Icewalker

Cautiously approaching him a little more, Elsa took slow step after slow step as to not startle Garret. He had stood motionless for a few minutes stretched by confusion to what felt like hours.

"Is everything all right?" she softly asked while bringing her hands over her chest, worry starting to fill every inch of her body. Elsa was at a loss as to what was happening to him, what she could do and whether it was her fault.

Garret suddenly stumbled back as she had gotten closer, falling with a thud on the humid grass. His eyes were now as large as her own, his breaths quick and short, his arms stiffened. His respiration hastened with every second, and each of his gasped pants viciously sent a shiver down her spine—he looked like he was choking with every one of them. His hands went to his sides in a flash. He clutched them so hard he drained all the color from their visibly goose-bumped skin.

"Garret! What is going on? What do you want me to do?" Elsa's voice had begun to quiver as much as the soldier's limbs. Garret was still on the ground, his arms shaking and his forehead beading with frozen drops of sweat. He squeezed his eyes shut and lifted his face to the blue sky. The air around him grew colder, so much so that Elsa detected a faint glittering before her eyes and the grass tips near her were beginning to bend over from the added weight of the microscopic crystals gently settling atop. She slightly bent down, almost putting a hand to his shoulder before she suddenly flinched, drawing back at the last instant.

Even at such a moment, she couldn't get past her fear of touch.

Elsa frantically turned her head to the side.

"Kai! Kai!" she called, a hint of desperation in her voice. The chamberlain appeared near the entrance to the garden as if he had just popped out of a crack in the wall with a look of concern on his face. "He's having…something! Please bring—"

"No!"

Elsa briskly whirled her head back at Garret to see him lifting his left hand toward her with a single green eye open.

"I-I got this under con-control," he managed to express through his ragged breaths. He inhaled sharply through his teeth, closing that same eye back again.

Under control? That's under control?

"You're shaking!"

"It's going to stop in a few." This time his voice had been calm, poised, gentle. Immediately after he pronounced that sentence, he heavily exhaled and the glittering crystals disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. He opened his eyes fully this time, and the tremor in his limbs diminished little by little. His breathing slowly got back to a normal pace, the frozen droplets around his face melting into water that he almost dismissively swept off with the back of his hand. He kept his gaze fixed straight ahead, clearly avoiding direct eye-contact with Elsa. "And that should be the end of it."

How-What-Why is he treating this so casually?

"Garret, that wasn't a very reassuring display," she said. Her voice carried her worry as evidently as the wind carried autumn leaves. "I'm no doctor but something is clearly wrong," she continued as reproach that he could treat something like this so lightly started to creep into her tone.

Garret heavily sighed. "It always goes away eventually. I've already had to deal with this some—" He seemingly realized how much of a mistake it was to let that bit slip out when he abruptly held his breath to avoid finishing his phrase. The damage was already done however; Elsa felt her heart fall and a new form of heat, different from the one she had discovered a week before, rose in her chest.

He's had these attacks regularly.

She took a few moments to reflect, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. Garret still refused to meet her eyes. Elsa knew he had let out a lot more than he intended to. Steeling her resolve with a slight nod, she walked away from the sitting soldier to have a word with Kai who was still standing near the garden's gate, awaiting her instructions.

"I would like you to notify Miss Greta of what just happened, please. Tell her to come as soon as she can, but to wait for me to call her in," she whispered.

Kai immediately bowed, soundlessly accepting her request. Elsa threw a kind smile his way.

"If I may," Kai's voice called back.

"Yes?"

"I believe I know what you intend to say, and I think it may not be what he wants to hear at the moment." He brought himself a little closer. "He may not need to hear anything, actually."

What does that mean?

"I've already had to deal with a similar situation, Your Majesty," Kai continued, motioning toward Garret with a rapid nod. He breathed a quick sigh. "I think he just had an anxiety attack. My…My brother had a few of those when we were young. Though this one seems to be less severe, I would advise against forcing anything out of Master Garret."

Elsa shot her eyebrows up in curiosity. "What do I do, then?"

Kai lifted the corners of his mouth in a sympathetic smile. He scanned Elsa's face for a while, and she swore she could see a glint of pride in his eyes. "You have come a long way."

