The morning of the ball dawned brightly. Elsa took her breakfast alone, as usual. Judging by the position of the sun, Anna wouldn't be up for another four hours. It was a very rare thing for the sisters to have breakfast together, and usually only happened when the night sky shone with ribbons of color.

Those nights were secretly Elsa's favorite nights, because she and Anna would sit together on one of the balconies with a blanket and two mugs of steaming chocolate. Sometimes they would talk about anything and everything, other nights they would simply watch the lights beam across the dark sky. It was nice, and Elsa felt it was a very sisterly thing to do. Neither Elsa nor Anna were used to having one another around, but after only two weeks, they had fallen into a pattern that was slowly becoming familiar.

She had finally opened the missive from the Southern Isles. It had merely been an apology from King Frederik, along with a plea to consider remaining alliances, if only for trading purposes. Elsa didn't want to have anything to do with that kingdom after what happened with their youngest prince, but at the same time, she could not do anything out of personal emotion that might endanger Arendelle. She'd already cut off all trade with Weselton, but that was a smaller duchy who benefited more from the alliance than Arendelle did. Still, that had been a rash decision. She could not afford any more.

As much as she might have liked to ignore it, she knew the problem of the Southern Isles had to be dealt with, and soon. She planned to meet with her advisors to discuss the matter later in the morning, before seeing to ball preparations. The tone of her meeting today would dictate the tone of her meeting with the delegation from the Southern Isles tomorrow. Theirs was the first meeting of the week; Elsa intended to deal with them first in order to minimize their presence in Arendelle.


"I realize their trade is valuable. I am asking if we can do without it." Elsa's nerves were frayed. The meeting had taken up most of the morning, and they had been talking in circles for most of it. She cast another surreptitious glance at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. If the meeting ran another half hour, she thought she might scream out of frustration. That would be interesting.

The group nervously exchanging glances at the table before her had been hand-picked by her father. Prior to her coronation, she didn't have the power to make any changes, and since her coronation she had found she did not need to. These advisors had all helped her father through a very successful reign, and they would help her do the same. But right now they were getting on her nerves.

The meeting continued with a surprisingly animated discussion of alliances and trade routes, some waving of maps, and a bit of yelling. When it finally drew to a close, Elsa allowed herself to breathe deeply. The problem of the Southern Isles would soon be no more than a distant nightmare if all went well, and she hoped the gods would allow her a respite from such problems for a while.


The still-strange sounds of strings and revelry spilled from the ballroom, intruding on the quiet of the hallway. This ball was eerily similar to the other one. It sent a shiver down Elsa's spine, ice settling into the pit of her stomach. She had elected to wear her hair up in a simple but elegant bun, and had abandoned her ice dress in favor of a more traditional crushed velvet dress in the dark blues, teals, and burgundies of Arendelle. The blonde frowned, pale fingers tugging at the cuffs of her long sleeves absently. While she despised the very idea of wearing gloves again now that she knew how to control her powers, a small part of her longed for the peace of mind they had once given her.

There was another reason she'd planned the ball, the reason she'd kept from Anna. Her advisors were becoming rather insistent on both of the girls forming alliances through marriages. Thankfully, they had been more lenient on the matter before Elsa's coming of age, but now the subject had been brought up in nearly every meeting. The ball was a sort of compromise; the majority of the neighboring kingdoms' eligible royalty had been invited and would be there tonight. Elsa didn't want either of them to have to marry. They'd only just begun being true sisters, and the thought of Anna leaving to spend the rest of her life even a day's travel from Arendelle made Elsa's stomach twist painfully. Besides, there was the matter of Kristoff. Anyone could see how he and Anna complemented each other, but he was an ice harvester from the village (and that was only if she was being very generous. The village was at least a step up from the woods). It wasn't exactly an advantageous match for the princess, let alone the kingdom. As much as she would have liked to let Anna do as Anna pleased, there was the matter of the royal line to consider. That was why her marriage was so much more important than Elsa's. Anna could have a number of beautiful, healthy children, while the queen wasn't sure she could risk passing her curse down. Elsa rubbed her temple with cool fingers, trying to prevent the headache forming above her eyes. That was a matter for another day. Tonight she would simply meet their respective potential suitors, and, gods willing, the ball would pass unremarkably.

"Her Majesty the Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" Kai's voice boomed majestically from the ballroom.

She straightened her back, pulled her shoulders down and back, folded her hands in front of her, lifted her chin, and walked into the ballroom. The guests were already there, and most looked pleased to see the queen. Elsa allowed herself to exhale, and smiled gently as they bowed before her.

"Her Royal Highness Princess Anna of Arendelle!" Anna looked disgruntled as she was shown to her place next to Elsa on the dais. The blonde shot her sister a concerned look, which the redhead made a show of ignoring. Elsa sighed internally.

"Your majesty, Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess Rapunzel of Corona, and her husband the Duke of Hagendorf." Kai bowed, gesturing the couple forward to the sisters. Evidently no time would be wasted tonight.

The short brunette curtseyed quickly to the two women, then bounced forward, excitement gleaming in her green eyes. The man behind her rolled his eyes ever so slightly, moving smoothly to his wife's side. As he laced his fingers through hers, she stopped bouncing, as though he was tethering her to the ground. Elsa bowed her head respectfully, though she didn't need to. Anna curtseyed, thankfully without falling over.

