The Sky Is Awake
IV. Some Company Is Overdue
"Um…" The kitchen hand did not know where to begin. "I was under the impression Princess Elsa disliked cashew nuts?"
"Good! Maybe she'll take the hint this time!" Anna remarked vehemently, dumping handfuls of nuts across the plate.
"Forget it, Markus," the head chef said, clapping a beefy hand on the young man's shoulder. "This is not 'a princess' you're arguing with; it's 'that princess'."
"Hey! I heard that!"
"Please pardon my inability to whisper, Your Highness; the moustache gets in the way. Might I also quietly point out you're getting nuts on your own lunch?"
"Blergh!" Anna flicked the little devils from her plate. The chef watched with an amused smile, twisting his tiny moustache. Anna glowered at him.
She remembered when the royal kitchen used to be a clamouring bustle of a dozen white-topped chefs and their brigand of assistants, every inch of scrubbed countertop overflowing with extravagant dishes not found in any recipe book. Then the gates closed and the king cut his staff. One by one, the chefs dwindled, and now the castle's kitchen seemed a cavern for one lone chef and his half-dozen helpers… and an overly adventurous princess. Anna had practically grown up in the kitchen. No one thought to keep her out of it, least of all the chef. Anna loved all the palace staff, but she had a special spot for Alfred.
He peered at her with a good-natured smirk. "Did something perhaps… happen between you and Princess Elsa?"
"I don't know – does ignoring me count?"
Alfred raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. It took you ten years to notice?"
"Yes– wait, no – Alfred!" Anna threw up her hands, scattering more nuts. "It's different this time, okay? Elsa talked to me. We talked about hair and snowmen and… stuff! Sisters talk about things like that, right? I thought we were getting somewhere. And now she won't say a thing to me – she doesn't even bother telling me to go away. Which totally wouldn't work anyway because, you know, it just won't." She munched dramatically on a fistful of grapes. "This is all so frustrating!"
Alfred made a thoughtful hum. "Well, little crown," he said, making her smile in spite of herself. "Something is always better than nothing."
"Yeah, but I don't know if I'd call this 'something'."
"You call everything anything, little crown."
That was true.
"Alf?"
"Yes, Your Highness?"
"Does Elsa really, really hate cashew nuts?"
"Only as strongly as you feel about sour cream, Princess."
Anna made a face and looked down at the colourful mess she'd made on Elsa's sandwiches. A small (okay, kind of big) bite of guilt tugged at her. "… Fine. I deserve some sour cream on mine. But just a little!"
Alfred brandished a spoon.
OoOoO
Slowly opening the door, a stare, a sigh, a half-hearted pleading look – that was how Elsa usually responded to Anna's deliveries.
Today, there was an extra grimace as her sister took in the culinary battlefield.
"Alf let me decorate," Anna grinned innocently.
Elsa gingerly took the tray. She lingered to watch Anna settle down on the floor with her own meal, and then closed the door with another soft sigh.
The first thing Anna did was push the mountain of sour cream to one side. Stupid, evil, justified Alfred. Anna ripped a grumpy bite from her sandwich. Then she took out the pen and paper.
You can't ignore me forever, she scrawled, drawing an upset snowman for good measure. She slipped the paper under the white door.
On the bright side, Alf smoked the best salmon.
What's in your sandwitch?
I'm kind of annoyed with you! (In case you couldn't tell)
Which letter of the alphabet has the most water?
I found a bird's nest on the stable roofs. Want to see?
Do you even read these notes?
Anna pushed her plate to one side. She pressed an ear to the keyhole. Nothing. One week, less than ten words exchanged and Elsa hadn't replied to a single one of her notes. Anna realised she hadn't tried this hard in a long time. She used to climb windows, play noisy instruments, cry wolf – everything. Elsa stopped responding to each one as they grew older, and at some point Anna had stopped trying.
Maybe things would have been different if she had been more stubborn.
She was almost out of paper.
Are you mad at me?
I'm sorry if you are… She started to write more but the words didn't come out right. She shoved it aside.
One slip of paper left. Anna twirled her pen, dropped it, twirled it again, then hesitantly put it to paper.
Sometimes I'm scared I'll forget the sound of your voice.
She scrunched it up quickly and lobbed it out the open window, so shocked that she'd written such a thing.
Nothing came back through the door.
Years of silence had made Anna an expert at conjuring excuses for her sister. Who knew? Elsa could be a slow eater. She could spend the whole day lounging in bed, never looking near the door. Or the slit beneath the door could be a portal to a magical wonderland, and Anna's notes were actually being intercepted by a clumsy old wizard. Sometimes she shared these theories with the white door, even though Elsa never confirmed any of them.
Anna thought Elsa was being cruel, but the thought tasted like sour cream and she hated that.
"Hey," she called after a pause. "You don't have to eat the nuts if you don't like them. I'm just kidding. I'm not really mad at you."
It was a funny thought, though. Being angry with Elsa. It was probably a weird thing to never have argued with your own sister. Anna was sure she and Elsa would've fought growing up together, princesses or not. All siblings fought, right? Anna knew that much from climbing the watchtowers. She'd watch kids chase each other on the streets, and remember how she and Elsa once played hide and seek. Elsa always found her no matter which suit of armour she was hiding in.
"What happened?" Anna wondered aloud. Not to Elsa or her door; just… wondering.
She thought she heard Elsa sigh.
Anna was thinking about leaving when she felt something flutter against her hand. She looked down to see the corner of a ruffled paper slip poking out from the door.
Snatching it up, Anna scanned over her own handwriting – What's in your sandwitch? Fresh ink had crossed out the 't'. And on the other side, in neat cursive Anna envied to the ends of the earth: I should talk to your tutors.
"Really, Elsa?" Anna called, smiling. "Did you figure out the riddle?"
It took a few moments, but Elsa answered. Knock knock kno-knock knock. Tell me.
Anna knelt up to the keyhole, and all of a sudden she was a child again. "Which letter of the alphabet has the most water?"
She held a long pause, threading Elsa along, until finally her sister gave another knock of exasperation. Anna's grin widened.
"The C!" she said proudly.
One heartbeat… two… three–
And she heard it. A bubble of giggles burst from Anna's own lips, relieved and disbelieving. It struck her that she was an idiot.
After all, no little sister could ever forget the sound of their favourite person's laughter.
A/N: I just wanted to thank you guys for your reviews and interest in this little story! It really brings back my love for writing.
Fun fact: Most of the chapter titles will be references to the movie. Can you get them all?