"Again? Where are you going now?" Anna asked.

"Out," said Kristoff.

Anna folded her arms. "Out where?"

"Places."

As Elsa left the sitting room, she could hear Anna's voice rising. "Aren't you happy with me? Why don't you spend time with me anymore?"

"Of course I love you, baby," heard Elsa. Kristoff's rolling eyes were audible.

Anna and Kristoff's clashing voices faded as Elsa retreated to her bedroom. A while later, there was a knock on her door. "Come in," Elsa said. Anna's eyes were bloodshot, and her makeup was running down her face.

"Hug me," Anna said.

Elsa guided Anna to the bed. They sat down, and Anna laid her head on Elsa's breast. Elsa put her arms around Anna and stroked Anna's hair. "Tell him he can't come back. He's not good enough for you."

"It's true love. We love each other." Anna sniffled. "I just wish we were happy, too."

"It's not possible for a man and a woman to be happy with each other. They're different. They don't understand us. I sure don't understand them."

"I'd do anything for it to be like it used to be."

"It can't be." Elsa sat Anna upright and looked into her eyes. "I've told you before that you should throw him out. You have to put men behind you."

"I can't leave Kristoff."

Elsa leaned forward and shoved her lips hard against Anna's. Anna jumped back.

"What was that?" Anna asked.

"I understand you better than Kristoff does, don't I?"

"I'm not going to do that kind of thing with you."

"I won't abandon you like Kristoff." Elsa kissed Anna again.

Anna pushed Elsa away from her. "Why are you doing this?"

"I love you, Anna. More than he does. Anything he can do for you, I'll do better." Elsa gripped Anna's shoulders. "Love between women is pure because we're equals. It's better than any relationship a man and a woman can have."

"I just want to be happy with him," said Anna.

"You've been indoctrinated to think that way. Men have told us that we need them for thousands of years. Well we don't. No woman has ever needed a man. Let me show you."

"It's disgusting," said Anna, getting up from the bed.

Elsa grabbed Anna's arm. "You haven't even tried it." As Anna tried to pull her arm out of Elsa's grip, Elsa took Anna by the waist and slammed her onto the bed. Elsa climbed on top of Anna, grabbed her head, and wrested a kiss from her. "I'm going to show you what you've been missing. It's going to be better than anything Kristoff has ever done for you."

"Please stop," said Anna. "Please."

"You're going to be a real woman. An adult woman, free from childish misconceptions about men. You'll thank me when I'm done."

Afterwards, Anna lay flat on her back, naked and on top of the sheets, staring at the ceiling. Elsa wriggled up to Anna and put her hand around Anna's chest. Anna shivered and rolled onto her side, putting her back to Elsa. As Elsa pulled tight against Anna, pushing her breasts into Anna's back and her thighs against Anna's buttocks, Anna made a pitiful whimper.

Elsa lazily fondled Anna's breast and whispered, "It'll take time to get used to, but it's better this way. You'll see. You won't want to go back to Kristoff." Anna wept.

A few nights later, as Anna was undressing for bed, Elsa walked into Anna's bedroom. Anna's only warning was a lustful leer, and then she was trapped. As Elsa left, she said, "See? You're getting used to it."

Anna took to locking the door to her room before bedtime. Two days later, as Anna lay in bed trying to sleep, the window burst open and a frigid wind blew in. Elsa stood outside the window, on a platform of ice, silhouetted against the full moon. She waved her hand, icy stairs grew from the windowsill to the floor, and she strutted to the bed, wiggling her hips at Anna. "Want some company?" Elsa asked.

"I'm fine," said Anna. "And tired. Let me sleep."

"You'll sleep better after this. Trust me."

"Oh no," said Anna.

"Oh yes," said Elsa.

When Elsa was done, she and Anna lay in bed together, naked, while the full moon shined upon them. Elsa said, "I'm going to tell people. They're going to know what we've done and how good it is."

Anna's face flushed. "Please, Elsa, at least keep it a secret."

