'And once we hit that angle I could feel it was right! Like, actually feel it, I knew we would make it and I wasn't afraid all, you were so right!'

'It was an excellent jump.' Elsa confirmed with a proud smile as she walked beside Eliza. They had just dismounted Nokk and were walking up from the riverbank, towards the massive oak tree where they always came to talk. 'So what did you learn?' Elsa asked.

Eliza considered this. Her aunt always taught her in this way—the lessons always had hidden meanings or a bigger purpose to them, at least not that Eliza was aware of when the lessons were taking place. She should be used to this by now, but it still caught her off guard when she was asked to reflect on what it was. Her mother on the other hand, taught her very directly and often by example, which was also fun in its own way, just very different.

She considered how she felt earlier, compared to now. Before, she'd felt terrible, incompetent and like she couldn't make any correct decisions—now however, she felt a million times better—like she could rule the world, not to mention Arendelle.

'Confidence?'

'That's part of it, keep going.'

'Not to give up? Not to be afraid?'

'All true. But most importantly: belief in yourself and in your decisions. When you're queen—in life really, there's little more important than that. Don't ever waver in what you truly believe in—your instincts. Whether that is which path to lead a horse, which path to lead a kingdom or which path to lead your heart.'

Eliza considered her aunts wisdom and her current predicament with Caleb. What if her instincts about Caleb were wrong? What if a decision to have a relationship with him did backfire? What if it ended up being a terrible thing for Arendelle? She wasn't a normal teenager, her decisions would always have larger ramifications. 'What if my instincts or decisions end up being wrong? What if people get hurt because of something I believe in?'

Her aunt stopped walking to look at her—there was something strange about the look in her eyes, a faraway pain that Eliza didn't often see there. Her aunt took a breath.

'That can, and likely will happen, especially as a ruler. It comes with the job unfortunately.' The seriousness in her voice and eyes prompted Eliza to want to ask specifically what she was talking about, but decided to wait as her aunt's demeanor suddenly shifted to a small smile.

'But, what if the opposite happens? What if something amazing happens due to choices you make? We can never truly know, but what is important is that whatever decisions you make, that you listen to your heart and stand strong and unwavering in their defense.'

Eliza nodded as she continued to contemplate this. That is exactly what her mother and aunt did, they never wavered in what they believed in—and people respected that, she respected that. 'What did you mean, can and likely will happen? You seemed to be talking about something specific?'

They had reached their tree, Elsa took off her pack and retrieved a blanket from it—which had managed to stay dry. Eliza helped her spread it out at the base of the tree. 'Specifically, I was talking about my decision to keep my powers hidden from your mother for most of our childhood. It hurt her—and me—unnecessarily and I'll always regret it. And the way the secret came out hurt many more people. If I had listened to my heart and not my fear, it never would've happened like that.'

Eliza could see the regret in her aunt's eyes and was starting to feel some too. Perhaps she should've tried harder to talk to her mom about Caleb before everything blew up. Perhaps keeping a secret from her mother was part of what caused her to get so mad—she knew her mom hated secrets.

'But mom said that wasn't your fault, that what happened when you were little was an accident and it was your parents who made you keep it a secret?'

Elsa sat down and leaned against the tree, Eliza followed suit but sat facing her aunt. The sun warmed her back and began to dry her damp clothes.

'That's true, but when I was older, after they passed, it became my decision and still I kept it from her—mainly because I was afraid, ironically, of hurting her more, and for myself, of being rejected or misunderstood. It wasn't until my coronation when your mother presented Hans to me that she and everyone else found out I had powers.'

Eliza considered again, how similar this was to her current situation and suddenly began to wish, much like her jump today, that she could have a do-over conversation with her mother.

'Mom doesn't really talk about that much—what happened with all of that, Hans, your powers.'

'It was a difficult time for both of us.' Elsa took a breath. 'It's why you know so very little about Hans and the Southern Isles.'

'Tell me?'

Elsa took another breath and slid the pack over to her. Eliza curiously peeked inside and smiled widely at what she found.

'Chocolate!' In the bottom lie a neatly wrapped pack of chocolate—she recognized it from her favorite Arendelle bakery.

'There is no better chocolate than that.' Elsa stated and Eliza agreed—it was the best chocolate in Arendelle. Their whole family loved it—well, everyone except Aunt Maren—who ironically bought it most often, which is likely where this came from.

Eliza opened it and broke a piece for her aunt, then popped a small piece in her own mouth.

Curiously, her aunt smelled it with a smile before taking a small bite. 'Chocolate.' Elsa chuckled. 'The first conversation I had with your mother in over ten years was about chocolate.'

