Alrighty guys, new chapter time! Little bit of fun in this one! I react to how you react, so leave a review or better yet a follow/favorite to motivate me to write more! The more motivated I am, the better and more I write. Thanks for reading!

As the door shut behind me, I took a moment to look at my new surroundings. I was in a lavish guestroom, what you would expect from a room built in the kingdom of a wealthy nation such as this. A fireplace was stockpiled with split logs on one wall of the room, with large windows on either side. I sat down on the couch facing the fireplace, my legs exhausted from the sprint here. I held out my hand and lit the fireplace in front of me, instantaneously bursting to life. Soon, the crackle of the flames overpowered the throbbing of the headache that I had.

I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep, despite my severe lack of it in the past few days. I started having a staring contest with the blaze in front of me, as I often caught myself doing. I tried to relax, but every time I got away from reality, my concern for Elsa brought me back. I laid down lengthwise on the couch in an effort to fall asleep. I thought for sure that I wouldn't submerge into unconsciousness, but I was launched into a dream as soon as my head rested on the pillow.

This is one of the other reasons that I didn't tell Elsa of why I don't sleep. The dreams. Usually, a symbol of joy and lightheartedness, dreams are welcomed by others. But not me. Ever since I could remember, I was plagued with the worst nightmares imaginable. Worse than that, they were sometimes premonitions of events that were to pass in the future. Usually when I do get to sleep, I'm only under long enough to rest, before my mind can conjure up any bad memories or visions to haunt me.

This time, I awoke in a vivid dream. It was a memory. All around me, my palace in Resauga was destroyed, burned to the ground. And I knew I was to blame. The fire, still burning around my body, started licking my arms and torso. At first I thought no big deal, it can't hurt me anyways. So it was a huge shock to find it baking my flesh. I looked down in horror, but the flames had transformed, into a white iron sword. I looked up. A man was wielding the sword, pointing it at my throat. Standing above me was my little brother as he was now, not when this memory had happened.

"Nowhere to run, Jeram. All of your friends have deserted you, your powers have failed you, and the love you spoke so hopefully of is nowhere to be seen." he said with an evil grin on his face. "You were once my brother. But now, this," he pointed to our surroundings. "I now know that you're nothing but a monster."

I held up my hand to try to deflect the blow with my powers, but no flames came. My brother started laughing maniacally as he brought the sword down on my neck. Right as I could feel the blade tearing into my muscle, the dream shifted.

I was now in a steamy yard filled with an ensemble of boulders laying in circles around me. Steam was coming from all sides, heating up the yard. I got a good look at the mossy boulders and found something peculiar about them. They were all perfectly round, which seemed an odd coincidence for dozens of boulders that were all in the same place.

Suddenly, the ground started to rumble, and the boulders were shaking uncontrollably. After a few seconds of this calamity, the rocks popped into small, golem-like creatures. Trolls. These mystical creatures were talked of in legends and folklore, but I had only seen them in real life once, but that was while I was dying from my powers when I was younger. A large one, who seemed to be the leader, stepped in front of me.

"Jeram," he said, in a serious tone, which was kind of funny granted that it was coming from a small rock goblin thing. "You must learn to control this power that you have. It's one thing to be able to use it in combat, but another entirely to control it in all aspects. Fear is always your enemy. Look for the person that can quench your eternal flames, to hold them back but to not extinguish who you are."

Before I could say anything, my vision started zooming out, making the trolls appear farther and farther away. I extended my arm to reach out to them , but it was too late, I was plunging into the darkness of my dream world, my answers slipping through my fingers, yet again.

My eyes snapped open. As I bolted upright, flames burst out of my nose and mouth uncontrollably. The fire launched about ten feet in the guestroom, but didn't touch anything enough to cause a problem. I looked around to see if I had damaged anything in my sleep. The room seemed untouched, but the couch that I had been sleeping on was scorched on the cushions. Inspecting the damage, I cursed as I decided that this was beyond repair. I made a note to myself to make up for this.

