Chapter 7 – Vets are better than Doctors

Next chapter is ready, and I've even planned the rest of the story. Woohoo. And for everyone wondering about Sven, hopefully this chapter will put your minds at ease.

Despite the fact that she was exhausted, sleep did not come easily.

Elsa woke up only a few hours after falling asleep, because her arm was throbbing, and when she tried to move it into a more comfortable position she realised her back was throbbing too. And when she rolled over in frustration (and regret, when the fabric of the blankets pulled against her wounded back) she nearly rolled onto Anna.

Elsa sat up, wincing, feeling even worse than she had in the last few weeks. She sent a slightly annoyed look at Anna, and observed that her sister was apparently practicing sleep yoga.

One of Anna's arms was flung above her head, the other contorted in a peculiar shape which pointed her elbow at the ceiling. Her legs were facing two different directions, and her hair was standing on end. Clearly she was having a restless night.

Elsa eased herself off the bed, finding all her muscles sore and stiff. Her left arm didn't want to cooperate. She went to the window, and stared outside.

All traces of the storm had gone. There was only a light falling of snow, coating an otherwise peaceful city.

Elsa wrapped her arms around her stomach, feeling thoroughly battered. She wanted to go back to sleep, but something told her that wasn't going to work. Also, Anna was snoring.

Elsa wandered out of the castle, and paused to look at the damage done by Weselton's men. There was still a massive patch of blood near the castle, with three arrows scattered around it.

After Elsa's initial break down, following the murder of two people, she had managed to get herself together enough to whisper a few orders about finding any casualties, and helping anyone who was hurt. Kristoff had been unconscious, but Anna had insisted that someone had to find Sven, because that's where he was supposed to be before the whole attack started.

When two palace guards came up to her, they had mumbled in low voices that Sven was outside, and they weren't sure if he was dead or not, but they were leaning towards the former. Anna had nearly collapsed at the news and barked at them to find a vet, or ten vets, and the absolute best vet, and do anything they could to save him, if he wasn't already dead.

Anna knew Kristoff wouldn't leave Sven if the reindeer needed him, so she was afraid that the deer might have passed away after the attack. But she hadn't been brave enough to go outside and find out for herself.

Now, Elsa stood quietly next to the patch of blood, wondering how much was there, and how much blood a reindeer could stand to lose before it died. And then she realised that no one had actually confirmed Sven's death, and she continued on her way to the stables.

There were still lanterns burning inside the stables, and Elsa opened the door just enough to squeeze inside. A few horses snorted in surprise, clearly not expecting to see another visitor at this time of night. There was more light coming from a stable near the back of the building.

Elsa hesitated, then went towards it and peered inside.

The three people inside immediately looked up, and one scrambled to his feet. He was a small man, barely taller than Elsa herself, with black hair hidden under a woollen cap and soothing eyes. "Your majesty, I didn't expect to see you here."

"Is the reindeer dead?" Elsa asked quietly, looking at the animal laying on the stable floor.

Sven was on his side on a thick bed of straw, immobile and quiet, eyes closed. Elsa couldn't see if he was breathing. The other two men inside the stable were working on his wounds.

"Not yet," the man replied. "We've sent out a search for another reindeer for a blood transfusion. We're hoping it won't take too long to find one. He won't last much longer. But Princess Anna said we must do everything we can."

Elsa nodded.

"My Queen, if I may mention it," the man hesitated, "You don't look like you've seen a doctor since the attack."

"Not really," Elsa admitted. She kept her eyes on Sven, hoping to see his sides rise and fall, but he was so still. Could he really still be alive?

"My name is Ace," the man said, "I'm the best veterinarian around. While I'm waiting for reindeer blood, there's not much else I can do here. Would you like me to have a look at your arm?"

"You're a vet?" Elsa wasn't too keen on anyone having a look at her, let alone someone not even trained in human medicine.

"The principles are the same," Ace replied. He looked too young to be the best vet around. He pushed the little wooden stool he had been sitting on against the wall of the stable. "Please, sit down."

It did seem like a good idea to sit, seeing as Elsa's legs were protesting having to hold her up after everything else that had happened that day. She settled on the stool, straight backed and refusing to lean back in case the wooden wall of the stable scratched at her back.

Ace dropped onto one knee in front of her, and dragged his bag closer. He worked quickly, and skilfully, gently taking her hand and turning her arm until the wound was clearly visible. Elsa had to resist the urge to snatch her limb away; the only people she was comfortable touching were Anna and Kai, but Ace was calm and professional.

