2/10/23: Started
6/16/23: Complete
NONE
Chapter Summery: Anna works on making a functional glass wheelchair for her Grandmother, while Rona herself has a surprising meeting that leads to an emotional one for her family.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Frozen, Tangled or any other Disney characters or locations that appear or are mentioned in this work of fiction, Disney does.
NOTE: This chapters took an unexpectedly long time to finish _, but it's finally ready to start posting. This will be a 4-part chapter, no eta on the next part, but the process has begun!
- The Following Morning, September 10th, Friday -
- Arendelle, Anna's Room, 7:35 a.m. -
"Alright, let's do this!" declared Anna delightfully.
The Princess currently stood in the middle of her room, still in her sleepwear; the borrowed wheelchair positioned a yard in front of her, to her right, while the large orb of her collected glass hovered to the left of the chair. Anna felt she had studied the chair adequately. It was essentially a normal chair with wheels. She was confident she could recreate it. Her major concern was sturdiness. She didn't want it to break under the weight of a person, especially her grandmother.
"Start with just a normal chair..." commented Anna as she began to mold her glass into a basic chair; four inch-thick square legs, the seat, armrests and the back, leaving her with about a little less than half of her glass orb left; which prompted a curious detail Anna noted.
"Huh, making clothes takes less glass... I wonder if I'll actually have enough to add the wheels and handles AND for it to be sturdy."
Anna then stepped towards the glass chair, turned around and slowly sat down, gingerly placing her weight onto it. Anna cringed when she heard a few creaks below her, but the chair remained intact.
"Ok... some creaking from the seat or legs, but it's still holding together. I can add a bit more glass to reinforce it."
Anna then shifted a bit in the chair, given that one didn't perfectly sit still in a chair. Once again, Anna heard more creaks. The chair itself didn't seem to move or shift, but the creaking sounds were unsettling. Looking at the wheelchair, Anna noticed the front of the chair had a place for a person to rest their feet and Anna lifted her feet from the floor, which caused her to shift her weight slightly towards the back of the chair. More creaks, which Anna recognized to be the back legs.
"Ok, the back legs should be reinforced mor-AH!"
A gasp left Anna as the back right leg suddenly snapped, dropping her to the floor, prompting the chair to break into large chunks. Surprised, but unhurt, Anna returned to her feet and looked down at the broken chair.
"Ok... good first attempt. The legs definitely need to be thicker." commented Anna, before she glanced at the wheelchair and an annoying realization hit her. "Ahh dang-it, the wheels will be what supports the chair... but the legs still need to be strong enough to support the wheels, which also need to be sturdy enough to support constant movement. Hmm, yeah... I'm definitely going to need a lot more glass for this." she added, before gathering the broken glass and joining the orb.
"Getting more glass isn't a problem, though getting the model right is. So, if I ignore being able to sit in it, I should have enough glass to make a pushable model, see if there are any issues there I need to know about, then I can just reinforce it when I gather more glass for the functional model."
With the current plan laid out, Anna gave the normal wheelchair a brief examination, particularly the wheels, as she knelt down, noting their location and how they were attached; both pairs of wheels were connected with a rod joining the back and front legs. Not only were the back and front legs connected though, so were the right and left back legs to their respective front legs, essentially creating a box.
"The wheels will be the tricky part of the whole thing, but everything else should be easy." commented Anna, before standing, but humming in thought seconds later, "Hmm, since the wheels are the tricky part though, I should just focus on that. I could just make a stool with wheels... yeah, let's do that."
Following through with the idea, Anna recreated the seat of the chair, floating in the air. With the addition of the four inch-thick legs all connected at the bottom, essentially creating a cube frame. With the simple task complete, Anna noticed she had a similar amount of remaining glass as before.
"Hmm, I don't think I'll have enough to make similar sized wheels, with two big ones on the back and two smaller ones in front..." commented Anna, looking at the model chair's wheels. "Eh, forget it for now, I'm just trying to make a push-able stool right now, I'll worry about the other details once I accomplish this."
Using the remaining glass, Anna creates a set of four spoked wheels and attached them to the bottom ends of the stool. Anna smiled as she lowered the stool to the floor and continued to smile when the wheels held up the weight of the stool.
"Alright, let's see how well it moves." commented Ann as she walked up to the wheeled stool, put a hand to it and pushed. "Huh?" added Anna in confusion when the stool didn't budge. Anna then grabbed and pulled the stool and was met with the curious act of the stool moving across the floor as if it didn't have wheels. The wheels it did have were seemingly locked in place.
