I happily skipped through the hallways of my home, waving to everyone as I passed. They greeted me back warmly, and I grinned at their friendliness. Coming to a stop in front of a door, I stopped and knocked, knowing it would be rude to barge in, especially since I knew the person inside was busy. I listened eagerly for a response.

"Who is it?" a voice called from inside.

I grinned wider. "It's me!" I replied, knowing the person would know right away who I was.

"Go away," the voice called back with a sigh, "I can't have you in here right now."

"Why?" I asked, a little hurt at the response.

I heard another sigh from inside after a moment of silence. "Okay, fine. Come in, but you have to be quiet."

"Yay!" I exclaimed, happy at the words. Wait, why was I knocking? I asked myself. It is my room after all. I shook my head at my stupidity. My mama was always reminding me to think before I acted, but I usually forgot that advice. In the case of the knocking, however, I probably did it because I knew what would happen if I interrupted the person inside. The last time I barged in without asking, I had gotten in trouble, and the person had been a little upset with me, although they quickly forgave the incident. I raced over and flopped on my bed.

"What do you want?" I glanced over to see my sister sitting at her desk, deeply involved in her work.

"I wanna play with you!" I responded.

My sister gave a small giggle. "How did I know you were gonna say that?"

"I don't know," I replied teasingly. I gave a dramatic gasp. "Maybe you're a mind reader!"

"I don't think so," my sister answered with a laugh, finally putting down her pen and turning to face me. "I think you just say that so many times that I'm thinking of what you're gonna say before you even say it." She then turned back to her desk, picked up her pen again, and started scribbling furiously on her paper.

"Why didn't you want me in here?" I asked.

"You know the answer to that," my sister replied with another laugh as her pen continued moving. "You can be a bit loud and noisy, and I can't have you distracting me while I'm trying to work."

"Do you wanna go outside?" I stared at my sister and gave her my best puppy-dog eyes. "It's really pretty today." I groaned after a minute of silence, save the scribbling of the pen, of course. "Hey, why aren't you turning around?"

"Because I know you're making that pleading face again, and if I see it, I'll melt and have to go play with you," my sister replied.

I huffed in annoyance at my secret weapon being useless. "What's wrong with that?"

"Because I'm trying to work."

"Aw!" I stuck out my lower lip and pouted. "What are you doing, anyway?"

My sister turned and held up her paper, which I noticed was full of bunches of numbers. "Math homework," my sister replied simply before turning her attention back to her work. "And that is why I can't play right now."

"Come on, please?" I begged. "Papa's working on paperwork, Mama's busy, too, although she wouldn't tell me what she was doing, and nobody will play with me!" I smiled mischievously as I thought of an idea. "I'll give you my desert tonight if you come play." I walked over to the desk and stood on my toes, sticking my face under my sister's and giving her a pleading look.

My sister shook her head and pushed my face away. "Sorry, but I can't. I've got a ton of work to do 'cause you keep managing to pull me away." She smiled and winked at me. "Which, to be honest, is what I wish you could do right now, 'cause this is super boring, although I kind of like math. But I really need to concentrate, so maybe later."

I crossed my arms and huffed again. "Hey, what're those for?" I asked, pointing to the gloves covering my sister's hands.

My sister glanced down and a confused look came over her face. "I don't know." She then proceeded to slap her forehead, probably remembering the reason. "Oh, that's right! These are from you convincing me to play dress up ten minutes ago. It was insisted that I start my work 'right this instant', and so I did," she responded, lowering her voice to mimic her tutor. I giggled at her impression. "Guess I forgot to change." It was then I noticed the toy tiara and overly-frilly clothes my sister was wearing. With a grin, my sister slid the pink gloves, which extended past her elbows and were slightly too big, off her hands before putting them over my ears. Then she unwrapped the fuzzy, purple scarf from her neck and twisted in into a circle, placing it on my head. Finally, she whipped off her toy tiara and set in in the middle of the circle. I watched my sister as she stood up, gave a curtsy, and then cleared her throat before continuing in a deep voice. "I hereby crown thee Queen Hand-Ears, ruler of the kingdom of Scarves and Gloves!" We both instantly burst into laughter, which made all the accessories fall off of me since my head was bobbing too much.

