If Nissa's heart broke on the day she said goodbye to Mattheus, then it was now as if someone took a hammer to the pieces. She shrieked in agony and clawed at the witch's stony arms. The mirror no longer had to replay the scene for her. Over and over, her cruel mind's eye showed it to her: her fisherman stepped off the edge of the cliffs, plummeting to the rocks protruding through deep waves below.
While the sea witch had at first been amused by the mermaid's shock, the crying grew old at once. Tutting, she managed to shake Nissa off long enough to set the mirror back on its bed of pearls.
"Now, this is just undignified, little one," the sea witch said, turning back to watch the pathetic child pull at its now-white hair. "I've done you a favor, the way I see it."
Nissa managed to pause long enough to choke out, "A favor?"
"Why, yes!" The witch took Nissa's trembling hands and squeezed them in a death grip. "Mortals only live a short time, don't they? And besides that, their heads are full of such folly." The witch pouted now and clapped Nissa's tear-stained cheeks. "Poor princess. But when you really think about it, you'll see he's not worth all this… ruckus."
Nissa backed away. Her pale face contorted in fear, but also wonder. How could a creature of the sea—the sea she loved—be so monstrous?
"It's my fault that he..."
The witch stretched her hand out, interrupting. "Yes. It's your fault. Now, you can leave and either live with that," she smiled, "or not."
There was nothing friendly in that smile. The mermaid couldn't help but stare. Again, the witch's absence of warmth and sympathy utterly mystified Nissa.
Then it dawned on her. "You could help me," Nissa whispered.
"I could what?"
Now it was the sea witch's turn to be bewildered.
"You could make me like you," Nissa explained.
The witch clucked and cackled at the very idea.
"There can only be one of me."
Nissa looked deep in thought as she circled around the sea witch.
"Well... your mirror can do things," she explained.
Intrigued, the witch waited for Nissa to say more. She had thought that by now the little mermaid would have gone to get herself harpooned.
"It took my hair color... it can take my pain away. I don't to feel this way for the rest of my life..."
"It's like I said, dear. Live with it or don't."
"I know I won't be free of this unless you help me."
Now the sea witch's patience had run out. Who did the brat think she was, pushing for another deal? The witch had wanted to see the mermaid squirm and cry, but now the fun was over.
"You don't have anything else to offer me, silly child."
She dismissed the mermaid with a wave of her hand, annoyed to find that Nissa would not be sent away so easily.
"This is no longer about what you can gain," the mermaid snapped. "But about what you could lose."
The sea witch was actually impressed when the young thing smiled at her. It was probably the grief and the anger, but something had definitely changed little Nissa.
With a laugh, the witch asked, "Are you threatening me?"
"Let me just put it this way: if you don't help me, I'll tell the sea king where you've been hiding all these years."
The sea witch looked her opponent up and down. Nissa was several heads and tails smaller—and weaker—than herself. Yes... something had definitely gotten into the little shrimp to make her think she could threaten the sea witch. Was the child that blinded by her loss?
Such fun they'd had. What a shame! But it had been an awfully long time since the witch had tasted a mermaid's broken heart. Nissa was tiny, but she'd still make a decent enough rib stew.
"What makes you think I won't snap your itty-bitty bones right here before you can swim off to Daddy?"
The sea witch felt a thrill as Nissa's eyes widened at the graphic threat. The mermaid stepped away with her hands behind her back. But she quickly relaxed. Too quickly.
"Because I snatched this."
Nissa held up the sea witch's jagged mirror.
"I see." The witch smiled as she exhaled.
In a torrent of tentacles and snarls, the witch dove for the mirror in Nissa's hands. They spun through the water, scattering fish away from them as Nissa elbowed the witch's face. Nissa fought as hard as she could, knowing her chance for freedom—and possibly life itself—would be gone if she lost the mirror. The sea witch in turn scratched and slashed at Nissa's bare stomach to lure the mermaid's other arm away from its shield position over her chest, where Nissa cradled the mirror shard.
Suddenly, Nissa's scream pierced the sea witch's ears as red tainted the water. But the sound was nothing to the senses compared to the following white light that enveloped the two of them and then the entire cavern.
