A/N: Rewritten!

Elsa had woken up on time and, after making herself presentable, had made her way downstairs, first stopping by Anna's door and listening to her snores through the door. Smiling to herself and trying not to think of when she had last stood outside her sister's room she had descended to the dining room for breakfast. After speaking to advisers who had materialized from thin air as they often did for guidance on issues she had hoped to resolve for the last few days she had made her way back upstairs.

Somehow, Anna was still sleeping.

Hence why Elsa was knocking on her door until both her palm and throat ached.

"Anna! Anna, wake up!"

Nothing.

She considered entering the room, throwing Anna's privacy to the wind as she knocked once more, wrapping another hand around the door knob.

"Anna!"

"Wait!" The voice surprised her. Had Anna heard the knob turning perhaps? "Wait, I'm up, I'm up!"

Elsa waited for a few more seconds and was rewarded with further snores. She slammed the door once more.

Anna yelped. "Sorry Elsa! What's the big fuss?"

"Don't you remember what day it is?" Elsa felt a smile creep up her cheeks.

"Deadline day?" She heard the sound of feet dragging along the floor. "I already spoke to everyone. Didn't I already tell you? I could have sworn I did."

"You did." Her smile frozen to her face, Elsa felt her forehead crease as she leaned her head towards the door.

"Then - ow - what's the deal? You're working today aren't you?"

Elsa's frown solidified. Anna's memory wasn't that bad, surely?

"Kristoff's been waiting for an hour," she began, waiting for a reaction. Anna was silent. "He says it's getting late."

"Kristoff?" Anna burst to life. There was a loud scuffle behind the door until it shuddered on its frame, Elsa hearing the sound of flesh hitting it hard. It opened by a fraction, just enough for Anna to peer out. Elsa chose not to comment on what she could see of her. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I tried Anna. I really, really tried."

Anna's eyes narrowed in the sliver of space the door revealed after a moment's pause. "Oh." She shook her head, still peering sideways at Elsa. "Fine. Just...just keep him busy. Make him an ice cube or something, I'll be down in a bit!" The door slammed shut, the faint burst of wind buffeting the platinum blonde.

"Okay. Just...pick up a snack on the way down at least."

"I will!"

Elsa doubted that but chose not to comment, asking Gerda to have something delivered to her sister's room on her way down instead.

Kristoff slumped in his chair in the entrance hall of the castle when he heard the news. After a brief moment of thought he looked at Elsa with a huff. "You know, I should probably just leave." He gestured in the direction of the staircase. "It may teach her a lesson about tardiness."

Elsa sat in a seat facing his, smiling. "I think so too." She cocked her head, her smile widening to something cheekier. "But you won't, will you?"

She managed to keep her expression fixed - somehow - when he flushed. "I...probably wouldn't."

"Probably?" Elsa asked, raising an eyebrow. A servant approached then with a bundle of letters. She stood to receive them, thanked and dismissed him. She flipped through them as she sat back down. Kristoff waited until the man was out of earshot before continuing.

"Well, she keeps telling me she'll get better about it, I keep giving her the benefit of the doubt and it happens again and - there she is."

Elsa turned, recognizing the sound of Anna skipping down the stairs, almost falling on the last. After regaining her balance she looked up at them and beamed. "Hey Elsa, Kristoff!" She stopped her run to them to look at the suit of armor behind the ice harvester. "And Olaf! How are you?" At her cry the little snowman, who had been admiring the steel man, ran to her. She bent down to pat the side of his oval head. Snowflakes from the flurry above him fell on her hand and she shook them off as she rose. "Are we ready to go Kristoff?"

"Now."

Anna blushed under his pointed glare and mumbled an apology. Elsa chuckled to herself. "Did you have something to eat Anna?"

"Yep!" She had been holding something on her way down. She held it in front of Elsa before popping it in her mouth.

"Ch - chocolate?"

"Uh huh. Told you I would." She beamed.

"You did...did you see Gerda on the way down?" It was unlike the matron to provide confectioneries so freely. Elsa had expected her to give her sister something more nutritious.

"Yeah! I think the poor thing was having a late breakfast. She was carrying this huge pile of apples down the corridor!"

Elsa rolled her eyes, failing to hide a smile and was about to explain who the apples had been for when she noticed Kristoff looking at her. "Don't worry," he said, cutting her question off before it left her lips, "I was gonna stop by the market anyway. I'll get her something there."

"Thank you Kristoff." Elsa looked to Anna, the smile she'd worn for the mountain man giving way to a frown. "Now Anna, promise me you'll be safe?"

Anna huffed in return. "Of course I will!"

"I'll look after her Elsa!"

Elsa looked down at the snowman standing by her side, his thin arm patting her shin, his flurry placing stray snowflakes just above her knee.

She smiled. "I'm sure you will." Bending down to pat him as her sister had, only stroking the top of his head instead, she looked up at her human family. "Have a nice day, all of you."

"Course not! Bye Elsa!"

And with that Anna skipped outside. Olaf tore himself from the Queen and raced after her, hot on her heels. Elsa flexed her now empty hand and stood, a faint frown on her face. "And don't be late!" She yelled.

"Leaving on time would have helped," grumbled Kristoff. He straightened up with a sigh and looked at her. "We'll be back soon, Queen Elsa."

Had she not heard the footsteps or felt the large presence behind her Elsa would have wondered why Kristoff had added the formal touch. As it was she dismissed him with a smile and turned to Kai, who had approached them while her back had been turned. As Kristoff had waited for the servant to leave, Kai waited for the harvester before addressing her.

"Your Majesty? You're expected."

