A request from an anonymous reviewer. This oneshot has maybe a slightly different feel, only loosely based on the original for various reasons. But this is how it turned out so I hope you enjoy it, nevertheless.
The old gods never die. People may forget them, call them by other names, turn their deeds into myths, but they live on and their power is as strong as it ever was. They will speak if you listen, come if you call them. They can help you, but all power has a price.
Agdar knew this when he entered the ancient sacred grove. He did so with intent. A farmer all his life, he had been raised on the old ways, close to the land, close to the seasons; a man of duty, a provider to his people.
He entered the stone circle in the forest to call upon Elsa, the winter goddess of old. She was the only one who could do what Agdar asked, and he was the only one who could ask it.
The forest was silent around him, but between the stones there dwelt a certain kind of silence, amplified by the snow already thick on the ground this early in the year, a time that should have been the end of the harvest. Agdar felt that he was not alone, despite there being no other creatures in his sight.
When he drew his silver knife, in the gleam of its blade Agdar could have sworn he saw movement behind him. But when he turned around there was nothing there except the stones, their shadows and the forest beyond.
He turned back to the centre of the circle and the low stone that lay there, worn after millennia of ancient rites, rites that had been long forgotten, rites that he was about to invoke.
Agdar looked down at the stone, dark against the snow, and raised his hand. He raised the other that held the knife and brought the two together, passing the sharp blade over his palm.
White snow, red blood, black stone; ancient colours for an ancient rite. Agdar spilled his own blood onto the stone and the snow then waited, tense, willing the pain away with his mind in his determination.
It wasn't long before he felt the presence, a stirring in his soul that warned him he was wandering into areas seldom ventured by mortal man these days. He turned, clutching his cut hand to his chest. The otherworldly sight he saw struck him with fear, but he knew he had done the right thing, despite his distress.
"Why did you call me here?" the goddess asked, her voice soft, low and melodious. Just one glance at her confirmed her Divinity; light gold hair in a luxuriant braid fell to her slender waist and the dress that clothed her flawless figure looked like it had been woven from ice itself, it glittered bluely and eerily with her movements as the goddess walked towards him, her hips swaying almost hypnotically.
Agdar felt only awe and fear, yet he did not move and dared not look into her face, knowing he would be paralysed by her great and awesome beauty, more beautiful than any mortal woman he had ever seen or ever would see, if he did. He found his voice and answered her, recalling the reason he had come here.
"I - I beg of you, Divine One, please, hold back the winter. Make it mild and save the harvest, save the people. Barely a dozen of us survived after last year's storms... Please, Queen Elsa..."
Elsa stood before him, shorter than Agdar in her human form, yet with a presence as tall as the mountains.
Agdar made the mistake of looking into the goddess' eyes, bluer than the heart of a glacier, beautiful, powerful, dangerous, cold. Not of this world, and yet intrinsic to it. The sight of them would haunt his dreams forevermore.
Elsa looked into his mortal eyes and could see that he had the most precious thing of all to her, the one thing she had been seeking for aeons. She knew, with the unfathomable knowledge that only the Divines can access, that this deal would change the world.
"I can do what you ask of me," she said. "But in exchange, you must give me what is closest to your heart."
"Closest to my...?" Agdar knew she did not mean literally. He thought through all he owned, simple farmer's property, nothing special. The one thing he held most dear to him was his only daughter... But the goddess couldn't mean her...
"For my bride," said Elsa, confirming Agdar's fear. "And she will be willing. She will come to me willingly before next winter. Otherwise I shall claim her myself and a winter more terrible than any you have ever known will descend upon this land if you attempt to withhold her from me." She held out her hand.
Agdar lowered his gaze to her perfect palm, her skin flawlessly white.
He had sequestered Anna, his precious daughter, his prize, never letting the other villagers' sons approach her, none were good enough for his Anna. But it would be an honour for her to be a goddess' consort... He could tame her feisty free spirit in time... He could let her go for the sake of everyone else. Just one life in exchange for saving many more...
Agdar took the goddess' hand, cold and soft in his own, and it felt as if she gripped his very soul as he sealed the deal with his blood.
He examined his hand when she released her brief grip to see the cut had healed, a faint white scar the only trace that it had ever been. Agdar looked up again but the goddess had gone, not a single footprint left on the crisp snow, and he was alone in the still, silent stone circle.
