Everyone besides Heins had already gone to bed by the time Anna and Kristoff returned to the camp, hands clasped together, looking flushed and with more than a little spring in their step. Heins had to look away to hide his grin at their obvious embarrassment, but as Anna went to lead the way into her tent (thoughtfully set up by Ciri several hours previous), Kristoff stopped. She looked back at him, questioning. He whispered something into her ear and she nodded, going into the tent on her own with a parting kiss on the cheek. Heins watched this all with a vague interest. Maybe he wanted to sleep in his own tent still, despite it looking like they had made up- at least for the most part. If that was the case, Baldur owed Heins a few coins.

The interest turned to a leaden feeling of dread as Kristoff bypassed his own tent (cynically set up by Leila several hours previous) and approached where Heins was keeping vigil over Elsa. They had not spoken more than a sentence to each other since first reuniting, and the meeting before that ended with Heins knocking Kristoff out and hiding him in a pile of leaves. He paused, looking down at Elsa with a tender expression.

"How is she?" he asked, kneeling down and putting the back of his hand on her forehead, then cheek. "She doesn't feel like she has a fever, at least."

"She's okay, I think," Heins said, eyeing Kristoff warily. He was more aware than ever how much larger than him Kristoff was. "She hasn't woken up yet, but she hasn't seemed to be in much pain. She lost a lot of blood."

"Thank the gods you got there when you did," Kristoff said. He took one of Elsa's hands for a moment, giving it a gentle squeeze, then straightened up, his eyes still on Elsa. "She'd be dead right now if not for Elsie. I can set a bone, bandage a cut, but… this? She'd have had no chance." Heins nodded, still uneasy. Kristoff's gaze locked onto Heins's. "That was a cheap shot, you know that?"

"W-what?"

"Hitting me with that damn rock," Kristoff said, his eyes boring into Heins's. "That really hurt, you know."

"Uh- I-" Heins stammered. Kristoff's tone was flat, and his glare was unreadable. "I mean, you started it." It sounded immature even before he said it, but he was withering under that stare from the mountain man before him.

"And I still have a scar where you ended it."

"Yeah, well…" Heins faltered. There was no point in getting defensive. "I am sorry, for what it's worth."

"Yeah, me too," Kristoff sighed, and the intimidating presence he had been exuding faded away almost at once. Then he grinned. "It's really good to see you, Heins."

Heins let out a long sigh of relief. "It's good to see you too, Kristoff."

"You have questions." This wasn't a question, and it was accurate.

"Tons."

"Well," Kristoff said, sitting down opposite Heins with another weary sigh, so that they could talk without neglecting their watch over Elsa. "It's a long story. Most of it's not mine, but I can give you the basics." Heins nodded and settled in to listen, interrupting only rarely to ask a clarifying question. Kristoff spoke of magic spirits and ancient civilizations, of desperate flights from the Empire and of epic confrontations, of two sisters reuniting and a chance encounter with an orphan girl, and that young girl in the grey dress that had brought them all back together.

"So let me see if I've got this right," Heins said at long last. He thought for a moment, then began, "We need to overthrow my brother and restore the kingdoms. But in order to do that, we need to find the Temples to the Air and Earth spirits so that we can get their power and 'unite the four'. But in order to do that, we need to translate this book that Anna found. But in order to do that, we need to find someone in the Empire who can translate Ancient. All while a mysterious ten year old, who can play with space and time at will, might I add, manipulates us for unknown ends?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Sounds perfectly straightforward."

Kristoff laughed. "Tell me about it." He straightened up and stretched. "I'm going to bed." He started away, but then paused and turned back. "When I first saw Anna, she set me on fire in anger. When Elsa wakes up…" He trailed off ominously. "Well, good night!" With a wave and a cheery smile, he went into Anna's tent.

"Asshole," Heins muttered. Elsa wouldn't do anything to him, he was sure. Right? But then again…

He sat down again next to Elsa three minutes later, with two more layers and three blankets next to him. Just in case.