*Author's Note*: The name of the story is "Frozen 2.5" but the site doesn't allow periods in titles for some reason. There are original illustrations that go along with each chapter of this story, however I'm unable to add images to chapters. If you want the full story experience, I recommend reading the pdf version of the story, which is available on my blog here (replace |dot| with "."): yumeka36|dot|tumblr|dot|com/648209143723917312/frozen-25-complete-edition

The rays of the late afternoon sun began to fade behind the gray clouds that were forming in the skies above Arendelle. From the fjord surrounding the kingdom, Elsa sat upon Nokk's back, looking up at where Arendelle Castle stood proudly against a lush background of verdant trees, prominent cliffs, and a mighty waterfall. The water spirit approached the pier nearby and Elsa stepped onto it. Bruni was clinging to her shoulder, his eyes darting around with anticipation as he took in the new surroundings. Before she headed into town, Elsa turned to Nokk.

"Those fishermen will need you to bring them back to the camp soon. Can you promise me you'll come when they call you?"

Nokk lifted his head and gave an abrupt neigh, then turned around and pranced back over the fjord, dissolving further into the water with each step.

As Elsa walked along the cobblestone path that led through the town towards the courtyard of the castle, she received numerous waves and greetings from Arendellians that were passing by. When she turned the corner, a group of children ran towards her.

"Queen Elsa!" they shouted. Even though Anna had been the official queen of Arendelle for a while now, the Arendellians seemed to like the idea of their kingdom having two queens–one that reigned and one that visited while watching over another land. Elsa liked the idea too and never bothered to make any official proclamation about her title.

As the children got closer, one of the boys in the group stopped and pointed an inquiring finger at Bruni. "What's that?" he asked.

Before Elsa could respond, a little girl, slightly older than the others, stepped forward. "That's the fire spirit. He lives in the Enchanted Forest with the Northuldra," she said in a confident tone. She looked at Elsa, as if seeking approval for the truth of her statement.

"That's right," Elsa confirmed. She moved her hand towards Bruni, coaxing him to step onto it. When he did, she lowered it down so the children could see him better. They stared in wonder at the little salamander. He stared back at them, his head pivoting back and forth between each child. The stimulation of the moment caused his back to suddenly burst into flames, his blue scales turning to a radiant purple. Elsa quickly pulled him away from the children in case any stray sparks flew off. But they weren't afraid and instead giggled with delight.

"So cool!" the little boy exclaimed.

"Are there other spirits in the Enchanted Forest?" one of the younger girls asked.

"Yes, there are four of them actually," Elsa replied.

"Fire, water, air, and earth," the older girl from before chimed in. "My grandma has a book about it."

The youngest boy from the group pouted and looked up at Elsa. "I want to go to the Enchanted Forest."

"You might be able to." Elsa was glad that he brought up the subject. "Our wonderful prince consort, Kristoff, is offering weekly wagon rides from Arendelle to the Enchanted Forest for anyone who's interested. You'll have to ask your parents' permission of course, but…"

Before she could finish, one of the older boys interrupted. "I asked my parents about that. They said they don't want us to go. They said they still don't trust the Northuldra and that the spirits' magic could be dangerous."

Elsa felt a knot form in her stomach upon hearing those words. But she composed herself in front of the children and continued. "Well, just keep trying. They might change their mind. Tell them Queen Elsa and Queen Anna endorse it!"

She turned to leave, waving goodbye to the children as they ran off down the cobblestone path and disappeared behind some buildings. As she walked on, ahead of her she saw the celebrated statue of Arendelle's previous king and queen when they were children–hers and Anna's parents, a symbol of the new union between Arendelle and the Northuldra. Elsa stopped in front of the statue, admiring it for a moment. She remembered the day months before when she had returned to Arendelle for a family night of charades and Anna had surprised her with the statue. Even though the statue had its official unveiling days before, Anna had wanted to reveal it to Elsa privately during their next get-together. Elsa smiled at the fond memory, but then thought back to her encounter with the children. "I guess this union won't be that easy, either," she muttered to Bruni. He chirped and tilted his head inquisitively at her.

