in my fifth chapter in my Frozen fanfiction 'This Icy Force Both Foul and Fair Has A Frozen Heart Worth Mining', Kristoff and his loyal reindeer, Sven, get ready for bed when they are met with by none other than Princess Anna of Arendelle, herself. the fifth chapter of 'This Icy Force Both Foul and Fair Has A Frozen Heart Worth Mining' is one-thousand-six-hundred-ninety-two words long and is definitely one of the long(er) chapters of the fanfiction.

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 this entire fanfiction. the plotline of my fanfiction was originally written by another blogger on this website by the penname of classicdisneyFTW. at least, I admit to this sort of thing and give credit where credit is due.

I pulled out my old lute and began to strum. After getting ripped off and thrown at the trading post, I figured my old lullaby Sven and I always sang together as kids, 'Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People', should have sufficed. Granted, I was nine when I made it up and thought I had to add an 's' at the end of every word, hence the title, but it still soothed us whenever things went bad for us.

Per usual, I started us off:

"Reindeers are better than people,

Sven, don't you think that's true?"

Then, I changed my voice for Sven to join in:

"Yeah, people will beat you and curse you and cheat you,

Every one of 'em's bad, except you."

"Aw, thanks, buddy," I said in my own voice. I continued to sing:

"But, people smell better than reindeers,

Sven, don't you think I'm right,"

I changed my voice for Sven to sing again:

"That's once again true for all except you."

I sang again in my own voice:

"You got me. Let's call it a night."

I changed my voice for Sven for what I assumed would be the last time that night:

"Good night."

I finished our duet with my own voice:

"Don't let the frostbite bite."

I lay down in the straw, ready for sleeping and dreamland.

Then, the barn door suddenly opened, surprising both of us. "Nice duet," said whoever opened it.

I immediately sat up, worried that it was Oaken or somebody related to him, come to throw us out of his barn. But, it turned out to be the young woman I met inside the trading post who was now dressed in the proper wintery attire. I also noticed that her hairstyle had transformed from a fancy bun to two pigtail braids, and she had a streak of white on the left side of her head among all of her semi-blonde red hair. Why did that suddenly seem so familiar to me?

I just ignored it and merely relaxed a bit when I realized it was only her. "Oh, it's just you," I sighed. "What do you want?" I asked her, wondering why she followed me into the barn.

"I want you to take me up the North Mountain," she told me.

Was she serious? Did she even know what was asking for? Why would I ever want to take her, of all people, up the North Mountain, of all places? I just lay back against the straw. "I don't take people places," I told her flatly, covering my face with my hat.

But, she did not quit. "Let me rephrase that," she said. Something hard and heavy suddenly hit me in the gut. It was a bag. "Take me up the North Mountain," she said a little more firmly than the first time. "Please," she included, probably trying to be polite. A closer inspection of the bag she apparently flung at me immediately told me that she was paying me to take her there with the rope and pick axe, both of which I had failed to purchase back at the trading post.

I looked at her again, cynically this time. She must have really wanted to go up the North Mountain if she purchased these items for some random stranger. She was probably also a bit crazy if she wanted to go to the North Mountain in the first place because I tell you, even making it halfway to the North Mountain at all was no picnic, especially for someone with little to no experience whatsoever with the mountainous terrain. "Look, I know how to stop this winter," she claimed.

I knew she would not make it on her own after seeing her in just a ball gown inside the trading post. I had lived in those mountains basically all my life, I definitely knew I could easily help get there… but that would mean an extended amount of time with her. I was not sure I would be capable of handling it. I told you my thoughts on women before. Still, if she really knew how to stop the sudden winter like she said she did, my ice business would get right back on track. I did not want to look too eager to help her out, however. I needed my required sleep, anyway. Knowing that, I lay my head back down on the straw. "We leave at dawn," I told her flatly and dryly. "And you forgot the carrots for Sven," I finished, grinning that she got something wrong.

