A/N: Well, it's only a year later. Thank you to everyone who kept favoriting the story and sending me messages. They really helped to keep me motivated and working on the story. As a gift, this chapter is for mature audiences only. Don't read it in public. You have been warned. More author notes at the end.

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Chapter Sixteen – Salted Heart

Sometime after midnight, when all the inhabitants of the chalet had finally fallen into restless and broken sleep, a great wind came rushing down the steep mountains, causing the mixed pine and aspen trees to creak and bend. Clouds scudded fierce and tall over a pale thin moon. Mixed with the wind was the howling of wolves.

And then the moon was obscured in its entirety, its fair face shrouded by great giant fists of thunderclouds. The storm began in the far distance but seemed intent on scraping its way through the mountain range, coming inexorably closer to the chalet at Lost Island Lake.

It was a most fell and darksome sound that underscored the horror of Elsa's dreams, dreams of burning hands and iron rings. Dreams precipitated by a bedtime story, too horrifying to be anything but truth.

"Listen to me, Elsa. Your power will only grow. There is beauty in it, but also great danger. You must learn to control it. Fear will be your enemy."

The words are spoken with a gravelly voice that the sleeping Elsa does not recognize. It is as if the mountains themselves are speaking to her, and the voice is red, red. Her waking mind tries to say that it's just Grand Pabbie, but her sleeping mind is inflamed with his words. There has been so much misunderstanding, so much pain and heartache over such simple sentences. Thirteen years of exile resulting from thirteen seconds of speaking his supposed words of wisdom, and she hates him for it, whether she's sleeping or awake.

In her dream the sky streaks over with redness, like flames, like burning hands. The hands of a huntsman, who seeks more powerful game. Who will seek royalty, if necessary, to achieve his ends and prolong his life.

They are his hands, and they stretch out across the sky as if to extinguish the very sun.

And they are her hands, and they follow him because they must. They are connected by more than happenstance, by more than a single band of iron upon her finger. They are connected by blood.

Blood. So fucking red, red.

Red like the lights she saw in the sky the night that Grand Pabbie sentenced her to unending exile, to be kept apart from her Anna.

Red like fear, like flame.

Red like the glory of a hunt well begun.

And Elsa tries to hide herself within her kingdom of summer and midnight sun, fleeing to the one and only place where she can be hidden among waters and grass that somehow have inherited the blessing of an angel's touch, the only place where she can be protected. A place where skies are as blue as the water of the lake, as the hue of her favourite clothing, and she wraps herself in blueness, understanding now more than ever that the one balances the other, for the blue sky overlooks the red earth, and the blue water is in the red blood, and the blueness of her beloved's eyes balances the redness of her hair.

Anna is the balance, the harmony, the true child of heaven and earth. As if she were an angel come to the ground, an angel born again to restore the balance.

And in the dream she is there, on the high knoll that overlooks Chalet Avundir. The sun beats crimson on her bright hair. Her eyes are cerulean blue, like a gentle breeze. She is the blue world, and she is also the red sun. She holds Elsa's heart in her hands, and Elsa has never felt so protected, and so loved.

Yet…

Wolves fear no sun.

And these wolves are his.

The dream fractures. The Elsa that begs to wake up knows the lie of it, the horror of the wolves that converge upon her Anna. There are no lutes here, no firebrands of sleeping blankets, no Kristoff or Sven. Just a beautiful young woman standing beneath a sky that bleeds red, and then the redness is upon her hands, and her skin is broken, and her body obscured by the awful gray of the wolves, and in the place of thunder is laughter, for this is his mirth, his pleasure, even his amusement, and Elsa is helpless, caught within the confines of a dream that will not end, not even as her dearest girl is ripped apart before her very eyes.

"Fear will be your enemy."

Grand Pabbie said nothing about fear being her only enemy.

So she lifts her hands, and blackens the sun, and scorches the sky, and the snow that comes to her bidding is righteous, and it is bold, and it forms like lightning, streaking between the bodies of wolves that pause in their rending of Anna's flesh, and they fall like snowflakes, like their lives mean nothing at all, like they could be extinguished as easily as these frozen fractals of ice.

