Callan had retreated to the kitchen after Anna had slapped Elsa. She didn't want to be around for the inevitable fight, and she surely didn't want to get caught in the middle. She hid until the shouting stopped, and she assumed it was safe to come out. Just as she was reentering the dining room, Kristoff was shutting the door behind him. She debated stopping him to ask what he was doing there in the first place, but she had never exactly talked to him before, and she didn't want to spring a potentially serious conversation on him all of a sudden.
She had no clue what had went on, but all curiosity was quickly replaced by alarm when she heard things breaking and glass shattering, and it sounded like it was coming from right above her.
She gasped and darted up the stairs, a thousand scenarios instantly racing through her head. She looked down both ends of the hallway. To the left, the side with Anna's room, everything looked normal. But to the right, she saw tips of icicles sticking out of Elsa's closed bedroom door, so she quickly decided to head that way.
She sprinted down the hall and flung the door open, and found Elsa kneeling on the floor, hands clenched into fists and held near her temples. There were jagged ice spears violently jutting out of her back, like stalagmites on the floor of a cave.
"Elsa!" she yelled, running over and kneeling down beside her. She looked around the room and saw that almost everything in Elsa's room was broken. An icicle had gone right through the oil lamp, and there were more stuck into the backing of her mirror, shattered glass littering the floor. Sharp icicles were jammed into the walls, the doors, and just about everything else, like darts on a dartboard.
"Elsa!" she repeated, unclenching Elsa's hands and taking them in hers. "Elsa, are you okay?" Elsa tightly gripped Callan's hands, wincing as the ice crystals sprouting from her back grew taller. Callan looked over Elsa's shoulder at her back. The ice tore her dress, but not her skin. The frozen pillars looked like they were a part of Elsa. Daunting, unfortunate growths. "Are you hurt?" she asked, her voice full of concern.
"No, I'm just so frustrated!" Elsa yelled, a few chunks of ice shooting from her back and landing solidly into the wall. Callan flinched at the noise they made.
"Okay, okay, calm down," Callan said, after she herself had calmed down after the frightening display. Callan had never witnessed Elsa's powers at this level. And although she was admittedly fascinated with Elsa's powers, right now she could tell that something was causing Elsa to lose control of them, and she was concerned for both of their well-beings. "You're fine, it's okay, everything's okay," she tried to reassure mostly Elsa, but also herself.
"Everything's not okay!" Elsa shouted, jerking her hands away from Callan's, a fierce, frigid wind now gusting through the room. Elsa struggled to get up off of her knees, then spun around to face the other way, unintentionally sending an icicle shooting from her back, and whirring right past Callan's head.
Callan gasped and ducked, rolled a couple of times towards the door, then swiftly stood back up. She was honestly terrified, and half tempted to run back to the safety of her own room. But noticing that tiny icicles were now forming on Elsa's arms, she instead ran towards the Queen.
"Elsa, stop! Snap out of it!" she yelled over the wind. She gently placed her hands on Elsa's face, but quickly recoiled when she felt how frigidly cold to the touch Elsa was.
"How dare he!" Elsa shouted, taking a step back and gripping her hair. Snow and hail began to blow around along with the wind.
Callan hesitated, puzzled by Elsa's vague outburst. What is she talking about? Kristoff? She thought to herself. I swear, if he hurt her… "How dare he what? What did he do to you?" she asked, not at all buffeted by the small hail pellets or swirling snow.
"How dare he come into my castle and tell me what to do, or what to choose! How dare he!" she yelled again, placing a hand on her chest. "That stupid, stupid boy!" As she yelled, the snow and wind would pick up in particularly strong waves, then die back down slightly. "How dare he tell me…" she began. But she stopped there, and so did the hail.
"Tell you what, Elsa?" Callan inquired.
"Or at a time like this, when everything is falling apart from under me, how could he really tell me to think about whether or not I might…" Elsa continued, calming down slightly, the wind calming along with her.
"That you might what? What's going on?" Callan asked, more out of concern than curiosity. What was left of the wind subsided, and the mini icicles fell off of Elsa's arms, clinking lightly as they hit the floor.
"The nerve of him… to just stand there and make everything more complicated," Elsa said, grinding her teeth. She stood silent for a moment, actually thinking over what Kristoff had said to her. Then the snow, which had been reduced to just a flurry once the wind had stopped, had also come to an end. "I just… can't even comprehend all of this right now. Too much is happening to me. It's all just too much," she continued, much calmer. She relaxed her shoulders, and the spears of ice fell from her back, thumping loudly and breaking into pieces upon hitting the floor.
