The mirror showed her many things, and not always what she asked to see. One day, not long after she abandoned the sea witch in the frozen pit, the Ice Maiden discovered the location of another shard.
From the moment it came into her possession, she'd suspected there were others. She decided there had to be after the first time she studied its crooked edges.
The sea witch may have been content to bolster her powers with just one fragment. But look where that left her.
A ship tossed and creaked on roaring water hundreds of miles south from the castle she'd "built" for herself. She flew to it, led by the eager hums of her own mirror shard. It made no actual sound, but she could feel its faint vibrations; the closer she got, the stronger the hums.
Rowing warriors shouted in alarm as they watched her descent.
"Valkyrja!" one cried.
"Seiðkona!" another exclaimed, securing his horned helmet as a rough wave battered the ship's keel up out of the water. The ship slammed back down, distracting the men as the Ice Maiden made a graceful landing on the curled stempost. When they turned their eyes back on her, most either picked up their oar or drew a sword.
The Ice Maiden brought the heel of her open palm to her lips and blew, turning her head and hand to direct a blast of bitterly cold air at the men. The warriors all turned to ice, their guttural screams cut short by the transformation. Only one man at the other end of the ship was left untouched.
She closed her fist lightly around her mirror shard, mutely jumping down onto the deck. The ship still rocked unsteadily, but her balance did not falter.
As she stepped through the rows of frozen vikings, the last man stepped up to meet her. He stopped a few feet away from her and spat.
"Go on. Freeze me too."
But she knew better. Something had protected him from her attack.
The Ice Maiden studied him from his dark hair whipping across his shoulders in the harsh winds to his fierce amber gaze; then she glanced from the battle axe clutched in his right hand to his iron helmet. All the while, the mirror fragment beat in her closed hand like an excited heart.
He challenged her even after seeing his crew's fate; that meant he was arrogant.
"I've been looking for someone worthy," she told him. She could see the immediate effect, the wheels of his male mind turning at the implied compliment. It was too easy.
But the viking was not a complete fool. Although his grip on the axe relaxed, he scoffed.
"To what end?"
"I rule a kingdom in the north," she answered. When she saw interest flicker in his eyes, she knew she had him. "Every lady needs someone to rule beside her."
She took a step forward, testing the waters. When she saw he did not flinch, she took another step. Then another as he removed his helmet. Something dark and earthly settled over the warrior's face.
He wanted her.
...she could use that.
"What kingdom?" he asked.
That made her pause as she was still unfamiliar with most human kingdoms.
"Kaldrheim," she answered, making up the name.
The man still looked interested, but he had put his guard up.
"I've never heard of such a place," he said.
The Ice Maiden held out her slender hand, the other still holding the mirror shard. "I could take you there," she half-whispered. She watched the hairs on his arms stand up in response to the invitation.
She had not had such an effect on a man since her fisherman. It was not exactly fun. She didn't enjoy anything anymore.
But it did make her feel powerful.
His warm and grubby hand suddenly grabbed hers and pulled her against him. The battle axe and helmet clattered onto the deck as he rested his hands on the Ice Maiden's waist.
"First, I'll take you here."
His statement was not an offer.
She kept her face blank as his hands wandered down her dress. Then, taking his face into her hands, she leaned up and kissed his lips.
His mouth tasted like rot. But as soon as she pulled away, she watched her magic at work.
"Let go of me," she commanded. It was a relief when he dropped his hands.
She took one step back and looked him over.
"Something protected you from my ice."
The viking said nothing, though he did glance down at his helmet. The Ice Maiden picked it up, aware of the viking's twitching hands. Ignoring him for the moment, she turned the helmet over.
At first glance, it was just plain iron. But then she noticed the studs along the line that ran from the front to back. One of them was flat and shinier than the rest of the helmet.
She looked up in time to catch the viking reaching toward her. He stopped his hand when she looked at him. Various uncontrolled emotions passed over his features: anger, fear and lastly, longing.
