Chapter 5. Friendship is magic

Not only in Arendelle but almost in the whole region of the North, myths, prophecies and living magical creatures had been part of the popular culture of the Arendellians.

For instance, one of the most popular beliefs of this myths is in fact related to the Arendelle Royal Family itself. It is said, that there was once a young boy that was pure of heart and held a free soul. In one of his many quests, the boy found himself in a Valley far from the Village. In this so called Valley of the Living Rock, the boy saw a creature trapped in swamp yelling for help. With no hesitation, the boy jumped to the swamp and saved the creature's life. In the act of saving the creature, the boy had lost his father's sword forever in the depths of the swamp. The creature, who introduced himself as a rock troll, granted the boy with a gift for his act of bravery and pure heart.

What happens next in the story differs from one region to another. Some people say that the boy was granted with some magical powers. Another version of the myth actually states that the boy had been tricked by the creature and being cursed for eternity.

But what makes this bedtime story one of the most popular within the Arendellians is that some people believe that the boy was a real person in fact. And not any person but the soon to be King Eirik the Fair (siècle eighteenth), known for his good heart and great ability with business. It was during his reign that Arendelle became a prosperous nation by starting to export ice for the first time (to learn more about ice trade policies read Chapter XXII The Ice Business: Exportation Policies set at the Council of the Realms).

The first ever celebrated Winter Festival was held by his Majesty King Eirik the Fair in order to honour the ice harvesters' work for the reign. Nowadays the same Festival is celebrated every year in the month of December as tradition.

Elsa closed her book and sighed. The mention of the Council of the Realms in her book made her think about her parents. The first week of the Council Meeting would soon come to an end. Soon her parents will have a time for themselves and maybe if her papa wasn't that occupied Elsa could ask him to play chess with him.

Also she missed to use her powers to play with Anna. At night she would conjure some snowflakes in their shared bedroom so that her sister would feel better. Deep inside it made Elsa feel better as well. When she let the snow appear she felt as she had released a deep breath she had been holding for a long time.

On the other side, she couldn't complain that much. She had been playing every day with her sister and it had been fun. Even if that annoying Prince had also been playing with them too.

"He's not that bad." Had said Anna one night.

Indeed he was not that bad. He was kind to Anna and smart too. But still, every time they would met they would end up arguing or competing.

"He is annoying." She thought.

Elsa shook her head. She was supposedly reading her book but instead she was thinking about…

"Uhm, Princess Elsa."

Elsa closed her book and turned to look at the source of the voice. It was him.

"Prince Derek. Hi."

"Hi. Uhm." He passed his hand through his spiky hair.

"What?"

"Er… I kind of need your help." He said.

Elsa raised both her eyebrows. Was he actually admitting he needed her help. From her.

She put the book aside on the couch and stood in front of him.

"What do you need?"

"You see. I was playing with Princess Anna hide and seek."

Elsa frowned "I'm sorry I'm confused."

"Well. The thing is I cannot find her."

"So? She must be hiding really well."

"I thought that at first. But, that was about fifteen minutes ago. I'm starting to worry."

The room suddenly became colder and the fire in the fireplace almost ceased.

Elsa took a deep breath.

Calm down. It's been only fifteen minutes. Nothing to worry about. She must be hiding very well.

But the Prince can find anyone in less than five. Told her inner self.

True. We better find her.

After a few seconds the room returned to its normal temperature.

"Blurr. It would seem Loki himself had entered the room." Said Prince Derek.

Elsa was speechless. How would she be able to explain the sudden change of temperature?

"I hope you don't mind I close the window."

"What?"

"A cold breeze just entered the living room, so I closed the window." He said.

"The window. Yes the window." Said Elsa feeling relieved.

"So will you help me find Princess Anna?" the Prince said.

Oh right, Anna!

How could she forget about her sister?

"Yes. Let's go!"

...

Princess Elsa had suggested to split in order to find her younger sister. They had looked everywhere in the upper levels.

So that left the ground floor. The dungeons was out of the question; the Chapel was closed. The gardens and stables were too cold to be outside; and the West Wing was where the Council's Meeting and Royal meeting took place, so also discarded.

The blond Princess had gone to look at her father's study and the Great Hall. Derek would be searching at the Paiting Room and the Kitchen.

"Anna?!" he whispered as he entered the kitchen.

To his surprise no one was inside, except a middle age woman, who was sleeping in a chair with a half-peeled potato in her hand.

Probably everyone else is serving lunch for the Council Members.

Derek looked under the table and inside the some boxes. No sign of Princess Anna.

He saw another room at the far corner of the kitchen. There was a label on the door. It read: Storage Room Personal Authorized Only.

