The Sky Is Awake

XI. Stronger Than One

Elsa was being a good girl. Papa said so; that there were going to be a lot of people looking to her as the heir and she needed to be careful – which Elsa knew really meant no snowmen. She was disappointed because she and Anna were finally allowed to play outside the palace grounds, and she wanted to show her sister how to make snow angels. But today was a special day.

Today Anna was five years old.

"Look, Elsa, look!"

But Elsa was looking out at the fjord. She wondered what it was like high up on the mountains right now, winter white everywhere.

Anna bumped her shoulder. "Elsaaaa!"

"Sorry. What did you… oh." Her sister had turned her marshmallow skewer into a… monstrous snowman. Elsa made a face. "He looks kinda scary."

"Nuh uh! He just wants people to think he's scary but he's actually really sweet. He likes chocolate and snow fights and, um…" Anna's little nose wrinkled. "… dressing up!"

"Dressing up? Like a princess?"

"Like a prince, silly! With a crown and everything!"

"Okay… but why does he need to be scary?"

"Because," Anna said, swinging her legs. "He's gonna scare off all the bad guys for you."

"… For me?" Elsa asked blankly.

Anna grinned at her, cheeks puffy – and Elsa realised her skewer was suddenly two marshmallows short. "Hey!"

She laughed and grabbed her sister. Anna squealed. They fell back against the wooden walkway. Elsa thought it would be bad if they got their dresses dirty, but then Anna dropped on top of her, and Elsa let out an unladylike grunt. Oh well.

"Don't worry, Elsa," Anna said blissfully. "I won't let the bad people get you."

OoOoO

Anna made a grand flourish. "Welcome to Arendelle Castle's warmest, friendliest… uh… place!"

Prince Gregory tilted his head. "It's a stable."

"Oh no," Prince Fredrik groaned.

"You don't like it?" Anna asked.

Fredrik immediately straightened up. "Not at all, my lady! How can you mistake such excitement for anything else? T-To the stables!"

"Aww, that's the spirit!"

Elsa watched her sister lead their esteemed guests inside and realised she didn't know how to react. Not until Anna noticed her missing and doubled back, smile still plastered in place. In that moment, she truly looked like a royal princess, entirely in her element.

Then she reached Elsa and hissed under her breath, "Help."

Still feeling overwhelmed, Elsa angled her head towards her sister. "Why the stables?" she whispered back.

Prince Lucio looked curiously over his shoulder. Anna grinned and waved to him. To Elsa: "Because Fredrik."

Elsa didn't understand the exasperated tone in her sister's voice – but she did understand that Prince Fredrik of Weselton was completely enraptured with Anna after sweeping her into a most… peculiar dance. He hadn't spared a glance at Elsa since they'd left the portrait room, which was partly a relief but mostly brought a twist of failure to Elsa's throat. This was not how it was supposed to be.

She'd wanted Anna to spend her birthday with music and people. Other people.

Fredrik let out a frightened squeak. "Ah! It's him! It's him!"

"Why, Fredrik, you just told us zat you liked horses."

"You don't understand, Lucio, this one is – see? He's trying to eat me!"

Elsa started toward the commotion, but Anna's hand landed her arm. "It's okay," her sister grinned, eyes twinkling mischievously. "He found Chestnut – I'll handle it." Skipping past Elsa, she called, "It's alright, Fredrik. He just likes your hair!"

And Elsa was alone. The chilly air felt eerily comforting, clearing her head. She hesitated, then looked across the courtyard at the gates. The sounds of the festival wafted over the high walls.

This was why she had asked Kai not to tell Anna.

Inside, she found Lucio leaning across to pat a shy pony. A petrified Fredrik dangled a trembling carrot in front of Anna's horse. "Chestnut loves anyone who feeds him carrots – oops, watch your fingers!"

Elsa felt her shoulders ease slightly.

"Fredrik looks smitten by your sister."

Gregory leaned beside the doorway, arms crossed over his built chest. Elsa had heard that many of the Southern Isles' royalty were naval officers, and Gregory gave her no reason to doubt that he was one of them. After all, he did not play the royalty game like the others.

She smiled a little too tightly. "I believe they've met before." Riding, Fredrik had said. And now they were standing in the stables, three princes and two princesses.

Too many.

