A Snowball's Chance in Hell

Chapter Thirteen

Six months later

Elsa let her head fall back against the pillow, her breath coming in ragged pants. The last vestiges of her orgasm faded, leaving behind a tingling warmth that permeated her limbs. She felt the bed shift as her sister climbed along it, and she wrapped an arm around Anna when she snuggled up next to her. "It is truly unfair how good you are at that," she said breathlessly, leaning down to kiss her sister on the forehead.

Anna giggled. "Well, you know what they say. Practice makes perfect," she replied, grinning. She gazed dreamily at Elsa, marveling yet again at how wonderful the past months had—

"Marry me."

The words were out of Elsa's mouth before she had even realized she'd thought thought them. She and Anna both pulled back a bit, shocked by the statement. Elsa recovered first, carefully sitting up a bit. "Anna, I… what I… I didn't—"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry?" Elsa said. She blinked a few times, sure that she had misheard her sister.

"Yes, Elsa, I would love to marry you," Anna replied, leaning in for a kiss.

Elsa couldn't contain an excited squeal as she threw her arms around Anna's shoulders, eagerly returning the kiss. Several concerns swirled around her mind, but she pushed them away and allowed herself to simply enjoy the moment. When they finally separated, she chuckled to herself. "If we ever tell anyone about this, can we make up a different proposal? Preferably one where I'm wearing clothes?" she asked.

Anna looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "And miss out on getting to tell people that I went down on you so well that you proposed?" she shot back. "I don't think so. Hell, this is almost as good as that time you came so hard you made it snow." She shrieked when Elsa pinched her butt, and she retaliated by digging her fingers into her sister's ribs where she knew Elsa was ticklish.

Things quickly escalated into an all-out tickle war, with Anna slowly gaining the upper hand. Her hands flew along Elsa's sides and hips, hitting all of the places that she had discovered her sister was ticklish. Elsa cringed away from each new assault, unable to mount an effective counterattack under the relentless onslaught. Even when she did manage to reach one of Anna's vulnerable points, her own attacks met with only middling success. As the struggle wore on, Elsa's stomach and sides began to hurt from laughing so much.

"I give up!" Elsa shrieked, flopping back on the bed with her arms above her head. "You win."

"Yes!" Anna cried, pumping a fist in the air. She sat up and took in the view from her new position straddling her sister's hips. It never ceased to amaze her just how gorgeous Elsa was. Everything about her sister was delicate, with every line and curve of Elsa's body flowing in just the right way. Anna couldn't help but let her eyes wander over her sister's form, tracing over Elsa's hip, up along her side, and over the exquisite curve of her breasts.

Anna pulled her gaze away from the mesmerizing sight and met her sister's eyes, smiling warmly. "Can we even do it?" she asked suddenly.

"Do what?" Elsa replied in confusion.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Get married," she said, lifting a leg and flopping down next to her sister. She laid her head on Elsa's shoulder, momentarily marveling and how their bodies fit together like a lock and key. "I mean, there's not a law or something that would keep us from getting married because we're sisters, is there?"

"I don't know," Elsa replied. "Though, I suppose it wouldn't be too difficult to figure out. All of Arendelle's laws are in books down in the library." She felt her sister's chest press against her own as Anna got ready to say something, but Elsa kept going before she had the chance. "And before you ask… no, we can't just ask Mister Ulrich."

"I wasn't going to ask that," Anna said petulantly. She sulked for a bit, grousing internally about how easily Elsa could read her, but she ultimately had to agree that the two of them asking the kingdom's Lorekeeper about the legality of marriage between siblings might cause a few unwelcome rumors. "What if just one of us asked him?" she wondered aloud.

Elsa chuckled, leaning down to kiss the top of Anna's head. "Why don't we make that Plan B?" she suggested. "We can try to figure it out in the library, but if we can't, then I'll talk to Mister Ulrich."

"Okay," Anna relented. She sat up, reluctantly disentangling herself from Elsa's embrace. "To the library!" she declared, pointing a dramatic finger toward the door.

Elsa covered her mouth to hide a giggle. "Do you think that we could stop by the closet first?" she asked. "As much as I would enjoy the view—" She ran hand down Anna's back, resting it on her sister's pert backside. "—I think you might give a few of the older servants heart attacks running around like this."

