#Branch is a lot like Kristoff too.

[purple-eyesgreydragon]

When me and my big sister watch Trolls Band Together. We strongly agreed that Viva was actually a lot like Elsa. At least in how her fear kept her from going out, and being with her family, and her little sister. As my sister said it "Viva is Elsa with ADHD."

Poppy is a bit like Anna too. So, why not do them in Anna and Elsa's signature first Frozen dresses? No though, I didn't bother giving Viva the French braid.

There were a few liberties I took to the dresses. Some are concept art inspired, others were my own twist. But all in all, I believe I got the point across. So behold Poppy and Viva Frozen style!

This is only my second time drawing Viva.

[siena-sevenwits]

Okay, just for fun, let me tell you all what Once Upon a Time is. I have never watched this show beyond very brief and scattered clips years ago, so this is mainly drawn from cultural osmosis and friend mentions. Let's see how badly I butcher this.

Snow White and Prince Charming get their wedding interrupted by an Evil Queen, and she's walking up the aisle with all the castle/church shutters slamming shut as she progresses, like Snape walking into class. And she's all, "Ha, I'm very evil, and you offended me somehow, and I'm going to steal your future daughter!" ...or maybe it's the daughter's christening, which would make the threat a lot more palpable. Or maybe it's not about the daughter. Maybe she's like, "Mwahaha, I am going to send you both to the REAL WORLD!"

One of the above.

Anyhow, their daughter is named Emma Swan, and she ends up living in Fort Langley - ahem, Storybrooke. (Sorry. At one point I lived not too far from where they film the real world scenes, and had friends who would sometimes spot the cast, though I never did.) Emma is cynical and jaded, and remembers nothing of her fairytale origins. But she has a son, Henry (adopted?) who is a cinnamon roll, and loves fairytales, and is a true believer and optimist.

I think the Evil Queen (Regina) raised Emma, and she's evil for a season or two or three but then gets a redemption arc, and we get motherhood stories both around Snow and Regina.

Meanwhile Snow and the Prince are questing for a way to find their daughter and defeat the evil queen, and eventually they get to Storybrooke, and possibly there's a memory wipe involved? At any rate, they obviously don't recognize the grown up Emma as their daughter at first, but they get to be close with her as a friend. Meanwhile, Henry is catching on to what's going on a lot faster than some.

Now there's also Belle, who is involved in a love/hate (but more so love) relationship with Rumpelstiltskin, who is a manipulative magic user in the fantasy world, but is also present in Storybrooke under the name of Mr. Gold, the pawnbroker/curiosity shop owner? Also still a manipulative magic user? This guy is constantly starting on/completing redemption arcs only to make evil choices again and it frustrates the fans because sometimes it seems like the writer's can't commit rather than they're pulling off a really complicated arc? But people enjoy him/find him fascinating.

Now there's a weird dynamic where more and more of the characters make their way into Storybrooke, but their stories are also featured in the fairytale world. This show is either super into flashbacks, or we're dealing with alternate timelines and time branches. Other people who get into Storybrooke? Red, who is Little Red Riding Hood in an incredible cloak that all the closplayers wanted at one point, and who now works as a waitress as a diner and has some encouraging words for Belle when she's having trouble with Rumple. BUT RED DIES TRAGICALLY! (Don't ask me how, or in which world.) There's also Captain Hook, who is all guyliner and longing looks and trying to be witty - but he also trades the Jolly Roger for Emma, and it's a huge sacrifice, and they have true, true love. He has the unlikely name of Killian in Storybrooke. (Come on - his name is James Hook!)

With the introduction of the Neverland Storyline (which is a cool storyline?) we move away from fairytales proper and just start including whatever Disney properties we want. Frozen gets shoehorned in there, as do Mulan and Brave. In Arendelle, Anna's preparing to marry Kristoff and tries on her mom's wedding gown which Elsa found, but then the trolls have some kind of bad news. Elsa gets sucked into a vase and transported to Storybrooke, where she accidentally freezes the town. Also Elsa's aunt Ingrid is there, secretly using her ice powers to run an ice cream parlour.

Meanwhile Anna's trying to get her back, and goes into the countryside where she meets Snow's Prince who now has long hair and is enslaved to Bo Peep and this is emphatically a different storyline than the other storyline(s) he's featured in? Maybe a curse made it this way? Anyway, Anna teaches. him to use a sword and stand up for himself. Then she and Kristoff go to the castle to research or something, and Elsa's there (maybe this is the backstory of how Elsa got to the real world?) and they find out about a spell that causes shattered sight (you only see the worst in other people, or maybe in the people you truly care about.) The spell is based on that mirror in The Snow Queen where a bit of flawed glass gets in your eye. Anna falls under the spell, gets resentful for the way Elsa treated her in childhood, and traps her in the vase (yes, this is definitely backstory!) Later Anna ends up in the water in a sea chest and somehow gets to Storybrooke?

Ingrid explains to Elsa that she wants a perfect family because her-non-magical family treated her like an outsider, and she wants Elsa to be part of her magical family. Elsa is appalled and resolves to fight her. Later, everyone in Storybrooke realizes the shattered sight spell is coming, and they all lock themselves in the jail or something so they don't tear each other apart. It doesn't affect Anna and Elsa though. But most notably Snow and her prince are fighting, and it's awful! They somehow got it all figured out in the end...

Many curses happen.

At some point Henry is the only believer. (In what? Magic? Love? their true fairytale identities? Who knows?)

There's an Author, and he's a scum, and maybe behind a lot of what's going on?

Merida shows up, and Emma goes through an arc where it looks like she might turn evil (the Black Swan? The Dark Swan?) and they go underground and stuff.

Eventually there's a musical episode, because Snow in the fairytale world wished for magic to help defeat the Evil Queen, and love expressed through song is super powerful. They sing a duet about how cool the singing is, and the fans are shocked that they're both great singers. Something evil happens, and they go in search of Hook, who's at a tavern and sings a big musical number about how he wants revenge on the crocodile for taking his hand, and he's backed by a wonderfully over the top chorus of pirates. (I have in fact seen this clip multiple times, because it's very fun.) Turns out the Crocodile he's talking about is the Dark One, who is Rumpelstiltskin, who is currently locked in Snow and the Prince's dungeon. Um... things sort out.

Eventually Emma and Killian have a wedding and it's a very climactic episode. There's a later season made, but we don't talk about it.

Best I got, folks.

[bigfrozenfan-fanfics]

Chapter 08 - The secret

Links: Chapter overview, Character list, Map, Glossar Rating: M over all Publishing cycle: each Friday on (link)

Remarks: all my chapters contain carefully selected music tracks. It’s your own decision if you want to use them or not while reading. The purpose is to musically support the respective mood of the plot. If you can please use a browser for reading (not the Tumblr app) due to the text formatting.

It was just before dawn when Mattias rode off to meet his companions. There was hardly anyone on the streets and he greeted friendly when he came past someone. After he passed the last house and took the path to the upper rock gate, he saw in the distance a vehicle with a canvas-covered body standing at the side of the road. When his companions noticed him, they waved at him.

When he reached them, he did not dismount but bent down and gave each of them a hand as a greeting. Both wore unobtrusive civil clothing.

“Good morning Trygve, good morning Kristina,” he said, sat up again and put both hands on top of each other on the pommel. “Ready for another trip to the Enchanted Forest?” he asked jokingly.

Trygve pulled a face, “Not really. It cost me almost my whole life.”

Kristina agreed and said, “Yes, I feel the same way. But you know, General Mattias, that we will always stand by your side faithfully. I hope we'll be away from there as soon as possible and I can enjoy my retirement on my little houseboat. The fjord is always better than that dreadful forest.”

Mattias nodded seriously, “I can understand that very well and I'm thankful for your willing to help me on this, hopefully very short mission, to get Elsa back to Arendelle incognito. I also want to return to Arendelle as soon as possible, to my dearest Halima. How have you been doing since you came back? We haven't had much of a chance to talk about it.”

“Well, I am back with my family and we are all doing very well. The financial support from the royal family, respectively from Queen Anna, has helped us all a lot and it makes life more comfortable,” answered Trygve.

Kristina looked far less satisfied and hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Unfortunately I have no one else. My relatives died three and four years ago. I visited their grave only last week. But I have made new friends and we do a lot together. I was also able to buy a houseboat and a small sloop with my severance pay. I sail out with it very often on the fjord.” After a little while, she added, “Over all, I'm doing quite well and I can be happy to spend my retirement in Arendelle this way.”

“I'm happy for you,” said Mattias and smiled, but then, turning to Kristina with a sad expression on his face, he added, “I'm sorry for you, Kristina, that you were not able to see your relatives again. My deepest condolences.”

She nodded sadly, "Thank you."

Trygve had looked at her with concern during her narration and now put a hand on her shoulder. “Sorry for you, Kristina, I didn't know.” They looked at each other. “Let's do something together when we get back ... and hey, if you don't mind I'd like to go for a sail on your sloop with you. I'll bring the food too.”

She laughed and nodded. “I'd love to, Trygve.” But then they both lapsed into thoughtful silence.

“All right, folks, the sun's coming up over the horizon. We should slowly set off,” Mattias interrupted their thoughts and took the reins in his hand.

The two nodded and got on the wagon side by side. Trygve had the draught horse trotted, Mattias rode after them. When they had passed the rock gate, Mattias looked back. The first sunrays had already reached the upper part of the castle and bathed the top in a warm light.

~~~

It was of course Olaf who was the first to notice that something was different than usual. While Kristoff and Anna were still enjoying their togetherness in bed, he had already gone outside in the early morning hours and looked around the camp. Since he had been able to read and write, had read all the books he found in the castle for the last two years, and was now even a regular guest in the Arendelle library, he had developed a new view of the world around him. He was curious and liked to combine contexts that no one else saw as he did. Where others took many things for granted, he questioned everything and was the only one who noticed that the Northuldra camp was unusually empty this morning. Apart from women and children, not a single one of the men was to be seen.

“Tell me, guys, isn't it curious that there are barely any men around the camp today? All I see are some women and their little ones.”

Anna and Kristoff sat together with him still a bit sleepy at the fireplace and looked now first at him, but then also peered around surprised.

“You are right, Olaf,” Anna said and raised her eyebrows. “Where did they all go?”

“Maybe they have heavy work to do and need all the strong men for it?” Kristoff surmised and shrugged his shoulders.

“Or maybe they are doing what they often do in Arendelle Castle in the morning when one of those council meetings is taking place,” Olaf replied. Anna and Kristoff looked at him in amazement.

“Might well be,” Anna pondered and nodded thoughtfully, but what could be so important and why didn't they tell me about it; she asked herself. It certainly has something to do with Elsa, but I am her sister and Queen of Arendelle after all, so I should also be informed about everything that concerns her. She made a thoughtful face.

“Let’s gonna find it out,” Kristoff said and stood up. Then he went straight to the next Northuldra woman who was repairing the tunic of one of her children. “Excuse me, but we were just wondering where all your men went. It's so empty in the camp today.”

“They have important things to do today,” she said with a smile and returned to her work. Kristoff turned to Anna, pursed his lips and, with his shoulders raised, spread his arms wide to communicate the disappointing answer.

Anna frowned and now also stood up to ask the next woman the same question. She headed for a young woman who was cutting vegetables for the morning soup in front of her kota. But Anna did not receive a satisfactory answer either, as her expression indicated, when she turned around again and looked at her companions helplessly.

Shaking her head, she went back. “I guess we won't get an answer from anyone else either, by the looks of it.” They both sat down again and looked at one another questioningly.

What have they got to hide; Anna asked herself, and above all why? She put her head in her hands and pondered.

~~~

Two Northuldra men waded through a shallow part of a quietly flowing wide creek and started to run faster once they reached the other side. The forest was slowly getting denser and man-sized bushes seemed to block the way. But the men knew exactly where a hidden path led through the undergrowth, and shortly afterwards they were no longer to be seen.

When they came out on the other side they stepped into a wide clearing. In the center was a large, elongated building, the upper part of which consisted of a tower-like construction, with skilfully timbered beams that protruded from the symmetrically built roof and ended at the upper end under a pyramid-shaped, open spire. Inside, a narrow wooden staircase led to the top, ending in a small platform. The lower part of the building had some narrow window openings placed remarkably high below the long roof boards, designed exclusively to let light into the interior.

Besides from the central entrance no windows were visible. Instead, at regular intervals long white birch branches were attached to the house in such a way that it almost looked as if they would support the whole structure. The branches protruded through the overhanging roof and then branched filigree upwards. Around the house, large birch trees grew at regular intervals, which were conspicuously straight and with their foliage formed a natural roof over the entire clearing and the building. This place looked impressive and almost magical.

The men rushed through the open double door and one of them pulled it shut behind him.

“Oh man, there you are at last, you're late! You must have been up against a big fish again, Joná?” joked one of the men standing near the entrance, laughing at the fisherman. It was the same one who had been on the beach the day before with a few others to interrogate Joná. Behind him, the hall was filled with Northuldra men, who seemed to be waiting for something, and some of them were talking animatedly.

Joná pulled a face, “Of course not, Völund, but the catch has to be brought to the camp by somebody, or do you want to have stinking fish on your plate later?” Völund waved off bored and turned around again.

The two fishermen looked at each other for a moment, nodded suspiciously and sneaked to the right side of the hall, where there was a second, smaller entrance. This door was wide open. Joná looked around and had to admit to himself that they had apparently really been the last, all the men from the camp were already present. Then he looked up in amazement. The room was very high with an open beam construction. Daylight flooded through the narrow windows. Torch holders were placed under each opening, and underneath them ran a balustrade around the entire interior. At the front, opposite the double doorway, a narrow staircase wound upwards, part of which led inwards in a semicircle and ended in a small opening at the top leading to the tower they had seen from the outside.

Joná had never been here, but of course he knew about the place and the purpose of it. In earlier days there was always a big kota in their camp, with a second entrance remarkably similar to the one he was standing next to now. This access was usually reserved for the shaman, the Noaidi of their people and this kota was used exclusively for rituals and the Norting, a grand assembly of his people. But this was long before his time and on recent decades, as he knew, there was no need of calling out a Great Ting. The last time was before the dam was built and the diplomatic negotiations with the foreigners from Arendelle were started. On these days, their elder had called for a meeting, but was shortly after murdered by this king behind his back. Today Yelana was their unspoken leader, and now it fell to her to proclaim a Norting if neccessary.

Joná was too young back then to attend such a meeting, but his father had told him all about it. Every man in his tribe ought to attend it as they came of age. At least when the opportunity arose. Today was apparently such a day, and Yelana, although not a Noaidi, just came in through the side door. She glanced around the hall for a moment and nodded at him briefly when she noticed him. Joná raised an eyebrow in surprise. Then she circled the waiting men and stood on one of the lower stairs to be heard well everywhere. It became quiet among those present.

She cleared her throat. “Traditionally, I am obliged to call a Norting when an important decision is about to be made and its consequence affect all of us. There are disturbing news related to recent events.”

In the hall there was a low murmur and many looked at each other with concern.

“However, I must first point out that my conclusions are based on suppositions, some of which have not yet been confirmed. Highly plausible assumptions, however. Our fifth spirit Elsa was probably attacked on purpose and there is possibly a certain person behind all this, someone who might have a good reason for it. That someone is also most likely behind the disappearance of the other four nature spirits.”

The worried murmurings in the hall abruptly increased.

“Hear me. I had a hunch, so I went to see Gyda yesterday.”

From the ranks of those present, someone shouted out loud and clear, “Gyda? What does this old witch have to do with it?”

Yelana's gaze swept around, angrily fixating on the one who presumed to disturb her speech and pointing at him with an admonishing index finger. “Be quiet and don't interrupt me! You have no idea what you are talking about. Gyda is not who many of us think she is. She is a solitary person, I admit, but she has been through a lot in her life, and if you would let me finish, you would understand.”

Yelana took a deep breath and outlined in short, rough words what Gyda had told her and how much it had burdened her. However, she left out the climax for now. Yelana was known for her seriousness, but there was one thing she did not miss out on, and that was to bring certain things to the point at the right time. Some of the younger men opened their eyes in surprise when she ended, but didn't dare say anything. Yelana noticed it, of course.

“Yes, those of you who were born under the mist may not have known it yet, but before Elsa, we had another fifth spirit. The older ones among you, including me, still knew him. He was difficult to deal with him, to say the least.”

Some nodded affirmatively.

“It was Gyda's own decision that she lived in seclusion ever since, and many of us have supported it. We have all, in our gullibility, judged her prematurely.”

One could see how many of the heads were lowered and it became quiet as a mouse.

And then Yelana got to the point, and somehow she enjoyed that moment, “Gyda had a son!”

It was quiet for a second, and everyone remained motionless to process what they had heard, but in the next second a wave of excited, loud word fragments burst onto Yelana, when most people suddenly realized what it meant. Yelana let them go for a few moments, but then struck several times hard with her gnarled birch cane on one of the steps above her. The whole construction vibrated and boomed and it became instantly quiet again in the hall.

“We do not know what he is capable of. But the fact that he apparently has the spirits under control and tried to kill Elsa and almost succeeded tells me that he is not to be underestimated by no means. He is different from his father in one crucial respect. He's out for revenge. Revenge on all those who were partly responsible for his father's death. Revenge on all those who came from Arendelle, home of that murderer Runeard.” She let the words sink in, then continued in a softer, but insistent voice.

“I deliberately did not invite Queen Anna and her companions, for as long as they are among us, we too may be the target of Kolgrimr, the name Gyda gave to him. For the time being, none of them may know our secret of the old fifth spirit and his son, and if they had not already planned to leave tomorrow and take Elsa with them, I would have arranged for it myself. Both Anna and Elsa are half Northuldra and half Arendellian and are descended from one of our oldest families. We owe them both so much when they freed us last year and we have made a new peace between us and Arendelle. But I admonish you all anyway. All this is something that we cannot control and we all have to decide this way, because unfortunately there is still something you do not know.”

Yelana paused in the silence and then looked over to Joná. “Come here, Joná,” she said forcefully and waved him over.

All heads turned and looked into the corner where he was standing. Völund's jaw dropped and Joná didn't know what was happening to him. He hesitated and looked around him nervously.

“You need not be afraid. Come...,” Yelana added reassuringly. Slowly he moved towards her, his head lowered and he wished he could hide now, it was clearly visible on his face. Finally he stood next to her and she put her hand on his shoulder.

“Because we had just talked about the fact that many of us have many prejudices and show a lack of respect for one of our own. Here stands Joná and he has done something that showed a lot of courage and conviction to want to help us all. He dared to approach Ahtohallan with his boat despite the ban, because he wanted to find out what was behind all these events. I don't mean to say that I approve, but he found out something that we otherwise wouldn’t know and which was ultimately decisive in convening this Norting.” She whispered to him that he could go back, and Joná hurried to comply.

“Ahtohallan lies beneath a magical fog wall, identical to the one that trapped most of us here for over 34 years. This is probably also the reason why Ahtohallan no longer has a connection to the nature spirits and can no longer help us. There is only one person who can be responsible for this and I hope you now understand why we are all in great danger if this kind of threat should come upon us.”

The ensuing turmoil was indescribable and Yelana had a hard time bringing everyone back to their senses. In the end, she raised both arms and moved her hands up and down to appease them.

“Please calm down again! I can understand your concern, but we are not his main target, please be aware of that. Kolgrimr survived somewhere under the mist completely alone for over 35 years since he was a seven year old kid and he never turned against us once. I guess none of us can even imagine the hatred and despise he has for Arendelle. That is also the reason why none of them can stay among us here. He has only recently started to put his plans into action and I can only hope that Elsa will very soon remember who she was before and what powers she once had. Keep your eyes and ears open and tell me immediately if you discover anything unusual. But please, stay away from him. He may be Northuldra, but no one can say what has become of him in all this time.”

Yelana took a deep breath and finally dissolved the assembly. “That's all for now. You can go back to camp now.”

