Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.
- Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington
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Elsa tossed and turned on her pallet, then finally gave up any hope of sleep and sat up. She was bone-weary after three days of little sleep; sleep that was restless and troubled at best. She wasn't sure how effective her magic would be when she needed it, as drained as she was. If she had enough to defend herself until she could get outside and signal the Admiral, it would be sufficient for her needs.
She had known when Anna had come to see her last night that it was the last time she would see her before her sister would attempt her escape before dawn this morning. If she succeeded, Elsa was free to unleash her magic on the Weselton men and escape herself. But Elsa had no idea if Anna had succeeded or not. There had been no furor that would indicate Anna had been missed, and as far as she knew the two guards were still outside her cell door as usual.
She cocked her head and listened intently. She assumed that when they found that Anna was gone, or worse, caught her in the attempt, they would come and try to kill her. Her every sense was heightened as she tried to interpret the tiniest sound in the corridors. If she knew for sure Anna was safe, she would strike out at her guards and free herself. But she dared not risk Anna. If that meant sacrificing herself, so be it. She would defend herself, but not attack, not until she knew Anna was safe.
She heard footsteps and muffled voices, then what sounded like a scuffle. She jumped to her feet and backed away from the door, prepared to face her captors. The key turned in the lock and the door opened; a man dressed as a footman looked in. He was wearing a green shako on his head and carried a rifle. "Your Majesty, are you all right?" he asked with concern. "I'm one of your Queen's Own. Admiral Naismith had us remain behind in disguise. The shakos are the only spare pieces of uniform we had left!"
Elsa slumped against the wall in relief. "Yes, Guardsman, I'm fine. Has my sister escaped?" Her voice was shaky with tension.
"Yes, Your Majesty. And now we need to get the hell out of here before the Weasel Commander realizes it and sends more men down here to kill you!"
He held out his hand to her and she took it gratefully. She was wobbly on her feet from fatigue, fear, and just plain worry about Anna. Elsa leaned on him as the two 'footmen' led her down the corridor toward the rest of the castle. His partner was a little ahead at an intersection with another hallway. He checked carefully around the corner, then waved them on and they ran toward a doorway.
"We're going to take you down to where we had our weapons hidden, Your Majesty. You'll be safe there. The goons can't search this entire castle with the few men they have, and once they realize you're gone, they'll try to get back to their ships before anyone can stop them," the Guardsman explained to Elsa.
She shook her head. "No, we need to get somewhere outside, so I can signal the Admiral that it is time to attack. Then you can take me to safety." She looked around to orient herself, then said, "This way. It leads to a side door that comes out by the church."
The three of them ran down the hall until they came to another door. It was locked and barricaded. "Damn it!" exclaimed the Guardsman. "They must have every door except the main one to the courtyard locked and blocked off."
Elsa's hands were shaking again, and she was leaving an icy trail of footprints. Her control of her magic was deteriorating. "We need to get outside! What time is it?"
Her Guardsman said, "A few minutes past dawn, Your Majesty. They were going to wake up your sister to pack for the trip to Weselton when they found her room empty. We came down here immediately to free you and take you to safety."
Elsa nodded. That meant it was light outside, they would be seen when they exited the castle. "I must signal the Admiral. We'll have to risk going outside by way of the main door," Elsa decided. "This way, we'll take the servants' hallways around to the front of the castle."
The little party set off again, checking every hallway for Weselton soldiers before entering it. They were almost at the main door when they heard shots and yelling coming from the courtyard. Her Guardsman grunted, "That tears it. Sergeant Jorgensen and the others must have decided to try for the main gate to open it for the Admiral. Otherwise, it could be hours before our men could force them open."
"Now we have two reasons to get outside," Elsa said. "They'll stand a better chance if I can help them with my magic! Let's go! Now!" And she began running for the door.
The three of them burst out of the door and into the courtyard. Elsa wasted no time sending a blast of snow into the air to form a giant snowflake in the sky above the castle. "There, now the Admiral will know it's time to attack!"
She looked across the courtyard; a small group of her men all wearing shakos, were in a tight group halfway to the main gate. They were fighting off a small group of Weselton men. She sent a blast of ice spikes to fend off some of the Weselton men, then more spikes at another group.
"Come on!" she screamed, and ran toward her men while shooting ice at any Weselton soldiers she could see.
