Clang.

The anchor rang out as it struck the ship's hull, almost like it was eager to hit dry land after days stuck in the seabed.

"Alright, men!" the captain bellowed. "Looks like we'll be arriving at port on schedule after all."

The crew cheered. They'd been getting more than a little sick of bobbing in the waves, but turning around hadn't really been an option unless they wanted to starve to death in the middle of the ocean, and sailing into the harbor had been deemed a less than stellar idea on account of the thick coating of ice surrounding the country's shore for miles. But the crew had awoken this morning to find that the ice had vanished as mysteriously as it'd arrived.

This called for rum.

"Hic..."

The short, scrawny cabin boy stumbled his way through the ship's nether regions. He'd missed out on the crew's celebrations above deck – The rum supply was running dangerously low, so it'd been necessary for him to slip away as quickly as possible. Now if he could just find the stairs and sneak back into the crowd, he'd have pulled off the perfect crime. The only problem was there were about three or four different sets of identical staircases before him. It was quite the logic puzzle.

The boy was just about to march headfirst into a wall when a sharp, raspy voice hit his ears from behind:

"Why... did... it... thaw?"

It would've sent a shiver down the spine of any sober person.

"Oh!" The boy spun around, grinning blissfully. "Yuh havunt herrrrrd? The cap'n said the eterny-al... eternaley-al whatchamacallit-"

"The eternal winter."

"Yeah, that. The eternaley-al wintermacallit... The cap'n said it wuz just freak weather, but we all knew that was baloney." The boy gave a sudden lurch, but he impressively managed to stay on his feet. "It wuz a curse. Cuz Albin caught Alf with hish sister, and now the whole voyage ish cursed. Ish true-"

"Why. Did. It. Thaw?"

"Well..." The boy swung around – an act that nearly sent him off his feet again. "I dunno, but... I wash up early in the mornin' at the crow's nest, and... and I shaw allllll the ice by the harbor, like, drift up into the air... and... and-" He threw out his hands. "-it made a giant snowflake! And then it exploded. It... It wash beautiful." The boy burst into tears.

"Ah," said the voice. "So she's not dead. She thawed it herself."

He wiped his eyes. "Wha-?"

Finally, the boy's eyes landed on the voice's owner. Standing before him was a tattered gray cloak, and within the cloak were a pair of black and shriveled hands, and within the hands were a pair of blades unlike anything the boy had ever seen. They were formed from crystal – one violet and the other a deep blue. In the darkness below deck, they almost glowed.

Huh. The boy must've had more rum than he'd thought.

"Why?"

Before he could even process what was happening, the boy found the blades closing around his neck like an oversized pair of shears. "W-Wha-?"

"Everything was perfect," hissed the stranger. "Why would she do that?"

The cabin boy didn't answer the question. In fact, he'd never be answering any questions ever again.

A ship bobbed up and down in Arendelle's wondrously non-frozen harbor. This ship, however, did not contain any captain or crew. What it did contain was a queen, a princess, an ice-cutter, a reindeer, and a talking snowman standing beneath his brand new personal flurry. The ship had also contained a handsome prince a minute ago, but somehow he'd ended up thrashing around in the water below.

From up on deck, Anna met Hans's eyes and gave him a pleasant wave.

"So..." said the ice-cutter, "I take it the wedding's off?"

"Oh yes," said Anna smugly. "I've got a strict policy against marrying murderous sociopaths."

"Anna..." Elsa took a tentative step towards her. Every bone in her body was telling her to run away, telling her that by standing here, Elsa was putting the lives of everyone in Arendelle in danger, and yet... Elsa was at peace. For once, she couldn't feel the ice screaming for release. "Prince Hans was just trying to protect people from me. He... He thought you were dead." It was a strange thing to say aloud. A minute ago, Elsa had thought she was dead, too.

"Yeah, he did think I was dead." Anna leaned over the ship's railing to scowl at Hans. "He was kinda counting on it, actually."

Elsa looked lost. "What are you saying?"

Anna jabbed an accusing finger down at the water. "He locked me in the library to freeze to death!"

"What?" The jaws of every passenger on the boat dropped. Even the reindeer's.

"No way." The ice-cutter nearly dived in after Hans. "Someone fish him out. I want to punch him!"

Elsa's eyes met Anna's. "You're positive he tried to kill you?"

"He was bragging about it."

"But- But why would he do that?"

