CHAPTER SEVEN

Elsa's white-dusted fingertips scrabbled for purchase on the rocks nailed to the boards of the wall in front of her. Dozens of small eyes drilled into her back from below, waiting to see how she would perform and hoping to learn as much as they could before the same was expected of them. Her knees shook as she peered upward, lowering her lashes to block out the piercing sunlight, trying to find a path to the top.

They had no way of knowing that she was having so much trouble not because she wasn't good at rock climbing. She was. In fact, she was above average at every single camp activity, even if she wasn't the best. No, there was another reason.

As she raised her foot to give herself a push up higher, her mind went back where it had every few minutes since that moment the night before. That moment with Anna's lips on hers, fists clamped down on her lapels to bring her down to her level.

To the dare gone wrong.

"Why?" she grunted as she reached up for another rock. Luckily, up so high above the crowd of campers gathered below, no one else could hear her express her thoughts to herself so long as she didn't raise her voice. "Why… did I have to… listen to Olaf?!"

Elsa was keenly aware of Anna's gaze on her from where she stood with the kids and though she couldn't look down and see her, she could hear the obvious concern in Anna's voice when she called, "You alright up there? Do you need me to come up?"

"NO!" she shouted back down toward the ground. "I've got this!" Then to the campers, "It's okay to… take a break, if you're feeling dizzy or tired! That's what your belayer is for, to make sure you… don't fall!"

"It's also okay to come down once you hit your limit so you don't overexert yourself!" Anna explained, loud enough for Elsa to hear. Her tone was scolding and when Elsa gave her an irritated glare in response, she was briefly struck at how much Anna looked like an exact replica of their scowling mother with her hands on her hips and her brow furrowed like that. "It's not a competition and it's not about showing off. This is about having fun and enjoying ourselves."

Luckily, Elsa was too high up for Anna to see her curl her lip in annoyance. Still, instead of answering, she merely pushed herself to finish the climb.

But with every step, every reach for a new handhold, she was still thinking of how bashful Anna looked while getting ready to pull her closer. How earnest her lips had been, how practiced… and then how fearful she looked when she pulled away. No matter if it had been her own fault for daring her sister to do it, she still couldn't shake that such a thing was very abnormal. She had been expecting it to feel disgusting, to laugh about it afterward. Maybe to push her away. But instead…

Her cheeks flushed as she grunted with the effort of pulling up again, moving her foot an inch to the left to keep from slipping off. She hated that reaction; blushing about nothing. She hated that Anna had stolen her first kiss. She hated that she had no one to blame for that except herself. What else did she think would happen when she made that a condition for Anna to be unfrozen for the game? She knew from the past that Anna could be stubborn and fiercely competitive when the situation called for it, which was why Elsa purposely nudged that particular button. This was par for the course.

Why would she provoke her? What was the point? She didn't even know now; she couldn't retrace her thought patterns anymore.

"Miss Elsa! Watch your step!" Olaf called up and a murmur went up amongst the kids when they too noticed that Elsa's leg was starting to slip from its perch.

"I… I have it!" she called back down at him, annoyed. And that was the only break in concentration needed; instead of adjusting her footing, the time she had taken to shout down at him meant her foot slipped off.

With a little gasp, she felt her hands start to scrabble and leave the rocks, and then she was freefalling. Anna was quick to get to work despite the clear panic on her face, adjusting everything properly so Elsa wouldn't abruptly hit the solid earth below.

Once Elsa had touched down, shaken yet unharmed, her sister rushed over, placed a hand on her shoulder and demanded, "Are you alright?!"

Pushing up from a crouch, Elsa brushed off her knees, ignoring Anna's question for the moment. She instead answered it by turning to the frightened campers and announcing, "See? Even if you do lose your grip, nothing bad's going to happen. Your belayer is your friend, and don't forget that. At the same time, belayers need to remember how important their job is; you can't slack off. Anna had my back, just like always."

