"Kristoff!" Anna called to the ice merchant.
The blond-haired man turned to see Anna running at him from across the market square. "Hi, I haven't seen you in while." Smiling, he grabbed Anna at the waist, picked her up and spun around, before setting her down so the two could hug.
"I've been cooped up in the castle, taking care of all sorts of things. But I have the have the afternoon free! I even convinced Elsa to come out. She should be around here somewhere."
Kristoff moved to the right side of his cart. "Get in, you can look for her as I do my deliveries."
Anna climbed in on the left side. "A cart? What happened to the new sled I gave you?"
"I don't want to use it in town, the streets will scratch up the runners." Sven looked back at Kristoff. "And it's hard to pull when there is no snow," Kristoff finished for his reindeer.
"Oh, I never thought of that." Anna watched as Kristoff got them moving.
"You look a little down," observed Kristoff. "Is something wrong?"
"I found out that most everyone in the castle knew about Elsa. Her big secret was a a secret to just me. And everyone in town, I guess. It was upsetting to hear about how I was the only one."
Kristoff pulled Sven to a stop in front of a restaurant, and lowered his head. "I knew about her too."
"What? How?"
"One night, as a child, I saw two horses running through the woods. One was leaving a trail of ice and snow. I followed them to the valley of living rock, where the trolls live. There I saw the riders were the King and Queen, and two children. One was Elsa, and the other had been injured. I heard the trolls talking about Elsa's Power, and realized it was she who was making the ice. Two rocks turned into trolls right beside me, and I got distracted and did not hear who the other…"
Kristoff's eyes got very wide, and he looked at Anna in astonishment. "It was you!" He raised both hands to his head, looked up and closed his eyes. "Of course it was you. Who else could it have been? You were that other little girl!"
"You saw me and Elsa with mother and father?"
"Yes. That was the night the trolls adopted me. Before then, the other ice harvesters were taking care of me. I saw the trolls cure you, and warn Elsa of the danger of her Power." Kristoff stepped down from the cart, went to the back and picked up his ice tongs. "After that night, I knew Elsa had some sort of ice power, but not much else."
Anna climbed down and walked to the back of the sled. Kristoff brushed away the straw from a huge block of ice.
"Everyone knew," Anna said incredulously. "Everyone, except me. What am I, chopped liver?"
"Don't take it personally, I think it just sort of worked out that way."
"Why shouldn't I take it personally? Everyone knew, and everyone was making sure I didn't know!"
"I mean no one was trying to keep it from you while everyone else was told. I never heard anyone mention it, so I kept quiet too. Also, you know now. We all do." He clamped the tongs on the block, and casually slung it over his shoulder. "Wait for me while I deliver this?"
"Sure." Anna tried to put the situation behind her, and looked at the restaurant. "Is this a good place to eat?"
"Fairly good. I prefer another place down by the docks. Be right back!" Kristoff smiled, then walked to the back of the building.
Anna pulled out a scroll from a pocket and noted down the name of the restaurant. Then she started scanning the market square, looking for Elsa.
"What have you got there?" said a voice from behind Anna.
"Hi Olaf. I'm making a list of places to visit later. Elsa has never really seen her kingdom, and I thought a list would help us explore and learn about it. This looks like a good place to eat."
"Oh, I love eating! There's cake, and chocolate, and dandelions and so many wonderful things!"
Anna drew her head back an inch, knitting her brow. "You eat dandelions?"
"You don't?"
"Does dandelion wine count?" Kristoff asked, just then coming back.
"I don't think I've ever had dandelion wine", Anna said.
"There is a good place to get some not far from here."
"What's its name? And what is the name of that fish place you mentioned at the docks?" Anna opened her scroll, and noted down the names as Kristoff gave them to her.
"Why do you want to know?" inquired Kristoff.
"I'm making a list of places for Elsa to visit."
"Ah, then maybe you want to remove that fish place."
"Why? It sounds delightful."
"It's, shall we say, a working man's place. You two may find it a bit crude."
"Oh, it cannot be that bad. I'm sure we'll have fun. Now, where is Elsa? She should be around here somewhere."
"There!" Kristoff pointed across the market square, toward a rising streak of white. Seconds later, a snowball at the top of the streak exploded in a shower of flakes.
Anna gave Kristoff a quick hug and waved goodbye to Olaf. "See you later!"
She made her way though the stalls until she came to a large pile of snow. There, Anna saw Elsa, facing away, speaking to some children. A crafty smile spread across her face. Slowly and carefully, Anna picked up some snow, packed it into a ball, and threw it at her sister.
The ball hit Elsa on the shoulder. She quickly turned around and saw Anna, standing on the other side of the snow pile, with a big smile. Elsa smiled in return, held her hands a few inches apart, and created a large snowball between them. Anna's smile vanished and her eyes grew wide. With a burst of Power, Elsa launched the projectile at Anna's face. She yelped in surprise, and buried her head in her arms just in time to block the ball. Snow went splattering everywhere.
"Hey! No cheating!" Anna said, pointing an accusatory finger at Elsa.
"Whatever do you mean?" Elsa asked innocently.
"You cannot use you Power in a snowball fight! New rule: You have to make all your snowballs by hand, just like everyone else."
Elsa looked off to the side, raised a hand, palm up, and made a few snowflakes above it. "We'll see."
"Stinker," Anna said under her breath as she circled the snow pile.
"You wanted to show me something? Elsa asked.
"Nothing in particular, at least not today. I'm still working on my list. How about we just walk around and look? How many times have you had a chance to do that?"
