The things that matter

Chapter 3

"It was nice from Elsa to fill everything with bridges before we arrived. I don't think we could have gotten here without her help."

"Yeah... although perhaps she could have covered the infinite moats just below them. Are you sure we have to go through there again to get out? She doesn't really like me, isn't it? This is punishment for taking her dear sister."

"You know she adores you. Especially after a good bath."

"Well, I hope she doesn't make sure I take a bath today. The Dark Sea doesn't fit my idea of a nice, restful bath. I am more of hot springs and stuff."

"Stalling not to start?"

"Could be..."

Anna stroked my cheek, freezing it more if it were possible and I found in her touch the encouragement to speak to the glacier.

"Hello Mr. or Mrs. Glacier, erhm... Ahtohallan," I could hear Anna's giggle one step behind me. "I don't know how this works and I feel quite ridiculous, so I would appreciate it if you could show me the origin of my long-time friend Sven before I regret coming here."

I was so embarrassed talking to a piece of ice that I was starting to stop feeling cold and the pinkish tone in my ears was no longer due to pre-freezing. It's strange that I was so ashamed of that and that speaking for a reindeer was the most natural thing for me.

We both looked in all directions for signs of response, but nothing seemed going to happen.

"I don't think I did it right."

"Elsa sang."

"You don't expect me to sing to the glacier, do you?"

"It was just an idea."

"Maybe only Elsa can do it. It could be some kind of magical connection or..."

Before finishing the sentence, a swirl of colored lights traveled all the walls of the cave until it formed a moving image right before my nose. In it, a woman with laboriously braided chestnut hair and eyes as brown as her hair, emerged in agony from the icy waters of a fractured frozen lake and clung to the edge as best she could. She looked hopelessly at her son, who was waiting at the edge of the forest playing to climb the trees, and implored: "I beg you, my beloved forest, you who have seen him grow, take care of him now that I will not be able to do it." Then she succumbed to the cold and her inert body slid into the depths of the lake.

Neither of us had any doubt of who that blond-haired boy who kept playing oblivious to everything was. My heart shrank and Anna must have felt it, because, even with her own tears in her eyes, she stood on tiptoe to embrace my head with her arms and give me refuge in her chest.

"It's okay, Anna. I can go on."

She loosened her grip slightly and I looked up to see what the glacier had planned to show me.

The magic didn't leave us waiting, and the images continued to show us the unconscious and dangerous games of little Kristoff who, as it seemed to be written in his way of moving, fell headlong from a branch onto a stone and passed out on the spot.

"Ouch... That must hurt."

"Your memories! This is how your memories disappeared!!"

"And so I began to harden my skull..."

At that moment, the leaves of the trees began to vibrate and a warm light settled right next to him to gradually disappear, leaving in its place a newborn Sven who brought his snout with concern to the boy's injured head. I mean, my head. After that, the image disappeared from the glacier walls leaving them exactly as they were when we arrived.

"The forest heard her..."

"Oh my God, Kristoff! Sven is a forest spirit! He's your protector!"

I heard her words, remembered the images and everything seemed to fit, but somehow it was hard to believe.

"Sven... was born to be with me?"

"That's it!"

Anna looked so excited, but I could only feel a knot growing inside me.

"So, what will happen to him when I'm gone?"

"Hmm... I have no idea, but maybe Grand Pabbie can tell us something about that."

"He knew it, right?"

"Uh... Maybe. I mean, he has magic and it seems to be connected to the forest in some way. Wouldn't it be very strange if he hadn't noticed?"

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Angry?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think it was the forest itself that made you fall to avoid the trauma?"

Sven depended on me. Or me on him? At least I guessed that he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. And, that woman, was she my mother? She looked in her forties. What the hell was that woman doing in a frozen lake? Why had she ended up there? I hadn't gotten to see much of her clothes, but she didn't seem especially prepared for the ice, she didn't appear to be working on it. Besides, she looked strong, but not muscly, and... and she was... alone. I wasn't with her when she needed me. And my father? Who was he? Why wasn't he there with her?

Stuck in that jumble of ideas and emotions, I wasn't able to answer Anna, I could only drop a tear that ended up hitting the floor of the glacier that, as if reading all my questions in it, began to shine again and showed a new image.

Really? More? Could I take any more?