Chapter 4: The ice palace.

The next day Elsa woke up in the airplane, and Anna explained her that she'd carried her there while she was asleep because she figured out she needed some rest. But because the north mountain was at the other end of the country they really had to leave really early. Elsa nodded as she rubbed her eyes, then yawned tiredly and stretched a little before resting her back on the seat and wincing in pain; she still had some sunburns.

"Are you alright?" Anna asked her before remembering that she had forgotten to apply the ointment the previous day. "Damn, I forgot about your sunburns!" She exclaimed getting up. "I'll apply the ointment on your back now."

"It's alright, Anna, I can handle it." Elsa assured her still yawning.

"But I want this day to be perfect! No day is perfect if you're all sore." She protested. "Come on, take off your shirt and lay down on the seats."

"Okay." Elsa complied, taking off her shirt as Anna had instructed but, since she was in her pajamas, she wasn't wearing a bra. She was used to people seeing her naked, so she thought nothing of it. However, the same couldn't be said of Anna.

It was only for a second that Anna was presented with the sight of two glorious white mounds in the center of which rested firm pink nipples before Elsa laid down on the seat. But it was enough for her face to turn impossibly red and her lowers parts ache with arousal. That sight along with her imminent contact with Elsa's naked back caused her body temperature to spike. Anna tried to control her urges in order to get the ointment out of her handbag, pour it on her hands and press them into Elsa's body. Surprisingly, for being half-naked in a plane with air conditioning, her skin felt really warm. And soft, too soft. And it looked great, despite the pink (almost red) color it had acquired due to the great amount of time it had been exposed to the burning sun.

Anna couldn't help it when she kept staring for more than five minutes.

"Anna?" Elsa finally asked, unsure as to what was going on. "That isn't the only part of my back that is burned."

"R-right" The redhead fought to get out of her trance and started dispersing the ointment all over Elsa's exposed skin, fighting the urge to get her hands on less appropriate parts. It was ridiculous how much her attraction towards the clone had grown to impossible levels in a matter of seconds.

Elsa, on the other hand, was enjoying it very much. The sensation of Anna's hands pressed on her back was a very special one. In the center, there were people who washed the clones, so she wasn't unused to people touching her bare body, but Anna's hands were gentle, soft and tender, more like a caress. Elsa let out a soft moan and closed her eyes, enjoying this wonderful sensation.

Anna let out a relived sigh when she finished applying it without incident and then went to fetch the clothes she had picked for Elsa to wear that day: a long-sleeved t-shirt, jeans and a thick jacket. She threw them at the blond (trying not to stare at her chest) and said:

"H-here, dress up. I'll be… over there." And with that she ran to the other end of the plane just to avoid looking at Elsa changing.

Elsa thought Anna was acting funny, but she shrugged it off and reasoned she was probably just tired. After a few minutes, when she was already changed, Anna went back to sit at her side and told her they were almost there.

The first thing Elsa felt as she descended from the airplane was cold. Even with her jacket on, she still felt like her fingers and nose were freezing, and she shivered strongly. Even so, she was curious of this new sensation (In the Center there was always the same temperature) and thought she definitely preferred it over the suffocating heat of the beach.

"Don't worry." Anna told her as she took her hand and started rubbing it to warm it up. "I'll buy you gloves and a scarf, but first, let's go leave our things at the hotel."

Elsa nodded, because her clattering teeth wouldn't let her speak, and they both got into the car.

The car drove them to the north mountain, a huge peak, protruding over the other mountains on the range, completely covered by snow. A highway ascended until the slope was too steep and there, almost at the top of the mountain was a huge construction, made entirely of blue ice. Elsa was already impressed by the magnificent summit, but nothing could compare to the beauty and majesty of that ice building. Her jaw even hung wide opened.

"You like it?" Anna asked as the car stopped and she opened the door. Meanwhile, the hotel employees came to fetch their bags and carry them to their room.

"It's amazing!" Elsa exclaimed still looking at it with awe. "I'd like to live here."

Anna giggled at Elsa's child-like wonder. She couldn't blame her though, she was pretty sure she made the same face when she had first gone there.

"You're not the only one." Anna said smiling and offering her a hand to get her out of the car. Elsa reluctantly tore her eyes off the ice hotel only to keep watching it once she was outside. "However, it's impossible due to the great snowstorms that happen here during winter. Actually, each year the 'Ice Palace' gets completely destroyed by the same storms, so it has to be rebuilt each spring."

