the fourth chapter of my Frozen fanfiction 'This Icy Force Both Foul and Fair Has A Frozen Hearth Worth Mining' and it's all about when Kristoff first meets Anna at 'Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna'. needless to say, it's an encounter that turns against Kristoff while he tries his hardest to avoid just what happens to him. it's also worth one-thousand-eight-hundred-eighty-five words of pure storyline.
disclamation: I do not own Disney's Frozen in any way, shape, or form other than on Bluray and DVD. I also confess to not even owning the storyline of my own fanfiction. this fanfiction's plotline was originally written by another blogger on this website by the penname of classicdisneyFTW. I may be copying a few of the details, but at least I admit to this sort of thing, and I did come up with a few my own words meshed into the storyline.
By now, you are probably wondering what all of this has to do with my first night with my adoptive family, the trolls, and how exactly that night going to come back and slap me across the face. Well, I will get to that eventually. I promise, you will know when you and I reach that point in the story.
I finally got into 'Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna', as it was apparently called. I slammed the door behind me and shook off of my body all of the snow and ice crystals I could manage. And yet, I remained mostly covered in the stuff since I was basically pelted by it before coming to this place. Still, I kept my scarf over my face and just went further inside.
The place was completely empty except for me, the owner behind the counter, and a young woman dressed in a fancy, formal gown who did not look all that much younger or older than me. She looked like an aristocrat or something. It would have explained why she was wearing nothing but that fancy, off-shoulder dress in weather conditions as horrendous as this snow storm. Not even wearing at least a cloak for those exposed shoulders of hers? What was she thinking? Was she crazy or something? An aristocrat like her had no business being in a blizzard like this. She probably would not make it through the night. Aristocrats knew nothing about mountainous conditions.
"You and this fellow," Oaken, the owner, said from behind the counter. "Hoo-hoo, big summer blowout," he said, holding up a bottle of what looked like some sort of cream.
Yeah, thanks but no thanks. I was not interested in the summer stock since it was no longer summer outside, so I just ignored him. I saw a whole bag of carrots under the front counter and moved towards them only for the young woman to inadvertently stand in my way in discomfort. I realized I would have to get by this uncomfortable young woman in order to reach my intended target. I looked at her, but she just leaned away from me. I saw that I would have to use my words if I wanted her to move out of my way. "Carrots," was all I said to her through my ice-covered scarf about her standing between me and my ideal stock.
She suddenly seemed confused about what I said. "Huh?" she asked me.
I realized I was going to need to point out that she was in front of my ideal purchase. "Behind you," I told her.
She looked behind her and saw the carrots I asked for. "Oh, right," she said, finally catching onto her position of being between me and my intended target from below the front counter. "Excuse me," she said, scooting out of my way of the carrots. I picked up the carrots and plopped them down onto the counter. Afterwards, I immediately got over to the trading store's winter stock and grabbed the rope and a pick axe I noticed over in that section.
Oaken turned his attention in my direction after seeing me covered from head to heel in ice and snow. "Oooh, a real howler in July, yes?" he said in the same jolly voice from before that kinda annoyed me. How could anyone be happy in this weather? "Where ever could it be coming from?" he asked me.
"The North Mountain," I answered flatly. Granted, I did not know that was where it came from for sure, but that blizzard that almost blew me, Sven and my sled all the way to the next kingdom over did seem to me like it was coming from the North Mountain, considering it blew in from the north. So, I could only conclude that the North Mountain was its area of origin.
"The North Mountain," the young woman whispered, repeating my words.
"That'll be forty," Oaken said as I placed the ice pick and the rope atop the counter next to the carrots.
"Forty?" I repeated his price incredulously. "No, ten."
"Oh dear, that's no good," Oaken replied. "See, this is from our winter stock, where supply and demand have a big problem."
Was this guy for real? Tell me he was not for real. I had bigger problems to deal with than this. An example of those bigger problems being that if this random winter did not end soon, I would be out of a job. Ice was always hardest to sell during the winter months which was the reason for that particular bigger problem of mine. "You wanna talk about a supply and demand problem?" I asked flatly. "I sell ice for a living," I told him, gesturing out the window at my now frozen-over sled and ice blocks to demonstrate my point.
"Oooh, that's a rough business to be in right now," the young woman just chuckled at what she had said about my line of work. "I mean, that is really…"
I shot her an unamused stare through my ice-covered scarf. I already knew my ice business was in danger. The last thing I needed at that moment was for her to remind me and rub it in my face, thank you very much.
