AN: Thanks to frankenj0nes, Gcohen, sedryn, and the guest for their kind comments in the last chapter. This is the last of the angst in this entire story. I think most of the problems are resolved by the end of this instalment, and the next two will tie up some last loose ends and end the story on a light, happy note. Hope you'll enjoy what is to come! Thanks for reading!

Courtship of the Grad Student

Chapter 23

Oaken Forensic Psychiatric Hospital.

It took a couple days to arrange their visit, but they were finally here inside its brick walls.

The hospital was located at a scenic area on the outskirts of Arendelle. The premises might be covered in white snow now, but in the summer, they were blessed with bright greens of every shade. Beneath the hill where it was situated was a clear lake, and on its other shore rose majestic mountains of deep blue.

But the constant presence of metal on every window, surrounding every yard, reminded them of the true nature of this place, separated from the outside like another world.

"This way please." A member of staff gestured them to follow. Anna was half expecting another search. After all, they had already passed what little belongings they were allowed through an X-ray scanner, walked under a metal detector arch, undergone a pat-down, and got sniffed by a detection dog.

Instead, they were led into the visitation area. Yet more members of staff stood guard here. Anna and Elsa were asked to take a seat at one of the tables where they would wait for the patient to be escorted to them.

"It's your first time here too, right?" Anna asked, placing a hand on Elsa's. Elsa's skin was cool to the touch, wet with nervous sweat.

"Yes. In all honesty, I am already feeling rather unwell just being in the vicinity."

"Your empathetic powers, right?"

"It is bad enough even when I'm in crowds. The mix of emotions can be quite overwhelming. But here…it's even more difficult."

While the common range of emotions Elsa sensed from those around her was usually subdued, what she could pick up here was more uninhibited. They were in a facility which specifically aimed to rehabilitate the overwhelmingly small minority of those suffering from mental illness in which their illness led them to commit crimes outside of their control. Anger to the extreme of rage, sadness to the desire for death. The torrent that flooded Elsa could be compared to the brightest of paints, mixing into thick black sludge in her mind. The imagery was making her a little nauseous. She willed it to go away.

"Here, just concentrate on the feelings I radiate. You'll feel better. Probably," Anna said, squeezing Elsa's hand tighter. True to her words, Anna's presence was like an oasis in Elsa's perception. Though Anna's heart was not devoid of troubled thoughts, it was overall calm and comforting.

"Yes, I think it definitely feels better this way."

"Nice," Anna answered, relieved. "So, you want to tell me a bit more about your dad before we meet?"

Elsa nodded. "He was a good man. Honest, trusting, hard-working. He loved my mother and me. Then, just like Phillip, he caught the disease…"

"Leah Virus?"

"Yes." Elsa's voice grew quieter. "He was very sick. I was really young then, but I distinctly remember how worried I was. We couldn't visit him, not only because he was treated in isolation, but that my mother and I were both quarantined in our own home. It's hard to sleep at night, with the death count on the news still swimming in your head. I don't know how my mother and I lasted through that month he spent at the hospital. We probably made it only because of the hope that he would recover and come home. We thought that when he was released, everything would finally be over, that good times would come back."

Anna looked around the surroundings. "I'm guessing, like Phillip, your dad also suffered from brain damage, right?"

Elsa nodded again. "He came back a distinctly different person. He became very quiet, but I could feel this torrent of jumbled emotions inside of him. I mean, my father had always been an emotional person, so full of love, so passionate about his work…but his emotions were always distinct and warm. I don't know how to describe it, but when he came back from the hospital, those emotions were no longer so…clean. They were confusing, probably not just to me, but to him too. It seemed like he lost the capability of processing through them, and the only thing he could do was to try and suppress them in the back of his mind. That was probably why he became so quiet.

I was scared then. Scared of him. While my mother tried her best to comfort him, I just hid, and my mother had to turn around and comfort me too. I selfishly lavished myself in my mother's attention even when I knew she was overworked, her health failing. In the end, it all crashed down.