Elsa could feel her own surprise show on her face. "In what regard?"

Kai simply shook his head. "Pardon me, excellency. It was nothing. But on the matter at hand, you do not have to do anything. He has to decide whether he wants to say something." On that note, the chamberlain bowed once again and silently exited the garden with catlike stealth, closing the door behind him.

Elsa was left thinking, letting his words stew in her mind. She slowly walked back to where she had left Garret sitting, his gaze low and without any light, only to see him struggling to get up as he clutched his back near his still healing injury.

"Garret, wait!" she said as she hurriedly stepped closer.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, excellency. I promise it is the last time you have to."

"Please do not move."

That sentence sounded a little harsher than she had initially intended—almost like an order—and made Garret stop moving immediately.

She wasn't sure what to do. Anna was a lot better than her at these types of things, she'd be the first to jump in to offer someone her help in such a situation. Elsa tightened her fists. She'd have to learn to be at least a tiny bit like her sister.

I need to step up.

Elsa kneeled at his left side.

"Garret," she softly called. His gaze still avoided her face, giving no indication that he had even heard her. At this, her focus intensified. "I promise I'm not going to apologize again," she said with a small laugh that remained an orphan. Her face falling, Elsa continued. "I know we're not life-long friends. I know you came to our kingdom and only met chaos. But I think it may be beneficial for you to express what lies deep inside." She fiddled with her fingers in her lap, throwing glances here and there. She was making her speech up as she went along, something she usually never did. "Do you remember what I talked to you about the day we properly met?"

Garret silently nodded; he was listening.

She heaved a small breath. "One of my mistakes was bottling everything up. Not just my magic. I kept everything inside, and inevitably, it burst out. I don't want you to make that same mistake." She brought her gaze to the ground too. "I see how tired you look every day, how you think you're not worth the trouble. And I'm not only talking about our powers. I just want you to get it out. I think it would help you, as it helped me."

They sat without a word for a minute. She usually relished silences, but this one was heavy, thick, ominous.

"It doesn't have to be me," Elsa added. She felt a little bit disappointed that she had to admit that, but she would have to deal with that another time. "Any open ear will do, and I think you'll find plenty with Anna, at least."

This time, to her surprise, Garret let out an honest-sounding chuckle. "Anna has ears for the entire world," he said.

I really can't seem to grasp how humor works...

Despite her short-lived confusion, Elsa slightly lit up. "She does, doesn't she?" She hesitantly scooched an inch closer. "Will you talk to her?" she asked, her tone hopeful.

Garret's shoulders slumped down. "I'm sorry but no."

Elsa wasn't following—she thought he'd seen reason. "Why not?"

"I don't do…talking. I still have trouble with that."

"Why?"

"Never really learned how to," he explained with a shrug.

Elsa was on the verge of repeating her entire speech when she remembered her ability to project herself onto his memories. "What if there was another way? Would you…?" she instinctively wondered aloud.

Garret finally brought his eyes to meet hers with a slight furrowing of his brows. "What do you mean by 'another way', majesty?"

Elsa took a long breath.

How can I explain this?

She lifted her hands and made a few vague gestures in the air, drawing hazy figures and imprecise shapes like an improvising conductor while deciding what to say.

Garret arched an eyebrow. "So, circles. Surrounded by other circles. Lots of circly things."

"No, um. It's…" Elsa let her hands fall back to her lap. "Ever since I took your arrow in my hand…I think I am able to see your memories when I touch your ice," she said with an unsure voice and a small wince. Garret looked mildly surprised, but frankly not as surprised as she thought he'd be. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."

He seemed to sink in his thoughts for a few seconds. "To be fair, I was suspecting something like that," he said after a while.

Well, not so difficult after all...

Garret slowly scratched the back of his neck. "I knew that thing wasn't a hallucination."

Wait, what?

He didn't wait for her question to be asked. "I saw something when I first touched the ice on your castle up north," he explained. "My instincts told me it was a hallucination when I watched it rise up from afar. Now that I think about it again, the lady did look and sound exactly like you, Your Majesty."

Elsa couldn't contain her blush.

He saw… that.

