Winter's Echo
Chapter Fifty-Two – Unprepared
Another scream of agony.
Honeymaren panted as she whipped her head from side to side searchingly, spinning in all directions as she scoured the flames surrounding her, yelling at the top of her lungs to be heard over the deafening roar of the immense blaze. "ELSA! ELSA, WHERE ARE YOU?!" The dark-haired woman called to her love again and again, pausing only when yet another agonized cry pierced the thunderous inferno. She continued to turn in panicked circles, clutching at her own head in frustration as she desperately tried to pinpoint the direction of the screams that seemed to echo all around and reverberate through her.
'Why can't I see her? Why can't I see her?!'
The maven of fire raised her hands to the flames, trying futilely to tame the blaze but to no effect. These were not the purple and pink flames of her hand, but an inferno of hellfire with angry flares of blood red and black that promised pain and destruction. Though not of her creation or subject to her will, the firestorm sang to the Northuldran a dark melody of familiarity that whispered promises of vengeance and righteous justice and reached for something wicked deep within her soul.
"They belong to us, now, my heart. They are ours forever, now."
Honeymaren looked around wildly in a defensive panic as a deep, distantly familiar voice rumbled through the flames and seemed to coil itself around her consciousness like a snake. "WHO'S THERE?!" She yelled defiantly, ignoring the way her voice wavered ever so slightly. "SHOW YOURSELF!"
"Ours forever, now," the voice said again in an almost wistful tone as the snake constricted, squeezing her into submission. "NO!" she yelled, calling her magic forward instinctively and creating a defensive ring of purple and pink flames around herself, pushing it outward several feet as a barrier against the hellfire.
"Ours forever." Squeeze. Her ring was pushed back to a mere foot around her.
"Ours forever." Squeeze. "No..." the maven of fire whispered through clenched teeth, closing her eyes in concentration to hold her protective barrier as the power of the inferno and the dark voice that commanded it forced her to her knees.
"Ours forever, my heart," it whispered seductively as the barrier finally winked out of existence and another agonized scream pierced through the cacophony, even as the dark voice flooded her mind.
Ours.
Ours forever.
Finally...mine.
Mine.
MINE!
Honeymaren awoke with a startled gasp and wrenched herself into a sitting position, her lungs struggling desperately to fill with air. Beads of sweat trailed down her face and neck, sparkling in the rays of the early morning sun as she greedily gulped in air. 'Just a dream. It was just a dream,' she chanted inwardly as she tried to slow her racing heart, pointedly ignoring the hauntingly familiar burning feeling of smoke in her lungs. The noaide ran a shaky hand through her hair and exhaled slowly before turning to check on her sleeping bride, only for her heart to leap into her throat once more when she found empty sheets instead. She quickly pressed a palm to the mattress, finding it to be lukewarm – the queen had been missing for minutes, only.
The faint but distinct sound of miserable retching reached the fire maven's ears as she turned her twilight-flecked gaze to the closed bathroom door on the other side of the room. She pulled the sheets away with a quick flourish and hastened to the door, grasping the handle just as another round of heaving began. Honeymaren knocked gently with her other hand, dark brows furrowed with concern as she called to her love. "Elsa?"
"I'm fine, Maren," came the winter spirit's voice weakly. "Go back to bed, I'll be-" she began before being interrupted by a coughing fit. "I'm coming in," the dark-haired woman said resolutely before slowly opening the door and poking her head inside to find the miserable queen kneeling on the floor before the commode. Elsa groaned in equal parts discomfort and mortification as she eased backward to sit against the wall, propping her elbows on her knees and pressing her fingers into her temples. "I'm sorry," she mumbled pitifully, closing her eyes in exhaustion and embarrassment as her wife entered the bathroom and crouched at her side, a tan hand tenderly reaching out to touch her forehead. "For what, Snowflake? Being ill? How dare you," Honeymaren replied in a gentle, playfully scolding voice before running her fingers soothingly through white-gold locks. The queen couldn't help the slight smile that tugged at her lips, despite the painful knots in her stomach as she leaned into the fire maven's comforting touch. "Yes," she murmured, sighing softly as nails soothingly scratched her head. "And for waking you...you shouldn't have to deal with this after yesterday."
Honeymaren frowned as her recent nightmare flashed in her mind's eye, certain it was connected to the events of the previous night. She pushed it out of her mind for now - there were more pressing matters to attend to, after all. She peeked into the bowl of the commode to find only a small amount of bile and her frown deepened before she pressed the back of her free hand to Elsa's forehead once more. "You don't have a fever," she mused aloud before brushing a lock of white gold hair behind her wife's ear. "There's obviously nothing in your stomach so it's nothing you ate. Does anything else hurt?" Elsa shook her head tiredly, not bothering to open her eyes as she leaned into the fire maven's touch.
The corners of Honeymaren's worried frown twitched upward into a small, fond smile at the action. She knew from experience that the queen craved constant physical affection when she was feeling under the weather and the noaide was more than happy to meet her every need in that realm. "Do you still feel sick?" she asked gently, reaching for the pull chain to flush the commode when the fatigued blonde shook her head once more. "Then back to bed with you, my darling."
