"Are you sure you're not cold, Anna?" Elsa asked with concern. Even being immune to the cold's negative effects, she could still feel just how freezing the air that touched her exposed skin was. It was the type of cold that penetrated you to your bones and could easily kill even a skilled survivalist in a matter of minutes. She thought it ironic that the relief she'd had when creating her Ice Castle at the top of the North Mountain in order to dissuade people from approaching was now a cause for concern as her very much non magical sister accompanied her with nothing but a light dress and an equally thin cloak which had now been wrapped around her waist for the past half hour.
"I said I'm fine already, Elsa. Stop worrying so much, you worrywart!" Anna chastised her sister as she sat, looking out the window. "And do you know what this 'great evil' that Grand Pabbie warned you about could be?"
"I have no clue, Anna. And I have no idea what to do about it. Arendelle has a virtually non-existent magical community." She sighed. "The only magicians we have are concerned with medicinal magic. I've also told the foreign academies that I have no interest in becoming one of their test subjects, so I doubt they'd be cooperative in this situation."
"Well, what are we going to do about it then?" Anna asked. "It was bad enough when Arendelle froze and, no offence, that was just an accident. Imagine if there was someone like you who wanted to make problems."
Elsa nodded as Anna shivered at her own proposition. She had almost doomed the entire capital in nothing more than an attempt to flee the castle. If she were intent on an attack, she didn't even want to know the damage that could be done. Let alone imagine if there were more than one of her raining destruction on her country. But that's when she realized something.
"Anna, did Grand Pabbie say where this evil was coming from? He didn't did he?" Elsa asked as she thought. "So maybe it's just a prediction about the results of the Court of Nations."
"That sounds likely." Anna conceded. "But regardless of what it means, it doesn't change the fact that we're taking a break today."
"But Anna-"
"No buts Elsa." Anna waggled her finger playfully. "You've been working non-stop since we reconciled from our fight. And now I'm ordering you to take a break!"
"I'm the queen Anna, you can't order me around." Elsa argued indignantly. "We have to make sure the kingdom is safe, and to do that we need to visit our father's library in the castle. I know there's a book in there about magic that might help. And I need to meet with the advisers to see what other threats we're facing."
"Elsa, in case you've forgotten, I'm the princess! Younger sister and only remaining family of the Queen." Anna said as if she were announcing herself. "It's my job to make sure you don't kill yourself trying to keep this kingdom from going crazy. Because if I have to become queen, you know that the place won't last long. Also, last time I checked, it could survive a day without it's queen."
"But Anna-" Elsa protested again, only to receive a glare from her sister.
"After all this time apart, I think it's within my right to want to spend time with you." Anna huffed angrily.
"Anna…" Elsa sighed as a slight blush worked its way to her face.
"Yes Elsa?" Anna asked innocently, her mood flipping quicker than Elsa could blink.
"You're not giving this up, are you?" She asked in defeat. She already knew it was impossible to continue this argument. After all, she had promised to spend time with her today to help mend the hole that fourteen years of separation had ripped in their lives.
"Not for a million snowflakes!" Anna grinned.
"How about two?" Elsa bargained with a grin, knowing exactly what Anna was asking.
"Tell you what, keep them coming and I'll let you know." Anna said as she looked out the window as Elsa waved her hand and the thin clouds above them grew darker and started unleashing a gentle dusting of snow.
"Since when did you get so greedy?" Elsa teased as Anna reached out to catch a flake on her hand. When she pulled it in, it didn't melt as Anna kept looking at the fine intricacies of the flake.
"Only since I realized I could be when it comes to you." Anna smirked at the blush on her sister's face as she blew the still frozen snowflake out the window of the carriage again.
Elsa remained silent for the rest of the ride to the Ice Castle, thinking of whether or not she should ever admit to Anna what she was unintentionally doing by wishing to be as close as sister's that had spent their lives together. To Elsa, Anna was essentially a stranger, but one that seemed to be oddly intimate around her. She knew that it was what sister's were supposed to be like, but she couldn't convince herself that Anna was just being sisterly due to the estrangement she felt toward her. She'd known all about Anna from afar for the past decade, but never once made any move to approach her or contact her. The only exception being the doll that Anna had left her outside her door one night. It had been the Anna doll from the matching pair that Anna had always played with. Shortly after she'd started shutting herself off in her room, Elsa had found the doll with a small note outside her door. The note had said that Elsa needed the doll so she wouldn't be lonely because Anna wanted to keep the one of her sister. Elsa had written two words on a new paper and slipped it under Anna's door before she returned to her room. What nobody knew about that is that Elsa had kept the doll and till this day it lay in a place of honour on her bed. She'd forbidden the servants from entry to her quarters unless she specifically asked, so she knew it would be safe. Especially with the royal guard positioned outside at all hours of the day to protect the monarch from any unsavoury plots.
Elsa sighed in defeat. It was quiet, but apparently still enough to catch her sister's attention as the next moment Anna was pressed up against her side, looking into her face.
"If it really means so much to you, we can go back…" Anna muttered quietly. Elsa could see she really didn't want to offer, but she cared for her too much to ignore her distress.
"No Anna, I was just thinking about…" She trailed off, wondering what she should say that wouldn't come across as strange. "I suppose about us. We're still practically strangers even if we are sisters."
