what else to do. She was growing afraid.

This wasn't like the wolves. That had been an outside danger and her fear had been mixed with a determination to leave the danger behind at any price. But what did you do when the thing you were afraid of was on the inside?

What was it Elsa had said?

No escape from the storm inside.

Kristoff took her arm. "My friends can fix this. Let's go."

And for the first time, Anna didn't take offense at his commanding tone, at the way he didn't even ask her what she wanted, just told her what to do. She had tried to be so strong this whole time, had tried to be so confident, but her own ideas and plans had all fallen apart one after the other.. And Elsa was even more confused and frightened than she was.

The only smart thing she had done was make friends with Kristoff. Perhaps, she should also trust him.

Elsa woke up, crying.

She did not remember her dream. She only remembered that, for some reason, she was in danger. Then, she looked down and saw the chains on her hands.

She rose and a wave of dizziness hit her. Her forehead ached. She wanted to reach up and touch it but couldn't.

Where was she? Who had kidnapped her? Would Olaf return to her ice castle and find it empty? Would he worry about her? She walked over to the window and saw the lake, frozen solid.

She was home.

She was chained.

The two weren't supposed to go together.

The door opened and the prince walked in.

"Queen Elsa," he said with a quick bow.

Everything passed before Elsa's eyes again, the way he had tried to reason with her during the skirmish and then had saved her. He had said, don't be the monster they say you are. Why had he said that? She had only been defending herself. She had been strong and in control and his words had made her confused.

Those who called her a monster, who were they exactly? Why didn't they say it to her?

"Get Anna," Elsa said.

"Anna has not returned." The prince looked sad and disheartened. "If you could just stop the winter..."

"Don't you see?" Elsa said. "I can't."

Even as she said it, it occurred to her that maybe with time and effort she could. After all, Olaf had been a complete surprise to her. She hadn't meant to create him. Maybe there were things about herself that she just didn't know. Maybe in a year, she could figure out how to bring summer back.

Or maybe she wouldn't and Arendelle would be frozen forever. But she would never even have a chance to try if she had chains on her hands.

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked.

"They wanted to kill you. I reasoned with them but this was their condition; that you be chained."

They again. A group of people without a name.

Elsa straightened and looked the prince in the eye. "Who is ruling Arendelle?"

The prince winced. "All of us, really," he said. "Your sister is gone, you see."

"Do any of you have the authority to keep me here in chains?" Elsa demanded.

The prince rose. "I'll see what I can do."

"You didn't answer my question," Elsa cried but the prince had already closed the door.

Elsa closed her eyes and pictured faces, ugly, nameless faces in charge of the land her parents had lovingly given over to her. People making decisions, big decisions, when Anna had only been gone for three days.

How dare they?

For the first time since running away, she felt anger towards someone other than herself. And oddly, the anger made her feel stronger.