Nathan Rowland paced around in the stingy smoky bar room nervously. He had been traveling to Arendelle for weeks in anticipation of the huge winter party that the royal family would be holding tomorrow. He was an assassin by trade and had been for several years, but found himself wanting something more. He didn't want to just fight for the highest bidder, he wanted something better. Something more noble. And then he had heard a story of a queen far away who had power over ice. Most people just dismissed it as some kind of drug induced hallucination, but he had seen stranger things than a Queen of ice. He ran a hand through his messy black hair and ordered another drink.

He normally avoided alcohol but he felt like he had to calm his nerves. It was strange how different he felt from when he was on a job. When he was off hunting for a person he was fine. He was calm. But now he didn't have any specific goal. He hoped he would be able to… he didn't know what he wanted to do. The whole thing was insane. He had no idea what he was doing. He set his drink down and paid for a room.

The room was incredibly bland. It was fashioned with some very generic looking wooden furniture but the bed looked soft and inviting, and a far sight warmer than the ones he had slept in recently. He removed his belt which held both his razor sharp sword in a dark leather sheath on his left side, and held a small compact crossbow on his right. He pulled off more bags and pockets full of things other people wouldn't touch with a ten foot barge pole. As he pulled of the final layer of leather vests and hardened weaves of fabrics he felt a sense of drowsiness overtake him in spite of the tight ball of anxiety coiled in his stomach.

He lay down on the bed, rest his head on the feather pillow and watched the shadows of the room climb the walls and ceiling until all the lights were snuffed out and his mind surrendered to the peaceful shelter of sleep.

Than he stood up. He found himself fully equipped again and felt dazed and confused. He had taken his gear off. He remembered it. Than he realized where he was. He sighed and opened the door to his room and saw… nothing. Just the blue, empty, Void. Just what he expected. Buildings shot from the depths of this nothingness and formed what appeared to be a small town, there was a few residential looking buildings, several shops, and a bridge leading nowhere at the end. He disregarded the lack of and ground and stepped off the floor of his room and, sure enough, a cobbled stone path shot up and met his foot as if it had been waiting for him. He strode towards the bridge at the end of the small town; the cobblestone path he walked on dropped back down into nothing seconds after his feet left them as if waiting to be used again. He did not do this for any specific reason, other than that he felt he had seen this bridge before. He couldn't place it but he was sure that he had seen it recently. As he climbed the few steps and got onto the flat plane meant for traffic a large wall spring up from the Void, accompanied by large ornate gates. He recognized the gates as the gates to the castle of Arendelle.

Just then the gates opened and revealed another wide expanse of nothingness. He stepped to the ledge and peered over the perfect ninety degree drop off looking for anything else. He saw nothing and rose his head again and found himself face to face with the outsider. If this had happened a few years ago than perhaps he would have surprised by this sudden appearance, but it was now to be expected with every visit to the Void.

The body that the outsider appeared in was often a thing of debate among those who have seen him. The outsider often appeared as a medium built man with a very pale skin and short black hair, wearing simple commoner clothes. One thing that was always the same was that it always had deep black eyes. Some people said that if you looked deep into its eyes that you could see the entirety of the Void in those small orbs. The outsider always spoke in a monotone voice with only a mild emphasis on some words. The form that the outsider chose today, Nathan saw, was that form that he had seen so many times in his dreams. He was floating just over the edge and looking at him with the straight-faced neutral expression the Outsider always had with her arms crossed in front of her as if he had been waiting for some time. Nathan didn't bother trying to speak, he knew he couldn't. Not until the Outsider finished her message to him. And sure enough his mouth opened and he started off.

"my, my, my" he said looking down at him "you are interesting, aren't you?" he leaned forward and continued, now staring at Nathan intently. "You had everything. You had a life of luxury ahead of you, and you knew it. You built up the reputation as one of the best assassins that has ever lived." He leaned back, a puzzled expression now on her face "And now you throw all of that away?" He tilted her head to the side slightly "Did you do it because you were tired? Tired of all the pointless killing?" his head tilted the other way "Or did you leave so that you could carve a new bloody swath through some other city's nobles?"

Nathan gritted his teeth. As always the outsider knew exactly how to ask the question he was dreading asking himself. In truth he didn't know what he was doing. He was tired of killing endless strings of nobles, one after another, each as corrupt as the last. He was not tired of killing, no. the hunt was one of the only times that he really felt he was doing what he wanted to do. Nothing could measure up to the feeling of weaving his way through patrols of guards, all to spring from the shadows onto an unsuspecting target. He didn't feel guilty for the things he had done, he felt like a rat in a maze. And he wanted out. He didn't know what he would do here in Arendelle but he wanted something different. He wanted to make a mark, to leave a lasting change somewhere.

The Outsider leaned back looking pleased with himself. He knew he had struck a nerve, but he wasn't done yet. He returned to his neutral look and continued "And then there is this business of the ice queen." He saw Nathans focus flit back to him completely "she is real. Her powers given by yours truly. She always had trouble controlling them, though, but she has come into them quite nicely. But not as well as you have, I think." His message had been delivered, but Nathan still had questions, and he still had answers. He had all the answers. But he would only give him one. He decided to answer the question most burning in him mind at the moment. "You have had years to hone your skills and learn your limits. You accepted your power with reverence towards how you could have carved your future out, but she has only come to peace with her power last summer. She was born with it, never truly appreciating the position I put her in. I've never spoken directly to her as I am with you, but I know that she would have… negative feelings towards me. Until this summer she believed herself cursed, having power but no means to control it. I never meant any harm, but it just makes things so interesting."

Nathans mind was struggling to save every bit of knowledge the Outsider had thrown at him; a queen with ice powers, her difficulty controlling those powers, and something happening over summer to change that. And then there were the subtler things. Had he come into his powers well? Now that he thought about it he supposed he had, possessing a few very useful tricks that made being undetected much easier than it would have been without powers. And this "knowing his limits", he didn't argue, he actually agreed, but did that mean that this queen didn't know her limits? If so than what was her limit? Just how powerful was this woman?

His thoughts were interrupted by the outsider again. "But those problems are to come, for now the party is what you are worried about, so take my advice going in; bring your blade."

Nathans eyes opened slowly, taking in the dark room around him. He didn't know what time it was but he did know the day. It was the day of the party. He put on all of his gear, armor, charms, and hoped he wouldn't stand out too much in a crowd of nobles.