"What is going on..." commented Anna as she knelt down to examine the wheels.
However, it only took Anna a second and a rapid onset of embarrassment when she realized the problem.
"Ugh, of course!" groaned Anna as she placed a hand over her face.
The wheels were indeed locked, because they were simply attached to the leg of the chair, like decoration.
"I didn't create an axle or any way for the wheels to move at all!" she added, before returning to her feet with a sigh and shaking her head in embarrassment. "Well, this can be fixed."
Anna lifted the stool up to eye level, removed the four wheels and briefly examined the bottom portion of the legs.
"How much should I remove? ...well much of the weight will be coming down on the axle... so it would be a matter of whether the wheels can handle the weight rather than the axle. Hmm, I could make a solid wheel instead of a spoked one."
As she thought out loud, however, Anna heard her magic speak to her...
"You're getting off track."
"Really?" asked Anna.
"You're just trying to make a functional wheel, remember?" reminded Felsa. "The only weight it has to hold is the stool itself for now."
"Oh, right, hehe... Thanks for reminding me. One step at a time; get the wheel working first, then focus on the step after that."
"Can I offer a suggestion?" asked Felsa.
"Sure."
"I figure the fewer moving parts, the better, so how about forgoing an axle and instead extending the bottom end horizontally and placing the wheels there. The wheels should be able to move independently from each other as well."
"Wow... that's a really good idea." replied Anna with a smile. "Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Following Felsa's suggestion, Anna first thinned out the stool a bit for the extra material for the inch-long cylinder additions at the four outer ends of the legs. Anna then attached the back, right wheel first, making sure to leave space between the middle of the wheel and the cylinder.
Before moving on to the other three, Anna lifted a hand to the wheel and attempted to spin it, which, to her delight, spun rather well.
"It works, it spins!" declared Anna delightfully.
Anna then happily proceeded with the remaining three wheels and grinned in anticipation, before she lowered the stool to the floor again, eager to test her creation as she placed a hand to the front of it and took a breath, before lightly applying a pushing force and Anna's eyes lit up in delight as the stool moved. She then applied a little more force, enough to push it away from her hand, and the stool continued to roll away about a yard before coming to a stop.
"I did it!" declared Anna happily. "I-I mean, WE did it!"
"Hehe, you did most of the work." commented Felsa. "I simply gave a suggestion."
"Still..." added Anna as she walked to the stool and placed a hand on it and moved it back and forth a little with a proud smile. "You were still involved. The toughest part is out of the way now, though. I can make a working wheel. Next step is making more glass to make a proper, working Wheelchair, then Grandma will be able to visit here in comfort." she added proudly.
"Well, I'm happy for you."
"Thanks."
- 8:12 A.M., Dining Room -
Now dressed for the day, along with Elsa to her right and her father sitting at the table across from them, eating breakfast together, Anna proudly commented...
"Guess what I accomplished just before breakfast."
"What?" asked Agnarr.
"Come on, at least guess." urged Anna with a smile.
"Hehe, ok, can I have a hint though?" asked Agnarr.
"Alright, it's related to what told you I was excited about last night."
"Last night, huh? Well, you told me about making a wheelchair. Is that it? Did you make a working wheelchair?"
"Close, but not quite." answered Anna with a grin. "I found out that I'll need a lot more glass to make a sturdy enough chair for grandma to sit in without it breaking. So, I decided to work on what makes a wheelchair special, the wheels. After a little hic-up, I managed to create a stool with working wheels! So now, all I need to do is make more glass for a proper, sturdy wheelchair!"
"That's great!" praised Agnarr, followed by Elsa...
"Yeah, congrats."
"Thanks." replied Anna. "I'm planning to go out a little later to make the necessary glass to make the chair." she added, followed by Agnarr...
"Well I hope it goes well."
"Me too." replied Anna. "My major concern is making the chair sturdy enough, but other than that, I'm sure I'll come back home with a proper, working wheelchair. The only annoying part though is that I have to make enough glass. Making clothing takes way less glass than this chair will take, so now, I'm pretty envious of Elsa being able to just create however much ice she wants out of thin air and get rid of it. I'll end up storing a massive ball of glass in my room after I make the chair."
