Mary must have stood by Elsa's bed for hours. With no heartbeat, no ache of her muscles, no breaths to count, it was easy for Mary to lose track of time. The sun would surely be rising any second now. Mary turned to the clock and strained to make out its face in the moonlight: Three-fifteen. She groaned.

Resigned, Mary took one last, longing look over the sleeping Elsa, then crept out the room. Mary had hoped a change of scenery would help pass the time, but the hall was no more interesting than anywhere else in the castle. Everything looked the same in the dark.

Mary found her eyes watering again. A normal person would've simply been bored right now. They wouldn't be bursting into tears over some nonsense about phantoms. Mary forced herself to breathe. If she spent another minute alone, she was going to lose her mind. But she couldn't keep pestering her mama, not when Elsa would be so busy in the morning. Who did that leave her?

Well, there was always her auntie. There was once a time when the thought of Anna made Mary quake with jealousy, but they'd long since buried the hatchet. Unfortunately, at this hour, Mary would be pushing her luck expecting Anna to open her eyes, let alone have an intelligible conversation. Anna's boyfriend, the strange, smelly man with the reindeer, had recently moved into the palace, too, but Mary didn't exactly know him well. Olaf would no doubt be chasing ghosts until sunrise. And there were usually a couple night guards around, but they always seemed unnerved by Mary's presence.

And then it hit Mary. Of course! How could she forget? Mary had a boyfriend now! Without further ado, she hurried into his bedroom and shut the door behind herself. There he was, curled up under the covers, snoring away.

Without meaning to, Mary smiled. Her boyfriend had the build of a flagpole – You'd have never guessed he was as old as seventeen – and, while he was far from ugly, his lumpy head kept him from being handsome. But so what if his hair was a dull brown and his nose was a smidge too large? He adored Mary. Just looking at him made her insides warm.

"Fritz?" Mary gave his shoulders a gentle shake.

"Huh? Wha?" Fritz said blearily.

"Can I sleep with you?"

"What?" Suddenly, he was wide awake.

"I just want to lie next to you under the covers," Mary clarified.

"Oh. Oh, right, of course. I... I knew that."

Fritz made some room on the bed, and she climbed in. Fritz seemed unsure what to do, so Mary took the initiative, putting her arms around him and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, Fritz. Sorry if I bothered you."

"No, no, you're fine," Fritz said breathlessly. "Goodnight."

"I love you."

"Uh, yeah, you, too."

Mary smiled again, content. When she'd seen Elsa's and Anna's parents kiss, Mary had wanted what they'd had, but she hadn't fully understood what that was, exactly. Mary had only known as much as her creator, and Elsa had been eight at the time, so romance was a mystery that had eluded both of them. But now that Mary had a partner, she'd discovered it was less complex than she'd thought. You simply kissed, cuddled, and acted happy around them, and your partner would act happy in return, and that's all there was to it. Mary didn't know why Fritz had just acted oddly or why he seemed so tense now that she was putting her arms around his waist, but she was sure he was only shy.

Once they'd learned she'd wanted a partner, Elsa and Anna had set Mary up with Fritz, and the two of them had hit it off. From what Elsa had told Mary, Fritz had been a member of the royal guard who Elsa had befriended. As it turned out, Fritz's parents hadn't treated him too well – his father had walked out and his mother was currently in prison – and Elsa had naturally been sympathetic.

Mary watched Fritz's chest rise and fall steadily. Had he fallen back asleep already? Oh well, Mary supposed lying in bed with Fritz was a better way to pass the time than roaming the halls aimlessly. Sleep was still eluding her, but Mary could at least shut her eyes, make herself comfortable, and lie still for a while.

Oh well, Mary could wait. If being erased had taught Mary anything, it was how to be patient.

"Fritz! Fritz! Come on, wake up!"

The way Mary shook Fritz, you'd think Santa had left them presents. He pulled himself out of the covers, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Mary? Whutizzit?"

"The sun is rising!" Mary gleefully pulled back the window's curtains, but somehow Fritz failed to share her enthusiasm. "That means it's time to get up!"

"Mary!" he groaned, yanking the covers over his head. "Just a few more hours..."

