Hey everybody! Let me just tell you now: if you don't usually read these author's notes, read them now. I have an important announcement to make.

I wasn't originally going to post this chapter for this week... actually, I was planning on posting an entirely different one. It took place after the events of Frozen-maybe about a year or two-and was about Arendelle being attacked by some sort of evil magical creatures, and Elsa using her ice-powers to defend her kingdom. I liked it because I always kind of wanted Elsa to get her chance to be the hero. I love Frozen, but Anna is the hero in it, not Elsa. Anna is a wonderful character, of course, but there's something about Elsa that I really connect with, and I really just wanted to see her at her absolute best, where she could be the hero saving the day rather than the misunderstood villain or the 'damsel in distress' she was when Anna saved her. So... that's what that chapter was supposed to be about.

I was also planning on elaborating on Elsa's powers in it, describing why she can create actual living, thinking creatures with her ice. The thing is, though, the more I wrote, the more I realized that the story was too long to put in one chapter. So long, in fact, that I was thinking that I might actually have to make a sequel to include it. Now, just to make sure everybody knows about this, I'm going to write it very large so no one can skim past it without reading.

~I'M MAKING A SEQUEL! I'M MAKING A SEQUEL! I'M MAKING A SEQUEL! I'M MAKING A SEQUEL! SEQUEL SEQUEL SEQUEL SEQUEL SEQUEL~

Okay, so it probably won't be a full sequel (maybe only three or four chapters), and it might only reference to this fic a few times, but I think it's an interesting idea, so I'm leaning towards making it a few weeks after I'm finished with this one. What do you guys think? Please review and tell me if you want it or not, since I'm not totally sure yet.

Well, anyway, for this particular chapter, I sort of went back in time. Remember like a billion chapters ago, when I said that this fic might not go in chronological order? Well, FINALLY, that is becoming true. For the next few chapters before the final one (only two or three more, I think), I'm going to pick random moments in Elsa's childhood and just zoom in on them, adding things that I wanted to put originally, but couldn't because it didn't fit with my main story line. This chapter itself takes place when Elsa is seven years old and Anna is four. I wanted to show their friendship before the 'incident,' so that you guys can see exactly WHY Anna always loved Elsa so much, and the other way around, despite all she did to push her away. Well... you can start reading, now!

It was just another one of those nice, pleasant Saturday mornings. Nothing odd or unusual about it in any way. The sky, cloudless as it always was, was tinged only slightly by the orange of the rising sun, the natural shade of blue behind it just beginning to show itself through. Floating within, a great ball of yellow glowed so bright that it chased away all surrounding darkness, slowly radiating off its immense heat as it rose higher and higher into the briskness of the air. This was a sight that could be seen quite clearly in a certain faraway kingdom many referred to as Arendelle... or it would have been, had there been someone awake to see it.

In said kingdom—which just-so-happened to be the holder of a secret just beginning to bloom—was a single castle on a hill, one that included a large bedchamber crafted perfectly for two. The first child within it—one with blond-white hair and skin as pale as winter—slept peacefully on her bed that morning, resting her head gently on the palms of her hand. Another child—one who's hair was tinged with a fiery quality, and whose skin was sprinkled in an array of bright freckles—seemed to be up to something a tad less innocent.

"ELSA! Elsa, wake up! The sun is up. It's time to play!"

Opening her eyes just a crack—not much, but enough for a flood of blinding light to pore inside her brain, giving her a pounding headache—the seven-year-old girl groaned and pushed the smaller redheaded child away. She plopped to the floor like a rag doll, letting out a huff of childlike annoyance.

"Ugh, Anna… what time is it? It's so early, the sun hasn't even completely risen yet! Go back to bed."

"What? No! Nooooo! I tried to play with you last night but you said no! And then you said...you told me...that you'd play with me in the morning. When the sun came up! Well now it's morning, and the sun's up, SO LET'S PLAY!"

Elsa groaned some more and tried to pull the pillow over her head, attempting unsuccessfully to snuff out the buzzing noise around her.

"Anna, it can't be morning yet. I bet this whole kingdom is still asleep... I thought you liked to sleep-in! What happened?"

The girl shrugged, pulling herself right back up onto the bed and bouncing up and down and up and down on the mattress, shaking Elsa around to the point where she had to grip tightly to her blankets to avoid falling and plummeting to the floor.

"I woke up a few hours ago and I couldn't even sleep at all. You wouldn't play with me, so I was just waiting for the sun to come up so you would come out of bed, like you promised. I hate waiting, but now the sun came up, so let's play!"

