"Please tell me you're joking." Anna whined.

"I am sorry for this mix up, but there is nothing I can do about it my dear." The burly blonde man said with his thick Swedish accent, his fingers together in a temple.

"You don't keep records or logs of your trades with the trader's information or anything? That's no way to run a business!" Elsa snapped, tired of the man cheating them with petty excuses.

He slowly rose up, his stature growing frightening tall in the tiny building. Anna threw out her arm and blocked Elsa from coming closer to his desk and made them step back. She remembered what he did to Kristoff, which is why Kristoff had happily agreed to stay outside with Sven.

"I am sorry my dears, but I am going to have to ask to leave my shop."

"Not until you give me some information on the person who traded with you for Anna's dress. I am the queen, I demand to know."

His face softened into something child like and his words were caught in his throat. Anna just kind of looked over at her sister questioningly. She never thought she would hear her sister play the queen card. Elsa's face was set in strict lines of determination, her brows furrowed and pointed, her mouth a hard line.

"I am sorry, I did not vecognize you. I've never been able to actually see you before. I've only heard vumors of your unrivalling beauty, your voyal highness." He bowed his head and spoke smoothly, like someone who has to bullshit a lot to keep people happy. That's all you can do sometimes to keep a business running. "But, still there is nothing I can do. I all know is that he was heading north. May I add a trip to Oaken Sauna to ease your troubles? Ja?"

"No. Thank you for your time. We'll be going now." Elsa articulated roughly, anger hanging on every syllable. She grabbed Anna's arm a little harder than she wanted to and dragged her out of the tiny post. You could almost see the steam vaporizing from the top of her head as the morning sun beamed down on them from the east.

"No luck with the abominable snowman?" Kristoff wearily called out from the sled.

"No." Elsa kept trudging on still towing Anna behind her, forgetting she was still gripping her so tightly around her wrist.

"Elsa? You're kind of hurting me." Anna said as Elsa dragged them both on to the makeshift back seat of the sled.

"What?" She snapped, then she melted inside and quickly released her sister from her vice like grasp. Anna cradled her wrist close and saw the finger nail marks imprinted on her skin, but made no intention to keep it there or show a face that betrayed her pain.

"Oh no... Oh Anna I'm-"

"No, no, it's fine. He was such a jerk wasn't he?" She said trying to avert Elsa's guilt but unconsciously began rubbing at her inflamed indentions.

"That's no reason for me to have held onto you so hard. Can I see?" Elsa reached over and gingerly grabbed her sister's slightly injured wrist after Anna let her have it, only to please her. Elsa let a controlled icy wind come from her hand and wrapped it around Anna's red wrist, and the coolness immediately took away the pain. "Is that better?"

"Yeah. Thanks sis." Anna smiled warmly glad to see her sister was getting much more comfortable with her powers.

"I'm sorry we couldn't get your dress."

"Don't worry about! Thanks for taking the detour here. And thank you Kristoff for being a good sport about it." Kristoff turned around in his seat to face the two girls and smiled as Elsa looked worried as she was attending to Anna's pain.

"It was a nice dress from what I remember. Are you guys ready to head out again?"

"Yeah, we're ready."

"Come on Sven, let's go." He cracked his reigns and they started moving again, backtracking up to take Elsa's path when she ran away, since there was no canyon to leap over and lose another sled with her path.

"I'm okay Elsa. It never hurt that bad anyway." She lied, but she was good at it. Elsa let go of Anna's wrist, but then slipped her fingers in between Anna's and squeezed. Anna squeezed back and they stayed holding hands for a few hours before they stopped to stretch and eat lunch.

Kristoff kept teasing Sven with carrots, playing keep away, and the sisters laughed at the entertainment as they ate their sandwiches.

"I might as well say this now," Elsa started. "When we get to the base of the mountain we're going to have to leave the sled down there."

"Oh yeah... I guess I forgot about it being destroyed and how we walked most of the way there." Kristoff said still standing, and he finally relented and gave Sven the carrots in his hand and then leaned against him and scratched behind the reindeer's ear, his gaze towards the north mountain. "We're not that far away. We're making better time than I thought we would. If we don't stay out for the night we could easily be back by tomorrow morning, if the search doesn't take long that is."

