First, some feedback to reviews!

Courtneeyoung18 – (Ch 18) I'm glad that you enjoy the bond that the sisters share, and I hope the news of their actual relationship didn't throw you off! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Mpsantiago – (Ch 18) I appreciate your sentiment on wanting Anna and Elsa to have a bit more time to spend together without doom and gloom over them. I kind of wanted that too, but the story went another way. I do have plans to provide that still, though, so I hope you enjoy some tender times coming up in the next few chapters.

(Ch 19) I'm glad you understood the reasons given in the letter for Agnarr's decisions and silence. I agree, these things often lead to bitterness, but I do have a special path for our girls to follow after all this truth-telling. And yes, Anna did clean her sword while she walked to check on Elsa. You're right – she was in total shock, and reverted to the training she had received, to always clean the sword before sheathing it again. The mystery of the men will become clearer with time, because you're right – Erasmus would want Elsa alive.

Balticbard – (Ch 18) Thank you so much for your kind words about my story. I love writing so much, and I'm pleased that you were hooked right away into the story.

Guest – (Ch 1, Dec 28) Thanks for taking the time to send me some love. I'm glad you enjoy the story.

Punky32 – (Ch 18) I'm so glad you find this story breathtaking and beautiful, and I do have quite the ride planned for all my readers this year. I hope you continue to enjoy it. Thank you always for leaving comments.

Immareading – (Ch 8) I LOVED your expression of holy ca-nolly. Made my day. And I still consider chapter 8 to be one of my crowning achievements. I love the ending to that chapter, too. I hope you have enjoyed the rest of the story as well.

Wannasalad – (Ch 18) See? I do love you. I knew the revelation about Anna and Elsa's relationship might be a bit much to handle if it was too stark, too bleak. I'll continue to explore their reaction to the news in this way, because it just makes sense to me that this would rock the foundations of their world. The silver lining will be found, but it's the cloud that interests me now.

(Ch 19) Your reaction to this chapter was priceless. I had been planning this altercation with the wolves for the last few chapters (which was why it was so important for Anna to drill with the armour earlier that day), and I was so excited to share it with you. I'm quite gratified by the response.

Guest – (Ch 19, Jan 5) I do like scars, because they are physical evidence of stories. It's in the story that something turns bad or good, but a scar is just a scar. It's just evidence. Sexy scars, yes, those are even better.

Joshroom – (Ch 19) Thank you so much for such great comments. I really enjoyed your thoughts. Brutality and grace – these are what I was striving for, so I'm glad I came at least close to the mark. The repercussions will be pretty big, and I'm so excited for how the rest of the story will unfold. And the sequel, of course. Thanks again for reviewing.

Sedryn – (Ch 18) I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter, and the fluff scene written for you. I know readers like the fluff, so I will keep it coming. But not in the next chapter, sorry to say. I'm glad you are here to read the rest, even if it's challenging!

(Ch 19) Yes, it was a rather dark chapter, but I'm proud of both Anna and Elsa for being so brave. I will have many beautiful moments between them yet, don't you worry! Thanks always for reviewing, I really appreciate it.

SakuraAyanami – (Ch 19) Always a pleasure to hear from you! Yes, I am probably evil, but it's just so much fun! As far as Anna's reaction to the letter, Elsa has had more practice in having to contain and control her emotions, and Anna has not. Elsa feels upset, certainly, but she's more used to this bitter side of the world. That's what I thought, at least. And the wolf fell badly on Elsa's leg, so it's not a complete break, it's just a cracked bone. Happy New Year to you as well, and thanks for reading!

MilandaAnza – (Ch 19) I'm glad you are joining the party, even though the story is not yet complete. I'm not entirely certain how much longer it will take me, but I think it will probably be around 25 chapters long. So you are close to the end, at least (and you missed my almost year long hiatus from this project as well). You're very right about the cousins marrying – it has been common in many cultures for centuries, and won't cause nearly the problem that sisters would. I hope you continue to enjoy what's coming!

