A/N: I know this is short, and I'm really really sorry. For those who follow r/Elsanna, you probably know that I've had a crazy few weeks. Long story short, my old job was making me depressed and causing a whole lot of shit in my life. So I hunted for new work like crazy. Found a new job, and I'm going through training. The training is hellish and the work is tough, but it's so much more fulfilling and there's no more freakin drama. Sigh. Anyways, updates should be more normal from here on out, now that my training is almost over.

This chapter was supposed to be three times as long, but I felt like I owed it to you guys to get something out. I'm still working on it, but I'm hoping you guys enjoy this much at least.

Many thanks to my reviewers. You keep me happy, something I've needed a whole lot lately. And super duper special thanks to Neiromaru, whose little pokes and prods reminded me to get my ass in gear and keep writing. /hearts

"Don't only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine." Ludwig van Beethoven

The air on the lake was cold. For some reason, Elsa wanted to practice on the water, and Anna wasn't convinced it was actually a sane idea. After the ship incident, being around water was nerve-wracking. She knew she had to face her fears, but wasn't this too soon?

"Calm down, Anna."

The princess gave a small harumph. Elsa was pretty sure she could feel the younger woman's glare boring a small hole into her.

"It's like ice skating. It won't come all at once."

Anna folded her arms in front of her chest. "I can barely form an ice blob."

Elsa grinned. 'On purpose, at least.'

Anna scowled. "I heard that!"

The queen laughed out loud and walked up to the princess. She pushed a stray hair behind the younger woman's ear, then cupped her cheek. Anna's frown didn't lighten much, but she willingly leaned into the touch.

The princess huffed in frustration. "We've been practicing for five days straight. I feel like I'm getting no where."

Elsa smiled softly and moved her arms down to her sister's waist, pulling her into a loose hug. "I've been practicing for twenty-five years. It takes time."

She pressed a kiss to Anna's forehead, then pulled back to look her in the eye. "Besides, your control is fantastic. You don't seem to have any issues with that."

The princess shrugged. "I love you."

She stated the words like they explained everything. In a way, they actually did. She had the encouragement and support of the person she loved most in the world, not to mention the best teacher possible for the process. She was in safe hands.

Elsa sent a wordless reply, pouring every ounce of affection she felt for her sister down through their link. They shared a small kiss and Anna pulled back smiling, her frustration dissipated.

"Okay. Lets try again."

Elsa nodded. "I want to test the limits of the control we have. I want to see how much I can block from you, and vice versa."

Anna nodded and Elsa grinned down at her. "Just take small sips, okay? Hold it in. Don't release it unless it gets to be too much."

The princess took a deep breath and expelled it slowly. She had to release her mind into their shared link to pull at the power. It was very much still connected to Elsa. Without her sister, she wouldn't be able to use the power. A thought suddenly came to her. Did it have a range? If they were too far apart would it still work?

'Concentrate.' Elsa admonished. Anna complied, but she knew her sister had followed her train of thought. She could feel Elsa putting the idea aside for later, as something to come back to.

The two had been testing the ins and outs of their link during every moment they could get. Anna was fascinated. She had always loved her sister's magic. She was well aware of the danger, but was eager to push it to its limits to see what she could do. Elsa, ever the practical one, found herself having to constantly remind the younger woman of the damage she could cause if she wasn't careful.

They had found so far that Anna was not able to pull as much power as much as Elsa could. Her older sister was able to open the floodgates and have it pour out of her in waves, and she would shape the magic as it left her. Anna was able to hold onto much, much more power in her body, but had a harder time accessing it.

The amount of time it took to fill Anna to capacity was enough time for Elsa to have summoned and used ten times the amount the younger woman could hold onto.

The queen found it strange, but wasn't going to question it.

As Anna began pulling on the power down their link. Elsa tried to pull it back. She was mostly successful. Anna's will was incredibly strong. Still, she managed to flow it to a trickle, and her younger sister rolled her eyes.

Anna stopped holding it in and let the small amount of power dibble into her hand, manifesting itself. She controlled it firmly, making the ice form a small circle in her palm. She held the image in her mind and forced it to stabilize. Once the circle was perfect, she flattened it out slightly, so it was more ring-shaped.

Anna smiled down at her creation. It was a perfectly circular. She stopped the flow of power, then began letting it out again, an even smaller amount than before. It was just enough to manifest in the physical world, and it was more mist than ice. She ran her finger along the band, dusting it and laying down a pattern. She styled it in the shape of the Arendellan crest, a crocus blooming with small waves around the band it in a stylized fashion.

