It started as just a thought. A spark. Then, freedom! And where to first? Why over the seas to Arendelle, the jewel in the crown of the North, of course! It had something very important to do there.

The events of last year were in the past and the kingdom was at peace. Yet all was not as well as it could be. But now that was about to change.

Yes, there were still secrets hidden in Arendelle, for those who had the ears to listen and the eyes to see.

While all seemed perfect on the surface, a sadness still lingered in the hearts of three in particular. It nagged at them occasionally, that sense of unfulfillment, that something wasn't quite right, that it could be better.

And that was what it had been sent to do: make it better.

Across the fjord, glittering in the pink twilight of a midsummer's night. And there was the castle, its gates still open!

Through the castle grounds it flew, circling the entire building. Invisible, swirling and searching, it halted at the only window that shone from within. The glass being no obstacle, it passed through and went inside.

There were three days for three wishes. Three wishes for three unfulfilled souls.

Here was the first.

Olaf sat in the castle library, clutching a large book in his twiggy hands. He was the only one awake, if you could call it that, since, being a magical walking, talking snowman, sleep wasn't something he needed. In fact, he was not able to sleep, even though he had tried.

It was boring, waiting hours with nothing to do while everyone else was sleeping. And Olaf felt like he was missing out. Most of the time, his friends reported feeling refreshed after a good night's sleep, and some of the dreams they told him about sounded amazing.

But, he supposed, at least he never got tired. And he had an imagination, so that would have to do. And he had a new hobby: Elsa and Anna had recently taught him to read so now he could discover new, extraordinary things, even if he wasn't actually doing them himself.

'Hey!' he said out loud as a thought occurred to him. Olaf often talked to himself, but, the way he saw it, he wasn't actually talking to himself, he was talking to the world, because the world was his friend and was always listening.

'Soon it'll be the Midsummer Festival and everyone will stay up all night!'

Glad to have something to look forward to, Olaf smiled and went back to his book. He turned the page and started reading a new story in the collection of fairy tales. He wasn't off to a good start. The title already had him flummoxed.

'Wait, P-I-N-O... I have no idea how you say that.' He decided to skip that word and got on with the story. It involved wishing on stars and fairies and an enchanted puppet who got turned into a real boy.

Overall, it was a good story, and it got him thinking. What would it be like to be human? There was so much he couldn't do as a snowman, so many things he wanted to try that all the humans took for granted.

And Olaf was a much better guy than P... whatever-his-name-was; if anyone deserved to get turned into a human, it was Olaf. He'd talk to Elsa about it in the morning. Her magic had made him so he guessed she'd be able to do something.

'But maybe...,' he looked at the window. 'Maybe if I wish on a star...' He got down from his chair, leaving the book behind him, and scrambled up onto the window seat.

He scanned the sky and spotted one tiny, twinkling star high up where it was darkest.

'I wish to be a human! Oh, does it count if I say it out loud?' He didn't know. He waited for a bit and looked out over the fjord. He didn't feel any different.

He got up from the seat. Wait... Up? Yes, he had definitely got up rather than down, and now he seemed to almost tower over everything.

Olaf suddenly felt a bit unsteady so he put his hand against the wall, and was shocked to find that it squished slightly with the contact. He looked over to see a real hand. A real, pink, flesh-and-blood hand! And he could control it, all five of the fingers! He stood entranced, just moving the fingers around, until he noticed that the hand was attached to an arm, encased in a sleeve of white fabric.

'Woah!' Olaf exclaimed, looking down at the rest of his body. He was no longer composed of lumps of snow, he now had a torso, knees, actual knees, and legs, all garbed in a suit of white down to his feet in their shiny white shoes.

'What happened? Did Elsa do this?' he wondered. 'I'd better go and talk to her!'

He cautiously took a step forward. Thankfully he found it pretty easy. The main difference was the knees, and the change in the centre of gravity, but since he was used to that sort of change happening occasionally from his old body he soon got the hang of it.

Olaf walked through the castle as quickly as he could, pausing a few times to make sure he was going the right way; everything looked different from his new height. The stairs were the hardest, but he managed to climb them whilst holding on tightly to the banister.

He wandered down the hall until he was outside Anna's door; the sisters were now both in the same room that they had shared as children, to re-forge their relationship and make up for lost time.

'Hey, Elsa! Anna! Wake up!' Olaf yelled loudly, knocking on the door with his fist, which hurt slightly, unlike when he had sticks for hands. It was the first time he had actually felt pain. He ignored the feeling and continued knocking for a while before he heard muffled voices on the other side of the door.

