The next morning Honeymaren woke up a little earlier, skillfully got out of bed without waking Elsa and left the room wrapped in her robe, thinking of going to the nearest living room for some hot drink.

"You love her, don't you?" The Young Northuldra was coming down the stairs when she heard those words and turned around to see The Ancient One, who was at the beginning of the stairs.

"Well... yes... why the question? Honeymaren asked in return as the woman descended the stairs until she stopped a few steps from her.

"It's not crucially important, but you should be aware of how that bond can cloud your vision and anyone who wants to play with your mind or spirit will see a weakness in it. I don't share that belief, but I do think you should take proper precautions."

"I understand that, but I won't give them a chance for it to be used against me, besides, she's quite capable of taking care of herself."

"You're right, what she did in the woods was impressive," The Ancient One said as she began to go down the stairs, making a gesture for the young lady to come with her. "Right now the forest spirits she managed to tame are containing Null's advances the best they can, they're doing a great job, but while they can slow it down, they can't stop it, all they can do is buy time."

"Time for what?"

"For your training."

"The spirits... do they know about this?"

"Of course, this is their forest," The Ancient One said as they reached the next floor and headed to a living room. "They detected the presence of the invader and began to contain it from the beginning, they also detected my arrival and supported the construction of this site as a response to the threat of Null; achieving this would have taken me longer if I had done it alone, the dimensional energy is powerful; the energy of the spirits, linked to this place can exponentially increase its efficiency by working on their own element." The Ancient One said while both reached the room where they were going.

Honeymaren sat on a sofa, suddenly feeling a greater weight on her shoulders from what she had just heard; The Ancient One went to the back of the room, where the kitchen area was located and put a kettle full of water on the cast iron stove.

"Don't worry too much about it now, focus on your training and there'll be nothing to be afraid of." The Ancient One said, as she pulled out of the kitchen cabinets everything needed to make tea.

"Why me?" The girl asked again.

"The spirits wouldn't have decided to support this path if they didn't think you could do it." The Ancient One said, sitting on the sofa in front of Honeymaren. "Trust yourself, just as they have."

"You're right, this is not the time for doubt, not with everything that's at stake, tell me, how much time do we have before Null's influence extends so far that the situation is critical?

"I'm afraid it's already critical, in a normal scenario nothing would stop it, how fast it advances wouldn't matter knowing that eventually it would dominate everything, however, if we want to use something as an indicator I would say that in a couple of weeks it would consume the forest," The Ancient One said calmly.

The young woman felt a shiver ran down through her body when she heard that, thinking it would be impossible to learn enough to defeat him in a couple of weeks.

"Don't worry, the time at the sanctuary passes differently than outside, I've taken care of that personally; I won't go into details, but I can assure you that there's enough time and it would do you good to stop thinking about it, the last thing you need now are distractions that make your learning difficult." The Ancient One said calmly, rising off the couch, and going for the kettle.

"Understood, I'll try not to think about it."

"Perfect, some tea?" The woman asked as she served a cup.

"Sure, thank you."

The Ancient One gave a cup to Honeymaren and then went back to the stove.

"Wow, this delicious, what did you add?"

"A little bit of honey." The Ancient One said, coming back with two cups and leaving one on the little table in the middle.

The dark haired girl was intrigued was intrigued by the extra cup until the answer came before she could ask the question.

"Honey, where are you?" Elsa asked from the top floor.

"Down in the living room!" Shouted the Northuldra girl, then turned her attention to the woman in front of her. "How did you know?" She asked The Ancient One.

"Her presence gives off great magical energy, she must learn to conceal it if she is not to be perceived by the enemy from afar, as she was in the forest," said the Sorcerer Supreme, going for the corridor. "I'll leave you alone, I'll see you in the training room in half an hour." She added, and then she disappeared in the corridor. Shortly afterwards the figure of Elsa in her white robe could be seen in the living room.