However, instead of mocking her as she had expected, Garret threw one of his large rejuvenating smiles in her direction. He brought his right knee closer to his body, his eyes not leaving hers. "So, that was a memory of yours. I want you to know I understand why it felt so good. And I did like the tune, for the record. Though you've got to teach me how to make ice play music like that."

Elsa wasn't stunned per se, but it felt a lot like she was.

Even now, he's first thinking of anyone but himself.

Quickly getting ahold of herself, she curved her mouth into a quick beam.

"I experienced a form of freedom for the first time that night," she said fondly. "It was a unique sensation, a thrill I still seek to this day. But my point stands. You can show me, rather than tell me, if you want," she added, sincerely hoping he would accept.

The soldier's amused yet tender gaze hardened. He scanned Elsa's face for a bit. "How much can this allow you to see?"

"Grand Pa-The ancient talking rock from last week said that it depends on the construct I use. The more emotionally charged it is, the more I get to view."

Garret's eyes immediately darted to and back from his leg.

The memories from that may be a bit too much for now.

"The wolf from earlier would do nicely," Elsa hastened to say. Garret looked a bit more relaxed. "Unless...Will it cause the same reaction?" she asked while lightly biting her nail.

"I don't think so, to be honest. I wasn't really expecting it to show up. Now that I know it'll come out, it should go a lot smoother. If I can create it again."

That could be a first step. "I believe in you," Elsa said.

Garret's eyes slightly narrowed. He kept his gaze locked on her for a moment.

"What do they say? Never go against the word of the queen?" he eventually bantered with a sly smile.

"I could have made it an order," Elsa answered with a shrug.

"True. I should count myself lucky."

The small glance they shared made Elsa feel a lot lighter. How he was able to cheer up so quickly was beyond her but she nonetheless marveled at it and followed him in his good humor despite herself. She wasn't going to complain about it, was she?

Garret heaved a deep sigh and nodded once. He then concentrated again as he clasped his hands together tightly. He managed to recreate the small wolf with a noticeable effort and brought his hand forward for her to grab it. She lightly winced.

"I should have mentioned. I'm not really comfortable when it comes to touch," Elsa said. "Could you please lay it down?"

The soldier did not pry. He simply nodded in understanding and delicately put the frozen wolf amidst the pearly grass blades between them - an insistent reminder of his unexpected outburst.

Elsa brought her fingers to graze the minuscule statue. She stopped at the last inch, throwing another questioning look toward him. His eyes settled on hers with an intense gaze, as if he was debating one last time whether it was a good idea. Whatever the conclusion he reached in his head was, he gave Elsa a nod as sharp as the ones he had always given her. His mind had been made. She responded with a small smile, closed her eyes and touched the ice.

At first, nothing happened. She could still sense the wind gently play with the locks of her hair. She could still smell the delicate perfume of her garden's flowers. She could still feel the familiar sensation of frozen crystals on her fingers. She could still detect the sun's warmth spreading across her back. She kept her eyes closed.

Slowly, emotions started to bloom into her mind. Happiness. Fear. Disgust. Pride. A feeling of power. Strong, steadfast, unrelenting. She kept her eyes closed.

After those came the full sensations. Heat. Cold. Hurt. Comfort. Laughter in her throat. Sadness in her eyes. They started out faint and small. Then they grew bigger and bigger. They became memories. Flashing. Whirling. Not hers. How she could tell she did not know. She kept her eyes closed.

Then she was a bit lost. Her small lungs filled with crisp air. The first of her tears triggered her father's. She felt at home, near her family, where she belonged. Her mother's happy cries mirrored her own. Her song echoed in her ears.

Then, at last, she was outside. She giggled and grinned. Fell and cried. She cleaned the mud off her knees and her face. She caught the ball, threw it back again at her father. She lost a tooth, purchased a pretty flower. Her mother's smile was as radiant as the sun.

Then she knew. She cried at first, but the tears were wiped. Not her hands, her hands. She marveled at the new sensation, at the new possibilities. She sculpted, just like she did. The products of her efforts were not as beautiful, but they were hers. The wolf howled and the owl hooted.

