Anna sat quietly. Only half the guards who had chased after Elsa had returned, and the rest were grim and quiet about what had happened.
The snow was melting. Summer was back. The queen was dead.
Anna wiped away a tear. "I'm so sorry for all this, Hans. I mean, it can't have been at all what you expected when you came here, and you've been so kind and supportive . . . "
Hans pulled her close and stroked her hair softly. "Hush, now. We'll get through this."
They were married the following week. The coronation ceremony was held the next day. It didn't feel real to Anna. She was hollow, empty, and there wasn't enough to smile about. She wondered if it would have been better if she had gone after Elsa herself instead of having the guards chase her down.
Hans took to ruling like a hand to a glove. He was strong and sure of himself, and the people adored him. He loved their adoration.
A little over a year into their marriage, Anna gave birth to a daughter. There were complications, though, and her last words to Hans - "Call her Heidi" - were murmured as she traced a finger down her child's cheek. The kingdom mourned the loss of their queen, so young and with such a promising future. Hans shed a few tears and pressed on quickly, and the people called him brave.
Heidi grew up loved by the people of Arendelle. She didn't see her father much, but she longed to know him and be loved by him. She knew she had many uncles, but she never met them. The portrait of her mother was lifeless; she talked to it anyway.
Kai, one of the servants in the castle, told her of her mother's enthusiasm for life, and her aunt Elsa's tragic story.
Heidi never told him that she could make flowers grow with a wave of her hand, that she could feel the trees reaching for the sun.
On her eighteenth birthday, after confronting her father about his absence from her life, she fled the castle and rode her horse into the mountains. A noise in the bushes startled her horse and he threw her off and ran away. A gruff-looking man and a reindeer emerged from the shadows, and she panicked and used her power to pull the bushes into a barrier around her.
The man talked her out by telling her of trolls who could help her understand her magic. He introduced himself as Kristoff. The reindeer was named Sverre.
In the Valley of Living Rock, an old troll told her about her powers. He also told her the truth about her aunt Elsa. The trolls let her stay with them for a while and helped her learn to control and accept her magic.
Kristoff stayed, too, and as time passed, she wondered what her life would have been like if he had been her father. He told her stories, and she laughed. Sverre and Kristoff both loved carrots, and she spent a whole week working on her carrot-growing skills to surprise them. He told her about Sven, his first reindeer, as they sat munching the fresh vegetables. She told him about her life in the castle, and how she wanted her father to listen to her and love her. She told him how scared she was that she wouldn't be accepted, that she would be treated like Elsa. Sverre nuzzled close to her when she cried.
Months after her flight from the castle, Kristoff burst into the valley with the news that her father lay dying. She stood, conflicted, and thought of her mother and aunt. How could their story have gone differently? Where would her story take her?
Heidi asked Kristoff to take her back to Arendelle.
Hans was happy to see her, weak as he was. He asked for forgiveness in between bouts of coughing. She held his hand as he took his last breath.
The people were delighted to learn that she was alive and well. When she revealed that she had magic (she didn't want to hide it), they were shocked. They had spent almost twenty years hearing about Queen Elsa, about her magic. What made Heidi different?
In the end, she was still the girl they loved, the kind princess they knew. Any naysayers were wise enough to keep their mouths shut.
Heidi asked Kristoff if he wanted to move to the castle. He denied, saying he had work to do, but that he would stay when he found himself in Arendelle.
He found himself in Arendelle a lot.
After her twenty-first birthday, she was crowned queen. Kristoff was named the kingdom's Ice Master (which was a thing, thank you very much). At the coronation ball, she met Prince Albert of Corona and hit it off splendidly. Two years later, Kristoff gave his blessing.
The king and queen of Corona loved Heidi and welcomed her to their family with open arms. There was lots of visiting back and forth.
Heidi and Albert had three children, the eldest of whom possessed fire magic. The trolls looked into the possibility of a curse on the firstborn of Arendelle. There was peace, though, and aside from a few accidents early on due to a fiery temper and enthusiastic siblings, there were no problems with their son's magic.
They lived happily.