Chapter 17:
Cold secrets deep inside


"I thought that you wanted to kill him as soon as you could to avenge me?" Smirked Elsa, reminding her girlfriend of her own words. "He's right there. Come on, be my guest."

Honeymaren's eyes widened, and she stopped in her walk as they all moved along Arendelle's prison corridors.

"You remember I said that?"

Then she thought, 'Of course you do. You remember everything. Perks of being Ahtohallan's avatar, I suppose.'

The brunette winced embarrassingly. "I'm not really in the mood of killing him anymore."

She couldn't believe that she had let her temper take over her Northuldra morals. Apparently, Elsa was expecting her change of mind, and smiled at her.

"Besides", added the brunette after clearing her throat, "we need him to give us information."

Elsa nodded. "I'm glad to see that you came back to your senses."

Honeymaren couldn't help but tease her lover back. "Didn't you want to have revenge?"

"Oh, I would gladly freeze his private parts a hundred times." Smirked the Snow Queen. "But I agree, we need him to spit the truth about Hans' hiding place right now. And for that, we must play nice ."

Honeymaren had an amused smile, grinning at Elsa's rare blunt vocabulary.

The group of friends soon arrived near the cell where the thug was under great surveillance. However, Anna was the one who led, and she suddenly lifted her hand to stop them. They all frowned as they ceased their walk.

"What are you doing? His cell is on the next corridor." Frowned Elsa.

Rapunzel wondered how the hell she found her way in such a maze, when all the stones of the prison looked the same. Eugene had no difficulty however, and couldn't help observing around him to imagine the escape route prisoners could take.

"I'm stopping on purpose." Smirked Anna. "Could you make a window out of ice in front of his cell? Which would take the whole corridor here? I'll warn the guards to step away."

The Spirit blinked in confusion, but nodded. She didn't know what it was for, but was perfectly capable of the task.

Anna gestured to the soldiers, who obeyed just as confusedly, and asked for the cell's key. The blonde looked at her, then turned to the corridor and started to raise her hands. However, the Queen interrupted her. "And could you make it see-through on one side, and opaque on the other side?"

Elsa lifted an eyebrow at the odd request. The others exchanged confused glances. They all knew how quirky Anna could be, but they couldn't figure what her plan was.

The redhead gladly explained with a smirk when she saw all the interrogative stares on her, even from her husband.

"Two of us will go and question him, while the others stand on the other side." She explained, pointing to the corridor in which the cell was. "That way, the rest of the group will be able to evaluate his reactions without him being oppressed by our gazes and close in on himself."

She grinned, and the others dropped their jaws. Olaf raised a thumbs up made of twigs. "Amazing idea!"

Anna chuckled. Next to her, Elsa nodded then moved to execute her order, trying her best to craft what her sister had in mind.

Once done, they took some time to decide who would be the two people actually paying the bandit a visit. Elsa and Honeymaren, despite their direct motivation, declined the role. They would lose their temper after everything they had been through, even with their peaceful personalities.

Eugene declined too. Despite his genuine motivation to let his thief years behind him, and his love for his princely responsibilities, the man could still play on his nerves by manipulating him on that aspect, saying he is no better than him.

Kristoff took some time to think. Then he looked at Anna and Rapunzel.

"Maybe it's best if the two leaders go."

There was a silence, then they all agreed. Even Olaf, who nodded in a squeak of snow. He would have volunteered if no one else than Anna wanted to go. However, he would have used tickle torture against the thug, and he wasn't sure if it was legal.

Rapunzel and Anna exchanged a determined stare, and the others placed themselves on the side of the giant ice window where the thug couldn't see them. Indeed, he didn't say anything, despite his clear suspicion as to why the wardens had left and now a giant ice wall was built in the corridor. The two women walked around the edge where they could join the entrance.

"Wait, who will be the good guard and who will be the bad guard?" Asked Eugene, grabbing his wife's arm.

They all looked at him.

"What? I know how the system works, that's all." He shrugged.

"We'll just improvise." Simply replied Anna, very eager to enter.

She picked two of the wardens' stools and handed one to the Princess.

Rapunzel could only take it and follow when the redhead exposed herself at the angle, which made the thug turn his head. The Queen briskly opened the door and stepped in, let the brunette enter, then closed it just as violently.

Rapunzel saluted the man with a polite nod, and he frowned at her. He was chained to the wall and couldn't hurt her, so she calmly placed her stool in front of him and sat on it.

Anna walked in a much louder movement, with stomping feet, and dragged the stool on the stone ground before slamming it down and sitting next to Rapunzel. The thug frowned even more at her.

"What the hell is going–"

"We ask the questions, you bastard." Grunted Anna before Rapunzel even said anything.

The brunette widened her eyes and slowly turned to the usually nice redhead.

"What…?" Blinked the man, just as surprised.

"Shut up. We're gonna make this quick. You don't deserve enough respect to be talked to for a long time. Spit the truth. Where is Hans?"

The pirate widened his eyes at the aggressive Queen.

Rapunzel gulped. 'O... Kay... Guess that makes me the good guard.' She thought.

They were all startled by Anna's ordering tone. Elsa and Kristoff exchanged a look outside of the cell, then the blonde buried her face in her hand while Honeymaren grinned with a dropped jaw.

Rapunzel cleared her throat, and smiled.

"If you tell us, we can reduce your prison sentence." She added gently.

Everybody widened their eyes at her improvisation, and Anna turned to her.

"Wait, what? He killed Elsa! I mean, not actually, but, still!" She blurted, losing a bit of her acting due to her surprise. "He doesn't get any preferential treatment!"

Rapunzel insisted with a movement of the head. "For betraying his ally? He does. That's actually quite brave."

"Quite brave ?" Scoffed Anna. "He attacked my sister twice by hiding behind a tree !"

"I followed his orders." Informed the thug.

"SHUT UP!" Shouted the redhead with a twirl toward him, and he recoiled at the scold.

It was like Rapunzel and her actually were the ones debating, and he was just irrelevant.

"If he gives us the precise location of his leader, it's worth a consideration, isn't it?" Underlined the Princess.

Anna grumbled. It actually helped in their roles, and the thug followed their exchange with wide attentive eyes. He knew that he risked a huge lot for attacking Lady Elsa.

"...Fiiiine." Admitted Anna, rolling her eyes. She then looked at the thug once more, and the man was so startled that his chains tinkled with his move.

"But you better give us his exact location." She blurted with a threatening glance.

There was a silence, at both women stared at him, and the others stared just as well from the other side of the window.

Nevertheless, the man looked devastated, and even sad. "Unfortunately, I don't know."

Anna scoffed in disbelief. Rapunzel raised a hand to speak in her place. "Sir, it's best for you not to lie."

"I'm not lying!" Implored the thug, his emotion building at the gentle care that the beautiful princess was giving him. "It's the truth. He's clever. He changed the location of the camp every once in a while when I was with him. We only knew about the new site at the very last moment, to avoid leaking information. And I've been captured long ago… There's a high chance that they even changed their spot twice since you came back from the war."

Anna snorted. "They? It's only him and a handful of people."

"Which makes it even easier for them to move around quickly." Pointed out Rapunzel, and the redhead grumbled again.

She smiled at the thug. "Are you certain that you don't have anything? Any clue?"

The man shook his head, sincere. "Nothing. He always told us verbally, that was the point."

The brunette looked at the pitcher of water that the wardens had purposely placed away from him to tease him, and smiled. "Maybe that some water will refresh your memory?"

The thug breathed out in relief. "It could do me some good, yes, please and thank you. But I swear on all seas, I can't help you."

Rapunzel stood up anyway, which made Anna frown.

"Raps, don't. Given his position, you'll have to pour water in his mouth directly. He can hurt you if he nudges the pitcher with his head and explodes it on you."

Rapunzel smiled at the man, confident soft green eyes sparkling in the small light of the room. "He won't. Right? You won't?"

The thug quickly shook his head no, behaving like a child. Eugene smirked from the other side of the window.

The Princess delicately provided him water, and he let out a happy sigh. After a while, she placed the pitcher back away from him, and returned on her stool.

"Alright, I'm losing my patience." Grunted Anna. "If you can't give us any info about Hans, you better make yourself useful. How the hell did you make that poison?"

He had a sorry wince. "I didn't. Hans gave it to me."

Rapunzel and Anna frowned. He really had been a puppet in the hands of the clever fallen prince.

"That must have been awful to be at his orders… He blamed it on you…" Murmured the brunette.

"Bullshit." Scoffed Anna, and Kristoff and Elsa exchanged a sighing smile. It became obvious that she was having way too much fun being rude for no reason. Her Queen duties didn't really allow it, and she took that opportunity to let loose.

"You deliberately chose to take those darts and use your blowpipe skills to hit her." Growled the redhead.

Rapunzel smiled at her.

"That's a nice compliment, Anna. He is indeed very skilled." She said, then she smiled at the thug.

"It's not–! I'm not complimenting him!" Grunted the Queen, now blushing slightly.

"Oh."

"Look, answer me, you bastard." Frowned Anna again, this time bending forward on her stool. "How did Hans make those poisoned darts that took Elsa's magic away?!"

The thug turned serious, and Kristoff and Eugene noted, even professional.

"I tried to ask him, because when I work with poison, I always check." He told.

Rapunzel wanted to say 'How thorough of you', then chose to stay silent.

"But he was very secretive about it."

There was a beat, and he smiled at Rapunzel. "Though one evening, I managed to make him confess."

"You did?" Asked the Princess with a fake admirative voice, and he grinned proudly.

"Yep, ma'am. He was celebrating with me after I…" He gave Anna a sorry wince, and the redhead lifted a sassy eyebrow. "After I came back to the camp with the good news that I managed to hit Elsa at the neck."

He gulped, before smiling again. "We drank a lot of rhum that night. It was a victory for us, after so many bad days. However, he can't hold his rhum as well as I can. I asked about the poison, and he said that he went to see a… What's that word he used? A wizard."

"A wizard?" Repeated Rapunzel and Anna.

The group behind the window also repeated the word with frowns.

"Yeah, I found it weird too. Though, maybe he said sorcerer."

"Be more precise." Scolded Anna.

