The adolescent princess laid down, under an apple tree and away from the sun. She didn't know what to feel anymore; she hadn't been with Elsa since the age of five, and five was very young. She was fifteen now, and she had all that indifference towards Elsa. But now, knowing the truth, she also felt frustrated and desperate. If that's what an only child feels like, it was awful. Unhappiness and no fun didn't suit her, and she would do anything to regain what had been lost. She had outgrown dolls, bedtime stories, and playgrounds...of course. But she also had no friends, except for her parents, as she was always indoors and they didn't want her outside the castle grounds; there were no tours of the castle for people, and no one entered. No visits, no interactions, nothing. It was a wonder how she kept her optimism and cheerfulness.

"Anna?"

Anna looked up. "Elsa? Elsa! You're out, you're here!"

Elsa stepped back, as Anna was about to hug her. "Anna, I don't think it'd be okay to do that yet," she said, "remember last time?"

Anna frowned. "Elsa, how can you hurt me now?"

Elsa looked down. "Anything can happen."

Anna looked desperate. She was desperate.

"Elsa, touch this," Anna told her, picking up a long tree branch. "I've thought all this through, Elsa. You're fearful. Isn't that what Pabbie said would be your enemy? Fear?"

Elsa looked at her, in deep thought, still sad. "He did."

"Just don't think about it. Have fun. It's what we used to do, what you used to do. I want to have a sister, Elsa. I want you back."

"I want you back too. Believe me, Anna, I've been more alone than you've been."

Anna looked around, tears starting to form in her eyes. "I missed you."

Elsa hesitantly opened up her arms for a hug. Anna smiled. Both held onto each other in an embrace. "I hope Ma and Papa won't be mad at me for taking this risk," she said, letting go of Anna.

"I'll talk to them when they come back," Anna volunteered, "they can't become mad at me."

Elsa and Anna sat next to each other under the tree, with awkward silence, talking to each other only when it didn't seem so weird. They haven't spoken to the other in years, after all.

"Princess Anna!" called...Gerda. The two sisters looked in the direction of the source of the voice. "Princess Elsa? What, how, you're out and about!"

Elsa smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, girls! We've got terrible news," Gerda said, lowly. "Our King and Queen have died. Their ship's been wrecked and lost in a storm on their voyage home." Gerda was sobbing. "They're...dead!"

Elsa and Anna blinked and blinked again. "Dead? A storm?"

Elsa looked at Anna, and back at Gerda. "How can they be dead? Storms have never been big enough for shipwrecks here."

"It is rare, 'tis true," Gerda told her.

The news of a loved one's death was never easy to take in and accept. Elsa refused to believe it. Anna didn't want to believe it. Shipwrecks were big news, and she's never heard one in all her life. Except for in the Southern Isles, which was nowhere near Arendelle.

Elsa and Anna looked up. Gerda was running back inside the castle. The girls sat there, silent and unmoving.

"Now what?" Anna asked.

"Now what?" Elsa repeated. "I don't know. I'm too young to become Queen, and what if there's work to do?"

"Elsa, what does that mean? We can just make sure everyone has what they need and that everyone's okay, right? You'll be 21 in three years."

"I've been in my room, Anna, for 10 years. I have no idea what's been going on. Anna, you'll have to help me."

Anna smiled. "You know how to be a Queen, Elsa. You were always of royal material, naturally. You'll know what to do."

This was new. "Since when have you become so wise?"

Anna smiled and fell back, tripping over her left foot.

"But still clumsy." Both girls laughed.