"Because his brain is noodles!" Before Elsa had time to flinch away, Anna hugged her. "I'm so sorry, Elsa. I had no idea I was marrying a maniac. You were right. You were right about everything."

"Did..." Elsa was nearly paralyzed. There were about a million things going through her head at once. "Did he hurt you?"

"Only emotionally." Anna gave a feeble smile.

"Sheesh," spoke up the ice-cutter, "when I said you shouldn't marry a man you just met, I was thinking he'd turn the toilet paper the wrong way."

Elsa's eyes fell on him. This was the same boy who'd been with Anna and Olaf at the Ice Palace. He was covered in a layer of dirt and sweat, and despite having a bit of a baby face, he looked big enough to snap Anna in half like a twig.

Elsa tensed in spite of herself. "Who are you?"

"Oh, right, introductions!" Anna immediately grabbed the boy and shoved him in Elsa's face. "This is Kristoff... Kristoff, uh..."

"Bjorgman," the boy said flatly.

"Right, I knew that. Kristoff Bjorgman."

"Uh, hi there, Your Majesty." Kristoff bowed sheepishly. "Nice to meet you. I mean, we kinda already met back on the mountain, but, uh..." His voice trailed off.

There was an awkward silence... which Anna happily filled. "Kristoff's an ice-harvester! I met him at a sauna and he helped me climb the North Mountain and there were wolves and he was raised by trolls and he saved my life!"

"Wait." Elsa gave a start. "Trolls?"

Now Kristoff looked like he wouldn't mind joining Hans in the water just to escape. "Yeah, it's kind of a long story."

"But-"

"And this is Sven!" Elsa was cut off by a reindeer suddenly overtaking her field of vision. Olaf bounced around by its hooves, vibrating with joy. "He's the reindeer and Kristoff's the human," he said, "but if that's too hard to remember, you can just call them both 'Sven.'"

"I'll, err, keep that in mind." With only a moment's hesitation, Elsa pressed a palm against the animal's snout. She exhaled in relief when the it didn't turn into a hairy ice cube.

"Oh, look at that," said Kristoff. "He likes you."

Elsa sighed. She'd have to add "troll-boy" to million things going through her head. "Alright, come on," she said. "We can't stay on this boat all day."

"Wait a minute," Olaf frowned. "How are we gonna get back to-?"

With a swish of Elsa's arms, an intricate bridge of ice sprung up between the boat and the shore.

"Oh," said Olaf.

"Wow." Anna let out an impressed whistle. "I've never seen your magic up close before."

Elsa couldn't help but cringe at this. Her eyes flitted to Anna's hair, which, for once, didn't have a trace of white in it. She'd... She'd tell Anna later. "I had a lot of practice on the mountain."

"So it's under control now?" said Kristoff.

Elsa closed her eyes. The image of a girl jumping in front of a sword flashed through her mind. "Yes. Complete control."

"Awesome. Now come on!" Anna grabbed her hand and led her onto the bridge. They were quickly followed by a procession of an ice-cutter, reindeer, and snowman.

"Careful," Elsa called out to the group. "It's slick." Of course, by the time she said that, Olaf and Sven were already skidding.

Elsa's stomach was bubbling, and she wasn't sure if it was from excitement or dread. On one hand, her powers were finally under control. She felt like she was back on the North Mountain, releasing it all for the first time in years... but by now, a crowd had formed at the far end of the ice-bridge, and the closer Elsa drew to it, the slower her footsteps grew.

This didn't go unnoticed by Anna. "Elsa? What's wrong?"

Elsa shut her eyes again. "After I froze your heart, some... some men stormed the Ice Palace. I was dragged into the castle dungeon in chains."

"What? They can't do that to the queen!" For a second, shock crossed Anna's face, but then she seemed to remember something. "Oh, wait, I, uh..." She glanced away, blushing. "I might have left Hans in charge while I was gone. That'd explain it."

"You're lucky he didn't kill you in the dungeon," added Kristoff.

Elsa reluctantly opened her eyes back. "He probably would have if I hadn't escaped." Speaking of which, she could add "fix broken dungeon wall" to the million things in her head. "What if everyone sides with him? I did nearly freeze them all to death."

Anna put a hand on her shoulder. "All you did was make it snow for a few days. Look, Kai and Gerda are waiting for us at the head of the crowd." She pointed them out to Elsa. "Those two are practically family. They're not gonna let anyone burn you at the stake."

