Over the next few weeks of travel across the countryside towards Weselton, Elsa's wounds healed at a rate that shocked Elsie. Within just a few days, she was able to stand and walk unassisted, as long as she was careful. By the end of a week she could ride on her own. By the third week, she could walk the entire day without issue from her wounds, though her feet were none too pleased with her. Elsie theorized it might have something to do with the spirit they now knew resided in her, as Anna's wound healed quicker than expected as well, while Heins's burns did not.
The days began to blur together. Wake up, eat breakfast. Travel through the morning. Break around 1:00 when the sun was at its highest, to give the horses a break. Eat lunch. Travel again until early evening. Eat dinner. Train for a few hours, either with magic, blades, or both. Sleep. Repeat. They avoided roads and gave houses and towns a very wide berth, with Gareth in the sky helping to guide them. That said, Elsa could not say she wasn't enjoying herself. She had her family back. She had her friends back. The distance between them was shrinking every day. Plus, she had been getting rather close with Ciri.
The more Elsa talked with Ciri, the more comfortable Ciri became around her, the more Elsa liked her. She was bright, inquisitive, witty, and insightful. She had only been eleven when her father died, and had scraped out a living since then, surviving on scraps from neighbors and working odd jobs whenever she could. Heins had also taken a liking to her, and could often be seen telling stories and fables from his childhood, which never failed to elicit a smile from Ciri, and from Elsa when she saw them together.
Elsa and Anna were spending a good deal of time together as well. True to Elsa's promise, she was, for the first time in her life, completely open and honest with her sister, and as the weeks passed, she could feel their fractured relationship being reforged. As they soon discovered, the magic they each had was very much like the sisters themselves- as different in outward temperament as it was possible to be, and yet, with so many deep seated similarities that they were able to learn a surprising amount from one another. With Anna's help, Elsa was able to learn to harness her magic in more powerful ways by opening herself up to her emotions more, and Elsa was able to help Anna gain more control over her power by training her to stay calmer under pressure.
In addition to the techniques they were able to learn, they also discovered ways to combine their powers, with sometimes devastating results. For example, by creating a loose pile of ice chips, then enveloping them with fire, they could create a steam explosion of awesome, and unexpected, magnitude, far beyond what either of them could conjure on their own. Elsa's ears rang for almost sixteen hours after their first test of that particular combination, and they had to make a hasty getaway when Gareth reported an Empire patrol headed towards the noise.
Another useful technique they developed was one that Elsa had tried on her own, but the concentration and coordination required had always stymied her: the ability to leap through the air, propelled by her ice, landing on a cushion of snow. It was a modified version of the game they had played as children, and Elsa was so scared of repeating the accident from that horrible day that it took Anna a solid week of convincing for her to agree to give it a try. Once they did, Elsa found her improved control over her powers was well suited to this maneuver.
Anna bent her knees and jumped, and as she did, Elsa summoned a pillar of ice beneath her, propelling her twenty feet high on some attempts, before landing in a quickly constructed snowbank. Upon seeing Anna soar through the air a few times, landing safely and laughing hysterically inside the snowbank, first Ciri, then the entire group insisted on trying it as well. Even Silas, after much cajoling, deigned to participate, and Elsa thought he may have even smiled- a bit. They took an early stop that day, and the air rang with their joyous laughter far into the night, as they did ever more complex jumps, starting with simple spins and ending with two of them flying through the air side by side, performing synchronized double backflips. Ciri jumped the most, and Elsa felt a special thrill every time she saw her cheeks flush and heard her laughter ring out.
She and Heins were also able to make some headway in repairing their relationship. On occasions, she still felt so guilty for having left him that it would make her feel physically ill, but he was always there, his kindness and patience rock solid, giving her a reprieve from the shame. Once Elsa's injuries had healed enough, they started to broach the physical barriers that had erected over the past two years, a process that was frustratingly slow. The heightened passions and emotions that ran through Elsa on these occasions caused more than a few issues at first. The first few attempts ended in absolute spiraling disaster on a scale Elsa would have thought impossible before it actually happened.
Though Elsa desired him deeply, no sooner would they touch each other than the guilt of leaving Heins made her feel as though she didn't deserve him. This led to a deep feeling of shame, which Heins, ever in tune with her feelings, picked up on, which ruined the mood. This led to Elsa feeling guilty that her own issues were not only getting in the way of her own pleasure, but she was doing nothing but sexually frustrating the person she loved as well. This led to Elsa sitting there, naked, despondent and crying, Heins trying to comfort her. This led to Elsa hating herself even more as the person she was trying to make happy was forced to console her for something that was completely in her control. In only a few minutes, Elsa went from a lustful, eager, and enthusiastic woman to a sobbing bundle of anxiety, depression, and inadequacy. At her absolute lowest, Elsa even considered tossing some gold Heins's way and telling him to visit a brothel- maybe there he'd find someone who didn't become a slobbering wreck a minute and a half in.
