The emotions seemed to roil within her like a thick, brewing storm- one that threatened to overtake them both. Essetia felt utterly lost to the memories that obviously plagued the Icebound for she had been forever stricken from the past by hands and choices that were not her own. She had fought a battle entirely separate from the one waged in the Hidden Falls, but it didn’t seem to appease her desire for retribution for what had been done. Time had healed the wounds and tended the pain, but it hadn’t yet tamed the scars that were etched into her heart. At first Essetia had been adamant about finding someone to blame or something to carry the weight of her burdens, but without a face to match the agony, she became nothing more than an empty shell- her emotions fleeing with the memories themselves.

Yet, here they were reemerged. At first, she feared the power and the ache of bringing to light her woes, but they were but dim shadows of what they once were… Did that mean they didn’t matter any longer? Essetia tried for the first time to become enraged by the past and to let the fires burn hot against her breast where they once lingered ablaze. Yet, she couldn’t manage to stoke the embers and even the breath of remembrance couldn’t bring to life the invasion- she was finally in the process of letting go. It felt like a cool stream instead of a violent storm, not unlike the one that plagued Elsa now… But the spy could no longer fight this battle for her sister in arms. It was a war that had struck inward, a war that would ravage the Icebound until nothing remained inside but a single, dying flame. It too would perish one day when the soothing balm of the future scabbed over those festering wounds. Soon too, the thunder would cease and the lightening would finally strike… the storm would ultimately end when it had taken the last of her.

But, it was a healing storm. It would bring Elsa to her knees before finally allowing her to rise once more above the flames and the hatred and the guilt. If only Essetia could assure her of such facts, but it was a matter that only Elsa could tend to… a rift that only she could close.

However, the flooding and rushing of emotion came as a sudden shock to the spy. Even Romul appeared uneasy when the Icebound at last let her truths fly.

Oxy, she had said, or more accurately blamed, had been the cause of her pain. Essetia had known of the Legatus and had expected great things of him, but had heard through the grapevine that he had granted the intruders entrance- had given them the map toward the waterfall that concealed their home. He should have taken the blame that Elsa now carried because of his actions and Essetia longed for nothing more than to condemn him to the netherworld for leaving her friend to burden it. However, the spy couldn’t find it within herself to say such thoughts aloud, fearing more than anything that the fires would return to consume her entirely. Instead she focused her attention on the heated demands of a Queen that was not hers. Never before had Elsa been domineering, at least not toward Essetia. It was a blend of thoughtful emotion that not only surprised the spy, but set her blood to boil. In her selfishness, she longed to correct her and remind her that her allegiance was to the Throat alone, but also feared what would happen to the ties between her new home and the Edge should she step across obvious lines.

Elsa was certainly aware of the spy’s hot-headed nature and surely she would understand the bay’s need to set her boundaries straight, but she nodded curtly instead. “You’ll be the first to know.”

Yet the flickering image of dominance quickly faded and Essetia was forced to reign in her growing suspicion. “She need time…” Romul urged from her shoulder. Though the wolf was right, Essetia imagined that becoming Queen had done quite the number on the Icebound… the pressures were great when internal conflict was abounding. “It’s alright…” she sighed. “You’ve done all you can… now please, let me do you a kindness. For the World’s Edge, for the Hidden Falls, for everyone scarred by the memories of losing both their home and their stability, let me grant you the one thing you’ve been seeking from far too many. Forgive yourself Elsa. Forgive yourself for doing only what you could.”

Even as she spoke, Essetia imagined that fateful day when Midas fell and how callous those who had witnessed his death had been. She remembered her own confusion and her own loss in such a way that made such a dream feel lucid. But, there was more, because it was finally time for her to let go too. It was time to forgive herself for not being able to do what she’d promised in vain. She couldn’t protect the Hidden Falls – she was but one horse – and she shed a few tears for herself on that day, because for the first time since, she was not the one to blame.