"Trust me. I know what's best."

The proclamation was made the next day. "Citizens of Arendelle!" announced the herald. "Whereas, Her Majesty Queen Elsa of Arendelle is a woman and therefore understands the thoughts of other women; and whereas, a man cannot understand the thoughts of a woman; and whereas, Her Highness Crown Princess Anna of Arendelle is also a woman, and she and the queen have—oh my God. Ahem. And she and the queen have shared the gift of love as only two women can, and have. Um. Have proven that the pleasure of another woman is greater than the pleasure of any man. Wow! I mean, wow. I mean, therefore it is hereby decreed by Her Majesty that sexual relations between a man and a woman can never be relations among equals; and that effective immediately, all such relations are banned; and that any man engaging in sexual relations with a woman shall have his manhood frozen off by Her Majesty the Queen."

Kristoff demanded of Anna, "What is going on?"

"I didn't want to!" said Anna.

"'The pleasure of another woman is greater than the pleasure of any man'? What's that about?"

"She won't listen to me!" Anna tried to take Kristoff's hands, but he snapped them back. "She makes me do it. She holds me down and tells me I like it." Anna wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "I just want it to never happen again."

Kristoff found Elsa in the library, taking notes on a volume labeled, "Laws of the Kingdom of Arendelle, Volume Thirty." He sat across from her and said, "We need to talk about Anna."

Elsa put her quill down and said, "What do you mean? I'm taking care of her now."

"I'd rather you not. She doesn't like it."

"She's never experienced a woman's touch, that's all. In the long run it's healthier. Sex with men is disgusting."

"It's what people are supposed to do."

"You were taught that women's lives revolve around men, the same as we were. But I'm going to change everything. That kind of thinking won't be permitted!"

"What are people supposed to do? What about all the husbands and wives? All the boyfriends and girlfriends?"

"The women will find other women, and the men will find other men. Thousands of years of oppression will vanish."

Kristoff growled, "What if I don't want another man?"

"If you want a woman, it's because you're an oppressor."

"No it's not! My wanting another man is just as reasonable as, I don't know, something crazy. Like me and Sven together. That's what it's like. Would it be natural for me and Sven to have sex?"

Elsa leaned back in her chair and chewed the end of her quill. "I hadn't thought of that. But who am I to judge? As long as you both consent, I guess there's nothing wrong with it."

"Of course there's something wrong with it! He's a reindeer!"

"It's illegal, yes, but that can be fixed. It needs to be fixed. In fact," said Elsa, getting up, "give me a couple of hours, will you?"

"Uh, what?"

"You've given me Anna. I'll give you Sven."

"Citizens of Arendelle!" announced the herald. "Whereas, Kristoff Bjorgman is a man of high standing in this kingdom; and he has been with his trusty reindeer Sven since boyhood; and whereas, the depths of their love have had to be secret until now; and whereas, Her Majesty Queen Elsa of Arendelle believes that there should be no legal impediments to true love; therefore it is hereby decreed that the laws against bestiality are revoked; except that both parties must consent; and it may only take place between a man and a male animal or between a woman and a female animal; and any man who interferes with the love of human and beast, or who violates the two aforementioned conditions, shall have his manhood frozen off by Her Majesty the Queen."

A man called, "What if a woman interferes?"

The herald scanned the parchment again. "It doesn't say anything about that. Maybe it's okay? But your guess is as good as mine."

When Anna next saw Kristoff, she laughed. Kristoff, who was somber, said, "I'm going out tonight."

Anna's face puckered. "You have to protect me from her."

"I can't. I have to do something."

Rather than risk more abuse, Anna went straight to her room and locked the door and the windows. That evening, she heard the doorknob rattle. Elsa's voice asked, "Anna? Are you in there?" Anna watched the door shake, but smug sleep was already overcoming her.

The keyhole filled with ice. There were clicking noises, and then the doorknob turned. Elsa stood on the other side, wearing a skimpy ice negligee. Anna pulled her blanket over her head, but Elsa ripped it off, saying, "Come on, let's get started."

