CHAPTER 49- Come Morning
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"Wakey wakey..."
Someone nudged Elsa.
Ever a light sleeper, she opened her eyes, blinking reflexively even in the muted morning light filtering down to where she lay. Crows were cawing somewhere.
A weight dropped from her hand. She'd been holding something.
She felt too... light? Sitting up, a little stiffly, she realised that her bedding was still on her bed, and she wasn't... and of course, she remembered now. She had fallen asleep with Jani.
They hadn't gotten up to any shenanigans. Anna wouldn't think they'd gotten up to shenanigans, would she?
Jani was still snoozing, purring softly like a sleeping cat. Probably the best thing for him.
She brushed Olaf's hand away when he tried to poke her again. "I'm- oh!" She yawned. "I'm up, Olaf, I'm up. What is it?"
"I brought your breakfast."
Elsa looked over at the hot tea and freshly delivered food on the table, and her stomach growled fiercely. But at the same time...
"You didn't make the food, did you?"
Remember the soup incident? Or that time he decided to make biscuits... The smell of cheese everywhere, the cost of repainting the ballroom ceiling... Elsa still hadn't quite gotten to the bottom of that episode.
To her relief, Olaf shook his head. "Gerda said it was best if she kept doing it. Then I offered again, and she waved a big fork at me. But in the end she said I could carry it."
"Well done, Olaf. Thank you." Elsa smiled.
Wait... three plates, three cups. Oh, of course... her head was still foggy. But she felt wonderfully rested. She hadn't slept this well since-
The door burst open, and Anna burst in. "Whoopee! I'm starving..."
But instead of going straight to the table, she sat down on the couch beside Elsa, still warmly wrapped and booted from whatever she had been up to outside.
"So..."
Elsa looked blankly back at her sister. "So... what?"
Anna pulled off her gloves. "I spoke to the others while I was helping out, and-"
"You helped out?"
"Jani normally does, come morning, but obviously not this time. But-"
"I didn't know that."
Anna wrinkled her freckled nose. "Stop cutting in. Anyway, it snowed, late last night. But then..." She grinned. "Suddenly, it stopped. Even got slightly... warm..."
Elsa smiled back, as casually as she could. "That's lucky."
"Lucky, huh?" Anna looked at the sleeping bundle on the bed opposite them. "So, how is-"
"You're up early", Elsa quickly interjected. "Not like you. You're normally only the first awake on Christmas morning."
Anna bounced her heels off the ground excitedly. "Oh, come on, Elsa! Today's the day we finally reach home." She paused. "Hopefully."
"You jinxed it..." Olaf piped up, doing his morning stomach crunches in the middle of the floor.
He didn't have stomach muscles. Or a stomach...
"I did not!" Anna insisted. She looked up at Elsa, freckled face beaming. "What's the first thing you're looking forward to about getting home?"
Elsa hesitated. She should be excited as well, but when she thought about reaching home again... it stirred up as much anxiety as relief. She knew that, even if they all slept in their own beds tonight, their troubles were far from over.
But she didn't want to dampen her sweet sister's enthusiasm, so she played along, making a show of humming thoughtfully. "Mmm... soft beds and plump pillows, perhaps? How about you?"
Anna wrinkled her nose. "A proper bathroom." Elsa had to agree- they were starting to run out of leaves for 'hygiene' purposes, and even she preferred a proper hot bath to tepid ponds or freezing mountain streams.
But Anna was a little too excited for this to be about warm water. Elsa smiled, and put her arm around her sister. "And you'll see your husband-to-be, won't you?"
Anna turned pink, giggling. "I just can't get used to hearing that word. About us. About him. It makes me feel happy and scared and kind of confused because to me he's just Kristoff, and that word already just means everything I could ever want it to, and..." She eventually paused to take a breath. Elsa let her.
She really has it bad for him, doesn't she?
"Sorry. I wasn't expecting that much to come out." The princess tugged at her red plaits. "Love does weird things."
She looked at Elsa then as if she was expecting a response. Elsa just didn't know what to say about that issue.
Fortunately they were interrupted, when Olaf bounded up and decided to poke Jani awake, too.
He regretted that.
A pale foot flew out, knocking Olaf's head clear across the ice pavilion, and the crow lord arose with a groan.
