Chapter 14: Fire in the Hall

On the day that Sfende was due to arrive, Elsa was escorted to the docks by a number of people, including her personal guard (not that she needed it), the newly appointed Western Kingdom ambassador (there had never been one), a few other assorted ministers (to keep everything in order), Kristoff and his reindeer (because of the next party to be named), and Anna.

Anna, who was ever curious, seemed very interested in the Western Kingdom and the visiting prince and couldn't seem to wait for him to arrive, but Elsa was occupied until the moment the Western vessel came into distant view due to the many issues that required her attention most hours of any day. Her ministers had put her up in the shipyard dock house in the intervening hours, fitting it for the royal labors of policy and review, though from time-to-time Elsa would gaze out of the window to see Anna nearly beside herself with anticipation – and Kristoff looking like he'd rather be anywhere but at the docks waiting for a prince to arrive.

Elsa wondered if Anna was aware of how Kristoff felt.

Finally, the ship arrived with its crimson flags and golden trim work and Elsa came to the edge of the dock to clear its pathway of anything that might interfere with its docking. During this time of year, the dock had a great deal of ice about it; she had to move large quantities of the stuff for the ship to port. She did not, however, stop the snow from falling, for she decided it was best for those visiting from the Western Kingdom to have the full Arendelle experience insomuch that it didn't present any danger to anyone.

The ship was anchored and secured, and the gangplank was let out; first came what must have been Prince Sfende's royal guard, arrayed in the same colors as the Western flag; crimson, gold, and some edging of black. To Elsa, they appeared harsh but well-disciplined. Afterward, flanked by what she assumed were advisors, Sfende descended the gangplank, his eyes searching for and finding hers immediately, and there was a recognition there, a certain surety — a confidence which had replaced much of his simmering anxiety. His eyes still burned as flame, but the fear had been all but extinguished; he held her gaze with the knowledge shared between them that they were more powerful than those that flanked them, and by far; they were gods walking yet unknown among men.

She briefly considered the wisdom of unleashing such unabashed power upon the world, but the moment passed as she lit up with a smile and approached Sfende with hands outstretched; he took her hands and bowed over them graciously, in deference.

"Thank you for guiding us safely into harbor, Your Majesty," said Sfende, and then he glanced askance at the men who surrounded him. "Some of my advisors didn't believe we would be able to dock during such a wintry time of year."

The advisors, at least some of them, had the humility to appear abashed, though she noticed others merely observed her with a reserved suspicion and distrust.

"Well, I suppose it must be seen to be believed," she replied with a smile. "I would never allow harm to come to your vessel in my waters, Your Highness."

"Hello!" chirped Anna, who was bundled in a parka against the cold.

"This is my sister, Princess Anna," introduced Elsa, and it was then that she noticed the members of the Western Kingdom were shivering to a man; even the guards, though they suppressed it as they might, trembled beneath the load of remaining unmoved by the cold. "Anna, this is Prince Sfende of the Western Kingdom."

"A pleasure, Princess Anna," said Sfende, subtly pulling his cloak more tightly about his throat.

"Please," intervened Elsa, before anything else could begin. "Let us move inside at once; I sometimes forget how unforgiving the cold can be."

-o-o-o-o-o-

After the prince and his entourage had been attended to in all the typical ways after a long journey, Elsa was to enjoy the benefit of a smaller interview between herself, Prince Sfende, her ambassador to the West - an unassuming, yet well-mannered fellow by the name of Vidar - and one of Sfende's ministers - a dark, thin, and shrewd-looking man named Ledfig - in her office. She noticed the fire in the hearth tended to blaze a bit hotter and wilder with Sfende nearby, and she wasn't sure if that was his intentional influence, or just the natural effect of his presence alone.

They were seated around the fireplace, the prince and his advisor upon the settee, and Elsa and her ambassador on two armchairs which flanked them and, outside of the glass double doors and beyond the reconstructed banister of her balcony, the sky was dimming into a grey, wintery twilight.

"If you would like," said Elsa, nodding between Vidar and Ledfig, "You two can begin drawing up some preliminary documents for proposed trade and alliance between our countries."

