'The end of the ice age, the river found but lost. Magic source—Elsa's source.'

Elsa pulled away from Anna, keeping her hands rested on her smaller sister's shoulders. She squinted her eyes, cocked her head—listening. Then glanced back at Anna whose eyes locked onto hers with the same curiousness she felt in her own.

'Mother again?' Confusion still crested over Anna's brow.

'Her notes from the scroll?' Elsa offered, remembering her mother's handwriting etched on the corner of the scroll they had found in the wreckage of their parent's ship.

Both of them paused, still and unmoving, waiting silently, expectantly, for they were both familiar enough now to know that Ahtohallan had more to say.

And so it did.

The whole chamber whirred once again, fractals shifting all around them into white light so blinding, they both had to throw up their hands in order to shield their eyes.

Surrounding them on all sides was a massive world of incomprehensible ice and snow, constructions far greater than anything Elsa could have ever imagined existed or conjured herself. Mountains, walls and jagged pillars of ice covered the vast landscapes—glaciers so big it looked as if they spanned many kingdoms. Drifts of snow so colossal they swallowed any signs of green life. Icebergs as large as islands floated in the seas—a lifeless winter world that covered everything the eye could see.

'Elsa—what is this?' Anna's eyes were wide with wonder as she spun in a slow circle, taking in the staggering icy monoliths of this strange world.

'The ice age.' Elsa whispered in answer, awestruck and unable to tear her eyes away from the beautiful, silent, lifeless world that surrounded her. Something about it was eerily familiar—like a dream she could reach but not quite hold—and it filled her with a sense of dread, trepidation and glorious longing beauty all at the same time.

Then there was a person—a young woman, standing atop one of the highest glacial mountain peaks she had ever seen—and it looked remarkably like—herself? But it wasn't her, she could see as she studied the face, it definitely was not her—more like a friend she'd always known but had long since forgotten. Everything but the face was just so strikingly familiar. The woman's hair was the same white blonde color as hers, it flowed loose behind her in the wind, eyes the same icy blue as her own—her body too looked almost exactly like Elsa, especially—her outfit. That was what was most peculiar—she donned the same ice outfit Elsa had created when she first came to Ahtohallan—the one she wore now.

How could this woman, who was not her, be wearing the same outfit that she herself knew she created? Admittedly, her ice outfits had zero amount of forethought put into them—it was almost as if, when she had a powerful need of something—to change or to grow or understand something desperately—the ice would fractal and splinter out of her body in whatever design it deemed fit—encasing and providing her with exactly what she needed—as if it were alive. A reflection of her true self for all to see. She'd never really put much thought into it before, it was so second nature and she had done it so many times at this point—but seeing it on another was shockingly unnerving.

The woman's stance was resolute, determined. Her shoulders were back, brow creased as she studied the landscape around herself with a piercingly icy gaze—and was it, a hint of fear or sadness Elsa saw etched in her features? Like a person on a mission, set course to do something that was going to be hard, was going to be difficult and painful, yet resolved to do it anyway—she knew that look well from the mirror. The woman looked skyward, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and then, lifted a foot and stomped it down onto the glacier, causing something like a massive earthquake to shake the lands and the glacier upon which she stood. At the same time, she raised her arms and the snow around her immediately started to lift and dissipate into the air.

Anna grabbed and clutched her arm then, squeezing it with a force that almost hurt—Elsa nearly forgot Anna was with her until that point.

The sea rose around the glacial peak the woman was standing on, as the ice and snow continued to melt. The woman scrunched her eyes as if struggling, and fell to her knees as the fractals on the wall shifted. The lands far and wide were melting, rivers began to flow into the sea again, lakes and oceans formed—snow dissipated into thin air. Mountains and rock became once again visible—the world returned slowly to life.

