A/N: This chapter has been updated from original publication. I fixed some grammatical errors.

A/N This is the first chapter in which I make heavy references to my previous story, Those We Protect.

Fast she went but it still wasn't until four days later that Telka returned. But when she did Kristoff was waiting for her like she told him to.

"Are you alright Kristoff?" Telka asked as soon as she saw him.

Kristoff was laying curled up on the ground and looked up at her. Telka immediately swooped down and pulled out a bag of food. Kristoff didn't wait for her to give him anything before grabbing the first thing he saw and taking a bite out of it.

"How long have you been without food?" Telka asked.

"Forever!" Kristoff said.

Telka muttered an apology and handed him the bag. Kristoff wouldn't dedicate himself to proper conversing until he had filled his stomach.

"You won't have to hungry again," Telka said. "You can come back with me."

"I'm not leaving," Kristoff said.

"Kristoff you have to. You can't survive on your own."

"Yes I can," Kristoff said.

Telka was at a loss. Her only hope had been that after her being gone for four days he would readily go back with her. But her seemed determined to stay here in the woods where wolves or bears could get him. Where food was scarce at best. He was a baby. There was no way he could survive on his own.

So Telka begged him, ordered him, and more than once tried to force him, to come back. When he refused she tried to find another place for him to stay. But she failed to find any manner of home at all in the area. Kristoff wouldn't let them go anywhere near the lake and she couldn't find any signs of civilization. With nothing else she could do she left him the food and went back by herself. The next time she came back hoping he would finally see reason but he stubbornly continued to refuse. The only ray of hope was that the air was becoming warmer and the snow had melted.

When Telka finally gave in completely she began to focus her energy on teaching him how to survive instead. She showed him what sort of plants he could eat, and which he definitely couldn't. She helped him as much as she could over the few days she could stay and every time she left she feared he might be there when she returned. But each week when she came back he was always there and in one piece.

"How old are you?" he asked one day as they sat be a stream.

Telka looked up from fishing pole she was trying to make. "Almost nine."

"You sure seem to know a lot."

"And you're a fast learner. Smarter than a lot of the grown-ups I know. Definitely better than those princesses."

This peeked Kristoff's interest. "Princesses?"

"A pair of ragamuffins who live in the castle."

"Castle? Where do you live?"

Telka looked surprised. "You don't know about the castle?"

Kristoff shook his head.

Telka pointed in the direction of the mountains that were visible the break in the trees. "Just over those mountains in Arendelle's capitol."

"What's a capitol? And an Arendelle?"

Telka laughed. "You never heard of Arendelle?"

"Well, what is it?"

Telka gestured around them. "This is Arendelle. It's the name of the kingdom we live in. The capitol is the largest town. It's also where the king and queen are."

"King and queen? Have you seen them?"

"Only a once or twice. My mother is one of the princesses' nannies so I get to go into the castle sometimes."

"Doesn't your mom miss you while you're away?"s

Telka gave half a smile. "My mom works five day at a time. She isn't home most of the time."

"What about your dad?" Kristoff's eyes fell onto the water.

Telka cast her gaze into the flowing water. "Dad never notice's if I'm gone. He spends all of his time locked in his room talking to himself about weird things. . Every now and then he notices us. But Mostly he reads old books or wonders around at night. One day, after grandma died, I decided to find my way across the mountains. I saw the ice harvesters and decided I want to come back and watch them again. So I did. Then, a few weeks ago, I met you."

Kristoff looked up at Telka. "You had a grandma?"

Telka dipped a hand into the water."Yes. She died of the plague this winter."

Kristoff sat up. "Plague?"

"Yes. A lot of people were getting sick. They coughed and couldn't move around."

"Oh."

Telka looked up at him. "It's alright. No one's sick anymore."

"Telka?"

"Yes?"

"Can you teach me to fish?"

"Of course I can."

-x-X-x-

Elsa took a sip of her tea and set down the cup. She picked up her pen and was about to bring it onto the paper when she heard a bang above her. She tried her best to ignore it and began to write. She really needed to get this done. Another bang came along with what sounded like an "ow!" Elsa cast her gaze up at the ceiling and heard a crash.

