"Show me," Nissa demanded, tired of the witch's amusement. The cave of infected coral around her felt suffocating. Creeping shellfish peeked out at her from miniature caverns within the dead walls. She tried to ignore it, but her skin crawled.

The witch's teal eyes glinted. "I don't offer anything for free," she said, trying Nissa's patience.

"I have to know what's befallen him. Name your price, witch."

Her host smiled as if Nissa had not intended to offend her. She waved one webbed hand through the water, her fingers glowing. "What shall I choose? Your sight, perhaps? Your voice? Your inheritance?"

Here Nissa stopped her. "You know I'm the youngest. I have no inheritance."

"No?" the witch asked, pouting a little too much to be believed. "Then perhaps... the color of your hair."

Nissa's hands instinctively went to her long, light golden tresses.

"Yes. I think that will be the price," the witch decided.

"What are you going to do with someone's hair color?" Nissa asked, incredulous.

The witch snapped. "Be grateful I didn't ask for your fisherman's tongue on a plate!"

Nissa quieted, pulling one handful of tendrils in front of herself. "Take it then. Show me what's happened to my beloved."

"Payment first."

Nissa frowned. She was eager to discover where her fisherman had gone. She yearned to take back everything she had said the last time they met. But she had gone to the cove day after day a week after. He would not come. Had she angered him that much?

Satisfied, the witch swam to a corner of the room where a jagged mirror sat atop a bed of pearls and shells. She carefully took up the mirror and glided back to Nissa.

Nissa had heard all about the witch's powers and her evil mirror. But looking at the mirror now, Nissa failed to understand the stigma that surrounded it. It wasn't even a whole mirror. It was just a jagged thing barely larger than the Witch's hands. It had a scratched surface.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" the witch asked.

Nissa blinked several times. Then she noticed her hair in her hands. It was not quite blonde anymore.

It was white.

A memory latched itself around her heart and squeezed so hard, it hurt. Her fisherman had once told her that her hair reminded him of sunlight.

"Don't look sad," the witch crooned, cradling the mirror as though it were the one she spoke to.

Nissa squared her jaw and glared at the witch. "Get on with it."

Again, the witch's eyes flashed with light from an unknown source. She stalked toward Nissa, her mirror held out. Nissa's eyes snapped down to the mirror as its surface suddenly glittered brilliant white. When her eyes adjusted, she could see something... a man moving around in the mirror, though she knew not how. After a second, she recognized him.

When she watched the scene in the mirror, she screamed. Other memories rushed to her aid, her mind trying to calm her as her balance gave way. She fell to the witch's feet, the sobs pouring out of her in wretched, wet hiccups and protests.

I don't understand.

"Your mirror lies, witch!" Nissa yelled. Grief tore through her fury and washed it down in sob after sob.

"Pull yourself together, child. This mirror cannot lie."

Why?

Nissa's eyes were so blurry with tears that she could barely see the witch. She could see the mirror though, glinting now as the witch's eyes had, as though it too were laughing at her. Nissa's sole calm thought was that her heart felt as jagged as the mirror's edges now. If what she saw had truly happened, her heart would harden. She would become as cruel as the witch and her mirror.

Why?

No, he wouldn't want that. She wouldn't want that. She trembled and choked, digging her fingers into cold ocean soil as she lifted her eyes back up at the witch.

It hurt to move, hurt to think.

Why had she come here? Would she have been better off never knowing?

It hurt to feel. Everything hurt.

The mirror glinted, replaying the horrible scene for Nissa to review.

She screamed and lunged for the witch.

"Anna... Shh... Anna, you're screaming!"

Anna's eyes shot open. She found her hands gripping Hans's shirt as he gently shook her. He stared, his green eyes searching her face wildly.

"What...?" she said, realizing she was panting. Nissa's rage and devastation still brewed within her. That dream had been more vivid than the other odd ones of late.

Hans released her and inched back a little. Anna realized he was sitting on the edge of her cot. She sat up with him but leaned to the side against the wall. She was still trying to separate her own feelings from Nissa's.

But who is Nissa?

"I didn't want the guards to think I was murdering you," Hans explained.

His word choice was like looking into the witch's mirror. Anna whimpered as her eyes welled up, unbridled tears streaming down her face.

Hans had left her to die. She'd been repeatedly reminding herself of this, but only now did the dam finally break. There'd been the dream, too. She wasn't even certain all of the tears were her own.

