The sky was awake.
And so was the kingdom. Shades of white were covering Arendelle's rooftops, chimneys puffing out thin smoke left from the calm and cozy night. Citizens from all corners were up early to pursue their duties for yet another day. Lumberjacks, cooks, traders, fishermen, miners, carpenters, hunters, all rose up. The kingdom was awake on time with the sky, and the Sun shone dimly on the horizon while the gentle, cold, winter breeze caressed the rosy cheeks of hard-working Arendellians.
The castle stood tall and mighty like the mountains firmly grounded into the realm. The staff was already at their posts hours before anyone else in the kingdom. Servants, guards, diplomats, scribes, scholars, all awoke when the sun was still hidden under the horizon and resumed their duties to the regents without a single moment wasted.
Yet, the royalty was sleeping.
The bedroom remained littered with minuscule ice crystals carried by the flow of air between the cold atmosphere there and the well-warmed halls of the castle. The Sun's rays pierced the curtains and laid a bright stripe on the bed in the center. There, the queen was asleep, caught up in her dreams.
Her eyes opened, while she growled into her pillow, hiding from the light that at this time of day seemed to melt everything it was touching. If there was one thing most precious to her at that very moment, that would've been sleep. She barely had the chance to catch any of it, the few hours that she did weren't even close to enough to rejuvenate her spirits after the usually tiring daily routine she had to endure. Even now after all these months of being a queen, she hadn't grown accustomed to the pile of responsibilities she had. All that paperwork to be made. All those decisions to be taken. All those protocols to be respected. All those meetings to be held. All those cold words coming from important figures to be listened. It was draining, but it was her duty, and knowing it made it seem even more daunting.
She slowly stood up on the side of her bed, resting her eyes with circles around them in her palms. She growled softly after yawning as an attempt to borrow a dash of energy from herself.
Elsa looked around the all-familiar room. It was exactly like she knew it: cold and barren. That room always made her heart feel heavy. It felt more like a prison than a bedroom, to tell the truth. It was the place she spent most of her life with the doors closed in fear and isolation. Every single decorative piece in the chamber was all too familiar to her, and it was sickening.
With her eyes half-opened, she clumsily made her way towards her desk. As Elsa sat down she gazed back at herself in her oval mirror. Her hair was tangled with frozen fractals, glittering under the sunlight breaching the room. Looking back at the bed, it was no surprise to see the snow trails on the bed sheets and across the walls. She fixed her sight at her palms. They were cold, and her skin had a glassy aspect.
There was no escape from her curse, not even in her dreams. Her powers were still growing. They never stopped growing. Ever since she was little she saw this trend of improvement and it made her worry, made her wonder: What if someday she won't be able to control them anymore? What if she'll hurt those that mean the world to her? The same questions were still haunting her after all this time, though this time she was making efforts to not let fear back into her heart. She has seen what that does to her, she understood how her powers manifest now. At least she knew that she can control them, thanks to her.
"Riise and shine, sleeping beauty!" said a jolly voice from the crack in her bedroom's door. The queen's train of thought was cut short by the abrupt break in silence.
"Oh, Olaf." Elsa's eyes widened at the sight of a familiar face, and of course it was the happy snowman with his companion snow cloud above his head. "Well, good morning, little one! Heh, always here to cheer me up, aren't you?"
"I'll always be here to cheer you up." The snowman waddled into the chamber leaving the door wide open as he hopped onto the bed with an "Umf". He looked at Elsa and could see her morning figure wasn't in the best of shapes. "Anything bothering you? You seem like-"
"Oh, no, no, no. It's nothing. I was just groggy, that's all. Couldn't get much sleep it seems." Elsa yawned through the words of her last sentence.
"Then why don't you go to bed earlier. Or sleep more! Here, the bed is still warm, I mean, cold. You can still just lay down here, pull the curtains and grab some more energy from your dreams! I can bring you a glass of warm milk and-" Olaf was softly bouncing up and down on the Queen's bed, but she cut him short. He had a jumpy nature, and Elsa lacked the strength to face the energetic little snowman.
"It's okay, Olaf. I'm fine. Besides, you know I can't do that. I have to fulfill my duties as a queen and that means getting up early and working until the tasks are no more."
"Aw, shucks." The puffy snowman slammed his butt on the pillow, making it throw out a dust of ice into the air in the room. "But don't you have vacations or something in your 'Contract of being a Queen' so that you can just, you know, take a break and sleep or go skiing in the mountains or go ice-fishing or-"
The queen stifled a laugh and smiled for the first time that day. "Oh, don't be silly. You know queens and kings don't have vacations. My father and mother were always tirelessly offering their service for the kingdom, and it's my duty to carry on the legacy." She said with an air of royalty, but looking in the mirror afterwards, her figure reminded her so much of her mother. She couldn't help but sigh heavily as she grazed the crown laying on her desk with her cold fingers. The crown was yet another burden she had to carry, as if it wasn't enough. But she had to be strong, she had to stay tall and make her proud, make everyone proud.
