Anna had had a bad day. She had fallen out with her last friend, gotten into a mountain of trouble at school and had struggled to put up with an equally frustrated father. Agdar had been quick to criticise her for her passivity, demanding she take better care of herself and accept her responsibilities.

"No! You mind your own responsibilities!"

It was stupid and childish. For many years to come she would consider it the most lopsided argument she'd ever started; something far too easy for her father to tear down with a tirade of how he had too many responsibilities to handle whereas she was too foolish to accomplish even the most basic of tasks by herself, finally telling her to get lost.

She sought refuge in the kitchen, slumped in a chair, head on the dining table as she listened to her mother work.

"Why do you always cook for us? You get help for everything else." It was a question she'd wanted to ask for a long time.

Her mother turned, pan in hand, and smiled. "There are only so many ways to clean a shirt Anna." She put the pan down and removed her apron. "But if you think I'm going to let anyone else determine what my little girl does or doesn't eat, you're sadly mistaken." She sat beside her and poked her belly. Anna giggled. "Because I'm the only one you can't sweet talk out of giving you your seven a day. Besides," she winked, "it's why your father can never win a fight with me, because if he doesn't listen..." She gave Anna a thumbs up, then turned it upside down. Her warm smile transformed into a wide grin.

Anna couldn't help but return it.

"Who sent Elsa away?"

Ithun froze. It was nighttime. She had been stroking Anna's wild hair, the girl already wrapped up in her bedsheets.

Whomever it was, mission accomplished, but who thought of it first? Mother and daughter studied each other's faces. Please don't let me be wrong.

Ithun sighed. "It was for the best Anna."

But I don't want to be right either.

"What do you mean?"

"She was too dangerous for you."

What am I saying? There is no "right" here! Just "wrong" and "wrong"!

"That's not what Dad said."

"Your father says a lot of things."

"But... sending her away made her worse!" It pained her to admit it, but she hoped her mother would understand.

"Anna, Elsa's in a better place." Her voice was firm. "I know it hurts, but you need to accept that."

Anna shut her eyes for a moment. "You didn't just come here to say goodnight, did you?"

Ithun straightened her back. "No, actually. I left my charger at work, do you mind if I borrow yours? You have..." she picked Anna's phone up, "56% right now and I'll give it back in the morning if you want to top it up a bit more. Is that alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, fine."

Ithun smiled as she disconnected the phone and wrapped the wire around her wrist. She walked to the door and turned back.

"Goodnight dear. Sleep tight."

Anna could only grunt, her mother's words and tone of voice still seared in her mind.

How could you?

The morning found Anna in a foul mood. "Seven percent mum! I can't get through the day with seven percent!"

"Seven percent? Where did the other fifty go?"

"Poor battery!"

"That would account for maybe ten, or is your battery really that bad?" She raised an eyebrow.

Anna opened her mouth to argue but closed it again, flushing. Maybe she'd yelled at Lara the last time they'd met in person and maybe the brunette had texted her last night to apologise for whatever Anna thought she'd done. Of course, the only civil thing to do was to apologise in turn and make some small talk as a form of reparation. In hindsight, maybe she didn't have to have asked so many questions to show she was sorry, but Lara always loved to talk. Once the other girl had gone to sleep, Anna had found herself with a phone in hand and her tiredness gone, so it only made sense to resume visiting websites to place and track orders, impatiently waiting for her remaining articles to arrive.

At least, it'd made a lot of sense at the time.

"Well, you said you'd give it back to me first thing in the morning and you didn't, so there!" She crossed her arms.

"Now that I'm guilty of." Ithun nodded to the wall. "There's your charger. Then again, if you'd woken up on time, maybe you could have charged it for longer than... ten, fifteen minutes?"

Anna grumbled as she marched over to the cable and plugged it into her phone, flicking the switch. "You do realise I have to keep it turned off practically all day right? Thanks a lot."

"If I recall correctly your tutors don't approve of phones at all, do they? You're welcome to leave it here for the day. In fact, I insist."

"...You know what? I'm fine with just turning it off."

Even without a phone to distract her Anna found it difficult to concentrate. Despite all the time and money she'd spent, she couldn't find the one thing she really needed. She confided in Lara, asking if she knew of any shops that held onto products for extended periods.

