Chapter 1: The Picnic
It was the summer before the princess's third birthday, and Princess Elsa was so happy she was practically bouncing off the walls. Walls that she would soon be leaving behind for the first time! Her parents had finally agreed to a picnic at the foot of the mountains. Mountains! Elsa wondered what it would feel like, to actually walk on the slopes that she had gazed at from her bedroom window for as long as she could remember. They weren't going to go high enough to get to the snows, which was too bad, but maybe if this trip went well she could convince her parents to go beyond the walls next time.
Grinning, she came to a stop at the beginning of a long hallway. At the end was a door, a large set of double doors that Elsa had never been allowed to pass. She didn't quite know what was on the other side, but her mom and dad always came through those doors when they wanted to see her, and occasionally servants too. Up and down the hall were suits of decorative armor, interspersed with paintings of very interesting people that Elsa wanted to meet and places she wanted to visit. Her mommy said that the real things were not around anymore or too far away, but she had also said that Elsa might never get to go outside at all and look how that turned out!
There was no one else around, and quietly Elsa slipped off one of the new gloves her daddy had given her to wear on the picnic and reached down to touch the floor. The area that her bare hand touched crystalized, and suddenly a thin layer of ice started spreading outwards, covering the floor in all directions. Elsa frowned, and the path of frost slowed its climb up the walls. It continued to creep down the hallway and the princess squealed in delight. She had been practicing the control of her creations in little ways, but this was the first time it had worked the way she wanted on such a scale.
When almost the whole hallway was lined, Elsa backed up and eyed the slippery surface she had created. With a cry she ran forward and leapt onto it as fast as she could. Her smooth slippers didn't catch on the ice at all and she immediately started sliding. "Here I come, world! Princess Elsa is going outside!" Suddenly the big wooden door at the end of the hall opened and her mother's shocked face was all Elsa needed to see to know she was in big trouble.
"Elsa! What are you doing! Get off that right now! Nurse Gerda! Kai! In here, NOW!" The queen rushed forward just as Elsa was realizing she had no way to stop at the end of the ice and scooped her up before she could crash. "How many times do I have to tell you, young lady! No ice in summer! In fact, I would be happiest if you could just avoid making things cold at all. Now look at this mess!" She gestured to the growing mass of frozen water that hadn't actually stopped expanding and had nearly reached the many lit torch sconces that lined every wall of this part of the castle. Elsa, already frightened by her mother's anger, burst into tears and hugged her close.
The queen was trying to calm her daughter down when the nurse and butler finally arrived in response to the queen's summons. Taken by surprise, they nearly slipped on the ice before they realized it was there. "There you are," the queen admonished. "You're supposed to be looking after her at all times! Look at this mess she created right under your noses. And it nearly reached the doors themselves! From now on, you will station one of your maids on this side of the door at all times, in addition to the guards on the other side. Now, summon the rest of the staff and get this cleaned up."
The two servants bowed in acknowledgement and apologized profusely for their failure. They quickly summoned more bodies to the hallway and with a practiced air everyone took a wall torch and started melting the ice. Every room in Elsa's wing was fitted with thin drainage slits instead of baseboards where the excess water flowed out to the spacious grounds. The front of the castle was an older design and directly abutted the kingdom's capital with only a small parade ground between the walls and the main entrance.
The rear of the keep was another story. High, sheer walls swept back into a forest, but the tree line was diligently kept back a hundred yards from the fortifications. All the way back to the base of the northern mountain range they went, enclosing an area so large that all the castle's servants and their families were housed completely within the walls. There was also room for many wooded areas and gardens, even a few small ponds. An entire world unto itself lived inside those stone confines. It was here that Elsa's runoff water spilled out of the castle and returned to the earth.
Since Elsa was still crying, the queen brought her back to her own room. She set her down on the bed and held one of her daughter's small hands in her own. "Elsa, darling, look at me. It's ok, I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm not angry anymore, please calm down. I know you were excited about going out to day, and we're still going to go on our picnic, all right? We just need to talk about what you did for a minute." She wiped away one last tear from Elsa's face and let her touch linger. Elsa took a deep breath and nodded her understanding. The queen continued, "I cannot stress enough how important it is to hide abilities like what you did in the hall when we go outside. There are a lot of people out there in the world, more than you can imagine. They will all be afraid of you because they don't understand, and they will try to hurt you. The best thing you can do is to stay calm and keep yourself under control. Always remember this, my child: conceal, don't feel, don't let them know."
The queen made Elsa repeat back the rhyme until she was satisfied that it was memorized, and then got up. "Ok little miss, how about it, do you want to go outside? Do you have everything that I laid out for you this morning? Here's your glove back, just please don't take it off again." She slid the last bit of covering onto her daughter and stood back. Despite the heat, Elsa was wearing a loose dress that extended down to her ankles and a light doublet with three quarters sleeves that almost met the gloves. She had brand new leather boots on that laced up halfway to the knee. The only exposed skin was her face and head, where her brilliant blonde hair hung loosely to her shoulders. Satisfied, the queen beckoned "come on love; let's go see your father at the north gate."
Elsa followed closely behind her mother, trying to take in everything at once. She was still a bit frightened by the warning her mother had impressed upon her, and every few minutes she whispered the mantra under her breath. Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know. But even before they had left the palace she was nearly overwhelmed by all the new things that she had never seen before. There were great ballrooms and chambers with royal decorations, vaulted ceilings and massive chandeliers, and seemingly endless windows with something new to be seen in every one. Finally they reached the north end of the palace and stepped out into the first garden Elsa had ever seen.