"Fritz!" Mary made her poutiest face, but it failed to sway him. "Why would you want to sleep in late? Isn't it boring?"

"Mary, please, I'm tired!"

Mary pondered this dilemma for a moment. "If you get up, we can kiss." She threw herself back onto Fritz's bed. He found his heart beating faster as she crawled towards him. You'd be surprised how sexy someone made of solid ice can be.

"I, guh, uh-!" Important fact about Fritz: When it came to dealing with women, he had the mental fortitude of tissue paper.

Fritz's momma had somewhat sheltered him, and Mary's anatomy consisted entirely of ice and snow, so kissing each other on the lips was the naughtiest thing they knew how to do. If they wanted to be really dirty, they used their tongues. Before having a girlfriend, Fritz had never thought there were situations where kissing a beautiful girl was the less favorable option, but kisses are non-refundable, so he pretty much had to get out of bed now.

"Alright, alright," he said, reluctantly crawling out the covers. "I'm awake."

Honestly, Fritz had been hoping Mary would leave him to sleep in peace. She was adorable and he loved her, but Mary also happened to be freezing cold. Fritz's blankets were soaked from where her personal flurry had snowed all over them. And besides, Fritz hadn't been prepared for a gorgeous woman to spend the night in his bed. He didn't think Mary quite realized she'd left him feeling like an over-coiled spring.

"What are we going to do today?" asked Mary.

"I'm supposed to be starting my apprenticeship under Kai," said Fritz. "I guess you can come with me, but it'll probably be boring. I mean, you don't really need a job, right? You can pretty much hang around the castle all the time like Anna and Olaf."

Mary seemed disquieted by this. "That's right," she said faintly. "I have no job."

"Hey, uh, Mary?" Fritz said as he made his bed. "We've known each other a couple days now, but I don't think you ever told me about when Elsa first made you. I've been meaning to ask you. I think she made Olaf right after her coronation, but I don't remember you being around my first few weeks as a guard."

"When she first made me?" A faraway look overcame Mary's eyes. "Well, I'm like Olaf. Elsa invented me when she was a child, but..." She hesitated before saying, "...but she didn't bring me to life until she was grown."

"Why'd she do that?"

Mary rolled over on the mattress, hiding her face. "Elsa never means to bring her snowmen to life. It happens when she feels strong emotions. When she made Olaf, she was happy, when she made Marshmallow, she was scared..."

"And when she made you?" asked Fritz.

There was a long silence before he received an answer, hardly more than a whisper: "Depressed."

Fritz dealt with his blunder via a tactful apology. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know! I wasn't trying to be insensitive or anything!"

Mary feebly turned her head to give him a bittersweet smile. "It was the happiest day of my life. Even though she didn't remember me, Elsa brought me to life. I'd thought I'd be forgotten forever."

Of course, Mary failed to mention her brief stint of existence when Elsa was eight... when that troll had erased her... but, well, there was no point bringing that up. Mary had... had nothing to say about it.

"Yes, sometimes Elsa still gets depressed, but that's okay. People don't heal overnight." As she spoke, Mary made her way towards Fritz's bookcase. "And I'm happy that I exist, no matter what circumstances led to it. And I know you're happy with me..." She chuckled, then picked something up off the shelf. "...even if you wouldn't have minded being with her."

She held up a stuffed bear wearing a sky blue dress and a blonde french braid.

"I, uh, might have had a slight crush on Elsa once," Fritz said, his face reddening. "But I'm over it now. Really."

"I understand." Mary gave the bear a hug.

Fritz's eyes met the floor. "Hey, Mary, you can keep that bear if you want. I... I don't want it anymore, now that I'm over Elsa and all."

"A present for me? Aww, you're sweet. I'm gonna go put this in my room." Mary pecked him on the cheek, then scurried out the door.

Fritz watched her go. He lasted two whole minutes before screaming, "What have I done?"