I usually don't ignite in my sleep, but I always wear fire-resistant clothes so if I do I'm always prepared. It can be kind of embarrassing at times, like if you wet the bed when you were older, this is kind of the pyromaniac equivalent. Good thing Elsa wasn't leaning on my shoulder tonight, she would've gotten a face full of fire.

I looked around. The sun had just began it's ascension into the eastern sky. I stood up from my now burnt couch and brushed the ashes off of my clothes. Stretching, I realized that I must have smelled awful. Not wanting to look like a ruffian in front of the royal family, I went into the bathroom portion of my quarters and drew myself a bath.

As I slid in, goosebumps went up across my body. This water was freezing! Thankfully, I had a remedy for that. I heated up my body not so much as to ignite into flames, but just enough so the water started to bubble and boil around me. "Aaaaaahhh…" I said, putting my hands behind my head in a relaxed position. The first real bath that I'd had in years. While in prison, their equivalent of washing is splashing a bucket of that day's drinking water on you while you rot in your cell. Of course, I never stuck around long enough for them to "wash" me that frequently.

Steam started rising into the small guest bathroom. After washing and soaking for a few minutes, I got out, dried off, and got dressed in my desert-roaming clothes. I still wasn't dressed for winter, but at least I was in a sanctuary of warmth and comfort.

I came out of my room feeling the better than I had felt in years. Recently, my identity as a human being was covered up by being hunted like an animal by my own people. I never bathed, except for the occasional jump in a lake or stream, and never slept more than three hours a night. Staying here, at this place, for just one night was refreshing and so helpful to make me feel not as a dog but as a man again.

As I was leaving my room, I was adjusting the sheath of the two-foot knife that hung around my belt with one hand, grasping my staff with the other. When I opened my door, occupied with my belt strap, I bumped into a guard that was standing outside my door. "Oof." I said as I ran into the armoured man. I looked up at him in confusion. He was holding his fist up as to rap on the door when I whirled it open.

He stood up straight. "The Queen and the royal family invite you to Her Highness' chambers for a meeting."

Wanting to see how Elsa was doing, I said, "Alright, let's do it."

"Follow me please." he replied, turning around and walking down the hallway. There was only silence except for the consistent clomp of my staff hitting the ground every stride. As we passed the main foyer, a group of young servant girls, maybe in their late teens, stared and giggled at me as I walked by. I rolled my eyes.

After about ten minutes of walking, the guard finally stopped at a white door. I inspected it. Along with the white background, blue images of ice and snowflakes were painted around the woodwork, probably put on when Elsa was just a little girl. "You can go in now," the guard said, turning around and leaving. I heard talking as I grabbed and turned the brass doorknob, the bolt in the door clicking as I turned. I push it aside, and looked in amazement at the room.

Everything, from the rug, to the window, to the dresser, were all coated in miniature icicles, only about half an inch long. Snowflakes floated down in slow motion from the ceiling. "Woah." I said. Three figures looked over at me from the bed. On the only unfrozen chairs in the room, sat the woman who I thought was Anna and her husband. I looked on the bed. Elsa was there, sitting up on top of her covers. Her makeup made it look as if she had been crying recently.

"Jeram." she said, quickly hopping off of the bed and giving me a hug. "Thank you for bringing me all the way here, it must have been such a burden."

I don't know if it was because of my fire powers' presence in the room or what, but the room started to seem much warmer. "Are you okay?" I responded. "You seemed a bit feverish when I got you here last night."

"Yeah, I'm fine, the doctors said it was just due to fatigue." she answered. Then, she turned around and gestured to the others sitting in the room. "So, Jeram, this is Anna and Kristoff. Anna and Kristoff, this is Jeram." It looked like she wanted to say my title as a prince, but I think she wanted me to tell them myself. Anna curtsied politely and Kristoff gave me a firm handshake. He seemed like someone who was tough and a hard worker, even though he was pretty much royalty.

"Again, we are extremely grateful for what you've done," Anna told me yet again. "If you want to stay here in the castle, it's the least we could do."

I looked at Elsa with hope in her eyes. "Actually I was thinking of stopping my travels for a while, and what's a better excuse than being offered a place in the kingdom. Of course, I'd have to earn my keep."

