Anna resisted the disappointment welling inside her when Elsa mentioned the next day that no - I think I can get over a silly scanner. You can point it at me, I mean it's no more harmful than taking a picture. The slight sink in her chest abated when Elsa had patted her hand. As if she meant to say, it's alright - you can still touch me if you want. And that mischievous glint in her eyes which flickered ever more brightly as the days swooped by.
If Hans had meant to tighten their surveillance after the incident, she didn't notice. Their interviews had become more sporadic as Anna took her out on longer and further drives. Allowing Elsa the liberty of trying all sorts of new experiences in the modern century. With mixed success. When Elsa suggested buying Crocuses to plant in the backyard and liven up their living room, Anna pressed some American dollars in her hand. Brought her to a Florist run by an elderly woman. Who promptly dropped her shears when Elsa flung open the doors and hollered at the top of her voice, "I wish to purchase your wares!"
Anna didn't know whether to burst out laughing or implode into herself. But Elsa did have an eye for floral arrangements and herbs. Unexpected since Anna assumed she'd let her servants take care of everything. Her curiosity had further piqued when she brought back a bicycle and Elsa mounted it on the first try. Why would't I know how to cycle? It's far easier and less temperamental than riding a horse. Their morning walks in the forest became cycling trips to the stream. Dipping her toes in the brisk water while Anna stared menacingly at the NSA drones buzzing overhead. Perhaps Hans could see her face - and she tried not to let the resultant smile show too much.
"What's that?" Elsa perked upright. A few daisies perched in hand, pointed at the sky. That fear bubbled within herself again, of revealing too much, too soon. But she looked again at the object of Elsa's fascination - a plane drifting slowly across the cloudy skies.
"Oh, it's an aeroplane," Anna answered, "a hundred years after the war, we figured how construct contraptions that'd leap into the air. They just got bigger and better and eventually provided the means for sustained air travel. We call them aeroplanes."
"So what, there were people inside that thing?" Elsa looked aghast at the idea.
"Well, yes, in the same way people sat in wooden ships and sailed over the seas. Now they sit in metal tubes and sail through the skies. Crammed shoulder to shoulder in coach class watching shitty reruns of Seinfield."
"Hmm," Elsa mused. Her eyes were still fixed on the sky, though the plane had banked into some clouds and disappeared from sight.
"We can try it out one day," Anna stood closer to her, eyes trailing along the pale glow of her forearm streaked in mud, "it's one of the items on my NSA-approved plan, sitting in a commercial flight."
"Really?" Elsa's eyes glowed. A breeze blew daisies from her hand. "T-that sounds terrifying, if I'm to be honest."
"I didn't take you for a scaredy cat," Anna teased, bumping her elbow, "you're probably the bravest woman I know."
Elsa lapsed into another one of her long silences, filled with the trickling brook and the morning breeze. Her voice lowered, "Maybe I wish I wasn't brave. I would've remained in Arendelle while my best men went to die in the continent to further our foreign policy. Perhaps things would've been better like that."
Words deserted Anna for a moment. It'd been nearly a week since they'd mentioned the war.
"You wouldn't have had a chance to know what you were made of," Anna assured her, "and-"
"-I wouldn't have met you."
Her heart swelled momentarily - before she looked at Elsa already walking to their parked bicycles. Why does she do this? Say one sweet thing and leave her hanging in the cold. Unable to bask in the moment. It infuriated Anna, as much as she knew she was acting entitled over Elsa's attention. That each gaze thrown her way by giggly teenage boys or a snide half-smile and flirty bedroom eyes from that cute barista with the pixie haircut and ear rings Anna knew was gay.
Churned her guts inside out. She glared daggers at the barista. My name is Rochelle. What kinda dumb name is Rochelle?
"What're you looking at her like that for?" Elsa sat down with their order. Black Americano for Elsa. Peppermint Frappucino for Anna. Chocolate Streusel cake for sharing. "Has our server offended you in the past?"
"No, actually," Anna answered, searching Elsa's narrowed eyes for an emotion that wasn't bordering on jealousy. "I, um, think she was looking at you funny."
"She was, wasn't she? But I reckon she was more interested in you."
It took all of Anna's might to push away the thought that Elsa could be feeling the same way about her.
Despite the increased autonomy, their weekly check-ins grew longer and longer. Each unanswered text or call from Hans became a lecture session that spanned hours. Virtues of discipline and accountability espoused in long diatribes which barely held any relevance to Elsa's integration. Worst still were Anna's thermal scans, which posed a particular interest to a slew of fresh-faced NSA analysts. They pored over each one in minute detail despite showing nothing more than a warm-blooded woman. Discussions went from borderline intrusive to outright flagrant violations of Elsa's privacy. Talk about menstrual cycles and mood swings affecting her temperatures.
She was sidelined for most of these discussions, but still felt increasingly incensed. She's questioned on the Sanitary products Elsa had been introduced to and each little small morsel or beverage she's consumed. Despite her earlier promises, Anna found herself lying. No, she doesn't know when I'm scanning her. Elsa's mood appeared placid for the most part, warm to the touch. Though she knew very well just how dynamic the Queen could be. Prone to bouts of introspection and frosty cold moments which scared the shit out of her. Elsa was simply the most fascinating woman she'd ever met and yet the NSA treated her like a scientific object of study. Like they'd unearthed Godzilla from the ocean depths and were figuring it out through trial and error.
