Chapter 45-A Matter of Persistence
During the morning meeting Jack and Merida were present, Rapunzel showed up in her human form while Eugene was in control of her Being Doll, and both of Lukas' brothers were there as well. Unfortunately, the decision of Rapunzel's departure was once more withheld for the next meeting. Both the council and the Commanders were happy to hear that Princess Rapunzel agreed to returning home, but was upset with her conditions: one was to staying at least until the last of the citizens have been evacuated. And second, furthering their displeasure, was her firm desire in wanting to travel back by ways of escort from one of the three out of four Spirits. The men were willing to compromise with the first condition, but they couldn't understand why the princess can't just leave on the last ship with the civilians.
Her only best argument was that since the council and the Commanders are so eager to have her return home as soon as possible, than the fastest way is by escort through flight. Rapunzel also tried to add that by having one of the Spirits personally escort her, then they all could continue with ease knowing that she in the safety of a Spirit whom they have all met and gained their trust, whether than being on one of the ships being protected by Beings, whom they all had never met nor could see. However, the council and the Commanders were still unsatisfied with her argument and reasoning, Lukas' brother Grill even argued that if they have already taken the risked of trusting the safety of the citizens to the unseen Beings, then they can also trust the unknown Beings to escort the princess safely home.
Rapunzel and the others already knew from the beginning, that they didn't have a strong argument to convince the men why it's best to send the Princess of Corona home by flight. They couldn't think of any better reasons beforehand. The question of safety was one in general hard to beat, and there was the question of where shelter would be when night comes; the Spirits may not need sleep, but a human princess does. Traveling by flight was not going to allow a sick princess much rest. They debated upon the topic long and hard until Prince Lukas finally called for a temporary withhold. He suggested that each of the defending side of the matter should have the rest of the day to think about what the other side has said, and be given a chance to gear themselves up for the debate the next day, and that would be the final day where they decision will be made. No more prolonging.
But before the meeting was concluded for the day, Lukas quickly gave out the orders to Jack, Merida, and Hiccup to immediately go and investigate the caves in Arendelle's Western Valleys. Their primary objective is to only investigate and repot; they must try to avoid detection, capture, and most of all, confrontation with any Nightmares or Fearlings they may encounter during their mission. If they do managed to discover Pitch and Hans' base, along with where the two are getting their source of fear for strength, then they must absolutely retreat back and report. That way The Alliance could work out a well formulated plan for what to do next.
When the meeting finally did ended, and everyone was about to go about their day's work, Elsa managed to pass by Jack and discreetly brushed her fingers with his. As she walked away, she felt the wind and heard it whispering a message to her. I Promise.
XxXxXx
"I hate to say this, but I don't think we'll be able to win this argument against the council and the Commanders this time," said Rapunzel, as she laid her hands over her stomach. She was resting in her bed with Eugene sitting next to her on the edge. Elsa and Anna were there too, sitting on the opposite side of the bed from Eugene. Kristoff and Lukas were also invited into the couple's chamber; Kristoff stood next to Anna while Lukas was leaning against the closest wall to the bed. "There isn't a good enough reason for me to be escorted back by Hiccup or the others."
"Not unless we're willing to tell them the truth," Kristoff said in sourly humor, "wouldn't they get a kick out of the revelation."
"Indeed," Prince Lukas commented, but it was not as humorous as Kristoff's tone was. He then sigh and crossed his arms. "But alas we'll have to make do without their knowledge."
Eugene looked over towards his cousin-in-laws, "Can't you guys just order the council and the Commanders to let Rapunzel be escorted? They can't disobey you; your words and decisions are final."
Anna looked towards the ground while Elsa shook her head. "We would rather prefer to avoid doing that. For a while now we've managed to created reasonable, well-formed lies to them, so I don't want to start giving out orders that would appear unreasonable if possible."
"I understand how you feel," said Lukas, "But if it comes down to it, I think an order will have to be an order—whether it sound reasonable or not."
"…I suppose I can try to talk with Commander Gorm before tomorrow's meeting and see if I can change his mind, or at least have him tolerate our side of the decision," Elsa offered.
"That would be great," started Rapunzel, "but even if we do get Gorm to change his mind, I don't think that would affect the flow of the argument. There are still good reasons why I should be getting on a boat then fly through the air. If we really want to win this, then we have to change everyone's mind: the Arendelle Council, Commander Atlas, Prince Lipso and Grill."
"Can't you have Commander Atlas and your brothers stay out of the argument tomorrow?" Anna asked Lukas.
The prince readjusted his glasses and pushed it back to settle it into place. "Rapunzel may be your relative, making this a large issue of maintaining good relation and health between two blood kingdoms, but this is still hardly an internal family matter. As allies in a war my brothers and Atlas will not stand by and let such a decision be made without their participation."
