"You can leave tomorrow, from the meadows."

But he could not wait for another day, could not sit around with the knowledge that his wife was out there, each step that she took bringing her further away from him and their son, taking more foolish decisions that he could have talked her out of it should he was there by her side. And she had only her sister and a snowman as her company, to defend her from other beings that may lurked in the depth of the forest. Yes, she was an independent woman, a strong one too even without her ability to wield magic, but he had vowed to be there for her nonetheless, had promised himself that she was his responsibility and his other half, for them to grow apart like so had made his heart ache.

What was it that she was thinking anyway? That he was not capable of joining her now that he was injured? Had she truly thought so weakly of him? Had he not fought numerous battles with pirates where one of their main intentions was to actually kill him, to bury the blade of their swords deep within the Prince's body until he was rendered lifeless before they tossed his body overboard into the ocean down below?

Besides -even when he did appreciate Ryder's kind offer, the meadows that the Northuldra was heading to was at the west, while Elsa was heading north, and he had no intention to go in circles.

"Your mother, God forsaken me," looking up to see his son sitting on the simple bed, he had been a little thankful that Elsa did created the ice crystal for Wilhelm with rounded and safe edges, for now the boy had been suckling on it for the hundredth of times despite his best attempt to stop him and had drove him to the point of actually giving up. "I love your mother, Wilhelm, I truly do with all that I am, but she can be such a careless woman at times."

An injury like this could not hold him back.

Casting his eyes downward once again, he had returned his focus on re-dressing his wound as he stood in the middle of the hut. His hands were not as gentle as the Queen's had been when she wrapped it for the first time, but he could honestly care less, not when he had to leave as soon as he possibly could, and that had drove him into working a little hastily. As long as it was taken care of, he didn't care.

"Prince Hans, I—Oh my goodness!"

He was as startled as his intruder, as he had whipped around to see the young woman standing by the doorway, back turned toward him and face turned upward as he could see the tips of her ears turning red. "Honeymaren!" he had been so deep in thought that he must have not heard the opening of the door, so he was at fault too, to a certain degree. Quickly slipping the Northuldra's clothing over himself, he had only called for her and confirm that he was now properly dressed after he had straightened up. "What is it?"

The Northuldra girl had turned back around to face him, a hint of flush was still present on her face, though she had cleared her throat as she composed herself. "I've warmed up the soup for Wilhelm," her dark eyes glanced past his body to the little boy who had started to babble once more, a small smile tugged on her face, though only for a moment before she had turned her attention back at him. "He needs to eat first before going, yes?"

As hostile as the tribe had been during their first encounter, he was thankful that they had shown kindness toward not just Elsa and Anna -whose mother was Northuldra and thus made them a part of the people of the sun, but to the rest of them as well. What he was most glad of was the fact that Wilhelm had actually found himself comfortable enough with them that he had not refused their attempt at helping the father with caring for him.

Softening, he had given her a small graceful smile. "Yes, thank you."

Honeymaren had nodded then, standing around a little longer, unsure of what to do, before she had turned and exited without much of a word mustered. Her attics had been rather odd, but it may have come from the shock of finding him half-dressed earlier. The interruption had decreased his initial bubbling emotions, as he turned to find the young boy had lifted both of his hands at his direction, palm clenching and then unclenching repeatedly.

"Up, up!"

Complying to his son's wishes, he had lifted him back up into his embrace, letting him perched against his hip on the healthier side of him, never once forgetting to give him the ice crystal he had been so attached to before he had made his way out as well.

He was no stranger in caring for Wilhelm, he was his son as much as he was Elsa's, and he had no desire in coming to such low level of parenting the way some of his brothers did by basically dumping all responsibility over to their wives and the nannies -he pitied his nieces and nephews that had been fathered by them, he had made a promise to be a father that was worth for his son, and had learned just as much as his wife in term of fulfilling for his need.

"Though I must admit," he lamented as he took another spoonful of soup from the wooden bowl in his hand, blowing against the piping hot food before offering it to the young Prince, who had basically leaned forward in his eagerness to eat. "Giving you milk can only be done by your mother." Wilhelm gave a babble at that, as if he was agreeing to his father's words, before his mouth became full and his attention was driven back to the ice crystal in hand.