Gregory's deep green eyes flickered over Elsa. His gaze carried a weight she hadn't felt since seeing her parents to their ship – the confidence of someone older. Elsa had the feeling Gregory did not only treat her like a child; he treated her as if she were already queen.

"It's hard, isn't it?"

"I beg your pardon?"

His lips stretched in a thin smile. "Having younger siblings."

Catch me…!

"I… Do you have many siblings, Prince Gregory?"

His deep-throated laugh took her aback. "'Many'? Your Highness, I have eleven brothers."

"Eleven?" Elsa realised the prospect frightened her.

Gregory shrugged, smirking. "Well, twelve if you count that one. Though technically he doesn't exist right now."

Elsa looked at him. His face was straight. She didn't know what to say. The two of them watched Anna, who was now vehemently insisting that Fredrik try mounting Chestnut. The horse was still 'Gulbrand' in Elsa's mind, still a frightened pony who had sensed the ice beneath her gloves the moment she took his reins. But he was Anna's horse now. 'Chestnut' suited him just fine.

"I hope it's not too much of an affront," Gregory said, "if I find myself comparing our younger siblings."

"I'm afraid I don't understand. Why might that offend me?"

He smiled grimly at her. "My brother is far, far too naïve."

Elsa was momentarily stunned. She opened her mouth, but stopped midway and focused again on her sister. Her gloves were safe and dry, but also too cold against the underside of her palm. Just like the moment Fredrik had taken her hand in the gallery… if he hadn't released her right then – if Anna hadn't come for her–

Clapping and exclamations filled the stables. To assure Fredrik, Anna had swung onto her horse, winter skirt, boots and rare grace.

Gregory joined in on the applause. Anna's face glowed. Then she spotted Elsa in the corner, and her smile widened. Still mad at you, she mouthed

Their father used to worry that Anna was too oblivious to the world outside the palace walls. Touching her gloves, Elsa smiled back at her sister and hoped Papa could see Anna now.

"I think it's harder for them," she replied.

Gregory glanced at her. "Princess?" he inquired.

"I think it is harder for them," Elsa said quietly, "to be our younger siblings."

OoOoO

"What about him?"

"Noooo. He's short."

"I'm sure he'll grow taller."

"But so will I! Mama said so."

"What about that boy there? Next to the flowers?"

"Does he like chocolate?"

"I don't know…"

"Then I'll ask him!"

"What? Anna! Psst– Anna… oh dear."

"Elsa, Elsa! He likes chocolate! We're going to get married!"

OoOoO

Anna spent most of the walk to the dining hall shooting pleading looks at Elsa. At first she thought her sister – patient, forgiving Anna – had finally outgrown her tolerance for Prince Fredrik of Weselton, who had been whispering jokes in her ear for a while now. But Elsa was pinned between Gregory's naval war tactics and Lucio's commentary of Spanish weddings, and she didn't – couldn't – look at Anna lest her eyes betrayed how… glad she was to have her sister's awkward laugh holding up the atmosphere. Because Anna wasn't supposed to be here at all.

Then they reached the massive doors that Elsa had always dreaded as a child – but her mother wasn't there to coax her inside for just one meal, so your sister can see you. Instead, a row of stewards awaited them, with two other familiar figures at the head – and when Anna gave her one last look, Elsa finally understood.

Kai and Gerda greeted them with deep bows. Finally managing to extract herself from Fredrik, Anna bounced up to them. "Please tell me dinner is ready!"

Gerda smiled. "Always, Princess Anna."

Then they opened the doors.

Elsa breathed through her nose. She was ready – she had made certain of that – but she saw Anna hesitate as the long meal table stretched before her, and Elsa gripped her gloves. Deep down, she could still hear Anna outside her door: There are fifty-eight seats at the dinner table… and there's only one of me.

"What a marvelouz hall! Ze architecture is splendid!" Prince Lucio remarked. Fredrik nodded agreeably without taking his eyes off Anna. Gregory stood there with a faint smirk.

Elsa inhaled and took the first step into the warm light of the dining hall. She put on a smile and tried not to look at her sister. "Shall we dine?"

They left the two chairs at the head of the table empty. Kai drew Elsa's seat out for her. As he spread her napkin, he murmured, "I understand if you are upset with me, Princess."

