A heartfelt thanks to all who have reviewed thus far. For those of you who just found this story, please review! I do not own Frozen!
Arendelle, 10:00 AM, about three months after the events of Frozen (same day as Ch. 1)
"And now, without further ado, I declare the Arendelle Harvest Festival officially open!" The crowd cheered as Queen Elsa, using a quickly-made pair of ice scissors, cut the ribbon separating them from the castle courtyard, which was currently filled with all sorts of booths, advertising games with prizes, delicious food, and interesting trinkets for sale. The maypole was also up, as was a platform for performances. Chatting excitedly, the citizens of Arendelle rushed into the courtyard and dispersed themselves among the many different activities.
As she watched the excitement, Elsa gave a small smile. The Harvest Festival was a tradition going back generations, always celebrated the day the first load of crops came into town. However, she had not been allowed to attend for the past thirteen years. Then again, neither had Anna. Now, the two were finally going to take part in the festivities - together. All that time being apart from Anna was too much time, in Elsa's opinion.
Speaking of Anna, where was the princess? As Elsa dashed into the courtyard to look for her sister, she noted how easy it was to run in her ice-dress. Elsa had designed it with both fashion and practicality in mind, so she could look like a queen and still take part in the high-energy games that her sister loved. Of course, Anna was always saying that her older sister looked regal no matter what she wore. Then the Ministers of Arendelle, Elsa's "helpful" governing council, would always bring up the crown that Elsa had "lost" on the North Mountain, usually saying that it was an heirloom and should still be on Elsa's head. There had been some large fights between Anna and the council on this matter, so, about a month ago, Elsa had created a new crown for herself out of ice to solve the problem. It kept the Ministers quiet and looked great with the dress.
Elsa soon found Anna at the maypole, dancing around it with Olaf. The pair seemed to be having a lot of fun - they were both laughing as they skipped around the pole, holding onto their ribbons. They seemed an odd couple to Elsa, but Anna, with her dull green-and-brown dress and strawberry-blonde braids and Olaf, the living snowman, constantly leaving a foot behind him or dropping his carrot nose, were the two people closest to her. They were her family.
Elsa waved to her sister, who, upon noticing her, immediately dropped her ribbon and came right at her. "Elsa!" Anna cried, throwing her arms around the queen. (Elsa gladly returned the gesture.) "I have so much to tell you!" the princess continued. "Kristoff just finished setting up his ice booth, and Olaf invented a new snack!"
The last comment caught Elsa by surprise. "What exactly do you mean by that?" she asked.
Olaf replied, "It's a long story. C'mon, we'll show you!" As Olaf waddled off, Elsa couldn't help noticing that a good chunk of his back was missing. She gave a quizzical look to Anna, who said, "I'll explain when we get to Kristoff's booth," and hurried after the snowman. Elsa followed her, still wondering what exactly had happened.
Elsa was pleasantly surprised when they found the Official Arendelle Ice Master's Booth. She had been expecting a ramshackle work, operated from Kristoff's sled. Instead, he had set up shop in a three-sided booth (the fourth side was open) with one area dedicated to ice sculptures for sale, and another with a game that involved chipping away at blocks of ice to get at a small object inside. Near the sled, which was parked behind the booth, Sven was taking a nap (and snoring loudly.) When Kristoff noticed the sisters and the snowman, he waved and said, "Hey, can you guys get Sven to wake up? That snoring is driving me crazy and everyone else away."
"No problem!" said Anna as she waltzed over to the reindeer. As she shouted into his ears ("HEY SVEN! RISE AND SHINE!"), Elsa came over to Kristoff and told him, "Anna said Olaf invented a new snack. Does that have anything to do with the fact that his back is almost gone?"
"Oh, that," said Kristoff nervously. "See, before Olaf first came over here, he'd gotten some strawberry juice spilled on himself. Sven noticed that before I did, and... well... let's just say that he's the one responsible for the missing back."
"You had some, too!" added Olaf, who was trying his hand at the ice-block game and failing miserably. When Elsa turned an icy glare towards Kristoff, he shrugged and said, "True. But it did give me an idea for one more thing I could offer here. If I just had some fresh snow and a couple of types of fruit juice, I could show you."
"Gotcha covered," said Elsa, and with a wave of her hand, she created a small pile of snow on the blank side of Kristoff's booth, along with a snow cloud like Olaf's to keep it from melting. Then she said, "I'll go grab that juice now. Maybe you could help Anna with your pet," noting that Anna's attempts to rouse Sven were not exactly working. And with that, Elsa turned on her ice-heeled shoes and headed over to a nearby juice stand.
On her way to the stand, Elsa was jostled by a young man of about twenty, who was on his way to the target game. She didn't take notice, but the man immediately turned around and said, "My sincerest apologies, my queen. I-I-I didn't mean to bump into you, I wasn't looking where I was going, I..."
"No need to apologize," replied Elsa calmly. "It could have happened to anyone."
The man was surprised. "You aren't angry at me? You're not going to freeze my heart or anything?"
Now it was Elsa's turn to be surprised. "Of course not! Where did you get an idea like that?"
"Well, um, uh," the young man replied, "people say that you get upset really easily. And that you freeze people's hearts when they disagree with you. And... well... you get the picture, right, Your Majesty?"
Elsa raised an eyebrow and said, "I do, but it's the wrong picture. I used to get upset easily, but not anymore. And I only ever froze one heart - on accident."
"I see," said the man nervously. "But still, is there anything I can do for you to make it up?"
Elsa thought quickly and replied, "Actually, there is. You can help me carry juice." The young man seemed surprised at this, but he followed at Elsa's heels to the juice stand. The queen purchased four small pitchers of juice, taking two of them herself as her companion picked up the other two. Then they headed back to Kristoff's booth. Olaf was still not having any success with the ice-block game, nor Anna and Kristoff with waking up Sven. After putting down his pitchers near the snow pile, the man bowed to Elsa and hurried off.
Once she had set down her own pitchers, Elsa headed over to Sven. Over the snoring, she could hear Anna saying, "Hasn't this ever bothered you before?" and Kristoff replying, "Actually, no. We always tend to fall asleep at the same time, and the trolls tell me I snore just as badly as he does."
"No luck?" asked Elsa.
"None," replied Anna. "The big guy is out cold. Nothing's working."
Elsa winked and said, "Maybe this will help," then quickly formed a small snowball and hurled it at Sven. With a surprised grunt, the reindeer was up on his hooves within seconds. Elsa, Anna, Olaf, and Kristoff laughed their heads off (literally, in Olaf's case) as Sven danced around, trying to get the snow out of his fur. The scene attracted a small crowd, so Kristoff used his version of ventriloquism to add to the fun - "Elsaaaaaa, why'd you do thaaaaat?" Sven seemed to be saying. It was pretty funny.
Suddenly, Elsa realized that she had a lot of paperwork on her desk that she had completely forgotten about. She made her way through the growing crowd to the castle, and from there to her office, a small room where she worked on legal matters. The papers the Ministers had sent over to her to look over always seemed to end up here. To start, Elsa began to sort the mess into smaller, more manageable piles. As she worked, she let her mind wander back to the encounter with the young man.
Is that who the people think I am? she thought. A cruel sorceress with no respect for opinions other than my own? All I need is a way to show them otherwise...
Next chapter: Hans discovers more about his newfound powers...