The infirmary of the castle of Arendelle consisted of a small rectangular room where a few beds were lined up against the walls, separated by elaborately crafted screens. High arched windows pierced one of the walls, towering over the beds and offering an unspoiled view of the sparkling fjord in the distance. Fine white linen curtains filtered the sunlight, swaying lazily in a gentle breeze. Light-colored wood panelling, adorned with delicate floral motifs, lined the stone walls to mid-height.
A soothing coolness permeated the room, which did not displease Elsa, sitting on a bed. The infirmary offered her a welcome refuge from the suffocating heat of the castle, encircled by the perpetual blaze. She had therefore asked Anna to leave her room untouched, as well as the infirmary, at the request of the brave nurse Astrid, who had pleaded the necessity of maintaining this space at a reasonable temperature for medical reasons. There was a strangely pleasant herbal scent in the air, not unlike that of ginger, mixed with the more pungent smell of disinfectants.
Old Astrid was working in silence, her gestures precise and delicate as she was cleaning the wound on Elsa's forearm.
"You could have avoided this, you know," sighed Anna, sitting on a chair facing her sister.
"You were in danger," replied the latter, shrugging her shoulders with indifference.
The queen's eyes rested on the wound, which no longer looked so terrifying now that it had been cleaned.
"Is it bad, Astrid?" she couldn't help asking.
"No, Your Highness. A superficial wound, but the ashes had to be cleaned to avoid infection. Where did I put that ointment...," she murmured, searching through a wooden box lying nearby.
Finally, she grabbed a small terracotta pot and unscrewed the lid. The scent of mint and resin filled the air as she picked up a dab of ointment on her fingertips.
"This may sting a little," she warned, before spreading the ointment over the wound.
Elsa held back a shiver as the balm came into contact with her skin. The cold, almost numbing sensation quickly intensified, accompanied by a tingling sensation that drew an involuntary grimace from her.
" 'A little'," she breathed through her teeth.
Astrid and Anna gave her amused smiles.
Once the ointment had been applied and the wound bandaged, the nurse withdrew with a final bow. The sisters turned to each other, a more serious expression on their faces.
"I wonder what drove that man to act," began Elsa. "He knew he didn't stand a chance against your personal guard."
"Stupidity," Anna dismissed with a wave of her hand. "The slums are notoriously bad, we should have taken a different route."
"He was so thin... hunger must have driven him to despair."
Anna raised her head abruptly, her eyes shining with restrained anger.
"That's probably it," she replied. "They don't approve of the agreement with the Southern Islands, so they're trying to attack me... Us."
Her voice trembled slightly, and her fists closed on her knees. Elsa hesitated for a moment, uncertain.
"It's not what I..."
"The more time passes, the more the cells fill up. The number of reports of suspicious people in these quarters keeps increasing. Do they think it's that easy to rule?" continued Anna, giving vent to her anger. "Can't they see I'm doing all this for their own good?"
Seeing the tears welling up in Anna's eyes, Elsa leaned over and grasped her hands, looking at her with tenderness - or so she hoped.
"They don't know all the sacrifices you've made. One day, they'll realize."
Anna raised her head, surprised by the unusual gentleness in her sister's voice. She took Elsa's hand and placed it against her cheek, closing her eyes. Its freshness contrasted with the fire roaring inside her. The young blonde was pleased to see that her gesture had brought her the comfort she'd been hoping for.
"Thank you," she whispered, smiling slightly. "I'm glad you're here. We're all we have now."
"I'll always be by your side, Anna."
Elsa's eyebrows had furrowed slightly in concentration as she tried to modulate her voice to simulate love and tenderness. This seemed to satisfy Anna, and a gentle silence settled between them.
Anna gently released her sister's hand, determination gradually replacing the gentleness that had settled in.
"I'm going to increase patrols in the slums. These people need to understand that their actions have consequences," she declared, her voice growing firmer.
She stood up suddenly, crossed the room in a few steps and stopped facing the window, opposite to the bed where Elsa was still sitting. Seen from behind, she looked imposing, crowned by the sun that was just beginning to decline through the thin layers of ash.
"I can't let myself look weak," she murmured, more to herself than to Elsa.
There was a new silence, during which Anna took long breaths in an attempt to calm herself. But memories of the attack kept coming back to her, fueling her seething rage.
A rustle behind her caught her attention. She turned away from the window to see Elsa stand up and dust off her tunic.
"I'm going out for a while," Elsa declared simply.
Anna frowned, surprise briefly crossing her face, quickly replaced by concern.
