The Sweetest Dream

They climbed into their beds, side by side the way they always did, and pulled the covers up to their chins. The pink cloud drifted closer, right up against the glass, until the window seemed to glow a soft, warm rose. Elsa's eyes grew heavy. Lucas's did too. And somewhere between one blink and the next, the cloud opened like a door, soft and welcoming, and pulled them gently through.

They landed - if you could even call it landing - on ground that bounced like a trampoline and looked exactly like a mountain of spun cotton candy. Pink and blue and gold, piled in soft drifts as far as they could see, with little wisps floating up into a sky the color of bubblegum. "Where are we?" Elsa breathed. Lucas turned in a slow circle, eyes wide, and laughed out loud. "I don't know," he said. "But I think we're going to like it."

Something giggled behind a puff of blue cotton candy. Out popped a small, round, fluffy creature made entirely of spun sugar, with two candy-button eyes and a wobbly little smile. "Visitors!" it squeaked, bouncing on its stubby little legs. "We never get visitors!" More of them popped up all around, pink ones and blue ones and one bright golden one, all bouncing and giggling like a whole family of clouds come to life.

Elsa reached out one finger, careful, and the nearest fluff-creature bumped against her hand like a friendly puppy. It was warm, and soft, and smelled exactly like the fair. Lucas laughed and gave a gentle bounce on the cotton-candy ground, and three of the little creatures bounced right along with him, giggling every time they landed. "I wonder what's next," Elsa said, already smiling.

They followed the bouncing, giggling little crowd down a winding path, and the ground slowly turned harder and smoother beneath their feet, more like candy glass than cloud. On either side, tall trees grew out of the pink hills - trees with trunks like rock candy, twisted and sparkling, and leaves that looked suspiciously like striped peppermints. Lucas snapped one gently off a low branch, sniffed it, and grinned. "Peppermint," he said. "I wonder what's next," Elsa said again, tugging his sleeve toward a glimmering path ahead.

The path curled down toward a slow, wide river the color of warm caramel, moving so lazily that little swirls of gold light chased each other across the top. A bridge arched over it, made of what looked like hardened toffee, and it creaked pleasantly under their boots as they crossed. Below them, the caramel river burbled soft and low, like a lullaby with no words. Elsa leaned over the rail and watched her own reflection ripple in the gold.

On the far side of the bridge, the little cotton-candy creatures suddenly went quiet and pointed - up ahead, rising out of the pink hills, stood a castle built entirely from candy: gumdrop towers, a licorice gate, and windows made of clear, colorful hard candy that caught the light like stained glass. "I wonder what's next," Elsa whispered, but this time her voice had gone very small, and she reached for Lucas's hand without even thinking about it.

The licorice gate creaked open on its own, and there, coming down the candy-cane steps to meet them, was a girl about Elsa's own size - except her hair was spun sugar, her dress shimmered like sugar-glass, and a small candy crown sat perfectly on her head. She was, unmistakably, a princess made entirely of candy. Elsa's feet stopped moving. She ducked half behind Lucas's shoulder, suddenly shy down to her toes.

Lucas felt Elsa's hand tighten in his and gave it a small, steady squeeze, the way he always did. "It's okay," he said quietly, just for her. "She looks friendly." The Candy Princess tilted her head, and instead of looking grand or stern, she just looked - hopeful, the way you look when you're hoping someone will want to play with you. "Real visitors," she said softly. "I've been hoping for real visitors for the longest time."

That hopeful little wobble in the Princess's voice was exactly the thing that untangled the shy knot in Elsa's chest. She peeked out from behind Lucas's arm, then took one small step forward, then another, until she was standing right in front of the Princess. "I'm Elsa," she said. "I like your crown." The Princess's whole sugar-spun face lit up, bright as a lantern, and she reached out and took both Elsa's and Lucas's hands at once.

"Come on," the Princess said, tugging them both toward the courtyard, where the little cotton-candy creatures were already gathering, bouncing and humming a small, sweet tune. "We're having a celebration tonight - and now it's even better, because you're here." Ribbons of spun sugar unrolled themselves overhead like streamers, and the caramel river outside seemed to hum along in time, and for a little while, the whole candy kingdom danced.

They spun in slow circles with the bouncing little cloud-creatures, and shared warm caramel drizzled over pink cotton candy, and Elsa laughed so hard at one wobbly creature's dance that she nearly toppled right over - Lucas caught her elbow just in time, the way he always did. The Princess laughed too, delighted, and for one shining moment the whole candy kingdom glowed gold and pink and warm all at once.

But slowly, the way a fire settles into embers, the music grew softer. The colors around them began to blur gently at the edges, pink fading into a deeper, dreamier rose. The little cotton-candy creatures yawned, one by one, their bounces growing smaller and slower. Even the caramel river's hum dropped to almost nothing, a lullaby winding down toward its final, quiet note.

The Princess took Elsa's hand one last time, gentle now instead of eager. "Thank you for coming," she said softly. "Come back and visit again sometime, in your dreams." Elsa hugged her without even feeling shy about it anymore, and Lucas gave a small, sleepy wave, and the whole candy kingdom - the towers, the caramel river, the soft pink clouds - began to glow softer, and softer, and softer still.

And then, quietly as a held breath let go, Lucas and Elsa were simply home again, tucked warm beneath their own blankets, the last pink light of the cloud fading from the window into ordinary night. "Lucas," Elsa murmured, eyes already closing. "That was the best dream." "Mm," Lucas agreed, so quiet it was almost asleep already. "The sweetest one yet..."

Outside their window, one last small wisp of cotton-candy pink drifted by and disappeared into the dark, soft sky. And in their beds, side by side, Lucas and Elsa slept on, warm and safe and smiling, already dreaming of caramel rivers and dancing candy clouds, and a little princess who finally got the visitors she'd been hoping for.