Chapter 36
Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen.
Slam! Another useless atlas with a map that's no good for the situation. Anna goes on the next book in the ever-dwindling stack.
Come on... The princess thinks, biting her lip in frustration. She quickly flips through the pages.
"Ugh!" She sighs, slamming this book shut, too. "There has to be something, anything that can help pinpoint Elsa's location!" She nearly shouts, throwing one hand in the air. She huffs and blows a piece of hair out of her face. "Any luck with you, Olaf?" She looks to the snowman.
"Ummm, no." Olaf shakes his head, browsing a library shelf. "Wait, maybe this one." He hurriedly brings the book over to Anna, who starts looking through it. She falls back with a loud sigh.
"No. This is just on the African plains." She says, rubbing her eyes. How long had she been doing this? Two? Three? Eight hours, she'd guess.
"Oh, sorry." Olaf apologizes.
"It's okay, we just need to find the right book." She says in a determined voice.
"Okay, I'll keep looking!" Olaf salutes her, then marches back to a bookshelf.
"Hey, I found more maps in the back." Kristoff says. His arms are full of papers and books. He drops the items on the table next to Anna with a loud thump. Anna turns quickly to the new papers, accidentally spilling old ones onto the floor.
"Oops." She says sheepishly, and goes to pick them up, but Kristoff's already beaten her to it.
"Don't worry." He says, scooping up the fallen papers. "I got it." The man straightens the papers, and sets them neatly in a pile on the table.
"Thanks, Kristoff." Anna smiles gratefully. "You're the greatest." She begins to leaf through the papers.
"Well, that's not important right now." The harvester says with a shrug. "Here, let me help you, Olaf." He walks over to the snowman and takes out a book that the snowman was jumping up and down to reach.
"Oh, thanks Kristoff!" Olaf says with a thumbs up.
"Just trying to help."
Anna jumps up suddenly. "You guys! I think I found something." Olaf waddles over, and stands as tall as he can, trying to get a look at the map.
"Is it Elsa?" The snowman asks excitedly.
"It could be." Anna says.
"Well what is it?" Kristoff asks her.
"Okay, so I was looking at one of the maps you found, Kristoff. This one is of the ocean between Arendelle and Corona, because the seemed like the most obvious place to check." She holds her arms out, as if stopping herself. "Anyway, I was looking at Elsa's route for her way back, and I saw that there is another way!"
"Another way?" Olaf wonders.
"To Arendelle." Anna clarifies. "It's shorter, and quicker, and it is a logical way for any ship to use. But it wasn't on her actual path!"
"Maybe Elsa's ship took a detour and crashed there." Kristoff offers.
"That's what I thought!" Anna says, almost yelling.
"Calm down a bit, feisty-pants." Kristoff tells her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Kristoff, we need to let someone know about this." Anna insists.
"I agree."
"Yeah, me too." Olaf raises his hand as high as it can go.
"So, let's go write a letter or something." Kristoff continues. Anna nods and runs around the room, looking for paper, ink, and a pen.
"You're right!" She says, rushing past him, pieces of paper clutched in one hand. "We need to contact Corona! They definitely should know about what we found! And do you see a pen anywhere?" She wonders, brushing her hair to one side.
Kristoff picks up a pen that was lying on the desk and holds it out. "Like this?"
Anna pauses and looks at it. "Yes. Hold onto that for me." She tells him and runs to different part of the room. She picks up an inkwell, peers into it, then throws it to the ground in frustration. "Empty! Wait!" She looks inside another one. "This one has ink!" She runs to the desk and sits in the chair beside Kristoff.
The man watches as she pushes away some maps and books, clearing a spot off of the desk. She then sets a piece of paper down and smoothes out any creases.
"Where's the pen?!" Anna looks around on the desk, shuffling papers around. Kristoff taps her shoulder with the pen he was still holding. Anna turns, and he touches the writing utensil to her nose. The princess crosses her eyes to get a look at it. "Oh, right." She plucks the pen from his fingers. "Okay, let's do this. I'm pumped! Let's write this letter! Okay..."
Nothing.
There's a pitter-patter sound as rain hits the windows. It's a light rain, and it leaves a pleasant smell throughout the castle. But it also makes the room cold, and gives the air an almost melancholy demeanor. Even though the rain isn't heavy at all, the silence in the room amplifies it.
"Write." Olaf says, encouraging her. "Just write... You do know what you're going to write, don't you?" Olaf looks at her seriously, in a concerned manner.
"Of course I know what I'm going to write." Anna scoffs. "I just... want to make sure I write it the correct way."
"Okay!" Olaf gives her a happy look. "I'll help." He tells her. He points at the paper. "First, you want to start out with 'Dear Corona.' It's polite, and people really seem to like it when you're polite." He tells her in a happy voice.
