Berries.

Cloudberries in particular.

Elsa loved them.

They were her favorite.

Cloudberries reminded her of Elsa now—as did so many other things.

Whenever she saw cloudberries, her first instinct was to gather some for Elsa.

That was her life now.

She saw Elsa in almost everything she looked at.

She also loved cloudberries.

Elsa knew this, and liked to pick them for her too—

and that's also why she loved cloudberries.

When was it, the first time Elsa had brought her some—wrapped neatly in a small parcel—perhaps near a month after Elsa had moved to the forest? The timeframe was irrelevant, but the memory and profundity of it hardly so. It was perhaps one of the best moments of her life, and she would never forget it. Elsa had placed the small parcel in her hand, brushed her cold fingers against Maren's only briefly, said nothing, but smiled her small half smile that ignited a passionate longing within her to this day.

'For you.' Was all Elsa said finally. Simple, concise, profound, Elsa. Words, she did not waste, but used the select few she chose like an artist would—brushstrokes on a canvas—each meticulously chosen and thought through for a very specific reason, to paint a deeper portrait of what she meant in the most earnest way possible. Meant only to be understood by those who could look deeply enough—a barrier of sorts, keeping out those who could not handle her depths—or who might try to sneak in and do harm. It's as if Elsa knew the weight of her own conflicting feelings could never be truly expressed or understood by most with words alone, so she didn't even bother and try.

Her eyes though, were a different story.

Those had lingered on Maren's for just a moment longer than ever they had before, and spoke volumes in that brief space of time more than any words could have. Thank you, is what they said. I'm starting to trust you. How had she seen that dancing in Elsa's eye's back then? There was no logic to it, but she had now seen that look many times since, and knew it to be true. The look Elsa gave only to her, clinging to her with that deep gaze as if she were the only safe thing to hold onto in the entirety of Elsa's complex world. As if she were on the brink of drowning and Maren was the only rock she could cling to to keep her head above.

She had always taken that seriously.

She would always take that seriously.

She would always be Elsa's rock.

Elsa may not have understood her own feelings at that point, but Maren had. She'd already been deeply aware of her own rapidly escalating feelings for Elsa, and that moment was the first time she saw a glimmer in Elsa's eyes that told her she might feel the same. A twinkle of something more than friendship that could only be felt with intuition, with the heart. And she had been right. Elsa's eyes never lied to those who knew how to look—to those who bothered or cared enough to truly look. That glimmer had turned into a spark, which turned into a flame that now burned so brightly only death could extinguish it—and she wasn't even sure death could—regardless, death was not an option.

Elsa had not come this far to lose it all now.

And if she couldn't fight death, then, Maren would fight it for her—she would protect her from it.

She would not let death drown her—

She was Elsa's rock.

'Maren, Maren. You've got to let go of her.' It was Kristoff's voice that cut through to her, sounding very far away. He was removing her hand that had been intwined with and squeezing Elsa's, he was pulling her shoulder away so she was no longer hunching protectively over Elsa. She jerked away from him—she had to keep Elsa here, get her to wake up—why would he pull her away right now?

'Maren!' Kristoff grabbed her shoulders so she was now forced to look at him. 'Give them space to finish.' He said, his voice and eyes softening as he looked into hers. Tears still filled her eyes, she blinked them away and let him pull her away from Elsa.

Still on her knees, she turned to look again at Elsa.

Her fear, was that if she didn't keep her eyes constantly on Elsa she would somehow slip away. She moved reluctantly, just far enough away to allow Kalle and Eret the space they needed to finish working on her—her eyes following every movement they made with hawklike focus.

Eret was pouring a thick liquid from a glass bottle—a glass bottle she recognized from the box Björn had given her—onto Elsa's stitched arm. By the spirits, please let whatever concoction Ryder and Björn had conjured work its healing magic on her. She bartered with the spirits—she would never nag Ryder again if what he'd helped create would save Elsa. She would hug him and buy him an entire barrel of ale if only this would help Elsa now.