Elsa opened her mouth to protest, but all that escaped was a quiet, undignified squeak of surprise when strong arms scooped her from the ground as if she weighed nothing, her own quickly winding around the fire maven's neck for balance. The blonde pouted slightly and gave a frustrated huff, the gesture softened by the small, adoring smile she couldn't quite keep from her lips. Honeymaren chuckled as she strode toward the bed, smirking at the pale woman in her arms. "You should know by now that resistance is futile, Snowflake," she said with a wink as she set her bride gently on the bed, reaching down to pull the covers up and over her. "Now, you close your eyes and try to relax while I get you some water, my love. You look exhausted," she said as she reached out and tenderly ran her fingers through locks of white gold before lovingly cupping her cheek, smiling when the winter spirit closed her eyes with a contented sigh and leaned into her touch once more. "Hopefully you are just under the weather from all of the...excitement last night," she mumbled with a frown, flickers of both her fire-reading and her nightmare flashing through her mind.
One crystalline blue eye cracked open to regard the suddenly subdued spirit of fire for a moment before a playful smile tugged at her lips. "You know," the queen began teasingly, continuing when twilight-flecked eyes found hers. "However talented those fingers of yours may be, I don't believe they can cause spontaneous illness." Honeymaren blinked and spluttered slightly as a rare blush tinted her cheeks, completely caught off guard by her normally bashful bride's sudden cheekiness. Elsa giggled quietly, covering the hand on her cheek with her own before turning her head to place a slow, comforting kiss to her palm and looking up at her lovingly.
"That's better," she said quietly, reaching up to tenderly brush a dark lock of hair away from twilight flecked eyes before cupping her cheek and gazing at her with crystalline pools filled with adoration and understanding. "There will be no more of those dark thoughts today, my love," she whispered, her thumb gently caressing the soft skin beneath it. "Last night, I reminded you that I am yours. Today, I shall remind you that you are also mine," she finished with a loving smile. "Besides," Elsa continued in a playful tone, her gaze turning teasing once more as she removed her hand and made a show of settling back against the pillows. "Since you are undoubtedly going to insist I stay in bed for some time which will lead to me, in turn, insisting you spend said time in bed with me, I shall have to keep that mind of yours occupied with other things. I won't have such negative thoughts in our marriage bed, after all." The stunned noaide blinked at her goddess of ice and snow before laughing quietly.
"Well," she said with playful resignation and a helpless shrug as she reached for the pitcher of water on their bedside table before filling a glass and offering it to her smiling wife. "Who am I to argue with a queen?"
Honeymaren inhaled deeply as she awoke to the chipper song of birds drifting through the open bedroom window on the early morning breeze, slowly opening her eyes only to quickly shut them with a groan when a ray of sun fell across them. She grumbled and rolled to her side away from the offending light, grousing incoherently about chirping birds being the minions of Hell as she reached across the bed to snuggle against the Queen of Ice and Snow. The fire maven lifted her head quickly and peered at the empty space next to her through bleary eyes before another, unfortunately familiar sound from the other side of the room reached her ears.
Retching.
Honeymaren sighed worriedly and let her head fall back to her pillow with a heavy thumping sound before running a hand through her dark locks as she listened anxiously to the sounds coming from behind the closed bathroom door. This was the fourth day in a row Elsa had been ill and the spirit of fire was now more than a little worried for her wife's health. Coupled with the echoes of Elsa's screams haunting her dreams, the noaide couldn't help but feel a panicky protectiveness toward the pale blonde. The queen insisted each time that, despite the vomiting, she didn't actually feel ill which was a concept Honeymaren was struggling to grasp – surely her wife was simply trying to keep her from worrying.
The first night she had wrongfully assumed all was well once more when she awoke to a quiet sound in the middle of the night and an empty bed once more, yet not the same one that had woken her that morning.
Twilight-flecked eyes shot open at the sound of quiet, high pitched and metallic clinking. Honeymaren glanced to her side to find herself alone in bed once more, yet this time the empty space next to her was still relatively warm which meant her wife had not gone far. She glanced across the room toward the bathroom to find the door open wide and the room dark – a good sign. Though Elsa had obliged her wishes to stay in bed all day, the queen had shown no further signs of illness or nausea. The blonde was able to keep down each meal with no problems and had even happily managed to entice the noaide into a more...strenuous activity. It took quite a bit of convincing, but the queen was nothing if not a skilled negotiator and she did have a point that she hadn't been ill all day.
If she were honest with herself, the queen's ability to dissipate her clothes in an instant seemed an unfair bargaining tool.
Not that she was truly complaining.
The fire maven tilted her head curiously when she saw the light she was looking for coming not from the bathroom, but from the direction of the kitchen instead. Silent as the night air around her, Honeymaren pulled the covers back and padded quietly down the hallway as the sound of soft, metallic clinking was joined by the echoes of a person attempting to move stealthily about the kitchen.
The sight that greeted her when she peeked around the corner brought a loving grin to her tan features as she released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Sitting quietly at the kitchen table was the beautiful goddess of ice and snow, Queen of Arendelle, spirit of winter...
With a large piece of chocolate cake.
