by Kate Egan
Those words were music to Elsa’s ears, and after hearing them she did not even mind washing the dishes. For the next few days, their parents said, the girls would be doing some extra work around the cottage to make up for leaving the house without permission in the middle of the night.
Soon it was time for Elsa to go back to her lessons. She got a lump in her throat when Anna left to play outside and she was stuck studying an old book about Arendelle’s best-known artists and musicians. It took Elsa a while to settle into it, but after she did, she saw what made those people special. They might not have had magic, but they were clever and resourceful, bold and courageous.
“You did a brave thing, helping your sister,” Queen Iduna said as Elsa finished the last chapter of her book. She leaned over and put a hand on Elsa’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “You are going to make a great leader someday.”
Elsa smiled at her mom, the queen’s words filling her with warmth. She had always worried her magic would make it harder to be a good queen, but maybe her power didn’t make her so different from the rulers of the past after all.
“I think you’ve read enough for today,” said Queen Iduna “You’re free to go and play with Anna.”
Elsa put down her book and raced outside to look for Anna, but there was no sign of her sister. Not again!
“Have you seen Anna anywhere?” she asked her father.
King Agnarr looked up from the book he was reading, and said, “I just saw her, but I think she must have gone inside.”
Taking the stairs two at a time, Elsa ran to their room and pushed open the door. When she didn’t spot Anna, she knew her sister had to be in the fort.
“Hello, girls,” she said to Hildy and Hanna, who were by the window. Then she peeked inside the fort. “Anna?” she said. It was strangely quiet in there.
“Shhh,” Anna whispered. “He’s sleeping.”
Elsa wasn’t sure if it was lucky or unlucky, but her sister never gave up on anything. She must have been searching all morning, Elsa realized, but she’d finally found what she wanted.
Curled up on Anna’s lap was a large white rabbit. “The rest of our summer will be perfect,” she predicted with a grin. “Because I finally caught the snow hare.”
Anna looked out from the castle window. On the bridge far below, she could see a carriage crossing the bright blue water. King Agnarr and Queen Iduna, Anna’s parents, were inside that carriage. They needed to take care of important business and would be gone for two weeks.
“We’ll be back before you know it,” her mother had said. She stroked her daughter’s hair. “We will miss you while we are gone.”
“I’ll miss you, too,” Anna had replied, giving her mother a long hug.
She blew kisses and waved at the carriage until it disappeared into the distance.
Anna was eight years old, and this was the first time her parents were traveling without her. She would miss having tea in the mornings with her mother, and reading stories in the afternoons with her father. She would do her lessons as usual, but life at the castle would be totally different.
But Anna had decided she was not going to let her parents’ trip get her down! Anna would make her own fun.
After one last look out the window, Anna hurried down the spiral stairs and raced to her room. Miss Larsen, Anna and her sister Elsa’s governess, had told Anna she could have some free time before lessons. It was the perfect day to play pretend, Anna decided. She took a sheet off her bed and circled it around herself. The long end trailed behind her like a train.
To be continued . . .