Though not entirely alone. Two ravens sat on the tallest stone, one glossy blue-black, one pure white. Each gave a harsh, grating cry before flying off into the grey sky out of sight, leaving Agdar truly alone in the sacred grove again. Two feathers, one white, one black, blew towards Agdar's feet before he ran back through the forest, back towards his wooden house where his only daughter waited for him. He knew the bargain had been made and his time with her was now limited.
The deal made Elsa strong. The belief - long faded in recent years - she felt from Agdar's act strengthened the goddess. For too long she had been ignored in the mortal realm, her powers forgotten and her season considered cold and cruel by mankind. They forgot that the heart of the goddess of winter was anything but frozen.
Events had been set in motion. Elsa prepared to lessen the winter, prepared to welcome her bride at the end of it, prepared to usher in a new age for gods and men.
Agdar continued his journey home. He trudged tiredly through the snow and pondered what he had done. Had he been right? Had he been right to give his daughter's life to a goddess? Agdar did not know. All he knew was that it had been done and he would have to live with his decision.
His daughter opened the door to greet him, having seen his approach through the window. A warm fire glowed in the hearth behind Anna, but Agdar felt a chill at the sight of her.
"Papa! Papa, what's wrong?" she asked, concerned when she saw her father's troubled countenance.
Anna's hair had always been as red as his own, only now when Agdar looked at her, by her right temple there was a strand of pure white, contrasting starkly with the rest of her fiery tresses.
"Your hair..." He pointed to it, the scar on his healed hand tingling slightly as he did so.
"My... hair? What are you talking about?" she asked, guiding her father in out of the cold night air and shutting the door behind him.
"Did you do something to it while I was away?"
"I didn't do anything! What - "
Agdar pulled her over to the looking-glass to show her.
Anna saw the white hair and her eyes widened in disbelief. She touched it curiously, it didn't come off. Anna pulled the strand free of her braid, finding that each hair was pure white all the way.
"But it doesn't mean anything, right? Nothing bad's going to happen to me, is it, Papa?" She had a portentous feeling, not of something malevolent, just that change was coming.
"No, dear." He gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes and looked away from his daughter. But what he caught sight of next did not give him comfort.
Two feathers, one black, one white, lay on the table. Agdar picked them up, his heart pounding, threw them out of the window and shut it again. Not that the night air was cold, the snow had already begun to melt, but to shut out the reminder of his deal.
And what Agdar and his fellow townsfolk wished came to pass. That winter was the mildest they had known in centuries; they entered it with a rich harvest and left it with good health, young, old and everyone in between.
Elsa met her side of the bargain, yet Agdar tried to forget his. He guarded Anna even more closely than before, would barely let her leave the house, not even to help on the farm.
But there were always reminders and signs from the goddess as the year went on; feathers, an occasional unexplained chill in summer, an aching feeling in his scar.
Agdar knew he should prepare to give Anna up, but he couldn't let her go and did not tell her about her part in the bargain; he thought that if he forgot, it would go away and fade as the knowledge of the Divines had done from most of the land. Agdar was a man of duty, but since this involved his precious Anna, he decided that other rules now applied, rules that he would create and live by to maintain the happiness of his life with her.
But the goddess' patience was growing thin.
At the end of summer, Agdar died. Not by magical means, it was simply his time. He sickened and faded, tended by his daughter on his deathbed.
"Anna, you must leave here before winter!" he told her, clutching her hand as his conscience clutched at his heart, sensing it was failing. "I didn't give you up, she'll be angry...! Go to the stone circle and become her bride. It's... an honour to be the bride of a goddess... I only did it to protect you, Anna..." His grip on her hand faded.
Anna paid his words no heed, dismissing them as delirious ramblings.
For one so young, she dealt with her grief well, at least ostensibly. Anna opened the doors to others now that her father wasn't there to stop her. She made friends, she hired help for the farm, she began to turn her attention towards a young man, but Anna's mourning would not be over until the spring so she rejected his hasty offer of marriage. She went about alone dressed in black velvet, rightfully too rich for such rough work.
Anna left the house one day to gather firewood and stepped through the thick layer of the year's first snow, black as a raven against its whiteness. This winter looked set to surpass the last already, early as it was.
And that was how Anna looked when Elsa first beheld her in the flesh; her black clothes marking her out against the white snow, her breath misting in the chill air, her freckled face flushed from her work. Elsa thought her the most beautiful maiden to ever have walked the earth.