Honeymaren bit her lip to prevent her laughter as she crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe, observing her love quietly as she waited for her presence to be noticed. She watched as Elsa took a delicate bite of the cake, closing her eyes as she slowly drew the now empty fork away from her mouth and a small, satisfied smile tugged at her lips while she savored the treat. The dark-haired woman raised an amused eyebrow as Elsa scraped a decent glob of icing from the remarkably abundant amount covering the back of the slice before spearing another, much smaller piece of actual cake. Honeymaren pressed her lips together tightly in an effort not to laugh at the adorable way her wife clearly approved of this modified bite, failing when a small snort of laughter alerted the spirit to her presence.
Bright eyes of the bluest crystal blinked at her from surprise, offset by a quickly spreading rosy flush in pale cheeks glowing fetchingly in the low, flickering candlelight. An embarrassed, slightly guilty smile adorned the queen's face as she turned back to her stolen treat, picking at it with her fork bashfully. "Shut up," she murmured before taking another bite to hide her growing smile. Honeymaren chuckled again before glancing to the side at the small alcove storing all the silverware and plates before smiling playfully and reaching for a spoon. "Don't worry, my love," she said as she brandished it with a grin and a wink. "I'm planning on joining you." The noaide's grin widened when she saw the queen's eyes light up and slide her plate a few inches toward the empty spot next to her in offering.
"I'm glad to see your appetite has returned," she remarked as she sat next to her love, scooting down the bench toward the goddess of winter until their thighs touched, much to the blonde's delight. Elsa leaned against her playfully before stabbing a piece of the chocolatey confection and offering it up to her wife with a coquettish smile. "Well," she purred. "Exercise does tend to do that, darling." Honeymaren grinned broadly at the blonde but said nothing, opting to simply wrap her lips around the proffered treat and her arm around the love of her life.
The pair sat in comfortable silence as they nibbled away at the slowly disappearing treat, the quiet punctuated every so often with a playful, hushed giggle when one would occasionally tease the other. Though they were arguably two of the most powerful beings in existence, they behaved as gleefully as children stealing away a secret moment under the cover of night. A stolen bite here, a bit of frosting playfully dabbed there, a lovingly offered bite teasingly held just out of reach and all of the subsequent retributions that accompanied such heinous crimes. Elsa was exacting one such revenge upon the fire spirit's ticklish ribs when she suddenly paused her assault, glancing off to the side with an almost confused expression that quickly morphed into urgent panic.
"Snowflake? What's-" Honeymaren began, but cut herself off when Elsa rushed out of the kitchen without another word, a pale hand pressed firmly against her lips. The fire maven frowned when she heard the bathroom door shut a short moment later, immediately following the path her wife had taken back to their bedroom. Dark features hardened in determination upon hearing the telltale sounds of retching, followed by the distressingly familiar sound of the blonde's miserable whimper of discomfort. Without another word, Honeymaren walked into their expansive dressing room and flipped both of their trunks open and went to work.
Once she was confident her sharply aching stomach was empty, the miserable queen tugged weakly on the chain that would wash away the evidence of her struggles before slowly leaning back to rest against the wall. She groaned quietly to herself, wrapping her arms around her middle and squeezing slightly to try to relieve the discomfort. Elsa lifted her head curiously as an odd banging sound reached her ears, her brow furrowing as she tried to place the foreign sound. "Maren...?" she called weakly, her voice hoarse from the strain of vomiting. When she received no answer, the blonde took a deep breath before pulling herself to her feet through sheer willpower alone and slowly opened the bathroom door, peeking around the bedroom for her wife.
"Maren?" she called again, turning her head when she heard the banging noise again, now clearly coming from their dressing room. Before she could investigate, the fire maven appeared carrying Elsa's travelling trunk, a fiery look of determination in her twilight-flecked gaze. Without a word, Honeymaren set the trunk down near the foot of the bed before disappearing into the dressing room once more, Elsa following her warily. The queen's heart lurched painfully in her chest when she saw the room was nearly empty of their belongings, what little remained quickly disappearing as Honeymaren hastily packed them away in her own traveling trunk before snapping it firmly shut and turning to meet her gaze. The fire maven's determined features softened as twilight-flecked chocolate met forlorn crystalline pools and she sighed softly, closing the distance to her love and placing her hands on pale shoulders comfortingly.
"I'm sorry, love," she murmured gently. "But this is for the best. I won't risk your health." Elsa simply sighed, nodding in understanding. "I know," she replied quietly. She opened her mouth once more to apologize for being the reason their honeymoon had to be cut short, but closed it after a brief moment of thought, knowing how her wife would respond to that. Instead, Elsa simply leaned forward into the Northuldran's soothing embrace, nuzzling her neck affectionately and murmuring into the comforting warmth there. "Thank you for taking such good care of me, Maren. I'm sad to leave, but I know you're right."
Honeymaren blinked in surprise, having to bite her own tongue against the rebuttal she had been waiting to give against the apology she was sure would fall from the queen's lips. She smiled warmly as Elsa burrowed into her embrace, eagerly wrapping her arms around her protectively and pulling her close. "I'll always take care of you, Elsa," she promised as she pressed a slow, lingering kiss to the blonde's temple. "Let's get you back in bed. I'll send a note back to Anna with Gale to have the carriage here tomorrow morning." Elsa sighed sadly but nodded anyway as she allowed her wife to escort her back to the comfort of their bed, barely resisting the urge to cajole the dark-haired woman to forego her message in favor of cuddling her.
