Chapter 34-Weakening
Something bright was shining against Elsa, penetrating through her closed eyelids. As a result, the bright light caused her to stir slightly as she came to a slow wake.
"Good morning there Elsa," Rapunzel greets tiredly.
"Rapunzel?" Elsa asked, "You're still here?" Vigorously, she pushed herself up with one hand, while the other made an attempt to block the sunlight from her sight. Elsa narrows her eyes to try to see her cousin better.
Rapunzel has returned to her human state form, but she was looking pale to the face, even her lips have lost thier color. She was leaning heavily against the chair, and her violin was left resting on the desk. Rapunzel's legs were hardly supporting her, threatening to let her slide right off if she allows it. Meanwhile, her arms were hanging over the side of the chair, with the bow hardly tuck between her fingers.
"The answer is plain to see," Elsa said, suddenly wide awake. "But I'll ask anyway. Did you stay up for the whole night?
Rapunzel smiled the best she could against her exhaustion, and giggled slightly. "I'll admit it this once, but yes. I pushed it a bit by going for the whole night. Don't tell the other about this, but I really envy them and their lack of need for sleep…But of course, this issue is only temporary in my position." Before Elsa could say anything, Rapunzel got up abruptly with a grunt, took her violin and grasped the bow in a firm grip, and made for the door. "Well, if you will pardon me; I have performed my Pact, and now I'm off to bed."
Elsa smile. "Just what I was about to suggest." She made to get up and escort her cousin to her chamber, but stopped midway. "Rapunzel."
"Yes?" she answers, with her hand already on the door handle.
"Did you spilt water onto the lounge chair last night?" Rapunzel didn't answer right away, and for some reason, that small hesitation bothered Elsa.
"What gives you that idea?" she question.
Elsa touched the cushion to where her head was resting moments ago. "It's moist here," she said simply. "And I don't recall having the habit of drooling."
Rapunzel laugh hesitantly, giving Elsa further suspicion towards her cousin. "…Well, you see…Merida came in last night to check-up on me. She had a bucket of water with her as a joke, but was going to toss it on me if she thinks I was falling asleep."
Elsa brushes her hand once more over the moister. "Then exactly how did the water got here to where I was sleeping?"
"Merida made a show in wanting to dump the water on me, so I kicked her with my magic—gently though, no harm done…Other. Than. Slightly. Wetting the cushion there."
"Hmmm, while also managing to avoid wetting my head and waking me up?"
Rapunzel yawned as she opens the door with a tug. "I haven't put you on the couch yet when she came in. After the water spilled, we thought you may wake up from the noise, so she took off and tried to leave me with the blame. But ha-ha, lucky for me you were well enough in a deep sleep. Merida didn't come back though, so I had to let time dry the couch for me before I could let you sleep on there. I guess it wasn't dry all the way when I put you on."
Elsa looks down at the cushion for a second and decided not to press her cousin further. Instead, Elsa got up and walked over to Rapunzel. "Well thank-you for your kind consideration towards me," she said. "However, I would have never imagined Merida being the type to abandon her friends."
"Only for fun. And trust me; Red has done much worse than threatening to toss some water on me. Last night was only a tease."
"Then I suppose Bunny was right, Jack has rubbed off on her…Rapunzel, what's wrong?" Elsa asked, noticing the slight stiffness in her cousin's body.
"Nothing," she said casually, taking a last glance at the moist cushion. "Nothing," she repeats, and began making her way back to her room.
XxXxXx
Following soon after, all the humans under the Sleep Song charm woke up feeling refreshed and refined. No one was even bothered by the discovery of having slept on the ground. Instead, they were astonished at the lack of pain and discomfort their bedding presented.
But aside from their rejuvenation, they were ravished by hunger and thirst. The humans made it their first priority to go to the nearest kitchen and seek substance. The cooks and staffs in those kitchens were not so pleased with having to deal with a sudden morning flood. They themselves were ravished and wanted to eat, but they were forced to rush in preparing food for the army, as well as for the medical staffs, and those in the castle. It was only after when everyone else was well fed, did the kitchen staffs take part in food.
During the whole feeding frenzy, the representatives of The Three Kingdom Alliances all forgot about the Spirits. No one even noticed that all four of them were absent during that early morning, other than Elsa and Eugene.