'Uhhh. What's going on? Who in their right mind is up at this hour?'

'Just leave it, Anna. If it's important, they'll come again later. Go back to sleep.'

'Anna, it's me! Open up!' Olaf called.

'It's Olaf! I'm going to let him in,' Anna said, and opened the door.

Olaf was so excited to see Anna and rushed in to give her a hug. She stepped away and screamed.

'You're not Olaf!'

'Anna, get back!' Elsa shouted, and immediately, Olaf was pinned to the wall by bolts of ice which stuck in his clothes. A numbing cold spread from them and he couldn't move.

'So this is what cold feels like, huh?' Olaf said. 'It's very... cold!'

Elsa walked towards him, her hands raised and her eyes watching his every move. 'Anna, call the guards!' she ordered her sister. Her voice was fairly calm, but Olaf could hear anger and fear in her next words addressed to him. 'Who are you? What do you want with us?'

'Elsa, it's me, Olaf!'

'You're not Olaf. Olaf is a snowman. Anna, why aren't you getting help?'

'Wait, Elsa,' Anna said, putting her hand on Elsa's arm. 'I think this might actually be Olaf. It's definitely Olaf's voice. And look at his eyes! And his face, there's something...'

'Yes! I'm Olaf! But now I'm human!' He tried smiling at the sisters, but they still looked unsure.

'I'll prove it! Um... Anna, yesterday we went to say goodbye to Kristoff and Sven, and on the way back we went past the bakery where a nice lady gave you free cake because you're the Princess! And you ate it all, even though that morning Elsa told you to stop eating so many snacks!'

'He's right,' Anna said.

'Anyone could have found that out if they had you followed,' said Elsa, and continued frowning at Olaf.

'Okay...,' Olaf continued. 'How about something only I could know... Oh yeah, Elsa! Your secret! The one you told me never, ever to mention because it's about A-'

'It's him.' Elsa quickly cut him off and made the ice around him vanish. 'But I don't understand...' She folded her arms, regarding him from where she stood.

Olaf shook himself and regained his balance. He grinned at Anna as she approached. 'Isn't it amazing?' he asked her.

She responded by poking his face.

'Ow,' he said. This pain thing was going to take a lot of getting used to.

'So you're actually human?' Anna asked.

'Well... I think so,' Olaf replied. He turned to Elsa. 'What did you do?'

'Woah, Elsa!' Anna looked at her in astonishment. 'Did you do this? You actually made a human being?'

'Hold on, I didn't do anything!' Elsa protested. 'Olaf, when did this happen?'

'Right before I came to see you. I was sitting in the library and one minute I was normal and then, boom! Just like that, I'm human!'

Elsa tugged nervously at the end of her braid. As far as she knew, her magic wasn't capable of something like that. 'I was sleeping, I couldn't have done anything to you.'

As Elsa continued trying to think of possible explanations, Anna had an idea.

'Hey Olaf, have you seen what you look like yet?' she asked, grabbing his arm and dragging him over to the mirror.

He was pleasantly surprised by what he saw. In the mirror, next to Anna's reflection was a young man. As she had said, there was something about his face that was unquestionably Olaf. His eyes were exactly the same, and the shape of his face, even his nose had retained a carrot-like quality. The only difference was that he was made of flesh rather than snow. That, and he now had a full head of slightly wavy black hair. He watched himself smile and noticed that he now had prominent front teeth, along with all the other features of a human mouth.

'Wow,' he giggled.

'Olaf,' Elsa said. 'If you want answers then you'll have to visit the trolls. Anna and I can take you to them, and maybe they can turn you back into a snowman.'

'Are you kidding? I'm not turning back, there's so much I can do!'

'Yeah,' Anna agreed. 'Don't change back before you've done everything you've wanted! This is so cool!'

'Actually, it's the opposite of cool,' Olaf pointed out. 'Now that I'm not made of snow I can finally give you a warm hug!' This he proceeded to do, still finding it strange to be taller than Anna.

There was nothing improper about the Princess of Arendelle, clad only in her nightgown, being hugged by a man in her bedroom, since that man was Olaf; Olaf was the embodiment of innocence, and now he was its personification.

She pulled away from him, grinning ecstatically. 'We might as well get started! Let's go and find some food!'

'Food?' Olaf had always wanted to try food and now he was so happy that he really could.

