Chapter nine

And a day

The sun was turning red. So was Elsa.

"I thought you said you put on sunscreen today?" Anna said, puzzled.

"I did," Elsa said. "But I was going to apply another coat at noon, and I forgot."

She touched her arms and face gingerly, testing out the reddest parts of her and wincing slightly at her own touch. She noticed the piteous look Anna was giving her. "Don't worry," she said. "I came prepared for this, too."

She fished around in her bag and pulled out a small bottle of aloe vera. "I've got a bigger one at home, but this'll do for now." She carefully inspected Anna's skin. "Are you burnt at all?"

Anna shook her head. "I probably have a few new freckles, but no, not burnt anywhere."

"Good, I like your freckles," she said nonchalantly. Anna beamed.

Elsa popped the cap and gently applied the aloe to her face and arms. She turned away from Anna as she applied it around the top of her tank top.

Oh, being modest all of a sudden? After what you pulled in the Ferris wheel?

Not for the first time that day, Elsa told her inner voice to shut the fuck up. She reached over her shoulder, coating the back of her neck, but struggled to reach between her shoulder blades. She sheepishly turned to Anna. "Hey, could you do me a little favor, Anna?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh, of course," Anna said. Plucking the bottle from her sister's hand, she poured a generous dollop onto her hand and smeared it on Elsa's back. Elsa stifled a gasp from the contact, but Anna must've felt her body shift. If she did, though, she didn't mention it as she spread the aloe.

"Wow, Elsa, your shoulders are so tense," Anna remarked.

"Are they?" Elsa asked. She felt pretty calm at the moment, the whole 'I just kissed my sister' thing notwithstanding.

"Yeah, like, super tense," she said. "Are you stressed out over something right now?"

Elsa scratched her head. "Exams, I guess. But who doesn't stress about those?"

Anna shrugged, saying nothing. But Elsa soon realized the answer.

Anna doesn't stress about exams. Because she actually studies properly for them, prepares well in advance, and probably doesn't spend her weekends browsing the internet and wondering what Scarlett Johansson would be like in-

Her self-dressing down was interrupted by a sudden, unexpected stimulus. Anna had run her fingers under the straps of her top.

The analytical part of Elsa's brain told her that, of course she did. She was making sure to get an even coating. They did it all the time back in the day, when they applied sunscreen to each other – it wasn't even unusual. But that part of her brain wasn't running the show right now.

Her breathing quickened, and her heart followed apace. The feeling of Anna's gentle caress on her back sent her mind back to a place she had been trying to avoid ever since the wheel. Her eyes darted around, trying to find something that might distract her.

Anna lifted her hands. "Okay, Elsa, how does that fe-"

Elsa pointed. "Look, a fortune telling booth!" she said.

Anna blinked. "Oh, uh, yeah," she said, puzzled by the sudden shift.

"You wanna, uh, get your fortune told?" she asked, fully aware of how awkward the statement was.

Anna took it in stride. "Sure," she said. "I would love to."

She trotted off towards the booth, with Elsa right behind.

Smooth move, miss Schneider. I'm sure she doesn't suspect a thing.

The booth was a tiny little thing, a simple box against a wall. It was painted purple and covered in stars, and the words Madame Zeroni's Fortune Booth were scrawled in ornate gothic lettering across the top. Madame Zeroni was a puppet of a dark-skinned wizened old woman in gypsy attire – wonder what Esme would think of the stereotypes on display here – and her voice emanated from a tinny speaker as soon as they drew near.

"To receive your fortune, simply enter my domain and press the button below, my children. You may like it, you may not, but you cannot avoid your own destiny."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Anna said, squeezing into the booth. Elsa followed into the cramped space, forcibly squeezed against Anna. She placed a quarter into the slot and pressed the button. A short clip of 'mystical' music player, before being cut off abruptly as a small piece of paper was printed out.

"Your fortune has been dispensed," Madame Zeroni said in a grave intonation. "Now, depart from this place, and meet it!"

