Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

[Anna]

[[September 4th. Closed to Elsa and Anna]]

Crouching in the sand just away from the water's edge, Anna couldn't help but frown at her reflection. To be perfectly honest, she didn't think the white of the uniform's shirt was her colour at all; she'd tried to break it up by wearing the tie and other accessories, but the colour only made her feel as though she were trying to impersonate her sister. Blue was Elsa's colour, not hers.

Not that fashion was really her biggest concern right now. Still, the thought took her mind off... other things.

She'd been here three days already. Three days, and she had still seen hardly a sign of Elsa. She almost felt as though her sister was avoiding her just as determinedly as she had back home. Sooner or later, Anna supposed, it was inevitable that they would end up in classes together, and then...

Then what? Would Elsa continue to ignore her? She hoped not, but... it had been ten years since she'd last seen her sister for any great period of time. She recalled them being outside, playing in the snow; and from that point on, for reasons unfathomable to her, Elsa had insisted on barely even seeing her.

Anna knew she shouldn't mope. She was glad to be out of the castle, of course, but the novelty of seeing more of the world beyond its borders has worn thin quickly without Elsa to share it with. Surpressing a sigh, Anna leant forward to dip her index finger into the waves that washed up the beach, never quite reaching her knees. Even though it was completely the wrong weather for it, Anna found herself softly muttering what had become such a familiar refrain for her over the years while trying to coax Elsa out of her room.

"Do you wanna build a snowman...?"

[Elsa]

In truth, it wasn't just Anna Elsa had been avoiding.

Aside from finding a kindred spirit in Jack, Elsa hadn't exactly gone out of her way to make friends, much less be seen outside of class. Even though she felt free around that white-haired boy, it was only one individual. It didn't change what had happened so many years ago, and it didn't take away the pain she bore from it. Elsa only hoped that Anna was safe back home. Maybe, now that Elsa wasn't there, they had finally opened up the gates and given her sister some freedom. That thought brought a slight smile to her face. As long as Anna was all right, she'd be okay in the end.

At present, the blonde princess was beginning to make her way down the sandy terrain of the water circle's area. Gloves were back on and her expression stoic. She knew she couldn't afford to let loose while the sun was still shining. No, Elsa would have to wait until the late hours of the night to really practice her power, and even then she'd have to be careful. She couldn't let anyone else in the water circle, or any of the other circles for that matter, find out about her power. She still feared they'd call her a monster if they knew. Thus, the secrecy. For the moment, though, Elsa was feeling particularly good. She'd finished some homework not long ago, and with what little time she had she decided to actually make her presence known.

When she saw who was hunched over by the water's edge, though, she wished she hadn't.

Elsa's heart skipped a beat when she saw Anna there, and for a moment her breath caught in her throat. What was her little sister doing there? Shouldn't she have been back in Arendelle? She'd thought for sure that she was the only one to get an invitation to the school...

Oh no... Navy blue...

Anna was sporting the same color of uniform accessories as she was. They were in the same circle. Dread built up within Elsa for a moment and she fought to keep herself standing there. What was she even going to say after all that time? It'd been ten years since they'd last spent time together, and back then they'd been best friends. Their time had been punctured by Anna's admittedly persistent attempts at coaxing her out of her room, but still Elsa had been persistent in staying locked away for her sister's safety. Now what were they going to do?

Sucking in a breath of air, Elsa stepped forward a bit more to actually speak with Anna. She wouldn't get too close, mostly out of fear that something might go wrong, but would risk getting close enough to speak.

"Anna...?"

[Anna]

"Elsa?!"

The sound of her sister's voice was completely unexpected, and it startled Anna so much that she almost pitched forward into the surf, but caught herself just in time. The younger of the two girls scrambled back to her feet, beaming. This was... okay, this was truthfully going to be really awkward, they had hardly seen each other for ten years. But still...!