By the time the preparation he did for himself -and most importantly his son, had finished, most of the Northuldra had gone ahead to head for the meadows, leaving only a few of them, including both Ryder and Honeymaren whose duty was to lead the herd of reindeers that they breed. He could not find Kristoff anywhere, the blonde man had not been seen anywhere near the village since the last time he had met him during the awkward moment of his proposal -he pitied him over it as he was well aware of how relationship between a royal and a commoner had mostly ended up with but did not have the heart nor time to speak of it with him, and he did not have the time to search for him now as well.

Kristoff was a grown man, one that had lived outside the comfort of castle's walls for most of his lifetime, he was able to find his way himself.

Wilhelm leaned forward in his arm, hands reaching out impatiently in the same gesture of whenever he wished to be brought to a certain place, and when he had followed the direction his blue eyes were transfixed on, he had realized that his son was correctly wishing to head north, to where Elsa had headed for.

"The voice called for you, didn't it?"

Whoever it was, wherever it may come from, the voice had been Elsa's sole source of direction that had brought them all here, it may as well had been the reason of their parting from one another, and even with his growing irritation over it and what it had done, it was perhaps the only way that he could find his wife through his son's ability to hear it as well.

So he followed it, through the tall trees and the dirt pathway that slowly faded as he came further away from the Northuldra's territory, up the sloping hills, the staff given to him by the young woman held tightly in his grip for him to maintain his balance as he held his son securely with one arm. With every crunch of the leaves and pebbles under the sole of his boots, he continued to wonder of how Elsa had made the same trek as he, with her sister and the snowman of her creation following close behind.

The voice, this whole journey that they had taken, had plagued her mind so badly these past days, distracted her from everything else until there exist moments when he had to admit that he didn't recognize her. This tension between Arendelle and Northuldra, the mystery that laid behind the reason why the mist had covered the forest, it had driven her into conducting a witch-hunt for the answers as she fueled herself with the desire to make things right.

A whistle came from behind them before the wind spirit had blew past them in a calming breeze, prompting a round of giggles for Wilhelm. These spirits, he had a reason to be wary of them, after all they had been nothing but hostile toward them before Elsa had apparently driven them to be more peaceful and approachable, yet still could such ancient beings changed so drastically in such short amount of time just because a woman with powers was able to tame them?

It was another thing too about Elsa.

These spirits only wanted her, no matter how he viewed the situation there was no denying this, they only wanted his wife and those that she had brought along was deemed unnecessary, an extra baggage that had to be rid of eventually. Truly, even this wind spirit that now had playfully teased the young Prince still wary him after the damage that it could do, the tornado it had created that had sucked the Queen into it's vortex-

Cold gush blew harshly against his face, prompting him to turn his body to shield Wilhelm from the assault, and although a part of him had wondered whether the wind spirit had the ability to read minds, another part of him told him that no, it was not Gale's doing.

This coldness, he knew of this one, familiar with it after close to four years of marriage.

"Mama!"

He half expected to see her there, standing with her arms crossed over her chest, blue eyes glaring daggers at him as she demanded answers on why he was out there, trekking the Enchanted Forest with their son, putting him in potential danger when her intention of leaving them behind was no doubt to keep them safe. But when he had turned back around, the space in front of him was empty, not even Gale was there anymore, as if there had been nothing in first place.

But there was something.

An ice path had suddenly appeared, smooth layer stretching far beyond past him, perhaps even able to reach all the way to the Northuldra's village, with an unknown source of where it had started. But it was something, a form of hope, as he had suddenly picked up his pace, for there was only one person capable of doing this, the one person he was looking for was at the other end of this trail.

He was close.

It did not take him long to understand.

He had been following the ice path until there was nothing else to follow, where the end had led him to nothing but an empty hill where his wife was no longer standing at, where she had continued on with her journey -one that did not leave any sort of sign for him to track. But he had seen the wreckage of the ship, had seen the tattered Arendellian flag waving against the breeze, had gone down to investigate the poor old ship that had been washed ashore, wooden rotting with time and salt water.

He had seen the two abandoned parchments, dry and most importantly had only been opened not long ago. They were here.

