The king was growing into a suspicious man, moreso with each passing year. He must have gotten up extra early to wait, planning his ambush. The sun had barely risen. He appeared from out of one of the sitting rooms, silent and swift like an assassin.

'Papa!' Anna jumped.

'Anna.'

Elsa looked between the two of them, eyes wide like a trapped rabbit, and awkwardly curtseyed.

'Would you step in here for a minute?'

'Uh...of course,' She turned to Elsa and gave her best apologetic face, 'be right back.'

He closed the door gently and stared down at her, 'You're planning to release her.'

'Oh yes, out of a box, like a flock of doves. I thought it would be a lovely theatrical display of peace and goodwill.'

Perhaps she did like to provoke people. Just a bit. Just sometimes.

'You're all dressed up in your boy-disguise. Why?'

Anna looked herself up and down. She was indeed in her "boy-disguise", though she would never call it that. Breeches, boots, a white mens shirt, brown woollen vest and a very plain cloak, topped off with a flat cap. 'I think I look quite dapper, don't you?'

'Yes, it does rather suit you, actually, but-'

'Like the son you never had, huh?' That line always got him worked up in a frenzy of guilt and denial. Plus, she looked handsome and adorable in this outfit, and she knew it. Even Elsa had seemed to be admiring her. She swore she didn't imagine that. Prayed she didn't.

'No, we're not playing this game today.' Agnarr said. 'Where are you going?'

She couldn't tell him the truth. The Valley of the Living Rock was simply not an acceptable place for a princess - or anyone who didn't want to be considered a spiritual deviant - to casually visit on a cheery autumn Saturday. Before she'd met Kristoff, even Anna had been led to believe that trolls, like all magical races, were malevolent, vile little creatures who sought to cause needless harm to innocent humans. The older she got, the more she came to suspect the opposite was true. But now was not the time for that particular line of enquiry. She had to think fast.

'Relax, I'm taking her to the alchemist. I thought we should keep a low profile. Wouldn't want any gossip.'

'Really?'

'Yes, really. It's about time, don't you think?'

'About time for what exactly? Anna, I need to know you aren't planning on doing anything reckless.'

But of course she was. That was kind of her signature move. Did he not know his daughter at all? Did he not know she was not only reckless but also relentlessly stubborn and an excellent liar?

'To...assess our options.' Anna sighed and tried to look regretful. Agnarr would never believe that his soft-hearted, stray-dog-rescuing daughter had suddenly become a warmonger. But he may believe that she could be gently prodded into compromise, by the right person, with the right charisma… 'Hans and I talked about it, actually.' The lie tasted foul in her mouth 'He...he made some good points. Helped me see things clearly.'

'Did he, indeed?'

'Yeah...I mean...Of course I'd prefer things were different. But I'm not that naive. It's wartime now, and that means General Hardier will get his way in the end. He always does. So, rather than fighting a battle that I can't win, I figure I'd rather at least have a hand in how we proceed.'

That should be believable. The council was already swinging in favour of Hardier, salivating over the prospect of enemy ships frozen solid and precisely directed blizzards. All it took to seal the deal, apparently, was one arrogant prince with a stupid story about a Wyvern easily puppeteered by a few enchanted shackles or a compliance potion.

'And Elsa is just... happy to go along with this?'

'I told you, showing kindness would fare us well.'

'Anna. Listen to me. Listen carefully. She must not escape.' His words were sharp, cold as ice, 'Do you understand?'

'She won't even try. We've grown close, Papa. She trusts me.' She even sleeps in my bed. It was tempting to provoke, just a little more. But she knew when to take a win and run. 'You should do the same.'

Finally, the interrogation was over. The sun was far too high in the sky and the courtyard far too noisy. Getting away unseen would be harder now. Anna burst into the hall, grabbed Elsa's unusually cold and clammy hand and headed off in brisk steps toward the barn where Kristoff would no doubt be rolling his eyes and complaining to his reindeer friends about her tardiness.

II

Anna pulled her cap down, snug over her messy bun, and wrapped her commoner cloak tight around herself. It was always exciting when she got to wear this disguise and go on covert outings. She used to imagine she was a spy, doing a super secret mission of critical international importance. She'd make up a whole fake identity and a backstory, and Kristoff would begrudgingly play along.

She didn't do that today. Perhaps she was growing up and leaving such childish games behind. Or perhaps just remaining herself was enough of a theatrical act these days.

