5 years later.
"It's the Queen and the Princess!"
A silence fell over the enclosed plain; several pairs of wide eyes set in grey faces peered up in a mixture of awe and excitement.
"Whoa… trolls…" Anna thought, taking in the surreal sight. She had heard of the mythical creatures and knew based on what Elsa had told her that she had once met them when she was a mere child; still she could not help but be completely taken off guard. The trolls were nothing like she had imagined. For starters, they were… tiny…
"Don't let their appearances fool you. They are heavier than they look." Elsa cautioned in amusement as she caught a glimpse of Anna's train of thought through their linked consciousness.
Anna shrieked in surprise as she was picked up by a troll the size of a boulder then passed along a line of the creatures. Stubby fingers, solid as stone pressed into her back as she was transported forward. She heard Elsa chuckling and tilted her head back to narrow her eyes in annoyance at the upside down image of Elsa with a hand muffling barely suppressed laughter.
"Stop laughing and help me!" Anna snapped, her annoyance growing as Elsa doubled over in laughter.
"Just roll with it." Elsa's words flitted into her mind, laced with mirth.
Before long, Anna was deposited to the ground, the trolls surprisingly setting her down gently instead of dumping her in a heap of tangled limbs. Elsa was by her side in an instant, helping her to her feet and brushing off leaves and twigs that had stuck to her beige riding beeches and olive jacket.
"Thanks a lot." Anna muttered sarcastically at Elsa, eliciting a bemused expression. As convenient as their linked consciousness was, some words just lacked the right tone when delivered through thought.
Over the last five years, they had discovered the extent of their new mental bond through incessant experimentation. What had started out as the ability to sense each other's emotions soon gave way to reading each other's thoughts and seeing things through each other's minds before finally holding entire conversations with each other without having to speak a single word out loud. Their newfound abilities had proven useful, particularly during court meetings when they needed the privacy for a sensitive discussion or as Anna constantly enjoyed abusing; holding raunchy discussions that involved explicit images that occasionally left Elsa squirming discreetly on the throne.
"Ahh… the snowflake has returned." A larger troll ambled forward, its greyish face lined with cracks, equivalent to wrinkles on a human.
"That's Grand Pabbie." Elsa answered, before Anna could form her question, having sensed her wife's curiosity.
"Grand Pabbie." Elsa greeted, lowering herself on one knee.
"I see not much has changed with you and yet everything is different." The wizened troll stated cryptically as he took Elsa's hands in his large, rough palms. Glancing up, he stretched out one hand towards Anna, silently imploring the redhead to come closer.
"Grand Pabbie." Anna repeated Elsa's greeting as she mimicked her wife's posture, lowering herself to eye level with the troll.
Pabbie gently took Anna's right hand in his, his short rounded fingers emanating a curious warmth. "The little princess, all grown up." The corners of his eyes crinkled as his lips curled into a smile.
Pabbie carefully placed Elsa's left hand atop Anna's right, his eyes lighting up with delight when the women's fingers automatically intertwined. Grasping their laced hands between his larger ones, Pabbie gazed pensively at the women.
"I noticed you've chosen not to reclaim your right to the throne, Princess Anna." Pabbie stated softly in his gravelly voice.
Anna chuckled. "Elsa's more suited to ruling. I'd probably bankrupt the kingdom within days of my coronation. Besides, she's already been queen for 3 years. What's a couple more decades." Anna shrugged.
Pabbie hummed thoughtfully. "And yet I sense you are not here for a blessing of the kingdom. Why then have you wandered so far from the castle walls?"
Anna and Elsa glanced at each other.
"An heir." Elsa's voice broke as she rasped out.
"Such a request comes with a price, Your Majesty. Are you certain?" Pabbie cautioned solemnly.
It was Anna that answered, her voice firm with steely determination.
"Yes."