At these words—a full-out criminal admission, the girl thought—Elsa was finally shocked enough to raise her head from her poofy white mattress, at least slightly.

"Anna! You've been awake all night? What have I told you about needing your sleep!?"

The tiny, four-year-old girl just shrugged and giggled. She shook her head with vigor, allowing her mess of red hair to flop around goofily.

"I don't like sleep! I like to play! So let's play!"

"But... aren't you tired?"

"No, LET'S PLAY!"

Elsa didn't know how it happened—she had promised herself last week that that would be the last time Anna managed to pull her from her much needed sleep—but before long, she was up and out of bed, dragging her tired feet around the room. Anna waited impatiently, bouncing wildly on the bed, as she brushed her teeth and changed in the bathroom, and then watched in admiration as the girl skillfully combed through her white locks, braiding her hair with precise and delicate fingers.

"My turn!" she called excitedly as soon as Elsa had finished, and though the older sister had rolled her eyes at the eagerness, she couldn't help the semi-amused smile that crossed her face without warning.

"Okay, Anna. Sit down then."

The girl did not hesitate to plop herself upon a cushioned, flower-embroidered stool—a ridiculous grin spread upon her face—and Elsa had to stifle at giggle at the cuteness of it all. Swiftly, she descended upon the girl with a wooden brush in hand, already quite used to routine.

"This might hurt a little," Elsa warned the girl as she took a look at the wild, reddened rats' nest that rested on top of her head. She never understood how Anna moved around enough in bed to make it that way, but she didn't understand a lot of things about Anna, so she just let it be.

"That's okay," said Anna, "I can take it."

Elsa raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Are you sure?"

"Yep!" exclaimed Anna with confidence, "I'm positive!"

Elsa spent the next fifteen minutes of her life trying to quiet the screams and yowls that repeatedly erupted from within her bedroom walls.

"Shhh, Anna, shhhh," Elsa pleaded after a time she considered far too long, setting down the brush gently on her favorite bedstand, "See? Your hair's all smooth now. See? Isn't that better?"

The little girl did not hesitate to run a hand through her now flattened, flowing hair, and a smile immediately touched her lips, as if she'd completely forgotten the quarter-of-an-hour of torture she'd just endured.

"It is better!" she exclaimed, eye glinting, "Much better!"

"You know," teased Elsa, waggling a little finger at her, "You're going to have to learn how to do this yourself eventually, right?"

"Can you put it in a braid, like yours?" she asked, purposely ignoring her sisters words. She smiled brightly, and her teeth gleamed like white stars in her mouth. That was surprising, considering she never brushed them.

Elsa considered for a moment, and then slowly shook her head. "Your hair isn't long enough for that… but don't worry. I think you look cuter with two pigtails, anyway."

The girl must have found this a satisfactory answer, for she only wiggled and squirmed a little bit as Elsa attempted to tie the dark ribbons around her hair, and before long the two were running out the door, Anna only just managing to throw on her cheery, green summer dress in time.

It was still pretty early by that time, so just in case they weren't allowed outside yet, Elsa made sure she and Anna snuck as quietly as possible down the wooden staircase. It was a hard job, considering the younger girl's nonstop chattering despite the constant warning of silence—wasn't a finger over the mouth practically a universal sign to be quiet?—but miraculously, they made it out the door without a major issue.

"Elsa, Elsa! Lift me up so I can climb the tree! Lift me up! I WANNA CLIMB THE TREE!"

Shaking her head amusedly at the bluntness of her statement, slight smirk painted across her face, Elsa positioned her hands on the crook of Anna's elbows, using all her strength to heave the girl up to the tree's first branch. This old oak was possibly the tallest one in Arendelle, and lucky for the princesses, it existed right in the castle gardens behind the house. Tall and strong and sturdy, it was Elsa's favorite place to just enjoy nature and be alone. It was also Anna's favorite place to be noisy and bug her.

"Don't slip." Elsa warned the younger girl as she slowly began to ascend the tree, but upon reflection of the statement, she just slowly shook her head. It didn't seem to matter what she said, because the girl would never hear it. Anna was lost in her own world climbing that tree, and probably wouldn't have been able to hear had a firework erupted besides her head. Still, her detachment from the universe seemed quite relaxing, actually, and Elsa would've had to be made out of stone not to follow. Five minutes later, she too was making her way up the branches, somehow loving the way it hardened her hands and scrapped her knees.