Figuring it was safe now, Callan approached the Queen once again, slowly. "Elsa, what happened?"
Elsa looked around her room, and her expression was one of exhaustion and fear, as if she wasn't the thing that had destroyed her own room, and that whatever did was still on the loose. "Nothing," she finally said, sounding completely worn out. "Don't worry about it."
"Elsa, you can't expect me to witness something like that come over you and not worry about it."
"I said don't worry about it, Callan. Why don't you go check on Anna or something?"
Callan decided not to argue, especially when her opposition was in the state of mind that she was in. Instead she nodded, and backed out of the room, shutting the ice-pierced door behind her. She did what she was told, and made her way down to the other end of the hall to Anna's room.
Anna had heard everything happen. She heard every thunk of an icicle making contact with a wall, every glass object break, and even the howling of the wind. And with every noise made, she took one step closer to her bedroom door, so close at one point that she had her hand on the doorknob. But now, she just sat on her bed.
It killed her to not run down the hall and see what was happening to Elsa, but as worried as she was, and as much as it hurt, she decided that it was more important to keep up her resilient front and keep avoiding her sister. Now, more than anything, she wished she hadn't. Now that the noises stopped, she was even more concerned. But she elected to wait just a few more minutes, just in case Elsa would come to her door first. She sprung off of her bed and sprinted to the door when she heard a knock.
Callan smiled sheepishly when Anna flung the door open. "It's just me," she said. Anna tried not to seem too disappointed, and took a step back so Callan could come in. Callan looked around Anna's room, appreciating that nothing was broken or hazardous.
"Is she okay?" Anna asked, her head peeking out the door in the direction of Elsa's room. She knew Callan had been in there, or at least she assumed so. She figured that since Callan had no defiant facade to support, she would run right to Elsa's side. Something I should have done, she thought.
Callan sighed, prompting Anna to turn her head so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. "She says she's fine."
"Seriously?" Anna said in disbelief, taking a few steps towards Callan. "Then what was all that? What happened in there?"
Callan shrugged her shoulders and held them there, opening her mouth to say something, but not finding the words to explain it. "She was freaking out," she finally said. "She was… I can't even think of how to say it. It was really intense. I was actually scared."
"Oh, Callan," Anna said in a reassuring tone, walking over and placing a hand on Callan's shoulder. "You didn't have to be scared. It was just Elsa."
"Yeah, but," Callan paused, still having a hard time retelling what she saw. She sighed. "Anyway, she was freaking out. More like going on a rampage, almost. Just about everything in her room is toast. She destroyed it all."
"How?" Anna asked, alarmed, removing her hand from Callan's shoulder and bringing it to her chest along with her other hand.
"With her powers! I walk in, and I see icicles everywhere. Laying on the ground alongside broken glass, stuck in the walls, the doors, you name it. She was shooting them everywhere. They were coming from her back."
"Her back?" Anna asked, perplexed. "She always uses her hands to use her powers. She keeps perfect control of them that way."
"I don't think she had much control over them. After I saw the icicles I saw her kneeling in the center of the room, she had this, like, death grip on her head. It was like she had a really bad headache or something. And there were these sharp ice spears sprouting from her back. This is the only way I can think to describe it, but in all seriousness, she looked like an icy porcupine,"
Anna's expression was one of disbelief as Callan explained what she had seen. She brought one hand up to her mouth and shook her head.
"I asked if she was hurt, and she said no. She said that she was just so frustrated. I tried to calm her down, but ironically that seemed to make things worse. She started saying something about Kristoff, or at least I assume that's who she meant when she said 'How dare he'," Callan continued.
"Wait, what? How dare he what? What did he do to her?" Anna said, now angry.
Callan put her hands up, theoretically telling Anna not to shoot the messenger. "I asked, and she said something about coming into her castle and telling her what to choose."
Anna furrowed her brow and cocked her head, thinking of all the possible things that Kristoff could've said to set Elsa off. "What to choose? What do you suppose that means?"
"I don't know. She said that everything's falling apart from under her, and he just stood there and made things more complicated. She said it's all just too much."
"Elsa…" said Anna, after a small pause to take in all of the information Callan had provided.
Callan gave Anna a few more minutes to sort through her thoughts before speaking again. She could tell that Anna was having a hard time with all of this, for whatever reason. "But she's okay. She's not hurt. All of the ice fell off of her."
"She may say she's okay, but she's not okay. Trust me, I'd know. We've been through this before. Or something similar, at least." Anna paused. "I should have gone in there to check on her. Maybe there's something I could have done…" Anna trudged to her bed and plopped down, crestfallen. "I should have been there for her." She hung her head.