Elsa had finally told her the truth during a visit to her parents' graves. The knowledge had stung and eventually led to a breakdown on her part. But while she was held securely in Elsa's embrace, standing before the towering stone grave markers, she had understood the rationale behind her parents' decision. It was simple really, a decision that any parent would make without a second thought; the safety of their offspring far more significant than their lives. Anna wasn't even furious with Elsa, neither was she sinking in self-loathing that she had condemned both of her parents with her existence. It almost felt as if her parents' presence were standing in the foggy plain with them that very evening. If was as if a veil had been lifted from her mind and she could finally understand why Elsa had been so adamant on an heir.
And Anna couldn't agree more.
Her father's legacy will not end with her. She will honour their sacrifice and ensured her family's bloodline did not end with her, at whatever cost.
"I hardly thought it would be necessary." Pabbie tapped his chin in thought.
"Wait, what?" Anna and Elsa shook their heads lightly in disbelief, in perfect synchrony.
"The gift of your bond came with a curse. One that I am beginning to wonder if either of you fully understood." Pabbie let on carefully, his eyes studying each woman in turn intently.
Elsa blinked in surprise, wholly unexpecting the elder troll to be forthcoming with information.
"Once evoked, there will be no end in sight." Pabbie reiterated. Receiving blank looks from both women, the troll heaved a sigh, his shoulders hunching in frustration. "Your linked consciousness is a manifestation of the bond between weapon and wielder. A gift. The curse, lies in time. Time is your enemy."
"So we have limited time?" Anna asked, struggling to interpret Pabbie's cryptic statements.
"No. On the contrary, you have far too much. The instant the spell was invoked, your hearts have been frozen in time. The world will change, but neither of you will. You will forever be suspended in a dimension of your own. That is your curse; to exist for all eternity."
"Oh. That hardly seemed like a bad thing." Anna laughed in relief. An eternity with Elsa? How could that ever be a curse?
Pabbie was staring at her sadly and Anna fidgeted under his intense gaze.
"There's no need for an heir then, is there?" Elsa asked quietly, her face an impassive mask.
"No." Pabbie agreed.
Anna blinked rapidly, trying to comprehend the moody tension that shrouded their conversation. Did she misunderstand something? It would hardly be surprising; she wasn't one for details.
"The world will change…" Anna echoed, her brows scrunched together in thought before her lips parted in a silent "o" of understanding.
Everyone they knew will age and die, all while they remained unchanged, existing outside the boundaries of time. If they had children, they will have to watch as their offspring grew up and eventually return to the ground. An image of the cemetery came to mind, the plain filled with neat rows of grave markers, all engraved with names in olden Norse. And overlooking at the final resting places of her children and her children's children, will be her and Elsa; looking the same as they do right now. Centuries will pass and they will remain exactly as they were. Could she live like that? Could she live with having to watch her family die again and again?
Elsa squeezed her hand in reassurance, no doubt having seen into her mind.
"It's your choice. I will not deny you the opportunity to be a mother. You don't have to decide now. Clearly we have plenty of time."
Elsa's words flitted through Anna's mind, followed closely by a surge of comfort that Anna had associated to a mental embrace. They had long agreed that should the opportunity present itself, Anna would carry their child. Elsa with her fluctuating body temperatures made an unlikely candidate. There were simply too many unknowns surrounding Elsa's physiology.
"My decision stands. I want to bring into this world a child born of the love between Elsa and I." Anna clenched her jaw, her eyes burning with determination.
They had already paid the ultimate price with their immortality. At least with a child, they could still make some good come out of this. Things are never set in stone.
Pabbie silently guided their intertwined hands to Anna's abdomen.
"Then you only need to believe." Pabbie pressed their hands snugly against the material of Anna's jacket.
A warmth flooded through Anna's being, the sensation distinctly felt by Elsa through their bond. Anna glanced at Elsa, noting the wonder mirrored in Elsa's cerulean eyes as they felt the life pulsing within Anna.