When Anna woke up in the morning, the first thing she noticed was that she felt better than she had in a very long time. She had returned to the camp with Kristoff, trembling with fear at the thought of facing everyone, just for everyone to welcome her back with open arms and understanding. Then the talk with Elsa, though brief, all things considered, was cathartic and very overdue. She could feel the difference in their relationship. Elsa had finally been open and honest with her, which is all Anna could ever remember wanting from her sister. They understood each other on a deeper level than ever before. Neither of them knew the true extent of the demons the other carried until now, but now that they did, Anna felt, for the first time in forever, optimistic about the future. There were still challenges on their path- massive ones- but as far as Anna was concerned, the love she shared with her family is what she was fighting for in the first place. That love was being rebuilt, slowly, haltingly, with already a few missteps, but surely.
Unfortunately, the second and third things she noticed were not quite such good feelings. The second thing was that she was still laying on Elsa's shoulder, which on its own wasn't a problem. What was a problem was the large wet spot of drool pooling on her shoulder.
The third thing she noticed, or maybe it was more of a realization, was that she had not woken up of her own accord, but rather, by the sound of laughter, poorly stifled, by a large group of people. She opened her eyes to see the entire group milling around, giggling and pointing at the sisters.
"Hey!" she cried indignantly, wiping her mouth and lurching away from Elsa, who woke with a startled yelp and gasp of pain. Elsa clutched her hand to her side, over the bandage.
"Wha…?" Elsa blinked, her eyes wandering around, still looking half-asleep.
"It's not nice to laugh at people!" Anna scolded, but she felt guilty when she saw Ciri looking ashamed, still unused to dealing with the royals on a personal level. "Be careful, I might drool on you all next!" she threatened to lighten the mood, and she was heartened to see Ciri brighten up. Elsa had caught up to what was going on, and looked a mixture of amused, disgusted, and impressed as to the size of the damp spot on her shirt.
"You know," Elsa said, levering herself up with a wince of pain so that she was propped on her elbows, not seeming to notice an exasperated look that passed between Elsie and Ciri, "I was hoping to get a bath today, so… thanks, sis!"
"Anytime," Anna muttered, still a little bitter at being laughed at by the entire group, but at the same time, maybe it was a sign that their bond was healing, at least a little. As they all moved away to pack up the camp, she climbed to her feet and stretched her stiff body. Sleeping on the ground was not the most restful thing. Then, she noticed that Kristoff was still just standing there, beaming at her. "What?" she asked, drawing away, feeling self-conscious.
"Gareth got back after you went to sleep last night."
"Gareth?" Elsa asked. "Where did he go?"
"He's found us a translator for that book of yours."
"Wait, what?" Elsa and Anna said together. Kristoff's grin widened further, and his chest swelled with pride.
"That's what I've been doing for two years. Gareth and I built quite the network across the Empire, and last night, it paid off, in a bigger way than ever before. There's an Imperial researcher named Arne in Weselton. He studies the language of the Ancients. If we can capture him, he can translate the book for us."
"Are you serious?" Elsa said, sounding awed.
"Yep. And Elsie said you can ride today, Elsa. If you're up for it anyway."
"It doesn't matter if I am," Elsa said, her eyes shining, struggling to sit up. Kristoff and Anna both moved forward and pushed her back down.
"Calm down there, feisty pants." Kristoff winked at Anna, who grinned at the use of her nickname for Elsa. "We're not leaving just yet. Elsie needs to take a look at you first." Elsa sighed and acquiesced, flopping back a little too hard and wincing in pain. "Both of you, actually. Anna, how's your shoulder?"
"It's fine," Anna said. "It's a little stiff, but I think that's because-" she nodded down where she had been laying. "But Elsie can take a look." Anna stood back up and headed towards the rest of the group, but Elsa called her back.
"Anna?"
"Hmm?"
"Can you please have Ciri come over here?"
"Yeah, sure." Anna found Ciri without trouble and told her Elsa wanted to see her. As Ciri turned to walk away, however, she looked back, frowning at Anna.
"Aren't you coming, Your Highness?"
Anna shrugged. "She didn't say to. She just said to have you go over there." The blood drained from Ciri's face, and she chewed her lip. Anna felt like she was looking in a mirror for a moment- she'd often do the same thing when she was nervous. "What's wrong?"
"Why would the Queen want to see me alone? Am I in trouble? Is she mad at me for laughing? I didn't mean to, Your Highness, I swear-"
"Ciri, Ciri, calm down," said Anna, putting what she hoped was a reassuring hand on Ciri's shoulder. "I don't think it's anything like that."
"What's going on?" Alan, who had been walking by carrying a folded up tent, paused at the expression on Ciri's face.
"Nothing," Anna insisted. "Elsa just asked me to have Ciri go talk to her, she's just freaking out because-"
"Oh," Alan said, his face going somber. "Oh no. I'm so sorry, Ciri." He grasped her hand and shook it solemnly. "It was nice knowing you." With that, he walked away, leaving Ciri even more panicked, and Anna torn between annoyance and amusement. After several more assurances that Elsa wasn't going to freeze Ciri as punishment for laughing at her, Ciri approached Elsa with shaky steps, but her worry was for naught. Elsa's face lit up when Ciri greeted her with a curtsey, and she started saying something to the younger girl with a gentle smile on her face. Anna turned to her own task, finding her quarry in short order.
"Elsie? Can you take a look at my shoulder?"
"Sure," she said, moving towards Anna, who stepped back.
"Not here. Can we go somewhere with some privacy? The bandage covers more than just the wound." She gestured vaguely around her chest, and Elsie smiled, but the smile didn't seem to reach her emerald eyes.
"Of course, Your Highness."
Anna led the way out of the small camp and behind a patch of bushes that provided reasonable concealment, but when Elsie reached for Anna's bandages, Anna stepped back again.
"I lied," she said, and Elsie frowned.
"What do you mean, Your Highness?"
"The bandage is just this," she said, and pulled her collar aside to show the square patch of cloth held on by a single tied bandage. "I just… wanted to apologize."
"Th- there's no apology necessary, Your High-"
"Please just call me Anna, and yes, it is necessary." Anna took a breath, collecting her thoughts. "There's no excuse for what I did. I heard what you said last night. You were right. I didn't mean to set anything on fire. But I meant to hit you. And I'm so, so sorry."
"Thank you for saying that, Your Hi-" She stopped, corrected herself. "Anna."
Anna shook her head. "I don't know why I'm like this now, why I lose control so easily. It's like… If I'm not feeling angry, I'm not feeling anything at all. So I embrace the anger because at least then I'm not so empty." Tears stung her eyes, and a lump formed in her throat.
"Anna…" Elsie looked like she didn't want to continue, but then she said, "Other than the past few days, when's the last time you talked to anyone? Anything other than small talk."
"Before the Fall."
Elsie nodded, her eyes full of sympathy. "Give yourself time, Anna. That much isolation is not healthy. It will take time before you feel normal again. But I promise- you'll get there."
Elsie was the second person to tell Anna she needed to take her time. The only problem was that patience was never one of Anna's virtues. But she accepted the advice, let Elsie examine her shoulder ("Few more days and you'll be all set"), thanked her, waited for her to leave, then sat down in the leaves and cried.
Author note: has an unexpectedly short character limit on chapter titles. I'll be abbreviating the volumes from here on out. HtS: Hunting the Spirits. CotE: Crimes of the Empire. RotQ: Return of the Queen.