Chapter Eleven
The Snow Queen Returns
ELSA
Elsa opened her heavy eyelids and yawned. It was barely bright outside yet, a faint light setting in over the still dark horizon. It was a damp, cold morning, and the last of the snow was beginning to melt away. Spring had arrived and the weather would be heating up again soon. She resolved to enjoy whatever little of the cold remained before the heat set in. If there was one thing Elsa hated, it was the heat.
She stretched her arms and legs, which were somewhat sore from the work she had engaged in the day before. The Northuldra had just set up camp closer to the coast in a large and even clearing, and moving the entire tribe from one location to another was always a tiring experience, even with the help of the Elemental Spirits. Being nomads, the Northuldra never really stayed in one place for long.
This was something she had gotten used to in her time with the Northuldra. Still, she enjoyed it more than being cooped up within the walls of Arendelle. Here, she felt so much freer and at ease, with no one expecting her to be the royal she was meant to be.
Living amongst the Northuldra, no one judged her for the powers she had, or the way she wanted to do things. In the Enchanted Forest, she was free to be who she really was. The Snow Queen. Or just a regular girl living with the Northuldra.
Rubbing her eyes, Elsa sat up from her bedroll. Her own private laavu was small, but more than adequate for herself. She didn't need the luxury provided by the palace of Arendelle, or the hordes of servants that waited on her hand and foot.
Usually, a laavu was meant to house an entire family. However, since Elsa was regarded by the Northuldra as the saviour and liberator of the Enchanted Forest, the Northuldra had presented her with her very own laavu. It was not easy to build, but she had gotten the hang of it after having moved encampments multiple times over the past few months.
Elsa pulled a thick fur coat over her night clothes and crawled out of her laavu and stretched, looking around. Some of the Northuldra folk were already up cooking breakfast, and they waved when they noticed her. She waved back groggily.
As was her daily routine, she headed a short distance out of the camp and down to the stream. Every time the Northuldra moved, they would always set up camp near a downstream water source. In this case, it was a fresh stream that led out into a large river about a few hundred yards downstream.
It was still dark by the time she got to the stream, and she looked around. When Elsa was sure she was alone, she laid aside her garments and took her usual morning bath in the freezing cold water. Not that it bothered her, she actually loved it. Even more than hot water in fact. There was nothing like a cold bath to freshen up for the day's activities.
Emerging from the stream, she felt fresh and alert. With the flick of her wrist, she formed her usual white dress made of ice which clad her comfortably. On the way back to camp, Gale, the wind spirit, helped to dry her hair much to her gratitude. By the time she got back, it was already much brighter, and more people had stirred. The morning scene was lively, with children playing outside their families' laavus. Some were just returning after foraging in the woods, while others cooked breakfast over their own fires.
"Morning." A cheery voice called out.
Elsa turned to see Honeymaren riding towards her on one of her reindeer, with a sack over her shoulder.
"Good morning." Elsa waved.
"How was your sleep?" Honeymaren asked, dismounting from the reindeer as she approached the camp.
"Good, I guess." Elsa said. "You do know that I'm already used to the Northuldra lifestyle, right?"
"Right, right." Honeymaren laughed. "You fit right in."
Elsa's life was bliss now. After her adventure to free the forest, she had decided to remain with the Northuldra. It certainly suited her more than being the queen. She had always felt that her sister was far better suited to be queen instead of her anyway. Now that she was free, everything was perfect. She was in sync with the Elemental Spirits, the Northuldra accepted her wholeheartedly, and she was free to be herself.
However, one thing was missing. And it bothered her like an itch on the back she could not reach. Whenever she visited Arendelle and saw Anna and Kristoff so deeply in love with each other, something gnawed away at her. A feeling she had never really experienced before. She wasn't even sure what it was. It wasn't jealousy, no, but it was something else. She had put it off for far too long and had kept it to herself, but she decided that perhaps it was time to seek advice.
"Something wrong?" Honeymaren asked.
Elsa blinked. "No." She rubbed the back of her head. "Just didn't have too good a sleep."
"I thought you said you had a good sleep?"
"Oh." Elsa paused. "I-"
"Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes, yes." Elsa attempted to sound poised. "Don't worry about me."
