There were times when Elsa's dreams would take her to a place she used to call home. There were dreams of vast palace halls lined with dozens of works of art, of warm beds and sumptuous meals, of elegant balls, and of a mother and father with loving eyes and protective arms. And then there were dreams of Anna; sweet, loving, naïve, sometimes pushy Anna. Her strawberry blonde hair, blue green eyes, and wide smile shone so brightly in those dreams…

Then there were nightmares where Anna's face was blank and silent, a white streak piercing her reddish hair, of a pair of tombstones adorned with names that shouldn't have been there; nightmares where faces of strangers stared at her in shock and awe, of darkness and loneliness. Above it all, she could hear a voice, no, many voices, all crying out a single, terrible word:

"MONSTER!"

These dreams were Elsa's only companions, the only surviving reminders of what she had left behind when the gloves came off and the storm was unleashed. When that happened, she ran across ocean waters turned to ice, through forests that became blanketed in snow, and over mountains piercing through the storm clouds. She wandered over those mountains, and kept going on and on until the land was no longer familiar, and only stopped when she could no longer walk…only to find herself passing through a shower of glowing pieces of glass, and into another place that brimmed with what she could only describe as magic.

For Elsa, home was no longer those vast palace halls where she had struggled to contain the storm; that place was becoming more and more distant and alien. Home for her became a cavern furnished with ice to become an elegant, if not homely, dwelling, in the side of a cliff in a secluded forest laying in a strange land where the people spoke in strange tongues. Home for her became a place where she found herself battling horrible creatures astride monstrous wolves every now and then, and where she caught glimpses of beautiful people wandering through the forests like angels…angels with pointed ears. Home for her became a place called Middle-Earth.

Here, no one bowed to Elsa and called her Queen; as far as the world was concerned, she was merely the quiet, white-haired stranger who came to town every now and then, hauling ice to sell and to buy food, and then wandered back into the forest. No one knew of her secret dwelling place where she could be alone and practice her powers, as she had made it so…and surely as it was meant to be. She was home, and home to her meant freedom. Here, maybe she was a Queen, if only a Queen of Isolation—if only she hadn't tossed aside the crown that might've proved it.

For once in her life, she had found a moment of peace where she spun fractals of ice in the air on a warm, sunny day. Sitting on a block of perpetual ice, she felt serene as she watched birds and insects fly through the beams of sun that passed through the boughs of the trees and heard the songs of nature. Moments of serenity like this had been rare back in Arendelle, seeing how she had lived in a near constant state of paranoia, but here she found more time to breath easily than she knew what to do with…with the exception of the bloodthirsty barbarian every now and then. Even that, however, proved to be to her benefit.

Some internal clock within her signaled the need to attend to other matters. Sighing, she got onto her feet, and turned towards the crystal doors, away from the warmth of the sun…

"Pardon me, young lady…"

Elsa spun around in surprise at the voice. There stood an old man with a long ashy grey beard wearing grey robes and a tall, blue, pointed hat where there had been no one before, holding a wooden staff in his hands. She didn't know what to do or what to think; no one had ever come here before, and she had been certain the place was secret. "How did you find me here?" she demanded.

"My apologies for startling you, my dear," the old man replied, "But I was curious as to how it could be so cool in the dead of August, and I forthwith investigated."

"Well," Elsa replied, gathering her thoughts as to what the proper response would be to give someone of his aptitude, "…I'm sorry, it's just that, I don't get that many visitors, at all."

The old man didn't seem to hear what she said. "I see you have a knack for a…certain brand of magic," he observed. "Pardon my curiosity, but I have not seen such a power before…"

Fear started to well up in her, bringing her back to the days living in fear. The last time she had been discovered, she had retreated. Now, however, there was nowhere to run.

"Please don't tell anyone," she pleaded, "Just leave me be. I'll do anything. Whatever it is you want I can provide it."

This offer seemed to catch his attention. He grumbled in an analytical way, and then replied, "Well, I may be looking for someone to share in an adventure."

Elsa found herself caught off guard. What sort of people offered 'adventures'?

"An…adventure?" she asked suspiciously. "I don't even know your name."

"Well, my name is Gandalf, and Gandalf means…well, it means me. And you, Elsa, might just possess the necessary skills to assist on a certain quest."

The more and more this 'Gandalf' spoke, the more and more awe and confusion wrapped itself like a constricting serpent around Elsa's mind.

"How do you know my name?" she asked, "And…what kind of quest are you talking about?"

"Well," Gandalf replied, "Perhaps it would be better if I brought the others to discuss the details more thoroughly."

Others? There were more like him? "No no no, please," she begged, "I don't want anyone here…"

"Well then, perhaps if you met them instead? Would you be willing to consider that?"

Elsa wrestled with the idea in her head. Was it really worth it to go with this strange man and meet these "others"? A suspicion lingered in her mind that perhaps they wanted to DO things to her; a young woman in the middle of the woods might certainly seem like easy prey, and she felt defenseless enough...But then her mind flipped back to the number of orcs who had been unfortunate enough to try and rob her.

"Very well," she replied, coming down from her perch "I'll come with you, and see what this is about. But that's it."

Gandalf smiled, obviously pleased. "Well, pardon my obtrusiveness, but you need far less persuasion than some people I know."

Elsa shot back, "Who knows? I may need far more persuasion than most people you know."

"We shall see about that," he replied.