Still, Elsa didn't allow herself to smile until they'd reached the far end of the bridge, where Gerda immediately threw her arms around her. "Your Majesty! Thank God you're alright! What happened?"

"I..." Elsa overlooked the mob of palace staff and foreign dignitaries. Some did look happy, but most looked more anxious. "I have my magic under control." The crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief.

After that, Elsa was inundated with congratulations and tears of joy and maids fussing over her and guards insisting that chaining their queen up in the dungeon had been all Hans's idea and they'd wanted to try calming her down with a soothing herbal tea, but had anyone listened to them? Nooo...

Even once the staff had been reduced, only a select few servants had been in the loop about Elsa's secret. The rest had all assumed she had some sort of terminal illness. But now, every single person in this enormous crowd knew the truth. It was surreal.

Elsa was shaken from her thoughts by the sounds of screaming. She jolted, impulsively unfreezing her ice-bridge. What was happening? Were her powers out of control?

"It's alive!" Several people pointed with trembling hands towards the mound of misshapen snow waddling towards them.

Elsa almost laughed in relief. "Oh, of course. Everyone, this is Olaf." She picked the snowman up by the waist and hoisted him into the air.

"Hi!" Olaf gave the crowd a cheerful wave of his stick arm. "I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"

"I made him with my magic," Elsa told the crowd. "He's harmless."

For the most part, people eased up at this. However, one gray-haired man still looked troubled. The design of his crisp, clean emerald suit identified him as the royal chief of staff.

"I take it this is another one of your magic tricks, Your Majesty?" he said. "You can move your snow like a puppet?"

Elsa smiled and shook her head. "He's not a puppet, Anders. Olaf is really alive."

Anders's eyebrows twitched. "Alive? You mean to say this snowman can... can talk and think?"

"Hmm..." Olaf looked pensive. "I think I can think."

"So... your magic can create intelligent life?"

"I wouldn't go that far," deadpanned Kristoff.

Anders brought a palm to his forehead. "I need to go lie down..." With that, he slinked off towards the castle.

Elsa returned Olaf to the cobblestone so he could mingle with the crowd. About half of the million things going through her head concerned her ability to bring snowmen to life, but frankly, Elsa was not in the mood to worry about that right now.

"Elsa, Elsa! Look!" Suddenly, Anna grabbed Elsa's arm again and pointed to something cold and slimy crawling out of the harbor.

"Anna!" As soon as he was done coughing up water, Hans flashed her a dashing smile. "I'm so glad you're alive!"

"Can't say the same about you!" Anna raised a fist.

"Wait, wait!" Hans threw out his hands, wincing. "On behalf of the Southern Isles, you have my most heartfelt apologies for my misunderstanding."

Anna gaped at him. "Misunderstanding? Misunderstanding?"

"I thought you'd frozen to death." Hans pulled himself to his full stature. "Don't you remember? I kissed you like you'd asked, but nothing happened." His eyes filled with such grief, Elsa almost believed him for a second. "I sat with you as your body grew limp. Your pulse was so slow, I'd assumed you were gone... I'd had no idea you'd get a second wind. It's a miracle!" He ran forward to give Anna a hug-

Crack.

-and was promptly sent flying back into the water.

"The only miracle here is the fact that I haven't made your stupid face go concave, you heartbreaking son of a-"

"Anna, wait-!" It was all Elsa could do to stop Anna from diving into the water to keep beating him up.

"Anna?" Hans pulled himself out of the harbor once again, sputtering. "I- I don't understand."

Anna turned to the crowd. "He locked me in a room to freeze to death!"

The crowd gasped in unison.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Hans said innocently.

"No idea?" Anna spun towards him, raising another fist. "You monologued your whole evil plan to me!"

"Anna, honey, by the time you found me, you were babbling incoherently." Hans held out his hands in a soothing gesture. "You must have imagined things. You were delirious-"

"I'll show you delirious!"

Hans ducked another blow. "Queen Elsa, please, your sister is confused!"

Anna turned to her. "Please tell me you don't buy any of this."

"Not a word," said Elsa tightly.

"I- I won't have my reputation sullied!" Hans's patience was wearing thin. "I demand a fair trial! I-"

"Excuse me, Your Highness?" Just then, a man stepped forward from the crowd. Elsa had had to memorize about a billion faces at the coronation, so she recognized this man as the French dignitary. "I have a question." He gave Hans a pointed look. "If Princess Anna was so delirious, how did you two say your marriage vows?"

