Work Text:
The Melting Point of Wax and Snow
“Elsa?” asked the king turning to his eldest daughter, “I would like to tell you a story, and I would like you to pay attention to it very carefully.”
The little ten year old nodded and sat politely next to her father. She was tired from her lessons and tried to stay awake, but she felt her mind slowly drift elsewhere as her father’s voice lulled her to dreamland.
Long ago there were two sisters. One with a strange and awesome power over snow and ice. The other gifted with a personality as warm as the sister’s ice was cold. Their names were Anna and Elsa. Elsa was known throughout the land as a great inventor, creating many wondrous things with her power, and it did not take long for tales of her gift to spread. Many came to her with problems, asking her to solve them, and with the help of her sister, she did.
One day however, the stories of the two sisters came to a land known as the Southern Isles, led by a cruel king by the name of Hans. When he heard about the great power Elsa possessed, he knew he had to have it for himself. Without another word, he had his men construct a great tower, with a small window, on a tiny island that was plagued with riptides and harsh waves. Knowing that the eldest would do nothing to oppose him as long as her sister was threatened, he sent his best men to capture the great ice sorceress.
It was bright and sunny the day the kings troops arrived but the two sisters were not in town. Instead they were at a lake far into the forest, which even though it was springtime, was covered in white fluffy snow. The two sisters laughed and ran around each other throwing snowballs and hiding behind snow drifts. the eldest, Elsa, waved her hands and made a massive snowball appear above her head and pelted it at her sister, with a smirk plain on her face.
“Hey,” the youngest, Anna cried indignantly, “that’s cheating!”
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you challenged the Snow Queen to a snowball fight,” Elsa shot back, still smirking.
Anna rolled her eyes, and grinned back at her sister, until her eyes snagged on one of the more taller snowdrifts. Anna’s grin widened and climbed up to the top of the snowdrift and cried “catch me!” and leaped off. Anna sailed through the air, and soon landed in another snowdrift conjured by her sister. Anna continued to jump, the snowdrifts growing higher and higher, until Elsa heard the sound of horses and the clanking of armor. It distracted her long enough to miss creating the next snowdrift when her sister jumped.
“ELSA!” Anna cried when she saw that she was falling. Elsa whipped around, and realizing her mistake, ran forward and caught her sister in her arms.
“Anna, why didn’t you look before you jumped, you could have been hurt,” Elsa scolded, looking at her sister with worry. But the youngest simply laughed.
“You’re my sister Elsa, I know you’ll always be there to catch me,” Anna said her eyes shining. Elsa merely smiled and held her sister close.
By this time the soldiers had reached the clearing and held out their swords, spears and crossbows, pointing the weapons at the two siblings.
“The king demands your presence, ice witch,” one guard said, a cruel smile playing on his lips, “and we were told to kill your sister if you did not come willingly.
Elsa’s face filled with horror, just as Anna’s filled with rage. Without a second thought the younger sister jumped out of her sisters arms and threw a snowball at the soldiers face.
“My sister is not a witch metal head!” Anna yelled furiously. Unfortunately, one of the other soldiers grabbed her and held a sword to her neck. Elsa looked at the sword and at her sister, before raising her hands in surrender.
“Please,” Elsa begged, “you can take me, but please don’t hurt my sister.”
The soldiers nodded and cuffed the eldest’s hands, before setting off for the capitol.
It was a long perilous journey, that took many days, but eventually, they arrived at the capitol. King Hans approached the older sister, and smiled cruelly. He then gave her an ultimatum, build weapons of magic for his army, making him unstoppable, or she would be forced to watch him violate her sister. Gulping down terror and rage the eldest agreed, on the condition that her sister stay with her, as she helped her invent things. The king, seeing no harm in this request, agreed.
The king then locked the sisters in the great tower, on the treacherous island, knowing that they could not escape, for even with the eldest’s power neither knew how to swim, and the salt within the ocean kept the water from being able to be frozen.
Within the tower were many sketchpads, paints and canvases, and even a forge, with metal ore for smelting. Anna sighed and made a face looking at the circular room.
“You think being a king and all he would have at least given us something to spice the place up. The walls are bare, and the place is so plain it’s depressing.”
Elsa covered an exasperated giggle, and looked at her sister, “how about you put your painting skills to good use and make some decorations then.” Elsa then gestured to the canvases and paints. Anna grinned and got to work.
When Anna had finished a particularly nice landscaping piece, she climbed up on the massive chest of ores and reached as high as she could to reach a high pin to hang her painting. Elsa turned around and saw her sister’s precarious position and let out a surprised yelp. Anna, who had just hung the painting, jumped slightly at the sound, losing her balance, and tumbled backwards, off of her high perch. Elsa waved her hands and created a pile of snow, which cushioned her sister’s fall.
“Could you at least try to be careful?” asked Elsa glaring at her sister.
“I’m sorry Elsa, but, at least I know you’ll always catch me when I fall, right?” Anna said smiling guiltily.
Elsa smiled and nodded, “of course I’ll catch you. You’re my sister, I’d never let you fall.”
Elsa continued smiling at her sister, when her eye’s caught the painting that Anna had been hanging up. It was a beautiful painting, with trees, and a meadow, with several birds flying in the sky. Elsa stopped, and her eyes widened as a sudden idea sprung into her mind.
Anna frowned, looking at her sister, and said “Elsa, are you okay? You know I didn’t mean to scare you, right?”
