Thanks to my beta Cosette 24601

Chapter 2

The queen, the princess, and her husband were sitting at the dining table, enjoying the marvelous food. Kristoff demonstrated his newly perfected skills of using a fork and knife while also paying attention to other details of etiquette. Since he became a prince the day before, he couldn't behave as an ice harvester any more. The prince must neither slurp nor slouch. And of course he mustn't live in stable with his reindeer as he used to live the first few months after the "Eternal Winter" ended. Furthermore, a prince shouldn't work a whole day as Kristoff used to, so he had to refuse his position of "Ice-Master". So the prince started to have a lot of spare time and was unable to find something worth to do. Once he offered Elsa to help her with her paperwork, but the queen's secretaries didn't approve of him.

"So, Elsa, how was your audience with the ambassador?" Anna asked. Not that she was really interested in her sister's business, but she wanted just to break the silence in the dining room.

"Oh, everything was successful. We entered into a contract about exporting fish in their kingdom," the queen responded calmly. "By the way, I've got a little spare time. Would you mind having a walk in the forest?

Sunny weather rarely appeared in north Arendelle, so the company couldn't help taking an opportunity to go for a walk in the woods a couple kilometers away from the castle. While Sven was eating the fresh grass on a lawn, Elsa leaned against a large stone and started reading a book. Her sister approached her, placing her elbows on the same stone. The young princess started reading the faded lines of the book, but it looked like they didn't make any sense, at least not to Anna.

"What are you reading?" she asked.

Elsa didn't respond, but showed the cover of the book instead. On the green cover the princess saw the title "Anthroposophy" written in golden letters. Anna had no clue what that meant.

"Couldn't you find a more interesting book in the entire castle?" she complained.

"But you, young lady, also should try reading something except fairytales and affair novels," responded the queen, trying to pretend to be a strict mother.

Anna grabbed the sister's book and ran away, playfully grinning.

Elsa calmly stood up and immediately formed a large snowball in her hand. Of course, queen shouldn't behave like that, but sometimes (very rarely) she could afford to act like a child, especially when none of the servants were watching.

Anna made a pained face and shivered from the cold. The girl used to be unable to defend herself from such sister's tricks, but now both of them had magical powers. She put her crystal and – having felt its familiar warmth in her chest – shot red firebolt and tried not to harm her sister too much. Elsa, having felt danger, covered herself with shards of ice, but they didn't help her. The next second, the queen disappeared without trace.

The princess couldn't help gasping when her sister vanished so quickly. Tears started forming in Anna's tears as she shoved the crystal back into her pocket.

Kristoff rushed to her and asked why she had been crying and why she had been wet.

"Elsa just disappeared," Anna cried. "And it's all because of me!"

"Calm down, sweеtheart. Just tell it from the beginning," asked Kristoff, who had really missed the point.

"I grabbed her book first, then she threw a snowball into me. I put this pendant on," she said as she showed the crystal to her husband. "Then I hit her with magic hidden in the crystal and now Elsa's gone!"

"Wait," wondered Kristoff. "Where did you get that?"

"A troll presented it to me, when we were getting married."

"Let's go!" said the prince, helping his wife mount Sven. "If the crystal was presented by trolls, then they can help us."

Elsa came to consciousness as somebody shouted something to her. She opened her eyes. Three diffused spots formed into people's heads. One robust man helped her get up from the hard surface.

The girl looked around, studying her surroundings. First of all, she noticed the strange looking people approaching her: a woman about thirty years old, wearing blue trousers and a short jacket in the same colour with big golden rings through her earlobes; a young blond-haired man wearing trousers quite similar to the woman's ones, but looser and wearing a blue thick tunic with a white hood from which hanged two lace. The man, who helped Elsa to get up, looked the most normal person of all, just a black suit and white shirt. Big unusual looking houses stood nearby. Despite their huge size, they didn't look like royal palaces, rather just enormous blocks of flats. Elsa also noticed some strange transport items. At least, that's what she assumed them to be because they stood on wheels or, at least, something looking like wheels.