"Tell me if I hurt you," he murmured, never once taking his eyes off her arm.

"It's fine."

"You're a lot easier than most of my patients. The last female I worked on tried to kick me in the head."

Elsa was too tired to be offended. She was almost dozing off when Ace spoke again.

"And what about the injury to your back?"

"My what?" Elsa blinked at him. "I didn't tell you . . ."

Ace grinned, and he looked even younger when he did. "I can tell by the way you were moving. Animals don't talk remember, so if I want to know what's wrong with them, I need to know how they should move. I've got a bit of a keen eye for injuries."

Elsa waited for him to continue.

"When you walked in here, I could see that your left arm was bothering you. Also, there's a problem on your back from your right scapula to your mid back. And you're favouring your right leg slightly."

That had been the knee which had taken the brunt of her fall up the stairs.

"Am I right?"

"Yes."

"So," Ace said, "Perhaps an injury so severe as to cause limited movement should be seen to?"

Elsa smiled at him, feeling much more at ease. "Yeah."

Anna was surprised again to find Elsa beside her when she woke up. She was even more surprised to see Elsa's arm was bandaged, and was unable to hide her shock.

"Elsa!" Woops. Inside voice.

Elsa nearly jumped out of her skin when Anna shouted right next to her ear. A poof of snowflakes appeared in the room, and she panicked for a second, wondering if something was wrong.

Then she saw Anna's disbelieving face, framed by wild red hair, and relaxed. "Um . . . is everything okay?"

"Who sorted your arm out?" Anna grabbed Elsa's wrist and yanked her arm up, inspecting the bandage. "Were you up all night?"

"I had to check on some things."

"Did you check on Kristoff? You obviously went to the infirmary."

Elsa felt her cheeks colour slightly, and prayed Anna wouldn't notice.

"Oh my gosh you're blushing what happened tell me!" Anna belted that out without any punctuation.

Elsa automatically drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "It's not what you think."

"I think you-" Anna stopped herself from blurting out something inappropriate. "Uh . . . I mean, you're right, it's probably not what I think. What was it? Is Kristoff okay?"

"I don't know," Elsa admitted. "I went to the stables."

"Oh." Anna's face fell. "Oh. Sven?"

"He . . . he was still alive when I left."

"He was?" Anna perked up again. "Oh, fantastic! Kristoff will be so happy. But that doesn't answer my first question.

"One of the vets did it," Elsa mumbled.

"Oh really?"

"What's with that tone of voice?"

"Nothing," Anna said innocently. "It's just you. Don't like people. You wouldn't let the nurse help you, odd that you would get this vet you just met and don't know to- oh my gosh was he a man?"

"What are you implying?"

"It is true love?"

"Anna, he's a vet. He was just doing his job."

"Doing you is his job, huh?" Anna wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Wink, wink, nudge, nudge."

Elsa didn't know what that meant, but knowing Anna it was probably lewd. "We have much more important things to focus on today."

"Nice subject change."

Conversations with Anna were always trying, and this one was no different.

Elsa stood up, slowly, because she still felt like she'd had a castle dropped on her.

Anna tumbled out of bed as well. "I'll go see Kristoff first, then check on Sven."

"For goodness sake, brush your hair and get dressed first."

"Why? I'm not a Queen." Anna was about to skip out of the room, then paused, looking a bit more subdued than usual. "Um . . ."

Elsa waited, mid-way through reaching for her hair brush.

"Is there still . . . ice in my room?"

Elsa swallowed. "Yes."

"But that's all, right? Just ice. Because ice is okay." But two dead people are not, Anna's pleading eyes added.

"Do you want me to get rid of the ice?" Elsa offered. It seemed like the least she could do, at least erase some of the tangible evidence of what happened yesterday.

"Yes please."

Elsa nodded, and stepped past Anna towards her room. Anna followed behind her, very close, very unlike herself.

Anna's room was still covered in snow and spikes of ice. A few had been broken off, but the majority of the ice was still there. Anna hovered in the doorway, but Elsa stepped inside.

She ran her hand across one jutting spike, almost feeling the fear and desperation in it. Her heart was heavy in her chest, her powers heavy all through her body. This should never have happened. Anna should never have seen this.

The ice didn't vanish as easily as it should have. Elsa found herself struggling to will it away, and as much as she made disappear, little bits appeared in other places around the room. Anna remained tactfully silent as Elsa struggled, but eventually the room was clear.

Elsa's heart and conscience were not. She stayed where she was, in the centre of the room, where Anna had been standing the day before, held in place and at knife point. And remembering that caused a crackle of ice to form around Elsa's feet.