Eliza smiled and cocked her head quizzically, silently asking her aunt to explain as her own mouth was full of chocolate.

'Just before she presented Hans to me, we had a brief moment alone. It was the first time I'd really spoken to her since the accident, which had been thirteen years prior.'

'It was just the two of us up on the dais, overlooking the first royal party Arendelle had seen in thirteen years.'

Her aunt paused briefly, her eyes faraway—a strange mixture of happiness and sadness. Eliza remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

'I had been terrified all day, for months leading up to my coronation really—terrified of all the people who would be watching me—of the very real possibility of me slipping and having my powers exposed, and of the sheer weight and responsibility of becoming queen. But in that moment, up there with your mother on the dais, all of that melted away and I realized how much I had missed and needed my sister.'

Eliza simply nodded in understanding.

'So I finally gave in to that need and we talked. About the party, about chocolate and it was almost as if no time had passed between us. I felt better than I had in the previous thirteen years and thought that we could have a relationship again. I had my sister back, and I didn't want to let go of her again.'

'What happened?' Eliza found herself asking automatically, already engrossed in the story.

'Well, after a brief—strange dance with the Duke of Weselton that your mother kindly intercepted for me, we talked some more—and abruptly my fear returned. She looked so happy and I realized I couldn't live with myself if I hurt her with my powers again—so I pushed her away… again. The look on her face…'

Her aunt trailed off, took a breath a cleared her throat. Eliza could see her eyes glistening slightly and started to realize why neither of them ever talked about this. She nearly felt like crying herself picturing it being Aleks.

'The look on her face before she walked away, nearly broke my heart—and I spent the rest of my time up there contemplating if it was worse to hurt her physically or emotionally, as I seemed to be talented at doing both.'

'It really wasn't your fault though.' Eliza said, feeling defensive of her aunt in that moment. In return a small reassuring smile spread across Elsa's face.

'What I finally concluded was that I couldn't bear to be the cause of that look of pain on her face anymore, and decided that when she returned, I would atleast try to tell her about my powers and go from there.'

'So did you?'

'No, I didn't get the chance. When she returned, she returned with Prince Hans at her side.'

'What?!'

'Yes, the timing wasn't ideal. On top of everything else, her sudden public declaration that she wanted my approval to marry this person nearly sent me over the edge right then and there. Partly because I sensed he was trying to take advantage of her but mostly, selfishly—I wasn't ready to lose her again.'

'Already I don't like him.'

Elsa chuckled. 'Yes, well we had only just opened the gates so I knew she had only met him that day—and I couldn't comprehend why she wanted to rush to marry him. So I tried to get her to talk with me privately, so I could understand more about him and perhaps try to tell her about my powers.'

'Tell me you were able to.'

Elsa shook her head. 'The years of no contact had finally caught up to us, and she was understandably upset with me, which was causing me to lose grip on my powers. I decided I had to get away quickly before things got out of hand, so I—rather rudely—dismissed the marriage and started to leave.'

Eliza continued to stare, wide eyed waiting for the rest.

'But then, she tried to stop me. In retrospect I realize she just wanted to talk, but, we were both too upset at that point—and, as you are well aware, we simply express our emotions differently...'

Eliza nodded—that was an understatement.

'When I wouldn't stop walking away, she tried to grab hold of my hand and my glove slipped off—which caused me to panic more—and between my glove, the party and arguing with her, I really did lose control. Ice exploded from my hand and nearly hit her again. Everyone in the room saw—and I froze, I panicked, I couldn't move. I could feel everyone staring at me, but found myself staring at your mom wondering what she must think of me, praying she wouldn't hate me.'

'I don't think mom could ever hate you.'

Elsa smiled. 'Astoundingly, she wasn't afraid, there was no trace of fear or anger in her eyes, only an enormous amount of love, empathy and concern and I swear for a moment I thought she was about to run over to me—only she couldn't because of the ice between us. I'll never forget that look, it was the only thing I had to hold onto when I felt like my world was collapsing.'

Eliza blinked as she envisioned the scene her aunt described. That was just like her mom, her love was so powerful—she really was amazing sometimes. 'I know what look you mean—mom gets that way when one of us is in danger—like when Kjekk threw Aleks and she got that concussion. She must've really thought you were in trouble.'

'And I was. Magic wasn't always as accepted as it is now. For centuries many women were put to death simply for being accused of having magic—of being witches. It's different now, but many parts of the world are still like that. That was a big part of what caused my fear—and on some level I think your mom knew how dangerous that was too.'