My father never recovered. He committed a gruesome crime, killing Aurora's father. I don't know why he did it. I just know how he did it – by caving the victim's face in. Apparently, he was still punching at the man while bystanders were dragging him off the corpse. I didn't see it myself, of course, but the contents of those news reports left a horribly vivid image in my head. My dad, the one who loved me most…he murdered his own friend and colleague of many years in cold blood. The hands he used to build snowmen with me were drenched instead in his bone and flesh. I didn't know how to feel, what to feel. Fear? Shame? I just didn't understand...everything…anything. I latched even harder onto my mother, and eventually, she collapsed."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I have no right to accept others' sympathies when I was the one who brought this all onto my family and me. I was given this power to sense other people's emotions, and yet, instead of using it to help those I loved most, I ran away from them when they needed me. I betrayed my father. In my weakness, I also hurt my mother. But instead of scolding me, abandoning me, my mother deemed it necessary to tell me it wasn't my fault even from her death bed. She apologized in my father's stead for everything he had done, and told me it was okay if I just forget the past and walk on without them. How pathetic had I appeared for her to say all that to me, to make it seem that my father and she were begging for my forgiveness when, instead, I was the one who should be begging? And in the end, did I learn from the lesson? No, I did not. I repeated my mistakes when Phillip fell sick. I failed him too."

"But aren't you here now?" Anna asked. She gestured at the doorway where the guards were escorting the patients into the visitation room. "We can talk about this later. But now, let's meet with your dad. I'm sure you miss him."

Anna helped Elsa to stand. Elsa was a little hesitant in casting her gaze forward at first, but when she finally did so, that gaze grew fervent. At long last, she found him at the end of the line of escorted patients – Harald Snow, the once brilliant researcher, loving father, now reduced to a withered shell of his former self. His hair lost its shine, now a dull white, his skin parched and lined with age. He should've stood at an impressive height, but he was hunched forward, his eyes drawn lifelessly to the ground.

"Elsa."

He said her name. The two syllables sounded cold, but Elsa relished in their tone anyway. She stepped forward and held her father in her arms, tears falling from her. At first, Harald did not respond, but later wrapped his arms around her in return, so hard that the embrace nearly choked the breath out of her small frame.

"Harald, Harald, you should probably let go now. Don't want to leave a bruise on your beloved daughter, right?" a member of staff said to him gently.

He immediately flung his arms away and mumbled a hushed "sorry".

"It's fine. I understand. Remember, Dad? I can feel these things."

He struggled a bit with his facial expression, but managed to conjure a weak smile. "Yes, I remember. I remember everything as if it were yesterday."

They sat down at the table. Anna went to the front to get them each a cup of hot chocolate, perfect for the weather. Harald stared at his cup.

"I also remember you liked this. Chocolate."

"I still do, Dad."

He nodded slowly. "I will make note of this."

He then became quiet again. Unlike the Harald Snow of many years ago, this man was one of very few words. Elsa remembered that as a child, her father spoke a lot. He had a strong sense of humor and made every story he told all the more interesting. From the tales of his work, to the tales in children's books – he told all of them with so much enthusiasm that even Elsa couldn't help but be engaged in his words. She would bug him to tell her bedside stories every night, and he would indulge her, this and every other whim.

But he did not anymore. He could not. And Elsa knew it was her turn to take the initiative in salvaging their relationship.

She placed a hand on his. "Are you doing well?"

"I get by."

"The weather is getting cold recently. Is it bothering you at all?"

"No."

"Same. The snow actually makes me really comfortable."

"Yes, I remember that too. The snow never bothered you."

"We used to go out into the snow and play together, right? Those are pleasant memories."

"Pleasant. Very pleasant."

After saying those words, tears started falling from Harald's eyes. Elsa had never seen Harald cry before his illness. Now, he was crying freely, his fist smashing into the table.

"I'm horrible! I'm a horrible person! No, I can't even be considered human. Those pleasant memories - I ruined them with my very hands! I ruined everything for you, for your mother, and poor little Aurora…I did it not because I was ill. I did it because I've always been horrible. There are no excuses. I should not be here. I should die. I should die!"

