It was late at night and bare branches scraped against the icy windowpane - the fire she built earlier was now down to smoldering embers and ash in Anna's fireplace. Cold moonlight streamed in through the irregular glass of the window nearest her bed, and cast milky light on the stone floor. The redhead was clad in a rough grey nightshirt and bundled deep under her covers, reindeer and bear furs clutched around her thin frame, and still she shivered and her pale skin rose in gooseflesh. Something had awoken her, a thump of snow falling off the roof perhaps, or a bird crying outside in the night. Either way she had come awake and found she was freezing, her hair a mess and mouth feeling dry and parched. She contemplated a moment, hearing the ticking of the loud ornate clock in a nearby room, wondering if she dared brave the cold air and stick an arm out to grab for the pitcher of water on her nightstand when she heard a noise again - the one that had awoken her, repeating?

The sound came again - a distant door closing firmly, maybe. Anna rolled onto her back and took a deep breath, puffed out her cheeks and shivered lightly before hugging herself. If only she could...but no. She shouldn't think those things, she would not bother the Queen at this time of night for such foolishness. Best to bite her tongue and keep it to herself, lest she damage the fragile relationship her sister and her were rebuilding.

It had been several months since that strange, confusing day on the ice. She had been scared to death for her sister, for herself, and her body had hurt and ached. Elsa was in danger and she had to find her, that has been all she had known as she pushed forward, but then everything just seemed to - stop. Like she had been encased in a thick fog. She could hear sounds distantly, people shouting her name, but she was locked in place and couldn't see, only hear the creaking of ice and the frantic pounding of her heart. In the aftermath, all she knew was Elsa had saved her from the shard of ice lodged in her heart, had righted the wrongs she had inadvertently caused. Anna had come around to find her sister holding her tight, near to crying, and that she felt safe and whole again.

Some nights she still had nightmares about what happened to her, fragmented and startling dreams where she saw herself from outside her body: she was made of ice, falling over and shattering, or choking to death as she was unable to breathe underwater, or Elsa towering over her with jagged icicles protruding from her skin, her eyes dead white and indifferent. On those nights she was lucky to get back to sleep and often had to rise to stoke a new fire and huddle close to it, too unsure to attempt sleep once more and too scared to seek out her sister in the dark watches of the night.

When all the visitors had gone and Elsa was restored as Queen, many things changed - but for the better it would turn out. Elsa soothed her if she seemed distressed about nightmares in the daytime though Anna never shared much about them, and the sisters again grew close and bonded after their long separation dating back to their childhood, and the period when Elsa has fled the kingdom for the distant mountains out of fear and guilt. Anna now got to be with her sister every day, and Elsa no longer seemed so scared or distant as the days passed. She no longer tried to push Anna away or seemed hesitant in her presence, thankfully. They could talk and laugh and spent hours together, frequently attending necessary meetings, but stealing away in the evening to dine together or relax by a fire. Elsa would make it snow indoors just for amusement at times, or make beautiful crystalline structures outside the windows for Anna to exclaim over, and she always seemed glad when Anna couldn't resist and hugged her or snuggled up close to her. The sisters talked of old times, and new adventures they might undertake together when time allowed.

With time Elsa also seemed to stop being constantly worried her abilities would harm others at random, and she smiled more and tended to seem slightly more open and relaxed (though still she chose to comport herself regally mostly and could be counted on to act, at least in public view, as though she were aloof with most people save her younger sister). She was different again around Anna when they were alone: more often to smile and warm with praise and expressed sentiment.

All the same, sometimes the younger girl was unsettled around Elsa for no reason she could easily pin down - sometimes her older sister got a strange look in her eyes, and Anna might look up from their meal or a book she was reading to find Elsa gazing at her with a slightly strange grin on her face and her eyes seeming to reflect some shifting, icy pattern from an unknown source. Whenever this happened, the younger sister would often shiver involuntarily no matter the warmth of the room, as if a cold wind had brushed her neck. It was as if the silver-haired young woman was scrutinizing her for some unknown purpose, examining her almost hungrily, like a timberwolf stalking a reindeer, and being unable to look away from the intended prey as she was so fixated on the sight.

But even when this happened, it was soon over, and if spoken to in such a state Elsa remained warm and caring in speech and doted on the princess, telling her amusing observations she may have had during the day's duties or just holding her hand softly. This eased the younger girl's mind, and she mostly overlooked those times when Elsa got such strange looks in her eyes. Overall Anna was overjoyed inside at the way their relationship had flowered and how much Elsa had opened to her, both in words and action taken to involve the younger girl in affairs of ruling and having her by her side all day, and the way she seemed to want to seek out the redhead even when duty didn't dictate they should work together on some matter of state. After the dire events that led to Elsa being captured and threatened with death, and her spectacular rescue of the kingdom and saving her younger sister from her strange fate and potential demise, it seemed she no longer stand to be separate from Anna for any appreciable length of time.

Anna relished the attention and time with her beloved sister after the years of separation, but more and more she couldn't stop her mind from wandering to thoughts she would quickly shove aside. Elsa was her sister, after all, and even if things had not worked out with Kristoff in the aftermath of the dramatic events the new Queen had participated in, she could not let the feelings she was experiencing about her older sister show or become known. She sometimes drifted down the hall towards Elsa's bedchamber at night, indecisive, knowing she'd be admitted if she told Elsa she was unable to sleep or wanted to talk - but then what should we say, what could she do? Surely what she pictured and imagined was unacceptable, a bizarre passing fancy.

All the same, she never had felt so happy before as when her sister hugged her close or clutched her hand in greeting, or when she grew drowsy as they relaxed together by a roaring fire and Elsa would let Anna rest her head on her shoulder, arm lightly about the younger girl, softly stroking her arm or neck. During the latter times, Anna would go totally still, breathing shallowly, trying to control herself - a warm tingling spreading through her body, head starting to swim in a not unpleasant manner, and she could always feel her heart beating in her chest as if she had been running outdoors at a brisk pace. What was wrong with her, to have these feelings, and worse - the desires that sometimes occurred to her now even in the daytime? She loved her sister so much and owed Elsa her life, and she knew Elsa loved her as well to have saved her and from all the time they'd been spending together - but why did her mind insist, over and over, of giving her flashes of her kissing her older sister, tasting her tongue, Elsa pinning her gently down or against a wall? Anna shivered again in her bed and hugged her plush pillow tight, attempting to clear her mind and force herself to relax - she needed to get back to sleep, instead of letting her mind obsess over recent events and silly fancies. She shut her eyes and tried to tune it out when another noise echoed through the silent castle halls, slowing her breathing. She was halfway to sleep when her bed chamber door slowly creaked open in the still night air, the moonlight from the window illuminating a slender figure with unbound silvery hair and luminous icy-blue eyes entering the room as silently as she could manage...