But no matter how much Elsa broke down sobbing, no matter how many nights ended in tearful disaster despite Elsa's conviction, no matter how frustrated he might be, Heins never showed Elsa the slightest bit of unkindness. No matter how sure he might have been that any particular night would end in catastrophe, he did not turn Elsa down even once. He never pressured her, or rushed her. In fact, he usually wouldn't say anything at all, just sit with her and hold her until she'd calmed down enough to get some sleep, and over time, Elsa conquered her hangups. The first time they made love, it was as though it was their very first time all over again. Elsa was pretty sure neither of them stopped smiling the entirety of the following day. Neither of them thought they would ever see the other again, and being able to share that once more was a feeling bordering on magical. The closeness they shared in the dark was worth more to Elsa than a thousand diamonds.
One day, as they neared their destination, Elsa walked alongside a horse bearing Ciri. Though Ciri had not complained even once, Elsa could tell that she was exhausted. When Elsa thought about it, she couldn't actually remember Ciri riding more than once or twice the entire time they had been traveling, and so managed to out-insist her into taking the mount today. She was listening with a fond sort of nostalgia as Ciri spoke animatedly of a boy she had a crush on back in Arendelle before the Fall.
"He was my best friend, and we hung out all the time, but at that age, boys are still supposed to be gross, right? So I was always pretending to think he was stinky or dumb around other people, and he did the same, but one day when I was eleven I found a rose on my pillow and my window was open, which I thought was really sweet at the time but now seems a little, hmm.. Invasive? But I suppose we don't always think about stuff like that at that age, and I know he didn't mean it to be, but anyway I wanted to do something for him back so I thought it would be a really good idea to give him a toad, because…. boys liked gross things, I guess? I don't know! Anyway, I spent all afternoon catching a toad and went to his house and tried to sneak in, but I didn't know which room was his so I just guessed, but it was his parents' room and his mom was in there and I got so scared I dropped the toad, and it just hopped towards his mom and she screamed and ran out of the house! I ran all the way back home and hid in my room for the rest of the day, I was afraid his mom would come and tell my dad and get me in trouble!"
Elsa smiled up at Ciri. "It's the thought that counts?" Ciri laughed, and Elsa's heart soared at the sound. "Wait until he hears you're on first name terms with the Queen. That'll definitely get his interest!"
Ciri's face fell, taking Elsa's heart with it. The shiny bubble of happiness popped. The world was a cold, brutal, and cruel place. There was no room for young love, for foolish, misguided adolescent gestures of affection.
"I never saw him again... That was right before the Fall. He and his parents were killed by the Empire."
"Ciri, I'm-"
"It's okay," Ciri said, shaking her head and smiling, though there were tears in her eyes. "You didn't know." On an impulse, Elsa tugged on the reins of Ciri's steed, pulling it to a stop. "Elsa?" Ciri asked, as Elsa knelt down, holding one hand out, using her other to channel her magic into her palm.
Elsa had made many intricate things before, but this one had to be perfect. Her brow furrowed in concentration as the delicate shapes took form, building up, layer by layer, out of the cleanest white snow, shifting and melding and splitting, until she finished, and there was a perfect rose formed from snow in her hand. She snapped her fingers, and the snow transformed into pure, clear ice, and she now held a beautiful crystal rose. She smiled down at it, admiring the way the petals caught the light and glimmered like a thousand gems. She'd managed to outdo herself with this one. She stood up and presented it to Ciri.
"Here. This will never melt or break, so long as I live. I didn't see it, but I hope it's like the one he gave you. In his memory, and your father's, and the memory of all those we lost in the Fall."
Ciri stared at it, her mouth agape. She closed it, swallowed, tried to speak, swallowed again. At last, she said, "Elsa, I can't accept this."
Elsa had expected this. Many people thought that it was somehow improper to accept a gift from the Queen. Fortunately, Elsa's father had taught her precisely how to counter it. "Yes you can, and you will. It is my gift to you. To refuse it would be an insult to me." Elsa could see Ciri's mind turning as she tried to find some way to refuse the gift without being rude, and she saw the exact moment she folded. Ciri held out her hand and took the rose from Elsa's palm, cradling it delicately. "Thank you," she whispered.
"You're welcome, Ciri. I hope you like it."
"I love it." She caressed the petals with a touch as light as a feather.
"You won't break it," Elsa said, grinning.
"But look, it's so fragile," Ciri protested. Elsa held out her hand, and Ciri passed the rose back to her. Elsa knelt down and smashed the rose against the ground as hard as she could, once, twice, three times, ignoring Ciri's panicked cry. She straightened back up and presented the rose. Not one piece was out of place.
"Is it now?" Elsa asked, chuckling. "I promise you, it will not break as long as I am alive."
Ciri took it again, still more carefully than she needed to, but she began to bounce it off her palm, testing it, as though a few gentle taps would be enough to break something she had just seen withstand three much harder blows. Apparently satisfied, Ciri held it a little less delicately, holding it close to her eyes, turning it in the sunlight, the look on her face one of awe and admiration. She hardly even seemed to notice when Elsa tugged the reins again and her horse walked forward once more. So they passed into Weselton.