Arendelle has a new queen: Anna. And she's not doing so great. There's papers to sign, people to meet, just general business. And it's exhausting. She's tired every second of every day. She can barely keep her eyes open at dinner. She almost forgot her and Kristoff's wedding day. They're married now, but it doesn't feel that way. Anna barely sees Kristoff because she's always doing some queen's job. Meet a dignitary, attend this event. The only time they get together now is dinner and night, but Anna can hardly be present enough for that. After three months of his wife being queen and just under three months of marriage, Kristoff decides that enough is enough. No, he doesn't take off. He wants Anna to be happy. He talks to her about it one night as she crashes into bed, not even getting under the covers. Tonight is different, however; instead of falling to sleep immediately, as she does every night, Anna cries into her pillow.

"Enough's enough, Anna," Kristoff says comfortingly. "Something's gotta change."

"Oh, yeah?" Anna sobs, literally falling while trying to prop herself up. "Like what?"

"For one, that," Kristoff says. "You can't even hold your own weight. You're exhausted."

"It's so hard!" Anna complains, managing to roll onto her back. "I don't know how Elsa did it all."

"You're different people. Don't compare yourself to her," Kristoff says. He puts his arms around Anna, holding her closely.

"I'm so tired," Anna whispers, still crying. "I can't read any kind of written text. I have to walk everywhere across Arendelle all the time. I need a year or nine off."

"Can you resign like Elsa did?" Kristoff asks.

"Well, in theory," Anna answers, "but I'm the last heir. After me, there's no one. My family won't rule anymore."

"Why is that a bad thing?" Kristoff asks.

"'Why is that a bad thing?'" Anna repeats. "For centuries, CENTURIES, my family's ruled this kingdom. It's not about power. It's about pride. I just need a break!"

"Stop crying," Kristoff says lowly.

To Anna, his voice is reassuring, the only comfort she has in life anymore since there is no time for comfort. She realizes that she's breathing slower and not crying AS hard.

"I'll have to do all this again tomorrow," Anna says with a quivering voice. "If I skipped sleeping every other day, I could—"

"Don't talk," Kristoff whispers, kissing the top of Anna's head. Ah, height disparities.

Slowly, Anna stops crying. She turns to look out the window, being careful not to wake up Kristoff, whose arms are still around her. The moon is high in the sky, and its reflection shines on the grandfather clock, which tells her that the time is 2AM.

**I didn't go to sleep,** Anna thinks. But she did. She wriggles out of Kristoff's arms, putting a pillow in her place so Kristoff doesn't stir. She puts on a pair of fluffy pink slippers, which they may or may not have had when Frozen takes place, and she shuffles out of the room, her legs aching with exhaustion so badly that she doesn't even bother to lift her feet. As quietly as she can, she closes the door behind her, its click sounding extremely satisfying. She shuffles down the hall, its quietness eerily loud in her ears.

"Hello?" She asks no one, simply trying to find a way to make some noise. The quiet is unusual and foreign to her, given her busy life. Ah, yes. Queenhood.

**I should go over those papers real quick,** she thinks to herself without changing directions. She comes to the end of the hall, portraits on her left and the balcony on her right. She opens the door to the balcony, hearing every creak in the door in the dead of night. She shuffles over to the railing, leaning her forearms on it and sighing satisfiedly at being able to rest. She lets the cool fjord air play with her braids, which dance in the wind. Closing her eyes, she feels the wind's crispness as it blows against her face. She takes her feet out of her slippers, spreading her toes to let the wind pass between them. Grabbing her braids, she takes the ties out of them, letting her hair flow freely in the air. To tell the truth, it's the freest she's felt since taking over as queen.

As she rests her chin on her right forearm, almost hurting herself doing so, she looks out over the river leading to the Enchanted Forest, where Elsa is surely sleeping peacefully. More than anything, Anna wishes that Elsa was here right now to offer some comfort, some advice, whatever. She's been a huge help, but not to the point of making the workload manageable.

The wind blows especially hard for a moment, almost knocking Anna off her feet, but still forcing her a couple steps back. She feels how tired she is, and the magic of the moment is gone. She puts her slippers back on and shuffles towards her and Kristoff's bedroom. As she shuts the balcony door and turns around, she almost screams, putting her hand on her heart and leaning against the door for support. Standing there in front of her is Olaf.

