Chapter 6: Understanding

"Those that do not understand your silence will never understand your words."

(written to songs: Behind Blue Eyes - Jamie Dupuis, Rooftop Kiss - James Horner, Alan the Brave - Pat o May, The Theory of Everything - Johann Johannsson, Sound of Silence - Jamie Dupuis and Disturbed)

Anna frowned at the ceiling, feeling her mind beginning to wander. She had spent the last hour laying in bed replaying the past evening in her head.

"When would I be leaving... The guards… Lunch..."

Anna let her mind roam over the subjects of their talkas she started getting dressed for her day.

"Training with the guards... Bathe... Lunch..."

"Should work on swords with these guys, the pole arms they carry are nice, but can't really be used in the halls of the castle. I wonder what Elsa… wait… does she train?"

Anna frowned, tightening the laces on her boots.

"I know she can throw a mean snowball, but a snowball isn't going to kill a man if she needs to defend herself. I wonder if she's been even using the north ballroom after her father gave it back. We've met in there a handful of times, but has she gone in there to do anything with her magic?"

Anna grabbed her belt, buckling it around her waist and headed out the chamber door to get some breakfast before training with Elsa's guards.

"I wonder what will be for lunch today? Maybe I can get Elsa to get us some chocolate."


Elsa sat in the dining room with her cup of tea.

"The only good thing to come of my nightmares is the opportunity to enjoy the quietness of the castle. Even now, most of the castle is still asleep."

Elsa smiled, smelling the freshly baking bread from the kitchens not so far away.

"Well except for me, and the kitchen staff."

Elsa took a sip of her tea, and closed her eyes. Her mind still wasn't at complete ease after the latest nightmare.

"Uhhh... Good morning, Elsa." She heard Anna say.

"Good morning, Anna. Did you enjoy the rest of the party?" Elsa opened her eyes, smiling with warmth that she didn't feel at the moment.

"No, I went to my room after our talk last night."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Anna. I didn't mean to ruin your evening."

Anna just made a noncommittal shrug and made her way over towards where Elsa was seated.

"May I have breakfast with you this morning, Elsa?"

"You may, but it will be a while. The kitchen staff only just got started."

"Are you always up this early?"

"Most of the time, yes. What about you?"

"Orlaann always had us get up as early as possible. I never understood how he could drink so much and be up before dawn the next day." Anna huffed.

Elsa smiled. "Yes, well, I seem to remember something from when we were children. When you would sleep over, you would wake me up to play under the light of the aurora borealis and then pass out almost immediately after, not to wake until noon the next day."

Anna giggled. "But the sky's awake, so I was awake and wanted play."

Elsa giggled softly in response to Anna's childish antics.

Anna smiled at Elsa's giggle.

"So what are your plans for today, Elsa?"

"I don't know, read more than likely. It's been a long time since I have been able to read simply for pleasure."

Anna nodded thoughtfully.

Kai stepped into the room. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. The kitchen staff are running behind this morning, but your usual breakfast will be out shortly. What would you like, Anna?"

"Bacon, eggs and toast would be great. Thank you, Uncle Kai."

"I would like a second cup of tea as well, and please bring my food out when Anna's breakfast is ready, Kai." Elsa said.

"As you wish, Your Highness." Kai said, bowing as he left the room.

Anna looked thoughtfully at Elsa, considering her next words carefully.

"Elsa, have you been practicing with your magic?"

Elsa tensed a bit at the mention of her powers.

After a few moments, Elsa finally spoke up. "No, Anna. I have not practiced with my powers in a long time."

"Not even skating?"

Elsa shook her head.

"Elsa, when was the last time you skated- no, wait. Let me guess. It has been seven years?"

Elsa just nodded.

Anna stared at Elsa as their breakfasts arrive.

"Thank you." Elsa said politely, as her bacon and toast was placed in front of her.

"Thanks." Anna said a little more sharply than she intended, turning her attention from Elsa to her breakfast.

Elsa picked up a piece of bacon and nibbled on it, smiling.

"What, am I still eating like a dwarf?" Anna asked.

"No, Anna." Elsa said after finishing her piece of bacon.

"What then?" Anna started.

Elsa smiled at her friend and said warmly. "You just make me happy, Anna."

Anna smiled, watching the blonde out of the corner of her eye, but paying more attention to the large breakfast in front of her.

Elsa ate her piece of toast and looked thoughtful as she let her mind wonder again.

