My frozen heart

Chapter 34

As serious as the situation was, Elsa couldn't help but feel excited. Her people were behind her once, and she felt more a part of them than she had before all of this had happened. They had all adjourned to one of the sitting rooms, now called the war room, to discuss strategy when Elsa noticed that Kristoff was not there.

Before she could even ask she heard something crashing down the hallway and then Kristoff came barreling through the hallway, followed by his reindeer Sven. "We're so sorry your highness, we couldn't stop the beast!" the guards cried running in after them and trying to restrain Sven.

"Whoa, whoa! It's quit alright." Elsa said with a laugh. "The reindeer can stay." She said waving the guards away. The exchanged bizarre looks before bowing and leaving the room, closing the door behind them. "What's going on Kristoff?" Elsa asked taking a moment to survey his disheveled appearance.

"I...was...in the forest." He said with labored breath. There was a moment of silence, well almost silence despite his heavy panting, then Anna chimed in. "He went to go speak with the trolls, about joining our numbers, and I'm assuming by your excited entrance they agreed?" Anna said walking over to Kristoff and patting Sven's nose tenderly.

Kristoff couldn't answer but only nodded his head. Anna squealed with excitement and threw her arms around him, which made him almost topple over. "That's great news! Good work Kristoff!" Elsa said happily clapping her hands together. "I can not wait to see how the trolls and dwarves interact." North said raising an amused eyebrow.

Everyone looked to him, confused as the person next to them, when Anna asked, "What do you mean, they don't get along?" North let out a bellowing laugh at her ignorance but everyone else seemed to be just as clueless. "No not at all. No one really knows why come to think of it..." North said putting a hand to his hairy chin.

"Well, I didn't exactly tell the trolls the dwarves would be here." Kristoff said with a nervous smile. "Oh Kristoff you genius!" Anna said hugging him again. "I'm sure once they get here we can get it all smoothed out!" She cried naively. The trolls and dwarves would be a problem Elsa would have to smooth out later. She only had three days to prepare the kingdom, and time felt like it was ticking by so fast.

"The most important job will be to take all the townspeople downstairs in to the cellars." Elsa said pointing a finger to the cellars on the blueprint of the castle they were all looking at. "That should be a job for the trolls. They're much nicer than the dwarves." Kristoff said, and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Very well, since you have history with them Kristoff, you'll give the orders. Once everyone is safe inside We'll place some guards around here, and here, in the castle, and the rest of us will take the first to the courtyard." Elsa said pointing at various places on the blueprint. "A solid plan your highness." North said with a nod.

"I already sent word to the yetis, they are prepared to jump through a magic portal at a moments notice." North said crossing his arms across his broad chest. "I told the trolls to meet us tomorrow night. They can sleep outside and alert us at morning light...you know, cause they're rocks." Kristoff said awkwardly and Anna had to put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

"Very good." Elsa said with a smile. "That only leaves the dwarves, when should we send for them?" Tooth asked curiously. That was a question Elsa did not have the answer to. She was not sure how long it would take them to get here. Perhaps it had already been too late.

"Ombric said that when we blew the horn they would find us. Perhaps we should blow it now to be safe?" Tooth said with a shrug. "I'm not even sure how dwarves travel?" EB said with a puzzled look. "They don't seem much like the magic folk." He added and everyone agreed.

"I suppose it is better to be early rather than later." Elsa said nodding in agreeance. "North, would you do the honors?" Elsa asked and he nodded, pulling out the large horn. Anna ran over to the window and opened it. "Do it over here to be sure they hear you." She said pointing out the window.

North walked to the window and put the horn to his lips. With one deep long breath he blew the horn. It was a loud bellowing sound; so strong it almost seemed to shake the ground. Elsa suddenly thought of the townspeople and hoped they were not too startled.

The sound vibrated for almost a minute before dying out and North took the horn away from his mouth. "Now we wait?" he asked with a shrug, but his guess was as good as anyone's. "We will tell the guards to keep an eye out for any, erm, small guests." She said with an awkward smile. They all agreed and North took leave to alert the guards.

"I don't know about you, but I could take a walk." Jack said with a smile. Elsa nodded and they said their goodnights to everyone and left hand in hand. The night was crisp, but the cold didn't both them. The moon was bright and the sky cloudless. For a while they walked in silence, just enjoying each other's company, then Jack spoke.

"This has been the most incredibly journey I've ever been on." He said looking to Elsa. She nodded, "I agree. I never imagined my life would be like this." She said smiling back. "It used to be just me you know, then I met the guardians and it was nice to be apart of something, but I still felt alone, but that's all changed now. As soon as I met you I knew, I never wanted to live a day with out you." He sincerely.

They paused, over the courtyard bridge and Elsa pulled Jack in to a hug. "I have so much to thank you for." She said softly. He kissed her forehead and shook his head. "You don't have to thank me for anything, I'd do anything for you." She pulled back and kissed his lip softly.

When hey parted she saw that his eyes were a little wet. "Jack, are you alright?" she asked touching his cheek tenderly. "Loving you, and then losing you, it was almost more than I could bare." He said swallowing hard to push the sob back down. "I'm here now, that's all that matters." She said with a smile.

"I love you Elsa, more than I love myself. I would do anything to keep you safe and here by my side. Going through all this has made me realize that I never want to go a day with out you." He said a smile forming on his lips. "You'll never have to." She said with a smile.

The moon was shining bright behind her, making her whole body seem to shimmer. Her corn silk hair was only translucent in the pale moonlight, and her eyes sparkled. "Even though Pitch tried to take this moment from me, I want to ask you." He said slowly moving to one knee, he pulled something from his pocket.

Elsa looked puzzled and then she put a hand to her mouth. "Elsa, you are more than I could imagine, and better than I deserve, but I promise to protect you, to honor you, and to love you every moment for the rest of our days. Will you marry me?" he asked opening up a small box, and revealing a gorgeous diamond ring.

A tear ran down her cheek as she took her hand away from her mouth. "Is that..." she gasped but could hardly finish. "Your mother's ring. Anna said it was to be passed down to you." He smiled taking it out of the box and setting the box aside. "Oh Jack, of course I'll marry you." She smiled as he slipped the ring on her delicate finger.

He leapt up and took her in his arms. He lifted her off the ground and spun her around happily, both of them laughing. He placed a kiss on her lips, his fiancé's lips. Then out of the silence they heard clapping and cheering. "What the..." Jack said as he looked up, Elsa following his gaze, and they saw everyone standing up on the balcony looking down in to the garden.

Kristoff let out a whistle and they all cheered and yelled. Jack and Elsa dissolved in to a couple of giggling idiots as they waved and Elsa held up her ring hand. They were all there, even some guards and her loyal servants. She had never felt so happy in all her life, and she felt that even though they weren't there her parents, all her parents, were cheering for her too...