"Elsa honey, how are you feeling?" Queen Iduna softly asked her sickly looking daughter.
"Like my head is the epicenter of an earthquake" Elsa said as she opened her eyes, only to close them again a second later. She had never felt more drained than she did right now, sure she'd pushed herself to the exhaustion before. But this was different, there were lingering thoughts and feelings she couldn't explain. Well she could, because they weren't her own, not entirely at least. And Elsa wanted to talk about it, but how does one explain a mysterious long distance mind connection, without sounding utterly insane? The easy answer is, you don't. But how would they ever figure it out if she didn't talk about it?
'Hmm, I guess I'll have to think it over first. Perhaps talk to Kristoff first. Right now though I'd really like to talk to her again. Her voice was so soft and soothing, I've never felt anything like what I felt right at that moment, both scary and exciting. Urge, I guess that answers one major question, but I can't just come out and say it, or maybe I could. I don't know, I'll mull it over for the time being. Wait, listen to your mother when she's talking to you!' Elsa tore herself away from her thoughts when she heard the pitch change in her mothers voice, indicating a question was asked.
"Sorry, I wasn't listening, I'm still a bit tired. What were you saying?" She politely asked.
"That's quite alright dear, I was only asking you if you wanted a couple of days off from your duties, you've been out cold for almost a day, your father and I have been very worried. And we don't want you to strain yourself anymore than necessary." The queen sent a smile towards her daughter, relieved that she was awake and hadn't fallen gravely ill.
"You know I don't like sitting around, but yes. A couple of days, at most, would be nice. Thanks mom. Can you maybe send for Lucius?" Elsa had questions about the connection, and who better to tell her than the best interrogator they had at their disposal. She had of course sought him out when she had returned and was trying to gather information about Anna, to that he had nothing to tell her. But for this he must have something, his specialty was mentalism after all.
"Sure honey, but what do you wanna talk to him about if you don't mind me asking?" Iduna asked curiously. And Elsa took a few moments to debate if she should come up with an excuse or be honest. In the end she thought she had enough problems with people questioning her sanity, so she opted for an excuse.
"I'm just wondering if he could tell me about my lost power, he's the only one I haven't talked to out of all the mages we know." She lied, and surprisingly it came out as the truth without a hitch.
"Of course honey, I'll send for him right away. Just promise me you'll get better soon okay?"
"Yes mother, I always do right?" Elsa snickered with a tiny smile.
Her mother grabbed her hand and placed a kiss on it before getting up from her chair besides the bed and heading out of the infirmary. When she stood in the doorway she turned and paused while looking at Elsa.
"It's about that girl you kept talking about isn't it?" Iduna smirked as Elsa's face immediately gave her away.
"…." She didn't know what to say, so she just kept quiet.
"I knew it, we're gonna talk about this when you're better, I know you too well to ignore this. You've been too persistent about it, and you wouldn't be this adamant about something if it wasn't true. Even if it sounds very improbable. Don't worry, I won't tell your father about it, he can be just as stubborn as you." Then she turned and left. Elsa groaned and rubbed her face with her palms a couple of times, and when she finally found a bit of peace after a couple of minutes, another intruder knocked on her door.
"It's Lucius, you wanted to see me your highness." Came the rough voice from to forty-something year old mind-mage.
"Yes, come in." She called out as she propped herself up against the headboard and multiple pillows. Lucius entered the infirmary and took the spot where her mother had been sitting. He didn't say anything for a long time, he simply sat and observed her.
"I wasn't expecting you to be here this fast if I'm gonna be honest with you. You are well versed in mental connections, and I need your help." She tried breaking the silence.
"Whatever happened to you is nothing like anything I've encountered before. Do you mind walking me through what happened when this connection occurred?" He calmly asked her as if she wasn't entirely nuts. Which was a relief to Elsa, since everyone else got this look whenever she tried telling them about her experience in the south.
"Ok, I might as well start from the beginning." And she went on to tell him every detail she could recall, she was sure she forgot one or two things, but nothing of importance.
"I see, well, to create a mental connection you have to be in contact with the person. And I say that knowing full well that you weren't physically there when it happened, but your magic seems to be connected with this Anna. I haven't seen it happen without a physical connection, but none the less, it isn't too far of a stretch to think that it could happen with only the magical connection in place." He rubbed his scraggly beard as he got lost in his thoughts, thinking of ways to test it. After all, this was new, but so was mind reading not that many years ago. And who's to say this wasn't just a new development in ways to use magic.
"Thank you Lucius, you don't know how good it feels to have someone believe in me. I've been slowly loosing my mind trying to wrap my head around it. I only felt absolutely sure when I got to talk to her." She sighed.
