"Mama, Papa! Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

"Ugh... okay, I'm up, sweetheart, I'm up, ha ha... ooh..." Anna brushed her messy hair out of her eyes as she sat up in the bed, getting a hold of the excited five-year-old that was sitting on her lap and trying to keep her still as the child got a bad case of the giggles. She chuckled as she tried her best to brush the platinum-blonde bangs out of the girl's face, straightening the child's glasses so she could look her right in her bright blue eyes.

"Now, Thyra... did you wanna say something or is Mommy allowed to go back to sleep?"

"But... but look outside! It's snowing!" the little princess clumsily jumped down from the bed, her messy hair getting all over her face again as she ran to the window and pulled the curtain open. Anna went wide-eyed as she saw the snowflakes falling down and staining the window pane, excitedly prodding her husband as he opened his eyes and scratched at his beard.

"Uh... yeah...?"

"Kristoff... Kristoff, it... it's today!" she frantically said, which prompted him to jolt up fully awake as he saw the snow for himself and realised what she meant. They both got out of bed and started rushing around getting dressed, which slightly confused little Thyra as she sat in front of the window still. Once she'd changed into a jade green gown with black leggings and winter boots, Anna got down to her daughter's level and took her hands affectionately.

"Alright, come on, you... time to get ready." the Queen was almost squealing through the excited little smile on her face as the child raised an eyebrow. "There's gonna be a big surprise waiting out there soon!"

"Wait, what?!" Thyra gasped as she put her hands over her mouth, barely able to contain her amazement. "What's the surprise, Mama?!"

Thyra held on to her parents' hands as they led her out of the castle and into the village, where most of the town was having fun in the gentle, beautiful snowfall all around them. Ryder and Honeymaren waved a friendly little hello to the Royal Family as they passed the stables, with the Northuldra leader and her brother tending to the reindeer while they watched the Northuldran and Arendellian children making snow-angels and building snowmen together.

The three stopped at the foot of the statue in the town square, with Thyra looking up with wide eyes at the four figures standing on the pedestal. She'd seen this statue many times as she played in the village, but this was the first time she'd genuinely stopped to take in the details. The shorter statues at the front appeared to be of two children, a boy and a girl holding hands, while one of the two women behind them appeared to be the spitting image of her mother. Anna smiled as she lifted her daughter off the ground, holding her so they were at eye level as she walked closer to the statues.

"Hey Mama... is the Snow Queen that one next to you?" Thyra asked curiously as she pointed to the statue beside Anna's, while Kristoff wrapped his arms around his wife and daughter. Anna chuckled as she nodded to her daughter's question, looking to her husband as she said "you reckon it's almost time...?"

"Yeah... I think so." Kristoff nodded, letting Anna pass Thyra over to him. He held the girl in one hand while he held Anna's in his other, both of them giving the excited child a reassuring little smirk as they headed down the pier towards the fjord.

The water on the fjord was covered with a thin sheet of ice as the family sat down to rest on the snowy riverbank. It was almost noon, though the sky was already dark enough for the aurora to dance among the stars above, casting all of it's colours against the reflection of the ice. Kristoff held onto their daughter while Anna told her a story, a story that had easily become Thyra's favourite over the dozens of times she heard it.

It was the story of a Queen born with the power to create ice and snow, a plucky princess that saved the day, a humble yet lonesome ice harvester and his reindeer, and a whole family of talking snowmen. There were villains of the most despicable nature, an enchanted forest with five elemental spirits guarding it, a frozen glacier filled with memories of the past, and a rainbow bridge in the sky to a hidden paradise of magic. But more than anything, it was a tale of two sisters, and an unbreakable bond of love that would always connect them, no matter how far apart they were.

"Some say the Snow Queen vanished into thin air, or just melted away one shiny summer morning. Others believe the whole thing was a trick and that she never existed to begin with." Anna had a little smirk on her face as she playfully pressed her daughter's nose like a button. "But we know better."

The girl's eyes widened as she and her father saw the snowy winds swirling in the distance, but Anna didn't seem to notice as she continued. "What really happened was something I can barely even begin to understand... but all I know for certain is that for one day a year, on every Winter Solstice..."

"M... Mama... look!" Thyra frantically pointed behind her mother as Anna paused her story, turning around slowly to see the vaguely human shape forming in the swirl of snow at the edge of the fjord. The princess ducked behind her father's back, watching in utter awe as her mother excitedly ran to the figure, tightly embracing the platinum-blonde haired goddess before the latter had even fully materialised from the mist.

Both the women were laughing like children as they pulled out of the hug, with Anna frantically rambling on as she tried to say something. Elsa had a brow raised with her smile, hardly even listening to what her sister was saying as she just gazed lovingly at her. Her grin shrank a bit when she looked past Anna to see Kristoff standing there with a little head being visible from behind his back, causing Anna to stop talking as she remembered why they were all there.

"Oh... oh right, ha ha..." Anna cleared her throat as she bent down onto one knee while Kristoff and Elsa did the same, making a beckoning gesture with her hand as Kristoff turned around with an encouraging smile to the girl.

"Sweetheart..." he almost whispered as she slowly moved her head out again. "Go on, don't be shy..."

Elsa exhaled with her hand over her heart as the girl came out from behind her father, rubbing her arm nervously as she slowly stepped towards the Snow Queen. "Hi there..." she whispered in a warm tone to the girl. "What's your name, little one?"

"Uh... Thyra?" the girl answered timidly, letting a little smirk cross her face as Elsa said "Thyra? Wow... that's such a beautiful name, ha ha..."

The child still seemed uneasy, before Anna took her hand with a reassuring grin. "Thyra, honey... this is your Aunt Elsa..."

This caused Thyra's eyes to widen with an excited gasp, as if silently asking her mother if it was actually true. Elsa chuckled as Anna nodded, only to grunt with slight shock when Thyra suddenly jumped onto her and threw her arms tight around her neck. Exchanging an encouraging nod with Anna and Kristoff, Elsa returned the embrace as she felt a small tear go down her face.

"Anna..." Elsa looked back to her sister with a playful grin as the five year-old kept hugging her tightly. She motioned her eyes over to the fjord as the aurora continued to glow in the air, causing Anna's face to light up in excitement. "The sky's awake."

Na na na heyana
Hahiyaha naha

"WOOHOO!" Thyra sat on her mother's lap as they both slid down the steep slope of snow that Elsa had made, with the raised end shooting them up into the air as they held tight to each other. The Queen and Princess landed right in front of Kristoff on the back of the ice-sculpted reindeer he was riding on, with Sven's proud neigh bellowing out of it's mouth as he continued to gallop across the frozen fjord.

"Heads up!"

Kristoff held his daughter's head down as the snowman flew over the top of them, with Elsa just catching Olaf and sitting him down on the Nøkk's back behind her. She smiled at her sister and niece as the water horse pulled alongside Sven, ruffling Thyra's hair playfully before they all heard a male and female voice laughing behind them.

"Hey guys!" Beatrix shouted over clumsily as she and Loaf held onto the glowing blue reins attached to the Nøkk's back, letting the steed pull them along while they skied across the ice as well. The group faced forwards again as Thyra stood up on Sven's back, keeping her arms outstretched as Kristoff held her up.

"THIS IS AMAZING!"

Both the sisters had happy tears in the eyes as they took one another's hand, their arms creating a bridge between Sven and the Nøkk as they raced across the fjord towards Arendelle. The distance didn't really matter anymore, if it ever did to begin with. They were all together, and they always would be. And they couldn't possibly wish for anything better.

Na na na heyana
Hahiyaha naha

THE END