Hans blanched. "I don't know what you mean."

The dignitary raised an eyebrow. "You told us you managed to say your marriage vows before she died in your arms, remember?"

Hans took a step backwards. "No I didn't."

The various dignitaries exchanged wry glances.

"Hey, hey, guys, let's not jump to conclusions." Olaf pushed his way through the crowd. "Maybe Hans is innocent."

"Yeah! See?" Hans scooted closer towards him. "Even your freaky snowman thing sides with me!"

"Innocent, but, like, really, really dopey," added Olaf. "I mean, when I found Anna, the fireplace wasn't even lit. What kind of idiot doesn't know that heat melts things?"

"Don't insult my intelligence, you pathetic sack of slush! If I'd wanted Anna warmed, I obviously would've lit a fire!"

Every eye fell on Hans.

"I mean, err..." He cleared his throat. "The window must've been knocked open and the... the snowstorm blew the fire out. Yeah."

"He's being hauled back to the Southern Isles as we speak, Your Majesty."

"Excellent. Thank you, Kai. And I trust the message to the Duke of Weaseltown was delivered?"

"Of course, Your Majesty."

Considering Elsa's term had opened with her fleeing the palace in terror, she was wasting no more time in establishing her authority. Now that all the foreign dignitaries were finally on their way home, Elsa was seated in the throne room, while Anna hovered beside her. Being in her sister's presence was apparently enough to make Anna levitate from sheer delight.

"And there's more good news, ma'am." Kai retrieved another sheet of parchment. "The royal scouts' report just arrived. There have been absolutely no reported causalities from the blizzard."

The last few pounds of weight finally lifted off Elsa's shoulders. "Good, good. Is there anything else on the agenda?"

"You have a council meeting as soon as the rest of your advisors arrive."

Elsa had to keep from groaning. A council meeting? Ugh, she felt drowsy just thinking about it. Elsa had spent this morning escaping a dungeon and sprinting across the frozen harbor, and she'd spent this afternoon pacifying a busload of foreign dignitaries who'd been cooped up in the castle for days. What Elsa wanted more than anything else in the world right now was to go to her bedroom and let her head hit the pillow... but she had responsibilities, and there'd be no more running away from them.

"I can't believe that weasel-guy," huffed Anna. "He really sent his thugs to kill you?"

"Well, we don't have any proof of that," said Elsa. "But probably, yes."

Anna let out a snort. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's afraid of me." Elsa bowed her head. "And I can't say I blame him."

"But you're not dangerous anymore, right?" There was a disarming amount of confidence in Anna's voice.

"No." Somehow, Elsa found it creeping into hers, too. "I'm not"

"So... what now?"

"Nothing much. I've just got some 'queen stuff' to do." Elsa rose to her feet and made for the exit. Anna started to follow, but Elsa stopped her. "Oh, you don't have to come. It'll be boring."

"Elsa..." Anna laughed, then took Elsa's hand in hers. "For the last, like, thirteen years, I would kill to be bored with you."

Elsa found her smile widening. "Alright, then. If you're sure."

Anna beamed back. "From now on, consider us joined at the hip."

Two hours later, Elsa was seated at the desk in her study, working her way through a pile of legal documents that scratched the ceiling. The only sound produced was the occasional drip of an inkwell and the rhythmic thump of Anna over in the corner, repeatedly banging her head against the wall.

"…I'm gonna go find Kristoff," Anna suddenly said, moving for the exit.

"And here I thought we were joined at the hip."

"Ha ha."

Elsa was left by her lonesome.

Somehow, digging through pile after pile of legal documents had caused Elsa to lose track of time, so she gave a start when Kai stuck his head through the door to say, "Your Majesty, you're late for the meeting."

"Oh! I almost forgot!" In her hurry, Elsa sprang out of her seat and sent papers flying. But to be honest, she was glad for the excuse to stop signing documents, seeing as there'd never been a recorded case in human history of anyone ever enjoying that.

"I hope you feel up to participating in the lawmaking, my queen," said Kai, kneeling down to collect the fallen pages. "I understand these past few days have been taxing on you. There's nothing wrong with leaving the running of the country to your advisors for a bit longer."

The royal advisors had been running Arendelle in Elsa's place until the coronation, acting as a regent of sorts. Nobody had been expecting Elsa to inherit the throne quite so soon – It'd taken three years for her to learn the rushed version of her duties and reach the point where she could stand in a room without painting the walls white.