Seeming to sense the winter spirit's despondency, Honeymaren playfully nudged Elsa's cheek with her nose. "If it makes you feel any better, Snowflake, we will be afforded a wide berth of privacy when we get back to the Northuldra," she offered with a sly twinkle in her eye. "It is common for newlywed couples to be left in peace for quite some time to encourage...martial bonding," she said with a grin. Elsa smirked and rolled her eyes, playfully bumping her forehead against her wife's. "It's not the privacy I'm worried about, darling. It's the acoustics," she said with a wink before a yawn overtook her, prompting the fire maven to smile warmly and pull the blankets up around her, bidding her to settle. Rather than offer a reply, she simply leaned down and feathered several slow, soft kisses across Elsa's forehead, gently nuzzling the soft waterfall of white gold at the queen's temple. "Rest, my love. I'll be with you soon," she murmured to the already drowsy queen before walking across the room to the desk and pulling out a piece of fresh parchment and uncapping the ink well. With one last look at her peacefully resting bride, Honeymaren set about penning a lengthy letter to her sister-in-law by the light of the moon as Elsa drifted off to the soothing sounds of the ocean breeze and the quiet scratching of a quill.
The sound of the bathroom door opening again drew Honeymaren's mind back to the present, twilight flecked eyes turning quickly toward the despondent queen as she slowly made her way across the bedroom. The fire maven sat up and opened her arms to the blonde without a word, a small, sympathetic smile on her lips. The corner of Elsa's lips twitched upward in response as she eagerly molded herself into her wife's comforting embrace, breathing deeply of her presence and slowly releasing it. Honeymaren rubbed slow, soothing circles into the winter spirit's back, peppering her head with light kisses as they lay there quietly, content to soak in the other's presence to the tune of the sea birds and crashing waves carried in on the light, salty breeze as it billowed through the curtains.
Eventually, the distant sound of approaching horses reached their ears, both women subconsciously pressing closer to one another as the end of their honeymoon drew ever nearer. "Come," Honeymaren murmured into Elsa's hair after a long moment, nuzzling her gently. "It's time to go." Elsa sighed and nodded, reluctantly untangling herself from her noaide's embrace and sitting up, watching forlornly as the dark-skinned woman left to meet the carriage as it arrived. Crystalline eyes glanced around their haven one last time, images of another lifetime merging with the new memories she had created over the past few weeks and leaving a small, bittersweet smile on the queen's lips. Though she was sad to be leaving the chateau, an optimistic voice she was still getting used to promised her there was a lifetime more of memories yet to be made within these walls. With one last, bracing breath, she bid a silent goodbye to their time in their secluded haven, knowing she would treasure the memories they made here for the rest of her life.
As she made her way to the front door, her ears perked at the sound of several voices just outside. Elsa slowly stepped outside and into the early morning sunlight and smiled to find her wife helping to load their trunks into the back of the royal carriage, much to their coachmen, Henry's, distress as he fretted after her. "Your Highness, please, allow me to-" the poor driver tried, only to be cut off good-naturedly by the Northuldran. "Absolutely not, you are the one that had to prepare the horses and rush out here at the last minute. The least I can do is allow you a few moments to rest," Honeymaren insisted as she hefted one of the trunks onto the carriage, unaware of Elsa's appreciative gaze and amused smirk as she watched the scene unfold. "B-but-" Henry tried again, only for another, more familiar voice to chime in from the other side of the carriage.
"Take it from me and don't bother, man," joked Avery as she came around the back of the carriage, winking at Elsa as she did before going about helping Honeymaren to secure the trunk with the leather straps hooked to the back of the carriage, sharing a friendly, playful smile with the Northuldran. "You know how stubborn these royals can be," she added with a grin as she met Elsa's eyes once more, the blonde queen lifting her chin in the air haughtily in playful retaliation, only to be forced to cover her mouth to stifle her giggles as another older, chastising voice speaking Spanish sounded from the other side of the carriage where Avery had appeared.
"Avery Elias, you bite your tongue, girl! How dare you say such things?! I swear, I tried my best to raise you to be a polite, respectable young lady, but you are positively incorrigible, just like your father!"
While she didn't speak the language, the noaide recognized a dressing down when she saw one and she snickered openly, earning a sour glare from the young artist as her mother continued to rant, throwing her hands up in the air and fretting over the straps Avery had just secured. "Mama, it's fine," Avery argued back in their native language, not bothering to hide the frustrated, long-suffering whine in her voice. "Don't you sass me, young lady!" came the indignant reply as she swatted Avery's hands away from the buckles, resulting in the two continuing to bicker back and forth, much to Honeymaren's smug amusement as she moved to grab the other trunk while Henry looked on the whole situation helplessly.