"Sorry Anna," she said. She looked back down at the paper and kept going, zoning out the proceeding clatters. She wondered if anything was getting cleaner up there.

-x-X-x-

Clean was a state that seemed unreachable. Most of their time was spent catching Olaf's torso and getting Sven down from the chandelier. In fact Elsa had finished her work before they had. Once done she had gone up to check on them. When she did she found the hallway to by much a wreck with Anna, Kristoff, Sven sprawled out on the floor. Olaf, meanwhile, was hanging from a tapestry that had somehow gotten itself attached to the ceiling.

"How goes... things?" Elsa said.

"It's hopeless," Anna said.

Elsa looked around at the wreckage. "Did Olaf really do all this?"

Kristoff raised one hand. "We did, mostly."

"I thought the idea had been to clean up. What happened?"

Kristoff's arm flopped down. "Anna thought of a shortcut."

Elsa winced. "What did it entail?"

"Which one?"

Elsa sighed. "And somehow this amounted to being easier than cleaning?"

"Hey!" Anna said. "I didn't see you helping us."

"Anna I told I had work that needed to get done."

"Did you have to deal with that boorish council again?"

"Luckily not today. Besides Anna you shouldn't call them that. They aren't boorish. Not all of them anyway."

Anna pulled herself into a sitting position. She seemed to have a pie atop her head. "Why don't you just fire the lot of them?"

"Most of them have been working since before my coronation. I just expanded it. I don't think it would be my place to fire them."

"You're the queen. You can do whatever you want."

"That doesn't mean that I should."

Anna flopped back down. "If that one kid makes another pass at me I'm going to punch him in his sorry little nose. I may punch him anyway."

"Maybe Karl was a bad choice. But he knows his work."

"I say we sack him."

Elsa decided it best they change the subject. "This place has to get cleaned... and repaired. And I think we had better get started."

"Elsa I'm telling you, that's what the staff is for."

Kristoff hauled himself up. "Come on Anna. Ice harvesters have to work all day."

"Exactly why I'm not an ice harvester."

"Come one Anna, we all have to do our parts," Elsa said.

"Fine. But tomorrow I get to do something more entertaining."

"It's a deal."

Anna got up but as soon as she did her head met with a large ball of snow.

"Oops. Dropped my butt."

-x-X-x-

"You wait her okay?" Dagon said.

"Okay," Kaja said. "But you better not take all day."

"You can look in the hat shop if you want. But don't wander off. I'll only be a minute."

"Hats are boring."

Dagon patted his kid sister on the head. "Sorry but you're just going to have to be bored for a little bit."

Kaja looked up at him with her good eye. "Build a snowman later?"

Dagon smiled. "Build a snowman later."

"Or a snowwoman."

"Sounds good." Dagon let go of her hand and strode across the street to the inn that sat across from them. He opened the door and walked in.

Kaja stood waiting occasionally kicking a pile of snow.

"What are you doing here all by yourself?" came a voice.

Kaja jumped and looked around until she saw the cloaked figure standing beside her. A hood hid the person's face. Kaja took a step back. "I'm waiting for my brother."

"Where is your brother?"

Kaja pointed at the inn with her ring finger. Both of her first two fingers were missing. "He's in there."

The stranger glanced up at the building. "You be careful. It could be dangerous for you to be all by yourself."

Kaja nodded not taking her eye off the figure. Sie turned around and walked over to the inn and went inside.

-x-X-x-

Dagon walked inside. A pair of men waited for him inside. Behind the bar a man with a large mustache gave Dagon a smile. Dagon nodded in return. He sat down next to the men.

"How have things been going?"

"The same," one of the men, Bron he went by, said. "Oscar got himself arrested a few days ago."

Dagon sighed. "Have you been able to make ends meet?"

"Mostly," said another man who still went by Tusk. Dagon had tried to get him to use his real name after the disbanding of the Army of the Wastes but Tusk had said he never liked his name much.

"What did Oscar do?"

"Stole something. For fun probably"

"What, exactly?"

"Money. Somebody's purse found its way into his hands and he didn't give it back."

"Found its way?"

