To Anna, Jaina had kind of been a catalyst of sorts. A chance for both her and her sister to get people into their lives that were friends and not each other. Not that she ever wanted to be apart from Elsa, but at the same time she knew it was important that they broaden their horizons.
But, Elsa was still her sister, and she still worried about her, Elsa's fears and worries and anxiety gnawing at Anna like a little fish in a pond nibbling at her toes.
Which was why she found herself marching through Dalaran towards the library; Jaina hadn't been in the big tower nor to be found wandering around the city, so that was the next best bet.
She didn't mind the walking. Dalaran was beautiful. All the rubble had been cleared away and buildings rebuilt and as she neared the entrance to the library a low hum distracted her. She followed the sound until she reached the eastern part of the city, where the strange crystalline ship had rested since Dalaran's fall.
As she watched, the hum grew louder, vibrations rippled through the structure and with one final rumble it lifted off. Debris fell from it as the ship hovered over Dalaran. Anna stared, mouth agape.
A violet barrier went up over the wreckage that the ship had been resting on just in time to stop some kind of beam of light from escaping. She covered her mouth and exclaimed, "What was that?!"
"The Vindicaar," someone said. She turned to see an old dwarf.
"I mean … that." She pointed at the barrier.
"Ah. That's the Violet Hold. A jail for powerful beings. They had tae erect a shield to keep any from escapin' when the Vindicaar lifted off."
"A jail?" Anna folded her arms and regarded it with new eyes. "What did they do to deserve being locked up like that?"
"Some are demons," he said. "Minions of the Old Gods. Corrupted dragons. Others assisted the demons or otherwise harmed multitudes."
"I'd kind of thought you people didn't really do … the capture and jail thing."
He chuckled. "I know it seems like that sometimes, but we ain't monsters. Even in war we try tae take prisoners. If there's a chance a criminal can be rehabilitated, most of us are willin' tae give it a shot."
"What about … demons and old gods and monsters?"
The Dwarf wet his lips. "I knew a lass once. Smart as a whip, aye. Brave, but the stupid kinda brave. Got herself intae some trouble, became corrupted, tainted by ancient magics. Nearly lost herself." He tuned towards Anna. "If we'd just given up, she'd be dead. But we gave her a chance an' tried tae help her, an' she's alive, an' thrivin'."
"You didn't give up?"
"Almost did," he admitted. "An' there's a point with anyone where it goes from tryin' tae save someone, tae a mercy kill so they stop sufferin'. But we stopped it before it got to that point."
That made some sense to Anna. She hated it, but she knew that sometimes the herders had to sacrifice an animal who was sick or injured. To protect the herd and to stop the poor creature from being in pain. It wasn't a very large leap of logic to realize that the same thing could be applied to a person, too. If Anna was being turned into some kind of demon and they couldn't save her, well … she knew what she'd want, rather than hurt the people she loved.
Sometimes she wondered if Elsa had felt that way when she realized she'd frozen Arendelle… "I'm glad you stopped it. I'm glad it was an option."
"It's always an option, lass." He patted her gently on the shoulder, his eyes following the Vindicaar as it moved higher into the air and out over the water. "Jus' some folk are more likely to take it than others."
"Where do you think they'll go?" Anna asked, nodding at the ship.
"Some place isolated most likely. The Draenei have traveled far, an' for thousands of years. Goin' tae take them some time before they consider Earth home."
"They keep losing their home, don't they?" Anna had talked to some of them. She knew a little about their previous home of Draenor, and a little about their flight from their homeworld of Argus. It seemed like no matter where they went, they never really had a chance to keep a home. Anna's jaw tightened and she squared her shoulders. "Some of them can call Arendelle home if they want to. They're welcome, just like all of you. That's my sister's wish, and mine too."
"You lot have gone above an' beyond what could possibly asked of you."
"It's … the right thing to do," Anna replied, perplexed.
"What I mean is … look, most of us from Azeroth, least the ones still alive, we all have a sense of honor. What that means differs from race to race an' person tae person within each race, but for the most part, when and if Arendelle is ever in need of a helpin' hand, we'll be there. With sword, or shovel, whatever you need."
Hopefully it would only ever be a shovel that they needed. "Thank you … I shouldn't keep you, but you don't know where Jaina Proudmoore might be, by any chance?"
"Lady Proudmoore?" The Dwarf tugged at his beard, "Aye, I think I saw her go down tae this new little sweet shop over near the Legerdemain Lounge."
"Really?"
"Aye, mutterin' somethin' about chocolates."
"Hah." Anna clapped her hands together excitedly, then grabbed him by his hands and spun him around. "That'll make things easier, thank you, kind sir!"
She gave him an elaborate curtsey before she turned and bolted down the street. Flying ships and monster prisons were all well and good, but she had a mission! Anna skidded to a stop when she smelled the wonderful scent of chocolate scones.
