Restoring the balance

As was her habit, Elsa, the young Snow Queen of Arendelle, stirred as the first rays of sunshine passed through her window, rousing her from the few hours of rest she had enjoyed. It was a routine honed over the years, allowing her to complete her morning ablutions without the possibility of running into her younger sister, to whom she had become estranged over the years. This estrangement was not, however, borne of malice or ill-will between the two siblings but of necessity, for Elsa had been hiding a secret for over ten years and in order to keep it, she had sequestered herself in her room, ignoring all entreaties for her to emerge.

Isolation was also her ally in her constant battles with herself. For Elsa had been born with the power to summon snow and control the cold. While the ability to conjure the winter elements at will had brought great delight to her and her younger sister Anna when they were children, the true danger of the winter had been revealed on a single, terrible night. On that fateful moment, Elsa had struck Anna in the head with a streak of pure cold energy, freezing the young girl's brain and rendering her unconscious before she hit the ground with a loud thud that still echoed in Elsa's subconsciousness.

It had been an accident, of course. Yet from that point forward, Elsa's hold over her magic had been lost, the cold leaking out against her will. During the lonely years of isolation, every attempt to regain control had been akin to trying to grasp hold of water, with the powers seemingly flowing through her fingers, untamed. Every failure had been accompanied with a spike of fear, the magnitude of which had ratcheted upwards as the years of isolation continued.

However, things had changed recently. Elsa's powers had been outed publicly on the night of her coronation, with the resulting loss of control causing the entire land of Arendelle to be frozen. While both sisters had barely survived the tumultuous events that followed, they had also reconciled, and were now as close as they had ever been. As such, the early mornings were no longer strictly a necessity. That said, now that she was awake, Elsa also knew that any further sleep would elude her. Groggily, she cracked an eye open and looked at the clock that had recently been re-installed in her room, only to groan loudly once it swum into focus.

"Great," Elsa mumbled to herself, sinking back into her pillow with a frustrated huff. Falling silent once more, Elsa could hear the ticking of her clock across the room, and the sound of the waves rolling into the fjord. "I've even managed to beat the birds today."

Shifting her body slightly, Elsa propped herself up from the bed, resting on her elbows. Perhaps if she managed to start on reducing the mountain of paperwork on her desk before breakfast, she might be able to clear her afternoon schedule. A clear schedule meant more time with Anna, and the prospect of spending any time with her beloved younger sister while the sun was still in the sky was motivation enough to start the day.

The silence was broken moments later by a sudden rustling noise, followed by a creak from the floorboards behind her. Gasping in surprise, Elsa turned around quickly, only to be met by a blur of colour as something large and rather solid rushed across from the window, knocking her firmly down on her back before she had any opportunity to react. A startled squeak had managed to work its way past Elsa's lips before she recognised her assailant.

"Anna," Elsa groaned once she had composed herself. "What did I do to deserve being attacked at this ungodly hour?"

Anna, on her part, had climbed up on her sister's bed, folding her legs underneath her while sitting astride of the Elsa-sized lump in the blue duvet. Satisfied that she had the blonde's arms pinned underneath the blankets, Anna smiled playfully at her sister. Not that she thought Elsa would believe that she was in any actual danger, but given recent events, Anna thought a little additional reassurance wouldn't be amiss under the circumstances.

"You're not being attacked," Anna replied, gently placing her hands on Elsa's shoulders and firmly pushing her sister back onto the mattress. "I'm simply doing what I should have done, weeks ago."

Elsa raised a questioning eyebrow at her sister in response. While any visit from her sister was always welcome, she couldn't think of any good reason why Anna would storm into her room in the early hours of the morning, let alone ambush her in her own bed.

"And what exactly would that be?" Elsa asked, confusion settling on her face. Shifting her weight slightly, Elsa tried to free herself from her current predicament, only to find to her dismay that she could barely budge an inch. It seemed that, at least for the moment, her sister had her well and truly trapped.

"Making sure that the Queen of Arendelle takes a well deserved leave of absence from her duties," Anna explained, laughing as she felt Elsa fail in her attempts to free herself. "It seems that you have been quite determined to ignore advice to do just that. As such, more drastic measures were deemed necessary."