Callan sat down beside her. "She told me not to worry about it, if that's any consolation."
"It's not," Anna blurted. "I'm sorry," she said, fearing that she had offended Callan. "It's just, I didn't know how much she was hurting from all of this. Here I thought this was my problem. I feel so stupid."
"Well don't," Callan told her, placing a hand on Anna's back, but quickly removing it. "You're upset, I get that. Elsa gets that. It's okay." Anna didn't say anything in response, but instead leaned forward and balanced her elbows on her knees, and covered her face with her hands. "Princess Anna," Callan continued. "How are you doing? You know, considering the situation."
Much more open and trusting than her sister, obviously, Anna immediately broke down. "I'm broken, Callan," she sobbed into her hands. "I'm broken. I loved Kristoff, and I thought he loved me. Do you know what that's like?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. "It's the worst. It twists your insides all around. It makes you sick," she continued between tears. "It turns your heart to…"
"Ice?" Callan guessed. Anna shook her head, although Callan could barely tell.
Anna sniffled unattractively. Callan didn't mind. "I can't even describe how much it hurts. I pictured a future with him, Callan. And I thought he maybe pictured a future with me too. But the whole time I'm over here thinking he loved me back, he's sneaking around. With Elsa, of all people." Surprisingly, she got through that without a single tear falling. "It almost feels like a terrible dream," she went on, her voice beginning to waver again. "But then I open my eyes, and this pain in my chest, this stupid, throbbing pain, remind me that it's all real. That Kristoff… after all we've been through together, really doesn't love me," she concluded, bursting into tears again.
Callan put a hand on Anna's back again, and kept it there this time, gently rubbing between the girl's shoulders while she cried. Callan thought it best to not say anything. It's not like she had anything to say to that, anyway.
"And the worst part is," Anna said after a few moments, "I mean, of course I'm beyond mad at him, and in a way I absolutely hate him. But if he would happen to say that this was all a mistake, and he really did love me, I'd run back into his arms so fast…"
"Princess, it's only been a couple of days. It's only natural that you feel that way."
"But I don't want to feel that way! Especially now that he's done something to hurt Elsa, too. I can't feel that way." Anna paused to sniffle a few times. "Would you mind fixing me a snack?" she said.
Callan chuckled lightly and stood up. "Of course not, Your Highness. What would you like?"
"Anything. Everything," Anna replied, curling up into a ball on her bed. Her voice was still slightly shaky.
"Coming right up," Callan said with a bow.
Callan had been constantly running snacks up to Anna all day. Just as soon as she was finished serving her one thing and made her way back down to the kitchen, she would hear Anna yell for her again, and back up she went. She was running out of things to bring to her! Between one of her trips, she stopped by to check on Elsa.
"Your Majesty?" she said cautiously, softly knocking on the door. Elsa mumbled something inaudible, and Callan took that as a cue to enter, whether or not it actually was. "Your Majesty?" she repeated once she had shut the door behind her.
"What, Callan?" Elsa answered from inside the blanket cocoon she had built for herself.
"Just checking in. Is everything alright?"
"Everything's fine."
"Do you want me to fix you something? You haven't eaten all day."
"I'm fine."
"Elsa, come on. You have to eat something," Callan said, quickly realizing that she wasn't exactly the right person to scold someone for not eating. "Let me bring you some grapes or something." Elsa didn't answer. Callan walked over and found a place on Elsa's bed where she could sit without sitting on her. "Elsa,"
"I don't feel like eating, okay?" she said, her voice muffled by the blankets, but still distinctly irritated. "You of all people should know what that's like," she went on, changing her tone as to not sound degrading. "So don't even give me any grief about this."
"Elsa, I stopped eating because I saw something about myself that I didn't like. I stopped eating to change the way I looked, not the way I felt." Once again Elsa didn't answer, so Callan knew that she was listening. "This is not the same situation by any means. Now, what would you like for me to fix you?"
"Nothing, Callan." She paused. "It's not a big deal. I bet Anna's not eating either."
"Oh she's eating, alright," Callan said. "Too much, actually."
"It balances out then."
"That's not how it works, Elsa."
"It can be."
"I'm not letting you do this. I'm bringing you something to eat, and you're going to eat it, whether you like it or not."
"Callan!" Anna shouted from down the hall. Callan sighed.
"Right after I take something to Princess Anna. Again."
It took longer for Callan to return than Elsa thought it would. But when she finally knocked on the door and let herself in, she was carrying a covered tray, and had a towel draped over her arm. Elsa, who was peeking ever so slightly out of her blanket cocoon, furrowed her brow.