Harald's outburst saw concerned members of staff coming over to see what was going on, but to stop them from terminating the visit, Elsa ignored the strong self-disgust from Harald that was hitting her system hard and reached out to hold Harald's hands tighter.

"I know how you feel. I know. It's okay. I do not blame you. Aurora does not blame you either."

"I murdered a man!"

"Yes, and there is nothing anybody can do to change what has happened. All we can do is walk forward."

"But I can't. I know I used to be able, but no matter how many years I spend here I just can't learn to do it again. I know I shouldn't be going crazy like this because I know I want to keep talking to you, Elsa, but I can't control myself! I'm shouting before I can tell myself to be quiet. I don't know what the fuck is in my head anymore." He started hitting his own head with his hand. "It's all rotten flesh in here. I'm all rotten flesh. There's no good in me anymore. That's why I didn't want Mally to bring you along to visit me when you were a kid. I was glad you didn't come even when you grew up. I didn't want you to see me like this! But today…I just…I missed you…I shouldn't have…I can't control myself!"

Harald buried his head into his own arms where his sobs became muffled. Elsa came over behind him and ran her hand down his back in hopes of calming him down. Anna watched this exchange and couldn't help but wonder what she would do in Elsa's situation, if she were sitting across from her now estranged father and he had become so ill he couldn't even control his own thoughts. This would've been hard even for her, someone who could only deduce what others' felt through their actions, let alone someone like Elsa who could just feel it all with perfect clarity. No wonder Elsa hadn't come for a visit, probably not truly because she couldn't bear stand feeling Harald's torment first-handed, but because she understood that despite knowing exactly what Harald was going through, she wouldn't be able to do anything to help. But now she was willing to come visit anyway, to try what might be impossible - on one hand this was for her father's sake, on another it was for Anna…

"You may think that there are many things you can't accomplish anymore, Dad, and I'm not going to tell you that you are wrong, but to me it is all the same. The old you, the new you, what you were capable of in the past, what you are capable of now – I'm willing to accept everything. I'm just so sorry it took me this long to come here and tell you all this. I was weak, but now I want to be stronger." Elsa continued speaking.

"You don't need to! 'Blood is thicker than water' is bullshit. I'm this wreck while you are not. You don't need to have me in your life."

"I don't need to, but I want to, and it's not because of blood or whatever. It's because of everything you have once done for me, and everything I want to do for you now." Elsa leaned her weight onto Harald's back. "I am selfish too. I want you back in my life. I know I have no right to ask this of you, after casting you out for so many years, but I still want you back all the same. I know you may never go back to who you were. That's fine. I am no longer the little girl who nagged you for bedtime stories either. I just want to share with you my experiences, and listen to you tell me about your life too. Is that okay?"

Harald did not answer immediately. It took a moment before he finally nodded. "Okay. I…I think the old me would say something profound here. I can't for the life of me know what he would say, but…okay. Okay. Yes. I'd…I'd like that."

Elsa held a piece of napkin in her hand and used it to wipe away Harald's tears. Anna's heart warmed to the action. She was so happy for them.

This must be Elsa's way of telling Anna that whatever decision she would come to make about how to face Agnarr didn't have to come from the fact that he was Anna's father. Just do what your heart tells you – there is no right or wrong. Elsa chose to reconcile with Harald not because Harald was her father, but rather, Elsa wanted to welcome him back into her life as someone she loved.

Anna did not know if she still loved Agnarr the same way she had before their fallout. She didn't know if she still wanted Agnarr in her life or not. But she found it comforting that she could think of things this way – not thinking about who Agnarr was, not thinking about whether he was worthy of her forgiveness, or whether he would even consider his own actions as something needing forgiveness. None of that mattered. All that mattered was whether Anna wanted to try and reach out to Agnarr, even if all her efforts might prove to be futile.

But that decision would have to wait. Now wasn't Anna's time to think, it was Elsa's time with Harald. Though Elsa might have wanted to bring Anna along to see Harald because she thought it would help her come to terms about how she felt for Agnarr, Anna knew that this couldn't be the only reason. Elsa must've thought long and hard about whether to come visit Harald, and what ultimately helped her through this struggle was Anna's support.

