Jack held his hand up to Elsa's hand, skipping in a circle before separating again. "Don't you think it's a bit weird?"
"Weird is too extreme. You're just a bit clumsy and you haven't had any practice."
"Wait, what!?"
"Aren't we talking about dancing?"
Jack stared at the queen. She looked confused, but Jack thought he saw a spark of amusement in her eyes. "You're joking. I think."
"A queen never jokes; it would be undignified. Now, what do you think is weird?"
"This dance, it feels…empty. It's so slow and sometimes we're facing blank space instead of each other. It just doesn't make sense."
"That's probably because the dance is incomplete. It's a polska."
"Yes…of course a polta. I should have known."
"A polska. The one we're doing now is fairly common at formal gatherings; however it's usually done in groups of four."
"Then why are we doing it! It's certainly not helping with my training."
"Your training?"
"These dances are supposed to help me be a better guard."
"The polska isn't a very good dance for that. Have you really not done anything to help your training?"
Jack blushed. "It did help the first few times. I got incredibly sore."
"What dance were you doing? It must have been dreadful."
"The waltz."
Elsa laughed. "The waltz! If you got sore doing the waltz you really shouldn't be complaining about this dance being too easy."
"It's not that the waltz was hard. I think I got sore from having two dance an extra hour on top of all the training. I wasn't used to not having a break!"
"That does make sense, but I still prefer the idea of you just being obscenely out of shape." Elsa nibbles on her lip and Jack became fascinated by a nearby tapestry. He'd never noticed how ferocious the dragon was. "You'd probably be better off cranking the music box instead of Stick."
Jack glanced at Stick. No matter how easy it was to crank, after half an hour it would get exhausting. Of course Stick looked just as collected as he had when they'd started.
"Do you think he's tired?" Clearly Elsa was having the same worries.
Jack shrugged, "He's the head of the guard; I'm not sure he gets tired."
"Maybe he's just better at hiding it."
"If he's not stopping is there anything we can do."
Elsa looked at Stick and stopped dancing. Jack almost collided with her, steadying himself with a hand on her arm. She glanced at him and he stood back up, quickly adjusting his shirt.
"Nelson I'm feeling a bit tired; it's been a long day. Could we just take a little break?"
"Of course your majesty, take as much time as you need."
Elsa nodded and began to walk away.
Jack caught up to her. "Now what?"
"Now we take a break."
"What are we supposed to do on a break?"
"Are you unfamiliar with the concept? One generally relaxes and gains back whatever energy they have lost. I'm going to the balcony."
"I know what a break is." Jack hoped he didn't sound too defensive.
"Good, I was worried Stick was working you a bit too hard."
"What makes you think he isn't?"
She smiled and pushed open the glass doors. "If it's too hard I can probably find you a job in the kitchen."
"Being out in the sun is bad enough. I don't need to be surrounded by actual ovens."
"You dislike our climate?"
"Don't take it personally," Jack let the ocean breeze curl around him. "I'm more of a winter spirit."
"I couldn't agree more." Elsa leaned over the wall, "summer's fine, but there's something about a crisp-"
The wind screamed and Jack saw Elsa stumble back falling onto the stones. He dropped to the ground beside her, his stomach flipping when he saw the blood between her fingers.
"What's wrong? Are you okay? Speak to me Elsa! Stay with me!"
"Calm down. It just grazed my arm." She lifted her hand to peer at the wound. "The wind must have thrown them off."
Right, the breeze. Thank god it had been able to save her.
"We should probably move." Elsa staggered to her feet. "Help me get inside."
Jack grabbed her shoulders, trying to shield her from any additional arrows, but the would-be assassin seemed to have vanished.
Stick looked up and immediately ran towards them. "Your majesty what's wrong!"
"Someone tried to shoot me. I'm fine." She waved down his questions. "Try to find who shot me. They seemed to be shooting from above, which means they have to be either in the castle or on the roof. Jack will escort me to the infirmary."
