By late afternoon three days later, Elsa wasn't sure if she wanted to pull her own hair out, or throw her book at Anna and end her own suffering. She hadn't been able to get through more than a single page without some kind of interruption from her sister. This time, it was Anna's newly acquired pan flute—gifted to her by Maren no less—that she had started playing—again. The notes were not coming forth as was intended from the small wooden instrument, but instead came out as a series of screechy off-pitch whistles that made Elsa cringe every time Anna blew into the thing.

'Anna. I thought you were going to take a break from that and draw?' Elsa asked with a sharp undertone.

'Maren said I should practice—she thinks I might have a natural aptitude for healing.' Anna said proudly, seeming entirely nonplussed by Elsa's irritation. Of course, Maren had said that to Anna. Of course she had gifted it to Anna, blissfully unaware that her little present was slowly, agonizingly driving Elsa insane. 'Besides, I'm bored of sketching right now.' Anna stated and blew again into the flute. A high pitched screech emanated from the thing and Elsa winced again.

Anna was clearly bored with many things, Elsa quickly learned as the week had rolled on. Besides incessantly playing the pan flute—which was a more recent development—when she wasn't drawing or talking animatedly, Elsa had at least been able to read aloud to her and get through some of her book. But still it was never more than a paragraph before Anna would chime in with her own thoughts or analysis or go off topic completely, derailing any comprehension Elsa had of what she was reading.

Anna finally set the flute down, blessedly taking a break. Elsa let out a sigh of relief and returned to the sentence she'd been trying to read for the fifth time in five minutes.

After a minute Anna sighed dramatically, a clear indication that her boredom had returned with a vengeance but Elsa ignored it. Maybe she would take her advice and draw again—silently preferably.

'Elsa?' Elsa closed her eyes, took a deep breath, bookmarked her page, closed the book and set it down gently at her side—resigned to the fact that reading it was not in the cards tonight.

'Yes Anna.' Elsa said flatly.

'Oh, sorry did I interrupt?' Anna asked guiltily, finally reading Elsa's irritated tone. Elsa let out a quiet sigh.

'No no, it's fine. What is it?'

'I was just thinking—you and Maren kissed already, I know that. I mean, of course you have, because no one says I love you unless they've at least kissed. That's obvious—well actually I accepted Hans' proposal before any of that, but that was different and stupid of me and I know this now. Anyway—' Anna turned to face her completely, a gleaming look in her eye that Elsa couldn't quite read. 'So—you've kissed.' Anna stated again and looked at Elsa pointedly, as if coaxing her to respond to something obvious.

Elsa blinked and her eyes shifted side to side as she looked at Anna, baffled by what she wanted. 'Yes we have, you saw it at Ahtohallan—so what?' She asked with a shrug, confused by what Anna's point was. Anna let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes.

'So—have you done anything else…? Besides kiss?' Anna pressed, an eager smirk rising up her freckled cheek.

Elsa smirked internally, understanding now where Anna was aiming with this. 'Well, we pick berries together sometimes—'

'Elsa!' Anna practically shouted and threw her arms up and slammed them dramatically on her knees. She raised her eyebrow expectantly once again. Elsa returned with a quizzical brow. 'Sex! I'm talking about sex!'

Someone Elsa didn't recognize walked by outside just as Anna shouted that—the person paused briefly, then hurriedly continued on their way.

Elsa smirked and looked at Anna with a knowingly raised eyebrow of her own. Anna deserved to be teased after her annoyingly bored behavior all week.

'Oh my god, so you have!' Anna shouted excitedly.

'I didn't say that.' Elsa replied calmly then returned to her book. Anna snatched the book away from her immediately.

'Yes, yes you did your eyes said YES. TELL ME NOW ELSA.' Anna was practically foaming at the mouth and it was all Elsa could do to keep up her little charade without bursting out in laughter. Perhaps she was getting better at charades.

