The low crackling of the fire was a comfort as Kristoff pored over the text in front of him. He was glad to have finally secured some time to himself. It was still bewildering to have servants falling over themselves to make sure he was comfortable. It seemed every half-hour, someone knocked at the door to see if he needed anything. So, he had leaped at the opportunity when Kai asked him to take over research in the library. Not that Kristoff knew the first thing about research.

Kai hadn't exactly given him direction. After escorting the ice harvester to the library, Kai merely asked him to read and gleam what he could.

"If you would be so kind, please…read the books on that shelf and see if you can find anything I missed," he'd requested.

Kristoff had nodded dumbly, wondering what he was supposed to look for besides 'ICE MAIDEN' in big bold text. But thus far, he had not come across anything like that. He kept reading for about an hour when he wondered if he should try another book. But then he came to a story about a wicked queen and her mirror.

"I wonder," he muttered. The tale did not reveal how the queen came upon her mirror. But it was clear that the mirror had driven her mad, eventually making her wicked enough to try to murder her stepdaughter. Kristoff shuddered at the thought of any parent trying to harm their child.

Then he recalled the initial reason for the research. It wasn't just for Anna, though he worried for her safety and hoped she would soon be found. But the Ice Maiden had attacked the Valley of Living Rock—his family—for some mirror fragment.

"Kristoff?" Elsa called. The queen stood in the library doorway.

Kristoff jumped up. He'd been so focused that he had not heard the door open.

"Your Majesty!" He greeted her with a bow.

"I didn't mean to startle you," she said, looking around the room. "I expected to find Kai here, but it was you."

Kristoff chuckled. "I think the old man needed a break."

Elsa looked from him to the high pile of books on the end table next to the sofa. "Yes, I see what you mean. Have you had any luck?" She took one of the other chairs and gestured for him take a seat.

"Not yet," he admitted. "There's nothing about an Ice Maiden in anything I've read so far… there's a lot about trolls, though. And merfolk, and a sea witch."

"A sea witch?" Elsa asked.

Kristoff nodded, holding up the chapter about nautical lore. "According to this, she's a bane to both man and the merfolk. Some stories say that the storms at sea are caused by battles between her and the king of the sea." He turned a page to double check the next thing he told her. "Yeah… says the only weapon that works against her is the royal sea scepter."

"It's a shame we're not up against her, seeing as how she has a weakness. Though I'm not sure how we'd find the Sea King to borrow his scepter anyway." Elsa seemed to catch herself suddenly. "I shouldn't laugh. They could be real."

"Will wonders never cease?" Kristoff asked, chuckling.

Elsa nodded at his words but gazed around the library. Her eyes paused at the glowing fireplace. Kristoff watched her sit in deep thought. She looked like she was struggling with something. He wanted to ask about it, but etiquette dictated that he do no such thing.

"I don't understand my sister," she said suddenly, seemingly startled that she had said it aloud.

"That makes two of us," Kristoff said with notably less humor.

"When we…" she began, hesitating. "When we were kids, Anna used to do this all the time—act without thinking about consequences. We were little back then, but I did my best to chide her away from that." She leaned back in her chair and smiled. "Anna hiding her vegetables under the table so she wouldn't have to eat them…Anna cutting up the curtains from the portrait room to make us Roman togas…Anna coming to me to ask for my blessing on her engagement to a prince she just met." Elsa's smile faded immediately.

"She just wants to make things right now," Kristoff said, leaning forward in his seat. The fire dwindled. The room felt colder; he wondered if this was Elsa's unintended impact. He did not like to see the queen looking so forlorn.

"I know."

Kristoff tried to think up something more comforting. But his train of thought was shattered when all of the windows broke in on themselves. Glass flew in all directions. Kristoff dropped his book and ducked for cover on the floor behind the sofa. He was relieved to see Elsa did the same.

Kristoff yelped and tore his hand off of the floor, his skin burning. But it was ice, not flame, that was crystallizing on the floor. Kristoff looked up, watching trails of ice snake from the open window out along the library walls.