The last three words had slipped out, and she felt a little silly for having gushed about her sister that way in front of the entire cabin, but she found she didn't want to take them back. Regardless of how weird it had been last night, she couldn't deny her sister was a good partner to have. Even if…

If she was lying about the presents. And the calls, and letters. But the more time went on, the harder and harder it was to believe Anna was capable of that kind of deception. She wouldn't have believed it of her mother, either, but Anna was just so open and earnest! What was she supposed to believe? The internal conflict made her head hurt.

While Anna had worn a frown on her face about her question being ignored, there was a happy warmth in her eyes as she gave Elsa's back a pat. "Okay," she spoke up and the flock of heads turned from inspecting Elsa to Anna in an instant. "Well said, Elsa; we all have to work together to keep each other safe and rock climbing is one of the most important lessons for that very rule. Now… buddy up and let's get you kids up there, hmm?" She beamed as the kids cheered before turning back to her sister.

"Thank you, Elsa," she said softly, low enough that if Elsa wasn't beside her, it would've been lost in the chatter. "It's an honor to have your back."

"I know it's part of the exercise," Elsa said in just as low a tone, breath ragged, "but… thank you for spotting me. No matter how you look at it, you saved me from getting seriously hurt just now. All because I… I was stupid and careless."

"Hey." Anna took Elsa's hands in hers and rubbed her thumbs over the knuckles. "I'm always going to be here for you now… so I can keep you safe from the next time you act stupid and careless." She chuckled softly. "As long as you share the same courtesy."

That was an easy exchange to make. Smiling gently, she drew Anna in for a hug. "Definitely. Even if things have been hard between us, I'm never going to let you be hurt if I can help it. That's what sisters do."

Anna's cheeks gained a charming pink tinge as she hugged Elsa back, humming contentedly as she briefly snuggled against her.

"Does this mean you proposed? Are you going to get married soon?!" Olaf's excited voice broke the moment and Anna pulled sheepishly away to look at the boy.

"OLAF!" Elsa snapped at him, hands going to her hips. "I thought we spoke about this before! You are going to have a strike against you if you ignore that request again! Is that clear?"

Olaf blinked up at Elsa before looking down at the ground. "I was just asking," he mumbled dejectedly. "You guys are obviously in love… and I want you to be happy… is that really so wrong, Miss Elsa?"

Anna sighed and gave Elsa a look. "Olaf… listen. Me and Elsa are girls." She carefully stressed the word to the boy. "We aren't allowed to get married in the first place, and we can get into a lot of trouble if you keep insisting that we do, understand?"

"That's right," Elsa added, reaching over to grip his shoulder. Anna had sufficiently shamed her out of her reprimanding tone, and she now felt like she had to make up for it. "Especially in this camp. So we have to insist that you stop saying such things. Of course we care about each other very much, but it isn't… we aren't getting married."

Olaf tilted his head and finally, he nodded. "Okay, Miss Elsa, I won't say it anymore. I really don't understand why you would get in trouble for being in love, though." He beamed up at them both until a shout from Mark caught his attention. "Oh! It's our turn!"

Just like that, the boy was gone and Anna and Elsa were left alone again. Anna chuckled, "He's such a cute kid but he's so weird!"

"Right?" Elsa tittered. "It's sweet. He must have noticed our sister-bond and mistaken it for a romantic-bond. He'll figure out why that's wrong when he grows up, probably."

Anna's eyes sparkled with mirth. "I'm sure you're right. He's still a kid yet and from what he's told me, his Dad is actually a more progressive parent so that probably helps his imagination." She looked up at the wall, watching as Carver and Mark steadily made their ways up to the top of the wall while Tino and Olaf secured them from below. "Besides, we are kind close for sisters, huh?"

"We are. I mean, the past few years notwithstanding. But before that…" The time had passed to withhold her feelings, to close herself off completely. She leaned over very slightly and bumped her with her elbow. "Really missed you. Didn't want to admit how much, but I have."

"I missed you, too, Elsa. So much." Anna leaned against Elsa's side and gave her a look of pure adoration. Than she tilted her head up to lay a small kiss on Elsa's jaw. "You don't know how happy it makes me to hear you say that."