In an instant, the light was gone. But the cavern was changed. They were no longer at the bottom of the ocean.
The sea witch gasped and croaked upon the frosty ground, her body writhing from both the chill and from being out of water. "So c-c-cold... p-please... w-what hav-have y-you...?" She crawled, dragging herself across the ice, wincing as the frozen rocks beneath her scraped her belly. It was the mirror, she knew it. It must have reacted to her rage and Nissa's wish to feel nothing. If she could get the mirror back, she could reverse the effect on the cavern and then wring the mermaid's stupid little neck.
The sea witch stopped, seeing a pair of snow-white feet across from her. That couldn't be right. She looked up. An altered Nissa stared back down at her, unaffected by the cold.
"Y-you... what d-d-did y-you d-do...?" the witch choked.
"I won't kill you this time," the Ice Maiden answered. "But I'm taking this with me."
The witch, so distracted by the stinging cold, did not understand at first. Then she saw the mirror glint at her from the Ice Maiden's hand.
"N-no... y-you have t-t-to—"
"I don't have to do anything, witch. Not anymore."
She turned and admired the crevasse all around them. She'd never seen anything so beautiful. The moment was slightly ruined by the weak cackling of the sea witch behind her.
"Y-y-you m-must f-f-feel p-p-pretty important-t-t now."
"Feel?" the Ice Maiden asked. She looked down at her legs, noting that she was no lounger bound to the sea as the witch would be.
The mirror glittered with sunlight from above, catching the Ice Maiden's eye again. If she could, she would have smiled. The mirror's power was hers now.
Its power would fulfill her where love had not.
Anna awoke with a start and knocked her teacup and its saucer off the table. Too sluggish in her sleepy state, she could not catch either one before they smashed into pieces on the floor.
"I'm sorry!" she said, quickly turning her head to look for Kirsten. But the princess had left the room. "Great, Anna. Real polite, falling asleep on your Great-Great-Grandmother like that. What riveting company you make."
She crouched down to examine the damaged porcelain. She smiled as she only now recognized the golden-rimmed pattern of pale pink roses over pale green. She'd been so disconsolate earlier, she hadn't even realized she and Kirsten were drinking from her mother's favorite tea set.
She swallowed back the urge to cry as she thought of her mother's face. It had already been a few years, but Anna missed her parents every day. Still, as long as she didn't overthink their absence, she had gotten to a point where she felt okay.
At least she had Elsa!
Elsa...
She was unable to help it when the tears came this time. She sniffed and wiped them away before she decided to re-focus on cleaning up the mess she'd made. Of course, the first piece of broken china she reached for scratched her with its sharp, broken edge.
Anna yelped and brought her finger to her mouth when she saw a drop of red pool out. Grumbling at the culpable teacup—or saucer, as she couldn't tell what was what now—and feeling generally sour, she tried to distract herself from the stinging wound by thinking back to the strange dreams she'd been having.
First, there was the fisherman... then his mermaid who became the Ice Maiden. Oh, and the sea witch! They all seemed like part of one story, but why was it in her head? Was her mind coming up with it all on its own? She knew she was imaginative, but maybe not that imaginative.
Was it possible that the characters were real?
Well, the Ice Maiden was clearly based off of that page from the hunter's log—the one Hans had been obsessing over. Where Anna had dreamt up the rest from, she couldn't be sure.
Anna shuddered as she recalled the most recent dream. Nissa's total transformation had been as startling to Anna as it had been to the sea witch. The Ice Maiden seemed as unfeeling as Nissa had wanted to be. But there was something familiar about her.
She hated to make the comparison, but she kept thinking of Elsa... and now Kirsten too.
Anna pulled one of the small cloth napkins from the table and carefully used it to collect the broken tea cup and saucer. She blushed a little at the sound of the door opening, knowing Kirsten would see how clumsy she'd been.
"Oh, Miss Anna! Please," Kirsten said, crouching down with her to still Anna's arm. "I'll ask the servants to tend to this. You've been through enough right now."
Anna could see from the princess's intensity that it would be no use arguing with her. So, she allowed Kirsten to help her up on her feet.
"Would you like to walk the castle with me? I can give you the grand tour," Kirsten offered. Then she bit her lip with worry.
