CHAPTER 21- CRISIS
Young Princess Elsa runs through the corridors of midnight, hand in hand with her friend. The moonlight through the palace windows illuminates their path in patches of bright and darkness, like a checkerboard. Bathed in light for a moment, like an angel in a white nightdress, Mara puts a finger to her lips.
Gerda doesn't know. Mama doesn't know. Pappa doesn't know- but Elsa is out of her room, and she is not afraid. She is fearless. She is brave.
They are out on the balcony, and the sky is on fire, dancing ribbons of green and purple light ablaze over the mountains, reflecting in Mara's eyes. Soft lips press against hers.
What is she doing?
What is she doing here?
Panic erupts in her heart. Her power flashes, and Mara falls. She hits the floor, shattering like Mama's glass ornaments. And Princess Elsa is no longer fearless. And she doesn't feel very brave, not at all.
Now the lights are burning houses, and from the balcony Elsa can see dark sails in the harbour...
Elsa sat on her bed in the darkness. Beads of moisture trembled on her brow. Always that dream. Never more than a week without dreaming about sneaking out of bed, and...
Was there something else? A servant? She normally forgot the dreams, and they kept changing. Sometimes she lived, sometimes she died; sometimes she ran away. She had dreamt those moments over and over, so many times... had anything ever actually happened? Or was it just a fable her dreams kept revisiting, like a favourite tune?
Was it a girl? She... didn't like to think about those dreams. Jani. There was Jani now.
She fell back into her furs, succumbing to exhaustion as the adrenaline began to wear off. It was the stress of the situation bringing the dreams back, she knew. She'd feel better once she was back in Arendelle, and could do something. Once she could protect those she loved.
Surely he never had nightmares- what was he even afraid of? Then again... he had lost family in the coup. Did he dream of them? Did he cry at night? If he was struggling, he had never given any sign...
Thoroughly worn out, Elsa slept.
"Elsa, wake up! WAAAKE UUUP!"
Elsa opened her eyes, grudgingly. Anna was perched on top of her like a wide-eyed ginger gargoyle, waving a piece of paper in her face.
"Get off me, Anna..." she groaned, struggling to wriggle free. Once her excited sister had released her, she staggered over to the ice table on wobbly early morning legs, and sat down with a yawn.
Anna waved the paper in her face again. It was a letter of some sort, with writing on both sides...
"Where did this come from?" she asked, snatching it deftly from Anna's grasp. Very curious.
She began to read, but Anna snatched it back. "It's private!"
Elsa frowned. "I'm sorry, I'm a little confused. Did you wake me up so that I could not read a mysterious letter?"
Anna thought for a moment, then, scanning the page, she folded it neatly in two and handed it back. "It's from Kristoff. Read the first side, and then the second half of the second page. The rest is fiancée's eyes only..."
Kristoff. But how?
. .
. .
MY DEAREST ANNA,
THE PARTY WHO HAS ARRANGED FOR THE DELIVERY OF THIS LETTER ASKED THAT THEIR PART STAY SECRET FOR NOW. SHOULD YOU FIGURE OUT WHO IS BEHIND THIS, THOUGH, DO THANK THEM FROM ME.
THANKS TO THEM, WE NOW KNOW OF THE MURDER OF THE KING OF MYRTLE, AND THE DANGER WE ALL FACE IF PEACE BREAKS DOWN. I AM RELIEVED TO KNOW THAT YOU THREE ARE ALL ON YOUR WAY HOME, THOUGH I WISH YOU'D TAKEN MORE SOLDIERS.
PLEASE STAY SAFE. I KNOW YOU LIKE TO CHARGE RIGHT INTO THINGS, AND IT'S PART OF WHAT I LOVE ABOUT YOU, BUT THE MOUNTAINS HOLD ALL KINDS OF...
...KAI SAYS WE'LL NEED ELSA TO GET ANYTHING OUT OF THE COUNCIL. LETTERS HAVE BEEN SENT TO SOME OTHER RULERS, THOUGH. SHOULD BE QUITE A GET TOGETHER WHEN YOU REACH US.
MISSING YOU. JUST, SO MUCH... HURRY HOME.
KRISTOFF
. .
. .
Elsa placed the letter down on the table and thought a moment.
"Who gave you this letter?"
