Anna's favorite time of year was, well, every time her sister came down to visit. She'd gotten over the whole moving out thing pretty quickly once they'd actually sat down to talk about it, but still. Anna loved Elsa and wanted to see her as much as she could, even if she did understand the whys.
They tried to arrange it for every week, though sometimes one or the other was too busy. But they did write, frequently, especially after Anna and the Northuldra established a joint mail system. Was it a little bit bad that easier communication had been one of the reasons Anna had quickly jumped on the idea? It helped everyone out, of course, but it also meant she could write Elsa more frequently than just relying on Galemail.
So she didn't feel too bad about it.
Elsa's latest letter had been a little cryptic, but she'd said she and Honeymaren were coming for a whole three-day weekend. Anna, of course, was beside herself with excitement. To have her sister, her husband, and her sister's girlfriend all together was going to make it the best weekend ever. She hoped Ryder came along, too.
"I'm excited and I don't know why!" Olaf declared, flailing his arms at Anna.
Anna giggled and held out her hand for him, "Because Elsa is going to visit."
"She visited last week."
"You were excited then," she pointed out.
"I hope I never get not excited for when Elsa visits," Olaf mused.
"Me too." Anna knelt in front of him, "Here's an idea. Why don't you go to the Forest with her when she leaves next week? Stay there for a week or two, spend some time with her. I know she misses you something fierce."
"What about you?" Olaf put his twiggy hands on Anna's shoulder, "You should come too, Elsa would be really happy. She could show you Ahtowoozit again."
"Ahtohallan. As Queen, it's a lot harder for me to get away than it is for Elsa." Anna felt a little twinge in her chest. That really was the worst part of all of this, "But I think I can arrange a diplomatic visit for a few days." She was already thinking it through; she'd have to pass a message through Honeymaren, probably, and set something up for a few weeks from now. Then she could go up there, and when she returned home to Arendelle Olaf could come back with her. It was perfect!
"That's a good idea." Kristoff's voice behind her made her nearly jump out of her skin. Anna got up and smacked his arm, "Don't startle me like that."
"But it's so much fun." He grinned at her, then stole a kiss that immediately mollified her, "But you probably need to do your Grand Tour first. You've already visited the Northuldra several times, but you're over due to visit our other allies."
He sounded like a King and she was proud of him. Annoyed. But proud. Anna grimaced, "You know, I was so excited to help Elsa with her own Tour, before the whole Nattmara nightmare wolf thing happened. But now that it's my turn, I'm really kind of nervous about the idea of leaving Arendelle for that long. I suddenly understand Elsa's hesitation."
The Grand Tour was a tradition wherein the monarch of Arendelle sailed to pay visits to many of their allies and strengthen ties. In hindsight, considering it was her grandfather that started the tradition, it was probably meant to be a show of force. And while Anna had incentive to show force to certain nations that certain disgraced princes came from, she was much more inclined to change it to a tradition of peace and friendship. Those were the values she wanted Arendelle to stand for.
"Do you think she'll be willing to watch over Arendelle while you're gone?" He slid his arms around her, warm and comforting, "Assuming she even can. I'm still not sure how the whole Fifth Spirit thing works or what sort of things she has to do to maintain stability and balance."
"That makes all of us. Elsa included I'm pretty sure." Anna turned her head up and smiled at him, "She trusted me to watch Arendelle. I'll trust her so we'll figure it out. I mean, worst case scenario is we have a steward, I'm pretty sure that's how my dad handled it. But I do like keeping it in the family."
Taking his hand with her right and one of Olaf's with her left, she started walking with them.
Olaf looked up at her, "Anna?"
"Yes, Olaf?"
"Do you think Elsa is okay?"
She came to a sudden and abrupt halt and tried to stay calm. The last time that Olaf had used words like that had been a bad time and she still sometimes woke up from nightmares crying, feeling alone and lost, "What do you mean?"
"I don't know." He shrugged a snowy shoulder, "Just a gut feeling." He lowered his voice to a stage whisper, "I think she gained some weight."
"Please don't say that to her face, that's really rude," Kristoff said, with the air of a man who may have actually made that mistake once or twice.
Anna swiveled her head towards her husband, "Why does it sound like you have personal experience about that?"
Kristoff chuckled nervously, "She kind of froze my feet to the floor."
She gasped, "You deserved it!"
"Deserved what?"
Elsa's voice made Anna jump out of her skin again. At this rate she was going to start losing years of her life if people kept startling her. She turned around, pressing a hand to her chest as Elsa, Honeymaren and Ryder rode up on the Nokk.
They slid off, Elsa pausing to nuzzle the water spirit before it splashed away.
"I'm yelling at Kristoff for being rude," Anna said, folding her arms and pointedly not looking at her husband.
"Ah." Elsa shared a look with Honeymaren, then approached Anna, touching her elbow, "Can I talk to you for a moment? Alone. Sister talk."