"Of course I'm up to it," Elsa said somewhat guardedly.

"Yes, well, you may be of age now, but I worry many advisors still view you as the little girl who never left her bedroom."

Elsa winced. Kai might as well have punched her in the stomach.

"I mean no disrespect, of course!" he hurriedly added. "I simply mean that you ought to put thought into the first impression you give them."

"I see," said Elsa. Kai exited the study, leaving her alone for a moment. "First impressions, huh?"

Here's a secret: All politics is really just a bunch of old rich people who hate each other being locked in a room to argue about boring legal stuff. Arendelle's council chamber was essentially a large, empty space with gray stone walls and an equally drab carpet, and the majority of this space was occupied by a very big but otherwise plain brown table, where about a dozen white-haired old people sat and yelled at each other.

In fact, they were right in the middle of a really good spat when the oaken doors swung open and Queen Elsa glided into the chamber, her ice-cape billowing out behind her. All the screaming, mud-slinging, and bribery came to a halt all at once.

"Sorry I'm late," said Elsa tightly. "But that's alright. I see you've decided to start without me."

The advisors went deathly quiet. Eventually, the one at the front of the table gathered the courage to speak. This was the de facto head of the advisors, so chosen because he was the youngest and most hot-blooded politician available, though he still had a sizable bald spot on his head.

"We meant no disrespect, my queen," he said delicately. Honestly, he was shocked to see the queen here – He'd been expecting her to return to spending all day locked in her room moping. But he refrained from saying this out loud, probably because he wasn't too keen on having his fingers freeze and fall off.

"Here, let me get you a-" Before he could finish, Elsa stomped her heel. An elaborate throne of ice immediately sprouted from the floor. Elsa seated herself wordlessly. "-chair." The advisor hesitated a moment before saying, "Yes. Well, prior to your arrival, we were discussing the welfare of the citizens in light of the recent… weather."

"Good," nodded Elsa. "We'll be sparing no expense compensating the people of Arendelle for what I put them through. And I expect aid will come to them much more quickly now that only one person is in charge."

None of the advisors dared challenge the statement. It wasn't that they thought Elsa would be such a better ruler than them so much as practically anyone would be, seeing as in the years following the late king and queen's reign, the council had accomplished approximately zilch.

"One other thing," said Elsa. "Now that I can control my powers, I have every intention of using them to benefit Arendelle. It's about time my magic started making life easier for people."

The council traded glances.

"But my queen," spoke up the head, "the citizens are already afraid of you. Aren't you worried these, err, blatant displays of your abilities-" He gestured towards the ice-throne. "-will make them think you're a sorceress?"

"I am a sorceress," said Elsa. "And I'm never hiding who I am again. Now, if any of you have any ideas for how I can use my ice to help people, I'm open to suggestions."

At first there was silence. Then one of the advisors in the back raised a timid hand. "Well, err, wouldn't the obvious thing be to sell your own ice?"

Elsa shook her head. "That'd create a supply and demand problem." (Earlier that day, Kristoff had taken Elsa aside for a lecture on the economic instability of the ice-harvesters' lifestyle. Said lecture hadn't ended until Elsa had sworn on her crown to never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever put her ice on the market.)

"I- I heard you made that dress with magic," stammered another advisor. "Is it made of ice, or…?"

Elsa looked down at her own clothing. "I'm not too sure myself." She ran her fingers over it. "It's some sort of ice-fabric."

"Well, couldn't you mass-produce the cloth to sell?"

Elsa shook her head. "I think it would melt without constantly being near me. Nice try, though."

"What about the ice-harvesters' lake?" said another. "The one out by the fjords."

"What about it?"

"The royal scouts say it's been melting earlier than usual this year. With your eternal winter gone, soon it'll be too thin for the harvesters to work on. If they can't use the lake, it'll disrupt their routine and put them behind schedule."

"I see." Elsa pondered this for a moment. "I probably could do something about that... Any other suggestions?"

Apparently, the council had gotten their creative juices flowing.

"How about irrigation?"

"Wait, I'm confused. If you make a bunch of snow, and then it all melts, wouldn't that cause flooding?"

"I've got a good one! Hear me out! You could turn the palace courtyard into an ice-skating rink! And- And then you could go around Arendelle and open a whole chain of ice-skating rinks! Think about it! It'd be the awesomest-"

"One at a time!" Elsa's voice sent a wave of cold air crashing over the room. All conversation froze in its tracks.