As the last of them had streamed out of the hall, she sat down on the stairs, a little exhausted. “I don't want to be in the shoes of the Arendellians and I hope that Elsa still has her magic,” she muttered softly to herself and it sounded almost like a prayer.

~~~

---

I hope you have enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a comment if you liked the story, I would be pleased to read your opinions, even criticisms. If you want to be tagged as soon I publish the next chapter please let me know.

Remarks: Back when I was writing this chapter, I dreamed of this hidden building and always wished that someone might be able to draw it for me or that I would be able to do it myself. It wasn't until recently that I dared to do an edit and took Disney's concept art of the Northuldra-style Arendelle Castle as a basis for my story and modified it accordingly. I wish I had better quality imagery for the two Northuldra fishermen there, it took me quite a bit of effort. Hope you like the result.

Tagging: @karma26 @whether-near-to-me-or-far @annaofthenorthernlights @igotelsapregnanthelp

[loonysama]

8, 9 And 13 for the question asks :)

8. Which character(s) do you find easiest to write?

Hands down Anna from Frozen. I feel like I know her inside and out. Give me any AU and I know exactly how to characterize her (though I'll admit it took me a lot of time and hard work to get there). I guess I just relate to her, maybe a little by personality, but definitely some of her back story, which I think is a really important part of characterizing her. Plus she's fun and spunky and bossy and a even little annoying at times. And Kristoff is sort of the best so it's really easy to ship them as my OTP. Who wouldn't love to write a character like that?

9. Which character(s) do you find most difficult to write?

Elsa from Frozen is really hard for me to write. I just really have a hard time getting into her headspace, which surprises the hell out of me since she was the character that drew me in to Frozen in the first place, and I feel like I have a lot of things in common with her, too. I usually end up writing her as really distant (which she absolutely is in F1). But I don't know. Maybe I'm just not ready to face those similarities. I do have a Last Unicorn AU in development (way down the pipeline) that centers around her, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get closer to her.

I've also shipped her with Honeymaren (F2) and Jack Frost (Guardians) and I've not really been able to write them as well as Anna/Kristoff. I don't know if I don't really feel strongly about those ships, but I'm lately feeling her more as ace or aro-ace, and maybe that's what it is. To be fair, though, I've never shipped her with Hans (Frozen). And sorry Elsanna fans! More power to you, but I can't.

13. First fandom you ever wrote for?

The first is Frozen, and still the one I am the most passionate about. I have branched out a little and am currently working on a top secret story about a completely different fandom that I'm pretty excited about. 🤐

Thank you so much for the ask @rohirrimwriter! This was so fun!

💕💕💕💕💕

[yumeka36]

The ending of Frozen 2...a year later

I try to stay away from touchy subjects like this, at least here on Tumblr. But since @greatqueenanna @the-blue-fairie and @vuelie-frost have recently written inspiring posts on this topic (which you can read here, here, and here), I wanted to give my two cents (well, more like a thousand cents because what I thought would just be a few paragraphs ended up becoming a mini-book!)

Just to be clear, my intention here is not to argue with anyone or invalidate their feelings about the end of Frozen 2. It's quite the opposite, actually. In my view, when we're presented with a beloved hobby that has disappointed us, we have a couple of options: one is to simply stop partaking in that hobby and move onto one that brings us more pleasure (no doubt some ex-Frozen fans have done that), or keep sticking around the fandom despite constant negative feelings about it which, I can't imagine, is that enjoyable. But there's another option too: when presented with something we don't like but won't divorce ourselves from and yet have no power to change – in this case, how Frozen 2 ended – what we can change is how we view it. The fact that people who disliked Frozen 2 are still part of the fandom even a year later shows just how strong the Frozen characters and their world are…that despite dissatisfaction, fans are still not willing to give up on the franchise and leave it in favor of another fandom. And if they're not willing to give up, but still can't help feeling let down about it, I'm hoping the reasoning I present in this post can possibly offer a fresh and, hopefully, more appealing perspective. My intention here is to help alleviate hard feelings, not entice arguments.

I also want to mention that I'm only discussing the ending of the movie, specifically the fact that Anna is queen of Arendelle and Elsa is living in the forest. I've addressed most other topics of theorizing and criticism in my Frozen 2 analysis book “Seek the Truth,” which you can read here. While I did discuss the ending in detail in the last chapter, I didn't expand on it nearly as much as I will in this post.

To make things easier, I'm going to address the most common griefs about the ending one at a time and offer my input:

-----

Anna and Elsa were separated for 13 years so they shouldn't be separated again.

I definitely agree that it would be tragic if they were forced apart again, unable to have a relationship like they did for most of their childhood. But the more times I watch Frozen 2, the more I just don't see that in the ending. To me, a separation is when both sides are split up against their will, unable to get together again. That's not the case for Anna and Elsa. I admit the epilogue of the movie was rushed, but out of the many loose ends it could have touched on, the filmmakers made sure to include Anna's letter to Elsa about charades night, which to me shows that they want us to know that the sisters still get together regularly (that's the feeling I get from the movie; I'm not including the questionable canon of the storybooks/comics in this, which I’ll discuss a little later). We could still infer they get together even if they didn't show the letter, because we know the forest is free again and Elsa can ride Nokk to Arendelle whenever she wants. But the filmmakers chose to show the letter to make it clear that there's nothing keeping them apart.

So then the point becomes "spending only 3 years together isn't enough." What number is enough, then? 5 years? 10 years? Any number is arbitrary for a case like this. But the length of time doesn’t matter because, to me, Frozen 1 showed how strong of a bond Anna and Elsa have despite hardly ever being in physical contact…a bond of love strong enough to thaw a frozen heart. So to think that now they could never be happy unless they're physically together 24/7 does an injustice to that bond that transcends physical boundaries. They suffered because of their separation in Frozen 1 – that was a true separation, because they wanted to have a relationship but were forced apart against their wills – and at the end of the movie, they could finally have the relationship they were yearning for. And at the end of Frozen 2, not only was their love cemented further from the epic adventure they shared, but they can continue to see each other as a family as well as live out the new roles bestowed upon them. Unlike a movie with an actual separation ending, like Toy Story 4 for example, where Woody and Buzz would never be able to see each other again except by some crazy coincidence, there is literally nothing stopping Anna and Elsa from continuing to have adventures together in future stories, while also satisfying their new duties and enjoying their lives both individually and as a family. That sounds like a very fulfilling life to me.

But the "Anna sans Elsa" book proves that they barely see each other and Anna misses Elsa a lot.

This sentiment comes down to whether you want to consider the relatively few post-movie storybooks as true canon or not. I consider them loose canon at best because no one involved with the creation of the canon Frozen movies/shorts had any involvement in their development and probably even knows they exist. There's also the fact that they're having such a minimal release – just one or two European countries have been getting them, and they're not even being released in English, which is arguably Disney's largest market. There're also conflicting implications between the stories, for example, the "Anna sans Elsa" book implies that Elsa hasn't visited for a long time, but the German comic where Elsa visits for charades implies that she does visit regularly (from @bigfrozenfan‘s translation here, she says "I wouldn't have missed an evening of charades with you for anything in the world!"). Then there's the "Explore the North Book" which shows Queen Anna visiting Elsa in the forest. Just because this book isn't a story is no reason to disregard it, especially when you consider the fact that it was the first book released to show the sisters interacting post-movie, plus it was actually released in larger markets, like the US and Japan. Even Anna's letter within the movie canon itself, telling Elsa not to be late for charades, is not written in a way that implies she hasn't seen Elsa for a long time. If anything, it implies the opposite to me…that these visits occur regularly. So what we can conclude from this is that Disney's publishing branch is releasing a few post-movie stories to limited markets to make some extra earnings, but obviously the book/comic authors are restricted with the kinds of stories they can depict; as in, they can't have stories that would affect the lore and canon, like showing Elsa's role in the forest or how Northuldra/Arendelle relationships are progressing. So they're going with safe side-stories like Anna doing familiar things in Arendelle and Elsa visiting for charades – things that can be inferred from the movie's ending but don't continue the narrative past that. This could also be why these books are having such a small release. Perhaps because the English-speaking market is so large, anything brought to that market could be seen as having relevance and clout, and Disney doesn't want that for these stories (because there's really no reason to not bring the books to other markets when children's book sales are soaring thanks to the pandemic). The "Anna sans Elsa" book is even getting a re-release with new pictures, again, only in French, which to me further illustrates the limitations on post-movie stories currently going on. So ultimately, I would not take details from these books/comics that are available to only 0000.1% of Disney's worldwide market as the "word of god," especially when they're inconsistent with each other and canon implies otherwise.

Anna isn't fit to be queen.

I'm not really sure what (canon) examples there are of Anna showing traits that would hinder her ability to be a good queen, or at least not as good a queen as Elsa. Is the reason for this because of her naivete about Hans? There's no evidence that shows she hasn't learned her lesson from that…it's not like she rushed into marrying Kristoff right away. If it's something about her personality being too reckless or something, Elsa has exhibited recklessness too, doing things without forethought like running away to live alone in an ice palace and risking her life to dive into Ahtohallan. But despite having these very human flaws, Elsa still turned out to be a good queen, so why would Anna be the opposite? Anna has proven herself to be brave, noble, and outgoing with people…all of which are great qualities for a ruler. Plus she's lived among royalty her whole life, and no doubt helped Elsa during her reign as queen, so she's not going into the position as a total novice. We barely see Elsa doing queenly activities in the Frozen canon, so how can we assume she's so much more fit to be queen than Anna? Again, I think this is another sentiment that stems from an aversion to something unfamiliar: fans want Elsa to remain queen because we've been familiar with that for years, but that doesn't mean Anna can't be a good queen, too. Canon-wise we haven't yet seen Anna do anything in the way of ruling, so why not give her the benefit of the doubt and a chance to prove herself?

The first Frozen established that Elsa shouldn't live in isolation and yet she's doing it again in Frozen 2.

In the first Frozen, Elsa isolated herself out of fear and refused to even get near anyone. What evidence is there that this is happening at the end of Frozen 2? I've heard assumptions that she's living in Ahtohallan now, but we don't know that for sure. The last scene of the movie shows her heading in that direction, but she could be visiting too. But regardless of where her actual place of dwelling is now, there's no reason to believe she's shutting herself off like she did in the first movie. The epilogue shows that she's happily interacting with the spirits, the Northuldra, and makes visits to Arendelle. Home is more than just a physical place where one dwells and sleeps; even if the forest is where Elsa does this now, Arendelle is still her home in all other regards.

An offshoot notion of Elsa living on her own in the forest is that it's somehow akin to the idea that "people who are different should live outside normal society." I don't understand this because to me it implies the person in question is being shunned; that they want to live in normal society but normal society doesn't want them. That is definitely not what's going on at the end of Frozen 2. As I'll explain in the following paragraphs, Elsa stays in the forest because she feels a newfound sense of freedom and is thrilled to explore this new world she found, but she can freely go back to Arendelle whenever she wants, and there's no indication that anyone there loves her any less (they should love her more actually because they all witnessed her save the kingdom from the tidal wave!) At the end if the movie, no one's being ostracized for being "different." Everyone's doing what makes them happy and can freely come and go as they please.

Why does Elsa need to stay in the forest? Why can't she stay in Arendelle and visit the forest?

A large majority of the hard feelings about Frozen 2's ending comes from the fact that it didn't clearly show what Elsa's role in the forest is. I definitely admit that the ending would have benefited from expanding on this, even just another line or two. But to me, it still leaves enough information for us to make reasonable inferences about what she's doing. We don't see the Northuldra or Arendellians interacting in the epilogue, which makes sense since they hated each other for decades and it'll take time to mend the relationship between them. When Elsa says to Anna "we'll continue to do this together" conveys to me that she knows they still have work to do as far as making amends between the kingdoms…she and Anna can serve as dual queen ambassadors between the two sides, a bridge, so to speak. Then there's also the fact that the spirits were angry for decades and it'll take time for them to return to the peaceful coexistent they had with the Northuldra, something Elsa can certainly help with (again, we don't see the spirits interacting with the Northuldra in the epilogue, only with Elsa).

On top of that, there's the fact that Elsa spent her whole life believing she was the only magical being in the world, and now she's discovered this whole new land of magic just waiting to be explored. As I explained in my analysis book, if we consider Elsa believing for years that her powers were a curse and no one but her possessed magic, and suddenly she's brought to a place where other magical beings exist, as well as a group of people who live in harmony with them, plus the fact that she's somehow a bridge between both magic and humans, it makes sense she'd be ecstatic and want to spend time indulging in this new land. The reason she doesn't just visit the forest while living in Arendelle is because being queen is a full time job that requires her to be present as much as possible. Trying to stay on top of all her queenly responsibilities while going back and forth to the forest all the time wouldn't amount to the kind of quality she wants for Arendelle royalty. But having someone like Anna who's already familiar with royal activities and loves Arendelle with all her heart, would be perfect for the role. Elsa never indicated it was her dream to be queen of Arendelle. She was born into the role and accepted it, and if the events of Frozen 2 never occurred, would have probably lived out her life happily in that position. But happiness isn't necessarily a final destination and sometimes things come along that alter the status quo, but also enhance what we thought was already a good life. What we can infer from Frozen 1 is that she doesn't want to live in fear and have to constantly suppress her powers and that she wants to have a relationship with her sister again. None of this is taken away from her at the end of Frozen 2: she's not living in fear but in freedom, she can use her powers without restraint and in brand new ways with the spirits and Ahtohallan, and she can not only continue to see her sister often and foster their relationship, but she can grow her relationship with herself and this new realization about the origin of her powers. And still another reason, perhaps the true purpose of the fifth spirit is more than a single task and Elsa is trying to discover what it is: what more can she do with her amazing powers now that the forest is free, both for the benefit of the Northuldra, the spirits, Arendelle…maybe even the world? There's a wealth of possibilities for future stories, and I believe this ties back to the fact that the post-movie books/comics can't touch on what her role in the forest is because it's too closely tied to continuing the canon story, and until the heads at Disney decide what direction to take it, all spin-off content will be limited.

And yes, it's true that these are just my theories, but they're theories based on many hours of rewatching, analyzing, and thinking critically about the movie, which I think is better than just dismissing the idea that Elsa has a role to play in the forest simply because it wasn't explicitly shown. Just because Elsa's new lot in life isn't spoon-fed to us doesn't mean it doesn't exist, and I think it's much more logical, and imaginative, to assume she's doing the kinds of things I just mentioned as opposed to doing nothing of significance in her life now. I prefer to be logical and imaginative, so I’m going with these reasons unless canon shows otherwise.

-----

After reading all this, you might think I'm in love with the ending of Frozen 2 and think it's perfect, but that's not the case. While I love Frozen 2 overall, I admit that the ending was rushed and it wasn't my first choice of an ending for the sequel I was anticipating for years. But at the same time, I'm open-minded, especially in regards to the fact that the story and characters I'm invested in are not my personal creations. They’re the products of someone else’s experiences, values, and beliefs, and I have to recognize that this is what makes them interesting even though I may not agree with everything. But who am I to say that my vision and headcanons for Frozen are somehow better than those of the filmmakers? I don't think so highly of myself as being more of an authority on Frozen than the creators themselves or even my fellow hardcore fans. But I have spent many hours of my life these past 7 years examining and analyzing the franchise and its characters, so I'd like to believe my words have at least some weight to them. That's the wonder of fiction…that someone's ideas can be interpreted and appreciated in a variety of ways by a variety of people. But that's also the tragedy of fictional stories that continue on with long gaps in between, like the gap between the two Frozen movies. During that long time, we can't help but build and prop up our headcanons and develop the feeling that we know these characters inside and out, what is and isn't good for them, how they would and wouldn't react in all situations, etc,. But two and a half hours (which is about the length of time of Frozen 1 plus the two shorts) is not enough time to show so much of a characters’ personality that we could really know them as much as we’d like (especially Elsa, who got relatively little screentime in the first movie). So when we're presented with the continuation of the story and find that the creators had a different view, a view that didn't return to the status quo we were familiar with, it can be very jarring. But that's the risk of falling in love with someone else's creations. And thankfully, the beauty of headcanons is that they're all our own and can be adjusted. Even though the outcome of Frozen 2 was not what I was expecting, it was a minimal effort to adjust my headcanons because I don't feel the ending was so outrageous and far removed from everything I loved previously about the franchise, for reasons I hope I explained clearly in this post.

If you still can't feel any better about the end of Frozen 2 despite all I've discussed here, I'm sorry…I really tried my best. All I can say now is that I hope future content will rekindle your appreciation for the franchise. I know it's been over a year since Frozen 2, which seems like a long time to go without any announcements of new material, but we have to remember that that's not a long time at all by Disney standards. The recent Disney investor's meeting proves how long it takes to churn out new content, especially on the animation side of things, as it took years for Princess and the Frog, Zootopia, and Moana to finally get new content. Disney immortalizes all their popular franchises and could go back to them months, years, or even decades later (The Lion Guard series came out over 20 years after The Lion King for example). Unlike other Disney franchises like Marvel and Star Wars that have their own production teams and studios, Frozen has to share resources with all of WDAS's other projects. So a year is still too early for the studio to go back to Frozen again, especially if you consider that it's technically only been a few months since we got new Frozen content in the form of Once Upon a Snowman. Patience is the key now and we don't know what the future holds. But I'm someone whose opinions will change with new information, so maybe tomorrow we could get an announcement about a new Frozen YA novel or Disney+ series that shows Anna and Elsa rarely see each other and Anna misses Elsa and Elsa's doing nothing noteworthy in the forest and everything I've said here can be tossed out the window. I don't think that will be the case though, so as long as we don't know anything for sure, I want to go with a positive outlook because, at the end of the day, your fandoms should lift you up instead of bring you down. Frozen is a juggernaut for Disney so I'd rather they take their time with the next installment for the franchise. It's not so much a question of "if" as much as "when" and "in what form"? So until we have those answers, I wish you all well…don't let the hope die out.

[calenheniel]

more fic dribbles.

It's fun writing the "Kristoff and Hans competing for Elsa's hand" dynamic. Kinda surprised I didn't do it before - lots of potential for boyish sniping and disinterested eyerolls from the Snow Queen.

Previous tidbits can be found at the #InFantasyFrozen tag.

He flashed her a stern look. “You shouldn’t be following us, Ingrid. What if you were seen by one of them? It’s too risky.”

Ingrid paused, reddening, causing Kristoff to eye her with a frown. “Did someone see you?”

“No,” she said, then added half-jokingly: “You know me—I never get caught.” Her smirk returned. “Unless I want to, that is.”

His stare intensified, not taking her bait. “Right. So you didn’t see a man come through here earlier?”

Her smirk caught halfway, and she crossed her arms. “I didn’t say that,” she retorted.

“So you did,” Kristoff replied flatly.

She frowned. “Yes. I did, okay? But he didn’t see me.” At his suspicious expression, she continued: “So who is he?”

“Nobody for you to concern yourself with,” he snapped.

She rolled her eyes, sighing loudly as she began to walk past him. “Well then, I guess I’ll just have to go and find out myself…”

He groaned, throwing up his hands, and she stopped mid-step. “Fine,” he ground out. “It’s Prince Hans of the Southern Islands, or something like that. Why do you care?”

Ingrid half-turned towards him, her eyes wide. “A prince?”

“Yeah. So what?” Kristoff sniffed, shoving his hands in his pant pockets.

She shrugged and looked away, feigning disinterest even as her blush grew. “I was just surprised, that’s all. Is he…?”

Kristoff frowned. “Is he what?”

She swallowed. “Is he the one marrying the princess?”

He studied her expression. “Yeah. That’s the one.”

Her face paled for a moment – long enough for Kristoff to notice, though few others would – and the temperature in the air cooled a few degrees.

“So much for ‘stranger in a strange land,’” she groused under her breath, kicking a branch to the side.

Kristoff’s face twisted with a mixture of recognition and confusion, his breath coming out in a cold mist.

“What did you say?”

Ingrid turned scarlet. “Nothing,” she muttered.

His brows knit at her back, but his shivering cough disrupted his stream of thought. “Anyway,” he said, “we’ll be gone by morning. Steer clear until then, understand? And go home, before Mabbie and the others figure out you’re missing.”

