Run

When Elsa was younger and learned to ride for the first time, the stable master had made her completely aware of fear in animals. He explained how skittish horses could become and how violently they could react to fear if they thought they were in danger. He explained they could take off run, they could buck the rider off, they could fight the predator.

Elsa only understood that primal fear once in her life, staring at a room full of people with her back to the door. Ice stood between her and the world.

She felt like she was choking, she felt like throwing up. She wished she could become invisible, she wished she could turn back time. She felt like each eye was a spear, each person was a predator. She was in danger. They were going to kill her. It was primal fear, it was sweat, it was shaking, it was hyperventilating.

So she ran. The last face she saw was Anna's shocked gaze. Something in Anna was apologizing and something else was crying but Elsa didn't have time for it, it was too late. She groped for the doorknob and as soon as she found it she was out of the room. She was running. Behind her the purple cloak flapped and snapped loudly.

"Your Majesty! Long live the queen! Queen Elsa!" came the cries of her subjects when she found herself in the castle courtyard where the local town had gathered to see their queen.

And Elsa couldn't control it. The power leaked out and everyone knew, every face was fear, and danger, and angry. Mothers hid their children from her, people gapped and gawked and looked disgusted. She remember the image Grand Pabbie showed her so long ago of herself in danger. Prophecies come true.

"Please just stay away!"

Her heart was pounding, her breath was uncontrollable. Someone would get hurt. Someone could die. She might get hurt. She could die. She had to keep moving away. It was all over anyway.

So she ran some more. She ran from shouts and footsteps and from danger. She was out of the castle and out of the town. She was at the edge of the fjord and that's all that stood between her and the safety of the mountains and the woods on the other side. That would be her fortress.

"Elsa please! Wait!"

It was Anna behind her and Elsa instinctively turned to her sister's plea. She kept her hands clasped as Anna got closer and closer, the damn glove still hanging in her hand.

No. This was not happening. It wouldn't happen again. In the dark Elsa saw Anna's platinum streak and she would never allow it to grow. She prepared for a long time about the possibility of running, leaving and never returning. Saving her head, saving her life and everyone else's.

The air was getting colder and it looked like it was beginning to snow. As the frustration in Elsa grew, nature reacted. She had to leave. If she left the cold would follow her, away from the kingdom, away from Anna. A thin ice formed on the water and Elsa carefully pressed her foot to it. Not only did it hold her weight, it froze faster. Anna was getting closer and yelling louder.

She had to run. So she did. And the ice protected her.