"Come on, Elsa. Bruni ran this way!" A young five-year-old Anna called out, sprinting inside the enchanted forest, chasing after the little salamander fire spirit.
"Slow down, Anna." A nine-year-old Elsa called out to her sister, slowly following behind her. As it soon became apparent to Elsa, asking a salamander to play hide and seek in a vast forest with one energetic little sister wasn't exactly her idea of fun, especially in the afternoon hours before dusk.
If Elsa were honest with herself, it felt more like a game of tag, as it appeared like she was about to lose sight of the two within these very woods. Fortunately, just before such a thing could ensue. Elsa suddenly felt weightless as she was suddenly lifted by an unseen wind force, slowly surrounded by various autumn leaves.
"Hi, Gale. I had no idea you were following us." Elsa said. Giggling to herself as her other friend Gale, the wind spirit, decided to make its presence known by ascending and tickling the young Elsa into the air for a moment, giving Elsa the brief sensation of flying. Just like in her mother's stories.
The wind spirit then placed Elsa back on the ground, allowing the young girl to compose herself. "Do you think you can help me catch up with them? Elsa asked Gale. "Mom and Dad won't be happy if they discover I lost Anna in one of our games again." She explained.
Gale only whisked the autumn leaves upward near Elsa in response.
"Up up and away." Elsa joked. Just as she was about to prepare for Gale to ascend her up in the air once again, the wind spirit decided to move right in front of her instead, using the autumn leaves to morph itself into a humanoid figure, placing its leaf-like arms on both of its sides where a person's hips might be.
"What's wrong?" Elsa asked, confused with Gale's sudden mood change. She soon received an answer by watching the wind spirit transform into what looked like another figure, this time resembling her mother, singing up in the sky.
"You want me to sing my mother's call?" Elsa guessed, remembering how her mother would often tell her and her sister tales of how the wind spirit would only allow one to fly above clouds if you offered a tune along with one's ascension into the skies.
The wind spirit soon formed the leaves into a clapping motion, seemingly praising Elsa for her answer. Elsa, let out a childlike giggle.
"Why didn't you say so?" She asked, slowly feeling her feet leave the ground once again. As Gala flew Elsa above forest trees and into the air, echoing her mother's call.
"AH-AH-AH-AH." Elsa sang with exhilaration flying high into blue skies as she gazed upon the setting sun.
Almost as if she was singing the sun to sleep; however, that moment was short-lived. Once, she felt Gale lowering her back inside the forest, right behind Anna, with Bruni on her sister's shoulder.
"We found you!" Elsa exclaimed as she found her sister peeking behind a bush.
" Quiet, Elsa. You might scare the flowers away." Anna whispered. Neither she nor Bruni looked at her.
"What are you talking about, Anna?" Elsa asked, crouching beside her sister, wondering what caught their attention.
"Look." Anna gestured, giving her older sister enough space to peek behind the bushes. Elsa gasped in awe as she stared at various flowers, such as Roses, liverleafs, heathers, and even snowdrops, all floating past them. On a small straight grassy trail that looked like a smooth green carpet.
"I thought mom and dad said those flowers grew up in the springtime," Anna said.
"They 'bloom' in the spring, Anna, and your right." Elsa corrected as she continued to stare at the unusual sight before her. It was almost as if she was watching a fairy tale story come to life right in front of her. What that tale was, she wasn't sure.
"Let's follow them," Anna said, sprinting off her feet.
"Wait, Anna!" Elsa called out, getting back on her feet as well. "Mom and Dad said we shouldn't wander off too far, and it's getting late."
" Come on, Elsa. Don't you want to know where the flowers are going?" Anna asked.
"Not really," Elsa answered hesitantly, trying to avert her gaze from her little sister.
"Yes, you do," Anna said with a knowing smile. As she quickly grasps her sister's hand, not giving Elsa a chance to object, the two begin to follow the flowers further inside the forest.
The night sky slowly settled around them, increasing Elsa's growing concern as the two sisters went deeper inside the enchanted forest. She couldn't help but glance back at the floating flowers, leaving her to wonder where this little trail would lead.
"Over there," Anna said. The little princess notices a bright green glow up a hill, towards many tall oak trees, as green as Spring.
Elsa curiously looked up at the glow hiding behind the oak trees that only seemed to get brighter the closer they approached the area.
"Do you hear that?" Elsa asked, hearing a faint sound of someone playing an instrument, a Lute, to be exact.
"Over here," Anna told her sister, who suddenly appeared ten feet away from Elsa, hiding behind a small red shrubbery bush. Elsa let out a nervous breath as it slowly dawned on her that it seemed as though Bruni and Gale didn't appear to be with them anymore.
Just before she could talk, her sister into turning back. Elsa gasped in awe, catching a glimpse of the mass gathering of flowers and even green glowing fireflies floating and swinging together in the air to an unfamiliar country-like melody.
"Wow," Elsa said in disbelief, looking up at the spectacle before her.
"She has a beautiful voice," Anna whispered in amazement.
"Who?" Elsa asked.
"Her." her sister said as she gestured towards a single red flower on top of a wooden staff beside a cloaked figure. That Elsa hadn't noticed before.
"I don't hear singing?" Elsa admitted, now looking directly at the lone figure with their back turned away, sitting atop a large boulder, wearing what looked like a green cloak covered in green leaves that slowly began to dissolve itself off the person's back, revealing a plethora swamp vines and some tree bark.
" A forest spirit," Elsa whispered. As she watched, the leaves slowly turned into a plethora of more colorful flowers, joining the others in the air, dancing to the tune. Anna only smiled at her sister as she quietly began reciting the flower's song.