Anna was beheld, beloved and seized by the goddess. Her firewood fell to the forest floor as Elsa snatched her from the snowy ground and into her ice chariot, pulled by a multitude of white ravens with a single black bird at the front.
Elsa cupped the stunned girl's face in her hands to claim her first kiss and bestow upon her numbness from the cold so that she would survive the winter land to which they went; the only thing that Elsa would take from her unwilling bride.
Anna, stilled in her shock, frozen in her fear, felt the press of those Divine lips on hers, impossibly soft, impossibly sweet, and heard the wing beat of the birds echoed by the pounding of her heart. She felt, deep in her soul, somehow safe and secure, though her conscious mind was reeling and rebelling against all that had occurred so quickly.
She did not know how long they stayed like that, and when Elsa let go, Anna staggered back, clutching the ice of the chariot, but she felt no cold.
Anna watched the land fly by beneath them, a sight never seen by mortal eyes before, as she was carried away from her childhood home.
Elsa unleashed her hold on her Divine powers, a storm whirled in their wake. She left winter raging in the mortal lands to show her anger, to show that they could not ignore her or forget their bargains without paying a high price.
Together they drifted swiftly through time and space, beyond the mortal realm.
The next thing Anna knew, she was standing in a large hall she could tell was made from ice. Its exquisite walls, ceilings and decorations glimmered, silent, bright and cold, yet Anna found the cold did not bother her.
Anna laid her eyes on her abductor and thought her fair, fairer and more perfect than anyone or anything Anna had ever seen, and she thought her somehow familiar; Anna knew not why and her anger didn't let her dwell on such thoughts.
"Who are you? Where am I? Take me back home now!" Anna demanded and punctuated it with a stamp of her foot on the ice floor, not slipping due to her tough boots, her determination and Elsa's sorcerous kiss.
"I can't, Anna," Elsa explained, coolly. "Your father made a deal with me. I held back the winter so your people would prosper and in exchange he agreed that I could claim you as my bride."
"What? No, my father wouldn't do... wouldn't have done something like that!" She clenched her fists in frustration and confusion, but thought of her hair and her father's dying words... "Who are you?"
"I am Elsa."
"The goddess?"
"Yes. And you are in my realm."
Anna looked at Elsa anew and felt her Divinity, felt power emanating from her, power that infused their surroundings and now even dwelt within Anna.
She turned to the hall in which they stood. Anna had expected the realm of winter to be as black as the death of the year it brought, but she could see only white and shades of faintest blue. Her dress was the only black thing, a reminder of the mortal world, dull by comparison.
The walls of the hall were lit from within, as if the ice possessed a light of its own. It was better than her small wooden house, better to live with a beautiful goddess than a husband who Anna knew could only give her thirteen children and an occasional black eye...
Whereas with the love of a goddess... Anna had heard all the old tales of such unions... But she had her pride. This was Anna's life, not a tale, and Anna wanted to control it herself.
"And I have no choice?" she asked, turning her eyes to Elsa's deep, Divinely blue ones. "I can't leave?"
"You can't," the goddess replied.
Anna could see some regret there, and her melodious voice faltered slightly.
"It was an ancient form of pact," Elsa explained. "Blood magic cannot be undone."
Anna remained silent.
"I won't mistreat you, you have my word," Elsa promised. She would have told Anna of all the riches she would bestow on her, the wonders she would share with her, but could tell it was too soon for that.
Tears clouded Anna's vision, partly because of the kindness she had seen in the goddess' eyes, mostly because of her confusion and because the loss of her father was still too near.
"This chamber is yours," Elsa said, and with her words one of the hall's many doors opened by itself. Elsa turned away from her reluctant bride and silently ascended a staircase leading to her palace's upper floors.
Anna suppressed her sobs and entered the room. The door shut behind her, leaving her alone inside. Her chamber contained, as its main feature, a large bed like a magnificently grand one from her own world in every way except that the frame was made of ice. Anna flung herself, fully-clothed, onto the bed and cried herself to sleep in confusion, hoping that she would wake up in the morning back in her own room and in her own simple life again.
Elsa watched Anna in her enchanted mirror from her own bedchamber. She was the consort that Elsa had always dreamed of, since even the Divines cannot face eternity alone.