Elsa's eyes shone with happiness. "We can work everything out over breakfast." she said happily. "I know that you must be hungry."

"Breakfast does sound good," Kristoff said from behind her.

"Let's eat then!" Anna said chipperly.

The sound of silverware clinking against the fine palace china was all to be heard in the first moments of the meal. I was trying as hard as I could not to devour the food in front of me, rather to reserve myself as a crowned prince would. I tried remembering back to my childhood family meals that I had every night, how my parents strictly trained me to be king, starting with the dinner table. Of course, none of that mattered now, but the etiquette was good to know in this situation at least.

Feeling the awkwardness, Anna broke the silence. "So Jeram, we're dying to know." She was very animated in the face as she talked. "How did you meet Elsa? LIke was she getting hunted by a pack of rabid animals or what?"

"Actually, I was the one under attack. I found her when I was running." I replied

"Really? Wow! From who?"

"Yeah, from who?" Kristoff said sceptically. He seemed a bit protective of all of his family, being the "man of the palace" so to speak.

I looked down at my plate, not wanting to answer the question. "The Restauga cavalry…" I said quietly.

"Hmph that's strange. Any idea why?" Anna said.

"It's a long story."

"One that he barely told me." Elsa interjected.

"It's a long story that I don't like to talk about." I added.

Kristoff saw that I was uncomfortable, and kindly changed the subject. Unfortunately, this question also wasn't in my favor. "So, Jeram, where do you hail from? What do you do?"

"That's part of the long story." I said, "But I'm from Restauga." I decided to indulge them so they don't think they were letting a criminal into their house. (Which technically they were, but it was an accident and an unfair verdict, okay?)

"Resauga huh? What did you do over there? Blacksmith, turban merchant, desert hunter? I've always wanted to go and work there."

He obviously was no stranger to hard work. "Crowned prince, actually." I said.

Anna burst out laughing, and Elsa looked at her, annoyed. Anna's laughs were quickly cut short with a random "Ow." I thought I could feel my feet get cold. When I glanced under the table, some ice trailed on the ground from Elsa to Anna's toe, now probably stubbed. Anna trying to swallow the pain in her toe, said, "That was a good one." she turned to Elsa, wincing. "He's pretty funny."

Elsa, keeping a calm composure, said, "Maybe if you listen to him more instead of laughing, you'd know that he wasn't joking." Anna looked over to me, the grin wiped off of her face. Kristoff also looked in disbelief. I pulled my collar down, revealing a tattoo of my family crest, a tattoo that every other royal has of their own crest. They looked in amazement at my collarbone, not believing their eyes.

"Wait a second. If you're the prince, why were you being chased by your own men?" Anna asked.

I looked down at my plate, every scrap of food was gone from it. I wiped my mouth politely with the cloth napkin that I had. Looking at Elsa, I said, "May I be excused?" She nodded, and I stood up, grabbed my staff, and started off in the direction of my room, unsure what to do next. I heard Elsa say something to Anna with a scornfully, but couldn't make out what it was. I heard her get up and jog over to me.

"Where are you going?" Elsa asked.

I turned around and pointed behind my back with my thumb. "Just going to my room-"

"No we're going into town, you're going to get some real human interaction today."

I wasn't exactly pleased with this, but it seemed out of my control. Elsa was bound and determined on getting into the marketplace or something today. She went and told a servant something, and the young boy, no more than twelve, glanced at me for a second, and went running off on the errand assigned to him.

"Where'd you send him?" I asked.

"You'll see." she said, her big eyes glittering. I saw the little guy sprinting back towards us with some fabric in his hand. Almost tripping over it, he handed it Elsa. She patted him on the head, and he left us, exhausted. I looked over to her. She was holding a black cloak with red-orange trim, which I'm guessing was for me. She handed it over. "I noticed you were basically dying of the cold on the way here, I took a shot in the dark and decided you needed something more than those desert clothes to survive the winters here. Do you like it?"

I wrapped myself in the warm, high quality robe. This was much better. "I love it." I replied. "And it even matches all the other clothes I have on." I said, inspecting my clothes.