"Fine," Anna sighed. "To the closet, AND THEN to the library!"

Elsa shut the dusty law book that she had been flipping through and rubbed at her eyes, trying to disperse the dense forest of runes that lingered behind her eyelids. "Have you found anything yet?" she asked. When no reply came for a few seconds, she opened her eyes and looked across the table. Her sister sat on the other side, her head propped up on her hands with her eyes closed and a small trail of drool running from the corner of her mouth. "Anna!" Elsa cried, chuckling.

Anna bolted upright, blinking dazedly. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and wiped a hand across her mouth. "Sorry, Elsa," she mumbled, lifting her arm above her head and stretching. "I just—" She paused as a yawn forced its way out. "All of this dense legal stuff puts me right to sleep." She absently flipped a few pages, her eyes flitting over the harsh lines of the runes without really reading them. "Besides, everything we've found regarding marriage is stuff for taxes or who inherits what if one or both of the parents die."

"I know," Elsa replied flatly. She flopped back in her chair and grabbed another tome from a nearby stack. She opened it to a random point and started casually flipping pages. "There's just too much here. I think it might be time to go to plan…" She trailed off, something niggling at the back of her mind and making her feel like she had missed something. She started flipping back through the pages until she caught of the runes for 'daughter.' She leaned forward and started reading from the previous sentence.

In the event that a man's wife dies without the production of a male heir, any sons borne to him by his second wife shall be considered secondary in succession to any daughters from his first marriage. A first-born daughter shall inherit his lands and possessions in the event of his death, unless already married.

Elsa slammed the book shut and let out a frustrated groan. "This is hopeless," she groused, running a hand through her hair. "There are just too many laws on the books for us to search through them." She sighed, then pushed her chair back from the table and stood up. "Plan B it is, then. I suppose I should go find Mister Ulrich."

"Hey," Anna said, closing her own book of laws. "Why do you get to go talk to him? It was my idea, so I think that I should do it."

Elsa smiled and walked around the table, leaning down to wrap her sister in a hug from behind. "I know, Anna," she said. "But this is a very delicate issue, and…" She planted a few kisses on Anna's throat, buying herself a few seconds to think of a polite way to phrase her concern. "Well, you tend to let your mouth run away with you when you get nervous."

Anna sunk down in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "I've never heard you complain about my mouth before now," she grumbled.

Elsa couldn't help but grin. Anna was simply adorable when she was grumpy. "I know," Elsa said, darting in for one more kiss. "And tonight, I promise that you can run your mouth anywhere you want," she whispered breathily, punctuating her statement with a long lick up Anna's neck to the back of her ear. She paused for a moment to enjoy the shudder that it sent through her sister, then stood up with her hand on Anna's shoulders, regretfully adopting a more serious tone. "But this is dangerous, my love. If word of this—of us—got out… it could be disastrous.

Anna stewed in her annoyance for a few more seconds, then let out a defeated sigh. "I know," she replied, laying a hand over her sister's. "You're right… as usual." She used a finger to trace small circles on the back of Elsa's hand. "Is there anything I can do while you're talking to Mister Ulrich?"

Elsa leaned down for one last kiss on her sister's lips, then turned and headed for the door. "Well," she replied, shooting Anna a sultry smile while she stood in the door frame. "You could always make sure that our personal icebox in my room is stocked. I think that we're out of whipped cream."

Elsa stood outside of the Lorekeeper's office, taking a moment to calm herself before she went in. While she had meant every word she had said to her sister about the gravity of the situation, she reluctantly had to admit that she didn't have a perfect track record while under pressure either. After taking one last deep breath, she turned the handle and pushed her way into the room. "Mister Ulrich?"

A short, round, and balding man looked up from a roll of parchment on his desk, a pair of scratched and weathered spectacles sliding down his hooked nose. He stared blankly for a moment before he recognized his guest. "Y-your majesty," he stammered, rushing to stand up. His glasses finally lost their battle with gravity and tumbled from his nose, bouncing off of the taut fabric stretching over his stomach on their way to the desk. He quickly bowed, coming perilously close to hitting his face on the desk. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"Please, Hallfred, there's no need for that," Elsa smiled and waved for the man to sit, praying that the worry and dread in her gut didn't show on her face. She sat down in a chair opposite Hallfred, waiting for him to get settled. Once he was seated again, he looked at her expectantly. Elsa tried to will herself to calm down one last time before speaking. "I was looking through a record of my family's lineage and saw a note about how the marriage of… pardon me, but some distant cousin or aunt was 'revoked.' I must confess that I have no idea what that means. I've heard of annulment and divorce, but never revoking a marriage. Is there some kind of law that would cause that?"