Gwiley – (Ch 19) I think I wrote that AN a while ago, back when the story was marginally fluffier. And yes, it has definitely taken an angsty turn. Though I had been planning this chapter for a while, it was definitely heart-wrenching to write, and I'm glad that it was equally heart-wrenching to read. Enjoy what comes next!

Glittering snowfall – (Ch 17) It's okay to fall behind in reading – life in the holidays can be busy. I threw in an Easter egg for you in one of these last chapters, did you catch it? I used your user name in a description. Totally fun. And I appreciate so much that you do take the time to share your thoughts as well. It means a lot.

(Ch 18) I had to work on that letter from Agnarr quite a bit before it was good enough, because they are pretty important revelations. The massage scene was a joy to write, in comparison.

(Ch 19) Thank you for your words. "Darkly, heart-poundingly thrilling"… that is music to my ears. I appreciate your comments so much, so thank you for making them.

Worrierqueen – (Ch 19) Thank you for taking the time to leave such a meaningful review. I so appreciate your views on my writing. And no, the tale will not end here. I've just been crazy busy and haven't had time to update until now. I'm so pleased that you will be here for the rest of our journey, and I hope I continue to provide a captivating and enjoyable read for you.

...

Now for the update. I hope you forgive me.

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Chapter 20 - Burden of Silence

"Don't move her, Anna, not yet," Sera said, out of breath from her run down the grassy slope to the edge of the lake. The physician had stopped briefly at Nils' body, searching for a pulse just to be sure, and then she squeezed Johan's shoulder in sympathy before she stepped over the dead wolves to run to Elsa's side.

Anna felt very far away as she did all Sera asked of her. She held Elsa while the wound around the bolt was packed with bandages, the arm wrapped with gauze, the leg inspected. Through it all Elsa remained mostly conscious, for she wept at times with pain, and hissed, and cried out, and every sound she made was marked in Anna's changed and broken heart.

Anna was therefore quite astonished when Sera snapped her fingers in Anna's face and said, almost harshly, "Anna! Don't you faint on me now. I need you. Gut up, Princess."

Anna focused her eyes on Synneva Avundir, a tinge of anger sparking her from her shock. "Let me see your wrist." The physician took Anna's wrist, and turned it this way and that while Anna set her jaw against the waves of pain. "Hairline fracture. I'll wrap it for now and look at it again later," she said, and she proceeded to do just that, immobilizing Anna's wrist in layers of bandage. "Elsa must be carried. I blew the horn for my brother, but it will take a while for him to get here from his cottage at the edge of our holding. I don't think Johan is strong enough, certainly not now, and I know I am not. It must be you. Is the armour too heavy? Let's take it off."

"No," Anna firmly replied. "It's not heavy." She would not take off Elsa's armour. It was all that was holding her together.

Sera's lips were thin. Now that Anna was looking at her, she could see the family resemblance. That strong jaw, and that refined nose and cheekbones.

They had much to discuss.

Anna knelt at Elsa's side. "Hey sweetie," she softly said, touching Elsa's non-ruined cheek and drawing the gaze of one pained blue eye. The other half of her face was a mass of gashes and swelling and so much blood. "I'm going to take you back to the chalet. This might hurt. A lot. But I promise to be careful."

"Okay," Elsa breathed. "I trust you."

Those words were a bolt to Anna's own heart. Elsa trusted her? Did she not see what Anna's trust was worth? Where was Anna when the wolf ripped open Elsa's face?

Oh, yeah. Killing a man.

Elsa continued to look at her with her one eye full of faith and trust, and Anna suddenly remembered the shard of sword that Elsa had pressed into her palm. God, had that been only today? Hours ago, in fact?

Sera's bedtime story had been last night. The night of the storm, and the love.