She half-nodded, though her eyes sparked with rebellion. “Fine. Goodnight, brother.”

Before Kristoff could interrogate the look, she was gone again. As he grumbled to himself, the summer air regained its warmth, and he looked up at the stars, his cheeks pinking.

“‘Brother,’ huh?” he sighed, and closed his eyes.

[anywhozits]

Kristoff’s Favorite Christmas Present

Rating: G

Words: 4583

Verse: Canonverse

Pairing: Kristanna

Summary: Anna has a plan to give Kristoff the best present of all time. Naturally she must enlist the help of her magical sister and twin daughters.

READ ON AO3 HERE

“I’m sorry��you put the peppermint where?” Anna gasped, stopping her frantic Christmas present rearranging to stare wide-eyed at her daughter.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Iduna’s lower lip curled as she whispered, “Reindeer’s nose?”

“Reindeer…” Anna furrowed her eyebrows. “Sven’s nose?”

Iduna bobbed her head up and down, and Anna couldn’t help but laugh despite feeling mighty sorry for Sven.

“Duna!”

She shrugged. “He was hungry!”

Anna laughed again, dropping to her knees to explain calmly, “Hungry means you should put the peppermint into his mouth, not his nose. Nose is for smelling. Mouth is for eating. Let’s get this sorted out, okay? Why don’t you go with…” Anna’s eyes scanned the entire room for somebody—anybody—to lead this expedition, but they all looked more than busy.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Kristoff. The reminder that he was only minutes away from opening his Christmas present was enough to send an excited tingle down her spine.

Her wonderful husband had his arms full carrying their other twin, Asta, while also trying to balance Elsa’s presents. Anna could hear Asta’s adorable squeal, “Papa, papa! Booger tastes gingerbread-y!”

Anna chuckled. Oh, Asti…

For fear of spoiling everything prematurely, Anna had to look away, thus noticing that only one person—well, snowman, appeared not otherwise occupied. Smiling widely all the way, Olaf hobbled around the room, greeting everyone he saw with a wave of his twig arm and a repeated “Oh, I just love the holidays!”

“Olaf!”

“Oh, hi, Anna! Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas! Hey, can you take Iduna to find Sven? I think he might have a peppermint stuck up his nose…”

“Gotta put mouth! Sven hungry!” Iduna reached out to grab Olaf’s hand.

“Gotcha!” He said, giving Anna a wink. “Why, hello, Princess Duna. Looks like we were both on the nice list this year?” Olaf gestured to the mountains of presents under the tree. Each member of the family had a different wrapping paper color to help differentiate the gifts. Olaf’s, for instance, was blue, centrally featuring several friendly snowmen. Both Iduna and Asta, however, had already opened their presents when they woke up at the literal crack of dawn. The carnage of red and gold wrapping paper now sat in massive piles in the corner of the ballroom.

Iduna let out a high-pitched laugh. “Ya!”

As Anna watched them walk away, she let out a sigh. Still so much to prepare… and she started to feel so nervous and excited (hah—nervecited) all over again.

Her eyes drifted to Kristoff once more and then all the butterflies in her stomach unleashed themselves at once. She needed to look away. Nervecited. Yup. Still couldn’t look at Kristoff. Noted.

“Els!” Her sister, instead, provided the perfect distraction.

“Yes, Anna?” Elsa was working diligently on her ice sculptures, finishing up the last details of the ice sleigh she loved featuring as a centerpiece.

“Are you—you know what we’re gonna do? You know the plan?”

Elsa smiled. “Yep. I’ve got it.”

“Okay. Good—great.”

“You feeling all right?”

“Yes, actually. Just—”

“Nervecited?”

“Uh-huh.”

Elsa gave Anna a gentle nudge. “You don’t have to wait much longer, you know.”

And then Anna sighed. “It feels like I’ve already waited too long.”

“Why don’t we get on with it, then?”

“Okay. Yeah. Okay. That’s a good idea. Why wait anymore, right? We can… we can just go for it. Celebrate! He’ll want to celebrate, right? We’ll all celebrate?”

“Definitely!”

“Definitely, right! God, I’m so excited! Wanna grab the girls? I sent Iduna off with Olaf to find Sven and fix his nose—"

"Fix his—?"

"And once they’re back—”

“Oh! They’re here!”

Turning around, Anna saw her daughter and Olaf quickly approaching, both of them moving about in a clumsy pattern due to their collectively short legs.

“Mama!” Iduna called. “Sven love peppermint—no hungry more!” Anna giggled as she picked Duna up and snuggled her.

“Thank you for doing that, sweetie.”

“Welcome, Mama!”

“I’m happy that he loved it,” Anna said. Afterwards, Iduna tightened her hold on Anna and snuggled in close, popping her left thumb into her mouth and sucking gently. Anna kissed the top of her blonde hair.

“Shall we get started on our present for Papa?”

Iduna’s head nodded a couple times.

Okay—it was time. Nervecited. But now, way more excited than nervous.

Just one more twin to round up…

“Asti!”

She heard a little bit of a moan or a groan or maybe even an excited squeal and turned to see Asta stuffing her face with most, if not all, of the chocolate from her stocking. Her mouth was so stuffed that barely any sound could make it out.

There was also heaps and heaps of melted chocolate on her hands and her cheeks and her lips. She was a chocolate mess.

But Anna loved it. She didn’t even mind when Asti took her hand and all that melted chocolate squished between them.

“We’re gonna give Papa his present, okay?”

“Mmm!” Her mouth was still so full of chocolate.

Elsa soon joined them next to the tree, bouncing up and down in her own excitement. She took Asta’s other hand.

“Okay!” Anna shouted. “It’s time to finish opening presents!” Excited, excited! Nervous—nervecited. Excited! Anna’s mind and heart utterly couldn’t pick an emotion today. “Kris, you’re next!”

He strolled toward her with an amused smirk, kissing the twins’ foreheads before bringing in his wife for a tender smooch.

“I told you not to get me anything,” he said as he snaked an arm around her waist.

Anna laughed. “Oh, hush! You know we’d never listen to a request as ridiculous as that!”

“Besides, Kristoff, you’re gonna love it,” Elsa explained. “Right, Anna? He’s gonna love it?”

“You’re gonna love it,” Anna confirmed.

“Okay,” he said, kissing his wife yet again. “I’m intrigued.”

Anna absolutely beamed before handing Iduna over to Elsa. Elsa immediately placed her gently on the floor next to her twin. Iduna looked up at her aunt with her big cerulean eyes and kept sucking on her thumb.

The three of them—Elsa, Iduna, and Asta—then formed a circle. Elsa got on her knees, trying to remain at eye level of the two-and-a-half-year-old twins. She whispered something into both of their ears, and they smiled. Iduna freed her thumb from her mouth.

“Remember what I told you yesterday—think really, really hard about what you want to do. Picture it in your head. Concentrate… on what you want to create and how much you love your mama and your papa.”

“Auntie, too!” Asta added.

Elsa hesitated. “Oh—I… if you want to think of that, too, then—yes. You can… you can think of Auntie Elsa, too.”

“Love you!” Asta squealed, making Elsa blush.

“And I love you, too. Both of you!” Elsa booped the girls on their noses and they giggled. “Okay—are you ready?”

Both Asta and Iduna nodded and joined hands. To harness the full strength of their magic properly they needed to share it. Either they used their powers together or one relinquished the powers temporarily to the other. It’s a twin thing. And given their May Day birthday, their power must be spring themed…

Branches came to life, flowing across the room with an elegant choreography. The branches weaved together to form the shape of a wicker bassinet. The twins controlled nature—springtime nature—the earth, really. Flowers, dirt, trees, the like. The other side of Elsa’s powers.

As the girls finished their bassinet, Elsa swirled her own hands together to create the final touch—a baby made out of permafrost and ice, connected to the twins’ creation. Complete with a lovely semi-circle arrangement that allowed this piece to hang on a Christmas tree.

Ta-da, Elsa gestured. “It’s an ornament!”

“For you, baby,” Anna added as she gave her husband a slight nudge.

“Auntie Belsa! Up, please!” Iduna reached her hands out to Elsa, who happily lifted her up. Somehow, Elsa and Iduna looked more like twins than Iduna and Asta did. Truly the only key difference was that Iduna had slightly darker more-Kristoff-than-Elsa blonde hair.

Meanwhile, Asta plopped down to the floor to start licking chocolate off her hands and her face. She had more of the Kristoff genes—kind brown eyes and a fierce nose. But her face was still covered in Anna’s freckles.

“It’s beautiful,” Kristoff said. “I love that Elsa taught our daughters how to use their powers to make this.”

Anna sighed. If he hadn’t mentioned… did he really not get it? Or … was this an actually a super dumb idea akin to those first few supposedly impossible charades hints that Elsa and Olaf couldn’t get?

Kristoff gave thankful kisses to his daughters and a gracious hug to his sister-in-law. “I mean it. Elsa, you’ve clearly taught them so well. They already have such good control over their powers.”

“Well,” Elsa shrugged. “They’ve got a lot of love in their lives.”

Okay—fine. Time to push a little more. Anna urged, “Sooo, what do you think this ornament is?”

Kristoff looked at her curiously. “What?”

“Like, what’s… what’s in the ornament? What’s the theme? Who’s the baby?”

“Oh—well…it’s a nativity ornament, right?”

Both Anna and Elsa exchanged confused glances before bursting out into laughter.

“What? This is … baby Jesus, right?” Kristoff continued. “The nativity… it’s Christmas.”

Elsa buried her head in her hand and Anna groaned, clarifying, “It’s not a… it’s not a nativity ornament…”

“I can see why you’d think that, though, Kristoff,” Elsa said. “Because, well, it is Christmas. We probably should’ve given this a bit more thought.”

Anna’s heart skipped a beat. All right. Time for Plan B.

She scurried to the tree and pulled out a present wrapped in Kristoff themed red reindeer paper. “Here. This one’s from me.”

Kristoff gave it a couple hearty shakes, then he ran his hands along the creases. “Feels like a book.” Next he brought it up to his face to take a closer look. “Looks like a book.” And, finally, sniffed it. “Smells like a book.”

This was it. The present was obvious—clear. No room for misinterpretation this time.

Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod it was about to happen.

“OPEN IT!” Anna yelled, unable to contain her excitement anymore.

He tore off the paper quickly and started smiling at a black leather notebook. “Thank you, baby. You know I love a good notebook.”

“There’s something inside, Kris!” Anna eagerly explained. “You should read it.”

Giving his wife a curious look, Kristoff opened the notebook.

The second he allowed himself to read the words written in Anna’s script, his jaw dropped.

Baby Bjorgman Number 3

Week 8: Baby’s the size of a kidney bean

-Feeling great overall! Shocker!

-Little bit of nausea when smelling onions

-Truly disgusting amount of saliva in the mouth. Need to spit every 2 seconds

-Kinda tired? Maybe? From baby or from queen things?

-Super weird, vivid dreams about Sven dancing in a tutu. Like, every night.

He was silent—in shock. When he looked up, finally, Anna beamed at him. “See, it wasn’t Baby Jesus. It was—”

Before Anna could finish the thought, she flew in the air. Kristoff lifted her up and twirled her around—his signature move.

He had done the same when she told him she was pregnant the first time, and it meant so much to Anna that he was just as excited this time around.

As Kristoff brought her back to the ground, he kept his hands around her waist and then drew her in for a tender yet passionate kiss. One of his large hands dropped to her stomach to caress her nonexistent baby bump.

“Our little bean!” He kissed her again. “This is the best Christmas present I’ve ever—and it’s even more special since you, Elsa, and the girls worked on this together. With the magic and the ornament, and, obviously, the journal you made.”

“Yay—good! I thought this would be fun! You know—since we surprised Elsa last time, I thought it only fair we return the favor. Really get you good.”

He smiled and said, “You got me real good. I had no idea, honest. I can’t say I didn’t hope but I still didn’t expect it. I take back what I said about not wanting anything for Christmas. This is what I wanted. This is everything I ever wanted.” His hand still rested protectively on Anna’s belly. “How long have you known?”

“Barely a week! I thought I was just late or stressed or something since I’ve been feeling really great, honestly. Maybe this means there’s only one baby this time?”

Kristoff laughed.

“So, you’re happy? You’re excited?”

“Of course, Anna,” he said. “This is the best Christmas present I could ever ask for.”

Tears actually shot out of Anna’s eyes. Her husband was quite literally the perfect human.

Kristoff kissed her again, and he felt it too. Honestly just as emotional as his wife. On the brink of tears. In reality, he had hoped this announcement would come soon. The doctor told them to wait until the twins were at least two before they started trying again, but on their birthday, Anna and Kristoff had decided at least was a useless phrase. Two years would be plenty.

And now, seven months later, their third kid was on the way… 8 weeks on the way already.

When Kristoff pulled away, he suddenly remembered that he and Anna weren’t alone.

“Elsa, I—thank you, again. It means… it’s so much more special now that I know.”

“You’re welcome! It’s been fun to plan. I knew you’d be thrilled.”

Kristoff smiled so genuinely his eyes crinkled. “You know me well. When did you find out?”

“She told me when I got here a few days ago. Well, she said that she thought maybe, but didn’t know for sure.”

“Once the doctor confirmed everything, we started planning this.” Anna had wanted to really surprise Kristoff this time around. She was so anxious and excited and enthusiastic the first time it was nearly impossible for her to keep anything to herself. It all started when she got that weird headache a week before her monthly cycle was due. From that point on, she told Kristoff everything, in great detail. This time, all of her thoughts, feelings, and emotions about being late but without any of her previous symptoms remained barricaded in her mind and her mind only. She really had convinced herself it was nothing more than stress. But even still, given the other-more-exciting thing was definitely a possibility, she had to keep mum. Because she really wanted to surprise him—do something special. And, conveniently, Christmas had been just around the corner.

It shocked Anna that she made it this far, honestly. A perfectly kept secret.

“And you told the twins too?”

“Yep. I told them… although not too sure how much they really understand what’s going on,” Anna laughed. They really did look as confused as ever. “But whatever—I still wanted to make sure our little cuties were involved! And Elsa kept saying that their magic lessons are going so great, too, so I wanted to see!”

Kristoff reached down and took Asta into his arms. She had wholly cleaned herself of the chocolate. Sugar-high very much imminent.

“Asti, you’re gonna be a big sister! How does it feel?”

“I have sister!”

They all laughed.

“You do have a sister. You have Iduna. But this summer—uh, when exactly did they say?”

“Mid-July, probably. Maybe late July. Maybe early August,” Anna responded. “Toss-up between Cancer and Leo baby!”

“Ooh right. That’ll be interesting,” Elsa said. “Honeymaren said she wanted to help me with a full astrological reading whenever you have your next baby. We’ll have some thinking to do before this summer.”

Anna legitimately squealed. “Aww, that’s nice of her! How fun! I love your readings, Els.”

“Thanks.”

“So, wait. Anna, you’re really feeling okay?” Kristoff sounded stunned. Granted, he had to watch her throw up everything she put into her mouth (other than chocolate) for the first almost 15 weeks of her last pregnancy, so his shock was more than founded.

“Uh-huh! It’s super weird. Disorienting, honestly. I can eat real food and not have to worry about tossing it back up later. Although now that I said that I bet it’ll all change and I’m gonna have to throw up all the—ugh, I’m totally jinxing it, aren’t I?”

“Nah, honey. There’s no such thing as a jinx.”

“You’re talking to someone who has a fifth spirit sister, a talking snowman best pal, and also twin daughters with special earthy springtime nature powers,” Anna deadpanned, so much so that Kristoff chuckled. “There are totally such things as jinxes, husband. Totally, totally.”

She was probably right on that one.

“Well I know you’re—ah, guess I shouldn’t say that, with the jinx and everything—but, um, even though you’re—” Kristoff gestured and made noises that sounded like he completed the phrase with ‘feeling great’ without actually saying the words. “But, what would you say if I started up my chocolate collection again?”

“Um, well, obviously I would say the only thing I can say which is… bring it on, baby! I’d love some chocolate. Chocolate sounds amazing right now. Honestly I was about to lick it all off of Asta’s hands until she licked it off herself.”

This got Asti’s attention. “More chocolate?”

“Chocolate for Mama this time! And maybe we’ll save some for you, too, soon-to-be-big-sister.” Anna said while giving Asti’s blonde hair a good ruffle.

In the meantime, Kristoff’s eyes darted quickly to the hutch in the corner of the expansive ballroom and he eyeballed the collection of silverware, trying to locate his favorite chocolate-making spoons. He couldn’t help but note the fact that one of the spoons is distractedly off-kilter. He smirked. “Asti, wanna come with me to get some chocolate, love?”

“Mmhmm!”

And then they were off.

Anna looked around curiously for a second before turning back to Elsa. “Wait, wait, wait, wait. Where did Olaf run off to? Was he even here when Kristoff figured it out?”

“I have no idea.”

“Duna, have you seen Olaf?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Olaf!” Anna called out. “Olaf, are you here? Are you anywhere?”

Nothing.

But then, soon enough, they heard the pitter patter of snowman feet on the wood floors. “I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming!” He was going as fast as he can, holding onto an extremely shoddily wrapped present.

He stopped in his tracks, right in front of Anna, took a bow, and then held up the present to her face. “This one’s for you! And Kristoff!”

“Oh! Thank you, Olaf,” Anna said, taking the present into her hands. “When’d you run off?”

“After you gave Kristoff his gift.”

“Oh—so you—”

“Anna! Chocolate!”

Anna snapped to attention when a bar of sea salt dark chocolate barrels toward her face. She caught it with her left hand thanks to some kind of crazy reflex she didn’t even know she had. “Thank you, husband!”

When she gave Kristoff a gracious look, she noticed that Asta was sucking on some more chocolate. All right. Super, super crazy sugar-rush now even more imminent.

Olaf skipped toward Kristoff. “I have a present for you!”

“Oh, uh—”

“I’ve got it here, Kris,” Anna explained, holding up said present.

“Great!”

Kristoff put Asta down and stood next to his wife, helping her tear open the present. Upon removing the crumpled wrapping paper, a marvelous creation revealed itself.

Adorable blue knit booties. Baby-sized.

Both Anna and Kristoff’s eyes widened to a saucer-like degree. Kristoff started, “Olaf, how did you—”

At the same time that Anna added, “Did you make these yourself?”

“Yup! Made them yesterday—oh boy was I excited when I overheard you and Elsa talking about the new baby! And now I know that babies come from eating a special pie thingie from the trolls, and that they start off really tiny inside you and then they’re born after a really, really long time. And when they’re born, they have little feet that could get cold! So yes, I made these,” Olaf said proudly. “And by the way, I did such a great job keeping the secret—but it was so hard. I told so many rocks and trees and snowballs in the forest. And a couple fish. Oh, and maybe twelve puffins!”

“Those puffins. Surprised they didn’t come blabbing,” Anna joked, giggling. “Well, thank you, Olaf. These are adorable and it’s so sweet that you worked so hard to make them! Baby’s gonna love them. You’re right, they’ll be perfect for keeping baby’s little teeny tiny feet so nice and warm. But, wait… since when do you know how to knit?”

“Just something I’ve picked up with my old age.”

Kristoff raised his eyebrows. “Old age, huh?”

Entertaining Kristoff zero, Olaf narrowed his eyes and waddled closer to Anna. “So the baby’s still really tiny, right?”

“Yes! You could tell if the baby were bigger. Remember last time the babies grew a lot before they were born?”

“Oh, yes, I do remember,” Olaf said. “It looked like you ate Sven!”

Laughs all around.

Then, Asta toddled on over to her snowman best friend. “Play, play with Olaf!”

“I would love to play with you, Princess Asti!”

Iduna started squirming in Elsa’s arms, signaling that she, too, wanted to play. Elsa set her down carefully and Iduna’s legs propelled her toward Olaf at warp speed.

“Hello again, Princess Duna.”

“Olaf!” She ran to give him a hug. “Play!”

“Why, yes, I’d love to play with you too! This is so much fun—playing with the twin big sisters! What should we play?”

Asta started, “Ring around rosie!”

And Iduna chimed in at practically the same time, “Olaf says!”

“Hmm. Both wonderful games! And I bet we have time for both. What should we start with?”

“Ring around the rosie!”

“Olaf says!”

“Huh. A stalemate. How can we solve this? A dance off?”

The girls giggled.

“Or can I choose the order?”

They both stared blankly at Olaf.

“Ring around the rosie first! Sorry, Iduna. We’ll play Olaf says next, okay? And I’ll make it extra special just for you, future-big-sister.”

Asta jumped in the air and ran around in probably twenty circles in excitement. The chocolate evidently hit Asti right at that second.

Eventually, they positioned themselves for game time in the middle of the ballroom, leaving Kristoff, Elsa, and Anna alone by the tree.

Kristoff took this as his opportunity to cozy up to his wife. He usually wouldn’t do this in such a public space. As much as he loved physical touch and affection, he was never one for PDA in the usual sense of the term. But something about today felt different. Something about this whole wonderful and exciting situation felt different.

Immediately he dropped to his knees, and then two large hands grabbed Anna’s still-small waist. First, he ran one hand along her stomach, and then he planted gentle kisses on the place that would grow over the next seven months.

Anna giggled and blushed. She always loved when he did this. It made her feel even a pang of regret that she worked so hard to keep the possible pregnancy a secret. Because she missed out on four weeks of this…

But seeing his wide, surprised, ecstatic eyes… and witnessing their daughters working to make this surprise present happen made it all the worth it. They’d still have time for this. Now, even—now was the perfect time.

And it was, clearly. Kristoff felt it, too. He cooed, “Tiny bean baby. Not Sven sized—bean sized. I love you, baby bean. Papa loves you.” His voice got pretty high-pitched and sing-songy when he spoke.

Of course, Elsa heard from Anna that Kristoff tended to speak a little differently around her—their cutesy nicknames only one example. But witnessing it firsthand made Elsa smile a smile unparalleled in sincerity.

Bringing in Olaf’s booties close to her heart, Anna blushed in pure delight, cherishing them as much as she cherished the moment.

Kristoff continued making faces at Anna’s stomach, putting his ear against it, and speaking in high-pitched whispers.

This visual was far too cute for Elsa and she felt the emotions getting ready to pour out of her.

“I’m so happy for you two! Really—I said this all to Anna the other day—with tears and everything, but you’ve both been so wonderful to Duna and Asti, and it’s clear to me, given how they already have such a good grasp on their powers. I guess I did have control somewhat when I was younger, but then it got worse, when, uh—” She hesitated but then cleared her throat. Not wanting to go down that road tonight. “But you two. You’re really doing well. You’re great parents. You’re meant to be parents.”

This made Kristoff stop what he was doing and run to give Elsa a nice, big hug. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, Els,” Anna agreed, walking over to put one loving hand on Elsa’s shoulder. “That means a lot to us. Like, a lot a lot. We were just two fools who knew a lot about being alone. And almost nothing about childrearing.”

“Your heart’s so big, though. You… you always had it in you. Both of you.”

Anna laughed and Kristoff hugged Elsa tighter. PDA-mode very much activated. “Hope this’ll hold true once we’re outnumbered.”

“You won’t be outnumbered,” Elsa explained. “You’ve still got Auntie Belsa.”

Anna automatically felt tears welling up in her eyes. One cute little line from her sister and she was off to the crying races yet again. “Thank goodness—we’re so lucky to have you.” Okay, it had gotten worse. Anna was practically a hyperventilating mess of tears at this point. Barely able to get out the sentence without a sob in between each word.

Then they heard a chorus of rambunctious squeals from the twins and an enthusiastic yelp from Olaf. Their attention focused on the middle of the room.

They gasped.

