"Elsa, please! Don't shut me out again. We just got our lives back!" It felt like Anna was talking to a wall. Three weeks after laying her own life down for her sister(I wish she'd act more like it!), and life felt like it hadn't changed. Only now, instead of Elsa, her sister, shut in her room... (Seriously, WHY?), it was Queen Elsa, always "fulfilling her duties." Nothing had ever changed, she was just hiding behind a wall of duty. Instead of... whatever her reasoning was for shutting herself in the godawful room for 13 years. Their parents weren't even there to keep her in her room for the last few. And what's changed, thought the Princess. What's changed, really, if I still don't have a family.
There was a spot Princess Anna loved, in the castle's northern wing, in the tower. If you looked from there to the north, you could see the great castle of ice the newly-crowned Queen had made. Virtually the only monument to her own creativity and freedom. It was the only reminder the young Princess had, that she had a sister at all, really. Maybe I'll take to talking through her door again. It never really got any sort of response, but knowing she heard me made all the difference. I needed to talk... just talk out everything. So I didn't go cuckoo. Nearing the castle's library, Anna stopped, and peered in. The servants were allowed to read at their leisure, of course. Queen Elsa, for all her absence, seemed to have made things a little less stuffy, with new rules and amended requirements.
The Queen herself had made her workspace in the adjunct to the library. Mostly, the door was closed. Today, it was open, and aged servants and courtiers bustled through the small space. Above their din, Anna could hear the Queen, in the midst of giving her latest presentation to the miniature mob of pencil-pushers.
"... if we allowed the Irish more time in summer, to fish, we could conceivably increase the profits of our..."
"But they're savages! Give them an inch; they'll take a mile. I told His Majesty they were like this..."
"Lord Praxton! Need I remind you that you're an observer?"
"... my home too!"
There was no use. The little boys would squabble over their treats like... well, little boys. They could prattle for hours.
"Your Highness! This is an extremely sensitive matter! You shouldn't be here. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Spinning, the Princess saw the source of the voice. A middle-aged men, Kai had been the steward of their household for many years. The story went, he had been the King's best friend, at some time in the distant past. Now he and his sister, Gerda, were the closest thing to family Anna had. And yet, there was distance. Master and servant. Well, Mistress and Servant. But who was keeping score on that, anyways? Nevertheless, Kai was as complicit in the Queen's indisposal as anyone, really. He kept strangers and new faces away from Elsa whenever possible. The lapse in his constant managing of her time, a few weeks ago, was largely because he couldn't help the Queen with her heart. He was the late King's fatherly influence. If you could call it that, I guess.
"Kai! I was just looking for you." The Princess wasn't good at lying, but Kai was too old to unravel the crinkles and mysteries of her life. It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered, was Anna's heart. She'd nearly gotten herself killed, over and over, indirectly plunged the kingdom into a harsh and indomitable ice age(however temporary), nearly gotten the new Queen killed, nearly helped start a war that would have destroyed the city-state, and had been reckless(Only in the minds of the inbred royalty of the continent) with the reputation of Arendelle itself. Maybe she should just stop. Giving random ice harvesters and traders some trinkets(And that's all they were, really. Weren't they. A drop in the bucket, compared to the gold that we keep in the vault.) didn't begin to make up for almost destroying the people's lives, did it?
Whatever. I just want a good book, and to spend time looking at the wonders my sister... is responsible for.
"Your Highness? You were saying?" Kai interrupted her internal soliloquy.
"Hm? Oh, right. Um, the library-master. Have you seen him?"
"Uhhhmmmm... Anton? I saw him down the hall, just before I saw you. I think he's in the washroom. He should be out in a minute, Your Highness."
"Good, thank you Kai. I don't want to interrupt, I was just looking for him."
With a smiling, nod of her head, Princess Anna of Arendelle turned away, and thought about her sister, the Queen, as she found a seat in the hall, to wait for the old man that kept their library in running order. Maybe she'll be alone, at the end of this meeting. Maybe I'll get to talk to her, just for a moment. Try to get a foot into her schedule. Were it only so easy.