"Revoked?" Hallfred repeated, tapping his chin with his folded glasses. After a moment of contemplation, he nodded. "Ah, of course. It's not a law, per se, but a monarchical power."

"A power?" Elsa asked, leaning forward and trying to feign genuine curiosity. "A power to… do what, exactly?"

"Well," Hallfred fiddled with his glasses for a moment, then put them on his desk. "Essentially, it is exactly what it sounds like. If a family member or close friend of a betrothed couple feel that the marriage should not occur for some reason, they can petition the crown. After an investigation by the Royal Ombudsman, if the King—or Queen in your case—feels that the marriage was unfit to proceed for whatever reason, then they can revoke it." He thought for a moment before adding, "It's basically an annulment, except that it happens before the marriage ever occurs."

"Interesting," Elsa replied, sitting back in her chair. She laid her hands in her lap, though her palms seemed unsure whether they should sweat or freeze. "And other than my personal revoking of a marriage, is there… any other reason that a marriage would not be considered valid?" She froze as soon as the words left her mouth, not even daring to breathe while she waited for a response.

Hallfred's brow furrowed while he thought for a few agonizing seconds. "Not to my knowledge," he eventually said, shrugging. "There are no laws in Arendelle respecting one marriage over another, and the only way that one could be considered 'invalid' would be at your majesty's discretion."

"Hmm," Elsa hummed noncommittally. She let her eyes drift over to the clock on the wall, then stood up. "Well, thank you very much for the explanation, Mister Ulrich, but if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to."

"Of course, your majesty," Hallfred replied, scrambling back to his feet. He hurried around the desk and waddled over to the door, pulling it open and bowing. "Always happy to be of service, your majesty."

Elsa smiled and nodded politely as she made her way out of the office. She waited until she heard the door close behind her and she rounded a corner before she let the first squeal of excitement tear out of her chest and broke into a run back to her room.

"I don't know if I can do this," Elsa said, turning as she reached the edge of her study and setting off back toward the other side. She saw that she was still leaving a light trail of frost in her wake and dismissed it every time the turned around, but she couldn't get her turbulent emotions in check well enough to keep it from forming again.

"Elsa, for the tenth time, it will be fine," Anna replied from her position on the edge of Elsa's desk. When her sister had first started pacing, she had tried to hold her and calm her down, but Elsa's nervous energy kept winning out and Anna was forced to let her pace the room endlessly. "It's just Kai and Gerda. They're a… practice run for the council. It'll be fine."

But what if it's not?" Elsa shot back, a flurry of snowflakes racing from her hand as she waved it. She tucked the offending appendage under her other arm. "What if they're disgusted and tell the council themselves? Then the council can deem me unfit to rule, take the crown, and have us both thrown in the dungeons."

Anna sighed and stood up, walking over to her sister while Elsa continued to ramble about all the horrible things that could happen. Anna grabbed her sister's chin with a hand and forced her head up so that she could trap Elsa's lips in a kiss. Elsa mumbled a weak protest, but quickly gave in and draped her arms around Anna's waist.

"None of that is going to happen," Anna said when they parted a few moments later. "Kai and Gerda love us, and we love them. That's why we're trusting them with this." She let the hand on Elsa's chin drift down and around, trailing up and down her sister's spine with a light touch. "I mean, I can't guarantee that they won't freak out at least a little bit, but I can promise you that even if they do, they won't do anything rash like telling anyone else."

"I hope you're right," Elsa mumbled. She wasn't fully convinced, but the restless urge to keep moving had receded. She rested her head on Anna's shoulder, holding onto her sister like a rock in a raging river. She would have been content to just stay there for hours, but a knock on the door violently jerked her back to reality. Her arms tightened around her sister's waist, and for the briefest instant, she considered pretending that she and Anna simply weren't there.

"Your majesty?" Kai called from the other side of the door. The handle jiggled a bit, but remained closed.

Anna carefully extricated herself from her sister's embrace, pausing for one last kiss. "Come in," she called.

