There was a chill in the air. Perhaps the change in the weather was what was really putting Elsa in the frame of mind to want to return to the mystery of his world; perhaps it was just that things finally felt sort of stable and like he could begin to look outward into the thing that had made him upend everything in the first place.

(Part of him hoped his world could forgive him; it had waited this long, surely a little more time wouldn't harm it.)

And he wasn't going alone. Murikabushi had agreed to come with him, which made it all feel easy and him feel brave. Whatever was waiting, at least they'd meet it together.

"So I just....pull out the phone, take your hand, and tap the app, and were' in space," he said. It seemed so easy. He'd seen it done. Never done it himself, of course, but that was a different matter.

He did as he'd described, because if he didn't do it, he was probably going to think about it for way too long. Worry about what they might find.

What they found was...peaceful.

Or perhaps just silent.

On a small hill above them was a crumbling castle; it was evokingly fairytale, with the remains of stone construction and round turrets that had once almost certainly been magnificent. There were other buildings, too, though Elsa couldn't even begin to guess at their purpose. And where they were was--

Perhaps a garden? Buried under thick snow, Elsa couldn't be sure. But there was the suggestion of neat rows, and he was fairly certain they'd landed by a fountain, though it was clearly cracked from frozen pipes.

"Oh," he said, softly, "wow."


amor remanet