The silence was once again broken by the head of council. "Well… what about your snowmen? Can't you bring them to life?"

"I can, but…" A faraway gaze overtook Elsa's eyes. "...I've never really done it on purpose. It's only happened twice. I was feeling powerful emotions, and they just… appeared. It was like giving birth."

The councilmen traded another round of glances. One of them muttered a word that sounded suspiciously like, "Women."

"…and you're sure it's fine for me to be in the castle? Because your butler was giving me the stink eye."

"Who, Anders? Don't mind him. He's grumpy, but he means well. Usually."

Anna was currently giving Kristoff a tour of the palace. It felt crazy – She'd never brought a friend into the castle before. Heck, she'd never had a friend before, period.

"Hey, Kristoff?" Anna found herself fiddling with her pigtails. "Thanks for- for, y'know, running through that snowstorm to try and save me. I mean, it turned out I didn't actually need you, but... thanks."

"Uh, yeah, no problem." Kristoff fidgeted with his bangs. "And, uh, sorry your fiance tried to murder you. I know I wasn't exactly the biggest supporter of your marriage, but still, it must feel pretty awful."

"I'll be okay. It's just- just a lot to take in, that's all. I mean-" Anna exhaled loudly. "-fwoof, life's crazy, am I right?"

"Yeah. I mean, between trolls and wolves and talking snowmen and chicks with magical ice powers... yeah."

The two of spent the next couple minutes gazing into each other's eyes.

"It's getting late." Kristoff suddenly looked out the window at the setting sun. "I'd better head out."

"Oh, well, I guess I can go check on Elsa," said Anna. "But she's probably still sitting around signing papers, bored out of her-"

"For the last time, I am NOT making an army of snow-soldiers to storm the gates of Weaseltown!"

Anna and Kristoff flinched as a door across the hall burst open. Out came Elsa, slamming it shut behind her. She was so furious, her breath was visible.

"Are you okay?" asked an alarmed Anna.

"My advisors are all insane!" Elsa blasted out another round of frigid air that left Anna and Kristoff shivering. "If they had their way, I'd be using my powers to overthrow neighboring countries!"

"Wow, they're pretty ambitious," said Kristoff. Elsa gave him a look. "I mean, how dare they? You wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"Well, they're only stupid advisors, anyways," said Anna. "You're the queen – You can do whatever you want."

Elsa nodded feebly. "I think I've had enough of being the queen for one day." She trudged off towards the stairs. "Goodnight."

"G'night!" Anna called after her. "Don't let the frostbite-" But Elsa was already out of earshot. Anna turned to Kristoff. "Does she seem okay to you?"

"Well, she didn't freeze your heart this time, so that's an improvement."

"Yeah... I guess so..."

After a moment's hesitation, Anna found herself following after Elsa.

It was just a stupid door. Doors can't be scary. They're doors.

Nevertheless, Anna found herself too terrified to knock. She hated this door, she realized. Hated the doorknob. Hated every inch of the wood. Hated the stupid painted blue snowflake design that in hindsight had been a really big clue staring Anna in the face all these years.

Come on, now, she could do this. All she had to do was knock. Raise her fist, yes, that was it, then bring it to the wood and hit it with her knuckles... It was easy. She just had to pretend it was Hans's face.

Knock, knock-knock, knock knock.

For about a minute, there was silence. It was the longest minute of Anna's life.

"Come in," said a voice from the other side.

Wait. Anna blinked in surprise. It wasn't locked? It was never not locked. But sure enough, the instant she put her hand on the knob, the door opened right up.

This was like something out of a dream. As in, Anna had literally dreamed about this. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe. She was walking into Elsa's bedroom. Anna wasn't sure if she was shivering from excitement or because it was ice cold in here. Probably both.

The bedroom looked just like Anna remembered it, only all the toys on the shelf had been replaced with books. Somehow, though, the bedroom seemed a whole heck of a lot smaller now. How on earth had Elsa spent so many years cooped up in here?

"Anna?" Elsa sat up out of the covers and rubbed sleep from her eyes. Her hair was down, and her ice-dress had apparently been morphed into an ice-nightgown.

"I... I..." Anna tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come. This was too much. She was in Elsa's bedroom. She was in Elsa's bedroom.

Elsa smiled at her. She seemed to understand Anna's dilemma. "I love you, Anna."

