“Can I be honest, Kristoff?” Anna said, as if there were a chance he’d refuse her. She’d been said no to so many times, he tried to save it for her most extravagant schemes like the series of windmills she wanted to install to power a new chocolate-making company run by refugees with curious orange complexions.
“Of course,” he said, trailing his hand in the bath’s warm water, letting his fingers find her thigh, hip, her chestnut curls.
“I thought you’d want to do things with ice,” she said.
“Things?”
“Sexy things,” she said. “But I like the heat better.”
He swallowed, took a breath. "You say that like you think it's a burden."
Emma's heart caught in her throat. "...Isn't it?"
Now it was his turn to look embarrassed and afraid. "That story I told ...could have been the truth. I...I prayed over it often enough.” He looked down furtively, ashamed of the admittance. “Good day, Miss Green."
Oh, we're pulling out the old Mercy Street content today. I really should do something about finishing that, shouldn't I?
TDS people and Dick/Joan shippers: Everything I ever learned about unresolved sexual tension and longing glances from opposite sides of the room came from these two loons, and they're great.
"California's on fire and the president's an imbecile and a deadly disease is literally in the very air we breathe and you want me to do what with my last fifty dollars?"
"California's on fire and the president's an imbecile and a deadly disease is literally in the very air we breathe and you want me to do what with my last fifty dollars?"
From over her laptop screen, across the table, she watched Judy squirm, weigh her words. “I’m just saying, if the world’s going to hell, maybe not blow your last dollars on high-end wine..?”
It was so adorable, so well-intentionned, yet so very ridiculous. So very Judy.
She sighed, draining the very last of the orange horror from her glass. “Judy. If the world’s going to hell, good wine is all we have left. Especially if California’s on fire and all its fine wineries are doomed. So please, let me order some while there is still some to order, and then, please let me get nice and drunk and watch it all burn through happy, glassy eyes and for once, not fear that a raging hangover will be what fucks tomorrow up. Because I have nothing waiting for me tomorrow. Or the day after that. Or the day after after that, and forevermore until this fucking quarantine is lifted, two weeks or months or years after that.”
Judy tilted her head, giving her that aggravating Hopeful Bambi Look from under her wispy bangs. “Jen. Come on. You have two amazing kids, a gorgeous house - two, counting the guest one, which is kinda preposterous-, a very sweet potential beau you can use Zoom to talk with... or more,” she added with a wriggle of eyebrows, “a killer job in a very hot market - Oh God, no insensitive pun intended... oh God, on both counts! And, ummm, me. I make a pretty mean sourdough, you know. And it costs literally pennies.”
“So you’ll have me bread-bloated instead of drunk. Thanks Judy.”
“Well you do also tend to bloat when you drink. Remember that time when your feet wouldn’t fit in your shoes?”
“Fuck you, that never happened,” Jen scoffed. “And besides, we’re staying home, I don’t need shoes.”
“You will when you’ll hit your bike like a madwoman every morning and we go for long sunset walks on the beach, which are still allowed.” Judy stood, taking away their empty glasses, and looked at her sweetly. “I might even let you hold my hand.”
“Ugh, gross.” Jen scowled at her friend for an instant, before the corner of her lips curled upwards. “Thanks for taking care of me.”
“Always. I love you,” she said with a rub to her arm. “That is also why I might even let you hold my joint.”
Jen’s smile broke out fully. “Oooh, and that is why I love you. Maybe this quarantine bullshit won’t be so bad after all.”
He hated the crowds, the awkward, bumbling way he spoke in French and the way he felt like the locals were silently judging and berating him every time he opened his mouth. He hated the endless gray skies (did the sun ever shine here, he wondered) and even the winding boulevards that everyone else spoke so highly of. He hadn’t even wanted to come here, not really, but he had been invited to speak at a theology conference and he wasn’t really in a position to turn down such an opportunity. The children had jumped at the chance to spend a few weeks with their Aunt Mary and Uncle Jed in Boston, and when he’d told his wife the news, he knew he wasn’t about to say no to the delighted look on her face.