Then she was relieved. She didn't know how to describe it. He hadn't been angry—he had been proud. The honor would be immense, the name would become grand. He saw her as his child. Her mother was worried, but surely everything would be alright. She held her head and sang.

Then she was focused. Mission after mission, always first came the nation. The armor was there, the bow was too. She never had to use them, but at least she had the two. She felt honored at first, horrified, stoic and eventually numb. She had become a tool and she knew it, but at least she still could hum.

Then she made a mistake. She felt nothing. The armor had been a curse, the bow its enabler. Her father looked the other way. Her mother cupped her cheek and sang like she always did. She said he'd come around—she doubted he'd ever talk to her again. The wolf howled but the owl had disappeared.

Then she smelled it. And heard it. And roared. And slashed. And cried. She stopped singing. He lashed at her. The quiet was her only companion.

A loud noise suddenly resounded, blowing into the open with the sound of broken glass. Elsa opened her eyes, slowly getting her bearings back from the strange flashes that had just surged through her mind.

What just happened?

She couldn't describe what she had gone through. It had felt so real, yet she was certain she had experienced something that wasn't hers. Had she been in Garret's shoes for a few moments? She couldn't shake the impression it had been for a lot more. Had it been his entire life?

Her questions faded away when she noticed where she stood.

The village's central plaza was dark and cold and silent. That same village. She brought her head a bit to the left, where the rim of the woods met the paved rough stone. A house in the corner.

His house?

She pressed forward. Stopping shortly before she reached the entrance, Elsa readied her knock. However, she heard a faint whimper inside, like a wounded animal's. She instinctively reached for the handle, only to watch in stupor as her hand disappeared into the polished wood.

Of course, she thought. I can't interact with memories.

Gently closing her hand, she stepped forward into the house's interior, discovering a cozy and warm home draped in strange, yet elegant clothes covered in striped patterns of gold and bronze. The lit fireplace illuminated the empty salon with a gentle flicker. The hall opened on a counter of sorts that housed a well-furnished kitchen to the right. From the left, Elsa heard that same whimpering from before, more insistent and gripping. Crossing the wall into the room from where the sound seemed to originate, she found herself in a little boy's chamber. On the wall shelves stood an incalculable amount of small sculptures of what looked like glossy animals made of wood. Not only animals but also people, some buildings even. At the center, on its own shelf, a wolf that bore a striking resemblance to another one made of crystal ice. It was indeed wooden as all the other sculptures were, yet it shone with a slight ethereal aura that reminded her of her own magic.

You're here too, huh?

In the small bed in the corner, a bump in the blanket twitched and trembled.

"Hey there, young Garret," she greeted affectionately, though she immediately remembered the little boy couldn't hear her. She wasn't sure of it, but Elsa heard teeth chattering just before another of those whimpers startled her.

She took a closer look at the boy and made out his full head of disheveled crimson hair, though his obvious shaking started worrying her very quickly. Shards of ice were beginning to protrude from the side of his bed's frame, and she even caught their faint glimmer on his cheek and above his collarbone. His shivering only intensified as more seconds passed.

"You're cold!" she realized aloud. She didn't think someone like her could feel the cold, much less suffer from it.

The moment she spoke, the door opened abruptly, letting a woman sweep inside. The lamp she was holding drew icy shadows against the walls but allowed Elsa to have a clear look at her face. For a moment, she had the distinct impression that she was looking at a female and one-head-shorter version of present-day Garret. Understanding quickly that she was in the presence of someone from his family, she quickly eliminated the possibilities. They looked too much alike for her to be anything other than his mother.

Elsa took a second to examine her. She didn't think it possible at first, but her long and silky hair was of a red even deeper than the young man's, bordering on the particular shade of garnets and reaching down to the middle of her back. Their eyes were exactly identical in both shape and color, and it seemed they also shared the same nose and mouth down to every cell. The only notable difference—apart from their gender—was the numerous freckles that were sprinkled on the woman's face while they were completely absent from her son's. Or were they? Elsa doubted her own memory for a moment. A quick check on the boy's visage confirmed her prediction.

She's incredibly beautiful, she thought.

The woman hurriedly kneeled near the boy's bed, slowly cradling his head in her arms while gently attempting to hush his quivers away. "Don't worry, luv," she said, though worry was ironically clear in her own voice and features.

