A/N: Here is my entry for Elsa Week 2015. This covers two of the prompts: "You've never had a real birthday before..." and "Fit for a Queen (Jacket Day!)". Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates, and Happy New Year to all. :) Read on for Snow Sisters fluff!
Edited 12/25 for clarity.
"Yuletide"
The Yule season had arrived, and on this bitter cold December morning, Princess Anna of Arendelle sat in her room plotting. Ordinarily, the strawberry-blonde would spend such a morning tucked in her warm bed, waiting for the castle to warm to her liking (which was really just an excuse to not get up).
Or at least she would have, before the events of Elsa's coronation over five months ago. Since then, her sister had, in some of her free time, been teaching her various things that she could do to assist Elsa with matters of state—paperwork, politics, etiquette, languages, and all of the other things that Anna had not learned enough of in the last three years. She didn't enjoy it a great deal, but kept at it, knowing that if she helped Elsa run the kingdom, there would be more time for fun activities.
It was just such a fun activity that Anna was planning now. For thirteen long years, the winter solstice—Elsa's birthday—had seen the younger princess leave the older a present at her door, without ever seeing the look on her face when she opened it. Anna had so seldom seen her sister, even in passing, or a glimpse in the hallways, that she had begun to wonder what Elsa would even want for her birthday. And with said event so close to Yule Day, it was tough to decide what to give her.
Oh, there were simple things she could give, like chocolate, but Anna already shared plenty of that with her sister, in the hope that it might entice Elsa to open her door. For her birthday, then, Anna wanted to give Elsa something more special, meaningful—a card, for instance, or a colorful drawing, or both. (She left chocolate, too, and was fairly certain that her sister ate it.) As they got older, Anna found fancier things to give Elsa, but the only way she would know if her sister liked the gifts was if she asked at her door, or slip her a note under the door, and hope for an answer. (She seldom got one.)
But this year would be different. This year, Elsa was finally out of her room, and thus Anna had gotten to know her better. Unfortunately, the princess was still low on ideas, which was why she was awake and brainstorming.
Anything made of ice or snow is out, she thought. It's too obvious, and Elsa can make whatever she wants out of the stuff anyway. Chocolate is a given, but there'll be plenty of that at the party. I could draw her something, I guess . . . no, wait! A dress! No, that wouldn't work, either . . . would it?
Elsa did still wear normal, actual-fabric dresses, both for everyday use and formal occasions, but if she was in a hurry in the morning (which was often), she would just conjure up an ice dress and move on with her day. In the last five months, she had gotten better at making them, to the point where she could make them in any style or shade of blue that she wished.
I guess the only way to find out what to get her is to see what she has, Anna thought. Getting into Elsa's room wouldn't be a problem—even if it was locked, Anna always kept a key with her, just so she could open it and give her sister an earful for locking it in the first place—no more closed doors, darn it! No, the tricky part would be getting into her room while she wasn't there. Which, given how busy she usually was, was actually fairly often. She just had to do it without looking suspicious.
She crept out of her room, looking both ways to make sure no one was coming. It wasn't like her sneaking around the castle was unusual—far from it—but if the castle staff saw her, they might tell Elsa, and make her suspicious, which would ruin everything. (It would be useless to try convincing Elsa that Anna wasn't snooping around her room to see what she had gotten Anna for Yule, because Elsa probably wouldn't believe her.)
Satisfied that the hallway was empty, Anna tiptoed all the way to Elsa's bedroom door. Testing the handle, she was pleased to find that it was unlocked. She slipped inside and shut the door quietly behind her. Glancing around the obsessively tidy room, Anna decided that it was now or never, and walked over to where the wardrobes stood.
She opened the nearest wardrobe, and peeked inside. Anna had gotten a good look at some of Elsa's clothes the evening after the Thaw (and had even convinced her to wear some of them), but she had only looked in one wardrobe—this one was unfamiliar to her. It also looked like it hadn't been dug through in quite a while. Some of it was formal wear, but one piece in particular caught her attention.
