Chapter 8

Gerda, Irma, Luta, the trolls, and the Snow Queen reached a foreign village, that was all frozen and the roads were empty without any other objects located on the outside.

"Okay, the spirits already were here," Mentioned Orm passing by the frozen bench, where a man sat reading a newspaper. Orm placed his hand on the ice sculpture to gaze at the newspaper, then the rest of the group moved further to check out the rest of the place.

"Okay this is the third place, that we've found frozen and with no one spared from the spirits," Commented Irma making Gerda nod.

"The way things are going we're not going to catch up with them. Going all alone won't be beneficial. If one of us ends up being frozen, we lose. If we stick together, we can at least defend each other with more ease," Snow Queen commented. "I have my ice powers, Gerda her combat skills, Irma is practically an army knife with her variations. Orm has…..swordsmanship. It's not anything magical, but can be handy,"

"And together we can use our power to stop these spirits easier, right?" Asked Irma looking at Gerda and Orm.

"Hopefully. Gerda here has done it around three times already. You, Snow King, the curse with the wishing stone and this will be her fourth time and hopefully last time," Commented Orm looking up at Gerda, which was looking straight to the road during the conversation. "You're okay, Gerda?" Questioned Orm watching Gerda shrug her shoulders.

"You know in a moment like this one, I miss to have someone comfort me about my current emotional state," Mentioned Gerda, then the Snow Queen placed her hand on Gerda's shoulder.

"You have always been a great girl, Gerda. You have already achieved things before, not even a magician could do without its magic. Don't ever think otherwise about yourself. Your heart is just worried about the unknown fate of your friends and family," The Snow Queen said, then Orm gave the Snow Queen a thumb up.

"Now that's friendly," Orm commented, then the Snow Queen pointed her index finger to create an ice ground on the floor to cause Orm to slip and land on his butt making Irma laugh. "Hey!" Complained Orm, making the Snow Queen smirk amused, while Gerda covered her mouth to prevent herself from laughing.

"Ok, that was a little rude," Commented Gerda, then from seeing what the Snow Queen had done, she had an idea. "Snow Queen! You're able to create anything you want out of ice, right?" Questioned Gerda watching Snow Queen glimpse at her serious.

"I know physics aren't taught at the school, until you go to a private school, but heavy ice doesn't fly," Mentioned Snow Queen making Gerda roll her eyes.

"I haven't finished my idea. You could create a ride on wheels. Like a locomotive. I have created one, when I was under the wishing stone's curse," The girl explained making the Snow Queen nod.

"Yes, I can do that. It might just take a couple of minutes," The Snow Queen confirmed making Gerda nod and watch the queen move forward to look for a free space. The trio gathered together watching the Snow Queen form with her hands in the air the suggested vehicle of Gerda with all the details she could recall on the spot. After a while, the Snow Queen dropped the locomotive front gently on the ground and presented it to the rest of the group.

"Not bad for a pro," Asked the Snow Queen, then watched the troll cubs cheer and race towards the ladder of the vehicle to try to climb on it. "Okay, I already have their answer. All I need is yours,"

"It's better than the one I made back then," Confessed Gerda. "By the design, I mean. Yours more realistic and mine was more like a giant toy only,"

"As long as we can move with it, it doesn't matter. Yours moved forward and was able to be steered. We need to know about this one," Orm commented earning a nod from the Snow Queen.

"Good, go ahead and take the lead," Announced the Snow Queen watching Orm help the triplets get upstairs and followed them.

Gerda and Irma were the last ones entering into the locomotive, then Gerda looked around the vehicle feeling it begin to move as Orm took the steering.

"this is remembering me of something. Back, when I created the locomotive, Rollan had been so fascinated about it. He had revealed himself at our meeting enthusiastic about magic and legends," Commented Gerda making Irma nod.

"Is Rollan the one you're engaged to?" Asked the brunette girl making Gerda nod.