Then the woman was there again, kneeling on the glacier, hunched yet still holding her arms up as the landscape melted—until she was knocked over violently by some force Elsa hadn't been quick enough to see. But there it was again moving so quickly, so nearly invisible that it would almost be missed—a black streak of mist or smoke? That was what had hit the woman, then another struck her. She stood and shot an icy blast at yet another that came for her—which deterred the thing. Then she raised her arms yet again and the melting continued. Snow and wind started to swirl around her, encasing her in a powerful icy vortex—the black wisp went for her again but was sucked into the vortex with a primal scream that sounded utterly inhuman. Then one, two—no three more black wisps went for her— circling her so fast it looked like a black tornado was swallowing her. She screamed, and with that scream she expanded her own icy vortex and pushed back—the inhuman scream from the wisps returned and Elsa watched with wide eyes as one, two then finally the last black wisp was sucked into the vortex. The woman's scream still pierced the air as she brought her arms closer together slowly, bringing in the icy vortex with her, into her chest until it dissipated—and then, with one final yell she splayed her hands out wide and colors burst from her upwards and out in four directions. They looked like the colors of the aurora borealis—turquoise shot out of her to the north, pinkish-red to the west, purple to the east and blue to the south. Four rainbow colors radiated out of her as she screamed, and she glowed with the brilliant white light of a thousand suns.

Then, she stopped.

Silence.

She collapsed.

Her body fell to the ice.

Lifeless.

The world around her was changed, thawed, melted—no longer a lifeless world of snow and ice. The sea had risen so high, that only the peak of the glacier she was on peeked out of the water—still massive in its own right.

Then, her body dissolved into snow. Elsa watched with a horrible sense of déjà vu as the wind picked up and carried that tiny bit of snow, into a crevice of that very glacier, and realization dawned on her as she stared at that glacial peak. It was—

'Ahtohallan.' She murmured, barely a whisper. Anna's grip on her arm was cutting off blood flow.

The fractals shifted then, jarring her from the previous scene which she had not had enough time to process.

Suddenly they were viewing a forest, a beautiful forest that looked much like where she lived now. People were gathered around in a large group—a native people that looked similar to the Northuldra—only perhaps much more primitive and ancient in their dress and facial features. A female leader spoke before them:

'We gather here today, to give thanks and gratitude to the spirits of nature that have finally returned to our world, and with them brought back life, restoration, balance and prosperity.'

'The frozen world we lived in was dying. With each season the cold became harsher, the days shorter, the animals scarcer as more and more of our people perished—we knew our days were limited. But our people never gave up. We sang, we chanted, and prayed for help, a plea to the spirits to make their return and bring back the balance of nature that our ancestors once knew, to save our way of life—and my people, the spirits have answered us!'

Cheering rang out from the crowd of people gathered.

'The fifth spirit of ice and snow was born to us, born as a human to our people so that she might understand how to help us—how to be as a human and what that means—and so we raised her as our own. We taught her how to live as a human, how to feel and grow and love as only the human spirit can. She learned from us, all this and more—in exchange she reminded us how sacred is the bridge between humans and the magic of nature—and we must continue to honor and cherish this bond. For it was with this hallowed bond that she brought back balance and saved our world!'

The crowd erupted in cheers again.

'Never must we forget this sacred knowledge, just as she will never be forgotten amongst our people. As truly, never a person have any one of us known as kind and as brave as she—and she is what we are here to honor and celebrate today—the fifth spirit of nature!'

Cheers and hoots exploded from the people, louder and louder.

Rock formations rose from the ground before the people then, terraforming the earth into four megalithic structures of stone—and Elsa recognized these. They were the four stone pillars that loomed over the entrance to the forest—the gateway into the forest and the Northuldra territory.

'A tribute to her, marked upon the earth so that her memory will span the ages—stone as strong as glacial ice, that will last the epoch of time. A reminder of the four elemental pillars of nature, upon which all life is built and which she gave her life to restore. May we protect and respect these elemental spirits, so that in turn, they may protect us—and we shall live together in harmony with them, for all eternity. The fifth spirit may be gone, but she lives on in our hearts, and each and every one of us knows—she will return. All we must do, is call to her with purity of heart in our greatest hour of need.'

Then the crowd began to chant, to sing a song she recognized as they fell into a spiral formation, each person touching the shoulder of the next. The spiral—the representation of the constantly changing, ever evolving interconnectedness of nature—or so Maren had taught her. Her throat started to close up with emotion and her eyes burned with tears as the people sang the ancient chant of the Vuelie—the same chant the Northuldra had sang before she and Anna, that first night they had met.