"Can't sleep?" Olaf asks.

"How long were you there?" Anna asks, her heart pounding from the scare.

"About four seconds, if I counted correctly," Olaf says. "Are you okay? I heard you shut your door and came to investigate."

"I'm okay," Anna says. "Go back to bed."

"Technically, since I'm a snowman and therefore made of snow, I don't have any vital organs, so I don't need to sleep," Kristoff argues. "Can I get you anything? Like tea?"

"Olaf, the last time you tried to get me tea, it cost us thirty thousand in kitchen repairs and forty thousand to not be sued."

"Well, is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, just— just go back to bed. I'm fine. I just need to be alone right now," Anna says.

Olaf skips off down the hall to his own room, because apparently that's a thing.

Anna decides she doesn't have the strength to make it back to her own room. This whole queen thing is exhausting. She spends a lot of time sitting, sure, but it's hard to keep good posture all the time. Her back really hurts, her legs really hurt from having to walk around a lot, and her brain is already calculating what it needs to do when the sun is up. She lowers herself to the ground slowly, making sure to grab the door's handle to open it slightly. Lying down on the floor, she rolls up the sleeve of her nightgown a couple inches, putting her left hand outside the door. The coolness of the wind is medicinal. Within seconds, she falls asleep, lying there by the door with her hair undone and her hand outside.

Anna wakes up as the sun dances across her dreary eyes. Putting up one hand to block the sun and using her other to prop herself up, she realizes that she's extraordinarily well-rested. Concerned at how long she may have slept, she gets up quickly and dashes down the hall to her and Kristoff's room, where the nearest clock is. She's terrified when she sees the time.

"No, no, no," she says to herself. "It can't be one in the afternoon. It can't!"

She grabs a robe and hastily puts it over herself, sliding down the spiral handrail downstairs to save time. As she starts tying her hair up into a bun, she sees Kristoff ahead, talking with a few castle workers.

"Kristoff, what happened?" Anna asks Kristoff worriedly, hurrying to him and almost collapsing into his arms as she shakes with the fear of nothing getting done. As she puts her hands on Kristoff's arms, her hair falls back down.

The castle workers disperse, taking a hint.

"Don't worry," Kristoff says, brushing Anna's hair aside so he can see her face clearly. "I wrote a letter. Elsa's here. She's taking care of everything."

"Wait, what?" Anna asks desperately. "Elsa's here? Why didn't you let me know? Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You needed to sleep," Kristoff answers. "You really, really needed to sleep. I didn't want to risk waking you up to take you to bed."

Anna hugs Kristoff, almost crying with relief. "Thank you," she whispers.

"Now that you have a free day," Kristoff says, "what do you want to do?"

"I want to make sure everything's going okay," Anna replies. "Where's Elsa?"

"She's in the grand hall," Kristoff responds, "but promise me you'll do something for yourself when you're done seeing her."

"I promise," Anna says, kissing Kristoff on the cheek and then going off down the various weaving halls. She finds Elsa going over some papers with a couple officials at a table in the grand hall.

"Elsa!" Anna calls the second she sees her sister, running to meet her.

"Anna, what are you doing in here?" Elsa asks, walking towards Anna. They hug when they meet, both feeling relief at seeing the other is doing well.

"I wanted to make sure you're taking care of everything," Anna says, going over to the table. "Are these the Nythsa papers?"

"Yes," Elsa confirms.

"Did you attend the thing with the corn?"

"Yes."

"Did you watch the opening of the new bakery in—"

"Don't worry," Elsa interrupts. "I'm taking care of everything."

"But what about your boyfriend?" Anna asks. "Didn't you have something planned with him for today?"

"Yeah, but you needed me here," Elsa says. "Kristoff's letter was pretty desperate. Erik can wait. Don't argue the point; I know you want to. I'm here for the next week. It's your time now."

"Oh, thank you, Elsa!" Anna shows her gratitude, throwing her arms around Elsa. "You don't know how much I need this."

"Trust me, I do," Elsa says. "You just need a couple months to figure out how to manage everything."

