Elsa and Anna eventually made it up to Elsa's ice castle, and stopped in for a rest. Elsa was beaming brightly as she walked around admiring her work. She was proudly patrolling the whole room, running her fingers along the walls to make sure they were still freezing cold.

"Phew," Anna exhaled, sitting on the bottom step of the giant icy staircase. She leaned forward clumsily, with her elbows on her knees and her hands on her chin. "You need some furniture in here," she commented.

"Why?" Elsa asked. "No one's ever up here."

"Well what if we want to come up and visit again?" She gasped. "What if we wanted to camp out up here? Wouldn't that be fun, Elsa?"

"It would," she admitted. So with a few flicks of the wrist, and some graceful arm movements, there was a full living room set, perfectly resembling the family room on the ground floor of the palace, complete with two armchairs, a sofa, and two bookshelves on either side of an ironically frozen fireplace.

"Nice!" said Anna. She stood up and walked over to the ice sofa. "Although I can't imagine ice furniture being very comfortable." She sat down and squirmed around. "Eh," she said disapprovingly.

Elsa rolled her eyes. She snapped her fingers, and the chairs and sofa turned from ice to snow.

"Now that's more like it!" Anna tested the comfort level of the new sofa by bouncing up and down a little.

"Anna be careful, it's probably not very-"

"Bwuff!"

"Stable…"

Anna's side of the snow sofa had collapsed, leaving her on the ground with a lap full of snow. Elsa tried her hardest not to laugh at her poor little sister, who was sitting on the floor, looking down at the snow all over her. But she couldn't help it. It reminded Elsa of when they were little, and Anna fell off of their bike. Anna sat on the floor, softly whimpering as she looked down at her skinned knee. She looked so sad and adorable back then, she couldn't help but laugh, just a little.

Elsa's mind returned to the present, and she laughed both at the memory, and the slight recreation of it. She walked over and helped Anna up.

"Sorry I broke your sofa," Anna chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. Elsa shrugged off the apology, snapped her fingers again, and the sofa was fixed. "So what was it that you were going to tell me?" Anna asked, taking a much more gentle approach to one of the armchairs.

Elsa furrowed her brow. "What?"

"You know, before we got attacked by the snow. You said 'there's something…' then we almost got buried."

"We didn't almost get buried," Elsa scoffed. "I had it under control."

"Yeah, barely!" said Anna. "But anyway, what was it?"

"Well," Elsa began. "I was just going to tell you that…" she paused. Do I tell her right here? Right now? "That the snow was behind you."

Anna raised an eyebrow. "Elsa," she said, unconvinced.

"Anna," Elsa mocked, raising an eyebrow too. Anna crossed her arms. "Really, Anna! I saw the snow, so I was going to say something. But it was coming a lot faster than I initially thought, so I panicked," Elsa said, with false confidence that even fooled herself.

Anna's interrogation-like stance on the matter dropped. "Aww, my big sister was looking out for me!" she chimed. She stood up, walked past Elsa and headed for the door. "You're the best, Elsa."

Guilt fully engulfed Elsa in a heartbeat. "No I'm not! Stop saying that!" she yelled. The temperature in the ice castle dropped even lower. She gasped and covered her mouth, not daring to turn around and catch Anna's reaction. Did I really just say that out loud? God, Elsa, that one was not supposed to leave your brain.

"Woah, calm down, it was just a compliment," Anna said with a giggle. She bent down to pick up the picnic basket, then turned around and looked at Elsa, who was still facing the sofa with her hand over her mouth. Wait, was she being serious? Anna thought. "Elsa," she called. Elsa still wouldn't turn around. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," she answered, finally turning around. She donned the world's worst fake smile. "But we should get going. I think Hilde and Callan expect us back for dinner."

"Sure, Elsa. Let's go." Anna held out her free hand, waiting for Elsa to take it. She did, reluctantly.

