I apologize for such a long wait for an update! I was working on another story before I swapped over to this one. The other story was more dramatic than the others and just didn't have the right feel to it, it was more "Oh no I hurt Anna again!" and not "Yay we're having fun~!". I had huge troubles trying to write an ending for it so I decided to just shelve it and save it for later. Anyways, even though there's only 4 of you at this moment, thanks for sticking around!
"Can we play now?"
"Not yet Anna."
"How about noooow?"
"No Anna!"
"Fiiiine."
Anna twiddled her thumbs as she sat in her plush chair. Adjacent to her sat Elsa who was working on the day's paperwork. She usually allowed Anna to accompany her in the study, it helped her get through the long, boring hours. Afterwards, the two would usually go out and play together.
Anna scanned the room, it was quite small actually but very cozy. She figured Elsa liked it like this. Both sides were lined with bookshelves which were stuffed with row after row of literature. Some were simple fairy tales while others had titles too complex for Anna to comprehend.
In the middle stood a small coffee table. Elsa told her it was made with quality oak and had spent an hour gushing to her about the intricate carvings that she lovingly had put into it in her spare time. She must have really loved that table.
Underneath the table were old boxes filled with several board games. Anna figured that when Elsa must have played these games when she had isolated herself from the world. She noticed that the chess box was most worn out.
Her eye's slid over to one of the last objects of interest in Elsa's room: a bottled ship.
Anna was always mesmerized with these. She never understood how the ships were able to fit inside the tiny bottleneck without ruining their sails. Every general store she visited had perfect bottled ships for sale and none of the clerks would ever divulge to her how it was done.
She realized that she's never asked Elsa about ship in the bottles before. She turned to her sister.
"Elsa? I've always wondered. How do people get these gargantuan ships inside those tiny bottles?"
Elsa, not looking up from her work, nodded and said, "Y'know, I knew you'd ask that question when I was putting the model in here. I'm almost done now but I've got just the thing that'll teach you how it's done. It's actually pretty simple."
She fumbled into a drawer, eyes still not taken off the sheet of parchment in front of her, and pulled out a bottle with a stick inside. She handed it over to Anna who stared at it incredulously.
"How does this teach me anything Elsa? It's just a stick! Why did you... waitaminute... what's this string?"
She gave the string a solid yank and gasped as the boat sprang to life. The hinged masts stood proudly in the tiny bottle as Anna's face glowed.
"Wow Oh Wow Oh Wow! This is incredible! I swear this is magic! ...although I've seen real magic and it's way cooler than this ship (she kissed Elsa on the cheek), but WOW! This is how they do it!"
Finishing up the last document, Elsa signed her name in perfect cursory and turned to face Anna.
"I knew you'd like it."
"Of course you did! You always know me best. Can I put it in our room?"
The girls had begun to share a room, just like they had done when they were toddlers.
"I'd love it if you did, but I'm done my work now. What do you want to do for the rest of the day? Anything you have in mind?"
Anna stared down at the bottled ship in her hands.
"Oooh no. Nonononono we're not going-"
Elsa ducked her head as a sprinting Anna led her under a table. She was giggling like a madman as they weaved in and out of the marketplace hand in hand. Elsa on the other hand was more concerned about bumping into people but Anna expertly darted in and out when needed, clearly she had done this before. Despite her verbal protests, Elsa enjoyed the adrenaline rush, a bit.
When they reached the harbour they stopped to take in their surroundings. Men were hard at work unloading and loading the merchant ships that floated proudly in dock. Elsa in particular noticed the royal seal stamped on a gigantic ice block being hauled onto a ship. She remembered personally visiting the dock in order to grant each ship its very own refrigerated compartment. It had done wonders for trade, allowing the import and export of perishable goods was a huge plus and had brought in huge revenues.
She turned her attention to the man that ran up to the pair. Elsa knew by his uniform that he was the harbourmaster.
"Your Majesty, Your Highness," he bowed to princess and queen, "We've been informed of your arrival. A ship is being prepared and wil-"
Elsa interrupted him. "Thank you, but it won't be necessary. We need only the open space."
"Your highness..? Very well. I will return the ship."
He turned and blew his whistle four short times. Within seconds the ship's mast and sail were taken down and the ship was dragged off to an nondescript building to be stored.
"Very well then your highness, I assume you can handle yourself from here on. If you for any reason require my services you can find me in my office. Good day."
The harbourmaster bowed once again, turned, and disappeared amongst the crowd of working men. Anna turned to Elsa.
