Day Eleven – Wednesday

I threw myself back into my work, burying myself under heaps of paper. Anna raised an eyebrow a few times that night, but we hadn't really spoken after yesterday, and I knew that she was still hurting from what I had said.

So was I, for that matter.

So we didn't speak. Oh, we talked, and it all seemed to be behind us, but we hadn't talked of anything important.

Anna's very good at that. She talks all the time, but she never says anything, if you understand what I mean. She'll babble on about something inconsequential, but she didn't ask why I'd come back to the house in the middle of the night, in floods of tears, and that wasn't like Anna.

Day Twelve – Thursday

I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see Taelor's face, hear the anguish as he screamed my name into my mind. I was trying so hard not to think of it, but when I finally tore my mind away from that, I could see the tears in Anna's eyes, hear her scathing words.

It was tearing me apart. I'd messed up so badly, and both of them had just been trying to help me.

"Time to face the facts, Elsa," I muttered to myself, turning over in bed and trying to find a comfortable spot. "She was right and you know it. Is it so hard to just apologise?"

I sighed and curled up, trying very hard not to think of Taelor.

Day Thirteen – Friday

Apparently apologising is hard. I couldn't think of the words. Well, I could, but I couldn't say them. Anna had spent the whole afternoon clattering around the kitchen, her cheerfulness so forced that even I could see the cracks in it.

I had had at least three hours to speak to her, but the words that lined up so neatly in my mind felt so heavy on my tongue.

Anna's constant chatter had drifted to a stop again, leaving an awkward silence. I'm not usually one to speak without thinking, but it worked so well for Anna.

I checked that we were alone – if I was going to thoroughly embarrass myself in an un-thought-out apology that would probably make no sense, then I didn't want anyone to see it, even Olaf.

Anna took a deep breath. "I'm sorry!" I said quickly, before she could say a word. "I didn't mean to say what I said, and I knew you were right, but I couldn't help it. I'm just so used to not getting anyone's help, even when I did need it, that I wasn't able to appreciate it. I like you working at Arendelle Café. We get free coffees any time we go in and it wouldn't mean complete bankruptcy if I did miss work, and I probably was working too hard, so I'm sorry."

There was a heavy silence for a few moments, as I focused on the table, cheeks burning bright red.

Then I was almost knocked out of my seat as Anna threw her arms around me. "I'm sorry as well, Elsa!" she said, her voice muffled because she was speaking into my shoulder. "I never should have said those things, or even thought them! You're not overworking yourself–"

"I am, Anna," I interrupted gently, pulling over another seat so we could properly talk to each other. "You were absolutely right." She sat down, still holding onto my hands

"I was? I mean, of course I was. I'm always right, right?"

"Right," I agreed, smiling at her.

Day Fourteen – Saturday

"...and then he was like, how much?" I smiled and shook my head, considering my drawing. I rubbed out one of the lines and redrew it. I was concentrating so much that I barely noticed Anna mentioning Taelor.

"What?" I asked, my head jerking up. Anna paused, looking at me with narrowed eyes.

"Did you two have a falling-out or something?" she asked suspiciously. "Because he's been acting really weird around me."

"Weird how?" I asked, my heart sinking. He thought that I'd told Anna. She shrugged.

"Just weird. Did something happen?" My feeling of regret only deepened. He would know how close Anna and I were; of course he would assume that I had told her.

I sighed and put down my pencil. Time for a very serious talk; I didn't want Taelor rummaging around in Anna's head any more than I wanted him in mine.

"I guess you could say that, yes."

I told Anna everything that had happened. She was shocked when I finished my story, but not for the reasons that I had been.

"Elsa! How could you do that?" she demanded. "You said he looked scared and then you just went and proved him right! How could you? When you've been scared your whole life that someone would react in exactly the same way that you did to him!" I sighed, my earlier fear resurfacing.

"I had reason to be afraid," I answered quietly.

"So do I," Anna replied, just as quietly.

I looked at her – the one person that I had ever hurt with my magic. I still woke in the night, and had to rush into Anna's room to make sure that she was still alive. If she could find it to forgive me...

I sighed. "I know I shouldn't have done that," I admitted, folding my hands in my lap, "but you know how hard I find it to even talk to people. The thought that he knew everything that was in my mind was just... It terrified me. I wasn't thinking."

"It's not me you need to be having this conversation with," Anna said, smiling. "You need to tell this to him." I looked up at her in panic.

"I can't! How can I face him again, after what I did?" Anna paused.

"You know," she said thoughtfully. "I seem to remember having this conversation before." I sighed. She snapped her fingers. "I remember! Just after you unfroze everything, you locked yourself in your room again, remember?" I winced, remembering how Anna had banged on the door.

"I didn't lock the door," I said quietly. "I never locked it."

"Really?" Anna asked, distracted. "All those years outside your door, if I'd just thought to turn the handle..." I nodded. She paused, then shrugged. "Still. My point is that you did far worse to me, and you 'faced me' again." I snorted.

"Actually you threatened to break the door down unless I opened it." Anna waved a hand.

"Same difference." I sighed, again.

"It's just..."

"Just nothing!" Anna snapped. "Just find him and tell him why. You don't even have to tell him. You could just think it, right?"

I sighed. "I guess," I said. She grinned.

"Good. What do you want to eat?"

As she cooked, I let the smile slip off of my face again. There were just some things about me that Anna would never understand.