Anna set the last plate on the already overly full table that had been set up under an awning in the courtyard, and rubbed her face as she looked at it. There were dozens of plates, each one with a meager meal prepared by volunteers, with a little aide from the Queen herself out of sheer frustration at feeling powerless.

But it was something, and maybe with a little food in peoples' bellies, morale might improve. Satisfied, Anna gingerly sat back down in her chair; while she felt better, her side still bothered her and she'd developed a superstitious thought that if she stopped obeying the doctor's orders, then the doctor would join the slumbering populace and Arendelle absolutely did not need such a thing happening.

So into the chair she went, at least until she was told she could walk around again. "All right so um…" She snapped her fingers several times. "What was … Oh yeah, Scott!"

The cabin boy from the Coronan ship bounded over. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

She smiled at him, admiring the work someone had done on his new eyepatch. He looked quite fetching and was in good spirits despite being made into a cyclops by the Southern Isles. "Can you let the volunteers know lunch is ready? And after that, get some rest. Princess Rapunzel wouldn't be happy if I overworked her people."

"Not tired, ma'am." He bowed.

"Then take a break and eat."

"Yes, Your Majesty. What shall I do after?"

Anna sighed good naturedly, and knew when she was beat. "Doctor showed you the fluid system, right?"

"She showed me how to handle the bottles and how to make the solution."

"Then make sure everyone in the barracks is topped off and then check with the doctor and see if she needs help making more. We need a stockpile in case… Just in case."

Scott saluted her like she was some kind of admiral and then ran off. Anna kind of liked the thought of that. Despite the horror of the battle, she thought that Arendelle could stand to have a stronger navy for their protection. A land invasion would be difficult so the sea had always been where threats came from. But that was something to discuss with the Admiral even though it was fairly low on Anna's list.

It was a very long list, after all and she really shouldn't try to add anything more to until she was able to address the more important points. Anna pulled out her pad and started to flip through it. She paused as she caught sight of her notes on a postal system. She could hear Kristoff's voice, reminding her it wasn't work time, even though it was kind of work time all the time right now and for the foreseeable future. The Festival felt so long ago and God, she could use a nap.

No wonder Elsa had ditched her for running naked in the woods with her beautiful and dashing new friend. Anna scrunched up one eye, feeling immediately guilty. "Now that's not fair. She's where she needs to be, just like I'm where I need to be. More importantly, she's happy and so am I. I just…"

Maybe a little bit, Anna had been codependent on her sister and sometimes, maybe a little bit, she felt lost and upset that Elsa wasn't around for her to talk to whenever she wanted. Just because the status quo had changed didn't mean that she had to be one hundred percent happy about it all the time. If only there was a way to talk across long distances.

She couldn't say that having Elsa around would actually make things better right now. Easier yes, but not better. The battle at sea would have been over in a minute with Elsa's powers, but what would that have actually meant for Arendelle?

Anna wouldn't have been able to prove she could handle a military crisis, and one in the middle of a magical humanitarian crisis, to boot! And by giving the Southern Isles and Faronda a black eye, it meant the world now knew Arendelle could stand without a magical guardian.

Even so… "I just really miss Elsa."

Something cold and wet landed on her nose and Anna's head snapped up to look at the sky. Clouds were rolling in from the sea, ominously dark. Another snowflake landed on her, and then another and for a few minutes Anna stared, expecting to see Elsa's ship return, her arrival heralded by the snow like something out of the old sagas they'd once read together under a blanket in the library.

But no ship. No Elsa.

Only a brewing blizzard the likes of which hadn't been seen in four years. Anna pressed a hand to her chest, closing her eyes and praying that this wasn't a sign of Elsa's failure. Searching for some sign inside her that Elsa was okay, that-

"Your Majesty?"

"Yes?" She glanced up at an elderly man, recognizing him as one of the volunteers; and a runner-up at the festival. "Havardr, you really need to take shelter."

He nodded at her. "I didn't feel this coming."

"And that's unusual?"

"I always feel a storm coming, ma'am. In my bones." He pointed one craggy finger at her. "Except the day the Snow Queen froze the fjord. And now today."

Anna stared at the man, then looked back towards the encroaching snow. "Because it's magical."

"Your Majesty, do you think something happened to your sister?"

She was touched by his genuine concern even if the subject matter was deeply alarming. "I feel like I'd know, Havardr. In my heart." Just like she'd known that Elsa was gone even without Olaf flurrying away on her. In her heart, she knew Elsa was alive and awake.

That didn't explain the storm, and it didn't mean Elsa was unhurt, but Anna would take her victories where she could. In the meantime, she had a kingdom to prepare. "Get to cover, I've got some work to do."

He seemed to understand the heart thing, bowing low and then hobbling on stiff legs towards the castle. Once she was satisfied he would be safe, Anna started wheeling across the castle grounds, shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Blizzard! Clear the temporary shelter, get everyone into the castle or a sturdy building! This looks like a big one! Remember your partners, no one goes anywhere without a buddy!" The shelter wasn't insulated, it wasn't safe in a blizzard.