There were only a few men fighting her guards because the men sleeping in the tents pitched in her courtyard were slow to react; Jorgensen's plan to reduce them to drunken, hung-over ineffectiveness was doing its part, but it wouldn't take much longer for Elsa's men to be overwhelmed.
Elsa and her two guardsmen joined the little group of her men and she said, "Sergeant Jorgensen! Let's get those gates open! The Marines should be here very quickly!" She looked around and formed an icy barrier between them and a group of Weselton men that seemed to be organizing themselves to charge at them.
The small group of Queen's Own with Elsa at their center moved quickly to the main gate. There were several Weselton guards there, and they fired at Elsa. Two of her guards were hit, splattering her with blood, but the rest shot down the Weselton men, who were frantically trying to reload their muzzle-loaders. Elsa's guards had breech-loaders, a great advantage under these circumstances. Her party reached the gates. Jorgensen swore, "They've chained them shut!"
Elsa shouted, "Clear yourselves away, I'll open them!"
Her guards formed a half-circle around her, facing the threats from the courtyard. Elsa blasted the gates open with her magic; they fell outward onto the causeway. She was using her magic at a prodigious rate; it had taken all she had to get the gates open, and she felt her magic weakening as she used it. Through the now open gates, she could see fighting at the other end of the causeway between her troops and a large group of Weselton men. Unfortunately, those Weselton soldiers were in a fighting retreat across the causeway, right toward her!
"We have to get back to the castle, Sergeant! The Marines are coming, but there are Weselton troops between us and them!" Elsa screamed. Feles nodded as he thumbed another round into the breech of his rifle.
The group reformed with Elsa at the center and began to fight their way back to the castle portico and the doors to safety. Jorgensen hoped they had enough ammunition. They kept firing at any threat, until they had expended the last of their bullets. They still had Elsa's magic for offense, but she was trying to conserve her strength. They were reduced to defending her with their bodies and their bayonets.
Behind them, the Weselton troops ran into the courtyard, pursued by the Arendelle Marines. Shots and screams rang out as the two groups engaged in hand to hand fighting. Most of the enemy troops in the courtyard rushed to help secure the gates. It was still only a small opening, and they could repulse the Arendelle forces for a long time.
Elsa was the eye of a whirlpool of conflict; her Queen's Own surrounded her, the bayonets on their rifles dripping gore. She concentrated on defending herself as best she could. Her guards were out of ammunition, and it was down to bayonets only. Fortunately it appeared that the Weselton troops were mostly fighting without ammunition as well and most of them were at the main gate. As more Arendelle troops fought their way into the castle, there wasn't time for a man to reload a musket before he was swamped by his enemies.
The clamor was incredible. Occasional shots, the ringing of steel on steel, screams and grunts blended into a constant cacophony that drowned out any possibility of orders being heard even if there were officers to give those orders. This wasn't a battle, it was a screaming chaos of individual hand to hand fights.
There were intermittent shots fired when a man or small group of men found a lull that let them reload their muskets. Elsa was the target of many of these shots. She was able to throw up icy barriers for some of them, and for others her guardsmen stood between her and death, using their own bodies to shield her. As one guard fell another took his place, but bloody attrition was cutting down the group surrounding her.
It was down to Elsa and her last two guardsmen as they finally reached the steps of the castle portico. "We have to get you inside to safety, Your Majesty!" one of the men screamed in her ear as he gutted a Weselton soldier who tried to slash at Elsa with a sword. She was too busy fending off another attacker to answer him.
Her magic was failing her as fatigue robbed her of her strength. She picked up a sword and was brandishing it; with her other hand she would throw icy spikes if an attacker got too near, if she could manage to generate icy spikes. They were in front of the doors of the castle. If they could get inside and bar the doors, they would be able to hold out until the rest of the Marines took control of the castle courtyard. Ten minutes; they only needed to hold for ten more minutes.
"Get inside, Your Majesty!" shouted one of her guards as they turned to protect her from a small group of enemy soldiers approaching from the church.
She was almost to the door when the Commander of the Weselton forces ran out and skidded to a stop as he saw Elsa. "I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do, bitch!" he screamed and ran toward her with his sword pointed at her heart.
She tried to use her magic, but it didn't work. All she had to defend herself was the sword in her hand. She moved to put the door at her back, hoping to slip past him into the castle.
