A/N: Hello all! I'm very very sorry for my hiatus, but I have this thing called the JRP and its annoying. Either way, I'm super happy to see the new reviews! Also whoa, over 100 follows and 50 favorites! You guys are the greatest. I'm really happy to see that people are catching the references and some nuances. I don't really know what else to say other than I'm sorry for the late update, and that I'm going to be updating more frequently now. Thank you for all the kind reviews, follows, and favorites! I appreciate every single one and its especially wonderful to hear feedback.

Rather than looking for more mysteries in the manor, Anna decided her day would be well spent with a living creature that listened to her ramble on and on about her problems and her worries, without ever interrupting or rolling her eyes. In fact, at some points, Anna could swear that a sparkle of sympathy was apparent in the mare's eyes.

"You know, I was reading that book Rapunzel gave me this morning." Anna started. "And I was reading more about Djinn, and vampires, and something about phoenixes. But you know I really think there's this one I really like, I can't quite remember the name but I know its another language. They're spirits in the mountains, and they're kinda like vampires, but not exactly… Of course I like the Djinn a lot too. They seem to have depressing lives though. I mean, I read that unless they're connected to a vessel then their powers get out of hand, and… Anyone who touches the vessel last controls the Djinn. So they're kind of like slaves. Shahrzad, don't you think that's sad?" she sighed, leaning against the stall door. The mare snorted, her eyes softening as she gave Anna a reassuring nudge. Anna giggled at the sensation of the mare's soft nose against her and smiled. "Thanks." She stood there for a moment, stroking the mare's nose and revelling in the affection that the animal was exhibiting, when suddenly she stepped back and looked up into the horse's eyes again.

"I had a strange dream last night, would you like to listen?" sensing the girl's need for company and an ear to listen to her, the horse snorted in affirmation, its ears flicking at the air as it braced itself for another hour of Anna's nervous rambling. "Well, it was about a girl. And a boy. The boy seemed to be very very sick, and everyone in the village was suddenly very worried and shocked, like it couldn't be cured. It was also very snowy, so that could have been a contributing factor, you know? Since mortality rates are higher in the winters than in the summers and people are generally more sick then and food runs out and plants die and, er, okay moving on." Anna coughed awkwardly. "Anyway the little girl visited him, but he didn't even acknowledge his presence. She went home and later that night she saw him leave his house, only his hair was white, like Elsa's! Maybe even whiter. Which was weird because his hair was dark brown before. Anyway the little girl didn't freak out at all, it was like it was the most normal thing in the world for that village, so I'm wondering; are they sad because the boy was sick or because they knew he was going to be taken away?" she ended, looking intently at the mare for some sort of answer. Shahrzad simply allowed a small whinny to vibrate against her lips while she swished her tail.

"Do you mind if I ride you tomorrow?" Anna asked. "I really doubt Elsa would go with me, seeing how she's, y'know, avoiding me." Anna tittered sadly, masking her sadness with a flimsy smile as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Shahrzad placed her chin on Anna's shoulder and nuzzled her gently. Anna began giggling from the ticklish sensation of the horse's chin on her skin and the bristles of its chin hair, and so she turned and began gently tickling the bottom of the mare's chin. "Thanks. I needed that."

As she was enjoying her quiet moment with the horse, a sudden crash startled the mare and she began to whinny nervously. Anna hushed the horse and stroked her nose up and down, gently cooing to the animal as she looked over her shoulder and saw Kai running through the yard, his face red as he panted heavily. Curiosity getting the better of her once more, Anna gathered up her skirts and moved over to where he was.

"What's going on?" she asked as she asked as she jogged next to him.

"So sorry for disturbing you, m'lady, its no problem. Its just that blasted robber." Kai said, his eyes narrowed as he suddenly stopped, looking up at the top of the wall. Anna followed his eyes and looked up, and saw at the top, a girl no more than five tall, with skin the color of spread treacle and hair a deep ebony. "She's been coming here for a couple years now, stealing bits of food and bread." he sighed, dusting himself off as the girl who had easily scaled the wall stood at the top, smirking in victory as she dangled a bag of limes over the edge before hopping down, out of sight.

"Is that the girl wanted in the town?" Anna asked, her eyes flicking to Kai as she tore her eyes away from the wall.

"Ach, yes. She's caused quite a bit of trouble for everyone. She only steals books and food, though. Nothing valuable, really."

"What's her name?"