She gazed at Anna as she slept, her black dress, her white, freckled skin, her red hair, red apart from the white streak marking her as Elsa's. Anna had hair as red as fire, the perfect element to complement the goddess of ice.
Anna looked almost childlike with her hair in twin braids, yet she was a woman in every other way...
Elsa loved her, but if Anna wasn't willing, she would keep her distance; she would not be like her Divine ancestors of old who took mortals for their pleasure without heeding their protests of refusal.
Elsa was disappointed and deeply angered that Agdar had not prepared his daughter. But she would let Anna adapt and grow accustomed to life in the palace and the realm of winter.
The goddess summoned her servants, silently giving them orders to prepare food for Anna in the morning.
Anna awoke and opened her eyes to see a silent, humanoid snow creature standing in front of her. She shrieked in surprise and cowered back against the icy headboard.
The creature didn't move, but Anna saw that it was holding a tray of food, fruit that looked more delicious standing out as it did against the ice and snow of the surroundings. And Anna had not eaten for a long time... Yet her pride and her frustration at waking up and finding her situation had not changed prevented her from accepting the creature's food. However, she would have eaten any food if Elsa had come to offer it herself and looked at her with those stunning blue eyes...
"Go away! Leave me alone!" Anna said to the creature, looking into the hollow holes that were its eyes.
The snow creature took the tray and walked out of the chamber, its gait unnatural and the soft sound of its frozen feet faintly echoing behind it.
Alone, Anna lay back in the bed and looked at the ice ceiling above her. She thought of the view from her bed in her own house and imagined what was happening at this moment in her home.
The villagers would wait for a few days to see if she returned, but when she didn't they would take over her house and her farm and argue over which of her possessions they could claim for their own.
Anna thought of all the things she wouldn't need anymore, but could not think of any that she would particularly miss; hers had been a life of practicality rather than luxury. But there would be no more toil for Anna now she was the bride of a goddess.
Yet Anna was not used to being inactive and soon grew restless. She decided to explore the ice palace and find a way out, a way back to her own world, if such a thing existed.
She left her chamber and tried every door she found. Anna turned the handles of those that possessed them and pushed her shoulder against those that didn't, using all her body weight to try and force them open.
When Anna had dismissed her attempts at the doors as hopeless, she turned her attention to the stairs which she had seen Elsa climb the previous day.
Anna climbed them herself, unnerved that each step was transparent so she could see the floor down below as she ascended right up beyond the hall's high ceiling and into a second similar room.
However, this hall was different from the one below and Anna was immediately drawn to the ornate open doorway right in front of her.
This was the chamber of the goddess herself and Anna found Elsa in front of her mirror, studying the storm she had wrought in the mortal land. Her thick blonde hair flowed loose down her back to her hips, no longer confined to its braid of yesterday. Anna realised that there was a slit in the side of her dress through which she could see Elsa's bare leg. She was undeniably beautiful, Anna concluded, even if the goddess was keeping her here against her will.
Elsa turned to the doorway when she sensed Anna's presence.
"You haven't eaten," the goddess stated, knowing instinctively. At her thought, a snow creature - possibly the same one as before, Anna had no way of telling - appeared at Anna's side carrying more fruit.
With Elsa's wordless insistence, and her own hunger beginning to make her weary, Anna gave in and selected a pomegranate. The snow servant vanished before her eyes as soon as she took the fruit into her hands, leaving her alone with Elsa again.
Anna split the skin with her thumbnail and pulled the pomegranate apart. She bit into the red jewels that lay inside, not caring about the bitter pith between them, and ate the fruit until the bright juice ran down her chin.
Elsa watched as a large drop trickled from Anna's chin, down her throat and disappeared down in between her breasts, the top of her soft, freckled chest visible and contrasting against her black velvet dress. Elsa fought the urge to lick the juice and take Anna right there; she was a goddess and could do whatever she wanted but Elsa would never force Anna, knowing she had already brought her here unwillingly.
As if she could feel Elsa's eyes on her, Anna's own blue-green ones flicked up to meet her gaze and she withdrew her mouth from the fruit, having satisfied her hunger with its sweet juices for the moment. She licked her wet lips and dropped the remainder of the pomegranate onto the icy floor.
"I'll find a way out of this place. I'll find a way to go home," Anna said, her strength and her defiance returning.
"You can't, Anna," Elsa replied, repeating her words of yesterday.
