`*'
Anna woke up when Kristoff did, not bothering to flatten her hair from its definite state of knots. "Kristoff?" she groaned, reaching out a hand towards where her husband was getting dressed.
"Shh, Anna," Kristoff murmured, planting a kiss on her forehead. "Amalie is still sleeping."
Sure enough, Anna could feel a small body curled up next to her. Lowering her voice, she asked, "Where are you going?"
"Off to the North Mountain again. I'm going to check in on the men, since Corona has such a huge order coming up, for the baby celebration and all, and I don't want our largest export of all time to-"
Anna sighed, smiling to herself. I had to love an ice lunatic. "Hush…I know. Go quickly" yawn, "and safely, and come back quicker and…safer. We'll be waiting," yawn, "I promise." With another sleepy smile, she drew her daughter closer to her, and before drifting off again she muttered, "But be sure to shower after coming back. I love you, but not your Sven smell."
"I'll be back in a few days. I love you too. Now go back to sleep."
"If you…insist…" Without another word, Anna was snoring again.
Trying to hide a chuckle, Kristoff grabbed his hat, boots, rope, and hook and slid from the room. In thick stockings he padded down the hallway before slipping into the kitchen. The cook and his aides had just began to stir up the fires.
"G'morning, fellas," Kristoff nodded his head to the servants.
"You're Highness!" Startled, the cook quickly bowed, with the rest following suit.
"Hey, I'm just the Official Ice Master and Deliverer, remember?" Kristoff awkwardly corrected, rubbing his neck; he wasn't much for titles. The jump from merchant outsider to husband of a beloved princess (he could never refer to himself as a prince, a title he had grudgingly accepted from Elsa. She'd wanted him to be more than a Duke, for some reason) was a bit much for him. He tried to ignore it as best he could. "Carrots?"
"Right here, sir." One of the younger boys held out a sack to him.
"Thanks." Quickly, he took the bag and made his way out to the stables. Sven was there, waiting, with the harness in his mouth.
Kristoff smiled, patting his best friend's head and taking the harness. "You ready to go, buddy?" Sven gave a soft grunt and nodded, tromping over to stand in front of the sled.
Kristoff loved this sled. It was a work of art, and spectacular to ride in. He'd never tell Anna, but he was so glad she had given it to him. He enjoyed his ice, and this sled was perfect for his work. He slid the harness and saddle onto Sven (with his history of ice harvesting, it was always good to have Sven ready for riding), hooking him to the sled and then setting the reins where he could reach them from the seat. "Ready Sven?"
The reindeer gave an enthusiastic nod, and Kristoff patter his neck before lifting himself into the front seat. "Let's go!" Sven started off at a well-paced trot, passing through the palace gates just as they opened.
Unbeknownst to either of them, they set off on the same path Elsa had taken the night before. And so, where Kristoff would normally turn to follow the edge of the fjord to make his way to the mountains, he pulled up short.
"Woah."
It was frozen solid. The entire ocean, as far as he could see, was rock solid. He hadn't seen like this since…
"Not good." After a moment's deliberation, Kristoff urged Sven onto the ice. "Elsa…" No one else could've done this, and he knew something was wrong. While Elsa had been much more positive about her magic lately, she still kept a very tight hold on. This was a huge slip up, and something was wrong. His sled rattled across the frozen fjord, shaking him from side to side. He could see Elsa's distinctive ice pattern continuing on the other side of the water, and he steered Sven towards it.
Unlike Elsa, Kristoff and his reindeer were travelling rather slowly. Kristoff pulled Sven up, glancing at the sled beneath him. Sven was already working harder than he usually did, because of the speed and the sled. After a moment's thought, Kristoff grumbled to himself, "What is it with royals and sled destruction?" and unhitched the gorgeous contraption from his friend. Grabbing a few essentials, he hoisted himself onto Sven's back and started up again, a tad slower than the panic of before; there wasn't a blizzard, and Kristoff and had no clue just how far Elsa had gone. It didn't truly occur to him that, in the time being, Anna was in charge of the entire kingdom.
`*'
Anna awoke for the second time to her daughter staring up into her face from her mildly uncomfortable position on Anna's stomach.
"G'mornin', mama." The little red-head was more of a morning person than her mother would ever be.
"Good morning," Yawn. "Amelie." Anna rubbed her eyes with one hand and then sat up, the tiny girl sliding off of her. "I suppose," Yawn. "You want to wake your brother?"