"Wait… so, how long does it last?" Elsa turned to see her with a somewhat sad expression, probably because of the thought of something that beautiful being only temporary.

"It depends." Anna answered shrugging. "If spring comes early, they start constructing it in April, bringing huge blocks of ice from an ice factory in the city all the way up here, and then placing them with huge cranes. This takes around three weeks. Then, the most detailed ornamentation is made by hand, which takes around two to three weeks. Once the palace is complete, it stays opened until the first days of September, when all the furniture is taken out and it's abandoned. But it still stays intact until the first storm, usually around October, so, to answer your question, it lasts around four to six months."

"It's so little time." Elsa protested. "Why do they make something so beautiful if it won't last?"

"I asked the same question thousands of times, and my father always answered 'Because it's worth it'. And I actually agree with him. Sometimes, the most wonderful things are only temporary, like happiness."

"And life." Elsa commented sighing, her gaze now truly saddened. Anna took her hand.

"Yes, but maybe yours will be longer than you think, I don't know." Anna gave her a reassuring smile. "At least we have today, who knows what'll happen in the future? We better enjoy what we get."

"Wise words." Elsa said smiling and now feeling a little better, but of course, the fear of dying wouldn't leave her until she was sure she didn't have to perish at the OR anymore. Still, she'd try to enjoy her last days.

"My sister always says that when my parents question her about what she is going to do with her life." Anna answered giggling. "She can be very good with words when she needs to." At this, Elsa giggled too. "Come on, let's get some gloves and scarfs at the store before we go to the attractions."

Protected from the cold by her jacket, a pair of gloves, a bonnet, a scarf and snow boots, Elsa was able to enjoy everything a lot better (At least she wasn't shivering now) and the freezing wind caressing her cheeks didn't seem so bad.

It turned out the ice hotel was even more astounding from the inside, and had many attractions for the tourists to enjoy, mainly inside a great courtyard surrounded by ice walls. There was an ice-rink, a great ice-slide, a small clearing covered completely by white snow for snowball fights and another one provided with carrots and coal to make snowmen. They were going to try them all.

First, the ice-rink. Even though Elsa told Anna she didn't know how to skate, the girl still insisted that she had it in her, something about Elvira being a natural since she was young, and Elsa probably being it too as she was her clone. The blonde wasn't sure it worked that way, but she still complied.

After having asked for two pairs of ice-skates, each girl put their pair on and walked into the rink, which was almost empty except for a couple and their two kids.

Elsa almost slipped as soon as she put her feet on the slippery ice and had to take hold on the (equally slippery) ice-bard. What really saved her from ending up falling on her ass was Anna taking hold of her arms and stabilizing her.

"Take it easy." Anna recommended. "It may take a while to get used to, but the key is the equilibrium."

"E-equilibrium?" Elsa asked fighting to stay upright, her feet continuously moving against her will due to the slippery surface she was standing on.

"First, you have to separate your legs." Elsa tried to do as Anna said and now she didn't feel so unstable, but she still kept slipping. "Good, now try to distribute your weight equally between your feet, making sure your legs are completely straight." Again, Elsa did it successfully and Anna slowly let go of her, now both of them facing each other and standing still. "I told you you were a natural!" Anna exclaimed smiling. "I swear I fell countless times before I managed to remain in a stable position for more than two seconds." Elsa giggled at this.

"Well, I have a good teacher." She answered with a sweet smile, which made Anna blush. "But… doesn't ice-skating involve… movement?"

"Yes, of course, but it'll take you thousands of failures before you're able to move freely in your skates." The redhead smirked. "For now you can only watch and learn."

