Well so much for updating twice in December. I've been really swamped with college apps.
Since my last chapter, I saw Big Hero 6, and it was fantastic- it was funny and thrilling at the same time. It had a trailer for Pixar's Inside Out, which I've already been waiting for for half a year, if not more. And I have to wait another six months. Sigh...
There was also a trailer for a new Lucasfilm movie called Strange Magic which looks cool, since it's by George Lucas and it's about fairies and trolls and stuff.
Big Hero 6 was a great action/comedy movie. However, I think Frozen has more of a lasting appeal with me, at least in terms of Fanfiction writing, since I don't think I could write a Big Hero 6 fic.
I also saw the Peter Pan Live thing on TV, and I mostly liked it, but some of the singing got a little annoying. Especially Hook and the pirates singing (I didn't like James (a.k.a Hook with both hands) and his pirates singing in The Pirate Fairy either. Pirates and singing just don't go together in my opinion, especially when they're singing goofy songs).
This chapter starts out on the same day as last chapter, on Elsa and Anna's first full day as fairies. Also, I don't know what you all thought of the last couple chapters. Is the pace of this story too slow?
Elsa woke up to the sight of moonlight shining through the ice castle, lighting the ice up in a bluish hue. Wondering why she'd woken up, Elsa glanced around and noted with a moment's confusion that the castle seemed a whole lot bigger. Then she saw the fairy sleeping next to her- Anna, who had rolled away in her sleep and caused Elsa to awake- and remembered that they had been turned into fairies less than half a day before. Elsa didn't know why or how they'd become fairies. I'll have to ask Tinker Bell or Periwinkle, Elsa thought as she snuggled close to Anna and drifted back to sleep.
In what seemed like no time, Anna was shaking her awake. "Elsa! Elsa! I have wings! I'm a fairy!" Elsa reluctantly opened her eyes and mumbled "So do I. Don't you remember what happened?"
In the moonlight, Elsa saw Anna nod. "Yeah," Anna replied "But it's just so amazing!" Elsa mumbled something and drifted off to sleep again.
The third time Elsa awoke, the sun was rising (meaning the light-talent fairies were at work). The walls of the ice castle were lit up in a cool effect by the orange light. She glanced around and realized she was alone.
"Anna?" Elsa got up and walked around the interior of the ice castle. It had been just big enough to hold Elsa and Anna comfortably when they were human, but now it seemed big enough to be a house, and a luxurious one at that.
The interior was pretty much empty, so it didn't take long for Elsa to look around. After checking behind a snow mound, Elsa used her magic to open the door and left the castle.
Worry began to enter Elsa's thoughts, but she told herself that Anna must have started a game of hide and seek without telling her. To reassure herself further, Elsa called out "You can't hide from me, Anna!"
Since she didn't have Pixie Dust, she had to continue walking.
Anna wasn't hiding behind the ice castle, either, and there wasn't much else to hide behind near the castle. Anna probably wouldn't go as far as the trees to play hide-and-seek. Getting more worried since she was pretty sure this wasn't a game, Elsa followed a hunch and decided to cross over into the warm section. After all, Anna didn't like the cold that much, which made Elsa wonder why she'd slept in the Winter Woods.
Hurrying across the log despite her bare feet, Elsa crossed over into the warm section of Pixie Hollow, calling her sister's name. She wandered around, easily avoiding small pebbles and twigs that would have hurt any barefoot Clumsy walking there. She saw no sign of Anna, though she saw a couple of other fairies. Walking up to Iridessa, who happened to be on the ground at the time, moving a beam of light, Elsa asked her if she'd seen Anna.
"The new fairy?" Iridessa asked, to which Elsa responded "Yeah, my sister." To Elsa's great relief, Iridessa nodded and told her she'd seen Anna walk by less than fifteen minutes ago, in the direction of Tinker's Nook. Seeing as that was a realistic possibility, Elsa thanked Iridessa and set off.