'It's four o'clock in the morning,' Elsa interrupted. She wanted to remind Anna that they both had a lot to do that day in order to finalise and approve the preparations for the Midsummer Festival. But their excitement was contagious. And Olaf was more important. She had made him, and she wanted to be with him in this new phase of his life.

So she did not tell Anna to go back to bed, and Olaf to come back later. Instead, Elsa let go of her sense of royal duty and nervousness surrounding the upcoming Festival and let her joy and love for Anna and Olaf show in her expression.

'The castle kitchen won't be open yet, but the bakery in town should be. Olaf, go and wait for us outside and we'll meet you when we're ready! But don't go near the guards or the servants. If they find you they'll think you're an intruder, so stay out of sight!'

'I will!' he said, closing the door on his way out. And this time he meant it. When Olaf had first arrived in Arendelle, Kristoff told him to stay hidden and he had immediately encountered an unsuspecting townswoman, who looked like he'd given her a heart attack.

Now it was slightly different, though. Rather than being perceived as a danger because he was a magical creature, people would see Olaf as a threat because he was human. Although he guessed it'd be fine once Elsa and Anna told everyone it was him. Assuming that this human state was permanent, of course.

Olaf concentrated on his current task. He knew the way out of the castle, but he had no idea whether there would be any people around or where they would be. And since it was light outside, the lack of shadow would make it difficult for him to find a hiding place, along with the fact that he was now considerably taller and larger than before.

He hurried down the stairs and stood silently at the bottom, listening for any footsteps. There were none so he continued along the hallway and down a second flight of stairs. After checking it was clear, he ran to the doorway at the end of the corridor and opened it, stepping out into the castle courtyard. He realised he should have looked out of the window for guards before going out, but luckily there was no one around.

Staying under the wooden shelter surrounding the edge of the courtyard, Olaf slowly made his way over to the gates. As he got closer, he could see that there was currently only one guard positioned there, and he looked kind of sleepy. Olaf decided to risk it and rushed through the gates, trying to put on a determined expression and prepared to pretend he was making an urgent, royal delivery if the guard stopped him. However, nothing happened. Olaf hurried across the causeway and sat down on a wall overlooking the market place to wait for Anna and Elsa.

The guard blinked blearily after Olaf went past and wondered why anyone would choose to be outside at this hour. He was beginning to regret agreeing to the night shift. Even if it was light at this time of year, night was night, and people were supposed to be asleep. It didn't help knowing that his fellow guard who was supposed to be doing this shift with him was slacking off somewhere - he'd made up his mind to report him to his superiors later - and it helped even less that he'd been drinking the day before and the effects were catching up with him. He fought hard to keep his eyes open, but was jolted into full consciousness when he saw the Queen and the Princess pass through the gates. The guard wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not. He couldn't think of anything that would bring the Royal Sisters out of the castle this early in the morning. But they were a strange pair, and after what happened last year nothing they did could surprise him. Anyway, it was none of his business, and soon it would be the end of his shift.

Anna spotted Olaf sitting on the wall. He got up and wandered towards the two of them. It was still strange thinking of this new man as Olaf, but it was him, nevertheless; he had the same smile, and even the same walk as he always had.

'You made it!' Anna said smiling up at him. The new height would be the hardest thing to get used to.

'I know! But I was thinking, it's not really a good thing I got out,' Olaf said, looking at Elsa with concern. 'You need more guards!'

'Don't worry, Olaf!' Anna said cheerily as the three of them began walking along. 'Elsa can protect us both! She's awesome, in case you'd forgotten. And there are normally more guards around, but some of them have time off for the holiday.'

'I assure you,' Elsa added, 'Arendelle is a safe kingdom, the crime rate here is very low. Anyway, since when have you seen the serious side of things, Olaf?'

'I don't know, it must be this human...ness. Hey!' He stopped suddenly. 'Can you two smell that?'

Indeed they could. It was the delectable smell of freshly-baked bread and cakes. Anna pointed in front of them to the bakery.

Olaf was beyond excited. Of course, as a snowman he had somehow had the ability to smell, but he had never eaten, and now he couldn't wait to find out what that was like. He dashed ahead and burst through the door of the bakery.

The sisters followed close behind him. Inside it was very warm and bright. The shop was quite large and had brightly-coloured tiles on the floor, on top of which were display cabinets, currently being filled with an assortment of hot food by a young woman who worked there.

'Hello!' said Olaf, happily. This made the girl jump, as customers didn't usually start coming in this soon after opening. Normally the first people to visit the shop were the sailors and they arrived a little later. She looked up and was even more surprised to see the Princess and the Queen standing in front of her, along with the man who had spoken.

