Anna hurried down the hallway to her bedroom before any of the servants saw her in her most disgraceful and disheveled state. She skidded in the front of her door, swung it open and closed it shut behind her. She made her way to her closet and looked around for something that would be appropriate for her to wear when she would present herself to her guests from Denmark. Anna peered through her blurry eyesight to see what her dresses looked like. After some adjustment to the lighting in her room, Anna could clearly see her choices and swiftly pulled out a green dress. It had forest green off-the-shoulder short sleeves and skirt and an emerald green bodice. She looked around in her closet for further inspection and found a short black satin necklace with a gold pendant along with forest green tights and heels.

The bubbly strawberry blonde princess strutted over to her bed and laid everything out. Anna prepared herself to clean up her face and brush her hair. As she got ready for the day, Anna heard a knock on the door. With her hair tamed yet still undone, Anna slipped her other heel on her foot and hopped over to the door. After she tapped both her heels against the floor, Anna opened the door. She was greeted by a polite smile on Gerda's experienced face.

"Hey, Gerda. What can I do for you?"

"Princess Anna, your sister, Queen Elsa, has informed me to remind you to be down for breakfast soon before you two prepare to greet the royal family of Denmark."

"Of course, Gerda. Thanks for letting me know."

"Do you require any assistance from me, Princess Anna?"

"No. That's okay, but thank you for offering. I'll be out soon."

"Very well, Princess Anna."

Anna gave Gerda a sunny smile and friendly wave goodbye before closing her door.

Anna turned back around and went to her vanity to fix her hair. Within minutes, she had her hair up in a bun and examined herself. She almost looked exactly the same as she did on Elsa's Coronation Day. The main differences between her former and current outfit which were that her sleeves were slightly longer and made out of a transparent fabric and the pendant on her necklace did not have any symbol on it and her bodice was green instead of black. Yet she essentially looked the same. She didn't seem to mind. At least she looked presentable. With a confident grin on her face, Anna headed out of her of room and went down the stairs to meet her sister for breakfast.

Anna made it on time for breakfast. She sat down at the dining room table and waited for her sister to join her. Moments later, Elsa came in through the door. She floated more than she walked. It was like her feet touched mini clouds on the floor every step she took. Anna was still in awe of how graceful and elegant her sister could be even when she wasn't even trying to be the regal queen she was supposed to be around others. It amazed and infuriated Anna all at once knowing that her older sister was so perfect. She wondered how Elsa managed to be so poised and calm day in and day out. But as she pondered her sister's personal secrets of how to act the perfect picture of sophisticated grace, Anna did notice how Elsa's glistening crown complimented her platinum blonde hair so well. The two of them went together like chocolate and vanilla or sparkling bubbles in chilled champagne.

As Anna stared at sister almost of the point of zoning out, Elsa made her way to the table and sitting down near her sister. She pulled her sister from her trance by softly smiling at her. Anna shook her head back into reality after being temporarily blinded by her sister's kind smile. Elsa reached over and placed a tentative hand over her sister's on the mahogany table.

"I'm glad you made it on time."

"Why wouldn't I? I slept well last night."

"I know you did. I did too."

Anna pulled her other hand from under the table and placed it over Elsa's.

"I'm glad you let me in last night. I know it was kind of late when I came in."

"It's okay, Anna. I don't mind."

Anna warmly smiled at her sister. She was about to say something when Kai announced to them that breakfast was served. Elsa and Anna pulled their hands away from one another and waited patiently for their loyal servants to serve them their first meal of the day. Before the two sisters enjoyed their morning meal, they thanked their royal staff.

After breakfast, Anna and Elsa headed off to the gallery so they could walk off some of their breakfast. On their way, Gerda asked them a few questions on what they wanted their schedule to be like for that day. Elsa told Gerda that she and Anna would decide on a schedule by the time they would greet the royal family of Denmark. Anna assured Gerda that she could come for them when she saw the royal family approaching the front door so they would be there when they came. Gerda curtsied to Anna and Elsa before leaving the two to enjoy some quality time.

When they reached the gallery, Anna showed Elsa around to all the paintings she had gotten to know over the years. She showed Elsa her favorite painting first-Joan of Arc in her armor. Anna lifted her hands up in a gesture to Joan.

