Winter Butterflies | (Elsa x Honeymaren)

ix

Guards, or rather Hans' brothers, patrolled the ship. Before she had come out of the hull of the boat, she had checked every other room for her friends and family to no avail. Either they must be somewhere else or they weren't on the ship.

If it was the latter, why were there so many guards for just Elsa?

Elsa ran along the deck of the ship, sticking to the shadows. A harsh wind blew as if it knew the dire situation at hand. It sent chills up Elsa's spine. This was not a friendly wind.

As she rounded a corner, she overheard two people talking. She stopped to eavesdrop.

"You know he's considering marrying the queen?" A man asked.

"He's an idiot if he thinks that," a woman responded, "she's already married, isn't she? And if he's dumb enough to not see what's in front of him, he doesn't deserve anyone."

"What? What's in front of him?"

The woman sighed in defeat. "All of you are idiots, I swear. I'm the one woman who he hasn't tried to kill. And I actually like him. But clearly stupid runs in the family. Ugh, if you need me, I'll be in the cabin."

Footsteps receded away.

Yes, Elsa wanted to save her family, but that woman had intrigued her. Who could possibly like Hans? She followed her.

Elsa finally got a look at her, she was on the shorter side as if she'd been squashed down and all her height went into her hips. She had dark skin and darker hair that was in many braids. She was stunning, like Lady Frigg in the history books, Elsa could admire her forever. Why would she like Hans?

Elsa slipped quietly past the door just as it was about to close. She ducked down as the woman walked to the other side of the captain's cabin. She held her breath, hiding behind a wooden chest.

"My lord, I came to ask about... well, how is everything going so far?" The woman asked.

"I assure you, Odyis, there is nothing to worry about. Everything is going to plan." Elsa could hear him stand up from a chair. "I'll let our captured snow queen mull her defeat just awhile longer, then introduce the threat of the mirror."

"And the rest of them?" Odyis' voice was firm and demanding. "What needs to happen next?"

"Prepare the redhead, Anna, for a wedding. The rest can rot in jail for the rest of their lives; there's nothing special about them. But, it shouldn't take long after Elsa's been exposed for everything to fall into place."

"Yes, my lord."

For what to fall into place? What was Elsa going to be exposed to? A mirror? What could that even possibly do--

A knock came at the door.

"Hans, finish up whatever you're doing with Lady Odyis!" A muffled man's voice echoed in the small room. "The prisoner has escaped!" 

Elsa's breath hitched in her chest. She'd been found out. And still, she hadn't learned anything of her family's whereabouts or what exactly Hans was planning. 

The door to the cabin was thrown open, the wind whipping through the room. "Find her! She can't have gotten far. And she has no advantage over us without her powers."

"Actually, brother, she's escaped her bindings. She has her powers."

"How-"

"My lord, let's focus on finding her before she gets too far enough away." So Odyis was the voice of reason among the troupe of idiot brothers. Elsa made a mental note; that could be a problem at some point.

All three people left the cabin, leaving Elsa still squished and hidden in between the chest and the wall. Counting to ten before she left her hiding place, she began to search the cabin. 

On the desk was a map of the Arendellian coast and the surrounding geography. Tucked underneath was a detailed layout plan of the castle, with names assigned to certain hallways and rooms--a plan of attack. Whether it was the attack that had already happened or one for the future, Elsa couldn't tell. 

All drawers on the desk were firmly locked. She muddled over whether to open them with magic and allowing Hans and his cohorts to know that she knew about whatever was tucked into them or having the benefit of a potential upper hand. 

She decided the drawers could wait and instead moved to the two chests.  The first one held dresses, all worn and old. She guessed they belonged to Odyis. She dug through it some more, making sure nothing laid hidden in the cloth. 

Satisfied, she moved on to the next. 

"Oh." She had found the mirror. 

It hardly looked like a mirror, her reflection refraced through the shattered pieces. The mirror didn't have all of it's broken shards, only half filling up the ornate frame. 

"Now, what is so special about you?" Her hand hesitated before touching the frame. She thought it best to heed the mirror with caution. 

Around the mirror were rolled pieces of parchment. The paper crunched, old and rigid, and revealed a language Elsa had never seen before. It certainly wasn't Danish and nothing even remotely similar to the surrounding area's tongues--completey foreign. 

She suspected the other scrolls would prove to be the same. She opened the other chest again drawing out some kind of sash or kerchief. The fabric wrapped around her hand, she reached for one of the larger shards. Much heavier than she expected, she slowly turned the piece, watching the light reflect across the surface. 

Then, just as the light hit perfectly, lighting up the entire piece, an image--no, more of a feeling, an aura--settled darkly around Elsa. Her hand jerked back, letting the mirror fall back into the chest and shattering even smaller. 

Every inch of Elsa's logical brain told her to run. To leave whatever sinister forces that were contained in the mirror alone. She should leave before Hans and Odyis come back and she should start searching for her family.

But one stubborn part of her wanted to remove the fabric surrounding her hand, touch the mirror... how bad could it possibly be? Just one touch, to see it's true nature--

"No." Elsa closed the chest, sighing in relief. She exchanged the sash for a ribbon from the other chest. Tying her hair back in a ponytail, she crept towards the door. 

All she could hear was the gentle caress of waves against the ship's hull and voices that sounded far off, maybe on the complete opposite end of the ship. 

She got off the ship just fine, every guard must've been sent to search for her. But walking across the dock, she realized that she had no clue where to even start. The ship had been moored in an off branch of the Arendellian harbor. More concealed than other docks along the shore and hardly ever in use due to the shallowness of the area. 

The wind on land was much gentler than on the ship.

"Gale?" Elsa's whisper was swept away with the breeze. "Have you seen my sister? Or Honeymaren? Or any of the others? Could you show me where they are?" 

The wind spirit spiraled around Elsa, letting her know that it knew exactly what she needed. Gale would lead her to her family, but could not warn her of the trouble she would face when she arrived.