'Oh! Your Majesties!' She curtseyed.

'We'll take everything, please!' Olaf said. He couldn't make up his mind and everything looked and smelled so good.

'Hold on, Olaf!' Anna said quickly, before the girl obeyed him. 'Let me choose for us, I know which ones are best!'

Then she selected her and Elsa's favourite pastries, along with some extra. The girl nervously put them into a box and handed it to Anna.

'Thanks! Goodbye!' Anna said, and hurried out of the shop with Olaf.

Elsa stayed behind for a moment. 'Thank you,' she said, and placed a couple of gold coins on the counter before following the others.

They walked over to the docks and sat down on the stone stairs leading down to the wooden docking platforms. They could see fishing boats on the horizon making their way back after a night at sea.

Anna set the box on her lap, opened it and took out a pastry. Elsa and Olaf were sitting on either side of her and reached in to take their own.

Olaf almost couldn't believe it was real. This was the moment he would taste food for the first time, and it was perfect; the fjord was beautiful and two of his best friends were with him.

He took a bite. And it was everything he had imagined, even better than that. Anna and Elsa watched his expression shift through multiple stages of bliss.

'Wow,' he said once he had finished. 'That was amazing! I want some more!'

Pretty soon the box was empty, and the three of them stayed sitting in the sunshine for a while. The town was waking up around them as the market place started to fill with people setting up their stalls, and citizens began to gather at the docks to meet the fishing boats.

Then Elsa stood up. 'Come on. Anna, you and I have things we need to do. We have to approve the plans for the Midsummer Festival, and we should probably hold a meeting with the castle staff and guards to tell them about Olaf.'

'But Olaf and I have stuff to do, too!' Anna complained. She enjoyed the perks of royalty, like getting free food, but she tried to avoid her duties as much as possible. After years of being cooped up inside the castle, Anna liked to spend a lot of time outdoors, and usually the only reason she would stay in was to be with Elsa.

And now Elsa was giving her that look, with one of her eyebrows raised. Anna knew she wouldn't be able to escape from working today, but she could try to delay it.

'All right,' Anna conceded. 'But you get started and I'll join you later.'

'Fine,' Elsa agreed, 'but if you aren't back in the castle within two hours then you'll be in trouble!'

'Okay, I got it. No more than two hours!'

'Well, I'll see you later,' Elsa said, and started walking away. They both waved after her, slightly saddened that she couldn't have fun with them, but the kingdom wasn't going to run itself.

'So, what do we do now?' Olaf asked after a brief pause. He had so many ideas that he couldn't decide what he wanted to do first.

'We're going to the stables!' Anna announced, getting up and pulling Olaf to his feet.

'But I can already ride!' Olaf said, as they walked.

'Yeah, but not properly. And it's a lot of fun, trust me!'

Once they arrived at the stables, Anna ordered her own horse to be saddled and led into the exercise yard. Meanwhile, with help from one of the stable boys, she found a mild-tempered horse that was perfect for Olaf. The former snowman and the horse immediately got on very well, probably due to the fact that he still wasn't fully human himself.

Teaching Olaf to ride proved trickier than Anna had guessed it would be. He seemed to be more interested in talking to the horse than trying to control it. But after a while, he managed to steer the horse around the enclosure.

Olaf was just getting the hang of it when they were interrupted.

'Princess Anna?' said a deep voice from the gate. Two guards were standing at the gate to the yard. 'We received orders from the Queen to escort you back to the castle immediately.'

'Hang on a minute!' Anna called to them. 'Wow, she's serious about getting me to help with the festival preparations!' she said, getting down from the horse.

'Elsa obviously cares what you think about it! And I bet she misses you!' Olaf attempted to dismount from the horse, but ended up falling off and landing on his stomach. Anna helped him to his feet and they went out of the gate to join the guards.

'You know,' Olaf began, as they walked back towards the castle, 'I think I'll stay here and let you and Elsa do the preparations by yourselves.' They came to a halt.

'Are you sure?' Anna asked. 'Will you be all right on your own? What will you do?'

'I'll be fine! I was thinking of going to that shop you told me about. The one with the sauna. I can't wait to find out what the heat feels like!'

'What, Oaken's? That's kind of far away. Oh! I know what to do!'

'Um, Your Highness?' one of the guards said, as Anna started to walk in the opposite direction to the castle. They followed her closely.

