Author's Note: Happy 4th of July, everyone! That's right. Everyone. Even if you're not American, it's still the 4th of July and I hope you have a good day.

"What?!"

Elsa could not believe what she had just heard. Corona? Her own cousin's kingdom? There had to be some mistake. No way would Rapunzel authorize something like this.

"No. Nope. No way. Uh-huh. 'Punzel would never do something like that, Tendro! Nope. No, sir. Bad information. That's what you've got. N - O. No." If Anna shook her head any harder it might fall off.

The normally stoic Guard Captain looked both nervous and tired. "Your Majesty… Your Highness… I'm sorry. This is the news that my ship brought. I trust these men, and they have no reason to deceive us."

"You understand why this is so surprising, Captain?"

"I do, Majesty. I met Princess Rapunzel at your coronation, and I am firmly in agreement with you that she cannot be involved. Her kindness and soft spirit are second only to your own, Princess Anna, but Corona's flag is flying on these ships"

The Princess's cheeks suddenly matched her hair. "Thank you, Tendro. But flattery doesn't change the fact that something has happened to 'Punzel's country. There has to be a way to find out what's going on over there. Can we send a ship? We have the one that came back, right? Let's send it to Corona!"

"Anna…"

"Your Highness, I'm sorry, but there's no way. It would never reach Corona in time. Even if there were time, it would never be able to make it around the enemy fleet."

"So, Captain? I've learned enough about you over the past few months to know that you wouldn't come here with this news and have no explanation or plan. Let's hear it."

"Your Majesty, I am afraid that my plan is hardly worth the title. And my explanation is but mere speculation, and a dark and unpleasant one at that."

"Are you going to make me ask again, Captain?"

The grizzled officer gave a heavy sigh before responding, "No, my Queen. The only explanation I can think of is that Corona has been conquered by Weselton, and their colors are being used to damage our morale before they even arrive." Anna gasped. Elsa's stomach churned. This was exactly what she had been thinking. "Please, Majesties, this is just a theory. We won't know until we can either get word from Her Highness Rapunzel, or until we defeat the Weseltonian threat once and for all. Which brings me to my plan…"

His plan was a good one. Elsa had read countless books on tactics and studies about famous battles, but she had no actual experience. Still, what he was suggesting sounded like it might work.

"I like it, Captain. I will have some modifications when the time comes, but nothing that you need to worry about for now."

"What kinds of modifications, Elsa? Big magical ones, I bet! Can you show us one now?" Anna's spirits never seemed dampened for long. Especially once she was shown that things were in motion, and there was still hope. Elsa smiled at her sister. For that girl, there was always hope.

"Just some ideas I have. I don't want to spoil anything too early. Some of them might not work anyway, and I don't want to have the Captain counting on flawed strategies. It's best if he bases his plans on what we know will work, rather than ifs and maybes."

The Guard Captain gave her a nod of respect. "Thank you, Your Majesty. By your leave, I will-"

"Yes, go on, Tendro. Elsa and I have lots to talk about."

Elsa nodded at the Captain from where Anna couldn't see, and he saluted before jogging away towards the barracks. The girls stood there in silence for a minute, neither seeming to know what to do. A warm hand found its way into her own, and Elsa smiled over at the Princess. Staring up at the night sky, the moonlight shining on her red-gold locks, her Anna was positively radiant. This was as tough a time as any ruler could expect during their reign, but Elsa had something that made her more than capable of dealing with any such troubles. She had her sister.

"It's okay, Elsa. 'Punzel wouldn't do this. There's an explanation, I just know there is. We'll sink that stupid old Duke's fleet, and then we can go save Corona from whatever he's done. Everything's gonna be okay..." They looked at each other for a moment, "Right?"

She had to believe that Anna was right. Disagreeing now would be like giving up hope before they had even started. That just wasn't an option. "Right."

Once inside, they both ate a half-hearted dinner before retiring to Elsa's room. Neither felt like eating, and they certainly weren't going to sleep alone. Even on their most exhaustive training days, they slept with limbs entwined and noses pressed into each other's necks.

"Do you think Tendro was right? About what happened to Corona?" Anna asked as she helped Elsa out of her shirt.

"I… I don't know. I hope not, but… the alternatives are not exactly comforting either."

"Yeah, definitely not. I was hoping that you had some other idea. Something that might explain… I've got it!"

A small spark of hope lit in Elsa's chest. "Oh?"

"Yeah! The Duke must've made his own Corona banners, and put them on his ships! That's gotta be it! He… he can do that right?"

"Well… technically? Yes, I guess he could have done that. It does sound like him." It sounded a lot like him. Cowardly, manipulative, and cruel? Definitely sounded like the Duke. "I really hope you're right, Anna." She turned and caressed her sister's freckled cheek. "But we have to be prepared for the possibility that you're not. Okay? If we find out that something did happen to Rapunzel or Corona we have to be ready so it doesn't crush us too. You're the strongest woman I know, Anna, and I need you to help keep me strong too." She choked a little on the last sentence.

A single tear slipped down her cheek, but Anna kissed it away. "Of course, Elsa. I'm not going anywhere. We can be strong together. Always." She kissed Elsa softly on the lips. "We'll always take care of each other." Another kiss, this one longer.

"Hey, Anna?"

The Princess was a little distracted with taking her own shirt off, "Hmm?"

Before Elsa could finish her thought, the Princess was half-naked. Elsa could feel her heart pounding in her chest. "You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," she whispered.

Anna's blush covered her whole body. "Thank you… you're even beautifuller." She grinned at their inside joke, and Elsa couldn't help but laugh.

"Are you calling me fuller?!"

"What if I am? What are you gonna do about it?"