From then on, Kristoff spent every night away from the castle. Anna abandoned her bedroom and slept in a spare bedroom. After a few nights of quiet, Elsa discovered her and giggled, "You're playing hard to get. I like it." After that, Anna slept in their parents' bedroom, a servant's bedroom, on the couch in the library, beneath a tree in the garden, on a mat in the stable, and finally in the dungeon. The dungeon lasted Anna a whole week, but when Elsa caught her, she squealed, "I didn't know you were into this too!" and shackled Anna to the wall.

"How do I get you to stop?" cried Anna.

"Sisters don't need a safeword," Elsa said.

The morning after that, Anna found Kristoff in the stable, harnessing Sven for the day's ice deliveries. "Take me away from here," she said. "I don't care where."

"Do you mean that?"

"She's gone crazy," said Anna, rubbing her bruised wrists.

Kristoff said, "I have a place for you to sleep, but there are rules. You'll have to do things. Things you haven't done before and might not like."

"Anything's better than this."

"You'll have to exactly as I tell you from now on. You can't ask questions, and you can't ever talk about it."

"Deal."

"It's not a deal," Kristoff said, "it's a commitment."

"Whatever. I accept."

"Alright. Go get a cloak. We can't have you recognized."

Kristoff led Anna up and down the city streets, in circles, ducking around corners and doubling back, getting Anna thoroughly lost. Near the end, he made her wear a blindfold. All she could sense was his callused hand, the dense cobblestones under her feet, and the warm sun on her back. He stopped her and said, "This is your last chance."

"I know what I'm doing."

"If you say so," Kristoff said. He turned Anna and she took a step. The sun left her, and a foul miasma permeated the air. She shivered even under her cloak.

There was a knock and the grinding of wood on wood. "Password?"

Anna peeked. They were in a filthy alley, and Kristoff was in front of a thick wooden door, mumbling something she couldn't make out into a slot. She restored her blindfold as locks clicked, chains rattled, and the door squeaked open. Kristoff took her hand again and led her inside. The door slammed, and she heard the locks and chains again.

"Good evening, sir," said a voice.

"How are you, Ragnar?"

"Excellent, sir. I see you've brought a wench."

Kristoff pulled the hood off of her cloak and took off her blindfold. Ragnar was a pudgy man with greasy hair. When he saw Anna he started to bow, but Kristoff threw up his hand against Ragnar's chest. "She's still a wench." To Anna, he said, "First rule. Women go barefoot at all times. Take off your shoes."

"What?"

Kristoff folded his arms. "No questions. Take them off." Anna obeyed, and Kristoff continued, "Follow me. Ragnar, have Marta sent to us. Anna will share her room."

Kristoff led Anna through a smoky, wood paneled hall. Mounted animal heads lined the walls. "What is this place?" she asked.

Kristoff spun around. "No questions!" he warned.

Anna shrunk back. "Well, if you say so."

Kristoff took Anna up a flight of stairs and to a room with two beds. "You and Marta will share this room. She'll teach you the rules." He left, pushing past a young woman standing in the door as if she weren't there.

The woman curtsied and said, "I'm Marta. You must be Anna."

"Princess Anna," she said. "Or Your Highness. Or at least Ma'am."

"Not here. That kind of cheekiness will get you punished."

"What is this place?"

"It's the headquarters of The Patriarchy. We call it the Man Cave."

"What's The Patriarchy?"

"Silly wench, we're going to take back Arendelle. We're going to return it to its former glory, a time before it was corrupted by weak women like you and me, a time when men were in charge and women knew their place. Now get out of that frilly dress. I have something more appropriate for you."

As Marta helped Anna into a plain linen dress, she explained the rules. "Wenches must obey their masters at all times. Wenches may not speak until spoken to. A wench may not question her master's orders."

"I have a master?"

"Yes, Grand Patriarch Kristoff is your master. You should be proud. You're his first wench."