Far from bringing her solace, the memory of making love to Elsa threatened to split her into a thousand bleakly glittering pieces. Anna set it all aside, focusing only on the here and now, with this terrifyingly altered Elsa. This mess of skin and blood and broken bone.

So Anna gently picked Elsa up, cradling her with infinite care in her arms. Her wrist bloomed in pain like fireworks, but Anna did not care. One step after another she carried Elsa up the long grassy slope, the darker night finally falling about them, and near the lake behind her came the sound of night birds singing, their sweet song contrasting so painfully with Johan's soft crying.

Up into the chalet, where Gerda was ready with boiling kettles of water, clean linens, herbs, and all of Sera's necessary items for first aid and surgery. Anna was not really surprised to sit the semi-conscious Elsa on the edge of the kitchen table itself. Following Sera's barked commands, soon Elsa's clothing was snipped away from the bolt.

"Help Elsa drink this," Sera brusquely said, swirling a measure of laudanum into a mug of her tonic, and handing it to Anna. Anna couldn't help but feel the new relationship with the physician. Her aunt. Her mother's oldest sister. The knowledge brought no comfort. Not now. She killed two men just now, and almost got Elsa killed as well.

Elsa's skin was gray, her lips bloodless. None of the sparkle and vivacity she so loved in Elsa was there. She tipped the mug to Elsa's lips and helped her sip. Tears constantly welled from Elsa's eyes. She felt so weak and limp in Anna's arms. Anna wanted to burst into tears, but she couldn't. Not now. Elsa needed her.

Gut up, Princess.

From the moment the laudanum wet Elsa's tongue, Anna also felt anaesthetized, distant, able only to do exactly as Sera ordered. She held Elsa upright while the bolt was removed, Elsa's scream making her nerves bleed. She couldn't look at Elsa at all, though she felt Elsa's fingers press hard into her flesh in pain. She said a silent prayer of thanksgiving when Elsa finally passed out, whether from the laudanum or from the unending pain. She had to leave the room when Sera cut open Elsa's shoulder muscle to begin operating on the broken scapula.

So Anna cleared the long little table in the common room and watched as Kai and Johan brought in Nils, placing his body on the table. She threw up in the bathroom after she saw the bolt still sticking out of Nils' eye. She stood silent and still while Kai helped her out of her armour, and then she put on a simple dress, the pieces of armour stacked in the corner of the room on a spare sheet. Elsa's blood and the blood of wolves was still all over the cold metal.

Anna returned to the kitchen in time to watch Sera stitch up the long incision in Elsa's shoulder. Gerda was busy making some simple food for the weary vacationers, so Anna helped Sera lay Elsa back against the table so stitches could be placed in the exit wound of the bolt above Elsa's heart. Sera put a sheet over Elsa's bare chest, and this simple and kind movement nearly reduced Anna to tears.

No time for tears now. She had space only for guilt, and for shame. For blood on her hands, the blood of men and wolves and the blood of her true and only love.

By then Erik, oh god, this stranger was Elsa and Anna's uncle, had arrived at the chalet, and he, too, followed Synneva's orders in silence, without saying a contradicting word. He and Kai took torches down to the cold lakeshore and gathered all the bodies. The bodies of the men were placed in the barn to await daylight and a closer inspection. Then Kai and Erik prepared a pyre right on the shore of the lake, stacking it high with stored wood. Lamp oil was procured, and the bodies of the fallen wolves were placed on it. Then the pyre was set alight, and Anna watched the fire roar hungrily into the once-peaceful sky.

She killed three wolves today, and almost got Elsa killed as well.

Then she returned to the kitchen, for Sera needed her to help save Elsa.

Sera Avundir did not speak much, making her commands in short sentences for this gauze, this water, this sterile instrument. She set Elsa's broken lower leg, and Anna nodded her head at Sera's explanation that it was a very small and simple fracture, from the wolf falling badly on her leg. She sat next to the table and held Elsa's cold, cold hand as Sera applied a poultice of herbs to the lacerations on Elsa's face and arm in order to bring down the swelling.