"Yes," Responded Gerda. "It's been a crazy adventure. I've met him, I fell for him, the curse took over him and made him lose control, getting the Fire King to take control over his body. I've killed him in order to save everyone, and I've suffered thinking I would never see my brother again. Then about a year later, when King Harald was attempting to trap all magicians in the mirrorlands, I happened to find Rollan's body down between the petrified demons by the dried Lake Gao. I remembered the things, that happened in the past, but then I just reacted and pushed Alfida's steering wheel to lead us down to him and Kai helped me bring him up on the boat. The rest of our task, he tried to understand my anger due to his amnesia from the curse. What happened back there was unforgivable for me, but at the same time, I saw in his eyes, that he was being sincere. By the end of our day, it was thanks to him, that we made it so far to defeat Harald. He helped me see myself in a way I didn't notice before and that my magic appeared for real now. He was as well willing to pay with his life in order to fix things. I have learned on that day two things. One thing is, that you're never able to change the mistakes you've done in the past. You can either run or learn from it," Gerda explained while Irma listened to her.

"And what is number two?"

"Everybody is capable of changing. Sometimes people just have a different sight of things and won't realize it until they see it takes them away their most important thing or person," Gerda stated and looked at the Snow Queen, which watched Orm steer the locomotive and the green-colored troll grabbed the Snow Queen by the leg, making her frown and shove the troll away.

"Hasn't your mother taught you not to grab random women's legs?" Questioned the Snow Queen watching the cub chuckle and Orm pulled the troll with his foot away.

"Ravi, take your hands off the Snow Queen," Ordered Orm making the troll frown, then look at Gerda, which waved a the cub, which ran at the woman, that got down to pick him up to hold him in her arms.

"You're quite heavy, little boy," Commented Gerda poking her nose on the cub's, which chuckled.

"That was quite a wild ride for a love story," Commented Irma making Gerda nod.

"My love story or well…..mine and Rollan's. I really hope I'm still going to see him again and my friends. I can't just lose him again," Commented Gerda, then caress the troll on the cheek, which embraced her for comfort.

The Snow Queen observed how Gerda treated the troll kindly, then joined the two young ladies' their conversation.

"I happen to be listening to you two. You know Gerda, if fate didn't want you and Rollan to be together we wouldn't have found him down at the lake. But you two have returned and it's gonna happen again sometime later," Assured the tall woman making Irma nod.

"The Snow Queen is right. You two had a crazy way up to the moment you both got together. You two are simply meant to be and destiny couldn't just break this," Irma added. "Now you're here dealing with the others to look for those spirits instead of looking for the safety of your boyfriend and Kai." Spoke Irma a little bothered by the error, that happened due to her and her classmate. "It's my fault. I should have just stayed back at my village,"

"It happened. Don't apologize. You couldn't know, that seal would release those many spirits. The good thing about all this is, that you went to look for help," Gerda said earning a smile from Irma. "And with Snow Queen on our side, things are going to get solved really well," Commented Gerda glimpsing at the queen, which smiled amused at the friend's compliment and looked out of the window to see them cross the valley.

King Erik led the youngest members of the found crew along the corridor of the castle along with the prince introducing their castle.

"That's the office. This is where we write and answer our letters. There is also the veranda, where we have our swifts caged and they have a ribbon with our family crest on it, so people are aware, of where the message comes from. If the one of you, is still interested in sending his message I or Peter can lead you there and help you send it out,"

"Weren't you writing one?" Asked Alfida looking at Kai, which nodded.

"Yeah, but it got lost on the sea," Answered Kai and Rollan moved his arm up.

"I have one. Just need to write a sentence or two and it's ready," Informed Rollan making the king nod.

"If you two want, Peter shows you," King Eric said, then the prince walked towards the door and opened it up, waiting for Rollan to come along and he looked back at Kaii.

"Come on, Kai. You can try to write yours again, If you want," Offered Rollan, then Kai nodded and came along with the men into the office to see the room seemed simple with only a table with a chair and two shelves, where letters were sorted. Prince Peter took out an empty sheet from a shelf and handed it out to the young man, then showed on the table the ink with a feather in it making Kai smile.