'What happened then?'

'She tried to come after me, but in my panic I ran straight across the fjord up into the mountains, and she couldn't follow.'

The stark realization that she had done exactly that to her mom last night, slammed into her hard, and that guilty feeling started rising in her stomach again.

'But she came after you eventually, right? Because I know that's when she met dad.'

'Yes, she did—and thank the spirits for him. He protected her out there. The chaos that ensued by the blizzard I created put many lives at risk, including your mom's. It was the middle of July and bitter cold coming on so quickly like that can become deadly.'

'And that's how mom met dad, at Oaken's when she stopped for supplies and warmer clothes.'

Elsa smiled and nodded. 'What you don't know, is that there were several other factions that came after me as well, to try and stop the winter weather. And while the two of us were away, Arendelle was left without a true leader.'

Eliza didn't like the way her aunt said that last part. 'A true leader? With you and mom gone there was no leader.'

Elsa let out a breath and lifted a brow. 'Prince Hans was left in charge, when your mom came after me.'

'Wait, what? Hans? They weren't even married? I know the code of succession backwards and forwards, there is no way anyone had authority to put him in charge unless…' Eliza trailed off, coming to the only conclusion she knew there was. 'Unless, the reigning monarch or blood regent gives explicit directive to do so…' She finished, reciting the code she had long since memorized.

Eliza's eyes widened. 'So, mom put him in charge?' She asked in disbelief. She couldn't in a million years imagine her mother doing something like that. 'Why would she do that?'

Elsa sighed. 'You have to understand how young and inexperienced we both were at that time, not just about ruling a kingdom but about men—people in general… She couldn't have known that his true motives were nefarious.'

Eliza did understand. In that moment she felt very young and very inexperienced, and on the brink of repeating her mother's mistake—and the look on her aunt's face confirmed what she was already thinking. 'So, he never even loved her, he just wanted the kingdom…' Her stomach twisted as she spoke the words, she turned her ashamed eyes downward. 'Is that, all Caleb wants with me too?'

A cold hand grabbed hers and squeezed. 'We don't know that. Eliza, look at me.'

Begrudgingly, she pulled her eyes up to look at her aunt. She took a deep breath to quash the tears she felt forming.

'Your mother and I were left alone, we had no one to help guide us, but you do. We won't let anything like that happen again, but we also can't jump to negative conclusions about Caleb yet either.'

'You all think he's just using me to marry into the crown, don't you?' Eliza whispered, still ashamed and not really wanting to hear the truth.

'Sweetheart we're all more worried about your safety and wellbeing than the crown right now. After what happened with Hans it is a legitimate concern with that family.'

Eliza was quickly filling in the blanks again. Hans had wanted the kingdom—they were concerned for her safety and wellbeing… Suddenly her thoughts turned dark. 'What exactly, did Hans do?' Eliza asked coldly, her anger quickly rising. There were several methods of usurpation she knew of, but most commonly used throughout history, was regicide.

Her aunt was clearly caught off guard and didn't form an immediate response, but her eyes spoke a thousand words.

'Oh god.' Eliza choked out and ran a hand through her hair. 'He tried to kill you…?' She asked, not truly wanting to hear the answer. 'You said, they came after you—is that what you meant? To kill you? Like a witch hunt?' She asked in disbelief. Once again her aunt's eyes and silence spoke volumes. Eliza scrunched her eyes closed and shook her head, pushing tears and the mental image of her aunt's death from her mind. Then another disturbing thought occurred to her: it wouldn't have been enough to kill her aunt, as her mom would've inherited the crown. Her parents hating this man suddenly made so much more sense. 'What did he do to mom?'

'Sweetheart, that's enough for today.'

Eliza's eyes shot open, releasing tears. 'No! What did he do to mom? I need to know the truth. All of it.'

'And you will, just not right this minute. You're tired and upset. You've had a very long day and need to calm down.'

'Calm down? How could you even let me ramble on about Caleb like that, knowing what his usurper uncle tried to do to you? How could I ever let him get close to us? I'm so mad at myself!'

'Eliza.' Elsa said calmly. Icy blue eyes reflected her own. 'You weren't wrong when you reminded me not to judge people by their families. Caleb is likely nothing like his uncle, but we have to be cautious, that's all.'

'Like how I'm nothing like you?' Eliza returned with a raised brow. Her lower lip quivered at the potent truth this revealed. Why, out of all the people on earth did she have to fall in love with this one? Suddenly, she was very depressed and very tired.

Then she was being pulled into a hug and allowed herself to cry again.