"Elsa?"
Knock knock-knock-knock knock.
Elsa heard fabric rustle and slide down the other side of her bedroom door. "Elsa, are you in there? I mean, of course you are; where else would you be?" Anna chuckled nervously. "It's been such a long day! Well, not a long day, but busy and . . . and fun. I got a new dress; I wish you could see it. It's your favorite color, Elsa - really, really bright blue, with silver threaded snowflakes. You'd love it."
Elsa heard fabric swishing around and felt the corners of her mouth turn up. She could just imagine Anna in her new blue dress, twirling around the gallery to make the skirt fan out. She realized Anna was speaking again. Curious, Elsa rose from the bench by her window and approached her door to listen.
"It snowed today," Anna was saying. "I wanted to build a snowman like we did as kids, but it didn't feel right without you. I don't suppose you'd wanna - no, nevermind." Anna fell silent. Elsa imagined her little sister slumped against the door, like a puppet with cut strings. Elsa reached out, brushing the door with one gloved hand.
"I missed you today. I mean, I miss you every day!" Anna hastened to correct herself. "But . . . especially today. Christmas isn't the same without you, Elsa. Mama and Papa tried to make it just like before, but I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm almost nine." Anna sounded slightly put out that their parents didn't realize this. "Anyways, I just wanted to come by. Oh!" Anna gasped. "I almost forgot to give you your present!"
There was a clunk as something heavy was set down on the floor. "You don't have to get me anything. I wish we could play and sing and be like we were before, but just being your sister is enough." Elsa heard her stand up. "Merry Christmas, Elsa."
Anna's footsteps receded down the hall. Elsa heard her singing faintly, her voice high and clear. It was an old Yuletide tune they used to sing together, cradling fat wax candles in their mittened hands as they went from door to door caroling with the other children through the cobbled streets of Arendelle. There was a note of sorrow to it this Christmas Eve, made all the more apparent through Anna's usually cheerful voice. Elsa waited until the song had faded away before she reached for the brushed silver handle, one of the barriers that separated her from her sister.
Outside her door was a snow globe. Elsa hefted it in trembling hands, slowly turning it upside-down before righting it again. Iridescent white sparkles drifted through the water inside the glass orb, swirling around the two tiny girls seated inside, their arms around each other as they admired their handiwork: a miniscule snowman, complete with a carrot nose, coal buttons, and branches for arms. Elsa blinked, her eyes filling with tears, as she set the snow globe on her night stand.
Elsa stared at it as she laid down to sleep that night, unable to tear her eyes away from the tiny redhead's face. It was the closest she had felt to her sister in a long time. Elsa yawned.
"Merry Christmas, Anna," she whispered, and drifted off to sleep.
Author's note: For those who are curious, "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" is the song I imagine Anna sings in this story.