It was easier up here. The city grew distant as the carriage creaked and bumped over the dirt road, away from the spoilt nobles with their champagne flutes, the emergency council meetings, the pressure and obligations and the sense of being watched and talked about, and the constant jabs too small to define but always somehow getting under her skin, it all seemed somehow...smaller. Each worry drifted a little further away with gusts of wind and the smell of damp alpine forest.

'Can I please hold the reins?'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'Because,' Kristoff's voice came out flat and monotonic, but underneath it, Anna knew. She knew he was pleased to see her, 'I like my head attached to my body.'

Anna sighed. It was a miracle she was even allowed on these unsupervised trips. Her father had well and truly impressed upon Kristoff that should anything happen to Arendelle's beloved princess and only heir, not only would the resulting civil war be his fault but that the king would personally ensure that the entire kingdom knew exactly where to place the blame.

She punched him playfully in the arm, 'You never let me have any fun!'

'Oh, yeah, I'm a tyrant. I'm still not entirely convinced I'm not being made complicit in a kidnapping, here.'

'Kristoff, please. What have I told you about asking questions you don't want the answers to?'

The joke fell flat. Truth be told, Elsa was behaving rather like an abductee. Quiet, eyes on the ground like a scolded scullery maid. She did have a tendency to be...skittish. Prone to melancholy which she hid poorly behind her veil-thin, "cold" exterior. And the poor girl had been made to interact with not one but two new people this morning. Heaven forbid. She wouldn't last a day as a noble. All the luncheons, the small talk, the handshakes.

But still, even for Elsa, this reaction was disproportionate. Something was off. Anna hopped over to the back of the wagon in one nimble movement, enjoying her extra agility in the practical boy clothes.

She felt only tension next to her. Elsa leaned away, head between her knees, arms wrapped around her legs.

One step forward, two steps back. And suddenly Anna was keenly aware of how invested she had become and how precarious their bond still was. How delicate a space they occupied with Anna's vulnerabilities all on display, Elsa's unspoken, locked away tight but somehow glaringly obvious despite it.

'Elsa?'

Silence. They were back to that, apparently. Anna couldn't lie - it stung. She had been very patient. Gentle. She hadn't pushed. And she had let Elsa into her most fragile and, frankly, her most humiliating, demoralising moments. She had hid nothing.

'Elsa I..Look, I'm sorry my father stopped us this morning. I didn't mean for you to feel uh…' what was she feeling? It was so unclear. 'Intimidated? He's just been really stressed, you know, we're about to go into recession and-'

'We're about to go into recession?' Kristoff said. 'Aw, man! I just took out a loan!'

'Kristoff!' Anna scolded, 'Do you mind?'

'Sorry.'

'What's wrong?' Anna left it at that, letting the quiet sounds of the woods fall back upon them. Patience was key with Elsa. Patience and persistence.

'I just wish…' each word came out weak and stifled, 'you'd told me…'

'Told you what?'

'About…' it really looked like she was choking. If she had been eating rather than talking, Anna would be performing the heimlich maneuver already. 'About the alchemist.'

'The alchemist? What alchemist?'

For a moment Anna was very confused. Until she wasn't. Her stomach sank as she remembered the conversation with her father. How many of those awful lies did Elsa overhear? How much damage had been done? Anna could barely even remember exactly what she'd said, just that she'd felt disgusting saying it. But speaking of the alchemist was enough in itself.

Of course, not all alchemists went around plucking the wings off pixies and draining the blood from unicorns. But enough of them did. She shuddered at the memory of magical-science tomes she'd read naively, years ago in her youth, hoping to learn how to communicate with birds or breathe underwater and instead finding records of gruesome experiments that plagued her with nightmares even months afterwards.

'Oh, Elsa, no! That was a lie!' she reached out, hand hovering over Elsa's knee, wanting to give some kind, any kind of comfort, but pulled it back. She'd already done this much damage. Elsa might shatter at her clumsy touch. She might disappear. Like everyone Anna loved. Like Astrid. 'That was just something I told my father to get him off my back. Because he doesn't like my friends. And he wouldn't like where we're going.'

'So we're not...going to see an alchemist?'

'No. We are not going to see an alchemist. We're going to see the trolls. Like I told you.'

'But you said... you said you talked to Hans about it?'

