"Coronation Day take two." Elsa spoke to the mirror in her dressing room. She had thawed out Arendelle only the day before and despite an entire afternoon spent on the ice-rink she had created, the officials had insisted that the rest of her coronation celebration continue now things had been set right. To say that she wasn't looking forward to it was an understatement. She dropped a hand to the dressing table and watched in horror as her ice raced across the surface and shattered a vase.
"No, no…. Con-" She stopped herself, catching sight of a fur edged magenta cape hanging from a screen. "Love will thaw." She breathed a deep cleansing breath and thought to recall the feeling of love and gratitude. The ice lifted leaving only fragments of glass. Smling softly, Elsa was glad she had asked for her wardrobe to be moved into the same dressing room as Anna's.
On cue, the door thundered open and Anna strode in, dripping wet, muddied and with seaweed hanging off her head. "I'm here, I'm back." She marched past Elsa, not even noticing the broken vase.
"What happened to you?" Elsa said, following the trail of water droplets and soggy footprints from the door to her sister.
"Pig, pie. I mean not a pig-pie but a pig and a pie, and a ocean." Anna said, walking into her wardrobe for a look around "Where's my rose dress?" her voice was muffled by the curtains.
"Still recovering from the last time you wore it." Elsa saw all the expenses relating to her and her sister and dress repair was high on the list of regular outgoings in respects to Anna.
"Oh right! Sorry!" Anna called from the depths of the wardrobe, rummaging through the clothes.
Various noises of movement and fabric on fabric had Elsa concerned that the dressing room would turn out looking like Anna's room. "Please don't make a mess." It felt like a pointless comment but at least she had said it. Said it to her sister, her sister who she was speaking too again, at last. Elsa was about to get misty eyed, again, but a voice cut into her reverie.
"Ooo, how about this?" Anna jumped out clad in an outrageous purple dress plastered in gold embroidery and frogging to match. It was hideous.
"Uh uh," Elsa folded her arms and looked the terrible dress up and down, "you are not wearing that to my party."
"Okay!" Anna threw the dress upwards and off and sprang back into the wardrobe in her knickerbockers and vest. Elsa sighed, to think her sister was a princess.
Anna was inside the wardrobe still, humming a little tune as she searched. Elsa could only stand and watch, wondering if all this could be sped along if she offered to create an ice-dress for her sister.
"Hmm…What is this!" Anna said, excited again. Ashe burst out of the wardrobe in the most enormous dress Elsa had seen since, well, since she had had the dress put away in the first place.
It was orange. It had green stripes. There was about one hundred feet of material used in its creation. Anna looked swamped in the vast garment but was strutting gamely.
"Oooo, oh la-la, my hips are here my hips are there." She swept the skirts from side to side, indeed, it did look like her hips had a life of their own. "Oh, pardon my behind young man, didn't mean to knock you down." Anna giggled and grinned and Elsa tried to maintain decorum.
"It was just a gift." She interjected, trying to figure out if Anna was seriously considering wearing the huge habiliment to the party. It was a sad reminder for Elsa that she really couldn't read people, not even her sister.
"From whom?" Anna asked, oblivious to her sister's misgivings. She sauntered and flounced about in the dress, letting the sleeves puff about and the skirts increase her width at least twofold.
The whole display was just too funny for Elsa to stop from laughing but still she battled on "I don't know, one of the big countries." She followed Anna's progress around the room, growing less and less in control of her desire to laugh. She made on last valiant attempt. "Stop goofing around"
Anna pulled a face and instead jumped in front of the door to the room, measuring the girth of the gown against the wooden framed portal. "I can barely fit through the doorway!" She threw her arms up in despair and Elsa finally lost it and began to laugh.
Elsa laughed and laughed, for the first time in forever. More than the happy little giggle at Anna's inability on the ice, more than the reassuring chuckle she had given Olaf as she put the little guy back together. A proper, emotionally cleansing laugh, from deep within her soul. It was like a millstone had been lifted from her chest.
All the years concealing, all the years hiding from feelings bar crippling fear that confined her to her room. Elsa didn't realise when the laughs turned to sobs, or that her knees lost their strength and folded her to the floor. Anna did.
