22- A Winter Night

The severe wind was whispering outside as Anna opened her eyes, the images around her looked dim and out of focus, her mind was unclear and the very first thing that she noticed was just how cold everything was.

Anna realized that she was lying on a better bed this time, this was not a stretcher anymore… it was incredibly comforting if compared to the straw that she had been sleeping on during her days at the Front, and her body was covered by a very soft purple sheet.

There was a wide variety of intense pains coming from virtually every part of her body, which made it difficult for her to make any movement but also cheered her up considerably as she remained on that bed.

"I can… feel, once again" Anna whispered, touching a side of her face with her right hand- "What place is this?"

She was definitely in the interior of a large camping tent, but this was not any of the field hospitals that she had visited before. This place looked more like a personal room than a campsite at the lines, and when Anna looked she discovered that her backpack and her sword were there with her, just beside her bed.

The wind kept howling, it was getting colder, her eyesight soon improved and the outdoors light was weak, which made Anna think that yet another day was over and a freezing night was drawing closer…

Anna could hear voices talking outside, people were passing by in different directions, there was no shooting and it seemed that Arendelle's Army was enjoying some peace… The last thing that she could remember was that sweet smell of the anesthetic, everything had vanished and now she was here.

"Kristoff? Alice? Where are you?" Anna said, and this simple action caused something that she had not expected at all:

Her voice was really weak, harsh and very hoarse, it caused her a great discomfort to talk and she began to cough almost immediately. The muscles of her back and the sides of her body released waves of intense pain every time that she would cough, so she tried to stop it as best as she could.

Anna's attempt to sit up proved to be a disaster let alone the idea of standing up and walking out of the tent, so the Princess decided to just take it easy for the moment and await for somebody to come and check up on her.

"I wonder how long it has been, since the battle" Anna whispered, smiling and looking up at the green and purple canvas- "All the red snow, who knows how many dead… and now, nothing! Then, maybe this means…"

Anna's spirits raised as she imagined that maybe the war was over, that perhaps the crushing defeat had caused the forces of the Southern Isles to start a mutiny and Hans, accepting his failure, had decided to back off and return to their country.

The idea was beautiful, everyone returning home…

"Yeah, I heard they are building even more bridges" a soldier said, passing nearby Anna's tent accompanied by others- "I wish we would just shell those to smithereens before they cross again, but General Alistair keeps talking about our Crackers…"

"Just a dream" Anna said, forgetting her beautiful fantasy as she was dragged back to reality.

Anna closed her eyes, she wrapped herself in the purple sheet, the weather was getting even colder and she just waited for anything to happen… soon it was completely dark, and her mind became invaded by a variety of awful images and eerie flashbacks of the battle.

"Think of Elsa, and all of our happy moments together" Anna whispered to herself, trying to fight against the darkness of her mind- "Think of Sven, and Olaf back home…"

The dark memories continued to assault her, so Anna opened her eyes and then she discovered that the light of a torch was glowing outside. The entrance of her personal tent was suddenly opened, and two people came inside wearing purple coats and heavy snow boots.

"Anna!" Kristoff cried out, dashing towards her- "Wait, do not move!"

"Look, Arendelle's Pride is feeling better" Alice said, closing the entrance so the freezing wind would not come inside- "How is it going, your Highness?"

Anna sighed with a stupendous relief as Kristoff sat beside her on the bed, they looked into each other's eyes, Kristoff smiled and then he started caressing her hair.

"My Iceman..."

Alice was laughing, and for a few precious moments Anna, happy and protected, tried to convince herself that the war had ended and everyone would go home the following day…