Early Monday morning, Anna and Olaf left for their trip back to Arendelle. Elsa had followed alongside them, all the way to the edge of the forest, before giving more hugs and watching as the single-horse cart disappeared around the bend. Elsa's thoughts began to race almost immediately, suddenly unable to recall ninety nine percent of Anna's advice...and just then, Gale crept by and gently rustled the stack of papers in Elsa's hands.
In an instant, Elsa relaxed...a bit. She swept a hand along Nokk's crystalline mane, turning the steed back into water, and murmured warmly. "Can you please make sure Bruni's okay helping those badgers clear that old fallen tree, please? I'm going to hitch a ride with Samantha."
Nokk snorted and shook his head, clearly amused by the name Olaf had given to the rock giants. He trotted along the forest's edge, pranced around Samantha headed in the opposite direction, and then took off at a thunderous gallop.
In short order, Samantha bore Elsa through the forest on her shoulder...and hummed happily as Gale trailed leaves all over the bulky spirit.
Elsa, meanwhile, blushed upon realizing she had spent so much time with Anna that weekend, that she had barely seen Honeymaren.
Could you ever feel the same? Or even...a little bit?
Eyes flicked down to the scrawled pages of notes Anna had given her that morning, and Elsa brushed a hand along the first few lines.
'I could tell you were kind of moony this weekend. Probably thinking about Honeymaren. So, in case you missed any of my spectacular Love Expert Lessons, I wrote them all down, here. And Elsa...thank you for telling me. You deserve every happiness and so much more...but if that Maren breaks your heart she's gonna have to answer to THIS Queen!'
Elsa giggled sweetly, and a light flurry began to fall over the trio.
'Alright. So, first you should do some warm-up exercises. This is what Kristoff did with me, before he...worked up to saying I love you. He calls them warm-up exercises because that's just what they were...nice, little things to sort of prime me for big things. Like love...or, in your case, even just expressing interest.'
Elsa spent most of Monday and Tuesday in Ahtohallan with her study notes...and also made time to introduce her spirit friends to her snow memories. Bruni made a monumental fuss over little Anna, while Samantha performed a happy-happy rock dance around Marshmallow.
In that vibrant, joyful place, hours passed like minutes and minutes ticked by like seconds. Wednesday arrived in the blink of an eye, and Elsa rose before dawn to prepare...with the help of Anna's notes.
'First, you're learning the language and doing great...so, use that! I'm sure Ryder won't mind if you get in some extra study time with Honeymaren. Kristoff did this with me when he taught me some of the Trolls' language. What you do is: make a bunch of flash cards with Northuldran words. Then, you have her quiz you, but in the middle of your word stack you're gonna want to…'
Suddenly self conscious about her handwriting, Elsa spent that rainy Wednesday morning doing four anxious rewrites of her vocabulary flash cards. The thin, sparkling layer of permafrost she had decorated her tent-roof with had the added effect of muffling the pitter-patter of raindrops, so she pouted when she stuck her head out and got a wet face for her trouble.
Darnit! We were gonna meet up at that grassy nook to study and...and...wait, is that her?!
Sporting a dark blue, baggy, hide poncho, Honeymaren waved as she tromped through little puddles. "You still want to study, right? The Fifth Spirit isn't afraid of a little water...right?"
Elsa shook her head abruptly, still staring at the swirling, thickly matted disc of clumped leaves hovering several feet above Honeymaren. She then blushed as a similar leaf-cover formed right over her tent-flap. "O-okay." She snatched her hide-satchel and shoved all four sets of flash cards inside. "I mean, if you're sure that…" Torn between taking several different bags of nuts, or one of the pouches of chocolate Anna had brought, Elsa eventually just grabbed them all and stammered as she turned back to leave. Only to find Honeymaren waiting right outside her tent, underneath a twice-as-large-as-before leaf-cover.
"Hope you enjoyed your time with Anna this weekend." A toothy grin, and Honeymaren swept the tent-flap back even as she shuffled over to make plenty of room under the cover. A shy glance at the pouring rain. "I missed you."
Elsa swore she heard Gale's breezy cackling overhead. She blushed and rubbed the back of her neck before shuffling out of her tent. "Me, too."
"So, you could change this rain into falling snow...if you wanted to?"
Finding herself pulled from the trance of raindrops tickling her left arm, while her right arm brushed up against Honeymaren's left, Elsa nodded her head abruptly and smiled. "I mean, I could...but...no. I mean, unless it was an emergency...but, no."
"Why not?" Suddenly, fingers brushed against fingers, and Honeymaren let out a nervous little laugh. "If that's okay to ask. I know snow's kind of...your thing...oh, I didn't mean it that way…" She trailed off, unsure as to why her right arm was suddenly wet...and her left, incredibly warm.
Caught off-guard by her friend's bashful reaction, Elsa nearly swallowed her tongue. "No! No, you're...it's fine." She distracted herself by turning her left hand palm-up and letting raindrops tickle it. She could tell Bruni was somewhere nearby from the faint hiss of steam, and the wet leaves against her bare feet filled her with a sweet, simple joy. "I think my magic is made of natural...um...things? But it's not exactly...nature." A few leaves fluttered away from the overhead canopy, and Elsa's eyes narrowed. "I like to not get in the way. When nature's doing its thing, I mean."
A slow nod from Honeymaren, and she nudged shoulders with Elsa. "You and your sister gave us back the sun. I don't think nature would mind if you played with it now and then." She then gestured past a close treeline...and then flapped her wet hand with a giggle. "That's our study spot." A soaked leaf tumbled out of the canopy and plastered itself to her forehead. She immediately cackled and swiped a wet hand over her forehead. "And I think we're losing a few leaves."
Elsa narrowed her eyes again and glanced up at the soggy leaf-cover. Playfully chiding. "Gale."
A one hundred percent innocent wind-whistle came in reply.
