—{Too-Too}—
Thank the creators for giving me thick feathers or else I might not be able to endure this deadly cold of the night at the beach.
I'm currently waiting for the red-haired mermaid that Henry was talking about. I've never met a mermaid in my entire life, maybe Polynesia and the doctor did but not me. I've only heard about them from that parrot.
It's almost an hour since I started waiting and I'm starting to think Henry was making fun of me. I did try to give him a small cut out of what we've been earning from our daily shows instead of the supposed fifty-fifty.
Splash!
All of a sudden, there was a splash on the surface of the water and there it was, red hair, pretty, and an innocent-looking face. Exactly what Henry described her as.
She looked confused and disappointed at first but when I landed on the sand in front of her, she was surprised.
Knowing full well she won't be able to understand me, I took my time to insult her, "So much for a mermaid. You're very slow in swimming, are you?" Before offering my feet to her where Henry's letter is attached.
To my surprise however, the mermaid responded to me with an angry pout, "That's rude! Mermaids are the fastest swimmers under the sea! What are you even doing here, you Scuttle-looking bird?"
Scuttle-looking bird? What does she mean by that!?
Wait hold on, there's an even more pressing matter than what she just said.
"You can understand me?" When she nodded her head, my face darkened. Great, Henry will soon learn about this and who knows what he'll do.
I sighed in defeat and pushed my feet towards her, "Just take the goddamn letter off my feet woman."
She tilted her head in curiosity, "A letter?"
"That's right. A letter. Don't tell me you don't know what a letter is?"
The mermaid crossed her arms and there's the angry pout again, "Of course I know what a letter is, I'm not dumb! I was asking who the letter belongs to."
I quickly answered her, I don't want to stay anywhere near her any longer, "From Henry."
"Henry!" She perked up at the name and immediately took the rolled paper from the leather container.
Without waiting for her to reply or react, I flew off in the skies, deliberately ignoring her yell of gratitude, "Thank you, Scuttle-looking bird!"
What does that even mean!?
———
The next morning, Elsa woke up groggily. Only when she stretched her arms up and wide did she suddenly feel a freezing wind blowing on her face.
Blinking her eyes open, everything that happened yesterday starts to fall into place, 'Oh right, I went out of Arendelle with Henry…'
Speaking of Henry, when she scanned her eyes around her, she found no sign of him. She might've thought that he left her here alone but the dark-maned horse chewing on something says otherwise.
So she simply creased her brows and decided not to go searching for him. Wherever Henry is, that's his business, not hers to pry.
After fixing her bedroll and blanket before putting them back to Snow who was also munching on something, Elsa grabbed a metal container from her bag containing her breakfast.
However she quickly realized something when she touched it, 'It's cold.' She curtly sighed. She prefers her breakfast and meals hot.
Just as she was about to endure eating a cold food, the horses behind her neighed. Surprised, she quickly conjured a twirling orb of icy blast around her palm and pointed it towards where she heard it.
It turns out to be Henry, carrying a bunch of wooden sticks on his arms, "Woah, chill. I don't want to turn into a popsicle first thing in the morning." Henry chuckled before raising the wooden sticks on his arms, "Considering how the nearest tree is a kilometer away from us, I decided to gather sticks for the bonfire later at night in advance."
Elsa relaxed her hand, extinguishing the swirling icy blast on her hand before nodding her head.
"Didn't think you'd wake up while I'm away." Henry said, dropping the woodsticks on the ground and taking out a similar metal container from his own bag, "Give me yours, I'll heat them up."
She gave him her breakfast and much to her amazement, Henry held the two metal containers in both of his palms and watched as flames lit underneath, escaping through the gaps between his palms and the bottom of the metal containers.
A few minutes passed and Henry opened the two containers, letting out a trail of smoke carrying a mouthwatering aroma.
When she whiffed, Elsa immediately felt herself salivating. If it wasn't for Henry's warnings, she might've grabbed the containers herself, "Careful, they're too hot. We don't want to burn your delicate hands now, do we?"
Elsa's lips quivered at the blatant flirting. However, one look at Henry's serious face made her confused whether he was trying to flirt with her or just genuinely warning her.
Henry placed her container down on the ground while she grabbed her spoon and fork.
On the other hand, Henry simply dug in on his container, not even flinching from the burning hot metal on his palm. Instead of a fork, he's only using a spoon to eat.
He could've eaten with his fingers if he wanted to but he's in front of a princess and his years of training to be a perfect model prince for the Kingdom made him instinctively eat in a proper manner.
The next second, there was only silence between them. No words spoken aside from the sound of metal containers and utensils colliding along with the soft sound of chewing.
A few minutes passed and Elsa was the one who surprisingly finished first. She managed to gobble down her entire breakfast with ease. On the other hand, Henry was near finishing.
Elsa closed her eyes and meticulously wiped her lips with a handkerchief as if she didn't just beat a man when it came to eating.
Meanwhile, Henry's eyes trailed down to her stomach and found it flat and the same as before.
He was snapped out of it by a cold voice, "Where do you think you're looking at, Henry?"
He immediately froze on the spot, raising his head to look at Elsa's ice-cold glare at him. What he thought was her being mad at first vanished when he noticed the small tinge of red on her cheeks.
