Chapter 4-True Love

It was the Hour of the Wolf in Arendelle. The castle was silent, sleeping, only the flickering of the Northern Lights through the windows breaking the gloom, casting ever-changing shadows onto the floors of the deserted hallways. Anna was awake. Not because the sky was awake but because her demons had come to haunt her again this night.

She wasn't in bed this time, hers or Elsa's. She was sitting in front of the fireplace in the same room where Hans had left her to die, alone and unloved.

That was the demon that had driven her to take that aborted trip to visit the trolls and seek advice from the love experts. The gnawing seed of doubt the manipulative bastard had planted in her heart, that she was unloved, that she was no match for her sister Elsa, that she was dumb enough to fall for his feigned affection. The nightmare that had driven her to Elsa's bed that dark morning was of her lying alone and freezing to death in this very room, the door locked and no one to hear her feeble cries for help. An endless repetition of Hans sneering at her while dousing the fire, then walking out and locking the door against her hopeless scrabbling to escape.

Anna sat gently rocking on the floor, her knees drawn up and her arms around them, an occasional tear running down her cheek as she watched the flickering firelight burn down to embers. She simply didn't have the will to put more wood on the fire. Her head fell forward onto her knees and she dozed off, hoping there would be no dreams this time.

"Anna?" The voice was soft, gentle, caring. Elsa sat down next to her and put her arms around Anna. "What's wrong?"

"Elsa? What are you doing here?" Anna was in that twilight between sleep and waking, and wasn't sure her sister was real or a dream.

"Olaf came and told me you were here. He was worried about you." At Elsa's words, the little snowman waddled to the other side of Anna and snuggled up to her.

"Olaf?" Now Anna was sure she was dreaming. Olaf had found her here that first time, and lit the fire to keep her warm long enough to run onto the fjord to save Elsa. Olaf and Elsa. Definitely dreaming.

"Honey, what's wrong? I know that you came to my room the other night when I was gone, and you only do that when the nightmares come. Talk to me. You would have told me that night, tell me now." Elsa held her sister close and stroked her hair to comfort her.

Anna curled into her loving touch, breathing in the scent of her sister as she nuzzled her face into the crook of Elsa's neck. Elsa felt the warmth of that breath, the tears dripping from Anna's cheeks.

"I'm afraid." Anna mumbled.

"Of what, Anna?" Elsa could tell that her sister was nearly in despair, but she didn't know why.

"That no one will love me. You, or Kristoff, or ... anyone. I'm just useless." More tears dripped onto Elsa's shoulder.

"Anna, no, that's just not true. You sacrificed yourself to save me, and saved everyone." The emotion in Elsa's voice was sincere and wrenching. "I loved you all those years we were apart, it almost broke my heart not to be with you, but I was only trying to protect you." Now she was beginning to tear up. "What put this awful idea in your head?"

"Hans." Anna's voice was so soft Elsa almost couldn't hear her. "He told me no one loved me, that I was no match for you, that I was too dumb to know true love." Although Anna had told her sister about Hans' plan to steal the throne, she hadn't gone into any detail about the conversation they had before he abandoned her to die.

"You are no match for me; you are so much better than me that there's no contest." Elsa raised Anna's face to look into her eyes. "You're the only reason I survived all those years. You gave me courage when I didn't have any of my own. Can't you see that?"

"Me? Better?" Anna was confused.

"Remember when I told you how I was ready to abdicate? Do you think I would've even considered that unless I was absolutely certain that Arendelle would be better off with you as Queen?" Anna nodded thoughtfully at the memory of Elsa admitting she herself had built the dungeon where she had been imprisoned.

Elsa went on, "And I can't speak for Kristoff. That's something you two need to discuss together. But I can tell you this. True love is when you can't be happy if the one you love is unhappy. Kristoff was willing to follow you across all of Arendelle and help you because he knew you wouldn't be happy without your sister. A sister that was destroying the kingdom and almost killed you. He trusted your judgement; trusted that you knew what you were doing. You've learned that words alone are empty, judge the man by his actions."

"Yeah, Anna, I bet he'd melt for you!" Olaf interjected. He patted her hand.

"And don't forget that he didn't flinch at putting himself between us and that wolf the other night. He didn't have to think about it, or talk about it. He just did it. That's the kind of man you can trust with your heart." Elsa finished. "If you're not sure he's your true love, you can be sure he's a good friend. That's a pretty solid foundation to build on."

Anna looked at Elsa, eyes shining with tears. "Would you bless our marriage?"

Elsa didn't hesitate. "Yes. Are you asking me to?"

A long moment of silence. "No. Not yet. It's too soon. I learned that lesson. And you're right, friendship is a good foundation for true love. I want Kristoff to be happy, and I want to be happy, and I want both of us to be sure of our heart's desire before we take the leap into a lifetime together." Anna chuckled and poked Elsa in her tickle spot. "Besides, I think he's still spooked by the scary Ice Queen. I'm not sure he's ready for you as a sister-in-law."

"You might be surprised." Elsa thought back to the night they went looking for Anna and smiled. "You might be surprised."

They sat in companionable silence as the embers crackled and sputtered and dawn began to shine pink and gold through the window.

"Elsa?"

"Hm-mm?"

"I'm hungry."

"Really? How unusual."

"Stinker! Let's go get breakfast."

"Race you!"

Olaf won.

Author's notes for 'The Hour of the Wolf'

I decided it was Elsa's turn to be the big sister and comfort Anna for a change. And I wanted to get her and Kristoff in a situation where they could get to know each other better and do a little bonding.

Hope you found the wolf attack believable. It's hard to write a situation where Elsa is credibly in peril with those magic powers. That's one reason for what I call the law of conservation of magic. If magic or technology or a super power has no limitations, there's not a lot of room for storytelling. That's why the transporter on the Enterprise went on the fritz so often. If the away team can get poofed out of any danger, where's the drama?

As always, feedback is most welcome. Reviews particularly. If you hate something, feel free to PM me and tell me why.