"She insists that people call her 'Robber Girl', and thats basically what people have been calling her. She used to leave her name whenever she stole something, to make sure people knew what she called herself. However people have begun to add the word 'little' to that self-imposed title, since, well…" Kai gestured to the wall. "She's just five feet tall."

"Kristoff said she was a Gyptian."

"A Gyptian?" Kai blinked, bursting out into a fit of chuckles moments after. "That's quite an archaic term for it. Well, its true. She's Romani. And quite crafty, too. She's alluded the village guard every single time."

"A robber that steals books and food, huh." Anna mumbled to herself, casting one last quick glance towards the wall before she began to make her way into the house again.

The rest of the day had gone about in a miserable succession of humdrums. In fact, after retrieving some breakfast and a treat for the mare, Anna had spoken to Shahrzad for the rest of the day. She asked many questions about the countess, to which the mare simply looked towards her with sympathy. Afterwards she talked a bit about Rapunzel and Kristoff, and asked the mare if she knew much about that Robber Girl that was so infamous.

She took dinner of veal and sauce by herself in the dining room, per usual. The idea of bringing Elsa's dinner up to her was tossed around in her mind for a bit, but she decided against it ultimately. The fork clattered unceremoniously against the porcelain plate as she sighed, leaning against her hand before eventually pushing herself up from the chair with an ungodly screech of chair legs against floorboards. As she trudged up the lonely stairs she contemplated visiting Elsa's frigid halls and attempting to lure the Countess out with pleas and rambles, but her weary legs led her to her room before she could even think the idea out thoroughly. Feeling oddly drained despite not having done much during the day, except witnessing a robbery and talking to a horse, she fell onto the bed and sleep overtook her quickly and quietly as another peculiar dream settled her into the comforting warmth the blankets emitted

"You wish to save your friend?" muttered an old crone, haggard and grey from time's toll on her body. "You will need help, though. It will not be an easy journey, my girl." she muttered, tossing something into a pot of… other something. A little girl stood nervously by the door, wearing fine white furs and grey mittens, nodding apprehensively as she eyed the old crone.

"Come, child." muttered the crone, motioning towards the table. "Come take a seat and I will recite you a tale. You see, you will need a group of four to complete your journey to save your friend, young girl. I cannot help you with three of them, however…" the crone frowned, staring into the hearth before glancing back the girl. "I can tell you where you will find the first one who shall help you with your journey. To truly understand this… this… being, you will have to know a little bit about them." the crone nodded to herself, pouring some of the cauldron's contents into a bowl and hobbling over to the girl, placing it in her hands. "Do eat, child." the crone muttered softly before retrieving a bowl for herself and taking a seat at the table, clearing her throat before scooting forward.

"Now, a long time ago, in a kingdom of sand where snow was a foreign concept, something magical and something that could never be perceived as a threat, there was a being. A person born from fire. Now these people were very sought after, in fact, they would be chained and shackled to metal vessels to keep them bound to their owners. There was one, however, who fought against this, and refused to be bound to a vessel.

Of course, they were no do-gooder. They stole and pillaged, and became so arrogant and greedy that everyone in this sand kingdom bowed down to them. Women, wine, treasure… This being had it all. All that lay in the kingdom of sand, that was. Now this greedy, greedy being wanted more. They wanted to conquer. And so they traveled to our continent, to our country, in order to steal from one of the most feared beings this world has seen;

The Snow Queen."

The little girl shifted uncomfortably at the mention of the queen, bowing her head nervously as she stared at the flickering flames. With a knowing glint in her eye, the old crone simply nodded and cleared her throat to continue her tale.

"Of course, this being was told not to. Everyone told them it was too dangerous. 'Don't go' the women pleaded, 'It's not safe', said the guards. This being, arrogant and greedy, shook them off and headed for the tundras to the castle of the Snow Queen. Her castle was magnificent, of course, and her subjects lived in eternal fear of her fearsome power. This little being of fire, however, thinking they were so clever and sneaky, crawled into the castle late at night thinking the queen was nowhere near. And so this greedy being of fire snatched the shiniest thing in the vicinity and ran, snickering softly to itself as the snow melted beneath its warm feet. Of course the Snow Queen was no fool, and she followed the being through the frozen mountains before stopping it and demanding her precious relic returned. Fueled by arrogance, the being declined, and made a show of fire magic in response. The Snow Queen, who was much older and much more experienced than the being of fire, snorted incredulously and froze the being solid, retrieving her relic and eyeing the solid block before her.

'How pitiful you are, little Djinn. Out of arrogance you refuse to be bound to a vessel, and that proves to be your undoing. You wouldn't know that a Djinn can always return to their vessel no matter what, would you?' she spat, returning to her ice palace.

