Chapter Forty Four

The New Normal

ANNA

Anna walked into the crowded ballroom with Elsa and looked round. The place was jam packed with young men and women, many of them still in their mid-teens. Wow, Anna mused to herself. Elsa's gonna have her hands full with the League. Her sister had just been told that by default, she was now the new Pilgrim, the leader of the League of Sorcerers, and there was nothing she could do to change that.

"I can't believe this is happening." Elsa mumbled under her breath. "This is so surreal."

"Hey," Anna squeezed her sister's hand. "It'll be fine."

"Easy for you to say," Elsa glanced at Anna. "You're not both the Queen of Arendelle and the Head of the League of Sorcerers at the same time."

"One step at a time, alright?" Anna was genuinely concerned for Elsa. She seemed to be even more worried now that a whole room full of young sorcerers had been placed under her charge by default.

"Don't worry, Elsa." Anna turned to see Kristoff heading toward them. "We'll all be here to help."

"You're back." Anna landed a kiss on his cheek and ruffled his hair. "Did you find Olaf and Sven?"

"Yeah," Kristoff said. "They know that the ordeal is over."

"And another one's beginning." Elsa murmured.

"Elsa-"

"I'm kidding." Elsa glanced at Anna and Kristoff. "I just…need some time to think about how to break the news to the sorcerers that I'm the new Pilgrim. I'm…going to get a drink."

Anna watched as Elsa melted away into the crowd, and turned to Kristoff. "Just when we thought that everything is finally over."

"At this rate, it'll never be over." Kristoff chuckled dryly. "But I guess I'm at peace with that."

Anna slipped her hand into his. "At peace with what?"

"The fact that this is as normal as our lives are going to get. I mean, I never imagined that I would be stuck in a world of warriors, mercenaries, sorcerers and all that stuff. I rebelled and challenged that idea at first." Kristoff admitted. "But as I worked with the Warriors this past week, I came to accept that this-" he gestured around at the ballroom filled with people with supernatural abilities "-is the new normal. As much as I'm still uncomfortable with that, this is the world we live in now."

"You'll get used to it." Anna grinned, and he rolled his eyes.

"Your Highness," Will stood a distance away.

Kristoff gave her a kiss and slinked away, presumably to find the Warriors. Anna turned her attention to Will.

"Hey,"

"I didn't know you were a Princess." Will walked toward her carefully, measuring every stride in her presence. "You probably should have led with that back in Quodrun. I would've been a lot more likely to comply."

"It's fine." Anna waved her hand nonchalantly. "I'm still the Anna you met, anyway. It's not like I'm the queen or anything."

"I wanted to thank you." Will said.

"For what?"

"Rescuing me from the Pilgrim. You and your friends, you're real heroes."

"Awww." Anna grinned. "You did not too bad yourself."

"I guess I did." Will flushed a little.

"Elsa's a good teacher, isn't she?"

"She is." Will nodded. "She helped me learn to avoid the triggers and to control my powers."

"Believe me, she's gonna be a great leader." Anna said. "Apparently, she's just been crowned as the new Pilgrim because she defeated the old one. She's the new leader of the League of Sorcerers now."

"I wish I could stick around to see that."

"What do you mean?"

"I have to get back to Quodrun." Will looked at Anna apologetically. "This life of heroics, danger and sorcery, it's not for me."

Anna nodded. "I understand."

"But don't worry," Will said. "I'm planning on using my powers to make a difference back home."

"Of that, I'm sure." Anna smiled. "Find Tracy. She'll work her magic and take you back to Quodrun in the blink of an eye."

"Thank you. Goodbye, Your Highness." Will bowed and Anna waved it away.

"Goodbye, Will." She clapped him on the shoulder. "I hope we see you again someday."

"Likewise." Will said. "Give my thanks to your friends."

"I will." Anna watched as Will wandered off into the crowd to find Tracy, and noticed a commotion coming from the other side of the ballroom.

Many of the sorcerers were gathered around Elsa, who stood on a slightly elevated platform meant for performances. The crowd grew larger by the second when they realized that the legendary Snow Queen was about to say something to them.

