Holding on by a Thread
As Elsa signed her name on the bottom of the document she just read, she glanced up to see Anna walking towards her.
"Hey, Elsa! Do you want to go fly a kite with me?" Anna asked, holding out a kite for Elsa to see.
Elsa smiled. "I'd love too, Anna, but I've got so much paperwork to get through. How about tomorrow?"
"Oh, come on, the weather is perfect today! We don't know if the winds will be good tomorrow!" Anna pleaded.
"I'm sorry, Anna, but I really have to get this done. Why don't you go fly the kite with Olaf? I'm sure he'd enjoy it.
It wasn't what Anna had in mind. She was excited to go kite flying with Elsa. It was one of the many activities that they had yet to do, but she understood her sister's responsibilities as queen.
"Ok. I guess I'll see you later," Anna said, glumly.
"Ok. Have fun," Elsa called out.
"Yeah, sure," Anna replied.
Outside in the courtyard, Anna was struggling to get the kite in the air. She held on to the string tightly, got a good running start, but even though the wind was blowing, the kite wouldn't lift into the air.
Olaf ran alongside her, offering encouragement. "Come on, little kite! You can do it!" he said.
The kite dragged across the cobblestone pavement, not even lifting a little into the air.
'I don't get it, Olaf. The wind is blowing, but the kite won't lift off the ground," Anna said. "I wish Kristoff were here. He'd be able to get it to work."
"What if we had more wind?" Olaf suggested.
"That might work, but how are we going to get more wind? We can't control the weather," Anna pointed out.
"Maybe the right gust of wind will come along if we wait for it," Olaf said.
"It's worth a shot. I'll get into position, and as soon as we feel a big gust of wind, I'll start running," Anna explained.
Anna held the string of the kite in between her hands. She waited for five minutes, and still the wind wasn't strong enough to lift the kite off the ground. Maybe they ought to try flying the kite somewhere else?
Suddenly, she heard Olaf cry out, "Here comes the wind!"
Anna felt the wind tickle her skin; she could tell that it was going to be a lot stronger than what they were used too.
"Alright, here I go, Olaf!" Anna called out.
As the wind gushed towards the courtyard, Anna ran in the wind's direction as fast as she could. Slowly, she felt the string in her hands, begin to lift. When she turned around, she saw the kite soaring straight up into the sky.
"Haha! We did it!" Anna exclaimed.
"Yay! The kite is flying!" Olaf cried.
As the wind continued to blow, the kite flouted high, drifting left and right in the air. Anna held tight to the string, making sure that she didn't lose control of it. Suddenly, the gust of wind began to die down, and the kite started to fall from the sky. Anna watched as the kite glided downward, landing on the roof of the castle.
"Oh, no!" she cried.
Anna tried pulling on the string to get the kite down, but in doing so, the kite got caught in one of the gutters. As hard as she pulled, it wouldn't come undone. It was stuck. She didn't want to pull any harder on it, fearing It might break with too much force.
"That's just great," Anna said, dejected.
"How are we going to get the kite down?" Olaf asked, looking up at the roof.
"Well, I guess we'll have to wait for Elsa to finish up with her paperwork. I'm sure a small blast of snow could unstick the kite."
"How long will that be?" Olaf asked.
Anna sighed. "No, telling, Olaf."
Anna gazed up at the roof, where the kite was stuck. It certainly was a long way up there, but something told her that she might be able to climb up there, and get it down. Anna loved to climb trees, she had been doing so since she was little. Even though her experience climbing the North Mountain with Kristoff wasn't her strongest hour, she still managed to do it. How hard could climbing the castle be?
The kite was stuck in a gutter next to one of the towers. There was a window in the tower, so Anna could climb out of it, and onto the gutter, dislodging the kite. It seemed risky, and if Elsa were here, she'd probably tell her not to do it, but Anna wasn't afraid.
Anna took off for the northeast tower. The climb up the stairs was long, and tiresome, but Anna's determination outweighed any fatigue she might have gotten. When she got to the top of the tower, she opened the windows, looking out onto the roof. The entire roof was slanted at a downward angle. If she made one wrong move, she would go sliding down fast. From her position, she could see where the kite was stuck. If she could crawl down the roof to the gutter, and make her way over, she should be able to dislodge the kite.
"Ok. Here goes nothing," Anna said.
Anna stepped out onto the roof, placing one foot down at a time, all the while holding onto the ledge of the window. Her plan was to slowly descend the slanted roof, and step onto the gutter. When she let go of the window ledge, she placed her hands on the roof, trying to dig her fingernails into the stone.