Anna started skating around the rink just as her sister had taught her, taking her lessons to heart. The last time she had skated felt like ages ago, when her family still had time to travel for vacations. She concentrated on going faster and faster, the rink being large enough to allow her to go at any speed she pleased without fearing colliding with anything. Speed had always been her favorite part, the feeling of the cold air biting her skin, the view of the snow-covered scenery passing so incredibly fast she could only see it if she slowed down a little, the sensation of being free…

Elsa watched intently as Anna started skating, paying special attention to how her legs moved... until her eyes moved a little upwards and she felt heat burning her cold cheeks. After that, she had to take a few deep breaths to regain concentration before attempting to do as she'd seen Anna doing. As soon as she slid one feet forward, however, she almost fell, avoiding it by miracle. She then looked Anna again, whose rear now was more notorious due to how her knees bended and her back arched, presumably to gain more speed. Fighting to get Anna's bottom out of her mind, she bend slightly her knees and tried again, this time managing to move forward a little without slipping at all. Elsa smiled at her accomplishment and tried again, now being a little bolder. Again, she didn't slip, and her smile widened.

Now with a boost of confidence, Elsa started sliding one feet after another, surprising herself when she noticed she actually seemed to have a very good sense of balance; she just needed some time to get used to this new form of moving. After a while, Elsa was skating almost at the same speed as Anna, laughing and enjoying the wind passing fast at her sides. When the redhead noticed it, she gave her a thumbs up.

"I knew you were a natural!" She shouted from the other side, to which Elsa answered waving a little and going even faster.

In a matter of seconds, the clone had reached Anna and, without thinking it twice, she hugged her from behind, making both of them to lose the balance and fall into the frozen ground, Elsa over Anna.

"Ooof!" Anna exclaimed as the air was knocked out of her lounges. As she heard a beautiful laughter and felt a body pressed into her, she knew what had happened. "Very funny, Elsa." She turned around, getting the blonde off of her, who laughed even more seeing her pouting face. "I just lost my record of being seven years without falling on an ice-rink."

"Sorry" Elsa said, but the fact that she was still laughing wasn't helping. "I assure you that wasn't my intention."

Seeing Elsa's laughing face, cheeks of a wonderful shade of pink because of the cold, and so close to her, Anna sighed knowing she couldn't stay mad at her just for a little fall.

"It's okay, just don't do it again."

"Alright, but only if we skate together." Elsa agreed wanting (For some unknown reason) to spend every waking hour as close to Anna as possible.

"It's fine for me." Anna shrugged like it wasn't a big deal but really she was thrilled to be close to the gorgeous girl. Then, she got up and tended her hand for Elsa to take. "Shall we?" Anna asked gallantly, as a knight would ask a queen for a dance, to which Elsa answered just taking her hand and getting up; of course, the clone knew nothing about knights and dances.

So they started skating, this time holding hands, around the rink in a slow pace, just enjoying the feel of each other's proximity.

After a while both girls noticed they'd spent too much time in the ice-rink and decided to go to the snowball fights; they sure looked fun. This attraction in particular was more crowded than the others, but that was not a problem since the space was quite large.

Before starting to senselessly throw snowballs at Elsa, Anna showed her how to take the snow and mold it into a spherical shape so it wasn't too compact but not too lose either. It was easy enough and soon both girls were ready to fight, each one hiding behind a blue barrier of ice and snow, looking from side to side and waiting for the other to show up.

Anna was the most impatient, and so, the first one to attack; as soon as she distinguished a mane of blonde hair hurriedly hiding behind a block of ice, she ran quickly through the snow terrain and, once she arrived, threw the snowball so it crashed into the person who was hiding there. When said person got up and turned to look at Anna, however, the redhead noticed she wasn't Elsa at all, and almost cursed herself for not realizing the woman's hair wasn't the same shade of the clone's.

"Sorry, sorry." She said backing off with her hands up as a way of surrender. "I thought you were someone el-" She couldn't finish saying that phrase because suddenly something cold hit the back of her head as the most melodic laughter was heard. When Anna turned around to glare at Elsa (That amazing voice could be no one else's), however, another snowball impacted her, this time in her face making her fall backwards. Anna shook her head to get the snow off, then cleaned her eyes with the back of her hand and peeked around to see if she could find the responsible of such a vile act.

Behind a barrier, a few feet away from her, she distinguished a lock of platinum blonde hair. She was sure this time; it was definitely Elsa.

Anna got up, brushed the white powder off her clothes and bent down to collect a little bit of snow to make another snowball. Armed with her cold ammunition, she walked as stealthily as she could (The crunching of the snow underneath her wasn't helping) towards the clone and, when she arrived at the barrier, she circled it with a jump, snowball ready to launch.

