Polar Vortex (Jelsa Fanfic)

Chapter 4

Lavana drew in a sharp intake of breath when she saw the two... whatever they were. Slowly, she started to back away, only to notice words like guardian and future coming from their conversation.

Thinking that Anna's bad influence may have taken a toll on her, Lavana crept closer, her felt-covered feet moving soundlessly across the snow, albeit freezing in the cold temperature. What ever the intruders were talking about, Lavana felt that it was important.

Just as she was within earshot, a butler came out.

"Lavana! It's time for dinner!" he called. She winced, and mentally cursed. The two intruders disappeared, somehow.

"I'll be there in a second!" she called, running back into the house, knowing how terribly awkward dinner was about to be now that Queen Elsa was asked to a royal marriage and that she and Anna already knew about it.

A minute later, she was seated at the end of a long table in the formal dining room. Prince Aiden was also invited to dine with the rest, so, unable to touch upon the topic of a possible wedding, she and Anna made very little noise, asking occasionally to pass the salt or pepper.

Kristoff and the Prince tried to make small talk, but after finding out that their interests differed greatly, the entire room fell into a constricting silence.

"Well, this is fun isn't it?" Beamed an oblivious Olaf after five minutes of quiet.

"Sure, fun." Lavana stated emotionlessly while twirling her fork in the noodles served.

"Well, who is up for an evening tea?" Elsa tried to lighten the mood after dinner was finished.

Lavana, Anna, and Kristoff hurriedly excused themselves after Elsa stated the idea.

***

Lavana laid in her bed, trying to fall asleep. No matter which position she turned, every movement felt squishy and unnatural.

While she finally managed to drift into a state between slumber and waking, rapid knocks woke her up.

"Who could be awake at this hour?" Lavana muttered, hand on her head. She glanced at the grandfather clock at the other end of the room, lighting the oil lamp, "It's one at midnight."

A lock of red hair appeared from behind the door, and Lavana sighed.

"What do you want, Miss Anna?"

She crept in, the candlelight casting ghostly shadows on her face. She smiled sheepishly.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up, Lavvie."

"Eh? Who's 'Lavvie'?"

"You. That's my new nickname for you."

Lavana, having no response to Anna's reply, merely shook her head.

"It's so gloomy in here, Lavvie. Why don't you ever open the curtains?" Anna walked up to the huge window in the room and drew open the curtains. Moonlight streamed in, lighting up every dark corner in the room with its pure silvery glow.

"That window is a giant repellent of sleep. How do you fall asleep with that?"

Then she noticed the view.

"Wow!" I've never seen the Northern Lights before. It's beautiful!" She said while gazing at the phenomenon that lit up the night sky, "It looks like a green river!"

"Actually, there's more than just green. If you look at it closely and let your imagination flow, you could see all sorts of colors," Anna smiled, the light reflecting off her wide eyes.

Lavana stayed silent. To her, imagination was only applied to romance. Everything else was set in a certain order, and that law of the universe could never be interrupted. In other words, she didn't believe in imagination for things that clearly seemed the way they were.

However, she grasped Anna's point when she concentrated and distinguished purple and pink in the sky. But, those were the colors only available to the naked eye. No matter how hard she tried, she could not imagine yellow or white in the sky, two colors that didn't seem to exist in the Northern Lights. She sighed, thinking that Anna must have been hallucinating.

"You must think I'm crazy, dragging you out of bed to see this." Anna said quietly, "But, this is a one in a lifetime experience. I didn't want you to miss it."

"Hey, does the lights have some meaning to you?"

Anna looked startled, then her expression softened, "I remember, a long time ago, the last time I saw Elsa before she confined herself in her room, the night was just like this. It marked the last time I had a fun time with my sister. So, yeah, I guess there is a sort of meaning to me."

"Oh. I see."

"You know, Lavvie, and I'm going to be blunt here. You speak and act a lot wiser than other children your age. Why is that?"

"I don't know." Lavana bit her lip. Anna didn't need to know about her life.

"If you want to go back to sleep, I'm not stopping you, so I'll just---" She stood up to pull the curtains closed, but Lavana stopped her.

"Oh, ah, no. You could leave it the way it is."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm going to draw it later."

Anna silently exited the room, smiling.

Lavana laid in bed and stared up at the night sky. Someone else, whether a peasant and a noble, would be under the same night sky, but with life in the castle, they all seemed far away. Sighing, Lavana rolled over and closed her eyes.

***

"Oye, look, Frost." Bunny said, pointing up at the sky.

Jack flew off the tree he was sleeping on, "What, Kangaroo?"

Bunny scowled at the insult, "How many times do I have to tell ya? I am not a kangaroo."

"What did you want me to see?" asked Jack Frost, yawning as he said so.

"In the sky. It's a beauty, isn't it?"

Jack shrugged as he stared at the Northern Lights, "I guess, if you like that sorta stuff."

"You have no bloody feelings." E. Aster retorted crossly.

"You sure do enjoy minor things, don't ya?"

"This is no trivial matter, Frost. This may be the only time you could enjoy something like this. All that present-day filth and pollution make it impossible to see the bloody sky."

"You sure like using that word a lot." Jack noted, smirking, "Nothing is actually bleeding."

Bunny ground his teeth and didn't say anything, for fear of provoking the winter spirit's teasing.

"Well, the lights really are something." Bunny heard Jack mutter under his breath.

"Eh?" He cleaned out his ears, "Whaddya say?"

"Nothing, silly Ra--- I mean, Kangaroo. I'm going back to sleep." With that, he flew up to his perch and disappeared into the leaves.

The Easter Bunny smiled to himself as he reviewed the last few words Jack had just said in his head. It was the first time he had ever acknowledged him as a rabbit.