Mary made an effort not to look at people's faces. She was sick of the stares. Sick of the way their eyes darted away once she drew near. It was because there were so many staff members, Mary told herself. The castle had been virtually empty for over a decade, so Elsa had overcompensated when hiring. Mary hadn't done anything wrong. These people didn't hate her – they simply weren't used to her. There had to be plenty of staff who'd never laid eyes on a snowwoman before. Even Olaf earned the occasional stare, and he'd lived at the palace for well over a month.

Mary hugged her bear tighter and strolled down the hallway, tuning out the whispers, then pushed through the large double doors into the dining hall. She didn't come down this way often – food had never seemed too appealing to Mary – but she knew Elsa never deviated from her schedule. Eight o'clock was breakfast time. Mary found her seated at the royal end of the table, daintily cutting her sausage with a fork. Guilt bubbled up in Mary's chest when she spotted the bags under Elsa's eyes.

"Good morning, Mary." At her approach, Elsa raised her head and smiled.

"Good morning, Mama." Mary smiled back. It'd been far too long since she'd last seen those sharp blue eyes. "Look what Fritz gave me!" Mary held up her stuffed bear.

"Wow, he must really love you. That bear was his lifeblood." Elsa let out a laugh. "Anyways, did Olaf have any more trouble last night?"

"I don't know. I didn't see him again."

"Oh." Elsa's attention returned to her food, and Mary had to fight down a pang of jealousy. "Well, what have you been up to, Mary?"

"Reading in the library, mostly." Mary considered asking for cat eyes again, but somehow, now that the sun was up, the idea seemed stupid.

"That's nice." Elsa managed to chew her food without making a sound. It was fascinating. "Sorry I don't have time to talk – I need to get to that council meeting soon." Suddenly, she stood up.

"You're leaving already?" Mary gave a start.

"Sorry." Elsa turned back to smile at her. "It was good to see you, though. I'm glad I'm not the only one up at the crack of dawn anymore. I'll be shocked if Anna's awake before dinner."

She'd... She'd made her creator happy? Mary was glad for her personal flurry. Without it, she'd have melted on the spot.

Mary loved her bedroom. It had a gigantic bed, a table with paper and an inkwell, a bookshelf... The only problem was it was empty. There was nothing on the shelf but a lone stuffed bear. Well, it was better than nothing.

"Mary, Mary!" Just then, a misshapen head stuck through the doorway. "I found a ghost!" Olaf latched onto Mary's dress with a stick-arm. "C'mon, you've gotta see it!"

"A ghost?" Mary was lead out her room and down the spiral stairs. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's definitely real."

Olaf brought her to the palace gardens. Mary hadn't been out this way much, but maybe she should've come more often. Everywhere the eye could see, there was gorgeous shrubbery glistening with rainwater, and the air was pleasant and cool. Well, Mary had preferred the summer heat, but she didn't mind the cold. She happened to share both her brother's fixation with heat and her mama's the-cold-never-bothered-me-ness.

"No sudden movements! I don't want it to haunt you. As your big brother, it's my job to protect you from the vengeful undead." Olaf stopped Mary before a gigantic, muddy puddle in the middle of the garden. "There!" he said, pointing into the water. "Look how freaky that thing is. I think it's some kind of deformed ghost-mutant."

Mary rolled her eyes. "That's your reflection, Olaf."

"Really?" Olaf double-checked the puddle. He slowly brought a hand to his carrot nose and watched the ghost mimic him. "Huh." His eyes narrowed as he leaned into the water. "You've outsmarted me this time, puddle." He smacked it, sending mud spurting out.

"Hey! My dress!" Mary yelped, recoiling. "You got mud on it!"

"Whoops, sorry about-"

There was a splash, and then Olaf's face was covered in filth. Mary snickered.

"I see how it is." Olaf put on a mischievous grin. "Well then, I hope you're ready to eat my suprise attack!" He yanked a snowball out of his chest, dunked it in the puddle, and hurled it at Mary's face.

Three seconds later, the air was filled with mud and snow flying in all directions.

As it turned out, running an entire country was incredibly, painfully boring. Elsa sat huddled over the writing desk in her study, praying her hand could still move once she'd finished signing the gigantic pile of documents.

"Elsa!" Out of nowhere, a pair of red pigtails with a girl attached to them manifested in the room. "Am I crazy?"

