A/N: Back again, with a new one-shot! Sorry that updates for this are so spotty...I sort of write 'em as they come to me, so it's hard to say when another one will pop up. So, apologies on that front! And thanks to those who reviewed! Very much appreciate it. :) Anyways, gonna keep this short-ish, with a longer note at the end. (Also rushed through edits; spelling errors/grammatical errors are my fault, feel free to let me know, should you spot some, and I'll fix them!)
Disclaimer: Disney owns Frozen
- Out of Hand -
"But Anna, I was the dragon last time."
"Nuh-uh. You were a griffor. That's different."
"Gryphon."
"That's what I said."
The two young princesses of Arendelle sat on the floor of their father's study, engaged in a great debate over just who, exactly, would be the dragon and who would be the valiant knight to slay the beast. They were alone for the moment; Agdar had stepped out, telling the girls to behave while he went to look for Kai. ('Behave' meaning, 'don't upend the chess set, pull the books off the shelves, or attempt to use the large model ships for any of their games.') The girls complied, more interested in playing with Anna's colorful set of blocks, and Elsa's small collection of wooden soldiers than Papa's dusty chess pieces. (Though, in a pinch, Anna would occasionally swipe the horses—the Arendelle guards had to ride on something.)
They had, though, tired of building castles for the soldiers to protect, and sending the small wooden men on dangerous missions through the enchanted forest. At which point, Anna had suggested the knights and dragon game.
Thus began the trouble.
Usually, they were very good about playing together; they got along remarkably well, and rarely did they bicker or fight.
But sometimes…sometimes one was cranky. Sometimes, one was stubborn.
Sometimes, you just didn't want to be a dragon.
Elsa said as much, crossing her arms over her chest and scowling down at Anna. Anna frowned and mimicked her older sister, crossing her arms, only to uncross them, and re-cross them again, getting the right one on top. (She wanted to match Elsa exactly.)
"You have to be the dragon this time," she insisted. When Elsa asked why, she paused, her five-year-old logic momentarily stalling a bit. "Because."
"Because why?"
"Because I said so!"
"You're not the boss of me," Elsa countered. She huffed. "I would be the boss, anyway. I'm older."
"Only by this many!" Anna held up three fingers, upset that Elsa didn't want to be the dragon. Okay, sure, she'd been the dragon last time, and they usually took turns, but Anna just…didn't feel 'dragon-y' today. And Elsa didn't seem to understand that. "That's not a lot, you know."
"Yeah it is."
"Is not."
"Is too."
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
Anna didn't want to say, 'is not' again, so she stuck out her tongue instead. Elsa blinked in surprise, but didn't return the gesture. (Mama told them that was not a nice thing to do, and on top of that, she'd once earned a sharp slap on the wrist when her tutor caught her doing it during another argument with Anna. One that involved the correct spelling of 'fjord.')
"Don't do that," she told her younger sister sternly, trying to imitate the tone Papa used when he was scolding them. Anna frowned, recognizing it instantly.
"Stop being so bossy!"
"I'm not being bossy, you are!" Elsa stood up, and stalked towards the door. She was done playing. If Anna was going to be difficult, she'd just go find something else to do.
Her younger sister was startled by her sudden departure and, realizing that she'd chased off her only playmate, she scurried after her, knocking over a small tower of blocks in the process. They scattered across the floor.
"Elsa…Elsa wait!" Anna cried. "I'm sorry! You don't hafta be the dragon, if you don't want," she offered, somewhat begrudgingly. Her little shoulders slumped, but if it meant that Elsa would stick around and play with her… "Please stay? Pleeeeease? You're just…you're really good at being the dragon!" Anna explained.
Elsa hadn't been expecting that. She paused by the door.
"What?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Anna went on, encouraged by the fact that she'd successfully kept Elsa from leaving. She took it as a good sign. "Cause of, you know, your snow and stuff! You can use your scary ice powers and—" Elsa frowned at Anna's choice of words.