"Of course your highness, let me draw up some runes to put under your bed and on your forehead, I may have an idea to help you reach her again without you straining your mind beyond your capabilities. I'm gonna return in the morning, get some sleep princess, you're gonna need it." He patted her knee a couple of times before rising and getting to work.
When he was out of the room and the door closed, Elsa let out a little squeal and berries her face in one of the huge pillows. Excitement bubbled inside her, she was really looking forward to talking to Anna again, this time without all the freaking out. There was no way she was gonna sleep now. Her heart was pounding away at her ribs and she felt her cheeks grow warm.
'Down Elsa, don't count your chickens before they hatch, or however the saying goes. She might not even be into..' But even if she knew deep down, she couldn't admit it to herself yet. Yes, the princess of Arrendelle was irrevocably attracted to people of the female persuasion, it wasn't looked down upon here in the north, but until now the royal family never had one like her.
'Dad is gonna be so disappointed' she thought quietly, and all the excitement drained from her body. Another feeling invaded her, guilt. Even if she had a brother that would one day get married and carry on the bloodline, she would never do that. And all her life she had been groomed and prepared to marry someone for that sole purpose. Well, to her parents she would marry out of love, but the expectations she had been set couldn't be met.
She suspected her condition, when Kristoff had dragged a beautiful handmaid into his bed and Elsa had walked in on them with the girl riding her brother. A mental image that was stuck in her head for a long while. Not because of the embarrassment of seeing her brother like that. But because her gaze fell upon the girl, and it was her breasts and slender waist the got stuck in her mind.
Elsa had tried again and again to reason herself out of it, but she couldn't help it, and that was when she first took her lust into her own hands and thought of a girl. It was nothing like when she tried picturing herself with a man, it was stronger and powerful. It was so much better, and so much more natural to her.
No matter, tomorrow she would hopefully get to talk to her again, and she did feel a bit sleepy still. Plus, time goes by faster when you aren't conscious, so she closed her eyes and got ready to enter the dream world again.
What felt like a couple of seconds passed by and she woke to the sun peering though the curtains. It was a strange but welcomed sensation, albeit a little odd. The headache was gone, but she still felt weighed down by her tired body, nonetheless she got up and got dressed, casually, since she didn't have any royal appointments to see to. She took her time putting up her hair, breaking the ponytail in half and putting it through the hoop of a band before tightening it, giving her a sort of loop along with a short ponytail that ran down her neck with the tip resting between her shoulder blades. Easy and quick. It felt kind of freeing to have such a simplistic hairstyle without spending ten minutes braiding it and making sure no hairs were in the wrong place.
When she was done with her morning rituals she called for Lucius and told him to draw up the runes underneath the bed, and when he got started she made herself scarce. Today she felt like taking a walk through the gardens and gather her thoughts, well, more like preparing herself if it succeeded. She would have to be polite, not too pushy, and most of all, friendly. Not the horny teenager she was slowly becoming, with hormones running rampantly throughout her entire being. She didn't even know how old this girl was, but from the brief moments she had rested her eyes on her, something inside her had awoken something that felt primal in nature, almost like, arousal.
"Oh god, what am I gonna do about this, I have to talk to someone about it, but it has to be someone I can trust not to start up rumors. I guess the only one I trust not to tell anyone is Kristoff." Elsa rubbed her temples, trying to ease some of throbbing in her head.
When she had been walking around for a while she found herself at the canopy, the table had been righted and the cutlery and plates cleaned up. As she stood there, letting her sight linger on the furniture her brother had been creeping up on her.
"BOO!" he yelled as he dug a finger into the soft flesh above her hip, Elsa jumped and snorted at the same time, surprised and ticklish, she twisted away from him as he failed to hold back his laughter.
"What are you doing out here all alone, don't you have some appointments or something?" He asked in a lighthearted manner.
"Actually I got a couple days off, why are you here?"
"Dad told me that as a future king I would have to organize my time as I saw it fit, and right now my sister is a free woman. For a couple of days, so we got to make the most of it, let's go drinking in the city."
"Shouldn't you take your role as crown-prince a bit more seriously?" she asked incredulously.
"What is more important than family, and making sure they are okay, dear sister of mine? You need to relax, you're always pushing yourself for other people, never asking anything in return, loosen up, get a few beers and find someone to kiss, or fuck, whichever you prefer. It's really easy to snag a plaything when you're royal." He smirked, knowing his sister hated when he spoke of his companions like that.
"Have I ever told you that you're disgusting? Well, at least you aren't an asshole to them when you're done like some of the other royals and dukes. I remember that one girl, Matilda was it? She stuck around for a long time, what happened to her?" Elsa remembered that one, she was the one she saw him with after all.