"Gotcha!" She screamed with a big triumphant smile in her face… until she noticed there was no one there. Confused, she looked at the ground and noticed a trail, as if someone had crawled away from the hiding. Grinning, Anna followed said trail until it stopped beside another ice block, however, once she turned to see if someone was hiding behind it, she just managed to get a brief glance of Elsa's smiling face before everything became white and freezing cold and she realized she'd (again) been stricken in the face by a snowball, to Elsa's obvious amusement.

Anna wiped her face and glared at Elsa for less than a second before jumping over her and trapping the girl against the snow. This, however, did nothing to stop Elsa's rather loud laugh.

"You were right, Anna." Elsa said almost out of breath. "This is fun."

"Yeah, yeah, very funny." Anna rolled her eyes. It was no secret; since she was a little girl, she was a sore loser, mostly in what concerned to snowball fights, because she considered herself a professional. And yet, she had already been hit by, not one, not two, but three snowballs, launched by a girl who had zero experience, no less. There was no way she was leaving things as they were; she needed revenge.

Anna got off of Elsa, who instantly missed the intimate contact and the warmth the body of the other girl provided her, and extended her hand. Elsa took it and got up, but as soon as she was on her feet, a bunch of snow plastered her face, reducing the heat that (For some reason) had appeared on her cheeks, and blinding her for a moment. She heard the strident laughter of the redhead as she got away to hide behind another ice-barrier, and a mischievous smile appeared on her face.

After that, Elsa and Anna kept throwing snowballs at each other, until they lost count of who had received more impacts and, finally, collapsed in the snow next to each other, exhausted but happy.

"That was the most fun I've ever had." Elsa said looking at Anna with a grateful gaze.

"Yes, it was pretty amazing." Anna answered turning to look at Elsa and, almost instantly, her heart started racing and her voice died in her throat. She swore the blonde was even more beautiful than the previous day at the beach, if possible. Before her mind could start wandering on places it shouldn't, however, she decided to take handful of snow and, hitting Elsa's face with it, she exclaimed: "See you at the slide!" Then she got up and ran towards said attraction while Elsa shook her head and, laughing, ran after her.

The slide was very tall one, around 40 feet, and it was completely made of ice, which made the descent a lot faster. The patrons, who'd wait in line for a chance to use the slide, used a tire to avoid direct contact with the ice and landed in an area where the tires were pulled to not-made-of-ice ground by the staff so they could descend safely. Everyone seemed to be having so much fun that Elsa decided she couldn't wait to try it, Anna's comments about how great this particular attraction was only encouraging her further.

The redhead insisted on going first, so she could wait for Elsa at the bottom. The clone agreed and watched with an amused expression as Anna descended while screaming excitedly and laughing. When the girl had finally reached the bottom, she turned up to look at Elsa and gave her a thumbs up, which made her giggle before the employee indicated her to sit on the tire. She did as she was told, but, once she was settled, the slide's pendent suddenly looked too much sharp and tall. And scary. Elsa went pale and was about to get off when the tire was pushed and she found herself falling at an impossible speed. 40 feet seemed like 80 to the poor clone who had never even tried a regular slide and, when she (finally) came to stop, she was pretty sure she was going to die because of how fast her heart was beating and how her gut kept twisting painfully even now that she wasn't falling anymore.

"Elsa!" Anna went to greet her with a huge smile on her lips, which instantly disappeared as soon as she saw the pale and unsmiling face of Elsa, who seemed to be completely and utterly terrified. "Are you okay?" She asked concerned as the staff helped Elsa out of the tire.

"No." Elsa answered looking to the ground and clutching her gut that had finally stopped hurting so much. "A-are you sure that thing isn't a torture device?" She asked her, still getting support from the employees because her legs apparently couldn't stop trembling, and not precisely from cold.

"No, it isn't." Anna walked towards Elsa until she was mere inches away from her and offered Elsa her hands to hold into instead of the employees'. Elsa ignored her offer and pulled Anna into a tight hug, squeezing her like her life depended of it, trying to get comfort after how much fear she'd felt. Anna could feel her whole body trembling and she soothingly rubbed her back, feeling a little guilty. Just a little though, she knew Elsa's reaction was rather exaggerated; she just needed more practice and then she'd liked it. "Maybe you should try it again? To see if this time…"

"No." Elsa interrupted her with a firm and scared voice. "I'd preferred something more… relaxing. That doesn't involve falling from great highs at full speed."

