Princess Anna stormed out Castle Arendelle's inner gates into the main courtyard, barefoot. She had dropped her shoes inside, thrown into a corner of the study where she had left her sister, Kristoff and Kai behind. She cradled her right arm, pressed closely against her chest, desperately trying to rub some sensation back into her near-frostbitten flesh. This time she had managed to shake off the ice crystals in time.
As she burst out into the courtyard, the bright noontime sun bore down on her bare arms and freckled shoulders. It was the tail-end of February and the last remnants of last month's fierce winter storm was but a memory. Tiny tufts of grass and sedge were starting to peek out from between the cracks in the castle courtyard's cobblestones. Anna made her way towards the main wall nearest the gatehouse, where there against the old rock facade was a newer structure made of timber and stone.
It was a small shed, not even half as spacious as her bedroom back at the castle. The walls were made from rough stones quarried from the fjord, built up to her waist. Past waist-level, the walls then transitioned into roughly-cut pine trunks that went all the way up to the ceiling, which was also built from hacked pine logs. Strands of dried wheat stalk poked out from between the timbers that made the roof. Kristoff had insisted on building the shed himself, three years ago, Anna remembered. Elsa had offered to have materials and labor paid for from the royal coffers, as he was essentially part of the family even way back then. He had declined, saying that the space was more than enough. That was when he moved from his small hut outside the town limits into the castle, upon Anna's insistence.
She reached the outer part of the shed, which was somewhat open to the elements unlike the inner room which was fully enclosed and insulated. Anna knocked on one of the wooden posts and poked her head inside one of the windows. "Hey."
Lying on a pile of freshly-dried chaff was a large, grey reindeer, its legs tucked beneath its body while its head rested on a smaller pile of hay. It opened one eye to peek at the princess and then molded its mouth into a rough approximation of what appeared to Anna like a rather goofy grin.
Carefully, she unhooked the inner latch of the door and slipped into the shed. It felt rather peaceful, she thought to herself. The slight warbling of birds that had flown in early for the post-winter thaw echoed in chirps against the wooden beams above. She made her way to the half-sleeping reindeer and plopped down beside it. Anna buried herself comfortably within the crook made by the animal's bent body and rested the back of her head on its back. "Hey Sven. I guess it's just us again today, huh?" She placed her left hand on top of the reindeer's head.
He gave her a concerned look, punctuated with one raised eyebrow.
"Nothing, just another stupid argument with my incredibly square sister. And by the way, your best buddy took *her* side. Just like last time." Anna sighed. These arguments with Elsa had been happening way more often than she would have liked. The last one was just fading from her mind, a small verbal spat a little over a month ago over. Something to do with Anna interfering with Kristoff's new merchant duties. Anna swore the snowfall that evening was exceptionally strong even for a January snowstorm. At least Elsa didn't freeze anything that time.
Her attention went down to the aching forearm that she was still clasping close to her much warmer bosom. "She did it again, Sven. Faster this time, and way more painful." The sensation of being jabbed by a thousand needles was fading away, only to be replaced by a dull chill that seemed to reach down from the surface or her skin towards her bones.
"No, I know she doesn't mean it. She never does. Just like that first time, at the ice palace..." Anna's voice trailed off as images of that fateful day four years ago rushed back into her mind. The sound of Elsa screaming 'I CAN'T!', and then the ensuing magical ice shards that explosively radiated out from her body and struck Anna through the heart seemed as clear as day. Goosebumps erupted on her arms, along with the rest of her body as she remembered the sensation of death's chill touch spreading outwards from her heart. She shook her head, accidentally freeing up her strawberry blonde hair's twin braids from their formal styling.
"Yes, I know the real first time was what started this whole thing in the first place, but I still don't remember anything from that night." The princess closed her eyes and futilely attempted to recall the events of that other night. The one that occurred more than fifteen years ago when her sister's magic hit her in the head and turned a streak of her white. Or so they say. Elsa didn't like to talk much about the past, and Anna never really pushed that particular issue. The only details she had of that night were bits and pieces that Gerda had let slip, and Kristoff's version of events from when he first met his family. After a few minutes of squinting at the rafters, the princess shrugged in defeat. "Don't think I want to anyway."
