In the first week of December, an unseasonal warm spell hit the Nordic kingdom of Arendelle. This sort of thing happened every decade or so: the air temperature would suddenly spike up several degrees and a few days of alternating sunshine and warm rain effectively melted all of the existing snow on the ground. Only a few measly little piles remained, remnants of what once were giant piles of cold powder.
For the Princess of Arendelle, this natural phenomenon was about as unnerving as a freak snowstorm in the middle of July. December was the month of winter, meaning it was supposed to have snow – not rain. She was supposed to be outside building snowmen, and having snowball fights, and making snow angels, and attempting to skate, and sledding down snowy hills – not sitting at her bedroom window, looking sadly outside as the gray sky released fat drops of water down to the ground below. Heck, even if she was inside, she was supposed to be sitting by a roaring fire while snow softly fell outside the window.
She remembered the same thing happening a few years ago, when she was twelve. She remembered attempting to enjoy the last of the slushy snow, only to end up tracking mud all through the castle and being scolded by her parents. She remembered hoping and praying for snow all month long. She remembered her disappointment that for the first time she could remember, there was a green Christmas in Arendelle.
At the time, she had no idea why it was so important for it to snow around the holidays. It was definitely something more than it not feeling like Christmas without snow – it had something to do with her go-to phrase to try and bring her sister out of her room.
Asking, and singing, and begging her older sister: "Do you want to build a snowman?" always immediately followed her knock on the snowflake-patterned door as a greeting, even in the middle of summer. She did not know exactly why she needed to say it, but she did remember her sister always responding to it in the past. But then things suddenly and quite painfully changed, and no matter what she tried, her sister would not acknowledge her. At least in the winter, however, there actually was snow, so there was a real reason for asking about snowmen.
Now, however, Princess Anna was older and had been through and seen a number of things that, if she had the chance to travel back in time and tell her past self about them, she would never have believed.
Her once reclusive older sister, Elsa, was known as the Snow Queen of Arendelle.
It was not because the young Queen was cold hearted. In fact it was quite the opposite. No, Queen Elsa was called the Snow Queen because she possessed a rare and incredibly powerful magic within her heart and soul: she had the power to control ice and snow. It had been through a series of tragic and unfortunate events surrounding her powers that led to her being forced to hide them from everyone, including her sister. But all secrets eventually have to come out, and on the night of her coronation, Elsa's darkest secret revealed itself.
However, after everything was fixed and explanations were given, things settled down into a state of normalcy. Elsa took up the mantle of absolute monarch and ruled Arendelle with humility and graciousness. She had not even been Queen for six months, and already people saw her as one of the best rulers Arendelle has ever had. Anna spent her plentiful free time with the two people she cared the most about in the whole world: her ice harvester boyfriend, Kristoff, and her sister. The people of Arendelle quickly accepted a sorceress as their Queen and, if anything, loved her more for her unique gift despite knowing what it could do.
Anna sighed heavily as she stared out the window. She was no stranger to boredom, but now she was bored and depressed. It was not supposed to be raining in December, and yes, she was aware that she had thought this bitterly about two minutes ago.
Then she suddenly remembered something that made her smack herself in the forehead. "Oh my gosh, I'm an idiot," she muttered as she sprung to her feet, "I know exactly how to fix this!" And with that, she sprinted out of her room.
Queen Elsa had spent much of her life alone, out of what she had deemed necessity. Now that the gates were open, along with many of her internal doors, she no longer had to be alone all the time. That did not mean that she did not enjoy the solitude every now and then. It was especially welcome when she had piles of documents to go through in her study, as privacy meant silence, and silence meant getting work done with ease.
And if there was ever anyone who was the best at shattering silence, it was her sister, Anna.
Anna threw the doors to the study wide open so forcefully that they crashed against the walls as they swung apart, but Anna was too excited to notice. "Elsa!" she shouted happily, "I just had the best idea ever!"
Elsa was too busy trying to restart her heart to find amusement in that statement. "Does this idea involve knocking, by any chance?" she wondered as she thawed her quill, which had spontaneously frozen over when she jumped in surprise.
Anna's eyes brightened. "Yes, it does, actually," she stated proudly. She then reached for one of the doors and rapped her signature knock on the wood. "Do you wanna build a snowman?" she sang happily.
Elsa chuckled warmly. "In a few minutes, Anna. I just need to finish this letter–"
"But we can't do it right now…" Anna continued to sing, dancing into the room as she did.
"I just said in a few–"
"Because it's warm and wet outside, and though I've tried, I simply don't know how."
"What are you talking about?"
"The season's s'pposed to be pretty, clean and white. So what are we gonna do?"
Elsa merely waited for her to finish with an eyebrow raised.
Anna put on her best puppy-dog eyes and pleading smile. "Do you wanna bring back winter?"