Elsa took a moment to get her own giggles under control before clearing her throat, drawing the bickering pair's attention back to her. She smiled warmly at the Elias matriarch's cry of happiness as she laid eyes on the queen and immediately pushed past her exasperated daughter to make her way over to the blonde, taking Elsa's pale hands in hers and laying sweet kisses upon them as she dipped her head in reverence. "Your Majesty, it is so good to see you again! How beautiful you've grown, my sweet child! Come now, let me get a good look at you," she insisted, old and work-worn hands flitting about tucking back odd strands of hair and smoothing imagined wrinkles as they went. "Are you eating enough? You and your sister have always been so skinny, are they feeding you well enough in that castle of yours? Can I make you something before you go?" Elsa smiled sweetly at the older woman, reaching to grasp her fretting hands and squeezing them gently. "I'm quite well, Brynn, thank you – and fear not, if the castle staff didn't feed me well enough my new wife would surely have a thing or two to say about it," she answered in Spanish, smiling inwardly as she caught Honeymaren's surprised gaze mid-heft of the second trunk – a gaze that darkened with an unmistakable hunger the longer the queen spoke the foreign tongue. "It is wonderful to see you again. I'm sorry we couldn't spend more time here."
The Elias matriarch waved off the queen's comment with one hand, leading her toward the carriage with the other. "None of that, now, my dear, but I do expect you to visit more often! You work so hard, Your Majesty, and now that you are a married woman you need to take more time to create and enjoy a family, after all," Brynn said with a wink toward Honeymaren before stage whispering to the blushing blonde, despite knowing the Northuldran had no idea what she was saying. "I can't imagine you wouldn't be looking for more chances to get away with your beautiful new wife, anyway, eh?" she asked with a broad, teasing grin as she watched the winter spirit's pale cheeks become engulfed in a flaming blush that reached the tips of her ears.
"Now, you leave that poor girl alone, woman, you're going to give her palpitations," came the gruff voice of the final member of the Elias family, a warm smile on his aging face. "Your carriage is all ready to go, Your Majesty, Your Highness," he said with a small, but respectful bow to each. Just as Elsa was about to thank him, Brynn turned to glare at him, hands on her hips. "You would know all about palpitations, wouldn't you, you old goat! You give them to me nearly every day!" Avery groaned and rolled her eyes at the inevitable bickering that would begin, exasperated embarrassment coloring her cheeks as she face-palmed and eliciting a giggle from both royals.
"Thank you, Adriene," Elsa interjected quickly in an attempt to intercept the brewing squabble. "And thank you for taking such good care of my family's chateau. It was wonderful to be back – we will be sure to visit more often, perhaps with the whole family next time." Honeymaren smiled warmly as she made her way over to Elsa, slipping a loving arm around her waist and pulling her close. "That sounds wonderful, Snowflake," she agreed, pressing a kiss to her temple as the winter spirit leaned into her. "Thank you again for everything," she said as she turned back to the family. "It was a pleasure meeting you all. I hope to see you again soon. Even you," she continued, pointing playfully at Avery who chuckled and shrugged. "Who knows, maybe I'll drop by the castle sometime this summer. I'd love to catch up with Anna as well," she admitted before glancing up at the sky as the wind began to pick up. "You'd better head out, it looks like a storm may be following you home," she pointed out, gesturing to the sky in the distance. Honeymaren nodded, remembering the last storm warning she had received from the artist. Avery smiled, opening her arms to Elsa in invitation and whispering quiet words of encouragement in the queen's ear that Honeymaren couldn't make out when the blonde leaned into a gentle hug. With one last smile, she waved goodbye to the caretakers of her family's estate and allowed Honeymaren to help her into the carriage, scooting over to allow the fire maven to sit next to her. With a final wave, the carriage set off with its newlywed royal passengers back toward castle Arendelle.
Elsa sighed quietly as she watched the beachfront estate grow smaller and smaller until it was once again engulfed in the secrecy of the surrounding forest. "We will come back, Snowflake," Honeymaren assured her quietly, sensing the queen's melancholy. "Maybe we can even make this a yearly tradition!" Crystalline eyes tore themselves from the view of the countryside to meet earnest, twilight-flecked does and she smiled at the thought. "I would really like that, Maren," she admitted before scooting closer to the fire maven and leaning against her sturdy frame, soaking in the comfort of her wife's presence. "I thought it would be hard to be away for so long," she admitted quietly with a wry smile. "I should have known you would make it even harder to leave." Honeymaren chuckled and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "You make anywhere with a bed hard to leave, my love," she murmured back with a wink, smirking when the queen blushed predictably. Elsa rolled her eyes good-naturedly before snuggling into her wife and closing her eyes, content to soak in their last hours of solitude as the steady movement of the carriage lulled her to sleep.
"And how long did you say you have been having these nausea spells, Your Majesty?" asked the castle's family physician as he gently gripped the queen's wrist in his fingers and stared at his pocket watch, counting her heartbeat with furrowed brows. "About a week or so," Elsa replied from her spot seated on the edge of her bed, pointedly ignoring Anna's disapproving glare from across the room where she stood leaning against the fireplace with her arms crossed next to a pensive and ever-watchful noaide. Honeymaren had not spoken since the doctor had begun examining Elsa, instead standing silent sentry as she leaned lightly against the windowpane, watching the heavy rain of the storm they had just escaped engulf Arendelle. Dr. Hjorn nodded, more to himself than to anyone else, his eyes flicking briefly to Elsa's before going back to his pocket watch. "Your Majesty," he called quietly, trying to attract only Elsa's attention. When she looked up at him, the expression on his face was a strange mix of wonder and worry. "When was your last blood, if I may ask?" Elsa blinked, her brow furrowing in thought. "A little over a month ago," she answered quietly enough that only he could hear. He nodded slightly before tucking his watch back into his pocket, straightening his coat. "Your Majesty, I'd like to speak to you alone, if I may," he said in a louder voice to include the other two women in the room.
