A/N: Sorry about the long wait. The next may be just as long... we'll see.
Dawncloud (Guest): See the first note on chapter 3; that pretty much sums it up. Unless you meant a specific part of the story...?
Chapter 11
Ice and Stone
When the party reached the clearing outside the ice palace, Elsa motioned for them to halt, a safe distance away from the staircase that led to the door.
"Keep the sled here until I'm sure it's safe, okay?" she told Kristoff as she stepped down from the sled.
"All right," the mountain man replied. "I wasn't going to risk this being wrecked by Marshmallow, anyway." Elsa nodded.
To the others, she said, "Everyone stay behind me, okay? I don't want anyone to get hurt." Never again, she thought.
Kristoff climbed down and unhitched Sven, while Anna and Rapunzel jumped out of the back, and nearby Eugene dismounted Maximus. They all followed a respectful distance behind the Queen.
"Whoa..." Eugene breathed, at the sight of the magnificent ice palace before him. "You built all of this?"
"Yes, I did," Elsa said, beaming. She was distracted by Olaf hopping down from Sven and dashing ahead of Elsa toward the stairs, ignoring her warning. "Olaf, wait!" she shouted, to no avail.
Olaf hadn't even reached the stairs before a large, otherwise unremarkable pile of snow leaped up and blocked his path. "GO AWAY!" the snow monster bellowed.
"Olaf, look out!" Elsa shouted. Olaf backed away as quickly as he could, but wasn't quite fast enough to avoid being swatted by Marshmallow. With a cry of surprise, the little snowman flew (in pieces) through the air, landing in the snow-covered rock face behind them. The monster stomped toward the group menacingly, his gait with a noticeable limp.
Striding quickly towards the behemoth, the Queen held a hand up at arm's length, palm-out. "Marshmallow, stop!"
The snow monster froze, puzzled by the command. "ELSA?" he rumbled.
"That's right," Elsa said. "I made you, remember?"
"YES," Marshmallow replied.
"Listen, Marshmallow," Elsa said, gesturing to the others, "these people are my guests. They are not to be harmed, understand?"
"OKAY," the monster agreed. "WHO ARE THEY?"
"This is my sister Anna," the blonde said, motioning her sister forward. "She's very important to me." Marshmallow growled, probably remembering their last encounter.
"I'm... sorry," Anna told the snow monster meekly. "You know, for throwing a snowball at you." Marshmallow grunted in reply. It's a start, Elsa thought.
"This is Anna's friend Kristoff, and his reindeer Sven," the Queen continued, gesturing to the mountain man and reindeer, "and this is your brother Olaf." The snowman had by now reassembled himself, and had trotted over to join the rest of the group.
"Hi, I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!" the little snowman said cheerfully, attempting to hug the monster's leg. Marshmallow let out a low growl, and Olaf slowly backed away. "I'm not sure you do, though..."
"Finally, these are my cousins Rapunzel and Eugene, and their horse Maximus," Elsa finished. She didn't need to name Pascal, as the little chameleon was nowhere to be seen (likely hiding from the cold inside Rapunzel's cloak).
"ELSA SAYS YOU MAY STAY," Marshmallow informed the group.
"Great to know," Eugene commented.
"One more thing, Marshmallow," Elsa pointed at the tiara resting on the golem's head. "May I have that back?" The others looked up, and a squeak of laughter escaped Anna's lips before she could stop herself.
"BUT I LIKE IT. IT'S PRETTY," Marshmallow protested. Elsa looked over her shoulder, and seeing Anna's great amusement rolled her eyes. The monster did look rather silly wearing the Queen's crown, but laughing at him was not going to help.
"I'll make you another one just like it," Elsa promised the giant. "I'll even fix your leg." The leg in question, the left, looked like it had been cut clean through and then hastily reattached.
"OKAY," the snow monster said. He picked the tiara off his head and handed it to the Queen. With a flick of her free hand, she made an icy replica of the crown-finely detailed, down to the last facet-and gave it to Marshmallow, who promptly put it on, a toothless grin on his face, as if he felt like a princess. Elsa set the real crown upon her own head, though she wasn't sure if it would stay put with her hair in its looser style.
Her gaze fell on the ice staircase, and she saw that something fairly large had destroyed part of the railing on the right side. "What happened here, Marshmallow?" she asked.
"BAD MEN SHOT THINGS AT ME," Marshmallow explained. "A GRAY-CLOAKED MAN CUT OFF MY LEG, AND I FELL." He pointed to the deep chasm below the stairs.