"The king will need to review them we're done, of course," said Ledfig.

"He is welcome to do so at his leisure," replied Elsa. "It has been a very long time since our countries have parlayed; a few more months will matter very little. You'll find Ambassador Vidar is well-versed in Arendelle's proposals; I'm hopeful the two of you can draw up something that we will both find advantageous."

"I do look forward to the work, Your Majesty," Ledfig replied, though something about him looked doubtful that a decent alliance could be formed. "It is rather cold here, isn't it?"

"I suppose it's been a normal winter for Arendelle," replied Elsa, glancing at Vidar, who shrugged a little.

"It hasn't been unusual," said her ambassador. "I know it can seem unpleasant if you're not accustomed to it, however. We spend much of the winter indoors – it does get dark and frigid – but there are some outdoor activities we can attempt, if you'd like, once the sun rises."

"That sounds a bit terrifying, to be honest," remarked Ledfig, who once again seemed to express doubt. "But perhaps."

At that moment the glass doors blew inward with a click, just a little, opening only an inch, and the blizzard leaked indoors flake by flake to melt on the warm carpet. Elsa, however, knew the doors never did that on their own; she had a suspicion that she decided to investigate at once.

Rising, Elsa moved to the doors and shut them tight.

"Well, look at that," said Elsa with a laugh. "Arendelle is trying too hard to say hello."

Coming back to the fireplace, she addressed the ambassador and the advisor:

"Ambassador Vidar will take you to the drawing room now, if you'd like to have some refreshment and begin your work together?" offered Elsa, which wasn't really an offer, but more like a kind-sounding order.

Vidar and Ledfig stood at once, though Prince Sfende stayed put, to which action his advisor gave him an inquisitive glance.

"Your Highness?" asked Ledfig.

"Please, don't wait for me," Sfende said with a smile, and he seemed to have clued into what Elsa was doing. "I have some important things to discuss with the queen."

Once the door was shut behind Ledfig and Vidar, Elsa locked it and turned, leaning against it to share a glance with Sfende. He smiled at her a little.

"So," said Sfende. "Has the wind come, then?"

"Let's find out," said Elsa, shifting her gaze to the doors. "I'm sorry, Sfende, but this might be a bit chilly."

"Oh, I'll be fine," said Sfende, and beside him the fire in the hearth blazed into radiant fury, doubling, and then doubling its heat again.

Striding across the room, Elsa flung the doors wide, allowing the blizzard to thrust itself in.

"Hans?" she inquired of the darkness beyond the balustrade. The weather was a swirling miasma of wind and thick snow; it blew around and through her, making it difficult to see or to hear – she wondered, were Hans here, if he would be able to hear her calling above the fray, but she dared not speak his name any louder.

She needn't wonder for long, however, for Hans rose from the darkness below to above the banister in perfect control of the wind, his dark cloak blown around him like a shifting halo, evocative of a raven's spread wings. Once the balustrade was cleared, he descended to the balcony proper and, as his feet sunk with full gravity into the thick snow, he returned to mortality – returned to looking like an ordinary human, not the god of air he played at being, and he grabbed Elsa by the shoulders and turned her around, practically herding her back into her office, and shut the doors firmly behind them.

"Oh stars, Elsa!" he complained, throwing off his snowy hood. "Can't you do anything about how cold it is?"

He heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing the blazing fire and strode to it, casting open his cloak to absorb as much heat as he could from its flames.

"Nice to see you, too," remarked Elsa.

"Just give me a moment," said Hans, a shiver driving through his words. He glanced askance and took in Sfende sitting nearby on the settee and gave him a slight nod. "I see you're here."

"I am, and so are you," observed Sfende blandly, and he caused the fire to burst for a moment, sending a puff of sharp heat in a radius that caused Hans to start and draw back a step.

"Careful," said Hans, looking irritated. "I am flammable, you know."

"Oh, I was just trying to help," replied Sfende, though he appeared amused and probably wasn't trying to help at all.