While the queen of Arendelle was examined everything that surrounded her, the people were saying something to her. But she was completely unable to understand the language. As they started shivering, Elsa realized that she had summoned cold in her confusion

"I'm sorry," Elsa started, trying to speak as calmly as possible. "I just can't understand you."

Not that the young queen expected that they would understand her, but she wanted to show that she didn't know the language they are talking to her in. All three started chatting amongst themselves, and Elsa saw that the blonde-haired young man is calling her with a gesture. Despite her fear, the girl slowly approached him. He led her to one of the transport items, opened a front door, and pointed on a soft seat. Elsa gazed at him with fear. The young man just nodded with a kind smile, and Elsa sat down. The young man came from the other side and took the place next to the girl.

The queen noticed that this transport had no horses, reindeer, or other creatures pulling it. It could move just by itself: three pedals and a steering wheel confirmed it. But the young man was not going to move yet. He took a thin blue bar from his tunic pocket instead and started moving his finger on it. Elsa noticed colorful reflection on the man's face. Apparently something glowed on the other side of the bar.

The royal girl winced suddenly as a weird short beep-sounds filled the transport. The young man turned the bar to Elsa, and she saw a glowing screen with different icons and signs written unfamiliar letters. Then Elsa was trying not to let snowflakes to fall from the transport's ceiling. The girl was really worried of her further fate: what is going on to her, where she is, and what was this guy is doing?

Then the beeps, which had started annoying the queen, stopped, and she heard a sound, similar to "Hello." It seemed that it was a person's voice inside the bar. The owner of the wondrous bar started telling something to it, and the bar was telling something back. Then the young queen heard something like "Good afternoon!" and Elsa could swear that she understood it.

"Good afternoon!" she repeated slowly. Elsa didn't take the bar herself for fear of accidentally freezing it.

"Um… Do you speak Norwegian?" the Arendelle's queen heard. Maybe some words were said different way from her native language, and intonation was a bit too changed, but Elsa was able to understand this language, or at least better than the one the people spoke to her before.

"Maybe…" Elsa concluded.

"And do you have any place to stay here, in Petersburg?" the next question came. So Elsa knew the name of this place now. However, she had no idea if it was a city, country, or something else.

"No."

"Then I will tell Vladimir, the person, from whose cellphone we are talking, to bring you up to my place. I can host you."

'Cellphone' – what is this? Obviously, the blue bar was called like that, however Elsa paid attention to a sign saying "Samsung" on it. It was likely a communication item. The person Elsa talked to had his own house, so it was a human, but not a talking bar.

Vladimir put the bar… the cellphone in his pocket and took a metallic device hanging on a belt on the chair and inserted it into a red slot next to him so he was fastened to his spot. Elsa also wanted to do like that, but the girl avoided to touch the metal so as not to cover it with ice layer.

Having put a key in a keyhole and turned it, the guy pressed a pedal and the transport started moving. Looking out of the window, Elsa was convince that Petersburg, whatever it is, was completely different from Arendelle in so many ways: huge houses, cracked roads covered with something solid and grey, boardwalks with planted trees on them, signs in an unknown language with unfamiliar letters, horseless cabs, and weird looking people. Everything proved that Elsa was far from home, possibly even in another world. The first several years of being shut in her room, Elsa took some lessons which included geography from her mother, so she could swear that her mom never mentioned such place as 'Petersburg'.

Of course, they were moving in silence. Making any sounds didn't make any sense at all; both were unable to understand each other. Elsa calmed down a little. It was quite enough at least to control her magic. She hoped that the person who offered to host her could tell her more about this place, and maybe he might help her return home. Elsa knew neither his name, nor what kind of people he is… But she had no choice. Probably, they are going to the only person in Petersburg, who speaks the language, close to Elsa's native language… Norwegian, isn't it?

They reached a long house with five floors. Vladimir left the cab and opened the door from Elsa's side. The queen of Arendelle nodded to the young man politely as a sign of gratitude and left the vehicle. Vladimir took a key, pressed a button, and the transport made a strange sound, similar to a short squeak. Then, lead by Vladimir, Elsa entered one of the doors. They started going upstairs, passing several floors. On each of them were four doors with different numbers. Having reached the second floor, Vladimir pressed a small button near one of the doors.