Her accent was thick, even thicker than her son's. While Garret didn't have any trouble making himself understood and almost made his locution one of his quirks, Elsa had to exert herself to understand his mother.

Maybe she doesn't come from here?

The red-haired woman interrupted her thoughts by uttering a short gasp as she yanked her hands away from her son.

"He's bloody freezing," she murmured, her eyes wide. She took a second to steel her conviction and delicately lifted Garret's small silhouette into her arms. Judging from his size alone, the boy couldn't be older than four or five. His mother enlaced his entire body with her own, her teeth starting to chatter in turn.

"No, don't!" Elsa uselessly warned, taking a single step forward.

"There ye go, little one," Garret's mother said in between short breaths. Her back was starting to shake from the cold that seemed to seep through every pore of her skin and into her very bones.

The boy's eyes opened slowly, until comprehension washed over his face. "Mum?" he called in his still high-pitched voice. He took a frantic look around him, noticing the now very significant trembling in the limbs that were tenderly holding him tight, then his mother's visible breath slowly drifting before his eyes and finally the sharp edges of crystal protruding from around his shuddering body. He loudly gasped, bringing the woman's attention to his face.

"It's okay, love. I'll keep ye warm. Go back to sleep."

She then began humming. A soft and melodious purr that felt familiar to Elsa's ears.

That's what he sings!

The boy's green eyes indicated a slight sense of impending panic, yet he didn't seem to succumb to it. He furrowed his brows and tightened his little fists, grunting in keen concentration. Little by little, the ice shards around the pair melted away, and the heavy mist that had settled vanished. His mother's shoulders relaxed, but she didn't stop her crystalline croon.

"Sorry, Mum," Garret's voice whispered as he buried his head into her neck. The faint chanting stopped for a second.

"No, my precious boy. Don't be."

As the young Garret drifted back to sleep, tears emerged on the woman's face, though Elsa couldn't tell if they were of relief or sadness.

"Oh Lord, child of the sun. May you watch over him for another day," she said as she muffled her cries, bringing her forehead to gently touch her slumbering son's.

The house's walls suddenly spun around Elsa. Shaking off the slight dizziness, she was blinded for a moment by the thick rays that were now spiraling through the thin curtains on the window before her. The room was radically different now, less ornate and more functional, but the floor had clearly suffered the pangs of time. Of all the wooden sculptures, only the wolf was still on the shelf, shining like it did an instant—and probably years—before.

Someone sniffed outside.

"I can't believe the next time I see ye, ye're gonna be a knight…" Elsa heard Garret's mother's voice mutter. "My precious boy! Oh God-freaking-dammit, I shan't call ye that anymore…"

The deep tone that answered her she recognized immediately. "Technically, I will be made Companion, Ma'. They're calling me Knight because they have to, but really they're just giving Pa' what he wants so he can shut it. I was useful to them but there's a limit to what they'll do for a random country bumpkin. And you can still call me whatever the hell you want."

Elsa traversed the stone walls to see the Garret she knew holding his mother in his arms in front of the house's porch while she was delicately blowing her nose in a wonderfully florid handkerchief. Traces of grey were starting to appear in the roots of her hair, but they still burned a bright red overall. Garret was obviously much older now, though Elsa noticed the surprising absence of scars on his arms. She quickly eyed his left leg; while it was hidden under a large band of tissue, she could discern a border of flesh just before his boots.

"Aye, yer father doesn't like it when I call him Mo Chridhe anymore... He says it reminds him too much of when he was young and stupid."

"To be fair, he is an old man, now. Still stupid though," Garret comforted with a grin.

His mother half-seriously slapped his shoulder. "Don't talk about yer Pa' this way. He's proud of ye."

"I'm just joking, Ma'. He wouldn't understand it anyway," he added stealthily. Another slap followed, Garret laughing it away. "Do you want me to give him anything?"

"Why yes, dear. Give him a warm hug and tell him he'd better bring his buttocks here before I forget what he looks like."

"Will do. I'll drag him by his pants if I have to," Garret concluded with a sharp salute. His mother broke his solemn gesture by embracing him as hard as she apparently could, judging from the bulging of her son's eyes and the blue tint that appeared on his face.

