Anna pressed her ear to the door lock harder, trying to make out Anakin's voice. It was something she had been itching to do since the first day Anakin had arrived, but had, until today, managed to restrain herself. Still, Anakin and her sister were locked up in that room for hours every day. What was a girl to do?

To tell the truth, Anna had her suspicions as to what Elsa and Anakin were doing in there. It was in part due to those suspicions that she was now standing hunched over, trying to discern what they were talking about. If it was what Anna thought it was, then she had to stop the disrespect to her parents' memory.

The last few days had been hard on Anna. She tried to continue with her daily routine to dull the pain, but there was the problem: she had no routine. She had, in all of actuality, nothing to do. Nothing to distract her from going over and over how she might have stopped her parents from leaving on that damn voyage, how she might have convinced them to stay or at least go in the summer when sailing was safer. When she managed to get those thoughts out of her mind, new ones surfaced, ones that she did not like at all. Thoughts of how Elsa was doing absolutely nothing to help her, despite her words that she understood how Anna felt. Thoughts of how she spent all her time locked up in that room with the hot Jedi instead of talking to her sister. How she hadn't been at the funeral and how Anna had stood there all by herself, feeling so lonely and out of place between the two gravestones that stood over empty graves. She remembered how she had stood to the side, looking at the empty place beside her that should have been her sister. The first few days, feeling cold and numb and the flashes of anger that would disappear leaving her more empty than ever.

Anna knew that she had to do something, lest she go mad. She had thought about talking to Anakin, but she was too angry at him for taking all of her sister's time- for being allowed into Elsa's room instead of her. And to think that, when she had first seen Anakin, she had thought that maybe something would change between her and her sister- that maybe the Jedi would be able to fix everything, like in the fairytales, and that she would no longer be shut out. Maybe she and Anakin would even fall in love, like in the tales, and have their happy ever after. How silly of her. She knew now that life was no fairytale- in fairytales, no-one died, and no-one's parents died, and the heroic knight was never more interested in the fair maiden's older sister than in her. Or maybe this was a fairytale- someone else's fairytale. She had never thought of it that way, but it made sense. She would always be the one shut out and pushed to the sidelines, no matter if it was in real life or in a children's story. She would never get her own story. Always part of something else, always second place.

Anna's brooding was interrupted when the door she had been leaning against opened, just slowly enough for her not to fall on her face.

"Hello Anna", Anakin said, not seeming the least bit surprised.

"Hello Anakin. How are you? I was just-, you've been locked in here for a very long time, and I thought you might want some tea," Anna improvised.

Anakin raised one eyebrow. "Tea?"

"Yes, tea, you know, not that I was listening to you guys or anything, I was just passing by, and I thought 'why don't I check on you and maybe offer some tea', or biscuits, or something."

"We could just ring Elsa's bell to the servants' quarters if we wanted anything," Anakin pointed out.

Anna stood in place for a moment. "Awkward. This is awkward. I mean, I'm awkward. Sorry for intruding on you guys, I really have to go now."

"Alright. Good day Anna. And, just so you know, I can sense a person's presence. Just in case you got any ideas of eavesdropping or anything."

"Eavesdropping? Me? Never. Ever. Wouldn't even think of it. Bye! See ya!"

Anna turned on her heel and walked away, trying to look as if she hadn't been eavesdropping- or, rather, trying to eavesdrop and getting too distracted by her glum thoughts to actually hear anything. It had been happening to her more and more in the past few days, and Anna had no idea how to deal with it. Maybe if she just pretended that everything was okay, her problems would just go away. It was worth a shot.

Anakin watched Anna's retreating back for a few seconds, then sighed and closed the door.

"You should talk to your sister," he said to Elsa. "She isn't doing too well."

"She seemed fine to me," Elsa replied from her spot on the floor. "Anna has always been very open with her feelings. If she was sad or lonely we'd all know about it."

Anakin wasn't so sure. Anna's aura had been full of negative emotions, and it didn't seem like something temporary brought on by lack of sleep or something similar. Then again, it was probably none of his business.

"I still think you should talk to her," he said anyway. Elsa nodded. "I know. I've just been so busy with all of this training, and using my power makes me so tired. I get to my room and all I want is to curl up with a book or maybe go to sleep, not have a draining conversation with my sister about our parents"

"I would offer you a day off from training, but I think I know what your response to that will be."

"I can't stop training! We have little enough time as it is. Anna might not understand it right now, but I'm doing it for her as well. If I don't succeed I might lose control and hurt her with my power. I can't have that."

Anakin nodded, sympathizing. The desire to protect his loved ones was something he could understand very well. It was probably attachment, and probably (definitely) extremely unfitting for a Jedi. Anakin got attached very easily, a very bad trait for his career choice, and though he had tried to let go of his feelings it had never really worked. They were, after all, his, and Anakin did not like to throw away anything of his own. Elsa might feel the same way about her feelings, he realized.

