[A/N]: Now that I'm back from my holiday, it's back to our regularly scheduled programme! :D
Chapter Seven
Sven raced for hours over the mountains with his two passengers. Kristoff kept urging him forward, encouraging him to keep up his gait. Anna let her braids fly in the breeze, a wild grin betraying her utter exhilaration.
"We need to avoid the Hammerheads!" Kristoff shouted as he steered the reindeer as far from one specific hill as he could. "They're nasty little people!"
"Why? And who are the Hammerheads?"
"They live on that hill—have no arms, but will hit you with their head if you set a foot on their territory."
"Wait, what? They hit with their heads? Isn't that painful for them?"
"Doesn't seem to be—I should know."
"You've met them?"
"Once was one too many times."
Anna looked back at Kristoff over her shoulder, now very curious.
"What happened?"
Kristoff tugged on Sven's reins, slowing the animal to a leisurely pace. He cleared his throat, mumbling an answer to Anna's question.
"Didn't catch any of that."
"Well, uh…" Kristoff winced, rubbing his neck, "We—Sven and me—we found out the hard way the first time we went over that hill. They swarmed us—Sven, really, as I was riding—swarmed him. They didn't just butt heads—they rammed into him. The Hammerheads wanted us gone—and that's what we did." Kristoff spread his hands, "we left."
Anna pouted, eyes narrowing. "Did you tell them how rude they were?"
Kristoff snorted, rolling his eyes. "Not like they cared."
"Maybe if you had tried to explain?"
"Nah—just wanted to get out. And don't ask—" he quickly added on seeing Anna about to protest, "I'm not going to that hill again. Are we, Sven?"
The reindeer grunted in agreement.
"And besides," Kristoff continued to Anna, "we're going to look for your sister, not spread peace and love to a bunch of grouchy old Hammerheads wanting us off their hill."
Anna slouched back in her seat, "You're right. So, anywhere else we're going past before Winkies' Country?"
Kristoff hummed a little as he mulled over Anna's question.
"Anna," he said at last, a hint of mystery in his words, "you haven't seen weird."
"What?"
"You'll see."
With a flick of the reins, Kristoff urged Sven forward. The animal trotted up a little faster over the mountains with their crumbling rocks and puffs of swirling dust. Colourful purple, pink, and red flowers shivered in the pleasant wind, heads nodding and shaking as though in some conversation inaudible to human ears. Anna spotted hundreds of lupins poking their way from the soil, transforming earth into a carpet of beauty. She wanted to pick some for Elsa, but decided on second thought that she wouldn't. There was probably a chance she'd accidentally crush the bouquet by sitting on them or dropping the flowers on the way. Even if by some miracle the flowers weren't crushed or lost, they would certainly wilt well before she saw Elsa.
Maybe Elsa saw them too, Anna consoled herself, besides, we have them at home too.
With that reminder and assurance in mind, Anna was content to leave the flowers be.
The ride over the mountains was a long one, with frequent stops at little streams to sate thirst and fill growling stomachs. Anna—to Kristoff's clear surprise and approval—declared they should save as much of the food as they could, lest it ran out before they found Elsa.
Anna, being the chatterbox she was, talked both Kristoff's and Sven's ears off about home and Elsa. When she talked of Elsa's powers, she had a very rapt audience. Kristoff babbled rapid-fire questions, Anna giggling as she told him to slow down and ask one at a time. She sneaked a peek back at him a couple times, grinning when she saw unhidden fascination and genuine interest in her praises of Elsa and her powers.
"I really want to see your sister's magic!" Kristoff blurted, before wincing, looking very abashed, "I—I mean if you—and—she wouldn't mind?"
Anna shook her head eagerly. "Not at all! She's shy, but look out—she is very mischievous too."
"Really?"
"You want me to tell you of all the ways she's woken me up with her powers? Frost on my neck will get me up fast. Speaking of fast, she's very clever at snowball fights—I'm lucky if I dodge one of Elsa's snowballs."
Kristoff sighed, sounding wistful. "I'd give anything to have a sister with magical powers."
"Who says a brother can't have powers too?" Anna pointed out, voice strident and matter-of-fact.
"Well, uh, yeah, you're right."
"You're an only child?" Anna wanted to know.
"I guess you could say that."
"Oh," Anna couldn't imagine not having a sister or brother to grow up with. "Does it get lonely?"
"Nah," Kristoff said, "I'm not much keen on people. I was happy enough by myself on the farm."
"Didn't you have other children to play with?"
A disinterested grunt. "No interest in talking—I had my mum and dad and the animals and my lute to talk to."
"You talk to your lute?"
"Serenade, actually," Kristoff corrected, "I sing to it after all."
"And the animals?"
"Uh—not so much. Those I just yap to. No singing."
"And they talk right back?"
"Of course!" Kristoff sounded downright affronted.
"What do they say?"
A long pause, during which Kristoff stared out before him, over Anna's head. Then—
"Stuff."
"Stuff?"
"Like, you know, how reindeer are better than people."