"You've said that before," Anna points out.

"Oh, really? When?" Elsa tests with a smirk, crossing her arms.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe, every week for the past two months?" Anna answers sarcastically.

Elsa chuckles. "Get outta here," she says with a tone telling Anna to leave for her own good. She goes back to the papers, hearing Anna's loud, excited footsteps echo across the vast emptiness of the grand hall.

The first thing Anna does is skip out the back door, where the grass is cool with the fjord air being blown over it. There's a light snow on the ground, December being the time of the year. The water glistens with the glow of freedom, freedom from responsibility. For the first time in forever, Anna feels really free. Probably the last time she felt this way was childhood. Ah, yes, childhood.

"Wish we could turn back times," Anna comments quietly to no one, her voice echoing over the fjord despite her low volume, "to the good ol' days, when our mama sang us to sleep, but now we're stressed out."

Anna grabs her long skirts to keep them dry, pulling them a couple inches off the ground, as she steps towards the fjord to wade in it. The water is cool, but not too cold. It's just cold enough to send a shiver up Anna's spine. It's a nice cold, though, and she stands in it, firm as a tree as she digs her toes into the mud, unmoving and unchallenged. The water splashes around in a light breeze and annoyingly gets the bottom of her dress. That can't ruin Anna's mood. She's free. No responsibilities, no events, no duties, no chores. Nothing to do. The afternoon sun overhead shines down on the fjord, its yellow reflection rendered perfectly and its beams warming Anna up in the water.

"I just wanna stay in the sun," Anna says to no one, "where I find… I find pieces of peace in the sun's peace of mind. I know it's hard sometimes."

A spot in the sun's vibrant mirroring on the crystal water becomes dark. Anna squints, trying to decipher what's happening.

**It's probably a boat,** she thinks to herself. **Maybe some immigrants or something."

Anna's thoughts are interrupted by the growl of her stomach as she realizes she hasn't had anything to eat. Eagerly, she turns around and out of the water, running inside to find some breakfast. Or lunch. Depends on your point of view. At any rate, she heads to the castle kitchen, where cupcake batter is comically all over the place; it's on countertops, cupboard doors, the floor, and the ceiling. A new face to us but a familiar one to Anna is stirring something.

"Erik?" Anna asks. "What are you doing in here?"

"Hey… hey, Anna," Erik says. "Funny story how I got in here, actually."

Anna grabs a handful of batter off the counter and gives it a try. "Not bad," she compliments.

"So, as you may or may not know," Erik explains, "it's Elsa and I's one-month-anniversary today, and I wanted to make her cupcakes on my own, but clearly it's all going really

bad."

"And why are you using the castle kitchen for this?" Anna asks, grabbing an apple from a barrel and licking the batter off it.

"Best ingredients, best utensils," Erik answers.

Anna shrugs and turns to walk out.

"I'd be careful walking out," Erik advises. "There may or may not be cupcake batter on the floor."

"I'll be careful," Anna says, almost slipping on cupcake batter.

"I smell cupcakes!" Olaf yells, charging into the kitchen, slipping and falling on the batter.

Anna heads upstairs, taking a bite out of the apple as she passes by the hall where Elsa is still going over papers. She doesn't look in, not wanting to even see anything about business. This is her day now. She heads to the library, grabs a favorite book, and stretches out on the comfy couch. Noticing the window, she sees the spot on the sea from earlier. It's closer now.

"Yep," she says to herself. "Definitely a ship. Elsa!" She calls. "Some ship's coming in!"

Turning her attention to the book, she flips open to where she bookmarked it, about halfway through the five-hundred-page novel. Each word and phrase looks foreign.
"Stupid three months," Anna mumbles to herself. "Now I've gotta go back to the beginning. I can't remember anything."

Anna flips the book to the beginning, her annoyance quickly replaced by interest in the story. She becomes so engrossed in it that she doesn't hear Elsa calling for her. A few minutes later, she doesn't hear Elsa running into the room. Elsa literally grabs the book out of Anna's hands and throws it on the ground.

"Hey, what gives?!" Anna complains, frustrated.

"I was calling for you," Elsa says, putting her hand to forehead in irritation, "because that ship wasn't on the schedule."

"So?"

