"Elsa, do you think it's time for you to start thawing the winter?" Anna asked & the question caught Elsa by surprise.
"Come again?" she inquired. While it was true that Elsa had become more open with her sister during their shared time in the palace which was judged by how she reacted by her return, now Anna feared that Elsa would close herself off again because of one simple question, although that's why her powers went out of control as a kid.
"Can you thaw out the winter?" Anna repeated, rephrasing the question & Elsa froze as snow began to form around the two of them & the walls of the palace began to turn red. It was true that while Elsa knew how to set snow & ice onto stuff, she honestly had absolutely no clue how to turn her powers off.
"I can't, I don't know how!" she said but Anna would have none of that, explaining that, on top of having no place to go after getting thrown out of their kingdom, she went to Elsa's palace because she loved Elsa, regardless of all the times she was emotionally shut out by her. Although Elsa didn't know it, she always knew how to shut her powers off which was through love & as long as Elsa held love in her heart, her powers would always be at bay. Over the next couple days, using what Anna said, there were no snowstorms & no sudden blizzards in the still-frozen kingdom. The owl delivered the food & supplies but the only thing the blasted owl couldn't get was water, requiring someone to go there and get it. Anna, of course, jumped at the chance.
"Anna, no, you can't!" Elsa said as a mini snowstorm began to fall.
"Elsa, remember, love, fear is a no-no. Besides, I'll be back" Anna reassured her sister as she threw on her disguise but little did Anna know that Elsa had every right to be fearful, remembering that Anna was nearly discovered after the last trip into town & since Anna was a pariah (although she was never stripped of her princess title & Elsa never was either, because she exiled herself), she could be arrested immediately (despite the fact that no bounty was in play) if someone afflated with the kingdom noticed her under her disguise because it was standard protocol. But Elsa calmed herself, stopping the storm inside the castle.
Meanwhile, in town, a disguised Anna was waiting for the harvesters to return from their round and although she saw the owl, she didn't want to give off any suspicious movement to anyone who might notice & turn her in. Luckily for Anna, the harvesters were making their way back into town to begin the sale portion of their job but she was looking for the one who had a cannister of water, enough for two. After the disguised Anna collected the water & paid the harvester for his services, the harvester wouldn't let her leave.
"Hey, you from around here?" he asked, stopping Anna cold in her tracks. She theroized that the harvester must be trying to worm information that could confirm she was Princess Anna that he'd been serving. However, she had to BS an answer quickly.
"Uh, no" she answered.
"Funny, because I saw a chick with a cloak roaming around town yesterday", the harvester recounted, explaining he told his colleagues about the mysterious person with a lock of red hair after Anna left. The colleagues thought he must have been drunk because they had dismissed his explanation as "drunkard talk". He also mentioned that he only saw a lock of red hair as well and the colleagues snarked that mostly royalty has red hair.
"You must have seen my long-lost brother" Anna answered, throwing her voice to avoid detection. The harvester, however, wasn't buying her lies one bit and so, he started asking Anna all sorts of questions in regards to Arendelle culture, where she lived, the whole shebang. Anna, of course, bullcrapped all answers out to the questions until she heard the one question she was dreading to hear.
"What was the past queen of Arendelle's name?" he inquired & noticed Anna's hesitation immediately. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to", he added and Anna noticed that he seemed to hold no ulterior motives whatsoever and seemed to be genuine enough in that he didn't try to force her to answer the question, so she told him anyway but was still not convinced of his sudden interest in her.
"Elsa of Arendelle was the past queen, infamous for ruling only 2 hours before plunging the kingdom into an eternal winter", Anna said. At first, she was afraid she blew it but it turned out the harvester was impressed with Anna's vast knowledge of Arendelle and so assumed she was a frequent visitor from a neighboring kingdom, not realizing that she was actually a resident & sister to Elsa because she gave no indictation that she knew Elsa or witnessed the plunging when she answered the question.
"Wow, you must be well-read on Arendelle. The thing with Elsa isn't even in the history books yet", the harvester chuckled but he was also worried for his new friend, still not realizing that she was a princess. "You need a place to stay. Come to the castle where it's nice and warm", he offered and Anna, still not convinced of the harvester's true intentions yet although he did seem to care for her well-being, took him up on the offer but discreetly signaled the owl so she could give it the canister to take back to the ice palace.
Meanwhile, back at the palace, Elsa was worried. Anna had been gone a really long time and fear began to overtake her again when she heard a flutter of wings flying through the door. It was the owl with the water canister. Elsa fed the owl and sent it back to the kingdom, which eased her a little bit, knowing Anna was still out there.
