"Do you have to go?"

"It's only for a few weeks, Anna. I'll be back before you know it."

The rain drizzling over the harbour seemed to force itself down only harder as the evening slipped past. The last few days had been leading up to this very moment and now that the time had come, Anna was far from prepared. She pulled her cloak tightly around her shivering body as the last pin in her wet hair slid out, allowing tendrils of silk cascade down over her left shoulder. A long, dark ship floated on the water behind the shadows, complimented by a backlog of ice harvesters waiting to get on. The sails billowed as the evening weather threatened to rage into a storm, and harsh verbal commands from the shipmen reverberated around the fjord in order to keep the great beast tied to the dock.

"I miss you already," Anna whispered, her voice jagged in her throat.

"As I'll miss you! But you'll be fine, I promise." Kristoff looked hard at Anna, bright eyes blinking rain away with dark lashes. "I'm still going to be here," he told her, using a sweeping motion to indicate the mountains beyond the fjords. His mouth pulled up into a grin as he took Anna in his arms, stating; "it's not as if we're not going to see each other again."

"That's what my mother and father said." Anna's tone was dead, her eyes cold. "You promised you weren't going to leave me." Kristoff's smile faded, the colour running from his cheeks.

"Anna I-"

Shrugging away his touch, Anna used her shoulders as a barrier as Kristoff reached out again. She began to pace up and down on the wooden pier and as her speech quickened, so did her steps. "You know what? It's fine. I'm fine. You go and enjoy yourself. You've been waiting for this opportunity for months and now it's here and who am I to stop you I mean I'm just me and I'm nothing special, you should go to the mountains and have fun, don't even think about me I-"

"Whoa okay, slow down there!" Kristoff's thick arms held the girl still. "You are special. To me. Look, Anna, please don't panic-"

"I'm not panicking-"

"I can see you're panicking-"

"Why would I be-"

Having enough of Anna's frantic argument, Kristoff leaned forward and kissed Anna's soft lips. When she was still, he pulled away, slowly, gently, looking into each of her eyes. Behind the couple, the last few ice harvesters climbed aboard the awaiting vessel. "Do you trust me?" he asked, urgently. His voice was low; his eyes were wide.

The reply was short and simple. "Yes."

"Then don't worry about me. I can look after myself – I'm just worried about you."

"Me? Why?"

"And look after Sven, please Anna… Don't forget the carrots this time…" Kristoff's face turned playful, as the memory danced in the space between them.

"That was one time. It wasn't my fault anyway it was-" Another kiss.

"You know I love you."

"I love you."

"And so this will be the first test of our relationship, really. Think about that. I'll be gone, you'll be here. Just… do something fun. Take Sven out, you know? Go and see Olaf. I know I haven't been away for this long before, but I'll still write and when I come back I'll take you to the tavern and we'll get drinks," he paused, noticing the silence misting around them. "Anna?"

Anna swallowed hard, quickly hoping that the action had been unintelligible. "Me? Yes! I'm here. You'll have so much fun. I was just thinking about how dark it's getting, that's all." Anna swallowed again, forcing a smile. "I love you."

"As I do you." Kristoff leaned down again, kissing her welcoming mouth. They stood together, moving only with each other's rhythm for what seemed like mere seconds, but long enough for the last lines of light to drop the fjords into darkness. "I'll see you soon."

"Before you know it," Anna echoed, smiling into the night. She watched as Kristoff entered the ship, glancing back at her as he ducked out of sight behind an immense sail.

Anna turned away from the vessel, once more pulling her cloak around her. "Until the end of time," she whispered under her breath, blinking back tears. Sure, Kristoff was only going away for a few weeks – the harvesters had finally procured the ice job they'd been trying to for the entirety of the summer. As Arendelle's official Ice Master and Deliverer, Kristoff had been asked to manage the crew during the handling process, which would round up the end of every day. When the Queen had offered him the role on the expedition, Anna had been keen for her love to go, so he could explore places he'd not been. Diversely, Kristoff had been hesitant, not wanting to leave Anna behind. As the time passed, their roles had unkindly switched themselves, and Anna found her heart beating irrationally as she walked through the streets of Arendelle, attempting to keep the tears under control at least until she got home. There, she could cry all she wanted; her home was her safe place.

The rain had turned to sleet as Anna reached the castle doors. Her hand rested on the wooden surface of the entrance momentarily, and she took the chance to catch her breath.

"Conceal, don't feel," a voice whispered behind her, and suddenly a warm hand rested comfortingly over Anna's shoulders, pulling her in.

"Don't let it show," Anna finished, turning to greet her sister. A huge grin spread childishly over her face, as she prepared to chastise her sister. "That really worked for you, didn't it?" she said playfully, amicably hitting her sisters' arm.

"Oh shut up," Elsa returned in the same nature. The sisters giggled, yet shortly fell silent. Noticing Anna's face drop, Elsa held up her hand, stroking Anna's shoulder. Her whole body contorted with concern as she looked Anna over. "Hey, are you okay?"