As she approached the open gates leading to Arendelle Castle's courtyard, she saw Mattias heading in the opposite direction. When he noticed her, he stopped and bowed.

"Your Majesty."

"Hello, General Mattias," she greeted. "It's a little early for your evening patrol, isn't it?"

"Well, I was planning to make a quick stop before I start. Uh, I should get going…it might be too late. She's probably…well, I should get going." He nervously rubbed his beard.

Elsa gave him an assuring smile. "Don't worry, I passed by Halima's on my way here. There was still light inside. I'm pretty sure I saw her through the window."

Mattias grinned at her and headed off. Then he stopped and turned around, his expression serious. "Queen Anna told me about that strange letter she received. If I may humbly offer my advice, I wouldn't take it lightly. If you do accept the invitation, be as cautious as you can."

"I agree," Elsa said. Mattias nodded, then continued on his way towards town. Elsa watched him go down the corner before she turned around and entered the courtyard of Arendelle Castle. Beside one of the fountains, underneath the brilliant green and purple banners decorating the castle walls, she saw Kristoff and Sven. Sven was munching on a pile of carrots stacked in front of him, while Kristoff was in his wagon that was parked behind them, picking up numerous objects that were strewn about inside. His short, blonde hair flopped around as he bent down and rummaged through the wagon. Sven perked his head up when he heard Elsa approaching, then happily bounded towards her.

"Hey, Sven," she said, scratching the reindeer under his chin.

Kristoff put the objects back in the wagon and jumped out. "Hi, Elsa…and Bruni." He nodded towards the little salamander on Elsa's shoulder. Bruni's scales had returned to their soft blue color. He licked his eyeball as he blinked up at Kristoff.

"How have things been going with the weekly wagon rides?" Elsa asked as she made her way towards Kristoff's wagon. She regarded the various items of both Northuldra and Arendelle origin that lay on the floor. Among them was a small carving of a reindeer made from wood from the Enchanted Forest, an embroidered cloth of the Arendelle flag, stones that had been gathered from the shores of the Dark Sea, rocks with the spirit symbols chiseled on them, a miniature map of Arendelle and its surrounding landmarks, and a Northuldra staff.

"Not much of an improvement since last time," Kristoff replied. He adjusted his shirt sleeves and reached into the wagon, gathering the items and stacking them neatly against the side. "Maarika and her family are still my best customers. Little Fredmund just can't get enough of the forest. Last time he spent all day playing with the Northuldra kids. Their parents had to practically pull them away when it was time leave."

"Yes, the first time they came, I saw them by the river." Elsa looked into the distance as she recalled the event. "I introduced them to Nokk and the children accidentally got soaked. But they loved it. Their parents asked if they could ride him, but I thought that would be going too far."

"Well, they have only lived in Arendelle for a few years, so they don't have decades of hate for the Northuldra to get over…unlike everyone else." Kristoff sighed as he picked up the Northuldra staff, contemplating what to do with it before finally bending over and laying it under the seat of the wagon. As he stood back up, his eyes widened as a memory struck him. "Oh, I took Tuva and her wife one time. They seemed to have fun. Tuva did seem interested in some of the tools the Northuldra use, too. I'm hoping they'll want to go again."

"What about the Northuldra?" Elsa asked. "I know Ryder and Honeymaren visit Arendelle with their friends sometimes."

Kristoff leaned against the side of the wagon. "Yeah, Ryder and his buddies come sometimes. I offer them rides in my wagon, but they prefer to use their reindeer. Actually, Ryder says that Arendelle has better reindeer care supplies than the Northuldra can make." He folded his arms. "That's probably the only reason he visits now that I think about it."

Sven poked his head inside the wagon and presented an item in his mouth that Kristoff had missed: a small cloth with the spirit symbols sewn on it, the same design as Iduna's scarf. He nudged the cloth into Kristoff's hand.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about this," he said, examining the cloth. "A while back I took Yelena and a bunch of the other Northuldra women to visit Arendelle. They made this as a sort of gift for the event. I don't think they had a good time, though. They wanted to leave early, and the Arendellians we met weren't exactly friendly to them."

