Chapter Twenty-One

"Some souls are connected by an ancient calling beyond worlds"

…

The sound of galloping horses echo on the empty uninhabited forests found between the villages of Arendelle. For Elsa, this is the first time that she has ridden so hard, or more correctly, cling to someone riding hard. Personally, she admits that it is quite a less than pleasant ordeal bumping on the horse's saddle for hours. Add the fact that she just learned how to ride. She cannot complain though. She is pressed quite snuggly to Silvanna and her chest rubbing to the back of her friend sends pleasant tingles all over her.

There is also the urgency on her friend. Elsa knows enough that very few things tend to rattle Silvanna. This unfortunately is one of those few things. Apparently it is serious enough that the moment the Ranger disappears, Silvanna immediately declares after apologizing to Elsa that they will need to cut their vacation short. She is of course displeased but Elsa is raised with the attitude to put affairs of importance before herself. Thus she acquiesced to her lover without a hassle.

She is glad then that she did not put up that much of a fight. Apparently whatever it is that Silvanna is worried about is alarming enough that she simply stays long enough to tell Elsa to wear a cloak over her morning gown and informing the servants about their hasty departure and delivering their stuff to the castle before rushing to the stables. Still clad in her transparent morning attire with a cloak simply as cover she then pulls Elsa behind her atop her white steed Lancelot. Elsa is surprised of course and not a little baffled. She has expected Silvanna to leave her behind as she is wont to do, in lieu of Elsa's request that she be kept out of situations where she might be stressed enough that she lose control of her powers and accidentally reveal them.

Something is different on this situation and Elsa admits that she is both curious and worried. Curious as to what is it that needs so much attention that Silvanna is willing to cut their vacation short and worried that she deems it to be an emergency enough that warrants Elsa also attending. A part of her is not yet that confident that she would be able to keep a hold of herself. Her track record after all is not that peachy when it comes to self-control.

"Here we are," Elsa is brought out of her thoughts as she looks at a road covered by muds and leaves at the middle of nowhere.

"Where are we exactly Silvie?" she can't help but ask as she looks at no small amount of trepidation at the darkening forest slowly dwindling into the twilight hours.

"One of my hidden bases and also serves as one of the Outposts of the Ranger Corps," answers the Knightess disembarking from her saddle. She has a coy smile though on her face as she sees Elsa's expression of confusion.

"You can't see it can you?"

"No," admits Esla feeling her cheeks heat up causing Silvanna to laugh before reaching up and grabbing Elsa's waist pulling her down from the saddle.

"That's good, that's its purpose after all," says Silvanna leading her and Lancelot to the mountain wall filled with thick vines at the side of the road. "There is no point being a covert group if you are being seen after all," she reaches towards a particularly thick canopy before pulling it at the side revealing a wooden door glued at the mountainside.

"Is that a-,"

"Secret entrance? Yes," Silvanna finishes with an amused tone. "Before we enter Elsa there are some things that I need to talk to you about,"

"Okay," Elsa simply blinks in response at her.

"You already know what happened before right? During that issue when we got rid of Ahtohallan in the North?"

"Yes?" Elsa replies gesturing Silvanna to go on.

The Knightess simply sighs holding one of Elsa's hands with her own. "Well to be honest Elsa we lied, let me finish!" she adds quickly as Elsa opens her mouth to speak. "You see Elsa, the world is in a state of balance. Ahtohallan in a matter of way is immortal. You can't kill what is immortal Elsa. They are parts of our world's constants and is no different from the presence of the air and the sea. They are just there, existing,"

Elsa is unable to help the gulp of nervousness as she looks at the closed door. For some reason Silvanna's words is causing goosebumpts to appear all over her. She still hasn't forgotten the eerie song that had called her before and the words of Silvannna after her return telling her how the mad spirit planned to lure Elsa to its lair and make her a replacement for its wife. Suffice it to say that Elsa has no plans to listen to whatever eerie songs in the future without a lot of healthy wariness. Unfortunately for today, she looks at the closed door with no small amount of trepidation.

"Don't tell me that you locked Ahtohallan in there Silvie for I am not going in whatever you might say. Whatever that assassin did to me during the Debacle had damaged me enough, I'm not adding to that," says Elsa not bothering to hide her nervousness from her lover. It is the truth after all, Elsa may seem alright, but every now and then she would still wake up in a cold sweat as she remembers the ugly experience during her brief kidnapping before.

"It's not Ahtohallan in there Elsa, at least not in a way," answers Silvanna a little bit nervously. "It is him, and at the same time not him. Let me explain Elsa. As I said before, you cannot kill an immortal. That does not mean though that you cannot do the next best thing," a smile appears in her lips at that. "It is quite ingenious to say the least. Before I and the others faced Ahtohallan, we procured a potion from some witches that I won't go into detail about. The potion is called the Turner Elsa. Its purpose is not to kill but to force an individual, immortal or not to change and be reborn as the exact opposite, or the nearing of one of the former individual. That means bad becomes good, and light becomes dark. In simpler terms, the Turner it erases the identity of the previous individual and change it to something….new,"

"And you succeeded on using this on Ahtohallan Silvie?" blinks the Crown Princess.

