Elsa can't sleep either, thought Anna as she watched the iceflowers in the night sky. Good night for it.

Now and then some people, bored or idle, doodle with pencil and paper. Elsa doodled with magic and the night sky, making displays like fireworks that were the opposite of fire. She shot lacy spirals into the air, or hexagonal bursts of crystal, or whatever took her whim. The people called them "iceflowers" and thought the show was for them.

It was a good night for it. The full moon hung bright in the clear night air, adding its light to the shifting glow of Elsa's magic. The flakes and crystals vanished rapidly in the midsummer heat. Looking up at the blank slate of the sky, Elsa lay on a wide chaise longue on a balcony high on the castle. She traced lazy circles with her finger, drawing crystal ferns in the air above her. She admired them for a moment, then let them fall, her gentle breeze guiding the flakes to fall on her skin, and on the light nightgown of icefabric she had conjured for herself. She heard a shuffling behind her.

"Too hot to sleep?" asked Anna.

"No, just thinking."

"Remembering?"

"A little." It was the first anniversary of Elsa's coronation, and therefore the first anniversary of the Great Freeze and the Great Thaw. "Sit next to me."

"As you wish, Your Majesty." Anna made a comically large curtsey and flopped on the chaise next to Elsa. It was snug, but neither of them minded. Elsa saw that Anna, in lieu of nightclothes, was wearing a full-length silk slip. The teal colour complemented Anna's colouring and Elsa's icefabric. "Well, maybe it's not a problem for you, but I was sweltering. Do you know what I did?"

"You came up here to get showered with snowflakes?" Elsa flicked her fingers and Anna was dusted with snow.

"Whoo! Stop that! Actually that was kind of nice. But warn me next time. No, I brought Olaf into my bedroom."

Elsa shifted onto one elbow so she could look at Anna. "Really."

"I figured with that personal flurry of his, he could cool down my room and I could sleep."

"And it didn't work."

"Oh, the room was comfortable. Worked like a charm. But he would not shut up! And he doesn't sleep. I told him he needed to be quiet until I was asleep so sure enough, just as I'm drifting off, 'Aunt Princess, are you asleep yet? Because I wouldn't want to wake you up if you were. Anyway, I have a question about grapefruit.'"

"Grapefruit?" Elsa chuckled. "And what was his question?"

"Who knows? I told him to go talk to Sven, locked the door behind him, sweltered for half an hour, then saw the iceflowers and came up to see you." Elsa lay back and looked up again. "Don't let me stop you. Keep going."

"This?" Elsa shot a burst of ice into the air, popped it into a six-pointed star, and watched the particles drift away. "It's nothing. It's just something I do when I'm thinking."

"That doesn't matter. It's beautiful, Elsa."

"You're beautiful."

"You're beautifuller."

"You're beautifullest." They giggled.

"So what were you thinking about? Import quotas on processed versus non-processed herring?"

"No, I was — how did you know about that?"

"That's why you were called away from breakfast this morning. It's okay. I ate your æbelskiver. They're only good when they're warm. So what were you thinking?"

"Something one of the servants said today. They didn't know I was listening in. When you're not around, it's the only way I can hear normal conversation."

"Oh." Anna hadn't known.

"Anyway, they were putting away one of my gowns, and stopped to admire them."

"That would've been Ingrid and Lissi. Probably Lissi. She's the one who's crazy for dresses."

Elsa smiled to herself. Anna may not know about herring quotas, but she knew — really knew — everyone in the castle, around the castle, and in a five block radius. Elsa couldn't have picked Ingrid or Lissi out of a crowded room. In her way, Anna would be a much better queen than I. "So one of them, probably Lissi if you say so, said 'She has the most gorgeous things. Between her crown and her Gift, she could have anything her heart desires.'"

"Then what?"

"No, that was it." Elsa sent another streamer of crystals into the air. "But that phrase stayed with me. 'Anything her heart desires.' And I've been thinking about what that means."

Anna put Elsa's arm around her and nestled her head in the hollow of Elsa's shoulder. "Anna, did you want me to tell you a story?"

"What do you mean?"

"This is the way we used to lay in bed when we were little girls and you wanted me to tell you a story. You never could get settled unless I did. You'd put your head right there, and then I'd tell you whatever story we had read that day. And you didn't care that we'd read it, you just wanted to hear it over again."

"I just wanted to hear you tell it."

"I remember one time, it was a story about a knight rescuing a damsel. You had been going on and on about how romantic it was, but you were just as excited about the battle with the fierce dragon."