"Grand Patriarch?"

"We were founded at the time of the Great Betrayal." Anna gave Marta a confused expression. "You know. Last month, when natural relations between masters and wenches were outlawed by the Anti-Wench. She calls herself the queen, but it's disgusting and unnatural for a woman to be in charge of men. Arendelle is rising in protest. The Grand Patriarch will lead us into the Time of Obedience, when right relationships between masters and wenches will be restored."

"How many masters and wenches are there?"

"Only five masters so far, and three wenches, including you. But we're growing quickly."

"How did Kristoff get to be Grand Patriarch?"

"You mustn't ever address a master by name. Remember, you're not his equal. Call him 'Master Kristoff'."

"What makes... Master Kristoff... the Grand Patriarch?"

"Oh, the masters are run by the Council of Patriarchs. Right now that's all of the masters since there are so few. The Council chooses the best, most perfect of the Patriarchs to be the Grand Patriarch."

"I'm so confused."

Marta smiled. "Of course you are. You've been living under the delusion that you should control your life. Don't worry, we'll fix you."

Once Anna was dressed, Marta showed her around the Man Cave. The upstairs was lined with two person bedrooms. "The wenches' quarters are upstairs. Of course, our masters can ask us to join them overnight, but even the best wench must be reminded that sleeping with her master is a privilege, not a right." Marta took them downstairs. At the back was a kitchen, where a barefoot pregnant woman was cooking. "This is the kitchen. Anna, meet Veronica."

Veronica stopped stirring a stew pot for a moment. "Pleased to meet you, Anna. You must be Master Kristoff's new wench."

Anna sniffed. "What's cooking? It smells good."

Veronica waved her finger at Anna. "Don't even think about it. This isn't for wenches. It's for masters."

"Oh. But what is it?"

"Not that it's any of your concern, but it's venison."

"Venison and what? Onions? Turnips?"

"No, nothing but venison. There's no reason for a master to eat anything but meat."

"But won't they get constipated?"

Veronica glowered at her. "You must think you're funny. Masters don't get constipated. Even their digestive systems are superior to ours."

"Really. Well, okay, you're all kind of weird, but as long as I can stay here I guess you're not so bad."

"Oh, you'll learn to love it. I have just the thing for you to start with." Veronica went to the corner of the kitchen and pulled out a broom. "Here you go. How about you sweep the kitchen?"

"That's ridiculous. I have servants to do that."

"You'll feel better. Believe me, housework makes you feel feminine like nothing else."

Anna held the broom up to her face and twirled the bristles with her finger. "I've never used one of these before. How do they work?"

Anna needed only a few moments of instruction. Veronica was right. Sweeping the kitchen did make Anna feel better. There was something relaxing about the lack of thought, something about the menial work that dulled the ache of her trauma with Elsa. When Anna had finished the kitchen, she moved on to the wenches' quarters. After that, Marta said, "You're doing well. Let me offer you a reward. You can sweep the den!"

"The den?" asked Anna.

"Yes! You get to sweep a room the masters use!"

"I'm kind of tired. I haven't been sleeping well."

"Sweeping for the masters is an honor, Anna."

The den had the disgusting smell of cigars. Anna tried not to breathe. When she was nearly finished sweeping, Kristoff came by. "Anna?" he asked. "How are you feeling?"

"Kristoff! It's—"

"It's Master Kristoff. Or just Master."

"I don't get it-"

"Remember the rules, Anna. No questions. We're not on equal terms here. Do you understand?"

"Yeah. I mean, I guess so. But I don't—" Anna cut herself off. "Yes, Master."

"Good. Now, how are you feeling?"

Anna hesitated for a moment before venturing, "I feel good, Master. I like sweeping."

"Excellent. You're already learning your place." Kristoff said in a low voice, "Anna, wenches aren't supposed to go out much. But Elsa has to see you around the castle or else she'll wonder where you've gone. I'm going to take you back to the castle tomorrow morning, and you'll stay there until I come get you in the evening."