Jaina stood in front of a stand, arms folded and expression thoughtful. The proprietor, a red and brown Pandaren, was pointing out a number of different treats, most of them chocolate. Jaina looked like she was at a loss.
"You know, a flying ship just took off, but I guess that kind of thing is pretty normal for you."
"Ah!" Jaina jumped. "I ah … I did monitor it, of course…"
"Yet you're distracted by, let me guess, personal matters?" Anna asked.
Jaina looked at the stand, then at Anna, and sighed heavily. "What's Elsa's favorite chocolate treat and how do I give it to her without making it look like I'm bribing myself back into her good graces?"
"Oh, it's a bribe, darling," the Pandaren said.
"I think that's why she needs me," Anna agreed. She took Jaina's arm and leaned in to peer at the sweets. "Wow, you've got quite the variety!"
"Made a deal with some local traders," she explained. "Hoping I can establish myself. It's interesting, your chocolate has a slightly different taste to it than the kind from Azeroth."
"I noted that too," Jaina mused.
She was clearly about to erupt into theorycrafting, so Anna pointed out one of the sweets. "A dozen of those! Wrap them up nice, uhm, blue and green are her favorite colors."
"Not red?" Jaina asked.
Anna touched her own hair and blushed. "I think she likes red fine, but most of her clothing is blue or green."
"I've got just the thing." An amused smile decorated the Pandaren's face as she prepared a box.
"Good thing I found you," Anna remarked. "You'd probably have messed this up really bad."
"Thanks. I'll ask someone to give you a tour of the Vindicaar later."
"Really! That's so cool!" Anna bounced on her heels, then immediately calmed herself. Right now, she was worried about her sister and Jaina both.
Mostly her sister. "But first, I'll help you with the chocolates and … we kinda need to talk."
Jaina eyed her warily, "This isn't going to be the shovel talk is it?"
"The what?"
"The talk where you tell me you'll kill and bury me if I hurt Elsa?"
"OH! Yeah we call that the glacier talk. You know, leave you to freeze up on the glaciers … I guess some things are the same but different!" Anna shook her head. "But nah, it's not about that." Then she frowned, and punched her fist into her palm. "Though, okay yeah the point does stand."
Jaina paid for her chocolates and carefully took the box, apparently choosing to ignore Anna's addendum about potentially murdering her. "Come on, there's a little park that should be deserted this time of day, we can talk there."
"One sec." Anna picked out a sweet for herself and tossed the Pandaren her coin, then quickly fell into step beside Jaina. She still couldn't believe there were pandapeople, but she shunted those questions down deeply to ask later.
"Is Elsa okay?" Jaina asked, taking a seat on a bench and holding the box tightly in her lap.
She really kind of reminded Anna of Elsa in the way she held herself apart. So Anna gently nudged her shoulder with her own. "I don't think she's doing too well. What exactly did you say to her?"
"We kind of had a difference of opinion about … the way we approach certain kinds of problems." Jaina's shoulders sagged. "And I didn't handle her concerns well."
Okay, so that was a start. "What kind of problems?"
"The fighting kind." Jaina's lips turned into a thin line, "I think fighting those Faceless Ones struck a nerve in Elsa. I know she once hurt you and Arendelle with her powers, and I should have understood that and how she'd react to hurting something. Even if the beings she hurt were trying to hurt us first."
Anna kind of went back and forth on the matter, though her conversation with that Dwarf had been illuminating. "We pride ourselves on peace. On kindness and understanding. But not everyone feels that way even here on Earth. We have to be ready, as rulers of this country, to defend it and those who we have taken in. It's a hard thing to like, accept. That both can be true."
But Elsa could be terrified of what she was capable of, and Anna wanted to smack herself for not realizing it before. Elsa tried so hard to be in control and she barely let herself enjoy life, even when she was having fun with her family. And now the old anxiety about hurting people was back, if it had even gone anywhere to begin with.
"Yes, you have to be ready to defend yourselves, but … I think Elsa was right on something very important." Jaina spread her hands out, as if to indicate all of Dalaran. "These people, and I include myself in this, have spent their whole lives fighting one war or another and survived and/or perpetrated any number of horrors. It's hard to come down from being constantly alert and constantly distrustful of old enemies. But we have to, because this isn't Azeroth. This is Earth, with different rules."
"We've got our share of bad guys," Anna pointed out. "But yeah. So … Why can't you tell Elsa this?"
"I tried and I messed it up."
"Lucky for you I was gonna talk to her tonight anyway, but I think you just need to show up with a box of chocolates and an apology and then see what happens from there."
Jaina's throat bobbed, and she nodded. "You know, even if I wasn't in love with her, it's still the right thing to do."
"What is?"
"Change."
"Change is the hardest thing." Anna tapped her fingertips together, looking down at the magically perfect grass.
"It's like trying to alter the course of a river," Jaina replied. "Slow, difficult, with fits and starts and failures along the way."
