I Can Feel You

Time Flies

 Iduna silently watches as the sisters become strangers.

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Time flies.

Elsa slowly recovers, but her hearing doesn't.

Agnarr decides to separate the girls. He says it's only till Elsa learns to control her powers. Iduna protests, but then Elsa smiles sadly and nods and agrees with her father. It's the only way to keep Anna safe from her, she tells. Iduna is not sure about Elsa's choice of words but she chooses to trust her husband nonetheless.

Those first few days are awful.

Anna cries for her sister, begs for Elsa to come out of her room, pleads to her to make a snowman and then returns back to her new room, silent tears rolling down her cheek. In the night she asks her mom why Elsa is avoiding her. If only she knew Elsa can't even hear Anna's cries, her knocking, her begging.

Are they taking the right decision ? Is it worth it to hurt their youngest and keep lying to her to protect Elsa ? Iduna wonders.

But, the sisters are always running into mischief and they can't afford another accident or Anna discovering Elsa's power, Agnarr reasons.

Agnarr and Iduna forget, try calling for Elsa, get angry when she doesn't respond or spare a glance at them, and when they remember, Agnarr has to console a crying Iduna.

Agnarr reduces the castle staffs, keeping only few loyal ones. Young men and women beg the king not to fire them but the unrelenting father is unbending in his decision.

Anything to keep his daughters safe.

For the first few weeks, Elsa struggles to write what she wants to say to her parents as they wait, fidgeting, for her to express her thoughts.

Most days, Elsa finds herself sitting in the quiet of her room, tapping silently on the windowsills and walls, hoping by some miracle she'll hear more than just the memories of what the sound was.

The king has grand plans. He shares them with Elsa every night. How she'll learn to control her powers, how he'll hire the best tutors for her, how she'll make the most magnificent queen Arendelle has ever seen, the most beautiful and educated.

The queen never contradicts him, silently reading the old documentaries on witches. All of them ends the same way. She reads more, desperate to find at least one of them which has a different ending.

She doesn't sleep at night, for the moment she closes her eyes, she sees her eldest being tied to a burning stake and an angry mob of people cheering.

Iduna keeps her faith and smiles at Elsa and agrees when Agnarr makes grand promises to their daughter.

He says, she'll grow up to become the finest lady.

And the finest lady she becomes.

As years pass. Elsa learns to read lips. Tiring ? Yes. Necessary ? Equally yes. She learns to find solace in reading books. At first her tutors are understanding and talks as slowly as possible but soon they start talking as fast as ever and Elsa's head spins, trying to make sense of everything they're saying. She busies herself with her textbooks and assignments, cracking open reference books far more often than the fictitious adventure stories that her mother has stocked herself.

Iduna wonders when her little girl grew so much. Agnarr is as proud as ever.

Elsa learns to follow conversations by following people's eyes when they turn to listen to someone else speak and practices daily in front of a mirror, making sure she can still be understood even though she can't hear anymore.

Nobody suspects that their crown princess cannot hear them or has magical powers.

Why will they ?

The few times they see Elsa, her beauty renders them speechless. The few speeches Elsa gives leaves everyone's mouth dangling open with awe.

At age seventeen, Elsa starts to accompany her father to some council meetings. The ministers say they've not met a more bright and knowledgeable girl of her age.

Agnarr beams with pride but only Iduna notices Elsa's hands shaking behind the folds of her dress.

People say she's a great speaker.

Council member's describe her as a great listener.

Elsa guesses she'll never really know.

The time she is not studying is spent on trying to stop her powers from consuming her. Elsa has stopped letting them touch her when she was twelve. Iduna's heart still breaks from remembering that day.

"Don't touch me, please, I don't want to hurt you"

Elsa meets with her sister few times but they never speak a word. She knows the proper greetings and lines of expected conversation when speaking to a diplomat or fellow royal like herself, but no words come out when she's with her sister. By the time, Elsa has turned around and is walking to her room she doesn't hear Anna calling behind her.

Iduna sees her daughters grow up, sees as Elsa learns the laws of the land better than her own birthday, watches as Anna becomes the bravest soul she's ever met. She tries to clung to the whatever positivity this situation has and ignores every time Elsa flinches away from her touch, every time Anna asks why her sister never talks to her.

Iduna silently watches as the sisters become strangers.

She's still searching for a story with a different ending.