"Anna, I don't have time for this," Elsa grumbled as she made a more determined effort to free herself. "I have a meeting with the Council of State..."

"Which has been cancelled," Anna interrupted, cutting her sister off with a triumphant smirk. "Due to the Queen being unavailable."

Letting out an audible gasp, Elsa's eyes widened as she processed Anna's words. Although she had been working quite late since her coronation, it was nothing more than their father had done previously. Arendelle wouldn't rule itself, and as such, long hours were simply part of the job description. Elsa did also have to admit that she had also been motivated by a desire to make amends for the coronation incident, to prove that she was worthy of the people's forgiveness.

While Elsa knew that Anna meant well, cancelling a meeting with the Council of State without her knowledge, let alone her permission, was definitely overstepping the mark. Sighing, Elsa made a mental note to apologise to each of the Council members at the next available opportunity.

"You didn't," Elsa said, horrified at what Anna had apparently done. "Please tell me you're joking."

"I actually didn't!" Anna defended, letting out a breath she didn't realise she was holding as the anxiety bled out from Elsa's eyes. "I mean, the meeting actually is cancelled, but it wasn't my idea."

"So, why is the meeting really cancelled?" Elsa asked, heaving a sigh of relief of her own. Meetings between the Council were rarely cancelled, but it wasn't completely unheard of. Elsa did, however, find it curious that Anna had been informed about the meeting cancellation. Even though she had a standing invitation to Council meetings as the current heir presumptive to the throne, Anna had never actually attended any of them.

Leaning forward slightly to take a better look at her sister, Anna could see the dark rings that had developed under Elsa's eyes over the last few weeks. In addition, Elsa's cheeks had taken on an increasingly sunken, gaunt appearance of late, signifying further weight loss from the young queen's already slender frame. Anna had already suspected that Elsa hadn't been sleeping well, but witnessing first hand how late Elsa had gone to sleep the previous night, and how early she woke in the morning, had confirmed her suspicions. The fact that she had no reason at all to believe that this was anything other than Elsa's normal routine perturbed Anna further.

When the members of the Council had approached Anna privately with their concerns about Elsa's health, she had taken them very seriously. With Elsa still buried in paperwork and with her own suspicions roused, Anna had spent the afternoon asking long-serving members of the castle staff for their opinion, all of whom had agreed that Elsa was overworking herself.

In fact, the royal physician had informed her quite bluntly that Elsa wasn't careful, she would work herself into an early grave. It had been the final straw, as far as Anna was concerned, and she had determined there and then to put a stop to it.

"They cancelled it because they're worried about you," Anna explained, choosing to keep the royal physician's words to herself. There wasn't any need to worry Elsa unnecessarily, after all. "Everyone is, Elsa, including me. Well, especially me, if I'm being honest."

"I'm fine, Anna," Elsa lamely tried to reassure her sister. "There's nothing to worry about."

Having loosened her grip slightly, Anna felt Elsa shifting underneath her, the blonde managing to lift her head and shoulders off the bed, although she remained trapped underneath her duvet. Now that she was paying attention, Anna could hear the weariness in her sister's voice, her energy sapped as the lack of sleep took its toll.

"Well, members of the Council were worried enough to come to me, Elsa," Anna replied, looking down at her clearly fatigued sister with concern. "If I wasn't worried before, I certainly am now."

"They actually did it," Elsa mumbled under her breath in disbelief, more to herself than to Anna. During the previous Council meeting, the Admiral had threatened to do just that, but Elsa had thought he was joking, and as such hadn't actually taken the warning seriously. After all, while she knew some of its members socially, Anna had no prior history interacting with the Council in any official capacity, and Anna was highly unlikely to have walked through the gates of the naval academy where the Admiral worked. It really had seemed like a hollow threat at the time.

"Yes, they did," Anna replied, slightly amused at the disbelieving look on her sister's face. Reaching forward, Anna deftly tucked a few errant strands of blonde hair behind her sister's ear, before gently easing her sister back down onto the mattress by pushing down on her shoulders. "And you're staying right there, until I figure out exactly what to do with you."

"Will you at least let me sit up?" Elsa asked hopefully, as she found herself being forced back down under her sister's weight. "I think I'm being squashed under here."