As slow as a snail, Anna crept down the roof. She gently eased her body down with her feet, using her hands to keep her balance. It was still a little way to reach the gutter, but Anna didn't mind. She would take all the time she needed. As Anna slid her body down a little more, her foot suddenly slipped, causing the rest of her body to come sliding down the roof.
"No, no, no, no!" she cried, clawing at the roof. It was no use, she couldn't get a grip on the slanted down. She continued to slide down toward the gutter at an incredible speed. Anna turned around on her stomach, clawing fiercely at the roof. When she slid past the gutter, she managed to grab hold of it. Now she hung from the gutter, hundreds of feet in the air.
"Well, this wasn't a good idea," Anna said. "At least I caught myself before I fell. I guess it could be worse."
As if on cue, the gutter she was holding onto began to crack.
"No, don't tell me," Anna moaned. The gutter began to fold backwards, slowly coming undone from the roof.
"Well, this is just fine and dandy," Anna joked.
Meanwhile, Olaf had been watching from the courtyard below. He knew that Anna was in trouble. She wouldn't be hanging from the gutter like that for fun. As he ran towards to castle entrance, he ran into Elsa.
"Hello, Olaf, where are you going in such a hurry?" she asked.
"Anna's in trouble!" Olaf cried.
Elsa's eyes widened. "What? Where is she?"
Olaf pointed up to the gutter near the northeast tower. Elsa gasped at the sight of her sister dangling from the tower.
"Hold on, Anna! I'm coming!" she cried.
Elsa ran into the shed to grab some rope that was hanging on one of the hooks. She raced up to the northeast tower, not stopping even for a second. When she got to the top of the tower, she looked out the window, relieved to see that Anna hadn't fallen.
"Anna, hold on, I'm going to throw some rope down to you!" Elsa called out.
"Ok. You might want to hurry though. I think this gutter is going to break apart."
Elsa threw the rope down towards Anna. The rope was just long enough to reach her. All she had to do was grab onto it, and Elsa would pull her up.
"Grab onto the rope!" Elsa instructed.
Anna grabbed the rope with one hand, finally with the other. "Ok. I got it," she called back.
Elsa pulled back as hard as she could, but Anna was heavier than she realized.
As Anna dangled from the rope, Elsa called down to her. "Can you get your feet on the roof, and walk up towards me?"
"I'll try," Anna answered.
Anna tried lifting her legs onto the gutter. When one of her feet touched it, she heard the creaking sound that told her that it wouldn't hold out much longer. Not wasting another second, Anna swung her another foot up, and jumped onto the roof, while still holding onto the rope. No sooner had she landed on the roof, did the gutter finally collapse, breaking apart, and falling to the ground. Elsa gripped the rope tight, her hands started to burn from it. She pulled back to allow Anna to walk up the roof. It was a slow effort, but Anna eventually reached the window, only to be pulled inside by Elsa.
Still breathing heavily from her ordeal, Anna tried to make light of the situation. "I guess I'm not the best climber."
She gave a small smile to Elsa, who didn't return it. She frowned at Anna, glaring at her with piercing blue eyes.
"Anna, what were you thinking? You could have been killed!" Elsa cried.
"My kite got stuck in the gutter, so I went to get it out," Anna explained.
"Anna, what you just did was not only dangerous, it was foolish! What if you fell? What if I hadn't come along when I did?"
"I'm sorry, Elsa, I just really wanted to get my kite back. I wasn't thinking about my safety, I guess."
"Clearly. Look, I'm not mad, I was just afraid, that's all. If anything, ever happened to you, I'd never forgive myself. You're the most important thing in my life, Anna. I love you."
Anna smiled, bringing Elsa in for a hug. "I'm sorry, Elsa. I should have known better. It was a stupid decision on my part. I won't ever do anything like that ever again."
Elsa smiled. "It's OK, Anna. I forgive you. The important thing is that you weren't hurt, and you learned your lesson. That's all that matters."
"Thanks, Elsa."
"Now, what do you say you and I go do something together?" Elsa asked.
"Sure! How about we go fly kites! We can get another one at the Arendelle market!" Anna said.
"Uh, how about we lay off the kite flying for the time being," Elsa said, the memory of Anna's recent peril still fresh in her mind.
"Ok. What do you have in mind?"
"What do say to a picnic in the woods?"
"Oh, can we bring chocolate?" Anna asked, excitedly.
Elsa rolled her eyes in amusement. "Of course, Anna. It wouldn't be a picnic without chocolate."