Two years later…

An awkward silence filled the room as Queen Elsa sat in her office across from a hulking blonde-haired man playing with his hands, fixating her with a nervous gaze.

"Kristoff, I thought I told you that you don't need to set up a meeting in order to speak with me. You practically live in the castle anyway, just come by my room."

Kristoff rubbed the back of his neck and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I know, Elsa. It's just… there's something kinda important I wanted to ask you," he said, taking a moment to adjust his stiff collar. Elsa almost giggled at the sight of the mountain man dressed in a nice shirt that was just barely too small for him tucked into a pair of formal trousers. It didn't particularly suit him, but despite Anna's insistence that her boyfriend didn't need to dress up whenever he was in the castle, he always made an attempt to look nice anyway, partly due to the fact that he would look completely out of place otherwise.

"Well, spit it out then," Elsa said, crossing her legs. "You've piqued my curiosity."

Kristoff took a deep breath. "Alright, well, I guess I'll just say it – I want to ask Anna to marry me." He paused. "And I just thought… well with you being the queen and her sister and all…" he attempted to stammer out an explanation. Luckily for him, Elsa could tell exactly where this was going.

"Kristoff…" she interjected politely, "are you trying to ask me for my blessing to marry my sister?" she asked with a small smile. Kristoff merely nodded a confirmation and exhaled. The official Ice Master and Deliverer of Arendelle had never been great with words when it came to speaking to the queen, a quality that Elsa actually found endearing if not a bit annoying. She knew that he was always trying to be on his best behavior around her and she couldn't fault him for that.

"You've been dating my sister for how long now?" Elsa asked, keeping her expression neutral.

"Uh, almost two years now. I think it's about time."

It was a loaded question that Elsa already knew the answer to, but she liked subtly testing her sister's boyfriend, if only to watch him squirm a little.

"And you love her, of course, right?"

Elsa already knew the answer to that as well. The man was absolutely head over heels in love with Anna and she saw evidence of it every day. Small things gave it away - from random acts of kindness to the way he lit up whenever he saw her. Even just the way he looked at Anna reminded Elsa of a love-sick puppy.

As she expected, he answered her question without any hesitation. "More than anything in the world."

Elsa nodded. "Then of course you have my blessing, Kristoff. Thank you for being thoughtful enough to ask me first. You're about to make Anna the happiest girl in the world."

Kristoff visibly relaxed his tense muscles and let out a breath of relief. "Thanks, Elsa. I don't know why I was so nervous about this…"

"Well, it is quite a big step. Speaking of which…" Elsa leaned forward, putting her elbow on the desk and resting her chin on her hand, giving him a sly smile. "I'm sure you've considered that there are a few… complications that come with marrying a princess. Namely, you're not a nobleman, my friend."

"It did cross my mind… but, I don't know, isn't being the official Ice Master and Deliverer noble enough?"

Elsa shook her head. "A made up title for a made up job, I'm afraid."

"So, what, are you going to knight me or something? I'm not exactly an expert with a sword," he said with a shrug. An image of the blonde man in a suit of armor wielding a tiny sword popped up in Elsa's head and she had to stop herself from letting out a giggle.

"Nothing like that. I'll have to give you some land within the kingdom and bestow upon you the title of Baron Kristoff Bjorgman. It has a ring to it," Elsa suggested.

Kristoff sagged in his chair a bit and folded his arms across his chest. When the queen noticed his disapproval, she added, "I know it's not really your thing, but trust me, this is going to save you a lot of trouble in the long-run. Anna has already gotten some… rude comments about dating a commoner. No offense."

Kristoff raised a nonchalant hand. "None taken. But if you're talking about that Oswin guy, he can shove it. Anna and I don't need some snobby, high-nosed noble's approval to be with each other… no offense."

Elsa mirrored Kristoff's hand gesture. "None taken. But if you want to keep hassle from the nobles of Arendelle to a minimum, for not only you and Anna but for me as well, you'll just have to play along. It's not like it'll affect your lifesyle, you'll just have a silly title tacked on to the front of your name. That, and you'll have to sign some documents accepting the ownership of land in Arendelle. Besides, my sister is worth it, wouldn't you agree?"

The mountain man sighed heavily but acquiesced. Anna was most certainly worth it, and the moment he realized what this conversation meant, he immediately lit up again and gave the Queen a wide-mouthed grin.

"I'm going to marry Anna," he announced. "I'm going to marry Anna!" The man nearly leaped from his chair in excitement. Elsa returned his grin and let out a soft chuckle as he began to pump his arms and cheer in victory.

"Slow down there, ice-man. First you need to propose," Elsa teased, although she was all too confident that she was now looking at her future brother-in-law. Kristoff froze from his excited bouncing and thought for a moment.

"You're right, I need to talk to Sven and Olaf. Thank you, Elsa! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he cried, nearly sprinting out the door. Elsa heard a faint victory cheer as he ran off down the hall and she found herself smiling even wider.

For a moment, the Queen just sat there in silence thinking to herself about the future that Anna was about to step into. She was genuinely happy for both her sister and Kristoff, but she couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy creep up in the back of her mind.

What kind of future do I have?

It had been two years since the Great Thaw and Elsa's life was just now beginning to settle back into a semblance of normalcy. The aftermath of the great freeze had been enough to swallow her life whole for most of the following year. Not that there had been much physical clean-up – in fact, quite the opposite. Her powers were not only able to get rid of all the ice in the entire kingdom, but they had caused all of the trees, plants, and crops to grow back in full health, saving the monarch from the hassle of rebuilding the economy from scratch.

