For disclaimers and warnings, please see part one.
xXxXx
It was, Elsa decided, almost a relief to know that Anna was still very much lazy in the mornings. In fact, the only days where she was the first to wake were, much to the queen's quiet joy, those where she was almost over-the-top excited due to them being able to spend all their time together.
Today wasn't one of those days, and in an extreme display of comfort, her sister was still sound asleep even when Elsa herself had been up and about for almost an hour. She was now fully ready to face the day in spite of breakfast not being served for a good while yet, and since Anna's own bath would be ready shortly, she really did need to wake her up, no matter how adorable she looked tangled up in the covers; one hand behind her head and the other arm halfway over her eyes.
"Anna." She settled herself on the bed on one hip, and tweaked the princess' topmost hand with her fingers. "Time to get up."
Decidedly unimpressed and apparently stubborn even in sleep, Anna merely made a sound that was halfway between a sigh and a growl, and gave her hand a lazy swat before dropping her own arm back across her face.
Well, that was productive. Elsa regarded her sister with an amused tilt of her head, and got much the same result by both gently shaking Anna's shoulder and tickling her cheek. Then biting her lip in consideration, she thought back to the first day's ride they'd spent together and – with a chuckle – how she had nearly made the younger woman dismount in a most spectacular fashion. The same method here would make for a very rude awakening, and such a thing had been known to leave the princess in a horribly sour mood for the remainder of the day, so that wasn't exactly an option. But...
"Anna..." The queen leaned over her on one arm, and blew a slow, deliberately icy breath over a well-shaped ear. "You need to wake up now, before I chill your bath water and dump you into it."
"I'm awake!" In spite of blinking dazedly, Anna was upright so fast that Elsa almost took a clout to the chin. "I'm aw- it's purple!"
She was doing her best not to laugh – she really was – but goodness, Anna was staring at her surroundings as if the room had unexpectedly materialized around her during a walk in the city market; normally bright, teal eyes hazy with sleep and their dark lashes fluttering in rapid succession as she apparently attempted to kick her brain to a start. So, the queen snickered.
"... purple?" she questioned, and tried to hide her amusement behind one hand. Going by her sister's blush, she was somewhat less than successful.
"Oh, God." Anna had slumped back into the bed with a low, drawn-out groan and was now rubbing a hand over her face. "Weird dreams," she murmured from behind her own palm. "Sven turned into a rabbit and Kristoff had antlers – who knows how, with the bucket on his head – and then you were there and..." Her blush abruptly deepened. "Yeah. Purple."
Elsa smiled, and trailed her fingers through the thick, soft hair at her sister's temple in exchange for a contented hum. "Sounds entertaining," she commented.
"That's one word for it," the younger woman allowed, and caught her hand to twine their fingers. Her gaze was settled on the ceiling above, and there was a look of idle amusement on her face. "Entertaining, and maybe a little enlightening."
"Oh?" She waited curiously, but Anna didn't seem as if she was going to explain any further; apparently happy to just lie there and play with the fingers she held. Not that Elsa minded at all, but she reminded herself that they did have a day to get started, and gave the hand in her own a tug until her sister was sitting again. "Up you go," she coaxed. "You've slept in long enough for one day."
"Yeah, yeah." Anna made a face, but swung her halfway-bare legs over the side of the bed to rise when the queen did. "Will you brush my hair for me?" she questioned, and extended her arms over her head as she stretched thoroughly.
The motion meant that her knee-length, pea-green shift rose enough to reveal a few additional inches of skin, and Elsa almost missed the question entirely. However.
"Of course," she agreed, and guided her yawning sibling to the vanity before pushing her into the chair there with gentle hands. "That's hardly a chore; you know that."
Anna laughed. "Not now, no," she confirmed, and quirked a fiery eyebrow at her in the mirror. "But that's your fault – I think I sleep deeper when we share a bed; I certainly seem to move around a lot less." She crossed one exposed ankle over the other, and shaped a crooked, little grin as she folded her hands in her lap. "You should've seen what I looked like in the morning before that."