Stick ran off and Jack slipped his shoulder under Elsa's arm. He'd been mere feet away from her and had been unable to do anything. What kind of guardian was he?
…..
Elsa tried not to fidget with the cloth. For impromptu pillow case bandages they were actually quite nice. The fabric was just a little too stiff to be comfortable and that color! She'd never seen the appeal in orange. Anna seemed to feel some comradeship with it and had scattered it throughout the castle. Elsa had tried again and again to explain that Anna's hair wasn't actually orange, just a slightly reddish brown, but Anna refused to listen.
The curtain lifted and Jack appeared. "The doctor should be here any second with bandages and water. How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine; it's just a little graze." Thank goodness the wind had helped her out. This could have been considerably worse. "Thank you for your help. Where did you learn to make bandages?"
"I used to live on a farm; my parents taught me to be prepared."
"Really? You don't strike me as a farm boy."
"Your majesty!" The doctor burst through the curtain. "So sorry I'm late I was just helping someone who had the flu. Vomit everywhere absolutely foul. Now I have bandages in my bag, where's the injury?"
"You were just helping someone with the flu?" Jack had moved to block the doctor from the bed.
"Yes, that's what I just said. Now if you don't mind-"
"I don't suppose you've washed your hands."
"Why would I do that? Please would you-"
"It would be such a shame to deprive that patient of the excellent care you give for a little scratch. Isn't that right El-your majesty?"
Elsa looked at her arm. "It really isn't that bad. They probably need you more."
"I just happen to have um trained under a….um a… traveling medic so I know how to bind up wounds. Just leave the supplies with me." Jack slipped off the bag, "and you and your germs can just go back to that lovely little patient."
The doctor stammered a few dismayed complaints as Jack pushed him through the curtain, but he left without too much of a fuss.
Elsa looked at Jack, "Do you really think the other patient was that poorly off?"
"I wasn't worried about him."
"What?"
"Let's see what we have in here." He pulled out a roll of bandage and peered back in the bag. He gave a delighted cry and emerged with a bottle. "Apparently your doctor has rum. Terrible for the other patients, but delightful for us."
Jack grabbed the rum and bandage and walked over the Elsa injured arm. He lifted off the bandage gently, but it still pulled on the skin. Elsa tried not to wince, but she still saw Jack glance at her with concern. He set the orange cloth to the side and Elsa glared at the wound in her arm. It wasn't deep; not even exposed the bone, but the exposed fleshy layer of her skin looked unnatural.
"This is going to sting." Jack lifted the rum and poured it over her arm.
At first the cool liquid was a relief, but it began to sting. Elsa curled over as Jack quickly wrapped her arm with the fresh cloth.
"There all better. I'm sorry I couldn't help more. It's not exactly like you guys have penicillin lying around."
"What's penisilin?"
"It's…um a fungus?"
"What would we do with a fungus?"
"It helps treat injuries. It's really great; it can get rid of a fever kill an infection."
"Why doesn't you country sell it to us if it's so useful?" This mushroom could save lives. Why wasn't it being grown in earnest.
"That's…ah…because…"
"What country did you say you come from again?" Elsa knew nothing about this guard and yet he'd seen her at one of her weaker moments.
He thought for a moment, before speaking. "The…ah…the Southern Islands."
That made more sense. Why would the Southern Isles want to give their potential enemies such an amazing mushroom? She'd have to talk to the prince about this.
Still the guard had seemed nice. He clearly knew how helpful the fungus would be, so why hadn't he told her about it from the beginning. Elsa knew she wasn't being rational, but she sat up and tucked her hair back. "Thank you for your help. You can leave."
"What? Are you sure? I could-"
"Please leave I wish to sleep."
"If you're sure," the guard gave her a skeptical look before turning away.
Elsa curled up, as his footsteps faded away. A dull pain twisted her stomach and she wasn't sure if she should blame the assassin or the guard.