Charred
Grand Pabbie paced in a corner of the Valley of the Living Rock with a sense of foreboding. He had consulted all his scriptures and raked all his knowledge yet could not put a stony finger on what was making him feel this way. He looked up to the night sky with wide white eyes, pleading for an answer from the powers that be. Then bowed his head and strained again to understand the source of his apprehension. Suddenly a string of words came to him clear as day, though their message was cryptic.
Gothi the troll priest appeared from behind a tree. He had been watching Pabbie from a distance. "Are you alright, Grand Pabbie?"
"Their world will be enveloped in flames, only to be born anew." Grand Pabbie said aloud.
Gothi hesitated. "What... what are you talking about, Pabbie? Have you had a premonition?"
Grand Pabbie turned to the direction of Arendelle, eyes wide again. Gothi followed his gaze and immediately understood: Pabbie had had a premonition indeed and Arendelle, quite possibly, was to be in fate's crossfire once again.
Green dress rippling out behind her as she ran, Anna sprinted through the halls of her and Elsa's home with one of their head house servants, Gerda, following flustered behind her with a pen and scroll. Every few metres and at every other room Anna would pause and exclaim, Gerda would in turn scribble something down, trying to keep up with Anna's ramblings.
"Oh and here I think we should have a chain of crocus flowers and have them come all the way from one end of the hall to the other end on both sides... And here we should have large bouquets of flowers... Yes, much bigger than last year... Oh Gerda, what do you think?... And here I think we -"
Anna's spiel was interrupted by the sight of her sister who emerged from a nearby door. Elsa had returned to wearing a crown but her hair remained in a large white braid running down her back, the way she had re-styled it after running away from the kingdom three years before. "Elsa!" she called excitedly.
"Hey, how's planning for the ball coming along?"
"Great! Thought of a few adjustments to the way we planned it last year..." Anna bubbled.
In the background, Gerda cocked an eyebrow and rolled her eyes while smiling as if to say "sure, just a few changes." Elsa caught sight of her do this and chuckled.
"Want to help out later?" Anna asked.
"I would but I've got to meet with a French dignitary, then attend a consul meeting, then..." Elsa reeled off a list of things she had to do that day.
"Oh, of course. I mean I know you have Queen things to do and all that ruling the kingdom stuff..." Anna knotted her fingers together and smiled.
Elsa smiled back warmly and apologetically. "See you tonight for dinner."
"Absolutely." Anna responded as Elsa disappeared down the hall.
Kristoff, Official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer, sat beneath a tree dozing. His reindeer Sven buried his nose in a sack bag of carrots and happily chomped away not far away. Attached to Sven was the stunning sleigh Anna had given him shortly after Elsa had performed the Great Thaw of Arendelle. It was stacked high not with cubes of ice as it usually was, but with hundreds of flowers. As of three years ago every autumn his girlfriend, Princess Anna, and her sister, Queen Elsa, threw a ball at their castle for the citizens of Arendelle. Due to the volume of people that attend they would open the grounds as well as the ball room of the castle. Due to Anna's love of flowers there would always be many used in decorations and so he had gone on a flower hunting mission for her.
Sven nudged Kristoff hard in the head with his nose. Kristoff stirred and asked what the matter was. He immediately became aware that he'd been dosing for probably too long and jumped onto his feet. "Guess we better take these back before gathering anymore, huh Sven?"
Sven looked affectionately at Kristoff with his tongue dangling out of his mouth, much like a dog might look at its beloved owner.
Kristoff patted Sven fondly on the neck and took seat in the sleigh. It was autumn and Arendelle had a light-medium thickness of snow on the ground and so they set off easily. After a few miles, they rounded a rocky range which brought Arendelle into view. Kristoff looked over the landscape and spotted black smoke rising into the air from some way out in the distance, out of some fog surrounding the kingdom. Most likely from the fjord. Kristoff rose to his feet and squinted in the direction of the smoke. He could make out two huge black tall ships that appeared to be making their way, albeit slowly, towards Arendelle's harbour.
"Are those Arendelle ships? Or some other kingdom's?" He asked aloud. His heart leaped into his throat imaging the worst: a trojan horse style attack on Arendelle and Anna caught in the middle of it. "Let's go, Sven!" He cried out and they raced down the slope to the city.
Sat around a rectangular wooden table of ancient wood decorated with elaborate rosemaling designs Elsa and a council of hand-picked trusted advisors discussed matters to do with the kingdom: repairs to certain buildings, upcoming events including her and Anna's annual ball and Arendelle's relationships with other kingdoms. Just as they were joking about the continued resentment of the Duke of Weselton towards Arendelle following Elsa cutting ties with his country, a soldier burst into the room.
