A/N: Here we go, Chapter 2. A quick recap of things: Thanks again battousai24 for helping out with my first several chapters, you're the best! Any feedback you guys can provide would be great, and finally like I said before I do not own any of the characters, places, or whatever of Frozen.
The last week of August had been so gorgeous in Arendelle this year. The sun seemed to brightly shine in the sky the entire day with a small breeze coming through that signaled fall was about to arrive. Everywhere throughout the castle servants, guards, and other personnel rushed to make sure Arendelle castle had a welcoming but regal impression. Elsa sighed on her royal bed as she prepared for another day of what she assumed would be more of the same politics that bombarded the kingdom since the day she was inaugurated.
Not that it was something she didn't want to do. She had firmly made up her mind after ending the eternal blizzard she would do everything in her power to protect the people of her Kingdom, whether that meant establishing trade agreements, purchasing food and supplies from powerful merchants, or make sure that any outside threats would not bring devastation to her people. Everyone thought that she was the only one who had the leadership and will to make sure Arendelle would not only survive, but prosper.
She shook her head. How the people trusted her despite all she had done to damage the kingdom she had no idea, but if becoming Queen meant she had the opportunity to make up for her actions, then she would not have it any other way.
She quickly got off the side of the bed and, examining her wardrobe, slipped on the regal clothing provided to her by Gerda and the woman's fellow servants. The dress reminded her of the one she threw off after she ran away from the coronation, when her sister tried to reason with her but she refused out of spite and-
Relax Elsa, she thought to herself, what you did was in the past. You can't change it anymore.
She tried to tell herself that often, but try as she might it always ended up creeping back to her. How could she have been so brash and arrogant to abandon her duties and think she could hide out in a castle of solid ice for the rest of her life? The whole thought process behind her previous actions made Elsa sick, but at the same time that voice of reason that always sounded like her young strawberry blond sister came back.
You can make up for what you did now.
Anna. The thought of her sister made the queen cringe a bit inside. Her loving sibling never believed for a second that Elsa deliberately created the horrible winter. Anna, who was willing to sacrifice her own life for that of a sister who had shut her out practically her entire childhood. Such bravery was unfathomable to the queen. Elsa had wished that the two of them could finally become normal siblings like they should have been once she had finally accepted her powers, but the past month had been far too busy for the both of them to get to know each other.
She decided she was done arguing with herself for the were much bigger things that required her attention if she wanted her people to have any hope of surviving the winter. With a deep breath she opened the door of her room, greeted by her most faithful steward, Axel.
"Hello your majesty," the young man said in his most formal voice possible, "Would you like for me to give you the list of meetings and events planned for today?"
Elsa had to smile at the lad. Axel was six years younger than her and had faithfully carried out any request that she would assign him. The blond boy was certainly shorter than other men his age, but what he lacked in height he made up for in his duty as one of the best servants in the Royal Palace. Elsa had seen it fit that she provided the boy and his family with more than adequate necessities in order to make a living.
"Yes, that would be helpful Axel," responded Elsa.
"Very well," the steward replied, "Beginning at nine o'clock several diplomats from Weselton will arrive in order to renegotiate a trade partnership between our two kingdoms, following that at 10 o'clock the guild master of Arendelle Artisans requests your presence in order to make sure that his workers are adequately equipped, and at ten thirty…"
The young man continued going down the list as he followed his majesty's stride to the throne room. Elsa was almost certain that the boy fancied him. She had routinely spotted the steward blushing at her when he thought the queen was not looking, but she decided to hand wave it off so long as Axel continued to perform admirably like he did.
"Elsa! Hey Elsa!"
The Queen stopped and looked behind her to find her younger sister racing towards her from the courtyard. Well, racing as fast as you can while also trying to not trip over your own skirt anyway. The freckled girl stopped in front of the Queen and her steward, panting with her hands on her knees.
"Lady Anna, the Queen does not need you to run amok around the castle whilst we have guests." Axel eyed her sternly.
Anna tried to say something in response, but all she could do is lift up her hand and continue to catch her breath. It was difficult for Elsa to not chuckle at her sister's very hyperbolic entrance into the castle.
"It is quite alright Axel, thank you. Go now and alert Kai that I will be in the throne room in five minutes." Elsa ordered her steward. She could see the young servant raise his eyebrows at her slightly before sighing.
"Very well your majesty, I will inform him at due haste." And with that he quickly rushed down the hallway.
Elsa turned back to her younger sister, who was busy dusting off her modest green skirt she had decided to wear that day, and all Elsa could do was chuckle at her sister.