"I'm sorry, Anna," she said, almost letting herself tear up. "For the outburst, I mean. For the outburst." She tacked a nervous giggle on the end of her statement for good measure.

Anna smiled warmly. "Race you down the mountain!" she said with a sudden burst of energy.

"Oh please. I'm already halfway there!" Elsa said, bolting out of the castle. Not only to race Anna, but also in hopes of escaping her guilt, even for just half a second.

The next morning started off as usual. Elsa was awake, her hair was perfect, and she was sitting in the dining room waiting for breakfast before Anna even stumbled out of bed. And although the morning started off as usual, Elsa could tell that something was off. Today was Hilde's last full day, and everyone and everything seemed to be a little on the dismal side. Even the palace itself seemed somber.

"Wow!" Elsa jumped when her train of thought was unexpectedly interrupted. "Your Majesty, your hair looks amazing," Callan marveled, placing a ham and cheese omelette in front of Elsa.

"Thanks," she smiled, admiring her own braid. "Have you heard from Anna this morning?"

"No. Haven't you?"

"No…" Elsa cut off a small piece of her omelette and checked it over.

"Something wrong?" Callan asked.

"No, no! Of course not!" Elsa said, quickly eating the bite as to not offend Callan. "I just have a bad feeling about this day."

Just then, Anna tromped down the stairs, still in her pajamas, her hair not done at all. "Morning," she mumbled.

"Anna, hey," Elsa said, rushing over to her sister. "Is everything okay?" She attempted to smooth out Anna's orange mane.

"Eh, I just don't feel very well. Not sick or anything, just overly tired I guess," she answered. Elsa put her hands on Anna's shoulders.

"Yeah, we did have an exhausting day yesterday. Why don't you go back up to your room. I'll bring you a pastry on my way to the meeting room, then you can relax for the whole day, and no one will bother you." She was now gently rubbing her sister's arms.

"Mmm, pastries and relaxing. Sounds perfect. You know me so well!" said Anna. "Thanks, Elsa." She smiled warmly, then plodded back up the stairs. Elsa sat back down and took the knife to her omelette again, then happened to glance over at Callan, who was looking back at her almost affectionately.

"Something wrong?" Elsa smiled.

"What? Uh, no," Callan said, blushing and looking away. "It's just, you're such a good big sister. You and Anna have such a great relationship. It makes me wish I had a sister."

Elsa looked down at her breakfast. "Yeah, well," she said, then took a huge bite.

Callan laughed. "So what do you have going on today, Your Majesty?"

"Ugh, too much," Elsa answered with a mouthful of egg. She rolled her eyes. "I have to make final decisions on some trade proposals, help Hilde pack, read the naval Captain's monthly report…" she trailed off. "Oh, that reminds me of something. Excuse me for a second." She stood up, and popped another bite of omelette in her mouth. She walked into the foyer, then into the family room, where she saw that Sigvard was sitting. "Oh, there you are."

At the sound of Elsa's voice, Sigvard practically jumped up and turned around to face her. "Good morning, Your Majesty. What can I do for you?" he bowed.

"Could you send for Kristoff for me, please?" She didn't give a reason, but Sigvard didn't really seem to notice.

"Of course, Your Highness."

"Sigvard, don't you want something for breakfast?"

"Perhaps a little later."

Elsa shrugged, and started back into the dining room. She knew Sigvard was upset about Hilde leaving, but she wasn't about to make him talk about it. When she arrived back at the table, Callan was holding a plate of pastries, framed by some strawberries.

"These are for you to take up to Princess Anna," she explained.

"Oh, okay thanks," Elsa said. She quickly finished her breakfast, nodded and took the plate from Callan, and headed upstairs.

"Anna?" she said, knocking on her little sister's bedroom door.

"Come in, Elsa," she said softly. Elsa entered the room and looked around for Anna. "I'm under the covers," she hinted.

"Oh, I didn't even see you," Elsa laughed. "Here, I brought you breakfast."

