"Well here's a day I never expected to come," Kristoff mumbles to Sven. Elsa's standing in front of Kristoff with her hands clasped in front of her waist in her white dress. It's only five AM, the sun came up nice and early and the weather is perfectly sitting at seventy.

"Hi," Elsa waves. Sven pushes roughly past Kristoff, knocking him against the cheap door to be pet by a much gentler hand. "I was wondering if you'd like to go… do something?" Elsa shifts from side to side and Kristoff runs his hands through his hair (fixing it in his own kind of way).

"Uuuuh," he looks at Sven who may as well be rolling over on the floor because he is so into Elsa's head rubbing his legs are wobbling. "Yeah, sure. Where to?"

"Want to head to the North Mountain?"

"Yeah!" Kristoff reaches for his vest behind the rickety wooden door and throws it on. "I'll take any chance I can get to look at that gorgeous, perfect, beautiful, AWESOME ice castle!" Elsa and Sven share a look. "What?"

"The similarities between you and Anna are uncanny." Elsa smiles at him and Kristoff turns his head, scratching his neck. Sven straightens up.

"So are we gonna just ride Sven or are we takin' the carriage?" Elsa looks to be thinking, but then they both realize that'd mean she'd have to hold his back (more likely he'd be holding her's) and they shake their heads. Carriage it is.

Ten minutes in and it's already awkward. Elsa's sitting in the back, rubbing her forehead and sniffing the flowery air. Ok. Anna makes this look so simple, but I have no idea what to talk to him about. I started this morning thinking this would be a grand idea and now… Eh? She looks up and Kristoff is looking just as rigid in posture, but he's playing it off by whistling. It seems well practiced.

"Is that a song you know well?" Elsa tries, looking at the huge rocks stacked on top of a mountain which has dark blue water cascading down it in the distance. Kristoff glances back at her, holding Sven's lead in his lap.

"Yeah the trolls used to hum it with me all the time. Wanna hear it?" Elsa nods and Kristoff starts it, his voice hitching when the carriage hits a rock. It's actually quite good, and Elsa has it down after a few minutes of practice with Kristoff's big smile encouraging her. "You really do have a nice voice," he comments. Sven makes a noise in agreement.

"Thank you," she says, flattered and grateful even with the simplest of gestures.

"Is that a Queen thing to always say thanks to everything?" Kristoff snickers and then skittishly looks back at Elsa. "Not that it's bad! I just uh-don't hear it much." Kristoff hoos and hahs and doesn't actually let her get a word in before he sputters, "I-I think you're cool too, you know? Hah. Obviously Anna's special cuz she-not that YOU aren't special cuz clearly the ice and all that-but yeah you're pretty uh. Cool. Too." He groans at himself and Sven gives him a blank stare that Kristoff waves off. Elsa chuckles under her breath behind him and he looks back to her.

"And I think you're 'cool' as well." Elsa smiles at him and he smiles back. A few more minutes go by and Elsa acknowledges how strange it is to pass up this mountain when there's no snow anywhere. She can already see the top of her ice castle from way back here, and Kristoff's eyes light up at the sight.

"UGH it's so pretttyyyyy!" He raises his hands in the air and shakes his fists. "Gahhh."

"You're about the only other person who enjoys it as much as myself."

"So we have things in common," Kristoff states, raising his shoulders and dropping them back down. "Ice lovers and all. Except my ice magic is… cutting ice," he finishes sadly and his shoulders droop even lower.

"You're the one who keeps Arendelle's stores and homes filled with ice," Elsa says. Kristoff shrugs and throws a piece of lint from his vest off into the grass below the wooden wheels.

"Nothing special," he mumbles. In his mind he's thinking about all the ways he fails where Elsa succeeds and he sinks lower and lower in his seat. "Oh God she's even better with women," he mutters.

"What was that?" Elsa raises a brow. Kristoff jerks up and sits stock still, eyes focused only on the dirt road ahead.

"Uh. Nothing. Hah."

….

To Kristoff, the tension is about equivalent to someone holding up a hot poker to the side of your head and threatening to let it touch your skin.

….

"I see," Elsa whispers. Kristoff can tell she knew exactly what the "women" comment was really referring to. Elsa feels that guilt spring up and she rubs her opposite shoulder. "I'm still… sorry about that," she says, awkwardly choking up.

"It's uh. Fine. Why dwell on the past, right? Eh. Right?" He looks back at her and she nods slowly. "So um. Why aren't you home… doing Queen stuff?" Elsa sniffs and leans her back against the side of the cart. The castle is getting fairly close, almost all of it is in view now.