"Gerda. She said she found it in her stuff when she got up."
"No idea how it got there, then?"
"Nope."
"It's rather suspicious. Does it look like Kristoff's writing to you?"
Anna nodded, still clearly buzzing with excitement.
Elsa scratched her head. "Well, this is hard to explain. The Myrtleans have a messenger bird, but that just flies back and forth between us and their capital, and they wouldn't help us, anyway. But he wrote this in the last two days. It must have been a bird. But..."
Anna seemed not to care about the mystery; she just hugged Elsa around the neck, practically bouncing up and down.
Elsa couldn't help but smile to see the change in her sister. "You're just happy to hear from him, aren't you?"
"Yep."
"You don't really care how the letter reached us, then?"
"Nope..."
. .
. .
"What's up with you?"
Sat beside him on the hollow log, Rinne looked up from his breakfast. "What do you mean?"
Jani sniffed. "You're smiling. It's practically unnatural."
"Sorry, mamma..." Rinne stroked his moustache with the fingers of one hand. "If you must know, I had a very interesting conversation last night. With one of your new friends..."
Rinne turned around suddenly, annoyed that his late evening quest for a good spot to take a leak had been interrupted. He had been talking with the mayor in the village tavern-come-meeting hall for hours, and his bladder was feeling the strain. Good to hear that no more village kids had gone missing since they had last visited- although he had expected as much after helping Jani put an end to the party responsible.
"Princess Anna?"
The young red-headed woman looked pleased with herself. Her arms were folded in front of her chest.
"I've figured it out, you know. You and Jani. You can stop pretending now."
Oh, shit...
He tried not to let any concern show. "Oh? And what have you figured out?"
Princess Anna grinned. "Well..."
She was not even close.
Jani nearly fell off the log for laughing. "Really?"
Rinne smirked. "Yup."
"She thought I was your son?"
"Absolutely. She looked heartbroken when I laughed at her. 'But you are so alike', she said..."
"Yeah, we're both bent as a tin penny, for one."
Rinne put a finger to his lips. "Hush now. If it gets out, I can kiss that promotion goodbye..."
Jani chuckled. "You know, it's all legal down in Arendelle... you could settle down and... I dunno." He took a bite of his hard tack.
The old captain shook his head. "You're counting chickens now. A lot of folk will be dead this time next year. Besides, it's too late for me. The way I take care of myself, I'm amazed I'm still alive now..."
Jani glanced over to the Arendelle sisters' latest ice house- a miniature gothic creation with dozens of delicate spires. Rinne noticed.
"Not still thinking about letting her sister squire you, are you?"
"For God's sake, Ukko..." Jani threw the rest of his biscuit in the embers of the fire. "I was just thinking. Look here... You're the only one who ever... just, let me be myself."
He looked at his hands, feeling awkward, but determined to finally ask. "So what made you understand? Not make it a joke, or attack it- like everyone else."
Rinne shook his head, and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Oh, son, you are daft. Understanding's got nought to do with it. It's what you feel and it's what you need. I'm not going to be a shit to you just because life sometimes gets confusing for an old man."
Jani shrugged. Good enough, I guess...
. .
. .
With a grunt of exertion, Larkspur's ancient ferryman pushed his raft-like vessel away from its moorings, and Elsa tried to ignore the little lurch as the party began to drift across the shallow waters of the bay. On what was basically a giant barn door. The old man's long, grey hair was held back with a black and blue kerchief, as if he were morbidly afraid of not being immediately stereotyped by someone.
Squeezing Anna's hand tightly, she tried to focus on the rest of her surroundings. The morning had brought mercifully mild weather, and they were underway over calm waters, under a cloudy sky of marbled white and blue. If she were comfortable with the sea it would be positively idyllic. They were being taxied from one patch of hard ground to another- a shortcut of maybe half an hour which would safe them half a day of trudging through the treacherous marshes further into the bay. The ferryman had even refused to accept his customary modest fare- merely throwing Jani and Rinne a wink. They had both declined to explain.
Wrapped in the hotchpotch of naval wear and mountain woollens which seemed to be the standard up here, the old man and his son worked steadily together with long wooden poles, puffing through their grizzled beards, keeping the barge in continuous motion without upsetting it. The carthorses whinnied and snorted uneasily with every bump and shift; she knew how they felt.