"Anna?"

"Hmm?" Anna looked up as she chewed on the last of her eggs.

"After lunch today, I would be delighted if you would help me train." Elsa said with a smile before standing up and exiting the dining room.


Elsa sighed standing in the throne room, looking over the assembled lords.

"Why would father hold court?" Elsa thought to herself.

"Oh, right. Him." She thought, watching Daweon Harnal being led into the throne room.

Elsa looked over the disheveled Daweon. He was still wearing the same clothes from the party the night before, and it didn't look like he slept well in the dungeon of the castle.

"Esla?" King Asdgar asked.

"Yes, Father?" Elsa replied politely.

"You deal with him, as he was your uninvited guest. I suggest killing him to make an example, but..." Asdgar just shrugged as he got up from the throne and started to walk out the door. "It's up to you on how you wish to deal with him."

Elsa watched as her father left the throne room, and turned her attention back to Daweon. She studied the boy, who was on his knees with his head bowed.

"Kai, would you go fetch Anna from the training yard? I may have need of her. Retrieve Uthar as well, please." Elsa requested.

"At once, Your Highness."

Elsa stood there, considering her options.

"While he is an idiot, I don't believe his stupidity should get him killed." She thought to herself frowning.

"On one hand, I could do what my father suggested and kill him out right for laying hands on me, but, on the other, we do need soldiers. He could always take the final way out, and request a trial by combat."

Elsa looked up and smiled as Anna entered the throne room, followed by Uthar, who's the Captain of the castle guard.

"Ah... Yes, just the two people I was waiting on." Elsa nodded to them. "Daweon was just about to tell me how he was able to gain access to the castle, when neither his, nor his family's. name was not on the invitation list."

Elsa could almost hear the young man gulp.

Elsa watched Daweon shift uncomfortably back and forth.

"Well, boy?" The grizzled, old captain all but barked.

"Uhhh… My cousin let me in." Daweon answered tentatively.

"And his name?" Elsa asked.

"Larson." He said quietly.

"Was there a bribe involved or just family ties?" Elsa asked coldly.

"No, Your Highness. Just family ties."

"Well that simplifies things a bit then." Elsa thought to herself.

"So, Daweon, why didn't you leave me alone and just enjoy the party?" Elsa asked coldly.

"My father…"

"Your father sent you to pursue me?"

Elsa's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"No… I just got greedy." Daweon answered quietly.

Anna started to move from the door besides the captain.

"Explain." Elsa glanced up at Anna, shaking her head slightly before Anna could move further.

"My father has run up some debts… gambling… he wanted me to find a gir- I-I mean lady, and sweep her off her feet, preferably one with a large dowry attached. I saw you and figured why settle for a large dowry when I can get a kingdom."

"I see."

"I-I'm sorry, Your Highness."

"Frankly, Daweon, if I thought you were anything other than young and foolish, you would be dead, but you still have options on the table."

Daweon looked up, hope starting to return to his eyes.

"Two years military service as a conscript."

Daweon nodded, going over his options in his head.

"Yes, you can request trial by combat, Daweon, but I'll be honest with you, your chances of survival against my champion." Elsa locked eyes with Anna. "Is less than you surviving the headsman's axe."

Daweon followed Elsa's eyes to Anna, who looked like she was already ready to kill him.

"Two years then."

"Good, take him out of my sight, and, Captain, find his cousin. They should be together for the next few years."

Elsa turned her attention from the guards leading Daweon out to Anna.

"Thank you for coming, Anna. I didn't think he would choose trial by combat but I wanted you close at hand if he did."

"Why?" Anna asked as she walked toward her friend. "I doubt he could have taken you in a fight."

"Tell me, Anna, how do you think it would have looked to the general populace if I used magic to kill that boy over something so simple as crashing my birthday party?"

"But it wasn't as much about the party as it was touching you?"

"You know that, I know that, he knows that, but what about the baker or the blacksmith or even the Bishop?"

"So you're saying you can't kill him?"

"Oh, I could and I would be legally in my right to. But just because you can do something doesn't always mean you should." Elsa smiled looking over at her friend as they entered the north ballroom. "Kai taught me that well enough."

Anna frowned as she considered this.

"Anna, let me ask you this. Say you and Orlaann are out on patrol and you come across some frightened villagers claiming there is a witch in the town freezing everyone. You then go to the town and find a frozen body with a frightened woman standing over it. She claims she was about to be raped, but the villagers say he was innocent and she's a witch. Who do you believe?"

