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Chapter 7: Nightmares
Elsa
Dark fog rolled in, covering her beautiful kingdom in blackness. The sun was blotted out by huge clouds of black sand. The sound of crying filled her ears, probably from the scared children in the kingdom. Two voices laughed in the distance. Elsa tried to walk forward but was unable to move. A shape, a person, came forward. Tall and muscular. The figure lifted a sword and the blade hurtled toward Elsa.
Elsa woke with a start, sitting up and breathing heavily with tears running down her face. Frost and ice covered her room, her magic reacting to her being frightened.
"Elsa?" The worried voice of Honeymaren asked through the door.
"Come in," Elsa called.
Honeymaren opened the door of Elsa's room. They shared a hut but had separate rooms.
"What's wrong? I saw frost coming out from under your door," Honeymaren asked as she sat down at the foot of Elsa's bed.
"Just a bad dream about someone I use to know," Elsa said, shaking slightly.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Honeymaren asked.
"It was dark. This black fog covered Arendelle, black sand blotted out the sun. I heard laughing, not the fun kind but the sinister, evil kind. People were crying. I couldn't move towards them. I saw Hans, he tried to kill me again," Elsa said, trembling.
"Maybe you should talk to Yelena. She may be able to tell whether it means something or not," Honeymaren said.
Elsa nodded and got up, pulling a robe on over her night gown. Exiting the hut, Elsa spotted Yelena sitting by the dying fire, humming a tune.
"Elsa, my dear, what's wrong?" Yelena asked when Elsa sat down.
"I had a nightmare. Honeymaren said I should talk to you about it," Elsa said.
"I'm listening," Yelena said.
Elsa explained her dream as best as she could.
"Well, I'm not sure if that means anything yet but if you have that dream, or one like it again, talk to me," Yelena told her.
"Ok, thank you," Elsa said.
They sat together by the fire, just listening to the crackling and watching the sparks. After a little while of silence, Yelena spoke.
"Elsa, did you tell Jack about your powers?" Yelena asked.
"Yes. He wasn't scared at all. It was so nice to finally tell him," Elsa said.
She explained the conversation but left out the part about him having magic too. Elsa knew Yelena wouldn't say anything, but she felt as though Jack should be the one to tell anyone.
"Would you like some tea?" Elsa asked.
"I would love some tea. Want some help?" Yelena answers.
"It's ok," Elsa said standing up.
Elsa went over to the cooking hut and grabbed some herbs and a small pot. Filling the pot with snow, from her powers, and walking over to the fire. When the water boiled, she put the herbs in and went to get some cups. Filling the cups with the now finished tea, she handed one to Yelena and kept one for herself.
"Yelena, do you think the spirits would accept Jack?" Elsa asked.
"What do you mean?" Yelena asked.
"I mean, I know that Gale like Jack already, but I don't know how the others would accept him," Elsa explained.
"They will. They trust you and if you trust him, they will trust him," Yelena said.
"I just don't want the forest to be closed off again," Elsa said.
"I understand your worry. The spirits trust you, if you are the one introducing him, I'm sure they will be ok with him," Yelena said.
"I guess so," Elsa said smiling. "Thank you."
Jack
Jack stood in a small clearing in the woods. A lake took up most of the open space but a small cottage sat just at the edge of the trees. Snow coated the ground, sliding off trees as the weight became too much for the branches. The lake itself was frozen over, thick enough to skate on. Jack watched his older sister, Sophie, skate gracefully over the ice, spinning and dancing. Jack took a step towards her, bare feet leaving prints in the snow. A loud crack echoed through the silent woods and Jack watched in horror as his sister was engulfed in the icy water. A sheet of black sand covered the ice where his sister had fallen. Jack stood frozen in place as an evil laughter filled his ears.
Jack woke up screaming his sister's name. The knight standing guard outside his bedroom door burst in and ran to the prince.
"Prince Jack, what's the matter?" he asked.
"Sophie," Jack managed before sobbing in a very undignified way.
"Sir Leon, get King North and Queen Toothiana," the knight ordered.
The second guard, who was still outside the room, ran down the hall towards the king and queen's room.
A few minutes later the king and queen came into the room. Seeing their son sitting on his bed shaking, they dismissed the other guard and sat down on the bed.
