He didn't think he'd ever see her again. That was the plan, anyway.
It was early February, and the snow was thick on the ground. The road out of the city was well packed-down to start with, but as smaller roads and paths split off to farms and hamlets the snow was less disturbed until finally there was only one set of fresh hoofprints ahead of him and Sven, only one other person who had passed this way since last night's snowfall.
Then the hoofprints suddenly veered off to one side and into the trees. Kristoff glanced after them in idle curiosity. There was a white horse with an expensive saddle tied loosely to a branch, and a young woman was sitting on a fallen tree to one side. She had her back to the road but he recognised her nevertheless.
He told himself later that he only stopped the sled because she was crying. Not that it was any of his business, but perhaps she needed assistance (although the obvious thing then would have been to stay on the road - people did occasionally come this way). He couldn't manage to pass her by.
His boots crunched in the snow as he jumped down and she looked up, turning and hastily blowing her nose. Their eyes met and after a long moment Anna said "Oh. It's you."
So many things he wanted to say, and the words that came out were "You can't just sit out here in the snow. You'll freeze to death."
"Maybe I wouldn't mind," she said defiantly, turning her handkerchief over and over in her hands.
"You can't say that," he said, walking over to her. "I know what happened - everyone does - but it's over now."
"You don't know all of it," she said, then blew her nose again, loudly.
He waited but she didn't elaborate. "Come on," he said when she clearly wasn't going to say anything more, "you really can't stay here. I mean it, you'll make yourself ill. Go home."
"I'm not a child," she said, "and you can't tell me what to do. You aren't even my friend. I thought you were but I was wrong." A pause, then quieter, "I'm a terrible judge of character, apparently."
Another long moment, and he didn't know what to say. "If I'd known," he said finally, "I never would have left you there. You know that. And I thought - well. It doesn't matter now."
She looked him up and down, biting her lip. "You got a new hat."
"I - yes. I did."
"I still have the other one. If you want it."
"Keep it. Or - don't, whatever. It's fine."
"Oh." He hadn't noticed she was smiling until her face fell. "I just thought - never mind." She stood, and turned towards her horse.
"You thought what?"
"I thought you could come back with me and get it. Or you could come another day and give me a ride in your new sled? I never even saw it, they just told me you'd collected it. Do you like it?"
And she was smiling at him again, just like that.
"I love it," he said slowly. "Did you choose it?"
"Yes," she said, untying her horse and leading it carefully back to the road. "Let me see it, I'm so glad you like it!"
He followed her back through the trees, listening to her tell him about what the man in the workshop had said, and how many different patterns they could do, and she was sorry it had taken so long to get a message to him about it. As soon as he realised he was smiling he forced himself to stop.
Anna fussed over Sven, and she admired the sled, and Kristoff was pleased enough to offer her a ride back to the castle. Anna was thrilled; he turned the sled around (he had nothing urgent to do, he could spare her some time) and tied her horse so that it could walk alongside.
"I'm not supposed to be riding, anyway," she said offhand as they got underway. "I just needed to get out of there for a bit. A person can only take so many pitying glances, you know?"
"It'll get easier from here on," he said. "Spring soon. New start."
She was twisting her handkerchief in her hands again, backwards and forwards, biting her lip, so he tried to change the subject. "Why aren't you supposed to be riding? Did you hurt yourself?"
She screwed the handkerchief into a ball. "Because I might lose the baby," she said at last, so softly he had to strain to hear her.
It took him a second, then the penny dropped. "You're - oh, god, Anna, I'm sorry."
"You have no manners," she said. "You say, Congratulations! You must be excited! And then you ask if I want to sit down."
"You are sitting down."
"Whatever." She scrubbed at her face with the handkerchief then shoved it down into her pocket. "I like your answer best, actually."
"People have been congratulating you? Seriously?"
"Not lots of people. I mean, it's not official yet, so don't tell anybody. But I think, I don't know. I think they think it's, like, one good thing to come out of this all? Or they just think it's what they're supposed to say."
The city walls were in sight, and Kristoff pulled the sled over by the side of the road.
"Are you all right from here?" he said as he went to help her down.
"I know the way, thank you," she said, brushing him off as she jumped down from the sled, and tried to untie her horse. She couldn't undo the knot with her mittens on, and when he tried to help her, she pushed his hand away irritably. "I'm fine." She pulled off her mittens and stowed them under her arm while she undid the knot, then led the horse away from the sled.
"Are you coming to get your hat?"
"I should -" he waved vaguely back down the road.
"OK, well - another time? Saturday, are you free on Saturdays?"
She looked so hopeful, that was the problem. And everything he'd spent six months trying to suppress came flooding back at her smile.
"I'm free on Saturday."
"OK - great! I'll see you here? About ten, is that good? I'll bring your hat and maybe we can go for a drive? I'll bring us some lunch."
He didn't reply immediately and Anna bit her lip, watching his face.
"Fine. Ten. I'll see you then."
She smiled at him and he knew it was the right answer. Making her smile like that was always the right answer. Even if it felt like the wrong one.
I missed you, she wanted to say. I shouldn't have let you leave.
She wanted to say I'm sorry. I won't let it happen again.