"Anna's taking care of it for today." She struggles deciding whether or not to tell him she's thinking about leaving Arendelle and residing somewhere else. It isn't that he and I aren't quite as close as he and Anna are, it's more that I'm nervous he might deter me from leaving. Elsa runs her hand down her leg and adjusts her leggings by the ankle. Perhaps that would be good for me, to hear the truth straight. She clears her throat.

"Remember a few months ago you just… told me how it is right then and there?"

"Yes," he says, a curiosity to his voice. They hit a rock again and the carriage creaks.

"I may need that right now."

"Alright. What is it?" Kristoff looks back at her, turning his body half way in the seat. Elsa flicks her tongue over her lips and looks up at him.

"Did Anna tell you I'm the fifth element?"

"She did."

"Yes." Elsa brushes hair out of her eyes. "Well she and I feel I may be… in the wrong place. Maybe I'm not pursuing what I should be." Kristoff's head leans back slowly then comes down again. "I may leave Arendelle and let Anna take my place as Queen." Kristoff's lips tighten and his gaze drops to somewhere outside of the carriage.

"Well that doesn't make any sense to me," he says flatly. Elsa feels herself deflate, and she relies on the wood to hold her upright. "Would you be coming back?"

"Yes. Right now I plan on leaving during the day and coming back each night."

"But then what's the point of resigning? Why do you have to do this everyday? What about Anna? I rarely ever see you guys apart why would you even go? I do-"

"-I understand," Elsa cuts in, wringing her hands together. "It was silly. I should forget about it."

"Well yeah!" Kristoff looks at her as if it was obvious. "Why is this just a you thing and not a 'you AND Anna' thing?" Elsa looks at him and blinks. She never thought of it that way before. It made so much sense. Really she should have come up with this sooner and she was feeling more ridiculous by the second. All the arguing for nothing... Elsa sighed at herself. "And by the way," he says with a sassiness to his voice, "When's the wedding?" Elsa raises a brow and somehow becomes paler. "What? You didn't think I'd notice that beautiful ring she's been clutching at for the better part of the season?" Elsa smiles sheepishly and Kristoff shakes his head with a half-grin.

"Does that… upset you?" Kristoff itches his stubbled chin and sniffs.

"Maybe a little," he admits, and both he and Elsa drop their heads.

"It's not like the chances of a marriage coming to fruition is very realistic," Elsa says melancholily. Kristoff looks ahead, seeing the castle just two minutes away now.

"Hey…" he points up at the castle and Elsa stares blankly back at him. He points with more enthusiasm. "Do it here! It'd be perfect. You don't need fancy papers and legal what-not to be fully committed like that!" Elsa tightens her lips and her eyes get sad and mopey.

"If only it were that easy for us to explain why we aren't married or engaged within the next few years." Elsa throws her hands in the air and drops them back into her lap hard. "Let alone the fact that we can't have a child to be next in line for the throne." Kristoff looks at her sympathetically and stops the carriage, helping her down and onto the plush grass.

"You know… you're the only reason Arendelle is never going to see a war within the next fifty-plus years, right?" Elsa doesn't say anything and they walk toward the castle gates. "You have ice powers Elsa. No one else in the world has that. I'm pretty sure they're all scared of you. Actually, I KNOW they are." Elsa doesn't look pleased by that so Kristoff clears his throat and gets to the point. Elsa knocks on the gate and Marshmallow pushes the gate open with his huge chunky shoulder from the inside. Marshmallow bows his head and Elsa bows back, saying thank you. "Elsa," he taps her shoulder and she stops, turning to him. "You have no one to be afraid of. If you said you wanted to marry Anna, no one has the power to stop you. Just get all snow and blizzardy and tell them to back off." Elsa tips her head to one side and crosses her arm over the other.

"That'd be taking advantage of my power." Kristoff scratches his head, a dumbfounded look on his face.

"You're a Queen. That's kinda what Queens and Kings do." Elsa's brows wrinkle and he realizes that maybe that was the wrong way of putting it. He retracts quickly and spouts an apology. "Look I'm just trying to come up with ways to…" he trails off and Elsa looks more down in the dumps than she did a few minutes ago. Kristoff feels defeated but he tries to keep a smile on his face. Alright… maybe I can go about this more indirectly, he thinks in his head this time.

As they walk around, Elsa stays fairly quiet. She seems to be just checking up on things. He asked if she had come here often since she made it and she said no, only once or twice. It made sense since the place was so unfurnished. He kept her talking by asking questions like, "what would go here," every couple seconds. She answered him, never quite looking him in the eye, but she kept her voice even and he was happy she didn't seem totally upset anymore. They were upstairs now, looking out on the balcony. He was leaning on the railing while Elsa had her hands folded on top of it.

