Notes:

17/04 - made a few dialogue tweaks for Elsa, and expanded the quick section about Elsa's thoughts regarding Hans' attempt on her life.

Dinner was finished, plates were cleared and Anna was scraping the last of the ice cream out of her sundae glass. Elsa sipped a coffee and Kristoff sat very straight in his chair, hands folded beneath the table. He was more relaxed than he had been at the start of the meal – three glasses of wine, the warm glances Anna kept shooting at him and Elsa's sincere interest in his ice expertise had eased his anxiety – but he couldn't stop himself from constantly tugging self-consciously at the new shirt, and it was all he could do to fight the overwhelming impulse to run down to Sven's stall and curl into a little ball of concentrated awkwardness.

Elsa had just finished explaining the speech she was going to give tomorrow – about her powers, about how she'd spent the last thirteen years trying to control them, and why she'd run, and how she hoped Arendelle would forgive her – when she set down her coffee cup and looked very seriously at her companions. "So," she said, finally. "I think you two owe me a story."

Anna glanced at Kristoff. "Where should we begin?"

Elsa hesitated; swallowed; steeled herself. "After I left the party."

Anna nodded. She pushed her sundae glass away, took a deep breath, and began.

"After you ran out across the fjord, Hans noticed it was freezing over – I don't know, I think maybe everything was freezing behind you, so you didn't see it? – but when we got back to the courtyard, it was snowing. The Duke of Weselton – you remember him, the guy with the toupee?"

The corner of Elsa's mouth twitched, breaking her otherwise incredibly serious composure. "How could I forget those dance moves?"

"Well, yes, him – he was shouting something about you cursing Arendelle. Obviously, I told him that wasn't true – that it was obviously an accident – but then he turned to me, and started accusing me of having powers – which obviously I don't – but I realised I had to go after you. It was my fault you'd – well – "

"Gone all ice-crazy." Kristoff supplied helpfully.

"Yeah – so I said I was going after you. Hans – Hans didn't like the idea, of course, but I had to go. I left him in charge," Anna paused, and looked at her sister with eyes full of guilt. "That was stupid. I'm sorry. I should have trusted your judgement, Elsa."

Elsa frowned so hard her eyebrows almost touched in the middle. "Anna, don't be silly. It's not your fault I – well –"

"Went all ice-crazy." Kristoff took up his cue again. He looked into his wine glass and took a drink. He was a heavyweight – he always had been – but the room did have a warm softness that it hadn't had before. The three different kinds of spoons and four different kinds of knives and forks seemed a lot less intimidating now. He couldn't help noticing how sweet it was that Anna waved her hands about when she told a story.

"Yes." Elsa said. "It's not your fault Anna."

"But –"

"Not your fault."

Anna sighed. It was pointless arguing.

"After that, I went to find you. I didn't really think to change my dress, or – anything really, I just put on a cloak." She glanced at Kristoff and grimaced. "And it just kept getting colder. I was just over the north hills when Sam – my horse," She quickly supplied for Kristoff – "When Sam bolted. I fell off, and there was snow everywhere, and, yeesh, it was freezing, but I was kind of too far to turn back now, so I just kept going. I think it must have been – about nine when I got to Oaken's?" She looked to Kristoff for confirmation. He shrugged.

"Around then. Wandering Oaken's Trading Post." He quickly explained to Elsa.

"And Sauna."

"And Sauna. It's kind of a halfway house on the way to the North Pass."

Elsa nodded. "I've heard of it. Why were you there, Kristoff?"

Kristoff shrugged again. "I'd been collecting ice when the blizzard hit – I guess that must have been when you reached the Mountain. Anyway, I could tell it was getting worse, so I loaded up the sled and headed towards Oaken's."

"So, I was in Oaken's trying to defrost a bit –" Anna chipped in, "– and buy some clothes that weren't you know, a ball gown, and maybe a map or something, I don't know –"

"– when I walked in."

Anna giggled. "You looked like a yeti or something. Totally covered in snow," She explained to Elsa.

"Hey. It was a magical snowstorm. What's a guy to do?"