"I remember. Make the noise."

"We're not children anymore. I'd feel silly."

"I bet you just can't do it anymore."

"Rrrawerrr!"

Elsa chuckled as Anna snuggled closer. "Better than ever, Elsa. I apologize for doubting you."

"Well, I asked you what you'd rather do, slay the dragon or meet the prince. And you said, 'I'm gonna be a hero, and then I'm gonna marry a hero, and no one can stop me.' And you were so determined that I believed you completely." Elsa felt Anna's hair soft against her face. "In fact, you're halfway there."

"How's that?" said Anna, yawning a little.

"You are a hero. You saved me, and Arendelle, and yourself. You're my hero."

"Well you're my hero. All the queen stuff you do. I could never do that."

"Queen stuff?"

"Diplomacy, and policy, and all those important things with documents. Queen business. I couldn't be a queen like you."

"You could be a queen like yourself. Funny, I was just thinking that in some ways you could do it better."

"Are you teasing me, Your Righteous Majesty Queen Elsa?"

"No. All those 'important things with documents'? You could have advisors and counselors for that. But you have so much love for people, for everybody. They already call you 'the people's princess'. You could be the people's queen, and they'd love you even more than they do now."

"They love you too, you know."

Elsa sighed. "They admire me. They respect me. They're proud of me, and grateful, and some of them may even like me. And I care about my people, I do. Deeply. But you're the only one who can love me, and you're the only one I can ever love."

"Elsa! Don't say that."

"Look at us." Elsa reached over, took Anna's hand, and held them up together. In the moonlight, her arm next to Anna's, the faint blue tint to Elsa's skin was more visible than ever. "You're full of life. You overflow with it. That's one of the things people love about you, that I love about you. But I look like I'm half-dead. I'm my own ghost, Anna, haunting my own life. Besides you, who could love that?"

"It's only a trick of the moonlight. You are beautiful like sun sparkling on the fjord, like snow on the mountaintop. Like the moon. You are beautifuller than anybody."

Elsa turned her head and kissed Anna's hair. "Oh, Anna, you're so sweet. I love you. But even if it's true, no one snuggles with a mountaintop, or brings a fjord into their home, or kisses the moon." Her nose still in Anna's hair, Elsa gently inhaled. It smelled of clean sweat, and spices, and Anna. "You are beautiful like fresh flowers, or red wine in a crystal glass, or a cat sleeping in a sunbeam. Things people love to smell or taste or caress. That's what makes you beautifullest of all."

"Are you writing me poetry?" teased Anna.

"I'll show you writing." Elsa gestured carefully, and her magic wrote her name in cursive across the sky. When it faded she wrote Anna's name. Then she wrote "E + A", and surrounded it with a Valentine heart.

Anna sighed. "You're so sweet. You're the best sister ever."

The crystals suddenly dropped from the sky.

"You were thinking about what that servant said."

Elsa's mind traced back to retrieve that part of the conversation. The way Anna's mind worked, the things she retained, were a constant surprise. "Yes. 'Anything her heart desired.'"

"Why?"

"What does my heart desire? That girl — Lissi? — envied my gowns. If she took them all away I wouldn't miss them. What do I need dozens of dresses for? I could only wear one at a time."

"You can get up to seven, if you plan it right."

"Anna, how do you know this?"

"I got bored when you were… I got bored sometimes."

"Anyway, why would I want one more gown? And if I wanted to I could have twenty meals a day, but I only have one mouth. I can only eat off one plate at a time."

"Did you know we have eight thousand salad plates?"

"We do not. We have four hundred and ten. But still, more than we could ever need. Anything my heart desires? Why would I want another bed, or carriage, or more jewellery? We have a storeroom full of gifts from ambassadors and dignitaries. Beautiful, precious gifts that we never look at and never use, and can't get rid of for fear of offending them."

"Offending the ambassadors, right? Not the gifts." Anna's voice was becoming blurry. The late hour was catching up with her.

Elsa retrieved her arm and set Anna's head down on the chaise's cushion. She raised herself on her elbow again so she could watch Anna close her eyes and sink halfway into sleep. Elsa's voice grew softer and deeper. "There's only one thing in the world my heart desires, Anna. And that's you." Anna smiled contentedly. "I love you more than anything."

Elsa made a gentle gesture and a cool breeze brushed across Anna. "That feels nice," said Anna.