"Why'd you tell him that we didn't need a ship? Of course we'll need a ship to go out on the water! It's not like we can just make our own ship or somethi... oh... OH... That's exactly what you're going to do isn't it?"
Elsa smiled.
Elsa pointed her hand downwards and a white sprinkle flew from her hand to the sea. Within seconds a flat ice base surfaced from the depths, awaiting further construction. Flinging both hands up, she sent the magic spiralling upwards to create a framework for the ship. Finally, Elsa dramatically thrust her right hand at the ship and the gaps in the frame began to fill in. Magnificent ice carvings adorned the ship as an intricate guardrail materialized at the edge of the ship. Fine ice cloth was held sturdily in place by a strong ice mast in the centre.
The magic swept through the ship, adding finishing touches as it went, Elsa turned to the awestruck Anna.
"Wow Elsa, I mean, I've seen you use your magic before, hundreds of times, but every time you do it leaves me dumbfounded. This is incredible ship. C'mon let's get on!" She leapt onto the boat.
Elsa laughed, and followed Anna onto the boat. She turned to push them out to sea and saw a huge crowd had gathered to see their Princess and Queen off as they left for their afternoon pleasure cruise. She waved back and summoned icy pillars to push them out to sea.
"Oooh Elsa I'm not feeling too good already..."
Anna knew that the first ride on any ship was the toughest but it didn't help her gain her sea legs any faster. Despite its size, the ship wobbled from time to time and did horrible things to Anna's stomach. She looked over to Elsa to see if she was having the same troubles and her jaw dropped in surprise.
"How are you doing that?!"
Elsa was levitating on a small disk of ice, hovering above the ground by a few centimetres. Because her feet were not planted on the ship she did not feel the swaying, and therefore was immune to getting seasick.
"I don't really know." came the reply. "I just go with it. I have no idea how I'm doing this."
"Well then, since you're technically not on the ship that means I'm the captain! As the captain of this ship I get to say where we're going and I want to go see those huge cliffs over there..."
Elsa saluted, "Aye Aye, Captain!"
The two had a blast. With Elsa calling forth snowy winds to push their little sailboat around the two have been able to explore much of their kingdom and learn many things that they did not know before. They observed the rock formations of the cliffs that surrounded their palace and even found a little cave they could call their own. They were sitting on icy chairs, talking and snacking over an ice table in their little hideout.
"This is one of the best days I've ever had Anna," said Elsa.
"I know right? This is the best! I love spending time with you Elsa."
"I feel the same Anna, but we need to go home soon. Let's make our return to the harbour a spectacular one. I've got a really good idea that I know you'll love..."
She leaned in and whispered into Anna's ear, despite the fact that they were already isolated from society with literally nothing but the wind to eavesdrop upon them. The two really were little girls at heart.
Elsa leaned back, Anna's face had a devious grin on it.
The harbour was within sight.
Elsa drew her hands to the sky and a huge iceball the size of a house began to materialize. With both hands above her head she looked over to Anna and asked, "Ready!?"
"Oh yes I am so ready for this!"
"Then here we go!"
Elsa made a ripping motion with her hands and the ice ball began to crack. With earth shattering sound it split.
Citizens began to gather at the harbour, curious and a little terrified of what's happening.
"We've got an audience Elsa! Let's do this!"
Elsa ferociously thrust her hands downwards and sent the ball plunging into the ocean, a huge geyser erupted from the sea. With all her power she could muster, Elsa set the ship through the geiser (soaking their dresses in the process) towards the harbour.
The ship careened towards the harbour at breakneck speeds. A collision would devastate the entire village. Villagers screamed and scattered as they ran around in circles in panic. Anna and Elsa stood at the bow of the ship, they were laughing as the carnage unfolded.
When the ship was within touching range of the dock, Elsa evaporated the ship. The two leapt onto the harbour as the ice instantly transformed to harmless snow and lightly blanketed the dumbfounded villagers. Anna and Elsa were laughing uncontrollably on the stone ground, their dresses soaked with sea water and snow.
The villagers went silent, after several minutes of laughter they finally realized that they'd been played. Shaking their snow-dusted heads, they dispersed to their cottages for dinner.
Their hips were aching from hysterical laughter, they needed to support each other in order to stand up. As they shakily got to their feet, Anna took Elsa's hand.
"C'mon Elsa! We're going to be late for dinner. I wonder what Kai and Gerda are gonna say when they see our soaked dresses! Hahaha!"
With that, Anna sprinted off to the castle, dragging a giggling Elsa behind her. One thought was on her mind as they ran through the now-empty marketplace.
"Best. Day. Ever."