Yet another thing Hans Westerguard was responsible for. "And yet you weren't damaged by the fall," Elsa mused, then turned back to the snow golem. "Don't worry, I'll fix you up." She waved her hand, and concentrated; ice and snow shot out towards Marshmallow's leg, swirling around it like a miniature whirlwind, repairing it as good as new.
"THANK YOU," the golem said.
"No problem, big guy," the Queen replied. She waved her hand again, this time toward the staircase railing, and restored it to its original shape. Waving the others forward, she said, "You can bring the sled over here now, Kristoff. Marshmallow will stand guard."
"Okay, if you say so," the ice harvester said, sounding doubtful, but went to fetch the sled anyway (after retrieving Sven, who had tried to lick the staircase almost as soon as Elsa had finished fixing it.)
When they returned with the sled, Elsa said, "Sven and Maximus will have to stay out here; I didn't really build this place with animals in mind. They'll be fine, as long as they don't antagonize Marshmallow."
"You'd better stay here, buddy," Kristoff told the reindeer, unhitching him once again. "Maybe you and Max can find some way to amuse yourselves." Sven grunted, plainly not thrilled with the idea.
"Come on, everyone, come see this place!" Anna said excitedly, taking the stairs three at a time, and pounding on the door, which opened by itself.
"Anna, wait for me!" Elsa shouted as she raced after her, amused by her sister's exuberance. The others followed at a more relaxed pace.
Anna was just as awestruck as the others by the beauty and detail put into the palace, but she was content letting them ask the questions, preferring to simply look around and see what she had missed during her first visit. She shivered slightly, and folded her mittened hands under her arms. Was it this cold the last time? she thought absently.
"This is incredible," Eugene was saying, as he and Rapunzel carefully followed Anna and Elsa across the icy floor. Off to the side, Kristoff was examining the walls, no doubt fascinated by all the flawless ice, and Olaf was sliding around as if figure-skating. "How did you manage all of this?"
"I had a great deal of time to read in the last thirteen years," the Queen replied. "If I hadn't studied geometry and architecture, this place probably wouldn't look half as nice as it does."
"Are there any other rooms, besides this one and the one up there?" Kristoff asked, as he rejoined the group near the frozen fountain.
"There is a small bedroom just past the landing," Elsa replied, gesturing toward the stairs, "and the balcony on the second floor, but other than that, no. I suppose I could add on if I really needed to."
"This fountain is beautiful, Elsa," Rapunzel complemented.
"Thank you," the blonde replied. "Follow me, please." She led them up to the landing of the staircase.
As they followed the Queen to the long, winding stairs, Anna snuck a peek through the door at the bottom, and caught a glimpse of a modest-size bed within. She was tempted to go flop onto it, but thought better of it when she remembered it was probably made of ice.
"How did you do the stairs?" Kristoff wanted to know, as he and Eugene followed the girls up the stairs.
"I'm not really sure," Elsa admitted, pausing in climbing. "Basically, I just thought of what I wanted, how I wanted it to look, and the ice complied." She grinned, pointing to the room above. "It's kind of complicated, because I was actually up there for most of it."
"Remarkable," the harvester said. "Remind me to never compete against you in an ice sculpting contest."
When they approached the upper floor, the Queen motioned for them to stop. "Watch your step, please. There's a lot of broken ice," she said, then led them into the room.
The room looked like a storm had hit it-quite possible, since the balcony doors were broken and lying askew. Thousands of icy shards from the fallen chandelier lay scattered around the room. Several of the group gaped at the sight of the ice spikes against the far wall, where one of the Duke's thugs had been pinned. More startling to Anna and Rapunzel, though, was the crossbow bolt buried in a sheet of ice, almost at eye-level for them-and for Elsa.
Elsa apparently noticed their alarm, because she said softly, "If I had been a half-second slower, that would have killed me." She hung her head. "As it was, I nearly did the same to them."
"You're okay now, Elsa," Anna said soothingly, putting an arm around her sister. "Everything's fine."
"Yeah," the Queen murmured. "Still, I need to tidy this up." Waving her arms, she made the sheets of ice jutting out from the floors thaw, then caused the multitude of shards on the floor to reform into the chandelier, as good as new. A thoughtful expression crossed her face, and she waved her hand again, making some extra supports sprout from the top of the chandelier, further anchoring it to the ceiling. "There," Elsa said. "Now there's less chance of an accident."
Turning to the balcony, she used her magic to lift the large doors back into place, repairing them in the process. She then opened the doors, cleared the debris from the balcony, and repaired the railing.
"All done," Elsa said, walking back into the room. "As for these"-she stooped, picking up the stray crossbow bolts from the floor-"I never want to see them again." She froze them solid, walked back to the balcony, and threw them away, making them shatter into pieces in midair.