Rapunzel bit the lower part of her lip. But then suddenly, her eyes widen and she released a heavy sigh. "…Maybe we don't have to convince them," she said slowly.
"What do you mean?" Elsa asked, looking at her cousin with a raised brow. Rapunzel brought her hands up and rubbed her fingers together while intertwining them. Elsa recognized the gesture; whatever Rapunzel is going to say, there's guilt behind it.
"I just had a thought that—well, maaaybee weee really don't have to convince them…we just have to trick them."
"Trick them? And how exactly are we going to do that?" asked Kristoff.
A few seconds of silence went between them all, but then as though the same line of thought had passed through them; they turned and looked at Rapunzel. She nodded her head guiltily. 'Dream Sands,' they said lowly in unison. Some of them sighed and some of them groan in shame, but none of them could bring themselves to look at one another.
"I'll get Hiccup as soon as he's free and we'll go talk to Sandy again," said Rapunzel, to which everyone else nodded their head in acknowledgment.
Elsa rubbed her arms tightly. "Sandy is going to love this," she whispered with sarcasm.
XxXxXx
"Sandy is really going to love it," Jack said with a wary grin.
"That's what I thought," Elsa said while stacking a pile of record papers over to the side of her desk. It was already in the late afternoon with the sun just beginning to set for the day. Jack and his friends had finished their cave investigations for the time being. While Jack was reporting to Elsa, Merida and Hiccup volunteered to report to Lukas and his brothers. Although by now, it will probably just be Merida. Rapunzel may have contacted Hiccup and explained their dream sand scheme.
"What do you think about throwing him a big thank-you party after the war? It could also be an apology for making him misuse his sands."
"That depends." Elsa said, while quickly organizing the rest of the papers on her desk. "Will the party be held in this world or in the Being realm?"
"I guess most likely back at Tooth's place," Jack humored, and he started his habit of floating again.
"Now that the plan for tomorrow's meeting has been explained, what do you have to report about the caves during today's investigation?"
Jack's grin vanished and he became serious, returning back to the ground. "We've only managed to explore five caves today, there was a bit of difficulty but… I'm not sure if this was a good thing or not, but we found nothing in those first five."
"Really. Nothing?"
"Nothing," Jack repeated, "we didn't have any encounters while outside either."
Elsa slowed down in her work. "That does sound troubling," she replied while also in deep thought. "But it's only the first day with only five caves, we shouldn't expect much."
Jack paused also, only for a minute. "This may seem off topic but I saw some old planks left in one of the caves, were the caves ever used for anything, like mining or storage maybe?"
It took Elsa a second to snap out of her current thought to answer Jack. "Some of them were used for mining; not for gold though, but for led metal."
"Why aren't they being use now?"
"We still mine from them from time-to-time when need to, but because of the weather being seasonally cold and snowy, it makes it hard for the men to mine. Compare to ice harvesting, in some ways mining from the caves of those valleys are more dangerous, especially with the occasional avalanches. However, with Arendelle's output on ice sales along with our other goods, we managed to make enough profit to sustain ourselves while being able to buy the metals we need most of the time. Why would you want to know?"
Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure really; just a bad feeling I have, that's all."
"A bad feeling, and 'that's all'?" Elsa questioned. To which Jack couldn't help but only smile in honesty. "You know," Jack began a new, "Would you like it if I make sure there are no more avalanches while the men mines from now on?"
Elsa blinked blankly. "You can do that? You can keep an avalanche from happening?"
"Well maybe not from happening, but if one does occur, then I'll stop it from reaching the caves."
"And how will you manage that?"
"I'll find a way."
"…So you never actually stop an avalanche before."
Jack grinned, and leaned forward on the desk to place a hand over Elsa's. "Well there's a first time for everything you know."
The corners of her lips tug into a small smile. She placed the last remaining paper into its right pile and walked around her desk, joining Jack by his side.
"You've been sitting there working for a while haven't you?" Jack started, while cocking his head in the direction of Elsa's chair. "But I don't see any ice or frost around. And now that I think about it, lately no ice has been forming around you even when you're staying in one place for too long. You must be getting better at controlling your new level of magic. Have you been practicing by yourself?"
Elsa looks down at her hands. "No. I haven't been using my magic other than for the moving."
"Huh," Jack responded with curiosity, "Well you must be doing something to have control."
Elsa thought for a moment, seeing if anything has change with her usual methods of controlling her magic. A thought suddenly occurred to her, making Elsa blush, while laughing faintly. When she stops, Elsa noticed Jack was looking at her puzzled.
"What's so funny Snow Queen?"