"This would sure be a beautiful place to get married," he boldly says. He looks at Elsa from the corner of his eye. Her face is even and she's staring off into the hills that are all blooming with flowers and trees. The castle is such a juxtaposition it seems unreal like a poorly hidden spot-the-difference puzzle. "Anna said she'd love anyplace though. 'It's only about the person it's with that matters,' she always told me."

"I see what you're doing," Elsa sighs. Her back hunches slightly and she leans heavily on the glassy-blue railing. "It's not that I don't want to…" she says quietly, eyes downcast.

"Elsa. You're literally magic. You can make anything happen. This seems like the easiest thing. It's the most right out of anything." She could argue the easy part but she can't argue the part about it being right. Her heart fluttered just thinking about seeing a wedding band on Anna's finger. Elsa breathes heavily out her nose and grips the railing tight.

"The want for her hand in marriage is insatiable. I can't ever stop thinking of her being by my side in such a way. I'm just… so scared of how they'll treat us."

"I say who cares about them." Kristoff finishes with a hmph and crosses his arms, chin held high. That's such an Anna way of taking it, Elsa thinks fondly. Kristoff stumbles mentally before he places an awkward hand on Elsa's shoulder and pats a little too hard. They dust that topic off their hands for the remainder of the day.

It actually turned out to be a lot of fun for the two. Kristoff had very in-depth questions about the choices she made in her designs and Elsa answered them easily. They ended up designing furniture for the downstairs and Elsa gets to crafting it quickly. What was once a plain open space with just a mock fountain was now a full on ballroom with chairs and decorations around the sides. Her favorite part was that next to each chair was a sculpture of the people she cared about. It was especially entertaining when Kristoff's statue came about, and he changed his pose five times before settling on a flattering one he was pleased with.

"Hey, we should dance," Kristoff tried, getting zero enthusiasm from Elsa who busied herself with thinking up textured wallpaper. Kristoff grins at the back of her head and stomps his way over, tapping her shoulder on the right while he stands on the left. She doesn't fall for it and she turns her head left and he sighs. "Fine you got me." He backs away before walking up again, deciding mentally whether he should test his luck and just go for it. ...He figures why not. "Sorry your Majesty," he says with a puff of his chest, grabbing Elsa's hand and guiding her towards him before raising their hands up and putting one hand on her waist. "Humor me."

"I don't really-" her voice cracks and she apprehensively tries to pull out of his grip. "This isn't really a thing I do…" she tries.

"Aw come on. What will you do when you and Anna have your first dance, hm?" Kristoff starts swaying them side to side but Elsa's not going with it, instead just rigidly standing in place. He gives her the saddest puppy dog look he can muster and Elsa gives him a weary look.

"Please never do that again," she says with the slightest hint of humor in her tone. Kristoff falters and Elsa finally takes a breath and mumbles, "Fine."

"YES!" Elsa's ears pop and she shakes her head at her feet. She straightens up and steels her jaw. "Enough with the traditional lady stuff and just let it g-"

"-I'm so tired of that phrase," Elsa huffs. Kristoff smiles down at her and they're clumsily missing each other's feet while falling painfully out of synch to the pace they set and reset every ten seconds.

"Uuuuh… yeah maybe this is not the best of ideas."

"Mmm." Elsa and him part and they start chuckling at the floor.

They left after a few hours, waving to Marshmallow and hopping up on the carriage with grins on their faces. The sun was still out and the days were getting longer as summer approaches. It was getting close to dinner which Anna had asked Elsa to be home in time for, fully knowing Elsa would never be tardy and kissed her on the head for it in advance. Elsa smiled to herself thinking about it.

"Got Anna on your mind?" Elsa stretches out her shoulders and Kristoff grins. "Figured." The ride home is quicker than the ride there. Most likely because they were able to get a few chuckles out of each other which is better than any other day they've ever spent together. The sentimental part of Elsa almost wishes she'd done this sooner. Kristoff felt similar, yet they didn't need to say it. They just knew.

"Thank you for accompanying me," Elsa says as she steps off the back of the carriage in front of the castle gate. The flags were billowing in the wind above them. Kristoff waves and Sven licks her hand making her simultaneously feel both gross and bubbly.

