Anna hurried down the hallway, slowing as she approached Elsa's bedroom. She paused in front of the door, taking several deep breaths before she knocked softly. Ten seconds passed without any response from inside the room, and Anna started to fidget, wondering if this was perhaps a bad idea.
The door opened before she could decide. Elsa's face changed when she saw it was Anna on the other side of the door, but it was too dark for Anna to recognize her expression. "What do you want, Anna?"
"I, uh, are you having trouble sleeping?" Anna asked, rubbing the back of her neck. "If you are, I think I know how to help." She held up her hands when Elsa started to close the door. "No, wait! I was just going to suggest that I could sing you the lullaby that mother always used when we were kids."
Elsa paused for a moment, then sighed. She slipped into the hallway and gently closed the door behind her. "Okay. We should go somewhere else though. Sera is sleeping, and I don't want to wake her up."
Anna nodded and gestured for Elsa to follow her down the hallway toward her bedroom. They walked silently for a few seconds before Elsa spoke. "I had almost forgotten about that lullaby," she said. Her voice was so soft that Anna almost missed the sadness in it.
"There are some things I've forgotten about them, too," Anna said. She took Elsa's hand and squeezed it. "But we can remember them together."
Elsa turned to give Anna a sad smile. "You're right. Together."
Once they reached Anna's room, they situated themselves on the bed so they were both leaning against the headboard. Anna wrapped an arm around Elsa's shoulders and began to sing.
"Where the north wind meets the sea, there's a river full of memory." Anna ran her pinkie finger down Elsa's nose and Elsa's eyelids fluttered shut. "Sleep, my darling, safe and sound, for in this river all is found..."
By the end of the song, Elsa's breathing was deep and even. Anna yawned, trying to adjust into a more comfortable position without waking Elsa before she settled down to sleep.
Elsa suddenly started awake. She raised her head and looked blearily around Anna's room, still half asleep as she tried to figure out what had woken her. Then she heard the voice call out with the same four notes as before. She groaned, grabbed her pillow, and wrapped it around her head. It was silent for several moments, and she relaxed, trying to drift back asleep. Then the voice sounded again, yanking her back to wakefulness.
With an exasperated sigh, Elsa got out of bed, careful not to disturb Anna. She stepped out into the hallway, putting a hand to her forehead when she heard the voice again. "What do you want?" she whispered. The voice called out, singing the same series of notes as before. Elsa frowned. "What do you want from me?" she asked again, rubbing her temples as she shuffled down the hallway. "It feels like you're telling me to go somewhere, to do something…but I don't know where that is or what you want me to do." She rolled her eyes as the voice responded with the same four notes. "You know, that really isn't helpful. You're going to have to give me more than that if you want my help."
The voice called out again, louder than it ever had before, and Elsa felt adrenaline rush through her veins. The voice was calling her, somewhere new and exciting. Somewhere, it seemed to promise, where she could find the answers to the questions still nagging the back of her mind.
Elsa took several deep breaths, trying to force herself to calm down as she continued to wander through the castle. Once her head cleared, she found herself standing in front of the family portrait that hung outside the library. Her eyes drifted across the painting, landing on young Anna's smiling face.
The voice rang in her ears and Elsa shook her head forcefully. "No," she said firmly. "I can't leave. I can't follow you. I can't find out what you're trying to tell me. I worked so hard, and I finally have the life I always dreamed of, surrounded by people I love. I won't risk all that on a wild goose chase. I can't do that to Anna, or to Sera."
The voice called out again, seemingly indifferent to what she was saying. "Leave me alone!" Elsa snapped. "I told you, I'm not going to listen to you."
The next time she heard the voice, Elsa sang the notes back as sarcastically as possible, but the voice just called again. She wandered aimlessly through the castle, concentrating so hard on blocking out the voice that she paid no attention to where she was going. Eventually she walked out onto a balcony, the cool night air snapping her attention back to where she was. She moved to the right of the door, leaning back against the cold stone exterior wall. She slid down the wall until she was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest.
"Please go away," Elsa whispered, wincing when the voice called out again. She sighed deeply and lowered her head to rest on her knees.
The next time the voice sang, it was much gentler, and Elsa felt another rush of curiosity. She raised her head, biting her lip as she thought. "What would happen if…if I did follow you?" She worked her lip between her teeth again, her mind racing. "What could you show me? Is there something more that I'm still missing?" Elsa got to her feet, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. "That's where part of the thrill comes from though, right? That I would have to follow you into the unknown."
The voice called out again and Elsa felt a new wave of adrenaline flow through her. She hurried back into the castle and through the hallways, racing down the stairs toward the castle's back entrance. Her whole body was a whirl of emotions, vibrating with a curiosity and excitement that she had never felt before.
Elsa burst out into the cool night air, quickly spreading ice across the water near the door so she could move over the water. "What can you show me?" she yelled as she ran even faster.
The shimmering outlines of different creatures appeared in the air around her, sparks of magic dancing through the air in patterns of reindeer, horses, and giants. They seemed to be leading her somewhere, and she followed them until she found herself on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the sea to the north.
Elsa hesitated for half a second, her blood pumping and emotions swirling, trying to force herself to think through this decision. The voice called out one more time, stronger than ever and with a new wave of emotions that she just couldn't resist.
"I will follow you!" Elsa shouted. "I will follow and see what you have to show me." As she spoke, she flung out her arms and reached for the magic the voice was channeling to her. The air around her snapped with magic and thousands of small crystals appeared around her, shimmering in the light of the dawn that was just breaking over the horizon.