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THE flight lasted for just over five hours. And the boat ride that came after was just under three. Now, as Winter sat in the carriage, her eyes taking in the scenery of Arendelle, all her previous drowsiness from traveling was washed away.
The coachman had picked her up from the docks, and now she rode in the royal Arendellian carriage to her auntie's—Queen Anna's—castle.
Arendelle was not the biggest kingdom, but it still had a certain feeling about it that made people happy. The town itself looked as though it belonged on a postcard, it was beautiful. Cobblestone grounds, pretty houses, and the townsfolk who always seemed to adorn an everlasting smile.
She self-consciously played with her blonde hair, half of which was tied back with a pretty blue ribbon. She could already feel her happiness washing over her at the sight which she called home.
"It's the Winter Princess! Queen Elsa and Jack Frost's daughter!" A woman gasped as the royal carriage passed through the town.
The reindeer pulling the carriage trotted proudly, the coachman wearing a smile like the rest of the townspeople. In Arendelle, rather than horses, it was normally reindeer which were used to ride and pull things.
"Princess Winterfell is back from Auradon!" A little girl screamed, all the townsfolk beginning to wave to the carriage and follow after it.
Winter laughed, her more flamboyant personality breaking free, the shy mask that she wore at Auradon now locked away for the summer. Leaning forward, Winter pulled the window of the carriage open.
Excited shouts came from the crowd following after the royal carriage as Winter's gloved hand emerged from the window and waved. Her knees bounced in anticipation as the carriage went over the small bridge leading from the town to the castle.
The gates were wide open as they always were. Winter was aware that long before she was born, the gates to the castle remained closed because no one had not yet known about her mother's abilities.
Sometimes it was odd for Winter to think that her mother had once been the Queen of Arendelle—before she became the Queen of Snow. For Winter, the Queen of Arendelle had always been her Aunt Anna.
As the carriage crossed the gates, Winter's face lit up at the sight of the grand Arendelle castle. The courtyard in front of the entrance to the castle buzzed with the workers and servants to the royal family, all lined up with large smiles on their faces.
Yes, the royal family was quite admired and loved in Arendelle. Whether it be Queen Anna or Queen Elsa, they were both loved.
At the very forefront, just in front of the huge castle doors stood the immediate royal family of Arendelle. Queen Anna stood just in front of Kristoff, bouncing on her toes. Even as Queen and after having two children, her easily excited tendencies did not cease.
Kristoff, who was considered the King, (but he really did not rule the kingdom as his wife did) wore a huge grin across his face. He was a larger man, buff from hours of pulling ice. Yes, even after he became King, he still owned his ice business and continued to work it.
He made his oldest son, Soren (who was next in line for the Arendelle throne) work with him sometimes as well. Soren was not all that fond of working in the very early hours of the morning to haul ice up from the northern mountains all the way into the town, but he still did it. It was one of the many things that made him humble despite his status.
Soren more resembled Kristoff in looks seeing as his hair was equally as fair to his father's and his body was built in the same manner. Though he did receive some face freckles from his mother, something he hated. Though, rather than also inherit the wild streak of personality from his mother, Soren was level-headed and responsible as his father was. Well, he and his father were level-headed and responsible compared to his mother and sister that was.
Sitara, his younger sister by three years took after their mother much more. She was the spitting image of Anna with her ginger hair and freckled face (though her hair was so much more monstrous and untamable than Anna's, just trying to put it in a ponytail was a battle). She was headstrong and stubborn as her mother, loud and sometimes not the brightest person (but she had a huge heart).
She was three years older than her cousin Winter, her last year at Auradon Prep being the year before Winter's first. Soren and Sitara had both attended Auradon Prep, and they enjoyed it immensely.
However, now that Soren was twenty-two pushing on twenty-three and Sitara was nineteen, they had both been coming into their royal duties. In a few years' time, Soren would take the throne and Sitara would become a lady of the court.
Not that Sitara really wanted to that much, all she wanted was to move to the city and live life to the fullest.
Soren stood on his mother's left side with Sitara on Queen Anna's right.
"Here she comes..." Sitara giggled excitedly as the carriage came down the long cobblestone path.