Kalle had pulled the blanket down, exposing Elsa's torso and other wounds again. She looked so vulnerable, so broken and exposed lying there like that, that Maren instinctively started moving towards her again—but Kristoff's arm on her shoulder held her firmly in place.

Kalle and Eret went about cleaning the blood off Elsa and the area surrounding her. Once finished Kalle then poured some of Ryder's syrupy healing balm on a cloth and pressed it firmly into the smaller wound on the side of Elsa's ribcage. A small quiet groan escaped Elsa's lips, but her eyes did not open—Maren tensed—but a groan was a good sign, she concluded.

'This one should be fine to heal without stitches.' Kalle mumbled. With her free hand she palpated along the bruises over Elsa's ribcage and another soft groan escaped Elsa's lips. 'She has cracked a rib, but it will have to heal on its own—there is nothing to do for that except rest.'

Kalle stopped to look up at Maren and Kristoff, then gestured to Anna. 'Her sister has suffered a concussion, and with the severity of these injuries,' She gestured down at Elsa. 'I'm afraid they will both need to stay put for some time to heal.'

Kristoff was nodding along side her. 'Will they be ok?' Maren asked hesitantly—hopefully, not entirely sure she wanted to hear the answer, but needing to ask it anyway.

Kalle licked her lips, glanced down at Elsa then back to Maren. 'We will see what the night brings, and we will do more joiking healing chants. If they improve by morning, then I would say yes, they should both make a full recovery.'

She felt Kristoff's arm tighten around her shoulder. The words had nearly paralyzed her, she couldn't move even if she wanted to. If they improve…

All she could do was stare blankly and watch—watch as Eret carefully lifted Elsa's limp upper body, supporting her head, back and injured arm so that Kalle could start wrapping the bandaging cloth around her lower torso. It was a precarious position he held her in and Maren wrung her hands together helplessly, nervously, agitatedly as she watched—don't drop her. Kalle wrapped Elsa's torso methodically, tightly, neatly working her way up over Elsa's ribcage and breasts. Eret set Elsa back down gently and moved to extend her injured arm. Kalle maneuvered the bandaging up, over and around Elsa's shoulder a few times, then started wrapping it down her stitched arm until she reached her wrist and tied it off there. Finished.

Maren let out a sigh of relief.

'She should not move the arm. Whoever is with her when she wakes needs to communicate that to her. She must stay calm, using her magic will not be wise until she is further healed.' Maren nodded. 'I will leave these herbs to take for pain—they are slow acting but will be better than nothing. She should chew them every hour—both girls can—and we must get them up to drink water as soon as possible. The blood loss causes dehydration which will stall the healing.'

Maren finished listening to Kalle, then extracted herself from Kristoff's arm to move near Elsa's side again. She picked up Elsa's hand and squeezed it, bending her arm at the elbow so she could kiss Elsa's hand and massage her forearm with her other hand. She was going to get her though this—she would see that funny side smile and those deep blue eyes again in no time.

'Move her over there please—carefully.' Kalle instructed to Kristoff, gesturing to a clean bed pad next to Anna. Maren hesitated, she could move Elsa herself, and she wanted to—but in the fragile state she was in it was probably safer for Kristoff to do it. So she reluctantly slid over so he could pick her up from her good side. She moved around to the other side of Elsa so she could carefully support her stitched arm as Kristoff lifted and moved her.

He placed her down gently next to Anna, and Maren did the same with her arm. Then they both plopped on the ground, took a deep breath and locked eyes for a moment—both in near disbelief of what had happened on this day.

Silence engulfed them all for a time as they sat there, Kristoff staring at Anna, Maren staring at Elsa. Finally Kristoff spoke:

'I'll go find some water, we're going to need to try and get them to drink soon. I'll also get something for us to eat.'

'Thank you.' Maren whispered, still staring at Elsa—she wasn't hungry. She could feel Kristoff's eyes on her and was grateful he had offered to get the water though. She was not in the mood to leave Elsa's side yet.

'Keep an eye on Anna.'

