Elsa was again, as she always was, sleeping at her desk. She had just finished not all that long ago signing trade agreements and official letters that were in need of sending. The work of a Queen was never done, and if the amount of work one could do in a twenty four hour span was any indication on a person's ability to be royalty, Elsa was an excellent one.
Thusly the crowned ruler and leader of all Arendelle slept soundly on her desk with smudges of ink covering her fingers and with frizzy white hairs spiraling all over the place and out of control from many hours of involuntary finger combing. Indeed she was Queenly, even despite all of this. However one might equate her more to an exhausted child if they were to spy the small bits of drool dripping from the corner of her mouth and onto the mahogany desk on which she had been working. Sometimes the similarities between her and her sister were shocking.
The office door swung open slowly and softly due to the practiced small hands of a young red head. This was not the first time that she had spied Elsa sleeping on her desk, nor would it be the last, perhaps not even for the week. "If she's sleeping we probably shouldn't wake her up." Came a soft voice from outside the door through which the girl had just crept silently. "After all she's been working really hard and she looks really tired."
The girl turned around, rolled her eyes and shook her head. She was not about to be deterred from her mission regardless of what anyone thought. She needed to wake the Queen and when she needed to do something she was stubborn, stubborn like her mother. "Aunt Elsa?" the little girl questioned as she shook her aunt gently to wake her. She knew that she had been busy all night long because she had skipped dinner, and though her mother hadn't been too worried about it, she had been. Aunt Elsa never, ever forgot to kiss her goodnight and read her a story.
Elsa came to rapidly, something that she did naturally out of both fear and panic of being caught sleeping by someone of importance. As she opened her eyes she realized that she had been caught by someone very important indeed. "Sofia, what on Earth are you doing up at this hour?" Elsa asked as she groggily rubbed her eyes and sat up from the desk on which she had been resting. As she sat up she saw a strawberry blonde boy, her older brother by one year, skirting away from the door out of fear that his younger sister had just gotten them both into trouble. "And you too Peter, don't think I don't see you."
The young lad, only eight, heard the chiding voice of his Aunt and walked through the doors into the Queen's study. Boy had his sister gotten them both into trouble this time. He could only imagine what his Aunt would tell their mother when she brought them back to their rooms. Not only were they not allowed to be in their Aunt's study without permission, but they had woke her from her sleep and wandered out of their bedrooms at midnight, hours after their bedtime. "It was Sofia's idea." He explained before any more questions could be asked. He wasn't lying, in truth he was always the voice of reason, and a good ninety percent of the time that they got into trouble it was Sofia's fault indeed.
He was far more like his father Kristoff, not only in looks but also in thought and she, well she may as well have been a clone of Anna for the way she was also skittering about in a mad glee. Her look, however despite the hair, was far more of a mixture of both her parents as compared to her older brother. She had her mother's nose, her father's eyes, and her mother's face shape. They were both beautiful, healthy children and meeting them and their truly happy and childish ways, one would never guess that they were to grow up to be in line for the royal throne.
"Uh huh…" Elsa said, quirking an eyebrow at both of them. It was way past their bedtime, but she knew that if Sofia was here, there was a reason for it. Elsa certainly hoped that it wasn't because she couldn't read to her tonight. She had just been so busy, and though she loved both her niece and nephew with all her heart, she had a job to do which had prevented her from story time that night. Elsa gave Sofia a very meaningful look before asking again, "What are you doing up?"
Sofia smiled eagerly and ran over to the window to open the thick curtains that blocked out all the light, save for the lanterns and candles burning around the room. Seeing that she could not do it alone Peter sighed. If he were already in trouble the very least he could do was help his baby sister.
When the curtains were finally parted Sofia pointed excitedly towards the sky and turned to smile at her Aunt. "Aunt Elsa, the sky's awake, so I'm awake! Just like in Mama's story about when you were little, look Aunt Elsa, look!"
Elsa had been watching her niece and nephew open the curtains and so she did not even need the young girl's explanation when she gave it. She knew as soon as the fabric parted what her young niece was so excited for, the Northern Lights. Elsa had of course seen them many times since that fateful day in her childhood, however tonight through the excitement in her niece's spirit, she saw them anew. It was like being a kid again, and Elsa couldn't help but smile. Though that day had changed so much of her life, she still treasured every childhood moment with Anna in her heart.
Something inside of her bloomed when she looked at her niece and nephew excitedly watching the sky. She had always played with them and treated them well, but right now there was something in her that called out to be free. The childhood that she had lost out of fear was welling back up inside her like a rising tide off a freshly thawed lake. "Peter, Sofia, do you want to build a snowman?"
Both children smiled at their Aunt gleefully as they followed her lead down to the great hall of the castle. It was rather a rhetorical question their Aunt had asked them considering the fact that they always wanted to build snowmen, particularly ever since they started to think that Olaf was lonely. Elsa still refused to build him a girlfriend when the children requested it. If he asked, then fine, but even though he doted on her sister's children terribly, she would not play matchmaker for a snowman without his permission.
As they entered the room Elsa outstretched her hands and let her power flow through her. She knew how to control it now, after years of practice, so when she felt a tingling in her toes that stretched out into her palms she knew that she was about to create a mini winter wonderland for her niece and nephew. However this time there would be no ice tower jumping involved.
It was about a half an hour later that the two youngsters with a little elbow grease and help from their Aunt completed their first snow man of the night. Elsa could have built it herself with the snap a finger and a flick of the wrist, but that was rather no fun, especially when he could see the glee in the eyes of the young children building it. There was also no magic imbued snow used this time, one talking snowman was rather enough, unless of course Olaf himself personally requested companionship.
Suddenly the door opened to reveal a very tired looking Anna, with her mildly more awake husband Kristoff in tow. "Elsa?" Anna asked softly and curiously as she realized the winter wonderland which she had just entered.
Elsa smiled and walked over to her sister, giving her a gentle hug. She didn't squeeze her as hard as she would have liked to because she supposed it was bad form to snuggle a pregnant woman to the point where it was likely she would pop. Anna, now mostly awake kissed her elder sister on the cheek as Elsa explained simply, "We wanted to build a snowman."