Anna refrained from saying she already knew the castle well. Besides, Kirsten was clearly trying to help take her mind off of everything.
That would be nice... for a little while.
"Sure!"
After a few more unsuccessful attempts at finding a hidden exit—in the floor, behind stiff tapestries, in cracks on the frosty wall—Kristoff finally gave up. An hour after his final search, he was back on the icy floor, actually putting a tiny section of the mirror back together. At least pretending to be at the task might buy him time to plan an escape. He was also hoping one of the mirror fragments might show him something again. The puzzle was challenging, but it became a bore after a while. He'd never been in his own company for so long. Sven had been with him for so long, he barely remembered solitude.
Kristoff's face grew hot with anger when he thought of his best friend alone and frozen somewhere in the witch's ice castle, probably in an unlit room. Perhaps Sven was surrounded by creatures of the same fate.
Could Sven feel and think in that state? Kristoff cringed as he thought about it. It would be better to be numb and asleep throughout.
Kristoff went back to his puzzle. Agonizing wouldn't help Sven or himself. But more revelations from the mirror might.
"Or is that what it wants me to think?" he thought aloud.
His stomach answered with a growl, reminding him of his unpleasant snack earlier. Hoping his next meal would be more substantial, Kristoff picked up the next mirror piece. He almost dropped it when it flashed with light. Catching it before it fell back onto the pile, Kristoff scowled.
"A little warning would be nice," he grumbled. Curious as to what it would show this time, he held the fragment closer.
It was a little easier this time as it was a larger piece of mirror. But once again, there was no sound. At first, Kristoff saw a grassy hill dotted with trees. Then a cabin on the hilltop came into view. When he saw the water it looked out over, he thought he was looking at Arendelle; but it was the ocean, not Odin's Fjord. The view closed in through the cabin window, where a strawberry blond-haired boy in a brown medieval kyrtill spoke to a pregnant woman, presumably the boy's mother. The boy looked out the window as he spoke, looking deeply troubled by something.
Kristoff scoffed. "Great! Very useful, mirror. ...not."
The mirror flashed sharply, hurting Kristoff's eyes.
"Argh, hey!"
The boy buttered a piece of lefse and brushed it with sugar before he handed it off to his mother. The view focused on the lefse for a moment, making Kristoff's mouth water.
"That's just mean..."
Suddenly, the child jumped up and down, pointing out the window. He looked to his mother as if for permission. She was a sturdy brunette with a kind but tired face. With one nod from her, the little boy ran out of the cabin to meet a man coming up the road.
"So, we've got a boy, his pregnant mother and..." Kristoff watched as the man on the road bent down with his arms held out for the boy to jump up. "Father." The man swung his son around, both of them laughing. The two exchanged happy words, unintelligible to Kristoff but something the boy nodded about. This stopped when something behind the man caught his son's eye.
"Who's that?" Kristoff said, finally able to read lips as the boy asked the question and pointed down the road.
When the father turned, the color drained from his face. He mouthed something, but it was too quick and short for Kristoff to read. Frustrated, Kristoff shook the mirror fragment. Mid-motion, he caught a glimpse of a white figure standing on the road below the boy and his father.
Kristoff groaned when the scene faded and the mirror fragment went blank. "Don't tell me..." He gave the fragment another little shake, startled as a few images quickly flashed across its surface.
First, he saw the boy running back to the cabin.
Next, the Ice Maiden appeared face-to-face with the boy's father.
Then, back in the cabin, the boy's mother screamed noiselessly in the mirror as strange, silver threads wound round and round her large belly.
Lastly, the father and the Ice Maiden stood alone on the hill. He shouted something to her retreating form.
The mirror went blank again, leaving a perplexed Kristoff to stare at its still surface.
The queen tapped her neatly manicured fingers against the carriage window as she pondered over that morning's conversation with Lady Cathrine. The summery forest spun past on her journey back to the palace. The birdsong and bright greenery may as well have been absent for the amount of attention Elsa spared any of it. This had even been her first trip beyond town outside of winter! But then, perhaps a part of her subconsciously preferred the cold, slumbering season to the sunny warmth outside.
Lady Cathrine had sworn her loyalty to Elsa with a promise to advise and aid the young queen in any way she could. Elsa supposed that in itself was reassuring.
