Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: So we have an... answer.. as to how Hans ended up with the gypsies, but that still doesn't explain the box, what's inside it or how he ended up with it, or what the eel and crocus carved together atop the box mean. Any suggestions?

Written: 2019 - Licia

The wind ruffled her hair, swirling around her in attempt to get her to play, but Elsa ignored her. She sat curled upon in the hand of one of the earth giants, his huge stone fingers curled up to give her some privacy as she lay studying the crevices and erosion of the rock, her mind going through a thousand questions. After her talk with Hans, she'd stormed out of not just her hut, but the camp, going north to where the giants were, knowing that very few Northuldra would follow her. The talk with Hans had brought up more questions than given answers, and only added to the confusion of everything.

"Not now Gale, I'm not in the mood." She waved the wind away, only for Gale to drop something beside her. Her gaze lit on the piece of paper, folded like a bird, beside her, and she grabbed it, shifting onto her back as she opened it up and began to read. She instantly recognized the familiar scrawl and golden crocus stationary of Arendelle; she had a set of the same stationary- only with a dark green 'EoA' right below the crocus, that was her personal monogram.

Her heart fell.

Dear Elsa,

I haven't heard from you in a while, and I was worried. I know you're busy, especially this time of the year, and I just wanted to make sure you're okay. Charades is still on Friday night if you want to come, though I understand if you're busy and can't make it. Please let me know that you're okay. I miss you, Elsa, and I love you. So, so much.

Love,

Anna

She sighed, folding up the letter and slipping it into the pouch at her waist. She wasn't in the mood to deal with Anna; she hadn't even finished the letter she'd been working on for her sister, she sure as hell wasn't going to start another one when the first wasn't even finished. Then, she shifted back onto her side, becoming lost in her thoughts.

Hans had been exiled after serving his time. But that didn't make sense. You specifically suggested to the Southern Isles that his sentence was to be indefinite hard labor, well and truly away from the rest of the world, and yet, he only does... what? six? seven? years before being released. She groaned, and the giant shifted slightly, curling his fingers further, shading her eyes from the sun. She suddenly couldn't remember how many years it had been- she knew she'd been the Fifth spirit for two full years at least, because it had been late fall of her twenty-fourth year when she'd broken the curse. Maybe it was just because she was tired and overthinking everything and neither Hans nor Anna were helping at the moment. With a groan of annoyance, she sat up, startling the giant, who quickly unfurled his fingers as she stood and got up. She quickly nodded her thanks the giant who nodded back, before turning and leaving.

She trekked back towards the camp, stalking past her hut just as Yelena exited. The healer had stayed to change the bandages around Hans's ribs, and once he was done, he too left. As she moved past the cooking fire, she heard a squeal, but didn't look up as Bruni scurried up her and settled on her shoulder. "Spirit!" She stopped, waiting for Yelena to speak next. "Supper is almost ready."

"No thank you, Yelena. I'm not hungry." She threw over her shoulder, not looking at the chief. Thinking that was the end of the conversation, she continued on.

"You need to eat."

Slowly, Elsa turned to face the chief. She lifted her chin, her patience wearing thin as she waited for the woman to continue talking, but the chief just narrowed her eyes. "Thank you for the offer, Yelena, but I'm not hungry. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to Ahtohallan." And without another word, she turned and started off again.

"That wasn't a request, Spirit." She stopped, at the commanding tone. Bruni, noticing the shift in Elsa's countenance, quickly scampered into her hair. With a sigh, the younger woman turned back, meeting the chief's eye. In several quick strides, she was back standing before Yelena, her magic licking at her fingers and trembling beneath her skin. This whole day- no, this whole week- had gone from good to bad to worse, and it was starting to piss her off.

"Are you commanding me, Yelena?" She breathed, never breaking eye contact. The chief didn't say anything. Elsa should have taken that as a sign to stop, but she was just so annoyed, so mentally drained, so... tired that she couldn't be bothered to keep her mouth shut. She didn't want to stay, or eat, or do anything of the sort at the moment, and certainly not with Hans near. All she wanted was to go home to Ahtohallan and work on figuring out how to open that box. "Forgive me if I sound surprised, but if I remember correctly, you don't command the spirits, I do."

"I'm not commanding the spirits, I am commanding you." Yelena replied. "And right now, you need it, because you have not eaten for days. How are you going to be able to do your job if you do not eat?"

Elsa's mouth dropped. Her temper flared- or cooled, rather, something she had learned back in Arendelle, when she was too tired to deal with things and wanted nothing more than to be left alone. "I'm the Fifth Spirit, for God's sake! I will be fine!"

She stamped her foot, and her familiar snowflake shot out from beneath her foot, frozen fractals covering every available surface. The others in the tribe who were out in the camp started to slip, even Yelena; only Elsa stayed standing upright. Bruni poked his head out of Elsa's hair before ducking back down, frightened of Elsa's raised voice.

Yelena, having had enough of what she deemed Elsa's temper tantrum made no room for argument. "You will not be returning to Ahtohallan until after you have eaten and gotten some rest, Elsa, am I clear?"

With a huff, Elsa stalked off, stepping into her hut out of habit, forgetting that Hans was recuperating inside. She wrapped the shawl tied loosely around her neck around her shoulders and began to pace, muttering to herself in annoyance, ice starting to coat her hands. Hans glanced from the ice beneath the hut to her and back. So she still has her powers. Why does that not surprise me?