Elsa smiled warmly. It was obvious they were very close. She resisted the urge to sigh as memories of her own mother rushed back for a moment.

As unexpectedly as the first time, her surroundings spun again.

Ruins everywhere, still blackened and smoking. Some limbs stuck out from under some demolished houses, motionless. Suppressing a hiccup from the horrid smell, Elsa pinched her nose as quickly as she could and almost tumbled over. She quickly created as much distance from the rubble as she could. Distant shouts made their way to her ear. She faced in their direction, seeing an entire carriage lifting a cloud of dust up as it sped out of the destroyed town.

She wasn't around the village anymore. Or at least she hoped she wasn't.

A heavy stomp startled her from the other side. She faced away from the town's exit and caught sight of the same armored man from her first venture through Garret's memories. Not having time to process her surroundings, her first instinct was to cower behind the closest loaf of wall still standing, except this time she didn't perceive the same menacing aura, the same desire to kill—the eyes behind the mask did not glow with untamed rage. Instead, the entire demeanor was firm, dignified, almost proud. The armor's edges were softer, the joints rounder, and the overall piece less bulky. It emanated a sense of security and assurance.

The man walked into the evening's misty light, allowing Elsa to recognize the pale blue shimmering of the armor's plates. She squinted her eyes to get a better look and could now discern some strands of hair on the hawk-like helmet's top.

Strands of red hair.

Wait. Is that…?

With the new possibilities in mind, she took her time examining the armor in further detail. There were no straps, oddly enough. The larger parts seemed to be forged from a single piece, which made little sense in her eyes; Jürden had one day explained that he already had trouble moving in a suit made of hard cloth and leather. She concentrated a bit more and noticed that the most external parts were almost transparent. Some green tints flashed on them, perplexing Elsa at first until she understood that the armor was reflecting the surrounding leaves' color like a mirror. And when she heard a slight crack, it struck her like lightning.

The armor's made of ice.

The helmet decomposed suddenly into thick vapor, revealing a familiar face contorted into a pained grimace.

Garret released a heavy sigh. "You just had to do it," he said out loud, thinking himself alone—which he was, under the circumstances. He turned his back to Elsa, alerted by some ruffling amidst the debris behind him. "No, no, no. Don't come out."

One, two, three little heads emerged from behind the rubble with fearful eyes. Children.

"Where are they?" the youngest one shakily asked after Garret hurriedly got to their side, shifting his body so that it would hide the somber spectacle behind his back.

"They fled. They won't come back here, I promise," he answered. "Now, go back in."

"No, where are they?" the child insisted with a sniff.

This time, no response was heard.

"Companion!" a voice shouted from below. Five huge men in black and green apparel appeared from what Elsa understood was the main crossroads, each carrying an enormous metallic rifle that she was sure weighed as much as she did. They all towered over her, with arms as large as her own legs. "What in the bloody fucking hell did you do?"

Garret stood upright. "Accomplished my task, sir."

"Really now. Where did they go?"

"I don't know."

"Do they have the asset?"

"No, they don't. It had to be destroyed."

The man turned a hard gaze Garret's way. "Did they see you?" He pointed to him with his finger. "Like this?"

The armor slowly disintegrated into a dense cloud of specks flying away like a furrow of shiny cinders, leaving Garret in a similar garment to the company that had joined him uphill. One faint glimmer remained, however, breaking through the fabric of his left pocket—Elsa guessed that same wolf was in there. "They… They did, sir."

The man's head dropped. "This is bad."

Garret closed his eyes. "Yes, it is."

Another spin made Elsa's head feel dizzy.

She was now facing the same woods near Garret's hometown, the pines' branch gently leaning up and down with a soft swish. Letting her gaze linger a bit beyond, she realized with striking horror that what she recognized to be Garret's house was now nothing more than a steaming crater where a mixture of wood planks, scattered ash, and red cloth banked up in a messy pile.

Then there was heat in her back. A rancid odor. The crackling of fire. Elsa almost didn't need to turn around to know what stood behind her back. She did anyways.