"Wait, what?" Anna asked in rising alarm, uncrossing her arms and pushing away from the fireplace to make her way toward Elsa. "That won't be necessary, Dr. Hjorn, I assure you," Elsa said placatingly, patting the spot on the bed next to her in invitation to her sister. "I trust everyone in this room with my life. There will be no more secrets in our family," she insisted, glancing across the room to her wife and noticing her piercing twilight gaze locked intently on the elderly man. He shifted uncomfortably under her the fire maven's intense gaze, his eyes flicking toward the increasingly imposing Northuldran and the sisters on the bed. "I feel I must insist, Your Majesty," he urged quietly, clearly selecting his words very carefully. "To further test my hypothesis, I'm afraid I must ask you a few rather...delicate questions."
Anna arched an elegant brow and tilted her head slightly, her naturally curious mind intrigued by the mysterious attitude of their normally blunt family physician. Elsa would have found the expression adorably endearing if not for the fact that she could feel the tension rising in her wife from across the room. The queen studied the silent Northuldran for a moment, trying to gauge the stoic woman's mood before twilight eyes caught hers. The fire maven's gaze softened when it met twin chips of ice across the room, a gently questioning look in their crystalline depths. Honeymaren released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding before pushing herself off of the window she had been leaning against and heading toward the door.
"Come on, Anna. Let's give Elsa some privacy. She can tell us about it after if she wants," she said with as nonchalant an air as she could manage as she crossed the room, opening the door and looking at Anna expectantly. The younger queen clearly wanted to argue, even opened her mouth to do so before catching the unspoken conversation occurring in the shared looks between her sister and the noaide. There was evidently more at play in this situation than Anna was aware of – a fact she was determined to remedy by cornering Honeymaren while they waited for Elsa and Dr. Hjorn to finish speaking. She nodded, more to herself than to Honeymaren before squeezing Elsa's hand and offering a supportive smile. "Of course. We'll be right outside if you need us, Elsa," she said reassuringly, pressing a sweet kiss to the blonde's forehead as she stood and joined the fire maven at the door, giving her a pointed look as she passed her and entered the hall. With one last, reluctant glance at her wife, Honeymaren left the room and closed the door behind her with a heavy sigh, her gaze lingering on her hand as it tightly grasped the doorknob before lifting to meet the penetrating teal eyes she knew were waiting for her.
"Tell me everything," the redhead demanded simply, her arms folded expectantly across her chest.
And so, she did.
Honeymaren spared no detail as she divulged every odd occurrence over the past month and a half, from their magic mingling for the first time in Elsa's ice palace to her premonitions and strange, out-of-body experiences. It was borderline cathartic for the empathic noaide to lay bare her worries and fears to the young queen – she didn't realize how lost and desperate she felt until she heard the foreign tone in her own voice as she described the terrifying visions she had experienced. As guilty as she felt seeing that dread mirrored on Anna's face, the uniquely liberating feeling of sharing that burden was a much-needed breath she hadn't been capable of taking under the crushing weight of her mounting anxiety.
"And Elsa said your eyes changed back to normal the morning after you two...er...when you...ah...couldn't remember anything?" Anna asked, fighting valiantly against the blush that was rising in her cheeks. To her credit, she had tried her very best to maintain professional neutrality when Honeymaren had described what had happened during their lovemaking, but it was a brutal undertaking. She was only human, after all, and the fire maven had been quite...descriptive, to say the least.
Honeymaren nodded in answer to her question, beginning to pace agitatedly in front of Elsa's bedroom door, unable to hear anything other than the heavy rain outside. She noted sourly that Anna must have actually ordered the previous doors replaced with thicker ones as she couldn't hear a single word being spoken within the room. "And when you had this vision, the one when you were meditating in front of the fire – Nokk had said there was another, likely malevolent presence with you. Did he say what he thought it was?" she asked, the fingers of one hand rubbing her chin in thought as she unconsciously joined Honeymaren in her pacing. "No," Honeymaren answered, worrying her lower lip with her teeth. "But...Elsa did say he didn't want to come near me. He didn't want her to, either." Anna frowned as she digested that piece of information. If something as powerful as the ancient water spirit was intimidated, whatever presence her new sister-in-law had been grappling with was not to be taken lightly. The redheaded queen stopped her pacing as a terrifying thought occurred to her, her piercing gaze pinning Honeymaren in place as teal met twilight.
"Would you have won, Honeymaren?" she asked finally, turning to fully face the fire maven. "If Elsa had not called you back to her and you had remained in front of the fire...would you have come back on your own?"
"I...I don't know," she answered truthfully, her uncertainty ringing loud and clear in the silence of the hallway despite the quiet timbre of her voice.
Honeymaren's gaze was drawn to the wall where the wood-burned portrait of the Árnadalr family she had gifted Elsa for their wedding hung on proud display. Twilight flecked eyes rested on the sisters' parents, a sinking feeling of guilt creeping into her heart the longer she looked. She had promised them she would protect their daughter as they navigated the unpredictable, dangerous world of magic they were born into. Until now, it had only been a question of how she would go about it.
