A/N: How did you guys like Frozen II? I absolutely loved it, and I've already seen it twice. It gave me the inspiration I needed to write this chapter! There's even a nod to the second movie hidden away in here. Can you find it? (It's not a spoiler, though, so don't worry!)

After Anna left her room, Elsa realized with horror that it was already half past noon! She hadn't even taken a bath yet, and the snow queen was almost certain that her breath smelled like sour wine and the lutefisk that they'd eaten for dinner last night.

What time was she coming? Elsa thought in a panic as she sprang out of bed. I think she said 1 pm, but she always shows up -"

"Early! She's early, Queen Elsa!"

Olga, the same maid from moments before, burst through her door once again. Had her palace staff forgotten how to knock? Goodness!

Elsa struggled to yank back on the dress pants that she'd kicked off sometime during the night.

"Yes, ah, please fetch Anna to visit with Maribel while I'm getting dressed!"

The maid noticed Elsa's untouched breakfast tray and gave her a disapproving glare.

"You really ought to prioritize breakfast, Elsa. You know that you get irritable when you don't start your day off with a nice meal -"

"Please fetch Anna and close the door behind you!"

The maid huffed indignantly and exited the Queen's quarters. Elsa felt a twinge of guilt for dismissing Olga so rudely, but that exchange was quickly overshadowed by pure terror. How on earth was she going to get ready in five minutes?

She took one look in the mirror and ripped the pants back off. They were wrinkled and had a mysterious looking stain on the crotch. Had she spilled jam on them last night? Did Dag even put out any jam with dinner?

Elsa shook her head, trying to clear away the flurry of irrelevant thoughts.

Come on, focus!

The button down shirt went onto the ground with the pants, as it was equally as rumpled and frankly, didn't smell great. She pulled her hair out of the braid that was barely holding itself together. To her horror, it looked even worse now. It was so frizzy and had a weird lump on one side, probably from sleeping on it.

Oh, god, she thought, brushing frantically at her long blond hair.

There was Anna's signature knock, knock, knockknock, knock on her door. That was a bit strange, as Anna had all but abandoned the idea of boundaries and personal space since the two sisters had been reunited.

"Go away, Anna!" she yelled, pushing away the unpleasant feeling of deja vu.

"Maribel's here!" Anna hollered back.

"I know, Olga just told me and I'll be down as soon as I -"

Anna opened the door a crack and poked her head through, giggling at the sight of her bedraggled sister in underwear.

"No, I mean I have Maribel right here with me!"

Elsa blanched, leaping towards the other side of the room where Anna (and, more importantly, anyone behind Anna) wouldn't be able to see her.

"Anna, just give me a second and I'll be right there!"

Her sister craned her neck around the door to shoot Elsa a pointed look.

"Elsa," the redhead said slowly, "Maribel is having a rough day and I really think she should come in now. Just throw something on and let me open the door!"

It was then that Elsa heard sniffling from out in the hall. Soft voices, most likely belonging to Dag and Olga, murmured hushed consolations.

The snow queen's eyes widened. Anna raised her eyebrows and glanced behind her.

"She needs you right now."

Elsa tossed her hairbrush back on the vanity and snatched a long blue peacoat off the back of the door. Anna retreated and a moment later the door swung all the way open. A tearful Maribel smiled wanly at the other queen.

"Good afternoon, Elsa. I'm sorry I'm starting off the day so poorly…" The tiny woman wiped her eyes and laughed hoarsely while Anna put an arm around her shoulders. "I probably should've just stayed back in the cottage."

"No!" Elsa blurted a bit louder than she meant to. She cleared her throat and continued at a more appropriate volume. "I mean, I you're clearly very upset, and far away from home as well. It's best to be around those who care about you when you're going through a tough time."

Anna smiled and led Maribel over to Elsa, who stood stiffly with a hand outstretched. She tried to give a warm smile but it was more of a grimace, if anything. What was she supposed to do? She was posed for a handshake but she knew that wasn't right. Could she hug her? Should she simply put a comforting hand on her arm? Elsa's instinct was to hug her, but all her life she'd been taught to go against her instincts and so, once again, she was second guessing herself.

Anna barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Why was her sister so dense? She gently pushed the summer queen forward, and Maribel immediately wrapped her arms around Elsa's waist and burst into tears. Elsa hugged her tightly and gave Anna a startled look. The princess grinned and flashed a thumbs up before tip toeing out of the room.