"I'm hardly heavy enough to do any damage," Anna retorted in a slightly affronted huff. However, the effect was ruined as a smile crept across her features, eventually reaching her eyes as an unstifled chortle burst out. "You really are stuck, aren't you?"

"You're much harder to dislodge than you were when you were five," Elsa admitted defeat, smiling fondly at her sister. Despite her disadvantage, Elsa couldn't find it within herself to be anything more than mildly frustrated at Anna's antics. "Now, get off before I decide to freeze the blankets under you."

"Go right ahead, dear sister of mine," Anna challenged without a moment's hesitation, a twinkle of amusement in her eyes as she waved a gloved hand in front of Elsa's face. "If you hadn't noticed, I've come prepared."

Now that she was fully awake, Elsa noticed that Anna was indeed dressed for the winter, as if she were preparing for an extended trek up into the mountains that ringed Arendelle. In fact, now that she put her mind to it, Elsa realised that Anna was wearing the exact same outfit as she had when she had walked up the North Mountain the day after Coronation Day, from the mittens on her hands right down to the sturdy leather boots on her feet.

It seemed that even if Elsa did follow through with her threat to freeze the blankets, Anna would hardly feel a thing. Clearly, Anna had been expecting magical retaliation, and had taken the appropriate precautions in advance.

"Those had better not be the same boots you were wearing when you followed me up the North Mountain," Elsa groused good naturedly, pointedly looking towards the bottom of the bed.

"I'm pretty sure Gerda would strangle me herself if I tracked mud into your room, let alone on your bedsheets," Anna laughed, thinking back at the times when she believed that Elsa wore gloves due to having a thing about dirt. "But these are new, so I guess you're stuck with me."

"How unfortunate," Elsa replied, completely deadpan. "It would have saved me the trouble of freezing you myself."

Anna tilted her head, her lips quirking up slightly at the veiled threat that she knew that Elsa would never follow through on. Reaching forward once more, Anna lightly brushed the fingers of her mittened hand over her sister's nose as if swatting a fly away. "You would never!"

Elsa marvelled at the confidence in her sister's voice and the lack of doubt in the wide, teal eyes staring back down at her. Even though it had only been a few short months since Anna's near fatal accident on the summit of the North Mountain, the trust between them had seemingly remained unbroken; her sister's faith completely resolute. Glancing up slightly to a certain place above Anna's right eye, Elsa smiled when she saw her sister's natural red hair where the white streak that had served as a constant reminder of their earlier childhood accident had once been.

Not wanting to draw attention to where she had been looking, Elsa redirected her attention to her sister's face, her gaze eventually settling on the light dusting of freckles spread over the bridge of Anna's nose. In truth, Elsa often felt that she didn't deserve to have the energetic redhead as her sister, and that Anna had deserved far better than to be lumped with a reclusive Snow Queen. Not that Anna would ever admit that herself.

Yet, Elsa felt a slight pang within her when she thought of the budding relationship between her sister and the ice harvester she had met during her quest to bring Elsa back to Arendelle. While Elsa approved of and encouraged their courtship, she also knew that it was only a matter of time until the relationship blossomed, with Elsa's role in Anna's life subsequently being relegated to that of a bit player. Closing her eyes with a sigh, Elsa consoled herself with the fact that while she would likely be alone in a castle that now seemed very large, Anna would at least still be in Arendelle. It could have been much worse - after all, had a more conventional suitor been found, Anna could very well have been spirited away across the seas, lost to her forever.

Even so, Elsa silently resolved to enjoy what time she had left with Anna. It would never be enough, though, not with the duties of being Arendelle's reigning monarch drawing so much of her available time, and thirteen lost years to make up for.

It took Anna's uncertain voice to pull Elsa out of her thoughts, and bring her back into the present. "Elsa?"

"Still here, Anna," Elsa deflected, having noticed the clearly concerned look on her sister's face when she opened her eyes.

"You are now," Anna said, before hesitating slightly, worrying at her lower lip between her teeth as if pondering whether to continue. "We lost you there for a while."

