Elsa concentrated and poured a little more power into the cold, beating thing in her hands. "Alright, what is that you want?" Elsa asked the Wendigo's heart once more.

The Wendigo's heart shuddered and began to pulse before it sent a weak reply. "Lady of Winter, you are in danger."

"Yes, from you, because I've been fool enough to not put you down just yet," said Elsa with a roll of her eyes.

"No, not I! Why should I hurt my Lady of Winter?" cried the Wendigo's heart. "The changer, the liar, the one who speaks false. He means to do you wrong."

"Well that's wonderfully specific. I know just who you're talking about," said Elsa in an exasperated tone.

"He is marked, scarred, maimed" said the Wendigo's heart after a time. Elsa could feel it trying to draw on memories that were no longer available to it, burning through what little power she'd given it to do so. It prodded memories towards her, offering them out like an olive branch. She felt the vague images paint blurry pictures in her mind and a face stood out among the throng.

"Hans? Hans means to harm me? Hans is dead, as per Kristoff and the others," said Elsa, almost throwing the Wendigo's heart across the room as she spoke. It had taken hours to get it to say even this much and she wasn't sure why she'd bothered now. It had seemed so important to reach the damned thing when she'd first taken it to her chambers, but each attempt to reach it resulted only in a vague sense of urgency.

"Lies, it lies," said the Wendigo's heart. "Trust it not. Use your heart; feel its presence."

"My heart tells me to burn you to ash," said Elsa as she got up to go to the fireplace in her room.

"It lies, Lady of Winter, it lies!" cried the Wendigo's heart as she moved forward. It began to bleat at her again, sending waves of distress and longing to her mind.

Elsa stopped just short of the fireplace and sighed. No matter how useless it was now, destroying it would take away the only possible source of information about this apparent new threat. The fireplace wasn't lit in any case and it would take some time to build and light a fire.

"Fine, I won't burn you to ash, but be warned. If you try anything then I will make you regret it," said Elsa, casting any icy binding on the Wendigo's heart as she did so. She'd learned a great deal about her powers while hunting the Wendigo and had long since become adept at building barriers of ice that were impenetatable to all but her.

The Wendigo's heart, for its part, just sent a wave of content and happiness to her before all sensations from it vanished.

Elsa heard a knock at the door and so she set the Wendigo's heart on her desk before she went to answer it.

"Hi Elsa! Kristoff's been really hungry ever since he got settled in so I had a meal or two or three with him before he finally fell asleep. Were you talking to someone? It sounded like you were talking to someone," said Anna in a single breath as she swept in Elsa's office with nary a glace around her.

Elsa smiled and shut the doors behind her. "Yes, I was speaking with the Wendigo," she said.

Anna stopped in her tracks and turned to stare at Elsa. "You were talking to the monster? But Kristoff said it was dead, so how could you talk to it?" she asked. She sounded more curious than concerned.

"It's not quite dead yet. Its heart still has something of a mind of its own, though it's not in any condition to do anything to anyone now," said Elsa. "It seemed very eager to help out as well, though I'm not sure of what to make of what it told me. Hell, I'm not even sure why I'm listening to it," she added after a moment of thought.

Anna shrugged. "It has cold magic, you have cold magic. Maybe it likes you," she said. Anna had a number of other things she could say about the Wendigo monster as well, but if Elsa didn't think it was a threat worth talking about, then she wasn't going to bother worrying about it either.

Elsa shuddered at the thought. "Don't even say that. The way it keeps calling me 'Lady of Winter," I'm not sure you're wrong."

Anna laughed at the absurdity of the notion. "Just think, Elsa! Your first gentleman caller!" she said, although her smile turned into a grimace soon enough.

"Of course it is. Your first gentleman callers were a handsome mountain man and a sociopath, so it's only fitting that as Queen my first gentleman callers are a thuggish prince and a cannibalistic monster from across the world. I can't begin to hope who my next one will be," said Elsa as she sank back into a comfy chair.

Anna laughed and sank into the chair across from her. "I thought you liked Prince Johan," she said with a merry chirp.

"If I want to have a conversation with a rock, I'll go talk with the trolls. No, that's not fair. At least they have intelligent things to say. I swear, if his man hadn't been prompting him the whole time I think he would have stared at his hands the whole meal," said Elsa with a groan.

"You probably intimidated him," said Anna with a grin. "But if he was so terrible, why'd you accept their apology at all?" she asked.

"Honestly? I was terrified who they might send next. I don't want to run the whole gambit of brothers in an attempt to find one that's witty enough for me. Besides, he meant well and he was sincere in what he said, so I had no reason to turn him down beyond his general lack of tact," said Elsa with a shrug.

"Fair enough," said Anna. She then leaned forward and arched her fingers. "What I want to know is how the Wendigo's heart was able to talk to you. It's not like it has a mouth," she said.

Elsa shrugged. "We didn't really use words, exactly. It was more like it tried to speak into my head. Even then, it took hours before it was able to tell me anything at all."

"What did it tell you?" asked Anna, leaning forward in her seat.

"Nothing specific. It said that Hans was out to get me and not to trust his lies, and to listen to my heart," said Elsa as she sank deeper into the chair.

"Well that's useless. Hans is dead, Kristoff said so himself. But he's on target about listening to your heart, that's worked out well for us so far," said Anna with a slight smile. It was because she listened to her heart that they'd finally gotten past the barrio that had kept them separated for so long, although Elsa's newfound control of her powers helped.

"When are you going to burn it up like the rest of his body?" asked Anna after a moment of silence.

"I don't know. I should just destroy it now, but as it stands now it's pretty much helpless unless I'm speaking with it, so it's not doing anyone any harm anymore. I don't know what to do with it," said Elsa with a glance to the Wendigo's heart. It wasn't beating anymore and the luster had gone out of it. Perhaps its conversation with her had taxed its abilities as far as they could go.

"I think you should just burn it, but if you think it's safe then that's your prerogative," said Anna, glancing over at the Wendigo's heart as well, although her eyes narrowed at the offending thing.

"I'll burn it eventually, but until I'm sure this Wendigo situation is resolved I'd like to keep it on hand," said Elsa.

"Isn't it solved already?" asked Anna.

Elsa shrugged. "Maybe. I hope so, but I can't be sure anymore. This thing is outside of anything we know of, so any advantage I can get isn't one I'm going to throw away just yet."

"If you say so," said Anna with a dejected sigh. She trusted her sister, but sometime Elsa could be inclined to even brasher choices than even Anna made. Sure, Anna was impulsive a lot, but only on little things, except when it came to marriage, or meeting people, or getting into fights. But Elsa would save up her brashness for big things, like setting off eternal winters or isolating herself from the world. Anna hoped this wasn't one of those times.