Unfrozen

The brainwave hit Jen, quite literally, like a wave, unfreezing her mind and enveloping her in a sea of ideas. Soon, however, she felt clear-headed and calmly walked over to Chris, who was sitting across the hall. “I’ve done it,” she declared. 

“Let me see… Cured cancer? Taught your dog not to be afraid of balloons?” asked Chris, good-humouredly. “Even better,” she said, “I’ve figured out the script for Frozen III.” And Chris, who hadn’t come up with a single decent idea himself, asked her to spill the beans. Jen cleared her throat, did some strange vocal exercises, and began…

Deep, dreamless sleep had always been improbable for Elsa, but she was finally sleeping well, when … a cold drop of water fell on her forehead. She woke with a start in the small ice palace in the Enchanted Forest. A few seconds later, her only servant, Friedrich, knocked. “What’s up?” she asked. 

“Literally, m’lady? A melting ceiling.” 

Cut to Arendelle. Kristoff, face contorted with fear, rushed into Arendelle Castle, and made a beeline for Queen Anna. With a quivering voice, he cried, “You’ve got to come. Now!” Bewildered, Anna hastened away with him until they reached the clearing where Elsa had made her first ice rink after learning to control her powers. 

But to call it an ice rink now would be a falsehood as great as a cereal ad claiming to increase children’s attentiveness. For in it, slightly off-centre, was a pool of water. 

All across, ice seemed to be thinning and even cracking. 

Anna hurried to a group of disconsolate children nearby. One boy sputtered, “We…  didn’t know the ice had started to melt … when we tried to skate … it gave way and I… I fell into the water.” 

“Me too,” wept another girl. 

“My theory is,” said the skating instructor in a low conspiratorial voice to Anna and Kristoff (and Sven, though he was happily enjoying his carrot, oblivious to the world), “we’ve incurred the wrath of he-who-must-not-be-named.” 

Anna burst out incredulously. “Voldemort?” 

“Worse,” he said, “Climate Change.”

“Climate change? But this is Arendelle we’re talking about,” said Anna naïvely. The instructor smiled patronisingly and said, “My Queen, do you think that since we’re blessed with magic, we are exempt from the tribulations of a changing global climate?” 

“Of course, we aren’t! Honestly, Anna, the signs are there since Sven broke his nose two weeks ago,” cried the cute snowman with a carrot nose. “I came here just in time to hear you say that silly thing. Seriously, climate is changing all around us. Water has started dripping from Elsa’s pretty ice statues like a runny nose. And the Bakers’ youngest child, Penny, had asked Elsa to make her a row of icicles on her windowsill but that started melting too – instead of shark teeth, they look more like lion teeth now, what are they called? Catnips? Chartreuse?” 

“Olaf! They’re called canines and please don’t get distracted,” said Anna impatiently.

 “Yeah, and the same thing happened to Marie’s snowflake door decorations. And…” 

“Why is this the first time I’m hearing of this?” interrupted Anna, turning to Kristoff. “Isn’t it possible that everything’s just melting, I don’t know, normally?” 

“But, Anna, it’s never happened before. And why would anything melt in winter anyway?” 

Anna’s heart filled with dread. “What if Olaf melts?” At this, Olaf started screeching with laughter and said “Anna, I’m permafrost – I’m practically unmeltable.” 

Cue ‘Unmeltable Me’ by Josh Gad (finally this will get screentime!)

Anna looked at Olaf with a strange expression. “If you’re so ‘unmeltable’, why… is your face umm… melting?” 

Cut to the Enchanted Forest. Elsa, in deep consultation with her Northuldran advisor, Gemma, said, in hushed tones, “A week ago I saw melting icicles in our forest. I didn’t think much of it, but now, my palace is melting. What is going on?” 

Before Gemma could answer, they heard a noise and looked up to see reindeer in the distance carrying figures that looked suspiciously like her sister and brother-in-law.  

When they reached Elsa, they spoke agitatedly, “Ice is melting. Everywhere. And Olaf… look at him. He’s thawing and dissolving… It’s climate change.” 

“How can it be? In Arendelle? In the Enchanted Forest?” 

Kristoff groaned, “Can you girls come to terms that this is real life, not a fairytale? We must do something.” 

“Uh, guys?” said Olaf. “You need to see this.” He pointed to the great mountains that surrounded Arendelle. The snow now looked like a giant Slushie. Any minute, it would slide down and cause devastating flooding. 

“We need to go back. Now.” 

The journey back was fraught with tension and dread. Anna and Kristoff feared for their kingdom. Elsa feared for her forest. Olaf feared for himself, the kingdom, and the forest. Sven feared for the carrots he had secretly stashed in a hole two days ago. 

When they reached Arendelle, they had no time for fear – they had to act, and act quickly. Anna rounded up the people of Arendelle. She told them plainly: “Arendelle is about to be flooded.” And went on to explain what she knew. 

After a moment of brain freeze, there were shocked outcries.

“We need to evacuate the citizens of Arendelle,” one piped up. “Obviously,” said another, “but to where?” 

Kristoff had a sudden idea. “The Valley of the Living Rock – where Grand Pabbie and the rest of the trolls live. It never snows there – the trolls must have performed a spell or something, or maybe there’s some geothermal aspect that someone like me can’t understand. We’d be perfectly safe.” 

Anna looked at Elsa and silently acquiesced to the plan. “Okay, let’s go.”

Kristoff and Sven set off immediately to inform Grand Pabbie of the plan so the trolls wouldn’t die of surprise when a thousand random people barged into their homes without an invite. 

For a whole minute, Elsa stood seemingly staring into space, and said, “We’ve angered the spirits. The elements are no longer in harmony. That’s why Arendelle and the Enchanted Forest have been besmirched by climate change.” 

Anna’s eyes widened, “Come on, let’s first lead our people to safety.” 

The journey to the Valley was not long, but fears and apprehensions made it arduous. The people of Arendelle anxiously prayed for the flood to leave their land unscathed. 

But it wasn’t to be. 

Arendelle had been cruelly destroyed. Property lost, streets inundated, meticulously preserved gardens, everything … damaged. 

Elsa knew what she had to do. She invoked the spirits and set off with Anna, till they reached the spot where the spirits – water, air, fire, and earth – had gathered. Elsa, the bridge between the four elemental spirits and the human world understood from them what had to be done. 

She told Anna: “The spirits are upset. Gale, the air spirit and Nokk the water spirit, say that people of Arendelle have been polluting them and that’s causing climate change.”  

“As per Bruni, the fire spirit, there’s no simple solution and we can’t be heroines this time. Everyone must work together and strive not to taint nature. Only then the spirits will be happy and live in harmony with humanity.”

“So, what now?” asked Anna. 

Elsa breathed in the cool air of the forest, “We are on thin ice. We must reform.”

“Aaaand cut!” gleamed Jen. Chris smiled, “It’s great! And for the first time, I know the perfect title!”

“Ooh, what is it?” asked Jen. 

He replied, “(Un)Frozen III. Duh.”