"I remember I was in a pretty high floor when I threw it. I'll start there. I just still can't believe I just let it stay there. Why didn't I go and pick it up? Put it somewhere where I knew it would be. That was so stupid of me."

"Oh stop pitying yourself will you?" Anna sighed in frustration.

"Anna, that was mother's tiara, she became queen with it as well! It's a family heirloom, a symbol of our country!"

"I know Elsa, but you were also letting out your demons! So you made a mistake! It won't be your last. And I'll be right beside you, making mistakes with you, for the rest of our lives, goddess Elli willing."

"How can you make everything sound like it will be alright all the time?" Elsa asked with amusement, letting go of the fact that her sister was promising they'd both mess up again some day.

"Because I believe in the possibility of happy endings." Anna beamed bright, and Elsa's eyes crinkled.

"You are the best little sister ever, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know. Now, come on let's go!" Anna jumped up and helped her sister up and picked up their impromptu picnic and loaded everything behind their backseat as Kristoff reattached Sven to the reigns. When the girls got settled back into their seat Anna slipped her hand into Elsa's and they rode off with full bellies and big smiles.

Maybe about half an hour later they had already arrived at the bottom of the mountain, and from then Elsa took the lead of all four of them since Kristoff couldn't just leave Sven behind. It was a little difficult to remember exactly where she went the last time. All her foot prints had either melted away or been covered with fresh snow. She never wavered in her confidence that she knew where she was going, even though she was in a blind rage slash panic and in despair at the time which meant she didn't pay that great attention at the direction she was going. Eventually they finally came to the frozen forest that Anna and Kristoff recognized, and from there they knew where to go to find the bridge. The sun was well over to the west. It must have been close to three Kristoff estimated.

"Wait, do you think Marshmallow is still there?" Anna wondered aloud.

"Who's Marshmellow?" Elsa asked.

"That's what Olaf named the giant snowman you had thr- made." Anna smacked Kristoff's arm to make him change the direction of his sentence. Didn't need anything unpleasant like that coming up and ruining their outing.

"Oh... Well when Hans came after me with those men they must have gotten past him and done away with him or he would've come for me." Elsa's voice faded away with every word.

"Well, at least you're here. You're with us, and you're safe." Anna said looping her arm through Elsa's.

"I'm so glad you came with us Anna." Elsa responded, her voice brittle, but sweet.

Kristoff thought the same thing too as he reached out for Sven to feel something familiar and secure. He was sure he'd only say something to make everything worse. That's why he pitched his idea, desperate to make sure he wouldn't have to be alone with Elsa. She was great and all, but she was nothing like her little sister. He could handle Anna any day, but Elsa was a mystery he hoped he'd never have to solve.

They walked on in silence, but this time it was comfortable. It felt expected and right. Everyone just looked around, still astonished by the beauty ice held as it caught the light of day.

"Hey? Is that what I think it is?" Kristoff called out when he saw the big heap of snow in front of the bridge.

"That wasn't there when we first came." Anna remarked.

"That's Marshmallow!" Elsa gleefully exclaimed, and she rushed over to the big heap as it began to rise and grow in stature and that's when you could see how he gave himself a prosthetic leg made of a log. His icicles retracted back into his fingertips at the sight of his creator and his face became very child like.

"Elsa." He sigh sighed out in relief with a low gravelly voice.

"Oh, what happened to your leg big guy?" She asked when she was in front of him.

"Bad guy cut it off and I fell down." He twisted his torso and extended his arm pointing to the destruction on the bridge where he made his last ditch effort to protect his master.

"Oh you poor thing. Sit! Sit down, and I'll fix your leg."

Down the giant snowman fell with a dull and damp thud in the snow, and that's when Anna saw something blue catch a ray of the sun. On top of Marshmallow's head sat a golden tiara with a dangling, sparkling sapphire.

"Oh, Kristoff would you mind helping me get this out of his leg?" Elsa insisted as Anna pointed out to him the glinting tiara.

"Yeah, of course, but ummm." He motioned for Sven to follow him and they strode over to her and the giant snowman.

"Ummm what?" She asked, irritated that he wasn't as worried about the upcoming amputation about to take place as she was.

He simply pointed up to the snowman's head and Marshmallow looked up thinking something was there for him to see.

"What? What! The sky is lovely and cloudy Kristoff now help me! We still have to go find my tiara."

