An Icy Blast

9- Jack

We touch down on the balcony. We can't have been gone any longer than an hour or two, but that doesn't stop Kristoff and Anna gladly welcoming Elsa back home.

Did they think I was going to kill her or something like that?

As a Guardian, I don't really do sleeping, so I wait until Elsa is tucked up in her bed and fast asleep to tiptoe out and shut the door.

The castle is unnervingly quiet. The odd scamper of a rodent, the nervous shuffle of a servant, even the creakiness of the building all startle me and give me cause for panic.

I slip into Elsa's office and restore everything to its original state. I glance around and see a painting of two people. A man and a woman, both regally dressed, crowned. The plaque below it simply reads: 'KING AND QUEEN OF ARENDELLE. 1993-2014. PERISHED AT SEA.'

I raise my feet off the ground so I can get a better look. In her father, I see Elsa's strong, sculpted jaw and thick mass of blonde hair In her mother, I see Elsa's tender, blue eyes.

I sit down at her desk and pick up the envelope addressed to the King of Oslo regarding his mooses. Her handwriting is thin, narrow and sloped. Beautiful. I gently put it back onto her 'Out' pile and start reading all sorts of state papers that I heavily suspect are private and confidential.

I am disturbed by the clock chiming 5am. I reckon that Elsa will wake soon. The office door shuts with a click! and I make the slightly perilous journey back up to her room.

I sit on a chair at the foot of her bed and watch her sleep. She is gorgeous. I think that I got incredibly lucky.

Her alarm clock bleeps at 5.30. She groans and rolls over. I stop it midway through.

"Thank you." she murmurs.

"Don't you need to get up?"

"Hmm..." she nods in agreement. I kneel by her.

"Well, why don't you?"

Her eyes partially open. "Because I- Jack?"

"Yes?"

Once her eyes are opened fully, she sits up and smiles at me. "You're still here."

"Of course I am. Where else could I be?"

Elsa doesn't reply, her smile turned into a frown. She gets up and opens the balcony doors.

"Can you hear that?" she whispers.

"What?"

"The sound of drums."

Sure enough, a rhythmic menace can be heard echoing over the fields and fjords.

I nod. She pales. "We aren't prepared. We need to prepare ourselves, quickly."

Before I can stop her, she's shaken Anna and Kristoff awake and is out of the door, leaving a trail of ice behind her. I chase her, melting while I'm at it, and am soon able to grab her by the shoulders and get her to look at me.

"Listen, Elsa, you're panicking. Don't. Arendelle will be OK. Those drums were miles away, they probably won't reach us by evening."

"They will, at least! They may arrive so much earlier! Jack, please, get out of my way."

"Elsa, I can't-"

She roughly knocks me aside and, one by one, Arendelle is awoken and alerted. The men- and loads of women- gather in the square outside to assess different forms of weaponry that Arendelle's army had laid on, ordered by Elsa.

"I still think she's overreacting." I murmur.

"I don't know." Kristoff replies. When did he start seeing me? "The attack a day or two ago was pretty shocking. They'll have come back stronger."