"Oh come on, Elsa! You decorated- no, re-decorated the castle after I went to bed. Without my permission - which was really pretty, by the way. Play along with me for this one!" Anna cried out by the fireplace.

After the dignitaries had left to their respective chambers to rest for the day, Elsa had chosen to "retire" in her study to revise their proposals. Anna finally took the opportunity between Elsa's short break for a short chat, of course, not without a motive.

"For the last time, Anna, no, I don't need a present and-"

"Yes you do!"

"Christmas is ridiculous and you know it."

Anna gasped and yelled indignantly, "No it isn't!"

Elsa shook her head and sighed. Scratching her head, she said, "I don't even understand why people believe in santa or why papa gave us this holiday-"

"Because Jesus died on the cross." Anna said. She then tilted her head as if Elsa was asking a stupid question. And then Elsa blinked and narrowed her eyes at her sister to realise Anna hadn't been trying to tease her or lie before shaking her head in disbelief.

"What?"

"Jesus Christ, son of God died on the cross so his Father would forgive us for our sins, Elsa. We celebrate the day to remind us Jesus was born today and we need to do of that sinning thing. Don't you read the bible?"

Elsa rolled her eyes and wondered what the tutors had been teaching her younger sister during their thirteen years of separation. Or had Anna only been fascinated by the magic that happened in the book that people had forgotten the less magical stories in that book? "I did…" She placed her book down on the table as gently as she could – or at least not slam it – and walked over to the couch her sister sat by. With the little patience in her left, she took a deep breath and spoke, "which is why I don't believe it. Do you read the bible, Anna?"

"What, of course! All that was said so in the bible! It all happened! God decided that-"

"God decided that the world needed help and he sent his sole angel, yes, Anna, I've read it. But have you read the rest of the book?" Her younger sister's eyes widened. "Of course not, that book is probably three times as thick as Arendelle's history textbooks," Anna darted her eyes again which prompted her to continue, "... which you probably did not finish reading as well. Anyway, angels and devils don't exist. There is no god, Anna. I refuse to celebrate something fictional."

Liar, she chided herself, celebrating Christmas was all she wanted to do, except without Anna's presents. Guilt-ridden, she had spent the past thirty six hours wrecking her mind on what to give Anna as a christmas gift. After her birthday celebration just two days ago she knew Anna was no longer going to hold back any opportunity to shower her with affection now that they were able to celebrate things together. And all those in the past thirteen years, despite being locked behind that door, Anna had always celebrated Christmas and her birthday by dropping presents by her door. But what had Elsa done for her younger sister?

Nothing.

She rolled her eyes inwardly, what could she have done while staying in her room? Order a delivery package to her sister without even checking personally whether the gifts would be to her sister's liking or whether they were even in the best conditions?

"What. But-but but! Elsa, you have snow powers, how can you not believe in this?" She gestured - more like waved her hands in the air - at everything in front of her.

Elsa crossed her arms, "Well, if you believe in that, then believe me, the bible said that kissing you is a sin. Maybe we should st-"

A gasp interrupted her followed by a strict "No."

Elsa smirked inwardly. That's what she thought.

"Okay, but that's not the point. The point is we are giving each other gifts. Never mind, can you just please play along with me? Just this once? I'll get Olaf and Gerda and Kai and Kristoff to join us too. Then it wouldn't be so easy to guess who gave who."

With puppy eyes as wide as the poorly chosen Christmas baubles hanging on the tree Elsa was distraught to find in their dining hall and hands washing her cold ones with warmth, how could Elsa say no? She really wanted to make up to Anna and if Anna were to give her anything she knew she would feel nothing but in a deeper depth to her sister. And to say thinking of presents for a princess who had everything was difficult was a huge understatement.

Anna bit her lips uncertainly and shifted her gaze to the flames – here it comes, Elsa thought – and said, "You never got to celebrate it, I just want you to enjoy it just this once, is it that hard to?"

Anna probably had this all planned out. She played her cards well and despite knowing that, Elsa reluctantly caved. "Actually I did enjoy them with all your presents, but… fine."

The rest of her words were muted by Anna's excited squealing and hopping and jumping and running all around the room. The redhead then sprinted out the room, "I promise you'll love it Elsa! Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai! Gerrrdaa!"

Great, now she had to think of another present. Left alone in her own study, Elsa allowed her thoughts to drift. Despite having spent some time with her younger sister, Anna still filled her mind.

"Happy birthday!"

She remembered how her sister so excitedly jumped at her from inside the box just the other day. Despite it being her own birthday, she had probably never seen Anna so happy before. Not even the first time they expressed their not-so-sisterly affections towards each other or when they spent their nights together… sexually and sisterly.