"Heh, yeah, that does sound like a bit of a dilemma." replied Elsa. "But on the bright side, you'll have plenty of extra glass if you make something lesser than a wheelchair."
"True." commented Anna. "I guess I could just make stuff and give it to people, like Elsa, to cut down on extra glass." she added, which prompted a light chuckle from Agnarr.
"Heh, Glassware from the Princess herself; I'm sure the recipient would be delighted."
"Yeah..." added Anna with a smile. "The kids really like it when Elsa makes stuff for them." she commented, followed by Elsa.
"You're gifts would have the benefit of not melting too."
"Ohh, your right." replied Anna, before she took a moment to eat more of her food. "Anyway, what about you; still gonna try making your own wheelchair?"
"Yeah, but I won't need the model you have though." answered Elsa. "I'll just learn from you."
"Really?" asked Anna with a smile.
"Yeah, after all, with you using a different material than the usual that the wheelchair is made of, there might be design differences you discover that works better with glass. So I could base my attempt off yours."
While Anna was clearly pleased by this, Agnarr chuckled and commented...
"So basically you're waiting for Anna to do all the work and copy it?"
Elsa could only chuckle nervously in response, but Anna replied...
"I don't mind. I'd love to teach Elsa something. Besides, this is my idea."
Maybe Elsa could join you." suggested Agnarr.
"Ohh, that's a great idea!" gasped Anna before looked to her sister and added. "You could help me test out the sturdiness of the chair by sitting in it and letting me push you around. How about it Elsa?"
"Hmmm..." hummed Elsa. "When do you plan on going out?"
"Umm, maybe ten or eleven 'o clock. Definitely before noon, at least." answered Anna.
"Hmm..." hummed Elsa again as she averted her eyes in brief thought, before returning her gaze to Anna with a smile. "Sure, I'll join you."
"Great!"
- 11:23 A.M. -
- Just outside the walls of town -
Walking through Elsa's portal with her to her usual training spot, Anna was all smiles, carrying the large glass orb hovering above her left hand. Upon Elsa closing her portal, Anna looked around the area and briefly hummed.
"Oh right, this isn't a good spot to make more glass anymore." commented Anna, seeing that the sandy shore had receded quite a bit from previous glass making. "Well let's just go to a different spot." she added as she headed to her right along the shore where there was still plenty of sand that wasn't artificially removed.
"Yanno..." commented Elsa, walking alongside Anna to her left. "I still find it surprising that making this wheelchair will take more glass than making clothes."
"I know, I was surprised too." replied Anna. "The first time I made clothing, I had a lot of glass left over. The thing is though, I want the chair to be sturdy enough to support grandma sitting in it, so I need a lot of glass to be sturdy enough to do that. Now, if I just wanted to make an unusable model, I'm sure I got enough glass for that."
"Yeah... our magical clothing is thin too, so I guess the amount of 'material' used is deceptively low." commented Elsa.
"I was going to mention that, too." stated Anna, before a few moments pass and she stopped. "Here is good." she added, looked at the abundant sand in front of them.
"Alright..." replied Elsa, as she walked towards the trees. "I'll just stand over here while you do your thing." she added, while Anna gave an 'ok' and moved her glass orb to rest beside Elsa.
Anna then began to liquefy a large area of sand in front and to the side of her, before lifting a large orb of molten sand a few yards in front of her and proceeded to condense it, producing the usual heated wind. Anna was easily able to accomplish the familiar task with no issue, leaving her with the finished product, once she removed the remaining heat; a clear glass orb about the size of her head.
"Impressive." commented Elsa. "You did that pretty quick. I'm guessing it's easier than making a portal, huh?"
"Yep." replied Anna with a smile as she turned around with the orb floating above her left hand. Anna then extended her right hand towards the larger glass orb beside Elsa and lifted it, returning it to her and the two orbs were heated red hot before she joined them together in an orb that was now three-times her head in size. "Plus, I've made glass more times than I've made portals." she added, before walking to her left, "Let's go to another spot. Better to spread out rather than shrink the shore." added Anna, which prompted a curious look on Elsa's face as she followed.
"Wait, your gonna make more? Isn't that enough?"
"Maybe, but I want extra, just in case." answered Anna. "I don't wanna start making the chair then find out I needed more glass."
"Well that does make sense, but that glass ball is pretty big already, you might have a little trouble getting it though a door, especially if you add even more to it."
"Well that's not a problem. I can just separate it into multiple balls." replied Anna.