'Elsa please, I have waited for this literally my entire life.' Anna had shifted rapidly from pushy to desperate and Elsa had to curl her lips in to keep from laughing.

'That's an interesting thing to wait your entire life for—' Elsa started but Anna cut her off again.

'Elsa you know what I mean!'

Elsa chuckled. 'What do you want to know?'

'Well, for starters how was it? Was it good—was there ice when you—? Did you even—I mean were you able to—you know…' Anna made a gesture with her hands that looked something like an explosion, her eyes wide and expectant.

Elsa smiled, slightly embarrassed by Anna's direct line of questioning. Then she nodded and shrugged in guilty confirmation.

Anna let out a high pitched squeal that caused Elsa to wince as she chuckled. 'Ice?' She asked expectantly, shaking Elsa's good hand vigorously.

'No—well not the first time at least.' Elsa clarified.

'The first time?!' Anna's face looked shocked as if she couldn't process the words Elsa had just said. 'Wait, how many times have you done it?' Anna's eyes were still wide and she had the largest, dumbest grin on her face that Elsa had ever seen. Elsa felt her cheeks grow hot.

'Anna it hardly matters…'

'Ok fine, you don't have to say.' Anna paused for a beat. 'More than five?'

'Anna.'

'Alright. Ok I'll drop it. I just want to make sure you're ok with—with everything.'

Elsa let out a breath, feeling suddenly guilty at the look on Anna's face. She sighed. 'Three.' She answered finally, dropping her head into her palm in embarrassment. 'And a half—sort of.' She trailed off, unsure how to classify the most recent attempt. Failure?

'Three!' Anna squealed and looked skyward with her arms splayed out, as if she had just had a profound religious experience. 'Wait, what do you mean and a half? What happened?' Anna's excitement quickly shifted to concern and Elsa suddenly wasn't sure she wanted to explain this to Anna. Anna must have picked up on her reluctance because she continued: 'So the first few times there was no ice, which is great because I know you were always terrified of that.' Elsa nodded in confirmation. 'Then the last time, there was?' Anna pressed, trying to piece together the confusing situation. Elsa nodded again, still unsure how to go about explaining it.

Just then Kristoff walked in smiling. 'How are you two doing?'

Anna spun on him so fast Elsa worried she might get whiplash and injure her head again. 'Honey not now, go away. We're having an important sister conversation.' Anna waved her hand dismissively, shooing him back out of the hut. 'I love you.' She added over her shoulder, as if to soften her abrupt dismissal of him.

Kristoff smirked, rolled his eyes and turned around and left.

'Ok, so what happened the last time that made it different?' Anna asked, concern still laced in her voice.

'I don't know. I've been trying to figure it out. The first few times I was nervous, but Maren kept me calm. Even though I was nervous there was no ice and—'

'And it was good.' Anna finished for her with a knowing smile, nodding her head and wiggling her eyebrows. 'See, love is stronger than fear.'

'Yes.' Elsa chuckled and looked down, her cheeks burning a bit from embarrassment.

'So the last time?' Anna coaxed, still trying to pry an answer from her. 'Did Maren do something wrong or—hurt you?' Anna asked, her brow suddenly creased in concern.

'No, no. Nothing like that—it was me. Maren is, she's so good Anna, and careful about everything, this wasn't her fault. I was—excited. Really excited. I felt like I finally knew what I was doing and I wasn't nervous—but then I sort of—lost control. A lot.' She shook her head with a creased brow as the memory flooded back to her.

Anna was nodding pensively as she listened. 'Elsa, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you are still really new at this. You're going to make mistakes—Kristoff and I definitely did. And don't start on me again about how you can't afford to make mistakes, because you already know what I'm going to say to that.'

'I almost hurt her Anna.' Elsa said seriously, hoping the gravity of that would sink in. 'I just can't risk—'

Anna made a face which stopped Elsa's train of thought. 'Maren is a big girl Elsa, she knows what she's doing and can take care of herself.'

