The House Of Immortality

Ever since The Great Thaw, many people saw Princess Anna as a brave, courageous young woman who was willing to face the dangerously cold weathers to bring back the Queen and save Arendelle from freezing to death. The children saw her as some sort of warrior Princess as tales spread through the different friendship groups of how she fought off wolves, snow monsters and even put herself in front of a sword to protect her sister, knowing that she would probably die by doing so. In the wide, dream-filled eyes of those children, and in the thoughts of the adults, Anna was fearless!

But the castle’s servants knew otherwise.

Even though Queen Elsa had vowed to never shut her younger sister out again, Gerda, Kai and the other servants would often find Anna outside Elsa’s flower-decorated bedroom door, eyes wide as she stared at it. Her hand would raise, hesitate, then lower, and then the process would repeat a couple times before the strawberry-blonde gave in with a defeated sigh and walk off, deciding to wait until dinner to discuss things with the Queen, who was probably too busy to speak with her anyway, or spend time with her. Or maybe Elsa just wouldn’t want to spend time with her.

Yes, Anna was afraid of rejection. It was foolish, since in the past 5 months, ever since Elsa learnt how to control her powers better, the self-proclaimed Snow Queen had become more open to the Princess, making sure that there was always enough time to spend with her every day, but after 13 years of constantly being told to go away – if she was lucky enough to even get a response from the other side of the door – it had scarred Anna slightly, making her fear that history would repeat itself.

She just couldn’t go through rejection again.

Anna’s P.O.V

Today, Anna awoke, as always, later than everyone else; she claimed that everyone else were just early risers, but in truth, she was just a bit lazy, especially in the winter months when the warmth of her bed was so, so irresistible. The crown Princess forced her eyes to crack open, wiping the drool from her face as she sat in an upright position, pulling the covers and additional blanket up to her chin in an attempt to fight off the cold air that desperately tried to form goose bumps on her skin. Her blurred vision began to focus with every second that she remained awake, and eventually she could look out her window to the snow gently falling.

Snow. Snow! The first genuine snowfall of winter, which was just as magical as any snowfall as her sister made, but perhaps even more special! A grin spreading across her face, Anna rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and rose from the bed, taking the covers with her. Attempting to run to the window for a better look was not a good idea, however, as Anna soon found herself flat on the floor, face-planting the wooden floorboards. Needless to say, she was wide awake now, and in pain.

“Ow! Good morning, floor, thanks for the wake-up call.” She grumbled, standing to her feet, cautiously touching her nose and recoiling with a hiss at the sharp shooting pain from it. Anna sure hoped it wasn’t broken, but if she had done any serious damage, it would be bleeding, right? Safe in the knowledge that she’d probably just get a bruise there tomorrow, the mess of bedhead continued her journey to the window, her cheerfulness returning upon seeing the snow covering Arendelle in thick layer. Maybe she could go outside in the snow! Maybe she could drag Elsa outside too! An excited squeal escaped Anna’s lips at the thought of having fun with her sister as she dropped the blankets, rushing to get dressed.

Anna took pride in how fast she could get ready. Within 5 minutes she had washed, brushed her teeth, tamed the nest of copper hair and dressed in her winter clothing, the same she had worn of July’s journey to the North Mountain. Checking herself over once in the mirror and deeming her appearance acceptable, she ran out of her room and down the hallway towards her sister’s chambers. Had it not been for the loose rug, Anna would’ve arrived at the door safely, but instead she skidded past Elsa’s room entirely, almost colliding with a wall had it not been for her reflexively putting her hands out in front of her. Breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that she hadn’t hurt herself for a second time within the space of 10 minutes, Princess Anna retraced her steps, returning the rug to its rightful position before facing the door.

She froze. Every muscle in her body tensed to a point where they refused to move. Anna’s breath caught and for a moment she forgot how to breathe as memories of countless past rejections flashed before her eyes. ‘Go away, Anna!’ The words echoed in her mind, haunting her. She tried to push thoughts out of her mind, not wanting to recall the number of times she cried as a child, because all she wanted to do was play with her sister. Blocking the memories out, a shaky breath escaped Anna’s lips as her hand raised, poised to knock. ‘Just leave me alone! I can’t play with you!’ Her resolve wavered, then disappeared as her hand lowered to her side again. Who was she kidding? She just didn’t have the courage to knock and possibly be told to go away again; it would be too hurtful for her.  Maybe if she could catch Elsa some other time, maybe when she wasn’t in her room, but out in the open where she couldn’t shut her out.

