Elsa clasped her hands together, lacing her fingers and propping her elbows against the desk in the navigation room. She had left the men to their drunken stupor more than an hour ago and had even detoured to the main deck where she conjured up a weak snow storm to hasten their trip. Seeing that everyone was mostly intoxicated or heading towards it below deck, she wasn't too worried about anyone catching a cold.

The sound of music and incoherent singing could still be heard even with the door firmly shut but Elsa paid it no mind, engrossed with her work. The desk had been cleared away, the maps that had previously occupied the space now tightly rolled up and stacked neatly on the shelf behind her while the desk was occupied by a perfectly detailed replica of Weaselton created with ice.

Elsa frowned, her eyes studying her creation as she compared it to the image of the duchy that she had committed to memory while she was astride the griffin. She had absolute faith in her photographic memory, the only normal trait that she was proud of; she was certain she had recreated every facet of the duchy, right down to the minute details in the stone forming the battlements. Yet for a place that was supposedly preparing for war; nautical warfare, nonetheless; its harbours were suspiciously devoid of warships. Maybe the Duke had anticipated Arendelle to mount an attack and had focused on putting together a siege defense?

No. Elsa immediately dismissed the idea. She had taken the time to do a quick aerial sweep of the duchy as a precaution before she landed on the harbour. There was no way she could have missed seeing catapults and trebuchets housed behind the battlements or the fortifications of the battlements itself. There had been absolutely nothing to suggest that Weaselton was prepared for an attack.

The thought almost made Elsa feel guilty for commandeering an armada against a grossly unarmed territory. Still, orders were orders and she had to enforce the royal family's monarchy on the duchy, even if it meant completely overwhelming it. But the discovery of Weaselton's state of unpreparedness still caught her off guard. It was almost as if the Duke had intended for Arendelle to sail across the seas and into Weaselton's waters just so they could surrender. It was far too easy.

Unless, Weaselton's fleet had already set sail.

Dread settled in her stomach, causing her insides to squirm uncomfortably. Were they lured here on the pretence of war so Arendelle would be left unguarded? Even still, Elsa had only taken four of the fastest warships with her, having elected for speed and stealth over artillery prowess. After all, Elsa herself was as deathly as the entire fleet combined and far more effective. Regardless the thought that Arendelle might be blindsided was worrying.

Closing her eyes in concentration, the howling wind on the other side of the porthole behind her intensified in response; sheets of ice slamming against the glass in an endless torrential storm. She could already feel the ship moving faster. At this stage, she can only hope they would make it back in time there wasn't anything else she could do at this point.

"Whoa. It's cold in here. You trying to chill your ale, Elsa?" Anna slurred as she stumbled into the room. "Wow! You built a castle! Can we build a snowman too?" Misjudging the distance, the redhead walked straight into the desk, stubbing her foot. "Ow, ow, ow." She hobbled on her uninjured foot, flailing arms almost snapping off a tower on the ice replica.

Hastening to the redhead's side, Elsa firmly guided the tipsy princess into a chair lest she hurt herself further. "What are you doing here, Anna?" Elsa knelt by the Anna's foot, easing off her boot and conjuring up a light frost around the redhead's bruising toe; her earlier worries forgotten.

"Ooh, that feels good. You've your uses. Remind me to come to you next time I get a bruise." Anna sighed in contentment, slumping back in the chair. "Oh, I was looking for you."

"You were? You seemed like you were having fun playing the lute with the boys below deck when I left. Good thing most of them were so drunk they barely noticed that you severely lack musical talent." Elsa smirked teasingly.

"Hey…at least I tried." Anna furrowed her brows at the mocking comment, sticking out her tongue at the blonde.

"How did you know I'd be here?" Elsa tilted her head.

The redhead shrugged, diving into an elaborate explanation of everyone else's whereabouts. "Olaf's up in the crow's nest again, Kristoff's drinking with Sven in the hold, Oaken had locked himself in the quarterdeck but I did see a blond guy that's not Kristoff following him… who's that guy? Blond hair, muscular and really good looking?" Anna paused in her ramble, blinking expectantly at Elsa in silent query.