Several seconds had passed before the door opened. A handsome, black-haired man was standing on the doorstep. He was wearing a strange outfit with short sleeves, revealing his muscle arms. He wore black trousers and something looking like shoes on his feet.

"Andrei," the man said with a smile, holding out his hand for Elsa to shake it. He had the same voice that was in the cellphone. Elsa shook his hand, even though she had never done it before. The men greeted each other this way, but who knew what protocol might be in this strange world. Luckily, the queen didn't accidentally freeze him with her touch.

"What's your name?" Andrei asked, trying to speak slowly and clearly enough, paying attention to the difference between the languages. Elsa suddenly realized that she had forgotten about manners.

"Elsa," the girl introduced herself.

"Come in," Andrei invited, so she stepped over the doorwat. After Andrei had spoken to Vladimir about something, he locked the door and led the queen in a small room.

The appearance of shelters in Saint-Petersburg was completely different from everything Elsa was used to seeing. Near a large balcony stood a sofa, in front of which stood a huge black screen. A similar screen was standing on a table with a weird board, full of different buttons, and one more little thing Elsa couldn't even begin to describe. Alongside it were several bookshelves and a wardrobe. Elsa noticed some of the books were written in her language.

They sat down on a sofa.

"So, Elsa, may I inquire, where are you from, and why are you here, in our city?" Andrei started a conversation.

The girl fell silent for a while, being unable to decide what to say. She didn't know what might happen if she tells him the entire truth, but she was definitely unwilling to lie. It would be particularly unconvincing since Elsa didn't know this world well. She decided to try to explain that she had arrived from another world. She also decided to show him her powers. In her opinion, it will be better than concealing them again. The experience showed that it didn't make much sense to hide.

"To tell you the truth…" Elsa started slowly, because she had to gather the thoughts instead an attempt to speak more clearly. "To tell you the truth, I don't know exactly, how I got here. And I don't know if you will be able to believe in everything I'm gonna say. I came from a kingdom, called Arendelle. I doubt if you have ever heard about it, but it really exists. More than it, I am the queen of this kingdom."

Andrei was already looking at her as she was insane. Elsa understood that her words do not make any sense to him.

"And one more thing… I'm going to show you something. You would figure it out soon anyway."

Elsa showed her palm and let her ice powers express themselves. Gently sending the charms into the air, a little ice tree began growing on her hand.

Andrei was staring on it wide eyed and clutched his heart. After seeing this, he believed everything she had said to him. Then his fear turned into curiosity. His glance reminded Elsa of Anna who used to enthusiastically stare as her elder sister-sorcerer creates snow and ice from the air.

"Can everybody do this in your… kingdom?" the man asked.

"No, just me," Elsa said, trying to keep from giggling at such a question. "By the way, could you tell me where I am?"

"Sure," the man responded, taking a thick book off a shelf. Having opened it, he turned to a big map to show Elsa. Fortunately, the atlas was in Norwegian so Elsa was able to read the titles of countries and cities.

"This is Russia, or the Russian Federation," Andrei pointed the biggest spot on the world map. "Here is our city – Saint-Petersburg. Loads of people call it Petersburg or just Piter." The young man pointed to a city on the west side of the country.

The country called Russia bordered several countries including Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China to the east, and included small countries such as Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus Republic, and a few more on the west side. Even further west, she could see countries with titles Spain, France, Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland and islands called Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland, and Greenland. The continent called Eurasia had a lot of countries, too many to enumerate all of them. Near Eurasia there was a continent called Africa. North American mainly just had Canada, United States of America, and Mexico, with several smaller countries south of Merxico. South America also included several different countries, but the biggest country of that continent was definitely Brazil. There was a big white spot on the South – the South Pole. On the South-West was situated Australia, which seemed to be both a country and a continent.

Elsa was very excited to be studying the local geography. When she finally put it aside, Andrei decided to offer her a cup of tea. The girl accepted the offer, and Andrei entered another room. Then Elsa heard a click and a hiss.

