Final Test
A few days later PH took the girls into the city and to a tattoo parlor. And each girl left with a symbol of a recommended patron by PH. For Elsa, it was the Norse goddess of winter known as Skadi. She chose to have a venomous Coral snake wrapped around her right bicep, as it was easy to conceal since she was a business woman and all. Plus she admittedly liked the colors and thought it was sort of cool. For Anna, the Greek goddess of fire, hearth, and family Hestia. Anna chose to have a tribal red and black crane tattooed between her shoulder blades.
All in all the sisters were quite satisfied with their new ink. Elsa especially. She never would have believed she would do something so…well normal. After all many people got tattoos.
After their visit to the tattoo parlor, PH took the girls to an ice cream shop.
"Alright, you can get whatever you want, it's on me," PH said with a smile.
"You're buying us ice cream? Why?" Elsa asked raising an eyebrow.
"No reason. Just you've both been doing a good job, so I wanted to reward you," PH explained with a shrug.
"Aren't we a little old for—"
"I want a triple scoop of rocky road in a banana split!" Anna piped in coming to a decision.
"Ok, and Elsa?" PH said looking to the older sister. Elsa flushed slightly. Truth was she did want ice cream.
"Triple scoop of chocolate fudge sundae," she muttered softly. PH smiled as she gave the orders. After they all had their treats they sat down to eat them. PH had chosen a simple frozen yogurt.
"You're way too serious Elsa," PH said between spoonfuls of her frozen treat.
Elsa flinched and blushed a little.
"I tell her that all the time," Anna said in agreement. "AHHH! Brain Freeze!"
"Well I guess it's lucky the cold never bothered me anyway," Elsa joked at her sister's expense.
PH chuckled and burst out in laughter. "Oh wow, I'm actually impressed. Elsa made a joke," she said as she applauded her.
Elsa hid a shy smile. She like being around PH and her sister. For with them her true side could slip out.
The next few days were focused on one thing. Concealment. PH explained that the sisters were terrible at hiding their magic. It was why PH could immediately tell Elsa was the Ice Queen. So she was trying to train them to conceal it.
"You may run into magic users who are very dangerous. You need to learn how to hide your magic about your daily lives," PH said as she watched them. Elsa and Anna sat on the ground and meditated, trying their best to suppress their magic.
PH sighed, she looked to see the magical candle around Anna still lit. Indicating her magic was leaking out. And around Elsa the bowls of water were slowly becoming frozen. She sighed. This was hard.
"Take a break," she said. Elsa and Anna sighed as they sat back. They'd been siting like that for hours. They both looked to the evidence that they hadn't succeeded and frowned.
PH rubbed her chin in thought. She needed to make sure they could conceal their magic before she left. Otherwise they could be discovered by any dark magic users out there. She looked at them in worry. PH had come to care greatly about these two young women. She felt responsible for them. That it was her job and duty to protect them.
Suddenly, they all heard a knock coming from the ice castle's main doors. They heard the door opening, followed by someone talking with another person. Then footsteps were heard as someone came up the stairs. And then soon enough Olaf appeared with Kristoff.
"Hey everyone, Kristoff is here," Olaf cried happily as he gestured up to the young man.
"Hey ladies, hope I'm not interrupting," he said sheepishly.
Anna leapt to her feet with a wide smile. She ran to Kristoff and through her arms around him before giving him a peck on the lips. "Aww, you came to see me. Aren't you sweet," Anna said happily. "Hey Teach, can I hang out with Kristoff for a while?" Anna asked PH. PH nodded and motioned with her to go ahead.
With a delighted grin, she pulled Kristoff down the stair so they could have some alone time. Olaf followed after, leaving Elsa and PH alone. PH was still trying to find a way to help the girls suppress their magic when she glanced over at Elsa. She cocked an eyebrow s she noticed Elsa looked…pensive. And…sad?
"Something wrong Elsa?" she inquired.