Anna and the others joined her out on the balcony. "This is quite a view," Rapunzel said.
"Yeah," her husband agreed. "I could get used to a view like this."
"Eugene, you already have a view like this," the brunette reminded him.
"Oh, yeah," the former thief said sheepishly.
"The sunset is gorgeous from here," Elsa informed them. "I don't think we'll be staying long enough to see it, though, unless you fancy traveling in the dark." Kristoff and Anna both shook their heads furiously, remembering the last time they did that. "I didn't think so."
Elsa led them back into the room, then stopped. Anna saw her frown, as if thinking, and then suddenly she waved a hand at either side of the room, making some benches made of ice form. Another wave, and a tall-backed chair of ice appeared near the balcony door, facing the middle of the room. "There, now we can sit down," the Queen said.
"It's not much of a throne," Eugene commented.
"It wasn't meant to be," Elsa said, "though, I suppose I could..." She flicked her fingers, making an icy cushion form, which she then collapsed onto. "Who wants lunch?"
"I'll go get it," Kristoff volunteered, as Anna and the Coronans sat on the benches. He turned and left, trudging back down the stairs.
Anna watch him leave, then jumped a little when her sister spoke. "You've been awfully quiet, Anna," Elsa said, her voice filled with concern. "Are you all right?"
Anna nodded, pulling her cloak close. "Just... bad memories," she murmured. Ever since coming in here, her last visit had been replaying in her mind-she'd been too optimistic, and didn't see the signs until it was too late. Elsa must have seen the pain on her face, because she was out of her chair and sitting on the bench next to Anna in a heartbeat.
"I'm so sorry, Anna," the blonde said, giving her hand a squeeze. "I didn't mean to remind you of that, by bringing you here. Remember, the past is in the past, and you know I would never hurt you again. Try to enjoy yourself, okay? We can talk later."
"I'll try," Anna mumbled, her glum mood fading. She sat for a moment, trying to think of a conversation starter. "You know, Elsa, a bed made of ice doesn't sound very comfortable," she said finally.
"You'd be surprised," the blonde said. "Remember, I can make fabric out of ice." She waved down at her dress for emphasis.
"Oh, yeah," Anna said. "But wouldn't a whole bed be too cold?" Surely she has a limit, she thought.
"The cold-" Elsa began.
"-doesn't bother you. Yeah, I know." the strawberry-blonde interrupted. "And I suppose a fireplace wouldn't be a good idea in this place."
"I honestly don't know," the Queen said, "but I'm not in a hurry to find out."
Anna saw Kristoff return with the food basket, and accepted a sandwich when he started handing them out. Elsa also took a sandwich, and returned to her chair. When he was finished, the mountain man sat in the vacant spot next to Anna.
They ate in silence for the most part, the only sound besides that of eating was of someone humming a tune softly. With a start, Anna realized that it was Elsa.
"That's lovely, Elsa," Rapunzel said. "What is it?"
"Oh," the blonde said, cheeks pinking slightly. "It's just a song I sang when I built this place, when I let it all go."
"I didn't know you could sing, Elsa," Kristoff said.
"I did," said a voice from behind them, which turned out to be Olaf. The snowman had apparently just been wandering around the palace, content to let the humans talk, until now. "I think she has a beautiful voice."
"You heard that, Olaf?" Elsa wondered.
"'Let it go, let it go, I am one with the wind and skyyyy...'" the snowman sang, not quite on-key. "Kind of hard to miss that."
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," the Queen admitted, blushing crimson. "I didn't know I had brought you to life, so I figured there was no one around to hear."
"Maybe you could sing it for us," Anna suggested.
"I don't know, Anna..." her sister said. She was wringing her hands, which Anna knew by now to be one of Elsa's nervous habits.
"Elsa, is something wrong?" Anna asked, concerned. "You don't have to sing if you don't want to."
"It's not that," Elsa said. "It's just... I have mixed feelings about the song, and this place, after everything that happened. When I sang it that night..." She took a deep breath. "I was declaring my freedom, abandoning my responsibilities and everything I'd worked for, vowing to never go back. Continuing to shut everyone out." She sighed, plucking the tiara from her head. "I even threw this away, just to make my point. I am very lucky that Marshmallow found it." She placed the crown on her lap, and adopted a look of concentration.
"Elsa," Anna said, "what are you doing?"
"I am going to fix my hair," she replied, a slight smirk on her face. Anna watched in fascination as Elsa, with a wave of her hand, conjured a standing mirror right in front of her, and set to work pinning her braid up, with what looked like little icy hair pins. Apparently satisfied, Elsa set the crown on her head again, and then made the mirror vanish.
