"Hey. I have something," she yawns, "something to ask you." Anna's eyes are closed. "'Bout a ball."
His heart flips.
"Ball?" He can't really talk- squats under a fresh load, let's go- the ice slams onto the cobblestones, moss giving the sound a dull thump. He has to go inform the kitchens, but he still has quite a bit to unload, and it's already sweating. He had to take the long route back, the one along the coast and through the forest. There had been rumours, of Bandits around the foot of the mountains. A goddamn nuisance, a bloody pain, three hours added on to an already nine hour trip. His ice melting and nothing to do but to urge Sven to go faster, and try and keep the cargo steady. Better than being robbed murdered, though. Normally he would ask Anna to run to the kitchens and get someone, he knows she'd do it with a skip and a wave, but she's sitting in his sled- his new sled, and she knows this because she gave it to him, and her feet are on the shiny new lacquer anyway- slouched across the front seat, chewing a blade of grass in manner that couldn't get less royal if she tried. Heat from the cloudless sky scrubs the cobble stones raw, scrubs a dull blush onto the back of his hands as he twists the last knot undone, last load, finish this. Bend and heave, the ice grunts, he wipes his temple, he can feel it on his nape, he always did burn easily. Anna's face turned skyward, eyes closed against the chill that clings to the stone walls, the courtyard ground. Light bleaches her skin, he can see every freckle, the softness of her eyelashes. Bags under her eyes. She looks tired. Worse than when he was last here. The last days of warmth, he can tell that summer is in its last throes. But today is hot and the sun burns the red from her hair so it looks aflame, orange, sunsets from high in the mountains with the fresh fall under his clegs and Sven's pelt breathing to his left. She's falling asleep in his sled, mid afternoon. Exhausted and still beautiful. You don't deserve her, the thought springs unbidden but he shoves it, because she's here, in his sled, asking him a question and falling asleep halfway through. Face to the sky, eyes closed.
"Hey, feisty pants? You still here?" He pokes her. "What ball?"
Anna's eyes shoot open. "Whuh? Wha?" She smears her feet off the driving bar Sven in the stable opposite pauses his hay munching to wince at the look on his face, stretches so far back Kristoff leans forward to grab her legs to stop her from flipping off the damn thing. Anna slumps forward, bats her eyes.
"Thanks Kristoffer. Heat always makes me sleepy." They both know it's a lie, Anna is normally filled with endless energy during hot days, but he says nothing. "I dunno why though-" she'd been rubbing her eyes, Kristoff sees them bulge through her fingers "-wait. This happens to Elsa all the time!" Before he can even think of stopping her she leaps off his sled, flutters her fingers at a well beneath an ivy covered awning. He assumes this is in heartfelt imitation of her sister.
"Uh, ice powers go!"The stones stay remarkably ice free. A fly buzzes across the space, if anything, the warmth increases. Anna sighs, flops back across the seat. "Worth a try I guess."
He laughs, he can't help it, can't help himself around her and she smirks at him. Bites her lip in that way that's so Anna, it's so easy to laugh around her, with her, hell, everything is easier. Anna was light, life. The thaw to winter's frost, he thinks, and looks across to the balcony rising above thatch and steeple. Thick velvet covers it's entrance. He wonders if any light from this beautiful day, the last day of summer, can reach inside.
"Hey, Kristoff? You still here?" Anna's teasing voice reaches him.
"Funny, Anna." He sees whassisname, skinny kid from the kitchen who is always scuttling down corridors, or polishing something, he waves, points to the ice. The guy gives him a look of pure terror, and literally sprints through a door into the castle. Wait, what?
"What? Come on, mister mountain man, you can take a joke." She's feeling around the bottom of the sled for her grass stem. "What were you saying? Something about the great hall? Elsa's almost finished her renovations, she's gonna add the final decoration to the bannisters when she's not so busy. Of course, she's always busy, so I have no idea-"
"Is there going to be a ball?" He keeps his voice casual.