The symbols on the first one had been indecipherable, an old and strange language was used, but he did not have to ponder long for someone else had written a note at the corner of it, and his heart had skipped a beat after he had read it over.

Rivers and magic.

The two things would not have made sense for him, would have been an unlikely duo that he could not understand at all, but he did. He reminded himself that he should thank Honeymaren for her brief explanation of Ahtohallan, the ancient river known to hold memories. It was also there on the map of the second parchment, drawn onto it with black ink as he doubted even Arendelle would have the magical river on their map. Putting the two and two together was an easy breeze for him to do.

Elsa was heading for Ahtohallan.

And that she may have been alone in her journey.

The ice path had rose questions for him as he followed it earlier, for why would she made such thing if there was nothing of use for it. At first, he had thought that she made it for him to track her, to perhaps tell him that she wanted him to join her after all, but a more rational part of him had realized that she didn't even know that he was to follow her, didn't even know that he was about halfway to where he was now, and the scrape marks on some of the ice had made him suspicious.

It seemed that the path was made to send someone away instead of inviting someone over.

Wilhelm had reached for the first parchment, small hand was strangely gentle as he run his finger over the symbols in wonder, before he had looked up at him with wide eyes. "Mama?"

"Yes, Wilhelm, we have to find Mama before she put herself in the face of danger."

The clap of thunder rumbled against the clashing of the waves.

Her heart raced against her ribcage, wind blowing against her face was cold and smelt of the salty sea air, and she had taken a deep breath to gather herself at the sight that had brought the nightmares of her childhood back to her mind.

Ever since her parents' death she had always had a certain fear for the sea, she found difficulties in facing it, had suffered through the sailing journey to the kingdom of Corona -though partly she had her early pregnancy ailment to blame for that too, she had even been driven into a state of panic and alarm when Hans had sailed to face the pirates as she feared that he may not return the way her parents didn't; though she had slowly coming to term with it with the help of her husband.

But this was different, this was the Dark Sea, the very place where her parents had perished, and it had sent a different shiver down her spine, colder and more menacing.

But Ahtohallan laid somewhere across for her to find, all she needed was to face her fear, no matter how dangerous it may be.

Unclasping the jacket she had worn, she had tossed the piece of clothing aside without much of a thought, the cold air that had suddenly hit her did nothing to make her cower -if anything she had welcomed it for the cold was something she found familiarity in, before she had moved to rid of her boots. They were only going to weight her down, and should she need them later on then she could simply use her magic to create new ones.

Unbraiding her hair was next, tugging against the weaved hair to free them out of the style she had worn from the moment they had set off on their journey, gathering the locks into a simple ponytail instead.

Take a deep breath, relax.

Her husband's voice echoed in her mind as she recalled of what he had told her during one of his attempts to teach her how to swim, both had deemed it necessary that she did, if not for the sake of their safety should an incident was to happen then at least for her to be able to enjoy the activity.

She could feel the numbing feeling of black pebbles and sand beneath her bare feet, but she had paid no mind to it as she ran across the dark beach, and the moment her foot had met with the surface of the cold water a layer of ice had formed, keeping her above the surface as she continued her run across.

But her momentum had been off, and she could not climb the high wave that had appeared before her, feeling the water swallowed her whole.

Another.

This time, standing on the beach after she had found her way back -drenched from head to toe, she was quite confident with the quick calculation she had made, wringing her hands as she readied herself. This time, she had another way of facing the wave.

Go under. Break through the wave.

And she did. The moment the wave came rolling toward her, she had dived into it instead of attempting to climb over the thing, the salt water stung against her eyes but she had pushed herself forward until her hands felt the rough surface of a coral to hold onto.

The moment water had disappeared from her back, as the coral had stood well over the surface, she had climbed against it's rough but slippery surface, rock digging into the skin of her palms and the sole of her feet but she had kept on going. There was no time for her to complain.

Continuing on running across the sea -she so desperately wished Hans was there with her just so she could laugh at his face over the fact that she could run on water, another wave had stood in her way, far bigger than the first one that she had to lift her chin up to look up, but her determination was not to be challenged, not today.

She couldn't swim through this one, it was too big and who knows when she could resurface before she lost all the air in her lungs, and so she had thrown her hands forward, large blast of ice cut through the waves to allow for her passage up.