"Anyhow, Kristoff was getting some carrots for Sven – the reindeer – and some ropes or something, I don't know –"

"And you were totally in the way –"

"– and anyway, Kristoff had a fight with Oaken –"

"– that guy is such a crook –"

"– and got chucked out. But not before I'd asked him about the storm. He seemed like a guy who knew about snow. And he said it was coming from the North Mountain. And that it did seem magical."

"Anna bought the rope and carrots, and followed me."

"I got the boots and stuff too," She added quickly. "Don't worry."

Elsa couldn't help but grin as the two of them told the story, finishing each other's sentences.

"What?" Asked Anna, outraged at her sister's smile. "This is a very dramatic and tragic story of heartbreak and natural disaster!"

Elsa rearranged her face into a suitably serious expression. "Sorry. Go on."

"So, Kristoff agreed to take me up the North Mountain, to find you. But as we were on our way up, there were these wolves."

"A whole pack," Kristoff explained. His brow had furrowed. "We managed to get away –"

"I fought them off," said Anna, smugly.

"As if. You almost set me on fire. And you broke my lute."

Anna flapped her hand at him. "Pfft, detail, detail. We were coming up to this enormous ravine, and Sven made the most incredible jump across it –"

" – but my sled wasn't so lucky."

At this point, Anna looked very guilty. "I'm sorry about your sled."

"It's ok."

"So, I owe him a new one," Anna turned back to her sister. "And I need to replace everything in it," She said, rather guilty again. "Hence the clothes. And the tools."

"You really spent too much."

"Oh, hush. I did not."

"Hmm."

"Anyway, after that we met Olaf – that was strange – and, you know, after freaking out for a bit, we realised you'd made him. And he knew where you were."

Elsa nodded. Her coffee had gone cold, and she was utterly aghast. Wolves?

"God, Anna, I'm so sorry. I put you in so much danger. I put you both in so much danger," She corrected, turning to Kristoff. "And Anna is completely right – it's the least we can do to replace your things. You didn't have to help us – but you did. You helped two complete strangers."

"He didn't even know who I was until we were halfway up the mountain, either. And he still came with me even after I ruined his sled." Anna added.

Kristoff shifted uncomfortably. He looked down at his wine. "Well, yeah, you know. Anyone would have done the same. You would have died on your own."

Elsa shuddered slightly. "Thank you, Kristoff."

"The next bit you know, anyway. So after your giant snowman chased us away–"

"Marshmallow." Kristoff corrected. Anna looked at him in confusion. He flushed. "That's what Olaf calls him."

Anna nodded, somewhat impressed. "After Marshmallow threw us off a cliff anyway, my hair started turning white – " She glanced back at Kristoff. "– and Kristoff said he knew who could help us. The love experts," she grinned. "Kristoff's family. They're Rock Trolls."

Elsa gasped. Anna reached for her arm, concerned.

"What?"

"The Rock Trolls?"

"Yeah," confusion. "Is that… what's wrong with that?"

Elsa buried her face in her hands. Kristoff understood, and cleared his throat.

"Anna… you know when I said I'd seen them do it before?"

She was still confused. "Yeah?"

"When I was little – when it was just Sven and me – we were out in the woods one night when two horses ran past us. They were leaving a trail of ice before them." He glanced at the queen, who was peeking up at him through her fingers, now looking as confused as her sister. "Well, you know, ice is my life, so we followed them, me and Sven." Suddenly, he felt really quite under pressure. He gripped the edge of the table to steady himself. "They got to the clearing – the one where the Trolls live. I saw that the horses had carried a man and a woman and two children. I think – I mean, I didn't really make the connection for a while – that was you, your sister and your parents."

Elsa was gazing at Kristoff open-mouthed.

"Yes. That was us."

They held eye contact for a moment. It was… strange. Elsa looked and Kristoff and Kristoff looked at Elsa with a new kind of realisation.

"When we were little, Anna – you knew all about my powers. One night, we were playing in the hall – that's when we built Olaf – and I – I struck you. With my powers."

"In the head." Kristoff supplied.

Anna looked so confused.

"But – we built Olaf as kids outside. Outside by the fjord. I remember."