"I believe Lord Harald is deserving of your trust."
The words prickled at the queen. After receiving the pledge of loyalty, Elsa had laid out all of her concerns and suspicions about Harald's possible "nostalgia" for his regency.
It wasn't that Lady Cathrine had been dismissive. On the contrary, she took Elsa's burden quite seriously. But she had gone on to describe her many meetings with the lord during his time as regent.
"Honestly, ruling always seemed to be a bit of a burden on the man..."
"Really?" Elsa found that hard to believe what with the way Harald always had a suggestion ready.
"Oh, you know... it was always Grimmstad this, Grimmstad that. He hated being away from home, I think."
"Why didn't he just step down then? Surely someone else could have stepped up."
Lady Cathrine had patted her hand then, a gesture that was oddly familiar for their new relationship, but still something of a comfort to Elsa.
"I'm sure he saw it as a favor to your father. King Agnarr was a beloved ruler, you know. Even after your family became somewhat...reclusive."
But there was still the matter of Kai's ice sculpture being dragged out to frighten the townspeople.
"Who would do such a thing?" Elsa had asked. "I'm afraid someone is trying to stir up more trouble than we need."
Lady Cathrine had agreed with her. The ice sculpture incident had definitely seemed intended to reflect poorly on the queen.
"Perhaps a spy left behind by that Duke of Weselton? Otherwise, I can't think who... but rest assured, Your Majesty. I will keep my eyes and ears sharp."
Elsa highly doubted that Lady Cathrine would be able to help on that front. But it was nice to finally have a friend.
As the carriage drew up to the palace, Elsa thought more on the possibility that the duke had left someone behind. He'd had what, two body guards with him?
A sudden chill swept through Elsa as she failed to recall the two men's arrest. Had they boarded the ship back to Weselton or remained here in Arendelle? With Kai gone, who could she ask?
A cracking sound brought her back to the present. She looked around at the ice that had snaked across the carriage walls around her. Quickly, she shut her eyes.
Love thaws, Elsa. Think of something happy.
She thought of glossy chestnut eyes and dark brows masked by shaggy flaxen hair.
Elsa's eyes popped back open in alarm.
Why would that...?
But as she looked about her, she found not one sliver of ice.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Check out below for answers to some inquiries. Or, if you prefer to figure stuff out totally on your own, you can ignore it. :o
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Mattheus?
Okay, no one's asked that yet. But just in case, that's the fisherman. Yes, he finally gets a name.
.
What happened to Crown Prince Nils?
I was sneaky with this one. But Uncle Nils actually gets mentioned in one of the earlier chapters, though not by name. Sorry, not giving away any more than that! If you don't feel like going back to figure it out, I promise you'll get an explanation in a few chapters.
.
How long is this story going to go on for?
Yikes! Lol As long as it needs to? The plot is planned out from point A to Z. I just don't have a consistent schedule and I'm not very disciplined as far as how many words per chapter. I do whatever feels 'right'… I wasn't planning to go beyond 70 chapters though, and I'd be very surprised if I get that far. The story probably feels longer than it is because there have been several shorter updates just so that I could stick to my 7-10 days. It will end, don't worry. ;P I've got other stories I want to work on soon.
.
What does the Ice Maiden have to do with Hans?
I can't say yet! But hopefully you appreciated getting her origin in this chapter. I can confirm that she is the one responsible for Hans's weirdo behavior though, as if that weren't obvious by now.
.
Are the mirror from "The Snow Queen" and the mirror from "Snow White" one and the same?
Yes! The mirror from "Snow White" is part(s) of the mirror from "The Snow Queen".
.
Is Maija Snow White?
Yes! Though her story differs from the story we know (hence her disapproving comment about the campfire tale), her character represents Snow White/the Robber Girl just as Nissa's character represents the Little Mermaid/the Ice Maiden.
.
Is Lord Harald really the villain in the present timeline?
Lady Cathrine doesn't seem to think so!
.
Is Hans that important to wage war for? Or is this the work of the ice maiden? (Refers back to the letter from the Southern Isles in chapter 14)
Compelling questions! You may be onto something, especially if you consider the timing of the letter... :P