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‘Will you stay up with me for a while longer?’ Elsa asked Honeymaren. ‘I want to check something.’
‘Sure,’ Honeymaren said. ‘What do you want to check?’
‘That it’s not happening again.’
It had been a little over a year since Elsa had left Arendelle to follow a mysterious voice and had died. If it hadn’t been for her sister’s bravery, she would still be frozen in Athohallan. So when Elsa started hearing possible new voices a few weeks ago, she wasn’t quite as keen to run after them.
‘A few weeks ago, I was returning from Athohallan and it was quite late and as I entered a particularly dark stretch of woods, I heard these sounds.’
‘What kind of sounds?’ Honeymaren asked.
‘Sort of high-pitched and like a conversation going back and forth. I could make out what they were saying as it was far away and it sounded as though they were moving into the darkness.’
‘That sounds like the mørkleifs,’ Honeymaren said.
‘What are those?’
‘They’re the sons of darkness,’ Honeymaren said. 'Didn’t your mum sing you the mørkleif lullaby?’
Elsa shook her head no. Honeymaren moved closer to Elsa, probably to make sure she wasn’t going to wake anyone and started singing.
Trees whisper as you sleep
Do not travel in too deep
My child, be wary of the dark
Or it will leave its mark
Find the spot of light
Where your dreams take flight
Follow its journey home
And let your freedom roam
‘The tale tells us that the mørkleifs are small dark creatures who try to lure children away from their parents,’ Honeymaren explained. ‘Once they have done that they bite the children and from that moment on the child is doomed.’
‘Doomed?’ Elsa asked.
‘Yes, at some point, that child will do something awful. They might steal, hit or even kill someone and they can’t help it, because they were marked.’
‘What does the mark look like?’
‘It can look like anything really,’ Honeymaren said. ‘I’ve seen quite a few different ones.’
‘Wait,’ Elsa said. ‘This actually happens?’
‘Well, what happens is that whenever someone does something bad people start yelling “they must have been marked by the mørkleifs” and then they look for a mark and always find one. It’s usually a scar of some kind.’
‘But you don’t really believe it?’
‘My friend Sussu hit her mother with a stick once and they said she must have the mark. Then they pointed at a mark on her knee and said that must be it. But I knew for a fact that she got that mark when she tripped and fell onto a rock,’ Honeymaren said. ‘And I would know; I’m the one who tripped her.’
Elsa laughed at that and asked, ‘and they didn’t check you for a mark?’
‘Nah,’ Honeymaren said, ‘I’m way too sneaky.’
‘But what about the lullaby? The one about Athohallan turned out to be true,’ Elsa said. ‘And the warning was very apt.’
‘Yeah, sure, but I think those warnings are more about stopping people from doing something stupid,’ Honeymaren said. ‘Not that that stopped you.’
‘Haha,’ Elsa said in a dry voice. ‘You are hilarious.’
‘True,’ Honeymaren said. ‘I think my parents just sang us this lullaby so we wouldn’t run off into the darkness. It can get really dark in the forest in the middle of the night.’
That was certainly true and it had unnerved Elsa quite a bit when she spent her first winter in the forest. In Arendelle there was always a source of light to be found somewhere but the forest could be completely pitch black. Luckily, Elsa had her magic as a source of light but it could still be spooky.
‘Wait,’ Elsa said suddenly. ‘I think I hear it.’
Pulling Honeymaren along, Elsa walked to the edge of the village and in the far distance the high-pitched sounds could definitely be heard. Holding onto Honeymaren, Elsa dared to move a bit closer and she kept moving until Honeymaren stopped her.
‘What’s the plan here?’ she asked.
‘To follow the sounds,’ Elsa said.
‘Now? In the middle of the night, without supplies or telling anyone?’
Elsa couldn’t help but feel annoyed at the excellent points Honeymaren was making. The sounds intrigued her and she wanted to know what they were.
‘How about this,’ Honeymaren said. ‘Tomorrow we will make a plan, get some supplies, talk to Yelana and then we follow the sounds.’
Well, unfortunately, there was nothing about that that didn’t sound entirely reasonable so Elsa agreed. She marked the tree where they had ended up so they could find it again the next day. Then Honeymaren led them back to the village and walked Elsa to her goahti before returning to her own.
~*~*~
The next morning, Elsa found Honeymaren working on a wagon near the reindeer. She was stretching a few hides over the top of it to create a roof. There were some supplies ready next to the wagon.
‘Hey Elsa,’ Honeymaren said in response to Elsa’s greeting. ‘I’m working on the wagon, but I’m going to need a little while longer.’
‘Can I help?’ Elsa asked.
‘Yeah,’ Honeymaren said. ‘I can’t quite get this hide to stretch and stick all the way across, maybe you could use your magic to sort it.’
Together Elsa and Honeymaren prepared the wagon in under an hour. There was enough food to last them a few days and with Elsa’s powers and Honeymaren’s knowhow they should be fine.
Before leaving they had to talk to Yelana. Honeymaren had warned Elsa that Yelana would not understand why they wanted to do this, but that she would probably let them because things were quiet around the village but that they were unlikely to escape without a lengthy lecture about forest safety and Honeymaren’s predictions came true exactly.