"How are you feeling?" Anna whispered in her ear.
"Nauseous..." she whispered back. "But I'll be fine. Thanks."
"Why do they let girls on this ship?"
"This isn't a ship. This is a boat", whispered Olaf. "They don't think it counts."
"How did you know that?"
"I'm not sure. Why are we whispering?"
"Elsa started it."
"You are such a liar..."
It wasn't as bad a half hour as she had feared, actually. Still, she was glad when they touched dry land again. The ferryman lashed the barge to its post, then he and his son were collected in a fishing boat by another child. There was another ferry awaiting them further south, but that was several hours ride away, thank goodness.
Time enough to put their plan into motion. She glanced back at Jani. Finally.
. .
. .
Jani was the last to disembark, lingering behind the old servants and the baggage cart. Finally hopping onto land, he nodded to the old ferryman. Poor old sod. He hadn't been able to get him his granddaughter back that time, but he had been able to offer him a kind of justice. The bloody kind.
"Do they know?" the man asked, leaning on his pole. Jani shook his head quickly.
Tapping the side of his nose, the ferryman ambled off stiffly towards his boat, humming to himself. Jani caught a snatch of a familiar song.
Black and Blue
Master New...
He smiled to himself. The song of the second Crow Lord. When people realised it wasn't a one-off thing, that the wild magic kept coming back to his family.
. .
Black and Blue
Master New
Death undying, we destroy...
. .
Niklas the Sea Crow, then the Angel, the Exile, the Monk. The Bluebeard... and now whatever he would come to be called. A bit of a mixed legacy, all things considered.
Yes, the Crow Kings had led Myrtle to completely destroy the old Empire, burning its capital and plundering its riches in an orgy of heathen desecration. But that had had its bad points, too. The ensuing dark age had left them with fewer and fewer targets worthy of their time, and they had spent much of the past centuries warring with their cousins in the east, or among themselves. Slowly decaying.
Destruction was fun, but had no future. It didn't really have a past, once you stripped away the romance and selective memory of legend. Why couldn't Kaarlo see it? Stupid-arse fantasist traitor...
Besides, there were a few Southerners he'd rather didn't get destroyed. Recent acquaintances- not to name names, you understand...
. .
. .
Some time later
Sat in a secluded clearing, a little way off from where the rest of the party were eating, Elsa watched Anna and Jani spar with a growing sense of tension. She was not an impatient person, but had her sister forgotten that her lesson was only meant to be a pretext? She had a tendency to get caught up in the action of the moment and forget herself.
If nothing else, at least she was improving. While she had yet to actually land a blow on her instructor, who swatted away her attacks with a casual ease which seemed almost mocking, she could now block many of the more basic attacks, and his favourite early tactic- using his blade to distract her from his feet before kicking her in both shins and laughing his head off- no longer worked as it had the first twelve times. With every lesson, Anna's chances of making it back safely improved, and that was no bad thing. Jani could use some pointers on 'positive reinforcement', though...
An improvised roll to avoid an overhead swing brought Anna eye-to-eye with Elsa, and she took the opportunity to mime a discreet cough and gesture back to the camp with a tilt of her head. Anna's eyes widened- yes, she had completely forgotten. Lord love you sister, but you are ridiculous sometimes...
Anna raised her hand to stop the fighting. "Um, sorry Jani, can you hang on a sec? I have to... I mean... I forgot... water!" She picked up her water bottle triumphantly. "Can't work up a sweat without that. I'll just fill her up and be back." She bounded off into the small but densely thicketed trees of the bay, leaving Elsa and Jani alone.
Alone. With Jani. She was finally alone with Jani.
Even though she had planned this with her sister that morning, she felt a familiar kind of panic stirring in her. What was she planning to say? She had completely forgotten. Instead of intelligent thoughts, her skull was suddenly filled with nothing but the pounding of her own heartbeat.
She walked up to the beautiful boy while she still had the nerve. He shook his head, still looking in the direction Anna had left in. "That water bottle sloshed..."
Elsa sighed. "Anna isn't very good at being sneaky." Still time to back out... breathe, girl, you can do this. He smelt like spring leaves and fresh-dug earth.
Jani drew closer. "Why would she be... sneaky?"
