AN: Hello again. I apologize for the delay. I was meant to upload this chapter a week ago, but I... forgot. Simple as that, so I hope you all forgive me forgetfullness.

Review response:

fanfictionmakermachine: I certainly am. And you will notice that I'll do this more than once in this story. I hope you enjoy it

mc arno: I hope Google Translate translated your review correctly (or mostly correctly at least). In any case, I wouldn't say Elsa and Hiccup are forming a romantic relationship, as they are more simply forming a relationship. Remember, both are introverts and socially reclusive. Add to that Elsa's powers and his status as runaway (and technically intruder) and you have a very fragile (though not so much) relationship. As for him meeting Elsa's parents that (SPOILER) will happen eventually. But there are a good amount of chapters until then.

LunarCatNinja: Thank you. Writing Anna is actually the part of this story where I most feel insecure. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Noctus Fury: Maybe she'll hunt him and end up shipwrecked on Arendelle's port (hehe) you can never know... Anyway, I do agree with you. But remember that Elsa is feeling confused because she has no experience in this area whatsoever. She never really had a friend that is not her sister, nor ever thought about love until this dream And the X/07/ marks I use to change scenes, rather than POV. I always try to make it as obvious as possible to see whose POV is in the paragraph.

thearizona: Nonono, you'll have to wait until said dragon appears so you discover its species. And well Anna tries her best to still maintain contact with Elsa, even if the later is reluctant to do so. And thank you. I certainly try. Mostly I just forget to update the story (at least I don't forget to actually write it).

KE: to be honest the first time I read your review I thought atm meant atmosphere (too much chemistry in my head), but then the second time I knew it was 'at the moment'. I hope your finger is already by now (it has been a month after all :P) and I'm really glad that you're enjoying the story. I'm enjoying your story just as much too.

This chapter was cowriten by SpicedGold. She's a very talented writer (and drawer), who has beautiful Frozen stories published. I highly advice any and all of you to read it. Thumbs up for her work in here, as well as for discussing with me how to put love in words.

New speech format:

'hohoho' = Thought

"hohoho" = speech

'hohoho' = Windwalker mind speech

'hohoho' = stressed word, indicating urgency or importancy.

Without further ado:

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The next day arrived and Elsa seriously considering missing her lessons again when her blurry vision cleared and the sight of a light, thin frost covering her blankets reached her eyes. She lazily hit her blanket, sending the frost to the air and to the ground in the process.

'It's not that hard. Just tell Mother that you're feeling uneasy or ill, and she'll let you rest for the rest of the day,' her mind thought, seriously considering it. Her mother would easily accept it, therefore letting her have a free day. Elsa groaned lowly and let herself fall on her pillows.

"No, you can't keep acting like that. You'll needlessly worry Mama, and a Queen does not delay her work. Conceal, don't feel," Elsa said to herself in an attempt at reigning the swirling storm inside her. She wanted to see Hiccup again, to know that he was okay instead of lying dead somewhere in the forest buried in the snow.

She shot up, her eyes quickly looking at the door, when someone knocked. Her mind instantly recognized the knock as Gerda's and she looked at the clock. She felt herself ease a little as she noticed that she didn't oversleep as she had done the day before. "You can leave the tray there Gerda…" she answered, just to assure the maid that she would eat her breakfast on the appointed time.

Elsa, as she went to pick the tray, thought about this simply interaction. She realized that, although these were probably the only words she spoke to Gerda for the last couple of years, she spoke, while with Anna she barely uttered a word. It saddened her to realize that both her contact with one of her family's oldest maid was short and warm lacking as that she had contact even with the maid, but not with her sister.

She decided to eat some of the chocolate cookies, no doubt prepared and cooked by Gerda especially for her, and to sip some of the warm chocolate milk that was also brought with the tray. She wasn't feeling particularly hungry, but her stomach was craving for some food as she had barely eaten the day before.

She was enjoying the warm cocoa filling her belly when another knock came from her door. This time she recognized as her mother's knock, and even if she didn't have, the voice that soon followed the knock gave away who it was. "Elsa? Dear, are you feeling well for today's lessons?" she asked and Elsa detected a hidden layer of worry beneath her Queenly voice.

She hesitated for a moment as the thought of dismissing today's lessons filled her head briefly. But she shook her head, and decided to attend her duties, despite her uneasiness and worry. "Yes Mama, please come in," she answered, after cleaning her lips with a napkin and smoothing a few loose strays of her hair. Unlike Anna's, Elsa's hair rarely was wild whenever she would awake, but this didn't stop a few rebellious strays of hair from appearing.

Her mother cautiously slipped to her room, and smiled when she saw Elsa eating. Gerda had told her that her eldest daughter had barely eaten the day before, and she was worried that the same would happen this day. "Do you wish me to come once you're finished?" She asked, knowing very well that her daughter enjoyed a quiet breakfast.

