"I'm sorry, what are you guys again?" The city guard captain removed his iron helmet and cleaned his ears with his pinky.
In front of him was Henry, wearing a long black robe along with a pair of gloves that could be seen in a nearby clothing store. Combined with a tall and black top hat on his head, the whole getup screams mystery and would certainly attract curious stares.
On his right shoulder is Too-Too the owl, staring straight into the city guard captain's eyes, causing the man to shift uncomfortably.
While on the left shoulder is Polynesia, cutely tilting her head at the city guard who looked like was practiced in a mirror a thousand times.
Henry bore a big smile on his face as he spread his arms, "I'm a magician! See these two feather friends of mine? They're about to bring smiles and laughter throughout the entire capital city of Arendelle!"
As if in cue, both Too-Too and Polynesia flew and started circling the city guard captain, much to the latter's amazement.
A few seconds later and drawing even curious glances from other passerbys, the two birds settled back on Henry's shoulders.
Henry confidently smiled, "How about it?"
The city guard captain contemplated for a few minutes, his eyes scanning Henry head to toe from time to time, before finally sighing in defeat. Ever since the King and Queen's death, the entire city has been gloomy, and without the princesses' intervention due to an unknown reason for shutting themselves inside the royal castle, the citizens were both afraid and lost—witnessing their beloved Arendelle Kingdom falling apart day by day.
"Alright. You can perform for a whole week but you gotta pay after that with what you earned for the week, understood?" With that, the city guard went back inside the tall structure and came back out with a paper in hand.
"Here take this. If any knights or guards ask about you, just show them this. Now go."
With a nod of gratitude, Henry made sure to remember the man's face to pay the kindness back. Something like this and the city guard captain just handed it to him way too easily.
'As I expected, I already noticed the depressive atmosphere since earlier. They probably haven't moved on yet from the death of their King and Queen.' Henry murmured to himself, looking around him and seeing the hunched backs of the Arendelle citizens. Some were busy, minding their own business while others tried to cheer themselves up but failed.
This leaves Henry to a conclusion of how the King and Queen are truly great rulers to be loved by their own people that their death could cause such repercussions. Back in his world, if a politician dies, only the news stations mourns.
And this is exactly how Henry wanted to be seen as. He wanted to be loved by the people of Lioncrest Kingdom, be seen as a kind-hearted King who cares for every single being inside his land.
Perhaps, being washed up here with no way back home is a blessing in disguise. He can learn more about the King and Queen and discover what made them so loved by the citizens.
"That was easier than I expected." Too-Too, the ever-brooding owl with fascinating intelligence behind his large eyes, spoke with relief.
Polynesia on the other hand, scoffed, "Now how are you going to back your words up. Seriously, a magician? What, are you going to pull Nibble out of a hat now?" The mention of their rabbit friend earned a chuckle from Too-Too.
"Oh, I haven't told you yet?" Henry smiled and as soon as he led them into a secluded alley, much to their confusion, he raised his hand and cast Wind Barrier.
"What the?" The two birds both raised their brows in surprise or what he assumed their brows to be.
In their eyes, a soft wind suddenly circled Henry, they might not see it but they could feel it, the air around him suddenly turned active.
"Try touching me." Henry confidently smiled.
Too-Too was cautious and shook his head. Leaving the parrot to go ahead and try it for herself.
With a spread of her wings, she dove towards Henry, and much to their surprise, instead of hitting him, Polynesia was thrown to his side all of a sudden, almost hitting a wall.
"Woah." Too-Too was wide-eyed while Polynesia was trying to figure out how she wasn't able to hit Henry.
"So you're really a magician, all this time?!"
Henry simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "I still have a lot to learn. I haven't finished my training with Master Elias since I need to leave for my voyage. I only have two spells under my belt for now but I believe I can learn more by myself."
Too-Too, barely minded the details and cared more about the possibilities, "With what you can do, delivering a spectacular performance and earning money will no longer be a problem! We gotta tell the others about this!"
Polynesia gave the owl a side-eye while clearing her throat, clearing Too-Too from his initial excitement, "And you're not going to ask Henry dear here if he wants his information to be shared with the others, owl?"
The said owl, realizing his mistake, embarrassingly looked back at Henry.
Although Henry doesn't understand what they were talking about since only Polynesia speaks human language, he assumed what Too-Too wants and replied, "It's fine. It's not that much of a big deal considering they'll be part of our band."
With that being said, they went back to the clinic, with Too-Too being more excited than the two of them. The prospect of bringing the doctor out of bankruptcy fills him with joy.
———
'I take it back. I shouldn't have told them about my magic.' Henry stared in exhaustion as Jip and Chee-Chee both kept asking him to show off his magic, though the former was just barking, and the latter was grunting.
"Come on, Henry. Just one magic trick, please!?" Jip the dog kept running around him in circles. The grey Irish Wolfhound simply can't control his excitement from the discovery of magic.
On the other hand, Chee-Chee the gorilla simply wanted Henry to pull a banana out of his top hat.
"Jip, Chee-Chee, stop it you two! Instead of disturbing Henry dear, how about the two of you go over your scripts? We have a stage to perform tomorrow!" Thank the heavens for Polynesia's presence keeping them in check.