"Your Majesty." He bowed before speaking again. "Two huge, smoking ships have been spotted approaching Arendelle's harbour. We've readied the cannons. What would you like us to do?"
Everybody rose immediately to their feet although none as fast as Elsa. She shot a glance through the nearest window that had a view of the fjord. She saw them. Two huge masses of charred wood and smoke. Their sails were mostly in tatters and their masts were broken if not completely destroyed. She couldn't make out a crest amongst all the damage to tell her their kingdom of origin.
A member of her council, a medium-height man with broad shoulders and a behemoth beard asked the soldier with indignation "How were they not spotted earlier?"
"Sir, there's fog on the fjord and visibility isn't gre-"
"That doesn't matter now." Elsa interjected. "I'm going to the harbour to get a better look."
The soldier and a couple of the castle guards accompanied Elsa outside into the crisp Nordic air. It was tainted with the smell of burnt wood and gunpowder. Elsa could almost taste the charcoal on her tongue. Eyes bright, she spotted the fog down the fjord just as the soldier had reported. It draped across the water like a grand curtain. The ships in question had only recently broken out of the fog. They glided towards the opening to Arendelle's port. Castle guards flanked the Queen faithfully, prepared to lay their lives down to protect her at a second's notice. A man who Elsa knew as the captain of the port guards was running towards her.
"Your Majesty," he said after catching his breath. "Cannons are trained on the ships. We have had no indication of whether they are friendly or foe yet and the guards have reported there is scarcely anyone on their decks. What should we do?"
Elsa was getting used to the signature pleading look he was giving her. Others showed it to her when they needed her direction: wide eyes, full attention and a tinge of apprehension evident in all features of their face. It had been hard at first, the expectation and responsibility that came with wearing the crown, especially since she had lost her father several years before and thus hadn't been mentored much on the art of being a ruler. Not to mention spending much of her teenage and young adult life hiding in her bedroom. But in this moment, she focused only on the decision at hand: if she let the ships dock it could spell trouble for the kingdom; there could be hostile persons stowed below the decks. Yet, the ships were badly damaged indicating that they had been at war and therefore may not pose much of a threat at all.
"Captain!" a port guard called to the man stood beside her and pointed at the foremost ship. A figure had appeared on the deck and was holding up a large white flag. It billowed in the wind out towards the stern.
Seeing this token gesture of surrender Elsa made her call: "Hold your fire, and call for a hundred soldiers to join me in welcoming our visitors."
The captain bowed low and went to do as she bid. Elsa wondered where Anna might be but hoped she would stay out of sight just in case things became hairy.
The ships drew up to dock. Slowly but surely more figures began to appear on their decks. Two individuals, one from each ship, climbed down from the hulls and landed on the jetty, almost in unison. Elsa stood at the end of the jetty with one hundred Arendelle soldiers. The soldiers stood in rigid formation with their weapons sheathed. The mysterious individuals approached at steady a walk. Elsa watched coolly. They wore black metal armour decorated with orange and red intricate designs that snaked up their arms, across their torsos and crossed their thighs. Elsa spotted the occasional rose and realised the snaking lines possessed thorns. The individuals also wore black metal helmets which were closed over their faces. When they were a handful of metres away they both halted. They removed their helmets and tucked them under their left arms and to their sides. They raised their right hands, formed fists with them and placed them over their hearts, and then both bowed low and held themselves low for several seconds before standing tall again. Now Elsa could get a good look at them. Both were very tanned - far browner than she had ever seen a person in fact - and had heads of thick black hair. One was a man with a devilishly handsome face and smoothed over locks. The other was a beautiful woman whose wavy hair had cascaded down, out and fallen around her shoulders when she had removed her helmet. Both had large brown eyes that made Elsa think of dark chocolate. Both also wore large genial grins on their faces.
The man spoke first. "Do we have the pleasure of standing before the famous Snow Queen, Queen Elsa of Arendelle?" His accent was thick but understandable.
"Yes." Elsa answered, still looking cool.
The man and woman exchanged glances and their smiles became even more beaming.
The woman spoke: "Your Majesty, I am Princess Esse and the man beside me is Prince Demer and we are from isles far, far south of here. Our ships were badly damaged in battle and if you would be kind enough to let us and our crewmen stay we would like to repair our ships here in Arendelle. As soon as we are fit to sail we will return home."
Elsa could not help marvelling at the way they beamed up at her. They had an energy that engulfed her. Intrigued and moved to feel sympathetic she granted their wish. Thankful and relieved, the brother and sister, prince and princess, exchanged glances once more and then called to their ship crews in a foreign language. Their crew mates cheered at the news.
Meanwhile, Kristoff had been watching from a safe distance with Sven. He hoped Elsa had made a good call.
