children’s identities from all but the two of you until the curse has lifted. It will keep both your daughters safe from harm in the kingdom, but it will also protect their fragile hearts if we remove their memories of each other as well.” Mama looked startled. “Only until the curse lifts,” he assured her. “If we do that, neither child will remember the other when they wake.”
Realization of what the troll was saying was written all over Mama’s face. She looked from one daughter to the other one, just feet away. “This feels so cruel. And yet, I don’t believe we have any other choice.” She looked at Papa. “At least they won’t have to live with the truth their father and I possess.”
Grand Pabbie looked at her sadly. “It is not fair,” he agreed.
Mama rose to her full height. Her lower lip wobbled as she looked at Papa, her eyes filled with tears. “We have to let Grand Pabbie help them forget each other’s existence until the curse lifts. We need to find someplace safe for one of them to go. It’s the only way.”
Papa appeared as devastated as Mama. “But how do we decide who stays with us?”
Even some of the trolls were weeping for the king and queen. Elsa watched the scene with tears streaming down her face. She felt her parents’ pain. Mama finally spoke.
“Elsa will stay with us,” she decided. “She is next in line to the throne, and her powers are too strong for her to control on her own.” Papa was crying now, too. “You know this is how it has to be, Agnarr. Once Elsa remembers she has them, we need to be there to help her understand.”
Papa nodded. “You are right. But where will Anna go?” His voice was breaking.
“Is there someone you trust to look after your daughter as if she were their own?” Grand Pabbie asked Mama.
“There is,” she whispered. “I’d trust this friend with my life. But raising my daughter is a lot to ask.”
“Nothing is too much to ask when it is done out of love,” Grand Pabbie reminded her. “And to ease your anguish, Anna can be hidden in plain sight.” Grand Pabbie looked at Mama. “You are the only two who will remember her true birthright. You can still see her when you want, but she won’t know her true identity.”
Papa and Mama looked at each other from across the valley. Both of them had tears steaming down their face. Papa turned to Grand Pabbie. “Do what you must. Just protect both our daughters.” He hesitated, the words almost too hard for him to say out loud. “Help Elsa forget she has a sister, erase Anna’s memories of her past life, and…remove Anna’s existence from the kingdom’s memory.”
Watching them, Elsa understood her parents’ decision, but she could also feel their pain, which mirrored her own. If only she hadn’t interfered…
Closing his eyes, Grand Pabbie raised his hands to the stars again. The images of Anna’s and Elsa’s separate lives swept past them like clouds. He rolled the images into one and pressed a hand to Anna’s forehead. Then he walked up the steps and did the same thing to Elsa. A flash of bright white light rippled across the valley like an earthquake, traveling to the far reaches of the kingdom before disappearing.
“It is done,” Grand Pabbie said. “And now I have a gift—your future.”
Grand Pabbie raised his hands into the sky again and showed Mama and Papa new images. One was of Anna playing happily in a village courtyard with a group of children. The other was of Elsa studying with her father in the library. Both girls were smiling. Both were thriving. They just weren’t together. Mama and Papa attempted to smile through the sadness.
“When the time is right, they will remember and be reunited,” Grand Pabbie promised.
That was the last thing Elsa heard before Grand Pabbie touched the memory in the sky and it seemingly swirled back into his hand, which he pressed again to his forehead. “Do you understand now why it isn’t safe for you to find Anna?” he asked gently.
“But I remember Anna,” Elsa said, her voice rising. “Doesn’t that mean the curse is broken?”
Grand Pabbie shook his head. “It is starting to break, but if the curse were truly broken, not only would you remember your sister, the whole kingdom would as well.”
Elsa’s heart sank. Grand Pabbie was right. She was still the only one who knew