Until they are gone, and only Anna remains.

Or, the body that had housed Anna's soul only minutes ago.

Even as Elsa runs to her, she knows that the spirit is gone, lifted up into the blue vault of the sky, gathered into the waiting and eager hands of her parents, and Anna is beloved by them, but never as well as Elsa could have loved her.

The finality of her loss strikes her heart with the weight of mountains as the dreaming Elsa pulls Anna into her arms and sobs, sobs.

The iron ring breaks upon her hand, and falls in two pieces on the emerald green grass.

And as suddenly as that, Elsa woke up from her nightmare, eyes wide in the night that crashed with bright bits of lightning and storm. Anna was facing her, and Elsa stared both at her face and at the steady rise and fall of her chest. Her girl was still sleeping, a somehow deep and healing rest despite the thunderstorm that ravaged the valley and lake. Elsa stretched out her hand, only to lightly touch Anna's skin and ground herself in reality once more. Harsh and bitter moments of the dream remained, reminding her far too much of those horrifying mares that had broken her dreams a few weeks ago.

Elsa tried to slow her breathing and induce sleep once more, but the bright bits of lightning in the room were jarring, the thunder relentless. Unwilling to jeopardize Anna's rest, Elsa carefully rose from her bed and pulled on a thin robe before stepping to the windows. For a long time she watched the storm ravage the mountains, coming closer and closer, and the fear and bitterness in her heart slowly began to ease. It had been a dream, and only a dream. This was just a storm. The story last night had been a fireside tale of myth and legend.

And she was a human girl who could somehow control ice and snow.

Elsa opened the door to the balcony and shut it behind her. The eaves kept the majority of the rain from striking her, though some stray droplets fell upon her face and skin. It felt clean and pure, and she revelled in the feeling of the thunder as if it was another heartbeat, just outside her body.

So she extended her palms out from her body, and from them emerged gorgeous tracings of ice and snow, glinting bright with the strikes of lightning before they were extinguished. Dozens of icy fractals were created and destroyed as she sunk herself into her magic. She began to keep rhythm with the storm, sending up bursting globes of ice and snow that streaked with lightning and pulsated with thunder.

As time passed she found she could almost predict the strikes of lightning as the storm inched ever closer to the chalet. The sound of rain was constant, almost soothing. As one particular sheet of lightning arced across the sky, Elsa spun herself around, and the snow that flew from her hands and wrists took on the form of small, darting birds, and one by one they spiralled away from her, out into the air only to dissolve in the hard drops of rain.

But Elsa didn't watch her creations flounder and die, eaten by the storm-dark. She had stopped at the end of her spin with a light blush covering her cheeks, for Anna was awake, dressed in a robe, and watching her from the open door to the balcony. And not only watching her; Anna was staring with admiration and love so deep Elsa felt her heart plummet and swoop in her chest, mimicking those small and now-dead snow-birds.

And she saw the Anna from her dream, rent and broken on the ground underneath the frozen fractals of wolf corpses. She tasted sorrow and anguish and hatred so deep it was like salt on her tongue. Some part of her had hoped to banish the dream completely before seeing Anna again – she had no wish to drag her nightmares into her waking state.

Before she could say or do anything at all, Anna said, "You really are incredible, Elsa."

Another bolt of lightning lit up the sky, and the thunder was so deep and close it rattled Elsa's teeth. "Did I wake you up, dearest?" she asked.

Anna shook her head as she continued her deliberate approach, taking the final two steps right into Elsa's waiting arms. Elsa held her so tight, not really realizing until that very moment how much the terrifying dream had impacted her. With a flash of guilt, Elsa remembered the promise she had made to Anna a few days after the great freeze, to wake her and include her in the destructive aftermath of the nightmares. But Anna didn't question her wakeful state, nor did she ask why Elsa was standing out on the balcony in the middle of the storm. She just held her. Their bodies fit together as perfectly as one puzzle piece fits another.

Her constancy was a blessing greater than any other in Elsa's life.

"I love you so much," Elsa whispered into Anna's ear as another roll of thunder cascaded through the night.

