The next morning

"She wants to be your heir?!"

It was far from the loudest wakeup call Anna ever gave Elsa when she barged into her room. It was probably the least excitable, though. Since Elsa barely had any sleep the last few nights, she easily stirred either way.

"Good morning, by the way," Elsa bought time as she slowly woke up. Anna had way too much energy for her, though – just not her usual peppy kind.

"Don't act all scatterbrained, that's my job! Haven't you already…." Anna stopped herself, which bought Elsa time to at least sit up. But Anna was mainly talking to herself now.

"I mean….it was so amazing of her! She'd really do that much for you…." Anna said lovingly. Yet she got mad again in short order. "But she's not supposed to be Queen! She's got a whole childhood to live! She needs to grow up happy and care free, like we didn't!"

"I already told her that," Elsa let her know.

"Oh," Anna calmed down. This led her to get lovey dovey again, saying, "She was gonna give it up just to help you….help her aunt….my little girl's really growing up." However, her mood then switched again, as she frowned and added, "Why did she have to do it for you?! She's already more like your daughter than mine! You can't make it more obvious!"

"I….I already told her that too," Elsa repeated.

"Oh," Anna calmed down. "She didn't tell me that either. Of course she tells you more than me, even now." Yet she started swooning again when she added, "But you're her aunt. You're the best aunt in the world to her, and that's why she loves you that much. If anyone should have that kind of love, it's you. Especially now."

On cue, Anna got more bitter and reflected, "You're sure good at giving her that love too. Turns out you can give it to kids after they turn five after all. At least I have that rubbed in my face every day."

"Okay, I didn't tell her that," Elsa broke the pattern.

"You didn't have to," Anna broke it herself by getting sadder. "I mean….she already has a much better childhood than both of us did. It's not hard to see why. I mean, she reads! She hasn't talked to a painting since she was eight! She knows so much about love, she was gonna be Queen just for you! That….that doesn't sound like someone raised by me."

"You think it sounds like someone raised by me?" Elsa raised her eyebrows. "Come on, we're both flying blind here."

"But she sees better with you," Anna thought. "You give her everything I waited 13 years to get from you. And that's how she wanted to repay you. I mean, I would have done the same if I were her….I mean, she's who I would have been if you….and now she's far enough ahead of me without being your heir! Once she is…..I mean?"

"I don't want her to be my heir. She told you that much, right?" Elsa checked.

"Good! You should have your own daughter and let me keep mine!" Anna went back to snapping mode.

"That's not quite what I told Joan too….but it was close," Elsa tried to keep calm.

"Oh," Anna went back to calm again. "Then why are we fighting?"

"I don't know. You're doing most of the talking for both of us," Elsa reminded. "If Joan knows how to do that, it didn't come from me."

"It sure didn't, did it?" Anna got fond this time. Then it was back to being sad, "Oh geez, I'm sorry….I'm not making any sense. If Joan knows how to do that, it didn't come from me."

"Maybe Kristoff gave her some of his sense," Elsa guessed.

"She didn't know how to talk to Sven until she was six. His gifts take a while to pass on," Anna said. After sharing a laugh and some semi-uncomfortable silence, Elsa took the lead again.

"Joan loves you to death, Anna. She'd do for you what she wants to do for me in a heartbeat. No matter how close we are," Elsa assured.

"Logically, I know that," Anna responded. "But you know me and logic." Elsa had to nod and give her that one. "Joan took to it a lot faster than I did. I know that's because of you. She's a lot of things because of you. That's why she looks up to you so much….maybe even more than me."

"That's not true," Elsa assured Anna, if not herself. "Besides, the only reason I know those things is because of you," she found a better angle.

"How to love, how to care for a child, how to be a real family….I didn't know how any of that worked for a long time. Not until you thawed," Elsa shared. "If I passed any of that on to Joan, it's only because you did it for me first. So really, we're only that close because of you."

"Well….I did get you guys together in the first place. Kind of my fault," Anna admitted. "And Kristoff had a hand in it too. Well, more like – "

"It is far too early for you to finish that sentence," Elsa stopped her right there. Anna blushed and made herself stop that thought, while Elsa barely held back a little smirk too.

"I love you guys together, you know that," Anna got back on topic. "Her loving you that much….it just caught me off guard, that's all."

"How did you think I felt?" Elsa answered.

"It's far too early for me to think that much," Anna echoed. "But now I think the whole….go find your own daughter thing was too far."

"Maybe it wasn't," Elsa conceded. "I told her it was time I had my own family. Instead of….living through yours." It wasn't her exact words back then, but she still had the morning as an excuse not to remember clearly.

