Chess Piece

For Love is Such a Strange Thing

Father would not have approved of it.

For her to slowly push through her limits, to risk everything, yet she could not stand it any longer. Should she make one wrong move, she could have hurt those she cared the most, but she had started to question on whether keeping herself hidden from the world while she also had to rule over a kingdom would be wise.

She had been walking through the halls, exercising herself into meeting people and greeting them instead of locking herself in one room with nothing but her paperwork and her ladies-in-waiting that would sit around and busied themselves as they waited for her, when she had caught the glimpse of strawberry blonde hair from the corner of her eyes.

Truthfully, she was still a little afraid of engaging into a conversation with her sister, afraid that should she was careless Anna would have being harmed again, yet was she truly such a cruel older sister that she would avoid the younger throughout their lives?

"Anna," it must have been unexpected for the Princess to hear her voice calling for her, for she had skidded into a sudden stop as her head whipped around so quickly she wondered if her sister would get dizzy from it. "Where are you going?"

Turquoise eyes were still wide as the Princess stared at her older sister, processing the reality of whether she was imagining things or not, before she regained her composure again. "Out, to the town, on a carriage."

The gates had been closed, yet it was not as strict as before since they had guests that she could not possibly lock inside the castle as her parents had did with her and Anna, and should anyone wished to get a whiff of fresh air then they should ride a carriage instead of walking. Evidently, the Princess had discovered this temporarily rule the Queen had made, and she too had wished to use the privilege.

She should have just nodded and left then, let her sister have the sliver of freedom and enjoy it herself, yet her lips had decided on another course. "Would you mind if I come with you?"

"Sure! I mean no, I mean I don't mind, I mean," Anna chewed on her bottom lip then as she looked at her sister sheepishly before she cleared her throat and patted down the nonexistent wrinkles on her skirt. "Yes, let's go together."

The strawberry blonde haired Princess had earlier requested for an open carriage, no doubt so she could enjoy the breeze, and though Elsa would have much prefer for a closed one, she did not complain as she climbed in and sat by her sister's side.

There was nothing but silence between them as the carriage made it's way through the gates, and already Anna shifted in her seat, feeling awkward in the presence of her own sister. "The weather is... nice." Such a horrible topic to discuss really, even she would have wrinkled her nose at it, yet she really had nothing else to say.

Again the Princess turned around so quickly she must have been lightheaded if she was in the younger sister's position, surprised to find that the Queen had initiated a conversation with her once again. "Yeah, it truly is."

A small smile tugged on her lips before her blue eyes darted downward and then away to see the buildings that had started to grow over the horizon. Now what should she discuss the next? She truly did not know a lot about Anna, other than the common things and those she remembered from their childhood.

"How are you feeling?" Her eyebrow had rose as she turned to look at her sister, confused and quite surprised herself with the sudden question, for the younger had voiced one that she wasn't quite sure what should her answer be. "With the wedding, it is tomorrow, yes?" The Princess had apparently able to catch on with her confusion and had added for the sake of keeping their conversation going.

Tomorrow everything in her life would change, the life of the whole castle, of the whole kingdom, would have changed. Tomorrow, there would be a ring made of gold around her finger that would serve as the constant reminder that she was a married woman, one who had sacrificed her freedom to choose her groom for the good of the kingdom she served.

How did she feel?

"I don't know." If there was one person that she would be most honest with, one person that she would admit of her actual feeling about the arrangement her father had made for her, then it would be her sister. She never wished to push her away, if only it had not been for her own good, and at the very least she could be open about this. "Hans seemed to be a good man; he could help me to be a better leader for Arendelle, it is just that I..."

"Do you love him?"

Love. She wasn't even sure what love is, romantic one at the very least. She loved Anna, she was her dearest sister; she loved their parents, they knew what was best for them both; she loved her kingdom, she had sworn to protect it. But love for a man, one she had just known for a mere week? Last night, when she had thought about it, she had begun to wonder if what she felt for him was truly love, yet now she had felt that it was such a foolish thought, one that had come up because the day had exhausted her and made her into thinking of things that wasn't entirely logical.

"It's rarely ever about love, Anna, not for royalties like us."

--

It felt like forever since she last heard that signature knocking.

Yet she remembered it like it had been yesterday.

It had been the day when the empty caskets of their parents had been lowered to the ground while their bodies had been lost in the sea, she had kept herself locked inside her room, her powers had gone beyond her control as sadness raged inside of her and she knew that she could not present herself to anyone.

Anna had gone to their funeral, to both being the representative of the royal family and to mourn for the loss of her beloved parents, all by herself. When she had returned back, she had knocked on her sister's door, and her voice cracked with broken sobs as Elsa listened from the other side, silently mourning with her sister though separated by a single wooden door.

Ever since then Anna's visit had decreased, it not had been as often, and though it hurt her, Elsa had wished that her younger sister had beginning to give up, and perhaps then it would have been the best for the both of them.

Now that signature knocking had returned, and Elsa had made quick silent steps from her vanity to her door across the room, just to listen to what Anna had wanted to say just as she had called for her name.

"Do you maybe wish to sit and talk?" the strawberry blonde haired Princess had offered, and she pressed her gloved hand against the smooth wooden surface as she pressed her ear against it. "Or perhaps let me in?"

She could not, both of them knew that.

"It is your big day tomorrow," the younger had let out a small sigh, and the Queen had to really strain her ear to catch it. "Is there anything that I could do, for you?"

It was tempting for her to just turn the doorknob and open the door, to let her sister in after years of closed door, but she held herself back. No, her room was her last defense should anything bad were to happen, it was the last thing standing between her and the world, to let Anna in would be breaking the walls she had built for years.

Thus why she had kept it tightly closed.