"Why thank you, Madam Lover-of-Math! I will wear this crown with pride, well, if it doesn't fall off again, that is," I said, picking up the tiara off the floor and placing it back on my head, trying to use a fancy-sounding voice.

"You're welcome, Your Majesty," my sister replied with another curtsy. "Now will you please excuse me? I really have some very important work to do, and if I don't finish it, I will be in grave trouble with Duke Stuffy of Do-your-work-right-now-land. We can't have that happening, now can we?" My sister winked at me again before sitting down and working on her math paper some more.

I smiled. I had my met my sister's tutor, and I was very glad that I wasn't studying under him. He had a long, sharp nose that reassembled a bird's beak, and he always walked around as if his body were made of stone. "Yes, that would be very bad!" I responded in a dramatic voice, leaning back slightly and laying my arm over my forehead. I watched my sister scribble out her math problems for a few more minutes before getting bored. "Please play with me?" I pleaded.

My sister sadly shook her head. "No, I can't. I really do wish I could, but Papa told me not to leave this room until I'm done. Although, I think I'd better go work someplace else, 'cause if I stay around you for too much longer, I'll end up having to submit, and then I'll get in big trouble."

I sighed, knowing she was right. I really wanted to play, but I also didn't want to get my sister in trouble. "Okay, fine, I'll leave you alone," I said sadly, hanging my head as I walked toward the door. "Bye, I guess."

"Wait!" my sister called. I turned to see her looking at me with a sad expression. "Tell you what. Let me finish this, and I'll play with you as much as I can later. Maybe we can even do that thing that you like so much," she added, a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

I gasped, knowing exactly what she was talking about. "Really? You mean-?"

"Yup!" my sister answered.

"Well, then hurry up and finish!" I exclaimed over my shoulder as I raced toward the door. "I'll be waiting!" I heard my sister laughing as I ran down the hall. I stopped a second to think. I knew my sister would play with me for sure, but I needed to do something to secure that. Surely if I did something really nice, my sister would have to avoid turning me down. I rushed back to the bedroom and opened the door, peeking my head inside. "Are you thirsty?" I asked sweetly. "It's just a little bit hot today, can I get you something icy cold to drink?"

My sister smiled and shook her head. "Nah, I'm good. I've got some already." She pointed to the corner of her desk where a glass half-filled with lemonade and ice cubes sat. She shot me a look. "Are you trying to butter me up or something?"

I grinned nervously and bounced on my heels. "Yes, er, no. Uh, maybe?" I stammered out with a sheepish grin.

"I'll take that as a yes," my sister said with a smile. "I promise I'll play with you later. Now please leave me alone for now so I can finish."

I nodded and left the room again. I raced outside into the warm June afternoon, ran to the garden, and spun around a couple of times, enjoying the perfect day. I spotted a group of ducklings with their mother, and ran over to see if they'd let me play with them. But, as usual, my clumsy, four-year-old feet just had to trip over something on the ground, and I fell, scaring away the ducks. "Aw, man!" I stood up and brushed off my skirt before crossing my arms with a huff. Well, playing with the duckies is out, I thought. Now what else can I do? I then noticed the small waterfall and stream.

Grinning, I rushed over and thrust my hands under the falling water droplets. Struck with an idea, I gathered some fallen leaves and several small pebbles. I placed five of the leaves into the stream, and held the short line of make-shift boats in place with my arm. Gently, I lined up some of my pebbles in circles on each leaf. As carefully as I could, I reached forward to the boat in the center of my small fleet and placed my largest pebble in the center of the circle of 'soldiers'. "The royal fleet of Her Royal Highness, Princess Lily, is ready to depart!" I announced to no one in particular. Grinning, I moved my arm to release the boats, grabbed a nearby stick, jumped up, and raced after the line of leaves. I managed to get ahead of the rapidly-moving fleet and thrust my stick into the water, swishing it around to create some small waves. "Oh no!" I cried to myself. "There's a big storm! Rescue the princess!" I rushed ahead of the leaves again, kneeled on the ground, and stopped my pretend boats with my arm. With my hand, I splashed some water onto every leaf except for the middle one before swiping off their circle of rocks. I then picked those four leaves up, set them down in the water on the other side of my arm, and let them continue downstream. Then I splashed some more water onto the remaining ship, also getting rid of the circle of pebbles. "All is lost! Who will save the princess now?" I asked, referring to the one pebble left in the middle of the leaf. I quickly pulled another pebble out of my pocket. "Do not worry, fair maiden!" I called in a deep voice. "I, Prince Aron, will save you!"