"I'm sure it was quite a sight," Elsa offered diplomatically, and smiled at the stuck-out tongue that was the sole answer as she gently started running a round, wide brush through the copper hair. The long strands were – much like her own – shaped by their respective hairstyles into waves that on Anna almost-but-not-quite became curls, and felt like smooth, soft silk in her hand when she briefly studied a thick lock and wondered for the Nth time: Strawberry-blonde, or red? "We'll have to make it more permanent arrangement, then," she suggested very evenly without meeting Anna's eyes, and let the hair glide through her fingers like ripples of water while she slowly brushed its underside. "The sovereign chambers are almost ready to move in to."
"Hm." She chanced a glance up and didn't know quite how to interpret the oddly thoughtful look on Anna's face, but then it dispersed like a fog under sunlight, and her sister was smiling. "I think I'd like that."
Somehow, Elsa reflected, it felt almost as if they were having two different conversations.
xXxXx
"Majesty?" Kai was standing there, she realized, just inside the side door. "If you would come see the chambers and say if the arrangement pleases you?"
Elsa settled her chin in the palm of her hand, and gave him a look that was openly wry enough to indicate exactly how long the two of them had known each other. "I told you; as long as the morning sun doesn't hit the bed, I'm honestly not that concerned," she reminded him, and then tilted her head. "Why not have Anna do it? The castle falls under her area of expertise, after all."
At that, the man nodded, and straightened a fraction. "Quite, and I did ask her first," he replied, and there was a tug in his facial muscles that made it seem as if he was holding back a smile. "I believe the princess's words were 'If there's a bed, a bath and a door that opens, I don't care about the rest'." His thick eyebrows moved only faintly, but it gave him the most exasperated expression that he'd ever allow himself to show in front of her. "Then she was off to the barracks, and if I may say so, Majesty, the two of you are remarkably similar in how un-particular you are about your residence."
The queen just smiled. The castle staff had accepted the admittedly novel idea of her and Anna fully living together without so much as batting an eye, but she supposed that their generation of the line was already unorthodox enough that people had simply gotten used to taking such things in their stride.
"Very well. It seems there are no more audiences today, all the same." Elsa rose from her throne and took the few steps down to ground level while her dress settled automatically around her as she moved. "Lead on, then."
Kai bowed once, and she followed him out of the throne room, through hallways and up more flights of stairs than she'd ever had to go in order to get to her private chamber in the past. The sovereign chambers – so named because there were already an abundance of 'royal' areas – were, like the other bedrooms, located in the westernmost section of the castle, though unlike the other rooms, it was several stories up a wide tower.
The space had previously mostly been used for storage, but shortly after the thaw, Elsa had set in motion a thorough remodeling – she couldn't bare to take over her parents' quarters, no matter how much tradition dictated it - that converted the mostly abandoned square footage into what could almost function as a separate apartment. One floor would hold a generously appointed bedroom with a connected, smaller bath, above that would be a private, more isolated office and library designed more for enjoyment than work, and above that again would be a solar fairly encased in glass, with a wide balcony that circled the tower in its entirety.
It had been a lengthy project to complete due to some rather daring structural changes, but the city's engineers were worthy of their reputation, and just a few weeks ago, the work had shifted from reconstruction to remodeling. Now, apparently even that much was done, and the furniture was being moved in as well.
According to Elsa's count, they were ten stories above the ground when Kai turned away from the stairs at a landing, and lead the way towards a set of wide, wooden double doors that she smiled to see. The one thing she and Anna had agreed to tell the decorators was a color scheme, because it really wouldn't be fair to make them fret from having no knowledge at all of what their employers hoped to see. As such, they'd ended up at least providing them with a little insight (blue, green and white – no pink and no snowflakes) that was now beautifully represented in the doors they were approaching.