Casting a grateful look at the parrot, Henry found a secluded corner to ponder about magic.
He was thinking about how to learn spells all by himself. He recalled asking Master Elias when he was still learning the wind barrier magic spell about the concept of magic spells and elemental manipulation. Instead of learning a magic spell that is already designed to follow a single purpose, why can't he just learn how to use magic to manipulate the element itself, and start from there to start learning magic spells?
Master Elias then answered him about how it is easier to learn magic spells due to their simplicity and systematic way. It's like learning an entire concept by starting piece by piece or step by step and climbing your way up until you learned the entire thing.
Let's say for example, if you want to learn how to ride a horse, you gotta know how to climb on your horse first which is equivalent to learning one magic spell, then how to use the reins to get the horse to face a certain direction which translates to learning another magic spell, and so on.
In layman's terms, absolute manipulation of an element is way too advanced for the current him.
Basically, Henry was left with no choice but to scrap his plan of forcing himself to learn how to manipulate elements and had to settle for learning magic spells systematically.
'I can just use what I already learned about Wind Barrier and Water Bubble and use them as a reference for what I'm about to learn.'
What Henry wanted to do was to start learning the other elements, in other words, Earth and Fire magic.
When Henry first started on Wind Barrier, he had to grasp the element of wind through his Magic Hymn, and through there, he could use the familiar feeling to will the Wind itself to form a barrier around him.
It may seem easy but it's harder than it sounds.
'This is going to be a very long day.' With a sigh, Henry buried himself deep into his study.
———
—{Princess Anna}—
Standing in front of my sister's door, I hesitated to knock. Rather, I'm tired of knocking on her door.
Ever since mom and dad's death, I barely have any life inside here in the castle. As much as Kai and the others are trying their best to cheer me up, it's all futile. I know for sure that this empty feeling inside me can only be filled once I get to see and play with my sister again.
I hate to admit it, but sometimes I would cry myself to sleep, hoping to get some closure with my sister, Elsa. But she's always been isolating herself in her room for years, with only Kai, our steward, and Gerda being the ones who can only come and go from her room by bringing her food and other necessities.
I wonder what happened. Where did it go wrong? Did I say something that made Elsa hate me so much as to hide herself in her room for years?
When I asked my dad and mom about her. All they told me was how interacting with Elsa would be a danger not just for her but also for me. So I assumed that perhaps Elsa caught a rare illness when she was a child and no doctor in the Kingdom could cure it, hence why they left on a voyage that day, to find help outside for my sister.
With a sigh of defeat, I retracted my hand from the door and walked away. No matter what I do, Elsa would always shut me away.
On the way back to my room, I encountered one of the castle's servants, "Good morning, Princess Anna. Would you like me to fetch you a chocolate pudding outside?"
"No thanks, I'm not in the mood for it, Isabella. I'm off to bed to squeeze some more sleep." Politely declining the offer, we both went past each other.
However, all of a sudden I froze. Recalling the word that Isabella just said earlier.
Outside.
Maybe, just maybe I could go outside instead? Although such a thought hasn't crossed my mind for years since I got caught the last time and dad had to ground me for it, it's also because of how many years passed without repeating an escape that the security became more lax.
Maybe I could go to the capital and see what's changed. It's been like 10 years since I last visited, only watching it from afar through the window in my room.
With a deadly yet exciting thought in my mind, I quickly bolted back to my room.
First things first, I need a fake. Since I already told Isabella I would sleep some more, I wouldn't be disturbed for a few hours. But just to be cautious, I buried several pillows under a blanket, making it look as if I'm sleeping with a blanket draped over my entire figure.
Then, after that, I locked the door. I doubt it would hold them back that long since Kai, being the steward, had keys for every room in the castle except for the Master Bedroom. But every second counts I guess.
Opening the window of my room, I looked down and at that moment, I instantly felt like going back on my decision. It's not like I'm afraid of heights but still, the thought of falling and breaking all the bones in my body passed through my mind.
With a deep breath to relax my nerves, I threw down the rope that I made by tying several of my clothes and extra blankets together, and tied it to my bed. I don't think my weight would be a problem here.
Thankfully, I used to do this when I was a child, so climbing down was easy enough. Once I'm on the ground, I allow myself to sigh in relief.
Fortunately, my years of living inside the castle grounds made me aware of the security around such as the intervals of patrolling guards, the shifts, and all that.
With a mix of ducking, crawling, dirtying my casual dress, and patience, I finally escaped by squeezing myself through the small gap on the side of the large gate.
Now, here's where the real problem comes. How am I supposed to cross the bridge without getting caught? If it were dark, I might have a chance of passing through without being seen but it's daylight and the sun is as high as it can be.
'Maybe this was a bad idea.' My face darkened at the thought.
No, Anna! There's no going back now. It's now or never!
With that thought in mind, I decided to risk it all and go under the bridge. It might be extremely dangerous but hey, danger is my middle name.
——————————
[Before you all start barking. Anna is not part of the romance, she'll still end up with the GOAT himself, Kristoff. I do have plans to change Anna's fate.]