"Elsa?" Anna said softly.

Elsa was surprised to find her sister right next to her, their shoulders touching lightly.

"It wasn't your fault."

"But it was my power." Elsa felt the weight of yesterday crashing onto her again. Absolute, crushing despair at what she had done. She had killed two people! How was she supposed to live with that? How could anyone live with that? And how could anyone see her as anything but a monster, now, when it was so clear that she was one?

Elsa felt her breathing quicken, felt the familiar tightening in her chest, and thought absently, I'm panicking.

She needed to be somewhere else, anywhere else, where there was no one around and where no one would look at her and think there she is. The monster. The murderer.

She turned.

"Elsa, wait!"

"Please don't follow me, Anna. Please."

Anna stayed rooted to the spot. "But, I . . ."

Elsa's blue eyes, bright with unshed tears, locked onto Anna's for a moment, then she ran from the room, leaving Anna standing alone beside a patch of ice.

"I need a horse," Elsa announced, tight-lipped and stoically at the stable door.

No one questioned her, or the fact that since she had approached the stables it had started snowing again. Within moments, a creamy horse was presented, and Elsa climbed aboard.

"No one is to follow me," Elsa narrowed her eyes at everyone standing around, just so the message would be clear. When no one openly objected, Elsa turned the horse for the castle gates, and set off as a brisk trot.

Ace darted out of the stables in time to see the horse and Queen turn through the gates and disappear from sight.

Anna sat quietly next to Kristoff, holding his hand and glancing around the infirmary.

No one paid too much attention to her; there had been a few other people injured as well who were not currently knocked out and required a bit more attention than Kristoff.

"When are you going to wake up?" Anna asked. "The doctor said you should. He also said you're probably concussed. So being awake is a good thing."

Anna didn't know it, but a subconscious part of Kristoff's brain was convinced Sven was dead, and thus he didn't want to wake up, ever again, to face the world without his best friend. But Anna's voice was important too, and Kristoff could feel it drawing him to the surface of consciousness.

"Also, Elsa ran away, and I'm lonely. She said I couldn't follow her. I will, of course, but I've got to make sure you're alright first."

Kristoff scrunched his eyes, trying to wake up, but waking up meant facing the fact that he had the worst head ache ever known to man.

"And compose a letter to the Duke of Weselton telling him that Elsa's gonna kick his ass." Anna felt Kristoff squeeze her hand, and a delighted grin broke out on her face. "Hey, you're back. How's your head?"

Kristoff forced his eyes open. "I've got a thick skull."

"Not any more. The doctor said you might have a skull fracture, considering how hard you hit your head." Anna's smiling face finally came into focus.

Kristoff returned a slight smile. "Hey."

"Hi. Are you thirsty?"

"Yeah." Kristoff's eyes darkened a little. "Um, Anna . . . I . . ."

"Sven's in the stables," Anna guessed. "Elsa saw him last night."

"Is he . . .?"

"He was okay when she saw him. I'll go see him in a minute, and let you know. I just wanted to check on you first."

"He needs me."

"We've got the best vets," Anna assured him. "He's in the best hands."

"Go to him now," Kristoff insisted. "Please? I need to know if he's okay."

Anna nodded. "Okay. Stay here." She rose to her feet, and leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on Kristoff's forehead. "I'll be right back."

The stables were quiet. Anna found two people sitting in the thick straw with Sven. They both stood up when she approached, and bowed.

"Good morning Princess."

"Is he okay?" Anna asked anxiously. It didn't look like Sven was breathing from here.

"Time will tell." Not the most encouraging answer. "We will update you on the situation immediately if it changes."

"Thanks." Anna turned to leave. There was a horse being saddled just outside the stable building, by a young man with black hair mostly hidden under a woollen cap.

He smiled warmly. "Good morning, Princess Anna. The reindeer made it through the night, and I see you did as well."

"Uh . . . yes. Who are you?"

"My name's Ace," the man replied, finishing saddling his horse. "I'm the vet you asked for."

Anna did remember causing a bit of a scene demanding the best vet in Arendelle, no matter where he was or what time it was. "That's you?"

"Yes." He swung aboard the horse. "The reindeer is doing fine at the moment, so I'm just popping out for a minute. My people will inform you if anything changes."

"Yes, they said that. Where are you going?"

"After the Queen."

Anna wasn't expecting that answer. She blinked. "Wait, what? Elsa didn't want anyone to follow her."