"Ah, right. That slipped my mind."
Shortly after, Anna stopped, placed the orb on the ground beside Elsa who had stepped away again and repeated the glass making process, ending up with another head-sized orb of molten glass, which she again, added to her reserve, leaving her with a quite sizable orb solid glass that brought a smile to Anna's face.
"Alright, this should be plenty." stated Anna as the orb hovered above her hands in front of her.
"I hope it is." commented Elsa, looking in awe at the large sphere of glass. "I gotta say; It's impressive to see the amount of material you need for just a wheelchair."
"Heh, can you imagine how big the ball of ice would be if you transformed your palace into a ball?" asked Anna, which prompted Elsa to think for a moment, before chuckling...
"... that would be a very big ball of ice."
"Yeah..." agreed Anna, before she walked by Elsa and partly into the trees.
"You're not doing it here?" asked Elsa as she followed.
"Nah, I don't think the wheels will work too well on the sand." answered Anna.
"Ah, right. Oh, well since the wheelchair is for when Grandma's here, how about we go back to the courtyard and you can make the chair there?"
"Yeah, but Grandma's likely going to be in the chair when she comes here. So it would be better to see how well or not the chair handles the grass and make any changes." replied Anna.
"Alright then."
Stopping shortly after, Anna eagerly began making a normal chair, the same as before in her room, with an open-box base. Lowered to the ground with a satisfied smile, Anna saw that the remaining orb was reduced to about half.
"Oh yeah, I should have plenty of glass left over." commented Anna, before she lowered her orb and walked in front of the chair and carefully sat in it, waiting for a moment, before smiling and Elsa asked...
"Well? Better than before?"
"Yeah." answered Anna, shifting a bit in the chair. "I'm not hearing or feeling any creaking or cracking."
"Great, now you just need the armrests, handle and the wheels."
"Yep, I should have enough for all of that." replied Anna, before standing, magically lifting the orb of glass, created and attached the armrests at the sides, and the handles to grip and push the chair near the middle sides of the backrest. "Alright, the wheels to finish- Oh wait! There's a foot rest too." added Anna, before she quickly created and attached the foot rests to the front of the chair.
With the additions to the chair, the remaining orb was a little smaller but Anna was still confident she had enough to complete the chair, before she once again sat in the chair and placed her arms and feet on their rests.
"Hmm, maybe the arm rests could be a bit lower, but everything's still good and sturdy." commented Anna, before she stood up again, then gasped happily and looked to Elsa. "Oh! I just had an idea! We can do this together! Make this chair with your magic."
"Alright..." replied Elsa, before she took a moment to examine Anna's chair, then lifted her hands and recreated her own icy version which she placed to the right of Anna.
"Great, now sit in it." suggested Anna, which Elsa silently complied and gently sat in her created chair.
"Feels as sturdy as any normal chair." commented Elsa.
"Good, now we just need to add the wheels and were done!" stated Anna delightfully.
Elsa remained sitting as she watched Anna lift her glass chair eye-level to her and rotated it to look at it from the back and humming briefly before the placed her hands to the side of the armrests and lowered her hand straight down to the base of the chair and made mental note of the gap the armrests created. Anna then took glass from her orb and creating four cylinders about four inches in length and placed them to the bottom, outer ends of the chairs base. Anna repeated the measuring and smiled with satisfaction that she had space enough for the wheels. Following this, Anna noticed Elsa, sitting with her legs cross, smiling at her.
"What?" asked Anna.
"Nothing. Just admiring you work."
"Heh, well you could be doing this along with me." suggested Anna with a smile.
"Alright." replied Elsa, standing and lifting her chair and repeating Anna's act of adding the four cylinders. "Next step, Teacher." added Elsa with a smile, prompting a chuckle from Anna, before she split her glass orb in two, however, she paused with thought. "What's wrong?" asked Elsa.
"I just realized, I think I will need a bit more glass." answered Anna. "Pretty sure I got enough for the two big wheels and since they'll be carrying most of the weight, they need to be sturdy, just like the chair. The smaller front wheels thought, ehh, not so much."
"Oh, well you can just make the two wheels now and go get more glass, I'll wait for you here." suggested Elsa.
"Alright." replied Anna as she began to create the wheels. "I was going to make them solid, but that would just require a lot more glass." added Anna, before she finish; two large, spoked glass wheels now floated in the air. Anna lowered the chair to the ground and placed the wheels to each side of it, before commenting, "Ok, I'll be right back."