"But Daweon didn't…" Anna started.

"In the eyes of Arendelle law he did, he touched me without my permission. It's not so much about me, it's about my position. I am the crown princess, I'm the next in line for the throne. Not my mother, but me. When my father is gone, the thorne and its responsibilities lie in my hands. So touching me is just the same as touching the throne. So who would you believe the woman or the villagers and answer truthfully, Anna."

"But… I… I touch you, I… I would believe the villagers…." Anna answered softly suddenly becoming mildly afraid.

"Anna, you have nothing to fear from me. You have had permission to touch me long before now and with your experiences I wouldn't blame you for believing the villagers.."

Anna frowned thinking back over the exchange between Elsa and Daweon.

"That's why you asked him why he did what he did."

"What did it cost me to ask him why?"

"Very little, if anything."

"I know being out in the field is different from life here in the castle, sometimes you cannot afford to take a moment to ask someone why, and you might not always get an answer, but I hope you'll at least take the moment when you can Anna."

"I'm supposed to the be training you, yet, somehow, I feel like I had just learned something myself."

"Kai told me that the best teachers often times will learn something from their students."

"Now both of us are here let's proceed with some of the training you spoke about before."

Anna smiled. "As you wish, Your Highness. Do you think we can get a shield in here?"

"I don't see why not, but why do you need a shield?" Elsa asked.

"Oh, it's just time to see how well you think on your feet is all." Anna answered with a smile on her face.


Anna's eyes snapped open, she looked around the room slowly.

"Still in the middle of the night…" Anna thought to herself as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Something is… off."

She watched a puff of her own breath. The room was cool and crisp despite the fire still blazing in the fireplace.

"Elsa." She whispered before grabbing the pants she had discarded just a few hours before.

Anna quickly dressed in her clothes from the day before that had been discarded on a chair across the room. She sat back down onto the bed before she pulled her boots on.

The closer she got the royal wing, the colder it got. She shivered in her light clothing. There weren't many people out in the halls and even fewer in the Royal Wing. The only people there were the guards, two at the entrance, two mid way down and four at the end of the hall presumably where the king slept.

Striding past the guard at the entrance to the wing, Anna almost felt bad for these guys. Almost. She stopped in front of the ones assigned to Elsa's bed chambers. She recognized the one on her left as the shortest sword fight she had ever had just two days prior. The one on the right she didn't met yet.

"Gentlemen, what's going on here?" Anna asked.

"The Princess is asleep, Ma'am." One of the guards answered.

"Really? Does this chill make you think shes asleep?"

"I wouldn't know, Ma'am. This happens almost every night." Anna frowned at this news.

"Gentlemen, if you would please open the door." Anna said quietly.

"Sorry, Ma'am. We couldn't even if we wanted to. She freezes the door shut." The guard on the left said.

"Stand aside then, please?"

Anna, not even bothering to wait for an answer, walked up to the door put her hand against the freezing wood. The chill from the blocked off room only becoming more apparent. Pressing her ear to the door, she could hear a faint weeping.

"This is her childhood room... What did she say about it… Not full of pain. But then why would she lock herself in here when it holds nothing but pain for her?" Anna asked herself.

"Elsa?" Anna called, rapping on the door with her knuckles. "Open the door, please. It's, Anna."

Anna jumped slightly at the loud thunking of the locking mechanism within the door.

"What the hell? That sounded more like a prison lock than a bedroom lock." Anna thought to herself as she pushed the latch down and pushed the door open. It squealed under its still mostly frozen henges.

"Elsa?" Anna called quietly as the door opened just wide enough for her to slide in.

The sickly, noxious smell of fear hit Anna hard as she entered the room. She looked around the room, unconcerned about the ice, looking more for her friend as the pitiful sobs continued. Before long she spotted the huddled form of Elsa atop her childhood bed, which was shoved into the far corner of the room.

"What the fuck? I have smelled dead things that smelt better than this room."

"Get a fire going in the room across the hall and get out I'll watch her tonight." Anna commanded as she stepped back out into the hall.

"But…"

"Just do it then go down the hall after I have moved her you can go back to your post but you don't need to see her like this." She said as she stepped back into the room.

Anna tentatively made her way over to the bed, being careful not to slip on the ice.

"Elsa, its ok. I'm here. What's wong?"

"Aaaannna?" Elsa barely got out between sobs.

