Frozen 3

Chapter 45

Honeymaren

Elsa's lips landed on mine. They were icy. I felt her breath on my face. A fresh breath that had not surprised me for a long time. On the contrary, I liked to feel it on my skin and make me shiver.

The young woman walked away from me and looked at me silently. Her big blue eyes, usually so beautiful and sparkling when they landed on me, suddenly seemed dull and sad. They no longer reflected any soul, as if all trace of life had completely disappeared in them. My heartbeat accelerated sharply. Something was wrong.

"Elsa?" I might ask.

She did not react, continuing to stare impassively at me. Her gaze froze me. I wanted to approach her and gently stroke her cheek, hoping to change her strange and frightening attitude. At the moment when my fingers touched her face, Elsa stopped me abruptly, trapping my hands in hers.

«What are you doing?» I manage to articulate despite the panic that was beginning to win me.

The young woman did not answer. She did not look at me either. Her face was turned towards her hands, which always contained mine. His fingers tightened more and more on my skin, preventing me from freeing myself from his grip. I then saw a bluish light appear in her hands. When it had completely disappeared, Elsa finally let me go. A shiver ran through me. I then realized that I was getting colder and colder. I raised my hands at eye level and discovered with horror that my fingers were gradually freezing. I understood then. The young woman had turned her powers against me.

The ice completely took over my body, soon immobilizing me completely. I managed to turn to the former queen and gave her a supplicating look, unable to say anything. Elsa, standing a few centimeters away from me, smiled at me, perfectly calm and insensitive to the clicks of my jaw. She watched me fight in vain against the freezing cold that overwhelmed me. A tear ran down my cheek. I was so helpless...

«You know that this could not last», she told me.

Her words were an extra stab wound. No, she couldn't do that to me. It was impossible. Not Elsa.

I then saw her turn her back, open the door of my room and heard her throw me:

"You will see, it will be better this way..."

She closed the door behind her, leaving me to my sad fate. Elsa please, I begged inside. Suddenly, a black veil passed over my eyes and my ears began to buzz. The room turned around me. I couldn't make out anything. Everything was black. The outside sounds couldn't hear me either. All I could hear was the beating of my heart. However, it slowed dangerously. How long had I not breathed? One minute? Two minutes? Honeymaren, you're going to die, I thought. Two beats. Two beats. One beat. Two beats... One beat... Then there's nothing left.

***

I woke with a start, standing up abruptly on my bed. Big drops of sweat dripped down my forehead and finally crashed on my sheets when they fell. It was hot. It was too hot for an early morning. I knew it wasn't normal. But that's how we had to live now. I suffocated, while looking quickly around. I recognized my bed, my furniture, my room. I took a deep breath to try to regain normal breathing and heart rate. The sun outside had already risen.

«It was only a bad dream», I murmured, at last calmed.

I got up and went to get dressed quickly.

***

It was early. Despite the early hour, Ryder had already left the cabin to take care of his herd. I sighed thinking of him and the speech he had given after discovering my relationship with Elsa. It was terrible not to feel supported by my own brother. I had read rage and shame in his eyes. Shame on me for being a sister. It was the hardest thing to bear. If even Ryder didn't understand me, who else could? Nobody.

I went to the kitchen and boiled water in a saucepan. No one here supports you, I thought, remembering Yelena's words. Chief Northuldra had never been harder on me. She had actually tried to protect me and Ryder after our parents died. She had never dared to approach this drama as she had done with me the day before. She had never mentioned the possibility that my parents might be disappointed by my current behavior if they could have been present. She had psychologically destroyed me in a few words. And it didn't even seem to reach her. On the contrary, she had left full of confidence, letting me feel sorry for myself.

I knew since I realized what my feelings were for Elsa that any homosexual relationship with a person from Arendelle would be formally forbidden to me. Yet I wanted to try, convinced that I could change their minds. In vain. Yelena and Ryder first proved me wrong. We had just told each other how we felt about each other, and we were already separated. That was unfair.

I poured the hot water into a cup and brewed tea. After a few moments, I carried the container to my lips and took a few sips of its still burning contents. I did not even feel that the liquid still too hot to be drunk burned my palate and tongue. I had only one thought left: Elsa. Why was it so complicated? Why could we not live our relationship normally without being constantly judged by others? I so wanted their mentality to change, that they accepted us as we were, allowing us to love each other freely without the need to hide. But it was impossible. The past and the reputation of our people prevented us from doing so.

I finished drinking my tea, put the cup on the living room table and went to work. I grabbed a log and a knife and started carving. After a few minutes of concentration, I blew slightly on the wood to remove the last unnecessary chips that had remained attached. I deposited my new creation on my work plan in front of me and observed it.

"I miss you, Elsa. I miss you very much," I whispered to myself.

My belly suddenly gurgled, reminding me that I had not eaten since the day before. I quickly opened the cupboard in which Ryder and I used to store bread. By grabbing the piece that was left of it, I immediately understood that I could not make it my breakfast. The crumb had completely hardened, becoming inedible. The crust was covered with mildew forming greenish spots at regular intervals. I threw this old crust in the trash with a look of disgust. I wanted to fall back on the fruit basket placed on the work surface but almost immediately ravished me. The apples' usually smooth red skin had turned brown and wrinkled. They were all rotten. I took the whole basket and made its contents suffer the same fate as the piece of bread. The apples limply crashed to the bottom of the trash in a disgusting splatch. Something was not normal. They had been picked barely ripe three days before. I watched, worried, what I had just thrown away. My first instinct was to open all the cupboards in the kitchen to inspect the little food stored there. I had to get rid of everything that had been kept there. The mold had covered all the food.

Suddenly, the front door opened in a violent slam. I looked around startled and saw Ryder enter, panicked, who immediately shouted at me when he saw me:

"Honeymaren, you must come quickly! I have just found four dead reindeer."

***

The poor animals had not survived the heat combined with the lack of food due to the little vegetation still available. The temperatures of this month of April were already reaching what we were supposed to have in August. The animals had not been able to acclimatize to such a change. The heat had suddenly arrived at the end of winter. The spirit of the wind no longer regulated anything. Its disappearance had changed our lives much more than we thought. That of the spirit of the earth was also increasingly worrying. The four inert reindeer at my feet, with their mouth and eyes still open, were the first victims. Everything that nature usually brought us was disappearing. Life died little by little, leaving only large black traces and mold behind. Everything became inedible.

I looked up at my brother. In one glance, we understood that if nothing changed, we could soon be in the place of these four reindeer who died of heat and hunger.