The chanting song rang out and reverberated around the glacial chamber as the memory dimmed and faded. Elsa stood there, stiff as stone, reeling, unable to process all that she had just witnessed and still overcome with emotion from that final song. Who was that woman, why had she felt so familiar? They had called her the fifth spirit, but how had she been here before? So many questions yet no answers came into her mind, only more and more questions.

'Elsa, what was that?' Anna asked, her voice wavering.

'I—I don't know.'

'Well, why—why would Ahtohallan show us that—the girl died at the end of all that Elsa... Who was she? Why—how did she have your powers?' The pitch in Anna's voice was rising to a steady panic and it did little to settle her own burgeoning anxiety.

'I don't know Anna.' She took a deep breath and paced a bit, frustrated she could not answer Anna's questions that she was well within rights to want to know. There had to be a reason they were shown this, it must mean something—but it didn't necessarily mean something bad. Maren would probably know, she always had the answers Elsa needed, or knew how to help her find them.

'Let's get back, Maren knows a lot about all of this—the ancient customs of the Northuldra. Maybe she can help—and relax, this doesn't mean anything bad.' She assured Anna in response to the look of near panic in her eyes, even though she wasn't entirely convinced herself.

Anna took a deep breath and closed her eyes. 'Ok, ok, yes. You're right. Let's go.'

As they turned to go, another blindingly white flash seared from the center of the chamber—it rose up from the white star in the middle of the floor. They both stopped dead in their tracks, flinching and covering their eyes from the abrupt light.

'Hold on to each other my darlings, and never let go.'

Anna found Elsa's eyes with alarm. It was their mother's voice that rang out again—and it sounded almost like a warning.

'What now?' Anna asked in a worried voice.

'Look.' Elsa said curiously and pointed. In the center of the room, not far from where they stood—hovering several feet above the white star of the fifth spirit symbol, was a floating crystal. It hung suspended in the air, cloaked only in a white hazy mist leftover from the blinding flash of light. It sparkled with a turquoise hue and as Elsa approached it, she could see that it was diamond shaped—so small it could fit easily in the palm of her hand. She studied it for a moment, raised her hand up to it, hovered over it, tentatively testing the safety of the air around it. She glanced at Anna.

Anna sighed and grabbed her hand. 'Be careful.' She breathed exasperatedly. Elsa's eyes returned fixedly to the crystal. Slowly, she put her free hand underneath it, feeling the air there—and immediately it dropped down into her palm.

She examined it closely, trying to understand what might be its purpose. It wasn't made of ice, she was sure of that—it was a real crystal. Anna peeked around her to get a better look.

'What do we do with it?' She asked hesitantly, voice laced with a slight bit of contempt—as if she'd rather discard the ominous crystal on the spot and leave the place in a hurry. Elsa wasn't so sure she disagreed with that plan, but Ahtohallan had never been the slightest bit malicious. There was probably nothing to fear from it—as with the last memory, there had to be some purpose for providing this crystal to them at that specific moment—but what that was, she had no idea. Maren could help her figure it out. Ahtohallan never did anything without sound reason.

'We take it with us. Ahtohallan provided it to us for a reason right now—we need to figure out what that is.' She said resolutely, her decision already made. An annoyed sigh escaped quietly from Anna and she reluctantly nodded her head.

'Let's just get out of here before anything else weird happens.' Anna said and glanced around nervously, as if the walls were watching her.

Elsa encased the crystal in ice and secured it with a band of ice to the inside of her wrist for safe keeping.

'Ok, let's go.' She said and grabbed Anna's hand, leading her out of the chamber. Once Anna was out, Elsa turned and raised her arms, sealing the triangular door.

They made their way out the same way they came in—the day had shifted to late afternoon she noted, as they neared the entrance. The bright turquoise hue that shone through the thick ice when the noon sun hit the glacier, had dimmed drastically. They had spent much longer in there than she had anticipated, longer than she had promised to be gone—and she hoped Maren wouldn't be worried.

'Wow it's later than I thought it would be.' Anna observed, also noting the rising presence of early evening.

'I know, it's so easy to lose time in there. I hope Maren and Kristoff aren't worried.'