Something in her tone of voice sounded urgent, and so Anna just nodded. Communication was good, communication was very good but that didn't mean she didn't start having nerves fluttering around in her stomach.
Smiling, Elsa kissed Maren, hugged Kristoff and Olaf, then took Anna's hand and dragged her into the castle.
"Okay, you're in a hurry, what's wrong? Do you want me to get mother's scarf?"
"Thank you, but it's okay. I'll tell you, just not out here." Elsa glanced at Anna, winking at her, "It's not bad. At least I hope it's not bad. It's just really important that I tell you this myself."
At last, they ended up in the library and Elsa closed the door behind her. She exhaled, leaning back against it, and seemed to be searching for words. There was a glow to her and a smile that kept tugging at the corners of her lips. A nervous smile, but still a smile.
"Why don't we sit down." Anna took Elsa's hands and pulled her over to the couch, where they'd all had so much fun on game night. She marveled at how well they'd turned the room that had nearly been her tomb into a place of joy and laugher.
"Yeah, that's good." Elsa sat down, and when she fidgeted with her hands Anna took them back again.
"Okay, so what is it? You were kind of cryptic in your last letter, too." Anna was starting to get an idea in her head but forced herself to not assume things and just let Elsa tell her. This could be anything. Was she dying? No, she said it wasn't bad news..,
"Well, like I said I've got some good news," Elsa started to say, before the door burst open and Olaf came running in.
"Guys guess what! Elsa's pregnant!"
"Damn it!" Elsa flopped her head on the back of the couch and groaned. Anna quickly, but belatedly, covered Olaf's ears.
"Wait, what?" Anna looked at her sister. And the glow about her, and the holy shit that was a baby bump! "Oh my god!"
"Sorry!" Honeymaren ran in with Kristoff and Sven just behind her, "I thought you'd had time and then he took off like it was a race!"
"Who knew a snowman could run that fast," Ryder commented, grinning.
"It's the thought that counts," Anna said, excitedly tugging Elsa back upright and then into her arms, squeezing her tightly. "I'm so happy! I'm gonna be an auntie!"
"And here I thought we'd be first," Kristoff mused, sliding one arm around each of the twins.
"Considering how often we-" Anna remembered Olaf was in the room, "Never mind."
Oblivious, Olaf said, "I'm going to be an uncle! Or is this like a sibling or cousin thing? You know, I don't think I've ever stopped to think about that familial relationships I have with you and Elsa nor have we ever discussed the ethical and moral implications of creating sentient life such as myself, Marshmallow and the snowgies."
"Right," Ryder said.
"You can be whatever you want to call yourself," Elsa assured him, leaning over to pick him up and hug him. Anna leaned in so she could hug them both.
"I do have a question though," Olaf added.
"What is it?"
"You and Honeymaren are both girls, so how does this work? Don't you need a boy to make a baby?"
Elsa shot Anna a questioning look and Anna quickly shook her head to tell her she had not been giving Olaf any sex education lessons.
Honeymaren knelt next to the couch and smiled at him, "Some women can make another woman pregnant, and some boys can become pregnant."
"And some people are neither or both," Ryder helpfully added.
Olaf blinked his eyes once, then nodded, "Okay! Wow, that wasn't hard to understand at all."
"Now that that's out of the way." Anna turned her gaze upon Honeymaren and gave her a wicked smile, "Now that you've gotten my sister all good and preggers…"
"I proposed to her last week," Elsa said, quick to assure her and stop her shovel talk speech.
"I'm jok-wait, you did?"
"Reindeer and everything," Ryder said, eyes glinting with all the madness they could possess whenever the topic of reindeer came up. He all but bounced over to them, "I've been helping her plan this for months!"
Elsa blushed, "Definitely hadn't intended on the baby thing. That was a complete accident."
"I already knew." Mare sat on the couch next to Elsa and leaned against her, "Well, I guessed, but I wanted to hear it from her."
Kristoff rubbed the bridge of his nose then leaned on the back of the couch while Sven rested his head on his shoulder, "So ixnay on the wine! But we've got some new chocolates we can snack on tonight."
Anna noted he said that like he expected both her and Elsa to fly into a frenzy over it. So she refused to give him the satisfaction.
It was really tempting to fly into a frenzy over it.
"Can we play some games, too?" Elsa asked, looking pleased to be surrounded by her family. "Just… anything but charades. Oh!" She tugged on Anna's hand, "Tomorrow, I wanted to talk to you about your Grand Tour. If you don't mind."
"Of course I don't mind, oh my god the thought of it gives me hives." Anna hugged her, trying not to cry. "But this is family time not work time, so it can wait."
Elsa looked like she was going to cry too and at least she had the hormone excuse. She looked at Anna, and then Ryder and Kristoff and Olaf, and then finally Honeymaren, "I love you, all of you."
Olaf put his hands on Elsa's stomach and looked like he was trying to peer inside, somehow. In an odd voice, he said, "I can't wait to introduce you to the poetry of William Wordsworth."