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

Part 7

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

Chapter 7

"I don't know if he knows about Ahtohallan, but he knows the song," Elsa told Yelena, her arms crossed tight over her chest. "He sang it perfectly."

The children of the village ran around in the small snow bank Elsa made for them, trying to goad Hans into helping them build an Olaf-like snowman. He had this weakness around all the kids, letting them pull him around however they wanted, answering their questions thoughtfully without talking down to them. He even had suggestions on how to make their creation bigger, making a face for them to imitate on the snowman. And every time Bruni dared to dart off his shoulder, try to melt the snow, Hans made a point to grab him and give him a friendly scold, before placing him back on his broad shoulder.

"He knows nothing of the elements until now, nor of Ahtohallan except a vague song..." Yelena stroked her chin, contemplating. "And he has only been to Arendelle once, for your coronation?"

"Yes," Elsa replied. "It makes no sense... unless you know of someone from the Northuldra who left for the Southern Isles?"

"Not to my knowledge," Yelena said, shaking her head. "Your mother, as far as I know, was one of the only people from our tribe to leave permanently. And even then, it started out as her making sure your father was safe, after the conflict. It wasn't like she knew she couldn't return because of the mist."

There was a connection, Elsa knew that much now. To what, she wasn't even sure Hans knew. But with every passing day, he was wincing less, moving more. She could let him bathe privately without worrying about if he would try anything (especially after Honeymaren's assurance that he certainly wouldn't be alive if he did).

He said he trusted her.

It was time for him to learn about Ahtohallan.

It was also time Anna knew about Hans's return, even if the last thing Elsa wanted was to get her busy sister involved. But she knew the power of secrets held in, how much they could eat at you; hell, she'd kept her powers a secret for thirteen years, and with each day, she could feel it eating away at her morale more and more.

This was going to put her in a similar situation, if she kept it in any longer.

But she was not going to involve Anna, simply inform her.

"I need to do something, before I tell Hans about Ahtohallan—which I'm going to do today," Elsa announced. "And if I don't, at that point, you're allowed to tell him."

"Deal." Yelena smirked. "And Honeymaren told me about what she's observed, by the way. No, I don't want to kick you out of the tribe, but you weren't meant to stay put for this long—you were meant to be free."

"I am free," Elsa countered, brows furrowing. "I'm freer than I've ever been in my life."

"You tell yourself that now," said Yelena, shaking her head, "but you just built yourself another cage, albeit a bigger one. And maybe your father put you in one in the first place, but ever since then, you've just managed to just build another one wherever you go, whether it be here, or the North Mountain..."

But Elsa wouldn't hear any more of it. She stormed past Yelena into the hut, watching Hans be damned.

She needed to write to Anna. Anna knew she was free.

Elsa huffed as she sat, wrenching out her journal from under her blankets and writing furiously; something, anything that could help her process. Because Yelena was wrong. She needed to be here, to learn about her mother's roots and culture. Hans just needed to rehabilitate, learn the secrets of his past, and then he'd be on his merry way out of her life forever.