Anna eagerly dashed down the too-familiar halls of the castle to meet Elsa in her room as they'd planned. Dinner had been a quiet affair, just the two of them. They'd snuck glances at each other, barely saying a word, and Anna had seen the mingled fearfulness and relief in her sister's eyes when Elsa looked at her. She knew Elsa must have been imagining a frozen, lost Anna. Actually, she was certain this was the case, because every so often Anna herself would look up to make sure Elsa was still there, that the doors were open, Elsa was back, and the last few days hadn't been a dream. When it seemed that neither sister would be able to break the awkwardness of thirteen years of silence, Elsa had suggested that perhaps they could both use a rest. "You're not gonna just walk away without telling me anything, are you?" Anna had asked in disbelief. Elsa had shaken her head, sadness and exhaustion creating weary lines in her young face. "No," she'd answered. "Let's each bathe and take a breather - and you can join me in my room this evening, and we'll talk?"
Anna had enthusiastically agreed, so ready for a little relaxation after the whole almost-dying thing, and Hans's betrayal, and the deathly cold race down from the mountains that morning - it had been a very full day! However, the best part about Elsa's suggestion was, of course, that Anna would be allowed into her room for the first time in forever. And suddenly, there it was.
Stopping abruptly, Anna raised her fist and paused, remembering all the times she'd tried this before. Her hesitation lasted only a second before her indomitable determination and stubborn optimism took over, and screwing up her face she knocked. Smiling hopefully now, she couldn't help but squeal when Elsa called "Come in!" and she dashed through the door.
The room was disappointingly normal, Anna thought as she looked around. A grand bed just like the one she had, except that it was a mahogany frame with quilts of blue like the night sky rather than the summer-y pink-and-green of her own bedspread. There was a nightstand, a desk, several unnecessarily tall and elegant chairs that royalty seemed to favour for some reason, and… a bookshelf. That's different, Anna thought. It was overflowing with books and scrolls, and Anna didn't think she'd read that much in her life.
Elsa was waiting nervously by the window seat. She smiled tremulously when her sister entered, and Anna wasted no time in crossing the room to stand beside her. When Elsa sat, her back to the window and the view of the lavender sky, Anna sat beside her and looked expectant. "So…" Elsa began, wringing her hands and finding that she was at a loss for words. Eloquent, official letters to foreign royalty she'd never met? Elsa had mastered that years ago. This, however, this vulnerability - it was entirely new.
"So?" Anna prompted.
"I… I don't know where to start," the older sister confessed, grasping around in her mind for words that would explain everything to her beloved Anna. The coronation? No, no, the shutting of the gates. Or no, wait - the ice powers, the injury - How can I even begin to explain all this? she wondered bleakly.
"How about… the ice powers? Eighteen years is a LONG time for me not to know such a big secret!"
Ah, there it was, Anna had provided the place to start. "Actually Anna, you used to know about my magic. When we were kids - "
"Wait, what?"
"When we were kids," Elsa continued patiently, smiling, "we played together all the time. You know that, I guess, but some of your memories have been… changed. You see, you always woke me up in the night to play - and building snowmen, even in the middle of summer, was a particular favoured activity of yours. So we would rush down to the great hall, and I would create our own little winter wonderland to play in. On… on one particular night, I was showing off a new skill - I turned the whole room into a skating rink! That was the night everything went wrong - you were jumping into piles of snow as I created them, and I… I slipped. I fell, and when I tried to catch you I struck you in the head with my magic. That's when you got the white streak in your hair." Anna, who had been listening with wide eyes and an open mouth, reached up and touched the spot on her head where the streak used to be. "I cried for mama and papa and held you until they came. Papa took us to the trolls - I never asked how he knew they could help. The eldest troll, I forget his name, removed the magic from your head - in order to be sure he had gotten all the magic, he removed your memory of it as well. Rather than leave you without memories of us at all, though, he replaced your memories with ones that could have happened without magic - us building snowmen outside instead of in the castle, for example. For that, I was grateful - especially when Papa took me away from you! I didn't want… I didn't want you to think I never loved you." Elsa's voice broke, and Anna reached out and held her as tears streaked down both of their faces. "I thought… I thought it was best for us to be apart, I thought you would be safer - oh, Anna! Forgive me!"
"So that's what you meant," Anna whispered thickly, "on the mountain, when you said you were trying to protect me… Elsa, of course I forgive you. You're my sister, and you did it because you love me. I won't pretend it didn't hurt," she admitted, her voice growing stronger, "but we're together again, and that is what matters. The past is gone. And now we can learn to be sisters and best friends."
Elsa smiled, still shuddering with hiccuping sobs. Anna's words reminded her of how she had felt on the mountain, except now, she wasn't running from the past and shutting it out but was taking power over her life to shape a brighter future. A future with her sister by her side. "Anna," she said. "You've always been my best friend."
Anna smiled tearfully up at her, shivering a bit as Elsa hadn't thought to light a fire. Getting up, Elsa snagged a thick comforter from the foot of her bed and returned to wrap it around herself and her sister. Sighing, Elsa told Anna briefly of all that had happened in the years with the gates shut, of her paralyzing fear during her coronation and subsequent flight, and of the attempted assassination and her imprisonment. At this last bit Anna was outraged, which Elsa in her weariness found amusing. Finally, she mentioned Kai's discovery about their family lineage. "That," she yawned, "is something I want to look into, maybe in the morning."