"Just daydreaming," Elsa offered, hoping to mollify Anna before being subjected to a line of questioning she didn't particularly want to answer. "It's nothing you need to worry about."

"I was already worried..." Anna replied, shaking her head almost imperceptibly as her voice trailed off. In the short time they had spent together since the end of Elsa's self-imposed isolation, Anna had become quite adept at reading the subtle mannerisms and expressions that often betrayed the young snow queen's true state of mind behind the seemingly impenetrable, impassive mask she wore on her face at all times. Right now, Anna's intuition told her that whatever had caused her sister to zone out completely was more than an idle daydream.

"...and now I'm even more so," Anna continued, furrowing her brow when Elsa refused to meet her gaze.

Elsa looked up warily at Anna, whose expression clearly indicated her unwillingness to let the issue go. If there was one thing Elsa had learned during her period of isolation, it was that Anna could be incredibly persistent when she put her mind to it.

"Anna..." Elsa started, before being abruptly cut off by a sharp glare.

"No, you don't get to 'Anna' me," Anna stated firmly, before the expression on her face softened with worry. "Not this time, anyway. Do you really think I haven't noticed how much time you spend in your study? You're nearly always in there when I turn in for the night, and I know for a fact that I sleep later than most."

"I take breaks," Elsa defended lamely in the face of Anna's concerned tirade.

"Gerda says you skip meals," Anna retorted, before continuing. "Kai told me he's found you asleep at your desk a number of times. And the Bishop mentioned he hasn't seen you at the Sunday service for a few weeks now."

"I'm pretty sure he hasn't seen you at the Sunday service, either," Elsa shot back in a matter-of-fact tone, wondering inwardly about how many people Anna had talked to about her concerns. Noticing the wince that flashed across Anna's face, Elsa chuckled, knowing she had at least scored a hit of her own.

"Ah, but I'm a regular non-attendee," Anna replied dismissively. "Your absences, on the other hand, have been missed."

"I've been busy..." Elsa started to explain, before being interrupted again by Anna, who clearly wasn't finished with her yet.

"Busy enough to wake up at... five in the morning?" Anna asked, having paused momentarily mid-sentence to read the time on the clock across the room. "Which, as I'm sure you're aware, is about three hours since you finished up last night."

Elsa's eyes narrowed slightly, her suspicions raised. She had indeed worked especially late the previous night, but she would have remembered running into Anna on the way back to the royal quarters. In fact, as was her habit, Elsa had poked her head into Anna's room on the way, and distinctly remembered seeing the tell-tale lump in the blankets that signalled her sister's presence.

"How exactly do you know when I went to bed?" Elsa asked, fixing her sister with an even gaze.

Anna's lips quirked up into a smile, as if she found the question amusing. "I waited up for you, of course."

"I'm pretty sure I saw you in bed last night," Elsa deadpanned, looking sceptically up at Anna in response. "Asleep."

"I should probably look into that," Anna replied, her eyes twinkling in mirth as the smile on her face grew. "Because, dear sister, I assure you that whatever you saw in my bed last night was not me."

"How on earth..." Elsa trailed off, furrowing her brow.

Anna laughed at the confused expression that had settled on Elsa's face, before deciding to end her sister's misery.

"I've been in here all night, Elsa," Anna explained, before pausing awkwardly. "Well, not here, because I've obviously not been in your bed the whole time! But I've been here, in your room, all night."

"In my room," Elsa repeated slowly, watching as Anna stole a glance at the wardrobe across the room from her bed, betraying the place where she had hidden for the night. "Specifically, in my wardrobe."

"To be fair, I did spend most of the night on the window bay," Anna mumbled under her breath, although it was loud enough for Elsa to overhear.

"Anna, you know you're always welcome in here, but have you heard of privacy?" Elsa asked in response, feeling more than a little self conscious in the knowledge that Anna had been hiding in the room as she undressed for bed and had subsequently watched over her all night.

"Yeesh, it's not like I saw anything!" Anna defended, backing away slightly and raising her hands in front of her chest in a calming gesture. "Especially since you use your changing screen, even when nobody's watching."

"That's just as well, as it turns out that somebody was watching," Elsa grumbled, before she looked away, her cheeks colouring in embarrassment.