Elsa had to force herself to speak. "I... I wanted to catch you alone." Her ears were drumming. Running out of wiggle room... time to flee or take the plunge...
"Oh..." His ears flushed pink, where they poked out of the sides of the tangling hedge of his black hair. She had a sudden mental image of sitting with her pirate boy, pulling a brush through his unruly locks, running a hand down... Her heart started to beat even faster.
Jani seemed to be struggling to speak as well. "I wanted to..." he hesitated, and started again. "You've been wearing a perfume. It's kind of sweet..."
Elsa smiled. He had noticed. "It's mostly cacao, with some sweet spices. A perfumer turned up in court and offered to make me a fragrance. He said to name the most wonderful scent in heaven or earth, and he would bring it to life."
"And you chose..."
"I think he was hoping I'd say 'A late summer evening overlooking the Tuscan sea' or something grand. But without thinking I just blurted out 'white chocolate pudding'. He looked like I'd hit him..."
Jani laughed. "Well, it was honest..."
He was just too darn edible for words. She wanted to take a bite out of that smooth, flawless cheek. Soft, inviting lips seemed to beckon her in...
Whatever invisible tether was holding her back, it snapped. Grabbing his face with one hand and circling the small of his back with the other, she drew him in close, and began to kiss him. The contact of their lips was electric. They seemed to sear her as she caressed his mouth with her own. She avoided bringing her tongue into play- Anna had said that took some practice to get right. She drank in his scent- pine needles and wild forest flowers and the delicate richness of hair and skin...
"Oh, Heaven, you beautiful man..." she gasped, her shyness forgotten.
Thank God he was the one male in the party who seemed to bathe... her hand moved through locks like black tangles of silk... she could feel him moving, responding to her kiss, returning it...
Then ecstasy imploded. He pulled back without warning, stepping slowly away from her, panic in his eyes. Eyes that seemed, for a moment, to be on fire.
"I need to..." He looked about him. What did I do? What happened?
"I need to see Rinne..." Jani, her first proper kiss, then practically fled from the clearing, disappearing from sight amid the mottled birch and aspen..
Slightly tearful, and utterly bewildered, Queen Elsa of Arendelle sat down by herself and tried to understand what had just happened. Maybe Anna would know...
. .
. .
After a few minutes, Jani calmed down enough to stop running. He tried to slow his breathing, to keep calm, to force the fire out of his eyes before someone saw him.
She had kissed him. She had kissed him, and he had kissed her back.
Beautiful man...
And she didn't know. He hadn't told her yet. All his sweetest dreams and worst nightmares had somehow found common ground in reality.
Shit, shit, shit... I'm a monster. I'm like a liar, or a con artist, or a short-finger, or, or...
He wasn't getting any calmer. Selecting a particularly sorry-looking birch, he expertly drove one fist into it, hard, then the other. He'd stop when he felt better, or the tree fell down...
. .
. .
"It seemed to be going so well..." Elsa murmured into Anna's shoulder. She was wrapped in a three way hug between Olaf and her sister- she doubted Olaf knew what was going on, and, mercifully, he hadn't asked.
"I don't get it." Anna tried to think. "He definitely likes you. He isn't exactly subtle. You didn't do anything weird... what did you say to him?"
Elsa ran her hand through her hair. "I... I didn't say much, really. Should I have asked permission?"
Anna snorted. "I think up here you're being polite enough if you don't whack 'em over the head with a club first... although Myrtlemen might not approve of women taking initiative..."
Elsa shook her head. "I just don't know... I think I called him beautiful..."
Anna winced. "Elsa, you can't call boys beautiful."
"But..."
Her sister rolled her eyes. "I know you're my elder and all, but please listen. Boys are like puppies. They're sweet and soft, most of the decent ones, but like to bark and jump around and pretend they're big, bad wolves. And if you don't want to upset them, you have to play along. So, no calling them 'pretty', or 'sweet', either."
Elsa sighed. "There's something I'm missing, I just know it. He's hiding something. There's... magic in him, I think. I can feel it."
Her sister raised her eyebrows. "Ahem. Are you sure that's what you're feeling?"
Elsa contemplated blue burning amid shadow in the boy's eyes. Flame and smoke. And so many unexplained details. The letter? Could the letter be a part of this? "Yes."
