oO December Oo

"I'll only be gone a week, I promise. I'm just going to visit the Northulhdra and Ahtohollan. I'll be back by Friday for family game night." Elsa smiled patiently at her sister's impetuous face.

"Why can't I go with you?" Always the younger sister, she made sure to put her pout on full force knowing that her sister was weak to it.

"Because you're busy. Didn't you just say to me, 'I think I'm ready to do this on my own'? You've got two diplomatic meetings with the Kingdom of Zaria that you cannot afford to reschedule. Besides, you know as well as I if I were anywhere in this castle I'd just be a distraction."

"Yeah, but..." Anna whined softly, swinging their joined hands, "I'll miss you..."

"Don't you want answers?" Elsa pressed her lips and raised her brow questioningly, "About everything they hid from us?"

"Of course...but..."

"Anna. You'll be fine." A gentle squeeze calmed her sister's fretting, "How about, you and I taking a small trip to the wishing tree when I get back?" Elsa managed to pull one of her hands free as Nokk came to form behind her, "We can make a whole day of it, just you and me. Chocolates and sandwiches."

"Really?" Excitement filled Anna's face and she couldn't help but bounce slightly.

"Really. Now come on. It'll only be a week." Elsa waited patiently for her sister to finally release her.

"Okay, but if anything goes wrong. You come straight home— to me." Anna puffed out her chest just a bit, "Queen's orders."

Elsa raised a perfectly shaped brow before chuckling softly, "Yes, Your highness."

A content sigh finally released their hands and Anna came two steps into the sea as Elsa pulled herself up effortlessly onto her mythical water horse. "One week."

"One week." Elsa reached down ruffling her sister's hair, making her crown sit crooked before she pulled on her reins of ice turning her out into the sea.

Anna pushed the metal back into place before she wrapped her arms around herself with a heavy sigh. Reluctant as she watched the Goddess-like that was her sister disappear into the sun. The worry she felt inside her chest making her frown before strong heavy arms wrapped around her from behind. She tilted her head back with a sad smile pressing her lips for a reassuring kiss.

Always happy to oblige his future wife, Kristoff hummed in his acquiesce and ran his hands down her sides, "It'll be fine."

oOo

Elsa wiped the tears from her eyes as she slipped from Nokk onto the icy bank of Ahtohollan. She had done her very best up until this point dealing with everything that had seemed to come down with the raging force of a broken dam. The irony of the feeling not lost on the newly anointed Spirit.

A humble bow of her head saw the horse that had nearly ended her life dissolving back until the waters that had taken her parents from the world. The dark waters deeply reflected in her winter blue eyes. With a hesitant turn, she faced the mighty walls of the Enchanted cavern, the joy she'd felt the first time she'd stepped foot upon its icy bank fluttering weakly behind the towering weight that now filled her heart.

She needed answers, more than just what was needed to save the Forest. She needed answers for so much of her life that had been taken from her, locked away behind secrets and the desperate desire to do the right thing even if it failed miserably.

She needed the truth behind what really happened the day the forest fell. Not just some child's story passed on at bedtime. No, she needed more than all that. She deserved all that and more. Not just for herself but for Anna too.

The halls that greeted her did so in kind. A gentle humming of magic alighting their walls. Elsa didn't resist running her fingers along with the light buried deep within the ice. Her heart pulsing in time with the mythical power.

Slowly, the first cavern opened up the walls coming to life with moving pictures depicting various memories of her life. Her brows furrowed as she watched the soul-crushing display. A tear growing in the corner of her eye as she tried to find the right words to call them away.

Whether on either side of fortune's coin, the lights therein went dark as soon as she raised a hand. Her magic coming forth without command opening up a different pathway that she had not traversed before. Cautious to the perils they lie deep into the core of Ahtohollan, she stepped forward taking the acute-angled path.

The ice that closed its walls glowed a deep blue she'd only seen in the coldest of ice, though her breath did not mist in front of her, nor did she feel it upon her skin. It was as though she were merely moving alongside herself, rather than inside herself.

A faint noise from up ahead snapped her attention into the deep blues farther ahead, her ears straining to make out what it was the voice was saying. As her pace grew so did the feverish pitch of the voice and before she'd even realized an image of a young girl was running alongside her.

