Chapter 2: Out of Eden

Anna could not stop crying all their way up the mountain. Kristoff held her throughout the journey, doing his best to comfort her though he couldn't even begin to know how. It was still deep night when Sven and the sled pulled up to the hot springs encampment where Kristoff's troll family lived. The trolls' enthusiastic greeting quickly died down when they saw the state that Anna was in.

"Kristoff? Is everything all right? Why didn't you tell us you were coming?" Bulda asked. Kristoff didn't answer, approaching Grand Pabbie and the pair talked in low tones. At last, the troll chieftain led Kristoff away. "Come with me, son, so we can discuss this more privately."

"Of course." To Bulda, he threw over his shoulder, "Look after her, Mother!" This Bulda did, gathering Anna into a hug.

"What's wrong, child?"

By the time Kristoff and Grand Pabbie returned, the whole community had heard the shattering news. Bulda looked slightly less distressed than Anna. "Surely the Queen wouldn't stand for this?" she asked of Kristoff.

"Oh, she doesn't, but she can't go against her Council without looking like a dictator. The monarchy is powerful, but not all-powerful." Kristoff's voice was bitter. He turned back to gaze at Anna, now seated on the edge of the sleigh. Her sobs had subsided into sniffles which was encouraging, but Kristoff's heart broke to see how sad and lost she still looked.

"What... what will happen to me now?" Anna sounded like a small child.

Kristoff's gaze softened, and he crossed to the sled, kneeling before her. "You'll stay with me," he promised. "I'll take care of you. Anna..." And before he could fully think through what he was saying, the words he had been wanting to say for a long time tumbled out. "Will you marry me?"

Anna's mouth dropped open, her eyes raising from her lap to gaze at him in wonder. Behind Kristoff, he could hear his family working themselves up into a tizzy, but he ignored them. Pushy as they could be, no ceremony would go forward unless Anna wanted it.

And then, in a whisper, he heard Anna reply, "Yes, I will."

The trolls shrieked assent and scrambled to dress Anna and attend to her for the ceremony they had always wanted, in some of the same clothes they had clothed her in for the almost-ceremony they attempted to conduct during the Great Freeze. Kristoff, meanwhile, allowed himself to be led away to similar regalia, but not before he had directed some of his troll brothers to a set of items stowed away in his sled.

The sky was barely awake, just grey, when Kristoff and Anna stood under a canopy of rocks, adorned in wedding garb fashioned from the earth. Though she was sad and still scared, Anna figured that if she must begin a new, humbler life, there was no one she would rather share it with than Kristoff.

The couple exchanged vows, and Grand Pabbie blessed them. Hesitantly, Anna leaned in and allowed Kristoff to touch his lips to hers in a tender, tentative kiss. There was something almost forbidden, about getting married in the wilderness, but Anna knew that if her... husband had lived off the land, then so could she.

As the newlyweds made to exit the small pit in which their wedding had been conducted, Kristoff stopped her. "Hold on - old Arendellian custom. Carry the bride across the threshold."

"Kristoff!" Anna laughed for the first time in... forever, it seemed, as her groom swept her off her feet and carried her to the edge of the clearing. Down a slight embankment, a cave was naturally carved into the earth, a slab of driftwood placed over the entrance.

"Do you like this place? I built it for us," Kristoff smiled to his bride. That he had done so in not even a night gave him great pride. Curiously, Anna turned back the driftwood and entered. The place was simple in its furnishings, most of them all-natural. A bed of leaves and pine straw served as the bridal four-poster; piles of goose-feather were their pillows. Off to one side, there was a decent hole in the rock, which served as a window.

"And look here:" Kristoff directed. Pulling on a long vine lashed to one wall, he began to tug until Anna felt warm moonlight bathe her. Glancing up, she saw that a cover of leaves and sticks was being lifted to reveal a natural skylight in the cave's roof. Gaping, Anna felt herself rest back until she was lying down on the bed of leaves. Kristoff settled down beside her.

"Now we can lie here and look at the stars," he smiled. He seemed to have thought this through, his eyes hopeful, and Anna couldn't help but wonder if this had been a dream of his - one that now, albeit through the worst of circumstances, he got to realize. A dream in which he could care for her and be with her. Glancing about her, Anna had to admit, this could be home. At least until she saw what was adorning the "window" of the cave. Sighing, she rose from her and Kristoff's "bed" and crossed to them. Kristoff sat up on his elbows, his eyes following her.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"These curtains don't belong here," Anna admonished almost casually, though she could not conceal the crack in her voice.

