Frozen 3

Chapter 10

Elsa

The bad weather of the day before had not completely faded. The gray sky, covered with clouds that veiled the sun, gave a gloomy look to the enchanted forest. The rain had stopped falling, but the increasingly low temperatures presaged a heavy snowfall. Gale, the spirit of the wind, seemed perfectly at ease at this time of year. Becoming less and less shy with me, he followed me regularly and did not hesitate to show himself. I left my hut, after having spent a great part of the morning prostrated at the bottom of my bed. I had not closed the eye of the night, repeating in loop the misadventures of the day before. I had known that the Dark Sea was dangerous - I was one of the best people to know, having lost my parents there - but I had never witnessed someone drown. He was just a stranger, but I felt terrible that I couldn't save him, that I couldn't calm Nokk down. The horse was usually much more docile with me. I was the only one who could reason with him. But this time, I was almost non-existent in his eyes, so blinded was he by his anger. I had not been able to play my role of guardian of the enchanted forest correctly, I had let a Northuldra die...

***

The village was empty, which gave it an almost ghostly appearance. Everything was perfectly quiet. Only the whistling of the wind broke the silence, making the reindeer skins covering the tents flutter. Moving forward a few steps, I soon discovered a young brunette woman sitting on a rock, throwing snowballs furiously in front of her, without any real purpose. I recognized her almost immediately. The young woman from the beach, I thought. She didn't seem to have noticed me, continuing her little maneuver untiringly. I approached her silently.

"Is everything all right?" I asked her when I saw her worried look.

She jumped at the sound of my voice and stared at me. She immediately stood up, dropped the snowball she was holding in her hand and looked embarrassed.

"Uh yes, yes everything's fine," she replied, still avoiding my gaze.

There was an awkward silence.

"Honeymaren? Is that right?"

A smile lit up her face

"That's right! I didn't think you would have remembered my name," she rejoiced, finally daring to look up at me.

I smiled.

"You can call me by my first name, you know... "Oh, really? I didn't know if I should... well... "I've been living with you for a few months now... I have no particular authority over the Northuldras! There's no reason for anyone to be so formal with me," I reassured her.

The young woman sat down on her rock, moved away slightly and suggested that I do the same. I imitated her, finding myself next to her. It was the first time since my arrival in the enchanted forest that someone had shown a real interest in talking to me.

"How is Ryder? I understand you two are quite close..." I said, staring at the snow at my feet. "He's my twin brother. He's doing well. I think so. He seems to be doing pretty well," Honeymaren replied curtly. "How about you? I understand you knew that young man on the beach and his father..."