"Then stop me! If I'm your bride, order me not to!"
The redhead looked around the room. There may have been no open doors in the palace, but there were windows. Anna walked to the grand window across the chamber and looked down.
"Anna..." Elsa could sense what she was going to try, but she wasn't going to prevent Anna from attempting to escape. Any attempt would be futile; Elsa was one with every element in her realm and would arrange it so that Anna returned to her unharmed once she had seen what the world of winter contained.
It must have been at least a hundred foot drop to the white ground below, but there was a thick covering of fresh powder so Anna guessed it would be a soft landing, and deep down she knew Elsa wouldn't let her come to any harm. She climbed onto the window ledge, glanced back at Elsa for a brief moment, took a deep breath and jumped.
Anna felt the wind rush past her and saw a blur of white and blue before she shut her eyes. In almost no time at all, she landed with a soft thud and opened her eyes to find she was right; the snow was just like a pillow.
With her heart racing and adrenaline rushing through her body, Anna got to her feet and ran straight ahead, occasionally sinking into the snow but not letting that stop her. She was powered by the tumult of emotions inside her and by the sight of the tundra in front, a wider space than Anna had ever seen that gave her the desire to leave her footprints on its vast expanse, knowing that she would be the first mortal ever to do so.
The sun shone from the clear, cloudless sky, somehow unlike the sun Anna had always known. Its light did not dazzle her as it was reflected off the snow's surface and it inspired Anna to go and seek what was beyond the horizon.
When she could no longer run, Anna walked. The tundra seemed to extend forever but out here, Anna felt calm. She could let her confused thoughts and feelings go, replacing them with the simple task of putting one foot in front of the other.
Soon, Anna saw something on the horizon, a distant mass, she couldn't tell what it was, but decided to make it her goal to find out. Anna turned back to see Elsa's ice palace, magnificent and sparkling in the sunlight, small with the distance she had travelled. She looked ahead of her again and continued onwards.
Anna discovered that what she had seen was a forest, although not like the forest of her homeland; it was strange and silent with no living thing besides herself making movement or sound between the trees.
And the trees themselves were unlike anything Anna had laid eyes on before. Some were completely covered, bent over and shrunken in the snow, but still somehow beautiful. Others, as Anna wandered deeper into the forest, were like weeping willows with slender hanging branches that had orbs of ice crystals attached to them and tinkled like chimes when she touched them.
Anna never knew winter could be so beautiful, having only known it as a season of cold and death. But everything she saw in this winter land was wonderful, even if Anna still missed heat, missed colour...
She came to a clearing in the forest and discovered a cliff, steep and sheer above her, with what she recognised as a frozen waterfall, its ice contrasting with the grey rock.
Anna resolved to climb it. From the top she knew she might find a way out of this winter land, or at least back to the palace...
She began to climb the jagged frozen water, her bare hands felt the cold of the ice but did not feel pain. There were not many handholds and Anna did not get far before she struggled and stopped. She reached up as far as she could to take hold of an outcrop of ice and pull herself up onto the slight ledge but caught the sleeve of her dress on a sharp icicle below it.
The ice pierced the cloth and Anna's skin beneath, and with the pain and the shock Anna lost her grip and fell. She fell onto the snow, unintentionally this time, and felt her breath knocked out of her as she landed flat on her back.
Anna looked at her arm and her torn sleeve beside her. Blood spilled out of the wound and turned the white snow red as strawberries in summertime, the only colour in this land of eternal winter. The sight of it made Anna feel small and human and powerless, and she cried for her father, her freedom and her uncertain future.
When her tears had run dry, Anna lay in silence, her eyes shut against the bright world around her and her breath trembling. She felt a presence and snapped them open.
Above her, Elsa stood. She knelt beside Anna and took hold of her hand, delicately, hesitantly, as if the goddess was in awe of her.
Elsa's tender touch was warm, not cold, and she slowly peeled back the blood-soaked black sleeve from Anna's arm and traced her finger over the wound.
Anna felt a welcoming numbing cold in her arm and watched as the blood froze and fell in scarlet crystal drops, ceasing to flow from the cut.
Elsa's eyes met her own and Anna saw emotions she would never have expected from a goddess in her expression, but they did not speak. Elsa lifted her up, her touch firm but light as she held her bride in her arms.
Anna closed her eyes against Elsa's neck, the scent of her skin somehow cool and comforting when she breathed it in. She opened them, seemingly seconds later and found herself being placed in her bed.