"Ahem." Elsa cleared her throat and raised a hand to get everyone's attention.

"What is she doing?" Melody asked as Anna found the Warriors in a corner of the ballroom.

"Didn't she already make a speech?" Tracy added. Anna noticed that Will was no longer around. Tracy must have already teleported him back to Quodrun. That was fast.

"You'll see." Anna folded her arms and tried to look serious, but she couldn't suppress the smile forming on her face.

"What's going on?" Maui asked.

"Just watch."

The room finally quietened down enough for Elsa to be heard, and Anna could see her sister nervously shifting her weight every now and then. After some time, Elsa opened her mouth to speak.

"Hello everyone," Elsa began slowly. "For those who don't know who I am, I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle, and like yourselves, I was a member of the League of Sorcerers. By now all of you would have known that the Pilgrim was controlling your minds unconsciously, but now, thanks to my friend Tracy-" she pointed at Tracy who waved. "-you are all free from her control. Together with help from my friends, we managed to stop the Pilgrim and she is now behind bars, serving out her sentence for however long it might last."

Here, Elsa paused to take a deep breath. "I went to visit the Pilgrim in prison, and she told me that because I dethroned her, I was to take up her mantle and continue on in her stead. To lead the League of Sorcerers as the new Pilgrim."

Murmurs started to go out amongst the crowd of sorcerers, and Elsa spoke a little louder to get their attention again. "So as the new Pilgrim, here is my offer to you. Those of you who wish to leave the League and return to your own lives are free to go. I will not hold any of you back, as my predecessor did. You are no longer prisoners.

"But those of you who wish to stay with me should know this. The League of Sorcerers will continue to exist, but as a real force for good. We will work together with my friends, the Warriors, to protect the world from people just like the last Pilgrim. It is time for the League to return to its original purpose, and I promise that we will only deliver true justice, and not vengeance. The choice is yours."

Elsa stepped down from the platform to applause from the crowd and chants of "Snow Queen" reverberating throughout the room.

Anna smiled widely as Elsa made her way through the crowd towards the Warriors. "I think that turned out pretty well."

"The new Pilgrim." Tracy sounded awed. "Wow."

"I didn't see that one coming." Melody agreed to nods from Maui and Kristoff.

"I think it suits you, Frost." Jade said, coming towards the Warriors together with Jordan and Deirdre. "The new Pilgrim, Head of the League of Sorcerers."

Jordan nodded in approval and gave a small courteous bow which Elsa acknowledged heartily with a laugh.

"Thanks," Elsa smiled. "Deirdre," she turned to Deirdre. "You know you're free now, right?"

"It's not like there's anywhere else for me to go." Deirdre shrugged. "I'm not going back to Exon, that's for sure. There's nothing left for me there."

"Then you're welcome to stay, if you want." Elsa said, stretching out her hand.

Deirdre raised both eyebrows a little. "Maybe I will." She shook Elsa's hand, and a tiny almost imperceptible smile crept onto her face.

Elsa exhaled deeply and looked round at the Warriors and the Elemental Sorcerers. "This battle may be over, but we still have a lot of work to do. Organizing the League, getting them places to stay, training them, leading them on missions…"

"And then there's still the fact that Prometheus is out there." Anna added. "Do you think he'll come back to seek revenge of something?"

Elsa shook her head. "I don't think so. In some small way, I think I managed to get through to him. I think he'll leave us alone."

"And if he does return, we'll be ready for him." Melody said confidently.

"That's not the only problem." Maui said. "We may have stopped the Pilgrim, but only because she didn't get what she was looking for."

"The Eternal King." Anna frowned. "I completely forgot about that."

"Someone got there before Ingrid did." Elsa said. "Someone who somehow has the exact same map to the ruins of Ancient Hyutreno."

"Whoever they are, they must have took the Eternal King." Tracy said.

"And who knows why they took him?" Melody added.

"I think…" Tracy said dramatically. "We have a new mystery on our hands."

"Give me a break." Kristoff buried his head in his hands. "Didn't we just finish the last one?"