"Don't forget that fire can't burn without air," mentioned Hans. It was a rather cutting threat, as far as Elsa was concerned, as he seemed to infer that his ability could render Sfende entirely impotent, should he care to do so.

"Perhaps we should test out your theory sometime," replied Sfende, who was undaunted, and perhaps enlivened by the challenge.

"Perhaps both of you should stop being weirdly aggressive with each other," said Elsa, casting herself, perhaps foolishly, into the middle of the fray.

"But isn't that what we do, darling?" Hans inquired, at last seeming to notice her existence in a full sense and he cast his eyes over her in appreciation. "You and I have been posturing for ages, haven't we?"

"Are you suggesting that it's simply part of our natures to be combative?" asked Elsa, finding that ludicrous.

"We have had a lot of elemental battles, she and I," Hans mentioned aside to Sfende.

"I usually refrain from physically attacking a lady," Sfende returned. "But perhaps the people of the Southern Isles don't find that as deplorable as my people do?"

"Oh, ho-ho," replied Hans, seeming to find Sfende's back-handed comment inexplicably delightful. "Trust me… it was always in self-defense. Elsa's a cold-blooded killer – please excuse the pun. But she is. Absolutely murderous, that one."

"How curious," said Sfende, glancing at Elsa. "I would like to argue with you, Prince Hans, but I find from my own experience that I cannot. If I didn't hold the power I do, I might still be encased in a block of ice on the moors of Weselton."

"Yes, she doesn't hold back, does she?" remarked Hans.

"Not even slightly," agreed Sfende.

"Ugh," commented Elsa, wondering when princes became so unpleasant to be around, in general. "If it's agreeable for the two of you, let us refrain from attacking each other for the time being. We are on my land, after all, and I get to make the rules."

"As Her Majesty the Queen wishes," intoned Hans, who had finished thawing out and claimed an armchair, in which he began to lounge with a casual air, one leg crossed over the other.

"I never trust him when he's too pliant," Elsa mentioned lowly to Sfende. The fire prince merely smiled and regarded Hans with a silent knowing Elsa found to be particular to Sfende and his people. It was to refrain from speaking one's mind when one's mind is assumed to be obvious.

"What?" asked Hans. "A man can't be agreeable?"

"Well, a man can," ventured Elsa, but she decided not to pursue the argument any further. "But it doesn't matter. I'm glad you were able to make it, Hans."

To which Hans gave her a genuine smile; a half of one, softer than his usual jaunty nature. That one he meant, and it did just what he needed it to do; it thawed the edges of her heart. Elsa wondered if she'd eventually be able to translate his peculiar personal language all the time, or if he would find ways to dance aside and stay elusive forever.

"Hans, if I may ask," inquired Sfende, who appeared to be formulating his query carefully. "Why is it that you must only visit Elsa covertly? As a prince of the Southern Isles, I would think you could easily visit Arendelle as a dignitary?"

Elsa let out a sigh and dropped into the armchair across from Hans, and they shared a long glance.

"Funny story, actually-" began Hans.

"It's not that funny," clarified Elsa.

"No, I suppose it's not," corrected Hans.

"Well, you see-" started Elsa.

"I was actually engaged to—"

"He was engaged to Anna," cut in Elsa, feeling her blood pressure rise by having to put it to words, but preferring to do it herself than to hear Hans say it.

"Princess Anna? Your sister?" asked Sfende, looking shocked at the revelation… if only that were all there was to it.

Elsa cleared her throat.

"Yes," said Hans. "But it was just… well. It was too rushed, really. We didn't even know each other."

"Ugh," groaned Elsa, not even trying to keep from rolling her eyes. "You charmed her into getting engaged to you in half an hour because you saw an easy opportunity to gain status, Hans!"

"Or that," smirked Hans, relenting.

"And poor Anna knew nothing about men at all," said Elsa. "It was absolutely unfair."

"Ah, I see," said Sfende. "So, it would be awkward for Anna if Hans were to visit openly?"

Elsa glanced at Hans, and he looked pained.

"There's a bit more to the story than that," said Elsa.

Hans straightened in his chair and cleared his throat delicately. "I, ah, behaved… what one might call… reprehensibly."