Anna had noticed everything. From the look of tentative want on Elsa's face, a want to understand her younger sister and interact with her tempered by a distressing inability to do so, to the amusement she was clearly holding in just as she held in every other positive emotion for thirteen years. She caught the platinum haired head that was sinking towards the ground as Elsa's poise crumbled further and pillowed it in her lap. "I've got you Elsa, I'm right here."
The sobbing shook Elsa's body and the tears made a mess of her makeup and the skirts of the dress Anna wore and still Anna whispered soothing words and stroked the shuddering shoulders. A few tears leaked from Anna's eyes and she wiped them off.
When Elsa finally finished her emotional purge she sat up from Anna's lap. "Sorry." She pulled herself up and away, drawing herself closed again.
Anna gave a watery smile, "You should be, this dress is ruined." She knew her voice cracked a little but she kept the smile in place. "I have no idea what I am going to wear to your party." She carefully chucked Elsa on the shoulder.
The touch didn't provoke any ice, causing a look of amazed wonderment to widen Elsa's ice blue eyes. She unlatched her fingers from around her elbows and carefully, gently, caught a tear from Anna's cheek. "I'm a terrible sister. Sorry…"
"Don't you dare." Anna grabbed Elsa around the waist for a hug. "You never say that, you are the best sister anyone could ever have."
"No, I can't be the best sister, because that's you." Elsa smiled softly, she had calmed down now and a feeling had settled into her chest, a nice one. 'Is it contentedness?' she wondered, but didn't wish to probe and lose the slight warmth it gave.
"That's what I like to see. A smile." Anna's eyes had cleared of tears and she was smiling wider still. Elsa returned it.
"We still need to find you an outfit. I did spoil this one." Elsa managed a giggle. "I think I can help with that though. She waggled her fingers, the blue of her magic glowed on the digits. Anna's excited squeal was quite the reward.
The formal party was starting in the evening, just like the fateful day. However no prince would be asking for Anna's hand, nor would a crafty old man be causing trouble. Hans was in the cells, Weselton and his guards under watch in their guest suite. The guests who had not been involved on an attempt on the Queen were mingling as they awaited their hosts.
Kai took up his position ahead of the thrones, his presence calling the party to attention. The low murmur stopped and all eyes turned to the chief aide. "Presenting Queen Elsa of Arendelle." He spoke and gestured as the monarch walked in.
Elsa had all her grace and poise intact, with the addition of confidence to her bearing and the fear that had clouded her at the previous presentation was gone. Also, the dress of ice crystals paired with her freed braid dotted with snowflakes and the silver ice shoes on her feet left the crowd impressed. She inclined her head to Kai and smiled.
"Presenting Princess Anna of Arendelle." He anticipated the younger woman to be slow to respond, distracted or unaware of her summons. So even the long-time servant of the crown was shocked when Anna entered.
Her hair was in a double plait and pulled across her head like a crown. She was wearing a green dress, like her on her debut but this one was different. This one was entirely of shimmering green crystals. Ice, her sister's ice. It was a slightly more demure cut than the daringly low neckline and scandalously high slit skirt of Elsa's blue but it was still a stunning dress.
Somewhere in the crowd a male voice half squeaked "That's what I call Ice..." and the princess blushed and grinned in triumph. She joined her sister.
"You knocked 'em dead Anna." Elsa smiled and grabbed her hand.
"We both did sis."
This party was a lot more successful, even if the Queen was only comfortable dancing with a talking snowman and the princess allowed herself to be somewhat monopolised by the Ice Master and Deliverer.
Everyone agreed that the new Arendelle was getting off to a good start.
Another sister-feels one shot story. I had the idea after watching the animatic of a deleted scene posted to The Guardian.
Take a gander at: theguardian.com/film/video/2014/mar/28/frozen-deleted-scene-disney-animation-video of course add your w's and the . before you jump there. It is funny and I carried over the dialogue as best I could. Of course I had to skew it to fit after the film. As always, let me know what you think if you'd like.