Elsa, Ariel, Rapunzel, and Arcius stared at each other. He looked as if he were waiting for them to make the next move.

Ariel leaned in to the others. "What do we say?" she whispered.

Elsa stepped forward and curtseyed. "I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle. This is Princess Ariel and Princess Rapunzel."

"Yes, I know." He walked up to them and kissed Elsa's hand. Then he embraced Elsa in a hug, to her surprise. He smelled sweet and clean. "I am so glad you made it. I was afraid there were too many obstacles in your path. Or you might choose the wrong direction," he said, after embracing Rapunzel and Ariel in turn.

"So you sent us these letters." Rapunzel pulled out hers.

"I did," Arcius said. "And I'm glad you were able to decipher them. Encryption is a difficult skill to master. It requires almost a mind-to-mind contact. And I apologize for all your hardships in getting here. I needed to make sure you and only you could find me."

"So you wanted us to come here?" Ariel asked. "Why?"

"We'll get to that. Believe me, I know your problems and I have every intention of helping you. But you must be hungry and tired. You've been working under such unnecessary duress. Let us discuss over a meal. We can fill our bellies and rest our bottoms."

Ariel giggled. Arcius clapped his hands.

A door leading to the west opened, leading to a well-lit hallway. "Down the hall is a room to freshen up in, clean clothes to wear. In the meantime, I shall prepare our repast." With a swish of his cape, he exited the way he came.

The hallway ended in a large, lavish dressing chamber. In the middle of the room sat a round table divided into thirds. Each of the three wedges faced a different vestibule, where a hot bath lay waiting.

"Wow," Ariel said.

"Yeah... that's all I can think of... wow," Elsa said.

Ariel pulled open the closet door, a room in itself. Dozens of elegant clothes lay hanging or folded inside the wardrobe. Ariel picked the dress that appealed to her the most. It was tailor made to her size and color.

"This all seems a little weird," Elsa said. "Are we sure he wants to help us?"

"At least he didn't attack us," Rapunzel said. "On the other hand, I don't know many good people that live alone in an island volcano lair."

Ariel said, "Ravir was living alone. Maybe having all that power makes you feel distant from others."

"Ravir was living in squalor. Arcius is living like a sultan," Elsa said. "I don't know. Something feels off."

"We're keeping our eyes open," Rapunzel said. "This isn't the first time people claimed to be helping us, right?"

"Right," Elsa and Ariel said, almost too loud.

The three of them took baths in water that never seemed to lose temperature. Each vanity had an assortment of make-up and powder individually attuned to their skin tones and colors. After all the rugged hiking and traveling, dressing up for a formal setting was actually pleasant. They couldn't stop complimenting each other on how elegant each looked.

"Ready?" Elsa asked.

They exited the dressing chamber to the central room. But it was no longer there. Or had been altered within an impossible timespan.

Before them was now a banquet hall with table settings for four--three chairs on one side, the fourth at the head. A magnificent chandelier of interlocking gold candelabras hung from the ceiling. Each setting had a glass already filled with white wine.

Favorite foods filled the table. A steaming pot of proper tea lay on a stone slab, exuding with earthy aroma. Ariel's eyes lit up at the sight of seaweed pasta. She hadn't had that since she was a child. Rapunzel salivated at the fruit pies.

Amid these were plates of spiced squash, stuffed peppers, cherries in sweet cream, oatbread, spiced plum mousse, and fig tarts. The three main dishes--roasted honeyed chicken, ham studded with cloves, and chopped mutton--lay like landmarks in a sea.

They pulled out their chairs and sat down. At that moment, Arcius came through the doors, wearing a more subdued robe with the same color scheme.

"Ladies, you look absolutely lovely. If every blade of grass were a quill and sky made of parchment, I could not begin to write of your beauty."

Ariel blushed. Rapunzel grinned. Even Elsa couldn't help but smile.

"I hope everything is to your liking. Please let me know if there's anything missing or tastes off," Arcius said.

"You made all this? Through magic?" Rapunzel asked.

"I did," Arcius nodded. "Please eat. I know you're starving. There's no need to stand on formalities here. We're all peers."

Ariel was the first to start taking food. The rest followed.

"Tell me, there must be an entertaining story on how you finally decoded the messages?" Arcius asked.

"We met Omis Ravir," Ariel said. "He helped us."

"Omis Ravir..." Arcius took a sip of wine. "I didn't know he was still around. Good for him."