'This won't take long!' she told them. She scanned the marketplace until the found the right stall, then bought a map of the local area for Olaf and took it back to show him.

'Oaken's Trading Post is here,' she pointed it out on the map. 'And the quickest way is to follow this trail. Oh and take this with you.' She gave him her purse, which was full of coins.

'Thanks, Anna! I'll see you later!' Olaf waved to her and then started studying the map.

'Don't get lost! And come and find me when you get back!'

And so Anna returned to the castle, while Olaf embarked on his quest for heat.

Much later, the door to Elsa's study burst open and Olaf rushed in. He was carrying a large bag, which he deposited on top of the paperwork on the desk.

'Olaf!' Elsa said, smiling at him as she got up from her chair. 'We were getting worried!'

'How was the sauna?' Anna asked, opening the bag.

'It was amazing!' Olaf replied. 'The heat was so intense! When I started to sweat I thought I was melting, but then I found out that it's normal.' He noticed Anna looking at what he'd brought. 'Oh yeah! Oaken's really nice and he had so much cool stuff! Look what I got!' From the bag he removed a pair of clogs, a bottle of sun balm and an assortment of carved wooden items. Then he took out two swimsuits, a blue men's one, and a women's one which was cream with maroon designs on it. 'And I got these so we can go swimming! I've always wanted to go in the water!'

Anna took the women's swimsuit from him. 'It's just my size!' she said, holding it against herself.

Elsa blushed. It would leave a lot of Anna's gorgeous, freckled skin exposed.

'Let's go!' Anna strode towards the door. She'd had enough of work, and of being inside.

'Aren't you coming, Elsa?' Olaf asked. 'I bought one for you, too!' He held up a second swimsuit.

'Oh, no, I have to finish this.' She gestured to the documents underneath Olaf's stuff.

'But it'll be fun!' Anna said, wanting to share the experience with her.

'You two go, I'll stay here,' Elsa said. And try not to think about you wearing that swimsuit, she added in her mind. That was going to be difficult.

'All right, but next time we go to the beach you're definitely coming, too!'

'See you later, Elsa!' said Olaf. He picked up the bag and walked out with Anna.

After changing in their respective rooms - Elsa had informed the castle staff of Olaf's situation, which they had taken surprisingly well, and they had arranged for one of the castle's many spare chambers to be given to him - they made their way to a small beach on the other side of the fjord.

It wasn't exactly unusual to see people walking around the town wearing only swimsuits in the summer, especially not on such a hot and sunny day, when many of the town's citizens enjoyed spending time in the fjord. Although, luckily for Anna and Olaf, when they arrived at the beach they found it to be almost completely empty.

Immediately, Olaf put the things he was carrying down in the sand and ran towards the water. Anna caught up with him as started wading further in.

'Wait a second, Olaf. Do you actually know how to swim?' she asked him.

'You mean it's not just like walking, except in the water?'

'No! It takes a lot of time to learn!'

'Well, can you teach me?'

'Maybe later, we have plenty of time! For now, though, I just want to relax; Elsa made me work the whole day! Hmm, now that I think about it Elsa can't swim, either. I should probably teach her sometime, too.'

They stood in the water for a little while.

'Oh well!' Olaf said. 'At least I got to find out how water feels! I'm going to sunbathe now!' He splashed back to the sand while Anna began swimming.

Olaf took out Oaken's sun balm and smeared some onto his skin before lying down on the warm sand. He closed his eyes. And it was so warm. The sun shone down on him and even with his eyes closed he could feel how bright it was without his personal flurry to shield him.

After some time, he felt almost like he was floating away. He sat up suddenly, realising that the time had been passing in a strange way. Then it struck him that he must have been falling asleep. He lay back down and tried to make it happen again.

Just as Olaf started drifting off, he felt the light being blocked out above him and water dripping onto his face. Anna was standing over him, wringing out her wet hair.

'Hey!' he laughed.

She giggled mischievously. 'Come and see what I made!'

Olaf followed her to a sand sculpture of his snowman self, with driftwood and pebbles replacing his previous features.

'It's really good!' he said.

'Thanks! It's strange to think that you looked like this only yesterday,' Anna replied.

'I know! I was so short! I like this new height the most, I feel like I can see more!'

'So you prefer being human, then?' Anna asked.

'Well, it's different,' Olaf replied.

'A good different?'

'A good different,' he grinned.

Happy Frozen anniversary!

Thanks for reading, let me know if you want to read the next chapter!