"Elsa, I'd like you to meet, Joan."

Elsa smiled at the painting of the woman and curtsied in a playful, light-hearted manner.

"Nice to meet you, Joan."

"Over the years I would run into the room, flip over the seat right here and talk to her. Sometimes when I was settled on my back, I would point toward Joan telling her to hang on whenever I felt that she was in a tough spot that day."

Elsa stared up at the giant portrait of Joan of Arc. She listened to her sister half-heartedly. On inside the pain and regret of separation from Anna for thirteen years began to tear a hole in her heart. She kept her eyes glued to Joan avoiding eye contact with her sister.

"What did you and Joan talk about?"

"Well, I mostly talked while Joan listened. I would talk to her about how fast I would run into the gallery and she would scold me for being so reckless. But sometimes, I would make up stories and theories of why you wouldn't come out and play with me. Some of my theories were REALLY obscure and Joan would tell me that you still loved me even if it didn't seem that way. And I knew I didn't have to worry, but that didn't mean that…I still couldn't-"

Anna stopped herself from saying anything more. With each passing word, she would redirect her gaze from Joan to Elsa and notice the pained look in her eyes. Elsa was as quiet as a graveyard at night under a soft blanket of rain.

"Oh, Elsa. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Anna", Elsa turned toward her sister with her best fake smile, "why don't you show me some of your other favorite paintings? I'm sure you have grand stories for them to tell me."

"Um… Sure. Follow me."

Anna walked past Elsa but grabbed her wrist as she did so. Anna dragged her poor older sister to her second favorite painting- The Swing. She hardly had let go of her sister's wrist and rubbed it with her thumb, but Elsa had to force herself out of Anna's grip before looking up at the painting with her sister.

"I love this painting, Elsa. It's so romantic and cheerful."

Elsa studied the painting carefully. She recognized the painting, but she realized that a part of it had been altered for obvious reasons. She didn't want to crush her younger sister's romantic spirit telling her about the actual content of the painting for it involved the girl's beau having a friend hiding in the bushes and looking up the girl's skirt. If Anna ever found out about that crucial fact then Elsa was afraid would be slightly disgusted and not favor the painting the way she did currently. She let her sister talk about some more about the painting. But she did nod in agreement believing that it still looked cheerful despite the hidden content of the painting.

"I like how happy the girl looks while her lover gently pushes her in the air on a swing attached to a tree branch. I don't know, but the thought of being pushed on a swing by a lover sounds so nice."

Elsa swiftly turned her head toward Anna. "What about being pushed by a family member?"

Anna was stiff with shock. She let the revelation hit her in the head like a pound of golden bars. She blushed and looked at Elsa from her peripheral vision.

"I never considered that….", Anna quickly glanced back at the painting, "I guess it would be nice being pushed on a swing by a family member."

Anna was beginning to feel ashamed and nervous. She averted her gaze from the painting to the floor so the back of her head was facing Elsa and placed a cold hand on her left arm.

"Elsa….I…."

Elsa placed a reassuring hand on her sister's right shoulder and leaned in toward her ear.

"It's okay. You focused on romance because it's typically a fairytale life- a guy and girl who feel out of place of alone meet and understand each other and fall in love. Of course, it's going to be appealing to young girls who have nothing better to do with their time and yearn for companionship in any form."

Elsa paused. She took in a deep breathed and pulled away from Anna dropping her hand at her side. "And I can understand that's why you bonded with Kristoff. He's a wonderful guy. It's only natural that you were attracted to him and were grateful to him when he helped you reunite with me."

Elsa's words sank into Anna's heart and drilled a nail in the very center of it. Anna swiftly turned on around with a flustered face.

"Elsa, I didn't mean for you to-"

"Don't worry, Anna. I can't blame you for seeking comfort in romance. I did drive you away from me all those years of isolation all for your safety. Even though my intentions were good, I still caused you pain and I'm deeply sorry for that. So, it's okay if you still favor romance over what we have because I'm responsible for hurting you and putting you in danger. I know it'll take time before our bond as sisters recover and maybe if I'm lucky, our relationship as family members might become just as important to you as your relationship with Kristoff."

