The Warmth of Possibility

A/N: I just wanted to take a moment to mention that some of the unintended consequences of Anna's wish to make Elsa's heart find peace so that she could more easily control her powers become way more evident in this chapter. I hope you enjoy it, and the implications from it :D

Elsa’s POV

Arendelle's Castle - The Royal Sauna

The wooden door clicked shut, and Elsa was alone.

The heat of the sauna wrapped around her, thick and clinging, like a lover’s embrace. A far cry from the sharp, biting cold that had been her only comfort for so long. Her skin glistened under the dim lantern light, damp with sweat, the humid air settling deep into her muscles. She let out a slow, steady breath, sinking further into the warmth.

Anna had only just left, muttering something about the heat getting to her, but Elsa could still feel the ghost of her presence. The echo of their conversation lingered, curling through the steam like an unanswered question.

Marriage...love...

She closed her eyes, tilting her head back against the wooden wall. The discussion had started simply enough—just Anna being Anna, pushing her to think about things she had spent years avoiding. But something about it stuck.

"Would I have ever let myself think about this, and deeply at that, before today?"

The answer was easy.

"No."

For as long as she could remember, she had seen love and duty as opposing forces. Love—true, deep, unguarded love—required openness, vulnerability, and trust. Duty, on the other hand, demanded sacrifice. Restraint. Control.

And Elsa had always chosen control.

Because love, to her, had never seemed safe.

She had spent years imagining what marriage should mean for her—not as something to be wanted, but as something inevitable. A requirement. An obligation she would one day be called upon to fulfill.

A queen must provide an heir...

A queen must secure the future of her realm...

A queen must wed...

And yet, despite knowing all this, she had pushed the thought away again and again, delaying the inevitable because the very idea of it terrified her.

How could she allow someone that close? How could she let herself love—let herself be loved—when she had spent her whole life fearing her own touch?

A husband. Children. A family. Those things had never been dreams for her, only specters of a life she had resigned herself to endure when the time came.

Until now...

She opened her eyes, exhaling slowly.

Something is different due to the unexpected, much-cherished calm that had settled over her that she had chosen to call a miracle.

For the first time in forever, the idea of marriage did not feel like a distant, suffocating shadow.

For the first time forever, she could actually imagine it.

It was dizzying. A world of possibility stretching before her, vast and untamed. The realization sent a thrill through her—an unfamiliar, exhilarating sense of freedom.

Her heart clenched, overwhelmed by the sheer weight of what it meant. Had she truly been so afraid of love that she had never let herself dream of it?

Or had she simply been afraid of what she had wanted all along...?

Her breath hitched slightly, and then she sighed.

No. She knew the answer. She had always known it.

For all these years, she had convinced herself she was afraid of hurting others. Afraid of touching them, of letting them too close. And while that fear had been very real, it had not been the whole truth.

Because deep down, beneath the layers of restraint and royal duty, there had been something else. A fear not just of hurting, but of wanting.

Wanting something she was never supposed to want.

Wanting someone she could never have.

"Anna..."

The name drifted through her thoughts unbidden, as inevitable as the rising of the sun.

Elsa’s fingers curled slightly against her damp towel.

She should have been startled by it. Should have felt that old, familiar pang of guilt—the one that had kept her awake too many nights in the past, the one that had once convinced her she was wrong somehow, that she was broken for feeling the way she did.

But...she didn’t feel that guilt anymore. The weight of it was simply gone, colapsing while her sense of calm rose.

She didn’t know how or why, not for sure, even if she had chosen to believe a divine intervention was responsible for taking pity upon her plight but she did knew that after this morning, she now felt much lighter. Free. As if something had changed deep inside her. As if some invisible hand had lifted the chains she had resigned herself to impose upon herself for so long and set her heart at peace.

And now, without guilt clouding her thoughts, she could look at the truth clearly.

She had desired Anna for years.

It had started when they were teenagers, in the long, lonely years after the gates had shut. Anna was the only light in Elsa’s world, the only person whose voice had ever mattered, especially after their parent's deaths. And as she grew older, as her body changed and matured, so did her thoughts.

She remembered the way she had tried to suppress them. The way she had buried herself in her studies, in her royal duties, in her fear of herself.

But she had never been able to bury Anna.

Her laughter, her kindness, the way she radiated warmth—it had drawn Elsa in, even when she had tried to keep her distance. And the worst part was, Anna had never even known. Never realized what her mere presence did to her lonely, love-starved sister.

For years, Elsa had feared that what she felt was wrong. That it was unnatural. But the fear and the guilt that used to accompany it were gone now.

And without it, she was left with the simple, undeniable truth.

Elsa wanted her.

The realization sent a shiver down her spine, despite the heat of the sauna.

Could she even have her if she were open to it?

The thought was a dangerous one, curling at the edges of her mind like a flickering flame.

She had never let herself think about it before. But now, in the absence of guilt, with a heart that was finally unburdened…

Could she want Anna openly?

Could she allow herself to pursue her?

"Would Anna let her?"

Elsa inhaled sharply, the weight of possibility pressing against her chest.

Anna was a romantic at heart. She had always believed in love, in passion, in stories of fate and devotion. Would she be horrified by the thought of Elsa seeing her that way? Or would she embrace it? It's not like her sister had been starved of love herself for many years as well, after all...

A wild, almost playful thought struck Elsa suddenly.

The way Anna had lit up when she talked about Romeo and Juliet earlier…

"Would she be interested in reenacting some of the more passionate scenes?" Elsa wondered silently.

A small, breathless chuckle escaped her lips before she could stop it. The mere thought of saying that to Anna sent a rush of heat through her that had nothing to do with the sauna.

She exhaled deeply, running a hand through her damp, platinum hair, and in a moment of desire, she unwrapped the towel and placed it to the side. So it was that in that moment, alone in the steam of the sauna, Elsa traced lower, sweaty folds with slow, tentative fingers. She moaned in delight at the sensation, and then she moaned much louder when she realized the guilt was not returning with a vengeance even now...even as she pictured her sister's face while her fingers speeded up.

And so, while sweat continued to pour from her bare breasts and roll down her increasingly swollen pussy lips, Elsa actually started weeping, but not in fear or anxiety as she was used to, but from sheer joy.

For the first time in her life, Elsa didn’t feel trapped by duty, fear, or the suffocating weight of expectation.

For the first time in forever, she allowed herself to dream unburdened by her guilt.

And if those dreams fanned the flames of her desires, then...so be it.

A/N: So, yeah, like I hinted in one of the earlier chapters, part of the problem involving Elsa's lack of control here (certainly not the only factor that affected her fears and lack of control over her ice powers but still a factor) was the the guilt Elsa has felt ever since her first sexual fantasies centered on Anna (mainly due to lack of good alternative options, but still) that she tried to bury. But now, due to the way Anna worded her wish, all of the concerns that kept Elsa unable to calmly control her abilities are gone, including her guilt for desiring Anna. So, as you can yeah, that maaaay have some relevant, unintended consequences for Anna down the road :P

Thanks for reading, and please remember to review. I actually had this chapter mostly done 3 days ago, but I was kind of waiting to see if anyone was going to leave comments before posting it. So, if you are liking the tale, letting me know you care is an easier way of getting me to post faster than anything else.

Until next time.