The stake burned hot, the silhouette inside still unmoving. Elsa repressed her urge to throw her hands at it, to suffocate the inferno with powder snow. She instead did her best to ignore the stench, linked her hands in front of her chest and closed her eyes in silent deference.

The smell, the noise, the heat all disappeared.

When she opened her eyes again, Garret was in front of her—and she was too. They were both sitting on the ground a few inches away from each other.

What? she mentally yelped as confusion slipped its way into her mind. Why is there another me?

Then she understood that memory she had just lived herself a few minutes earlier.

"If I can create it again."

Her past self wasn't noticing how close they actually were from one another, but she certainly was.

"I believe in you," Elsa heard her own voice say.

And with that, the void opened beneath her feet and her heart jumped to her throat.

Elsa opened her eyes in the exact same place she was an instant before. Garret was still sitting with his legs crossed, carefully eyeing her for any semblance of a reaction. She recalled that only a fleeting moment had gone by for him.

She took some time to regain her composure and let her mind adjust back to reality, discreetly leaning back an iota. So many things to say, so many questions to ask. The visions had been a patchwork of different snippets of his life, but Elsa started by what she could understand was a common thread across all but one.

"This wolf. It was hers. It was your mother's. And-"

She didn't finish her sentence. Garret simply nodded.

"I know it's not… It's never easy," Elsa continued with sincere sympathy. "I understand what it feels like."

Garret lifted his eyes to the sun, protecting them from its pure shine with his right hand. "I wish I could've said goodbye."

"It was obvious she loved you very much."

"She did."

"And her song is beautiful."

A smile appeared on his face, but this one exuded a melancholy worthy of her castle's paintings and strangely appeared mournful to Elsa's eyes. It vanished in a flash, however, replaced by a more upbeat but less sincere grin.

"She always said it wasn't really a song, more like a poem she heard up North. There is a dance that comes with it, you know? It's done in twos or threes, and you basically...just spin around without paying much attention to each other," he explained with a scoff while mimicking the rotation with his fingers. Garret chuckled lightly. "Anyways. It's funny that a person who can manipulate ice is trying to warm my heart."

Elsa's enthusiasm followed his lifted spirits, though she knew he was still holding onto something. "I'm always searching for new forms of magic."

There'd be more time later. This was already a step forward.

Garret chuckled again, bringing his eyes to hers. The hurt hadn't left them, but they were shining with unprecedented vitality. "That said, you were right. I don't really know why or how, but it does feel good to tell myself there's someone who—"

"Understands?"

"—knows. Just knowing is enough. I won't lie, it almost feels as good as having to kick some ars—I mean, having the opportunity to fight some stupid people."

Elsa noted the quick change in the conversation. He appeared at ease, but he always diverted the subject from himself as soon as he was able to, sometimes in a very non-subtle way much like this particular occurrence. Something she wouldn't have paid much attention to had she not done it herself so many times before.

There is no point in pushing further. This has been hard enough.

She shrugged with a single shoulder, sending her braid flying to her back. "What if they're trained?"

"All the better!" Garret exclaimed with a laugh as he lifted his arms.

"Better?" Elsa asked, her interest genuinely piqued.

"A stupid untrained man will be erratic, an intelligent untrained man will know he has to run, and a clever trained man will simply make your life difficult. The best you can hope for is a stupid trained man."

Elsa quirked an eyebrow. "Why is that? Doesn't his training get him better odds than the untrained...not-very-bright...person?"

Garret's eye twinkled with a tinge of mischief. "Nope, trained men who happen to be idiots are the best kind because they're predictable. They can't think of anything else to do than what they were taught."

"Oh."

"So, if you know what they were taught, you know their next move. Unless you're dumb yourself, of course."

Elsa's eyelashes batted faster than a butterfly's wings.

"Whi-Which I'm not saying you are!" Garret corrected the instant he understood the implications of his own sentence. "Well, you're not really trained either, and—And I'm not just saying that it means—But you're far from—" He met her gaze again and heavily sighed when he noticed that she was suppressing a laugh. "I'm going to shut up now."

"I'll gladly admit it is indeed impressive how you dug yourself into a hole without any help."

"Please don't strike a man when he's down."

Elsa stifled another laugh. It felt good to forget about everything for a little while.

