Anniversary – January, 1898
Elsa knew where she would find her sister.
It was The Anniversary, so there was only one place Anna would be today.
The wind off the fjord was brisk and biting. The January weather in Arendelle tended to be cold, windy, and often blustery with snow or sleet. While Elsa, even in her old age, wasn't bothered by the cold, Anna should in no way be out in this weather.
" – or I'll wind up burying her next to Kristoff far too soon," Elsa thought. It was a grim and horrifying thought. Although three years older than Anna, the younger sister's health had deteriorated in a frightening fashion since she had been widowed these three years, while Elsa remained healthy and mostly robust even at the age of 78.
The only concession Elsa made to her age was the small sleigh drawn by one of Sven's great-great-grandchildren to get her to the memorial hill where the gravestones of the Royal family stood. She simply didn't have the stamina to walk the distance, especially the last, steeper part.
When Elsa had instructed her butler to prepare the sleigh she had told him to put some warm blankets and a jug of hot chocolate in the cargo bed. Anna would need warming up. Lars, the butler, did so, even as he sighed in resignation that he couldn't talk Elsa out of the trip. "Your Majesty, please let me send my daughter after Princess Anna! She's been her personal maid for five years now, and they have a good rapport!"
But this was a task Elsa would delegate to no one. "Thank you, Lars. But I am not so feeble that I can't do this."
He bowed and helped her into the driver's seat, then waved the mounted guardsman waiting patiently to follow the Queen.
Technically, Elsa was no longer the Queen – her people still used the honorific "Your Majesty" as a courtesy and out of their deep love and respect for her. She had abdicated the Crocus Throne to her niece 15 years ago, and retired to a quiet life of study and travel. "Kristianna has done a fine job as Queen, and Anna and I were always available for advice and a steadying hand if she needed one, after all."
Elsa and the guard couldn't speak as they rode which was just as well. She really wasn't in any mood to talk to anyone, so the trip passed in silence except for the hoof-beats of her reindeer and the skritching of the runners on the snow covered ground.
It wasn't a long distance to the burial hill and as they topped the last rise Elsa could see Anna sitting on the ground in front of Kristoff's stone. "At least she had the sense to put down a couple of blankets!"
The guardsman dismounted quickly so that he could help Elsa down from the sleigh, then led his horse and the reindeer a few yards away so the sisters would have privacy.
Anna hadn't turned to see who was coming, she remained slumped with her arms around her knees and from the shuddering of her shoulders Elsa could tell she was weeping. Approaching quietly, Elsa sat down and wrapped her arms around her sister.
"I miss him, too, Anna," Elsa whispered as she hugged Anna close.
The only response was rather more weeping, although Anna did lean into Elsa's embrace. Even after all these years, her first impulse was to share warm hugs with the sister she had been estranged from for 13 years when they were young. Elsa rubbed her back and made comforting noises until Anna finally sat up straight, wiped her eyes and looked into the blue eyes of the woman that the world knew as The Snow Queen.
"I know, Elsa, I know. It's just, on this day, it's hard, so hard."
Kristoff had insisted on going into the mountains, even as he got older, claiming it helped clear his head of all the social requirements of being a Prince Consort, although it was his daughter who ruled Arendelle and not his wife. His last trip had proved … that he was not the hearty, vigorous man who had led a princess in a ballgown through a howling blizzard in July in search of a frightened girl who had just frozen the entire kingdom.
His Ice Guild brethren had brought him home. "We don't know what happened, milady. He went off in the morning like he usually would, saying it was a good day for ice fishing. We found him on his favorite lake, a fishing rig set up and him on his camp stool beside it. We didn't get worried enough to start a search until he wasn't back for supper. He often skipped lunch with us, preferring to carry it with him." Heart attack, stroke, some other mischance, no one would ever know. There were no wounds on his body to give any indication of what had taken him.
Anna's anguish was almost overwhelming. It is one thing to lose a beloved husband to a disease, or even extreme old age. To lose Kristoff so suddenly, to something he loved and had done so many times before, was a cruel blow.
Arendelle shared the grief of the Royal Family. Queen Kristiana had decreed the standard mourning period, then buried her father with all the pomp he deserved, her mother and siblings and aunt at her side.
Elsa hugged Anna closer and nodded. "I know, I know. I find it hard without him, too. But unless you are determined to join him too soon, we need to wrap you up and get you back to Arendelle. Krissy has a small memorial service planned, just us and the rest of your children and their families."
At first Elsa wasn't sure that Anna had heard her, or if she had heard her would respond. But she did, shrugging off the blanket she had wrapped around herself and rising to her feet. Anna then stepped up to Kristoff's stone, placed her hand on it and whispered a prayer too softly for Elsa to hear.
"Okay, we can return to Arendelle now."
Anna stooped to pick up the blankets and carry them to where the guardsman and the sleigh were waiting. She folded them to use as cushioning, then let herself be helped into the seat, where Elsa joined her. After wrapping both of them into a blanket, Elsa had Anna drink some of the hot chocolate, then set the jug down and picked up the reins.
Once the guardsman had mounted up and saluted, Elsa flicked the reins and they started back down to town.
Her arm around her sister, Elsa took one last look back at the memorial stones and sent a silent prayer to her brother-in-law and her parents. "We love you, we miss you. Wait for us, it won't be that long until we're all together again."
There was no answer, of course, but Elsa knew that her beloved family heard her and would wait patiently for Anna and Elsa.
x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x
Author's Note: Anniversaries can be joyous or melancholy. This story was written rather quickly while I was in New York City this past weekend to see "Frozen: the Musical" on Broadway! Squeeee! It was everything I had hoped for and more. If you have the time and resources to see it, GO! It's worth it.
In any case, today, April 10, 2018 is the 4th anniversary of my very first story ever posted anywhere. I had to commemorate that somehow, and decided a little sad Snow Sisters/Frohana would do the trick.
At least we know the two sisters live a long and happy life!