"Alright! Guess that gives me a chance to introduce myself!" Anna announced. When she captured Harald's undivided attention, she spoke cheerfully, "I'm Anna Summers, Elsa's undergrad. I've been in her care for a long time, and it's my utmost pleasure to meet you today, Mr. Snow."

"That's Dr. Snow, but I think he'd be fine if you just call him Harald," Elsa replied with a chuckle. She turned back to her father. "And Anna isn't just my undergrad helper. She's also my girlfriend."

"Mally has told me about you, Anna," Harald answered. There was a long pause after he said that, but both Anna and Elsa patiently waited. He then, slowly, formed his next words. "I…want to hear more about you. And yes, call me Harald…please."

"Oh, don't worry. Ranting is my special talent. I can rant on forever!"

Anna made a wide grin, and seeing it, Harald managed to copy her expression. Though his reactions might seem awkward, Elsa could feel Harald's joy all the same.

The snow had once again started falling by the time Anna and Elsa returned to campus. They were on their way back to the dorms from the carpark, huddling close to each other under Elsa's rather small umbrella. Anna giggled all of a sudden, prompting Elsa to quirk a finely-trimmed blonde eyebrow.

"It's nothing. I just feel so happy that I couldn't help myself," she said, bringing a blush to Elsa's face. Elsa averted her gaze a little.

"I'm glad you feel better now."

"Yeah, thanks for bringing me with you to visit Harald. It really cleared my mind." Anna looked towards the moon – a patch of blurry, white light hidden behind the clouds. "He had it tough. You had it tough. It all happened because of a single epidemic – that's how fragile human life is. When you think about it, it becomes so clear that life is too short for little worries here and there. Puts everything into perspective for me."

But it is that fragility that allows us to live to our fullest, to cherish what we have because any moment we can lose it all.

This thought went unsaid between the two of them. It was mutually understood. With that in mind, this very moment they shared became even more precious, even more lovely.

Elsa changed the subject with a playful remark. "Life is too short for little worries, but you should probably worry just a little about your finals. Isn't your first exam up in two days?"

Anna groaned. "You just have to remind me."

"I'm not reprimanding you or anything. I mean, it's totally my fault that you aren't studying right now. I'm just offering help in case you need it."

"Then tell me what's gonna be on the final for my online course," Anna said with a laugh.

Elsa rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure Prof. Corona hasn't even started making the exam, given that it's happening two weeks from now. And even by then, it isn't like he'd tell me what's gonna be on it."

"Damn!" Anna cursed jokingly. "Then we'll just have to make do with the 'post-its on your body' method of studying anatomy again."

Elsa's blush deepened. In an indignant voice, she mumbled, "I'd prefer that we make it a punishment game. You wear the post-its, and if you get the name of the bone wrong, I get to take the post-it atop the bone off."

"Then you give me no incentive to study! I'd happily get all the names wrong."

Elsa turned away in embarrassment and lightly elbowed Anna. "What, are you an exhibitionist?"

"How would it be an 'exhibition' when it's just between the two of us?" Anna gave a sly grin.

Elsa refused to face her. "Can we change the topic, please?"

Anna bit her bottom lip while she gave it some thought. Then, struck by her brilliant idea, she dashed out into the snow in front of the dorm building.

"Do you want to build a snowman?" she asked.

Elsa frowned. "I thought the plan was to go back to my dorm room and start studying."

"Or ride our bikes around the halls?"

"That's a worse idea. That and I don't even own a bike."

"Alright, snowman it is then!"

Knowing that complaints were futile, Elsa put down her umbrella and joined Anna on the field of snow. By then, Anna had already rolled out the first few snowballs and was now fitting a roughly egg-shaped head on top.

"Aren't you going to make the snowman bigger?" Elsa asked.

"But we're recreating Olaf the Snowman from your past, right? Since Olaf the Printer isn't exactly that big, I thought this would be the perfect size."

"Oh…" Elsa's voice trailed off, a little surprised that Anna still remembered what she had said at the departmental retreat.