One kiss wasn't a strong enough hold over him, she realized.
"You want this?" she asked, moving the helmet toward him as though in offering only to pull it back when he went to accept it. Again, she saw his anger. But it melted into something else the longer he stared at her. Now was her chance.
She closed the space between them and gently gave him a second kiss. As she moved to break contact, she felt his hand on her back; it was light but insistent.
Repulsed, she tore free and slapped him.
"There is a mirror fragment embedded in this helmet. Remove it for me."
Without a word or any facial reaction this time, the viking held his hands out. The Ice Maiden passed the helmet over and watched for the next hour, unmoved, as the viking used his bare hands to pry the tiny mirror shard out of his helmet. He bloodied his fingers and nails in the process, but the second kiss seemed to block out the pain. When his work was complete, the viking shakily handed the small mirror over.
The Ice Maiden grimaced at the blood on it. But at least she'd found it.
When she turned to leave, the viking objected.
"You'll take me with you?"
He whined like a snivelling child.
"Someone has to sail the ship," she said. She gestured toward the other vikings, now ice statues.
The viking gaped at the other men as though he'd forgotten all about them.
"I can't sail this by myself."
The Ice Maiden considered that.
"You said you'd take me to your land."
She gave him a blank stare. "I'm afraid I can't."
His face contorted with confusion. "Can't... or won't?"
Tired of the act, she moved to get away from him. Later, she would tell herself to be more careful, or at least not to underestimate the power of that damn kiss.
The viking charged at her, tackling her to the deck. Momentarily stunned by hitting her head on one of the thwarts, she was not able to shove the man off of her before he closed in for another kiss. She was prepared to shoot him off of her with a blast of her magic. But she didn't need to.
The moment his lips touched hers, he yelped and broke away from her as if he'd kissed fire... or ice.
The viking backed away in horror, watching his boots freeze over. Then he lifted his fingertips as frost encased his hands and quickly turned to ice. The ice traveled inward and upward, crawling up his legs and arms, then onward to his neck. With the realization of what was happening to him, the viking reached for the Ice Maiden, shouting his last battle cry before he became the final ice statue on board.
In the sudden quiet, the Ice Maiden righted herself and stared down at her two mirror fragments. She looked around at the man and his comrades. Then with a blast of her magic, she shattered each statue into frosty dust and sent it all glittering out to sea.
Twelve years passed and the Ice Maiden's collection grew. The fragment carriers were not always aware of the powerful mirror pieces in their possession. There was one prosperous farmer who lamented to find his crops barren after the mysterious ice woman's visit. Unbeknownst to him, a piece of the mirror had lain buried in one of his fields for centuries.
Then there were some like the viking she'd first encountered: a shaman who'd challenged her, a monk who was convinced his shard was a gift from God and even a midwife. She took mirrors from thieves, from explorers and kings, from other magical creatures and hidden or forgotten places. Any who tried to stop her were frozen the moment they interfered.
When she wasn't hunting for mirror shards, the Ice Maiden experimented with her power. She sent blizzards rolling across deserts, flew across every sea, spying creatures and kingdoms beyond her wildest imagination. But all that time, none of it moved her. She was conscious of this—the side-effect of a frozen heart. At times she wondered if it would always be that way.
She tried testing it once every couple of years, no more than that. She would will the mirror to show her fisherman's happiest day. Each time was the same: the day Mattheus first met Nissa.
It was odd to watch the scene from outside of herself. She'd gone to the surface for the first time on her sixteenth birthday. There'd been a cove her sisters had told her about—supposedly very secluded and one of the safest places for her to explore without being seen by land-dwellers.
Alas, a lone fisherman had spotted her there that day. Frightened, she had made to swim away when the man begged for her to stay a while. He'd never seen anyone so beautiful and he wanted only to talk if she'd oblige him.
