Chapter Six

The man had introduced himself as Kristoff and we left Oaken's in his sled, being pulled by Sven the reindeer. We were on a high mountain going at top speed upon a narrow cliff, while Kristoff drove. He sat in the middle with Anna and Rapunzel on one side, and Merida and me on the other. Anna and I were the ones sitting next to Kristoff.

"Hang on! We like to go fast!" Kristoff warned us.

"I like fast!" Anna and I replied.

The Princess leaned back and put her feet up on the dashboard.

"Whoa, whoa! Get your feet down," said Kristoff shoving them off the dashboard, "This is fresh lacquer. Seriously, were you raised in a barn?" He spit on the dash to clean it and I curled my lip in disgust.

"Ew. No, I was raised in a castle," Anna replied.

"So tell me, what made the Queen go all ice-crazy?" he inquired.

"Oh well, it was all my fault," Anna replied nonchalantly, "I got engaged but then she freaked out because I'd only just met him, you know, that day. And she said she wouldn't bless the marriage-"

"Wait. You got engaged to someone you just met?" Kristoff said in disbelief.

"That's what I'm saying," I muttered, arms folded across my chest. Kristoff ignored me, but Merida raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah. Anyway, I got mad and so she got mad and then she tried to walk away, and I grabbed her glove-" Anna continued.

"Hang on. You mean to tell me you got engaged to someone you just met?!" Kristoff repeated.

Becoming frustrated, Anna said, "Yes. Pay attention. But the thing is she wore the gloves all the time, so I just thought, maybe she has a thing about dirt."

"Didn't your parents ever warn you about strangers?"

"Yes, they did," said Rapunzel.

"But Hans is not a stranger," her cousin protested.

"Oh yeah? What's his last name?" asked Kristoff.

"Of-the-Southern-Isles?" said Anna.

"Westerguard," I corrected.

"What's his favorite food?" Kristoff questioned.

"Sandwiches," Anna answered.

"Sandwiches," I agreed.

"Best friend's name?" Kristoff inquired.

"Probably John," said Anna.

"Sitron," I replied.

"Eye color," Kristoff demanded.

"Dreamy," Anna said with a sigh.

"Green," I said matter of factly.

"Foot size...?" Kristoff asked with a smirk, this time eyeing me. I blushed realizing what he meant, but apparently Anna missed the implication.

"Foot size doesn't matter," said the Princess.

"Pervert," I muttered, turning away from him.

"Have you had a meal with him yet?" our driver continued, "What if you hate the way he eats? What if you hate the way he picks his nose?"

"Picks his nose?" Rapunzel repeated.

"And eats it," Kristoff said with relish.

"Excuse me, sir. He's a prince," Anna said haughtily.

"All men do it," he said matter of factly.

"He does not!" I snapped. At that point my mind had drifted between Hans and Tulio and I didn't know which one I had just stuck up for.

"Ew. Look it doesn't matter; it's true love," Anna insisted.

"Doesn't sound like true love," said Kristoff, "Besides, your friend here seems to know more about him than you do."

All eyes then focused on me and I felt myself heat up. "Okay! So I lived with Hans for a while, but I swear nothing happened! We're just friends!" Sort of. Frenemies?

"Are you some sort of love expert?" Merida asked Kristoff in exasperation.

"No. But I have friends who are," he answered.

"You have friends who are love experts?" I scoffed, "I'm not buying it."

Sven suddenly stopped, his ears perked in alarm.

"Stop talking," Kristoff said looking around the area. Even Merida was on high alert. He stood up and surveyed the dark woods, holding up his lantern. The light reflected off several pairs of eyes. "Sven, go. Go!" The reindeer took off as fast as he could.

"What are they?" Rapunzel squeaked in fear.

"Wolves," Merida replied getting her bow and arrow ready. The canines chased us.

Kristoff handed me the reigns and hopped into the back of the sled, grabbing a torch. He lit it.

"Wolves? What do we do?" Anna inquired looking around for a weapon.