Anna rolled her eyes in exasperation at her sister's apparent prudishness, before laughing once more. "Yes, and the Princess of Arendelle saw her sister in a night dress. How scandalous!"

"That's not the point, Anna," Elsa said with a dissatisfied huff.

"Look, even if I did see something, which I didn't! But let's say I did, does it even matter? We're sisters, Elsa. Whatever bits you have, I have," Anna rambled in her defence, before a stray thought occurred to her, causing a smile to creep onto her face.

"Except for hips. I don't have those," Anna teased after a few seconds, causing a rather flustered Elsa to splutter audibly. Had Elsa's hands not been trapped under her sheets, Anna knew she'd most likely already have had a significant amount of snow dumped on her head in retaliation.

"I wouldn't know," Elsa pointed out in an unimpressed voice, once she had recovered her composure slightly. "Since I haven't looked. And you're still missing the point."

"Maybe I am," Anna said in a more conciliatory tone, not wanting an argument. Inwardly, Anna knew that while Elsa had opened more than just her bedroom door since coronation day, she was still very much a private person at heart. Yet the guilty feeling Anna felt at Elsa's reaction was tempered slightly by the fact that her actions, while unconventional, had been motivated by genuine concern.

"But maybe I wouldn't have done it at all, if I hadn't been so worried," Anna added, in a far quieter voice.

"I know, Anna," Elsa sighed, as she watched the playfulness fade from Anna's demeanour, being replaced by concern once more. Her current situation not allowing her to throw her arms around Anna to give some much needed reassurance, Elsa made do with a smile. "Which is why I'm not mad at you. Not really."

Anna shook her head, before shooting a disbelieving smile at Elsa as a reply. "Just a bit, then."

"Maybe a little," Elsa conceded, shrugging her shoulders. She'd forgiven Anna already, but she could clearly see the look of guilt written large on the young redhead's face and knew an apology was imminent regardless. While Elsa knew that Anna possessed an impulsive streak that often landed her in trouble, she also knew that once Anna found herself there, she would always move heaven and earth to make everything whole, once more. It was something that was uniquely Anna, and something that would likely never change.

"You don't need to apologise," Elsa pre-empted after a few moments. "It's okay."

"It really isn't, though, so I do," Anna said in a small voice, before ducking her head slightly. "Forgive me?"

"Of course," Elsa accepted graciously, smiling when an uncertain Anna once again raised her gaze to match her own. "Always will, Anna, no matter what."

Anna smiled gratefully upon hearing Elsa's response. "I'll try not to make you forgive me so much."

"We can work on that," Elsa chuckled, not really wanting Anna to change at all. While it occasionally rubbed her up the wrong way, Elsa also knew that Anna's impetuousness often provided the few moments of levity during some of her more trying days. "While I work on getting you to worry less."

"Well, you can start on that by taking the day off," Anna noted dryly, before pointedly tucking Elsa's duvet firmly under her chin.

"I think I can get on board with that," Elsa mumbled in agreement, sinking back into her pillow with a contented sigh and closing her eyes for a few seconds. After all, the Council meeting had been cancelled, significantly freeing up most of her day. And while putting off the remainder of her paperwork would almost certainly come back to bite her tomorrow morning, Elsa considered that a fair trade-off for a day off with Anna, hopefully without any work-related interruptions.

"Oh good," Anna replied, her face lighting up with happiness. "I'll look forward to that... right after we figure out what we do with you after today. Because I'm not letting you out of this bed until you promise to take it easy on yourself..."

"I'm not sure if I can promise that," Elsa sighed, before frowning slightly. "You know I'd love nothing more than to spend more time with you, but I'm responsible for Arendelle..."

"We both are, Elsa," Anna interrupted, before smiling a little sadly. "Arendelle is my kingdom, too. Except that we both know I've been shirking."

"You help more than you think," Elsa reassured, raising her gaze to meet Anna's. The coronation incident had meant that Elsa had needed to restore her reputation, as well as navigating some treacherous political currents. Not to mention that the process of repairing the damage she had caused both to the ships of the dignitaries, as well as to Arendelle itself, had added greatly to her already busy workload.