Anna smiles at him. "Thanks, Olaf." She starts writing on the paper, using what the snowman suggested. She, slowly at first, begins to explain what they found, occasionally aided by Olaf and Kristoff, until she finally gets something dang near to perfect.
"'I know you're doing all you can to find my sister, thank you. I hope this can help. Sincerely, Princess Anna of Arendelle.'" Anna finishes reciting the letter. "How does that sound?" She asks.
"I like it." Olaf nods.
"It sounds like a winner." Kristoff agrees. "Wait for it to dry, and we can send it off with the man from Corona in the morning."
Anna nods. "She's going to get home. I just know it."
"You got that right." Kristoff agrees. "Anyways, it's getting late. You better go to sleep. I'm gonna go check on Sven."
"I'll go with you." Olaf smiles, marching right next to the man.
"Okay." Kristoff walks over to Anna and gives her a kiss. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Kristoff." Anna says back to him, sounding a bit sad.
"Hey." He takes her faces gently in his hands. "She'll be fine. You're doing a good job."
"Thanks, Kristoff."
She'll be fine, Elsa and herself. Anna knows they're both fighting to get back to each other. It'll just be a little longer. But Anna can be patient. After all, she's waited this long, hasn't she?
They're saved!
The ship found them! Elsa is finally going to get home. She smiles widely. Home... To Anna. To everyone. Although she feels a tiny bit odd saying this, she missed a lot of people. Not just Anna, but also Olaf, Marshmallow, and even Kristoffer and his reindeer.
The ship reaches the boat that Elsa crafted, just as one of the ice ropes that was attached to the sail snaps. Maybe Elsa isn't a careful sailor as she originally thought... But it doesn't matter.
Elsa looks at Brandr again, more out of excitement than anything. She sees the shivering boy beam up at the sailors, who were lowering a ladder for them.
"Are you alright?" She asks him. He shouldn't be shivering that hard. She looks at the sky. Maybe there's a chilly breeze...
"Ice b-b-boat. C-cold." The boy stutters. He runs his hands up and down his arms, trying to warm them. "Don't wanna m-melt the thing w-w-with f-f-fire." He gives a weak laugh.
"Oh! Well you should get on the ship right away." She says in a particularly queenly voice, gesturing to the ladder.
Brandr nods, agreeing with her. He quickly blows heat into his hands, and climbs up the ladder, with Elsa following soon after.
Illuminated by lantern light, the sailors on board all give relieved sighs when they see the monarch. Some even cheer. Elsa sees her friend Bailey celebrating with the a few others. She later learns that she was one of the last to be found from the Icebreaker, but she seemed to be in the best "condition." Other crew members were waterlogged and half-starved. She doesn't mention the irony of the sailors not being very good at fishing. All that matters now is finding any other sailors, who were hopefully still alive, and then getting home.
"Queen Elsa." Captain Toov rushes over to the queen and bows quickly. Elsa was happy to discover her crate had not been moved, and she was sitting on it at this moment. "Are you hurt? Have you come across any other survivors? I'm terribly sorry about what happened." The man apologizes, sounding sincere, remorseful, yet still showing his signature expression with little emotion at the same time.
"Captain, please, it wasn't your fault." Elsa smiles softly. "It was just an... an accident." She lies.
"Nevertheless, I will ensure it won't happen again." Toov says determinedly. "We'll get you home safely. There will be no more 'accidents' on my watch." He tells her. Elsa nods politely in return.
"I'm sorry to say that I have not seen any others, however." She says sadly.
"We'll keep looking then. I bid you goodnight." He bows, and the man walks away a few paces. Just far enough to be out of her way, but still close enough to protect her if needed.
Elsa remembers that the crash was not, in fact, an accident, and that Hans did this on purpose. She looks for Brandr, as he was involved too, but the boy has somehow vanished into the crowd of people.
"Are you trying to burn the ship down?" Elsa hears a man shout. "Put out that fire, boy!" She looks around, trying to find the cause of the commotion. She sees a sailor from Corona holding Brandr by the neck of his shirt. Oh no, she thinks.
"I didn't do nothing!" Brandr struggles to get free.
"You had a fire lit, on a wooden boat!" the sailor yells at him. Brandr doesn't reply, not denying the accusation. "Who are you, and why are you on this ship?" The man demands to know. This man seems like a short-tempered sort. He has a light brown, rough beard, and tanned skin. He must have spent his childhood doing hard labor, because he was muscular, and that most definitely did not favor the boy.
"Calm yerself." Bailey interjects, placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "He's just a boy. Not worth the trouble."
"Yeah!" Brandr nods quickly, agreeing with Bailey. "Like he said, not worth it!"
"He's a stowaway!" The sailor says, baring his rather large teeth. He grips Brandr's shirt tighter. This man is not from Arendelle.
"The boy is with me!" Elsa speaks up, her voice resonating over the ship. Everyone on the deck all turn their heads at once and look at her in silence. "He saved my life." She states.
"Saved yer life?" Bailey asks, breaking the silence of the crowd.
"Yes." Elsa nods, standing up, very straight. "Without his skill and knowledge, I very well could have perished on the island. Please, treat him well." She requests the crew.
Once again, Bailey is the first to speak. "Let tha' boy go!" He scolds the first sailor, who releases Brandr, sincerely apologizing to him. Bailey bellows a hearty laugh and claps Brandr on the back good-naturedly. "Any friend of the queen's be a friend ah mine!" He booms.
Brandr gives a relieved smile and chuckles along. Right away, the sailors take a liking to the teen, asking him his name, where he was from, and how he got on the island with Elsa.
"My family was in our sailboat, sailing, because that's what sailboats are for, when we came across a massive storm..." The boy lies, trailing off. "They didn't make it." He says. At least that part is true.
"Where are you going to go, now?" One sailor asks him.
Elsa frowns. Where was he going to go? As far as she knew, he has no home, no family. He has hardly a thing to his name, only a satchel that he had managed to hold on to after all this time.
"I don't know." Brandr shrugs, this time speaking honestly. "I'll just have to see." He looks around for a moment and spots Elsa. "'Scuze me." He pushes his way past the crowd of people and to the young monarch.
"Hi." Elsa greets him warmly, wondering why he came here to see her.
"Hi." Brandr gives a short wave with his hand. "I think you forgot something." The boy reaches into his bag, pulls out a package, and hands it to Elsa.
Elsa gasps and takes the item from him. "Anna's present! I was so busy worrying about getting home to Anna, that I forgot about her gift..."
"Lucky I saw it, then." Brandr tells her, smiling a crooked smile.
"Thank you."
"No problem." Brandr waves away the gratitude. "Honestly, it's the least I could do after... you know." He shrugs.
"I'm still grateful." Elsa smiles.
A tall, broad shouldered, dark skinned man walks over to her. Brandr takes that as an excuse to sneak away. "Queen Elsa." The man bows. "I am George, Admiral of this ship." He says in a deep, low voice.
Elsa bows her head. "Pleasure to meet you, Admiral." She replies. "Thank you for saving me."
"It was my duty." He says. "I simply came to inform you that we're heading back to Corona now, where a ship will be waiting to take you back to Arendelle. Captain Toov and the others chose to remain and look for the rest of his crew."
"They're good men." Elsa remarks. "I wish them the best of luck."
"As do I. I can escort you to your room, if you would like." He offers in a very kind voice.
Elsa shakes her head. "Not quite yet, but thank you." She politely declines. The man smiles and with another quick bow, he walks away.
"Soo," Brandr, who may or may not have been listening a short distance away, walks over. "You ready to go home?" He asks.
"I am." Elsa nods. She's waited long enough and she's ready. No stopping in Corona, no sending letters, Elsa is going straight home. She's tired of waiting.
A few days later...
"Princess Anna! Princess Anna!" One of the guards runs to the girl. "Princess Anna!" He reaches her, breathless.
"What's wrong?" Anna looks at him. "Are you alright?" She asks.
"A sh- ship just pulled into port!" The man tells her, gasping for air.
"A ship?" Anna questions him. "From where?"
"Coron-"
Anna's already started running when she hears this.
"-na." He finishes, a little amazed by the girl's ability to run.
Anna sprints through the halls, trying to make it through the castle as quickly as possible.
"Careful!" Marie warns when the princess nearly knocks over the girl, who happened to be dusting. "Are you alright, Anna? What's the rush?"
"Sorry! Can't talk! Important!" Anna waves a goodbye, still running. She trips a little on a loose rug, but quickly regains her stride. No time for her clumsiness now!
Soon, the princess makes it to the docks, not caring that she's out of breath. There are several men walking up and down the bridge to the ship, carrying large boxes. Anna stops running and waits by the ship. She stands on her toes, anxiously searching the crowd on board. She knows it's a risk to hope. Her sister is still missing and Corona would have said something if she was found, right?
Then a head of platinum blonde hair surfaces through the people, and the two make eye contact.
Anna begins to make her way to the boat, slowly, daring to believe her eyes. But then they both start to run, and seconds later, they collide in a crashing hug.
"Elsa," Anna smiles widely, her eyes tearing up. She looks at her sister. "You're home." That's all she can say.
Elsa beams at the sight of her little sister. "Did you ever doubt it?" She asks, her eyes misty as well.
"No." Anna shakes her head. "I didn't. I knew you'd get back."
"Good, because for a while, I wasn't sure."
"I missed you, so, soo, much!" Anna hugs her sister tighter, never wanting to let go. She's not going to loose her for a third time.
"I missed you too." Elsa says. "But now it's okay. Now I'm home. It's all okay."
Finally, Elsa is home.