The things that matter

Chapter 14

The next days in the castle were a bit strange. Since our marriage wasn't very conventional, we kept it a secret from all the staff, so the nights together continued to be secret. Of course, the pregnancy was hidden as well. Thank goodness, Anna wasn't having any of those annoying symptoms that most women accuse at the beginning of their state. Anna took advantage of her good condition to draw up a pile of documents and plan the new running of the kingdom or... well, the state? The Republic? Whatever. She devoted herself, body and soul, to organizing everything well before presenting it to anyone. And I... well, I dedicated myself to making sure she slept, ate, and didn't get too tired.

In a matter of a week of hard work (on her part), we returned to the enchanted forest to consult everything with Elsa.

"You are, what?!"

"Sven is a spirit! How quiet the rogue had it!"

"That Sven... oh well, that explains a lot of things. And you are what?!"

"Hey! Sven's thing is weirder!"

"Anna, you are not even married."

"Yeah, talking about that..."

Anna glanced at me, biting her lower lip, not knowing how to blurt out everything we had to tell her sister.

"Anna?"

"The trolls may have officed our marriage a few days ago."

"May?"

"No, yeah, sure."

"Anna! And, you've allowed it?!" Elsa exclaimed then, turning to me.

"Ehrm... yeah. It seemed like a good idea to me since she was carrying our child in her womb and all that stuff."

I waited for my unofficial sister-in-law's explosion with narrowed eyes, but, instead, she took a deep breath and tried to relax under the gentle hand Yelena kept on her shoulder.

"I wouldn't want to bother you at such a... delicate moment," the Northuldra said then. "but I can't quite understand why you wanted me to be part of this conversation."

"Now... the truth is that we have one more piece of news," Anna replied with a tight smile.

"Besides the baby and the wedding already solved?" Elsa asked gasping for breath at Yelena's amused look.

"I fear so."

"Okay, let it go."

"As you can imagine, we know about Sven thanks to the Ahtohallan."

"Yes... I remember you were really strange when you visited it."

"The glacier let us see how Sven was born to take care of Kristoff when his parents died. He was somehow summoned by his mother."

"Did your mother summon a spirit?" Yelena asked, obviously astonished.

"Yes. Well, actually, she begged the forest and the spirit appeared."

"What a beautiful bond with nature."

"The typical of a Northuldra," commented Anna starting to shake.

I put my arm around her shoulder and spoke up.

"My mother was also Northuldra."

"What?" the two said in unison.

"Her name was Sikká."

"Sikká! What happened to her?!" Yelena asked, obviously knowing who we were talking about.

"From what we could find out, she managed to find my father and they lived together until he had an accident while working the ice and she tried to save him and... well. Only I was left. What we don't know is why she didn't come back as she promised."