Author's Note: I've posted two chapters today, so please read the previous one if you haven't already!

This one hopefully moves the story more firmly into the 'humour' tag.

So, for those of you that were beginning to lose hope:

We're finally going to get a glimpse of Elsa…

Anna realised that she really really wasn't okay not when she spent the remainder of the day weeping, or when she refused to talk to Joan, or when she couldn't eat even one bite of the Cook's specially prepared "Your Life Is Kind Of Over But We'll Pretend This Is A Celebration" chocolate cake.

No, Anna realised things were very bad indeed when she arrived at Smiling Oaken's Finest Hotel And Gardens the next day- a whole hour early.

'A whole hour early?'

'Yes. We made good time.'

This was foreign territory, and not in the least because Anna had never been to Hampshire before.

'Do you wish to wait in the carriage?' Kai asked. 'We can play Lottery Tickets. You love Lottery Tickets.'

He had forced her to pack all the games her parents had owned, under the mistaken belief that she would spend the next 6 months merrily passing the time with her new best friends.

Anna shook her head. 'I'm sure the proprietor won't mind if I enquire early. The area looks deserted! I haven't seen another carriage in 10 miles!'

'Probably because this is a very secluded location,' Kai said, which was putting it lightly. The horse had struggled up a hill so large it was practically a mountain.

'If you do get welcomed inside, signal to me first, and I will bring your luggage in,' he continued, warily eyeing the many bags and boxes.

'Thank you, Kai.' Anna paused. 'I'll miss you, you know. Can we write to one another?'

He smiled. 'I fear that may increase your homesickness. Better to fully immerse yourself in your new place of residence, and your new friends.'

Anna sighed, and craned her neck out of the carriage to get a look at the hotel.

This is not what I expected.

It was a small wooden cabin, the sort where she imagined Mr. Bjorgman stayed when he was in Norway. What a strange kind of lodging for England!

A curtain twitched, and Anna thought she saw a pale face in the window.

She wasn't alone. The thought gave her some transient relief.

'You can do this,' Anna said to herself a moment later, confidence only slightly knocked as she brushed the grit off her hands.

I can't even get out of a carriage on my own... how will I survive without Kai?

As Anna approached the front door of the hotel, she felt a great sense of loss. There was to be no white wedding, no opening up the gates of Arendelle, no One True Love or Happy Ever After.

There was only the Unknown, in the form of a building so tiny it was essentially a hut.

She took a deep breath.

Smiling Oaken's Finest Hotel And Gardens both looked and sounded welcoming, but Anna was terrified.

She knocked on the door.

Silence.

'...Hello?'

'...Hello, I'm Miss Anna Smith, uh, I'm a bit early, I can come back later?'

She pushed the door gently.

It opened.

She shrugged and walked inside.

Anna was probably breaching all the rules in the Respectable Society's Guide To Hotel Etiquette, but she was here because respectful society had turned its back on her, so it didn't bother her too much.

Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim candlelight. There was a welcome desk, unstaffed. On either side of the lobby was a door. The left door, given the geography of the building, likely lead to the rooms. From the right came the sound of laughter.

Anna gravitated towards the noise, like Hans to a naive, rich young lady. She needed some laughter in her life.

She knocked.

No answer.

Anna summoned just enough of Mr. Weselton's demeanour to exude self-possession, and yet avoid arrogance.

She opened the door, and... hovered, suddenly too shy to interrupt.

A large, friendly-looking gentleman (who Anna identified as Mr. Oaken, thanks to a name tag) was talking to a thinner blonde gentleman, and sharing some alcohol.

'The children are so excited to see our new guest,' the blonde man was saying, swinging his legs as he reclined in a chair. 'I told them many times that they must not pester her to play games with them, but they will not listen!'

Mr. Oaken laughed. 'Oh, for ones so little they have so much spirit! Do you think it would be rude of me to ask her if she would play just one game? They were so disappointed when Miss Winters declined.'

Miss Winters?

That must have been who was at the window!

What a small world this was!

'I would at least wait until tomorrow, once she has rested from the journey. Our last game of blind man's buff lasted over three hours!'

'They are so very ingenious.' Mr. Oaken swallowed the last dregs of his bottle. 'Now, I must go and man the desk, ya, in case Miss Smith is early.'

Anna was about to announce her presence when Mr. Oaken bent down and kissed the other man on the mouth.

Not wanting to disrupt such a private moment, Anna tried to slip away quietly, but her boot caught on the wooden floorboards, and she stumbled.

The men looked up in surprise.

Anna grinned, rubbing her neck. 'Hi!...uh, I'm your new guest.'