But, judging by the bag she flung at my face, of all areas on my body it could have been, it looked and felt like I spoke too soon when I said she forgot Sven's carrots from the store. My left cheek was throbbing after getting hit by our favorite snack. "Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she said, probably realizing she threw the carrots at me with too much force. But then, she caught herself, quickly cleared her throat, and straightened herself up, trying to appear as if she were in command. "We leave now," she said in a much firmer, more authoritative, and significantly deeper voice. "Right now," she finished off. Then, she turned and headed back outside the barn with her head held high.

I merely stared perplexedly after her. I took a carrot out of the bag she chucked at my face and handed it to Sven, then took a bite of it myself, still staring cynically after her. I was not normally the type to do exactly what people told me to do, but we could leave right when she said so. I figured that if we left right then and there, my ice business would get right back on schedule.

The sooner we left, the sooner we could head for the North Mountain. The sooner we head for the North Mountain, the sooner we would arrive at the North Mountain. The sooner we arrive at the North Mountain, the sooner she could resolve whatever was the cause of this sudden, out-of-nowhere winter. The sooner she resolves the cause of this random, unexpected winter, the sooner my ice business could get back on track. The sooner my ice business got back on track, the sooner I could go back to making ends meet with my ice business. What could it possibly hurt, really? She was clearly quite determined. Besides, she kind of intrigued me for some unknown reason.

So, I loaded up my sled yet again for our journey ahead to the North Mountain. I unhitched the blocks of ice I harvested at work and left them behind the barn. There went a hard day's work. Still, it was not like a journey to the North Mountain was a walk in the park that we could reach in just an hour. I knew I had to make sacrifices for the journey ahead as soon as I agreed to it. Those heavy ice blocks would do nothing for that journey except slow us down.

"I'm Anna, by the way," my decidedly female traveling companion said from behind me as I loaded up for our little excursion.

"Kristoff," I said flatly as I finished loading up. "Kristoff Bjorgman."

Then, Anna went up to Sven. "And who's this?" she cooed at him. That actually got me to turn around and look at her. She scratched him under his chin with a happy little smile on her face. Sven seemed equally pleased by Anna's attention. He grunted in pleasure at her and raised his chin so she could scratch more ground with ease.

I brought Sven over to the front of the sled after grabbing his harness and I hooked him up. "This is Sven," I told her.

Anna smiled sweetly. "Hi, Sven," she said. Sven snorted his hello at her. I just continued attaching his harness to my sled, ignoring their little bonding moment.

After some silence, I started wondering if this girl really did know how to end this sudden, unexplained, random winter. I trusted that she had because why would she have made such a stupid claim, bought supplies from a trading post for a random stranger, and recruit said stranger on an expedition to the North Mountain if she did not? Still though, what was this mysterious winter even about?

"So," I finally talked to her about this winter. "What's with this sudden, out-of-nowhere winter, anyway? What happened?"

She heaved with a heavy sigh. "Well it was my sister," she told me. Her… sister. OK then, she probably should expand on that if she could. "See, she has these strange snow powers or ice powers or both," she said. "I don't exactly know which one it is. I only just discovered them today at her coronation…" she said.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up. Her sister's coronation? Her sister is the queen, but I'm fairly certain that would make my new traveling companion the…

"Hold on a second," I cut her off. "Are you telling me that you're the princess?"

She looked at me as though this were the most normal news in the world. "Well, yeah," she said.

OK then, I was apparently escorting the princess of Arendelle to the North Mountain, now. Nice. Fantastic. That would explain the gown she wore at the trading post earlier when we first met. It also explained why she was able to afford the supplies I failed to purchase there. A few seconds after the initial shock of the news wore off, I simply accepted it. She wanted to go to the North Mountain with me, I say so be it.

I finished tying Sven's harness to the sled, hopped into the seat, lit the lantern hanging from the front, then finally grabbed the reins. "Ready to go?" I asked her.

"I'm ready to go," she replied, smiling brightly. Then, she climbed inside the sled next to me.