"Tell your sister I said hey." Elsa nods and Kristoff rides with Sven back to the stable. Elsa feels light the whole way up to the castle doors. Once she steps in the maids greet her and inform her that Anna's going to be sat down for dinner soon. She nods and walks toward the dining room. She's gotten there first, and she sits down at the head of the table on her soft pillow-like burgundy chair, resting one hand on the gold-crested armrest she watched Anna lay all over as a child to their parents dismay. There's a fireplace behind her with a family portrait of them hung in a gold frame which was done by the finest oil painter in Arendelle. She remembers her mother struggling to keep Anna still for it. Anna wouldn't stop trying to get Elsa to crack and make a silly face or whack her back. Elsa smiles to herself and picks at the white floral placemat in front of her. Crck.

"Hey."

"Hi," Elsa greets back, standing up out of respect and reaching a hand out for Anna who swats the hand away and wraps her arms around Elsa's neck. Elsa coughs. "You're trying to kill me," Elsa complains. "Again."

"Then join me cuz I've already died and gone to heaven touching you." Elsa tsks.

"Tacky."

"Yeah yeah," Anna laughs. She pulls away but keeps her arms loose around Elsa's neck. "So Kristoff and you hung out?" Elsa nods. Anna's lips creep upward. "Awkward?" Elsa grimaces and Anna chuckles. "Why'd you do it then?"

"I had things I wanted to ask him about." Anna raises a brow and pulls back.

"Since when?"

"Since I told him about us back then." Anna's eyes light up in understanding and she shrugs.

"Well at least you have some sort of relationship with him now." Elsa agrees and they sit down for dinner to be served. Two plates of kumla and lutefisk. Elsa's mouth waters when she gets a whiff of that fish. Anna smiles with all of her white teeth showing. She shimmies her chair closer to the head of the table and flicks Elsa's nose. "It's Mamma's recipe. I made it."

"Wow. Thank you," Elsa says, surprised. She hungrily picks up her fork and knife and starts cutting without waiting for Anna, but she catches herself, giving Anna an apologetic look.

"No no, eat! That's what it's here for." Anna gets to work and they're gulping it down just like they did when they were younger and unafraid of what guests might think. In Anna's case that never really changed… especially with chocolate. They finished in record time, swallowing the last bite at the same second. "Ughhhh I'm so full." Anna leans back in her chair and it tips on it's back legs while she rubs her stomach. Elsa cautiously held Anna's chair by one leg and groaned into the back of her free hand.

"As am I." They stare up at the square patterned ceiling with its painted flowers and vines with easy smiles. The day went by quickly from then on. Anna somehow got Elsa to go against her better judgment and chase Anna around the castle while they skated down the halls, hot on the other's heels, on paths of smooth ice. At least Elsa thought to have the staff call it a night and leave them alone in the castle for a change.

"Bet you can't catch me," Anna taunted for the hundredth time, narrowly avoiding the corner of a wall.

"I've disproved this every time you've said that, sweetheart." Elsa skirts around the corner with ease, her short dress train following behind her. Anna clumsily rams into a suit of heavy silver armor and it crashes onto the floor, it's pieces scattering and nearly tripping Anna as she flails her hands in the air. Elsa stops her momentum by scratching her heels hard against the ice and holds Anna up. "And I've just done it again," Elsa jokes with a cockiness in the way she smiles. Anna pinches Elsa's side and hugs her tight, not even in the mood to argue the moot point.

They took their bath together with Anna surprising Elsa by dumping a bucket of water over her head when she turned around, thoroughly getting Elsa hyped up enough to have a battle where water and ice splashed and bounced all around the room.

They stumbled their way to the bedroom, eyes closed and mouths attached to one another the second the bathroom door shut. Elsa laid her sister down on the flush carpet in front of the fireplace and settled in between Anna's open legs. She mewls at the feeling of Anna's ankles locking in place near the bottom of her back and bites Anna's bottom lip.

"I love you so much," Anna breathes, lifting Elsa's chin upward and sucking Elsa's neck to leave a mark under her jaw. Elsa's learned to stop fighting those marks, so she turns her head to the side and Anna chuckles against her skin, threading her fingers through Elsa's hair.

"I love you too," Elsa says quietly. Anna continues kissing along her neck and Elsa's eyes glaze over not focusing on any specific thing. "I'm not going to leave," Elsa says flatly.

"Wait? You're not?" Anna looks to be mixed between being happy and being concerned.

"It's not worth it if you aren't there with me." Elsa sighs and drops her head against Anna's shoulder, hair touching the carpet that smells like chocolate. Elsa smirks imagining how much chocolate has probably fell on it during the AMs when no one could stop Anna's cravings. "It's such a simple thing I should have realized much earlier on." She sits up and rubs the side of Anna's freckled face, kissing her nose. "If I ever want to leave, I want to leave with you." Anna smiles ever-so-slightly and slides her hands over Elsa's chest, kneading the muscles.