"Going out? After what's just happened? Why would you?"
"You know I can't stand the heat in the castle. I'm going down to the fjord to get some fresh air."
Faced with her sister's increasingly worried expression, she felt the need to add:
"I'm going to take off my armor and keep a cape on. No one will recognize me and I won't go far."
"But what if someone...," Anna began, taking a step towards her.
" I have nothing to fear," Elsa assured her.
Anna didn't seem convinced, but she couldn't force her sister to stay. She sighed, walked over to Elsa and cupped her face in her hands.
"Promise me you'll be careful."
"I promise, Anna."
Elsa gave her a slight, confident smile, hoping it would be enough for Anna. She couldn't understand her concern. And the warmth of her hands against her cheeks was unpleasant, as if she'd brought her face too close to a fire.
Anna looked at her for a few more moments, obviously looking for reasons to make her stay, but gave up the battle with another sigh. She answered her smile before finally letting go of her face.
"Come back soon, okay?"
"I won't be long," replied Elsa as she left the infirmary.
The castle gates closed behind Elsa as she adjusted her hood. Free of her armor, she felt freer, lighter. The patched cloak she was wearing sufficiently hid her face and clothes. Which was vital, given where she was planning to go.
As she crossed the bridge separating the castle from downtown Arendelle, she glanced over her shoulder. She seemed to feel Anna's gaze on her. She dismissed the thought - her sister had locked herself in her quarters to write letters, as she'd told her.
"Forgive me, Anna...," she whispered.
Once she'd reached the end of the bridge, all she had to do was turn right onto a winding paved staircase to reach the fjord below. She passed in front of it, went around the dried-up fountain of the town square, and plunged into the heart of the city, towards the lower quarters.
Reinforcing the patrols might have been enough for her sister, but Elsa couldn't settle for that. Someone had tried to attack Anna, the only family she had left, and if he wasn't alone, she had to know for sure. She couldn't just stand there.
The unpleasant, pungent smell of the slums washed over her as the cobblestones disappeared beneath an uneven layer of packed dirt and dried mud. Roofs of whitewashed tiles gave way to coarse thatch, some torn or blackened by recent fires. The air, already heavy, carried hints of burnt wood and garbage, intermingled with a stagnant humidity that clung to the skin.
The alleyways narrowed around her, forming a maze of passages so tight that two people would have struggled to pass each other. Wooden and stone walls, cracked and oozing, seemed to lean towards her, as if to look her over. Windows here were few and far between, often boarded up or obstructed by threadbare curtains. Even in the middle of the afternoon, daylight struggled to penetrate these dark corridors, replaced by an oppressive gloom.
Elsa was wandering at random, determined to find some clue that would confirm her suspicions, even if it meant venturing into the darkest corners of Arendelle. But she had to admit she had no idea how to proceed.
As if in response, a sudden chatter sounded in front of her. She froze, all her senses alert. Instinctively, her hand came to rest on the guard of her rapier, hidden beneath her cloak.
The clamor of voices came from a small improvised market, tucked away in a square much narrower than the marketplace in front of the castle. Elsa approached cautiously, holding back a grimace at the stench that now mingled with that of the alleyways: that of badly preserved fish, moldy leather and dying vegetables.
She pushed her way between the passers-by, so thin she was afraid she'd break them if she touched them, as she pulled her cloak tighter around her face. The stalls were rickety, made of stacked crates, ill-fitting boards and torn awnings, and overflowing with goods as diverse as they were questionable: wilted vegetables, grayish bits of meat, pieces of discarded fabric in faded colors, and a few worn objects, no doubt salvaged or stolen.
Elsa stopped in front of a stall where pieces of stale bread lay next to overripe apples. Beside her, a man was feverishly counting his few coins stamped with Anna's face. When he met her gaze, he suddenly closed his fist on his meagre treasure and squinted suspiciously. She immediately turned away and walked towards an old man offering trinkets laid out on a patched sheet on the floor.
She didn't know exactly what she was looking for, but instinct urged her to stay. Maybe someone would say something, a word, a whisper that would confirm her suspicions.
"You seem lost, little sparrow," came a voice from behind her.
Elsa froze but didn't turn around immediately. Her hand reflexively tightened on the handle of her rapier. Slowly, she loosened her grip before pivoting in a stiff movement.
Before her stood a young slender woman. Her curly brown hair was hastily tied back, a few strands falling around her face lit by sparkling silver-blue eyes. She was wearing simple clothes, worn leather pants and a shirt too large for her, but she exuded an almost disconcerting assurance.
