Rifiuto: Non Mirena

1908

The Garden of Linnea Castle,

Arendelle

"She killed him. She... shekilledthe king, she wasn't a queen, she was a... amonster."

The words echoed in the garden, as no one had expected such an ending-

He met Magda's gaze, smiling softly.Oh Magda, my darling, it's not that simple.The Arendellian queen met his gaze, resolve in her eyes. In that moment, she was so like the fabled queen, so sure and set in her beliefs, that nothing would change it. The fabled queen in the story had revealed herself to be a monster, who would target her own son, who would kill her own husband without a second thought, and that alone was enough to label her evil in the ruling monarch's eyes.

"She washuman, Magda. A human with extraordinary powers over ice and snow; a human who had been pushed to her limit for years, forced to hide the love of her life from her kingdom in order to keep her head. You know yourself, how heavy the crown placed upon your head. You cannot honestly sit there and tell me, were you not facing what the queen faced, you would not do the same."

"I wouldn't kill the man I love, 'papa."

He sighed, glancing at the others; both Thrya and Sophia kept quiet, sharing glances. The children were unsure what to say, and after a moment, he turned back to the diary, quietly picking it up. The spine cracked in the quiet as he opened it, and suddenly, he was a young man again. Her scent fluttered towards him from the pages of the book, and he closed his eyes briefly.

I have met the man I will marry some day. He is a prince of the Southern Isles, and the most wonderful man I have ever met! He speaks to me as though I am a real person, and not a doll upon a pedestal, waiting to be played with. He sees me, not the Princess who will one day wear the Crown of Arendelle, nor a monster with powers over ice and snow. He is kind and gentle, and someday, he will become my husband. Oh, how I long to spend every waking moment trapped forever in those emerald eyes...

His heart tugged; though she had never spoken a word to him, it was evident that she always viewed herself as a monster, unworthy of love and affection. And that long ago day...

In her eyes, it just proved her even more. But she couldn't have been more wrong. She was human, with flaws like every other human."She'd been hurt, terribly. Her assassination attempt and the argument with her council had pushed her too far. Nearly loosing the king to an attempt months earlier had caused her to bottle everything up, and she snapped. She had never meant to harm the king, nor her son, nor anyone else."

"What happened to her, 'papa?" Bess asked, voice soft. "The way her eyes changed, and-"

"No one is entirely sure, Bessie." He replied. "The best anyone could come up with, would be that because her magic had taken control, it had tapped into something primal within the queen."

"Primal?" Amalie asked, glancing at her sisters.

"Deep within all of us, there is something very primal, very... instinctual, left over from the days when man first walked the earth. Modern society has managed to tap it down and ignore it, but occasionally, that primal instinct comes out. In times of war and revolution. I can only imagine, that for someone who possesses magic, that it's even more of a fight to keep from tapping into that primal instinct. She had never reached that point before; hearing of the attempt on his life had near driven her to it, but at the same time, it hadn't. It had nearly driven the queen to freeze to death, however the king had pulled her out of it, bringing her back from that brink."

"And this, 'papa? The king was dead, he couldn't bring her back, could he?"

"The king was frozen, Bess. She had frozen his heart, but it's not sure she'd killed him. No one truly knows what happens when someone freezes. And back then," He stopped, biting his lip.

"Istillsay that she was a monster." Everyone turned to Magda, who crossed her arms over her chest with a huff.

"She can't truly be a monster, Magda." Thyra spoke up. "She did so much good for her people. Why would she be a monster now?"

"Monsters can hide; they can pretend and be what people want them to be, doesn't mean they're good."

"You make it sound like the queen was some horrible, evil sorceress, Magda. She was human, she had flaws just like everyone else. And she clearly loved the king dearly, if she was devastated by what she'd done to him. She made a mistake. That doesn't mean you condemn her for it. Right, 'papa?" Thyra turned back to him, and he merely smiled at her, as Lisi snuggled against his chest.

Oh, my love, how glad I am that you are not here, for to hear this would break your heart."Condemning someone due to one bad action does not immediately cancel out the good that person has done."

"Is that the end, 'papa?" Agnarr asked; he didn't really want the story to end with the king's death, but didn't see how it could continue on, as his grandfather smiled softly at him.

"It's not; we still have a few more years to go before we get to the end." Cries of surprise met him.

"But... but the king... he... hedied..." Amalie spoke up. "You don't just... survive that."

"Perhaps. But Amalie," He smiled softly at her. "Have you ever heard that 'an act of love with thaw a frozen heart'?"