Simply having Anna watching her back was already enough for Elsa. Many reigning monarchs didn't even have that luxury, with the politics of court and the ambition of younger siblings meaning that monarchs and heirs across Europe were looking over their shoulders at all hours. Yet Anna had gone further still, going into the town and making herself available to the people in a way that Elsa herself never could. Anna's infectious optimism had, in time, endeared her to the townsfolk, and from what Elsa had heard during meetings with the Storting, Anna had never failed to put a good word in for Elsa, reassuring a nervous people that they had nothing to fear from the ice sorceress on the throne of Arendelle.

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Elsa added a few moments later, after an dubious expression crept onto Anna's features. "I know you mean well, but I really am okay with this. You've done far more for me than I've ever asked."

"That's because you never ask me to do anything," Anna pointed out, not willing to take no for an answer. "And you haven't asked me to do this, either. I want to help you, Elsa. Please, don't shut me out again."

Elsa winced at that last, heartfelt plea. Truly, she didn't want to shut Anna out, but Elsa had to admit that she'd seen far less of her younger sister than she would have liked. While her door was physically open, and she'd told Anna in no uncertain terms that she would never be too busy to see her again, most of her waking hours were spent in meetings or working through her never-ending in tray. Looking from Anna's perspective, Elsa realised it must have seemed that she'd simply swapped her bedroom for her study.

"I don't mean to do that," Elsa replied in as gentle a voice as she could manage. "And I won't, I promise. It's just that I think... you should be able to live your life, too. You've already spent far too much of it trapped inside this castle on my account. I won't chain you to a desk, too..."

"So you'll do that to yourself instead?" Anna interrupted, her voice full of emotion at her sister's admission. "You know I'm not going to be okay with that, Elsa."

"You have a chance outside the gates, Anna," Elsa insisted. "Go out and live a little. All the things you've always dreamed of doing once the gates were opened again, you can do them now."

Elsa paused to smile encouragingly at Anna, before taking a breath and continuing before Anna could interrupt. "You're already well loved amongst the people, Anna. Kristoff is out there. There's nothing left for you here."

"Nothing except you," Anna replied quietly, her eyes starting to glisten a little at the unspoken implications in Elsa's words. "All of those things are amazing... and none of them matter to me as much as you do. I don't want any of it, if it means I lose you, too..."

"Not even..." Elsa started, before she was abruptly cut off by Anna's gloved hand covering her mouth, muffling her voice. She had intended to ask about Kristoff, but on second thought she was grateful for Anna's intervention. Some words were best left unsaid, after all.

"Nothing," Anna stated firmly, before slowly lifting her hand. "I really mean that, Elsa. I only just got you back, and I'm not letting you go again. Not for anything, and not for anybody."

Elsa's eyes widened a little at the deliberate emphasis Anna had placed on the word 'anybody' as she completed her sentence, effectively answering the question that had remained unasked. Elsa opened her mouth once more, to let Anna know that she could in fact have it all, without having to choose between her sister and her happy ending. As far as Elsa was concerned, if she needed to spend a few more of her waking hours in her study each day to make that happen... then she'd put in the work. Anna was worth at least that much.

However, Elsa's protests were halted before they began when Anna, having anticipated what Elsa was about to say, quickly replaced her hand over Elsa's lips.

"Oh shush," Anna chided gently, an unbidden memory of a little snowman's short lecture about love coming back to her. Elsa had never been liberal with words, and while she had never once told Anna to her face that she was loved, Anna realised that she had never needed to. After all, if love was putting someone else's needs before one's own, then it had been staring her in the face all along.

"I know what you're doing, Elsa," Anna added after a few more moments of silence. "Let me do that for you, too."

"I just want you to be happy," Elsa said in a soft voice, once Anna had removed her hand once more. "It's all I've ever wanted. You have your whole life ahead of you..."

"A life that would be greatly improved by having you in it," Anna argued, not willing to back down. "You say you want me to be happy, and I believe you... but what about you? Don't you matter, too?"

Elsa looked away first, unable to match her sister's intensity. It wasn't that she thought lowly of herself, but being monarch afforded her opportunities to allow Anna to make her own choices and live life on her own terms. By taking on the bulk of the administration of the kingdom, assisted ably by her chief steward Kai, she spared Anna the drudgery of paperwork and freed her to mingle with the people and become the public face of the monarchy.