A wry smirk simply appears on Silvanna's face. "Of course Elsa; if not, my corpse would still be rotting on that cave being done gods-only-know-what by that insane immortal,"

"Please don't joke about that Silvie. You know how scared I am about almost losing you,"

"Right, sorry Elsa; on the other hand we really need to go inside and I don't fancy facing the denizens of this forest in the dark," Silvanna points out turning her attention to the slowly darkening shadows creeping slowly on the trees.

"Right, right," Elsa acquiesces as Silvanna opens the door revealing a large stone passageway where three may walk abreast leading to a bright light at the end of a tunnel. Silently the two of them go inside with the horse behind them. Silvanna remains behind locking the door behind them before turning to face with Elsa.

"Don't wander off Elsa, there are a lot of twists and turns on the caverns. You will get lost,"

Elsa simply gulps nodding silently before following Silvanna who leads the way holding the reins of Lancelot with her.

…..

"You brought her?" the gruff voice of Price greet them making Silvanna wince. The older man at times make the Knightess feel her age. Being in a position of power and prestige, Silvanna is quite used ordering people around with them bowing and scraping to her. Very few can claim to order Silvanna around and at the same time make her obey.

Price is unfortunately one of them. The old man is a no-nonsense kind of guy and is not afraid to make his opinions always known. It is both infuriating and annoying at times. That is also one of the main reasons as to why Silvanna keeps him around. She knows of course the dangers that power and prestige can bring without check. Silvanna has no wish whatsoever on being a leader who only trusts her own judgement. She is good, very good in fact as a leader and an organizer, it is the height of folly however to discount everyone else and rely only on herself. That is hubris, plain and simple.

"Yes, I thought that it is high time that she knows," answers Silvanna under the disapproving glare that the Ranger Commandant is giving her. "There is little danger and I am confident that no harm would come to her out of this experience,"

"If you say so lassie," snorts the older man standing up from the jutting rock he is sitting barely seen. "But remember, we are dealing with the unknown here and I don't like non-combatants when doing so. Especially the crown princess of Arendelle,"

"She'll be with two of your Rangers and behind the stone pillars at the back. If anything goes wrong, she'll be brought out and be kept safe,"

"If anything goes wrong?" Elsa who has been eavesdropping blurts behind Silvanna.

"Very well, let's go," the man nods stiffly before marching off.

"What does he mean "if anything goes wrong?" Silvie?" asks Elsa holding tight to Silvanna's left hand. The Knightess does not fail to notice that ever since they entered the cave, Elsa had never let go, even once of her arm.

"Nothing Elsa, just a precaution," assures Silvanna patting the younger girl's upper hand. "Now come, this is a sight and experience that you would not want to miss,"

Leading Elsa deeper inside, the two of them soon emerge to a large open circular chamber. At least six Rangers are stationed on guard alongside three mercenaries all wearing Grey cloaks with their hoods covering their faces. At their hands are long staffs that end on a pike on both ends. They are Nephalems, bastards of immortals and mortals, at least according to them. Members of the elusive sect, Horadrim, their affiliation to the Bounty Hunter's Guild is tenuous at best. Their specialties lie in dealing with the supernatural. They stand motionless as statues, their forms facing at the centre of the cave; for good reason. Silvanna hears Elsa gasp as she also notices what is at the centre of the cave.

"Silvie, that is the biggest egg that I have ever seen," Elsa points out at the thing at the middle of a runic circle created by blood and salt.

"It should be, that is after all the being that is once Ahtohallan," replies the Knightess looking at the egg inquisitively.

The secret of the egg is known only to the Ranger Corps, the head honchos of the Bounty Hunting Guild, the Horadrim, Miya and Mattias who had the unpleasant duty of being the one who lugged it around. Suffice it to say that all these people have been sworn to secrecy. It won't do after all letting everyone know that the reincarnation of a mad being with limitless power is about to emerge.

The egg at first is the size of a regular ball when it is entrusted to the Rangers. However when it starts growing until it is almost the size and height of a person's hip, everyone agreed that it is best that they put it in an area where they would be able to contain it. Thus the reason why this place was chosen in the first place. It is hard to navigate, it is at the middle of nowhere and worse comes to worst, the pillars could be demolished resulting to a cave in that would inevitably bury whatever foul monstrosity that "might" come out.

Of course that is only a probability and the experts of magic at the Bounty Hunter's Guild are confident that it is not another Ahtohallan that will come out. Silvanna however is not taking any chances, thus the reason of the Horadrim's presence in this cave.

"Oh," Elsa simply says making Silvanna blink in confusion at her response. She has been an expecting angry or surprised reaction not calm acceptance.

"I thought you're afraid of this Elsa?" asks Silvanna unable to put a lid on her own curiosity.

"I am," chuckles Elsa nervously wringing her gloved hands in front of her. "But you are here and I believe you when you said that it's going to be alright,"

"I see," Silvanna suppresses the urge to wince at the blind trust that Elsa is giving her.