Time lost all meaning. The darkness outside the chalet was now absolute. Erik and Kai took turns standing at the terrace overlooking the lake and outbuildings; some semblance of security, perhaps, about as useful as locking a barn after a horse had been stolen. Clouds obscured the face of the moon and stars. Vigil was kept over Nils as the night hours advanced, and Anna would join the men for brief periods of time while Sera and Gerda toiled endlessly to save Elsa's life. Gerda made hot sweet tea for everyone, and Anna served it to Johan in silence, barely able to withstand his grief and her own guilt.

Her fault. Why did she leave the chalet? Oh, god, why…?

Stop. Don't think.

Anna started to turn away from the vigil when Johan softly spoke. "Anna," he said, standing before her.

She wanted to run away. Just like she did earlier tonight. Perhaps she could bring about another apocalypse of wolves.

Johan spoke, and only all the courtly instruction she had been given throughout her life kept her feet glued to the floor. "Anna, this is not your fault," Johan was saying, his voice hoarse with spent tears. "Nils knew the risks and rewards of his profession. He loved being a palace guardsman. He considered it the greatest honour of his life when we were asked to join you here."

Then the man dared to touch her on the arm, and her eyes went there, to his fingers on her unworthy skin, as his words flew into her unworthy heart.

"He would have counted his life well spent in this service, Anna. Queen Elsa lives, and so do you, Anna. Do not blame yourself for his death. You were not the one who killed him. He fought well. His is a death worth remembering."

Anna put a steel case about her heart. The Princess of Arendelle lifted her head and looked into Johan's reddened eyes. "Yes, it is," she replied. "And it will be remembered. The Crown will give him a state funeral, and we will provide death benefits to both you and his immediate family. His sword shall be returned to his father, with the story of its valour."

The moment she was done speaking, she turned away from him and the grateful astonishment in his eyes. Away from him and his damning compassion. Him and his mercy. Her walls could not come down. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

Couldn't they all see the consequence of her openness, her naïveté? Anna and her damn open doors. She nearly let Hans destroy her kingdom, once. And now, she let in the wolves.

Anna returned to the kitchen to see a mess of bloody poultice and bandages as Sera worked, carefully and tirelessly, to save Elsa's eye. Tiny, immaculate stitches were placed in her eyelid and underneath. The remainder of the horrifying claw marks down Elsa's face were not very deep, save for a few stitches right over her cheekbone, and after they were clean required only poultices to bring down swelling and combat infection. Bruises darkened the area about her eye, made her pale face a thundercloud. The gashes on Elsa's arm were worse, some requiring many more of those patient stitches, especially where the fangs had wrenched her muscle apart.

And then it was over. Nothing more could be done for the Queen of Arendelle.

Sera Avundir washed her bloodied hands with scalding hot water, drank a cup of tea and ate some hot biscuits that Gerda had prepared, and then looked at Anna's wrist. "As I suspected," she said at the close of the examination. "A hairline fracture. Nothing too serious, but we must let it heal for at least six weeks."

"That's assuming that we aren't attacked again. Like tomorrow. Or now. I guess we've already moved past the 'no kingdom, no worries' part of our vacation. Not that I ever expected archers and wolves."

Sera lifted an eyebrow at the bitterness in Anna's words as she finished wrapping the wrist in a plaster cast. "You're in shock right now, Anna. I want you to sip this cup of tea and sit here by Elsa for a few moments while I go change my clothes and see to Nils. I need to talk to you, but I must do these things first. Will you sit here and wait for me to come back?"

"Yes," Anna said, and even she could hear the hollowness in her voice, though she did nothing to change it.

