Elsa wasn't sure what she saw. A strikingly handsome guy outside the ballroom windows throwing snow into the air? Then that same guy just flies away? Was that even possible? Was she going mad? Probably. Had he conjured the snow and ice himself? Looked like it. But that couldn't be. She was the only one in the seven cities that had any sort of power. Period. But, what she saw was something contradicting that.
"Elsa, are you all right?" Anna asked quietly, turning her head toward Elsa's ear to keep the conversation between them.
Elsa startled, "What?"
"You've been absent-minded all night. Is there something wrong?" Anna's engagement to Arendelle's official ice master and deliverer, Kristoff, had been official for all of an hour. But ever since Elsa had blessed their engagement, Anna noticed her sister's quiet reservations return. "Don't shut me out again, Elsa. We talked about this. No secrets, remember?"
Elsa straightened, pulling her mind from thoughts of the handsome stranger in the garden. "You're right. I was just lost in thought, I guess."
"About?" Anna pushed. Sometimes getting Elsa to open up was like pulling Olaf away from heat. Nearly impossible.
Sighing, Elsa began carefully. "I think I saw someone. Outside. In the gardens." She paused at every other word, measuring her words and testing them on her tongue and in her mind. She wasn't sure of them herself.
"Okay…" Anna urged.
"He was young. Or old. I'm not exactly sure. He had white hair. Like mine. And he could…" Elsa paused still unsure. "He had powers. Ice powers. Like mine."
"Elsa," Anna laid a reassuring hand on her sister's arm. She never doubted her sister. She smiled at Elsa hopefully. "Maybe you're not alone after all." Elsa lifted her eyes to meet Anna's. She didn't even know that that was what she wanted. Elsa had been alone her whole life. She didn't realize that having someone, sharing a life with someone was even possible. She had closed the door on the possibility years ago when she was small. But nevertheless, a selfish part of her wished for it anyway.
Being around Anna and Kristoff as they started their lives together just continued to remind her of how alone she really was. Crying in the gardens outside the ballroom should have been a good indicator but then it wasn't quite clear why she was sad just that she was. "Anna, I'm not even sure what I saw. He flew away before I even had a good glimpse."
"Yes, you are."
"What?"
"You are sure. You know what you saw, Elsa. You just don't want to believe it."
"Anna," Elsa chided.
"Elsa, I'm serious. Maybe we were wrong. Maybe there is someone else like you."
"And maybe I was wrong. It could have been a trick of the light or something."
Anna didn't respond. She looked incredulously at her sister.
"I'm going to bed." Elsa decided with a smirk.
"You can't run from this forever, Elsa! Maybe he's your Romeo!"
"And I, his Juliet, dear sister? What a fantasy." Elsa and Anna had read the English author Shakespeare to each other when Anna was learning to read as a young child. They had always enjoyed the love stories and the comedies most of all. But Elsa was more realistic than Anna. She knew she would never have a Romeo. She knew it. But it didn't stop her heart from wanting one.
Elsa mentioned her desire to return to her chambers to the palace courtier. He nodded his assent and bellowed, "Queen Elsa wishes everyone a night of merriment and joy during this happy time, she bids everyone adieu,"
"Please stay until your heart desires, we have more than enough food and drink for everyone as well as a warm bed to lay your head. Please enjoy everything Arendelle has to offer its guests." Elsa finished courteously after the courtier's initial introduction.
"A good night to you, Queen Elsa," people began to wish as she exited the ballroom.
Once she closed the large, thick oaken doors of her chambers, she collapsed against them heavily. Her thoughts returned to the boy with the white hair as she sat against the thick wood. Despite the question of his realness, he was a reminder of what she lacked – another like herself. Maybe she was going crazy. Her mind was making up apparitions for her mind to pine over.
Get it together, Elsa. She scorned herself internally, burying her face in her hands. You're the queen. Start acting like it. Strength. Dignity. Grace. She began to remind herself of all the qualities she admired in her father and thus, the ones that would make a good queen. Poise. She straightened into an erect sitting position. But her thoughts darkened soon enough and she leaned her head back against the door exhaling loudly in defeat.
Her balcony doors crashed open suddenly; the white shear curtains billowed violently out the new opening as if being blown from within. Elsa covered her mouth quickly, afraid that her exhale had swung the doors wide. Must be more careful. She arose from her sitting position, flipping off her clacking heels on the way to the doors. But as the shear drapes dropped to their original position, only swaying gently in the breeze, she could see they concealed something she still wasn't sure was real. Elsa padded quietly toward the open doors. She tilted her head to peer through the break in the fabric. The curtains gave way just enough to show parts of the whole. A blue sleeve. A bare foot. White hair.