Elsa had heard the rumors; the whisperings on the street. She knew that the people of Arendelle didn't trust her and her powers, even though she hardly used them any more. It hurt, knowing this. Knowing that the people she ruled over disliked her and preferred her younger sister. The sister she loved more than anything. The sister that was energetic and outgoing, that was charming and charismatic, while Elsa herself was a recluse.
The cries from the people for her to step down rained down on her, and after the first month, she always had. Anna would make an excellent queen, she knew, but her sister pleaded with her to stay on the throne. Their parents would have wanted that. And so she stayed. She stayed on the throne, still pelted by the people's cries for her to step down and for Anna to be crowned the ruler.
There were some nights that she cried, shedding some of the weight she bore. Anna, being the caring sister she was, would try to come in, to which Elsa would turn her away...or at least, she tried. It was all out of fear of hurting her sister yet again, but Anna had none of it. She would come into the room and sit beside Elsa, rubbing her back soothingly and whisper encouraging things. And it helped. It helped more than Elsa would admit.
And then she would bear the pain for one more day, or one more week, or one more month, all the while knowing exactly what the townspeople wanted. All of this against her will, but rather, for Anna's sake.
