Tiana's eyes widened, and she reached a slightly shaking hand forward. When she had seen the sky cloud over, she had expected to hear thunder and see hot, intense lightning flashes.
Instead, she felt a small, delicate snowflake fall on the palm of her hand. It rested there for a moment, the white snowflake contrasting heavily with her dark skin. Then it was gone, the snowflake nothing but a small drop of water.
Luckily, there were other snowflakes to replace it. More and more snowflakes filled the sky and landed on Tiana's skin, a cold relief from the hot and humid day it had been yesterday. When she looked up to the sky, it was filled with white.
"This is incredible." Tiana turned to Elsa. "How are you doing this?"
"I'm not really sure." Elsa leaned down and grabbed a handful of snow and began to mold it. Slowly, the shape of a small frog formed. "It's just something that I've always been able to do."
"Well, they are amazing!" Tiana held out her tongue and let a snowflake fall on its tip.
She used to read about snow in books or hear about it on the news. It had seemed strange, so different from what she experienced down in New Orleans. It had seemed just as strange as the idea of a talking frog or a carriage turning back into a pumpkin once the clock struck midnight. Never could she have imagined that someone could actually control it.
Elsa ran forward. "I would be happy to show you more."
"You would?"
"Of course." Elsa smiled, and then took Tiana's hands. Though they certainly were not warm, there was definitely something comforting in them.
"Cold hands," her mother had always said, "just mean that the person has a big, warm heart."
Her mother was correct.
Elsa broke away one hand and began to move around her finger that was pointed to the ground. The hard sidewalk vanished, being replaced with a shiny coating of ice. Tiana's shoes had vanished as well, and were replaced with the finest ice skates that she had ever seen in her life.
"Have you ever done this before?" Elsa asked.
Tiana shook her head.
"I would be happy to show you." Elsa skated forward, still holding Tiana by one hand. "Knowing you, I am sure that you will catch on quickly. It isn't as hard as it looks."
Tiana looked around. New Orleans certainly looked different with snow, but it was a good different. It was another way to make her home city look beautiful, even if it was only for a short time.
She hadn't been sure what to expect when Charlotte had mentioned that the famous snow queen of Arrandell was coming to visit, but she had stayed optimistic and kept her restaurant with wide, open doors.
"I like this." Tiana said. The reflections of her and Elsa followed along after them on the smooth, clean ice.
"That's wonderful." Elsa winked. "How about when we're done we go have some hot chocolate at your place?"
Tiana grinned. "Oh, there was no need to ask about if we could do that."