An innocent request

Chapter one

Innocence of youth

Anna's knuckles rapped softly on the big wooden door.

"Elsa?" she called, conscientious of her voice echoing across the darkened hall. "It's Anna," she said, probably unnecessarily. "You…" She struggled to think of the correct terminology. "…summoned me?"

"Yes, of course," Elsa said from within, voice muffled by the thick oak of her door. "Hold on a second."

Anna waited patiently for Elsa to come unlock the door, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

Under normal circumstances, of course, Elsa's door would be unlocked at all times, as they had both agreed upon; however, judging by the hushed tones and secrecy Elsa had used to invite her here in the first place, circumstances were anything but normal.

Come to my room late tonight. Knock three times on the door. Don't tell anyone.

Up until Elsa had slipped her that note, Anna had assumed that her big sister had thrown open every door to her. She seemed eager to spend as much time as possible outside and with Anna, and she seemed to throw a new party every day.

Whatever she planned on saying or doing, it had to be something important.

She heard the latch unlock, and the imposing door swung inwards.

"Come on in," Elsa said, her head peeking around the doorway, scanning the hall. She gestured for her to move quickly, and as soon as Anna had entered, she closed the door and locked it.

Geez, Elsa, are you plotting a revolution or something? Anna thought. She decided against saying it, though. Her sister seemed very much on edge.

Elsa hurried past her, walking towards a set of chairs she had set up near the foot of her bed. She turned to look at Anna, her gown twirling from the intensity of the supposedly calm gesture. "Have a seat," she said, indicating a large armchair.

Anna chose the bed instead, sitting cross-legged at the foot of the massive thing. Elsa did the same, sitting down with her legs pressed together in front of her.

As with every time she and her sister were this close together, Anna couldn't help but stare. Even as tense and fidgety as she was, Elsa still gave off a regal aura. Her beauty was the envy of the whole kingdom, and Anna was no exception.

Against the opposite wall, the fireplace roared with hearty flames, indicating Elsa's solid control over her emotions. Still, you wouldn't have guessed it from looking at her – her hands were drawn in defensively, and she was trembling slightly.

"So, how have you been doing?" Elsa asked, trying to sound casual and failing on an astronomical scale.

"Good, good," Anna said.

"How's Kristoff?"

"Oh, he's fine."

She waited for Elsa to follow through, but she just sat there, fidgeting slightly.

Come on, Elsa, I know you didn't summon me in the middle of the night just to ask how I've been doing.

She seemed very uncomfortable, Anna could tell. She looked ready to burst with whatever she had to say, but also incapable of saying it.

"So…how have you been doing?" Anna prompted.

"Fine," Elsa said quickly, "thanks for asking."

Another awkward silence.

"Have you been…up to anything recently?" she continued.

"Oh, this and that," Elsa said. "Some reading, some work around the castle, some…thinking…" Her voice trailed off.

Getting somewhere. "Thinking about…what, exactly?" Anna pressed.

Elsa fidgeted more and more, until it looked like she might fidget herself off the bed.

"About…love," she finally said.

Anna waited for a moment or two. "Love?" she said, gesturing for Elsa to clarify.

Elsa just nodded.

"What kind of love?"

Elsa started to blush. "You know, like…between a husband and a wife?"

"Oh, of course," Anna said enthusiastically. "Like, hugging and kissing and…stuff?"

"Yeah, that's it," Elsa said. Her face was now almost the same shade as Anna's hair.

"What about it?"

Elsa stared down at the bed and started talking slowly, as if she had to force each word out individually.

"Well, I've been reading some books about….that stuff, you know. Because…eventually, I'll need to know about it, right? But…what I could really use is…some practice." She looked up at Anna. "You get what I'm talking about, right?"

"Uh…I think so," said Anna. "You wanna practice your love techniques. Makes enough sense." Neither of them had been given much of a chance to learn…well, anything about making love during their childhood. Of course she'd want some practice.

So why was she acting so weird about it?

"Of course," Elsa continued, "I'll need someone to practice…with."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Anna replied. "Did you have anyone special in mind?"

Elsa nodded, but she didn't say a word. She simply stared straight into Anna's eyes, her own eyes quivering with fear. Anna stared right back, trying to figure out what Elsa was trying to tell her.

And then she did.

Now it was Anna's face which turned to the color of Elsa's hair.

"Oh," she said, the realization of what her sister was proposing slowly sinking in.

It seemed this was exactly the reaction Elsa had been expecting. "Please, just hear me out, okay, Anna?" she asked desperately.

"Okay," Anna said, still reeling. "Of course," she corrected herself. Her sister was in a vulnerable state right now. Anna wasn't about to abandon her, even if she thought what she was saying was crazy.

"I've given this a lot of thought," Elsa started. Immediately, she cursed her choice of words. "I mean – not like that-"

"No, I get it," Anna said. "Continue."

Elsa swallowed. "Well, the fact is…I really can't ask anybody else to do this. You're the only one I trust enough to say anything about it."

Anna nodded, slowly wrapping her head around her sister's point of view.

"Plus, you know," Elsa continued, starting to talk faster, "you already have some experience, with Kristoff, right?"

Color returned to Anna's face, mostly red. "Well, not…that much experience," she mumbled.

"Oh, okay," Elsa said hastily. "I didn't mean to imply anything, I just meant…"

Her voice trailed off as she realized how spectacularly she was screwing this up.

Her shoulders slumped, and the next words that came out of her mouth were soft spoken, almost pleading.

