"There are my two college boys!" Aunt Cass rushed an apology to her customer, who just waved her off, chuckling. "I'll be there in a minute!"
Hiro held the door open for the group, Fred leading the way to a large table in the corner. Both boys then attempted to slide into the same comfy chair, which brought about an argument that was only resolved when Wasabi brought over a similar chair, lifted Hiro up and dumped him in it.
The others took their usual seats, the girls on one side, the boys on the other, Wasabi at the end, by virtue of his width. Elsa sat at the end of one of the table's long edges, next to Honey, an empty seat next to her at the head of the table, presumably for Aunt Cass.
"So, Elsa," Honey's eyes were as curious as they normally were in the lab, "Whereabouts are you from?"
Hands clasped together under the table, Elsa paused for a moment. It's an innocent question… "Norway."
"Oooh! Can you teach us some swear words in Norwegi- ow!"
Pop. "Shut up, then."
Honey rolled her eyes, "He asked me exactly the same thing when we met."
"And you never tell me ho- ow! GoGo, quit it..!"
Pop. "Google them."
"So, Norway? What's it like?" Wasabi leaned in, arms crossed in front of him on the table. The others all turned to face her, and it was at this point that Tadashi returned with Aunt Cass walking behind him, both carrying trays with drinks and pastries, which were dished out quietly while Elsa spoke.
"Well… for the past ten years or so, I've been living in Oslo, it's the same as any other large city, I guess. Some elements are quite traditional, there are a lot of older buildings even in the heart of the city."
Aunt Cass leaned over to Tadashi, "Where's this?" she whispered, dissecting her piece of cake with a fork.
"Norway."
"Ooh!" Tadashi winced; Aunt Cass hadn't quite moved far away enough from his ear. "I've heard such wonderful things about Norway, Sweden, all those sorts of places. Is it true that during the summer, the sun doesn't set?"
Elsa nodded, "During the Summer Solstice, yes."
"That would drive me insane. How does anyone get any sleep?"
"You get heavier curtains, duh." Fred gave Hiro a retaliatory shove on the arm, which made the younger boy chuckle.
"It's… hard if you're not used to it. But it's a lot more pleasant than the polar night. In the Winter, if you're far North enough, you might not see the Sun rise for months." Elsa shifted uncomfortably in her seat, while her audience pulled unpleasant faces at the thought. When she was a teenager, as much as she loved the freedom Winter brought for her in the form of naturally occurring snow, the darkness of the Solstice just reversed the positive effect on her mood. "In Oslo, it's not so bad, but I grew up a little further north, so…" She shrugged.
"Where did you grow up?"
"Nærøyfjord." The next few minutes were spent both writing and repeating the name, in order that the others were satisfied they were able to say it ("I needNorwegian swear words in my repetoir- ow!").
"What was it like?"
Elsa looked at Tadashi, then at her mug, deep in thought for a moment. When she was twelve, Elsa, her sister and their parents had moved to Olso, in order to be better located for her father's job. She had been loathed to leave the small fishing town –she had known most of the people there for as long as she could remember, and despite her ever increasing fear of hurting someone for reasons only her and her parents were privy to, she knew people well enough to interact with them occasionally without too much trepidation. She would avoid them whenever possible, but every so often, when she had snuck out of the house during the summer evenings to spend hours watching the midnight sun just kiss the horizon before rising slowly at the start of a new day, a neighbour might sit nearby, or wave at her as they jogged past. Though she missed her sister, these short interactions with others didn't make her feel quite so lonely.
However, when they moved to Oslo, Elsa had the perfect reason not to leave her room. She knew nobody, save for her family and their housekeepers, Kai and Gerda. To venture out into the city without an adult was forbidden at their age, and the overwhelming possibility of her curse being discovered in a crowd of complete strangers was too much for a pre-teen Elsa to fathom. So she would stay in her room, burying herself in all the reading material her parents' library had to offer, and the plethora of information provided to her by her laptop. She was tutored online or by her mother, if she had the time. Other than her parents, only Kai and Gerda would visit. The only times she saw her sister were mealtimes –if she actually attended –and even then Elsa, against her own wishes, would make these moments last for as little time as possible, lest her sister ask her to play when she was unable to ignore her.
As she got older and her powers became more and more unpredictable, any appointments she had to attend would be conducted as a conversation on speakerphone in her father's office. On the rare occasion that she actually attended a face to face meeting with anyone outside her family, it would take all her strength and concentration to contain her powers and would normally result in an iced-over bedroom immediately afterwards. When her parents were killed in a crash involving one of her father's private planes, she refused to see anybody for weeks. Eventually Kai and Gerda had managed to coax her from her room, and in a feat of organization the likes of which neither of the housekeepers, now guardians of the two, had ever seen, they replaced and repaired as much as they could of Elsa's room, all but destroyed in the storm created when the eighteen year old had been informed of her parents' early demise.
Three years of desperately trying to gain control, telephone conversations with therapists and a change in her medication regime, Elsa finally undertook the journey that she had been desperate to make for almost thirteen years.
Norway to anywhere else.
"Elsa?"
She looked up, blinking. "Mhmm?"
Tadashi looked at her, curiosity giving way to concern, "I just wondered… what was Nærafjord like."
Almost got it.
"It's uhm… it's beautiful. It's a fishing town, on a fjord. There's a spot near the docks that gives you the most… amazing view of the sunset—"
"If it sets."
Elsa grinned at Hiro, "If it sets. When the sun rises, it's over the mountains. They surround the entire landscape; it's almost like being on your own little island. They're so tall, even in Summer the peaks are frozen over. The architecture is gorgeous; the marketplace looks like it's still in the 1800s. When it snows, it's like someone's draped a blanket over absolutely everything. Perfect snow for snowball fights, building snowmen… and when the Northern Lights are overhead…" Elsa trailed off, her face falling into a small, solemn smile.
Tadashi's voice was soft and low, "You miss it."
He was right – she did miss it. She missed the spot on the lake where she would sit with her Mama, Papa and Anna, watching the sunset after a picnic, then wait for the sky to wake up and the lights to dance across the sky. She missed taking trips up into the mountains with her Papa and his friend Oaken or making snowmen in the back garden with Mama and Anna.
Elsa nodded, barely, wringing her hands underneath the table, biting her lower lip. Tadashi wanted to hug her right there and then, but Aunt Cass beat him to it, the shock on Elsa's face evident.
"Maybe one day you can show us some pictures? I'd love to see it." Aunt Cass grinned, putting an arm around Elsa and giving her a squeeze before letting go again. A short hug, but enough to snap Elsa out of her reminiscence.
"Oooh, no. Pictures never do it justice." Honey shook her head, "There'snothing like seeing your home town again after a while away. It's why I spend at least a couple of weeks with my grandparents every year."
"… I've got it."
"… got what?"
"I hope it's not contagious."
"That's it! " Tadashi leapt up from his chair, the wooden back hitting the wall behind him, before running off up the stairs. A split second later, he ran back, pushed the chair back in, apologised, then ran back upstairs. The group and several nearby patrons stared after him, a mixture of confused looks, frowns and shocked faces looking towards the stairs.
"… some of those swear words would come in handy right about now, Els- ow!"