When all the representatives finished their meal, Hiccup made his rounds in calling each of them to gather once more for a meeting. There, he announced the success in Jack's retrieval mission, and is currently out collecting the materials needed for the making of the armors.
"What about the other Spirits," Grill asked. "What is their current activity?"
"Bellflower is also out," Hiccup answered, with only Eugene, Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Lukas knowing the truth. "She's helping Jack to collect the materials; Merida on the other hand is on patrol, and will continue a constant watch until the others can afford to help her."
"Will you not be helping her?" Gorm asks, for once feeling doubt in the Spirits' strength to fight. Due to The Battle of New Shadows, he has grown worry in the Spirits going off by themselves. Ordinary soldiers wouldn't make a difference in the Spirits' safety he understood. But to have the Spirits perform tasks in pairs would be much better than being alone.
"I can't," Hiccup answered. "I'll be too busy preparing the tools, the work space, and the magic needed in creating the Golden Armors,"
Lipso nodded his head in understanding. "Then we should hurry and gather together all the blacksmiths to the courtyard, so that they may learn how to create the armors."
"Sorry but no," Hiccup said firmly.
"No?" asks a councilmen. "What do you mean no?"
"I won't, or rather, I can't share the lost knowledge in making the Golden Armors."
"And why is that?" Atlas asks, his fingers interlocking with one another on the table.
"Jack had to make certain promises, and follow strict conditions in order for the Being to hand over the lost knowledge. And one of them included having me be the sole receiver of the knowledge, and that I must not share it with anyone."
"Well this Being couldn't possibly expect you, alone, to create quantities of the Golden Amor for two masses of armies," Atlas argues.
"This Being is very protective of certain things, and lost knowledge of important inventions are one of them. Besides, the crafting of The Armors requires the maker to perform magical incantations and spells, meaning the maker must possess magic ability himself to make the armors."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" pose Commander Gorm. "We can't continue sitting around doing nothing."
"And I don't expect you to," Hiccup said calmly. "About an hour ago, a friend of ours just finished delivering chests of dream sands, double the usual quantity. These dream sands needs to be distribute as soon as possible, and there's also the matter of the dream weapons; many of them was damaged brutally beyond repair. We need to organize the blacksmiths into two groups, some in making repairs, and others to work on making new dream weapons immediately: recycle as many of the damaged parts as possible. If parts are beyond salvage, then toss them."
"Should we send more soldiers to the safe camp?" Eugene asked.
"…No. We already sent an extra unit of fifty men there. So far the Nightmares have yet to detect the camp, and it doesn't look like the Fearlings have found the camp either. My friends and I don't want to give Pitch or Hans any hint to where the citizens are hidden, not by the numbers of soldiers gone from the army, or even through the sense of fear."
The meeting soon ended with everyone being assigned to a task: the Arendelle Counselors were assigned to organizing the blacksmiths; Eugene, Kristoff, Anna and Elsa, were tasked to start distributing the dream sands. Both Commander Atlas and Gorm are responsible for reorganizing the armies, as well as giving them the news about the new armors. Meanwhile, the Southern Isle brothers were given the task of fortifying the safe camp without causing too mush alarm, especially Lukas. He was specifically given the responsibility in controlling the level of fear at the camp, by reading stories from The Promise Book.
The hope was that the stories in the book will serve as a distraction for the citizens at the safe camp. If anything, they would also serve to give the children, and even the adults, something to hold on to, or believe in if they ever feel afraid. That way, they can't feed Pitch's powers uncontrollably.
XxXxXx
"And where have they been sighted?" Elsa asks quietly.
"Up in the western valley you're Majesty," said the rock troll Bulda in a hushed tone. "Pabbie believes they congregate there at the end of each night before the sun rises."
"Hmmm…There are some deep caves in the western valley, so they must be using those as their temporary shelter during the day. Does Jack and Merida know about this discovery?"
"The Beings has already been informed. As we speak, they are investigating the valley."
