"What the-"
"AUGH!" The half naked kid shrieked and bolted to his left, skidding to a halt when he saw a random farmer pass by. He looked around with a mixture of surprise and horror at his surroundings, until he caught sight of Anna again. Anna narrowed her eyes at him; he seemed different than most Arendellian boys. The skin color and hair were darker than hers, which was only just a strange as the fact that he only had on red underwear. What kind of parents let their kid do this? What kind of parents let their kid appear randomly in places and..." Wait a minute! Elsa! Where did you put her?!"
Perhaps her language was different to him...If that was the case, Anna would have to explain that 'Where did you put her' didn't mean 'run away from me as fast as you can'.
"Hey! Kid! Stop running!" The princess chased him immediately, wincing at the pain felt at her feet from she tiny pebble she sprinted over. For a little kid, he was fast and annoyingly fast at that. She may have been several feet taller than him but he seemed to make up for height in speed AND parkour; he leaped over tied goats dodged thick cart wheels and even swung on some lady's braid briefly. Little show off.
He took a wild turn all of a sudden, causing Anna to trip over her own feet with a wild yelp. Once she got back and started after him again, the princess spotted a very familiar cart being hauled towards the two of them by a large reindeer. And guiding the reindeer was a very familiar and close person to Anna.
"It's Kristoff!" She told herself with a squeal...as least as much as she could between ragged breaths. "Hey, Kristoff! Run over that kid!"
It was a random thing she'd blurted out during her exhaustion(she'd never want a kid ran over, c'mon) and Kristoff's face twisted into confusion for a moment. Sven didn't have time to make a weird face as his muzzle was used as a springboard by the little boy. Somehow the kid leaped over the blonde boyfriend and scampered away behind the cart. Anna growled in frustration at the escaping kid.
"Anna, Look out!"
The princess realized she was still running straight at Sven and managed to slow herself until she stopped nose to nose with the reindeer. With a position like that, it was predicted by Anna that the reindeer would lick her face. Which he did gladly and soon smothered her freckled cheeks with drool. "..ew...hi to you too, Sven."
"Anna!" Kristoff hopped out of the sleigh and jogged the short distance over to her. "Are you alright?!"
The young woman's heart pumped furiously from within her chest, but the only sign of this happening was her skin turning red. Anna wasn't sure how a girl like her could be so flattered by his concern; she just was. "D'aw-Well! Yeah, I'm fine! Tee her! Totally chipper! Thanks for asking, Kristy poo!"
"Uh...Anna?"
"Yeeeeees?"
"You're doing the weird thing again." Kristoff informed her, giving her a strangely smug look. "That thing where you do the couple name...thing."
"Oh! Was I? Yikes...I,uh...sorry." Anna nervously laughed and composed herself. She could have a flirty attitude with Kristoff later, she had a little boy to catch. "Well, uh...I'm sure you wanna know why I was chasing a little kid in a bathing suit just a while ago."
He crossed his huge muscular arms, which entranced Anna for a sec. "That's right."
"Oh...wow. Uh, I mean- See, I was with Elsa and we went to a spa to get pedicures!" She pointed down at her bare feet and wiggled her toes. "And I thought she was going to be happy to get this cool color for her toenails, but she was all like:" Anna made a angry face. "I don't like you dragging me around everywhere! And then I said sorry, and then she forgave me and then we started to walk off! But then we saw this really cool shiny rock that said it could take us anywhere!" The woman paused and giggled a little. "Pfft! I mean, a SIGN said that the rock could take us anywhere! Buy Elsa picked it up, and then she was gone! But that little naked kid was there and he ran away and I chased him here! So now we gotta find him to get Elsa back!"
She inhaled.
"And now my feet hurt really, reeeally bad."
"Seriously?" The ice selling man frowned at her, absentmindedly rubbing a gloved thumb across her cheek. "Does it hurt too much? Do you need me to massage it? I'll do that if you want!"
Anna almost purred at his touched, but shook her head slightly and gave him an adoring smile. "You seem awful caring today, Ice guy!"
