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Crickets. Elsa could hear the crickets all around her, and the other sounds of the animals of the forest during twilight. Over it all, she could hear the Northuldra as they prepared for the night in their village. Many of them were singing, some were laughing and all of them kept sneaking glances at the sky above.
For the first time in some of their lifetimes, they could see the stars.
As for Elsa, maybe she hadn't really thought this entire thing through. Oh, Honeymaren had been right. It did feel like she belonged up here. That feeling had started when she'd first entered the forest and then only grown after Ahtohallan. If nothing else, she was grateful to Honeymaren for putting voice to a thought she hadn't been completely willing to voice, even to herself.
But now that she was here, she didn't know what to do. Where would she sleep? How would she eat? She couldn't possibly make the Northuldra do all the work, that felt wrong and too much like something her grandfather would do.
Okay. Okay. First thing first, she was going to figure out the sleeping thing. Then, tomorrow, she'd explore the forest a bit, maybe have Honeymaren show her around, and then she was going to learn how to---
Elsa's thoughts were interrupted when a warm hand took one of hers. She blinked, and looked up into Honeymaren's golden-brown eyes. They were several shades darker than her namesake, but so beautiful.
"You look a little lost." Maren squeezed her hand and Elsa felt a heat flood through her, "Come on, you can sleep with me."
"Thank you, that would -- wait, what?"
Elsa was dragged through the camp towards one of the goahti near the outskirts of the village. It was a remarkable structure, capable of being quickly broken down and carried on the back of a reindeer and then rebuilt. Elsa had at least a thousand questions about them and would have normally peppered Honeymaren with a few, but found herself tongue-tied as she watched the other woman's braid bounce off of her back.
It was warm inside, the goahti well insulated and feeling simultaneously roomy and cozy. Elsa felt at ease, except for her mind trying to figure out what Maren actually meant which was, oddly enough, not making her feel anxious. She wanted to be closer to Maren, physically and emotionally.
"If I'd been thinking, I'd have gotten you an extra set of bedrolls and blankets. I'll have to get that for you tomorrow."
"Maybe you can show me how to make things?" Elsa asked, tucking some hair behind her ear, "I was planning on riding around, getting to know the forest."
Now that all the danger was over, Elsa realized she couldn’t stop staring at Honeymaren. She was so pretty. Oh, god, was she pulling an Anna? She didn’t want to pull an Anna, she’d never hear the end of it.
Maren smiled at her, a perplexing amount of redness coloring her cheeks. "Are you asking me if I want to give you a tour?"
"If you don't mind."
"I'd love to." Maren squeezed her hand, and then let go, "There's so many places I want you to see."
"We don't have to stick to just the forest, you know. I'd love to ride...you...around... " Elsa trailed off, stumbling over her words as Maren pulled her tunic up over her head. Her back was toned and muscular, with a row of thin scars across her right shoulder blade. Elsa's very vivid imagination made her wonder what that skin tasted like and what it would feel like to trace those scars.
Elsa was pretty sure she was going to pull an Anna...
There were a number of books Anna had tried to get her to read, all filled with romance and men with muscles and scars and the only one that had held any interest for her had starred a female knight and suddenly it all made sense. What she could do with this revelation was anyone's guess and for the first time in years she couldn't ask Anna about something like this. At least not very easily.
"Why don't we get your sleeping situation taken care of first, then we can do that tour? Spend the whole day in and out of the forest, just the two of us." Maren sat down, tugging her boots off and trousers off, and then patting the bedroll next to her, "Tonight, we can just share."
"Share?" Elsa asked, voice rising three octaves in that single syllable. She could imagine the gossip in Arendelle if anyone ever found out she'd shared a bed with someone who wasn't family. And yet …
"I can sleep on the--"
"No, no," Elsa flailed her hands, simultaneously embarrassed and excited, "I don't want to put you out. We can ... share."
But two can play whatever undressing game Maren had started, so Elsa twirled her hands, making her clothing melt away until all that remained was a pair of panties that would probably be scandalous in Arendelle, but not as scandalous as the fact that Elsa very rarely wore any to begin with. Small rebellions, or something.
Honeymaren's jaw dropped open, "Oh... wow. You ... your magic is so beautiful."
"Me and my magic are kind of one and the same," Elsa replied, pleased with Honeymaren's reaction. It meant that maybe, just maybe, Honeymaren was feeling the same attraction Elsa was. Brave new world and brave new Elsa and all, she sat down next to Maren.
