Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: Written: 2019 - Licia

"Woah, careful!"

An arm went around his waist, a hand reached up to rest against his chest. He looked up to find Elsa standing before him, helping him to stand. It had been days- Hans wasn't sure how many- since she'd returned to the Northuldra, and in that time, Yelena had told him that his leg was healing finely, and that soon, he would be healed enough to leave. When he'd asked if he could at least get up and walk around, Yelena and the healer had hesitated, before agreeing, so long as he sat when the strain became too much.

Which is what he was doing when Elsa had caught him, unsteady as he was, on his feet, just outside the flap of her hut. Her blue eyes met his, and he found himself becoming lost in them. "What are you doing up? You need to be resting-"

He quickly shook himself out of his enchantment of her eyes, and grinned sheepishly. "Yelena and unta-" He watched her brows furrow slightly over her blue eyes, noting the little crease that appeared in the area between her brows, and how it just made her look even more beautiful than normal-

Wait, what?

"Oh. Vanja. She's the healer."

He started, giving a minuscule shake of his head to cast aside the confusion and accept Elsa's answer. "Right. They said my leg is healing enough that I can put some pressure on it, but to not walk around in great lengths, and to sit when I need to."

She nodded. "Good. Which means that if your leg is healing, then soon you'll be able to leave and... go wherever you wish." She adjusted her hold, stepping back and giving him time to steady himself. Pain shot through his leg, but that was to be expected, given how damaged it had been when he'd been brought to the camp. It was worth the pain just to be able to stand again, after so many days down. His green eyes met hers, and he swallowed his words.

Why are you so eager to see me gone, Elsa? I know I betrayed both you and Anna in the past, but I've changed. When are you going to see that?

Slowly, his gaze moved over her, flickering, fluttering quickly so as not to alert her to his staring. The dress she wore reminded him of the famed Greek goddess, Artemis, with a boatneck top, the sleeves were similar to capped sleeves, except they were open at the top, and it flowed down, gathering slightly at her waist before falling in gentle,slit folds down her hips to her just past her knees, leaving her grey leggings to peek out with movement. The grey flats she wore were accented by a bracelet around her ankle- what appeared to be made of ice and snow, but he couldn't be sure- and instead of her customary braid, or leaving it down, like she'd been doing, she had pulled her hair back into a crown braid. He started, surprised to find her bangs- those cute little curled strands that often hung over her forehead and seemed to annoy her to no end- now lay in a fringe atop her forehead. For the briefest of moments, he found himself standing before the newly coronated Queen of Arendelle, before the image of who she had been that day faded into the woman who stood before him. She stood patiently, waiting for him to speak-

"Beautiful, like a goddess."

"I'm... sorry?"

He flinched, realizing he'd actually spoken, instead of in his head as he'd thought he'd done. "Sorry, I... well..." A huff of annoyance, as he tried his hardest not to look at her, and failed. She raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. Gods, I could kiss that forming smirk off your lips right now-

"It is about time you returned, Spirit. You are in time for supper." Both turned to Yelena; Honeymaren and Ryder stood with her. Elsa blushed as she curled in on herself briefly. When she didn't reply or reject the offer, Yelena took that as acquiescence, before turning to Hans. "You may walk around, just be careful and do not overdo yourself-"

"Hans, please."

The chief nodded once, before turning on her heel and leaving. A moment passed, before Ryder offered his help, and Hans agreed, slipping his arm around the younger man's shoulder, as he slip his arm around Hans's waist and helping him, so that he didn't strain the healing break and cause more damage. The two women watched them go, before the Northuldra native spoke. "What exactly were you smirking at?"

Elsa opened her mouth to speak, before closing it again. "Nothing, Honeymaren." She then moved past the girl, falling briefly into step with Ryder and Hans. Children dashed past them, laughing and giggling as they were chased by the wind, which briefly tugged at Elsa's skirts. "Hello, Gale." Hans turned to her, confused.

"Who?"

"Gale, the-"

"Spirit!" The group of children turned as they realized she had returned. Instantly, Elsa was stopped by a gaggle of children as they rushed up to her. It took a moment, for Ryder and Hans to move out of the way, and they stopped at the questions. Honeymaren joined the pair, watching with a laugh as Elsa was left to fend off the children on her own.