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Arriving at Tink's door, Elsa knocked. It had taken her about ten minutes longer than it should have to get there. She'd wandered around, lost, before she quite literally bumped into Terence. Terence had supplied her with both Pixie Dust and directions, and had actually escorted her there when she'd set off in the wrong direction. That had been kind or embarrassing.
The door opened to a slightly irate Tink. Terence greeted her, and Tink's expression softened a bit when she saw who it was. She nodded to not-boyfriend, and before Elsa even opened her mouth, asked "Looking for Anna?"
"How did you know?" Elsa asked. Did she really look as worried as she felt?
Tink ignored that question and got to the unasked one about Anna's whereabouts. "Anna's perfectly fine. She's with Fawn now, but she stopped by earlier to get some clothes." Looking Elsa up and down, Tink asked "Did you come for clothes, too?"
Elsa suddenly remembered she was still wearing her Arrival clothes, which had already ripped by her knees, even though she hadn't snagged it or anything. Clearly, Arrival clothes weren't meant to last.
Tink sighed and pulled Elsa inside, making the decision for her. If Elsa kept wearing her Arrival Garment, there was a high likelihood that it would rip completely, and public nudity wasn't accepted in Pixie Hollow any more than it was on the mainland. "We need some privacy. See you, Terence!" Tink called, closing the door in the dust-keeper's face.
Elsa looked around Tink's room and spied some alphabet blocks among the clutter, almost identical to the ones she'd had when she was younger. They were easily big enough to be a fairy's chair, or table. Somehow, seeing the blocks struck home her tiny size, more so than seeing the trees or rocks outside.
"Tinker Bell?" Elsa asked as Tink led her to the wardrobe and pulled the doors open, "Why did Anna and I turn into fairies?"
Tink looked at her, surprised it had taken her this long to ask. After all, it seemed like a pretty obvious question. However, Elsa had been too busy caught up in being a fairy that she hadn't really thought much about it happened.
"Well..." Tink stalled. Should she lie about the wand? After all, if Elsa knew (which would also mean Anna would know once Elsa told her), they could consciously dream up more things to wish for. But the wand had been locked away for a couple days for that reason. Besides, if she lied, Elsa and Anna were bound to find out sometime, since the word of how Elsa and Anna had become fairies had spread around during the banquet last night.
"It was the wand." the tinker explained. "Wands can grant wishes or commands. But you have to be really careful about what you wish for, because reversing them is tricky. But it can be done."
Tink's expression and voice became about as dreamy as they ever would when she talked about tinkering with the wand.
Elsa looked at Tink's clothes, all of which were green. Elsa knew she shouldn't be picky, but green really wasn't her color. Anna looked a lot better in green than she did. Maybe she could borrow clothes from Peri, or make her own ice dress.
As if summoned by her Laugh's thoughts, Peri knocked at the door and slipped inside, her personal flurry keeping her cold. She spotted Elsa and said "Oh. There you are. Why weren't you in your ice castle"
"I was looking for Anna." Elsa replied. Peri nodded. She, too, had encountered Terence, who'd filled her in on what was going on.
"Well, we need to get over to the Winter Woods. We've got lots to do." Peri turned to her sister and asked "When do you get the wand again?"
"The day after tomorrow, at the latest." Tink said. Peri nodded, and beckoned Elsa to follow her, adding that Elsa could borrow some of her clothes. They both said goodbye to Tink and left.
"Elsa," Peri said as they flew "You're about to learn what being a winter-fairy is all about!" Just like Fawn and Anna over in the warm section, both Peri and Elsa were very excited. Peri always enjoyed her work as a frost-talent, but today was extra special. Today would be her first day with a complete set of powers, and she'd be working with Elsa. It couldn't get much better than that.
Soaring over the Winter Woods, Peri let Elsa enjoy the view and said "The main winter-talents are the snow-talent and the frost-talent. I'm a frost-talent. I specialize in ice, but I can make snow too."
