"Elsa?" Anna called out as her horse trudged through the snow. "It's me, your sister who didn't mean to make you freeze the summer."
In her mind's command center, Sadness sighed. "It's all our fault," she said. "We got mad at her for locking herself up in her room all the time, when it turns out, she had a good reason for doing so."
"Of course, we wouldn't have pressed her so hard if she had just told us her secret," said Anger. "I mean, Anna's her sister! We'd understand if she said she had to seclude herself because she had out-of-control magical ice powers! It'd be unfun and annoying, but we'd understand."
"Yeah, she's a bit of a stinker," Joy said, nervously chuckling, "but let's not bring that up right now, okay? I'm trying to have Anna maintain a positive outlook during the search."
Just then, a sheet of snow fell from the branches of a tree, landing right in front of Anna's mount, spooking it. It threw its rider off and ran off back down the mountain.
"No!" cried Fear, seeing this. "No, no, no… please come back…" But the horse was already far gone.
Anna attempted to stand up again bracing herself on a pine that had been bent under the weight of the snowfall; when she pulled on it, however, it sprung back up, sending the snow back down to Anna, burying her in cold damp white powder. Disgust expressed how unpleasant this was.
"I guess maintaining a positive outlook is going to be harder than I thought," Joy said.
Night had fallen. Anna had to lift up her skirt to pass through the knee-high snow; departing so quickly had not given her time to change from her dress into a more practical outfit for traversing the winter-like weather that her sister's magic had caused.
"It had to be snow," Disgust grumbled. "She couldn't have had tropical magic that covered the fjords with white sand and warm—"
"Fire!" Joy shouted excitedly, pointing at a column of smoke that appeared on the screen. She beamed. "Things are looking up!"
Suddenly, Anna slipped and slid down a hill. Fear pressed the panic button. It didn't really help; Anna wound up landing in a river, sending splashes of icy water over her clothes.
As her dress froze solid, she waddled her way over to the cabin that the smoke was coming from. Clearing the snow from the sign hanging above its porch, she read it.
"Wandering Oaken's Trading Post," read Joy, viewing the scene from the control room. "Ooh! And sauna!"
Inside was nice and warm. A jolly mustached man, presumably Oaken, greeted Anna from behind the counter. "Big summer blow-out," he said. "Half off swimming suits, clogs, and a sun balm of my own invention, ya?"
"Swimming suits? Sun balm? Has he looked outside recently?" Anger fumed.
"Nothing that he's offering is of any use to us," Disgust said.
"Come on guys," said Joy. "He's probably had this sale planned for weeks. It would make perfect sense to sell those things right now if not for Elsa. Let's try to be polite."
"For now, how about boots?" Anna asked. "Winter boots…and dresses?"
"That would be in our winter department."
Anna looked over to where he indicated. The winter department was scant; only one pair of snowshoes, one climbing axe, one rope, and one outfit.
"Of course," said Sadness glumly. "There would be no reason to stock cold-weather clothes at this time of year. We really should have changed back at the castle."
"Well, we don't need more than one outfit anyway!" Joy said.
"Do you think he could have seen Elsa come this way?" Fear wondered.
"Ooh, good idea!" said Joy. "Let's ask him!"
And so while Anna made her purchase, she inquired about whether another young woman—the Queen, perhaps—passed through.
"Only one crazy enough to be out in this storm is you, dear."
Just then, the door opened and in walked a human figure, face obscured by a bandana, covered in frost from head to foot.
"You and this fellow."
In the command center, Fear fled from his chair and hid behind a not-too-pleased Anger.
"What are you doing?" Anger demanded.
"Hiding from that guy," Fear said. "He looks like he could be dangerous."
"Then it's Anna you should be worried about, not yourself! He's on the screen! He can't see you at all!"
"Right, right," Fear said sheepishly, heading back to his seat. "Still, we should exercise caution. He looks kind of sketchy."
The stranger walked up to Anna. He seemed to stare right at her.
"Really sketchy," Fear said. "Er, try to act nonchalant. Maybe he'll ignore us."
Anna leaned away from the man and hummed a little tune.
"Carrots," the man said.
This got Anna's attention. "Huh?"
"Carrots. Behind you."
Anna looked down and saw the bunch of carrots beneath the counter. "Oh, right. Excuse me."
The man put the carrots on the counter, then wandered around the store, picking up more supplies. Oaken tried to make small talk. "Real howler in July, yes? Wherever could it be coming from?"
"The North Mountain," the man said matter-of-factly.
