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While Elsa had grown accustomed to life in the north since taking her role as the fifth spirit, she didn't want to let go of where she had come from. Even though she knew Anna would take good care of Arendelle as its queen, nevertheless Elsa wanted to keep an eye on things.
Of course, it was so easy for her to just simply visit Anna in person. The Nokk could run quite fast across the sea to Arendelle, faster than any other means of transport that Elsa had personally experienced.
But Elsa of course didn't have the luxury of visiting Anna whenever she wanted. Things in the North would take her time, like helping the Northuldra rebuild after their many years behind the fog. Sure, they already had a good grasp on things, but since it was her family that had caused the tragedy in the first place, Elsa felt personally responsible.
Fortunately, Elsa was a creative sort, always had been, and soon had come up with an idea on how to keep in contact with Anna, even if they were miles and miles apart.
Her idea was to use Atohallan's great magic to bind two pieces of ice together, to create a way of communication across great distances. It would be as if she could hold a mirror in her hands and could speak to Anna as if she was in the room with her.
It was a little crazy, but Elsa was one for crazy ideas. It was something she'd picked up from Anna. But of course, Elsa's method would require testing and Elsa saw no better place to test it than Atohallan itself. There, she hoped, the connection would be strongest.
As she sat in Athoallan's central chamber on a throne of ice, Elsa held her handcrafted ice mirror in her hands. She'd based it on a picture frame, with an ornate pattern around the frame, a shimmering piece of ice in lieu of the glass of a mirror.
She sat on the throne, idly thinking. The day earlier, before leaving Arendelle after visiting Anna and the others, she'd given an identical mirror to her sister and had told her to make sure to call her the following day. Elsa knew she'd be getting the call any minute now, but she was starting to worry.
Honeymaren walked over to her, admiring the interior of Atohallan. The chamber had been restyled by Elsa to resemble a large, more expansive version of her old ice palace. Of course, Elsa hadn't abandoned that old place. She'd taken Maren up there a few times to play with the Snowgies and Marshmallow, but a lot of her focus now was here in the sacred cavern.
"Has she answered yet, Snowflake?" Maren wondered.
Elsa shook her head. "No, do you think something is wrong?" She tried her best to sound calm, but Elsa still worried easily.
Maren giggled. "She is the Queen. She's probably still a little busy."
"I know... but I know she'd always make time for me," Elsa admitted. "Honey, am I overthinking this?"
"A little," Maren admitted. "So... just relax. Anna will be there."
Elsa nodded. "Okay, I'll call her one more time." She looked over at Maren and smiled. "Thanks for being here."
"Well, I find it my duty to make sure the fifth spirit, isn't lonely," Her lover said humbly.
Blushing lightly, Elsa looked at the mirror in her hands and then slid her fingers along the side of the frame, along the icy patterns she'd engraved into it. The patterns glowed with her magic and to her amazement, an image formed on the ice at its centre. The image displayed was of Anna, in the sitting room of the castle in Arendelle, her strawberry blonde hair long and flowing and her crown upon her head.
"Anna!" Elsa exclaimed, overjoyed to see that her crazy idea had worked.
"Elsa?" Anna asked. "Can you hear me? I hope I've got this thing set up right?"
"Loud and clearly, sis," Elsa replied. "I... I got a bit worried you weren't going to answer."
"Oh, don't worry about me," Anna said. "I was kinda caught up in a meeting, but I had Mattias handle it."
"Hey, Elsa!" A voice then called out as Elsa saw Olaf's face fill the screen. "Oohhh, you've shrunk!"
Elsa giggled. "No, Olaf, I haven't shrunk."
"Olaf, hey, I'm speaking!" Anna chided him.
"Hey, when's my turn to say hi!" Kristoff's voice then butted in.
Maren leaned over to Elsa, whispering into her ear. "Maybe you should make more of these mirrors eventually."
Elsa nodded. "Hmmm... I think I might."
