Elsa's decoded graph matched a small section of coast and isles. The coordinates pointed to a volcanic island in the seas between all three of their kingdoms.

At once, Rapunzel ordered the Barefoot Maiden be prepared to sail. Servants went on ahead to deliver the news while the three of them stayed to help. Rapunzel healed anyone injured. Elsa inspected the surrounding area, making sure any stray fires were out. Ariel helped with clean-up.

Before sunset, the girls rode back, heading to the docks. The few remaining crewmen were loading barrels of supplies, arranging ropes, and repairing sails.

The three of them climbed on board. Flynn stood on the deck with Maximus.

"Ansel's already on his way to Arendelle," Flynn said. "Took a scout ship. Sure was eager to get out and pound some heads."

"Good. He'll probably be there by the time we reach where we're going," Rapunzel said.

She stopped, feeling something tickle the back of her head. "No, Pascal, I told you, not this time. It's too dangerous. We don't know what we're getting into." She placed him on Maximus's saddle and gave him a pat. He groused, crossing his arms.

"Are you sure you don't want to wait? It's going to be nightfall soon," Flynn said.

"Then it's the perfect time for us to go," Rapunzel said. "I wish you could come with us."

Flynn shook his head. "We need to figure out how that fire started and how it got so out of control. Max insists we need to start while the evidence is fresh. But are you sure you don't want to bring any soldiers?"

"Fate seems determined to keep this quest to us three," Elsa said before Rapunzel could reply.

Two men walked up the deck plank, carrying a giant vat of water between them. "Princess Rapunzel, is this supposed to be on deck? It could be dangerous if it starts sliding on deck."

"I'm willing to take that risk," Rapunzel said.

"What do you need it for anyway?" asked Flynn.

Rapunzel, Elsa, and Ariel met eyes with each other.

"I... like..." Ariel stammered, "to take a bath under the stars. Yes, it's one of my nightly rituals. It's good luck."

"Speaking of night, it's time to shove off," Elsa said after glancing at the horizon.

The crewmen cleared the deck. Rapunzel and Flynn embraced while Maximus looked away awkwardly. Elsa pulled down the mainsail. Ariel took the wheel. Rapunzel hoisted the anchor and waved goodbye to her husband.

Once the ship was clear of Corona's ports, Ariel slipped off her clothes and jumped into the water tank. And not a moment too soon. The sun flashed before submerging into the ocean.

Ariel cringed as the transformation took place.

"You okay?" Rapunzel asked, coming to her side.

Ariel held up her finger, indicating to wait. Beneath the dark water, her legs melted together from top to bottom. Ariel released her breath. "I wonder if that's what childbirth is like. Thank you again for the tub," Ariel said.

"We missed you bunches last time. I'm so glad you can stay up here now, even if you can't move far."

Ariel sat back in her tub. "I don't think it even matters."

"What? Why would you say that?"

"Rapunzel, do you think I'm helping at all?"

"Of course! Why would you say such a thing?"

"Elsa can control ice and snow. You can heal people, plus your hair is super strong. I can't control my trident and I've got to stay out of sight for half the day."

"You are helping. Even if we weren't cursed, we'd want you along. I like the way we kind of complement each other."

"But you both have skills to make up for your faults. You know about art, astronomy, geology, strategy..."

"Well, when you have only a single room, you have plenty of time to learn," Rapunzel said.

"Elsa knows about queen things. Laws and government and national relations."

"You will too. It just takes experience."

Ariel looked into the burgeoning night sky. "I had six older sisters. I was so far down the chain of succession I never thought I'd be ruling anything. So I just played and explored and did what interested me. I never dressed up, hated putting things in my hair. My sisters got so mad when I got away with stuff. They yelled at me when I was daydreaming in lessons. One time I was late for the ball in my honor, and then left early anyway."

"You'll have your time to shine," Rapunzel said. "Believe me, it's not exciting dealing with all these politics either."

Ariel wondered if Eric felt the same way. He always got a certain look when he tried to explain something or the problem he was facing. Now, she knew it was because she always drifted away somewhere.

Rapunzel stood up. "I'm going to get some sleep before I take over for Elsa."

"I will too," Ariel said. "Good night." Her red hair swirled as she submerged. Above her, the sky wavered and wobbled through the water.

----------------------------------------

Ariel woke up in terror. She couldn't breathe. Vision blacked in and out. Her chest was about to explode. She flailed her arms until she found purchase beneath her and pushed.

Water sputtered out of her mouth. She took a great big gasp, still blind by wet hair over her eyes. Hacking, she pulled it away.

It was daylight. She was in the water vat, on the boat.