For the first time, it was now a question of whether she could.
The sound of the bedroom door opening had both women's heads snapping to see Dr. Hjorn exiting the bedroom, leather bag in hand. "She will see you both now," he said quietly, bowing his head in deference before leaving without another word, clearly eager to escape the penetrating gazes of the two impatient women. He barely managed to dodge the anxious Northuldran as she rushed into the room, the redheaded queen hot on her heels. The fire maven stopped in her tracks to see Elsa still perched on the foot of her bed, crystalline eyes staring far away at something beyond what either of her loved ones could see.
"Elsa?" Honeymaren probed gently, closing the door behind herself and Anna as the redhead took her previous place next to the blonde on the bed. "Are you alright, Snowflake? What did the doctor say?" she asked as she came to take a knee in front of the winter spirit. "Something...unimaginable..." Elsa muttered distantly, wide-eyed gaze still transfixed on something deep in the recesses of her own mind. Anna and Honeymaren exchanged a look of worried confusion before the younger sister reached out to take one of Elsa's limp hands in her own. "Is it serious, Elsa? Did he say what was making you ill?" Anna asked as Honeymaren placed her hands on her wife's knees and gave them a reassuring squeeze. For the first time since they had entered, Elsa's eyes flicked between teal pools and twilight flecked does, finally coming into focus. She laughed shakily, shrugging her shoulders in an attempt to appear nonchalant. "I think Dr. Hjorn may finally need to retire. Anna, we may have actually driven him 'round the bend at this point," she joked, patting Honeymaren's hand on her knee before standing and making her way over to the vanity. "I'm sure whatever it was will go away on its own – as I've said before, I feel completely fine most of the time. It must be something I was eating, or perhaps something in the forest air," she reasoned as she began to run a brush through her long, white-gold locks.
Both Honeymaren and Anna blinked in surprise, their eyes flicking from Elsa to one another and back again in confusion. "Oooookay...so what did he say? Why did he want Honeymaren and I to leave?" Anna pressed from her place on the bed. Elsa's hand faltered ever so slightly mid-brush stroke before quickly resuming its task – a minute stutter that only Honeymaren or Anna knew her well enough to notice. The winter spirit gave a short, incredulous laugh, only briefly meeting the eyes of her companions in the vanity mirror before continuing her ministrations. "He actually tried to tell me he thought I was pregnant," she said with another, considerately more nervous sounding laugh. "Isn't that absurd?" she continued quickly, words spilling ever faster from her lips as she tried to fill the deafening silence that followed. "I mean, even if I had lain with a man at some point, he himself is the one who told me it was physically impossible for me to conceive."
"Okay, that's definitely not what I thought you were going to say," Anna spoke after a long, quiet moment. "Nor I," Elsa agreed, throwing her hands up slightly in agitated exasperation. "As if that wasn't preposterous enough, he wanted you both to leave the room to give me a chance to admit to some sort of scandalous affair with a man to support his so-called 'diagnosis'," she added sarcastically. "Utterly ludicrous," she muttered under her breath with a shake of her head. Icy blue pools flicked up to the mirror to gauge her wife's reaction, only to find the Northuldran's intense and unblinking gaze locked on her from across the room. "Maren...?" she questioned nervously, placing her brush on the vanity before slowly turning around, both Arendelle sisters now looking to the still kneeling noaide with expectant, nervous eyes.
The silence in the room was heavier than stone, unbroken but for the beating of the rain against the windows and their hearts in their chests. For Honeymaren the roaring of blood in her ears was rivaled only by the echoes of her love's screams in her visions as Elsa clutched her stomach in agony. Suddenly, all the mismatched puzzle pieces of the past few weeks seemed to fall into place. The winter queen watched anxiously as her wife's eyes cycled through emotion after emotion, possible explanation after impossible rationalization, eventually settling on what she could only describe as utter dread before hardening into steely and merciless determination. "Elsa, I need you to stay here with Anna," she spoke abruptly as she got to her feet, striding with purpose toward the door. Without missing a beat, Elsa rushed forward to catch the Northuldran's hand just before she was out of reach, holding fast and halting her in her tracks. "Wait, what? Absolutely not, where are you going?" she questioned incredulously, though she couldn't hide the mounting anxiety in her voice.
"I'm going to Ahtohallan," the fire maven answered hurriedly. "We need answers and I have a feeling we won't find them here." Elsa shook her head and took Honeymaren's hands in hers, giving them a reassuring squeeze. "Darling, I'll be fine," she insisted, trying to put her wife at ease. "As I said, it was likely something in the air. I'm sure after a few days back here or even back with the Northuldra will-"
"Elsa, I think you've been poisoned," Honeymaren blurted out, startling the queen out of her train of thought. "What...?" she asked quietly, her mind trying to catch up with the sudden left turn. "What are you talking about, Maren?" Anna piped up as she came to stand next to Elsa, worry clear on her freckled features. "Elsa, when we were in your ice palace I told you it felt like you were drawing my magic, the essence of Revontuli, away, remember?" Honeymaren asked as she turned to fully face the sisters. Elsa nodded, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Yes, and you said the pain in your head disappeared along with it," she added before shaking her head slightly and looking imploringly at her wife. "What does that have to do with-"
"What if it didn't disappear, Elsa?" Honeymaren interrupted once more, placing her hands on the blonde queen's shoulders. "What if it simply...moved? I told you it felt like the essence wasn't just disappearing, but that it was almost as if your own magic was drawing it into itself – like your magic was calling to it. What if whatever was causing my pain has been quietly festering inside of you and it is finally starting to take its toll?" Elsa blinked several times, sharing a worried glance with Anna as she tried to find a hole in the clever Northuldran's theory, her brow furrowing as several pieces of the puzzle began to come into focus – sans one.