What had been most taxing about the entire ordeal was the people's reaction to a Queen with such an enormous amount of power at her fingertips. While there were those that accepted her rule without question and reveled in the glory of her powers, there were also those that still feared and rejected a magic-wielding ruler. For weeks after the Great Thaw, Elsa was forcibly put on trial by a council of nobles at the demand of a large group of commoners who had been most negatively affected by the severity of the unexpected winter.

Elsa had accepted the trial without question and attempted to earn the trust of her people by acknowledging her mistake and proving that she had her power under strict control. She even made an elegant speech in front of the council, made up of nine high-ranked noblemen including Abram, and an audience of nobles and commoners alike. In it, she promised that no such outburst would ever happen again as long as she was allowed to rule. They were words that Elsa wasn't even entirely sure of herself, but she had been convincing in her speech and in the end, she gained the favor of the council. With Abram at its head, Elsa was given her royal rights in full and announced the official Queen again with the caveat that if her powers ever caused any further disaster, she would be stripped of her title and Anna would become the new ruler.

For a monarchy, the people of Arendelle were strong-willed. They wouldn't be bullied by a ruler so easily and they made it clear that if she lost control of her powers, they wouldn't hesitate to remove her from the throne. Luckily, Elsa remained extremely collected and calm throughout the entire trial and since the Great Thaw, she had never once shown any indication of a loss of control of her magic.

After some time, the fear and uneasiness dissipated throughout the kingdom and people grew to not only accept Elsa as their ruler, but love her as their Queen. She was the one and only Snow Queen, a magical ruler the likes of which the world had never known, and Arendelle was proud of her.

Elsa was both relieved and a little put off by that fact. Sometimes she felt as though she was no more than a trophy to her people, something to show off to other kingdoms. At least, it used to be that way.

Lately, Elsa found herself using her powers more and more in front of her guards and the noblemen in ways that were a bit more aggressive than creating an ice-rink or causing a light snowfall. She recalled the time she caught several members of the royal guard drinking on the job on the southern guard tower. She had stumbled upon them during an out-of-routine nightly stroll and was already having a particularly stressful day. She wasn't sure what exactly came over her, but instead of calling Captain Holdt to dish out a formal punishment, she had frozen their drinks in their hands in anger and shattered them with a clench of her fist. The broken glass had even cut one of the guard's fingers and caused the rest of them to cower in fear.

At first Elsa had felt bad about the incident as it was a rash display of power, but it had at least been effective. Those guards never disrespected the rules of the castle or their Queen ever again.

When Anna had heard about that little outburst, she didn't hesitate to chastise her sister's behavior. "Are you crazy? You can't go around threatening our guards like that with your powers! People will begin to think you're some kind of power-hungry maniac, and that's the last thing we need."

Elsa had apologized and immediately regretted that decision, but still, she was growing tired of being thought of as some kind of fragile creature who just happens to also be the ruler of the kingdom.

However, as always, it was Anna who kept her in check the whole way. The girl had barely left Elsa's side the month after the Great Thaw, even putting her new boyfriend to the side in favor of spending time with her sister. The way Anna saw it, she and Elsa had thirteen years of quality time to catch up on. Elsa made it a point to always keep her door open, even when she was doing something bureaucratic, and tried to make time for her sister as much as she was able, even when her schedule was at its busiest. It was exhausting, but eventually even Anna grew tired of building snowmen and ice-skating with her sister every single day. That's when things finally began to calm down to the way they were now.

With everything going on - between wresting control of her kingdom and nurturing her newfound relationship with Anna - Elsa barely found any time for herself. Now that Anna and Kristoff were going to get married, where would that leave her? The closest contact she had with a man since the Great Thaw was the occasional uncomfortable kiss on the hand from a visiting King or Prince who was either much too old or too young for her.

For the first time in quite a while, as Elsa sat at her desk alone in the wake of Kristoff's enthusiastic celebration, the queen found herself thinking of Aaron Sinclair. She almost instinctively reached over and opened drawer to her left, digging through a neat stack of papers until she found what she was looking for – a perfectly preserved scroll, still sealed with the wax flame insignia, the royal seal of the kingdom of Astor.

Elsa had received this letter (at least, that is what she could only assume it was) merely two weeks after the Great Thaw. Kai had brought it to her enthusiastically, presuming that the twins had sent a friendly word of greeting from across the sea, oblivious to the nature of their relationship with the queen of Arendelle.

Elsa knew better than to open it. She couldn't bring herself to read a word that Aaron had to say. What could he possibly want that would be so important, especially with everything else going on in Elsa's life? If it was an apology, the queen wanted nothing to do with it. If it wasn't an apology, she wanted nothing to do with it even more.

Still, something had stopped Elsa from simply discarding the piece of parchment as soon as it arrived. Instead, she buried it in her desk, putting it out of sight and out of mind, and there it remained for nearly two whole years, taunting her like a siren every time she opened that drawer. No more letters followed and Astor had remained silent as a nation ever since, so Elsa came to believe that whatever was in that scroll, she could live without reading it.

She huffed as she slammed the drawer shut again, once again dissuading herself from reading the letter. There were more pressing issues at hand that required her attention – namely, getting the paperwork in order for Kristoff's new title – and preparing for an imminent wedding.