You must be wondering why I would tell you this tale, no?" asked the crone, to which the young girl in front of her nodded skeptically. "Well, the first one to join your cause is this being encased in ice. Climb the mountains northeast of our village for two days and three nights, and at the top of this mountain in a thicket of pine trees, will you find them encased in ice." the girl nodded at the crone, whispering a thanks under her breath and heading for the door, only to be stopped by the woman who shook her head.

"You must know, that this being encased in ice has been sitting there for quite a long time, brooding and angry. To reach this being, you'll need these." the woman said, tying a belt around the little girl's waist securely, arming it with a hammer and pick. "And well, you'll need this too." the woman slipped out a shiny golden oil lamp and placed it into the child's hands. "Don't ask why, you'll understand when you get there. Now make haste, the Snow Queen is not known for her patience."

"Patience?" squeaked the little girl, just about to look back to the woman. "What do you mean by-... patience…" she mumbled out, to herself. When she looked back at the doorway, the woman was gone and so was the hut. The only proof of the hut or the crone ever having existed were the hammer and pick, and of course the peculiar little lamp. Eventually the girl decided that this wasn't very shocking at all, and simply secured her items and began to make the long trek up into the snowy mountains, in search of the being encased in ice.

Anna groaned and brought her hand to her head, squinting at the bright sunlight that streamed through the windows and into her eyes. How she had ended up half on the floor, she had no idea, but apparently those books Rapunzel gave her were seriously affecting her sleeping hours. She pulled herself up back atop the bed and grumbled at the frizzy mess atop her head, reaching lazily over to retrieve the hairbrush on her nightstand. As she did so, she looked up at the vase. New flowers, she thought to herself. You know, flowers can't replace a person, she thought wistfully as she brushed the tangled knots of her hair. Elsa's aloofness wasn't going to get her down today, she decided. She was going to go to the village, and enjoy the festival Kristoff had invited her too. Maybe Rapunzel could tag along, as well.

Anna sighed and tied her hair up in two braids, wearing a plain green and yellow dress. She sat at her vanity and made sure her hair wasn't gross, and that she smelled just fine. After about thirty minutes of fussing, she slipped out of her room and headed down the stairs, deciding to get a light breakfast of bread and jam before going out with Shahrzad. As she turned heel towards the kitchen, however, she stopped short and took a sharp intake of breath as she saw Elsa standing by a teapot and mulling over some brew that she had presumably just made. The dress she wore was a blue and purple velvet that hugged her body just perfectly, and made a fluid transition down her thin arms to where the cuffs of her white gloves lay tucked about her wrists. Her wispy white hair was in a humble crown bun, which looked far more beautiful than it had any right to be.

"Hey." Anna said, tucking a hair behind her ear nervously as she slowly made her way into the kitchen. Elsa jumped slightly, a soft intake of breath echoing in the spacious kitchen as she smoothed the cloth of her dress out. "Do you… want to talk to me ever?" Anna added, testing the waters and slowly walking towards Elsa, nervous that she might scare her away at any minute.

"Anna, please." Elsa whispered, a pleading tone obvious in her constricted voice. Anna could feel her heart constrict at the sound of Elsa's voice, so obviously pained by her presence.

"Do you hate me that much?" Anna asked, sliding up next to Elsa and glancing at her. "Why do you kiss me and suddenly just disappear, poof, like that?"

"I'm sorry." Elsa whispered, bowing her head and taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes in hopes of calming herself down. "It was a mistake. I was reminded of something."

"Reminded of what, Elsa?" Anna pushed, her eyes narrowed at the Countess before her.

"Just a ridiculous dream I've had for a while. It's nothing. Anna, please…" she whispered again, not allowing herself to even look at Anna lest she panic.

"Please, what? Why do you avoid me? You've done this for years, Elsa. I've written you letters, I've asked where you were. Why do you do this?" Anna pleaded desperately.

"I'll hurt you, Anna. I'll hurt you and thats the last thing I ever want." Elsa whispered, a gloved hand sliding up to cover her mouth in a silent urge to suppress her feelings.

"How, will you hurt me, Elsa? How will you hurt me? Explain to me why we haven't even talked in years, and then suddenly after not even a month here, you kiss me and then you just suddenly drop me? You put flowers in my vase every morning, but that can't ever replace a person." she said, almost shouting as the sudden drop in temperature pricked at her arms, raising goosebumps all over her body.