The door opened, allowing Kai and Gerda to enter the room. "Ah, good afternoon, your highness," Kai said, bowing. He turned slightly and bowed again to the Queen. "You wished to see us, your majesty?"

Elsa stood frozen, unable to formulate a response. She could scarcely even breathe. Thankfully, her sister stepped up and answered. "We did," Anna said, smiling. "But before we get into… what we wanted to talk about, why don't we all get a bit more comfortable?" She motioned toward two sets of chairs off to the side of the room. She casually linked her arm through Elsa's and led her sister over to one pair of seats. Once everyone was seated, she glanced at her sister.

Elsa couldn't hear anything other than the drumming of her own heartbeat in her ears. She had no clue how Anna was so calm in the face of what they were about to do. As the silence began to stretch, she gathered what remnants of her courage she could scavenge. "Anna," she began. "or rather… I… we…" She felt a warmth against her clenched fist and looked down to see her sister's hand on top of her own. She forced her hand open, allowing Anna to lace their fingers together. Taking a deep breath, Elsa squeezed her eyes shut and tried one last time.

"Anna and I are in love!" She blurted out in a rush. A beat of silence passed. "W-with each other," she finished lamely. Anna squeezed her hand, and Elsa slowly opened her eyes to try and gauge Kai and Gerda's reactions. Both servants were silent; still as statues with their faces locked in stoic neutrality. Elsa tried not to panic, but every second of silence that passed was agony to her. She gripped Anna's hand tighter, sure that she was hurting her sister. If she was, Anna didn't complain, merely tracing light circles on the back of Elsa's hand with her thumb.

Eventually, Gerda's mouth twitched up into a slight smile. "Not quite what I was expecting," she said. The Queen and Princess looked back at her in confusion. "You girls haven't been as sneaky as you think you have. I saw more than enough of the signs of young love when your father was courting your mother to recognize it in you two. Though, I admit that I assumed that the two of you had fallen for a pair of those Princes from the Southern Isles."

"You're not… upset?" Anna asked.

Gerda pursed her lips, weighing her response. "The two of you have been through enough," she said plainly. "Between all those years apart, the death of your parents, and nearly losing one another in that dreaded Eternal Winter…" She paused and shook her head. "You girls deserve whatever happiness you can find."

Elsa let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, smiling a bit for the first time since she'd sent for Kai and Gerda. "Thank you," she said. She turned to face Kai, who hadn't moved since her outburst. She wanted to say something, to try and gauge his reaction, but she also didn't want to risk exacerbating a potentially negative response.

Kai remained silent, seeming to study to point on the floor a ways away. After nearly a minute of agonizing silence, he finally looked to the Queen and Princess. His gaze moved back and forth between them before settling on Elsa. "This is what both of you want?" he asked. Both women nodded. Kai's mouth pressed into a thin line for a moment before he spoke again. "Then you shall have no opposition from me, your majesty."

Elsa's buoyed mood dipped a bit. She knew that it was unrealistic to expect the level of acceptance that Gerda had given them from everyone, but mere tolerance from someone so close to her still stung a bit. Still, tolerance is vastly better than disgust, she thought. Next to her, she saw her sister getting ready to say something. Elsa squeezed Anna's hand to get her attention, then shook her head slightly. Thankfully, her sister reconsidered whatever she was about to say and merely sat back against her chair.

"If you don't mind me asking, your majesty," Kai said, shifting in his chair a bit. "What do you plan to do now?"

"We want to get married!" Anna exclaimed proudly. Gerda smiled at her earnestness while Kai looked at her in confusion.

"I don't think that's what he meant, Anna," Elsa said, trying to hold back a chuckle. She turned back to Kai. "We were hoping to inform the council of our relationship." After a moment, she asked, "You wouldn't happen to have any… ideas or suggestions to make telling them easier, would you?"

Kai looked over at Gerda, who merely shrugged. "I'm afraid not, your majesty," he said. "Would you like for me to summon the council members to the conference room? I can have them gathered in about an hour, if you wish."

Elsa blanched. She hadn't been planning on telling the council so soon. She'd hoped to have another day or two to figure out just what she was going to say. Then again, putting it off will just give me time to worry about it, she thought. We might as well get it out of the way. "Yes," she said, nodding. She stood up, and the rest of them quickly followed suit. Elsa led the way over to the door, holding it open for Kai and Gerda.