"She told me she would have to move to a town closer to the border, her magic was useful with setting up the guard towers at the passageways. It wasn't my place to keep her from securing the kingdom. Sure it hurt when she left, but we had discussed it beforehand. She was willing to give me up to protect everyone else. Imagine what would happen if there weren't any mages like her to secure our borders." He shuddered at the thought of mythical beings pouring into the north. It wouldn't end in happy sunshine and rainbows. It would leave the entire northern hemisphere barren and dead.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you actually cared for her that much. I should have guessed, no one stayed longer than her." She bowed her head towards the ground in sympathy.
"Yeah, and she wasn't just pretty, she was through and through a good person, kind of like that saint from your book but more.. Sexy, and less of a dork." He snickered, although he tried sounding like it didn't affect him all that much, the undertones in his voice told another story.
"Heh, yeah she really was a sweet girl, I just hope she's okay wherever she is now. Being so close to the border must be scary, knowing that if you fail all those creatures will invade. It must require a tremendous amount of courage." She admired Matilda, being on the frontlines always scared her, but in the Capitol of Arrendelle the people lived happily in a safe space, with multiple barriers between them and the supernaturals.
"Yeah, I've always wondered if I'm gonna see her again or if she's finding happiness somewhere else." His face fell along with the tone in his voice.
"You really love her don't you?" Elsa asked with a smile.
"Yes, I really do." He whispered.
"How do you know it's love?" She may as well figure out the symptoms to see if she was struck with the same thing.
"Hmm, I just know. I can tell you with certainty that the story books got it wrong. It's not all happy days and sunshine when I think about her, we had some falling out before she left, but I still can't get her out of my head no matter how bad things got between us. I guess that once you feel it, the fear that can only be born from the pure happiness you feel when you're close to the other person. That fear is both scary and good at the same time, on one hand she is the one that can make me endure anything life throws at me, but at the same time she can crush my world with a few words. That's when you know… I'm sorry, I'm getting all mushy over here." He said as he stared at the sky, a single tear rolling down his cheek.
As much as Elsa would like to fall in love, she didn't feel that way about anyone. But she was still young and had plenty of opportunities to fall in love ahead of her.
"Have you considered visiting her? It might do you some good." All she wanted was to see her brother happy. But lately he had been gloomy beneath his goofy exterior.
"I have yes, but that was just what our arguments was about in the end. We both knew the importance of our roles, I told her that I could come with her, enter the military instead of following in dads footsteps and becoming king, but she wouldn't have that, she told me my place was on the throne, not in combat."
"And she convinced you, of all people, to stay behind. Woah, I really need to meet this woman." Elsa said in an exaggerated surprise.
"Shut up." He laughed, "So tell me, anyone you fancy, this question must have come from somewhere right?"
"Maybe, well, not really. I don't feel the way you just described it. I only felt slightly..-" she lowered her voice, "-.. Warm across my whole body." she ended with reddened cheeks.
Kristoff spluttered and coughed from the sudden laughing fit, "Hah, that's how it starts Starburst, so tell me, who is it?" His goofy grin was back, which was a nice thing.
"No, not gonna tell you. You'll have to figure that one out yourself." She smirked and headed for her chambers. Kristoff was quick on her heels, prying and poking her for answers. He should have known she wouldn't tell him, he always had his suspicions about her sexuality, too bad she wasn't indicating which way it fell. Perhaps he could find out if he got her drunk. And a plan was beginning to take shape.
Elsa reached the bed in the infirmary where Lucius was sitting on his knees, drawing up an intricate rune on the floor, he was almost done so she sat herself on the windowsill, to look out over the city, while she waited. From the window she could see the various farmers checking their wards and barriers, she could see the harbor and all the dockworkers loading and unloading ships, she could even see as far as the edge of the city where towers were being erected to create extra barriers, now that Elsa no longer had her usual control over her powers. Since she has awoken she could feel them lingering deep within her, but it wasn't nearly enough to use them for anything useful.
As she contemplated her predicament, both the one involving magic and the one that pertained to herself as a person, she heard a clearing of a throat and turned to see Lucius being done with the runes. He bowed and extended an arm towards the bed, an invitation to hop on and give it a try.
"How is this gonna work?" Elsa asked as she went to lie down.
"It's rather simple once you get the hang of it, the rune will amplify the connection, and it allows me to guide you once you establish the connection. I won't be able to initiate it, but once its there I can provide stability and make sure you won't pass out again. I will then place some knowledge on warding spells inside you and this Anna's minds so you can have a less straining conversation. At least in theory, I've never tried this before mind you, so there is a possibility that it won't work as I intended it to. In short, it's still in the experimental phase." He explained as clear and concise as he could.
