So.

How are you? :)

I do hope you enjoy this chapter. I might be a little rusty when it comes to writing for Elsa and Anna. It's the first time in a while that they've actually been in the same room together. I always imagined Anna being the social butterfly with people smarts, and Elsa being the introvert with book smarts. What do you think? I'm sure you'll let me know. Or at least I'm hoping you'll let me know. I do value your opinion.

Take good care, my friend.

ssg.x.

CHAPTER 26
ALL MORTALS IN BEAUTY

Anna lay on her back across Elsa's bed and stared absently at the ring on her finger, glancing occasionally at Elsa sitting quietly at her vanity reading a book. Actually, Anna wasn't so sure that Elsa was actually doing any reading. She hadn't turned a page for at least ten minutes and Anna was starting to get the impression that Elsa was using the book as an excuse not to talk.

If that was the case, Anna was onto her. She'd waited years for Elsa to come out of her cocoon. She could wait a few more hours if Elsa still insisted on vacationing there occasionally.

It had been almost two months since Hans had blown into town demanding to speak to Elsa and she still hadn't told anyone why he'd wanted to see her. Well, not the real reason, anyway. The official reason was that Elsa and the Westergård family had decided during her visit that he should serve out the rest of his sentence here in Arendelle where the military had experience dealing with Hans' powers.

When asked how he'd acquired his powers, all Elsa said was that she had managed to keep hers a secret for years.

"For all we know, he's had these abilities all along."

She was uncharacteristically dismissive. Gerda and Kristoff had both tried to tell Anna on separate occasions that Elsa was just maturing as a queen and keeping her people from worrying needlessly, but Anna wasn't buying it. Elsa was hiding something. She had an answer for everything, and the tone of voice she delivered those answers with was clipped and cool, her unusually tenebrous eyes revealing nothing. Anna found it wholly unsettling. It reminded her of Hans, which only made her all the more suspicious.

"It's like she's been hypnotized," Anna told Kristoff. "Are there trolls out there who can be persuaded to cast evil spells on people for money?"

That last comment earned Anna two days' worth of the silent treatment from Kristoff, which she thought was absurdly unfair. She'd learned over the past year that there was real evil in the world hiding behind even the most innocuous of faces. If humanity consisted of good people, bad people, and just…people, then was it so far-fetched to believe that there could be good trolls and bad trolls? The only magic Anna was familiar with was that of Elsa's powers, and the only ones who ever seemed to understand those were the trolls. More specifically, Grand Pabbie.

If only Kristoff would let me speak to Grand Pabbie about Hans, she thought, looking across the room at Elsa.

"So…what are you reading?" she asked.

Elsa looked up, her eyes taking a moment to focus on Anna as though she'd had no idea anyone was in the room with her until she spoke.

"It's called The Sandman," she finally answered. Anna rolled over onto her stomach, resting her chin in her hands.

"Is it a fairytale?"

"Um…not exactly."

Anna and Elsa chatted about the book for a little while. Elsa was rather evasive about the book's subject matter, which only served to pique Anna's interest in it even more. She made a mental note to grab the book the second Elsa was done reading it herself. Elsa and Anna talked a little about what she and Kristoff had been up to the past little while.

"My whittling has gotten much better. I'm making a bowl right now. I'm going to try to carve some tulips around the outside of it. I'm not nicking my fingers nearly as often now."

Elsa smiled. "I'm just relieved you've managed to keep all your fingers attached to the rest of you."

"It's easy enough if you have the right materials and tools, and –"

"Teacher?"

Anna blushed. "Yes. A very good teacher."

Elsa crossed the room and sat beside her on the bed. She took Anna's hand and looked at the ring on her finger.

"It's really beautiful. He's very talented, isn't he?" Elsa said.

"Yes, he is. I'm starting to think I might be the only person in the family with no artistic talent to speak of," Anna chuckled. Elsa arched an eyebrow at her and smirked.

"Family, huh?"

Anna's eyes widened. "Oh…well…um…"

"So maybe this is an engagement ring after all," Elsa said. Anna shook her head rather vigorously.

"No, no, no. It's just a friendship ring."

"A friendship ring?" Elsa asked skeptically.

"Okay, maybe a promise ring."

"Promising what?"