"Elsa, he's wearing it. Oy, look here boy!" Kristoff called out to him and snapped his fingers to get his attention and look down and that's when Elsa's face deepened a few shades of red and Anna held her sides together as she roared laughing.

"Oh... Marshmallow?" She took a few steps to reach his massive, frosty hand and placed her tiny, slender one on top tenderly. "May I have my crown back? I've come all this way, to see if you were alright, and to find my crown." She quickly decided to ad lib the while search for him to soften the situation.

"But I like it." His deep voice weighed down Elsa's heart. "How about, after I fix your leg, I make you a new one, it will be ten times as beautiful as the one you're wearing! How does that sound?" Now Anna was beaming as her sister took on a motherly tone as she took care of her protector.

"Why don't you just make yourself a new crown?" He bantered back like a little child.

"Because that one belonged to my mother. It is very special to me, just like you." She stroked his hand all the while Kristoff was figuring out a way to attach Sven to the log and have him pull it out.

"Okay." He groaned out pathetically and lifted up his other arm that Elsa wasn't comforting to take off his precious crown and bring it down for Elsa take from his hand.

"Thank you." She took the tiara and put it in her sack she was wearing across her chest and went closer to him to hug him at his chest.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too." Kristoff took advantage of the distraction and slapped Sven's rump to make him take off in a dead sprint, and he had just enough strength in him to pull the log out of Marshmallow's leg. It left him tired and exhausted from the strain and so he dramatically plopped down into the snow and watched his exasperated breaths fog out in the freezing air.

"Did that hurt?" Elsa asked still in a motherly tone as she went back down to his leg, and he simply shook his head. "Poor thing, here you go." She waved her hand around and snow swirled around and she aimed it where his leg was missing and it began to reform until it was completely healed.

"There! All better huh?" He nodded his head and a toothless smiled spread across his face. Then she brought her hands together and a white glow shone from them and a new icy crown rose from her skin. She lifted her hands out to present him with it and he gladly took it, promptly placing it on top his head.

'Now what...' Elsa wondered to herself. She couldn't bring him back to Arendelle exactly. Olaf was definitely enough for the kingdom's dose of oddity in their lives. But, could she really leave him here? With all her hard thinking she never heard Anna approach beside her.

"He could make a nice friend for Olaf." Anna whispered, knowing what her sister was already thinking.

"Yes, but he is so... massive." She whispered back smiling through her teeth at Marshmallow, to show that everything was fine, she definitely wasn't considering leaving him here all by himself, no of course not.

"Well, can't you just, oh I don't know... Shrink him down? Who knows! Maybe he'd be a great soldier. If trouble ever comes, you can make him big again, and maybe strengthen his ligaments." Elsa couldn't contain the laugh that Anna drew out of her.

"I don't see why not, but I have an idea first." Kristoff praising Sven for such a good job grabbed at the girl's ears and they both looked over to see a very tuckered out reindeer that was even too tired to eat a reward carrot.

"Would you like to come home with me, with us?" Elsa suggested, gesturing her hand from Anna to Kristoff and to Sven. Marshmallow simply nodded his head vigorously in happy acceptance. "First, would you mind taking us down the mountain? We're all tired from walking up here. I know a big strong boy like you could carry us all no problem though right?"

"Yes! Yes, I can carry you all!" He brought his enormous hands together and clapped making slushy, damp sounds.

"Good boy, now lower your hands so we can get on okay?" He did and Anna and Elsa went over to help Kristoff get Sven up and they all helped him onto Marshmallow's left hand, and Kristoff went and sat next to him, still petting Sven's thick coarse fur. Anna and Elsa went over to his right hand since the left was full and they loaded themselves on.

"Okay Marshmallow, we're ready. I'll tell you where to go." He nodded once in understanding and rose up on his two snow legs and waited there to test his balance and smiled wide with the knowledge that he could finally walk normal again, and then off he went following Elsa's instructions, and before they knew it they were at the bottom again where they had left their sled. The sun only a little lower than when they first arrived at the base. Kristoff estimated it was around four.

"I guess I was wrong! Snowman is the a better way to travel than sled and walking." Elsa joked to Anna, but still receiving a hurt "Hey!" from Kristoff who heard. "No offending the sled."

