Elsa always felt very small. For a seven-year-old girl, she was on the thin but also tall side, so she shouldn't have felt like she was just a miniature version of the Queen she followed around. But she was eager to grow up and get bigger, so in her mind, she felt very small, her dress so tiny compared to her mother's.
There was one thing, however, that made Elsa feel big. Smart. Like a grown-up. And that was doing her magic.
Elsa loved to impress people. So she loved seeing Anna's face light up, with a wide, toothy grin and huge blue eyes like her sister's, looking up at Elsa and squealing, "Do the magic, do the magic!", jumping as much as she could and clapping her little hands. Anna was really the only person she ever did her magic with, always inside the spacious castle. And Anna was easy to impress, fascinated even by Elsa's "magically" blonde hair.
One such magic session found them in the empty ballroom after a boring evening. Anna watched in awe while snowflakes started to come out of Elsa's fingertips, coming together to form a snowball between Elsa's curved hands. And she promptly dropped it on her sister's head.
Anna giggled. "Make more snow!" she said.
Elsa brushed the snow off of her sister's hair and then went as if to make another snowball, but instead threw her hands up, making snow fall from the ceiling.
"It's so pretty!" exclaimed Anna. "Make more!"
Elsa concentrated and made it snow a bit harder in the room, and shot ice across the floor until they stood on a familiar ice rink. Anna promptly grabbed onto Elsa's hand to keep from slipping. "More, more!" laughed Anna.
The snow drifted down a bit faster.
"Make it snow in all of Arendelle!"
"I can't make it snow in all of Arendelle," said Elsa, as if she was talking about staying up past their bedtime. (Which Elsa never did, even if Anna seemed to never rest.)
"Why not?" pouted Anna, "You can if you try!"
"I'm not allowed to make it snow outside," Elsa told her. "It's a secret."
"A secret?!" Anna gasped loudly. Too loudly.
"Yes; you can't tell anyone."
"What about Mama and Papa?"
"They know, silly," giggled Elsa, and quickly made another snowball to throw at her sister.
"No fair!" said Anna, folding her little baby-fat arms. "Everyone should see your snow. We could make everyone snow cones!"
"Snow cones?" echoed Elsa, raising an eyebrow.
"Snow cones!" Anna confirmed, nodding vigorously. "A kingdom Snow Cone Day."
"I'm not making everyone snow cones, snowflake," Elsa said, and stuck her tongue out. "Too much work anyway."
Anna pouted again. "Why is it a secret?"
"Because," said Elsa.
"Just 'because'?"
"Because," Elsa said again.
"Says who?"
"Says Mama and Papa."
"But how am I going to keep it a secret?" Anna whined. "Is it forever?"
"Yup."
Anna frowned.
"I don't like secrets," Anna sulked.
"Neither do I, snowflake. But you've kept it a secret this far."
"But I didn't mean to! Now I have to think about it!"
Elsa had something to cheer her sister up. With a swish of her hand, she made a snowman appear next to her sister, and Anna's wide grin was back.
"Well, there is one good thing about it being a secret," Anna said wryly.
"What's that?"
"You can only make snowmen for me!" she said, and hugged Elsa tightly.