Anna was a little worried when Elsa didn't say anything else. "Umm…I know you didn't really want to talk about Olaf last time, but like…is it okay? Is it okay if we try to recreate him this time?"

"Of course." Elsa smiled. "I actually talked a bit about him today when we were visiting my dad."

"So Olaf was the snowman your dad built for you when you were a kid?"

"It might be more accurate to call them 'snowmen'. We built a lot of Olafs when I was young."

"But ours is gonna be unique." Anna picked up a couple twigs and stuck them atop the snowman. "I'm gonna call him Olaf XVI!"

"That's not exactly unique…and is that number randomly generated in your head, or did you get that from Louis XVI?"

"Oh no!" Anna gave Olaf XVI's fat, white body an exaggerated hug. "You ain't cutting his head off with a guillotine!"

"Only if you don't accidentally kick its head off first."

"Blasphemy! I won't do that to such a handsome head!"

"How handsome is it if it doesn't even have a nose?"

Anna chuckled behind the back of her hand. "Hah hah hah, look what we have here?"

She pulled out a carrot from her thick winter jacket.

Elsa frowned. "Exactly where did you get that from?"

"I might have, maybe, accidentally took it from Sven's food supplies…"

Elsa sighed. "How about we just call this deus ex machina?"

"We'll just have to ask the readers to suspend their disbelief!" Anna laughed while she shoved the carrot into the ball of snow, so hard that it came out the other end. That cut off her laughter with a gasp. "Oh, I'm sorry…" she muttered to Olaf XVI.

Elsa giggled, coming around behind Olaf XVI where she gently pushed the carrot back in place. "That's okay." She grabbed Olaf XVI's twig arms and held it in front of its chest. "I've always wanted a nose, and this nose you just gave me is so…very…beautiful! Thank you, Anna!"

"Aww…you're welcome!" Anna replied with a wide grin, moving over to deliver Olaf and Elsa a hug. "And I recall that you like warm hugs, right?"

With that, both girls shared another hearty laugh while simultaneously recalling the "warm hugs" Gerda loved to give Olaf the Printer. Unbeknownst to them, Iduna was watching from a distance. She had been watching for a few minutes.

She had come here to talk to Anna, to deliver a letter from Agnarr and convey its contents to her. But now, she crumpled said letter and shoved it into her coat pocket.

Anna turned towards the source of the crumpling sound and noticed her mother standing there. Iduna stayed awkwardly in her place.

"I…ugh…sorry to bother, I should just go home," Iduna muttered. Anna walked over to her and held her hand, pulling her back.

"Is there something you want to talk to me about, Ma?" she asked.

Though Anna's hand was cold from building the snowman, there was still a bit of warmth that permeated through her palm and onto Iduna's skin. Feeling it made Iduna shake in guilt.

"I'm sorry, Anna. I'm sorry for everything."

"But you didn't do anything wrong, Ma…"

"No. You don't know anything. I…" Iduna shook her head. "What's good talking about this now? Here…" She dug into her wallet and took out the cash from within and tried to shove it into her daughter's hand. "Have this. I know it's hard to be a student and have to manage your own finances. Let me take care of it for you, okay?"

Anna pushed the money back. "No, Ma, I don't need your money. Please take it back."

"It's the least I can do for you, Anna. I thought we were helping. I didn't want you to be hurt out there in the real world where there are many people who think like your father but with much less compassion for you as a person. So, I wanted you to come home too, I wanted Agnarr to somehow bring you home. How stupid was I!? To stop others from hurting you, I do the hurting first? I was so silly…I'm such a useless mother."

Anna couldn't fully comprehend what her mother was saying, where she was coming from, but one thing she knew was that regardless of how her mother viewed her relationship with Elsa, it would not matter to her anymore. She loved Elsa, but she loved her mother too, and she would not compromise one love for another, for there was no need to do so anyway.

"Don't say that about yourself, Ma. You are a wonderful mother. That's why you raised such a wonderful daughter as me!" Anna said with a laugh before giving her mother a big hug. "I don't need your money, Ma. I don't want it either. I appreciate the thought, but I think I'm ready to support myself, and maybe one day support you too. Let me at least try, okay?"