"Mother..."

Sounds began to echo down the corridor with concussive force causing her step to falter just a step. Her eyes wide as the image of her mother continued on, her pace aided by the memory playing along the wall. The sounds of screams were growing now and Elsa's heart rose with their pitch. The sounds of battle-of war.

Her legs pulsed as she doubled her stride, the sharp-angled walls opening up to a room that no one would believe, even though it stood so brilliantly before her. Tall panels of ice stood like glass, each one holding a memory, a visual of the past. Their sounds were nearly deafening as swords and shields clashed down upon wooden beaus. It was pure chaos, the lights, the sounds. The terrified cries.

Her eyes desperately searched through the tall panes, her body weaving between them like trees in a forest. Her heart pounding in her throat as she searched for her mother's visage. A sharp cry just from the corner of her eye turned her on her heel and what she saw stole the breath from her throat. A man no, a beast with large horns upon his head, cloaked in the darkness of battle stood tall above her mother, only the light of his chin to be seen as he raised his finger to his lips.

Then, her mother's own cry jolted her gaze, the man therein shifting away into the other panes. The sound crippling Elsa's heart as Iduna called out desperately for her own mother. The sound of which tore through Elsa's very soul. How much had her mother suffered before she was even a thought? So much she didn't know about her mother or where she had come from. Who she was, what she could have been?

As a child she never questioned her mother's origin, she never had a need to. Never once had her mother eluded to anything other than a perfectly harmonious lie that she lived inside the castle. It wasn't in a child's nature to be so interested in the past. It was only a child's wont to look to the future. To what joy tomorrow might bring.

A low rumble threatened the world she now stood in, the colors changing and shifting too fast to possibly process. She found herself turning with a point through the tall thin pillars, another sound, another voice calling out to her as she navigated the battle that would change not only her parent's lives forever but set in place her own destiny.

oOOo

The day passed by in such a muted blur. Anna had nothing of importance scheduled that day and had done her best to just enjoy the town. But it was different somehow. The people who had been so delighted by her youthful vigor as a princess now expressing themselves in a much more reserved manner. Their questions more serious than frivolous. Though a few had asked about her wedding plans not a single one of them had asked anything in regards to Elsa.

It hurt. It hurt down into the deepest part of her core that the people who had reveled in their former Queen's power seemed to have all forgotten her. As though she hadn't existed at all. But she did. She did exist... and she was one of the most important things in her world.

That night she found herself leaving the warmth of her own bed. Kristoff having snuck in after the maids and other attendants had all retired. He had held her close and listened to her talk about her day, even though he'd been right beside her though out. His assurances and his excuses for her people having calmed her heart enough to let her fall into a light slumber.

Though as soon as the moonlight had crested her windows she'd found herself awake once more. The deep longing in her chest rising her from bed to travel down the lush carpets to the room that now laid empty. Its closed door mocking her from afar.

Her hand rose to knock, an old habit that left another ache inside her chest. Her lips pursed tight when she forced her hand down taking the handle instead and pushed it open.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, the room sitting in complete shadow as the large triangular window faced the sun, not the moon. It was ironic really if she allowed herself to think about it. Elsa had always reminded her of the moon and yet for years, she was forced to wake to the sun. Even now, after Anna had taken the 'Queen's' rooms that her sister had never taken she found it odd in a discontent sort of way.

After the 'Great Freeze' her sister had moved into her own room for a time. Two beds, one heart. Like they were children all over again. The castle staff had whispered their curiosity but no one had ever questioned the Queen's choice. They all assumed that one day, the Queen would feel ready to sleep where her parents had. That day had never come. Rather, the abdicated Queen had returned to her childhood room while her sister took their parents room; leaving the room in the center open where Kristoff presently slept until their wedding night.

She came in cautiously, closing the door behind her silently as though her mere presence was somehow disturbing a sanctuary. While Elsa no longer kept herself locked away inside and she was always welcomed when she knocked, to enter it without her there felt... wrong.

As her eyes continued to adjust to the darkness, more and more of the beauty revealed itself. Soft white wood, deep blue perfectly made sheets. A desk and small bookcase filled with neatly stacked books and paper. A wardrobe and chair held high on the far wall. A large fireplace completely gated and spotless from years of no use. A modest vanity, its mirror turned curiously towards the wall. Everything at its place and everything in that place.