"Thank-you Bulda—" There was a sound of a twig snapping, causing Elsa to look back in startled, while Bulda rolled herself into her rock-lick form. It was only a group of ducklings. They were following clumsily behind their mother, and one of them had tumbled over snapping a twig under its weight. Elsa turns her attention back to the troll. "I'll inform Commander Gorm and Atlas about this news right away. And please, thank Grand Pabbie in my absent for me. With this, we may finally discover where Hans and Pitch is." Elsa made to stand from her kneeling position, but Bulda unfolded and stopped her.
"—You're Majesty," the troll said almost desperately.
Elsa turned back, and looked at her with surprise. "Yes? Is there more to tell?"
"Y-y-yes—no—well—ummm…Is...Please tell me Queen Elsa, but how's Kristoff? How has he been? And Sven?" Bulda plead. "We've been worried about them ever since this war started, and neither of us has been given a chance to meet with them face-to-face; too many humans around. Please, how are they?"
Elsa smile in comfort, and knelt back down to the troll. "Kristoff and Sven are doing fine; Sven is mostly at the safe camp with Olaf now, to keep watch over the citizens. As for Kristoff, a few cases of being caught in ambush attacks, but he pulls through in better shape than anyone."
"Is he eating enough? And rest? And his clothes, has he been keeping up with the washing, or do they need some mending? I wouldn't be surprise if they are all tattered-up by now."
Elsa chuckled a bit, seeing how Bulda didn't take long in getting to the issue of clean clothes. "He's doing quite alright. But if you would like Bulda, I can go and get Kristoff for you. He isn't too far I believe, he should be in the stables with Anna at the moment."
Bulda smiles warmly, while fiddling with her bold fingers. "Ohhhh, I would very much love that indeed," she said happily. "But there are too many people around, and I've already overstayed my task. Us rock tolls are not that use to being awake in the sun. But then again, we tend to also oversleep. Well what can I say, we just love our beauty sleep."
"But are you sure? There's no need to—"
"Queen Elsa!" called a voice. It was coming a few distances away around the bend of the entrance, before it leads into the castle's garden. "Queen Elsa!" The voice belongs to Commander Gorm. "You're Majesty where are you?"
"Looks like I should be leaving anyhow," Bulda said, as she turns her back towards Elsa. "If we find out anything else, then I'll come and find you again. Please give our love to Kristoff won't you?"
"I will. And sleep well Bulda." The troll nodded her head, and began to roll herself back into a normal looking stone, disappearing as she travels beneath the shrubs.
Elsa stood back up and brushed some of the dirt off the hemline of her dress. She hears the Commander calling again and made to answer.
"No wait!"
Elsa stop, turns to her left, but saw no one. "Rapunzel?" She called, recognizing the voice. "Rapunzel?" Elsa turns in all direction to try to find her cousin but still she couldn't find her. Elsa was only in a small part of the grand garden. A secluded section shaped into a square box; the area was aligned by tall wall hedges on two sides, with short shrubs on one end stretching out towards taller ones, in a field of flowers, and with a small shallow pond, leaving an opening for entrance and exit on one side.
"Back here," Rapunzel calls. Her voice was still coming towards the left, making Elsa realize that her cousin was behind the tall hedges. To her further surprise, in the center of the hedge, its mid-section starts to edge open like a door. When it was wide enough, Rapunzel peeks out her head, revealing she was in her human form. "Come over here quick," she encouraged, while waving a hand.
The Commander calls for Elsa again. "But Commander Gorm," Elsa protest, as she turns back towards the entrance. "I also have something to inform him."
Seeing the hesitation in Elsa's decision, Rapunzel rush forward. She took a hold of her cousin's arm, and starts leading her towards the open door. Giving Elsa gentle nudges, Rapunzel forced her to go through. On the other side, there were more hedges as expected; creating a wall on one side that covers her from view in the direction Gorm was calling. While from the other, it connected to the field of shrubs and flowers further ahead.
"Stay put," Rapunzel whisper lastly, before closing the door without letting Elsa say another word.
Not knowing what else to do, Elsa waited in silent. She could her Gorm's voice and the clanking of his armor getting closer and closer to the secluded area.
"Ah, Princess Rapunzel," Elsa herd, "I wasn't expecting to see you here."
Rapunzel giggled. "I can say the same for you."
"But should you be out? Lately you've been absent due to sickness; you shouldn't force yourself to move about if you're not feeling very well."