His anxiety instantly vanished, replaced by relief. He almost thought he was going to be accused of sexual harassment by staring. Which might be possible if he is still in his previous life.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know what got into me. I usually stare at things that I find fascinating, I didn't expect it to also extend to people." Henry shook his head and replied, hoping he was smooth enough to get out of it.
To ensure it, he even deliberately changed the topic, "By the way, remember what I told you last night? That you'll start finding your inner peace?"
Elsa frowned, she squinted her eyes at Henry—wanting to accuse him of purposely diverting the subject, but could not prove it. So she replied with a brief nod of her head, "Yes. Though I'm quite a bit confused about how I'll find that. Your explanation about it is too…vague."
Henry chuckled, "Oh trust me. I felt the same way when I first studied magic under my master. In basic words, think of Inner Peace as looking for your past regrets and mistakes, then finding peace with them. If you blame yourself for your sister's tragedy years ago, then it's time to forgive yourself and let go of the past, simple as that."
Elsa shifted uncomfortably at his words, the reminder of her biggest regret started to plague her mind again—that is until Henry snapped her out of it, "If you look at yourself in the mirror, you'll realize that even an infant would see the regret plastered all over your face." When she raised her head to look at him again, she saw him sitting cross-legged on the ground.
"Sit in front of me, Elsa." He offered, gesturing for the empty space in front of him.
Elsa no longer hesitated and sat on it, copying his sitting position and crossing her legs atop each other.
Henry then spoke, soft and low but surprisingly reaching her ears just fine, "Inner Peace is all about finding peace within yourself. Regrets, mistakes, sadness, anger, and despair are the main causes that plague your mind, putting it in a state of unrest and pandemonium." He closed his eyes and continued, "Follow my lead. Close your eyes and take a deep breath."
She did as he said and Elsa closed her eyes, letting darkness cover her vision. Then, she took a deep breath before releasing with surprising fluidity. As if she hasn't been exhaling for a long time.
Henry was quick to catch it, "Feel that? That's the proper way to breathe. Some might think breathing comes naturally, but they're wrong. Breathing uses a minuscule amount of brain capacity to maintain. What you just did is the real way to breathe without consuming mental energy." Another inhale and exhale passed between the two of them, "Mastering this also lessens the burden on the mind, albeit unnoticeable but once you start using your mental energy for more important things, you'll realize that even the smallest amount of it is necessary."
Elsa shivered in excitement. Before, she was a bit skeptical of Henry's claims but now that she experienced it firsthand, she's finally starting to trust Henry's teachings. Who knew something as simple as breathing could make her feel like this?
They did the same thing over and over again for the past few minutes before Henry deemed her ready for the main course.
"Think of everything you've regretted since the time you gained consciousness."
Elsa nodded her head. She has so many regrets. She regrets being born. She regrets using her powers that inflicted pain on her sister which will possibly kill her sometime in the future. She regrets not being able to tell Anna the truth. She regrets letting Anna play and build a snowman all by herself for the past few years.
Finally, she regrets being the main cause of her parents' death. All for the sake of finding help for her.
Before she knew it, tears started to leak from her closed eyes, and her breathing started to become erratic.
Henry noticed this and asked, "Tell me what you're feeling Elsa."
She gulped her saliva hard, unable to properly form words that could explain what she was feeling. In the end, she tried her best, "It's so hard to breathe. Like someone is choking me…"
Henry nodded his head, "What else, Elsa?"
She choked on her own spit, "I wish I wasn't born in this world. So Anna could've lived her life happy with mom and dad."
Henry nodded his head once again, "Those are your regrets, Elsa. And like what you just said, you felt like you're being choked, that it's hard to breathe. That's why you need to let your regrets go. They're the ones plaguing your mind—they'll gradually eat you from the inside until you become nothing but an empty husk."
Elsa's lips quivered, she gritted her teeth and croaked, "H-How? It's so hard."
"I understand, Elsa. But at this point, no one, not even me can help you push past this point. I can guide you but not push alongside you. Let go of them, Elsa."
He stared straight at her, "…You have to let it go."
Elsa repeated his last few words, "Let it go…"
———
Henry stared at the silent Elsa in front of him. It's been hours since she last spoke and moved. Now he's starting to worry a bit. Unlike him, Elsa has many more regrets than him. It even took him almost three days to let go of his past regrets and come to accept his new life. So he's already expecting Elsa to fail at first try.
After all, if someone as talented as him had a hard time finding his inner peace, what makes Elsa better than him?
Well…he was wrong. Just as Henry was about approach Elsa, to help her recover and try again a few hours later, the wind exploded all around her, instantly freezing the ground.
'What in the nine hells?' Henry's eyes widened in surprise, slowly backing away just as the wind started receding back to her body. At the same time, the frozen ground also starts to melt illogically where not even a wet patch or a puddle remained.
This made Henry shiver in both excitement and disbelief, such control over her powers is something that he has only seen at the end of the Frozen film, a point in time where she has already unleashed her full potential and achieved inner peace.
This indicates that the current Elsa, who is in front of her, has successfully found her inner peace. Surprisingly faster than him, despite having deeper regrets than him.
'Does this mean she's more talented than me or talent simply has nothing to do with Inner Peace?'