"He was very drunk and didn't make much sense. But that's what he said. He said that he went to a sorcerer's house, and that's where he got the poison."

Anna wanted to insist on her role and go 'I don't believe any of this', but her own sister was magical, so it might be real. Maybe someone knew how to make poison that affected magic, like a mix of an alchemist and a witch? Wait, was it a man or a woman? She had to meet them, or even punch them.

"What's the address?" She asked with a frown.

Rapunzel coughed lightly. "I doubt that a wizard casually lives in a town, Anna. Or even on the side of a road."

"He told me that it was a log cabin in the woods, south west from here."

"Hold on, I'm gonna take notes." Said Anna, who picked a small notebook from inside her jacket. "Where is my pencil?" She frowned, looking around.

"On your ear." Said the thug.

"Oh. Right." Remembered the redhead, as she had placed it there before heading to the prison.

It actually clashed with her 'bad guard' image, but he didn't notice.

She picked it up and noted his indications. He then gave her all the info he had from what Hans had blabbered that night, and even added some suggestions, as he also had heard rumors from other pirates about their leader's upstream plan. He gave Anna advice on how to find the log cabin based on the position of the Sun, a technique Hans proudly announced he had used to get to it.

As Anna took notes, Rapunzel smirked. The man had turned out to appreciate the Queen and gave her genuine and sincere help. It was a common and human thing to end up getting along with Anna, she thought. How could one not appreciate the redhead after knowing her for a while? The Princess bet that the redhead always grew on people eventually. Even pirates.

The brunette observed her flip her notebook's pages, as if she was checking her past writing. Rapunzel slightly frowned in curiosity when she realized that Anna still had an asset up her sleeve.

"Good." Said the Queen, refraining from saying 'Thank you'. "Now I will need your help identifying a few of your fellas who were captured from the Collapse and still refuse to collaborate."

The man frowned, looking outraged. "Are you serious? I gave you more than enough!"

Anna frowned in turn, however having more presence than him. " I say when you did enough. Now give us the identity of the men that the guards showed to you yesterday. You pretended that you didn't remember them, that the fleet was too big to do so, but I know for a fact that you have a good memory of names. Excellent even."

The man widened his eyes in shock, and Rapunzel frowned, her glance going from Anna to the pirate, then back to Anna. What did she know that she didn't?

She couldn't see Elsa's reaction behind her, but the blonde was just as stunned.

"Madam Knudsen still recalls her childcare years with you." Simply said Anna with a small smirk.

The others, who had been confused, widened their eyes when they saw the thug starting to blush deeply, and his eyes even filled with tears.

He wanted to say something, but no sound came out of his mouth, his throat squeezed. Then he gulped. "She… She's still alive?"

"97 years and still in top shape." Confirmed Anna with a smile.

The utter confusion from everyone else was palpable, but she kept going. "Apparently, when you came to Arendelle every year for summer vacation until you were 11… You remembered all the names of the people she introduced you to when you went to the marketplace with her. It still impresses her, she never met anyone as good as you. Now, do you call her a liar?"

Rapunzel blinked as she couldn't tell what their roles were anymore. It was like Anna was cleverly juggling between the good guard and the bad guard.

"Absolutely not." Immediately replied the man, the memory of his happy childhood years bringing light to his heart, and he loved his old nanny too much to deny it.

"So?" Simply said the Queen.

He sighed.

"Fine. I'll tell you."


"That was AMAZING!" Yelled Olaf once they all were far enough from the thug.

Elsa smirked as she remotely melted her ice window. The talkative snowman had struggled to follow her order to not say anything until she allowed him, which was when they reached the main hall of the prison. She smiled at the leaders.

"I agree with Olaf. You did an incredible job back there, both of you."

The two women grinned at each other, then at the numerous compliments that emerged from the group. Kristoff went to kiss his wife's temple. "My clever Queen."

Anna had a tender chuckle.

"How did you know, about his childhood in Arendelle?" Asked Elsa, astonished.

The redhead smirked. "Well, you have Gale as a messenger of gossip in the Forest, and I have the town's lavoir here."

"The town's lavoir…?" Frowned Honeymaren.

Elsa smiled, shaking her head in disbelief. "You really are one with the people."

"It helps that I have many strolls in the streets." Smirked the Queen.

The Northuldra blinked. "I'm sorry, what is a lavoir?"

Rapunzel smiled. "An excellent place to hear talkative women disclose privacy."

"It's kind of like a forum." Added Eugene.

"No, it's different than a forum." Frowned his wife, correcting him.

Honeymaren was even more confused at all the foreign words, and started to lose her nerves. "What's–"

"It's like sharing the campfire with Heigen." Said Elsa, a hand on her lover's shoulder.

That simple sentence was a precise enough description for Honeymaren to instantly grasp the concept. "Ooooh. Blabbermouth."

Elsa laughed. "You got it."

Her sister smiled. "The women were so busy cleaning that they didn't realize that I was standing right behind them. The news spread like wildfire. From the suspicions of madam Knudsen thinking she recognized him among the town raiders, to the others' testimonies… I just connected the dots. His real name isn't Edvin, that's his pirate name. He actually was born in a nearby land, and his family name is Selberg."

The elder now understood why Anna had consulted her notes. Elsa had admirative glistening eyes as she praised her intelligence, and the others smiled at Anna's modest blush while they all walked out of the prison.

Lifting their heads, they saw that the weather was getting cloudy. Anna had a pout, and she slumped her shoulders. "Oh, great. I thought that we could go to that log cabin right away, but the weather decided otherwise."

The Fifth Spirit nudged her. "Since when does a little rain stop my sister?"

"I'm not saying that for the rain. He gave us indications based on the Sun. How can we know where it is?" Grumbled Anna with impatience. "Look at the clouds, it's completely hiding behind them."

Honeymaren followed her gaze, then looked at Anna, then her girlfriend, then grinned. "You Arendellians may stupefy me on technology, you still have a lot to learn from ancestral techniques."

She reached out to Elsa with an open palm. "Would you mind making a plate out of ice?"

The Spirit wanted to tease back as it was the second time of the afternoon she was asked to craft something she had no idea what for, but she was curious about her girlfriend's mind so she dropped the sass.

"A… Plate…?"

"Not the kind you eat in. Something like… A tile. A slab. A slate." She explained, trying to find the correct word. "But half-transparent."

Elsa was confused and looked at the others, who shrugged, clueless as well. She then tried to craft something based on her demand, and ended up with a creation that looked like a blurred oval piece of stained-glass, the size of her hand.

"Is this what you're looking for?"

"Make it a bit less transparent." Indicated Honeymaren.

Still confused, Elsa obeyed, focusing on the density of the ice as she made it float in the air so she could move her fingers around it. She turned it a bit more polished and gave it a smoky aspect. "...Like that?"

"Perfect."

The Northuldra took the piece of ice between her thumb and index like it was a casual object, and lifted it above their heads to place it in front of the clouds. She moved it around, until she found what she was looking for and grinned.

"See?" She demonstrated to the two now amazed sisters. "I'm from the people of the Sun, it's not a cloudy sky that will stop us from finding directions." She grinned, and Elsa had an admirable giggle.

While Anna took the item in hand and had fun trying it along with an equally fascinated Rapunzel, Elsa held her lover against her with pride. She wanted to comment on how this study of light reflection was an interesting use of science, since Honeymaren actually searched for two beams at the same brightness through the crystal-like ice to find her way, but she kept her speech on polarization to herself to not overshadow her partner.

Once Anna and Rapunzel were done toying with the new tool, Olaf begged to try, and Eugene drew an impressed pout when he saw it closer. "That must be very useful for sea voyagers."

Honeymaren smiled. "Our ancestors used to be seafarers. Then, over the centuries, we split into different tribes. We Northuldra are land nomads, but it's still helpful. We actually do it with see-through shells that have been corroded with salt, and therefore only let the light go through. There's plenty on the Dark Sea shore."

"This is genius." Commented Anna with a dropped jaw.

"And to think you always call me the nerdy one." Snorted Elsa.

Honeymaren rolled her eyes, and Anna gave her a stare. "You're still the nerdiest of the couple by far , Elsa, that's just undeniable."

The Northuldra laughed out loud.

"Well, I guess it's time for us to go pack?" She smiled, excited to go to that mysterious magical person.

Elsa and Anna suddenly exchanged a look, and turned sad. The contrast with their earlier teasing was sudden and everybody noticed.

"What?"

"Uhm…"

"How to say…"

"What is it?" Insisted Honeymaren.

Kristoff knew what was going on and stepped forward. "I'm sorry. They talked about it after lunch, and…"

Rapunzel also had a sorry expression, and she approached the Northuldra as well. "We decided to go… Only the three of us."

"...What?" Exhaled Honeymaren, astonished.

Eugene quickly raised his hands in defense. "I told them it was a bad idea. But it makes sense. Raps and Elsa have magic, and Anna is the one who knows Hans best."

"But…"

"And it makes sense that the rest of us stay here to guard the kingdom." Nodded Olaf wisely. "With Elsa's absence, it becomes a big target."

Honeymaren scoffed. "Now you've got to be kidding me."

She didn't know what was the worst. The fact that they hid this plan from her, the fact that Olaf added this remark, or the fact that it made sense and she hated it.

"So everybody knew?"

"I didn't." Said Olaf.

Honeymaren clenched her eyes shut, as well as her jaw. Then she turned to her girlfriend. "And of course you didn't tell me. You knew I was gonna say no."

Elsa looked sorry, but a bit amused as well. She kissed her cheek with a chuckle. "You'll be of great help in Arendelle. Besides, many townspeople still want to invite you over after your achievements on the battlefield, so you won't get bored."

Honeymaren grumbled, and almost regretted having taken the time to say goodbye to Ryder when his brother left from the stables after lunch, because it clearly was when they had schemed their plan.

She didn't hide her heavy sigh.

"Are you sure that you'll be safe?" She asked her lover, even if she had blind faith in her.

Elsa smiled tenderly.

"Bruni will come with us too. He's the most discreet of the Spirits, and can warn the others if something goes wrong and I can't establish mental contact."

Honeymaren scoffed and dropped her arms exaggeratedly. She wanted to exclaim 'So he can go, but not me?!' but she had respect for the Fire Spirit, and grumbled again instead of replying.

