"I do not have much time before Kay and Gerda awaken and come looking for breakfast," fru Edda exclaimed as Sigrid entered the kitchen. "Why did you come?"

Sigrid closed the door softly behind her. "Why is breakfast so urgent this early in the morning?" she asked, watching the elderly woman rush about the kitchen, making a meal.

Fru Edda sighed, placing a lid over the pot on the stove. "Today is their seventeenth birthday, and it has been family tradition ever since they were young that both Gerda's and Kay's families have all three extravagant meals together. Unfortunately, Gerda, Kay, and I are the only members of the family that are still alive to continue the tradition."

Sigrid's heart ached as she wondered how it was to have a family. "In any case, I have important news to share with you." Two years ago, fru Edda had approached Sigrid and informed her of a magic mirror in the land. The mirror had been created by a troll who had used strong dark magic, and it was to be used to reveal the ugly truth about everything. The mirror had been broken and lost, and its shattered remnants scattered throughout the earth, the largest falling in Sumetr. "You requested that I find the Blakfrodleikr for you. In exchange, you promised to help me discover what happened to my memories."

"Yes, yes," fru Edda cut in, "I did. You remind me of my promise each time we meet. Have you found the mirror? I understand it is easier for you to investigate the possible locations of the Blakfrodleikr while it is winter because you can use your ice magic, but two years of winter is attracting attention from other magical creatures. I would rather you find it quickly."

"As a matter of fact, I believe I have. A friend of mine has discovered a town in which there is a large mirror rumored to possess dark magic."

The corner of fru Edda's lips quirked up in a halfhearted smile. "Good, good." She turned her head to look out a window. "It is growing late. My grandchildren are returning now." The elderly woman pushed Sigrid out the door before the young woman could say another word.

I must find the mirror quickly, she thought to herself. Fru Edda would be pleased when she gave her the mirror, and then, perhaps, fru Edda would find a way to return her memories. Sigrid decided to visit her friend Erika to inquire about the mirror. As she used ice magic to teleport herself, someone in a bedroom above fru Edda's kitchen caught her eye. A half-dressed boy stared at her with startling blue eyes and mouthed a word before Sigrid disappeared into the blizzard.

Snedronningen. Sigrid hated that name yet loved its power.

Erika scowled as she exited her cottage to greet her friend. "Sigrid," she began disapprovingly, "have I not asked you to please stop appearing in the middle of my orchard with snow? My cherries will fail to ripen if you continue this."

Sigrid dismissed her friend's request quickly, saying, "I have come for the Blakfrodleikr."

The witch threw her arms up and exclaimed, "You have not even given me the pleasure of asking for the reason for your visit!" She sighed. "I managed to locate the mirror in an obscure witch village in the East. Had the mirror not been in a witch village, I would have forced you to retrieve it yourself. However, because you are not a witch and thus are unable to access the village, I successfully tricked those vile sisters of mine and took the mirror with me. Follow me, if you will." She turned on her heel and walked into her home.

The snow queen trailed behind her. "Thank you for helping me, Erika. I do appreciate your kindness."

"Of course you do," the witch replied haughtily. "My service is not free, however. I want more land in order to expand my garden. Will you thaw more snow for me?"

Her lips curled into a closed smile. "My name is Snedronningen, is it not? What is but a little snow and ice compared to the snow queen?" She waved a hand through the air playfully. "It is done. Will that be all?"

Erika replied with loud peals of laughter. "You amuse me, Sigrid. Wait for the rest of my request." As Sigrid nodded, the young witch produced a mirror from behind a shelf of potions. "Here you are." She pulled the mirror out of Sigrid's reach when the young lady moved to take it. "Do not be so hasty, my dear friend. You never told me why you need the Blakfrodleikr so urgently. You are aware of its dangers, are you not?"

Sigrid paused, unsure of how to respond. Erika might not have understood that she just needed to deliver it to the old woman in order to regain her memories. After all, the witch had retained memories of all twenty years of her life, while Sigrid only possessed two years of those twenty. Also, Sigrid had never told Erika about her predicament, and she did not wish to do so at that moment. "I have my reasons, Erika, and I do know the implications of owning the mirror," the woman finally answered.

The witch sighed and relinquished the mirror. "If you say so, Sigrid. Forget not that you are indebted to me."

"Never," the snow queen breathed before using her magic to teleport herself again.

