Chapter One: Viennese Waltz


The Arendelle town heritage festival was in full swing when Kristoff, with Anna riding pillion behind him, pulled Sven into a motorcycle space near the square. Once parked, Kristoff dropped his helmet onto the seat, "I'm gonna grab some food tickets and hit the stalls, later Anna!" and disappeared into the crowd.

Anna put her helmet behind Kristoff's before walking around the edge of the square, grinning at the baskets overflowing with flowers hanging from the flag posts, rows of stalls set up just for the festival selling anything that could possibly be connected to Arendelle's heritage, and at all the people. And oh the people!

A pair of little old ladies, wrapped in colorful shawls and scarves and sitting down so they looked more like tiny mountains of purple and green clothing than women sat at the first corner she came to, their expressive eyebrows and hand gestures clearly revealing what they thought of every rude boy and underdressed girl in sight.

Anna smiled and walked by. Full length dresses did not pair well with motorcycles, so she wore leggings under a patterned green and yellow sundress, all over brown lace-up boots. Eyebrows went up, hands pointed and gestured up and down; one humphed and the other chortled. Oh, one of them wasn't a lady, she was a little old man. He was a little old man? Maybe not so little either, but hey.

Anna spun around and leaned toward them. "So! What do I rate then? Three outa five? Four? C'mon, tell me! Ooh, what about him? Look at that shirt! I don't think rainbows and polka dots should mix, do you?" Shocked, wide eyes met hers, then they scrunched up into a maze of happy wrinkles as the pair laughed and waved her closer, inviting her to take part in their lighthearted judgmentalism.

Anna jumped over to an empty basket nearby and turned it upside down to use as a seat. Sitting between the two, she had a perfect front row seat, complete with running commentary thanks to her two new friends, for the festival's main event: the dancing.


Elsa flicked yet another bead of sweat from her temple. Why had she let her pride choose her outfit? Elsa knew she looked good in her fringed black shirt with the royal blue and purple patterning, especially paired with her black jeans, diamond stamped boots, and royal blue gloves. Right now she looked like an absolutely stunning puddle of sweat.

Rather than glare at the sun she turned her ire to Kai, who cheerfully waved at her from the podium as he spoke into the mic and introduced the next round of torture- a traditional Arendelle folk dance that maybe five people in the whole crowd knew and that the rest would gamely attempt to various degrees of fail. As Elsa was jerked into yet another too-wide spin by her current partner, she mocked her favorite employee under her breath. "You should get to know the people here, get a feel for them," he said, "I need someone who actually knows the dances and looks good on the dance floor, you're my last chance," he said.

She firmly adjusted the hand wandering ever closer to her posterior back to her waist. It seemed the people of Arendelle were getting a much better feel of her than she was for them. "Thank you for the dance," the small, chicken-like man in military dress and a toupee bowed stiffly and bounced off – or at least his toupee bounced- before she could respond.

A sharp squeal drew her attention to Kai, who was tapping the mic. "Now we have a short break for the band- aren't they doing a fantastic job everyone- to grab a drink, then we'll move on to the competitive portion of the dance…."

Elsa stopped listening once she registered the word "break" and started moving toward the stalls lining the edge of the square, intent on getting some shade and rehydration. Honestly, most of the festival had been fun, the first person she'd danced with was a crazy old lady who kept chortling and making gestures about Elsa's "masculine" attire before she left to go sit with a friend who seemed to be communicating via semaphore with her eyebrows. As the day had worn on though, she ended up dancing with more lecherous creeps- not just men either- than fun loving dancers, and between them and the heat, Elsa just wanted to melt her way back home, where she could recover in peace. She paid for her water and sagged against one of the stall's support poles. This was a horrible day and she was definitely going home.

The band played a few preliminary bars. A beautiful Viennese Waltz. Elsa's body started dipping in time to the beat. Sighing, she moved toward the center of the square. After this song, if she could find a decent partner, she was definitely going home.


"May I have this dance?" Anna shot backward off the end of her basket seat. Legs loosely hugging the basket and arms spread wide she looked up at a bright blue glove thrust in her general direction. She looked further up. The glove was attached to a woman. A woman who had just asked Anna to dance.

"No, no that's not reall-" the traitor couple she'd been bantering with each grabbed one of her elbows and shoved her upright. "How did you...? Are you really old ladies or are there, like, trolls hiding under those layers because…" they pushed her forward and she swung her arms out to catch her balance. One of her hands fell, slammed actually, neatly into the hand of the waiting dancer. She stepped back, gently tugging Anna forward, and together they joined the other couples on the dance floor.