Elsa kissed her apologetically. The brunette pouted and nearly jolted out of her touch to prove how upset she was, but Elsa's azure blue eyes were deeply soft and confident when she parted, and Honeymaren melted instantly.

'You know it's the best way.' Seemed to say her lover with that simple glance.

"Okay. Fine. Fine! But you better be quick. I swear, if something happens…"

Elsa smirked and moved forward to kiss her on the lips. "We'll be alright, Honey. You have my word."


"We've arrived."

"Really?"

"That was fast."

"That's because you're used to traveling a lot." Snorted Rapunzel. "To me, it was a long way. Especially when Anna sent us on the wrong path twice."

The redhead had a gasp with an exaggerated expression, knowing well that her friend was teasing her. They pulled their tongue at each other, and Elsa shook her head as she walked past them.

"Well, there's no way we're wrong. It's the only log cabin for kilometers around."

Bruni chirped on her shoulder. 'No fire inside.'

The Fifth Spirit turned to the others. "Bruni says that there's nobody inside. Or at least, they didn't light the fireplace since a very long time."

The two women nodded, and they took the time to explore, walking around the house.

The log cabin was way smaller than any of them had imagined. Rapunzel noted that it was no bigger than the main room of her tower, and wondered if the owner lived alone. The roof was covered with moss and tufts of grass here and there, as well as many layers of leaves that had fallen from the surrounding trees.

The logs that made the walls had also been covered with moss, the old wood turning gray with years. The base, made of stone, also had been eroded with time. Bruni roamed it, sniffing here and there, then he chirped in disappointment and jumped in Elsa's open hand.

"I doubt that anybody has lived there for the last twenty years." Noted Anna, trying to see inside.

Rapunzel helped her tug on a window pane, but it didn't move. "Yep. This log cabin has been abandoned for ages, that's clear. I don't know what's blocking those panels… Maybe rust, or moss, or roots even. Look at how wide this creeper is."

Elsa was observing the vine indeed, impressed by its length. It had spread along most of the outside of the house, taking advantage of the lack of care to enjoy its life in the sun.

The blonde walked around the log cabin again, and faced the door. As it was the only remaining spot to check, they all assembled in front of the only entrance.

"It looks impossible to cross." Noted Elsa.

She put Bruni on her shoulder as her eyes scanned the wood around it, then she noticed a shiny rock that seemed to be stuck between two logs.

"...What's this?" She frowned curiously, and moved forward to dislodge it. Before anyone could shout a warning to prevent her, she touched it. Suddenly, it was like there was no ground under their feet.

Well, there genuinely was no ground anymore. They all dropped down, plummeting in an instant fall with screams of surprise. Bruni waved his tiny paws in the air for a split second before gravity also made him drop after them.

The dead leaves on the ground in front of the door actually hid a wooden flap large enough to fit a dozen men, such as a group of investigating soldiers. The trap slowly locked back with a gentle mechanism, and the forest turned quiet again.

Four meters below, the women stood up from their fall, and dusted their clothes. Bruni was breathing fast in panic on top of Elsa's head where he gripped his paws, and she gave him a reassuring pat. The three women then looked at each other to check if everyone was alright… An awkward silence floating in the air.

Anna gave a deadly stare to Elsa, perceptible even in the dark.

"I hate you."

"Oh, because that's my fault?" Scoffed the blonde.

"Yes it is! You're always touching the shiny things!"

"What's that supposed to mean? And you are the one usually touching stuff that is not yours. I was curious, that's all."

"May I remind you that your curiosity brought you to death several times." Said Anna coldly.

Elsa was about to reply violently but Rapunzel placed herself in between them, raising her hands in front of each sister.

"Girls, girls, stop fighting. We have to find a way out of here."

Her mediator aura and firm yet gentle tone, coupled to her leading skills, made the two sisters stop and step away from each other. They both crossed their arms, looking around to focus on another topic.

"We could just climb back", suggested Anna with a shrug, not against some little exercise. Now was the time to combine her childhood games experience with the climbing lessons Honeymaren had taught her.

She put one foot and one hand on the wall, propelling herself in one go, then immediately fell, slipping on the stone like it was covered with soap. She lost her balance and fell on her back in the pile of dead leaves that covered the ground, then quickly got on her feet in a rustle, and cleared her throat as if nothing had happened.

The others were too upset to laugh at her. They looked up and inspected the space above. They had fallen quite a distance, and the wood trap even closed behind them, only showing thin stripes of daylight.

"There's no way to make it." Sighed Rapunzel with sadness.

Bruni jumped from Elsa's shoulder and tried to climb, but he slipped too, despite trying to bounce from one wall to the other. The blonde looked at his tries with a pout.

"He's just as confused as we are. Usually, nothing resists him, he can climb and run on every surface."

Bruni made a noise that sounded like a mumble.

"Yes, it upsets me too. It's likely that those stones have magical properties. Or a spell attached to them."

Rapunzel and Elsa affirming how doomed they were as magic specialists made Anna grow more nervous. It vanished the little optimism that remained in her. She fidgeted next to her elder, and Elsa didn't need to see her face to sense that she was starting to panic.

"Are you alright? It's the dark, isn't it?"

"I'm fine." Lied Anna, trying her best to fight her fear.

"It's okay to say you're scared." Said Rapunzel gently, and the blonde was glad of her care, as she was about to say something similar. "If I still had my magical hair, I would have made it glow to reassure you."

"It's very nice, thank you." Melted Anna with a smile. Elsa's protective hand that came on her shoulder made her smile even wider, and the elder felt her muscle relax a bit.

The Snow Queen then joined the fingers of her other hand and spread them in one go, popping a big snowflake in the air, which floated above their heads and lit up the place. Anna grinned and thanked her with a cuddle. The wide creation acted like a chandelier, and they now could see the actual size of the room; it actually looked like a large basement, entirely made of large stones.

Bruni found the light a bit too blue and chirped as he brought some warmth to it. The room turned purple when pink small flames mixed with blue hues, floating in the air like will-o'-the-wisps.

"Waow. That's what I call being well accompanied." Complimented Anna with a touched smile.

Elsa was about to tease Bruni for being jealous of the attention when suddenly, the whole room trembled.

They could barely stand up while it did, and the Fire Spirit had to hold tight to Elsa's shoulder. The shaking then stopped, and they all looked at each other, confused.

Then suddenly, two of the four walls got closer with a sinister sound of stone creaks.

"No, no, no!" Murmured Rapunzel in panic, and she hurried to push the wall next to her.

However, despite her many efforts and grunts, it didn't move an inch. It even pushed her as she continued to gain ground, and her shoes slipped on the stone of the floor, so she decided to stop before hurting herself. Whatever mechanism was behind those walls, it was incredibly strong, because her boots had been offered by Eugene and were made for hiking. Nevertheless, their strong studs couldn't take it.

Elsa widened her eyes and jolted her arms left and right to push the walls away with powerful sprays of ice, but once again, they didn't move. She tried focusing all of her magic on one wall, and groaned with effort as she accentuated her power, her ice glowing bright and glittering with intensity. The sparks made an impressive cracking sound in the air, but it didn't change anything. With a wince, she sent sharp spikes to the stones but none of them shattered. She then covered her fists with a thick layer of ice to punch the stones, but once again it was useless.

She gave many other tries, with different techniques, and Bruni also tried to spit fireballs of different sizes. He even made his scorching flames lick the entire wall, but nothing happened. The room still was closing in on them. They were about to be crushed to death.

While Elsa and Bruni aimed at the wall, and Rapunzel was busy trying to block the opposite one, they expected Anna to help around, but the redhead was in fact standing still.

Anna's breathing was uneven. This situation was way too familiar, and she trembled as flashes of the cave she had been trapped in years ago came to her mind. The place was just as oppressive, but she had to admit, the cave had been larger, and she could breathe better. Also, in the hollow, she could climb up. Here, there was no way… The sinister sound of the walls scratching the ground as they moved and made the room smaller and smaller accentuated her despair.

Crushed in the figurative way but soon literally, she slowly turned to her sister, her dear sister, for what could be the last time…

The sad look she gave to Elsa was so intense that the blonde felt it, and turned. Panting in effort, she paused her movements, confused at her stare, and Anna walked to her to place trembling hands on each side of her face. The blonde widened her eyes at the touch, and lowered her arms. Anna's eyes seemed to search into her very soul.

Not only was that alarming, but Anna started to cry.

"What are you doing?" Murmured the elder, her voice gripped in shock.

Anna sniffed as she kept staring into her eyes.

"Remembering your face before we die."

Her mouth twisted and she sobbed, her shoulders slumped hopelessly; which was something Anna rarely did. Giving up wasn't really in her vocabulary, except maybe… If she was utterly devastated.

"This might be a farewell." She cried, gulping with grief.

But Elsa was having none of it.

Fresh hands held Anna's on each side of her face. She detached them, softly but decidedly.

"No. No . We won't die today. You hear me, Anna? We won't. We'll find a way."

Bruni looked at her from her shoulder.

'How? The walls are not stopping.' Said the Fire Spirit mentally, and Elsa was devastated to see that even the optimistic salamander had given up.

Rapunzel gave her a stare to wait for her to translate, but she shook her head as she refused.

Anna was too busy rubbing her eyes to notice that she wasn't repeating Bruni's sentence. The Queen exhaled with courage, gathering all of her will to stop crying. Elsa smiled and rubbed her cheek tenderly, waited for Anna to smile back, then looked around.

"We need to inspect the motionless walls. There might be an apparent mechanism on them." She suggested, and the others nodded.

Rapunzel and her went to check the wall they were facing, while Anna rushed to the opposite one. After a close observation, she realized that there were inscriptions engraved on the stone. The redhead tried to decipher what was written, the letters looking like a mix of runes and an ancient alphabet. Yet it didn't look like anything she had ever seen in any book from the Arendelle library, and she knew that she had stumbled on every known language at least once during her childhood. Elsa and Rapunzel came back empty-handed from their inspection of the opposite wall, and noticed her grumbles. They came to examine the inscriptions in turn and try a translation, though without more success. Anna slammed her hand on the stones in frustration.