I picked up the leaf and pebble out of the river and set it on the ground while I slipped off my shoes and socks. Then I stepped into the water and placed my makeshift boat with the 'princess' back onto the stream, but I made sure to block its path with my legs. Picking up my stick, I held the other pebble against the bottom of it, swinging the stick back and forth with my fingers as I pretended it was a vine hanging near the river in a rainforest, which my pretend fleet had been passing through. On the fourth swing, I scooped up the 'princess' with my fingers, so the 'prince' could swing her to safety. When my stick and pebbles had landed safely on the ground, I stepped out of the water, allowing the final leaf to continue its path. Turning to my two pebbles, I picked them up and held them a few inches apart. "Oh, thank you so much for rescuing me, my dear prince!" I exclaimed, moving my 'princess' up and down as I pretended the words had come out of her mouth. "You're welcome, Princess," I made the 'prince' reply. "It was an honor to save you."

I played by the stream for the next hour or so, coming up with all kinds of different stories until I finally became bored and resorted to lay on the grass, watching the clouds and trying to find shapes in them. I'm bored, I thought after a while when I couldn't find any new designs in the clouds. I wish Mama or Papa could play with me. I thought of my sister, slaving away over her boring school work. I'm really glad I'm not old enough to start lessons yet. I sighed out of boredom and closed my eyes.

0o0o0o0o

I awoke to someone or something nudging my shoulder. Opening my eyes, I found myself staring into my sister's grinning face. "Did you sleep good?" she asked.

"Huh? I was asleep?" I asked back.

My sister nodded. "Yup! Or at least, I'm pretty sure you were, what with your eyes being closed and your loud snoring."

I folded my arms and glared up at her. "Liar! I don't snore!"

"You should listen to yourself while you're sleeping sometime," my sister replied with a laugh.

"Are you done with your work?" I asked, standing up and brushing myself off.

"Yes, finally."

"Already?"

"Uh, yeah. What do you mean by 'already'? It's supper time, which is why I'm out here in the first place. Mama says to come inside and wash up." My sister folded her arms and smiled. "Don't tell me you've been sleeping this whole time!"

I shrugged. "Guess I was tired." It had been a little after lunch when I had gone outside, and I was a bit surprised that no one had come looking for me. Then again, everyone had seemed to be extra busy today. No matter, I thought. This day has been pretty great anyway. Then, my sister and I headed inside together to wash up for dinner.

0o0o0o0o

"So, girls, how has your day been?" Papa asked several minutes later after we had started eating.

"It was fun," my sister replied simply. I stopped myself before I could grimace. If I had to do school work for several hours on end without a break like she had done, I definitely wouldn't be calling my day 'fun'. Then again, my sister loved things like math, geography, and science, but we both knew she'd rather play than work.

"What about you, Sunshine?" my mother asked, turning to me.

I grinned. "It was amazing!" I exclaimed, waving my arms around for emphasis. I then proceeded to tell my family all about my leaf-boat adventures.

0o0o0o0o

Several hours later, I lay in my bed, struggling to fall asleep. Just like she'd promised, my sister had played with me for the rest of the evening until our parents told us it was bedtime. I groaned and rolled from side to side, trying to find a position that would allow me to fall asleep quickly. How does she do it? I wondered, staring across the room at my sister, who had already fallen asleep a long while ago. I had tried everything; counting sheep, softly singing a lullaby Mama had taught me out loud, repeating the lullaby in my head, covering my face with my pillow, staring at the ceiling, and several other things, yet no matter how I tried, sleep wouldn't come. Quietly, I slipped out from under the covers and softly padded over to my sister's bed. I climbed up and knelt beside her sleeping form, reaching my hands forward to shake her awake. "Wake up!" I begged.

My sister slowly opened her eyes and turned to me. "Yeah?" she asked groggily. "What is it?"

"What time is it?" The moonlight was shining bright enough that the clock could be seen, but I wasn't old enough to read it yet.

"It's after midnight," my sister grumbled after a quick glance at the clock, "which means both of us should be sleeping."

"Wanna play with me?" I asked, ignoring the last part of her words.