"Precious few. In fact, I have not done it at all since we were children, other than a few days ago, right after I thawed everything."
The two started walking through the square, in a generally eastward direction.
"How goes looking for a new chancellor?" Anna asked.
Elsa rolled her eyes. "Slow. I have done just one interview so far. The less said about it, the better."
"Oh? What happened?"
Elsa looked at her sister, frowning, as she did not get the hint. "He wanted to start a new religion, all based on me."
Anna laughed. "You, as the high priest of a new religion?"
"No, as the Goddess of a new religion."
Anna started laughing so hard she had to stop to catcher breath.
"Oh, come on! It's not that funny. It was actually kind of scary. I wasn't sure if he was just infatuated with me, or trying to use me in some sort of confidence game."
"So what did you do with him?"
"I explained I was not any goddess, and was just looking for someone to help in running the kingdom. Then, as gently as possible, had the guards show him out."
The two reached an area used as a farmer's market, and found themselves surrounded by baskets of vegetables and displays of baked goods. Off to the side Anna heard a child crying. She ran over to see.
"Hi. What's wrong?" Anna asked as she kneeled.
"I lost my pig!" cried the child. "He ran off, and I cannot find him anywhere!"
"Oh, I'm sorry! Maybe I can help. What's your name?"
"Dana. I don't want you to help, I want Queen Elsa to help!"
"What? I can help just fine." Annoyed, Anna stood and looked about. She saw Elsa had joined them, and then off to the side, a small piglet came out from behind a basket.
"Pig!" Anna cried out, and took off after it.
"Anna, wait!" Elsa called after her sister, to no avail. She watched as the pig ran into a narrow alley between two buildings. Anna tried to follow, took the turn too fast and smashed into a table of pastries. The table overturned, dumping them all into the street.
"Don't worry! Queen Elsa will pay for them all!" Anna told the baker, before she ran into the alley.
Elsa looked at the building the pig had disappeared behind, and noted that it was built against the hillside. There was only one way the pig could come out, another alley to her left. She walked over to where she could see down the other alley, just in time to see the pig round the corner, running directly at her.
Let's see how well he can run on ice she thought. Elsa lifted her right leg, then brought her foot down sharply. A sheet of ice spread outward from where her foot landed. With a gesture, she extended the sheet into the alley, covering its entire length. The pig slipped and fell on its side, sliding down the gentle slope of the alley toward Elsa. She stooped to catch it.
Anna came tearing around the corner, not seeing the ice. "What? Elsa!" she screamed, as she fell and slid toward her sister.
Elsa saw the pig and Anna barreling toward her, and jumped to the side to avoid being knocked over. She looked to where the two would end up, and saw they would both slam into the side of a stone building on the other side of the street. She quickly made a pile of snow just in time for the pig, followed by Anna, to plow into it.
Anna dug the snow away from her face. "Elsa! What was all that?"
"Sorry," Elsa said, smiling and looking embarrassed. "I just was trying to catch the pig."
"Well, get me out of here."
"Grab the pig, and I'll dispel the snow."
Anna saw the pig struggling to free itself, reached over and caught hold if it. Elsa raised her hands, and the snow rose into the sky and dispersed.
Dana ran over and placed a rope leash on the pig. "Thank you Princes Anna! Thank you Snow Queen!"
Elsa looked at Anna. "Snow Queen?"
A woman came up behind Dana and placed her hands on his shoulders. Elsa guessed she was Dana's mother.
"Your Majesty, don't you know the old story?" the woman asked.
"No, what story?" Elsa said
"Well, imagine a snow flurry, with flake being blown about every which way in the wind. It almost looks like a swarm of bees, a swarm of snow bees. All bees have a queen, so snow bees must have a Snow Queen."
"So, I am the Queen of the snow bees?" Elsa asked Anna.
"It could be worse. They could call you the Frost Queen, or the Ice Queen, or would you prefer the Frigid Queen?"
Elsa put her hands on her hips. "I would prefer Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" she said angrily.
"All rulers get nicknames. There was Ivan the Terrible, Bloody Mary, Charles the Bad…"
"This is supposed to make me feel better?"
"Oh, come on! They wouldn't use it if they didn't love you. Look, everyone loves you."
A small crowd had collected as they were talking. One woman called out. "Your Majesty, I thought you wore a gown made of ice?"
Elsa looked at her dark violet dress, well decorated with Rosemaling. "I don't wear it all the time. Today, I felt like dressing casually."
"Oh, I was so hoping to see the ice gown. I hear it's absolutely gorgeous."
"You can always make one," Anna said.
Elsa considered, smiled at the woman, and then dropped her hands to her sides, fingers angled out, palms facing down. With a gentle gesture, she started a wave of Power flowing up her dress, transforming it into glittering blue woven ice.
The crowed applauded, and Elsa bowed.
"What else is there to see here?" Elsa asked of Anna.
"I'm not sure. We seem to be at the village wall. I think though there we get into the fields." Anna indicated where the road went through a passage. She walked to the arched portal, with Elsa following.
Outside the village were farms and grasslands, spanning the valley at the eastern end of the fjord. Far across the fields Elsa saw two large standing stones. "Is that…?"
"Mother's and father's memorial? Yes. You have never been here?"
The two started along a faint path leading through the grass.
"No. After I heard about their death, my Power was out of control. I couldn't go out, everyone would have seen. I thought about trying to go at night, when no one was about. Every time I tried, things would start to freeze. I never made it."
"You have now. I had to come here, alone. I had to bury our parents, alone."
Elsa placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I so wanted to be here. For you, for them."
The two stood there for a long moment, looking at the twin stones, remembering.