"He was living in an abandoned church, all alone. He said the magic had corrupted him," Rapunzel said. "He didn't even look human anymore."

Arcius sadly nodded. "Yes, it is easy for power to force one's desire toward isolation. I am no different."

"But you don't seem like him," Elsa said.

"I was lucky to avoid the consequences Ravir did. But only through harsh discipline. It is a fine line to walk for mortal man to degenerate into turpitude. Power only thins the line further. Once I had taken the mantle, my journey had only begun. But I had good teachers."

"Was one of them Dame Naidra?" Ariel asked, slurping up more seaweed pasta.

"Ah, Dame Naidra..." A boyish smile appeared on his face. "Now that's a name I haven't heard for a while."

"She's the one who told us about the cult of Temeris," Ariel said.

"She's a strong woman. I admired her for that. I met her near the end of my odyssey. She was something of a student herself at the time, but she yielded remarkable self-control for someone so young."

"She's not that young anymore," Ariel said.

"Wait a minute," Elsa said. "You knew Dame Naidra when she was younger? How old are you?"

Arcius grinned. "As old an idea, but younger than thought. Yes, the magic does increase one's longevity but it's no path to immortality. As to answer your question, I'm afraid I don't know," he said with a laugh. "The moment one stops keeping track of time is the moment it becomes lost forever. I simply had no need to track the hours and days anymore. My self-imposed isolation saw to that."

Elsa said, "Then do you-"

"ERRRK..." Ariel seized up, dropping her fork with a clatter. She strained against the chair, eyes closed, teeth grinding.

"Ariel?" Rapunzel said.

"Sunset," she said through gritted teeth. "No windows. Couldn't tell..." Silver and china clanged as Rapunzel and Elsa sprang up. They lay her down on the floor.

Arcius stood, looking alarmed. "She's turning back into a mermaid, isn't she?"

Rapunzel and Elsa looked up, stunned.

Arcius wiped his mouth hastily. "Let me help."

He waved his hand and fluttered his fingers. A gentle dusting of gold particles rained over her, settling on Ariel's kicking legs before disappearing.

Ariel released her held breath. Her legs dropped to the floor.

"There. The curse is removed. You should no longer change form," Arcius said.

"You removed it? Just like that?" Ariel asked.

"Yes. Again, I cannot apologize enough for all I've put you through. This was all a misunderstanding."

"You put the spell on her?" Elsa asked, matter-of-factly. "On all of us?"

"Yes."

Elsa and Rapunzel helped Ariel to her feet. "You made Rapunzel's hair grow long and my kingdom covered with ice."

Arcius sighed, jowls drooping. "Yes. I am the one responsible."

"Can you undo it?" Rapunzel asked.

"I could. But..." He tapped his chin. "Let me show you something first."

He turned and entered the double doors at the end of the banquet hall. Ariel, Elsa, and Rapunzel hiked up their skirts and followed him. They headed down a set of stairs, deeper within the mountain, until they reached a bridge.

The bridge crossed over a tremendous chamber--thousands of feet up, thousands of feet down. And eerily silent. At the top, the roof contained a jagged hole where they could see the orange sky. Down below, darkness covered all, but they could smell the tang of salt and lapping water.

"This is the inside of the volcano," Rapunzel said.

"The very core. The sky above and the sea below," Arcius said.

"You hollowed it out?" Rapunzel asked.

"This is the center of my world. It makes an effective playground for my practice. The rooms you saw, I hardly ever enter. They are for the benefit of guests."

They began crossing the bridge. Ariel made the mistake of glancing toward the terminal abyss that awaited with a slight misstep and got dizzy.

There was a single stand of chromium metal at the end. It had a large concave dish on top, like a birdbath. A shallow pool of blue liquid lay inside the alabaster dish. Not water, though it was as translucent and thin. Arcius beckoned them to gather round.

"Do you see it?" he asked.

At the bottom lay a microscopic granule, gleaming in the skylight.

"That," Arcius said, "is a grain from the sands of time. It's small, but there's immense power in it. Astronomical, world-shifting power. Power over time itself. And that, dear ladies, is where the root of your problems lie. You see, within one of my earlier operations there were elements that led to this becoming..."

"Reverted?" Rapunzel said.

"Yes. Spiritually speaking. It's complicated, but that's accurate to say."

"Where did this come from?" Ariel asked, eyeing it as a fine piece of jewelry.