Iduna and Asta had created floating roses that hang above their heads as they play the game, and each of the three held their own bouquet of roses in their hands.

When Elsa said they had good control of their powers, Anna didn’t quite think she meant this. Without Elsa’s coaching, even.

They watched as the roses swelled in time with their singing

Ring around the rosie

A pocket full of posies

“Posies!” Asti yelled. “In pocket!”

With two swirls of her hand, posies appeared. Both Asta and Iduna stuffed them into their dresses. Olaf positioned a couple on his head. The girls laughed at that sight.

Seeing this, Anna sighed, lovingly and longingly. “They’re perfect.”

“And another perfect one’s on the way.” Kristoff smiled and rubbed her belly one more time for good measure.

“Wow,” Anna gushed. “Next year there’ll be three.”

“Outnumbered,” Kristoff added.

But Elsa huffed. “Not outnumbered!”

“I can’t wait!” Anna squealed.

And she couldn’t. They all couldn’t.

Because this Christmas was absolutely everything they could've wished and hoped for. And naturally, all their future Christmases, complete with a gaggle of three or four or five-hundred Bjorgman children, would be just as perfect.

With its open gates, full hearts, and an even fuller castle.

[snowycrocus]

The Spirit of Racing

Frozen 2 Fanfiction

Thanks to @blunaowl​ for this prompt of Elsa & Kristoff racing their trusty steeds!

-----

She really was different, Kristoff thought. And it wasn’t just that she let down her hair.

(Anna had had to tell him – “she didn’t cut it, you big buffoon, she let it loose!”)

Or something, Elsa had said, and he finally figured out what that something was, more or less.

It was acceptance. Confidence.

Now that Elsa knew who she was, why she was, it was as though everything that had been holding her back had suddenly evaporated into the air just as it did when she thawed her ice. Usually, anyway.

She smiled more, her arms were looser, and though she had always held herself ramrod-straight, her back seemed straighter not just out of impeccable posture, but out of self-assuredness.

It looked good on her.

Except, Kristoff thought, when that self-confidence was aimed against him.

Elsa’s long fingers clenched and unclenched around the Nøkk’s reins. Her eyes narrowed to slits and Kristoff watched as her legs flexed and tightened against her ride’s frozen sides.

In turn, Kristoff hunched down closer to Sven’s back. “We got this, buddy,” he whispered, and Sven huffed in agreement. His hoof pawed the ground in preparation for the count.

The sounds of cheers rang in his ears and he tried desperately to block them out and focus.

“Lady Elsa!” He heard someone scream. “May the spirits be with you!” Kristoff rolled his eyes. Lady Elsa was frickin’ sitting on one.

“Long live the King!” Another shouted, and Kristoff winced at the title. “May you ride fast and true!”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

The bell rang, and the roaring of the crowd compounded with Sven and the Nøkk’s hooves pounded in his ears…

---

It had all started out with an innocent question.

And ho, boy did he regret it now!

But after seeing Elsa ride the Nøkk for the umpteenth time across the fjord, he couldn’t help but ask:

“Where’d you learn to ride like that?”

“I didn’t,” she giggled softly. The hand no longer came up to cover her mouth. Not for the small bouts of laughter, anyway.

She elaborated at his furrowed eyebrows and Anna’s, “wait, what?”

“I haven’t ridden since I was a child, after…we were separated,” she started. She dismounted and greeted them both with a hug despite the rough topic.

“But we just kind of….fit,” she said, referring to the Nøkk. “His spirit of the water and the ice in me…they naturally are a part of each other. We had to learn to understand each other, back in the ocean while I was trying to reach Ahtohallan, but ever since then my power flows through his and we…it just feels like we’re the same spirit.”

“Aw, just like you and Sven, Kristoff!” Anna jokes. She’s taken off her tiara for the night in preparation for their weekly game night and sleepover, and her cheeks are pink and eyes bright with excitement.

“Well, we share the same mind, you know. Isn’t that right, Sven?”

“Sure is! You’re my spirit animal, Kristoff!” The girls chortle at the commentary.

“You two certainly do have a special way with each other,” Elsa yields.

“Sure do. Y’know, now that you’re more familiar with riding, you should give Sven a try sometime. Might come in handy, now that you live with all those reindeer. Not that they’re as good as you, buddy.” He ruffles the fur on Sven’s head.

Elsa puts her hand on her hip. “No need,” she says, raising an eyebrow slyly, a taunting smile forming on her lips. Kristoff knows that smirk. “I like to go fast, anyway.”

Sven harrumphs, and Kristoff feels his own hackles rising. “Um, excuse me? Are you saying we don’t go fast?”

“Wellll…..” Elsa trails off, running her fingers down the Nøkk’s back, and looks back at him with a challenging grin. “I didn’t say it.”

“Ohhhhh boy!” Anna rubs her hands together excitedly. She senses what’s coming, shooting eager glances between the two people she loves most.

“Is that a challenge?” Kristoff straightens his back and strides up to Elsa. He hopes it feels as intimidating as he wants it to be. She may be some special-spirit-whatever, but as he looks down his nose at her he tries to convey that he will defeat her if necessary in a race.

Sven stalks up to the Nøkk and snorts in front of the water horse’s snout. The Nøkk rears back and stomps both front hooves, releasing a sudden spray of water that drenches Sven. He sputters and runs behind Kristoff.

Kristoff shakes his head in loving disbelief. “You two may run fast on water and ice,” he starts, arms folding to cross over his chest. “But me and Sven have you two beat on land.”

“Sven and I,” Elsa corrects, “and you’re on.”

---

After hearing the challenge, Anna, as queen, had a racing track built around the outskirts of the city of Arendelle.

“Ooh, this is perfect!” She had exclaimed, fanning her hands out in front of her as she imagined the scene. “This’ll create jobs and give the people something to look forward to! Everyone will want to celebrate the race between our former-queen-turned-ice-spirit and the King consort!”

Sure enough, she was right. Hundreds had come to watch the competition unfold between two of the three most talked-about people in the Kingdom. Bets were placed, people clamored to get the closest spots to the racetrack, food was brought and passed around.

The Nøkk may be magical, Kristoff thinks, but he’s used to only running on water, not land and snow. Surely he and Sven have the home advantage.

And that seems to be the case at first. For the first few minutes, Kristoff can hear the even, steady stride of the Nøkk from behind Sven. The path isn’t easy, and he feels confident that the uneven terrain and obstacles will keep Elsa and her spirit-horse safely behind. There are dips in the ground, crusts of icy snow, and hidden branches buried in the fallen powder. He and Sven were born for this environment. A magical being? Maybe not so much.

He internally cheers when he hears Elsa’s brief cry of alarm when the Nøkk stumbles over a snow-buried log. Looking back to make sure she’s alright, he finds he’s shocked to find his competitors are much, much closer than he had thought.

“Let’s go, Sven,” he urges his friend.

He hangs on as Sven puts forth a burst of speed, only to be taken aback when he hears a grunt from Elsa sidling up right next to him.

Her cheeks are flushed a bright pink, excitement dancing in her eyes and concentration furrowing her brow. She’s created riding trousers for herself, though her feet are bare as they always seem to be nowadays.

And of course, she’s wearing a cape. It soars out behind her from the wind, taunting Kristoff as she and the Nøkk surpass them.

Kristoff taps Sven, who’s beginning to pant with the effort to regain his first place spot. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Sven looks back for a second to give Kristoff a grin, then lunges forward to grip Elsa’s cape in his teeth. He pulls back…..

Elsa startles at the tug.

But then her eyes narrow, glinting, and she cocks one of those classic Elsa smirks. One hand raises from the Nøkk’s reins to snap her fingers.

The cape disconnects from her fitted top, sliding off of her shoulders….and right into Sven and Kristoff’s faces.

“Arghhh!” Kristoff shouts as he desperately tries to throw the cape off so they can see once again. Sven has to come to a stop to avoid running straight into a tree.

By the time he throws off the cape, mere seconds later, Elsa and the Nøkk are gone.

---

“This is so not fair!” Kristoff exclaims as he watches Elsa accept a trophy from Anna. “They’re magical!”

People from the kingdom cheer for Lady Elsa while others shoot depressed glares at their King consort while paying their lost bet.

Elsa laughs, waving to her fans that she just made much richer. She slides her hand over the Nøkk’s nose and feeds him an ice carrot. Sven looks on in jealousy.

“I didn’t hear you complaining when Olaf’s magic and rearranging helped you two win charades,” she argues, one slim eyebrow raised.  

“Yeah, well… that’s different!”

Even Sven snorts at that.

“Don’t worry too much,” Elsa chides him, “I’m sure among the average human and reindeer you both would be considered very fast.” She winks. Kristoff can’t help but smile at her easygoing banter and cheerfulness. She deserves it now.

Elsa gives Kristoff an extremely quick hug and Sven a light pat before heading off to meet with her clamoring child admirers.

“Oh, c’mere you big loser!”

Anna plants a big kiss on his cheek, and Kristoff flushes in both embarrassment and pleasure.

He may not be a magical winner, but sometimes he sure does feel like one.

 ---

Let me know what you think! Many thanks to @blunaowl​ for the prompt!! Forgive me if this is a bit weak as I’m not used to writing stuff without angst. @frozenbassist and @justlookatthosesausages you both mentioned you’d want to read this so tagging you.

This inspired me for Frozen 2 ice bros, and now I’ve got lots of ideas to write, coming soon! 

[justlookatthosesausages]

‘Emergence’ - an interactive fanfic

=======

CHAPTER 6

=======

“Moooorning!” Chimed Anna, shaking her elder awake. 

Elsa grumbled, struggling to open her eyes. Why did her sister always have to shake her body when she wanted to wake her up? 

Anna saw how tired Elsa was, and wondered if she had slept properly.

“Hey, you haven’t told me... Did you get new nightmares?”

“Hmm-what?” Muttered Elsa as she turned, her voice croaky. 

Anna chuckled. Her elder often said that Anna was a disaster waking up, but at the way Elsa was rubbing her eyes now, it was clear that she had some tough mornings as well. She was adorable doing so, however. And Anna forgot her question for a moment, shaking her sister again with a touched smile.

“I’m awake, I’m awake.” Groaned Elsa. “What did you say?”

“I was asking you if you still had nightmares. I mean, those visions you don’t like with the statues of the past.”

The evocation of it made Elsa awake faster. She blinked and frowned, sitting up. 

“I don’t dislike them. It’s just that Ahtohallan submit them to me. So I’m not always in the mood.”

Anna bent her head in an insisting way. “What I want to know, is if you had other visions of sad moments. It disturbs your sleep, as you told me. I’m just making sure that you get proper sleep.”

At the way Elsa had yawned during her sentence, so much that she could have unhinged her jaw, Anna had her answer. 

“You had more, don’t you?”

“No!” Hurried to say Elsa, her voice clear now. Her eyes seemed to focus as well, despite being wet after yawning. “No, I don’t have any new ones. I would have told you. It’s just... I’ve been thinking a lot at night, lately. Just like you.”

The redhead saw how she diverted the subject on her to avoid talking about it. She shouldn’t have told her about her sleep schedule the day before around the camp fire. 

“Nope, we’re not talking about me right now. I’m worried for you. How much did you sleep last night?”

“You were just there. You know.” Smiled Elsa, waving her hand at the tent they had just slept in. 

“I meant, the night before.”

The blonde winced a bit. “Not much.”

Anna lost her soft face and switched to a sad one. “Elsa...”

“Oh, come on, don’t give me that look. Not that early in the morning.” Whined the elder. 

She stood up, and went to the entrance of the tent. “I’m going to bring you tea. Yelena makes the best brews. I suppose that you want some bread as well?” 

Anna wasn’t thinking about food, she needed to ask more questions about Elsa’s health. However, her stomach gurgled, and the Fifth Spirit chuckled at the sound. 

“Let’s take several slices of bread.”

On that, she opened the tent, and the bright light of the forest came in. Anna hissed at it, and raised a hand to protect her face from the intrusion. 

“Can’t we just stay in bed? Please? I took a day off, it’s not to wake up at the same time I usually do.”

“Sorry, but here, once you’re awake, you’re awake.”

“Say the one who just yawned to death.”

“Well, now I’m standing and ready to start the day. And you’re still seated on the bed.” 

Anna stuck her tongue out. 

“You’re not even dressed”, pointed the younger. 

Elsa raised an unimpressed and quite sarcastic eyebrow, and waved her hands. In one go, her night gown vanished and a whole new dress appeared on her in a dance of snowflakes. Anna groaned and let herself fall back on the bed. 

“This is so unfair.” 

The blonde laughed with a clear voice, and her smiling face was highlighted by her white outfit and the warm rays of the morning sun. 

“We can make a breakfast in bed, if you want.” 

Anna rose a hand and pointed a thumb up as an appreciation. 

=======

“Does she always have this energy on mornings?” Asked Ryder, concerned as he saw Anna train with the Northuldra on a staff fight session. 

Kristoff smiled with deep love. “Always. She takes a lot of time to wake up, but once she’s up, she’s a true powerhouse, and never stops until the sun is down.” 

Ryder noticed how he had just said that with a mellow voice, and followed by an admirative sigh. He cringed in disgust. 

“I’ll never understand it.”

“What?” Asked Kristoff, distracted by the moves of Anna, not detaching his eyes from her. 

“Nothing.”

Elsa joined them, still enjoying her mug of tea. 

“You’re not training this morning?” Inquired Ryder. 

She shook her head to say no as she drank. Her brother-in-law turned to her. 

“Wait, you train to fight every morning?”

“If I slept in the camp, yeah. Why?” 

He chuckled. “I don’t know. I just... Hardly imagine you fighting with a staff.”

“I don’t”, snorted Elsa. “I use magic.”

“Yep, and she wins every time.” Sighed Ryder, who had stopped counting his bruises - but still asked to train against her whenever he could -.

“Isn’t that cheating? Using magic against wooden weapons?” Pointed out the blond.

“Are you calling me a cheater?” 

Kristoff crossed his arms. “I’m only stating the obvious.”

“Excuse me... Who’s the one who made sound effects on last charades night??”

He rose a finger. “First of all, you still have no proof of that. Second of all, that’s in the rules.”

“It’s NOT in the rules. You and Olaf really need to check them for next time, you’re the worst at it.” 

Ryder was in the middle of their interactions, and felt like they were about to punch each other, but they suddenly burst in laughter. He stared at them in confusion. 

Anna approached, twirling her staff around with ease. “Hearing you two laugh that hard is stimulating on mornings.” 

She took the cloth Elsa gave her and wiped her face with it. With an excited smile, she extended her arm and bumped Ryder on the head with her stick. “You’re taking the next round?”

Challenge passed in his eyes. “I’m coming!”

As he followed her back to the training area, he turned to Elsa and Kristoff. “Do you think I have a chance?” He whispered, a bit worried, for he had never fought against Anna. 

“Uh-uh”, assured Elsa as she shook no with her head. 

“Not in a million years”, said Kristoff with a puff. 

The Northuldra gulped. “...Really?”

Elsa waved at him with a mocking smirk. “Good luck.” 

He joined Anna, who was jumping on her feet in impatience. 

“I’m gonna prepare him an ice pack.” Murmured Elsa.

“Yeah, good idea.” Whispered Kristoff.

======= 

Anna was walking in the reindeer paddock with Elsa by her side, and loved those moments when they took care of the animals. As she scratched the muzzle of one of them, she turned to her sister. 

“Say, have you seen new memories of Mama and Papa?”

Elsa looked up at the sky as she thought. “Not since the ones I saw in Ahtohallan on my first time, and I already told you about them a lot.” 

“And no new ones, given to you in your meditation and stuff?” 

“No, sorry.”

Anna chuckled. “Don’t apologize. It’s not due to you.”

“I know, it’s just... I wish I could give you more. More memories, more details. You deserve to know more as much as I do.” 

“The past will be revealed little by little, I suppose.”

Elsa nodded, and they kept walking in the field. Suddenly, a thought struck Anna’s mind. 

“Wait a minute.”

“What??” Worried the blonde. 

“The memories you get through your mind... In visions... I mean, any memory you get when you’re not actually in the memories room. They’re all from our past, right?”

“Yeah, that’s the concept of a memory”, replied Elsa, who wondered for a second if her sister had become stupid. 

“But those submitted memories are from our past, every time, aren’t they?”

She pointed at the two of them. And Elsa widened her eyes when she understood what she meant. The realization struck her mind as well. 

“Oh my goodness...”

“YES.”

“Are you saying...”

“I don’t know what I’m saying. I just connected the dots. It’s up to you to tell me now why the source only send you memories from the two of us.” 

“I don’t know!” Exclaimed Elsa, in a tone that was half alarmed and half offended. 

Anna stared at her. “Do you think... Oh damn, I hope it doesn’t mean that I’m gonna die soon.”

“Anna!!”

“I’m just joking.”

“You know I don’t like it when you joke about that.”

“Sorry. It’s just... It’s usually meaningful, no? Like, Ahtohallan showed you a memory of Mother when she was young first and foremost.”

“Yes, it can’t just be chance, I agree with you. There’s something to decipher, I can feel it.”

Anna nodded. As she walked, a reindeer bumped its head to her arm, asking for scratches too. She smiled and gave them with love. Her face got serious however as she turned back to Elsa.

“Tell me in a letter the next time you see a new one, okay? Immediately.”

“I promise.”

=======

She however didn’t have to wait long. And a letter wasn’t necessary. For her next vision happened within the day, and even before the night would fall. 

“Isn’t that a bit high?” Smirked Anna, looking up.

“It’s fine. Honeymaren and Ryder taught me how to climb trees.”

“Oh, I know, I remember the time you showed me this summer. I don’t doubt your talent, I just want to make sure that you don’t hurt yourself.”

“I can see the whole land from here.” Smiled Elsa, fifteen meters above. “I’m actually thinking of building a tree house here, because it’s a strategic point.”

“Uh-uh.” Said Anna, shaking her head. 

With her hands on her hips, she looked around her, imagining the view she had from the branch she was sitting on. She would have liked to join her sister, but her courage couldn’t cancel her clumsiness: there was a high chance for her to fall and break her arm or something. Which, given her Queen duties, was really something to avoid. 

Elsa looked to the horizon with a smiling content face, looking at the river. The sun was reflecting on the waters, with a bright white glow. She didn’t think of squinting her eyes as her gaze fell on it, and the sudden light drilled in her pupils. As she slightly moaned in pain, she thought it was weird, because she got used to the brightness of the sun. But the reflection light got more intense, and suddenly turned into a flash. 

Elsa screamed at how strong the flash was, and got the heaviest vision of Ahtohallan she ever had since she gained her new power: in one second, she saw a third person point of view of Anna and herself in ice statues, representing them talking to each other. The Spirit clenched her eyes shut, squinting at the brisk dose of white. She tried to focus, but she felt like her mind was turning to cotton. With all the effort she could assemble, she tried to understand when the memory was taking place. Elsa understood when she saw the dress Anna was wearing, and her coronation cape weighing on her own shoulders. 

The statues slowly sneaked awkward peaks at each other, and it then felt like a static electricity shock happened between them. Like two words collided. Like an explosion occurred at a touching point.

“...Hi.” 

“Hi me...? Oh. Um. Hi.” 

“...You---”

And the flash ended just as quick as it appeared. The forest landscape spring up again to Elsa’s vision, but she barely saw it.

She felt all strength leaving her body, slowly drifting into unconsciousness. She knew that she was drifting out of the branch because she was losing her balance. Elsa was tilting to the ground...

By simple curiosity, Anna lifted her head to her sister, wondering when she would be done. Her face turned pale in a second when she saw that Elsa’s eyes were rolling to the back of her head, her body limp, and that she was falling backwards off the branch. 

“ELSA!!” Yelled Anna with all the force in her lungs. 

She rushed as fast as she could under the tree, just in time to catch the lifeless body of her elder. 

With a ‘oof!’, she fell to the grass, rolling along with her due to the sudden impact. Hopefully, they both made it without a scratch, and Anna’s breath got stuck in her chest from the shocking situation. 

“ELSA! ELSA!!” She panicked, urging to shake the blonde’s shoulders. 

They were at the borders of the village, and some Northuldra had ran to them when they heard her screams. 

Slowly, Elsa opened her eyes and came back to reality. She blinked, and took notion of how much time she had been unconscious. 

“A-”

“Oh thanks goodness you’re okay.” Sighed heavily Anna, tackling her sister in a tight hug, which could have make Elsa faint just as much. 

“It’s... It was Ahtohallan, again.” Muttered Elsa on her shoulder, regaining her strength. 

“WHAT?” 

She asked Anna to help her stand with a simple gesture, seeing how everyone was staring at her. The redhead frowned once they stood up completely.

“It was a vision of Ahtohallan that made you faint?? But... This could have been so dangerous!”

“I’m alright.”

“You fell off the tree!!”

“It’s fine.”

“The tree is so high!! You could have died!!”

“I’m alive right now.”

“BECAUSE I SAVED YOU!!”

Elsa bit her lip. She couldn’t deny that.

Anna grumbled, sighing with raw anger. 

“Okay. That’s enough. This is the last straw. We’re going to Ahtohallan. I’m gonna show them who’s boss.” 

The blonde calmed her with a hand on her arm, seeing how her younger had clenched her fists. 

“You know you can’t go there.”

Anna fulminated. “Well, I’ll just go in the first room.”

“No, it’s too cold for you.”

“It’s just a glacier. I’ve done worse.”

“Anna, don’t--”

“Let me come. Stop protecting me. You’re clearly the one who needs protection right now!”

Olaf, Kristoff and Honeymaren had joined the crowd of Northuldra. 

“Anna is right. You should go.” Advised Honeymaren. 

Elsa changed her mind a bit at her suggestion, but that wasn’t enough. She stood firmly on her decision, stubborn as always: there was no way Anna would ever go to Ahtohallan. It was too dangerous. 

“I want to go, Elsa.” Insisted the Queen, seeing how reluctant she was. Her hands clenched her sister’s. “Ahtohallan owes you an explanation for all those visions, and I will obtain it.”

The Fifth Spirit got a bit offended by the way she expressed it. 

“It’s not someone you can actually punch, Anna.” 

The redhead frowned at the mean allusion.

“Maybe, but I have the intention to make them be explicit. And we will confront it until we get answers.”

“Anna!!” Scolded the elder. 

“WHAT?!”

They were now arguing on a loud level, despite standing right in front of each other, and some Sami exchanged looks. 

“We will NOT do that.”

“And why not?” Exclaimed Anna, dropping Elsa’s hands to lift her arms exaggeratedly in the air. 

“BECAUSE I RESPECT IT! It's the source of my magic, it's what makes me me, and I won't reproach it anything!”

“So you’re defending it? Despite what it causes you?”

“It must have a reason.”

“But it makes you go crazy!!”

"Are you saying i'm crazy?” Frowned Elsa, groaning at the insult.  

“NO, but LOOK AT YOU! You're barely standing!” Yelled the younger. 

“I'M FINE!!” Screamed the blonde back, and she was so violent doing so that Olaf and Kristoff blinked in surprise. 

She sniffed with a furious frown. “We are NOT going to Ahtohallan. You are not going.”

“Why? Because I’d freeze to death?” Guessed Anna, eye-rolling. 

“Exactly because of that!” 

“That could just be an excuse of yours right now. You don’t want me to disrespect the magic source, uh? Even if it’s to have answers for you?”

Elsa frowned, her mouth twisted. “No.”

“So we’re not going.”

“NO.”

There was a silence. Anna clenched her jaw. 

“Then we’re done here.”

“...What?”

Anna took a step back. Away from her sister. As if hearing Elsa’s final decision  made her physically disgusted. She looked at her from head to toe.

“I don’t have anything else to tell you. You want it to make you turn crazy? Good for you. Have fun suffering, if you don’t want to listen to my advice.” 

Elsa blinked, taken aback. Her jaw slightly dropped. Anna turned around.

“Kristoff, let’s go.”

The mountaineer blinked, confused, and almost everyone looked at him.