Her face dropped immediately after that. "… that's unfortunate," she said after clearing her throat. That's. More. Like. It.
"Still forty," Oaken said. "But, I will throw in a visit to Oaken's sauna." He pointed to a nearby door and waved at it. "Hoo-hoo. Hi, family," he said to the people behind it.
"Hoo-hoo," a small group of people said, waving back through the other side of a steamy window.
Yeah, like a visit to a sauna was going to be helpful, at all. I felt this way about the leftover summer stuff, and I feel this way about going into the sauna, too. Thanks, but no thanks. I am so keeping my eyes on the prize(s). I have goals to accomplish.
I decided to fall back on my business tactics. Some of the people I dealt with in the past were won over through sympathy. I decided to give the tactic of sympathy a try. "Ten's all I got. Help me out," I said desperately. I hope my old sympathy tactic can work on someone like Oaken.
But, I was very wrong about that. "OK," Oaken said, pushing the carrots forward. "That will get you this and no more." So much for the tactic of sympathy. I frowned at Oaken through my ice-covered scarf. I could see I needed to use a different tactic.
The young woman, however, suddenly spoke up to me once again. "OK, just tell me one thing; what was happening on the North Mountain?" she asked me. "Did it seem… magical?" she suddenly seemed eager to talk to me which was quite a contrast from when I first walked in.
It was not like I wanted to discuss it with her, though… at all. Granted, she guessed right about what happened on the North Mountain seeming magical, but I still was not interested in talking to her. Annoyed with all of her sudden questions, I pulled down my scarf from my face and frowned at her. "Yes," I told her in an attempt to get her to stop with the questions. "Now back up, while I deal with this crook, here," I told her.
A mere five seconds later, however, I suddenly realized that I probably should not have called the owner of the store at where I was shopping a crook for more reasons than just being considerate. As soon as I called him that, Oaken got up from what I finally realized was a sitting position and I am telling you the truth when I say that Oaken was tall. I am not exaggerating, either. If I am telling anything even close to a lie, I am sugar-coating the truth. When I say he was tall, I meant that he was probably a mere three to four six inches shorter than even the ceiling of his own trading post. My eyes widened at this sight and I slightly gulped.
Oaken then stared down at me looking not quite angry, but more hurt and a bit offended. "What did you call me?" he asked. Yep, that was one the very stupidest mistakes I could have ever made in unchecked anger and annoyance. The next thing I knew, Oaken picked me up from where I stood. I tried to apologize to him on our way out, but got thrown in the snow head first for my insult, instead. "Bye-bye," he said in his same jolly voice he had before I offended him.
I sat up afterwards, sputtering snow out of my mouth. I could not believe that Oaken threw me out. He did not strike me as the type of person who did that sort of thing, nor did I think he was so apathetic. Then again, I also did not realize how excessively large and tall he would be, so what the hey did I really know about him, if anything at all?
Then, Sven came up to me and started to sniff me in hopes that I got his carrots. "No, Sven, I didn't get your carrots," I told him, a little bit ashamed that I failed to purchase even the carrots. He grunted at me in disappointment. "But, I did find us a place to sleep," I told him, trying to sound as upbeat as I possibly could. "And it's free," I told him, gesturing to the barn that was probably owned by Oaken. That's right! I wanted to stay there for the night. It was both for the purpose of getting back at Oaken for throwing me out of his store just for calling him out on his inflated prices and for mere shelter from the surprise cold of this unseasonal snow.
I changed my voice to speak for Sven. "I see you're still as cheap as you've always been," I said for him.
I just chuckled at Sven's comment, though. "Easy for you to say, buddy," I said for myself in my real voice. "You weren't just thrown out by the owner of that store there."
I changed my voice to speak for Sven, again. "Alright, let's hear it, Kristoff," I said for him. "What'd you do, this time?" I asked myself on Sven's behalf.
I guess Sven was onto what I did to make Oaken mad enough to throw me out of his trading post before I could purchase even the carrots. "What? I didn't do anything… except maybe call Oaken a crook for raising the prices on his winter stock to an outrageous amount," I confessed.
Once again, I changed my voice for Sven. "Just like I thought. Same old Kristoff," I said for him.
"Let's just get into the barn to stay for the night," I told him flatly.
Sven and I set up in the barn, on a sack of straw. Now, this really was just like old times.