"Come play with us, Spirit! Please?"

"Oh, please come play with us and the wind spirit!"

"Can you do your magic for us, spirit? Snow flurries?"

"No! Make an ice castle!"

"Say you'll play with us before supper, please, Spirit, please?"

Her laughter rang out through the camp, and Hans and the others watched as Elsa threw her head back in pleasure. She looked so light and relaxed, so free, so... alive. There was a light that shone about Elsa that he hadn't seen that day in the ballroom. She looked... as though she were positively glowing. "I can't do too much right now. Supper is starting." The children's cries and pleads soon filled the air.

"Please, Spirit! Just one thing, please!"

She glanced around the camp, catching Yelena's gaze briefly before flicking to Hans and the others. Then, with a nibble of her lower lip, she flexed her fingers- almost as though she were relieving a cramp, Hans noted- and then rolled her hands together until she had a medium-sized snowball floating between her palms, a flurry of snowflakes and crystals swirling around them, before meeting the children's gazes. "Ready?"

They all nodded eagerly, the entire tribe now anticipating what she would do. Hans watched in silent amazement as she threw her hands up, releasing the snowball. A small popping was heard, before thousands upon thousands of snowflakes glittered in the sky overhead, outshining the stars. The children giggled, running around in excitement. Elsa caught the arm of a little girl with long, chocolate braids, leaning down to her level with her hands on her knees. Before she could say anything, the girl turned, calling for the other children to be quiet. "Are you ready?"

"For what, Spirit?" The little girl asked. Elsa glanced at everyone before,

"Watch this."

Everyone waited anxiously as Elsa lifted the hem of her skirt- an old habit from years of having done so- and stomped her foot hard on the ground. For a moment, Hans didn't see anything, but the children's cries of excitement forced him to look again, especially when he felt himself slipping. Ice curled out from beneath Elsa's foot in beautiful tendrils that resembled lace,that soon connected and formed into a single sheet of ice. She watched in delight as cries old and young alike worked to get their balance, some skating around easily, others latching together. Ryder and Honeymaren managed to help Hans regain his footing, as they slowly made their way over to a bench by the fire. Elsa's laughter filled the air, and the three took this time to sit and catch their breath. "I... I've never... the last time I saw... anything with her ice, it was... her coronation and... and she nearly frozen Arendelle..."

Honeymaren scoffed gently, and Ryder rolled his neck to relieve some of the pressure now that he and Hans were seated and no longer walking. "She's frozen Arendelle?" The redhead nodded at the younger man's question, but didn't elaborate. Once more, her laughter drew his attention, but this time, he looked over in time to see her being lifted off the ground-

"Elsa!" It took all Honeymaren and Ryder's strength to hold him back, and they all watched as the wind spirit lifted Elsa off her feet. "No! We need to get her, she could be hurt!"

But what met his ears weren't screams of terror, but laughter. The wind carried the young woman, lifting her skirt and tugging the pins from her hair, until the braid was being tugged upwards. Hans watched in surprise as Elsa allowed the wind spirit to move her, its playful attitude made even more evident by Elsa's own peals of laughter. The children watched as their beloved protector was carried about by the wind, and Yelena slowly made her way over to the trio sitting on the bench. "Hearing her laughter reminds me of her mother."

The disgraced prince furrowed a brow, turning to the chief, but the woman didn't speak further. "Watch your heads!" He was soon pulled down by Honeymaren, only able to look up in time to see Elsa zoom past thanks to the wind. He tried to stand to grab a hold of her and bring her back down, but couldn't stand for Ryder's hand on his arm, the ice beneath their feet and the pain in his leg. Elsa didn't look back; her laughter continued as the wind proceeded to drag her around at its will. "You can do better than that, Gale! I trust you!"