"Sure, makes sense."

"Say, 'Yes, Master.'"

"Yes, Master."

"There's a good wench." Kristoff kissed Anna's forehead.

Anna developed a double life. Each morning, Kristoff would take her to the castle. Elsa would see them both at breakfast, and they would both pretend that Anna had been at the castle all night, sleeping where Elsa couldn't find her. Kristoff would leave, supposedly to work as an ice harvester, but actually to recruit for The Patriarchy. Anna would waste the day with some sort of "frivolity", as she took to calling it, making sure that Elsa saw her now and then, but being careful not to be alone with her. After dinner, Kristoff would, by taking a long and circuitous route, lead Anna back to the Man Cave. There, Anna polished the lacquer on his sled, learned how to do his laundry and took to ironing even his underwear, took up knitting, and when she had a spare moment, swept. She even began to learn how to cook.

Two weeks after Anna's initiation into wenchhood, after dinner with Elsa and Kristoff, Anna began to collect the dishes. When she noticed Elsa watching her, she put the dishes down. "I felt like helping out," she mumbled. Kristoff gave her a long stare.

"Don't stress yourself out," said Elsa. "Come on, I'll help you relax."

"Not right now. I have a headache," Anna lied.

"Do you want me to put you to bed?"

A chill ran over Anna's body, and she felt the hair on her arms stand up. "I'll be fine. I'm just not feeling it right now."

That evening, at the Man Cave, Kristoff scolded, "You have to pretend that everything is the way it used to be. We can't let her get suspicious."

"But I don't want things to be the way they used to be, Master."

"Anna, what you want doesn't matter. A good wench doesn't want anything. She does as she's told."

The next day, Kristoff decided that, to maintain the pretense that he and Anna still lived at the castle, Elsa needed to see them there late in the evening. Instead of taking Anna back to the Man Cave, he lounged around the sitting room, leg draped over a couch arm, sipping imported whisky.

As Kristoff began to light a cigar, Elsa shot a bolt of ice at his match and said, "Don't you even dare. It'll stink up the whole castle."

Anna said, "He can do what he wants."

"Not in my sitting room," Elsa said, returning to her book.

"How can you say that? You should treat him with respect!"

Kristoff sat up and said, "Anna, calm down."

Anna looked down and mumbled, "I'm sorry, Master."

Elsa laid her book aside. She asked, "Did I hear that right? Anna, why did you call him 'Master'?"

Kristoff said, "That's not what she said. I mean, I don't know what she said because I didn't hear it clearly, but it couldn't have been that."

"Anna, what did you say?"

Anna looked to Kristoff. "What should I tell her?"

Kristoff groaned. "Don't say that." He drained his shot glass. "I'm going to bed."

"Wait," said Elsa. "I deserve an explanation. Something weird is going on."

"Ask her, not me." Kristoff left with a hurried saunter. Once he was out of sight, he ran at a dead sprint for the castle gates.

Elsa asked, "Anna? Is everything okay?"

Anna scowled. "Of course not. You told him what to do! You're not supposed to tell him what to do!"

"What? It's my castle."

Anna shouted, "You should never question him! That's not your place!"

"Excuse me, I thought I was Her Royal Highness, Queen of Arendelle. What's gotten into you?"

"I realized I was just a wench! I'm proud to serve Kristoff! The way you behave is an abomination!" As Anna left, she yelled, "Every day I wish The Patriarchy had already taken over!"

Anna ran through the streets after Kristoff, shouting, "Master! Master!" When he was a few blocks away from the castle, he allowed her to catch up. Together they ran to the Man Cave, with Kristoff taking no precautions to avoid revealing its location to her.

"Password?" asked Ragnar at the door.

Through Kristoff's ragged breaths, Anna made out the password for the first time. "Endless summer," he breathed. A few clicks and clanks later, Kristoff and Anna were inside.

Anna wouldn't meet Kristoff's eyes. "I'm sorry, Master. I ruined everything. Please punish me."