But she had been too slow, or perhaps the waves had been too quick and too violent, for her ice had cracked and break before she could get through under the pressure of raging waves, and she had lost her footing, feeling gravity pull her down as she made fruitless attempt to grab the air before her body was submerged once more into the water.

Dark water did nothing to hold her back as she pushed herself to move forward in them, moving her limbs the way Hans had showed her to as she held her breath the best she could. It was the horse silhouette that had appeared before her, in a flash as thunder clapped once more, before it had disappeared that had surprised her, because once it had appeared once more it was far closer than before, right in front of her that she could make out how the water had taken shape of the stallion, posing some sort of a warning before it had disappeared once more, leaving tiny bubbles of air.

Air. She needed air.

Her breath came in a gasp as her head broke through the surface of the water, finding herself adrift with the water and the chilling wind, before her ears had picked up the sound of that horse once more. She had looked down, and deep in the water her eyes caught the beast galloping right toward her.

She had created a thick layer of ice to climb onto, pressing her body against the cold surface as she took a breath, thinking that she may have been safe until she had suddenly been launched into the air after the hard collide between the water-horse and her ice had sent her tossing high up in the air before she crashed back into the water.

It had seemed that her mere existence in the sea was unacceptable by the water spirit, who continued it's assault by diving it's front legs hard against her abdomen, pushing her down into the depth of the sea when she had barely taken a breath in an attempt to drown her.

Her stomach hurt, her lungs burned with the lack of oxygen, her entire body ache from trying to keep herself afloat, but she was not going to let herself be drowned like this. The horse was made of water, and water freeze. So, she pressed her hands against it's front legs, sending her ice to grow and encased the spirit until it explode, freeing herself as she pushed herself to swim back up to the surface before she collapsed from the lack of air.

Her ice had done nothing to stop the spirit, apparently.

Her battle with it continued, no matter how tired she was and how tired her magic was, despite the fact that she had been tossed around and flung in the air numerous of times, still she would not back away from this fight. She was not going to give up when she was so close into finding the place her parents had been searching for.

Resurfacing, her left hand was aching as the spirit dragged her by her hand in it's mouth -it was not necessarily biting down as she felt no set of teeth were present, but the angle that it was holding her, the way that her face stung as it continuously crashed against the sharp slap of the water at such speed, how she could barely inhale a breath as water kept trying to get into her mouth and nose, had her grimacing in pain.

It was dragging her back to the land, perhaps, but she would not allow it. She had come so far and she was not going to start over.

Creating a rein of ice with her free hand, she had flung it forward until it caught the water spirit, and the sudden trick had made it released it's hold on her, while she was not planning on releasing hers. With the right momentum she had flung her own body until she mounted the stallion, holding tight against the rein as it protested and moved to try and get her down.

"The thing about horses, darling," Hans had taken her hand and guide it to touch the mare's nose, holding it in place when she had tried to flinch and stumble back when the horse had reared, giving her a reassuring smile despite the fear in her eyes. "Is that you have to remain calm."

So, she firmly held herself in place, holding onto the reins as if her life depended on it -which in technicality was true to a certain degree when a horse-shaped spirit wished to drown her, letting it tire itself down until in one of the tugs she did, she could actually gain control.

The fast gallop over the surface of the water had slowly receded into a calmer one, and along with it the sea and the storm were actually starting to settle down as well until she could no longer hear the clapping of thunder.

With her mind clear and her body was not being tossed around, she could finally recognize this being she was currently mounting on. It was the Nokk, she had heard of it's folklore tales when she was young, though stories did not capture the truth of it now that she had gone face to face with it.

This was the being that Hans told her about, the one some sailors believed to cause every incident that happened in the Dark Sea, the one that had made it so treacherously menacing. And she was riding it.

Looking ahead, her eyes caught the sight that had her gasping a low breath.

"Of course," it all made sense to her now that she saw it with her own two eyes. "Glaciers are rivers of ice. Ahtohallan is frozen." The Nokk was guarding the sea and Ahtohallan.

The voice called for her again, after so long of being quiet, and for the first time in her life she had been filled with the feeling of glad upon hearing it.

"I hear you, and I'm coming."

Writing Elsa's fight with each of the spirit is always a challenge, gosh.