Dangerous to Dream

Her increasing responsibilities as a translator had made it easy to ease back on her shifts at the Ice Queen. It was true enough that it was taking more of her time.

It was also just. Easier. Easier than figuring out her complicated tangle of emotions.

Plus, she was fairly certain she wasn't allowed to kill Ralph. Despite how much she wanted to. So. Better to limit the places where the two of them could come into contact.

At the knock on the door, she knew who it had to be. She pulled it open and raised one eyebrow. "Sounds good. I'll let Stella know." She held out her hand for the small bottle so she could put it with the other ingredients she'd been gathering.

She was mad. She had every right to be. Elsa just wished that fact didn't tear open something painful inside of her she'd been trying to avoid for so long.

Elsa should keep giving her space, but that felt like running away. She'd done enough of that in her life. She needed to face this head on.

"Actually, do you have something I could transfer the water to? I'm not worried about the bottle melting but, uh, I didn't actually make a stopper?" Elsa admitted. Sure enough, the bottle was one solid piece of ice, the neck twisted up instead of corked. "Figured me doing it now would be safer than going at it with a blowtorch later."

Even then, the blowtorch would take a few days. She'd made this bottle at the top of Ahtohallan, where her magic was strongest. This bottle would probably outlast both of their family lines.

"If you like," Menodora says finally, though she doubts The Commission would be so thorough as to curse her twice. That would also require, perhaps, Ralph betraying her twice. Actually, maybe Moon doesn't want to know. The hurt there was still fresh. She still doesn't understand the entire situation and how it happened but the more she learned, she more that wound would reopen, she imagined.

Still, Menodora tries to keep up her pleasant and friendly demeanor. There was no use adding any additional tension to what already existed in this situation. Besides, there was another reason she was here. As much as Menodora wanted to be so noble as to come only for gratitude, there was something she was certain Elsa had seen that she needed to address with her.

Elsa had been a politician herself once. Elsa would know the complexities of what she'd seen and what Moon hadn't told Stella. But Elsa was also a sister and friend to Stella. Maybe Moon would still be increasingly wrong in Elsa's eyes.

Elsa offers her a seat and Moon settles in, trying to keep her nerves from showing. It was in one of their early sessions where Elsa saw more than Moon ever meant to show another person. Though, perhaps it was needed. Besides her and River and Tófi, it wasn't as if anyone else spoke of it. Menodora had made almost certain of it.

"You saw a memory from when I was sixteen. I remember from one of our sessions, when it tried to drown us. What do you remember? And, I suppose, more importantly, did you tell Stella about it?"

The memory that Moon asked Elsa about was not one of those memories.

She usually didn't leave those sessions feeling great, but she had left that session shaking. She hadn't even made it back to her house; she'd had to go to the Benbow instead and curl up on Ralph's couch and cry. He had done his best to comfort her, but had been clearly uncomfortable and confused since Elsa had refused to talk about why she was upset in anything but the broadest terms.

Looking back, knowing what she did now, the irony in her chosen course of actions was not lost on her. Needless to say, she hadn't brought it up in the Neverzone either.

"I remember all of it," Elsa said, voice quiet. "I didn't talk about it with anyone. It felt private. The only memory I shared with Stella was the one about the forest and Eclipsa, and even then only vaguely."

Her bright eyes watched Moon, the look in them far older than Elsa was. "I promised that I would protect your memories and I take that promise very seriously," she reassured. "I understand if you aren't able to trust me right now, but in time, I hope I'll earn that back through my actions."

"It's pretty similar to the shop in the dream, then? With a little less Sidney magic?" But with more real magick, he supposed. It sounded... perfect. He genuinely enjoyed working with Elsa, so he was sure this couldn't be that much different.

There would be plenty of chances for him to practice, summer had several more weeks before it petered out into fall.

"I can introduce you to the other employees if you like?" she offered. "It's just Tobias in there right now, but he's a sweet guy, a little younger than you I think. You'll like him."

“Yes maam.” He mocked with a grin. It was playful at least. Elsa was practically a sister to him.