'I will.' She glanced over at Anna who still seemed to be resting peacefully—and breathing—blessedly.

Her eyes returned to Elsa and she ran a hand through her hair, tucking some of it behind her ear. She stared at the dark circles under her eyes, so contrasted to her pale skin and ran her thumb over them and down Elsa's cheek. Then she bent low so she was next to Elsa's ear and whispered:

'I love you Elsa, and don't you forget I said it. You need to wake up so I can tell you properly.' She moved her lips from Elsa's ear to her cheek, planting a kiss there then ghosting over her lips to kiss her lightly there.

The night wore on, agonizingly slowly. Kristoff returned with Eret carrying water, cups, soup and cloth. She managed to rouse Elsa for a brief moment and tried to tilt some water in her mouth, but Elsa was too out of it and the water mostly spilled down her neck instead. Kristoff was not having any more luck with Anna.

Kalle returned periodically with her rainstick and drums. Eret beat the drum rhythmically and chanted while Kalle chanted and sang—tapping her stick in rhythm to the drum and moving her hands over the girls. Maren joined in eventually. The more power behind the ritual usually helped, and she knew what she was doing. Kalle had been training her in shamanism and energy healing for years. Which is what she spent the rest of the night doing on Elsa and Anna.

She had been interested in the healing arts, ever since she found Daisy wounded. For as long as she could remember she had a deep innate desire to help people, and when she finally got to do it for Daisy—it had ignited something within her and after that she couldn't learn enough about it. It wasn't an exact science, for the most part she knew how to heal energetic injuries—to calm mental and emotional trauma and ease pain or duress—physical injuries though, were a different story. They could be healed energetically by the rare individual, but she was no where close to mastering that skill—Kalle couldn't even do it. But she decided it couldn't hurt to try anyway.

This night however, was difficult because her own emotions were extremely turbulent. She usually needed to be in a calm presence of heart and mind to channel the spirit energy correctly—but this night it was exceedingly difficult to concentrate and connect. She rubbed her tired eyes in frustration.

'You need to relax.' Kalle whispered to her, and she nodded in return with a sigh. Kalle was right, though it was much easier said than done.

Bruni had slithered in at some point during the night, curling up on Elsa's chest. Then he had crawled onto her own shoulder while she worked energetically with Kalle, and she found that Bruni's presence did seem to help her focus more.

Kristoff sat quietly out of the way and watched the entire ordeal unfold—and she nearly forgot he was there until Kalle summoned him.

'Young man, do you play any kind of music?'

Kristoff looked confused. 'Me?'

'No, the other young man sitting there doing nothing. Yes. You.'

'Oh, I guess I can play the lute?' He shrugged, still confused.

'Did you bring it with you?'

'It's in our lavvu.'

'Go and get it please.'

Kristoff returned in short order with his lute. Kalle motioned, and he came to sit crossed legged next to Anna.

'You love her?' Kalle asked bluntly.

Kristoff looked surprised but answered immediately. 'I do.'

'Then your music can help her. Music can be used for healing purposes. It holds its own energy vibration just as people do, and its rhythms can be used to soothe and call the spirits to heal the physical or emotional body.'

Kristoff was nodding with a creased brow. 'The trolls do something similar…' He muttered. 'I don't really know what I'm doing though…'

'You don't have to know, just play the music that's in your heart. Feel it, feel the love you have for her and play it in rhythm with the beat of the drum.'

'I can do that.' Kristoff nodded.

'Do this too Maren, I can feel what you feel for her.' Kalle's eyes followed to Elsa then locked back onto her own with a raised eyebrow. Maren nodded, understanding what Kalle wanted her to do. She retrieved a reed flute from the side of the hut—her instrument of choice—and returned to Elsa's side.

Kalle began singing, a low haunting ancient healing song. Her voice went up and down in pitch as if she were speaking directly to the spirits, calling them to help with the healing. Her hands moved again, slowly over Elsa and Anna's head as she sang.