"Will you be able to hear us and our thoughts?" Elsa asked a bit timidly.
"I will, yes", Elsas heart started racing, he would know if she went through with it, and it made her more apprehensive to do it. As could be seen from the way she tensed up and held her breath.
"Do not worry Elsa, I've known for years. Your thoughts are loud and hard to block, I'm not judging, I just want to help." He assured her, and she relaxed straight away, of course he wouldn't say anything to anyone, this man must have secrets upon secrets he couldn't tell anyone because of his occupation.
"Thank you.. How about we get this started then?" The apprehension drifted away and she made herself comfortable, while Lucius got his catalyst ready.
"Okay, I want you to relax your mind and think of Anna. Visualize the way she looks, it makes it easier." He spoke in a soft voice, "When you feel relaxed and ready to start, I want you to feel through your magic, it's an extension of yourself, the same way you can feel through your hands you can feel through your magic."
Elsa knew what he was talking about, she had sensed it before, feeling without touching. She felt the same odd feeling as last time, that unfamiliar surge of memories and emotions. But not a lot more than that, until she grunted in pain as her leg flared up, sending pain-signals to her brain. Lucius quickly stabilized the link by numbing the part that sent those kind of senses through. Making it easier for Elsa to maintain focus.
"Hey Elsa." Came the weak greeting.
"Hello Anna, what did you do to your leg?" Elsa cut straight to the point.
"I fought a bear or two, not really what I intended to do, but I got a little lost during last time we talked" and Elsa noticed the kind of nonchalant tone, as if fighting bears wasn't a big deal.
"Of course you did. Because fighting bears is such an everyday occurrence, next you'll probably go fight werewolves and lamia? " Elsa scoffed.
"Not unless I can get my leg fixed, it's pretty banged up, my femur is shattered, I don't really know where my new pal took me but I'm in a cave if some sort." To Elsas surprise, Anna was calmer than she expected, completely levelheaded and articulate despite her injuries. A little weaker than past she spoke to her.
Lucius decided to chip in with some of his expertise, "Hi Anna, I'm Lucius, the Arrendelle family's best interrogator, I'm an expert in mind-walking, and a mediocre healer, I can talk you through a simple healing spell, it won't fully fix you leg, but it'll keep your bone together for a couple of days until you can get a proper healer to look at it, alright?".
"Sure thing, whatever you say"
"Good, make a magical focal point and draw three Tyr runes along with three Frø runes I'm a circular fashion and in the middle want you to draw a Liv rune, then move it across your leg from top to bottom, it should drag the bine fragments together and strengthen it temporarily. Depending on your magic reserves and your magical nature it can hold anywhere from one to three days."
Elsa watched on as Anna lifted her hand in the air and the tip of her finger glowed, she circled it once in the air, moved to one'o'clock to draw the first rune, second rune at three'o'clock and so on. Lastly she spred her fingers in front of the glowing rune suspended in mid-air and Anna's whole hand lit up as the rune contracted into her palm, she then took it and placed at her hip and swiped it down to her knee. It left behind a bit of frost on her skin, the same living kind Elsa had seen back when she saved her. It quickly got absorbed into her skin, and when all of the frost was gone, so was the pain.
"mmm, much better. Thank you.. Both of you, I think I'm gonna be okay now. How many times can I fix it like this doc?" Anna's voice was stronger already.
"Once more is fine, anymore than that and you risk ruining the bone for good, it will get more damaged the more you lean on it while the spell is in place. So I suggest using however long you've got to find someone with proper healing spells to fully fix it. That is if you can, shattered bones aren't easy to fix after all. Anyway, I'll take my leave as soon as I have placed the knowledge to easily establish this connect inside both of your minds. But from what I've felt you don't really need it, this connection even sends emotions through it. That's not an easy task even to someone like me, but you do it so effortlessly, you have to let me study this sometime. Have a nice day both of you." Lucius opened his eyes a few seconds later, only to see Elsa with a sincere smile the crinkled the corner of her eyes, something he hadn't seen since she got home. As he was leaving he could here Elsa speaking out loud in a happy tone about her days and her training. In turn his smile grew too.
Hello there, this chapter is fully written on my phone while I've been waiting for busses and trains to arrive, or while food was getting done cooking. So a bit experimental and I'm not sure how well I've managed with the layout of the text.
Not much else to say really, hope you enjoyed it, I chose the easy way out considering Elsa's sexuality, we all know she'll be horribly attracted to the young woman version of Anna, so I just wanted to give a tiny amount of 'backstory' on when she herself noticed.
Love Mr. Turtle