"..." Elsa hesitated, backing up and bringing her hands up to her arms defensively and glancing to the side, not making eye contact with Anna whatsoever. "I can't tell you, Anna." she uttered, cowering away from the redhead before her. A sudden flash of confidence jolted through Anna, and she stepped forward and grabbed Elsa's wrists, pushing them to the side as she stood up and put her face right up to the Countess', their noses just almost touching as she held Elsa's gaze defiantly.

"You can't say that, Elsa. You can't do this hot and cold thing with me that you've been doing for years, okay? Elsa, you…" she whispered, noticing the tears welling up at the edges of Elsa's eyes as her eyes shut tightly, her breathing becoming more jagged and erratic. "Elsa, you're freezing." Anna gasped, her warm thumb accidentally slipping between Elsa's sleeve and glove.

Elsa panicked.

She ripped her hands from Anna's grasp, finally making eye contact with Anna and breaking at the hurt expression she saw in the redhead. They held the gaze for a while longer, before Elsa ran away quickly, her hand grasped tightly around where Anna had touched. Anna stood in the kitchen, dumbfounded and hurt and suddenly feeling not very hungry at all, the prospect of bread and jam long forgotten by the sting of Elsa's desire to avoid her. Defeated, she simply slipped out through the back door of the manor, and headed towards the stables where Shahrzad would be. At least she won't run away, Anna thought.

Unbeknownst to her, Elsa had slid down the wall in the main hall, collapsing under her labored breaths as she held her wrist where Anna had touched her.

Anna tied Shahrzad up against a nearby post, gently stroking her nose and giving her a sugarcube. She had always loved horses, she had had a horse back in Ireland, but she had decided that the old mare would be too old to travel and deserved a nice retirement, and so she had given her to a nearby village family with a pair of little girls who simply adored the horse. A wave of nostalgia washed over her as she stroked the mare up and down the head, gently scratching the bottom of her chin and placing a soft kiss on her nose before stepping back and giving a small wave, heading towards Rapunzel's bookstore as she twirled around in the street.

As she entered the bookstore, she gasped to see Kristoff sitting on one of the chairs, staring boredly up at the ceiling as Rapunzel hummed and ghosted between the shelves.

"Kristoff?" Anna squeaked, looking at the half-asleep blond boy. He was suddenly jolted awake, and he scratched the back of his head sheepishly, ruffling his golden locks in the process.

"Oh, uh, hey Anna. I figured that this was the place that you were most likely to be at, since you get along with Rapunzel so well, so I decided to wait for you here. If thats all right, I mean." he chuckled nervously. "I thought maybe you'd want to get breakfast?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that…" Anna was cut off by the sudden growl her stomach emitted. She rode a horse seven miles on an empty stomach, having lost her appetite from Elsa's aloof behavior. Kristoff started laughing at the sound of Anna's stomach, and Rapunzel briefly looked up and smirked at her.

"Wonderful! I'll take you to a great little place I love, and then I can show you around down." he grinned, standing up and stretching his broad arms.

"Wait, uhm… Rapunzel? Do you want to come with us?" Anna inquired. Kristoff's face fell slightly, disappointment obvious on his features. Rapunzel looked between Anna's hopeful expression, almost pleading, and Kristoff's obviously disappointed one.

"I'd love to." Rapunzel finally said, closing whatever book she was holding and placing it back on the shelf. She retrieved a key from her pocket and wiggled at Anna teasingly, to which the redhead giggled and nudged Kristoff out of the shop as the brunette locked it up. She made an apologetic expression at Kristoff, who simply smiled and shrugged, obviously not overly bothered by it and not willing to hold a grudge over a petty thing like that. He led the girls to a small place with vines and foliage growing all around it in the middle of the street. A wooden sign hung from the top, the words 'Das Fernglas' carved neatly in sweeping strokes.

"It means 'the Spyglass'." Rapunzel whispered to Anna, gently nudging her and giving her a small smile.

"Thanks." Anna whispered back, following Kristoff into the little restaurant. The small place was homely and small mahogany tables were placed systematically around the place. A large man stood at the back end of the little tavern, wearing suspenders and a small hat. He smiled and waved pleasantly, taking a cloth and dusting off a nearby table and motioning towards it hopefully.

"Sind Sie nur drei?" the man said.