Maren closed her eyes and swayed, the music had already started to affect her. She put the flute up to her mouth and played, softly at first, in tune with the feeling of Kalle's voice and in rhythm with the slow methodical beat of Eret's drum. She lost herself in the powerful sensation of Kalle's voice as she played—chills running up and down her spine. The feeling of love she felt for Elsa was bursting in her chest, and she focused it into her music—calling the spirits with music from her soul.

Not long into her trance Maren heard the quiet finger picking of the lute start, and opened her eyes just enough to peek at Kristoff. He too was swaying to the music with closed eyes as he picked at his lute, adding an eerily calming layer of strings to the collective sound.

Outside the hut Maren caught the soft emotional hum of the bukkehorn join in and meld with the music they played. The symphony of the combined instruments was powerful, and Maren had to be careful to keep herself present, or she risked slipping into a full meditative state.

How long they played she wasn't sure, it could have been minutes, it could have been hours—she felt entirely calm and removed from time in that musical trance state. Only was she pulled from it when Kalle's voice finally wrapped its final notes, finishing in completeness the musical story she was weaving with the spirits.

Maren opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Kristoff, staring wide eyed at Anna, dazed, his eyes glistening with tears from the power of the music. The sky had a soft blue glow to it now, morning would be upon them soon.

'I will be back to check on them in the morning.' Kalle stated, rising from her knees. 'Remember my instructions, and get some rest you two.' She said pointedly to her and Kristoff. Maren doubted she would get any sleep this night.

'Are you alright?' She asked Kristoff once Kalle and Eret had left. He'd already brushed the tears out of his eyes and was nodding.

'I've just, never heard anything like that before—it was…'

'Ethereal.' Maren finished, when he was at a loss for words.

'It was beautiful. All I could think of was Anna during it.'

Maren smiled and nodded. She knew what that was like. 'I've heard it many times and it only gets more powerful each time.' She paused. 'Why don't you rest, one of us needs to be conscious at all times and I can tell you already I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight.'

Kristoff paused, considering her logic. 'Are you sure?'

'I'll wake you if Anna wakes up.'

Kristoff nodded and got up to drag a pad over, laying it horizontal by Anna and Elsa's feet.

'Wake me.' He said, looking at her one last time before laying down on his back and putting his hat over his eyes. It took no more than a moment before she heard his breathing slow—asleep.

She glanced back down at Elsa and Anna, who remained unchanged, still breathing deeply, slowly. Then she turned her gaze to where the night sky was steadily giving way to dawn through the opening of the lavvu.

She stared at the slowly brightening sky for perhaps another hour, or maybe it was only minutes, absently running her fingers through Elsa's hair as she waited for this hellish night to end.

Then, something caught her from the corner of her eye—Anna had stirred. She turned to Anna and saw her eyes flutter. Immediately she scooted around until she was beside Anna.

'Anna?' She asked in a soft whisper. Anna's eyes fluttered open and found hers, dazed and confused.

'Maren?' She asked, her voice quiet and hoarse, eyes puffy and tired. Maren nodded with a smile. 'What? Where's Elsa?' Anna's voice was suddenly frantic and she was about to move her head around to look.

'No, no Anna don't move your head, you've got a concussion. Elsa is fine, she's right next to you. Move slowly.' Anna blinked, registering Maren's words, and Maren said a silent thank you that her memory was still sharp and undamaged by the injury. Anna turned her head slowly to the left, taking in the sight of her sister next to her. Her hand came up over her mouth and her eyes went wide, but to her credit she did not make any sudden movements.

'Maren what happened? I don't remember anything.' Anna whispered, her eyes terrified as they returned to look at Maren.

'Elsa said a giant squid or octopus attacked—you don't remember any of that?'

'No—the last thing I remember was looking down at a strange shadow in the water and then… Nothing.'

Maren was nodding with a creased brow as she watched Anna try to piece the events back together. 'The tentacle hit you in the head and knocked you unconscious, it caught Elsa under the arm. They had to give her stitches there but I think she's going to be just fine.' Maren assured her with a smile, not entirely believing her own positivity. Anna turned her eyes back to Elsa then and moved her hand to grab Elsa's good hand.