"That can't be right, Maren," Anna interjected from Elsa's side, shaking her head slightly. "You said Ahtohallan herself told you that everything would be fine – that she told you and Elsa how to cure you. Why would she have Elsa do something that would save you, yet endanger her own avatar?"
"That's exactly what I am going to ask her when I get there," Honeymaren answered resolutely, her eyes alight with vengeful fire. "And I'll be damned if she gets away with speaking in riddles this time." When Honeymaren turned back to Elsa, her gaze softened considerably seeing the clear nervous trepidation in the crystalline pools she loved so much. Warm, slightly calloused hands reached up to cup Elsa's face with a gentleness that belied the fire rolling in their fingertips as Honeymaren leaned in to place a slow, impossibly tender kiss upon Elsa's lips. "Everything is going to be just fine, Elsa. I won't let anything happen to you, I swear it on my life," she whispered against her lips, closing her eyes and pressing her forehead against Elsa's.
"I'm going to fix this," the fire maven finally said after a long moment, pressing a long kiss against Elsa's forehead. "Stay with Anna," she ordered gently once more before attempting to turn away again, only to be stilled by Elsa's hands gripping her shirt. "I'm coming with you, Maren," she insisted, hurriedly speaking again when the fire maven opened her mouth to argue. "One way or another, you know I am going to come with you." Honeymaren stuttered for a moment before closing her mouth once more with a soft sigh, a small, fond smile breaking through the tension of her determined features. Instead of answering, she simply nodded and wrapped her arms around Elsa. She pulled her goddess of winter close in a proper embrace, both women drawing much-needed comfort and strength from the other. The fire maven glanced up to find Anna wringing her hands nervously in a very Elsa-like manner, unsure of what she could do to help as she approached the pair. As soon as they separated, Anna pulled Elsa into a tight hug of her own, murmuring words of love into her ear before turning her eyes on Honeymaren and forcing a playful smile on her face to mask the anxiety that was gripping her heart.
"I hope you're not planning on doing anything stupid, Sparky," she said with a nervous laugh as she released Elsa, wrapping her arms around Honeymaren's neck tightly the moment they were free. Honeymaren gave a breathy chuckle in return, pulling Anna close to her and savoring the embrace. "I hope you're not hoping too hard, Sugar Rush," she murmured back playfully. Anna laughed shakily, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair nervously behind her ear. "Please, just..." she tried before taking a short, stabilizing breath, steadying her nerves before trying again. "Please be safe. Both of you," she said pointedly. Honeymaren smiled and nodded reassuringly, leaning forward to press an affectionate kiss against the younger queen's forehead before reaching out to grasp Elsa's hand. "Come, my love," she said with a gentle squeeze. "It is time to end this once and for all."
As the pair walked silently through the halls of castle Arendelle, lost in their own thoughts, Honeymaren couldn't help the feeling of foreboding dread that grew within her. Something deep within the noaide knew that a pivotal moment had passed, a crucial decision made, a final path chosen. As her soul prepared for a battle she had yet to fully understand, she wondered if whatever path she and Elsa now walked was the correct one.
She had learned as a leader and as a noaide that courage often meant knowing something might fail, perhaps even hurt, yet doing it anyway. Experience had taught her that stupidity was the same and that was why life was so hard.
As she felt the winter spirit's hand squeeze her own in silent support, Honeymaren narrowed her purpose to a single mantra – courageous or stupid, nothing would stop her from protecting her goddess of ice and snow. While she had no idea how she would succeed as she steeled her heart and her mind for the confrontation to come, she quietly accepted that it was not important.
She did not know how she would succeed. She just knew she would not fail.
I live!
I'm eternally sorry for how long it has taken me to update, but shit has gone DOWN in my life. More on that later. More importantly, I want to thank all of you who doggedly have stuck with this story. You are the reason it is still going. I know how much it sucks to wait so long for updates and to wonder if it will ever be continued and I'm so very sorry for that, but I promised it once and I will promise it again - no matter how long it takes me to update, I will never abandon this story. I won't do that to you all, I swear.
I want to dedicate this chapter to follower Mistress99 - your message (though it took me forever to actually see it) sparked me to kick my ass in gear and crank this out. I can't tell you how much it meant to me and how often I have thought about you since reading it.
I want to also thank my bestie JLATS who I asked to be my drill sergeant and keep me motivated to write, as well as a new friend Savannah Grace for allowing me to brush off my writing skills by adding a chapter to her wonderful Korrasami fic on AO3 "Road Trip", linked below.
I hope you all have an AMAZING New Year - Be safe, make good choices, and don't disgrace the family name. ^.~
Be well, my friends!
-Volchise
/works/29111220/chapters/71461290 - Road Trip
/works/35398957/chapters/88233997 - My humble addition to her amazing universe