"No!" Anna screamed as she reached out her hand. Her body suddenly stiffened, and she turned a translucent blue from the tips of her fingers to the ends of her toes. The sword, unsheathed and preparing to strike, fell from the air and struck Anna's icy palm. As the two surfaces crashed, a great wind blew the sword back, but Anna's frozen body stood unflinching.

"Anna!" Elsa screamed, waking suddenly, bolting upright, and throwing her covers off.

In her dark room, snowflakes hovered around her decorating the walls with their faint navy shadows. Elsa buried her head in her hands. She shifted in bed and held one of her palms in front of her face.

"Ugh," she sighed, and with a quick wave, the snowflakes disappeared. She thought for a moment how pretty they had been against the moonlight, and she flicked her fingers. The snowflakes reappeared dancing across the winter-colored wallpaper before suspending themselves in the air, as if held by strings.

Elsa snuggled deeply into her blankets and pillows, not for warmth's sake, since temperatures would never bother her, but to try to find comfort enough to fall back asleep. It was in these early hours of the morning that she had her nightmares. She often prayed for a full night's sleep, but the nightmares had become more frequent lately, and she could not shake the feeling that Anna's absence was the cause of them. Anna and Kristoff were spending increasingly more time together, leaving Elsa alone with her thoughts.

"Good morning Kai," Elsa said as she opened the door. Kai, who had been mid-knock, right on time, was accustomed to Elsa being a better alarm clock than the sun. He was always instructed to wake her at 6:00am, and she consistently opened her door at 5:59 looking ready to take on the day.

"Good morning, Queen Elsa," Kai smiled.

"Please Kai, just Elsa," she insisted.

"I'm sorry, I forgot again Qu… Elsa."

Elsa giggled at Kai misspeaking. Old habits die hard, and she knew it, but she did not want any of the servants to address her formally unless they were at a public event. It made her feel like a stranger in her own home, and lately she had been feeling lonely enough.

Kai read her the day's agenda as they walked down the hall together. He stayed slightly behind her as they proceeded, which was also something she had requested that he stop doing, but she had already corrected him once for the morning, so she let it be.

They rounded a corner and almost smashed into Anna and Kristoff. They were holding hands and rather obviously trying to sneak back to Anna's room.

Elsa asked in a motherly tone, "What on earth are you two doing?"

"We uh, we were just, uh, um," Kristoff sputtered incoherently, embarrassed by being caught.

"We were just on our way back from feeding Sven!" Anna offered, far too eagerly for it to be true.

"At six in the morning?" Elsa asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We, um, wanted to get an early start to the day!"

"That's right!" Kristoff chimed in.

"How fantastic!" Elsa answered sarcastically. Then, looking at Anna with a knowing grin, she said, "Then you can meet with the delegates from the trade alliance at 7."

"What?!"

Elsa did not wait for an argument. She gently walked past her little sister's open-mouthed expression and reached up to her hair.
Pulling a piece of hay out of it, she gently whispered, "You may want to clean up a bit first."

Kristoff smacked his forehead in defeat and whisked Anna away to her room. Anna maintained the same shocked expression all the way down the hall.

Kai and Elsa giggled as they continued down the hallway.

"Your majesty," Kai asked, "How did you know what they were up to? I didn't see the hay in her hair."

"Kai, I know my sister. She has never been, and will never be a morning person."

Kai laughed and added, "When are you going to tell her that there isn't a meeting with delegates this morning?"

"After she wanders around the castle trying to find the meeting for a little while." Amid the shared chuckles, Elsa suddenly thought back to her nightmare, and she clutched her head. She weakly leaned against the railing of the stairs, and Kai grabbed her arm to support her.

"Your majesty!" Kai exclaimed, "Are you alright?"

"Please Kai," she whispered as she went limp, "Call me Els…"