"I already did," my sister responded with a sigh. "I'm tired. Can you please go back to sleep?"

I flopped down beside her and crossed my arms. "No! I can't!"

"Why not?"

"'Cause no matter how hard I try, I can't sleep!"

"Did you try counting sheep?"

"Yes!"

"Singing yourself a lullaby?"

"Yes!"

"Staring at the ceiling?"

"Yes!"

"Lying very still and closing your eyes while trying not to think of anything exciting?"

"Yes! I've tried everything!"

"Then I guess we have a problem." My sister sat up in her bed, reached over, and gave me a hug. "If I play with you some more, will you promise to go to sleep afterward?"

I nodded and grinned. "Yup! Well, if I can, that is." I hopped off the bed and bounced on my heels, waiting for my sister, who was getting out from under the covers.

"So what do you wanna play?" she asked. "Dolls maybe?"

I shook my head. "Nope! I wanna go downstairs!"

"To get a snack?" My sister smiled teasingly, since we both knew that wasn't what I wanted.

"Nope!"

My sister sighed, although she was still smiling. "Sis, we already did that today."

"So?" I asked. "You know I can't ever stop wanting to do it. It's awesome!"

My sister's face lit up so bright at that comment that if she were a lamp, she could give light to an entire house. "Alright then, if you insist."

"Of course I insist!" I exclaimed. "So, do you-?"

"Always!" my sister interrupted, most likely knowing what I was going to say. "Is that even a question?"

I giggled in excitement and grabbed her arm. "Then come on!" Together we raced downstairs. Our first stop was the kitchen, where we grabbed some supplies, along with some snacks. Then we ran into a large room, and I rushed to the center. "Do it! Do it!" I cried.

"Are you sure?" my sister asked with a grin as she ran over to me.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "Hurry! I can't wait any longer!" A moment later, I gasped as I nearly slipped and fell.

My sister glanced down with a surprised face. "Hey, where did that ice come from?" She looked so perplexed that it confused me, too.

Then I laughed, realizing she was just messing with me. "Very funny, Elsa. Make it snow! Make it snow!" I took the handful of things she offered me so her hands were free.

Elsa reached her hands forward, and as I watched, sparkling icy magic hovered above it. "You ready?" she asked. I nodded excitedly, dropping my armful so I could bounce around without the added weight. Elsa created a snowball in her hands and tossed it into the air, where it exploded into a ton of softly-falling snowflakes. "So, Anna, what should we do first?" she asked me when she was done transforming the huge ballroom into a winter wonderland.

"Snowman!" I cried.

Elsa rolled her eyes and smiled. "Why did I even ask?"

Several minutes later, a snowman was sitting in front of our my parents' thrones, while I was actually sitting on my papa's seat. Elsa raced behind our snowman and crouched down, using a deep voice and waving the snowman's arms as she spoke. "Queen Anna! It's a great honor to meet you!"

I laughed. "What's his name, Elsa? What's his name?"

Elsa laughed and cleared her throat. "Hi! I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!" she announced, lowering her voice as deep as an eight-year-old could.

I jumped up and ran over, throwing my arms around the snowman. "I love you, Olaf!"

"And I love you, Anna!" Elsa made the snowman reply, wrapping its twig arms around me.

I then raced toward the center of the room again, struck by an idea. "Snowball fight!" I called as I began trying to stack snow into a fort.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Elsa asked with a raised eyebrow and a mischievous look.

"Yup!" I nodded and continued building my snow fort. Two seconds later, a snowball slammed into my cheek.

I glanced over to see my older sister standing with a smirk on her face, bouncing another snowball up and down in her hand. She twirled her other hand and sent a stream of magic toward my fort, building it high enough instantly. Then she did the same thing several feet away for herself. "Are you ready to start?" she asked.

I nodded excitedly, but then I stopped when I remembered something. "Wait!" I exclaimed, and Elsa paused mid-snowball-throw. "I need Olaf on my team!"

Elsa gasped in pretend horror. "You're right! We can't just leave him out!" With a grin, she sent a swirl of magic toward Olaf, which picked him up about a foot off the floor, and then set the snowman down a second later beside me.

"Thanks, Elsa!" I stared at the snowman in front of me. "I kind of wish he was alive," I commented. "Don't suppose your magic can do that, can it?"

