"Um... Elsa?"

Elsa turned around at the door. "Yes?"

"Can I... I mean... May I have a word with you, please? In private, I mean?"

She smiled. "Sure. Shall we perhaps go to my study?"

"Me too!" Little Iduna jumped up from the breakfast table. "I want to come, too!"

Elsa smiled down at her eldest niece and patted her hair. "Another time, dearie. Your papa and I need to talk."

"But I need to talk to you, too!"

"You need to finish your breakfast first," Anna reminded her daughter.

"But...!"

"Well, if it's that urgent...?" Elsa made a show of pondering the options. "Why don't you wait right here while you finish your breakfast, and when papa comes back, you come to me? After all, he was the first to ask; it's only fair that it's his turn first."

"Alright," Iduna acquiesced, and she sat down again at the table. "But don't be too long, papa!"

"I won't," he promised, before following his sister-in-law to the east wing of the castle.

"So what's the matter?" Elsa inquired once she had closed the door of her study behind him. And suddenly a warm smile lit up her face as she remembered. "Congratulations by the way!"

Kristoff however looked thoroughly puzzled. "Congratulations?! For what?"

Oh dear... Hadn't Anna told him yet...?! How was she going to...?

"Oh, you mean the baby!" A warm glow of happiness spread over Kristoff's features, and Elsa breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah," he continued with a big goofy smile. "I'm really happy about it. I've always wanted four kids, and that dream is pretty close to coming true now: a most wonderful wife, three, and soon four wonderful children..." He hesitated. "Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Have to talk to you about, I mean."

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Anna?"

"Yeah." He fell down on a chair and hid his face in his hands. "Oh man, this is awkward..."

Elsa couldn't stop her smile, but she took pity on him. "Let me guess: she wants you to talk me into finding a husband, getting married and starting a family."

"Something like that." He looked up. "How did you know?"

Elsa chuckled. "She already tried to convince me herself yesterday."

"Oh my..." Kristoff shook his head. "And we both know how darned dogged she can be once an idea has taken root in her mind. Especially when she is pregnant."

They laughed, as they happened to utter that last phrase in perfect unison.

And Kristoff sighed. "Maybe I should just take her away from here until the baby is born."

"Don't be silly," Elsa countered. "Arendal is her home. I'm sure she wouldn't want to have her baby anywhere but here. Besides, no matter where you'd take her, she's bound to hunt down every eligible bachelor and find some innocuous reason to send them over here."

"Probably, yes," Kristoff agreed. "But we can't have her harassing you in your own home for months either."

"I'll survive," Elsa assured him.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"She can be incredibly determined."

"I know. But I'll survive."

"Oh well." Kristoff chuckled bashfully. "I suppose the worst that can happen is that her efforts do result in you finding your true love and marrying him." He looked up in Elsa's now rather distant smile, and felt a sudden apprehension washing over him. What was it again that Anna had said...? "Elsa, can I... can I ask you something?"

"That's why we're here, isn't it?"

"What? Oh. Yes. Well. It's just that... Well, you see, Anna is rather worried about you, and of course she wouldn't have to be, I mean, you're a grown woman and all that and three years her senior to boot, but it's just something she said that..."

"Kristoff."

"Yes?"

"You're getting as rambling as she is. What is it you want to ask? Out with it!"

"Well..." A slight blush overtook him. "Anna mentioned something about you not wanting to marry. Is that... is that true?"

"Yes, it is." Said with such serene calm that it took a moment for Kristoff's brain to distil the actual message.

But once it did, his eyes widened in surprise. "Really?! You don't?"

"Want to marry? No."

He stared at her in disbelief, before uttering a bewildered, "Why not? Surely there's a true love for you out there as much as for everybody?"

"Maybe there is," Elsa granted him, folding her arms and turning to the window. "Only... I'm not everybody."

"Of course, you're the Queen of Arendal, but..."

"That's not what I'm talking about, Kristoff," Elsa pointed out before turning back to him. "The rational reason for my decision to remain single are my powers. They basically robbed me of my youth, and chances are considerable that I would pass them on to my children in one form or another. And I don't want to do that to my children. I don't want to subject them to similar experiences as I have had." She took a deep breath. "As for a husband... Kristoff, you must be aware that love and hate are two emotions that are strongly related. If I'd have a husband, I'm afraid that we'd get so involved, that in a moment of passion, I could kill him. I do not want to risk that."

Kristoff hesitated, but then he nodded. "I... think I understand."

"Good." She gave him a smile. "Now perhaps if you could pass that on to my dear meddlesome sister? I hold out little hope, but who knows – perhaps we can still nip this in the bud."

"Typical!" Anna ranted that evening. "That's my sister alright: shutting out everyone, including her own husband and children!"

"A hypothetical husband and children," Kristoff ventured to correct.

Anna ignored his interjection. Or maybe she hadn't heard it. "Always 'protecting' everyone, but oh dear, don't let them get close! How can she shut out her own husband like that?"

"Anna dear, she cannot shut out a husband she doesn't have."

"But don't you see? That's the point! She is shutting him out pre... pre..." She gestured for him to help her out.

"Pre-emptively?"

"Yes! Exactly! This is not to be borne, Kristoff. We have to do something. We can't let her ruin her own happiness!"

And Kristoff sighed. "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

But his thoughts went along an entirely different line. "Poor Elsa... May heaven help her in the months to come!"