"What the hell?! What's the point in engraving such beautiful letters if there's no use at all?"

The other agreed, but there was no way they were going to give up, or rather state their panic out loud.

"Here, look!" Pointed Rapunzel, and she dusted a part in the middle of the wall.

The brunette had noticed some old and worn out painting on several stones, and she energetically rubbed them to bring out the possible drawing. The four stones were joined and had squares traced out of four different colors on each of them. They were at eye level, so it was obvious that the drawings were there for a reason.

The squares were tilted to the shape of losanges, and it attracted Elsa's experienced eyes.

"Are those the four elements?" Asked Anna to her sister when the latter made an audible gasp.

The Fifth Spirit helped Rapunzel scratch the parts that were covered with moss or spider webs, and approached her glowing snowflake to see something with the light of her magic. She was about to ask Bruni what he thought of those curious symbols, but then noticed that one of the colors was orange. She sighed in disappointment and shook her head.

"No, that's not the four crystals. The Elements are shades of blue, and here one of them is orange. See? Besides, these squares are isogonic, and the diamond shapes of Ahtohallan aren't."

Rapunzel eventually distinguished all of the colors. If one of the women was able to determine them, it was the painter.

"There's an orange square, a yellow one, a blue one and a purple one." She announced.

A silence followed, only accompanied by the horrible grinding sound of the stone walls' mechanism, and their scraping on the ground.

"Great. That leads us to nowhere." Grunted the usually optimistic redhead. "Pretty squares. At least we'll have something cute to look at while we're crushed to death ." She said, her voice both overfilled with sarcasm and quivering in fear.

Elsa placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her nervosity. They kept staring at the stones, clueless, as it was the only distraction in their torture room. A spider trotted over the squares and the Snow Queen gently chased it with a spray of ice. Suddenly, one of the stones tilted.

"Did you see that?" They all gasped in one voice.

Bruni peeped. Of course they all did, it was the only thing they were looking at.

"The stone turned on itself. Slightly." Said Anna, urging to inspect it closer.

She realized that the stone was in fact a tile, way thinner than the other stones that made the basement. She shared the fact out loud, then Rapunzel noted that the four stones with the squares painted on them actually were a different stone.

Anna tried to slide her nails on the side of the tile to turn it completely, hoping that on the other side, there would be a handle or anything. Or at least fresh air, she thought with a bit of hope as she felt a breeze passing through the thin opening. She didn't see any light though, but the sensation of freedom on the tips of her fingers already made her feel better. Thrill mixed with urgency when she saw the walls getting dangerously close as she turned to her elder.

"I can't bulge it. Elsa, try pushing it with ice again. Maybe your magic is stronger than me."

'Nothing is stronger than you.' Thought the blonde, but she executed.

She aimed at the tile and burst some snowflakes. The tile instantly turned completely, clearly triggered by Elsa's magic now that she had been more precise. Anna and Rapunzel let out a yelp of surprise as the stone twirled on itself then fell in the back of the wall, revealing an opening that was the size of an arm. Anna was the first to dare and passed her hand through. She palpated the wall there, searched for anything that could help them, but there was nothing else than the cold, dark stone.

After she made a groaning sigh, Elsa gestured to her to step aside. Anna couldn't go very far though, they were running out of room. The Spirit gained momentum and sent a powerful gust of ice and snow forward, aiming at the remaining three stones. But nothing happened, apart from the squall that tousled their clothes and hair.

"I don't get it." Frowned Rapunzel, fidgeting with the reluctant tiles. "It stopped working?"

"I swear to gods, if the mechanism has a flaw, not only will I kill the owner for trapping us, but also kill them for being so bad about it." Grumbled Anna.

Elsa shook her head. "We can still hear the cogs of the walls. It's not it. The three other tiles must be triggered by something else."

They believed her magical and engineering brain, and tried to think. Only then Elsa realized that the tile she had succeeded in turning was the one with the blue square.

"Hang on a minute…"

'Oh, we have all the time in the world', thought Rapunzel with bitter sarcasm.

"It moved with my magic! My magic is blue!" Exclaimed Elsa.

"Isn't ice transparent?" Frowned the Princess.

"No time for that debate, though it's an excellent one. But look!" She said, pointing at the tile that was next to the hole. "This one is purple! Maybe… If I change the density of my ice and find the hue that–"

Bruni suddenly perched on the top of her head and spat a ball of fire. They all jumped and widened their eyes at the sudden outburst. Elsa was about to scold him for startling them, but the fire actually perfectly hit the tile with the purple square and it twirled before falling in the back, just like the previous one.

All women gasped, and moved forward to see the opening growing larger.

"Of course! Bruni is purple when he gets angry!" Beamed Rapunzel.

The Snow Queen frowned in confusion. Bruni was a blue salamander…

Right when she started to think that none of this made sense, the brunette made another exclamation and she turned to the yellow square. "Do you think this one is about my magic? My hair used to glow a golden color…"

There was a silence, only punctuated with the noises of the mechanism in the threatening walls, and she moved forward as she rubbed the corner of her eye. "You know what, better try something than nothing."

She managed to cause herself a tear, and gently deposited it from her finger onto the stone, trying her best to be delicate despite the vibrations of the room. As soon as the tear touched the tile, it turned, and fell as well.

They let out happy exclamations, and the sisters congratulated the grinning Princess.

"The hole is getting larger, thank goodness." Sighed Anna in deep relief, feeling the humid but fresh air getting to her.

She then winced when she saw that the walls soon would force them to bump each other's shoulders. "We have to hurry though, or soon it will be for naught. The walls will reduce the space to go through."

Rapunzel shared her urgency. "Maybe I can try to pass?" She suggested, as she was the skinniest. "No, I take it back." She immediately added, before the siblings could say anything. "If I can indeed get through and you can't activate the last tile in time, I…"

'Will have your death on my conscience', she continued in her mind, as there was no need to say it out loud.

Elsa gulped, then cringed. "Anyone knows of orange magic?"

Bruni said no. The two other women shook their heads.

Anna wished now was the time for her to magically develop fire powers, but the look she exchanged with the magical salamander told her that she could always dream. Too bad, she would have loved to prank Kristoff with flames, or even do something more seductive with warm hands… Being trapped in a smaller and smaller space, Anna's thoughts naturally drifted to her husband, whom she missed dearly. Her heart squeezed at the sight of the smiling man in her mind. She clenched her eyes shut to avoid crying, and her hand unconsciously fidgeted with her ring. Oh, how she missed him. She wished she had told him a longer goodbye before leaving, and–

Wait.

The ring.

She let out a loud gasp, her eyes snapping wide.

Elsa jolted at her outburst after the silence, and pressed herself against the wall next to Rapunzel to make way for the redhead when she suddenly moved forward.

Anna started to wave her left hand at the stone, and the elder wondered if she had become crazy.

"Uhhh… What are you doing?" Worried Rapunzel, also thinking the same.

"Trying… To activate… The stone…" Panted Anna, who was doing ridiculous moves of the hand, trying a dozen different ones, like rubbing the stone with her flat palm or bumping it with her knuckles.

Elsa blinked. "Anna, no offense, I love you, but you're not magical. There's no way you–"

"Troll magic!" Blurted the Queen, still not detaching her eyes from the tile as she tried every gesture she could.

The two others blinked in confusion. Even Bruni side eyed Elsa in a judgmental way. That was it. Anna had lost her mind.

"...What?" Frowned the elder.

"Troll! Magic!" Now grunted Anna, and she stopped to show them the orange gem crimped on her engagement ring, then she pointed at the square. "Orange magic. Kristoff made this ring just for me. He dug up an orange stone from the ground in the valley of the trolls, with their help. I'll give you details later. If we survive. No, we will survive because I just found the solution !" She exclaimed before returning to her vivid gestures.

Elsa and Rapunzel took a moment to catch up with her rapid rambling.

"Troll magic…" Whispered the Snow Queen, amazed.

"Yeah, I think I get it now." Joked Rapunzel nervously, because they kept repeating it.

"Anna, you're a genius ." Complimented Elsa, in awe.

The redhead smiled but didn't answer, too focused on what she was doing. The inefficiency of her moves really contradicted the compliment the blonde had just given her. They watched her in awkward silence as she tried to apply the so-called solution to the stone, in vain.

"Have you tried just… Applying the gem against the tile and waiting?" Suggested Rapunzel gently.

A silence followed, and Anna stopped with a slight blush.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

She had tried everything but this. She was so stressed and excited about being the last magical being that she had been doing her moves very fast, not actually waiting for any of them to have an effect.

Under Elsa's amused smile, Anna breathed out to ground herself, and slowly made the orange gem touch the stone. They all waited, until the very satisfying sound of something scraping and falling sounded to their ears. The tile had joined the others, the opening now large enough for them all to fit through one by one. They let out happy exclamations, and jumped in joy before embracing each other. Elsa kissed Anna's forehead, until they remembered that they really should hurry instead of celebrating.

The sisters mutually invited each other to go through the opening first, and Rapunzel smirked at them.

"And to say that when we fell down here, you were angry at each other."

The siblings looked embarrassed, and Bruni had a giggle chirp.

"It was a long time ago." Shrugged Elsa with a slight shrug.

"It was five minutes ago." Pointed the brunette with sass, noting that not much time had passed.

"Yes, but it felt like a lifetime." Insisted Anna.

They all felt awkward now, so the redhead invited Rapunzel to be the first one to go through the hole, though with a 'shoo, shoo!' gesture.

As she crawled, the Princess made the humorous comment that she would be the first to fall into a trap if there was another one. All of them had the instinctive feeling that they were safe now, but the siblings couldn't help apologizing. They were quick to follow, however, and Elsa was the last one to pass, with Bruni perched on her back. After she was helped to stand up on the other side with her sister's hand, she turned around and found that they were only mere seconds away from being crushed. With a flick of the wrist, she made her glowing snowflake float to them through the hole, and there was a heavy crush sound and quake when the two walls smashed each other.

Silence fell upon them, and they panted under the soft light of Elsa's magic. Rapunzel now was in the lead and informed them that they were in a tunnel. They thought for a moment that they were stuck again, but then she saw light on the ceiling at the end of the corridor.

