Chapter Text
The night was bitterly cold, and the wind howled mercilessly, whipping the fallen autumn leaves into a frenzy. It had started raining about an hour ago, and everything was damp, freezing, and miserable. Elsa couldn’t care less. The worse the weather was, the more likely people would stay indoors, and the less likely she was to be spotted striding through the streets of Arendelle.
“No one will care if they see you!” Anna had exclaimed once, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “It’s not like you’re up to anything malicious. Everyone will figure you’re just going to visit your sister - which you are.”
Her younger sister had made a fair point, and was probably right in that no one would truly care if they saw her. But Anna didn’t get it; walking through the streets of the kingdom Elsa had once ruled felt wrong somehow, and Elsa wasn’t always able to control the guilt she felt when coming across one of her former citizens. Though she had almost never been treated with anything besides kindness or politeness, she couldn’t help but feeling she was a let-down.
A rational feeling? Probably not. Anna told her it wasn’t. And Anna was usually right. It didn’t, however, stop Elsa from planning her visits to her sister after sunset, and after awhile, Anna stopped bringing it up.
They usually had too many other things to talk about anyways.
Elsa made it to the shadowed palace gates, pulling her sodden cloak closer to her body. For once, the palace seemed warm and inviting as it loomed over her, its brightly lit windows promising heat and comfort. Elsa didn’t often get cold, but the mixture of wind and freezing rain was kind of a bitch.
Steering clear of the main entrance, Elsa made her way through the soaked grass to a servants’ entrance.
“Good evening, Your- I mean, Miss, um...”
“Just Elsa is alright,” Elsa murmured for what felt like the millionth time as she slipped past the guard and through the door.
No one knew how to address her anymore, now that she had given up the throne, and it had gotten tiring quickly.
Once out of earshot, she loosed a gigantic sigh and-
“Elsaaaaa!” cried a voice and something crashed into her.
“Oh!” she gasped, then realized she was being crushed in a tight hug by the queen of Arendelle.
“They told me you were coming and- ewww, you’re all wet, what have you been doing?” came the now muffled voice from her shoulder.
Elsa laughed and pulled away, holding her sister at arm’s length. Despite the surprise attack, she noticed that she had completely relaxed now in the company of her sister. “It’s raining, didn’t you notice?”
“Honestly, no, I hadn’t. Kristoff and I have been really… busy.”
Elsa raised her eyebrows at Anna’s now-pink cheeks, paired with the fact that it seemed that the only thing her sister was wearing was a silk robe, but decided not to question it. Anna seemed grateful.
“Anyways, come on. You’re getting the floor all wet.” She grabbed Elsa’s hand and began nearly running to the nearest staircase, practically dragging her sister along with her.
Elsa had wondered if being queen would change Anna’s behavior or personality at all, but it hadn’t seemed to in the slightest. Elsa wasn’t sure she had ever been more glad of anything; the red-haired woman now shoving her into their old, shared room was the same as the young girl content with building snowmen all day long.
“How are you?” her sister asked, digging through a drawer in the bureau, tossing out items of clothing she must have deemed unsuitable. “Tell me everything.”
“I’m better, now that I’m with you,” Elsa smiled fondly at her sister as she tossed a pair of underwear behind her and onto the bed.
Anna paused her digging momentarily to put a hand over her heart and looked at Elsa with the same expression.
It was true. Whatever stress or anxiety Elsa felt was automatically lessened just by seeing her sister’s face. Whenever she was with Anna, she felt empowered, like she could do anything. And when she wasn’t, she missed her so much her heart ached, and being reunited only made her realize how hard being separated truly was.
“Here, try this,” Anna threw a light blue nightgown at her sister. “Get out of those clothes, you’ll get sick.”
Elsa held the cotton nightgown up and frowned. It was from her teenage years and she doubted it would fit, and she was sure it wasn’t practical clothing for traveling.
Anna noticed her expression. “You’re spending the night, right?”
“Actually, I thought I would-”
“Nonsense,” Anna shut the drawer with a note of finality. “You’re spending the night.”
Elsa was always at war with herself between hating the palace, but loving her sister, and usually didn’t stay longer than she had to. But tonight, the joy of seeing her sister won out and Elsa discovered she didn’t even care to try to resist- it wouldn’t do a whole lot of good anyways.
