As Eugene approached the Queen, a foreign feeling settled itself in the pit of his stomach; fear. He wasn't sure if it was fear of meeting this seemingly cold and distant Queen with her magical ice powers, or fear for Arendelle and its ruler, but it was fear nonetheless.

He was at the platform now. He took a deep breath and swallowed deliberately. I'm a prince, he reminded himself. I'm a prince. I can talk to a Queen.

With one more step forward, he was right next to her. She was muttering something to herself in a soft voice and wringing her hands. Eugene cleared his throat, and the Queen turned to look at him with a piercing gaze.

"Your Majesty," Eugene said with a bow. Was it just him, or was it colder around her? "I'm Eugene, Prince of Corona."

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Corona?" A flash of anger and sadness passed through her eyes, and it was only then that Eugene realized that her parents had been traveling to his wedding when they had sunk. Bad move on his part.

Elsa swallowed deliberately, sighed, and clenched her hands together. "Corona," she repeated. "Then you must be-"

"Yes, I'm Rapunzel's husband," he said, holding back a sigh and wanting to eat his words as soon as he said them. Good job, cutting off the Queen after he had upset her. Though, he had been asked the same question countless times today.

There was a short silence, the Queen's look intimidating him more and more every second. "Rapunzel's really excited to be here. She's busy right now, but she wants to meet you. I just needed to..." He scratched the back of his head and looked away from her. How to phrase this right? "I need to talk to you about Arendelle."

Elsa's back straightened, a look of distrust settling into her expression. "What about Arendelle?"

"Have you met Prince Hans of the Southern Isles?"

She relaxed a little bit, though when her eyes rested back on him they still showed signs of hurt. "I don't believe I have."

"Your sister-forgive me, Princess Anna-seems to have taken a liking to him..." Elsa's eyes blazed, as if saying "That's none of your business." Eugene quickly continued on. "But I've met him before, and I don't think he's...right for Anna." That didn't come out right. Why was he having so much trouble talking to this Queen? It was rare that he stumbled over his words. "Look, what I mean is that Prince Hans-"

"Prince Eugene," Elsa interrupted, putting on a stone-faced countenance as her breathing started accelerating. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Her eyebrows furrowed together as she crossed her arms across her chest and turned her back on him.

"Wait, but-"

A shock of red hair in the corner of Eugene's eye caught his attention. Hans, with Princess Anna hanging on his arm and giggling. They pushed through the crowd to make their way to Elsa.

Hans couldn't know that he was here. That would be a very bad idea. With a loud sigh, he backed away from the Queen's platform and melted back into the crowd, finding his way back to Rapunzel.

"You warned her?" she asked hopefully.

"I tried to, but I think hearing the name 'Corona' reminded her of her parents. She didn't seem too keen on talking to me after that." He eyed Anna and Hans talking to the Queen, though their voices were lost in the crowd. Elsa was at first indifferent to what they were saying, but with every second the intensity of her gaze heightened until she simply walked away, the crowd parting for her as she spoke in a dangerously controlled voice.

"The party is over. Close the gates."

Anna clung to Hans' arm, staring at the departing form of her sister. "What? Elsa, no, wait!" She ran after her sister and reached for her hand, pulling off her glove instead.

"Give me my glove!" Elsa tried to grab it from Anna's hand, but her sister pulled it away.

"Elsa," Anna continued, clutching the glove between her hands in a pleading gesture, "please, please, I can't live like this anymore!"

"Then leave."

Anna leaned back, her lips parted in dismay. Elsa crossed her arms at her chest; not stubbornly, but like she was trying to hide her exposed hand or keep herself warm. With a sigh, she turned her back to her sister.

"What did I ever do to you?" Anna's exclamation turned heads. The background chatter in the room was now nonexistent.

The Queen turned her head but kept walking. "Enough, Anna."

"No, why?" she asked with a questioning gesture, her voice rising in volume as she went on. "Why do you shut me out? Why do you shut the world out? What are you so afraid of?"

Elsa reached the door, but stopped. "I said, enough!" As the last word left her lips, she spun around, her bare hand shooting blue crystals that formed into spiky shards of ice on the ground, pointing outward and creating a semi-circle around her.

Eugene couldn't take his eyes of the scene. So that was what her ice powers were like. Powered by emotion and uncontrollable. Or were they?
Almost as soon as it happened, Elsa's eyes grew wide and frightened, like a trapped animal catching sight of a hunter. She clutched her pale hand by her face, visibly shaking. Everyone looked at her in shocked surprise, some with repulsion mixed in.

"Sorcery," someone said quietly as they backed away from the threatening wall of ice. From where he was, Eugene thought it was the Duke of Weselton. "I knew there was something dubious going on here." Eugene's suspicions were confirmed as the short man edged toward one of his tall and bulky traveling companions.

"Elsa," Anna said, eyes wide and lips barely moving.

Not taking her eyes off of her sister, Elsa, reached for the doorknob. As soon as her hand grasped it she twisted, pushed, and ran out the door into the hallway.