"My…my powers aren't…they're not scary," she said quietly. Anna ignored her, and just went on, seemingly unaware of Elsa's dismayed expression.
"—cause most dragons breathe fire, but this dragon is an ice dragon, so that's why I wanted you to do it, Elsa…cause you can do the ice magic. I can't!" She grabbed her sister's wrist and gave it a weak tug, once more returning to the pleading tactic. "C'mooooon, Elsa, let's just play, alright? You can be an ice knight instead, I guess—"
Elsa resisted. She didn't really feel much like playing anymore.
"No, Anna." She said, trying to pull her arm away. "I don't want to."
"But I said I was sorry!" Anna whined.
"I don't care, Anna, I just don't want to play."
"But—!"
"No!" Elsa snapped, yanking her hand back and stomping her foot for emphasis. Anna nearly tumbled backwards, unprepared for both the sudden movement of Elsa's arm, as well as the sparse patches of frost that sprang up at random intervals across the floor. They crackled noisily as they spread across the rug, and one particular patch engulfed the scattered blocks, wrapping them in clear, crystalline ice.
"Whoa," both girls breathed, simultaneously.
"How'd you do that?" Anna asked, carefully stepping to the side of one of the patches. (Ice was really slippery, and she almost always lost her balance if she wasn't careful, or if Elsa wasn't there to catch her.)
Elsa eyed the ice with a mixture of confusion and awe. She'd never really done anything like this before.
"I don't know," she admitted. The frost was already starting to recede, which had Anna frowning in disappointment. She rushed forward to examine the icy blocks before they, too, went back to normal.
She held one up for Elsa to see, at which point the door to the study creaked open. Their father stepped inside, and before he'd even had a chance to greet the girls, Anna was running over, wrapping his legs in a tight embrace, the ice block in one hand.
"Look, Papa!" She proclaimed happily. Agdar knelt down, an amused, easy smile on his face. He was often roped into the girls' games, regardless of whether or not he had time for them. (A frequent occurrence that greatly vexed his advisors, who insisted that was what nannies and tutors were for. Agdar would thank them for their opinion, and promptly ignore them.)
"What do you have there?" he asked, genuinely curious. It looked like one of the blocks they often played with, but—
"Elsa did the magic, and made the blocks all…icy." Anna explained, dropping the cold cube into Agdar's palm. He stared at it, caught somewhat off guard.
His gaze turned to his oldest daughter, one eyebrow raised.
"Elsa…" his tone was curious, with just a hint of unease. "You did this?" he held up the toy.
Thinking she was going to get in trouble, Elsa ducked her head and scuffed her toe against the floor.
"Yes, Papa," she said. She briefly considered denying it, but that would have been silly; no one else around here had ice powers.
She waited for a firm reprimand, but instead, felt the weight of her father's hand on her shoulder, before he reached up and ruffled her hair. (Mama was going to be upset—she hated when Papa mussed their hair.)
"Well that's certainly…new." He chuckled. Elsa grinned, mostly relieved that she'd avoided a punishment. The ice around the block dissipated.
"Aw," Anna frowned, watching the ice vanish. "But it looked so cool."
Papa chuckled again and stood, straightening his shirt an attempting to disentangle himself from Anna's hold. She laughed, refusing to let go, and Papa declared loudly that he couldn't very well run a kingdom with a rock troll wrapped around his leg. Both girls brightened, realizing that their father had joined their game and he'd solved their dragon problem by eliminating the dragon altogether. Today, they'd be trolls.
They played until late afternoon, when Kai announced that the girls were needed elsewhere (math lessons…bleh) and that the captain of the guard wished to speak with the King. The girls voiced their complaint with cries of 'do we have to?' and 'can't we stay?'
Agdar shook his head gravely and whispered conspiratorially to the girls, "Trolls spotted on the westernmost boarder. I must speak with the captain."