"What about your own buddy, Your Majesty?"

She shot a look at the woman calling her out. "Soyun! Guess what, you've just volunteered."

Soyun smiled at her. "So we need to evacuate the temporary shelter?"

"Yes, winter just came early."

?

Snow and ash blew against the sled with increasing intensity as Honeymaren stared directly ahead. Visibility was nearly zero, but it could be worse; Elsa was doing something with her magic that reduced the worst of the wind and snow in their immediate vicinity, but was unable to affect it beyond a few meters. How much longer she'd be able to hold up was a question Maren was very close to asking.

But she gripped the reins tighter. "You've got this, Sven."

"It's weaker behind us," Elsa said, sagging against Maren. The wind picked up, but she could hear Elsa's sigh over it. "I'm sorry, I need to rest."

Well, that answered the question. Maren nudged her shoulder. "It's okay. Sven has this."

Sven snorted in response, his head low as he steadily powered through the storm. Elsa watched him for a moment, then nodded. "A little farther and then Sven needs to rest too, you think?"

The cart lurched forward as if Sven was trying to prove he could push through to the bitter end. Maren tightened her grip on the reigns as his efforts proved to be the exact opposite. If he kept pushing like this, there was no way that he'd be able to take them far enough. "Elsa, do you have the strength to find us a place to shelter for a few hours? I don't think Sven actually has this."

"Turn here, just a little, there's a cave or something a few hundred yards that way." Elsa closed her eyes, and Maren glanced behind her to share a worried look with Olaf.

Guiding Sven to the right, Maren wiped at her ice goggles and squinted her eyes to peer through the storm. They really could use one or the other between the ash and snow, but Maren thought they might be closer to the volcano than she really wanted to be. The rumbling was louder now and if it erupted they wouldn't know until it was too late.

The cave was barely that, but it provided some shelter. Maren carried a dozing Elsa into it and laid her out on some of their blankets, then unhooked Sven so he could come inside too. With the sled acting like a lean-to, Honeymaren settled in with Elsa's head in her lap. Elsa rolled onto her side, burying her face into Maren's stomach.

"Have you been awake this whole time?"

"Maybe."

"And you just let me carry you?"

"…Maybe."

Maren laughed and for the first time in hours she felt better. "How are you feeling, sweetie?"

Elsa opened her eyes, looking up at her. "This strange combination of tired and … pent up. Like there's energy beneath my skin trying to get out."

"Well, keep resting. You need to be refreshed for what lies ahead." She had no idea what could be ahead. Maren had been turning over her translations in her head for hours. She knew they'd come in the right direction but there'd been other things, bits and pieces of text that made no sense without the right context and 'volcano spirit' didn't appear to be the right context. "I wish I could do more for you right now. I feel like I'm just dead weight. I've been trying to remember anything from the book of magic that could help, but all my notes were lost at sea."

"You're not dead weight, baby." Elsa touched her face. "You're one of my connections to the world. Like Anna, you're the earth, and my heart. Without either of you, without the Northuldra and the people of Arendelle, I'm afraid of what I might become. And you did help, you helped me find the volcano. And if there's something important I'm sure you'll remember it, or it'll come to me because you mentioned it."

Maren thought again about that last passage, the one about wholeness. Had it been literal or not? It had felt important, and maybe it related to what Elsa had just told her. Maybe … Maren registered the rest of what Elsa had just said. Oh to be a thousand miles away where she could listen to the way Elsa called her 'baby' free of exhaustion and fear. "I'm your heart?"

"Yes."

Throat bobbing, Maren blurted, "I love you."

"I love you too," Olaf said, plopping down next to them. Maren sighed, but Elsa laughed and reached out to take his hand.

"There's plenty of love to go around."

"Yes, well." Maren glanced at the sled. "Just because we're resting doesn't mean we can't figure out what to do next."

Elsa tugged on Maren's shirt. She looked at her as Elsa mouthed 'I love you' and Maren felt her throat close up. Gently, she stroked her fingers through Elsa's hair, while the wind howled outside. Eventually, the need to actually do something overwhelmed her. "Olaf? Can you bring my pack over here?"

"Sure!" Olaf grabbed onto one of the straps and his arms popped out of his body, "Okay, that's heavier than I was expecting, lets try this again."

The second attempt went better, and with some effort he brought it over. Maren pulled it closer and opened the flap. "Thank you."

"You're really strong."

"I guess?" Maren had never really thought about it before; she just did what she needed to do for herself and her community. It just required a lot of physical labor.

"He's right," Elsa said, opening one eye and smirking up at her. "You carried me like I was a light book."

Maren flushed, then tapped a pen on Elsa's nose. "Go back to sleep."

"Your scribbling is keeping me awake."

"I haven't even started yet."

"So whatcha doing?" Olaf positioned himself next to Elsa's side, and stared up at her with an unblinking expression.