Sven grunted loudly then as if to voice his resounding approval of Kristoff's words.
"Dogs too," the boy added, "they'll always sense if you're happy or down. Our old dog, Chuck, will just go right up and lick you if he knows you're a bit sad or lonely."
Anna shifted to look up at him, gaze unrelenting. "So you do get lonely."
"What?" Kristoff ran his fingers through his hair, ruffling it, "oh no, no no—never. Really."
Personally, Anna fancied Kristoff was trying a little hard to convince anyone—including himself.
"Are you sure?"
"No—I mean yes, yes I'm sure," Kristoff insisted.
Sven vocalised again. Kristoff scoffed.
"Sven says he doesn't believe me."
Anna folded her arms, glancing over her shoulder at the boy. "I agree with him—who wants to be alone?"
"Hey!" Kristoff protested, "I'm not alone! I have friends."
"You mean your lute?"
"Animals make great friends, you know. Have you got pets at all?"
"One cat—but he's pretty grumpy and stays away from people. Sounds a lot like someone I know."
"Excuse me? I'm not grumpy."
"Uh huh."
"What do you say, Sven?" Kristoff addressed the reindeer. "Leave her here to walk to the Winkies' Country?"
"What?" Anna gasped, "How would I—"
"Sh. Sven's talking." Kristoff fell quiet as though listening, followed soon by a sigh of defeat. "You win, again. 'I find her entertaining and fun' you say. Have it your way, Sven."
Anna didn't bother holding back her amusement at Kristoff's "chat" with the reindeer.
"Are you going to talk to Sven all the time?"
"Of course—he's a friend too."
Anna twisted around in her seat to look at Kristoff. "You are the weirdest boy I've met," she declared, a smile pinned to her face, "but you're not bad either."
"Uh, thanks," Kristoff mumbled, face and neck flushing.
"So," Anna said after a minute or so, "why are you helping me if you don't like people?"
The boy was quiet for a long enough time that Anna decided he wasn't answering the question. But then he finally spoke.
"Sven wouldn't have forgiven me," he confessed, "and I—he—wasn't going to leave a girl lost in the Forest of Fighting Trees either."
"And why now, after Glinda talked to us?"
"You're not the only one who misses home."
"And you want to see my sister's ice powers."
Kristoff laughed, hearty and sincere. "That too."
After the long trek over the mountains, the duo once again found themselves on flat, grassy land. Judging by the sun's low position in the west, it was already evening. Yet, on the horizon, Anna could see what looked like a great yellow country past the distant border. They wouldn't make it there tonight, but tomorrow they would easily make it across that border into the Winkies' land of yellow.
"So we're stopping again for the night?"
"Looks like it," Kristoff confirmed, "we'll stop once we've passed through China Country—and believe me, I don't mean the Asian country."
"What else could you mean?"
"You'll see."
The only other "china" Anna could think of was delicate, glass-like material. But surely Kristoff hadn't meant that either. As Anna would soon discover, this was exactly what he had meant.
As soon as Sven crossed into China Country, he began to step very lightly, for the town was delicate and tiny, no higher than Anna's knee, had she been walking on foot. Anna's mouth dropped open in astonishment as she stared at the china buildings, horses and buggies, monuments, fountains, animals, and people. Everything here was literally china. Little wonder Sven's steps were so tentative, lest he broke something or someone. He was no bull in a china shop.
"Let's walk for a bit," Anna suggested, already turning over to slide off Sven's back.
"Don't touch anything," Kristoff warned, "they hate cracks and chips."
Anna hardly listened to Kristoff's warning, bending down just enough to be able to see the little painted faces on delicate passers-by of pure china. Their lips were delicate lines, eyes blue or green, and all had pert little noses. Men wore delicate top hats while the women's faces were framed by bonnets tied with large bows under their chins. Men, women, and children all had healthy rose-red blushes on pale cheeks. Delicate white gloves covered ladies' hands and, if Anna looked carefully enough, she could see minute gold wedding rings on the men's fingers.
I want to take one home with me.
But then she thought of all the inanimate dolls in her world and decided it would be a terrible place to live for them. Imagine being the only living thing in a world where your people could not see, talk, or hear. Here, they were so content, blissful, and unaware of another world where dolls were all inanimate. What reason was there to destroy their happiness by bringing them into her world? They had lives, friends, and families here, just as people did in her own world. She spotted two women and a man enjoying a cup of tea at a table outside a café—whose signage even had the word "café" in miniscule print—and decided she could not bring herself to take any of them away from their home.
They're happy here, she told herself, and they will miss their friends if taken from their home.
With that, Anna was content to leave them be.
Long shadows thinned and thinned until they disappeared once the sun had gone to bed for the night. Anna pretended not to be yawning as the twilight wore on—or she tried pretending anyway. It didn't seem to be working too well. No matter how hard she tried to not yawn, her mouth opened wide anyway, eyes watering.
She froze mid-yawn as Kristoff steered Sven into a small clearing in a large woodsy area.
"This isn't those trees is it?"