Anna was conversing with Gerda; too quickly, too distractedly. Across them, the princes jostled for the better seats and Lucio, too small and oblivious to compete with the others, was shunted across. There were people all around her.

Elsa replied lightly, "I tried, Kai… to be upset with you."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I couldn't."

"… Thank you, Your Highness."

Gregory folded into the seat across her. Their eyes met. Elsa fought the need to drop hers to the tablecloth, to escape that piercing stare. She managed it only because she pretended it was her father's kind gaze, reminding her that You are my heir.

There was a loud clatter. Elsa's head came up. Anna had knocked over her cutlery. She laughed, but Elsa caught her sister's eyes flickering towards the empty head of the table.

Sit still, Anna, their father would chuckle. Most princesses have more grace than a newborn duckling.

Anna let Gerda fetch her a new set of cutlery. Fredrik started another joke, this one about monkeys and tango music. Gregory rolled his eyes. Anna laughed a little too loudly before the punch line.

Elsa didn't notice when the entrée came.

OoOoO

"What's that?"

"I think it's an ice-sculpting contest."

"Ice-stucking?"

"Sculpting."

"Spucking?"

"Scu – Anna, Anna, look at that one! The ice castle – wow, it's so pretty!"

"I can't seeeee. Piggyback!"

"But- oh, just for a little bit. And don't-"

"Tell Mama and Papa, got it!"

"Can you see it now? Anna?"

"Uh huh…"

"Doesn't it look amazing?"

"Elsa? Can I come down now?"

"Oh… okay. You don't like it?"

"It's scary."

"The ice castle?"

"I don't like being bigger than you."

OoOoO

"What else do you enjoy, Princess Anna?" Prince Fredrik asked for the eighth time during dessert.

Anna looked up with half an almond tart in her mouth. She swallowed with some difficulty. "Me? Err… reading?"

"So do I! Perhaps we like the same titles. I particularly enjoy books on crustaceans and hair fashion – and dance, naturally. What about you?"

"Crustawhatsits sound… interesting. I, um, I like…"

Elsa glanced up from her plate. Anna used to love fairytales. The kind where princesses saved the princes and made their own happy endings happen. It had been a long, long time since they had read together.

Gregory's deep voice brought her back, carrying over Anna's stammer. "You don't like fyrstekake, Your Highness?" Elsa looked up and found his emerald gaze fixed squarely on her.

"No, I quite like it," she replied slowly.

"You've barely touched your plate."

"Neither have you, Prince Gregory."

The corner of Gregory's lips quirked, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "I don't care much for anything without meat in it."

Somewhere far away, Elsa heard Fredrik asking Anna, "How about this then? What are you most afraid of?"

Elsa asked, "Shall I get the kitchen to prepare something else?"

And Anna answered, "Doors."

Elsa's head turned.

Anna's eyes grew large, stared horrified into Elsa's. They zipped back to Fredrik. Fumbled – "Wait, no, I mean- I'm scared of walking into them because they just keep jumping at me-" – but it was too late.

Elsa covered her frozen fork with both hands and squeezed it. Hard. She swallowed thin air. Doors, her little sister had said.

Gregory looked between them. Then, "I hear the palace gates have been closed for a long time."

Anna's mouth snapped shut. Elsa's breath caught.

"I just wonder. Why might that be so? You have a kingdom bordered by mountains and water, and with a festival so lively I'd hardly suspect mutiny." Gregory shrugged. "Is there something you're afraid of?"

And in that moment, Elsa realised her mistake. That she had underestimated Prince Gregory of the Southern Isles – no. She had underestimated all three of her guests. It was in Gregory's innocent smile, the turn of Lucio's head, and the pause in Fredrik's conversation–

They wanted to know.

Elsa, what have you done?

She felt Anna's stare on her. "I'm not afraid of… you misunderstand. It was our father who ordered the gates shut… I was still young. We both were."

Gregory leaned back. "I see. Curious." Then he shifted and Elsa felt frost in her short breath, because his calculating eyes had landed on Anna. "You wouldn't happen to know, would you?"

Anna started. She had hardly spoken to Gregory – Fredrik hadn't given her the chance. But also because Elsa could tell that even Anna had come to expect formalities, and Gregory had uttered no Princess, no Your Highness – he had only looked at her. Like she was the twelfth brother he didn't think existed. Elsa knew then, that Gregory was testing Anna.