"We are your family," Anna frowned out of love this time. "And if you wanted 'your own' so much, why didn't you look before? If you didn't want an heir of your own, and if you won't let Joan or Christian be Queen or King….what did you think would happen to Arendelle if you…."

Elsa huffed, since Anna actually got her there. "I guess I assumed….I'd die early enough for you to rule for a few decades. Then Joan or Christian or their kids would take over."

"Your grand plan for Arendelle was to leave it to me?" Anna exclaimed with disbelief. "Did you really think that through? Heck, you're not gonna die that early anyway!"

"Anna, it's still a wonder to me that I've made it this long," Elsa shared, which brought down the room. "Everything I have is still a wonder to me, even now. Love, family, acceptance, being a good Queen….I didn't exactly believe I'd have any of that while growing up."

"But you have it all now," Anna tried to get positive.

"I have almost everything I never dared to hope for. Except…." Elsa trailed off.

Getting on the same page with Elsa right away for once, Anna asked again, "Then why didn't you look for it?"

"It's like I said, Anna. I knew nothing about love of any kind. Not until you thawed," Elsa recalled. "That's not the 'getting married and having a husband' kind of true love. But it's the only love I ever knew. Then you showed me the true love of a whole family when Joan and Christian got here."

"You had that before. Back when you were eight….right?" Anna was almost afraid to ask.

"Of course I did. Love from my sister and from a family….that's the only true love I needed then, and now. But love from a man, in that way….a man that loves me in that way for who I am, not what I am….I've never known how that works. Not then, not now, not ever," Elsa recounted.

"Well, I'd like to think me and Kristoff taught you something. Not the heavy duty stuff. But it's at least a beginner's course," Anna shared, if not too much.

"Yes, I know what it looks like. I got to see it from Mom and Dad before I was locked up too. But I've only seen it," Elsa said. "Feeling it….for someone who tried not to feel most of her life, that's….tougher than it sounds. And since I already felt all the love I needed and wanted from you guys….it seemed like that was enough. It still is, really."

Now it was Elsa's turn to have a mood swing of depression. But she was more used to handling it than Anna, even now.

"I don't need a man or my own child to be happy. Not with everything you've given me. And I should be offended at the idea that I'm….incomplete without them! You know I'm not!" Elsa scowled. "But I'd be lying if I said a part of me didn't really want….especially now…."

Sinking deeper into an ugly train of thought, Elsa wondered, "Maybe that's why I've clung too hard to you guys. Since you have what I….never believed I could have. Maybe that's why I made Joan more like me. Right down to making sacrifices she shouldn't make."

"Elsa, there's no one better for Joan to be like than you. It's stupid to be jealous of that," Anna admitted. "But that's why she'll be such a good love expert for you!"

Just before Elsa could confirm or deny it, the sisters heard a knock on the door. There was only one person other than them who knocked like that – but although she was at Elsa's bedroom door, this was her special knock for Anna. "Mom? Are you in there?" they heard Joan say.

Anna looked appropriately surprised, but got herself to the door anyway. Once she opened it, Joan sighed in relief and came in, yet stopped when she saw Elsa.

"Aunt Elsa! Uh, what are you doing here? In your bedroom…." Joan realized. "I mean, of course you'd be here! I mean, why would Mom be here if you weren't here too? Other than that one time…."

Elsa chuckled in relief at Joan's Anna-like rambling – and was willing to let that 'one time' comment go for now. Anna looked impressed too, but snapped out of it to ask, "Well, I am here. Why were you looking for me?"

Joan looked at her, then her aunt, and answered, "I don't know if I wanna say in front of Aunt Elsa…."

"Then you shouldn't have said that in front of me. I'm the last person who wants to keep secrets from her. Other than that one time…." Anna informed. Brushing it aside quickly on purpose, she went on, "Anyway, you might as well tell us both now."

Joan hesitated a while longer, then finally admitted, "I don't know if I can be Aunt Elsa's love expert…."

"What? Why not?" Elsa exclaimed, but made herself hold back. If she was afraid to tell her and would rather tell Anna, this probably wasn't helping. And it spoke to a lot of things she and Anna talked about just now.

"I wanna be, I do! I'm not saying no because I wanna be Queen!" Joan promised. "It's cause….I don't know that much about love. Not enough to choose Aunt Elsa's husband. What if I get it wrong?"

"Joan, that's not gonna happen," Anna got into it. "You're too smart and you love your aunt too much. You wouldn't do that to her."

"I could. By myself, anyway," Joan still thought. "That's….why I wanted to talk to you."

"To me?" Anna was more surprised than she wished she was.

"Uh huh," Joan confirmed. "You love Aunt Elsa so much, you saved her from Hans before you froze! You helped her thaw out Arendelle! You got her out of her room, and that's why she's the best aunt ever! You picked the best Dad ever for me and you gave me a brother who's….getting better! You're a way better love expert than me."