"Don't worry," he assured, "these trees are harmless. We should be fine tonight."
"Sure?"
"Hey, I don't like the Forest of Fighting Trees any more than you do. We're fine here."
Both Kristoff and Anna jumped off Sven, the reindeer walking a few metres away to settle down and rest for the night. Just to make extra sure the trees were safe, Anna walked up to one, tapping on its trunk and lifting one or two twigs. The tree didn't react, the only movement being the leaves fluttering in a soft breeze.
Okay, guess we're safe.
As Anna settled down to eat some of their rations, she realised that she had begun to trust Kristoff like a friend. He didn't have to help her, and sure he shared his carrots with Sven—still gross—but he still stuck with Anna all this way. He could have gone back at any time, changed his mind about helping her rescue Elsa, and left her to her own devices. Yet, Kristoff stayed true, as grumpy as he could be.
He's not that bad, Anna decided, grumpy, but trustworthy. And he wants to go home too, just like me.
Anna reached to the bag with the skates in it, pulling one a little ways out of the bag to admire its pearl-coloured exterior. The silver blades gleamed with starlight, looking as though they had never been used in their lives. Maybe they never had—perhaps they had been waiting for just the right feet to come along. She carefully slid it back into the bag with its twin and the other pair for Elsa.
We're going home, Elsa, I promise.
It is surprising just what will turn an afternoon person like Anna into a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed morning person. No sooner did the sun peek over the distant hills, then Anna sat bolt upright, sleep all but forgotten. Kristoff was already up and feeding a carrot to Sven. Anna noticed he had already put the bags back on Sven as well.
"What time did you get up?"
Kristoff jumped, spinning around, relaxing when he saw Anna getting up, brushing off twigs and leaves.
"Ah, I'd say the equivalent of about five in the morning." Kristoff admitted, "I'm used to it. Sometimes I have to get up at four thirty to help dad milk the cows."
"Four thirty?"
Kristoff laughed, entertained by Anna's clear shock in her voice.
"Yeah, you don't live on a farm, do you?"
Anna pulled out several twigs from her plaits. "How do you get up that early?"
Kristoff shrugged. "Habit."
"Even in winter?"
"Uh huh."
"Does the cold bother you at all?" Anna asked as she went to give Sven a morning pat on his nose.
"Nah. You get used to it." Kristoff hauled himself onto Sven's back, holding out a hand to help Anna up as well. "Let's get going."
With a flick of the reins, Sven was off and running, Anna hanging on to the animal's neck, the thrill of the race buzzing in her again. She could never get tired of racing on a reindeer.
Yep, I'm going to be a horse racer when I grow up.
"Do you have horses at home?" Anna asked her new friend.
"We have a couple horses—one old one we found abandoned somewhere, and we named him Sitron because of his yellowish coat."
"What does Sitron mean?"
"Norwegian for lemon. Our other one's Silver, because I liked the name."
"Silver's a good name for a horse," Anna complimented, "I'd race a horse named Silver. I mean—do you ride horses?"
"Sure I do—nearly every day."
"I want to learn to ride a horse one day."
"Come to my farm sometime then—if it's not far from you."
Anna and Kristoff discovered that they did not live too far from each other, just an hour's drive apart. Anna declared that one way or another, she was going to learn how to ride a horse from him. At that, Kristoff slowed Sven to a stop, his hold loosening on the reins.
"Why don't you give it a go?"
"Wait what?" Anna looked back at him, surprised to see a genuine grin and sparkling eyes. "You—you want me to—"
"Eyes forward, Anna," Kristoff instructed, now placing the reins in Anna's smaller hands. "Hold on to the reins like that—you got it—be firm but not too firm. Now dig in your heels—gently—to make him walk."
Anna dug in her heels until Sven began walking again.
"You got it," Kristoff praised, "You're already a natural. Want to make him go a little faster? Tell him to—gentle and firm. You can't be scared."
"Me? Scared?" Anna raised an eyebrow, side-eying him. "Why would I be scared?"
Kristoff chuckled. "I'll never accuse you of ever being scared."
"Good idea."
With Kristoff's instruction, Anna repositioned herself on Sven's back, sitting up as straight as she could. She listened very closely to Kristoff's guidance as they now broke into a canter for the land of yellow. In the distance, Anna spotted a very tall building in the shape of a corn cob, and even farther away, a very ancient, giant castle. Anticipation buzzing through her, she pointed out the sights to Kristoff.
"You see that castle? I think that's where we'll find Elsa!" Anna bounced with impatience in her seat. "We're not far away anymore! We're going to see her again!"
At long last, the duo reached the border of Winkie Country, Anna's eyes wide as she took in everything. Once again, the corn-cob house held her attention, but now she noticed another peculiar building made entirely of tin.
"Wow," she breathed, awed by the sight before her, "Winkie Country's very…yellow."
"Yeah," Kristoff agreed, "they love yellow."
"No kidding."
"You ready?"
"I was born ready!"
Kristoff laughed, infected by her charming enthusiasm.
"Then let's go find your sister."