"Oh…that's too bad." Elsa's face fell, her voice becoming a sad whisper. "I know you and Anna worked hard to promote the wagon rides. That one time you both came to the forest and spent hours trying to gather Northuldra artifacts…I'm sorry I couldn't help more with that, but everyone was busy preparing for winter and…"

"No, people liked those stones you brought us from the Dark Sea," Kristoff said assuredly as he grabbed one of the aforementioned stones from the wagon. He fondled it in his hand for a moment, its shiny blackness glistening with each movement. "Anna and I gave out a bunch of them to the Arendellians, a way to kind of advertise the wagon rides to the forest. Everyone seemed interested…but in the end, nobody wanted to go." He climbed back into the wagon and slumped into the seat.

"I know," Elsa replied. "It was the same with those Arendelle picture books we brought back to the forest. I gave them out to many of the Northuldra families and told them about the wagon rides to Arendelle. They all seemed interested…but maybe they were just being polite because when the time came, they changed their minds."

"Well, we just have to keep trying then!"

Elsa and Kristoff turned towards the familiar voice. Anna had entered the courtyard. Her vivid, viridian cape flowed behind her and the sunlight glittered on the jewels in the tiara that laid atop her auburn hair. At the sight of her sister, Elsa smiled and held out her arms. Anna rushed into them with a hug, then pulled back when she felt Bruni jump off Elsa's shoulder and onto her arm.

"Oh, hi to you too, Bruni." She ran her finger along the scales on Bruni's back as he gave a content coo. When she moved her arm closer to her face, he flicked his tongue against her chin.

"I think this is the fourth time I've brought him to Arendelle and he hasn't set fire to anything…yet," Elsa said with a light chuckle.

Kristoff stepped out of the wagon and approached Anna with an exaggerated bow. "Your Majesty, you look lovely this afternoon."

"Oh really? Then what do I look like other afternoons?" she teased, winking at Elsa and pecking Kristoff on the cheek.

"Elsa's here!"

An enthusiastic voice came from across the courtyard. Olaf bounded over to the group, his snowball feet bouncing partially away from his body with each stride. He jumped into Elsa's arms.

"Hi Olaf. You're getting…heavy?" Her knees shifted slightly under his unexpected weight.

"Oh, I forgot," he said matter-of-factly. He leaned forward and inserted his stick hands into the back of his snowy torso, then gave a forceful push. A perfectly shaped fruitcake was expelled from his bottom and plopped onto the ground.

"Is that fruitcake left over…from the Yule festival?" Kristoff asked, a hint of both fascination and disgust in his voice. Sven sniffed at the fruitcake, then recoiled with an affronted snort.

Anna stared in puzzlement at the loaf on the ground. "Olaf, have you had that fruitcake inside you all this time?"

"Well, not all that time." Olaf hopped out of Elsa's arms and patted the fruitcake with his hand. "Yeah, we got this one late. Oh, right, I was going to bring it to Oaken's, but I forgot about it…so yeah, it's been safely inside me all this time! Stuff used to slide right out of me, but ever since I got my permafrost, everything just stays in there." He suddenly had a thought and began poking his hands into every inch of his squishy snow body. "I wonder if I have anything else inside me that I don't know about. I got to be careful!"

Anna and Elsa giggled, but Kristoff let out a frustrated sigh. "No wonder you've been so sluggish these past charades nights!" he groaned. "We lost 3-0 last time because you could barely get a shape going! How do you not know something like that is inside you?"

"Hey, I always feel full of joy and warmth during the holidays," Olaf responded in an indignant tone. "I just figured that fullness was sticking around a little longer this year, that's all." He swished around the snow on his body, tidying up the holes he had made with his hands.

During the conversation, Bruni had jumped off of Anna's arm and onto the fruitcake. He regarded the pastry for a moment before nibbling at it. He squealed in delight at the sweet taste and continued to nibble. His back slowly sparked as a flame burst out, burning a hole in the fruitcake. He happily plopped down into it.