With a cry of delight she barely took the time to hug her father before rushing out to get a closer look at the rows upon rows of beautiful flowers. Even a pointed reminder from her mother to keep her gloves on couldn't dampen Elsa's spirits. She couldn't touch the flowers directly, but she could smell them, and oh how delightful was that! Elsa had not a clue what any of them were called, but all the colors of the rainbow were on display, and she raced around trying to see everything. After a few minutes her parents called out to her to remind her that they still had a long way to go and the gardens would still be there when they got back. "Oh daddy, mommy I can't wait! Can I really come out back again after this trip? This one's my favorite!" She pointed to a cluster of white rose bushes secluded by a series of tall hedges, nestled into the western corner of the main garden.
Elsa's happiness was contagious and everyone in the party was laughing along with the young child. "Well," said the king, "Since you like it so much, I'll have the butler bring a fresh cutting to your room every week!" Elsa's shy delight brought a smile to the king's face that had been rarely seen since her birth. In high spirits they continued on through the servants' quarters and after a few more sightseeing stops, finally reached the gentle slopes of the north gate. For safety reasons they didn't go out beyond the gate, and quickly their lunch was laid out on the lawn.
Elsa was fascinated by everything she saw, it was a whole new world for her and almost too much to absorb at once. She gazed up in awe at the north mountains, they were so much closer than the faraway peaks that she could see from her own room! They were enormous giants in her eyes, many of them piercing the clouds with a reach so high that even on this midsummer day their summits were covered in snow. Getting a closer look at these mountains was exactly why she had begged her parents to go so far out for her first picnic. The white of the mountains pulled at Elsa's thoughts, and she fell silent, forgetting for a moment everything else around her.
"Elsa!" The sharp snap of her mother's voice broke her reverie, and with a shock Elsa realized that a faint patch of ice had begun to spread out from where she was sitting. "Remember what I said, for your own sake, child!" An upset Elsa scrambled up and escaped the star-shaped frozen grass for her mother's protective skirts. Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know. The words she had left behind at the castle came back to her, and she sought comfort in their repetition. I must listen to mother, I must never forget again. The queen gently brushed her daughter's hair until Elsa's breathing returned to normal. "We can fix this, Elsa. Don't worry, you didn't ruin today. We're still within the safety of the castle's walls. Don't worry, just do better next time."
The king looked at the frost sadly, then abruptly got up and covered it with an extra blanket. "There there, sweetie, it's gone now. See? No harm done. But how about next time we stick with just the gardens, ok? You can see the white flowers again there. This wall can wait until you're older, we'll come back then." Elsa nodded at that, she did want to smell the flowers more. The king continued, "Elsa. There was something else that your mother and I wanted to talk with you while we were out today. I know that you've wanted someone to play with recently, and you've been very, very good about being patient and waiting like we asked. And so we've decided to try to have a little brother or sister for you! How about that!"
Elsa positively yelped at the news. She would be getting a sister! Or a brother, but she preferred a sister. They could run in the gardens and play all day and laugh and hold hands and talk at night and… everything! This was definitely the happiest day of her life. She looked at her mom smiling down at her and back at her dad, also with a big smile on his face. "Yes! A sister! I want a sister! Thank you mommy! Thank you daddy! When will she get here? I hope she hurries!"
The queen chuckled. "We promise to do our best, but don't blame me if a brother comes, that's on your father!" she teased with a wink. "And whoever it is won't be here until next year at the earliest, so you've got some waiting ahead. These things take time and we only just decided to try recently. Now run along and play and we'll go back after you're tired. Stay close though, and don't make a mess!" Elsa nodded sagely, though she didn't really understand why it would take so long to get her a sister. But under the supervision of the servants she ran off to play on the sloping hills anyway.
"Now dear," the queen continued, "isn't that good, she'll be so happy if we can bring her a sibling to play with. We've waited so long to try again, but like I said last night we can't keep avoiding the issue forever. There hasn't been any indication that Elsa's enchantment will happen again and even if it does we can deal with it just like we have hers. She's growing up to be such a pretty little thing, and the only problem is her occasional outbursts. In time I think that we can suppress even those."
The king was silent for a moment, but he took his wife's hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze. In truth, he was the one that had been more apprehensive about a second child. The queen had been trying to convince him for almost a year now. But really, it was time for another heir. Especially if it turned out to be Elsa's crown prince. And even he had to admit that his fears about a repeat of the problem were a bit silly. "Yes dear," he agreed, "time cures all, and once she improves her control, Elsa will make a fine princess. We may even be able to host another public appearance for her one day." With a relaxing sigh, the loving pair leaned into each other and sat back to watch their daughter play under the summer sun.
But even an almost three year old runs out of energy eventually, and before the afternoon was quite over, the queen gathered the exhausted little girl in her arms and the servants began packing up for the walk back. Just in time too, because at that moment a strong, chilly wind began to blow over the castle wall. It briefly woke Elsa up, who smiled up at her mother and snuggled in close. "I love you mommy, and I love my sister too. Good night mommy." She yawned while leaning up to kiss the queen's cheek before falling completely asleep. Between the biting wind and her daughter's always cold lips, she had to suppress a small shiver. But the moment passed and everyone returned to the castle without further incident.
Nine months later, on a beautiful spring afternoon, Princess Anna was born. She was born healthy, brown-haired and completely normal. But the pregnancy had not been kind to the queen, and she had become more thin and frail as the due date approached despite the doctor and midwife's best efforts. Mere days after welcoming her new daughter into the world, she passed away without ever recovering. Little Elsa got the sister she wanted, but lost her mother in return.