Although eight-year-old Elsa knew she was supposed to be practicing her penmanship and writing skills by coming up with a short paragraph describing something, she sat at a desk in the castle library doodling geometric designs on her paper. "Psst, Anna, look at this!" she whispered, poking her sister in the arm.
Five-year-old Anna, who was practicing writing her letters, eagerly looked at what Elsa was trying to show her. Anna giggled. "That's not what you're suppos' be doing! Uh, what's that anyhow? That doesn't look like anything."
Elsa stuck out her tongue at Anna and went back to her drawing. "They're geometric shapes, you little goof. Square, pentagon, hexagon, octagon…"
"Gone what?" Anna hopped out of her seat and leaned over Elsa's paper.
Elsa snatched the paper away. "Stop that! You're gonna smear it! I'm practicing drawing shapes so I can draw super awesome diagrams once I've learned all the right math." She had seen these extremely cool diagrams in her father's study, and she wanted to learn how to draw some too. Her father had told her they were blueprints for a new ship for Arendelle's small navy, and this had fascinated Elsa to no end. It was a picture on a piece of paper that explained the exact dimensions and such for a three-dimensional object. Awesome! Elsa had asked her father to teach her how to draw things like that too, but her request was denied since she hadn't learned enough math yet. I can't wait till I've learned all the right stuff to draw stuff like that!
Anna, having lost interest in what her sister was doing, went back to her own paper. Anna didn't like math, or at least did not like what she had learned of it. It was irritatingly organized far too much. She didn't understand why Elsa would do something math-y instead of writing her paragraph. In fact, Anna thought that she would rather write something than do math. Oh well. She and Elsa didn't have to like ALL the same things, right?
Elsa finished her geometric doodles and started her paragraph. Let's see…what should I write about? Ooh, I know! I'll write about Anna. 'My little sister Anna is five years old. She's funny and she makes me laugh. Anna has strawberry blonde hair, freckles, and-' "Hey, Anna? Will you look at me for a second?"Anna obliged and said, "Why?""I wanted to see the color of your eyes." '-and bluish green eyes. Sometimes she is impulsiv. Once she accidentally got us to step on an anthill full of fire ants. Anna irritates me sometimes, but I love her. The end.' Elsa reread her work, pleased with what she had written, even if she really, really did not like writing paragraphs. She would rather do math problems instead. "Impulsive" didn't look quite right the way she had written it, but she wasn't sure how to fix it.

A few minutes later, the girls' tutor checked to see what they had done. "I finished my paragraph," Elsa announced, holding out her paper (which also had her geometric doodles on it).
"And I did my letters," Anna said, holding out her paper with smudgy letters all over it.
Struck by a mischievous idea, Elsa stuck her hand out while their tutor was looking at their papers and froze his tea. Anna clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles. "Don't tell him I did it," Elsa whispered in her sister's ear.
"'Kay."
The two girls waited in silence as their tutor reached for the tea and tried to take a sip. "What happened to my tea? It seems…frozen solid?"
And Elsa replied with a straight face, "How could that be possible? It's springtime outside." Inside she was rolling with laughter. "Sir, how's my paragraph?"
"Well, princess," the tutor said distractedly, still preoccupied with the fact that his tea had somehow become frozen solid when there was no obvious way that could have happened, "it's quite good, except you misspelled 'impulsive'. There's an E on the end of that word. Also, why are there geometric shapes all over the paper?"
I knew there was something wrong with that word! "I want to learn how to draw blueprints, and I know you put geometric shapes on those," Elsa said. She really wasn't a bit sorry she'd drawn all over her paper that was supposed to just have her paragraph on it.
"How old are you, Princess Elsa? Eight, is it?" (Elsa nodded.) "You're too young to draw blueprints yet. You need algebra and geometry, among other things, to do that properly," the tutor told her. "So no more doodling on your papers, understand?"
Elsa scowled. That's no fair. "I am not either too young. Maybe you and Papa ought to hurry up and teach me some more math instead of writing paragraphs. Math is lots more interesting."
"Princess, you can't just be an expert on mathematics and nothing else. You're the heir apparent to Arendelle's throne. You will have to learn to write trade agreements and government policies and such eventually."
"I'll get a tr-transcri-ber to do all my writing for me when I'm queen then," was Elsa's quick reply. "I want more math instead of paragraphs!"
The tutor sighed. Elsa could be very, very stubborn when she got her heart set on something. Right now, she was set on not writing paragraphs and learning math that was way too advanced for her instead. "Princess Elsa, I will speak with your father about moving a bit quicker with your math learning, but you cannot stop all other subjects entirely."
This was better than nothing to Elsa's mind. "Okay. Are Anna and I done with lessons for today?"
"Yes, and-"
Before their tutor could say anything else, Elsa and Anna had hopped out of their seats and disappeared from the room.

