Chapter one

Warmer Weather

Winter had finally begun to subside its bitter grasp on Arendelle and made way for the long awaited spring. The queen of Arendelle, Elsa, surely enjoyed the early icy mornings and frosty nights that winter had to offer. She would take time to herself and create soft snow flurries and magnificent ice sculptures for the towns people. She loved watching the children of Arendelle build their own versions of Olaf, a snow man she had accidentally created and brought to life last winter during what the people of Arendelle now call the Big Freeze, and he was surely there to help the children build their snowmen. He had gladly took on the role of being their muse and just soaked in all of the attention. However, Elsa's sister Anna wasn't as a big of a fan of the cold since being frozen to solid ice the year before.

The clock struck noon and the bells sounded in the towns square loud enough for everyone in the entire Kingdom to hear. Anna's eyes slowly opened as she was awoken by them and groaned. It was Arendelle's way of telling her that she had slept in long enough. She sat up and wiped off the drool that had slowly trickled down her face during the night and tried to adjust her bed head which, let's be honest, didn't do much. The bells stuck again almost louder than they did the first time, as if trying to get her to move faster.

"I'm up, alright!" she yelled, turning towards her window. She got up and looked out, having a perfect view of the town right up against the sea. The sky was blue, the people were out and running errands, a breeze had picked up, the grass was...wait, grass? Anna had to do a double take, not fully accepting that the snow that had been outside her window was beginning to melt away, revealing spots of fresh green grass.

Elated, the princess quickly unlatched her window and threw the panels back, allowing a breeze to roll through her room. The wind blew all of her hair behind her, causing it to look even worse, but she didn't care.

Spring, she thought. Finally she could go outside without having to go through the process of putting on all of her winter gear. Though there was excitement flowing through her veins, there was also a slight twinge of sadness creeping up in the back of her mind.

She went into her bathroom and tried to untangle the rats nest that her hair had become. Once it was manageable, she began to put it in her signature double braid, but halfway through one braid she decided otherwise. She put a French braid across the top of her head and let the rest flow down behind. She tucked a strand of hair she missed behind her ear, she always missed at least a little bit hair somewhere. She looked into the mirror and sighed. Not quite how she wanted to look, and no where near as beautiful as she wanted to be on that day. She could never make herself look as beautiful as she thought her sister was.

She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, put herself in a simple green dress like the ones she usually wears, and exited her room into the grand hallway. Humming to herself, she bounded down the corridors with her usual spring in her step and came up to a tall door decorated with blue patterned triangles and rhythmically knocked.

"Elsa?" she called. "Are you in there?" She jiggled the doorknob. "Of course, locked." It was usual for her sister to keep her door locked when she wasn't in there. She was so reserved sometimes.

She continued down the hallway and entered the foyer, crossed the lobby, climbed three flights of stairs, ran down another hallway, turned the corner and finally came to a stop outside a set of large dark wood double doors. Winded, she knocked, only three times, and opened the door to find her sister standing by the giant window that took up the entire back wall of the study. It was about a solid ten degrees cooler than the rest of the palace, as any room typically was when Elsa was in it. She looked absolutely stunning, as always, with her hair tossed to the side in her usual braid, and sporting a silvery blue gown that gleamed in the sunlight.

"Elsa!" Anna rang.

"Anna!" Elsa gasped, nearly dropping the book she was reading in her hands.

The queens sister laughed, "I knocked! We're you really that absorbed in that book?"

Elsa smiled, "No, really I don't know what I'm reading. I just picked it up and began to skim. I was too lost in thought to hear your subtle knocking."

Anna blew a piece of hair out of her face and said "What were you thinking about then?"

"Well," Elsa began as she looked outside the window. "Now that spring is coming there are so many things that have to be done. Activities to be arranged in town, and I have to remind the stable hands to exercise the horses, oh and don't let me forget I have to RSVP to a ball invitation, and not to mention all of the spring cleaning that needs to be done here in the castle!"

She looked back over at Anna who's eyes had completely glazed over and narrowed her eyes.

"So a bunch of queenly things that I don't care about?" Anna said jokingly.

"Exactly," Elsa replied. "What would get done around here if you were in charge?"

"Absolutely nothing!" Anna said, then laughed along with her sister. It felt so good that her and her sister were so close again. Deprived of her from her childhood, Anna was absorbing every minute with Elsa she could.

"I know. All you want to do is go outside and run around in this warm spring weather," Elsa teased.

Anna's lips curved into a slight smile at first, but was quickly dashed away.

Elsa, noticing this asked, "You alright? I thought you couldn't wait for spring to come."

She looked away from her sister, "No no, your right I am excited that the weather is warming up, it's just..."

"Kristoff," both girls said simultaneously.

Each year as soon as the weather began to warm up, Kristoff and the rest of the ice harvesters would head up the north mountain to gather the ice at it freshest. It was a trek that sometimes lasted a few days to several weeks, depending on the weather up in the mountains. At first when he told Anna about the trip she was completely okay with it, but as spring drew near, she became more and more nervous and saddened that he would be leaving for so long.

Seeing the slight distress on her sisters face, the queen set down her book and stood by her sisters side. "You know he won't be gone forever. He'll be back before you know it." She gave her sister a half smile, hoping it would lift her spirits.

"I know it won't be forever, Anna admitted. "It's just we have never been apart for so long before. And I'm really going to miss him. And I know the chances are slim, but..but what if something does happen to him up there."

Elsa took her sisters hand into her own. Her skin was cool and smooth against Anna's now warm and nervously sweaty palms, "Don't worry Anna, you know how much this trip means to him. It marks the opening of the ice trading season and he loves it. Ice is his life. And he's careful enough around it to not have an accident. Besides, he's not going anywhere." She grinned as she looked down at her sisters left hand.

There on her finger was the ring that Kristoff gave to her on the day he proposed. It was only a few months ago that he asked her to marry him. It wasn't grand or cheesy, there was no sunset on the beach or preplanned arrangement, it was all entirely Kristoff. The only one who knew about it was Elsa, for he asked her permission first. She even helped in crafting the ring itself. A first she had her reservations, knowing what happened the last time anna got engaged, but she could see how truly he loved Anna. She knew he could take care of her sister in a way she couldn't. Anna knew he must have used an entire months worth of an ice harvesters salary, which she knew wasn't much, but he bought the band of pure white silver, and Elsa created a small stone of unmeltable ice for the ring. It had been a simple, quiet evening, and Kristoff and Anna were keeping warm by a fire during a snow flurry. He stood in front of her and got down on one knee and presented the ring to her and just told her how he never wanted to live a day without her in his life. Unlike her sister, Anna was overjoyed and had even shed a tear or two. Before long, everyone in the kingdom knew, mostly because Olaf just couldn't keep it to himself when he found out, and the towns people have been buzzing about the upcoming wedding ever since.

Anna smiled and looked at her sister, "I know, you're right. I guess I just need to stop worrying so much."

"Precicely," Elsa agreed. "Now why don't you go run and find him. Go and enjoy this warm weather you've been looking so forward to!"

"We'll what about you?" Anna nudged playfully as she moved back and opened the door. "Don't you want to come out and enjoy the sun too? Hmmmm?"

Elsa walked back towards the window and picked up the book she originally was holding. "I think I'll stay in here a little while longer doing all of my 'queenly duties' where I'm most comfortable." And with that she snapped her fingers and the temperature in the room dropped another ten degrees and flurries of snow began to drop from the ceiling.