"Do you?" Anna softly teased, her hands running down Elsa's spine, causing a most pleasurable shiver to ripple down her back. "I'm not exactly convinced here…"

Elsa drew back, and if ever a smile could cause the sun to spontaneously arise in the middle of the night, it would have been Elsa's smile in that moment. She let the pleasure of it permeate her entire being, and it scoured away every last stain of the nightmare. Anna almost seemed taken aback by the brilliance of it, but then she responded with a smile of her own, so pure and strong it mirrored the sheet of lightning that at that moment arced across the sky.

The thunder that followed was great and majestic, it was their beating hearts, it was the grateful exhalation of the sky itself as it responded to such strength of love. It would banish every hateful memory, every scent of wolves.

Anna lifted her hands and grasped Elsa's face and neck, pulling her in for a kiss. Elsa felt the familiar stirring deep within her core as she melted into Anna, kissing her again and again while the tempest cradled them in a most beautiful and protective orchestra of sound and fury.

Emboldened by the thunder that rumbled so greatly about them, surely it would hide every sound uttered by the young lovers, Elsa nipped at Anna's lower lip just as she placed her palm soft and tentative on Anna's breast.

Anna broke the kiss, her head arching upward, an exquisite breath escaping her lips, and the sound of it was bright and beautiful.

A golden sound, to pierce great and deep within Elsa's core, and she knew, now more than ever, the sense of want. She wanted to touch, to taste, to delve deep inside Anna, to connect with her on a deeper level than ever before. For all their walks, and all their kisses, and all their tentative touches and caresses, Elsa wanted more, she wanted the completion that was the blessing of midnight lovers.

The way that Anna touched her; Elsa knew that Anna wanted it as well. The touch of her hands was fiery on Elsa's skin. Anticipation of this great next step had been their shadow every day since their arrival at Sera Avundir's chalet, and indescribable joy inflated Elsa's chest.

This was it. The thunder and lightning would protect them. To touch and be touched. To love and be loved.

Finally, it was time.

And then Anna began to cough.

These were not the polite coughs that preceded a tickle in the throat. These were the great and wracking coughs that left the lungs quivering and the throat burning. Anna covered her mouth with her sleeve and curled over her stomach as she continued to cough. It sounded like a thunderstorm bursting inside her chest, and Elsa could only imagine the pain Anna felt.

And Elsa felt her heart break. It was very distinct; this wound that opened up in her chest. Every device she had ever used to keep herself separate and aloof from the world, from the armour of her gloves to the protective isolation she had self-imposed, none of it could have kept her from feeling this exquisite heartache, this sensitive and open wound that she never wanted to close.

It was her heart, and it was strong. Strong enough for this wounding.

And the lightning was rampant about them, and filled the sky with light and clarity. With Anna at her side the storm lost all its teeth and became ferocious and beautiful as kittens.

And Elsa understood that true love was also this constant vulnerability and affection, not simply wishing for pain to be taken from someone else, nor taking that pain on behalf of a beloved one, but keeping this open and raw wound in moments both great and small, in sickness and in health; a form of compassion so intense and vast that it existed across all time and space.

She knew the correct response to these random and awful coughing attacks. She held Anna, loosely yet with great affection and care.

It seemed to take forever for the coughing to ease. Finally Elsa could feel Anna's shallow breaths take slightly deeper hold and her muscles calm from their fury. It was not enough to calm the fears that always seemed to multiply in the night-time hours, fears that Elsa desperately hid from her sister.

Surely she would not lose Anna. Not to this. Not while she and Sera Avundir drew defiant breath.

But what was defiance against a nemesis hiding inside Anna's very body?

"I'm all right, Elsa," Anna murmured, turning to face her on the balcony. Another distant bolt of lightning provided momentary illumination, the thunder rolling a comfortable minute later as the storm slowly moved through their valley.

"You keep saying that, but is it really true?" Elsa replied, her hand falling to her side. "I know you don't want me to feel guilty, and that you don't want me to take blame. And as much as I want to believe you, the heart of me can't forget that it's because of me that you were stuck on the bell tower so long that you got sick. I froze your heart up on the North Mountain, and now you have a heart condition. I…" Elsa stopped speaking.