"She's here!" Elsa shouted.

Kristoff's ears picked up shouts and clamoring from out in the corridor. He looked to the door and exchanged glances with Elsa. The floor was a solid sheet of ice now. Elsa might cross gracefully, but Kristoff wasn't wearing shoes fit for ice.

Elsa raised her hand towards the door, her eyes narrowing. In an instant, a trail of snow formed beneath them, quickly stretching all the way to the room's exit. It completely covered the ice, making a safer path for Kristoff.

"Come on!" she urged him, grabbing him by the arm.

Together, they ran for the corridor. Neither one dared to look back.

"No, you have to hold it like this. Otherwise it'll get strange creases."

Olaf tried to copy Sofia as she folded another piece of linen in front of him. This was not the first time he had offered to help a servant with work. He loved learning about life in the castle. Sofia had seemed baffled by his offer at first. Later, she called him 'sweet'.

"Like this?" Olaf asked, letting the cloth dangle naturally in half and then folding it inwards toward himself.

"Um… not exactly, but that's fine for now," Sofia answered. She took the piece from him, corrected it and then settled it into the basket of other clean linens. "Your family never taught you to fold?"

"I don't have a family," Olaf explained. Then with a smile, he shook his head. "I have Elsa and Anna and my brother Marshmallow. But not… what are they, parents? Not parents or anything."

Sofia quickly apologized.

"Why?" Olaf asked, tilting his lumpy head.

"Oh… it just seems sad, not to have parents," she explained, picking up the next piece of linen.

Olaf nearly disagreed with her, mostly to ease her guilt. But then he thought for a second. Elsa was his 'creator'. That seemed different than a mother. Did he need a mother? Did not having one make him different in a bad way?

Sofia gasped and dropped the linen.

"What is it?" Olaf asked, reaching to pick it up for her. But when he tried to pull it off of the floor, it stuck. In fact, it had frozen solid to the floor. "Does that usually happen?"

Sofia shook her head. Olaf heard her teeth chatter. When he started to ask if she was feeling all right, a strange noise filled the air. Olaf turned and saw the windows behind him burst to pieces, glass shards showering down. Sofia screamed and grabbed Olaf, ducking with him close.

"Come on!" Olaf yelped, wiggling towards the door and frantically beckoning her behind him. "We have to find the queen!"

He glanced back toward the windows with Sofia. Blue-white hands gripped the now empty window frames. Several ice maidens slowly crawled in from outside.

Olaf just stared at first. He tried to sense out the same familiarity he had felt in Gyda. But it just wasn't there. These creatures were no siblings of his.

Sofia's shrieking finally roused him into running out of the laundry room with her. He led her to the staircase. When he last saw Elsa, she had been on her way to her chambers after dinner. Olaf hoped to find her there before the ice maidens caught up to him.

They nearly reached the top landing when the Ice Maiden cut them off. Olaf stopped short with Sofia bumping into him. He almost fell forward, but he caught himself. He slowly looked up at the creature staring down cruelly from the top of the stairs. If he had a mother, Olaf knew he would be crying for her at that very moment. He thought for sure the Ice Maiden was going to fly down upon them, but instead she turned away, zipping at wind speed into the upstairs hall.

Sofia whimpered in relief and leaned down to put a hand on Olaf's shoulder. "We-we should hide," she said.

"You should," he agreed. "I need to find the queen. She may need help!"

"Are you sure?" Sofia frowned.

"Yes. Don't worry!"

Sofia nodded, wishing him luck before she sprinted down the stairs. Olaf watched her head to the servant's stairs. They would lead down to the safety in the kitchens. If need be, Sofia could find passage out of the castle through there.