"Look at me! Look at me!" Anna called as she hung herself upside-down from a rather thick branch, holding her dress up so it didn't slip and reveal her soft belly, "Elsa, do you see?"

The girl looked for a moment, mildly impressed, and then allowed herself a mischievous smile. "You think that's cool?" Elsa taunted, suddenly very much in the mood for showing off, "Watch this!"

In an instant, Elsa was jumping from branch to branch up the tree, feeling very much like a primal monkey, yet loving it all the same. Every spot in her path in which the branch seemed too weak to grab—or just wasn't there to begin with—she just conjured up a substitute made of ice, and in nearly no time at all she had reached the top of the tree, little Anna gawking down below. Just to further show off, she created a large, icy star to place on the tip of the tree's bristly branches, creating her own little christmas in summer. That action in particular was met by a few good cheers from her younger sister.

"That… was… AWESOME!" she screamed, bouncing up and down on her branch after pulling herself right-side-up. "Do the magic again! Do it again!"

"Maybe later, Anna," Elsa replied, desperately trying to catch her breathe after than amazing spurt of energy, yet filled to the brim with an immense sort of pride, "I promise, later."

Anna nodded, and for the next fifteen minutes, the two girls played and jumped and laughed together, lost in their own little world of imagination. It was nice and rich and beautiful, and for a moment, Elsa doubted that there had ever been a world as beautiful as the one she and her sister shared inside their spinning heads, inside their giggling lungs, inside their beating hearts. It was too magical for words.

Finally, when the giggling died down and the imagination trickled dry, Anna decided to speak out again and start up a new conversation.

"Papa told me not to climb trees, did you know that? He said it wasn't very princess-like."

"Aww, don't listen to him," Elsa replied with a short wave of the hand, currently in the middle of hanging upside-down herself, "He just doesn't get it."

"Doesn't get what?" Anna asked, confused and curious both at the same time, "I thought he knew everything!"

"He doesn't know. Nobody knows but us."

"Doesn't know what, Elsa?"

Anna realized suddenly that her question was useless. Now, it seemed, Elsa had gotten herself lost in her own little world. She kept rambling on, speaking words to herself that Anna didn't exactly understand, but the younger girl felt honored to hear them, regardless.

"He thinks—they all think—that princesses are supposed to be all good, and neat, and pretty, and everything. They all think that we have to be nice and perfect all the time, every single moment of the day—as if that's even possible. They all think we shouldn't do fun stuff like all the other kids, just because of where we were born. But they're wrong, Anna. You should remember that they're wrong."

Anna just blinked at her, unsure of who 'they' were supposed to be and completely overwhelmed by the sudden enormity of that statement. Met by silence, Elsa continued, unfazed.

"We're princesses, Anna. But here we are, anyway. Sneaking out and climbing trees and getting dirty and just being kids, you know? Everybody says that princesses don't do that sort of stuff—that they aren't supposed to—but how should they know? They're not the princesses… we are! And this is what we do. We laugh and we play and we have fun, even if it's not very proper. Whose to say what we do and don't do besides us? They all don't get it. We know better."

"We know better?" Anna repeated, eyes still a bit confused, but a thousand times more excited, "We do?"

"Sure we do! We know a lot better! Anna… when we grow older, a lot of people are gonna start telling us what we can and can't do. But we just can't listen to them. They'll complain that we aren't graceful enough, that we don't wear fancy enough dresses, or talk and act in polite enough ways, but that's alright. None of that 'proper lady' stuff that Mom tells us about is important, anyway. What's important is being a good person. Being good, and kind, and smart, and strong. That's what's really important, and that's what we'll know even when nobody else does. Remember that, Anna."

Anna nodded vigorously in agreement, taken aback by her sudden words of wisdom. She closed her eyes and tried to file them into her memory forever, just to make sure she'd really, truly remember.

"Wow, Elsa," she finally exclaimed, eyes wide and eager, admiration bubbling up inside her, "You're so smart!"

At this, Elsa flashed her a grin, pulling herself right-side-up-again.

"I like to think so. We both are. And that's the stuff that's most important. One day when I'm queen—"

"And I'm your right hand!" chimed in Anna, not hesitating to remind her of that.

"Yeah, we'll be the perfect team. The two of us… we'll travel the world, and go on adventures, and show the world just what two princesses can really do! Everyone thinks that all we're capable of is dancing, and drinking tea, and being all graceful and stuff, but—"

"We know better!"