"See-ya." replied Elsa with a wave, before Anna departed back towards the shore, which they were still close enough to see, so Anna wouldn't be out of sight.
Elsa meanwhile, smiled as she admired her sisters work. However, moments into the admiration, she noticed a potential problem Anna was to encounter.
"Hmm... if she puts those two big wheels on the back, or even the front, the smaller wheels won't even touch the ground. Even if she forgoes the smaller ones, it would be tricky to sit in it, let alone grandma... and you would need to constantly balance the person if they did manage to sit in it."
Looking up towards Anna, Elsa saw that she had just arrived at the shore and promptly moved her chair in front of her, so she could still keep an eye on Anna. Elsa then created two large wheels and attached them to the two back points of her chair and with the visual, immediately saw the potential problem become reality and even added the two smaller wheels in front before lowering the chair to the ground to see the issue in action. The front wheels failed to make contact with the ground, it was the foot rests that did as the chair leaned forward.
"Hmm, well one solution I can see is possibly rising the center of the big wheel up... that should balance it out." commented Elsa, before she noticed a light ahead of her and glanced up towards Anna, who was in the process of condensing her molten sand into glass and Elsa smiled as she removed the wheels from her chair and placed it back to it's initial position. "I'll see if Anna can work it out, instead of immediately telling her."
Moments later, with Elsa sitting in her chair, Anna returned; a smile on her face and carrying the two small wheels she needed.
"Alright, time to finish this!" declared Anna happily.
"Hope it goes well." commented Elsa as she stood.
"Oh it will." stated Anna confidently as the wheels in her hand floated to her right as she lifted the chair and the other wheels. "Just a matter of if the chair can support the weight it'll carry." she added, while she attached the two big wheels to the back of the chair. "We should be similar in weight to grandma, so if it can support us, it should be fine." she continued as she attached the final two pieces to the chair and smile proudly at her accomplishment.
Anna then reached her right hand up to the right big wheel and attempted to spin it, which succeeded and followed with the other four.
"Alright, the final, big test!" declared Anna eagerly, before she lowered the chair to the ground and immediately saw the problem Elsa had previous encountered as the front wheels failed to contact the ground. "What the... Why is it leaning forward and so unbalanced?"
"That is interesting..." commented Elsa, walking to Anna's right looking at the chair. "What do you think could be the problem?"
"Well clearly, it's unbalanced." replied Anna, before squatting to get a better look at the wheels. "The wheelchair I'm borrowing has two big wheels and two smaller ones and it's balanced, so I've clearly overlooked something... but what?" she added, before looking to up to Elsa and asking, "Hey, can you make a portal to my room? I should be able to see what the issue is looking at the actual Wheelchair."
"I could, but wouldn't if be more satisfying to figure it out yourself?" replied Elsa, which prompted a puzzled look on Anna's face, before she turned her attention back to the chair in front of her.
"I guess... no, your right, it's just uneven; this should be an easy fix. Hmm... maybe I could move the smaller wheels to the footrests instead... No, that wouldn't work, it would still be leaning forward. I could just make the back wheels smaller, but that would look weird. The wheels are big for a reason, right?"
Anna then stood and hummed in thought, before she lifted the chair to eye level and upright now that it no longer rested on the ground, providing what it was supposed to look like as Anna studied it. Anna placed her right hand under the big wheel and moved her hand to the right where the small wheel should have been, but wasn't, instead it was a few inches above her hand.
"The wheels should be level with each other with the chair upright as it is now, but it's not."
Elsa meanwhile, enjoyed seeing Anna thinking through the problem and soon saw her frown of thought fade for a smile.
"Hey, what if I change the position of the big wheels? Yeah! That's the issue!" declared Anna, looking to Elsa with a smile. "The wheelchair I borrowed, the wheels axles aren't at the same level!" she added before hitting the side of her head with her palm. "Duh! Put two different sized wheels at the same level, of course they'll be uneven. Ugh, such a stupid mistake."
"It's not stupid." replied Elsa with a smile. "You found a problem and solved it. I knew you'd figure it out without me telling you."
"Huh?" commented Anna, looking to Elsa curiously. "You knew the answer?"
"Yeah, hehe." replied Elsa. "While you were making more glass, I realized the potential problem and put wheels on my chair and discovered the problem you just realized and came up with the same solution you arrived at. Since this was your idea though and you were so close to the end, I wanted you to get there yourself." she explained, which prompted a light chuckle from Anna.