"The first mate." Elsa filled in automatically before her eyes widened as she registered something else in the redhead's babble. "Wait, Olaf's in the crow's nest?"

"Yeah. That's what I said, try to keep up. Poor boy looked more like a snowman but I brought him some warm clothing and some ale so he should be toasty. Does that count as underage drinking? Did I give a minor alcohol? Will I be arrested? Wait, is there even such a law? Anyway, since you seem to really like building models here, I thought I'd find you here. So ta-dah! Here I am!" Anna beamed brightly at the dumbstruck blonde who could only blink in silence as she processed the redhead's words.

"Right. Here you are." Elsa murmured, in a poor attempt to buy herself a little more time. On the bright side, Olaf wasn't freezing out in her blizzard although she wasn't too happy about the fact that the boy was given alcohol. He wasn't exactly underage and was probably no stranger to ale considering the company he's constantly in; yet Elsa was still concerned about his mental development. After all, alcohol is known to have a greater impact on developing mental faculties up till the age of adulthood.

"Wait, so why are you here again?" She really needed to work on her selective hearing seeing that Anna intend to stick around. Not that she minded the redhead's company; just that it has been so long since someone actually wanted to be around her what with Elsa's proven track record at keeping people at bay.

"Do you wanna build a snowman?" Anna clutched Elsa's hands in hers, holding the blonde with an imploring gaze.

The wide eye, hopeful look was far too much and Elsa immediately felt inclined to agree. Good thing it was just a snowman; had Anna asked to cover the world in snow, Elsa would have agreed in a heartbeat. That puppy-eyed look was pure evil in the blonde's opinion.

With a wave of her hand, Elsa created a snowman completed with its own personal flurry to the immense delight of the redhead who positively squealed in excitement. As Elsa watched the princess spinning around in place with the stick arms of the short snowman grasped firmly, a small smile tugged on the corners of the blonde's lips. If doing mundane things with her powers was all it took for the redhead to radiate such happiness, Elsa would gladly build as many snowmen as the princess wanted just to see that beatific smile.

xxx

Elsa wrinkled her nose in annoyance at the persistent tickling of her nostrils. She turned her head to the left, burying her face deeper into the downy softness of a pillow and successfully diverted the prickling sensation to her neck.

"What the heck…" Her sluggish brain struggled to comprehend just what the irritant could be. The logical thing to do would be to open her eyes and take a look but she was tired and lazy and just too sleepy to want to do a thing about it. Besides, if she ignored it long enough, it would eventually stop bothering her or she would get used to the sensation, whichever was quicker.

The gentle rocking of the ship as it continued on its course lulled her back to sleep with its consistency and Elsa soon began to drift off again. Only to be rudely awoken by what she soon figured was hair in her mouth. As she jerked awake, she came to the second realisation that she was literally pinned down by dead weights across her right shoulder, abdomen and legs.

"What?" There's no way she had fallen asleep with Sven was there? Elsa twisted her upper torso around; trying desperately to see just what was restraining her. The cabin was dark; the panel of windows were packed with a thick layer of ice that blocked out majority of the outside light, leaving only a faint glow from around the edges. From the feeble protests of her exhausted body, she guessed she had only been asleep for a few hours which meant it was probably mid-morning.

"Ugh." With a grunt, Elsa managed to untangle herself, her fingers grasping a slender wrist and lifting it off her abdomen. She was secretly glad her fingers did not close over the coarse hair covered limb of a reindeer. Still, that brought about a whole different bunch of questions. Did she somehow end up in bed with one of the crew?

Her hands immediately went to pat along her side, taking comfort in the feel of crumpled fabric. At least she was still fully clothed; hopefully nothing had happened last night that she would live to regret, but first she had better get out of here before the stranger that she had supposedly taken to bed woke up.

Soft snores reached her ears, startling her momentarily as she feared the worse. The snoring continued unperturbed and Elsa gently eased herself from the warm body wrapped around her, even resorting to using a pillow as a substitute. As she fumbled in the darkness, the tickling once again assaulted her nose and the blonde hastily clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the imminent sneezing fit.

She was a split second too late.

The single sneeze bounced off the walls of the cabin and the snoring stopped immediately. Forgoing all thoughts about sneaking out, Elsa flung back the covers and scooted to the other side of the bed, her back slamming against the wall and she bit back a yelp of pain.