"Exactly, Anna! We know better!"

And with that little speech, with those prideful bursts of freedom-craving words, it appeared that tree climbing time was over. Satisfied with the day's exercise, the two girls wiggled their way down to the grassy patch of ground beneath them, and were soon scurrying happily off to the market place.

The town had long been Anna's most favorite place to visit—with all the interesting people selling interesting things in their interesting stores—and Elsa found it was quite the task keeping the girl from wandering off into oblivion. Constantly, she found herself gripping Anna's hand in her own, easing her gently away from the merchants and back towards the straight, dusty road.

"ELSA! Elsa! Do you see? That guy is selling a rainbow string! It's RAINBOW! I need it!"

"Anna, I told you. I didn't bring much money—only one coin—so we need to save it for something really cool. Let's look around a little longer and see if we can find anything better."

Anna grumbled, a pout on her lips, but allowed herself to be led away willingly by hand, if a bit reluctant. Elsa managed to successfully browse town with her for ten more minutes before Anna's general excitement finally got a bit too much to handle.

It was all because of that one man, dressed in his black top-hat and intoxicatingly-mysterious midnight cape. With his wispy hair hanging over his eyes like a curtain, his teeth glinting like gems in his mouth, he smiled broadly at them and waved a long, brown stick in his hand. He stopped the girls just as they were reaching the end of town.

"Hello there, children!" he said, sticking out a hand in front of the road to keep them from getting away, "Before you go on, let me just take a moment of your time to ask you a simple question… do you like magic?"

"Yes!" Anna shouted eagerly, below Elsa had a chance to make up some cheap excuse to get away, "I love magic! It's the coolest thing ever!"

"Do you now?" asked the man, continuing to flash his shiny grin, "Well, what if I told you that for just a single gold coin, you could be amazed and bamboozled by the most impressive magic tricks you could ever imagine?!"

Anna gasped, face flushed with excitement. "Yes! I like that! Elsa, ELSA! Give him a coin! GIVE HIM A GOLD COIN!"

"Anna…" Elsa began, eyebrows raised in suspicion, "This is our only coin, you know. Are you sure you want to waste it on a simple little tr—?"

"YES ELSA YES! I WANT TO SEE MORE MAGIC! PLLLLEEEEAAASSSSEEE!"

Elsa rolled her eyes, but there was something about her sister—the childlike pout on her lips, perhaps, or the widening of her eyes—that was just too cute to resist. Heavily, the older princess groaned in defeat.

"Fine," she tutted, pulling a gold coin from the pocket of her casual, blue dress, "But don't complain to me when you find something cool in the market district that we don't have the money for."

Slowly, with the smallest bit of reluctance, Elsa cupped the coin in her hand and handed it over to the bright, smiling man. He pocketed it with ease, and then, reaching out his other pocket, pulled out a bright red deck of cards. They looked completely brand-new and unused, and that made Elsa even more suspicious. Still, she followed as he slowly led Anna to a large redwood tree near the edge of the road and leaned himself upon it, fanning out the paper in his hands.

"Pick a card!" he began, voice deep and rumbling, tinged with wonderful mystery, "Any card!"

"Ummm…" Anna reached into the pile and pulled out the first card that touched her fingers, peeking at it with confusion, as if wondering when the magic would begin. She'd never seen a card trick, before. The only magic she was familiar with was Elsa's magic... but maybe there were other kinds of it.

"Got one," she said after a moment, gazing at it with a fiery intensity, "Now what?"

"Good," said the man, fake smile seeming to be plastered to his face permanently, "Now, memorize your card—but don't tell me what it is—and put it back in the pile."

Elsa peeked at the card herself… it was an eight of hearts... and processed it in the back of her brain. She nodded at her little sister, who then preceded to place it gently back inside the pile, careful not to cause any ripples or tears on its smooth surface.

"Okay," she said bemusedly, "Now wha—"

Suddenly, before she could even finish, the man was shuffling the deck in his hands. With fingers moving as fast as bullets, the cards were soon completely out of order. Anna watched it all in amazement. If that had been the magic, maybe she wouldn't have ended up so disappointed.

"Now…" he said, stretching the word to add to the effect, "There's no possible way I saw your card, right?"

"Right, I guess."

"And I shuffled this deck completely, so it's all out of order, right?"

"Umm… right?"

"So, it's highly unlikely that out of these fifty-two cards that the next one I pick—randomly, of course—will be your card, right?"

"Okay."