Hans's mouth dropped wordlessly open as she lost herself in sobs. Ordinarily, she might have found the stupid expression of his to be amusing. But in the moment, it just made her cry harder.

Anna didn't have time to register what Hans was doing as he suddenly moved toward her. He pulled her shaking and crying into him, locking his arms around her. She blinked hot tears against his shoulder, simultaneously relieved by his warmth and scent—faint ginger ale and ember?—while bewildered by the presumption.

Part of her warned her to get away from him; the thought sounded like Elsa's voice in her head. But another part felt oddly safe. Maybe it was just that the grief was so unbearable, but Hans's heartbeat on her chest was a comfort.

It ended all too soon though.

As soon as Anna started easing into his hug, Hans roughly pulled away and moved off of the cot. Without a word or a glance, he returned to his side of the cell.

Stunned, Anna felt her face. There she felt warmth and the remnants of her tears. But she had definitely stopped crying.

I don't understand.

"I..."

She stopped herself, staring harshly at the prince on the other side of the room with his back to her. She glared, letting her eyes bore holes into his shoulders. But he couldn't feel her gaze. He didn't seem to feel a thing.

Why? she wondered.

There was something wrong with her too, letting him get that close.

She lay down again, troubled but calmer. She turned her head away from Hans and decided to let herself drift back asleep. She hoped for dreamless sleep this time.

They managed to get through discussing tax concerns and the economic impact of the embargo with Weselton. The nobles agreed that Weselton needed to suffer some consequence for entrusting trade relations with Arendelle to such a weasel. But they suggested that the queen resume trade with Weselton at some point in the near future. In the meantime, something needed to be done to recompense for the stricken market. They had been importing medicine, medical equipment, steel, iron and other metals from Weselton where it was cheaper than some of the other sovereign states and kingdoms. Now the materials would cost more to get elsewhere. Elsa agreed to temporarily lower certain taxes in light of the halted trade with Weselton. That pacified the nobles. In fact, the meeting seemed to be going well until someone brought up the missing Princess Anna and Prince Hans. That was when Lord Harald prompted her to break the news about the Ice Maiden and the attack on Arendelle Castle.

When she finished, Elsa looked back at the speechless nobles staring at her from around the table. The silence lasted for all of two seconds before everyone began talking at once.

"She expects us to believe in some fairytale excuse?!" Lord Stein snorted.

"But why did it attack the castle? Where will it attack next?" asked Lady Linn, looking the most concerned in the group.

"The question isn't where, but who!" Lord Martin exclaimed.

"I stand with Her Majesty." It was Lady Cathrine who said this. She was an older noblewoman who had been a close friend of Queen Iduna's mother.

"Sure you do. You're thinking exactly what the rest of us are thinking!" Lord Stein snarled. He seemed the most agitated.

"And what's that, Lord Stein?!" Lady Cathrine narrowed her eyes at him.

Rather than elaborating, Lord Stein mumbled something about Lady Cathrine's age and sex. Then, suddenly sinking into silence, he became fascinated with his sleeves on the table.

"Your Majesty, why did you not tell us of the threat sooner? We could have lent defenses for the castle!" Lord Jorn said.

"What if she's the one we need defending from? You remember what happened at the coronation!" Lord Martin panicked.

Elsa rubbed her temples slowly, letting them bicker amongst themselves so she could take a moment to gauge who would be her best or worst allies.

"Please," Lord Harald interrupted the lot of them. "The coronation is behind us now. The queen has learned to control her power. Prince Hans of the Southern Isles and the Duke of Weselton were revealed to be the true offenders during the coronation. Let us focus on the issues at hand."

"Forgive me, Your Lordship... but isn't Prince Hans one of those issues?" Lady Cathrine asked, glancing at the queen with some concern. She clearly did not want to stir the pot like the others, but her question was valid and inevitable all the same.

Before Lord Harald could reply, Elsa said, "Prince Hans disappeared along with the blizzard. We are making every effort to locate him before the Southern Isles become aware..."

"Haven't they noticed he did not return home yet from the coronation?" Lord Martin asked.

"I sent a letter explaining that both he and my sister have gone missing. I didn't explicitly say that they ran off together, but..."

"You were hoping they would be more sympathetic if that's what they assumed?" Lady Cathrine finished for her.

Elsa nodded dumbly, trying to ignore the varied murmurs around the table. She kept her hands in her lap and focused on her breathing. She knew if she didn't, she might accidentally freeze the room.

"Probably the best thing you could have done to allay their suspicions," Lord Martin admitted.