Kristoff shook his head. "Not right now, Anna."

"Please Master, I deserve it."

"I said not right now!"

Anna began to bawl. "Please, Master, be angry at me! I can be a good wench again if you punish me!"

"Anna, just go to bed."

Anna looked up at Kristoff, and her face turned from sadness to joy. Her master had given her an order. "Yes, Master," she sang. And as she lay in bed on her straw mattress, she dreamed that Kristoff was patting her head and calling her a good wench.

Within a few days, Elsa had gotten a report on The Patriarchy from the police. It seemed to be some kind of bizarre cult of man-worship. Information was scanty, though. While the Patriarchy seemed to be everywhere, maybe constituting as much as half of Arendelle, the police hadn't been able to confirm anyone as an actual member except for Kristoff. Elsa was filled with rage, both against Kristoff and herself. Anxious snow swirled around her as she paced around her study.

The police began jailing men that evening. Random arrests continued the next morning, and rumors spread all day. Policemen who failed to meet their quotas were jailed themselves. Elsa made her plan public that evening. "Citizens of Arendelle!" announced the herald. "Whereas, Her Majesty Queen Elsa of Arendelle is distressed over the disappearance of her sister; and whereas, the disappearance of her sister is due to The Patriarchy, a group that exalts men above women; therefore it is hereby decreed that beginning tomorrow, Her Majesty shall—oh no. Oh no! Her Majesty shall freeze off the manhoods of one hundred men of the city every day until Her Highness Crown Princess Anna of Arendelle has been released."

Kristoff and the Council of Patriarchs decided on a plan that evening. The next day, before Kristoff left, Anna expressed herself as boldly as she knew how. "Pardon me, Master. It's not my place as a wench to worry about you, and you're much smarter and wiser than I am, but I'm scared what might happen to you if you leave."

Kristoff smiled and kissed Anna's forehead. "Don't fret, Anna. I'll take care of everything. I'll send for you tonight."

Kristoff wore a hooded cloak to avoid being recognized as he made his way to the gallows. The crowd surrounding the gallows was made almost entirely of women. The only men in attendance were the prisoners that Elsa had ordered rounded up, the policemen, and the prison guards. The rest of Arendelle's men had stayed away.

On top of the gallows stood Elsa, gleaming in her ice dress, and her first victim, a near-sighted balding man in his fifties. "Women of Arendelle!" called Elsa. "Your bondage is over! I am freeing you from The Patriarchy! These men you see here before you are members of The Patriarchy in spirit, if not in fact. They are your oppressors just as surely as Kristoff is the oppressor of my sister. I will ruin as many men as necessary to make them submit to our will!"

Kristoff interrupted, "You should start with me."

As Kristoff unhooded himself, Elsa hissed, "Guards! Capture him!"

Kristoff, calm and assured, walked to the gallows where two policemen grabbed his arms. "Don't worry, I'm not running," he said. Kristoff ascended the gallows, taking the place of the balding man. He looked down at Elsa. "Do you know what makes me Grand Patriarch?" he asked.

"Your cruelty," Elsa said.

"No," Kristoff said. "You're about to find out."

"Guards," Elsa said, "strip him."

As the guards removed Kristoff's pants, a gasp arose from the crowd. Elsa gaped. Kristoff's member was as thick as his forearm and reached all the way to his knee.

"Meet your new master," Kristoff said.

Elsa took Kristoff's penis in her hand. It was warm and firm but not hard. "You can't mean that," said Elsa. Kristoff smirked. She looked back down at the penis. It was too thick for her hand to wrap around it.

Elsa put her other hand on Kristoff's penis. It was throbbing now, growing stiffer under her touch. She gazed at it, admiring the fine veins streaking underneath the skin and the smooth, crimson tip that poked out from beneath his foreskin. She'd never seen a penis like it. Indeed, she'd never thought a magnificent penis could exist, but here one was, under her fingers and thick with blood.