Now determined, Olaf trekked up the remaining stairs and into corridor above. Hearing Elsa's shout ahead, Olaf hastened around a corner to the left connecting the first corridor to another one where one wing was comprised of guest rooms while the other made up the royal chambers. Olaf stopped in his tracks, seeing the Ice Maiden ahead of him. Kristoff and Elsa stood a ways to the right, blocking her path to the guest wing. Kai rushed up between the pair with a torch in his hands; he stepped in front of Elsa, waving the flame in front of him.

Olaf made to run past the Ice Maiden without her noticing. But two cool hands reached down and lifted him. Olaf yelped, wriggling and insisting he be let down. He looked back and saw that it was Gyda holding him. She shook her head.

"I know you just want to protect me, but I need to help them!"

Olaf almost missed what happened next, but he saw Gyda's head jerk up towards the others. Olaf looked as well. His eyes grew wide as the Ice Maiden pummeled magic at his friends. Kristoff dove on his side to push Elsa out of harm's way. The two of them fell to the floor. But Kai had not been so lucky.

Elsa's agonized scream filled the hallways then. Kai stood in exactly the same spot as before, but now he stood as a frozen ice sculpture.

"No…" Olaf whispered, watching Elsa leap up to go to her loyal servant.

The queen began muttering wildly, commanding herself to thaw Kai. She lifted her hands and gestured, but to no desired result. Kristoff drew her against one wall and shielded her as the Ice Maiden suddenly approached.

Olaf held his breath, watching. He expected the Ice Maiden to turn her magic against Kristoff next. But instead, the creature passed both the ice harvester and the queen, apparently uninterested in them.

The Ice Maiden went into the guest wing. Her head turned one way and then paused before she slowly looked in the other direction. Two doors down, she stopped and reached for the door handle. With one powerful gust of magic, she knocked the door away from its hinges and looked into the room.

The Ice Maiden paused, looking all about the space within without entering. It seemed she did not find what she was seeking, for she moved on, disappearing at the end of the corridor.

Gyda finally set Olaf back on the floor. She followed when he ran to his friends.

Kristoff sank into a relieved heap on his knees, letting out a shaky sigh.

Elsa faced away from everyone with her forehead against the wall. Olaf was sure she was weeping. She made not a sound, but her shoulders shook. He skittered up to her and gave her a hug.

Kristoff cleared his throat and stood, somewhat recovered from his near-frozen experience. "Your Majesty… you need to do something, or he'll melt…" he said in a low voice, nodding towards Kai.

Elsa peered over her shoulder, wiping one side of her face before she faced them all. Then she raised one hand to create a cool barrier around Kai to keep him safe from the heat. When it was done, she looked to Gyda. "Please," she said. "Move him out of the hall, someplace out of sight."

Gyda nodded, gently lifting the ice sculpture to move him. Although Elsa had commanded it, it broke her to see Kai removed like that.

"Someone will have to tell Gerda," the queen said, her voice wavering. "I tried to thaw him. But for Anna, it took an act of true love. Maybe Gerda can—"

Olaf watched as Kristoff stepped in to squeeze Elsa into a hug. "Yes," the ice harvester agreed. Suddenly looking uncertain, Kristoff released her and took a wide step away. "I mean, yes, Your Majesty. If anyone can thaw him, it'll be Gerda."

Elsa sniffed, wiping at her eyes now. "I think the Ice Maiden was blocking my powers somehow," she murmured. "I tried to use them against her, but I couldn't do anything."

"It's not your fault," Olaf said, sad to see Elsa so defeated.

Elsa smiled for him, but she didn't look convinced. Frowning, she looked off towards the guest wing. "That room…"

The others looked down the corridor to where the Ice Maiden had stopped to search.

"She was looking for something," Kristoff said.

"That room," Elsa repeated. "That was where Prince Hans stayed during the coronation."

A/N: Thank you so much for your patience! My work and personal life have been very hectic these past couple of weeks. But writing is freeing! Still, I don't feel this is my best chapter and I do apologize for that. I assume one day after this is complete, I'll go back and rewrite what I wasn't happy with. It was a difficult chapter to write for some reason. Anyway, thanks again!