MIRRORLING



Elsa couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t in the mirror. It seemed like it had been the whole of her existence. A reflection, a shadow; a being looked over and ultimately ignored. The only reason she knew it hadn’t been was that she could remember her first day in the mirror, that was seared in her memory. However, everything before it she had long forgotten or attributed to dreams.

Such was her lonely life that she had long ago given up on company, rather treating other people as a subject of interest. Something observed, but never interacted with. She knew the maids of the castle better than the steward, had witnessed things that left her blushing and others that made her wish she had the ability to interact with the real world. For she found people like her, lonely, unloved and ignored.

Nonetheless, this was her life. She never hungered, never knew thirst or physical pain, or even grew older so she managed the best she could. Of course, it wouldn’t be a good story if that was all that ever happened, now would it?

After an unknown number of years the castle that held her world of mirrors and shadows became home to a knight. Gifted to him for his services in the war that had recently ravaged the land, he joyously took it in hand. His wife was brought to the place and the old dreary castle changed for the first time in years. It was a week of curiosity and surprise for Elsa, her world shifting as the mirrors were moved here and yonder. What used to be hideaways became views of the parlor and her favorite people watching spots showing a whole new part of the castle she had forgotten.

With the new nobles came a daughter of five. Besides the whole world changing it was the brightest part of Elsa’s future. A girl close to her age! Personally she didn’t remember how old she was, but she felt young. There had been no birthdays to look forward to, no reasons to be mature and be responsible so she had lost count. However, with the arrival of the daughter she resolved to be eight. It was a good three years older than the daughter, which was proper because she was older. She just didn’t know how much older.

There was no question, the daughter became Elsa’s favorite person, forgoing even Gerda, who she had known for however long as her most favorite of people with her stories and songs. As a girl of eight she envied the daughter. Elsa followed her throughout the castle, watching her lessons with interest and laughing silently at the pranks she conducted throughout the castle. She learned the daughter’s name was Anna, as everyone screamed it often enough when she got in trouble. Elsa decided it was a lovely name.

Elsa had even moved from the mirror in the attic, her most safe of hideaways that even the new lady of the house hadn’t moved, to sleep in Anna’s vanity mirror. It wasn’t any surprise that a curious and lonely Anna quickly noticed the person in the mirror.



At first Anna thought the girl was an illusion, something seen only at the corner of her eye. A cruel trick of the castle that her father had dragged her to. Even so, just the possibility of some playmate her age gave her hope. She looked high and low for the girl, exploring every nook of the castle she could access in search for her. When that failed she asked after the girl, but she didn’t appreciate the looks of amusement she got when she asked after the ‘blonde girl with a braid, who’s a little taller then me’.

No, there weren’t any kids her age in the castle. Just old people and a few young adults that had better things to do than entertain the new lord’s daughter. Oh no, that was the job of the tutor her father had dragged along with them. She didn’t like the tutor and the tutor didn’t much like her either.

However, she knew she had seen the girl. She had seen her laughing even! It was one of the few times she could catch a full glimpse of the girl, since the blonde always closed her eyes and covered her mouth when she laughed the hardest. Needless to say Anna got into a lot of trouble her first month at the castle and became a right little terror for the maids. It was worth it, to make her laugh.

Even with as busy as her father was, assuming his new title of baronet and lord, he came down hard on her mischief and Anna was grounded to her room for her crimes. She was doomed to the plainest of food and a whole warm summer day spent within the confines of her four walls. As a child of five she considered it to be the closest thing to a sentencing of eternal boredom.

All of it was maddening. First the move from their cozy cottage in the village to a castle of all things. Then she found there was a girl that didn’t really exist, as she was apparently the only person who saw the illusive blonde. Discounting the illusion, there was also no other children in the whole of this rock prison! Her tutor hated her and she had driven the maids to such a froth they had pulled her father’s wrath down on her. Worse yet, it was the first time he had paid any whit of attention to her for the last few months!

She didn’t cry, oh no. Anna Fairweather was too old to cry, she just pouted while somehow getting some water got on her cheeks. Lamenting everything that had led up to this moment. This was nothing like her old room. For one the sound of her pouting echoed too well and it was far too large. It reminded her that this wasn’t home, no matter how pleased her mother and father were at their change in fortunes.

Her sobs had quieted down to gentle hiccups when she heard the sound. The sound of soft lonely humming. Wiping the water off her cheeks she sought it, eventually finding that it was loudest by her desk. She didn’t know why she thought to look in her mirror, but she was glad she did.

There in the mirror was the reflection of a girl that wasn’t her. She was curled in the rocking chair by the foot of her bed’s reflection, slowly rocking as she hummed. Anna’s jaw dropped, her mind trying to take in all of this. It… she turned her head to check the actual rocking chair but there was neither girl nor rocking. Whipping her head back she relaxed a bit when she realized the girl was still there.

Magic. There could be no other explanation after all of the stories she had been spoonfed since the cradle. With so many stories running in her mind she easily accepted the reality of what she saw and grew excited about it. Her mother had never read or told her any stories about little girls trapped in mirrors. An adventure of her very own that even included a damsel! This castle was looking better already!

Eager to solve the riddle of this curse she started to study the girl and the mirror itself. The mirror was fitted firmly to her vanity, held up by pink painted wood. Her own reflection wasn’t even in the mirror now that she started to study it. Somehow it was like she was looking into a perfect copy of the room, like through a window. The girl was wearing a light dress and was missing shoes. Which seemed odd, the stone floors were awfully cold at the strangest times. The most striking feature of the girl was her hair, which was either a light gold or platinum color. It was hard to tell when she was so far away in the mirror.

Her examination ended when she gave the glass a solid impatient poke, trying to see if it was similar to a magic door to another world. Nope, but her fingers didn’t smudge the surface instead making it gently ripple like water. The humming stopped and she looked up to see the girl looking at her in a mix of wonder and fear.



Elsa froze. Anna was staring straight at her, nose almost pressed up against the mirror. Her heart clenched and for the first time she felt the closest she ever had to physical pain. She was scared and for all of her she couldn’t think of what to do. So she stared dumbly at the girl, her mind blank and body shivering.

“Hello? Can you hear me? I hope so, I would look awfully silly talking to you when you can’t hear me. Or maybe not?” Anna looked up to the right, her mind thinking. She knew how to write and read, but did the girl in the mirror? She put her mind to work at solving this obstacle, refusing to let something as minor as a language barrier keep her from an adventure.

Elsa opened her mouth and another realization petered out. When had she last spoken? Had she ever? Still she tried, taking a deep swallow before she whispered.

“I can.” It came out quiet and more akin to a croak.

“Oh bother, I can’t hear you.”

Elsa gulped then started to walk over, speaking louder. “I can, hear you that is.”

“Joy of joys! Hello, my name is Anna Fairweather. As my mother would say, recent of those Fairweathers, but you can just call me Anna. I don’t care much for titles when they involve lessons and getting snubbed by uppity snobs.” Anna clapped her hands together, glad to finally be speaking to the girl in the mirror. A kid her age that she could talk with and, dare she think it, play with!

“O-oh? Well I’m Elsa. I can’t… remember my last name so I suppose I am just Elsa of the Mirror.”

“Elsa of the Mirror.” Anna’s voice went all dreamy at the notion. Elsa blushed before she rubbed it away, hoping that it didn’t show nearly as well as she thought it did.

It was the start of a long and quite amusing adventure.