"Well, what about this," suddenly, the man reached into his pile and yanked out a card, yielding it like a trophy, holding it outstretched for her to see, "Is this your card?"

Anna looked at it blankly.

"No."

At her words, the man looked a little confused—maybe even a little embarrassed—so he tossed it to the side, where it landed harshly in the dirt, and picked again. "Hmmm… well then, what about this!"

Anna looked again and shook her head.

"Nope. Not that one."

He tried one more time, failed one more time, and after that seemed to become a bit annoyed. A bit exasperated. He wasn't the only one.

"Then what was your card?" he asked finally, shaking his head in frustration, dark hair swinging over his eyes.

"Uh… it was an eight of hearts, I think."

The man looked back at his handful of cards, shuffling quickly through the deck.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, pulling one out, "Here it is!"

Anna nodded, looking at him blankly, expecting something more.

"Well…" said the man, showing off his flashy grin again, this time with false pride, "There's that magic trick I promised you! Make sure to come again if you ever want to be amazed! As long as you have the coin, of course…"

"Wait, what?" exclaimed Anna, eyes suddenly wide and disbelieving, "That wasn't magic! Isn't there anything else?"

The man shrugged, suddenly vastly uninterested in them both, knowing they had no more money to give.

"Sorry, sweetie. You want to see some of my better tricks, you have to give some better coin. Like I said, come again later."

"B-but! But!" Anna stammered, tears beginning to prick the corner of her eyes, "But you said you would amaze us with magic… and then, and then you didn't! And we don't have any money left! And that's…. and that's…. NOT FAIR!"

"Sorry, sweetie," the man repeated, shoving all his cards into his pocket, "Life's not fair."

By this time, Anna was beginning to blubber and pout like a baby, and though she wasn't showing it, Elsa, too, wasn't very happy. Wasn't very happy at all.

"Wait!" Elsa shouted in desperation, just as the man was beginning to walk away from them, "I can do magic too, you know!"

Slowly, the man turned on his heels, an amused grin beginning to form across his face.

"Is that so? Well then, sweetie, I'd love to see what you can do that's better than my own."

That's not going to be hard, Elsa thought to herself, smirking slightly at what this so-called 'magician' didn't understand. And what he was seconds away from seeing.

"Okay!" she said, "Watch this!"

With that sentence, she spoke more to Anna, than to anybody. She wanted to make sure her little sister got a great view of how to stand up, how to fight back, when somebody cheated her, or manipulated her, or outsmarted her, or was just plain mean to her. That was an important lesson to learn, so Elsa figured she might as well be the one to teach it.

And in an instant, Elsa had moved closer to the man, sticking out her arm in front of him. He seemed confused for a second, but then his eyes widened in shock as suddenly an entire transparent hand appeared right out of thin air. A hand made out ice. He stood stalk-still as the icy limb—no body or brain to connect to—reached into his coat pocket, pulled out his coin, and placed it gently into the blond girl's palm. Then, it fell to the ground and shattered, and Elsa smiled at the look of absolute horror on the man's face.

"Magic," she said simply, but she wasn't sure if he could hear her. Already, he was half-way through town, sprinting away from her as fast as his legs could carry him, screaming like a maniac. And Anna—sweet, little Anna—lay rolling hysterically on the ground, laughing as if she'd just heard the more hilarious joke in the world.

"DID YOU SEE HIS FACE!" she screamed, face red with uncontrollable giggles, "Did you see? Elsa... what you did... that was the bestest thing I've ever seen anybody do ever!"

Elsa attempted to shrug the complement off, but could not help the surge of pride that swelled inside her heart. That was pretty cool, wasn't it?

"Yeah, sure," she said to her sister, cheeks flushed themselves, "But just don't tell Mom and Dad, okay? You know how I'm not supposed to show people my powers outside the castle."

After managing to regain control of herself—which took quite a long time, Elsa thought—Anna finally brought herself to nod, now hiccuping from lack of air.

"Okay, Elsa! I would never tell on you!"

And just like that, the two girls were wandering around again, off to find their next great adventure. It didn't take long, however, for Anna's curious little mind to get bored of its seemingly-endless search, and to start creating a small diversion of its own.

"Elsa!" the girl yelled suddenly, a light-bulb of an idea appearing out of thin air over her head, "Wanna play the knight-princess game?!"

Elsa, who was currently lost in her own swirl of thoughts, was immediately brought back to reality.

"You mean the thing with the dragon?"

Anna nodded vigorously, smiling like a fool.