Tusk glanced down. "Not on accident. He got caught."

Dagon drummed his fingers on the table. The Mustached man offered him a mug of beer like he always did and Dagon, as always, refused. "And you say Oscar didn't need the money?"

Bron nodded. He slipped a coin onto the counter and took the mug Dagon had turned down. "Look Dagon, some people just can't change."

Dagon sighed. "You're right." He glanced up to the gauntlet that hung from the wall. The only part of Snake, former leader of the Army of the Wastes, that they had been able to salvage from the fire. Dagon had asked it to be hung on that wall to remind the men of what happened when one goes astray.

"I just wish they could see. Know what happens. They hurt themselves as much as anyone else."

The door swung open a person stepped inside, walking slowly towards the counter. Sie wore a threadbare cloak with a hood pulled over Hirs face. Hir hood tilted towards Dagon as though sie was examining him. Dagon shifted uncomfortable and resisted the urge to raise his hand and cover the scar on his face. After a moment the figure looked up at the mustached man.

"I'd like to stay here for a while," sie said. Their voice was that of a deep woman's or a high man's.

Bron spoke up. "It's mostly people like us who stay here. People who are lowlifes for all practical purposes."

"You aren't lowlifes," Dagon said. "You're people."

"Sounds like my kind of place," the stranger said with the merest hint of a laugh.

The mustached man tossed a key onto the table. "Upstairs. End of the hall. Payment in advance."

The stranger picked up a key. "You stay here?" sie set a coin onto the counter.

It took Dagon a minute to realize they had directed it at him. "No," he said. "I just like to check up on these guys ever now and then."

The stranger walked to the staircase. "You really shouldn't leave your sister out there all alone like that."

Dagon's eye twitched and he stood up. "I'd better get going." He started to walk outside.

"Hey Dagon," Tusk said.

Dagon turned.

"Good luck with tomorrow."

Dagon smiled. "With luck I won't need any."

"Watch out for the stoic one named Gunnar, he'll try to get you hanged as soon as look at you."

"I'll be careful," Dagon said.

-x-X-x-

"I think we made a dent in it," Elsa said.

Anna was panting in what Elsa suspected was supposed to be an exhausted act.

"Can we stop now?" Anna said.

"We had better," Elsa said. "We won't be able to do much if we're tired."

"We seriously need to increase the staff," Anna flopped down in a chair and blew a lock of hair from her face.

"We are Anna. We have been."

Kristoff leaned a mop against the wall. "A little work is healthy," he said.

"I'm not sure if I can stand all of this health."

Kristoff sat down next to Anna. "Where did Olaf get off too?"

Elsa kept one eye on their hands. "I had one of the guards take him away to keep him busy."

Kristoff laughed. "It looks like Sven's ready to crash right here." The reindeer lay sprawled out on the floor.

Maybe Elsa imagined it. But maybe Anna glanced at Kristoff out of the corner of her eye.

"We'd better get some sleep ourselves," Anna said.

Elsa quickly pondered the options. Option one was that Anna must be truly exhausted. The last time she had wanted to go to sleep was when they stayed up past midnight looking for Olaf (Elsa could have sworn she'd blocked off that hole). The other option was that she hadn't imagined the coy little glance out of the corner of Anna's eye. No sense in taking the risk.

"Here I can help you," Elsa said. She grabbed her sister's hand and tugged her down the hall.

"Elsa what are you doing?"

"You looked tired. I figured that you might need help getting back to your room where you can go straight to sleep."

"Elsa I can get there by myself just fine." Anna pulled her hand free.

Elsa stepped behind her and gave a little push. "Go ahead then Anna."

"Elsa why are you acting so weird?"

"I'm not acting weird. It's just that we have a big day tomorrow."

"We do?"

"Yes. We're finally getting to Jacob and Dagon's hearing." Elsa gave Anna another small push.

Anna stepped away for Elsa. "For what?"

Elsa raised her hands. "For everything that they did. Remember? The reason I had to get my hair cut?"

"I remember. But that happened, like, a month ago."

"Amazing isn't it? I didn't think we'd be able to get to it so soon."