"For someone like you, Fiesty pants, I have to be!" He winced at his words. "Not that I'm saying anything bad about you! It's great to be as energetic as you! Really!...I guess I'm figuring out how best to be a...courter?"
"Courter is such a weird word for boyfriend." Anna hugged his arm softly, her smile never leaving. "But anyways, you're doing fine at it if you ask me. And if you really wanna be helpful and caring, maybe you help me set a trap for this kid?"
"Set a trap? Haven't you tried reasoning with him?"
"I asked him where Elsa was and he ran away."
"Close enough. Yeah, I'll help. I can't say no to you without you trying to whine about it."
"Oh shut up, kiss me and carry me back to Arendelle. We've got a sister to find and a brat to catch!"
Some time after they'd gotten into the cart, a strong wave of worry washed over her heart. Kristoff noticed this almost immediately when she frowned into space. He got Sven moving towards the castle before he looked back over at Anna. "Is something up, Fiesty pants?"
"I'm just remembering...that kid. He looked like he wasn't Arendellian." The princess stared at him. "I think I once read a book on different cultures from around the world. Some live in the jungle..."
"Yeah?"
"And some of them wear...underwear just like that! Maybe their skin color is the same too?!" Anna nervously but her fingernails. "What if Elsa got taken to some animal-infested JUNGLE?!"
"Ha!" Kristoff laughed, although it was evident he was worried too. "Elsa in the jungle? Now that's funny."
"...and if this works the same as it did before..." Elsa curiously said aloud to Akela, Bagheera and a wolf she'd known to be called Raksha. She was the adoptive mother of the boy that she'd apparently switched places with upon touching the rock. She was also quite cautious and worried for this 'Mowgli'. "Then this...rock; If we both touch it at the same time again, I believe that we can both switch our places back to where we truly belong."
Bagheera, resting on his belly, briefly looked down towards the rock at his paws and snorted. "So Mowgli is currently in your world?"
Elsa nodded slowly. Akela sighed through his nose, paws shifting in the dirt like an anxious parent. "Isn't there something we can do to bring him back sooner?"
"I really thought about it...But right now the only logical option here is for us both to touch it, and right now it doesn't look like Mowgli's touched it at all. If he really has lived without being near a single human his whole life, he must be...frightened...and probably far from the rock, since he doesn't understand it."
The softest of whines rang out from Raksha's throat, just before the female wolf abruptly left the den out of sight. Elsa cringed inwardly; in a way, it was her fault that the child of two parents was suddenly gone and had little chance of getting back. Human or not, they apparently loved this little boy dearly, even the panther seemed a bit distraught over this.
"I...I-Im sorry. I should never have touched that rock." Elsa apologized and offered the smooth stone a bitter stare.
"...You were curious about an object that you'd never seen before." Akela's ear flicked away a persistent fly. "So was Mowgli. Let's be thankful that there is still a chance for his return."
The woman nodded reluctantly at this, and turned her gaze to the day before her outside. They were near a watering hole of some kind that was filling up rather fast, and the whole area itself was below the waterfall of a jungle edge. "...I...I need to go outside for a moment, please."
She left through the opening of the den and walked to the edge of the water, judging it's safeness to drink before sipping some. After downing the refreshing liquid, Elsa scanned the rocky outcroppings surrounding the watering hole and spotted Raksha lying on a very tall plateau-like boulder on the beach. Her eyes were somber and sad as expected, prompting Elsa to timidly walk over to the wolf. Aside from a brief snort, Raksha gave no acknowledgement to her presence.
"I...I got your name, but I don't think I've given you mine."The Snow Queen almost held out her hand to shake with her, but stopped at the last second. "I-Im Elsa."
Raksha didn't even look at her.
Elsa's lips slowly dropped the smile while she wrung her hands nervously. "...So,um...I realize that you want nothing more than your son back right now... I understand how, er-painful that can be for a mother-"
"You have no children." There was an underlying growl in her sentence. "I know the scent of a mother. You have no idea what I'm feeling."