The best thing about Paris, he had to admit, was the way Emma thrived there. She loved the people, the streets, the food, even the weather. And one evening as they strolled along the Seine, the hulking shadow of Notre Dame visible before them, and Emma asked if he’d ever seen anything more beautiful in all his life, Henry had answered no before bringing her close to him and kissing her right there on the street, not caring who saw them or what they thought.
I have read many opinions about Frozen II in the last half year, many of them very contradictory and almost dividing the Frozen fandom. So it took me a while to put everything together to form a personal overall picture. Many people know that I’m an F3 supporter and after a post from yesterday about Elsa’s humanity and how the makers of Frozen see her, an idea came to my mind. This idea would solve many problems and questions and finally bring Elsa back to Arendelle and to Anna. Furthermore, this idea holds a lot of fuel and possibilities for a full-length film with many flashbacks and plots for really every one of our beloved characters. Everyone would get their money’s worth without it getting boring at any time.
It’s been a long time since I tried writing and I’m not good at it. But the form of a ficlet seemed to me to be the most suitable to convey an F3 plot idea with much tension in it. Maybe one of my favourite writers or anyone who would like to dare to take up my idea and write a real fanfic with several chapters. I would be the first who would like to read it!
I hope you like my idea.
Big thanks to @fericita-s for beta reading and correcting my text and also for making me aware of a big logical problem that i had overseen! After one sleepy night i solved this issue and now my movie plot idea is even better than before :-)
The story takes place shortly after the events of the reunion and afterwards in the Enchanted Forest…
Of course it had taken a while until the people of Arendelle understood everything, until they accepted the new friends in the far north and the abdication of their queen. It has taken a while before Anna herself was ready to take on the mantle.
In her new role as Fifth Spirit, accompanied by Gale and Nokk, Elsa was quickly accepted by the Arendellians. Most were grateful after witnessing the rescue of the castle. Some of them, however, were afraid of so much power in their midst.
Elsa noticed this very quickly and decided to limit her future visits to what was necessary and to enter the castle without being seen.
The official coronation took place in the castle chapel, where all the kings and queens had been crowned. When the choir finished singing, the bishop carefully put the new crown on Anna and she received Arendelle’s insignia from the velvet cushion. Then she turned to her people with pride and dignity.
Elsa was in exactly the same place where Anna had been during her own coronation. Anna was calm and composed during the whole ceremony. Fear had almost overwhelmed Elsa. She saw in her memory the ice that slowly formed on the scepter and orb as clearly as if it had been yesterday.
As the applause broke out she smiled at Anna. She was so proud of her little sister. Anna looked over at her for a moment and smiled back in relief. Then she carefully put the insignia back on the pillow. She had made it through. She was now Queen of Arendelle.
As they left the chapel in a royal recessional past an overjoyed looking Kristoff, the enthusiastically clapping people of Arendelle, the invited guests and dignitaries, Elsa involuntarily drew a comparison. There seemed to be far more people present than at her own coronation. Some representatives of the Northuldra were even present including Yelana and Honeymaren in their traditional colourful festive dress, now bowing to both of them. The people loved Anna. And Elsa was happy to have made the right decision for both of them and for the kingdom.
The Coronation Ball in the evening was cheerful and exuberant. Every dignitary paid respects to the new queen. She was glad that the Duke of Weselton was not invited this time and that she did not have to dance with him. This time she could choose her own dance partner and she chose Kristoff. As a precaution she had arranged for Kristoff to get some dance lessons a few weeks before. She still remembered too well how Weselton stepped on her feet back then and Kristoff was a good deal bigger and heavier.
***
Anna, with Elsa’s help, had commissioned the royal sculptor to create a large bronze statue. She wanted to show her parents at a young age, as a monument and eternal symbol of the peace between Arendelle and the Northuldra. Elsa would not be able to be present in person, but she gave her promise to visit regularly.
Anna’s second official act was to appoint Lt. Destin Mattias as General. He had been loyal to Arendelle all his life and was instrumental in helping her break the curse of the mist. Ultimately, it was Mattias who reached for her hand at the very last moment to save her from falling into the depths of the breaking dam, saving her life.
Together with Kristoff, of course, and that brought Anna to her next thought. She had been overjoyed to accept Kristoff’s marriage proposal and that would be the next big event in Arendelle. Her own wedding. But first she wanted to unveil the monument. The sculptor had promised her that it would be finished very soon.
