The days went by and all looked the same. Elsa felt caught up in a whirlwind, a succession of days that no longer made any sense. A week had already passed before she realized it.

She had locked herself in her room and categorically refused to open the door to anyone, including Anna. The latter felt as if she'd been sent back in time, but this time her sister's powers weren't to blame. It was all Aodhan's fault.

Once again today, Anna knocked on the door. She could hear Elsa sniffing around in the room behind, but there was no rustle or other sign of movement to indicate that she was coming to open the door. The young redhead sighed, placed the tray of food in front of the door, and walked away, not without one last sad look behind.
Elsa sat on her bed, her glassy eyes resting on the window, from which she could see the sun's cold rays glinting off the snow falling lazily on Arendelle. She exhaled, producing a cloud of condensation, before burying her head in her arms.
The whole room was covered in a thin layer of ice, flakes falling onto the furniture or catching in Elsa's blonde hair. The room hadn't been in such a state since the death of her parents.
The young woman felt helpless. Her heart was both heavy and empty. Several times, she knocked her chest to make sure it was still beating. Her tears had dried up after two days, and she could no longer cry, although the weight of sorrow was still there.
In the evenings, she felt as if her lungs were being squeezed shut and she suffocated, until she got up and went out onto the balcony. The cool winter night air gently dissipated the weight, allowing her to regain consistency, at least for a moment. During the day, she felt as if she were a stranger to her own body, feeling time passing slowly, indifferent to her pain. She would sometimes try to take her mind off things with a book, but she couldn't concentrate for more than a few minutes. Her thoughts kept drifting back to Aodhan.

She couldn't understand why he had followed Roderick to Yohamitään. Sometimes she hoped he had a plan to stop the former King of Arendelle and the dangerous entity that had given him his powers. Then she remembered his empty stare and heavy silence, and nodded sadly to herself. He would surely have told her about such a plan. He trusted her, he loved her - or so she had thought.
She let her fingers slide over her lips, chapped by the room's ambient cold. The sensation of his lips against hers still lingered in her mind, a bittersweet memory that haunted her painfully. For the first time, she had lowered her barriers, she had allowed herself to love someone. And now Aodhan had left with a part of her heart that she would never be able to regain over time.

A new day. Thick white clouds were hiding the sun and threatening to snow at any moment. Elsa, leaning against the railing of the balcony, was sadly observing Arendelle below without seeing it.
Behind her, knocks sounded on her bedroom door with a peculiar rhythm. She didn't bother to answer. As she did every day, she would wait for Anna to leave before taking her lunch tray, which she was pecking at without appetite.
A resounding crash startled her, and she turned around, hands raised, ready to use her magic.
Anna was sitting on the floor, and judging by the broken tray and the remains of a steaming meal around her, it wasn't hard to guess what had happened.

"Anna! Are you all right?" Elsa exclaimed worriedly, rushing over to help her.
"My bottom hurts, but I should be fine," replied Anna as she got to her feet.

She glanced at her sister, hoping her attempt at humor had hit the mark, but her condition worried her. Hair a mess, dark circles under her eyes and looking sickly, she was definitely sleep-deprived.

"We need to talk," she assured Elsa, without giving her time to say anything.

She grabbed her sister's arm, as much to take her out onto the balcony as to avoid slipping on the ice covering the floor. Repressing a shiver in the winter breeze, they stood together, leaning on the railing facing Arendelle.
She'd been trying for days to talk to Elsa, and now she didn't know how to bring up the subject that weighed heavily between them.

"I've been talking to Mattias and Kristoff," she began at last. We've mobilized Arendelle's royal fleet. Tomorrow, we leave for Yohamitään.
"What?"

Elsa turned to her sister, her eyes wide.

"Anna, it's too dangerous!" she retorted immediately. "Storms cover the southern sea almost continuously! Your ships will... you will... I can't lose you too!"

Anna put her hand on her sister's. Elsa's skin was frozen.

"We've got to do it," she whispered. "To save Arendelle once and for all, we've got to stop Roderick, Yohamitään, and... And Aodhan."

She pronounced the name with a resigned sigh. She couldn't put it off any longer. Hearing her say it, Elsa felt as if a stone was sinking painfully into her chest.