"Shhh, it's ok, Elsa. It's ok." Anna said reaching for Elsa, gently pulling her from the far corner of the bed.

"The fire is lit, Ma'am. We'll be down the hall." Came a quiet voice from outside the door.

"Elsa, can you please thaw the room?" Anna asked quietly as she pulled Elsa to the edge of the bed. Elsa very subtly waved a hand and ice in the room disappeared, leaving only the bone-chilling cold to remain.

Anna gently slid her left arm under Elsa's knees and her right behind the girls back, and stood holding Elsa tightly to her chest.

"Shouldn't she be heavier?" Anna thought to herself as she carried the princess out of her old bedroom. Anna sighed in relief as the guard had left the other chamber's door open for her, and stepped through pushing the door shut with a kick from her boot.

Anna sat Elsa down at the foot of the bed and pulled the covers back before laying Elsa down gently.

Elsa grabbed Anna's arm as the older girl started to stand back up.

Anna stared down into the bloodshot eyes of the princess, confused for a moment as typically Elsa's eyes reminded Anna of a trapped animal.

"Don't…" Elsa started.

"Shh... its ok, Elsa. I promise I'm not leaving you alone tonight. I just need to take off my boots." Anna reassured the princess quietly.

Elsa let Anna go and watched as the older girl pulled off her boots and moved over to make room in the rather large bed.

Anna loosened the laces on her pants and laid down beside the princess, pulling Elsa close to her underneath the heavy comforters.

"I'm…" Elsa said.

"Its okay. We'll talk about it tomorrow in the daylight, but for now just sleep. I'm here and I have you; you're safe now. Just sleep Elsa." Anna said softly.

Anna felt Elsa relax into her arms, the shivering from the uncontrollable fear slowly subsiding.

"What did they do to you?" Anna asked herself, her mind going back over what she remembered of Elsa. "What scared you so much, Elsa? Almost more importantly who can answer that question and why hasn't someone come to help you through this before me?"

Anna sighed softly as Elsa's breathing evened out and deepened as sleep overtook the princess.


Anna's eyes opened when she heard the outer chamber door open, her left shoulder held down by an unfamiliar weight. Her mind rushed to process the events of the night previous. The memories came flooding back, and Anna instinctively gripped Elsa a little tighter.

Anna's eyes tracked the figure moving though the room with practiced ease as if they knew where everything was located at in the room. They moved from the door over to the windows and only pulled open one of the curtains.

Anna watched as the figure turned around and paused, the two watching each other carefully. The figure was dressed simply in a long brown dress with dark brown hair pulled back in a tight bun. Anna couldn't make out much more with the figure blocking most of the light from the single open window.

Anna tensed slightly watching as the figure moved over to the bed.

"Lady Anna, I presume?" The figure said.

Anna nodded not really wanting to say anything and wake Elsa yet.

"I am Sigrid, the Princess's handmaiden. I generally help her get ready for her day and tidy her rooms, as well as whatever Her Highness may request of me." Sigrid explained.

Anna nodded again.

"Is there anything you require this morning?" Sigrid asked.

Anna shook her head.

"Then, if you would, please wake Her Highness in just a few minutes, please."

Anna nodded again, a bit more relaxed, now realizing Sigrid was not any sort of threat. She then readjusted herself under the covers, trying to enjoy these final few minutes of peace before having to get up.

"Elsa?" Anna said quietly shaking the princess gently. "Sigrid was just here for you to start your day."

Anna watched as Elsa's eyes slowly opened, not sure what she hoped to find in them but smiled as the dark blue eyes slowly focused on her.

"Good morning." Anna said quietly. "Sleep well?"

"Thank you." Elsa nodded.

"You're welcome, but we both need a bath. I'll meet you downstairs in a bit for breakfast and well have a talk afterward okay?"

"Okay, Anna. I- thank you." Elsa said.

Anna smiled slowly pulling her left arm out from under and behind Elsa, stretching as she sat up on the bed swinging her legs out from under the covers.

Anna pulled on her boot and stood tightening the laces of her pants before moving out the door.

Elsa rested her hand on the quickly fading warm spot that her friend had just vacated and sighed.

"Sleep well?" Sigrid asked.

"Yes, and no."

"Well, I'm just glad she got you to sleep somewhere other than that drafty room across the hall. Why you sleep there instead of here I have no clue." Sigrid said, she did have a clue why but was too polite to say it.

Elsa slowly sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed since, like her old room, the bed was shoved against the wall.