"Oh, Honey, I didn't feel when you got up, it wasn't... very pleasant to wake up and be alone without knowing where you went," said Elsa in a slightly whimsical voice as she sat beside her beloved.

"I'm sorry, is it something I could make up for with a good morning kiss?" Asked Honeymaren, with a flattering smile.

"That's a good start." Replied Elsa with a smile.

The young couple shared a warm kiss and then Honeymaren filled Elsa in on the implications of the training she had discussed with The Ancient One, some things were worrying, but feeling they had each other they could put that feeling aside.

A week of training passed, The Ancient One 's training regimen was rigorous, rest was short, and the demands were high, yet her great teaching ability (and some mystical support) enabled her apprentices to gain basic mastery over their body control and martial arts at that time.

"Your progress has been commendable, girls, congratulations!" Said The Ancient One, standing between the two young women on the evening of the eighth day; by that time, though tired, they no longer felt the fatigue that had weakened their bodies the first few days.

"Thank you." Said Honeymaren, standing up straight and bowing slightly as a sign of gratitude.

"We are glad to hear it" Added Elsa, copying the gesture of her girlfriend.

"You have nothing to be grateful for, your own efforts have brought you here."

"And a bit of magic, isn't it? I have felt the influence of your magic during training, that is why we must be grateful." Said the young Northuldra.

"You caught me, your sensitivity really is a gift, the spells I used were meant to be imperceptible," said The Ancient One, with a slight smile on her face. "Anyway, my spells didn't give you anything, they just gave you the possibility of a higher performance when training, the skills you got based on the process belong to you completely, and that's why tomorrow we'll start with a new training."

"New training? We'll start with magic?" Asked Honeymaren.

"Follow me." Said The Ancient One calmly and then led them to a large library near the center of the sanctuary, the room was large and seemed to span several floors, with stairs connecting to each level. There were tables to study at, couches to read more casually, and many lamps to provide light where needed. The sight of books dominated the room, some on wooden shelves, others in nets made of chains which held them in their assigned place, and each one of them concealing secrets which would be of great use to the young couple.

"Physical training will still be necessary daily, but now you will add another type of development to your routine," said The Ancient One as she walked through the library, that leaving a circular empty space in its center, which cut across all the levels, replicated in some way the structure of the sanctuary itself. "The knowledge in these books will give you a fundamental understanding of the mystic arts that we will use as a base for developing your skills."

"There are so many books here, will you tell us what we can read?" Asked Honeymaren.

"You are free to read whatever you wish, provided your knowledge enables you to understand it, so I will suggest some basic volumes according to your level, what you wish to take as an extra will be your decision; and of course you can ask me how to find something on a specific subject." Said The Ancient One as she began to take books from various places and bring them with her magic to one of the tables.

"Ancient One... may I ask a question?" Said Elsa, following her a few steps away as Honeymaren checked the books The Ancient One had left on the table.

"Sure." Ask anything you like.

"Thank you. Where you come from, in your dimension, are there many people with magic?"

"I wouldn't say many, there are... enough to protect the Earth, as well as to support protecting the dimension," replied The Ancient One without being distracted from her task.

"And your world... has it made peace with magic?"

After hearing that The Ancient One stopped, perhaps because she had just sent the last book to the table or because she wanted to pay special attention to the answer she was about to give.

"I'm afraid that's a harder subject than I can answer in a short conversation; people fear what they don't understand, they fear the new, whatever that challenges their preconceived ideas of things. The world where I come from is not yet ready for magic, the sorcerers keep protecting them from the shadows, sharing the secrets only with those capable of understanding them." The Ancient One said, and was able to distinguish a small gesture of disappointment in the face of the young Snow Queen.

"I understand, I'm sorry I took your time with such a simple question," Elsa said, preparing to turn around.

"I know why you ask this young lady, I know what you've lived, but every world is different, don't judge yours based on what little you know about mine, your people feared magic while your couple's people admired it, a conflict arose, and in resolving it you changed their views bringing light to their future. Just as you got the magic accepted here you could achieve it wherever you set your mind, that's something even I couldn't achieve in my world." The woman said, with a slight smile on her face, watching the countenance of Arendelle's young woman fill with hope.