"I'm afraid that story would be... incomprehensible. I wish I could tell you, it's fascinating. But there are no words for certain things I experienced."

"Wait," Elsa said, "So this grain of time somehow brought things back to how they were before?"

"It was a complete accident, I assure you. I can never apologize enough for the harm it's caused," Arcius said.

"With Ariel and Rapunzel, it kind of makes sense. But your 'operation' caused a huge ice storm in my town. How is that a reversion?"

"I apologize. This is all difficult to explain without foreknowledge. The results weren't simply a linear change or crossing of time streams. It was more of an... an echo. It brought out the innate natures of a previous time, before certain events had occurred. In each of your cases, fundamental life-changing events made a... I suppose a 'backslide' would be an appropriate term. For you, Elsa, your crisis was more wide-spread than personal."

Elsa shook her head. "I don't understand this at all. But do you have the power to change everything back?"

"Oh yes," Arcius said. "Absolutely. Of course... but... I was hoping you would listen to my proposal at first."

"Proposal?" Rapunzel asked.

"Yes, you see. My original intention wasn't to harm you. I was trying to summon you."

"Summon us?" Elsa asked.

"Yes. You three possess unique traits that intersect multiple spheres of nature. Your original form," Arcius said to Ariel, "Your connection to life essence," to Rapunzel, "And your inherited magic," to Elsa. "These omit you from the effects of the grain of time, no matter how hard I try."

"It sure seemed to affect us," Elsa said angrily.

"Yes, and therein lies why the experiment went wrong. It was totally unintentional. But my ways of making contact are limited, if I want to preserve my security. I sent those letters as soon as I could to encourage you forward. I'm afraid my roundabout methods only caused delays."

"But there's a way to undo it? Or fix it?" Ariel asked.

"Yes, but-" Arcius pointed a finger. "Let's first establish whether we want to do such a thing. Of course, your kingdom," he said to Elsa, "must be righted as soon as possible. I have already managed to remove the ice."

"Well, thank you for that," Elsa said. "But what about the clouds?"

"And my hair. It makes me a target," Rapunzel said.

"I'm not saying that it isn't issue. But what you girls don't realize is that, with your gifts, there is much untapped potential. Elsa has the power to freeze more than just ice. Rapunzel has the power not just to heal but to return life itself. Was that not done for your spouse?"

Rapunzel remembered when her hair had been cut, her powers gone, as she wept over Flynn's body. Her falling tears healed him, but she had always thought that was because he wasn't completely dead yet.

"And Ariel... you have the power of a god at your fingertips."

She held out her trident, looking at it.

He hunched toward them, as if telling a secret. "Imagine what the three... no, the four of us could do if we united."

"Like what?"

"Like turn back time." Arcius grinned. "Think about it. Even with the powers we each possess we are still held back by our human natures. We trust the wrong person or misunderstand another or simply run out of days. We're only limited by our inability to correct mistakes. Does that seem fair?"

"Are you saying we can go back in time?" Rapunzel asked. "Go back and... change things?"

Arcius made eye contact with Elsa. "Elsa. You could have the time back that you missed. Spend your formative years with your sister, out in the open, embracing your power instead of fearing it. Ariel, you could do so much knowing what you know now. You could stop the death of your mother. You could unite humans and merpeople. Rapunzel..." He bowed his head, clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Eighteen years. Eighteen years living under a lie. Eighteen years locked in a tower, in a single room, waiting for your life to begin. You'll never have those years back. But what if you could." His eyes bulged. "You could be a child again. You could have a mother and a father. You could have friends, toys to play with, the joy of growing up all over again. In the way you were meant to. You can have that."

"And you?" Elsa asked in a flat tone. "What would you do?"

Arcius straightened. "What wouldn't I do? With this kind of power my sorcery would turn obsolete. It... it would change everything. Every slight, every oversight--gone. Erased."

"You have time you want erased too, then?" Elsa asked.

Arcius sighed. "Yes, yes, I do. You refer to the time I spent within incarceration, I think."

Elsa nodded.

"A human life isn't without some regrets. I wanted to be powerful, but controlling such divinity takes commitment. Discipline. I needed isolation, confinement, time. There is no better place for that than prison."

"But you had to do something to get there."

"It was a victimless crime. I've never wanted to harm anyone, I assure you. But even after those twelve years, I wasn't strong enough. I knew the heart of Temeris would take time to master. Now that I have, the only thing stopping me is the limits of my human form. But with you..."