The little she could see of Anna's face was devastating. Anna opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. When she spoke it was with despair so raw it poured salt on the open wound of Elsa's heart.

"Elsa, I can't be this strong much longer. I can't fight against your blame. Elsa, sometimes when I cough so much I get so scared… but I hide it, because I don't want you to feel guilty. And I can't do it anymore. I can't prop up both of us."

Elsa felt her salted heart break at Anna's words.

"I'm sorry for hiding things," Anna continued. "And right now, this very moment, I don't want to hide anything anymore. Not from you. Elsa, I'm scared. I don't know what to do. But I do know this. If ever you loved me, if you love me now, please, you have to let it go. Let go of your guilt, let go of your shame. Life is too short for this, Elsa. Life is too beautiful." Anna leaned forward and kissed Elsa's cheek. "But for the moment, could you just hold me? Please? Could you just love me?"

Elsa could not speak over the lump of beauty and terror in her throat. She nodded first and then was finally able to say, "Would you like to go back to bed, then?"

"I'm tired, but I'm not exactly sleepy," Anna admitted. "Is it too late to have a fire?"

"Never," Elsa replied, wrapping her arm about Anna's shoulders and steering her back inside their room, shutting the storm-dark behind them. They had not had a fire after Sera's terrifying bedtime story, so the hearth was clean and the precisely placed bundle of logs and sticks had only to be lit. Anna tugged a blanket off the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders as she sunk to the floor before the hearth, leaning back against a heavy chair. Elsa took the long tapered match, lit it, and set it against the kindling. The fire quickly caught. Anna held open the blanket and Elsa eagerly snuggled against her sister's body, leaning against her curvy warmth.

For the longest time they listened to the thunder and the crackling of the fire and watched as the lightning crackled and burst in the sky. Elsa was nearly perfectly content; indeed, she was as peaceful and happy as she could be considering Anna's lingering illness. It was almost unfair how speedily Elsa had recovered from her own fever and near-death experience. If only whatever grace had come to her could be as efficacious in healing her beloved sister!

"I would like to give you something, Elsa," Anna said moments later.

"And what's that, sweetheart?"

"A secret."

Intrigued, Elsa sat up slightly and pulled away from Anna enough to see her. "A secret?"

"Yes. Pretty much the only thing that I have ever hidden from you, and everyone else."

"Does it involve suits of armour?"

Anna chuckled, the sound of it low and dear, but Elsa could clearly hear a note of strain within it. Whatever this secret was, it meant something to Anna. And she was about to give it away. "No, no suits of armour."

When the silence became a little long, Elsa squeezed Anna's thigh, thus commandeering her attention away from the snapping fire. "Whatever it is, Anna, it won't change how I feel about you."

"Hold on to that thought, Elsa." Anna took a few more breaths and then said, "Not long after our parents funeral, I was feeling depressed and lonely. I rarely saw you those days, not even the chance viewings I tried to engineer as you walked from Regency Council meetings to the library or to your room. It was like a black hole had swallowed my entire family, and don't you dare worry about any of this now, Elsa. It's just a little backstory, all right?"

Elsa hadn't been able to completely conquer a shiver of shame at Anna's words and forced herself to focus on her younger sister with her entire salted and broken heart. "Backstory. Check. Go on."

"Good. Well, I started my sword training pretty soon after, and I was as clumsy as you might imagine. I think I was a month in when I suddenly decided I had had enough. I was angry, Elsa, angrier than I had ever been. So I attacked my sparring partner, who kept his cool for quite a while until I bashed in his helmet. I know he reacted on instinct, but he still cut me on the arm. My leather bracers took most of the hit, but the cut was pretty bad.

"They rushed me to Sera's hospital and one of the aides helped stop the bleeding. But he didn't trust himself for the stitching, so I had to wait a few minutes for her to come out of surgery.

"I didn't mean to pry, Elsa, but I was feeling… hot-headed. Rebellious. Still angry. So when I saw her desk drawer slightly open, I let my curiosity get the better of me. And then there was a thin little book under a sheaf of papers. I started looking at it, and in skimming one paragraph in the middle, my face flamed red. Then I heard sounds, and I should have put it back, but I didn't. I put it in my bag instead.