Elsa sighed, it didn't matter how competent Maren was, her ice was still deadly—could be deadly to anyone who was ten times her strength and size.

'Look, do you remember when Kristoff and I first started doing it?' Elsa nodded—how could she forget. Anna had been so nervous and excited she had nervously chattered Elsa's ear off for days leading up to—whenever it precisely ended up happening. Elsa had also felt terrible and like a grossly incompetent older sister who couldn't give Anna the wisdom and advice she should have been able to give at the time. 'Well, the first time was absolutely horrible, remember?' Elsa nodded again, remembering how difficult it had been for Anna. It had taken some time before she and Kristoff had gotten it right. 'Right, we couldn't even finish because it was so painful for me. Well, just because we had those issues at first—didn't mean we just stopped trying. We figured out other ways to—you know, make it work. Then eventually it all came together and now it's amazing.' Anna stated with a smirk. 'I'm sure it's a little different with your magic, but the concept is the same. Maren loves you, and you'll figure it out. Just give it time and don't be so hard on yourself about it.' Anna's large eyes were sad and hopeful at the same time.

Elsa nodded and reached out her hand, Anna took it and squeezed. 'This is the talk I should have been able to give you back then.' Elsa said sadly.

'Elsa, you were there for me exactly as I needed you to be then.' Anna smirked and raised her eyebrow. 'Besides, I don't think you were ever going to be equipped to give me advice about men—or their—parts.' This caused Elsa to chuckle.

'No, I suppose you're right about that.' Elsa smiled and shook her head.

'Are we interrupting?' Maren's voice carried as she poked her head into the hut, Kristoff behind her.

'No, not at all.' Elsa called and waved them in.

Maren came over and knelt beside her, giving her a quick kiss, Kristoff did the same to Anna.

'How are you feeling?' Maren asked, an excited gleam in her eyes.

'Good, better than I've felt in days really.' Elsa cocked her head and squinted at the strange look in Maren's eyes. 'What are you up to.' Elsa prodded suspiciously.

'Well,' Maren glanced quickly at Anna who was smiling mischievously then returned to Elsa. 'I'm glad you're feeling better, because, I want to take you out on a date tonight.' Maren smiled. Anna let out a tiny squeak.

'A date?' Elsa asked, a smile crawling up her lips.

'Mmhm. I think you could use some fresh air. It's all planned, all you have to do is say yes.'

'Yes.' Elsa added without hesitation a smile already on her lips.

Maren smiled then glanced to the doorway. 'The sun is starting to set, we should go soon.'

Elsa glanced down at herself, suddenly realizing she was in no state to go outside. The only thing covering her upper half were bandages, and she hadn't washed her hair in days. She was about to voice these concerns when Maren set down a sleeveless Northuldran tunic and boots next to her. 'You can wear one of mine, it shouldn't disturb the injuries.' Maren started to unfold the outfit when Anna interjected.

'Kristoff, don't you and Maren have some reindeer things to attend to outside?' Her eyes were wide, staring at Kristoff and she motioned with her head towards the door. Subtlety was not a strength of Anna's. Maren froze, the tunic still in her hands and stared at Anna, picking up on her not-so-subtle request. A small smile formed over her lips and she set down the tunic.

'Yes, you're right Anna. Many reindeer things to prepare. Kristoff shall we leave them to it?'

He nodded with a smile then he and Maren both got up and left. Anna spun back towards Elsa, fire in her eyes.

'Ok first we need to get this thing on you, then I'm doing your hair. You are not going on a date like this.' Anna was deadly serious and started to crawl around Elsa to the other side of her. Elsa reached up to feel her own hair, suddenly self conscious at how bad she must really look. 'It's not that bad.' Anna amended, reading the expression on Elsa's face. Elsa moved her good arm to prop herself up and winced, Anna supported her behind her back and helped her sit up the rest of the way.

