The little snowman pawed at the queen's skirt. "Elsa," he murmured, though his wide eyes did not move off of the man at the door.
The silent pause lasted only two seconds before the intruder bowed in the doorway. "The Lord of Grimmstad wishes to speak with you at once, Your Majesty. It's a matter of import." His ashy blonde braid dangled over his shoulder with the movement. He was not one of Elsa's guards, though he donned a similar uniform. His, however, was paler in color. The design splayed across his coat shoulders was simply black on green.
The queen narrowed her eyes at him. "You are Lord Harald's man?" she asked.
"Yes. Liam, Your Majesty. Please forgive the intrusion. His Lordship stressed that it was an emergency."
Liam's voice was grave. He looked to be about Anna's age, though less forthright. His earthen eyes blinked back secrets as he awaited her response. He carried a hawkish nose and his jawline look chiseled. He stood pin straight, unnervingly comfortable with eye contact.
"Very well," Elsa finally said.
"Elsa," Olaf whispered, tapping at her knee to get her attention. "I have a bad feeling about this..."
"It's okay, Olaf," she assured him, smiling more for his benefit than out of confidence.
"Lord Harald wishes to speak to you alone," Liam quickly stated once he saw that Olaf was planning to accompany the queen. Elsa and Olaf both stopped short.
"But why?" Olaf asked.
"It's all right, Olaf. We can meet again in the morning," Elsa suggested.
"But..." Olaf trailed off upon seeing Elsa shake her head.
"Oh, and Liam?" the queen looked back up to Harald's servant. She caught him staring at Olaf with his nose wrinkled in disgust. When Liam's attention shifted to her, Elsa frowned. "Next time, knock. That's a command."
"Yes, Your Majesty," he answered, not sounding the least bit intimidated.
After one last assuring glance over her shoulder to Olaf, Elsa followed Liam out of her study. He led her to the end of the corridor and upstairs to a part of the castle he should not have been familiar with, in her opinion. The third floor rooms had been used exclusively by her parents long ago. Elsa never felt right about claiming them for herself even after the coronation. She preferred her room and study on the same floor as Anna's room.
"Where is he?" Elsa asked, her alarm growing by the minute.
"Just this way," Liam replied. He stopped at a double door and opened it for Elsa.
She tried to keep an impassive face as she stepped into her parents' former sitting room. There was the old stone fireplace on the left wall, its innards alive and crackling with flame. Its light was more welcoming than the lanterns' along the walls. Queen Iduna had told her daughters many a story in two high-backed chairs just there when the girls were little. Anna had always insisted on taking their mother's lap. Elsa, the older and more 'dignified' daughter, was happy with her own chair.
Portraits took up the higher space on the walls. The largest of these was a family portrait sharing a wall with the door she had entered from. Elsa looked back at it now with a pang of longing. The sisters must have been eight and eleven at the time? She smiled, recollecting the great challenge it was for Anna to stand still for so long. She kept wanting to run over to the painter to see her progress.
The French balcony doors groaned as Liam pulled them open. "Out here, Your Majesty," he called.
Elsa followed him outside and found Lord Harald on the balcony. For a moment, she was angry to find him there. This had been her parents' space. What was he doing up here?
She reined in that anger when she recalled he had been regent. This had been Lord Harald's dwelling for those few years before she came of age. Even so, Lord Harald seemed too comfortable here.
She cut straight to the point. "What is this about, Harald?"
Lord Harald turned around, startling Elsa with his somberness. "I was hoping you might be able to tell me, Your Majesty." He gestured out into the twilight beyond the balcony. She had to step up to look out and see what he meant.
Elsa held in a gasp, but immediately felt herself trembling. Down in the courtyard was a crowd of villagers with torches and lanterns. They encircled a single, motionless figure which Elsa recognized at once as Kai.
"But how... He was..." she started to murmur, but she caught herself. She could hear the townspeople's distant cries and shouts of accusation and fright.