The princess turned on her side to face the barely-conscious reindeer. Somehow, even with his eyes half-closed and occasional snoring, she was appreciative of the fact that someone was around to listen to her. She pressed her cheek into Sven's furry flank, taking in an aromatic mixture of cervine musk and dried hay that just reminded her of nights when Kristoff would come home to the castle after a hard day of work. A tiny smile crept across her lips as the scent stirred feelings deep inside her that threatened to push her heartbeat into a thumping crescendo. Feelings that gave her a sense of…tightness in certain places. No, not now. She shook off certain risqué images from her mind and recalled why she had run out of the castle today in the first place.
"I just, you know. Want more from this. Sure, I'm a princess, but that can't be all there is to it. I wanna be something more. I can be something more. Sure, I've got a great guy who's probably going to ask me to marry him one of these days," she gave Sven a knowing glance. His eyes popped open in response to her statement, and she heard a bray escape from his mouth. Anna grinned. Just the right thing to say that would wake him up. "Well, now that I have your attention, I just want to say for the record that I am very, very pissed off at your buddy for taking my sister's side today."
Anna rested the back of her left hand on her forehead and stretched her right arm towards the ceiling, her hand alternating between clenched and open. The chill feeling had almost evaporated from beneath her skin. "I mean, they both always seem to go serious-out on me these days. What's up with that? What's wrong with wanting to find the fun in every situation?" Tiny pinpricks of sunlight shone through a few gaps in the thatched roof, one catching her in the right eye before she moved her palm to shade it. "I can't believe he let himself be pulled into that serious thing either. And I'm not buying that 'I need to be able to stand on my own'."
"He probably has a good reason for doing that," a slightly higher, more-feminine voice than usual came from the reindeer. "He's lived most of his life alone. He doesn't want to suddenly be dependent on you or Elsa."
"Yeah, but he's supposed to stick with me for better or for worse." Anna pouted. Ever since Elsa had expanded his role as Ice Master to include non-ice commerce dealings, their alone time had dwindled to an occasional few hours per day here-and-there. Anna missed spending entire days just watching Kristoff hack away at frozen lake ice. She hadn't even held an ice axe or a saw in the longest time. The princess absent-mindedly lightly ran her thumbs over the callouses on her inner palms.
Sven gave her a bemused look. "He loves you, and he's supposed to look out for you regardless of what you want at the moment. He just wants to make sure he can hold you up while still standing on his own two feet," He said in a high-pitched voice.
"Oh great, you're against me on this too? Do I have to go and find a certain snowman to talk to now?" She rolled her eyes to the side, catching the reindeer giving her a bemused look.
"I know, my sister and my boyfriend are just thinking of what's best, for everyone. For the kingdom. I guess I'm going to have to play my part in this after all." Anna sat up, steadying herself with her good hand on Sven's neck. "Thanks buddy. I'm already feeling better. I think I'll go for a walk. Wanna tag along?"
Sven just looked at her sleepily, eyes half-open.
"Okay, bye!" she sang out, her melodic voice reverberating amidst the birds chirping in the rafters.
With that, Anna rose from the hay pile and went into the shed's inner room. After a few minutes, she stepped out dressed in commoner's garb. Anna was now clad in low-cut sealskin boots , a pale green, woolen skirt that reached down to her ankles and an olive drab vest over a white cotton undershirt. She looked at the thick wool cape she had draped over her left arm. It was getting warmer now, especially with the afternoon sun high up in the cloudless sky outside, but she couldn't risk being recognized when out on these town walks. Despite being a princess, Anna quite enjoyed being "just" one of the faceless anonymous, even for a little while.