Anna picked up the sleeveless tunic and shook it out, then slid an armhole up Elsa's bandaged arm to her shoulder—Elsa tilted her head to get it through the neck hole, and suddenly found herself stuck in a very ridiculous position, unable to get her other arm through the tunic. 'Anna, I'm stuck—help me get it over—' Her voice came out muffled, as her mouth was buried behind the hem of the garment.

'I've got it, I've got it.' Anna grabbed Elsa's good arm and pulled it through the other armhole, nearly choking Elsa in the process. 'There.' Anna said, satisfied. Elsa let out a relieved breath. 'Oh thank god she brought a hairbrush.' Anna breathed a sigh of relief. 'You know, being with someone who understands girly needs is really a bonus.' Anna mumbled offhandedly, then moved behind Elsa to brush her hair. Elsa smiled and shook her head—Anna was right about that. 'Don't move your head.' Anna reprimanded. Elsa rolled her eyes and kept her head still.

'Anna I can brush my own hair.'

'Not with one arm you can't. Plus I'm not just going to brush it.'

Elsa scrunched her brow, wondering what Anna was going to do and realizing she was powerless to stop it whatever it was. 'Just don't overdo—'

'Elsa.' Anna cut her off and sighed dramatically. 'I have waited my entire life to help you get ready for a date. Let. Me. Have. This.'

Elsa immediately closed her mouth and nodded, a smile spread across her lips. 'And stop moving your head!'

'So dramatic.' Elsa chuckled under her breath with a smirk.

'What was that?' Anna asked sharply as she brushed and pulled at Elsa's hair.

'Nothing.' Elsa assured. Incurring Anna's wrath when she was in these passionately driven moods was never a wise decision.

'That's right nothing.' Anna mumbled under her breath. 'Oh, wait. Just a second.' Anna got up and left the lavvu, then returned instantly carrying something Elsa couldn't see. She returned behind Elsa and continued brushing, pulling and weaving Elsa's hair. It felt as though she were braiding it into something.

'There.' Anna said finally, and moved around to the front of Elsa to admire her work. 'Perfect.' She added with a pleased smile. Elsa reached up and gently patted what felt like two thin braids starting at her temples and pulled back behind her head where they weaved into one larger braid. She also felt that Anna had weaved something into the braids—flowers perhaps? The rest of her hair hung in loose waves. Elsa smiled.

'Thank you sis.'

'You are beautiful, my sister.' Anna smiled and swiftly kissed her cheek. 'Oh you need this.' Anna picked up the cloth sling Elsa had been using every time she'd needed to stand. Anna slipped it around her neck, pulling her hair out from under it and helped get her arm bent and situated in it. Anna scrunched her brow, studying her work then smoothed a piece of Elsa's hair into place. Finally she smiled and announced excitedly: 'Ok let's go.'

She took Elsa's good arm and carefully hauled her up to stand. Elsa braced then winced from the pain caused by standing that she'd become accustomed to in the past few days. Anna helped her slip into the boots, then they started making their way to the exit. Walking was still slow going, as any small movement sent pain through her arm and ribs, but being up and dressed and mobile still felt markedly better than lying on that pad for days on end. Elsa had no idea what Maren had planned for tonight, but whatever it was she hoped it didn't involve much walking—she winced again as pain shot through her side. Anna hovered closely and held Elsa's good arm as they walked, and eventually they made it outside.

What greeted her there was a beautiful twilight sky and Maren, standing near Daisy who was hooked up to a very small wagon of sorts. Rather it was like a tiny open chariot made for two passengers at most. Elsa noticed Daisy's neck and antlers were all decorated with several chains of daisy flowers. It was very pretty and Elsa smiled at seeing it. Daisies. That must be what Anna had woven into her hair.