Anna held the magic together in her palm. She didn't want to release it, she loved the way it had turned out. The princess sighed out loud, disappointed.

A soft voice entered her mind. 'Tie it off.'

'I don't know how.'

Elsa cupped her palms around her sister's hand. 'I'll show you.'

The older woman grabbed onto Anna's tiny threads of power. She used her will to manipulate the magic, attempting to make the ice self-sustaining. It was like literally tying a mental knot, and willing the power to follow in different directions all at once. Elsa tried it multiple times, but kept losing track of the process. It was too delicate.

Anna mentally followed what Elsa was trying to do. After her older sister's third failed attempt, she took over. Elsa backed off, and observed Anna. She tried her best to guild the woman mentally. It was much easier to track when she could view it objectively.

Finally, it was finished. Both sisters broke off their concentration and looked down at the ring. Anna smiled happily. Elsa's eyebrows were raised in admiration and a little bit of disbelief.

The younger sister bumped her shoulder against Elsa's. "Pretty good, eh?"

Elsa nodded emphatically. "I'll say. That's some delicate work. I've never been able to tie off a knot that small."

Anna grinned wryly. "It's easy to control when I'm only getting a tiny bit of power from you like that."

The queen returned the grin, gesturing to the ring. "I'm definitely not able to make anything like that. I think you'll be a lot better suited to finer work. I've been training you all wrong."

Anna sighed at the thought of more training, and her sister laughed at her.

The princess's eyes grew devious, a thought coming to her. Elsa understood the implications of her sister's thought process much too late, and before she could stop the younger woman, Anna grabbed Elsa's right hand. She slipped the ring over the woman's middle finger, and it fit perfectly.

The queen looked down at the hand and groaned, but it turned into a laugh. Anna was ridiculous, and she told her so.

Her younger sister just smirked and pulled Elsa into a tight hug, molding herself into the older woman's side with her arms around her waist. Her head fit perfectly in the crook of Elsa's neck, and she sat there for a moment, content. Elsa wrapped her arms around Anna's shoulders and leaned into the younger girl.

They needed to get back to the castle, but for a little while they just stood together, enjoying the embrace. The two thought they would have more time together during the day, but they were constantly in meetings and dealing with endless political nonsense.

King Thomas had taken to stealing Elsa and begging her for her secrets with accounting. Corona was a very wealthy kingdom, and actually took in more money than Arendelle, but the king was frustrated by their expenses. The surplus the kingdom had was small compared to their colder sister kingdom, and Elsa promised to help go over the books. Anna went to a few of the meetings and put in some useful input... at first. She quickly got bored. Elsa was always better with numbers, anyways.

Anna found herself spending most of her days in the Army's training and recruiting center on the castle grounds, learning from the Coronan arms master. The younger woman had almost been laughed out of the courtyard when she first showed up in the practice square. While all the men were busy laughing at her training garb, she found what looked to be the most menacing and angry man there and challenged him to a duel.

He accepted it, laughing. She proceeded to trounce him thoroughly. Afterwards, the best fighters the army had to offer asked for their own duels. Her win ratio wasn't great, she only beat a little over half of the men she fought, but it was enough to prove herself and earn an honorary spot in their ranks. She was quickly adapting to their new fighting style, and she wanted to have all of the basics mastered by the time she left for home.

The lessons she had every morning with Elsa were definitely helping with her fighting skills. Her focus was more intense, and her profound concentration from their dawn sessions bled into the afternoon bouts with the Coronan soldiers. It was definitely an improvement.

Elsa was the one to break the embrace first. She ran a cool finger down her younger sister's face tenderly. "You're daydreaming, love."

Anna blinked a few times, pulling her thoughts back into the present. She grinned at the queen in front of her, then drew the woman's lips down in a small kiss. She then broke it, grin still plastered on her face. "We should probably sneak back up to the castle."

Elsa nodded and took her sister's hand, leading her across the water. Small islands of ice formed under both of their feet as they walked.

Anna yawned. The sun had only come up an hour before, and it was still early. A thought came to her. "You think more dignitaries will be at breakfast this morning?"

Elsa nodded. "I think so. There was a ship just outside the harbor this morning that I didn't recognize. They might be bringing the crews in at night. It makes more sense that way."

The princess winced. "Assassin still running rampant?"

Elsa arched an eyebrow at her sister. "I thought you were keeping track of the articles coming out. The news is all over the city."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Too busy. I've got sword fighting and magic and Arendelle stuff to deal with. I can't handle another kingdom's problems on top of all that."

