Chapter Text
Elsa can't help but smile at the letter Anna had sent her that afternoon. Truth be told Elsa was rereading it for the fifth time mainly because Anna had rambled in this letter, which was cute, different but cute. Elsa could close her eyes and almost picture Anna going on and on in front of her. Her smile, her motions with her hands. Her baby sister was going to be Queen.
Signing she tucks the letter away with all the others she had been collecting over the last few months. There was so much to do and so little time. Anna's coronation was less than six weeks away but that didn't mean the people weren't arriving ahead of time. Nope, Arendelle had never been busier. Ever since Elsa, with the direction of Anna, rebuilt the town with a combination of magical ice and good old hard work it was thriving. People were moving to town. At this rate, it was going to have a population boom.
They had done a very small private ceremony to transfer power months ago but this was going to be different. This was for the dignitaries who were coming from far and wide. Most as Elsa had guessed had accepted to see if anything had changed with the transfer of power from her to Anna. Arendelle was doing well and Elsa had to admit she was so proud of how Anna was handling everything. Anna, of course, could call upon Elsa any time day or night. In fact, Anna had sent a note a few times at two in the morning. She kept apologizing but Elsa had just pulled her into a hug. Anna was not alone in this. Elsa was not going to dump her responsibilities onto her sister. Everything was going to be ok.
Setting down her mug of tea and glancing once more at the official invitation Anna had given her weeks ago. Elsa had planned on being at the coronation no matter what. Some advisors had questioned if it would be a good idea to have the former Queen of Arendelle in attendance. Not to take away the spotlight from the new one. But it had been dismissed almost instantly. If Elsa would not show up more questions would arise. She wanted to show a united front. Plus there was no way she was missing this.
Then there had been a discussion about who would crown Anna.
Anna had looked confused by this question and so had Elsa. If anyone was going to crown her sister it was going to be her.
God, she knew she was going to cry when that happened. Better make a mental note to bring a handkerchief.
But this brought her line of thinking to Anna's proposal. Elsa was going to be at the coronation but Anna had extended the invitation to the elements as well.
This led to an interesting question: would it be wise to bring the elements to town?
Or as Anna's full proposal had suggested moving all the elements to town permanently. Elsa had to admit she was taking this into serious consideration. Anna had mapped out a list of jobs that could use some assistance. The builders were happy to have any help from the Earth giants. Bruni already had requests from Oaken's, the bakers, the castle cook, the blacksmiths and so on. Even suggesting airmail with Gale. 'Gale mail' they'd called it. Or as Olaf liked to joke Gmail. So the town seemed to want to embrace them with open arms. But would the elements want that? Was it good to have uncontrolled magic running around? But then again they ran around the forest with no issue.
Perhaps a trial period to test it out once Anna was crowned.
Elsa had to laugh. That was Anna for you. Thinking ahead about how to bring everyone together and maybe even keeping her family together in one place. And Elsa had to admit it would be nice to be living in the castle once more. Forest living just wasn't what it was cracked up to be.
Pushing some hair behind her ear, and brushing some dirt off her dress Elsa had quickly discovered that the forest didn't need much managing at all. Nature just worked so it really didn't need her here all the time. After a few weeks with nothing to do she had practically begged Gerda for some light paperwork to help take the load off of Anna. The light paperwork turned out to be almost a stack as tall as Olaf but she took it. Gladly. Gerda had just smirked at her the entire time as Elsa had gathered the papers. As if she knew Elsa couldn't stay away. Nope. No way was she going to admit she missed the paperwork.
Glancing again at the to-do list and the double-checking of inventory Elsa's concentration was interrupted by the sounds of Gale.
Elsa had to smile. It must be another letter from Anna. Mostly Anna just sent one a day even on days when Elsa saw her. Not that she minded it. Maybe it was another sleepless night or just 'I miss you, sleep well' note. Maybe she should bring Anna to go hiking before the ceremony. Get some fresh air, a nice picnic with sandwiches and chocolate and they could just talk. Plus she wouldn't mind another round of chess. Their last game having been so intense the boys had runoff.
The first thing Elsa notices is that the letter Gale loop de loops around is that it isn't folded. Anna always folds any of her letters and even addresses them to Elsa. As if anyone else would get them. This letter looked just like a piece of paper that had scattered to the wind.
As if floats down into her hands her confusion grows. It wasn't a letter address to her at all. No, she could tell it was Anna's handwriting but these were notes that had nothing to do with Elsa. Skimming it was just a daily schedule for Anna's next day.
Why would Anna send this to her? There was nothing out of the ordinary. Just a very busy schedule with meetings and more meetings. Which was nothing new? Elsa knew how it was and she took it upon herself to pull Anna out of meetings to have a meal.
Looking further down the page. Red dots marked the bottom. It's faint but its there. She frowns. Was that Paint? Or Jam? What was Anna doing? Gale drops another page onto her lap, followed by another. With every growing page, Elsa's confusion grows. These are just notes. Questions to ask advisors. Doodles. Ideas. A To-do list. But the red splotches are ever-present and growing. Elsa carefully rubs at one of the newer ones and it smears onto her fingertips. It was wet and had a slight metallic smell to it. Blood? This was blood. As another note comes in it becomes clear that blood had splattered onto the pages of notes.
Blood on the notes?
Notes with Arendelle's signature crest.
Notes in Anna's handwriting.
Was this blood from… Elsa's blood runs cold. "Anna!"