Chapter 11

Common Bonds

Night was falling on the little band of rescuers, their first day of traveling fairly quiet and uneventful. They stopped twice to give Sven a rest and to hydrate their bodies. Kristoff switched out Elsa's bandages with fresh herbs and snow, but her wounds still looked pretty rough. They set up camp for the night in a clearing of large evergreen trees. Kristoff had only one tent and set it up in a matter of minutes. He threw a thick wool sleeping bag along with Elsa's herbs bad bandages through the tent opening and placed all of his stuff next to Sven, who was busy listening to Olaf who certainly thought there was enough to talk about from their day.

"You can have the tent Elsa," Kristoff said, timidly.

She raised an eyebrow. "What about you?" she said earnestly. "It's freezing out here."

He chuckled, "It really isn't that bad, I-I've slept in worse."

"Kristoff," she said, tilting her head. "I'm not going to let you freeze out here. There's plenty of room in there for two. I know you share tents with Augustus and Stefan." She tried to sound reassuring.

"That's different," he murmured. "Please, Elsa, the tent is yours."

She sighed in defeat. "Fine," she said, giving in. She saw the redness that had brushed across his nose and cheeks. "I'm sorry, Kristoff," she said. "I-I didn't mean to make you feel...uneasy."

His blush deepened. "No, no you didn't." he stammered. "It's just funny, I feel like...well I feel like I barely even know you."

She opened her mouth to protest, of course they knew each other. It had been over a year since he had first met the queen, but as she thought about it more, she realized he was kind if right. He had known her for a long time, but he didn't know her. The thought made her raise an eyebrow. She was about to be his sister-in-law, and the fact that he felt slightly uncomfortable around her was unacceptable.

Kristoff gathered a few small logs and started a decent sized fire to warm the tight area. He pulled up a bigger log and plopped down on it with a thud. He held out his hands trying to warm his fingers.

Elsa moved towards him, and motioned to the log. "May I?" she asked.

He looked up at her with a surprised expression, "Oh, of course." He began to stand up.

She placed a cool hand on his shoulder, keep in him down. "Don't get up, please."

He gave a slight grin and slid over, making room for her tiny frame. They sat in silence for awhile, both with their backs erect as if trying to impress one another. The fire's glow felt good on their cold skin as they listened to the calming crackling of the flames and watched the glowing sparks occasionally dance among the stars in the sky.

She gave him a side ways glance before breaking the silence, "So. What do you want to know then?"

He furrowed his brows, "What?"

"I mean about me," she continued. "You said you hardly even know me, and I think your kind of right." She smiled at him. "We've never really been able to just sit down and talk. Just you and I you know?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Well there was that one time we talked. You know when I asked your permission to marry Anna. We were technically alone then." He laughed.

She giggled along with him, "That's true." She felt a sense of warmth fill her chest, and it wasn't from the fire: It was from Kristoff himself. She could see why Anna loved him so much. Everything about him emitted warmth and love. Even his laugh alone was enough to cause her to relax and she let some of the tension from her back. It's not the first impression you get from just looking at him. But he was sweet and sensitive, and a perfect balance with Anna's loud personality. She was so proud and happy for her little sister. Her whole life was ahead of her and Elsa could see Kristoff in it, keeping Anna out of trouble and lifting her spirits when she's depressed. Elsa originally thought she would be jealous that her sister found a new love in Kristoff, seeing as how the sisters were just beginning to make up for all the childhood years of separation, but she wasn't. She couldn't be more pleased.

"I guess you're just always busy with things," Kristoff said.

Elsa frowned. It was true, she had become extremely busy with new shipments and learning how to run Arendelle, she barely had time to talk to anybody that didn't concern her duties as a queen. But in that moment she realized she needed to be more of a sister. Not only to Anna, but to Kristoff as well.

"Do you even like being queen?" The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. "Wait, that..that kind of came out wrong," he face palmed himself.

She smiled, not wanting him to fell bad, "No, it's okay. I did say ask away."

He looked up, "What I meant was, you just don't seem very happy, ya know? Always signing things and in meetings. You don't have a moment to relax. I-I mean I don't wanna offend you or anything. And I probably have no idea what I'm talking about right now, and sound like a total idiot, but even at dinners you still seem tense. I don't know, you're just so different from Anna."