"Wow. I mean, wow, you're actually talking to me!" she enthused. She hadn't meant for the words to sound accusatory, about their long separation, but there was still a possibility they could be taken as such. Mostly, however, Anna was simply overjoyed to see her sister again. For once, there was no door in between them, nothing but an open patch of sand separating them. It was just the two of them... just like it had always used to be. She took a couple of steps forward, intending to rush forward and hug her sister - then hesitated. What if Elsa still felt cold towards her? She didn't want to scare her sister off. Anna didn't think she could take it if her sibling errected more walls between them while they were here.

So, she'd be a bit more cautious. In time, she optimistically hoped, maybe she could coax Elsa to open up to her and let her in once again. "Elsa... I've really missed you," the younger girl confessed simply.

[Elsa]

In spite of everything, a faint smile traced itself on Elsa's lips. She had missed Anna's perkiness and just... Everything about her, really. Her best friend was right before her after all that time, and best of all she didn't seem upset about anything that had transpired over the ten years. True, the comment wasn't as tactful as it could have been, but Elsa didn't expect any different from Anna. Elsa had always been the more poised of the two as the one groomed to be the next queen, and Anna had a bit more free reign, even while trapped in the lonely castle. Elsa wished she could apologize for all of that, for all the years she had been made to shut Anna out, but it had been for the best. She couldn't hurt her little sister again.

"I've missed you, too," Elsa finally said. She didn't make much more of an effort to close the gap between them, though. Even with her gloves on, Elsa was afraid of potentially hurting her. She did take one more step closer, but that was the last step she'd take. Knowing Anna, the younger princess would probably close the gap. It wasn't like Elsa had anywhere to hide anymore. No more doors, no more private rooms... Anna could find her and try to fix the bond between them. Elsa would have loved that, but the secret could still slip out. She'd have to be careful.

"You look well," Elsa said. It was a pitiful attempt at creating small talk, but Elsa wasn't going to pretend that things between the sisters weren't awkward. She knew things would be awkward. After shutting her sister out for so long, it might take a little bit of time to find the old groove they used to have.

[Anna]

"You look well as well." The younger princess shook her head, her smile turning a little embarassed. Well as well? Come on, Anna, that sounds idiotic. "I mean, well-er? No, that's worse. You- you look well too." Why was she so awkward? This was Elsa, for goodness sake. No-one else right now; just Elsa. She should be relaxed around her sister, but... after their ten-year separation, that didn't seem to be coming so easily anymore.

Rather continue that line of conversation, which didn't seem like it would get anywhere fast anyway, Anna's thoughts were already returning to the previous thing Elsa had said. "Well... then why didn't you ever come out?" Anna studied her sister closely, trying to understand what the older girl was thinking. If Elsa had missed her just as much, why had she been so intent on ignoring her? "I was right there; I was always right there. All you had to do was open the door and we could have been together again. We used to be such good friends, don't you remember, Elsa?" She took another couple of steps forward, stretching out to take her sister's gloved hands in her own. The gloves were another puzzle actually - Anna wouldn't have said it was anything like cold enough to need them - but that wasn't one she was going to question. The very occasional times she had seen her sister back home, she had worn them, and while there might be chance to ask at some point, now wasn't it.

"I never understood why that changed. You never told me why." There was the hint of a plea to her voice. Her intention wasn't to make Elsa feel guilty about any of this, but... in truth, Anna felt just a little desperate. For all she knew, this might be the only chance she had to get the answers she sought from her sister before the older girl shut her out again, and she didn't intend to let the opportunity slip past.

[Elsa]

"I know, Anna. It's just..."

Elsa wanted to tell her everything, but she knew well enough that her sister's memories of the accident had been wiped. Telling her about her powers would be disastrous if nothing else. What could she do, though? She couldn't keep Anna in the dark forever, and she knew that better than anyone, but the blonde was grasping at straws by that point. She fidgeted with her gloves for a moment and glanced away as she tried to think of a way to explain things to Anna. ...Perhaps she could pin the blame on their parents. It had been their decision more than hers to isolate herself. Maybe Anna would understand.