"Elsa...don't go…"

The blonde in question froze at the sleepy mumble from the figure curled up in a foetal position. The voice was distinctly female and far too familiar. As the haze of sleep lifted from her mind, Elsa began to recall bits and pieces of the night before.

She had half dragged a delirious Anna back to the captain's cabin and put her into bed. Elsa had been about to leave when the intoxicated redhead had begun whining about how she was burning up. The princess was indeed feverish and had looked so pitiful that Elsa relented and curled up behind the redhead, using her lower than normal body temperature to cool off the younger woman. Sometime through Anna's incoherent retelling of a bedtime story about two princesses, Elsa must have dozed off, or so she hoped.

As the blonde tried desperately to become part of the wall, Anna finally awoke with a shiver.

"Elsa…" The redhead mumbled, hands groping across the sheets until they found Elsa's hand clenched around the cloth.

"Come back…" The silence seemingly stretched forever with no response from the blonde before Anna jerked herself awake, having drifted off. Wide awake, she blinked rapidly, urging her eyes to grow accustomed to the darkness where they made out the shape of Elsa with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Elsa, what's wrong?" Worry laced her voice and Anna sat up, the thick quilt pooling in her lap.

"A – anna." The blonde's voice was shaky when she finally acknowledged the redhead. "D – did… l – last night, d – did we do…anything?"

"What?" Anna blinked in confusion before comprehension dawned on her. "I don't think so. Is it that bad if we did?" Anna asked teasingly

Elsa stared back blankly, caught off guard by the question and unable to come up with an appropriate response. Did Anna just asked if she was disgusted at the idea of being intimate with her? Does that mean Anna was considering or considered the idea of being sexually intimate with her? What?

A look of hurt fleeted across the redhead's features and Elsa knew she had hesitated for far too long. "NO!" Elsa blurted out a little too loudly. "That's not what I meant. I mean, yes, I meant that, as in, no it's not a bad thing –"

Anna waved a hand to cut off the flustered blonde. "It's fine. Forget I said anything." The redhead averted her eyes.

"Anna…" Elsa called out quietly, reaching out apprehensively to lift the redhead's chin with a finger. "You deserve the very best, to fall in love, have a fairytale ending... Not a drunken escapade with someone of far lower upbringing that you will always live to regret. I'm honoured that you'd even consider the notion, but I'd never jeopardise your reputation like that."

"Fairytales are unrealistic. Besides, that's not for you to decide. It's my decision too." Anna's reply was soft, almost afraid even.

Heat rose to her cheeks and Elsa was glad that they were shrouded in darkness. "This… isn't the time to discuss this…" The blonde mumbled, uncertain of where the conversation was heading towards; and uncertainly was something she did not enjoy experiencing.

"Then, when would be a good time?" Anna persisted, inching forward slowly; giving the blonde ample time to react as she closed the distance between them. Just what she was intending to do, Anna wasn't sure herself.

Elsa had frozen in place, her back flushed against the wall. Her eyes were wide, pupils fully dilated, both from the dim lighting and from the anticipation. Usually if she was cornered in this manner by anyone else, her powers would have gotten the better of her, overriding her conscious control as they fought for self-preservation. But she remained still, her bare hands – she couldn't remember ever removing her gloves, clutching the sheets like a lifeline. She could hear her heart rate quickening, certain that the redhead could hear it pounding erratically too.

The blaring of a horn from above deck sounded, breaking the moment and Anna scampered back in surprise, falling off the narrow bed in the process.

Elsa recovered first, peering over the side to find the redhead sprawled on the ground, gingerly rubbing her rear. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. It's definitely going to bruise now." Anna muttered, wincing as she prodded a particularly sore spot that still ached from the day before when she had slipped on Elsa's ice.

"I'm so sorry, Anna." The blonde apologised profusely; something that she seemed to be doing a lot of lately.

"It's not your fault. I'm just chronically clumsy. What was that about anyway?" Anna queried, referring to the low call of the horn and quickly steering the conversation into neutral territory. The tension before was electrifying and Anna wasn't sure if she could stop herself if they had not been interrupted. Stop herself from doing what, she hadn't quite figure out yet.