'Aaand that kinda should have been your first clue that I was lying. Dontcha think?'

'I...Yeah…it didn't make sense but...' Elsa wiped a tear with the back of her hand and squinted up at the sky, blinking like somebody who hadn't seen the sun in a long time, 'But...I guess I panicked.'

It made no sense. On so many levels, Anna's head was spinning with the incongruencies. That the calm and collected Elsa who had seemed content to sit in the dungeons shrugging and giving one-word answers when she surely knew death was a possibility chose now to panic. That someone with the intellectual smarts to appreciate fine literature and the practical wile to survive so long in a world that ruthlessly hunted and exploited her kind would have a moment of such, well, gullibility. But most of all - and this was the part that really hurt Anna's heart, and actually, if she was honest, offended her - that Anna was just going to take her along to the alchemist without any prior discussion, so casually, like some kind of interesting mushroom she'd found on a morning stroll. And to lie about it!

'You really think I'm that cold-blooded?'

'No! Of course not.' Elsa protested but it was too late. Anna was in defensive mode and she couldn't seem to reign it in. Perhaps she was spoilt. Dramatic. Sensitive. Naive. Reckless. All these things she'd been called, by people who loved her, and she'd swallowed it down and rolled with the punches. But to think she could come across so utterly callous. It was insulting. It was straight up unfair. 'You thought I'd spent all that time getting close to you, just to go behind your back and sell you out?'

'I didn't want to believe it, I swear.' Elsa looked up, sniffling and snotty, not quite making eye contact. Still in the fetal position. Her next words came like a punch in the gut, 'But it wouldn't be the first time.'

'Oh.' That was all Anna could manage. She was still hurt. And angry. And it felt crummy to be angry at someone so pitiful. It made her feel like a jerk. 'I'm sorry.'

'No, I'm the one who should be sorry,' Elsa said. 'You've been so good to me and I still don't really know why. I guess… It seemed too good to be true.'

Too good to be true was perhaps excessive. It's not like Anna had thrown her a parade. Taken her on luxury holidays. Bestowed her land and titles. She hadn't even managed to bestow her a basic level of freedom her most lowly citizens enjoyed.

She wasn't angry any more. Or defensive. She was stuck on those words, it wouldn't be the first time, and she needed to know. Who sold Elsa out? What terrible consequences had she suffered for daring to trust someone? Sometimes she wanted to grab her pale companion by the shoulders and shake her and demand to know, what's happened to you?

But she never would. Partly because, despite her reputation as an impulsive, reckless, big mouthed, blurter-outer of inappropriate things, Anna recognised when things were fragile. Because despite her reputation as bubbly and robust and tomboyish and eternally smiling, she was fragile too.

Partly because she wasn't sure she could bear to hear the answer.

Instead she chose to just let the gentle symphony of the countryside settle upon them. The clip clop of hooves on a dirt road. The call of birds and foxes and other little critters, living their simple little critter lives, without magic or power or politics. The light breeze rustling through the trees. Katja was right - it did bring out a certain serenity. Even Elsa was looking tranquil, leaning over the side of the carriage, resting her head on folded arms, smiling coyly at the view below.

The city was tiny now, like a little grey stain on the neverending expanse of emerald green forest. Specks of golden sunlight shimmered on the deep azure fjord. Mighty hills rose up into the sky, still bathed in morning mist and warm light, dotted with the purest white snowcaps. It was a beautiful country. Breathtaking, in the right moments.

'Hey Elsa?'

'Yes?'

'I don't know if anyone actually told you this yet but, uh, welcome to Arendelle.'

They rode on a while longer in quiet understanding - at least that's what Anna hoped it was. She never quite realised how much of a relief it was to leave the castle until she was out of it. Kind of like a slightly too tight dress, which, funnily enough, she was so often stuffed into back down there.

Kristoff broke the silence. 'Soo...if I'm allowed to speak now…'

'Yeah, sorry Kristoff!'

'You guys wanna play a game? I spy, or something?'

'What? But you never want to play a game. You always say no when I ask!'

'Well, caught me in a good mood, so, do you wanna play or not?'

'Yes!' Anna reached for Elsa's hand and squeezed.

Elsa didn't shatter. She didn't disappear. She didn't dematerialise into a cloud of snow and waft away on the breeze. She squeezed back, smiled, and said, 'yes.'