“Uh?”

“We’re leaving.” Blurted the Queen.

“But...”

“I SAID LET’S GO.”

“I... alright.”

Elsa watched Anna join Kristoff and Olaf, and she signed to Sven to pick them up. She couldn’t believe her eyes. But her surprise turned into boiled anger in her stomach, shocked by her younger’s behavior. 

“YEAH, WELL, GO!” Yelled the Spirit, her voice strong with rage. “IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY I DON’T WANT TO CONFRONT AHTOHALLAN, THEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND ME!” 

Anna’s back shivered and stood still for a moment at Elsa’s harsh words, acting like daggers. The crowd even gasped discreetly. But the younger shook her head with a mutter as she climbed on Sven. Silently, Kristoff followed her move, giving a sorry face to those looking at them. Sven slightly grunted.

Olaf looked devastated, his eyes glistening with tears, not knowing what to do. Elsa was fulminating, and he wanted to run to her and hug her. But Anna had her arm outstretched to him. 

“Olaf. Come. She’s never been good at goodbyes anyway.”

Elsa missed a heartbeat at this sentence, hurting her deeply. 

She barely had the time to digest it, that in a blink, Olaf climbed on Sven’s back, and in one swift move and a sound of hooves, the four of them left the forest to the South. 

Elsa’s knees trembled, as she saw them go away. Her heart and soul felt like collapsing, and when she felt the concerned look of the Northuldra on her back, she called Nokk. 

The water spirit appeared out of the nearest pond and jumped to her. It neighed in worry, feeling her emotion, but she shook her head and gave no explanation, riding them immediately. She planted her heels in their sides, and it dashed along the crowd of people, who jumped aside with a gasp. 

Ironically, the two sisters were doing the same move at the same moment. Both riding to the horizon at high speed, hands clenched, frowning as they looked forward, tears flying in the air. Only, they were riding in opposite directions. 

Anna was heading to Arendelle’s castle, where she knew she would run to her bed and cry on her pillow, and Elsa was heading to the dark woods, where she knew she would break down and sob on the ground. 

=======

Days passed with a very gloomy atmosphere. The sisters stayed angry, and didn’t exchange any letter for so long that it surprised everyone. 

“She hasn’t been corresponding with her?” Worried Gerda. 

“No, not even a simple message. I mean, I can’t precisely know, because they don’t use the regular post service...” Muttered Kai. “But I’m certain that Queen Anna hasn’t been sending anything in the past days.”

Gerda sighed with a sad pout. “Poor girl...”

The servant was taking care of dinner with the cooks, and decided to bake a cake to make her more happy. 

Kai saw her walk to the flour bags, and grabbed her arm. He shook his head. 

“It’s no use. She has been refusing every pastry we proposed her.”

Gerda widened her eyes. “Anna? Refusing pastries?”

Kai nodded slowly with a sad face. 

The woman passed a hand on her mouth. “My poor, poor girl... What happened...”

=======

"She hasn’t been sending anything? Not even... I don’t know, a gift?” Worried Ryder. 

Honeymaren shook her head, looking down with sadness.

“She can ask me to carve a little cute gift. I’m really good a carving wooden sheep.” Suggested the Northuldra. 

“Don’t bother, Ryder.” Said the brunette, putting her hand on her brother’s shoulder. “She’s not in the mood.”

The Northuldra twisted his mouth as he thought. He knew Elsa since a year now... What was making her happy again when she was feeling down? He hummed as he thought, and then he naturally lifted his head to Honeymaren. She was the one.

“Hey, you should go see her. She needs your support.” 

The woman stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “I can have a try.”

=======

When the brunette stepped to Elsa’s tent, however, she felt very reticent about entering. She took a long breath in, hoping for the best, and stepped inside. 

She cared about Elsa a lot, maybe more than the blonde even knew, and more than she even admitted herself, so she felt in her core that it only could end well. 

Honeymaren wasn’t surprised to see that Elsa was a mess when she saw her, but it broke her heart anyway. She had been in the same state for the passing days.

At the light of the lanterns in the room, the blonde was seated on the bed, looking down as she was muttering to herself, her hair messy, her hands clenched.

When the Sami entered, she stood up in a jump. 

“What have I done?” Exclaimed Elsa. 

“Oh, nothing. I was just checking if you were alright.” Said Honeymaren softly, reassuring her. 

“Why did I say that to her??” Continued Elsa on the same panicked tone. 

The brunette realized that she wasn’t actually talking to her, but lost in her thoughts. However, Elsa actually was sharing her reflections out loud, which was rare. The arrival of Honeymaren had open a part of her, and she probably was the only person she was comfortable to confess too.

“I shouldn’t have done that. Why did I do that? I pushed her away, like always, I’m such a monster... I shouldn’t have refused her advice, I just...”

She had started crying, and was now pacing around with the most nervous speed that the Northuldra had ever seen. Elsa sometimes had panic attacks, but this was the most severe one. 

“What kind of sister I am? The worst. I’m the worst. What have I done, Honeymaren?”

The woman was about to reply, but Elsa kept pacing around. 

“I’m only doing that to protect her! Why can’t she understand that? She can’t go into Ahtohallan, she knows it! I just want her to be safe! And... And she was right about wanting me to be safe after all those visions as well. Agh, she was so right, I’m so stupid, I’m so stupid...”

Honeymaren watched her attentively and silently as she kept rambling, sobbing, panicking. The brunette couldn’t do anything, and found herself still in a corner of the tent, staring at the blonde pacing around. Elsa’s long hair was twirling every time she turned, her locks waving at each insistent move of the hands as she had a new strong point to make. 

The Northuldra realized a lot of things she never noticed before. How come she never noticed those features before? How come she never noticed the way Elsa’s big blue eyes sparkled when she was expressive? How come she never noticed the way Elsa’s few freckles were enhanced by the soft light of the lanterns? How come she never noticed how her outfit sparkled when she moved, when she breathed?

And why did she notice those details now?

Honeymaren stepped forward, and Elsa kept walking around. She was getting more and more nervous, and she had to calm her down. At her next turn, Honeymaren faced her, and Elsa stopped right in her tracks, to avoid bumping on her. 

There were a few seconds of silence, as she wondered why the woman was staring at her.

“...What?” She asked.

Honeymaren approached her face to hers. 

And kissed Elsa on the lips.

It was tender, soft, surprising. There was a moment of floating, like time got magically paused. 

Slowly, Honeymaren pulled away. They stared at each other,  speechless. Elsa had her mouth open, her face covered with tears, her eyes wide. 

Honeymaren cleared her throat. “I’m sorry.” 

Another silence passed.

“I shouldn’t have.” She muttered.

It caused a blank, and Elsa actually forgot what she even was talking about, what she even was sad and panicked about. All those feelings were like gone, vanishing away. Instead, in the center of her brain and heart, now sparkled something completely different, so radiating that it pushed everything away. Pure, soft, beaming love.

Honeymaren looked down after Elsa’s lack of answer, and muttered “I’m sorry” again, before walking past her to leave the tent.

But right before she did, something held her arm. She turned around, and Elsa was staring at her, her big blue eyes filled with new tears. 

And they weren’t sad ones, Honeymaren could tell by a simple gaze. Her heart jumped in her chest.

Elsa stepped forward to her, closed her eyes, and kissed her back.

Her kiss was longer than Honeymaren’s, even softer, but more humid too. Elsa’s lips trembled.

The brunette got worried, so when Elsa stopped the kiss and took a shaking inspiration, she slowly stepped back and looked at the blonde.

“Are you okay?”

Elsa stared at her again, silently again, and gulped. She had stopped crying, yet didn’t rub her tears, and they kept making her cheeks glisten in the light of the lanterns.

Honeymaren couldn’t decode her expression. Elsa looked like a thousand emotions were bumping in her mind at the same time, and she was still processing what had just happened. She stared at Honeymaren’s eyes, and the latter worried.

“Elsa, are you sure that you want th--”

The blonde jumped to Honeymaren’s arms and kissed her again. This time, it was deep, and passionate, and the Northuldra closed her eyes and gave all of her love back. 

It was mutual, with a shared strength. As the kiss regained and continued, they put their arms around each other, Honeymaren’s hands passing in Elsa’s hair, Elsa slightly clenching Honeymaren’s coat, feelings roaming her skin. 

The kiss was intense, loving, warm... 

And unexpectedly, healing. 

=======

:D A very emotional chapter! I warned you guys, always have tissues at the ready. This is a very meaningful chapter to me, and it’s a key pivot point in the story. Get ready for what follows...

What do you want to see next? This is an interactive fanfic! You get to choose, yep I listen to you. Give suggestions in your reblogs, fellas.

(NB: If you like my style, you can check out Untangling the Frozen Knots, my 140K words fanfic novel!)

[jgroffdaily]

Jonathan Groff sticks close to Lancaster roots while branching out in film, stage and TV

Conestoga Valley grad will move from off-Broadway musical to new 'Matrix' sequel on film.

When he is on stage at the 270-seat Westside Theatre in New York, Jonathan Groff says he often thinks about the Ephrata Performing Arts Center.

He is playing Seymour in an off-Broadway production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” which is being directed by Michael Mayer, of “Spring Awakening” fame, with Broadway veterans Christian Borle and Tammy Blanchard at Westside.

“Everyone is doing this for the fun of it,” Groff says. “It reminds me of EPAC. Nobody is trying to gain anything from it. There are no ulterior motives.”

The show is largely sold out, and reviews have been strong. Ben Brantley, of the New York Times, wrote that Groff “is generating major nerd charisma.”

For Groff, 34, being onstage is his “ultimate existence.” “That’s when I’m happiest,” he says. “ ‘Honk’ and ‘Bat Boy’ (shows he performed in at EPAC), it doesn’t get much better than that. And that’s how I feel with ‘Little Shop.’ ”

Hometown plans

Home is never far from Groff’s mind. He returns to Lancaster frequently, though sometimes just for a day.

“He was here for less than 24 hours on Thanksgiving,” says his mother, Julie Groff.

And he recently purchased a house and property next to his father’s farm in Christiana. It’s a place to live when he’s home, but also, Groff has plans for it.

“I want to turn the barns into creative spaces — a recording studio, an editing suite, a place to write, or a place to have small workshops,” Groff says. “I want it to be inspiring, quiet and peaceful.”

It’s in the future — Groff says it is a 10-year plan — but he is excited about the possibilities. He got the idea while he was playing Melchior Gabor in the cast of “Spring Awakening,” which he did off and then on Broadway from 2006 to 2008.

“Gideon Glick (who played Ernst and will be replacing Groff next month in ‘Little Shop’) was the first to leave the show, and my mother got a school bus and brought everyone in the cast to Lancaster,” he recalls.

“We hung out in the barn and had a bonfire outside. Gideon said how rejuvenating and inspiring it felt, and that got me thinking. It’s close to New York. Someone could come and spend a couple days here. My dad (Jim Groff) loves the idea, and I love the farm,” Groff says. “So as the years go by, we’ll make it a creative place.”

“When I bought the horse farm in 1987, the Realtor bought the frontage (of the property) and built eight houses. Jonathan bought one of those houses,” says Jim Groff, who is a horse trainer and a jockey. “The view out back is, well, you can’t beat it.”

Both Groffs note that their son won’t be tearing any of the barns down and won’t be changing the house much. As a creative spot, it will not have concerts or performances, but will be a quiet place.

“He wants to keep it all natural,” Julie Groff says. “It’s going to look sharp.”

Big movies

Groff’s career is going at hyperspeed these days.

He had to take time away from the “Little Shop” run for an intense press junket for “Frozen II,” the animated musical film that was released last month and is turning into another massive hit for Disney.

And it was announced recently that Groff will be appearing in “Matrix 4,” a film sequel scheduled for theatrical release in May 2021.

“He’s working with a personal trainer. The ‘Matrix’ people are getting him in shape,” says Jim Groff. “He’s working out every day, and he’s on a really strict diet. What gets me is he had to take a picture of everything he ate for a while.”

“He basically barely has enough time to eat,” says Julie Groff. “He is loving this, but I am sure it will catch up with him.”

There is no rest for the weary. Groff is set to leave “Little Shop” on Jan. 19.

The next day, he starts working on “Matrix 4,” which is being filmed partially in Chicago.

“He’s always wanted to appear in a big action movie,” Julie Groff says. “But he’s really a Disney fan. He always wanted to be in a Disney movie, and that turned out well.”

Indeed. “Frozen,” in which Groff voices mountain man Kristoff, was a global phenomenon and the largest-grossing animated film in history. The sequel is breaking records, too.

“I find it so easy to talk about ‘Frozen II,’” Groff says. “It’s so good, and the relationships with the directors and the the cast have been so positive.

“A lot of my interviews have been with Josh Gad (who voices Olaf the snowman),” he says. “We had such good time. It’s almost like a vacation.”

Groff says that when the first “Frozen” film came out in 2013, nobody expected it to be as huge as it was.

“We had all scattered after the film and didn’t really have a chance to do a lot of publicity,” he says. “So this was like a celebration for us.”

Anybody with children of a certain age will tell you how powerful “Frozen” was for their kids, particularly their daughters. Groff thinks part of the success of the movie was how it empowered the female characters.

“Kristoff is an evolved mountain man,” he says. “I love that he is there to serve the women — a man letting women take the spotlight. That flips convention.”

For a few weeks, Groff was all over TV, appearing on just about every talk show out there, from Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” to Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show.”

During his most recent appearance with Colbert, Julie Andrews was another guest.

“Can you believe I met Julie Andrews!” Groff says.

On the show, Groff showed footage of his 3-year-old self dressed as Mary Poppins for Halloween, and noted that his older brother, David, was dressed as The Entertainer, complete with top hat and cane. In the family video, David Groff says of his brother, “He has lipstick on — oooooh!”

“He was trying to upstage me,” Groff says, laughing.

“You’ve got a great mom (to let you do that),” Colbert said.

“I do have a great mom,” Groff replied.

“ ‘Mary Poppins’ was Jonathan’s first real movie. He watched it every single day,” says Julie Groff. “It was my two-and-a-half hours to get things done. He became obsessed with the movie and acted out all the parts.”

His father says that he has always studied movies and other actors onstage.

“When he did stuff at the Fulton or at EPAC, smaller stuff, he would sneak around the corner and watch them every night — watch the changes the actors made,” Jim Groff says.

“Even today he does that,” Julie Groff says. “He never stops learning.”

“I like to call him up and give him my notes after I see a show,” Jim Groff says. “We get a laugh out of that.”

Not easily recognized

You’d think Groff would get stopped by people all the time, especially because of appearances on Fox’s “Glee,” HBO’s “Looking” and the Netflix series “Mindhunter,” in which he plays FBI agent Holden Ford. (Groff says the show is on hiatus at the moment.) But he says he rarely gets recognized.

“I look like a generic white person,” he says. “And I’m mainly on my bike because that’s how I get around New York. I sign autographs if people ask.”

“He said he walked down the street in his King (George) outfit from ‘Hamilton’ once and nobody paid any attention to him,” says Jim Groff with a hearty laugh. “In New York, people don’t bother you much.”

“Things may change with ‘Matrix 4,’ though I hope not,” Julie Groff says.

But Groff hasn’t changed. He still visits with friends from home backstage during a show. He is still accessible and friendly to everyone he meets.

“With Jonathan, what you see is how he has always been,” Julie Groff says.

Right now, Groff says, life is very full. His career is going great, he’s in a relationship with New Zealand-born choreographer Corey Baker, who lives in London, and he’s closer than ever with his family.

“This is a sweet moment in time,” he says.

[faedawayyy]

my characters on nye. plots, ideas etc!

MALES! DALLAS

- ending 2020 s i n g l e.  - it’s definitely hit him how much he MISSES soraya. like painfully.  - he 100% will be down for hooking up with multiple people, like going off to rooms and having sex. i’d say maybe 3 people.  - ^^^^ none of them will mean anything to him. just a heads up.  - someone he rings in the new year with by smoking LOL  NEW YEARS KISS: he wont have one 

MASON

- most likely with kendall, nothing to really do with him here! but up for socialising. NEW YEARS KISS: kendall 

BRODY

- getting drunk LOL bc the girls are at eva’s - not too problematic tbh, just having fun - definitely a chance for more m x m connections NEW YEARS KISS: disney  

BLAKE

- same as brody really NEW YEARS KISS: christelle

NATE

- kinda came with imogen, kinda didnt  - i think he’d definitely entertain flirting w other people because they’re not together - GIVE ME A PLOT WHERE HE KINDA LEADS SOMEONE ON/THEY MAKE OUT but then he swerves them for the rest of the night PLEASE. - people to dance/drink with NEW YEARS KISS: imogen

EZRA

- he’s going to try so hard to put himself out there and get to know more people  - being friendly! making friends! maybe he could help someone whose wasted/sad/in trouble idk - he wants to spend time with felicity but feels like she strays a lot/doesn’t care as much so maybe some new people to hang with too? NEW YEARS KISS: open!! 

CHARLIE

- tagging along with nate bc that’s his only way in ghjkld -  PLOT: trying to get with/flirt with somebody   - i feel like some of his insecurities could come out tonight...we could plot how for sure. NEW YEARS KISS: open!!

ISAAK

- he’s a funny drunk. catch him doing the WAP on the dance floor LOL - constantly on the dance floor tbh, includes everyone - i dont think he’s looking for hook ups bc he’s very into sawyerrrr but he won’t push it.  NEW YEARS KISS: no one unless sawyer kisses him lmao 

TAEWAN

- won’t be drinking OR like doing anything that could give him bad press - MAYBE find out somebody’s secret or gets tea on someone - still extroverted so still around i JUST NEED HIM TO BRANCH oUT NEW YEARS KISS: nobody but maybe somebody kisses him while drunk just friendly and it gets pictured for the insider

ANTHONY

- GIVE HIM A NEW INFATUATION. like lets start from the beginning. he hangs out with someone and becomes very attached. i dont care whether they’re male or female.  NEW YEARS KISS: open lmao

KRISTOFFER 

- with everleigh for the most part, probably wanting to leave LMAO  NEW YEARS KISS: everleigh

MILES

- HE FEEEELS like leo likes charlie and he also likes and has feelings for her so he’s kinda down about that. especially bc charlie told him she wasnt fully over leo.  - give him soneone new to distract him bc he’s so down on himself lol NEW YEARS KISS: open

FEMAES! 

HENSLEY

- she’s engaged and so happpppY - dancing, hanging with the girls  NEW YEARS KISS: evan 

BRIELLE 

- NERVOUS ASF BC SHE WANTS TO FIT IN WITH THE ‘POPULAR GIRLS’ so much.  - maybe someone who hits on/flirts w her bc she’s not as confident as others to make the first move?  - imogens for new years pre drinks NEW YEARS KISS: open !!

ISSY

- SHES ANNOYING BUT SHE’D BE MISSING AVERY. she’d probably bring him for the first part :’)  - maybe he’d end up staying w levi’s parents/family so the two of them can have fun  NEW YEARS KISS: levi 

MARGO

- this girl is a mess. she’s going to get wasted. we all know  - she’s been flirting w harvey a lot and i definitely think she’ll flirt w people just to get him worked up bc that’s margo  - idm her having several makeouts  NEW YEARS KISS: open!! 

ELORA & YULIA

- putting them together bc v similar. they’re going to imogen’s for pre drinks and then will both be out for like IMAAAAGE. they’ll be all dolled up, flirting with all the right people?? - they’re definitely both girls to be on the dancefloor tho!  NEW YEARS KISS YULIA: open!! NEW YEARS KISS ELORA: open!! 

MARIA

- SHE NEEDS TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH RORY so she’ll 100% be with him and just enjoying the night 

- also soraya and natalie bc! 

NEW YEARS KISS: open!! 

ELOISE

- i really need friends and like a flirtationship for her. maybe someone she’s close with and it’s a slowburn, they eventually end up liking each other. i’ve never had many of those.

NEW YEARS KISS: open!! 

DANICA 

NEW YEARS KISS: mallory!

FANS!

SAVANNAH, TEDDY, ESME AND IVY

all four of mine are 1000% sneaking into the party.   i feel like savannah being 16 would be way out of her depth lmao. maybe some creep hits on her and someone helps her out. teddy and ivy will be taking pictures and bothering people. esme will be looking to hook up w someone famous.

[tamorasky]

Mistress Anna Chapter 12

Rating: M

Summary: It wasn’t uncommon for the women to be eventually cast aside, Anna was just naive enough to believe it would never happen to her.

Relationships: Anna/Kristoff

Words: 4265

Canadian Frontier Au.

AO3

Masterlist

Notes: Warning the outdated use of language.

Anna’s skirt is wet as she wades in the river to fetch water for the day. She watches closely as the bucket slowly fills as the hot sun beats down on her. As she carries the bucket back to the riverbank, Anna can feel the water sloshing on her dress as she struggles to bring it back to the bank.

Anna looks up as she hears a scream echoing through the wind. Eliza’s scream. The bucket drops at Anna’s feet, the water spilling on her feet as another scream reaches her. The young woman bolts forward, forgetting the bucket by the river.

Her heart pounds as she races through the bush, not caring as branches scrape against her arms. She ponders if Hans had found them already.

Would he force them back to Arendelle? Was he taking Eliza away from her?

Anna sprints faster through the wood, the forest floor digging into her feet. She didn’t know what she will do if Hans is there, she knows Elsa has guns in the house, but she has no clue how to use them. She pushes aside branches as she approaches the lot.

Bursting onto the lot, Anna stops at the sight of her daughter sitting in the grass, reaching forward to the rather large man sitting in front of Eliza, tickling her. She collapses to her knees, relieved to see her daughter was not in immediate danger, though she questions who this stranger is. Her hands are shaking, her heart pounds in her chest as adrenaline races through her veins.

As she looks up, she finds the tall man standing over her. Concern crossing his face as he stares down at her. “Are you alright, ma’am?” He asks, his maritime accent giving him away as a Newfoundlander.

“I-I’m fine.” Anna nods, placing her hand over her chest as her heartbeat slowly returns to normal. His brown eyes crease as he smiles at her, offering his hand to her. Anna takes his hand with a small smile. The brunette man helps her up, careful not to be too forceful with the young woman.

“I’m Sven Nilsen.” The man introduces as Anna comes to stand on her feet.

“Anna Arnesen.” She responds, shaking the hand she still holds. It is evident to Anna that the man before her isn’t Metis or even an Indian from the island. “May I ask why you are here, Mr. Nilsen?”

Sven chuckles at her, shaking his head. “Please, no need for formalities, just call me Sven. I’ve come west beca-”  

“Sven, I fixed the wagon so we can get going now.” Another man’s voice approaches the two of them.

Her heart stops as she looks over Sven’s shoulder. Despite the same mop of blonde hair, the man standing in front of her isn’t the one who had left her behind two years ago. His shoulders are broader now, more defined, and his jaw hiding under thick facial hair.

The two of them stare at one another, a lump building in her throat. “K-Kristoff.”

“Anna.” He greets, his voice steadier than her own. Anna manages a small smile towards him, trying to dissuade the tension. Sven looks back-and-forth between the two of them, his eyes widening as the pieces fall into place.

“H-how are you?” she stutters, the pounding in her chest returns as she continues to take him in.

“We don’t have to do this, Anna.” He sighs, running a hand through his hair. Anna bites her lip, looking to the ground as she nods her head. Sven loudly clears his throat, walking away from the two of them, back to the baby.