"We've already booked a room at the asylum," Elsa said without skipping a beat.

"Is it wrong that I kind of wish a monster would pop out and try to kill us just so we could go on another awesome adventure?"

"Well, I wouldn't call fighting for our lives and having the kingdom nearly freeze to death 'awesome,'" said Elsa.

"What, are you kidding? That stuff should be in a history book. I should be in a history book."

Elsa smirked. "And maybe there could be a footnote at the bottom about how your sister had magic or something?"

"Exactly."

"Well, I'm going to be a few more hours," said Elsa, gesturing to the cinder block of paper on her desk. "If you're bored, why don't you find Kristoff?"

Anna made a sour face. "Ice harvesting season's back."

"Well, what about Olaf and Mary?"

"Y'know, now that I think about it, I haven't seen those two around lately. Wonder where they-?"

"Hey, Elsa! Hey, Anna!" Just then, a big, brown glob with some twigs and a carrot in it waddled into the study. "You'll never guess what we've been doing!"

"Playing in the mud?" guessed Anna.

Olaf stared at her for a second. "You're good."

"Olaf!" Elsa sprang out of her desk, her eyebrows trembling with rage. "How many times do I have to tell you? Don't track mud into the castle!"

"Oh. Right." Olaf bowed his head, sprinkling mud droplets on the carpet.

"And you came into my study!" snapped Elsa. "How many flights of stairs did you go up?"

Olaf turned around to examine the trail of mud descending the staircase. "In my defense, it seemed like a really good idea at the time."

Elsa let out an indignant huff. "You know what? This is a reoccurring problem, and I'm clearly not getting through to you. I created you. That makes you my responsibility, and that means I have to discipline you."

"But I don't want to be a disciple!" gasped Olaf.

"Once you're clean, you're spending the next few hours in the study where I can keep an eye on you."

"But won't that be really boring?"

Elsa glared at him.

"Oh," said Olaf.

"Hey, uh, Elsa?" Anna tapped her sister on the shoulder and pointed to something out in the hallway. Elsa turned her head, then raised her eyebrows.

Mary was standing to the side of her brother, covered from head to toe in mud. Her eyes were wide and watering. "I... I'm sorry, Mama," she said faintly. "I didn't know you would... would..."

"Oh, no, no, I'm not mad at you, honey!" Elsa gave a start and immediately tried to soothe the snowwoman, but she was too late. Mary was already weeping.

"Mary?" said a concerned Olaf. "You okay?"

"It's alright, Mary." Unfortunately, Elsa was limited to soothing Mary with her voice, seeing as she wasn't about to hug someone covered in goop. "You're not in trouble."

"Well, technically, she should be in a little bit of trouble," said Anna. "I mean, not as much as Olaf, but Mary really should've known better. I thought we agreed she was, like, mentally a teenager?"

Elsa scowled at her. "I'll handle this, Anna."

Anna shrank back, surprised. "Okay, okay, sheesh..."

Elsa turned back to Mary. "You're not in trouble, dear. Just don't do this again." Mary nodded feebly. "Alright, now the two of you need to get cleaned up."

She pointed to Olaf and waved a hand. There was a flash of light, and then snowflakes erupted out of Olaf's body. Any snow that'd escaped the mud bath was recycled, while the rest was replenished with fresh snow, forming an exact duplicate next to the original, muddy snowman.

"Whoa! Who turned out the lights?" Of course, as a side effect, the muddy twigs, coal, and carrot got left behind, leaving Olaf blind and armless.

"I'll have a servant fetch you clean coal," said Elsa.

"But why does he need coal to see?" spoke up Mary, her voice still trembling from sobs. "Why don't you just give him ice-eyes like mine?"

"Because when Anna and I built him, we used coal for his eyes," Elsa said tersely. She held out a hand. "Now it's your turn."

But to her surprise, Mary stumbled backwards, shrieking and throwing her arms in front of her face. "Wait! Wait! Don't!"

Elsa lowered her hand. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want you to put me in a new body!" Mary's sobbing resumed.

"What? Why not?"