Elsa shook her head. "I'm so sorry, Anna." She looked to Kristoff, quite helpless.

"Grandpabbie had to remove the magic from your head. To do it, he removed all the magic. Even the memories of magic."

Elsa looked desperately at her sister. "That's why you don't remember anything about my powers from when we were kids. It – it had to be taken out. The Troll – Grandpabbie, did you call him? –warned us that my powers would only get stronger, and more dangerous. After that, mama and papa decided it would be best to keep me separate from everyone. Best for us all. I didn't want to hurt you again."

Elsa was tearing up, and Kristoff looked away, embarrassed. A sudden soft grip on his arm brought him back however, and he saw Elsa's hand around his forearm, her eyes full of Anna.

"…that's why you never let me in. That's why you shut me out." Anna said slowly.

Elsa nodded.

A moment.

"Oh, Elsa!" The scraping of Anna's chair broke the silence as she stood and flung her arms around her sister. They embraced across the table and the ends of Anna's plaits dipped into Elsa's cold coffee cup – though neither of them noticed. They held each other for a long while.

Kristoff shifted uncomfortably.

On the one hand, he felt privileged – very privileged – to bear witness to this moment. It moved him – which was strange. Kristoff had never really felt moved by anyone, until he met Anna.

On the other, he felt very, very awkward. He stole glances at them, finishing off his glass of wine as unobtrusively as he could.

Eventually, the two girls broke apart, both glossy-eyed and slightly red-nosed. They smiled.

"So…" Kristoff cleared his throat. "So when I brought Anna to the Trolls again… they knew what to do."

Anna sniffed, and nodded, picking up the narrative again. "They said only an act of true love could save me. So we came back here… to Hans."

Kristoff looked at Anna. "I don't know what happened after I brought you to the gates."

He said it very quietly.

"Oh, you know," Anna waved an airy hand around and tried her best to be nonchalant. "Gerda and Kai – those are our servants, Kristoff – brought me inside, to Hans. They left us together, but instead of kissing me, Hans said he never really loved me," a tiny crease had appeared between Anna's eyebrows, but her tone was light. Too light. "He'd come to Arendelle to marry into the throne. He has twelve older brothers," she explained. "So no chance of succession in the Southern Isles."

Elsa's mouth had disappeared into a thin, white line and Kristoff couldn't help but clench his fist under the table. It was nonsensical to both of them that somebody could lie to Anna like that – deliberately hurt her like that. She was so easily bruised.

"He was going to kill you, Elsa," Anna said quietly. "After we got married. So that he would be king by marriage. But – 'then you doomed yourself and I was dumb enough to go after you' –" her fingers sketched quotation marks around this and there was an odd, unfamiliar edge of bitterness under all the lightness of her tone. "So he didn't need to do anything but leave me to freeze. And, I suppose, then accuse you of treason."

"The sword," Elsa muttered. "That makes more sense now. I didn't see it – till after – but I wasn't exactly sure what had happened."

"He thought if he killed you he would be 'the hero that saved Arendelle from destruction'." Anna's voice swooped in melodrama, but underneath that, shook with anger.

"And you sacrificed yourself to save me." Elsa's voice was uncharacteristically tight with emotion.

"Ahh, you know," Anna shrugged, and the moment of intensity was broken. "All in a day's work. It was nothing." She smiled. "Hans was no match for you anyway."

"So – to be clear – that was Hans? On the fjord? And the boat?" Kristoff felt the tension had subsided enough for him to quickly confirm that his guess had been right.

Anna nodded.

Kristoff grinned. "You must've broke his nose, Anna."

This brought a little smile from her.

"Where is he now?" Kristoff asked Elsa.

"Tomas – captain of the guard, Kristoff – told me he's being held in the dungeons for now. He came this afternoon to ask what to do with him."

"What did you say?"

"I told him to keep him there for now."

Anna nodded.

After a moment, Kristoff brought the conversation back. "So… you were both on the fjord…" he directed this question to both of them.

Anna shrugged. "I was trying to find you."

Suddenly, she went bright red.

