Anna loved Elsa. She was her big sister, so of course Anna had always looked up to her, always admired her. She even envied her. Elsa was graceful, poised, and studious, everything a princess should be.

Anna had never, ever, envied the crown though. It was beautiful and powerful, but Anna was disinterested. Anna was far from the perfect princess; she was loud, reckless, and entirely ruled by her heart. Not suited to the crown at all, and that sat with her just fine. Anna was glad to sit back and be the joyful and smiling princess Arendelle expected her to be. She was grateful for the freedom it allowed her. The freedom to act out, to laugh and joke without responsibility, and best of all, the freedom to marry a lowly, common ice trader that she loved.

A Queen would never be able to marry for love. Not that Anna didn't want Elsa to find love, but it would never be the driving force behind her sister's marriage. Elsa had never hinted at feeling one way or the other on the subject. She politely declined dozens of proposals without blinking in the years preceding and following her coronation. Prior, of course, Elsa had likely worried for her secret, afterward Anna wasn't sure why her sister wouldn't consider any of the proposals. Love would not be the priority of course, but Anna believed Elsa could come to love a man if she would just give one a chance. Just one.

The Queen would have to marry eventually. Especially with how scarce Arendelle's royalty had grown. Just two princesses with an aunt and a cousin in a faraway kingdom. The only reason Elsa, as well as their cousin, Rapunzel, were able to take the crown was because there simply were no male heirs. Their family line had dwindled down to a handful of daughters. Anna knew her marriage should have been in order to form an alliance and to bolster her family's standing by marrying into other royalty. She had not cared. And Elsa, sweet, dearest Elsa, had made the decision as queen to allow Anna to marry a commoner despite everything. Rapunzel had recently announced her engagement to a commoner as well. Anna was glad she would get to marry for love, but it pushed Elsa into that much worse of a position.

Anna did not envy the crown. She did not want the responsibility or the weight or the unblinking eyes of the court on her. It was not her place, nor would it ever be.

Anna was impulsive. She knew it, Elsa, knew it, the whole of Arendelle was intimately aware of it. So really she doesn't know why everyone was surprised when the first thing she did upon the arrival of the royal party from the Southern Isles was to loudly and with no tact proclaim that Hans would not be welcome in Arendelle now or ever. This announcement was swiftly followed by her kicking said man off the dock and into the water of Arendelle's bay.

The entire scene had been a memorable way to kick off the peace negotiations between the two countries. Elsa had remained admirably stoic and unperturbed by Anna's anger. She quickly ordered Kai to help Hans out of the water and fetch some dry clothes for the man. Elsa had promptly made the decision to dismiss Anna from the proceedings as quickly as possible. Hans' brothers, two of his twelve elder brothers, had taken the entire situation remarkably better than Elsa had expected.

Both had smiled and taken it in stride. The younger of the two had gone so far as to outright laugh, asking how Han had ever managed to catch such a feisty woman.

Elsa had answered with a tight lipped smile and said, "Anna had rather low expectations at the time."

"Still does, far as I understand it." He answered. "Married a laborer." He leaned over to his steward as he said it, as if it were some sort of secret, but did not lower his voice.

Had Anna still been present she'd likely have sent him to join Hans for a swim.

"Yes, she did." Elsa said, her voice sent a chill down his spine. Her face gave nothing away, but when Hans and Kai dragged themselves out of the water a moment later there were ice chips in their hair despite it being the middle of Summer. "Please, my esteemed guests, let me show you all the splendor Arendelle has to offer." Elsa gestured for the royal party to follow her while their servants carried their belongings to the castle.

It was the start to an interesting visit.

AN: Alright, so this is about what I had in my files for the other part of this story. I'm gonna probably let it be, but I might revisit it between other project. Thoughts? Let me know if you'd like more of this story, or where you'd like to see it go. This chapter obviously takes place earlier since Anna's son hasn't been born yet, so at least 5 years before Jack comes into picture. Would you like to see more of this part of the story or more of Jack?

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