"I've got this. You just... don't fall off and don't get eaten," he ordered.

Merida rolled her eyes and started firing arrows at the canines.

"But I wanna help," Anna protested.

"No," said Kristoff firmly.

"Why not?" the Princess demanded.

"Because I don't trust your judgement," he explained. I snorted and tried not to laugh.

"Excuse me?!" Anna shrieked.

A wolf jumped at us, but Kristoff kicked it away. "Who marries a man she just met?"

Anna grabbed the lute, and swung it at Kristoff's head, screaming, "It's true love!" He ducked and she accidentally knocked a wolf away, instead.

Just then he was yanked off the sled by another wolf. The torch went flying and Rapunzel caught it.

"Christopher!" Anna yelled, and I peered back just long enough to see him hanging onto a loose rope from the back of the sled, and being dragged through the snow.

"It's Kristoff!" he shouted back.

Rapunzel grabbed a blanket from the back and set it on fire. "Duck!" she yelled, throwing the flaming blanket at him. Kristoff ducked, so that the blanket hit the wolves instead.

"You almost set me on fire!" he exclaimed as Anna hauled him back onto the sled.

"But I didn't," she pointed out.

Hearing Sven cry out, I faced forward once more to see there a massive gorge ahead of us.

"Get ready to jump, Sven!" I called to the reindeer.

"You don't tell him what to do!" Kristoff said shoving a satchel into Anna's arms, then scooping her up. He tossed her onto Sven's back. "I do!" He then did the same to Rapunzel, then me, and Merida jumped on her own without his help. Kristoff unhooked Sven's harness from the sled. "Jump, Sven!"

Sven leaped over the gorge with all of us girls on his back. Kristoff was still on the sled. The reindeer landed safely on the other side of the gorge. We quickly jumped off Sven's back and turned to see Kristoff's sled had lost momentum. It wasn't going to make it. He jumped off, and slammed into the snowy edge of the cliff. Dangling by his hands, he looked down to see his sled hit the ground far below and burst into flames.

"But I just paid it off," he sadly said. Suddenly, he started to slip and couldn't get a firm hold on the snow. "Uh-oh. No, no, no."

Snatching the satchel from Anna, I peered inside to see the pick and the rope. Pulling out the two items, I tied the rope to one end, the tied the other end around Sven's middle. I threw the pick over the side of the cliff, and it slammed into the snow, inches from his nose.

"Grab on!" I called out to him. He latched onto the rope, and the four of us, plus Sven pulled Kristoff up over the edge of the cliff. Once he was safe, he rolled over onto his back, exhausted.

"I'll replace your sled and everything in it," Anna said apologetically. He simply groaned. "And I understand if you don't want to help us anymore." She walked off and we followed her. A bit later, Kristoff and Sven rejoined us.

Again, day turned into night, and as we stepped out of the thick trees, we caught sight of the kingdom below us.

"Arendelle," I said in half surprise, half awe.

"It's completely frozen," Merida said.

"But it'll be fine. Elsa will thaw it," said Rapunzel.

"Will she?" asked Kristoff.

"Yeah," said Anna now sounding a bit uncertain, "Now come on. This way to the North Mountain?" She was pointing to the path straight ahead.

"More like this way," Kristoff corrected, pointing her finger up towards a perilously mighty mountain.

As we continued travelling, we soon came to some frozen willows. Icicles were dangling off the branches, making it seem almost magical.

"I never knew winter could be so beautiful," said Merida brushing a hand against a branch.

A random voice suddenly said, "Yeah... It really is beautiful, isn't it? But it's so white. You know, how about a little color? Must we bleach the joy out of it all? I'm thinking like maybe some crimson, chartreuse..." All of us exchanged confused glances then looked around for the source of the voice. A nose-less snowman finally wandered our way. "How 'bout yellow- no, not yellow. Yellow and snow? Brrrr... no go." He stopped between Merida and Rapunzel. The former backed up in surprise, but the latter just observed him in interest. "Am I right?"