Anna pushed the covers off of her and sat up. "Ooh, did you bring me something good?"

"Hope you like egg shells and mud," Elsa said sarcastically, sitting down beside Anna.

"Do I ever!" Anna said. Elsa placed the plate on her lap. "What? Pastries and strawberries? No thanks," she said with equal sarcasm, throwing her head back and lowering a strawberry into her mouth.

Elsa patted herself on the knees. "Well, I'll leave you alone now." She went to stand up, but Anna grabbed her arm.

"You don't have to leave me alone," she laughed.

"You need your rest, Anna. Plus, I have some things to do." Anna reluctantly let go of her sister's arm, allowing her to stand. "Tell you what. You finish your breakfast, then try to get back to sleep. When I'm done with my Queen stuff I'll come check on you again."

Anna took a bite of pastry. "Okay, sure. Have fun doing Queen stuff," she said, rolling her eyes.

"What was that for?" Elsa laughed, crossing her arms. Anna shrugged. Elsa glared at her.

"Alright, alright! It's just, you do Queen stuff alllll the time!"

"Maybe because I'm the Queen?"

"Well, duh, you're the Queen. But it seems like you're always on the clock as the Queen. When are you my sister anymore?" Anna asked. She then looked around, confused by her own question.

"What? Anna, I'm always you're sister. What about yesterday? I took a day off so we could spend time together."

"I know, I know," Anna rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry, that was a dumb statement. I don't even know what I was trying to say. Well, I mean, I do. But it's dumb. Just, go do your Queen stuff. I obviously need some sleep."

"Now wait, what is it you're trying to say?" Elsa inquired.

Anna sighed. "I feel… gosh, this is stupid, but I feel like I miss you." Elsa opened her mouth to comment, but Anna stopped her. "I know, you're never more than a couple rooms away from me, and the doors are always open for us now, but recently, you seem really busy. And even though you're usually right down the hall, I miss you."

Elsa gulped. It's because half the time I say I'm working, I'm with Kristoff. Both of us are distancing ourselves from her. I don't want that. I hate this. I hate this so much.

"I'm sorry, Elsa. I know you're busy." Anna nervously twirled a strawberry around by it's stem.

"Don't be. I need to make time for you. You're my little sister, and the most important thing to me." Elsa sat back down beside Anna, but stood back up when she remembered that Kristoff would be there soon. "I have something extra important I need to take care of today. But after today, I'll cut back on my Queen hours, okay?" she smiled.

Anna smiled softly, "You mean you'd risk the well being of the kingdom to make me happy?" Anna said, in a big, goofy voice that didn't match her smile.

Elsa laughed. "Hey, it's nothing I haven't done before."

Anna laughed and ate the strawberry. "Alright, alright. Go do your thing. I'm going back to bed when I finish this anyway."

Elsa backed out of the room. She stopped at the doorway just before leaving. "I'm sorry you feel the way you feel, Anna. But it'll change." She smiled warmly at her little sister. "Have a nice nap." She shut the door behind her, then scurried down the hall. She peeked into the meeting room, and when she saw that Kristoff wasn't there yet, she went back to the dining room. When she saw that Callan wasn't there anymore, she went to the room that Callan and Hilde share.

She heard humming coming from the bathroom that the two maids shared. She looked in and saw Callan sitting in front of the mirror braiding her hair.

"Callan?"

Callan jumped up and turned to face Elsa. "Oh, goodness, Your Majesty. You scared me!"

"Sorry about that," Elsa laughed. "What are you up to?"

Callan sat back down in front of the mirror, her face red. "I was kind of trying to do my hair like yours."

"Here, let me help." Elsa grabbed a stool that was sitting against the wall, and sat down behind Callan. She started running her fingers through Callan's hair. "Hmm, it's not quite cut right. But I think I can make it work. First, all of your hair has to lay over your left shoulder."

"Left shoulder, got it."