The pressure in her chest eased the further she came in, the weight in the room becoming less foreboding. Anna let her fingers run over the extremely soft duvet before turning to sit along the edge, her eyes raising up to look out the large window.

"Wow..." Stars, so many brilliantly shining stars glimmered back at her through the glass. Each one set against an inky black sky. It was truly breathtaking. It was no wonder that Elsa had taken an affinity to astronomy. If this had been her view for all those years.

Anna let her eyes drift down to the window seat, the very one she'd watched her sister grow up from. No matter how many times she'd seen it from this side of the glass, the memory of standing down below always over-shadowed it. A small glimmer of metal gave her mind something new to focus on and she found herself pushing away from the bed to examine it.

Her feet shifted oddly over the wood the closer she got and it took her a long moment to understand why. Leaning down, she pulled the small rug from in front of the seat, her heart pumping painfully in her chest at the sight. The wood beneath the rug had been worn away. So much so that it's color was completely different from that it adjoined to. A noticeable dip from the wear.

Her eyes rose back to the beautiful lattice window, no longer seeing it's craftsmanship but rather its oppression. Like bars on a prison cell, the freedom of the fjord and mountains just beyond tauntingly close but ever out of reach. It was at that moment she truly began to understand her sister's decision. Her desire to be free. How heavily the crown had sat upon her golden locks.

Could one truly be free if they were constantly held in the same place to which they started? Could she really have expected Elsa to just move on from a past that had affected them both so deeply? The castle had never felt like a prison to Anna, she had been given free rein over everything inside. While she lacked companionship she never lacked the freedom to go wherever she wanted.

It was this revelation that led to another heartbreaking piece to the puzzle that was her loving sister. Though the castle was more than large enough to house them both, only she had been free to move wherever she wanted.

Given the years where she'd hardly caught sight of her sister, it stood to reason that her own careless movements only further restricted Elsa's own. Wherever she had been, Elsa could not. How many times had they almost met before another door was placed between them? How many times had her recklessness kept her sister locked in her room with fear?

How many memories of this were held inside innocent stone walls? How many corners held the tears of a trembling child just trying to do the right thing?

Anna's tears fell silently down her cheeks as she turned the ink pen in her fingers. Her resistance and subtle play at trying to prove how incapable she was so that Elsa would choose to take back the throne all felt unbelievably torturous. How insufferable she must have seemed... Yet there she was, standing beside her, leading her down the right path. She never once got angry at her, perturbed maybe but never angry. Elsa never gave up on her. She loved her more deeply than she could ever understand. And yet, it was all there the whole time.

Anna raised her eyes once again to the starlit sky hidden behind iron and glass. Like a caged bird that had never known what it meant to fly. She had to let her go... She had to let her fly...

A small wipe to her nose steadied her soul and she carefully pushed herself back up. As she came to stand, she took note of the book that seemed to have fallen against the window. The one thing in the room out of place, it screamed at her to be read.

Taking the book was easy, pressing its softcover to her chest, not even a thought. She turned back to the bed, pulling down the covers before slipping inside. She rested the tome on her lap pausing to rest the pen on the bedside table before using the flint lighter to light the oil lamp that rested center.

With a solemn breath, she rested back against the pillows, her sister's scent instantly calming all the nerves in her body and making her eyelids feel so dreadfully heavy. Despite her body's desperate call for sleep, she opened the book in her lap somewhere near the middle. Her eyes going crossed at the extremely complex mathematical equations written within.

Another page revealed beautifully complex drawings of what Anna could only assume were planets or other astronomy-related things. Her brain turning much too quickly at the mere sight. She'd never been particularly gifted when it came to applying theoretical maths. No, her gifts lied with dates and historical events. Applicable maths for everyday use. Nothing like this.

"Black... sun?" Her vision grew darker as sleep crept ever closer, her fingers lightly tracing the drawing on the page before the entire journal slipped from her grasp. The heavy book sliding from her legs where it fell closed against soft sheets. The woman laid within letting out a deep sigh before pressing her face even deeper into the soft pillows that cradled her.