the first time in forever

[twicefrozen]

Anna has had a whirlwind few weeks. The gates have been opened, there's been a coronation and a surprise engagement (sort of) and Elsa had created eternal winter and blanketed all of Arendelle in snow. There's been betrayal, romance, and a snow monster. And, of course, everything has worked out all right.

Elsa says they'll keep the gates open now permanently and her powers, so beautiful and so dangerous, seem to be in control. She can make it icy in the courtyard in summer so they can go skating and she can keep Olaf alive and well but nobody seems to be in danger. Most importantly - Elsa seems happy. It's been so long since she's seen her sister happy that Anna has almost forgotten how it feels and what it looks like but it's nice. For the first time in forever, Anna is truly content with the world and happy to be in it.

She's running through the castle like usual, flipping open the doors and all the windows to let in the warm summer sun. Elsa is...somewhere and Anna is determined she's going to get her out and about today. She's going to get Elsa to genuinely enjoy being around other people if it kills her.

She opens up a door she doesn't recognize and sees...well, that's not normal. There's a party! There's a bunch of hedges and it's chilly so maybe that means Elsa is out and about; she does tend to affect the temperature when she's around.

"Elsa? Are you giving a party and leaving me out? I'm your sister, you know you're supposed to tell me if there's any parties. I love parties! Elsa? Ellllsaaaaaaaaa..."

Comments

[silverandcold]

"Anna!" Elsa goes dead still where she stands, her eyes wide in very real terror. Over a year, she's managed to evade Arendelle, to keep herself away from the people she'd hurt and the damage she'd done and now...

And now the single most important person and the one she needs to keep farthest away is here in the hotel, calling her name.

"Oh no."

Her mind screams at her to run, to find a door. Any door. But she can't. She's frozen.

[twicefrozen]

"Elsa!" Anna can't help but squeal a little bit because she's so excited to see her sister. Sure, she just saw her but it never gets old, getting to see her sister out in the world instead of locked up away.

She runs toward her and opens her arms for a hug. "Why didn't you tell me about this place? And you're having a party? You know I love parties!"

[silverandcold]

"Anna! No!" Elsa backed up a few steps, flurries of snow swirling around her as her horror increased. "Pleas I don't want to hurt you!"

[twicefrozen]

"What? Elsa, you've got this," Anna insists. She's not afraid. She's never, ever going to be afraid of her sister because she knows that Elsa loves her as much as Anna loves her back.

"Come on, it's okay. You can dial it down. I know you can."

[silverandcold]

Elsa shakes her head, still backing away from every step that Anna takes forward. "The last time I saw you, I struck you with ice! Anna can't you see? I don't want to hurt you!"

[twicefrozen]

"Oh, Elsa, you unfroze me," Anna says. She doesn't understand how Elsa doesn't remember that, how everything worked itself out because she and Elsa love one another.

"Elsa, you fixed it. You're not going to hurt me. I'm not afraid."

[silverandcold]

"I...I did?"

Anna says it with so much confidence, like an event long in the past and quickly forgiven. Well, the latter isn't surprising. Anna's always had a big heart with an amazing capacity for love and forgiveness.

Confused, Elsa looks at her hands. "I was able to unfreeze you?"

[twicefrozen]

Anna nods rapidly. "Oh, yeah, nobody else could have done it. You unfroze all of Arendelle! Except Olaf, of course, that wouldn't be good for him. So he has his own little thing - but you did it, Elsa. You did it."

Anna steps closer. She doesn't know why her sister doesn't remember this or why she's so afraid but she wants to help ease her mind a little. "I'm perfectly fine, Elsa. See? I don't even have the white streak in my hair anymore."

[silverandcold]

Elsa is so startled that she forgets to walk away, covering her mouth with her hand as she remembers the little talking snowman. She'd made life in that gesture, created instead of destroyed, and she can't help the nervous little laugh that escapes her. "No, Olaf wouldn't like summer," she say absently.

She looks closer and Anna's right. There's no telltale streak, the constant reminder of Elsa's folly. "You're really okay but...I don't understand. I've been living in this hotel for a year."

[twicefrozen]

"A hotel? Why would you be living here for a whole year? I mean, I know you were up on North Mountain but you've been back at the palace," Anna says. She doesn't quite understand it. Then again, stranger things have happened in her life.

"Is it magic or something? You know how I feel about magic."