"North Mountain?" Joy said aloud. "That must be where Elsa went."
"Aha!" said Anger. "Now that we have a destination in mind, we can retrieve her posthaste!"
"Except our knowledge of this area is lacking, as is our skill for overcoming any obstacles along the way," Fear noted.
"I bet someone in Arendelle could have helped us in both those regards," Sadness lamented. "We were truly ill-prepared for this journey."
"Hey, it's not my fault we left in such a hurry," said Disgust.
"Oh! Maybe this guy can help us!" said Joy. She looked at the screen as the man put his items on the counter.
"Forty," Oaken said.
"Forty?" said the man, staggering at the high price. "No, ten."
"Oh dear, that's no good. See, these are from our winter stock, where supply and demand have a big problem."
"You want to talk about a supply and demand problem? I sell ice for a living!"
"Ooh," said Anna. "That's a rough business to be in right now. I mean, that is really—"
The stranger shot her a look.
"…that's unfortunate," she concluded.
"That probably wasn't the best conversation topic to discuss with him right now," Sadness said.
"Yeah," said Disgust. "What were you thinking, Joy?"
"I was trying to be friendly!" Joy said. "We'll need to be in his good graces if he's going to lead us to Elsa."
"Are we even sure Elsa's really on the North Mountain?" said Disgust. "I don't want to go all the way there chasing a wild goose."
"Well, let's get some more information," said Fear. "More information is always good."
"Okay, just tell me one thing," Anna said to the stranger, who was still trying to haggle with Oaken, "what was happening on the North Mountain? Did it seem magical?"
The man pulled his bandanna down. "Yes! Now back off while I deal with this crook!"
Oaken did not take kindly to being called a crook, and the stranger soon found himself being literally thrown out of the store.
"That looked painful," Sadness noted.
"I'm sorry about this violence," Oaken said, returning to his position. "I will add a quart of lutefisk,"—Disgust scrunched her face in repugnance at this—"so we'll have good feelings. Just the outfit and boots, yah?"
The emotions looked down at the items the stranger had left on the counter.
"Are you all thinking what I'm thinking?" Anger asked.
"If what you're thinking is what we're all thinking, then I believe so," said Fear.
"Well, if we really are thinking the same thing, then let's do it!" said Joy. "Sadness, get the idea bulb."
"Sure," Sadness said, getting up and heading to the container. "I just hope I'm thinking what you are and I don't accidentally mess it up."
It turned out that, indeed, all the emotions were on the same page. Anna made her purchase and then located the stranger, who had retreated to a nearby barn for shelter. As she approached, she could hear him finishing up a song about how reindeers were better than people, proving lines for his reindeer companion as well as himself.
"Nice duet," said Anna, opening the door. This remark was made partly because it was true—Joy had found the song amusing—but mostly because Disgust had suggested it as a way to help make this man more amiable to becoming their guide.
It didn't seem that the man was affected by this comment either way, however, as he was more startled by Anna's sudden appearance than anything. "Oh, it's just you," he said once the initial panic that it might be Oaken had worn off. "What do you want?"
"Okay," said Fear. "Direct question, direct answer. Firm, unwavering, and to the point."
"I want you to take me up the North Mountain."
The man laid back down, putting his hat over his eyes. "I don't take people places."
Anger gave a gleefully malicious chuckle. "Time for plan B."
"Let me rephrase that," Anna said she tossed a sack at the would-be guide, causing it to land squarely on his chest. "Take me up the North Mountain. Please."
"I thought we were going to be firm," said Disgust.
"I never hurts to be polite," said Joy.
"But it might hurt to not be polite," said Fear.
"Especially if you just threw a bag of supplies at them," Sadness added.
"You three are a bunch of wimps," Anger groused.
The ice harvester looked through the sack and found the rope and axe he had attempted to buy. He cast a questioning look at Anna.
"Look, I know how to stop this winter," she said.
"See?" said Joy. "We were firm, we gave him something he needed right now, told him that he could profit further by helping us—if this doesn't work, nothing will."
The man laid down again. "We leave at dawn," he said. "And you forgot the carrots for Sven."
Anna tossed another bag, this one containing carrots, and hit him right in the face.
"We didn't mean to do that," said Sadness, her and Fear using the controls to make Anna apologize profusely.
"Firm, guys," said Disgust. She manipulated her own controls.
"We leave now. Right now," said Anna. She walked outside and let out a sigh of relief.
"You think he'll agree to take us?" Fear asked.
"I'm sure he will," said Joy. "He'd be a jerk and an idiot not to."