"Nothing," Elsa replied gently. "Except I think I just figured out how I gained control over my new level of magic."
"Really?" Jack expressed with interest. "So how are you doing it?"
Elsa blushed harder. "It's not what I'm doing. It's what you're doing to me." Jack only stared at her in confusion.
Elsa wrapped her arms around one of Jack's, leaning in close to his side. "Love will thaw a frozen heart," Elsa started. "That's the advice Grand Pabbie gave to me in order to help me control my powers. When I think about the love I have for Anna—who she is and how she accepts every part of me for whom I am, it just gives me warmth. The feeling I need to really control my powers and to accept myself as well…And now that I have this new feeling of love, towards you, I believe it's helping me to control me new level of magic."
"Is that so?" Jack said softy while grinning warmly. He left his staff leaning against Elsa's desk in order to use both arms to wrap around her waist and hold her closer.
Elsa started remembering the morning when she first awoke in the room of Tooth's Palace. She wanted to tell Jack how North had helped her paint a picture of her love for Anna in her mind, and that lately, unconsciously, that is what she's doing. But she's now painting Jack's picture in her mind instead.
"You know Jack, I've been—" They both heard a knocking at the door, and without really thinking, they quickly pulled away from each other before realizing what they were even doing.
"Elsa are you in there?"
"Come in Anna."
"Jack you're back!" Anna expressed after opening the door and seeing Jack. She closed it behind her before making her way towards them. "So how did it go—did you find anything at the caves?" Jack smiled and replied with a no. "Nothing? Not one single cave?"
"Sorry, maybe I should be more clear; we only managed to investigate five caves so far. So there was nothing in those for now."
"Oooh. That's too bad. Well there are lots of caves up there so it can't be help—Oh but wait, Elsa, didn't Grand Pabbie and the others see specifically which caves those Fearlings were coming in and out of? If need to, Kristoff and I can go and look for Grand Pabbie and ask where he and the others saw them."
Elsa placed a hand on her sister's shoulder softly. "No Anna, Bulda and the others only saw them around the Western Valleys, and it's only speculating we have that they're hiding during day time in those caves."
"Oh, yeah true, I forgot about that. But where else could they hide other than those caves?"
"They could just be using portals to transport back to their Being world during day time and then return here at dark," Jack suggested, taking his staff in hand again.
"Well I hope they're not—I mean it'll defeat the purpose of our investigation, and that will make it harder for use to locate their base—well not true if they are using portals to go home and then come back here, then yeah we would know where their base is generally, but then it would be hard for use to find and destroy their second power source of fear—"
"—And you know Anna, you can always take a break to explain a long explanation," Jack teased, with a wide grin on his face.
"You speak just fine Anna," Elsa reassured her sister. She then turned to Jack, "You on the other hand, you can afford to be a bit nicer."
Jack acted surprised. "Why Elsa, I'm the very definition of Nice."
"Actually the last time I checked," Anna joined, "You were the very definition of Naughty."
"Actually," said Elsa, "I believe he is close to losing that definition to Merida."
"Alright then ladies, if I'm neither the detention of Naughty or Nice, then what do I define?"
Without meaning to, or rather without even thinking, the sisters both said "Cold."
At that, Jack cringed and staggered a few steps to the side, then grasp the corner of Elsa desk for support. "Ouch, I believe the only cold ones here are you two."
Anna quickly moved over to Elsa's side and looped her arm around her sister's. "No we're not. If anything, we're the definition of sisterly-love." When Anna said that, Jack made a choking sound, to which Anna couldn't help but try to playfully punch him on the arm, but he moved out of the way.
"Alright you two," Elsa said while giggling, "that's enough," and stood between them to make them stop. "Anna, didn't you come here for a reason?"
"Oh that's right! I came here to get you to come to dinner with me and Kristoff. Shoot how long have we been here?"
Jack took a glance at the small desk clock. "Fifteen-minutes have passed since you've been here."
"Oops, let's go Elsa, Kristoff is probably waiting for us. And you too Jack, you can come and join us tonight."
"Wait, don't you have anything you need to do Jack?" Elsa asked.
"Not until midnight really. Hey, are Eugene and Rapunzel going to be there?"
"They'll join us as soon as Rapunzel finish talking with Sandy."
XxXxXx
As Anna predicted, by the time they reach the dining room, Kristoff was already there and with the company of Olaf. Much to which the snowman's joy, he was happy to see the sisters and Jack Frosts. When the evacuation plan was put into motion, Olaf and Sven helped out in any way they could, mainly with Sven helping to take soldiers from town up to the Safe Camp, and Olaf volunteers to tag along with each ride up. Olaf said that that way, he could translate what Sven is saying to the men so then there wouldn't be any miss communication during their conversation during their ride together.
