They head into a room, still giggling.
OK, I've come to the conclusion that Alvar is somehow showing me the past and it probably contains some important information that I am supposed to pay attention to yada yada yada, OK, I've seen it all in the movies, but one would think girls have evolved past giggling messes in all the years that passed, but I guess not.
"Rosalina, you're late," said a stern sounding voice from inside the room. I walked in. The room was dim, the only light source was from a fire roaring on one end of the room, a few candlesticks that were lit by a bedside, and the feint dim navy hue of the night sky coming from a closed window.
"I know, mother, but Hillary and I were just trying on some new-" she started, but was cut off by a tall, elegant middle-aged woman in a dress just as beautiful as Rosalina and Hillary's and her hair tied up I a fierce bun. Her poor hairline...
"I don't want to hear it. Hillary, I'm sure your mother is worried about you too, why don't you head on home now?" she said in a cold voice.
Hillary curtsied to the woman, and left the room, with a parting glance at Rosalina. I snuck a second glance at Hillary...why did she look so familiar?
When she was gone, Rosalina turned to her mother, "You don't have to be so mean."
"My dear child, when you are Queen, you will have no time for friends. It's time you stop with the childish ways of the Ice Princess and start preparing for your role as the Ice...Queen," she smiled, all cat-like.
I am in the corner of the room trying not to laugh at the cliche-ness of this all. It's like a really bad soapie. Though something is telling me that these people aren't actors. And they aren't reading from scripts.
Even if that Rosalina chick is a bit fake.
"What if I don't want to be queen?" she whined.
The mother was in her face before she could blink.
"Then you will bring shame to our family."
The girl flinched.
"You do not show weakness, Rosalina. What is that head of yours telling you?"
"Mother-"
"I am not your mother. I am your servant. Make me bow down."
"No," she sobbed.
"If you will not command your own mother, how will you be able to command an entire kingdom?" she shouted, "How will you lead armies against The Flame Slingers? How will you be a proper queen? How will-"
Rosalina covered her ears with her hands and shook her head violently, "Stop!"
The window shattered and all the candles, including the fire, went out. There was glass everywhere. Her mother was on her knees.
She looked up, blood dripping down her face from where glass cut her, and smiled that feline smile again, "Very good, my dear..."
Rosalinda continued shaking her head and ran out of the room.
I ran after her, cause that's what a good friend would do.
Haha, just kidding, I wanted to see where she was going, and even if I didn't, anything was better than staying in the room with her crazy mother.
That woman needed some serious help.
Rosalina ran and ran until eventually, she ran into the chest of a man in full armour. I'm guessing this was a guard. We passed a lot of them in the hallway while she was running at full speed (which didn't agree to me...I don't do running), but I had just assumed they were all statues from the stiff ways that they were standing. It was like they hadn't moved for years.
She took a step back, while the guard held out his hands to steady her. And, well, somebody steady me because that guy was-
"Aidan!" she exclaimed, beaming.
No, no it was not Aidan. It was Zack! Well, he looked like Zack...at first. No, no it's not him, false alarm...This guy had a chubbier face. And his eyes were a boring brown, instead of that warm light-chocolate brown. And his arms were lanky and long (obviously an effect of a bad puberty experience) whereas Zack's were all biceps and I lift weights every Saturday evening. And his chin...well, you get the point.
"Hey, Princess," he said, smiling with a dimple on his right cheek.
Princess?! Seriously?!
Rosalina grabbed his arm and pulled him into a spare bedroom. They had a lot of those in this place.
When they got in, they started kissing.
I widened my eyes and looked away, backing out of the room.
"Wait, Rose..."
That made me stop for some reason.
"We might get caught."
"That doesn't matter. We are leaving," she said and started kissing him again, which made me feel very depressed.
He pushed her away again, which made me feel a bit better.
"Leaving? What do you mean? Your ascension is only in a few nights and-"
"I am not going to ascend. I don't want this life. I want a normal life, with you. We shall run away tonight. There is a small village on the other side of the mountains. We could-"
"I have a duty to this kingdom, Rose. I will not abandon it."
"But you shall abandon me?"
"Where has all this mad talk come from? I thought this is what you wanted."
"I do not. Not anymore," she pouted and looked at the linen bed they were sitting on.
"Rose-"
"I do not want to hear it. You have made your choice," she got up and dusted off her dress, "Goodbye, Aidan."
And she left the room. Just like that. No hesitation.
I followed her out the castle, and into the gardens, where she sat on a bench. Then the tears started. She cried and cried and after a while, like all fairytales, she made a wish.
"I wish...that this nightmare can be over."
And then - oh, this is too good - a little old lady dressed up in rags came out of the bushes.
Where the hell did she come from?!
"Hello sweetie," she said in a sickly sweet voice, "May I sit here?"
Rosalina sniffed and moved up to make space for what I assumed is an evil witch.
"Why are you crying, dearie?" she croaked.
And, like the gullible fool only a princess could be, she told the mysteriously kind old lady everything that happened. I tried to stop her. I shouted at her, poked her in the ribs, even told tales of all my favourite ice-creams, but she couldn't hear me. Or see me.
And, obviously, the little old lady told her that she can make all her dreams come true, if she takes the knife that she pulled out from her sleeve (yes, she had it waiting there), and cuts her wrist.
I have a strong feeling that they didn't teach the kids of this era about stranger danger, because, the Ice Princess very smartly took the knife from the lady.
I give up.
It was a beautiful knife, though. Really beautiful to be honest. OK now that I look at it, I realised I probably would've taken it in this situation as well, if not to just have a closer look. The blade was made of some metal that was shiny, but you can see the strength and sharpness in it and the hilt... There's no word to describe its beauty, but I'll try my best. It was made of something...a diamond, I think. It was carved so there was thousands of little diamond shapes as a pattern, so the suns rays (as little as there were, this place was literally covered in snow) would shine off the surfaces in every direction.
She studied the knife, "And how do I know that you are being truthful?"
"Take a leap of faith," the old lady said, greedily.
Rosalinda hesitated, then slowly took the knife to her wrist, and pushed it in. She scrunched up her face in pain and let the knife drop onto the ground, but it was done. Three drops of blood fell to the ground and miraculously, a single rose sprang up from the ground. The rose was blood red and made me dizzy with it's contrast to the white snow.
Just as I had expected, Rosalina fell to the ground, and the old lady smiled like a...feline. She removed her torn, beaten up clothes, and then she removed her face. Like it was a mask. And she grew taller and taller until she was a head taller than me. Rosalina's mother, with the scar on her face from earlier, was smiling down at the heap that was her daughter.
I bet family Christmases don't go well here.
When I feared all hope was lost for poor Rose, her hair began to change colour. It became as white as the snow. And her cream coloured complexion became ivory. Slowly, she got up, till she was standing.
She looked at her wrist in confusion. It was completely healed.
Then she looked at her mother, and her face twisted into one of rage and hate.
"What have you done?" she spat.
"I gave you what you wanted, my Queen."
Rosalina watched as her mother bowed to her.
"Stand up," she ordered with an air of authority that wasn't there before.
Her mother gleefully did as she was told.
Rosalina picked up the knife that had fallen to the ground and, no hesitation this time, plunged it into her mother's heart.
As she fell to the ground, she still had that smile plastered onto her face, almost like she expected that to happen.
Like she wanted it to happen.
I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, she was gone. And so was the palace. I was back in the void, but Alvar wasn't there. It was just me.
I heard two sentences, though. The sentences Rosalina said to just before I left her world. Said to me. It rang over and over again, a siren inside my head that I couldn't get rid of.
We will meet again, sweet Winter...Until then, long live the Queen.