Elsa flexed her fingers as she sat down at the piano. It had been a very long time since she'd played last, even before her adventure in the forest. Maybe the Spring before that? She'd wanted to play something for Anna, something lively to cheer her up after a bad day.

But her sister was out today. Elsa could have joined her, of course, but she felt Anna didn't need her back-seat Queening and it gave her an opportunity to show Honeymaren around the castle and just enjoy herself. And Kristoff had taken the twins to show them something out in the country, leaving Elsa alone. She didn't really mind it, they could all make up for it later with game night even if Maren's absence felt like a punch to the chest. There were many feelings she had relating to Honeymaren that she was only now beginning to sort through.

The first note rang through the room, clear as crystal. Elsa smiled, closing her eyes as she started to play. Oh, she made a few mistakes, but she didn't care. There was no one here to listen and she was a little rusty. What was more important was the sound and the music and the feeling that flooded through her as she played. This way, she could sort through those emotions, the conflict and confusion that came not only from her new role in life but being exposed to so many other people and one person in particular.

Elsa closed her eyes, sitting back as she stopped playing, the last few notes echoing through the room.

"Wow."

Her eyes snapped open and she turned to see Honeymaren standing in the doorway, as if she'd somehow summoned her. "Ah. Hello. I thought Kristoff was giving you a tour."

"We got back a little early."

"Come in." Elsa gestured.

"What kind of instrument is that?" Honeymaren asked, stepping inside and closing the door.

There was something different to them being alone here, in the castle, compared to how often they'd wander off into the woods together. Something more secret, more intimate. Which was silly, the forest could be pretty intimate too.

It was just it was really easy to escape, in the forest, when one could run in any direction. Here, she was trapped in a room with a beautiful woman and didn't know how to put words to what she was feeling. But the lack of words thing was pretty common with Honeymaren's presence.

"It's called a Piano. It was invented a hundred and fifty years ago," Elsa explained. She bit her lip, then patted the bench next to her. "Why don't you sit here and I can show you, Honeymaren."

God she loved saying her name.

Maren tucked some hair behind her ear and walked over.

She sat down next to Elsa, her body warm and somewhat inviting in ways that surprised Elsa. She leaned a shoulder against hers for a moment. "So when you press down on the bars, a little hammer hits one of the strings inside the piano. Each bar plays a note on the scale. The pedals at my feet allow me to control if or how much the other strings resonate when the one I press is hit. I'll explain in more detail later, for now just watch my hands."

Honeymaren nodded, watching Elsa's fingers as she played a rising scale. "Are there any songs that are special to you?"

"A few. Would you like to hear one?"

"I'd love that."

Ignoring a strange feeling of self-consciousness, Elsa started to play, swaying to the music a little as it rang out through the room. The acoustics here had always been the best in the castle and Elsa felt herself get swept up in the moment.

Honeymaren leaned against her, her head laying on her shoulder and Elsa missed three notes before she recovered. But she didn't recover entirely. "I'm… mostly self taught," She managed to say. This wasn't the first time that Honeymaren had managed to make her brain come to a complete stop and it always made her heart race.

"You're amazing," Honeymaren responded, something in her voice warming Elsa from the inside out.

She glanced at her, gazing into eyes darker than normal. She might have imagined it, but Honeymaren's eyes dipped briefly to her lips.

Didn't … didn't Anna look at Kristoff like this?

Elsa quickly looked back to the keys, playing a different song and letting the mood guide her. It was slower, almost sensual in sound and the way it resonated. Until she felt a hand on her leg and her hands slipped, creating a discordant cacophony.

"Elsa, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Elsa laughed, lifting her hand to rake it through her hair. "I'm just a little…" A little what? She almost asked Honeymaren to remove her hand, then thought better of it.

"I'm sorry," Maren said. "I thought that we … Maybe I should…"

She started to pull her hand away, but Elsa caught it. "It's okay."

"Are you sure?" Honeymaren stared into her eyes, "If I overstepped some boundary, I'm really sorry."

"No, really," Elsa assured her, stroking her thumb across the top of Honeymaren's hand as she placed it back onto her leg. "It's okay. You just caught me off guard." She wished she could pause this moment, explore the heat and the dizziness and the intoxicating scent of Honeymaren.

Maren's face was an unusual shade of red as she chewed on her lips and kept her hand very, very still. Elsa realized that maybe she could explore it, but if she did so it would mean changing things irrevocably between them.

"Let me… I need to…." Conscious of Honeymaren's presence, she turned back to the piano and started to play. Maren shifted closer, laying her head on Elsa's shoulder once more. It felt right, and as Elsa played she hoped the music would somehow convey the emotions and words she found herself unable to say.

She played the song, changing notes here and there to better suit her mood and what she was saying, and through it all her face burned and Honeymaren was a warm, comforting presence next to her.

When she finished, she stared down at the keys for a moment, then looked up and into Maren's eyes and knew that things had indeed changed and hopefully for the better.

"Oh Elsa," Maren whispered, cupping her face. "I love you too."