A/N: Sorry for such a long delay everyone, the holidays came and went and then I had to move out of my apartment unexpectedly. (My girlfriend and I broke up, and we lived together.) It's been a rough start to the year, but I want to try to get back into the swing of writing more often. It's one of the things that truly makes me happy.

Hope you all like this chapter! I'm thinking of doing an ElsaXHoneymaren one shot inspired by what I just wrote here.

Elsa trudged ahead of the group, trying to shake a vague feeling that this was all just a bad dream.

"Listen, I don't care how many ice blocks you carry all day, she'd still beat you!"

Maribel was in a heated argument with Kristoff, and the subject was bizarre.

"I'm not trying to be sexist or anything, I swear. I know Elsa can kick some major ass, but I grew up defending myself against hungry wolves and wrestling with rock trolls. Do you know how strong rock trolls are?"

Somehow, they'd started playing an old children's game called "vis-a-vis". The game was simple and quite juvenile: a group of people debated over who would win in a fight. You could compare celebrities, acquaintances, and people who were in the group.

Surprising no one, Anna had suggested that they play this old game. She tended to cling to childish nostalgia that reminded her of a time before the trauma of losing her sister and her parents. Or at least, that's what she said her therapist had told her.

"Okay, sure, you wrestled rock trolls. That's just brute force! Elsa knows all the finer details of combat." Maribel defended the queen vehemently.

For the thousandth time, Elsa wished she could go back in time and stop Anna from telling the group about her military training. Her father, a former soldier, decided to give her hand-to-hand combat lessons every day after Grand Pabbie told the family that "fear will be your enemy." He wanted to teach his daughter how to fight while still concealing her powers.

Elsa went on to study four different styles of martial arts: traditional Arendellian military combat, krav maga, Brazilian ju jitsu, and karate. It was really her only form of exercise since she was not allowed outside the palace gates, and so Elsa had practiced it with vigor. She learned that exercise was one way to release energy and control her powers. There were less "ice incidents" during weeks that she sparred frequently with her father.

The ice queen didn't know that her military training was unusual. She assumed all kids were taught how to shatter someone's wrist with a two-finger maneuver and minimal effort when they were 7 years old.

"I have to agree with Maribel on this one," Anna chimed in. "You've never seen her in action, Kristoff. She's a lean, mean, fighting machine!"

Anna discovered this surprising skill a few months back when she had attempted to sneak into her sister's room to borrow (steal) a pair of pearl earrings. Elsa had woken up, identified a threat, and subdued the intruder all in about 30 seconds.

Luckily the redheaded thief wasn't hurt, but Elsa was horrified. She asked Anna why she hadn't simply performed a basic block to counter her attack and that's when it clicked: most kids weren't taught to execute a perfect bilateral thoracic uppercut with one hand bound to their side.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree!" Kristoff laughed, but still looked a little wounded that his own girlfriend wasn't going to back him up. "I guess we'll never know for sure, because there's no way in hell that Elsa's going to fight me."

"That's right!" the queen called over her shoulder. "This is a violence-free hike."

Elsa sighed as she felt three sets of eyes boring into her back. Thank goodness that Sven and Olaf elected to stay home today. If those two got wind of her talent, Elsa would never hear the end of it. This was bad enough.

At least it was a beautiful day out. The weather was unusually warm for fall, especially right now in the middle of the day. Elsa's silk blue pants and ruffled white button down were an excellent outfit for a fall hike. She smiled as she thought of how Maribel helped pick it out this morning.

The summer queen trotted up to match Elsa's quick pace. Elsa avoided her gaze, eyes drifting upwards to follow the clouds as they scudded by.

"I'm sorry if we made you uncomfortable." She said softly. Kristoff and Anna had fallen back a bit, and were now bickering over whether Oaken could beat a famous Scandinavian athlete in a fight.

"What? No, I'm not uncomfortable!" Elsa's cheeks cooled off and betrayed her real feelings. "Well, I guess it's just a bit strange to be the subject of debate, even if it's in a more positive light this time."

"I understand," Maribel said, tilted her head back to look at the same cloud that Elsa was studying. "Maybe not on the same level, but I think a lot of royals can understand. And celebrities, kind of."

Elsa smiled. "I wish people would talk about me like I'm a famous actress that stars in traveling plays. That would be much more fun than the sort of gossip I've heard about myself."

"I don't know about that, I once read in Santa Terazza's newspaper that Penelope Briques was born with a long, furry tail that had to be cut off when she was young. I've never heard anyone say that you had a tail."