"You've never really talked about it, but I got the feeling that you hurt Anna with your powers before," Anakin said. He had to ask sometime, and this seemed like a good opportunity. "Your 'accident'?"

Elsa lowered her eyes. "You're right. I had hurt Anna before, and, as I said, the trolls had helped us."

"What happened?"

"I would rather not talk about it. It's not that important."

Very well, Anakin thought. If she wanted to keep her secrets, he wasn't going to pry. She would tell him eventually, when she was ready. Besides, she wasn't the only one here with secrets.

"As you wish," he told her.

Elsa nodded, eyes still on the ground. "Should I continue?"

"Yes. Try for a bigger one this time."

Elsa made a flicking motion with her hands and a chunk of ice appeared. Then she moved her hands upwards, as if trying to raise something, and the ice began to grow, taking the shape of a miniaturized castle.

"Very good," Anakin appraised, though he felt like something was wrong. Elsa had, so far, only made ice sculptures and structures no taller than her waist. When Anakin tried to get her to make something bigger she would say something about not wanting to make a mess and quickly change topics. It was almost as if she was afraid of using her power to her full capacity, like if she still felt that her power was something bad that could only be used in small doses. When he had tried to approach her about that she changed topics as well- something she appeared to be very good at.

Elsa smiled, looking slightly tired. "Thank you, Master."

Hearing her address him like that never got any less strange. "Tell you what. That's enough ice for today. You can use your power at will and create very detailed and intricate things, and I think that you should be able to hone your ice skills by yourself after I leave. We should focus on teaching you to release your emotions into the Force instead."

"You've mentioned releasing feelings into the force before, but you never explained what it meant or how to do it."

"First I need to know what you know about the Force."

"Alright then. Well, everything I know is from times you mentioned it in passing, so I might be wrong, but from what I understood, the Force is a power like magic that some people have. Most people who have it are Jedi but sometimes non-Jedi get it too. People who have the Force can use it to move objects around without touching them and influence the minds of people and animals, which is a very scary idea if you think about it. Also, Jedi are trained their whole life to use their power and use it to keep the peace in the galaxy and protect the people. Oh, and Jedi can use the Force to dissolve my power before it solidifies into ice."

"Well, you got some things right, but there are a few things I have to clarify," Anakin said, thinking: 'I really should have explained this earlier'. "You see, the Force isn't just a power that some people have. It is the power that controls everything in this universe and binds everything together. One might say that it is what decides our fate.

Now, some people are born with the ability to use the Force. We call them force sensitives. Without training, most force sensitives never learn to use their power properly. If they are not very powerful they might never even realize they are different from most other people. Most force-sensitives, however, are taken to the Jedi Temple to become Jedi when they are very young and are trained to use their power, both for their protection and the safety of others. You see, a powerful force sensitive with no training can be dangerous to themselves and to those around them.

The Force gives us a lot of abilities. We can use it to improve our speed, strength and reflexes, as well as survive things that would have killed regular humans, heal other people, sense danger, move objects, influence minds of the weak-willed, communicate feelings and sometimes words telepathically and sometimes see the future. The Jedi try to follow the will of the Force, which we try to understand through the visions we have and through meditation. "

Elsa was quiet for a moment, absorbing the information. "I think I understand. I have one question."

"Shoot."

"What do you mean that they can be dangerous to themselves?"

Anakin paused before answering, thinking of the best way to explain it. "Elsa, the Force is a beautiful thing. But, like everything else, it has a bad side; the power that comes from harnessing one's anger, aggression and lust for power. We call this the Dark Side.

Whenever we, the Jedi, draw upon the Force to use its' power, we have to be calm and at peace. Our power comes from compassion and serenity. This is very important, because if we draw on the Force while we are experiencing a strong emotion like anger or fear we might accidentally draw on the dark side instead. That is why the Jedi must control their emotions at all times."

"But what is so terrible about using the dark side once or twice?" Elsa asked, confused. "Besides, it doesn't really matter where the power comes from as long as you're using it for good, no?"

Anakin was so shocked by her words he almost fell off his chair. "No! You don't understand. When you use the Force it flows through you, influencing your actions, which is how we know the will of the Force. The light side, the one all Jedi use, guides us towards good and helping people. The dark side is a twisted, unnatural version of the force, and all those that use it are selfish and cruel. Dark side users will lie simply for the sake of lying and kill because it feels good, no other reason. Even worse, if you choose the dark side it will be the only version of the Force that will come to you. As a very old and wise master used to say: once you step down the dark side, forever will it dominate your destiny."

"I see. I have one question: why is the order of the words in the final sentence so… "

"Backwards?" Anakin finished the sentence for her. "It's the way that master speaks. No one knows why and no one has ever asked, at least to my knowledge."

"Ah. That would explain why you occasionally start talking backwards while explaining something."

"I had been doing that?" Anakin really hadn't noticed. "I guess I'm used to hearing and thinking about the Force backwards. It seems natural after a while. You get used to it.

