Elsa's hiccups and sobs finally slowed down, and a tear-stained face looked up at her sister. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Anna shook her head, a gentle smile still on her face, rubbing her thumb on Elsa's cheek. The Queen took in a breath, closing her eyes. Slowly, she got back to sitting on the chair, taking out a handkerchief to dry her cheeks. "H-how are you feeling?"
Anna gave a small chuckle, rough in nature. "I've had better days. But it's alright, I just took some painkillers." She then gestured over to the side table, a bottle of opiate medicine laying on top. Elsa gave her a weak smile. "What about you? Are you okay?"
Elsa looked away. Despite how overwhelmed she was feeling, she wasn't sure she wanted to let out all the details to her sister; her sister shouldn't have to handle all of it. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."
Anna didn't believe that for one second. "So you're crying for no reason then?"
The Queen had no response to that, so the seconds ticked by in silence.
"Tell me what's happened. Elsa."
Elsa's shoulders began to shake. But still, no response. Anna bit her lip and breathed out a weak sigh. She felt the dread rising up in her chest. Her mind flashed back to those cloaks of red.
It was only a few minutes since she woke, but the question was on her mind. So she decided to rip the band-aid.
"Will there be war, Elsa?"
The Queen froze. The silence loomed heavily over them.
"Elsa, please."
Her response was a hoarse whisper of a thing. "Yes." Elsa let out a shuddering sigh. "I'm sorry," she said, quietly, putting her hands down on her lap. "It's not that I'm trying to keep this from you. I'm just..."
Anna shook her head. "It's okay." Her sister was obviously more than stressed. As the chilling news fell through her spine, she could hardly fathom what Elsa had been going through since she'd come back.
Elsa had her hands around herself, blinking slowly before she continued, her voice low and quiet. "Minister Sibbern never made it back from Oslo. The scouts returned with a paper- a declaration of war from Weselton."
Anna looked mortified. "No..." More men. More of them. Gone.
That attack flashed through her eyes again.
She pushed the memory down. Now was not the time.
And Elsa kept going. "Not to mention the councilmen were less than cooperative this morning. And I have to go back in there this afternoon."
The injured girl was quiet, her eyes staring at the ceiling and her mind lost in thought. "This afternoon?" she asked.
"Yes," came the quiet reply.
"I'll come then."
"What?" Elsa didn't know if she was hearing this right. "Anna, you can't be serious."
"I have to come, Elsa. You just said that-"
"Whatever I said doesn't matter. Anna, you've been hurt, and you only just came to!" Elsa had a hand to Anna's shoulder, making sure she didn't even think about moving.
"You think I'm just going to sleep away while you have to deal with all this?"
Elsa sighed. "This is why I didn't want to tell you anything, Anna." A hand came to the younger one's cheek. "I don't want you to go worrying me more-" It was hot to the touch. The queen frowned. "So you will do just that."
"But Elsa-" Arms tried to prop themselves up on by their elbows.
"Enough," came Elsa's curt order. She pushed the princess back down. "Now, I must go to the meeting. And you should sleep, you're getting feverish again."
So the queen left the room, and Anna's eyes followed her, staring on, and still determined.
Watch your step. Kristoff held his ground, his stance wide. With his old instruments, he pulled up the chunk of ice from the water.
Let it go. The ice he held slid down as it was laid down on the floor of that frozen lake. The block is pushed down the line, and onto the ramp.
Watch your ste- "Kristoff!"
And Kristoff almost stumbled, just stopping himself from heading into the dangerous waters; his hooks quickly thrust in the ice to stop him. "Phew," he breathed in relief, before turning to the direction of the voice, "Olaf, what did I tell you about-"
"Hello, Kristoff!" Olaf said, waving
"Yeah, hello, but like-"
"We have to go back to the castle now!" And Olaf takes his hand and pulls at him.
"Wait! Hold on, stop, I'm in the middle of work right now, what for?"
"Anna needs some company right now, so I'm bringing you home."
Home? The castle was home? Kristoff blushed at the thought. But he quickly brought his serious face back on. "Olaf, I will be back within the week. Besides, I'm sure Anna's having a fine time on her own trips into the mountains, what happened to that?"
Olaf shakes his head. "She's definitely not in the mountains right now. And that's a good thing."
The man wasn't sure whether to feel offended or worried. "Wait, what do you mean?"
"Anna really is in need of company, Kristoff, 'cause she's been hurt." The snowman finally revealed, tugging once more at the guy.
Kristoff nearly topples over the snowman, his mind going blank. "...Hurt? What do you mean, hurt?"
That was when guardsmen finally caught up to the two, and their words—much more straightforward than the snowman's—finally explained the situation fully.
And then there was no hesitation.
Unlatching Sven from the ice cart, Kristoff abandons everything, and the two of them follow the guards and the snowman back home, a barely contained anxiety in the ice harvester's step.
Anna had been hurt. In the place he had suggested
He'd gotten her in harm's way. Again.
"Council resumed!" And the queen was upon her seat once again, overseeing the rest of the cabinet members, all who looked more subdued this time around. And Elsa was grateful; if there was anything she wasn't in the mood for, it was a group of contrary politicians.
But there were no guarantees for how the rest of the meeting would go.
There was a clearing of a throat. It was the mayor. "First of all," he began, his tone most hesitant and somber in nature, "I would like to sincerely apologize for earlier comments and would like to retract those earlier statements."
Elsa bobbed her head. "Apology accepted, Mayor."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," he replied, "The council would like to also give our condolences to the royal family during this hard time; our prayers are with Princess Anna for a swift recovery."
The young woman took a deep breath. "...Thank you, you are most kind." She had to leave it at that, lest her emotions get the better of her. The job of a queen wasn't to wear your heart on your sleeve, after all. "Now, there is a subject I wish to discuss with the council. It is on the possible retrieval of the men who were killed, both from the princess' party and the north border."
There were murmurs among the men.
"...Your Majesty," volunteered a councillor, "That's a very risky mission right now. Going out to get those men would only entail further risk to those scouts who are ordered to retrieve it."
Right. The Queen thought as such. She had been hoping that one of the ministers would have any ideas to make it possible, but they were right. It was too risky right now.
Oh, but how guilty she felt, knowing she couldn't bring them home.
"Besides, we still can't make any moves without a Minister of Defence to overlook it," a certain Minister of Foreign Affairs piped up. The General was quick to scoff.
"Meanwhile, Jarslberg, Weselton will have already made their next move on Arendelle. We can't just wait until a new Minister of Defence is found."
"But protocol is protocol!" was the gent's retort.
"Then we'll just have to find a new Minister of Defence then, won't we?" Rømersen said, his words blunt.
It devolved into chaos. Elsa watched on as the councillors' voices clashed and rang through the conference hall, their arguments indistinguishable from the angry cries of beasts of the wild. And the Queen was once again wishing she was back with her sister.
Turns out her sister was the one who came to her.
The door creaked, and in came the invalid princess, staggering. "I'll do it."