"So, every ship that comes in is on some kind of schedule [convenient for my plot]. This- this could be a war ship!" Elsa exclaims.

"Or, maybe," Anna objects calmly, "there was a mistake."

"You know what your problem is, Anna?" Elsa asks.

"I'm a bad queen?" Anna answers meekly.

"You're a bad queen," Elsa ignores Anna's answer, despite almost repeating it verbatim. "You're not organized, you have NO time management skills, and the- you know what those papers were that I was going over earlier?"

"The Nythsa papers?" Anna checks.

"Do you happen to know what those are for?"

"Something with trade. I don't know, this whole queen thing is stressful."

"Union rights. There are workers all throughout Arendelle: farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths, the list goes on. And they've got unions, and if they don't get what they want, they can stop working. The economy collapses, we go into ruin, you're ousted as queen, and our family name is shamed. When you didn't respond when I was calling you, it made me freak out, like you didn't care. I'm sorry, I'm overreacting."

"You're fine."

"You get where I'm coming from?"

"Totally."

Elsa picks up Anna's book and hands it back to her. "You're right," she concedes. "The incoming ship was probably a mistake. I'll handle it."

"Where would I be without you?" Anna smiles.

Elsa heads out, leaving Anna behind with her book. Anna sinks into the cushions as she goes over each word, enveloping herself in the story's plot and characters. The book seems especially cheerful. The afternoon sun seems especially bright. The atmosphere feels easygoing. It's comfortable. Anna takes a moment to appreciate the moment she's in, then goes back to her book. Within minutes, though, she's fast asleep, giving in to the lazy calmness we call sleep. After being out of it for almost an hour, Elsa comes walking in, very calmly.

"Anna?" She asks, sounding stressed. Anna doesn't respond, so she pokes Anna's forehead. "Aaaannnnaaaa?" Elsa asks drawn-out.

"Yeah?" Anna asks, barely able to lift her eyelids. The sun's beams are shining directly on her face.

"So, you remember that ship from earlier?" Elsa inquires urgently.

"What about it?" Anna closes her eyes fully, not even bothering to squint.

"Well, this is crazy," Elsa chuckles, "but the man that was on it claims to be our uncle and new king of Arendelle."

"Huh. Oh, well," Anna reacts calmly, turning over so she's not facing the sun.

"Anna!" Elsa freaks out.

"I'm kidding, relax," Anna says, getting up and being the recipient of a punch in the shoulder. "Let's see what all this is about. Can't be too serious."

"I don't know, Anna," Elsa disagrees as they walk side-by-side into the hall. "The man looks an awful lot like Father."

"Did he say what his name was?" Anna wonders.

"He didn't say," Elsa answers. "I thought Father had a sister and that was it."

"I didn't think that; I knew that," Anna shows some backup.

Neither says anything else as they head downstairs, into the great hall. The man is in there waiting for them in the throne. He's dressed in simple peasants' clothes and is about six feet tall. He has buzz-cut brown hair and a short brown beard. He really does look a lot like Agnarr. Additionally, he has a rifle beside the throne.

"This throne is COMFY!" The man laughs. "Ah, can't wait to sit in it all day soon."

"Sorry," Elsa whispers to Anna. "He wanted to see the throne and he seemed decent enough. I think he might be mental."

"Who are you?" Anna asks the man, confused at everything. "Or am I still asleep upstairs and I'm dreaming?"

"This is real, alright," the man replies. "I've dreamt about this moment for decades. I'd know if it wasn't real. The name's Geirrod, but you may call me Uncle Geirrod, or King Geirrod, whichever works better."

"Right, right. I'm not doing that," Anna says.

"Not calling me 'uncle,' or not calling me 'king?'" Geirrod checks.

"I'm not calling you 'king,' and I'm certainly not calling you 'uncle,'" Anna answers.

"Agnarr never told you about me?" Geirrod asks lowly, seeming offended.

"If he did, I would've remembered," Anna says.

"Well, if he didn't, then I will," Geirrod says. "I'm two years younger than him to the day. June 21st."

"That's MY birthday," Anna whispers to Elsa.