"And the mare I had to attend to recently didn't want anyone to touch her, but if I didn't she would have died." Ace flashed his brilliant smile at her again. "Keep well. I'll be back in a few hours."

Anna raised an eyebrow. "Sure."

Ace galloped from the courtyard, leaving Anna mulling. So that must be the vet Elsa saw last night. Who was now following her. Interesting.

Anna shrugged. She would give Ace a few hours, but then she was going after Elsa herself. She was fairly certain Ace wouldn't be able to reason with her.

Elsa had not gone far.

She had only gone far enough into the forest to block out the sight of Arendelle. Her horse stood patiently, swishing its tail occasionally, while Elsa sat under a tree with her head resting on her knees and tears freezing on her face.

Nothing she did could erase the thought of skewering two people. Because she had been out of control. It had been going so well for her lately. Everything was falling into place. Her powers were never out of control anymore.

Until yesterday, and it had resulted in the death of two people. Elsa sobbed again as the thought crossed her mind, and balled her hands into tight fists. Control it. Control it.

But she couldn't. Yesterday had proven that. No matter how hard she tried, she was never going to be able to control her powers. Never. And if she couldn't trust herself, how on earth was she supposed to live her life? She couldn't put Anna in danger again.

She didn't even deserve to have Anna in her life. Her parents had been right to lock her away, like a monster, because that's what she was. What was she supposed to do now? Run away?

The thought was tempting. The other thought was to get rid of her powers, but she didn't know how to do that, or even if it could be done. After all, there was no benefit to having them. She had spent her life proving that. All she had ever managed to do was hurt people.

"Those don't look like very healthy thoughts."

Elsa looked up when she heard Ace's voice, and wiped roughly at her face, scrubbing the tears away.

He dismounted his horse, but stayed a respectable distance away.

"Why did you follow me?" she asked accusingly.

"Whatever you're thinking, it's not good for you."

"How would you know?"

"I told you, animals talk to you with their bodies. And they say a lot if you know what to look for. I can see that whatever you are thinking is making you depressed. You feel angry at yourself, and you're questioning something important."

He got all that from her sitting and sulking under a tree? Elsa turned her head away from him. "Go away."

"Running away isn't the answer." The sound of snow crunching told Elsa that Ace was coming closer.

She remained facing away from him.

"I know you don't like to be touched, so I won't," Ace knelt down, close to her. "But you need to face this."

"I don't have to talk to you."

"I know." Ace stood up again. "You don't have to talk to anyone. But you can't keep all this inside."

It's worked so far.

He started walking back to his horse. "Your sister was looking for you."

"I killed two people."

Ace stopped. Elsa had barely whispered, into her knees, with her eyes closed, but he had heard her. He turned around, and came slowly back to her side.

"I didn't mean to. I couldn't control it."

He sat down next to her, still remaining silent.

"I can't control it. I keep telling myself I can, but I clearly can't. Everyone hates me. I'm a murderer. A monster. Anna shouldn't love me, no one should."

"If I may offer an opinion?"

Elsa shrugged.

"I've seen reindeer gore people because their young were threatened. I've seen horses kick out and mean to do damage because they were scared. I've seen wolves attack because they were cornered and saw no other options. Sometimes, we let our grip on our self-control slip. It doesn't make us monsters. It just means we aren't perfect."

Elsa sniffled.

"Now you're worried because you did actually harm two people. Because you were scared, and cornered, and hurt, and your sister was being threatened. And apparently this storm we had last week was also you, to make sure that everyone was safe. If you ask me, a lifetime spent trying to protect others cannot be erased by a second's lack of control. You need to judge your life as a whole, not just as a two second fragment that wasn't even you. Sometimes you can't control your powers. That doesn't mean you should let them control you."

Elsa wiped her eyes again.

"It's who you choose to be now that matters. Not yesterday. The past is in the past."

She turned surprised eyes towards him. She wanted to say something, but she had no idea where to start. He was looking at her so earnestly, and still with the utmost respect. She couldn't help but notice that his eyes were dark brown.

Ace got to his feet. "Perhaps you should come home." He extended his hand towards her.

Elsa stared at it, feeling panic well inside her again. No. Can't touch him. I'll freeze him. I'm out of control.

Ace stayed exactly as he was, his eyes kind, his expression patient.

After what felt like an eternity, Elsa hesitantly lifted one hand. She couldn't bring herself to touch him. She didn't know what would happen. She would have stayed like that for who knows how long if Ace hadn't leaned down just a little bit more, and gently closed his fingers around hers.