'I'm sure they are.' Anna said with a sigh. She was smiling though.

Once out of the glacier she could see clearly that it was much later than they thought. The sky was red orange, but it was still more than bright enough to see clearly. They walked down the snowy slope that led from the crevasse to the sea, and Elsa bent over the water, her hand hovering over it—silently calling Nokk.

Nokk burst from the water, spraying them both with water and causing Anna to break down in a fit of giggles.

'Hi there.' Anna said cheerfully as Nokk skated playfully over to her. Anna stroked her nose. 'Did you miss us?' Nokk snorted happily, then turned on Elsa and walked over suspiciously. She poked Elsa's hand, the one that had the crystal tied to it.

'What, you don't like it?' Elsa asked playfully and held up her wrist so Nokk could see the crystal. Nokk eyed it suspiciously then snorted, shaking her head.

'Yeah, I'm not too keen on it either.' Anna added, petting Nokk as if the horse was the only one in the world who understood her. Elsa raised an eyebrow and gave them both a look.

'C'mon, let's get going.' She said, and swung herself up onto Nokk. She reached an arm down, Anna grabbed it and pulled herself up behind Elsa.

'Ready?'

'Ready.' Anna confirmed, and off they shot into the waves.

The journey started much like the previous, easily skipping over small waves, jumping over bigger ones. Elsa had Nokk jump higher than necessary over some of the smaller waves, just to she could hear Anna's laugh as they flew through the air. She smiled to herself, if only she could keep Anna this happy all the time—she would give anything for that. Then finally the bigger swells found them as the sea opened up, and Elsa smiled again—she had been so excited to surprise Anna with how she learned to ride the waves, and Anna had loved it just as much as she knew she would.

Anna tightened her grip with anticipation as they approached the first swell, and Elsa could feel her bouncing slightly. Riding the waves on Nokk truly never got old—and this evening, with a clear sky turning all different shades of red orange and pink, the inside of the waves were sure to be a sight. Anna would love it.

Elsa took them up into the tube of the first wave, and as sure as she knew, the inside of the curl of water was ablaze with the fiery reflection of the twilight sky. Anna squealed behind her and ran her fingers through the curl beside them—Elsa smiled and did the same briefly before the wave closed. She turned Nokk directly into a smattering of spray as they jumped over the back of the wave—which got Anna right in the face, causing them both to break out into laughter.

After three more rides, the sea finally calmed into its soothing rolling waves, and Elsa settled in for the quiet ride across the Dark Sea. She was so pleased that Anna had seen all those memories, had gotten back a modicum of what she had lost and more. The anger Anna had finally expelled had been well worth it as well. Her sister was rarely, if ever truly angry—she bottled it all up as if feeling it was somehow taboo—or would hurt Elsa in some way. Either way, it had been a small victory to finally get her to acknowledge and release the anger, anger Elsa knew had been festering in her for years, even if Anna didn't really know it—and for that today, she was grateful to their mother. Even if Anna's anger and some of the memories had been difficult to witness, ultimately it had been a fantastic day and she felt so much lighter than usual. Anna now knew about Maren, and had been unconditionally supportive—as Elsa had so hoped she would be. Yes, quite possibly this day could not get any better. Except that soon she would get to see Maren—perhaps the day could still get better she decided with a smile.

The other strange memories Ahtohallan had shown them still remained a mystery to her. She had felt a very bizarre familiarity or connection to the woman who they had witnessed and it was unsettling—but she could figure that out later with Maren's help. Right now she was too happy to dwell on that, or the odd crystal attached to her wrist.

They had reached the point on the journey where for a brief time she could see neither shore, not Ahtohallan nor the coast of the Northuldra territory. Everything around them was vast open ocean—it was both pure freedom but also slightly unnerving to be so far away from any land mass should something ever go wrong. But this open stretch never lasted very long, and before long they would be back with Maren and Kristoff—and she smiled at the wonderful thought.

It was perhaps the shift in the twilight sky or the slow setting sun that caused a murky darkness to fall underneath them in the water. An eerie shadow engulfed the water they ran across and she suddenly felt an ominous sense of foreboding. She had never really seen the water look like that in the evening—but then how long had it been since she last rode this way during twilight? She wasn't sure, and it was probably just the normal way water looked during sunset. She glanced back at Anna who was also looking down, inspecting the strange shadow beneath them.

