A/N: the third and final part of the Fire and Ice chapters of my story. keep in mind, that this will be my last chapter in this fanfiction of mine until the rest of my version of classicdisneyFTW's 'Worth Mining' is finished on my computer. that of which could be a long time with my schedule.

disclamation: I don't own Frozen in any way, shape, or form. all the rights of ownership are reserved for the folks of Disney Animation Studios.

Needless to say, I came up short, stunned and defeated. There was absolutely no right answer to her question. When could I have possibly, appropriately, danced with the princess of Arendelle? Or any princess in the world for that matter?

Somewhere in my brain, there was a version of me that was as crazily optimistic as Anna was. And what was he doing? He was fantasizing about running off with her, starting a family with her in a cabin somewhere in the woods, dancing by firelight every night and writing songs about her. My rational self kicked this newfound romantic side of me in the groin until he shut up.

I realized that I had disappeared into my own head at that very moment. I had emerged to find her distressed and nervous at my response, or rather lack thereof. I hurried myself to come up with a response. Any response at all. "Well, we can't here," I began. "But… if your prince doesn't mind, I'm sure I could teach you to dance like that when we get to our destination."

What was I saying? Was I insane offering to teach her to dance in front of the trolls? Sure, they were nice enough and meant well… but, when it came down to their restraint, it was barely even there.

"Prince?" she asked. Then, she suddenly remembered who I was talking about. "Oh! Hans." That put an end to all that talk about dancing. But, something weird happened to Anna. Her face started to cloud over with something. What was that look on her face? Was that, dare I have asked it, uncertainty?

This conversation was very dangerous. We needed a distraction right away. "So, who taught you how to dance at balls and such?" I asked her. "Your parents?" I know I was trying to distract her from questioning her loyalty to her prince, but the outcome of it all seemed to drag the two of us right back to the conversation we had about dancing.

It might not have been the best distraction in the world, and maybe it was a gigantic step backwards, but she started to look relieved anyway. "No, not really. My parents were always so busy. I had tutors who taught me how to dance in ballroom, but even back then, I was a dreadfully clumsy kid. I had far too much energy to get my feet to do what they were supposed to do," her voice suddenly took an anxious, rambling quality to it.

She also seemed as though she could barely even breathe between her sentences. "I drove my tutors crazy! And not even one of them dared to get too attached to me, out of fear of impropriety, I guess. But, it was always the most frustrating thing ever to me. I mean, princesses need friends, too! Especially after…" she stopped dramatically and maniacally changed her mood once again. "My parents died at sea," she said suddenly.

Even in my social awkwardness, I could easily tell that she was trying to make her voice sound light. "They left for a short visit to the Southern Isles. I wished them goodbye when they left. I guess I didn't realize soon enough that it would be the last time I would ever see them again. So, it was just me and Elsa, which of course meant it was really just me."

"I know," I told her.

She reacted suddenly to it. "Oh, right. I bet everyone knows, don't they?" she asked me. "I keep forgetting that being the princess of Arendelle means, right away, that people I've never even met before probably know everything about my life. And yet, here I am unloading my entire life story onto you. I'm so sorry… if I'm a little awkward, I promise you, it's because I've been locked up my whole life in my castle. Or maybe that's just how I am," she laughed again, playing it off.

It was my turn to be sincere at that moment. "You're not awkward," I said softly as she bit her lip uncertainly. "You're perfect. Hans is a lucky guy." Her eyes widened slightly as a warm, rosy blush began to glow beneath the smattering of her freckles which were all across her nose and her cheeks.

I could not believe it. She blushed and that caused me to start blushing yet again. Acting on my desperation to hide it, I ducked my head and inspected the rest of the jerky. Then, I studiously pulled strands off of it like my life depended on it. It was not a good enough distraction for how I felt for whatever reason. So, I just stuffed the whole thing into my mouth. "Well, I'll fill the canteen back up before we go," I talked with my mouth full of jerky.

Then, I searched inside my coat for the canteen, patting myself up and down. Before I knew it, Anna held out to me the very canteen I was searching my coat for and I embarrassedly remembered that I had given it to her. Her eyebrow was raised with a shy, knowing smile pulling at her lips. "Oh, thanks. Sorry about that."

I poured the last of the water from the canteen down my throat in one swallow. Then, I searched for some clean snow to fill it up with. Then, I tucked it into its rightful place where my body heat was certain to render it drinkable within a few minutes. I heard Anna's teeth chatter from behind me. I tried not to think about what my body heat could have done for her. Or worse and more distressingly, what holding onto her would have done to me.

"We, uh," I started. Then, I cleared my throat, praying to the gods that Anna was not the reason why my throat already felt so dry all of a sudden even after I had only just drank almost the entire canteen down. "We better get moving," I was finally able to say loud and clear. "I wanna make sure that we make it in time for dinner. My friends can make a mean rabbit stew on days like these."

"That sounds heavenly," Anna said as she shivered a little. I extended both of my hands to her, and she gratefully accepted them. She then allowed me to pull her to her feet and guide her back to the trail. She then adjusted her cloak around her tumbling shoulders, and the scent of her hair and her clothing wafted towards me in the frigid air.

I was suddenly struck by a tremendous surge of fierce, fiery hope that Hans truly did deserve all of Anna's blind trust in him as a man. I knew I probably did not deserve her either, but still that did not ease the uncertainty I felt towards her trust in him. I mean, was he willing to sit by her side, listen to her talk and protect her from her own crazy ideas? Or was he just taking advantage of her desperate loneliness, her naivety, and her child-like optimism in order to gain influential access to her kingdom? I glowered at the very thought of something like that being the truth.

"What's wrong?" I suddenly heard Anna ask me. "Are you OK?" she asked further. It was then that I realized we were still standing together, and my hands were still gripping onto hers absently through our mittens. Even worse, there I was, frozen in place, still scowling at the jagged rock face over her as she stared at me with worry in her eyes. Per usual, her sweet, innocent, caring concern for my well-being gave me the warm fuzzies inside.

I chuckled bashfully. "Nothing. It's nothing," I told her. "Look! There's a game trail just ahead of us. It'll probably be much easier to walk on. You go first and I'll keep you on your feet."

Anna smiled at me once again. As soon as she turned to move forward, however, the scowl from before reappeared on my face. I was kicking myself within my own head, and I shoved my irrational self back into his corner where he belonged. Of course, I did not deserve her either. I had not bathed in several days, and my clothes and my skin were weather-toughened and rough. Sure, I could help her survive in the wilderness, but what good would I have been in a palace? I pondered what kind of women my people married; the type that was stern and practical in a world that was unkind to the unprepared. Then, I dared to compare them to Anna; full of dreams, innocence, and adventure to spare and completely unaware of the dangers that existed in my world. What kind of life could I have possibly offered to such a girl?

Ahead of me, Anna stumbled again and reached out for me. Luckily, my hand was already on her elbow, just like she already knew it would have been. Wordlessly, she turned to offer me another grateful smile before continuing forward. Over our heads, the Northern Lights danced across the sea of glittering stars that was the night sky and somewhere in his dejected corner, my romantic self breathed an appreciative sigh. It had been quite a day; one full of peril and triumph, beauty and tragedy, adventure and humor, fire and ice, fear and love.