"There are also fast-flying-talents, dust-keeper-talents and animal-talents that are winter-fairies, just as there are fast-fliers, dust-keepers and animal-talents in the warm section of Pixie Hollow."
She told Elsa about how all the talents solely for winter-fairies were rather intermixed, and Elsa was clinging on to every word. Being a winter-fairy sounded perfect for her. For once, she would actually be encouraged to use her magic by someone other than Anna.
Elsa remembered her Arrival Ceremony, how one of the objects did nothing. "So am I all of them except the animal-talent?"
Peri's answer was simply "You'll see." She dove down towards the side of a mountain, Elsa in pursuit. Peri entered her home, which was in the side of the mountain, like a cave. Her porch had been repaired after it burned down when she'd met Tink. One could still see the tally marks Peri had drawn for the list of things she and Tink had in common.
Peri entered her home, and grinned at Elsa's gasp of delight. All the furniture was made of ice, and most of the furniture had been made by Peri herself. Snow took the form of blankets, cushions and anything else soft. Elsa lifted a corner of the blanket on Peri's bed, and the snow didn't break apart. It acted just like a blanket should, using the same kind of magic that was on the coats Elsa had made.
This was the kind of home Elsa wanted.
Peri gave Elsa an outfit identical to the one she was wearing. Peri had about seven identical outfits and not much else, so it always looked like she never changed clothes.
Once Elsa changed, she looked like someone had taken her head and put it on Peri's body. Peri laughed, but it was the tiniest bit creepy at the same time.
Finally, they were ready to actually start doing the day's work.
Elsa and Peri went out into the open air again. By this time, the sun was up completely, and its rays were reflecting off the snow. Another benefit of being a winter-fairy was that sort of thing didn't bother you.
A large group of fairies were gathered at the Arrival Ceremony spot, conveniently located by the Pixie Dust 'waterfall'. Several of them were skating on the ice, using paper clips as skates or just sliding on their feet. Peri and Elsa joined the skating fairies, and Elsa used her powers to propel herself around, much like she sometimes did on her handmade ice-rinks in Arendelle. She didn't go anywhere near as fast as when she'd used her magic to propel herself through the air the day before.
Lord Milori appeared, and the laughter and talking died down as fairies came to a stop and focused on him. He told them they'd be doing something different, that they'd be practicing every talent, rather than just their specialty. Peri strongly suspected this was the winter-ruler's way of seeing how far Elsa's powers extended, as well as seeing if there was a change in Peri's.
But he still assigned tasks. Secretly, he had made sure there was plenty to do. He'd gone around the previous night, breaking icicles and knocking snow off the buildings and ice off the trees. So now most of the trees needed to be frosted, and more snow would have to be laid on the tops of houses and buildings. Also, the backup supply of icicles and snow had mysteriously disappeared, so they'd have to replenish that, as well as maybe ice over a couple patches of ground and get some more snow falling.
It was a good that fairies loved doing their talents.
Peri thought back to the unintentional wish she'd gave the wand after Elsa and Anna had become fairies, the one about the other fairies accepting Elsa and Anna's change. Undoubtedly, today's mixing of tasks and that wish were connected.
Elsa and Peri were first placed in the tree-frosting group. Peri turned to Elsa, wondering how this would go. She'd seen firsthand how strong Elsa's magic was even at the age of eight. She'd made two rather fancy ice castles, as well as the entire blizzard that had caused Tink and Peri to be stranded in the first place. Not to mention, the talent objects had flown to Elsa, and although the fairies didn't know for sure what it meant, it was a pretty fair assumption that it indicated power. Since it hadn't done the same thing to Anna, that probably meant it didn't have something to do with the fact they weren't naturally fairies.
Peri flew up and hovered amid the branches. She landed and slid across it. Ice trailed behind her like paint after a paintbrush. She let out a cry of delight as she did so. Even though her talent hadn't gotten any stronger because of the wand, it was nice to feel how... unlimited it felt.