She accepted the mug of hot tea pressed into her palm, and sat where Sera told her to sit, but after Sera left Anna only stared at Elsa's hand, willing herself to take it. Take her hand, Anna. She's all gray and stitched and broken, but she's still Elsa. She stopped letting people touch her when she was eleven years old. She went ten years without knowing what it felt like to be touched. Touch her, Anna. Show her you love her.

She's asleep. She can't feel anything. And that's a blessing.

Look at her. Look at what you did to her, Anna. That bandage over her eye, and down her face. What if she is blind in that eye when she wakes up? That arm was badly mauled; there will be scars. Her leg cracked where you let the wolf fall on her, she won't be able to walk for weeks, at least not without crutches. You did that.

You killed two men today, Anna. There's blood on your hands now. You want to touch Elsa with those hands? That kind of blood doesn't wash off. You want to get more blood all over your Elsa? You think she wants you to touch her now?

You ran out of the chalet, Anna. The letter upset you so much you just ran without thinking. Just like you do everything without thinking. God, when will you grow up? When will you realize that you have to fucking think? Who else has to die before you get it?

Goddamn it, Anna!

So don't you dare touch her. She should never have trusted you. You in that fucking armour. She sacrificed herself to save you. She had one moment to use her magic, and she spent it on you. She trusted you to protect her. And you failed her. You let her get hurt.

You should have been able to save her. Just like you did before.

But this time you didn't.

Now look at her.

You should leave. You don't deserve to be here.

Leave, before you dare to touch her with your bloodied hands.

Leave, before she wakes up and tells you to go.

Anna yelped when she felt someone touch her shoulder, and she instinctively balled her fist but managed not to punch her aunt.

Sometime during Anna's hateful self-deprecation nearly all the lights in the chalet had been extinguished, save for the ceremonial candles that would burn all night for Nils' vigil. Synneva carried a small lamp and the last of the biscuits. In the desperate and fitful glow the physician looked haggard and ancient.

"You didn't drink your tea," Synneva said, her voice gentle now.

"At least I didn't leave. I considered it, you know."

"We have a lot to talk about."

Anna stared at her with all the weary self-hatred that had been welling up inside. "Oh yes, we have a lot to discuss, don't we? Aunt Synneva."

To her surprise, Synneva's face was immediately transfixed in the most unimaginable form of grief. The sight of it was enough to stop Anna's breath, to make her hand shake on the handle of her mug of tea, and her mind to suddenly wonder why this pained Synneva so deeply. Was it only the lie she was forced to keep over decades in support of a law she despised? What else could it be?

Synneva shook her head, sharp and quick, marshalling her defences, reinstating her own personal armour. Anna suddenly shot out her bandaged hand and touched Sera's hand. "Don't, Synneva. Don't hide behind your mask. Not now. I need you."

To Anna's amazement she could hear a tinge of Spoken Law in her voice, the same that had flavoured her words when she went to search for Elsa, leaving that bastard Hans in charge of her kingdom.

Apparently Synneva heard it as well, for she took a deep breath and nodded. "May I ask what was in the letter, Anna? I have only an idea, but no truth. Agnarr and I, we weren't exactly close."

"You may read it yourself. It's in our room, if you don't mind getting it. I don't want to leave Elsa. Then you'll have all the truth you can stomach, which is more than could be said for both of us."

Her face still stricken, Synneva abruptly got up from her seat and left the kitchen. Anna resumed her study of Elsa's hand. She had freckles. Eleven of them, in a little constellation that swept across the back of her hand. They were beautiful.

Synneva soon returned, the sheaf of papers in her hand.

Anna sipped her tea, even though it was now tepid and gross. She watched the play of lamplight on the sheet covering Elsa's heavily bandaged body. She could barely hear the soft conversation coming from the living room. They would be telling stories now, and Anna should join them and share hers, their words to combat the silence of death that had so suddenly come upon this most faithful servant to the Crown. Stories to testify of actions taken, feelings felt, the length and breadth of a life.