"I managed to close the drawer to about the same spot it had been in. Sera Avundir came in and dealt with me as efficiently as you can imagine, saying no more than a dozen words. Before I knew it, I was stitched up and escorted back to the castle with ointments and warnings to be more careful.

"I couldn't wait to open that book, Elsa. I went to bed early and devoured it from cover to cover, burning a whole brace of candles in the process.

"It was a love story, Elsa, of two young women. It was sweet and simple and even a little bit risqué. And something happened to me as I read it. It was as if… hmm… really, it was like lightning struck my heart. Lightning, an earthquake, a storm; these words can only hint at the change that took place inside me as I read their story. Oh, how I wanted their love, Elsa. Though at the time I told myself it was because I ached for any love at all.

"Here's the real secret, Elsa, the one I wanted to give to you. I think I'm Sapphic. My entire life, how I loved to look at pretty girls, and my reaction to any beautiful woman became more pronounced with time. The memory of that book was always with me, teasing me. Those few rare moments I saw you – my reaction could have been deemed lonely and sisterly, but I admired and stared just the same, and then wondered what was wrong with me.

"But then time passed, and my responsibilities as a Princess began to grow, and I began to think that there really was something wrong with me. I was just young, and stupid. Your coronation marched closer and closer and I shut the door on all my awful desires, knowing I would have to support you in whatever way was necessary. There could be no love between women, not for a member of the royal family, whose duty would always be to marry well and produce an heir. But how I wanted love, Elsa! And if I couldn't have the love I wanted to have, the love I longed for, I would have any love offered to me. So I threw myself at Hans just like I threw myself at Kristoff. Hoping it could change me; make me be the way I was supposed to be.

"And then you came back into my life. Damn you and bless you, Elsa. Bless you for giving me the only love I've ever wanted, for being a partner more wonderful and perfect than I could ever deserve. And damn you for being my sister. The gods must hate me, to have me fall for the only person I shouldn't be allowed to love."

Shocked into stillness, Elsa could only stare at Anna. Her face, downcast, lit by the flickering glow of the fire. Her voice, filled with such pain Elsa didn't even know existed.

How many times could her heart break in mere hours?

But then Anna lifted her head. She put her fire-warmed hands on either side of Elsa's cool cheeks and stared at her. Voice throbbing, she continued. "I don't care, Elsa. I do not fucking care one bit about the gods, the common folk, or even our dead parents! Loving you has been the greatest blessing in my life. And I will fight for it, and for you, until the seas dry up and the earth crumbles into dust. I love you. Only you. End of story."

Elsa stared into Anna's eyes and felt her salted heart burst into flame. She held Anna's secret in her memory, promising to return her attention to it later. She licked her lips and then said, "You are wrong about only one thing, Anna. This story, our story, is just beginning."

She leaned forward hungrily and kissed Anna's lips. Again and again she kissed her, until she pulled away abruptly and growled, "And I don't care that you think you might be Sapphic. I only care that you love me. Only me."

Anna practically launched herself into Elsa's arms, bearing her down to the sheepskin rug on the floor. She put her thigh between Elsa's legs as she fastened her lips on Elsa's; her hand found its home on Elsa's breast. Between the tenth or twentieth heated kiss, Elsa managed to say, "Anna, I won't be able to stop this time. Not unless you tell me to."

"I have the answer. Don't stop."

No sooner had Elsa heard the words than she gently flipped Anna on to her back. She was only peripherally aware that Anna was peeling off Elsa's robe; she was entirely engrossed in kissing her way across Anna's too-sharp collarbone, and in the feeling of her breast under her hand. As her robe fell off into the darkness, Elsa abruptly pulled Anna to her feet. "Bed," she explained.

Anna was just as eager, tugging at Elsa's nightdress as they staggered a few feet back to the edge of their bed. "Did you learn anything interesting in that book of yours?" Elsa whispered, her teeth grazing Anna's ear.

The firelight was growing dim, but the glint in Anna's eye was unmistakeable. "Judge for yourself, my Elsa," she purred as she grasped the hem of Elsa's dress and pulled.