She finished a branch, and nodded at Elsa to start. Elsa grinned- she knew how to make ice. Aside from making snowmen, what Elsa liked to do most with her powers was making anything with ice- sculptures, skating rinks, and so on.
She flew up and slid across the branch, like Peri had. Ice quickly spread from the branch she'd landed on, and seconds later the entire tree had a thin layer of ice surrounding it.
"Ta-daa!" Elsa said proudly. She grinned at Peri, but her smile faltered when she saw Peri's expression. It was one of disappointment.
"Did I do something wrong?" Elsa asked. Peri shook her head and said to herself "There's always the next tree." Then, louder. "No, you did wonderfully. I was just hoping I could frost a bit more of the tree." She didn't want Elsa to think there was something wrong with her powers. She apparently already got enough of that at home.
They moved on to the trees next to them. This time, Peri took one tree while Elsa took the other. Elsa finished in about five seconds, but the result still looked amazing. Peri took her time, applying the ice as if she were painting. Unlike Elsa, she didn't frost the trunk.
This went on for a while, and naturally Elsa finished a ton of trees. It had been pretty easy. She actually had to stop because she'd finished way more than her count and she felt she should leave some trees for others.
Elsa's performance raised questions in both Elsa and Peri's mind. Peri once again wondered how Elsa was so powerful. She couldn't think of a single explanation. After all, the fairies were the ones who were supposed to change the seasons, so why was it that Elsa had managed to bring winter to Arendelle on her own? Accidentally, no less.
Peri briefly wondered if Elsa's size when she was a Clumsy made her magic so strong, but that explanation didn't work, since Elsa's magic was as strong as ever after shrinking down to a fairy.
Quite frankly, it really wasn't fair.
Elsa realized how much magic she'd done, but she didn't feel like she was running out of it. Then again, she thought, it had taken an entire blizzard to exhaust her magic before. Still, something about her magic felt different, but Elsa couldn't put a finger on what that difference was.
Peri and Elsa traded tasks with Gliss and Spike, who were busy working with snow. Peri grabbed at the snow and pulled up half a layer. She used the trick so it hung like a blanket. Glancing at Elsa, she asked "Have you ever done this?"
Elsa shook her head in the negative. Although she'd managed to make ice act like cloth, she'd never actually tried it with snow. Now that she thought about it, it would have made a lot more sense.
Bending down, Elsa tried to mimic what Peri had done, and ended up just getting a handful of snow. She shot a questioning look at Peri. She readied her magic again and imagined the snow coming up without breaking. She lifted her hands again. Same result.
It didn't improve. Again and again, she tried and failed. The most she could do was make snowballs.
However, when Elsa made her own snow, she could make it act like Peri's had. So she laid her own snow out instead of getting some from the ground.
Part of Peri couldn't help feeling smug. She could do something Elsa couldn't. Elsa, however, wasn't really too concerned. As long as she could do it when she made snow, she was fine. She pretty much made all the snow she used, anyways. It seemed, as long as Elsa actually made the snow or ice, she could do all the 'impossible' things with it, too.
Next, Elsa and Peri worked towards making a snowfall. Elsa focused her magic and formed a snowball in between her hands. She made a flurry come out, just like she'd done countless times when playing with Anna.
This was easy.
And sort of boring, considering that she didn't even get to play in her snow.
Elsa did more than her share of all of the tasks. By lunchtime, they had pretty much finished, thanks to Elsa. Several of the fairies complemented Elsa on her speed.
"Periwinkle?" Elsa began asking as she munched on a frozen berry "What else is there to know about being a fairy?"
She was hoping that Peri didn't hear the slight disappointment in her voice. So far, work as a fairy had been like when she played in the snow, only without the playing part. That sort of took a lot of the fun out of it. But it still was fun to be able to use her magic.
Peri apparently knew why Elsa had really asked. "There's plenty of things to do when we're not working. There's ice-skating, snowball fights, sledding... any winter activity, really." She paused and said thoughtfully "We're done for the day. Want to go skiing?"