"You were right though, Your Highness. She is cute, a little intense perhaps. I could practically feel her eyes tracking me this morning. Oh, do you need help with your hair?" Sigrid prattled on as she opened the rest of the curtains in the room.

Elsa stood and stretched once more before stripping off her nightgown, as she made her way to the bathroom for her bath.

"I trust you won't say anything about what you saw this morning, Sigrid." Elsa said quietly.

"Of course, Your Highness." Sigrid answered.

"And yes, I'll need help with my hair." Elsa said as she sunk into the hot bath water.


"Hungry?" Elsa asked as she once again watched Anna attack a plate of food.

"Famished." Anna answered and continued her food-driven rampage.

Elsa smiled watching her friend eat and inwardly cringed at the thought of the upcoming talk between the pair of them.

"How are you feeling?" Anna asked between mouthfuls.

"Nervous, honestly." Elsa answered.

"Nothing to be nervous about, Elsa. I just want to help you as best as I can." Anna said just before eating the last of her toast.

Elsa nodded taking the last sip of her tea. The turmoil of her emotions lowering the temperature of the room slightly.

"Elsa, trust me please. I will not hurt you, I will not judge you, I'm just here to help. Let me understand what's going on." Anna pleaded.

Elsa stood up and reached out her hand to Anna. "Come then. I'll tell you what I can."

Anna stood taking Elsa hand and let herself be led through the castle, back to Elsa's childhood bedroom.

"I hate this door." Elsa said standing before the heavily carved wooden door. She pressed down the latch, disengaging the lock with a loud thunk, and pushed against the wood causing the the hinges to squeak in noisy protest.

Elsa stepped inside and sat on the edge of the bed, letting Anna take in the room now in the daylight.

The room was vastly different than how she remembered it from before she left. The immaculately painted purple and blue walls were now chipped and faded, the floors had long gouges missing from the wood. The windows rattled slightly with the breeze blowing in from inland and the stone of the fireplace was crumbling, as if a hundred years of weathering had happened over the last seven years.

Anna sat on the bed beside Elsa and waited.

"I… I have dreams… Night terrors, or that is what Gerda calls them." Elsa started.

"When did they start?" Anna asked.

"Right after…" Elsa closed her eyes, clenching her fists.

"Right after the incident at the church?" Anna reached over and took Elsa's hands into her own, forcing the fists open holding the princess's gloved hands.

"Yes. Mother was with me for the first one and she sat with me after the first few, but they got worse." Elsa tried to explain.

"When did they start to get worse, Elsa?"

"After Father locked me in here." Elsa all but whispered. "They started as just eyes and a laugh."

Anna nodded listening.

"As they got worse, I started to hear a voice." Elsa said quietly. "It would tell me that I would be…"

Elsa started to sob gut wrenchingly painful sobs that broke Anna's heart to hear. Anna reached over and pulled the princess tight to her side wrapping her arm around the younger girl's shoulders.

"Whatever that voice told you, Elsa, it isn't true." Anna said holding Elsa close.

"But…"

"What is it, Elsa?" Anna asked.

"I'm… I don't want…" Elsa sobbed against Anna some more searching for the courage to say what's on her mind.

"Shh, take your time, Elsa. It's okay, just breathe." Anna said reasuradedly running her hand up and down Elsa's back.

Elsa took a deep ragged breath, slowly steadying herself. She pulled herself back slightly, and lookied into Anna's eyes. "I don't want to be alone anymore."

Anna smiled. "We'll find you someone."

Elsa looked down at her hands and pulls off her gloves taking Anna's hands into her own.

"Anna, I would like that someone to be you."

"Elsa?" Anna said her eyes going wide with surprise.

"I… I'm sorry." Elsa got up quickly heading for the door.

"Elsa wait!" Anna called.

Elsa paused at the door her gloves clenched tight in her left hand, her eyes wet with new tears that threatened to fall.

"I didn't say no, you can't drop something like this on me and just expect me to jump into your arms, Elsa. Life doesn't work that way. You told me yesterday to take the moment to ask questions when I can, so let's go someplace more comfortable than this… cell and talk about this. Please?" Anna almost begged.

Elsa held eyes with Anna a long time without answering, before finally nodding. "Where?" she asked softly.

"Anywhere but here. There is pain here, I can feel it and a relationship shouldn't be built on pain of the past, Elsa." Anna answered truthfully, and stood, taking Elsa right hand in hers feeling the coolness of it in her own hand.

