Blodget's Bakery.

Maren glanced up at the wooden sign swinging slightly in the breeze and chuckled to herself. As many times as she had visited Arendelle—and probably as long as she would continue to visit in the future, she would never get over some of the strange customs of this culture. A bakery, she had learned, made all kinds of absurdly sweet foods that usually made one feel sick after eating them. Why one would willingly imbibe substances that would knowingly make them ill was still a mystery to her. Apparently many Arendellians enjoyed this? She did not. Elsa's sister was one of those who partook regularly in eating these sweet things and she was mysteriously immune to the ill effects of them. Chocolate in particular had been hard for her to understand at first. Both Anna and Elsa loved it, yet to her it had looked something akin to the stool that came out of a reindeer, and she could not get past that even after she'd tried it. A smile crept across her lips at remembering how Elsa had giggled when she had nearly spat out the chocolate she and Anna had been so excited and insistent she try. To her, it had tasted as disgusting as it looked. Are you ok? Elsa had asked in that concerned quiet voice of hers, to which she managed a nod and swallowed the offensive substance. Anna was trying desperately and failing to hold in laughter and then offered: Sorry, we didn't think anyone couldn't love it.

She smiled and shook her head as her thoughts turned to Anna. Anna, Elsa's shorter goofier half—sister to the woman she was falling in love with, friend, and now queen of Arendelle. The girl who had been the only constant source of love and support in Elsa's life—and for that, she said a silent thank you to Anna. Like it was with Elsa, so she had a similar soft spot for Anna right from the start. Her first impression of this gangly red headed girl had been endearment—Anna had struck her as a grown child. The way she clung to and followed Elsa protectively around everywhere she went as if the sun rose and set on her, was strange to witness at first, but oddly endearing. It reminded her of how Ryder used to follow her around, albeit when they were much much younger. Nonetheless, the love Anna showed for her sister with her actions alone spoke volumes about her person. It wasn't until Elsa told her the whole story of their upbringing that she gained a much clearer understanding of Anna's extremely attached and protective nature. In retrospect, even the way she had arbitrarily pointed a sword in the wrong direction that first time she'd seen her, had been humorously childlike. The sword was too big for her body and it was clear she didn't know what she was doing with it. Perhaps, much like the kingdom she had just inherited. Yet to her credit, she still tried—the girl was brave and determined, much like her sister, and she had to hand it to her. Without Anna, and of course Elsa, she would still be trapped behind the mist in the forest.

Maren stopped her feet on the empty cobblestone streets and turned around. Towering in the distance against the twilight sky, loomed the shadowy silhouette of the castle, where right now Anna was probably greeting Elsa enthusiastically. What would they talk about, she wondered? Would Elsa talk about her? Would she tell Anna about what had grown between them, that it had become more than friendship? She knew either way it would put Anna in a bad position. Among the other customs of Arendelle she did not understand, the biggest one was their basic denial and general intolerance of same sex relationships. It apparently went against the accepted religion of the realm—so much so that people were supposedly afraid if it—which was just strange. She had grown up with it being perfectly normal—had seen firsthand how beautiful it could be—so why would a religion that knew nothing about it shun it so indiscriminately? It made no sense. Yet Anna was now leader of an entire people who followed and accepted this religion, and yet the person she loved most was in supposed direct violation of it. That could cause a lot of problems for her, and the last thing she wanted was to cause the sisters more trouble. Especially Anna who was still finding her feet as a new ruler.

Yet, knowing Anna as she did, and knowing how much she loved Elsa—her gut instinct felt that Anna would not be off put by the news that she and Elsa had developed feelings for one another. Anna's cheerfulness always seemed to increase the happier Elsa was, and this should be no different. But then again, Anna had grown up here like Elsa—and she had seen first hand how uncomfortable Elsa had been just holding her hand in front of Yelena. Perhaps she really didn't know how Anna would react. Well, she wouldn't push it, she would wait and follow Elsa's lead and see how she chose to handle it with Anna. She did hope though that Elsa would find some way to tell her, even if they had to keep their relationship quiet in Arendelle for now—she did not want to be the cause of secrets and rifts between them.

Looking up from her thoughts, she realized that her feet had carried her to the outskirts of town. The sign above her read Oaken's Pub and, taking one last glance at the castle in the distance, she went inside. Upon entering the familiar place, the smell of ale, cooked food and noisy chatter of rowdy men hit her immediately. One man strummed a lute at a corner table as others sang with him. Some played cards or were wrestling arms over a table filled with mugs of ale. This place, she had come to realize, was situated on the outskirts of town as it was the main pub that the ice harvesters and woodsmen frequented. This also meant that for once in Arendelle, she did not really look out of place—aside from being the only female there.

