Frozen
The Dragon Princess
Do the (Dragon) Magic, Do the (Dragon) Magic
Anna spent two weeks after her trip to Berk resting and recovering. She stored the heart of wind in the beautiful jewelry box that her parents had given her in lieu of the crystal Elsa had given her for her birthday. It reminded her of her goal, but she felt worn out and tired, and just wanted to relax for a time. She ran around the castle, explored, talked to Joan and just napped wherever she felt like. She didn't use any magic or think about the next gem, until one night she jerked awake without knowing why. She looked outside and saw the sky was awake, the beautiful colors of the aurora shining into her room. She got out of bed and walked to her window, looking out into the night and letting the light bath her. Suddenly she felt wetness on her face, and brining her hand to her cheek wiped it away, another rolled down the other side of her face followed by another.
"I'm crying, why am I crying?" She asked herself as she continued to gaze out at the lights.
"They are beautiful aren't they?" A voice said. Anna whirled around startled and sent a fireball shooting toward the figure that sat on her bed. The figure put up his hand and the fireball stopped in midair and with a flick of her wrist, it vanished.
"Impressive child" he said with a smile of pure affection, and Anna felt her fear ease. She felt no menace from this man, only curiosity and care.
"Who are you?" Anna asked.
"You don't recognize me?"
He asked tilting his head to the side. Anna looked at him more closely. He had pale skin, paler than Elsa even, with a glowing tint to it, and pale almost white eyes, and hair a pale white. He was dressed in loose flowing white robes that seemed to glow with its own light. Anna inhaled through her nose and smelled the familiar scent of dry plains, windswept heights and crackling lightning, except the last time she smelled it, it had suffused all of Berk.
"Borealis?" she asked in wonder, and the man let out a chuckle like a breeze through a forest.
"You are clever, and perceptive. Excellent" He said.
"But how are you here, why?" Anna asked and the man grinned wider.
"As for how I'm here. You have my heart child. Wherever it goes, I follow. As for why. You have great potential Anna, more potential than I have seen since the fall of Oroboros" He said.
"Oroo…" She tried to sound out the strange word.
"Do not trouble yourself. That is not something you need to know yet. Come sit next to me" He said patting the bed beside her"
Anna went and climbed onto the bed beside him.
"Anna, you have done a great thing, especially for one so young"
Borealis praised her, and she blushed in embarrassment. Elsa usually got the praise for being smart, and poised, and graceful, and perfect. She usually only got a pat on the head and a "you tried dear" From her tutors.
"But I must warn you, if you continue, it will only become more dangerous, and the chance that you will lose your life, or worse will increase"
He explained. Anna looked into his eyes fearlessly.
"I can't stop. I have a promise I have to keep" She said, then her gaze softened and she dropped it.
"Can you help me?" She asked humbly.
"Of course child. Your manual can only teach you so much. I will teach you all I can and help prepare you, but it will take time, years perhaps before you are ready to find the next heart" He explained.
"Years?" Anna asked in shock.
"You were lucky to have passed my test, but luck will not help you with the other tests. If you wish my help, the first lesson you must learn is the patience. Patience to learn what you need to learn or you will be rushing to nothing more than your own grave" He said her with deadly seriousness.
"Ok, I can be patient" She said.
"We will see"
He said. And so Borealis education began. His power was air, so he taught her everything he knew about wind magic, which was so much Anna didn't think she would ever learn it all. His lessons took place at night, shortly after she was put to bed. Once an hour had passed after she was in bed, she would slip out invisibly and meet him in the garden under the stars and he would throw up a bubble of timelessness, a place where they could do a whole nights work, but where no time passed at all. The first lesson he taught her was how to create a bubble for her.
"A time bubble is a quick and dirty way to create a work space where you can accomplish an hour's work in an instant" He had explained as she repeated the spell on a beetle, freezing it in place, then letting it go.
"It requires a strong affinity for air, so not many of the born except wind readers use it" He explained. Anna looked at him in utter bewilderment.
"My apologies. I forget you know next to nothing of your heritage"
He said. For the next month of nights he explained the history of the dragon born, how they were an ancient race of humans who had mastered magic to the point where they had achieved the ability transform into dragons, granting them an even stronger connection to magic, particularly the magic of their prime element.
"I know that one" Anna said brightly as she held her book in her lap.
"Each dragon born has one element they're good at, one their sort of good at, one their okay with, and one that they're bad at" She said and bringing up her hand created a ball of fire.
"I'm good with fire, good with air, okay with earth and bad with water" She said.
"You are known as a fire drake. In the old days you would have been trained as a warrior" He explained.
