Chapter Text
It’s been a few weeks since Elsa abdicated and claimed the Enchanted Forest as her new home, and she still can’t get over how beautiful it all is. Her heart aches as she walks through the woods, overcome by a feeling of both belonging and awe. Arendelle was, and is, undeniably wonderful, it’s where she grew up, of course she still loves it, but the sense of belonging she feels in the forest is practically tangible. Magic permeates the air, saturates her bones, fills her lungs with every breath. A fish in water, a raven in the skies, a wolf in its pack. She will always be thankful for her people and her kingdom but it’s undeniably freeing not having to deal with Lords and Dukes and Earls, and the complicated, exhausting dance of social cues that she would inevitably misread or miss completely. The forest is large enough that she can be alone if she so chooses, but its paths are slowly becoming familiar enough that if she gets too lonely, her feet can take her to other people. Even when there are no other people around, the forest still teems with life: small critters scurrying in the undergrowth, cawing birds, swooping and squawking.
The branches above her rustle and chirp in a greeting.
“Hello Gale,” Elsa says warmly. She bends down to grab a fistful of fallen birch leaves, and throws them in the direction of the wind spirit, who swirls them round, making them dance in the air.
The breeze then curls around her, ruffling her hair playfully.
“I haven’t finished the letter to Anna yet,” she says, almost apologetically. “It’s nice to see you though. If you visit Arendelle, say hello to everyone from me.” Elsa smiles before the wind spirit whirls off in a leafy flurry. Apart from herself, Gale is the only other spirit who regularly visits Arendelle, usually to play with Olaf in the cobbled streets. As Elsa waves goodbye, she catches a glimpse of the dirt under her nails.
She stares. Her nails are dirty. There are specks of brown earth, made all the darker against the background of her pale fingers. From years of clean castle walls, dedicated maids and tailored gloves, to brilliant white snow and ice and magic flowing from her fingertips, she’s never seen herself with dirty nails before. She stares. The dirt must have gotten caught under there when she grabbed the leaves from the forest floor.
Elsa goes to carry out her usual rounds of the forest, summoning the Nokk to join her, making no effort to clean her hands off. She will eventually, of course, but for now, she rides with dirty nails gripped in the water spirit’s mane. Every part of that sentence would have seemed ridiculous to her a year ago.
Their ride together is a standard part of Elsa’s routine but, as with most things of the Enchanted Forest, it still seems exhilarating to her, leaving her breathless, heart pounding as the Nokk gallops through familiar woodland. This is where she’s meant to be, she knows that, feels it deep in her bones. They go visit the Earth Giants, most of whom are still fast asleep, causing the pebbles near them to rattle with their snores. One of the smaller giants stirs and yawns at the sound of the Nokk’s hoofbeats, giving a lazy wave to Elsa before falling back asleep. They race across its outstretched arm, acting as a bridge over the river, and keep going and going.
As she gallops through the forest, she can feel the bite of an icy chill in the air; winter is approaching soon. Not an artificial winter brought on by a terrified monarch with a magic she feels she can’t control but simply the natural cycle of the seasons; red and orange leaves giving way to bare branches. When she was young, she had been grateful for winter. It gave her a chance to pretend that the frost covering the doorframes were simply due to a window being left open, rather than because of her weakness. Her gloves wouldn’t be questioned, the chill in her room would be written off, even her withdrawn demeanour could be explained as possibly not getting enough sun, rather than the actual reason of a little girl, folding in on herself out of fear. She’s grown a lot since being that little girl, and is simply excited to see what the season holds in store. She’ll miss the vibrant colour of the autumn leaves, though. She’ll see them again next year, she thinks to herself. She knows without a shadow of a doubt that she will still be here in the Enchanted Forest next year, ready to watch the autumn leaves fall once again.