Her joy at seeing Elsa after her evaluation was shortlived. She looked crestfallen, like someone ran over her dog. A whole bunch of concerned questions surged to the edge of her mouth but she kept silent - knowing full well the way Elsa tended to clam up when pushed too far. They exchanged nothing but awkward glances as Anna pulled out of the NSA parking lot.
"That bad huh?," Anna broke the silence. Elsa looked down. A warm glow filled the Ford's interior as the sun hung low over the sky.
"It's been two months," Elsa's voice fragile like glass, "you seem to know me better than some councillors who've worked for years in my family."
"Well, I mean - it is my full time job to help you settle in-"
"A job."
Something about that exchange took the wind out of Elsa's sails. The Queen looked out the window, pale gold threads woven into purple-hued clouds.
"Did something happen at evaluations? Something I should know about?"
"It was strange," Elsa's hands lay limply in her lap, "I spent an hour sitting before a screen while they showed a film about the industrial revolution. Pollution and all the bad stuff it does to the environment. Then an elderly woman came in and asked a thousand questions to make sure I remembered everything."
"What?" Anna screeched, nearly missing a stop sign, "They told me specifically not to show you that."
"You think they're hiding stuff from us?" Elsa queried.
"Oh, of course! Without a doubt. What was the point they were trying to make?"
"Something about gases that come from all the machinery and vehicles humans use forming a greenhouse that traps heat. I know what a greenhouse is, the Royal Botanist grew flowers in them and it was always warm - even in fall. But I didn't know it was literally cooking the planet inside out."
"Cooking us," Anna forced herself to drive straight, "is that what they told you?"
"In no light terms, yes," Elsa continued, "and the hotter it gets, the more strange the weather becomes. Excess fainfall. Floods. Fires and snowstorms in places which never have them. The crops fail and people die."
"It's not entirely untrue. Not that I'm an expert on these things - though I do wonder how much of it is solvable before we give into rampant fearmongering."
"The thing about catastrophe, there will always be people looking to benefit from the misery of others."
Anna looked over as she drove below the limit on a highway. Another one of those stoic silences again. She so desperately wanted to rescue Elsa from this pit of despair that the NSA had left her in. Unfortunately, environmentalism was lost on Anna; her parents had never lowered the thermostat and they'd never bothered with recycling. Working in the Army made her the most wasteful brat on earth. The guilt gnawed on her as Elsa looked upon the pristine Maryland forests.
"Y'know - we don't have to go home right away," Anna offered, "it's a beautiful evening."
The words tugged Elsa's lips into a smile, "You read my mind."
Without so much as blinking, Anna veered off the highway exit. Elsa shrieked. Holyes Mill National Park. The rapid shudder of dirt-paved roads sent her fingers clutching to the seat. Beaming smile still plastered on her face. They were the only car in the parking lot. For once, they weren't being followed by NSA drones. Though Anna had no idea if they'd simply upgraded to Satellite surveillance. These worries had a tendency to slip her mind in the easy, comfortable space Elsa provided her.
"You seem to know this place pretty well," Elsa tried her best to keep up with Anna along the steep forest trail.
"I used to camp here over summer for school," Anna barely lost her breath, "my parents really just wanted to keep me out of their hair. But I enjoyed nature so much that it didn't matter."
"You-" Elsa stared. Before they reached the crest of a hill and Elsa saw what she meant. Scarlet ribbons from the sunset draped a river and left shimmering golden petals. Birds fluttered between branches for the roost. The pink-threaded skies were just giving way to dusk. They could already make out the star-speckled heavens and a solitary disc of white that beamed upon them.
"I was hoping we'd make it in time for the sunset," Anna mumbled, "you'd probably have a better view over the Fjords. But I think this holds its own weight."
"No - well, yes, but I mean," Elsa appeared to clutch at words, cherry-tinted lips fell ajar, "this is magnificent. It looks like back home."
She made out the glorious sunset refracted in Elsa's glimmering eyes. A clutch at her chest at how long more she could have this woman before it was all whisked away. Such a temporal feeling this was, Anna thought, compared to the permanence of the sunset. The same sunset Elsa must've looked upon a thousand times from her palace balcony. Yet one which still appeared to steal her breath away. The light shudder in her lips impressed upon Anna that everything around them could change tomorrow - but at least she could have this memory. This woman who came into her life out of thin air. Taught her more about resilience and bravery than all of her experiences combined.
It left Anna lightheaded. She wandered to the nearest boulder and smiled at Elsa as she sat next to her. Eyes still entranced by the last speck of gold disappearing into the horizon. Gentle heave of her chest. Tears that verged on spilling. She must be lost in her memories again. Anna pondered. Before she dipped her head back and soaked in the glow of the now. A moment alone with the most beautiful woman on the planet. Forgetting they were two girls broken by their pasts and condemned to some weird, top-secret science project. She turned slowly to Elsa and noticed she'd curled into herself. Chained words that raged against the held knot of a breath.
"Y'know," Elsa whispered, looking ahead, "if you need to take my temperature for today - now would be a great time."
It took her a full second to comprehend. Hesitation tied her down before it burned to cinders from that heat in her belly. Anna walked her fingers into Elsa's palm. Blushing when they curled their hands together. All at once Anna felt herself dissolving again into the eternal tapestry of time. Alone with this woman - she could've existed in any one of many centuries. Emerge from any number of pointless conflicts or disastrous misfortunes. And still find each other throughout all this mess.
"You're warm today," Anna leaned against Elsa's shoulder, "really, really warm."