The garden's door opened slightly, prompting the pair to turn around in a quick joined motion.

"Your Majesty? Please excuse my intrusion," Greta called. "Kai told me you needed me but explained that I should wait. I've been standing here for some time now, and I was just wondering if it wasn't an emergency, because he made it sound like it was?"

And just like that, the uplifting mood was dropped down to the ground with the force of an acre-foot of ice falling from the top of the North Mountain.

Elsa got up to her feet and quickly dusted her crystal dress. "It's okay Miss Greta, I thank you for coming. Garret needs a quick check-up here, please."

The nurse nodded solemnly. "At once, Milady."

"I bid you farewell then, Garret," Elsa said to the still sitting man beside her.

"Goodbye, excellency," he answered. "And just so you know," he added in a hushed whisper. "None of those I'd have called my friends would have done this for me. First, because they probably couldn't, but also because they certainly wouldn't." He gave a reverent nod in lieu of a more ceremonious bow. "You have my gratitude," he finished with what she would from then on dub the 'Garin' plastered on his face.

She answered with a serene smile. "Anytime."

She then walked out of the garden, heaving a short breath on her way.

Elsa's heart filled with a new feeling. She had helped someone. And not because she had had to, as queen. While her duties had been an honor to fulfill, they had always felt impersonal and distant to her. She loved her country and her subjects, but their problems were rarely more than a piece of paper or a short argument in court from her perspective. This time, it had felt real, grounded. It felt like she'd done something for someone.

As a...friend?

Was that what they were now? Friends? After two weeks? She didn't bother to know, and it didn't really matter.

Garret had spent all his time in Arendelle helping her in a way or another and she was starting to pay her debt back. He had opened up to her.

Before disappearing into the castle's depths, she threw one last glance at him, noticing that he had started massaging his left leg. She closed the heavy door behind her.

What was that?

She had felt something go when Greta had opened the door. Something that she couldn't exactly pinpoint. She had to find Anna. She wanted to talk to her.

Grand Pabbie's words of warning unanticipatedly came back to her while she walked.

She first checked her sister's room. No one.

He looked absolutely miserable, yet he still managed to be buoyant. How could someone like that ever have been a hardened soldier? she wondered.

She opened the door to the family salon, sighing heavily when she didn't find her sister. Again.

Where is she?

Heading downstairs as a last resort, she found Kai near the kitchens. Anna was in the barracks, with Einar.

What is she doing there?

Two successive images of Garret's ice armor pictured themselves in her thoughts. The first had been terrifying, monstrous and frightening. The second was calm, glowing and protective.

I used those same adjectives on myself at different points in my own life, she thought, her shoulders sinking in silent remembrance of darker times.

Elsa stopped in a corridor. She knew where she was. Her father's coronation portrait was proudly hanging a few feet above the ground, not far from her. She got close, gingerly grazing the painting's golden frame, taking in every detail of what had inspired fear into her not an entire year ago.

She delicately brought a strand of her hair behind her ear while hugging herself tightly.

People are complicated. Aren't they, Father?

AN: So remember that thing about exams? Nevermind, I had time to write anyway. I hope you enjoyed this one! Many thanks to GrandPaladin and SleepyEnigma for reviewing this chapter!

A few things:

- Most importantly: half-way point for this first arc! Phew, 55k words and we still have 10 chapters to go! Thanks for sticking with this story and I hope what comes next gets you excited.

- Since I made the edit after a day or so last time, some of you may have not noticed that the fic now has an official cover, courtesy of illustrious AzimuthZero! Give it a look - I think it's very cool!

- Together with Snowfall-in-Summer and Bearhow, we decided to write a crossover of our three stories. It's called Ice, Fire, Shadow, is published on Snowfall's account and I really encourage you to check it out - I had loads of fun writing it, and I hope you do as well reading it. Only 1 chapter for now, but it'll get bigger in no time!

Same remark as last time concerning exams, but I doubt it's going to hinder the next update.

Otherwise, if you want to put yourself in the mood for the next chapter, search Kneel Before The Crown by audimoachine, it is on YouTube.

And that's it for now, see you next time!

Peace,

CalAm.