"Oh, come on," Anna groaned, reaching for one of Elsa's pillows to bury her face in. "Anyways," she said, her voice muffled, "Even if it was an engagement ring, which it most definitely is not, it wouldn't feel right getting married before you."

Elsa let go of Anna's hand.

"I…um…Anna, that's very kind of you, but it would be silly to wait until I'm married to get married yourself."

Anna sat up. "I don't think it's silly. You're the older sister. It just wouldn't feel…I don't know. I just don't like the idea of getting married before you've found –"

"The one?" Elsa laughed. "I don't know if I believe in there being such a thing as 'the one', and I'm certainly not going to stop everyone's world from turning until I've been proven right or wrong," she said primly. "So when you and Kristoff feel that you're ready to become engaged, or engaged to be engaged, or whatever it is your heart desires at whatever time it desires it, you just let me know. I'm too busy being a queen and being your sister to also be an interloper."

"But you're so good at it," Anna said, taking back the hand Elsa took away from her only a moment ago. "Where would we be now if you weren't?"

Elsa pushed Anna over. "I wasn't interloping. I was suffering from a crisis of identity."

"Well, just be sure to give us all fair warning when your midlife crisis hits. I'll make sure Gerda lays out my wool flannel pyjamas."

Elsa rolled her eyes, dropping back on the bed next to her sister. "You're hysterical."

They lay quietly next to each other, Elsa holding her book to her chest, her hand still wrapped in Anna's.

"Elsa…"

"Hm?"

"Does it ever..." Anna gave her head a shake. "Nevermind."

Elsa squeezed her fingers. "What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Anna, come on," Elsa laughed.

Anna's ears started burning up. "Well…fine. Does it ever upset you that I'm…that we…Like…I mean, Kristoff and I –"

"Anna, breathe," Elsa instructed. Anna obeyed her. "Okay, now try again."

"Does it ever make you upset that I've done all these…firsts before you?"

Elsa rolled onto her side to face Anna. "Firsts?"

"Yeah. Like…first dance with…a man, or first afternoon alone with a man…First kiss with…a…" her voice trailed off.

"Reindeer?" Elsa offered. Anna smiled awkwardly, looking mortified.

"You know what I mean," she said. "Does it bother you?"

"Of course not!" Elsa gasped. "Have I ever given you that impression?"

"No, no. You've never said or done anything to make me think that. I just…I just don't like the idea of you being lonely."

"I'm not lonely, Anna. I've got you, Gerda, Kai and Kristoff, Sven and Olaf and…How could I ever possibly feel lonely?"

"Elsa, that's very sweet, but I learned growing up that you can be surrounded by people and still feel very much alone. And…Elsa, you just don't seem like yourself. You seem so…"

"So…what?"

"Just…it's like someone or something snuffed out the light in your eyes," Anna said carefully.

Elsa frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean. I've been fine. Maybe just a little tired."

"Tired?"

"Yes. Tired. I've been so busy these past few weeks, and I've been getting to bed rather late, so…"

She was lying, but Anna let Elsa continue. Once she was done, Anna said, "The court has been giving you a hard time about Hans, haven't they?"

"Yes. I suppose I can't really blame people for thinking it was a mistake to bring him back here," Elsa sighed, sitting up and crossing the room, the book still clutched to her chest.

"No, you can't. I still don't understand why you did it, myself."

Without looking at Anna, she gave the same answer she'd been giving her for weeks.

"I'm the only one who truly knows what he's capable of. I couldn't leave him there."

Anna shrugged her shoulders. "I'm fairly sure I know what he's capable of, too, which is why I have to agree with the court – you probably should have left Hans where he was."

"What happened to you will never happen again, Anna," Elsa said firmly. "I promise you that."

"And what if he unleashes another eternal winter?" Anna asked. "What then?"

"If that happens, I'm the only person equipped to take care of it," she replied, turning her back on her. "What if he unleashed an eternal winter over there? The country would be helpless. People would freeze to death, and the people who didn't freeze to death would starve to death. How would I be able to live with myself if that happened and I could have done something to prevent it?"

Anna frowned, feeling a little ashamed of herself. "You're right," she said quietly. "I'm just being…I don't know. I need to stop letting him get under my skin. Kristoff keeps telling me the same thing, but you know me – I'm stubborn. And…" Anna hesitated. Elsa sat down at her vanity, placing the book down just long enough to pull the grey cape hanging over her chair around her shoulders.

