"Isssss your favorite color still blue?"
So asked Anna as she braided her sister's hair. The two of them were in Elsa's powder room, sitting in front of the mirror. Anna's hands were busy twirling three strands of Elsa's hair into a single braid on the left side, just the way Elsa liked it. Usually, Elsa would do it herself, but right now, she had a few hours off from her royal duties. Anna took the opportunity to spend some bonding time together, as sisters.
This was a game she had come up with not long after the big adventure the two shared over the past summer, when Elsa had revealed her magical snow powers and ran away, and Anna had gone after her, and all the fun things that happened afterward…
Her mind was wandering. She cleared her throat, reminding Elsa that her question had yet to be answered.
Elsa chuckled and nodded her head silently.
"Yes, I was right!" Anna called in triumph. The way the game worked, the two sisters would trade questions back and forth—personal questions. Anna preferred to ask Elsa questions about her interests and favorite things; after all, the two had grown up basically as strangers, and Anna was itching to get back to the status of "all-knowing sister."
Elsa, on the other hand, knew quite a bit about Anna already. She had a knack for remembering details, and even after almost fifteen years separated, she knew Anna just as well as when they were children. It also helped that Anna's personality had not changed much since that time; even as a grown woman, Elsa was fascinated by Anna's child-like take on life, able to find happiness and hope in almost every situation.
Now it was her turn to ask a question. She waited for Anna to settle in a few more braids before inquiring, "Where do you keep your stash of chocolate?"
The question surprised Anna, to the point where her hands froze in place. "S-stash?" she stuttered. "Um…" She quickly started braiding again. "I don't know what you're talking about," she innocently added.
Elsa glanced at Anna in the mirror and raised an eyebrow. "Anna," was all she had to say.
"Behind my bed," Anna replied. Her smile returned. "I found a hole in the wall that is the perfect hiding place. All I need to do is put the chocolate in a box and put the box in the hole and cover up the whole, and there you have it!"
As she finished her sentence, Anna also finished Elsa's braid. She patted it contentedly and swung it in front of Elsa's shoulder. Elsa admired it in the mirror and slid her hand up and down the braid in satisfaction.
"It's perfect," she said with a smile. She stood up and patted the chair. "Now it's your turn."
Anna was caught off-guard. This was the first time Elsa had ever volunteered to make up her hair. "Oh?" She quickly glanced at herself in the mirror. Her hair was already made up for the day. Kind of. Actually, she had slept in and had to settle with flattening it with a brush several hours ago. And by flattening her hair, that basically meant making it less poofy.
"You know you need it," Elsa pressed. With a chuckle, she corrected, "You know you want it."
"All right, all right," Anna consented, and promptly took Elsa's seat. "What did you have in mind?"
Elsa sat behind Anna and started straightening her red hair. "Your usual pigtails, of course," she responded. "And was that your question?"
Anna raised an eyebrow. "My question?"
"For the game, silly."
"Oh, right." Anna's head jerked so hard at her realization, Elsa almost lost her grip on her hair. "Sure, we can call that my question."
"Then I already answered." Elsa proceeded to draw an invisible line down the back of Anna's head, gathering all hair on the left side and splitting it into three groups. "Then I guess it's my turn to ask a question. I need to make it a good one."
Anna felt a very small chill by her neck. Curious, she looked at her neck in the mirror, and gasped in amazement. To help keep her braid together, Elsa had created a pin of ice, tipped with a model of a blue snowflake. It stood out well against her red hair, and she felt it was perhaps the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
Before she could thank Elsa, her sister already had her question. "Who do you love most?"
Once again, Elsa's question caught Anna off-guard. "What?"
This time, however, it seemed to also catch Elsa off-guard. Her hands stopped just as suddenly as Anna's head just before. "Oh, I said that out loud?" she whispered. She slowly began working on the other half of Anna's hair. "Forget about it."
Anna contemplated letting the question slide; after all, Elsa obviously did not mean to actually ask it. But still, it had been asked all the same, so it was unavoidable now. "What do you mean, who do I love most?" she pressed, trying to make her voice sound gentle.
Elsa hesitated, concentrating on her work for a few seconds, before she slowly responded, "Long ago, when we were kids, you told me that you loved me more than anyone else in the world. I was wondering if that was still true, even after all we've been through."
Anna had to think hard, but she did remember telling Elsa that. In her memories, they had been on a sled during winter, and Elsa had just pushed her down the steepest snow-covered hill she had ever seen. As she reached the bottom, she had pronounced her love to Elsa—that she loved her sister more than anyone else in the world.
That wasn't too long before Elsa was shut out from her life. After that time, they hardly saw each other. Elsa showed up to dinner most of the time, seated on the opposite side of the table from Anna. When they took trips, Elsa quietly focused intensely at a book instead of conversing with her sister. The few times during the day Anna was able to find Elsa, she quickly excused herself and hid away in her room.
Now, of course, Anna understood why. She had sat at the other end of the table to keep Anna safe from her uncontrollable powers. She had stuck her nose in a book to concentrate on other things than accidentally freezing Anna. She had hidden away in her room all those years because of her fear—a legitimate fear—of killing her sister.
As hard as it was to remember, in the end, Anna had to admit that Elsa had killed her. But that was all in the past, and she still loved her sister as much as she had back then.
