Frozen 3

Chapter 34

Yelena

I couldn't breathe. My chest seemed to be compressed under the weight of an invisible force that was gradually suffocating me. It was only April, and yet the heat was already beginning to overwhelm us. It wasn't the heat of the day that bothered me most. All I had to do was go near a stream if I wanted to cool off; it was still cool there. No, it was during the night that it became unbearable. I'd never had to endure such temperatures at such late hours. Accustomed to a sudden cooling of the atmosphere once the sun went down, I couldn't get used to this new way of life in which any breath of fresh air became exceptional, if not non-existent. Since the spirit of the wind had mysteriously evaporated into thin air, it was impossible to hope for mild temperatures at night.

I got up, unable to bear wriggling around in my bed in search of a not too uncomfortable position in which to sleep. I hadn't slept a wink in years, but everything had suddenly taken a turn for the worse in just a few months. I was no longer trying to get to sleep. It was useless, I knew. I preferred to get out of my tent and wander around the village until I found a quiet, cool spot where I could stay most of the night and listen to the forest. It was a wonderful thing, and over time had become one of my favorite activities. To hear the lapping of a stream's water on the stones that lined its bottom. Watching the majestic flight of an owl as it swooped down from a tree branch to catch a tiny field mouse that only it could spot in the dark of night. Feeling the dampness of leaves and earth. I'd never felt more alive than in those moments. But all this had become rare after the disappearance of the spirits of earth and wind. The gentle rustle of the wind through the leaves was replaced by silence. The owl had also disappeared, unable to find food. Soon it would be our turn...

I spread the flaps of my tent. The heat was just as oppressive outside. I felt exhausted. My body was finding it harder and harder to endure hot temperatures like these. I was weak and unable to make the slightest physical effort. I hated to admit it, but I was beginning to feel the effects of old age on my body. I was no longer the athletic, unstoppable woman of yesteryear. Old pains and injuries that had been kept quiet for years were resurfacing. I'd been wrong to want to forget them, to want to reduce them to mere scars that no longer mattered in the slightest. But now those stabbing sensations in my left thigh came back without warning, reminding me why I had to carry my walking stick everywhere I went.

I walked with difficulty. The pain in my leg brought back memories of that awful day I'd wanted to forget. The day when, thirty-four years earlier, I had lost my father and nearly lost my leg too...

***

I was observing. To tell the truth, that's what I'd always done. I watched everyone's reactions, leaning against a tree trunk, waiting with folded arms for something to happen. But what? I didn't really know. Ever since the arrival of the King of Arendelle and his people in the Enchanted Forest, something hadn't sat right with me. I was suspicious of Runeard and his guard, who were always preaching pacifism to those around them, even though they wore swords on their belts. None of them seemed truly sincere. Their honeyed tones and forced smiles didn't inspire confidence. But no one seemed to distrust them. I was the only one.

My father, Harald, was chatting with King Runeard. I'd been watching them for several minutes, unable to tell what bothered me most about their attitudes. Was it their laughter or the hugs they gave each other regularly as they chatted? They seemed close. Too close, even though they hardly knew each other. The people of Arendelle had always been hostile to us. They had made it clear on several occasions that our way of life, far too ancestral for their taste, was no longer adapted to the world around us. For years, our peoples had grown apart because of these differences. But in just a few weeks, King Runeard had suddenly decided to make us allies of the kingdom, promising to protect us in the event of an enemy invasion. To prove his good faith, he had offered us a dam, which he had now come to inaugurate. Something eluded me. Why, after so many years of contempt, would Runeard want to get closer to us without asking for anything in return? It was unbelievable.