The Force Portal dumped Anna and Elsa unceremoniously on the floor of the Ice Palace, sending them sprawling. Elsa was still out cold, her body landing awkwardly in a tangle of limbs. The stim had been enough to get the portal open, but not enough to bring Elsa to full consciousness. Anna groaned and sat up holding her head, then remembered where they had been, screamed "Elsa!" and ran over to her sister's seemingly lifeless body. She put her arm under Elsa's shoulders and cradled her, caressing her cheek with her free hand.

"Elsa, Elsa, please wake up!" Anna began to cry. It only took her a few seconds to realize that wasn't going to help her sister. She wiped her face, then lay Elsa down gently and began to check for any signs of life. Anna removed Elsa's helmet, goggles and scarf, then took off her own. It wasn't as cold here as it was on Hoth, she didn't need them.

Putting her face close to Elsa's, she could tell that her sister was breathing rapidly and shallowly. Anna opened Elsa's jacket and put her ear to the unconscious woman's chest to check for a heartbeat. It was fast, very fast. Anna remembered what Kristoff had told her about head injuries, and decided that checking Elsa's eyes made sense. Peeling her eyelids open gently, Anna saw that the pupils were huge, and Elsa's eyes were bloodshot.

Anna wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not; Elsa was alive, but she seemed to be in distress, and certainly showed no signs of waking up. What should she do? She needed to get Elsa back to Arendelle to a doctor. But how?

"Anna? Are you okay?" The voice behind her startled Anna so much she nearly jumped a foot in the air. Olaf!

"Olaf! Am I glad to see you! Give me a hug!" Olaf was always ready for a hug, but he could tell Anna was upset, and then he noticed Elsa's motionless body.

"Anna, what's wrong with Elsa?" he asked worriedly.

"She's sick, little guy. I need you to help me. First, bring me the picnic basket we brought." They had planned to stay over night and had brought food and drink along. "Then, get Marshmallow up here. Can you do that?" Anna's brain was whirling like the damn portal, but a plan was beginning to come into focus.

Olaf ran off to do what she asked. Anna cradled Elsa again, stroking her cheeks and murmuring, "I'll get you home, Elsa, I'll take care of you." Anna was disturbed to see how pale her sister's skin was. Normally, Elsa's freckles were almost invisible; now they stood out stark against her pallid, grayish skin. There were dark circles under her eyes, and the skin was taut against her cheekbones. Elsa looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks. Anna cursed the stim drugs, even knowing they had been necessary for Elsa to accomplish what needed to be done.

It took Olaf only a few minutes to return with Marshmallow and the picnic basket.

Anna had remembered what Major Derlin explained about the drugs sucking energy out of the user's body. She needed Elsa to drink something, and eat if possible. First, though, she needed to send for help.

"Olaf, I need you to do something important. You need to run back to the castle and tell them that Elsa's hurt. We need a wagon and the doctor as fast as they can get up here. Can you do that for me?"

"You bet, Anna! It won't take me long at all!" He seemed to think for a minute, then asked, "Are you sure you don't want Kristoff?"

"He's down in Arendelle; you can find him after you get the Royal Physician started up here." Anna replied as she dug through the items in the picnic basket.

"No, he's with the trolls. He and Sven decided to come visit them. I think he was gonna surprise you and Elsa later."

Anna was startled. If Kristoff and Sven were with the trolls, they could get here with the wagon much quicker than sending Olaf all the way back to Arendelle.

"Olaf, go get Kristoff and Sven. Tell them Elsa's hurt, and to hurry!" Olaf took off running immediately.

Anna looked up at Marshmallow. "Marshmallow, do you think you can carry Elsa? The faster we can get to Kristoff, the faster we can get back to Arendelle."

"Yes, Lady Anna. I can do that," he rumbled in reply, his deep voice echoing off the icy walls.

"Let me see if I can wake her enough to get her to eat and drink something first."

Anna had pulled out a jug of milk they had brought along. Pouring some into a cup, then more into a bowl, she dipped a chunk of bread in the bowl. "Marshmallow, come here and give me a little bit of your snow, please?"

She took took the snow and gently rubbed it on Elsa's cheeks and forehead, trying to rouse her. It worked, somewhat. Elsa groaned and her eyelids fluttered, but she didn't awaken completely. "An … Anna?" she mumbled.