A second breeze made Anna's nipples stiffen through her silk slip, goosebumps rising on her arms in imitation. I could slip the straps off her shoulders, slide down her slip, and take her breast in my mouth, thought Elsa. As easily as that. She didn't do it. She savoured the idea as much as she wanted to gently savour Anna's nipple between her lips. As fast as thought, Elsa's nightdress turned into snowflakes and drifted away. She cuddled close to her sister, her thigh crossing Anna's hips, her hand resting just beneath Anna's breasts, her own pressing against Anna's arm. "Do you love me, Anna?"

"I love you with all my heart."

"Will you stay with me, no matter what happens?"

"No matter what."

"Will you never leave me?"

"Never ever."

"I love you, Anna. I love you with all my heart." She placed feather-light kisses on Anna's forehead, then her chin, her cheek, the tip of her nose, and then on her lips. Anna murmured contentedly. Elsa kissed Anna again, with gentle but insistent passion, the tip of her tongue slipping delicately between Anna's lips.

"Mph?!" Anna's eyes sprang open, her body jolted, and she scrambled off the chaise and away from Elsa. She spat, and wiped her mouth against her arm. "What the hell were you — " She saw Elsa, now standing on the other side of the chaise, looking meek. "You're naked! Stop being naked!"

Elsa smiled apologetically. "Anna, we've seen each other naked before."

Anna put her palms over her eyes and turned away. "That was normal naked! This is kissing naked! Kissing naked is totally different! Cut it out!" She waited for half a second. "Are you still…" Still facing away, she waved a hand at Elsa's body. "…like that?"

"It's all right, Anna. I'm decent now." There was a rueful chuckle in Elsa's voice.

Does she think I'm being silly? Does she honestly think I'm the one acting weird? She turned back, and saw that Elsa had conjured a cape and wrapped herself in it. She was sharply aware that Elsa was holding it closed, and could open it in a fraction of a second, but she couldn't face saying another word about what Elsa was wearing. "What was that? Are you crazy? What did you do that for?"

"I love you, Anna."

"Not like that!"

"I love you, and I want to be close to you in every way I can."

Anna's eyes were squeezed shut, her fists clenched. "Not! Like! That! What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that you're sweet, and beautiful, and I adore you. You're the beautifullest — "

"Don't ever say that word to me again! Ever!" Anna saw the pain in Elsa's eyes, and the guilt she felt just made her more angry. How dare she put me in this position!

"Anna, please, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Anna, please…" Elsa came around the chaise towards Anna.

Anna backed away, terrified. "Stay away."

Elsa stopped dead. "I'm so sorry, Anna. I'm so sorry."

The shock and anger swirling through Anna's heart were joined by despair. All the tenderness she had shared with her sister now felt like a trick. The connection she had longed for, that had filled her life for the last year, lay in broken shards around her. Everything was ruined. "What is wrong with you? What is wrong with you?"

"I… I don't know, Anna. I'm sorry." It came to Elsa: This is what it must have felt like when I blasted her heart with ice.

"Sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Stop saying sorry. Stop saying anything. Don't talk to me. Don't come near me. Don't look at me. Don't do anything. You've spoiled everything."

"Anna, I'm — "

"Sorry. Yes, I know. Good." Anna turned away and dashed back to her room.

Elsa stood and watched her go. She kept staring, but not at what was in front of her. She had hardly ever seen Anna upset, and now she had seen her red-faced with fury and pain. She was drained. She didn't have the will to move, or even to wipe the tears that flowed down her face. Her cape dropped away, forgotten.

Feeling too heavy to stand, she lay down on the chaise again and looked up. I flew too close to the sun. I wonder if it was really hubris that brought down Icarus, or if he simply couldn't help himself, even if it destroyed him. She felt as blank and empty as the night sky. She despised herself.

Next morning the town was abuzz with reports of the iceflowers. Those who hadn't been lucky enough to see them flocked to those who had.

The reports were that the show had gone as most of them had, with pops and curlicues glittering over the castle, and even handwriting. Then it stopped, long enough for people to suspect the display was over. But this must have been showmanship. Suddenly great blasts of ice and snow shot into the air. Snowflake crystals grew spiky and huge, filling the sky and bursting in a glittering cascade. It was colossal and violent, almost frightening. Anyone who didn't know how serene Elsa was would think that she was raising a magic artillery barrage, blasting an unknown terror in the sky. And it went on and on, jagged icy explosions filling the arch of heaven, for far longer than anyone remembered seeing before.

Everyone outside the castle agreed it must have been a special celebration for the Coronation's anniversary, an expression of Queen Elsa's gratitude and joy.