"What about the local charity shops? They're full of old stuff no one wants, aren't they?"

Anna slammed her head into her desk for not thinking of them earlier, warding off Lara's shriek with hurried thanks while rubbing her forehead.

The first shop was bright and colourful, clothes and books on display in multiple shapes and sizes. Anna approached the lady at the till - Aggie, according to her name tag. Anna nodded at the tome she had just closed. "Hello ma'am! I don't suppose you have a list of everything you have in stock in there?"

She was painfully aware of how awkward a first impression she had just made.

"Well yes, of course. What are you looking for?"

"Does your database go further than ID-ing stuff beyond its date and price and... stuff?"

"For some items, yes. Could you please tell me what you're looking for?"

"It's a book."

"Can you give me a bit more information?" She raised an eyebrow, thoroughly unimpressed. "Its name or author for instance?"

"I don't know those. But I do know it's sixteen years old, blue and shaped like a large square."

Aggie scowled while Anna beamed.

The second shop also proved fruitless. The third shopkeeper had Anna wait by the till for ten minutes before returning with a huge pile of books fitting her description. Anna had gone through them all, turning them this way and that to recreate her memory, but couldn't feel a spark or strong affinity for any of them. She thanked him anyway and moved onto the fourth shop.

This time the shopkeeper led Anna to the storage room, helping her find every book fitting her vague description before returning to her post.

Anna suspected the woman had led her there simply to avoid the awkwardness that followed her wherever she went.

She sat on the floor, again turning each book in her hand, squinting at them, holding them up to the light before dropping them with a sigh. She did this for many more before she held a book above her and felt a resounding click in her mind.

Gotcha!

She wasn't sure what it was about this particular book that made her feel that way, but the strong sense of right overwhelmed her during each of the tests she put it through. She returned it to the pile and carried the lot to the till, trying not to squeal.

Besides, even if she was wrong she still had a small library at her disposal.

She marched into the clinic with her arms begging her to stop and let the bags down, but she denied them their rest. She grinned at the receptionist, deep in conversation with Rachel as she passed. When they turned to her, she had already glided into the hallway, eager to see her sister again. She bubbled with excitement and confidence. She'd bonded with her through a half-remembered song after all; who knew what a book, a physical memento of their childhood could jog in her memory? Anna couldn't wait to find out.

You can be her reason to exist Anna.

Elsa needs you.

"I won't let her down." She repeated. She could already picture their future together. Joan had offered to teach her how to prepare Elsa's favourite foods, so she could start feeding her. Anna had promised to take her sister out on walks around the building before taking her to the park or her beloved farm, anything to get her out of the room she never left without attending some medical examination. And one day, Elsa could leave the place altogether and come home. If their parents didn't want her back Anna would find a new home, for just the two of them. On a smaller scale, she'd already made plan upon plan to execute on her next birthday. She paused her thoughts as she got to Elsa's corridor. She picked up the pace, counting the door numbers as they flew by.

"421..."

"423..."

"425..."

427.

Anna stared into the room. Then she looked at the door. The room again, her eyes drinking in every detail. Her breath caught in her throat as her body caught up to her brain. Her arms went slack, heavy bags biting into palms that stopped feeling. Seconds passed. She felt her body tilt, her shoulder slam into the door frame. She began to tremble.

Gerda had tolerated the stranger for quite some time, staying silent as she worked while blocking out the sound of choked sobs emanating from the doorway. She heard the unmistakable sound of a body sliding to the ground before the sobs broke out into tortured wails. She sighed from where she stood by the window. Moving her duster to her armpit she walked around the bed to stand in front of the girl, ensuring no dirt fell onto the fresh new quilt or the cleaned carpet. The redhead struggled to face her but quickly gave up, head falling back to her chest with her legs askew, large books spilled from dropped bags.

"Excuse me miss. While I bear no ill will towards you I must ask you to vent your grievances elsewhere." She winced at the unintended harshness of her words. "I arrived late as is and it is paramount that I finish cleaning this room. After all," she checked the door.

"...young Tod will be moving in within the hour."