Elsa's shoulders relaxed. At least some of them seemed to be on her side, even if Lord Martin seemed to panic at the drop of a hat.

"So they believe you're searching for both the prince and princess?" Lord Jorn asked.

"We are searching for them. But now there is this Ice Maiden posing threats as well..."

"And you have no idea what she came here for?" Lady Cathrine asked.

Elsa shook her head. "A man who helped my sister save the kingdom is out searching for the Ice Maiden now. Kristoff Bjorgman. If anyone can help us, it's him... in the meantime, if you would lend me your men to continue the search for Princess Anna and Prince Hans..."

No one volunteered. Their hesitation was like its own entity. When Elsa looked up at them in question, some of them had guilty faces.

"Was there something else?" she asked, her hands shaking but unseen beneath the table.

Lord Stein huffed. "Well, I'm not telling her."

"Telling me what?" Elsa said. Now alarm bells were going off in her head.

The other nobles exchanged silent glances. But when Elsa tried to make eye contact with any one of them, they immediately looked away. Finally Lady Cathrine sighed.

"The people of Arendelle have been uneasy," she explained. She folded her hands together on the table in thought, carefully formulating her next words. "There are rumors circulating around that have been gathering strength after the spectacle last night." The spectacle referred to Kai, Elsa assumed. "You've now told us about the Ice Maiden... and I think it's safe to say that everyone here believes in you," she gave harsh glances at Martin and Stein, "It may take a little more than that for the people. They're frightened."

"Frightened of me?" Elsa asked even though she already knew the answer. She remembered their faces when she had stormed out of the coronation ball and through the crowds. They had been so happy to see her until her magic came to light. Then she had terrified them all.

"They just need to see more of you, we think," Lord Jorn added. "And..."

"And?" Elsa prompted. She understood being reclusive all her life would make the people wary of her. That was not the kind of ruler she wanted to be.

"And..." Lady Cathrine picked up from where Lord Jorn left off, only she seemed unable to continue the thought.

"And they might feel more at ease if Your Majesty married someone known to be trustworthy," Lady Linn finished for them. Everyone started when she spoke, for she had gone rather silent since the earlier discussion.

Elsa's voice caught in her throat. They wanted her to wed someone? She counted to ten in her head, but it was no good. She couldn't think of marrying someone. She supposed somewhere in the back of her mind, she'd known it would come up sooner or later. But right now?

"You're suggesting marriage... in the middle of everything else? Don't you think the timing is inappropriate?" she asked.

"On the contrary," Lady Cathrine replied. "A wedding would give the people something to celebrate. It would take their minds off of ugly rumors and disappearances. Nobody would fear a bride, after all."

The woman gave Elsa a matronly smile. But it did not have quite the effect Lady Cathrine intended. Elsa was about to shoot down the suggestion when more of the nobles chimed in.

"We're not suggesting that you get married today," Lord Stein exclaimed.

"Yes! Even an engagement would turn the tide a little," Lady Linn agreed.

Elsa narrowed her eyes. "I suppose you have candidates in mind for the groom?" The question came out coolly. If the room grew a little chilly, Elsa didn't care anymore.

"Not by any means!" Lord Martin quickly said. He seemed to be the only one affected by Elsa's reaction. "Of course we would want you to pick someone who knows how to lead..."

"Someone with experience, if possible," Lord Jorn added.

Elsa did not fail to notice how some of their glances shifted toward Lord Harald. She looked at him now too. Had he put them up to this?

When Lord Harald caught her stare, he put one hand up. As if he'd read her thoughts, he said, "This really should all be Queen Elsa's decision. You've shared your suggestions... why not let her think on it?"

Everyone else nodded their heads and consented with remarks about being reasonable and respectful. But Elsa couldn't stand it. She stood up, her chair shrieking across the floor behind her. All eyes jerked toward her in alarm.

"Excuse me. I think I might be sick. The meeting is adjourned."

Without another word or pause for those who cried, "Your Majesty!" in concern or protest—Elsa didn't know which—she stormed around the table, leaving the council room and all of their ridiculous suggestions behind her.

A/N: Sometimes I plot out chapters and only realize while writing the drafts that certain scenes would do better elsewhere. Originally there were supposed to be four scenes here, but the fourth one (with Kristoff) will do better in the next chapter. ;P

LOLLLL HANS SMELLS OF -GINGER- ALE AND FIRE. I dunno. Ginger ale probably wasn't even around in the 1830s. Artistic license though.

Thanks for reading!