"Why... they're from your private residence in the palace! We thought you'd like them!" Kristoff protested. He crossed to her, a hand on her shoulder causing Anna to spin around, tears in her eyes.

"It's so wonderful, I don't deserve it! Oh, Kristoff..." And she melted into his arms.

It was several mornings later when Kristoff found himself awakening in the nearly empty ballroom of Elsa's Ice Palace. Though he and Anna had been tempted to stay forever in the little furnished cave at the Trolls' Hot Springs, Kristoff knew better than to turn down Elsa's generous offer to make use of her Ice Palace. Besides, Marshmallow was a fine host. The couple had eventually agreed that they would split time between the two homes.

Kristoff and Anna had arrived to the Ice Palace just the night before, by way of Sven. Anna had insisted they settle down to sleep under a threadbare blanket in the palace ballroom - the very same place where her heart had been accidentally frozen by her sister. Though Kristoff hadn't initially seen the logic in this, he figured that perhaps it was Anna's way to be close to Elsa.

Now, the backwoodsman found himself gazing down at his wife, slumbering in peaceful sleep - the most peaceful he had seen from her since being cast out of the palace. Gently, Kristoff dared to kiss Anna's cheek, murmur softly in her ear, "I love you."

Anna stirred with a tiny groan, but did not wake. Disentangling himself from the threadbare blanket and her arms, Kristoff rose and crossed to the balcony beyond.

From here, he got a fine view of the Arendellian mountains, now being caressed by the sun rising in the east. Its light washed over Kristoff like an orange glow, and for the first time in at least a week, he felt hope. Hope that he and Anna could make a life together. Hope that she could come to terms with herself and find an identity beyond the one she had known as a Princess. And that hope caused a tentative smile to spread on Kristoff's face, as he began softly singing a tune that his mother Bulda had taught to him:

"Morning glow, morning glow starts to glimmer when you know / Winds of change are set to blow and sweep this whole land through. Morning glow is long past due. / Morning glow, fill the earth. Come and shine for all you're worth. We'll be present at the birth of old faith looking new. Morning glow is long past due. Oh, morning glow! I'd like to help you grow. We should have started long ago... sooooo morning glow, all day long while we sing tomorrow's song. Never knew we could be so strong, but now it's very clear. Morning glow is almost here. / Morning glow, by your light, we can make the new day bright, and the phantoms of the night will fade into the past. Morning glow is here at laaaaaaast!"

Months passed. It was with surprise and a little wariness that Kristoff watched as Anna's belly grew steadily rounder. That she could no longer go through a night in the Ice Palace without shivering.

Desperate, Kristoff raced them both back to their little cave at the Trolls' Hot Springs. Deep inside their natural burrow, Anna grew more and more fatigued and fell into more and more pain. It all came to a head one night as Kristoff and the trolls watched her clutching her stomach in agony, struggling through a round of contractions. Grand Pabbie lay a comforting but firm hand on Kristoff's shoulder.

"She needs more than we can give her. I'm sorry, Kristoff. It's time for you to go home."

Kristoff stared at his father. "This is our home!"

Grand Pabbie's eyes were sad and sympathetic but firm. "You must return her to the kingdom." And both he and Kristoff thought back to another night when Anna had to be spirited away, while her life was in danger.

But Kristoff was not convinced that Arendelle could save Anna this time. "The Council would never let us in."

"No," Grand Pabbie conceded. "But the Queen might. You still curry favor with her."

"But -"

"This is your wife, boy!" Grand Pabbie snapped, shouted at him. "You know what you have to do, now do it!"

Kristoff gaped. He could only count on less than two hands the number of times Grand Pabbie had called him 'boy' - a sign of the chieftain's displeasure. His scared eyes sought out Anna, who fixed him with the most gentle smile she could muster. She was letting her husband know it was all right.

"Go," she murmured gently.

Kristoff gazed at her, pained. Then, bending over her, he kissed her goodbye fiercely, before exiting the cave. A single glance to Grand Pabbie, begging him to take care of Anna. Then, Kristoff strode with purpose up to Sven and readied his old reindeer friend.

"All right, Sven - let's see how fast you can run!" Sven took off like a bullet, thundering down the mountain and into the foothills. Along the way, Kristoff sent up a silent prayer to the gods and especially to the mortal who commanded the powers of one down here on Earth below.

Hang on, Elsa, we're coming. Please, Elsa... help us...