The door was open. This the most perfect moment of Anna's life. She was going to remember this moment forever, and nothing in the world could ruin it.

"Can I borrow some money?" Anna blurted out.

Elsa blinked in surprise. "W-What-?"

"I, uh..." It was moments like these Anna really wished she could rewind time. "I need money for a sled. I promised Kristoff I'd-"

She was cut off by the strangest sound she'd ever heard in her life – Elsa bursting out laughing. "Is that why you wanted to come in here all these years?"

Anna found herself joining in. "Yeah, like, forget about building snowmen, do you have a twenty?"

It took a couple minutes for them to settle down.

"Really, though," said Elsa, wiping her eyes. "What do you need?"

"I promised Kristoff a sled if he helped me up the North Mountain and stuff."

"Ah, so that's why he was being so helpful."

"What? No," Anna said defensively. "I wasn't bribing him. I just..." She looked at her feet, them muttered, "I just broke his old sled."

Elsa shook her head. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"Look, Kristoff's a great guy. When my heart froze, he saved my life."

Elsa folded her arms. "How did he do that?"

Anna took a deep breath. "Okay, I know you're not gonna believe this, but bear with me. Kristoff took me to some trolls. He was raised by them. I saw them with my own eyes."

Anna had expected Elsa to be skeptical, but instead she seemed oddly tense. "I believe you."

Anna blinked. "Really?"

Elsa nodded. "I can bring snowman to life – I'm ready to believe anything."

"Good point. Anyways, the trolls sang this really annoying song, and then an old one came out and said the only way to thaw my heart was with an act of true love, and then Kristoff ran me all the way here to save me. The point is, he's a good guy. In fact, he's, like, a hero. We need to pay him back."

"Alright, I'll-" Elsa yawned. "-I'll see what I can do."

"He needs a place to stay. I found him sleeping in an old abandoned barn in the woods."

Elsa looked thoughtful. "Maybe I can give him a job. He's an ice-harvester, right?"

"Yep. Hey, uh, speaking of ice..." Anna seated herself at the foot of Elsa's bed. "Elsa, this whole 'ice-magic' thing of yours, it's..." Her face tightened. "It's the reason I was shut out all those years, isn't it?"

Elsa slowly nodded. "I'm sorry, Anna. For everything. My powers are so dangerous-"

"Were so dangerous."

"Right. Were." Elsa gave a faint smile. "They were so dangerous that being around me would've risked your life, and our parents would never have allowed that. But my powers are under control now. I'll never freeze your or- or anyone else's heart ever again, I promise."

The sisters leaned in for a hug.

"Where'd your magic come from, anyways?" asked Anna.

"I was born with it."

"So does sorcery run in the family, or...?"

Elsa shook her head. "We keep royal records spanning back centuries. If anyone else had magic, they hid it better than me. And Arendelle doesn't have a history of snowstorms in July, so..."

"Hmm..." Anna gave this some thought. "Well, you were born on the winter solstice, weren't you? Maybe the planets aligned or something?"

Elsa smirked. "I don't put much stock in astrology."

"I thought you were ready to believe anything?"

"What I meant was I'm ready to believe anything that isn't stupid."

They shared another laugh.

But suddenly, Anna's face grew serious. "So if you're not dangerous anymore, the gates can stay open again, right?"

"Hmm..." Elsa feigned indecisiveness just to be coy. "I don't see why not."

"Yes!" Anna gave her the tightest hug yet. "You're the best sister ever!"

Elsa smiled again, but this time it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I just want you to be happy, Anna. You deserve it after what Hans put you through."

"Hey, don't worry about me." Anna showed off her pearly whites. "So long as your door stays open, I don't care how many crazy people try to murder me."

"Have any of you seen the cabin boy?"

The crew gave their captain nothing but clueless shrugs.

"Ah, well, he's probably passed out in his quarters again." With that, the captain began marching his crew and their cargo onto the port. He took a nice, deep whiff of the summertime air. Somehow, the weather had gone from humid to freezing and then back to humid in the span of a few days. Weird.

"Cap'n, cap'n, look!" Suddenly, one of the crew members pointed towards the city streets.

"What is it?" His eyes followed the finger, but the captain saw nothing but moonlit cobblestone.

"I- I thought I saw somethin' scurry outta the ship..."

The captain yanked a bottle from his swaying hands. "That's enough rum for you, Alf."