"You're right," she couldn't help but agree. "I'm not like Anna." She couldn't imagine herself like her sister even if she wanted to. She didn't know how someone could be so naive and carefree all the time. But that was just it; Anna was carefree. She had no real duties or nothing to worry about like Elsa did. If she was jealous of Anna about anything it was that she had nothing to stress over and was free to do what her heart desires.

"You're also right about me being busy all the time," Elsa continued. "And yes, I do like being queen. I mean, I couldn't imagine myself as anything else since my parents died. I have my fathers reputation to uphold, and he did such a good job handling the throne." Her expression turned sober. "Sometimes I wish he was still here, so he could guide me and tell me what to do."

Kristoff shrugged, "I think you learn a lot by doing stuff on your own. If you're always told what to do, how would you learn to fend for yourself?"

She agreed with him again, "I see your point." She sat up and looked at him. "What about your parents?" she tried to ask tenderly. She knew he was taken in by the trolls at a young age, but he obviously must have had human parents.

She looked at his face as it turned blank and he gulped hard. "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "You don't have to answer that."

He shook his head, "No it's okay. It's just, I haven't even told Anna about them yet."

Elsa was slightly surprised, "Really?"

He shrugged, "She never asked. She just accepts that the trolls are my family. But yes, I did have parents. Well, a parent. My mother died when I was born."

"I'm so sorry," she murmured, guilt rising in her for making him talk about such a sensitive subject.

"Thanks," he replied. "As for my dad, he's the one who raised me until I was seven. He was an ice harvester of course, and I always went along with him on trips. He's the one who found Sven, all alone and orphaned. But one trip I didn't go with him...and he never came back. It wasn't long after that the trolls took me in and I became a part of their family."

Elsa couldn't help but feel sadness swell inside her. She couldn't imagine what it would have been like to lose her parents at only seven years old. "I'm sorry, Kristoff." she sympathized.

"Just don't tell Anna," he quickly added. "You know, when we find her. I'll tell her myself when I'm ready." He looked down at his feet.

Elsa put a comforting hand on his arm, "I won't."

Removing her hand to avoid anymore awkwardness, she cleared her throat. "So, um, anything else you want to know?"

"Hmm," he thought about her question for a moment. "What's it like having ice powers? I mean do you even like them?"

She shrugged. "I don't know," she said, honestly. "I've had them all my life. They can sometimes be...in the way. But it's a great stress reliever to shoot ice spears from my fingertips." She grinned at him.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," Kristoff said, warily.

She laughed, "Don't worry, I hate thinking about hurting anyone with my powers, especially since last year when...you know. I wish they weren't so destructive sometimes."

"They're not all destructive," he assured her. "I've seen you do some pretty neat things with them."

She held up her good hand and allowed a puff of ice and snow leap and dance from the palm of her hand to form her signature snowflake. "See," he said. "Now that doesn't seem destructive to me."

She threw the snow flake into the air far above their heads, and it brilliantly exploded into a million tiny crystals. Kristoff's eyes were full of wonder and they slowly rained down onto them. "I'll never get used to that," he sighed, looking over at Sven trying to catch on of the flakes with his tongue.

"Watch this," she said. She picked up a handful of snow from the ground, and with her twisted her wrist left and right, her magic compacting the snow until it became a solid ice figurine of a reindeer. It landed on the palm of her hand and she handed it to Kristoff.

His giant fingers pinched the little sculpture from her hand, his whole face shining with joy. "Ha! Check it out Sven! It a miniature you."

The reindeer got up from his spot by the fire and sniffed the little ice version of himself. He grunted a few times, the licked Elsa's face, approving of her work.

"Ugh," she said trying to hide her disgust. She wiped off her cheek with her cape. "Thanks, Sven."

Kristoff laughed, looking away from her ice masterpiece and back at her, "You know, I think we have more in common than I thought."

She half smiled, pleased that he thought the same as she did. "Me too."

They laughed into the night, forgetting for just a few moments about why they were really out there.