“I’ll see ya in a sec..” Chief shuffled his socks across the floor before kneeling down on his good leg and started to pick up all the small white pills from the floor.

One after another he plopped them back into the pill bottle screwing the cap on tight this time. The room itself though could stay in disarray. Nobody was coming back to share a bed with him - and the laundry would get done whenever. Taking one final look at himself in the mirror he tucked in his shirt and shove his feet in his boots.

The smell of bacon led him to the kitchen. Trying to forget that he was no doubt about to be questioned about everything. Sometimes when you force yourself to forget you don’t stress as much.

Once she'd gotten the dogs settled with some treats, Elsa dug through the fridge and pulled out enough for a filling breakfast. Half a package of bacon and a handful of eggs would have to be enough. She put the bacon on the stove and was mixing up the eggs when Chief shuffled out. She pointed her fork at him.

"You think you can handle making toast for us?" It was only a question if his leg wasn't up to standing that long -- otherwise it was an order.

⛰️Icebreaker Aesthetic❄️

Like a northern light You're dancing over every borderline Passing every sign Between reality and fiction - Icebreaker, Agnete

A dimensional tear opened up in front of 22 Riandale Street and Elsa Idunadottir stepped through.

It still felt a little like walking under a waterfall, but it didn’t threaten to wash her away like the portal to the Neverzone had. Instead, she ducked under it and out into the chilly evening air, blinking fast to adjust to the light. Back in Solensby, they were deep in the polar night, so even the late, fading sunshine seemed bright. She was wrapped in a Northuldra jacket, but was notably barefoot in the snow.

She held a bottle made of ice in one hand, with water inside that seemed to glimmer where it caught the light.

Elsa walked up to the door and hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and knocking twice. When the door opened, she held up the bottle. “Special delivery from Ahtohallan.”

If nothing else, at least this had happened during the slowest season of the year for the shoppe. Tourists were gone, Valentines wasn't quite upon them yet, and the chilly winter weather kept all but the most determined sweets seekers away from the shop. They were opened only with a skeleton crew on the few days they were open, and Elsa was starting to consider cutting even those hours down. All of the business they used to get during this time from people leaving Tiana's or stumbling out of the Hunter Deer was gone, after all, and nothing had taken their place yet.

Not for the first time, Elsa wondered how much longer they could survive as the last hold out on the lakefront. Maybe she should go talk to some people in Town Hall about it...

Elsa was debating the merits of bothering Isaac when she heard the bells over the door ring. She looked up curiously and immediately sat up at attention when she saw it was Menodora. She knew Stella was preparing to try and break the curse -- she and Ralph had gone to Ahtohallan to get water from the glacier to be used in the spell -- but for obvious reasons they were being kept at an arm's distance from that whole situation now. It was still too fresh for the people they had left behind, and Elsa knew that at least some of them thought that she had taken Ralph's side in the whole situation.

(They hadn't seen the fights in the Neverzone, the screaming matches and the frozen shoulder she had given him on several occasions. They hadn't seen him breaking down over what he had done, or the way Hekapoo yanked him around like a puppet on strings. Elsa'd had time to forgive him, to see him change. They hadn't.)

Elsa accepted the distance as a consequence of her choice, but it didn't mean she wasn't still nervous and desperate for news. Had the spell worked? Was the curse finally broken? She had no way of knowing until Menodora walked through her door and asked for a special for Danish Countesses.

It couldn't be a trick; the curse would have wiped any idea of Mena's true identity from her even if someone had told her. So that meant...

A brilliant, glowing smile broke across Elsa's lips and tears formed in the corner of her eyes as she practically jumped off of the barstool she was sitting on and ran at Moon, throwing herself at the older woman and pulling her into a tight hug. "You're alright!" she cheered, squeezing her tighter before pulling away enough to look her over. "You are alright, right?" she asked. "The curse is broken?"

A part of her wanted to poke at Moon's memories to check for herself, but that felt incredibly rude. Besides, that would be a breach of the trust they had built together over the past few months. Elsa wondered if she even remembered that now. She had so many questions!