"A dragon knight?" She asked perking up and he smiled.
"Actually, yes, that is exactly what they were called he said softly"
"I can still be a knight" She said jumping up.
"I can learn to fight and be brave" She said hopping up and down. Borealis put a hand on her head"
"Calm yourself. What is the first lesson?" He reminded her.
"Patience" She sighed.
"Patience and discipline. The forces we work with are powerful, and dangerous. You have been lucky to not have an accident yet, but every time you use your magic you must be cautious, but unafraid" He explained.
"Because fear is the enemy of magic" Anna recited.
"Indeed"
"Now, getting back to history, you are considered a fire drake. Most fire drakes are warriors due to the powerful and often violent nature of their powers, but just as many were great scholars and even a few healers" He explained.
"Air Slypers like myself tend to be scholars and teachers, but many make good spies and even assassins" He said.
"I can see that, being able to become invisible and all" She said.
"Earth Wurms" He said and smiled at her giggle.
"Are often healers, but they can be scholars and warriors due to their great strength" He said.
"Finally, Water Snakes also make good healers, but also make excellent explorers and spy's, though not quite as good as Sylphs" He said with a hint of pride.
"Are there really that many?" She asked.
"There used to be" He said.
"What happened?" Anna asked, sensing the sadness in her teacher.
"That is a tale for another time"
he said. And so the lessons went on. She barely met the expectations of her tutors, except for geography, and having Elsa there, staring coldly at her with every screw up, every mistake, like she couldn't believe Anna was her sister, just made it that much worse. Once night came she truly shined. However she was so eager to get to her lesson that she didn't notice someone peeking around the corner when she opened her door and slipped out or the light dusting of frost on the floor.
Elsa couldn't take it anymore. As the days went by, ache that was left by her sister's absence grew worse, like a knowing wound. She saw her at lessons, but there she was under the watchful eye of her tutors, who reported every single moment that transpired to her father, including the interaction with her sister. Thus she was forced to treat Anna like a stranger, and it had been especially hard today during their language class when Anna had stumbled over their French and had begged Elsa for help out of the corner of her eye. Elsa had only stared straight forward; producing the same phrase flawlessly that Anna had been struggling with moments ago. Anna stared straight forward, fighting with all her might to hold back her tears, but failed as two leaked from her eyes, earning a sniff from the tutor. If you do not wish to feel ashamed child, work harder, but do not cry over your own laziness" She said coldly, and it was all Elsa could do to keep the entire room from icing over in her anger. The tutor looked at her with fond eyes, but Elsa glared back coldly, causing the tutor to look at her even more fondly, seeing it as the proper serene expression form a princes, rather than the sniveling from of her younger sister. Elsa could read it all in the horrible woman's eyes. As soon as the lesson was over she ran to her father and told her everything.
"That tutor has a point" Was all he said.
'What?" Elsa demanded and the wall behind her iced up.
"Elsa" Her father said firmly.
"How can you say that?" She demanded and her father sighed.
"Because you sister is bright and inquisitive, but she is lazy. She puts little to no effort into what does not interest her, as I know from her geography teacher, the only area she excels at, and where she is surpassing you" He said with a wry grin.
"She's only seven" Elsa said.
"You're only ten, and you do not seem to be having a problem" Her father said.
"Elsa, your sister is perfectly capable of learning her lessons, and if she need a doses of shame to realize she needs to start growing up, then so be it. She is a princess, and despite what she may think that comes with responsibilities, and it's time she realized that"
He said with a note of finality in his voice. Elsa had spent the rest of the day in her room, gloves off, seething in anger over her father's words not caring that her entire room was encased in ice.
"Anna should be out playing and having fun, and if she's having trouble with her lessons, I should help her. I'm her sister!"
That was what had brought her to her sister's room. She was going to tell her everything. About her powers, about what they had done to her, everything. Elsa couldn't live with the secrets anymore. She was currently hiding around the corner to Anna's room, gathering the courage to go and talk to her, when she saw her door open, then close again. What was stranger was that her fear had caused a dusting of frost on the floor, and footsteps appeared in them from out of nowhere like magic. Elsa raced to Anna's door and threw it open, to find here little sisters bed empty. She looked at the foot prints and raced after them. She reached a clean space, but frost spread out form her again, and she saw the foot prints pattering down the hall. She kept close, keeping the frost spreading, as the footsteps went down the stairs and out to the garden. She hid behind the door, and peeking saw a pale man in white robes, and out of nowhere Anna appeared. She smiled up at the man and made to say something, when she took a deep breath of air. Her face turned toward the door and looked right at her. Elsa turned to run and ran right into a barrier, like an invisible wall.