"Hey, Bruni likes it," Olaf said as he peered down the hole in the fruitcake. Suddenly, another flame burst through the hole, right up to Olaf's carrot nose. He screamed at the fire dancing at the tip of the carrot, pulling it out of his head and sticking it into his body. The frigid snow instantly put out the flame.

"Are you okay, Olaf?" Anna asked, trying to hold back a snicker from the snowman's antics.

"Oh yeah." Olaf beamed, already back to his cheerful demeanor. "Bruni's fire isn't so bad once you get used to it." He returned the carrot to his face.

"Well, I guess Bruni's record for not setting anything on fire in Arendelle is broken now," Kristoff chuckled.

Everyone laughed, but Elsa's face soon grew serious as she remembered why she had come to Arendelle that day. As the laughter was dying down, she turned to Anna.

"Anna…about that letter."

"Oh, right." Anna pulled out the letter from where it was tucked in her sash and handed it to Elsa. "When I saw you in the courtyard from the window, I thought I'd bring it with me."

Elsa unfolded the letter, narrowing her eyes as she carefully read each word printed in blunt, unfamiliar handwriting.

To Queen Elsa of Arendelle,

You don't know me, but I hail from a small, lesser known kingdom to the east called Dyrankia. I am an admirer of power and competence, and I have heard about your extraordinary ability. I would like to invite you to my kingdom to discuss a proposition that I believe you will be most interested in. I have enclosed a map to Dyrankia for your convenience. I understand you may need some time to prepare for the trip. My guards and staff will be standing by to receive your presence whenever you arrive over the next few days. I am graciously looking forward to discussing the future of both our kingdoms.

Sincerely,

Queen Marjorie of Dyrankia

After she finished reading, Elsa looked up for a minute, soaking in the contents of what she just read. She turned to Anna, who had been watching her patiently.

"She said she enclosed a map…"

"Yes, I have it back inside," Anna replied, nodding towards the castle. "It says that Dyrankia is on the far side of Miner's Mountain, way out in this secluded, hilly area. I can't believe I never knew there was a kingdom there. But then again, it's like I said in my letter to you…no one seems to know about it. I've asked Kai and Gerda, Mattias, lots of other people around Arendelle…" She paused and looked at Elsa, expectation in her eyes. "I was hoping you would know about it."

Elsa shook her head. "The name doesn't sound familiar at all." Her brow furrowed as she tried to recollect anything with that name attached to it. "I did ask Yelena as I was leaving the forest if she's ever heard of that kingdom or its queen, but she said she hasn't. I even thought of checking Ahtohallan to see if I could find any memories of it…"

"I thought you couldn't reveal memories that weren't related to you," Anna said, a touch of concern in her voice. "That the farther removed from your life those memories are, the deeper you have to go to find them."

"Yes, that's still the case as far as I know." Elsa sensed where Anna was going with that thought and replied in an assuring tone. "I still have a lot to learn about Ahtohallan, but don't worry, I'm not going to risk going too far for this."

"What's also weird is that this Queen Marjorie still thinks Elsa is the queen of Arendelle," Kristoff added.

"That's right," Anna confirmed. "We informed all the major kingdoms about the change in Arendelle leadership months ago. If Dyrankia had any kind of interactions with them, they should have known that by now."

"So they're completely isolated!" Olaf jumped in. "Oh, like Arendelle was when your parents decided to close the gates, reduce the staff, and limit contact with people because they were afraid of Elsa's powers?" He said all this in one excited breath, pleased with the connection he made between the two events. Anna and Elsa grimaced at his comparison.

"It seems even worse than that," Elsa continued. "Even when Arendelle was isolated, we still upheld trade and treaties with other kingdoms. We just didn't have meetings with a lot of people at the kingdom. But the fact that nobody's even heard of Dyrankia is suspicious."

"I did find one thing about it." Anna took this break in the discussion to introduce information she was waiting to disclose. "Last night I found an old edition of Prominent Kingdoms in the library, and it did have a mention of Dyrankia. It doesn't say much, but it's better than nothing."