"Mother and father thought it would be for the best. I... I didn't get much of a say in it," Elsa said. That didn't explain why they had closed the gates, or prevented Anna from much social interaction, but it would, at the very least, explain why Elsa had shut her out. Elsa did feel guilty for that much, too. She could remember her sister's pleas from when they were much younger. 'Do you wanna build a snowman?', she'd ask. Elsa wished she could spend time with her sister like they used to, but her powers wouldn't allow it. So, for the time being, Elsa would go along the line that she had been preparing to take over as the next in line for the throne.

"Believe me, I didn't like it any more than you did. I missed how things used to be between us," she said.

[Anna]

"For the best? How could separating us be for the best?" And, for that matter, why hadn't they said anything about it to her? No-one had ever forbidden her from going near Elsa - save, that was, for Elsa herself, who had kept a locked door between them at almost all times. She would have thought if it was that important, their parents would have told her to stop trying to coax Elsa out - not that she would necessarily have listened, but that was besides the point.

"It was just... so sudden," Anna pointed out. "One day we were playing in the snow like best buddies; the next I never saw you anymore." That had, honestly, made it even weirder. Had she done something their parents hadn't approved of? She couldn't remember anything; in fact, she couldn't remember how that day had ended at all. Had she... had she maybe put Elsa in danger? It was an awful thought, and she was aware that she was only grasping at straws, but she couldn't think of any other reason for their abrupt and near-permanent separation. Or... no. No, it couldn't have been the other way around. Elsa would never have hurt her, not even accidentally.

"You know... things could be that way again." She was almost hesitant to suggest it, and the way she nerously scratchd beneath her collar, even for the briefest of moments, betrayed that. Technically, she was asking her sister to go against their parents' wishes - although without father and mother here, who'd know, right? She just wasn't sure that Elsa would see it the same way. Still, Anna hoped... she hoped desperately that her sister would agree. Almost without conscious thought, Anna closed the final physical distance between them and clasped Elsa's gloved hands.

[Elsa]

I wish I knew...

Elsa would have told her everything if she could, but Anna had made a good point. Their separation had been so sudden, and it was only natural that Anna would question it. Ultimately, though, it hadn't been Elsa's decision. The ones who had wiped Anna's memories had told them it was for the best, and their father had been the one to say they had to cut off Elsa's contact with anyone. It hadn't been fair, but she'd gone along with it for her sister's safety. At length, Elsa's expression softened and she glanced down at the sand. For once, the elder of the sisters didn't have an answer.

When Anna said things could go back to how they used to be, though, Elsa looked up again. Confusion flickered through her blue eyes and, for a moment, she tilted her head to the side ever so slightly.

"How can things go back to how they used to be, Anna? We've been apart so long, I wouldn't know where to begin," Elsa admitted. The blonde princess would have gone on, explained how they needed to focus on their studies while they were at the school (and, subsequently, surviving any fights they might be thrown into), when Anna closed the gap between them completely and clasped her gloved hands. Blue eyes widened and she glanced down at their hands, almost like she was afraid something terrible would happen, but after a moment or two she began to see that her sister touching her like this wasn't bad. As long as the gloves were on, her sister was safe. How could she have been so foolish to forget that?

...It still didn't keep Elsa from appearing a little bit rigid from surprise at her sister's sudden touch. She tried to make herself relax, though. Anna wasn't in any danger as long as the gloves stayed on.

[Anna]

"I'm not sure either," Anna confessed at length. Elsa had a point, she supposed; two thirds of her life had passed since the time they had been so close. But the younger sibling wasn't going to give up easily, however. "But we can find out again together, Elsa. I know we've been apart, but we're sisters. We're meant to be there for each other." She gave her sister a smile, one that was meant to look reassuring; though it carried a hint of uncertainty in its depths. Honestly, she felt rather desperate. It was true that she could make other friends here to spend time with if she couldn't convince Elsa, but... none of them would be her sister. It was Elsa's friendship, the bond they had once shared, that meant more to Anna than just about anything.

