Seulgi might be a little too clumsy or a lot too graceless to be a princess, but if there was one thing she should be praised for, it would be her unmatchable strong will.

She might never remember to sit with her back straight or to use the proper utensils on the dining table, but she would always be persistent in doing the right things.

She skidded to a halt in front of Irene’s room, her shoes screeching against the floor and her dress billowing with wind due to the sudden pause on her sprint.

She knew she shouldn’t run around the palace but oh well, there were so many fun things to do now that the snowstorm outside had stopped!

“Hi?” She knocked on Irene’s door thrice and waited, swaying on the ball of her feet excitedly. “Hello, Irene. It’s me, Seulgi! Do you want to go outside and play?”

She knew that Irene was free – there was nothing to do in her empty room, really – but she asked anyway because Mama did not raise her to be a rude person.

She waited patiently for an answer, which after several seconds, didn’t come back to her.

She tilted her head in confusion and tried again, thinking positively that maybe, her new friend didn’t hear her.

Irene could be taking a nap.

“Hi, Irene! It’s me, Seulgi. Again. I was just wondering if you want to build a snowman? The snowstorm outside has stopped and I think it is the perfect time to go outside and play with the snow!” She beamed and clasped both of her hands hopefully in front of her chest, but after several seconds, there was still nothing answering her.

Only the grey wooden door seemed to blink back at her and stared.

Or well, maybe she was the one blinking at the door because doors weren’t capable of blinking.

“Hello?” She got on her tiptoes and pressed her face on the door, peeking through the small keyhole and speaking with pressed on it. “Yoo-hoo, are you there?” Her voice came out silly.

Still, there was no answer for her.

Seulgi stepped back and scratched her head with confusion, and then shrugged.

It’s okay.

Maybe Irene didn’t really like snowmen.

She would try again tomorrow with another thing. It was no big deal.

She shook her feet and skipped down the hallways with springs on her steps, going down the stairs to play with the snow outside on her own.

The next day, she came to Irene’s door and knocked three times again.

This time, her offer was to have a snowball fight.

Irene still gave her no answer.

Seulgi stepped back and scratched her head again with confusion.

Okay. So, maybe snowball fight was a little too brutal for palace activity after all.

She would try again tomorrow with something more lady-like.

She skipped down the hallways to play by herself again, humming happily on her way.

The next day, she came back to Irene’s room again with the offer of knitting socks together – never mind that she didn’t even know how to knit socks – thinking that hey, Irene might like this graceful kind of activity.

But still, there was no answer for her.

Seulgi’s forehead crinkled and she scratched her head. She decided to try again with something else tomorrow. She wouldn’t give up just yet.

She tried again the next day, and the next day, and the days after that, until eventually, she lost count of how many days – or were those weeks? – she had spent trying to get Irene out of her room to no avail.

It was admittedly, a little tougher than she had first expected. But behold! She was not ready to lose her hope yet along with her terrible counting skills.

Seulgi tried again every day after that, until one day, when she passed by Irene’s room just when the girl was about to enter – where did she leave to? Seulgi wondered – Irene decided to give her a small nod and something that Seulgi supposed was a very, very awkward smile.

It was barely there and bordering on nonexistent and the door was shut again immediately afterwards, but hey, at least it was her first sign of recognition!

Seulgi stayed on the bright side and believed that one day, her new friend – well, soon to be friend, she hoped – would be comfortable enough to talk with her.

Because, really, no one should be left isolated alone like that.

Seulgi couldn’t even imagine if she didn’t have Mama, Papa and the helpers to play with her inside the huge castle. She would have been very lonely.

Hence, she wouldn’t stop trying for Irene.

Maybe if she tried with little gifts next time, Irene would respond.

Seulgi nodded with determination.

On Christmas Eve, she asked Gerda to make some candy canes with her in the kitchen and then swept all of them into the hood of her orange cloak.

She ran with them in her arms and stopped in front of Irene’s room, taking several of them out and then wrapping them with a napkin before sliding them under the door.

She drew in a long breath before putting out her best Santa voice. “Hohoho! Merry Christmas, my friend! Here are some presents for you because you have been a really good kid!”

She sprinted away immediately after that and hid behind a pillar, waiting hopefully for any movement that might be made on her present.

A long silent moment passed before she realized with disheartening disappointment that there was absolutely no movement made on it.

The shadow of the wrapped candy canes still sat forlornly behind the closed door.

Seulgi’s shoulders slumped and her grin pulled downward.

She worked so hard on those candy canes…

She sighed and slumped further, trying to tell herself that it was okay and that she would try again on New Year’s Eve with different treats.

Maybe, Irene didn’t like candy canes either.

She turned to walk back to her own room with less excitement than she had come with, when suddenly, her eyes caught a glimpse of a shadow moving behind the door.

The shadow seemed to stop behind the door and picked up her gift, because the candy canes’ form disappeared from the gap between the floor and the door.

A pair of blue shoes now stood visibly behind the gap and they seemed to hesitate there for a few seconds before a single, soft knock thumped from the other side of the door.

A sign of recognition!

The second one!

It really wasn’t much at all, but Seulgi beamed with an ear-to-ear grin anyway because finally! There was some progress.

Now she knew what Irene liked, too! Maybe the girl did have a sweet tooth just like her.