"You mean we found it," Kristoff interjected in a teasing tone. "Don't forget who was also up past midnight scouring every dusty book in that old library."

"Oh, sorry I kept you up past your bedtime." Anna gave him a playful poke on the arm, going along with his banter.

"Is the book back in the library?" Elsa asked. She was already heading towards the castle doors.

"Yes, I'll show you." Anna followed after her.

"Bruni, come here." Elsa spoke towards the fruitcake that was still on the ground, now with several more nibble holes. Bruni burst out from the hole he had burned at the top and landed in Elsa's open hand. "I can't leave you unsupervised out here." He scurried up her arm and onto her shoulder.

"Are you coming, Kristoff?" Anna called to him as she and Olaf followed after Elsa.

"No, I have to go into town," Kristoff called back while heading towards the wagon. "Tuva made some stone carvings of Arendelle crocuses she said I could use for promoting the wagon rides. I said I'd pick them up today. I'll catch up with you guys later." He fastened Sven's reins and hopped back into the wagon, giving the reins a quick flick. The reindeer grunted, pulling the wagon through the open gates and down the street.

Anna, Elsa, and Olaf entered the castle and made their way through the hallways and into the library, its door still left ajar. Books were scattered on top of the tables and protruding out of the shelves from the previous night's perusal. Anna approached one of the desks in the corner that had an open book lying face down on top of it. The cover of the book was faded and scratched, the corners of its many pages torn or dog-eared, but the title, Prominent Kingdoms, was still visible. Anna picked up the book and handed it to Elsa, showing the page it had been opened to. As Elsa read, Bruni stared at the yellowed pages and tilted his head quizzically.

"So Dyrankia was founded…by Lord Dyran…" Elsa muttered some of the key points she read out loud.

"I want to see!" Olaf exclaimed. He grabbed a nearby cushioned chair and pulled it over to where Anna and Elsa were standing. He climbed on top of it, then grabbed onto their shoulders and hoisted himself on top, balancing one foot on Elsa's shoulder and one on Anna's. He scrutinized the open page.

"Wow, Dyrankia only has half a page dedicated to it. I wouldn't call that a 'prominent' kingdom." He noticed a picture at the bottom of the page that was labeled as the Dyrankian flag. It appeared to be a top-view silhouette of a lizard-like creature with a large head shaped like an arrowhead, a bulging snout, slanted eyes, and spikes lining its legs and tail. Olaf grinned at the image.

"It kind of looks like a relative of yours, Bruni…that is, if you came from a nightmare someone had after reading too many scary folklore stories." Bruni looked over at Olaf from Elsa's other shoulder and gave him a questioning blink.

"It just says they're a fairly self-sufficient kingdom." Elsa continued going over the minimal information on the page. "But they never did much trading with other kingdoms…and that's all it says."

"And this version of the book came out almost fifty years ago." Anna took the book from Elsa and closed it, revealing its cover. She pointed to the date in small print under the title. "Kristoff and I found the two other versions that came out after, but neither of them mentions Dyrankia."

"It is strange," Elsa murmured, trying to put the pieces together.

"Definitely masters of isolation," Olaf proclaimed as he hopped off of their shoulders and back onto the chair. "It's a good thing your parents didn't do whatever Dyrankia did or Arendelle may have been wiped from the history books, too!"

"So…what should we do?" Anna placed the book back on the desk. "We shouldn't ignore the invitation, right?"

"No, we shouldn't ignore it," Elsa replied. She thought for a moment, then looked at Anna determinedly. "I'll just have to go and see what it's about."

"Wait, what? What do you mean you'll go?" Anna's voice rose slightly.

"The letter is addressed to me…" Elsa began.

