The King bowed before his hosts. "Thank you for the supplies Agdar," he said as he stood at the gangplank of the ship that was now ready to get underway. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make sure my other boys are aboard ship before we set sail." He motioned to the ten-year-old Prince next to him. "Come along Hans." The child obeyed.
He saw the sad look on the boy's face. There were no children anywhere near Hans age back home and he didn't get along well with his brothers. The whole point of this trip was to deliver two of those brothers to join the search for the lost princess and, in the process, tend to the diplomatic business of maintaining his Kingdom's alliance with Corona.
The need to stop for supplies had provided an opportunity to do likewise with Arendelle. Hans came because the King didn't want to leave him alone with his much older brothers. He made a decision. "Agdar," he said. "My youngest seemed to get along well with the Princesses. Perhaps he could stay here and wait for my return trip."
The royal couple of Arendelle looked at each other, nodded and said, "We would be very happy to have this young man as a guest."
The king smiled at the sudden uptick in his son's mood. "Would you like that Hans?"
He answered enthusiastically, "Yes father, very much."
"Very well then, it's decided. But," He admonished Hans. "You must remember to behave like a gentleman. And remember, the Princesses are younger and smaller than you. You've been on the other side of that, so you certainly should know what NOT to do."
"Yes father," he said.
A couple of days later Elsa was fast asleep when her little sister climbed onto her bed doing her best to get Elsa to get up and play. Elsa though, was nice and comfortable in her bed and resisted her sisters' pleas; until Anna found the one appeal that she knew her older sister couldn't resist. "Do you want to build a snowman?"
Soon the girls were running through the halls toward the ballroom. Anna of course had to stop at the guest quarters where Prince Hans was staying.
"Anna no," Elsa said, but it was too late. Hans had come to the door.
"Want to come play with us? We're going to build a snowman."
Hans smiled. This was so much more fun than back home. He ran down the hall with the girls.
They slipped into the ball room where Anna implored "Do the magic."
"Magic?" Hans said. Soon to have the question answered as Elsa produced, well something in her hands and shot it into the air. It was snowing in the ballroom.
They ran through the snow, made snow angels and threw snowballs at each other. Of course, Hans was careful to not throw as hard as he could. Then of course the main attraction, building snowmen. Elsa gave voice to it, "I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs." Anna gleefully gave the snowman a hug. "I love you Olaf. And I love you to Elsa." Hans found himself envious of the girls. He'd give almost anything to have that kind of relationship with just one of his brothers. Anna must have seen something in his expression as she turned to him and said. "We love you to Hans."
Then she said, "Bet ya can't catch me Hans." as she ran up a small hill. Hans ran after her.
Elsa was having a hard time keeping up with the other two. She gave them to obstacles to make the chase more fun.
Elsa noticed that Hans wasn't behind Anna. He was going to try to surprise her by coming around and heading her off. But Elsa couldn't see where he was. Then he appeared at the top of a snowbank and jumped to intercept Anna. The jump was too high. Elsa went to create some snow for him to fall on, but she slipped, throwing her aim off and she hit Hans in the head. Elsa corrected and created enough snow to keep the young prince from getting hurt. Then she and Anna ran to check on Hans.
He was still. Both girls called out "Papa! Mama! Help!"
The King and Queen raced toward the valley of living rock. The Queen held the young visitor and the Princesses rode with their father.
No one noticed another young man who had seen them ride by and now, out of his curiosity, followed them.
They arrived at the valley and the King called out. "Please, we need your help."
Anna saw the rocks moving toward them and grabbed onto her father. Then the most amazing thing happened. The rocks somehow turned into little people. "It's the King!" one of them declared.
The chief approached and the King asked him. "Can you please help this young man? He's a friend of ours and I'm afraid there was an accident with my daughters' powers."
The chief first turned his attention to Elsa. "Born with powers or cursed?" He asked.
"Born, and there getting stronger."
The Chief nodded and approached the young boy. The Chief placed a hand on the boy's head and had a pensive look for a moment. "We can fix this. It's fortunate that Elsa didn't hit his heart." Chief Pabbie lifted his had from the boy's head and everyone saw streaks of wispy, white light coming from the boy's head.
Anna was somewhat distracted when she heard someone on the edge of the circle around them talking. She looked over to see a young boy, maybe around Hans age, looking on. Then another troll shushed him. She waved before her attention was brought back to what was happening with her sister.
"Your powers will only grow," Pabbie told Elsa, "There is beauty in it, but also great danger. You must learn to control it... Fear will be your enemy."
"She can learn to control it. I'm sure," the king said.
Pabbie responded "I'm sure she can. And we will help. Allow us to teach her."
"You mean leave her here?" The Queen asked.
"From time to time, and only for short periods." Pabbie looked over to his daughter. A smile came to his face. "I think she won't be alone here." He called over. "Bulda, would you bring your new friends over."
The Chiefs daughter walked out. She expected to have a hard time getting the boy and reindeer to follow. But the boy's curiosity about the girl with the ice powers was more than enough to encourage him to come out of hiding.
"Well who is this?" The King asked.
"Kristoff Bjorrgman sir," The boy answered, adding. "And this is Sven." He gestured toward the reindeer.
"How old are you Kristoff?"
"Eight years old sir."
Anna had been wrong. He was two years younger than Hans, Elsa's age. Just big for his age.
"Where are your parents?" The Queen asked.
"I don't know ma'am. I'm on my own."
"Not anymore," Pabbie said. "You have a family now Kristoff."
The Queen seemed satisfied with that and asked, "And what brought you to the valley?"
"The ice trail ma'am."
Felling ashamed of her powers Elsa sheepishly said, "That was because of me."
"Really!" Kristoff turned his attention to her. "Can I see."
"I don't think I should. I don't want to hurt anyone."
Pabbie walked up to Kristoff and placed a hand on his shoulder. As he did blueish tendrils of magic spread across the boy's body. It was clear that Pabbie meant for them all to notice it. "You don't need to worry about that Elsa. Kristoff is quite safe."
Elsa risked a small display from her hand. "Wow! That's amazing! How do you do that?"
Elsa giggled, "I don't really know. I guess the trolls will teach me."
As the two children kept talking Pabbie spoke to the royal couple. "I can't do that for everyone but since my daughter wants to take him in, I can grant him protection."
They all looked over when they heard Elsa laugh. She was riding on Sven's back as Kristoff led him.
"I wana ride! I wana ride!" Anna yelled as she ran over to them.
Elsa slid off with some help from Kristoff and then the young ice harvester lifted Anna onto Sven's back.
The royal couple marveled at the sudden improvement in Elsa's demeanor. She was back to being proud of, and enjoying, her powers...And seemed in good control of them.
"We will teach her about her powers, how to use them and how to restrain them," the Chief said. "May I suggest that she stay here tonight."
"Yes, I think that would be fine," he said, his wife showed no sign of disagreement.
"Elsa." The King called. She walked over to her father. "Yes papa."
"What would you think of a sleep over with your new friend Kristoff tonight. While you're here the trolls can start teaching you to control your powers."
"I'd like that papa."
Then the younger Princess chimed in. "Can I stay to."
The Queen, not willing to be separated from both of her daughters, said, Anna, I need your help to take care of Hans when we get back." She gestured to the boy who was only now starting to wake up.
"Okay Ma'ma." She was a little reluctant to leave but she always did like helping her mother. She went to her sister and threw her arms around the older girl. "Goodbye Elsa, I'll see you tomorrow." Elsa looked at Pabbie who nodded, then she responded, "See you tomorrow Anna."