Pulling it out, she stood there and stared at the deep blue jacket and matching dress like she had seen a ghost. It was just the sort of thing she remembered her mother liked to wear around the castle. With a start, she realized that she had also seen Elsa wearing something like this on occasion, during their long isolation. But, as few times as she had seen her after their parents' loss, she couldn't recall her wearing it since then—always something formal for the uncrowned queen.
Hmm, Anna mused. Maybe she'd like another one? It seems to be the only one she has. Where most of Elsa's wardrobes consisted of multiple pairs of identical outfits (In case she spills ink on one, I guess . . ), this outfit seemed to be one-of-a-kind. Maybe something in a lighter blue, closer to ice dress color . . .
Anna commissioned her favorite seamstress, Ingrid, to make a jacket and dress on short notice (anything for the very active Princess of Arendelle, who needed dresses mended so often that it wasn't long before the two women were on a first-name basis). The winter solstice crept up faster than she expected, but she still made it a birthday for Elsa to remember.
They had a small celebration in the courtyard, to start—there was cake, krumkake, and all manner of chocolate sweets to please the Queen's taste. The children of Arendelle were invited to bring their well wishes, sing her a Yule carol or two, and (of course) beg her to "do the magic".
For gift-giving, they moved inside to the throne room. There weren't many gifts for Elsa—what, besides chocolate, do you give a queen who has everything, as well as magic?—but Elsa insisted that the people of Arendelle giving her birthday wishes was gift enough. Kristoff surprised the Queen with a cute ice sculpture that Anna thought was either a mountain or a castle—she wasn't sure, but silently applauded him for trying. Finally, it was Anna's turn to present her sister with her long, flat package.
"What's this, Anna?" Elsa asked, accepting the gift, eyeing it with no small amount of amusement on her face. "A dress?"
Anna gave her a look that she hoped conveyed her irritation well enough. "Well, Elsa, it's been so long since you've had a real birthday, and I didn't know what to give you. So I went into your room—"
"You what?" Elsa blurted.
"Yell at me later," Anna said quickly. "Anyway, so I was looking through your dresses, thinking I could get you something you didn't have . . . and I found your jacket."
"Jacket?" the blonde echoed, then paled. "Oh. That."
Anna immediately went to her sister's side, kneeling next to the throne. "Elsa," she said gently, "I understand why you don't wear it—I understood the moment I saw it. But I thought I could give you something similar, only, well . . . more you. New you."
"Anna, that's . . ." Elsa trailed off, then took a deep breath. "Thank you, Anna."
"Well, open it!" Anna said.
Elsa daintily removed the wrapping, and pulled out a icy-blue garment, almost the same shade as the ice dress she was wearing, but in the same cut as the jacket she once wore. Underneath the jacket was a matching dress; both jacket and skirts were trimmed in a deeper blue, with what appeared to be miniature snowflakes dotting the trim.
"Anna, it's beautiful," Elsa breathed. Then, to Anna's surprise, she pulled Anna into a hug. "Thank you," she said again. "For understanding."
When they broke apart, the assembled townspeople applauded. Under cover of the applause, Elsa asked her, "Ingrid?"
Anna started, surprised. "Yeah, how did you know?"
"Who else could have made something like this on short notice, with such attention to detail?" Elsa replied, grinning.
"It's truly fit for a queen," Anna said. "And now you need to wear it, or I'll tell her you couldn't be bothered."
"All right, Anna, if you insist," Elsa said. She stood, jacket and dress in hand, and walked off, clearly headed to change. Anna watched her go, and so was facing Elsa when she too-casually flicked her free hand over her shoulder.
"COLD!" Anna shrieked, wiping the snow from her face.
"That's for sneaking into my room," her sister called back, a note of triumph in her voice.
A/N: I started writing this story in early February, less than a week after writing and posting "Moonlight" (the first chapter in this collection). It was only when this fall and the Anna/Elsa weeks rolled around that I decided it would be more interesting if I wrote it for Elsa Week, and incorporated some of the prompt ideas.
– I used the terms "Yule", etc., because a) it's set in Norway, and b) it's the Disney-verse, and I didn't wish to make any religious implications for Arendelle (or make them incorrectly).
– I basically pulled the name "Ingrid" out of a hat. It's a nice Norse name.