"Hey, are you going to have breakfast?" The snowman had made his way right next to the queens desk as she was lost in thought and he was peering over it while grinning from ear to ear, looking into her eyes, awaiting a reply.
Her stomach churned.
"Ooh, that's a yes, then! Come. Come this way." The snowman waddled out the room and pointed the way with his branches as though the queen was unfamiliar with the layout of the castle, as though she was a visitor. "I am pretty sure we can find something absolutely delicious and sweet in the kitchen down the hall!"
Elsa laughed softly and looked at the cute, puffy snowman. "Alright, I think I could use something to eat. My royal belly surely needs some attention." She stated ironically, while grabbing a coat and her shoes.
"Come." The snowman grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the room. "This way!"
"Ten minutes. That's what it says, ten minutes. Then turn down the heat for a soft finish and let them cool off. That seems easy enough for me. Alright, almost there. Focus, now! Focus!" The redheaded girl repeated to herself as she was peering over a thick book opened on top of the counter. Several cooking utensils were sprawled around the place, including a few dirty pots and spoons. A few bits of cooking dough was glued to her cheeks, her white apron stained with a couple of dark smudges. She had a baking mitten on one of her hands and with the other she was stirring the composition in a bowl.
"Now, put the cocoa and milk in the saucepan and stir under a small fire. Gently, now. Slowly. Good. And now I... Uhm. What was on that page ag- Agh!" Anna jolted as she stumbled by a bucket laying on the floor sending the empty tray she picked up a moment ago flying. Once it hit the floor it resounded with a long gong across the kitchen hall. She stood upside down, with her apron covering the top of her face.
"Oops!"
"I am sure we could find something worthy of a queen, I can bet my right arm. Who knows what might be awaiting in the kitchen? I promise you we'll find something sweet and delicious!"
"Olaf, you make it sound like the best baker in the kingdom was invited over to our castle." The queen said with a sly smile.
"Oh, but how did you know? I was trying to keep it a secret. There's no fun having a secret if you find it out!" The little snowman acted shocked to having been read like a book by Elsa, but he stuck to the plan. "In fact, it's not the best baker in the kingdom, but the best in the world!"
"Best in the world, you say?" Elsa raised her eyebrow and weaved her arms as both of them continued to walk the castle halls. "Say, on what occasion would this 'baker' pay us a visit today?"
"Occasion? Heh, please. Do you need a special occasion to serve sweets to the queen? Every powerful ruler needs fuel to function and do the, uhm, ruling stuff, and the best fuel out there has to be sugary sweets, for sure! If not sugary sweets, then what else?"
Elsa giggled at the silly tidbits that came out of the snowman's mouth. Yet, distracted by her senses she could smell something familiar. The scent was faint but unmistakenable to her.
"Mmm, chocolate!"
"Chocolate? Yeah, exactly! Wait. How did you knew it was chocolate? Woah, do you have special powers or something?" The snowman marveled.
"No, Olaf. I mean, yes, but, I mean. I just used my nose to smell it." Elsa touched the tip of her nose as she winked to the snowy little guy.
"Woah you're right. I have one of those too right here. I don't think mine works, though." Olaf pulled out the carrot in between his eyes and looked at it. "Is it broken or something? Can you fix it?"
The queen let out a hearty laugh this time. The snowman was too adorable to not make her mood jump.
"No, Olaf. That's a carrot. You can smell carrots, but you can't smell with carrots."
"Really? Well darn, now I want my money back!" The snowman acted betrayed as he plonked the makeshift nose back in its place. "Oh! Here we are! We're here!"
In front of them stood a tall door. It was the one that lead to the kitchen. The place was usually buzzing with activity in the early hours when the servants were making the food that was required for the castle to function, but this time it was strangely quiet.
"After you!" The snowman bowed his head and gestured towards the door.
The queen played along and bowed her head to his invitation.
"Oh, why thank you, Olaf. You're such a gentlesnowman."
And the door was opened.
"Oh, heey, good morning Elsa!" The redhead now plastered from head to toe in cooking dough jumped at the door's sound as she quickly tried to awkwardly tuck away a pile of dirty pots and dishes under the table with her feet.
"Anna?" The queen's face brightened as she saw her little sister. "Wh-What are you doing up so early?"
