As usually, thanks to Cosette 24601 for the betareading and inspiration

Chapter 4

It was much more comfortable to move by buses than by the underground. You can look at the city out of the window, and there were much more places where buses stop and take or let people go. These places were called just bus stops.

Yes, buses also unfortunately were crowded, and loads of people also had to stand in the aisle. But passengers often let Elsa sit down because she carried a folding stool and a piece of purple fabric. Of course, the girl hadn't carried these items for that particular purpose.

The guest from Arendelle has been living in Saint-Petersburg for a whole week. Of course she missed home, but her hope faded as days passed by. But in the meantime, large amount of shops, cafes, restaurants, entertainment centers, electricity, water, heating, and internet in houses made Elsa's life a bit better. She certainly wasn't going to waste her time at Andrei's place waiting for somebody to save her. And she didn't want to just spend Andrei's money while she was living in Saint-Petersburg. So she had an idea, how to earn some money. Maybe such way of earning money isn't worth for a queen, but it fits a person who has magical abilities.

Having left the bus and reached one of the most popular showplaces in the Northern capital of Russia - Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, Elsa put her folding stool on the ground and covered it with the fabric, put a box beside, and started pronounce the text, Andrei translated for her:

"Dear Peterburgians and guests of the city, just here and now, the magic sculptures of ice! Don't miss it!" the girl said, trying to pronounce all the difficult Russian words and sounds. Magic tricks were not considered proper for royals. Even in Arendelle Elsa didn't often use her powers for such trivial reasons like entertaining local kids. She remembered, how the public reacted at her magic. But according to Andrei's words, people of this world were not afraid of magic at least because they didn't believe in it and have never dealt with it. But it excites them from books' pages and TVs' screens. Yes, there were a lot of stories about magicians, described in novels and movies. One of the most popular plots was a series of stories about some British wizard named Harry Potter. Many children and even adults in this world dream about having any supernatural powers. So Elsa didn't have to worry about using her magic for entertaining citizens; children will be very excited, like Anna used to be. Adults would be looking for tricks, because actual local conjurers don't have any powers and make their tricks by deceiving naïve public.

One way or another, Elsa's Russian abilities helped the girl to summon some people. She recognized some of the spectators who came a second or third time: Elsa performed here the fourth day.

Four children and six adults were looking at how the purple cloth was rising. Elsa didn't worry that the sculpture might be wrong; the girl had been training a lot after all. Then sounded a loud "Och!" when the wizard took the fabric off, and everybody saw the little replica of the Saint Isaac's Cathedral made of ice. It was better to make the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, but it was harder to make.

After the Saint Isaac's Cathedral were sculptures of different animals. The audience kept staring at these magnificent things, not forgetting to put some money in Elsa's box. New spectators started walking up, and new coins and banknotes were falling into the box. So Elsa earned around a thousand rubles. Then, having given some sculptures to the spectators, she folded the stool and wrapped it with the cloth before she headed to the bus station to go home.

The guest from the other world couldn't help observing the people of Saint-Petersburg. They were completely different from Arendellians, especially young people, so careless and happy, so excited chatting with each other and by their mobile phones. Some of them listened to music with little stuff on wires called earphones. None of them were crowned at 21 years of age, nor had any of them hid in an empty room for 13 years. Elsa's peers differed from her a lot. They were more ordinary, and funnier.

Elsa tried not to let such thoughts into her head, but it would have been better if she had been born here. Maybe not in this city, but at least in this world. She wouldn't have to be a heir of the throne and have to rule so many people who always expect something from you.

But actually it would be more difficult to avoid contact with people in this world. Regular people of this world always have to attend kindergartens, schools, universities, and eventually work. While a princess was quite able to lock herself in a room, almost never leaving it, dealing just with parents, who taught her grammar, science and bases of ruling and several servants, an average person living in this world must to get an education from teachers.

Elsa had already got used to this world and had put up with the mind of living here, in the world with perfect conditions for life where she didn't have to rule anybody and give orders. She can just live here. Andrei had started teaching her Russian, and the girl tried to memorize and use this new information.

But there was one more problem though. Having even acclimated in to the new world and speaking the new language well, she would never see her sister. Even though Elsa had lived without her during the whole time of the isolation, she couldn't imagine being unable to see her, to admire her enthusiasm and loving of life. Elsa still couldn't understand, how she had got here. The young queen remembered this red firebolt, heading towards her from the sister's hands.

A whole week passed since Elsa had disappeared under the mysterious circumstances. Anna and Kristoff assured the people that she had left to visit another kingdom in order to not make people worry. But Arendellians felt that something is wrong anyway. The couple didn't even tell the entire truth to the Council which usually solved the royal problems while the ruler was absent. The Council members could barely believe that the Queen had gone having not warned anybody.

So a week later, Kristoff and Anna came to the trolls again to check if they had found her.

"We are sorry, but we couldn't," Grand Pabbie said. He couldn't help worrying for the ruler's fate either. "Anna, you must use the crystal to find her yourself."

"Maybe, you should do it?" the princess asked. "You know better how this crystal works."

"But you know your sister better," the old troll replied. "Just put the crystal on, imagine her, and make a portal."

"Okay, I will try."