'Have fun.' Anna whispered in her ear and squeezed her hand as a smiling Maren approached them. It was not lost on her how Maren's eyes moved up and down the entirety of her, and Elsa felt her face burn hot. What a sight she must be, she mused sardonically—wrapped in bandages and crookedly leaning on Anna.

'You look beautiful.' Maren said, her eyes still scanning Elsa up and down. Elsa felt something warm stir in her chest at hearing those words and she smiled at the feeling.

'I take credit for her hair, you can thank me later.' Anna chimed in, Maren chuckled. Elsa squeezed Anna's hand again.

'I love it.' Elsa smiled at Anna and kissed her cheek, then extracted herself from her sister so she could stand on her own. She wasn't standing long before Maren moved in and snaked her arm around Elsa's waist, supporting much of her weight. She was silently grateful for it as standing even this long proved to be more exhausting than she anticipated.

'You ok?' Maren whispered near her ear as they walked to the chariot.

'Mmhm.' Elsa confirmed, still needing to focus much of her energies on walking as painlessly as possible.

'Have fun you two!' Anna called behind them. Kristoff joined Anna and put his arm around her shoulders.

Maren helped her carefully into the chariot, and Elsa let out a sigh of relief when she sat down. Maren climbed in next to her and put her arm around her—Elsa smiled at the warmth, and leaned into her. 'Where are we going?' She asked, unable to contain her curiosity. She didn't really care where they were going, just as long as she was going somewhere—anywhere with Maren.

'You'll see. It's not far.' Maren rubbed her hand up and down Elsa's good arm and started Daisy at a walk.

Truly, it wasn't far at all. They cleared the trees of the forest in no time, and what opened up before them was a wide rolling meadow surrounded by trees. They had come out at the higher end of the meadow, and the view down the slope of it out across the vast forest beyond was breathtaking in the light of the setting sun. Daisies filled the entire place, causing the ground to look more white than green—almost as if snow were covering it. The Northuldra moved camp from time to time, and as long as she'd been with them she had never come across this place. It was so stunning, she decided it should be immortalized in a painting—perhaps she could convince Anna to paint it one day.

'The Lichen Meadow.' Maren stated as she pulled Daisy to a stop. 'This is where I found Daisy.'

'It's beautiful.' Elsa breathed, awestruck and unable to tear her eyes away from the scene.

'I thought you might like it.' Maren smiled and moved to help Elsa down out of the chariot. Once down, she saw that Maren had spread blankets and pillows down on the ground. There were also several bouquets of picked daisies laid out on the blanket.

'What's this?' Elsa asked, unable to contain her grin.

'For stargazing.' Maren replied excitedly. 'I haven't been able to get enough of it since the mist lifted, and Anna tells me you're something of an expert with the constellations.'

That was partly true—rather it was more just an overall fascination with the unknown that always held her interest—studying the stars and the universe itself just happened to fall into that category.

'So I confess, part of this date is me selfishly hoping you'll teach me about the stars.' Maren had a playfully guilty expression on her face.

'I love talking about the stars.' Elsa replied honestly. Maren couldn't have chosen a more perfectly casual date. Anna knew her well.

Maren led her to the blankets and helped her sit down, then went and quickly unhitched Daisy so she could roam free. Elsa picked up one of the bouquets of daisies and lifted it to her nose. They were still fresh, Maren must have come earlier to set all of this up and had probably picked the flowers then. Elsa smiled into the bouquet—she would probably forever associate daisies with Maren from now on, and this place.

'Those,' Maren said, gesturing to the daisies as she returned to sit next to Elsa. 'Are my payment for your star lessons.' She said, then leaned over to kiss Elsa's cheek. Elsa smiled but cocked her head in confusion. 'Here watch.' Maren picked up her own bouquet and plucked two daisies from it. 'Make a small slit in the stem of one with your fingernail, then thread another flower through it like this.' Elsa watched as Maren repeated the process, threading several flowers together into a short daisy chain. Elsa separated several flowers out from the bouquet in front of her then picked up two and repeated the process of threading them together that Maren had just showed her. It took her a moment to fidget her bad arm into a position to be of use, but she got the hang of it. She smiled once she had a strung a few together, it was a relaxing process and the result was looking rather beautiful.