Elsa regarded Hans and his choice of words and decided she'd let him take the reins for a moment; she wanted to see where this was going.

"At the same time that Anna and I became engaged, there was… some confusion because suddenly Elsa's powers became known at large and manifest," said Hans, then he corrected himself: "There was a lot of confusion, actually. All of Arendelle became frozen solid in the middle of summer – and then Elsa went missing and Anna subsequently disappeared on a quest to go find her. No one knew if either one of them would ever come back, and they were the only two heirs to the throne of Arendelle. As Anna's fiancée, I was left in charge of the country."

Elsa rubbed her temple and grimaced; maybe Hans wasn't the only one who had behaved reprehensibly during the whole affair.

"Once everything was up in the air, there was a bit of a… power grab that took place," said Hans.

"I guess that's a mild way of putting it," remarked Elsa.

"Well, Anna was basically dying," explained Hans.

"You left her to die!" erupted Elsa, having none of Hans making light of Anna's plight.

"I couldn't save her!" Hans retorted, all raised-hackles. "She required 'true love's kiss'! How was I supposed to supply her true love's kiss? I'd only known her for maybe two hours put together, all told! It was a ridiculous expectation!"

"You didn't have to be so cruel about it!" cried Elsa.

"I didn't know she'd live to tell anybody—" Hans began angrily, and then he stopped himself, knowing he'd gone too far. He drew a breath as if to refocus himself. "No. You're right. It was all a façade – and I didn't feel like I needed to pretend anymore. It was still wrong. I just—I was so irritated at you both. Both of you were absolutely negligent about your royal duties—"

"I was having an elemental crisis, Hans!" said Elsa, rising from her chair in offense.

"Yes, you were!" he returned forcefully, though he maintained a relaxed menace in his chair, refusing to meet her on his feet. "I witnessed every bit of it, or don't you remember? I was the one left holding the blankets and trying to keep Arendelle together when you and your sister decided you couldn't handle it anymore!"

"How dare you," began Elsa, feeling spikes of frost edging dangerously at her seams. "You know I didn't yet know how to control my powers; I'd never had anyone tell me how to do it properly. I had to figure all of it out by myself. Don't forget I was the first among us to do so – I'm also the first among us to be known for what I am by my people, and all others. I'm the one that helped you control your powers. Without me, you'd still be blocked and powerless!"

"I will concede where concessions are due," allowed Hans. "Yes, Elsa, you are a pioneer among us; yet lest you forget the most crucial detail while accounting the near-death of Anna: it was your power what killed your sister, not mine."

Sfende interceded with a startled gasp at the revelation and looked at Elsa.

"And it was mine again that saved her in the end," intoned Elsa intensely, feeling rage deep within her, like heat bubbling up through pools of mud. "No thanks to you."

"I could not save Anna," said Hans. "I could never have done it! I thought it was a lost cause; an impossible task from the start!"

"Oh, but lest you forget that yours was not the role of innocent bystander, for in the very hour of my greatest sorrow, when all seemed lost, what part did you play, Hans?" inquired Elsa, her rage now controlled, yet still simmering in remembrance. "Do you recall it?"

His eyes met hers with dark challenge as he said, "You were uncontrollable, Elsa. Arendelle was frozen over, we were in the middle of a blizzard, your sister was literally turning into ice, and everything was getting worse by the minute!"

"And I suppose that's when you decided I had to die," said Elsa, her rage having cooled over. Her delivery was chilly, almost without emotion, almost nihilistic.

But Hans' eyes shuttered at that moment; he was a master of the feint but was struck by her words - by the bald-faced truth of it - by the reality of what had happened, once upon a time in Arendelle. She knew at once that he was stricken now by what he had almost done, then.

His eyes fell away from hers and it was as if he lost the will to challenge her.

"I made an executive decision to do what I thought at the time had to be done," he said, though he seemed deeply displeased.

Elsa didn't know how to go on with a penitent Hans, it was like his form had gone all to goo in her hands, and she knew not how to manipulate it or shape it into something she could recognize and react properly to. She retreated to her armchair in dissolution.

