"We should probably get back onto the road" Kristoff remarked, pushing a low hanging branch out of his face. "It doesn't look too good, us travelling in the dense of the woods, people ask questions"
"Good point" Elsa said as she started to veer her horse in the direction of the road.
"Do we even know where the road is? We've been travelling through the forest for at least a month now! The last human interaction we had was with Oaken!" Anna said, raising her arms in the air and dropping them while she spoke.
"Don't worry, I'm good with directions, and it seems Elsa is too. She seems to know where we're going. Just follow her." Kristoff replied.
With Elsa in the lead, Kristoff and Anna followed. The wood they had been travelling in had been hard and punishing. But it didn't seem to change, at all. Green and brown had been their only other companions for the journey so far, with the forest expanding endlessly in all directions, it was a wonder the didn't get lost. Anna and Elsa had also been amazed at the amount of new flora and fauna they encountered. Kristoff was more than knowledgeable about a lot of it, and would instruct them on what was safe to eat, and what wasn't.
"You see this here?" Kristoff pushed a bush's ferns out of the way and pointed to a low hanging long yellow pod. "It's what I like to call a butter bean. They're safe to eat, and are commonly found nearly everywhere. They taste delicious too." He took a bite of one and closed his eyes in satisfaction.
"Here, have one!" he said enthusiastically, passing a few to each of the sisters. Sharing a glance of wariness between each other, they hesitantly took a bite of it, finding that the flavour was much better than expected and finishing them quickly, they both asked for seconds.
Kristoff smiled, "No more until tonight!"
They had been riding for a good month now, stopping at whatever seemed clearable and close to resembling flat ground, and talking about their childhoods or whatever else came to mind. Kristoff usually spoke of his younger years more than Anna or Elsa, but they were both fine with that. Late afternoons were often devoted to Anna practicing her archery as well as other thigns like hand to hand combat or climbing trees, and to Elsa's surprise, she had developed quite the bow arm. She hit the target where Kristoff told her too more often than not and had become a bit of a challenge for Kristoff in hand to hand scenarios.
"The real challenge comes when you have to hit a target while moving, but for now, you're getting really good at this." Kristoff said with a brotherly smile and a pat on her back. He really cared about Anna and her safety, and one day brought Elsa into the mix.
"If some one is coming towards you in a rush, what are you going to do?" Kristoff asked Elsa after a dinner of roast pork.
"What do you mean?" Elsa asked him.
"Well, I'm training Anna and I have to wonder how equipped you are for fighting."
"Oho, don't you worry about my protection; I'm perfectly fine with how well I can defend myself. I seem to recall taking care of you two up in the ice castle fairly easily" Elsa replied with a smile.
"Ah, but if this quest we're going on is all dangerous, and you have people chasing you, I want to make sure my main two girls can defend themselves, I can't protect you both" Kristoff said with a grin.
A chuckle came from Anna's direction. "Elsa! You're doing training tomorrow, and that's that!"
And so she did. After riding for most of the day, they set up camp and Kristoff quickly got to work drawing targets on trees for the sisters to hit, eager to see what Elsa could do.
Anna slung her quiver around her waist and thigh, and drew 3 arrows in quick succession. All three arrows hit the target with a low thunk. One was a few inches below the target, one was in the middle of the target, and one was to the side of the target. She turned to Elsa with a smile.
"Your turn!"
Elsa looked at the tree, and focused on each of the arrows. She raised her hands in a quick motion and shot three arrow-thin icicles at each of the objects. The light blue, almost transparent icicles sped through the air and pierced the arrows, and with a quick creak and snap, the arrows fell to the ground, split in half with the icicles impaled to the tree in their place.
Elsa turned and faced her sister and Kristoff, whose mouths had gone slack. "My aim good enough for you?"
Kristoff turned to look at Elsa and lifted his jaw, with Anna coming to attention as well. "Yep, I'd say you're looking good on that front."
Elsa smiled and sat down against a tree, happy to once again watch Kristoff train Anna.
The trio inhaled the smells of wood fire before they could see the town. They had come across multiple country folk with wagons, horses and a large line of children, following an old lady with a shawl over her head. They arrived at the gates at midday to be greeted with a twenty foot high grey brick wall. The bricks were lodged into each other and cemented together, forming a large barrier that looked both intimidating and time worn. In a guard house atop the wall, next to the gate, there sat three men, seated around a table. Anna rode up close ahead of the other two.
"Excuse me!" Anna called out. "Excuse me, Guard!"
"Anna" Kristoff growled at her "We're not in Arendelle anymore, they don't know us and we don't know how they'll treat us! What if he recognises you?"
"Oh stop being such a negative nancy!" Anna replied back, still looking at the guards, who hadn't moved. "Excuuuuuse me! Guards! We need some help!"
"This is pointless Anna, I already know my way around here, I've been here before" Kristoff said in a low voice.