The hug is near crushing, but it provides a certain type of comfort that felt much needed in these times. Between the peril her family might soon find themselves in and her tenuous relationship with Stella, a hug free of trepidation or desperation felt... Nice.

"Hmmm, a bit upset that I missed your birthday, but I'm alright otherwise," Menodora says with a light laugh. She pulls Elsa back in for another brief hug.

It was difficult to know that Elsa and Ralph - from what Stella had said - had been through such an ordeal like they had with the Neverzone. On the one hand, Menodora feared for both of them, felt a deep amount worry and relief that they'd both gone and returned. Menodora had never been to the Neverzone, and hopes never to see it. Hekapoo had mentioned before how dangerous it was, how Moon could get trapped there if her dimensional shears were used incorrectly.

How much of that was just to scare her into submission?

But on the other hand, Ralph had poisoned her. And in response, Elsa had aided him in his quest and seemed to have chosen his side. Perhaps even approved of it, without meaning to. Or, at least, forgave him for something Menodora had such a hard time herself with reconciling.

Perhaps this was proof that Menodora and Ralph could never be friends? They came from opposite sides of Mjaunie's divide... Was it a reinforcement of the truth; or was it a reinforcement of someone else's narrative?

In any case, while Menodora was glad to see Elsa, part of seeing her bright face also stung.

Still, Menodora would rather focus on the positive.

"I would say the curse is broken," Moon says, "unless there's a second curse that I haven't been told about. That would just be cruel."

She shakes her head though.

In this life, before she was Mena, she and Elsa hadn't been friends. Truthfully, Menodora doesn't think they could have been friends before she was Mena. Simply, Elsa had been Stella's friend first. From the stories Stella might have told, she thinks Elsa could and should dislike her at the least, hate her at the worst.

Instead, Elsa had taken mercy on Mena and been her friend, too; all while supporting Stella.

That concern that Menodora had is melting slowly, no matter the hurt that lingers in this whole situation.

"I should thank you," Menodora adds quietly, "for being there for me. And not only for me, for Stella. I heard some of what you've done for her, and I couldn't be more grateful that she wasn't alone through all of... Everything."

Moon can't quite meet Elsa's eyes as she says it. It's so sincere, but it also feels vulnerable.

Thank you for loving her in a way she deserved during that time. Thank you for being at the play, thank you for offering her a safe place to land. A hug when she needed it...

"Though, I suppose there's something else I have to ask you as well," Menodora says, voice a bit more serious. "About... Memory. And what it is you saw in mine."

(They'd had a private celebration for her birthday after, but - well - that wasn't something she needed to tell Moon about. Or anyone, really... Maybe Ren.)

"I can check for you, if you'd like? Hekapoo never said anything about it, but her word is worth practically nothing." You'd think after five years of knowing each other, Elsa wouldn't hold so much animosity for the fire sorceress, but hey; familiarity breeds contempt, as they say. It didn't help that Hekapoo kept breaking into her cottage now to 'hang out'. Elsa had kicked her out several times and was contimplating asking Martin for some sort of ward to keep her from tearing into their living room.

Moon continued before Elsa could suggest they go to the back for some privacy, and at her words Elsa softened. It hadn't felt like enough at the time, especially with Stella trapped in Mjaunie, but she was glad it had been at least some comfort to them. It was easier now to look back on that time without wanting to bash herself over the head for her naivete; for missing all of the obvious signs and clues that could have brought them to a solution much sooner and easier.

It was easier too to look back without that weight of guilt in the pit of her stomach. It had been very lovingly beat into Elsa's head that she didn't share the blame for Ralph had done, whatever part she had played in his motivation and whatever benefits she had enjoyed from his ill-gotten reward. There were still some nights where those feelings would creep back up, especially now that they had come back to the Everafter and had been cut out from the situation, but Elsa was getting better about letting the feelings pass.

She had done all she could for Stella and Moon, and would continue to do so. Whatever they asked.

