Lessons
Anna was five years old when she first began writing her letters and numbers and the tutors noticed something odd. She went to pick up her pen, dipped it into ink, and began copying letters from the board but her governess stopped her.
"My dear what are you doing?" she asked.
"Copying the board, like you said," she answered.
"We use our other hand to write."
Her governess came over and removed the pen from her left hand, placing it in the right one. Even with minimal writing experience, the pen felt strange in Anna's other hand and she struggled to make it sit comfortably in her fingers. It was even worse when she began to write.
It went horribly.
"Anna your penmanship…leaves something to be desired," said her governess, cringing at the paper covered with unfortunate marks meant to be letters and numbers.
"Can't I try with my other hand?" Anna asked. Her right hand was cramped horribly from forced work it was not used to.
"No dear, we use this hand to write with. You'll learn eventually."
Anna sighed and spent the rest of the afternoon practicing alone, trying to copy the same list of numbers and letters with her right hand. After a few hours she could barely move her hand but she kept at it. It would eventually get used to writing and then her writing would look as beautiful as Elsa's.
"Anna what is this supposed to be?" Elsa herself asked. She had entered the library silently and taken to leafing through Anna's lesson notes.
"They're my letters, don't make fun Elsie," Anna groaned.
Elsa looked confused at the pages. She looked between the board and Anna and watched her silently for a minutes trying to copy down the letters.
"Anna why are you using your right hand?" Elsa asked.
"Because Madame Svetlana told me to use this one," Anna said, putting down the pen and rubbing her sore hand.
"But you always use your left. No wonder these look so bad."
Elsa came over and shoved the pen into Anna's left hand and nodded at the board. Elsa sat and watched as Anna produced a more pristine penmanship using her natural hand. When she finished Elsa smiled and examined the paper.
"See? Use your left hand. Don't mind Madame Svetlana," then she added in a whisper, "She doesn't know anything."
The sisters giggled.
"It's really okay if use my left hand?" Anna asked when they calmed down.
"Of course, who cares what hand you use to write as long as it looks pretty?" Elsa said.
"But Madame Svetlana says everyone uses the other hand," Anna said, looking at her left one.
"Well…" Elsa looked around before conjuring a snowball in her hand, "There's nothing wrong with being different."
Anna smiled at her sister's show of her powers. She took the snowball from Elsa's hand and began playing catch with herself.
"And besides," Elsa said, "I'll be queen one day and I say you can write with your toes if that's what you want." Anna smiled, tossing he snowball some more. Elsa examined Anna's notes once more and quickly began squinting, shaking her head, and flipping the paper.
"Does she still bug you about the reading thing?" Anna asked, leaning back in her chair, tossing the snowball up and down.
"No, Papa had the physician talk to her, he says I have a condition," Elsa frowned, "The words kinda jumble and change order and jump around. It's strange, but he said it happens to a lot of people."
"Well, it's like you said Elsie, there's nothing wrong with being different," Anna tossed her the snowball and Elsa caught it. She lazily levitated it above her hand and allowed it to hover in the air.
"Lessons are awful," Anna groaned.
"Agreed," Elsa said.
"At least you're good at them."
"It doesn't mean I like them."
They both sat lazily in their chairs, slumped, with no one around to tell them to sit up and get back to work. Elsa let the snowball back into her hands and tossed it back over to Anna who tossed it up and down for a few minutes until it melted in her hands. She shook the cold water from her hands, playfully splashing her sister who turned the water to frost on her face and brushed it off.
"Hey Elsa?" Anna said, she sat forward and motioned for her sister to lean as well, looking around and biting her lip Anna whispered "Do you want to build a snowman?"
Elsa's grin split her face.
"I thought you'd never ask."