'She saved me.' Anna whispered, then returned her sad gaze to Maren's 'And Kristoff—'

'He's resting, down there.' Maren gestured with her eyes to Anna's feet. 'I'm on duty.' She said with a smile. 'Elsa got you both back to shore safely.'

'Kristoff brought me back here?' Maren nodded and watched as Anna puzzled the pieces of the story together. 'Then you—you saved my sister.' Anna whispered with a curious look in her eyes. Maren smiled and nodded.

'Of course.' She said, looking into Anna's teal eyes with the sincerity she truly meant.

'Maren,' Anna reached for her hand and Maren took it, her eyes had a seriousness to them that Maren did not often see on Anna. 'Promise me you will take care of her, no matter what. Especially when I'm not there to do it. I can't bear to see her get hurt anymore.' Anna's eyes were glassy, but there were no tears and they pierced right into Maren's soul, very much like her sister.

'Anna,' Maren paused. 'I care deeply for Elsa. I will always protect her, I promise you that.'

Anna smiled and then tears did start rolling down her face and she rolled her eyes. 'Give me a hug.' She demanded in a petulant, very Anna tone of voice. Maren smiled and laughed, then bent down to gently hug Anna, careful not to disturb her head.

Anna wiped her eyes with the hand that was not holding Elsa's. 'Now, even when she's moody, even when she wants nothing to do with people—you need to keep on her. Don't take it personally. Push through that, because secretly she doesn't want to be alone, she just gets overwhelmed and thinks she needs to be alone, but she's wrong. I've seen it too many times. You can tell her I said all that too.'

Maren chuckled at Anna's rant, so glad she was herself again. Anna was so right, and with every passing day she herself learned more and more how to speak Elsa language. It may take the rest of this lifetime, but she would master it eventually. 'Anna shhh, you need to rest. We can talk about this later when you've recovered. Let me wake Kristoff—I promised him I would, and I don't want to hear it from him for not waking him right away.'

Anna snickered. 'We are so not done with this conversation!' She hissed up into empty air from her prone position as Maren moved away from her to wake Kristoff.

'Anna!' Kristoff shot up from his pad and scooted over next to Anna. He bent low and kissed her, and Maren remained back to give them privacy. He made her drink some water before she started again.

'Kristoff I love you, but please let me finish my conversation with Maren!' Anna hissed. Maren moved back to Elsa's side.

'Anna you can talk to her about Elsa when you've had more rest. Not right now.'

Immediately something in Maren registered that that was not the correct thing for Kristoff to say.

'Wait—you know?' Anna hissed at him with a dramatic air of incredulity. 'You knew before I did!' Her voice was still a whisper hiss and she hadn't moved but it was scathingly cutting nonetheless.

'What? I—no, I didn't know. I mean, yes I did know, but no one told me. I—I sort of pieced it together—then I basically pried it out of Maren…' Kristoff's eyes found hers, searching for help.

'Anna, you were the first person Elsa told. I promise. Please rest.' Maren interjected, desperate to calm her down. Anna snorted, but her eyes still looked deathly tired.

'Alright, alright. I'll go back to sleep—but please wake me when Elsa wakes up?' Maren and Kristoff nodded in unison. Anna then flicked her eyes back to Maren's.

'We are not done yet.' Anna whispered, then closed her eyes in a huff, her hand still gripping Elsa's.

Maren smiled and shook her head, then returned her eyes to Elsa.

Come on Els, please wake up.


A/N: Here is the song for the chapter, it's what I envisioned as the group healing song:

THE FROZEN CALL - Ancient Nordic Chant - Artist: Jonna Jinton

The girl who sings it makes fantastic artwork and music, I've been following her for a few years and you should definitely check her out. She's Swedish, and her music incorporates Kulning which is an ancient Nordic call that's hauntingly beautiful. It was used to call herds of cattle in from the mountains and sounds a lot like the voice from Frozen 2. So the fact that she mixed this with Into the Unknown as a cover is so epic. Love this song, hope you like it!