A few hours before the sun was due to set, they left the village. Finding the tree was easy and then Elsa used a compass to guide them north. As they travelled, conversation flowed easily between the women. Once the sun had set and the temperature dropped, Honeymaren moved closer to Elsa for warmth.
‘There it is!’ Elsa said. ‘It’s faint but it’s there.’
Now they had the sound again, they adjusted their direction a little more to the west and continued travelling that way for a few hours. By then it was high time for the reindeer to rest and Elsa and Honeymaren made up a bed in the back of the wagon.
As Elsa crawled underneath the hides, she was very careful not to touch Honeymaren. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to. If anything it was the opposite of that, but she wasn’t sure how Honeymaren would feel about that.
‘Thank you,’ Elsa said.
‘For what?’
‘Coming with me. I’m not sure why you did but I really appreciate it.’
‘No problem,’ Honeymaren said with a slight shiver.
‘Are you cold?’
‘Just a little.’
It wasn’t the least convincing lie Elsa had ever heard Honeymaren tell, but it was close.
‘Here,’ Elsa said. ‘Take my hides, you know I don’t get cold.’
‘No, I can’t do that,’ Honeymaren said. ‘But maybe we could share?’
Yes, YES, a hundred times yes! Elsa thought so she was quite pleased with the calm ‘sure’ she managed to utter instead.
Honeymaren crawled towards Elsa and settled next to her. A quick question and answer led to her putting her head on Elsa’s shoulder as Elsa wrapped her arms around her. Elsa’s heart was racing and she was sure Honeymaren could tell, but she didn’t mention it.
‘Would you sing the lullaby again?’ Elsa asked. ‘You have such a lovely voice.’
Honeymaren started singing softly while playing with the hair that had fallen onto Elsa’s shoulders. When she had finished the first one, Honeymaren sang a few more lullabies and told Elsa the stories her parents used to tell her about them.
Elsa felt more at ease than she ever had before. When she first noticed her attraction to Honeymaren a few months earlier, it had shaken her up. She had behaved oddly around her, unsure of what to do. Elsa had finally confided in Anna when she felt like the lack of sleep alone was driving her mad, and Anna’s advice had been to relax. Don’t do anything for now and just keep getting to know her.
It had worked well. Her friendship with Honeymaren was stronger than ever and Elsa was able to enjoy the sweet moment they shared, but none more so than this trip.
~*~*~
The next day, Elsa and Honeymaren started moving early, hoping they were still going in the right direction. They had enough supplies to move for three more days so at the end of today they would have had to reach their destination to have enough food to make it back.
Around midday, Honeymaren turned to Elsa and asked, ‘why did things go a bit weird between us this summer?’
Oh, Elsa thought. This was a problem. Creating a snowbank to tip the wagon to get out of this conversation occurred to Elsa, but that might be a bit obvious. Instead Elsa decided to be a little more normal.
‘Oh, it was nothing.’
‘Come on, Elsa. It must have been something.’
‘It’s nothing to worry about.’
‘I’m going to be honest,’ Honeymaren said. ‘I really like you and I am so happy things are better now and I want to keep it that way. So if I did something wrong, I’d like to know.’
Honeymaren looked absolutely sincere. Her integrity was one of her most attractive characteristics, along with her kindness, sense of humour and gorgeous face.
‘I noticed that I like you a lot,’ Elsa said as she felt her cheeks turn red. ‘More than I like most people, or all people except maybe Anna, and it made me nervous because I didn’t want you to stop liking me too.’
‘You’re so cute,’ Honeymaren said, ‘and you don’t have to worry about that.’
Taking both reins into one hand, Honeymaren used a free hand to snake it underneath Elsa’s. Wiggling her fingers slightly, Elsa took hold of it and didn’t let go for the rest of the journey.
As the sun was setting, Elsa and Honeymaren decided to take a dinner break now, so they could keep moving until it was quite late. Discussions as to what they might find that night grew increasingly strange. Honeymaren proposed an eight-legged frog with a squirrel tale while Elsa thought it might be a shapeless steamy entity.
Once they heard the sound again, they got back on the wagon and started moving. The sound was really close now and Elsa was getting excited. Taking Honeymaren’s hand in hers again, she was ready to meet whoever was making the sound.
After half an hour, the reindeer started showing great reluctance to continue until it flat-out refused to move. Jumping from the wagon, Honeymaren snaked her arm through Elsa’s as they walked closer to the sound.
Suddenly, they felt something rush beside them. Elsa created some snow so they could see a little more. Another brush against their legs caused Honeymaren to yelp. Elsa tried to move her hand fast enough to see what it was but every time she was too slow.
‘Oh, I don’t like this at all,’ Honeymaren said. ‘Can’t you make more snow?’
‘I don’t want to scare them away,’ Elsa said.
‘I actually wouldn’t mind that, but I see your point.’
They kept moving and the sounds grew louder. Up close it definitely didn’t sound like voices but it did seem like one sound was responding to another. Maybe it was another magic creature like her, maybe it was a mørkleif, Elsa was desperate to find out.
