9
Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven made their way to the Valley of the Living Rock, the home of the rock trolls as she sought the wisdom of Grand Pabbie whom she trusted immensely, after all it was his guidance that sent them to the Enchanted Forest to find the truth about the past, which saved Arendelle.
However, he was also the one that took her childhood memories away, but Anna knew he was only doing what he thought was right for her parents at the time. Her hope was that he had some knowledge of Hans and whether he thought it was a good idea to pursue the truth about him by inviting him to Arendelle and try to find out what turned him into the monster he became four years ago.
"I'm sure Pabbie will be able to help." Said Kristoff to reassure her.
"I hope so honey, I know this is difficult for you, the whole Hans thing, but I have to find out," replied Anna.
"I know, Anna, as I said before, my love isn't fragile and you'll have me there to protect you this time."
Anna looked at him lovingly, "I know."
"You will have me too." Came Olaf.
Anna turned to Olaf and smiled, "I know you will Olaf."
"Plus, you will have Elsa," started Kristoff, "if I were Hans, that would be very intimidating, especially now she has the wind, fire, water and earth with her ice magic."
"Yes," replied Anna, "though, as you said last night, I don't think there would be any act of true love to help Hans if Elsa gave him a frozen heart."
"You can say that again," responded Olaf, "though one must wonder if there's a heart there to freeze."
Anna and Kristoff nodded in agreement with an affirmative "hmm."
After about two hours they finally reached the home of the trolls. Kristoff jumped off his sled first and helped Anna down, then assisted with Olaf, with both of them giving Kristoff a polite thank you.
It was unusual for them to visit the trolls during the day as they were mostly nocturnal, but there were certain occasions which required it and to Anna, this was one of them.
"Grand Pabbie," enquired Anna, "sorry to disturb during the day, but I need your wisdom."
With that the rocks in the valley began to stir forming a circle around Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven.
"Kristoff's here" cried out Bulda as she embraced him with all the other trolls. "Anna, Sven and Olaf as well."
The trolls embraced all of them with genuine affection and love.
"Any children yet?" she enquired which immediately made Anna and Kristoff blushed
"No not yet," laughed Anna.
Then Grand Pabbie came rolling towards them and emerged to stand in front of Anna.
"Your Majesty, how can I help?" he said.
"I'm hoping," began Anna then she stopped, thought and then continued, "it's about Hans Grand Pabbie."
The mention of Hans shocked Grand Pabbie, "why would you want to talk about him Anna?"
"Because," started Anna not sure of herself, she took a deep breath, "because when I went to Ahtohallan with Elsa Grand Pabbie I saw his life as a young boy and a young man and it was very disturbing, even sad you could say, he was bullied by all of his brothers who accused him of killing their mother and his father was far from supportive."
Grand Pabbie paused, then put his hands in the air to try and form an image like he done in the past.
"This will be difficult because Hans isn't connected to Arendelle other than his betrayal of you and Elsa so I'm not sure my magic will be able to show anything."
Grand Pabbie tried to form an image but it was just a blur but suddenly something cleared and an image of a teenage Hans appeared with a pen in front of a blank piece of paper.
"I'm not sure what I'm seeing here Anna," he started, then they saw Hans write down one word on the piece of paper, 'revenge.,' then the image faded.
That disturbed Grand Pabbie who turned to Anna.
"I assume you intend to bring him to Arendelle?"
"Yes, I am Grand Pabbie."
"Then be careful Anna, I believe Hans's main inspiration for what he did might not have been just a grab for the Arendelle throne but also as some sort of revenge on his family, and a man with revenge in his heart is always very dangerous."
"I understand Pabbie, but, if he does come, he will be under constant guard and Elsa will also bring some of the Elemental Spirits with her as extra protection."
"That's good Anna, but revenge is something someone does not give up easily and if what you say about Hans's childhood is true, he will still be seeking revenge on his family and probably you and Elsa as well. The only hope for him if there is any is to try and redirect his heart onto another path and that is much harder than curing a frozen heart. A heart full of revenge and hate cannot be cured by an act of true love and is the most dangerous thing in the world."
"I understand Pabbie, but how does one redirect a heart like that?"
"That is a question that can only be answered when you find the answer, if you get an answer at all. A heart like his will take you down many false paths towards what seems redemption but it will twist your attempts to try and find another path in order to gain its revenge. I will help as much as I can, because even though a person like Hans seems like an unredeemable monster, if there is a chance of redirecting his heart, then we need to try and find that answer."
"What if we can't find an answer Pabbie?" asked Kristoff.
"Than, Hans is lost, and you need to banish him as far away from Arendelle as you can."