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Anna's troop of Marines emerged from the curtain wall gate to find the madhouse of conflict in the courtyard. The Major looked around and realized he could end the fight by slamming into the unprotected backs of the Weasels fighting to hold the main gate. "Follow me, men!" And he charged forward.
Eric grabbed Anna's arm. "Not you, Your Highness!" He waved the guardsmen into a tight circle around her and Kristoff. She glared at him, then looked around at the fighting. She had almost missed the tableau playing out on the portico of the castle when she realized it was Elsa, fighting for her life.
"Elsa!" she screamed and bowled over two guardsmen as she rushed to her sister, outdistancing Eric, Kristoff, and the rest of the guards as they took off running after her.
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The Commander snarled and advanced on Elsa. She raised her sword to fend him off, but he feinted past her inexpert guard and lunged forward to drive the point of his sword into Elsa's upper arm, pinning her to the door as the sword sank at least three inches into the wood. She screamed and dropped the sword. Blood ran freely from her wound, painting the door with a crimson streak; there was none of the spurting that would have indicated that a vein or artery had been cut, but she would black out from loss of blood soon enough. It was all she could do to remain upright, bracing herself against the door and trying to blink the tears out of her eyes so she could see her murderer.
The commander had stepped back, releasing his grip on the sword that pinned Elsa. He stooped to pick up the one she had dropped and put the point to her throat. She looked at him with hatred in her eyes; the searing pain in her arm almost blinded her with tears. Her chest heaved as she tried to pull enough air into her lungs to fight back one more time.
"Well, Your Majesty, it seems we have failed in our mission. But I will die with the satisfaction of knowing that the Snow Queen of Arendelle is no more!" he taunted her.
"At least Anna is safe. Be the good Queen I know you can be, Anna. I love you," were Elsa's last thoughts for her sister.
Elsa gathered the last shreds of her power; she used the gut wrenching fear and pain to summon her magic for one last desperate throw of the dice. She wrapped her good hand around the blade of the sword at her throat, startling the Commander. Instead of running her through he gaped as the blade froze and then shattered into a thousand pieces. He dropped the hilt and stared at her, "You … you … can't do that."
She looked at him and smiled; the smile a small fish might see on the shark bearing down on it. She extended her fist, opening it to let the last shards of his sword flutter to the cobblestones.
"Why is it," Elsa asked conversationally, "that people like you always think you're more ruthless than people like me?" Her voice strengthened, "I am Elsa, Queen of Arendelle, protector of this dominion and its people! Look at me and despair, you misbegotten pig, as I kick you and your foul pack of murdering thugs into the fjord and back to Weselton!"
Then she reached up and grasped the sword pinning her to the door. She froze a layer of ice on the blade to give herself a safe grip, then yanked it out of the door to free herself. She threw the now-frozen sword down and it disintegrated into icy shards that skittered away on the cobblestones. She was down to the dregs of her strength now but she thought she had enough left to finish this.
Gibbering from terror, the Commander stepped back as Elsa advanced on him, her hand stretched toward him and glowing blue, swirling white ice particles showing that the magic was beginning to flow. He stumbled off the steps and landed flat on his back then scrabbled backwards as she continued to come toward him, his eyes focused on her hand and the magic glow and the bright white of the ice.
"Hey, weasel boy!"
He whipped his head around and saw a black boot coming at him just before it kicked him in the head and sent him sprawling and unconscious. "Don't mess with the two terrible sisters of Arendelle, you stupid piece of reindeer dung!"
Elsa was swaying on unsteady legs, not really understanding what she was seeing. "An … Anna?" she stuttered.
"Elsa!" Anna caught her as she slumped bonelessly to the cobblestones. She knelt and cradled her sister in her arms, then tenderly brushed Elsa's sweat and blood-soaked hair back from her face. Elsa's eyes were open but she couldn't seem to focus them on anything. She pawed clumsily for Anna's hand with her own, finally wrapping her fingers around it and squeezing weakly.
Kristoff ran up to them, looked around and bellowed "MEDIC! The Queen!"
A Marine medic ran over and knelt next to Elsa. A quick check, and he pulled out some bandages and began to wrap her arm to stop the bleeding. Anna comforted Elsa as he worked while Kristoff watched anxiously. They were surrounded by Eric and the Queen's Own that had finally caught up with Kristoff and Anna.