After several long moments of silence, Sfende released a sharp exhale, drawing the attention of both Hans and Elsa.

"Let me see if I understand," ventured Sfende. "Elsa nearly destroyed Arendelle and almost killed Anna, and then Hans almost killed Anna—"

"Tried to kill Anna," Elsa tossed in. "Distinctions are important."

"Hans tried to kill Anna—" corrected Sfende.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" said Hans, throwing his hands up. "I thought she was a lost cause! I didn't really try to kill her, I just…" – he sighed, giving up – "Oh, forget it."

"And also tried to kill Elsa," added Sfende.

"That part did happen," said Hans. "But I really thought I was stopping a monster, which is quite ironic if you think about it."

Hans buried his face in one hand and appeared to be brooding by the fire.

"This is very complicated," remarked Sfende.

"The funny thing is – well, not ha-ha funny," added Hans. "The people of Arendelle probably don't even remember me, really, unless they remember me handing them a blanket or something. I'm basically a fugitive for Anna's sake alone."

"All of this subterfuge for one person?" inquired Sfende, and he glanced at Elsa. "Why?"

"I just," said Elsa, shifting in her chair, "I just don't want to cause her grief."

"It would probably be a lot for her to take in," allowed Hans, gazing into the fire.

"Because the two of you are…" began Sfende, but then he seemed unsure. "You're something, anyway."

"We are…" began Elsa, but she couldn't find where to go from there. "We are definitely something."

"Dearest Elsa," said Hans. "I believe the term you're looking for is 'engaged to be engaged on condition of monarchy'."

"What a typically elusive term, Hans," said Sfende. "I'm certain you must have been the one to come up with it. It sounds like something, but it really means nothing."

"I beg your pardon," said Hans, taking offense at Sfende's insinuation. "Elsa and I are most definitely not 'nothing'."

"I would be most interested to hear Elsa's attempt at an interpretation," said Sfende, turning towards Elsa. "I've found her to be much more direct."

"Yes, well, it turns out that I've come to love him quite deeply," said Elsa.

"I suppose that is direct enough," said Sfende.

"Yet he drives me crazy," she added.

"I've seen it," Sfende agreed.

"We are also political allies," said Elsa. "And I plan to fully support him when he claims the throne of the Southern Isles, for I want him to have it. My reasons are mostly pragmatic, but I will admit to some favor."

"Ah," said Sfende.

"So, to sum up," she finished. "We are very entrenched in mutual devotion both on our personal and our political fronts."

"Yet you haven't mentioned the bond you two must have due to being what you are," said Sfende. "And, consequently, I have with the two of you as well – being what we are."

"That's how it all started, honestly," said Elsa. "Well, after all the drama with my sister. Once things had calmed down, Hans returned to Arendelle to inquire after my assistance with his resurgent powers."

"Was that difficult for you to do?" asked Sfende. "You know… after he tried to kill you and your sister."

"Of course, it was!" replied Elsa.

Hans let out an impatient sigh and asked, "Haven't we already been through all this?"

"But I had to help him," said Elsa. "There was no other choice. I couldn't ignore that there was someone else out there like me, even if it was him."

"Don't sugar-coat it," muttered Hans.

"Being alone in this existence, being like we are, would be misery," said Elsa, and then she looked at Hans. "And I must admire Hans' willingness, after all of what happened in Arendelle before, to risk himself in the way he did. I'm not sure I would have had the fortitude to do the same. He was persistent until I agreed, and that requires a degree of humility not many possess."

"I'd like to think you would, Elsa," said Hans. "And you'd have done it much better than I."

"Darling," demurred Elsa.

"I cannot deny that my life has been entirely different since I've met the two of you," said Sfende. "You have changed my entire outlook; I feel hope for the future. Excitement, as well, though not without caution. My people will be slow to change."

"Would you like to help us with Hans' aspirations, Sfende?" asked Elsa. "No incumbent king can stand against ice, fire, and the whirlwind."

"But that would require I be outed, wouldn't it?" replied Sfende. "I'll not put my family's lives in danger."

