And so, Olivia and Ian got into their winter attire, and Princess Amanda gave them a carriage of pure gold. It was lined with sugarplums and beneath the seats were fruit and gingerbread!
Olivia could hardly believe such kindness. She longed to stay but she and Ian had to continue her quest. So, waving good-bye to Princess Amanda and Ricky Riddles, Olivia and Ian went onward to seek Olivia's beloved pen pal, her carriage shining like a sunbeam.
So bright was it, it attracted the attention of some enormous, hulking animals with great antlers that looked like branches. Olivia and Ian recognized these creatures—they were the great reindeer! Now, the king of the reindeer came alongside their carriage, studying Olivia and Ian with his eyes, and Olivia couldn't help but ask him, if he had seen her pen pal. To her and Ian's delight, the king nodded in conformation.
"Yes, I have seen little Patrick Penguin," he announced, with his low, booming voice, "he rode in the sled of the Snow Queen, and they passed over these woods. "Oh, please great reindeer king, can you tell us where they have gone?" asked Olivia and Ian together, eager to follow their trails. "To the land of ice and snow," the king revealed, "to the ice palace up towards the North Pole, on the island of Lapland." "Then Ian and I must go there at once!" said Olivia, "Please, show us the way!" And the reindeer king and queen bent down low, allowing the brave Ian and Olivia to ride on their backs.
They bounded ahead, and began to lift up over bushes and bramble, through the great wood, flying as fast as they could go, up into the sky, not only with stars, but with a luminosity of green and blue, waving in the sky like waves of oceans. Olivia and Ian clapped their hooves with joy. "These are the northern lights," said the reindeer. "Behold how they gleam!" And onward he spent, quicker and quicker, galloping across the sky. Soon, they entered the boundary of Lapland, where they stopped at the reindeer king's friend, Miss Livens the Laplander lady. "Poor thing,... Ms. Livens remarked.
Inside the heat was stifling and Gerda took off her gloves and boots and placed a piece of ice on the reindeer king and queen's noses to keep him cool. The reindeers sensed magic in the Laplander woman. "Will you give this little maiden a potion so that she may have the strength of twelve men and defeat the Snow Queen?" the Reindeer King asked.
Miss Livens snorted. "The strength of twelve men?" she said. "Pah! That would not be enough." Then she smiled sadly. "It is true that Patrick Penguin is at the Snow Queen's palace and thinks it is the very best place in the world. But it is also true that he has a splinter of evil glass in his eye and one in his heart. While these splinters remain, the Snow Queen will never lose her power over him and he will never leave."
"Can you give Gerda nothing that will help her?" pleaded the Reindeer Queen. At this, the Finnish woman smiled. "I can give this child no more power than what she has already," she said. "Don't you see how great that is? She started her journey alone. Yet see how far she has come. The power to rescue Kay lies in her own heart, nowhere else."
So the reindeer queen and king flew and flew with Olivia and Ian upon their backs, until they came to the palace that burned blue every night. There, they set Olivia and Ian down by a great bush with red berries, and as Olivia and Ian stood in the middle of this dreary land of ice and snow, they saw...the Snow Queen's palace!
