Chapter 1

Several months passed since Arendelle experienced its deep freeze and was revitalized. Queen Elsa was happily ruling the kingdom and was a just queen. She was also an extremely likable person and (according to rumors) fashioned custom made ice clothing to her best friends, which was remarkably warm despite its material. The material was highly sought after by hikers, and Kristoff was a proud owner of a full suit of sparkling blue clothes emblazoned with his symbol of ice master. Anna was extremely happy with the open gates and already made a good handful of friends from the neighboring kingdoms and within her own. Olaf was a favorite of the children and wandered freely around the village, playing with children and generally having a good time. Nothing had been heard of concerning Prince Hans (and good riddance), and the kingdom couldn't have been happier.

This, however, could not exactly be said of the village's blacksmith apprentice, who was charged, along with his master, to reconstruct a large majority of the village's metal objects and structures. The hot and cold flashes had seriously damaged the integrity of most of the steel, so it all had to be replaced. That meant months of grueling work for the pair, in the dead of summer and into fall, and the apprentice, John Callaway, was not pleased.

His master, a large man, especially compared to John's much leaner frame, went by the name of simply Smith, and no one besides his closest associates knew his real name, if he even had one. John had only been working for him for about a year, so he had not been given this luxury. The man, with his callused hands and worn palms, placed his large leather gloves and apron on, grabbed his hammer, and went to work.

John, on the other hand, was very much the opposite. The boy was muscular but very lean, and was dwarfed by Smith to such an extent that he was almost non-existent should someone walk into the shop. Despite his lean size, he was quick on his way to becoming a master craftsman, and was something of a budding inventor. His skills were useful since the blacksmith functioned also as a silversmith, jeweler, tinsmith, and part time dentist. John's small hands were useful for more delicate projects where Smith's hands just got in the way. He was also remarkably intelligent and had already devised several systems to increase the output and quality of the shop's items, including a moving hanging rack and a mechanical stoker.

John was well used to the forge, especially since he had hanging around it since he was about six. Ever since he was little, John had had a massive fascination for the craft, and was drawn to it like a magnet. Now that he was doing all the exhausting work, he was having second thoughts. Nonetheless he loved the work and set to it with a gusto and bravado that was not possessed by many in the village. He worked with such fluidity around and with Smith that the job felt more like an extension of his own body than a task, despite its taxing effort.

That is not to say he did not get bored or tired of it, he did, and whenever he had off, he would go canoeing around the fjord or exploring in the mountains. He was an adventurer, although he preferred to have a home to come back to, and he had explored a lot of the surrounding mountainside, which he had mapped both mentally and roughly in a notebook he always kept on him in his jacket pocket.

His notebook was one of his most prized possessions and was always on him. He kept it in the inside of his leather vest. Underneath his leather vest he wore a green shirt and brown pants. It was by far his favorite outfit and was also blazoned on the shoulder with a small gear and hammer underlined with a golden stripe, the symbol of a blacksmith's apprentice. He had added them himself. It was part of his identity, his passion, his lifestyle. It was part of him.

John was snapped out of his reverie by Smith nearly smacking him in the head with his hammer, one of his signs of "affection" that he showed, and was usually a way of "motivating" the apprentice, who never really needed it.

"Keep working. Unless you want to be repairing old shovels and I-beams for the rest of your life," muttered Smith, in the gruff, mumbled way he always did. Sometimes John wondered if he could actually open his mouth fully or pronounce syllables correctly. His thick accent didn't make it any easier.

"You're in the same boat, you know. We're going to be working on these things till we drop, and there's no way around that. Besides, I'm working faster than you," quipped John, always quick on the uptake of a reply.

"Yeah right. I saw you space out there for a second. I can read you like a book."

"You wish. I bet you a copper I can get more shovels done than you can."

He got around five coppers a week as pay for my work, and Smith took him in "out of the goodness of his heart." Obviously he needed the extra help, and he made more than two crowns a week from his products, so he had no problem paying him a little. A little friendly competition between them was something we did to get me and him motivated and working, usually in the last hour or so of work.

The next hour was a flurry of activity in the shop as they raced around trying to get the most done. John had the advantage of being able to weave in and out of the tight spaces in the shop, but Smith had a stronger hand and could make the shovels faster. They had a bit of a rivalry to see which was better.

After a grueling but rewarding hour of work, John came out on top, with five shovels completed where Smith had managed four and a half. John got his copper and Smith polished up that last shovel and locked up.

Having been exhausted by the work, John went to his favorite spot in the woods to relax, a secluded hollow with a small pond and a few apple trees. He had some small provisions, mostly some fruits and hard breads should he get hungry, and the tree was a bonus. He had his own little cave that he crashed in, with a fire, should it get cold. After the whole flash-freeze business, he was prepared for the worst.

After a small bite, and a little nap, he walked around the hollow a little to clear his mind. He was just tired, and the walk helped him free his mind from distractions. This was not helped, however, by the fact that he discovered two crystals and a note on top of a boulder near the hollow's entrance. The note, written in neat, perfect handwriting (although very large), said, "Give the red crystal to Princess Anna, and keep the blue one for yourself. If you do not trust me, ask Princess Anna to come with you to the troll grove (she'll know what it means), and I will explain all. –Grandpapi Troll"

He was very much intrigued by this note, and who the hell was Grandpapi Troll? Weren't trolls just a wives tale to scare kids? Then again, wasn't magic? He guessed anything was possible. He picked up the blue crystal first, the one the note had told him to take, and right away he felt a tingling sensation throughout his entire body. That tingling rose to a sting, and then a burn, and although he tried to drop it, the warmth and pins kept growing and getting more uncomfortable. After about a minute, the pain died and he was able to drop the crystal, which had lost some if not all of its glow, especially compared to the red one. He wrapped up the crystals in the note and decided to take the items to Elsa and Anna, since they knew the most about these things. He just really hoped whatever that crystal did didn't have any kind of long term effect on him.