"Of course," Elsa said with a nod, "anything. Here, sit." She gestured towards one of the booths and waved a dismissive hand towards the door. A gust of snow flipped the open sign to closed and flicked the lock closed so they wouldn't be disturbed, and were there anyone out on the lake, Elsa would have slid the curtains closed. There was no one, though - the lake was empty of skaters and there was no one on the street.

Elsa slid into the booth across from Moon, settling in for whatever request or question that she had.

There were things that she hadn't thought of -- or tried to think of -- in a long time that surfaced as Moon tried to put pieces of her life back together.

Some memories were simple, like panic-bleaching her hair at the age of (what?) seventeen? No, nineteen. River with gloves trying to help her get her roots and Moon hoping and praying she didn't ruin her hair only a few months before her wedding.

Other memories were more drastic, more bloody.

Part of Menodora dreaded visiting Elsa, who she'd visited a few times as Mena to have her memory restored. Though Elsa couldn't break the curse entirely, she was able to break through and bring some memories to the surface.

Many of those memories, though, caused Menodora an ache.

Still, there was no getting around it. Elsa was bound to realize Moon's memories weren't tangled up the same way as before and Moon would rather be honest than avoid her.

The Ice Queen was fairly bare, being an ice cream shop in winter. It made it easier for Moon to slip in and have Elsa's relatively undivided attention, provided she wasn't battling the stereo again.

"Morning, Elsa," Moon says, smiling. "What's the special today, and do you have a discount for Danish Countesses by chance?"

If nothing else, at least this had happened during the slowest season of the year for the shoppe. Tourists were gone, Valentines wasn't quite upon them yet, and the chilly winter weather kept all but the most determined sweets seekers away from the shop. They were opened only with a skeleton crew on the few days they were open, and Elsa was starting to consider cutting even those hours down. All of the business they used to get during this time from people leaving Tiana's or stumbling out of the Hunter Deer was gone, after all, and nothing had taken their place yet.

Not for the first time, Elsa wondered how much longer they could survive as the last hold out on the lakefront. Maybe she should go talk to some people in Town Hall about it...

Elsa was debating the merits of bothering Isaac when she heard the bells over the door ring. She looked up curiously and immediately sat up at attention when she saw it was Menodora. She knew Stella was preparing to try and break the curse -- she and Ralph had gone to Ahtohallan to get water from the glacier to be used in the spell -- but for obvious reasons they were being kept at an arm's distance from that whole situation now. It was still too fresh for the people they had left behind, and Elsa knew that at least some of them thought that she had taken Ralph's side in the whole situation.

(They hadn't seen the fights in the Neverzone, the screaming matches and the frozen shoulder she had given him on several occasions. They hadn't seen him breaking down over what he had done, or the way Hekapoo yanked him around like a puppet on strings. Elsa'd had time to forgive him, to see him change. They hadn't.)

Elsa accepted the distance as a consequence of her choice, but it didn't mean she wasn't still nervous and desperate for news. Had the spell worked? Was the curse finally broken? She had no way of knowing until Menodora walked through her door and asked for a special for Danish Countesses.

It couldn't be a trick; the curse would have wiped any idea of Mena's true identity from her even if someone had told her. So that meant...

A brilliant, glowing smile broke across Elsa's lips and tears formed in the corner of her eyes as she practically jumped off of the barstool she was sitting on and ran at Moon, throwing herself at the older woman and pulling her into a tight hug. "You're alright!" she cheered, squeezing her tighter before pulling away enough to look her over. "You are alright, right?" she asked. "The curse is broken?"

A part of her wanted to poke at Moon's memories to check for herself, but that felt incredibly rude. Besides, that would be a breach of the trust they had built together over the past few months. Elsa wondered if she even remembered that now. She had so many questions!

"Thank you." Having more people to turn to if he had a big problem was always good. Elsa seemed like she might be more helpful with big Life Questions than someone his own age, who only had a little bit more real-world knowledge than he did.

"Actually, I've got a question you might know more about as a business owner. Do you know anyone who's hiring? Who won't care that I have no qualifications?" He was quickly learning that having no GCSEs could hinder him in this area, so he wasn't really sure how to proceed. But hopefully Elsa could give him a couple leads.

