The father grabbed his daughter by the shoulders and shook her. "Every night you go to bed, lock the door so Anna can't come in. Do you understand, Elsa?"
The child nodded. She understood very well: Make sure Anna doesn't find out about her powers- at any cost.
Elsa's parents did not want her to repeat her mistakes; they did not want Elsa to cause any more damage to their family.
Ever since the "accident", Anna had been acting different, less cautious and more unpredictable. While most children played quietly on the lawn with dolls, Anna would be up in a tree, trying to touch the clouds. Sensitive to her disability, her parents scolded Anna lightly, which had little to no effect on the girl's behavior.
When the parents went to seek counsel from the rock trolls, they were told that "only time and love can cure Anna." So when the child was found one day chasing a farmer's horses in the round pen, they pulled Anna aside, gave her a light pat on the rear, and sent her on her way.
Elsa became more and more isolated. She grew quiet at meal times, while Anna was the star of the show, talking with her mouth full and using her food as puppets as she told her silly stories. Her parents would laugh and clap politely, no matter how grim the story ended, while Elsa was forced to keep herself in check and feel nothing at all.
One day, Elsa's father came to talk to the girl. The staff was so limited that Elsa had to fold her own clothes; this is what she was doing when her father walked in.
"Elsa!" He hissed, looking around the room angrily, "Look at this mess!" He pushed the door shut and locked it. "There is snow every where! What if Anna were to have walked in and saw this?"
Elsa's imagination went wild: Anna would have started screaming and dancing; Anna would have slipped and fell; Anna would have been struck by a fallen icicle...!
Elsa's breathing became quick and ragged. "I'm sorry Daddy!" She whimpered.
"Control yourself!" Snapped her father. "You're making it snow."
Elsa looked up at the ceiling. Snow was indeed falling... Quite heavily, too. Elsa closed her hands into fists and closed her sapphire eyes.
"Good. It stopped." The man said softly, and crossed the room, pulling the child into his arms. "My dear Elsa... You have a wonderful power, born to only you. You are unique. But that is exactly why you must hide. Do you understand?"
Elsa nodded, eyes still shut. She didn't want to see her father's judging face, his angry eyes... "Yes Daddy..." She whispered.
Days went by in this way; caught multiple times with snow on the floor, and Elsa was due for a spanking. Caught forming ice on her dinner plate, and she would get a sharp kick from underneath the table. Her parents were always watching.
But they were neglecting Anna in the process. The girl left the castle one day, and no one even noticed this. No one but Elsa, who watched enviously from her bedroom window.
Anna ran among the shops and the stables, wearing her best green dress, cutting across grassy lawns and climbing up piles of manure. She found a four-leaf clover in a patch of flowers; stole and fed carrots to the sheep and the goats. She did whatever she felt like doing.
But then she saw a young boy amongst the ice harvesters, who all stood in a cluster by the butcher shop. The boy had blonde hair and stood close to the men as if he belonged.
"Hello!" Anna gave the boy a wave and ran over to meet him. "What are you doing out here?"
"She smells nice!" The boy said, rolling his eyes at a small reindeer to his left. "Quiet, Sven!" He said quickly.
Anna smiled wide. "My name's Anna!"
"Oh. I'm Kristoff. This is Sven." The boy gestured to the deer and smiled. "He's my best friend!"
"Wow. What's it like to have a best friend?" Asked young Anna. "I have a sister, but she's not much of a friend."
"I'm sorry..." Kristoff said softly. "Hey, where do you come from? I live in the woods."
"Me? I live in that-" she pointed, "-castle. It's really big. We should play in it sometime."
The boy opened his mouth to answer but the ice harvesters had finished selling their wares; they were ready to climb aboard their sleds and head back to the mountain.
The men walked past the boy, not seeing or caring if he came along or not.
Kristoff turned and grabbed his reindeer by one stubby horn. "They're going to leave without me!" He turned back to Anna. "I gotta go. It was nice to meet you."
"Oh... Bye, then!" Anna waved, trying to hold her smile in place. Her new friend was already abandoning her... Maybe there isn't such a thing as friends; only liars. Liars like Elsa who made up excuses on why they can't play together.
Anna sat down on the ground and sighed. Being a six year old was rough.