Elsa tightened her grip. As she lowered the temperature of her fingers, she twisted her mouth into a grimace and stopped. She was about to ruin something extraordinary. She had always dismissed penises as useless appendages unnecessary for women. But perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to examine this one. She pulled the foreskin back, exposing the full and round head. She squeezed the head between her thumb and forefinger. Its soft flesh promised gentle penetration. Behind that softness, however, would be unmatchable pleasure.

Elsa looked up at Kristoff. His smirk had changed to a condescending smile. "You want it," he said.

"No," Elsa murmured, but she was rubbing her fingers up and down the shaft.

"Yes," Kristoff said. He picked up Elsa, putting one hand on her back and another on her buttock, and laid her down on the gallows. "You can't resist my power."

"I have to," whispered Elsa. "To be a woman." A feeling of vulnerability enveloped her. She looked at his pulsing penis again and saw the enemy, and she knew that for the good of womankind, he needed to be emasculated. When that was done, she would be safe again. But as she admired it, her spirit collapsed, and she was overcome by a new feeling of femininity. She waved her hand, making her ice dress disappear. A breeze blew over her body, making the hairs on her arms stand up as if she were cold. She turned her head to the throng of women below but was ashamed to speak. Her nakedness was proof she had betrayed them. Kristoff centered himself over Elsa. When she turned her head from the crowd to him, and when he saw the softness in her eyes, he knew he had won, and he thrusted forward.

That evening, Anna joined Elsa in the castle. They met with smiles and laughter. As they hugged, Anna said, "I'm so glad you're a wench like me now!"

"If I'd known what I was missing I would have submitted so much sooner," said Elsa.

The next day, Kristoff was crowned Grand Patriarch of Arendelle. The castle was redecorated with taxidermy. Kristoff smoked cigars wherever he pleased and farted with impunity. Within days, Elsa's decrees had been repealed, and Kristoff's new decrees officially made women into second-class citizens. Elsa's and Anna's names were taken away, and they became "the blonde" and "the redhead".

That night, the master took the blonde to his bedchamber and left the redhead alone. As the redhead lay sleepless in the room that she and the blonde now shared, she stared at the blonde's empty bed, the bed that she had taught the blonde to make just hours ago. Memories of arguments and anger and sadness filled her thoughts, reminding her that she had once tried to possess the master for herself.

The redhead got up. Leaving her room, she crept through the castle, her silent footfalls chasing the scene in her head, until she arrived at the master's bedchamber. At the door, she knelt and peered through the keyhole. On the other side, lit by starlight, were the master and the blonde. He was on top of her, grunting and huffing as he thrusted into her. She lay with her arms and legs splayed, motionless and passive. As the redhead watched, the blonde rolled her head toward the door for a moment, and the redhead saw lifeless eyes and a giddy smile. In the master, she saw the same fierce look she had once seen in her sister.

The next day, while the redhead and the blonde were doing their master's laundry together in the castle courtyard, the redhead asked, "Will it bother you when Master doesn't spend the night with you?"

"It can't," said the blonde. "A good wench doesn't want anything for herself."

"You used to want things."

"That was when I was disobedient. I did terrible things to people. People including you."

"You even said a man could never understand you."

The blonde put down her washboard. "Like I said, that was when I was disobedient. I'm much healthier now."

"But why?"

"Well," the blonde said, blushing, "it was Master's penis. All it took was one deep thrust, and I was cured. He could cure anyone."

"And now? Does he understand you because of his penis?"

The blonde shook her head and returned to scrubbing. "I was just a bad wench. Now I love Master, and I know my place."

"I see," said the redhead, but she didn't. Before, the blonde had controlled her and said it was love. Now, the master controlled her and it was love. Perhaps when two people were in love, one was always in charge and the other was always obedient. But before the redhead had become a wench, she would have said that she loved Kristoff, yet neither of them had been obedient then.

"What are you thinking about?" asked the blonde.

"No, I'm not thinking," said the redhead as she tossed a pair of the master's socks into the rinse tub. "I have Master to do that for me."