[silverandcold]

"Hans had me in chains and he told me I'd hurt you, badly. So ran out into the fjord and found myself here in the lobby. I haven't been back since." To be more truthful, she'd avoided any doors that could send her back to Arendelle.

"It's definitely something."

[twicefrozen]

"No, no, that already happened forever ago," Anna says. Now she's really confused but she doesn't really want to tell Elsa that she's crazy. Not when she'd just calmed her down and all - Anna doesn't want to make things worse if she can help it.

"So you've just been hiding here all this time?"

[silverandcold]

"I haven't been hiding! I was here so that I wouldn't hurt anyo--" Elsa sighs and looks at her sister, so perceptive even when she acts so blithe.

"I was hiding. I was afraid all I'd ever do was hurt people more."

[princehonorable]

"Joan?"

He knows that voice, knows that woman. He can't imagine what she's doing here seeing as the last time he'd seen her had been in the Enchanted Forest and that'd been an age ago. So much has happened since that it seems honestly odd to be running into her again, though he has no idea who an Elsa is. "Is that you?" he asks curiously, warmth and hope in his voice on the off chance that it is.

[twicefrozen]

Anna turns around and shakes her head. "Um, no, nobody named Joan here. Just Anna."

She had been about to steal a few sandwiches off a cart and she feels (and looks) awkward and guilty. She laughs a little.

"Nope. Just Anna."

[princehonorable]

It's odd. She looks like Joan, speaks like Joan, and even wears the exact same clothes as Joan (at least, the fashion). He gives her a suspicious look, not sure he wants to let it drop yet. After all, she had been so instrumental in a part of his life. "You're not Joan from Arendelle?" he clarifies.

[twicefrozen]

"Oh, no, I'm from Arendelle! I'm just named Anna, not Joan," Anna explains. Someone who knows Arendelle? That's fantastic. Maybe she can get back there soon.

"Are you from there? We've been kind of...isolated. So if I don't know you, I'm sorry."

[princehonorable]

"You could be her twin sister," Charming confesses, staring at her as he tries to clear up whether or not he actually believes her, but she genuinely doesn't seem to know him and Joan would have no incentive to lie. "I'm from the Enchanted Forest," he says. "Sort of. It's a complicated story," he admits.

[twicefrozen]

"Well, I've got a sister," Anna says brightly. "My sister's name is Elsa, though, and she's not my twin. Basically if anyone could look completely different and still be related, that's Elsa and me."

Anna has always been a little envious of Elsa's cool beauty but she guesses that's not the point of this.

"Ooo, an enchanted forest? What's that like?"

[princehonorable]

"Joan had a sister too," Charming says, still not sure how all of this makes sense, but willing to go with it. After all, it's hardly like he has any other choice. He laughs, though, at her excitement about the forest. "I promise you, it's nowhere near as excitement as you'd think. Last time I was there, it was a bit...green."

[twicefrozen]

"Well, it was a forest," Anna points out. "Isn't that kind of what forests do? I don't know, I've never been anywhere other than the palace in Arendelle so anything is going to be exciting to me at this point even if it's not, you know. Actually exciting."

[princehonorable]

He has to laugh because she's right, it is what they're supposed to do, but he's never really known how to define the Enchanted Forest otherwise. It's always been his home and things have been rough lately, but he'd always wanted to go back. "Well, if you were ever after a visit, we're accessible by boat," he says. "At least, from what I know of home, Arendelle is a few days journey away."

[twicefrozen]

Anna brightens. She does not have much experience with other countries other than stupid Hans and the idea of a new, exciting place only a few days away is a thrilling prospect.

"Really? Have you ever been? Or do you just trade with us? Elsa handles all the trade agreements, they try to keep me away from anything diplomatic."

[princehonorable]

"I only ever heard stories, I'm afraid," he confesses, though he would have loved to see her country, having grown to imagine it beautifully. "I haven't exactly been to the Enchanted Forest recently, though. It's been more...Neverland," he admits, given that Regina's curse had done a fairly effective job of robbing them of their home. "Maybe one of these doors will take you back there and you can show me," he suggests warmly.

[twicefrozen]

"Oh, for sure! I'll show you the castle and the lakes and the fjords. Did you know that Arendelle's just full of fjords?"

Anna loves her home and she's sure it shows. There's no place she loves more than Arendelle - every cloud, snowflake and stone.