Up, and up over Elsa's head it went. And then Anna's mouth was upon Elsa's bare breast, her lips covering the nipple, and nothing in Elsa's short and oft-miserable life could have prepared her for the explosion of desire and longing in her core as Anna suckled her, mouth to skin, her hand hard against Elsa's waist, holding her tight. "God, Anna!" she breathed, her head high, her hands tangled in Anna's hair.

Anna lifted her head, and lightning bathed them both in instant brightness. "I will make it my life's work to have you say that as often as possible," Anna growled.

Elsa's lips were fierce as she kissed Anna's mouth, her tongue demanding entrance. Her hands reached behind Anna and pulled at the silky material of her nightdress. Anna broke the kiss long enough to help Elsa divulge her of the clothing. The moment it was gone, Elsa latched on to Anna's mouth and propelled her back until her legs hit the edge of the bed. More wordless urging had Anna down on the bed, scrambling to the center of it. She wore only smallclothes, and the lines of her body were shadowy and warm with firelight.

Lightning brought the scene to a stark focus, searing it in Elsa's memory for the rest of her life.

Anna, breath sharp, eyes deep with longing, skin a silken white. Gauzy shadows worshipped her skin, casting her in gentle darkness. She faced upwards on the bed, breasts heaving.

Her hand, beckoning.

Elsa sank onto the bed, impatient with desire, yet the first thing she touched was Anna's arm. The scar was long but incredibly faint, easy to miss among the freckles. A scar that led Anna to so much change, and to so much beauty. Elsa ran her fingers along it and then kissed it while Anna stared at her, eyes hooded and intense.

Then Anna drew her down, and they latched on to each other in every way possible, legs tangled, hands urgent, lips kissing whatever they encountered. Elsa cupped Anna's breast and then lightly rolled her nipple; Anna moaned aloud, the sound lost in the far echo of thunder. "Oh my God, Elsa," Anna breathed. "Please, please…"

Elsa did not have to ask for elaboration. She could feel the need inside Anna, for it was echoed throughout her own flesh. It pooled in her limbs, made her heavy with want, though her fingertips remained as light and curious as a flake of snow. Anna arched her head back as Elsa kissed her way down Anna's neck, her hand sliding down Anna's side, over her the swell of her hips, to grasp the waistline of Anna's smallclothes.

"Yes, oh yes," Anna breathed, arching up her hips to assist in the final disrobing. Elsa's hands knew exactly what to do; they had their own intuition, their own wisdom, and there was no hesitation or clumsiness as she stripped the last of Anna's clothing away.

Anna was bare before her, and though Elsa had seen stages of nakedness before, as when she had assisted Anna with her bath, that could not have prepared her for the fullness of this moment. For Anna's body was bare, and so was her altered heart, and the beauty of it struck a chord deep in Elsa's soul.

Not that Anna allowed Elsa much time in this first tumultuous and heart-breaking viewing, for her hands were reaching for Elsa's own smallclothes, to tug them down, down along the moon-spilled milk of Elsa's legs, and then out into some corner of their room.

Immediately Elsa wrapped herself over Anna's too-lean frame, her arms crushed tight around her, their breasts pressed together, her leg curling over Anna possessively. Skin on skin, the whole length of her. Lips fastened in a kiss that had more depth than should be possible; how could it be that simple clothing had hidden away this glory of bareness and blossoming?

It was all more exquisite than anything she could have imagined. To finally surrender to the deepest love in her heart, to give everything she was to the woman she loved more than life itself; it caused an earthquake of desire to rocket out from her core.

Anna chuckled a moment before she rolled Elsa to her back, and an unromantic squeak came from Elsa's lips before she was very crushingly kissed. Anna seemed to be mapping her with her mouth; moving from Elsa's lips to her cheeks, to her jawline and beyond. She drew her fingers over Anna's back, delighting in the shiver that flensed the muscles before her, her lips kissing whatever part of Anna that happened to be close; her lips, her forehead, the crown of her head. She felt Anna's foot sliding along the inside of her calves, gently pushing her legs apart. Elsa gladly complied, only to feel the pressure of Anna's thigh against her throbbing needy center.