Anna laughed. "This is why I could never be queen. It's so boring. But with you busy with that it looks like my day will be just as boring."

"Don't worry Anna. I know you'll find something to occupy your time with."

Anna's eyes brightened. "Kristoff said he didn't have anything to do tomorrow either. It would be a great opportunity to spend time with him."

"I may have something else planned," Elsa said.

"Is it fun?"

"That depends on you."

Anna started to walk. "I wish you'd just tell me for once."

"Then it would ruin the surprise."

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night Anna."

Elsa turned around and walked back to the disaster zone. Kristoff and Sven had gone and the hall was empty. She walked through a door to find Olaf. Once she had relived the guard of him she made her way back to her room. She wondered what it was Olaf did at night. She'd never seen him sleep and wasn't sure he had to. But she was too tired at the time to think about it. She needed a bath and then sleep. She would need to be on top of her game tomorrow.

-x-X-x-

Maybe Sven imagined it, or Anna just glanced at Kristoff out of the corner of her eye. With some effort he lifted himself off the ground. Elsa dragged Anna off and Sven clomped over to Kristoff. He reached forwards and grabbed his sleeve in his teeth.

"What are you doing Sven?" Kristoff asked.

Sven began to tug Kristoff and he got up.

"Where are we going?"

Sven kept tugging him along towards their room.

Kristoff laughed. "Sven I know the way to get here."

You miss the point, Sven thought. It's that you get here.

Kristoff pulled himself loose and walked into the room. Once the door was closed Sven sat in front of it. He didn't move until morning.

-x-X-x-

Elsa looked at herself in the mirror. Her hand drifter to her shoulder where the flesh was blackened and uneven. It was healing well enough but as she gave it a gentle rub she felt a the pain return to her. After a moment she leaned closer to the mirror and turned her head slightly. The scar on her cheek was still definitely there. Faded but still there. For all her magic sometimes Elsa wished she could just wish away injuries. But flesh will heal at its own rate. And hair will grow back. Looking at herself she barely recognized her own face. She ran a hand down her hair. It was an incredibly short action. She sighed and stepped away from the mirror. She walked to the tub and dipped an experimental finger into the water. She flinched back and waved her hand over it. She mixed in just a touch of her power until the water was at a more suitable temperature. After which she climbed in and let her concerns soak away.

Except for her hair. That one wouldn't leave.

-x-X-x-

The problem with being named Gabriel is that people call you Gabe. Gabriel suspected that had something to do with the fact he preferred his own company. But all the same, this was ridiculous. Having to keep up with a hyperactive snowman was one thing But having to do so on eight hours of work then having to keep up with a hyperactive snowman, and then having to go back to work seemed like a lot to expect from a poor, helpless, little flouriest who got himself a job in the palace.

Or at least a flouriest who was forced out of boyhood and really needed a change of scenery. Playing the flute only went so far entertainment-wise. But there was a problem do to the utter lack of scenery changes that occur when one is a palace guard. The job involves a lot of standing in one place for a very long time. Gabriel supposed that made the job easy, and standing still and acting like a stool was one thing he excelled at, but one can only stand for so long before one gets tired.

And if one has spent eight hours standing, followed by three more wrangling a snowman, followed by three more standing some more made for fourteen hours of tiring work. Admittedly it was kind of nice to be watching the entryway for a change of pace but if that darn replacement didn't show up soon he would definitely... glare inwardly at him. Gabriel recalled his replacement was a much larger an than himself.

Gabriele's legs were really starting to feel sore so he leaned back against the wall. Just to rest a little. It's not like anyone would sneak in or anything. Even if someone did his leaning back would reduce his reaction time by much. Gabriel took a breath. Just relaxing a little would improve his capability as a whole anyway. Plus it wasn't like he was going to fall asleep or anything. Just prolong his blinks a little. Maybe move over to that chair over there. The palace sure was luxurious. And the chairs sure were comfortable. Yes, they really where... very... comfort-

Regrettably his prolonged blinking made it so he wasn't able to see the person carrying and empty sack come from outside an sneak past him. So prolonged was his blink, in fact, that he failed also so see the same person sneak back out the other way with a sack that was considerably less empty.