***
Peace had returned to the Enchanted Forest. The Northuldra lived their lives as before, in harmony with the Spirits of Nature. The giants helped the inhabitants over abysses, Nokk helped a bit with fishing, Gale, playful as she was, helped to convert creative ideas into stone sculptures, and Bruni was content to help start cookfires and clear areas with fire as needed for growing food or reindeer herding.
Elsa had her own kota in the village, but she spent most of her time in Ahtohallan to learn and find out more about the past and about herself and her magic. She even finds out more about Kristoff's past. The only thing she knew about him was that he has been raised by trolls and learned to be an ice harvester. But now she knows everything. About his parents and what happened to them, and also the circumstances around why Kristoff ended up among the trolls.
One balmy early summer evening she sat with Honeymaren and a few others around the campfire in the village and told them a little bit about Ahtohallan. Everyone was quite curious about it because not one of the Northuldra living today had ever seen it.
At first she decided to reveal only a little of the deeper secrets there and limited herself to the description of the place itself. She wasn’t sure if this would anger the spirits but assumed that she would quickly notice when trouble was approaching. The Northuldra hung on her every word while she talked and now and then someone asked her for more details. But Elsa left out the pictures in the memory hall and the deeper levels of Ahtohallan with the living ice sculptures of her own past. That was a bit too private and perhaps risky.
Now that she had accepted her ability and her new task as Fifth Spirit, she hardly thought back to her old life in Arendelle. In the beginning she was there every Friday and sometimes stayed over the weekend to be with Anna and help her with her new duties as Queen, but she had changed. Something had changed her. And it became rarer and rarer for Elsa to visit the castle.
Eventually it even became rare to find her in the forest.
The Spirits were appeased and there were no threats and no strangers in the forest. Everything was calm and in harmony. It was almost as if it had never been otherwise. Many peaceful weeks passed.
Until that one day in the early hours of the morning, when one of the Northuldra men was about to go fishing and he found a human lying at the beach motionless half in the water. The man ran back to the village to get help.
A short time later he returned with Yelana, Honeymaren, and a healer. They took in the sight before them and drew back in shock. In front of them lay Elsa, motionless and without any clothes.
The healer was the first to kneel down next to her and check if she was still alive. She confirmed it to Yelena with a relieved nod and together they carried her back to the forest.
When they arrived in the village there was excitement and a small group discussed gesticulating and pointing towards the lichen meadows and other directions. The only thing they understood in the tangle of stories was, that the spirits had apparently all disappeared and were no longer helping anyone as they always did.
Yelana immediately linked the two incidents and came up with the only possible explanation. Elsa was on her way back to them when all the Spirits suddenly disappeared, and so did Nokk. So Elsa must have swum almost all the way from Ahtohallan through the Dark Sea. A wonder she could survive that at all. If the magic disappeared, this could only mean one thing.
***
Meanwhile, Anna was seriously worried in Arendelle. It had been more than a month since Elsa’s last letter and since then Gale hadn’t shown up either.
Even Olaf had been acting very strange lately, insisting they remove the ice embellishments from the castle and find more “Anna” decorations. He was also uncharacteristically calm. He didn’t visit Sven as often anymore and his curiosity and jokes had become rare.
Anna made a decision. If Elsa did not come to her, she would have to travel to the Enchanted Forest herself. She asked Kristoff to gather all the necessary material and asked General Mattias to accompany her. He agreed as long as he could bring Halima.
Anna agreed and the next day they all left very early in the morning for the north. Sven pulled the wagon, Kristoff sat in the front and Olaf sat in the back next to Anna. Mattias and Halima rode side by side on two of their own horses behind them. Since there was peace between the Northuldra and the Arendellians, they declined a retinue of guards. It was supposed to be a comfortable trip with a reunion of old friends in the Enchanted Forest.
Late in the evening they reached the four big monoliths at the edge of the forest and the sun was already setting. They got out of the wagon and Mattias helped Halima dismount. Everyone was in a good mood and grabbed the contents from the wagon. There were presents for the Northuldra and specialties from Arendelle for a small feast in the village. They had barely finished when a few Northuldra with serious expressions ran towards them and asked them to hurry. Something bad had happened. Anna held on to Kristoff in shock and said only one word. “Elsa!”