Anna wanted to tell Elsa how wrong she was for believing that their relationship as sisters didn't mean as much to her as her relationship with Kristoff was. For all she knew if she gave their relationship some time, Anna would gladly value her relationship with her sister more than what she had with Kristoff. Not that she didn't care about Kristoff because she did. Deeply. It's just that she would rather spare her relationship with Elsa than her's with him. Anna understood how stupid she was when she thought that romantic love was only thing that qualified as "true love" and would save the day when she ignored the most important kind of true love-that between family members. She recognized how selfish and stupid she had been when she realized how important her sister was to her; knowing that people could pick friends and lovers, but they couldn't family members and once they were gone that was it for their life. She realized this just as she ran to Elsa and throwing herself in front of her to block Hans' attack. Even when she thawed from the love she and Elsa shared on the frozen fjord that she knew her sister should and would always come first when sharing her affection for the world around her. Yet Anna didn't have the chance to even utter a word of her deepest regret as Elsa wandered off to another painting.

Anna hitched up her skirt and caught up with her sister "Wait, Elsa!"

Elsa stopped five feet from the painting she veered toward hearing her sister's plea. She waited for Anna to stand by her side as a statue waited for an eternity to crumble to dust.

"Elsa, why did you leave?"

"I want to keep looking at the portraits."

Anna huffed and rubbed her eyes which were becoming red and watery. When she composed herself, she grabbed two fistfuls of her skirt.

"Elsa, how come you won't look at me? Are you mad at me?", Anna paused to sniffle, "Because I don't want you to distance yourself from me like you did before!"

Elsa was caught off guard. Anna's cry shook her out of her pleasant state of mind staring at couple lying on a blanket after a picnic. She faced Anna riddled with guilt and surprise. Her eyebrows knitted together in concern and her voice got stuck in her throat.

"Anna, what are you talking about? I'm not mad at you."

Anna glared at Elsa throwing her fists down at her side and stomped her right foot. Tears curdled in the tear ducts causing the skin of her eyes to swell.

"Then how come you won't make eye contact with me?"

"Anna…"

"Elsa, please tell me."

Elsa swallowed her pride and reached out to her sister holding onto her slender shoulders.

"Anna…I wasn't making eye contact with you because….I was afraid that if I did then I would be overwhelmed with guilt and flee from you feeling extremely ashamed of ruining what we once had as little girls. I thought that if I looked into your eyes and stared at the paintings that you called your friends over time…I just couldn't stand being here with you if I looked at you. If I did I would be reminded how awful of an older sister I was to you all because I was too afraid of my own powers to learn to control them, to come out and play with you like I used to. I'd just be reminded that I forced you to spend your time making new friends in this room with the paintings. I would be constantly reminded of how lonely you must have been all those years while we were….separated."

Anna grabbed onto Elsa's hands and lifted them from her shoulders and pulled them toward her chest as she stepped closer to her sister. By this time, Anna had a few tear drops drizzle down her rosy cheeks.

"Elsa, don't say that! It's not your fault what happened to us. And I realized that I wasn't the only one suffering so don't count yourself out. You were in just as much pain as I was. The only difference was how we dealt with our pain and loneliness. That's it. You're NOT an awful older sister…But I'm probably a horrible younger sister."

Elsa wretched Anna's hands in her own hands. Frustration and determination puffed up in her eyes.

"You're not a horrible younger sister, Anna. Don't ever put yourself down. It's not your fault for finding refuge in romantic fantasies. I could understand why you would fancy these paintings. You only found comfort here because I drove you away. You were my only friend while we were younger and I drove you away!"

"Elsa-", Anna choked.

"Anna, please!"

"Elsa", Anna whimpered again. She could hardly hold back her emotions any longer. She caught Elsa off guard as she threw herself at her flinging her arms around her sister's neck and cried into her neck. Elsa was shaken by Anna's outburst but reciprocated nonetheless. She awkwardly wrapped her arms around Anna's body and rubbed her back.

"Anna," Elsa whispered. "Anna….."