As I was saying, once you use the dark side there is no way back. Fear, anger, hate, attachment… revenge… all lead to the dark side. The old master I was telling you about earlier says that the dark side can corrupt a person until they are nothing more than a twisted shadow of what they used to be. You must never, ever use the dark side. Every time you use the Force you must be calm and centered. It's a little like when you use your power- if you are angry or afraid you can hurt someone, but if you are calm you can create beautiful things that endanger no one. The difference is that if you use your power while angry the only consequences will be the direct ones of what you did, whereas if you use the dark side it will come to you much easier next time and will change you: your priorities, your feelings- the things that make you you. Almost all Jedi have come close to using the dark side at one point or other, but most have stepped away. Some give in. We say that they fell to the dark side. A fallen Jedi is a danger to everyone and must be neutralized, even if it means that we have to kill someone who used to be close to us. "

"Is it really that terrible?" Elsa asked quietly.

"Yes," Anakin answered without hesitating. "It is."

"But if all Jedi know what the dark side is, how come some of them fall anyway? Do they want to turn evil and be hunted down by their comrades?"

"It's not that simple," Anakin sighed. "The dark side is very tempting. It offers power, and it sings to you that you don't have to fall entirely; you can just use the dark side once to achieve this one thing you really want and that's it. You don't have to go any further. If you use your power to save innocents it's not a bad thing, right? You can use it once and go back to the light. No danger. You're in complete control. That's the real danger, that it looks like there is no danger at all. Once you believe you are safe from the dark side's influence then your fall begins."

Elsa was quiet for a moment. "So you can achieve things with the dark side that you can't with the light?"

"I don't think so. The dark side can't build, only destroy. It does offer you power, but once you have that power you forget what you were going to use it for in the first place."

"How do you know all this? You said that most Jedi have had an encounter with the dark side. Is this from your own experience?"

"This is what the Jedi believe." It was a short answer, yet it summed up Anakin's feelings on the subject completely. His own experience showed that the dark side did not come slowly, pretending to be something else- and how could it, when it was always so clear what was dark and what was light? It came in moments of rage, its nature clear yet still so hard to resist. Anakin might not be able to control himself as well as a Jedi should, but at least he would never make the mistake of thinking that the dark side was anything other than pure evil. The world was black and white, and he knew where he stood.

"What do you believe?"

"I believe that the dark side is evil. As there is a Jedi order, an order of light users, there is a dark side order. They call themselves the Sith. I have met one of them personally, and while I do not know what he was like when he was still a Jedi, I know what he is now- evil. Just to illustrate my meaning, there used to be an entire order of Sith, but now there are only two. They even have a rule that says there can only be two Sith at a time- a master and an apprentice. Do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because they constantly murdered and betrayed each other until their order was on the verge of extinction. And even now, the only way for an apprentice to become a master is to murder their own master. How can something like that be considered good from any point of view?"

Elsa exhaled. "I think you've made your point clear. I swear that I will never, ever even think of falling to the dark side."

"Good," Anakin smiled. "Now, on that happy note, I believe it is time for you to learn to touch the Force."

0o0o0o0o

'This is easier than I thought it would be', Elsa thought as she tried to feel Anakin's emotions through the Force. At first, Elsa had been rather scared of even trying to feel the Force- what with Anakin's lecture on how the dark side would twist her until she was selfish and cruel and killed for fun- but once Anakin had assured her that it was much more difficult to feel the dark side when you can't even feel the light side properly (apparently, the greater the power, the stronger the pull and temptation of the dark) she decided to give it a try. It wasn't that difficult, actually. She could already feel Anakin's emotions as well as her own, and Anakin had promised her that next lesson they could start working on releasing her feelings into the Force. He said that it could sometimes be very difficult and that you had to acknowledge a feeling before you released it, so she should prepare for bringing up some painful topics. Then he had muttered something about her having more than enough things to release, thanks to her parents' idea of child raising. When she had asked him what was that supposed to mean, Anakin had quickly said 'nothing!' and changed topics.

"I can feel you in the Force. You are sending waves of irritation towards me." Elsa said to Anakin. He smiled at her, making her heart flutter unexplainably. This had been happening more and more lately, and it left Elsa extremely confused. She had never suffered from arrhythmia before, though she didn't see how it could be anything else.

"Correct!" Anakin said happily. "Note that it doesn't necessarily mean that I am annoyed. I can project different emotions without feeling them. If, however, you were to thoroughly probe my mind with the Force, you would know what I am really feeling. "

Elsa nodded, mentally writing the information down.

"Well, I think that's enough for today," Anakin said, getting up from his chair. "You have done very well."

Elsa was about to protest that she wanted to continue, but she suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion overtake her. Using the Force was hard work, and for some reason, she never noticed the exhaustion until the lesson was done.

It was only 5:00 pm, but Elsa realized that she wanted to sleep. Anakin smiled at her and left the room, closing the door softly after him. Elsa had just enough energy left to get up from her sitting place on the floor and crawl into bed. Her last thought before she let sleep overtake her was: 'I'll talk to Anna tomorrow…'