Author's Note:

Hello friends! It is great to be writing for all of you again :) This is just the beginning of the big, multi-chapter epic Frozen fic that I have been teasing for a while. I am so excited to be working on it for you guys, and I hope that you all enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it. If you like it, or have any feelings about it at all, please let me know by leaving a review! I do not own any of the character from Frozen, and I am not making a penny off of this fic. Now, as always, please read, enjoy, and review!

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Elsa slammed her office door shut after a particularly obnoxious meeting with another one of Anna's potential suitors. These men from surrounding kingdoms just did not understand the meaning of the phrase, "not interested". She wondered how many more ways she could come up with to say "leave us alone" tactfully. She imagined there were not very many options left.

It wasn't long before she found her sister and her long-term, live-in boyfriend in their favorite spot in the palace library. Per usual, Anna was lying upside down on a stuffed armchair, her feet up the back of the chair, and Kristoff was in the chair next to her, simply watching the fire. When Elsa asked him about that, he just replied that he wasn't much of a reader.

Anna saw her sister first and gave her an ear to ear grin, "Hey Elsa!" she chirped, dropping the book from her hands, "How was your…"

"Not good," the queen flopped into the armchair across from Anna.

"Oh," Anna glanced up at Kristoff, who was still staring into the fire.

"I just don't understand how many more eligible princes there are left, " Elsa gave Anna a wicked smirked, "you would think after we sent the last one back in chains, other countries would back off."

Kristoff finally looked at Elsa, her face relaxed but her hands clenched into dainty fists of furry.

"Well, maybe this will be the last one," Anna suggested hopefully, pulling herself up right in the chair.

"Unfortunately not. An ambassador from Kensington arrived today, without announcing it before he came, and without an invitation from me," she rolled her eyes, "I have to see him, he is apparently a leading elder of that kingdom, but it is appalling behavior to ask for an audience with a queen without requesting it first. I would never consider an alliance with that boorish country anyways, which I am sure he is hoping to gain. So I pushed his audience back a few days, just to annoy him."

"Maybe it will be fast then!" Anna tried again.

"Perhaps, Anna," Elsa's gaze moved to study Kristoff, "It would definitely be faster if the Ice Master would just ask for your hand already."

Both blushed and shifted their eyes from Elsa, who chuckled to herself.

"Well, it must happen soon, Kristoff," she pushed herself out of the chair to leave, "If you don't hurry, I may just sell my sister to one of these suitors. Some of the prices are intriguing…"

Anna chucked a pillow at her sister's head. With impressive speed, Elsa raised her hand and the pillow froze in midair. She pushed her hand down and it shattered into a thousand shards on the floor, that disappeared with an up swipe of Elsa's other hand.

"You must be faster than that, Anna," Elsa laughed.

Anna pouted playfully at her sister, "It would be plenty fast enough if someone didn't have super ice powers."

Making her way towards the door, Elsa spoke over her shoulder, "Life isn't always fair, Anna, now is it?"

Much later that night, a knock on Elsa's office door brought her out of her trance. She had been re-reading the same line of a proposal from a local mayor for the past fifteen minutes without really reading it. Elsa shuffled her papers around and straightened her spine.

"It's unlocked," she called, "come in."

Kristoff's lumbering form slipped through the door, and he stepped to Elsa's desk without a sound.

"It's awfully late Kristoff, what are you doing up?"

He gave her a smile, "I could be asking you the same thing. Do you ever sleep?"

"Only if I have to," she replied, "Tonight seems to be one of those nights I don't think I will get much rest." Elsa turned her head to look out the floor to ceiling glass windows behind her desk. A crisp winter breeze whipped snow around the castle, only visible when it came near the light through the windows.

"Anna may be susceptible to the summer solstice, but I am completely trapped in the winter solstice, which should come as no surprise to anyone. I hardly sleep this time of year."

Kristoff nodded in understanding, "I have always preferred winter over summer."

"Yes," Elsa chuckled, "But summer is so Anna, is it not?"

He nodded his agreement .

It took a long time for Kristoff to feel this comfortable with Elsa. He spent weeks after the Great Thaw mumbling and bumbling his way around her, stuttering over her name every time he accidentally said your majesty or my queen to her. He had witnessed her power first hand, he saw what life it could create, and the painful death it could bring. Kristoff still woke, drenched in sweat and panting Anna's name, from the nightmare Elsa's powers created for him. He also knew that Elsa suffered from dreams like that as well—their biggest common fear was losing Anna. It had been a bonding experience for them, their love for the bouncing red-head. Anna was frequently their conversation starter. However, it didn't take long after he moved into the castle and spent more time with the Queen that he realized what he had immediately realized about Anna; Elsa was just a person.

"Let us cut to the chase though, Kristoff, what brings you here so late? I imagine it isn't strictly for a social visit."

He blushed and spoke into his lap, "Well, no," he paused, not looking up, I heard what you said this afternoon, and I wanted to let you know, Elsa, that I am planning on proposing to Anna, tomorrow, at the Solstice Ball." He pulled a small box out of his breast pocket and slid it across Elsa's desk. She picked up the box and flicked it open, her mouth tugging into her signature, barely there grin.

"That is gorgeous, Kristoff."

He wrung his hands together in his knees, "It isn't much, I know, but I wanted it to be from me still, so I took some of my wages from my ice harvesting work and put it towards what I could afford…"

"Kristoff, she'll love it."

The mountain man finally looked up at Elsa, who was still looking at the silver, sapphire speckled band in her hand.

"It's very Anna."

He smiled for a second, before his face melted back into nervousness. "I just wanted your blessing on this proposal, Elsa. Anna means the world to me, and I want her in my life forever. I want to be in her life forever, too. And, everyday those suitors come parading in here, all I can think is that they don't know the first this about her. All they're after is her title, her dowry, or even you. And, I see Anna, I love Anna. Even if I'm not a prince, I think that I am her prince charming, and I want to spend the rest of my life having her as my princess…"

"Kristoff," Elsa interrupted softly, sliding the jewelry box back to him, "Of course you have my blessing. I think you are good for my sister, and I think you are good for our family. You came back for her."

He picked it up and placed it back in the pocket, "I will always come back for her."

Elsa stood and moved around her desk. Kristoff took that as his cue and he stood too, only to be surprised when Elsa wrapped her cool arms around his thick torso. He lightly placed a large palm around her waist and gave her a quick squeeze.

"Just remember," she gave him a coy smile as she pulled out of the embrace, "I will turn you into an ice cube if you ever hurt my sister."

His hands came up in innocence as he started to slowly back out of the room, "Hey, no worries there Elsa. I'm too scared of you to ever do anything like that."

She gave a satisfied smirk, "As it should be."