Not unlike the door to her childhood bedroom, these were predominantly white, though decorated with intricate, geometrical carvings that had been painted blue and green in equal amounts. Entirely unlike on her old door, the carvings were far more curvy than sharply edged, and instead of being painted in solid colors, they faded steadily to white towards the edges, to the point where they almost blended with the background itself.
They were, she realized as she studied the swirling patterns, also oddly familiar.
"A lovely design," Elsa noted as they reached them, and caught Kai's smile from the corner of her eye.
"The princess will be glad to know that you approve, I'm sure," he said, and then pushed the doors open.
The room beyond was a study in organized chaos. The doors they entered through sat in one of only two straight walls, with the other – which had a single door in it - jutting out at an even angle off to the right and the remaining enclosure made up by the rounded wall of the tower itself. The floors were wood and had a faintly reddish tone that added a little warmth to a scheme of otherwise cool colors with the even walls having been decorated with patterns in pale blue and green with tiny, white accents. The outer wall had been left as bare, gray stone with two large windows added, and there was currently a small handful of people hanging curtains over them – two sets, in fact; a thin, sheer white, and a thicker, tranquil blue. Between the windows, two men were kneeling on a spread of thick, protective cloth; steadily finishing a wide fireplace with far paler stones than those that made up the wall itself, while a third was quietly leveling the mantel.
Several more workers were wandering to and fro; some securing accents, some touching up paint and some lugging small pieces of furniture. All of them, however, came to a full halt when Elsa was noticed, and the chorus of 'Majesty!' that rang out made her both smile, and also idly hope that when the decorating was finished, the acoustics would be a little less likely to make her ears ring.
"Good day, everyone," she greeted. "Please don't stop on my account."
"Your Majesty," Kai spoke up, and secured her attention as the room startled bustling again. His hand was indicating a middle-aged, fair man of average height, who was clad in the sturdy clothes of a tradesman, and currently holding a well-worn, charcoal-gray ivy cap in his calloused hands. "Anders Ersland – the head furniture maker for the project."
"Mister Ersland." Elsa watched him bow, and saw his eyes flicker as he straightened to face her again. Nervous? she wondered. Or frightened? "You've crafted some marvelous pieces."
"My Queen." He bowed again, and she decided that the small signs she could see in his face and body language were starting to lean much more towards indications of nervousness, which was honestly quite a relief. "I'm glad you approve. We're just missing one last thing, and our part'll be done."
Curiously, Elsa gave the room a brief once-over, and made note of the beautifully carved, white wooden furniture situated around the room. There was a vanity with a matching chair, a large, four poster bed with a low bench resting at its foot end, a loveseat that would probably go in front of the fireplace, a low, wide table and an over-size closet – presumably to accommodate for two distinct sections.
"Forgive me, Mister Ersland, but exactly what is missing?"
The blond man smiled, and adjusted his grip on the cap in his hands. "The bed's headboard, Majesty."
xXxXx
Anna, Elsa had recently learned, was truly a sight to behold when on horseback. For someone with a tendency towards excitement-fueled clumsiness that at times bordered on the destructive, she was the complete opposite when astride Thor's broad, white back; perfectly balanced and in full control of both herself and the horse. It had also become very clear that her sister adored riding, and while Elsa herself didn't fully share the passion, she enjoyed it all the same.
She did, however, she decided as she rested her hands on the chest-high, stone wall that encircled the barracks' large riding ring, find more enjoyment in simply watching Anna ride.
Right now, the chief sound heard in the afternoon sunlight was that of Thor's hooves pounding against the already well-worn, summer-dry ground; an even, sharp staccato that would then halt in a drag of soil and a cloud of dust as he whirled and took off in another direction under the subtle guiding of his rider. Underlying that was the muted beats of arrows piercing evenly dispersed, wooden targets and the whooshing sounds of two sets of breathing. Thor's was loud and deep, and Anna's light and steady as she steered him with her legs alone; half-standing in the saddle and clad in breeches and a tunic with its sleeves rolled up to her elbows, with her hair done up in a simple style and her eyes narrowed in total concentration as her upper body twisted to and fro. In her hands, of course, was her shortbow with its quiver on her back, and Elsa wasn't shy about privately admitting to a good amount of admiration as every arrow fired found its target with unerring accuracy.