Sure she wants the Crown Princess to trust her. Silvanna's plans after all will only work with Elsa's support. However a part of her felt extremely guilty that the side effect of her actions results to Elsa believing her a hundred per cent. She is honest enough to admit to herself that she is not infallible. However Elsa does not believe that and in fact making her believe that would result to severe denial from the princess. Silvanna after all is a hero in Elsa's eyes, her guardian anger mentally, physically and spiritually. Such dependence on her makes the Knightess shiver at what might happen to Elsa if the unthinkable happened to her. The Crown Princess would not be able to weather the storm and worried Silvanna enough that more than once it kept her awake at night. That's why she trains herself rigorously; she needs to be alive, for Elsa if not for herself.

"Okay, I believe that we are about to start here. Elsa would you mind going to the alcove above with this fine gentlemen here?" requests Silvanna gesturing to two of the silent Rangers who stand up at her words.

"Okay," Elsa nods innocently. "Stay safe Silvie," and in a smaller tone: "I love you," before walking off with her two Ranger guards leaving behind a stunned Silvanna. She has not been expecting of those words from Elsa this early on their relationship. Shaking her head and trying to get rid of the butterflies in her stomach from the (she believed) imagined admission, she heads toward the egg at the circle.

Promptly ignoring the comments on her attire (or lack of), she focuses instead on the smoking egg. It is smoking and cracking already. First telltale signs that magic are finally seeping and the immortal individual protected inside is ready to come out. A small hand movement of her hands makes the motionless Horadrim move into action. Taking a hold of their staffs, they stand in a three way circle weapons levelled at the egg. Silvanna however is nearest as she raises her hand and places it at the centre of the egg where the cracks converge. This is the second step according to the information from the Guild and something that she alone can do(Elsa being non-negotiable), seeing that it needs a magic user to do so. The moment her skin touches the surface, she almost recoils, it is cold, ice cold in fact; remnants of power of this immortal's former identity. Taking a deep breathe she immediately lets her own magic coalesce on her hand, driving it into the cracks of the egg.

The effect is immediate.

The egg steams and Silvanna knows what's going to happen next as it sucks air in great swaths. A second later and everyone are thrown off their feet as a powerful shockwave makes the very cave groan. Some stones fell, but the cave holds. Silvanna who is nearest nearly gets thrown a few feet away. The Horadrim despite also face planting immediately stand up back in attention with the Knightess only a bare second away. Grabbing her spear, she immediately prepares for a fight for whatever being that arise. The records of the Guild never mentioned that shockwave would happen. Silvanna is just a second away into calling for Elsa's guards to evacuate the Crown Princess out of the cave when it starts to sound.

CRACK! Everyone freeze as every eye in the room stares at the egg.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Ridges appear on the bloody thing as seawater pours from the cracks on its edges down on the dry floor.

CRAAAAACK! A massive crack finally finishes last as the entire shell breaks over leaving nothing but a small oblong that belongs to the underbelly of the egg. Steam rises from its middle and sounds of "goo-goo" are heard.

Every soul is motionless as the sound of gurgles comes from the middle of the egg. Even Silvanna finds herself frozen as power fills the air. Even the non-magical beings can feel it as the Rangers alongside Price remain stationary. The scent of salty air is prevalent and a confusion fells in everyone making them pause, except one.

The sound of steps makes Silvanna turn in no small amount of surprise as the beautiful form of Elsa walks past the Horadrim and her, her eyes staring into the steaming opening of the egg. Silvanna tries to call out to her but for some reason her throat seems to rebel and she find herself simply gasping and frozen in place even as Elsa walks past her enraptured. She urges her muscles to move but it is like forcing yourself to wake from an ugly dream, no success. Elsa finally reaches the side of the egg and she bends down, her gloved hands reaching towards the centre of the steam. Silvanna wants to scream out in frustration but all that comes out of her mouth are dry gasps. A part of her is horribly panicking and a part of her wondered if the Turner hasn't worked the way it should and the mad spirit is reborn. Ahtohallan after all enraptures his victims and Elsa unfortunately is one of his prime targets. Her zombie walk just currently smells like something that the mad spirit is wont to do.

That's why Silvanna is caught totally by surprise as Elsa straightens up and in her hands cuddled comfortable is a small baby with the darkest blue hair with tinges of sea green gurgling happily as it pawed at Elsa's gloves. Elsa looks confused and very unsure as she holds the child in her hand. She sways it a bit resulting for the baby to give a small giggle before nuzzling her navel. Silvanna is not surprised that Elsa walks back to her with a nervous smile on her face as she holds the baby to Silvanna.

"Her name is Kaldita, Silvie," she simply says as Silvanna accepts the child from her. As the Knightess cradles the little tyke in her arms she can't help but feel that somehow, her time here in Arendelle is somehow nearing to perfection.

….

Author's Note:

Hi readers, sorry if I haven't updated for a while. I hurt my fingers and typing hurts. Anyway hope ya like this chapter. Yeaaahhh, I understand that Silvanna and Elsa would be unable to have babies so this is why little Kaldita is here. She would hold a great part of their lives including Anna, also I don't know if you have noticed but Kaldita is mentioned in Elsa's dream in one of the previous chapters.