"I might have lost all the translations, but I remember some of it. I need to do something, so I'm going to write down what I can remember." Maren carefully propped up a pad of paper on Elsa's chest.

"Elsa, does this make you a royal desk?"

Elsa laughed. "I guess it does."

"Sleep, Your Majesty."

"Please, never call me that." Elsa's nose scrunched cutely.

Maren started to write, though she couldn't quite ignore her curiosity, "Why is that? You're still royalty."

"I thought I'm supposed to be asleep."

Slowly, Maren moved the pen to Elsa's cheek and drew a little reindeer face. "Funny."

Elsa rolled her eyes and swatted at Maren's hand. "I didn't hate being Queen. But you were never one of my subjects and I want us to always be equal. Spirity nonsense aside."

"Okay. I won't tease you about that." Maren hadn't realized it was a touchy subject, though maybe she should have. It was just that Elsa had so easily and quickly come to the same conclusion she had about where she belonged, that Maren sometimes forgot how important Arendelle still was to her. And it was clearly something that hadn't been as easy for her as she'd let on.

"I don't regret it, you know." Elsa studied her face, and Maren tried to focus on the words she was writing.

"I'm not a fan of change." Olaf looked at his feet, wriggling them. "And there's been a lot of change. Nothing but change. You moved out, Anna is so busy. I'm running out of books to read in the library."

Somehow, just from what Anna had told her, Maren was pretty sure Elsa understood that book thing.

"Things can't be the way they were." Elsa reached over, putting her hand on his shoulder. "But change isn't always bad. A lot of good things come from change."

"I know!" Olaf grinned, looking at Maren. "If Elsa hadn't listened to a magical voice in her head and awoken the spirits of the Enchanted Forest and gone on a dangerous journey that killed her before she got better we never would have met you!"

The most stricken look Maren had ever seen on a snowman suddenly crossed his face.

"Olaf?" Elsa sat up, then reached over to pull Olaf into her lap as she leaned against Maren. "I'm okay. See?"

She created a little flurry for him.

"Sometimes I have nightmares." Olaf stared in the general direction of Sven. "Of leaving Anna all alone. I go to this dark, cold place, and I can hear and see but I can't move. And I'm pretty sure I'm screaming but no one can hear it."

Elsa stiffened in Maren's lap. "I'm so sorry, Olaf. If I'd known what would happen to you, I don't know if I would have leapt quite so quickly."

"If you hadn't Anna wouldn't have learned the truth about your grandfather." Olaf blinked and looked at her. "She wouldn't have been able to destroy the dam and free everyone from his curse."

"And even if she had," Maren added, setting her pad to the side. "If you hadn't sacrificed yourself, Arendelle would have been destroyed. Not that any of us like the idea of you doing so."

Olaf wrapped his arms around Elsa. "You wanna know something else I learned this year?"

Elsa nodded. She was still sitting stiffly, leaving Maren to wonder what Olaf had said to disturb her so.

"I have to learn to let go. To accept that there are some things out of my control."

"That's good advice," Elsa replied. Her throat bobbed, and she asked, "Olaf, could you check on Sven for me? He looks lonely and scared, and right now, I've got Maren, but Sven doesn't have anyone."

Olaf bounced to his feet. "I'm on it!" He paused, then reached over and squeezed Elsa's shoulder. "It's okay if you need to sacrifice me again. Anna and Arendelle are more important."

"Oh Olaf, you're important!" Elsa wiped at her eyes, watching him as he ran over to Sven and wrapped his arms around Sven's neck.

Maren could feel Elsa trembling, and slid her arms around her. "Talk to me?"

"Anna once told me that she could still hear and see when she was frozen. But she couldn't move and she couldn't speak, and she said it was like being trapped in her own head. And when…" Elsa's eyes met Maren's, "When I dove into Ahtohallan and froze, it was dark and cold, and it was like being trapped in my own head where no one could hear me scream. To think that Olaf might have gone through that too, or is somehow picking it up from us … and he's never said anything before!"

On occasion, Maren had noticed Elsa up late at night. That it was nightmares keeping her up made her wish she'd tried to talk to Elsa about it sooner. "When we get back, the three of you should talk about that. Obviously there's still some unresolved issues. And next time you have a nightmare, I'll be there to hold on to."

Sven lifted his head, making a questioning sound. It quickly turned into an alarmed bugle, and then another as Olaf fell over onto his back, unmoving.

"Olaf!" Elsa scrambled across the floor, skidding on her knees next to the snowman. She looked frantically down at him, hands held up like she didn't know what to do with them. Then she dropped them and shook him, "Don't you do this to me! You're important! Please! You're important!"

Maren knelt next to her. "Elsa! Look, he's asleep!"

Elsa leaned over him, breathing shakily. "He's just asleep. He's just…"

Her eyes became wide as plates, then she let out half a choked sob and clutched her hands to her chest as she folded into herself, shoulders drawn and shaking. "Anna!"