Anna looked over to her side at Nathan and Lee. Both of them had been training in the courtyard for about half an hour, much like her and Elsa did with their powers. Instead of training magic, however, Nathan was teaching Lee how to handle a blade. She looked like she was tired, but Nathan didn't look tired at all. He motioned for her to come towards him again, and she advanced, her blade held in a cautionary guard. As she walked forward, Nathan lunged out and struck at her with his blade. She was barely able to pull her arm up to position her own blade between her and Nathan's fast enough. The blow was too strong for her to adequately parry, and the blade went spinning out of her hands.

Nathan started saying something to Lee, but Anna couldn't hear it all the way from the library. She continued watching the pair for a while, until Elsa called to her from the inside of the library. Anna went to go and find her somewhere from between the bookshelves.

After a few moments of searching, Anna found Elsa leaning up against a shelf, her nose buried in a book that didn't have any identifiable markings that Anna was familiar with. She cleared her throat and Elsa looked up. They looked at each other silently before Elsa closed the book and took a few steps toward her. "Anna" she said, her voice quavering "do you think I can handle what's coming?"

Anna sighed. Elsa was doubting herself again, and was looking for reassurance. "Of course I think you can!" she said in as happy a voice as she could. "You've taken the kingdom through tough times before, this won't be any different! All you have to do is use what you've learned already, and I'm sure it will all be fine."

Elsa shook her head and said "I wish I shared your optimism, Anna." Anna found herself wishing the same thing. She took a few steps towards her sister and said "What are you reading there? Anything interesting?" trying to establish some common ground so that they could talk a little more smoothly. She had often found that finding something that both of them knew something about, and there was a chance that she had read the book that Elsa was holding.

She tucked the book under her arm defensively and said "It's nothing." In a curt tone. Anna knew the voice that she used, and knew that it meant trouble. She backed off and said "Ok, ok… so, do you want to talk about something?" Elsa took a few hesitant steps back, than let out a deep breath and walked over to Anna's side. She put an arm around her sister's shoulders, feeling the heat start to drain out of her arm. Elsa returned her hug tightly, almost squeezing the air out of Anna's lungs. She knew that if Elsa was hugging her this tightly, she really needed something to cheer her up. Her mind flicked to Nathan outside, and she wondered if she might be able to get him to come and comfort Elsa.

Elsa's hug, however, didn't seem to have any intention of letting her go and do anything. Her sister continued to squeeze the air out of her, and it was all that she could do to return it and hope that Elsa loosened her grip. Thankfully enough, she did. Anna gave her sister a sad look and asked "What can I do to help?" in a voice that probably sounded a little more desperate than she meant for it to.

Elsa returned her gaze with a sad look of her own. After a few seconds of looking at her, Elsa gave a weak little laugh and let Anna back to arm's length, looking her in the face and saying "I'm sorry. It's just that… well, you know." She motioned around her, indicating recent events as a whole rather than any one specific thing. Anna nodded. She knew that the stress of what had been happening must have been tremendous. Of all the times that Anna didn't envy her sister for the responsibilities that she held, she thought that now was the most intense.

Elsa let out a shaky sigh and walked over to one of the large chairs, dropping into the cushions like she had fainted. Wordlessly, she pulled the book that she had been reading out and resumed reading. Anna tried to look at the book to see if she could make out any identifying marks that she had missed the first time, but still was unable to find any. Elsa took notice of Anna's attempts to gain some knowledge as to the nature of the book and twisted in her seat so that her body hid most of the book.

Anna gave a small giggle and said "Elsa, why are you hiding this book? What's so special about it?" Elsa batted at Anna's face, and smiled when her halfhearted attempts to repel her sister were successful.

Anna stood a few feet away now, not sure if there were any other options for cheering Elsa up. She was acting like she wanted to be left alone, but in her experience leaving her alone was not a very good thing to do. Anna took a few steps closer again, and asked "Are you sure that there's nothing I can do for you?" in as gentle of a voice as she could.

Elsa looked up from her book and shook her head. "I appreciate the help that you're trying to give me, but I think that I just need some time alone right now. Maybe you should go and find something else to do, practice with your powers or something." Anna's face fell, but she nodded and turned to leave. As she walked towards the door, Elsa called out to her, causing her to stop again and turn around. "Thank you for the concern, it means a lot to me. Really, it does." Anna smiled back to her sister before resuming her course to the door. The question of what was in that book that Elsa thought worth hiding weighed on Anna's mind. Her sister didn't like to hide things from her, so anything that she did hide was quick to set off a few mental alarms.