Then there was a pause in the sounds and then a rush of it, louder and higher than before and coming their way. They were surrounded on all sides and instinctively Elsa created a barrier of snow around them. In the light Elsa could see movement but nothing specific. Turning to Honeymaren she could see the unease in her friend’s eyes though.
‘Let’s go back to the wagon,’ Elsa said. ‘We can explore this area in the daylight tomorrow.’
~*~*~
Elsa woke up with Honeymaren snuggled close to her again and she allowed herself to enjoy that for a little while. Since it was winter they didn’t have very many hours of daylight and because they didn’t need to travel Elsa and Honeymaren stayed in the wagon. Drinking tea and chatting for a while until Honeymaren asked the most wonderful thing.
‘Do you want to cuddle for a bit again?’
Honeymaren laid down on the hides and opened her arms. Elsa didn’t hesitate to put her head on Honeymaren’s chest.
‘Can we talk about how much you like me some more?’ Honeymaren asked.
‘Or about how much you like me?’ Elsa replied.
‘Fair enough,’ Honeymaren said with a chuckle. ‘How about we take turns?’
‘Great, you start.’
‘Fine, I like how surprised you are when you snort when you laugh sometimes.’
‘That’s hardly charming, Maren,’ Elsa said. ‘But okay, I like how you can’t help but show off a little when showing new warriors your moves.’
‘Only when you’re there, Elsa, I was trying to impress you.’
‘Oh, you did,’ Elsa said, looking up at Honeymaren for a long moment before laying back down. ‘Your turn.’
‘I like how you pretend to like Ryder’s cooking even though we both know it’s awful.’
‘I like how you let the children ride on your back even when you’re tired.’
‘I like how fiercely you love your sister.’
‘I like how you always try to do the right thing for everyone and not just yourself.’
‘I could say the same about you,’ Honeymaren said.
‘I don’t think we should be allowed to steal each other’s likes,’ Elsa said, moving up to lean on her elbow next to Honeymaren.
‘Fine,’ Honeymaren said smiling at her. ‘I like how pretty you are.’
Elsa felt something change between them, and a rush of excitement coursed through her veins.
‘I like how you kissed me first because you knew I would be too shy to do it,’ Elsa said, terrified at the risk she was taking.
Honeymaren pressed her face into Elsa’s shoulder, muttering what sounded like, ‘you are just so cute’, before moving her lips to Elsa’s.
Two hours later the sun had come up and Elsa and Honeymaren had finally come up for air.
‘Are you ready to finally do what we came on this trip for?’ Elsa asked.
‘I came on this trip to be close to you, Elsa, so I’m done,’ Honeymaren replied, but she let herself be pulled from the wagon anyway.
Walking up to the area they had tried to explore in the dark, Elsa noticed it was how empty the land was. – they definitely weren’t in the forest anymore. There were a few ridges though and as Elsa made her way around them she could see there were a lot of holes in them.
‘I think they’re tunnels,’ Honeymaren said.
Elsa thought she was right. Could this be where the mystery creatures live? It would make sense that creatures that love darkness would live in tunnels.
‘Do you want to try luring something out of them?’ Elsa said.
‘How do you want to do that?’ Honeymaren asked.
‘Come here.’
Honeymaren stood next to Elsa and after a moment’s hesitation, put her arm around Elsa. They shared a soft smile as Elsa built a small ice barrier around them. Then Elsa pointed her hand towards one of the tunnels and a stream of snowflakes flew into it.
‘I don’t want to scare them,’ Elsa said, ‘so I’m just sending in a few flakes.’
For a moment nothing happened and then all at once, small furry, white animals came running from the tunnels. Some ran straight into the ice barrier but none of them seemed to noticed Elsa and Honeymaren on top of it. Most of them were making the now very familiar sound so these were definitely the creatures they had been chasing. Next to Elsa, Honeymaren had started laughing.
‘They’re arctic foxes,’ she said as she was trying to catch her breath. ‘All this mystery and intrigue, and they’re just foxes.’
Elsa shared in the laughter for a moment before turning to admire the animals. It might not be as exciting as discovering a new magical creature, but they were very cute and it was impressive how they could live in such a barren environment.
‘They’re beautiful though,’ Elsa said, ‘so I don’t think it was a wasted trip.’
Honeymaren grabbed Elsa by her waist and turned her towards her to capture her lips again, ‘oh, I would never say it was either.’
They continued holding each other as they watched the animals realise there was nothing to worry about and make their way back to their homes. Once most of them were gone, they made their way back to their wagon to prepare for their return journey. Elsa couldn’t help but look forward to the two nights she’d get to spend in Honeymaren’s arms on the way back.
After they had been travelling for a while, they heard a fox’s bark quite near them and they found a rather small arctic fox had followed them. As they wondered what to do about it and how to return him to his home, the fox climbed onto the wagon and settled on Elsa’s lap and fell asleep right away.
‘Maybe it’s a fifth spirit thing,’ Honeymaren suggested.
‘Either way we’ve got a pet now,’ Elsa said.
‘But where will he live? In your goahti or mine?’
‘How about in ours?’