Once the villagers had calmed down somewhat, their eyes red and swollen, Leona continued.
"From that moment on, two things changed in my life."
Her voice had regained some steadiness now.
"The first…"
She paused.
"I stopped fighting the curse."
Murmurs spread through the crowd.
"For two years before that...I tried everything. Research, experiments...I wanted to find a way to break it."
Her gaze hardened slightly.
"But after seeing my daughters suffer…"
She shook her head.
"I gave up."
A quiet gasp escaped someone.
"I shut my heart off completely." She said. "I became cold...distant...harsh…I became the wall of ice you all remember."
"I showed no emotion to anyone—not my mother, not my sister, not even my own children. I locked my heart away and threw away the key."
The older elves nodded. They remembered.
Before Luna and Lulu were born, Leona had at least tried to be civil. She avoided people, but she wasn't cruel.