Anna’s gaze is pulled away from Kristoff as Eliza squeals in excitement. Her daughter giggles as the Newfoundlander tickles her feet. Anna looks up at Kristoff again. He stares at Sven and the small girl before him, the twitch in his cheek indicating he is holding back a smile.

“I didn’t realize you were back.” Anna finally says. He meets her gaze, the twitch in his cheek gone.

“Yeah, I’ve been back since the spring.”

“Visiting your mother?” Anna asks, wanting to continue talking with him. He had been her best friend for her life. Now he stands in front of her since for the first time since he had left Ahtohallan. Kristoff simply shrugs in response.

“Anna!” a woman’s voice chirps. Looking over her shoulder, Anna sees Bulda approaching the two of them. The older woman’s greying raven hair is braided into two plaits, nearly reaching her waist.

“Bulda, it’s nice to see you.” She smiles as Bulda envelops Anna in a tight hug, pecking her on the cheek. Anna closes her eyes, savouring the feeling of Bulda’s arms wrapped around her body, no one had held her like this since she had left for Arendelle. Reluctantly she pulls away from the other woman.

“I’m so glad that you’re home, dear.” The older woman states, still holding Anna’s hands in her own.

“Thank you. It feels good to be home.”

“It will make things much more difficult when you leave us again. Especially since now, we’ve all met your little angel.” Bulda says. Anna takes a moment to think about what Bulda is talking in regard to. She opens her mouth to ask what the older woman meant, quickly closing it as it dawns on her. The lie. Angelique must’ve told her.

“Yeah, it really will,” Anna responds, looking over at Kristoff in the corner of her eye. The man sighs as he averts his gaze from them, staring up at the sky.

“But, I’m sure your husband is missing you and that sweet girl very much.”

“He is.” Anna blurts, unsure why she is contributing further to the lie. She knows she will have to tell the truth sooner or later. “Do you want to hold Eliza?”

“She already has,” Kristoff says, nearly scaring Anna out of her skin as he appears next to her.

“And I’m not done with her yet,” Sven calls with the toddler now on his lap.

“Sven, we should get going. We need to get to Fort Carleton by mid-day.”

“Fine.” Sven sighs, bouncing Eliza on his knees. “He’s so grumpy.” Anna giggles at Sven’s comment regarding Kristoff which is directed at her daughter.

“You two go ahead. I’m catching up with Anna.” Bulda waves her hand, dismissing her son. Kristoff sighs, rolling his eyes in response.

“I-I mean you could stay for supper.” Anna blurts, looking at the man standing next to her. He stares down at her, his brows knitting together at her suggestion.

“I’ll be back at the house.” He presses a kiss to his mother’s forehead, tucking his hands into his pockets as he turns back to Anna. “It was nice seeing you, Anna. Come on Sven”

Sven stands from the ground, Eliza still in his arms. Bulda immediately reaches for the toddler, taking Eliza with a smile.

“It was nice meeting you, Anna,” Sven says, running to catch up with his friend. Anna watches the two men walk away, Kristoff pushing the brunette man’s shoulder.

She sighs, watching Kristoff walk away from them. Bulda turns back to the young woman, shaking her head. “He’s been very irritable these past few days. You’ll have to excuse him.”

“Of course. It’s nice of him to at least come and visit you.”

“It’s so nice to have him home again.” Bulda comments.

As Anna stares at the woman in front of her, she wonders if Bulda knew about her son. Everything he did out east. The illegal trading. The murder of a company man.

Anna smiles at the older woman. “He is a good man.”

Bulda beings to bounce Eliza on her hip as the young girl begins to fuss. “Oh, it sounds like someone is ready for their nap.”

“How do you know when they need to rest? I’m finding it more difficult to know.”

“She’ll get irritable like this. About 30 minutes ago, she should’ve gone down, but Sven was insistent that he play with her.” Bulda hands the crying girl back to her mother. Anna winces as Eliza’s wails in her ear loudly.

“I’m so glad to see you again, Anna.” Bulda says. “I’ll let you handle the most important thing.” The older woman presses a kiss to Anna’s cheek, then to the top of Eliza’s head.

Anna watches the raven-haired woman leave the property, Bulda was the only mother figure left in her life; the only grandmother figure Eliza would ever know.

She carries Eliza inside, surprised to see Elsa sitting at the table. The brunette looks up at the sudden disturbance. Anna gives an apologetic smile to her sister.

“I’m sorry.” She says meekly. “I’ll get her down as fast as I can.” Anna strides over to the bed, laying her daughter against the pillows. She doesn’t bother pulling a blanket over Eliza’s body; it was too hot for the knitted fabric.

Anna lays next to her daughter, running her finger down the bridge of Eliza’s nose as her eyes flutter shut. Slowly, she rises from the bed backing away quietly. As she turns, Anna notices that Elsa is gone from the chair. She makes her way outside to the porch where her sister stands.

“You don’t have to apologize,” Elsa states, not looking back at the young woman.

“Pardon?” Anna’s brows knit together in confusion at her sister’s comment. Elsa looks over her shoulder, shrugging.

“She’s a baby. You don’t have to apologize for her crying. It’s what they do.” The brunette faces forward, staring out into the bush.

“Thank you,” Anna responds. Finding it odd that someone was understanding of Eliza’s crying, instead of blaming her for it.

Elsa finally turns away from the scene before her to face her sister. Elsa’s arms are crossed as she stares at her sister. “Why does Bulda think you’re returning to Arendelle?” Anna bites her lip, looking down at her feet, unable to look at her in the eye.

“I told Angelique that Hans is away in London.” She admits shamefully. Elsa sighs, staring at her sister, her lips pursed. The brunette walks into the house and re-emerges with her rifle.

“I’ll be back later.” Her sister makes her way past Anna without another word. The auburn-haired woman watches Elsa walk away. They hadn’t talked yet about anything, not what had transpired between the two of them or her return. Elsa didn’t want to know anything about her time in Arendelle.

A part of Anna wishes her sister would just yell at her, blame her for everything that has happened. The silence and Elsa’s constant absence is worse than any of that. She’d rather be yelled at.

…..

Anna wakes in the morning, turning to her daughter, who lies next to her on the bed sleeping soundly. Staring the little girl in front of her, a small smile comes to her face.

One year ago, the light of her life came into her life.

Reluctantly Anna withdraws from the bed, making her way over to the stove. She prepares Eliza’s porridge on the stove, stirring the grains constantly in the pot. As the food begins to bubble, she takes the cooking vessel off of the hot surface. Grabbing a bowl, Anna pours the porridge into the vessel, placing it on the table to cool.

Anna stalks across the room to the armoire, which used to be her mother’s. She opens the doors, grabbing a white blouse and a green skirt from the rack. The young woman strips off her nightgown, leaving the garment on the floor as she grabs a chemise and bloomers from the dresser.

She places on the blouse that had once belonged to her mother, carefully fastening the frail buttons in the front. Anna notices Eliza beginning to wiggle on the bed, quickly stepping into the skirt. Walking over to the bed, she tucks her blouse into her waistband.

“Good morning, my sweet.” Anna greets as she picks up her daughter. Eliza grunts, flailing her arms as her eyes squint open. The young woman carries Eliza to the table, sitting down in front of the bowl.

The porridge is still hotter than Anna would’ve liked, meaning she would have to blow on the oats before feeding them to Eliza. She brings the spoon to her daughter’s mouth, giggling as she sees her daughter’s chubby fingers wrap around the spoon.

“Is that good?” Anna asks, pulling the spoon out of Eliza’s mouth. The small girl’s squeal of affirmation indicates that she is enjoying her breakfast. She continues to feed Eliza, careful not to get any food on her skirt.

She leaves the dirty bowl on the table as Eliza finishes her breakfast, carrying her daughter back to their bed. Anna places the small girl on the bed, Eliza sitting up as her mother walks away to grab a dress. She chooses the lilac dress, borrowed from Angelique, that hangs beside her own clothing.

Anna knows Eliza likes the feeling of linen against her skin. The fabric is light against her soft skin. Placing the dress next to Eliza, Anna unbuttons her daughter’s nightgown, throwing the garment towards the head of the bed.

Eliza coos in delight as her mother dresses her in the linen dress. “You like that?” Anna giggles as she fastens the buttons on the front of the dress. “I thought you might.”

Anna picks Eliza up by her armpits, resting the now toddler against her chest to press a kiss to her daughter’s cheek. “Happy birthday, my love.”

Eliza squeals at the contact, wrapping her chubby arms around her mother’s neck. Anna carries the little girl outside, scanning the lot to see if Elsa is there; she is not. With a sigh, she steps off the porch to walk towards the road.

Anna meanders down the path, giggling as Eliza points out birds and coos at them. Eliza has always loved birds since she was a baby; ducks and the chickadees, in particular, were the little girl’s favourite.

As the young woman walks past Bulda and Cliff’s property, Anna furrows her brows as she sees Elsa standing with Kristoff, Sven, and Cliff. She steps onto the river lot, slowly approaching the group of people.

Kristoff’s arms are crossed, nodding his head as Elsa relays information to him. His brow quirks as he notices the auburn-haired woman stalking towards them. She offers him a small smile as she comes to stand behind Elsa, a gesture in which he reciprocates.

Elsa turns to face her sister, brow creasing. “Why are you here?”

“M-me?” Anna questions. “oh, we were just going on a walk and saw you. I thought I’d come to see what it was you were discussing.”  

Anna bites her lip nervously. Recalling how much Hans hated it when she interjected herself in his conversations.

“We were talking about the grass fire near Ahtohallan,” Kristoff informs her. Anna looks to her sister, her lips pursed.

“Is it serious?”

Elsa sighs, putting her hands on her hips. “It’s already destroyed the Mennonite farm five acres east of Ahtohallan.”

“But that farm is still across the river.” Anna states. “We should be safe, right?”

“Not if it jumps the river. We’re going to have to beat down the edge.” Elsa states, tucking her hands into her pockets.

“What can I do to help?” Anna asks, shifting Eliza to her other hip, closer to Sven, who was cooing at the little girl.

“Go back to the house,” Elsa instructs.

“Elsa, I can help. Let me.” The young woman pleads, wanting to be of use to her sister and her community. The brunette woman sighs, shaking her head.

“What I need from you right now, Anna is to go back to the house. Or stay here with Bulda.” Elsa repeats before walking past her sister without another word. With a huff, Anna looks back to the men before her.

Sven smiles at her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he follows behind Elsa. Kristoff approaches close behind his friend, stopping beside the young woman.

He clears his throat. “Ma is in the house.” Kristoff’s hand hovers Anna’s shoulder as if he is going to rest it on her as he once would do to reassure her. Instead, the young man shoves his hands into his pockets, leaving without another word.

Anna sighs, looking over her shoulder to watch Kristoff race down the road towards the Grant family’s property.

With a huff, Anna makes her way back towards the cabin, placing Eliza down the road. She steadies her daughter, holding the little girl’s hands as she takes small steps against the dirt. A smile comes to her face as she watches Eliza wobble along the path.

The walk home takes longer with Eliza walking in front of her mother, slowly taking little steps. Not that Anna minds, she loves watching her daughter taking her first steps. It made her so proud of her little girl.

As they reach the lot, Anna picks Eliza up, noticing the girl is getting tired. Eliza slumps against her mother’s chest as they approach the cabin. The young woman rubs Eliza’s back, coaxing the her to sleep. Despite what Bulda had said that Eliza should be outgrowing morning naps by this age, Anna had found by mid-morning that her daughter is always in need of a nap.

Anna opens the door with her elbow, pushing it open with her back as she crosses the threshold. She doesn’t bother closing the door as she enters the house. Meandering over to their bed, Anna places Eliza on the mattress. She puts two pillows on either side of her daughter, ensuring Eliza wouldn’t roll over in her sleep.

With a smile, Anna walks away from her daughter, confident that she was soundly asleep. She makes her way back outside, noticing how the air slowly thickened with smoke as the fire draws closer to Ahtohallan.

With a sigh, she steps off the porch, making her way to the clothesline. She takes the various garments off of the line, throwing them over her shoulder.

She tries to distract herself throughout the day with chores. Securing Eliza to her back, once the little girl wakes up from her nap, to carry out the various tasks throughout the property. Despite the various chores Anna was attempting to distract herself with, she couldn’t help but worry what is happening down the river.

It bothers her that Elsa hadn’t asked for her help. Instead, she had dismissed her without a second thought. She felt as if she was a child again, watching her sister walk away from her without a second thought. Leaving behind her annoying younger sister.  

And Kristoff, she wonders how he was back in Ahtohallan with everything that he’s done. She can’t help but question why no one had told her that Kristoff had returned to the community; she had a right to know.

Anna makes barley soup that night for dinner, swearing to herself when she realizes that she has scorched their dinner. Eliza fights her at dinner, pushing away her mother’s hand every time the spoon comes close to her face.

“Eliza, come on, sweetheart.” Anna attempts to plead with her one-year-old. Eliza is shrieking and shaking her head violently, which causes the young woman to spill some of the soup on her skirt. Anna drops the spoon in the bowl with a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger.

Between Eliza’s fussing and the dense smoke, Anna feels herself getting a headache. Anna tries not to be upset with her daughter, knowing Eliza’s throat is raw from crying and is uncomfortable with the smoke inhalation. They are both struggling together.

Relief floods over the young woman as her daughter eats the last bite of her soup, allowing Anna to have her own dinner finally. She keeps Eliza entertained by bouncing the little girl on her knee while carefully eating her soup.

Elsa still isn’t home when Anna finishes her dinner. She can’t help but feel concern for her sister, hoping that Elsa would’ve returned from the river already. She dresses Eliza in a linen nightgown, tucking the little girl into their bed for the night. Anna runs her forefinger down the bridge of Eliza’s nose, coaxing the little girl to sleep. She remains sitting on the bed, ensuring that her daughter is actually down for the night.

Once she is certain Eliza won’t wake, Anna makes her way outside. She approaches the river to look for an orange hue on the horizon, which would indicate the fire was still wild. But there is nothing, no hue, no shouting or panicking down the river—just silence.

Furrowing her brows, Anna meanders along the riverbank towards the Grant’s lot. The smoke is getting thicker as she ventures further. Her eyes begin to water, and she begins to cough heavily as she approaches the property.

Through her watery blue eyes, Anna can see various figures standing around Gerda and Kai Grant’s property, throwing wet sacks and blankets on the red river carts. Her chest hurts as she inhales more smoke, coughing as she walks up the riverbank.

“Elsa,” Anna calls out as she emerges from the smoke, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her blouse. Her cough vibrating through her chest as she feels her head getting lighter. She falters as she walks, falling to the ground with nothing to steady herself on.

With her palms pressed flat against the grass, Anna tucks her nose and mouth into her blouse, attempting to breathe through her shirt.

“Anna!” a voice calls out to her. She looks up to Kristoff, running towards her. He kneels in front of her, his honey-brown eyes peering into sky blue ones. “Are you alright.”

With a cough, Anna nods, tears streaming down her cheeks. Without a second thought, Kristoff helps her up from the ground, his hand resting on the small of her back. She always forgets how large he is compared to her. The expanse of the hand that rests on her back nearly covers the surface.

They emerge from the smoke, Anna coughing heavily as she clutches Kristoff’s forearm to steady herself. He stares at her concerned over the amount of smoke she’s inhaled within these moments.

“Anna, are you alright?” He repeats, wanting to make sure the woman he once cared for is truly feeling well.

“I-I’m fine. Thank you.” She croaks.

He shakes his head, his hands still holding onto her elbows. “What are you doing here, Anna?”

Anna hesitates to tell him, looking down at her feet. She feels as if she was six again, following Kristoff and Elsa to the river, trying to swim out to where they were only to be sucked under by the current. Here she was again, following her sister and putting herself into danger to follow her sister into the fire without a second thought of the consequences.

Kristoff nods, not needing to hear why she is there. He knows why she came. The blonde man clears his throat, letting go of the woman in front of him. “She was helping load the blankets last I saw.”

“Thank you, Kristoff.” She says, disappointed as his hands leave her body. Anna’s head snaps in the direction as she hears her older sister’s voice ring out through the night.

“Anna!”

The young woman turns to see Elsa slowly approaching them, a scowl crossing the brunette’s features. Anna’s heart drops at the look on her older sister’s face, the same expression she had when Kristoff pulled Anna out of the river.

“Elsa, I’m fine.” She tries to reassure as Elsa stands inches away from her. The older Arneson sister’s eye narrow towards her younger sister

“What are you doing here?” Elsa demands.

“I came to make sure you were all right.”

“You can’t just show up to an emergency like this, Anna. You put yourself into a dangerous situation without a second thought. Do you know what could’ve happened to you?” Elsa’s brows knit together in a fashion that shows her disappointment.

“I know but-”

“What do you think would’ve happened if Kristoff hadn’t found you? What would I do with Eliza if you had died?”

“I would’ve been fine. Why don’t you trust me?” Anna finally asks the question that has been lingering on her mind all afternoon.

“Anna, you never took the time to understand when you were growing up here. Why would you now?”

“Just let me help!” Anna exclaims. “Why are you so difficult about this?” she doesn’t care that people are looking at the two of them. Some things needed to be said.

“Because you don’t belong here!” Elsa finally shouts. Anna recoils from her sister as if she had been slapped. “Go back to Arendelle, Anna.”

Elsa pushes past Anna, not saying another word as she walks back to the cart. Anna stares after her sister, her chest aching as the words Elsa had said ingraining into her mind.

Nodding her head, Anna strides away from the Grant’s property without another word. As she walks back towards her sister’s home, tears fall down her cheeks. Anna angrily wipes at her face, not wanting to show any weakness.

Anna doesn’t know what she’ll do, only knowing that she can’t stay in Ahtohallan. Despite hoping that Elsa would welcome her with open arms, Anna knew how her older sister felt. Of course, Elsa was right. Anna doesn’t belong here, but she will never return to Arendelle.

Note: Really big thank you to Laura for giving me feedback on Anna and Elsa’s fight. 

Also I apologized if this chapter dragged, I really struggled writing it. 

[swimmingnewsie]

Of Coffee and Cookies (Chapter 14)

...There was a reason I didn’t write fic in undergrad. But we keep pushing and keep going! Thank you for sticking with me and please enjoy this transitory chapter!

Link to AO3

---

Elsa’s head throbbed as she stared at her laptop. She knew there was work to be done, but the sight of her to-do list made her heart ache and stomach drop. Her mind was contorted with images and thoughts she didn’t want and certainly didn't need in this moment.

She took a deep breath, attempting to get some grasp on the anxiety that plagued her. Her worries came one after another after another. Anna was doing better than when they first arrived home, but Elsa couldn't help but be afraid she would regress any second. She knew that her sister didn't need her walking on eggshells; she knew that, but she couldn't help worrying anyway.

"She looks a lot more confident today."

Maren's words pulled her from her thoughts. They were working at the cafe, just like old times. Originally it was to help make Anna more comfortable going to work after the hearing; but if Elsa was honest with herself, it alleviated her own anxieties as well. Anna was safe, and no one was going to touch her on their watch. Even if it meant Elsa wasn't getting much of her own work done.

Elsa hummed in agreement. Talking was difficult today. It wasn't as bad as in her childhood when she would go silent for days or weeks at a time; but there was an old comfort in the silence. Words only cluttered her brain.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence was what let him destroy her. Silence kept her as his prisoner. Silence stopped anyone from helping.

"Elsa?"

Maren's voice brought her back again, releasing her from her thoughts. Elsa looked onward, desperately trying not to feel the anxiety coursing through her body. Her eyes squinted shut as if that were the key to shutting out her thoughts. Maren's hand was warm in here. A gentle squeeze helped center her, actually bringing herself back.

"I'm okay," she said hesitantly.

Maren gave her that look, the disbelieving look that Elsa was very familiar with. "You're not. You're shaking."

"Sorry." There wasn't anything else she could say. She hated worrying Maren like this, not when there were so many other things that she could be focusing on. "I'm okay, promise. We need to get our grading done."

"There's time for that later, snowflake. I'm more worried about you." Maren's expression softened, giving her another soft squeeze. "How many cups of coffee have you had today?"

Elsa groaned. Her caffeine habits had been a frequent argument lately. She knew it made her anxieties worse; she knew she should cut back. But it made her feel like there was some kind of control, some kind of power to get her work done. Even if it wasn't the healthiest manner.

She shook what was left of her americano- her standard with two extra shots. "Only number two," she admitted softly.

Maren sighed, looking at her. "That's still ten shots of espresso, Elsa. That's not healthy You know that." Elsa could practically see her girlfriend running the numbers in her head. "800 milligrams of caffeine is double what a healthy adult should have."

"Only 750," Elsa replied, giving a small shrug. "I ordered regular, not blonde."

"You aren't helping your case. When is the last time you slept properly?"

Elsa sighed. She knew it did her no good to lie, even if it left her pride in tact. "I'm still going to bed every night, I promise." It was the truth. She simply went to bed at midnight and was up by five the next morning. Sure, she was exhausted, but at least she had the semblance of getting something done in her long hours.

Maren gave her what Elsa affectionately referred to as her teacher look, soft yet firm. "You need to relax. I know the stress you're under but you don't have to bear it alone." Maren reached forward, taking the last of her coffee. "And we should probably switch you to decaf."

"Maren," she began to protest when her girlfriend threw away her coffee, but her resolve didn't last long. She wasn't sure if it was the caffeine, her exhaustion, or love, but Elsa's heart ached. And when Maren wrapped her arms around her, she was a goner. Tears of exhaustion and worry let themselves out without her consent.

And for once, Elsa didn't mind. Anna was busy with a customer, so she wouldn't see or worry. With Maren's arms wrapped around her, Elsa let her vulnerability bleed through. It was okay to let it go.

"Let's go home."

---

"You are insane."

"Oh come on! When's the last time you've climbed a tree?"

Kristoff shook his head with a smile. "When my knees didn't crack every time I bent down."

"That's far too long! Come on, old man! It'll be perfect."

"Old man?!" Before Kristoff could protest again, Ryder was off scrambling up the large oak. "You're an idiot!" he called up with a laugh, before following him up the tree.

"Yeah, but I'm your idiot," Ryder shouted down.

Climbing was harder than Kristoff remembered. Since he took the job at Mermaid's Siren all those years ago, he hadn't spent as much time out in the woods as he wanted. Walks with Sven were generally in city blocks these days compared to the winding fields he grew up on. This park, however, felt like home.