"Hang on!" Anna called out. "I'll deal with this!"
Elsa watched as Anna then picked up the mirror on her end and then placed it against something, before it fell over and she heard Anna curse under her breath. After some fiddling, Elsa then saw that Anna had placed the mirror on a nearby table, a bit of distance from the couch she and the boys had been sitting on. Now, Elsa could see Kristoff, Anna and Olaf all in the frame.
"That's better!" Anna chirped. "Oh hi, Maren! I didn't see you there!"
"I'm keeping Elsa company!" Honeymaren added.
"I hope she's been behaving herself," Anna smirked.
"Anna!" Elsa groaned in embarrassment.
Honeymaren laughed. "Oh, don't worry, I'm keeping a good eye on her." She smirked at Kristoff. "Hey there big fella, how's the arm? I heard my brother beat you three to one in arm wrestling."
"Yeah, still hurts thanks," Kristoff groaned. "Tell Ryder I want a rematch next time I'm making deliveries in your neck of the woods." He rubbed his arm. "Seriously, you Northuldra are strong as hell."
Elsa giggled. "And I hope you're taking good care of my sister, your majesty."
"Hey, I'm still just Kristoff to you, Elsa. Anna and I aren't married yet. And to be honest, I'm still not sure if I want to be officially called king."
"We still haven't gotten a date set for the wedding yet," Anna admitted. "But I'm working on it!"
"Don't feel pressured, Anna," Elsa told her. "Our parents spent over a year being engaged before they got married."
"I know, I know," Anna stated. "Okay, so I suppose you wanna know how my day went. Well, other than the meeting, it's honestly been really quiet. Kristoff took me out for a walk in the woods near Arendelle, by the train tracks?"
"Oh yes, I remember how you used to play there a lot when we were little," Elsa replied.
"And I made a new friend!" Olaf chimed in.
"Oh?" Elsa inquired. "And who's this new friend?"
Olaf held out one of his twig arms and Elsa and Maren could see there was a little caterpillar crawling along his arm. "I named him Barry!"
Elsa smiled widely. "Well, tell Barry that I am happy to have met him."
Just then, the group heard Mattias's voice call out into the room. "Queen Anna. We need you at the meeting again."
"Can it wait, General?"
"No, I'm afraid not."
Anna sighed. "Sorry, Elsa. Looks like we're gonna have to cut this one short. But at least we got... whatever this is set up."
"I know," Elsa said, gazing fondly at her sister. "Call me whenever you can, Anna. Just stroke the side of the frame when you want to call."
"I know, you told me," Anna insisted. "Jeez, Elsa, I'm not a kid anymore."
The fifth spirit nodded. "Yes... but you'll always be my little sister to me."
Anna grinned. "See you soon!"
As the image faded from the mirror, Elsa sat back in the throne, sighing and thinking about Anna.
"That went well," Maren said.
"It did," Elsa admitted. "Though I wish she could have stayed for longer."
"You'll be seeing her at the end of the week anyway," Maren reminded her. "Seriously, it's not like you two are separated forever or anything."
"True," Elsa admitted. "Alright, I suppose we should be getting back to the village. I heard Yelena is making her carrot stew."
"Yummy!" Maren agreed. "That's my favourite."
Elsa smiled and held her lover's hand. She did love Anna and her family back in Arendelle, but in her heart, she loved Maren and the Northuldra just as much. She felt fortunate that she could have two wonderful families in her life, both she felt proud to be a part of.
Kissing Maren on the cheek, Elsa walked out of the mighty cavern with her girlfriend, to where the Nokk was waiting for them to take them back to the forest.
xXx
Author's Note: Bit of a unique idea for this story, courtesy of Sparebutton on Tumblr, who had the great idea of Elsa basically talking to Anna via what is essentially magic Skype (or is it Zoom? idk what the popular video chat thing is these days. I personally just say video call xD).
See you soon!