Anna had really been trying to avoid this. She could dance, sort of, but it always felt like she and her partner were just slightly off tempo, dancing to the same song, but with different versions of the choreography. Anna usually had the rough draft. The dancer swung Anna in a smooth ninety degree turn that left them in open position, standing beside each other, facing the backs of the next couple. She took Anna's other hand and tried to gently spin her around so their hands would be in the right place, but Anna kept spinning a bit too long, and bumped into her side.

"Sorry."

"It's fine."

The music, which had been doing its slow introductory thing, began playing in earnest. The woman slid them into closed position, her hand resting high on Anna's waist, Anna's own on the dancer's shoulder, and started forward into the waltz. Anna glanced up at her, then down at her feet "one-two-three, one two three, one two three one…" She stepped right onto the woman's foot, made her stumble, and lost her balance, which she regained by grabbing harder at the woman's gloved hand. The glove slipped off.


Elsa didn't know what had happened. One moment she'd been dancing with the charming young woman who'd been sitting by her first partner of the day, and it had been going well. Not well in the normal sense, their dancing had been terrible, but she'd been enjoying herself and her partner had a tiny grin on her face as she counted off the beat in a quiet mutter that made Elsa glad. Then she stumbled, her glove was gone, and she was touching the young woman's bare hand.

Shock and adrenaline raced up her arm. Elsa gasped and started back, almost pulling away, but her partner gripped Elsa's hand tighter and pulled her back, saying "Whoa there, sorry about your glove. Hey, it's okay, I'll get it when the song's over, no problem." So Elsa kept dancing. It felt different, electric somehow. They shifted closer together as they waltzed. Elsa raised her left arm, the ungloved one, and started moving her right to guide her partner into a series of spins. The woman spun out as though an extension of her arm, continuing through the motion four times in perfect step with Elsa, returning to closed position with a snap that felt audible, the touch of warmth from her hand searing through the cloth at Elsa's shoulder like a full beam of sunlight. Their eyes connected, neither of them bothering to look down or around to avoid stepping on toes or other dancers.


Kristoff, resplendent in his sea-green tunic, one arm weighed down with a sack of food, waved at his grandparents, wrapped in a zillion layers like they always were when outdoors, sitting in the square at the edge of the dance floor. He hadn't known they'd be here or he'd have introduced them to Anna. They didn't wave back, so he came closer, "Bulda, Grand-Pabbie, what's up?"

"Shush dear." Bulda reached up and pulled him down so he could see where she pointed.

"Look who's dancing with the Queen!"

"Queen? Who queen? Wait is that Anna? Anna's dancing, who is Anna dancing with? Wait how do you know Anna?" Kristoff tried to sit on the basket Anna had sat on earlier, but it rustled ominously under his weight, so he settled onto the cobblestones at Bulda's feet instead. A few yards in front of him Anna swept around the dance floor in the arms of a gorgeous blonde.

"Is that the queen?" Pabbie answered his last question by nodding distractedly.

Anna and the blonde made a striking pair on the dance floor. As he watched, the woman abruptly changed directions, dancing clockwise instead of counter. Anna moved with her, leaning back against her arm, skirt flaring out and spinning back in. Most of the other women took this opportunity to gaze around the square, their heads following their leaning torsos, but Anna's face was hidden as she kept it turned toward her partner. They completed a circuit clockwise when the music hit its crescendo and Kristoff's jaw dropped. Had the woman just lifted Anna into the air? And again? Anna didn't stumble at all as the woman lifted and lowered her twice, then twice more in time to the music, arms at her waist, Anna's on the woman's shoulders. They moved into a series of spins, ending with the woman's lead hand high over her head as she guided Anna completely around her like the moon orbiting the earth.

He'd danced with Anna before. She was always distracted, pushing him into moving at a different pace, daring him to let her spin him, starting a game of bumper dancers, taking the lead and moving them away from angry victims of bumper dancers… the reasons he didn't dance with her anymore went on.

Seeing her dance like this was definitely a first.


Anna couldn't take her eyes off her partner. It felt like she was reading the woman's mind through her eyes, like her beautiful baby blues were telegraphing her footwork, like the dancer's white-blonde eyebrows forecasted the next change in direction. Anna could feel how her partner's pulse raced through the artery at her wrist, could see it beating at her temple. They moved as one. They… were stopping?

"… and here's our winning couple for the Viennese Waltz! I know one half of this amazing pair already, but we'll let them introduce themselves." A microphone is thrust into her face.