"I turned a kettle on," the man informed Elsa after having noticed a little fluster on her face.

"Andrei, could you tell something about yourself?" Elsa asked. She knew where she was now, but she knew nothing about the person in whose house she was staying.

"Well, as I mentioned, I am Andrei Tikhonov. I am twenty four years old. I was born in Saint-Petersburg. I study Norwegian and English languages in the Language and Culture University. Um… may I ask a question?"

Elsa nodded.

"How do you feel about… having such powers as you have? Is it good?"

"I used to enjoy my powers, when I was a child. My younger sister and I loved having an opportunity of making snowmen and playing snowballs even in summertime, until I froze her head accidently." Elsa told Andrei the whole story, how she had to stay in her room for thirteen years, about her coronation, how she had argued with Anna, how she had frozen the fjord, when she plunged the whole the kingdom into winter in the middle of July. Andrei brought out the tea. They took places at a table in kitchen and Elsa, drinking hot berry flavored tea, continued to tell her story. She said, how Anna had come to her ice palace, begging her to return to Arendelle and return summer, but she had unintentionally frozen her heart instead, how the Duke Weselton's men had tried to kill Elsa and Hans brought her back to Arendelle, how she thawed Anna's frozen heart after she sacrificed herself.

Andrei was listening to this story which was sounding rather like a fairy-tale, and said:

"It reminds me something."

He stood up, took Elsa's empty cup and put it in a metal deepening in a table by the wall, and headed back to the living room. Elsa followed him. The young man came to the book shelf again and took another book in Norwegian. Elsa took the book and sat down on the sofa. She noticed a woman in a blue dress and a crown on her head was drawn on the glossy book cover. A boy and a girl, whose looks were quite similar to citizens of Arendelle were standing next to her. "The Snow Queen" was written on the cover. Elsa put the book on her knees and flipped through it. Magnificently beautiful pictures were drown on each page, among which the girl could notice little neat text blocks, written with little letters. Some of them were new for Elsa, such as Øø, Åå and Ææ. Local books, at least the ones which were supposed to be read by children, were decorated beautifully.

After studying the appearance of the book, Elsa started reading. The queen was intrigued, having figured out, that this story is about a person who had powers quite similar to hers. But according to the illustrations, Elsa understood that the Snow Queen from the tale was a villain The story told about a boy named Kai got a piece of a magic mirror in his eye. The Snow Queen kidnapped him and took into her ice palace where his friend Gerda headed to look for him. The little girl had many problems on her way to reach the Snow Queen's castle. But eventually she took Kai home, having thawed his frozen heart by her love.

Tears started forming in Elsa's eyes by the time she was finished. Having sat next to her, Andrei tried to calm the guest down. A storm of emotions swirled her. The plot couldn't help reminding her the events of the last year. Even retailing them to Andrei at the cup of tea, she didn't let the emotions claim her, but now…

"Anna… What's going to happen to her? What's going to happen to Arendelle?" cried the girl. Andrei looked up when he felt the snow falling on his head. The young man wanted to hug his guest, but he avoided touching her; she could freeze him in such a condition.

"Everything will be fine," Andrei said as he struggled to calm Elsa down. "I am sure that somebody will be able to rule the kingdom instead of you. After all, somebody did it before you were crowned."

"Yes, you are right," Elsa agreed, wiping her tears. "Sorry for that. And sorry for the snow. It should stop soon."

"Do you know what? Let me show something to you. If you are going to stay here for a while, you should know how some things work here," Andrei said, pressing a small button on the wall.

Elsa forgot all her worries, watching how soft light was turned on in the living room. The source of the light was a chandelier on the ceiling. But there were small glassy balls instead candles.

"Is it magic?" the queen asked. A smile full of curiosity made its way on her pale face.

"No, it's just an electricity," the man replied nonchalantly. "Watch this."

He took a small black rod, full of different buttons, and pointed it towards the big black screen. He pressed something, and suddenly moving people appeared on the screen. They were doing something, paying no attention to Andrei and Elsa. While Andrei was pressing other buttons, the picture on the screen changed.