"I- I read something in a book," Mary stammered. "If your ax head breaks and you replace it, and then the handle breaks and you replace it, too, is it the same ax?"

Though they lacked his coal-pupils, Olaf's eyes went wide. "Whoa. Mind. Blown."

Elsa folded her arms. "You're overthinking this, Mary. My snowmen are magic. Magic isn't something you can reason with. Believe me, I spent years trying to outsmart my powers or come up with some trick to control them, but in the end it all came down to my emotions. The way Grand Pabbie explained it, my snowmen come from my imagination. You're alive in my mind, and your bodies are just the way my powers manifest you. You're not really in here-" She pointed to the lifeless pile of muddy snow that had once been Olaf. "You're in here." She pointed to her forehead.

"I don't blame you for overthinking it, though," said Anna. "If I was made of snow, I'd have, like, a zillion questions. Are you okay with throwing your genetic material at people in snowball fights?'

Mary shut her eyes, cowering like a cornered animal. "I won't be erased again," she said, almost to herself. "I won't be erased again."

"Alright, alright, I promise I won't put you in a new body," Elsa reluctantly said. "But you still need to get clean. Go tell a servant to run bathwater, and make sure it's cold. I doubt your personal flurry will do much good if you dunk yourself in scalding water. Come get me when you're done and I'll make you a new dress. And have someone clean up all the mud on the floor, too."

Marry feebly nodded her head. "Yes, Mama." She obediently walked off.

As soon as Mary was safely out of earshot, Elsa turned to Anna, her eyes full of concern. "Did you hear that? This is terrible!"

"What is?" frowned Anna.

"Mary is smart!" said Elsa.

"So?"

"She's questioning herself! Olaf never does that! Olaf is..." She eyed the snowman, who was standing nearby and smiling obliviously. Elsa leaned into Anna's ear and whispered, "Olaf's really dumb."

"No!" Anna made an exaggerated gasp.

"It makes him blissfully happy with his life. Marshmallow's like that, too, which is why I never felt too bad about leaving him on the North Mountain. I was hoping Mary would be the same way, but she clearly isn't."

"But what's the problem?" asked Anna. "Isn't Mary being smart a good thing?"

Elsa let out a heavy sigh. "Did you know she's been complaining to me about how bored she gets? Imagine how it must feel to be her, having no purpose, roaming these empty halls for years..."

"I might be able to picture that," Anna said dryly. "Look, I don't think being a snowman is that bad. It sounds pretty awesome, actually. Mary's just a drama queen."

"I hope you're right. I'm just..." Elsa laughed. "I'm just afraid I'll have to do actual parenting with Mary."

Anna made an exaggerated gasp. "You have to raise an angsty teenager? The horror! The horror!"

Elsa's smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "And I'm really, really, really not ready to be a parent."

"Well, lucky for you, Mary's got an aunt to help raise her, too."

This time Elsa's laugh was genuine. "Oh no, if I'm not ready to be a parent, you're not even ready to be a babysitter."

"Hey! I'll have you know I've babysat before! Remember Gerda's nephew?"

"Oh, trust me, I remember. You did find Gerda's nephew eventually, right?"

"Uh, that's beside the point."

"Ugh. I'm bored of being bored."

While her sister was dutifully filling out legal documents, Anna was propped upside down against the writing desk and flicking a pigtail back and forth with her finger.

"Ooh, ooh, I know what we can do!" said Olaf, who was sitting beside her, equally upside down, with a nice, clean set of carrot, coal, and twigs. "There's this cool mud puddle in the garden!"

Elsa looked up from her paperwork to scowl at him.

"Oh, right," said Olaf.

Just then, the door swung open, and Mary entered the study. "I'm finished with my bath, Mama."

"That's- Agh!" When Elsa's eyes landed on Mary, she nearly tumbled out of her desk.

"What is it? What's wrong?" asked Mary.

"Mary-!" Anna barely suppressed a snicker. "You're naked!"

Mary looked down at herself. Anna was quite right. "Well, my dress is muddy. Mama said to come to her for a new one."

"Why didn't you wear a towel?"

"Why would I? I'm already dry."