She closed the door behind her and started to walk down the hall. She wasn't feeling like her usual, chipper self. She felt like a lead weight, only in the way and dragging things down. The few servants that she passed on her walk gave her strange looks, not accustomed to seeing her so subdued. She couldn't say that she blamed them. It was several minutes of walking before she realized that she had absolutely no clue where she was going. She tried to thing about where she wanted to go, where she could go, but nothing in particular came to mind. Elsa's words came back to her mind, and she gave a hollow sigh. She supposed that practicing her powers was all she could do.

Thinking about her powers set her mind on considering her link with Elsa. Both of them had gotten much more adept at using and reading the information that came through the link, and both had gotten better at stopping things from going through the link. However, there were still situations where their control faltered. She wondered if Elsa was having one of those times.

She stopped in the middle of the hall and closed her eyes, reaching for the tether that linked her to her sister. After a few moments of searching, she found it, and put her focus into it. The magic that bound them together seemed to react to her attention, flowing and moving more at she focused on it more. She delved her mind into the magic and tried to cast her attention to Elsa's side of the link. She couldn't see Elsa herself, she had learned that soon enough after getting her powers, but she could understand the feelings traveling though the link if she tried hard enough. She clenched her jaw, balled her fists, and closed her eyes as tightly as she could.

Elsa's feelings, at least the ones that she was letting through the link, were jumbled and tangled. Anna could barely form them into an overarching mood, but if she had to make a judgment she would have said that Elsa felt apprehensive.

She let her body relax again and let out a sigh that held something close to frustration. She didn't need a magical connection that she could divine Elsa's raw emotion through to tell her that. She already knew that she was feeling that way, everyone was. Well… everyone except for Nathan, perhaps. It was fairly plain how Nathan felt about the impending war. It was one of the only things that he seemed to be forthcoming with emotionally. He was impatient, and Anna couldn't say that she blamed him for it.

She thought about what Nathan wanted to do compared to what Elsa wanted to do. In comparison, Nathan seemed rather bloodthirsty, but when she considered the situation fully, Nathan's choice seemed like the best one. It would prevent any major battles from occurring and would likely make other countries respect Arendelle more, whereas Elsa's decision to let them come would put everyone in the military at risk.

A dull ache started to grow in the back of her head, and she put a hand to head with a groan. She promised to herself that she would try to think less about matters like that. Her father had always told her that she should always try to be as just as she could be, but what was just here? Neither option seemed to be any more than the others. She pushed the doubt from her mind. It was up to Elsa, and whatever she chose, Anna would follow.

A servant bumped into Anna as she stood still in the middle of the hall, rousing her from her thought. She jumped, turning to the servant and saying "Oh, sorry! Let me just get out of your way." and quickly repositioning herself against the wall.

She started to think again about where she wanted to go. She definitely wanted to talk to Nathan and see if she could get him to say anything to Elsa, but she also didn't want to interrupt what he was doing with Lee. She would've found Kristoff to talk to, but he was back up in the north harvesting ice, getting one last large load before the winter ended and ice became a little harder to find. She hated how he had to leave every now and again, often for about a week at a time, but she knew how much his business meant to him. She wouldn't want to drag it down just because she felt lonely.

Anna sighed. There didn't seem to be anything to do. She started to walk back to her room. It didn't fit her very well, being alone like this, but she knew that she could make good use of the time. She wondered if she would be able to find the same value in being alone as her sister and Nathan did.

She entered her room and closed the door behind her, unsure what to do with herself. The room was bright, as she always tried to keep it, but it didn't feel quite right. The room itself was as she expected it to be, but she simply felt out of place. She walked over and sat on her bed, but quickly stood and started to pace around the room. She didn't feel at ease, just wondering what she was supposed to be doing. Eventually, her mind turned to the things Nathan did when he isolated himself from everyone else. What did he meditate on?

She thought of the runes that Nathan had given Elsa, and that she had used to create their link. She could still remember the feeling of unease that had seemed to surround the thing. In spite of this, she had the feeling that if she were to get her hands on one, than she would be able to get something productive done. She racked her brain for where they might be located, but the only place that she could really think of was Nathan's room. She didn't want to go into his room without him, but if she was just in and out really quick, than no one would be the wiser.

She opened the door and started walking through the halls quickly. Something that she didn't want to happen was Nathan walking in on her sneaking around in his room. As Anna rushed through the halls again she wondered if the feeling she would get from a rune would change because of the magic that now was so accessible to her.

She found her way to Nathan's room quickly, and when she reached the door she gave it a few cautious wraps with her knuckles, saying "Nathan? Are you in there?" No response came, so she assumed that he was still out. Nevertheless, Anna wanted to be careful. "I'm, uh, coming in!" she said loud enough to be heard on the other side of the door. As she reached for the door handle she hoped desperately that Nathan hadn't locked the door, as she had seen him do from time to time when leaving. Her fingers closed around the cold metal, and she gave it an experimental twist. She smiled as it started to turn, than frowned as the knob jerked to a stop.

