"It's a magic mirror," said Anna as she gazed into it.
The floating face did nothing, content instead to just look out into the space in front of it. It might well have been nothing more than a painting if not for the fact that they'd all seen it come into being.
"I've only heard stories about these. If this is anything like those, then it's really rare," said Elsa as she, too, looked at it with fascination.
"I've heard about them too," said Kristoff as he looked at it and shivered. Grand Pabbie had told him any number of stories about easy to use magical items. They always wound up containing some hidden cost that took much more from the user than it gave back. Nothing worth doing was worth taking the easy route, magic most of all.
"Let's see what it can do," said Anna as she took it out and placed it against a pile of boxes. She knelt in front of it and asked "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" She wriggled with anticipation at the answer.
"Why on Earth would you want to know?" asked Kristoff.
She said as she looked up at him with grin. "I've always wanted to ask. Besides, aren't you curious at all?"
"Not really," said Kristoff as he looked at the mirror with suspicion. "I've already met the most beautiful girl in the world, so why should I worry about what some mirror thinks?"
Anna ignored him and stared into it. The face in the mirror, meanwhile, just raised an eyebrow and shook its head, revealing nothing.
Anna frowned. "Why isn't it working? Maybe it's not that powerful after all."
"Or maybe you asked it wrong. It's not on a wall, after all. It might not think you're talking to it, or it could just be a face that shows up whenever you want to use it, or it could just be incompetent," said Kristoff with a smirk.
"So we can all remember to thank Lord Derek for his broken magic mirror when we see him next," said Elsa with a laugh.
The face in the mirror scowled and then exploded into a rainbow mass of colors that radiated against the darkness behind it in the mirror. The room darkened and the mirror began to pulse with a burning light that they could almost feel against their very souls. Shapes began to form and slowly the image of a young woman working hard in a garden appeared. She had snow white skin, raven black hair and bright, blood red lips. She looked up at once, as if she could feel their gaze on her from where they were. Then the image faded back into the face from before. It looked very pleased with itself.
"What's her name, Kristoff?" asked Anna in colder tone than usual as she continued to look into the mirror.
"I don't know, she looks like she could be anyone," answered Kristoff, confused by the question.
Anna looked up at him with annoyance, eyes blazing and filled with a dark shadow that Kristoff hadn't seen in them before. "Well, you said you'd already met the most beautiful girl in the world. I just wanted to know what her name was."
"The name of the most beautiful girl in the world is Anna," said Kristoff.
Elsa nodded in approval, but Anna missed it. "Her name is Anna? I didn't realize you knew another Anna. It must have been weird for you when you met me."
"You're the only Anna I know," said Kristoff as he rolled his eyes.
"Then what do you … oh," she said with a blush as recognition dawned. "Then what were you doing with Elsa this morning?" she asked, looking up at Kristoff with hurt and anger in her eyes.
"We feel asleep like that last night, Anna, that's all," said Elsa. She knelt down and tried to put her arms around Anna, but Anna jerked away from her towards the mirror.
"So what were you doing with him before that?" she asked Elsa in a menacing tone that Kristoff had never heard from her before.
"Nothing worth worrying about, Anna. We talked and then fell asleep," said Kristoff.
"I think that it's my place to decide if it's worth worrying about or not, Kristoff," said Anna as she turned her glare on him.
"No, I don't care what time it is, I'm not going to sit on the ship and worry about this for hours on end, Jenkins!" came Lord Derek's booming voice from just outside the door. Elsa almost ran to answer it while Anna hurried to hide the mirror.
Elsa opened it to find Lord Derek's hand curled up into a fist which vanished as soon as he saw Elsa standing there. "Lord Derek, what a surprise. What brings you here at this hour?" she said in a serene tone, although Kristoff knew that she was relieved by his presence.
"Forgive me, your Majesty, but I think that one of my personal items was delivered to you by accident the other day," said Lord Derek with concern in his voice.
"Oh? And what manner of thing might it be?" asked Elsa. Anna's face fell and Kristoff knew even before Lord Derek spoke what he was searching for.
"It would be an antique mirror kept in a smooth ebony box. It is very precious to me," he said as he scanned over the pile of gifts in an obvious attempt to see where it might be.
"I've been through everything, and nothing like that has shown up," said Anna as she moved to hide the mirror better.
"Would you mind if I took a quick look, then? I wouldn't hurt anything, I promise," said Lord Derek in desperation.
"You may not," said Anna in a stern, angry tone that sounded wrong coming from her. Kristoff thought that she might have stood up in a regal huff if she hadn't been trying to hide the mirror at the same time.
"But I will have the castle looked over and will inform you tomorrow if it does turn up, I promise," said Elsa just as fast.
Lord Derek's face turned into a scowl for a brief moment, but that soon faded into a neutral smile. "Thank you, your Majesty. You are too kind." He turned to leave, then paused as if he'd just remembered something. "Kristoff, I was wondering if you would like me to teach you a few stands with the sword I gifted you. Not right now, persay, as I think that I've interrupted something again, but perhaps in a couple hours time?"
"The main hall at noon? I think that there is some practice gear that has fallen into misuse, and this would be the perfect time to bring it all out," said Elsa.
"Splendid! Thank you again, your Majesty. Kristoff, I shall see you at noon!" Said Lord Derek, who bowed Elsa and then sauntered out.
Once he was gone, Elsa turned to Anna and fixed her with a steely glare and Anna withered beneath it. "One day Anna. I don't know what you plan to do with it and I don't care, but at noon tomorrow Lord Derek is going to get his mirror back one way or another."
A cold wind began to blow from Elsa towards Anna and she nodded fast. "That's fine, Elsa, no worries. I just wanted to see what it can do before I never see another one ever again." Anna looked to Kristoff for back up. When he said nothing, she huffed, picked up the mirror and stormed out.
"Shouldn't you have gone to help her with that?" Asked Elsa.
Kristoff shook his head. "If she wants to play with that mirror all day, that's fine, but I don't want to have anything more to do with it. Grand Pabbie says that magic shouldn't be bound or it'll get ideas and that face seemed pretty shifty to me. I for one would have loved to have given it back to Lord Derek when he asked for it. Let him deal with it."
Elsa nodded in sympathy. "I know what you mean. Just being near it made me feel cold and weak; I think that if I'd stayed near it any longer I would have turned blue."
"I thought that the cold didn't bother you?" Asked Kristoff.
Elsa nodded. "It doesn't, shouldn't. That's why I'm afraid."