As the wind continued to move her around, Elsa's laughter echoed around her-

She stopped laughing, but the laughter didn't stop. A moment passed, before Gale tickled under her chin and she laughed again; again, the laughter echoed hers, and she looked around. "It's her, isn't it, Gale? It's my mother's laughter that I hear. It's her laughter that echoes on you, isn't it?" The wind tickled her again, and again, she heard the laughter as she herself laughed; the sounds were identical, and Elsa felt her heart skip a beat. So she hadn't just inherited her mother's beauty, but her laughter as well. She glanced down, to see everyone either enjoying the ice or watching her, and after a moment, an idea struck. "Hey Gale?" Though she needn't have worried about anyone hearing her, she still cupped her hands over her mouth and whispered conspiratorially with the wind spirit.

Hans, Yelena, Ryder and Honeymaren looked up as the wind slowly lowered Elsa before them. She stood perfectly straight, legs and feet together, one arm outstretched, a finger extended. The others watched as, once she got close enough to Hans, she tapped his nose. "Boop." The startled look on his face made her laugh as the wind set her gently back on her feet on the ice. He moved to stand, but before he could shake Ryder and Honeymaren off and ignore the pain in his leg, Elsa had been caught up with the children, who begged her to skate with them. The wind whistled around them, and after a moment, Elsa reached up, waving to the spirit before it disappeared.

The disgraced prince watched the famous Snow Queen as she proceeded to play with the children, her once well-kept crown braid now down her back and tousled by the wind. Yelena sighed. "For years, I thought Iduna lost to us forever. But now we have her back, even if it is only a small fraction of her, in her beloved daughter."

"It's horrible that she never did live to see the curse broken." Honeymaren replied; though neither she nor Ryder had been alive then, they, like all the children of the Northuldra, had heard the stories of the former chief's beloved daughter, gone missing on the day the curse fell over the Enchanted Forest, trapping all inside. And now, to have Iduna's own child- the famed Snow Queen of Arendelle, the Fifth Spirit of the Elements, Guardian of Ahtohallan and Protector of the Enchanted Forest- living with the tribe, it felt like she was finally getting to know the missing princess, even if only through her daughter.

Something struck Hans, and he drug his gaze from Elsa, towards the chief. "How do you know who Elsa's mother was?" He only knew who King Agnarr and Queen Iduna were, because the Southern Isles had sent their condolences after their deaths.

The older woman sighed. "I grew up with Iduna; I was older than her. I knew her father, and her grandfather."

"Her grandfather?" Ryder and Honeymaren were looking at Yelena now, having lost interest in Elsa and the children.

"What do you know of the Enchanted Forest, Hans?" Yelena asked, and he shook his head.

"Nothing." She glanced over his head at Elsa, who was trying to teach a little girl to skate. "The Northuldra are a peaceful people. We only trust nature. When nature speaks, we listen." She sighed. "Nearing forty years ago, fighting broke out between our people and Arendelle soldiers; the spirits turned on us, and our chief was murdered by King Runeard of Arendelle. When the spirits turned against us, a curse fell, trapping all within the Enchanted Forest who could not get out in time, and sealing us off from the world. After the chief's death, his son came to power, but he died not two years later. I then came to power as the new chief, not necessarily because I wanted to, but because I was the oldest of the former chief's daughters, and the only one of the two left."

Hans furrowed a brow. "Two?"

Yelena nodded, gaze locking on Elsa, who removed the shawl she wore around her shoulders- the shawl that had belonged to Iduna- and wrapped it around her head like a headscarf, before preceeding to stalk towards a group of children as though she were a frightful witch from fairy tales. Her laughter reached them again as she removed the shawl and returned it to her shoulders. "The chief that died two years after the mist fell over the forest had two daughters- one of them became the chief of the tribe after he passed, and the other disappeared before the mist fell." Her gaze had since locked on Hans. No one noticed that Elsa was making her way towards them, having worn herself out playing with the children. "Honeymaren and Ryder are my children, and Elsa is Iduna's daughter."

"Wait... are you... you're saying that... that Elsa is your... your niece?"

She nodded. "Yes. But before she became queen, she was Princess of the Northuldra; by right of her birth, Elsa also holds her mother's title as Princess of the Northuldra." Tears gathered in the older woman's eyes, and her voice thickened with sadness. "Queen Iduna of Arendelle was my little sister, who disappeared near forty years ago before the mist fell."

"What?"