"I'm glad, now you won't freeze to death every time we go outside."

"Thank you Elsa." I said sincerely. She beamed. We walked out into the courtyard, the chilly air now barely having an effect on me. "Where are we going?"

"The market," she replied as she gave the order to open up the gates. As the heavy, wooden doors swung open, I was hit with a wave of noise. The once-quiet courtyard was filled with sounds of laughter, music, and singing. The merchants cried their wares from their stalls, children screamed for their mothers, and the horses' whinnying were a combination of this symphony of cacophony.

At first, I was confused on how to react. I had been alone for so long, I was intimidated by this many people, for when many were gathered in one place around me, they usually had swords drawn, ready to slice-and-dice me. But, as I went along with Elsa, I was comforted by the busy-ness of the marketplace, the friendly, hive-like aspect of it. Elsa seemed pleased to be here as well. As we walked past, the sea of people parted, making me feel like Moses. I could feel the eyes upon us as we walked by, and the noise subsided a bit. Not so much as to completely stifle it, but it was definitely less overpowering. Elsa seemed like she noticed it too, but it didn't seem to bother her. She waved and smiled at the people around, but mainly the focus was on me, the man dressed in strange clothes and an unusual tan for the depths of winter.

Amidst all of the bustle of the people around us, there was one figure that stood out the most. He was about my height, maybe a little shorter, with a bald head and an unruly brown beard on his face. And the beard wasn't the only big thing about this man. He was huge. His arms were the size of tree trunks, and was obviously fit when he was younger, but now had a protruding beer belly. Big bald and nasty was being extremely obnoxious, shouting at people behind the stalls, cursing at the top of his lungs, and basically just causing a major disturbance. He was obviously drunk.

As we were walking by, he lumbered his over to us. Apparently he was either too drunk or too ignorant to know who was standing before him. "Well look what we's got here. A good lookin' couple o' youngn's." he said, stumbling in the words between hiccups. Elsa was repulsed by his rude manner and the alcohol on his breath. I stepped in between him and her. He looked at me. "Whaddya tink ya be doin' lad? If I's wanst to look at yur girlfiend ova thare than you's ain't gonna stop me, savvy?"

"I don't think so." I said, grabbing Elsa by the arm to lead her away.

"Now wait just a moment!" he replied, enraged. I could see his bald head turning red, not used to someone standing up to him. "I said if I wanst ta look at her than I will!" He took Elsa's other arm. He must have gripped her pretty hard, because she started to squeal once he took hold.

Combining speed and demon-like power, batted his arm away with all my strength, hitting him right on his elbow, against the joint. Hearing a satisfying crack, his arm swung to his side. A few gasps escaped from the crowd around us. I looked at his face, which was now wracked with pain. He was holding his broken arm with his other hand. I took him by the collar and slammed him up against one of the posts of a stall. He winced with the pain his back was experiencing. With a mixture of adrenaline and rage, lifted him up against the post. I could feel my corneas heating up. When my eyes heat up, that's when I get really angry. Thankfully, only this man before me could see the fire escaping from my pupils.

"Now," I said, trying to keep my voice low and controlled, which was hard with all the anger coursing through my veins. "You are going to go home, sober up, and NEVER bother anyone again. Understand?" I leaned in close so I could whisper into his ear. "Or I will come and kill you."

He nodded, tears now streaming down his face, either from the pain from his arm or the fear of losing his life. I looked at the frightened merchant who owned the stall I slammed the drunk against. I tossed him a gold coin.

"Thanks for letting me use your shop." I said to him, walking back to Elsa.

While my back was turned, I heard the large bearded man cry, "Devil! Demon! Monster!" The crowd turned into an uproar, not necessarily against me, as they knew the man was hammered, but just in concern for themselves and their children. I ignored them. Elsa came up and hugged me.

"Thanks for saving me again," she said, her head buried in my chest.

"This is why I don't go out much." I looked over at the man, exclaiming my nonexistence as a human being. "Because of people like him. They don't see me as who I am, but just as what I am."

"This was a bad idea, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, it's mine." I said as we walked back to the castle.