Soren rolled his eyes at his sister, taking another glance at her unruly hair that was bigger than her entire future.
"You could have at least tried to make yourself look presentable instead of looking like an ogre," Soren quipped in a quiet tone.
Kristoff snickered but was shut up by the glare his daughter and wife threw him. Soren and Sitara's relationship was nothing as Elsa and Anna's had been. Yes, they were close and loved each other immensely, but they had the typical love-hate relationship that most brothers and sisters did.
It was not unoften for snarky comments and insults to be thrown back and forth between the two at the dinner table. Not to mention when the pranks started, a war which Sitara would start but Soren would nearly always finish.
"Be nice, both of you!" Anna scolded gently, her beauty never having ceased with age.
Elsa was saddened when she found out she was immortal and would not age past twenty-four years old. She wanted to grow old by her sister's side, but things got better after she met the equally immortal Jack and had her child.
It was still unknown as to whether Winter was immortal, but Elsa desperately hoped she was. Elsa did not know whether she could stand to watch her daughter grow old and die. She was already being forced to watch that out of Kristoff, Anna, Soren, and Sitara.
Just as the carriage began rounding the roundabout, Soren looked around with furrowed brows.
"I do say, where is Olaf?"
The rest of the family looked around as well, their eyebrows furrowed. The magical walking and talking snowman who Elsa had created just over thirty years ago was nowhere to be seen. That was odd because Olaf was always somewhere singing and making people laugh.
Anna opened her mouth to reply but was cut off as the royal carriage stopped in front of the family feet away. The royal announcer blew a trumpet, as all the servants lined up on either side of the carriage creating a sort of hall from the carriage to the royal family.
"Bid a welcome home to her Royal Highness, Princess Winterfell Frost of Ice, Snow, Winter, and the North!"
From inside the carriage, Winter took a deep breath while smoothing out her dress. Back at Auradon, nearly everyone was royalty in some way, so it was only really Ben who got the true special royal treatment.
She had to remind herself that her status still meant quite a bit and that people would now be addressing her as Winterfell rather than Winter or Winnie. As the carriage doors were opened, Winter smiled grabbing a hold of the announcer's equally as gloved covered hand.
He helped her out of the carriage and down the few steps until her black flats met the cobblestone ground. A round of applause erupted from the servants, the royal family smiling at their beloved Winterfell from across the way.
Standing straighter, Winter finally turned her attention to the people she had been waiting to see for weeks. Winter barely began walking toward them when Sitara broke. A squeal left the other princess's mouth as Sitara ran forward, her summer dress waving from behind her.
"Winterfell!" She shouted, getting to Winter in seconds and engulfing the blonde in such a tight hug she could barely breathe.
Sitara was much stronger and more muscular than Winter. In fact, she was one of the better female warriors in all of Arendelle.
Soren pinched his nose while Kristoff shook his head, Anna only smiled. Anna loved the relationship between her children and her niece, the three were even closer than Anna and Elsa hoped they would be.
"Hi..." Winter ground out as she was lifted and spun around by Sitara, "...Sitara..."
"Sister, if you do not put our cousin down, you may actually crush her!" Soren decided that Sitara had already ruined the traditional greeting, so he walked forward as well followed by his parents.
Physical contact between her family was not as stressful as it was back in Auradon. It may have been for the fact that Sitara and Queen Anna were naturally touchy people and had been touching her for Winter's entire life.
"Ooh!" Winter could finally breathe as Sitara dropped her, her eyes wide and apologetic. "Sorry Winterfell, but wait... have you lost weight? You're so boney!"
"Well, maybe? I don't know?" Winter spoke truthfully, she was not one of those girls who constantly weighed themselves.
But she vaguely recalled skipping a meal of two in favor of studying.
The warm summer sun seemed to shimmer off of Winter's hair, giving it a heavenly sort of glow that attracted eyes.
"Ignore her, Winterfell," Soren pulled his cousin into a much gentler hug than his sister had.
"You know that Sitara has non-existent manners."
"Hey!" Soren coughed as Sitara threw an elbow at him causing him to bend over.
"Knock it off!" Anna scolded the two as she made her way over, engulfing her niece in a motherly hug.