When Jack heard of this, he asked Olaf if he could now speak reindeer. In which Olaf answered, "Don't be silly Jack, I don't speak reindeer. Sven has always been able to speak with humans; he just has a funny accent that's hard to understand. Right Kristoff? I mean, you translate for Sven too."
That conversation went on for some time; both Krisoff and Jack numerously deciding to play along and humor with Olaf. It ended up forestalling everyone from eating, to which by the time Rapunzel return, she and Eugene were able to join them as soon as they finally decided to start eating. Olaf munched on a few ices cubes and icicles.
XxXxXx
Sue to Olaf's presence along with the serving staffs, Rapunzel reported in replacement of Bellflower during dinner. But she remained discreet as possible so that only Jack and the others could understanding she was talking about their sand scheme She announced that the talk between Bellflower and Hiccup and their friend was a success. However, they all owed him big.
By the time they finished eating, it was still early in the night, but everyone decided to turn early so they may have a fresh start in the morning. They all walked together at first though parted ways when nearing their respective corner of their hall or turn. Olaf was the first to part from the group, going to go and spend his usual night with Sven. Eugen and Rapunzel were the second to part from the group, then Anna and Kristoff. Jack volunteered to escort Elsa to her room.
As they near her bedroom door, Jack asked, "Are you ever going to tell Anna about us?"
Elsa lowered her head so that Jack couldn't see her face. "I want to, but I don't know if I should, and a part of me just wants to keep you as a secret to myself."
"But Rapunzel, Merida and Hiccup know about us."
"But they are different."
"How so?"
When Elsa couldn't come up with an answer, she tried to change the question itself. "Isn't it already enough that Rapunzel is having a field day with us; can you image what Anna will do when she finds out."
Before reaching the door, Jack stopped Elsa from walking any further, with his back facing the door. "Alright Snow Queen tell me the truth, why don't you want to tell Anna?"
Elsa met Jack's eyes without hesitation. "I already have. I want to tell Anna, but I just don't know if I should."
Jack nodded his head. "And why do you feel like that?"
Elsa smiled thinly, and she side stepped away from Jack. "I honestly don't know…Maybe in a way, I just want to enjoy this somewhat of a secrete between you and me for a while longer." Grasping one of Jack's hands, Elsa intertwined their fingers lightly together. "You seem quite persistence in wanting me to tell Anna, why is that?"
Jack lifted their laced fingers up to mid chest, and started walking backward in slow, pulling Elsa along. "I've shared the good news with my close friends already. So I thought you may want to share the news with someone on your side. Rapunzel doesn't count."
"Now you're the one who's lying," Elsa teased.
Jack grinned. "You really think so?" Without needing to look, Jack knew he was getting close to the door and stop again. He then leaned his staff against the doorframe; with his new freed hand, Jack opens the door wide, moving slightly out of the way, but Elsa made no move to go in.
Instead, she moves closer to Jack, and with her other hand, she slipped her index finger underneath the collar of his shirt to fish for the lace of the jewel. Once hooked, she pulled it out. "Be honest with me Jack, why are you so persistent?" she asked. Jack released their fingers and cupped the side of Elsa's cheek, in which she noted his peculiar expression. "What's wrong Jack?"
He chuckled with no energy within it. "I'm not sure…I've been feeling really good and calm but…"
"But?" Jack made to say something but stop, as if the words were caught in his throat. His eyes slightly shifted. His uncertainty was for certain. Touching lightly on his hand, Elsa asks instead, "Would you like to come in Jack?" To that Jack snapped his eyes back to focus; slightly widen. "We can continue talking in my room if you like. It will certainly be better than staying out here where someone can see us."
Jack chuckled again, but this time with some merit in it. "You know I have night patrol right?"
"You said midnight. There's still some times left."
"Sure. Alright. But there would be a big scandal if someone were to see me coming out of your room after our talk."
"Then we had better not get caught." At that, Jack couldn't help but rolled his head down while trying to keep himself from laughing hard. His hand sliding sown to rest on the nape of her neck. "But really," Elsa resumed quietly, "Come inside and talk with me."
"…Maybe next time," Jack replied in a whisper. When he lifted up his face, to Elsa surprise, Jack had a snowflake balanced on his nose. She giggled softly. Elsa touched her nose to his, feeling the cool of the dissolving flake. Elsa then felt Jack's nose sliding across, brushing her cheek before the touch of his lips met her skin. "Good night Snow Queen," he said into her ears.
"Be safe," Elsa replied. She touched the snow dew one last time and the core of the dew glowed a little brighter. Once she removed her fingers, the dew's glow dimed returning back to normal.