Elsa and Anna giggled, still a bit upset that their game had to end, but pleased that Papa still seemed to be playing. Kai hurried them out the door, but not before catching the shift in the king's demeanor. The mirth left his expression, and in its place, a troubled frown appeared.
"Kai," he called softly. The chamberlain paused, and watched as Agdar placed a single wooden block on his desk. "Tell the captain I'll speak with him later, and," his expression grew grim "if you could call Idunn for me...we have something to discuss."
"Covered in ice?"
"Completely."
"Well that's…I hardly think it's a problem, Agdar. It's no more damaging than the snow or wind or—"
"I know…I know it isn't." The king could not say why this development was so troubling, but it simply was. Elsa's powers had never been a problem, but then, they'd mostly been harmless. The only issues that had ever come about due to his daughter's strange gift were a few instances of water damage and that incident with the suit of armor. (And honestly, he had a feeling Anna had more to do with it than she let on.)
This, though…he'd never seen Elsa freeze something completely, or spread frost across the floor. He'd seen flurries and flakes, snowdrifts outside and gusts of arctic wind indoors. Nothing like this.
"Should we…do something, then?" Idunn asked. She had not been concerned before, but her husband's worry was affecting.
"…I don't know."
"…I'm sure it's nothing, dear. A…a phase. A mishap. Elsa's powers aren't dangerous." She said it with stern conviction; it was the assertion of a woman met with wary glances and anxious gazes. A woman used to defending her daughter's gift.
There was a moment of silence that passed between the two.
"Of course. You're right." Agdar said finally, forcing a smile. "You're absolutely right."
To Idunn, it did not sound like an agreement.
Rather, it sounded like an effort to convince himself of it.
As days passed, and turned to weeks, Elsa was not able to duplicate the frost on the floor, nor the ice on the blocks. She had tried a few times, but the attempts only resulted in a light dusting of snow on the ground, and some errant snowflakes.
Eventually the incident was forgotten; there were, after all, new games to play, new things to learn, new ways to get into trouble with Anna. (So far they hadn't quite topped the suit of armor incident. But it was only a matter of time.)
It was summer. The days were long and warm and perfect for whatever sort of adventures the girls saw fit to have. Elsa turned eight in July, receiving a new jacket from Mama, a new book from Papa, another wooden soldier from Kai, and a funny-looking picture from Anna.
"It's us," Anna told her, exasperated with Elsa's confusion. She pointed to the bluish blob on the right. "See, that's you," she pointed to the shorter, greenish blob beside it, "and that's me!"
Elsa didn't see the resemblance, but she loved it all the same.
The rest of July passed without incident, August following suit. When September came around, very little changed, save for a slight chill in the air as autumn approached.
But then, Elsa had a nightmare.
It was late in the evening, and the girls had been put to bed; presumably, they were asleep, but with Anna, one could never be sure.
And, more recently, Elsa was a bit of a problem as well. Not quite in the same way as her younger sister; Anna would refuse to go to sleep, too wound up to stay in bed. She would get up and wander the halls until a servant caught her and wrestled her back into bed; sometimes she would repeat the endeavor, until Agdar would be forced to step in.
Anna would stay in bed after that.
Elsa, though…
"What did the physician say?" Agdar asked from his seat by the fire. He was clearly exhausted; his hair was messy, strands hanging loosely in his face. The skin beneath his eyes dark and heavy. His shoulders were slumped, and his normally immaculate attire rumpled.
"He assured me that this is normal," Idunn replied, looking equally worn. She handled it better, though, the weariness settling on her shoulders with a familiar weight. Her dark hair hung in a braid over her left shoulder. She wore a blouse and skirts, having spent most of the day with the girls, as opposed to holding court with her husband. "He said many children go through this. They grow out of it."
"Yes, but do those children have ice magic?" Agdar countered, sighing and running a hand over his face. He'd hoped that the gesture would invigorate him somehow, perhaps inspire some sort of solution. "You know, the younger attendants won't go in there. Gerda's the only one, at this point."
