Hans woke up with a crick in his neck. Out of all the things that had happened to him, including banishment to a desolate mountain, meeting then promptly losing the love of his life, and an isolated childhood, he was at the moment most angry about the crick in his neck.

So apparently the poison hadn't worked. Or there hadn't been any. Or it was just reeaaaally slow acting. Either way, there was nothing to be gained by worrying about it just now.

Rubbing his neck irritatedly, he looked around. Only four or five of the trolls from the night before were still around, and the wooden bowl had been washed and neatly dried. Hans disentangled himself from his blankets and sat up.

"Um, excuse me?"

One of the trolls looked up. "Look! He's sitting up! Hello there!"

Hans wondered whether they were going to say that every time he woke up, but continued with what he had meant to say.

"I—I don't think I was exactly polite to you last night. I'd like to thank you for the soup and the blankets. My name is Hans, prince of the Southern Isles. Although, that last bit's not so important anymore."

"Hey, that's okay. I wouldn't be very nice either if I was drug up a mountain in the snow. I'm Bofir, and that's Bufir, Bafir, Beefier, and Bayli," it—he?—said, introducing the trolls.

"That's… confusing. I'm afraid I'm unable to tell you apart."

"It's all right. Everything is, with trolls. So tell me. What kind of trouble are you in?"

Hans glanced at the little round troll, with its oddly speckled, softened features. Out of habit, he tried to think of a convincing lie. But it would be so nice to tell the truth for once. Not to have to think of three different things all at once. It would be so nice to share these things with someone.

"Well I hardly know where to start. Do you know the royal family of Arendelle?" asked Hans.

"I don't know Arendelle, but I know Princess Anna and her sister."

Hans' heart sank. "Well, ah… in that case."

"You don't have to tell us if you don't feel like it. How are you feeling today?"

"Much better, thank you. May I ask why you and the other trolls decided to help me?"

"We don't ask questions like that, human. We just do things cuz you know, we can."

"That doesn't make much sense, I'm afraid, but all right."

Another troll waddled over. "Hey there. You sure you're not feeling, you know, alone, depressed, reclusive or anything?"

"Not particularly, no. Why?"

The troll shrugged. "Tends to happen to people who get stuck out in the wilderness by themselves. Which begs the question. What are you doing out here?"

"I just asked him that."

Hans played with the corner of a blanket, trying to think of a convincing lie.

"Don't lie. There's nothing to be afraid of anymore. Not with us."

Hans forced himself not to look up and not be startled. It was just a coincidence that the troll had said that. Of course I have to lie. There's always something to be afraid of. He scolded himself. It's not fear. It's CAUTION. "I was accused of attempting to murder the royal family when all I did was try to get to know one of the sisters because…" Because I loved her. Hans pushed the thought away. "Because I thought we were alike enough to be friends. It was a terrible mistake."

The trolls looked at each other. "You should go back and fix it then."

"No. No. No. I can't."

They all drew closer, one with hands on hips. "What do you mean you can't? Can't is just in your head."

Hans got up, folded the blankets, and stalked off towards the remarkable staircase in the Ice Castle, not noticing any of it, muttering faintly "You don't understand. I was wrong. We're not alike at all."

The trolls looked at each other. "Follow him?" "Yep!"

They raced up the stairs, surprisingly quickly for their stumpy bodies, and soon caught up with Hans.

"Well you have to do something while you're here! Wanna learn how to knit blankets?"

He smiled. "Why not?"

A mass of greyish yarn filled the balcony, as they made blankets in the sunlight. Hans's blanket looked more like a slowly decomposing fishnet, but it was still oddly satisfying.

"So, if I pull this string"—Hans grasped a strand of the loose grey material—"like so, that makes the weave tighter?"

"Maybe. You should try it," advised one of the trolls, grinning.

Hans pulled the thread, causing half of his loosely constructed blanket to unravel.

He half-glared at the troll. "Well then."

By the time the light out on the balcony was fading, Hans's blanket was considerably more… well, blanket-like. It was still not tight enough to be effective, but it was much, much better. The trolls were wonderful teachers, who made light of Hans's mistakes but not of his efforts. It wasn't like learning statecraft with his older brothers, where every mistake would be met with a "How will you survive in the real world?" There was no penalty for not getting something right, and it was a delight to master a skill that wasn't somehow integral to the rest of his life.

"So why are you all so high-strung?" asked one of the trolls (Bufir or Bafir?). "Life is simple. Eat, sleep, find something to do in the meantime."

"And be nice to other people. That's important," interrupted Bayli.

Hans shrugged. "It must be wonderful to be a troll."

"I don't see a reason why humans can't live like that."

The other trolls heartily agreed.

Hans felt a prickle of irritation that soon turned into a burst of quiet rage. These sub-sentient creatures could never understand his plight. He forced his voice down. "Well maybe I could live like that if I weren't the youngest son in a royal family whose only way to ever earn affection is to take control of an entire kingdom so that perhaps my brothers might see me as an equal. And even that is not possible. Perhaps I could learn to be happy if the only person in the world who could ever understand me hadn't sent me here in the first place!"

"Queen Elsa sent you here?" "Well she must have had a really good reason!" "Yeah!" "What'd you do, try to kill her and Anna?"

Hans cursed silently at his outburst. He shouldn't have let that comment get under his skin. But there was nothing for it now. He could deny what he had said, but that wouldn't get him anywhere. The seeds of doubt had clearly been sown in the trolls' mind, and he wouldn't likely be able to convince them otherwise.

Bayli came close to him, right up in his face. "You tell me what you did, and you better be honest. No point lying now."

Hans shook his head and attempted an easy-going smile. "No, no. It was all just a misunderstanding. I'm sorry I spoke to you in such a way. It was unseemly of me."

Bafir patted him on the shoulder. "Hans, that's not right and we all know it. We don't look like much, we trolls, but in lots of ways, we know a lot more about humans than yourselves do. You also said that Elsa was the only person you thought you could connect with. We just want to know more so you can help you. That's all."

Hans swallowed.