"Ja, natürlich, Oaken." Kristoff responded, pulling up his seat from the table the man had motioned towards, and leaning back comfortably. Anna and Rapunzel joined him at the table, Anna looking around excitedly at the various sides of the spacious tavern, honing in on a peculiar painting that was reminiscent of some Renaissance era. The painting itself looked as if it were two girls; a dark skinned on and a pale one. It seemed as if the pale, blonde girl was freeing the dark-skinned brunette from something. As the big man returned with some fine, handwritten menus, she simply continued to stare at the painting.

"Etwas zum trinken, ja?" the man, whom Kristoff had referred to as Oaken, asked eagerly. Anna, not registering the foreign language as she gazed at the painting, was luckily helped by Rapunzel.

"Sie ist schon neu hier und spricht kein Deutsch. Etwas Wasser für uns Beide, bitte." she stated pleasantly, nodding at the man.

"Und ein Bier für mich." Kristoff added, nodding his head at the big man as he smiled pleasantly to retrieve the drinks.

"So when do you plan on learning the language?" Rapunzel teased, nudging Anna from her mesmerized state of staring at the painting. Anna shook her head and blinked, taking a few moments to process what Rapunzel had just said.

"I was figuring you guys could just be my wingmen for the rest of my stay?" Anna giggled hopefully. In perfect unison, Kristoff and Rapunzel rolled their eyes and gave Anna a sardonic look, to which she held her hands up in defeat and sighed. "Okay, okay. I'll ask Kai or Gerda for some help."

"Or Elsa." Rapunzel quipped playfully. Anna burned slightly under her words and looked down at her hands, suddenly very fascinated with the way her fingers moved. Kristoff coughed and shrugged.

"I can help too. Rapunzel would probably be willing, too. Right?" he asked, looking at the brunette. Rapunzel nodded in an affirmative as she glanced down at the menu. "Right well, uhm. See down here on the menu, its chopped up according to what meat you want. Kalbfleisch is veal, Schweinefleisch is pork, Rindfleisch is beef, Huhn is chicken, and Fisch and Wurst should be easy to figure out. And if you can't, then you're a lost cause." he teased. Anna rolled her eyes at him and nudged him, simply looking down at the menu, her eyes glazed over as she made a half-hearted attempt to process the foreign words in front of her. Oaken eventually returned with the beer and water, placing them before the respective people before looking expectantly at the group.

"Bischen mehr Zeit, bitte." Kristoff admitted sheepishly, his expression mildly apologetic.

"Ja, gut." he responded curtly, heading back to the end of the restaurant to clean some more glasses or polish the wood.

"So what's that painting of?" Anna asked curiously, motioning towards the one with the pale girl and the dark-skinned girl. Kristoff and Rapunzel turned to look at the painting. Upon seeing it, Kristoff groaned inwardly whilst Rapunzel sighed with a knowing look on her features.

"I'll leave this one to Rapunzel. I did my good deed for today." Kristoff mumbled, leaning back in his chair. Rapunzel cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter, looking right at Anna.

"Well, there's a legend in Denmark, about a snow queen who lives on a secluded island called Spitsbergen. Anyway, there was a story about a thief who stole something from her, and as revenge she froze her solid in a block of ice. Decades later, a girl frees her from that ice block, to exact revenge on the snow queen." Rapunzel said, keeping her rant to a minimum. "It's actually a cute tale, and nowhere near as sad as The Little Match Girl that's famous around here."

"Is any of it true?" Anna asked hopefully, a certain glimmer in her eye. Kristoff hid his snicker behind his great hand, to which Rapunzel nudged him and shrugged unhelpfully at Anna.

"Well that's like asking if magic is real. Is it? Who knows. So for now, I'm going to assume that it happened until its proven false. It's more fun that way." Rapunzel added.

"What was her name?" Anna asked.

"Uhm… Cat? Kat? Lemme think… I think its Katja, probably. That's what she called herself in the legend, but… She's kind of a spotty character, don't you think?" Rapunzel chuckled lightly. "Katja suits her, she's definitely kinda cat-like."

"She reminds me of that Robber, the one thats wanted? I saw her yesterday morning. She stole some limes." Anna said, innocently. Kristoff blinked and suddenly tensed, while Rapunzel looked overjoyed, yet simultaneously worried at Kristoff's reaction.

"Did she? You've seen her? Oh my gosh, how close did you get to her? I've always wanted to talk to her. I heard that if you're lucky, and you have something to trade her, she'll read your fortune." Rapunzel exclaimed gleefully.

"It's a scam." Kristoff grumbled. "She's a gypsy. She's gonna scam you out of your last coin." he growled to himself.

"Kristoff!" Rapunzel hissed. "That's a slur, she's Romani. And besides, I've heard her fortunes are never wrong."