"And how will you do that? Student loans? Back in the days, we didn't need a college education to get a half-decent job, but nowadays you need a college education for almost any job. And tuition is so hefty, the interest on the loans is ridiculous, how will you manage to pay it back?"

"I'll work hard in my current research assistantship, get a shining reference letter written in gold ink, send that to Big Pharma, and get a real good job manufacturing pills that cost a fraction of a cent to produce and sell them for a thousand times the price?" What Anna said drew a little smile from her mother. She smiled back. "Seriously, though, I'll get by. I'll try really hard and get by. Even if I don't, I'm not alone now. I have many people willing to catch me even if I fall."

Elsa stepped up to them and nodded. "I will watch over Anna for you. Don't worry, Iduna."

"There you have it, Ma. At least one person has vouched for me. If you really want to toss me some cash, then at least wait until I need it, okay? I'm happy enough to know that in the case I fall, I still have you to back me up. That's all I need right now."

Iduna stepped back, her gaze drifting to the distance. "You've really grown up, Anna. I…I don't know how to feel about all this. I had these…dreams of how you would turn out, maybe marry little Dickey from across the street and have two children your dad and I could look after for you…"

"Sorry, I cannot do that. I will not do that," Anna replied sternly.

"I know. I know that now. I've known it since I saw you with Elsa. I knew but it was difficult for me to understand. It's…I guess it's because I finally realize you aren't a little girl anymore. You're your own person now, and you know better than I do what works best for your life. You're so happy now, a happiness that the quiet married life with little Dickey that I've previously imagined would never afford. And I know now…that though it's hard for me to understand your choices, you were right in making them. That's what's challenging for me, as a mother, to accept…"

"That's okay," Anna whispered, "At first, I really wanted Pa and you to understand and accept my relationship with Elsa, but now, I guess that's not what's most important for me anymore. I'm happy with Elsa, and it isn't like there's anything you two can do that'd change this fact. While it would make me even happier if Pa and you could one day congratulate us, I know it's going to take time for this to sink in. I'm willing to wait, because despite Pa's homophobia, which I cannot and will not condone, he has done many wonderful things for me in the past. It took me a while to come to this conclusion, but now I've decided that I don't want to let go of my love for him because of what has happened recently. We may have differences, but I hope that despite these differences, we can still love each other. So Ma, I know it's hard for you to understand. It's okay that you do not understand yet, or may never understand in the future either. I will love you anyway. My love isn't conditional, just as yours for me wasn't."

"Yes, our love for you is not conditional," Iduna said, "So I'll at least try. I'll try to understand. I'll try to accept you. I'd be lying if I say I can do it all right here, right now, but…there's one thing I know right at this moment, and that is I know you are happy, and I'd do anything to preserve that happiness. I'm your mother, Anna. That's what I do."

Anna gave Iduna another hug. "Thanks, Ma, I'm so glad to have you."

Anna,

It pains me to write to you like this. You leave me no choice as you would not listen to anything I say in person. I hope by putting these words in ink, I can still convey some of my sincere feelings for you. Please trust me when I say I do love you, and everything I have done is done as a father with his daughter's best interests at heart. I did not do anything out of mean spirit, to alienate or harm you. As reason would not find you, I could only opt for more drastic measures. I would have preferred other means of reaching you compared to what I attempted over the past weeks. I understand if you consider my actions distasteful. I will admit they were not the fairest of methods, but do understand that I did all of it for your sake, even if it meant putting aside notions of what would be honorable.

Alas, despite these methods, I still could not bring you home. I have exhausted every option available to me and now I am at wit's end. What will it take for you to come back, Anna? Why must you choose this path of no return? Are you doing it to spite your mother and me? If it is something we have done wrong, we are willing to rectify it, but please do not hurt yourself like this any longer. You have my full attention. You do not need to descend into perversion just to have me listen. I am listening. Whatever it is that is your problem, we can solve it together. I know you are young and you are struggling with all the challenges that come with integrating into adult society, but there is no need, no use to your defiance. You cannot rebel against God, and you should not. God is on our side. He will help you, and I will help you too. Such is both my duty and my love for you, Anna.