"I'm back," Callan said, setting the tray on Elsa's bedside table. "Sorry it took so long."
"It's fine," Elsa mumbled. "But I told you, I'm not eating anything. I don't feel like it." Her stomach grumbled, contradicting her words. She shut her eyes tight, knowing she'd been defeated.
"Right," Callan laughed, flashing a victorious smile. Elsa rolled her eyes and sat up. "Again, sorry it took so long," Callan said, placing the tray on Elsa's lap, then sitting down beside her. "Anna had me run to Birgiton's shop for her latest snack. A bag of caramel and pecan filled chocolates."
Elsa's eyes widened. "She better not eat that whole thing by herself all at once," she said, going into Big Sister Mode.
Callan found it adorable how much Elsa cared for Anna. She smiled as she went on. "Anyway, I brought you something a little more practical." She lifted the lid off of the tray, revealing a hunk of cheese, some of which had already been cut into cubes, and a few bunches of grapes. There was also a small cup of hot cocoa. Callan looked out of the corner of her eye and saw Elsa's mouth lift into a small smirk.
"Wow, this looks great. And thanks for the cocoa, you didn't have to do that."
"Of course, Your Majesty," Callan said, staying seated. "So, how are you doing?" she asked, a more serious tone to her voice.
"Tired," Elsa answered. "That little exhibition took a lot out of me."
"Yeah, what was that all about?"
Elsa picked up a grape, and looked it over. "Just showing off," she said, popping the grape into her mouth.
"Elsa," Callan said, clearly not convinced.
"What?" Elsa blushed, trying to think up another plausible reason. "If I don't let it go every now and again, it all builds up inside of me, then something worse than even that could happen."
Throughout the period of time when she was keeping secrets from Anna, Elsa had gotten to be such a good liar that at times she even convinced herself that she was telling the truth, a habit she resolved to break after this whole mess cleared up.
That seemed plausible, and for a minute Callan thought Elsa might be telling the truth. And in a way, she was. Her powers can be a lot to handle at times. But Callan still knew that there was more to the story, and as much as she wanted to keep prodding, something was telling her not to.
"I see," she said. "Well we wouldn't want that."
Elsa ate a couple more grapes, then switched to the cheese cubes. "So Anna's been cleaning out the palace's pantry, huh?" she said lightheartedly. She studied her tray of food, then decided on trying a grape and a cheese cube together. Her face lit up, and she ate the combination again.
"Yeah," Callan said. "She's had me running up and down the stairs all day. She's some sort of bottomless pit today, I tell you!"
Elsa laughed at Callan's comment, then got serious. "Is she okay?"
Callan paused. "Not really." She realized the bluntness of her answer may have hurt Elsa's feelings, so she changed her tone slightly. "She's upset about a lot of things."
"Gotcha," Elsa said, clearly sorry she asked.
"I think she might be on the upswing now, though."
Elsa chuckled. "Okay." She was just as unconvinced of the statement as Callan was of her earlier one.
"I mean it," Callan said, sitting up a little straighter. And she did. Callan had noticed that when she was listening to Anna, she spoke mostly of her mixed feelings towards Kristoff, and didn't mention being mad at Elsa. And while that may not have meant anything, it could have meant a great deal to Elsa.
"We'll see, I guess," Elsa said, twirling a bare grape stem around.
"Well, I better go check on her. You know, make sure she didn't eat all of that chocolate by herself," Callan said with a smile after a few seconds of silence. She patted herself on the knees and stood up. "I'll leave the tray in here, so you can go ahead and keep working on those grapes, okay?"
"Will do," Elsa said, raising a full stem, then lowering it into her mouth.
Callan left Elsa's room, then made her way down to the opposite end of the hall to Anna's. She knocked, and let herself in. "Me again." Anna nodded in acknowledgement, then sluggishly took a chocolate out of the bag, which Callan noticed was about half emptied. "Princess, you really ate all of those?"
Anna nodded. "Yes," she groaned. "But I'm running out of steam. Do you want any?"
"No, thanks."
Anna shrugged, and ate the chocolate. "I'll save the rest for later, then. I'm done."
"Is there anything else I can get for you, Your Highness?" Callan asked, hoping the answer would be no.
"Just some water, I think, and then I'll be fine for the night, thank you."
Callan exhaled a quiet sigh of relief, and nodded. She did as she was told, bringing Anna a glass and pitcher of water. Then she walked back downstairs for the final time that day, and settled into her own room. "What a day," she mumbled to herself, falling into her bed.
Everyone was drifting off, and for the first time in a long time, the palace was peaceful, and quiet, and calm.