A Snow Queen's Tale- a Frozen Fanfiction

Chapter 26: Perfect Summer Night

🌨Elsa's Pov🌨
By the end of our first week at the Sommerhus, the broken plate was just an ache in the back of my mind, something I could almost forget. I was still in my favorite place with my favorite people, and nothing could ruin that.
One night, near sunset, Anna and I went to the edge of the woods to look for kindling for a fire while mama stood nearby. We scampered along the hiking path, piling sticks and pieces of bark into baskets we carried and playing our usual game. "Don't touch the ground!" I said, hopping from root to root. "Anna, you're slipping. . . ." My sister had one foot on a rock and one on a rickety log.
Anna's gaze was fixed on something deep in the woods. "Shhh," she told me, putting a finger to her lips. "I think I see the snow hare!" She pointed into the distance, and I stepped in that direction.
"You touched the ground!" said Anna. "I win this round!"
I frowned. "Were you tricking me?" I asked. " Did you really see the snow hare at all?"
Anna shook her head. "Okay, I made it up," she admitted. "Because you always win the game."
"I'm older," I said, standing up straight and sticking my chin out.
"And someday you'll be queen," replied Anna, sweeping into a curtsy.
I did not want to think about being queen or imagine what the next day's lessons would bring. In the past few days, I had learned how to write official letters and how to call for the royal guards.
      "Don't touch the ground!" I cautioned my sister, moving up the path and starting the game again. I just wanted to enjoy my time at the Sommerhus, where worries seemed to vanish in the breeze that fanned the fjord.
When mama led us back to the cottage, papa was building the fire. He took the kindling from our baskets, feeding the flames until our family's bonfire lit up the early evening. As the sun sank lower in the sky, the fire grew bolder and brighter, crackling with life.
Beside the fire, Anna bounced in anticipation. "When are we roasting marshmallows?"
"Right now!" said mother, carrying a bowl full of marshmallows to the fire. I put one in the end of my stick and roasted it patiently. I waited to eat my marshmallow until it was golden brown all around.
Anna, on the other hand, strung five marshmallows along her stick and stuck it into the hottest part of the flames. Soon her marshmallows were black on the outside and raw on the inside, but she didn't care one bit. She tugged them from her stick one by one and devoured them in seconds. As soon as she had finished them, she asked, "Can I have some more?"
      "Not tonight," said father. His face was lit by the soft glow from the fire. Father reached down and lifted one of his fiddles to his chin. Keeping time by tapping his toes, and began to play one of our favorite tunes.
      Anna and I sprang up to twirl in circles around the fire, our favorite kind of dancing. And then, when we were tired after a dozen songs, we lay on the grass and watched the twinkling stars.
     I imagined connecting the stars to form the shape of a rabbit and thought some more about the snow hare. Why would I need his good luck anyway? Maybe I could use it in the future. Good luck might help me master my magic. Maybe it would even help me when I became the queen. Too bad no one ever caught the snow hare. It was sad he was only a legend.
      When the fire died down, it was time for us to go to bed. We ducked into our fort and checked on Hildy and Hanna before snuggling into bed. Mother sat with one arm around each of us as she read us fairy tales; then she tucked us in for the night.
      "Sweet dreams," she said. "Tomorrow will be a new adventure!"
The room was dark when mother left, and shadows moved across the ceiling. Next to me, Anna propped herself up on one elbow. "Want to tell ghost stories?" she asked.
I could already hear the wind howling through the trees. It did sound a little like ghosts, I thought. "Sure!"
I was careful not to make my story too scary for Anna, though. Hers was about a friendly host who returned to the same cottage summer after summer to visit the place he loved the most.
      Anna's story was darker and more dramatic. "This is about the ghosts of the people who looked for the snow hare but never found him," she began. "They never found good luck. Actually, all their luck was bad. . . ."
      I couldn't let Anna give herself nightmares. "Let's save that one for tomorrow night, okay?" she said. I hugged my sister and closed my eyes, pretending to sleep.
      In no time, Anna was breathing evenly, lost to the world of dreams. I wasn't tired yet, but I knew a good way to put myself to sleep. All I needed to do was start reviewing my list of Arendelle's rulers, and she drifted off at once.
      In the middle of the night, though, I awoke with a start. For a moment I forgot where I was, but soon I remembered. Our little room, the summer, the fort, the dolls, the plates, the future. But something wasn't right.
I was still half asleep, so it took a moment for my foggy mind to realize what was wrong.
The spot beside me in bed was warm, but my sister wasn't there.