"Yes, I don't have any children of my own...yet." Elsa explained. "But I do have a little sister. I once felt that I had to leave her behind to keep her safe...but I missed her so dearly. When I did go to look for her, if I were to ever find her where I was going...I would've been so happy. But during that time I felt like...like screaming or just slapping myself because of how stupid I was before..."
She paused.
"Okay, you actually didn't have any part in your son's disappearance, so you're not blaming yourself. But the fact is, we both miss people closeto us. I miss my sister so much...just as much as you miss your son."
When she didn't respond, the human decided not to stay there for too much longer. Just as she turned to leave however, a voice made her stop.
"You found your sister...didn't you?"
Else looked down at the ground and gasped when she saw eight puppies eagerly gathered around her bare feet, looking up at her with interested gazes and impatiently wagging tails. Elsa glanced up at Raksha, who was ironically staring at her as if to say, go on.
"y-yes. We eventually found each other and reconciled..."
"Why were you running away in the first place?" One pup spoke up. "My sister Jade is super annoying, but I haven't run away yet!"
A female pup far to his left barked at him. "Shut up, Aktan!"
Then they quieted down and stared up again.
"Well..."
Elsa trailed off into worry, wondering how terrible the reaction would be if she decided to show her powers off to the wolf pups near Raksha. Still, perhaps she could explain that they weren't dangerous if the mother became hostile? Her hands slowly rotated around each other and an icy mist formed around her delicate fingers, the cloud of white growing quickly. The pups made a united sound of awe at her ability, almost standing on their hind legs to get a better look. Before Elsa squatted to make things better for their sight, she glanced up their mother. Raksha seemed cautious, but ultimately intrigued by her.
"I accidentally hit my sister with magic when we were both young. She's forgiven me since then, of course." The cloud condensed into a solid snowball above them, before it exploded into a tiny snowfall onto their heads. The pups squealed when the snowflakes landed on their heads, some of them trying to eat the frozen water shapes and other batting at it with her paws. When looked up, grinning widely at the reaction, she was happy to see the one thing she'd been aiming for.
Raksha smiling.
"The Water Truce?"
Raksha nodded her head as she slowly padded alongside a stone-carrying Elsa, heading towards the wide expanse of intelligent animals gathering around the once tiny pond. There were birds of all sorts of colors, even those that she didn't know to exist, that flocked and fluttered over or around the water. Small furry creatures scampered between the legs of rhinoceroses and the occasional hippopotamus that lumbered by briskly. Ocelots were cautiously watched by birds and a few of the rodents that were nearby, the wolves were regard respectfully by the prey they usually hunted and the one crocodile that did arrive had everyone cautious...except for brave little birds that cleaned his teeth.
"It is an old truce, yet it stills runs today. Water is scarce in this jungle, Elsa and so everyone wants it. Our truce makes sure that these waters don't turn foul with blood from a fight or from some predator hunting. Here, we share and have at least of day of peace with each other." The wolf mother explained, her eyes regarding her cubs bothering an old buffalo.
"I see. That's why you brought me out here without hesitation. They won't attack me on such a day if..if they don't like me."
"There's nothing not to like about you, as far as I can tell. The only thing I find myself unsure about are your...abilities, as you say."
Elsa nodded in response and made a mental note to keep her powers under wraps for the time being. She didn't like the idea of concealing; not after promising never to conceal again, but here it was necessary.
"Well..." Raksha turned as if she were going to trot off towards her cubs, looking back at the blonde woman. "I'm going to go over here. I'll leave to explore a bit if you don't wish to follow me."
After acknowledgement was given to her statement, the wolf padded down the crowded banks and barked in annoyance with her children. Elsa smirked to contain a chuckle before turning to walk in the general direction of a small plateau like boulder just past the shore. But her foot came into contact with a furry body, and she gasped in surprise.
"Sorry, Missess Elsa." Grey the wolf cub smiled up at her hopefully. She recalled meeting the runt of the cub litter just yesterday, who shared a lot of personality traits with the queen. For one, he was quiet like her, most of the time. "Could I follow you?"
Elsa knew she couldn't say no to those liquid eyes of his. "She began to walk towards the crowd, aiming to get through it to get to the plateau. "It's Miss Elsa, Grey. And of course you can come along."