Down the hall in their room, Elsa and Anna flopped on their beds. "So what do you want to do this afternoon?" Elsa asked."Go swimming," Anna said promptly
."But we can't do that by ourselves, and all the grownups are busy," Elsa said. Come to think of it, going swimming did sound like fun.
"Why can't we go alone? We can go to the swimming hole, and nobody'll see us, prob'ly," Anna replied.
"You mean the big pool that's way past the marketplace? The one partway into the mountain-y part of Arendelle with the waterfall in it?" Elsa asked in surprise. She loved going swimming there, but it was quite a ways away, and the two of them were sure to get in trouble if they did that.
"Yeah, that's it!" Anna said excitedly. "Don't you think that's a super idea?"
"Well…I don't know. I do think it would be fun, but we can't go all the way over there by ourselves. It takes HOURS to walk all the way over there! Let's go out in the castle gardens instead," Elsa suggested.
"And climb trees?"
"Sure, why not?"

When the two girls arrived in the castle gardens, Anna immediately made a beeline for the biggest tree she saw and started climbing."Anna! Don't climb that tree! Climb any of them except that one!" Elsa told her loudly. That tree was full of dead branches that broke under any sort of pressure. She and Anna didn't weigh much, but their weight would still be enough to snap the branches on that tree.
"Why? Are you chicken?" Anna shouted back, still climbing.
"ANNA THAT TREE IS FULL OF DEAD BRANCHES! Get down-now!" Elsa shouted, running over to the base of the tree and looking up.
"How d'you know if they're dead or not?" Anna asked, pausing for a moment a few feet above the ground.
"Trust me, I know. I tried climbing it before, and several branches snapped. Anna, please get down," Elsa said. She didn't want to set one foot in that tree again. The last time she'd tried to climb it, branches snapped all over the place. She hadn't actually fallen, but she'd come close several times.
Anna finally listened and shimmied her way back down the tree. "Maybe you just stepped on the wrong branches," she said once she hit the ground.
"Yeah-the entire tree is 'stepping on the wrong branches'! Come on, let's climb a different one." Elsa ran over to her favorite climbing tree, which was actually almost as big as the one with the dead branches, and started making her way high in the air, Anna following close behind. Once they were about twenty or so feet in the air, Elsa hooked her legs around a branch and flipped over so she was dangling upside down. She loved dangling upside down from up here. The view of the upside-down world was amusing.
"Elsa, I c'n see your underwear!" Anna giggled.
Elsa, unperturbed, clamped her dress between her knees and then flipped upside down again. "This is so much fun up here, don't you think, Anna?"
Anna flipped herself over so she was dangling next to Elsa. "Yeah!"Elsa started giggling. "I wonder what Mama and Papa would think if they saw us out here dangling upside down! We'd probably get told we were being improper! But you and me-"
"WE KNOW BETTER!" Anna squealed happily. "We're like little bats danglin' and talkin' upside down!"
Elsa laughed and pulled herself back to a sitting position on the branch. "Want to go higher?"
"Sure! Help me up! I'm stuck," Anna said.
Elsa obliged, and the two of them made their way almost to the top of the tree. Now they were nearly fifty feet off the ground. Elsa decided she would ask exactly how tall this tree was when they went back inside.
"Elsa, I gotta go to the bathroom."
"Okay. I'll stay up here till you get back, all right?" Elsa said. She settled herself in the crook of a branch against the tree trunk and swung one leg over either side of the branch. She watched from her bird's-eye view as Anna made her way back to the ground and ran back inside the castle. This is so awesome up here! I can see way, way out over the fjord. And I can see the North Mountain way over there. So cool! Elsa leaned back against the tree trunk and happily swung her dangling legs. As the minutes passed and Anna still didn't come back, Elsa grew worried. Where could Anna be? What was she doing? It couldn't take this long to go to the bathroom. Elsa decided she'd wait a few minutes longer before climbing down to find Anna.