Growing up is confusing. You are trying to develop your personal identity now, one distinct from your mother and mine. I fully understand and I will support you through this phase. But do not let this spur you into impulsive behaviour that you will only regret later. I do not doubt your love for your friend, Elsa, but you are misconstruing that love for something it is not. For your sake, for her sake, do not sully that friendship any further. Your actions now will only hurt the both of you farther along the road, and that is not something I want to see happen to either of you.

I can only plead to you as a desperate father now. Please turn back. So long as you are willing to repent, there is still hope, and we can pray together for the Lord's forgiveness. I will stake everything for you. I will never give up on you. You are my daughter, and I will love you with my life. You will not be lonely. You will not be lost. I will give you everything, just please, come back. Please choose the rightful way again. You are a good, clever girl. I have faith that you will understand.

I know this is hard for you now, but you will come to the right decision soon. I will be waiting here for you.

With deepest wishes that you may find the Lord's blessings again,

Dad

Iduna read the letter once again before tearing it apart.

The bus continued rolling down 4th Avenue. She glanced to the side where the window was covered with a thin sheen of condensation – wiping it aside, she looked out into the city night.

Elsa had offered her a ride home, but she declined it, and Elsa considerately accepted without attempting to persuade her further. She needed more time, more time to think, more time to accept.

She recalled how Agnarr looked when he penned those words. He was crouched over the low table, his pen shaking with an invisible weight. There was no doubt that Agnarr had been thoroughly honest with everything he had written. He was desperate, and all he could do was pour his heart into the letter in hopes that Anna would finally listen.

But it would've been too cruel, far too cruel for Anna to read this, the Anna who still loved Agnarr so deeply.

Iduna could only imagine that compared to hateful words from a stranger, the complete denial from your family would probably hurt even more. It might be difficult for Iduna to understand Anna's romantic love for another woman, but if she were to imagine her own love for Agnarr brushed off as a misunderstanding on the basis of religion, then perhaps faithful as Iduna was, she would not so readily accept that conclusion.

Iduna loved her God because her God loved her. He was her strength through many restless nights. She felt blessed. And it comforted her to know that these blessings would follow her for an eternity.

There was no way He would curse her with a love that would only be condemned. The loving God she knew would not do something like this to her, so He would not do something like this to her sweet, little girl, Anna, either.

There must be some reason to this. There must be some meaning to this. Maybe the test wasn't whether Anna could suppress her true self, but rather, whether they, as followers of Christ, could learn to love as unconditionally as He had when He gave his life for all of humanity.

The bus drove by a familiar brick building. Instead of passing it on the way home, Iduna rang the bell and got off at the next stop.

It was a short walk back to the building. Luckily, the lights were still on by the time she got there. She stood at the snow-lined sidewalk and peered through the window at the "Community Resources" counter where the pamphlet she had seen a number of times still sat there in a neat stack.

Christian Parents of LGBTQ+ Youths: a community that empowers Christian parents with resources for understanding, accepting, and supporting their LGBTQ+ children. It is our belief that God loves our children just as He created them, and the very faith in our hearts is our reason for LGBTQ+ advocacy. Come join us in learning how we can become friends and allies to the LGBTQ+ community!

Unlike all the other times before this, Iduna's didn't just stand outside and stare. She went inside, picked up the pamphlet, and took it home.

End of Chapter 23

"Looks like they're starting to send out the talk invitations for the International Creative Genomics Congress."

Brad Winters always sounded so unenthusiastic, even when he was trying to brag. Mally rolled her eyes, unsure of whether Brad saw it through Skype. Then again, it wasn't as though she cared.

"Yes, I take it that you will accept the keynote on Thursday morning?"

"I don't know. I haven't updated my slides deck for a couple months and it's a hassle to get new slides from my students."

"Your talks are so lackluster I figure it wouldn't matter," Mally chided. "I honestly have higher hopes for staying awake during Elsa's talk."

Brad didn't seem upset. He even smiled. "She's good, isn't she?"

"Like Harald was."