"Well, obviously she doesn't know that Arendelle has a new queen." Anna tried to smooth the frustration that was starting to show in her voice. "We can both go and you can make sure I do everything right. This will be a perfect opportunity for me to practice my diplomacy with a new kingdom. They won't have any preconceptions about me, I won't have any about them…"

"No, Anna, nothing about this is good," Elsa interrupted, exasperation in her tone. "Getting a vague invitation to a kingdom no one has ever heard of…"

"So you think it's dangerous?"

"It could be. That's why you can't take that risk until I can get more information," Elsa replied with definiteness, implying that that was the end of the discussion. But Anna wasn't finished.

"So you'll go alone, knowing it's dangerous, and not bring me? I thought you let me become queen because you trusted me to handle any situation!" She couldn't hide her aggravation any longer.

"I do." Elsa softened her voice, trying to defuse the disagreement. "But this isn't like any circumstances we've had before. So someone with the most experience should handle it. Plus, if things escalate, I have my powers to…"

"You can't keep using your powers as an excuse to put yourself in danger!"

"So I should put you in danger instead?"

"Maybe sometimes. How else can I learn?"

Olaf watched their bickering, anxiously waddling in place on the chair. The scene playing out before him was making his little snowman stomach churn with anguish. He had never seen them argue. It just wasn't right. Finally, he couldn't stand it any longer.

"No! No fighting!" He grabbed each of their arms in his stick hands and leaped off the chair, not realizing that as he landed on the floor, he was yanking on their arms, causing them to lean forward and knock their heads together. Bruni jumped off of Elsa's shoulder right before the collision and landed on the wooden back of the chair.

"Ow!" Anna and Elsa cried at the same time. They rubbed their sore heads with their hands.

"Olaf!" Anna scolded. She adjusted the tiara that was sliding off her head and glanced at the snowman, who was guiltily clutching the leg of the chair.

"Sorry," he murmured. "But…you shouldn't fight."

Anna and Elsa looked down at the floor in shame, immediately regretting what they had said to the other. They didn't speak for a moment until Anna finally broke the silence.

"You're right, Olaf…and so are you, Elsa," she said as she faced her sister. "This is a suspicious situation and you should be the one to handle it, especially since she said in her letter that she was interested in your powers. If you think it's too dangerous for me, then I'll respect that and stay…"

"No, Anna," Elsa replied, her voice gentle and apologetic. "You were right, I was being too overprotective…again. You're definitely capable of handling this. I guess I'm still getting used to not feeling like I have to bear all the burden."

As the mood lightened, Olaf took the sisters' hands in his and gazed up at them. "So you're both going, right?"

Anna smiled at Elsa, her eyes regaining their usual warmth. "Why don't you stay over tonight? Then we can leave for Dyrankia in the morning. Okay?"

Elsa smiled back. "Okay."

As the rays of the morning sun cast bright shimmers on the fjord surrounding Arendelle, Elsa stood at the pier facing Nokk, who was standing on the still waters. His pointed ears perked upright as he watched her take Bruni from her shoulder and into her open hand. She reached her hand towards Nokk, coaxing Bruni to jump off. After hesitating a moment, he cautiously stepped onto Nokk's snout, giving a quick chirp when his tiny feet came in contact with the horse's cold, watery surface. He nestled himself between Nokk's ears, then turned to face Elsa with a slight look of concern in his large eyes.

"I can't go back to the forest yet, but I can't take you with me today, either. So you and Nokk will go home first and I'll see you both later, okay?"

With an approving snort, Nokk turned around and galloped across the fjord. Shining sprays of water shot off from each splash of his hooves. Bruni bounced lightly between his ears with each stride. As Elsa watched them disappear over the horizon, a sudden breeze brushed against her face. "That goes for you too, Gale," she said. "Can you make sure they get back to the forest without any trouble? Especially Bruni." With a melodic whistle, the wind whooshed by and out onto the fjord, carrying some leaves and debris along with it.

Satisfied, Elsa left the pier and returned through the gates of Arendelle Castle. As she entered the courtyard, Sven was standing patiently in front of Kristoff's wagon while Kristoff sat inside, leaning over the map of Dyrankia that was spread out on his knee.

"Are you sure you want to take us, Kristoff?" she asked as she approached the wagon.