"Yeah, yeah! That one."

"Oh, I don't know about that, Anna…" she began, rubbing her neck sheepishly, "We're in town, and people can see us here, and you know—"

"Let's go play it in the castle garden, then! Come on! You know it's my favorite! Pllleeeaaasssee!"

Elsa rolled her eyes, still feeling a bit unsure, but she simply couldn't stop herself from nodding. She had to admit… aside from building a snowman, that was also about one of her favorite things to do with her powers. It was just so... fun!

Five minutes later, Elsa sat delicately on her knees, crushing the cool grass of the garden beneath her. Standing besides her powerful sister, little Anna rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, willing and ready to play one of her most favorite games.

Slowly, taking a deep breathe, Elsa closed her eyes in concentration. Anna watched, completely in awe, as he sister's face scrunched up as tightly as a ball of paper, her hands outstretched and moving in the air as if trying to mold an invisible chunk of clay. Inside her own head, Elsa was visualizing, and imagining, and seeing things without ever really seeing them at all. She was carving and feeling and really just creating—the best thing in the world, she thought—and by the time she felt sure enough to open her eyes, she was met by the sight of a magnificent dragon.

It was made out of ice, of course, and it wasn't terribly large—only slightly smaller than the average-sized bear. Still, it was incredibly detailed, looking like a sculpture carved by only the greatest artist on earth. Or, at the very least, someone with incredibly precise, steady hands. It had large, deadly teeth sticking out from a pit of a mouth, completely rounded eyes with dilating pupils, and narrow slits to serve as nostrils on a heavy snout. Its back was carved with intricate little scales, a spike or two sticking out every now and then, and then slowly thinned out into a long, flicking tail. What was most intoxicating about the creature, however, were it's two large, bony wings. They glittered ferociously in the sun—made of thousands of tiny ice crystals—and folded to its body in such a way that they looked as thin as paper. The entire creature, really, was a sight to take in. And not just for Elsa…

"Oh my gosh!" little Anna exclaimed as she absorbed the image with her brain, bouncing up and down, "This one is even better than the last dragon!"

Elsa laughed at her enthusiasm, and in one quick flit of the wrist, had conjured an icy knight's helmet to sit on top of the red-head's hair, to be accompanied by a cold, translucent sword in her fist. In another flit, she had spawned a teeny-tiny village of ice people ten feet away from her, all running like crazy and screaming in high-pitched voices, as if they were actually alive.

"Come now, Knight-Princess Anna!" Elsa announced, suddenly speaking in a very important, official voice, "Your beloved kingdom... called Ice-endelle, or something... is under attack by a horrible monster! Defend your people from the horrible dragon of the North Mountains! Do what you must and kill the beast!"

Immediately getting into the game, Anna raised her icy sword above her head and let out a semi-fierce battle cry.

"You will never destroy Ice-endelle, you monster! DIE FOWL BEAST!"

And then it was on, Anna swinging and poking and prodding the ice dragon with her stick of a sword, the dragon flicking its heavy tail and occasionally releasing its breath of fire—which just-so-happened to be a flurry of tiny snowflakes. Fire wasn't exactly Elsa's specialty.

"Knight-Princess Anna swings at the dragon's back, and—ooh, she misses. But there she goes again! She hits, she hits!"

Elsa, as was protocol in this certain game, was narrating this whole event, providing the much-needed commentary. Anna tried hard not to giggle through it all, keeping her head as the only defender for her precious ice-city.

"Oh no! The dragon swipes its tail and nearly knocks our hero off her feet… but no, she keeps her balance! Fight Anna, fight! Show them all just what a princess can do!"

"Princesses can be knights just the same as princes can!" Anna added, taking another nasty swing at the dragon's leg.

"They sure can, Anna! And us two… one day, we'll be better than all those princes combined!"

"RIGHT!"

Another ferocious swing from Anna, another dead-on hit, another snowflake-sprinkling from the angry dragon.

"We can defeat anything that comes our way!"

"Right!"

Anna pushed her sword under the dragon and managed to knock it off it's feet. It lay on the ground for a moment, growling and kicking and writhing like a beast, yet unable to push itself back up.

"And nothing will ever tear the two of us apart!"

"Right!"

Anna raised her blade, bringing it down into a sharp arc through the air, and then plunged it into the dragon's fragile underbelly. Immediately—right on contact, in fact—the dragon crumbled to a heap of ice shards. For a moment, there was silence, and then a tirade of victorious whoops from Anna.