"That's what you think of me?" Anna began to tear up.

"Yeah," Joan honestly said. "Aunt Elsa needs the best love expert. That's not me. So….could you help me get good enough? Please, Mom?"

Instead of answering with words, Anna bent down and answered with hugs. Even this early in the morning, they still packed a wallop from her. "I love you so much, Joanie…." Anna said through her emotions.

"I know, I love you too. That's why I need your help," Joan said through the tight hug. When she could move her head and see Elsa again, Joan stammered and added, "If that's okay with Aunt Elsa."

Before Elsa could wipe her eyes and answer, Anna set Joan free. "You know what? There's a few more things I'd like Aunt Elsa to be okay with."

"In what way?" Elsa got a little nervous again.

"It doesn't matter who's closest to who. We're a whole family. If that's the only love you know, then who better to help you learn the other kind?" Anna pointed out. "I mean, whoever this guy is, he's not just marrying you! He's marrying all of us too!"

"That's….some way to put it," Elsa said with a curious deadpan.

"It's the truth! Joan's right, you don't need just one love expert," Anna declared. "I think four should do the job just fine."

Once Elsa did the math, she gasped, not knowing what the right way to feel was. "Anna, you don't have to burden yourself. Or them," she said instinctively.

"Joan can still be the head love expert. She can just use me, her dad and her brother as her love committee," Anna came up with. "We'll report to her, she'll report to you, and then we all report back to your suitors together."

"Ooh, that sounds fun!" Joan approved. "Can we, Aunt Elsa? Can we, can we, can we?" she started squealing in excitement in no time – a trait that certainly ran on her mother's side.

"This is technically supposed to be my decision," Elsa reminded them. "But….after I hired Joan, I guess I opened too big of a loophole."

"Yeah, loophole!" Joan cheered.

"I admitted I can't do this without you," Elsa told her. "If you can't do it without your mom….I have no right to say no."

"Yeah! I'll go get Dad and Christian! I'll make sure they have no right to say no too!" Joan promised.

"If you're anything like me, they'll have no chance," Anna assured.

"I hope so! Thanks, Mom!" Joan said, going over to hug her before heading out of the room.

"Well….that was a waste of good jealousy," Anna admitted through more half-shed tears.

"She really did learn from the best," Elsa praised. "And if….I ever have an heir of my own…..I'll probably need to…."

"Elsa, I've dreamed of finding you a guy for 15 years. Let's finally get that out of the way. Then we'll go to the mom lessons dream," Anna hoped. "I know my boss left the room, but I hope I wasn't out of line."

"You never are. Eventually," Elsa smiled.

"Good," Anna smiled. "What if I said….you've given my family – our family – more than I ever hoped for? No matter who likes who more? And now it's time we all did that for you. Was that too much?"

"Not quite," Elsa said through her own watery eyes.

"Okay, I'll do better later," Anna vowed, putting on her game face. "Right now, where's that suitors list of yours? I hope I never have to say this again….but we've got work to do."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The royal council was promised a final draft of the Queen's suitor list today. They had waited hours to see it, which seemed foolish since they settled much of the list yesterday.

Yet before sunset, the Queen finally entered chambers with a piece of paper in her hand– and was followed by four other things the council didn't expect to see.

"These are the people I will consider as my future King," Elsa informed, as the list was passed down. As more and more council members looked surprised, shocked and miffed at what they read, the Queen continued, "I know I added and subtracted a few names. It wasn't without an exhaustive debate, trust me."

Anna, Kristoff, Joan and even Christian almost shuddered, but they still stood tall as Elsa continued. "But if I'm going to do what you've asked me to, I'm doing it the best way possible. This list is the best list possible. So is my committee of love experts."

The rest of the royal family could only wave as the council murmured. Yet Elsa laid down the law and said, "From this moment on, all matters related to my…..marital status will go through them. I will hear nothing more about it from these chambers. If Arendelle's long term future is all you care about, you'll trust me and my family to secure it. Are we clear?"

The council didn't look that clear, so Elsa repeated, "Are we clear?" with more icy force. It wasn't as loud as the force she used days ago, when the council wore her down. But it was enough to show them that they wouldn't be as lucky this time.

"Good. Now then, me and my committee will send our invitations to these men tonight," Elsa informed, without giving anyone else a say. "Before then, I'd like to get actual royal business out of the way. If this council actually has any for me."

It took them a second to snap out of it, but the council scrambled to do what she said. By then, the mother of the head of the committee had shooed her colleagues out - leaving the aunt of the committee chairwoman to her royal duty.