Kristin brought her pile of supplies to the front counter.
"That'll be forty, ja?" Oaksan said.
"Forty?" Kristin barked. "No, ten."
"No, see, these are from our winter stock," Oaksan told him. "Where supply and demand have a big problem."
"You want to talk about a supply-and-demand problem?" Kristin asked. "I sell ice for a living!"
Andrew walked over to the counter and smiled at Kristin. "Ice. Really?" he said. "That's a rough business to be in right now."
"Forty," Oaksan repeated. "But I will throw in a visit to Oaksan's sauna. Hoo, hoo!"
Kristin and Andrew both peered over Oaksan's shoulder to see a family waving from a toasty sauna in a room behind her.
"Ten's all I got," Kristin told him. "Help me out, ja?"
Oaksan held up the bag of carrots. "Ten will get you this and no more." Kristin glared at Oaken, seething.
"Just tell me one thing," Andrew said, moving closer to Kristin.
"What was happening on the North Mountain? Did it seem...magical?"
Kristin pulled down her scarf, revealing her face. She looked up sharply at Andrew. "Yes!" she shouted. "Now back up while I deal with this crook here."
Oaksan rose from her chair. She did not appreciate being called a crook. "What did you call me?" she said. She was much taller and wider than Kristin had expected. Oaksan loomed over the counter. Then, with a frown, Oaksan swiftly threw Kristin out of the shop. Kristin went flying out the door and landed on her bottom in a mound of snow next to Svea, who had been waiting patiently outside. Kristin pulled herself out of the snow.
"Ow!" she moaned.
"Goodbye!" Oaksan said pleasantly, and slammed the door. The reindeer snorted and moved over to Kristin, snuffling and searching in the snow.
"No, Svea," Kristin told her. "I didn't get your carrots." The hungry reindeer huffed in her face. Then Kristin turned her head and spotted something that made her brighten. There was a barn behind the trading post—a warm place to spend the night.
"But I did find us a place to sleep," she added. "And it's free." Back in the shop, Oaksan returned to her other customer. "I'm sorry about this violence," she told Andrew. "I will add a quart of lutefisk so we have good feelings." She looked over at what he had selected.
"Just the outfit and the boots, ja?"
Andrew looked at his supplies, and then over at the bag Kristin had left on the counter. He smiled as an idea occurred to him. Shortly afterward, Andrew left Oaksan's shop and looked around. He could hear singing coming from the barn. He pushed open the door quietly and peered inside. Kristin was lying against a bale of hay, playing her lute. She was singing to her reindeer...and then, singing as Svea, she finished the song from the reindeer's point of view. "Ahem." Andrew cleared his throat. When Kristin looked over, he smiled.
"Nice duet," he said.
"Oh, it's just you," she said when she saw Andrew standing in front of her. "What do you want?"
"I want you to take me up the North Mountain," he declared.
"I don't take people places," Kristin replied. She closed her eyes and lay back in the hay.
"Let me rephrase that," Andrew said. He threw the sack of supplies he had just bought over to Kristin. They were exactly the items she'd wanted.
"Umph!" she grunted as the heavy bag landed on her chest.
"Take me up the North Mountain," he ordered.
Kristin regarded him carefully. She was not used to taking orders. And she especially couldn't see any reason to follow Andrew's. "Look," Andrew said. "I know how to stop this winter." Kristin hesitated. If the cold weather stopped, she might be able to sell her ice down in Arendelle again.
"We leave at dawn," she said finally. "And you forgot the carrots for Svea."
Andrew dropped a bag of carrots on Kristin's face. "Ooh!" she said.
"Oops, sorry, sorry," Andrew said. Then he caught herself. He was trying to take charge, after all. "We leave now," he declared. "Right now!" Kristin looked over at Svea and offered her a carrot. Svea took a healthy bite. So did Kristin. They looked at the stranger before them as they chewed. They both knew he had no clue what was ahead.
Preview of the next chapter
Kristin held the reins tightly, steering Svea and the sled through the thick, heavy snow.
"Wait," Kristin said. "You got engaged to someone you just met that day?"
"Svea! Go! GO!" The sled took off and Andrew fell backward. He saw glowing eyes in the darkness all around them. "What are they?"
She sighed. "Wait up," she called to Andrew in her normal voice. "We're coming."
YES! PEOPLE I am not dead! sorry for not updating yesterday I had an exam, and when I updated the last 2 chapters I didn't study enough soo..yeah sorry
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