Elsa ran up to her, tipping with the motion of the boat. "Ariel? Are you okay?"

Ariel felt beneath her torso. She had transformed from mermaid to human in her sleep. The pain didn't even wake her up, if there had been any.

"I'm fine," she said. "Overslept. Do you think you could get me some clothes?"

Ariel dried off, got dressed, and joined the other two at the forecastle. Rapunzel's hands steered the wheel.

"There it is," she said, nodding forward. The island they were seeking lay straight ahead.

Ariel looked through the spyglass. The only flat land lay near the coast, where lush greenery garnished the beach. A mountainous volcanic peak in the center occupied the rest, belching obsidian ash into the atmosphere.

"Hmm," Ariel said.

"What?" Elsa asked.

"Nothing. It's just... I think this place is over the Abyss. It's an awful place. A dark chasm near Atlantica. Full of creatures I'd never seen before. The pit monsters are always feeding. They make huge undercurrents with their mouths. Makes it almost impossible to escape from."

"Good thing we're not going swimming," Elsa said.

The women anchored the ship, then took the longboat to the coast. Each wave crashed with the labored breath of a hunted animal.

The girls pulled the boat up past the tide. "Now what?" Elsa said. "Do we wait for someone?"

"Didn't the map have anything to say?" Ariel asked.

"No, it was just an outline of the island."

The girls kicked at the dirt, waiting for something to happen. No one felt comfortable moving on until they knew where they were moving on to.

Tired of standing, Elsa sat in the sand. Maybe this was all just a loss. She couldn't believe they had gotten all this way just to be stopped. What was the point of a map that only took you part of the way?

"Ohhhh. Now I get it," Rapunzel said.

"Get what?" Elsa asked. Rapunzel dug in her knapsack.

"The magician's gaze. That's what it was talking about. Look." She pointed in the distance to a jagged rock formation. "It's the rocks. It looks like a magician. See his pointy hat? And his nose?"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Oh, I see it!" Ariel gasped. "That long thing is his arm doing a spell!"

Elsa didn't see it, but stood up. It was as good a place to start as any. They hiked up through the trees, approaching the rock site until they spotted an unusual clearing. Rapunzel burst through.

"Look!" She pointed up to the magician. "See his eye? We're under his gaze. That must be what the sonnet is. It's a way for us to navigate the island. 'I haply dote on thine magician's gaze / Command me spell bound my heart to find thine'."

"Like a treasure map," Ariel added. "So where do we go next?"

Rapunzel consulted. "The sun beweeps red tears of flame from rays / Doth brightest cans't to match thou brilliant shine.'"

"The sun's path... we follow the sun?" Elsa asked.

"Go west until we meet whatever the next thing is," Ariel finished.

Tracking the sun was difficult amid the trees, but they petered out as a smell of brimstone pervaded. Each of the girls were continually wiping their brows and drinking from the canteen.

"This island didn't look that big from the ocean," Ariel said.

"Do you hear that rumbling? Or rushing?" Rapunzel asked.

Elsa pulled back some bushes and a wave of noxious sulfur hit her nose. A rivulet of lava seeped out of the mountain, slogging down to the ocean, creating a steamy geyser.

"Oh, the red tears of flame. The sun is hot, so lava would be a river of sun's tears," Ariel said, delighted.

"So how do we cross it?" Elsa looked for a bridge, but could find none. She could make a bridge of ice, but was worried about it melting too fast. The library fire had shown her what happened if she didn't concentrate enough.

Ariel sidled along the bank toward the mountain. "Hey, there's a rope bridge here," she said. Ash and soot had so so blackened the rope, they hadn't initially seen it. Ariel stepped on, feet on the bottom rope, hands clutching the top.

"Be careful," Rapunzel called. "That rope looks a little-"

SNAP

"flimsy."

The bottom rope snapped. Ariel's feet dangled before the sharp tug broke the upper rope as well. Ariel screamed as she tumbled toward the lava. The rope arced, swinging like a pendulum towards the other side.

"Hold on!" Elsa said.

Ariel slammed against the cliff face, spinning like a child's toy, but kept her grip. Not far from the top, she climbed the rest of the way.

"All you all right?" Rapunzel called out.

Ariel took a few moments to catch her breath after heaving herself over the edge. "Just fine," she called out. "But how are you going to get across?"

Rapunzel tied the end of her hair into a knot and threw it over the chasm. "Tie it around that tree," she said.

Ariel tied it around the thickest tree she could find, smudging her body with soot in the process.

"Is this going to hurt you?" Elsa asked Rapunzel.

