Episode 1: Work before Play

3 years later…

Elsa rubbed her aching temples as she put aside another contract. She stared at the pile of paperwork that she was supposed to go through before the 11 o'clock meeting that morning. Despite being up since 4 AM, the pile didn't seem to get any smaller. Sighing, she stood up and went to refill her cup with more coffee. On ordinary days she preferred tea, but coffee gave her the kick to wake up and power through meetings, paperwork, and more meetings.

Deciding to take a brief break, Elsa moved towards the window of her office and sat on the window's ledge. It was wintertime in Arendelle once more, Elsa's favorite time of the year. The blonde found some amusement watching fat snowflakes slowly make their descent. She had to personally see to several items before most of her top managers left for the holiday vacation, as well as finalize deals with other companies before the year-end inventory.

Elsa closed her eyes as she leaned against the window pane and felt slight relief against the cool glass. Her musings were interrupted, however, when she heard familiar footsteps thundering down the hall, along with several servants' screams as they hurried to get out of the way.

Smiling, Elsa put aside her mug as she prepared herself for her visitor. Before she knew it, the door to her study flew open and a flurry of red and magenta held in a tight hug. "Good morning Els!" Anna yelled excitedly, looking up at her older sister.

"Good morning, Anna." Elsa smiled, glancing down at the smaller girl. Unlike Elsa's ever-regal appearance with nary a hair out of place, Anna's hair was all over the place. "You haven't finished braiding your hair yet, have you?" Elsa asked, tucking a strand behind Anna's ear.

Anna pouted. "I did fix my hair this morning! I'm still getting the hang of it! And, well, I was excited to see you." The words came out a mile a minute, faster than Anna's already speedy dialogue on normal days. "And, well, I'm always excited to see you, but today, I'm more excited-er than usual, because you know, today's the day, so yeah!"

What day? Elsa thought in alarm, trying to make sense of the information Anna was telling her. Elsa snuck a glance at the large wall calendar she kept near her work desk. That day's date was circled and noted in glaring red ink as though it was accusing her of forgetting today's important event: It was Anna's skiing competition.

Trying to maintain her regal composure, Elsa looked at Anna. "The competition is today?" Elsa asked the younger girl, a futile attempt as stalling the inevitable. Somebody shoot me, she groaned. "Yeah, this afternoon," Anna affirmed, releasing her vice-like grip and stepping backwards, "I gave you your two week's notice, didn't I? And you said yes." The younger girl continued, disappointment evident in her voice.

Elsa didn't immediately respond, she was busy scrolling down her iPad's list of reminders. Today had a very important quarterly meeting scheduled with the heads of several other companies interested in investing in Arendelle Ice Corp., and Elsa simply couldn't get out of it. Elsa cursed herself for not putting down Anna's skiing competition in her iPad. She looked at that iPad more often than the wall calendar.

"Can't you ask one of your friends to go instead? How about that Kristoff guy? He seems decent enough." Elsa asked, hoping to placate the younger girl.

"Uh, Elsa? If you were paying attention to me that time, Kristoff moved away last year. Besides, we've kinda fell out of contact," Anna replied, "besides, there's simply no other feeling in the world when you walk into the field and have the CEO of Arendelle's most important and famous company cheering you ooooooooooooooon." Anna whined.

"But you're heir to this company too, Anna," Elsa responded.

"It's not so fun cheering for yourself. Besides, it's not like I'm officially part of the company." Anna argued. Elsa rubbed her temples again, trying to stave off a worsening headache.

"Anna, you're eighteen years old already. Aren't you embarrassed to be seen with your big sister by now?" Elsa queried, still trying to find excuses to escape the hole she dug herself into.

"Nope! I'll never be embarrassed to be seen with you, Elsa! And you're the one I want cheering for me. You promised that you'd come to my last competition, but you forgot because you had to meet with some head honcho from Weaseltown Co. so you told me you'd come this time." Anna reminded her.

"Besides, I made it to the finals this year because I was hoping that would encourage you to come," the strawberry blonde whispered, lowering her head and blinking furiously to stop the tears from falling.

Elsa bit her lip in guilt, but decided to harden her stance and recite her usual go-to explanation for any conflict that arose between her and Anna. "Well, I'm sorry that I have to run this company that was inherited to us by our parents. It's the only thing that's paying for school, putting food on the table, and paying for other expenses that we incur," she began, "And the fact that I replaced the old CEO means that I have to stabilize the company because of the sudden change of management, as well as—"

"It's been three years, Elsa!" Anna yelled, immediately cutting off Elsa's monologue, "wasn't that enough time to 'stabilize the company' or whatever needs to be done? The only real time we spend together is when you're on vacation, but even then you're up to your neck in paperwork! I mean, I gave you your space, followed all your rules like your 'two week's notice for any "extra, non-company related activity,"' and all that! But you still can't 'stabilize' this stupid company?"

"I can't just leave this company to anyone! This is our parents' legacy to us, and what would happen if I would just leave it to anybody, and they take it away from us? You know how important this is to us!" Elsa shot back, but regretted doing so when she saw the hurt deepen in Anna's eyes.

"It doesn't have to be 'anybody,' Elsa," the younger girl responded, "It just has to be someone you trust. You can't bear the weight of the whole world on your shoulders, you know?" With that, Anna left, slamming the door behind her.

Elsa flinched as she remembered Anna softly knocking on that same door, often playfully entreating her to build a snowman. "It didn't even have to be a snowman," she mused sadly. She remembered Anna bringing her food when she couldn't join her for dinner or a warm beverage when the older girl pulled all-nighters.

The CEO dropped onto the nearest chair, and pulled her iPhone. Scrolling to her list of contacts, she found the number she was looking for. She hit call button and waited until her secretary picked up.

"Hello, Gerda?" she began, "I need you to send a message those attending today's 11 o'clock meeting."

Author's Notes: Hi everyone! Thanks for making it through another chapter. I hope that you're still on board!

So! Elsa is asking a trusted and familiar servant to do some last-minute arrangements for this super important meeting. What could it be? Can Elsa do right by Anna and the company? Will she indeed make it to Anna's skiing competition? Where in the world did Kristoff go? All this and more in the next chapter. Until then!

-MidnightStriker