Two kinds of admiration, even, she considered as both horse and rider were briefly silhouetted in the golden light. That of the skills displayed, and of the young woman displaying them.
"Hey!" The drumming sounds halted abruptly as Anna's focus shifted entirely from her exercises to her audience, and a grin appeared on her face as she nudged Thor towards the side of the ring at a canter. "Gosh, you're sneaky – I didn't even hear you."
"You did have other things to focus on," the queen noted pointedly, and for once found herself smiling up at the younger woman. "And I generally don't make that much noise, do I?"
"Yeah, no." Anna laughed, and settled comfortably into her saddle as Thor lowered his head to a trough and drank. "I think that's my area."
The horse was damp with sweat, and so, she realized, was his rider. An interesting view, to be sure, with how a few strands of escaped, copper hair was clinging to Anna's face and neck, and how the thin sheen of moisture lent an almost ethereal sparkle to the smudge of dust coating her exposed face and arms; gilded in the sunlight. Elsa felt her body warm at the sight and willed herself to focus.
Apparently, even sweaty and filthy was attractive to her where Anna was concerned.
Enough.
"You did a beautiful job with the design for the chamber doors," she told her.
"Who said I had anything to do with that?" Teal eyes widened in an entirely too innocent manner. "You're the artistically inclined one, remember?"
"Mhmm." Elsa regarded her dryly. "Either way, thank you; they're lovely." She folded her hands on the wall's top, and leaned on it a little harder. "I owe you a favor."
"Yeah?" Anna leaned forward as well to pat Thor's neck, and while the motion only brought them a fraction closer, a breeze still carried the scent of her skin and sun-warmed clothing to the queen's nose. "Mind if I collect now?"
"That would be rather unfair of me, wouldn't it?" she questioned, and twiddled her thumbs idly. "What can I do?"
In response, her sister straightened and – with a smirk – patted her saddle. "There's something I want to try, and since you're here and I know you can ride..."
Elsa glanced down at herself; more to stomp down her gut reflex to the idea of being in such a position with Anna than anything else, though God only knew why since they slept in each other's arms so why was this variety of physical closeness suddenly so different?
"I'm hardly dressed for it," she noted, and indicated her dress with one hand. "Unless you wish me to ride sidesaddle?"
"No, but it's not like you need to go back to the castle to change," was the amused reply, followed by a nose-crinkling grin as the younger woman had Thor back up several steps with a subtle tensing of her legs. "Go on – there's no one else around right now, and I can't see anything from here. Nice, big wall, right?"
"As if I need walls for privacy," Elsa commented faux-haughtily; bringing up a hand and moving it in a scooping, half-circle to make her surroundings immediately disappear behind a thick stream of swirling snowflakes that sped around her in a blur, with herself at the eye of the storm. From beyond the veil of brilliant white, she heard Anna laugh, and smiled herself as she adjusted her clothing with little more than a thought.
"There." She dispersed the flurries, and now stood in a long-sleeved shirt and a set of breeches and boots. Then, with a few steps and a pass through a gate that she closed behind her, she was in the ring itself, and was regarding both horse and rider. "Now... exactly what did you want?"
"To train this one." Anna patted Thor's shoulder, and the stallion's ears flickered in response. "I can't stretch his endurance much further without him being used to more weight," she explained. "Not without riding outside the city, anyway, and while I could ask a guard... well, he's my horse, y'know?"
"Ah. So you want my bodyweight to be added to your own."
"Pretty much." Her sister smiled, and it really wasn't fair how the sunlight caught her eyelashes when she tilted her head at just that angle. "Would you?" she requested, and was already busy moving her quiver from her back to her hip.