"Anyway," Geirrod continues, "when he was 11 and I was 9, we went swimming in the fjord. One tragic accident later, and we're swept out to sea. We floated around for a day, I think. We were strong swimmers. Runeard never came after us."

"Fitting," Elsa comments.

"An old fisherman found us the next day," Geirrod goes on, "and he and his wife took us in. We both had really bad hypothermia because of the cold water. Agnarr was hit hard. I realized that this was my chance to, shall I say, pass him in line to the throne. After staying with the old folks a couple weeks, Agnarr and I went out fishing. I tied him up, threw him in the water, and came home."

"Murderer!" Anna yells.

"Please don't use that label, seeing as I didn't kill anyone," Geirrod pleads. "You made me lose track, now where was I?"

"Attempted murder," Anna says.

"Thank you," Geirrod says. "I came home and received a hero's welcome for surviving. I told everyone Agnarr was dead. The funeral the next day was deeply moving, almost made me feel sad.

"Wouldn't you know, a couple months later, the fisherman brought Agnarr back. He was so cold. His hands felt like ice. But he was back. My father disowned me. He shut me out. So I ran away, went to live with the fisherman and his wife. They didn't know about my escape; they must have thought I had been dead. They took me in as their own for a while, raising me as their own. Now, I'm back, here to claim the throne for myself."

Both Anna and Elsa are on the verge of tears. Both wipe them away.

"You're not the king of anything," Anna accuses, "even if you're telling the truth."

"I know what to do," Elsa says. "I'll go to Ahtohallan. Even if what you're saying is the truth, Geirrod, you can't just waltz in and take the throne."

"I know," Geirrod says. "I was kind of hoping you'd step down quietly. I'm going to get what I've always wanted and nothing will stop me. I'll find a hotel or something to stay in while you fact-check for me."

"Fine. Go find a hotel," Anna says heartlessly. "May the truth be found."

As Elsa turns to leave, she bumps Anna, indicating for her to go with her. "Those Nythsa papers," Elsa says, "are totally unreasonable. They want ridiculous benefits!"

"You should've seen the first draft," Anna replies. "This is the seventh edition."

"Seventh?!"

"I was supposed to have gone over it a week ago. But I'm so tired. And so behind."

As Anna and Elsa turn to head out into the courtyard, Kristoff locks the doors.

"Uh, what's going on, Kristoff?" Anna asks as Sven pushes a cabinet in front of the door.

"It's crazy out there," Kristoff says, adding a table to the barricade. "There's a mob."

"A mob?" Anna asks, pushing Kristoff aside to get to the door.

"Don't, Anna!" Kristoff yells desperately, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her back violently, almost throwing her. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rough, but they've got guns."

"Oh, no," Anna whispers.

"What do they want?" Elsa asks.

"They said they want some kind of union settlement," Kristoff says. "Something about Nysta-"

"Nythsa papers," Elsa says disgruntledly. "Anna, you should've gone over those sooner."

Anna grins sheepishly, not knowing what else to do.

"Well, we have to handle it," Elsa says. "Barricades aren't how you handle a mob."

"Oh, sure, a QUIET mob," Kristoff says. "But a VIOLENT mob? Oh, yeah, let's go right into it."

"A little help, Gale?" Elsa asks.

Gale comes along and pushes the cabinet and table away.

Elsa opens the doors, seeing the courtyard packed with men of varying ages and varying professions, most holding a gun. There's got to be at least two hundred men there, probably more.

"Give us Anna!" One voice calls upon seeing Elsa.

The crowd responds with cheering.

"Talk to ME," Elsa says loudly, motioning with her hands for the crowd to be quiet. "Anna's taking a week off."

"She already took a week off!" Another voice exclaims.

"Look, fellas," Elsa says, "I know you were supposed to have heard back from her by now."

"We're the working class!" Somebody else yells. "We're the most powerful people besides Anna!"

"And she knows that," Elsa says calmly, "but she's been stressed. Give her time. I'll have some results from you about the papers in the morning."

"We want results NOW!" A man called Sigurd calls.

The crowd erupts with pandemonium. A couple gunshots go off, but they were fired upward in celebration just for the noise. No one is hurt.

"Is everyone okay?!" Elsa yells upon hearing the gunshots, not knowing if anyone got shot. It's no use; the crowd is still in jubilee at Sigurd's comment.