'I think that's everything,' Kai sighed to Mr. Oaken. 'Why must you bring two hat boxes, Anna, when you never go outside?'

'I will go outside here,' Anna retorted. 'There are gardens.'

'Ya, gardens,' Mr. Oaken said, not meeting either of their eyes. He'd been on edge ever seen he'd seen Anna.

Do I look like a troublesome guest or something?

'Where are the gardens?' Anna asked. It occurred to her that she hadn't seen any on the way to the hotel.

'They are the other side of the North Mountain.'

At Anna's blank expression, he explained: 'My hotel is in the north of Hampshire, ya, up big big hill- almost mountain! So I call it North Mountain. If you wish I will show you round the gardens after supper?'

'That would be lovely, thank you,' Anna said. 'I'm just going to see Kai off, and then I'll unpack.'

It was a teary farewell, and she needed a few minutes to compose herself before walking back inside. At the sound of her approach, Mr. Oaken stopped talking to his partner. Both looked at her warily.

'Is everything okay?' Anna asked. 'I believe we agreed I would pay upon leaving.'

'Ya, that is fine.'

And then: 'Did you say anything to your servant?'

'I'm sorry?'

'Anything about us?' Mr. Oaken said, wringing his hands. 'I am most sorry. It was not for a woman to see.'

The cogs began to turn in Anna's mind. 'That was my fault for not telling you of my arrival,' she said. 'It was a private tender moment between you, I thought nothing of it, except that it was most charming.'

Mr. Oaken and his partner exchanged a Look that said: is she too good to be true?

'You are aware it is illegal in England, though?' his partner said. 'A man was hanged just last month.'

Anna was generally... well, "self-absorbed" is too harsh a label…

Let's go for "ignorant".

That's why "And My Lover Was The Same As Me" ended with Harold being hanged, Anna thought, unaware that she was a) in possession of a banned book deemed so shocking it had been discussed in court and b) completely zoning out of the conversation. I thought it was an extreme punishment for stealing a loaf of bread! Oh, I couldn't finish that night, it was so sad… poor Harold… I cried for hours...

The two men exchanged another Look. This one said:

Oh great, one guest is a misanthrope, the other a recluse. What fun they will be!

Well, Miss Winters has the worldly knowledge, and Miss Smith has the friendly demeanour, and the social skills- though she is kind of awkward...

Yes, we must get Miss Smith to introduce herself to Miss Winters! They can learn from each other!

Satisfied with their plan, they turned back to Anna, who now had a dreamy smile on her face, her thoughts having drifted to the... happier... of her books.

'Yoo-hoo!' Oaken said. 'Miss Smith? Yoo-hoo!'

'...Wha-?'

'Are you leaving many friends behind at home?' Mr. Oaken asked casually. 'You young people are so social!'

Mr. Oaken's partner gave him a Look that said you're laying it on a bit thick, but it was ignored.

'Friends?' Anna laughed. 'Do imaginary count?'

Anna's hosts laughed too, great big belly laughs that slowly petered out into awkward giggles once they realised she was only half joking.

They exchanged a third and final Look, and it was of despair.

Anna knocked on the door, feeling that she had knocked on more doors in the space of one morning than in the last three months combined.

'Miss Winters? Are you in there?'

Silence.

She suppressed a groan.

Was it a Hampshire thing, not responding to a knock?

'I'm Miss Smith, the new guest- technically your new neighbour, I guess!'

Anna though she heard a rustle of fabric, but nothing all that motivating. She pressed on.

'Do you want to play "Build A Snowman"? It's a game that Mr. Oaken's children made up, I don't really know how they play it, because I'm guessing they're not being literal, since there isn't any snow, but it could be fun if we all did it together!'

'...Do you want to play Lottery Tickets, just with me? We could get to know each other!'

'...Okay, well, goodby-'

The door opened a crack.

Anna had time to process a flash of almost white hair, wide blue eyes, and a sharp inhale, and then the door was slammed in her face.

Think positive. You can play "Build A Snowman" with the children, and then go for a walk around the gardens with Mr. Oaken, and then you can have lunch, and then you can read one of the books Kai bought you as a going away present (look, their relationship was already unusual, okay) before supper.

At the thought of Kai, Anna sighed.

How am I supposed to be friends with Miss Winters if she just shuts me out?

Author's Note: I did say a glimpse!

*ducks*

For anyone left unsatisfied by this, don't you worry, I'll begin alternating between our two heroine's points of view from the next chapter, so we get to see Elsa's perspective on this new arrangement next...