Arendelle Spring 1827 (4 years later)
Jack and Elsa lounged on the side of a hill far away from the clamorings of the palace and the stresses that she had to ensure.
She was on her side, head resting on his shoulder as they laughed and talked about all the varied things that were so prominent in their eccentric lives. He was forever trying to get her away from the palace, getting her away from the stiff and formal life that she played a part in to be able to really play, with little snow and ice creatures they created or snowball fights and ice fortresses.
Today, Elsa looked tired, it was making Jack worried.
"What's going on that has you so exhausted?" he asked, looking down at her.
Elsa smiled, turning to look up at him before resting her head back down on his shoulder.
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice," she admitted. "I didn't want to you to worry."
He chuckled, stretching an arm to tuck behind his head. "You should know better by now," he said. "I'm always keeping an eye on you and your wellbeing."
She sighed. "I've been getting correspondence all week about various outbreaks in some of the neighboring countries," she admitted, sounding worried. "Cholera this time. It sounds like a rather bad outbreak too, and I've been worrying about it. I'm trying to get some supplies so I can close the gates if need be."
She moved her arm to rub at her eyes. "I guess I wasn't doing as good of a job at hiding my concern as I thought I was."
Jack had stiffened as soon as she had said the word outbreak.
Outbreaks weren't uncommon; this was the second one that he'd been around Arendelle for.; there had been an outbreak of influenza in the village nearby a few months after Jack had arrived. Arendelle had never experienced anything on the scale this Cholera outbreak was turning out to be. Elsa hadn't been trying to hide it from him, but she was scared and didn't know how to approach it yet. She was still working to gather facts about the disease herself.
She didn't want to panic anyone; scared people in mass were just as dangerous as an outbreak. Jack pulled her closer to him.
"Tell me," he said. "Tell me everything you know."
She smiled, turning her head up to see the fierce determination on his face to protect her.
Jack, her protector, her guardian, ready to take on the world for her at a moment's notice.
And so she did, she told him everything that she had found out yet about this oncoming plague.
Jack sighed when she was done, the weight of the possible epidemic now heavy on his chest.
"Don't worry," she said, as much to herself as to him. "We don't know it will come up here. We're so small compared to everyone else, we will take precautions."
"That doesn't stop influenza," he countered.
"Everyone gets influenza outbreaks," she said bluntly. "It's going to be fine."
"I will be fine," she said, a moment later, guessing his real worry.
He could protect her against so many things, except disease. He sat up and pulled her onto his lap, holding her close in his embrace, burying his face into her hair and the crook of her neck.
"Let's talk about something else," he said. "Something more pleasant, more fun."
She closed her eyes, smiling at his hold on her. "I love you," she said reverently, speaking the words like an intimate prayer.
He squeezed his arms that were wrapped around her waist, lips moving to tickle her neck. "I love you too."
They were silent for several long moments, enjoying the warm sunshine as they sat curled up together in the meadow in an embrace, the soft fragrance of flowers and the promise of rain surrounding them.
"Something fun," she mused softly, breaking the silence after a spell.
"Hmm?" he murmured, moving his head to rest on her shoulder, looking up at her.
"We could always get married," she offered, eyes alight. "That would be fun."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh yes," he said sarcastically. "Marrying an invisible man. A fairytale, no less. Sounds like lots of fun. I'm sure everyone will love it."
"Jack," she said, a weary note in her voice. "Don't be like that. I would make it work. WE would make it work. We make things work now just fine."
"I know," he said quietly. "I know, but I don't want you made a laughingstock because of me. I hear the rumors as same as you Elsa, that you've taken a strange fancy to a myth. I can't have your sanity called into question as a ruler by a wedding. You know that as well as I do."
"I know," she conceded, looking down at her hands. "I know you're right."
He hugged her tightly to him. "The thrills of being in the public image, right?" he said, chuckling slightly and jostling her.
She looked up and gave a weak smile. "Indeed."
A roll of thunder from the west had them both looking at the sky.
"Time to go it seems," he said, leaning back to reach for his staff and lifting them back into the air.
She sighed. "Yes, I have more reports to read."
"Cholera?" Jamie asked. "That was a big deal back then, right?"
Jack nodded. "It was terrifying, it killed so many people. Elsa got more information about everything in the next weeks about it. Ended up closed the port and inviting the majority of the village inside the palace before shutting the gates as long as we could hold out. I went on more than a few supply runs to help last them a few extra weeks longer. And it worked, thank the moon."
"But what about like planting for Spring and what not?"
"Most of them had already done that, and agreed that letting weeds grow with the crops for a few weeks was well worth trying to avoid an outbreak of Cholera. And they all helped, it was an impressive feat to see. All these people working together in a crowded environment where it could have been so easy to get upset and angry," Jack said, recounting the events.
"Elsa had read in one of the documents she'd gotten, some science thing, saying that it was suggested that everything was as clean as possible to help stave off an outbreak. She'd compiled everything she could on the outbreak. All of this research and then brought everyone together and told them what she'd found, and everyone all worked together."
"Everyone cleaned in the castle every day, even me."
"That's really impressive. How did she know it would work?"
"She didn't," Jack said, giving him a pointed look. "She was basing all of this off of theories she had read, and hoped it would work. It wasn't until, what, like the early 1900s that they discovered it was that unclean conditions passed the illness. I mean, the IDEA was there, kind of, in the early 19th century, but not on this level. My Elsa, god, she was so smart."