Rapunzel wound herself three times around another tree. "Not a problem."

Elsa shimmied along Rapunzel's hair, hanging like a sloth. She willed herself not to look at the river of lava, instead focusing on upside-down Ariel beckoning her across. Her shining red hair was like a beacon.

Ariel helped her up and over. "Now how are you going to get across?" Ariel called out to Rapunzel.

"Untie me!" she shouted.

Rapunzel's unwound herself while Ariel and Elsa loosed her. She shimmied up the tree to the top, then gathered her hair into a coil. Like before, she lassoed a barren tree branch on the other side. With its inertia, the knot wrapped around tight. Rapunzel gave it a few tugs, then took a breath. She had done this before after all.

She leapt off the tree branch and swung over the lava bed. The branch held--she was going to make it-

-she thought, until the hair unwrapped itself. Neither leaves nor dirt would cling to the magic hair. Rapunzel careened toward her friends, no longer arcing up.

Ariel and Elsa reached out for her. They grabbed her arms as she slammed into the cliffside.

"Phew, thanks," she said. Rapunzel smoothed out her hair and undid the knot at the end. They continued into the forest, away from the sun's river of tears.

"What's the next line?" Ariel asked.

"'Time's tyranny of tide calls forth impart / But tread most feather-light across its flow / E'er contra the raucous tow of mine heart / And bid us route to wedding's altar glow.'"

"Water. We're looking for water." They continued through the dense brush, whacking at palm fronds that got too friendly.

Another rushing sound met their ears. But unlike the last, this came from a cool frothing waterfall, ending in a torrential river out to sea. One misstep and the current would trip them, carrying them to be crushed or drowned by the rapids.

"Okay, so we're not wading," Elsa said. "And the water's moving too fast for me to freeze."

"Look at those rocks," Ariel said. "Do you think they're close enough for us to jump?"

A collection of stiff monoliths lay in the river, having avoided erosion or removal. Each had a flat surface and were spaced close enough to step to.

"I think so," Elsa said. "Who wants to go first?"

The first rock stuck out where the rushing water met the river bank. Ariel stepped on.

"Are you sure? Out of all of us, you've got the least experience on your feet," Rapunzel said.

"I'll be fine," Ariel said.

Her next target was the rock nearest the opposite river bank. As soon as she placed her first foot on it, the stone cracked lengthwise and began to sink. Ariel frantically waved her arms, straddling the rushing river. She was about to fall forward when Elsa grabbed her hand, the other holding onto Rapunzel's hair. They swung back to the bank where all three collapsed on each other.

"Okay, so that wasn't a good idea," Ariel said. "There's got to be some way across."

"Wait, read the sonnet again," Elsa asked. Rapunzel did. "Maybe that thing about time is a clue. 'Tread most feather-light across its flow'."

"But how do you fight against 'time's tyranny of tide' with a bunch of rocks?"

If the nearest rock wouldn't fall, then the key was to know which rocks would collapse and which wouldn't.

"Wait, I see it," Elsa said. "It's a clock. See how those rocks in the middle are the hands?"

Rapunzel nodded. "So we just need to trace the clock's face."

"Right." Elsa hiked up her leg and prepared to step onto the nearest rock on her left. "No... wait. It said 'contra its raucous flow'. That means..." She stepped on the right rock instead. It held her weight. "Go backwards. Counter-clockwise." The third rock held. Elsa took the lead as they all rock hopped along the semi-circle. Once on the other bank, they all sighed with relief and hugged.

"What sort of person lives here?" Elsa stuttered. "Whoever it is really didn't want to be found."

"Or wanted to be found by the right person," Rapunzel added.

The riverbank had a path to follow, so they took it. They were getting tired and sweaty from all this traveling. "At least when I turn back into a mermaid, I'll be able to wash this off," Ariel said. It felt like they had gone around the island twice now.

The path ended at an odd structure made of yellow granite. It was about twenty feet high, topped with a spire. No entrance, but inside was an archway. Through it, the main path branched into seven.

"'That, lo, the nupt of fruits bloom ripe thereof / By lost and lonely gods of yore. Let past / And future both attend the vow. For love / Bear guard through eyes of patience none outlast.'," Rapunzel read. The three looked at each other and shrugged.

"I'm assuming if we take the wrong path we'll get lost," Elsa said. They explored the area, but found no clues to the riddle's answer. Rapunzel sat in the shadowy shelter, but nothing happened. The eight paths lay before her, none distinguishable from another.

Ariel brushed away dust and moss from the shrine. There may have been an embossed engraving at one time, but weather had smoothed it away.

