"If I try to explain," Hans said. "You'll just think I'm crazy."
I love crazy, he'd said before. Anna shook the memory out of her head. The coronation ball already felt like so long ago. Whatever was happening now, she couldn't let her guard down around him.
Anna glared at him. "I don't care. When I left the trolls—"
"Trolls?!"
"—it was summer," she finished, ignoring the interruption. She gestured at the leafless trees and snow all around them. "Now it's winter? And there are… giants in the forest." She started walking again, finding that the movement made the things she spoke of easier to process. When Hans walked along with her, she purposely delayed some of her steps to keep from getting too far ahead of him. She still did not want her back to him.
Anna wasn't sure that Hans was even listening. What did he care? All of the confusion meant his possible escape from a proper sentence.
"The saw mill is running. No one seems to recognize me as the princess. No one recognizes you either," she continued. She kept Hans in the corner of her eye, watching for any sudden or treacherous motion.
But he ignored her. In fact, Hans gave no indication that he'd heard anything she said. He just trudged on without a word, watching the path ahead with the occasional irritated glance at his bound wrists. When they reached the main road, they turned right per the mill men's instructions. Anna had just about had it with the silence when Hans startled her with a question.
"How did you find me?"
"I didn't! At first," she explained. "I had to sneak out. Elsa has the castle on lockdown because of you." She shot him an angry look as she recalled Elsa's panic when Hans had first vanished.
"Because of me? I'm only one person."
"You tried to kill us," Anna snapped.
He had the audacity to shrug. He looked like he was going to make some stupid remark, so Anna quickly resumed her story.
"You weren't in the fjord or the village. We thought…maybe you'd drowned," she said, keeping her voice as even as possible. "Then I thought of someone who could help; the ones who knew what could be done when Elsa…when she accidentally froze my heart."
"Accidentally." Hans scoffed.
Anna wheeled on him, threatening him with her fist. "Seriously? I know you must be too twisted to see it, but what you did back in Arendelle was wrong. You're going to answer for it."
Hans didn't even flinch. He blinked once and then lifted his head, smiling at a starting flurry. Anna shivered in the brief, cold breeze.
"There's no one else here, Anna. If you hit me again, you'll be the one with something to answer for," he said.
She believed that.
Without looking at her, he started leading the way. Anna waited to follow until his distance tugged on her end of the rope. She frowned, feeling for her satchel as she thought of her knife.
They walked without speaking. Anna noticed that the farther they traveled, the more the forest came to life. She could hear birds now; she even saw some flitting from tree to tree. A speck of orange in the trees on the left may have even been a fox. Eventually, a dip in the road ahead caught her attention. She broke into a run, knocking Hans out of her way to get ahead of him.
"The fjord!" she cried out. Her face lit up in excitement. She urged him to hurry, hauling him behind her as she ran downhill. But when she broke through the tree line, she stopped short.
"That's not…" she trailed off. What she saw at the bottom of the mountains was hardly the Arendelle she knew. The grassy slopes lacked familiar houses. The only homes here were scattered close to port. The castle, too, was much smaller. Half of it was covered in scaffolding. "Where are we?"
Hans stepped up next to her, taking in the view for himself. "We're in Arendelle… almost a century ago."
With everything else that had happened to her that week, Anna wasn't sure why that was the last straw. But as soon as her brain registered what Hans had said, she blacked out.
Iduna nestled in close with her husband below deck. The ship creaked and groaned as the sea raged all around them. The thunder above was deafening. The storm had come out of nowhere, they were told. For their own safety, they should stay below until the waters calmed. It had already been hours. They were thrown from one wall to the other as waves knocked the ship to and fro. She looked up with frightened eyes to find her husband praying. She thought of her two girls back at home and how she might never hold them again.
Agnarr held her tightly, trying to shield her even as the seawater exploded through the wall behind them.
Anna lurched out of the nightmare, gasping for air. It still felt like she was aboard a rattling ship. Then she looked down at the back of Hans's neck. He was still wearing the winter cloak he'd borrowed from Arendelle castle. She shrieked and kicked once she realized he was carrying her into town on his back.
"No!" she growled, kicking and leaping off for dear life.
"Ow! What was I supposed to do?" Hans said, rubbing his hip.
One minute he was threatening her; the next, he was carrying her. She glared daggers at him when she noticed his hands were free and the rope was missing.
"You, you, you said this is Arendelle!" Anna snapped. Hans nodded, looking behind her. "But you said it was almost a century ago!"
"Keep your voice down," Hans whispered. "People are staring."
Anna looked around and saw a few townsfolk had stopped in their tracks to look at them. She looked away from them, hiding her pink cheeks.
"Never mind her!" Hans called out to people, chuckling. "She had a close call with a troll yesterday. She's still in shock." He beckoned for Anna to keep walking.
Several people nodded and murmured in understanding before going about their business again. Anna glanced at those nearest to her, eyeing inverted bodices, full skirts, coifs and bonnets. The clothing did seem a little outdated.
"Wait," Anna said, lowering her voice so only Hans could hear. "What did you just say about a troll?"
"You saw one yesterday," Hans answered. When Anna slowly started shaking her head, Hans added, "Really, you've forgotten all about the big thing that chased you?"
Anna's eyes grew wide. She thought back to the frightening sounds outside of Judet's cabin the night before.
"Judet said those were 'stallos'," Anna said, raising her eyebrow. Obviously Hans had never seen a troll before.
Hans shrugged. "Nuance. It's probably Lappish for troll."