"-like piles and piles of the stuff, all over her desk and on the floor too, she's there from like six till eleven just reading and scribbling, breaks for meeting of course, and I know she skips lunch because I've seen the trays, haven't even been looked at, she can't hide anything from me." She finds the sprig, wipes it and chomps down on the stem, this is a princess, he's been a bad influence on her. "Hmm? Oh, yeah. Ball of good faith to all our friends, all the big countries invited, y'know." Anna sniffs. "Don't know why we have to throw it. None of them even looked at us before, until, well," there are no clouds but suddenly it feels colder, somewhere, thick purple fabric makes no noise. "Huh. Friends. We were just nobodies." She plays with her hem. ""A small kingdom located in Scandinavia." Known for our," she puts on her loftiest tone, " beautiful mountain scenery, and unique embroidery patterns." He laughs again. "Now it's all, "steadfast allies," and "ancient partnerships"." Anna doesn't even look to the Queen's window. That would be an admission of guilt, of blame. She just stares at the gates, open and ebbing with people. Children skittering from parent to parent, donkeys laden with cloth, dried fish. He looks down, and her fists are clenched, up, her mouth is scrunched. "Don't know why we have to throw it," she mutters again, quieter, and he knows we is her and throw means prove. "They're the ones who should be doing it for us."
The public had forgiven her. Maybe it was the sight of her returning to the dock, face regal, removed. Hand trembling in Anna's. Anna swore it was her fantastic ice skating that had melted any potential hostility, but Kristoff knew it was a single tear. Not everyone had seen what had happened on the fiord, but the story travelled. Pale hands cup ice cheeks. He still hears Elsa's sobs sometimes, in the grey between waking and limbo. Crops had been damaged, of course. Sub-zero temperatures in mid-summer tended to do that, but ships had arrived, with supplies, seeds and equipment, and food, sustenance that was delivered to the doorstep of everyone who had been affected by the Queen's winter. And everyone had been, in one way or another. The ships weren't like any anyone had seen before. The flags were deep crimson, and the men came ashore and spoke Norwegian in stutters and grunts, and smoked rank cigars in corners and on boardwalks. Arendelle was not a rich nation. No one knew what she had done to get such aid, or how she had achieved it. Piles and piles of the stuff, all over her desk, and the floor too. Of course the international community would still be wary, this made sense, this was logical- he'd be damned if he saw it coming though. Everyone had just taken it so well.
"-but, like whatever, it'll be fun anyway, we can hang out, and eat fondue, and make a suit for Sven and Olaf too and you, do you even have any other clothes-" Anna claps her hands to her mouth, the grass falls away.
"Kristoffer."
"Yes, feisty pants?"
"Have I even invited you to this thing?"
"No, feisty pants."
"Ah." She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, no white, just burning, on his face and hers. "Would you like to come to this thing?"
He rubs the back of his neck, you asked. He had asked, but with the intention of his next question being, do I have to go. Crowds, and royalty, and small talk. Normally he'd be halfway up the North Mountain by now at the mere thought of being trapped in a room with the stuff, but she's looking at him, and she's biting her lip.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."
She screams, actually screams- the sound frightens Kid Useless back inside, after he pokes his head back out the door. His ice is gonna be a puddle by the time kitchen gets it, but it's okay- she wraps her arms around his neck, god, she's so warm.
"You're going to look so good, you have to wear your royal ice deliverer medal thing, and I'll make sure my dress matches, so when we're dancing everyone is going to be like, that is one hot-"
"Dance?" His palms begin to sweat. "Anna- I was raised by trolls. I don't know how to dance."
She flaps her hand- "Don't worry about it, I'll get you a tutor-" she sees his face "-oor I'll just teach you some moves myself! I'll have you know, just like ice-skating," she narrows her eyes, blinks coquettishly, "I'm a master of dance."
"I believe you," and he does, because Anna is so graceful in the things that she loves. She smiles, places a hand on his cheek.
"Thank you, Kristoff. This means a lot." She tilts up, leans in. Her eyes are closed, not to the sun this time. His are too. He can feel her breath on his bottom lip.
Of course the kid comes back for the ice with the entire kitchen armada, and of course Kai lets out an accidental bellow at the sight of the princess, the queen's self-proclaimed right hand, almost kissing an ice salesman. And of course Anna laughs, skipping over and patting Kai's cheek, and helps with the ice collection, almost slipping only once. In the resulting laughter Kristoff sees velvet jerk, above rooftop, behind the Queen's balcony. He doesn't need to look to know Anna saw it too.
This is my first time writing fanfiction. I always swore it would never come to this.
But the movie was too damn cute. Bandits and awkward dancing oncoming. Clue: Snow Queens stuck in their rooms for thirteen years don't know how to dance either- however, they take more persuading to admit this.