She'd smoothed the way for Anna to marry for love, too, by effectively elevating Kristoff to the ranks of the nobility through the issue of a royal warrant and by quelling objections from the Council of State by offering herself up as an alternative for a politically advantageous marriage. Anna didn't yet know about that particular compromise, and Elsa hoped her younger sister would be well and truly married before she found out. If in fact she found out at all.

"I'll be okay, Anna," Elsa offered, hoping to placate the feisty redhead currently bearing down on her.

Anna frowned slightly as she watched her sister evade her question with a half answer. "You matter as well, Elsa. You're allowed to be happy, too."

"You worry too much," Elsa replied, smiling up at Anna in an attempt to put the wavering girl's mind at rest. Not even six months ago, she was hiding away in her room, too scared to touch anybody for fear of revealing her secret or causing them harm. Even with the additional burdens of work, and the limited opportunities to spend time with her sister, she truly had much to be thankful for.

Anna shook her head slightly, before sighing. "Actually, the problem is that I haven't been worrying enough."

"I'm fine, Anna..." Elsa tried again, although she could tell Anna remained unconvinced.

"No, Elsa," Anna answered in a tone that somehow managed to be simultaneously gentle and firm. "You are not fine. You need to rest, too, and you're never going to do that if you keep trying to hold everything together yourself."

"This," Anna gestured absently in the air before biting her lip hard, trying and failing to blink back the tears that had once again started to form. "What you're doing... I'm not sure how much more of it you can take."

Anna wiped the tears from her eyes, before a look of pure hopelessness that would haunt Elsa for years to come came to rest on her face. It was almost as if the light that always seemed to burn ever so brightly behind her eyes had been suddenly extinguished, like a Carcel burner once its inner workings had unwound. Instead, the irises of Anna's eyes appeared to be dead, much like they had during those few fateful moments on the fjord.

"I'm scared, Elsa," Anna confessed in such a quiet voice it may as well have been a whisper. "That one day I'll find you in pieces, and I won't be able to put you back together again..."

Something inside Elsa broke upon hearing Anna air her fears in the open. She had always seen Anna as the better of both of them, the optimistic, happy princess with a heart of gold. Certainly, the spirited, independent persona her younger sister presented at all times had led Elsa to believe that Anna was well equipped to face any challenge head-on. Yet Anna's words had betrayed an inner fragility, a sense that she was not yet ready to head out into the world alone.

"I'm here, Anna," Elsa reassured, in as gentle a tone as she could manage. "I'll always be here, for as long as you need me."

"I'll always need you," Anna stated, smiling sadly, the tears still flowing. "Up and down together, remember?"

Elsa remembered. The line was from a rhyme that she and Anna had chanted together while playing as children. They had sat opposite each other, one sister's hands clapping against the other's in time with the words. They would continue, repeating the rhyme over and over until one of them either messed up. Usually Anna, but one couldn't expect too much from a hyperactive five year old.

"Princess, crown together," Elsa continued with the next line, returning Anna's smile with a genuine one of her own as she thought of the carefree times she had spent with her sister before the fateful accident that tore them apart.

"Always be together, you and me," Anna completed the rhyme quietly, as if she were talking to herself. Looking away, Anna took a few deep breaths, sniffling into the sleeve of her dress as she dried her eyes. It wasn't particularly princess-like behaviour, but Anna couldn't bring herself to care.

"Always," Elsa agreed, as she watched Anna try to get her emotions back under control. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

"You had better not," Anna grumbled under her breath, before turning her attention back to the blonde queen underneath her. The tears had finally stopped, although her breathing was still slightly ragged and her eyes still felt raw. "So, I guess it's you and me against the world?"

Elsa nodded in agreement, indicating her assent. It was clear as night and day that this was something that would make Anna happy, and on that basis alone, who was Elsa to refuse? It wasn't as if she didn't need the help, and as long as the assistance was offered freely without the pressure of expectation and duty, Elsa was happy to accept it. Especially since it meant she could spend more time with Anna.

"First Arendelle, and then the world," Elsa confirmed.