"Silly," Idunn said, not bothering to hide her disdain for the perceived foolishness of some of the younger staff.
"I'm not so sure." Agdar muttered.
From what Kai had told him, it was an unpleasant situation for the nursemaids; they were unused to the frigid powers that plagued the young girl, as Elsa was very capable of controlling it most of the time; they never had to worry about them. At night, though, what with the persistence of these new nightmares…the ice seemed to have a mind of its own, coating entire walls, creating menacing spikes of ice.
Agdar didn't really blame them for being afraid.
"She's just a child," Idunn stressed. "What do they think she's going to do? Freeze them on sight?"
Agdar thought of the wooden blocks from months before, but said nothing.
"As I said…the physician assured me it's nothing to worry about," his wife, as always, seemed so sure of everything. Of their daughter and her powers, of the situation and its eventual passing. "He offered suggestions…things we might try to help her sleep better."
"Of course." Agdar privately wondered what they would do, should the suggestions fail, should the nightmares not pass...should his daughter's powers get out of hand.
"It will pass, Agdar." Idunn told him. "It will."
"Elsa. Psssst. Elsa."
Elsa muttered something into her sleeve. To Anna, it sounded a bit like, 'mmmf mmfffn mff nnn,' which was probably something along the lines of, 'go away Anna,' or, 'I'm trying to sleep, Anna.' But it was impossible to tell.
"If you don't wake up," Anna whispered, "Master Hamdaal is going to be mad."
With something akin to a grumble, Elsa forced herself upright, blue eyes dull and tired. She didn't want to admit it, but Anna was right. Master Hamdaal was the strictest of their instructors, and if he saw that she had dozed off during their exercises, he'd be upset, and would probably give her more figures to memorize, or something.
"Why would you wanna sleep on the table anyway?" Anna asked, confused. It didn't look comfortable, slumping halfway over and resting one's head against the hard surface of the desk. At least Elsa could reach the desk; if Anna tried to nap at the table, it wouldn't work out so good—she needed the assistance of several large tomes to reach the surface, and she'd probably slip off the small stack of books, should she try.
She said as much. Elsa yawned and rubbed at her eyes.
"Not a nap," she told her. "Too old for those."
Anna took some offense at the comment, but her curiosity won out over her indignation. She repeated her question.
Elsa thought about it for a moment, ultimately shrugging.
"I didn't mean to fall asleep on the table," she said.
"But you did."
"I guess I'm just really tired." She said.
"How come?"
"I dunno…I don't sleep good at night," she decided. At which point Master Hamdaal came back, telling Elsa that the correct phrasing would be, 'sleep well.' Both girls sat up straighter in their chairs, and suppressed the urge to groan. Master Hamdaal then told Elsa to open up to page eight in her primer, and handed Anna a page of letters and numbers to copy. They started on their work, and Anna decided she'd have to investigate further…but after she finished her assignment.
Anna knew something was up, she just didn't know what, exactly. Between Elsa's impromptu nap at the desk, as well as the weird way everyone was acting, something was off.
Papa looked sleepy, just like Elsa, and Mama was spending more and more time talking to Franz, the family physician. (Anna made herself scarce whenever she'd see Franz around—Franz usually meant some sort of medicine that tasted like dirt in her future, and Anna preferred to avoid that, if at all possible.) The servants were acting really weird too. She asked Kai about it, and Kai told her it was nothing to worry about.
Well, that was all well and good, but Anna wasn't worried. Anna wanted to know what was going on.
She started to have a better idea when she woke one night to the sound of her father's steady, strong voice. Anna was a sound sleeper; getting her to sleep was something of a struggle, but once she was out? She was out. At least, that's what Elsa told her. Elsa would know; sometimes, Anna would drag her blanket and pillow over to her sister's side of the room, clambering up onto her bed and building a little fort beside her before settling in to sleep. Apparently, Anna would toss and turn and mumble a little in her sleep (as well as hog all the blankets) and no matter what Elsa would do to wake her, Anna wouldn't budge.