"Liam brought this … scene to my attention," Lord Harald explained, coming up beside her at the balcony rail. "My Queen," he continued, making her cringe. "Of course I don't want to jump to any... unreasonable... conclusion. However, this..." He spread his arm out to indicate the chaos below. "This does not look good. Not at all. Forgive me for having to ask, but was there some sort of accident perhaps?"
An accident? It took a moment before his implication struck. He thought she did that to Kai. He thought she was capable of such a thing? And if Lord Harald thought it possible, then the townspeople below surely thought it.
"That was not my doing!" Elsa snapped, her hands tightly gripping the balcony railing. She felt as though she'd fall over if she did not hold onto something. Her head began to swim with panic. Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel. Don't let him see. She chanted her mantra within.
"Of course, you would not have meant to," Lord Harald replied, looking over at her. "The rumor going around below is that your servant—"
"Kai," Elsa interrupted. "His name is Kai." He sat with us when you imposed your council upon me. Or don't you remember?
Lord Harald drew himself up and then let out a short sigh. "That Kai got in the way of your seeking out Princess Anna."
Elsa breathed deeply as she prepared herself for what he would say next.
"It has been suggested that in an emotional outburst, you... lost control. That you turned him into ice."
Elsa simply held herself still, the gravity of his words settling over her shoulders like an invisible boulder. Of course people would talk. She was the Snow Queen. Naturally, they'd suspect her. It had been mere days since she set an accidental blizzard upon the entire kingdom. How could they possibly trust her?
The Lord of Grimmstad cleared his throat. "I can see that you're shocked. Perhaps it'd be best if you just step behind the scenes until we can prove your innocence to the people."
"Do you believe I did this?" Elsa asked.
With a sigh, the noble shook his head. "I don't want to believe it," he said. "But if it wasn't you, then who?"
Elsa hesitated, studying him without meeting his eyes. She considered the very real possibility that Lord Harald had been the one to put Kai on display in the courtyard. She had dropped her makeshift ice key to the storage room when he approached her on the prior evening. She'd thought it would have just melted, but perhaps...
"Your Majesty?"
"There is something I did not tell you," she began. "I thought there'd be a risk of widespread panic if too many people found out. It's about the attack on the castle. I know who the perpetrator was. It was the same person who's responsible for Kai's current state."
"Who but you has such power?"
"We've been calling her the Ice Maiden... and yes, her powers appear to be very similar to mine. She might even be stronger," Elsa admitted. She waited for Lord Harald to express indignation or disbelief, but he just gaped into space, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to think of what to say. "She has not only attacked the castle. There was an attack on the trolls in the forest as well."
"Trolls?!" Lord Harald said. Elsa cringed. Was she giving him too much to process? Would he doubt her?
But if he was trying to get the people to mistrust her, perhaps this news of an outside enemy would make him think twice. After all, he would need her to stand up to an opponent as formidable as the Ice Maiden. If he believed in the Ice Maiden, at least.
"There are trolls in the forest?"
Elsa nodded.
"Are they dangerous?"
"No," she answered quickly. "They're peace-loving. They don't always give the best advice, but they have good intentions." She thought back to how the troll elder had frightened her about her powers when she was just a girl.
"But why would this ice woman attack Arendelle?"
Elsa frowned. "I don't know yet."
Lord Harald sighed again, turning his back to the scene in the courtyard. "I don't believe you would make up stories, but I hope you understand why I'd be skeptical. Trolls? An Ice witch attacks for no apparent reason?"
"Neither of which are any more shocking than the Snow Queen of Arendelle," Elsa snapped.
Lord Harald nodded after a moment's pause. He looked out over the courtyard once more, his eyes flickering in thought.
Elsa looked down too. She cringed as she watched one person below bring their torch directly up to Kai, as though testing to see whether the flame would melt him. Quick as lightning, Elsa flittered her fingers to once again re-enforce the protective barrier about Kai. Each time she did it, it was easier to cast. She felt sure he was safe from any overly-curious villagers now.
"You look so weary. Won't you rest?" Lord Harald said. Elsa was stunned by his genuine concern. Could she or could she not trust him? She clenched her teeth to keep from yawning. As soon as he pointed it out, fatigue hit her like an avalanche.