Sigrid had exhausted herself by teleporting so often in one day. It simply would not do if she lost control of the land simply because she visited so many people. Thus, she had gone home to procure a sleigh on which she could ride to the town. She promptly headed back to fru Edda's house to deliver the mirror.

The old woman had smiled widely at her. "Good, good, my dear. However, it will be troublesome if I attempt to conceal the mirror in this small shack. I will allow you to safeguard for me in your castle."

Sigrid had nodded back. "Thank you, fru Edda. Have you found my memories yet?"

The grandmother's eyes darkened as she said, "Now, now, dear, let us not be so hasty. I will have you know that these things take time and consideration," and she waved a hand dismissively, ordering Sigrid to leave before her grandchildren returned from the town.

The woman rode by a group of boys playing in the snow. A few had attached their sleds to carriages and sleighs and used those as free rides around town, always sure to untie themselves when the drivers noticed. Sigrid wished she could remember what it had been like to play so freely and recklessly.

She soon noticed that her reindeer were putting just the slightest bit of extra effort into continuing at their previous speed and turned around to see the cause. A rather tall boy had tied his sled to her sleigh. Tufts of his nearly white-blond hair poked out of his woolen snow hat, and his bright blue eyes held a glimmer of mischief. She recognized him from that morning at fru Edda's house.

His eyes widened considerably as he realized she was looking back at him. Frantically, he tried to unfasten his sled from her sleigh, but she tried to give him a kind smile. Sigrid decided that she would enjoy his company. However, she could not decide on the best way to invite the boy onto her sleigh. Would he be frightened if she did so? Perhaps that did not matter in the slightest. After all, she was already dragging him around behind her sleigh.

She made up her mind to simply stop and ask him if he was going somewhere. Perhaps she could help him by allowing him to ride on her sleigh. Sigrid stopped the sleigh, turned back to the boy and smiled again, hoping to appear friendly. "Hello!" she called cheerfully, descending from the sleigh.

He grimaced, forcing her to drop her smile. Acting cheerful and friendly had not worked as well as she had hoped. He untied his sled and approached her cautiously. "Good afternoon, fröken. I do 'pologize for the inconvenience. I'll be on my way now." He quickly began to walk away.

"Please wait!" In the spur of the moment, Sigrid summoned a large gust of wind that blew the boy back to her, and he fell on the ground in front of her. I'm sorry! she cried in her mind, but she knew she should not admit her status as the Snedronningen aloud in such a public place. "Are you hurt anywhere?" she chose to ask instead.

He nodded, staggering slightly as he rose. "No, I don't think so." The boy suddenly cried out in pain, clutching at his eye. "Oh, nevermind! There's something in my eye!"

"Please, allow me to help you," she insisted, touching his arm.

The boy jumped back. "You're so cold!"

Sigrid wanted to frown. She supposed she felt cold because she possessed ice powers, but she found it difficult to believe that he actually thought she needed to be warmed. She was, after all, wrapped in furs, a personal favorite method of appearing warm to others. "Do allow me to examine you." She stepped closer and peered at his eye. Sigrid breath caught in her throat as she realized that two small fragments of the Blakfrodleikr had lodged themselves in the boy's eye and heart. She opened her mouth to tell him but quickly shut it because she could not articulate her findings in an acceptable way.

He blinked a few times. "It's gone now." The boy shivered. "I think I'll go home now. Thanks for the ride."

She grabbed his elbow, saying, "Allow me to make it up to you. I insist." She removed her fur coat from her shoulders. "Please wear this if you are cold."

He hesitated before taking the coat. "Well, all right. You can pay for the roses, then."

"It would be best if I allow you to ride on my sleigh." Sigrid climbed back onto the sleigh and took up the reins as the boy followed. "I have a friend who grows the most beautiful flowers. Perhaps she will have roses for you." She paused before adding, "Why must you buy roses?"

"They're for Gerda! It's our seventeenth birthday today," he replied, grinning widely. Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock. "I do 'pologize, fröken! I'm Kay, and Gerda's practically my sister. 'Cept she's not really because we're not blood-related, but Grandmother Edda adopted her when our parents died in the blizzard two years ago." He gave a nervous laugh. "I guess I've said too much."

Sigrid's head was spinning. She supposed that the fact that the boy had been Kay made sense because she had first seen him in fru Edda's home. However, she was completely stunned by Kay's comment about his parents. "How did your parents die?" she inquired, hoping to appear conversational.