Maren's face reddened and she scrambled to get under the covers. Elsa watched her, transfixed, waiting until she was settled before daring to join her in the blankets. It was interesting to her that now that they were close like this Honeymaren seemed to have been thrown off a little.
The first thing she noticed was how warm and smooth Maren's skin was, a sensation that left Elsa feeling slightly faint and even warmer. She lay on her back, Maren's back to her for several long moments before she rolled over. Almost instinctively, her fingers found the scars on Maren's back, "What happened here?"
Voice shaky as Elsa trailed her fingers up and down the scars, Maren whispered, "Lynx. I was stupid and young. Got too close to some cubs and the mother dropped out of a tree onto me."
"So no heroic fights with a bear?"
Maren laughed, "That scar...is here." She reached behind and took Elsa's hand, pulling it down her side and towards her hip. Elsa's breath hitched and she buried her face into Maren's shoulder. Her fingers felt raised scar tissue, much larger than the scars on her back. "It nearly gutted me."
"I'm very glad it didn't," Elsa rasped, lips moving against Maren's shoulder as she spooned against her. She tasted salt and skin, a pleasant dizziness washing over her. When she brushed her tongue experimentally against the scars, Maren shivered and gasped.
It was all a little too much, so she rolled onto her side, facing away from Maren. Maren was making her feel almost drunk and she kind of liked it and was kind of terrified of it at the same time. She remembered a fragment of an Greek poem she'd tried to translate once. You came, I yearned for you, and you cooled my senses that burned with desire.
Her senses felt anything but cool.
"What was that, Elsa?" Honeymaren shifted around, pressing against Elsa's back and looping her arm around her waist. It made Elsa feel protected, and safe and yet feel more of that yearning the poet spoke of.
"Did I say that out loud?"
"You kind of mumbled it." It felt like Maren was nuzzling Elsa's hair, which was kind of amazing.
"You can't prove anything."
"What if I made you talk?" Maren teased, dragging her finger tips across Elsa's abs.
Elsa would be happy to talk except she'd suddenly forgotten how. Maren kissed her shoulder, then the side of her neck, before she propped herself up enough to kiss the back of her ear. Ripples and shivers ran through Elsa as she inhaled in a sharp, ragged gasp. The situation was almost out of her control and yet in a way it she felt as though she were in complete control.
The way she saw it, there were a few choices open to her. She could gently take Maren’s hand and hold it against her stomach. They could sleep like that, and see what tomorrow and all the days after might bring for them.
Or she could do something impulsive, and a little dangerous. Slowly, Elsa rolled around in Maren’s arms, until they were almost nose to nose with each other. Everywhere their skin touched felt like electric sparks, two points in particular making it extremely hard to focus.
“What was it you said?” Maren asked. Elsa smiled at the dogged determination, though it didn’t keep the heat from her face.
“There’s an ancient poet from Greece,” she whispered. “Years ago, before my parents died, I’d try to translate her works.”
Maren gazed at her expetecently, scooting closer. More electricity jolted her, sensations and desire that made the fragment feel more poignant just now. “She wrote: You came, I yearned for you, and you cooled my senses that burned with desire.”
“Funny how she read my mind all these centuries later,” Maren replied, throat bobbing. Elsa stroked the side of Maren’s face, then trailed her fingers down her arm and her side and then her hip.
“So this is a mutual yearning, then?”
“I am going to be completely honest here and say that I’ve been … how did your friend put it? Winging it since I dragged you in here.”
The thought that Kristoff noticed something in the way she and Maren were looking at each other before either of them had both amused and touched her. “I’m going to kiss you now, if that’s okay.”
Elsa had barely finished speaking before Maren had pressed against her, lips finding Elsa’s as her hand slid up her back and into her hair. All thought faded away in that moment until the only thing Elsa knew was Honeymaren. Soft lips, smooth skin and firm muscles under her hands, and the sweet sound of her sigh in Elsa’s mouth.
“You know,” Elsa whispered, once she’d regained her breath. “I wonder if we need that extra sleeping roll after all.”
“People will talk.”
“And they aren’t already?”
Maren buried her face in Elsa’s neck, “I was being pretty obvious with you.”
“It still took me a little while to catch on,” Elsa pointed out. She cupped Maren’s cheek and turned her face up, feeling like she was on the cusp of something both wonderful and fragile. Something she didn’t want to rush but also didn’t want to miss out on. As she leaned in to kiss Honeymaren again, she reasoned they should try to see how long they could keep their hands to themselves.
She didn’t expect either of them to last very long, but it would be fun to try.