"How dare she! How dare she treat me like a... a child! I'm a grown woman, I don't need to be told what to do! And certainly not by the Chief of the Northuldra, when I'm the most powerful spirit they've ever seen! And yet she talks to me like I'm some... some pampered little princess-"

"Um... Elsa?"

"What?"

Her snap was punctuated by a blast of ice smashing into the back wall of the hut as she turned, to find Hans watching her. Instantly, her annoyance was forgotten as her mouth dropped and her eyes widened. Hans was in her hut. What the hell was he doing in her hut? Blue eyes darted quickly to the bandages wrapped around his ribs, the splint around his leg, and suddenly, it all came back.

The gypsy camp, his injuries, your flight back to Ahtohallan because Hans is recuperating in your hut.

Without a word, she hurried to the entrance, but never made it. "Elsa, wait-" She turned back, as Hans pushed himself up with a wince and a grunt of pain and grabbed her wrist, stopping her. Silence filled the space as they stared at each other and after a moment, he let go of her, the pain in his ribs getting to him. He winced, gritting his teeth, and Elsa moved to leave, but something stopped her. She turned back, before slowly kneeling beside him. Her blue gaze studied him, going to the bandages.

"Are you okay?"

"Mhm... fine..."

"You're not fine." She whispered, watching his chest rise and fall before flicking her gaze back to the bandages. After a moment, she reached over, grabbing his wrist when he tried to stop her, and gently brushed her fingers over the bandages. She pulled back, gasping softly at the realization that he was warm. Fever.

Not bothering to go search for the healer, she got up and grabbed a bowl that sat in the corner- one she often used filled with snow for Bruni to play in at night- and quickly filled it with water thanks to a flick of her wrist. She then set it beside them, and looked around for something to wet. Casting her mother's shawl aside so it didn't get in the way, she rummaged through her things, before giving up and turning to the dress she wore. Thinking quickly, she conjured an icicle and quickly tore through the skirt of her dress, removing a good chunk of material and dunking it into the water in the bowl. Setting it aside, she turned to Hans. "Come on, sit up."

"... what?"

"You need to sit up. I need to remove that bandage and reapply the poultice and redress it again! Now Sit. Up!"

With some struggle, she was able to help him, and once she had the bandage off, she realized what the problem was. Though the rib was healing, the skin where the poultice was applied to draw out the infection from the rib was red and angry and warm to the touch. Wasting no time, Elsa wrung out the cloth and began washing away the poultice from his skin. He hissed, and she glanced up at him. "Sorry." She continued to clean it, finally reaching over and laying her other hand against his side; her cool touch seemed to help, and he relaxed slightly. Once it was fully cleaned, she could see the full extent of the problem.

Bright red, nearly hot, and slightly inflamed, Elsa could now see that the treatments he'd been going through for the last two or three days hadn't been helping, just hindering. She glanced at his face, but his eyes were closed against the pain. The poultice wasn't helping, it was making it worse. He's already badly damaged from the attack, whatever infection had set in after his rib was broken was only exacerbated by the poultice. I need to double check with the healer about what was in the poultice.

Once the area was completely clean, she searched for something to apply to the infection, but was afraid whatever she found would only make it worse. After a moment, she glanced at her hands. It was worth a shot, and better than anything she could possibly find. She glanced at him, before reaching over and laying a hand against the infected area. He whimpered softly, the coolness of her touch was soothing- and then he cried out and jerked back, but she reached out, grabbing his hand when he tried to stop her. "What are you doing? Elsa?"

"Coating it in snow."

"Ah... why?"

"Because you need something to soothe the infection, and I'm afraid anything else that's from the earth will just make it worse! Now hold still!" He fought against her, but her grip was tighter. The temperature inside the hut dropped several degrees, and when she finally pulled her hand away, she was satisfied to see the entire infected area covered in snow; in actuality, she'd covered the infected area in frostbite before coating it with snow. Then, she looked around for something to bind it with. The wet material of her skirt wouldn't do; it could only making him sicker. A moment passed, before she turned back to her dress, and quickly conjured an icicle. Hans watched through the pain in his eyes as Elsa grabbed the longer half of her skirt and slashed off a jagged strip, clear around. Once done, she helped him sit up, and began wrapping it around around his ribs, tightening it gently as she went, making sure it was completely covered before tucking the end. "There. I'll go let the healer and Yelena know what happened."

Hans watched as she stood, noticing how the once long, form hugging dress with the flowing skirt she'd worn now had major pieces missing from it. The entire left side of her skirt was missing up to two inches above her knee, the right side fell two inches below her knee, and the back hung down in a jagged point when she turned. Something in the back of his mind told him that she looked better this way than before; more human and less... spirit-like. When he looked up next, she was gone, though not far, as he could hear muffled voices on the other side of the flap.

"... I changed the bandage, and removed the poultice."

"Forgive me, Spirit, but why would you do that? That poultice was help-"

"That poultice was hurting him, Vanja! When I checked it, his skin was hot to the touch! Red and inflamed when I removed the bandages! Whatever is in that poultice you have been using for the last few days... he is sensitive too, and it was only making it worse!"

"So how do you suggest we heal him, Spirit?"

"I put a layer of frost and then two layers of snow over it, and then covered it with ice to keep both in place. Then I wrapped it and his ribs-"

"And what exactly did you wrap it with?" Yelena asked; silence fell, and Hans had a suspicion they were all staring at what had once been her skirt. "I see." Elsa blushed, glancing down to see her light grey leggings.

"It was the only thing I could think of to use." Elsa's reply was the last thing he heard before he drifted off.