24- The Queen Calling
The wintry storm lasted for all night, the wind had caused eerie howls as it passed through the forests nearby, it really felt like a January night and, by daybreak, the Arendellian soldiers emerged from their refuges to discover frost covering their campsites and loads of snow everywhere.
It was quite incredible to see a Winter landscape instead of the summery valley that they had known a few days ago...
Thousands of soldiers, supply workers and medical staff cheered and shivered that morning at the Sammel Line, since the snow was knee-deep in many parts and they knew that this would ruin the enemy's war strategy completely.
Hans could not have predicted this at all, and if this weather continued there would be no way for him to sustain his army for a long campaign...
The bells ringed happily to call the soldiers to have a breakfast of bread, potatoes and tea, everyone wearing heavy coats as protection from the cold. The news that Princess Anna had awakened also caused loads of celebration, for everyone knew how brave she had been and what grave injuries she had received during the battle.
It was a peaceful day for Anna indeed, and she even laughed a little as she looked up at the vast and frozen sky…
"Take that, Alice!" Kristoff said, throwing a snowball at his friend- "That's seven times I have hit you, it means I win!"
"No, it has been five times only!" Alice replied, grabbing some snow to make a ball- "It's not fair Kristoff, you are a lot stronger than I am! Your snowballs hurt like hell!"
"You hit me pretty hard anyway!"
Anna was sitting on the snow just outside of her personal tent, she was protected from the cold wind by a purple coat wrapped around her shoulders and the Princess, sighing, smiled as she observed her friends playing with the snow a few yards from her.
The campsites and the valley hardly looked like a war theater at all, the wind was soft and she could not believe just how peaceful everything was…
"Kristoff is right, Alice!" Anna said, as loudly as her damaged voice would allow her- "That was the seventh time, you have lost this fight…"
"Oh, please your Highness…"
Kristoff and Alice stopped playing at last, and they walked towards Anna laughing and whispering things to each other. Anna looked up at them with a little smile, and then they sat on the snow at each side of the Princess.
"We all knew that Queen Elsa was powerful" Alice commented, throwing yet another snowball at nothing in particular- "But doing something like this while she is so far from all of us… I can't believe it!"
"Yeah, it's really awesome" Kristoff replied- "Anna, how is your voice?"
The doctors had said that Anna's voice would take some time to recover, since it had been damaged by her wild screams of rage and power during the devastating twenty minutes that the battle had lasted.
It was nothing permanent, but it was definitely a good idea for Anna to take it easy and rest her voice for a few days…
"It feels better than last night, at least I am not coughing like that anymore" Anna said, looking sideways at both of her friends- "Who knew that this could happen? The worst part is… that I do not even remember screaming like that during the battle."
The three of them remained in silence for some time, just appreciating the view of the wintry landscape, listening to the soft whispers of the wind and enjoying the sweet and incredible peace that Elsa's snowstorm had created…
They could hear some soldiers talking and laughing nearby, and then Kristoff remembered that they had heard the friendly ringing of the bells some twenty minutes ago.
"We have skipped breakfast" he said, standing up in a hurry- "Come, Alice! Anna, what would you like to have?"
Alice stood up as well, and at that very instant they heard that a well-known voice was coming from inside of Anna's personal tent:
"Anna!" Elsa's voice said, and this time the Queen sounded happy and excited- "Anna! Are you there?"
Alice dashed into the tent, she opened the backpack and returned holding the ice mirror between her hands. She handed it over to Anna with a smile, and the Princess beamed as the first images started to appear in the frozen surface of the magical device.
Elsa appeared with incredible clarity, she was at her personal bedroom this time and both sisters looked extremely happy to see each other once again…
"Hello, Elsa!"