Sigurd steps forward, up the steps and right in front of Elsa. He's a couple inches taller than she is, and a bit fatter. "Listen to me, Elsa," he says. "I'm the leader of this effort. Your queen wants to enact policies that get us hardly enough to support ourselves. Most of us have families. Mouths to feed. The new electric era is upon us. We have to buy materials. Spend our time at work. SHE wants our money. She wants us to pay taxes. It's LEGALIZED THEFT!"

The crowd starts cheering again, but Sigurd motions for them to be quiet. They comply, hushing almost immediately. This makes Elsa afraid, seeing the utter power Sigurd has amassed with these people.

"What's your name, sir?" Elsa asks, backing up against the door.

"You don't even know my name," Sigurd chuckles. "It's Sigurd, your snowiness. You don't know what we've been through. We work fourteen hours a day, everyday except Sunday. We make a fifth of what we made with Agnarr as king, and a third of what we made with you as queen. We understand the law; you can't become queen again. Let us through to Anna."

"No," Elsa says, her voice quivering with fear.
Sigurd takes a photograph with its right side ripped off out of his back pocket and hands it to Elsa. It's a picture of Sigurd with a woman, a ten-year-old boy, and a baby boy.

"Let me guess. Your family?" Elsa checks.

"It was," Sigurd answers. "And it was beautiful. Mine was like most families. Too many mouths, not enough to go around. And when we faced death, I offered a solution."

"A coup," Elsa whispers.

"I made us into a union," Sigurd whispers with a shaking, breaking voice, "to get us our money back. While Anna gets rich, we get poor."

Sigurd takes the other half of the photograph. Five children between the ages of 2 and 7 are on it. "They died," Sigurd cries out loud, "because I worked, and I worked, and I worked, but all for what? For NOTHING! I couldn't make enough money. Mine's not the only family. We took what people offered us, but it wasn't enough. We were happy until Anna became queen. She's given me three months of nothing but utter tragedy. What's happened to my family won't happen again. No one will ever have to lose his son or daughter to unfair taxes again."

"I'll talk to Anna," Elsa says, heading inside.

"Darn right you will," Sigurd says.

Cheering erupts from the crowd once more as Elsa closes the door inside. Anna is in Kristoff's arms, and both are visibly disturbed.

"Did you hear all that?" She asks them.

"Every word," Kristoff whispers.

"Anna, why?" Elsa asks.

"I can't do this anymore," Anna says. "I was falling behind on payments for our allies and other expenses. I didn't know what else to do to get the money. And now," she adds, crying, "and now people are DYING, and it's all my fault!"

"Anna, it's not your fault," Elsa says, grabbing Anna's hand.

"How?!" Anna yells, falling to her knees in grief. "How is it not my fault?!"

Kristoff and Elsa pull Anna back up. Each holds one of her arms, trying to support her both physically and emotionally.

"You didn't know," Kristoff says.

"And that's why I'm a horrible queen!" Anna cries.

Unexpectedly, Geirrod walks through, swinging the doors wide open and entering the courtyard, letting said doors shut behind him.

"Who are you?" Sigurd asks viciously.

"I am the queen's uncle," Geirrod answers, "and next in line for the throne. I know how to rule a kingdom. I've studied."

"Name yourself," Sigurd says.

"Geirrod," the named answers. "Neither Anna nor Elsa believes my story. In fact, Elsa is going to fact-check it at Ahtohallan soon. Once I am verified, I will use my royal position to advocate for you all."

The crowd erupts again, and a few more gunshots go off. None kill anybody, as they are all fired into the air again, but they are barely heard above the roar of the people.

"Thank you, King Geirrod," Sigurd says, shaking Geirrod's hand heartily. "May justice be served."

"It will be," Geirrod says. "Your children will not have died in vain. It is all to a purposeful end: the end of my brother's legacy and the betterment of Arendellians everywhere on this fjord."

"What's the play?" Sigurd asks.

"Let me show you what I can do for union," Geirrod says slowly. "With popular favor, we can oust the queen without anyone getting hurt."

"And if she doesn't budge?"

"I've got another plan for that," Geirrod says, smiling smugly.