"Of course." He continued staring at the map, drawing a tentative route line with his finger on its creased surface. "It'll be good experience for me, too, as prince consort. And besides…" He folded the map and placed it next to him on the seat. "It's been a while since we all went somewhere together. Well, other than back and forth between Arendelle and the forest of course."

"That's true," Elsa replied. "Hopefully our first visit to Dyrankia won't have as many hurdles as our first visit to the Enchanted Forest."

"The route's not too bad at all." Kristoff shifted his position in the driver's seat. "It should only take us a few hours."

"I think we're all ready then!" Anna's voice came from behind the wagon. "I told Kai and Mattias that we'll probably be back late tonight and they said they'd take care of everything. So we should be good!" When she grasped the side of the wagon to climb in, Kristoff took her hand and helped pull her over and inside. She carefully folded her cape under her before sitting down in the back. As Elsa began to climb in too, a loud voice echoed across the courtyard.

"The road trip is starting!"

They all turned to see Olaf running towards them, his face beaming and his stick arms flailing with eagerness. He leaped into the wagon and plopped down next to Anna.

"Oh, no, you can't come, Olaf," Elsa said as gently as possible. She picked up the perplexed snowman and placed him on the ground.

"Aw, why not?" He looked up at her with pleading eyes. "I promise I won't do anything weird…though everyone has a different definition of 'weird' but…"

"It's not that," Elsa insisted. "We don't know anything about this kingdom, especially how they'll react to magic. Queen Marjorie seems to know about my powers, but even so, riding into town with a walking, talking snowman might be overdoing it. That's also why I sent Bruni back home to the forest. We should keep a low profile until we learn more about Dyrankia."

"I understand." Olaf's head drooped and his snowy torso deflated slightly.

Anna leaned over the side of the wagon. "Don't worry, Olaf. There'll be plenty of other trips for us to…" Before she could finish, the snowman suddenly jumped up with a start as an idea popped into his head.

"I just have to not be a snowman while I'm there!"

"What?" Elsa said, but Olaf was already on his way back to the castle doors. He skipped up the steps and disappeared inside.

"'Not be a snowman'?" Kristoff repeated with a chuckle. "What does he mean by that?"

"I don't know," Elsa sighed, shaking her head. Her gaze fell to the inside of the wagon where she noticed several baskets full of the Arendelle and Northuldra objects she had seen the other day, including many new items such as books and toys.

"Do you want to take these with us?" she asked.

"We can leave them in the courtyard." Anna reached towards one of the baskets, but Kristoff put his hand on it first.

"Actually, I thought we'd bring them," he explained. "Something to keep us busy on the trip. Maybe, if things go really well at Dyrankia, we can offer them as gifts. And also…" He lowered his voice "…they should keep Olaf's attention so he won't want to play his trivia games."

"Oh…" Anna and Elsa nodded in unison.

"Ready now!"

They turned towards Olaf's voice and saw him standing a few feet away. He was now wearing a black buttoned vest and bow tie along with striped pants that bulged out over his round abdomen. Anna recognized the outfit as the one he briefly wore on the day of the statue unveiling. But this time, he also wore a straw hat that tilted over the side of his face, flattening his stick hair.

"Even though I can't stand wearing clothes, I'll make an exception for this!" he exclaimed as he skipped over to the wagon and once again took a seat next to Anna. "Just tell them I'm your footman! Your footman who's just a bit…vertically challenged." He pushed up on the brim of the straw hat. Kristoff finally let out a laugh he had been trying to hold back.

"Yeah, 'vertically challenged'…with a carrot for a nose…and terrible fashion sense," he said between snickers. Anna couldn't help but giggle too at the snowman's silliness. She turned to Elsa and noticed that her sister didn't find the scene amusing and instead had a look of concern on her face. Anna put an assuring hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Elsa. It'll be fine. Every other kingdom we've visited loved meeting Olaf. And loved your magic, too. Why should Dyrankia be any different?"

Elsa regarded her sister's words for a minute. She slowly gave a slight smile. "You're right."