The biting darkness of the winter night had long since descended on the kingdom of Arendelle when a heartbreaking scream echoed through the castle corridors. King Agnarr rushed out of his room, followed by his wife, their faces taut with anguish.
With a flick of his shoulder, Agnarr opened the door to his daughters' room, just as large flames began to dissipate in the hearth opposite the beds. Little Anna, a mischievous-looking redhead, turned towards them. Iduna, the Queen, held back a frightened cry when she saw Elsa, their youngest daughter, lying inert on the floor. The King rushed over to her, bending down to hear if her heart was still beating, for long, unbearable seconds.
"I haven't done anything," Anna justified herself immediately.
"Silence!" sighed the King.
He was always on the lookout for the slightest sound to indicate that his daughter was still alive. His own heart was drumming so hard in his chest and temples that it would surely prevent him from hearing anything. But at last, Elsa's chest heaved as she took a long, wheezing breath. The royal couple sighed with relief.
Agnarr looked sternly up at Anna.
"I forbade you to play together. You know how fragile her health is, she can't leave her bed.
"She's the one who insisted," Anna retorted with a shrug and a pout.
Iduna went over to her eldest daughter and gently rubbed her head.
"It's nobody's fault, darling...
Anna didn't reply, simply watching wearily as her father lifted Elsa from the floor and laid her on her bed.
"Her hands are covered in ice," he murmured.
He tucked a strand of platinum-blond hair behind his daughter's ear and absentmindedly placed a hand on her forehead. She was frozen.
He suddenly had an idea. He instructed his wife to keep an eye on his daughters and rushed out of the room, heading for the royal library. Iduna sat on the edge of the bed and took Elsa's hand, hoping her warmth would melt the ice. In vain. She tried to swallow her tears and look strong in front of Anna, who had just climbed onto her lap.
After several long minutes, Agnarr returned, a dusty grimoire in his arms. Ignoring the Queen's questioning gaze, he placed it on the table.
He frantically turned the pages, his trembling fingers skimming over words he could barely decipher. His face pale and tense, he glanced from time to time at his youngest daughter, curled up on the bed. Elsa's lips were blue and her icy hands, clasped to her chest, were letting out wisps of frost.
"Agnarr," Iduna finally said, unable to bear the silence any longer. We've got to do something. Elsa won't last another night...
He didn't reply, absorbed in the yellowing pages he was flipping through with almost demented fervor. For weeks, Elsa had been complaining of a dull pain in her chest, as if an invisible weight were compressing her heart. The kingdom's healers had failed to explain this strange pain. But tonight, he had understood: Elsa's magic, an uncontrollable ice, was eating her from the inside out.
Meanwhile, Anna had risen to her feet and grabbed a wooden toy she and Elsa had been playing with earlier. Without her seeming to notice, tiny sparks flew from her fingers, dancing around her like fireflies.
"Anna," her mother called softly. My darling, don't touch anything, okay?
Anna sighed and let the toy fall to the ground. It was completely charred.
Agnarr slammed the grimoire shut. The thud startled Iduna and Anna, but Elsa didn't move. Her breath had slowed even further, and every inhalation became a tug-of-war.
"The trolls," he murmured at last.
He walked over to Elsa's bed and wrapped her in the blanket he'd laid her on.
"Trolls?" repeated Iduna with a forbidding look. "They're legends, Agnarr. We can't take Elsa all the way to the mountain in this state..."
"We have to, it's our only hope. If we don't do something, Elsa will die. You've seen what her magic does to her. It's destroying her heart."
The forest clearing was bathed in the silvery, almost unreal light of the full moon. The icy wind whipped at the faces of the royal parents and Anna, but they paid it no mind. Elsa, in her father's arms, was shaking uncontrollably. Her eyelids were covered with a thin layer of frost, and ice crystals had formed on her cheeks.
They came to rest in the center of a perfectly symmetrical, circular mass of rock. Anna, slightly worried, clutched her mother's petticoats in her tiny fingers. Iduna stroked her head to reassure her.
"Please help us!" exclaimed Agnarr.
No one replied.
"It's my daughter!" he continued desperately. "She's dying!"
A dull rumble suddenly sounded beneath their feet, shaking the entire clearing. Dozens of rocks rolled towards them. Instinctively, Agnarr placed himself between them and his family. The boulders stopped two meters from them and, before their astonished eyes, one by one the stones straightened up to reveal stocky silhouettes with sculpted, moss-covered faces.
"The King! It's the King!" exclaimed the trolls.
"Your Majesty," bowed the one who appeared to be the oldest among them.
Agnarr knelt down and presented Elsa to the troll. The latter placed a hand on her icy forehead and closed his eyes.
"Magic has influenced her heart," he murmured. "It's almost completely frozen."
"You must be able to do something!" pleaded Agnarr.
"I am, indeed."
A wave of relief washed over Agnarr and Iduna. Grand Pabbie, the troll, slid his hand through the air, and a blue light shot out of Elsa's body like a whirlwind.
"I can't remove her magic, but I can seal it. The ice will cease to eat away at her body, but she will no longer possess any power and have no memory of it."
"Do it," Agnarr replied without hesitation. "Do whatever it takes for her to live."
Grand Pabbie nodded and, with another gesture, created a sphere around the blue light. The blue light escaped Elsa's body until it filled the sphere. It now contained the girl's magic, like wisps of smoke sprinkled with tiny crystals, swirling lazily within it.
The troll lowered the sphere, which came into contact with Elsa's body until it disappeared completely inside her. Her magic was sealed and could never harm her again.
"She is safe and sound."
Elsa was already beginning to warm up, and Agnarr expressed his thanks to Grand Pabbie, who smiled at him.
"What about Anna?" suddenly asked the king, turning around.
The little girl cowered instantly.
"She has magic too. Should we fear...?"
The troll approached the little redhead and held out his hand with a reassuring smile. Hesitant at first, Anna finally placed her fingers against the troll's cold stone palm.
"The essence of fire", he murmured. "Flames are wild, indomitable, and already too close to her heart. Attempting to seal her magic would consume her soul."
"So what can we do?" asked Agnarr.
"Anna will have to learn to live with her ever-growing powers. Fire is full of danger. She must avoid fear and anger.
Anna withdrew her hand from Grand Pabbie's, clearly relieved not to suffer the same fate as her little sister. A mischievous sparkle shone in her eyes.
"We'll protect her," declared Agnarr in a firm voice. "She can learn to control it, I'm sure."
"I hope so, Your Majesty. Because if she doesn't, the hatred of her flames could well consume the whole of Arendelle, and only eternal cold can save us."