"I wonder if…" considered Elsa. "What if you were incognito?"

"As if I were going to a masquerade?" chuckled Sfende. "How silly."

"Yes, I suppose so," replied Elsa, staring into the fire.

"And my family would be outraged," said Sfende.

"I wouldn't want you to do anything you're not ready for, Sfende," said Hans. "As much as I appreciate Elsa's attempt at expanding my alliances, what we do is beyond mere politics and, in my opinion, supersedes it. Do not dare put your family in danger, not if you care about them. Not all of us have that luxury, and I would see such a thing preserved where it exists."

"I don't believe a future monarch should be kept to the shadows," said Sfende, regarding Hans.

"I appreciate your confidence, as well as your consideration," said Hans. "But I work well with the shadows, if they serve my purposes."

"I don't like it either," added Elsa, also considering Hans. "I'd would much prefer being able to deal with you openly, for we must eventually, mustn't we? For our countries' future close alliance, at the very least."

"I hope it shall be a very close alliance, indeed," remarked Hans.

Elsa found herself blushing.

"Your sister should know about Hans, Elsa… the sooner the better," said Sfende, but then he stopped himself, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I've overstepped. I should not counsel you in your own house."

Elsa drew a long breath and let it out, leaning back in her armchair.

"I just don't know how to tell her," Elsa said, and then she added in defeat: "I'm a coward."

"My dear," said Hans, shifting his eyes to rest upon her. "You are the furthest thing from a coward."

"Hans… don't patronize me," said Elsa, releasing a sigh.

"Oh, I don't plan to," replied Hans. "I'll tell you exactly why you don't want to tell Anna."

"Why?"

"Because you're an overprotective older sister," said Hans. "You protect her as if she's made of delicate glass. I know this because I've seen it in you again and again; every time she comes up in conversation you guard her like a snarling lioness. And do you want to know why I think you're like this?"

Elsa sighed again, then gave Hans a tired, "Why?"

"Because you were very young when you hurt her," he said. "It was formative, as they say. So now you are deeply averse to causing her harm, perhaps not even realizing that you have an illogical deep-rooted terror of causing her death with even the slightest injury."

She found herself just staring at Hans.

"And let's be clear about this," he said, and his inflection became pragmatic - but not without sympathy. "This is going to hurt her. It's going to be bad; terrible, even. She will not understand at first; she will be angry, hurt – she will feel betrayed, bewildered, furious. However, it is what it is. We cannot change who we are, what we are. How we are. We've tried. This isn't what either of us were aiming for; yet this is where we have come, anyway. Even if I didn't love you with more ardency than there are stars prickling the night sky, my presence would still need to be known to Anna for political reasons, and further yet for elemental reasons. For good or ill, I now and will ever be an integral part of the solar system around Arendelle; a consistent force nearby, in a regular orbit. She must know."

As she tried to blink away the stinging that had begun to blur her vision, Hans leaned forward from his chair; he was too far away to touch her, but he had empathy in his eyes.

"But she will heal," said Hans. "Anna will not die from this; she's far too strong for that. You and I both know it."

Elsa sighed and covered her face with her hands.

"And who knows?" said Hans. "Maybe someday, many decades from now, in passing, she and I will be able to say 'hello' in a mutually amicable manner. Once."

She couldn't help but chuckle a little at the idea – it sounded so ludicrous – and, glancing up at Hans, she saw his smile was all warmth and compassion, it was that odd side to him that was ridiculously good at providing comfort, but only when necessary.

This time she gave him a warm, half-smiling sigh of gratitude.

"Sometimes I wonder what I've done to deserve you, Hans," she said, and he glanced away in vague discomfort over such direct fawning. "But then you do something idiotic, and I wonder what I've done to deserve you."

"It isn't boring," Hans offered with a smile.

At that moment, the handle of the door jiggled, like someone attempting to open it.

"Elsa?" came Anna's voice, and a knock – and Elsa stiffened at once as adrenaline thundered through her veins. Casting her eyes upon Hans, he was already up from his chair and prepared for haste.