Elsa led them back through the castle to the library, where a warm fire waited for them. Elsa seated herself on the couch and watched Anna as she closed the doors to the library leaving the guards outside. Elsa looked down at her hands and frowned at the frost growing on them and quickly pulled her elbow length gloves back on as Anna took a seat beside her. Closing her eyes trying to get her emotions back under control.

"Elsa, are you ok?" Anna asked.

"I will be, I think." Elsa answered honestly.

Elsa nervously opened her eyes and looked into Anna's, before looking away into the fire.

Anna reached down and pulled off Elsa's right glove and laced her fingers around the princess's.

"Elsa, what's going on?" Anna asked quietly.

Elsa sighed. "I have nightmares Anna horrible terrible nightmares. They started the last day I went to church. My mother knows like I told you she sat with me though the first few. At first they wasn't so bad just eyes I would wake up dissolve the ice that had started to form and go back to bed."

Elsa looked deep into the fire her right hand closing tightly on Anna's. "They got worse as time progressed. When father banished me to my room the laugh started, or maybe that laugh was always there it's hard to know for sure now."

Anna listened quietly.

"As I grew older and started to understand my place in the world, the nightmares evolved. A voice started talking to me and it became harder and harder to wake up from them." Elsa said closing her eyes, feeling a single tear fall.

"Do you remember what the voice tells you?" Anna asked quietly.

"At first, it was just that my parents don't love me." Elsa answered quietly. "That I'm a burden, that I'll never rule, that I'm not good enough, and that I deserve to be locked away like an animal."

"Is that what you think?" Anna asked.

"Does it matter? I have been locked away for almost half my life, Anna, so doesn't that make it the truth?" Elsa asked the pain and loneliness seeping into her voice.

"I don't know why your parents locked you away, Elsa." Anna said quietly.

"I do. Fear, Anna. My father is afraid of me." Elsa answered.

Anna looked into the fire, trying to collect her thoughts.

"Only two people on the entire planet, Anna. Only two people have looked at me, looked at my magic, and called it a gift, not wanting it for a weapon." Elsa tried to explain quietly.

Anna looked from the fire to Elsa, confused.

"Since I turned fifteen, I started to receive letters. They either asked for my hand in marriage or an military alliance to help conquer some far away country's enemies. I honestly don't know which was worse, the young princes thinking they could buy their way to the Arendelle throne through me with promises of riches, or the Kings and generals wanting to use me as a weapon just based on a rumor." Elsa explained.

Anna studied Elsa seeing the hurt and pain clearly, as the cool and aloof facade that Elsa wore slipped away.

"The voice changed two nights ago." Elsa admitted her voice just above a whisper.

"How?" Anna asked somewhat afraid of the answer.

"It started to call me a coward."

"Why? What happened that caused that." Anna asked just before remembering the strange conversation in Elsa's bedchamber.

The temperature dropped drastically in the library. Elsa started to sob, barely getting out the words. "Because I am."

"No, you're-" Anna started.

"No, no, no." Elsa breathed deeply trying to get ahold of herself.

"Elsa, what is it?"

Elsa looked down at their joined hands, her tears running freely down her face.

"Anna, I am falling in love with you." Elsa said looking up from their hands to Anna's face, as she finally got the courage to admit her feelings to her friend.

"How…" Anna started.

"Anna, only two people have called my magic a gift. My mother and you. You have always treated me with respect and kindness, not because I'm the crown princess, but because I am Elsa. You don't ask for gifts, you don't ask to use your friendship to climb social ladders. You are the only one I have that can brighten my day just with smile." Elsa looked to the fire again as tears started to form again.

"I… I don't know how I feel about you, Elsa. You are my friend, and I have never even considered that there could be anything more between us." Anna said after several long quiet moments between them.

Elsa nodded sadly starting to feel she lost her only friend in the world.

"But, Elsa, I'm willing to spend time with you and see what may grow from it." Anna said softly surprising herself with her own willingness.

Elsa looked up and smiled. Anna pulled the princess into a warm hug, holding her tight. Elsa wrapped her arms around Anna in return, resting her head on Anna's strong shoulder.

"I have a favor I must ask, Anna." Elsa said sometime later.

Anna listened quietly.

"Don't leave me alone, I can't face the dark anymore." Elsa said quietly.

"You won't have to." Surprisingly, to Anna, she felt she meant it.