"Heh, yanno, I wouldn't have been opposed to you telling me. I get it though, it was satisfying coming to the answer myself." commented Anna, before she looked back to her chair. "Now I just have to redesign the the base."
"I have a suggestion." stated Elsa. "Instead of it being a square base, it could be a trapezoid."
"Hmm, that's the shape that's kinda like a triangle but it still have four sides right?" asked Anna.
"Yep, like this..." replied Elsa as she used her magic to create a flat trapezoid above her left hand and positioned it at the side of Anna's chair. "See, the back, top and front are still straight, but it's the bottom line that comes up from the front to the back and you can position the back wheels where they meet. That should provide the difference in height for the chair to be level."
"Ohh, nice going!" praised Anna. "That'll work for sure!"
Moments later, following the sisters performing the necessary modifications to the base of their chairs, both looked at their finished product with pride.
"Hehe, alright!" declared Anna giddily, looking at what recognized as a proper wheelchair floating in front of her. "All that's left is to test it out!" she added, before lowering the chair to the ground, followed by Elsa, before Anna first tested how well the chair moved over the ground, which it did so smoothly and without issue, a result that Elsa also shared with her chair.
With simple mobility taken care of, came the final, deciding test as Anna carefully sat in the chair, waited a moment, then placed her feet on the footrests, allowing the chair to fully support her weight, which after a few moments wait, seemed to successfully do so.
"The wheels are still holding up." stated Anna. "Not hearing or feeling any cracking."
"Want me to push you?" asked Elsa as she walked around to the back to the chair, which Anna agreed to and Elsa took hold of the handles and proceeded to push Anna about two yards, before Anna delightfully declared...
"It works!"
The response prompted a chuckle from Elsa, before she turned around and returned to their initial location.
"Congratulations." stated Elsa, before Anna removed herself from the chair and giddily hopped with excitement.
"Ohhh, I'm so happy right now!" declared Anna. "All that's left is to wait for grandma to decide to visit! The only minor issue I see is that the back of the chair could be reclined a bit, but that's a simple fix." she added, which prompted another chuckle from Elsa, who walked to her chair.
"Well, let's see if I can repeat your success."
"I'll push you!" eagerly offered Anna as she hurried to the back of Elsa's chair as Elsa sat down.
After a moment of wait to see if the wheels supported her weight, with success, Elsa gave the 'ok' for Anna to start pushing and to her delight shared in Anna's success as the chair remained intact and sturdy as she returned to her initial position.
"Well..." commented Elsa as she removed herself from the chair. "Looks like we both succeeded."
"Congratulations!" declared Anna happily.
Elsa simply smiled, before she looked at their chairs and hummed briefly.
"Hey, following our success, there's something I want to try out." commented Elsa.
"What?"
"A sort of... stress test." suggested Elsa. "We've been careful not to put too much stress on the chairs, but in typical use, a chair would go through more stress than someone slowly and carefully sitting in it."
"Ahh, I see that you mean." replied Anna. "Heh, yeah, I'm not slowly sitting in chairs normally."
"Plus, with grandma's reduced energy levels, she might sit in the chair a bit more forcefully when we help her in it."
"Yeah, good point." replied Anna, before she walked in front of her chair. "Could it handle a bit of a 'plop' down..." she added, before turning around and forgoing supporting herself with the armrest, squatting over the chair a few inches, before she left herself drop the short distance onto it.
While the chair withstood the force, a small gasp-turned-chuckle left Anna as the chair rolled back a few feet.
"Heh, ok, it handled that well." commented Anna, before Elsa also sat in her chair more normally, instead of slowly, which remained intact. "I wonder how forcefully I can sit down before something breaks." added Anna, before she stood again, then nearly fell into the chair, which prompted a sharp crack from the chair. "Ohh ok, that did something."
Removing herself from the chair, Anna quickly inspected it and found the source of the sound; the spoke of the right back wheel had a clear crack all the way through.
"Huh, falling into the chair just cracked a single spoke. The chair itself seems fine."
"And you can still use a wheel with one or two damaged spokes." stated Elsa.
"Yeah, I can easily repair it too." replied Anna, before looking at the whole chair with a smile. "I don't wanna test the chair until it breaks though. Sitting in it roughly is the most likely thing to happen to it, so there's no reason to do something unrealistic."