"Maybe so, but I still don't trust her." Kristoff grumbled, nursing his beer and stewing over the conversation at hand. "She's probably a tramp as well as a thief."

"Kristoff!" the brunette hissed again, this time whacking him on the arm. "She's not a tramp, I know that much. As for being a thief, well, I could think of worse things to be."

"If you say so." Kristoff relented, swirling the beer in his mug. The tension was luckily cut short by Oaken, who returned with an expectant look in his eyes. Kristoff was the first to speak up. "Sauerbraten mit Spätzle, bitte."

"Ja, gut. Und du, Fraulein?" the big man said, looking at Rapunzel.

"Etwas Hühnerbrust und Salat, bitte." she added. Anna blanched as Oaken turned to look at her expectantly, awkwardly blurting out the first food name she was familiar with.

"I, uhm… Bratwurst?" she said sheepishly, cursing herself for the awkward pronunciation. Oaken nodded and smiled, allowing Anna to take in a soft breath as the man seemed satisfied with her answer. Anna sighed and took a sip of her water, sensing the obvious tension between Rapunzel and Kristoff at the mention of the robber. "I think I had a dream about a snow queen." Anna said, attempting to break the silence. Kristoff and Rapunzel simultaneously looked up at her, Rapunzel obviously more excited than Kristoff who simply looked a little confused.

"What happened in it?" Rapunzel asked eagerly.

"There was a girl, and she met with a witch. The witch told her to go find a Djinn encased in ice in order to defeat the snow queen. Are there any Djinn in that story about the painting?" Anna confessed.

"None that I know of. I think you've been reading a little too much of the Arabian Nights." Rapunzel chuckled. "But its weird that you had a dream like that."

"Maybe its because the countess could be a snow queen." Kristoff added lightly. Rapunzel rolled her eyes and swatted him lightly, the tension obviously dissipating from the table. Anna blinked and shrugged, looking down at her drink in front of her and mulling over the various questions she had in her head.

Too much Arabian Nights, huh? she thought to herself.

Elsa sat at her table, in the highest room of the uppermost floor, and gripped the edge of the desk in frustration, going over various papers. She shoved them up against the edge of the desk and the temperature in the room dropped several degrees more as she glanced into her mug of tea. The tea leaves at the bottom were frozen in place in a pile of slushy tea, but the outline was clear and it frustrated Elsa. She tore the silken gloves off her fingers, touching and breathing against her fingers, trying to recreate the peculiar sensation that Anna had lit within her.

Anna.

Anna.

The thought of the redhead brought a painful longing, and a disgusting hunger into Elsa. She knew that hunger well, but never to this extent. It repulsed her, nauseated her. She wanted to curl up into the blankets and cease to exist. How unpleasant, she thought sardonically to herself. The hunger she could bear, probably, though the sheer starvation she felt when in Anna's presence was ever so repulsive to her, it was still bearable. To an extent. Coupled with that unfamiliar longing, that terrifically foreign and unfamiliar longing, she had no idea how long she would last. How wonderful Anna smelled; the lingering smell of the redhead still remained on her body, and it nauseated and pleased her all at once. The hunger was getting to her, but nothing could sate her. Nothing except those ridiculous tea leaves that she put so much faith into. They cursed her from the bottom of that mug, however, and so she lay there on the bed, gazing up at the frosty ceiling and feeling quite sick and weak. She was starving. Such a gnawing hunger kept crawling into her very being; it was driving her insane.

"Lady Elsa?" came a voice from beyond the door.

"I'm awake, Gerda. You may come in." she sighed, sitting upright on her bed and wiping the peculiar sweat that formed on her brow despite the frigid temperature. The door hesitantly creaked open, and Gerda bowed slightly to the countess.

"Are you feeling alright? It's snowing downstairs, and I-... Oh my. You look awful." the maid gasped, moving forward to touch Elsa's forehead. "And you're burning up! Have you even fed yourself?"

"No." Elsa sighed, laying back against the bed and touching her cheek to the soft, cold pillow. "I haven't. Not for a while."

"Would you like some of m-"

"No!" Elsa hissed, pulling herself away from Gerda and tucking up at the further side of the bed. "I don't want anything. I simply wish to be alone."

"As you wish." Gerda replied. "Please do take care of yourself. Anna would be heartbroken." she said as she exited the room, slowly closing the door behind her.

"Anna" Elsa whispered to herself, tasting the name against the tip of her tongue and forcing herself into an uncomfortable slumber.