So it was a little disorienting, to wake up to the darkness of the night as opposed to the pale light of dawn.
She blinked and tried to figure out what woke her; was it really Papa's voice? Was she imagining it?
She looked over to Elsa's side of the room, squinting, trying to see in the dark. (It was kinda hard…everything was all shadowy and grey. She found herself wishing for the bright northern lights to appear outside their window; that would make it much easier.)
"Shhhh, Elsa, it's alright, you're alright," That was Papa's voice. She hadn't imagined it.
She kicked aside her tangled blankets and crawled to the end of her bed, peeking over the footboard. It was rare that Papa and Mama came to their room in the middle of the night; if the girls needed anything, it was usually a servant or nursemaid that came to help.
Papa sat on the edge of Elsa's bed, and Anna could spot her sister's pale hair. She was huddled close to his chest, wrapped tightly in his arms. He stroked her hair and muttered softly, and…was Elsa crying?
The thought made Anna uneasy.
Not caring if Papa caught her awake and out of bed, she scrambled over to them, using Papa's legs as a sort of ladder so she could climb up beside them. He started a little, surprised, but he didn't say anything as Anna wormed her way into his arms and poked Elsa in the shoulder.
"Hey," Anna said, her tiny face scrunched into a determined, concerned frown. "Hey, are you okay?"
Her older sister uncurled only slightly, scared blue eyes looking out from behind her tightly wrapped arms.
She sniffled, and shook her head a little.
No.
Anna blinked.
Well, she was having none of that. She scooted forward and threw her arms around Elsa, giving her (what she considered to be) the best hug. Ever. No one could stay sad, or angry, or scared with a hug like that.
The three of them sat like that for a long time. (Sooooo long in Anna's young mind. Like, forever.) But then Papa whispered that it was time to try and go back to sleep, and Anna was surprised to discover that Elsa already was. Together, she and Papa helped settle Elsa back under the covers. Then, Papa scooped her up and gently plopped her down on her own bed. He kissed the top of her head.
"You did a very good job," he said. "Helping Elsa like that." The compliment made Anna beam. She squirmed excitedly beneath her blanket, pleased she'd been able to do something for her older sister. Then Papa said goodnight, and headed for the hall.
Anna stayed awake a bit longer, too happy to sleep just yet, and she tried to think of other ways she might help Elsa, if this ever happened again. (Which, it probably wouldn't, but coming up with plans was a lot of fun.)
She came up with a few ideas before finally drifting off to sleep.
When she woke up the next morning, the jagged spikes of ice that had littered the floor of their room were gone.
As it turned out, it did happen again, and Anna was dismayed to discover that she'd slept through it. She hadn't been able to try out 'Operation: Help Elsa,' and on top of that, her sister was just no fun to play with when she was all sleepy and grumpy.
She made a decision. Before they even had a chance to go to sleep that night, she'd commence with the plan.
She prepared for it all day, gathering the necessary materials. (Which included finding her winter mittens and boots, as well as trying to decide the quickest way to the ballroom. She timed herself, and made a map of the best route. And then she made a few more maps. Because making maps was fun.)
Finally, bedtime came around, and Anna was excited for it, for once. Which made Gerda veeeeery suspicious.
"What's got you all excited tonight, little one?" Gerda asked as she helped Anna tug on her nightgown. Anna giggled and said, 'nothing,' crossing her fingers behind her back.
Gerda didn't look like she was convinced, but she just sighed and wrangled the young princess into bed, turning down the bedside lamps.
"Goodnight, dears," the older woman called. The girls chorused their own 'goodnights' in return, and the door shut with a faint 'click.'
Anna counted to ten, slowly. As slow as she could go. (Which wasn't all that slow, actually.) Then, she hurried out of bed, running to the corner where she had hidden her supplies.
Elsa heard the commotion and, wondering what Anna was up to, peeked out from under her blankets.
