Trials of the Moonlight

En Siste Sjanse

Toothiana's palace was a place that required sure-footing, for a human, at least; for it floated high up in the clouds, forever bathed in pink and yellow light. Tooth zipped back and forth between her cages in search of the next item needed for the task. Elsa watched her step as she too dug through the little, golden boxes. She shook them; inside were baby teeth.

The teeth of one's childhood were what held their happiest, most hopeful memories... but not for all, Elsa thought, she couldn't imagine Jack wanting to revisit many childhood memories, nor she. She didn't want to remember those lonely days inside her room, drawing pictures and shoving them in her parents' faces and getting no praise, having to act out by breaking a vase or an expensive plate just to have their attention some days. Elsa thought about the children who lived poor, hapless lives without any parents or beds to sleep in... What a strange little world, Toothiana's was.

Elsa's foot slipped and she nearly fell backward into the void, but Tooth zoomed behind her and pushed her forward onto the platform. "Careful!" She warned. "This place really isn't for the flightless."

"Obviously!" She shouted, heart pounding. "There are billions of names to go through. How do you keep track of any of them?"

"They're organized by century. If I knew which one was the right one, this would be easier."

"Great." Elsa scoffed. Tooth reached inside of the cage and placed her feathered-hand on a single box, which lit up. It caused all of the others to light up like fireflies. They all hummed and made the entire area glow a dim yellow. Elsa didn't know what was happening, but it was quite the spectacle.

Tooth retracted her hand and sighed. "It's not here." She fluttered to the next platform.

"Is there no way we can make this go faster?" She called. Elsa made herself stairs of ice so she could follow her. But just as quickly as Tooth had zipped over, she was flying off again to the next. Elsa groaned and followed again, making walkways, ramps, and more steps so she didn't need help going from place to place. "Does the Moon know what it's talking about?" Tooth stopped and turned to her in disbelief.

"He always knows what he's talking about."

"So you all just follow his orders blindly? Something about this doesn't make any sense!"

"Look." Tooth hovered close, her pink eyes still had sympathy. "He's always sickeningly a few steps ahead of us... like he's shaped out everything to happen the way they're meant to. Who are we to get in the way of that? After all, even if we disobeyed, he'd just rework everything to go as he wants it to anyway." She got back to work. This was only step one of her task. At least this was the hard part, supposedly.

Elsa got to thinking about Sophie, how brave she'd been when she finally told her and Emily everything. Of course, they and her own parents were skeptical at first... but given the fact she and Jack had ice powers, nothing should faze them anymore. Her parents were much more trusting than they might've been three years ago, letting her set off with a hug and a sincere 'be careful.' Elsa, though, may have downplayed how much of a toll it was taking on Jack to ease his family's worries. All Sophie and Emily knew was that he'd been doing everything with them in his heart—it was not any ambition or idea of glory that drove him. That's what Elsa admired the most in him; she admittedly wanted to be a guardian the moment it was suggested! To have a title, to use her powers for something other than making snow cones or ice rinks... to protect and guard and defend the weak. That's what she was meant to do.

And when she was Queen one day, she would use these powers to defend her kingdom from anyone who might invade. Elsa was never destined to be docile and submissive like her predecessors before her. She staunchly believed this to be her purpose and she continued with the search.