"Oh, you know just stretching out, being a morning bird and all. You know when the sky's awake you just feel bad to stay in and sleep, hehe. Am I right? Uhm, soo, did you sleep well?" The younger tried to change the subject as she was wiping away the dough remains with a cloth.
"I slept okay, thanks for asking. Wasn't expecting to see you around here. Where is everyone though?" Elsa was scanning the big hall. In reality, the place was a bit of a mess.
"Oh, I don't know, they must be around the castle doing what they're doing, I guess." Anna said with an awkward grin on her face.
The queen once again closed her eyes for a moment and sniffed the warm air. "Say, does anything smell familiar to you?"
Then the snowman intervened.
"Oh, I think that someone somewhere here can tell you aaall about that." Olaf waddled close to Anna while maintaining a smile towards the blonde. Once close to the redhead he grabbed her apron dragging her head down to his height and he whispered close to her ear with a stern look and a serious tone. "My part here is complete, now it's up to you. The success of operation 'Morning Cookies' lies in your hands! Don't blow this up."
"Heeey, did you hear that? I think that's Sven calling me again. Oh no, I think I must go and see what the big bugger wants this time. I hope he doesn't want to trick me into eating my nose again, muehe." The snowman nonchalantly made his way to the door and with a final wink to the two sisters he slammed them shut.
"Oh-kaay." Elsa said as she gradually turned her sight towards her sister. Both of them stood there in place, awkwardly.
"Heh, silly Olaf. Always acting strange like that for no reason whatsoever, hehe." The younger sister tried to smoothen the stiff atmosphere. Her forced grin didn't help in the slightest.
"Yes, though he's a sweetheart so I wouldn't worry too much about him."
"Yeah."
Both sisters looked at each other, smiling gently. The moment lingered for a bit and the place was calm and empty, private only to themselves. Anna broke the ice as she cleared her throat for what she was about to say.
"Right. Uhm, Elsa? Here, I made something for you." The redhead picked up a tray on the counter and tilted it ever so slightly towards her sister so that she could see it better. On the tray, there was a multitude of freshly baked chocolate cookies. All of them were of uneven form, their consistency being more like porridge, the chocolate glaze on some of them leaked off and burned to a crisp in contact with the hot tray.
"It's not much, to be honest, and they're not completely cooled. I tried to follow the instructions as best as I could and I think I might've mixed up too much flour or too little, I don't even know. For some reason the chocolate glaze turned out to be a bit too watery and the cookies were too soft so I tried to bake them more. I am a bit worried they'll crumble into a million pieces if you take them off the tray. I hope it won't. I haven't really baked much to be honest. If at all. There were some words in the big book that I didn't even know what they meant. I mean, how big is a 'dash' anyway. I really hope that means a table spoon. Really, really hope. Also, it's crazy how we have seven different types of spoons in the kitchen. Seven! Can you believe it? Why even bother with a variety like that? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a 'table spoon' as a unit of measurement? I found spoons around here as big as a ladle, who would ever eat with such a thing, really? On top of that, it was tricky maintaining the temperature that it said, at times I was worried that I would burn them or I would-"
Anna stopped as she watched Elsa pick up one of the cookies stuck to the tray. They were hot, but with a whisk of her hand she engulfed the pastry in a glaze of ice crystals and both of them could hear how its exterior was solidifying as it cooled down. She took a bite, and a third of the cookie snapped in the older sister's mouth as she was tasting it with her eyes closed. The redhead bit her lip and stared with a pained look on her face.
"It's really, really bad, isn't it? I knew I should've used less cocoa. I thought that you could never go wrong with too much cocoa, in the book it said-"
"Anna." Elsa placed her hand on her sister's cooking mitten that she was holding the tray with and directed it on the counter where the cookies were eventually rested. She held her sister's arm in her own.
"Anna, listen to me. Whatever you do, it will never be bad."
She smiled gently as she took another bite of the sugary treat she held in her other hand then turned to the redhead and spoken with her mouth half full. "Here, try some for yourself." The older sister extended her arm and Anna was at first reluctant to do anything, but eventually she leaned forward and bit out of the cookie that was kindly offered to her from her sister's palm. She looked back at Elsa as she chewed with glassy eyes.
"They're soo hard..." The redhead stated while the crunchy noises intensified in her mouth.
"Heh, I guess you can go wrong with too much cocoa, apparently." The older said with a sheepish smile. The redhead frowned.
"Elsa, you meanie." She said with her mouth still half-full with cookie crumbles.
The frozen queen stifled a laugh and smiled as she faced the cookie tray and cooled the remaining pastries with her cold talents. Then she picked up another one and began to taste it.