"We must be approaching Arendelle. That reminds me, I'd better get rid of the storm." Elsa muttered the second sentence to herself, staring blankly at the opposite wall as she willed the blizzard to dissipate.

The ice packed against the windows began thawing; melting away into rivulets of water that evaporated, leaving the glass clear. As the barrage of snow whipping around outside ceased, the early light of dawn streamed into the captain's cabin.

Elsa blinked at the change in lighting, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the brightness. The first thing that her eyes fell upon as soon as her vision had been restored was the unkempt mop of strawberry blonde locks on the younger woman's head that had broken free of its braids. Choking back a chortle, she fought to keep her expression neutral lest she made the redhead self-conscious. "So that's what was tickling me. It looked pretty wild in the dark but now with more light, wow. It has a life of its own."

"You are laughing at me, aren't you?" Anna sighed, running her fingers through her hair in a poor attempt at taming it.

The blonde peered back innocently, with only the smallest of smiles tugging on the corners of her lips betraying her mirth. Unlike Anna, the blonde still looked perfectly put together, her platinum locks in its single braid that rested over her left shoulder; with the exception of her clothing that bore the tell-tale signs of being slept in.

Anna realised she was staring openly when the blonde averted her eyes and mumbled. "I should head up to the quarterdeck." Despite her words, the blonde did not move. "Uh. I need my jacket back."

"Oh. Right. Can't have the great Grand Marshal looking like she just got out of bed, eh." Anna pushed herself to her feet, crossing the cabin to where she had spotted the blonde's jacket draped over a chair. Picking it up she turned towards the bed, bumping straight into Elsa who had come up behind her.

"Whoops." Anna chuckled at her clumsiness, taking a steadying step back. "Let me help you with this?" She asked timidly, holding the jacket up for the blonde to slip her arms through. There was an awkward silence as the blonde consented, even allowing the younger woman to button up the jacket and fasten the accompanying red sash around her waist. The moment was intimate in its own way; akin to how a wife would help her husband dress, and even Anna with her uncanny ability to ruin things held her tongue. She wasn't going to ruin this.

"There we go." Anna finished smoothing out the wrinkles in the thick material, casting a quick once-over to make sure she did not miss any. "Oh, wait. Gloves." Pulling them off the desk, she held them out to the blonde who took them wordlessly.

"Why do you wear them all the time anyway?" Anna asked, unable to deny her curiosity as the blonde pulled the gloves on with practised ease. Elsa always had her gloves on and this was probably the first time in a long while that Anna had seen the blonde's hands bare. It was such a shame too, the blonde had beautiful hands; slender but strong fingers with soft and unmarred skin despite the blonde's skills with a sword.

"It helps with controlling my powers." Elsa explained, looking down at her gloved hands with an odd expression on her face. "But I don't need them anymore." She continued quietly, her tone incredulous as realisation dawned on her. "I don't need them anymore." She murmured, meeting Anna's gaze with astonished eyes.

With her newfound understanding, everything made sense now. The blizzard she had conjured to bring her fleet home quicker had not spiralled out of control even while she was unconscious. The cabin had not frozen over while she slept. Her bare hands had not turned anything they touched into ice.

Shaking her head slightly in disbelief, Elsa turned away, leaving a confused Anna in her wake. Elsa could hardly believe it herself, but she had complete control over her powers now; something that had eluded her all these years. She had spent the last ten years relying on the thick leather gloves as a physical barrier. The gloves served as a reminder of a boundary that she must not cross for to do so would cause harm to those around her. In time, she had grown to take comfort in the material's constricting presence; like a child with their security blanket. But she didn't need them now. She was free from her fears and she had a certain redhead to thank for that.

With Anna's acceptance of her abilities, Elsa was finally free from the source of her nightmares. She will never fear losing control and harming Anna again.

How is it that one person could change everything?

A/N:

"When you are on a roll, don't ever stop."

I nearly forgot I had to get to work while writing this one...

Good news is; chapter 9 is completed.

Bad news is; you won't get to read it. Yet.

Thank you all for sticking with me. Don't forget to show some love or say 'hi'!