"Sorry." Elsa laughed lightly at his defense. "Okay, you can lower us now." She called out to Marshmallow and he set down his hands for his passengers to step off. Kristoff sulked over to his sled, keeping a hand on Sven for solace, and began to reattach him to the reigns but stopped shortly when he looked over to see the sisters still over my the colossal snowman.

"What? Is he going to carry us back to Arendelle too?!" He shouted over to them.

"Go console your boyfriend will you." Elsa huffed at Anna and with a smirk she squeezed her sister's shoulder and left to go calm her reindeer king.

"Marshmallow, I can't have you come back with us if you're this big, you might scare a lot of people."

A look of hurt spread across his minimal features.

"I just want to ask you if you'd be okay if I made you smaller? That way people wouldn't be afraid of you."

"Okay." He said in acceptance, and so Elsa began to wave her hand around and her magic swirled around the snowy leviathan and he began to shrink in size to end up about a foot shorter than herself. She smiled at her work and stretched out her hand for him to take, his icy touch indifferent to her as she led them over to the sled.

"Yeah, okay. I understand." Kristoff moaned.

"Good."

"Are we interrupting anything?" Elsa cautiously inquired still worried that Kristoff wasn't okay about the whole joke about better transportation.

"Nope, everything's fine." Anna said with a smile stitched to her face.

"Well, where is he gonna sit? There's barely enough room for you two in back."

"You could stand to make a new friend dear." Anna gently prodded him.

"Fine." He gruffed curtly and went to hop on to his seat. Elsa led Marshmallow over to the step and helped him up so he could sit next to Kristoff, somewhat oblivious of Kristoff's resentment for him as his mother was attending to him.

Then Elsa went to join an already seated Anna in the back seat and instinctively intertwined her fingers with her sister's, but for the first time Anna yanked her hand back.

"Wow! Your hand is freezing." She exclaimed as they began to move.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize." Elsa withdrew her hand and laid them on her lap, but then Anna's hand slithered through in between them and enclosed itself around her right hand and held on tight.

"I didn't say I didn't want to hold your hand though silly." Anna jested, and rested her head upon Elsa's shoulder, and then with a contented sigh Elsa rested her head upon her sister's.

They rode in a comfortable silence, well at least the sister's did. Kristoff wanted desperately to start a conversation to taper away the awkwardness of sitting next to someone who once gave him a concussion, but nothing came to mind but food, and the girls weren't hungry and he knew it'd be rude to stop just so he could eat, so the silence spread on as the sun continued to drift down further and further to reach the horizon, painting everything a deep orange.

Eventually Anna drifted off to sleep on Elsa's shoulder, but she never got deep enough to snore what with all the bounciness of Sven pulling them along. Elsa kissed the top of her head and very carefully pulled her arm back to drape it along Anna's shoulders and let Anna fully lean against her so she could be more comfortable. That's when she remembered earlier in the morning, Oaken had said that the man who acquired Anna's dress was traveling North too, and they never happened upon him.

'I could have another one made. It'd be like those dolls from so long ago.' She smiled sadly, remembering it. Every detail was crystal clear, as she often thought about it everyday for years, so she wouldn't forget it. A very young Anna on the floor in the hallway, clutching to a doll in a blue dress, meant to be Elsa, whispering reassurances that everything was okay and that she was dearly loved. Then Elsa racing over to her and pulling her close, yearning to make everything change back to the way it was. To have her sister back, her best friend back.

Anna shifted a little and brought Elsa back to consciousness. She didn't feel herself slip into a little slumber, but sure enough, the dark night sky proved that she had fallen asleep as well. She looked down upon her sister's fair and freckled face, lit up by the bright moon and she smiled once more, delighting in the fact that she could hold her sister again, like this, any time she wanted. Anna had made it clear repeatedly that she didn't mind being pulled away from boring lessons in French or economics just to get a hug from the bustling queen.

"You just want a reason to get out of studying." She accidentally said out loud.

"What was that?" Kristoff asked excitedly. A little too excitedly.

"What? Oh, did I say that out loud?"

"Yep. Is she awake now?"

"No... I was just remembering some things she's said to me." A nostalgic twinkle sparked in her eyes.

"Oh. Well, we're not that far from the outskirts of Arendelle. The last traces of the sun just left. It's gotta be sometime after ten."

"How long did I sleep for then?" She asked a little too loud, but when she looked down again Anna was still at peace.