An audible sigh was heard, and a large, bearded man stood up and turned to face the three. Getting a better look at him, he had a pockmarked face that had seen more than it needed in its day. He wore boiled leather under chain mail rings and looked every bit the part of a guard.
"What can I help you with, young lady?" the man said with a deep, gravely voice. His large, brown eyes betrayed no signs of recognition, so Anna answered.
"Ah, yes hello! Well, we're just passing through, and were wondering where we can stay for the night!"
The guard scratched his beard. "Passing through? Where'ye headed?"
Elsa spoke up from behind Anna. "We're going north, we'd like to keep our business to ourselves."
The guards eyes flicked to Elsa and considered her for a moment.
"Alright, alright, keep yer pants on young miss" he said losing his air of caution. "The best place, in my opinion, is The Maple and Shield. Strange name for an Inn, but the beds there have nearly no fleas in them, and the straw is comfortable enough for an inn."
"Oi, Felix, when'd you sleep at The Maple?" said a younger guard, still sitting at the table.
Felix called back to him, inclining his head, "None of yer damn business, boy".
The other guard fell silent and returned to his cards. Turning his head back to the three, he started talking again.
"If you go down the main street here," He pointed his thumb behind him "and take the third left, it's just after the shop with the large spool of thread on its sign."
"Thankyou, kind sir" Elsa said while steering her horse towards the gate. "We'll be on our way."
"Welcome to Halleford" the guard said with a wave.
Anna smiled at him and mouthed "Thankyou!"
As they passed the gates, they were greeted with the scene of a typical town. Children ran everywhere. There were clothes hanging from the windows above them, and the streets were lined with shops and stalls. The buildings were mostly made of wood and brick were sporting countless numbers of chimneys that were spewing black smoke from their top, filling the town with the intoxicating smell of fire and warmth. They rode along the dirt rode under the midday sun with children running all about them, calling out to them. Mothers were busy washing clothes or running errands, while men were seen walking wheelbarrows or tending to stalls. They turned left at the third street, and saw the large sign that had a spool of thread on it. Next to the clothing store was a two story wooden building. Windows lined the outside walls, with patrons leaning out and drinking. The smell from the kitchens was infecting even outside, and the trio could smell roast meat from where they were sitting on their horses. The words "The Maple and Shield" were painted in large gold letters on the outside. Tying their horses up, the three went inside.
They were greeted with a dim, candle lit room. The inn was filled with wooden tables and chairs, full of men and women drinking, eating and talking. Spotting a table in the back corner, the trio settled themselves and a young girl came up to them, setting a candle down on the table.
"What'll it be for you then?" she asked with a smile.
"Three ale's please, whatever's good" Kristoff replied before Anna or Elsa could even talk.
"Yes sir" the barmaid replied. "Won't be a moment"
As she was leaving, Kristoff turned to the girls who were offended and the lack of Kristoff's questions as to what they would like. "I couldn't have you asking for wine, we're in an inn, and you would be disgusted by the stuff they have here."
"And why's that?" Anna asked, incredulous.
"Hm, maybe it's because you're a princess?" Kristoff shot at her.
"Kristoff!" Elsa said. "We're just travellers, remember?"
"Oh yeah, we are, aren't we? Sorry." he mumbled, apologetic.
"Eh, it's not like anyone heard us," Elsa said, looking around the dim room at the different people that littered it. There were old men with long, grey beards, busty women who were sitting on men's laps. There were dark skinned men and women whom Elsa had never seen before. Guards who had just come off of their shift walked in the door.
The girl came back at that moment with 3 large tankards in her hands. Steel was overflowing with foam, and Kristoff tossed her 6 copper coins after she had put them down on the table. The barmaid caught them with her deft hands and slipped them in her pocket.
"If you'd like anything else, just let me know." She said with a wink to Kristoff. She turned and left, swaying her hips as she walked.
"I already hate her." Anna said as she picked her mug up and inspected it. "Are these safe to drink from?"
Kristoff chuckled. "You've been eating deer and boar for the past month, and you haven't changed clothes in the same time, and you're worried that the mug you're about to drink ale from is dirty?"
"Hm, I guess you have a point!" Anna giggled. "Bottoms up!"
She held her drink up to toast and noticed that Elsa wasn't paying attention. Lowering her glass, she looked at Elsa, whose eyes were looking into the distance.
"Elsa?"
Elsa snapped back to attention and looked at the two. "Yes?"
"Still with us? What's up?" Anna asked with worry lacing her voice.
"Oh nothing, just zoned out for a bit, that's all!" Elsa replied calmly. "To us!" she exclaimed.
"To us!" Kristoff and Anna replied, shoving their mugs together.
A/N I just wanted to say sorry for taking 4 months to do anything on this at all. And I'm sorry that this isn't that much, I just didn't want to write more tonight. It's just fluff I know, but I wanted to get something out there to let the 15 people who actually like this know that I haven't died! Thanks!
