************AUTHOR'S NOTE*************
Thank you everyone for your support of my story! However, don't expect really frequent updates. They will be pretty sporadic since I have no idea where I'm going with my story and am sometimes so busy that I can barely find time to write. But, don't worry, I won't abandon it for good. Thanks!
"Come with me," Jack took Elsa's hand in one and his staff in the other and led her through the window, outside the castle, and into the forest.
Spring had just ended, the flowers closed for the night and the smell of fresh green grass filled the air. Elsa stared. She had only had her frozen bedroom walls to look at for so long, she was silenced by the beauty of oncoming summer, even in the dark. Trees spread their roots far and wide and touched the sky with their branches, covered in new leaves, ready to bloom. She looked down to her feet at the soft grass that covered the forest floor. It was covered in a thin layer of ice. The path where they had walked had a new icy veil, reflecting the moonlight on the tree trunks around them. It quickly melted in the warm summer air.
"So this is what summer is," she said. She had only experienced warmth a handful of times in her life.
"I prefer winter, personally," Jack replied. "Now, pick up that stick."
He pointed to a small branch on the ground nearby.
"Show me what you can do."
"Did you not see that happening?" Elsa gestured behind them the way they came. The existence of ice was still visible closest to them. "I did that. But I didn't mean to."
"I see," Jack gestured to a fallen tree to their left. "Kick it."
"But I'll hurt myself."
"Well don't kick it that hard, then," Jack rolled his eyes.
It had been so long since Jack had dealt with teenagers. Though he looked like one himself, he had adopted the wisdom and maturity of a Guardian, but still kept his boyish charm and wit.
Elsa walked towards the fallen tree with icy footsteps. She glanced back at Jack and tapped the trunk with her toe. A layer of ice began to form, beginning at the point of contact, wrapping around and then up and down the trunk, stretching to the branches. Within thirty seconds, the entire tree had a beautiful icy covering, glistening out of place in the summer night scene. She touched the ice with her ungloved hands and the ice turned to thick snow. Elsa sculpted the snow, making flurries when she needed, placing them artistically throughout the bark of the tree. When she was done, she took a step back and looked at her finished work. It looked as if a winter storm had just hit, snow fallen naturally on the fallen tree.
"Well?" she looked at Jack, not knowing what to expect.
Jack was leaning on his staff in a daze. He had never actually seen what he did before and had no idea how it looked to others. The last time he had watched her do this with such freedom and gaiety was when she was born. When Jack had saved her. Those first few moments of life, when baby Elsa was carefree and powerful, making snow flurries at will. And, to look at her now, all grown up, making winter, took Jack's breath away.
He had never seen anyone do anything so beautiful. In that instant, Jack fell in love with winter all over again.