~ by Amanda Pizzolatto
Elsa narrowed her eyes at the Duke of Weselton. He grinned sheepishly at her, as he unveiled a mirror. There were gasps throughout the hall. It was exquisite, standing at about seven feet tall with roses twining around the edges, a fairy-like figure at the top and another at the bottom, both staring at them with golden topaz eyes. Elsa rose and walked towards it.
“As a token of friendship, Your Highness, I present this one-of-a-kind mirror, a-a masterpiece!”
Elsa touched it gingerly. Her eyes nearly widened in shock, but she kept herself composed. There was a hint of magic about this mirror, and that made her curious. “I can see that,” she said softly. “It is quite… interesting.” She glanced at the Duke. “Where did you say you got this again?”
The Duke pulled slightly at his collar. “Well, um, one of my men found it being sold by one of those peddlers in the market. I don’t think she knew the value of this…,” he gulped as Elsa turned her eyes on him. “So, we, uh, gave her the proper compensation for its worth.”
Elsa nodded slowly, not quite sure she trusted him. That last sentence was a little too ambiguous. “I see. That is good.” She turned back to the mirror, tracing one of the iron-wrought roses with her fingers. She could still feel that little tinge of magic. “Very well, we will resume trade with Weselton….”
“Yes!”
“On one condition.”
The Duke shot her a nervous grin. “Yes?”
“If I find out you’ve been speaking ill of Arendale or that you haven’t kept up your side of the bargain, we will end the trade for good. Understand?”
The Duke nodded vigorously. “P-perfectly.” He took a step back. “And, if you don’t mind, Your Highness, I have other matters to attend to. I believe we are done here?”
Elsa nodded. “I believe we are done. Good luck on your other matters.”
“Thank you. Let’s go!” The Duke and his men nearly ran towards the doors. The guards opened them to let them out, and a fiery red fox ran in. The Duke’s men tried to nab it, but it sidestepped them and ran straight towards the mirror. “Ah!” blurted the Duke. “How did that varmint escape?” He rushed towards Elsa, as did Anna. The fox snarled at Elsa as it stood between her and the mirror. “My sincerest apologies, Your Highness! That fox has been chasing us ever since we left Weselton! I had my men capture it earlier, and I don’t know how it escaped.” He glared at his men. He turned back to Elsa. “I’ll have my men take care of this.”
Elsa shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. Go take care of your matters. My men can handle this.”
“Oh, but….”
Elsa snapped her fingers, and several soldiers surrounded her, Anna, and the mirror. “We have this. Good day, Duke.”
“Right, uh, of course. Good day, Your Highness.” The Duke bowed quickly and led his men out of the room.
Elsa turned to her men. “Take the mirror and the fox into one of the guest rooms. And have some food taken to the fox. I’ll deal with them later.”
The soldiers saluted her and went about carrying out her orders. The fox seemed surprised by her order and allowed the soldiers to carry her away without a fuss.
“Elsa, are you sure that’s a good idea?” whispered Anna. “What if the mirror is enchanted?”
“Oh, it most certainly is, but I have royal duties to finish up before we can figure it out.” Anna nodded as the two walked back to their seats.
Later that night, after they were sure they had no other duties to attend to, Elsa and Anna snuck up to the guest room where the mirror and the fox were. Anna held the candle while Elsa quietly unlocked the door. She pushed it open quietly, slightly, and the two peeked in. Their mouths dropped open. There was a man and a woman in the room, and the woman was wearing one of the dresses that was left in the closet in case someone needed it!
“Are you alright, Fox?” the man asked.
“I’m fine, Jacob,” she said with a smile. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Yeah, good to see you too.” He glanced around at the room. “But where are we? This isn’t the ruins!”
Fox let out a soft snarl. “Some bozos found it and thought it would be a great gift for a queen they were trying to get back into the good graces of. I think she shouldn’t trust them.”
Elsa straightened up and walked in. “She doesn’t.”
The two looked at her in shock as she strode towards them. Anna walked in quickly behind her, smiling and waving sheepishly.
Fox gave a quick curtsy. “Your Majesty.” Jacob gave a quick bow.
“Were you the fox?” asked Elsa.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Anna’s mouth dropped as she glanced between her sister and Fox. “What? You’re the fox? But… but…!”
“Magic, of course,” said Elsa.
Fox smirked. “Of course.” She got down on the floor and reached under the bed, pulling out a fox fur. “This fur lets me change into a fox.”
Anna touched the fur gingerly. “Wow,” she pouted. “I liked the fox, though.”
Elsa chuckled while Fox and Jacob smiled. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Elsa, Queen of Arendale, and this is my sister, Anna.”
Anna waved. “Hi!”
“A pleasure to meet you, Your Highnesses,” said Jacob with a bow. “I am Jacob Reckless, and this is Fox, whom you’ve apparently already met in her fox form.”
“Yes, she made quite the entrance,” said Elsa with a smile. “She didn’t want to lose sight of that mirror.”
Fox shifted her weight. “Well, of course not. Jacob was due back any day. Besides, I could let them find out the secret of the mirror.”
“So, care to explain exactly what it is?”
Jacob let out a breath as he turned to look at the mirror. “It, um, it’s a portal to my world.”
Anna and Elsa looked at him in shock. “Your world?” asked Elsa.