The queen stopped and turned toward Anna, letting go of the younger woman's hand and crossing her arms across her chest. Anna's eyes followed her sister's arms and stayed at chest level, a grin on her face. A sharp surge of admonishment fell through their link and Anna sighed.

She wilted under Elsa's glare. 'I'm sorry.'

Elsa said nothing and raised an eyebrow. Anna sighed. Loudly.

'I'm not sorry for looking at your chest. Good luck getting me to feel bad about that.'

Elsa voice was tinged with annoyance. "Anna..."

The younger woman grabbed her sister's hands, pulling them down and holding them in her own. 'I'm not trying to shirk my duties, I'm really not.' She let Elsa feel some of the worry she had been hiding. 'I'm just a little freaked out by this whole thing, okay? It's still so new to me.'

The queen's annoyance faded completely, though she did chide her sister mentally. Not harshly, it was tinged with a bit of regret. 'You don't need to keep things from me, Anna.'

The younger woman's chin fell, and she refused to meet Elsa's eyes. 'I know. It's just...I don't know. Everything's been turned upside down. I'll be fine, I'm just getting used to it.'

Elsa pulled on the hands that were holding her own and embraced her sister again, kissing her forehead lightly. "I love you."

Anna smiled up at her sister, the worry gone for the moment. "I know." She sent a tinge of affection down their link, "I love you too."

Elsa began walking again, making her way to an abandoned part of the shore near the mountain the castle was situated against. They made their way to the rock wall in outward silence. As Elsa began creating frozen steps in the cliff face, Anna broke their quiet. 'So, the assassin?'

Elsa sighed. 'There's been three more deaths this week.'

Anna's eyebrows shot up. 'Who?'

Elsa's facial expression clearly showed how upset she was. 'None of high-ranking lords. Just a servant, and two members of a duke's extended family. They were some of the bunch that weren't staying in the castle. They were killed in their rooms. Stabbed in their sleep.'

Anna shuddered. 'Why wouldn't they be in the castle?'

Elsa shrugged. 'My understanding is that some of the mid-ranking royals from other kingdoms decided to come along to the summit as well, and are staying at inns in the city. They don't have enough political clout to stay in the castle.'

The two began making their way up the steps, trying their best to stay out of sight. Elsa kept up the magic without a second thought, creating a staircase for the two of them.

The princess's eyebrows furrowed. 'Everyone who came with us is in the guest wing of the castle.'

Anna stumbled slightly and Elsa caught her arm, steadying the younger woman. The older woman smiled down at her sister. 'We're family. Plus, some of the other kingdoms brought three or four ships full of people. It's ridiculous. We're not taking up that much room. All things considered, we're not much of a burden.'

Anna grimaced at the thought of an influx of so many people. 'They're here to mingle with the other royal families, I assume?'

Elsa nodded. 'Lots of important people will be here this week. It makes sense that people would want to take advantage of the ordeal.'

Anna sighed. 'Some more than others, I guess.'

The queen frowned sadly. 'Thomas is doing all he can to stop it. He's doubled the guards and ordered all foreigners to the castle, so they don't have to stay at inns. Hopefully most will listen. It's causing a strain though.'

Anna sighed, her breath misting in the frigid morning air. 'I'd imagine.' Her eyes narrowed. 'I'm assuming this whole assassin thing is why we're sneaking in and out of the castle like criminals?'

The queen chuckled. 'You could say that. Thomas had it ordered that no one is allowed out of the castle until the killer is apprehended.'

The younger woman grimaced. 'He's going to have a hell of a time enforcing that. We're not exactly helping.'

She felt a ripple of agreement from her sister, but they both knew they couldn't stop. Anna needed the practice.

The two reached the window of Elsa's room, and the queen opened it. She stepped back, motioning for her sister to climb inside. Once the younger woman was in the room safely she turned to follow, but a flash of familiar brown hair on the roof of a tower made her halt in place. She stared across the expanse, and the man waved, then disappeared around a corner. Confusion rolled over her, but it wasn't her own.

"Elsa?"

She shook herself, then turned toward her sister. Anna looked up at her, worried. "You okay?"

The queen smiled, pushing the thought out of her mind, concentrating on the woman in front of her.

"I'm fine, love." She sent a wave of reassurance to her younger sister, and the woman visibly relaxed. She closed the window behind her, her eyes scaling over the walls. What the hell was Eugene up to?

Anna took her hand, guiding her down from the window seat. Her sister smiled at her, and nothing else mattered. "Breakfast, Elsa?"

She nodded and Anna let her out of the room, hand on the small of her back.