"Well," Anna commented, "I guess you'll never need to carry a compact." Elsa laughed, and the sound of her sister's mirth lifted Anna's spirits immensely.
Kristoff watched the interaction between the sisters with some amusement. It's hard to believe that they were apart for so long, he thought. They're both a little awkward, though, and there's probably things they're still learning about each other. Apparently, Anna already knew Elsa could sing...
Anna's latest topic of discussion brought him out of his thoughts. "There are six doors, Elsa," the princess was saying, waving her hand at the room for emphasis. "Where do the others go?"
"Um... nowhere yet?" the Queen said, sounding unsure. The doors in question were on either side of the room, adjacent to the balcony door and the door leading downstairs.
"You could make them into little alcoves, or more stairs to, uh, somewhere," Kristoff suggested.
"I'll keep those suggestions in mind," Elsa replied. She stood and walked over to the food basket, returning with an apple.
When everyone was finished with lunch, Kristoff spoke up again. "We should probably get moving, if you want to reach the trolls' valley by nightfall," he informed the others.
"I agree," the Queen said. "I'm sorry there isn't much else to see here... I didn't really build much into it as far as amusement goes."
"Cold bed, no washroom, irritable snow monster, no entertainment except your powers..." Eugene ticked the items off on his fingers.
"No food," Anna added. "What were you planning to eat, Elsa?"
"I... don't know," Elsa admitted. "Like I said, I didn't really think things through. Not unlike a certain princess, who left home in winter weather without any warm clothing or supplies."
"Hey!" Anna protested.
"You're actually pretty lucky that Oaken had a dress and boots that fit you, Anna," Kristoff said, "seeing as they were the only clothing at all in his ridiculous 'winter stock'."
"Yeah, that was weird," the strawberry-blonde admitted. "Maybe he's, like, psychic or something." Kristoff raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay, I guess Elsa and I both need to work on thinking ahead a little."
"Which is exactly why we should be going," Elsa said smugly, rising from her seat, "because I don't plan on traveling at night."
"All right, you win." Anna conceded, and stood, following the others to the stairs.
Kristoff carried the food basket back to the sled, and after tossing it in he went to go fetch Sven. The reindeer and Maximus had evidently found something to do, though he wasn't sure what it was. At his approach, the two animals backed away from each other, doing what Kristoff could only describe as bowing to each other. Nearby, Marshmallow was studying some markings on the ground intently; finally, the golem grinned and pointed in Sven's direction, to the reindeer's delight (and the stallion's irritation).
"Let me guess, you won?" Kristoff asked Sven.
The reindeer nodded, and answered in his Sven voice, Yup!
Kristoff laughed. "Okay, well, it's time to go, buddy."
Sven followed him back to the sled, and Kristoff hitched him up, then hopped in the front seat, eager to see his family again. Anna and Rapunzel climbed in the back, and Eugene mounted Maximus, the latter shooting a glare at Sven.
Last to join them were Olaf and Elsa, who both stopped to have a word with Marshmallow; Kristoff figured the entire North Mountain could hear the snow monster's replies of "BYE, BROTHER!" and "OKAY, ELSA!" Elsa then walked over to the sled, helping Olaf up onto Sven before seating herself.
"Do you know the way from here?" the Queen asked him.
"Of course," Kristoff replied. "I managed to find the way after falling off a cliff, so this should be no problem. Besides, Sven knows a safe way down."
To Sven, he said, "Let's go, Sven!" Sven took off, heading down the sloped, non-cliff route he had taken before, when Kristoff and Anna had been chased by Marshmallow. Eugene on Maximus followed close behind.
The ride back down the North Mountain was rather uneventful compared to the journey up it; they did have to stop at the snow line, of course, so that Kristoff could reattach the wheels. But since they were going downhill, they didn't need any special assistance from Elsa's powers to help them along.
A few hours later, sometime after sunset, the party reached the steaming volcanic vents that dotted the edge of the Valley of the Living Rock. Kristoff had Sven stop, and gestured for everyone to hop out.
"What are these?" Rapunzel wondered, examining one of the vents. Nearby, Eugene dismounted Maximus, and motioned the horse to follow.
"Steam vents," the mountain man explained. "They're hot, so don't get too close."
"We could camp here, I suppose," the Queen mused, "unless your family insists otherwise."
"We'll see," Kristoff said. Unhitching Sven, he said, "Just so you know, my family can be kind of, um, inappropriate, and loud. Also rather heavy, and stubborn. But they mean well."
"I'm sure they're wonderful, Kristoff," Elsa assured him.
