Winter Moon (Jelsa)

Chapter 2: Elsa

Gasping, I jolted awake, whipping my head back and forth. As I caught my breath, I glanced around. The air around me felt still and silent. I had been dreaming. Again. It was an odd nightmare, ending with Anna becoming injured. At least that wasn't real life.

I laughed at myself. It couldn't have been reality. I couldn't do magic in reality.

The room was icy cold, but that didn't bother me. Sliding to my feet, I crept out of the room and tiptoed down the castle corridor. Once I snuck past a few guards, the halls became deserted and dark. Descending several flights of stairs, I made my way to a secret door that led out of the castle. The moss lining the cobblestone path that branched from the door was soft underneath my slippers. I arrived at the edge of a stream that flowed out into the inlet of water the castle of the kingdom of Arendelle was built next to. Gazing upward, I stared at the stars as they glimmered, twinkling like diamonds in an endless sea of black. Around the castle and town, foreboding mountains lined the inlet, like black, jagged rips in the night sky.

This was my kingdom, and as crown princess of Arendelle, I would inherit this land after my parents perished. The mountains, lakes, oceans, forests, and people of the west would be under my rule. The First Continent housed multiple kingdoms to the east, but only Arendelle stood in the west. Dominating most of the center was the First Kingdom, ruled by the Elites. 

The Elites. They were the only beings in the known world that could wield magic. They were like a race unto themselves. If you were born magical, you were recruited into the Elites. The Elites practically ran both the First Continent and the Second Continent. The controlled everything from trade to education in every kingdom. In the First Kingdom was Skyara, the capital city of the First Continent and the home to almost all Elites. Throughout each kingdom under the control of the Elite Empire were ambassadors. Magic users who lived near the rulers of each kingdom. They were considered to be of highest rank, deferring only to those in the First Kingdom. Even royalty like my parents and me had to defer to their wishes. Arendelle's ambassadors were a clan of trolls who lived near the castle. They, however, hadn't been seen in a while and rarely involved themselves with politics, leaving the king and queen to do as they wished as long as it was reasonable and within previously established rules.

My mind felt rather sticky, as if there was something there I wasn't supposed to know. I had been pondering Elites. The facts were all there, but there was something... more. What had I been dreaming about? I remembered playing with Anna in the palace hall, frolicking in mounds of snow... No. that wasn't possible. We had been inside the palace. There was no way that much snow had gotten in there. It must have been outside. Had there been someone else? Who?

My knowledge of the dream seemed to slide out of my mind, like it wasn't supposed to be there.

Why was it so hard to recall?