Elsa was just starting to doze off when she heard frantic screams from somewhere nearby. Anna! She started down the tree as fast as she could go without risking falling. I bet she tried to climb that stupid tree with the dead branches. I told her not to do that!
"Elsa, HELP! I can't get down!" Anna shouted.
Elsa quickly finished shimmying down the tree and jumped the last few feet to the ground. "I'm coming, Anna!" Sure enough, there was Anna, clinging onto the trunk of the dead tree about fifteen feet in the air. "Anna, just get down!"
"I can't, Elsa! I tried and a branch broke and I'm stuck! HELP MEEE!" Anna screamed.
Elsa bit her lip. Every second she waited, it grew more likely that Anna would fall or another branch would break. In a flash, she made her decision. Elsa scrambled up the tree toward Anna, trying to spend as little time on each branch as possible to minimize the chance of them breaking. "Anna, can you reach my hand?" Elsa asked, holding one hand out to her sister.
Anna sniffled and reached for Elsa, stepping onto the branch her sister was standing on. Elsa grabbed her sister's hand and pulled her close.
Wrong move. The next thing Elsa knew, she felt herself and Anna falling through the branches, and she shoved Anna away from her, making a pile of snow that would hopefully catch her sister in the process. Elsa's last thought was that she hoped Anna had landed in the snow pile.

Anna had indeed landed in the snow pile. She jumped up, shook the snow off, and ran over to Elsa, who was still lying motionless on the ground. "Elsa?" Anna asked hesitantly. "Elsa!" When Elsa didn't reply, Anna started shouting and trying to shake Elsa awake. "ELSA, ELSA! PLEASE WAKE UP!" What had she done? Elsa had told her not to climb that stupid tree, and she'd went and done it anyway. Now they'd both fallen, and while Elsa had managed to keep Anna from getting hurt (aside from a few scratches from the branches on the way down), she hadn't done the same for herself. "Elsa, I'm sorry! Please wake up!" Anna cried. She kept trying to shake Elsa awake, but it didn't seem to be working.
To Anna's relief, Elsa finally stirred a minute later. Elsa blinked several times, trying to remember what happened. Ow…why does my head hurt so bad? I thought Anna and I were tree-climbing… "Good grief, Anna, stop shakin' me," she mumbled. Elsa put one hand to her forehead, trying to cool the hurt away with her powers. It seemed to help a little bit. "What happened?"
Anna frowned. "I climbed that dead tree and you came to get me down and we fell…I'm super sorry, Elsa! Are you ok?"
Oh yeah. I remember now. "I don't know…my head hurts really bad," Elsa said. "Wait, are YOU okay?"
"Uh-huh. You made me land in soft snow but you didn't do the same for you!"
"That's good." Elsa's eyes drifted shut. She felt tired for some reason and kind of dizzy. Anna's okay, so everything's fine. Wait a second…are you supposed to sleep after you hit your head? I dunno… "Anna…"
"Yeah, Elsa? Are you ok? Can I help?"
"…can you help me get back inside…? I can't play anymore right now," Elsa said, trying to make sure she didn't scare Anna.
"Um, ok…Elsa I hope there's nothin' seriously wrong." Anna managed to help her sister get to her feet.
Elsa took her hand away from her forehead and immediately jumped, nearly knocking both herself and Anna over. "Anna, you didn't tell me I had a cut on my head. That's why it hurts." Elsa promptly put her hand back against her forehead and leaned on Anna. The two of them slowly made their way back inside the castle.

