Anna had hoped to make a better third impression. She had hoped to present herself as a good potential friend. Someone who could be relied on, trusted, confided in. Who could handle all manner of situations and certainly could manage any complications that might arise from an unusual person with an unusual identity potentially sought after by multiple kingdom leaders masquerading as unassuming, ordinary castle staff.

But alas. There she stood, half dressed, frazzled and rushed, her room a mess before the sun was even up. In times like this, her mother had always said, when things had not gone the way you had planned, it was important to keep smiling. As long as she could keep smiling, apparently, everyone else would follow her lead. Relaxing. Knowing everything was going to be okay.

'Elsa!' Anna held her arms up as though going in for a hug. She knew better than to actually lunge at the girl, 'I'm so glad you came up here!'

Elsa cocked her head, almost smiling but not quite, eyebrows slightly furrowed as the unspoken words hung in the air: it wasn't like she'd had a choice.

Okay, so they were back to the wordless thing.

'I'm sorry about the timing! I'd planned to give you a tour, before anything else, but I guess it's going to have to wait.'

'It certainly is,' Gerda patted the chair and began to gather up hair-pins and brush. 'I know the meeting is last minute, but you still mustn't be late, dear. Did you see, we received some new guests in the night?'

'No?'

'Hm.' Gerda began pulling, pinning, hurriedly transforming the orange bird's nest on Anna's head into something presentable. 'Whatever's come up certainly must be...out of the ordinary.'

'Yeah…' Anna relished the opportunity to sit for a moment. She'd barely been briefed on the meeting, only that it was urgent, and a few foreign representatives would be there. It wouldn't be a war, surely? There were protocols for that. There had been no horns blown or bells sounded. The castle hadn't been garrisoned, there were no soldiers mounting horses in the courtyard, no navy spilling out into the fjord. 'It must be.'

Elsa stood awkwardly in the corner, still as a statue, eyes fixed on the two of them like a prey animal watches its predator, waiting for the coast to clear.

Such bad timing. Such very bad timing. Such was the nature of politics.

'Is it alright if you just...hold tight in here for the morning, Elsa?'

'Uh- I-' Elsa's mouth hung open. One would think she'd just been asked to marry a stranger with that kind of reaction.

'I won't be long. Just make yourself comfortable. Have some tea!' The teapot sat steaming on the dresser, untouched. 'It'll be cold by the time I get back, anyway.'

'Okay.' Elsa seemed more on edge here than she had seemed down in the dungeons. It made no sense. Was she not pleased to be freed? Or was she scared? Perhaps somebody had said something bad about Anna…

No. That was just paranoia. She wouldn't indulge it. This was just a minor hiccup, and a lot of change for Elsa, and everything was going to be just fine. Just fine! Anna was rapidly transforming into someone presentable enough to sit by her father's side and perhaps even say a few words. Gerda worked quickly and quietly, finishing up Anna's braid, handing her a dress-cloak for good measure, and it was unclear how much she actually knew. Half a servant's job, after all, was knowing more than they should and pretending to know nothing. Anna had learnt that the hard way.

'Come on then, dear. You're running late already.'

And they were off. Elsa's awkward face - one eyebrow raised - out of site as the door closed. Shoes tapped down the hall as Anna tried to ready herself mentally for the meeting ahead. But how could one prepare for something without knowing in the slightest what that thing was about? Her mind was stuck on one thing. The strange, beautiful girl waiting awkwardly in her room. 'So, my new assistant, what do you think of her?'

Anna and her father had given an explanation, last night, to the castle's most senior staff. Elsa was apparently a "troubled orphan" who was found tagging along with a group of bandits. Only freshly recruited and not yet hardened by a life of crime. And Anna, the dear sweet idealist with her dear soft heart, intended to "rehabilitate" the poor girl. It should be easy enough to believe, after all, the princess was fond of second chances and never could resist a down and out. It had often been joked that she'd spend half the nation's coffers filling up the hats of the homeless, unable to just walk on by pretending not to notice a fellow human being in need. She'd attempted to rescue more than one mangy street cat, motherless duckling, even an abandoned wolf pup, still half-blind and suckling at anything furry and slightly resembling a teat. And of course, she'd insisted the crown offer employment to the street-urchin reindeer-boy who was always helping her with these crazy endeavours. A project would keep her out of mischief. And a human being wouldn't tear up the curtains, defecate on the rugs or bite anybody. At least, one would hope not.

Most of the staff ate it up. But Gerda...well, it was always difficult to tell with her. Anna often had a sense that the old woman secretly knew everything there was to know of the castle's activities, and just played along for the benefit of those around her.