"Well, we didn't see each other for years and years, so I guess that's kind of unavoidable, right?" Anna asked as she formulated a plan. "I guess we could just start to learn about each other by spending time together? And we can ask questions!"
"What do you mean?" Elsa asked, now curious as to what Anna could possibly want to know about her.
"Well… what's your favourite colour?"
"Blue, yours?"
"Green. How about food? Wait, it's chocolate isn't it?" Anna asked as she remembered the reaction they'd had at the post-coronation party before the traitor had come into their lives. Elsa nodded, so she started thinking of something else. "Favourite thing to do when nobody is around?"
"Read, I suppose…" Elsa replied hesitantly, thinking up a rather embarrassing alternative to that answer as she averted her eyes from her sister. "What about you?"
"Hmm… I guess… seeing if you'd open your door." Anna said quietly as she too settled into silence. Elsa glanced back up at her sister and sighed at seeing her look so down.
"Well, I promise you that from now on it'll always be open for you." Elsa said into the silence. She watched her sister nod and lean closer.
"I love you Elsa." Anna spoke as she wrapped her sister in a hug. "I missed you so much."
"Shh… I'm right here." Elsa replied, brushing her hand through Anna's hair. She felt her sister almost purr in response as she found a rhythm for her strokes. "I'll never shut you out again, I swear it."
"Alright…" Anna nodded but didn't release the queen. "I just had one question for you. But I get if you don't want to answer, it's-"
"What is it Anna? If I can answer it I'd like to." Elsa replied quickly. "I want my sister back in my life just as much as you do."
"Okay… well… did you ever think of me when we were apart?" Anna asked quietly.
"Every day that went by, Anna." Elsa sighed as she pulled her sister tighter into the embrace. "I want to thank you for that doll that you gave me back when I first started avoiding you. It really helped me through some tough days when I wanted nothing more than to open my door as you asked me to come out."
"Why didn't you?" Anna asked in the way that said she already expected what the answer would be.
"I didn't want to hurt you anymore." Elsa said, getting a nod from her sister.
"So instead you hurt both of us to keep me safe from your ice powers." She said. Elsa couldn't dismiss the fact that Anna's logic was accurate. And she hated it more than anything else she could ever imagine. As if voicing her thoughts, Anna continued. "I really hated our parents, you know. For years I accused them of stealing you away from me, but I never said a word to them."
"Instead you just went around causing a ruckus." Elsa joked, remembering the reports the staff had brought her every so often about how her sister was doing. They'd talk to her through the door, though, as she was afraid of coming too close or losing control of her powers while in their company.
"Heh, pretty much." Anna shrugged as she removed herself from the hug. "I did whatever I thought of that could maybe get your attention and get you to come racing out of your room. Come to think of it, I'm surprised I didn't get hurt more often."
"What do you mean?" Elsa asked, not remembering anything that would get her seriously hurt. Only things that would disrupt the day to day in the castle.
"Well, did you ever hear of the time I took a horse up to the northern lookout?" Anna asked curiously, receiving a hesitant nod from her sister. "Well, I didn't so much as take it up as ride it up."
"Anna! You did what?!" Elsa exclaimed in shock.
"Yeah, I rode him up that tower, and he's the one I rode into the kitchen, and the art room and the music room, and I almost convinced him to sled down the stairs except Mom stopped that one." Anna bragged as she remembered her chaotic childhood. "I also managed to set a salad on fire when I was preparing it for him."
"Anna, you shouldn't be so reckless!" Elsa reprimanded her. "And how do you set salad for a horse on fire?"
"Well, I don't remember exactly how I did that, but it happened." Anna shrugged. "But I was always hoping that maybe you'd come out of your room, even if it was to yell at me for being reckless. I just really wanted to see you sometimes."
"Oh Anna…" Elsa sighed. She'd known that Anna was a part of her life that she missed for a long time, and had come to terms with living with the fact. But it seemed she was just as big a part of Anna's and she'd never once thought about the effect her isolation would have on her sister, choosing to believe she was protecting her. Instead, Anna had been placing herself in danger in order to draw her attention, and that was something she didn't want. "I never want you to do something reckless like that again! If you want my attention, I promise all you have to do is ask."
"Thank you Elsa. You have no idea how much I wanted to hear you say that." Anna sighed as she once again leaned into her sister, cuddling up to her arm. After a moment of silence, Anna shifted slightly. "So… how much longer till we get there?"
"Look outside." Elsa replied with a slight giggle.
Outside the carriage, the path suddenly opened from walls of ice and rock to show a steady rise. Atop the rise, the ice castle loomed into view on the next pass over, the glittering stairs of ice shining in the afternoon sun as they slowly approached them. The entire castle seemed to be dark, with large cracks from where Elsa had supercooled the ice in her desperation the last time she'd been there. The structure, she knew, was still sound, but there was nothing that she could do except replace the ice to remove the cracks that ran through the walls. But she'd do that another time when Anna wasn't with her just in case her powers went out of control again.
"Elsa?" Anna asked as she gazed out at the castle through the light snow as they came to a stop. Elsa was almost immediately reminded of her childhood when Anna would always ask to play, as Anna turned away from the sparkling ice outside their carriage to look into her eyes. "Do you wanna build a snowman?"