As the medic finished bandaging Elsa's arm, he looked up at Anna and said, "We need to get her into the infirmary, she's lost a lot of blood and she's very weak."
He stood, then waved over two more Marines. "We need to get the Queen inside. Get a stretcher!"
While they were waiting for the men to return with a stretcher, Admiral Naismith rode into the courtyard with a troop of mounted Marines. They dismounted and ran over to where Kristoff and Anna were.
"How badly is the Queen wounded?" asked Naismith.
Eric responded, "Not mortally, but she's lost a lot of blood." He looked around; the courtyard was carpeted with bodies, not all of them from Weselton. He saw some of the shakos of his own men lying scattered on the cobblestones. They had protected the Queen and done their duty. He hoped that not all of the men were dead, only wounded.
The medics returned with the stretcher just then, and they gently placed Elsa on it. She was unconscious now, limp and unresponsive. They picked up the stretcher to take it inside the castle. Anna began to follow it when the Admiral stopped her. "Your Highness, you're needed here!"
"Wait, what? I need to be with my sister!"
"We have a problem, we need you in the town square quickly. There's a mob trying to kill all the Weselton men, and the Marines are having a hard time holding them back."
"Let them die! After what they did?" Anna snarled and turned away. Kristoff grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Anna, is that what you think Elsa would want? You're her second in command, you need to do this. The mob will listen to you!"
Anna was torn; she wanted to be with Elsa. But she knew Kristoff was right; mob justice wasn't something that Arendelle would be proud of after the blood lust had cooled. She knew Elsa would want her to stop it if she could. "You stay with Elsa, Kristoff. I'll go with the Admiral. Captain, bring me a horse!"
Eric led a horse over and she mounted up. Kristoff looked up at her and said, "I'll stay with her until you get back." She nodded, then kicked her horse into a trot. Eric and her guards had mounted up and followed her.
When Anna and her bodyguard rode up to the docks, they found a scene of chaos. The Weselton men in the town had retreated, trying to get to their ships. Unfortunately, loyalty to their comrades wasn't a strong point for mercenary thugs; the men remaining on board the ships had cut loose from the quay and let the ships drift, hoping to make sail and get out of the harbor. That wasn't going to happen; Anna could see at least two frigates of the Royal Arendelle Navy had returned and were patrolling outside of the harbor. She assumed that the harbor chain had been raised as well once Elsa's signal had been seen. Those ships weren't going anywhere, but they were beyond the reach of the angry mob storming down from the town.
This left a group of about fifty mercenaries trapped on shore. A large mob of the citizens of Arendelle were surging toward them, brandishing farm implements and anything sharp they could find. They were angry, angry enough at the depredations and terror that had been brought to their kingdom by these thugs that they had forgotten that they were a civilized people. Their anger was inflamed further by the tales of what these animals had done to their beloved Queen and her sister.
There was a cordon of Marines trying to protect the mercenaries, who had thrown their weapons into the harbor and surrendered to the Marines. Unfortunately, the mob knew that their own troops wouldn't fire on them or use their bayonets, and it was only a matter of time before the crowd broke through the cordon. Colonel Nordholm was in command here and was desperately trying to decide how to deal with this mess when he saw Anna ride up with Eric and the others.
Anna reined her horse to a halt, stood tall in her stirrups and tried to be heard over the clamor of the crowd. They were so focused on storming the docks that they didn't notice her. Eric signaled to the Colonel, who ordered his troops to fire a volley into the air. The gunfire momentarily stunned the crowd into silence, and before they could start shouting again, Anna's clear voice rang out, "PEOPLE OF ARENDELLE! Listen to me!"
A few of the people at the edge of the crowd turned and saw her, and started exclaiming, "It's Princess Anna! She's safe!" More and more people turned at these cries and joined in. It didn't take long for the entire crowd to surround Anna and her small group of bodyguards. They all began clamoring, "Princess Anna! Where's Queen Elsa?"
Once the crowd was concentrating on Anna, Nordholm had his Marines gather all the mercenaries into a compact group and surround them. They ordered them to put their hands on their head and kneel until they could be taken off somewhere and confined. Nordholm could see that the two Navy frigates were sailing into the harbor, cannons run out ready to fire on the Weselton ships and with Marine boarding parties ready. The Weselton ships wasted no time running up white flags of surrender at this show of force. Mercenaries fought for money, not to the death.
