Touch

By

Rogue Amazon Boo

Elsa wasn't used to people touching her.

She hadn't had normal human contact since she was twelve years old and she'd become too frightened to hug her parents any longer. She could still remember the heartbroken expression on her mother and father's faces.

She remembered the last time she allowed her father to touch her. It had been a particularly horrible day during the summer of her eleventh year and she'd been missing her sister terribly. It was before Anna stopped knocking on her door and she'd been very insistent.

"Elsa let's go fly a kite!"

"Elsa let's go swimming!"

"Elsa please, please come out and see the baby ducks!"

"Elsa why won't you come play with me? What did I do?"

She'd been particularly harsh when she'd told Anna to go away and leave her alone. She'd heard her baby sister's muffled sobs not long after.

She'd never hated her curse more than at that moment. Her papa had come in to ask her what had happened and found her lying on her bed; crying inconsolable icy tears. Her father had ignored the ice, gathered her close, and rocked her back a forth until she finally stopped. She'd been okay until she'd seen the layer of ice on his lapels—much, much too close to his heart.

She'd started crying silent tears then, the implications not lost on her even at such a young age.

It was hard for her at twenty-one to forget that sad and lonely little girl she'd been. She didn't fear her powers any longer. She had embraced them, but she still flinched sometimes when people touched her.

Anna touched her all the time.

At first she'd pull away and inadvertently hurt her sister. Now, she came to relish the contact, even crave it, even though it was uncomfortable sometimes.

Her sister would grab her hand and squeeze it, throw a friendly arm over her shoulder, hug her quickly, hug her tight, snuggle into her shoulder, and sometimes she would play with her hair, or kiss her cheek, or cover her eyes from behind and ask her to guess who it was.

Her sister was playful and touch was as natural to her as breathing.

Elsa still had a long way to go.

She was pulled from her thoughts when Anna burst into her study, a whirlwind of energy, and launched herself at the queen. Elsa caught her with a muffled ommph and Anna glomped on to her like a clingy octopus. She pulled back slightly so she could ask.

"Why are you still in here? It's been hours and you know how I feel about you working all day long. Cooommmmeeee Onnnnn. We have a game of knattleikr going. Olaf is bowling so you won't have to worry about the slobbered on ball. It will be fun, you remember fun? It's that thing that is the exact opposite of everything else you do."

Elsa smiled and then sighed. "I have to finish this up for tomorrow's council meeting, but I promise, I will come down in a moment."

Anna rolled her eyes dramatically. "Fiiinnneee. Just don't work too hard." She kissed her on the forehead, squeezed her hand, and bounded off. Elsa watched her go with an amused smirk on her face.

Yes touch was still somewhat uncomfortable, but the alternative was going back to the loneliness and isolation she'd escaped from.

She would take being touched over that any day of the week.

After all, she wasn't made of ice and her heart wasn't cold…and she wasn't lonely any longer.

She almost felt normal.

Almost.