'So how is Anna's pan flute playing coming along?' Maren teased and Elsa removed her eyes from her chain to shoot Maren a sharp look. 'I didn't know she was going to play it that often.' Maren said and pulled her mouth into a guilty expression.

Elsa smiled and shook her head. 'While I may hear that music in my nightmares for the rest of eternity, I'm glad you gave it to her. She really does enjoy it.'

'Well, I meant what I told her. She has the makings of a healer—she's very empathic and has so much love in her heart. That's the core of healing.'

Elsa nodded in agreement. 'The girl is bursting with love—she's always had such an innate desire to help people. I keep trying to tell her that that is what is going to make her a great queen.' This time Maren nodded in agreement. 'She was able to see our mother at Ahtohallan you know.' Elsa added and Maren's brow quirked in interest as they continued to make their chains. 'She was finally able to release quite a bit of anger she had stored up over the years at our parents. I think it was really good for her—very healing.'

'Healers usually have to heal themselves before they can heal others.' Maren added. 'I'm really glad for her. Sounds like she's really starting to come into her own.'

'She is.' Elsa smiled as her thoughts drifted to Anna's happy face.

'What about you?'

'What about me?'

'How have you dealt with your feelings towards your parents?' Maren asked carefully. Elsa had to stop working on the chain and think for a minute.

'Well, I was angry with them for a long time—even before their death—I still am in bad moments. But I think I've largely forgiven them. I realized what their motives were for doing everything they did, and while I still don't agree with them, it's no use to stay angry any longer. The past is in the past, and I've learned to mostly let it go. It was different for Anna—no one ever told her anything, and that confused frustrated anger just kept building over the years until she finally let it out.' Maren had looked up from her chain as well and was nodding as she listened.

'Forgiveness is one of the hardest things to do—but one of the most freeing when we are able to do it.' Elsa nodded in agreement. 'Not bad.' Maren stated and held up the long daisy chain that she was now tying off into a necklace of sorts. Elsa glanced down at her own which was considerably shorter than Maren's, but decided for using mostly one hand it was pretty good, and so she tied it off into a small crown size.

Maren knelt in front her. 'Some say, daisies represent new beginnings, beauty and true love.' Maren smiled and looked directly into Elsa's eyes. 'They suit you.' She added and placed the daisy necklace over Elsa's head and around her neck. Elsa smiled and reached up to put her little daisy crown atop Maren's head.

'True love.' She whispered and stared into Maren's eyes, searching the depths of those brown eyes that had become so familiar and safe to look into. Maren leaned in then and kissed her softly, hands on either side of Elsa's face and Elsa sighed. Maren leaned her back and gently laid her down on the pillows and they continued to kiss.

'I love you.' Maren broke the kiss briefly to whisper the words. Elsa felt warmth spread across her chest and she smiled into Maren's mouth. She would never get tired of hearing that.

'I love you.' She whispered back, then pulled Maren's head back down into her waiting lips and kissed her deeply, passionately, running her fingers through Maren's hair and down her braid. Maren slid her hand down the length of Elsa's thigh and Elsa sighed and rolled her hips into Maren's thigh that was positioned between her legs. She winced at the pain that movement invoked and Maren pulled away from the kiss with a pained sigh.

'We can't, we can't.' She breathed, and Elsa sadly knew she was right.

Elsa let out an annoyed breath. 'I know.'

Maren smirked at her mischievously, reading Elsa's irritation. 'But when you're healed I'm going to show you just how much I love you.' She whispered and kissed Elsa one more time on the pulse point of her neck before moving off of her and laying down next to her. Elsa let out an annoyed groan. Maren chuckled. 'Focus now, I came out here for star lessons, not to get frisky.'