Gerda met them in the doorway. "Goodness gracious, what happened?" she asked, quickly scooping up Elsa and holding her.
"Just a little accident…" Elsa said. "My head hurts…and I think Anna's got a few scratches on her…"
"Let's just get the two of you upstairs to your room. Then maybe you can say what happened," Gerda said. "Anna, are you able to walk ok?"
"Yeah." Anna nodded her head vigorously. "I just got some scratches, like Elsa said."

Soon they were inside the girls' room. Gerda laid Elsa on her bed, and Anna climbed up next to her sister. "Is Elsa gonna be ok?" Anna asked.
"Of course she will. She's talked to you, right?" Gerda told her. Gerda gently pulled Elsa's hand away from her forehead, and Elsa made a quiet noise of pain.
"I'm tryin' to cool it off with my powers," Elsa said. "It kinda sorta helps…"
"Princess, it's bleeding. You have to let someone bandage it for you."
"But it hurts!" Elsa wiggled her hand away from Gerda and put it back against her forehead. "Go take care of Anna first…" At least Anna didn't hit her head anyways…
Gerda sighed and did as Elsa asked. Even though the little girl was only eight, she technically could give orders if she so chose. Usually Elsa didn't do that, though. Soon, Anna's minor scratches were all washed off. Anna proudly stuck her scraped elbow in Elsa's face. "Looky at this!"
Elsa would have found this hilarious if her head didn't hurt so much. Why is Anna so pleased to show me the bandage on her elbow? Silly Anna… After a bit of coaxing, mostly from Anna, Elsa reluctantly let Gerda take care of her head and the rest of the scrapes and scratches on her arms and legs. (Elsa assumed she must have hit some branches on the way down or something, like Anna had.) Elsa promptly put her hand back against her now-bandaged forehead and closed her eyes when Gerda was finished.
Gerda sighed. She'd rather Elsa left her head alone, but she was sure the little girl wouldn't listen. "So, what exactly happened outside?"
"We were climbing trees in the castle gardens-" Elsa started.
"And I had to go to the bathroom," Anna put in.
"Quit interruptin', Anna…anyway, I was sitting way up high in my favorite tree…and Anna was taking forever. I think I was starting to fall asleep up there. And then I heard Anna screaming her head off about something" Elsa opened her eyes and stared at Anna now "and it turned out she was stuck in that big ol' tree with the dead branches THAT I SPECIALLY TOLD HER NOT TO CLIMB!"
Gerda easily put together the rest of the story. "So you climbed up after her and ended up falling yourself…"
"Yeah," Elsa answered sleepily.
"I just wanted to show Elsa I was a big girl and could climb the tree anyways," Anna said, hanging her head.
"Princess, you shouldn't climb dead trees to show you're a 'big girl'. What if you or your sister had gotten really, seriously hurt? How high up were you two when you fell?"
"About fifteen feet," Elsa said. I think anyways; I'm not sure.
Anna made a face. "I think Elsa got seriously hurt enough. She wasn't even awake for a minute after we fell!"
"Princess Elsa, is that true?" Gerda asked.
"Mmhmm…one second I was falling and the next thing I knew somebody was shaking me and my head hurt like crazy," Elsa confirmed. "Please don't fuss over me. I don't like it."
"All right, princess. I'll leave you two alone now. Princess Elsa, do not get up out of bed. You should rest. And Princess Anna, don't climb all over your sister or try to make her do something strenuous."
"What's 'stren-u-ous'?" Anna asked.
Elsa giggled. "It means Gerda doesn't want me to exert myself."
"What's 'exert'?"
"Uh…" Elsa glanced over at Gerda, who was standing in the doorway to the girls' room. "Gerda, help. Anna's not getting it."
"Princess Anna, don't try to get your sister to do anything that could make her tired or hurt her head. Now do you understand?"
Anna thought for a moment, then said, "Uh-huh. I oughta just lay down with Elsa and hug her and take a nap."
Gerda gave Anna a smile, and shut the door.