"Well, you certainly know how to make an entrance. I never would have thought you would run out of breath from running through the castle." She smiled.
"Try doing it in a skirt and see what happens," Anna sighed.
"I try not to; it tends to make me look less imposing. I have to be the voice and image of our people, remember?" said Elsa, and they both began to walk to the entrance hall,"Now, what is it that you needed from me?"
"Oh, well, nothing really," Anna blushed, "I actually just wanted to walk with you to the throne room, you know, sisterly bonds, get to know each other, that sort of thing."
"Uh huh," Elsa replied dryly, "Maybe you could have planned this little bit better than right before several important meetings."
"Elsa, I'm serious." Anna stopped and put her hands of both of her sister's shoulders. The queen flinched a bit at her younger sibling's touch, she had been slow in getting used to physical contact with others, but the worried expression on Anna's face instantly made Elsa melt and want her to retract her last comment. "I've only know you, the real you, for a little over three weeks. Even then you're always too busy to just relax and spend time with anyone other than dignitaries trying to make ridiculous requests. You are seriously going to stress yourself out if you try to keep this up without letting off some steam."
She slumped her hands down into Elsa's own along with her gaze. "The people worry for you Elsa. I worry for you."
Elsa squeezed Anna's hands in her own before lifting her sister's chin up to face her own before resting it on her cheek. "I know Anna, but you know that I have to take responsibility for what happened to everyone, you must understand that. And whether or not I have no time to rest is not important. What is important is restoring Arendelle as quick as possible, so that we will have what is best for both ourselves and the kingdom."
Elsa knew that Anna was ready to argue back with her further, but luckily the redhead admitted defeat and merely returned Elsa's hand into her own. "You're right, the people are the ones that should come first," Anna sighed, but then a soft smile emerged on her lips, "Besides, I doubt I could have changed your mind about it in the first place. Just be sure to take a breather every now and again, okay?"
Elsa returned the smile and learned down to kiss her younger sister on the forehead, "If it makes you feel any better, I'll do what I can."
Anna beamed back at the queen, the beautiful figure of her sister reappearing from its slump. "Thank you Elsa." Her eyes suddenly returned to that energetic look that made her glow no matter how dark the day was, "Oh, I just remembered! Kristoff is free today and invited me to go with him and Olaf up north later. I need to get out of this thing!" She looked at her long skirt before rushing down the hall back towards her room, "It would be terrible if I had to outrun that big marshmallow you made in this thing again!"
Elsa had to laugh at her wild sister's antics. She could always count on her to make the day a little bit brighter than before. Suddenly the young queen realized she had spent more than the last five minutes with her sister and that she was surely late for the mornings first session. Without another word she sped to the meeting hall as fast as she could, hoping that Kai had managed to delay the no doubt impatient dignitaries long enough for her arrival.
Anna rushed out of the castle into the front courtyard just in time to find Kristoff and his lovable reindeer Sven pull past the frozen fountain that Elsa had managed to hold in an eternal beautiful frost before slowing to a stop right in front of the castle doors.
Kristoff stepped off of his "Official Arendelle Sleigh of Ice Harvesting and Transportation" before lowering his blond head and bowing before Anna.
"Mademoiselle, your transport has arrived for you; I do hope you forgive my grave delay."
The disheveled ice harvester looked up from his bow and winked at Anna. The redhead could not help but laugh Kristoff's very astute demeanor. She walked up to her escort and took a curtsy in her mountain gearbefore stepping onto the impressive sleigh, "I didn't realize your position as Master Ice Harvester required being so formal in front of royalty."
Kristoff chuckled at the gorgeous girl in front of her before stepping onto the sled and grapping a hold of the reigns. "I would have thought that getting to spend so much more time around the people now you would be able to catch on to sarcasm."
The princess gave him a light punch to his shoulder, "I certainly have! It's just that now and again I just like to go along with it. You were almost being presentable there for a second."
Kristoff laughed and threw up the reigns, spurring Sven to sweep out of the courtyard.
"Sure my lady, I guess that means you also were just 'going along with it' when I told you last week that big ship in the harbor contained the last remaining galleons of the Spanish fleet."
As they pulled across the bridge from the castle to Arendelle itself villagers and townsfolk waved and cried out to the couple as Sven sped along towards the northern mountains where Kristoff explained that was where they would find Olaf trying to make a summertime bouquet. The strong reindeer had to weave in between workers and farmers as they hustled to repair damage to several houses and carry their last bundles of wool to storage.