"These are all for me, aren't they?" Honeymaren asked at the distance, while she apparently had just finished accommodating the pile of books that The Ancient One had formed on three tables, leaving some space between each.

"Yes, they are, great intuition, I see that you've already set an order for them."

"Of course, based on subjects and their complexity, as well as leaving a little room aside to make my notes.

"Excellent. In those books you will find basic knowledge about what magic is, spells and their multiple shapes, results, possibilities and dangers, when you understand that you can start using a little magic on your own."

"Thank you very much, I'll do my best." Honeymaren said, pulling out a chair to sit on until The Ancient One put it back with a move of her hand.

"You will start tomorrow, your mind must be fresh and responsive, the new routine will be to study here from morning to afternoon, from then on we will continue with physical training, which will eventually be intertwined with the knowledge that you acquire here to develop both areas together.

"I understand." The young Northuldra said, heading back to where they were.

"I'll assign the books for Elsa and you can go rest," The Ancient One said, and started selecting and sending books levitating as before, ending in a couple of minutes.

"These seem to be less, but they are thicker." Elsa said standing in front of the table where her teacher had finished accumulating the books.

"The kind of magic that you're both capable of is different, the knowledge you need is also different," The Ancient One said while approaching the girls. "Honeymaren needs to know a little of the broad spectrum that magic encompasses in all its senses while you Elsa, you possess a kind of magic as special as it is unusual, your ability goes beyond the elemental magic that you have always possessed, for the cold has shown a high spiritual power, I would expect no less given what you achieved with the spirits of the forest, but even if you are one of them you still have to discover much of your potential, that is why it is not worth getting into the generalities of magic like Honeymaren."

"I understand, I want to start, I'll be looking forward to tomorrow."

"I'm glad to hear it, I'll wait for you here at the same time every morning."

"We'll be here." The Northuldra said.

"Without delay." The girl from Arendelle added.

The young women said goodbye to their mentor and then went to their room, took a shower and then lying against each other, talked for a few hours about how exciting it would be to finally begin the path for their magical training.

A few weeks passed in the sanctuary and the knowledge of the young women increased exponentially, Honeymaren felt that her eyes opened towards themes and planes of understanding that she never thought she would come to touch, the young woman had many questions but The Ancient One patiently answered each of them, drawings, demonstrations, magical illusions created to visually represent something, nothing was an impediment for her teacher who saw with pleasure as the knowledge and vision of the young Northuldra expanded formidably.

Elsa advanced her knowledge on a par with her partner, albeit in her own direction; her knowledge of the spiritual world deepened, her understanding of her magic and the wide spectrum of things she could do with her filled her mind with exciting possibilities and her mentor was always there to help her see through anything that could seem confusing.

The young couple's life saw a transformation whose influence would be seen for the rest of their lives during that learning period, The Ancient One always gave her guidance and they supported each other to stand firm against the doubts or uncertainties that some new piece of knowledge brought to their minds, especially those of the dangers that the world of magic brought for anyone who dared to delve into them. The bond between the two also changed, becoming stronger and more intimate than before, their bond was such on a physical and spiritual level that even The Ancient One came to be surprised.

So many years and I've never seen love influence magic like this. There is no doubt that one never stops learning... not until the last second, the Supreme Sorcerer thought as she watched from a balcony the girls training martial arts on a portal terrace that they had adjusted to be on the beach, by the sea. Some waves broke hard against the platform soaking the whole place, between the magic of Elsa and the slippery floor both girls slipped occasionally on the rock and sand, having fun while doing it and resting a little together on the ground before getting up again; the structure of the training was very erratic but she had given them a day off to train to their liking, so she allowed them to continue, feeling how the spiritual energy of both danced cheerfully intertwined.

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Chapter art by: @noidontgetthis on Twitter.