Ryder looked down at him, smile warm and eyes bright.

It felt like home in more ways than one.

Kristoff knew deep down that he and Ryder would not get back together. He knew that he needed to move on and continue to let Ryder grow in his own right. That their friendship, while deep, would never go back to those as lovers. He was getting there slowly, but some part of him still ached for the feeling of before.

"Come on, slowpoke!"

Kristoff laughed. "I'm coming! Not all of us are graced with your athletic gifts!"

Ryder laughed in return, settling on a study branch overlooking the large park. Soon enough Kristoff was beside him, taking in the warm sun. The view was enough to make him gasp. "Beautiful right?"

Kristoff nodded, relishing in the overwhelming feeling of peace. An orange glow cast over park, the sun preparing itself to set. It reminded him of being a kid, desperate to find where the sun went at night, chasing it until his mom called him and his brother in for the night. "Do you come here a lot?"

"Not as much as I used to. But when Dad took me and Mare to the park I always made a point to climb as high as I could. Helped me think sometimes," he shrugged. "And I figured we could both use a little help clearing our heads."

Kristoff scoffed. Of course Ryder could tell something was up. Then again, everything had been up since the trial. His mom called it a turning point in all of their lives, and that couldn't be more true.

"Maybe a little."

"Maybe a lot, blondie," he teased.

The nickname made him smile. It wasn't too much, certainly not something he called him while they were dating, but it let Ryder be affectionate. And Kristoff would be lying if he said he didn't like it.

Kristoff sighed, swinging his legs back and forth. "Is this all that we're meant to be doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I've just felt stuck lately I guess. With everything that's happened, I feel like I'm not where I'm supposed to be. I don't want to be some stupid barista for the rest of my life you know? But I don't know what to be instead. I don't want to go back to school and I don't want to stay at Mermaid's and I don't know what a good option is anymore."

Working in retail wasn't thrilling for everyone if anyone, he knew that. The customers seemed to be getting worse and worse by the day, though. It was near impossible to put up with their new upper management, especially after all the crap they had given Anna over the hearing. But the benefits were good, and he was able to afford a crummy little apartment for himself. He couldn't throw it all away like it was nothing.

Kristoff picked at the bark. "I know it's stupid."

Suddenly Ryder's hand was on his. "It's not stupid. I understand. Not feeling where you're meant to be."

Kristoff raised his eyebrow. "You do?"

Ryder nodded, absentmindedly looking into the distance. "Especially with all this," he awkwardly motioned around his body, "I feel like there's somewhere... Something better for me."

Kristoff gave a nod, sighing. "I wish there was some easy fix for it all. Something to go by."

Ryder gave his hand a quick squeeze. "There may not be a guide to go by, but that doesn't mean you have to go it alone."

Kristoff gave a small huff of a laugh. "Yeah?"

He leaned in a bit, pressing forward. "Yeah. We'll both find out places."

Kristoff smiled leaning in himself. Was Ryder going to kiss him? Weren't they-

His balance fell out from under him, and with the help of quick reflexes, he was hanging upside down in the tree.

"Are you okay?!"

Ryder was hanging off the side of the tree reaching to give him a hand. Kristoff breathed in relief, panting from fear and embarrassment. Maybe he wasn't so good at reading the signs after all.

"...I'm good."

---

Anna rubbed at her eyes. It made sense to her that her nightmares had gotten worse, but it didn't make them any easier to manage. Nor was it any easier to go back to sleep after them. Hearing the sound of a clacking keyboard, she decided to get up and investigate.

Elsa was typing away feverishly on some report or other, her reading glasses practically falling off her face. A quick glance at the clock, told her it was time to intervene. They both needed sleep.

"Elsa?" she said quietly, trying not to spook her sister. Despite the efforts, her sister jumped. "Sorry, it's just me," she said softly.

Elsa's gaze softened as she turned to her. "It's okay. What are you doing up, sunshine?" she asked scooting over to give Anna some space on the couch.

Anna easily settled in, laying her head against Elsa's shoulder. "I should ask you the same thing," she said, pointing to the stacks of papers around them.

"I asked first," she said, taking her glasses off and resting against the couch.

"Same as always," Anna murmured, playing with the strings on her pajama pants. "Bad dreams about you-know-who."

"You want to talk about it? You know I'll listen."

Anna shook her head. Her sister had been a saint these last few weeks, but Anna didn't think it did her any good to ruminate on a dream she had already had three times this week. "Same one as last night. What's keeping you up?"

"Nothing really," Elsa shrugged. "A little bit of this and a little bit of that. Nothing important."

"Elsa..." She didn't believe her sister for a second. The day's makeup had worn off revealing dark baggy eyes. Not to mention it wasn't the first time she had heard Elsa typing late into the night. "Please don't hide this from me. We said no more secrets."

"First Maren, now you." Elsa sighed, giving Anna some relief. She wasn't going to hide this time. "I'm really behind on work is the issue. And my insomnia and anxiety seem to be conspiring against me," she mumbled.

Anna gave her own sad sigh. She couldn't help but feel like it was her fault. If all this hadn't happened, then her sister wouldn't be worrying her to sleeplessness. She wouldn't have been nearly as stressed or worried. She wouldn't-

"Hey," Elsa gave her hand a light squeeze, " don't blame yourself for my clerical errors."

"How did you-"

"I know that look, sunshine." Elsa poked her sister's nose, the same way their mama used to. Anna gave a small smile, enjoying the familiar comfort. "I promise, you don't need to worry about this. I can manage."

Anna's smile fell a bit. "You can, but you don't have to do it alone. You've done so much for me, how can I help you?"

"Anna, you really don't need to. I promise." Elsa gave a small yawn. "I'm okay."

Anna sighed, knowing this wasn't a battle she would win at the moment. But she could still help. "Will you lay down with me for a bit?" She saw the look of contemplation on her sister's face, weighing the pros of working versus sleeping. She couldn't help but feel happy when Elsa ultimately shut the laptop.

Soon they were both snuggled into Elsa's bed warm and content. Resting her head against Elsa's chest, Anna smiled. She had done something good, something right. And before she could even say her goodnight, she drifted off feeling better than she had in days.

[im-fairly-whitty]

Ablaze: A Frozen Alternate History AU

Fifteen years ago Elsa disappeared up the mountain when she lost control of her ice powers at her coronation and was never seen again, leaving Queen Anna and her husband the Prince Regent Hans to rule Arendelle as it descended into a cursed eternal winter. A year later Arendelle’s new prince was born, a boy cursed with the power of fire instead of ice. Now fourteen-year-old Prince Taavi has begun to hear a voice singing to him far in the distance that no one else can hear, beckoning him toward the secrets of his family’s past and the secrets of his own magic. 

[Chapter 1 - Water]

Chapter 2 - Ice  

As much as Taavi complained about being trapped in the castle he was no stranger to the outside world. Even when he’d had trouble controlling his fire, his parents had always insisted it was more important for him to go out and learn to secretly control it than to live behind a locked door.

This had led to more close calls than Taavi could remember, but it meant he’d traveled across Arendelle his whole childhood to see the towns and meet the people he would one day be responsible for, even visiting his many uncles down in the Southern Isles once or twice. Taavi had seen snowy countryside and secluded woods, icy villages and bustling cities.

But none of his past journeys could have prepared him for this, to be clinging to to back of a nøkk in the dead of night, desperately struggling not to slip as it carried him at a breathless speed along the only running river in Arendelle, straight up the forbidden mountain that had always loomed high over his own home.

He’d been in forests before, but somehow the dark frost-blasted pines and skeletal dead birches that reached their branches across the river above felt as if they were watching him. Taavi couldn’t know exactly why, but something deep inside could tell something was wrong with this forest, and it wasn’t just the tales he’d grown up hearing of all the dark magic that roamed these woods looking for victims foolish enough to cross into the shadows.  

“Vand, hold on,” Taavi called, his fingers aching from his death grip on the water horse’s mane.  “I’m going to fall off, slow down.”

Vand slowed, pranced to a stop. His hooves glancing off the liquid surface of the river as he looked back at Taavi quizzically.

“Sorry, I just need a break, I’m not used to going this fast.” Taavi said, swinging his leg over Vand’s back to dismount. “Just let me walk a minute.”

He didn’t remember until an instant too late that Vand was standing on the surface of a snowmelt river. The cold of the water felt like a physical blow as Taavi fell under the surface, submerged in a blindingly frigid instant. His entire body locked up, the heat inside him snuffing out in shock.

Something clamped around his wrist and Taavi felt himself yanked up. He gasped as his head burst to the surface, the cold of the air made worse by the cold of the water. He looked up to see Vand had caught hold of his wrist, the water horse dragging him to the snowy riverbank in a few watery strides.

Had Taavi ever been this cold in his life? He numbly searched for the flame inside him, finding only a small ember. It had never felt this small. Is this how normal people felt?

Taavi coughed as he struggled to move, his muscles stiff and useless feeling after only seconds under the water.

“Call your fire.” Vand commanded, now crouching beside him in human form. “You’re going to freeze if you don’t.”

“Y-y-you said y-you’d stay in sh-shallow w-water.” Taavi said through chattering teeth, trying to focus hard enough to summon any warmth he could, chasing the barest flicker of heat in his chest as he shivered violently. 

“Well next time don’t throw yourself off when we’re still in the middle of the river. Humans drown so easily, you should know better.” Vand said, sounding altogether too casual considering the situation. 

Vand looked up and around them, then pointed through the trees. “It’s just as well we stopped though. This as far as I can take you by river, it gets too steep further up and I won’t be able to carry you. Beyond those trees you’ll see a path. Walk it and it will lead you to the palace of ice, when you reach the front gate go left until you see a pool of water and I’ll see you there.”

“A-a what?” Taavi chattered, rubbing his arms. He was sure if he took off his wet gloves his skin would be turning blue, but Vand didn’t seem to be very concerned.

“A pool of water.”

“No, th-the ice palace.”

“Yes, you’ll know it when you see it I imagine.” Vand said. “Whatever you do don’t knock on the door, I have to be the one to bring you in the back way. And be sure not to-”

“Hey! You get away from him!”

Taavi jumped as a booming voice cut through the night air. Vand disappeared in front of him, vanishing back into the water in an instant. Taavi turned toward the rough sound of snow crunching underfoot and saw a dark hulking figure looming toward him. Some half delusional, too-cold-to-think-straight part of him nearly threw himself into the river after Vand to escape the approaching figure.

“Are you friend or fae?” The figure demanded, hoisting the greenish yellow light of a lantern between them. They were cloaked in layers of thick woolen clothing and frost, two eyes peering at him suspiciously from between a scarf and a hat.

“S-s-sorry?” Taavi asked, trying to stand and failing miserably, his legs seizing up weakly and tumbling him into the snow.

“Oh great, you are human aren’t you?” The figure said, yanking down his frosted over scarf to reveal the face of a very concerned looking man.

He yanked off one of his thick leather mittens and looked over his shoulder, giving a sharp whistle with two fingers. A moment later a saddled reindeer came bounding into view through the snow, pulling up beside the man who started unbuckling pack straps.

“Yes he’s human, Sven.” The man said, presumably to the reindeer, as he rifled through a pack. “And he’s about to freeze to death, looks like the nøkk dragged him up here.”

The man shook out a thick blanket and wrapped it around Taavi, hefting him into his arms and quickly carrying him away from the dark rushing water of the river.

“W-wait, I have to talk to him.” Taavi said, trying to turn to look back. It almost felt like the blanket was charmed, its amazing warmth wrapped around him was already eating away the numbness in his bones, chasing away his violent shivering as he started to feel the edges of the familiar heat inside him starting the wake up again.

“Not a chance.” The man said firmly, trekking across the snow and into the trees. “I don’t know what that water spirit told you to drag you all the way up this mountain, but it wasn’t the truth. You can’t trust anything up here, we’re getting you warm again and then we’re getting you home. What village are you from?”

“Wait, stop. You can put me down, I’m supposed to be here.” Taavi said, struggling against the blanket as they got further away from the path Vand had pointed out to him.

His struggling made the heat inside him flicker, finally high enough that he could grab at it. A delicious heat swept through his body, eating away every bit of cold in him, making him feel alive again, his mind clearing.

The man set him down, eyeing him warily as Taavi pulled the now stifling blanket off from around his shoulders. He flexed his fingers inside his wet silk gloves and carefully pushed the heat up just a bit more, enough the dry his wet clothes, the air steaming around him as the cloth returned to its normal dry warmth. The snow at his feet melted down around him.

“Alright now that I haven’t seen before.” The man said warily, pulling out a necklace of glowing yellow crystals from under his scarf, holding onto them like they could protect him. The reindeer at his side watched Taavi with its ears pinned back in suspicion.

“I’m human, I promise,” Taavi said quickly, tugging his gloves back into place and running a hand through his river-mussed hair. “And thank you very much for your help, I accidentally fell in the river but I’m better now that I’m warm again. Vand was taking me to...see someone, I’m alright, I can keep going now.”

“Well from where I was standing it looked an awful lot like you were being drowned by a nøkk,” The man said flatly. “First question, what magic are you using, second question who was he “taking you to see”? I’m the only person on this mountain. Well, other than the idiots I have to turn back for their own protection.” He looked pointedly at Taavi.

Taavi swallowed. Talking about his abilities with two complete strangers in one night really shouldn’t have been the strangest feeling event of the evening, but it still felt unsettling after a lifetime of carefully hiding and controlling it.

“My name is Prince Taavi of Arendelle, and I was born cursed with the ability to make fire.” Taavi said, standing up straight. “I don’t know why, but the water horse says he can show me. I have to go to a palace of ice to get my answers, do you know where that is?”

“Fire huh?” The man said, rubbing his chin. “Well I’m Kristoff of the trolls, and I carry enough of their magic to know that you being up here at all is bad news. There’s a reason that Sven and I stuck around after everyone else died or left, there’s dark magic on this mountain and it’ll kill anyone who’s dumb enough to try getting near it.”

Kristoff shrugged, “I mean you’ve gotten way closer than most, I’ll give you that, but we’re taking you back home. Now. If you really are the prince then we certainly don’t need you ending up like the last queen. Sven and I have enough to deal with up here without a fire wraith.”

“You know about my aunt?” Taavi asked eagerly.

“That’s really your big takeaway from everything I just said?” Kristoff said flatly.

“Please, that’s why I’m here, no one in the palace ever talks about her,” Taavi said, “Vand said he could take me to see her.”

“Well if he told you that then he’s definitely trying to get you killed.” Kristoff said, shooting a dark look back toward the river. “He’s fae, I can guarantee he’s got his own agenda he hasn’t told you about, his kind don’t give favors for free kid.”

“But he’s my only chance at learning to control my magic!” Taavi pleaded, “Please tell me what you know about my aunt?”

Kristoff growled, dragging a hand down his face and looking at Taavi through his fingers. “Fine. But afterward you’re going straight home.”

“I make no such promise.” Taavi said, folding his arms.

Kristoff muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like spoiled royal.

“All I know is that Queen Elsa was born cursed with ice powers.” Kristoff said with a sigh. “As far as we can tell she finally lost control at her coronation and ran up here where she built her ice fortress and turned into some kind of evil ice wraith. She’s the real reason we haven’t had a summer in fifteen years you know, your family tries to keep it hushed up but it has nothing to do with the trolls like everyone says.”

Born cursed. Just like him. Taavi been right then, his suspicions when he’d found the trunk of blue gloves hadn’t been crazy after all. Aunt Elsa had been like him, but with ice instead of fire. Was she always cold the way he was always hot? Did she hate summers the way he hated winter?

Maybe she really could help him then after all, she might even know why their family had these powers in the first place.

“How do you know?” Taavi asked, looking up at Kristoff eagerly, “Who told you?”

“I only know because your grandparents asked the trolls for help ages ago,” Kristoff said. “Back when Queen Elsa was young and having trouble controlling herself I guess.”

“Wait, as in you know actual trolls?” Taavi asked, looking up. Father’s bedtime stories about trolls had never ended well, all tales of kidnapped children, stolen memories, and deals gone wrong.

“You got something against trolls?” Kristoff asked, folding his arms. “I was raised by them, they’re my family. They all moved away when the winter curse hit, but their magic is how Sven and I survive. How we were able to save you from being drowned by a nøkk I might add.”

Kristoff was a changeling? That meant he had been kidnapped from his real parents as a child. Did he even remember that?

“He wasn’t trying to drown me, I dismounted before he was ready and I can’t swim.” Taavi said primly, folding his own arms back at Kristoff. “And now as Prince of Arendelle, I command you to take me to the ice palace. Fortress. Whatever it is. Please.”

Kristoff looked at him with a distinctly unimpressed expression. “Sorry your highness but you’re going straight back home.” He said flatly.

“Fine, I’ll go myself then.” Taavi decided, turning around and starting to pick his way back toward the river. It was slow going, his warm boots sinking down in snow that came all the way to his hips with every step.

“No you’re not.” Kristoff said, walking over on his snowshoes and hefting Taavi up out of the snow by his collar. “My job is to keep people away from that fortress and that’s what I’m going to do. Besides, I’m pretty sure it’s treason or something if I let a prince go to his death.”

“Let me go!” Taavi said, reaching back clumsily to whack at Kristoff, the heat inside him spiking in frustration.

There was a yelp and Taavi dropped face first into the snow. When he wiped the snow from his eyes and looked back he saw Kristoff shaking his bare hand like he’d been burned.

“Geez you weren’t kidding about that fire magic.” Kristoff said, hissing a little with pain.

“I’m sorry!” Taavi cried, jumping up. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to burn you, sometimes I can’t control it and-”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Kristoff huffed, bending down to stick his hand in the snow. “Believe me, I’ve been burned worse before on my own campfires. But I guess this means I can’t drag you down the mountain if you don’t want to go, huh?”

Taavi bit his lip, folding his arms tightly against the heat inside him as he shook his head. “I have to go, I have to find my answers.”

Kristoff pulled his hand out of the snow, checking it before wiping it dry on his pants and carefully pulling his leather mitten back on. He looked Taavi over.

“Well...” Kristoff said reluctantly. “I really don’t want you to end up an icicle kid, I’ve seen it happen too many times, it’s not pretty. But if I can’t convince you otherwise I guess that’s that.” He pulled his thick woolen cap off, scratching at his blonde hair and then pulling it back on. “Although if you can ramp up that fire magic of yours I guess there might—and that’s a real slim might—be a shred of a one in a million chance of you surviving...”

“Vand says he’s waiting for me left of the front gate.” Taavi said, “I think he knows my aunt, he can make sure nothing happens to me. And I’ll keep myself warm I promise.”

Kristoff stared at him for a long minute, then let out a long growling sigh. He turned to Sven’s saddlebags, fishing something small out of one and handing it to Taavi. A small wooden whistle.

“Sven and I can't risk getting much closer to the fortress, even with our troll magic.” Kristoff said, handing Taavi the whistle. “But we can take you to the edge of the forest where you’ll be able to see it. When you come to your senses blow the whistle and we’ll do our best to come grab you, if we can get to you while you’re still alive, without us dying, we’ll take you straight home.”

Taavi bi the inside of his cheek as he took the little whistle. “Thanks.” He said, pocketing it.

“Alright then, let’s take you to your death.” Kristoff said humorlessly as he strapped Sven’s saddlebags closed. “This way kid, keep that heat of yours going, you’re going to need it.”

Kristoff and Sven started off across the snow and Taavi hurried to keep up, carefully increasing his internal heat and holding it steady. It was hotter than he’d ever purposefully held it, but the farther they trudged through the dark trees the more he needed it, the temperature seeming to drop a little more with each step. 

His legs were getting tired of pushing through the melting snow, carving a deep path behind him, but the heat inside him only seemed to eagerly grow, happily responding to his call as if pouring from a limitless reservoir he was finally tapping into for the first time.

By the time Kristoff finally pulled them to a stop at the edge of the trees Taavi was grinning in excitement at how much heat he was putting out. He could actually smell the heated scent of his clothing, a near singed smell, but the cold of air meant he was still only melting the snow directly around him. How cold was it up here?

“Alright, there it is.” Kristoff said grimly, gesturing out beyond the trees.

Taavi pushed ahead a little more to see, his heat spiking a bit when he finally saw it.

Vand has said it was an ice palace, Kristoff had described it as an ice fortress. Taavi would have said it was an ice lair. The massive building was easily several times bigger than the Arendelle castle, settled up against the maintain peak as if it had grown there. 

There were sleek purple blue lines and delicate spires of ice to it, as if it had once been a thing of beauty, but it looked as if years had changed and warped its original design. Darker, sharper ice had expanded the fortress, breaking its symmetry. A sea of spikes defensively overgrew the grounds around it like a forest of thorns.

Taavi stared at it mouth open. One person had made all that? Despite its foreboding aura he couldn’t help wondering if he had that kind of power in him too if Aunt Elsa had been able to create something like that all on her own.

He felt the flame inside him leap at the thought. Let’s try. It seemed to say. Let me out, let’s see what we can do.

“So, ready to go home?” Kristoff said, jolting Taavi out of his reverie.

“Not yet.” Taavi said, trying and failing to keep his smile off his face. He knew this was hardly the time for it, but he couldn’t help the primal kind of excitement building in him. It felt like the flame he was always trying to hold back was waking up for the first time. “I’m going in to meet Vand.” Taavi said, holding up the whistle. He didn’t quite notice the way his fingerprints darkened the wood slightly where he touched it. “I’ll call you if I need to.”

Kristoff and Sven exchanged a look that Taavi couldn’t quite read, but he guessed the two of them certainly weren’t reassured by his smile.

“It was nice knowing you kid.” Kristoff said, taking a large step back. “If you become the next curse on this mountain just remember we helped you out and don’t burn us alive, alright?”

Taavi got the feeling that Kristoff wasn’t joking at all.

“I’ll be right back, I promise,” Taavi said. He gave a little bow, “And thank you again for your help, I really do appreciate it, my parents can reward you when we get back to the castle.”