Elsa and Anna both jumped at the sudden harshness in her declaration, then laughed at themselves for doing so. They squeezed out of the booth again, Anna grabbing the paper.

"I've seen that thing every time we come here," Elsa said. "Never been inside it."

"Well, was it everything you hoped for?" Anna asked, grinning.

"Well, show me our destiny, and I'll tell you," Elsa said.

Anna slung an arm around her. "You got it, chief." She unfolded the paper, and they both squinted at the small writing within.

True love is but an arm's length away.

Elsa blinked, rereading the paper to make sure she'd read it correctly. She looked at Anna. "That's…interesting."

Anna snorted. "Yeah. And wrong."

"Huh?"

"Well, just look at us," Anna said, gesturing between them. "We're less than an arm's length away, right?"

"I…guess so," Elsa said, uncertain where Anna was going with this.

"And we were even closer in the booth. So she got it wrong!" Anna was speaking loudly, as if increased volume would increase her confidence as well. It seemed very…unusual.

However, having just escaped from her own awkward situation, Elsa felt no desire to interrogate Anna about this one. "Guess so," she said. "Hey, do you wanna go get some cotton candy next?"

"Yes, that sounds great," Anna said, gratefully seizing on the lifeline. She took Elsa's hand, which Elsa had thankfully gotten accustomed to by now, and they walked towards the concession stand together.

Still, Elsa couldn't quash her curiosity. Why would that fortune have elicited such an odd response from her?

xxxxxxx

"Come on, babe, let's get our fortune told!"

"Okay!" Anna said, trotting towards the booth with her hand in his.

He had to bend over to fit in it. Once inside, the two listened patiently to the spiel, then deposited the money.

"So, what do you think it's going to say?" he asked her.

"Oh, probably something generic, like 'You were made for each other' or 'Lucky numbers 10, 14, 27'."

He barked out a laugh. "Oh, don't be so cynical, babe!" he said, snatching the paper from the slot. "Though that first one doesn't sound so bad."

The two exited the booth, and he unfolded the paper.

His brow furrowed. "The fuck is this?" he said.

Anna took a look at the paper. It took a moment to read the scrawling text, but she figured it out.

To hold is not to have.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he said, looking at the booth accusatorily.

Anna tried to make light of the situation. "Ah, it's nothing. Some employee probably stuffed a bunch of rude ones in there as a prank." She cupped a hand to her mouth. "Hear that? You're full of baloney, Madame Zeroni!"

His scowl didn't abate. "Yeah," he said, not looking at her. He wheeled around and took her hand. "Come on, Anna, let's go on the tilt-a-whirl next."

"Okay," Anna said, hurrying after him. It was still bothering him, though. She could tell, based on how hard he was gripping her hand.

xxxxxxx

Anna licked the remnants of her cotton candy, like a cat licking its fur.

Elsa snickered. "Oh my god, stop," she said, nudging her playfully.

"What?" Anna said in mock indignation. "It's better this way."

"If you say so," Elsa said.

The crowds around them had thinned to a trickle. By 4:30, they had been down to half their initial size – now, the park was close to empty. The two girls strolled down the main path of Angel Island, feeling as if they had the whole place to themselves.

"So…I guess this is dinner?" Elsa pointed out.

Anna shrugged. "Guess so," she said, voice muffled by processed sugar.

Elsa smiled. "Good thing we're young and invincible, eh?"

Anna nodded.

Elsa looked around. "So, where are we headed?"

"You'll see," Anna said.

She took a turn down a side path, and Elsa followed right behind her. Anna's expression started to grow more solemn, but she still gave Elsa a reassuring smile.

"This has been a lot of fun, Elsa," she said. "I'm very glad that you suggested it."

"That's good," Elsa said. "I really enjoyed spending all this time with you. This whole past week…it's been so good."

Anna laughed. "It has. Definitely the best dates I've ever been on."

Elsa also laughed, a little nervously. "Yeah," she said. "And now that you know what good dates are like, your next relationship will be even better!"