"Just a moment!" called Elsa, hoping her voice had sounded natural as she also rose from her seat. She turned to Hans and whispered, feeling a bit frantic: "Not yet. Not tonight. I cannot."

"Yes, of course," Hans replied under his breath.

Elsa pointed at her desk as if it were a place under which Hans could hide himself. He glanced at the desk, then back at her, and gave her a look as if she'd lost her mind.

"So long," Hans whispered at Sfende – giving the prince the fleeting admiration that competitive men share at moments when competition is cast aside for efficiency and somehow becomes camaraderie – and then he strode to the doors with a brief, anticipatory shiver, and cast them open to the storm.

"Wait," objected Elsa as Hans took his first step into the dull crunch of cold, powdery snow.

Hans froze at her word and turned partway back; his hood half-raised. The light within cast his closer part in a yellow glow, while his rearward dissolved into winter's shadow. Elsa approached, coming to face him where he was; half-in and half-out, neither here nor there, his face split down the center in opposing hues of light and shadow.

"Bundle up," she said, close enough for her murmuring to be heard only by him over winter's keening dirge; she pulled his hood up and snugged the fastenings along his cloak. "It's cold outside."

He appeared transfixed by her for a moment; his mouth quirked up in the smallest of grins, and he took one of her hands from his cloak front and kissed it.

"Don't kiss my hand," chided Elsa with impatience. "Kiss me properly."

She'd barely had time to get the final word out before he'd already snatched her from the blizzard and dragged her into his universe; he crushed her against him, and his body and his kiss were a deep pool of warmth contrasting the raging storm around them. It felt like being in a bubble, isolated from the world around, as if they could stand alone and create a new world, another existence.

"Good-bye," he whispered against her lips, his breath hot as it emerged as white puffs, torn from his mouth in the frigid wind.

"Please don't be long," she whispered back, and she felt him shiver. Whether it was from the cold or not, she couldn't be sure.

She gave him what was meant to be a final, lingering kiss of her own… but he replied with another kiss, and yet another, and then a shuddering sigh against her mouth, a sigh of reluctance, of frustration.

"I said, good-bye," insisted Hans.

"I know," murmured Elsa against his lips. "You're not very good at good-byes."

"It's just that you're so warm," he complained.

"Oh, is that all?" she inquired. "You could just find a decent bonfire, somewhere."

"Well, I suppose the kisses have something to do with it," he relented. "But you've made Anna wait too long. Go, go, go."

Elsa sighed and leaned against Hans, procrastinating most ardently.

He leaned close to her ear and whispered, "You're so bad at this, Elsa."

Blinking in surprise, she drew back, but he was already out of her arms and had thrown himself to the wind, vaulted over the balustrade – he faded like an extinguished flame into the swirl of winter. Only a moment had passed, but it was as if he'd never been there.

Yet, at her feet she saw his footsteps in the snow beside hers. She stomped them out at once, fiercely eliminating the remaining evidence of his passing.

Another knock rapped at the door, tearing her out of her violent footprint-stomping reverie, and Anna's impatience began to show in her voice: "Elsa…?"

"Coming!" called Elsa, rushing to the door, and thrusting it open. She leaned her side against it in the attempt to appear casual and addressed her sister: "Why, Anna. What brings you here at this hour?"

"It's only six o'clock, Elsa," replied Anna, giving Elsa a once-over, and then craning to see past at who might be inside.

"Oh," said Elsa, opening the door the rest of the way. "Prince Sfende is here. You should join us by the fire!"

"I'd love to!" chirped Anna, but as she passed Elsa she whispered, "You're blushing; why are you blushing?"

"What? No, I'm not!" Elsa whispered back, though she knew she probably was, and maybe looked a bit mussed, too.

"Prince Sfende," addressed Anna, the tiniest of smirks almost hidden upon her face – and surely meant entirely for Elsa. She thrust out her hand to him, "It's so wonderful to finally get to meet you!"

Sfende, who had stood the moment Anna entered the room, took her hand and bowed over it.

"A pleasure to meet you as well, Princess Anna," he replied.

-o-o-o-o-o-