"Okay, Anna, here's the truth. I tried to imagine what it would feel like. To have somebody else…kissing me, and touching me. But…I couldn't do it. I just freaked out every time they got close. No matter who I thought of, every time they tried to touch me, everything went wrong."

Her voice broke completely. "You're the only person I want to be touched by." She broke off eye contact, hanging her head in shame.

Anna's heart burned with sympathy for her big sister. Even now, with hundreds of people in the castle every day, Elsa was still lonely. Anna had Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven to hang around with. Who did Elsa have?

Just me.

It must have taken an insane amount of courage for Elsa to ask her about this. There was no way she could just slam the door in her face about it.

"I'm really sorry, Anna," Elsa said miserably.

Anna looked at her. "Don't be," she said.

Elsa started shaking her head. "This was a terrible idea. I don't know what I was thinking. I don't want to do anything that would risk our friendship."

"No, Elsa, you don't have to-"

Elsa turned her head back to Anna. "Please, let's just forget everything I just said. Forget what I asked you to do. We'll just be sisters, nothing else." She reached her hand towards Anna's shoulder, then pulled it back quickly, worrying that it might get misconstrued.

When Anna put her hand on Elsa's shoulder, she was visibly startled.

Anna smiled warmly. "Elsa," she said softly, "we're sisters. I love you, and nothing in the world can change that. Not this, not anything. That's a promise."

Her words had the perfect soothing effect. Elsa calmed down visibly.

Anna continued, acting much calmer than she actually was. "If you want me to help you out with this, I will."

Elsa's eyes widened. "You mean…"

Anna nodded, though her heart was probably beating almost as fast as Elsa's. "Come on," she said, "what kind of sister would I be if I didn't help you when you needed it?"

Elsa managed a cautious smile. "If you're sure it's all right…"

"Sure I'm sure," Anna said.

She wasn't really sure at all, but that wasn't what Elsa needed to hear right now.

Elsa's smile deepened. "Thank you, Anna," she said gratefully.

Anna returned the smile, glad to see happiness on her sister's face again. It was a beautiful smile. Beautiful face, too.

Suddenly, Elsa propped herself up on her knees, bringing her body that much closer to Anna's in the process. "Okay, then," she said. "Let's get it over with."

Anna's heartbeat ratcheted up another notch. Oh, she meant right now.

Apparently, some of her alarm showed on her face. Elsa immediately backed off a bit.

"O-Or we could wait," she said quickly. "Until…tomorrow?"

"No, no, you're right," Anna said, pushing herself into a kneeling position. "Let's do it now."

Better than giving both of us a whole day to second-guess ourselves.

Elsa hesitated. "Only if you're okay with it."

"Yes, Elsa, I am," Anna said, doing her best to cut off another round of assurances. "Let's do it."

"Okay."

Elsa drew herself closer to Anna, face starting to redden again. "If anything I do feels wrong, let me know right away."

Her face inches away from Elsa's, Anna suddenly found it hard to breathe. "O…Okay," she managed, more flustered than she had expected.

"So…do you know much about kissing?"

"Not…really," she said.

"I don't know too much, either," Elsa admitted. "I'll start off with what I've read about, and then we'll…improvise."

"Sounds good," Anna said.

Her whole body was tingling, and she couldn't fully explain why.

Elsa reached out a hand and softly touched Anna on the cheek. Anna tensed up at the touch, but didn't recoil. Ever so gently, Elsa pulled Anna's head towards hers.

Their lips touched together, and they kissed.

The effect was immediate. Anna felt as if her entire body had been electrified. Shivers shot down her spine, and her body started shaking. But she didn't pull away.

Elsa's mouth opened, and Anna felt her tongue dance across her lips. Anna could think of no other course of action but to open her mouth as well.

The feeling of Elsa's tongue in her mouth was entirely strange, unlike anything she had ever felt before. It excited her far more than she had expected. Something like a thousand thoughts rushed through her head at lightning speed. This feels wrong was not among them.

Elsa's tongue danced around her mouth, and Anna now pushed her tongue forward as well. She didn't even think about the motions her tongue made; now, she was acting on instinct.

For what seemed like ages, they kept the kiss going, neither one wanting it to end. Anna started feeling light-headed and actually had to remind herself to keep breathing. Nothing she had ever done before had felt this good, not by a long shot.

It was Elsa who finally broke the kiss, gently but firmly pushing Anna away. She leaned back onto the bed, as if the kiss had physically drained her. Anna did the same, and for quite some time the only sound was that of their labored breathing.

After a while, Elsa spoke. "Do you think…we went too far?" she asked.

"No, not at all," Anna said quickly.

Again, they sat there in silence. What else could be said?

"You're really good at that," Anna said, realizing too late the awkwardness of what she had just said.

Elsa blushed deeply. "Thanks," she said, instantly regretting it.

The awkwardness was palpable now.

"I told you, I read some books about it," she said quickly.

"Oh, right," Anna said.

More awkward silence.

"So…" Elsa said, "Do you want to try this again sometime?"

"Yes," Anna said, far too eagerly. "I mean…sure, I guess. If you really want to."

"Same time tomorrow?"

"Sure, sure," she said, trying to make it sound like she couldn't care less.

She was even worse at it than her sister.

"Okay then," Elsa said. "See you in the morning."

"Good night," Anna said.

As she got up to leave, the realization of what she had agreed upon hit her.

It's going to be 24 hours before I feel those emotions again.

She walked, slowly, towards the door, resolving to use that time wisely.

I don't know what kind of books she's been reading, but I have a lot of catching up to do.

Elsa waited patiently until she had left and the door closed.

Then, she got up and relit the fire.