Elsa looked down at her and gently pulled the covers up to Anna's neck, securing them around her. A few soft strands of her hair fell forwards as she leaned over and Anna was struck by how Elsa's simple action of tucking them behind her ear with her pale and elegant hand made her seem almost human and yet at the same time only emphasised how Elsa was more beautiful than any human could ever be.
Elsa sat back and paused, not meeting Anna's eyes, reluctant to leave her, though even more reluctant to stay with Anna against her will, yet she felt that something needed to be said, but her love for this mortal girl astounded even her Divine wisdom and left Elsa speechless.
Anna thought about the bed and the closeness of Elsa's body next to hers. Her thoughts synchronised with the goddess' at that moment, but Anna's honesty, her curiosity and her weariness meant she spoke what was on her mind.
"Why don't you force me to do anything?" Anna asked. "I'm your bride, your possession; I wouldn't be able to stop you."
"You're not a possession, Anna. I don't want to see you get hurt," Elsa replied.
"Then let me go home."
"I can't." Elsa did not attempt to explain the reasons that Anna couldn't fathom, reasons to do with rites of blood and things much deeper.
Elsa left her alone to rest and recover, to learn to accept her new life and to understand that she would not be harmed. She looked back to see Anna turn onto her side towards the window and Elsa hoped that the beauty of her world, along with the beauty of herself, would eventually warm Anna's heart towards her.
Anna saw the sky fade from blue to purple to indigo, then she watched in fascination when lights appeared. They shimmered in shades of green, ghostly and graceful, clearer than the glimpses of the Northern Lights she had seen in her own land.
Then she watched the stars come out, unfamiliar and brighter. Anna found shapes in them more beautiful than those at home.
And as she thought of all the beauty there was in this world of winter, Anna wasn't sure whether she even wanted to return home anymore. There was no Elsa in her homeland and nothing as wondrous as what she had seen today.
Anna sensed such power in this world, power that belonged to Elsa, and if she was Elsa's bride, that meant that Elsa was also hers...
She could be more free here with a goddess at her side than she ever could be in the land of her birth. Anna thought of all of this and more as she drifted off into a deep, renewing sleep.
The silent, impassive snow servant waited on Anna again when she awoke, but this time she ate all the food it offered her.
Alone, strengthened by her rest and the beginning of her change of heart, Anna wandered through the halls of the winter palace, finding all its doors open to her now. She found many wonders there in those many different chambers that defied all the laws of nature she knew, and Anna learned that the whiteness of snow and ice could hold at the same time all colours and no colours at all.
Time passed differently in the winter realm and as the minutes or the days or the months went by, Anna found herself seeking Elsa, feeling something drawing them together, or Elsa would be drawn to her.
Anna would always feel Elsa's presence before she saw her, that shifting in energies that told her she was in the company of a Higher Being. She would look at Elsa and take in the beauty of her enigmatic grace, the unutterable loveliness of her every feature and the unconditional Divine love she felt from her.
And they would talk. Anna would ask the goddess about her life and her powers and Elsa would do her best to put into inadequate mortal speech how it felt to be the snowstorm and the flurry and the frost.
As they grew closer, Anna began to warm to the idea of being a goddess' bride. One day, Anna came to Elsa, looked into her eyes and said what was on her mind.
"Elsa, if I'm your bride then make me a dress, give me a ring!"
Elsa had been waiting to hear her say such words, to show she accepted their union even if she had not chosen it. Elsa gladly transformed the black of Anna's mourning dress into dazzling white, left it sleeveless and gave it an icy gauze train flowing from the back.
Anna held the skirt out to examine it, her eyes wide with wonder, then looked at her hand and saw a delicate, crystalline ice ring shining in shades of blue and white and silver on her finger. She smiled up at Elsa and saw a matching one on the goddess' own finger. Then for the first time in their brief relationship, Anna watched as Elsa truly smiled, her expression like the joyous bright sun on a clear winter's day, and her eyes as blue as clear solstice skies.
"You look beautiful," she said, mirroring Anna's own thoughts before leaving her for the day to do whatever goddesses do; Elsa did not want to frighten Anna away with the intensity and the power of her Divine love.