"Thank you, both of you, for… everything," she said. Kai simply nodded, and Gerda placed a hand on her arm for a moment before turning to follow him down the hall.

"Well, that went better than expected," Anna said after the door closed again. She stepped up behind her sister and slid her arms around Elsa's waist, resting her chin on Elsa's shoulder. "So, what now?"

Elsa turned her head and kissed Anna's cheek. "Well, we've got an hour until the council members are assembled," she said, stepping out of her sister's embrace. She turned and took Anna's hand. Opening the door again, she stepped out into the hall and pulled her sister along behind her. "And since telling them is going to be exponentially more nerve-wracking than Kai and Gerda, I'm going to need you to help me relax before then."

Anna felt heat rush to her face as she started imaging the various ways she could help her sister 'unwind' before the council meeting. "Umm, do we have time for that, Elsa?" she asked. Her eyes darted around the hallway to make sure they were alone. "I mean, I'm all for it, but usually we have to bathe afterward, then there's our hair and all that…"

Elsa looked back over her shoulder, smirking. "I was only talking about a back rub," she said, letting out a surprised yelp when Anna lunged forward and pinched her butt.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

Elsa and Anna stood outside the conference room, the hushed voices of the council members leaking through the crack between the closed doors. Elsa gripped her sister's hand tightly, as if it were the only thing keeping her grounded.

"You'll be fine," Anna replied, darting in for a quick kiss on Elsa's cheek. "And if you're not, just say the word and we'll enact Plan C, in which we flee the kingdom and begin a new life in a faraway land where no one knows who we are."

Elsa couldn't help but chuckle. "And why is that Plan C again?" she asked.

"Because Plan A was trying to figure out if we could get married on our own and Plan B was asking Mister Ulrich about the marriage laws, and we can't just go reusing Plan letters," Anna replied. She tapped a finger against her chin. "Unless we make it all the way to Plan Z. In that case, would we loop back around to Plan A, or move on to numbers and go with Plan One? We could even start using double letters and go onto Plan AA."

Elsa grinned and pulled her sister into a hug. Somehow, Anna always knew how to take her mind off of whatever was worrying her. "Hopefully we won't need that many plans," she said. She released her sister from the hug, pausing for a quick kiss, and turned toward the door to the conference room. "Well, we might as well get this over with," she grumbled before striding purposefully toward the door. She pushed them open, and all of the council members immediately fell silent, their eyes glued to her. She made her way to the head of the table and sat down, silently thankful that her sister opted to stand next to her chair rather than sitting in the only other empty chair at the far end of the table.

"I'm sure that you're all wondering why I've summoned you here on such short notice," Elsa said, meeting the gaze of each member in turn. As she looked around the table, her resolve started to waver. These were men who had faithfully served her father for years, and a few like Peter Eriksson had even begun their tenure under her grandfather. Privately, she was terrified of the idea that people she had known all her life might despise her for what she was about to say, but it was far too late to back out now.

"I don't want to mince words or waste anyone's time, so I'll be blunt," she said. She could feel every set of eyes in the room boring into her, but she forced herself to keep going. "Princess Anna and I have come to realize that the love we share is more than just a sisterly bond of affection. As such, we have been clandestinely involved in a romantic relationship for several months now." She paused for a moment, meeting a number of shocked gazes around the table. Thankfully, no one seemed outwardly hostile, but a number of the council members looked confused. "In short, my sister and I are lovers."

Several whispered conversations burst to life around the table, but Elsa held a hand up to silence them. "I understand that this is a… shocking announcement, to say the least," she said, trying her best to keep her voice steady. "And as such I would like to give all of you the opportunity to—" She stopped short when Peter Eriksson slowly stood from his position near the end of the table.

"Please forgive me for interrupting, your majesty," Peter said, bowing as best he could. "But there is simply one matter that I wished to clear up before we proceed any further." He waited for a nod from the Queen before speaking again. "I trust that, regardless of this new relationship with her highness, you will still devote your efforts to ruling the kingdom and that you will always keep Arendelle's best interests at heart, will you not?"

"I will," Elsa replied firmly.

"In that case," Peter said, spreading his hands. "I don't believe that it is any of our business what goes on behind the doors of your private quarters, your majesty. So long as you rule Arendelle justly and keep her best interests at heart, that's all that matters." A few of the council members nodded in agreement.