She hadn't failed to notice the way her sister had stiffened at her touch; though after an initial moment of puzzlement, Anna hadn't thought anything of it. Elsa had been alone for so long, she'd probably forgotten what human contact felt like; that, Anna suspected, was all it was. Looking into the older girl's icy blue eyes with her own, however, Anna was almost convinced she'd seen a flash of fear. But that was... well, what did Elsa have to be afraid of from her?

"Elsa, please, just don't shut me out again," she successfully kept the plea from her tone, though her voice wavered slightly nonetheless. She knew there was no way for her sister to physically shut her out here, but emotionally, Elsa could do just that; though Anna deeply hoped that she wouldn't.

[Elsa]

Elsa really did want things to go back to the way they had been. Anna had been her best friend before the incident, and she'd been terribly lonely in the time they'd been apart. But... Could she keep her power controlled enough to keep from hurting her sister again? She had Jack to help her, she realized, but what if something went wrong again? Elsa just didn't know if she'd be able to live with herself if that happened...

...She couldn't live her life in fear forever, though. Could she? She'd already spent ten years alone, scared, and miserable in general. Could she really carry on like that? It probably wasn't even remotely healthy to do so, and Anna did have a good point. They could work out how to be close again if they stuck together. It seemed reasonable enough to believe that Elsa would be safe in opening the doors at last. She wouldn't have to shut Anna out that way, and maybe, just maybe, she could open up to her sister in time about her powers. ...Okay, that was a little optimistic. But who knew? Maybe it was possible.

At length, Elsa's body relaxed a bit more and whatever traces of hesitance that had been there before vanished from her blue eyes. She knew she probably was making a mistake in going against what their parents had said for them to do, but here it would be impossible to shut Anna out the way she had back home. She had to open herself up some and give herself the chance to bond with her sister again.

"...I won't. But it won't be easy, Anna. It can't just magically go back to how it was... No matter how badly we wish it."

They would need time. Their bond would have to slowly be mended throughout the days they were in school together, but it was a start.

[Anna]

"I know, I know, it's going to take time," Anna nodded her understanding, but she could do nothing to keep the giddy smile off her face. It had been ten years but at last, finally, just when she had almost given up, Elsa was willing to open up to her again. Slowly, cautiously, it was true; but it was more than she had ever done back home, and it was good enough for Anna. She felt so elated, she felt- actually, she almost felt as though she might cry from happiness, though the younger princess hurriedly contained that particular reaction.

Just... be cool about this, Anna. No need to scare Elsa back into her isolation, right? ...though it would be much easier to avoid doing that if she knew what it was she'd actually done in the first place. Their parents must have had a reason for separating them... Anna felt as though she was missing some crucial piece of the picture by not knowing what. Maybe after she and Elsa had had the time to bond again, maybe then she could ask.

"It's so odd, isn't it?" she asked after a moment, deciding to try for just an ordinary conversation. "Being out of the castle. I was beginning to wonder if I'd only imagined there actually being a whole world outside of its walls." She turned her head a little to regard the ocean behind her, which was turning gold as it reflected light from the sinking sun. It was quite beautiful, and made all the more so by the fact that she was right here to see it rather than watching from the other side of permanently-closed windows.

[Elsa]

A subtle nod was Elsa's first response to the question. After purposefully shutting herself in and isolating herself from the rest of the world, it had been strange to actually be in a social environment again. Even stranger had been interacting with other students. Elsa had limited her interaction to the best of her abilities, but even she had to admit she was starting to open up to others all over again. Whether or not that was a good thing remained to be seen, though. She was walking a very thin line between risking everything she had tried to hide and actually making herself seem normal, and walking that line was proving to be quite the challenge.