But Elsa didn't respond. The kiss, simple as it was, clearly platonic as it was, made her heart pick up in speed, and she felt acutely aware of her closeness to her sister. With an awkward cough, she reached up to ruffle Anna's hair before she took a step away to the side. Just enough to separate them. Then she looked over at the kids to distract herself.

"S-Sorry about that." Anna blushed scarlet when Elsa stepped away from her. "I forgot you don't much like touching."

"Okay, Carver — no showing off up there!" Carver was waving down at the others with a large, cocky grin on his face but he turned wide eyes towards Elsa at the shout and clung right back to the wall in embarrassment. Then she glanced down at Anna. "What was that?"

She gave Elsa a timid smile before she glanced at her watch, a look of surprise appearing on her face. "Nothing. Hey, we should get the kids down. Bible study is in ten minutes."

"You're right." Clearing her throat, she cupped her hands to her mouth. "Begin your final descent! Climbing wall time is over!"

Then, no longer yelling, she told Anna, "I don't mind you touching me, though." Realising how that came out, she hurried to amend, "H-hugging me, or… you know. Normal things. You're my sister, it's not as weird as it would be with other people. Strangers."

"O-Oh." Anna giggled nervously and started playing with one of her braids. "Okay, great! I'm a bit of a physical person, as you probably remember from back then. It drives my friend Kristoff crazy because he's such a solitary grump, but he's just really nice and sturdy to hug!" She beamed happily.

While the campers began to run past them toward the pavilions set up for devotionals, Elsa shouted, "Careful!" Then to Anna, she muttered, "Kristoff, hmm? You didn't tell me you had a friend Kristoff." The emphasis was pretty clear that she meant more than just a friend, but she didn't want to be too mean about that. Not when she was still feeling out her relationship with Anna again.

"Did I never mention him?" Anna looked surprised. "Kristoff is our neighbour. He moved to Winnipeg around… four years ago? I was dating Hans at the time and one day Kristoff approached me to tell me he didn't trust him and that I should dump him. Our first meeting ended with him having a busted nose and a bruised ego." Anna grinned at the memory. "Turns out Kristoff was right about him, though, and we've been best friends ever since. He's almost like… like a big brother." Anna gave Elsa a cheeky grin. "But he never replaced you as my favourite person, so don't look so jealous!" she teased.

"Wh-what?" Elsa blustered with a little laugh, folding her arms over her chest defensively. "Who said I looked jealous?" She had the sneaking suspicion she might have, though. After all, this Kristoff got to spend years on end with Anna when Elsa got none of them. Regardless of the reason they had been kept apart, that was still a pain that wouldn't go away for a while.

"Hey," Anna said soothingly, "it's okay. I'm honestly a little flattered and I'm pretty jealous of your best friend, too… whoever she is."

They both went quiet and simply observed the kids as they gathered their things and chattered to each other, all heading towards the chapel. Anna's voice went a little quiet as she said, "Kristoff helped me a lot through the years… during the days when I missed you the most, even though I always wanted to be in your arms rather than his…" She wrapped her arm around Elsa's shoulder and pulled her close, snuggling into her side. "But now I'm never going to miss you again, because I'm never going to disappear on you again. Or let you disappear on me."

A slight thrill shot into Elsa's stomach. A promise like that was a tall one, but she heard the earnestness in her voice, felt it in the arm on her shoulder. And the more she got to know this new sister of hers, the Anna Saunders of modern day… the more she couldn't help but trust her.

Still, what she said about being in her arms was concerning. Between that and the kiss? Silly as Olaf was, maybe he was sensing something there that she was ignorant of. But that was ludicrous. Women didn't really feel things like that for each other — especially not ones related to each other. No, any feelings like those were purely physical. Sin of the flesh, for deviants and those who had lost their way.

And Elsa was not going to lose her way… especially not if it meant tainting her beautiful little sister.

To Be Continued...