The soft gusts pushed her braid about but Elsa simply ignored it, closing her eyes and enjoying the breeze. The few people she had seen today were all far too busy, too involved in their works to bother with the queen wandering the halls. Even Anna had something to do today, it seemed. But not Elsa.
The queen opened her eyes and looked up. The sky was slate, with strata of darker and lighter grey slipping past overhead. It was the first day it wasn't sunny since she'd come back and the winter had ended. She supposed it wasn't really that surprising, everyone occupying themselves indoors. Elsa could practically smell the rain.
It took her back to her years in her room. Whenever it rained she would open the window and the scent of the world would waft in. She would read by the window then, or try and freeze the droplets as they flew by. More than once she'd be scolded for a wet sill and carpet because of it.
As she thought about those days, so long away and so close, she felt the first kiss of the storm, a little drop landing on her nose. And then it started. Rain poured from the sky and Elsa was there to enjoy it all. People said that the rain made them said, or melancholy, but this rain didn't feel sad as it pattered against her skin and clothes, each little drop a kiss or a hand at her shoulder or head or cheek.
She'd never really felt the rain before, not like this.
She laughed and laughed and she couldn't understand why. Like the sky above her something inside opened and she couldn't help the giddy feeling that welled up in her. It was a kind of magic anyone could feel, playing in the rain. She spun as she laughed and if she looked up she might have seen the windows around the gardens slowly filling with faces she'd barely seen in years. Smiling faces.