'Mare!' A voice called excitedly from the chaos. 'Mare over here!' Her eyes found her brother sitting at the front counter, ale in hand waving her down like an excited five year old. A smiling Kristoff sat next to him and gave her a smaller wave as she walked over to them. Ryder jumped off his stool and pulled her into a vice grip hug, forcing the breath out of her.

'Mare I'm so glad to see you, I didn't know you were coming!' Ryder smelled like ale, and even for him this was overzealous affection. He was drunk.

'It was sort of last minute… Ryder I can't breathe.'

'Oh, oh sorry. Sit sit!' He released her and slid over a seat so she could sit between himself and Kristoff.

'Hi Maren.' Kristoff said as she sat down, a guilty look on his face. He had ale in his hand as well but appeared mostly sober. 'He's only had three, really, I'm keeping an eye on him.'

'Excuse me, I don't need either one of you keeping an eye on me thank you.' Ryder said with a hint of a slur in his words as he pointed between her and Kristoff—spilling some of the ale from his mug on his hand. Maren locked eyes for the briefest moment with Kristoff before returning to Ryder. 'Mare, have a drink with us just once, please, c'mon this stuff is great! I can't believe I went my whole life without trying it!'

She had tried it. Once, and it tasted abhorrent. And if drinking it would cause her to start acting like Ryder was just then, she would rather not.

'Björn!' Ryder was now waving at the man serving drinks and food behind the counter. 'Björn, I want you to meet someone!' A large muscular blonde man turned towards them, who she had not seen before but assumed must be said Björn. He was at least as tall as Kristoff—maybe even bigger, and he had very soft kind blue eyes and facial features to match. His hair was cropped short at the sides, but on top it had grown longer and was pulled back into a tiny bunch at the back of his head. 'Björn, this is my sister Honeymaren—most people call her Maren or Mare but you can call her either and can you bring her an ale?' Ryder hadn't paused for a breath in that whole sentence and she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

'Maren, will be fine.' It came out more stern than she had intended and she wasn't sure why, so she softened: 'No ale thank you, please.' She said and glared at Ryder who looked pouty and defeated. She continued to stare at him, waiting to be introduced.

'Oh, Mare, this is Björn. He works here sometimes, his dad owns the place and he helps out. His dad also owns this amazing trading post out in the woods—that's where I've been staying. You should see it! I've been helping out there too in exchange for a room. Oh and when he's not working here Björn's an ice harvester like Kristoff—these two have been showing me the ropes.' He playfully leaned over her and punched Kristoff in the arm.

'It's a pleasure.' Björn smiled and reached out a hand to her. He was very mannerly. Which was out of place amongst such a rowdy group and his niceness annoyed her for some unspecified reason. She reached out her hand, which was nearly swallowed entirely by his as they shook.

'Nice to meet you. I hope my brother hasn't been too much trouble.' She smiled and nodded her head to the side. Björn released her hand and his eyes flicked over to Ryder and back to hers. A small smile formed over his lips.

'No not at all.'

Well he was certainly a person of few words and she was having a hard time reading him. This also annoyed her. And the way his eyes kept flicking over to Ryder was not lost on her.

'Can I get you anything else?'

'No, thank you.'

'Kristoff?'

'I'm good, thanks.'

'Excuse me then.' Björn said and hurried off to a table of men clanging their empty mugs on the table. She turned to find Ryder staring after Björn with this strange faraway look in his eyes. She snapped her fingers in front of his face.

'Hey. What's going on here?' Maren prodded. Ryder blinked and returned to reality.

'Mare. I think I'm in love.' Ryder whispered dramatically so that only she and Kristoff could hear. She blinked a few times to make sure she'd heard him correctly then turned briefly to look at Kristoff who just looked at her and took a sip of his ale.

'I'm sorry, what?' She asked, returning to Ryder.

'Mare. Do you know that they think it's weird here for same sex people to be together?' He whispered it so loudly he might as well have shouted it.

'Yes, yes, I do know that. Keep your voice down. Are you trying to tell me that you and Björn…?'

'Mare it's like, I've always had these feelings right—you know this. But when I met Björn it just felt so right, d'ya know what I mean?'

Of course she knew. But she was still entirely blindsided by this whole ordeal and was having trouble formulating her thoughts.