"I can't...," she murmured weakly.
"Elsa. I know you loved him deeply - no, you love him deeply - and he felt the same way. It was so obvious."

Anna sighed again and rested her forehead against Elsa's shoulder, who stroked her hair mechanically, her mind elsewhere, carried away by her words.

"I think that's why I had such a hard time with him too," she admitted. "I was afraid he'd take you away from me."
"That would never happen!" protested Elsa. "I would never..."
"I know, I know," interrupted Anna. "What I mean is..."

She took a few seconds to search for her words, biting the inside of her cheek.

"His behavior isn't consistent," she said at last. "Mattias and Kristoff agree with me. After doing everything to save Arendelle, to prove his good faith, to show you his love, he suddenly betrays us? It just doesn't make sense."
"I've often thought that too," Elsa replied. "But maybe we're looking for meaning where there is none."

A new silence stretched out between them, a little longer than the previous one.

"Sometimes I hope to see him open the door and come to me. He takes me in his arms and tells me that everything is fine, that it was just a bad dream. I can often hear his voice echoing through the corridors. At night, the wind resembles his whispers, as if he was trying to reassure me."

Her voice broke and she let out a sob, her first in days. Anna looked at her, pained, and cuddled her close, gently stroking her back. Elsa quickly regained her composure with a long breath.

"But he betrayed us," she concluded in a tone she wanted to be sharp. "You were right all along."
"Elsa, why don't you come with us," her sister suggested slowly. "You could make sure we're safe, help us defeat Yohamitään and... And ask Aodhan to account for his actions. You could find out why he acted the way he did."
"Is it really worth it?" lamented Elsa. "I'm afraid to hear his answer..."
"At least we'll know for sure," replied Anna with assurance. "And once we've destroyed Yohamitään, you can move on. But I'm sure there's more to the story, he couldn't have been fooled by Roderick so easily."
"I don't know, Anna. If he had a plan, he could have told us, trusted us..."
"I agree, but maybe he didn't have a choice. There must be a reason."

Her sister didn't answer, lost in thought. Anna lifted her head from her shoulder and looked at the young blonde with tenderness.

"If you want to come with us, meet me in the throne room. We'll leave tomorrow at dawn."

She squeezed Elsa's hand, which was beginning to warm up.

"You were right about one thing," she whispered. "He's not Hans."

Elsa listened as her sister left and closed the bedroom door behind her.
Her words provoked a new tumult within her. Waves of sorrow were now mingled with waves of hope. She had shut herself off long enough, she had let despair get the better of her. She had to come to her senses. Fortunately, she was no longer the Queen of Arendelle, but Anna was. What else would her people think, seeing her like this?
Something warmed her face. She opened her eyes to see a few rays of sunlight piercing through the clouds, their golden color dissipating the pearly white. Anna was right. She had to know for sure. The clouds parted, revealing the sun, whose light spread warmly over Arendelle.

The great doors of the throne room opened. Mattias, Kristoff and Anna, deep in conversation, paused and turned towards the room's entrance.
Elsa advanced proudly, her footsteps echoing between the pillars. All trace of fatigue had disappeared from her face, and her perfectly coiffed hair cascaded gracefully over her shoulders, its silver reflections twirling with every movement. Despite the sadness still veiling her eyes, the young woman exuded a new aura of determination.
She stopped in front of the small group, took a long breath, and declared decisively:

"I'm ready. I'll go to Yohamitään with you."

At dawn, the cries of sailors echoed in Arendelle harbor. The imposing ships of the royal fleet were leaving the kingdom, heading for the southern sea. Once out of the fjord, they unfolded all their sails, immediately inflated by the morning wind, which proudly waved the Arendelle banners atop the masts.
Elsa, standing on the deck of the largest ship, advanced towards the prow. She had regained all her presence and confidence, and was staring intently at the horizon as if she could already see the island of Yohamitään. Heart pounding, she tried to push away the thought of Aodhan.
Anna joined her, dressed in a more appropriate outfit than her queenly dress, but still in royal colors. She took her sister's hand in hers, and together they stood on the prow of the ship, cradled by the waves.
Whatever lay ahead, they would face it together.