Kristoff gave him a good natured thumbs up as Taavi started forging ahead, but he could tell the man didn’t believe for a second that he was ever going to see any reward at all.

Taavi bit his lip, focusing on the path ahead. Well, he was just going to have to show Kristoff then. He was going to get in, get his answers, and get out safely. The reindeer man didn’t know what he was talking about.

Taavi stepped forward out of the darkness of the trees, his footsteps melting through the snow as he walked, then the snow gave way to thick crusts of ice that resisted his heat. The ice started to get prickly underfoot, making his path an unsteady one, and soon he was carefully ducking through and around huge tangled spikes of dark ice that choked the path entirely.

It took some doing, but Taavi finally reached a slim stairway that spanned a dizzyingly steep abyss between him and the fortress. Or at least it looked like it used to be a slim stairway, the first half was smashed off as if something huge had crashed through it long ago. A jagged mess of ice and snowdrifts had eaten down what little proper stairway there was left, spanning the chasm in a much wider but more dangerous looking bridge.

Taavi wanted badly to look down over the edge of the makeshift bridge, but knew for a fact that if he did that his chances of being permanently rooted to the spot in fear were about a hundred percent.

He swallowed hard as he eyed the precarious pathway, following it up to where he could see the ice fortress looming above him, a front entrance watching him from above.

He absently fiddled with the wooden whistle in his pocket as he bit the inside of his cheek. The excitement he’d felt a minute ago was waning fast, and he could feel the heat inside him turning to one fueled by fear now instead of determination, flaring a bit with each beat of his heart.

But Vand wouldn’t have told him to go to the front door if it hadn’t been safe right? He’d said there would be answers for Taavi in the castle, things that could help him finally control his fire curse. He just had to control it until he got to the other side of the bridge. Melting the bridge while he was on it would only have one very deadly ending.

Taavi took a deep breath, then another and another, chasing the scared heat inside him as far down as he could manage. Control, don’t be controlled. He could do this, he could keep control for the minutes it would take to get across.

He looked to his right and found a long thin ice spike, he grabbed it and yanked, cracking it off at the base. Still breathing deeply he used the ice spike to hit the foot of the bridge. It clattered against the solid ice underneath a layer of snow.

Okay. Okay okay okay.

Taavi focused on the cold of the ice in his hands, wishing he could fold his arms to chase back his heat as he took a step into the bridge, keeping to the very middle of it, as far away from the railingless edges as possible.

Take a deep breath to tamp down his heat, tap for solid ground with the ice spike, take a step forward. Deep breath, tap, step. Breath, tap, step.

Taavi inched forward up the steep bridge, humming nervously to himself as he made sure to plant each foot securely before putting his weight on it. Slipping was not an option.

Breath, tap, step. Breath, tap, step.

After a minute of slow going he chanced a glance up and back. He was about halfway to the proper stairs now, he’d have something to hold onto then. If he could just-

A gust of icy mountain wind came whipping around the peak, hitting Taavi from the side just as he took another step. His foot slipped and he slid against a patch of ice, dropping him to his knees. His hum turned to a panicked whine as his fingers dug into the snow, his panic only spiking further as his heat flared and his gloved fingers started melting into the ice beneath the snow.

The ice that was the only thing between him and the gaping abyss below him.

No no no.

Taavi stumbled to his feet, then slipped again, his adrenaline now surging along with and because of the flaring heat flowing off him. He couldn’t breathe as the ice and snow around and under him became even more slick with ice melt.

He had to get across now.

Taavi lunged forward and up the bridge, staying low as he scrambled up the failing bridge, his own powers flaring stronger in fear with every step. He reached the proper bridge part and grabbed at the railing, only for his hand to melt right through it, throwing him even more badly off balance, making him even hotter as all control he’d thought he’d had evaporated as quickly as the snow underfoot.

He could smell singed cloth as he madly propelled himself up the last of the steps, his foot actually catching on the last one as it melted straight through the thin ice, slamming him forward onto his face.

But onto the cliff, not the stairs. As the snow and ice melted around him Taavi nearly cried in relief to see sturdy and unmeltable rock revealed underneath him.

He yanked his foot up onto solid ground after him and looked back at the bridge, panting in heady relief. The bridge stared back at him silently, as foreboding as ever. The patches he’d melted had already refrozen in the frigid mountain air, into dripping icicles off the side or through the small foot and hand shaped divots that had melted through the thinner parts.

A normal person could probably still cross it easily, but in that moment Taavi had to pretend very hard to himself that he wasn’t going to have to cross it again to get back home.

Once his breath started to feel less painful he wrestled back what heat he could back under control. Taavi shakily got to his feet, folding his arms tightly and looking up at the fortress walls soaring high above him. The entire building emanated an eerie pink glow from deep within its dark ice, as if lit by some malevolent force within.

Taavi looked back over the chasm, suddenly wishing very much that Kristoff had come with him. Or that maybe Kristoff had been more convincing when he’d told him to go home...

But no. Taavi had made it this far, he couldn’t turn back now.

Vand had said to look to the left, that there would be a pool of water. Taavi took a deep breath, sticking as close to the ragged walls of the ice palace as he could as he picked his way through the snow and ice, heading away from the front doors. Now he was grateful again that his steps melted through the snow, giving him more solid footholds that wouldn't send him slipping over the cliff edge to his left that he was not going to look at.

His pace quickened as he heard the gurgling trickle of running water, and he felt relief wash through him as he turned a final corner to see a familiar willowy figure come into view.

“Vand!” Taavi called out, hurrying to him.

“There you are prince,” Vand said with a smile, waving him over. The water spirit was standing in a canal of water that was somehow liquid despite the canal itself being made entirely of polished ice. “I was starting to wonder if you’d fallen off a cliff after all.” Vand said cheerfully, “Here, follow me and keep quiet.” He waved Taavi over, taking his hand and helping him into the canal with him, “Keep that heat up this time, I imagine this water isn’t much warmer than the river.”

It might have been the way the freezing water came up to Taavi’s chest, or the fact that he’d just been talking to a real human with Kristoff just now, but for the first time Vand’s distinctly inhuman lack of real concern registered with Taavi. Was he even going to ask about Kristoff?

It wasn’t exactly that the nøkk was unkind, but just that he was...distant... Where Kristoff had been willing to get burned to keep him safe, the water horse only seemed concerned with coaxing him further up the mountain, further into the ice fortress, further towards the admittedly vague reward he’d promised Taavi. Whether or not that happened to involve risking drowning or falling off cliffs.

He’s fae, I can guarantee he’s got his own agenda he hasn’t told you about, his kind don’t give favors for free kid.

“Hang on,” Taavi said, pulling his arm back from Vand as the water spirit started to lead him through the tunnel in the ice fortresses’ wall. “What exactly are we going to find in there?”

“You’ll see.” Vand said, not even looking back as he continued to walk along the surface of the water.

“Vand, stop.” Taavi said, standing as firmly as he could in lightly flowing water, digging his fingers into the ice edge of the canal. “The man I met back there said that Elsa is dangerous now, that she’s killed people. If I’m about to go into her ice fortress I need to know what to expect. You promised me answers, but I can’t get them if I’m dead.”

Vand looked back to Taavi, tilting his head. He walked back over and crouched down beside Taavi. “Well of course she’s dangerous,” he said simply, his pale eyes shining in the moonlight. “Everything truly beautiful in this world is dangerous.”

“That is not what I mean,” Taavi said, adjusting his grip on the side as his nervous heat began to melt through his hand hold. “I mean what is she, and is she going to kill me if I go in?”

“She is trapped and she is scared.” Vand said quietly, and for the first time Taavi could see real emotion on his face. Sadness maybe? “I won’t let you come to harm, but we will have to be very careful. We are going to sneak in quietly and then I will go to prepare her to meet you. She hasn’t seen anyone but me in a very long time, but I think you are the only person in the world who will be able to reach her.”

“What do you mean reach her?” Taavi asked, somehow feeling both more and less confident at Vand’s answers. It was becoming clear that Vand did have another reason for bringing him up here, just as Kristoff had said. “Is she a ghost? A monster? Is she dead or not?”

“Monsters are only what humans call things they both fear and cannot control.” Vand said, looking at Taavi hard, “Isn’t that why you keep your powers secret? Because you fear what other humans will call you if they found out? Because you’re afraid they would know the answer to the question you’re afraid of answering yourself?”

“Stop talking in riddles.” Taavi demanded, dodging the question, “Vand, I need to know if I can trust you or not.”

“You can trust me.” Vand said, “Any other human? Perhaps not, but you’re cut from the same cloth as Elsa and I. Your magic sets you apart, but it sets you among us as well. Elsa is more spirit than human now, but it is the human part of her that is caught and tangled, trapping her here. My hope is that you can help her untangle it and then she will be able to assist you back. The complexities of human emotion are...not within my realm of expertise, which is why I need your help.”

Well at least half a cryptic answer was better than no answer.

“You know if you’d been this vague and mystical sounding back at the castle I wouldn’t have come with you.” Taavi huffed.

Vand laughed, a musical flowing sound that somehow made him feel a little less annoyed.

“Yes you would have.” Vand said with a grin, “You’re too much like your mother and father to stay away from what you want. And besides, your magic pulls you toward the truth. Which is perhaps the most dangerous thing of all.” Vand took Taavi’s hand and stood, pulling him up to stand on the surface of the water with him, the water feeling solid under his feet. “Now, stay close to me and keep quiet, keep your heat as high as you can and on the ready.” He paused, looking at Taavi. “Does that sound alright?”

It didn’t, it still sounded like something Taavi wanted to ask a million more questions about to get specific details. But Vand was right about one thing, Taavi was in the realm of magic now. Taavi had known at least that much when he’d agreed to come, and anyone who had ever heard a fairy tale in their lives knew that when it came to magic you were never going to be shown all the answers at once.

Taavi wasn’t going to be able to have complete control of the situation and he was going to have to accept that at least a little for now.

“Let’s go.” Taavi said, nodding. “Just...warn me if I’m about to do something stupid again, like at the river.”

Vand chuckled, then started down the tunnel, Taavi in tow, “I’ll do my best.”

Taavi tried to return the smile but only managed to bite his lip hard enough to make it bleed as he followed Vand deeper into the fortress.

———–

Next chapter soon, be sure to follow to get it as soon as it posts. As always, my ask box is open to worldbuilding/story questions, comments, and general exclamations. :)

[hereisisa]

Say, do you think that Disney has deliberately separeted them, and the merch too, and the broadway show finale where they don't look at each other. It is strange that they've changed everything, like they realized something and tried to fix it. They are not portrayed close on the merch anymore. Maybe some new face at Disney's main Frozen branch, or something? It can't be coincidental... But still, we got lots of EA moments in F2 movie (which were distorted into Anna's codependancy smh)

But it was NOT distorted in Anna’s codependency. Unless you’re a KA who deliberately doesn’t listen to Kristen explanation for that word.

And she explained it many times......and I did it too. And I’m gonna do it again. :)

She said that when she doesn’t have people to look after she gets restless, worried, etc....that she always needs people to take care of. And asked for Anna to reflect her trouble. And to solve the conflict with her own solution to the problem. She said her therapist told her to do one small step, one thing that would take the focus on something else, so she doesn’t feel overwhelmed, etc....It doesn’t have to be big things, but a small step. This is where they took the line for the song.

Now...We see Anna focusing on Elsa, and being worried for Elsa. Elsa leaves her, and she’s lost. Not because she’s dependend by Elsa as KA said completely ignoring Kristen’ great answer, but because she is unable to not focus all her attention on another person, cause she has such a good and big heart. And curiously enough.....she doesn’t turn this attention to Kristoff LMAO, but she learns to control her feelings and do the next step.

Now that we said it again....let’s move on with the answer:

there is no separation at all in merch, parks, etc....as you see it.

Did they make an “Anna line” and an “Elsa line” of some products, yes. And Anna will suffer from it, but are they marketing the sis as separated forever and apart? Mmmm....they sell their dolls TOGETHER, I litterally heard KA complaining cause in Disney Parks Elsa and Anna are still attached to the hips, holding hands and happily walking together, they do the M&G together, and there is not a post-spoilers merch line as far as I know, so let’s wait.

I don’t consider the choice of the musical to be relevant since they change those stuff every month. They do experiments, try what’s best. I’ve seen a video of the end of the musical tour and it was different, now they’re trying this, who knows what they’ll try next...

And don’t forget the musical has actually ADDED one elsanna duet!! It was wrote just for the musical......so much for “separating them”!! ;)

And as you said.....watch the movie again and you’ll see the amount of elsanna we got. It’s huge!

I’m just back from the movies cause my daughter’s class decided to go to see it together, and I admit at some point I was almost embarassed for the level of “elsanna content” we got. And this even before they cuddled on the bed! lol

We can’t really complain about it. :)

[ahtohallan-calling]

chapter 12 of love is the only thing we can carry with us (kristanna slowburn/angsty but cute/no magic au, rated t) is up!

next chapter // all chapters

“I was curious about what it might have looked like from your perspective, and then I was wondering what you thought of me back then.”

Anna was looking at him again, in a way that was making his heart pound. “Well-- to be honest, I didn’t like you very much.”

She laughed at that and bumped her shoulder affectionately against his. “Really?”

“Really. But then I actually met you, and I decided I thought you were alright.”

For a moment she was quiet, clearly gathering her courage. He appreciated the pause, as he was doing the same. Finally, she took a deep breath and asked, “And what about now?”

chapter 12: moments

Kristoff had known going into this that this girl, this princess, would only be here for a few months, that even if she ended up being tolerable-- or as tolerable as someone from the city could be, anyway-- there was no point to forming a friendship with her. 

And then she had turned out to be Anna, and knowing things like that suddenly didn’t matter quite so much anymore. Instead, he found himself trying to come up with new adventures to take her on, new ways to make her laugh, new reasons to put his arms around her and hold her close. He’d teased her about how excited she was for the festival, telling her it was just a little old-fashioned thing, but in truth he’d lain awake at night for hours the night before the festival, worrying about how he could make sure the night was just as special for her as she had been hoping. If she was going to be going back and getting married in just a few more weeks-- well. He had to make the most of the time he had left.

Deeper than that, though, was the constant, painful reminder that it was her time, too, that was precious; each hour he spent with her was a grain of sand slipping through an hourglass, falling one after another in a rush that left him exhilarated until he found himself at home at night, kept up by fears that still taunted him, still pulled at his thoughts in the light of day. He’d been so cautious with her last night as they danced, never taking his eyes off of her for fear that he would glance away for just a moment and look back to see her face white and drawn again, to hear the horrible sound of her fighting to catch her breath and know that inevitably, one day it would happen again, and he wouldn’t be there to help her through it-- that one day, there would be no through, that it would end not with a sigh of relief but a terrible silence.

It had been next to impossible to let go of her the night before when he had laid her gently on her bed and she had tugged at his hand and asked him to stay. He’d told himself she was just sleepy, not thinking straight, probably wouldn’t even remember it the next morning, and then he’d gone home and dreamed of her and the way she had shivered when he’d unbraided her hair and the way she had clasped his hand between her own, and he hadn’t stopped thinking about it all day. At last, his grandfather, frustrated by Kristoff’s obvious distraction, had stood in front of him, arms crossed, and insisted, “Should have listened to your elders, but it’s too late now.”

Kristoff had bowed his head, shamed, and Grandpapa had sighed, reaching up to pat him on the shoulder. “Well-- what’s done is done. Might as well go talk to her about it.”

“I-- you think that’s a good idea?”

The old man had shrugged, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “So she’s engaged now. Plans change. I hear her parents married for love. Might as well find out what your chances look like.”

And so now he found himself walking up the hill, still trying to collect his thoughts; he’d left Sven and the wagon at home, knowing he’d need the long walk to figure out how, exactly, he was supposed to explain to a princess he was desperately, hopelessly in love with her, and was hoping that maybe, just maybe, she felt the same way.

He crested the hill, and his eyes landed on her immediately. She was lying on her back under the oak tree, and a sudden rush of fear crashed through him. “Anna?” he called, starting to run when she didn’t respond. “Anna!”

Just as he reached her, she stirred, pushing herself up on her elbows and blinking blearily as her eyes adjusted to the midday sunlight. “Kristoff? What’s wrong?”

“I-- nothing,” he said, suddenly sheepish as he stood over her.

She yawned, stretching her arms skyward as she sat up. “I was wondering if I would see you today.”

“Yeah, I just-- had to...um…”

She looked up at him, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “You don’t have to keep coming up with excuses to come visit me, Kristoff. I...Iike spending time with you.”

There was a nervousness to her expression now, and he found himself smiling. “I like spending time with you, too.”

“Really?” she asked, and he nodded, hesitantly sitting beside her on the blanket. 

She hadn’t been this nervous around him in weeks; she kept looking down at their hands, less than an inch apart, but made no move to touch him. Something in his veins was thrumming, an anticipatory excitement slowly building under his skin.

“What made you decide to come sleep on the grass?”

“Well, I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I’m still just tired from last night.”

“Did you enjoy it?” he asked, and she nodded enthusiastically. 

“It was the most wonderful night I could have asked for,” she said, and he couldn’t help but place his hand over hers, a wave of affection washing over him. 

“Me, too,” he said, and she smiled back, turning her hand over and lacing their fingers together. “I think of all the summer festivals I’ve been to, that was the best.”

“And why was that?”

“The food, of course,” he teased, and she laughed, cheeks flushing pink. “But it didn’t hurt that the most beautiful girl there kept dancing with me even when I stepped on her toes.”

She nudged her knee against his. “It was only one time, and really that was my fault for leading you too close to the band.”

“Well, my point still stands.”

Anna looked away, suddenly too shy to meet his gaze. “You really think I was the prettiest girl there?”

“Without a doubt,” he said softly, and her blush deepened. “But anyway, you didn’t answer my question.”

“Which one?”

“About why you came out here.”

“Promise not to tease me.”

“Cross my heart, hope to--”

“No, don’t say that,” she said quickly. “Well-- I was...sort of thinking about the night we met.”

“Oh?”

She nodded. “And I was curious about what it might have looked like from your perspective, and then I was wondering what you thought of me back then.”

Anna was looking at him again, in a way that was making his heart pound. “Well-- to be honest, I didn’t like you very much.”

She laughed at that and bumped her shoulder affectionately against his. “Really?”

“Really. But then I actually met you, and I decided I thought you were alright.”

For a moment she was quiet, clearly gathering her courage. He appreciated the pause, as he was doing the same. Finally, she took a deep breath and asked, “And what about now?” 

His eyes trailed down her face. She was biting her lip, and the sight of it sent a shiver down his spine. He met her gaze again, heart thundering in his chest, and leaned closer, enough that he could feel her sudden sharp intake of breath.

“May I?” he whispered, and she nodded, just barely.

He brushed his lips against hers, feather-light at first, and felt her smile against him. And then he kissed her again, at once both tender and urgent, and then again and again, committing to memory the softness of her mouth, the touch of her hand against his cheek as she drew him closer, the happy little sounds she made when he went along gladly. 

After a few moments-- or perhaps hours, or years, or lifetimes; it didn’t matter anymore-- he pulled away, drinking in the sight of her, all flushed cheeks and swollen lips and starry eyes, feeling something in him stir at the thought that she looked like that because of him. 

“We should have done that a lot sooner,” she said, breathless. “Would have made the rainy days a lot less boring.”

“Guess we have to make up for lost time,” he responded, and then she was kissing him again, her arms around his neck as she straddled his lap. A groan escaped him as her tongue darted across his lower lip; he wrapped his arms around her, pressing her against him, so close he thought he could feel her heart beating just as fast as his. There was nothing in the world that mattered but this, nothing but her mouth against his and the weight of her against him, and he would gladly spend the rest of his days here with her, under this tree, thinking of nothing but Anna, Anna and her blue eyes and quick smiles and little hands that were tangled in his hair.

At last, she pulled away, though she remained perched on his lap. She traced a finger over his lower lip with a faint smirk, proud of her handiwork, and he kissed it. When she smiled, he caught her wrist in his hand, pressing a kiss to the rest of her fingers as well, then her palm and the inside of her wrist, relishing the feel of her trembling against him.

“I’m afraid, Mr. Bjorgman, I’m going to have to insist that you do that again every day from now on. Twice on Tuesdays.”

“Is that a royal decree?”

“Yes, if that’s what it takes for you to kiss me like that again.”

“Well, if her majesty insists…”

---

Later-- much later, when they had found themselves breathless and so dizzy that at last they had had to break apart, giddy with the promise that there was always-- or for now, at least-- tomorrow, they had pulled the blanket out from under the branches of the tree and were now lying side by side, hands tightly entwined as they gazed up at setting sun as it dipped beneath the mountain’s peak. Kristoff ran his thumb over hers and smiled when she squeezed his hand in response.

“This is even better than I thought it would be,” she said dreamily. “All those books and daydreams, and they still didn’t even come close.”

He turned to look at her and found her gaze was already on him. She smiled, sunshine in her hair and starlight in her eyes, and he pulled her into his arms and held on tight, knowing that all too soon he would have to let go.