Night had come and gone from the dungeon windows. After the guard left, Olaf had plopped down on the floor of one corner. He had not moved from the spot since, lost in a daze of guilt and confusion. Why had the guard just tossed him in here instead of turning him in to the queen? He wondered if Elsa would hate him once the guard informed him of his and Anna's secret. Worse was the thought that both Anna and Elsa would be disappointed in him.

He worried about the princess though. Had she been caught yet?

"I hope Anna doesn't get into too much trouble."

He sighed. What was he doing?! Olaf hopped up on his little snowball feet and scampered over to the cell door.

"Hello?" he called out.

Olaf counted to ten. Still there was no answer. "That's weird." He was no expert on dungeons or anything, but he thought there would be at least one guard on duty.

"Is anybody else down here?!" he yelled. The door was solid, but there was a little window high above with bars in it. Olaf of course couldn't climb up to see through it, but his voice would hopefully reach anyone in the other cells.

Again, there was no answer. But he heard a rap, tap, tap behind him. Olaf turned around. No one was in the cell with him.

Tap, tap. Again, he heard it. "Hello?!" he whispered. He had the hopeful idea that one of the stones in the wall would wiggle out of place and Sven or Kristoff's face would appear, beckoning him to escape. Instead, the tapping came from the window.

Olaf made a cautious approach, his mouth wide open. He knew from an earlier glance that there wasn't much outside that window; there was only the deadly drop into the craggy rocks around the base of the castle. Well, there was the fjord too. Whatever else there was, he had not expected to see a willowy, white dress outside the glass. Olaf shrieked, leaping away from the window.

More alarming was when a snowy fist punched the glass in. Olaf yelped, backing up against the cell door. "Someone get me out of here!" he yelled, knocking on the door. He watched in terror as two snowy hands gripped the metal grille and pushed the entire thing out of the window frame. It dropped it into the cell with a clatter and smash of breaking glass.

Olaf watched in a trance; his mouth was stuck open but the scream would not come out. His hand scratched and tugged at the door handle even though he knew it would be locked. A faceless angel crawled in through the broken window, blowing a gust of cool air to move the broken bits of glass to a dark corner of the cell. The angel spread her wings and righted her crooked halo. She turned toward the screaming Olaf, put her hand up and gave a little wave.

"Oh! Oh, hello! Hi!" Olaf smiled. As a general rule, people don't wave if they're unfriendly. "My name's Olaf… and I like warm hugs!" He left the cell door to walk up to her. Though the lack of a face was still unsettling, the snow angel felt familiar.

"Are you… are you my sister?" he asked. He considered any of Elsa's creations as siblings. When the snow angel nodded, Olaf jumped up in the air and clapped. "Oh! Great! What's your name?"

The angel just looked down at him. At least, he thought she was looking at him. It was hard to tell.

When she shook her head, Olaf thought he sensed a little sadness. "That's okay!" he said. "I'll call you Gyda, if that's all right?"

The snow angel nodded, clapping her hands together. Little snowflakes bounced off her hands when she did it. Olaf smiled, glad to see she was pleased with the name.

"I'm happy to meet you, Gyda. But I'm not sure you should be here…" he said, looking back at the door to make sure no guard was peeping in through the barred window. "I'm in trouble for doing something wrong. One of the Queen Elsa's guards threw me in here."

The snow angel put her hands up in protest while shaking her head.

"Yes. You see, I sort of…lied about something important, so the queen will be very upset with me. I need to stay here for a while… as punishment. At least, I think that's how it works," Olaf explained. But still Gyda shook her head even more insistently than before."What's the matter?"

Things would be a whole lot easier if she had a voice or a face, at the very least.

Gyda bent down and took Olaf by the hand. She started walking him to the window she had broken in through.

"Uh, Gyda?"

Next, she poked her head out of the window and looked up. Olaf had no idea what she was checking for. When Gyda seemed satisfied, she pulled her head back into the cell. Then she squatted down and held her arms out to Olaf.

Olaf knew an invitation for a hug when he saw one; he automatically frolicked into Gyda's arms, closed his eyes and gave her a hug. His eyes shot open when she stood and lifted him.

"Whoa!"

Gyda walked him back to the window, stepping up onto the ledge.

"Gyda?"

Then she stepped off.

"Oh my-ah-ahhh!" Olaf shrieked, wriggling in his sister's arms for a few seconds until he realized they were not falling. "Oh."

Gyda shook as she took Olaf higher. Olaf realized she was laughing. Soon, he was laughing too. She flew him all the way up the wall of the castle, careful to avoid windows.