Nothing but a quick, enthusiastic nod and then the pitter patter of small feet out into the hallway. Taming her hair as best she could for the moment, Anna slipped on a robe and followed after her daughter. She saw a tiny red head bob into the blue room, and with a tired smile, Anna picked up her pace. By the time she got there, Amelie had already woken up her brother.
"Good morning, Kare. How are you?" Anna pulled her robe about herself and sat down on the edge of her son's bed.
Kare glanced at his mother, grumbled and sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "I could be better with a few more hours sleep."
"Ah, but where's the fun in that?" Anna laughed and ruffled his hair. "Come on. Let's make breakfast."
"Mom, please promise you won't make us breakfast."
"Hey, I know I'm not a gourmet chef! I was just going cut up some fruit. You can make the poffertjes. If I'd had the culinary skill at seven that you do, I'd make them every morning."
Amelie's eyes brightened, and Kare sighed. "Alright, I'm coming, I'm coming."
Anna got up from the bed, stretching slightly while her son grumbled behind her. She held out her hand to first Kare, who just grumbled again, and then to Amalie, who took it. She lead her children from their rooms to the kitchen downstairs, racing them down the spiral stair case and sliding down the well waxed halls until they stumbled into kitchen.
Halfway to the kitchen, Anna had realized that, due to the fact that it was the middle of winter, there was no fresh fruit. So she rummaged through the stock and picked out some preserves and jellies, making sure that the cook staff took a moment to break fast with herself and her children. She knew they could easily work all the way until dinner with nothing more than a few slices of bread, simply because they'd forgotten.
"Did Kristoff take something to eat when he left this morning?"
One of the younger boys nodded, swallowing quickly. "He took some carrots, enough for Sven and himself. I made sure of it."
"Thank you, Ko. Did Elsa get something too?"
"Oh, no I'm afraid not. I was planning to bring it to her, but there were rolls-"
"You were busy, I understand. I'll take something to her. Will you get me a plate? I'll bring it to her." Ko nodded, eating the last bite from his plate and getting up to grab an array of breakfast foods for the Queen. "She really needs to learn to take strategic breaks. To balance things." Anna grabbed the plate and stood up. "I'll be back in just a bit."
As she turned to go back to the main hall, Kai burst into the kitchen. "Princess Anna!"
"Kai?" Anna quickly put the plate back down, going to the man servant and resting a hand on his arm. "What is it?"
The elderly man took a moment to catch his breath before standing up. "Princess, Princess," he gasped, "It's Queen Elsa, your highness!"
"What about her? I was just about to bring her some breakfast-"
"She's gone! She went up to the mountains we think. It all started last night, with the poster, and then that guard, oh what's his name? I can't-"
By now the rest of the room was on their feet, all looking frightened and confused. Anna cut Kai off. "Woah, what? Slow down! What about Elsa being gone? Did she go out to kiss babies or something?"
"No, no. Last night, one of the guards found a poster-one of many-depicting Elsa as the cause for these terrible blizzards. Elsa had the guard show her and she was horrified-she had no reason to, it's just people getting angry and scared of something their little minds could never hope to-!" He paused and calmed himself. "She was horrified, and so she went off somewhere. She said she'd be back in three days, and she left you and Kristoff in charge, in juncture with the council."
No one spoke for a moment. "She just…went off? She left me in charge?" Anna stumbled backwards to the table, sinking into her chair. "Why would she do that? That's not like her at all! She's always been so…responsible. Too responsible."
Kai stood next to her after a moment. "Well, now you've got you're rebellion. What are you going to do about it, Highness?"
"I have to go after her. I don't know why she didn't come to me in the first place! I'm her sister, for goodness sake." Standing back up, she nodded decisively to herself, as if confirming the solidity of her plan.
"Your highness, you can't do that. You're the only member of the royal family left here, other than your children. You're the only one able to care for the kingdom right now." The cook, Dame Kokin, put her hand on Anna's shoulder, gently pushing her back into her seat. "You'll have to wait until Kristoff gets back, and that won't be until Elsa said she'd be back."
"Kokin's right; besides, we don't know where she went."
"I know exactly where she went." Anna huffed, staring at her hands. "She's in her Ice Palace. If I had the chance, I'd go back there too." Glancing at her children, Anna smiled. "Amalie, Kare, why don't you go play out in the snow? What good is winter if no one is having any fun in it?"
Kare nodded, grabbing his little sister and leading her out of the room. Amelie's giggles filled the hallway.
Anna sighed, giving a worried glance to Kai. "What do I do, Kai? I've never been good with being…royal, I guess."
"Three days isn't a long time, Highness. Queen Elsa will be back before you know it."