"Just don't wanna break what you worked on huh?" asked Elsa with a smirk, which prompted Anna to turn to her with a smirk as well.
"Pretty much. What about you?"
"I don't mind testing until it fails." replied Elsa as she stood. "You make a good point though, why test something that's not likely to happen?" she added, before she repeated Anna previous act of falling into the chair.
However, instead of finding fault with the chair, Elsa winced pain and quickly returned to her feet as she place a hand to her rear.
"Ow!"
"Hehehe, looks like it's a bit too sturdy." teased Anna with a chuckle.
- ? -
Opening her eyes as she woke, Rona didn't see the usual sight of her home; instead she was outside looking up to the trees and daytime sky above her. Also curious, she didn't feel the fatigue that normally weighted her down, she felt energetic and refreshed. Proven so when she easily sat up on her own power, which allowed her to look at herself. She wore the same clothes she remembered sleeping in, however, her body appeared a little slimmer, her breasts perkier and her hands where clearly ones of a young woman. Lifting them to her face, Rona felt none of the wrinkles she was familiar with.
"I'm young again." commented Rona with a smile, before chuckling. "Well this is clearly a dream." she added, before standing. "I'm going to enjoy it, though." she continued as she looked around the forest she was in, "Hmm, this area actually looks a bit familiar. Wonder if there's people in this dream."
Deciding to enjoy her likely brief return to youth, Rona began walking, in no particular direction, simply enjoying the energetic use of her body. Soon into the aimless journey, her walking shifted into a light skipping. However, during her delightful walk, enjoying the sights and the calm, light breeze, Rona encountered no one else, but wasn't put off by it, she seemed to have her own personal forest to herself, which simply being in, calmed her.
Rona's relaxing walk stopped at a large lake, walking right up to where the water met the shore and looked out to the water, glimmering in the sun's light with a smile.
"Beautiful..." commented Rona, before squatting down and placing her right hand into the water, it was cool and dripped from her hand like usual when she lifted it. "This is such a realistic dream." she added, before closing her eyes and letting out a light chuckle; she could sense it, before she cupped her hands together and reached into the water to gather it in her hands and stared at the liquid. "Heh, a dream..." she added, she could guess the truth. "This is too real to be a dream."
Seemingly on cue of her realization, Rona heard someone approach from behind her and stop, waiting, which Rona only smiled and freed the water from her hands, before standing. Taking a breath, she turned to face the only person that made themselves known in this 'dream'. However, upon seeing her guest, Rona's eyes widened in surprise.
"K-Kaj!?"
The person that stood before her was another Northuldran, but not just any Northuldran, it was her husband, appearing the same as she remembered, a welcoming smile on his face and his arms extended for a hug.
"Hello, my dear."
Without a word, tears brimming her eyes, Rona sprinted towards him and embraced her husband tightly. He certainly felt real and Rona hoped she wasn't dreaming.
"Ohhh, it's so good to see you again!" declared Rona.
"It's wonderful to finally see you again too, Rona." he replied, wrapping his arms around her as she relaxed into his embrace.
Upon eventually pulling away enough to look each other in the eyes, smiling in silence, Rona lifted her right hand up to caress her husbands cheek, feeling the warmth of his skin on her fingers. Her husband mimicked her act and Rona closed her eyes briefly to relish the touch of his hand.
"This feels so real." commented Rona, lifting her left hand up to her husbands hand on her cheek, before she meet his gaze.
"Because it is." he answered, which prompted a content sigh from Rona.
"It's my time, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is." he answered, before he offer his left hand. "Are you ready?"
Almost reflexively, Rona lowered her right hand towards the offered hand, but stopped short in hesitation as she thought of her grand-daughters, Elsa and Anna.
"I am, but..." replied Rona, before lowering her hand and looking up to her husband with a smile. "I made a promise with my grand-daughters; new grand-daughters I recently met. Would it be possible to delay this at all, at least, allow me time to talk to them one last time?" she asked, which her husband smiled.
"Of course. Your physical body has yet to expire. You are not forced to accept my offer."
"Thank you."
"However, your time has come; your physical body will only last the day." warned her husband. "As time passes, you will grow weaker and your body will begin to fail you."
"And then I return here, right?" asked Rona.
"Right." replied her husband, followed by Rona smiling and giving him a kiss.
"Then I will make the most of my remaining time."
