Thanks for the wonderful reviews and prompts! Of course I wasn't able to write for a few weeks, and when I can, it's nothing anyone asked for. Oops. I promise I'll go with those prompts soon! But first, my friend came up with this AU idea and I just had to try it out.
The Northern Lights faded, leaving the moon hanging heavy among the stars. A sturdy boulder watched the last of the light disappear. Unrolling, it stood on two feet, sighed, and scratched its grassy mane, puzzling the lights' sudden departure.
The wind sang softly to him. Something was amiss. He—the not-rock was a him—he scanned the valley below from his vantage point on the cliff. The ground was littered with his boulder kin, all of them looking out towards the fjord, panicking, freezing so they resembled nothing more than rocks and stones and boulders.
The rock-like man curled in on himself and began the long roll back to the valley. Under his skin, the ground trembled with the speed of two desperate horses. The earth murmured strange tales of ice and snow.
He rolled faster.
The ground sped under his rolling weight, his speed blurring what the earth told him. The horses halted, two, maybe three riders dismounting. He felt the ground move as the entire valley revealed themselves and inspected the humans.
And still the wind sang with strange magic.
"The king!"
"It's the king!"
Their cries carried in the night air. Pabbie rolled himself into the center of the mass of trolls and presented himself before the Royal Family of Arendelle.
The Queen carried her youngest daughter in her arms. The girl was in a fitful sleep, a shock of white hair blazing in the moonlight. She pushed forward, but Pabbie's eyes fell to the older princess. Elsa, he dug from some deep corner of his rusty memory. The wind was screaming in his ears.
"There is strange magic here."
Only the natural magic of the valley kept the ground from freezing beneath his feet. He took the frightened girl's hand.
"Born with the powers or cursed?" The cold pounded in her veins, chilled his earthy hand.
"Born," he father replied, a protective hand on Elsa's shoulder. The queen could not bear waiting one second more and threw herself before the troll.
"Please," she begged. "Save her." It was not a question.
Pabbie stretched his hands over the girl till he felt the ice in her head. He pulled it from her, pulled the traces hiding in the corners of her memory. The icy ballroom morphed into a snowy hillside. Two girls in light nightgowns were suddenly wearing heavy coats. Pabbie rolled the altered memories back, placed a gentle hand on the girl's head, and the pain vanished from her face. She sighed, smiling faintly. The queen held her close, and the princess looked like she wanted to do the same.
"She will be alright," Pabbie reassured them all. The elder girl's brow was still drawn with worry.
"But she won't remember I have powers?" The magic buffeted around inside her, like a raging storm, fierce and uncontrolled. Pabbie shook his head.
"It's for the best," the king promised, drawing his daughter close.
"Listen to me, Elsa." The king was not pleased the troll kept addressing his daughter directly, but Pabbie ignored him. "Your power will only grow.
"There is beauty in your magic," Pabbie conjured the lights, drawing them into Elsa's likeness, Elsa forming a beautiful snowflake in the sky. "But also great danger. You must learn to control it."
Elsa's eyes widened at the sight, the snowflake dissolving into swirling red shapes, consuming her. She trembled, afraid. Pabbie cautioned, "Fear will be your enemy."
She buried her face in her father's shoulder as the lights tore her apart.
"She can learn to control it. I'm sure of it." The king circled his arms around his family, drawing them to him. Away from the trolls.
Pabbie's round face creased with worry. "Yes. She can. But not with you."
The king tightened his hold. "What?"
"You will shut her away. You will lock her in." The king's eyes betrayed him.
"Until she can control herself." His voice was steel. But Pabbie stood his ground, his footing sure and firm.
"That will not teach control. Practice. Acceptance. Knowledge of magic. These are the things she needs." Pabbie braced for the protests he was about to endure. "Your majesty, I recommend the princess stay with us."
Now the queen echoed, "What?"
"Impossible," the king replied. "She cannot. She is the heir."
"She will freeze the kingdom she is to inherit if you do not!"
Parents looked at their children. Anna, sleeping peacefully in her mother's arms; Elsa, clutching her father's hand, but nodding at Pabbie's words.
"She won't," her mother replied, confidently, foolishly. Elsa looked at the sleeping child in her mother's arms.
"I don't want to hurt anyone ever again," Elsa said still looking at her sister. Turning to the trolls, she met Pabbie's deep eyes.
"I can teach you," he nodded. "But you must stay here."
"Will I ever see them again?" she whispered, her grip tightening, still holding the king's hand.
"Of course!" He huffed. Apparently rumors of trolls kidnapping princesses had not entirely disappeared over the centuries. Elsa was not reassured by his annoyance. Pabbie cleared his throat, regaining his composure. "You will return home as soon as you can. Your parents may come and go as they are able until then."
"Just my parents?" Elsa looked to her sleeping sister. Pabbie followed her gaze.
"Yes."
All eyes were on Elsa. The king barely held back his protests. The queen was resigned. Anna lay heavy in her arms, and she knew what choice her daughter would make.
Elsa let go of her father's hand.
A/N: So, is there interest in a multi-chapter Elsa-raised-by-trolls AU?