The princess of Arendelle slipped the grey cape on and pulled up the hood over her now-free flowing red locks, tiptoed past the sleeping reindeer and quietly let herself out. She absentmindedly rubbed her right forearm. All of a sudden, it didn't feel so cold anymore.
The mid-afternoon sun was starting to make Anna rather uncomfortable. Her heavy cloak was becoming more of a curse than a blessing, and she wiped away a few more sweat-soaked strands of strawberry blonde hair from her cheeks. The brownish, hemp sack she was carrying plopped to the dry, rocky ground beneath her as she let out a tired sigh. She found herself just beside the town bakery, a quaint little brick-and-mortar structure named 'Kaspers'. It was larger than many of the other structures around Arendelle, including a small, circular structure that probably served as a silo where Kasper stored flour. Even in the middle of the day, the aroma of baked bread still lingered in the warm air.
Still incognito, the princess smiled at the little boy sitting on the stone steps that led into the structure. "Hi Alvis, is your dad home?"
The boy, no older than twelve, looked at the princess and smiled back. "Kjerstin!" he squealed in recognition, calling Anna by the name she usually went by when she made these anonymous forays into the town. "No, he's at the mill getting another sack of flour. Are you here for more bread?"
Anna leaned backwards against the pale brick wall and wiped her brow. "Well, I've had a busy day but I guess I always have enough space for a buttered roll or two." Her arms and legs were aching from walking around for the greater part of two hours, slowly filling her sack with goods she bought from shops around town. There was a low rumble from within her stomach. Her last meal was had been earlier in the day, a few quick pieces of smoked herring and two rolls before she had met with the Papal States ambassador. She wasn't expecting to miss out on midday lunch so she didn't really think about stuffing herself so early in the day. Then again, she wasn't expecting to have her arm frozen by her sister.
"Sorry, miss Bjerland. We're all out until papa comes home with more flour." Alvis looked towards her with a disappointed look on his face, his hands raised in faux-surrender. "It was a thin harvest last fall, but you prob'ly know that already."
Anna simply nodded, her hand subliminally stroking her complaining stomach. "It's okay." She picked up her sack and rifled through its contents. From within, she pulled out two small, gnarled carrots, each no bigger than her hand. It had been a rather poor harvest – the worst since the freeze. The carrots, as small as they were, were the best she could find from the vegetable market earlier. She held out one of the little orange digits towards the baker's son. "Want one?"
"Yuck." He stuck out his tongue in disgust.
"Suit yourself," the princess grinned, shoving one of the tiny carrots between her teeth. It made a satisfying crunch as she bit the crop in half and stared straight into the young boy's eyes while chewing with her mouth half-open.
"Ewwwwwwww."
The horrified look on the boy's face just encouraged her to stick her tongue out at him, covered in sticky orange goop. With a yelp, he ran inside the bakery and poked his head out the window nearer to Anna.
"You really should eat your peas and carrots, you know. Veggies are good for you." Anna reached out with her left hand and ruffled the hair on top of Alvis' head. She placed the other carrot on the wooden window frame, in front of his large eyes. Ah kids, she thought. Anna remembered when she used to hate eating vegetables too, which wasn't really that long ago. It was only recently that she had picked up the taste for raw carrots, from Kristoff unsurprisingly. His manner of half-eating and half-sharing fresh produce with Sven had rubbed off on the princess, who picked up the habit after some time. "If you're not going to eat it, at least give it to Geil, alright? She can probably chuck it in your dinner stew, then you have to eat it."
"Yes, ma'am." He pouted his lips and took the carrot rather reluctantly.