Still, she raised the question. “Kristoff?”
Anna shook her head and smiled. “Sleeping. He’s really tired.”
“I’ll go change then,” she nodded to the door.
Anna’s grin widened. “I’ll call up some snacks. Then, we talk.”
Elsa wasn’t sure how long they’d been talking. The candles had burned low, but still cast a warm, flickering glow across the airy, spacious bedroom. Elsa and her sister had taken up positions on a bed, Elsa curled on her side, her head propped up on her hand, and Anna was sprawled on her back like a starfish.
It had been a year since Elsa had moved away from her sister to live with the Northuldra, her mother’s people. She initially had managed to visit Anna a few times a week at least, but as the months wore on and Anna became busier and busier with various queenly duties, their visits became more spaced out. Now, Elsa was lucky to see her sister twice a month: an arrangement she was less than fond of.
“Tell me about the hunters again,” Elsa now demanded, as Anna stared up at the ceiling.
Their conversation had taken a turn from their normal catching up and gossiping about their lives apart and had instead adopted a different, more serious subject that both sisters knew well: the increasing conflict between the citizens of Arendelle and the Northuldra.
“You already know what happened.” Anna blew out a breath that sent her bangs fluttering off her forehead.
“It’s different from your perspective. Just- indulge me.”
“Fine.”
Anna tilted her head to look up at her sister and began. Elsa couldn’t help but notice that her tone was much heavier than it had been earlier with their light-hearted banter.
“A group of people from Arendelle were out hunting in the Northern wood. They shot and killed a reindeer, completely by accident-”
“So they claim,” Elsa interjected, and Anna nodded in agreement.
“So they claim. It turns out that the reindeer was one of the Northuldra’s, who were both devastated and angered by its death. Which, I mean, is totally understandable. Who could blame them, Elsa? Poor little thing.”
Elsa felt the normal spark of anger and sadness she did when she heard about the incident from others, but stayed silent.
“Anyways, this supposed group of hunters are nowhere to be found. The only thing I’ve heard is from the Northuldra, but even their side of the story is a bit muddled. I don’t know who was involved in the incident itself which makes it very hard to lay down the law, so to speak, and deliver the justice that the Northuldra are asking me for.”
Elsa nodded slowly along to Anna’s words. Her sister, the queen, knew about as much as she expected her to, which managed to be both good and bad.
“And it’s not the only time that this sort of thing has happened,” Anna was continuing. “The Northuldra has been complaining about river pollution, and the hunters are saying their territory has shrank, which I’m not really sure that it has, and all of the maps that do separate the territories are more than 50 years old and sort of vague.”
Elsa frowned. “So you’re saying that if you knew more about territory lines and laws, it would be easier to help?”
Anna huffed another frustrated breath. “Well, yeah, and more about the incident in general. If I could just find out where the incident happened and who was involved, everything would be a lot easier to fix. But I don’t know anything.”
Silently, Elsa stored away her words. She desperately hoped to quell her sister’s frustration, but there were certain things that had to stay secret. And then hopefully Elsa could fix the rest before her sister ever found out the details of what had really transpired the night of the infamous “reindeer incident”.
“No one has been able to get past the mist in 35 years so all these issues are pretty new. It’s been all this atop of foreign affairs, trying to keep everyone happy, and it’s just… difficult.” During her spiel, Anna had turned away from Elsa, addressing her words to the ceiling as if she was afraid to be saying them out loud. Now finished, she peeked back and winced.
“Damn, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to complain. It’s fine, really. Nothing I can’t handle. Elsa? Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” Elsa said, startled.
“Like you’re guilty. Because listen, it’s fine. I’m alright.”
“You’re stressed,” Elsa murmured, her voice trembling.
“Understandably!” Anna sat up. “Being queen is stressful. It’s in the job description. Which I already knew, and agreed to, so don’t you dare-”
“Anna.”
Anna fell silent, her cheeks flushed.
Elsa took a deep breath, in and out of her nose, preparing herself to be shot down. “How about you let me help with some of it? I could help with the border disputes.”
“No. Out of the question,” Anna responded instantly.
Elsa wasn’t ready to back down. She and her sister had had this conversation many times in many different variations and Elsa’s offer always ended up getting refused. Not this time, though. Elsa needed to help.