"Uh you got a pencil?" Asked Rollan earning a nod from Peter, which opened a small drawer, which had a pile of pencils and fewer feathers. Rollan picked up one, then stood beside Kai to read, what he wrote and Peter stood by the door of the veranda looking out of the window. Kai wrote down the first three sentences he could remember from before the shipwreck, then stared at Rollan's letter curious and approached his elbow slowly to glimpse at the letter.

"Dear Gerda. It had been a pleasant trip until the tomb. We had obtained about 5000 coins for each member. We unluckily couldn't get more, cause the tomb got flooded and we had to get out of there. You sure are now worried and wondering if something happened, mostly Kai. About Kai you don't have to worry, cause he stuck back with Alfida on the ship, while I went with Redhorn and Kulekonge. But there's one thing you need to know about Kai. He returned to the tomb to save my life along with Alfida. I had been knocked down by a heavy shelf at the tomb and upon noticing my long absence both went in to help me out. According to Alfida, Kai had put himself together to try to revive me along with her. I don't remember it all, but they told me that. I just remember waking up and seeing the two around me. Currently, Kai and I are…...decent. It's hard to judge, cause I can't really say it in just three days. He seems quite obvious in trying to befriend me, despite not knowing how. During the storm we lost our ship and were saved by the Larsson clan and are now on their ship, where they will bring us on land, so we can move on further. We're not damaged or sick at the moment. We're all good. I'm not sure how long it's going to take for us to get home or how we're going to do it. The fact is, we're planning to return home as soon as we can. I can't wait to be reunited with you. I have missed your scent in my nose, every time you were near…." Kai read quietly, then observed Rollan move his arm away to reveal the rest of the letter.

"When I return, your brother and I will be in better terms now, than at the start. One thing I know is we're starting to be more communicative with each other. I'm certain, that we're going become good friends at some point of the year. I haven't asked him yet, I hoped he wouldn't mind being the best man at our wedding. At the moment I have no idea, who else could be present beside him. When I return I want to thank your parents for their support. They were really amazing toward me, despite I not being their son. I want to tell them that in person, cause I want to be really honest with them. This is all I had to tell you right now. We will see each other again in a few days. Te quiero mucho, mi amor. Yours sincerely, Rollan,"

"You have misspelled sincerely wrong and support," Commented Kai making Rollan wide his eyes and cover his sheet embarrassed.

"Hey! Do you also read your sister's diary like that?" Asked Rollan frowning, making Kai shake his head.

"No, but she told me things already, that only her diary and she knew," Commented Kai making Rollan tilt her head. "No, I'm just kidding, she doesn't have a diary,"

"Okay, I assumed she didn't have one,"

"No, she doesn't," Confirmed Kai. "Look I'm going to be honest with you. I'm fascinated by what you wrote in that letter. I want to get along with you. I don't want, that after Gerda and you are officially married, that we both still have this odd dislike between us,"

"It's going to be a matter of time. I'm certain we both make it out of this together," Stated Rollan making Kai nod, then the door behind them opened up and Alfida stepped in followed by a younger girl, that was holding Alfida's coat.

"Kai, I've found this little girl here, who's an artist just like you," Commented Alfida watching Kai look back along with the prince.

"Really? That's nice," Commented Kai, then Rollan handed the letter out at the prince.

"If you're both interested, after lunch you could both take a look at Katariina's room. She's got there a few paintings she made on her own. I think she'd be happy to show them," Commented Peter watching Katariina nod.

"Only if you want you," Added Katariina a little embarrassed, then Kai smiled.

"We loved to," Commented Kai looking at Alfida, which nodded as well. "What about you, Rollan?" Questioned Kai looking at the Spaniard, which shrugged his shoulders.

"I thought Peter wanted to talk about…...the engagement," Mentioned Rollan making Peter nod.

"We can talk there as well. It's fine for me," Commented Peter making Rollan nod.

"We're in," Announced Rollan making Kai smile.

