Apprentice's Cottage

The Apprentice's Cottage is the former home of the Sorcerer's Apprentice, where he spent his life guarding the magical hat that belongs to the all powerful sorcerer.

Before the Curse
Zoso visits the apprentice's lair in an attempt to steal the sorcerer's hat, but he's fought away. Many years later, Anna visits Rumplestiltskin at his Dark Castle and wants to know why her parents came to the Enchanted Forest all those years ago, offering to do whatever it takes for this information. This gladdens Rumple and he makes the princess sign a contract, sending her on her way to poison a sorcerer's apprentice who guards a magic hat. She goes, but cannot poison him, shocked to learn that the "poison" was actually an antidote to the spell Rumple had earlier enacted to turn the kindly old man into a mouse; he explains that he needed her tear to break the enchantment guarding the box containing the hat, which can only be broken by those who've faced their inner-darkness and overcome it. She argues that she never even considered killing the man, so it doesn't count, and so he tells her that her parents came to the Enchanted Forest because they feared their daughter Elsa and goads her into killing him - which she does contemplate, but ultimately can't do - and he takes her tear afterwards. He then takes the hat for himself, wanting to use it to collect enough magic to end his dagger's thrall over him, but the apprentice (still in mouse form) soon bites his hand and causes him to drop said dagger, which Anna then picks up and uses to force him to hand over the hatbox and send her back to Arendelle. He begrudgingly obliges, and she quickly reunites with Kristoff.

Ingrid arrives at the Apprentice's cottage and demands to make a deal with the Sorcerer. The Apprentice warns her that the Sorcerer does not make petty deals with those who embrace the darkness, but Ingrid says that she has the Sorcerer's Hat. The Apprentice warns that she has no idea what forces she is dealing with and draws his sword. He demands to know where it is, but Ingrid assures him that it is hidden far away. If the Sorcerer doesn't give her what she wants then the Sorcerer will never see his hat again. The Apprentice asks what she wants, and Ingrid says that she wants happiness: the kind she had with her sisters as a child. She explains that she wants two new sisters born of magic like her: Elsa and a third. The Apprentice warns that it will take time to find a perfect match, and Ingrid says that she will wait as long as it takes.