"I did it! We did it!" she yelled, voice full of pride, and Elsa congratulated her with a strong, joyful smile. Anna flushed under the approval. Then, much to the Ella's surprise, she even ran up and hugged her around the waist, chalk-full of warm emotion.

"We did it!" she kept repeating, over and over again, "We did it, we did it, we did it!"

Soon, freed from their horrifying demon, the people of the ice village began to rush up to the knight-princess, kissing her ankles and throwing out thanks after thanks in her direction. They were all so appreciative that they spent the next half-hour having a full-out ice celebration, Anna and Elsa dancing and giggling and cheering right along with them. By the time the hot sun managed to melt the ice people away, both girls were red in the face from exercise, breathing quite heavily, yet still laughing like maniacs.

"I love this game," Anna remarked after a long moment of silence, smiling obscenely.

"It's fun," Elsa agreed, and then the silence descended upon them again. Long and thick and hot as summer.

Finally, after far too long, a thought bubbled to the top of Elsa's brain, and she thought she'd be a fool not to voice it.

"Hey… we still have that gold coin, you know."

Anna looked up from where she sat on the ground, the grin slowly spreading across her face, as if this realization had just occurred to her.

"Wait, you mean… we can go buy the rainbow string I wanted?"

Elsa looked up towards the sky, taking in the swirl of colors that painted the horizon.

"The sun's setting now, and we should be home by dark, but I bet we still have a good twenty minutes to go out and buy whatever we want—though, I still think we can do better than that little rainbow string."

Two minutes later, the girls were galavanting through town, trying desperately to get to the merchants' stands before they all closed for the night. Anna, for instance, was in such a hurry, that she didn't even notice when the sound of Elsa's feet continuously pounding the ground silenced behind her.

"S-Spare change?"

The voice was weak and raggedy, quite hopeless in its desperate attempt to sound somewhat pleasant to the ear, and be it by instinct or courtesy, Elsa found herself slowing to a stop immediately upon hearing it.

"Excuse me?"

For a moment, she was unsure of where it came from, but then a weak cough broke out into the air from somewhere on her left, and she turned to see a sickly-looking man besides her. He was crouched like a child against a heavy, crumbling brick wall, and was by far the most pitiful sight she'd ever seen in her life.

"Spare change?" asked the man again, jiggling around a little cup with no more than a few measly, gray medallions.

"Oh," said Elsa, her mind all the sudden running circles around its self, "You need money?"

The man nodded slowly, almost shamefully, and avoided her gaze. Elsa felt a well of emotion begin to swirl inside her heart, but for the moment she held it all back.

"Please, Miss. You are the princess of Arendelle, are you not? You have good coin. I'm just… so hungry. I need a little something to feed my family. Please?"

Elsa stared, and the man continued to shield his eyes from her own. She could just sense the way this mere plea for help was bruising his pride, deflating his already shaky ego. Poor man. And look how thin he was… he really must have been so hungry.

"You have a family?" she asked him slowly, not knowing why she was so intent on talking to this man, only knowing the she felt as if she absolutely had to, "What are they like?"

"I-I have a daughter… around your age, I think. As sweet as candy, she is. And I have a son. He's smaller, but the funniest guy you ever knew."

"Wife?" asked Elsa, wondering why she was so curious.

Sadly, the man shook his head. "Not since last year, Ma'am."

And it was at those words that Elsa had made her decision.

"Anna!" she called to the dark road ahead, "Anna! Where are you? Come back!"

The girl was already halfway done the road—nearly out of sight—but by the third time her name was called she came trudging back, pouting on behalf of the fact that her time with whatever pretty toy she would buy next was being postponed.

"What are you doing?" Anna asked, eyes wide, "Can't we go buy a toy now? I wanna go buy a toy!"

"Actually, Anna," Elsa began, not looking forward to whatever tantrum was going to occur next, "I think we're not going to buy a toy today after all."

"What?" the redhead squeaked, eyes wide and voice disbelieving, "B-But—"

"But this man needs the money more than we do," interrupted Elsa, pulling the coin from her little dress pocket, "So it's our job to give it to him."

At this, the broken man leaning against the wall seemed shocked and bewildered, nearly speechless at the sight of the coin.

"The gold one?" he remarked, unbelieving, "Are you sure?"