During the train ride, Gerda and Irma sat beside each other against the wall in the interior of the locomotive, which was being steered by the Snow Queen. Orm lied on the side with his cousins sleeping above his legs, including Luta the weasel.

"Ila mostly makes fun of me, because I'm different from her and the others. All are born-wizards. They all have wizards as their parents. My parents never were wizards. They simply had me and for some reason, I was gifted with magic powers," Explained the brunette girl. "I worked hard to control the different aspects of my powers, but there has always been something, that leads me to fail in order to have the others win over me. In most of the cases, it's Ila. I can't prove to my teachers or anyone her fault, because I can do ice magic as well, and eventually I could be the one making things up. Teachers don't always help you out the way you wish they would,"

"Have you tried ignoring them?" Questioned Gerda. "Most of the bullies only pick on you, because as long as you give them attention, they will keep on mocking you. If you ignore them or pretend, that you don't care, they will at some point stop. You don't have to listen to those people. You're unique. When you get older you might even surpass the Snow Queen with your powers," Commented Gerda hearing the Snow Queen laugh.

"First things first. Just because she's powerful, doesn't mean she could defeat me. As long as she uses logic and heart as well. All three combined, I'm sure she's be as great as me," Commented the Snow Queen making Gerda and Irma exchange looks and chuckle. "Eventually even better," Added the Snow Queen with a smile upon seeing the girl's faces.

"My powers aren't on yours or Snow Queen's level. They're basic, but they're good enough to bring the world the needed safety,"

"Depending on several situations you can be useful to Gerda," Commented the Snow Queen. "You can fly above the ground and follow somebody,"

"Yes I did follow the spirits back then, but returned to be safe," Foretold the blonde. "After all, I'm not that fast in flying. In falling or better said, flying down I'm pretty fast. I think I couldn't even surpass a common swift,"

"You could use it to read a book about birds or their aerodynamics. You just need to know how all specific aspects and your full body works and you'll get the hang of it. I don't expect you to be as fast as a cougar, just smarter," Pointed the Snow Queen out making Gerda nod and stand up to glimpse out of the arc to look out of the train to see the empty landscapes with no houses in sight.

"I don't know, what you're all thinking. I'm going to take off and see if I can see anything from there," Suggested Gerda changing into her dragon form, then hoped out of the vehicle to fly up. Irma got to the arc to observe the flying heroine in front of the team, making the teenager smile and admire her capacity of the magic.

Gerda during the flight took joy from the wind passing through her cheeks, which felt to her like a gentle hand caressing her face, and the woman glimpsed down to notice the long road led through a small forest that was connected with a foreign village. Gerda sank down carefully heading to the forest upon reaching it, she gasped as from the forest a red bird flew out reacting to her late as well, ending up crashing against Gerda's face. The blonde stopped in midair catching the bird before the fall and noticed he carried on his feet a message on a brown, small paper. The bird tweeted at the girl holding its leg up showing the letter and Gerda allowed the bird to land on her finger, then sank into the ground to sit on top of the locomotive's roof.

"I think, we've got an SOS call from somebody," Commented Gerda removing the letter from the bird's foot, then the animal nudged the woman under her cheek making her chuckle at the bird's affectionate reaction.

"Aww thank you," Gerda said opening the letter to recognize the letter, but not the language. "Uh Snow Queen, do you understand the language here?" Asked Gerda giving from aside from the window the sheet to the queen, which took a look at it.

"That's the troll language. I even believe it's General Arrog himself," Responded the Snow Queen.

"You're able to read that?" Asked Gerda curious making the Snow Queen nod, which blew a cold breeze at Orm, shrieking him up along with the troll kids, afterward she showed him the letter.

"Can you translate this? This might be from Arrog," Stated the Snow Queen as Orm messages his nose to keep himself warm, afterward he took a look at it.

"Our ship got wrecked and we're stranded at a beach around Falsterbo in Sweden. Please send out the rescue team, one guard is down. Be vigilant. Mysterious ice creatures have been spotted above the sky," Read Orm loud. "Okay, Arrog seems to have seen them too. Falsterbo must be here around somewhere,"

"I could go out and check it out," Suggested Gerda watching Orm shake his head.

