There Sleeps a Living Flower is a Frozen Fanfiction written by Wordmangler. Drawing from both the Andersen's original fairy tale and "The Little Match Girl", it tells the story of the privileged Princess Elsa and the beggar girl Anna as the former is saved by freezing one winter by the latter, and the impact each has on the other, as well as the secrets that end up being uncovered.
It can be read on FF.net here.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Anna's father beats her on the regular, and guilts her into scraping a living for him.
- Asshole Victim: Anna's father is accidentally killed by Elsa's power outburst, after he hits Anna and attempts to hit Elsa.
- "Ass" in Ambassador: Downplayed with the Duke of Weselton, who is not very likable but he's not obnoxious and has his moments.
- Balance of Power: Anna having been taken from her family to be raised as a beggar, and her being thought dead soon after birth by the royal family, is explained by the Sami shaman as having been orchestrated by the old gods, to counterbalance Elsa's princely upbringing.
- Her very existence is explained as such, being the "child of summer" who would - and does - counterbalance Elsa being the "child of winter".
- Barefoot Poverty: When she returns to her father, Anna soon sells her shoes for food.
- Big "WHAT?!": Both Elsa and Anna burst into one, when they are told that they are sisters.
- Book Ends: The story begins and ends with a little match girl who is helped out by a princess.
- Cosmic Plaything: Poor Anna, a princess by birth whose existence was erased from everyone's memory and that was taken to be raised by a beggar, because of a spat between old gods.
- Despair Event Horizon: After Anna gets cursed by Elsa's ice and turns away from Elsa, the latter finds herself once more alone, but now acutely aware of what she had been missing out before in her isolation.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: It's a long, tortuous way, but in the end Elsa and Anna both get there.
- Forbidden Friendship: Not quite forbidden, but when Elsa mentions how much she enjoys Anna's company, King Agnarr reminds her that because of the class differences between a princess and a maid, they will never be able to treat each other as equals.
- Foreshadowing: When the Duke of Weselton sees Elsa and Anna together, with the latter dressed up and pretending to be a lady, he asks if they are sisters.
- Earlier, when the Queen sees Anna trying on that dress, she reacts oddly, later saying that Anna looked remarkably alike herself when she was a child.
- Good Parents: King Agnar and Queen Idun may be strict at times towards Elsa, and don't appreciate her being friends with a lowly maid, but ultimately love and care for her very much.
- They prove to be this with Anna as well after the reveal, showing empathy and understanding towards her struggling in adapting to her new reality.
- Guilt-Induced Nightmare: After Anna sees her father during an excursion in the city, the guilt over abandoning him to fend for himself manifests as chronic nightmares.
- Hope Spot: Elsa has convinced Anna to come back to the castle, assuring her that she can still help her father... then the latter's abuse not only costs him his life, but leads to Anna's heart being frozen.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Elsa.
- I Lied: Anna's letter she leaves behind when she returns to her father admits that she lied about not having anyone, because she was afraid that if she told she still had her father she wouldn't be allowed to stay and work.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Hilde is not very friendly towards Anna, and is openly sconrful of Elsa, but in the end it's her advice that helps the latter realize what is going on with Anna's frozen heart and how to solve it.
- Knighting: For her starting off the resolution of Anna's power and the Reveal that she is the long-thought dead princess, Hilde is formally ennobled on the spot by King Angnarr.
- Let Me at Him!: Queen Idun has to be physically held back from the Sami shaman, when he recounts how their youngest daughter was taken from them and they received false memories of her dying soon after birth.
- Meaningful Name: Anna's family name is Sommersdottir, "daughter of summer". It points to her being the daughter of the summer winds balancing out her sister Elsa.
- My Greatest Failure: Queen Idun by the end feels guilty over not being able to be there for Anna when she grew up.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Anna's decision to leave the castle to return to her father, out of guilt and fear that he wouldn't survive without her help, ends up shoving her back into poverty and abuse.
- Power Incontinence: As in canon, Elsa struggles a lot with her powers.
- Really Royalty Reveal: The Sami shaman reveals that Anna is actually the King's and Queen's youngest daughter, and Elsa's younger sister, who had been thought to have died shortly after being born.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: In the epilogue, it is said that the royals of Arendelle have devoted a considerable amount of their wealth to improve the conditions of the poorest subjects of Arendelle, by building better lodgings and ensure they have decent food.
- Screw Destiny: Elsa is so adamant on helping Anna because she wants to believe that if she can save her from her own destiny, that is, freezing to death in the streets, she can change her own.
- Scullery Maid: Once brought to the castle, at Elsa's suggestion Anna becomes this.
- Shown Their Work: This fic is very well-researched, taking pains to makes things as historical as possible.
- The Powerof Love: As in Andersen's tale, as well as the film, Anna's frozen heart is thawed by Elsa's tears of sisterly love for her.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Despite her upbringing, her poverty and the abuse she faced, Anna is cheerful and optimistic, and almost anyone find her contagious and bringing out the best in everyone. It's eventually implied that it's part of her being the "child of summer" to her sister Elsa.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Anna, after her heart gets accidentally frozen by Elsa. She gets better
- Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Her Royal Highness the Princess Anna Louise Sonja von Oldenburg-Arnadalr.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Queen Idunn's desperation to have a child, and her subsequent deal with the old gods, ended up causing both Elsa to have ice powers, and Anna to be removed and forgotten, to be raised as a poor beggar.
- Wretched Hive: Hvitekapeller, the slums where Anna lives, are described in every horrid detail. When Elsa goes there, she is speechless.
- Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Anna's father has her convinced that she is a "bad girl" and the beatings she gives her are ultimately her faults for not doing enough for him or talking back.
- You're Not My Father: When it is revealed that Anna is the long-lost second princess of Arendelle, she - still with a frozen heart - refuses to acknowledge either the King and Queen or Elsa as relatives. Averted once her heart is thawed.
