The Snow Queen: Jelsa *Third Book to Frozen Love*

Chapter 2

"Won't you shake a poor sinner's hand?" -Disney's The Princess and the Frog.
Jack

I took a second trying to process what I'd just heard. Then I pointed my staff directly at the strange woman.

"What do you mean, 'daughter'?" I demanded. She couldn't possibly be telling the truth. Could she?

"Ah, young love," the woman's lips were a dark red, a spot of blood on the snowdrift of her lifelessly pale complexion. "How I miss it. That one was my last lover." I tried not to look towards the particular frozen statue she was pointing to. "Unfortunately," she giggled, "he needed to cool down." Oh great, not only a crazy person able to freeze her ex-boyfriends, but also one who made bad puns.

"Answer the question." I insisted, stony-faced. Elsa still hadn't said anything; she just stared, shocked, in front of her.

"So impatient," The lady chided calmly. She let her huge white fur coat fall to the ground, revealing an equally huge ballgown swathed in icy lace and gems. After she had sat down and propped a long scepter against the wall, she still avoided the question.

"Would you like something to snack on? Perhaps some Turkish Delight?" A large snowy owl swooped in on her signal, carrying silver containers in its claws as the woman's scarlet smile mocked us.

"Not hungry." I was starting to worry about Elsa now.

"You will have something to eat!" The lady shrieked suddenly, pounding her chair's arm. Then she pointed up at the ceiling, breathing heavily. Out of nowhere another snowy owl appeared, camouflaged in an icy niche high up. And another, along with a white rabbit, and a snow fox, even a snow chicken--couldn't imagine how useful a chicken was. Suddenly what looked like a hundred winter animals I hadn't noticed before faded into sight. And Lady Pitchiner rolled her eyes from the corner she stood in, like a spot of soot in the sea of white.

"After all, my little guardians don't like ungrateful guests." Her voice was back to a gentle purr now, but all the animals were growling; even the chicken was scaring me.

"Jack."

Elsa finally looked at me and her eyes seemed to prompt me to cooperate. I could almost hear her telling me that resisting our kidnapper wouldn't buy us any time.

"We'd love something to eat," Elsa forced a smile which calmed the lady down noticeably. We both carefully took a silver dish from the owl--though I'm pretty sure it gave me the stink-eye before departing.

"To answer your question more precisely, I am the Snow Queen Ursa," she didn't take her eyes off Elsa, who began to squirm. "Our story, yours and mine, began long ago with the man and woman who raised you. It's rather difficult for me to talk about, so why don't I just show you?" With a twirl of the fingers, several figures materialized in front of her. They were sparkling, blurry forms of people standing frozen, like a scene in a movie that was paused. Looking closer, I recognized two of them as Elsa's parents, King Adrian and Queen Catherine. Elsa gasped. Another one stood, still as could be, across from them: a girl of about eight years old with black pigtails and a snow-white dress. E and I leaned in. We still hadn't touched our Turkish Delight, and frankly I didn't want to.

Ursa made a motion with her hands and silently turned away. The holographic images suddenly sprang to life, like pressing 'play' on the remote control.

"Send this creature to the dungeon!" the king pointed at the girl, his strawberry-blonde mustache bristling. Several guards appeared out of the corners of the unseen room to lead the girl away. Dragged, more like, when she struggled and shrieked against their grip. The queen took a step forward in concern, only to stop and look down.

 Then, suddenly, the king and the queen disappeared in the place of stone walls and the little girl, now with chain-bound wrists, stayed. Her sobs echoed through the chamber, following a coating of ice crawling along the floor and walls. My breath caught in my throat.

 "She's...like us," Elsa breathed. Just then, the girl collapsed onto her back, and frost started coating her body until she looked like a small, white cocoon. The cocoon burst into a thousand particles of snow with an explosion of light. Then, the dark images changed once again. This time, a younger version of Ursa, with a simpler gown and fewer lines on her face, knelt down in front of the king and queen.

 "What have you done? My Aurora!" Her wail sounded warbled and distorted.

 "I--we--This was not what we wanted," King Adrian muttered desperately.

 "We--did what we had to...," Catherine cried, but she still sounded uncertain.

 "That's not enough!" Ursa shrieked, holding a tiny ice crystal to her chest. "You killed her!" Her voice suddenly dropped to a harsh whisper. "And because of your crime, I shall take your first child in exchange, so that I may have an heir...to my throne."

 "Wait, how did you know--," 

 "--that you are with child?" Past Ursa cut Catherine off with an insane snicker. "Oh, I know much more than you could comprehend. And now, your bouncing baby girl will be the exact same thing that you were so afraid of! She will be what you call a 'monster'!" Finally, the pictures flickered and faded with Ursa shooting a streak of white light at Queen Catherine and guards pulling the nutjob away.

 "What is that supposed to mean? You--you did this to me? Why?! Why is this the first time I'm hearing about it?" Elsa questioned passionately. Now things were getting weird.

 "Those were echoes of my past, made up of ice particles; another trick I picked up. You are like me, my daughter," the Snow Queen smiled at her with pride. "I bestowed a gift upon you because the Snow Queen throne must be passed on through the generations. Snowboy here was created by the Man in the Moon--ugh; his magic is a disgrace. He thinks that he's the boss of us all. But don't worry, my daughter, once the boy is dead, I can answer all your questions."