"Look! There's a hatch."

There was a handle and she pulled on it. The brunette actually had to force a bit; the system likely allowed a small wood ladder to unfold and descend, and it got stuck with the years of non-use. Finally she managed it, and both steps of salvation and a reassuring light appeared in the tunnel. They drew relieved smiles, and Elsa vanished her snowflake. Then they climbed the ladder one by one, and observed what surrounded them.

The house actually consisted of one and only room. It was rustic, like the outside, and indeed small like Rapunzel had noted, so it was accommodated with optimization.

At one corner, there was a one-person bed, and at another, covered with spider webs, seemed to be the former washroom. One wall had shelves with ingredients and vials and dry herbs that were covered with dust. Other dry herbs hung from the ceiling, or had fallen from it with time, according to the lone pieces of thread and bunches on the floor. The opposite wall was covered with papers of different sizes filled with hurried or calm handwriting, and Anna approached to see.

She tilted her head at the colorful drawings on the largest piece of paper. "Huh. Pretty."

There were patches of color, surprisingly still bright despite the years that had passed. They were yellow, red, purple and green, which wasn't the combination of colors on the stones in the basement, so she gave up her initial theory of destiny.

'I read too many epic novels. My life is crazy enough for that to also be true.' She mused, snorting out loud.

The redhead looked around, and saw that nothing mentioned poison. Though, maybe Hans had taken the notes with him. The wall had so many layers of papers that it was impossible to know if some were missing. Elsa and Rapunzel also were busy inspecting the papers next to her, and even several minutes of silence later, they only were halfway through their observation. It wasn't like they could read the pages; the writing once again was gibberish, and the language likely made-up by the sorcerer.

Anna noticed that most of the papers had drawings on them with those mysterious colors, sometimes adding orange and blue in the mix.

"So what, we arrived in the house of someone who likes to color stuff?"

Her scoff was nervous, and Elsa winced slightly at how her panic from earlier had turned to mean sarcasm. As someone who appreciated art and knew how therapeutic coloring could be, Anna was being surprisingly judgemental.

The blonde rubbed a hand along her back to calm her down.

"Maybe that this wizard liked to collect natural pigments from around the world to put colors on his notes. Look around you, he clearly is a collector."

'Harvesting pigments?' Thought Rapunzel, and she had a shiver.

Elsa frowned when she saw her reaction, because it looked like she had been struck by something familiar.

"Are you alright?" Worried the blonde.

Her friend forced herself to smile. "I'm fine. Just cold. It's a bit windy, up here, don't you think?"

Elsa had a bad conception of cold as she once again wasn't bothered by it anymore since she retrieved her magic, but she heard the whistle of the wind passing through the holes of the log and stone walls, and she saw that Anna rubbed her arms several times to warm herself.

"Bruni, would you mind giving us some warm welcoming lights?" Asked the Fifth Spirit, and the Fire one happily obeyed.

He found bowls with light wood in them that could be excellent as heating points, and nimbly jumped from one to the other. The room became warmer and brighter in a few seconds with pink hues, and the two other women let out happy hums. Rapunzel scratched the salamander's happy face then smiled at the blonde. She liked how Elsa had formulated her order; they needed reassurance above anything else in such an unsettling place, especially after the life-threatening experience they just had. Elsa answered her smile with a wink, and the brunette giggled. It was crazy to think that there was a time in their lives where both of them had been kept imprisoned in their own homes and thought they would never be around other people.

After a while, they stopped reading the papers, or rather, stopped trying. At least they admitted that creating a language which could not be read by intruders was a good technique, as frustrating as it was.

Elsa was upset that they couldn't find the information they had come to get. How and why was the poison made in the first place? By whom? She thought she would meet someone, and got disappointed by the absence of the owner. The Snow Queen pouted and looked around, trying to find something relevant. The wind blew and whistled through the wood and between the stones, moving around the dust that was on every surface without really taking it away. It rattled the broken shutters in sinister sounds and left an uncanny feeling.

It was obvious to the three women that the house had been abandoned for at least ten years, and they started to come to the conclusion that they wouldn't get anything from their visit. The only thing they knew so far was that the sorcerer, or wizard, really liked the six colors he kept using in variegated ensembles of circles or runes.

While most of the papers had been directly clipped to the logs of the walls with pins, the rest had been stabbed with daggers, and Anna widened her eyes as she could feel the anger with which they had been planted.

She frowned as she inspected not the papers, but the daggers. They all were very different, and seemed to come from various countries. Or even... Radically different time periods? Wait, what? How old was this sorcerer? Did he travel a lot? Was he even alive?

"Do you think that the owner is still alive, out there?" Asked Elsa.

Anna turned to her sister when her brain joined hers. "I don't know. Either that or he lived for a long long time. Or, in addition to being obsessed with colors, he liked to collect daggers."

Now that she actually paid attention to the form and not the substance, Anna saw that the edges of some papers had been burned, and the writing was tilted. It looked like the sorcerer had been frantically taking notes late at night in the light of a candle, and messed around.

"This is the work of a mad man..." Murmured the Queen.

Rapunzel blew on the small table at the center of the room on which the owner likely used to eat to remove the thick layer of dust. She instantly regretted it when a cloud of it floated in the air and got pushed to her face with a draught.

"GAH!"

She jolted like she got blown away by it and stepped back, so Anna couldn't help herself to chuckle. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." Grumbled Rapunzel, blaming herself for her stupid decision. "I used to clean the tower everyday, and the castle is spotless, so I'm not used to so much dust…"

She whined as some had obviously entered her eyes, and rubbed them to get rid of it. However, her blow wasn't useless. Once she retrieved a normal eyesight, she saw that a piece of paper had in fact been hiding underneath the layer of dust.

That single page was different than the other notes plastering the wall. The paper even seemed delicate in comparison, bright white, like it was treated and refined. The writing on it was clean and proper, in opposition to the frantic and maniac style on the brown papers of the wall.

"Hey, check this out."

She lifted it, quite impressed by the state of the paper; it even seemed magical. Though it surely was due to the dust protecting it through the years.

"What's written on it?"

"Not much, sadly." Winced Rapunzel. "And it's gonna make you laugh. It's about colors again."

"For goodness' sake." Sighed Anna with rolled eyes, and she lifted her arms dramatically before walking away.

Elsa chuckled at her reaction and stepped forward.

"Read it out loud." She encouraged.

Rapunzel cleared her throat, dust still present in her mouth.

"Green is everywhere, it was and will be.

Like the green as far as the eye can see.

It's lost or it's found when you don't expect it,

and can take you away whenever you see fit."

"Oh, and he was poetic at that!" Snorted Anna.

"Shhh!" Frowned Elsa. "It may be nonsense, but it's better than nothing. Sorry, please continue, Rapunzel."

"No worries." Said the Princess with a smile. She agreed with her friend, it was a bit ridiculous.

"Yellow is the Sun, bright and life-bringing.

Looking at it makes you cry, and to use it you'll have to.

For it can bring back what left you aching,

but there is a rite you have to go through."

She made a pause, looking at her friends before reading the last part.

"Orange is the core, the soul, the heart.

If the love is pure, it can be harnessed.

Many have tried, thinking they were smart,

yet it's for the genuine and the honest."

There was a silence. Rapunzel put the paper back on the table, unsure what to do with it. Did they really need to bring back that kind of information with them?

Anna puffed.

"I'm sorry, but as serious as I can get, this just sounds like a nursery rhyme to learn colors."

Elsa frowned at her sister. She then sighed, because she was right. She shook her head no when Rapunzel suggested taking the paper.

"We just happened to enter the house of a crazy alchemist." Said the Spirit with a shrug, joining Anna's mood. "Maybe he liked to use colors in his potions. And poisons."

The redhead approached the door of the cabin after she inspected the bed. She tilted her head. "The entrance doesn't look stuck from this side. Maybe we–"

She suddenly stopped talking and lifted her head up, then looked around. "Did you hear that?"

Rapunzel frowned. "What?"

Elsa listened carefully. As a precautionary measure, they waited for the sound to come again before making any other move. Another crack was heard, very clear this time.

Anna frowned at her sister. "Did you make that noise?"

Elsa frowned back. "What?"

"It sounds like ice cracking."

"It's more like wood cracking. Besides, I didn't craft anything out of ice recently, as you noticed."

"Girls."

"What?" Said the sisters with one voice.

"Look. The ceiling."

A crack was starting to form, spreading with more and more sinister sounds, now louder and louder, impossible to ignore. The origin was obvious now, and Bruni hurried to Elsa's shoulder in panic.

"We have to leave. Like right now ." Warned Rapunzel.

They hurried to the door. Anna jammed with the handle, but it didn't bulge. The door was firmly jammed due to the vine creeping on the other side. "Damnit! Forget what I said, it is stuck!"

"Move."

Rapunzel appeared next to her, lifted what looked like a frying pan, and knocked the wood of the door. There was a loud bang when her weapon hit, and Anna realized that the piece of steel she had in hand was in fact a metal piece of the bed frame. However, it made nothing more than a scratch on the wood, because the piece broke in half due to the rust.

"Oh." Said both women, disappointed by the effect.

Bruni hopped down Elsa's shoulder and prepared himself to blow a big flame on the door, but the Fifth Spirit mentally forbade it.

'Don't, or we'll end up being cooked alive. This whole place is so dry from the dust that we'll burn in an instant, and you won't be able to save us from the smoke.'

Other cracking sounds were heard, louder and longer. She picked up the salamander, put him in Anna's hands, and made a gesture for them to move aside.

With a focused frown, she blew a giant blast of ice magic, and the door exploded in one go, its shattered parts flying further in the wood.

"Wow." Said Rapunzel with a dropped jaw.

Anna didn't make an impressed comment but grinned proudly. However, both women kept standing there.

"Go, go!" Ordered Elsa, and she made moves of the hands for them to hurry, since the cabin continued to crack louder and louder.

Anna and Rapunzel barely started to pass in front of her when suddenly the ceiling yielded. The weight of the roof fell in one go, the top logs of the walls rolling to the center of the room.