Elsa sighed. "Anna, you know how I feel about altering the weather," she began slowly.
"Oh come on, Elsa! You're the Snow Queen! And it's winter, for crying out loud! Arendelle should be a snowy wonderland! Instead, it's all wet and muddy and definitely not festive."
"Technically, winter doesn't start until the solstice in a few weeks," Elsa reminded her as she went back to writing.
"It still snowed last month," Anna protested, "And it gets dark stupidly early and stays that way for a really long time. To me, that counts as winter."
"Anna, I know you're a fan of snow this time of year, but I can only tell you to be patient," Elsa told her gently, yet firmly, "It will eventually snow in time for Christmas."
"So you are going to make it snow," Anna falsely confirmed.
"No," Elsa responded as she looked up from her work, "I told you already, I won't alter the natural order of the weather unless it's a dire emergency. Simply not having a white Christmas doesn't count."
"Then how do you know it's gonna snow?"
Elsa shrugged before dipping her pen and writing some more. "I don't know. I just do," she stated unhelpfully.
"Ugh, why do you have to be such a stickler for the rules?" Anna whined.
"Oh, yes, because the laws of nature are just so restricting and pointless," Elsa retorted sarcastically.
"Can't you make it snow, like, this much?" Anna begged, holding her index and thumb about three inches apart from each other.
"No," Elsa replied without even looking up.
Anna pinched her fingers a little closer together. "What about this?"
Elsa sighed and set her pen down before facing her sister. "How about this?" she said in the voice she often saved for discussions with her council, "I'll turn the ballroom into your own personal winter getaway and you stop pestering me."
"But you always do that!"
"You make it sound like snow indoors is boring."
"Duh! That's cuz it is now! Elsa, I want the real thing!"
"I'm sorry, Anna, but that's not going to happen."
Anna's face turned serious with determination. "Fine. I won't stop pestering you until you do it," she threatened.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Elsa asked with an eyebrow raised sceptically.
"Like this," Anna told her before grabbing a chair and plunking herself down right across the desk from her sister. She threw both feet roughly up onto the polished wooden surface and reclined in a comfortable, albeit rather unladylike fashion and demanded, "Make it snow."
Elsa scowled at her. "You think that is going to do anythi–"
"Make it snow," Anna repeated stubbornly.
Elsa let out an exasperated breath. "That's not going to work."
"Make it snow."
"I should remind you that I have endless patience."
"Make it snow." That time, Anna's tone also replied, "So do I."
Elsa glared at her sister for a few minutes before simply deciding to ignore her. She dipped her pen and got to work. After a few minutes, her sister's voice broke the silence: "Make it snow."
Elsa chose not to show any indication that she had heard the demand, and continued working. The hours ticked by slowly, and time was regulated more by Anna's voice every two minutes than it was by the ticking clock in the corner of the room. Her voice never changed from that frustrating monotone, and her words never shifted from those three, infuriating words.
Elsa did not want to admit that she was bothered by it, but boy, was she bothered by it. It was all she could do to keep her hand from trembling with her growing anger. She had long surpassed annoyed with her sister and as the clock chimed the hour, signifying a full two hours spent with regular verbal jabs shattering her concentration, she was livid underneath a mask of calm neutrality.
"Make it snow."
Elsa's head suddenly snapped up from the letter she had been attempting to finish since Anna had shown up in her office. She loved her sister dearly, but like any sibling relationship, sometimes someone would over-stay their welcome.
Anna felt her heart stop for a second when she made eye contact with those frigid, sapphire orbs. She quickly removed her feet from the desk and straightened up in her seat. "Uh, heh heh, don't suppose I changed your mind?" she asked nervously.
She noticed that the quill had frozen over again, but this time instead of thawing it, Elsa tightened her grip on it so much that it shattered like brittle, delicate glass in her hand. "Get out," she growled.
"No," Anna initially stated boldly. She would not be shut out by her sister again, and besides, she made a vow to stay until Elsa brought winter back to Arendelle. "Not until you make it snow."
Elsa started to make it snow, alright, but in the study instead of outside. Anna had a sinking suspicion that she was not doing it on purpose, either. The air started to spiral around the Queen as it does whenever she was particularly upset, ruffling the papers on the desk and sucking all of the warm air out of the room rather quickly.
Anna would have fought back, but a flashback to another time she pushed her sister too far with these warning signs stopped her. She decided it best to leave before ice exploded out of Elsa's core like it did the last time, with a shard of it ending up in the Princess's heart. "Ok, ok. I'll leave," she said quickly as she got up and hastily made her exit, "But this is not over."
She closed the door. A second later there was a dull thump on the other side, and a small point of an icicle poking through the wood of the door appeared out of nowhere. "Ok, maybe I shouldn't bother her that much," she mumbled to herself.