Elsa sees her again in the dead of night at the most unlikely of places.
"It's not that weird," Anna says, walking atop the water of the fountain in the courtyard and taking time to pose with the carved angels in the center. "You do realize that your entire kingdom is surrounded by water, right? If I don't announce myself, I can make my way in pretty easily."
"And you are here to…?"
"Just thought I'd drop by and visit."
Anna hops out of the fountain, not a single drop of water dripping from her shoes or dress. She instead sits on the edge and feigns being an ordinary princess, an ordinary girl, and she pats the spot next to her with such genuine friendliness – the smile on her face lacks its usual predatory gleam – that Elsa takes the offered seat despite herself. It's only after that she realizes there is an entire pool of water behind her and at any moment it can lance through her back.
"You don't have to look so tense," Anna laughs. "Freeze the water over if you want, I don't care."
Part of Elsa wants to refuse simply because Anna is telling her to do it, and complying would show weakness. Another, more practical part of her makes her turn and freeze the water.
"Wow, you really don't trust me."
"We tried to kill each other two days ago," Elsa says, voice dryer than the ice behind them. "Forgive me for being cautious."
"Oh, come on. That was official business. I'm off-duty now," Anna grumbles. She scuffs the ground with her boots, and Elsa notices that her crown is indeed missing.
"Can you really just leave your kingdom like this?"
"I can get here and back in about two hours. You'd be surprised how fast waves move."
Elsa shakes her head. "Time isn't the issue. How can you abandon your duties and leave?"
"What duties?" Anna laughs so hard she heaves and her entire body bends inwards, and Elsa feels the water of the fountain straining under her ice. "What, do they actually trust you with anything? Other than standing around posing, I mean."
"I'm here to protect the people–"
"From what?"
"You," Elsa says pointedly, and Anna snorts.
"Face it, the only reason they keep you around is because of me. And the only reason they keep me around is because of you. Therefore," Anna says, looking proud of her deductive abilities, "I am off-duty, and as a result, so are you."
Elsa frowns and says nothing. Something about that strikes her as off, but it makes sense. Maybe it seems off because it makes sense. If Anna isn't a threat, then what exactly does she need to be doing…?
"Hey," Anna says suddenly. "Can I break the ice?"
"You told me to freeze it," Elsa says, eyeing the other girl warily.
Anna bursts out laughing again, this time actually falling off the fountain and rolling about on the ground in perhaps the most undignified display Elsa has ever seen. It takes almost a full minute for her to calm down, and Anna ends up sprawled on the ground looking up at the deepening frown on Elsa's face.
"What's so funny?"
"I meant break the ice like break the ice, not break your ice," Anna giggles.
"I still don't understand."
"You're hopeless! You know, break the ice and make the atmosphere a little less awkward?" When Elsa opens her mouth in a tiny o, Anna asks, "All right, what's your favorite color?"
Elsa's mind races to predict the consequences of the potential information leak, and whether letting Anna know something as innocent as her favorite color might backfire in some unforeseeable way in the distant future. Anna clambers back up to the fountain and hums during the silence in between, feet kicking back and forth.
"Mine is blood orange, like my hair," Anna offers.
"That's not a color."
"It is. My hair is that color, and that color is the color of my hair."
"You're making that up. Blood isn't even orange," Elsa insists, and she knows she's taking the bait but it's simply so ridiculous that she can't help herself. "You may as well say night gold."
"That exists too," Anna says. She points up at the night sky, and Elsa follows with her eyes to see stars twinkling a bright–
Elsa sighs and Anna cheers in victory.
"I'm still not telling you," Elsa says.
"Yeah, because the world would obviously end if you told me your favorite color." Anna rolls her eyes and stands up, brushes the dust and dirt off her dress, then before Elsa can react waves her hand. Water drills a hole through the ice of the fountain and morphs into a shark, but Anna doesn't launch it at her as Elsa expects.
"You're leaving," Elsa says, not entirely sure if her statement might be a question but positive that she is quite a bit more disappointed than she ought to be.
"Another time," Anna says, and she mounts the shark in some strange denial of physics that Elsa cannot understand. Then again, she herself manages feats with ice that most would balk at.
"And will that time be off-duty, or…?"
Anna grins. "We'll see. Which would you prefer?"
Elsa turns her head and Anna launches away, the shark propelled by a jet of water at its tail. After her departure, Elsa finds herself unsure of what to do. She had planned on a quick walk around the courtyard before sleep, but…
She heads to the libraries, determined to prove that blood orange is not, in fact, a color.