"No… would you join me instead? You can serve yourself if you want to," her daughter asked, and it was when Idun approached her that she noticed her daughter's exhausted posture, and the tiredness radiating from her eyes. She briefly wondered if she should just tuck Elsa in her bed and let her daughter sleep, but decided against it. It would be pointless to go against Elsa's will, even if it meant that her daughter would be restless throughout her lessons.

Mother and daughter sat on the bed and quietly ate the food lying on the tray before them. Idun had eaten breakfast already, but she didn't mind eating a little bit more if it meant enjoying Elsa's presence. It also allowed her to think how she would teach Elsa's lessons this day, because she didn't want to overload her tired daughter with History and Royal Lineage, even though Elsa was slightly delayed on them.

Elsa, meanwhile, was using this silent moment to reflect about her actions. She knew that her demeanor changed since Hiccup's departure, and that her mother noticed the change. Even if Idun wasn't oblivious to Elsa's subtle glancing at her face she would have easily seen the lines of worry in her mother's face.

Moreover, she still hasn't recovered from that weird dream about Hiccup. Part of Elsa was deeply afraid that she was falling in love with him, especially because she had no way of knowing if she was. She had never been in love before, and she didn't know if missing Hiccup so much was simply because he was her friend or because she had feelings for him.

An idea suddenly crossed her mind that almost made Elsa choke on her warm cocoa. Her heart quickened its pace as she pondered whether or not she should talk about her mother about Love. She was the only one Elsa could speak about this without being judged or interrogated. But, even if her mother didn't do this, it would still raise questions inside her mother's had.

…Questions that, sooner or later, would be asked. Elsa knew by experience, as she recalled the night she found her mother playing the piano.

In the end Elsa decided to go forward with the idea. Her need to understand her feelings, therefore having control over them was stronger than her fear of being questioned. It was a necessary risk to take, and Elsa knew that it would increase her mother's curiosity about her visits to the tower.

She knew that, sooner or later, Hiccup would be discovered. Elsa of Arendelle could only hope that this question wouldn't make it happen sooner…

"Mama... Can I ask you a question?" Elsa asked, breaking the silence that had settled in after they had breakfast together. She kept looking straight ahead, not daring a glance at her mother. Not directly at least.

"Of course," Idun replied, "You can ask me anything," she added. It was not uncommon for Elsa to ask her this before making a more personal question, but Idun found a bit odd how Elsa was purposely avoiding looking at her eyes in this moment

To her it also seemed that Elsa was struggling with a brief internal debate. Her eldest daughter pressed her lips together, before finally asking with a quiet, almost inaudible voice: "How did you know you were love in with Papa?" with a faint, but not too faint for Idun to not notice it, blush in her cheeks.

Idun's first reaction was to open her mouth, and she almost asked Elsa if she was in love. But no words left her mouth, and she was thankful that Elsa missed her hesitation. Her second reaction was to wonder why Elsa would speak of this. She briefly wondered if Elsa was in love, but quickly put aside the idea. Elsa's company was composed only of her and her husband, and she doubted that Elsa would have fallen in puppy love for some soldier or a horse keeper like Anna once had. Idun knew that her eldest daughter was far too rational for that.

And far too afraid to feel.

Seeing that there was no way she could ask Elsa why she asked such question without implying that Elsa was in love with someone Idun decided to, instead, try to answer the question.

She took a moment to think; the question was surprisingly difficult to answer, the task of putting such extreme emotions such as love into words was challenging. It also didn't help Idun that she noticed Elsa subtly looking at her with an expectant gaze…

She drew in a deep breath before speaking. "Love is caring for another person," she began carefully, "and putting their needs before yours. It is feeling safe and free around them, and always enjoying their company, even when you have nothing to say to them. Love is trusting them completely, because you just know that they would never let you down. It is a sense of peace when you think of them. That's when you know you are in love."

Elsa was looking straight ahead, listening, and processing, and wondering what that meant for her. Her mother's explanation raised more questions than it answered, while confusing snippets of time spent with Anna and Hiccup intertwined with her thoughts. It wasn't a clear answer – it wasn't what Elsa needed to hear.

She frowned slightly, just a little crease of tension between her eyes only silently noticed by her mother because she was carefully looking at her daughter's face. She sent Idun another brief sideways glance, venturing a further question. "But that's how I feel about Anna"-'And Hiccup'-"and yet we aren't kissing each other like you and Papa."

A flicker of understanding lit in Idun's eyes, while she mustered all her strength to ignore the blush and heat on her cheeks, Elsa's amusement behind her eyes and her own embarrassment at hearing her eldest daughter speak so bluntly of her affection with her husband. "That's a different sort of love. Love comes in many forms."

