Frozen Past

Chapter 2 - Part 10

#FrozenPastff

Narrator's P.O.V.

     Iduna introduced each gardener to Agnarr. "And that's my grandma Tila, who you already know a bit."
     "Good afternoon, everyone." Agnarr said and smiled. He still couldn't get over the beauty of the landscape, which was in front of him.
     "Iduna, I told you to stay in the village today. You know that we are not going to be so long here today." Tila said and seemed a bit angry, but not in a bad way though.
     "I know... but you know how much I love this job and need to be here."
     "I know, sweetheart, I know." Tila fondled Iduna's head and smiled. They were both looking into each other's eyes and probably thought of the same thing. They were smiling, but the other villagers noticed their sad aura, while Agnarr didn't quite get what was going on.
     "Is everything alright?" he asked then.
     "Yeah, everything's fine." Iduna said and got back into reality.
     "I'm sorry, Misses Tila, I didn't know Iduna wasn't supposed to go here today. I kind of convinced her to do so because I was curious what you were doing in this job and then she took me with. If I knew..."
      "Oh, that is really fine. Thank you for your understanding but I'm not angry. Besides, are you fine, after, you know, what happened at the morning?" Tila asked worried.
     "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I am totally okay. My mother is sometimes like that. But that was my fault. I disappointed her, it's not gonna happen again." He explained.
     Tila and the others gave him a wryly smile. "You can always talk to us if you're feeling not well." They suggested.
     "Thank you. I won't forget that." He said and nodded.

     When everyone got back to work, Agnarr watched carefully. Sometimes they explained to him which herbs they're picking up and what their healing ability is or for what one can use it.
     Agnarr was very fascinated by the information they have given to him and would for sure note it down when they get back to Arendelle. But for now he couldn't keep his eyes away from Iduna. He found every little movement of her very calming and beautiful.
     She was again rather in the background and did her own thing. She was picking up different flowers than the others and also seemed to have a different perspective on things. She was in the shadow of a tree, observing something, while the other gardeners were working in the light and concentrating on their work.

      As he was circling through his thoughts, he didn't know how fast time flew, until he heard a deep loud sound, as if someone blew a horn, and looked up. The sun was already going down. Every other person looked up too and then nodded to each other. Seemed like everyone knew what was going on except for Agnarr.
     "It's time." Tila said. She picked up her basket, dropped there the herbs and flowers that she had picked and everyone else was doing the same.
     Iduna ran towards us because she was still nearer the forest but heard the sound too.
     "Ready for an adventure?" Iduna asked Agnarr and he nodded although he had no idea what was expecting him.
     Iduna took him by the hand and they both ran to the woods. Agnarr didn't know if they were going back to the village or deeper inside, as every tree looked the same. But it didn't matter right now for him because he felt safe while Iduna was holding his hand.

     Iduna reached the forest glade with Agnarr, that she was planning on to see today.
     Tila and the others also came by very soon. When they did, Agnarr and Iduna were already crouching behind a bush and observing the glade.
     "What are we waiting for?" Agnarr asked curiously.
     "Shh, just look." Iduna said, without even looking at him because shew as too excited to risk missing it.
     Agnarr did what she said and observed the forest with her. He wondered what could ran out of the bushes and the trees any moment. He thought of everything except what actually come.

     Reindeers were cantering out of the dark trees into the light. They stopped there and looked at each other. It was a huge herd but they didn't seem dangerous at all.
     Agnarr read some stories about these animals in Arendelle and his parents also said that the ice-seller in our kingdom often have reindeers to pull their sled because they love the winter and don't get cold unlike the horses. He had never seen a reindeer in real life before though.
     The view was amazing. Especially the light getting slowly weaker gave an extra effect to it.
     "Okay, we have to go." Tila said from behind.
     "Already? But it's not even dark yet, Grandma." Iduna said.
     "That's the point. We shouldn't lurk in the forest at night, especially not when the reindeers have the ritual today. Come on, darling, you have seen them already every year and will see them all the other years too." Tila explained.
     "Okay, fine." She said and stood up. Agnarr followed her without saying something. He was still very fascinated by the reindeer herd.

     Back in the village, everyone had gathered around the fire and some were already eating.
     When they saw the gardeners coming, everyone turned their head towards them with a smiling face.
     "Did you see them? Were they okay?" Most of them asked.
     "Everything's alright. Yes, we saw them and they were fine. They're resting right now. Tomorrow we will help the babies to cross the bridge." Tila said.
     "The babies?" Agnarr asked Iduna quietly so that no other heard it.
     "Yeah, the female reindeers are giving birth tonight. At the next morning they would want to cross the bridge and leave the island for some time, until winter comes. But the bridge is for some babies too scary so we help them crossing it. But now, no one should get into the forest because they really need their rest." Iduna explained quietly to Agnarr. She still was very excited and seemed even happier, now that she had seen the reindeers.
     "Wow, sounds amazing. Can I help tomorrow?" Agnarr asked.
     "Of course! We will need every helping hand that we can get." She answered.
     "Awesome. I'm looking forward to it. Is it every year the same?"
     "Basically, yes. It depends how many babies and males there are. If there aren't enough males, we would need more helping hands because the females are always too tired after the birth so it's usually the males who help the babies cross."
     "Ah, right. I think I've read it sometime in one of the books back in Arendelle." Agnarr said. "Let's hope then that they will be enough males to take care of their children."

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