"I'm not lost," replied Elsa in a neutral voice.
The young woman raised an amused eyebrow before kneeling down beside the trinkets Elsa was examining a few seconds earlier. The merchant glanced at them suspiciously but remained silent.
"Are you looking for something, then?"
"No, nothing," Elsa retorted hastily.
The other burst out laughing as she straightened up. When she met Elsa's gaze again, a mirthless smile floated across her lips.
"Then you've come to the right place. In the slums of Arendelle, we're nothing. Nothing but people forgotten by the crown."
At the mention of the royal object, some passers-by gave them evil looks before spitting on the ground. Elsa raised her eyebrows. She knew that Anna was a firm ruler, making tough decisions to keep the kingdom stable. But to arouse such hostility...
She thought back to the threats and curses whispered on their path, to the fear in the eyes of the dockworkers, to the desperate attack on Anna earlier. What if this wasn't the first time this had happened? Anna had never told her about such outbursts. Was it possible that she had deliberately hidden the extent of the situation from her? Elsa shook her head. No, Anna had never hidden anything from her. These people didn't realize the sacrifices her sister had to make to protect Arendelle.
Yet what she saw here looked more like abandonment than discipline.
She approached the brunette and lowered her voice so as not to be overheard by passers-by:
"I'm surprised by... the tension here."
"Tension?" repeated the young woman. "I'd call it misery, starvation, despair, abandonment, fear. This is what the people of Arendelle have been living with for two years! Where do you come from to be surprised?"
Elsa opened her mouth but changed her mind at the last moment. With a grim expression, she turned her head away. A silence settled between them. The brunette spoke again:
"Follow me. If you want to see what reality is like, I'll show you."
Without waiting for an answer, the woman turned on her heels, her brown curls dancing on her shoulders as she walked away down the alley. Without hesitation, Elsa followed her.
They came across a woman sitting on the threshold of a crumbling house, a toddler asleep against her chest, his breath shallow. The rags covering the mother's body revealed her ribs, and her cheeks were deeply hollowed, a sign of painful hunger. At her dirty, yellowed feet, a small, cracked wooden bowl held a handful of tarnished coins. The brunette stopped and rummaged in her pockets for a moment, before dropping a piece of stale bread into the bowl. She smiled sadly at the poor woman, who thanked her in a breath.
Further on, a young boy, as thin as a skeleton, was scratching the ground with a pebble. In his dull eyes, Elsa could still see hope, perhaps a childish hope of unearthing food or a treasure for his family. Near him, an old man, probably his grandfather, was scraping up the remains of a half-decomposed fish.
In front of a leaning house, a man was rummaging through a pile of garbage, sorting out the bits that could be eaten or resold. He raised his head when he saw Elsa and the young brunette, encircling the pile with his arms as if afraid they might steal it. He watched them pass with a wicked eye. Next to the house, in a darker alley, there was a distant lament. Elsa squinted and distinguished a woman, from behind, kneeling beside a far-too-small figure.
Finally, they reached a wider street where silence seemed to weigh more heavily than elsewhere. In the middle of the road, the cobblestones were black, marked by a half-faded human silhouette. Elsa stopped, her eyes fixed on the ground.
"It was a farmer," the brunette murmured, her voice suddenly deeper. "He tried to keep back part of his harvest to feed his family. Anna burned him alive right here, to set an example."
The image flashed before Elsa's eyes as she stared at the burnt cobblestones. The intense heat, the gut-wrenching screams, the nauseating smell... She held back a gagging gasp. She tried several times to open her mouth, but immediately closed it again, as if the smell she'd imagined was seeping in. She suppressed a shudder and finally managed to articulate:
"What about the others? Those who saw the scene?"
"They watched, like you're watching now, because they had no choice. If you don't obey the Queen, you end up like him. His wife was sent to the dungeons and his two sons forced to work in the fields, watched over by guards."
The young woman turned to Elsa, her lips pursed, visibly upset.
"This can't go on," she declared in a resolute tone. "People are murmuring, anger is roaring, famine is driving them to the edge of despair."
She took a step closer. Elsa wanted to step back, but her body didn't respond, her eyes still fixed on the blackened mark.
"We fight, we struggle, and one day, we will put an end to her reign of terror. If you're ready to join us, come and meet me in the slums. I'll let you think about it."
She began to walk away, heading back into the slums, when Elsa finally regained her composure. She turned around and exclaimed:
"Wait! Who are you?"
The young brunette turned back to her, a smile on her face.
"Call me Liv," she replied, before disappearing around a corner.