Elsa laughed out loud, surprising both women. She covered her mouth with the back of her hand, but was still smiling. Penelope Briques was a popular play actress that was known around the globe. Elsa had seen her in a play once, but she must have had a cold or something, because everything she said sounded so nasally. Anna had giggled throughout the entire performance, even though the story was all about grief.

"Maybe I do have a tail," the ice queen said mischievously, raising an eyebrow. She felt a giddy, carefree state of mind take hold and smudge out her insecurities just a bit.

"Maybe you can show me sometime," Maribel's eyes drifted down Elsa's backside. Elsa suddenly didn't know what to do with her arms as she walked. Did they always just hang there like that? That couldn't be natural.

"Anyways, it's too bad," Maribel continued with a sigh. "I can't help but think you'd look incredible during hand-to-hand combat."

In a flash, Elsa had disappeared from the summer queen's side and was heading over to Kristoff and Anna.

"Kristoff," she steadied a tremor in her voice. "Would you like to spar?"

The reindeer king paused mid-speech and blinked in shock.

"Wait, really? You really want to do this?"

Next to him, Anna squealed in delight. "You're gonna get your ass kicked, Kristoff!"

He puffed out his chest and ignored his girlfriend. "All right, I'm ready. You can throw the first punch, if you want -"

He didn't have to tell Elsa twice. King Agnarr had always told Elsa to land the first blow if it was possible. Long-winded speeches during fights were just wasting time.

The ice queen darted forward and plunged her elbow into Kristoff's midriff. To his credit, it felt like she'd elbowed a boulder. Ouch.

Kristoff teetered and Elsa hooked her foot behind his knee. Wump. He was flat on his back now.

She planted a foot in the middle of his chest, but before she could put her full weight on Kristoff's body, he managed to grab her arm and drag her off of him. She threw her weight into the fall, rolling once but springing right back onto her feet.

"What the -" Kristoff had barely scrambled to his feet when Elsa rushed at him again. She easily dodged two of his slow, clumsy punches.

Tsk, she thought to herself, he's trying to hit where I am, not where I'm going to be.

She ducked under one final blow, spun around, and kicked Kristoff in the shoulder. This time, he fell forward and she pinned his arms behind his back. The ice harvester had been bested in under two minutes.

Anna was howling with laughter. Maribel had an odd look on her face, something that Elsa couldn't quite read. A spike of anxiety pierced through the post-fight adrenaline. Had she been too violent? Was Maribel scared of her?

"All right, I get it! You can let me up now!" Kristoff whined from underneath her. "I didn't know you were some kind of karate master, jeez." His cheeks were flushed with embarrassment.

"Sis, you're such a badass!" She was wiping away tears of mirth when Maribel leaned over and mumbled something in her ear. Anna's mouth made an "o" of surprise, and then she grinned.

"Honey, let's get you all cleaned up! There was a stream behind us a few paces."

Elsa had helped Kristoff back up, and he was brushing the dust off of his pants.

"What? I'm fine, maybe a couple of bruises but I don't need -"

Before he could protest anymore, Anna had grabbed his hand and they were off. Elsa watched as her sister whisked him off through the trees.

"Hmm, that's strange. Although Anna does tend to sneak off with him at inopportune times. One time at my birthday dinner, I walked into the pantry to bring Dag an extra bag of potatoes and caught them -"

Before she could finish her sentence, she felt a sharp tug on her wrist and whirled around to find the summer queen standing only centimeters away from her. The tiny woman slid her hands around the taller woman's hips and pulled her in close, grazing her lips across Elsa's pale throat.

"I want you," Her words were hot and dense, the heaviness of such a lustful phrase settling between the two women like a thick fog.

"You do?" Elsa's mind felt like it was a hundred miles away from the current situation, but her body seemed hyper aware of what was going on. She felt a jolt of something powerful course through her veins, something she'd never felt before.

Maribel's gaze raked over the ice queen's body. Took one small step forward, closing the gap between them. Elsa felt warm lips against her neck, a hand drifting down from the small of her back.

"Do you want me too?" Maribel's thigh was pressing between Elsa's legs and she felt like she might pass out.

A light and airy flurry of snow kicked up and started swirling around the two women. It was something of a nervous habit that happened whenever Elsa was feeling particularly emotional.

Maribel started to pull back. Perhaps Elsa's hesitance was starting to worry her, or she was underwhelmed by the other woman's reaction to her bold display of affection.

As she felt Maribel shift backwards, Elsa snapped out of her daze.

"I want you," she breathed, her voice wavering.

And with that, her lips found the summer queen's and the pair became completely enveloped in the misty snow.