Dedicated to my official editor and to Elsa a true big sister in every sense of the word.
It was raining in Arendelle on that morning, not a very heavy rain mind you but just enough to tell people "stay inside today" the moment they opened their windows. But the rain was not what was bothering Queen Elsa.
"Come on Elsa" Anna begged for the seventh time as her sister sighed.
"Anna I'd love to spend the day with you, you know I would, but I have a meeting with the whole court today, we've got to listen to all the tax evasion request forms" said Elsa with a huff.
"But dad always said that was one of the worst things he had to do" Anna reminded her older sister.
"Of course he did" said Elsa "early morning to late evening, reading hundreds of letters from citizens who claim they can't pay taxes, most of them are just lazy and don't want to do the paperwork."
"Then why do you do it?" asked Anna "wouldn't you rather spend the day with your favorite sister?" she added putting her head in her hands and winking with her best "adorable little sister" face.
Elsa chuckled "Anna under Arendelle law the entire court must read and debate every request for tax evasion before they can deny or accept them" she recited. "Besides some of them actually have good reasons for not wanting to pay taxes, and after I've spent hours listening to their fabricated excuses I don't feel so bad about taking their money."
"But Elssssssa" Anna dragged out "what am I supposed to do all day?" she asked.
"Don't you have a boyfriend or something?" asked Elsa sarcastically.
"Kristoff went into the mountains with Sven on an ice harvesting trip" said Anna reminded her sister.
"Oh that's right they won't be back for another two days" Elsa remembered "what about Olaf?"
"He went with them" said Anna "Kristoff is going to visit his family on the way back and Olaf wanted to see them again."
"Oh right" said Elsa realizing her sister was in a bit of a pickle "well unless you want to sit next to me all day, listening to the court read requests and debate them I can't help you Anna, I'm sorry."
"But what am I going to do alone all day?" asked Anna.
Elsa sighed "Anna it really does hurt me to have to leave you alone but I'm sure you'll find something to entertain yourself."
"Yeah right" said Anna with a huff.
"And" Elsa added "if I finish with court early I'll come find you."
"Really?" asked Anna hopefully.
"Really" Elsa promised with a smile "but right now I have to get going, they're probably waiting for me" she said and with that Elsa was off.
A long time servant of the royal family came in to take the breakfast dishes away "hey Kai!" Anna called. Kai looked up from his work "did my dad ever finish tax evasion day early?" Kai never answered Anna in words but he did laugh so hard he had to clutch his side so Anna presumed that was a "no."
Anna tried to bide her time by playing games and once she'd beaten herself about sixty times at all the games she knew she was confidant the day was almost over but when she looked at a nearby clock it cruelly told her it was only 10:15am. So Anna began wandering the castle looking for something to do but was having no luck, eventually her search brought her outside Elsa's study.
"I shouldn't" Anna thought to herself before grinning mischievously and pushing the door open. Elsa's study was a large round room with tall bookcases all filled with books about economics, customs in other lands, trade records, and law books, the very back of the room had a large window right in front of the desk where Elsa would work. Anna giggled, this was the first time she'd been in here without Elsa and there was little chance Elsa would be up here at all today, it was then that Anna noticed Elsa had left the replica of her coronation cap on the hat rack at the entrance. Anna smiled, put on the cape and did her best to make a trumpet sound "all hail Queen Anna of Arendelle!" she announced in her best royal voice. "Thank you, thank you" said Anna as she slowly walked and waved to her imaginary audience "how lucky you are to have a queen of such beauty, charm, and…" she began before she tripped over the cape and fell on her face "grace" she finished.
Anna got up, dusted herself off, and returned the cape to the hat rack before eyeing Elsa's desk "I wonder if she's as all business as she pretends to be" she said. Anna sat down in her sister's chair and looked over the top of the desk, there was a sealed bottle of ink and a writing quill on the right side of the desk, a writing pad in the center, and on the left side were two small portraits one was of Anna, Kristoff, Sven, Olaf, and Elsa in a group shot and the second was a headshot of Anna smiling. "There has to be more then this" Anna said to herself as she searched through the drawers she found spare quills and ink bottles, a pair of gloves for particularly stressful days, letters from countries Arendelle frequently traded with (Anna noticed there were several unopened letters from Weselton), several rolls of paper, a magnifying glass, and "ah ha!" Anna declared as she pulled a jar full of chunks of chocolate out of the last drawer. "She was holding out on me" said Anna as she opened the jar and helped herself soon emptying it. Anna sighed as she put the jar back where she'd found it and sighed. "Now what am I supposed to do?" she asked herself "why'd everyone have to leave me or be busy today?" Anna wondered as she looked out the window and saw it was still raining. Seeking a vent for her frustration Anna lightly kicked Elsa's desk, that's when she heard it, the tiny clinging sound that a tiny metal object made as it hit the ground. Anna looked under the desk and saw a little key "hmmm" she said to herself "obviously she didn't want anyone to find this so whatever it opens must be a big secret" Anna's mischievous grin had returned. Anna ran out of the office and into her sister's bedroom.
