Elsa has a cool head, it's the only thing stopping her from immediately jumping after her sister. No, instead she shouts for a guard to get out of his armour and fish her Anna out. She hasn't swam in thirteen years but that's beside the point. The heart of the matter is that she radiates cold when stressed, and right now she most definitely is stressed, she would encase herself in ice the moment she touched the water. She most likely couldn't get Anna out of this by herself anyway, she can't swim well enough for that. She would give her life up if it meant saving Anna but she knows she would fail here.
So she stands on the bridge, intently watching the water, all the while feeling her self control wearing out, when someone finally dives into the bay's waters. And then another. A dockworker, sailor maybe. She hears snickering to her side and sharply glares at the islander kneeling beside the halfway undressed guard. Cold rage fills her and she says to his escort.
"Stop. You have a criminal to handle."
"Yes my queen." He stops unbuckling his cuirass and grabs the prince by his collar to hold him in place.
"Know this, if my sister suffers because of this, you will face consequences." She addresses Hans, who looks positively taken aback.
"I've done nothing, she threw herself off the-"
"You've assaulted the princess, heir to the throne of Arendelle. In addition to attempted murder. Silence yourself or I will." She spits out. She has morbid thoughts sometimes, like what would happen were she to freeze someone's tongue, bad thoughts, oh so tempting to entertain now.
The prisoner is not an idiot, deceitful and ruthless? Yes, in addition to intelligent, so he keeps quiet after being given the command to do so. For which Elsa is thankful, to the world, not him. She turns back to watch the water, crosses hands and waits, and waits. She sees someone emerging from the depths and her heartbeat quickens in anticipation. But it is not Anna who arrives above water, just one of the men who has jumped after her all the while more people arrive to see what's the commotion about. Elsa begins her breathing exercise when she notices that the poles reaching into the water are freezing underneath her feet and it's snowing around her. It isn't really working right now so she starts pacing. It never really helps either but it's better than just standing and doing nothing.
The two divers emerge again, again without her sister. Elsa is slowly beginning to panic and she bites at her knuckle, hard, as to clear her mind. Keep it together Elsa, if you freeze the water (again) then it will be you who kill Her, them.
And she can't go on without Her. They were only truly reunited a week ago and Elsa knows full well that without her sibling she will certainly loose her mind. It would be the sickest joke that the world ever has played on her were Anna to just drown. She shut herself away from the world for her, she broke her promise to their parents to avoid Anna for her. Yes she does love Arendelle and its people but it is not them that she lives for. All Elsa really has is her sister and her love, never wavering, forever there, no matter what. All she wants is to be able to show that she loves Anna as well, damn the consequences and damn her own useless, accursed body for refusing her wish.
She wonders sometimes if her... jumpiness along with her powers are some sort of divine punishment for her feelings, as to never be able to touch the one she loves. But if Anna is to be hurt because of that...
It is when the two men come back for the third time that they surface with Anna in their arms. Pale Anna, pale from cold and not breathing. She hears murmurs from the crowd but pays it no notice. Her whole world existing only around the unmoving figure in the water, painfully slowly coming towards the bridge, her mind blank as an empty page. She is rudely broken out of her trance when she feels a hand on her shoulder and instinctively bolts away from it. She gives a questioning stare at the guard who did it.
"Excuse me for saying so Your Majesty but maybe it would be for the best if you move away from the princess." Elsa continues to look at him blankly and finally takes notice of his shivering, along with the frost now covering her surroundings. Her mind catches on to what the man said and in spite of herself, gives a small nod. The guard is up for a promotion, respectful and audacious enough to point out she needs to stay clear of the situation lest she worsens it, good man. She really needs to stay away until she calms down some as to not sap whatever warmth is left in Anna's body out of it.
She hates it. She knows it must be so but she absolutely loathes it. She clenches her fists and dejectedly takes couple steps back. She tries to give herself an estimate of how long has She been underwater and reassures herself that yes, it was in fact too short to drown. Unless Anna can't hold hear breath for at least two minutes, then her time underwater would be dangerously close to causing lasting damage. Elsa knows she can though, she bragged about it often enough, making a game of who can hold air in longer, herself or Snowflake. She's always lost.
The queen watches on as the sailor/worker place her sister on planks and check for the life signs then proceeds with a heart massage. The near silence is eerie, it reminds her too much of a certain event only couple days back. Bad thoughts, better leave them behind. Most people in the bay seem to think their princess dead, sobbing quietly, not understanding the strange procedure that is being performed on her. Elsa feels she is going crazy by doing nothing, she has to do something, anything or she will loose it again. Something to help.
If she keeps her attention on Anna she will cause a blizzard at the very least.
"Get a medic from the castle as fast as you can, double time!" She addresses the soon to be promoted guard. A level headed messenger is who she needs right now.
