-October 1818-

Queen Iduna awoke at a gentle touch caressing her bare back.

"You're awake, my love?" Agnarr's soft words tickled her ears from right next to her, and she felt a shiver course through her body at both his breath and his touch. Even after being married for three years now, it was still hard to believe that she was lying in bed next to the King, and that he was hers as much as she was his.

"I am now," she answered quietly, snuggling closer to her husband's strong, bare chest to share his warmth. "You didn't sleep at all? It's still dark outside."

"Hey, for once it wasn't because of nightmares," chuckled Agnarr. "After last night, I know all I'll be getting are good dreams…. Except I don't care, because I'll know it can't be compared to what's real and together with me now."

The King's words made Iduna blush into silence, and soon after she could feel his finger absentmindedly tracing her back again – until it stopped at a tiny scar at its center.

"Would that this never came to pass…" murmured Agnarr without hiding the sorrow in his voice – their three years of marriage was enough for him to hide nothing around his Queen.

"If you hadn't done it I wouldn't be alive," pointed out Iduna gently. "Besides, I think I like having it there – a token of your love that'll never go away."

"What, like your scratches?" Joked Agnarr, earning a playful smack from his wife. Then with a more serious note he added: "I never get tired of saying this, Iduna… but thank you."

"For what?" Iduna asked, turning around in bed to face her husband.

"For… everything, I guess," answered Agnarr with all the sincerity in the world. "For accepting Arendelle as your home, for always being there for me… for saying yes for me."

Iduna blushed again as her memories flew back to the years after the Nightmare Spirit's final defeat, after that fateful day when Agnarr had held her in the infirmary bed and asked for her hand in marriage.

To her surprise the majority of Arendelle was rather lenient on their King marrying a commoner, although there were a few who questioned her shady origin and her connection to the events concerning magical events earlier. Iduna gave the credit to the kingdom's open-minded culture, though Agnarr had insisted that it was because she proved everyone over the years what a wonderful person she was.

The King certainly knew how to flatter.

She remembered their wedding, held in conjunction with Agnarr's coronation. The ceremony was grand, at least in Iduna's point of view; for her part, she was just happy that Agnarr had waited as he had promised for two years. The sheer bliss of the moment they were announced husband and wife, when he pulled her closer for a searing kiss that officially marked her forever as his… it was a kind of happiness she would never trade for anything.

The King had apparently noticed his wife lost in thought, but instead of snapping her out of it he was simply content on caressing her bare skin again to his heart's content.

"You drool, by the way," he commented, and chuckled at a huff of mock indignation from Iduna.

"Well, you snore," she retaliated, having known this habit for a long time; she had, after all, been watching over his sleeping face for ten years now.

"We should be careful, or our next child may end up being a daughter who does both," joked Agnarr, and they both laughed at the idea – until a faint sound of a baby's crying caught their attention. "Ah… your daughter's awake, it seems."

"Until sunrise she's your daughter," returned Iduna, flashing a smug look at her husband.

"You got me," relented Agnarr as he got out of their bed to slip on his nightgown, suppressing a groan as little Elsa's crying grew louder from the next room.

"One day she'll learn to sleep at night," chuckled Iduna as she sat up too, only for Agnarr to lean down and kiss her cheek before pushing her back down. "Take care of our little Snowflake, Agnarr."

"You'll never have to ask," answered Agnarr warmly before heading out to see to Elsa, leaving Iduna alone in the night.

Her thoughts fleeted back to the vision she saw in Ahtohallan, of Arendelle and the Northuldra finally at peace. That, and all her adventures with it, felt like a faraway dream to her now; she didn't mention much of it to anyone, not even Agnarr, and he had understood her need for silence. He was, after all, familiar with keeping things concealed.

Ten years of living in Arendelle was enough for Iduna to know that the people here were not familiar with magic, and the most recent encounter with one did not endear them to it. Iduna had to accept that this was how things were going to be… for a while, anyway. It was one of the reasons she had not made a single call for the spirits after the Nightmare Spirit was defeated.

But she knew she wasn't giving up. She, a Northuldra girl, had wed the King of Arendelle, and now Northuldra blood ran in its Royal line – through the sleeping princess in the next room, who also happened to possess magic…

Iduna shivered at the thought of Elsa and her powers. It filled her with so much love and fear, and she knew that she and Agnarr would have to fight to protect her from the world with every breath of their remaining lives.

For her part, Iduna could feel that if she succeeded, the future she had seen in Ahtohallan would somehow come closer. Call it a gut feeling.

She could do this. She would brave her fears, overcome the fears of her people, and raise her child in with all her love – for Arendelle, for her home, for Agnarr… and most of all, for Elsa.

As Iduna let that promise bring peace to her mind, enough for sleep to wash over her again, she thought she saw a reddish glow outside the window, and a soft whistle of the wind echoing her peoples' lullaby:

Where the north wind meets the sea

There's a mother full of memory

Come, my darling, homeward bound

When all is lost, then all is found…

Well, that's the end of it; I'm sorry the epilogue was so short, but it's the epilogue.

Like I've said before I'm currently drafting a fic that's sort of its sequel; it's loosely connected to this one, and you'll probably have to read this fic first to be able to understand the next one. I'm still in the early stages so it'll be a long time before I actually start uploading it, so for now this will be our farewell. Thanks for everyone who enjoyed this fic :)