'Does he… does he feel the same way?' This was the most important thing. If Ryder had a crush on a man in Arendelle who did not feel the same way, she was afraid of what could happen.

'I hope so.' Ryder said wistfully, staring off into space.

'For what it's worth,' Kristoff chimed in, 'I've known Björn most of my life, he's a great guy—I know his father really well too, and Björn definitely swings the other way. His dad does too.' Maren gave him a puzzled look. 'Likes men, they both like men.'

'Right.'

'Listen, I know this may not be the norm in Arendelle but I was just telling Ryder before you got here that it's not strange to me, and personally I don't have any problem with it. Neither does Anna. I grew up around the ice harvesters and if I'm being completely honest, most of them swing the other way too, they just aren't public about it.' Kristoff stated. Neither does Anna. Neither does Anna. A surge of excitement ran up her at those words—she would need Kristoff to elaborate on that later, but not now.

'Mare, what do you think of him?'

She glanced over to where Björn was pouring ale to a group of men. He seemed nice enough, and he was definitely handsome but she really didn't know a thing about him. 'I think, I would like to get to know him better. But, he seems very polite.' She paused, reconsidering her words. Ryder was a grown man now, even if he didn't always act like it—and he deserved to figure out his own way just as she was doing, without her worrying in his ear. 'Ryder, go for it. I saw the way he was looking at you. Just be careful and be happy.' At that he practically tackle-fell off the stool onto her and pulled her into a hug, kissing her forehead.

'Woop, ok.' Maren braced as Ryder slumped onto her. He clearly did not have the means to fully stand back up on his own. Kristoff grabbed him under the arm to pull him off of Maren and another hand had grabbed Ryder's other arm to steady him. She looked up to find hulking Björn standing there with a concerned look on his face.

'Here, help me take him to the back so he can lie down.' Björn said to Kristoff. They slung Ryder's arms around their necks and hauled him away around the counter and through a doorway to the back of the pub.

'I just love you guys.' She heard Ryder's slurred voice echo as they carried him off. All she could do was stand there and watch stupefied.

She finally sat back down. So Ryder had a thing for an Arendellian man. Alright, fine. She had a thing for an Arendellian woman—yet why did the prospect of Ryder involving himself with an Arendellian man worry her so much? Because it wasn't safe, that was why. At least she and Elsa were not living in Arendelle so it was somewhat less risky—and Elsa was royalty, no one could tell her what to do. But an average Northuldran man showing feelings for an average Arendellian man—well, she didn't want to think about all the ways that could potentially go wrong. One thing was for sure, her instinct to check on Ryder had been accurate, only this is not at all what she had foreseen happening this night.

After a time, two of the three men returned—Kristoff sat back down next to her and Björn returned to the other side of the counter and started wiping it down.

'He's asleep—he can stay here while I finish up, if that's ok. I'll take him home after, I have a wagon.' Björn offered.

She scrunched her brow, not sure what her answer should be. Did she trust this man she had just met that clearly had some kind of feelings for her brother, to safely deliver him home? He certainly seemed nice enough, and Kristoff seemed to trust him which was something, but this was such an odd situation.

'I think that would be fine—Maren?' Kristoff prodded, clearly sensing her hesitation.

'Sure.' She found herself saying, unable to formulate a better solution. 'Thank you.' Björn nodded and smiled.

'Can I walk you back to the castle?' Kristoff asked as he stood, apparently ready to leave. She was more than ready to leave herself.

'Sure.'

'Thanks again. See you tomorrow buddy.' Kristoff clasped hands with Björn who nodded.

'Ryder talks about you so much, it was great to finally meet you. I'm sorry I couldn't spend more time talking with you all tonight.' Björn said to her with a sad smile.

Her abject stupor had finally started to dissipate. Perhaps she could trust her brother's welfare to this mannerly blonde man. 'It's ok. Another time. And thank you for taking him home.'

'Not a problem, I'll see you both again.' Björn looked pointedly at her while he spoke.

She waved and followed Kristoff to the door where he had opened it for her.

'You ok?' Kristoff asked once they were out into the quiet night air.

'Yeah—yes. Yes, I am. That was just a lot to take in.'

Kristoff chuckled. 'Yeah, but you know they are really into each other. I've been with them every day practically, I can see it. And Ryder is doing really well for himself here.'

'He's really happy here isn't he.' It came out a quiet statement that she already knew the answer to, more so than a question.

'Sure seems like it.'

'What did you mean before, when you said same sex relationships didn't bother Anna. Is she really ok with it?'