Elsa looked around the table, involuntarily swallowing when she saw the unbridled fury on Mister Andersson's face. Niklas Andersson was the youngest member of the council by a good margin. He was the kingdom's Fleetmaster and had been tentatively appointed at the tail end of her father's rule. Unfortunately, the King and Queen had perished before Niklas' confirmation of his position, and he had been forced to wait for Elsa's coronation to be officially sworn into his office. He had been a thorn in her side ever since she had ascended to the throne, seeming to hold Elsa personally responsible for the three year delay in his appointment, and now she was giving him exactly what he needed to ruin her.

"Have you gone mad, Peter?" Niklas cried. He leapt out of his chair, jabbing an accusatory finger at Elsa. "This is an outrage! Why would we ever let our sovereign ruler engage in this... this abomination? If it were ever to become public knowledge, it would ruin our people's faith in the crown and make us a pariah among the other kingdoms! No one would dare risk trading with us. The kingdom would descend into anarchy and civil war within months!" He sneered at the Queen, shaking his head. "I suppose we should at least be thankful that these whores won't be able to curse the kingdom with their incestuous bastards."

The conference room erupted into a frenzied sea of shouting. Elsa didn't bother to try and make out who was saying what. Every ounce of worry, dread, or anxiety drained from her body, leaving behind only one emotion behind; a fierce primal urge to protect her sister. Elsa leapt out of her seat with such force that her ornate chair went tumbling to the ground, but the crash went completely unnoticed amongst the ruckus. She stepped in front of Anna, a wave of razor sharp icicles spreading from her feet to form a protective barrier between her and any potential attacker. She flexed her fingers and small shards of ice hovered around her hand, ready to be launched at a moment's notice.

"Elsa, wait," Anna breathed, laying a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Look."

Elsa shrugged her sister's hand away, still scanning for threats. As the cacophony finally gave way to ominous silence, she slowly started for focus on each council member around the table. She couldn't believe her eyes. Every councilor at the table was glaring murderous daggers at Niklas, and Peter Eriksson was holding up a hand to quiet them.

"You are severely out of line, boy," Peter barked. His voice carried far more force and authority than Elsa had ever heard from him before. "No matter what you think or feel about the Queen and Princess' relationship, she is still your Queen, and you will show her the deference and respect that she is due or I will personally see you rot in the dungeons for the rest of your miserable life."

Niklas stumbled back a step, faltering under the old man's fierce glare. "You can't be serious, Peter," he said. He scanned the rest of the table, searching desperately for some shred of support. "Alexi? Richard? Hallfred, surely you agree with me."

"That vile hogwash you were spouting is treason!" Hallfred bellowed, glaring at Niklas over the tops of his glasses. "We should have you hanged for what you've done. Someone fetch the guard!"

"No, wait!" Elsa cried, instantly recapturing the attention of the council. She took a moment to release her magic and dispel her ice, then turned her gaze back to the council members. "Mister Andersson has simply spoken his mind on the subject, even if it was a bit… over-zealous. Nevertheless, I will not have anyone punished for their opinion on the matter."

Peter pursed his lips for a moment before nodding. "As you wish, your majesty," he said, his voice back to its normal measured tone. "But even if he is not to be punished, he should be removed from his position on the council. I will not stand to see him retain his position after the slanderous filth he just uttered."

Elsa looked from Peter to Niklas, who was still standing slack-jawed in utter disbelief. "I will not strip him of his post with my authority," she said. "But if it is the will of the council, then you may dismiss him from your ranks."

"All those in favor of removing Mister Andersson from his post?" Peter asked. Every hand at the table shot up. "All those opposed?" He looked to Niklas, but the Fleetmaster didn't even raise his hand. Niklas merely flopped back down in his chair, utterly defeated.

"Very well, then," Peter said, turning fully to face Niklas. "Mister Andersson, by the authority granted to me by her majesty Queen Elsa of Arendelle, I do hereby strip you of the title of Fleetmaster and expel you from this council." Niklas stood from his chair and trudged over to the door. He looked back as if he wanted to say something, but the persistent glares of the council members kept him quiet as she shuffled out of the room.

