Two weeks had passed since Jack had met his new friend. In that time he'd left the castle only once. He'd circled the world while she slept, brought the snow where it was needed. He raced the sun to be back in Arendelle before sunrise. By far these had been the most interesting two weeks of his lengthy existence. Jack lay curled on the window seat as soft pinks and golds painted the sky. He has slept for a few hours but mostly now he spent most of his time watching over Elsa.
The first morning she'd sat upright in bed like the branches a spring sapling, tight but wavering. Her long platinum hair had come free from its braid and her headband lay on the ground where his winds had whipped it the night before. "Jack?" She asked, looking around the corners of the room the sun had yet to touch. Her voice was soft, high, and fearful.
Slow to wake, Jack had started on his way to the piano as soon as she spoke. Before he arrived though, her tone took on more urgency. "Jack!" She questioned again, voice barely above a whisper but tense as a drawn bow.
The fear in her voice roused Jack and he hurried to the piano, playing high notes with the tip of his staff even before he reached the bench. She let out an audible sigh of relief. "I thought you were a dream!" She told him, kicking off the covers and heading for her side of the piano bench.
The grin on Jacks face was wider than it had ever been, flashing perfect polar white teeth to an invisible audience. He laughed to himself. Not a chance… He played low notes on the piano.
Elsa's face lit up. "Can you stay with me for a while?"
High notes.
"Good!" She chuckled. "You're like the guardian angels my mom tells me about!"
Guardian angel? Well…..I can live with that. Jack smiled. Nothing will happen to you while I'm here. I guess that does make me a guardian angel in a way…
There was a knock on the door and it swung open violently. A regal looking woman wearing her hair in a braided bun and dressed in scarlet robes frowned at it in disapproval. "Oops…" She glared as if it had been the doors fault. Jack chuckled at the juxtaposition of her authority and utter lack of grace. She was clearly the mother of the strawberry blond child from the kitchen.
"Elsa honey, it's time for breakfast." She smiled and walked over to hug the blond girl.
Jack frowned. Elsa was smiling at her mother. The expression was genuine. She truly loved her. For some reason though, the child stiffened the moment her mother touched her. "Good morning mother." The grin more tempered than the ones he'd seen her wear last night.
"5 minutes Elsa, I mean it. Your father is leaving for Weaseltown this afternoon and you'll want to see him before he goes." With that the queen left the room, the faintest scent of roses in her wake.
Elsa let out a sigh, as if she'd been holding her breath.
Jack played a few discordant notes, signaling confusion.
"I'm just scared I'll hurt her…" Elsa breathed deeply, running a hand through the length of her hair. "It's kind of a long story but we'll have time after breakfast." She stood and started toward a bureau. Jack averted his eyes and fingered the intricate curvature of his staff until her heard the fabric stop rustling. "Ready to go?" Elsa chirped and he turned to see her standing in the doorway, hair pushed back with a headband in a blue dress. Her hands were pushed into wrist length white gloves.
Jack played three high notes and followed her down the hallway to the dining room. He almost leapt into flight when the strawberry blond from last night rocketed out of one of the hallway doors. She was on Elsa in seconds, walking beside her, close as a second shadow and beaming smiles and joy from her bright blue eyes, only three or four shades lighter than her sisters.
"Morning!" She smiled.
Elsa gave her a carefully measured smile. Jack noticed she walked a little more rigidly with her sister around. "Good morning Anna."
"Are we going to play today? Mom read me a story last night all about these things called sprites and it said that they can live in water and I was thinking that we could go look for them by the pond and then we cou-"
"Maybe later Anna, we haven't even had breakfast yet."
Jack frowned. So did Anna.
He watched them eat breakfast. It was a pleasant meal. Elsa's father talked about his plans for Weaseltown. Her mother discussed the possibility of attending a ball in a neighboring kingdom with the girls. Anna chattered happily about various topics ranging from how she felt about her tutoring to the possibility of water sprites. Elsa smiled and nodded in all the right places. She complimented the food and talked to her mother about needing new dresses because they were getting too tight. Her mother agreed that she was growing taller very quickly and needed a change. It was a pleasant family meal Jack supposed. He had never seen four people who loved each other so deeply and yet left so much unsaid.
Elsa brought some bread back with her to her bedroom and closed the tall wooden door. She pulled home the lock behind her and immediately breathed out a sigh.
Jack played questioning notes.
Elsa let out a loud sigh and sank to the ground; tilting her head back against the door and pulling her small legs close to her body. Then she told Jack the story of how she'd hurt Anna. He listened with rapt attention. She was crying when she finished. One finger traced circles of ice on the hardwood floors of the room.
Jack wouldn't have known what to say even if he could have spoken to her. He walked over to where she sat and sunk down with her. He whipped the wind around her gently, pushing in just slightly, hoping to simulate the feeling of a hug. He didn't know what to tell her but he saw now why she was so reserved.
"I just don't want to hurt her again…I don't want to hurt any of them." Elsa whispered.
Jack wanted to tell her that she wouldn't. "Oh Elsa…..I'm sorry." He intoned.
Of course she was having trouble with her powers. She was scared of them! No one had ever taught her how to control them. Jack thought about how hard it would have been on him if he hadn't had his staff and the Man in the Moon. He wondered if maybe Elsa just needed a staff. Even if her lack of staff wasn't the problem, there had to be a way for her to control her powers.
As if she could hear his thoughts Elsa tugged absentmindedly at her glove. "These are the only things that make it any better. The only thing keeping me from hurting my family is a stupid piece of fabric…" Her voice broke.
Jack walked over to the piano and played low notes. No.
Maybe the gloves had been the only thing before. But now, in all his two decades he had never met a girl like this. She was so strong for being so young. Jack knew better than anyone the pain that comes with isolation and she was bringing it upon herself every single day that she spent locked in this room to protect her sister. It had to be killing her.
"Don't worry Elsa." Jack said, voice determined. "I'm going to teach you."
After that the lessons had begun. It had been hard at first to teach her without being able to speak but they had worked out a system. He would lead and she would try to replicate whatever he'd done. Jack wasn't quite sure how to teach someone to control their magic but he knew the way was not to pretend it didn't exist. He thought maybe if she could find the limit to her power it would help her a little, but thus far they hadn't hit a wall.
It wasn't all lessons though. Jack played for her. He taught her countless songs. She had a good ear for it and she picked things up quickly. They spent some time reading. They would read on the piano bench and he'd press a key when he was finished with a page. It was strange, the way the rules of the world bent for his friendship with her. It had always been that he could interact with any physical object unless doing so gave away his presence in an identifying way. Even though he could have held the book without her there, the fact that Elsa acknowledged him being there somehow prevented him from doing certain things. He had tried a few times to let her know who he was. He'd played a song for her that her people had had about him a hundred years ago, hoping she would connect her Jack to Jack Frost. She didn't know the song or make the connection. He was beginning to think she never would. Even so, it was still a good friendship. He looked forward to the waking of his little snowflake.
He leaned his head against the wall by the window seat and closed his eyes for a moment. This is what it feels like to have a friend.