"So you gonna join us later? Ryder and I are taking the reindeer down to the hills near the coast. I'm going to do a bit of fishing."
"Sure." Elsa smiled. "I'll come with you."
"Great." Honeymaren said. "You want to grab some breakfast? Ryder's cooking something, though I'm not sure if its even edible."
Elsa laughed. "I'll join you in a while. Just…got to do something first."
She scanned the campsite for Yelena, the tribe elder and leader, and found her sitting on a large tree log at the edge of the encampment, whittling a piece of wood delicately. Elsa approached slowly and prepared to clear her throat delicately to avoid startling the older woman.
"Yes?" Yelena said in her rough voice without looking up. She was extremely focused on carving, but had apparently sensed Elsa's presence even before she had made her presence known.
"Good morning, Yelena." Elsa said. "I was hoping you could…help me with something." If there was one thing she noticed about the Northuldra folk, it was that whenever they had problems, they would bring them to the tribe elder.
Yelena always seemed to have the answer for everything. Perhaps it was due to her years of experience. Even though she looked and sounded unfriendly, she actually had a heart of gold and a fountain of wisdom for those who approached her. Elsa decided that it was time to seek her advice.
"Help you?" Yelena peered up at Elsa. "With what?"
"It's…I don't really know how to explain it…" Elsa crossed her arms and rubbed them.
"Sit down, Elsa."
Elsa sat on a log opposite Yelena, watching as she skilfully cut an edge off the piece of wood. She noticed that the carving was starting to resemble that of an old man with very precisely cut features which could only be from memory.
"So what's troubling you?"
"It's not really a problem." Elsa began, hands entwined. "It's more of…a dissatisfaction that I've never experienced before."
"A dissatisfaction? With your life here?"
"No, no." Elsa said quickly. "I love my life with the Northuldra. It's better than anything I could have ever hoped for. No. It's something else."
"Something else like?"
"I don't know how to describe it." Elsa bit her lip. "But whenever I return to Arendelle and see my sister Anna together with her fiancé - you remember the big man in leather?"
Yelena nodded without looking up.
"Whenever I see them together, I have this feeling deep down in my heart." Elsa continued. "And it's not jealousy, because I would know if it was. It's…more of an emptiness…like-"
"You feel lonely." Yelena concluded.
"That's…an accurate description." Elsa said. So that's what it is. "My sister keeps asking me if I've found someone, but I haven't. And it bugs me sometimes."
"You're talking about love. A partner." Yelena looked up from her whittling. "And you haven't found that person in the Northuldra."
"Yes." Elsa said shyly, glad to have gotten all that off her chest.
"Then you owe it to yourself to find that person." Yelena pointed out. "You have to make a decision, Elsa. You say you love your life here, that you've found peace by living with the Northuldra in the forest. But you want to find the right person, who doesn't exist here."
"So I need to choose between the forest and filling that void in my heart." Elsa concluded.
"You've had the answer all along." Yelena gave a small smile, which was rather uncharacteristic of the gruff woman. "You just needed to hear it for yourself."
Elsa sat in silence as Yelena continued carving the piece of wood, which now almost looked completely like an old tribesman of the Northuldra.
"Thank you, Yelena." Elsa got up. "This has been…insightful."
"I didn't do anything." Yelena replied. "You told yourself what you needed to hear."
Elsa nodded politely and headed off to find her friends. After breakfast, Ryder and Honeymaren took Elsa to their herd of reindeer. Their family had come from a long lineage of reindeer herders, and they had carried on that tradition faithfully. Standing by a nearby lake, Elsa summoned the Water Spirit, Nokk, who emerged from the water majestically.
"Hello, Nokk." Elsa rubbed the horse's head and he brayed happily in response.
Placing her hands on Nokk's head, she froze the smooth water, making Nokk's body solid, sturdy ice. The horse whinnied and flipped his mane back, trotting around Elsa and allowing her to mount him. After comfortably sitting astride Nokk, she led the horse ahead of the herd of reindeer, and they followed, with Ryder and Honeymaren riding at the head of the pack together with Elsa.