The knot in her dry throat twisted into something worse. She still couldn't find her mother's voice. But something else was rising to the icy surface – something Elsa had not felt in a long time.

Anna blurted, "I know it's not you."

Elsa caught a blizzard in her gloves.

Gregory quirked an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

Anna licked her lips. "I-I mean… I don't know. But I just thought…" She shivered. Elsa couldn't tell if it was the sudden chill in the room or her sister's nervousness that showed.

"Anna…" Elsa's voice was a whisper. It was all she could manage.

Anna looked towards her. Blinked. She sat straighter.

"I know Elsa isn't afraid of you," she told Prince Gregory.

He looked amused. "I can't say I was trying very hard… but please, pray tell. How do you know this?"

"Because Elsa is smarter and stronger than me." A grin spread on Anna's lips. "And I'm not afraid of you."

Elsa's grip on her fork loosened. Gregory's eyes flicked to hers.

She realised she was smiling.

"Now zat," Lucio commented, ever oblivious to tension, "is be-oo-tiful."

Gregory looked back at Anna, studied her for a long moment. Perhaps he had decided she was even more naïve than he'd thought. Anna only grinned fearlessly back at him.

Finally, he chuckled and raised his glass of wine. "To Arendelle."

Fredrik kept staring at Anna. He hastily snatched up his glass as well. "And its gracious princesses!"

Simply pretend, her mother had told her. Elsa was used to the burn now, the sour rush down her throat. She'd had her first wine in this very room, after all.

Beside her, Anna looked dubiously at the crimson liquid in her own glass. Elsa pursed her lips.

She called her sister's name and held her hand out.

Lucio clapped.

It tasted just like Mama said it would – warm afternoons, her favourite fairytale, and forgiving but never, ever forgetting.

OoOoO

"Elsa? You won't lose me, will you?"

"Not if you don't let go of my hand."

"Good. Because I would cry."

"Y-You would?"

"Yeah! Really loud, so Elsa can find me. You always come when I cry."

"Oh… you don't have to do that, Anna."

"But then how would you find me?"

"I'd make it snow."

"Snow?"

"Because Anna always comes to build a snowman."

OoOoO

Holding the meeting in the study was a terrible idea.

In between Weselton's timber industry and Gregory's third comment on Arendelle's pacifism, Lucio studied the portrait on the far wall and said, "You truly resemble your father, Prinzess Elsa."

Elsa froze reaching for her cup of tea – her mother's favourite. Slowly, she set it back on the saucer. "Do I?"

Lucio opened his mouth, but Fredrik cut in. "The royal aura," he nodded. "The makings of a mighty ruler."

"The Southern Isles sent a search crew into the waters." Gregory filled her tea, glancing up as he drew back. "A great loss," he finished.

She looked up at her father's likeness. The same painting that hung crooked in her room. Elsa wondered if Anna was still waiting outside, and if her sister's coat was warm enough for the cold, cold night.

"Prince Gregory."

They all turned to her. Elsa realised she hadn't borrowed her mother's voice this time. Just her own.

"My father had a good reason for closing the gates. I just wanted you to know that."

They discussed inflation for the remainder of the night. When the doors finally opened, Anna jumped up from the floor, hastily wiping drool from her chin. Elsa wondered if Anna still liked to eavesdrop through the keyhole.

They saw Fredrik and Lucio to their guest rooms. It was only one night, Elsa reminded herself.

Despite her insistence, Gregory told them he would return to his ship. "I can't sleep away from the sea," he said, as they stood in the courtyard.

"I don't like the sea," Anna muttered.

Gregory gave a short bark of laughter. "One day, Princess, you'll discover that it's hard to love something that never threatens to hurt you terribly." Then he smiled, and Elsa realised that Prince Gregory was hardly a prince at all. He was simply a man and she envied him that, more than a little.

Anna held onto Elsa's arm until the gates closed firmly on his back. The sky was too dark and clouded for auroras tonight.

Tomorrow, Elsa thought, there would be more ships, more strangers. But that was tomorrow.

Retreating back inside the castle, the weight of the day finally took their toll on Elsa. Everything felt too heavy – her arms, her legs, her eyelids. When Anna flopped down at the bottom of the staircase to kick off her shoes, Elsa joined her unthinkingly. It might have been the way Anna smiled hopefully up at her.