He reached out his hand.

"We could perform miracles."

The girls glanced at each other. No one wanted to be the first to speak.

Arcius pulled back his hand. "You look apprehensive. I understand. You don't have to decide anything now. Sleep on it. Stay the night. You've learned a great deal in a short amount of time. I'm sure you're quite tired. Let me show you to your rooms."

Arcius led them back across the bridge. He opened a door into a hallway and gestured them to enter.

"Good night ladies. When you are prepared in the morning, just ring the bell. You should have better dreams tonight than in any days past."

Arcius shut the door behind them once they walked through. The hallway ended in vast chamber. A picture window looked out onto the ocean. Three king-size canopy beds lay in a row against the wall, facing three dressing shades and vanity mirrors. Each desk contained basic essentials--water, hair ties, and a pillow smelling of their homeland. Balsam & pine for Elsa, honeysuckle & vanilla for Rapunzel, and sharp tropical and citrus fumes for Ariel.

One by one, they changed for bed, then returned to their spots. Rapunzel approached the picture window, awed by a living painting. She imagined she was overlooking the entire world. Ariel sat on the edge of her bed, rubbing her feet along the embroidered carpet.

"So..." Elsa said humbly. "What, uh... what do you all think?"

Nobody answered for a full minute.

"I... I don't know what to think," Ariel said. "The idea's so huge, it feels like it won't fit in my brain."

Rapunzel nodded. "It's a lot of power."

Elsa looked at her uncovered hands. "Too much power can be a bad thing."

Ariel spun her trident idly. "But it can be used for good."

"How do we know it'll be good?" Elsa asked. "How do we know what will happen at all? What if mermaids and humans became united? That would change the world."

"But think about all the other things we could do. All the good things," Rapunzel said. "Prevent wars. Stop accidents. Warn people before earthquakes or storms. Your parents wouldn't have died."

"You would never have been locked in a tower," Ariel said.

"But you also would have never gotten your hair. If we warned anyone about Mother Gothel, she might try something harsher than just kidnapping."

"But we could fix that. We could tell her not to use the flower. And then..." Rapunzel trailed off.

"And then you would never be born," Elsa finished. "I don't know what will happen if you start reaching into the past to change things."

"But it's not like we only have one chance to get it right," Ariel said. "If you don't like how something turned out, you can always change it."

"That's what bothers me. It's like taking back moves in chess. It changes the game. In fact, it makes it never end. You could drive yourself crazy thinking like that--what would have happened, what might have happened," Elsa said.

"But... if you can always go back to change things, you always have the time to plan it out," Rapunzel said.

"That's right," Ariel said. "We have all the time in the world. We have a grain of time."

"I'm not trying to advocate against it," Elsa said. "Lord knows I'd love to live a happier life."

"We could do that," Rapunzel said. "We could save all the Elsas and Ariels and Rapunzels."

"We could..." Elsa agreed.

Silence. And in that silence, one of two unspoken decisions hung in the air. All that remained was for one of them to grab it.

In the morning, the three of them entered the volcano's cavity, the centerpiece of Arcius's refuge. Sure enough, he was there, standing over the altar, gazing into the pool. Perhaps he had been there all night. Maybe he didn't need to sleep anymore with his level of magic.

Arcius didn't acknowledge their presence until they a few feet away. He straightened up.

"Good morning," he said. "I didn't expect you this early. But I'm glad you stayed. You could have run off and escaped the island, told everyone where I was. Shall we have breakfast?" Arcius started to walk back across the bridge.

"Before breakfast," Elsa said. "We wanted to let you know--we're not interested in what you're planning."

"Really?" Arcius said. "But why?"

Elsa sighed. "It... it sounds like a good idea. And I'm sure it could be. But it's just too complex. It raises too many questions."

"But isn't it still worth using?" Arcius asked. "Power over time itself. You're right, it is complex. But to make the world right--to bring peace and prosperity and unity--isn't that worth it? It's not even a matter of chance. I know we could get it right. There's no way we couldn't."

"But that's my point," Elsa said. "How far do you plan to go to 'get it right'? How far back do you go to change things? All the way back to the dinosaurs?"

"You'd be constantly starting over," Ariel said. "And over and over and over and over, every time something you didn't like happened."

"But it's not just me deciding," Arcius said. "It would be all of us."