'As far as I can tell yes—and Anna isn't really known for keeping secrets.' Kristoff chuckled. 'She just loves love, period. When people are happy and in love, then she's happy. She doesn't really question it. Especially when those people are people she cares about.'

'That's—really, well I'm not surprised. But do you think it will cause any problems for her, to support it as queen of a nation that largely opposes it?'

Kristoff's brow furrowed. 'What I know, is that Anna goes to battle for the things she cares about and believes in—that's one of the things I love most about her. Will there be trouble if she openly supports this? Maybe. And I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that scares me for her. And maybe she doesn't need to openly support it just yet—but when her mind is made up there is no changing it—queen or not. She's stubborn.' Kristoff chuckled. After a moment of silence: 'Why are you so interested in this?'

'Just… for Ryder, you know. I'm worried about it all. Especially if he's going to stay here.'

A long pause. 'Is that the only reason?'

'What do you mean?'

He shrugged. 'Just wondering what side you swing with. Where you're from this is not exactly taboo I gather.'

This caught her off guard, but after witnessing how Kristoff had handled the earlier events of the evening, there was no reason not to tell him. 'I'm attracted to women. Always have been.'

Kristoff nodded, but didn't seem surprised. 'Women in general or just one woman in particular?'

She stopped walking and turned to face him. 'What?'

He stopped walking and shrugged again. 'I've just noticed that you and Elsa spend a lot of time together, that's all.'

She blinked, unsure how to respond to this. Had they really been that obvious? Or was it just because Kristoff knew Elsa so well. Either way he was insinuating that he suspected something—something that was definitely true. She wasn't sure she could come up with a cover story quickly enough. Then suddenly: 'It's ok, I won't say anything to Anna.' He was smiling at her.

'But, how did you…?'

'Well,' He started walking again and she followed suit. 'First of all, I was raised by mountain trolls. I don't know what you know of them, but they are considered love experts by many—among other things.' She had heard of the mountain trolls that resided in the valley of living rock, but she had never seen them and knew next to nothing about them. 'You see, they can sniff out love before the people in love even know—and this I learned how to do from them. Besides, I've known Elsa over three years now and I have never seen her spend personal time with anyone other than Anna. Until you. It was pretty clear to me.'

Another long pause. 'Do you think Anna suspects?'

'No. She's—she's been dealing with a lot of other stuff lately.' Kristoff's voice had a sad tone attached to it suddenly.

'Is she ok?'

'She will be.' He smiled and deflected her question. 'I'm really glad you and Elsa came back though, I think she really needs her sister's support right now.' Maren smiled at that.

'Elsa really misses her. And worries about her all the time.'

'I know. Anna's the same way. What are we gonna do with those two.' Kristoff smiled and shrugged.

She chuckled and shook her head in return. Love them was all she could think, but she didn't say it.

The courtyard was upon them suddenly and Maren couldn't believe they were back at the castle already. They walked together in silence through the entrance hallway and up the stairs. Once at the top, Kristoff turned towards Elsa's bedroom and Maren stood at the top of the stairs watching him with a puzzled look. He nodded his head and gestured for her to follow him over. She said nothing, and walked over to where he stood as he knocked gently at the door. They waited a beat, but got no response. Quietly he opened the door so that he and Maren could poke their heads in. What she saw was a room scattered with clothes, papers and empty food trays. Her eyes followed the mess over to the bed where she saw both sisters fast asleep. Anna was nestled in Elsa's arms, with Iduna's scarf wrapped around her. Elsa had fallen asleep half sitting up, her arm draped protectively over Anna. They looked like two young innocent girls sleeping soundly—curled around each other as if their lives depended on it—they did not, in that moment, look at all like two queens who held the weight of the world on their shoulders. Maren couldn't help but smile at the sight.

Kristoff shut the door quietly. 'She's been in there for days.' He said sadly. 'I haven't been able to get her to take a break, maybe Elsa can.'

'I'm sure she will.' Maren said with a sad smile. So, Anna had been more overwhelmed than either of them had thought—Elsa's instinct to check on her had been correct also.

'So I'm pretty sure I drank my dinner tonight and now am starving, are you hungry?'

'Actually yes. I'm starving.' Maren chuckled. She hadn't eaten a thing since this morning.

'Come down to the scullery, I'll make us some sandwiches before bed. Sandwiches are Anna's favorite so I know how to make no less than twenty different kinds.' He smiled and this caused her to laugh outright.

'Ok, deal.'