He'd told her about his home and answered all her questions about living out of the sea. In turn, she mystified him with tales from the ocean—from her father's kingdom to the notorious sea witch, then from treasure hidden in sunken ships to her cruel siren cousins. The talking relaxed them and they became fast friends, agreeing to meet in the same place a week later.
The scene did not bring comfort to the Ice Maiden. But she was drawn by its predictability and perhaps by the ghost of her former self.
One day, she willed the mirror once again to share her lover's happiest day. Something new was revealed to her. The man in the new scene was clearly the same Mattheus—she would never forget his auburn hair and silver eyes.
But he looked older. His face held laugh lines and shadows under his eyes. In one arm, he held a stranger and pat a child's sleeping head with his other hand. The stranger—a dark-haired woman—clung to Mattheus, tears streaming down her smiling face as Mattheus first kissed her forehead, then her chin and all over her face. He rested a gentle hand on the woman's stomach.
All at once, the Ice Maiden understood.
At the same time, she did not understand.
Mattheus was dead. He had loved her so much that he'd thrown himself off of a cliff, thinking he'd lost her. She too had killed herself in a way, thinking herself responsible for his death. Yet according to the mirror, he was very much alive and happy without her.
Although the revelation was a shock, the Ice Maiden knew one thing about the mirror.
It never lied.
His children and his children's children will know what I've suffered... for him.
The thought was so loud that Anna's eyes fluttered open. She sat up, disoriented as she looked about the dark guestroom.
She'd dreamt of Nissa again. No, not Nissa; it was the Ice Maiden now.
Even acknowledging that, Anna still felt herself thinking of the Ice Maiden as Nissa. Maybe it was because she'd had so many dreams from Nissa's point of view and had actually felt Nissa's thoughts.
While the Ice Maiden's heart was too cold to feel sadness, her pride had been seriously injured. She'd felt like a fool for numbing her heart. So, she'd cursed Mattheus's family line. The dream had not gone that far, but Anna knew from Nissa's determination. She'd spared Mattheus and the boy. In a way, she'd even spared the wife. But they'd all eventually suffered through the curse placed upon the unborn baby.
Anna rubbed her temples as she struggled to separate her waking thoughts from those in the dream. Did Nissa's curse have something to do with Elsa?
Is that why I keep having these dreams?
But Mattheus was a fisherman, not a king.
"I suppose... going far back enough, it's possible..."
She brought her legs up, wrapping her arms around them as she rested her chin on one knee. At first, she had thought the dreams were related just by chance—a peculiar story in her subconscious mind. But after a while, she'd had to accept that there had been too many dreams for it to be coincidence.
She thought of Elsa for a moment, wondering if her older sister had seen the message she'd left for her in the kitchens. After dinner had been brought to her, she'd sneaked down to the kitchens, carefully following the servant who had brought her evening meal. Once there, she'd found a hiding spot to linger in until all the serving staff had gone to sleep. At first, she had thought to leave her written letter somewhere in her room. But knowing the slim chances of its being left untouched and undamaged for Elsa to find so many years later, she'd had to improvise.
The game with Hans was what had inspired her. And so, by the dim light of a candle, she had used her cloak clasp to scratch a brief note on the stone wall next to the stove. With luck, the message would be left there for her sister to find in 1839. If the kitchen staff told the king about it, she would just make up an excuse. Sleepwalking. Homesickness. Cabin fever—or would it be castle fever?
The point was that there was now at least a chance that Elsa knew she was all right. It made it easier for Anna to fall asleep that night.
If only she hadn't had that dream.
Anna frowned. So much for getting her mind off of it. She leaned back in her bed, a new thought occurring to her after thinking about Elsa.
Was the dreaming perhaps some sort of power that had been dormant within Anna until now?
It didn't feel like power though; the dreams were more like reflections.
The hall door swinging open caused Kristoff to jump. He rubbed his heavy eyelids, thinking wistfully of his interrupted nap.