Little did Anna know that Elsa wasn’t even in her room, but about 10 metres away, watching her sister’s internal struggle with the door.

Elsa’s P.O.V

It was common for Elsa to get up early, usually being the third to rise from her peaceful slumber after Kai and Gerda, but waking up at 6am was just ridiculous. The Queen tried to go back to sleep but she was wide awake now. At least she could finish of the paperwork she had started, and get ahead of schedule with today’s paperwork, then she could spend more time with her precious younger sister, Anna.  Yes, that would be a good use of the extra time she had now.

Elsa had dressed slowly, making sure that not a hair was out of place – she was a Queen, after all, and had to maintain appearances – and once done she walked straight to her office. The hallways were dark at this time of morning, but luckily the moonlight beaming through the triangular windows light her path. Entering the office, Elsa lit the candles to illuminate the room more and glided over to the oversized oak desk, sitting down in the equally oversized chair, decorated with simple floral rose mailing upon the padded cushion at her back and rear. Picking up the papers, the platinum blonde identified one she had yet to read and began her work.

It must have taken her at least 5 hours of mind-numbing work, the only pause being for the breakfast Kai had brought in for her, before she finally finished. Every single paper had been read, signed and stamped with Arendelle’s signature three-petal flower and now her day was entirely freed up, albeit a meeting with the Duke of Kennington in the afternoon to discuss a new trading deal. To be honest, Elsa felt light having a nap, the hard work having drained her of energy, but to spend the day sleeping when she could be spending time making up for 13 years of abandoning Anna would be a crime in the Queen’s eyes, one she would not forgive herself for, so instead she decided to go to the Princess’ room and see if she would like to spend time together.

Leaving the office, Elsa headed towards her sister’s chambers, only to pause as soon as she saw Anna outside the white door, decorated with simple flowers of Norse design, which indicated it as Elsa’s own bedroom. The Snow Queen paused, for a moment, going unseen by her younger sibling who stared at the door. A little of determination crossed her beautiful features as a hand raised to the door, but then a look of fear returned, to which Anna lowered her hand. Elsa watched the repetition of movements for a little while longer before finally giving in, a look of concern crossing her face.

“Anna? Is everything alright?” She asked, watching the girl in question jump slightly, startled by the sudden realisation that she was being watched- that she had probably been watched for a while now.

“Oh! Elsa! H-Hey there. What are you, uh, what are you doing here?” Anna asked, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly, avoiding Elsa’s gaze out of embarrassment.

“Actually, I was on my way to see you, but it looks as if you had a similar idea and was coming to see me.” The Queen walked closer, hands clasped in front of her as she took in Anna’s body language, trying to put together pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that was whatever was bothering her. The fact that Anna had not answered Elsa’s question did not go unnoticed, so the blonde tried again, ice blue eyes gaze down into sky blue eyes, searching for answers. “Is there something wrong? You almost looked as if you were afraid to knock.”

And there it was; the lowering of the head to stare at the floor, avoiding eye contact, the frown that tilted the corner of Anna’s lips. Elsa had hit the nail on the head; Anna was scared to knock on her older sister’s door. And she knew exactly why. The temperature of the hallway dropped a couple of degrees, frost threatening to creep up the walls. Guilt crashed over Arendelle’s ruler like the waves that once claimed her parents’ lives, drowning her in it, making her feel like a horrible sister for shutting Anna out of her life, for not answering the door whenever she knocked. No matter how justified she once thought her actions to be, she realised now that it had scarred her sister more than she though, and Elsa would never forgive herself for neglecting her beloved little sister.

“Oh Anna, I’m so sorry.” Her voice was barely a whisper as she pulled Anna into a hug, stroking her strawberry blonde hair as she remembered her mother doing to comfort her children when they were much, much younger. She felt Anna return the much-needed hug, felt the tears against her shoulders, which she quickly brushed away.

