Chapter 1 Elsa
She rubbed her temples, her sharp elbows digging into the old wooden desk she'd been working at for hours. The rest of the castle had gone to bed shortly after the crescent moon rose and she had promised herself she would follow suit before the candles burned out, but now it was dipping towards it's daytime rest beyond the horizon and still she sat, rubbing and sighing and struggling with stacks of documents. The ink from signing hundreds of pieces of parchment was smudged on her fingertips and temples, black smears on ivory skin. Her neat braid, so carefully done and styled earlier that morning was coming undone in an unattractive frayed look. Admitting defeat with both it and her work, Elsa rose and pulled out the ties holding back her tresses. Running her fingers through the long, blond hair to comb it out she sighed, moving towards her window.
/So much to do still… The flowers still need arranging, the cake needs finishing, the sandwiches the bows the ribbon the DRESS/ Shaking her head Elsa cut herself short, stopping the extensive list before it could become an all out panic attack. The wedding was still two weeks off, but she worried and fussed over both Anna and Kristoff like a mother hen. After two years of courtship and a solid month of pestering, she had granted her blessing to the engagement of the young couple at the Winter Festival. Now, a mere season later, she worried that there wouldn't be enough time to pull off the Summer Festival wedding Anna had always dreamed of.
Of course, Anna herself was doing as much as possible to help her sister. Elsa smiled at her reflection as she stared off into the night, remembering how Anna had 'helped' the floral expert pick out her bridal bouquet by getting too excited and knocking down her table full of examples. The poor woman then had to deal with the eager princess insisting on helping her clean up, thoroughly getting in the way of everyone. Elsa's smile quickly stretched into a yawn and she turned from the window to her bed, already drifting off to a happy list of things she had completed throughout the day. Crawling under the covers, still in her work dress, the queen happily allowed her heavy lids to droop closed, falling into a blissful sleep to the thought of her checklist growing shorter with each passing day.
/So warm… Why am I so warm? The trees… are they melting? No, that can't be right. The world simply doesn't work that way. Trees, you must stop melting on order of the Queen. Your melting is ruining the wedding./ Elsa looked around. The wedding looked pristine, everything in its proper place. She sighed contentedly and started down the aisle towards her place in front, stopping short with a swell in the music. /They're playing it at the wrong time, they need to wait for Anna… ANNA!/ Her exasperated thought towards the musicians was cut off as she caught sight of Anna and Kristoff sitting happily in the front row, Anna waving furiously back at her. Glancing down, she gasped. Her dress was as white as new snow, long and graceful, with blue sapphires sewn into the hem and bodice. Looking back up, she caught sight of the man at the alter. Tall and thin, he turned to smile at her in a flash of dazzling teeth-
With a start, Elsa awoke. Disoriented and sweating from her strange dream, she at first didn't identify the noise that woke her until she heard it again. A loud, piercing scream sounded throughout the halls of the castle and before Elsa had even consciously registered it she was out of bed and through her door. Following the sound to its source she skidded to a stop in front of the main drawing room, bursting through the doors to help the screamer.
"Anna! Anna are you… okay?" Elsa slowed and blinked at the sight in the room. So different from the blood bath the scream had conjured up in her minds eye, the drawing room had only Anna, Kristoff and the head seamstress inside. Anna turned to her sister with delight shining from her eyes and threw herself on the blonde in an ungainly hug as her fiancée and the seamstress both uncovered their ears cautiously.
"Elsa! Elsa! Isn't it the most majestic, beautiful, stunning thing you've ever seen? Isn't it perfect and fabulous and gorgeous and-" Holding up a kind yet firm hand, Elsa stopped Anna's descriptive ramblings and examined the 'majestic thing' herself.
Carefully draped on a specially carved wooden bust was the dress. While still requiring a few stitches here and there, it was obvious that Elsa wasn't the only one to have stayed up late into the night in an effort to please the happy couple. The seamstress practically glowed as Anna oohed and aahed appreciatively over her handiwork and Elsa had to admit; it was a marvel. The fabric was perfect; hugging the body just enough but not too much while the body of the dress itself was clearly chosen to accentuate the natural curves of her rather skinny and un-curvy sister. The color choice, the train, the sleeves, the neckline- all perfect decisions. Elsa made a mental note to bring the seamstress back in for her own wedding-
/Wait, what? No… that dream just rattled me. Strange... the stress must be getting to me…/ Shoving her mental discussion aside, Elsa tried her best to both appreciate the gown with Anna and recover from the heart attack of waking up to such screams. Watching the couple compliment the dress together, Elsa suddenly remembered all the other tiny details that needed her attention and felt the sudden urge to run. Run as far and as fast as the winds would take her, leaving all responsibilities behind…
"Elsa?" Snapping out of her reverie, she noticed Anna and Kristoff looking at her with concern. Anna walked over and put a steadying hand on her sisters' shoulder. "You know, you've been working pretty hard lately. Do you need a vacation?" Her big brown eyes showed love and worry for the queen, even though she felt like she watched Elsa struggle with the weight of command from across an ocean.
Like a break in an ice flow, Elsa suddenly smiled. Her sister might not understand everything about being queen, but Anna knew her sister's moods and that was all that mattered. "I would love one Anna, honest" She reassured the younger, taking her arm in a comforting motion "But I can't leave now. The wedding's so close and there's still so much to do. I'll take my vacation after, promise." Of course, the last of this was a lie. In Elsa's point of view no royal could ever truly take a vacation- it was highly irresponsible.
Laughing and startling the two girls, Kristoff came up to his soon-to-be sister in-law and put one big hand on her other shoulder. "Everything's practically done already and whatever isn't can't be more than we can handle, right?" He grinned at the opposites, one dubious, the other infatuated. Relenting and becoming slightly more serious for the elder of the two he insisted nonetheless. "C'mon Elsa- you really need this." Anna nodded enthusiastically at his elbow, her eyes pleading silently for her sister to relax before the stress killed her.
Exasperated, Elsa held up her hands in defeat. "Fine. I'll take a few days at the ice castle and relax, okay? But" she interrupted their joyous celebrating quickly "if anything happens you come get me right then and there, okay?" Both nodding and promising the moon and stars, they shooed her out the door to pack and dress for her trek up the mountain. Smiling as she walked back to her room, she shook her head at them. /As if they truly think I don't know why they want me gone for a little while. Still, a vacation could be just what I need…/