"Oh, oh my goodness, I can't believe we're finally meeting you! I've been looking forward to this for so very long, I can't believe it's actually you! I'm dreadfully sorry we couldn't stay for your coronation ball, we tried to, but the ship and the schedules and our captain was very ornery. I tell ya, if I'd have had my frying pan- anyway, here we are now, I guess. Oh, this is Eugene. He's wonderful." If Rapunzel had sounded a bit like Anna in her letter, she could have been the redhead's twin now.

"Arendelle welcomes you, your Royal Highness." Elsa paused, letting her expression relax into a warm smile, and nodded toward Eugene as well. "And I welcome you, cousin. The rooms for you and your delegation are satisfactory, I hope?"

"Oh, just call me Rapunzel, please. Yes, they're absolutely lovely! There's so much more space here than in Corona. I like it." The short brunette started bouncing again. She was so like Anna, it made Elsa feel a bit warmer. Happiness. "We didn't really get much time before the ball to explore, though. Not that we would have gone anywhere we're not supposed to! We- I just didn't have time. To explore." Pink bloomed beneath her freckles.

"Perhaps Anna will show you around the castle later? She knows these halls better than the servants do, I'm sure." Elsa took the opportunity to look at her sister. Anna's face had fallen slightly, and she was playing with her fingernails distractedly. Oh. Of course. Elsa turned back to Rapunzel, who either hadn't noticed or was very graciously pretending she hadn't.

"That sounds wonderful!" Rapunzel turned fully toward Anna, coaxing the redhead out of her shell with a knowing smile. "I'd love to see the castle my cousins grew up in, and I'm sure you would be much better at giving tours than the staff would. They don't know where the secret passages are, and I bet you do." She winked conspiratorially at Anna, whose expression of distant hurt had disappeared completely.

Your fault. It was your fault she had to grow up in the hallways alone, spending all that time by herself. And you had to go and remind her. Elsa's eyes fluttered closed. Your fault.

A surprised squeak made Elsa's eyes pop open. Rapunzel, Eugene, and Anna were covered in a light dusting of snow. Anna put a hand on Elsa's arm, concern written very clearly in her eyes.

"Is this…snow?" Eugene was inspecting a handful of the stuff. "It is! Blondie, look at this! It's snow!"

Elsa took a deep breath, trying to focus on the warm pressure of Anna's hand on her arm. Love. Anna loves you. It's okay. Slowly, too slowly, the snow melted away. She cleared her throat. "Yes. It seems we have some catching up to do. Perhaps we can discuss this further after the ball? Or tomorrow, perhaps?" How have they not heard? Eugene's surprise was strange. Corona was close enough that they should have heard stories of the Great Freeze.

Rapunzel had not said a word since her squeak. She was looking at Elsa very intently, as if she were trying to read an unfamiliar language. Perhaps they had heard, and Eugene was simply surprised at the experience. Something in Rapunzel's gaze made Elsa vaguely uncomfortable.

With the promise of further discussion at a later date, the couple took their leave. Anna moved closer to Elsa, tucking her arm around the blonde's. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

Gods. I don't deserve this girl. I opened a door that should have stayed closed, and still she comforts me. "Yes. Thank you." Her words came out cold and brittle. She cursed inwardly, and placed her free hand atop Anna's. Her cold fingers settled uncertainly around her sister's warm hand. "Thank you, Anna." This time there was warmth in her quiet voice.

The evening passed with no further snow incidents. Elsa continued to refuse dances with the various nobles introduced to the girls. Anna danced with almost every one of them, until Kristoff made an appearance, and then she would happily have spent the rest of the ball in the corner with her valiant pungent reindeer king if Elsa had not reminded her of her duties with a quirked eyebrow.

They were introduced to some of the neighboring royalty, with whom Elsa would be meeting with later that week. She most looked forward to speaking further with the king and queen of Hartshels, in Denmark. The queen had vibrant red hair that surprisingly did not clash with her light pink dress, and the tiny princess had clutched nervously to her mother's skirts until Anna had offered to dance with her. The two-year-old's whole face had lit up at that, and Anna whirled her around the dance floor until her dark hair slipped out of its simple braid and her melodic laugh had echoed around the room.

Elsa did not approve of any of the potential suitors introduced that evening. Most of them were acceptable as far as alliances went, but the men themselves were all wrong for both girls. They were too boorish, too energetic, too arrogant, too desperate, too interested, not interested enough…Elsa found fault with each and every one of them. Anna deserved someone perfect, especially if she was going to give up Kristoff. Not that she knew that yet. Elsa felt a pang of guilt as she saw the redhead leaning into the mountain man's side as they piled food onto their tiny plates. She had to tell her. Later, though. She would let Anna have her happiness tonight.

Kai sighed quietly from his place in front of the dais. "Lady Nuri, of Agrabah." His voice was respectfully unemotional, but Elsa knew him well enough to detect the note of annoyance. It was getting late, and the guests should have been starting to filter out. Elsa ducked her head, using the respectful gesture to hide an unqueenly grin. Agrabah? That was so far away, what in the name of the gods were- but then she was lifting her head and the girl standing in front of her was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen.