[Intro] [Piano and cello play widely spaced notes while the Frostheart motif appears at half speed.] [Verse 1] [Female Lead] The lake held the moon in a colourless sheet, No breeze crossed the reeds, no snow crossed my feet. I knelt where the black ice turned clear as a pane, And saw little Eira arranging her braids. Behind her stood Torven with flour on his sleeve, Still laughing at jokes no king would believe. Then Halli, my brother, looked up through the blue— His mouth shaped my name as the drowned often do. [Chorus] [Female Lead] Names beneath the ice, do you sleep or wait? Do you blame the hand that opened the gate? Names beneath the ice, I remember each sound— The cup on the table, the mill wheel turning round. I cannot command you to answer me twice; I can only keep watch over names beneath the ice. [Verse 2] [Female Lead] I saw the old armourer missing one thumb, The midwife who counted each child as they came. The twins from the stables with straw in their hair, My captain still wearing the cloak I repaired. Not numbers for songs, not a glorious dead, But people who argued and borrowed my bread. Their ordinary faces cut deeper than blame; A kingdom is never a map or a name. [Chorus] [Female Lead] Names beneath the ice, do you sleep or wait? Do you blame the hand that opened the gate? Names beneath the ice, I remember each sound— The cup on the table, the mill wheel turning round. I cannot command you to answer me twice; I can only keep watch over names beneath the ice. [Piano Interlude] [Piano repeats the cradle-song rhythm while cello descends through the Frostheart motif.] [Verse 3] [Female Lead] The scar-eyed wolf rested here at my side, Her breath made a circle, then silvered and died. I asked her, “Was courage enough in the end? What use is a queen who could not defend?” She scratched at the frost till the dark water showed, Then placed one white paw where my own shadow flowed. No answer in language, no pardon, no sign— Only her weight and her breathing with mine. [Bridge] [Female Lead] Grief is no court and remembrance no throne; The lost do not labour to make us feel whole. I carry them forward, not chained to my side— Not banners for battle, but reasons to guide. [Build-up] [Low guitars enter beneath rising cello without increasing the tempo.] [Female Lead] One name for the baker, One name for the child, One name for my brother, Who laughed when I lied. All names side by side. [Final Chorus] [Female Lead] Names beneath the ice, you need not forgive; The debt that I owe you is in how I give. Names beneath the ice, I remember each sound— The loom in the morning, the dogs running round. I leave you your silence, your dark resting place; I carry your names without borrowing your grace. [Outro] [The instruments fall away until only piano and the queen’s unaccompanied voice remain.] [Female Lead] The lake kept the moon. The dead kept their peace. I rose without pardon— And found some release.