Anna sighed as she gave it a few more experimental turns before giving up. She turned away from the door and started to walk away, when she remembered something that Elsa had been speaking to her about trying sometime. She had explained how locked worked to Anna, then had wondered if she could use her powers to open a lock by pushing the tumblers up by making ice form in the keyhole. Anna smiled as she considered the prospect of learning a magic skill that her sister hadn't yet. It had yet to happen, but she had a good feeling about this one. She stepped back to the door and knelt down in front of it, putting her eye to the keyhole. She saw into Nathan's room, but couldn't see what she was actually looking for. She sighed, supposing that it would've been foolish to think that you could just see the pins in a lock by looking into it. There was no light in the lock itself, so it wasn't quite possible.

Something else that Elsa had been working with her on, something that would let Anna feel ice like it was a part of her. She had been hesitant to do it at first, but this was the first time that she had considered it actually being useful. She put a palm to the lock and started to pull power through her link with her sister. She felt Elsa take notice of the power she was using, but she didn't seem to care too much.

A small piece of ice formed in the center of her palm, and as she continued to put power into it the formation started to grow out, working its way into the lock. She kept a tight hold on the rate the ice was expanding at, the possibility of going too fast and snapping one of the tumblers making her dread any mistake. The thin fingers of ice extended slowly through the dark recesses of the lock until she felt something move away from her fingers. She smiled as the other feeler-like icicles quickly found the other pins. Each one rested below one tumbler, ready to push them up and unlock the door. Slowly and carefully, she raised each one up until she felt it click. With one final large smile, she moved the last one into place and twisted the handle.

The door opened. Anna felt a childlike euphoria flood through her as she pushed it further open and walked in. Somehow the knowledge that she had been able to do this on her own, without any help. As she looked around Nathan's room, she remembered that she was trying to be quick, and started looking around for anywhere she thought Nathan might put a rune if he were trying to keep it secret. The first thing that her eyes fell upon was a small footlocker at the foot of his bed, but she thought that there certainly had to be another place. The footlocker was just... there. I seemed too obvious for Nathan, like it was some kind of trap.

She turned her attention elsewhere in the room, looking at every detail she could, watching for loose sections of floor, creases in the wall, anything that might give away a secret. She opened drawers and looked under the bed, behind the dresser, and even looked on the underside of the table. After around fifteen minutes of fervent searching, she leaned against the wall and let out a tired sigh. She couldn't think of any other place to look.

Any other place except…

Her eyes went again to the small wooden footlocker, and she felt immensely glad that no one had seen how much time she had just wasted. And so, he cheeks burning red, she knelt down to open it. She couldn't help but feel slightly insulted that Nathan had put it in such a simple, obvious place.

She knelt down and started to pick the lock on the footlocker. The tumblers weren't as easy to push as the ones in the door had been, but she was able to open it after a few minutes of trying. As the lock clicked open and the top of the box popped up slightly, Anna felt another surge of glee at her newfound ability. Elsa hadn't done this yet, Kristoff couldn't do this, and she didn't even think that Nathan could pick locks. She threw the lid up off of the box and looked in.

The burned white plate of bone stared up at her from the bottom of the box, the black marking almost seeming to pull the darkness from the sides of the box around itself like a cloth. She felt goose bumps rise on her arms as she reached out towards it. As soon as her fingers touched the thing, dark whispers surrounded her. She couldn't make out a single word that they were saying, but the sheer volume of the multitude of voices made her recoil immediately. She fixed the rune with a frightened gaze. She looked around the room quickly, making sure that there was no one else who could have faked the effect. She didn't know why they would, but it seemed more likely than her actually hearing voices.

She didn't find anyone, and so she turned back to the rune. She considered trying to take the thing again, but thought better of it. If it had happened once, than there was nothing that would really stop it from happening again. Maybe there was a reason Nathan had it locked away.

She lowered the lid again and made sure that the lock clicked shut again. Standing and turning, she walked out of Nathan's room and closed the door softly behind her. She cast a cautious look around in the hall to make sure that no one had seen her come out. She didn't find anyone and felt a sigh of relief exit her lungs. She started to creep back to her room, doing her best to look inconspicuous. She must have let some of her feeling leak through her mental link, because Elsa said through it "What did you do now?"

Anna felt her cheeks flush as she started to explain.


Author's thing:

So the new chapter has come out. Indeed it has.

I can feel the chapters of this story slowing, and to be honest it probably has something to do with that new story I'm writing. Its a RWBY fic having to do with liches and zombies and shit, so it you like that you may like to take a look. Sorry if it starts to slow the chapters of this story down but its just fresh, and i like it, y'know?

So my other stuff aside, If you liked this that you should leave a review! Do it! For real!

Thanks for the reads!