Jacob nodded, glancing at the sisters. “My world, it’s a little different than yours, well, mainly because it’s so advanced.”
“Advanced in what way?” asked Elsa.
“A lot… it’s kind of hard to explain.”
Elsa sat down in a chair. “Well, start explaining, Mr. Reckless.” Anna quickly sat down in the other chair.
Jacob glanced between the two. “I, uh, I’d rather not. If anybody found out that you know about these things, or the mirror, well, I know of some nasty characters who would really like to get their hands on it and get to my worlds to learn about the destructive tools that have been created.” He sighed. “I just think it’s best that only Fox and I know what lies on the other side of the mirror.”
“Is there another reason?” asked Elsa.
Jacob bit his lip and glanced at Anna. “My family,” he finally whispered, “I want to keep my family safe. My brother came through once, and I nearly lost him. I’d rather not have to go through that again.”
Elsa glanced at Anna and nodded in understanding. “I nearly lost my sister, so I know the feeling all too well.”
“So, you will not ask again about my world?”
“I won’t, but I do want to know more about you both.”
Jacob’s eyes widened and glanced at Fox before glancing back at Elsa. “There’s, um, there’s a lot I shouldn’t say about this world either. I’ve found a lot of secrets, secrets that I found out the hard way should have stayed quiet.”
“You can tell me about yourself without revealing those secrets,” said Elsa. “Come now; you are in my castle, I need to know.”
Jacob and Fox hemmed and hawed about telling their stories. Elsa and Anna finally broke the ice by telling their story, along with a demonstration of Elsa’s powers. That convinced Fox to tell her story, of how ill her family treated her, how she got the magical fox fur, and how she met Jacob. Jacob, meanwhile, sat on the bed, wide-eyed, like he was still processing what he had just heard.
Anna slammed her hands down on the arms of the chair and rose, startling everyone. “Alright, that does it!”
“Anna.”
“We are going to adopt you as our younger sister!”
Fox’s mouth dropped. “Say what?”
Elsa sighed. “Anna, she’s still older than you.”
“But I’m the princess, so I say she’s younger,” said Anna as she sat down next to Fox on the bed and wrapped her arms around her. Elsa laughed, and Fox chuckled as the tears began streaming down her face. Jacob cracked a smile before it fell from his face.
Fox looked at him as she wiped the tears from his eyes. “Should I tell them, or do you want to?”
Jacob opened his mouth and paused. Then the words began coming out, slowly. Elsa and Anna listened with enthusiastic rapture as he recounted his adventures since he first entered the mirror and were surprised and horrified in equal measure at the near misses, close calls, and at what happened to his brother. Seeing their interest, his words began tumbling out faster. It took him the rest of the night, but he told them everything up to this point. Fox verified a few details and corrected him on a few others, but for the most part, she stayed quiet. When Jacob was at last finished, there was a moment of stunned silence.
Elsa broke it. “I-it seems you and I are not that different.”
Jacob glanced at her. “Oh, I think we’re very different. Your Highness, it’s just, nearly losing our siblings that way… it leaves a mark on you.”
Elsa nodded. “It would.” She glanced at Anna. “It certainly made us even more protective of our family.”
Jacob glanced at Anna and the mirror as he nodded. “That it has.” He turned back to Elsa. “Now, you understand why this needs to be returned to the ruins, where it belongs.”
Elsa rose. “But after everything you just told me, and everything I just told you, you should understand why it should stay here.”
Jacob rose and faced her. “You do have impressive powers, but is it enough against fairies and elves?”
“I’m still learning how to fully use my powers, yes, but I’m already fairly good. Besides, would anyone really know that this is a mirror that can transport you to another world?”
“There are a few. As soon as they’ve found out that it’s been relocated here, they’ll be practically running to get over here and use it to their advantage. I also have to make sure no one from my world accidentally finds the mirror – we have a few bad ones of our own.”
“I see,” said Elsa, looking at the mirror. She looked at the window. “I think we should all sleep on it. We will discuss this further once we’ve rested.”
Jacob nodded, “I think that’s a good idea.”
“Come, I’ll show you to your rooms.” Elsa picked up the candle, while Anna yawned and walked out the door.
Fox quickly grabbed her fur before following Jacob and Elsa out into the corridor. Elsa turned the key in the lock before taking them down the hall. She made sure that Anna made it to her room safely and then showed Fox to her room.
Next was Jacob, who paused at the door and turned to the queen. “I, uh, I wanted to thank you for listening to my story. It, it’s a relief to be able to share it after all of this time.”
Elsa smiled, “that was just how it felt when I told you mine.” She held out her hand. “I think we shall become good friends.”
He shook her hand. “Yes, I think we shall.”
“And, regardless of what we decide to do with the mirror, I hope that you will come to call Arendale your home away from home.”
He tilted his head. “I don’t know…,” he began to smile, “…but it is quite tempting. I do hope it will be one for Fox. She’s really never had much of a home to speak of.”
Elsa nodded. “Of course. Well, goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Your Majesty.” Jacob bowed as Elsa walked away before turning in for the night.
[Duke of Weselton, Elsa, Anna, and Arendale are from Disney’s Frozen. Jacob Reckless, Fox, and the mirror are from the Mirrorworld/Reckless series by Cornelia Funke]
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F&F Winter 2019: Disney