"Ah, yeah. Both Gerda's and my parents were out in the fields harvesting grain because they worked for a farmer, you see, and then there was this huge snowstorm because the Snedronningen created this eternal winter two years ago. It was so sudden that they froze over." Kay clenched his fist tightly, and Sigrid cringed inwardly. "She's just pure evil, you know? What did she want, freezing everything like this? It's April now. Summer will come soon, and it should've been warming up. But that snow queen just had to decide she only liked winter. Everything's frozen over. I'll never forgive her!" He turned back to the lady beside him. "Ah, I do 'pologize, fröken. I get worked up so easily, 'specially because I know Gerda cries every night over her parents' deaths. I never want her to cry because she's like a sister to me." The glint in his eyes darkened maliciously. "I'll kill the Snedronningen, I swear."

Sigrid turned away and offered a feeble laugh. "Is that so?"

Sigrid struggled to concentrate on preventing the snow from melting. Because July was one of the hottest months in Sumetr, the snow queen needed to continue to maintain her winter weather twice daily. However, she found it very difficult to focus on days that she had planned to meet with Kay. He was, after all, one of her few precious friends.

Finally, the weather had reached a temperature below zero. She hoped that it would remain that way until nighttime in order to make it easier to maintain the cold weather. Sigrid quickly donned her soft furs and headed toward the town on her sleigh, eager to speak to Kay again. She found his way of speaking amusing, and he always told the best stories. Also, the warmth in his striking blue eyes was a welcome contrast to her cold castle walls.

"Sigrid!" a voice called out to her as she approached the town limits.

The corners of her lips involuntarily curled up slightly when her eyes found the source of the voice. "Good evening, Kay," she greeted as she neared him.

Kay leaped onto one of her reindeer. "I finally got Gerda off my back. She's just such a clingy girl, and it annoys me, you know? I know we've grown up together and all, but it's not like we're even actual family. She's so annoying."

Sigrid nodded, secretly glad that Kay had chosen to spend time with her rather than Gerda. However, she was slightly concerned about the influence of the mirror fragments trapped in Kay's body. Over the course of three months, she had observed the gradual increase of malice in Kay's personality, and she was certain that mirror was exercising its magic on Kay. However, she said nothing of it because fru Edda had instructed her to remain silent about the matter. According to the old woman, the whole topic would cause "complications" in her plans, though Sigrid knew them not. She urged her reindeer forward, hoping to have a satisfying mug of warmed milk.

Kay continued to speak badly of Gerda, saying, "Ugly, too. She's always crying so unpleasantly when she speaks to me, and her cheeks are always pinched because of the cold. I suppose the Snedronningen would be like Gerda, though, because I hear she's made of ice. Maybe that's why she likes it so cold; maybe she'll melt if it actually turns summer. Wouldn't that be something? I hope the weather warms up enough to resemble summer."

"I work diligently to prevent warm weather, and I would appreciate your appreciation for my effort," Sigrid muttered carelessly.

Kay's eyes snapped up to hers. He frowned. "What did you just say?"

Sigrid could not force her mouth to form words. Her chest tightened, and she was unable to take a breath.

Kay stopped the reindeer on which he was seated. "Sigrid, repeat what you just said."

Sigrid's vision turned blurry as her mind was enveloped by a haze of panic. Without considering the consequences, she summoned a large gust of wind and snowflakes that enveloped the sleigh. Her reindeer reared in protest, but Sigrid had lost control of her powers.

"Sigrid, stop it already!" Kay cried out as he fell from the panicked reindeer.

The snow queen failed to understand his pleas. The temperature plunged well below zero as her hysteria worsened. The small storm that she had summoned grew fiercer until Sigrid reached exhaustion. She panted heavily, realizing in horror what she had done. "I do apologize," she whispered as she wrapped the dangerously cold boy in her furs. "I do apologize, Kay." She kissed his forehead, using what little magic she possessed at that moment to erase the cold from his senses. "Please forgive me." She kissed his forehead yet again in order to erase his memory, but she knew not how much of his memory she had taken.

She lifted the boy onto her sleigh and commanded that the reindeer take them home at once. Until she could properly choose her next course of action, Sigrid would have to keep Kay in her castle. He was nearly unconscious as she helped him into her bed. She supposed that allowing the boy to sleep and warm himself again while she consulted fru Edda for advice would be best.

She stole one last glance at the shivering figure under her blankets before riding back to the town.

Author's Note:

Hey, people! So, this is just a retelling of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen that I wrote for my English class. I hope you enjoy!

If any of you were wondering, it's split into three parts that I will update each week.