The Fifth Spirit gasped with wide eyes, and pushed the women outside with two powerful blows of icy wind. With synchronized flicks of the wrists, she instantly created two piles of soft snow on the grass in front of the cabin, on which Anna and Rapunzel landed in a roll.

A split second after she was on all four, Anna stood up and twirled around.

"ELSA!" She yelled in a heart wrenching cry, and it was barely audible above the loud and heavy rumble of the entire log cabin collapsing.

"No!" Alerted Rapunzel, and she grabbed her friend's arm to prevent her risking her life going back.

She didn't expect Anna to be that strong and to wriggle so much, so she actually had to use both hands to stop her. "Anna, no!"

"Let me GO! ELSA! " Screamed the redhead.

A loud crashing noise echoed in the woods when the parts of the house that hadn't dropped ended their fall.

Bruni hurried to place himself in front of Anna to help Rapunzel stop her, and he peeped with insistence.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Assured a voice, confident but masked by the mass of thick wood that had piled up above it.

"Elsa?!" Gasped Anna, and her teal blue eyes widened at the miraculous sound. Though, she quickly winced and squinted when the rubble from the cabin started to move and a cloud of dust floated toward them.

The pile of huge logs moved and lifted in the air with swirls of snow magic, and when the spot where the door used to stand was clear, the cloud of dust revealed pillars of ice. They had been symmetrically placed in pairs around and above Elsa's head to act as a protecting structure. The Snow Queen didn't have a single scratch, her hair only covered with small chippings of wood, and she casually pushed away the logs as she walked out of the mess, as if they weighed nothing.

As soon as she took her first steps away from the rumble, Anna ran to her and tackled her in a hug. The strong impact puffed the dust from their outfits into the air.

"You're crazy." Muttered the redhead in her ear, and Elsa smiled at the relief she heard from it.

'Beautiful pillars!' Complimented Bruni from the ground, and she smirked.

She felt a bit of gluttony emanating from the salamander, and imagined that he had to restrain himself from nibbling on them.

Elsa detached from the hug and gave Rapunzel a look. "Are you alright?"

"I've been better." Chuckled the Princess nervously. "But hey, an adventure is nothing without some deadly action, right?"

"I would have preferred to avoid the destruction part, though." Sighed Elsa, and she parted from her sister, though Anna kept her hands on her arms.

"But I didn't touch anything." Said the brunette. "It was just a piece of paper. It's not like it held the whole cabin!"

Elsa gave her a stare, then looked at her sister, and at her again. "I think that it was nothing but a simple piece of paper."

"Still. It didn't happen when I touched the paper." Insisted the Princess, not to clear her name but to analyze the event correctly.

Anna was dusting her jacket, because it used to be black and now looked like it was covered with flour, and she stopped with a sorry wince.

"I think it's my fault. When I stepped to the door, the threshold moved a bit. I thought that it was old… But there likely was a mechanism underneath meant to crumble the whole place down and kill intruders."

Elsa turned to her.

"So, a trap mechanism, like the thing I touched outside?"

"Yes, exactly– What's that smirk for?" Frowned Anna when she noticed that her elder had been giving her a sassy look.

"Oh, nothing. I get scolded because I touch something I shouldn't have, and then you do the same. I'm not the only one being dangerously curious."

The Queen pointed a finger at her. " You touched something that clearly was a trap. I just placed myself in front of a door after I thought that we had been through the worst with that hellish basement."

Elsa rolled her eyes and admitted that she got a point, but still insisted to tease her back. Rapunzel smiled while the siblings were bickering, an evident effect from their stress relief, and looked at Bruni who was making rounds on the grounds to be sure that nobody was coming. He came back to their spot with a happy chirp, and the Princess interpreted that everything was fine. She picked up the precious companion, and the salamander joyfully climbed to nest on top of her hair. She turned to the sassy sisters.

"Shall we head back then, since we're alive? We've got a lot of things to tell our partners."


"I'm sorry, the cabin what ?!" Blabbered Eugene.

"I swear, the stone on the ring is magical." Said Anna.

Eugene blinked in astonishment at the parallel conversation she was having with Kristoff, who had wide eyes at what she showed on her fingers.

"Hold on, are we going to ignore the fact you nearly died ?" Exclaimed the Prince, and the couple focused back on the story Rapunzel was telling.

The brunette winced. "Yeah, the cabin crumbled down. While we were inside. But thankfully, Elsa was fast in pushing us outside and, well, big suspense… We made it."

Kristoff sighed longly with relief, and turned to the blonde. "Elsa, I owe you one again. You saved my wife's life, once more."

Anna had an expression that went from shock to tenderness, and the Snow Queen put a hand on his forearm. "Please, you protected her way more times than I dare to admit. You owe me nothing."

"In Northuldra culture, when one saves your life, you owe it three times in return." Smirked Honeymaren. Kristoff and Elsa seemed embarrassed by the concept. "Just kidding, you can do whatever you want."

Olaf snorted at her intervention, then clapped his little twig arms.

"Alright, that was quite the story. Who wants hot chocolate? I'm gonna make hot chocolate."

They all agreed with nervous laughter.

As Olaf headed to the kitchens - and he got followed by several maids to avoid making a mess there - Eugene turned to Rapunzel.

"So… Obsessed with colors, uh?"

She saw his drift, and smiled. "Sadly, I don't think that the owner was a painter or something. They were familiar with magic, that is for sure, and we still have a lot to unveil."

The Prince scoffed. "I feel like magic will forever have things to reveal."

Anna breathed out in agreement. She had a lifetime of experience about the mysteries of magic, and Elsa even more.

She then held her chin as she thought. "Maybe that a certain combination of colors allows to temporarily remove magic. But I didn't see any pot of paint in the cabin, or stained glass pieces that could be mixed or overlayed…"

Rapunzel hummed as she mused too. Anna kept going, turning to her husband and friends. "Remember what the thug said, in the cell? 'He went to a sorcerer's place in the woods, and that's where he got the poison'. Nothing says that Hans actually met someone who handed him the poison based on what he needed, based on who his target was… He didn't pay anyone. I bet that he just followed the instructions that were there, and left with the clues we needed. The thug didn't know, but Hans actually was the one who made it. Or, hell, maybe he got lucky and found a vial of the poison waiting on the table, I don't know."

The Queen sighed, and Elsa put a hand on her shoulder. Next to her, Honeymaren had an agreeing nod to her analysis.

Eugene frowned. "That doesn't explain how Hans entered that house. You fell into a trap that you could only get out alive if you had magic. He doesn't have magic."

"That was because Elsa touched something she shouldn't have ." Pointed out Anna.

The Spirit frowned and flicked the fingers that were on her shoulder to tickle her ear with snowflakes, and the redhead giggled an apology.

"Seriously, maybe Hans simply walked in. Or found another way in. The roof, perhaps? We didn't try to climb."

Rapunzel winced, looked a bit scared by the most rational possibility. "...Or someone opened the door for him."

There was a silence.

"But the cabin looked abandoned for ages! No, no, he must have broken in, that's it." Insisted Anna, not letting them go down the road of a ghost story.

Rapunzel and her started to have a debate, and their husbands listened carefully, since they provided more and more details of the place in their arguments.

Elsa seemed a bit out, away and apart, and she walked to the edge of the group. Honeymaren interpreted from it that her girlfriend was still impacted by the events and needed some time to digest them. The Northuldra gently followed her.

"You're safe, mitt lys. And it's a beautiful thing." She smiled warmly, and she gently rubbed her back before pulling her close for a cuddle.

However, despite Elsa's response to her affection as she circled her waist with her arms, her thoughts seemed to be elsewhere. Honeymaren wondered how much their adventure had affected her, but it looked like it was something else than retrospected fear that distracted her partner.

"Are you alright, love?" She frowned worriedly.

"Fine, fine." Mumbled Elsa, but Honeymaren wasn't stupid. That kind of lie sadly was too recurrent to not be recognized: the blonde was masking an issue because her sister was near.

After a moment, and because they were apart from the chatting group and no one paid attention to them, azure blue eyes turned to the worried chestnut ones that hadn't left her.

"Would you please come with me? Let's go somewhere… Just the two of us."

"Of course." Replied her lover right away. Honeymaren would follow her to the end of the world by a mere ask.

Nevertheless, she was utterly lost. Sure, her girlfriend liked to have privacy to think and be lulled by her after a straining event, but everything in Elsa's non-verbal communication indicated that she was in excellent mental shape. She even could hear the cogs of her brain clicking faster than usual.

"Where to?" Inquired the brunette, but she didn't even fully pronounce her sentence that Elsa was dragging her out of the room.

"Great let's go." She blabbered quickly, and in a flash, they were in the corridor and soon in the stairs.

Honeymaren quickly caught up on her pace to not look suspicious to the others, and frowned even more. Elsa clearly hadn't been paying attention to her question. The Northuldra glanced behind her one last time to make sure that they weren't followed; thankfully, the others were all busy talking about the log cabin's structure to actually notice the two going away. Even if they did, they would be willing to let the two lovebirds enjoy time together again.

Honeymaren had trouble finding her way and the possible place Elsa was leading her to. She still struggled to map the castle in her mind, and the refurbishments and changes after the Collapse made it nearly impossible for her to understand where they were. Elsa's hurry as they moved didn't help at all. Before Honeymaren could try to recognize what corridor they had come into, the blonde opened a door.

"Get in there." She simply said, and her lover obeyed.

Elsa entered right behind her and closed the door, putting them in complete darkness.

Honeymaren blinked, looking around for any hint. She couldn't see anything, but her instinct told her that the room was small. What was this all about?

A soft blue glow appeared in Elsa's hand. With a swift move of the forearm, she sent a few large snowflakes made of bright ice up to the ceiling to make floating lights. Honeymaren, surprised and amazed at the beautiful magic, was even more surprised to see that the ceiling was lower than most of the rooms, but that they weren't in a broom closet like she thought.

The room was indeed small, something about half the size of Elsa's bedroom, but it had a wooden desk with no chair that was covered with dust, so thick that she could see it even with the dimmed light. The desk only had a purple mat on its surface, like it had been cleared a long time ago. Honeymaren was on the front side of it and couldn't see the drawers, but she figured that they had been emptied too. The wood was carved finely, with details that represented crocuses at parts. Behind the desk, on the back wall, was a bookcase that took half of it and extended until the ceiling. The rest of the wall was blank, and Honeymaren wondered if things had been moved from it too. The three other walls had simple decoration, with classical hanging tapestries that were covered with spider webs.