Elsa flinched and blushed a little. "No, nothing's wrong," she said shaking her head. But PH wasn't convinced. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at her intently, silently waiting for her to fess up. And with a sigh, Elsa gave in.
"Sorry…this just reminds me of my parents," she said as she looked to the ground. "Conceal, don't feel. Don't let it show. That's what they'd tell me," she stared at her palm as memories of trying to suppress her powers came pouring back to her. She couldn't help but feel her parents were a little ashamed of her.
"That's terrible advice," PH said aloud. Elsa looked up to her in surprise. "Magic as powerful as yours shouldn't just be ignored. You should have been taught control. Not to hide it."
"You can't just ignore a problem. You have to deal with it," she said firmly.
"But I nearly killed Anna!" Elsa said on her parents' behalf.
"And then you nearly froze the city over because they had you believe your powers were too dangerous," countered. "They had to too afraid to believe your powers could be anything but wonderful and good," PH said as she gestured to the icy structure they were in.
Elsa looked down sadly.
"Well, magic can be hard for people who can't understand it. For normal people, it can be terrifying," PH said all too knowingly. "When I was young I accidentally caused rock slides when I was angry or upset. I would summon winds strong enough to blow houses down. Like you, I was taught to try and fight and ignore the gifts I had. But in doing so I never learned to understand it…not until I met my master," she explained.
Elsa looked up to her. She could see the empathy in her eyes. She truly did understand.
"He taught me that my powers, while they could be dangerous, weren't inherently bad or evil. They were part of who I was. And I could choose how I used them. I could choose what they could be," she finished with a smile.
Elsa processed what she said. And she couldn't help but smile back. Because she was right. She had done just that. The city, its people, they loved her powers. They loved what she could use them for. The children would wave to her in delight as she fought crime. The criminals cursed her name as she took them down. She decided what her powers were for. And she chose to use them for good.
Anna and Kristoff were walking around the mountain trails away from the castle as they caught up. The young couple had missed each other. Anna hadn't seen him since she got her powers. He had been getting worried about her.
"So, how's it going?" he asked awkwardly. He was referring to her powers. But he didn't know quite how to ask her about it. Anna looked to him and smiled. She held up her hand and opened her palm. A moment later fire bloomed within it. Kristoff gasped as she stared at the crackling crimson flames.
"Wow! So you did it," he said in amazement.
"Yeah. PH taught me how to control it. Our lessons aren't over just yet. But she says we're almost done," Anna said. Kristoff couldn't help but notice what sounded like a hint of sadness.
"Something wrong?"
Anna sighed as she made the flames disappear. "It's just…I'm going to miss her when she leaves," Anna said softly. "And so is Elsa. We don't have too many people close to us in our lives. And she's…I don't know," she finished with a shrug.
"She cares about you two," Kristoff surmised. Anna nodded. It was nice to have someone who understood them both. And someone who cared about them. Especially for Elsa. Her sister had closed herself off to people for years. She was only barely starting to learn how to let other people in.
And she could already see PH had made a special place in Elsa's heart.
"Hey Teach, how did you go all huge before?" Anna asked curiously. It was nighttime at the moment. And Kristoff had decided to join the group as they sat around and ate dinner. PH had made them all some stew as they camped right outside the ice castle.
"I did that by fusing my spirit with one of the spirits I have bound to me," PH explained. She paused to take a sip of her spoonful of soup. She looked up to see everyone waiting for an explanation. She sighed. "Hold on," she said. She closed her eyes and concentrated. The group felt the wind stir around them.
The younger people looked at PH as they wondered what she was doing. But soon enough.
"Holy cow!" Anna said in surprise. All around PH were animals. At her right side was a lion. Behind her, a stallion. To her left, a large deer. And sitting in front of her was a sandy grey wolf.
"As a shaman, I have the power to bind spirits to myself. To form contracts with them. I've travelled over the world and formed a bond with each of these," she said gesturing to the animals around her. "By opening my spirit to them, I can merge their energies with my own. Granting me their abilities and powers. What you saw that day was me having merged by energies with this spirit," she said gesturing to the deer.