"I'm just kidding, Anna. I like them."
Anna gazed at her sister, enjoying the humble treats she tried so much to make and she placed both her mitten covered hands over her own heart as she began to bite her bottom lip and stare down at the floor. She stepped in closer and stood sideways by her sister with a smile on her face.
"I'm very glad you like them, Elsa." She said warmly as she rested her head on her older sister's shoulder. She could hear loud crunchy sounds as the blonde was enjoying her sugary breakfast, and it was calming the younger one.
"Here, take one." Elsa handed out another cookie from the tray to her sister and she picked it up with both her mitten covered hands, her head still resting on her shoulder.
The place was quiet, only the static sound of the crunchy cookies being chewed remained. Little words were exchanged as they both enjoyed their sugary breakfast and the queen surely welcomed the extra energy.
A minute passed and the tray was close to empty. Anna picked up the last cookie and raised it in front of her sister which was standing right beside her.
"Here. We can share the last cookie, but I'll take the part with more chocolate! Deal?"
Elsa nodded with a smile as she grabbed the cookie and with a slight hand movement from both of them the chocolate treat snapped into two, straight down the middle, each of them now holding a broken half. The redhead soon began munching on her sweet. As they looked at each other with warmth painted on their faces, the older sister couldn't help but sigh softly as her figure changed its mood.
Elsa rested the half-cookie on the tray that it was picked up from as though her appetite vanished. Anna stopped from chewing with the cookie suspended in between her front teeth, curious as to what has gotten into her.
The blonde faced her sister as she hanged her head and nervously played with her cold fingers. Slowly but surely, she took several tiny steps to close the gap between them as her breathing began to change tempo. Finally, she raised her head and looked her in the eyes with her own blue and teary ones. Her face housed an entire range of emotions.
"I'm-I'm so sorry, Anna." And Elsa leaned into her sister's embrace and engulfed her in her frail, cold hands. The younger sister mirrored the gesture and squeezed her tightly in her arms while still maintaining the little piece of the cookie in her mouth. They rested their heads on each other's shoulders while tears were gathering around the blonde's eyes.
"A-All this time, Anna. All this time I've shut you out when I needed you s-so much. Just to be here for me, just to play with me, just to talk to me, tell me I'm doing a good job. I was so clouded by fear, Anna. I kept all my doors shut to everybody. I kept them closed from you, I was afraid to hurt you. I was afraid to lose you, you who means the world to me. I wished so much, with all my heart, that we could just be together like sisters. Just being there with each other. You never gave up on me, Anna. You never did. You always came to help, you always came by my door and I never opened it, Anna. I just- I am so, so sorry, Anna. I promise you we'll have time to catch up. I promise. I promise I will never close my doors on you ever again. My little Anna. Please, Anna. Please forgive me."
The queen squeezed her sister with all her might as she poured her heart out to her. She sobbed gently and she could feel Anna mirror her gesture. She then mustered the courage to lean back and look her in the eyes. As she broke the embrace she could see Anna's face. It was similar to a baby that was about to burst into crying, her eyes were clouded by tears, her nose was dripping and her entire figure was still holding her cookie in between her rosy lips. With an audible crunch, the treat she was holding with her teeth was bitten off and fell to the floor, shattering into a thousand crumbles. To replace the void, the redhead began to bite her bottom lip instead, and that was her limit.
"E-Elsa..." Anna said one more word while shuddering before she tackled her sister and resumed the embrace they were in before. They were both sobbing uncontrollably by now, their cries echoing across the vast kitchen hall. They longed so much for these simple moments. It was as though they were experiencing entire missed years into a handful seconds. Their bond was as strong as steel, the repressed feelings they were bottling for each other finally managed to surface.
"I'll be strong, Anna. I can control my cold. I can rule this kingdom. I can make everyone proud. I know I can, because of you. Please, don't ever leave my side. Anna. I can't do this alone." The queen wept and said what else was on her heart, then tears resumed to fall, but they were tears of joy.
They were happy, as happy as they've ever been.
At last, in their embrace.
From the distant balcony, a couple of figures were watching.
"Do you think the plan worked?" One of them whispered.
"Seems like it. Come on, snowy guy, let's leave the two alone."
"But, Kristoff! Weren't we going to grab some cookies too? I can't see that far away but there might be some left! I haven't even tried chocolate cookies. I wonder what kind of warm, sweet, delicious flav-"
"Don't worry, Olaf. I'm sure you'll get a few cookies later."
"But can't we go now. The cookies are right over th-"
"Now is not the time. Come. I'll let you ride my sleigh down the mountain top."
"Oh boy!"