Funny, he thought, that's almost like what Anna said. Motioning Sven forward, Kristoff said, "Okay, everyone behind me and Sven. Best that they see us, first."
Walking into the rock-studded clearing, Kristoff announced, "Hey, guys, I'm back!"
Immediately the moss-covered rocks started to roll around, eventually revealing themselves as trolls of all sizes, male and female, covered in mossy-green clothing and many wearing a multitude of glowing crystals. His adoptive mother, Bulda, was not surprisingly at the front of the group. "Kristoff's home!" she shouted, and this was echoed by the other trolls.
"Oh, how cute!" he heard Rapunzel say. The trolls heard, as well, and whipped around to face her, blinking.
"He's brought a girl!" one troll said.
"Three girls!" another added. "And one of them is Anna!" Anna waved politely.
"And Olaf!" yet another said, noticing the little snowman.
"Having trouble deciding, dear?" Bulda wanted to know. "I'd tell you Anna's the girl for you, but I thought you already knew that."
"I do! She is!" Kristoff said defensively. "And for your information, Rapunzel"-he pointed to the girl in the purple dress-"is already married, to that dark haired fellow."
"Well, maybe you should introduce us, Kristoff," his adoptive mother chided. "There would be fewer mix-ups that way."
"All right," Kristoff sighed. Motioning to the others, he said, "Okay, come and meet my family, ladies, Eugene, Max."
The group walked to the center of the clearing, and Kristoff could tell that Elsa was a little nervous about being here. Meeting Anna's eyes, he motioned to Elsa with his, hoping she got the hint. Anna did, fortunately, and put a comforting arm around her sister.
"Okay, introductions..." Kristoff began. "This is my adoptive mother, Bulda, and her husband Cliff." Looking around, he said, "Is Grand Pabbie up?"
"I'll go look for him, if you like," a young troll said, and rolled off.
"My father Pabbie is our elder," Bulda explained to the newcomers, "and of all of us, he knows the most about magic. He's quite old for a troll, so he naps fairly often."
"Anyway," Kristoff said, "you already know Olaf and Anna, obviously." Motioning the Coronans forward, he said, "This is Princess Rapunzel of Corona, her husband Eugene, and their friend Maximus." Pascal took that opportunity to crawl out from wherever he'd been hiding, and sat on Rapunzel's shoulder, eyeing the trolls warily. "And Pascal," Kristoff added.
Bulda hopped up on top of Cliff to get a better look at Rapunzel. "Hmm... you know, you look a lot like Anna, dear."
"Kristoff thinks so, too," Rapunzel said, smiling. "It's because her mother was my mother's sister." Bulda's face fell at her use of the past-tense.
Kristoff motioned Elsa forward. "Last but not least, this is Anna's older sister, Elsa." He paused. "Some of you might remember her from... before."
At this speech, the trolls seemed to notice Elsa for the first time, and the crown she wore. "It's Queen Elsa!" one said, and it was taken up by the others. Immediately, the assembled trolls were bowing respectfully as one before her.
A/N: Apologies to everyone for the long wait. These last two chapters of Part 1 needed the most work, and between the discussions on Tumblr surrounding Frozen Fever and the Frozen 2 announcement, me reading another Frozen fic, and my own personal life, I've been a bit distracted.
–I'm not sure how big Marshmallow's vocabulary should be, but since I decided to write his dialogue in all-caps, I figure I'd use small words. ;)
–Kristoff's and Anna's dialogue reflects my own puzzlement as to the layout of Elsa's ice palace. Obviously, there are two large rooms, one above the other, and the vaulted ceiling above that. But there appear to be six doorways in the upper room (with the hexagonal geometry, this makes sense), the large door in the lower, and possibly one on the landing (which I have decided is a bedroom). The staircases (there are two) seem to spiral around to the upper floor, but the door they come out at is clearly opposite the balcony door; thus, there are four doorways of unknown purpose.
–Of course Elsa can make a mirror out of ice. I don't know that it'd be as good as a silvered-back mirror, but it's good enough for her, I suppose. If 'compact' is an anachronism, it is deliberate, since Frozen has some of those already.
–Sven and Maximus were having a little sparring match. What they were using as weapons I don't know (antlers and hooves, probably, which means Sven has an advantage). Marshmallow was keeping score.
–Due to expanding the Ice Palace scene significantly, I elected to move most of the scene at the trolls' valley to the beginning of chapter 12. If you think the break here is awkward, that is why. (So the confrontation I promised last chapter is actually next chapter.)
–Yeah, the trolls should probably recognize Elsa immediately, but... just roll with it. ;)
Next chapter: a talk with Pabbie, steamed toast, then back to Arendelle, and a departure!