"Jack, what's wrong?" his mother asked, worried.
Jack took another moment to calm down before explaining his dream. Usually, nightmares didn't make him wake up screaming but this one was worse than any other one. Now that he was awake, he thought that his reaction seemed bigger than the dream needed. It felt almost like someone poured extra fear into the dream.
"It doesn't mean anything, does it?" Jack asked.
"I don't think so. Is something bothering you that may have caused you to have this dream?" North asked, placing an arm across Jack's shoulders.
"No," Jack said.
"Well, if it happens again, let us know. I think all you can do right now is try to go back to sleep," Toothiana said.
Jack nodded and his parents gave him a hug before leaving. Jack lay back down and closed his eyes, but sleep was a long way away.
The next morning Jack got up and went straight to the forest. He had managed to get a couple of hours of sleep after going back to bed. He had dark circles under his eyes and was rubbing his thumb along the wood of his staff, worrying. He met Elsa in their usual spot by the river bank. Elsa looked like she hadn't gotten much sleep either.
"Morning," She greeted.
"Morning," Jack replied with a small smile.
"Sorry if I'm not as talkative as usual, I didn't sleep well," Elsa said.
"That's ok, neither did I," Jack said.
"Bad dreams," they said at the same time.
"What were yours about?" Elsa asked.
"Umm... My sister falling through the ice at the lake by our winter cottage," Jack said. "There was this cloud of black sand that covered the ice after she fell in, and this evil laughter."
Elsa paled.
"Black sand?" Elsa asked in a whisper.
"Yeah. Weird," Jack said.
"In my dream black fog and sand covered Arendelle. I heard two voices laughing. One I don't know, and one I recognised," Elsa said.
"That can't be a coincidence," Jack said.
"No. We should talk to Yelena, she may know more," Elsa said. "I talked to her last night, maybe she can explain why we both saw the same thing."
"I hope so," Jack said.
"Come on, let's go find Yelena," Elsa said.
She took Jack's hand and led him towards the Northuldra village. Two new tepees had been added since the last time he was there, smoke billowed out their tops.
"We added two new cooking tents, the plan is to form a strong trade between here and Arendelle. Food, fabric, clothes, and art are hopefully going to be part of the trading system," Elsa said.
"Maybe North Haven can join in," Jack said.
"That would be nice. We're here," Elsa said.
They stopped in front of a large tepee, the door held open by buttons.
Elsa poked her head inside and Jack heard a voice say, "Come in."
Jack followed Elsa into the tepee. Yelena sat on a woven blanket in the middle but moved over a little when the two of them came in.
"What a pleasant surprise. Welcome Jack, Elsa has spoken fondly of you," Yelena said.
Jack saw Elsa blush.
"What brings you here?" Yelena asked
"Well, remember the dream I had last night? Jack says he also had a nightmare that was similar. He also dreamed of black sand and someone laughing. Do you think it means anything?" Elsa asked.
"You both had nightmares with black sand? Jack, what did you dream of?" Yelena asked.
"My sister was skating on the frozen lake by our winter cottage. The ice cracked and she fell in. The ice was covered in black sand and someone was laughing. I couldn't move or do anything other than scream her name," Jack explained.
He hoped Yelena wouldn't ask any more questions about what happened after. He did not need to recount how he started sobbing while Elsa was in the room.
"That is strange. I would guess that for Elsa it has something to do with her powers, a message or warning of danger to come," Yelena said.
"Connection to my powers?" Elsa asked.
"Yes, like how Ahtohallan and the Enchanted Forest called to you," Yelena said.
"Yelena, if it might be connected to Elsa's powers, could it also be connected to mine?" Jack asked.
He had decided to trust Yelena because Elsa spoke fondly of her and both Yelena and Elsa protected the forest. Elsa had also told Jack about how the Northuldra people interact with the magic of the forest.
"I would think so," Yelena said. "What powers do you have?"
"Similar to Elsa's. I can create frost, snow and ice but not to the same extent as Elsa. I can control the wind and fly when I have my staff," Jack said.
He showed her the wooden staff then tapped it to the ground, letting frost coat the floor.
Yelena was silent and Jack could see her working through this information.
"I think, until we figure out what's happening, it would be best for you, Jack, to stay in the Enchanted Forest with us," Yelena said.