Anna thought about leaving more produce for the Steffensens, but there was little in the sack in terms of edibles. Most of what she had been able to buy were trinkets and carvings from the artisans throughout town. A tiny woven basket from Kippi Tonessen from her little stand near the castle gates. Some wood carvings from the Bradt shop down by the city stables. And a few other doodads and whatnots that caught her eye earlier. Anna made a point of patronizing Arendelle's homegrown craftsmen, especially during the past few years of unfavorable economic conditions. She looked down the street and silently enjoyed being in the company of people who didn't think of her as a princess to be pampered. It was still a few more hours until sundown, when her sister and her boyfriend would notice she hadn't come back yet and have Olaf go and find her. She still had more time to go around, and the short rest had replenished her energy reserves, even with just the carrot in her belly.
"I have to get going, tell your parents I said hello!" Anna picked up her slightly lighter bundle and waved at Alvis. With a wave of her right hand, "Kjerstin Bjerland" left the Steffensens' bakery and continued on her placidly slow, meandering route around Arendelle. She stopped at a few stalls to pick up more goods. She bought a few small potatoes from Birgit Mehland, a young teen who just recently married Leif Mehland, a local farmer. Anna had to assure her that the potatoes were fine, as she was apologizing for the poor condition due to some potato-blight or something that Anna didn't quite understand. Kristoff did mention something like that, but that was a year or two ago. It stuck in her mind because she was wondering why their imported potatoes were suddenly smaller.
Next was a stop by one of the smoke shops on the edge of town. She picked up two dozen pieces of smoked storsild, a small silver fish that was somewhat of a local delicacy. One of the smoke shop attendants, a large man named Froede Salmonsen, assured her that this batch of smoked herring was still good despite it being made from before the past winter. He gestured towards the empty barrels lining that particular street and informed "Kjerstin" that the storsild were still awaiting the last few days of February before they returned to the fjord en-masse. They typically arrived during the start of the year, but apparently last winter was too cold for the fishes or the fishermen. The disguised princess assured Froede that the fish was perfectly fine and chomped down on one to the delight of the smokeman.
After a dozen or so of the tasty fish sticks, Anna finally felt her stomach calm down in satisfaction. Arendelle wasn't in such a bad shape as Kristoff and Elsa had believed, at least not from what she had seen so far. Sure, life was harsh but the people had heart. It was just a long winter, after all. Longer than the past year's. And the year before that. And the one before that one. And right before that was the freeze. The princess looked in the direction of the castle. From where she was standing, there wasn't a clear view of the royal residence, save for the upper towers and their flags fluttering in the wind. Oh well, she shrugged. She swore she saw Gerda wiping down one of the windows from the inside. Besides, heart is all you really need, right?
It was when she reached the road near the Eastern docks that the princess-in-disguise noticed a cloaked fellow behind her she had seen for the past hour, always at the edge of her peripheral vision. At first, she didn't think too much of it but when she saw a flash of metallic green peek out from underneath the person's neck, she knew something was up. Shaking her head in recognition, she led the figure down one of the more sparsely-populated docks where there were barely any people, only the lapping sound of waves against idle wooden hulls and the shrill sounds of gulls on the water. She noticed the figure stop when she reached the end of the stone pier, then stand perfectly still in surprise as she doubled back and strode back towards her pursuer.
"Kaptein Jorgen, how nice to see you here on the docks. Out for a stroll?" The princess grinned and stopped beside the hooded, cloaked figure. Shrugging in defeat, he pulled his hood back to reveal the face a somewhat middle-aged man in his late thirties, framed by a close-cropped crown of dark brown hair, ending in thick sideburns that reached down to his chin. A single scar ran down his face diagonally from the upper ridge of his right brow, crossing the bridge of his nose to below his left eye. He stood at least half a head above her, just a little shorter than Kristoff, and a tad less muscular.
"Alright princess –"
"Shh, I'm in disguise!" Anna interrupted.
The man rolled his eyes back and sighed, "ahem, miss Bjerland." He brought up a gloved hand and scratched his head. "How did you figure it was me this time?"
Anna pointed at the Kaptein's neck, towards the greenish glint she had seen before. "You really should stop wearing your official breastplate when my sister orders you to follow me around. Arendellian emerald knight armor just isn't very…camo-flag-ey, you know?" She tapped the metal breastplate that peeked out from beneath the Kaptein's cloak. It made a slight clinking sound as her nail made contact with the thin, steel plate.