"I can think of one," she said easily.

With Edward gone, Mim picking up more freelance work, and the busy season in swing, Elsa could use all the help she could find. She was humble enough to admit that the ice cream shoppe was a very easy job -- there was a reason most of her staff were uni kids or younger.

"You know better than most what it would be like to work here, so if you're not interested that's totally okay," Elsa reassured. "I can still help you find something. But hey, I'd be remiss if I didn't at least offer. I very much liked working with you in the dream."

One final pill rolled off the dresser and tick tacked to the floor.

Damn it.

“I uh made a mess.” No shit.

Adjusting his shirt he felt like he was caught but he had not done anything wrong…besides sleep in and act completely out of character.

“Pulled my shirt up. Must not have put the cap back on my meds right.”

Didn’t answer why he was in such a condition but it’s the best he could do.

“Slept through my alarms…” a lie.

Elsa may have missed out on most of her little sister's childhood, but she didn't miss all of it. She had caught Anna in some rather compromising positions as a toddler; whether it was trying to catch one of the ducklings out in the garden to bring inside, or sneaking into the kitchen for extra cookies when she thought no one was around. Despite only being a pre-teen herself, Elsa had still been old enough to be An Authority Figure, and Anna would get this wide-eyed look that always made her look like a reindeer in headlights.

All of that to say, Elsa knew the look of someone who had been caught.

She let Chief talk himself out, letting her hands rest on her hips as she gave him a dry look that communicated how poorly his excuses were being received. When he was done, she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Of course," she drawled. "That's all. Well then, clean yourself and your meds off the floor before the dogs get them," she instructed. "I'll make breakfast and you can tell me what's actually wrong." Elsa turned on her heel and started towards the kitchen, whistling for the dogs to follow her to give Chief some space to get himself together.

"No, I'm not a student." It was a question he got fairly often, being the same age as many of the students. He hadn't figured out the best way to respond to it without prompting too many questions about where he came from or what he was searching for here. But he really didn't like lying, especially to someone like Elsa, so he tried to stick to the truth as much as possible.

"I'm just... I'm figuring out my next move." He hadn't given too much thought to his move here besides it being safe for Magicks, but at this point it was probably time for him to start putting down some roots here. He could take some steps to make his life more stable, like it was in the dream.

"If you ever do need help, you can always find me at the Ice Queen," Elsa offered. "I know plenty about the town and would be more than happy to offer some advice if you need it!"

Somewhere, she could imagine Anna teasing her about taking in another "stray", but hey, she was the one who had moved all the way back to Arendelle and left Elsa with all of these eldest-sister urges with no one to aim them at. Besides, Swynlake was the one who drew all these strays in, Elsa just made sure they didn't land on their faces when she could.

You could always tell when it was someone's first time, often by the dazed and confused look in their eyes when they wandered around town. Stiles had a bit of that now, looking at her like he wasn't sure how much of what he knew about her was real or not.

"If it helps, I'm not that different in real life. The major difference is..." Elsa twisted her hand elegantly and a curl of snow appeared in the air, dancing around her hand playfully.

His eyes went wide when he saw the snow coming off of Elsa's hand. "Wow! That's really cool." It was beautiful, really. He hadn't seen anything like it before.

"I guess I'm pretty similar to there too. But I'm stronger, here." He couldn't demonstrate it quite as easily, but he got the sense that she would believe him. Why wouldn't she, if she was a Magick too?

She could tell by the way he said 'stronger' that he meant it in the way she did when she said she was a little 'chilly'. She gave him an encouraging smile. "That's a very useful skill to have," Elsa offered. "If that's the biggest difference, then I'm very glad we got to meet in person as well. You were an excellent employee and friend."

The Stiles she remembered had been a sweetheart; helpful and loyal and with the general demenor of a very loving puppy. If he was the same in reality, then she was looking forward to seeing him when he visited the shoppe.

"Are you a student at Pride U?" she asked curiously. If this was his first dream, he must be new to town and that was the first reason that came to mind.