"ANNA!"
She mentioned The Thing. It was a powerful Thing, to be sure, for it was The Thing We Do Not Speak of, Ever.
There were other Things, Sophia knew, as she stirred her vegetables about her plate. (The king himself made a proclamation that all good little girls had to eat their greens. She hated that proclamation, and endeavored to have it overturned the next time an Elsa Thing dissented with a King Thing.)
But no one was to ever mention The Thing We Do Not Speak of in Sophia's presence. Anna huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest, insisting she was right to say so.
Sophia was confused. Elsa had said that she and Hans were taking Sophia out to the fjord tomorrow (yay!) for some fun. All Aunt Anna had said was, "I hope he doesn't chase you this time!"
It was The Thing.
The Thing, whatever it was, was pretty horrible. Nobody smiled about it. There were many 'smile' things the little girl wasn't told about; Aunt Anna's Weight Thing, The Black King and White Queen Showing Up Late and Disheveled Thing, and the Thing About Smells Coming from Kristoff.
All these Things were jokes; sometimes not very nice, but someone always laughed, or smiled. Or at least kept talking. Aunt Anna did not like when Aunt Elsa said The Weight Thing, but they both knew it was a joke. And Kristoff was not too bothered by the Smells Thing.
And everyone laughed hard whenever she whined about the Late Thing. Like she had to be an adult to understand why a man and woman would want to spend time alone! How boring!
But nobody was ever happy after thinking about The Thing We Do Not Speak of!
Sophia frowned. She had been living with Uncle Hans for years now, and Aunt Elsa even longer. It was time that they started treating like a big girl!
"What's the Thing?"
The adults around the table looked up.
"Uh...?" Hans' eye-brow shot upward, "thing?"
"I'm not supposed to know about!" She whined, "What did you do, daddy?"
She pulled out the 'daddy' card whenever Things were getting hard. Even the Black King's dreaded "greens proclamation" did not carry against it. (Much to the displeasure of his White Queen.)
Every adult at the table was totally silent. It had never been this silent. But Sophia hoped that once they told her this Thing, the awkwardness would be over, and no one would ever, ever stop smiling again.
"Honey…" Started Hans.
"What won't you tell me!?" She shouted this demand to Aunt Anna, who, for once in her life, paled, and showed actual guilt.
Whoa.
It had to be bad. Aunt Anna did whatever she wanted, and had lots of fun. She still shot an apologetic look to her brother-in-law who was staring intently at his adoptive daughter. Kristoff excused himself.
It took every servant in the room, and the rest of the table a moment to realize why he beat a retreat so quickly.
Aunt Elsa. Was. Livid.
The White Queen never got angry or flustered at all, really. She was pretty, and smart, and graceful. And she never really got upset at her sister.
But currently she looked ready to kill her.
"Tomorrow," She spat at her sister, "Sophia deserves one more day of hope, one more day before she knows what…" Aunt Elsa paused.
Uncle Hans took over, "What it feels like to have ice in her heart."
Aunt Anna looked down, "….sorry."
A servant appeared outside of Hans' striking range, away from his sword's side. He had a letter. The initials 'SI' are embossed on the seal. Sophia frowned. This was a bad Thing. It was from her 'home' in the Southern Isles. Uncle Hans was always moody when reading any Thing from there.
This time was no exception. He made noises that attracted the attention of his beloved White Queen. She read four sentences before gasping. Uncle Hans stayed silent, but even a young girl like Sophia knew when some Thing was wrong!
"Hans…?" Elsa was… unsure!? That was not a good Thing. Aunt Elsa and Uncle Hans always talked. This was different. Sophia did not like this Thing. This Thing was tearing her family apart.
Her uncle took a breath, "We're going to the beach tomorrow. Then," He glanced at his beautiful, stunning White Queen, "We need to talk. About me going home."
Sophia swallowed. What did that mean?
The rest of the night everyone was silent.
The following day, Sophia got up bright and early, ran into the King and Queen's room and awakened them. Yes, she was supposed to go to Aunt Anna first, but she wanted to know so bad if they were fighting again. Okay, so, they were not fighting, but they were pretty quiet.
The trip to the fjord was quiet too. Even with fun-loving Aunt Anna and Mr. Kristoff there. Still, it was spring, and the young girl had tons and tons of fun in the water, splashing and swimming. Aunt Elsa can't swim, and Uncle Hans hates water.
"Come in, Uncle Hans, pleaaase?" Couldn't use 'daddy' now, got to save it for special occasions. Uncle Hans rolled his eyes but complies.
"You know I don't like swimming," He said. Huh, must be a Thing. Still, he waded into the water and played with his niece for hours. Aunt Anna even cooperates with him. Strangely, Sophia realized that, though they both love her, the two never really… get along.
The sun was going down. Aunt Anna is getting desperate for fun, making dumb jokes, and insisting on more competitions. But Uncle Hans got…
THE LOOK.
The look was a bad, bad Thing. He rarely got that look. It's a dangerous Thing.
"Anna," He said quietly, "It's time."
"Please," Begged her aunt, "Just one more game?!"
It's been 'one more game time' for several hours now. Sophia started tearing up. She could practically feel Aunt Anna's heart breaking.
This… Thing… must be horrible. Mr. Kristoff came to take Aunt Anna to his sled. Aunt Elsa was by herself again, facing off into the fjord.
"Daddy," whispers Sophia as he drew her onto his knee, "Do we have to?"
He nodded sadly, "You're old even now to know these Things. About kissing, and boys," He sighed for so long, "And betrayal."
He told her a fairytale. It's one she knows very, very well- the one about the lonely prince and the lonely ice queen, and how they fell in love. But this time, she got the whole version.
"And that's why your father is dead," He says, with THE LOOK in his eyes. She understood now. He made mention of other people he killed, but Sophia cannot help but stare. Where did Uncle Hans go? Who was this man telling lies that aren't funny?
"And now you need to know what happened when I came to Arrendelle," He said sadly.
"Didn't you love her?" Sophia demanded through tear-filled eyes. Her uncle stops, shocked.
"Yes… yes I did."
And she learned the Thing.
Sophia was a big girl now. She hated Things. She wished to not know Things anymore. But she cannot. And now she understood THE LOOK and the letters.
She was angry, and confused, and scared, so she went to the one person who understands. Aunt Elsa was there, quiet and comforting as ever.
"Mommy!"
Immediately, the little girl is scooped up into an embrace.
"It's okay," She lied, "It's going to be okay."
"I don't understand," sniffled Sophia. Aunt Elsa takes a breath.
"Your uncle- and I know this is hard to understand, but…he's a good man. And he'll keep us safe. There are Things out there, horrible Things I cannot even tell you about. Things I hope you never, ever have to encounter, but he keeps us safe, because those Things fear him."
Sophia was quiet.
"I love you," Whispered Elsa. She was trying to get Things back to normal for her niece.
But Things will never be the same for little Sophia.