"Perkele! Oh... sorry, mate. Reflex."
"I'm okay!" shouted a voice from some distant corner of the palace, and the rest of the snowman's body scuttled off after it.
Elsa looked hard at her suitor, sitting up in bed, and somehow different this morning.
Clearly stronger, thank goodness, but also... something about the bearing?
Oh, of course...
The crow lord winked at her, seeing that she had seen.
Elsa picked up the hand that she had apparently held all night, and kissed it like a prince.
"Hi, Janna."
"Morning, gorgeous."
A second or two later, Anna's brain caught up with them. "Oh? Oh... So, we're Janna again?"
She gave Elsa a curious look. "It's sort of sweet how you can tell. Is it an intuition thing, or..."
"It's 'cause I'm not trying to hide my tits."
Janna stood up and started to stretch, yawning.
Anna got up quickly. "Okay... I'm going to eat."
They were quite prominent under nothing but that old shirt... Elsa blushed. "Delicately put, Janna."
The Myrtlean royal arched her back proudly. "Look at 'em- like buns fresh out the oven."
"Stop, Janna..."
"Yes, Miss."
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Breakfast having gone smoothly enough, in spite of the need to deflect one or two more suspicious questions from Anna- We'd only been holding hands, honestly!- the tin travel dishes had been cleared away while the Queen and the injured Princess had gone to get dressed. Janna had pointedly insisted on managing without help this time, so Elsa had simply erected a screen and left it be.
She herself was technically still dressed from the previous night, but she changed her underclothes and reformed a slightly different dress over them. She didn't perspire and ice dresses didn't get grubby, but... somehow, to her uptight mind, it felt like putting on something clean.
Dressing with one hand is no picnic, and there had been a few odd banging and stumbling noises which Elsa had been tempted to investigate- purely out of concern- but eventually the stubborn Lady of Crows had emerged wearing her battered-yet-indestructible naval boots the right way round, and with her dark waistcoat somehow correctly fastened. Presumably with the aid of toes or teeth?
She probably should have done her shirt up another button or two, although... Elsa renewed her mental note to ask Janna more about that tattoo. How far down does it go?
Wait... she hadn't really thought that...
Like buns fresh out the oven... warm and springy?
"I can do this myself", Janna insisted again, jarring Elsa immediately back into the present.
"Of course you can", Elsa reassured her suitor, as she subtly darkened the shadow over a closed eyelid. "In a basic sort of a way."
"Excuse me?" Janna frowned, forcing Elsa to pull the brush back. Her eyebrows were very expressive- strong and a little jagged, like black thunderbolts. With a little plucking they would be exquisite... but she'd never agree. The dye she'd used was also a little patchy. Recolour?
Elsa sighed patiently. "Let's just say that there is a difference between someone who can sit right on a horse and a champion jockey. There's also a difference between make-up rubbed on by you and make-up that has been expertly applied by yours truly."
Anna whistled. "Merciless." She seemed very entertained by the spectacle.
Janna grumbled, but didn't stop her from finishing. Actually, her crude comments and fidgeting were encouraging, signs that she was getting back to... what passed for normal when one was a gay magic pirate. Elsa found she was quite enjoying this morning, in spite of her anxieties. First a nice breakfast of the last of the jam and biscuits, and then she had managed to boss, cajole and strong-arm the terrible Lady of Crows into letting her do her eyes. Yes, she was basically tormenting the poor tomboy- but with kindness. Back in Arendelle she'd have to twist Janna's arm a little, and get her to let Elsa dress her up a bit.
In Arendelle... well, actually they would probably have far too many other problems to deal with. Elsa was trying not to think about them. She was currently managing to only fret about one or two issues at a time.
The Myrtlean's eyes were now immaculately framed in blended indigos. Gilding the lily- they didn't need much help. Janna's extraordinary eyes were slightly deeper set that Elsa or Anna's, and now they smouldered amid shadow like blue-black coals. Striking yet subtle- Elsa was quite pleased with the result. And it so complemented the scarf she had given him. Her? Him? She had to ask Janna about past tenses. She did like the scarf, didn't she? She wasn't just saying that? No, just paranoia- Janna didn't seem the sort to politely lie. Or politely anything, although she was kinder than she admitted.
Next, mascara. Janna preferred a 'more is more' approach, didn't she?