Seulgi promised to bring more sweets for her on New Year’s Eve and the nights after that.

Never mind Mama’s warning about holey teeth. They were still young. They could just grow another one.

She skipped away with a hum and spring on her steps, happy that she had managed to make someone’s Christmas a little bit better.

----------------------------------------

“Hey, is it true that she can freeze the entire palace?”

“Also, is it true that she can summon sharp ice out of nothing?”

“Will everything she touches instantly turns into solid ice and never thaws again?”

Seulgi stared at her two friends in turns and gave them the biggest frown of their lifetime because:

1. She wasn’t sure of the answers to all those questions

2. They really didn’t have to sound that afraid

Seriously, even if Irene could really do those things, it wasn’t like she was just going to do them for absolutely no reason.

If anything, Seulgi was sure that the reason why she had locked herself alone inside her bedroom for six entire months was because she was scared of all those things too.

“Why does everyone in this kingdom likes to make her sound so scary?” Seulgi lifted her hands dramatically and threw herself on the green grass behind the castle.

She stared at the clear blue sky and sighed. “She’s not the evil sorceress everyone makes her out to be, really.” Her hands toyed lazily with the fresh grass and noticed the familiar warmth.

With Winter and Spring left behind, Summer was quickly arriving to Arendelle.

Seulgi loved Summer the most out of all seasons, because it was the time when everything felt most heartwarming, colorful and lively.

She always got a weird boost of energy whenever Summer came around too.

Wendy, one of her friends whose father was one of the respectable Barons in Arendelle, looked at her with disbelief. “Papa said she nearly froze the entire palace when the maids tried to approach her.”

“Yeah.” Joy, her other friend whose father happened to be the General of Arendelle’s soldiers, nodded and supplied, “Papa said she nearly got Lieutenant Mattias dead just because she had a single nightmare.”

Seulgi groaned because she was outnumbered. “Oh, c’mon, guys. If it was the thing on her first day, Mama said she was just panicking. She didn’t really mean to hurt anyone!”

Irene had just lost her parents on that day, for fairies’ sake.

After that day, she had never done anything even close to dangerous anymore.

In fact, Seulgi thought that she was afraid of even hurting a fly. She was definitely one of the gentlest kids Seulgi had ever met. Absolutely nothing like the loud menace that she and her friends were.

“Still, to think that she nearly slit Lieutenant Mattias’ neck with ice just like that.” Joy spoke casually while biting onto her apple, acting as if she hadn’t just uttered something so gory.

At Seulgi and Wendy’s green faces, she raised a brow. “What? Was that too much for you cupcakes? I mean, Seulgi, you’re allowed to be a cupcake because you’re a princess, but Wendy, really? I thought you said you want to join Arendelle’s army one day.”

Sometimes, Seulgi just couldn’t believe that Joy was younger than Wendy and her.

The girl was too…scary.

“Well, excuse me, but not all of us are born of a family with seven generation history of being soldiers and witnessing terrible stuffs!” Plopping on the grass beside Seulgi, Wendy crossed her little arms and huffed. “Some of us grow up only learning how to play a flute or a harp.”

“That’s not only.” Seulgi supplied kindly. “I love your flute play. And your harp play.”

“Me too. Even though I’m not sure I know which one is flute or harp.” Joy threw her finished apple core aside and received a mild glare from Wendy. “What? It will become a natural fertilizer in a few days.”

Seulgi was never one to fuss much about cleanliness, but her voice sounded concerned when she asked, “Uh…have you been doing that all the time around here?”

“Yeah?”

Her eyes widened a bit and slowly – very slowly as if not to appear disgusted – she sat up from the grass and brushed her dress with another green face.

Joy laughed out loud and earned a handful of grass thrown at her by the two girls to give her a taste of her own medicine.

A mouthful of grass and a series of graceless splutter later, the younger girl sobered. “But really, why would you want to be in the army when you grow up?” She mused. “In my family, it’s kind of a thing, but your Papa is a Baron. You can just live a peaceful life at home, learning music and arts!”

“Well, because I want to help protect our people.” Wendy answered easily. “And, I can still learn music and arts while doing so. Who says we have to choose between two things anyway? We can be whoever we want!”

Seulgi beamed and piped in. “Oh, I agree! I think we should be able to be whoever we want! I want to help people too one day. I don’t want to just sit on the throne and give orders.”

“Uh, I don’t think your Papa –" Joy’s eyes widened a bit at her slipup and she slapped a hand to . “I’m sorry, I mean, I don’t think the King will agree to that. Which Princess – or Queen – has ever stepped into battlefields anyway?”

With that unanswered question, the younger girl rose from the ground and dusted her skirt clean of grasses.

Wendy and Seulgi followed her too.

“It’s almost sunset, I have to go back home.” Wendy scrunched her nose. “There’s another music lesson to attend.”

“Me too, but a training session with Papa.” Joy turned to Seulgi. “Are you going to bother the ice girl again?”

“Ice girl?” Seulgi had to laugh and shoved her away. “Her name’s Irene, c’mon. And she isn’t half as bad as everyone is making her out to be. I think she is actually pretty cool.”

“Uh, she is very cool, I’m sure.” Joy snickered.

“Okay, now I know that you are making an ice pun.” Seulgi shoved her again playfully. “But for real, she is…