It was by great fortune that Anna heard Elsa's soul's secret desire for her to calm down. She could hear the silent request through the sound of her sister's heartbeat. Her crying subdued and she lifted her head up to look at her sister's face-pained, worried, and, yet full of love, compassion and relief.

"Elsa?"

Love overtook Elsa's heart and drove her to bring her little sister back into a warm and reassuring embrace. Anna didn't know what to expect so she tightened her grip on her sister. After a brief yet intense moment of pure love for her younger sibling, Elsa pulled away from Anna just enough to look at her face. Anna blinked away her tears feeling unsure what was going to happen next.

"Anna," Elsa took a moment to gulp an invisible lump of coal in her throat, "let's not worry about the scars we left on our childhood, let's not dwell on the past where we abandoned our bond as sisters and focus of what we have now. Let's take this time to make up for what we once had and make our bond so much stronger than we could have ever hoped when we were younger. Okay?"

As much as Anna wanted to cheer up and happily agree with her sister, she couldn't because of a heavy burden weighed on her heart. Tears filled to the brim of her eyes threatening to spill. Anna sniffled and wiped the tears away with the back of her hands.

"But did I screw up bringing you here?" Anna hiccupped.

Elsa gently smiled at her sister as she pulled Anna's hands down and held them in her own hands.

"No, you didn't. I think we needed this. I think it was good that you brought me here. Actually, I kind of feel honored that you brought me here, to the place you found most comfort in while you tried to coax me out of my room. I can appreciate the gesture."

Anna gave Elsa a half teary-eyed, half happy smile. Elsa disconnected her hands from Anna's and, with her right hand, pulled out a neatly stuffed tissue in her sleeve under her wrist and used it to dab away tears from her sister's face until there were no more tears. Elsa examined Anna's face and gave her smile of approval before handing over the used tissue to Anna. She leaned in close and transformed her voice into teasing one referring to the tissue.

"That's why I wear long sleeves. So I can wipe your runny nose."

Despite still having to wipe away some stray tears, Anna managed a small laugh. She was genuinely amused by her sister's little joke. But then she cleared her throat and countered with her own argument.

"No. That's why you have long sleeves. You have them because you're the older sister who's always prepared…", Anna paused for effect and had smug look on her face," like a mom."

Elsa feigned offense as she gasped covering her mouth with her right hand. Elsa spoke in a mock offended tone of voice.

"I'm not your mom! I'm your sister!"

Anna brightly smiled. "You look a lot like our mom and you act like one! You're a mom!"

"I'm not a mom!"

Elsa and Anna's faces burned with pure joy. They bit their lower lips staring at each other with their heads partially dipped toward the other. They could only bite down for so long before they exploded in fits of laughter. Anna doubled over holding her stomach while Elsa hovered a hand over her mouth failing miserably trying to cover her laughter. After some time, the two sisters calmed down and stood up straight looking back at each other. Elsa offered a warm smile and Anna reciprocated.

"Are we okay now?"

"Yeah. We're okay, Elsa."

"Good."

Before Elsa and Anna could return their attention to the painting of two lovers lying on a blanket, they heard a set of footsteps coming toward them. They could hear the click-click-clack coming from the footsteps. They turned toward the source of the sound and spotted Gerda approaching them. The elderly servant stopped five feet from them.

"Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, the royal family of Denmark has walked through the gates."

"Thank you, Gerda. We'll be at the door shortly."

"Of course, Queen Elsa."

Then Gerda bowed at the two young women and walked out of the portrait room. Elsa and Anna looked back at each other.

"I guess we have to leave and greet our guests."

"Yes,"

Elsa tapped her hand to against Ann's side for to take. Anna looked down at the hand her sister was offering to her. Without a second thought, Anna linked her hand with her sister's and the two of them walked out of the portrait room together. They made strides as they journeyed to the front doors of the castle. They disconnected their hands and stood next to each other. They shared one last glance with the other before looking at the grand doors standing on the right side of them. Elsa was as poised as ever and Anna tried to follow sister's example without trying too hard to focus on minute details like which ways the fingers threaded while she had hands folded together under her stomach.

Kai had walked up on the left side of the doors and peered out a window. He spotted the royal family of Denmark from where he stood. They were fast approaching. Kai walked over to the doors and opened them.

To Be Continued…