Anna was basically Winterfell's second mother as Kristoff was her second father. Anna was always astonished at how much Winterfell resembled her parents. Both Elsa and Jack had equally as light hair (Jack's perhaps just a bit lighter) and they both had the same ice colored eyes. Not to mention, their skin was snow pale.
All in all, it was because of this Winterfell ended up a spitting image of them both, her eyes being the only thing that did not come from either one of them. Still, nobody had any clue how Winter ended up with such warm eyes.
Even Soren and Sitara shared the blue-eyed family trait.
"Your mother and father should arrive soon, we have all agreed to have dinner here before you return to Athohallan," Anna informed her while slowly pulling away from the hug.
Traveling by wind from Athohallan did not take too long so it was a rather easy journey going back and forth between both.
"Splendid," Winter smiled at her auntie before she was grabbed from behind and wrapped in a big bear hug.
Her uncle Kristoff's beard tickled her, Winter laughing as he placed her down. "Hey, kid," he greeted earning a warm nod in return.
Before anyone could further speak, a loud sound came from seemingly nowhere. Everyone looked around in confusion as the noise got louder, people now identifying it as a scream.
"What's that—?" Kristoff did not finish his sentence as Olaf slid down the roof of the castle, the snowman airborne as he fell toward the ground.
"I found Olaf," Soren mentioned as everyone else gasped in fear for the snowman.
"Olaf!" Winter cried, waving her hand causing a pile of snow to form on the ground and cushion Olaf's fall.
It felt nice to use her abilities for the first time since winter break. The release of the ice and cold within nearly caused her to sigh in bliss. Unlike most would assume, it did not feel strange to use her powers after so long, rather it felt natural.
With just a thought, the wind suddenly picked up slowing Olaf's fall before he hit the snow softly. The snowman laughed, rolling out of the snow pile. His arm had fallen off, but he was quick to put it back on.
"Haha, it's summer, that means..." Olaf trailed off as his eyes caught sight of Winter standing with the rest of his family in front of the carriage, "WINTERFELL'S BACK!"
Winter let out a huff as Olaf launched himself into her arms, the girl catching the snowman who liked warm hugs. She wrapped her arms around him, smiling brightly as the feel of snow. Her mother's magic ran heavily throughout him, the feel reminding Winter of her mother.
"Hi, Olaf," Winter eventually set Olaf back on the ground.
"Hello Elsa and Jack junior," Olaf smiled causing Winter to snicker at the name the snowman called her.
Apparently, as her mother, Aunt, and Uncle always told her this story, when Jack first met Olaf, Jack screamed because he did not realize Elsa had the power to bring life with her magic. Once the shock wore off, Jack then proceeded to be sour about the fact that he was unable to create a living snowman.
Sure, he could poof up a snowman, but he could not bring it to life. Or at least, he did not know how.
"It's so good to be home," Winter smiled with a small laugh, Sitara leaning against her.
Winter coughed as a small amount of Sitara's huge and crazy hair got into her mouth.
"Elsa and Jack are here!" Olaf suddenly announced brightly, pointing toward the sky where two figures were coming in hot.
Winter laughed as they got closer, seeing the figure of her mother screaming and holding onto Jack as though he were her lifeline. Elsa had some control over the wind, but nothing like Jack and Winter, so it was usually her clutching onto to Jack Frost as he traveled by the wind.
Jack himself loved the thrill of air travel and often took it to intense levels and speeds which scared the living daylights out of Elsa. While it amused Jack, it definitely did not amuse Elsa.
Jack Frost landed in all his glory, bending his legs as he held onto Elsa bridal style. Elsa had wide eyes and she was breathing heavily, still holding Jack in a death grip.
"We have landed safely, my love!" Jack said in a mock pilot's voice, his true childish and mischievous personality coming to light. "You may now exit Air-Jack!"
Jack was like Peter Pan in the sense that he was the kid who never really grew up. His personality reflected one of joking and happy nature, for the most part, the Winter King was always laughing.
He was a free-spirit too and was considered the most untraditional of any King ever seen. Rather than fancy clothing, Jack much preferred wearing a hoodie and jeans. Though, Jack often did wear his crown of ice.