Idly, Elsa wondered if she could ever say no to anything Anna asked of her. Probably not, when facing that look.
"Of course." She willed herself to focus on the task instead of how physically close they would be during it, and studied the saddle. It was, at least, flat enough to accommodate both of them from what she could tell, though it would undoubtedly be a bit of a squeeze. Thor, she noted, was regarding her placidly; sides moving with steady, even breathing in spite of having had to have been at this for at least half an hour, and head free of bridles or suchlike as Anna's hands had been busy with other things entirely and so had no use – or need, from what the queen had seen – for reins. "Let me up, then."
Wordlessly, Anna slid the nearest of her feet from its stirrup, and settled her leg – bent at the knee – over the front of the saddle with such balance and ease that Elsa honestly found herself feeling a little envious. Still, she secured her foot in the opening offered and – with a clasp of her sister's extended arm - soon found herself astride the stallion and almost uncomfortably close to Anna's back.
Thor, meanwhile, had turned his head around to study the two of them with an equine expression of almost arch curiosity. What on earth is this? his eyes seemed to wonder, but Anna merely gave him a light squeeze with her legs, and he was off at a slow, amiable walk soon enough.
"I think you'll owe him an apple after this," Elsa mused; mostly to keep her mind off of how the gentle, rocking motion of the horse's easy stride was setting Anna's hips and rear to moving almost imperceptibly against her own, inner thighs. She wasn't entirely certain what to do with her hands, but had settled on letting them rest on her own knees, and was thankfully fully capable of keeping herself seated properly even with the stirrups being occupied by her sister's booted feet.
"Oh, he usually gets one, anyway," Anna told her, and a low chuckle made her back vibrate against the queen's chest. "So two might be better."
"Seems fair, for carting two people around."
"Doesn't it?" She could tell from her sister's voice that she was smiling, and – over Anna's shoulder – could make out the way her hands were idly fiddling with the bow in their grasp.
That struck her as a bit odd, to be perfectly frank. While Elsa in no way considered herself an expert on all things Anna – at least not yet – she did know that when on horseback, the princess was always, always comfortable. Now, however, she was plucking at the taut bowstring, or picking at the straps of leather that wound around the bow's middle, or running her fingers over the well-curved, pale wood as Thor peacefully ambled around the ring.
She was fidgeting.
"Hey." A hand moved to clasp her own wrist, and her hand was settled on Anna's waist and given a little pat. "Hold on, okay? I'm gonna speed him up a bit."
"Alright." She shook the thought away, and placed her other hand in a mirror position without needing further prompting. "I don't suppose I might have use of the stirrups, then?"
Anna laughed, and let her have them without another word. A click of her tongue, then, and Thor obediently started moving at a canter, with his mistress' strong legs easily clamping on to let her move with the motion without any other means, while Elsa was content to use more outside ways of keeping herself from falling off and landing in a heap on the ground. She wasn't the natural rider of the two of them, after all. Her skill was very much a learned one, while she had a clear memory of her sister happily laying atop their mother's horse; tiny arms clasping its neck as best she could reach, feet kicking happily and perfectly, utterly balanced there even at the tender age of two.
They – or rather Thor – circled the ring once, twice, with his riders moving smoothly to match his gait, and Elsa wondered what it might look like to an outside observer – what with her hands on Anna waist, back brushing against front as they rose from and sunk back into the saddle as one being. Up and down, up and down, with Anna's free hand loosely clasping her own where it rested almost on her hip, and her backside pressed into Elsa's pelvis.
Oh, God.
"Whew." Her sister's voice drew her from her increasingly wandering thoughts, and was tinged with a note of relief. "Thanks – I needed that."
It took her a second to discover what Anna was talking about – they were still moving, after all – and she blinked when she saw the light flutter of snowflakes, and felt the cold breeze that now brushed against their faces. Thor, to his credit, was taking the sudden weather change in both his figurative and literal stride, and only regarded the sudden onset of a very localized winter in late August with a flicker of his black-tipped ears.