Tapping. Brisk steps. They were running late after all.

Finally Gerda spoke, 'I hope you know what you're doing, Princess.'

So do I, thought Anna.

II

'So it's not a war, then?' Kristoff stood slouched against the stable wall, absentmindedly scratching the space between one of the reindeer's ears. They all looked the same, to Anna, the smelly creatures. Funny, and sometimes adorable, but they did truly make a stench to be reckoned with.

'Well, it's as good as! A new alliance. A new king. A vague new ideology. They've revitalised their whole economy, in like, three months! And raised tariffs on half the Eastern Region. The only way they could have done it that fast is if they're revving up for war.'

'Wait, which kingdom are we talking about again?'

Of course, it was over his head. Kristoff was good at what he did, but he was no politician.

'Am I going to have to join the army? Because I'm really not suited to group living-'

'No.' Anna interrupted. She needed to get her thoughts straight. The surprise meeting had really thrown her. 'No, you're not. You're too valuable as a tracker.'

'And an ice harvester?' Kristoff's eyebrows waggled and he grinned, crooked and humble in that simple, rugged, honest way of his. It was moments like that when Anna thought, maybe, possibly I could like you. The way I'm supposed to like Hans. If I tried really, really hard.

'Sure.' Anna said, but she didn't really mean it. Ice harvesters were replaceable. A good tracker, however, was indispensable. 'With the winter coming, Arendelle would obviously plunge into chaos and anarchy without your service.'

Kristoff shrugged, 'It might.'

Anna repeated, only half sarcastically, 'it might.'

One of the reindeer was nuzzling Anna's ear. She leaned into it, enjoying the affection, tolerating the smell. There were only a few kept down here, specifically for the trackers. The most advanced of them preferred reindeer over horses. They were smaller, lighter, and better suited to the snow and rocky terrain.

'Anyway, I'm guessing you didn't come down here to brief me on international relations.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Anna brushed his arm with her own hand, squeezing lightly on the wrist. It wasn't that she meant to manipulate him. After all, he knew as well as she did that she had very little say in who she was going to be dating, let alone marrying, even if she ever did like him in that way. Men just made it so easy, sometimes. A smile held for an extra second, or a light touch in the right place, and they softened like clay in the water.

'Anna, with all due respect,' a pink flush spread over Kristoff's cheeks, 'you're a busy woman. I'm a busy man. Usually when you come all the way into the stables at 10am on a weekday to find me, it's because you want something.'

Anna held her palm over her heart in an overdramatic, mock gesture of offence. Her mouth hung open - that part was genuine. Perhaps they weren't all that easy to manipulate.

'Just what are you suggesting about me, Mr Bjorgman?'

'Hey, look,' he continued, 'don't get me wrong. I like our little side quests. Gets me out of boar duty, and that's always worth risking life and limb to rescue some critter-'

'It's nothing crazy this time!'

'Oh yeah?' Kristoff crossed his arms, eyebrows raised, a picture of scepticism. 'That's what you said last time, and I'm still finding hedgehog spines in places where the sun doesn't shine.'

'Nothing like that, I promise! I just need some advice.'

'Oh! Well, fire away. I've been known to drop a few nuggets of wisdom in my time. Isn't that right, Sven?'

As though prompted by Kristoff's hearty slap on the shoulders, the reindeer looked blankly to Anna, and back to the rugged man who stood puffed out with pride.

'Not from you, silly! From your family.'

'My...family?' Kristoff's voice dropped. He looked over his shoulder, though there was nothing behind him but a few hay bales, water troughs and reindeer in their stalls. Anna was one of the select few who knew about Kristoff's...unorthodox childhood. Trolls, like any magical creatures for that matter, were regarded with morbid fascination at best and outright hostility at worst, even in a relatively benevolent kingdom like Arendelle. She hadn't even said the M-word and already the air was stifling, thick with paranoia. 'I'm guessing you're not in need of some love advice by any chance?'

Anna shook her head.

'Is it urgent?'

Again, Anna shook her head, 'No. No, we have time. There's an artifact, I was hoping they might know how it works-'

'Shh!' Kristoff cut her off, 'keep your voice down, okay? Look. I'm heading up there next Saturday. I guess you could come along-'

'Oh, thank you!' Anna threw her arms around him, squeezing his hard body. Without even seeing him, she knew he was rolling his eyes. But it didn't matter. His presence was a comforting one. For all his odd, reclusive, stinky, reindeer-loving ways, Kristoff sometimes felt like the closest thing she had to a real friend.