Finally satisfied, Anna rolled off Elsa, before perching herself at the foot of the bed. Covering her mouth, Anna let out a long yawn, the combination of the emotional rollercoaster she had just experienced, plus her sleepless night suddenly catching up with her. Rubbing her eyes, Anna tried to fight off the onset of sleep, although she knew that this was a battle she was unlikely to win. Still, Anna was determined to hold out for as long as possible. A day with Elsa awaited, after all, and she wanted to make sure her stinker of a sister didn't spend any of it in her office.

Having heard Elsa call out for her quietly, Anna turned, bleary eyed, to face her sister once more. When Elsa smiled and wordlessly gestured for her to return to her side, Anna hesitated, before shuffling a little closer so as not to crowd her sister too much. Reaching out, Anna placed her gloved hand over Elsa's bare one, certain that Elsa too would have noticed the irony of that particular situation being reversed.

"Scoot up, Anna," Elsa encouraged, not wanting to let a vulnerable and emotionally unguarded Anna out of her sight. "It looks like you need the sleep, even more than I do."

Anna didn't need to be invited twice, laying down on the bed before using her knees to push herself upwards until the top of her head gently bumped up against Elsa's chin. As she felt an arm snake underneath her arms and around her body, holding her in place with far more force than was strictly necessary, Anna closed her eyes and let out a contented sigh.

"Doesn't this go against your sense of propriety?" Anna mumbled, not opening her eyes as she felt Elsa running the fingers of her other hand gently through her hair in a soothing motion.

"No, this is proper," Elsa answered, even as she rested her cheek upon the crown of Anna's strawberry blonde hair in a protective embrace, causing the younger girl to nestle in further. Elsa, too, found some measure of comfort in the physical contact, as well as the heat radiating off her sister's petite frame. "You're fully clothed, I'm fully covered, and there's a blanket and some sheets between us. The Pope himself could walk through that door and think nothing of it."

Anna hummed in agreement, but said no more. In the silence, Anna could hear Elsa's heartbeat, her head rocking slightly with the rise and fall of her sister's chest. Before long, she felt herself dropping off into sleep, feeling secure in her sister's arms. The last thing she was aware of before sleep consumed her was the murmur of her sister's voice, barely audible.

"Thank you, Anna, for everything."

Authors Notes

I put this little single-scene vignette together as a bit of a character examination of the Queen and Princess of Arendelle. While fighting a severe case of writer's block when attempting to complete Chapter 3 of Towards a Happy Ending (which isn't abandoned), I realised that I had fallen into the trap of writing the girls as two-dimensional figures, defined only by their most obvious attributes.

Elsa is more than just a human embodiment of fear, just like Anna is more than just a rambunctious persona of optimism and courage. Disney went to the trouble of giving the two protagonists of Frozen distinct characters and personalities, and this is reflected in their actions, their speech patterns and the way they interact with each other than the other characters in the movie.

I'll admit that this piece also started its life as a bit of an experiment in writing a dialogue-driven scene, which suddenly turned into something more. Given most of what I write is technical documentation rather than creative fiction, I really struggle with writing speech and dialogue in a way that allows a character's personality to shine through. I think this turned out alright though, and I hope you do, too.

Finally, for anyone wondering what a Carcel burner is, it's a type of lamp that was used before the widespread use of petroleum-based fuels like paraffin and kerosene that are used in the hurricane lamps that we all recognise today. As the predecessors to petroleum-based fuels (likely to have been whale oil in Arendelle and her immediate neighbours, while Colza/Canola oil would be more likely outside of Scandinavia) were quite thick, they didn't travel very well up wicks. Most people used Argand burners, which have the oil reservoir at the top, allowing for a gravity-driven system - but these were dangerously top heavy (with obvious consequences if one toppled over whilst lit), and the oil reservoir cast a shadow. Wealthier people used Carcel burners, which overcame this problem by having the reservoir at the bottom, with the fuel being driven up the wick by a wind-up clockwork pump in the base. When the clockwork mechanism unwound, the flow of oil up the lamp stopped and the flame would be extinguished.

Now, I really need to get stuck back into Towards a Happy Ending. Although there's something else bouncing around in my mind that's begging to be written first...