"What is this place?" Frowned Honeymaren. "Is it a study room? Why is it much smaller than Anna's? Why is it… No offense, but why is it so dirty? Why did I never see this room before?"

Elsa sighed, but her lover kept going.

"And most importantly, why did you suddenly drag me in here without warning me first?"

"Honey, please, I swear I will give you answers in due course. Right now, I… Well, actually, I'm looking for answers too."

Elsa's lack of explanation drove the Northuldra anxious, but she felt sad at her expression.

"Are you okay?" She asked, putting the blonde's state of mind before hers.

Elsa smiled at her in the soft blue light. "I'm fine. Could you just… Make sure that nobody is coming in the corridor? Just stand guard, please?"

Her tone was slightly begging, and Honeymaren agreed immediately.

She opened the door in a tiny gap to peek outside, and placed herself in front of the opening in a protective way.

A silence then passed, while Elsa examined the room. She looked under the desk, helped with another magical light in her hand, then opened the drawers, insisted on those that were stuck, and stood up again to look behind the tapestries.

Despite being asked to watch the corridor, the brunette couldn't help getting worried, and turned to her. She gave a suspicious stare at her girlfriend, who was rumbling and mumbling to herself. The way her lover was looking around, the slightly hurried movements she made, her palpable nervosity…

Were they in a forbidden area of the castle?

'No, that doesn't make any sense…' Thought the Northuldra. 'She can go in any room she wants. What is it then? Why does she hurry up?'

Suddenly, Honeymaren startled when she heard an approaching muffled wrinkling of clothes, which was unmistakable to the huntress' ears as someone who walked down the corridor. She muttered something in Northuldrian, hurriedly closed the door, and grabbed her girlfriend's arm.

"Someone's coming!"

Elsa had already widened her eyes at the word Honeymaren had used before that, which she knew was the equivalent of a curse.

"Oh no, I should have been faster!" Said the blonde in a panic whisper, and she quickly vanished her blue light.

She rushed to her girlfriend.

"If Anna learns about it… Well, we could pretend that we lost our way, or, or…"

Honeymaren blinked as her usually clever partner didn't make any sense. How would that falsehood even work?

"Maybe… Maybe we could…" Blabbered Elsa, but she interrupted herself and swiftly turned to the door when the person stopped in front of it. The only source of light in the pitch dark room now came from the corridor, and the blonde prayed that the shadows of the feet would go away. But then the handle turned and the door started to move.

They both widened their eyes, and Elsa grabbed Honeymaren's shoulders with both hands, turning her so she would face her.

"Kiss me."

The Northuldra blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

The door opened, and Elsa had less than a second to act. She grasped Honeymaren's cheeks and crashed her lips on hers.

As astonished as she was, the brunette couldn't help but close her eyes at the intense kiss. Gods, was it a shame that it was one of confusion and panic. She had dreamed countless times of Elsa taking the lead like that, and the blonde was devouring her senselessly. It was overwhelming, and the brunette let out a moan, swallowed by Elsa's exaggerated lips movements.

"Oh my goodness!" Exclaimed a familiar voice after a shriek, and the women separated in a jolt.

"Anna!" They said in one voice.

Elsa's tone was astonished by how unlucky she got, and Honeymaren's already was apologetic.

The redhead stepped back to the threshold, a candlestick in hand, the other covering her eyes. "I didn't see anything. I didn't see anything."

Then she sighed, and took it off to frown at the couple with a light blush. "Though I saw everything , and I feel like my eyes are burning. I'll forever have this image in my mind, thank you very much."

She gave a strong stare at her sister. "Elsa, are you for real?! What if it weren't me who had opened the door. What if it were a guard!"

She had switched from embarrassed surprise to full scolding.

However, despite being now separated, Elsa and Honeymaren still remained in each other's arms. The brunette's hands hadn't left Elsa's waist which she had instinctively squeezed during the surprise kiss, and one of the Spirit's hands rested on Honeymaren's collarbone.

Anna frowned, astonished by her elder's behavior.

"Also, since when are you that hungry for secret kisses around the castle?"

Elsa blushed furiously to the tip of her ears, and lowered her gaze.

Anna put her weight on her hip and stared at Honeymaren, who startled when the powerful teal blue eyes landed on her at the sole light of her candle.

"And you , I know that you drive her crazy and answer all of her demands, but maybe you could wait for the night to come. We have guests around the castle, and they could have mistaken this room for a toilet."

The brunette cleared her throat. "Sorry."

She then smirked. "...Your Majesty."

Elsa drew a smile, Honeymaren's tease bursting the bubble of shame that had built around her.

"Very funny." Groaned Anna.

She walked around them. "Now if you will excuse me, I actually have to do something in this room."

Elsa frowned, the previous emotion completely erased to be replaced by confusion. "What? What are you doing here?"

Anna turned to her with a slow pivot that was overfilled with sass. "...What are you doing here?"

The blonde bit her lip, so Honeymaren jumped to her rescue. "I think it's pretty obvious. I couldn't wait until we reached her bedroom so I asked her for a private room, and she said that this one hadn't been used in years, so nobody could interrupt us."

Anna lifted a suspicious eyebrow, certifying the story by looking at her sister. However, the blonde was still so red with embarrassment that it was hard to tell if Honeymaren lied or not.

"Mm-hmm." Said the Queen, squinting.

She then resumed walking.

"You haven't answered." Noted Elsa.

And Anna still didn't. She lifted her candle to inspect the books on the wall, actually in a similar fashion to Elsa, a sisterly parallel that Honeymaren noticed.

"Anna."

"Mmh?" Muttered her sister in reply, too focused on reading the titles on the spines at the light of the flame.

"What are you searching for?"

"Answers. Like you."

"Well, I haven't found any–" Elsa was about to reply with a braggy tone, then she stopped herself when she realized what she was about to say.

Honeymaren and Anna turned to her as she blushed even more, Honeymaren with a side eye expression that meant 'We're doomed', and Anna with a smirk that meant 'Oh, that's interesting.'

"I suppose that the thing you were looking for isn't the love on Honeymaren's lips, am I right?" Teased the redhead.

She walked back to her elder, the flame of her candle matching the fire on the Spirit's cheeks.

"What were you two actually doing before I stepped in?" Asked the Queen, curiosity and regal intonation mixing in assertion.

However, she didn't have to press her sister any longer; Elsa yielded with a sigh.

"Come on, Anna. We both know why we're here. I had to try looking for answers in Mother's study."

Honeymaren widened her eyes. It was what now?

"What clues are you looking for?" Asked Elsa, finally phrasing the correct question.

Before Anna could say anything, Honeymaren had an 'Ooooh' expression.

"Anna's study was your father's! That's why this one is much smaller. Your father was taking care of all the King paperwork, while this one… Did your mother use this room for her correspondences?"

Anna gave her an amused smile. "Among other things."

Honeymaren crossed her arms with a slight squint as she looked at both of the siblings.

"Now, now. What are those clues you're looking for? Do you think that your mother knew something about that log cabin?"

Pairs of azure and teal blue eyes widened at her correct theory.

"Ha! I knew it." Grinned Honeymaren.

She was proud to remember that Elsa once told her about the map she had found in their parents' shipwreck, that had their mother's handwriting on it. Surely Iduna knew more than it looked to them when they were teens.

The sisters exchanged an awkward gaze, and looked down. The Northuldra sighed.

"You should have talked about it to each other, now it's ridiculous. You tried to do research in secret," she said, pointing at her partner, "and you hid your suspicions behind a wall of dominion." She said, pointing at Anna. "Both styles really don't suit you at all."

The sisters had shameful expressions, and they eventually lifted their eyes again.

But before Elsa could apologize to her lover, or Anna could explain what she had on her mind, the light from the corridor spreaded larger.

"Hey, what's up guys?" Came in a familiar voice, and a snowman head passed through the door. "When I arrived with the hot chocolates, I saw that you were missing, and you never miss hot chocolate. That's weird."

Olaf stepped in accompanied with Kristoff, but also Rapunzel and Eugene, who had followed him.

Anna groaned loudly. "Great, now EVERYONE is here!"

Actually, the study even started to be packed with the seven of them. The comparison of size Honeymaren had made between Agnarr's and Iduna's studies actually got sadder when she saw the group starting to stand in a circle around the desk to avoid being packed.

"This is ridiculous. What are you all doing here?" Blurted the Queen.

"We were just curious." Smiled Kristoff with a raised hand to calm his wife. "And Rapunzel cleverly noted that if Elsa found herself attracted to something in there after we visited that log cabin, maybe it's important..."

Elsa looked at the Princess with astonishment. "How did you..."

"Know that you had a facial expression that meant that exact feeling, when you stepped out of the room earlier?" Smirked Rapunzel. "I make the same one when I feel magic in the air."

Eugene nodded with a grin. "I confirm."

"But why do you feel magic now? Haven't you lived in the castle for years? You entered this room several times, no?" Asked Kristoff, sharing his thoughts. The Coronans and him clearly had this debate on their way there.

Elsa blushed. Even more when Anna turned to her with a ' That's why you two were here' huff, her hands on her hips.

"That's exactly what I asked her." Added Honeymaren. She then realized she wasn't defending her girlfriend at all, and the blonde now looked down. She immediately went to her rescue. "I... I was just intrigued, like you all."

Elsa gulped. "I have no idea, I told you. And I'm telling all of you now. I really don't know. Rapunzel, can't you feel it?"

The brunette pouted. "Sorry to disappoint, but no."

"So it must be my imagination." Immediately said Elsa.

"No!"

"No, Elsa, I didn't mean to-"

Honeymaren's and Anna's voices overlapped each other. The Spirit however was happy to see they were supportive.

"Great. So Elsa once heard voices and now she feels things that are magical but aren't?" Commented Olaf.

Eugene eyed the snowman.

"Alright, alright, I'll just stay in my corner." He shrugged.

He went to the bookcase and picked a big volume, bigger than his own body, then sat down and read it in silence.