They didn't quite sit in silence. Anna hummed. Elsa felt the fabric of her dress, chilled by the marble step beneath. Queens didn't sit on staircases, she thought.

"Fredrik is a horrible dancer."

Elsa opened her eyes without realising she had closed them.

"Gregory is..." Anna wrinkled her nose. "He's just weird. I don't like him. I bet he snores and hates snowmen."

Elsa didn't mean to laugh. Quiet and weary as it was, it still echoed. "And Lucio?"

"Ugh, don't get me started on Lucio." Then Anna paused and thought about it. "Actually, Lucio is a sweetheart."

Elsa smiled. Anna grinned.

"I'm not sorry, you know. For, well, everything. And I was joking," she added when Elsa opened her mouth. "I'm not really mad at you. I mean, I was. Then Fredrik and his ridiculous dance happened, and at dinner Gregory was just so blergh-"

"'Blergh?'" Elsa repeated.

"Yes. It's totally a word. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is…" Anna took a breath. "I know why you did it. And I'm not angry at you. So… can you please not be angry with me?"

The night wasn't supposed to be this cold. "Anna, I'm not–"

"Really?!" Anna was practically in her lap, bright eyes searching desperately. "You're really not mad?"

Her sister was too close. But the wine had started an ache behind her eyes and the storm inside had exhausted its winds… and Anna had said she was afraid of doors. Elsa met her sister's gaze and said, "Really."

Anna's eyes widened. Then she fell back with a sigh of relief. "Okay," she said. "Okay."

It would usually be a terrible hour to be awake in a castle this large and quiet. Yet tonight, the cavernous hall felt tranquil. Elsa drew her knees close and tried not to worry about being seen. Reminded herself that there was no one here but Anna.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Anna's finger traced a pattern in the space between them. "Did you really open the gates… for me?"

Elsa nodded.

"But why?"

"It's where you belong."

"It's your birthday, too."

"You should have gone, Anna."

"You should have told me you were meeting with boys – three of them!"

"They were princes. Guests."

"Boys."

"I don't see how this detail is important."

"Important? It's I-could-have-missed-my-Prince-Charming important!"

"Well, did you?"

"… No, not really."

Elsa smiled once more. It felt real this time. "Thank you for taking Fredrik's dance."

"What was that? Monkey with the face of what?"

"I'm not sure. It was… unique, to say the least."

"Say that to my toes!"

The coat around her was too warm. Elsa laid her head against her knees.

A moment later, Anna asked softly, "Are you tired?"

"I'm fine."

"Elsa."

"I just… need a moment."

Anna's shoulder bumped hers; Elsa automatically curled her fingers into her gloves. "And a shoulder," her sister said. "I mean, if you need one, mine is pretty comfortable – well, I think it's comfortable."

The weight of her sister against her kept the world grounded, somehow. Intact. "Can you promise me one thing?"

A rare silence met her reckless words. Elsa lifted her head.

Anna was holding out her pinkie finger, her expression serious.

Elsa felt herself becoming small, so small. Gregory had been right all along. She was afraid of a lot of things.

Doors.

Her hand shook slightly as she raised it. Anna's shock lasted only a second. She hooked her finger around Elsa's, and Elsa sucked in a breath because her sister's hand had grown so much. If Papa and Mama could see Anna now, they wouldn't worry about losing her in the crowd. Because Anna was sixteen today.

And Elsa meant to tell Anna that she should go the festival tomorrow, and the day after, over and over. To do all the things they used to do and pretend that just five days was enough to fill the mistakes of ten long years and that one, unchangeable night.

But instead she found her eyes closed and her head resting on Anna's shoulder, and she heard herself murmur, "Please don't forget it all."

"Forget what?" Anna's voice sounded far away. "Elsa?"

In Elsa's mind, an old troll reached gently for her sister's head. Flashes of sharp colour against a dark night sky. But before that, she felt a small hand swinging in hers.

Do the magic, do the magic!

She smiled and rubbed the ice in her fingers.

Ready?

Outside, it began to snow.

A/N: Gregory is far from a love interest for Elsa but it sure was fun letting the girls meet some boys. Anna would totally suckerpunch anyone who tried to woo her big sister. We all know it.

Thanks so much for reading! See you next chapter.