Cold Hands [ Elsamaren ]

3 - Discoveries

Ryder nodded gratefully at the ice queen, signalling her towards a small stable to select reindeers to ride. They had one main stable with dozens upon dozens of reindeers, accompanied by smaller ones for townsfolk willing or wanting to travel somewhere.

They rode in a comfortable silence. Elsa knew Ryder was the more shy and reserved type, the complete opposite to his sisters confident and sassy attitude. The blonde wondered if she could make Honeymaren even more shy than him, or do something else....

"Elsa? You okay there? You started riding a bit slower and zoned out a bit."

The Fifth Spirit blinked hard for a few seconds before realising how hot she felt. "U-um, yes Ryder, I'm quite fine. I just got too deep in my thoughts about Arendelle duties I guess, my poor sister has to do all of those now that she's taken my role as queen."

The boy nodded understandingly, looking down at the ground. "I get you there. Growing up my father always wanted us to be strong, especially me. He thought I would be this.. 'tough and strong warrior that would make his family proud' or something, " Ryder explained, doing a goofy impression of his father, "But I turned out to be... that kid. I couldn't really fight, I couldn't really heal people the best, but I loved animals. So I decided to tend to animals at a young age, and my sister ended up taking the spotlight of the family's 'hero', but I honestly didn't mind, and I don't care now. I get the stress of having these roles you're supposed to carry on because of your bloodline. It doesn't really matter too much to me anymore thoug I mean, half of my family is gone cause of the stupid fight that raged on. My grandfather died during the war, and my father... well he just went mad being stuck in the woods. He wanted to be free, so he just went travelling and never came back."

Elsa's mouth hung slightly open at the boy's rant. Before this interaction they would probably would of said about two sentences to each other a day at most, but she felt as if he had shared a small piece of his heart and soul to her. A secret only he can fully understand.

"That's- wow. Thank you for sharing that, I can tell you needed to get that out of your system. But don't worry Ryder, its wonderful you care for animals so much. That ability is also useful, you are useful and don't forget that either. You and your sister seem incredibly close, and I can tell both of you care about each other deeply."

"Yeah we do, she's my best friend and partner in crime."

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"Elsa! IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU!" As they were riding back to the stables, Elsa heard a familiar chirpy voice yelling her name in the distance. It was Olaf, his permanent smile etched onto his face like almost every other day.

"Olaf? Hey little guy! I missed you." She hoped off of her reindeer and Ryder let them back into their pens, then leant down to hug the small snowman. He reached out his tiny stick hands with glee and hugged the blonde tightly, making what only to be an attempt of 'uwu' sounds.

"Do you know where Anna is?" She asked with a soft smile on her face. Olaf always made her mood brighten no matter what type of danger they happened to be in.

"Oh yeah! She's currently talking to Yelana and Honeymaren!"

Elsa cocked an eyebrow, "Do you know about what exactly?"

"Oh yeah! Basic trading to strengthen... stuff. I can't really remember."

Elsa mentally facepalmed, she had literally talked about it with her sister recently about her visit and she had already forgotten why the red head was visiting.