"Then you just start braiding. Make it as tight as you can," Elsa explained, taking it upon herself to fashion Callan's hair into a braid. Things were silent as Elsa worked, and Callan watched in the mirror.

"So," Elsa finally broke the silence, "why don't you tell me about your little brothers?"

Callan covered her mouth and laughed. "Oh, they're a handful, I'll tell you that. Especially Ingo,he's the youngest. But my oldest brother, Aldrik, has really looked after him." She smiled, recalling all sorts of things about her brothers. Stories for another day.

"That's good of him. How old are they?"

"Aldrik is 18, just a year younger than me, Dagvin is 16, Froder and Fritz, the twins, are 13, Tobias is 9, and Ingo is 7." Callan listed the boys at lightning speed.

"Oh my goodness," Elsa giggled. "I can only imagine what a handful they'd be."

"They're sweet boys, though," Callan smiled. "One night, my father was out late, so I had to take extra care of the boys, and make sure Tobias and Ingo got to bed. I tucked Ingo in and kissed him on the forehead. He looked back at me and smiled this adorable little smile." Her voice caught right at the end of her sentence. She took a long pause before speaking again. "And he said to me, 'Goodnight, Mommy'," she continued, her voice breaking. She placed her hand over her mouth, a small sob escaping. "That was a big deal for me."

Elsa continued braiding in silence, not quite sure what to say. Callan sniffled, and wiped away a few tears that had made their way down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry. That must have sounded extremely stupid," she said.

"No, no, of course not!" said Elsa. "I know what it's like to look after a younger sibling. Granted, Anna's much older than Ingo, the same age as Aldrik actually, but-"

"Your Majesty? Queen Elsa?" Sigvard called from the foyer. "Your visitor is here."

"Oh!" She quickly finished Callan's braid, stood up, and returned the stool to where she found it. "Send them to the meeting room, please Sigvard, I'll meet them in there!" she called back. "I'm sorry, Callan, I have to go."

Callan stood also. She nodded. "Thank you, Your Majesty," she said, fiddling with her braid.

"Please, Callan, when it's just us talking like that, just call me Elsa," she smiled, before practically racing out of the room.

She arrived at the meeting room and saw Kristoff flipping through some papers on her desk.

"Ahem," she cleared her throat. extra loud, trying to scare him.

"Oh hey," Kristoff said nonchalantly, without flinching or looking up at Elsa.

"What? That didn't startle you?

"No, I heard you coming from halfway down the hall," he smiled.

Elsa looked down at her shoes and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, stupid heels," she scoffed. "Anyway, what's up?"

"I don't know. You called me here, shouldn't I be asking you?" He held up one of the papers. "Are you still thinking about these trade proposals?"

"Yes." She took the paper from him. "I need to figure these out today. But I wanted to talk to you first."

He joined her on the other side of the desk. "Well, I think this one is a reasonable offer," he said, pointing to the paper. "We could definitely hold up our end of the bargain, and it would be nice to have-"

Elsa laughed. "Thank you, Kristoff, but I can handle these. I need to talk to you about something else." She sat down on her desk, and put the paper back on the stack.

"What's wrong?" he asked, growing concerned.

"It's Anna," Elsa sighed. "I can't keep hiding this from her, I just can't." Elsa expected some sort of comment, but all Kristoff did was gulp. "Come on, Kristoff, you can't tell me that you feel good about this."

"Of course I don't feel good about this!" he said, throwing his arms up. "I mean, Anna and I are technically still a couple. She thinks I love her. It's twisting my stomach to think about how perfect she believes everything to be."

"I know. Lately she's been telling me what a good person I am, and how I'm such a great older sister, and it kills me. It kills me, knowing that she still thinks that, despite what's going on. Because if she knew what was going on…" she trailed off.

"So what are you saying? That you want to tell her?"

"Yeah, I think so. I mean, maybe. Maybe we should ease her into it."