"Of course I love you," she responded.
Elsa finished Anna's second pigtail and smiled. "I know that," she replied. "But my question was, who do you love most in the world?"
Anna was about to pronounce her undying sisterly love to Elsa, just as she had back in their youth, when she suddenly realized exactly what Elsa was asking. Back then, it was just the two of them. They had no friends; they were royalty, after all, and rarely interacted with others outside the castle. They only had each other. Now, of course, they had so many other people in their lives. Like Kristoff, and Sven, and—
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. She let Elsa answer it while she admired her hair in the mirror. The pin in her left pigtail did not receive a mate on her right, but she didn't mind; it helped make Elsa's handiwork more unique. She smiled in satisfaction, and reminded herself to thank Elsa as soon as she was done with the door.
"Hi, Elsa!"
The voice made Anna suddenly decide to join Elsa. She stood up and made her way to the door, already knowing who had knocked.
Olaf was standing just outside, shuffling his feet impatiently. His snow flurry hung over his head, matching Elsa's height, and making sure the snowman could comfortably walk around in the heated castle.
"Hello, Olaf," she greeted.
Olaf, still shuffling his feet, waved furiously at Anna. "Hi, Anna!" He gripped his hands—or rather, the ends of his branch-arms—together tightly. "Can I come in, please?"
Elsa gestured her hand, and Olaf scurried inside in haste. "I guess you're still learning patience, aren't you?" she asked with a chuckle.
"Yeah, and I'm not sure I like patience," Olaf admitted. "Hi again, Anna," he said as he passed the redhead, before continuing, "I don't like having to wait for things to happen. Why can't things just happen when I want them to?" He hopped onto the seat in front of the mirror. "Like winter, for example. Elsa, you can create snow, right? So why can't you make winter disa—"
Olaf's voice caught so quickly, Anna worried for a second that he might have choked on something. But a brief assessment of his position left her in peace; Olaf was staring straight into the mirror, and it seemed he had found his reflection.
"Is there another snowman, just like me?" he asked. Then, realizing the reflection talked exactly as he did, he lowered his head and narrowed his eyes. "He's an impostor," he growled—as much of a growl as Olaf was capable of producing—and suddenly shifted his position: carrot nose pointed straight up, head turned to the side, arms stretched out as far as he could reach. When the reflection did the same, he grasped his cheeks. "Elsa, are you replacing me? Did you make another talking snowman, just like me, because you don't like me anymore?"
Elsa and Anna looked at each other, both struggling to not giggle. "No, you're not being replaced," Elsa replied.
Olaf's attitude immediately changed. "Good, because I'm beginning to like this guy." He turned back to the mirror and waved. "Hi, fellow snowman! I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs! What's your name?" He waited several seconds for an answer, but it soon became apparent that one would not come. "Oh, you're probably shy. Don't worry. I don't bite. See, I only have one tooth, and it's made of snow!"
Finally, Elsa and Anna could not contain themselves. They both laughed, as quietly as possible to avoid offending Olaf, and had to cover their mouths. "Come over here, little guy," Elsa finally managed to say.
Olaf got off his seat, quickly glared at the mirror with "I'll be back when you're ready to tell me your name," and walked back over to Elsa. "What is it?" he asked.
"Why did you come here? Was there something you needed?"
"Yeah," Olaf nodded. "I already said it: can you get rid of winter? You did it this summer, right? So you should be able to get rid of winter in winter too."
Elsa chuckled. "I can't do that." Then her chuckle disappeared. Her brow stiffened, and she looked intensely at her hands. "Can I?"
Anna's heart fluttered at the thought. "Can you really do that?" she asked.
"I don't know," Elsa admitted. "I don't think so, but I've never tried before."
"Can you try now?" Olaf pleaded. He gripped the bottom of Elsa's dress. "Please? I want to see summer again!"
From the look on her face, Anna surmised that Elsa was seriously considering it. But the look only lasted a moment. Instead, she had to pat Olaf on the head, squishing his body parts together slightly. "Sorry, Olaf. I'm afraid you'll just have to wait for summer like everyone else."
Olaf was visibly disappointed, but seemed to accept it. "But I hate waiting," he murmured as he walked back out, dragging his feet along the carpet and leaving pieces of snow in his wake. "This whole patience thing is not very fun."
Anna chuckled. Olaf reminded her a lot of herself, when she was little. Undoubtedly, Elsa created him that way—even though she didn't quite realize it at the time. Regardless, he was a welcome addition to the castle, even though he was constantly running around trying to explore and discover new things. On more than one occasion, he had opened doors without asking first, which had led to several…well, several unfortunate events.
The clocks chimed, and out of the corner of her eye, Anna saw Elsa scurry across the room. "What is it?" she asked.
"It's three o'clock," Elsa responded. "That means my break is up. It's time to go back to being Queen of Arendelle."
"I'll take care of that," Anna quickly offered as Elsa attempted to put away the hair products they were just using. "Go on, you've got a kingdom to save!"
Elsa chuckled. "Well, not save, per se." She rushed back across the room to the door. "But I suppose we can go with that for now." She paused and turned back to look Anna in the eye. She winked. "And you owe me an answer."
"I'll have it for you this evening," Anna promised.
With that, Elsa departed, leaving Anna to clean up their small mess. And ponder on an answer to Elsa's question.