"Elsa, study time!" Elsa's tutor, Mary, called.
Elsa and her younger sister Anna froze. No not study time! Elsa will be gone for ages! Elsa gave Anna an apologetic look and walked out of the large dining room after hugging her parents who were finishing up with breakfast.
"Papa? Can you play with me?" The red headed girl gave her father a toothy grin and batted her eyelashes.
"Sorry princess, papa's got meetings all morning and then I have several events to attend to in the market." Her father told her, "And you can't come because of what happened last time." The last bit was more stern.
Anna sighed at the memory.
Anna walked side by side with her father, the king of Arendelle, she smiled and waved to random people because that's what her father was doing. Most citezans gushed over the young girl's adorableness, the princess was only five after all. But that was when it happened. Anna sniffed the air and could smell her favourite treat, chocolate chip cookies. As her father continued shaking hands with his subjects, Anna snook away and followed her favourite sent. She ended up in Arendelle's finest bakery. No one was at the counter, so she decided to explore the back of the bakery. She saw a beautiful tray of cookies on a low table.
She froze when she heard humming. It was the baker! Anna crept quietly to the tray of cookies and grabbed one. She took a bite and smiled at the gooey filling that managed to end up all around her mouth. Suddenly the baker turned around and saw the princess. Anna innocently put her hands behind her back and swallowed the last bite of the delicious cookie.
However the baker was not about to fall for that trick, chocolate was smeared all around the young girl's mouth.
"Hey there girly, why don't you leave those cookies alone? You could go get your parents to pay for them."
"I'm princess Anna! That means I get everything for free." Anna stomped her foot and grabbed another cookie.
"Hey! Put that down!" The round baker approached her.
"You'll have to catch me sucker!" The princess stuck out her tongue, kicked the baker's leg and ran.
"That was ages ago daddy! I'll be good, promise." Anna pleaded.
"No." He kissed his wife's head and then Anna's and left for the day.
"Mama?"
"You can join me with paperwork all day." The queen offered.
Anna made a face, "Yucky! No thanks mama, I'll just go play in the gardens."
"Okay honey see you lat-" but Anna was already out of the room.
"So, as you know princess, your great, great grandmother was the queen of Arendelle a century ago, she ruled with an iron fist and was courting your great, great grandfather ten years before they were married. Can you tell me where your great, great grandfather was born?"
Elsa sighed, "A large kingdom named Corona, they ruled for forty years together, we have close family members in Corona."
"Correct, now while they were rulling, life in Arendelle was-"
Elsa twirled her pencil, she'd much rather be playing with her sister than learn about her kingdom's history. She already had heard this story thousands of times! She suddenly giggled and put a hand over her mouth as she recalled a funny quote Anna had told her 'If they bore, don't be afraid to snore!'
"Princess! Are you paying attention!?"
"Yes maiden Mary." Elsa huffed. Another quote popped into her mind, "If you can't shout, then you have to pout'. Elsa smiled, Anna was lucky she didn't get taught how to be queen every single day...
Anna sat down on the soft grass and began picking some flowers. She made a mini bouqet but when she found a bug on one she screamed.
"Ahhh!" She dropped the flowers.
"Are you okay?" A voice asked, she looked around, no guards were around the gardens this time of day.
"Huh?" Anna scratched her head in a rather un princessly manner.
"Boo!" Small hands gripped her shoulders as Anna jumped.
She turned around ready to whack somebody until she realised it was a boy, she decided he'd be her new friend. She sighed in relief and anger, "Mama says you shouldn't creep up on someone when you know they get easily scared." Anna stated.
"So you get easily scared?" The eight year old asked.
"No!"
The boy rolled his eyes, "Whatever. What's your name?"
"Princess Anna! Bow down peasant!"
The boy did as instructed, his unruly blond locks covering his eyes, "My name's Kristoff."
"What are you doing here?" Anna asked curiously as Kristoff began to circle the garden, Anna followed.
"I had nothing to do and the castle is easy to sneak into!"
"Better make sure my sister Elsa doesn't find out, she doesn't like strangers." The five year old smirked.
"Why?" Kristoff folded his arms, there was nothing wrong with him.
"She says they're weird, but it's okay, I trust you." Anna smiled.
"Oh." The older boy replied, "I bought my best friend Sven the reindeer, do you wanna ride?"
"Yes!" Anna prounced around excitedly. Kristoff whistled and a small reindeer appeared, "Hey Sven."
The two climbed aboard the small reindeer and rode around the gardens. Sven jumped bushes and even ran backwards, Anna giggled the whole ride.
Anna was so distracted with her new friend that she forgot she was meant to meet her sister for lunch, all of her lessons stopped after lunch and they were free to play all afternoon.
Elsa waited patiently, not touching her food. After ten minutes she went to go look for Anna, she's probably just lost track of time, Elsa thought.
But then she spotted her sister, with a stranger. Elsa ran outside to the gardens and saw a boy around her own age riding a reindeer with her sister. Elsa gasped and then replaced her frown with a brave face. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she crafted a snowball and threw it the stranger's way.
Kristoff fell off with an "Oof!" And the reindeer stopped running. Anna turned around to see who had done that and recognised her sister.
"Elsa! Kristoff is our friend!" Anna exclaimed and went to help the commoner up.
Elsa raised an eyebrow, "Our? Anna I just saved your life. You know better than to talk to strangers."
"He's not a stranger, he's Kristoff! Besides all friends start off as strangers."
"Yeah, I'm Kristoff!" Kristoff nodded, dusting the snow from his clothes, "How did you find snow in the summer?"
Elsa bit her lip, "Uhm...Well it was under that shrub! Anyway, what are you doing in our royal palace, papa will chop your head off when I find him!" Elsa told him and was about to storm off until her five year old sister grabbed her.
"No! Don't do that Elsa. He has nowhere else to be, just give him a chance."
"Please don't tell the king, I still want to live and the princess is very fun." Anna smirked at his statement.
"I am pretty fun!"
"Anna you can't just invite random people to the castle, we could get into trouble! And we have stuff to do, mama said she'd help us with some baking remember!" Elsa was pretty jealous that Anna would rather spend her time with Kristoff than her own sister.
"He could bake with us!" Anna pleaded.
"No! What makes him better than me anyway?" Elsa asked a little upset.
"Nothing, I like you both!" Anna tried.
"He's not half as smart as me!" Elsa proclaimed.
"Yes I am!" Kristoff frowned and turned to Anna, "She's not half as fast as me."
Elsa gasped, "Am too! You're not better than me at art!"
"Am too! You're not better than me at tree climbing!" Kristoff stuck out his tongue.
"That's it!" Anna screamed, "Stop arguing."
"I know, I propose a challenge!" Elsa confidently said, "Kristoff, you and I will compete for the position as Princess Anna's best friend."
"What!?" Anna gasped.
"I accept your challenge Elsa." Kristoff smirked brightly.
The eight year old royal narrowed her eyes, "Its Princess Elsa to you."
Anna's eyes flicked between her sister and Kristoff, who were glaring at eachother but they're both my best friends!