Arriving at the hill beside the coast, the three dismounted and led the reindeer out to a luscious pasture of bright green. The grass was smooth like carpet, and looked fresh off the winter season. As the reindeer began grazing happily and Ryder was tending to his flock, Honeymaren took Elsa down to the beach where a boat was waiting for them.
"You seem pretty deep in thought today." Honeymaren said as their boat floated out in the deep, far from the coast where they had left Ryder and the reindeer.
"What?" Elsa turned her focus back to Honeymaren, who was manning the oars by herself.
"You know, you could help me out." Honeymaren handed her the oars. "I've been rowing for a while now. Unless of course, it's not custom for royalty to engage in such menial tasks."
"What? No, no." Elsa began rowing.
"I'm just kidding." Honeymaren laughed and sat back comfortably in the small wooden boat. "But seriously, you look pretty out of sorts today."
"Is it really that obvious?" Elsa asked.
"Uh…yeah." Honeymaren chuckled. "So what's bothering you?"
"It's just something I've been thinking about." Elsa said. "Tell me, whenever you see Anna and Kristoff together, or whenever you see couples in the tribe, what would you feel?"
"Happy for them, I guess?" Honeymaren looked at Elsa curiously. "Where is this going?"
Elsa shook her head. "Never mind."
"Come on! You can't leave me hanging like that." Honeymaren reached down and splashed some water at Elsa.
"Alright, alright." Elsa scowled, with sea water dripping from her hair. "It's just…I've been feeling a little empty for a while now."
"Uh huh."
"I talked to Yelena about it." Elsa put down the oars. "She helped me realise that it was because I felt lonely and wanted to find a partner."
"So the great Snow Queen has emotions." Honeymaren chortled. "Okay, sorry. That wasn't very sensitive. Do go on."
Elsa shook her head. "But I'm content with my life here with the Northuldra. I don't exactly want to leave."
"Isn't there anyone here you've taken a fancy to?" Honeymaren raised her eyebrows suggestively. "What about that boy from the Eames family? He's pretty nice to you."
Elsa shook her head. "He's just a friend. As is everyone else in the tribe. There isn't anyone I feel attracted to here, which is the problem."
"Then you gotta make a choice." Honeymaren said. "You can stay with the Northuldra and live your perfect life, but always have a part of you longing for more. Or, you can choose to leave everything behind and go search for your soulmate. He's gotta be out there somewhere."
"That's pretty much what Yelena said." Elsa muttered.
"So yeah." Honeymaren took the net out. "Think about it. In the meantime, we need to do some fishing."
All of a sudden, Nokk sprang up from the sea, spraying water all over Elsa and Honeymaren.
"What is it, Nokk?" Elsa clutched the side of the boat which rocked unsteadily.
Nokk gave a long whinny and thrashed around the boat urgently, causing the boat to rock about even more.
"Something's wrong." Elsa said.
"Yeah? What tipped you off?" Honeymaren clung to the side of the boat for dear life.
"Nokk's trying to warn us. The tribe is in danger." Elsa turned to Nokk and threw a rein made out of ice around him, anchoring a long tendril of ice in her palm firmly. "Take us back."
Nokk galloped across the water, dragging the boat through the sea, which had begun to grow choppier, as if it were a foreboding sign.
"What's going on?" Honeymaren asked as they grew closer to the beach.
"I don't know." Elsa said grimly. "But stay with Ryder and the reindeer. I'll head back with Nokk to the forest to check it out."
"Be careful."
Before the boat reached the coast line, Elsa leapt out of the boat and froze the water horse again with a quick touch, mounting Nokk expertly like she had done a hundred times before.
"Take us back to the Northuldra." Elsa grabbed the reins, and Nokk gave a long bray in response. She applied her heels to the horse's side, and he set off in an accelerated canter, before it turned into a steady gallop. Manoeuvring through the thick vegetation, Elsa navigated Nokk back to where the Northuldra was camped. She could feel like something was off. The Elemental Spirits were unsettled, and were warning her about a disturbance.
Author's Commentary;
Elsa's whole predicament about romance is something that I feel she deserves. After two books of developing her character independent of romance, I think it's finally time to address this new arc in her journey. And I hope to do her justice through this book.
In the meantime, we're in for some pretty epic action that details the return of the Snow Queen. Enjoy.