"What are you doing?" Elsa asked, watching as her younger sister tugged on snow boots and mittens.
"Helping," Anna said, like it explained everything. (It didn't.)
"Helping with what?" Elsa asked, wondering what on earth would require boots, mittens, and a…was that a map?
"I'm helping you!" Anna declared. Before Elsa could ask about that, she was being pulled out of bed and towards the door. Anna opened it a smidgeon, looking up and down the long hallway, making sure the coast was clear.
"What?" Elsa was utterly confused. "Anna, what are you doing, and how is it supposed to help m—mmff!" Anna shoved a small hand over her mouth, silencing her, and threw in a SHUSH! for good measure.
"We gotta follow this map, and we gotta do it fast." Anna said.
Elsa knew they'd get in trouble if they got caught, and she didn't fancy the prospect of Kai's disapproving glare, or worse, a sound lecture from their parents, but she really wanted to know what Anna was up to.
So of course she went along with it.
They darted out of their room and down the hall, shushing each other and ducking behind curtains and suits of armor as servants walked past, finishing up their tasks for the day. They crept past their father's study with the utmost care, and made sure to give the parlor at the far end of the hall a wide berth—Mama liked to sit in there sometimes, working on her needlepoint by the large hearth.
Finally, they made it to the large staircase that led to the main hall and the ballroom beyond it. Anna let out a whoop of victory, remembering halfway through that they had to be quiet. So, the whoop was only half a whoop, really.
"Come on, come on!" Anna urged, running down the stairs. (Which was totally not allowed. Ever.) Elsa followed, albeit at a slower pace, and helped her sister open the large, grand doors that led to their destination.
Once inside the vast, open space, Anna hurriedly shut the door and giggled. They'd made it!
"Okay, you," Elsa giggled along with Anna; she couldn't help it. "What are we doing here, huh? And how is it gonna help me?"
"Well…" Anna said, once she'd calmed down a bit. "You haven't been sleeping good, right? Cause when you go to sleep, you have bad dreams and stuff. So I thought maybe…maybe if instead of sleeping, we did something else—"
"Anna, we have to sleep," Elsa reasoned.
"Yeah, I know," Anna told her, crossing her arms. "But if we put it off…that's less time asleep, so…less time for bad dreams. Also!" She said, excited because they were getting to the best part of her plan. "We should do something really fun before we go to sleep, so that you'll have a bunch of good thoughts and stuff, and no room for the bad ones!" It was, of course, purely conjecture, but to Anna, the logic seemed sound.
Elsa wasn't entirely convinced, but again, she was more curious than skeptical.
"So what should we do?"
"You should do the magic!"
"…Huh?"
"Yeah!" Anna bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, explaining her idea. "So, you know that thing you did before?"
"No."
"The thing! The thing with the blocks!"
"Oh…kinda?"
"You could do it again!" Anna gestured to the ballroom. "And there's no rug in here, or books, or suits of armor…or anything that can break." Anna had been very careful to select a location that would result in the least amount of damage, should they get a bit too…how had Kai put it, when they wrecked that suit of armor? Rowdy? "So we won't get into trouble. I think."
"I don't know if I can do that again," Elsa murmured, looking down at her hands. She couldn't really remember how she'd made the ice spring up, or how the ice had managed to cover the blocks. She just remembered being upset…and she didn't want to be upset again.
Anna could see that Elsa wasn't as excited as she was, which was a little disheartening, so she quickly suggested something else.
"Well…then let's not do the ice thing. Just make some snow instead!" Anna could tell, by the way that Elsa suddenly brightened, that this was a better idea.
"…Okay," Elsa said, flexing her fingers a little. "…How much snow?"
"Ummmm…as much as you want?"
"Hmmm." Elsa looked around the room, as if she were trying to decide what might be a decent amount. After a moment or two, she nodded, satisfied, and turned to Anna.
"Okay." She said, bring her hands close and letting her power surge to her fingertips. A faint blue glow gathered in the air around them, and a slight chill permeated the air. "Ready?"