Several days after the Great Thaw, Elsa collapsed wearily onto the divan in the royal library. Finally, the last of the foreign dignitaries were leaving, and her buzzing thoughts could calm. A smile crept across the queen's face, and she breathed a contended sigh. You see, Father? Mother? I did it, she thought. I thought I was a monster, and all of them almost did as well, but now nearly all of them have assured me that Arendelle will face no awful consequences for my actions. These ambassadors… they even seem to like me, she observed with widening eyes. Like her? The Snow Queen? How did they see something other than a monster?
Anna burst into the room, interrupting her musings. "Finally!" the princess exclaimed, "I thought you'd never be done with all those meetings!" Collapsing onto the couch next to her sister, Anna put her feet up on the low table and grinned. Then she quickly put her feet down, grin fading at Elsa's annoyed look, which Elsa didn't hide quickly enough. Biting her lip and glancing fleetingly at her sister, Anna continued, "Uh, so… do you, um, want to do anything? You know, since you have some free time now?"
Worried that she'd upset her sister, Elsa quickly agreed. "I'd love to." Anna glanced up hopefully, and Elsa felt her worry melt away. "I'd love to, Anna," she repeated. "I have so much time to make up for with you! What would you like to do?"
A mischievous grin forming on her face, the princess answered, "Well, we've already got a snowman, so how about this…"
A few hours later, the sisters were racing at a breakneck pace in a zigzag path up the mountains bordering their home. Much more comfortable on Snowflake than Elsa was on her horse, Summer, Anna was leading the way - and besides that, she was the only one who knew where they were going! Having never ridden outside her own castle grounds, Elsa was gripping the reins fearfully, every muscle tense. "Anna!" she called, the wind tearing her voice, "this is dangerous!" Anna showed no signs that she'd heard her. A few minutes later, Anna reigned her horse in abruptly, causing the poor beast to snort and stamp while Elsa tried not to run straight into them and cause Summer to spook.
"Here we are!" Anna crowed, her shoulders thrown back proudly. "Isn't this nice?"
Elsa gasped at the splendid view. From here, they could see down into the fjord and beyond, into the open sea. Vivid green, pine-covered mountainous terrain surrounded them on all sides, and the summer sun illuminated the land with brilliant colour, so that each branch and leaf and sparkle on the water seemed sharp-edged and distinct. A warm breeze wafted over them, though if they travelled any higher the air would likely turn cool.
Anna was already dismounting, pulling bundled packages out of her saddlebags even as she tied her horse off to a nearby tree. Following suit, Elsa led her horse to a patch of grass to graze on, although the clearing they had stopped in was so small it hardly deserved that name. Elsa turned back to her sister to find that Anna was spreading a thin red-and-white checkered blanket on the ground, and hastily gathering up the cloth bundles. Seeing Elsa watching, she cheerfully exclaimed, "Ta-dah! We're having a picnic!"
Holding her hand to her mouth as she laughed warmly, Elsa hiked over to her sister and sat beside her on the blanket. She began helping Anna unwrap all the little bundles, revealing a quaint lunch of pork buns, fresh fruit, and a guilty amount of sweets. Soon the two sisters were chatting and laughing, talking about nothing much. Anna began a story about how she'd played a prank on their old nanny, which Elsa one-upped with a story about how she had out-witted her tutor once.
"Yeah?" Anna demanded, rising to the challenge. "Well, top this! When I was eleven, Cook told me that she wouldn't be giving me any more chocolate in the evenings after dinner. Mama and Papa wouldn't take my side, so I snuck into the kitchens one night and stole Cook's favourite rolling pin. When Mama found out the next day and made me give it back - Cook didn't even have time to miss it! - I snuck in the next night and rearranged EVERYTHING. I mean, everything! I put the pots where the spoons were and the flour where the eggs were, and, for good measure, I ate some chocolate. Cook had a fit when she saw, and Mama made me play outside for the next two days." Elsa was looking at Anna with raised eyebrows and a stunned smirk on her face. Suddenly sheepish, Anna continued, "I didn't care about the chocolate that much, not really. It's just… I didn't like feeling ignored, you know? The kitchen was one of those places that was always open to me, until, then, it wasn't." She glanced away, fingers nervously pulling at the grass. Despite her open personality, she hadn't had much opportunity lately to share her feelings and longings with others. It felt strange. A nice kind of strange though, she realized, turning back to Elsa with a small smile.
"I'm sorry, Anna," Elsa sighed wistfully. "I wish that mother and father had spent more time with you… that I could have spent more time with you. We all did the best we could, but…"
"Hey, it's okay," Anna told her quickly. "Mama and Papa did spend a lot of time with me - more with you, and more still running the country, but I never doubted their love for me. You either," she added as an afterthought. "I was sad and hurt when you shut me out, but Mama and Papa tried to explain it to me as best they could.. and when you started to shut them out, I was too worried about you to be hurt." Seeing Elsa's glum look, she changed the subject. "Hey Elsa," Anna said lightly, "I've been wondering something for a day or two now." Elsa glanced up, the clouds beginning to clear from her eyes. "Why is Olaf so excited about summer? I mean, seriously - he sang a song about it when we met him! Do you know? You must, right? - I mean, you made him! And your horse is called Summer too!"
Startled, Elsa grinned, looking a little sheepish. "I didn't realize Olaf's elation over summer was quite that strong. Olaf is a relic of our childhood, and I guess… I guess summer just reminds me so much of you. The warmth, the gentleness, the beauty…" The elder sister blushed, unable to continue. Frosty snowflakes danced off her palms, although the self-conscious smile never left her face. "And of course, the fun, running around, chasing dandelion seeds and climbing trees with you."
Anna smiled beatifically, a thin veil of moisture in her eyes. She scooted over and leaned against her sister, and they both leaned back against a warm, smooth rock rising out of the side of the hill, content to while the afternoon away with each other, watching the sea.