"You're welcome," Elsa replied, and was glad that her voice was even and carried no hint of the flurry being anything but intentional, even as she dispelled it.
"Really hold on now," Anna warned her after another circling. "There's gonna be a lot of sharp turning, and we don't want the queen to go flying out of the saddle, right?"
For that, Elsa wrapped her arms around her waist to squeeze just a little bit harder than was necessary, and swallowed a smirk at the soft whoosh of escaping air. "Right."
"Stinker," the younger woman grumped, and then Thor was in a full gallop towards the opposite end of the wide ring with both of his riders in a half-stand, half-crouch across his broad back.
How in the world...? The queen was marveling, to say the least, because even using just the power of her own legs, Anna was as stable in this position as Elsa was herself with the use of the stirrups. More than that, she was staying as steady as a statue even as she guided her mount to whirl and turn inside clouds of brown dust; both hands level with her own face as she raised the bow, and only ever finding contact with anything else when the leather-guarded, left one dropped to her hip to swiftly secure a fresh arrow.
Right there, amidst the smell of horseflesh and warm grass, under the sounds of chirping birds and pounding hoofbeats and in full, close-up view of surprisingly intense, teal eyes, she discovered a side to her sister that she'd never known before. Right there, Elsa watched the tendons in Anna's forearm tighten as she nocked an arrow and drew the string back, saw the focused crinkle at the corner of her eye and the waving of loose strands of copper hair in the wind when she aimed to the side and the queen could see her face in intricate profile. Right there, she could make out every single speck of dust amidst her sister's freckles, and feel the tightening of subtle muscles against her own body.
And right there, she fell in love with Anna the woman all over again, over and above Anna the memory. In love, and in complete, speechless awe.
"That," she told her some time later, when she'd found her wits and both of them were back on their own feet as Anna walked Thor to cool with no more than a brief touch to his broad shoulder; collecting arrows into the quiver at her hip all the while. "That was amazing, Anna."
In response, her sister colored and rubbed at the back of her own neck. "Well, mostly it was a lot of practice," she demurred. "First time I tried it, I actually hit lieutenant Ramsland, but at least I was using blunted arrows."
"How long ago was that?" Elsa questioned as their little group came to a halt, and Thor lowered his head for a well-deserved drink while Anna leaned one dusty, linen-covered elbow on the ring's wall.
"Since I started shooting from horseback... two years?" was the halting reply, with Anna squinting a little off towards the castle while she rested her cheek against a loosely curled fist. "Give or take a few months. I try to practice at least twice a week, just to keep it up."
"It's definitely paid off," she noted, and accepted both the quiver and the bow while her sister removed and hefted the saddle, and shook her head at an approaching stablehand. "I don't think I can call this a favor, though – I enjoyed it entirely too much."
"It doesn't have to be a chore to count as a favor, Elsa," Anna told her with an amused look as they left the ring; Thor following without needing any instruction. "I liked designing the doors."
"Still." She returned the greetings that increased in number and frequency as they left the solitude of the ring behind, and entered the area of the barracks proper. "I'd prefer if you would think up something else."
"If you want." Anna shrugged her shoulders unconcernedly, and led the way into the stables. "There's far worse things than having a queen in your debt, right?"
"Far." Elsa relinquished her sister's weapons to an expectant guard, while the saddle was handed off to a groom before both men scurried off. Heimdahl was peering at her from his stall, and she rubbed his golden cheek while Anna let Thor into the neighboring one. "Does anything spring to mind?"
Through the wooden bars that separated the stalls, she could just barely see her sister purse her lips in thought over Thor's back; shoulders and arms working as Anna dried him off with handfuls of hay. "I mentioned that there's gonna be stuff that requires your touch at the festival, right?"
"For skating and such, yes."
"Right." The copper head nodded. "And while you're totally at home on the ice, I'm really, really not." A droll look, and a crooked smile. "So maybe you could return the favor – which it doesn't have to count as, by the way – with some ice-skating lessons?"