“No. Out of the question,” Anna responded instantly.
Elsa wasn’t ready to back down. She and her sister had had this conversation many times in many different variations and Elsa’s offer always ended up getting refused. Not this time, though.
“You used to help me when I was queen,” Elsa began.
“Yes, but only with-”
Elsa held up a single, pale finger. “All I am asking is to just help research. I can ask some of the older members of the Northuldra about territorial boundaries. I could take some old books, or maps and study them in my free time, which I do have quite a bit of. And before you say it, I know you’re capable of doing it all yourself. I have never doubted your abilities-”
“False.”
“As queen. But as queen it would be foolish to refuse this offer, especially coming from someone who lives with the Northuldra.”
Elsa took Anna’s silence as a sign of victory, and it was all she could do to suppress a triumphant grin.
“Okay…” Anna said slowly.
Then, a slow smile began growing across her face and Elsa watched with mounting confusion. She dared not speak.
“But… I think I should get something in return for letting you assist me.”
“What?” Elsa blurted. “Whatever could you possibly want?”
Anna flopped over on her side, the candle light illuminating a mischievous grin spread across her features. “I can think of a couple things.”
“You know you can have anything you want from me, Anna,” Elsa said, starting to grow a bit worried.
“So, then, it wouldn’t be a problem if I… maybe picked out a couple dates for you?”
Understanding dawned, then horror.
“What? Anna, no. You know I don’t date!”
“You’ve never tried it,” Anna smirked. “You know, I worry about you sometimes. Poor Elsa, forever alone.”
Her sister made a mock-pouty face.
“I’m not alone. I have you. And Kristoff. And Honeymaren. And Ryder,” Elsa pointed out hotly.
“Ooh, Ryder,” Anna smirked. “Maybe he could be your first date.”
Elsa loved her sister, but she hated nothing more than these conversations. She always meant it when she said she had never wanted to date any man, ever. But Anna never seemed to understand.
Rolling her eyes, Elsa ignored her sister’s taunts. “Anna, why won’t you just let me help you?”
“Because I want you to understand that I can do this alone,” Anna replied, and though her tone was casual, Elsa felt a spark of shame.
“I do understand that!”
Anna looked away. “Well, maybe I need to understand it myself.”
Silence fell over the room, thick and heavy. Elsa resisted her urge to smooth back her sister’s hair, pull her into her arms, and tell her every reason why she was the greatest queen in the world, and more than capable to do anything she wanted.
Instead, she steeled herself, ignoring the warning bells in her head, and said the one thing she knew would make her sister happy. “Three dates. And that’s all.”
It was like a switch went off. Anna eyes widened and she screeched, flinging herself atop Elsa.
“Really?!”
Elsa ignored her instant and deep regret and managed a muffled ‘yes’ from underneath Anna.
It’s for Anna, she reminded herself. You can do it if it’s for her.
“Aww, Elsa, I’m so excited for you! You’re not going to regret this, I promise. In fact, you’ll love it!”
Anna raised herself up over Elsa, her hands pinning her shoulders to the bed. Strands of her sister’s long, red hair tickled her face. Seeing Anna’s face so filled with joy almost made things better. Almost. She tried for what she hoped was a winning smile. Anna shrieked with happiness again.
“My sister is growing up!” Anna yelled.
Elsa felt a twinge of annoyance for two reasons: One, because her sister had probably woken up half the castle. And two, because she didn’t know one had to date to be considered “grown up.” Anna probably hadn’t meant it that way, but it still sort of hurt.
“I’ll start thinking of prospects right away,” Anna was gushing. “Oh, I’m so excited.”
Whatever it takes to make her happy, Elsa told herself, sternly. Whatever it takes.
“You alright?” asked Anna, staring down at her.
“Yes,” Elsa faked a yawn. “Just a little tired.”
“Oh, yeah,” Anna nodded vigorously. “Me too.”
Anna did not seem remotely tired, but she leapt off the bed and blew off the candles on the bureau, plunging the room into darkness.
Elsa heard her jump a moment later and felt her land on the bed beside her. Elsa reached out, gathering her sister into her arms.
“I love you, sis,” Anna murmured.
“Love you, too,” Elsa whispered to the darkness.
Anna fell asleep before she did.