"Is there really a way to ease someone into this kind of thing?" he asked, taking a couple steps toward where she was sitting.

"I don't know, Kristoff," she said, putting a hand on her forehead.

Kristoff put his hands on her shoulders. "We'll figure something out."

She paused to gather her thoughts. "I'm scared, Kristoff," she said, a slight whimper in her voice. "I'm scared that once we tell her, she'll… she'll hate me. And after all that her and I have been through, I don't think I can-"

"Hey, hey, hey, I know," he said, trying to calm her down. "I know it's scary to think about. But like you mentioned, you two have been through a lot worse. Maybe it won't be so bad. You know, in comparison." He offered her a reassuring smile.

She smiled back, trying not to let tears fall. "That's ridiculous," she said. "If there's one thing you don't mess with, it's a teenage Princess's true love."

"But here's the thing," he said, stepping even closer. "I'm not her true love."

"She thinks you are."

"I know," he said, looking intensely into her eyes. "And that makes me feel extra guilty about doing this."

"Me too, Kristoff. You have no idea." And in response, he kissed her. His kiss was as intense as his stare. It took Elsa by surprise, but she didn't by any means object. Instead she tried to match the ferocity of his kiss with one of her own. She threw her arms around his shoulders, and wrapped one leg around his waist, leaving the other still hanging off of the desk where she was sitting.

Meanwhile, Callan was still in the bathroom, looking in the mirror at her braid. It was so nice of Her Majesty to braid my hair. Oh, I mean Elsa. She thought to herself, smiling when she remembered that she could now actually refer to Elsa as Elsa. I never thought I'd be friends with the Queen! She seemed to have a lot on her plate today. Maybe it would help if I helped Hilde pack for her, or something. I should go ask. That would be an appropriate gesture, right? She stood up and left the room.

Although she considered herself and Elsa friends now, and Elsa did the same, Callan was still nervous about going to talk to her for some reason. Thoughts raced through her head on her way to the meeting room.

Stop being weird, Callan. All you have to do is ask her if she needs help with anything today. Maybe she's busy right now. She's in the meeting room with a guest, after all. But when Callan was almost to the meeting room, she noticed that the door was open. Oh, okay. So, nervously looking at her shoes, she walked by the room and stood in the doorway.

"Hey Els, uh, Your Majesty, I was thinking that maybe…" She looked up, and saw Elsa and Kristoff locked in their passionate kiss, Elsa's leg still wrapped around him, his hands tightly gripping her waist. They hadn't heard her. "Elsa?" she yelled in disbelief. The two pulled apart. "And Kristoff? Anna's Kristoff?"

"Callan!" Elsa said. Kristoff backed away a few steps. "I, uh, we…" But Elsa didn't get to come up with an explanation before Callan turned around and sped away. Elsa jumped off of her desk and followed her. "Callan!" she called. Callan stopped walking and allowed Elsa to catch up with her. "Listen, that was… he was… I was just going over those trade proposals again. You know, the one's with the ice," she rambled nervously. "And I called Kristoff here because he knows a lot about ice, and uh, I just wanted his input on-"

Callan whipped around, now face to face with Elsa. "Oh yeah, I bet you wanted his input real badly," she said, hanging air quotes around the words.

Elsa's face turned beet red. "That is no way to talk to me!"

"Whatever," Callan said. She turned around and started walking away once again.

"Callan wait!" Elsa yelled. Callan stopped walking, giving Elsa one last chance to explain things. "You're not going to tell Anna, are you?"

"Ugh!" Callan groaned, storming off.

Once the coast was clear, Kristoff joined Elsa in the hallway. He stood a few feet behind her, and didn't make a sound.

Elsa slammed the side of her fist against the wall. Kristoff jumped when small, sharp ice crystals shot out of the impact point. "Damn it!" she said. She put her head in her hands, and ran back into the meeting room, leaving icy footprints with every step she took.