"I was talking to one of the artisans here in town yesterday," said Kristoff, "He says that the damage caused by the… well, you know, he was saying that they should have most of the households repaired by the time fall has officially arrived."
"That's… that's great. Wonderful actually," Anna looked up to Kristoff to find a look of doubt on his face.
"No really, it is Kristoff. It's just that… I don't know, I never thought it would take this long to bring back everything to the way it was before. But I guess it's never going to really be like it was before, I mean, Elsa's in charge now and everyone knows she has the power to turn summer into a blizzard with a snap of her fingers, and now we have all of these foreigners showing up who have no idea what things are like and-"
"Anna," Kristoff warned the princess, "You're rambling again…"
Anna sighed and slouched down in her seat. By this time they were already going through the northern woods at a steep inclined up the mountains. Huge timber trees scattered the landscape as Sven dodged a series of dark green thickets and bushes.
"I guess I still haven't gotten the hang of controlling my thoughts yet huh?" She looked up at the blond next to her with a soft smile on her face.
"You really haven't," Kristoff smiled back, "But you wouldn't be the same bubbly adorable girl I love if you practiced the art of thinking before speaking."
"And you wouldn't be my favorite Master Ice Harvester and Deliverer if you didn't like to admit you have the same bad habits as me." Anna smirked and learned up to peck the tall blond on the lips.
"So you're saying that you also have a nasty habit of picking your nose in public?"
"Ugh, Kristoff! Not right after I kissed you on the mouth!" Anna protested, "And I don't think I ever said anything like that!"
"And it must be really difficult to get away in the castle too, what with servants and guards watching your every move! Have you ever managed to get away with it in the throne room when diplomats are also there? I mean at least you don't have to shake their hands or anything like that. It would be really awkward if the Archprince from the Empire of Whatever saw her highness with her finger stuck up her navel."
By this time Anna had already stuck her fingers into both of her ears, loudly proclaiming, "La la la la la not listening can't hear whatever you're saying!"
Kristoff laughed and decided he had tormented the young princess long enough. He took his right burly arm and stretched it across over the strawberry blonds shoulder before pulling her in closer so that her head was lying on his breast.
"I take it that her majesty has been having difficulty trying to appease all these foreigners coming in nowadays?"
"Tell me about it. She's practically up to her head in a tide of requests from faraway kingdoms and duchy's. I don't know how she continues to do it." Anna sighed.
"Anna, you know she feels it's her responsibility to the people to do it. Your sister thinks, and these are her words not mine, that she ran away to deal with her own selfish desires while she left the kingdom to freeze to death."
"I know Kristoff, she told me the same thing. But one of these days I'm… I'm just scared that she is going to crack under pressure and lock herself in her room again and not let anyone in to help her and no one is going to know what the kingdom is going to do and-"
"Anna!"Kristoff pulled on the reigns and Sven slid to a halt. The reindeer turned around to face the couple in the sleigh with a look of concern in his brown eyes. The blond closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Look, I'm sorry, but you have to understand. If anyone in this kingdom, anyone, is able to take care of Arendalle, its either Elsa," he took another breath, "or it's you. It has to be. So unless you want to be the one dealing with the problems we are having, the queen is going to have to be the one to do it."
Kristoff saw Anna close her eyes tightly so that her forehead became scrunched up, something the princess occasionally did when she was trying to think or looking for the right words.
"I…you're… you're right Kristoff," Anna sighed with a look of defeat, "I know I couldnt do what Elsa is doing for the kingdom. I just wish there was some way I could help her."
Kristoff gently smiled down to the strawberry blond wrapped around his arms below him, "Right now Anna I think both your sister and I would be happy just seeing that you are. So, are we good?"
There was a long pause before the princess looked back up to return the smile."Yeah, we're good. Thanks Kristoff." She leaned up to lightly kiss the Ice Master on the cheek.
Kristoff winked at his old friend and snapped the reigns and in a second they returned to their quick speed they were at before. Anna appreciated that Kristoff seemed to almost always know how to help the young teenager whenever he could tell something was on her mind.
Elsa needs to find that type of person, she realized in the back of her mind.
But that was something the redhead would have to try and orchestrate later. For now Anna decided to close her eyes and simply enjoy the feeling of being wrapped around the shy mountaineer for the rest of the journey up the green summer mountains.
Planning on taking the relationship quite slow between the two sisters, there certainly isn't going to be anything smutty between them anytime soon. Other than that, let me know what you guys think and how I can improve! :)