A.N. First published February 26th 2016. Prompt: Leap.

Living in a castle can be boring, especially if you are a young princess with strawberry blond hair and a lot of energy. Anna often asked herself how her sister could spend so much time in her room and otherwise be so regal. For Anna it was not possible. She knew that among the servants she was known as the "wild" on, but it did never bother her. Running around the castle, climbing on trees in the garden or even driving her bicycle through the halls was something she just had to do. The worst part of the day was when she had lessons and her tutors wanted her to be still for more than four hours. That was really too much. It was not like she did not like to learn new things- she started to love books by time- but to be forced to focus on one thing while her mind kept wandering somewhere far away was always frustrating.

One day in early spring when she was nine years old had been especially hard to keep still. For some years now she and her sister had a complicated relationship. It has not been always that way. Anna could still remember the time when Elsa had been younger and the two of them inseparable. But now four years later she could be happy when Elsa exchanged two sentences in a row with her. Well, until two days before when something strange happened. It was evening and Anna and her parents were about to have dinner when suddenly Elsa appeared too. It did happen sometimes that all four of them ate together, but more often Elsa decided to stay in her room. And now all of them were together and Elsa even asked Anna how the day had been for her and laughed when she heard the story about the little kitten in the kitchen.

So now two days after that event Anna kept looking out if she could spot her big sister somewhere in the castle. She kept running from one room to the other, checking if Elsa was somewhere, but could not find her. Then one idea appeared to her. Maybe she was in the library! Turning around on her heels she made her way to the library on the other end of the floor. As fast as she was running she somehow missed to see one vase standing in the corner before the library, so when she was about to make a turn, she slipped and crash run into the precious china vase of her mother. Before she even realised what had just happen, voices were to be heard coming towards her. Oh, no! Fast as the wind she turned around and decided to find a good spot to hide in a while.

The spot where she decided to hide was the garden. It was not a very sunny day and she was sure nobody would search her here. So sitting by the small lake she looked at the reflection on it of the gloomy sky and the small waves on the surface made by the soft cold wind.

"Ah, there you are!"

Her father appeared suddenly beside her, and she was surprised when she saw he did not look angry. Maybe he does not know?

"What are you doing here all by your own?"

"I…I just enjoy to look at the lake."

"Can I keep you company?"

Nodding she made space for him to sit beside her, feeling a bit uncomfortable … and guilty.

"Did I ever show you how to make stones leap on water? No? Well, then its about time!"

Picking up a few small stones he placed them first in his hand and looked at them for a moment, when he made a quick move and the next thing Anna saw were tree stones leaping on the surface five times.

"Papa, I…" she wanted to tell him that she did not deserve to play right now, but he cut her of.

"You know, it takes a lot of time… and practice to learn how to make them leap so often, but the nice thing is everyone can learn it and it is a great feeling when you can it. Your sister already practices how to be better in leaving her room and it goes great sometimes and sometimes not. Maybe you can too find something to practice at being better at, don´t you think?"

The small smile that was on his face showed that he did know about the vase, but also that he understood her. And she understood him.