"I'm here, Elsa. Can you try to drink a little?" She took a moan as a yes and held the cup to Elsa's lips, being careful not to let her choke. Elsa drank most of it, sputtering and coughing at the end.

Putting the cup aside, Anna brought the milk-soaked bread to Elsa's lips and said, "Try to eat this, honey. It's soft; you need to eat something." But Elsa was unresponsive again. Anna gave up trying to get her to eat.

She laid her sister down again, then turned to look at Marshmallow. "We need to get to the trolls. Please carry her and move as fast as you can without leaving me behind." He nodded, then knelt to pick up Elsa, cradling her more gently than Anna would have believed possible for a snowlem so large. They left the Ice Palace, Anna pulling on her gloves and wrapping her scarf around her as they went down the staircase to the mountain.

They had only been walking for about half an hour when they heard hoof-beats approaching. It was Kristoff and Sven. Since it was summer, the wagon was equipped with wheels, not runners. Olaf was riding in the back of the wagon.

Kristoff pulled on the reins and Sven skidded to a stop. Leaping out of the wagon, Kristoff wrapped Anna in a hug and asked, "What happened? What's wrong with Elsa?" He looked up at Marshmallow carrying the Queen.

"I'll explain on the way back to the castle, we need to get her to the doctor, fast!" She hugged Kristoff fiercely and kissed him. "Marshmallow, put her in the back of the wagon, gently please."

The snowlem complied. Kristoff helped Anna climb in with Elsa. She arranged her sister's head in her lap, then looked up at Marshmallow and said, "Thank you Marshmallow! But you better get back up above the snow line before you melt." He didn't have a personal flurry cloud like Olaf, and couldn't travel far from the Ice Palace in the summer.

"Lady Elsa is worth melting for, Lady Anna. Take good care of her!" And he turned to go back up the mountain.

Kristoff had been watching this exchange and noticing the odd clothing that the two women were wearing. "Uh, Anna, why are you dressed like that?"

"I'll explain it all, Kristoff, but you won't believe me. Let's go, Elsa needs a doctor."

Kristoff got in the wagon, picked up the reins and told Sven, "Go, buddy!" Sven brayed his assent and began the trip back to Arendelle.

Anna looked up at Kristoff and asked, "How long were we gone?"

Turning his head, he replied with a puzzled tone in his voice, "Huh? What do you mean? I brought you guys up here yesterday morning, then I decided to visit the family instead of going all the way back to Arendelle. I was supposed to meet up with you tonight to go back down the mountain."

Anna thought this over. She and Elsa were just getting ready to eat lunch on their second day at the Ice Palace when the portal had taken them. She looked up at the sun in the sky and realized it was maybe an hour past noon. Apparently, no time at all had passed here, even though they had been on Hoth for days! She didn't even try to figure out how that could be.

While stroking Elsa's cheek, she noticed the com-link on her own wrist. Elsa was still wearing one, too. Anna decided trying to explain them would be too hard, so she unbuckled both of them and tucked them away in her jacket pocket. She had taken off her helmet, scarf and gloves, it was warm enough without them now. Their clothes were odd, but nothing stood out about the fabric. Anna was good at making up stories, she'd have to think up a really good one on the way to the castle. Along with some explanation of how Elsa had gotten so sick and thin literally overnight. She brushed Elsa's bangs back from her forehead and hoped she woke up soon.

Sven's sure-footed trot got them back to the castle in an amazingly short time. They pulled up in front of the main doors into the castle, and the two guards stationed there were startled when Anna cried out, "Elsa's hurt! We need to get her inside and get the doctor, quickly!" One of the guards ran inside to get a stretcher and more help, while the other asked Anna, "Your Highness! Are you hurt, too? What happened?"

"I'm fine. I'll explain it all to the doctor. Elsa's just very, very sick." Olaf hopped out of the wagon. Anna stayed holding her sister until more guards came out and they carefully put Elsa on a stretcher to carry her to the doctor.

Anna grabbed one of the guards and ordered, "Please take care of Sven and the wagon, I need Master Kristoff with me!" And she waved at Kristoff to follow her inside with Elsa. He handed the reins to the guard and hurried to catch up.

Inside, they took Elsa to the infirmary, where the doctor was already waiting. He instructed the guards to put her on the bed, where Gerda and another maidservant got her undressed and into a nightgown.

