"Okay, let me get this straight," Kristoff said as Anna tied a cravat around his neck while standing on a step stool, "Olaf is a human now? And he's in love with and marrying Princess Amelia?"

Anna untied the cravat and began tying in all over again. "Yes! Pay attention! He made a wish upon a falling star and then Amelia kissed him with a true love's kiss, so he got a double dose of magic, it seems,

"None of this seems even the least bit odd to you?" It was difficult talking to someone who was alternately choking him while trying to help him dress for the occasion.

"Humph! Please with everything we've experienced in the past couple of years, everything that has gone on with my entire family, this is becoming more the norm, I think. Besides, who are you to say one way or another? You were raised by trolls. Anyway, there's rumor that King Eric of Saxondelle married a mermaid. "

"Point taken. So I'm his best man and have to wear this outfit?" Anna held a tie pin in her mouth. "Mm. Hmm!"

"Olaf is human!" He was having a difficult time grasping the entire concept. "And he's getting married?"

"Didn't we already go over all of this? Again, pay attention!"

"Wait, wait, wait. Can he even do the things husbands to with their wives? I mean, does he have the equipment to perform his duties, or is he like a Hilde and Jørgen doll?"

Anna stepped down to inspect her work. "Oh, he's definitely got all his bits and pieces. Everyone got a good look at them the morning after he became real."

"Wait, what? You saw Olaf's 'bits and pieces?" You haven't even seem mine!"

A mischievous grin spread across Anna's face, but she didn't say anything. "We've got to get to the chapel!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him at a frantic pace toward the chapel.

It was a simple wedding, especially by royal standards, but then it was decided that it was best so as to not invite too many questions. Even though he once looked at Elsa as a mother-figure, Elsa and Anna considered him more a brother. As such, Elsa bestowed upon him the title of Duke Olaf of Snowden. When he arrived in Genovia with his wife, he would be known as the adopted brother of the the Queen and Princess of Arendelle.

Kristoff stood as best mad, and Anna was Amelia's maid of honor. Celia weakly watched from the bride's side of the church, while Elsa happily witnessed from the groom's. When the priest declared them husband and wife, there were cheers when Olaf kissed his wife. It was all over very quickly.

Before anyone knew what had happened another week had passed, and Olaf was boarding a ship with Queen Celia and his new wife to a new life in a far away land. He left both of his "sisters" with warm hugs to remember him by and promised to write frequently. Then he promptly tripped up the gangplank, causing his new wife to laugh at his antics.

Queen Celia stayed behind for her own goodbyes. She looked so frail and weak, standing on the pier, still yet her eyes had the fire of life within them. She knew that there would be battles to forge when they returned over Amelia's marriage to Olaf, and she wasn't about to let go until they were won. They all knew that where she was concerned, this was goodbye forever.

Tears brimmed Elsa's eyes as she hugged her friend one last time. It was odd knowing that she would never see her again. It made her think of when her parents left for their final, fateful voyage. She had been afraid to hug them goodbye. Of course she hadn't known that she would never see them again, and she didn't know… well if they'd all known then what she knew now.

Celia, somehow sensing everything racing through her friend's mind grasped her hands and told her, "Remember Elsa, life is not a burden that we must bear, but a gift to cherish. I have heard you say over and over again, the past is in the past. Put it in the past, Elsa. Live your gift!"

As the ship sailed out of the fjord, Anna ran off to find Kristoff in the village. So much sadness and grief fueled her need to be around people who were happy and joyful. Elsa had other things in mind.

It was still early in the day, and she didn't have anything official planned for the day. She did have plans though. She needed to spend some time alone. She needed think, to process everything in her mind. She needed to put the past in the past once and for all in order to do as Celia told her and live her gift.