When night came, after a day of enjoying her new dress and contemplating her life here with Elsa, Anna began to think of other things that brides do. Not many mortals could say they had the privilege of lying with one of the Divines; Anna knew the old tales well and such unions were rarely so harmonious as their own.
And Anna loved the idea of being fully joined with Elsa, who was so kind to her and possessed such beauty and power. Anna had grown to love Elsa as much as the goddess loved her and was ready to offer herself willingly to see what Elsa would do, Elsa who had been so chaste and kind towards her.
Barefoot, Anna left her bed and crept across the icy floor of her room and the hall, marvelling at how the ice palace looked at night, its walls seeming to dimly gleam with their own magical phosphorescence lighting her way.
Anna lifted the skirt of her dress to climb the stairs, the faint rustling of its fabric and the soft sound of her feet on the ice the only sounds in the stillness. She felt no cold, just warmth coursing through her from her heart, increasing with its rhythm as she reached Elsa's room.
The goddess' chamber was lit by gentle shifting light. Through the window, Anna saw that the sky was awake, and Elsa was awake, too.
Elsa sat on her bed, her shapely legs extended in front of her, one of them displayed through the side of her dress. Her attention was fixed on the main source of light in the room. A swirling magical vortex, a formation of snowflakes within snowflakes expanded and contracted between her palms.
Anna watched, spellbound, torn between watching the magic or watching the expression on Elsa's face, which glowed with the pride and joy of creating something so beautiful simply for her own entertainment.
Anna almost didn't want to disturb her, but hoped that the pleasure they could create together would give them both as much joy.
"Your powers are amazing," Anna said, sitting down on the bed to watch the miniature maelstrom between the two of them.
"Thank you," Elsa replied. She bid the snowflakes disperse and sent a few to float around Anna's face, gently tickling her as they dissolved.
Anna grinned at her, elated to see Elsa smiling that genuine smile of joy and looking right into her eyes. She leaned in and kissed Elsa on her perfect lips, just briefly. It was the first kiss Anna had ever given and sharing it with a goddess made it the most intensely beautiful moment of her life, at least for now.
"If I'm your bride, let's truly join together as wives," Anna breathed, desperate to taste those Divine lips again. Their touch had stirred desire within her, Anna could feel it beginning with a throbbing heat down in her core.
"Only if you want to," Elsa said, feeling arousal awakening within herself, but placing Anna's own wishes ahead of her own, so much did the goddess of winter cherish her bride.
"I do," said Anna, and stood to unclasp her dress and let it fall to the floor, discarding her old life and all desire to return to it, wanting only Elsa.
Elsa took in Anna's unclothed beauty, more glorious to her than any sight her Divine eyes had ever beheld. Her curves, her freckles and her red hair - the patch between her legs as well the tresses cascading around her shoulders as Anna undid her braids - all captured Elsa's heart.
Elsa looked into Anna's face again and saw a blush spread across her cheeks when she made her own ice gown vanish.
Of course, Elsa's body reflected her heavenly nature. Her skin was pure white, her hips and waist curved gracefully and her breasts were full, round and perfect.
Anna felt passion beyond anything she had ever imagined when she gazed at Elsa's perfect form.
Their eyes met and both felt their connection, deeper than that of simple physical desire, surpassing anything that either of them had felt before.
Elsa gently took hold of Anna's waist and pulled her onto her lap. Their mouths united again and Elsa slowly stroked her fingertips down Anna's spine, while Anna cupped her face in her hands.
Their tongues brushed against one another, provoking little moans from each before Anna traced her hands softly over the smooth skin of Elsa's neck and further down until she reached her breasts.
The touch of Anna's warm hands on her sensitive nipples made Elsa break the kiss to gasp for breath.
Anna squeezed slightly, feeling the goddess' nipples stiffen, thinking she had never felt anything so satisfying as making Elsa feel good. But she had still not even begun to experience the true pleasure she and Elsa were destined to bring each other to.
Elsa kissed Anna again, more hungrily than before, moving down to lightly kiss her neck, her shoulders, her collarbone and finally settling on her ripe, freckled breasts. She clamped her hot mouth over one of Anna's nipples and suckled on it, making the redhead moan as she increased the pressure and swirled her tongue over its sensitive tip. Elsa gave the other breast the same attention while she heard Anna begin to come apart by the sound of her cries.
She released Anna's breast, judging that they were both ready for the next stage in their union. But first Elsa paused to enjoy the feeling of being so close to Anna, their warm soft flesh pressing together.