"The spirits are free. You can't go alone," Warned the troll. "You need someone to go with you,"

"I just need to know where to locate them. If the Snow Queen comes with me, she might be able to fix the problems of the trolls there. Im not going to be really alone," Commented Gerda making the Snow Queen nod.

"Otherwise, Irma can go with you as well. In case there is something, both of you together can get out of trouble when needed," Commented the queen, then Gerda looked at Orm along with Irma.

"Okay, it's at least better than going alone," Commented Orm, then watched Gerda hold out at Irma her hand, so the teenager could take her hand and get carried out of the locomotive making their way out of there. "Hey! Wait, we're not done yet!" Warned Orm watching the girls leave, making Orm sigh. The Snow Queen smiled at seeing Gerda carry the girl and patted Orm on his shoulder.

"She's done incredible things, Orm. She can do this too," Promised the queen making the neutral Orm nod.

Back at the castle of the Larsson clan, the young Princess Katariina showed Kai a painting of the entire kingdom she made herself and the raven-haired boy gazed at it fascinated by the details of the canvas.

"I took around a month to draw with pencil all the details of the houses and the other objects of the place. Four days I took to gently subline the smaller parts of the painting like the windows, doors, the few horses here. A few hours I took for rest. I had a lot of breaks, cause I had things to do, so this is why I was longer busy with it. I don't know what you think about it but it was the best work I have done so far," Commented the princess making Kai nod.

"It's really fantastic for the age you are to be so patient to do such a masterpiece. I think at your age I wasn't nearly as good as you," Complimented Kai seeing Katariina smile brightly at the young man's comment. "What do you think about it, Alfida?" Asked Kai looking at his girlfriend, that observed the other paintings hung in the room.

"Uh, to be honest, I don't know how to compare you two. I haven't seen your older artworks," Responded Alfida honestly."But I gotta admit, she's quite an expert for her age," Confessed the pirate captain making the girl smile.

"Thank you!" Responded Katariina, then looked at the corner of her bedroom to see her older brother sit on the sill together with Rollan, which was listening to Peter talking.

"Princess Tilde and I do get along well. We've been friends for a couple of years. All this with the arranged wedding just doesn't feel right for me. It's all for the sake of both our kingdoms to get along. Our grandfathers have been fighting each other, because of the borders of our kingdoms. Our families hope, that this will renew the bond between our kingdoms,"

"I don't understand, how certain kingdoms think about it like that. I'd rather run the palace, rather than get married to someone I'm not in love with. At least I believe, I would do that,"

"I wish I could do that, but I think things would just turn out worse," Commented Peter making Rollan nod. "I couldn't convince my parents to change their minds. Not even if they knew I loved a simple civilian, they want me to keep the title, cause I'm the oldest. I legit would have to die in order to have my parents change minds,"

"Man, you're really in an unlucky situation," Confessed Rollan. "I have no idea, how I should help you,"

"It's okay. I thought we could somewhat exchange a few words about the topic,"

"I don't know how my mama will feel about Gerda when she meets her. I don't think she will feel any bad about it. Her parents, were cool with me. They didn't care, that I wasn't a magician. They accepted our love and understood, that we both wanted it to work out,"

"Are you parents curious to know, that in the future your children might or might not get superpowers?" Questioned Peter watching Rollan shake his head.

"So far I know they'll get it anyway. That's at least, what I've heard," Responded Rollan. "King Harald his son's' mother used to be a magician and himself wasn't,"

"Alright, that's cool," Commented Peter. "So far we're all magicians in our lineage. Katariina's magic hasn't shown up yet, we only know she should get it at least when puberty has hit her," Stated the prince, then moved away from the Spaniard to admire an artwork hanging on the sister's wall and Rollan glimpsed at Kai, that sat together with Alfida on Katariina's bed watching her show her painting utensils making Rollan wide his eyes at the large amount of colors she had in the palette.