"And I will be here to welcome you."
- 1:16 p.m. -
- Northuldra camp, Rona's home -
Waking to reality, Rona felt the heaviness of her body. It would be a lie to say she wasn't disappointed being back in her failing body, but she was happy she had time to say her goodbyes and not suddenly leave her children and grand-children.
Hearing some light rustling to her right, Rona looked to see Iduna a couple of feet from her kneeling down, picking up a wooden bowl.
"Iduna." commented Rona, gaining her daughters attention, who smiled at her.
"Hey, have a nice nap?"
"Heh, yes, I did." replied Rona.
"I thought you might wake up soon and was going to get some water for you. Do you have to use the bathroom?"
"No, no, but come over her for a moment, I need to tell you something." stated Rona.
"Alright." replied Iduna as she placed the bowl down and crawled the short distance beside her mother. "Want me to sit you up?"
"Not right now." answered Rona, before pulling her right hand from under the blanket draped over her and offered her hand to Iduna, who took it in both of hers. Rona took a slow breath, before smiling at her daughter. "Today's the day I part from you all."
Following the statement, Iduna's eyes widened and the color seemed to drain from her face.
"W-W-What..." choked out Iduna as tears brimmed her eyes.
Seeing the immediate dread come over her daughters face, Rona winced, perhaps it would've been better to ease into it, but she said it.
"My time has come." stated Rona.
"A-A-Are you sure!?" asked Iduna, squeezing her mothers hand as the tears fell from her eyes. "You still look f-fine!" she added, which Rona smiled at.
"I can feel it." answered Rona, which seemed to cause Iduna's tears to flow more readily, as she closed her eyes and bowed her head. "I had a dream where I met your father, telling me it's time. I told him I'm ready. But I wanted to say my goodbyes; I have the day to do it."
"... I-I'm not ready though!" cried Iduna, lifting her teary gaze to her mother. "I don't want you to go!" she added, before closing her eyes and bowing her head again and shaking her head. "I-I know it's selfish of me, but..." she continued, before lifting her gaze again. "... Accept Anna's healing. You did tell her you'd visit Arendelle after all. You can't go before then, she's really looking forward to it."
With this plea, Rona looks notably saddened, but continues to smile.
"I know this is difficult for you, I'm sorry."
"Then stay! Fight!" Pleaded Iduna, before releasing her mothers hand and leaning over to embrace her. "Fight!" she cried. "I'll help you. We all will!" she added, before Rona placed her left hand on Iduna's head, petting her.
"I don't see this as a fight." commented Rona. "This is simply the natural process of life and death; and I've reached my end."
Iduna is silent moments following, coming to terms with the reality, before she lifted herself up, sniffling as she looks at her mother with her tear-streaked face.
"Are... are you in pain?" asked Iduna.
"Not anymore than usual." answered Rona with a smile as she lifted a shaky hand up to Iduna's cheek, who lifted her hand up to hold her mothers hand there. "... but I can feel my strength leaving me. It feels like I just need to let go."
Following this remark, Iduna's tears fall as she closes her eyes; Rona continues though...
"Before that happens though, I have a request."
Iduna sniffles and comments as she opens her eyes with a small smile...
"You want to be outside, see the sky as you leave."
"Heh, yes, that too." replied Rona with a smile. "But there's something else. Like you said, the promise I made to my grand-daughters; I want to honor that. I will 'fight' until then. I have the day after all." she added, which brought a delighted smile to Iduna's face.
"Alright, thank-you! I'll send Gale."
"Thank you, and for now, don't tell them about my limited time. I don't want to ruin the visit, I will tell them afterwards." stated Rona.
"Ok."
Moments later, the tents door opens as Magna enters, but she didn't manage to get a greeting out before she saw Iduna at their mothers side and could sense something wasn't right, but her mother was clearly awake as her attention turned to her.
"Hello Magna." greeted Rona. "Come here a moment, I have something to tell you."
However, Magna froze, eyes widening as she could guess what the news was, but closed her eyes and took a slow, deep shuttering breath, before walking towards her mother and kneeling beside Iduna to her left, who she noticed wiping her face. Looking to her sister, who only glanced at her, Magna could easily recognize the signs of crying on her face, which prompted Magna's bottom lip to quiver as tears brimmed her eyes and she looked to her mother, smiling up at her, which Magna returned.
"It's time, isn't it?" asked Magna.
To be continued