Winter's Waltz

Prologue

Today marks the second anniversary of my coronation, the second anniversary of the day I lost control and exposed my powers to the entire kingdom, as well as many members of her neighboring kingdoms visiting to celebrate my coming of age. Each day was filled with some task or another that I, queen of Arendelle, had to preside over because it was deemed my royal duty. Every night, however, I demanded a little time to be simply Elsa instead of Queen Elsa and to spend time with my dear sister.

The hours alone with Anna were few and thus quite precious to me. Naturally, being the Princess, she attended many of the royal events as I did but that was all business and not nearly as enjoyable as our time alone, giggling and laughing about the silliest of things. It doesn't quite make up for all the time we've lost as children, but at least it is a start. Though some day she felt confined inside the castle and would she would go with her boyfriend, Kristoff, to spend time alone together or visit his family of "love experts." I did not yet know his family, but he spoke of them dearly and from his vague descriptions, they sound like a jolly lot who enjoys eating.

On my nights alone, I would shut myself in the seldom otherwise used exercise room of the castle and spend hours practicing my magic. Two years may seem like a long time to be in the practice of something, but it's not quite long enough to make up for almost a lifetime of trying to conceal your powers. I learned on this day two years ago of so much that I was capable of. Inspired by a newfound sense of freedom, I created an amazing, intricate castle of massive size solely from ice that I conjured. With my abilities, I made a snowman named Olaf that can move, speak and loves to give warm hugs

Yet I still lack complete dominion over my capabilities and, if I become upset or get too tired, will accidently freeze objects that I had no previously intended to. After years of living as a hermit, I still get defensive when large groups approach me at social events and too many of them are talking to me at once. The last time this happened, my brain had begun to throb against my skull and I placed my hand over my right temple. With this simple gesture, a rather large shield appeared up from in front of my feet and nearly impaled a young man who was standing a bit closer to me than the other guest attending that day. Acting quickly, I made a swiping gesture with my hand and the shield evaporated in small drops of cold, harmless water that flew away into several different directions. Luckily, he was quicker on the draw and dived backwards before the jagged top of the shield could harm him.

Breathing in gasps and nearly in tears, I backed away and began repeating "I'm so sorry" between gasping for air. I expected him to be angry, to want to hurt me the same way the Duke of Weselton had when he slipped on the ice I had conjured and ordered his goons to have me killed. Instead, he waved his hands up and down in a calming motion and spoke to me in a soothing voice. "Your majesty, I beg you, please calm down. The fault rests with me; I should not have been standing so close and I should not have been pestering you. Please, I'm really alright."

After looking the man up and down from a distance, I could see that he was alright and approached him steadily. He was a kind man and incredibly well-mannered about the incident, insisting that part of the blame rests with him and that he accepted my apology. In order to stay on good grounds with the pleasant young man, whose name turned out to be Joseph, I invited him to a dinner in the castle and he graciously accepted. That night, we ate handsomely and Anna seemed to enjoy having company in the castle as much as the man seemed to enjoy being there.

For weeks there were scandalous murmurs across the kingdom, much like the first time something like this happened, but eventually the situation did mellow itself out and some of the gossiping finally began to dissipate. The problem was resolved but now I knew that my powers still aren't totally in my control and that I needed to start some type of training regimen to remedy that.