Anna put it on her neck and felt the charms, which were filling her. The girl immediately imagined Elsa how she looked when she escaped on the North Mountain. After having moved on a safe distance, she set the magic in the space. Anna opened her eyes slowly and noticed a red circle hanging in the air. She approached it carefully and touched it. Then she led her hand into the portal and moved it back and forth. Then the young princess squinted and went through the portal.

She looked around and found herself in the middle of a jungle. The scenery was full of the green color – the color of large leaves. Motley flowers also were noticeable. Anna took a few steps forward. Did her sister really lived here for whole week? If she did, she more likely had not survived.

"ELSA!" yelled Anna. Nobody answered.

Having travelled in the jungle around five minutes Anna lost her voice and headed towards the portal.

"She is not there," the princess cried.

"Don't get upset, my dear," Bulda approached Anna. "Maybe it's the wrong world. Try again."

Having closed the portal to the jungle, Anna shut her eyes again and summoned Elsa in her mind. She imagined her powers and all the beauty she can create. Anna made one more portal as she shot another firebolt.

It was blistering cold in this world. Her feet sunk in the thick snow. She noticed tall ice pillars. Anna did an attempt to call for the sister, but she failed. The wind muted her weak voice.

Suddenly, something white showed up from the horizon. A big snow beast was approaching Anna. The girl suddenly disappeared in the portal. Everybody walked up to her as they noticed that she was shivering.

"No?" Kristoff asked.

Anna shook her head.

The more Elsa watched films and shows in Russian on the TV, the more she realized that she understood very little which made her worry. She always covered the TV set and computer with cloth not to damage these miracles of technology with the snow which always fell when the Queen felt blue. She got a task from Andrei. The girl had to find the newly learnt words in TV shows. Elsa did it well, but it didn't help her to understand this stream of unfamiliar speech. The Queen of Arendelle had never learned foreign languages before. The lessons her parents used to give her didn't include them so a completely new language, especially the one with a different alphabet, was difficult to her. Certainly she had practiced the speaking skills, but when somebody started talking to her, the topics about colors, animals, and descriptions didn't help her at all. But Elsa tried her best to learn Russian, because she was more likely to stay here.

Having arrived home from his work, Andrei found Elsa sweeping newly fallen snow and throwing it out of the window before it melted. So asking about her success wouldn't make a lot of sense. Apparently, it was very miserably, as shown by the snow she made every time she worried. Even in summer. Even from the ceiling.

"I've got something for you. It might cheer you up," Andrei said, throwing snow from the cloth into the window. Luckily, nobody was outside. Snow on a warm summer day was rather unusual in Saint-Petersburg.

Elsa sat on the sofa, waiting for a surprise. Andrei brought out a flat box of cardboard. A girl with endlessly long hair wearing a pink dress, a man with a pan as a weapon, and a horse with a sword in the mouth were drawn on it. It was written with golden letters "To på rømmen" on it.

A smile made its way on Elsa's lips as she just glanced this picture. A thin disc was placed under the cardboard cover. Andrei took the disc and placed it in a pulled out piece of the flat black device on the shelf under the TV. After some time, the cartoon started. It was about a girl called Rapunzel whose hair were not only long but also magic. It could heal wounds and restore youth. An old witch kidnapped the princess as a little girl from the palace and locked her in a tower, where used the girls hair until she turned eighteen. Her parents set off lanterns her birthday each year and Rapunzel dreamed of seeing them for herself. Eventually, a man named Flynn Rider accidently ended up in her tower, and she convinced him to lead her to see the lights.

The animated film was full of funny dialogue and magnificent songs which thankfully were entirely in Norwegian. It made Elsa to forget about all the problems with Russian. Being a bit tired, she leaned on Andrei's shoulder who was sitting next to her, not worried that she might freeze him. It didn't happen, because the girl was in a perfect mood.

Elsa was terribly lucky that out of the five millions of people living in Saint Petersburg, Elsa met Andrei. She felt absolutely comfortably and safe with him in this world, far from her sister and the kingdom. The Arendellian guest loved this world not because of the technology and other marvels, but because of him.

Andrei didn't resist either. He even took some courage to hug the girl. He wasn't afraid that she could freeze him, but was just a bit worried that it's awkward or improper to hug a queen leaning against your shoulder. The young man was unable to get used to mind, that she doesn't have any title in this world.

Anna could not fell asleep for around an hour and a half so she reached for the crystal in the darkness and put it on..

"Where are you going?" the princess heard the sleepy voice of her husband say.

"I want to try to find Elsa once again," Anna answered.

"Just be careful, okay?" Kristoff murmured and turned to the other side.

Anna lit a candle and put her casual dress on.

She concentrated on imagining Elsa, more cautiously and diligently than the last times.

The princess entered the newly created portal as carefully as always. Thank goodness, it was not cold there. She got into a small room which was entirely tiled. There was a white box with a circle door, a mirror with a strange washstand with a hole on the bottom, and a faucet. Then Anna noticed a big washtub. Behind the drawn shutter, somebody was washing there. The girl felt really awkward that she had gotten into somebody's washroom. A wet head appeared from behind the shutter and yelled something.

"I'm sorry! I am really sorry, I didn't mean it. I was looking for my sister, Elsa!" Anna started heading to the portal, but suddenly, she heard a familiar voice.

"Andrei, what's going on?"

"Elsa!"

Anna immediately left the bathroom and ran towards the sister.

Note: "To på rømmen" is the Norwegian title of the Disney's animated film "Tangled", however, you have already understood it