"Wooow!" Elsa, who usually was poised and patient couldn't help exclaiming. "Wha… What is it?"

"It's just a TV set," answered Andrei, rather amused. "It shows different movies and shows."

"Movies? Shows? How are they made?" The number of questions rolling about in her mind was nearly as many as unknown items.

"A bit difficult to fully explain," Andrei said.

He brought almost the same bar as Vladimir had, but this one was black and a little smaller. There was a picture of apple on its back side and "iPhone" was written below. Andrei pressed a circle button and rows of little icons and signs appeared on the screen. The young man touched one of them and the screen showed his legs.

"Take it", Andrei said, giving the cellphone to the girl.

She took the light bar. She could see all the surroundings on the screen as well as other icons and signs in Russian. Elsa touched one of them and it reflected her bewildered face like a looking glass. She touched it again and it started showing the living room again.

"Set it towards me and press the big red button," Andrei said and stood in front of the girl. She touched the big red circle. He started waving his hand. Elsa pressed that button again. Andrei sat next to her and pressed one more button on the screen. The display showed Andrei, waving his hand again. She looked at him to make sure if he is sitting on the sofa close to her instead of being inside the thin bar.

"But it's not the main function," Andrei told. Elsa couldn't notice a bit of boasting in his voice. "The main function is calling. Remember, you talked to me from Vladimir's phone? It's called a call. I will give you my old phone, but we need to buy a SIM-card first. You will never be able to call without it. I offer going to buy a SIM-card and some new clothes for you tomorrow. And I can show you the city as well."

"Okay," Elsa agreed.

Elsa was shooting everything she saw with a child's enthusiasm with Andrei's phone, having forgotten that a queen shouldn't waste her time on such nonsense. But her curiosity won over her royal decorum. She studied all these things which seemed magical at the first glance, but were completely ordinary for the people from this world.

Having understood that night was swiftly approaching, Andrei led Elsa in a small room. Its walls were tiled, and at the end was a big and deep metal washtub. A smaller washtub stood near a faucet. Elsa saw a big and even scary contraption near the other wall and winced. Andrei explained to his guest that this contraption is called a toilet and told her how to use it. Then Andrei approached the big washtub, turned the faucet towards it and picked one of its grips. Running water started flowing from the faucet. Then Andrei took a thing which was similar to a watering pot and turned another grip. The water started flowing from the pot.

"This is a shower," Andrei explained. "You can wash yourself with it. Just get undressed, get in the tub, soap yourself, and wash the soap from your body with the shower. This is a soap and a sponge," Andrei showed to the girl some familiar things. "… and this is a shampoo. You can wash your hair with it. And, please, don't forget to draw the shutter to its edge while in the bathtub, otherwise you will spill everything here."

Elsa nodded, trying to memorize the algorithm.

"You can manage the temperature of the water with this grip," Andrei said as he pointed one of the grips under which was drawn a circle, half of which was blue and another half which was red. "Unfortunately, I don't have any woman clothes, so I will have to give you just something of mine."

Andrei took a black clothes item with short sleeves which he called a T-shirt, male underpants, and trousers made of a soft fabric with a rubber to fix them on a waist.

"You can put your dress into the washing machine," Andrei said. He then thought over what he said and added, "It's a box-like contraption with a circle door in the room over there."

While Elsa was taking a shower, she tried to follow all the instructions he had given her. This shower thing was really quite amazing. She should figure out how it works and get such one in the castle and citizens' houses. Having washed under the shower and dried with a soft towel, the girl put the newly given clothes on. It was quite unusual to wear trousers instead a dress. The T-shirt, which was supposed to be worn by a muscle man, was very loose for the slim girl. Looking at herself in the looking glass, the queen of Arendelle giggled; she was looking quite ridiculous. But the man couldn't offer anything better.

When the girl returned in the living room, she saw that he had with a big square green bag next to the sofa which was covered with a blanket. Elsa crouched, looking at unknown thing.

"No, it's my sleeping bag. Your place is on the sofa," Elsa heard Andrei's voice and laid down on the sofa under the soft blanket. The girl, despite being full of emotions, fell asleep quickly.