"So how do you know?" Elsa pressed with a serious tone, as if her mother had just never been embarrassed from her question. She pressed because it was vitally important to her that she had this defined and understood. Understanding was a form of control; definitions made life easier to handle. It lessened unpredictability, which lessened tension. "What's the difference between how I love Anna and how you love Papa? I need to know…" 'Because I need to know how I feel about Hiccup.'

There was another pause, where Elsa waited and Idun struggled to put abstract concepts into words Elsa would understand. "Loving family is different. It comes easily. When you and Anna were born, the whole world felt different to me. I felt warm inside, and so content. It was as though life was perfect; seeing you made life perfect. Time stops, and you want nothing more than to protect those that you love, and make sure they are safe. You value their health and safety above your own, and they become the centre of your world. And sacrificing yourself, or your comfort, is easy because you know you would go to the ends of the earth to protect them. They complete you." Idun paused there, to see if Elsa understood…

…And because she was afraid that, if she continued speaking, she would end up bringing the accident that happened 7 years ago.

The princess was nodding slowly, considering the information. Certainly, yes, she considered Anna's life of greater value than her own. She would struggle every day if it meant Anna was safe… hence her isolation. And knowing Anna was safe eased the feeling of guilt in her stomach. And, yes, loving Anna was easy, as easy as breathing, with as much thought behind it. It came naturally, and so Elsa risked a small, genuine smile because that much she understood.

And to some extent the same applied to Hiccup. She feels protective of him, especially because he's unaware of her powers, so he's unaware of the risks of being near her. She feels safe when she would be listening to him speak with his eyes alight, and above all Elsa felt that she could no longer go forward if he suddenly vanished from her life. She knew, with no amount of reluctance, that she could no longer go back to the lonely, empty tower that once was before his arrival.

He had become a part of her life, something she unconsciously wanted and couldn't fathom existing without. She enjoyed the time she spent with him; she looked forward to it eagerly and yearned for him when they were apart.

And he still had to return from his search for the mysterious dragon lurking in the depths of the mountains.

"Romantic love, though," Idun continued, seeing as Elsa was so far in agreement with her, if her silence was anything to say; "Is like finding another part of yourself that you didn't know existed, but you cannot live without. You smile when you think of them. They weave their way into your thoughts at all times, and at strange times. You look to them when you have nowhere else to look. Your heart soars when you are near them, and aches when you are apart. You find security in their presence and serenity in their voice. True love aches, but it is a pain that you will carry without complaint – because it is the pain of love that all people seek in life."

Elsa heaved a heavy sigh, her previous levity lifting. "The whole world changes..?"

Thus far, her world had not changed, not as her mother seemed to imply. It was the same as it always was – lonely, difficult, an on-going struggle both against herself and with herself. But she felt her heart aching for Hiccup's absence, and she found security around him. Idun's explanation was supposed to help her understand how she feels about Hiccup, but so far all it did was confuse her more... Some parts of her mother's explanation made it sound like she was in love with him, other parts convinced Elsa that she just considered Hiccup family. Love appeared to not be a concept set in stone. It was thoroughly intangible, frustratingly difficult to comprehend.

"Yes. Your heart beats lighter. The air feels warmer. You live to make the life of that person whom you love richer. You care for their happiness above your own. You make sacrifices for them, even if it's something you don't want. Because their happiness is your happiness, too. Love completes you. It makes two people function as one."

'It would mean no longer feeling alone,' Elsa decided. True love would fill the gnawing pit in her stomach, it would quell the violent rise of ice that came unbidden and against her will. True love would mean feeling. True love meant welcoming pain and fluttering hearts. She did not experience that around Hiccup. Comfort, yes, and even contentment. But not completeness. There was a part of her still missing, a void still to be filled.

And that void would probably remain. It never existed when she was with Anna, but she can't be selfish to fill this void, while putting Anna at risk. No, she would have to endure this void alone, if it meant keeping Anna safe. She knew this void was breaking her mind and spirit each day it passed, but she was willing to go through this.

Everyone's life was more important than hers after all… Anna's, her mother's, her father's, and Hiccup's. Others need to be happy to live, she doesn't.

In the end, Elsa decided that she neither loves Hiccup as her mother loves her father, nor loves him as she loves Anna. He was important, indispensable even, if she was being honest with herself, but he did not cause within her the sort of emotional change that Idun described. Her dream confused her mind, and his absence ached, but she still felt lonely, whether with him in the Tower or not. Her feelings towards him were obviously something more, something even more elusive than love.

Or, perhaps, a mix of those two types of love.

As silence filled the room and Idun kept looking at her daughter, looking for a clue to what she is thinking Elsa was, meanwhile, trying to find out if she missed something of her mother's explanation.

A silent minute passed before Elsa let out a defeated sigh. She found out that she understood completely her mother's explanation of love, yet still didn't know how she feels about Hiccup. She couldn't pinpoint what she felt around him, or for him.