Once Niklas was gone, the members of the council except Peter returned to their seats. Elsa could only stare at the men around the table. All of them had every right to be as furious as Niklas had been, yet they had defended her to a man. She felt Anna lace their fingers together, and she looked over to see her sister beaming at her.

"Thank you, everyone," she said, her throat tight. "I can't… This means more to me than you can imagine. Again, thank you." Tears of joy stung at her eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to wipe them away.

"Think nothing of it, your majesty," Peter said, bowing slightly. "Now, unless there's something pressing that anyone wishes to discuss while we're all here, I move that this meeting be adjourned." Murmurs of agreement sounded from around the table, and the room soon filled with movement as the council members made their ways toward the door. They slowly filed out of the room, pausing to bow to the Queen and Princess, until only Peter was left. The old man regarded Elsa, who was biting her lip. "Was there anything else, your majesty?" he asked.

"I just…" Elsa paused, unsure of how exactly to broach the subject. Straightforward has worked so far, she thought. "Obviously, Anna and I are both women, so the production of an heir—"

"All in good time, your majesty," Peter said, cutting across Elsa's words. He smiled and patted her arm. "I'm sure that the two of you have had enough worry and excitement for one day. The issue of an heir can wait until the next council meeting." He saw the Queen's brow furrow for an instant. "But if it will help put your mind at ease, I can assure you that the laws regarding succession and adoption are strong, should you not wish for… outside assistance in the matter."

Elsa visibly relaxed, a breathless chuckle escaping her. "Thank you, Peter, again," she said. "I don't know what I would have done without you."

"I live to serve, your majesty, as do we all," Peter said, bowing. When he stood back up, he started for the door. "Now, if your majesty would be so kind as to excuse me, I was in the middle of a lesson with young Arthur when Kai summoned me for this meeting." He paused for a moment as he laid his hand on the doorknob, then turned back to the Queen. "If you'll indulge an old man's curiosity, your majesty, were you and her highness going to inform the general populace of your relationship?" he asked.

"We weren't planning on it," Elsa responded. She looked at Anna for confirmation, and her sister shook her head. "With all due respect, between telling the council and Kai and Gerda beforehand, I think I've already worried a few years off of my life." She reached down and took hold of Anna's hand. "We'll tell people that need to know, but other than that… like you said, it's not anyone's business."

"Of course," Peter said, nodding. He pulled the door open and bowed. "Now, I'll take my leave, your majesty, your highness." Once he got nods from the Queen and Princess, he shuffled out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"So… that was kind of awesome," Anna said, though she quickly backtracked a bit. "I mean, not Mister Andersson, of course. He was kind of mean, like really mean, but it was awesome how everyone else in the council stood up for you."

"For us, you mean," Elsa said. She turned to face her sister, stepping forward and draping her arms over Anna's shoulders.

"Well, yeah," Anna replied, her arms finding their way around Elsa's hips. "But everyone was really focused on you because... y'know, you were acting very much like a queen and all." She couldn't help but smile when her sister started giggling. "You are… or were," she insisted. "You were very… authoritative." She blushed before continuing. "I don't think anyone saw it, but it was really… nice when you stepped up to protect me. I just…" She stopped for a moment, unable to properly articulate what she was feeling. "It makes me feel safe knowing that you're willing to fight for me."

Elsa leaned in for a kiss. "I'll always fight for you, my love," she said when they separated. After a few lingering seconds, she stepped out of her sister's embrace. She grabbed Anna's hand and started pulling her toward the door. "Now, come on."

"Where are we going?" Anna asked, falling into step behind her sister.

"The kitchens for chocolate, then the gardens for a walk," Elsa said. "We can start planning our wedding tomorrow. Today, I just want to spend some quality time with my fianceé."

A/N: That's a wrap, folks. I'm (kind of) sorry to say it, but that's the end. Don't feel too bad, though. In the immortal words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, "Ice to meet you."

Wait... shit... wrong movie.

"I'll be back."

I'm not entirely sure when, but I can guarantee all of you that I'll be back to writing (and shipping) Elsanna in the future. On the plus side, this is only the second story I've ever actually finished. I have a horrible tendency to start stories, get bored near the end, and move on to something else. That's actually how this story got started, so now I'm going back to the story that I just kind of... abandoned. But once it's done, I'm sure I'll be back.

Thank you all for reading and for the kind words.

-Dianwei32