"And?"

"When I went to see him at the docks that night he arrived, I made the mistake of talking to him. He was just as smug as he was just before he left me to freeze to death. God, he's such a jerk. He wasn't the least bit sorry for what he'd done, and…I don't know. I hate him. I really, really hate him, but I wonder sometimes…if I was someone else, would he have fallen in love with me? Could I have made him change his mind, drop his plan and…"

"Anna…" Elsa said softly.

Anna waved her hands and laughed. "No, no, no! I just mean that I've always told myself that he just isn't capable of falling in love, period. But once in a blue moon I wonder if I'm wrong."

"Anna, back then I think the last thing on his mind was falling in love. And you know, of course, that the attention someone pays or doesn't pay you shouldn't subtract from or determine your worth as a person. You're beautiful, Anna. You're so clever and kind, and -"

Anna nodded. "Yeah, I know. I know." Of course she knew Elsa was right – Hans didn't love anyone. Okay, well maybe Sitron. In the end, Hans was just out looking to marry a crown. Any woman could have been under it.

Still…

"I just…I want to be…bewitching. Beguiling. Not just 'adorable' or 'funny'. I want to be Helen of Troy."

"Helen of Troy?" Elsa repeated, her eyebrows raised in amusement. She turned towards the mirror of her vanity and started to remove the pins holding up her hair.

"Helen of Troy. Like, I don't want to hang off the front of a boat, or start any wars or anything, but…well, you know what I mean. Who wants to be just 'cute' when they can be 'captivating'?" Anna explained, dropping her voice an octave on "captivating" and batting her eyelashes.

Elsa's hair fell down around her shoulders, frothy and white like sea foam. She began carefully running her fingers through it to make sure she'd gotten all the pins. Anna caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror over Elsa's shoulder. Her freckles stood out like points on a map against her ruddy cheeks, and her long red braids looked more like plaited rope just then than the silky scarlet mane of a princess.

"Don't you ever notice the way Kristoff looks at you?" Elsa asked. "Sometimes I'll catch him looking at you and his eyes will be brimming with such awe that I swear you'd think he'd never seen a woman before."

Anna smiled, her heart skipping a beat at her sister's words.

"Anna, what do you know about Helen of Troy?"

"I don't know," she replied absently. "That her face launched a thousand ships."

"Anything else?"

She tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Oh! She lived in Paris," Anna added proudly.

"She was married to Paris. Paris was the name of her husband."

Oh. Of course.

"Great. So I'm dumb, too," Anna said glumly, flopping back down on the bed. Elsa turned around in her chair.

"No, silly. I'm asking you because no one really knows anything about Helen of Troy beyond her being 'the face that launched a thousand ships'. All the stories, poems and plays out there have almost nothing else in common with each other except that their version of Helen is always beautiful. Men loved her because she was beautiful. Men fought wars over her because she was beautiful. In one story, her husband is about to kill her for her infidelities until she starts to cry. She's so beautiful when she cries that he changes his mind and takes her back instead. In another story she's about to be stoned to death by a group of men, but they take pity on her when her dress falls open and they see her perfect breasts."

Anna burst into a fit of giggles. "You're making that up!"

"I didn't make it up," Elsa laughed. "Hundreds and hundreds of years have gone by, and the only thing about Helen that seems to have been worth mentioning is that she was beautiful." Elsa smiled.

"I know what you're trying to do, Elsa, and –"

"When Kristoff looks at you, 'beautiful' is just one of a hundred words I see in his eyes. And it's just one of a thousand words in mine."

Anna sat up and walked across the room. She wrapped her arms around her sister, their eyes meeting in the mirror, then tenderly kissed the top of her head. "Goodnight, Elsa."

"Goodnight, Anna."

She closed the bedroom door behind her and strolled lazily down the hall towards her own room, stretching her arms above her head and yawning. She pulled one braid free of its ribbon, and then the next. Maybe tomorrow I'll try something a little different with my hair.

After a hot bath and a warm glass of milk, Anna bid Gerda goodnight and climbed into bed. It wasn't until mere moments before she fell asleep that she remembered something Elsa had said. Something that suddenly didn't sit right with her. Something that wouldn't sit right with her for several days following.

"Anna, back then I think the last thing on his mind was falling in love."

Back then?