Elsa simply turned to her sister and grinned, “I know how we’re going to get out of here.”
Anna smiled, but her eyes betrayed her confusion, “great, so… what’s the plan?”
Her sister returned Anna’s gaze and said, “we fly.”
It took many days and nights to perfect the designs, and even more to test to see if they worked, but eventually the sisters were working on a pair of delicate wings made of a frame of ice, feathers of snow, and held in place with wax. The sisters worked hard to perfect the design, the youngest using her knowledge of wildlife, and the eldest using her power and skill in design.
“Remember what we talked about Anna,” Elsa would often tell Anna, “Fly to low and the salt from the water will damage the wax, and cause the feathers to melt. Fly to high and the sun will melt the ice and snow.”
Anna would sigh exasperated and say, “I know, you keep telling me that, and don’t worry, I’ll fly in between, besides,” she added with a loving smile and embrace, “I trust your handiwork, and I know you’ll never let me fall.”
It took many more months before the wings were finished, and soon the sisters were ready to make their escape, just as they finished securing their wings to their arms, there was a bang, as the lone door in the tower burst open, revealing king Hans, and several of his guards, “I knew you were planning on escaping, but I wanted to see what you would come up with, and I must say, the result is quite amusing.”
Elsa did not hesitate, she pointed her hands to the window and with a burst of ice, the bars shattered.
“Go Anna!” Elsa cried, throwing up a shield of ice and they ran to the window and leapt out toward freedom.
At first they struggled, until Elsa remembering several birds from their observations, stiffened her arms and cried out to her sister, “extend the wings! Glide!”
Anna who had been flapping madly, heard her sister’s cry and did as she was told. Instantly the wings stiffened and she felt the wind pick her up and carry her above the churning sea. The sisters laughed with relief as they heard the angry roars of the king fading behind them.
Anna smiled at the new sensation that came across her as she soared above the sea. With the wind on her face, and the rushing feeling of exhilaration she felt with every flap was beyond ecstasy. Anna flapped harder, now used to flying, and tried to go faster, to see what the new sensation would bring. It felt amazing, almost as if what she was feeling was pure freedom, so tangible she could almost taste it. Anna laughed happily, and arced her wings, making her soar upward.
Elsa, too was enjoying the sensation of freedom, but was cautious in her flying, not wanting to test the limits of her wings too much, as she, like her sister, did not know how to swim. After a while, she too got the hang of flying and looked around trying to see her sister. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice above her.
“This is amazing!” she heard Anna cry with glee, and Elsa’s eyes widened, seeing how high and how far Anna was.
“Anna, wait!” Elsa shouted after her, “Slow down!” but with the wind screaming in her ears, and drunk on her freedom, Anna did not hear her sister’s cries… and flew higher still.
“Anna!” Elsa cried louder, “you’re going to high!” but again, her sister did not hear. Just like she did not notice the snow of the feathers, and the wax of the wings slowly beginning to melt from the sun’s heat.
Anna was still enjoying the against her body, and the wind rushing in her face, when she noticed a white streak in the corner of her vision. At first she ignored it, until she saw several more. When she turned to look, she realized that the white streaks were actually her feathers of snow, either turning to slush, or falling off due to the wax that held them together dripping away. Anna felt her heart drop to her stomach and tried to glide downward, but she was losing feathers too fast.
“Elsa!” Anna cried, trying to stay in control of her wings, “Help me!”
Elsa heard her sisters’ cries and rushed as fast and far as she was able, but Anna was too far above and ahead of her.
The last of the feathers keeping her afloat melted and Anna began to fall.
“Elsa!” Anna screamed in terror, “Catch me!”
But Anna was too far away, and even as Elsa flew as fast as she was able, she was still too far away, and could only watch with horror and heartbreak trying to freeze the water below her, but the salt in the water made it impossible, leaving her helpless as her sister plummeted to the raging sea below.
“Elsa?”
Elsa jumped slightly as she slowly blinked out of her daydreamed haze. She looked at her father and saw him with a serious expression on his face.
“Papa,” said Elsa, trying to hold back tears, “why did you tell me this story?”
“Because it is a lesson you will need when you are queen.” He said simply. Her father paused and then, turned to his daughter again, “Elsa, why do you think I told you the story?”
Elsa thought about it for a moment, and then slowly said, “because it shows the importance of listening to your elders.”
“Yes, that is one aspect of it,” the king agreed, “but that was not the reason I told you the story. The lesson I want you to learn from this is that even if you know something is foolish, you cannot always convince people not to do it, and when this happens, no matter how painful it is, you must allow them to learn this lesson for themselves. If we all did what we were told, then everyone would be safe, yes. But, we would never experiment, and thus never learn new things, and it is these ideas that spring greatness. As queen, you must accept that you do not know everything, and you must be willing to go against certain ideals, but you must also be willing to accept the consequences of your actions.”
Elsa looked at her father for a long time, listening to his words, and slowly nodded in understanding. Her father smiled, and left her room.
But as he closed the door, Elsa caught a glimpse of her sister. A squeal was coming from her lips, and her arms were outstretched as if pretending to fly. As the door closed, Elsa saw her sister pass a window, the light shining on her sister, and her last glimpse of Anna was a shining streak of platinum blonde hair against strawberry blonde, glinting in the sunlight as if it glowed.
Conceal, don’t feel, Elsa thought to herself, don’t let it show.