"Yes my queen." He acknowledges his orders and without a delay, runs off.
"You-" She turns to the one who is holding Hans down "-get him back to his cell and get someone to clear the way for royal medic, if the crowd tries to lynch your prisoner, don't risk your health for him."
"You can't!" and "Yes my queen." She hears them say simultaneously. Along with a cough.
A cough.
She sharply turns around to see Anna trying to empty her lungs out of everything inside, including the organs themselves if the sound is anything to go by. Elsa can physically feel relief flooding her chest, along with heaviness overtaking her body, as if she just ran a mile. She doesn't indulge though, there are things to do.
"Would someone get her something dry to wear, and clear the bridge, she needs some space." She addresses the crowd (which seems to be both in awe and filled with relief), what did the book say? Well what does common sense say? Get rid of the soaked clothes, get her warm and pass the rest to the doctor. He will know what to do.
She approaches her exhausted sister and kneels beside her, she briefly wonders how do other people act in situations like this, hug? She gives her thanks to Anna's rescuers and focuses on the younger girl. A guard is helping her sit, looking vaguely uncomfortable with his role.
"Anna? How do you feel?"
"C-cold, dizzy... where's... Snowflake?" she's having problems with breathing, still coughing in between words. And where is that accursed toy anyway? Ah, there, an ear and an arm sticking out from under the girl's vest. Elsa yanks it out and presents the blasted thing to her sister.
"Okay... good. Sorry for... that, I'm not feeling... too well. Can you carry him... for now?"
"Of course, don't worry. But Anna, we have to get you changed into something dry okay?"
She is given a unintelligible muttering as an answer. Elsa hopes it's just drowsiness, not a sign of yet another disaster in waiting.
"Come on Anna, it's for your own good. Or do you want to be confined to bed when you catch a fever?" She will be ill anyway but she doesn't know that, yet.
"Okay," Anna responds weakly. A woman approaches them with a blanket and a dress in her hands. Elsa forcibly smiles at her as she stands up and gives her thanks along with a promise of paying her back as she takes said items from her. She looks around and motions to the ship that was supposed to ship Hans back to the Southern Isles.
"Alright, help her up." She waits to see if Anna can stand on her own, which she only kind of does. "Help her get on the deck, she needs some privacy." She goes first, carrying the clothes and leading the way. The captain of the ship vacates his cabin when he sees Elsa and the soaked, trembling princess.
"That's it for now, get out and wait for the medic to arrive, lead him here." She orders the guard when he sits Anna on the bed. She then puts the bundle and Snowflake which she holds in her arms, on the bunk and turns to her sister after hearing the door being closed behind the leaving man.
"Go on, we have to get you changed. Turn around." She does so without a word and Elsa forces herself to unlace Anna's vest, she ignores the prickling sensation in her fingers and reins in her breathing. Now is not the time, think of nothing, you've done this a thousand times for yourself, just act, don't think.
Should she stress over her own sensations she will just freeze the dress solid. Something she would preferably avoid.
"Anna," she starts as she took the vest away from the girl's arms "Don't ever scare me like that again, please."
"I had to, I couldn't just let him drown, I- I can't- I..." She goes into another coughing fit. Never finishing what she has meant to say, maybe she didn't mean to say anything.
Elsa only waits for her to stop and then continues unlacing Anna's dress. Her cheeks go pink when it slides down from her body and she sees the younger girl nearly completely exposed. She averts her eyes and picks up the fallen clothing, only now noticing that Anna has lost her shoes, in the bay's waters most likely. She hangs the dress on a nearby chair and feels her heart flutter when she sets her eyes on her sister. Her exposed skin is coloured pink, slowly regaining its usual tone. Her wet hair unruly, sticking out from her braids. Her underthings transparent in their water ruined state. Her face delightfully red as she bashfully averts her eyes whilst trying to cover herself with her arms, not really doing great job of it. For the first time in forever the blonde feels her face literally burn.
Elsa knows she is staring, Anna does too. The older sibling gulps feeling decidedly awkward.
"Um, I- uh, maybe, maybe I should just... let you finish by yourself." She says as she makes for a hasty retreat from the cabin. She's not sure she's supposed to leave her but she knows she has to, before this becomes plain embarrassing for them both. She hides her red face in her hands, trying to cool it as she leans on the railing, waiting for the medic's arrival. He is making his way through the port, along with couple assistants at this very moment, she notes.
Elsa sighs heavily, feeling calmer now that he's here. Anna is safe now, everything is going to be alright. He will take care of Her... why is she suddenly feeling so very tired?
Her legs give out as she finally succumbs to exhaustion.
This was hell to write. Just so you guys know.
Revised on 11.04.2015