"Elsa?" Anna asked. Elsa whipped around and saw her sister staring at her, her usually bright, playful eyes hard and suspicious.
"Anna, what are you doing? Who is this strange man?"
She demanded concealing her emotions and using the most authoritative tone she could manage. Anna's face turned from suspicious to angry, then sad in an instant and raising her hand between them ignited it, fire engulfing it like a torch. Elsa leapt back startled as more flame appeared out of thin air, floating freely until the entire entranceway was lit. Elsa stared in amazement at the floating lights and the flame that engulfed her sister's hand. But more than the fire was the warmth. For the first time in forever the cold was chased away and a sense of peace came over her. She held her hand out toward one of the flames that floated close and let the warmth float through her. She smiled and laughed out loud. Her sister had magic. Her sister had magic.
"Anna, this is amazing" She breathed not noticing her sister raise her other hand and with a gesture, froze the older girl in time.
"Sorry Elsa"
Anna said. A whirl of emotions was storming through her, but the chief one was panic. She wasn't ready for anyone to know about her powers, not yet. She was scared of how her parents would react, and truthfully, she like the fact that her powers were her secret, her secret to share when she was ready. The look of amazement on her sister's face when she had lit up the doorway hurt, but she knew what she had to do as Borealis came up behind her.
"Can you erase her memories?" Anna asked.
"Yes, but are you sure this is what you want?" He asked.
"No…but if my parents know, I know something bad will happen, and Elsa will tell them I'm sure." She explained.
"That's not all. Work through it all...one thing at a time"Borealis said kneeling down to stare at her at eye level. It was one of the lessons he had taught her to keep negative emotions from controlling her, to face them and work through them so they didn't control her. She sighed and slowly talked.
"I'm not ready. I'm not ready to let anyone know about this…my magic, you. It's like something my very own that no one can take away from me" She said and Borealis nodded.
"And, why should I let them know my secret, when they're keeping things form me they won't tell me about?" She reasoned angrily.
"Now that you know you're reasons, can you still live with taking your sisters memories?" He asked. Anna looked at her sister and firming her resolve, nodded. Borealis sighed.
"Very well child, I shall only take the memories of this night, and replace them with ones of slumber and dreams. I shall also leave the memory of your fire. It brought her warmth and wonder when she sees very little"
He said. Anna nodded and dispelled the time bubble, only to have Borealis put a hand on Elsa's head. The older girl's eyes immediately went blank as the wind guardian gently shifted her memories and dropped her into bespelled slumber.
"We shall continue our lesson once I have returned her to her room" He said lifting Elsa into his arms and vanishing.
Borealis never said it, but he was astounded at Anna's progress. The girl was truly talented, especially for hatchling a so young. All dragon born hatched at adolescents at the earliest. Never in all the history he knew had their ever been a hatchling this young, and he could only ascribe her astounding progress to both her talent, and the boundless enthusiasm that came with youth. Yet that boundless enthusiasm could very easily lead her to disaster. She did not yet have the maturity of a maturing adolescent, and though he was grateful to her for releasing him from the prison that was his own magical heart, he was worried that if she didn't learn the discipline she needed, she would die before she could rescue his siblings. And there was a matter of her "family" He had been around the castle, invisible as a gust of wind, and had taken the information he needed form the minds of the servants, the girl's sister, and from the parents, and had been aghast at what he had learned. When the elder girl had tailed his student and seen them together it had been Anna who had noticed her by her scent, her senses sharp even for a fire drake hunter. The way she had handled it, and the reasons she gave for erasing the elders memories had both impressed and saddened him, showing the maturity he had found lacking a moment before. The irony of the situation also did not escape him. That was why the following day he was waiting when Idunn, the queen of Arendelle and her husband Agdar entered their chambers.
"It has been a long time sister" he said blowing the chamber doors closed and locking them with a gust of wind. The two whirled around in surprise at the noise. As soon as she saw him, Idunns eyes widened in shock.
"Bor?" She asked.
"You've aged Idunn. Last I saw you, you were barely coming into your own powers, and now look at you, powers forsaken" He said sadly as he looked and saw the former wind reader he had known gone, not an ounce of magic in her.
"No…how you…" She tried to stutter out.
"Lost, cursed to guard my own heart for eternity? Yes I was, until your rather talented daughter released me" He explained.
"That's impossible, Elsa's not" She said and her eyes widened when realization hit her.
"Wait, Idunn, what's going on? Who is this?" Agdar asked.
"Hold your tongue human, you're presence here is a necessity" Borealis said, letting his anger bleed through slightly.
