The House Of Immortality

Elsa often looked out of her bedroom window and gazed down into the town, her blue eyes pausing on every face, longing to be amongst them, to at least meet the people she would rule one day, but scared of hurting them if she got too close. Today was one of those days, although today was more special than any other day within the past couple of months, as it marked the first day of spring, and hence the kingdom was in the midst of it's spring festival. Sitting in the windowsill, the young princess looked out to the town, to the fjords which sparkled under the sun’s radiant light, to the blue skies which brought a much happier feel to the town than the drab grey skies of the previous wintery skies. In the town square, flowers were starting to bloom in reds and whites and the occasional purple, opening their petals towards the mid-day sun and posts stood erect in the centre of the streets, streamers of all colours spread out from the tops to the ground below. One window was open, allowing the cool spring air swirl around Elsa’s room. For a moment, she closed her eyes, breathing in the  fresh scent of the breeze… And then she stiffened, hearing children playing near the gates, beginning to sing an old folk song:

Winter's gone and Spring is springing
Shines the sun with warmth of old
Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Chapel bells are ringing!
We're done with being cold
Flowers a-bloom with odours pleasant,
All of Arendelle is glad!
Mother Earth, we thank you for the presents!
Spring's good and Winter's bad.

Her eyes flashed open as she glanced at the children, the air getting colder as sadness set in. Elsa hated that song, and yet agreed with it at the same time. ‘Winter’s bad’. It was not meant to be a personal attack – the song had been around long before Elsa had even been born – but to a girl who could only create winter, it felt like she was being indirectly bullied. Yes, winter was bad; she couldn’t deny that fact after witnessing how her ice powers could be dangerous. Not only was it dangerous, however, but the citizens of Arendelle disliked winter and much preferred the spring and summer months when it was warm and sunny and food could grow with ease without having to worry about harsh weather conditions. What would happen if they found out that their future queen could turn everything to ice and snow without even meaning to? Elsa dared not to find out; it caused frost to cover the walls out of fear of just thinking about it.

‘Conceal it, don’t feel it. Don’t let it show.’

As the children’s joyful laughter disappeared from near the castle gates, Elsa contemplated reading a book to rid herself of thoughts that would only make controlling her powers worse and was about to move away from the window when a blur of strawberry-blonde, with a slight hint of platinum blonde, caught the corner of her eye. Anna in the courtyard, running towards the gates with a hopeful look on her face, wishing to at least attempt communication over the castle walls, but it was already too late.

“Oh who needs them, anyway?” Elsa heard her younger sister, now 9 years of age, mutter to herself as she kicked at a stone on the ground. “They’re wrong about winter, anyway.”

What? They were wrong? What did Anna mean by that? How could the other children be wrong when Elsa had witnessed for herself what winter, ice and snow could do to people if they- if she wasn’t careful? Immensely confused by her younger sister, she rested her gloved hands on the second, closed window, her face pressed up against it as if to get a better view, all senses on edge, awaiting an explanation.

For a moment, nothing happened, then a meowing sound to be heard, causing both girls to look to their left. They were met by another meow from a tortoiseshell cat that slowly walked towards Anna, clearly seeking attention. ‘Since when did we get a cat?’ Elsa thought silently to herself. Had her parents bought one to keep Anna company? However, observing the cat more closely, no collar could be seen. Perhaps it had just found its way in through a gap in the wall somewhere.

Anna crouched down, a hand held carefully out towards the cat as it sniffed cautiously, then began rubbing its chin against her fingers. Satisfied with the reaction, the youngest of the royal family sat down, pulling her braided pigtails to rest in front of her shoulders instead of behind them, and stroke the cat affectionately. The cat was not the only one who craved much-needed attention.

"You agree with me, right Mr Whiskers?" Anna asked the feline as it purred softly to her, eyes closed in relaxation as it was stroked from head to tail gently. "I think Joan would agree with me too, if she could talk."

First talking to herself, then talking to a cat, and now talking to... Joan? None of the remaining servants were called Joan, Elsa knew that, so who was she? Had her little sister been so deprived of human contact that she had even made up her own imaginary friend? As guilt contorted her young features, the older princess looked away from Anna, but still continued listening to her sister through the open window.

"I mean, sure it's sunny and the flowers are out and it's all really pretty, but what is there to do in Spring? Especially when you have no one to play with?" There was a pause, a thoughtful look on Anna's face, and then she corrected herself. "Ok, so maybe you can do a lot of things all by yourself, but it's not as fun as playing in the snow and drinking hot chocolate and drawing by a fireplace, you know? Well, you would know if you were human, anyway." Anna smiled down at 'Mr Whiskers as she scratched him behind the ear, and then she did something which caused Elsa to turn her gaze back to her little sister:

Spring is nice but it's a killjoy,
I just wish they understood
No more snowflakes, no more building snowmen
Spring's bad and winter's good.

A small part of Elsa's heart melted then, and she smiled affectionately down towards Anna, who simply continued playing with her new feline friend, humming the tune of the song to herself. Her sister really thought that winter was good and, although Elsa had a lot of evidence to prove otherwise, she couldn't help feeling a tiny bit better knowing that if her secret got out - and she prayed that it never would, for the sake of Arendelle's safety, as well as Anna's - at least there would be one person in the entire kingdom who wouldn't fear her. Only one, however, as Elsa had to admitted that sometimes - most of the time - even she was afraid of herself.