"Your turn." Jack cocks his head at his snowflake painted on the window. I press my gloved finger onto the glass next to his design. Nothing happens.

My power strains to mimic his snowflake, but I am tired and cannot get past the protective fabric of my gloves.

I bite my lip. "I can't." I lower my hand, but Jack grabs it.

He secures my hand between his. "Yes, you can." His steady, gentle fingers tug at my glove.

I try to pull away, but he tightens his grip on my hand. "I trust you, Elsa. Now trust me."

I steady my breathing and nod. Jack pulls off my glove and drops it onto the window sill.

He rubs his fingers over the sensitive, bare skin of my hand. Goosebumps run from my fingertips to my elbows.

He releases my hand and touches the window again. This time his finger paints a snowman with frost.

"Now you try."

I lift my bare hand. My fingers shake. Fear courses inside me, but I don't want to disappoint Jack.

I press my fingers against the glass. I close my eyes and concentrate. I can feel the familiar sensation of ice leaving my fingertips.

I open my eyes. The entire window-every inch of it-is covered in swirls of ice and beautiful frosted snowflakes.

Jack laughs. "No need to show off for my sake."

"I didn't mean to." I smile and reach for my glove.

Jack scoops it up before I can. He leaps away from the window seat and waves my glove in the air.

My heart stammers in my throat. "Jack! This isn't a game. Give me back my glove!" I jump to my feet.

"Relax, Elsa. You can control your powers now. Consider this part two of your training."

I swallow. "I'm not joking. Please, give me my glove." I twist my gloved hand around my bare one.

Jack steps toward me, my glove still tightly clenched in his hand. "I'm not joking either. From the very first lesson I told you that this would be necessary. You need to control your power without the gloves."

"It's not fair! My gloves are like-like your staff." I say.

Jack folds his arms and nods at his staff leaning against the wall. "I use my staff to increase the effectiveness of my power, but I don't rely on my staff. I can still manage to control my power without it." He rubs his chin. "But you may have a point. You need a staff or some equivalent of it."

Frustration beats inside me. "Right now I just need my glove."

"Do one thing for me and I will give it back to you."

"I'm queen of Arendelle! I don't have to do anything for you. Hand over my property or I will throw you and the guardians out of my castle."

Jack raises his eyebrow and pretends to shiver. "No need to be so cold."

I glare at him. "You do not know what is at stake here. I could hurt you."

He rolls his eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you? You can't hurt me. I just want you to make a snowball."

Just like the first class.

I carefully pull my gloved hand out and tuck my bare hand against the folds of my dress. I form a snowball with my gloved hand.

"Done." I say smugly. "My glove?"

"Cheater." Jack shakes his head, but admiration sparks in his blue eyes. "That's something I would have done."

I grin despite the panic growing inside me. "Doubtful...but you would have done this." I lob the snowball at him.

Jack easily dodges my throw. He creates his own snowball and tosses it up in the air. "Don't use your gloved hand or I will take that glove too. Now I am going to count to three and throw this at you. I expect you to have made your own snowball by then, using your bare hand. If you hit me with a snowball before I hit you with mine, then I will give you back your glove. I promise."

He ignores my lack of response and throws his snowball up into the air. "One..."

I fold my arms. Right. As if I am really going to play his silly game.

Jack slips my glove inside the pocket of his cloak and rolls the snowball between his hands. "Two..."

I scowl. "Stop playing around-"

"Threeee-" Jack draws out the word. In that one second, my bare hand flickers to life and a hard-packed snowball punches Jack in the face.

He jerks backwards. His snowball falls uselessly to the floor. "Good job, but did you really have to be that fierce?" He rubs his nose.

I cross the distance between us and reach my hand inside the folds of his pocket. I pull out my glove.

Once my glove is back on my hand, I look up at Jack. Is he angry with me?

A half-grin plays across his face. "You have a good throwing arm."

I groan. "You're hopeless."

"But I did win the game."

"I am pretty sure that you just lost."

"No, I won because I showed you that it is possible to use your power without your gloves."

"I already knew it was possible. I created an ice castle, remember? Or have you already forgotten?"

"Okay, let me rephrase that. I won because now you can control your power without your gloves."

I shrug. "I guess."

Jack walks toward the door. "Lesson learned, lesson over." He swings the door open. "I am glad we had a chance to talk." His smirk reappears and he throws a snowball of his own at me.

I flinch, but before the snowball reaches me, it transforms into a small, pristine snowflake.

I study the gentle masterpiece. How did he do that? The door clicks shut behind Jack and only then do I let myself smile.

Not many people can make me smile, but he certainly can.