"Mary..." Elsa struggled to find the words. "You shouldn't walk around the castle nude."

"Why not?"

Elsa settled on the wording it the way her mother had always said to her: "You're a lady, and you have to protect your modesty."

Mary took another look at herself. "I don't exactly have anything to be modest about."

"She's got you there, Elsa." This time, Anna's snicker escaped its suppression.

Mary's body was undeniably womanly. Unlike her siblings' bodies, Mary's was almost perfectly humanoid, complete with curves. The "almost" part came from the fact that it was also perfectly smooth and featureless. It was odd. There were some little touches to Mary's icy body that showed Elsa's incredible eye for detail – the fingernails, the freckles, the soaking wet, snowy white hair hanging unbraided off her head – but then there were entire organs left conspicuously absent.

A tinge of red had entered Elsa's pale cheeks. "Well, I, err-"

"Olaf doesn't wear any clothes," said Mary.

"Yeah, it's great," said Olaf. "You guys should try it sometime. Nice and breezy."

"No, that's not- He's isn't-" After a bit of sputtering, Elsa managed to day, "Olaf's not naked."

"I'm not?"

Anna and Mary both gave Elsa the skeptical eyebrow.

"He wears... buttons," Elsa said lamely.

Anna and Mary traded glances.

"When you put coal on a snowman's chest like that, it's supposed to represent a coat," said Elsa.

As she spoke, Olaf tugged out the three pieces of coal on his tummy. "What about now?"

Elsa groaned.

"Fine, what about Marshmallow?" asked Mary.

"Well... Marshmallow is supposed to represent a marshmallow, and marshmallows don't wear clothes." Elsa made the most forced laugh in the history of mankind. "But you, Mary, represent a lady, and ladies wear dresses."

"But what harm is there in people seeing me without one?" asked Mary.

Elsa's face grew a shade redder. "Because there are some men who may still find you... fetching."

Mary looked blank. "Fetching? I don't understand."

"She's saying guys will still think you're hot even if you don't have-"

"Anna!" Elsa hissed at her.

"What?"

Elsa groaned, then turned in her desk towards Mary. "Just don't go around nude, alright? Trust me." She waved a hand, conjuring up a fresh ice-dress over Mary's body. Elsa was even thoughtful enough to make Mary a new pair of ice-high heels, too, remaining pleasantly oblivious to the indignant huff Mary made the instant they sprang onto her feet.

Mary bowed her head respectfully. "Thank you, Mama. I'm sorry for tracking mud in the castle."

"I forgive you."

Mary smiled, then left the study.

As soon as she was gone, Anna turned to Elsa, raising an eyebrow. "'Marshmallows don't wear clothes?'"

"What was I supposed to say?"

Elsa picked at her food. She was the kind of person who'd forget to eat if she wasn't waited on hand and foot. Currently, Elsa was at the royal end of the table in the dining hall, and thus far she'd spent the majority of dinnertime staring at her plate and fiddling with her fork.

"Mama?" A certain snowwoman slinked towards the table.

"Yes, Mary?"

"I'm sorry about the mud." Mary gave Elsa the most pitiful look.

"You don't need to apologize twice," Elsa laughed, hugging her. "Trust me, you can't get caught up on every single mistake you make. You have to move on with your life. Understand?"

Mary nodded. "Yes, Mama."

Elsa brought a hand to Mary's head. "Your hair's a tangled mess! Didn't you brush it out after you washed it?"

Mary's eyes met the floor. "I didn't know I was supposed to..."

"Well, it may be snow, but it still behaves like regular hair," said Elsa. "I guess if I can make an ice-dress, I can make snow-hair." She kissed Mary's forehead. "Go get one of the maids to brush it out for you, alright?"

Mary shrank. "The maids are scared of me."

"They are not," Elsa said firmly. "They're just not used to you yet." Suddenly, something caught her eye. "Mary!" She looked down at Mary's toes. "Where are your shoes?"

Mary's cheeks frosted over. "Lost them," she mumbled.

"Well, be more careful." With a wave of her hands, Elsa conjured yet another pair.

"Thank you," Mary said mechanically.