Elsa's hands were voracious as they slid down Anna's body, cupping a firm breast and squeezing before moving on to skirt her belly button. Her fingers latched on to Anna's hip just as Anna's mouth latched on to her breast.

Among the sensations overpowering the young queen's senses was the undeniable presence of Anna's long and lithe fingers trailing ever closer to that juncture between her legs, the place Elsa most wanted her to be.

Elsa was breathing heavily now, and couldn't help but move her hips upward as Anna insinuated her thigh even more strongly between her legs. She wrapped a leg around Anna's leg, hoping for a bit more leverage against Anna's strong thigh. Elsa heard Anna laugh as she lifted her head from where she had been worshipping Elsa's breast. "Good so far?" Anna asked as another wave of lightning came into their chamber.

Elsa couldn't help but laugh with her love, her partner, her heart. "I won't be if you tease me much longer," she breathed as Anna's fingers finally trailed above the soft hair above her center.

"All right then," Anna said, and then she kissed Elsa's lips as she cupped Elsa's core with her hand in one strong and sure motion.

Elsa bucked against that hand and opened her mouth to Anna's silken tongue. Her fingers raked Anna's back as she was ravished with Anna's lips and tongue.

When Anna slid two fingers inside her, it brought a sense of completion that Elsa could never have imagined. Anna's thumb slick and stroking her clit, her fingers thrusting in and out; Elsa thrust her head back, exposing her beautiful throat to Anna's heated kisses. Her hands on the bedsheets, fingers curling. Her legs wrapped around Anna's waist, opening herself wide. Quicksilver breaths completely hidden by the soft dragons of thunder. Sips of air tinged with sweat and love. Her entire existence distilled, all the excess emotion gone now, all extraneous thought and hope and fear gone. The universe itself slowing for this moment, a universe that was only made to support her in this discovery of pure love.

Upwards she climbed towards the peak of a mountain she had only ever traversed alone, in long and aching nights of solitude and wretchedness. There had been no beauty then, only frantic and slightly shamed release.

Now there was Anna, and she spoke Elsa's name, and commanded her to keep her eyes open. So Elsa complied, and there she was.

Anna.

And not only Anna.

The universe was there inside her lover, her sister, and the universe was a great unbroken tree.

And her release came then, as a great earthquake rippling up from the roots of the unbroken tree, and Elsa felt her body shaking and trembling with the force of it. She cried aloud as her legs bucked, and Anna was the great constant, holding her tight, kissing her neck, whispering sounds of devotion into Elsa's ear.

It was suddenly too much for Elsa. All the years she had spent in isolation, in fear, in forcing herself to be the person she was told she had to be; Anna did not condemn those years, those feelings and those habits. She embraced them as fully as she embraced all things Elsa. There seemed to be no part of Elsa of which Anna was afraid. She embraced Elsa's darkness as easily as she enjoyed Elsa's light.

For Elsa was more than winter. She was summer as well, and spring and autumn, too. She was whole, imperfect, authentic. And she was loved.

Tears forming in her eyes, Elsa reached for Anna and hugged her. "Never, never could I have imagined…" she began to say before the words completely clotted her throat.

"It's okay, Elsa," Anna murmured, lovingly stroking Elsa's back and neck.

Elsa only held her tighter, their legs tangled in sheets, hearts stormy, the last of the fire popping into extinction, their souls bathed by the sound of the storm surrounding the chalet.

When sleep came, there were no more wolves. No burning hands. No iron rings.

Only love.

...

Please note that I have made a small edit to the end of Chapter 14. The new sentence is now: Thus began the last best journey of Elsa's life. (Elsa now instead of Anna - it will make sense later.)

Additional Author's Note: I have plotted out the rest of this story and have maybe two or three chapters to go. It will be complete right around New Years, as I'm almost done the next chapter already. I'm sorry it's taken me a year to resume it - my life went fubar. As a brief example, a year ago I was employed by the government with great benefits and pension but a job that was going to hell. And now I'm living in Prague, in the Czech Republic, about to start Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Life is funny sometimes. :) I'm glad I followed my heart out of a bad work situation and into storybook Europe. There are great writing vibes in this city.

Hit that review button, send me some love! Next chapter will be posted by Christmas.