"No. I miss him already," Anna started, and then stopped, shaking her head quickly. "But enough about that… What are you doing out so late?" Anna's spirited Cheshire Cat grin was back. Elsa blushed, the red staining being delicately captured in the light let out through the window of the entrance hall. Elsa sucked in her mouth, refusing to give her sister an answer. Her eyes told a different story – they were alive with jubilance as the eldest sister pushed open the door, holding it for Anna to go through.

Inside, the sisters peeled off wet cloaks, leaving them dripping in the doorway. "Are you going to tell me?" Anna asked, narrowing her eyes and allowing a smile to escape. "Or am I going to have to use force to get the story out of you?" She ran to the bottom of the stairs, pulling a sword from the far left suit of armour and holding it up in the direction of Elsa.

Tremendously apprehensive and knowing exactly the way in which Anna's intentions often differed from her actions; Elsa stopped taking off her shoe and slowly began to stand up straight. Anna was now swinging the sword around in pretend defiance, moving her eyebrows up and down with every motion. Elsa hand both her hands out, her forehead furrowing. "Oh Anna, please put that down you know what you're-"

Clang!

Anna stood in shock as she looked at the weapon protruding millimetres away from Elsa's ear, buried deep in the wall. "I'm so sorry. So sorry," she began, rushing forwards. "I'll put it away!" She reached a hand towards the tool.

Elsa caught her wrist, sighing. "No, I'll do it. Anna, please be more careful, I don't know how many times I have to tell you…"

"I'm sorry," Anna said, softly, her eyes fixed on the floor. "I just… get so excited now; it feels like it's only been a day since you and I started talking again!"

Elsa's eyes too flickered to the floor before fixating on Anna. Her breathing became fast as she took a punitive, authoritative tone with her sister. "Anna, it wasn't yesterday. Would you go upstairs? It's late. You should probably rest now."

"But Elsa-"

"Go."

Anna glared at her counterpart for a second too long, and took off upstairs towards her bedroom where she intended to stay for the remainder of the night. Once inside her room, Anna sat down at her desk. The wonderful birch creation had sat unused in the corner of the room for almost a year now – Anna had felt she hadn't a reason to use it creatively since she had met Kristoff, as she was spending all her time with him. As her education had finished, she hadn't needed the desk for any school-related purposes either. Her fingers twitched and fumbled over several quills that feathered wooden pots pieced towards the back of the structure. Making a quick decision, Anna opened a side drawer and took out a couple of sheets of paper. Carefully, she laid it out on the desk and flattened it with the back of her right hand. Sticking her tongue out in concentration, Anna picked up the fjærpenn that had always been her favourite – a feather belonging to a Bewick's Swan, given to her by her late father, who'd received the item as a gift from his late father. Anna's hand drifted to the paper, and gradually she began to scratch out a message.

Dear Kristoff,

I miss you incredibly, and by the time you get this message it will have meant I've spent an -

Here, Anna paused, attempting to spell the word 'excrutiating' and instead ending up with the remnants 'excruce,' 'excrush,' and 'excruceia dotted across the page, before striking through them and continuing.

- a very long time away from you and I think I will have had a very hard time with that.

I wonder if you still miss me? Or if you're having too much fun? Either way, I can't wait until I see you in a few weeks. When you get this, it'll be about five weeks left until you come back, how exciting!

Guess what almost happened? Elsa almost got impaled, and now she's making me stay in my room. Actually, I don't know why I'm standing for this, she's my sister, not my mother. If she thinks that gives her power she can think again!

Maybe I should run away until you get back? No wait a minute, no, that's a bad idea, who'd feed Sven? I suppose Elsa could find a stable boy to do that? Maybe Hans'll come back to do his "community service" duty to make up for the conspiracy to kill the entire royal family of Arendelle.

I'm seeing the band soon, tomorrow I think - to sort out the set for the upcoming ball. Elsa's put me in charge of it as she wants me to have a position of responsibility. I might have told you that, sorry. Or maybe I haven't? You know, you being away like this makes it awfully easy to talk to you.

Anywho, I've got to sleep at some point this evening, I think

Oops, sorry, I went to look out of the window! But as I was writing, I thought the sun was coming up, and indeed it is! So I'll speak to you very soon, goodnight and have a wonderful first few nights.

I love you.

Anna

P.S – It's true love!

Anna found herself giggling quietly as she added the postscript. She did miss Kristoff hugely, even knowing that he was en route was a heavy weight to bear when they had spent so much time recently in each other's presence. However, as she had noted to Kristoff, the sun was a sliver on the horizon and she needed her sleep. She had to be up early enough to prepare for the band's arrival; she had to feed Sven; she had to find time to actually eat herself! Anna drew her curtains closed and watched as the dust that had collected throughout the day drifted into some of the early rays of light refracting from the glass. A wall of sleep suddenly hit, and Anna felt her eyes giving into the pressure of her bed. She peeled her still-wet dress away, leaving her standing in the middle of her bedroom in her underwear. Taking it away from her body piece by piece, she left her remaining clothes in a crumpled heap where she stood. Using a hand to pry both her eyes open, she somehow managed to rummage in her armoire for a clean night gown. On finding one, she threw herself into bed, barely touching the pillow before she fell into a deep, comfortable sleep.