Anna raised her hands, trying to get the crowd to quiet down. Eventually, they did. She said, "People of Arendelle! Queen Elsa is safe! She is in the castle being tended to. Please, go back to your homes! This attack is over! Let the Marines take care of these thugs!"
Someone yelled, "Let's just hang 'em all now!" and the crowd began to mutter ominously again. Anna needed to quell this quickly before they turned back into a mob.
"NO! We will let the Queen's Court administer justice to these criminals! Do not dishonor the name of Arendelle! Do not dishonor your Queen! Please! Arendelle is better than that. It's over, go back to your homes, take care of your families! Please! For me and my sister!" she implored them.
The sincere pleading in her voice penetrated the raging blood lust and brought the crowd to their senses. They calmed down. "You're sure the Queen is alive?" shouted one man.
"Yes, I saw her myself. She's hurt, but she's alive. They have her in the castle infirmary now. Go home to your families. We all have a lot of cleanup to do." The crowd nodded and slowly began to disburse toward the town. Anna and her guards stayed until there wasn't anyone but a few stragglers left in the square.
Nordholm rode up to them and saluted her. "Well done, Your Highness. I wasn't sure what I would do if they had charged us. We couldn't have fired on them, and they would have broken through our lines if you hadn't calmed them down."
"You're welcome, Colonel. Do you have everything in hand here?" Anna asked him.
"Yes, milady. Now that you've dispersed the crowd."
Anna reined her horse around and said, "Let's go, Captain. I need to see to my sister." And she spurred her horse into a gallop and headed back toward the castle before Eric could react. Cursing, he and his men rode after her.
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Anna slowed her horse from a gallop as she approached the demolished castle gates. She let the horse pick its way through the debris until they were in the courtyard. She cantered up to the portico where a Marine took the reins from her as she dismounted. She looked around at the scene; it was obvious that the Marines had been busy doing the necessary after-battle cleanup.
Over near the gates, there was a small group of mercenaries sitting on the ground, hands on their heads and being guarded, obviously prisoners. On the other side of the courtyard it looked as though an impromptu field hospital had been set up. Medics were tending to the wounded.
In front of the church, there was a row of bodies each covered with green or purple cloth. Anna gulped and walked over to the line. At each man's feet was his uniform cap; green shakos for the Queen's Own, blue kepis for the Marines. Anna counted five of each. There was a Marine standing at attention at the head of each casualty; as Anna stood with her head bowed, five of the men of the Queen's Own that had been with Anna approached and relieved the Marines standing guard over their comrades. Eric came up behind her and touched her shoulder.
"Your Highness, these men did their duty for Arendelle. We will honor them tomorrow. For now, you should go and see the Queen." Anna nodded and turned away. Eric came to attention, saluted the fallen men and followed her into the castle.
She stumbled a little as she walked; her vision was clouded with tears for the men who had died to save Elsa. It was easy to forget what their bodyguards were sworn to do at necessity. Anna knew that Elsa would see to the families of her fallen, but it would be small comfort for their loss.
When they got to the infirmary, it was very busy. The most severely wounded had been brought here and the battle surgeons fought to save them. Anna had to turn away from one table where an amputation was being performed. Four men were holding the screaming patient down and the grating of the saw against bone was the most horrible sound Anna had ever heard.
She hurried into the room where Elsa was being tended to.
Her sister was laying on a table on clean white sheet. Anna could see that her bloody clothes had been removed and she was covered with a sheet as well. The doctor was working on her wounded arm, cleaning the cut and wrapping it in fresh bandages. Elsa was apparently still unconscious as she wasn't reacting to the pain that this must be causing her. Anna went to stand next to her on the side where the doctor wasn't and brushed Elsa's hair back from her forehead. "Oh, Elsa!" she thought.
The doctor finished working on Elsa's arm, then looked at Anna and said, "Your Highness, may I update you on the Queen's condition?"
Anna nodded and followed him. Directing several nurses to continue taking care of Elsa, he stopped to rinse his hands in a basin and take a towel from a nurse, then continued out to the hall.