"Hey, there's a hole here." Sand fell out of a hole no bigger than her pinky. Ariel stuck the end of the trident inside. Dozens of tiny black spiders skittered out in all directions.

"Yarrgh!" Ariel jumped back, climbing into Rapunzel's arms. Her face grew hot. "I was not expecting that."

Elsa inserted a thin stick in. It went all the way through and poked out the other side. "Looks like it's just a hole. I was hoping it would be a button or something."

Rapunzel, cautiously, put her eye up to it. "All I can see is the other side."

Ariel walked around and looked into the hole's other side, facing where they had come from. She could see the path leading back to the river and nothing else. Elsa passed by. Ariel stood up and sighed.

"Anything?" Elsa asked. She was right behind her.

"Jeez!" Ariel said. "How'd you get here so fast?"

"Huh?"

Ariel scowled in confusion. She looked through the hole. Nothing but the original path. "Wait, do that again."

"What did I do?" Elsa asked.

"Walk behind me."

Ariel returned to the peephole. Elsa walked past.

"I can see you... somehow... looking through it this way."

Rapunzel came around and tried. Ariel walked across the branching paths behind her. "I do see you!" she said. "I don't know how, but I do. Magic?"

"Mirrors?" Elsa suggested.

"Do you see me now?" Ariel asked, strafing across.

"Not yet... now I do," Rapunzel said.

"Look where I'm standing."

The two turned. She was standing on one of the routes, feet squarely on the path.

"Oh, I get it. 'Let past and future both attend the vow. For love bear guard through eyes of patience.' Look to the past to guide the future," Elsa said.

"You have to look where you've been to see where you're going," Ariel finished.

Feeling optimistic, they hurried down the dirt road. Now they realized their path was spiraling up the mountain, further from shore. Finally they ended at the cliff face of the volcano. It appeared to be a solid wall.

Ariel knocked. "Hello?"

The three of them ran their hands along the rockface, hoping for a seam or trigger. "It can't just end here." Elsa banged her shoulder against the wall. She was tired, thirsty, dirty, and just wanted to go home.

"Look." Ariel pointed to a tiny panel, almost too small to be noticed without close scrutiny. Three pinholes in a column, next to three gems.

Rapunzel squinted one eye and pressed her nose up. "Let's see... that yellow one's a topaz, a diamond, and a red zircon. Does that have any meaning to anybody?"

Ariel and Elsa shook their heads. "There's holes. So something needs to be inserted," Elsa said.

"Is there any more to the sonnet?" Ariel asked.

"The last two lines are 'At nocturne sweet rends mine and thou to we / Whence put sweet Iris lock in pair'ed key'," Rapunzel said. "What does that mean? How can you put a lock in the key?"

"Do we have to find those gemstones? Are they rare?" Elsa asked.

"Pretty rare. Maybe they're around the island?" Rapunzel said.

Ariel toed the ground while muttering to herself. "Lock and key, key and lock...a lock that's a key... lock that's the key..." She crossed her arms and played with an idle tress of hair.

Elsa scratched her head. "Ohhhhhhhh... a lock! A lock of hair."

"Three of us. Three holes," Rapunzel said.

"Yellow, white, and red!" Ariel finished.

Rapunzel sorted through her hair until she reached an end, then wedged it into the hole with the topaz. Ariel did her own. Elsa stuck the end of her braid in as far as it would go.

Rock cracked and groaned as dust poured from the cliff face. The stone melted away to a doorway-sized hole. A sweet smell of perfume wafted out.

"I guess we go in," Elsa said. The floor had an ornately decorated platform, lacquered in gold trim and wisteria velvet that felt pleasant on their worn feet. As soon all three had stepped on it, the platform jerked to life and rose at a slant.

"What's happening?" Ariel asked.

"Just hold on," Elsa said. The three of them interlocked arms so no one would fall. "I think we must be going to the top of the mountain."

The darkness was unnerving without anything to gauge their progress. Then at the top, light reflected off some kind of gold frame. The platform stopped short, ending at a lavish room worthy of a sultan. Purple and blue body-size pillows lay scattered on the floor, next to glossy tables filled with fruit. Sapphire and emerald tapestries hung between thin violet curtains. The room smelled of lavender and vanilla.

The three stepped out. All three were hungry and tired, but too nervous and polite to simply start partaking.

Then a door at the north end of the room opened. A young, blond man came through, wearing a gold-trimmed white robe with wide triangular shoulder pads. His outfit reeked of old magic, but his face was that of a twenty-year-old, not an experienced wizard. He walked in confidently, a boyish smile on his face.

"Welcome," he said. "My name is Arcius Cansteth."