Chapter 9

Two months later

Anna sat on the rug, cradling her baby girl. After weeks of debating on what to call her, they finally settled on Skye (and Isen for a middle name). Skye had not shown any signs of having powers yet, but was it strange to point out that it always seemed colder whenever she was in the room? Elsa always had a trembling feeling inside her whenever she thought about it. Maybe I'm not alone anymore, she thought to herself.

Then everything changed.

One Sunday afternoon, Anna and Kristoff were out in town, looking at new clothes. Elsa had been left the responsibility of looking after Skye. She had a mountain of paperwork to do and she had brought Skye's cot into her room so she could keep an eye on her. Most of the afternoon went without incident, but half an hour before they were due back, a strange occurrence took place.

Skye's cot seemed to be turning to ice. Elsa knew it wasn't her doing, and she completely freaked out. She abandoned all her paperwork, scooped the baby out of the freezing cot, and jumped onto her horse. The baby and her aunt sped towards the town, nearly knocking everything over but just missing. Elsa knew where she would find her sister.

The horse screeched to a stop outside Arendelle's Master Chocolatières. Anna was trying some new samples that had been brought out that day, and was sighing with satisfaction. However, when someone tapped her shoulder, she whipped round to see a frightened-looking queen.

"Elsa? What's wrong? Oh my goodness, is Skye hurt?" Anna looked a sight, her worried face covered in chocolate, her hair out of place, her dress all over crumbs.

"She's not ill, but..." Elsa tailed off, not sure how to break this to the parents. "She...she has my powers!"

Everyone in earshot gasped, including Anna and Kristoff. "But how? Me and Anna don't have them, so how could she?"

"Well, it seems highly possible that I've passed the gene down to her through Anna. Remember we're sisters?"

Kristoff shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe it."

Elsa snuck a shy glance at her sister. She looked horrified. "Maybe we should talk about this at home?"

"Yeah, we should go..." Anna mumbled, appearing to be in some sort of trance.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At home, the three had stood watching Skye for at least an hour, just waiting to see if she would do her magic again. But nothing. Not one single snowflake.

"Elsa, are you sure you did actually see what you saw?" Anna looked quizzical.

"Positive."

"Are you sure you didn't do it?"

"Definitely. I was concentrating on my paperwork."

Kristoff had a sudden thought. "Elsa, maybe she doesn't do it when you're looking at her."

"I never thought of that... I guess I should go. Call my name if anything happens." She walked gracefully out of the room.

About a minute later, Elsa clearly heard Anna say "Wow!" Sure enough, she heard a male voice call her name. She ran, picking up her feet carefully as if running on uneven ground. Bursting into the bedroom, she was stunned to find it was snowing. Moving to the centre of the storm, she realised the cause was in fact the young baby in the crib.

The queen felt an overwhelming rush of love zip up her spine. She could've shouted to the world that she was no longer alone, but quickly composed herself. It would be a very undignified, un-queenly thing to do. Instead, she just stood and gazed at the tiny girl. Tears of happiness welled up in her blue eyes. Now she could say goodbye to the pain of the past and concentrate on making the child never feel left out, or shut away. She never wanted what happened between her and Anna to happen to Anna's little girl.

"Anna, I swear on my own life that Skye will never be shut away, or ever be asked to conceal. I know just how hard it is."

"Thanks so much, Elsa. I knew I could rely on you."

The three shared a group hug. Their child's life was safely in Elsa's hands, and they didn't have to worry about anything at all.

Or so they thought.