Elsa had never even heard of skiing, but she agreed to go along with Peri. Gliss and Spike joined in, and they all flew to Peri's home, where Peri dug around her drawer of Found Things until she found four Popsicle sticks. She broke them in half so they were shaped like skis. She passed them around, along with rubber bands to strap the Popsicle skis to their feet. (Elsa was fascinated with both the Popsicle sticks and the rubber bands. Arendelle didn't have them).
Skiing as a fairy was really nice, since you could just fly up the slope if there weren't any ski lifts, which there obviously weren't in Neverland. The tinker-talents probably could have invented them, but there wasn't really a need for them.
The group flew to the top of a steep slope, and Peri made a pair of ski poles out of ice. Once Elsa saw what they looked like, she made her own pair.
Peri showed Elsa how to strap the Popsicle stick skis to her feet with the rubber band, and she ended up having to pretty much do it for her.
Elsa tried to get to her feet, wobbled shakily, and fell down again. Eventually, she managed to dig her pole in the snow and pull herself up. She looked down the slope and gulped. It sure looked a lot steeper from this end.
Gliss pushed herself forward with her poles and started down. "Come on!" She called over her shoulder. Peri and Spike headed towards the slope, and Peri pulled Elsa along with her.
Elsa teetered over the edge, and then started sliding down. She sped up a lot faster than she'd have thought. Snow and trees whizzed past her. Elsa screamed in a mix of fear and joy, but mostly fear. She was figuratively frozen, and couldn't think of anything to do except staring straight ahead with wide eyes.
She hit a bump and wiped out spectacularly. After sailing through the air for a bit, which would have been much more thrilling if she hadn't known what real flying was like, Elsa tumbled through the snow and landed with her limbs splayed at uncomfortable angles. She winced as she readjusted her legs, and saw that the Popsicle sticks had splintered.
No matter. She simply made some from ice, and even made icy straps for her feet so she wouldn't have to use the rubber bands. She managed to get up after almost a minute of trying, and promptly fell down again.
Peri skidded to a halt by her, spraying snow around. She helped Elsa up, and was immediately asked "Can we get Anna? She'd love this!" Elsa looked at her hopefully, and Peri felt bad about telling her that Anna was still probably working.
"What about tomorrow?" Elsa asked. Peri answered that she'd have to ask Fawn to see when Anna was free. Elsa nodded. She really wanted Anna to do this skiing thing.
Peri offered her hand to Elsa, asking if she wanted to hold it when they went down the rest of the slope, but Elsa declined. She wasn't a baby, after all.
Elsa's new skis made her even faster. She rocketed down the hill and an insane speed. Once she reached the bottom, she kept going without knowing how to steer. A group of fairies having a snowball fight loomed ahead, and Elsa plowed through a bunch of them hiding behind a snow fort.
"Sorry!" She called hastily over her shoulder, before smacking into a tree. She fell down, stupefied, and murmured "Ow.. ow.. ow... ow!"
Peri caught up to her and made sure Elsa was okay. Fortunately, she had slowed down a lot by the time she hit the tree, so it didn't give her anything more than a couple bruises.
Elsa wanted to continue, despite the accident. This was fun, almost more fun than building snowmen, and that was saying something.
Once they reached the top of the hill again, Peri began to teach her how to weave in an S shape and how to angle her skis in a V to slow down. She felt rather stupid for not having taught her this first.
Elsa couldn't help wishing Anna was there with her. And although she was having the time of her life, she couldn't help thinking about how she was starting to miss Arendelle.
So, there's chapter 19. I hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully it didn't seem rushed- I actually think it would've dragged on if it had been much longer.
So Elsa's having mixed feelings about being a fairy. Which makes sense in my mind, cause that's probably how I'd feel.
Things are going to get more interesting soon, but stuff still happened, so this wasn't boring, right? Please review!
See you next year!