"Oooh but you'll be surprise Commander, with what a bit of sunshine and air can do for a person. But anyway, I believe you were looking for Queen Elsa?"
"—Right, yes. Have you seen Her Majesty?"
"I'm sorry but I haven't. Why? Do you have something urgent to tell her?"
"Not quite. I need Her Majesty to persuade the Autumn Spirit, into sharing the knowledge of the Golden Armors."
As if Rapunzel have read Elsa's mind, next she said, "But you've heard what the spirit said; he's forbidden to share the knowledge, and there's no point in sharing it if the receiver can't perform magic for the crafting."
"I know," Gorm said firmly. "But the productions on the armors are proceeding too slowly. The men are eager to don on some protection against the Fearlings."
"Didn't Hiccup hand some out already?"
"Yes, but hardly enough to garnish a whole unit. There has to be something the blacksmiths can do to help speed up the production."
"…I understand…But still, is there any way I can convince you to reconsider?"
"Unfortunately. No."
"…Then I suppose I should let you resume your search for the Queen—Oh, hold on a-minute. I have news for you from Jack and Merida."
"What is it Your Highness?"
"Just before your arrival, I received words that they may have discovered the base of the Fearlings, somewhere in the western valley."
"Have they?" said Gorm, his voice tightening. "If we ever decide to go on the offense, take the fight to those monsters, then this is all the more reasons we need that Spirit to share the lost knowledge." Elsa hears the Commander's armor clanked harder than ordinarily, assuming he was giving his usual salute before leaving, but with more intensity. "Please, pardon me Your Highness," and he left without waiting for an answer.
The next sound to be herd was the shuffling of grass with soft steps, coming closer towards Elsa. She backs away just in time to avoid getting hit by the hedge door. Rapunzel slide herself through, and reclosed it behind her.
"So what are you going to do?" Rapunzel asked, turning to face her cousin.
Elsa tucks her braid behind her back before wrapping her arms around herself. "What else can I do," she asks instead. "Commander Gorm is right; I need to talk to Hiccup about sharing the knowledge. There has to be something we can do to help, he can't do it all by himself."
Rapunzel's brow pressed themselves low, and the corners of her lips was pulled slightly down. "But Elsa the deal," Rapunzel reminds her. "The Being we talked to is protective about inventions. Jack may have had to make a light agreement on his part in order to retrieve the knowledge, but the consequences for breaking the rest of the terms are big."
"But Ombric hates Pitch," Elsa argues. "And he loves imagination and inventions above everything else. If he really does love them, then he will allow the terms to be broken just this once, in order to help Hiccup, get the armors done to fight Pitch."
Rapunzel snaps her head to look at her cousin. Her lips became rigid; her cheeks were glowing faintly red, and her eyes were unyielding, sole locked onto Elsa.
"Now this is an utter surprise," Rapunzel starts. "How did you come upon that name?"
Elsa couldn't understand why, but she was slowly growing fearful of Rapunzel. "Ombric?" She asks hesitantly.
"Yes. Hiccup and the others and I have never mentioned his name. We've only been referring to him loosely as 'Being' and 'friend.' But how did you know that the Being's name was Ombric?"
Elsa placed a hand against the hedge wall beside her, to steady herself as her heels dips into some soft soil. "From The Promise Book.," she answered with a smile. "On the day Lukas and I went to the Safe Camp together, he told stories to the children from the book. One of the stories he told them was about Ombric, the Being known as Father Time."
Despite Rapunzel nodding her head, Elsa could see that she wasn't convinced. "That's a lie, isn't?" Rapunzel said quietly, returning the same smile as Elsa's. But her display was coupled with amusement in her voice. "Or maybe not all of it…Part of it then." Elsa made no response. Rapunzel grins, and crosses her arms over her chest while leaning her weight over to one foot. "Alright now, the truth," she said in humor, "or do I have to go investigative with you?"
"…Jack told me," Elsa admitted.
Elsa has seen some of Rapunzel's dramatic display of emotion before. She one time witness her cousin rolling on a long carpet floor, conflicted with having to tell Eugen about misplacing their marriage ring. It was found later on though, strangely by her animal friends Maximus and Pascal. Compare to the current display, Elsa thought her cousin was growing out of the theatrical.
