The next afternoon the sister's met with the staff to finalize preparations for the upcoming visit of the royal family of Thule. Once everything was ironed out and the staff left them alone Lady Elaine appeared.
"Elsa. There you are. I've missed you." The raven haired woman curled up next to Elsa and placed a kiss on her neck.
"What are you doing?" Elsa hissed.
"She already knows. Why hide it?" Elaine answered.
"Elaine. We're in the open. Anyone could come in. You need to stop this. Anyway, did you need something? We're rather busy. The delegation from Thule will be arriving in a week and we have a lot to do."
"What are they coming here for again?"
"Thule neighbors the Southern Isles. As you know, we are not on good terms with them, due to Hans behavior at my coronation. Thule is coming here to see if we can work out an alliance between our nations."
"Sounds dreadfully boring."
"Good thing you don't have to deal with it. Anna, on the other hand, will be on hand for every bit of the negotiations."
"What?" Anna squeaked.
"Anna, you are my heir. It's time you started to learn the ways of being queen, as I had to learn from father."
"So what does that mean? I just follow you around and watch you be all queenly?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Elsa winked at her. Anna knew that she was just creating ways for them to spend more time together, after the younger girls admission of being lonely last night.
"Fine." Anna said in mock boredom. At that moment Kai poked his head in.
"You're majesty, I'm terribly sorry, but the royal ice master would like a word with you. Just you, if you don't mind."
"Of course." Elsa left the room with a glance at her sister.
"I don't know why she's acting as though you will ever be queen of Arendelle." Elaine began. "You'll be moving soon, and have your own kingdom to rule over. It would make more sense for her to bring me along to her meetings."
"What are you talking about?"
"Didn't she tell you last night?"
"Tell me what?"
"About Devin?" My cousin?"
"No."
"She has arranged for you to marry Prince Devin of Hampstead. He is my second cousin, and is next in line for the throne. It is a great match, if I may say."
"She wouldn't do that."
"This is an important alliance. The decision was already made before you even broke things off with Kristoff. As soon as the visit from Thule is over, you'll be leaving."
"But why? Why now?
"As the princess of Arendelle it is your duty to enter into a marriage that will benefit your kingdom. Perhaps she would have waited a bit longer, but now that she and I are together she knows it's time to let you go. I hope that the people of Arendelle can come to accept me as Elsa's consort and I will rule by her side. But you...I mean Elsa cares about you. She really does. But we need to be alone. Elsa wants to be her own person, without having to worry about her little sister."
Anna stood up. "I need to go."
The princess left the room moments before Elsa came back.
"Where is Anna?"
"She said she wasn't feeling well." Elaine shrugged. The woman walked over to Elsa and shut the door firmly. "You look beautiful today."
"You say that everyday."
"Because it's true." Elaine pulled her in for a kiss. "I really want to finish what we started last night."
"Me too. Perhaps after dinner?"
"I'd love that."
"I'll see you then." With a last kiss Elsa left for her study.
She didn't see Anna for the rest of the day. When the younger girl missed dinner Elsa became worried.
"Gerda, is Anna okay? It's not like her to skip dinner."
"I suppose so. I thought she would have been back by now."
"Back from where? Isn't she in her room?"
"No. She left a while ago. To go for a walk she said. Olaf is with her."
"No I'm not." The little snowman appeared in the doorway. "I was, but she said she wanted to be alone. She seemed sad."
"Oh. Well, if anyone sees her, please tell her i'm looking for her."
"Of course your majesty."
Elaine found Elsa in the library a short time later. "Elsa? Do you want to come back to my room?"
"I don't know Elaine. Maybe not tonight. I'm worried about Anna."
"Elsa. She just broke up with her boyfriend. Of course she's sad. Let her mope for awhile."
"Maybe you're right. You go on, and I'll be there shortly."
Half an hour later Elsa was passing Anna's room and heard muffled crying. She gently pushed the door open and entered.
"Anna?"
The girl said nothing, only turned away from her sister. Elsa sat down on the bed and rubbed her back.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm sure you know what's wrong."
Kristoff Elsa thought. "It will be okay Anna."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Okay. We don't have to talk about it." Elsa sat with her sister until the girl had finally fallen asleep. The queen yawned and stretched. Shit. Elaine. Elsa was too tired to visit the young noblewoman now. She made her way down the hall to her own room and collapsed into bed.
