"It's cold."

I looked up from the papers in front of me and frowned at my sister, who was visibly shivering. "Then why are you out of the castle?"

Anna shrugged, her cloak shifting with the movement. "You looked lonely."

I smiled at her, setting the papers down and patting the spot next to me. Anna took the invitation in stride, plopping down next to me on the fountain. Sometimes I wondered who had really raised her, because she didn't act like a royal at all.

"It is awfully cold, isn't it?" I asked.

Anna chuckled. "As if it bothers you."

I grinned over at her. "You should really go back inside."

She ignored me, leaning back on her hands and looking up at the clouds. "It'll be snowing soon for sure." She shot a side-glance at me. "That's not you, is it?"

I shook my head. "Believe it or not," I said, "winter isn't caused by me."

"Well …" Anna started.

I reached over and lightly hit her on the shoulder. "That was one time!"

"It was in the middle of summer, Elsa!" she shot back, her lips twitching. "Summer is made to be summer, not winter!"

I groaned and burried my face in my hands. Though Anna and I tended to joke about it a lot, I honestly felt horrible about what I'd done. Without meaning to, I'd cast an eternal winter across Arendelle. Sure, I'd managed to make it go away, but it had still happened, and I still regretted it.

I looked up when I felt something flutter against my neck, and heard Anna's happy gasp. "It's snowing!"

Kristoff burst out of the castle, frowning. "There you are!" he cried, hurrying for Anna. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"It's snowing, Kristoff!" Anna repeated, smiling in glee.

He rolled his eyes at her, but I caught the twinkle in his eye as he watched my sister. He was truly smitten. "Anna," he said slowly. "Elsa makes it snow all the time."

Anna snorted. "It's not the same as true, honest winter snow, though."

I gave an indignant noise and made a big deal of looking offended, but I actually agreed with her. Winter had always been, and always will be, my favorite season, and I personally loved it when it snowed. Sure, I could make it snow all I want, but it wasn't, as Anna put it, the same as actual winter snow. Well, it was, but it wasn't winter snow.

"Looks like Jokul Frosti is doing his job," Kristoff quipped.

I looked up sharply. "Jokul Frosti?"

I remembered hearing stories about Jokul Frosti, the mischievous winter spirit with the abilities to make frost, and snow, and I'd even heard that he could create ice a couple of times in passing. And I also remembered wishing, hoping that he was real, that I wasn't alone with my winter powers.

But he'd never shown himself, and I'd lost my belief in him even before it had fully formed.

Kristoff nodded but said nothing else on the subject. Instead, he ushered a pouting Anna into the castle, rambling about having to show her something amazing.

"Jokul Frosti," I muttered, my mind still stuck on him. "Jokul Frosti," I whispered again.

Why couldn't he have been real?

I jerked out of my head when a sheet of frost formed against the ground and began to inch toward me.

I stumbled back a step, eyes wide. Was I doing that? I didn't think so, but I wasn't sure. I'd been unfocused, thinking about the fabled winter spirit. I was distracted, I could have easily frosted the ground without realizing it.

But then a letter began to form on the surface of the now-ice.

I

I?

The letters kept going, until it was one full word, and then two.

I'm real.

"No." I started shaking my head, back and forth. "No way."

But saying that didn't stop my stomach from fluttering hopefully, nor did it stop the tingling that started in my chest.

"I- I didn't do that, did I?"

No one said anything to me, but I didn't need them to to know the answer.

Something, someone, else had made the ice, and the words that were slowly fading away.

"Jokul Frosti," I breathed, and my breath misted in front of me.

Another voice spoke from behind me.

"Actually, I prefer to be called Jack Frost."