"Oh, the moon was shining, somewhere over the sea.
"Oh, the moon was waiting for you to return to me."
"I haven't seen the day. Since you went away."
"Oh, the moon was shining somewhere over the sea."
As Elsa heard her sister sing. She couldn't help but become entranced by not only mythical sights but also watching this forest spirit of all things, no doubt using their magic to make such an impossible scene, well, possible.
"Elsa."
"Did you hear that?" Elsa asked her sister as she heard the faint ghostly sound of someone calling out to her. However, to her surprise. Anna was no longer beside her, almost as if they had vanished, leaving no sign that they were ever with her. In fact, at that moment, she decided to look away from the unusual view before her. It seemed as though the forest spirit and the flowers seemingly disappeared, leaving Elsa all alone in the enchanted forest.
"Anna! Gala! Bruni!" Elsa called out in a panic, looking for any sign of where they might be within the now dark forest.
"Elsa."
The voice called out to her once again, this time very near and right behind her. Elsa soon turned herself around toward the voice that called her name. Only to see the piercing blue eyes of white snow fox gazing down at her as it laid down on one of the tree branches.
"Hello." Elsa greeted the little critter, checking her surrounding as she cautiously approached the fox. " I don't suppose you've seen where they went, have you?" She asked, unsure if the fox could comprehend what she was asking.
Yet, to Elsa's surprise. The fox let out a yelp as it jumped off the tree, looking directly at her once again for a moment before it decided to walk away in a different direction in the forest.
" I'll take that as a yes," Elsa concluded as she began to follow the snowy-colored fox in a much spring season forest.
The oak trees seemed to take on a more tropical-like appearance and soiled grassy fields that came out tall yet well-kept, and she could have sworn she heard the sound of the ocean off in the distance.
"Wait, am I on an island?" Elsa thought to herself as her eyes began to dart around the sudden change of scenery and, sure enough, with the moonlight as her witness. Elsa was on an island, if not a rainforest, but why?
Before the young Elsa could even begin to pounder on the question, she saw the snow fox halt in its tracks as they both appeared in front of a small cottage that seemed to be surrounded by a garden of "Sundrop flowers." Elsa whispered in surprise, recognizing the familiar sun-like golden flower; that she had only ever heard about from stories her friend, Rapunzel, once shared with her and her sister.
"Why did you bring me here?" Elsa asked the fox that stood right beside, as it only responded with a soft bark; before it soon laid on its belly, wrapping its white tail around itself.
"I'll find out, don't worry. I mean, you bring me here after all," Elsa said. Again the fox barked, giving her a side eye look as if to tell her you are scared, aren't you?
"I'm not scared. It just, well, I don't like going inside unknown places, is all." Elsa responded as she slowly shook her head in disbelief. "That's a lie, and you know it, Elsa," she added. This time the little fox let out a loud yelp.
"Alright, alright, I'm going. No need to get aggressive with me." Elsa declared. Taking a slow deep breath before she slowly made her way to the flowery home.
As Elsa was about to knock on the door, she soon heard what sounded like two people talking on the other side.
"It's all my fault." A male voice said. He sounded pretty sad, as if he was grieving.
"Don't do this to yourself, sweetheart. she was just very sick," A feminine voice responded. The male sighed.
"If I had learned more about these flowers and not made her think of me as such a burden on her health, she would still be here."
"Elsa, wake up."
In an instant, as Elsa heard her name, it seemed like everything around her soon became encased in darkness, but soon, a quick flash of light appeared out of nowhere, blinding Elsa, but only for a moment. She now found herself staring right up at the worried face of Honeymaren.
"Maren?" Elsa whispered. As her eyes slowly began to adjust to the green glow of the firefly lantern that honeymaren held above her.
"Finally, awake, I see. Good." Honeymaren said with a sigh. "You had me worried there for a moment."
"What do you mean?" Elsa asked, rubbing her eyes awake as she slowly remembered that she was inside her tent, within the Northuldra encampment. The same encampment that has resided within the enchanted forest for centuries, alongside the spirits, at least that is what Yelena told Elsa when she asked.
"You were talking in your sleep, Elsa," Maren answered.
"Oh. I'm sorry I worried you." Elsa said.
"Bad dream?" She guessed.
"I...don't know?" Elsa admitted, slowly rechecking her surroundings, realizing it was still dusk. "It was whimsical at first, but then it became strange."
"We're you on that Island again?"Honeymaren asked
"Yeah. Only this time, a snow fox led me to a cabin inside a tree." Elsa described.
"A fox on a tropical island, weird." Elsa nodded in agreement.
"I'm sorry, I woke you," Elsa admitted sheepishly. Honeymaren shrugged.
"Don't be. You weren't even that loud when I was coming to wake you."
"Wake me? Wake me up for what?" Elsa inquired.
You told me to wake you up early so you could finish up the flag of Northuldra. So Ryder and I could use it in the annual Arendelle sled race.
Elsa glanced at her knitting basket atop a half-finished light grey colored flag placed on an ice-created desk beside her.
"How long do I have?" Elsa asked.
"About an hour before dawn breaks and five hours until you said the three of us should depart to Arendelle," Honeymaren answered.
" I haven't even started on the insignia yet," Elsa admitted.
"It looks like you are not halfway done with it either," Maren added. She gestured a hand towards the unfinished flag.
"I know, but I didn't want to trouble you last night since you and your brother were busy with the raft," Elsa explained.
"We were, but you still could have asked." Honeymaren mused.
"Does that offer still stand?" Elsa asked with a nervous smile. Only to see Honeymaren let out a smile and lift her knitting basket.
"Always."