A full year after summer turned to winter, she appears. The guards give their queen odd looks, silently asking what they should do with the girl who's just randomly shown up at the gates, meekly asking to be let inside. She's clearly not a beggar; dirty and worn or not, her clothes look very fine and expensive, and the grime in her hair and clothes merely suggest a long, difficult ordeal instead of a lifetime of homelessness.
But it doesn't matter; Elsa won't turn someone away who may need her help, or shelter. There are stories of people who have done that and were rightly punished, besides which, she's no monster. "Let her inside, take her to the baths and one of the spare bedrooms." Even with the gates opened and more servants hired, there's still plenty to choose from. "I'll speak to her this evening."
-*-
Her name is Sayyna, she says, with a low, proper curtsy. That further confirms what Elsa's suspected; this Sayyna girl is clearly noble. Sayyna lifts her head, staring up at the queen with large brown eyes half-hidden behind dark bangs, and rises, letting her thick plaits rest over her shoulders. Her name is Sayyna and she's been sent by her father to--
"Wait, what?" Elsa blinks, frowns, sure she's misheard.
Sayyna's brown face tints red as she looks at the floor, twisting her fingers. "Er -- please understand, Your Highness," she says, her accent making her voice have a musical quality, "but my father's...rather old and ill. He barely remembers how many daughters he has, or our names, so I guess it makes sense that he forgot Arendelle was ruled by a queen, not a king--"
"No, not that." Elsa holds a hand up, frown deepening. She tries to see if she's got this. "He...was worried another winter in summer would happen...so he sent his youngest daughter to marry the sorcerer-king of Arendelle in order to prevent this?"
Sayyna flushes darker, and nods. "I know it sounds bad, but my father...he really does have everyone's best interests at heart!"
Elsa wants to reminds Sayyna that her father was willing to send his own daughter away, to a complete stranger, and simply marry her off without asking her opinion on the matter. Sayyna herself had even said it, not in so many words, but she'd told Elsa that her father's exact wording to her had been 'You must go and marry the sorcerer-king to keep this from happening.' And she's just...agreed to it.
Elsa takes a deep breath through her nostrils, tries to think about this. She would like to send Sayyna back home, preferably with a proper escort (her father couldn't even give her that, he'd just sent her alone!) and provisions, perhaps a formal apology and explanation of the situation. But Sayyna's just arrived here, it wouldn't do to send her back out again so soon. And she can see Anna eyeing Sayyna from the doorway, already eager to befriend this newcomer.
...and she feels rather sorry for Sayyna too. She can't send her back to a father who did that to her. And if he's as old and ill and losing his wits and memory as Sayyna said, perhaps he'd just assume she was a ghost, and shut her out.
"You may stay here, in the castle with us," Elsa finally says, capturing Sayyna's attention. "Indefinitely, until I figure out what we should do about this."
And--oh. Whoa. Sayyna's smile is actually quite lovely. She dips into another curtsy. "Thank you, Your Highness!"
-*-
A few days pass. Sayyna is a little more comfortable in 'Castle Elsa,' as she's taken to calling it. She particularly enjoys the grounds, the flowers and the little ducklings. Elsa's a little amazed at how good with the animals she is, so is Anna.
Just today, Elsa had been walking alongside Anna and Sayyna, content to let Anna chatter on and on to the girl, and just listen herself. And occasionally notice how Sayyna keeps glancing at her, as if trying to include her in the conversation too. A loud, distressed quacking sounds, and before any of them can stop her, Sayyna's taken off towards the sound.
But the queen and princess are fast too, and they arrive in time to see that a fox had snuck in and is trying to catch one of Anna's ducklings. Trying, and about to fail, since Sayyna is there, bent over the little thing and swiping at the fox and shouting in foreign language. Elsa knows from her studies that she's telling it "Go away!" but she wouldn't have needed them to know that.
The fox eventually does leave, deciding it's no match for a human, and Sayyna immediately shifts from flashing-eyed, red-faced fury to calm and soothing as she holds the duckling to her chest, stroking its head-feathers and gently crooning and whispering in her native tongue. A few moments pass and she returns the duckling to its mother and siblings with a little kiss on the bill.
Then she notices the other royals staring and flushes dark red. "I--I apologize," she says hastily. "I've a weakness for animals, babies in particular and I don't know what came over me--"
Anna interrupts just then, telling her how amazing that was, how great she was with the duckling, asking if she has any pets at home...
And Elsa finds herself thinking that if Sayyna does, she'll arrange for the animal to be brought back here, too.
-*-
Sure enough, a week later, Sayyna is followed everywhere by a lovely gray-blue cat. Her brown eyes fill up with tears when she looks at him, much like they had when the soldiers and servants from her own home arrived with him in a tiny caravan.
Elsa recalls how she'd led Sayyna out to the gates by the hand that day, no gloves of course, and how Sayyna had gasped loudly at the sight. How she'd run out to greet all those in the party by name, curtsied before them all, and how she'd half-laughed, half-cried as she'd cradled the purring cat to her chest. "Oh, Kotura, my friend, I've missed you so much!" she'd cried. "I thought I'd never see you again--oh, Elsa, thank you so much!"
And she'd run over, threw her arms around the queen's shoulders, and kissed her cheek, her cat jumping up to land behind Elsa's head.
Elsa's cheek had felt warm and tingled the rest of that week.
-*-
As summer turns to autumn, and the true winter looms closer, Elsa finds she really doesn't want to send Sayyna back home at all.
She's grown fond of her, really. Throughout the months, she had shown Sayyna all around the castle and its rooms several times, each time finding something new to tell her about it. Sayyna's memorized all the servants names, and Elsa's memorized the names of Sayyna's own. They'd read together, ice-skated together, Sayyna was quite taken with Olaf and vice-versa, Anna adored her and could be overheard telling Kristoff that she now had a younger sister (younger because why not?), and Elsa...
...Elsa had found she'd rather enjoyed Sayyna's presence. She feels content with the other girl at her side, warm. Sayyna's hand keeps finding hers, and Elsa had barely noticed when she was the one to reach for Sayyna's, it had been such a natural movement that she'd paid no mind to it.
And on the same note, taking Sayyna's hand and kissing it before they retire to bed is been such a natural movement too.
-*-
When winter is halfway finished, Elsa takes a pause in their reading by the fire and eating chocolate to tell Sayyna's she's come to a decision.
"A decision?" Sayyna sounds worried, twisting her fingers again.
"Yes. But I will need your input." Elsa has to struggle to keep her expression neutral, but not for any of the reasons she'd had to most of her life. She takes Sayyna's hand in hers, fixes her with a solemn expression...and then smiles.
"I've decided to change your time here from 'indefinite' to 'permanent.'"
"A-And my input...?"
"Would you like to marry the Snow Queen in winter, or spring?"
-*-
In the exact middle of spring, right between winter's end and summer's beginning, another large crowd gathers at the castle. The newest queen-consort wears rich reds and vivid yellows, and makes a lovely contrast beside Queen Elsa. Yet at the same time, they look like they match, in a way.
When Elsa, with speed that's a little surprising, pulls Sayyna in and kisses her full on the lips, Anna can be heard shouting above the cheering that now she really does have two sisters, but the queens are too wrapped up in each other to notice.