Time passing had no pull on Anna. She was coronated, she was queen, she was engaged. But yet nothing weighed on her soul like Elsa's leaving.
Initially it felt like a shock- Elsa's new dress, the Nokk behind her, the prospect alone of there no longer being two ruling sisters in Arendelle. But Anna knew that her sister belonged in a place where she could truly step into her full potential.
The warmth of Kristoff's hand on her shoulder grounded her some but she couldn't deny the piece of her that left along with her older sister.
"She's not gone, Anna" the hand on her shoulder moved to rub her chilled skin. "You'll always have her."
Anna smiled- she had known Kristoff to always be a stumbler as far as verbal sentiment went, but this came closer than he could guess. He knew her sister's ice magic ran deep within her now, maybe he was starting to see it like she did- like blood.
They say still waters run deep
The first night without Elsa in the castle was rough to say the least. Anna had found herself in the bathtub again. She relaxed into the feeling of the steaming water, how, though icy and hollow, she still weighed enough to not be floating. Anna ran her hands over her stomach and along her ribs. Where there was once the modest cushion of flesh that formed her figure, there was now barely more than skin against her bones. She sighed at the feeling and pulled her legs closer to her chest.
She wasn't a skeleton by any means but she thought back to how little she had been eating over the past few days, few weeks. If her handmaids protested to her dwindling figure they didn't make it known, but each morning she felt their concern grow as her corset fit tighter.
They probably only thought it to be the effect of her preoccupation, Anna wondered if Elsa went though something like that during her first reigning week.
A soft knock at the door pulled Anna from her thoughts. "Anna?"
Her grip on her knees relaxed at the familiar tone of voice. "Yeah, come in."
The door opened and Kristoff's flushed face peeked into the room. "Hey, baby. Sorry to interrupt your bath but I wanted to-"
Anna stopped him with a wave of her hand and he ventured closer to her spot in the room. Kristoff knelt down beside the tub and regarded her with a small smile. "-wanted to see how you were doing after all that's been going on with Elsa and," he gestured to where her crown had been sitting all day "with Queen stuff."
Anna's face dropped only slightly but it didn't go unnoticed by her fiance; he let her speak but his face folded into a worried expression. "It's been heavy," she willed herself to try and sound less small "and I've been feeling, well," she let out a breath "alone and-" he opened his mouth to interject but she finished. "Cold."