Elsa wasn't sure how long she'd been in Anna's arms, or how long Anna had been in hers. It was all a blur of feeling. Her eyes were pretty blurred too, now that she thought about it. She blinked a few times, but couldn't see anything more than light and a smear of auburn red across her vision. Anna's hair. She squinted hard, and heard the tiny tinkle of cracking ice crystals. A tiny giggle escaped her; she'd cried so much in her happiness that her eyes had completely iced over. She opened her eyes again, but there was still too much ice to see through; the smear of color was now a frozen fractal. She wanted to rub her eyes, but her arms were busy being wrapped around her sister. "Anna?"
A few seconds went by with no answer. A whisper of fear threaded through Elsa's mind, but the warmth of Anna's body gave the lie to any such worry instantly. And the queen felt downright silly when, only a moment later, Anna's voice came to her ears. "What?" She sounded like she'd almost fallen asleep again.
"Don't you think we should get out of bed eventually? It's hours after dawn." Most of Elsa actually would have been happy staying there with Anna all day, but her stomach was raising increasingly strenuous objections. And the idea of a bath also sounded pretty nice. Maybe even a warm bath, now that she could control her powers!
"Oh Elsa, don't you like it here with me?" Anna's tone was earnest, but the hint of tease in it was quite clear. She was pretty hungry too. Of course, there was no way she was letting Elsa get away without at least a giggle.
"Of course I do, Anna. You like it here too, right?" Elsa didn't need to be able to see to give Anna a very sweet smile.
Anna blinked. Was Elsa teasing her in return? Well, in that case Anna wasn't gonna hold back! "I love it here!" Okay, that was just the truth. "You know, people might talk if they saw us like this."
Elsa almost blushed, but no way was she going to let Anna get away with it that easily! "Are you afraid Kristoff might be jealous?"
"Well he's great and all but you're a lot n-" Anna shut her mouth abruptly. That sentence was going somewhere way too weird. "Um, maybe you're jealous of him!" There, that was better. Anna felt a rather belated relief. That's what she got for speaking without thinking.
Elsa made a bit of a face. What had Anna been about to say? Maybe she was just getting carried away with the teasing. It'd been a long time since she'd had a chance to really laugh with her sister, and Elsa wasn't sure if she still knew everything about Anna anymore. Either way, the mood was broken. "I really missed you, Anna." She shook her head, smiling again. "But can you help me get the ice out of my eyes now?"
"Huh? Ice?" Anna actually looked at Elsa instead of just being aware of her. Sure enough, there were little shattered ice crystals covering Elsa's eyes. Little frost trails were running down her face. "Wow, your tears froze."
Elsa pursed her lips, taking a patient tone. "Yes, Anna, my tears froze."
Fascinated, Anna leaned in to stare closer at the bits of ice. "That's so cool!" Giggling at her own little pun, she didn't realize she was getting too close until she bumped noses with her sister. "Oof! Sorry!"
Oh, Anna. Elsa restrained herself from saying it aloud, just barely. "It's okay, Anna."
"Wow, though. I can't believe you never told me about this power!" She started trying to unwind her arms from around Elsa so she could actually use her hands. She'd sure gotten all tangled up during the night. Or was it after they'd woken up? Maybe both. She carefully brushed the bits of ice and snow off of Elsa's face, revealing her sister's brilliant blue eyes in perfect detail.
You'd always known, Anna. Then you almost died. I had no idea that hiding it was going to make things so much worse. I thought I was protecting you. A second time, she restrained herself. She'd said most of it already. And as much as she wished Anna could remember the fun parts, she didn't want to bring back the memory of a frozen head with them. She wished she could somehow erase the memory of the frozen heart too. In the light of day, awake, it was a little harder to get lost in Anna as she had in the night without remembering her own heart breaking to see her sister turned to ice. She couldn't quite shake the fear that it would happen again yet, no matter how much love she had in her. She kept her silence while Anna brushed the ice away, her eyes at last clearing so she could see Anna's happy smile. Then again, maybe the fear was silly after all. "You know now." She took Anna's hands in her own, sitting up. "No more hiding. And no more princes you just met, okay?"
Anna blushed hotly as she shot upright. Wearing a plain undershirt, rather than the more elegant nightgown Elsa had chosen, the sudden motion left her wishing she had somewhat more on. Not that she really cared what Elsa might see. "Hey, you didn't know he was all mean either, you were just afraid 'cause I was babbling on about all the people coming here!"
There was no denying that. The very idea of Anna falling in love at the drop of a hat like that had completely thrown Elsa; she'd never paused to actually think about Hans himself at all. And if she hadn't been so horrified by what he'd said about what her ice had done- Elsa had to admit to herself that she'd harbored thoughts of teaching Hans a lesson more harsh than a fist to the face. But then Anna's own forthright and straightforward response had been so funny that she'd almost immediately forgotten. She smiled at Anna again. She was doing a lot of smiling today. It was nice to have things to smile about again. "You're right, I was." Elsa stood up from the bed at last, letting Anna's hands fall away.
Still sitting, Anna just watched as Elsa went to the window. How could someone just getting out of bed be so elegant!? She couldn't even be jealous of her sister, too busy admiring. Wait, is that nightgown transpa- YIKES! Anna quickly looked somewhere else. It wasn't quite that bad, but better safe than sorry. She had no idea at all whether Elsa would be embarrassed to be seen that way by her sister, but Anna didn't particularly want to see it anyway!
Elsa was completely unaware of Anna's awkward moment. She looked out through the heavily frosted window, letting the sunlight it let through warm her. "Anna, do you remember the ice song Father taught us?"
"Of course I do!" Without hesitation, Anna burst into slightly off-key melody. "Born of cold and winter air, and mountain rain combining," she all but belted out, in the style of the ice miners, but stopped when she realized Elsa had joined in.
Elsa's voice was clear and strong, singing the deep-voiced melody in a flawless key, at least a full octave higher than Anna's. "This icy force both foul and fair has a frozen heart worth mining."
With her sister's voice singing with her, Anna found herself easily drifting back into the right key. Together they went on, "So cut through the heart, cold and clear, strike for love and strike for fear, see the beauty sharp and clear. Split the ice apart, and break the frozen heart!" Anna laughed in absolute delight.
Not trying to to sing through her sister's laughter, Elsa turned back to Anna and smiled, radiant. "'Ice has a magic, can't be controlled,'" she quoted. "But it can." She spread her hand upright before her, and shimmering blue light became sparkling snowflakes drifting from the ceiling, a momentary flurry covering the whole room.
As cold as the snow was, Anna's heart felt so warm she thought she might melt.