That sounded like a challenge to Elsa. One she was more than happy to accept. Grinning mischieviously, she threw her sister onto the bed.

Anna was having a pretty exciting morning. She had slept so well after Elsa had ravished her to the brink of unconsciousness. And then she had the privilege of waking up with the most remarkable pair of breasts in her face. The Princess, being only human, attacked them hungrily.

It was quite some time later before the pair managed to make it out of the Queen's chambers. Apparently she had awoken with some kind of purpose this morning, because she was practically dragging Anna out of the castle.

"Elsa!" Anna laughed. "Where are we going? You have to tell me. I don't think I could handle another kidnapping." Elsa shot her a glare. "Oh, lighten up. That was months ago, and you know I'm kidding... But seriously, please don't kidnap me."

"We're just taking a little trip up the mountain. I got an idea in a… a dream I had last night."

"The mountain? Like the North Mountain? Awesome! I've been wanting to go back and explore your castle. Are you going to give me the grand tour this time? Should we pack a lunch? Oh! We could have a picnic! Can we invite Olaf too?"

Elsa was laughing so hard. "Slow down, slow down. Just breathe, sweetheart. Yes, the North Mountain. No, we're not going to the castle, but I would absolutely love to take you there and show you everything once this whole," she waved her hand around, "nastiness is over. Bringing lunch isn't a bad idea though. We can grab some from the market on the way." She grinned and kissed Anna's cheek. The younger girl felt her body warm up all the way to her toes, and she couldn't stifle a giggle.

"What about Olaf?"

"What about me?!" came a cheerful voice from up ahead.

"Olaf!"

"Anna! Elsa! Hey guys! Whatcha doin'?"

"Elsa is taking us on a picnic on the North Mountain!"

"Us? A picnic? That sounds wonderful! We can have drinks with little umbrellas in them, and lay down on blankets, and watch the clouds fly by…" he had the goofiest dreamy look on his face.

Elsa patted him on the head as he joined them. "Well, we can definitely have a picnic. We'll see about all of that once we get there, okay, little guy?"

He nodded furiously. "Um, I'm not sure if this is going to be a problem, but we don't have any food."

"We're getting it at the market. Come on, you can help me pick it out!"

The perfect autumn weather made for a spectacular hike up to the top of the mountain. It took them a while, but Elsa had said as long as they had daylight left when they arrived it was fine to take their time. The picnic itself went a lot like Olaf's prediction. At least, minus the umbrellas. Anna wasn't sure who would put umbrellas in a drink of all places, or where the snowman had even gotten the idea.

It had been a truly fantastic afternoon. After they ate, they laid down and she cuddled up close to Elsa, laying her head on the blonde's delicious chest. They took turns calling out different cloud shapes, and just enjoying the gentle breeze on the mountaintop. It was almost enough to make them forget completely about the danger their kingdom was in.

"So, Elsa?"

"Hmm?" the vibration in her chest tickled Anna's ear.

"As incredible as this is, I don't think you brought us up here just to relax and cuddle all day."

"Yeah, Elsa! What are we doing up here?"

The Queen stood and brushed herself off. "Well, like I told Anna this morning, I got an idea from a dream I had last night. If it works… well it will prove to be an extreme tactical advantage. If it doesn't, then at least we had our incredible afternoon." She smiled and kissed Anna's cheek.

"Are you going to tell us what it is?! The suspense is kind of ridiculous."

"Well…" Elsa closed her eyes in concentration, "Any information that Captain Tendro gets will be far too old to really help anything at this point." Her hands raised slowly, and an enormous amount of fine mist appeared in the air between them and the sea. "So, we need a way to get that information faster, right?" The mist shimmered and became more than mist, but… Anna wasn't really sure what to call it. It sure was sparkly though. So much so that it was almost hard to look at. "And obviously a spyglass can't see nearly far enough… but from a high enough vantage point…" the shimmering stopped and coalesced into a tremendous glasslike wall, "and a big enough spyglass…" suddenly the icy glass must've found the correct angle, or whatever it needed to act like a spyglass, because Anna could now see an enormous fleet of ships in the distance.

"Freyja's freaking chariot! That's amazing!"

"What's a spyglass? Is that a spyglass? How does it work? How did those ships get here so fast?"

Elsa had not really known what to expect. But a force this huge, this… vast was not it. There were more ships than she could count in a day. Through the tempest of emotions battling for control, cold fear was swiftly clawing its way to the top. What could Arendelle possibly do against such an enemy?

A pair of warm arms wrapped around her waist, crushing that fear into dust. Anna was with her.

"It's… so big."

"Not too big though. We can handle this…" Anna's eyebrows danced expectantly.

Elsa felt a smile coming on unbidden. "Together," she finished.

"That's right! This," she waved a pale hand at the massive spyglass, "is proof that we are going to be just fine. Look at what you can do. You're brilliant! I won't let you give up, Elsa. Not now, not ever."

Hot tears coursed down the Queen's cheeks. How did she ever get so lucky? She couldn't possibly deserve this kind of unconditional love from anyone, let alone someone so perfect as Anna.

"I love you… so much… Anna. You are more than I could ever deserve."

"Don't be silly. We both deserve each other exactly the right amount. That's why we're sisters! Extremely attractive sisters at that," she ran her hands up Elsa's chest and groped her playfully.

Elsa wiped her cheeks, "Don't think I forgot that I still owe you for last night."

Anna turned cherry red, "I wouldn't miss it for the world. But can we go home first? I don't think Olaf would appreciate…"

"Appreciate what? I wanna see! Can I see? Is it good? I bet it's amazing, whatever it is."

"Oh, geez, Olaf, no. Goodness, no."

Elsa was laughing much too hard to respond.