When Elsa arrived in their conclave the trolls had built up a fire and were huddled near it, deep in discussion. She waited at a polite distance until the group split and Grand Pabbie emerged.
"I am glad you have come, your Majesty. Please come and join me near the fire where it is safe," he said, gesturing towards a spot near him.
As she walked up, the trolls began to dig out and build a chair into the ground for her so that by the time she reached him there was a comfortable little seat for her. She gathered her ice dress around herself and sank down into it and then turned to Grand Pabbie.
He began to speak before she even had the chance to ask her question. "It is called Wendigo, and it is a spirit of deepest winter," said Grand Pabbie, casting a wash of images across the sky as he spoke. Each one contained the same kind of beast from before and it was always eating. Sometimes it was an animal, but more often than not it was a human.
Elsa shuddered. "Wendigo? I've never heard of it before," she said, moving closer to him.
Grand Pabbie waved his hand and the pictures vanished. "Because it does not come from here. It is from a land across the waters on the other side of the world, bound by a compact that dates back before your folk ever entered this place."
"My family only came into Arendelle a few hundred years ago, but I'm would have thought that some stories of it existed among the villages, but," began Elsa, only to stop when Grand Pabbie shook his head.
"I do not mean your family. I mean your kind; humanity as a whole. The Wendigo was banished from this place. That it has returned does not bode well. " said Grand Pabbie.
"What does it do?" asked Elsa, afraid that she already knew the answer.
"It binds winter to its will, bringing storms of great and terrible power. It is also a fearsome hunter, eating anything and everything it can get hold of. Most often, though, it hunts man," he said.
Elsa looked up at the fire and then back to Grand Pabbie. "If it only hunts man, why did you build up such a great fire? Surely you aren't worried about it attacking here."
Grand Pabbie shook his head. "I am not worried for us. I am worried for you. I fear that by striking at it you have only angered it and drawn its attention to you."
"How did you know … never mind. I killed it. It's dead. How could it hurt me now?" asked Elsa.
"How did you kill it, then? With fire? Burning? Dismemberment?" asked Grand Pabbie, shooting each word at her like an arrow from a crossbow.
"I used my powers to disintegrate its body. It was made of ice so it was easy enough to do," said Elsa, grinning as she leaned back in the chair that the trolls had made for her.
Grand Pabbie just chuckled. "That might work, but I would keep a wary eye out just the same. Wendigo are things of winter and I suspect that such an attack will only delay its return."
"So what would you suggest I do?" asked Elsa, eyes wide as she trembled at the thought of this thing returning to hunt her down.
"Make cannibalism punishable by death via dismemberment and burning, and ensure that all the people of Arendelle have food enough to get through the winter months. Then send out patrols to hunt the beast down. That might be enough," said Grand Pabbie with a shrug. It was a surprisingly practical approach as well, instead of the sleight of hand that she'd become accustomed too. Perhaps this was too important to leave things to chance.
"What? Isn't that a bit much?" asked Elsa. The death penalty was common enough, but most died by hanging. Anything more than that seemed to be just for show to Elsa.
"Not if you want to keep them from coming back. Cannibals become Wendigo in the land where it is from and I'm afraid this will become true in Arendelle as well now that it's here. Yes, there's only one now, but how long before its powers spread, Elsa? What then?" asked Grand Pabbie.
Elsa nodded in agreement. "You're right, of course. Thank you, Grand Pabbie," said Elsa with a slight bow as she rose from her seat.
Grand Pabbie bowed in turn and smiled at her. "You are most welcome, your Majesty. If you will allow me to send some of our folk with you as you return to your castle it would make me feel safer for you. No sense in tempting fate, after all."
"Of course, I welcome the company," said Elsa and as she stepped back from the fire two trolls rolled forward and smiled at her. One was Bulda, Kristoff's mother, and the other was a troll she didn't recognize. It would be a good journey home.