Unlike Anna's bedroom Elsa's room was very neat and tidy and that would make it easier to find whatever the key opened. "Maybe a jewelry box" Anna thought to herself "or a treasure chest, or a safe filled with gold, or a box she keeps all her embarrassing portraits in." When Anna had searched the rest of the room she turned her attention to the wardrobe, she looked in and was running out of places to check when she felt something solid in a drawer that held some of Elsa's old clothes, Anna pulled back a blue nightgown and found a blue box decorated with tiny paper snowflakes and the key hole was just the right size for the key Anna had found.
"I bet she hid my birthday gift in here" Anna thought to herself as she turned the key and opened the box. Sadly what Anna found wasn't gold or jewels or birthday gifts but a little snow white book labeled "diary" Anna was a little disappointed but this was still a good find "I'll just peek" said Anna as she opened the book, the first page of the book was decorated with drawings of little snowmen and in the center a message was spelled out "Elsa 8 ½" that was when Anna realized Elsa wrote this during the isolation (the time when Elsa had to isolate herself to learn to control her powers)!
Anna remembered Elsa telling her about how one night when they were five and eight they were playing in Elsa's snow when Elsa accidentally hit Anna's head with her power, Anna had to be rushed to the trolls to have the magic removed, as a precaution they removed all magic even memories of magic from her mind, editing her memories and making her forget Elsa had powers. The trolls also warned Elsa that her power would only grow and though there was great beauty in it there was also great danger. After that night it was decided that Elsa had to learn to fully master control of her powers and until she did the gates were ordered closed, the staff was limited, Elsa's powers would become a secret from everyone including Anna, and Elsa and Anna were separated. Whether that last bit was part of their parents plan or Elsa did it out of guilt Anna never knew but perhaps this diary would give her answers, Anna turned the page and found the first entry…
My names is Elsa I am eight years old but I'll be nine in winter and I'm cursed. I used to think I was special but now I know better, I was born with ice powers, I can make snow and ice with my hands and now because of my curse I've had to distance myself from my best friend, even as I write this there's snow swirling around me. That is one of the reasons my parents want me to write this diary, to help me get my emotions out so I can better control my powers. I told my parents I don't really know what to write and they told me to just write my thoughts so I'm going to give that a try. Right now all I can think about is how amazed I am that it's only been a week since… that night when I learned I was cursed! I keep having nightmares about Anna, I see her falling and freezing to death! You know maybe, that night if Anna hadn't… no what am I saying it was all my fault and now I'm terrified to go near the most important person in my life.
Anna reread that last statement several times to make sure she was reading in right "I was the most important person in her life?" she thought aloud. Anna then thought about the first week into isolation, she remembered crying a lot and wondering what she did to make Elsa so mad at her "guess she was going through the same thing" she added before returning to the diary.
It was my job as Anna's big sister to protect her and I failed, I should've known I could hurt her, I should've known it was getting out of hand, I should've been able to protect her, but I couldn't, I'm not worthy of being a big sister, I see that now and that's probably a good thing since Anna will probably hate me by the time I'm able to control my powers. I remember, mom and dad had to go on a trip, I remember Anna was really scared and started crying, she said she was afraid she was going to be alone. I remember holding Anna and promising I'd make sure she was never alone, now I've broken my promise, now Anna's going to be alone every night, through every thunderstorm, every nightmare, and every monster under the bed. And so there's no doubt about it, Anna will hate me if she doesn't already, she'll hate her mean big sister who shuts her out and isn't strong enough to take care of anyone! I guess if Anna's gonna hate me we'll never be sisters again, maybe that's what I should write about in here, my time with Anna, then I'd be sure I could never forget our time together. I guess I should start at the beginning…