While this was happening, the doctor turned to Anna and asked, "Your Highness? What happened to the Queen? You've been gone only a day, and she looks like she's been sick for a week!"

Anna hesitated for a moment before answering, since she had not been able to come up with anything that sounded at all reasonable on the trip back to Arendelle. She took a deep breath and decided to tell the truth.

"We were transported … somewhere else by a bright whirlpool of light. We were gone for days, even though it seems like no time has passed here. While we were there, we got involved in a battle, and Elsa drank something to give her even more strength for her powers. But the drink basically used all of her body's energy to do it, leaving her sick and weak." There, she had said it. It sounded fantastic and crazy even to her ears, and she had lived through it.

The doctor simply nodded his head and declared, "Ah, yes. Probably a magic potion. You were obviously taken by some sort of magic portal because it sensed Her Majesty's magical powers."

Wait, what? Anna couldn't believe her ears. Just like that, the doctor accepted her wild-ass story and shrugged it off as just magic?

"What can you do to help Elsa?" She decided to focus on more important things, like her sister.

"Well, superficially, it looks like Her Majesty is exhausted, dehydrated, and starving. Unless the magic potion did something else to her that I have no remedy for, we should get her to eat and drink as much as she can, and let her sleep and rest for as long as it takes her to regain her strength."

Anna nodded, wishing that something like bacta existed here in Arendelle. She went over to sit next to Elsa on the bed while the doctor gave orders to Gerda for food and drink to be brought for the Queen.

Returning to Elsa's bedside, the doctor suggested, "I think you should try to rouse her enough to eat and drink something. Your rapport with your sister may touch her mind in a way no one else's could."

Anna leaned over and stroked Elsa's face while saying, "Elsa, if you can hear me, please wake up. I know you're in there, and I know you're hurt and tired, but please wake up. We need you to eat and drink something so you can get well."

Elsa's eyelids fluttered open, and she looked around in confusion. "Ann … Anna? Where am I?" she whispered.

"You're in your own bed, honey. Kristoff and I brought you back down from the Ice Palace. You need to eat and drink as much as you can, then sleep. You're exhausted." Anna looked to where Gerda had brought in a tray with food and tea. "Can you try to sit up? Kristoff and I will help."

A weak nod, and Elsa tried to push herself up but couldn't. Anna and Kristoff together lifted her shoulders and let Gerda prop her up on some pillows. Just that little effort seemed to put Elsa back to sleep, but she responded when Anna held a large mug of tea laced with a lot of honey to her lips. She managed to hold the cup herself and drink all the tea. It seemed to revive her enough that she could keep her eyes open.

Anna and Gerda took turns helping Elsa eat and drink until she finally pushed them away, "Enough. So tired...need to sleep again..." And with that she drifted off and fell deeply asleep. Anna was glad to see that she was breathing normally again, not the quick shallow breaths she had been taking when she was brought here.

Gerda touched Anna's shoulder and said, "Your Highness, you need to go clean up, change, and get some dinner yourself. We'll let her sleep a while, then move her to her own room. I'll watch over her until you come back tonight. I know you'll be sleeping there."

Anna looked at the doctor. He nodded at her unspoken question. "It will be fine if you wish to sleep with her. It will probably comfort her and keep her from having nightmares."

"Thank you, Gerda. I'll do what you said. Come on, Kristoff."

The two of them left and went to Anna's room. Turning to Kristoff, she smirked at him and said, "As much as I'd like you to scrub my back and help me change clothes, I'm thinking we really don't need to scandalize the castle today. How about I meet you in the dining room in an hour for supper? Then we need to talk."

Kristoff hugged her, kissed her tenderly and said, "You got it, Feisty Pants. I can't wait to hear the whole story behind this adventure!"

For the next few weeks, Elsa spent her time healing. Anna actually did some work, as she was Elsa's Regent in the event of the Queen's inability to rule. It was an arrangement that Elsa had formalized with a decree not long before their adventure.

Anna had a lot less patience with bureaucratic nonsense than Elsa did, so the governance of the kingdom was far more … interesting … for the Royal Council and the rest of the governing apparatus of Arendelle with Anna in charge. She also let slip a few of the more interesting words she had learned on Hoth, which appalled most and amused Admiral Naismith. He was a sailor, after all. These words did not reach Elsa's ears.

