Chapter 3
El couldn't sleep that night. She had closed her eyes in the hopes that Anna would fall asleep quickly, which of course, she did. Her injuries were too severe to resist sleep. El scolded herself for ever taking her back to the cottage.
She had been nearly five miles away from her home, looking for berries and other fruits to harvest. The valleys surrounding her cottage were barer than usual, so she had to travel further to get them. She had found Anna in an unconscious heap at the bottom of a cliff. She knew that the cliff was a short distance from Arendelle Castle, but the girl was dressed in casual clothing and she didn't think anything of it. She knew at once that she would need extensive medical attention, and had rolled her onto her back to check the damage. El could tell from the acute angle the girl's knee was resting that it was a clean break. Her arm was also twisted behind her, and El quickly popped the shoulder joint back into place while she was unconscious. Better to do it then than when she was awake. She felt the girl's ribs and checked her breathing, and made the decision to carry her back to the cottage.
She had thrown the girl over her shoulder and made the five mile trek back relatively easily, and laid her out on the bed to begin cleaning. She cleaned the dried blood and dirt from the girl's face. El slowed her actions as her face became clearer. She felt like she knew her. She also felt that this strange girl was one of the most beautiful she had ever seen.
Her hair was was the color of a slow burning fire, freckles dusted across her face like embers. After cleaning around the corner of her mouth with the edge of the washcloth, El could even see three scattered across her smooth lips. El had taken in a long, shuddering breath to stall the skipped heartbeats in her chest. She had turned to get a clean washcloth from the closet, and that had been when Anna woke.
El rolled to her side and looked at the sleeping girl. Now she knew who she was. Anna Arnadalr, Princess of the kingdom of Arendelle. Of course. The one time she finds someone nearly dead at the bottom of a cliff, it had to be royalty. And it had to be her, of all people. El wished that she had dropped her off at the stoop of someone else's doorstep the minute she felt that sense of familiarity.
She was stuck with her now, and at least Anna didn't know who she was. All she had to do was get her healed and return her to the castle. Simple enough.
After nearly two and half hours of restlessness, El fell asleep.
Anna woke with more pain than she had felt the previous day. She felt sure for a moment that her shoulder was on fire, and gasped from the waves of stinging. Her head was pounding and she could feel that she was in a cold sweat. It seemed like a brick wall was placed on her chest.
She took in another sharp breath and choked out El's name. El jerked awake and after a moment of grogginess, jumped to her feet at the sight of the tears streaming down Anna's face. "What's wrong?"
"Sh..shoulder," Anna panted, face seizing into a tight grimace.
El peeled away Anna's shirt and felt panic rise in her chest. Anna's shoulder was stark red, the entry wound of a branch El had removed raised and angry. "Shit." A piece of wood must have lodged itself in the wound and El had missed it. She put her hand over Anna's forehead and confirmed that she had a very high fever to accompany her infection. Anna, through her haze, nearly groaned in relief from the coolness of El's hand, but it was quickly removed when she rushed to the kitchen.
El pulled an herbal medicine mixture from the cabinet, sat on the side of the bed, and coated the wound with it. Anna hissed from the sting, but over the following moments began to relax as the mix cooled the wound and began to disinfect it. El reached for the washcloth, meaning to put it on Anna's forehead, but Anna yanked her wrist and put El's hand there instead. El's balance was thrown, her free hand landing next to Anna's head. There faces were close enough for El to feel Anna's puff of breath, and she quickly pulled away, still leaving her hand in place. She only then realized that she had taken Anna's shirt off, the princess now left only in a black bra. El watched her chest rise and fall for a moment, noting that her freckles continued over her shoulders and down to the curve of her breasts.
She quickly turned her head, hand still covering Anna's forehead. "Would you like a clean shirt?"
Anna shook her head. "I am way too hot to have a shirt on right now. And your hand is going to stay right where it is for a little bit. It feels amazing! I can't believe your hands are this cold in the middle of summer." Anna closed her eyes and couldn't see El bite her lower lip.
Anna's breathing finally slowed to a regular pace and after several minutes, she fell back asleep. El removed her hand and replaced it with a washcloth, taking the opportunity to replace bandages on her shoulder and ribs. She checked that the makeshift brace she had put on Anna's leg was still in place, and threw a light blanket over her unclothed torso.
El ran her hand through her hair. She needed some space from Anna. She grabbed a change of clothes and walked down to the river to clean herself.