"It is strange. After all these years, I'd forgotten what it was even like. Being out in the open like this, I mean," Elsa admitted. She still wasn't going to tell Anna everything, but at least it was a start. She must have sounded so odd, but by that point Elsa didn't care. Everything she said was probably going to be strange after she and her sister had suddenly broken off ties. Rather, after she had broken off ties with her sister. She'd just have to learn what it was like to actually interact with others again.

"This is what you've wanted for so long, isn't it? Being free of the castle?"

[Anna]

"Yeah. Well, one of the two things," Anna had to point out, smiling at her sister. There would be no prizes for guessing what the other one had been; at any rate, it had just been fulfilled as well. Wonderful as it was, being out of the castle was a bonus as far as Anna was concerned; being side by side with Elsa once again was what really counted, and it would be no exageration for the younger girl to say that it was the best thing that had happened to her all year. With the two of them back together, as well as being free of the castle, how could things possibly be any better?

Maybe if they weren't meant to fight other students in this insane game; Anna's smile wavered a little as she recalled that was part of the school here. That she and Elsa would be required to fight other teens just like them had slipped Anna's mind in her excitement at talking to her sister again; and even now that she had remembered, the girl didn't particularly want to bring it up. She'd rather continue making small-talk with Elsa than talk about how there was a possibility either of them could die here.

"I'd love to see more of it," she added, covering up her momentary distraction by returning to the topic at hand. "Do you think they'd let us off the grounds at the weekends? We could go explore further afield together. It'll be completely different from the fjords." Would Elsa even be up for that? Anna wasn't sure her sister would even remember how to have fun after having been shut up in her room for so long, let alone if she'd be interested in doing anything of that nature together. But no harm in asking, Anna figured.

[Elsa]

Right... Elsa didn't have to be a genius to guess what the other thing Anna had wanted was. Now she was getting it, in a way, but it may not have been quite the same as it had been. In fact, Elsa knew it wasn't the same. But, given enough time, maybe they could make it the same again. Maybe...

Anna's question regarding whether or not they would let them leave the grounds on weekends did catch Elsa's attention. Of course... Anna wouldn't be Anna if she didn't want to explore that possibility. As for Elsa, she wasn't quite ready to begin exploring the outside world. She wouldn't be ready until her powers were more under control. Even with her gloves, she wasn't terribly comfortable with the idea of making public appearances just yet. Still, Elsa did smile a little at the idea. Going out on the town, if there was one, with her sister... It could have been great fun.

"I'm not sure, Anna. I think the most anyone's done as far as leaving this place is going to a library near here. I haven't gone that far myself, though," Elsa admitted. She might have to check it out sooner or later, though. The more stoic of the two princesses had been known to get lost in a book for ages in the past. In fact, it had been her only real past time in the years past. Kind of depressing to think about, but when her only real confidants had been her parents she'd had to find comfort in books.

"I don't imagine they'd have much reason to keep us isolated here, though. Maybe if someone asks, they'd let people start going to whatever town there is around here," she suggested.

[Anna]

"Well, they might not want what they have going on here to get out," Anna suggested, shrugging. She was pretty sure there'd be some sort of public outcry if people learnt that the school was forcing children and teenagers to fight each other, so whoever was in charge must have some way to keep it all under wraps. She hoped that didn't include keeping them all on the school grounds, though; the younger princess was practically itching to explore more of the world now that she was free of the castle.

"But you're right, no harm in asking," she added optimistically. It was that attitude that had kept her coming to Elsa's door time and time again back home, and Anna figured it was easily just as applicable here. She could approach one of her teachers after class the next day and ask about it, Anna figured. It would be great if the two of them could get off school grounds for a bit, hang about together in a setting that felt a bit more casual.

But hey, even if they weren't allowed, Anna wouldn't let it get her down for long; this still beat having no real company beyond the paintings on the walls to talk to.