I'm Afraid of What I'm Risking if I Follow You

Part 5

The Nokk nuzzled against Hans's palm, and Elsa could only describe his grin as nothing short of euphoric. What was worse—she couldn't help but smile, too. "It's—cold, but I can deal," he replied. Now that they could be around each other, the Nokk kept trying to hold contact.

Alright, so her powers would affect him because he reacted to cold. But something told her Hans wouldn't mind as long as he had something else to do other than stick around the tribe and slowly recover and help out. "I can't give him a permafrost like Olaf," she warned. "He does have to go back to the water where he belongs."

Hans finally looked over at her, still petting the Nokk's mane, his back. "Who's Olaf?" he asked.

Oh... damn. Flushing, Elsa realized she'd never once tried to explain Olaf to Hans because it'd be too strange. "He's..." How was she going to put this into words? Best to be quick. "He's a snowman Anna and I built as kids and I made him sentient while escaping up the North Mountain," she said in a rush.

"I'm sorry..." said Hans, "a what?"

"A sentient snowman," she repeated. "He talks and walks and sings. I finally gave him a permafrost so I wouldn't have to keep rebuilding him from melting."

She watched his lips form a pout, trying to comprehend what she'd just told him. "Like... the monster outside your palace on the North Mountain? The one who tried to attack me and the Duke of Weselton's men?"

Right, he'd been there to experience that. "Yes, I suppose? But far smaller. And honestly smarter, with how much he knows in three years of existence. He lives in Arendelle with Anna."

Hans blinked, trying to process her words. "Okay," he said, because in this case, what else was there to say?

Shaking her head, she decided to change the subject. "Let's go for a ride," she suggested.

His face brightened up again, practically beamed. Even the Nokk understood that, dancing about a bit. "Okay," he repeated, this time with far more enthusiasm. "How exactly does one go about riding the Nokk?"

"Like this." Elsa created her rein foe him, before hoisting herself right onto his back. She tied her hair, not wanting it to whip around all over the place, and offered her hand to Hans this time, rather than just grabbing it. "Come on."

Was it just her, or was his smile a bit... coy? Playful? He took her hand and she helped hoist him up. With her in front, Hans tried to keep a respectable distance between the two of them. "What exactly do I hold onto?"

Elsa supposed she could ask him to lean forward and take the reins just behind where she was holding. But she'd risk him falling if they went for a real ride. Sucking up her pride, she figured, it meant nothing if he held on—he'd be too enamored with just riding again. She reached back and led one of his hands to her hip, knowing he'd get the hint.

His eyes widened. "You're sure?" he asked. And the fact that he wanted to keep chaste proximity at least let Elsa know he feared her enough to know she held all the power here. Good.

She tried not to focus on how nicely his hand encircled her waist, warm and comforting. "If you fall off, it's on you for not holding on properly," she decided, trying to still have some bite in her voice.

Wordlessly he scooted a touch closer, his other hand taking her side. With that, she took off so she wouldn't have to think about his hands on her, starting at a slow pace—just a trot around the river. Of course, this got Hans to hold on a bit tighter.

Sure, she could have had Hans in front, but he'd never ridden the Nokk before. She had the experience. And this way, she could stay in control.

Once in the village, kids gawked at the sight of the Nokk, who so rarely came out to play. Honeymaren wore her signature smirk, nodding in approval, and even Ryder came around just outside the tribe, on the back of one of his many reindeer friends.

"She got you on the Nokk?" he asked. "How?"

Hans held on a bit more; they were picking up speed. "Frost from Elsa's powers," he answered.

Ryder grinned, keeping up with them. "She's amazing, isn't she?"

Elsa could feel the hesitation behind her, and she tried not to let that bother her.

"She is," Hans finally said, and was it just her, or did his grip tighten a bit around her? Elsa urged the Nokk on faster so Hans and Ryder could just stop this conversation.

When they passed Yelena, the gentle, all-knowing smile stuck with Elsa—yes, all right, this was the natural progression, but it didn't mean anything. Maybe he'd just learn to live with the voice until he was all healed up, and he decided to go his own way to solve this mystery. She tried not to see it, but it wouldn't fool Yelena—that woman knew all, it seemed like.

So they kept riding, aimlessly, through the trees lush with leaves providing great shade during these warmer months. The Nokk's hooves thumped rhythmically against the soil, leaving Elsa mindless, taking her thoughts off of Yelena, off of Hans, despite the fact that he still held onto her. Just her, just the Nokk. The way it had been before all this, before it seemed like Hans wanted to come back into her life out of the blue, and suddenly Yelena was using it as this excuse to drive her out of the tribe when it seemed like she only just arrived, trying to get more in touch with the spirits and this culture that was part of her heritage.

They rode out far enough to the ledge—no longer much of a ledge, though, now that the dam had been broken. Elsa realized she hadn't really seen it since. This was the way the land should have always been, and now Elsa finally got to see it, and live by it.

When they stopped, she turned to Hans and asked, "How are you doing back there? Too much?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he kept staring out toward the horizon. Maybe he just heard the voice again, and that was the direction it wanted him to go. But the Nokk wasn't looking out, and this wasn't like the confused, almost awestruck gaze he usually sported. This was... focused. Intense, even. Like he was trying to remember something. But... he'd never been here before, had he?

"Hans?"

"Didn't there used to be a dam here?" he asked instead.

Now Elsa was the confused one. She leaned forward, brushing back the Nokk's mane. She only knew about the dam from Father's story... because when Elsa had been training to be queen, no books ever mentioned the tensions between Arendelle and the Northuldra, like this whole history had been erased. The Northuldra existed, sure, but they never had any overlap with Arendelle—certainly not the dam, or the era of "peace" her grandfather had falsely given. Honestly Elsa thought it could still be a myth until she and Anna saw it with their own eyes, even thinking it just an image in Pabbie's vision.

Someone from the Southern Isles should not know about its existence, especially not Hans.

"How do you know that? It's in no history book that I know of. It was only ever something I just had to trust existed until I saw it."

This response was enough to bring Hans back down, to look over at Elsa. He seemed just as surprised, like this was supposed to just be common knowledge when it now clearly wasn't. His hands didn't leave her waist.

"I had to learn about Arendelle and all its surrounding kingdoms as a child," he replied. She watched his neck bob as he swallowed thickly. "My brothers and I all had to."