A Snow Queen's Tale- a Frozen Fanfiction

Chapter 44: Make Believe

🌻Anna's Pov🌻
      I begged Nikko to stay while I wrote back. "I don't want Astrid to wait for my reply," I explained. I did not want to wait, either. The sooner I wrote to Astrid, the sooner I would get a letter back.
      I raced up to my room and retrieved the letter I had been working on the night before. I loved Astrid's idea. An invisible squirrel! It gave me at least a dozen news ideas of my own.
      "If Soren is invisible, that would explain a lot," I added to what I had written the night before. It was even more exciting to write now that I got to respond to someone else's words! "But I am not sure he knows how to disappear. What if he is learning to fly? Love, Anna."
      I drew a picture of Soren flying between two birds, using his bushy tail to steady himself against the wind. If he were a flying squirrel, I thought, he could visit places around the world. Maybe he was traveling right now!
      As Nikko waited, I folded the envelope, and Olina applied the royal seal. I admired it before I gave it to Nikko to deliver. I was proud to send something from the castle to my mysterious new friend.
      The next day, I sat by the window for so long that there was a smudge where I kept breathing on the glass. When Nikko's carriage finally crossed the bridge to the castle, I tore down the spiral stairs and through the kitchen door to meet him.
"Is there anything for me?" I asked, running to keep up with the carriage. "Is there a letter?"
Nikko drew his horse to a stop . He turned around and rummaged in his burlap bag. "Yes, I believe I do have something for you," he said. "Unless I left it behind. . . ."
The twinkle in his eye told me he was teasing. He broke into a smile as he handed me another envelope.
Nikko patted the bag. "I kept it right here for safekeeping," he told me. "I knew it was something important."
      I remembered to thank Nikko before I snatched the letter out of his hand. In my rush to see what was inside, I ripple the envelope open.
      Like me, Astrid was still thinking about Soren. "Dear Anna," the letter said. "If Soren can fly, he is a very special squirrel. What else do you think he can do?"
      I had been wondering about that myself! Soren could have powers that most squirrels only dreamed of. . . .
"Dear Astrid," I wrote back. "Sometimes I he can speak in a language that we don't know. Or that maybe we can't hear."
      I drew a picture of Soren playing with a pair and rabbits and a robin. "What if the animals can all talk to each other?" I asked Astrid. "What if they want to talk to people, but they don't know how?"
      I had a new spring in my step after Nikko left with my latest letter. I would love to swim or skate or sing with a friend, it was true. But the best thing to do with a friend was play pretend.
      Back when we were little, me and Elsa had pretended all the time. We imagined that we were polar bear sisters, or explorers in the snow, and those stories never ended. We just kept adding to them every time we played. Writing to Astrid reminded me of the best times with Elsa.
      I did not quite understand how a person I had imagined-Astrid- had suddenly come to life. But there were plenty of things I did not understand, like why Elsa had stopped speaking to me, or why the sun rose and set, or why I did not like the taste of pickled herring. So I just accepted Astrid for who she was. And with Astrid to write to, it was hard for me to stop pretending.
      In the morning, I set an extra place at the table for Astrid. "Who will be joining you for breakfast?" Olina asked.
      "A friend," I said.
      "The squirrel?" Olina replied. "I do not think that is a good idea."
      My laugh rang through the grand dining room. "No, silly," I corrected Olina. "Astrid!" Mealtime was lonely without my parents, but Astrid could keep me company. At least in my imagination.
      During my lessons, I was distracted. "Your head is in the clouds," Miss Larsen said, but that only made me think about clouds. Could Soren fly that high? I would have to ask Astrid what she thought of that.
I wandered the garden, looking for butterflies, before Nikko was due with his carriage. I didn't see any fluttering wings, but I did spot a scampering squirrel just when I least expected him.
"Soren!" I said. He backed away from my voice, but he did not run away. He cocked his head a little, like he was saying hello, then hopped over to the willow tree.
If he climbed, I thought, I would keep up with him this time. Instead Soren began digging a small hole in the dirt.
Was he digging for fun? I wondered. The way me and Elsa used to play in the sand? Or was he after buried treasure? I had imagined a whole pirate ship and a trunk of gold coins before I realized that what Soren had dug up was a treasure only a squirrel could love: a stash of acorns.
      Soren stuffed two of them in his mouth and scurried away. He was halfway across the garden when I realized he had left one behind. "Come back!" I called, but he had vanished beneath the hedge.
      I picked up the acorn and turned it over in my hand. Had Soren left the acorn for me on purpose? I liked to think so. Luckily, I knew just whom to give it to.