Elsa made a face and rolled her eyes. 'You're impossible.'

'So I've been told.' Maren chuckled, and Elsa kept watching her as her eyes turned upward towards the gloaming sky. Her eyes were wide and filled with childlike wonderment, a small smile formed over her lips, her hands clasped casually behind her head. Maren was stunningly beautiful and a small smile crept up Elsa's cheek knowing that she was all hers. Watching Maren watch the sky was far more entrancing than watching the sky itself, Elsa decided.

'You're staring at the wrong thing.' Maren said, never taking her eyes off the starlit sky.

'No I'm not.' Elsa stated, a small smile quirked up Maren's cheek. 'I can't imagine what it must have been like to have never seen the sky.' Elsa said sincerely, still watching Maren.

Maren took a breath, this time she did tear her eyes away from the sky to look at Elsa. 'I can't imagine what it must have been like to have been constantly trapped behind castle walls.'

Elsa quirked her brow then finally turned her gaze skyward. 'Good point.' She said finally. 'I did always have the stars though. Something about them was comforting—I just knew there was something bigger out there. Some bigger purpose for everything than what most people can see. Bigger than even I could see.'

'How so?'

'Well, I mean look at us. We're so tiny in the vast configuration of the cosmos. The sun is really just a tiny star among many millions of stars we can see,' Elsa gestured her hand up and around them. 'And we're on an even tinier planet orbiting around this tiny star. It's humbling.'

'I guess so. I—well I was never really taught any of that.' Maren said, sounding slightly awestruck. 'I mean, my people know that we cycle around the sun, it's how we tell time and seasons—but with the mist we were never—rather I was never able to directly see the sun.' She paused, considering. 'So, all of those stars up there are actually suns like ours?'

'Mmhm. Just incredibly far away so they appear tiny. Maren, there could be other planets just like ours, with people just like us out there orbiting any number of the stars we're looking at right now. I sometimes used to wonder if maybe there were ice planets out there where everyone had ice powers, and I somehow got dropped here by mistake.' Elsa chuckled.

'An icy visitor from another planet hm. Well, I would still love you anyway.' Maren jibed. 'So what makes you think we're not alone? That we're not the only ones in the entire universe?'

'Well, I don't know for sure, I just like to think about it. The more I learned, the more that theory made sense I suppose. I spent so much time studying cosmology over the years because, I was always searching for something. Searching for answers about everything unknown, hoping that I could find some missing puzzle piece to understand why I have these powers, what to do with them—how they work. Why I'm even here at all—why anyone is here really.'

'What did you come up with?'

'Well, I don't know if other people exist out in the universe, but what I do believe is that it seems everything we can see has an underlying design to it, and that design seems—intelligent? Premeditated? Like everything was created this way deliberately. You can see the patterns almost everywhere you look, from the tiniest atom to our large solar system.'

Silence hung in the air for a brief moment.

'You have entirely lost me there. Who is Atom?'

Elsa smiled and shook her head. 'Nevermind. Here, look at this.' Elsa held up her good hand for Maren to see and created ice in her palm. It bloomed as it always did, fracturing outward in a geometric design that looked something like a flower. 'What does it look like?'

Maren studied it for a moment then responded with a smirk: 'Ice?' She chuckled and Elsa rolled her eyes.

'What does the design look like?'

Maren studied it again and responded seriously this time. 'It looks like a flower?'

'Yes, exactly. But it's not a flower—it's just how my ice forms naturally. I'm not making it do that, yet flowers—which are made of an entirely different substrate—form almost the exact same way—so do pine cones and about a hundred other things in nature.'

Something clicked in Maren's eyes and a smile of understanding spread across her face. 'You're right—I never really thought about it that way before. So, what does it all mean?'