"Wait," Anna said. She stopped suddenly, noticing they had come to the bridge leading to the castle. It was much narrower than the bridge she knew. "Where were you taking me?" She narrowed her eyes at him, warning bells going off in the back of her head. Good thing I woke up, she thought.
"Ah," Hans replied, averting his eyes.
"Ah?"
"I was taking you to the castle… I thought you might react better if you were at home," Hans answered.
"Oh, sure. How thoughtful. Why were you really bringing me to the castle?"
Hans chuckled under her piercing gaze. "Relax. I meant it when I said I gain nothing by harming you here," he said. "I'm somewhat of a guest at the castle. I thought having you around might be useful."
Anna's mouth turned up in disgust. "Useful?" Then she crossed her arms. "Wait, why would you be a guest here?"
"That's kind of a long story. It all began when my ex-fiancé punched me so hard that I went back in time," Hans snapped. An elderly trader passing them at that very moment gave them a scrutinizing stare. Hans shut his mouth and smiled. Anna followed his example, even waving at the trader. The man shook his head and continued on past them.
"All right, all right. So, say this is the 'past'. You're not sure how you got here. But I know how I got here!"
Hans said nothing, motioning for her to elaborate. He looked about as intrigued as if he was attending a lecture on the history of the thimble.
"The trolls sent me here. All we have to do is find the Valley of Living Rock and get them to send us back," she explained. She grinned at how simple it sounded. Some part of her still thought this was all in her head; Kai or Gerda's knock on her door would wake her at any moment now. She'd find Elsa in the Great Hall. Hans would be on a ship back to the Southern Isles—never to return. She and her sister would have picnics with Kristoff, Olaf and Sven. Her subconscious mind clearly invented this trip to the past in order for her to find closure. But she'd had enough. "I'm ready to wake up now!"
"Anna," Hans said sharply. "There are two things I need you to do right now. One, stop thinking that this is a dream. Two, stop talking about trolls like they're your long lost friends. The trolls here have been terrorizing the people of Arendelle. They're taking up more and more of the forest. The only thing keeping them from stampeding into town is the king and his men."
With that information, Anna hesitated. Judet had said the creatures hated Arendelle. Hans kept calling them 'trolls', but there was no way they could be Kristoff's family.
"Fine," she said. "Suppose that the 'trolls' here are giant monsters and the trolls I know aren't around yet. Do you have a better idea?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. Follow me." With that, he strode ahead across the bridge toward the castle.
"Hans, wait!" she called after him, following.
Kristoff could not believe his eyes. Normally, he didn't find books all that interesting. But standing in front of him was an entire history of his family. Growing up, he'd always felt blessed to be taken in by magical people. They never made him feel as though he didn't fit in, un-magical though he was. But he'd always been curious about them. He knew little apart from their deep bond with the elements.
Kristoff reached out longingly, his fingers mere inches from the topmost shelf. Bulda startled him away from it by hovering next to his shoulder and clearing her throat.
"One day, maybe. Not today," she said. "Even I haven't read most of these."
Kristoff felt his ears grow hot with embarrassment. He hadn't even stopped to think about whether his action would be intrusive.
Bulda smiled and winked, giving her adopted son an affectionate pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Now…" She turned in mid-air toward Elsa and Grand Pabbie at the other end of the treasury cave. Kristoff took the hint and quietly made his way over to Grand Pabbie.
"It has many names… one story calls it the Mirror of Reason. Others call it an evil mirror or simply the mirror. I've always thought of it as a truth mirror," Grand Pabbie said, standing on one of the rock chairs.
"A truth mirror?" Elsa asked. She acknowledged Kristoff as he took a seat beside her to listen.
"Yes… normal mirrors seem to reflect exactly what we show them. But they never tell the whole truth. Do you know why?"
Elsa looked over to Kristoff, both looking uncertain. Kristoff looked down for a moment. Then, he had a thought.
"If I hold up my right hand to a mirror… my reflection raises his left back at me," Kristoff answered.
Grand Pabbie beamed at him. "Very good. Now instead, imagine a mirror that can only show us the truth. It would never reflect what we show it… instead, it might show us our most secret desires or deepest fears. It might show one's past; it might show one's enemy. Such power could work miracles, but it could also drive one mad."
Kristoff nodded, understanding. "So why would the ice lady want it?"
Grand Pabbie frowned. "Who knows? We only had a fragment of the original mirror. We've been guarding it for as long as I can remember. But even the fragment is a powerful object… I fear what anyone would want with it."
"Do you…" Elsa started to ask, looking at the various bookcases. "Do any of your documents say anything about this Ice Maiden?"
"Your Majesty… forgive me if this seems unrelated, but do you remember when you came here as a child with your parents and your younger sister? It was so long ago, you might not recall," Grand Pabbie said.
Elsa nodded, forgiving the tangent. Perhaps it was important.
"I asked your parents whether you were born or cursed with your powers…" he continued. "I asked because one who is born with magic has never known anything else. So he or she cannot easily succumb to power. It's just a part of them that they must learn to wield wisely."
Elsa leaned forward, sitting on the edge of her seat.
"Someone cursed with power, however, is indeed cursed. The longer the curse remains, the more their power feeds on them until nothing is left of the original person. I'm afraid the only thing I know for certain about this Ice Maiden is that she was cursed with her power... so she is very, very dangerous."
Kristoff gulped audibly, but Grand Pabbie ignored it and continued.
"There must be a reason she's come to Arendelle… a reason she came for the mirror. If you're to protect everyone, you must find out what she's really after."
A/N: Thank you for reading!