Though Anna had never been one for currency, Elsa had already been taught a great deal about economics from her tutor, and she was well aware of the different values of Arendelle money. The dull gray coins—the only one's in which he seemed to have—were the smallest, or least valuable ones, which could often be found littering the towns sewers or stuck up in gutters. After that, only worth a bit more, there were the bronze, then there were the silver, and then, finally, there was the great gold. Those were considerably more valuable. The man probably hadn't even seen a gold coin for months.

"Sure," said Elsa, smiling warmly at him, "Buy your family a good meal. Anna and I understand."

"B-but—" Anna protested, "What about—?"

She was immediately silenced by Elsa's cold hand pressing against her mouth, the rest of her words coming off as unintelligible mumbles.

"Come on, Anna. Let's go home. Have a good night, Sir"

And soon the two were walking away towards the castle, the older girl confident and proud of herself, while the younger girl stuttered like a maniac, incapable of understanding.

Finally, at the castle gates, Anna finally found her tongue long enough to ask the question that had been on her mind since the beginning.

"Elsa!" she exclaimed, not sure whether to be angry or sad, "Why did you do that? I wanted my toy!"

Elsa shrugged and sat herself down on the pavement, her back pressed gently against a brick wall behind her. She patted the ground besides her to invite Anna to join. Slowly, with much reluctance, the redhead plopped herself to the floor, pout still etched on her lips.

"Anna…" Elsa began, stroking the girl gently on the head, "We're blessed."

"Huh?" She wasn't understanding yet. That was alright, though, Elsa didn't expect her to.

"We're blessed, Anna. We live in a really big castle, with as much food as we can eat and the nicest parents either of us could ever imagine. Our futures are assured, and we'll always live a life of privilege. We may not ever know any real suffering, Anna. We're blessed."

Slowly, the girl nodded, suddenly beginning to form her mind around the idea.

"But some people," Elsa continued, "Like that man, for instance, aren't as blessed. They may not have homes, or food, or even parents, Anna. All the things we take for granted."

Anna seemed confused at this. She'd always lived such a privileged life, shielded from the horrors of the world… Elsa couldn't blame her for assuming that everybody else lived the same.

"So," Elsa continued, "Even though we really wanted that toy, I thought it was more important that we give that man the coin, so that he could buy what he really needs. Something we both already have. Do you understand, Anna?"

Slowly, the girl nodded, eyes wide and absorbing.

"I think so," she said slowly, and as Anna's mind spun and mulled over the completely new idea, there was silence for the longest amount of time. That is, until the little redhead decided to speak again.

"You know, Elsa? You're probably the nicest person in the whole entire world!"

At this, Elsa smiled slightly, cheeks flushed in amusement.

"You'll be, too, once you start understanding this type of stuff. You'll get it all once you're older, I promise."

"I hope so. I hope I'll be just like you when I'm older."

Elsa, suddenly, felt a wash of pride as strong as iron rush through her veins. It took all her might to continue speaking, rather than just letting the smile run its path across her face.

"And I hope I'll be just like you," she said, "Now come on, you look exhausted, let's get up to bed."

It took that sentence for Anna to realize just how tired she really was. There were large, purple bags under her eyes, and each time she blinked, she struggled to raise her eyelids again. Maybe not sleeping last night really wasn't the best idea. Suddenly, Anna let out a deep, skin-tingling yawn, and before she knew it, Elsa was leading her inside by the hand, words of comfort flying from her lips and hanging beautifully in the air. Finding it hard to stand, Anna leaned against the girl's shoulder, smiling to herself at the coolness of it.

On both of the girls' minds was the exact same thought:

I have the best sister in the world.

Well... I hope you liked that! It was just a combination of a bunch of cute little dribbles I thought up independently, and then sewed together to all happen in one day. We all know how Anna is a really brave, independent sort of girl—one who doesn't exactly fit society's expectation of her, but doesn't care—so I thought it'd be cute if this was something she originally learned from Elsa... but she remembered this lesson, where as Elsa forgot it, leading to her succumbing to her father's wishes. IDK, I just liked the thought.

Btw, the 'we know better' scene with Elsa and Anna in the tree is actually based off of the frozen outtake titled 'We Know Better.' Find it on youtube... it really is adorable. Thanks a bunch to Eman for reminding me to include this note, since somehow it just completely slipped my mind.

Anyway, this isn't my most detailed chapter, so sorry about that. I was on vacation for five days without my computer, so I didn't have a lot of time to write this. I hope it's okay, though! Not as emotional as usual, of course, but just a breath of sweetness to give you all a nice, rewarding break from the drama.

Remember to review and tell me if you want a sequel or not!