Merida screamed and she kicked the snowman's head, sending it flying off his body and into Kristoff's arms.

"Hi!" said the head.

"You're creepy," said Kristoff tossing the head to me.

"I don't want it!" I exclaimed throwing it to Merida.

"Don't!" she said tossing it back to Kristoff.

"Come on, it's just a head," he said flinging it over at Anna.

"No!" she cried in alarm as the snowman's body ran towards her, arms waving.

"All right, we got off to a bad start," said the head.

"Ew, ew, the body!" Anna slammed the head back on the body, but it was upside down. The snowman smiled happily, then looked at us confused.

"Wait, what am I looking at right now? Why are you hanging off the earth like a bat?" asked the snowman.

Rapunzel was sympathatic to the creature and said, "Okay. Wait one second." She knelt before him and set his head on right.

"Oooh! Thank you!" said the snowman in delight.

"You're welcome," Rapunzel said with a smile.

"Now I'm perfect!"

"Well, almost," said Rapunzel, digging through Kristoff's satchel. She accidentally slammed a carrot through his head.

"Woo! Head rush!"

"Oh! Too hard. I'm sorry! I-I, I was just... Are you okay?" Rapunzel said in way of apology.

The snowman saw the tiny bit of carrot sticking out of his head and he grinned. "Are you kidding me? I am wonderful! I've always wanted a nose. So cute. It's like a little baby unicorn." Rapunzel reached behind the snowman to the part of the carrot sticking out of the back of his head, and pushed it forward. "What? Hey! Whoa. Oh, I love it even more! Hah... All right, let's start this thing over. Hi everyone. I'm Olaf. And I like warm hugs."

"Olaf?" said Anna in confusion. Then almost as if she remembered something, she added, "That's right, Olaf."

"And you are?" he prompted.

"Oh, um... I'm Anna."

"I'm her cousin, Rapunzel!"

"My name is Merida. Sorry for kicking you."

"And I'm Aralyne."

"And who's the funky-looking donkey over there?" Olaf inquired gesturing to where Kristoff and Sven were standing.

"That's Sven," Anna explained.

"Uh-huh. And who's the reindeer?" asked Olaf.

I burst out laughing and Kristoff gave me the evil eye. "Sorry," I snickered.

"Sven," Anna said.

Olaf looked confused. "Oh. They're-oh, okay... Makes things easier for me."

"Olaf, did Elsa build you?" Rapunzel inquired.

"Yeah. Why?" said the snowman.

Curious, Kristoff took one of Olaf's twig arms off to study it. It seemed to be moving in sync with his other arm.

"Do you know where she is?" Anna questioned.

"Fascinating," Kristoff muttered.

"Yeah. Why?" said the snowman.

"Do you think you could show us the way?" I asked.

"Yeah. Why?" said the snowman.

"How does this work?" asked Kristoff bending the arm. When it snapped back into shape, it slapped him across the face.

"Stop it, Sven. Trying to focus here," said Olaf regaining his arm. He then added, "Yeah, why?"

"I'll tell you why. We need Elsa to bring back summer," Kristoff explained.

"Summer?" Olaf said in excitement, "Oh, I don't know why but I've always loved the idea of summer, and sun, and all things hot."

"Really? I'm guessing you don't have much experience with heat," said Merida.

"Nope," Olaf said, "But sometimes I like to close my eyes and imagine what it'd be like when summer does come." I had to hold back another laugh.

"I'm gonna tell him," Kristoff said.

"I want to tell him," I replied.

"Don't you dare," Anna and Rapunzel hissed at us.

"So, come on!" Olaf exclaimed running off, "Elsa's this way. Let's go bring back summer!" He grabbed Rapunzel's hand and pulled her along up the mountain.

"I'm coming!" Rapunzel said with a laugh. Sven, Merida, and Anna went after them.

"Somebody's got to tell him," Kristoff said.

"Maybe not just yet," I said, then grabbed his hand and dragged him along after the group.