"Thank you Pabbie and we will follow your advice as I know I can trust you." Smiled Anna.
"This will be the most difficult thing you have ever done Anna; this will bring back strong emotions for you when you see him again, you are going to have to be stronger than you have ever been before."
"I know Grand Pabbie, I know."
"Grand Pabbie," started Kristoff, "do you think he'll come?"
"I have no doubt, anyone with revenge in their heart will never pass up a chance at a second chance of getting it."
"That's what I'm afraid of," replied Kristoff, "I will keep Anna safe; I promise."
"Anna, Kristoff, be careful, a person with revenge in their heart will try and manipulate you and turn you against each other, that's what they do. Hans succeeded in completely fooling Anna four years ago, granted, and don't take this the wrong way Anna, you weren't as well versed then as you are now and you were desperate for love and attention as you had been starved of the love from Elsa that you cherish so much now.
Hans will lie, tell half-truths, and try and play with your emotions, he will be dangerous, but far from invincible. You do have the advantage of knowing who he is now, but he will also know who you are, I am sure he will be even more frustrated now that you are Queen Anna and not Princess Anna.
Remember, I will always be here to help."
"Thank you again Pabbie," smiled Anna, "I'm sure between all of us we can get the truth, and if possible, re direct Hans's heart, if he's got one."
"Oh, he has one Anna, but it is dark and from what you told me, sadly he's never truly experienced love, and as I said, it takes more than love to cure a darkened heart and, in many ways, Hans has to cure himself, but he will need help to do so and be shown a new path for his heart to follow."
"Well, that's going to make it difficult," smirked Kristoff, "where and how do we find a new path for him?"
"It will difficult Kristoff," answered Pabbie, "but not impossible, now if you will excuse me, I must get back to rest, as you know, we Trolls aren't use to the daylight hours."
"Thank you again Pabbie," said Anna, "we better get back to Arendelle too."
With that Pabbie rolled into a ball and rolled away, all the other Trolls, after saying their goodbyes did the same thing though the young ones were reluctant too as they were enjoying playing with Olaf and Sven.
In no time, Kristoff had hitched Sven back up to the sled and they began their journey back.
"So, what did Pabbie say?" asked Olaf.
"He told us to be careful Olaf, that Hans is still very dangerous because of what is in his heart." Replied Anna.
"Pffft," said Olaf, "I could have told you that, doesn't take any magic to see that."
Olaf paused, "Oh and just what is in Hans's heart?"
"Revenge." Replied Anna.
"Oh." Said Olaf, "now that I wouldn't have known, I just thought he was just a bad person with a bad heart, but revenge? Revenge for what?"
"It's hard to explain Olaf," started Anna, "but Hans didn't come from a loving family, he was treated very badly by all his brothers and his father was uncaring."
"That's actually sad," said Olaf.
"I suppose if it were anyone else, it would be Olaf, but he did what he did trying to get back at his family, because they constantly told him that he would never amount to anything being the youngest of thirteen brothers. They even mocked Elsa and I because of how we were separated and that's why he chose us as a target."
"Wait, what!" said a startled Olaf, "maybe we need to punch all of Hans's brothers in the nose as well."
Kristoff smirked, "Yeah, maybe we should."
"You know, I always thought Hans was just trying to steal the throne," started Anna, "which he was, but I would have never imagined that it was pay back against his brothers, I mean I even suggested his brothers come and stay at the castle, you know when I was all googly eyed and naïve about him and he just smiled enthusiastically. Wait, that was just before Elsa revealed her powers because we just asked for blessing for our proposed marriage."
Anna stopped looking perplexed at Kristoff, who just reached out and held her.
"I hope this isn't upsetting you honey, but it makes sense as to why he was so enthusiastic about his brothers coming to stay so he could rub their faces in it and show that he had made it."
"It's okay Anna," started Kristoff, "I know this is important to you and I will support you, but I will also be keeping a close eye on that creep to make sure he doesn't try anything again."
"Thank you honey" answered Anna as she gave him a kiss.
The journey back to Arendelle seemed to take shorter that than the trip to the Valley of the Living Rock. As soon as they returned Anna summoned Kai and together, they composed the letter to Hans requesting his presence at Arendelle at his earliest convenience. Kai was still unsure about this course of action but, Anna assured him with all precautions that would be taken.
Luckily, there was a schooner docked in Arendelle harbour that was due to leave that afternoon and the captain agreed to take the letter to The Southern Isles as he was already heading in that direction to his next port of call.
Anna stayed on the dock until the schooner undocked and watched it leave the harbour and disappear underneath the horizon. Now it was a waiting game to see if Hans would indeed agree to return to Arendelle.