She made her way through the stables, past Anna's fjord horse, Loki, stopping a moment in front of a tall, ebony shire horse with white markings. It was James's horse, Argus, who had been lame when James departed, so he left him home to recuperate. Just rubbing the stallion's nose made her feel closer to him, and just then she needed to feel that closeness. She left him a moment in order to giver her Friesian, Kari, an apple and rub on the nose. "Not today, Kari. I promise to take you for a good run tomorrow. I know you're itching for one." She turned back to Argus, saddled him, and told him. "I heard from the stablehands that you're leg is healed and that you need a good exercise. I don't think James will mind, but I just feel like taking you today."

Elsa rode Argus up the mountainous terrain she had once traveled like an animal fleeing captors. Then, her soul was spiraling all around her. She had tried so hard to keep her powers hidden and couldn't do it. She felt like she was letting down her parents, yet it was so freeing at the same time. Everyone knew. There was nothing she could do to change that. Fleeing in fear, she left her life behind but honestly felt too relieved of the oppression to grieve what she had lost. She wanted to test what she could do, because for once she was finally free. Or at least that was what she thought for that brief time before Anna had found her, and all her worst nightmares started to come true. She accidentally, fatally struck her sister again, then was hunted and captured like the monster Hans told her not to be. In truth, she had been just been running from reality, and reality came crashing back down on her at her ice palace.

That was where she was headed, her ice palace. She hadn't been there alone since she had created it. She, Anna, and Olaf had even convinced Marshmallow to come live near the castle so that he wouldn't be alone all the time. He still mostly kept to himself in the hilly, rocky areas, but he was near if they needed him, or if he just wanted to see his family. So, the ice palace was left desolate and empty.

When she and Argus reached it, she once again saw the scars of the battle that had ensued between the Duke of Weselton's men and her. Alone, she toured the castle, remembering the joy she experienced when creating it. It had been intended to be a place of refuge and of beauty. It became more a monument to everything that could go wrong when she let fear control her. Like when Rapunzel left her tower, Elsa knew that after living the life she had since The Great Thaw, and especially after all of the bad things that had happened there, she could never feel any sort of joy or freedom there again. It was time to say goodbye to all of things of the past that haunted her and to live and cherish her gift. It was time to bring down her ice palace.

She exited the palace, finding a cliff where she could watch from a distance. She closed her eyes, "The past is in the past," she told herself as she lifted her arms to melt her palace of ice. "Let it go!" she cried. Knowing the dry summer and autumn had left the land parched, she allowed it to slowly melt, creating a waterfall and stream that ran down the North Mountain. That was when she heard a call for help.

It came from where the stairway had been. It was a man's voice. No, it had been James' voice. Quickly she raced to where thought his voice came from to find nothing but the rushing river. Her fears were better confirmed when she saw Kari hitched to a tree next to Argus. She glanced downstream and caught sight of an arm reaching out of the rapids to grasp hold of anything. Panicking, she did the only thing she knew to do and froze the stream to keep him from washing farther away from her.

His hand was still reaching out of what was now ice. She ran to it, grabbed it, feeling the life fading from it. "No, no, no, no, no!" she cried out. Fear was icing over her heart once more. So wracked with fear was she that she couldn't melt the ice that now encased him. She knelt down to his hand, held it to her cheek, and caressed it.

"James, you can't leave me now! You can't leave me like this! I love you!" She kissed his hand, and the ice began to thawed. Still grasping his hand, she pulled him to safety, waiting for him to breathe.

Nothing happened. She his face, finding it cold and washed with her tears. Thinking the worst, she kissed him gently on the lips. A hand caressed Elsa's back, then grabbed it to pull her away. James then rolled over to his stomach, expelling his lungs of the water that almost drowned him.

"James?" Elsa called.

Once he was able to breathe clearly again, he turned to face her. "Elsa!" She grabbed his face, kissed him again but with passion, joy, and relief all balled up together. When she finally pulled herself away she asked him, "What are you doing here?"

He laughed, his emerald eyes sparkling in the sunlight. "You stole my horse!" The he pulled her into his arms and resumed kissing his queen.

Ok. So, I'm thinking that this is a good stopping point. Oh wait, maybe this is only like the half-way point of the story. Hmm… I'm not sure. What do you think?