Elsa considered that as she secured a handful of small, bright red apples, and let Heimdahl lip one of them from her palm and crunch it contentedly. Lessons would most likely involve the two of them alone, with Anna holding on to her more often than not – at least at first – because she herself was on ice the way Anna was on horseback, and always had been.
"Certainly." A soft, icy-gray muzzle butted her in the chest, and she offered up another apple with a smile and a scratch to the stallion's forehead. "A bit short notice, though, isn't it? The festival is next week, near as I recall."
"Uh-huh. Just a bare month before the Harvest Moon." Anna had switched to Thor's other side by now, and was peering at her from over one, linen-clad shoulder as she worked. "You'll just have to make time for me, I guess," she stated, and poked out the very tip of her tongue.
Elsa just shook her head in fond amusement, and walked over to lean on the stall door. Her sister was crouching down to work a fresh handful of hay over Thor's knees, and she smiled when the stately, white head turned and dipped to nip gently at the princess' fiery hair. Clearly, this animal adored his mistress. Not that she didn't understand him.
"So." Anna straightened and was abruptly very close; hands settling on the queen's arms where they rested on the top of the stall door. "Deal?"
"Deal." She inclined her head, and offered up one of the remaining apples, which was claimed with a smile and the faintest brush of tanned fingers over her own. "That still doesn't feel like much of a favor, though."
"Oh, suck it up, Snow Queen." Teal eyes were watching her in warm exasperation while Thor crunched the apple, and tossed his pale head in apparent agreement. "See you at dinner?"
From the next stall, Heimdahl whickered softly, and Elsa decided that with three against one, she really didn't have a leg to stand on. "Alright, alright." She managed to hold back a laugh as she lifted one hand in supplication, and offered the last apple to Thor with the other. "And yes," she then agreed, and aimed a wry smile at Anna. "As long as you bathe first."
"Hm." Her sister made a show of sniffing the shoulder of her tunic. "Yeah, you're probably right. I don't think another human being would come within three feet of me like this," she commented. Then she raised a hand to scratch Thor's cheek as the stallion poked his head over her shoulder, and the corner of her mouth lifted. "Except you, of course."
"Of... course." Something about the look in Anna's eyes suddenly made her feel uncharacteristically flustered, but Elsa managed to get a hold of herself. "See you in a little while, then."
She'd only barely caught the amused wave as she'd all but fled the stables, and was now returning the greetings from others automatically as she walked back to the castle proper, deep in thought. Lately, her interactions with her sister had started to knock her out of her figurative stride, because sometimes, she could absolutely swear that Anna was flirting with her. What just happened in the stables had been another in a so-far short line of examples, and she was finding herself increasingly torn between two, repeating thoughts.
I'm reading too much into things, was one.
But what if I'm not? was the other.
Sighing softly, Elsa climbed the steps to a side-door in the castle's western wall, and ran both hands through her bangs to settle them. Maybe, she considered as she entered the cool shade and started off for her current chambers, just maybe, she could try pushing the boundaries between them. Not much, of course, because prudence, as ever, dictated caution, and the last thing she wanted to do was shock her sister with her decidedly unsisterly affections.
If there was a chance that Anna felt the same, however... then maybe she should. Just on the off chance that it would be received in the way she hoped.
And it was positively awful just how giddy that thought made her.
xXxXx
Notes:
This story is taking on a life of its own and has become way more detailed than I planned for it to be. Enough that I'm now kind of annoyed with the brevity of the first chapter since it doesn't fit the remaining ones, and really want to both re-write that entirely and change the title, too; probably to Thaw's End. Any thoughts on that, or would you rather I leave it as is?
Ya'll stay chill – this thing has 10k+ views, and you're awesome. Remember that you can follow me on Twitter if you wish: jslothp.
(I also totally giggled at the notion of 'neigh'boring stalls. That's worse than the guy who collected stamps until it hit him that 'philately will get me nowhere'. Badum-tssh.)