“I’m sorry.” Anna countered, pulling away to wipe the tears away herself, thinking that it was ridiculous of her to cry over such a little thing. “You must think I’m foolish for-“

“No, no, it’s not foolish to be afraid,” Elsa interjected, hands still resting on Anna’s shoulders. “It’s never foolish to be afraid, Anna, I just feel horrible for making you afraid to knock.” How would Elsa ever rectify this mistake? Was there even a way? She thought long and hard about it, trying to come up with a plan, and then took a deep breath, moving away from her sister. “You never have to fear knocking on my door ever again, I’ll always open the door to you, and I’ll prove it. Right now.” And with that, Elsa walked into her room, shutting the door behind her.

Silence. Deadly silence. It was quiet for such a long time that the Queen got worried and had to look through the keyhole to make sure Anna was still there. She was, she just looked stunned, even a little hurt. Did she think that Elsa had shut her out again? Elsa couldn’t have her sister thinking such things again, so she spoke up. “Well, are you going to knock? I promise I’ll open the door. I swear it, Anna. You’re my little sister and I’m not going to neglect you anymore, you can trust me on this.”

Determination spread across Anna’s face and her hand rose towards the door, but Elsa heard no sound. Anna had hesitated again, despite her sister’s caring words. What now? Rising to her full height once again, the Snow Queen ran a hand through her platinum blonde locks and tried to think of a plan B. What else could she say to encourage her sister?

“Anna, I love you too much to let you down again,” She tried, fingers crossed on one hand while the other poised on the door handle, ready to open it straight away. “Love is stronger than fear, let love overcome your fear of knocking. Come on, you can d-“

Before she had even finished her sentence there was a quiet knock at the door and within seconds Elsa had opened it and was hugging her sister once again. “See? I told you that I would open the door. For someone so impatient, though, you sure took your time.”

Anna couldn’t help but laugh at Elsa’s words and held on tighter for a moment, only to pull away to wipe more tears from her eyes, this time tears of joy. The Snow Queen did not realise, but ever since Anna had told Elsa that she loved her after her sacrifice, she had been waiting to hear the same thing in return. It had taken a while, but it was so worth it, just to know how much she really cared.

“So, uh, you were coming to see me?” Anna asked, changing the subject now that she was more in control of her emotions, tucking some loose strands of hair behind her ear.

Elsa, thankful to get back to the reason why she had come upstairs, smiled softly and nodded. “I’m free until this afternoon now, I was wondering if you wanted to spend time together?”

She watched as the grin she was so used to seeing returned to her sister’s face. “Actually, I was going to ask you the same thing.” There was a slight pause before Anna started speaking again. “Sooo... Uhhh... Do you- I-I mean you don't have to but, you know, it's snowing outside so you wouldn't have to use your powers, a-and maybe it'd be fun if we... You know... B-But if you can think of something else fun to do, we could do that, I'm really not fussy about- I'm rambling, I’ll be quiet now.” The younger royal bit her lower lip to make sure that she didn’t start rambling again, and her gaze met the floor upon hearing Elsa giggle behind the hand that was now raised to her mouth.

“I think playing in the snow is a wonderful idea. Besides, I owe you a snowman, don’t I?” Elsa smirked slightly, an eyebrow delicately raised as she watched her words sink into Anna’s mind. Realisation sunk in, then the grin grew so big that the Queen swore Anna’s cheeks must’ve been hurting her, and all of a sudden she found herself being dragged downstairs and outside to the Princess’ constant chanting of, ‘Come on come on come on!’

The rest of the day, up until the meeting Elsa had to attend, was filled with snowball fights, snow angels, and the biggest snowmen the sisters had ever built. As the snowy weather continued, not stopping until a couple weeks later, going outside became a daily occurrence, even if it was just for an hour or so on Elsa’s busier days. Of course, Anna didn’t get over her fear straight away, but it didn’t take too long to overcome the fear of knocking and facing rejection, as she had a new mantra that helped her work up the courage to knock: Love is stronger than fear.