"Oh, Anna. Where are you?" she asked herself.
Meanwhile, the harvester was leading Anna through the palace. Again, Anna wasn't sure what the man's true intentions were but it felt strange to be home but again, she couldn't give the harvester ANY indication she was familiar with the inner workings and furnishings of the palace or the staff of it so she kept silent until they came to the council room where the acting king was holding court. The harvester knocked on the door to the room.
"Yes?" one of the king's advisors asked, having answered the door.
"I found someone outside in the marketplace. Claims she doesn't live in the kingdom", the harvester reported to the advisor and Anna gulped, knowing that this could be the beginning of the end for her because by the time Elsa would decide to end her self-imposed exile, Anna would may be on a boat, caged up, bound for a neighboring kingdom, disowned by Arendelle & stripped of her princess title because if Elsa received word that Anna was gone, she would eventually either (A: commit suicide or (B: remain in exile, growing old & eventually dying in the palace she erected. As the advisor motioned for the two to enter the king's chambers, Anna secretly hoped she would be spared for the sake of her sister.
"Sit down", the king motioned.
"It's respectful to stand in the king's presence", his advisor suggested so the two stood up.
"I said sit!" the king repeated his demand so Anna & her companion sat down again. "Now then", he rounded onto the harvester. "You say you found it in the marketplace?" he asked.
"Yes", the harvester nodded in confirmation as the king assessed the situation. Anna knew that the king couldn't be fooled because he isn't stupid by any means, after all, while her father was a competent ruler, he DID have a tendency to take things with a grain of salt unless it was fully specified to him. Anna was jolted out of her reverie when the king asked her a question.
"So, what is your name?" he asked as nicely as possible. Anna froze, clearly not expecting a question so, well aware that a lie won't work, a fact that, combined with her cloak getting removed despite resisting, she answered honestly.
"Anna", she said.
"Princess Anna of Arendelle", the king said, shocking the harvester. "It was brung to my attention that despite being exiled from the kingdom, one of my people saw you in the marketplace two days back", he said. Anna couldn't fight this information but she kept her mouth shut just in case. "However, as I'm only interim king until the true ruler can be located, I'll go easy on you and ensure you're treated well in the dungeons. You know the laws, princess, anyone who was exiled by the kingdom is considered a pariah and can't return. You not only broke those rules but did so willingly. Now, however, I was also told that it was the townspeople that ordered the exile so it wasn't legal anyway. What do you have to say on this matter?" he asked, which signaled Anna that she could speak.
"They were afraid I had powers like my sister, that's why they exiled me", she explained. The king listened closely but further explained that it was still exile and rules had to be obeyed regardless so, although it pained him deeply to do so, he had to hold Anna in the dungeons until he could find out the circumstances leading into the mess. True, he wasn't briefed on the situation when he was intiated king of the kingdom and needed the information he could get. He did promise Anna she would be treated kindly in the dungeons and would be released once he got the whole story. Anna was then escorted to the dungeons but as soon as she was locked in her cell, the owl (sent by Elsa) joined her. She immediately rang for a parchment & ink dip so she could write a note to Elsa, explaining the situation.
The owl returned with the note and as Elsa read it, her heart sank but eased up when Anna revealed in her letter that at least, she won't lose her head or be sent to another kingdom. She also explained in her letter that she needed to end her own exile for her sake & the sake of the kingdom because they insituted a new ruler. Elsa realized she now had a moral decision to make: Return to the kingdom that she was supposed to rule or remain in her own exile. True, she did enjoy the forced bonding time with Anna and she learned a lot, which included that as long as she held love, her powers would always be at bay. Fueled with the realization that she was never alone, she decided to return to the kingdom.
Meanwhile, the king, after being briefed on the situation that followed, kept his word and released Anna from the dungeon, just in time to see Elsa come down in a jailbreak attempt despite knowing that Anna was indeed okay (older sister instinct). Elsa then reinstated herself as queen of Arendelle, the acting king was relived but stayed on as advisor, released the kingdom from her plunge of winter & Anna, well, she had her sister back and she could never be happier.
AN: Well, that's it! The End! I know it seems like a lackster ending after a thrilling cliffhanger but that's how it goes. Also, in case anyone doesn't know what "interim" means, it means you're "acting" in a position until a replacement can be found and if not, you would receive the powers of the position. Again, I do not own the Frozen property & characters & have no intentions of making money off of them.