Anna was probably ecstatic that she was finally able to give personally her sister her birthday present for the first time in forever. Her. Anna made full use of the winter festival to decorate the entire castle with mistletoes so she could kiss her all day and night. She chuckled at the idea and wondered if the princess thought to be proud of herself - it was ingenious and unforgettable.

Ah.

Elsa stroked her chin as she returned to her chair behind the desk and pulled out her list. On it had thirteen christmas gifts for thirteen years of making it up to her, and now she needed one more… She wondered if this was a situation where desperate times called for desperate measures…

"Your Majesty?" A guard knocked on her door before entering. "The King of Weselton wished to see you."

"Did he mention what it was regarding?"

"I… I'm afraid I did not ask. I-I a-apologise, Your Majesty." The man bowed slightly.

Elsa tilted her head at the guard. He looked more afraid than the other guards under her command - somewhat expected since she had recently heard rumours of the captain getting cosy with her resulting from her budding friendship with him - and extremely unfamiliar. Having being greeted the guards every single day and seeing them around almost every waking minute, Elsa took pride in remembering the names of a few, if not, the faces of some… This guy, she had never seen before. Upon further inspection, his uniform was slightly unkempt and his cuffs were dangling on the wrong side.

Maybe he was a new recruit and the crew was teasing.

"Are you new?"

"Y-yes, Your Majesty. Shall I… lead you to His Majesty?"

"Could I borrow you cuffs for a moment?"

The man hurriedly rushed over and tugged his cuff out of his belt and handed it over. "H-here."

The slightly rusted metal hung on her fingers as she twirled it around, memorising every inch, nook and cranny of it. A little rough and unhygienic, but she could probably create one made of ice on her own. She fiddled with the cuffs, getting a good feel of how hard, difficult to unlock, and every and any detail she thought necessary in order to construct a pair of her own.

"Yes, this would be perfect." She then looked up to the new guard with a relieved smile, "Thank you…"

"Emanuel, Your Majesty."

"Emanuel. You can have your cuffs back and lead me to His Majesty's chambers."

"T-this way, please."

Mentally thanking Anna for what she could give the princess, Elsa congratulated herself for suddenly remembering something Anna had once mentioned wanting. Having solved her predicament, Elsa left the room.

The next day, on Christmas eve morning, Anna stumbled down the stairs to find her sister missing during breakfast and grumbled throughout the meal to Kai, who had been serving her the dishes, about how Elsa was such a stinker and had skipped out on breakfast which was the most important meal of the day and how much her sister sometimes worried about her and how despite being the queen and having to take care of an entire kingdom yet couldn't take care of herself. But before she could even move on to how Elsa had the gall to be concerned about her dangerous activities when the older sister couldn't even bother to eat a proper breakfast, Kai stopped her.

"I assure you, your sister has a very important reason for not attending breakfast today, Princess Anna."

"More perfect than her health?"

The man remained silent and had no choice but to let the princess rant on and on for the next twenty minutes. Just as Anna was about to leave the dining hall, she noticed the corner with their ice-and-ornaments-decorated pine tree seeming more crowded than usual. Odd, she thought, it was lonely and empty just last night. And Christmas was tomorrow.

She walked over and looked at the presents. Shaped in many shapes and sizes, all of them came with a tag that said, "To Anna, From Secret santa." which the princess thought was ridiculous because why did her sister even try. Who else would put presents under the tree that was meant for the Arendelle sisters?

"Stinker, so much for not celebrating." With tears in the princess' eyes, Anna giggled to herself and turned around when she heard Kai's footsteps coming closer to her.

"I hope Her Majesty has redeemed herself, Your Highness."

"No, she still has to eat breakfast. Tell Gerda to bring a plate to her, I'll make sure she eats it after I bring my present for her down."

"Your sister has also told me to pass you this letter as soon as you've seen the gifts."

"A letter?" She took it from Kai's hand and read it.

Dear Anna,

I'm sorry I missed breakfast, I had something extremely urgent to attend to. I know you're probably upset. But hey, Christmas is all about forgiving and forgetting, right? Anyway, Santa told me he struck the lottery so in case you didn't count - I bet my forgiveness for missing breakfast you didn't - there are the thirteen presents for the past thirteen years he had failed to give to you. The fourteenth gift, for this year, will be in your room tonight. And just like all the other presents, no peeking until Christmas.

With love,

Elsa

She hugged the letter and shook her head, her sister was probably the lousiest liar to ever have lived. Did she even try. Anna didn't even try to resist the wide grin drawing across the face, "You freaking stinker."