Anna nodded.
After that, Anna made a habit of dragging Elsa out of bed and down to the ballroom, where they would spend hours playing in the snow, building forts, slides, snowmen; having grand snowball fights and snowmen battles. Anna had led several armies of the lopsided snow creations against the awesome snow dragon, her sister at her side. (They were both knights.)
It was a great secret they kept, and though at first Elsa still would wake in the middle of the night, sobbing and yelling and nearly impossible to console, the episodes eventually stopped. Anna liked to think she'd been correct in her theory of 'too many good thoughts to have any bad ones,' but more likely, Elsa was exhausted from their nightly play, and her body recognized the need for rest.
Mama and Papa didn't know, but Anna was sure that they noticed that Elsa's powers were changing. She was getting all that practice when they played together; her snow creations were improving, and the strength of the small snowstorms she created was increasing as well.
But she had it under control. Mama and Papa never had a reason to scold her, or punish her because she'd made a mess with her powers. Sure, there were a few slip ups here and there, but she was always able to get the ice to recede. Sometimes it would take a bit longer, but it would eventually go away.
Elsa would look forward to the nights when they'd play; it wasn't all the time, not anymore, anyway. But every now and then, she'd hear Anna slip out of bed and pad over, insisting that it was an ideal night for building snowmen.
Sometimes, though, they'd run out of things to do, or Anna would grow tired of their games. They'd go several days, sometimes a whole week without a visit to the ballroom.
Elsa was trying to come up with something else for them to do; a new trick, or something.
She wanted so badly to try and make the ice appear on the floor again; if she could cover the whole floor, it would be like the frozen pond out in the garden; they'd be able to slide across it. (Not really ice skate; Anna was too little.)
So when Gerda came to get Anna for her afternoon nap, Elsa slipped outside, trotting over to a secluded corner of the garden, and tried to get the ice to form once more.
She stretched out her hands and sort of blasted the cobblestones with some cold air, but only succeeded in blowing away some dead leaves. She tried and again, and again, getting some snow, but no ice.
She thought hard. What had she done? It felt like forever ago that she'd done it; she couldn't even remember what she and Anna had been arguing about.
Taking a deep breath, she stretched out her hands again, and focused.
"Ice, ice…come on…" She repeated under her breath, picturing a gleaming expanse of translucent ice, as opposed to gentle drifts of snow.
A blast of cold air erupted from her palms, and—
She frowned. More snow.
"Darn!" She yelled, stamping her foot in annoyance.
She nearly fell backwards, she was so startled by the patch of ice that formed underneath her.
It slithered and snaked over the stones, just as it had done that first time, but now it seemed concentrated in one spot, instead of all over. On top of that, it grew out much farther than last time, and stuck around, instead of vanishing.
Intrigued, Elsa waved a hand over the ice, and it was gone. She straightened, and stamped her foot again.
Ice appeared, and it spiraled in beautiful patterns in every direction.
She tried it again, and again, and again, until she was sure she got the hang of it. Once she was sure she could do it on command, and without incident, she grinned and ran back towards the castle.
She couldn't wait to show Anna.
So, yeah, return of the fluff! Kind of. Sort of. Mostly.
Right then. Explanation. I was kind of curious about a particular line in the movie, (I'm sure you can guess which one) and I wanted to explore what might have led the king to proclaim that Elsa's powers were getting out of hand (there, I said it, in case anyone couldn't guess. XD ) I tried to imagine what might result in Elsa's powers going all haywire when, for the most part, she seems to have a pretty good handle on them.
Night terrors seemed to fit; I'm no expert, really, but I had them as a kid. It seemed like an emotional thing that could result in some scary ice, and maybe give the king a reason to be all, 'hey, this is scary, we should worry, maybe?' Anyways, I dunno, maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, but I hope it was an enjoyable read either way! Reviews are appreciated, but it's cool if you don't wanna leave one. Thanks for reading!