Isolda

The laws of the ice people were as old and harsh as winter itself. Never changing, never bending, frozen in time for all eternity. Kings and Queens were temporary here. They held no real power, and were controlled by their counsels. They only gained a voice once they retired, becoming a counselor themselves to the new leaders that took their place. Yet the past rulers who made up the ice counsel were ancient, holding onto ideals that should have perished along with them decades ago. With no freedom to grow, to be an individual, life itself seemed outlawed for outsiders. This is the way that it has always been. This is the ice people way.

When Isolda came to power, she had such high hopes for changing her Queendom. She was always a rebel against the old ways, and many powerful figures watched her with uncertainty as she grew up. Intelligent, brave, beautiful. She was the heart of her realm, and the clear choice for Queen once the past King stepped down. Her counsel however, aged and out of touch with the world outside of the ice realm, hated that she had been chosen by her people. To them, she was a sign of the end times, a collapse of the laws that had protected the ice people since the dawn. She would have to be molded into what they needed her to be, there was no other way.

Upon the day of her title, Isolda was to marry another of royal blood before she could take her place as Queen. She had prepared the wedding down to the finest details, and she would choose for herself: Cai, the love of her life, to be the one by her side. Cai was not of royalty, but a commoner, one that she had held close since they were young. The people loved it, the Queen who defied the counsel by choosing one of their own. Of course, this would not be. Tradition would be honored. That was the ice people way.

As Isolda entered the courtyard where she was to be married, anxious to rest her eyes upon her beloved, she found no one waiting for her. The ice counsel were also not present, as if they had anticipated that a wedding would not happen this day. She rushed to the royal hall where the counsel stood waiting, hoping that she could question them in the disappearance of Cai. "This is the way", they told her, "We had to protect your title, Isolda. You must marry a royal blood to be Queen." She crumbled to the floor, her eyes blinded through pools of tears that instantly froze as they touched her skin. It was then that she saw in the darkened corner of the hall, a faint silhouette of her love, crushed in a coffin of ice.

Not a single counselor left that room alive.

It's been three years since the public last climbed the steps to the royal hall. Three years since they found the counsel members, frozen with horrified expressions, sitting outside the doors that had been sealed shut with ice. In her absence, the Queendom has followed in her image, becoming a place of refuge for ice people seeking escape from the old world. Today, without warning, that frozen seal began to crack, and shatter. Silence set in as the entire population watched Queen Isolda emerge from her mourning room. And like an explosion, her people cheered so loud that her name echoed out over the surrounding coastline.

She immediately held out a hand to quiet them, all eyes on her as she said her first words as Queen. "I will travel to the arena of the Gods. When I return, all ice people shall be free. No ruler will command over you again. No King, no Queen, not even Valdis herself. You are all free today, now and forever. And in the arena, I will bring our freedom to all of Icengard."