Anna reached over and put her arm around Jaina, squeezing. "Welp, the only thing to do is start."
"I started the day I met Elsa." Jaina leaned into the embrace. "I guess I wasn't quite as done with change as I thought I was."
❄️
In the five years of her reign, Elsa had 'called in sick' less times than she'd had fingers to count with. She'd worked herself sick, of course, for Anna's birthday the first time after they'd reconnected, and there'd been the occasional day where she'd had the sniffles.
It was really tempting to roll over in bed and let Anna and her advisors take care of the country for a day. Elsa hadn't moved since she'd woken from another nightmare, and she didn't even have the benefit or excuse of Jaina's warm body next to hers. Which was, she reminded herself, Jaina's fault. Oh, she was still a little upset, but she was mostly frustrated.
"Fuck it." She rolled over, pulling her pillow over her head and then her blanket up to cover that. She just needed a little more sleep, just a little. If only she could close her eyes and not see horrible images or feel her stomach twist into knots as she imagined all the ways her attempts to help people might backfire and hurt Arendelle and her family.
She must have drifted off because she was woken by the bed shifting as someone sat down on it. Slowly, a finger hooked into her blanket and pulled it down from her head, and she peered groggily up at her sister.
"I'm glad to see you're resting." Anna tapped Elsa's forehead with her finger, then trailed her finger down her nose in a familiar manner that brought a smile to Elsa's lips.
"I was, until you woke me up." She made to sit up, only for Anna to hold her down with a strong hand. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything is totally fine." Anna brushed her hand down Elsa's cheek in a way so reminiscent of their mother it made Elsa's heart ache. "I'm just worried about you. The stress is really getting to you Elsa."
"I'm not that stressed," Elsa mumbled, though she knew it was a lie even as she said it. Just thinking about what she would have to deal with was enough to make her hands shake. So she kept them tight against her body under the covers.
"Uh huh. Don't be stupid, you're super stressed. But!" Anna booped her nose. "Look at it this way! Relocation and resettlement in Arendelle and elsewhere is going well. You've got the meeting with the Horde and Alliance coming up and it should go pretty smoothly as long as we put our feet down when we have to."
"You almost make it sound like I'm not needed," Elsa replied, extricating her hand from her blanket long enough to catch Anna's and snuggle it to her chest. She didn't know who she'd be if she wasn't needed here, in Arendelle, and the thought was disconcerting, though not entirely alarming.
"What? No!" Anna's hand squeezed almost painfully tight, "Of course you're needed! But … I really understand how that feels. You can tell me a thousand times I'm needed and I still don't always believe it."
Elsa gave her a tired smile. "We make a pair, don't we."
"There's this Orc offering counseling services," Anna said, tone light enough to make it a joke but considering enough that Elsa wondered if she was half-serious.
She was silent for a moment, before saying, "I'll consider that."
Anna looked surprised, then smiled and relaxed her grip on Elsa's hand. "So is there anything you want to talk to me about? Your nightmares, maybe? Your fears about the New Dawn Accords? … Jaina?"
"Everyone dies and it's my fault," Elsa said. She finally managed to get herself sitting up without Anna interfering, and promptly enveloped her with a blanket hut. Anna always smelled like autumn, and she let the scent comfort her.
"We're still alive. I'm still alive. And even if something bad happened, it wouldn't be your fault."
"I know. Logically, I know. But emotions and feelings don't work on logic, Anna." She tried to fight off a yawn, and held her sister closer. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Logically, I know those things would have killed our people. Logically, I know I did the right thing in defending Arendelle. But it still felt wrong. I wasn't born to be a … a killer, and-" Her voice hitched, and she felt Anna loop her arms around her.
"No one is born a killer, Elsa. Not even the people from the other side of that tear."
Fresh tears burned down Elsa's face. "I'm scared they won't let go of the past and our careful work won't just be for nothing, but will bring ruin and damnation onto the whole planet."
"We won't let that happen. I don't think they'll let that happen." Anna's fingers brushed blindly at Elsa's tears. "You need to have faith in peace, and you need to trust them. This can't be any easier for them than it is for us, you know?"
That was the question, wasn't it; did she actually trust them? Did she actually trust Jaina? Elsa buried her face into Anna's hair. Anna, who she trusted without thought, Anna, who she'd put first above anyone, even herself. "I feel like I'm not in control and I hate it."
"I know it seems like that, but you are in control. If you ordered it, they'd leave. All the diplomacy, all the treaties and signatures, it's all because of you."
"Not just me." Elsa lifted her head and kissed Anna's cheek, "You too, or have you forgotten how many friends you've made for us? Helped them set aside their differences? Sometimes I wonder if maybe you should have been Queen."
Anna grinned. "Okay, I'll accept all the accolades and awards as long as there's cake involved."
"You have a deal."
"Feeling better?"
"Yes," Elsa replied, and it wasn't even entirely a lie.