"Hey, there, s'cuse me, make some room!" Just then, Anna seated herself at the other side of Elsa and placed something onto the table with an audible thud. It was a tower of cake that spiraled towards the ceiling. Anna licked her lips.

"Anna!"

"What?" Anna said innocently.

Elsa folded her arms. "That is far too much cake for one person. It would be irresponsible of me to allow you to eat it..." She grabbed a fork. "...all by yourself."

Anna smirked. "You're a pastry-devouring beast." She scooted the plate into the center of the table, causing the cake to wobble precariously.

Cake, for the record, was the most perfect substance in the history of mankind, second only of course to chocolate. Elsa was so busy inhaling it that she almost didn't notice the puppy dog eyes staring at her.

"Want some?" She offered Mary another fork.

"Sure." Mary gratefully accepted the utensil.

"My cake senses are tingling!" Out of nowhere, Olaf's head dropped onto the table. The girls all gave a start and spun around to find Olaf's other two segments running towards them. Apparently, in his hurry to reach the cake, he'd knocked his head off his torso.

"Yes, Olaf, you can have some, too." Elsa gave a slightly exasperated laugh, then replaced his head and handed him a fork, too. His puny little stick arms weren't exactly suited to holding it, though, so Elsa ended up having to feed him herself.

"Mmm." A big smile crossed Mary's face as she swallowed. "That was delicious. What kind is this?"

"A flangendorfer," said Anna. "It's, like, the tastiest dessert in Arendelle."

"That sounds like a made-up word," said Mary.

"No, it's totally a real thing."

The rest of breakfast proceeded as normal. The girls and Olaf had a pleasant chat, and then Anna ran off to find Olaf. But before Mary could stand out of her seat, Elsa suddenly grabbed her arm.

"Could you come with me for a minute, Mary?" she said softly. "You, too, Olaf."

The snowmen obediently followed their creator up the spiral staircase and through the bedchambers hallway, finally coming to a stop at the royal washroom. Mary's eyes fell on something resting in the far corner – It appeared to be an ornate wooden chair. It would've looked very fancy if not for the giant hole in the seat.

"You first, Olaf." Elsa raised a hand. There was a swish of magic, and then suddenly a lump of snow erupted from Olaf's belly and shot down the hole with a plop. But it hadn't been just any snow – It'd been a lump of snow wrapped around an unmistakably cakey substance.

"Oh." With a pang, Mary realized what the chair was – the least terrifying nineteenth century toilet royal money could buy. "Are you doing what I think you're doing?"

Elsa sighed as she re-filled in the gap in Olaf's tummy. "Well, snowmen don't need to eat food, so when I made you guys, I, err..." Her cheeks grew a tinge redder. "...didn't give you a digestive system."

"That means snowmen can't poop!"

"Yes, Olaf, thank you for clarifying that."

Mary looked down at her own tummy. Through the ice, a glob of chewed-up cake was clearly visible resting at the bottom of her stomach cavity. "But- But we're magical, aren't we? Surely you could conjure up the necessary...?" Her eyes traveled further down. "Well, you know."

Elsa gave her a dry stare. "Look, my powers are versatile, but I have to draw the line somewhere."

"Fair enough."

"Anyways, I'd really rather not tamper with my snowmen more than I have to." A wry smile crossed Elsa's lips. "I'm not interested in playing God."

A short, fat figure in white robes glided across the isles, where a tall, thin figure in white robes stood waiting. The pews of the dim, candlelit church were packed with people in identical robes.

The fat figure bowed respectfully to the thin one. "The message has been sent to Arendelle."

"Excellent." The thin figure turned towards something taking up most of the wall behind him. "If we prove worthy, we'll be visited by the goddess."

He overlooked the stained glass window proudly. Production had begun almost immediately after news of the winter reached their borders, and it had still taken until recently to finish. But it'd been worth the wait. This was by far the loveliest mural in the steeple.

An image of a pale girl with silvery hair and a glittering, sky blue dress, commanding a snowstorm.

Every last member of the church knelt in reverence, then chanted:

"Id agat, id agat,

Non possum id diutius tenere.

Id agat, id agat,

Averte et ianuam claude."