Jack Frost had been alive for many centuries, but he did not look a day past twenty-one. He was extremely handsome as well, something Elsa hated and loved as it was not uncommon for Jack to be hit on by some girl.
Elsa herself was physically older than Jack by three years but was actually much younger than he. She was just as beautiful as she had always been, her fashion choice staying mostly the same with her dresses made of her snow magic.
She, even though she was younger than Jack, was way more responsible than him. In some ways, they were polar opposites with their personality and yet it only made them love the other all the more.
The only love that Jack had which equaled his love for Elsa was his love for the little girl they had together.
Once Elsa realized they were safely on the ground, her panicked gaze turned deadly as she glared at her husband.
"Jack Frost," she scolded, practically hopping out of his arms, "how dare you do that to me again! I swear by the Gods, that I will..." Elsa was repeatedly slapping Jack on his chest, Jack holding this hands up while laughing boyishly.
Jack Frost was skinny and tall, much taller than Elsa. Anna smiled widely, her love for her sister never-dying even after all these years. Anna had never been happier when she first met Jack and realized that her sister had finally found the love she deserved.
Winter herself was used to this bickering, watching her parents lovingly squabble.
"Mama, Papa!" Winter hollered while running toward her parents.
Jack and Elsa immediately stopped, turning to where their daughter was currently racing toward them. Elsa's anger faded away and was replaced by unconditional love, a smile spreading over her face as she watched the teenager who resembled so much of herself and Jack run to her.
Elsa was the closest, so Winter was pulled into her mother's arms first, Elsa laughing while clutching onto her daughter. Jack wasted no time in gathering both his girls into his arms, kissing Winter's head repeatedly.
It was always hard when Winter was away at school for Jack and Elsa, for they knew they were missing a large portion of Winter's last childhood days.
At the feeling of being in her mother's arms after so long, Winter sighed in peace. She remembered all the times when she was young and her mother would hold her, sing to her, or tell her stories. Winter had been rather attached to her parents for a very long while, so attached that up until eleven, she was unable to fall asleep unless either Elsa or Jack laid in bed with her.
Unlike most kids, Winter was not a daddy's or mommy's girl, she was attached to both her parent's equally. Whether it be playing with her father or being rocked in her mother's arms, she loved it.
Olaf suddenly let out a loud "aww" causing the family to pull apart and look at him, Elsa shaking her head.
"Hi, Olaf..." the Snow Queen smiled as Anna ran up to her sister pulling her into a hug.
"Elsa..." Anna muttered as Elsa hugged her little sister back with as much passion.
The two sisters had been through too much for their love to ever fade. During this, Jack had decided to take advantage and pull his daughter into his side.
Leaning down, Jack whispered the same thing he always asked when she came back from school. "Stir up any trouble at school?"
"No dad, I did ace all my tests though!" Jack scoffed playfully but was extremely proud of his daughter, even if she was not quite as mischievous as he was, he knew how hard she worked at school.
"Good job," he ruffled her hair, messing up the neat white strands.
"Papa," Winter groaned, trying to fix her hair while Jack let out a loud a laugh.
Winter was the same temperature as her parents, something that she took immense pleasure in.
"Dinner anyone?" Sitara questioned as soon as her aunt Elsa had released her and her brother from her hug.
Anna sighed playfully, "Sitara..."
"What? I'm hungry and I'm sure Winterfell is too, I mean I remember taking those trips from school and home, and they were not kind..." Sitara laughed, "...plus Winter is as skinny as a twig!"
"Sitara!" Soren scolded as Elsa turned around with a raised brow, pointing an accusing digit at her daughter.
"She's right, have you been eating properly?" She narrowed her eyes as Jack also looked at his child with a raised brow.
"Of course I have..." Winter laughed nervously, stopping at the looks her parents were throwing at her. She was rarely able to lie to them. "Fine, I may have skipped a few meals for studying!"
"Winter!" Elsa scolded along with Jack, Winter shrinking with a nervous smile.
"Dinner it is then!" Sitara announced, feeling slightly guilty about getting Winter yelled at.
Both Elsa and Anna sighed as Sitara grabbed Winter, both of them racing off.
"Oh..." Anna sighed, Elsa, finishing her sentence, "...what are we going to do with them?"