"If this idea was around, why didn't people use it back then?"
"Money. It cost a LOT of money to house everyone in the Palace just for those 2 months that we did. And even more to help with food costs for that winter since the harvest was lacking from everyone have to neglect their fields and gardens for two months. But, not having a disease outbreak was worth it to Elsa, and everyone agreed. The perk of having such a small country I suppose."
"That had to be a relief for Anna and Kristoff with their children though, right?"
Jack shook his head. "We took the kids, more than just those three, up to be with the Trolls before we brought everyone in."
"Oh?"
"Elsa was concerned that if the theory didn't pan out, because we didn't know if it would or not, that something could happen to them, and we didn't want to risk it."
"I suppose that makes sense."
Jack nodded. "It was a scary time for us all, but it all worked out."
"So what happened after that? Did everything go back to just, normal?"
"Well, it was hard to jump right back to normalcy after a big scare like that."
Fall 1827, Arendelle
Jack sat alone on top of the roof of the castle, looking up at the night sky and was grateful the Moon was not out tonight. He wanted to be alone for a time.
Elsa was below in her office, finishing up paperwork and trying to find ways to refill the coffers after a large portion had been drained while they had avoided the Cholera outbreak that had been going on around them.
That had scared him, he'd be a fool not to admit that. He'd known that he'd lose her one day but he'd thought it would be a day long from now, not when she was still young. The thought of a sickness taking her had never crossed his mind. He still had so many things he wanted to show her in the world; so many things that he still wanted to prove to her, to give to her.
He stood up and kicked off from the roof, flying off into the forest and thinking about his next words. If he could make this happen, it would make her so happy. But could it happen?
He supposed he would find out soon enough.
After a long dark flight, what seemingly took twice as long as it usually did, he landed in the Troll's clearing and looked around. He cleared his throat and tapped his staff on a few of the stones; he didn't have to wait long before the stones began to rumble and roll into place, showing the bright, happy faces of the Trolls.
"Jack!" several of them shouted, before their voiced were all muddled together, all of them starting to talk at once.
He grinned, kicking off from the ground and hovering until he found Bulda and sat back down in front of her.
"I need to talk to Pabbie please," he told her, trying to get straight to the point at hand.
She smiled up at him, gesturing to another Troll that rolled off in another direction.
"Certainly, Guardian," she said.
"I'm not-," Jack started, stopping as she grabbed him by his shirtfront and dragged him down. to her level.
"If you are wanting a favor, then you'll let us call you whatever," she stated bluntly.
Jack stared at her, straightening when she released him as rumbling stone was heard. Then, Pabbie appeared, bowing down to Jack like he always had.
"Guardian, how can I help you today?"
Jack opened his mouth, thought briefly, closed it, and then tried again. "Would you mind if we spoke in private?"
Pabbie looked up at him, considering his words for a moment before nodding. "Very well, this way," he said, leading Jack away from the large open clear to a small cave nearby.
They sat down in the cramped space, the old troll watching Jack curiously before the spirit let out a long sigh, leaning forward on his knees as he still worked at how to word what he wanted to say what he wanted.
"Why don't you just tell me what it is you want," Pabbie asked him. "And we can go from there?"
"I want to be human," he said, looking up.
Pabbie looked surprised at this. "Jack, I.."
"I know," Jack told him, laughing bitterly. "I don't mean permanently."
"I was hoping for perhaps a day. A week?" he sighed. "Elsa, Elsa wants to get married. But, I don't want her to marry someone that hardly anyone can see, people already talk in whispers enough about her."
"I'd do anything for her," he admitted. "I'd give up everything for her but I don't know how I can do THIS for her."
Pabbie was silent for several very long moments, considering and debating with himself before he turned and started pulling out charts, crystals and stones from the nooks and crannies of the cave around him.
After a few minutes of searching, he finally returned to Jack giving him a heavy sigh and a wary look.
"I can grant you one favor, Guardian, and only one. Ever," he said, a strong note of caution in his voice. "Are you really sure you want to use it on this?"
Jack paused, with a protest on his lip and thought for a long moment; Pabbie hadn't said that he couldn't do it. He had said he would give Jack one favor. Only one favor.
What else could he ever want though?
Jack smiled. "Yes," he said, nodding. "Of course. You can do it?"
Pabbie hesitated. "Maybe," he conceded. "I'm not sure yet. Come back in three days, and I'll have an answer for you."
Jack nodded slowly. "Okay," he said, turning to leave. "I'll see you then."
His flight back to the palace was just as long and quiet as the one to the clearing had been, his mind filled with a flurry of thoughts, worries and anxieties as he made his return to Arendelle proper.
He found Elsa waiting for him in her bedchamber, lazily paging through a book with the bedclothes tucked comfortably around her and pillows propping her up.
"Where have you been?" she asked, looking up curiously as he walked inside.
"Went to see the Trolls," he said honestly, bending down to kiss her. "Was curious about something."
"About what?" she asked again, setting her marker in her book and sliding it onto her side table.
He smiled, setting his staff against the wall and flipped down beside her on the bed, pulling her to him as he did. "I guess you'll find out in a couple days!"
"Oh a surprise?"
"Maybe," he said, ignoring the knot in his stomach and kissed her again.