At night, Anna slipped into bed with her sister and cuddled her until she slept. An occasional nightmare would wake Elsa in tears, and Anna helped sooth her and get her back to sleep. Between Gerda's mothering and Anna's hugs, Elsa regained her strength rapidly.

Two weeks after their return, Elsa was almost back to normal. She had regained all the weight she had lost, there were no dark circles under her eyes, and she was able to take back the reins of the kingdom from Anna. This thrilled Anna and the Royal Council equally.

Three weeks after their return, Elsa decided they could use a quick trip back to the Ice Palace. She wanted to check that Marshmallow was okay, and just relax with Kristoff, Anna and Olaf. They packed a large picnic basket, loaded up Kristoff's wagon and headed for the North Mountain.

Elsa and Kristoff were sitting on a bench on the balcony of the Ice Palace, enjoying the early summer evening. The stars were just starting to appear in the darkening sky. He had stayed with Elsa while Olaf, Anna, and Sven were running around down in the snow having a snowball fight. Marshmallow was fine, but had passed on the opportunity to throw snow at people. He preferred to throw people at snow. Only if they were bothering Elsa, of course.

He noticed that Elsa was staring at the stars with unfocused eyes, then heard her sigh. He reached over and patted her hand, saying, "Skilling for your thoughts, Elsa?"

She started at his touch, then turned to him with a sober expression on her face. "I'm sorry for woolgathering, Kristoff. I was just thinking back to how Anna and I were on this balcony when we were swept off into that incredible journey. I'm still in awe of everything we learned. Thousands of planets with billions of people living on them? Travel between the stars as easily as we sail between continents? The existence of such evil that it can snuff out a planet and everyone on it in an instant...how is that even possible? And I can't help wondering how it all turned out. Did they escape? Did Roz recover from that blaster wound? We'll never know if it mattered." She blew out a breath in frustration.

He looked at her with his soft brown eyes and said, "Elsa, sometimes we don't get to know how we affect other people's stories. We come in to their lives for a reason, even if we don't know exactly why. We may make a difference, or not. Unless we stay to see how it ends, they go on and we just don't know. This isn't much different from that."

He took her hand in his. "Look at how you and Anna rewrote my story by becoming my friends. I don't know if I've been changed for the better, but I know I've been changed for good." He smiled shyly at her.

She nodded and smiled back at him. "I'm thinking Anna is more than a friend by now, Ice Master!" she gently teased him. He blushed.

"Well, yes, oh fearsome scary Snow Queen who I hope will be my sister-in-law..."

She laughed out loud at that comeback and playfully smacked his arm.

They sat for a few minutes more before Kristoff cleared his throat and began, "Elsa, I know the whole story now, and I admit it's pretty unbelievable. Good thing the doctor just chalked it up to magic instead of locking the two of you away for being crazy. But there's something that's changed about Anna and I wanted to talk to you about it."

"Oh?" Elsa looked at him. He was blushing an even brighter red now. What could he be talking about? She glanced down to where Anna was chasing Sven with a snowball. She squinted to see more clearly, not sure if her eyesight was deceiving her. Was that Olaf's nose in Sven's mouth?

"Yes, it seems that Anna picked up some … interesting habits … on Hoth, and it's kind of disconcerting to ..." Kristoff was interrupted by Olaf running out onto the balcony, body parts disarranged and missing his carrot nose.

"Elsa!" he stopped to huff and puff, and put his arm back where it belonged. "That motherfucking Sven is eating my fucking nose!" He looked indignantly at her for support to get it back. Elsa looked back at her little snowlem in shock.

Kristoff flinched and said, "Yeah, that's the habit."

"ANNA!"

~fin~

Author's Note:

Would you believe I wrote the entire story just to set up those last three paragraphs? No? Tsk-Tsk...

I was as puzzled as Anna was trying to come up with a plausible story to explain where the girls had been and what had happened to get Elsa so sick overnight, when I remembered Clarke's Third Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." And Anna's dilemma was solved! LOL! Everyone in Arendelle understands magic!

I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. Please review if you agree!

The awesome cover picture of Anna and Elsa dressed as Rebel SMuRFs ("Don't ever call us soldiers!") was done by stillslightlynerdy, who is a goddess of Photoshop! Thanks, nerdy! You Da Bomb!

And of course, nerdy also beat me over the head with "Strunk and White" until I corrected all the bad commas and such. Any leftover mistakes are all mine!