The little princesses sat on the floor of the palace’s great library, giggling and whispering among the floor to ceiling shelves of ancient and modern books, while their parents greeted foreign dignitaries.
“Your highnesses?” a steward’s voice unexpectedly broke into their private world from the other side of the door, his crisp knock bouncing them to their feet;
Stepping inside, he bowed low, “May I present Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. He wishes to give you each a gift as a token of thanks for hosting him and his family this week.”
The girls tried not to giggle as a handsome little boy awkwardly entered the room and made a shy little bow, silently handing over his gifts—a blue jewel for Elsa and a green one for Anna—before finding his tongue. “They’re magic, your highnesses.” his voice squeaked a little, “They’ll bring a blessing to whoever possesses them. I hope you like them.”
Intrigued, the girls murmured their thanks as they turned their gifts over and over in their hands, memorizing their beautiful details as they discovered that they were not merely rocks but cockroach-shaped pendants, with tiny golden legs and antennas.
Prince Hans bowed again then quickly retreated, keeping his face pleasant until he was out of sight. Then his cheerful expression turned sinister with the knowledge that the jewels would, in fact, bring a curse not a blessing on those who possessed them.
Back in the library, Elsa and Anna were on cloud nine, thrilled by the thought of a handsome foreign guest bestowing such precious gifts on them. In their joy, they took off running, singing about family, love, and never letting go of their new jewels. The years seemed to fly by as they sang and danced their way up and down every aisle in the library so by the time they’d finished their song they were both young women and another knock sounded on the door.
The steward reappeared, bowing again to the beautiful young women, “Your highnesses, your mother and father have requested that you both appear in the throne room. They’d like to talk with you.”
“Thank you,” Elsa spoke for both girls, her voice tight, her face ashen, “We’ll be there in a minute.”
“Anna,” she hissed, the moment he was gone, “I just realized we never told them about the Blessing Stones Prince Hans gave us when we were kids!”
“You think they’ll be mad?” the younger princess looked alarmed.
“Well, I don’t know, but I think so…” The future queen dropped her gaze in embarrassment, “I mean, they’d probably want to know when anyone gave us gifts like he did.”
“Yeah,” Anna frowned, “It was a pretty significant thing… so, what do you want to do? Tell them now?”
“Oh, I’m sure that would go over well!” Elsa was sarcastic, “gee, mom and dad, you know when we hosted the king and queen of the Southern Isles years ago—”
“Hey!” Anna interrupted, her eyes lighting up, “why don’t I hold them? My dress has all sorts of pockets everywhere. I can hide them easy! Your dress doesn’t have pockets.”
“That sounds great!” the older princess agreed enthusiastically, her eyes lighting up as she handed over her jewel, “Thank you.”
Walking with dignified haste, they hurried towards the throne room before anyone questioned their tardiness, and curtsied before their parents.
“Welcome, daughters,” the king said, holding his arms out to both, “you’ve both grown up so beautifully and we are so proud of you.”
Now that you’re both grown under the law,” he continued, “we’d like to give you each a special gift to signify your coming of age.” He drew out a small box and handed it to his oldest daughter, “Elsa, you are my heir. One day you will sit on this throne and rule in my stead. I am so grateful to have such an intelligent and industrious daughter to rule after me. These are for you.”
The blonde princess’ hands trembled with emotion as she cracked open the lip and she gasped with surprised delight at the sight of beautiful diamond earrings that resembled falling snowflakes. Anna, too, squealed with happiness and threw her arms around her sister; the gift suited Elsa perfectly!
“Anna,” the queen spoke up, pulling the younger girl’s attention back, “my wonderful little baby. You are so full of life and light and I’m thankful that your sister has you to lean on whenever dark times come.” She reached behind her then unexpectedly frowned, her face turning beet red, “Oh! I-I-I’m sorry, my dear. I don’t seem to have a gift for you.” She looked confused, “I don’t know how I could’ve forgotten such a thing…?”
Quickly, she grabbed a big black purse from under her throne, rooting through it as the two princesses and the king looked on in stunned silence.
“No, no, no,” she muttered to herself, rejecting a tube of old lipstick and various other items before looking up again. “I’m so sorry, my dear,” she took Anna’s hands in hers, “I just don’t have anything for you.”
“H-how would you like one of my o-old dresses?” she continued, her voice trembling, “Would that be okay?” She barked at a nearby guard and a faded old black dress was quickly brought forward.
“I’m so sorry, Anna.” the queen couldn’t stop apologizing, “Here, how about another dress to make up for all this?” She barked again and a faded paisley dress quickly appeared for the stupefied princess’s inspection.
Then Anna woke up.