The silence extended, and Rapunzel shifted awkwardly. She thought it was a good moment to change the topic. And maybe ideal to finally say something she had kept for herself.

"Guys… There is something on my mind that I haven't shared with you, to be perfectly honest…" Murmured the Princess, but in the small room, they all heard.

When everybody turned to her, she looked down with shame.

"What is it, Punzie?" Invited Eugene gently.

"I think that… I mean, it's just my instinct, but… I think that Gothel is, well, was , that sorcerer."

Everybody widened their eyes, and she raised her hands quickly. "It's just a theory!"

Anna breathed out. "It's a heavy theory."

Kristoff had a thinking pout. "But it would make sense. Didn't you tell me that she knew a huge lot about the magic of your hair?"

"She was knowledgeable on the subject, yes." Nodded Rapunzel. "She was the one who figured out that she could sing next to my hair the same way she sang next to the flower, to get its magical effects. Basically, she was the only one in the world to… Master it."

She had a shiver, and Eugene approached her to cuddle, rubbing her arm. Elsa recognized the kind of shivering that her friend had had in the log cabin and pouted with sadness.

"Wait. Told you?" Repeated Anna with a frown, turning to her husband.

Kristoff smirked. "What, you think that only you two are allowed to have private conversations?"

Anna shook her head with a smile.

Gaining courage from Eugene's touch and Elsa's curious glance, Rapunzel kept going. "I thought about it during the whole trip back. I saw similarities in the living style, the handwriting, the optimization in the room… The daggers too, undeniably." She winced. "And the color pigments. She used to go through the land to pick some for my paintings, so that I never lacked any and stayed inside. It's not just that, I could almost feel that she was there. That she used to be there."

Anna and Elsa nodded sadly. As she had lived 18 years trapped in the same place than her abductor, it surely left a sensation on her skin and core.

"I believe you." Said the blonde quietly.

"Same." Nodded Anna.

The three of them exchanged a warm look.

"I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this log cabin was her outpost." Said Rapunzel. "She traveled a lot, probably to do research on magic in neighboring countries."

A silence followed her sentence, and she fidgeted before awkwardly switching to the previous topic again. "Anyway, what can possibly lure you to this room?"

Elsa looked around and shrugged. "It's not like Ahtohallan's calls. It's different. But it's weird, there's nothing new in this room than since the last time I visited it."

She then looked sad. "Not like our mother didn't have secrets. Anna and I found notes with her handwriting about my magical source in the ship wreck."

She turned to Anna, expecting sadness on her face, but the redhead actually was letting her imagination run wild.

"Wait, is it possible that Mother was in contact with the sorcer– Well, with Gothel ? Gosh, it just puts everything in a new perspective." Breathed out the Queen now that she reformulated.

"I don't know. It both seems ridiculous and plausible." Smiled Elsa with a wince. "I don't know if they were friends, or simply studied the same subject, but it's too much of a coincidence. I sense a magical thing in this room, and I never felt it before, and, as if by chance, it's right when we come back from the cabin."

Kristoff closed her eyes and pinched the top of his hose. "Hold on, hold on, hold on. But those… Colors things, they have nothing to do with Elsa's magic, right? I mean, you told us about that basement trap, where Bruni's magic, your magic, Rapunzel's magic… And Anna's ring magic somehow, we really gotta talk about that later, but for now let me finish," he said, then took his breath again, "those magics helped you out, but nothing in the cabin was focused on your magic, right? Why would your mother be interested in contacting that witch? I mean, no offense…" He awkwardly said to Rapunzel.

"Oh, you can call her a witch whenever you want." Assured the brunette, and Eugene nodded in agreement.

"Kristoff is right." Frowned Honeymaren. "Besides, Iduna looked for answers about your magic. Whereas Hans looked for someone who could make poison to stop your magic. Why would she meet someone to get a way to poison you?"

There was a silence.

The cold and evident truth fell on her like the coldest rain.

"Oh."

Elsa had a sad smile, and Anna looked down.

"Baby, I'm so sorry…" Murmured Honeymaren, and she held Elsa's hand.

The latter smiled, murmuring back. "It's okay."

Eugene could feel the tension, but was lost. "I'm sorry to ask, but could you explain?"

Anna bit her lips together, giving a glance at Elsa. She then took a breath in. "Our mother died looking for a way– Actually, both our parents died looking for answers about Elsa's magic… But we always had the theory that they didn't just mean to understand it. They likely wanted to erase it from her. Permanently."

The Coronans were shocked, and she kept going.

"Which seemed to be a good idea, on the moment, I guess. So that Elsa and I could finally be reunited again, so that she could stop going through hell being afraid of herself and spending her childhood locked away. But… If Elsa had had her magic taken off her…"

The blonde nodded when she turned. "My life would have gone better for several years, but I would never have found myself. My real me."

"And you never would have met me." Added Honeymaren, with a humorous tone, and they all smiled.

"Hey! I just realized!" Said a childish voice, and they turned to Olaf. "It explains why you found nobody in the cabin. Cause Gothel's dead."

"Yes, thank you for that very late addition, captain obvious." Grunted Anna with an eye roll.

The snowman didn't catch her sarcasm, and his eyes sparkled. "You promoted me to Captain?"

The Queen very slowly turned to him with a stare.

Olaf gulped. "Nope. Nevermind. Must have misheard."

He quickly went back to quiet reading.

"It's very Gothel-branded to trap people in a basement with walls that close in." Sighed Eugene. "She trapped her own daughter in a tower, you can expect anything from her."

His wife agreed with a heavy heart.

"Also, she technically was… Hundreds of years old, and the cabin looked ancient. Maybe she built it many many years ago, when she was looking for other magic sources than the flower." Added Rapunzel.

"It explains the collection of daggers from all places and periods." Said Anna with a wince.

Eugene snapped his fingers in realization. "And why the instructions to find her log cabin are based on the position of the Sun."

He looked at the Arendellians. "She was obsessed with the Sun. And knew all the magical tales about it. She constantly looked for magical tears to drop from it, you know?"

Several agreeing nods followed the analysis.

Honeymaren tilted her head to Elsa's ear.

"You really need to bring me up to speed with this odd woman, because I have a lot of questions. Capturing children and locking them in towers?" She whispered hurriedly. "All you told me about Corona were the lanterns in the sky, the food and the tin can alley game. Why didn't I get the version with the evil witch?"

Elsa gave her an amused smile and a nudge. "I'll try to give you the epic version later."

Rapunzel passed a hand in her hair, and walked around to ease her mind from that new revelation. The calm behavior of the childish snowman who was sitting on the floor made her smile.

"Olaf, didn't you tell me that you can read?" She gently asked. "You're holding the book upside down."

"I'm aware." Informed Olaf, and he didn't lift his eyes, apparently very deep in observation of the pages. "This is a book on the history of architecture. The drawings are beautiful from that angle too."

The Princess smiled and Anna did too. The redhead then tilted her head to read the title. "You borrowed the second volume though."

"I know." Assured the snowman, looking very mature. Then his face became more childish as he grinned. "But the cover of this one is blue, and the first one is red."

Kristoff chuckled. "You read about architecture and prefer blue… You really are Elsa's creation, uh?"

The Snow Queen rolled her eyes amusedly.

"Well, now that y'all hyped me about it, I wanna read the first one." Jolted Olaf with a laugh, putting the book down and standing up to go grab the other volume.

They shook their heads as they watched him grab it, and then, the second he took it off the shelf, a discreet click sounded in the room. Suddenly, the wall trembled and a rumble shook them all slightly. They all turned their smiles into gasps, and Olaf dropped the book. They all hung to each other with wide eyes. The quake wasn't big enough to make them lose their balance, but it was concerning and surprising enough to hold to their loved ones.

The part of the wall that was on the right of the bookshelf started to shift and moved deeper, then slid on the side to hide behind it. It was like a sliding door, or rather a sliding gate based on how massive the stone was. Now Honeymaren understood why that part of the wall seemed oddly blank, but she didn't make a comment, because the two sisters had their jaws dropped.

The room suddenly was quiet as they all stared in astonishment at the new opening in the wall, leading to another smaller room that was plunged in the dark. With the low light coming from the study, they could distinguish a table, and some notes pinned on the walls that seemed made of stone, with lots of spider webs and dust on every surface.

Olaf let out a long exclamation of admiration.

'Okay, that is badass.' Thought Eugene.

Rapunzel turned to the siblings. 'Why are they making those faces? Did they not know about this secret door?'

Honeymaren looked at the large cogs hidden behind the bookshelf. She was stupefied by the system, having never witnessed such a mechanism in her life.

Kristoff turned to his wife. Anna had told him everything in detail about the castle when he started to live in it, even before he did; she had never mentioned such a thing.

The redhead thought that she knew all about her home and, despite the shock to see something that had escaped her, she also felt delighted to see that the castle still had some surprises for her.

As for Elsa, she found her heart squeezed in emotion.

'Mother, did you have secrets too?' She thought, her eyes filling with tears.

Honeymaren saw her face and came to place a hand in hers. The latter startled, so the Northuldra gently squeezed her fingers to reassure her.

Elsa's mindset was a lifetime away from the funny hungry kiss they had shared minutes before. Honeymaren could sense that her girlfriend had somehow returned to a part of her childhood, the one that was viscerally linked to her mother and secrecy. It gave her a pinch to the heart, but once again she didn't dare to make any comment. She was glad that Elsa responded to her touch, though, and she smiled when she felt the blonde's hand squeezing her in return. It was a good thing that the Spirit was accompanied for this moment of revelation.

The brunette looked at the mysterious room plunged in darkness in front of them. It seemed like the two sisters also had been kept in the dark…

What did Iduna hide?


Author's Note:

Heyaaaaa I'm back! It wasn't that long of a wait, come on :P That's what I get for publishing a chapter every week and then separating two chapters with a month wait lol. Sorry not sorry :X There's a lot of good flangst and drama in this chapter to make up for it. We officially enter the penultimate arc of the fanfic! Yes, I see my long adventures fanfics like anime episodes haha. My writing style is similar; the way the characters interact with each other, the pace, the humor... And the stakes!

Do you like the new events? Leave a comment below please, it means a lot :D Cheers!