"I don't want to decide," Elsa said. "I'm a queen. And I already think I have too much power."

"We all know what it's like to rule a country," Rapunzel said. "Ruling over time... I don't think we should try."

Arcius looked aghast. "Princess Rapunzel? Even you think this? You were a child slave, shown so little love and kindness. Your entire world was defined for you. I thought you over all would understand."

"Maybe I do," Rapunzel said. "But that doesn't mean I'd choose to turn it into something else. Without it, I wouldn't have learned astronomy or baking or art. I wouldn't have met my husband. It wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't torture."

Arcius paced across the narrow breadth of the bridge. He scratched the back of his head. "I don't understand this," he muttered. "How could you say no? It's what you all wanted out of life. A chance to make it all better. To stop the wounds of the world before they even start."

"We appreciate the offer," Ariel said. "It's just... not for us."

"But I need you for this. I can't do it alone. There's no one else." He approached Rapunzel and held her shoulders. "There must be something I can say to convince you. What about me? Without this all my work will evaporate. I've dedicated my entire life to this. Don't tell me it's all been for naught."

"Well, it's not like you're out of time. You're still young. If you want, we can help you find a new-"

"This was how you were supposed to help." Arcius shook her by the shoulders. "You've got to agree."

Elsa frowned. "Hey. Watch it."

"Sorry, sorry." Arcius raised his hands and stepped back.

"You gave us a choice. And we made it," Elsa said. "I'm sorry if it wasn't what you wanted to hear. "

Arcius rubbed one hand with the other, massaging his knuckles.

"Thank you for the hospitality, but we need to go," Elsa said.

He pursed his lips over and over. "I'm afraid that's no longer an option."

Elsa, Ariel, and Rapunzel opened their eyes wide. "You need to let us go now. Turn back the curse. Let us on our way."

"I'm afraid I can't," Arcius said. "Not because of the exposure of my location. I'm not worried about any defense force. But the gifts you have are far more important than yourselves. Elsa can freeze anything. Rapunzel can give immortality. Ariel has the power of a god. She can control more than half the earth."

"We told you," Ariel said. "We're not giving you any of our power."

Arcius smirked. "If you won't give it, I'll TAKE IT." He reached out his hand.

Rapunzel floated into the air, as if grabbed by an invisible giant. Elsa and Ariel reached for her, but it was too late. The golden hair wrapped around her like a ribbon, kinked in different parts, flashing like lightning. Each jolt left her hair with less luster and made her shriek in pain.

"Let her go!" Elsa said.

Ariel fired her trident. A blast of lightning hit Arcius in the shoulder. He barely acknowledged the impact. She fired again. Arcius held out his hand and absorbed the energy into his palm.

Elsa threw her arms at Arcius. A white jet encased Arcius's legs in solid ice. Arcius gestured his free hand at his legs. The ice melted as if under a hot lamp. "Keep testing me. Really."

Elsa and Ariel looked at each other.

Ariel pointed her trident at the altar. "I'll destroy the grain of time."

Arcius laughed. "If I can protect myself against your power, wouldn't I set up the same wards for what I hold most dear? And you know..." He held out his arm. An aura of energy began to grow, white hot like a star. "I only need one of you for this."

Ariel swallowed. In a panic, she fired her trident. The beam hit Arcius square in the eyes. He screamed and fell back.

Rapunzel fell from the sky. Elsa ran to catch her. The three of them fell in a heap.

"You all right?" Elsa asked. Rapunzel gulped, but nodded.

Arcius stalked toward them, both arms outstretched. "What have you done? I can't see-"

Rapunzel whipped her hair at Arcius's leg. It wrapped around his ankle. She yanked and his feet slid out from under him. He landed on his back, buying them a few seconds.

"We need to get out of here," Elsa said.

Ariel looked over the edge of the bridge. "Jump!" she said.

"Are you crazy?" Elsa and Rapunzel said at the same time.

"Just do it," Ariel said. She gripped her trident with both hands. "Trust me."

Elsa flashed back to Ariel's childish distractions. But she ran.

"Go! Go! Go!"

With a nudge of the trident, Elsa and Rapunzel dived into the abyss. Ariel followed. Their screams echoed in the hollow chamber. The wind pressured Ariel to close her eyes, but she kept them open. Growing darkness began to swallow them. Before they disappeared from her view, she aimed her trident. The weapon hummed with golden energy, then fired.

They hit the water hard. The water hit hard back.