Deciding it was better not to stress Elsa more than she already was, Anna complained. She had the perfect idea of how to spend the rest of the day anyways.

"Well, then… do you wanna build a snowman?"

Once Anna explained to Elsa what a snowman was, the girl had no problem agreeing to build one with her; it was the last attraction they had left to try at the hotel anyways.

"Okay, my dear disciple." Anna said once they were both at the section where there was a lot of soft and amazingly white snow. "The art of building snowmen is a very delicate one; there are many complicated steps that have to be made with the utmost perfection." Elsa raised her eyebrow, but said nothing. Anna was tempted to burst out laughing as she saw her confused face, but refrained herself from laughing. "You will do as I say and, hopefully, in a few hours we'll have the perfect snowman."

"Alright, tell me what to do." Elsa answered with a tiny smile, which Anna promptly answered with a wider one of her own. Building snowmen had been, after all, one of her favorite activities as a child.

"First, we have to make two snowballs of different size, one larger than the other, then…" Anna explained Elsa the whole procedure and, as Elsa listened intently, they were soon working hard to make the perfect snowman. They both had huge smiles on their faces and often made jokes to each other or threw small amounts of snow at each other's faces, laughing the whole of time they were making the little snowman.

Once the body and funny-shaped head (Anna had accidently deformed it when she was trying to put it in the right position) of the snowman were made, the girls took coal, a carrot and a few sticks from the shelf, to use them as his eyes, buttons, nose, hair and arms respectively. His mouth was basically just a slit on his face with two prominent front teeth emerging from it.

At the end, the result was a goofy-looking snowman with his arms opened wide as if wanting to give someone a hug. Anna loved him instantly, and the position of his arms gave her an idea; she kneeled behind him and taking his arms, she said with the tone she imagined the snowman would use if he could talk:

"Hi, I'm Olaf and I love warm hugs."

Olaf was the name of the last snowman she had made. It wasn't as pretty as this one because she was just nine at the time, but she still had felt very proud of it because it was the first one she had made without help, and her father had taken plenty of photos of her with her creation. Her mother even gave the snowman her scarf 'so it didn't catch a cold'. Everything had been perfect… until Elvira had come and destroyed it saying she was a snow-monster who didn't like stupid and ugly snowmen in her territory. It was a very painful memory because that had been the first time her sister had been truly mean with her and not just passive-aggressive, but she was still fond of Olaf's name and wasn't going to let the past sour this beautiful moment.

"A snowman can't love anything warm." Elsa objected pulling Anna back to present and efficiently distracting her from that nightmare-like memory.

"What do you know? Are you a snowman perhaps?" Anna tried to defend her previous statement.

"No, but…"

"Well, Olaf is. And he likes warm hugs, and the sun and summer." She stated, not leaving room to arguing.

"Isn't snow supposed to melt during summer?" Elsa asked, putting on a confused face.

"Well… we're in summer, and there's plenty of snow." Anna countered.

"Yes, but…"

"Just shut up and give him a warm hug." The redhead prompted her as she knew she wasn't going to win a logical argument about the possibility of snowmen liking warm things.

"But…" Elsa tried to protest, but when she saw Anna's pouting face and puppy eyes, she couldn't find it in herself to deny her a single thing, so with a sigh she conceded. "Alright." Elsa kneeled down in front of the little 'guy' and, looking at Anna one more time to make sure there was no other option than to hug the snowman, she put her arms around it, conscious of how ridiculous she most look hugging a pile of snow (Because let's be honest, that's what 'Olaf' was).

Anna, however, smiled widely when she saw Elsa do as she'd requested and melted at the adorable sight: Elsa had hugged Olaf by his 'torso' and her cheek was in direct contact with the snowman's, while the other one, she noticed, was bright red, which made Elsa look even more cute than she already was with that tiny and insecure smile of hers, looking directly at Anna.

Anna couldn't help it when she pulled out her cellphone and took a picture of the blonde. She definitely wanted to remember this forever.

A/N: Well, that surely was fun to write. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and leave a review. Or favorite and follow if you haven't done it :)

Anyways, yesterday was the one year anniversary of my first fanfic! And I'm so happy I just thought I should tell you. It would mean a lot to me if you checked it (It's also Elsanna). Please?

As always, thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13 :)