"I don't want to get into more trouble," Olaf said, suddenly worried. But Gyda shook her head again, floating up to a windowed gable. Here she did not break the glass, but simply opened the window. She carried Olaf inside and set him gently on the low seat built into the window.

Olaf looked around. A bed stood out from the right wall, a stove in one corner and two chairs on either side of the window. He was in someone's bedroom.

"Why did you bring me here?" Olaf asked. Gyda looked from him and then looked down in thought. She closed the window next to them suddenly and breathed all across it. Then she took one finger and began writing a message.

"Elsa…never punish…you," Olaf read aloud. "Something…wrong…in castle. Huh?"

The warmth in the room started to defog Gyda's breath, so she blew once again upon the glass. Olaf read the final part of her message.

Stay. Wait for Elsa.

As soon as they entered the valley, Kristoff knew something was wrong. His family was usually alerted when visitors approached their home; that included him. They would usually blend in with the environment until they either recognized the visitor or were sure there was no threat.

When Kristoff and Elsa walked into the Valley of Living Rock that afternoon, there was a crowd of trolls surrounding Grand Pabbie at the mouth of one of the caves. The valley was full of voices urgent with worry. Grand Pabbie was visibly under a lot of strain trying to put everyone at ease.

"What happened?" Kristoff called out. The crowd turned in unison to face the visitors. A great majority of them instantly gasped and shrunk away as Kristoff walked forward with Elsa in tow.

"She's back!" someone cried.

"Leave us alone!" a couple shouted.

"Yeah!"

Kristoff looked back at Elsa. She frowned and wrung her hands in front of her, looking as shocked as he was. Why were the trolls afraid of her?

"Silence!" Grand Pabbie said, his voice raised above all the rest. "This is not the same woman who attacked us." As he spoke, he stared at Elsa with narrowed eyes. Then he nodded firmly at the crowd around him. "This is the queen of Arendelle. Remember your pledge!"

Kristoff watched Elsa relax. But she still looked unsure of herself. Suddenly Pabbie's words hit him.

"Wait… did you say you were attacked?!" Kristoff asked.

Grand Pabbie nodded grimly. Then, he told Kristoff how it happened.

"We noticed frost on the ground first. That quickly turned to ice… The eldest of us have the ability to tell friendly magic from—well, unfriendly magic. The source of the ice was one of the most hostile works of magic I had ever seen. I quickly called all the adults to defense. We got a barrier up just before she appeared.

But it wasn't enough. She pierced the barrier with ice lances. Her magic… it is not unlike the queen's. Yet it is older. It's deadlier."

"But she didn't kill you," Elsa interrupted, biting her lip. Could it be that Elsa was not the only human with inexplicable magical powers? Could the woman be related to her somehow?

"No. I believe if we had gotten more in the way, she would have. But she didn't need to," Grand Pabbie answered. "First she froze our feet to the ground so we could not stop her. When those of us with fire crystals quickly melted the ice, she summoned maidens of ice to battle with us. By the time we got through them, it was too late." Grand Pabbie paused, trembling at the memory. "She walked out of the treasure caves. She had claimed what she'd come for, and then she vanished back into the forest. The remaining ice maidens left with her."

Kristoff looked around, seeming to check the faces of all the trolls around them. "Everyone's all right?"

"We're all very shaken, but yes. Everyone is fine," Cliff answered.

"I'm so sorry," Elsa whispered. Then, steadying her voice, she said, "Long ago, you helped me and my sister… I will do what I can to help protect your lands. But what was it the Ice Maiden wanted?"

Grand Pabbie's brow furrowed as he answered. "We mostly keep ancient histories of our people and other magic in the treasury caves. There are also some crystals and jewelry. I can't imagine she was after any of that." Frowning, he added, "No, she must have been after the mirror."

"She attacked you for a mirror?" Kristoff asked. He sounded partly flabbergasted but mostly angry. Elsa nodded beside him as he asked his next question. "What's so special about this mirror?"

A/N: A few things. Gyda is pronounced 'Gee-da'...that's 'gee' like in geese and 'da' like the end of Gerda.

This chapter is shorter than originally intended. The Hans/Anna scene that would have come next will do better in the next chapter.

So, yes... not exactly THE Snow Queen, but another of HCA's cold-hearted women: the Ice Maiden. I wanted to leave Elsa as the only Snow Queen. The Ice Maiden is similar, but unique too as you'll eventually see. Thanks for reading!