"Follow."
The command came from the Ice Maiden in the doorway. Kristoff scrambled up to his feet, not needing to be told twice. He could not wait to get out of the hall.
The Ice Maiden lit their path with her silvery magic, guiding Kristoff back out into the dark entrance hall to a narrow corridor on the right. They passed three closed doors before she stopped in front of another. The door creaked open with a wave of her hand.
Without getting too close to his captor, Kristoff peered over her shoulder into the room beyond. It appeared to be a bedroom. His heart leapt at the sight of a fireplace. He dared to hope he would be able to use it.
The Ice Maiden stepped aside so he could enter the room. Once inside, he glanced back at her, his gaze following hers to a matchbox sitting on a lone chair.
"If I see fire outside of this room, I will see that you starve to death."
Kristoff gulped and nodded to show he understood. He didn't quite trust himself to speak.
Without another word, the Ice Maiden left him.
Alive but uncomfortable, Kristoff made his way to the chair and struck one of the matches to start a fire. Then he took a seat and—once the fire had grown enough—held his hands up to warm them. He relished in the light of the flames.
Once again it occurred to him that he had not even gotten frostbite. Had the Ice Maiden done something to ensure he could keep working on the mirror? He may not have frozen to death, but the mirror hall had been uncomfortably frigid. It was easier to think now that he was in a smaller room where he could warm up.
The Ice Maiden, for whatever reason, seemed unwilling to deal with the mirror shards herself. She also had some connection to Hans.
"Hans couldn't be here... or she'd have him put the mirror together. Unless she has other plans for him?"
He made a face as he remembered the pair's kiss.
"Even if he's here, it might be by choice," he thought aloud. "So I'm on my own."
Save for Sven, of course. Somewhere in the castle, the Ice Maiden was supposedly keeping his friend.
Kristoff glanced at the open door with a raised eyebrow. Since he was no longer confined to one room, it seemed that he would be able to do a little exploring.
The Ice Maiden had only said she better not see fire outside of his room. She hadn't said anything about him being outside of the room.
A/N: Firstly, thank you for all the lovely reviews! I love to hear that people are enjoying the story, so of course thank you for taking the time to say so.
Welp, that's one mystery solved (Elsa's powers). Now if only Anna knew why she keeps having weird dreams! ...I did give a hint in there somewhere. I realize there was a lot of info and backstory in this chapter. Trying to emphasize that Anna's dreams have become much more vivid.
I know many of you are worried or wondering about Hans. He'll pop up again in the next chapter. Thank you for your patience. :)
If you're interested, here's a tangent about this story's Ice Maiden.
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As a kid, I looooved Disney's "The Little Mermaid"… like lots of other kids. When I eventually read the original story by HCA, it felt like betrayal. What do you mean the mermaid selflessly lets go of the prince and allows herself to turn into sea foam?! What happened to the girl who gave up her voice and left home to be able to walk on land? Granted, yes, it was for a chance to be with her prince, but... it just seemed so lame, her ending.
Later on, I'd fall in love with another HCA story, "The Snow Queen" (first by watching the Hallmark movie, then the Sailor Moon S film, followed by various other adaptations before finally reading the actual story itself). And ah, here was a story where the pure-hearted heroine (Gerda) saves the trapped/enchanted boy (Kai). How COOL!
The Snow Queen herself was an intriguing character as well. What's up with her frozen lake/"Mirror of Reason"? Why Kai? Why is she so evil? What's her problem? ...totally disregarding HCA's obsession with unrequited love and cold women (read also: "The Ice-Maiden").
So, yeah. I wanted to make a connection between the selfless mermaid and the selfish ice maiden/snow queen. I ended up having them meet somewhere in between. I'm not saying that Nissa's fate was better than that of HCA's little mermaid. I just fell for the idea that a figure as "evil" as the Ice Maiden could have turned out that way because of doomed love.
Tangent's over. :P