"I don't know. Marshy's been cracking jokes and puns about ice for a little while now. Surprised me laughing hasn't woken you." A grin was obvious in his voice.

"Good to see you've made a friend then." She genuinely remarked.

"Yeah, he's not too bad." He reached over and nuggied the top of the snowman's head making both of them laugh.

"I'm glad everything turned out okay. I've been so worried something would go horribly wrong, I didn't sleep much last night at all. That's why you had to come wake me this morning."

"It feels like that was an eternity ago doesn't it?" He questioned in hope to keep the conversation going, still not sure how to carry one out long term.

"Yeah, it does." She yawned and with that signaled that she was too tired to continue.

"Before you fall asleep again." He added. "Do you want to stop for anything?"

"Kristoff, if you need to stop, you can stop. You're probably dying of hunger."

"Actually, we stopped about two hours ago. The three of us men ate a hearty dinner." I just couldn't bring myself to wake you guys. You looked so peaceful."

"Well how long do you think it'll take to reach the castle?"

"If I have Sven start running... Maybe two hours?"

"Would you mind if I fell back to sleep then? Make time go by faster, and keep us going."

"If you can stay asleep, be my guest. Come on buddy! Let's get going!" Kristoff whipped the reigns and Sven began to run and off they zoomed across the landscape.

The sudden jolt woke Anna up, and she blinked hard a few times to comprehend all the motion whizzing past her.

"Elsa!" She cried out in confusion.

"It's alright, I'm right here." Elsa brought her other arm in front of Anna and held her in a hug so Anna would feel safe.

"It's dark! How long have I been asleep?" Anna said, almost shouting to have her voice heard over the roaring the wind from moving fast.

"About as long as I have I guess. We're almost home. He says we're about two hours away if we move fast."

"Oh good because you're not as comfy as a bed."

"I beg to differ! You slept for a good, few solid hours on me!" Elsa playfully retorted.

"You're still no bed! You're too bony."

"So are you silly."

Anna chuckled and snuggled into her sister and closed her eyes again. Elsa didn't know how, but Anna managed to fall asleep again. Elsa, not so much.

It wasn't that bad. After a little though while Sven got tired and slowed down, and then eventually they were walking again. Elsa turned her head around to look behind them and then looked forward again.

"I have an idea. Stop Sven and unhook him." Elsa told Kristoff. He turned around and gave her a questioning look. "Oh, trust me will you? And bring him around behind us."

"Yes, your majesty." He openly mocked, but she was talking about his companion here. He had every right to and she understood that.

Elsa then carefully moved Anna from her shoulder and had her lay on her lap so she could better look behind her. When she thought Anna had gotten herself comfortable enough, Elsa twisted her torso so she could look behind the sled. She brought out her hands, swirling them in the cool, night air, and they began to glow as she willed a hitch bed of considerable size for Sven to rest on. She added some little bumpers on all the sides so he wouldn't slide off.

Kristoff walked Sven over towards the back and stared in amazement while Sven sniffed at it making sure it wasn't dangerous or anything and found it was completely safe. No monsters.

"Okay, this is great and all, but who's gonna pull the sled?" He asked as he dug into the large sack behind the girls seat and pulled out the blankets they were planning to use for the night before they changed their minds.

"I don't know why I never thought of it before." Elsa turned back around and Kristoff draped the thick blankets over icy bed so Sven would be more comfortable. Elsa then willed a whole team of snowy reindeer and they began to paw and prance around in their icy harnesses as Elsa created their reigns.

"Well? What do you think?" Elsa asked excitedly after examining her fine work, biting her lip in expectation.

"It's nice, but they're not Sven." He said frankly and Elsa's excitement wilted. "Hey, I'm not saying I'm not thankful. You're looking out for him and that is the sweetest thing. Thank you Elsa. Now we should be there in no time." He went back to his seat and called Marshmallow back and to stop playing with the reindeer. Elsa looked down at Anna and saw she was still knocked out on her lap and wondered if she didn't sleep so well last night either. Then Elsa looked back at Sven as he was happily resting and the sled lunged forward again, much faster than ever before.

I think this is going to be it for this story... It was very nice just to be able to write without stopping for hours on end, but I'm tuckered out right now. :) I hope you liked the little memory of the scene from my story "Playtime's Over." If you didn't get the reference THEN GO READ IT! :D Please review, I love hearing what you guys think! Thank you for reading!