17- Snow in July
The Midnight Sun looked as magical as ever as Anna looked into the eyes of her sister for the last time before departing, her white horse was ready, her green cloak rippled in the wind and then she rode away through the forest leaving everything behind.
Elsa remained at Northern Arendelle while Anna commanded the Cavalry on their long travel to the South, surrounded by hundreds of proud riders and those green and purple flags everywhere…
"All follow me!" Anna screamed, excited and terrified at once as she faced her war adventure- "Long live Queen Elsa! Long live Queen Elsa!"
The riders replied by chanting the same words, everything seemed perfect and at those moments Anna did not realize that this adventure would destroy the life that she had known and replace it with something else…
They were riding so fast between rocks and trees, and then a weak and distant voice came from somewhere in the sky:
"Anna" Kristoff whispered, caressing her hair- "Anna… Anna, wake up…"
The forest and the Midnight Sun vanished slowly as Anna opened her eyes, and the beautiful colors and imagery of her dreams were replaced by the harshness of the trench walls, the smell of gunpowder and a grayish sky above.
"No, please let me sleep a little longer..."
Anna's injured arm still caused her some pain, but at least she was lying on an improvised bed composed by straw, her feet were soft and cozy inside of her military boots and the green cloak had protected her from the wind and cold all night…
"Hi, Kristoff" Anna whispered, happy to see those familiar brown eyes looking down into hers- "I was having a… nice dream… how are you?"
"Anna, guess what?"
It had been three days since the night when the murder mission had failed, the sentinels had not reported anything unusual taking place at the other side of the valley and the Arendellian lines had enjoyed a relative peace all that time.
"Please, just a few minutes…"
Anna had been sleeping rather peacefully all those nights, but even though she looked normal and the cold fury that she had displayed that morning had receded, Kristoff knew that there was something unusual in her eyes…
"Anna, we have snow today" Kristoff said, shaking her a little before she would fall asleep again- "Everything is cold, just like it was November!"
"What?!"
Anna sat up on her stray bed after hearing those words, shocked to discover that there was indeed a wintry smell in the air and the day was really cold. She could see her breath as vapor in the air every time that she exhaled, Kristoff was smiling and then a wonderful idea formed in the depths of Anna's mind…
"My sister!" Anna said, standing up and wrapping herself in the comfortable green cloak- "Kristoff, do you think that maybe Elsa…"
"What else could this be?"
Anna and Kristoff climbed their way out of the trench, they grabbed bread and cheese for breakfast from one of the kitchens and they joined the rest of the confused Generals, Captains and soldiers as they cheered and admired this incredible snow in July.
All of them were looking up at the snowy sky, and even though nobody was saying it out loud for now, they were sure that Queen Elsa had to be responsible for it…
"Anna, Kristoff!" Alice called out, waving at them from a good distance- "Over here!"
Alice and her father awaited them nearby one of the field hospitals, surrounded by soldiers that had started to play with the snow. Anna and Kristoff dashed to join them, and then Anna realized that both of them were busy trying to repair one of those strange guns that she had seen before…
It was a long, eerie and heavy-looking gun mounted on a tripod, some of the soldiers looked at it with great curiosity and Alistair seemed to be cleaning something inside of it at the moment when Anna and Kristoff arrived.
"This is your sister's work, you can bet on it!" Alice said, standing up to hug Anna with great enthusiasm- "We cannot believe it!"
"I know Elsa is behind it, Alice" Anna replied- "General Alistair, what is this?"
"Your Highness" Alistair said, patting the unidentified large gun with great appreciation- "This is a Cracker… Queen Elsa did not want us to reveal them to you until the moment came, but you have seen them everywhere already!"
"This one is broken, but we can repair it in no time!" Alice commented- "Your Highness, what do you think your sister has in mind?"
Anna opened her mouth to say something, but then a voice that she knew very well came from the inside of the stylish blue bag that now she carried everywhere:
"Anna!" Elsa cried, her voice traveling by Magic all the way from the North of Arendelle- "Anna! Are you there?"