"Yeah. I sorta wish I could see Harald on the podium again."

Maybe Brad was being honest. Maybe he was just feeling guilty. It was more likely a combination of both. Those many years ago, Brad Winters did not question Stefan King's transfer of Mally and Harald's data to him, data he interpreted for the discovery of the Leah Virus, published in a history-making paper that bore neither Mally nor Harald's names as authors.

Brad had since resigned from the Arendelle Disease Control Center, the institution that had initiated all this when they gave the King Lab a grant for quick-screening blood samples during the epidemic. If he hadn't, he would've likely been the head of the Arendelle Research Council by now. Considering this kind of scandal happened all the time, many academic thieves never punished for their crimes but instead placed on high pedestals for contributions to humanity they did not actually make, perhaps Brad Winters was already not the most shameless of them all. For one, he was not like Stefan, who had used Mally time and again for his own ambitions, knowing she would forgive him because of her youthful love for him.

Mally smirked. What did she see in that man when she was younger? She even felt a shred of sadness for him when Harald snapped and caved his skull in with his fists, knowing full well Stefan was the one to be blamed for his own demise, having tried to cover up his plagiarism by firing Harald who was already mentally unstable from sequelae of the virus at the time.

Even though Elsa never knew the truth behind all this – Mally doubted Brad would tell her – Mally mused that no matter how Brad might try to convince himself that it was not he, but Stefan, who had robbed Harald of his rightful acknowledgements, he might still feel some responsibility for what had happened to the Snow Family.

Was this why he let Elsa work in his lab in her third year? Why he took her on as his grad student?

Who knew how much of it was for his own interests, how much of it was his way of making amends? Brad never bothered to strike down a lone bird with one stone. It was always two or more. Look how he conned Mally into their current collaboration!

"Anyway, mostly thanks to Elsa and Anna, the grant we submitted got approved, meaning you should probably give Gerda some money to buy champagne for the lab," Mally said.

"Anna?"

"You still haven't learned the names of your undergrads? You just have two of them for goodness' sake."

"Anna Summers, the girl who spammed my inbox, right? I remember. I just wasn't aware she contributed."

"She made many informative comments that you would've noticed if you bothered to unhide them from the 'Review' panel. I know you are horrible with computers, but I thought you could at least handle MS Office…"

"Look, professors can't use computers…that's part of the charm. Gives students a chance to laugh at us on internet memes."

"Speak for yourself," Mally snapped. "Aside from champagne, I think we should also hire Anna officially as a work study student now. I know she's doing an honours thesis, but nowhere in that course description includes writing grants and making your presentation slides. We included research assistants under the budget. We should have money for this."

Brad looked hesitant. "Yeah…well…but it could be hard to justify why we're paying her and not the other undergrads, even though it is true that she contributed more…"

"You know she needs the money. The others know too. Nobody is going to complain."

Brad twitched. "Did I say something about her last time we got drunk?"

"Yes, you were drunk. Damn drunk."

Brad sighed so hard that Mally could hear it through the speakers. "I can't believe I even decided that drinking with you was a good idea."

"It was a good enough idea because I just so happen to want that business under the lid as much as all of you involved. Now are you sending in the forms for Anna's appointment or will I have to do it myself? I reckon you would have less on your plate, writing that flimsy book of yours on surfing."

"It's on the genetic diversity of this island ecosystem, okay?"

"I think more people would be compelled to read it if you just title it properly as Drunk Professor in Hawaii."

"Fine, fine, I'll put in the paperwork. You happy now? Gosh, you can be such a difficult friend at times."

Mally snorted. The world sure worked in funny ways. Brad Winters, the man who stole Mally's credit, destroyed her dearest friend, Harald's family, now counted as a friend of her own…

Then again, maybe it was better this way. She wondered how Stefan was doing should there really be an afterlife of some sort. Hope he's doing well. He might not have been the nicest person when he was alive, but Mally was tired of hating him.

She forgave him, not because he deserved the forgiveness, but because she deserved better than to keep hating.

And he left her the gift of Aurora. For that, at least, she was willing to let live the dead man.