When they entered the village there was an oppressive silence and many lowered their eyes as they passed by. Honeymaren ran towards Anna, bowed briefly to the queen and took her hand.
Anna’s lips trembled as they looked into each other’s eyes for a brief moment. Finally Honeymaren pulled Anna gently behind her towards Elsa’s kota and said softly to her that Anna had to be strong now. They entered the low and gloomy dwelling. Then Anna saw her sister lying on a bed lined with furs, her eyes open. Anna rushed towards her, kneeled beside the bed and grabbed Elsa’s hand. She was unusually warm, but did not return her gentle grip. Elsa just looked up and did not react in the slightest. Anna laid both hands on Elsa’s cheeks and gently turned her head towards her. Their eyes met.
“Elsa! What has happened? What is the matter with you?”
Agonizing seconds went by.
Elsa blinked a few times and then tightened her eyebrows.
Her voice was weak and sounded fragile when she finally replied, “Who are you?”
***
—
Ok, there were or are some difficulties for me to bring some facts together and explain them conclusively.
One of them is the loss of Elsa’s powers and what would happen to her creations. Olaf, the Snowgies and Marshmallow in particular. It was simple and easy to do with Elsa’s ice decorations at the castle (if it should be Elsa’s suggestion or Anna’s decision as new Queen i’m not sure about). Arendelle and especially Anna must not notice in the story too early that Elsa is now a “normal” person. But the other thing? That Ahtohallan is the reason should be clear, after all that was the source of Elsa’s power. But what happens when all the magic vanishes? Would Ahtohallan have a remaining residual magic to ensure the continued existence of Elsa’s living creations? Or would Elsa possess some kind of residual magic that she can no longer use willingly, but is still a deep part of herself? The other thing is how would it be possible to bring back the magic or to "heal" Ahtohallan? Would this be permanent? Would it be wanted? Questions over questions and this time Ahtohallan doesn't know (pun intended...LOL).
Well, the rest of the story remains to be determined…
Top five things you say to Disney guests while working, top five things you wish you didn't have to stay to Disney guests while working, and top five favorite food or drink items from Disney parks.
THIS IS A GREAT COLLECTION OF QUESTIONS!!!
(I’m including things I used to say at Star Tours and Great Movie Ride too, because yeesh)
Top Five Things I Say to Disney Guests While Working
1) yes, the animals are real. all of them. (alternative: this is not the Jungle Cruise)
2) yes, I am really driving this truck. yes, I am old enough and tall enough to drive this truck**
3) yes, the Great Movie Ride is a ride
4) the rebel spy is chosen at random
5) the bathrooms are back in the village, on the left, on the other side of the white building
Top Five Things I Wish I Didn’t Have to Say to Disney Guests While Working (and yes, I have said ALL of these things on a fairly regular basis)
1) Please put your baby back in the truck, I’m driving on a bridge over crocodiles and they’re opportunistic feeders.
2) No, you absolutely may not hold my gun. It’s a real gun.
3) Yes, I’m a real person. Yes, I am old enough to work here.
4) No, we were not named after that Harambe. We were here first, actually.
5) No, we will not see any dinosaurs on the safari today. And no, those are not rhino eggs, they are ostrich eggs.
Top Five Favorite Disney Foods and Drinks
1) THE ROASTED CORN IN THE HARAMBE VILLAGE. A CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED TREASURE.
2) the honey mead at the UK booth during the Food and Wine festival
3) the SCHOOL BREAD IN THE NORWAY PAVILION
4) the noodles at Ohana (anything at Ohana, really, even the bread pudding)
Idk if this is actually unpopular or not because I didn’t see a lot of discourse on Frozen 2? But it felt like a really adult movie to me and I’m not sure how much kids really enjoy it?
The themes seemed very heavy and confrontational for adults in a way that might not be so appealing to kids. I am a true advocate for animation is for all people, not just kids, but idk it just seemed a little dark for a family movie. I cried basically the whole time bc it’s very confrontational in being true to your own happiness, but I’m not sure I would have liked it as a kid. Idk that could just be me tho!