Did her father speak for Henrik that awful night that Isolde was captured? Or did he only conspire to conceal the truth? Did no one speak that night for Elsa's father, for the sacrifice he also made? The vigil is one night dedicated to remembering the dead; did they even bother to remember him?

Anna imagined the worst. No, the silence of that fateful night would be of the stagnant kind, full of lies that would rot like fallen logs in the forest. That's what her father was good at. Conceal, don't feel. Lie. Separate. Isolate.

Anger and grief collided in her eyes, but Anna forced back the tears.

Until she heard the pained breathing of her aunt.

Anna closed her eyes. She could not look at her. Could not. She had to be strong now. With Elsa injured, she was in charge. Elsa asked her to co-rule Arendelle this afternoon. She had placed a shard of Hans' sword in Anna's stupid palm and said she trusted her.

With Elsa so gravely injured, Anna would have to take Nils back to Arendelle and provide the state funeral. She had just promised it to Johan, and by God she had to keep the promises she made or she was no better than her hollow father. She would have to leave Elsa during the first week of her convalescence, and the thought of it made her want to curl up and cry.

What if Elsa didn't recover? What if Anna wasn't here for her? Was a promise made to Johan really enough to take Anna away at such a perilous time?

Spoken Law cluttered her tongue and made the answer for her.

She was a Princess. And now more than only a Princess.

Damn Elsa for her trust!

There was a sudden clattering of chair against floor, and then Anna was lifted up, bodily up, and held in a tight and fierce embrace. "Oh my sweet Anna," Synneva said. "You're my niece, and I love you. I love you so much. I've always loved you. So very much."

Two heartbeats, maybe three, where Anna remained stiff and immobile in Synneva's arms. She could not falter now. She could not grieve. Not yet. She needed to be strong. For Elsa.

"Oh, sweetheart," Synneva whispered, right into Anna's ear. "It's okay, I'm here."

Anna choked back a sob and buried herself in Synneva's arms.

At last the tears came.

Tears to be caught on her aunt's clothing, and held there, and cherished as Anna was cherished.

And just when Anna thought she was back in control of her tears and her grief, she remembered the first time she found herself in Elsa's arms.

That day on the fjord, with the frost overtaking her skin, so cold she knew she would die from it, only to see Hans raise his sword to her sister, her Elsa. Anna had had such a crystal clear moment of knowledge, an intuition sharp and fierce and glorious, for in that moment she knew exactly how to save Elsa. She could place her body of ice in between the sword and the only family member she had left. She had one chance to save Elsa from Hans, knowing deep inside that this would mean her own downfall, Anna wouldn't survive this, and that after this one redemption Elsa would have to save herself.

So she had run, and put herself between Elsa and the falling sword, and then her consciousness had fled to a barely remembered shore of peace and eternal summer.

She saved herself, by allowing herself to be destroyed.

Waking to Elsa weeping and mourning in front of her, and then Elsa in her arms, and the painful joy of that first embrace knifed Anna even now in the arms of her aunt, and the sobs she had been keeping at bay began to tear great gouges out of her heart and chest.

No!

Anna abruptly yanked her arms away from Synneva, and turned away from the kindness and compassion that would tear her apart. She closed her eyes to her Elsa, her cousin, her heart, lying there beneath a sheet, half her face covered in bandages.

There was only this storm inside her now, far greater than that tempest conjured by Elsa upon the fjord. There was only this agony, this knife edge of shame and guilt, this raging avalanche of remorse.

And anger. Do not forget anger.

Rage at her father consumed her. This was his fault as well. This was the burden of his silence. This was the price of secrets kept.

Synneva did not touch her, but her voice somehow cut through the sludge of Anna's thoughts. "Anna, please. Talk to me. Let it out. Let it go."

Anna clenched her fists and kept her eyes shut. "No," she whispered. "I cannot. Not now. Please don't ask this of me."

