Frozen Past

Chapter 2 - Part 8

#FrozenPastff

Narrator's P.O.V.

The King and the Queen indeed went to the river to bath.
     The Queen was of course very dramatic and didn't want to go but the King convinced her, when he said that she could wash of the dirty smell of her body, which came from this dirty island.

     While the royal family wasn't present, the village had a serious discussion at the fireplace.
     "Are they going to act like this the whole time?" A person asked.
     "Should we really let them stay here? I thought only people with good hearts are supposed to enter the island! Why aren't the spirits protecting us? And where are the trolls?"
     The crowd started whispering.
     Lea was talking with Alexandra. They were mostly worried about Agnarr and how his mother treated him.
     Tila was standing next to the eldest, as she was the second eldest and took care of him. "Don't you want to say something, Amaruq?"
     The eldest looked at her, a little grumpy, but nodded then. "Don't you worry. The spirits have talked to me. The royal family is here for business, nothing else. We will live further as we lived before and won't let their negativity get into our souls! And we shall not think about them any more, because people, who don't let anyone in, are already lost."
     The folk nodded.

"Are you sure, Amaruq? You saw the child. He deserves better than this." Tila asked quietly but serious.
     "He was influenced by them for eleven years." He said.
     "So was Olivia." Tila said.
     Amaruq didn't even say something about Olivia. He knew she was brought here too but she had a reason. She wasn't royal. "Do you really think he can be saved? Do you even think he wants to? Royal people are living in a whole different world than we do."
     "Why don't you want to try it at least? Is there something you're not telling me?" Tila asked worried.
     "There is nothing. You're just digging too deep. Let the boy discover his own path; don't force anything. Besides, the spirits found Olivia, she didn't know anything about this island and us, and she came here by fate. While the royals came here because of business; they invited themselves. They don't know anything about these spirits and let us please keep it that way." He said calmly.
     Tila sighed because she knew that he was right. She shouldn't dig too deep. It's just... she missed her daughter. Everyone did.

     While the villagers were still talking at the fireplace and Amaruq was leaving with Tila to his own tipi, Agnarr was slowly stopping with crying.
     He didn't know how long he was lying there, but his eyes were tired and wet. When he stood up out of his bed, he remembered that he should change himself; otherwise his parents will shout at him again. He didn't want to though, but he hadn't much of a choice.
     He put the Northuldra clothes on a chair, which was standing beside the bed. With a deep sigh he stepped outside.
     It was warm. The sun shined bright and there were no clouds. Perfect weather for swimming.
     But he didn't know if his parents would allow that or the leaders of this village. He for sure didn't want to swim in someone else's water without permission.

     Agnarr didn't actually know where to go. He just walked around, thinking.
     Forthwith he heard voices in the woods. They sounded like kids were playing around so he decided to go there.
     He ran faster as he became more excited to finally meet some of the kids here. But when he got into the forest, everything around him abruptly got dark and the voices stopped.
     Agnarr was feeling really uncomfortable and was scared.
     "Hello?" he tried to shout into the darkness, just in case the kids played a trick on him. Or maybe they were playing hide and seek.
     As he didn't get an answer, he became more and more worried.
     The dark world seemed to circle around him and it got faster. So fast that Agnarr got some headache. His head hurt and he wanted to get out of here.
     He finally listened to his gut and started running. Where? He didn't quite know but that didn't really matter. He needed to find a way out of the forest.
     While he was running, the trees seemed to follow him, as if they awakened from their long sleep and wanted to take revenge now. He wasn't sure though if he was only imagining it or if it was real.
     But he didn't try to think about it any more, just focusing on getting out of here.

     Luckily, after some time, he saw a light and ran right towards it. When he entered the border of light and darkness, everything that hurt somehow disappeared from one second to the other and it felt like it was all a dream. Nothing but a bad nightmare.
     Agnarr took a deep breath and walked to the lake, which was in front of him that he just noticed.

     "What are you doing here?" A female voice asked.
      Agnarr was so not expecting this, as he was sure that he was alone here, but he must have not seen her. Because of this, he lost his balanced and fell into that lake.
      "Wow. I've already said this once, but I need to say this again: you are clearly easy to scare." She laughed.
     Agnarr would recognize that voice anywhere: it was the mysterious girl with beautiful brown hair.
     "It's you, again." Agnarr said. Although he was a little mad at her that she could scare him so easily, he couldn't stop smiling because hearing her voice made him happy.
     "Yes, it's me." The girl said and helped him getting up. "Now, please answer my question." She said.
     "I was just going on a walk. Then I heard voices from the forest, but they disappeared when I entered it. It also became suddenly really, really dark and it was like everything became alive which actually shouldn't be."
     "That's what he does, when someone, who isn't welcome, enters it."
     "Him?"
     "Yes, the forest. Believe me or not, but this island has an own character. If they don't like you, they will respond."
     Agnarr looked at her and tried to understand but he really didn't. He never heard of any of what she was saying and was only confused by every word she said.
     "Whatever... I shouldn't be talking to you about this. In fact, you are one of the royals." She said.
     "One of the royals?" asked Agnarr.
     "Yeah, you know, we don't like your kind very much."
     "Our kind? But we are all the same. Humans." Agnarr said confused.
     "Are we? Look at you and then look at me. There are only differences."
     "I'm sorry."
     "Why are you apologizing? It's not like it's your fault that you were born into it." Iduna was now kind of confused.
     "Yeah, maybe you're right." Agnarr said thoughtful.
     "Of course I am. Now let's get you some dry clothes." She laughed and started running towards the village.

     As they arrived in the village, everyone was starring at Agnarr.
     "Why are they looking at me like this?" He asked her.
     "You're kind of the most talked topic right now." She explained shortly.
     "Why?"
     "You know, because what happened at the breakfast between you and your parents. Are they always like that?" Iduna asked while they've reached Agnarr's tipi and went inside.
     "Did you see that?"
     "Yeah... everyone was there and saw it."
     "Oh, I didn't want you to see that."
     "Why?" She asked.
     "I wanted you to see me as a strong man, who can protect you." Agnarr said honestly but a little shy.
     The girl shortly laughed in a sarcastically way. "Oh, of course. That's what all of your kind is thinking. That women need to be protected by the strong men. But we are different here. Everyone is treated equally. No one is above one another."

     Agnarr and the girl both sat down at the bed.
     "I see you still have the clothes we gave you. Why aren't you wearing them anymore?"
     "Well, you heard it, my parents told me to change. I don't want to disappoint them anymore." Agnarr said, a bit sad.
     "How old are you again?" asked the girl and laughed.
     "Eleven. Why?" Agnarr answered.
     "You sometimes act like an adult so I thought you might be older." Iduna said straight forward.
    "Is that okay? I mean... do you like it?" Agnarr asked.
    "It's fine. You should be whoever you'd like to be and don't care much about what others think." She quoted her mother.
    "Do you think I really could be the person I want to be? Are you?" he asked.
    "I think I am." She said. "Why?"
    "I really admire that."
    "Thanks, I guess." She said and just smiled.
    Agnarr probably wanted to say some more, but when he looked at her smile, he lost himself. It was the most beautiful smile he has ever seen. He couldn't stop starring at it.

    "You are cute, Prince Agnarr of Arendelle." She said after a while.

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