Rapunzel's grin dropped suddenly, more quickly than her body spilling against the hedge, causing the limbs of the plant to rustle as she slid down. "I should've known," Rapunzel muttered quietly. Once her body could slide no further, she turn her eyes back to Elsa. "I'm surprise though, that he found the time to tell you stories even with the work on his hand."
"Not as of lately no," said Elsa.
"No?" Rapunzel ask with a raised brow, and she quickly stood back up again. "He didn't tell you about Ombric recently?"
"Well no. It was a while ago when he was still performing his Pact…Rapunzel."
"Yes?"
"Why did Jack stop suddenly?" Elsa asked solemnly. "I…I understand that he can no longer make schedule visits, but…I don't see him at all now."
"Elsa..." Rapunzel said softly, placing a comforting hand on Elsa's should.
Leaning her back against the hedge, Elsa releases a sigh. "It just feels like he's avoiding me, and I can't get with him to ask why."
"...So you miss him?"
Elsa smile weakly. "I do."
"…Elsa…It's my fault for Jack not coming to see you anymore."
At this, Elsa turns her head in confusion towards her cousin. "What?"
Rapunzel bit the bottom part of her lip, and pulled her hand away to grip her own dress. "I asked Jack not to visit you anymore."
This time, Elsa turned her full body around in order to face Rapunzel. She still holds the express confusion, but it was mix with hurt. "But why…? How could you?"
"I had to." Rapunzel said flatly.
"What about his Pact, wouldn't that mean he'll become weaker because of this?"
Rapunzel hesitated to answer. Not out of guilt it seems, but out of discomfort. "Yes, it would. Only momentarily though."
"Now of all time?!" Elsa said with a hint of anger. "What if Hans and Pitch were to attack again while Jack is weak? You are already ill as it is, Hiccup and Merida are working with whatever energy they have left in them; if Jack's strength were to dwindle further, then we might as well be at the full mercy of Hans and Pitch."
Elsa pinched the bridge of her noise as she breaths in and out a few time to calm herself. Meanwhile, Rapunzel didn't say anything; instead, she waited patiently for cousin to reclaim her cool.
"You haven't answered my question yet," Elsa finally said. "Why did you do it?"
Elsa was caught off guard when Rapunzel suddenly transformed into her Being form. A large bud had grown beneath Rapunzel; the plant opens up as it continues to grow, and engulfed her after growing to the right size. A few seconds later after wrapping Rapunzel within its petals, the plant releases her, blooming into a golden Bellflower before fading away.
Rapunzel's skin was glowing more so then usual in her Being form. And her golden hair was lightly shining, as if it was reflecting the sun's light like a shimmering water. "It was some time ago," she began, "but the others and I started sensing a change in you. What that change was we couldn't quite place it.
"At first it didn't seem to be harming you in any way, so we didn't address the change. But as time pass, that change was causing you stress and pain; we could no longer ignore it. Out of all the others, I felt the pull of the Pact the strongest for this predicament. Meaning whatever you were experiencing, falls within the promises I made within our Pact.
"It took me some time to figure it out, but…I noticed a few things that led me to one conclusion. But before I could start taking actions, I needed to confirm my suspicion, and if it was true, then the severity of it."
"And the results?" Elsa ask softly, not having a good feeling about what her cousin is about to say.
"My suspicion was confirmed two weeks ago," Rapunzel said seriously. "Next was the severity. And the only way I could think of testing it without too much biases, was to have Jack stay away from you, and keep you in the dark as to why…As far as I can tell, it's pretty bad—but I still can't be too sure."
"Well, which is it?" Elsa asks tiredly. "And what is this new…pain? I'm don't feel anything, and I'm not certainly aware of it."
Rapunzel turns and pins Elsa against the hedge. Not so much with physical force, but by simply leaning in close to her cousin. "Then let's just be straightforward about this. Elsa, do you love Jack?"
Elsa's face swirled in red, while her foot lost balance and she stumbled for a second, but managed to keep herself from falling. "L-love?" Elsa stuttered, forced to turn her eyes away.
"Yes, and be honest. Or do you think you have a crush on him? Infatuation? A slight attraction?" But before Elsa could answer, or even have the chance to break free and run away, the ground beneath them began to rumble. "No. Not now. Not again!" Rapunzel cried.