"I can't leave him down there," Elsa said.
"I'll take care of it. I promise," he assured her. "In return, will you promise me to get some sleep? We will need to have a longer conversation tomorrow. I think it best if we inform the other nobility of what you shared with me just now."
Elsa's brow creased with worry. What if none of them believed her?
"I'm on your side, Your Majesty. Please don't worry."
She looked at him again. With Kristoff and Anna gone, there was no one else to place her trust in. There was Olaf, of course. But he was a snowman unaccustomed to politics and humans. Could she possibly rely on Lord Harald?
Finally, Elsa nodded. "All right. I'm counting on you."
She cut through the water like a knife. Her long, pale hair trailed behind her. On any other day, she would have taken her time. She would have combed her fingers through the water and stopped for gossip with the sirens. She even used to go watch the dolphin races with her father. But today was different.
Now the sun was about to set on the end of the week. It was her favorite time of her favorite day. She wouldn't miss it for the all the seas.
She waved to passing schools of fish, to crawling, hidden things in the plant life below and to the crustaceans on the sea floor. She was too far from home to encounter any of her own kind, but that was for the best. She was not meant to be this close to inhabited shores.
The sky already burned amber through the glittering marine barrier above. She kicked her copper tail back and glided upward as she entered the cove, moving with purpose.
She only surfaced once the solitary island came into view. She was always careful about it. There was always a risk that another human might spot her; one human in her life was complicated enough.
The air felt strange against her blue eyes. Stranger still was the sensation of having to wipe the sea water away from them. When her eyes were clear, she spotted the lone fishing boat. He'd dragged half of it up upon the island and left the tail end in the water. She grinned when she saw him sitting with his back toward her part of the water. Then, with the stealth of a scorpionfish, she swam up to the edge of the rock island, moving so slowly that the water made no noticeable sound. She relished in planning how to make her presence known. Finally, she decided upon whistling with her fingers—a trick she'd learned from him. It didn't work all that well under the sea. But on the surface, it tickled her ears!
Her fisherman started and turned. Her heart skipped a beat when he saw it was her, for his face went from frightened to peaceful. Then he ran to her, laughing. That sound was more beautiful to her than anything else she had heard out of the sea.
There they talked for hours. She would bring gifts from the sea—a pearl this time. He'd recite human poetry, a thing she did not appreciate at first but came to love over time. Tonight he begged her to sing to him. Normally she preferred not to. She was no siren, after all. But his silver eyes and tender kisses had won her over in the end.
So she sang. Only, she found she had no control over the words as they poured out of her:
"I'd like to light a candle
And hang it in the deep,
So when you can't be near me,
This love of mine will keep.
Into the tide I'll whisper
A tune to help you sleep.
And that way when we've parted,
You'll never need to weep."
Anna opened her eyes and sat up slowly, her blanket slipping off of her. She blinked at the dark stone walls surrounding her and tried to calm her aching heart. Why was she so sad?
That's right; she was in the dungeons. She'd nearly forgotten.
There was humming on the other side of the cell. It was a familiar tune. Hadn't she heard just it?
She thought of waking Hans to see if he could hear it too. But then she realized he was the one humming. Intrigued, Anna slid off of the cot as noiselessly as she could manage.
Hans was on his side; moonlight washed over him. As Anna crept closer, she could see he held the missing page from the hunter's log. She recognized the drawing of the ice woman who reminded her of Elsa. She froze in place and watched Hans move his thumb over the illustration; the motion made it look like he was stroking her hair.
Anna thought better of 'interrupting' and whirled around to tiptoe back to her cot. She nearly made it without alerting Hans. But when she climbed back into her resting place, the cursed cot squeaked beneath her weight.
The humming instantly stopped. Slowly, Anna looked back over her shoulder. She expected Hans to turn over and tease her.
But he didn't.
A/N: I finished this chapter earlier than planned because I was particularly excited to write this dream of Anna's. :D Thanks for reading/reviewing!