"I'd love that, just not forever. Probably." Elsa nods and hugs Anna hard. Anna giggles when Elsa happens to tickle her side with her elbow and within seconds Elsa has her on the floor again with her pajama top open while she ruthlessly tickles Anna as she flails and wiggles all around the carpet. "Stop!" Elsa lets up, panting with Anna and holding her side Anna jabbed with her knee. "Sorry," Anna says, not sounding half as apologetic.

"You should kiss it better," she boldly says, sitting on her knees and raising her nightgown slightly over her hips so Anna can see the barest bit of her backside. Anna throws her head back and growls before launching toward Elsa and knocking her onto her back. DF! "Ow," Elsa groans, rubbing her head that hit the floorboards instead of the soft carpet.

"Hah. I got too excited, I'm so sorry, heh." One knee is pressed between Elsa's core and she's leaning over Elsa's breasts, giving Elsa a soft concerned look while she rubs the back of a blonde head.

"Well now you can kiss my head and make that better, too."

"You won't see me complain," Anna hums. She stares at Elsa's lips, both of their mouths sticking to each other's just slightly. She sucks on Elsa's earlobe and Elsa turns her head which lets Anna kiss her over her hair. "Better?"

"Maybe," Elsa says quietly, holding Anna's shoulders and feeling her face get warmer by the second. Anna smiles up at her as she kisses down Elsa's clothed chest and pushes her gown up to her naval. Anna moans and stares between Elsa's open thighs.

"I forgot you didn't put on-"

"-You mentioned that'd be… attractive, once or twice," Elsa shyly explains.

"YEAH it is," she says, nearly drooling and rocking backwards absently. She leans down and bites Elsa's hips bone which makes Elsa jerk upward. Elsa relaxes into the feeling, staring up at the ceiling with its oak crown molding and puts a hand on the back of Anna's head. It feels amazing of course, but her attention is split between two things; One being how her heart is pounding when she thinks about being outside the castle again, and two being what being married to Anna might-SlllcK!

"NN! Anna," she scolds, sitting halfway up, abs shaking, to see her gawking sister's mouth pressed between her legs. Anna's mouth let's go with a pop and she grins sheepishly.

"Yes?" Anna asks between giddy chuckles. Elsa rubs her hand over her mouth to hide her smile (she certainly gets off on Anna not thinking she likes her silly personality).

"Not yet," Elsa chides, closing her thighs. Anna's shoulders slump and she sits up on her knees, giving Elsa the biggest puppy-dog look she's ever given.

"Why nottt?" she whines, "The whole castle is empty Els we can do it anywhere we want until six AM." Anna's huffing and puffing and Elsa's laughing under her breath, touching the side of Anna's neck and digging her other fingers into the carpet with her french manicured nails. The subtle look Elsa gives her makes Anna's pouting stop and Anna has to lean it to kiss her for the millionth time just today. "The way you look at me," Anna starts, shaking her head and licking her lips to somehow help the words come out. "It's like no one else, it's like-"

"-Like you're the only other person in the world," Elsa finishes with glossy eyes and a bright white smile that Anna mirrors. Anna hugs her sister and breathes into her blonde hair. Elsa can practically feel Anna's heart pounding against her own chest. She can also feel the ring around her neck. Their ring. Elsa's face grows more serious, and she nervously runs her hands up and down Anna's spine.

Let's think logistics, Elsa, she thinks to herself. I suppose I could make a law that demands women can be married in Arendelle officially. It would have a great level of backlash, not that it matters much. Kristoff was right in saying I do have an advantage in my position. Who will I be taking orders from? No one really. As for a child, as for an heir… well. I can make life, I'm not sure how well my ice can make a flesh and blood child but… argh. I don't know. This uncertainty is driving me mad. Elsa huffs and Anna, with her face pressed against Elsa's neck, asks,

"What're you brooding about?" Elsa grits her teeth and holds it in.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." She gently pulls out of Anna's embrace and stands them up.

"What? Where're you going?"

"Mother and Father's room," she mumbles, turning toward the door with a defiant look. Anna grabs her wrist.

"Wait. Seriously. What's wrong? You never go in there." Anna's eyes are wide and her brows are knit close. Elsa kisses her nose and fixes Anna's hair behind her ears.

"I just need a moment, ok?" Anna looks like she wants to speak out against this, but Elsa's spared. She leaves Anna and grabs the key to her parents' room out of her vanity next to her bed back in her room with a shaky hand. When she finally mosseys her way over to their door, she lets out a long breath and turns the skeleton key.