"I must, Anna, please. What happened down at the edge of the lake, what you had to go through… it is a wound like any other, and it must be cleansed before it can fester. Please talk to me. We can clean it together."

Anna turned to Synneva then, and saw the exhausted countenance of her aunt, her mother's older sister, and hardened her heart to her. "What if I don't want it to be clean?" she asked, in a voice too still, too deadly. "What if I want it to remain? God, Synneva, what if I want to be angry? I just want to be angry. Let me be fucking angry, okay?"

There were tears in Synneva's eyes. She shook her head, sharp and bitter, and took a step forward.

Then she put her arms around Anna again, firmer, fiercer, flaying Anna with her kindness, her compassion, her deepest empathy for hurts of the mind and soul.

Anna tried to twist away, but that didn't work. So she pounded Sera's back with her fists for a moment, maybe two.

Then her knees abruptly gave out, and Synneva gently guided her to the floor, never letting go of her. Anna was vaguely aware of Sera's soft weeping, and the strength of her hands.

"I killed two men today, Sera," Anna cried. "I didn't mean to. Oh, god!"

And with those words, Anna descended into a steep pit of black, remembering how her sword strike had taken the first archer in the throat. So bright, that blood, in the backlit air of the rain-washed summer evening. Brass and carmine and so awful, and even now she could barely believe that it had actually happened, that a man was killed by her hand, by the icy edge of Elsa's sword.

And that other man, the one who actually dashed his neck against her blade, a final edge of silence that would envelop him in a shroud, taking all his answers over this great precipice.

Why, oh why did she have to kill them?

Why, oh why did she run?!

"I'm here, Anna," she heard Synneva say. "It's going to be okay."

Once again Anna pushed away from her aunt, though exhaustion kept her muscles liquid. "How, Sera? How is all this going to be okay? I nearly got Elsa killed today!"

Synneva's face somehow became both intense and soft at the same time. "Stop right there, Anna. The only decision you have to be responsible for is the one where you ran from the chalet. So why did you do it, Anna? Why did you run?"

Anna stared at her, astonished at the hardness of her words and the softness of her expression. Surprise pulled the words from her mouth. "She is not my sister. And it's like half of me is gone now. One by one the pillars of my life have been toppling. I made Elsa the last best part of my life. I sacrificed everything for her. And she is not who I thought she was."

Anna roughly wiped her eyes with the back of her non-injured hand. "I don't even know what I'm saying, Sera. I only know that I feel so alone now. So adrift. She's still family, and now so are you, but it's not the same.

"And I should be glad of it, with the way I have come to love her. I should be overjoyed that we are not sisters. This might mean that I'm free to love her as I wish." Anna's voice broke once again. "But there has been so much pain, Sera. So many lies. Such heartbreak. Isolde and Henrik, I ache for them! Why does the huntsman hate us so?

"And when will he come for Elsa?"

It was only as those words flew from her mouth that Anna truly understood the depth of her reaction to the letter.

And where the men, and the wolves, had come from. Whose orders they had likely followed.

Elsa, her dearest Elsa, was doomed. Anna knew it. She could feel it like sediment in her soul, dragging down her heart. Isolde may have bought part of Elsa's life, but the huntsman would eventually come, and he would get her just as he got everyone else he ever wanted.

Anna would not be able to stop him. She was unworthy.

Then her tumbling thoughts stopped as she looked at her aunt.

Synneva's face, it shone with truth and determination like Anna had never before witnessed. "Anna, you need to know something about Elsa. Something Agnarr never mentioned in his letter."

Anna gulped back her tears, frightened by the tone of Sera's voice. "What is it?" she whispered.

"I was… closer… to Isolde than you have been led to believe. And so she only told two of us about the first vision she had. She only told Henrik, and me."

Anna wiped her eyes and listened with all her heart.

Sera's voice was unsteady, uncertain. "Isolde had three nights of visions during Winternights, a month after her marriage to my brother. An angel came to her and said… said that angelic forces and various spirits of the earth and sky were seeking an end to the evil influence of the huntsman upon the earth. That he was a scourge, and had to be cleansed.