Before she knew what had happened something shot upwards out of the water just beneath them, sending them both flying into the air as Nokk burst apart. Elsa hit the water hard and fast and saw blinding white for a brief moment before her vision returned. She kicked quickly to the surface, sputtering and gasping for breath as she tried to gain her bearings. There was a searing pain on the inside of her arm, but she ignored it. What had just happened? She had no idea—but where was Anna? She glanced around frantically, but what she found was not Anna—she watched in horror as a giant tentacle rose out of the sea—not far from where she was—and started to swing down right on top of her. Instinctively she threw up her hands in protection, and a giant icy spear grew out from her, piercing the massive tentacle and causing it to recoil, instead of coming down to crush her.

'Anna!' She screamed, her eyes darting around frantically for her sister as she treaded water. Still she could not see anything beyond the rolling waves. She had to get Anna and get out of there before that thing attacked again—whatever it was.

Then suddenly, Nokk was beside her and she pulled herself up quickly. 'Anna!' She yelled again, and finally saw her. Not far from where they were, Anna was floating—her face was turned down into the water, arms splayed out to her sides completely unconscious. 'Anna!' She screamed again and took off like an arrow towards her. The shadow of another tentacle loomed just to her left beneath the surface, but she saw it this time and Nokk dodged it just before it came spearing out of the surface of the water. What was this thing? What did it want? She had no time to figure that out now as they finally approached Anna. Nokk melded with the water, lowering herself down so that Elsa's lower half was floating in the water. She grabbed Anna's wrist and hauled her over towards them, flipping her over in her arms so that she could breathe. Anna was not breathing, and she had a huge gash in the side of her forehead that was bleeding profusely.

'No, no no.' The words came out of her mindlessly, a desperate mumble as she positioned and maneuvered Anna in front of her in the water.

'Ok.' She said to Nokk when she had Anna where she wanted her. Nokk rose slowly from the water. As they left the buoyancy of the water, gravity hit hard and she clutched around Anna's middle to keep her from sliding off Nokk. She laced one arm under Anna's, gripping her around the chest for stability—and with the other she grabbed Nokk's mane under Anna's other arm. Anna slumped forward and it was all she could do to hold her in place, but she had no choice. Another shadow was coming for them in the water—and they needed to get away now.

'Go!' She yelled to Nokk, and the water spirit took off just as another tentacle shot from the water where they just were. Anna slid back into her from the force of the speed, and it was everything she could do to hold onto Nokk's mane with her free hand. Her arm was shaking from the strain of it, but she could not let go and risk dropping Anna—so she froze her hand and arm to Nokk's mane to ensure they would stay on. Nokk abruptly dodged to the right to avoid another tentacle that shot upwards from the waters depths. Anna slipped sideways and she yanked her back to center, barely keeping them both on the horse. How big was this thing? What was it? A giant squid or octopus? Why was it attacking them? The questions ran through the back of her mind as she focused on securing Anna from falling. Nokk dodged another tentacle and again she barely held onto Anna.

Finally, finally she could see the shore. The black sand beach from which they departed still far in the distance, but she could see it. She pushed Nokk faster and faster, desperate to outrun an onslaught of any more tentacles. She knew if they both fell off now, there would be little she could do to save them. The searing pain in her arm was getting worse, and she could barely hold onto Anna with it. She couldn't tell if she was bleeding, or if it was Anna's blood all over her, but black was creeping around the sides of her vision and that couldn't be a good sign. Please, please let them make it back to shore. Let Anna be ok, please. She had to tell Maren, tell her that she loved her, that Anna knewhad to see her face again.

Please...


A/N: Thank you to everyone who has left supportive reviews, it gives me life and is very much appreciated! :) Several are guests, so I can only respond to you here, and I just wanted to say thank you and that this is far from the end of the story, lots more to tell and I hope you enjoy where I go with it from here. Also thank you Ammeya for your beautiful and constructive review, I always appreciate that kind of feedback as I don't have a beta reader or anything like that. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chap! :3