He barked happily and scampered after her, which coaxed a giggle out of her. The woman began to dodge a small family of ducks waddling past, before squeaking as an anteater slurped up ants that crawled too close to her feet. She grunted in pain when something sharp jabbed her calf..which just so happened to be a porcupine accidentally wandering into her. It looked at her as if he'd poured paint in her hair. "Oh, I am so sorry about that..."
"Ow..." She hopped on one leg and rubbed her leg gingerly through the slit in her dress. "That's okay. I'll be fine, thanks."
"You sure?" He questioned as she created distance between them. "I can pee on it if you want?"
"...It'll heal soon enough! But thanks!" Elsa politely responded and hurried away from the area, Grey following her silently.
The two of them passed by every drinking and wandering animal they knew to live in the jungle, beasts like giant peacocks, armored Pangolins, Asiatic Gorillas, small Red pandas, Hog deer, Woolly yaks, scampering Mongoose, a few wild cattle and a handful of rodents that The Queen couldn't recognize from any animal book back in Arendelle. She found herself getting closer to the plateau-like boulder Raksha used just yesterday, and traversed past two Rhinoceroses drinking from the shore. The younger of the two glanced at the human woman from the corner of her vision, and then to the older Rhino. "What is that, dad?"
"...It is man." She heard the animal snort back. " At least, the female kind."
A bird perched on the Rhino's horn cocked it's head. "What is man doing here?"
Elsa fought the instinct to glance back at the trio, instead blushing timidly from their suspicious voices and walking faster. She climbed up the plateau once she reached it and after aiding Grey in getting up, sat with her calves dangling over the edge of the boulder. Her eyes took in the peculiar and peaceful sight of all the animals drinking calmly from the water's edge. No prey stood disturbed next to the predator, and the predator gave no glance with harmful intent. The woman became thirsty herself after seeing them drink for a few minutes. With a flick of her and the sound of tiny crystals meshing together, she created a floating wine glass made entirely out of ice. Sure, A wine glass in the middle of the jungle was less than fashionable, but no one with fashion sense was around to see her anyways. Not to mention that the water looked all the more appetizing in the wine glass.
Grey excitedly pawed at her braid just as she was about to take a sip. "How'd you get your fur like this, Miss Elsa?"
"Well..." She wasn't too sure how to explain the workings of a braid. " just...sort of moved parts of my hair into various places. then I just tied it."
She snorted out a laugh when Grey gave her the most pitiful, confused look ever. As always, his expressions had a tinge of adorableness in them.
"Elsa?" She recognized the voice as Akela's. The blonde turned her head to look at the wolf leader approaching, but not before taking a quick sip. "I believe I expressed that human tools are...not common in these lands, and are disturbing to many."
Cheeks still bulged with water, Elsa looked back at the animals below her, quite flustered to find that all of them were staring at her suspiciously. She swallowed quickly , muttered out a short apology and without thinking tossed the cup into the air. It's vanishing into a cloud of ice particles sent a loud gasp through the gathering of beasts. Elsa cringed even more than before. The entire lake seemed quiet,everyone acting as if they were holding their breath...
"...Do that again!"
She blinked thrice. A small bird on the back of a water buffalo had squawked out the command to her, shortly followed by the Buffalo grunting: "Yeah? What was that, anyway?"
Before she could even think to make a response, the rest of the animals pitched in their statements of approval and encouragement. Elsa was quite astounded by their reaction; She'd expected them to be a bit more fearful of her. Then again, she expected Anna to be fearful of her when powers were revealed and things turned out fine.
Inhaling through her nostrils and smiling slightly, a gust of cold wind carried sparkling ice through the air. The light glinted off of it like some the prisms created by Arendelle's scientists. The light filtered through the faces of the crystals and glowed every different color imaginable. The animals voiced their sounds of interest and approval, causing Elsa to blush a little and look back at Akela. The wolf still seemed skeptical of her decision to reveal her abilities, but also seemed amused.
Then a single, earsplitting roar rang out.