"How dare you. I am the ruler here and I will not abide some stranger coming into my home and…" The irate king didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as with a wave of his hand Borealis stopped the flow of air to the man's lungs. Agdar dropped to his knees gasping for breath that wouldn't come.
"Agdar. Borealis, release him!" She demanded.
"And what power do you have to make me, my old student?" He asked coldly.
"Please" She begged, tears pooling in her eyes. With a wave of his hand he released the spell, and the man lay on the floor gasping.
"My apologies, but now you know your place" He said moving to a window.
"Anna, you said she freed you. How?" Idunn asked.
"By time flying to where my heart was hidden and solving my riddle. In return I am teaching her so that she may have a better chance to find my siblings" Borealis said gazing down at the closed gates and kingdom beyond.
"What a cheerful place this would be if such a pall of fear wasn't hanging over it"
"That's not possible. I gave up my magic before I even met my husband" She said as she stalked toward him, Agdar having regained his feet.
"That didn't seem to stop your eldest from being born once of the most frighteningly powerful ice casters I have ever encountered" He said.
"We are dealing with it" Idunn said. All Borealis did was turn and raise an eyebrow.
"Magically lobotomizing one and sealing the other into isolation is not what I would call handling it" He said.
"Idunn, please, who is this?" Agdar said his tone softer.
"An old friend, one I thought I would never see again" She said, her eyes softening.
"You said Ann freed you, how?" Agdar asked.
"You daughter is a dragon born, part of an ancient magical race. She can transform into a dragon and has access to an almost unlimited number of magic's, fire being her primary strength.
"Fire, it would be fire" Idunn sighed softly.
"Your daughter is the most talented student I have had in many years, possible more talented than you. I think she has the potential to become a trismagistus" He said turning back to the window.
"Wait, Anna has magic?" Agdar asked
"Yes, due try to keep up" Borealis said.
"Borealis" Idunn said angrily.
"I am vexed at you as well Idunn. Even without your magic, a wind reader of your caliber should know better"
"You don't know how dangerous Elsa is. How unstable her powers are" Idunn pleaded.
"Idunn, I have been through the mind of everyone in this castle including the two of you I am well aware of the accident between the two children." He explained
"It is more than just an accident. Anna almost died" Idunn said.
"Do not be so sure. Who's to say that the power inherent in her bloodline would not have saved her? Anyway that is no excuse to erase her memories" Borealis stated.
"Enough. I don't care who you are. I will not allow you to tell me how to raise my children. Leave, now!" Agdar shouted, and Idunns breath caught. Borealis gave a sly grin.
"I think not. The elder child is yours. But Anna is mine. I will train her in the old ways, and if she manages to survive and free my siblings, I imagine they will want to continue her training.
"You want to use her to reunite the queen's heart!" Idunn accused.
"Your daughter wishes to find the heart to grant her wish to reunite her family, to fix the mistake she believes she made that caused her sister to shut her out" Borealis explained.
"Then we'll tell her. We'll tell her everything" Idunn said.
"Idunn, wait. We promised to protect her" Agdar said.
"And how is letting her be trained to sent out on a dangerous quest protecting her. We explain everything and she'll no longer have any desire to go straight to her death." Idunn explained.
"I'm afraid I cannot allow that, you also don't get off that easy" Borealis said and raised his hand. Wind swept into the closed room encircling the three of them, and Idunn and Agdar felt the magic pour into their throats and minds.
"I have locked you into a curse. Until I give you permission, you will be unable to speak of your eldest's magic to Anna or of Elsa's power to her. You will be unable to speak of Anna's magic to her, to let her know you know her secret. The only way for the curse to be lifted will be for one child to willingly reveal their powers to the other without your encouragment or interference" he explained. Idunn burst into tears and Agdar lunged at him, only to be pushed back into a wall.
"I promise I will prepare her as best I can for what is to come" He said turning back to the window.
"Your youngest is destined for great things Idunn. I can see her shining off into the distance like a rising sun" He said then was gone like a ghost.
Elsa woke up feeling warm and contented. She opened her eyes to see that not a trace of ice filled her room. Last night was fuzzy. She had the strangest feeling that she wanted to tell Anna something, but shaking her head made it vanish. She lay back down remembering the nicest dream she had in a while, a dream of flickering flames and a warm bright presence that chased all the cold away. Smiling she closed her eyes and luxuriated in the dream.
Okay, kind of intense, but it sets the ground work for the world of the Dragon Born I'm going to bring into this series. Also I want to build on the Anna/Elsa Dichotomy. Elsa is perfect at everything but controlling her magic, while Anna is really only good at magic.