"I wasn't following you, your ma…miss. Her majesty and master Bjorgman have been in the study all day long. I was merely…on an errand," he stammered.
Anna noted the hesitation in his voice, but gave it no further heed. She looked over the water towards the fjord. The sun was low on the horizon now, on the other side of town, and the late-afternoon rays of sunlight glinted against the deep blue waters of the fjord. She turned her attention Southward, towards where she knew it joined the larger Sognefjord, which was Arendelle's one reliable link to the rest of the world. So, Elsa and Kristoff hadn't even been looking for her. She sighed.
Anna turned to look at the man standing beside her. Kaptein Hjalmarr Jorgen was a member of what served as Arendelle's royal guard since she was a small child. She could remember him following her father, the late king of Arendelle, around when there were state visits by foreign dignitaries. They would always stay in the outer rooms of the castle – most people weren't allowed into the main building, back when their parents were still concealing knowledge her sister's magic. Back then, he was one of the few people who were allowed within the castle walls, along with Kai, Gerda and a few others. During the Great Freeze, he was assigned to guard their visiting cousin, the Coronan princess Rapunzel and her husband Eugene. After the thaw, Elsa officially appointed him the head of the Arendelle royal guard and promoted him to the rank of Kaptein. Anna didn't really know much about him other than that, except that he was extremely loyal to her late father. And that he had grown protective of her the past four years, to the point that he was one of the few individuals who knew about her second life as "Kjerstin Bjerland, a visiting merchantwoman from Christiana, Norge."
"In all seriousness, your majesty. It is nearing sundown and I really should make sure you get back to the castle before then. Your sister is going to miss you at dinnertime," Hjalmarr nodded towards the cloudless sky, which during their short conversation had taken a more bluish tone. The days might have been getting longer, but it was still a ways off from the long days of summer.
Anna reached up and pulled the kaptein's hood over his face, overshooting and dragging it over his eyes. He was like the big brother she never had, she chuckled. "If you are to accompany me back towards the castle, then you have to stay in disguise as well. Kjerstin will attract too much attention with a royal escort."
The captain fidgeted uncomfortably and gave her a somewhat guilty look. "I ah, I wasn't in disguise your majest-"
"Sure, and my sister isn't the snow queen," she interrupted. "And how many times do I have to keep telling you, I hate being called that. Call me anything, princess, princess Anna, Anna, anything."
Hjalmarr shrugged his shoulders. "Yes, ma'am."
Anna grinned. She enjoyed making Hjalmarr squirm. He seemed like such a by-the-book type of person that even the mere aspect of informal communication appeared to make him incredibly uncomfortable. And he seemed exceedingly jumpy today, at least to Anna. "Well, Hjal Jorgen, lead the way!" She gestured back up the sloped stone pier towards street level, where people were walking around, going about their daily business. The sun had disappeared past the rooftops off to the West and what little could be seen of the main spire of Castle Arendelle was bathed in a glowing orange halo.
"By the way, if you're going to keep bodyguarding me like this, we're going to have to come up with a fake name for you too." Anna teased.
If the kaptein heard, he didn't seem to acknowledge her words, save for a grunt and what could be interpreted as a slight shaking of his head. He took out a pocket watch, glanced at it for a few seconds, shook his head and shoved it back in one of the pockets of his outer cloak. Anna could have sworn he glanced East a few of times as he did. Perhaps he was checking if they were being followed.
Giddily, she started half-skipping as she reached into her sack and pulled out two, finger-length pieces of smoked herring. She placed one in her mouth and offered the other one to her guardian. "Storsild?" She waved it right underneath his nose.
Hjalmarr smirked, took the piece of fish and popped it in his mouth. "Thank you, your ma…Annaness." He winced and grinned at the same time.
The princess chuckled.