True to her word, Anna flopped down next to Elsa and put her arm around her older sister. "Elsa, I'm super sorry I made you get hurt."
Elsa put her own arm around Anna and pulled her close. "It's okay, Anna. It was just an accident. You didn't make me fall on purpose." And that's the truth. I'm not mad at her. Okay, it WAS kind of definitely Anna's fault, but it's fine. She's only five, and she's Miss Impulsive besides. "Just promise me you won't try climbing that dead tree again!"
"I promise." Anna snuggled against her sister, happy Elsa wasn't mad at her.
A moment later, something amusing popped into Elsa's head. "Maybe we should have stuck with going swimming!"
"Can we go swimming later today?"
Elsa frowned. "Well, nooo…I hurt my head, remember? But we can as soon as it's better. How's that?"
"That sounds great. Elsa…does your head still hurt?"
Elsa hesitated before answering truthfully, "Yeah, but it's going to be fine. Don't worry about it one bit."
Anna thought for a moment, then said, "Can I touch it, Elsa? I'll let you touch my elbow."
Elsa just glared at Anna. "No. You may not. You're going to get a face full of snow if you try that." Elsa held a snowball out to Anna to confirm her meaning. She had let Anna touch her boo-boos before, and although Anna wouldn't mean to do anything; she always ended up making them hurt worse.
Anna scooched under the covers to get away from Elsa's snowball. "Freeze! Freeze! I won't touch it!" she squealed.
Elsa grinned. "Freeze, huh?" She stuck her hand out and made the snowball explode into hundreds of tiny snowflakes all over Anna.
Anna squealed again at the sudden cold feeling, and rolled off Elsa's bed onto the floor, landing with a thump.
Elsa pulled herself up on one elbow, ignoring the increased ache in her head at the sudden movement. "Anna, are you all right?!"
"Of course I am."
Thank goodness. Elsa flopped back on her pillows and wiggled herself under the covers. "Anna, I'm kinda tired…I'm going to take a nap, okay?" She felt Anna climb back on the bed and dive under the covers with her. Anna, don't you dare kick me again like you did last time you slept with me…

Anna curled up against Elsa and started pretend-snoring.
Elsa rolled her eyes and then slowly turned herself over so she could hold Anna herself. "I love you Anna. You're a little pest, but I love you all the same."
Anna opened her eyes and looked at Elsa. "Even though I made you fall and get hurt?"
"Yes, of course. You didn't hurt me on purpose. You were just being five-year-old Princess Impulsive Anna of Arendelle," Elsa replied, giving Anna a smile. "You're my best friend, actually." Elsa held Anna tightly in her arms and didn't let go.
Anna giggled, knowing exactly what Elsa meant. She'd heard that word used to describe herself lots of times. "Am I really your best friend? I mean, I'm younger than you…"
Elsa mulled this over for a minute. I don't think I really have any friends my own age. The kids I've tried to talk to before in the marketplace won't really play with me becuase my pet tiger nearly ate me and they're either 1)uncomfortable around me 'cause I'm the crown princess, or 2)think I'm weird for some reason becuase my pet tiger nearly ate me and I have platinum hair. "Yeah, really, Anna. You're loads better than anyone I've talked to my own age. And you're my sister, and you're funny, and I love you."
"I think it was super cool you came and rescued me. You were like a knight in shining armor or somethin' coming to save the princess in dire need!" Anna said, her flair for the dramatic popping out.
Elsa just giggled and kept holding her little sister. Anna is crazy. But it's a good crazy. "What are we doing, living in a fairy tale?"
"No. But YOU could be in a fairy tale! You've got super cool magical powers!" Anna replied.
And Elsa promptly told her, "I don't want to be a fairy tale. I'm happy in real life just being me and having you for my little sister. When I grow up and I'm Queen Elsa of Arendelle, I'm gonna make sure you're my second-in-command and we'll go ice skating all the time…"
"I can't ice skate."
"I know that quite well, Anna. I'm going to teach you myself."