Hannah and Jess sat side by side on a sofa in front of the blazing fire place. Both had a perplexed, and slightly traumatized expression.
"Well you don't see that everyday, do you?" Jess stated with an awkward laugh.
Elsa positioned herself gracefully beside the pair with her newly bandaged shoulder.
"We're just glad you girls are ok. We heard the screams and were concerned that Garth's army had found us."
"Would that really be worse though?" Jess grinned jokingly. "I mean, the man wasn't wearing a shirt."
Later that evening, the group was led upstairs and shown to the available beds in the lodge.
There were two separate rooms, each lined wall to wall with bunk beds, as well as a line of them down the center of the room. Many of the beds had the belongings of others already on them, signaling that the particular bed was occupied.
Hannah had advised Jess that she should take the bottom bed, due to her notorious habit of taking a tumble onto the floor mid-slumber.
Eventually, everyone settled into a bunk. On the top bunk the mattress was not the greatest quality and quilt was fairly itchy, but Hannah wasn't complaining. It was better than one could ask for when on the run for their life. She sat up and hung her legs off the side of the bed.
"Benji, how long are we able to stay here?"
"Not long darlin, a week at the most I'd say. Garth and his army are skilled trackers, but they'll have to return to Arendelle soon to replenish their materials and rest up their soldiers." He said sitting down on a bunk and pulling off his shoes.
Anna clasped the metal bars of the ladder as she climbed up to the top bunk above Elsa. When she reached the top she situated her body perpendicular to the bed, leaning her top half over the side, so it appeared as though she was hanging upside down.
"Hey Elsa!" She giggled uncontrollably, her red braids swinging back and forth.
Elsa waved in response with a chuckle. "You know you're going to get dizzy when all the blood rushes to your head." She informed her, leaning forward to playfully boop her sister on the nose.
Anna swung herself back up and plopped down on her pillow. "I've always wanted to sleep on a bunk bed." She revealed, smiling up contently at the ceiling.
"I used to share a bunk bed with my sister at my grandparents' house." Hannah remembered fondly. "I always had the top bunk because she fell out of bed all the time like Jess." She quipped, looking across at her fellow top bunk mate, Anna.
"Hey I heard that!" Jess said punching Hannah's mattress above her to express her artificial anger.
"You have a sister?" Anna asked, intrigued by the notion.
"Yeah I do, a younger sister. When we visited our grandparents as kids, we used to have sleepovers. One of us would climb to the other's bunk, and we would cuddle up in a blanket and read books and tell funny stories into the late hours of the night until we were laughing so loud that our mom would come in and bust us, and we would pretend to go to sleep but we would always get back up and continue..."
Hannah's passionate smile began to falter, though, as she realized that she had been separated from her family while she was here. Also, that if they were to be unsuccessful in recasting the wishing star, she would never go home. She would never see them again.
The thoughts of her home and how her absence was being perceived by her family had slipped her mind, as she was mostly focused on living her wildest dream. But inevitably, the thought resurfaced, causing her heart to sadden, as if all the weight of guilt in the world had been absorbed into her own chest. This was her fault after all, it was her wish that had torn her from her sister.
Elsa and Anna had also felt a tinge of heartache from Hannah's story of her childhood with her sister. What they wouldn't have given to have those kinds of memories of their own.
Kristoff, sensing the bitterness of the situation, spoke up finally. "I think we should all get some shut eye, we have a few long weeks ahead of us. Plus, I think we're bothering the harvesters, they're trying to sleep." He remarked, becoming aware of the twenty five or so other men in nearby bunks clearing their throats irritatedly.
"Agreed, hopefully the girls can sleep tonight feeling safe, because I fear the day will come when that won't be the case." Benji muttered, looking over at Hannah and Jess protectively as he laid his head down on the hand-sewn pillow.
Late into the night, Elsa shifted around uncomfortably due to the fact she was not accustomed to sleeping in the presence of so many strangers.
Her head filled with thoughts of what had become of her kingdom in her absence. Did her people think she abandoned them? In a way she supposed she had.
Elsa was not the kind of person to turn her back on her responsibilities to her kingdom, especially for two people she barely knew. Garth's words resided in her head, much like in Hannah's, but for Elsa they had a different connotation. 'They will be our undoing! Mark my words they don't belong here!' His booming voice across the ravine echoed in her mind.
For a split second, and only a second, the thought crossed Elsa's mind that she could turn them over to Sir Garth and he would rid them of this universe. The world would be saved and she could return to Arendelle with her family, with everything just as it was.
As quickly as it came though, the notion left Elsa, causing her to feel more ashamed than she had ever felt. How could she ever do a thing like that? They were her friends now, and she protected her friends.
Abruptly, her guilt increased tenfold as she became aware of something. Elsa's heart broke as she overheard from on top of Hannah's bunk, the barely audible sounds of suppressed sobs.