Elsa shook her head. "I don't think so. Well, at least, not yet anyway. My powers get stronger the older I am, so it's possible, but I doubt it." Elsa had told me several times that her powers had already been getting stronger since she was really little, but she still couldn't do certain things. For instance, a second ago when she moved Olaf for me, I had seen her straining to keep him in the air. "After all," my sister continued, "snow is snow and it can't come to life. Sorry, but you'll just have to pretend-oof!"

While she had been talking, I had loaded Olaf's arm with a snowball, pulled it back, and fired, landing a hit on my sister's face. "That's okay," I replied with a grin. "I'll still beat you anyway."

Elsa raised her eyebrow again. "Oh really?" A second later, a snowball made contact with my shoulder. With grins and giggles from the both of us, the fight began.

0o0o0o0o

A while later, Elsa and I were both covered from head to toe in snow. "Can we skate?" I asked. I gasped when I felt myself grow a few inches taller. I glanced down to find icy skates attached to my boots. I grinned and spun around, which led to me spinning out of control and landing on my backside. I groaned and crossed my arms. "Elsa!" I whined. "You know I can't skate like that!"

Elsa smiled and shook her head. "I think you can, with practice, but never mind. I'll stick with the other way for now."

Using her magic, Elsa moved Olaf to the middle of the ice, and I rushed to stand in front of him, holding on to his arms. With a grin, Elsa positioned herself behind Olaf and then proceeded to propel the three of us across the ice with her magic. "Whee!" I cried with glee.

When we got tired of skating, we decided to draw some pictures. Elsa made both of us a pencil-shaped icicle, and we found a patch of snow to draw in. When I finished, I happily showed my big sister the pictures I had made. One was of Olaf, and the other was two girls holding hands; Elsa and I. Apparently, Elsa had had the same idea for her drawings, and they were pretty similar to mine, except for being drawn better since she was older than me. "I know what we should do next," Elsa announced as she straightened up and brushed off her hands. She reached forward and created a small mound of snow.

I grinned, knowing exactly what that meant. Laughing, I ran over and climbed onto the pile. "I'm ready!" I called.

"Alright," Elsa replied with a smile. "Hang on!" I jumped, and she instantly caught me with a pile of snow. This went on for several minutes, with me having a lot of fun and Elsa shouting out encouragements. "Anna, wait!" Elsa called out after a minute.

"What?" I replied, still jumping.

"Can you please stop a second so I can talk to you?"

"Fine." I came to a halt when I landed on the next snow pile, which was technically a snow mountain from how high it had gotten. "What's wrong?"

Elsa shook her head. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just wondering if we can do something else."

"Why? This is fun!"

"You're going a bit too fast, and you're making me dizzy. Can we come back to this in a few minutes?"

I glanced around at the mounds of snow, which were positioned in a spiral pattern around Elsa. No wonder she was getting dizzy. "Okay, sounds good to me." With a shrug, I jumped off the pillar, knowing Elsa would catch me.

"Anna!" Elsa cried right before I landed in a pile of snow. I sat up and shook the snow off of me, grinning from ear to ear. I glanced over at Elsa to find a terrified yet relieved look on her face. "Anna, next time, warn me before you do that!"

"Why?" I asked. "You caught me. You always do."

Elsa sighed and rested her forehead on her palm. "If I hadn't been looking for even a second, you would have landed on the ice and knocked yourself unconscious, and that's only if you're lucky. Anyway, why don't we slide?"

I nodded. "Sure!" I waited for her to create one of her slides, and then I scrambled to the top.

"Ready?" Elsa asked when she and I had seated ourselves at the top of the slide.

"Always," I replied. "Let's go!"

0o0o0o0o

I startled awake when I felt myself being lowered. Opening my eyes, I found Elsa smiling down at me as she tucked me into bed. "Goodnight, Anna," she whispered, reaching forward to give me a hug.

"'Night, Elsa," I replied as I returned the hug. When my sister had walked over to her own bed and crawled in, I turned over on my side and snuggled against my blanket, reaching for my doll and holding it close. Elsa and I had been playing so much that I was exhausted. I had flopped down on the ground and apparently fallen asleep, which explained why I was back in my room. I smiled as I glanced over at Elsa, who was already asleep. Grinning, I flopped back onto my pillow and closed my eyes. What a perfect night to end a perfect day, I thought, right before sleep claimed me.