'Well, that I don't know yet—but there is something important about this underlying geometric pattern that seems to be the basis on which everything forms—including my ice. It looks almost like artwork, in these patterns and designs you can see the innate style of the artist who is creating all these things around us that we call reality. I just know there is a bigger point behind all of it—whether it's the God I was brought up to believe in or the spirits of nature or Ahtohallan or the universe itself. Something is behind all of this—so I guess, if this pattern permeates the entire universe, why couldn't other stars and planets form the same way ours did and contain life as well?'

Maren was staring at her, her mouth slightly agape and Elsa suddenly realized she had never told anyone else this theory of hers—probably because she knew she would get the look that Maren was giving her right now. Disbelief.

'Well I wanted a star lesson, I sure did get one.' Maren said, a smile forming on her face. 'I'm going to need the next year to process all of that, but it does make a lot of sense—it actually lines up quite a bit with what we believe. Your mind is rather beautiful Elsa.'

Elsa smiled, she could feel her cheeks grow from hot from embarrassment. 'I had a lot of time to study and think over the years.'

'Well I love the way you think.' Maren whispered and leaned over to kiss her cheek. 'So what else should I know about all this?' Maren asked playfully and swiped her hand above them, gesturing at the heavens.

'Hm, well it's spring. During different seasons we can see different constellations in the sky as we move around the sun. People use the stars to navigate their way—right there, see that grouping of stars that look like two fish?'

Maren pointed in the general direction of the star cluster. 'There?' She asked. Elsa put her hand on top of Maren's and guided it down slightly to the correct location.

'There.' Elsa corrected.

Maren squinted then smiled. 'Yes I see it!'

'That one is called Pisces. Then over there, the one that looks like a snake—that's Hydra.' Elsa glanced over at Maren whose eyes were smiling wide as she continued to point out the visible constellations.

'Which is your favorite?' Maren asked once Elsa finished the tutorial.

'That one.' Elsa said, and pointed to the inverted double mountain peak that was right above them. 'It's called Cassiopeia.'

Maren scrunched her brow. 'Why that one?'

'Well, I like the story behind it—not so much the constellation itself.'

'Tell me?'

Elsa took a breath. 'Cassiopeia was a queen, she and her husband King Cepheus were not exactly wonderful people—they claimed that their daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than all the Nereids—sea nymphs. The God of the sea, Poseidon, was not pleased about this so he sought to punish them for their vanity by sending a flood to wash away their kingdom—unless the King and Queen sacrificed their daughter. So they chained her to a rock to be eaten by a sea monster.'

Maren's eyes were wide with horror. 'Elsa, that's a terrible story.'

Elsa rolled her eyes. 'I'm not finished. So along comes Perseus, he sees Andromeda chained to this rock and helps to free her. They fall in love and then they moved somewhere far away from the kingdom and lived happily ever after. As punishment, Cassiopeia was placed in the heavens, forced to remain stuck there forever for her—transgressions.' Elsa paused then added: 'I would've preferred if Andromeda had figured her own way out of her predicament, but on the whole I like the story.'

Silence hung in the air for a moment before Maren spoke:

'Elsa, she was chained to a rock at sea.'

Elsa shrugged and made a flippant face.

'Accepting help isn't wrong you know.'

Elsa shrugged again. 'I guess not.'

Maren propped herself up so that she was looking directly into Elsa's eyes. 'You have people who love you Elsa—deeply. It's ok to accept help from us. You don't have to shut me out, or Anna or even Kristoff—you've got to talk to us when there's a problem. Don't just do it all on your own, please.' Maren's eyes had a sincerity there that Elsa could barely look at. It was the most sincere look of love Elsa had ever seen before in her life.

'I can promise I'll try.'

'I'll accept that for now.' Maren said, then leaned down to kiss her again.


A/N: Here is Elsa's song for the chapter by our beautiful Queen herself:

Small World: Idina Menzel

There's a great fan made version of this song mixed with Vuelie music that I recommend searching for on youtube. Fanfiction doesn't let me post the link here.