"Oh goodness." She jumped, her eyes shooting to the grandfather clock on the wall to her right. "I'm not late am I?"

Kai's eyes followed her to the clock. She had seen the answer though he filled the empty air all the same. "No, Your Majesty."

"That's good," she sighed, "tell them I'll be there shortly." She held the letters as explanation and Kai's expression darkened, betraying his concern. He opened his mouth, a syllable leaving it before Elsa shushed him a gentle smile and a raised hand. Kai left, still frowning, and she sat back down. Now it was her turn to frown as she once again looked at the letter that had alarmed the Royal Handler so. It was one of many she had received for longer than she cared to remember. Though each missive was wordier than the last - this one already seemed heavier than the one she'd received the previous week - they all held the same message. More or less.

Elsa gazed at the fiery emblem emblazoned on the wax seal, wishing she didn't have to read it.

"Can I have a go?"

"Not yet."

"Please?"

"No."

"Why? You still can't trust my judgement?" Anna used air quotes for the three words, scowling.

"Nope!"

"So I suppose you think you're another of my bad ideas?"

"Actually, yes."

The scowl gave way to a frown as Anna swatted Kristoff's arm. "Don't be like that!" They'd already had this discussion too many times to count.

"Hey!" He drew back, then chuckled. "I'm not complaining!"

"There we go, rapport! So!" She crossed her arms and grinned.

"Still no."

The smile left her face. "I'll wake up on time, I promise!"

He rolled his eyes. A thought struck him and he stopped, meeting her pleading gaze with a frown. "How long are we going to just sit here?"

Anna looked around the space. Behind them were trees, tall and thick, plunging the immediate space within them into darkness even as the sun shone bright. They themselves were foreboding, their leaves strong green, branches narrowing the further up they grew as though the trees were pointing to the cloudless heavens. Before them sat the beginnings of a mountain range, pale grey rocks joining together to form sharp, colossal masses the further she looked, as far as she could see.

And before them sat a frozen lake.

Kristoff had a point. He had stopped the sled in the opening of the clearing, just off the narrow path they had taken through the trees. Anna had stopped him just as he'd been about to clamber out and the result had been a circular argument that had gone on for who knew how long. At least Sven had enjoyed it, if the way he grinned at them from his harness with his tongue hanging out was any indication.

Kristoff reached for his tools again. Feeling only air he looked behind him with a start. After a few seconds of panicked searching they looked again at the lake at the same time to see Olaf, evidently bored with their argument, had taken it upon himself to do Kristoff's work for him. He was failing and it was a miracle he'd even managed to drag Kristoff's saw and pick over in the first place, but as Anna thought to herself as she watched Kristoff sprint after and relieve him before he fell into the exposed water from a previous harvest, it's the thought that counts.

Kristoff began work, tapping the ice and making measurements in his mind's eye before cutting into the frozen water, ignoring the Princess' pout and folded arms. After a few minutes, as he knew it would, her excitement and curiosity overcame her and she jumped from the sled, fed Sven a carrot and bounded over to him.

Without slipping. He hadn't expected that.

"So!" She began, putting her right arm around his shoulders. He looked at her from the corner of his eye. She'd crossed her legs and placed her other hand on her hip, curled in a fist as she looked at the lake's surface, leaning on him with a grin. "What'cha doing?"

"I'm cutting ice." He said in a flat voice before pulling a block out of the water with a grunt.

"How much do you take usually?"

"I usually keep going 'til I fill the sled."

"And how many blocks is that?"

"Of this size?" He paused and looked skyward. "About 20? I've never really given it much thought, oddly enough."

"And Sven's alright with that?"

"He could do a lot more than twenty." He looked at the reindeer who looked up at his voice caught in the act of trying to snatch a sack of carrots from his back. That was a cruel place to leave it, Anna realized with a wince. "Isn't that right?"

"Sure could Kristoff! If only you weren't so puny or slow!"

"Anna!"

"Sorry!"

Her giggling said otherwise. After a moment Kristoff chuckled too and returned to his work.

"Why don't you just sell Elsa's ice?" She asked after a moment. Kristoff had harvested two more blocks after Anna had stopped leaning on him. Sven had come closer in this time and Kristoff had begun loading the sled. Anna had moved the sack to a kinder place and given Sven a carrot for his troubles (one Kristoff had demanded a bite of). "It's not like she ever run out."

"Anna. Don't."

"You never tell me why not! No one can hear us here."

He sighed. He stroked his chin. Looking away he muttered, "I just...don't want to."

"What's wrong with Elsa's ice? I'm sure she could make it melt if she wanted to, so it's not like you'd lose customers or anything."

"It's not that Anna, it's just - " He grunted as he loaded another block onto the sled and stretched.

"It's just...what?"

"No offence to Elsa Anna - or you - but...it felt like cheating."

"What?"

"You know, getting ice from her for free and just selling it. It feels wrong."

"She wouldn't mind Kristoff, I mean - "

"I would mind."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Sorry. I'd rather bust my back out here or higher up like everyone else. Makes me feel better about myself. And besides, this," he motioned to their surroundings. As time passed the area had taken on a sense of mystique for Anna, replacing the faint feelings of isolation and dread, "is much more fun than just riding from the castle to the town over and over again." He gave her a sheepish smile.

Anna smiled back, took a few steps forward and surprised him with a hug. "Oh you."

"I'm sure free ice would ruin the economy too or something. I'm assuming that's the reason Elsa hasn't asked herself," he said weakly, trying not to grin too much.

"You're one of the most amazing people I've ever known."

He raised an eyebrow. He wanted to pull Anna away to see if she was laughing but for some reason his hands returned her embrace instead. "How many people do you know?"

"Not many."