Four hundred years or no, she had a lot to learn.
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The midsummer morning sun was already brightening the eastern foothills. Last night's snow gleamed wetly underfoot, as if just on the point of melting. Determined alpine plants poked up out of the glinting white carpet here and there, striking sprays of green and purple against the stark monochrome of the chilly mountain surrounds. It was a beautiful morning, and as Anna brushed down her mare, she simply felt glad to be alive.
Home! Rest! Kristoff! Warm beds! Wedding! Cake! Making babies!
"Well, you look half ready to flap your arms and take off." Janna appeared beside her suddenly, making her start for a moment. The Myrtlean smiled, running a hand through her messy black hair, which Elsa had not been allowed to do much of anything with. Her eyes were stunning, though.
It was odd to think they'd be introducing her to the court as foreign royalty. She didn't seem that princessy. She almost seemed to make a point of it. But then, Anna had her own stubborn ways, and liked going round the town talking to people of all honest types, and had had adventures, and was marrying a Sami ice harvester. Plus, she was getting pretty good with a sword- not your storybook princess at all.
Maybe they had more in common than she had thought, past the surface. And past all those many, many other things.
"Not quite", Anna replied. "That something you can do?"
"Fly?" Janna laughed. "Not so far. But our powers vary a bit, so maybe I'm just a late bloomer. I can get lighter, if I want, but I still fall fast."
Anna didn't quite follow, but the Myrtlean immediately switched subjects anyway.
"Anna... about yesterday."
Anna blinked. "Sheesh, which part?" Yesterday had been huge...
Janna seemed embarrassed, which Anna actually found weird and uncomfortable to see, like a cat smoking a pipe. "When we were sparring. I was a bit... short with you. Unfairly."
Yeah, and I still feel the bruises... Anna was well brought up, though, and didn't press it. "Apology accepted, Janna. And I'll try to be kind to... women of the evening... if it ever comes up."
She seemed to want to say more. "It's just... I don't like being a problem for people. My magic, I mean, it can make me..." She broke off, and looked like she was trying to figure out her words.
Elsa had joined them, leading her own snowy mount, already spotless and saddled. "What's going on?" Anna had to explain that Janna was trying to communicate actual feelings constructively, which raised her sister's eyebrows.
"Look..." Janna rubbed the back of her neck, thinking hard. "There's a blackguard you'll meet in any tavern. He's got troubles in life, boo hoo... but he's an arsehole to everyone. And there's always some poor woman of his, sticking up for him because he's got problems. I hate the idea of turning into that guy. Why should I take my shit out on everyone else?"
"That's how I've always felt!" Elsa blurted. "Yes, I lost my parents. Yes, my powers are hard to control and my position carries a lot of pressure, but..."
"But it shouldn't be an excuse to lash out and act selfishly."
"Exactly." Elsa smiled. "You look for the good that can come of your situation. I can help my people. So I should."
Janna gazed out ahead of them, fingering her new scarf thoughtfully. "It's not all bad. There is... beauty in my abilities. Maybe not so obvious as with yours."
Elsa flushed. "You think my powers are... beautiful?"
"Of course!" Janna enthused. "Ever since you made that first ice house, north of the city. The beams and the straw- like threads of glass- and the patterns spiralling on the door panels, the snowflakes dancing on beams of light as you wove it all together." She sighed, lost in recollection. "I think that was when I first..."
She trailed off, glancing sharply at Anna in a way that made her feel weirdly like she was intruding.
"Um, can you excuse me a sec?" Anna said, backing off. "I need... to... talk to Gerda about something. Won't be long!"
She led her horse alongside the supply wagon- now nearly empty. Gerda was taking a turn with the little cub, which was tearing into a pawful of oat biscuits like a greedy, fluffy toddler.
"Hello Anna", the old woman smiled. "How are things progressing?"
Anna hesitated. Across the camp, she saw her sister and the Myrtlean exile watching each other, intent but cautious. But then they reached out, just a little, oh so discreetly, and allowed their fingertips to brush together momentarily. She might have been the only person to spot it.
"Is something wrong?" Gerda frowned.
"I don't know..." Anna fidgeted with her plaits. "But I think she's in love with her..."
"Well of course she is", said Gerda. "But which one do you mean?"
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