Frozen 3

Chapter 103

Honeymaren

The three of us remained silent before the open book, fixing the last date that was written in it. October 17, 1840, the last day when the fate of Elsa and Anna's parents could have radically changed if they had made another decision, that of not leaving for the Dark Sea. For the first time in my life, I was exposed to a different version of Iduna's departure, and it was far from the betrayal I had been told so often. This version on the contrary highlighted his dream of harmony between Arendelle and the Northuldra and showed the birth of a love story, sometimes chaotic but ultimately passionate. Elsa and Anna were the fruits, but their parents had seen them completely differently. While the first had aroused their fears and anxieties about a potential curse, the second, though unexpected, had suddenly erased their doubts about their ability to have a normal child, as Agnarr so often repeated. This normality seemed to reassure him and all the inhabitants of Arendelle. They were all panicked to discover something out of the ordinary. I had never known this fear, on the contrary, it was rather the excess of normality that could scare me. I always thought it was hiding something. I couldn't understand that from the moment she was born, Elsa terrified everyone around her to the point of locking her in her room for years to keep her away from the outside world.

It was the consequences of this confinement and the fears of her father that were always reflected in the young woman's personality. Her reserved side, her always worried air and her fear of the other were indicative of the traumas she had suffered. She had not grown up in the right environment to reach her full potential. It was above all Agnarr who had restrained her, sometimes in spite of him because only guided by his fear of the extraordinary. He should not have realized the consequences his decisions could have on his eldest daughter. He wanted to make her his double by stifling her powers and therefore what defined her, while she was completely different from him. Anna seemed to have a personality much closer to her mother's. Like Iduna, she had a bit of a crazy side, not caring what one thought of her. Her permanent joie de vivre was reminiscent of her mother's when she was still living in the enchanted forest. I had heard dozens of stories about her when she was still living in Northuldra village. She was always in a playful mood, always had a big smile, and got along with the spirits better than anyone. It was Air Current her favorite, as it was for many. Elsa had inherited her mother's gift to appease them. Now that Iduna was gone, she was the only one who could do it.

I felt through Agnarr's words all the love he had for his wife. He never wanted to believe in magic and she managed to change it, too. In his book, he seemed to regret sometimes having changed the appearance of the young woman so that she went unnoticed, but Iduna had managed to touch something much stronger, much deeper in her husband: her heart. She had certainly failed to make him believe in magic, but she had managed to make him accept it in the world around him. You didn't have to believe in magic to make it happen. The link that brought them together around that same conclusion was Elsa.

I turned to the young woman. Her fingers were still on the pages of the book. She did not seem to want to detach herself from them. Suddenly a tear came to stain the paper, which began to turn yellow. I looked up. She was crying, but her face showed no emotion. She seemed disconnected from reality. I approached and put a hand on her shoulder. She did not react.

"It was their choice," I whispered. "You don't have to blame yourself, you have nothing to do with it.

"If I had not been born with these powers, they would never have left..."

"You had nothing to do with it, I repeated. You did not decide to be born with it. The spirits wanted it because they knew you would be able to save the enchanted forest and maintain a balance between the Northuldra and Arendelle. And they were right. Your mother took the first step for the harmony of our peoples, your father followed her, and you and Anna come to finish what they started."