"I mean – I had to get out of the castle, it was freezing over, and Olaf – he'd come to find me after Hans ran off – saw you coming back, so I thought it would be a good idea, because, you know, I didn't know where anyone else was, and I was turning into ice, and you'd been good at helping me so far, so it made sense, you know, so –"

Elsa swooped in to save her. "I'd just escaped from the dungeon."

"What?!" Anna and Kristoff said together.

Elsa shrugged. "Everyone thought I'd frozen Arendelle on purpose. Hans and some guards came to find me, in my ice palace, and brought me back here. They locked me up. That's when I saw what I'd done to Arendelle."

"Hans locked you up?" Anna was outraged. "That bastard, oh, a broken nose is too good for him, I'm going to –"

She'd risen from her seat, fists curled into little balls and seemed to have half a mind to go find the Prince of the Southern Isles right that moment.

"Easy, fiestypants," said Kristoff, gently motioning for her to sit. "It's ok."

Elsa liked that nickname. She smiled crookedly at the ice harvester who seemed both very strange and right at home at their table.

Anna flumped back down into her seat. "I could kill him."

"I heard guards coming for me, anyway," continued Elsa. "So I escaped. I froze the bricks and broke through the wall."

Kristoff looked impressed.

"Your magic is… pretty amazing."

Elsa was surprised.

"You say that after I plunged Arendelle into an eternal winter?"

"You say eternal. It only lasted a few days, really."

Elsa was taken aback. In a good way.

"And the rest you know, I suppose," Anna smiled. "The rest kinda worked out ok."

Elsa took her hand.

Suddenly, Anna's smile became a grin. "Elsa. Do the magic."

Elsa dropped her hand.

"Please." Anna grinned, almost bouncing in her seat. "Do the magic!"

Elsa hesitated. She looked from the face of her wide-eyed sister to the curious expression of the ice harvester. Neither looked afraid. The room was full of – well, the room was full of love.

Elsa inhaled. Exhaled. Twirled her fingers a little.

Beautiful, intricate ice patterns curled along the table. Effortlessly, four tiny walls rose from the centre of the table. With the gentle iridescent shiver of silver and blue, the ice formed towers and roof slates, windows and doors, battlements and walkways. Ice crystals sprawled across the faces of each miniature brick, creating fissures and pits and textures. As the tallest tower of this replica castle tapered to a neat point, a tiny snowflake glowed and balanced atop it and the gates swung open.

"Ohhh," Anna's voice was full of awe.

"Woah," Kristoff breathed.

Elsa betrayed a smile.

With a final wiggle of her fingers, a tiny, frozen ice-Olaf materialised in the centre of the miniature courtyard.

Anna giggled. "Make Sven too!"

A glow of magic. A little ice reindeer appeared beside the snowman.

Kristoff reached a hand softly into the sculpture and picked up the little figurine. He peered at it in fascination.

"You got his expression just right." He passed it over to Anna, wide-eyed. "See?"

Anna was delighted.

Sometime later, after Anna had insisted Elsa make a series of tiny ice-Hans which she had proceeded to decapitate with her sundae spoon, they said their good nights.

Kristoff and Anna wandered down the corridor to the guest rooms, chattering happily.

"I feel so much better." Anna admitted.

"After talking to your sister about it all?"

"Yeah. I finally understand. And so does she."

Kristoff smiled.

"It's so nice to… to see her. And to have her actually here! Oh," She slipped a hand around Kristoff's arm. "This is going to take some serious getting used to."

They reached the room Kai had informed them had been prepared for the guest.

"This is you," Anna peered inside. "I hope it's ok? I know it's been made up quite quickly –"

Allowing her hand to loose from his arm, Kristoff took a few steps forward and looked inside. His eyes went very wide.

"Anna, it's more than ok. Thank you." He turned, and hesitated. "Look, I really don't mind getting a room in town –"

"Nope."

Kristoff rolled his eyes, but smiled. "Fine."

They hovered awkwardly on the threshold of the room for a moment. Inside, candlelight cast a warm, burning glow over everything and made their shadows giants.

Kristoff cleared his throat.

"Good night, Anna."

"Good night, Kristoff."