Anna thought some more. "We'll corner him later on and ask him about it." She tapped on Elsa's shoulder. "Oh, and I remembered. Whatever you do, don't say Jani is 'like a brother' to you. It seems like a good thing, but I said it to Kristoff once and he thought I was breaking up with him..."
Even Elsa knew that...
. .
. .
In the end, the tree had given way first.
Flexing stiff knuckles, Jani looked down over the main camp from the crag on which he had built his own fire. It would do- he had access to one of the many little streams and rivulets which ran down the slopes here, and he could be alone for a spell.
The rest of the day's ride had been tense. He had stuck close to Rinne, far enough away from the two sisters that he could avoid meeting their gaze without it being obvious to absolutely everyone. Then, when evening had drawn in and it was time to make camp, he had hurried off before old Ukko could ask questions of his own.
He would tell her everything. He had to. Just... not now. He didn't know how. He could barely contain himself. Barely keep from shaking, or screaming, or killing something cute and fluffy. In the morning, then...
Rinne had been probing the soldiers surreptitiously, trying to see what would happen if it came to a stand-off between them and Niska. A couple were Kaarlo's men through and through, but most would probably just follow the loudest voice. There had to be some way to...
Lacking any appetite for supper, he sat down in front of the fire, not even bothering to set a watch. He'd find Apricot and the others quickly enough. He needed to get away. Away from humans. Away from Myrtle. Away from all these stupid, gnawing, interfering feelings...
Shutting his eyes, he slowly entered another world. The trees and the stones faded, and the crows in the sky burned like drifting blue stars...
. .
. .
The scout seemed to be napping. Lucky us...
Swinging from the shoulder, Hannu brought the stick of firewood down on the troublesome boy's head with a hard crack. He gave a kind of squeak, and toppled forward. Niska nodded approvingly to the larger man, and gestured to young Odd to bind the prisoner's arms and legs. This proved difficult, as he proved not to be wholly unconscious, and struck out at Hannu with a steel and leather boot which narrowly missed his unmentionables. A second blow from the stick seemed to subdue him enough to get his hands behind his back.
But... his eyes... no, he was just imagining things.
"Takes some knocking out, doesn't he?" remarked Hannu. "Stubborn bastard."
"Yes..." hissed Niska. "Well we'll see how stubborn he is once he's been put to the question for a few hours."
"But sir..." Odd was blubbing again. Weak little boy, but ultimately obedient. Niska had to work with what he had available.
"Quiet, little rat. This is no time to get soft on traitors." Hannu had the scout up on his knees, a hairy paw keeping a firm grip on the twisting spikes of his hair.
The boy had rather refined features for a peasant. No surprise the witch found him an agreeable distraction on the road. Something slightly Slavic in those cheekbones... was he really of Myrtle stock?... He found himself running a finger down the edge of a smooth jaw, tracing the line of the bone. A fresh suspicion started to coalesce...
Looking hard at the face in his hands, he finally saw it.
"Hey sir, what are you doing?" Niska raised a hand to silence his men, then, pulling aside the lapels of his prisoner's old naval coat, he grasped the edges of a grey shirt and tore.
It had been an effective disguise, he had to admit. Who would have believed it?
Odd and Hannu stared at their captive dumbfounded, taking in the lines of the neck, the exposed bindings. A large tattoo sat just below the collarbones, disappearing below the bandages, of raven's wings mingling with tree roots. Their dull, uneducated minds gradually caught up with events.
"I don't get it..." Hannu mumbled. "What does this all mean?"
Niska's mind worked faster- but then, so did a sheep's. "It means, my simple comrade, that we are heroes of the new order. Soon to be wealthy and celebrated heroes."
He adjusted his uniform. Commander Niska had a rather fine ring to it...
"Well, plans change. We've just caught the lost Princess."
He took a sarcastic bow before the slumped figure.
"Crown Princess Janna Marttila. Well. An honour to finally meet you. Our Lord Protector eagerly awaits the pleasure of your company."
NOTES
I'm sorry this is such a long chapter. I couldn't find a good place to chop it in half...
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.
The next bit is going to be kind of a downer. I'll try to do a good job of it.
Πσαύην δ᾽ οὐ δοκίμοιμ᾽ ὀράνω δύσι πάχεσιν.
I would not hope to touch the sky with my two arms...
-Sappho