Derek guessed it would be probably be closed but as his hand rested on it the door opened.

The Prince entered, it was dark and humid inside. There were plates spread all over the floor and many boxes were also on the floor.

After meeting Kai, he could never dream this place could be managed by the same person. That man was a control freak.

This place is a mess.

There was no way Princess Anna could be hiding in here.

As he was turning his back a weak moan made him stop abruptly. Was that a ghost?!

He didn't dare to turn. He wanted to run but his legs felt paralyzed.

The moan was heard again, but this time he could formulate some words.

"Ghh…elf"

Derek turned to look from the source of the sound.

"Ghh…elfp.."

Ghelp? Help?!

"Oh my God." He gulped as he rushed to the source of the sound and started to remove the plates from a bundle he now guessed it was Princess Anna.

"Princess Anna?! Can you hear me? It's me Derek."

"Ugh." Was her response.

"PRINCESS ELSA! I FOUND HER! WE'RE IN THE KITCHEN!" he yelled, wishing the other girl would hear him.

After removing so many plates. He saw what it looked like a shoe.

"ANNA!" it was Princess Elsa's voice.

Derek turned his face as he saw as a flash of blue and white entered the room and felt as a cold wind passed next to him.

He had to blink twice to see what had happened, but all he saw was Princess Elsa along his side removing at a demon's speed plate after plate.

He resumed to help her too.

Soon they found the young Princess in a state of half consciousness.

"Anna!" Elsa yelled as she put her sister over her lap.

Derek saw the little Princess' leg in a weird position.

Oh, this is bad.

"Stay here with her. Don't let her move that leg. I ... I'll get some help."

Derek ran to the entrance of the kitchen to find the still sleeping old lady.

"Uhm. Mrs. Whoever you are? Uhm, ma'm?...Oh that's it…Lady wake up!" he said as he pushed her a bit.

"Wha..what? The duck is served Gerda…" she said as she started to go back to sleep.

"MISS!" Derek yelled. "Princess Anna is hurt. She needs help!"

"Princess Anna?! Hurt?!" said the now very waken cook.

"She needs help. Please. Princess Elsa is taking care of her in the Storage Room, But Princess Anna's leg. I think it's broken, Miss."

"Oh Gods!" exclaimed the cook. "Listen boy, er I mean Your Highness, go fetch Kai or Gerda or the King or the Queen I'll go assist the Princess in the meantime."

Derek nodded and started running as fast as he could towards the West Wing, where possibly every important people in the castle would be at this moment.

He found Kai before he reached the West Wing. He was talking to a servant something about his shoes.

"I'm telling you Ivan, polish them until you can see you own reflection and if I ever …"

"Sir! Please… it's Princess Anna!" Yelled Derek almost out of breath.

Both men turned to look him at once.

"What is it Your Highness?"

"She's…" he coughed. "Hurt." He took a deep breath. "Kitchen….Plates."

Soon the head butler turned to the other servant. "Go find the physician and tell Petyr to fetch the Queen. URGENT!"

Derek could not believe how fast Kai could be. He arrived at the kitchen faster than him.

Finally, when he arrived to the kitchen the old lady was nowhere to be seen. A fat lady and Kai were putting Princess Anna on the table in the middle of the room. Princess Elsa was alongside her, and she looked even paler than her sister. She turned to look at him.

Did her face always looked so blurry?

The skinny lady, Gerda he though her name was, said something to him. But he couldn't hear a thing because a buzzing in his ears.

She started to approach to him. But everything was starting to look blurrier and he had started to feel dizzy. Little stars were starting to appear out of nowhere in his vision.

"..rince D..errreek" was that Princess Elsa's voice? He was not sure.

He turned to look at her. His vision was filled with black spots and some shiny blue eyes were looking at him. Was it his imagination or everything was starting to feel colder and colder? Maybe it was his head playing him funny games.

"Someone grab him!"

"Derek!"

And then everything went dark.

...

The sound of the grandfather's clock made the Queen of Arendelle notice how late it already was. It would seem that the last two hours had never happened at all. But the slight aroma of pea soup coming from the kitchens confirmed the opposite; soon it would become dark and dinner would be served.

Queen Idunn was about to open the door to the living room when it was opened from the other side. From the room emerged one of her most loyal servants. She was a middle aged woman holding a tray with an empty mug.

"Oh, Your Majesty" the woman vowed. As she closed the door behind her. "Sorry for asking, but me and many others were wondering about the state of Princess Anna."

The Queen smiled tenderly. "Agdar is taking care of her right now. Doctor Hausen said that she didn't break her leg but her ankle did blended. Nothing that some months of rest can't fix."