"Yeah, that's right," Anna said. She smirked. "Of course, I don't know how any other girls I meet could ever stack up to Elsa Schneider."

"I'm flattered, miss Arendelle," Elsa said, putting a hand to her chest. "You're pretty fantastic yourself, you know."

Anna tossed one of her plaits over her shoulder. "Yes, I am," she said. "Thank you for noticing."

They both laughed again. Anna threw her cone away and wrapped her arm around Elsa's waist, and they kept walking.

Eventually they made their way to a sort of garden area, one they hadn't been to all day. A massive flower bed was arranged into the letters AI, and benches and trees were dotted all around the grassy area. Anna gently steered them towards a large beech tree off to the side.

"I've been steering us away from this spot all day," Anna confessed. "I didn't want to face it, but…now, I think you should see it." She motioned toward the tree.

Elsa nodded and walked over to the tree, though she now had a feeling she knew what she'd find.

It was about four feet up the tree. She had a feeling that it hadn't been Anna that did it. Her hearts always tapered at the bottom, while this one was just two half-circles and two lines.

HS+AA

4EVER

"Hans Suthernile," Anna said quietly.

Elsa turned to look at her. Her hands were clasped in front of her, and she was looking down.

"He said he wanted to leave a memorial here, to our date. To us. So he pulled out his pocketknife – he called it a pocketknife, but it was really big – and just carved into the tree when nobody else was looking." She shuffled her feet. "I was shocked, but I also thought it was really romantic."

Elsa nodded understandingly. She wanted to chime in and say something helpful, but she seemed Anna wasn't done yet.

"T-trees," she said, "grow at their tops." She looked up at Elsa, who motioned for her to continue. "That's what I told Hans when he did this. That means that this mark won't ever move up or down, or stretch, or fade. It'll just be here, in the same place. Forever." She hung her head again, and sniffled.

Elsa took her hand. "It must've been very romantic, at the time," she said sadly. Anna nodded. "But, in fact, that's not correct."

Anna looked at her, confused.

"Sure, it won't grow out naturally," Elsa continued. "But this?" She tapped the tree. "It's just bark. The surface level. All it takes is a little effort to remove it."

She pulled out her own pocketknife and walked over to the tree. She slid the blade under the point of the heart, then began to saw back and forth with it. She worked around the perimeter of the heart, delaminating it all around. Once she had made a full revolution, she sheathed the knife and began to pick at the bark. Piece by piece, the letters came off, leaving only the pale white tree underneath.

"Now this," she said, gesturing at the white heart, "is different. It's not bark, so anything you write on it will be a lot harder to get rid of. But it's a blank slate." She handed the knife to Anna, who hesitantly took it. "You can write whatever you want on it."

Anna stared at the tree, unsure of what to do. Then an idea struck her. She stuck the knife into the wood, and began to carve. Elsa watched silently, waiting until she completed it all. Anna stepped back and handed back the knife, and Elsa looked at the new engraving.

EA+AA

4EVER

+1D

"Forever and a day!" declared Elsa. "Oh, that's perfect, Anna."

Anna smiled. "Thanks," she said.

Elsa frowned. "But, uh, EA?"

"Yeah, it stands for Elsa Aren-" Then she realized what Elsa was getting at. "Ah, cr-shit, you're right, it should've been ES."

Elsa chuckled. "It's fine. I'm sure Elsa Arendelle would love to spend forever and a day together with you, too."

Anna laughed. "Well, that's good to know."

Elsa rewound the conversation in her head. "Did you just un-censor yourself?" she asked, amused.

Anna giggled. "I guess," she said.

"That's adorable," Elsa said, mussing her hair. Anna blushed, only looking cuter for it.

That one part of her mind nagged her again, but she ignored it. The sight of her sister not just happy, but beaming, warmed her heart. She doubted Anna was truly over Hans yet, but she knew that she'd made a lot of progress today. Soon enough, she'd have to process the emotions that had stirred in her today, but that could wait.

Anna's happy again. That's worth any amount of consternation on my part.