Elsa had just barely set her hands on the window sill, gaze fixed on the portion of Arendelle that she could see, when the door to her room violently flew open. She tore her gaze from the view and fixed it upon a seemingly seething Anna. "What is the meaning of this?"
"How dare you." Anna's voice was low and cold.
"Excuse me?"
"How dare you not tell me. Are you crazy?"
"Anna what are you talking about?"
"How stupid do you think I am, really?"
Elsa's gaze was puzzled and angry. She had no idea what Anna was referring to, and yet Anna insisted that she was slighting her. "Anna I really don't know what you are talking about."
"I saw him, Elsa." Again, Anna's voice was low and strong. "I saw my father leave only moments ago. In his hands? Training swords. Now why would the Queen of Arendelle be meeting in private with my father- what could she be doing with practice swords?"
"Anna, please don't." The blonde had caught on now, yet still she didn't want to argue.
"How long has this been going on, Elsa?"
"Anna don-"
"How. Long?"
There was a stillness between them, tension so thick it could be cut with a knife. For several moments Anna kept her angered gaze fixed on the monarch before her. When Elsa finally spoke, her tone held guilt. She should have told Anna; she knew she should have, but she was trying to avoid what was coming next.
"A few days, closer to a week."
"You kept this from me for a week? And what? I take it you're not training for sport, your Majesty."
"No Anna, I am not."
"You want to ride into battle, don't you?"
"It is my duty as Queen."
"That is bull shit Elsa."
Elsa's gaze darkened and fixed itself on Anna. "Do not speak to me in that tone."
"You can't ride into battle Elsa, its crazy!"
"My soldiers will ride into battle at my order, they will march out there with a fifty/fifty chance of returning because I ordered them to. What gives me any right to ask that of them when I wouldn't do the same for my kingdom?"
"You are Arendelles Queen!"
"And I must be there for my people when they need me most!"
"All those men are going out there to protect you and this kingdom!"
"And who protects them? My grandfather rode out next to his soldiers!"
"You are not him! Elsa you are not your father! You could be KILLED. Then what will Arendelle have?"
Anna's words stung. No, Elsa wasn't her father. She wasn't her grandfather. She was no man, Elsa was a queen not a king, but that wasn't going to stop her. "I am riding into battle, and that is the last of it."
"No! The hell it is!" Anna spat. " This is a stupid desicion! I bet you can't even beat me in a sword fight! How do you expect to beat a thousand Souther Isles soldiers?"
Elsa's patience snapped, in a violent downward flick of her arm she created a sword born of ice. "Draw your sword Anna."
"No I will n-"
"NOW."
The angered red-haired woman drew her sword in a burst of enraged speed. This fight was different; it wasn't like her fights against Kristoff. Elsa knew how to step, Elsa was smaller and faster than he was. Her sword rang each time it hit Elsa's frozen blade, and shards of ice fell to the floor each time the two opposing objects met.
The two blades crashed together and froze in place, both women pressing with all their strength against the other. Faces red, swords trembling at shoulder height, neither would give up. But it was a moment of clarity that caused Elsa to relinquish the grip of one of her hands, fingers pointed to the ground, and turned the floor's surface to slick ice. Anna's footing no longer held any resistance. As Elsa pushed forward Anna slid back untill her back hit the wall. Using the moment of shock and her sword, the monarch disarmed Anna, sending her blade crashing to the floor.
The angered young woman reached for the lost weapon, but all she found was cold of Elsa's blade at her neck.
"I have beaten you, Anna. This is the end of it. I will ride into battle, if this is to much for you to handle then you are more than welcome to leave." Never had Elsa's eyes been fixed upon Anna in that manner. Cold, calm and sorrowful all at once.
Anna didn't move. Her mind was racing, emotions jumbled. She couldn't tell if she was scared, angry, sad, or impressed. She didn't say anything; the words wouldn't come. She felt the ice below her dissipate, like she watched Elsa's sword follow suit. She got to her feet and picked up her weapon, bowed to Elsa and left without a word, tears threatening in her eyes.
It wasn't that Elsa had defeated her, it was that Elsa had once again shut her out, kept her in the dark about something so important. Why? Because Elsa knew Anna wouldn't want her to go? Or because Elsa knew it would break her heart? The only positive thing that Anna took from that encounter was the knowledge that Elsa was decent in a sword fight, but also a reminder that Elsa had powers to help her. It wouldn't stop Anna from worrying, but it was a comfort nonetheless. It was something.