"How many do you have?" Elsa asked.
"Five."
"I only see four," Kristoff pointed out.
"Oh, yeah. The last spirit is one I was forced to enslave. It was simply too powerful and destructive to leave loose and I couldn't banish it either. I only summon it in the direst of situations," PH said lowly. As she spoke the wolf spirit stood. It trotted its way across the fire to sit before Elsa.
"That's Aleu. Unlike my other spirits, she hasn't formed a completed bond with me. She's bound to this knife," PH said as she reached into a pocket and pulled out the knife wrapped in animal hide.
Everyone listened with intense interest. All save Elsa. She looked into the blue eyes of the wolf. And it kept staring straight back at her.
"Hmmm. Aleu seems to have taken quite the interest in you Elsa. Coincidentally, wolves are also the sacred symbol of your patron, Skadi," PH said thoughtfully.
"It is?" Elsa asked as she took her eyes off the she wolf in front of her.
"Yes. You know what…here," PH said as she tossed Elsa the knife. Elsa caught it and looked at her in confusion. "Keep it. Maybe you can form a completed bond with her. She can also suppress your magical energies for you."
Elsa looked at her teacher to make sure she was serious. When she found no indication she was joking, she looked back down at the wolf. It sat on its hunches and kept looking at her. She remembered the time when the ice Titan had her. She'd been able to call upon its powers.
She smiled. "Hello Aleu. I'm Elsa," she said softly. The wolf cocked its head to the side and gave a whine.
After a few days, the girls had learned to conceal their magical powers. Anna had even learned to hide the platinum blonde streak in her hair when she wasn't using them. Elsa had learned to hide them as well by having Aleu absorb her excess magic. She also learned that she could actually give Aleu a physical form with her magic.
Anna was so jealous. Elsa had a familiar.
Currently, Elsa and Ann were following behind PH as she led them across the ocean. The sisters had been utterly confused when PH took them to the beach and ordered them to follow. Then they gasped in surprise as their teacher walked across the water like it were a solid ground. They exchanged a glance before Anna grabbed Elsa's arm and kept close. Elsa froze the water as she walked arm in arm with her sister as they followed their teacher.
They must have walked away from the shore for a least an hour. PH was silent the entire time. It had the girls a little unnerved.
"I bet I could totally fly with my powers," Anna said enthusiastically. Elsa rolled her eyes. Anna had been going on and on about how she believed she could fly.
"No you couldn't Anna. That just silly."
"Could too!"
"Could not!"
"Could too!"
"Could not!"
"Could too! Teach, tell Elsa I could totally fly with my powers!"
PH stopped walking and turned to face them. "I don't know Anna. Could you?" she sked as she raised an eyebrow.
"In the end, your powers are limited only by your imaginations. If you believe you can fly, then perhaps you can," PH said with a shrug. "This looks like a good enough spot," PH said as she looked around. There was nothing around them but miles of open water.
"For what?" Elsa asked curiously.
"For your final test," PH replied evenly.
"What do we have to do?" Anna asked.
PH remained silent as her mouth twitched upward into a smile. "You'll have to fight me," she revealed. The girls both flinched in shock.
"Fight you?! But—no…why?" Elsa sputtered in surprise.
"I've been teaching you so you could use your powers to be heroes. It means you're going to have to use them to fight. So, let's see what you've learned," PH said as the wind around her began to stir.
"Whoa…we don't want to hurt you Teach," Anna said as she tried to convince her to reconsider.
PH shook her head and chuckled lightly. She raised an arm up and pointed a finger at them. "How cute," she said with a playful smile. Then she pointed a finger upward.
Suddenly from behind her a giant whirlwind appeared. The girls covered their eyes as the winds began to rage behind their master. The water around them began to ebb and swirl violently as PH's magic filled the air. Her hair whipped back and forth wildly as she stared them down, inviting a challenge.
"You think you can hurt me."
new chap.