Anna looked deep into Elsa's eyes and gazed in wonder at the beauty in front of her. Elsa thought the same before quickly kissing her on the lips and pushing her away slightly.
Her breathing ragged with her arousal, Elsa used her magic to create an ice shaft, fusing it with her flesh so it projected from her folds and rubbed against the sensitive bundle of nerve endings at the top of her sex. She cupped the firm cheeks of Anna's behind and guided her into position.
Gripping the goddess' shoulders, Anna slowly lowered herself down onto the ice, pushing it right up into her. A high-pitched whimpering moan escaped Anna's lips as she felt herself being filled with Elsa's magic and Elsa's love.
Anna stayed there for a few moments while the ice melted in the heat of her core and mingled with her juices, making it move more easily when she lifted herself.
Elsa looked down to see the ice dripping with Anna's essence and from the heat of both their womanhoods; she knew it would remain in time for them both to reach their release, Elsa could tell that neither was far from obtaining it.
Anna brought the ice further into her again and found a rhythm as she slid it repeatedly in and out of herself, aided by the sight of Elsa, seeing her pale flesh flushed with passion and her lips parted, feeling the goddess' panting breaths against her skin.
Elsa watched Anna's every little movement, saw her breasts bouncing with each one, heard her every breath and moan, which all combined to make the sensations of the ice even stronger as Anna pressed the other end of it against her with each of her thrusts, firing every pleasure centre throughout Elsa's being. Her cries came freely as Elsa felt herself tighten and ascend to the peak of pleasure, the intensity of her and Anna's love taking both of them to heights of ecstasy that neither had ever dreamed was possible.
Anna leaned into Elsa once their shared pleasure had released its hold on them. She and Elsa looked at each other, still feeling the aftershocks of their climax ebbing away. Both Elsa and Anna knew that not just passion united them, it was something much deeper, beyond even the goddess' vast knowledge. Both simply knew that they had found the one they were meant to be with until the end of time.
Elsa made the remnants of the ice between them vanish and, embracing each other fully, she and Anna sank onto the bed, each cradled in the other's arms, until they were both overcome by sleep.
Elsa and Anna awoke to a new life together, fully joined as they now were, the goddess and her consort. They ruled together, forgetting everything else, and the eternal winter raged on in the mortal world.
Anna's friends sought her in vain, but gave up to secure their own lives. Anna's suitor had followed her trail into the forest and died when the storm descended.
But in Elsa's realm, she and Anna lived and loved together as Queen and Consort of Winter, losing themselves in their adoration of each other. Without Elsa's attention on her powers, her realm began to encroach on that of the mortal, escaping through the storm she had created. The boundaries of the two worlds mingled as did she and her lover.
The Chief of the Divines turned his eye towards his earthly realm when winter extended beyond its seasonal bounds; such imbalance had not been known for many ages.
He saw the conduct of his deviant daughters - for sisters they were, both being his creations, one Divine, the other mortal, yet united by the same essence that dwells in all - and judged them.
He divided the seasons again to restore the natural order. The father of gods and men punished Elsa by taking her bride so she would have no distraction from her duties, keeping her powers in control and only bringing winter when it was its time.
He parted the two lovers, keeping them separated for six months of the year, but since absence makes the heart grow fonder, Elsa's love for Anna thawed the eternal winter she had brought and ensured it would never return.
From then onwards, spring and summer were always sad seasons for Anna, forced to return to the mortal land alone. But she drew comfort from her secret, that she had the protection and love of an immortal, making Anna immortal herself, even if the life she spent in the human world felt hollow without Elsa by her side.
But in winter she could live again. Every year without fail, once she had almost lost all hope and her heart grew dull, Anna would open the windows of her house and smell the chill of winter on the air, knowing that her goddess would claim her again soon.
Anna would stand in the first snowfall, feeling the flakes settle gently on her ginger eyelashes, and await the embrace of her own Elsa, her Divine wife, whom Anna loved more than all the mortal world could offer her.
Elsa and Anna's love grew even more powerful with each reunion. Every year they were separated and reunited, facing heartbreak and pain, yet also joy and love, love stronger than anything.
This Anna and Elsa went through each year, just as in a million different universes in a million different lifetimes, countless Elsas and Annas endured their own separations in many forms, but also rejoiced in their own reunions, with love reigning triumphant through all.