"Isolde was told that she had become pregnant, and that the child in her womb would have the power to end the huntsman forever. But she was also told that the child must be protected until she could come into the full maturity of that power."

"Oh my God," Anna whispered. "She dreamed of Elsa?"

Synneva smiled, low and wan. "Yes, she did. But she did not share this dream with anyone except Henrik and myself. Agnarr never knew of this, though it coloured all our decisions in the time to come."

"That's why Isolde sacrificed herself that night," Anna mused. "It was more than just a mother's love. She needed to save Elsa, so Elsa could grow up protected." Anna glanced up to Elsa, asleep on the table above her, and then back to Synneva. "Elsa appeared as an angel to me once," Anna admitted, a note of wonder in her voice. "The day we left the hospital a little over a week ago. We needed a way to save Olaf. Elsa was using her powers, and, and then I kissed her, and before I knew it she suddenly appeared as an angel, with enormous wings. She made this bubble in midair, and somehow transported Olaf instantly from the refuge on the North Mountain to the castle. We were then able to save him.

"Wait. The stories say that the first Princess Anna was actually an angel. If that's true, then Elsa has been born with angelic blood."

"As have both you, and I," Synneva softly agreed. "Do not forget your own lineage in all this, Anna. Do not forget the beauty of your own birth and life. There is more power than that of ice and snow. Our stories say that the huntsman has obtained magic of fire, which he used to kill Henrik that night," Synneva mused. "Perhaps Elsa's magic of ice and cold is what will counter the huntsman. Perhaps it is something else entirely. Whatever it is, she still needs to be protected. You did that tonight, Anna. Against two men and five wolves, you protected her. She lives."

Anna rested against the wall, her head hurting, her wrist hurting, and her heart torn apart. "So that's Elsa's fate, then? To one day defeat the huntsman? That's her purpose?" Anna bitterly chuckled and continued, "I'm going to lose her again, aren't I? I should have known this was too good to last. This is my fucking fate, to sit back and watch while the woman I love saves the world?"

Synneva refused to succumb to Anna's despair. "There are more roles than one, Princess. And we play our parts without even knowing why, hoping, praying, believing that one day things will be better." She reached beneath the neckline of her dress and brought out a leather pouch. Untying the strings, she put it into Anna's hand. "This is yours now, Anna of Arendelle. I'm giving it to you. I don't need it any longer. But you do."

Trembling with weariness and pain, Anna untied the little pouch and poured the contents into her palm.

Two halves of a large blood-red diamond.

"This cannot be…" Anna breathed.

"It is. The heart of the earth. It lived inside the first Princess Anna. It's not as powerful as it used to be. I've had to use it, over the years. Did you not wonder how Elsa recovered so suddenly from her fever after the night on the bell tower?"

Anna stared at Synneva, willing her to continue.

"I prayed over her," Synneva continued, her voice breathless now on the very edge of her own exhaustion and limits. "And I spoke an oath of sacrifice. My lifeblood for hers. I could not let her die, not from a fever. Not Isolde's girl, destined to end the huntsman and finally end the suffering of our families. Not if I could do anything to change it."

"Your… lifeblood… for hers?" Anna repeated, feeling stupid and slow but wanting so much to understand.

"Every day I feel myself grow weaker," Synneva admitted. "And this," and she waved her hand up at the table where Elsa slept, "this I feel as well. My health for hers. And I count it well spent."

"Does she know?" Anna breathed.

"No."

"Are you in pain?"

"Yes."

Anna buried her face in her hands.

No more. She could take no more.

She was senseless with truth-telling, with the burden of silence.

Consciousness slipped from her as she felt Erik come and pick her up, to deposit her in her empty bed. She flung out her hand on the sheets as sleep claimed her, but Elsa was not there.

...

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