Queen Elsa was knee-deep in paperwork. The first year anniversary of her coronation was coming up and there was so much to prepare. The seating arrangements, the food, the entertainment, and on top of it all there was still the standard paperwork she had yet to fill out. Elsa never lost sight of hope though; she knew all the late nights and hard work would pay off in the end. Her hand was just reaching for another parchment to look over when the office doors burst open and in came Anna, a thick stack of papers held between her hands.
"Delivery!" she half-joked as she neared Elsa's desk. It was completely covered by signed and to-be-signed papers, barely leaving space for a fountain pen to be laid without being lost in the sea of white.
"Put them on the dresser in my room, please." Elsa mumbled, absorbed with a business partner request.
Anna craned her neck to get a look at the document. "Ooh, is that from the little chocolate shop in Switzerland? I love their chocolate! It's the best in all of Eu-"
"Anna." Elsa warned though it did no good when the younger sister could hear her smile in her voice.
"Right, right, sorry, on my way."
Thank goodness the Queen's room was right next to her office, Anna had no idea how much longer her arms could handle carrying the heavy stack. Her eyes spotted the vanity dresser and she quickly walked towards it, laying the papers right down the middle of the furniture. Impossible for them to be missed, just in case Elsa forgot she asked for them to be place here. Actually, it was hard to miss anything on the dresser, it barely had anything on it. The only things there were the papers, a brush, a box and a few cl- Wait. The box.
It was a small wooden box painted gold and decorated with a gold design. And for the past year it had been the source of Anna's curious thoughts. Anytime she and Elsa where in the same room as it, Elsa constantly denied her to even touch it. But now. . . "No. No, no, no!" Anna whispered to herself. "She'll tell me when she's ready. Yeah. . Yeah!" She reassured herself.
With a deep breath, she turned on her heel and reentered Elsa's office. "All done." Anna smiled nervously although Elsa was still consumed with paperwork. "Elsa. . Ineedtoknowwhat'sinthatbox!"
The queen's hand tightened around her fountain pen at the mention of the box.
"I'm sorry." Anna squeaked.
"Anna, that item is none of your concern." Elsa replied coolly. "Have you cleaned your room yet? You know how some of the people get at these celebrations."
"Why can't you just let me in? We share everything else! Why is this one thing so different?"
"Just go, Anna!"
That was a first; Elsa never rose her voice at anyone. Stunned, Anna muttered a quiet 'okay' but it could have been a mouse squeak for all it was worth. The only noise left was the clack of Anna's heels against the wood floor but even that soon faded away into silence.
"And then she just told me to leave. ." Anna mumbled as ate another piece of chocolate from a nearby tray meant to be sent to the Queen for approval on desserts.
"Just give her time. I'm sure once she's relaxed she'll be in a better mode." Charles replied as he washed the dishes. Charles was one of the staff members around the castle and probably the most favored by Anna. They would swap stories each week and when there was nothing left to be shared Charles would mention one of the floating pieces of gossip going around Arendelle. "But of course-" "I didn't hear it from you." She would always finish.
"But she's never yelled at me. She's never even yelled at anyone!"
"It's just one of the many side effects of working as ruler of Arendelle. The stress, the work, I remember your father lashing out once or twice myself. He always came around later though and apologized."
"What do you suppose is even in the box? What could be so great that she could never share it?"
As Charles was about to answer, the door slowly creaked open to reveal a bashful Elsa. "Charles, do you mind if I borrow Anna?"
"Not at all, madam." Charles bowed. Giving Anna a quick smile of encouragement, he turned back to cleaning the dishes.
"Oh, do you mind if I-"
"I've already started on a second batch, madam." Charles quickly answered, knowing Anna's Achilles heel for chocolate.
"Thanks," she slid off her chair with the tray of sweets ready to follow Elsa out the room.
The Queen led her sister back to her bedroom where she already had an extra chair brought in next to the dresser. The two sat down with only the silver tray and the small box set in between them.
"It wasn't my place to say this isn't of your concern," Elsa began. "You're my sister and we do share everything. This should be no exception. And if you'd still like, I'm ready to tell you the whole story behind it."