He finished wiping his hands on the towel and turned to Anna. "Your Highness, the Queen's injuries are serious but not, I believe, life-threatening. The worst injury, of course, is the cut through her upper arm. The bleeding has stopped and I have cleaned it with carbolic acid and alcohol, so I am hopeful no infection will take hold. The dressing will need to be changed daily and the wound examined for festering or other signs of infection."
Anna nodded and he continued, "She has many minor cuts and bruises, and several large bruises where it appears she was kicked or punched. It does not appear that she has any broken bones. Right now, her breathing and heart rate are higher than normal. Both of these are her body trying to deal with the loss of blood. She is currently unconscious, and for a day or two at least when she is awake, confusion and anxiety are probable."
Frowning, Anna asked, "So what will you be doing for all of that?"
He looked at her with sympathy and said, "We will keep her warm and comfortable and encourage her to eat and drink as much as she can; soups and broths are going to be preferable to solid foods for a few days as we try to replace the fluids she's lost. I'll want her to drink as much tea with honey as she can, and warm milk."
"Can I go and be with her?" Anna asked.
The doctor nodded and said, "Certainly. Your presence will help her deal with the confusion and anxiety. We'll want her to stay in the infirmary for a few days until she has regained some of her strength, then she can move back to her own room and begin very light activity. I don't want her attempting her normal work routine for at least ten days, possibly two weeks."
"Thank you, doctor." Anna turned to go back into the room.
While Anna had been talking to the doctor, the nurses had apparently washed Elsa and dressed her in a warm nightgown, then moved her to a bed. She was lying under a blanket that was pulled up to her chin. Anna pushed a chair next to the bed, then reached under the blanket to take Elsa's hand in her own; it was colder than usual and felt clammy. Elsa's hands were usually cool, but dry. This felt different. Anna stroked her hand gently.
Elsa's eyes fluttered open and she looked around, clearly confused. "A..Anna?" she whispered, her voice weak.
"I'm right here, Elsa. You're in the infirmary but you'll be okay."
"Did we win? Are we safe? I lost so many of my guards! They … they …" Elsa stirred as though to sit up; Anna gently pressed on her shoulder to keep her lying flat.
"Yes, we won. We're all safe, the Weasels are locked up and when you're well we'll figure out how to explain to the Duke what a bad idea it is to take on the Snow Queen of Arendelle!" Anna kept holding Elsa's hand and caressed her cheek to reassure her.
"You were brilliant … sneaking out like that … I knew you could do ..." Elsa's voice trailed off as she fell asleep in the middle of the sentence.
Anna felt a touch on her shoulder. "Hey, Feisty Pants. You okay?" It was Kristoff. He had been left in the hall while the doctor had worked on Elsa.
She jumped to her feet and hugged him again. "Oh, Kristoff! It's terrible! She's hurt, and we lost so many men..."
Kristoff held her as she began to cry softly, patting her back to comfort her. "It's bad, Anna, but not as bad as letting men like the Duke take what they want. People would have starved this winter if Elsa hadn't figured out a way to stop them, and if you hadn't done your part by fooling them into letting you escape."
Anna pulled back from his embrace and wiped her cheeks. "She's the brave one. I was sitting around eating chocolates while they were beating her in the dungeon!"
"We can discuss who did what later, Your Highness, but for now, the Queen is asleep and we will take good care of her while you go bathe and change clothes." Gerda said. She had come into Elsa's room while Anna was hugging Kristoff.
"Are you sure, Gerda? I want to stay with Elsa," Anna said. She took Kristoff's hand.
"I am very sure, milady. For one thing, while the Queen is hurt, you are her Regent. I am sure the Admiral will be looking for you very shortly. There is much to be done," Gerda pointed out.
Anna hadn't thought of that. She took a deep breath, then turned to Kristoff and pulled him toward the door. "Come on. I need you to go find the Admiral and find out what's going on while I change. Tell him I'll meet him in the council room in two hours."
She stopped suddenly in the doorway, almost getting bowled over by Kristoff running into her. "Hang on."
She went back to the bedside and tenderly kissed Elsa's forehead. "Sleep, honey. I'll take care of everything while you get better. I'll be back as soon as I can," she reassured her sleeping sister, hoping she would understand. She thought she saw Elsa nod, a tiny movement that could have been her imagination.
It was enough. "Let's go," she said, and left the room.
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A/N: A terrific picture that I had commissioned is now available on my tumblr account. Follow the link in my profile!