Elsa desperately wanted her sister to stay and maybe coach her on what to do and should she be stroking Maribel's back right now? She made small circles between the crying woman's shoulder blades, just like her mother used to do for her. Hopefully this wasn't weird. It was impossible to be sure.

Luckily, her strategy seemed to be working. Maribel's muffled sobs had quieted and she was now taking deep breaths.

"I-I'm sorry Elsa, I -"

"Don't apologize. Trust me, it's not good to keep things bottled up. That's a lesson I had to learn the hard way."

Maribel pulled away from Elsa's embrace and took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Thank you," she took out a handkerchief and blew her nose. "It's just… somehow being away from Luis is even worse than being around him. It's hard not to cling to the chapters of our lives that are already over, I suppose."

"Yes, that's very true. Distance hurts but at the end of the day, it's good to give the soul some space to heal."

Maribel wipes her eyes and gave the snow queen a shy smile.

"You're very wise, Queen Elsa of Arendelle."

Elsa blushed. Hearing Maribel address her by her full title sent shivers down her spine.

"Is there anything in particular that made you feel like this today?"

Marible shook her head. "No, not really. I was going through some junk we had stored in the ship we used to sail here, and I found a few old that belonged to Luis. They still smell like the cologne he always wore."

Her eyes welled up once again and Elsa grabbed the summer queen's warm hands.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, my sister's ex tried to kill her. So, ah, at least there hasn't been any, uh, attempted murder?"

Elsa wanted to drop a giant snowball on her own head. What the hell was that? Why couldn't she just be normal for five seconds?

A look of confusion flashed across Maribel's face, and for a split second Elsa was afraid that the woman was going to get angry. But as her face broke into a wide grin she began to laugh, Elsa breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"You're so weird, you know that?" Maribel giggled.

"I know."

Elsa finally noticed that the other queen was dressed in a plain brown tunic tucked into men's cotton traveling pants. She could hardly believe that Maribel was able to pull off a decidedly masculine farmer's outfit, but she looked adorable.

She looks like she's about to set off on an exciting adventure quest!

But, even though Maribel looked so cute it was almost painful, Elsa had to wonder why she had chosen these clothes to come to a business meeting.

While Elsa was puzzling over this, Maribel was also noticing things that she'd missed in the midst of her crying spell.

"Elsa, are you wearing a coat with nothing underneath?" She waggled her eyebrows playfully.

Elsa pulled the coat tighter around her body and was suddenly painfully aware of her long, bare legs.

"Er, I only woke up a few moments before you arrived…"

"And so you sleep in the nude, is what you're telling me?"

Elsa contemplated making a giant icicle that could fall from the ceiling and impale her on the spot. It would take minimal effort.

"No! You see, what happened was that I slept in -"

Maribel laughed again. "Shh! I'm just teasing you, I'll help you find an outfit for our hike." The summer queen looked her up and down once more. "And I'll help you with your hair, too."

Elsa tried to remain nonchalant.

"Oh yes, our hike." What the hell? When did we agree to go on a hike? "And where might we be going for this hike?"

Maribel stopped going through Elsa's closet and glanced over her shoulder.

"You don't remember, do you?"

"Memory is a fickle thing, wouldn't you agree? And details are most fickle of all, in the grand scheme of things -"

"Last night on the balcony you said 'To hell with business! I'm gonna resign as Queen and let Anna take over! Or maybe Sven! Forget the meeting tomorrow, let's go hiking instead.'" The tiny queen mimicked Elsa stumbling around holding an imaginary cup. "Oh, and then you threw your wine glass off the balcony and it shattered."

Elsa's cheeks had a thick layer of frost on them.

"I see…" She cleared her throat. "In that case, I suppose I'll need an outfit similar to yours."

Secretly, Elsa had to agree with her drunk alter ego. To hell with business! Going on a one-on-one hike with Maribel sounded much better.

Maribel laid out several options of clothes on the queens bed and grabbed Elsa's brush off the vanity.

"We'd better hurry, you told Anna that we'd meet her and Kristoff by the palace doors in fifteen minutes."

Elsa's excitement dimmed just a fraction. Of course she'd invited her sister. But, her disappointment was quickly forgotten as Maribel started to brush her hair and hum and old folk song from Santa Terazza. Maybe things would work out after all.