Breathing hard, she pulled out of the dancer's arms. When had they gotten so close? Anna grabbed a loose strand of hair and drew it behind her ear, then leaned back toward the dancer, this time to take her hand in a firm handshake.

"I'm Anna. Anna Andersen."

"Elsa." The dancer- Elsa, who had yet to look away from Anna, replied distantly, dazedly. "Elsa Arendelle."

"And I'm impressed!" A great green wall with arms and a blond head suddenly stood between her and Elsa.

"My name's Kristoff, how'd you get Anna to dance like that?" The wall moved to one side and Anna could see Kristoff had Elsa in a one-armed hug, which was probably the only thing holding her up, if her shocked face and limp limbs were anything to go by.

They'd forgotten about the man with the microphone. He'd turned off the microphone and was staring at Elsa, who removed Kristoff's arm from her person as she snapped at the flabbergasted MC. "Kai! How'd I win the competition, I can't even compete! It would be cheating!" The man grinned.

"The crowd voted. You and, ah, Anna, was it? Received the vast majority of votes. The prize is dinner for two at The Ugly Duckling."

"The Ugly Duckling's not in Arendelle, it's over an hour away, in Corona. How does that even make sense as a prize for an event at Arendelle's town heritage festival?"

"You approved it."

"I shouldn't have, what was I thinking?"

"That it's the best place in the area for a romantic dinner between dancing partners?" As Kai said this Elsa's eyes flicked back to Anna, who'd moved next to Kristoff and had been watching her and Kai like they were a tennis match. Elsa turned beet red.

"Well, I, um… that may be so, but there are, um, mitigating circumstances. Like I just met you!" Elsa suddenly turned back to face Anna.

"I just met you! It's too soon for a, for well, for The Ugly Duckling."

Elsa stood straight and tall, hands clasped before her as she spoke, but her eyes were wide and her voice wobbled a bit as she spoke. Anna had never seen someone look so composed and act so nervous at the same time. Anna really wanted to get to know her better.

"We could go as friends! It'd be fun! You can sit there looking gorgeous while I sit there looking like, well me, and we can get to know each other!" She thought for a moment.

"Wait, why would it be cheating if you won?"

"And why did Bulda and Grand-Pabbie call you the queen?" Kristoff added.

Kai broke in again. "You don't know who she is? This is Elsa Arendelle, the direct descendant of Idun and Agdar Arendelle, the founders of this town. Arendelle may be a township and not a monarchy, but the founding family is still very involved in the running of things."

Another voice sounded in behind him. "And that's almost exactly how she's described in her bio for the Arendelle Association's Board of Directors, where she serves as President. We call her the queen, though, because she presides over the board like one."

Anna and Elsa turned to stare at the owner of the voice. It was the little old lady who was neither little nor a lady. Elsa moved closer to Anna and whispered, "I thought he was a woman."

"So did I at first, I mean look at all the shawls, all I can see of him are his eyebrows!"

"But that's Pabbie, he's on my board. I see him every week and I still spent all day thinking he was a woman!"

They laughed, Anna openly and Elsa with one hand covering her mouth.

"Oh! Your glove!" Anna lurched forward. The glove lay just off the main dancing area, looking dusty and trampled. She grabbed it and came back, wincing as she tried to clean it off, brushing at it and slapping it lightly against her skirt.

"It's a little um, wrecked. Sorry."

"No, I like it better this way. It," Elsa held the glove gingerly between pointer finger and thumb, turning it this way and that, noting the brown dirt stains, possibly permanent creases, and the footprints, "has character now. I could tell a story with this glove."

Together Anna and Elsa watched Kai and Kristoff talk with Grand-Pabbie, until eventually Kai remembered he was the festival's MC and was due back on stage.

"Elsa, the Polka section's up next, would you mind helping with that?"

"Oh, no not at all." Kai's words caught up with Elsa moments after her response. She groaned.

"It seems I'm needed elsewhere. Goodbye Kristoff, Pabbie," she paused a moment to stare once more into Anna's eyes, "Anna. I'll be seeing you." The music started up again, and Elsa was gone.


AN: So yeah! Anna and Elsa dancing. Hey, did you know that back in the days when audiences threw rotten food at bad actors, some of them were actually trying to poison the actors? Like, they thought tomatoes were poisonous, but they threw rotten tomatoes at the actors' heads anyway.

This is the part where you all decide whether or not to throw poisonous food at me. But hey, it's internet food, so I can take it *braces self*

Also: sorry if you got this twice, the formatting got messed up when uploading, so all my line breaks and stuff were eaten.