"Thank goodness!"

"But Gerda, I thought you would be at the kitchen by now."

"My apologies Your Majesty, I was indeed there not quite a long time ago. But Princess Elsa then came and …"

"Elsa?"

The head of maids nodded. "Yes Your Majesty, the Princess told me that the young Prince had awaken. So I came to bring him some hot chocolate."

"I see. So is the Prince is still in this room or shall I find him in his chambers?"

"He's still here. Princess Elsa is with him right now."

"Is she?" the Queen asked even more curious as she raised both of her eyebrows. So here is where she went after Anna fell asleep.

"I'm as surprised as you are You Majesty. After all they are always fight …I mean yelli…I mean discussing…"

"It's fine Gerda. It is no mystery that my daughter and the young Prince relationship's is not as friendly as the one their fathers' have."

"Exactly Your Majesty. That's what I thought, but…" Gerda whispered at her.

"But?" the Queen whispered too.

"Why don't you see it for yourself Your Majesty?"

The other woman opened the door slightly so the Queen could get a glimpse of the room. As Queen Idunn inspected the living room her eyes stopped by the fireplace. What she saw made her feel surprised at first but then she felt herself smiling.

Elsa, her daughter and Derek were sitting the carpet by the fireplace. They were looking at some old book. The Queen recognized the book, it was the same that Elsa was reading the other night before bedtime. It was a book about the history of Arendelle. Not a typical book for little girl some would say but her daughter was anything but typical. She was way more intelligent than many children of her age. But to find out that Prince Derek also shared the same interests was beyond belief.

Since when two seven year olds are so interested in history?

The voices of the children echoed in the room.

"What if we turn left then?" it was Prince Derek's voice. He was pointing to some drawings in the book.

"Hmmm. I must admit it's a good idea. Then if we turn right, we might end up in the Observatory Tower." Said Elsa as she moved her finger in trough the drawing.

What are they talking about?

"I told you I can also get great ideas. But why right? Wouldn't it be easier if we just took this tunnel over here?"

Elsa denied with her head.

"First of all, your idea wasn't that great, it was just the most logical path. And how many times do I need to tell you. We must avoid that tunnel if we can. Remember that one leads most probably to the drainage."

"So?"

"Do you really want to go down there?"

"You already told me there are no ghosts. And if there were I'm not scared. Are you scared Princess?"

"I'm not scared. I just don't fancy getting dirty and smelly like you want." She said turning to look at him frowning. "By the way…" the girl said as she bit her lip "it's Elsa."

The boy opened both his eyes. "Al right, no drainage, Princess Elsa" he said making emphasis in the last two words.

Elsa looked down and started to play with her hands.

"No, I mean." She mumbled. "Just call me Elsa. Please. Being called Princess makes me feel weird sometimes."

The boy's mouth opened wide. "No way! I also don't like to be called Prince all the time. Prince this, Prince that. My brother doesn't mind it but I hate it."

Elsa giggled. He followed her.

"I thought I was the only one too." He said.

"Me too." She said as she turned the page from their book.

"Then I must ask you, no, plead you to call me by my name."

"Sounds fair." Elsa nodded. "I...I also wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

Elsa looked at him. "Don't be silly. For saving Anna of course."

"I didn't do anything. All I did was faint." His tone was sad.

"Just because you lost your breath after running to seek help. So thank you Prin.. I mean thanks Derek."

He smiled at her. "I still think I didn't do anything, but you're welcome Elsa."

They both smiled shyly.

After a moment of silence the boy spoke.

"So" he rubbed his hair "Why we not take that route again?"

Elsa half smiled as she rolled her eyes. "Why are you so annoying?"

The boy smirked. "Why are you so stubborn?"

In no time they would return to their fighting again.

But instead, both children stopped frowning at each other and to the Queen's surprise they started laughing. They didn't look like a Princess or a Prince, just a girl and a boy becoming friends.

Feeling guilty for eavesdropping in the children's conversation Queen Idunn closed the door once more as quietly as possible.

She turned around noticing for the first time that Gerda had already been gone. Probably back to the kitchen.

The young woman smiled as she looked up deep in thought. She and Agdar were starting to get worried about Elsa since she had to handle with her powers for the whole week. She was planning to ask her daughter if she was feeling fine. But instead she found her chatting animatedly with a new friend.

I'm glad you made a friend Elsa, you deserve a normal life as anyone else.

As the Queen remembered the main reason she had come downstairs she laughed.

Oh, well. I think I shall thank young Derek for saving Anna later.

And she decided to return to her little girl's bedroom to give company to her husband.