So as not to be a freeloader—and to make her journey easier—Anna purchased a few supplies before taking the path north from Wandering Oaken's Trading Post. The way was straightforward and lined by trees. She encountered no one on the road, but that was not surprising. With the mountains to the north, many travelers preferred routes by sea. But though Anna was certainly alone on the road, the world around her was noisy. Insects buzzed past her ears and birds chirped from the trees. Red squirrels scampered up trees when they noticed the human approach. Anna grinned, enjoying the wildlife she'd missed on her previous journey.

She stopped to rest after an hour, sipping from her waterskin. The forest around her provided little shade now that the sun was directly overhead. When she finished drinking, she took out the map.

"All right!" She glanced at the markings she'd made around the location she assumed was the Valley of Living Rock. "How am I supposed to tell when I should start east?" There were no landmarks around her, just trees. The map did not show a break in the trees until the mountains farther north.

Anna glanced off the path to the right. There was no distinct trail on the map between this road and the trolls' lands. There was a good chance she'd get lost once she left the road.

She studied the map, double-checking for any streams or breaks in the forest that might lead the way. Instead she caught something she hadn't noticed before; a stray line leading off the current road. It looked like a dead-end, but it at least pointed in the direction of the Valley of Living Rock. If she could find this little stray path, she could use it as a stepping stone at least.

With newfound hope, Anna tucked the map away and resumed the trail northward. Two scurrying squirrels and one red deer later, Anna found it: the small branch off the road. It was nearly invisible and certainly would have been missed if she hadn't been searching for it. To the careless eye, it would just appear to be a grassy patch of land on the side of the trail. But upon closer look through the overhanging branches and encroaching vines, Anna could make out a path. It clearly hadn't been used in a long time. Anna groaned at the thought of hacking her way with the flimsy dagger she'd purchased from Oaken. Sure, it would make an acceptable defense weapon for when she found Hans, but it wasn't exactly designed to cut through overgrown flora.

Anna thought longingly of the heavy snow that had covered the land days ago. It was heavy enough that it would have weighed down the obstacle plant life. Winter also meant fewer insects and arachnids.

"Ugh."

Finally, she took out her dagger and made a slow but determined start through the thick, wild vines.

It was slow progress, but when Anna's arm was just starting to burn from all of the unusual exercise, she came to the end of the overgrowth. It felt like she'd been working for hours, taking only a few steps every few minutes, the vines were so thick. For there to be such an abrupt end was startling. It made Anna wonder if someone was maintaining the hidden path from the other side.

She checked her map again. Of course, it was impossible to tell where she was exactly since the hidden path was shown as a dead-end. But there was no mistaking it as a path. She just wondered where it would lead her. What else was around for miles besides the Valley of Living Rock? It struck Anna then how little she knew of Arendelle outside of the castle and village.

Well, here was one opportunity for her to learn more.

Anna put the map away for the moment and resumed the hidden path. She knew once Elsa sent a search party after her, they'd be able to follow her trail based on all the hacked plants behind her. She just hoped she could get more answers before they found her. She certainly wanted Hans to pay for his crimes, but she also needed to know for sure that he was alive.

She laughed bitterly at the thought. Here she was, fretting over whether or not she had accidentally killed the man who'd left her to die. What if he tried to attack her out here in the woods? She frowned, clutching the little satchel that dangled from her shoulder.

She had one advantage now that she hadn't had before: she knew what the true Hans was like. She would not be caught off-guard again.

Her next step snapped a twig beneath her boot, startling a few birds from their perches above. They screeched and zipped up through the treetops, knocking sticks and leaves to the path below. Anna covered her head to shield herself from the debris. Then she looked ahead and froze. A large, grey wolf stood staring directly at her—a mere dozen feet away. Anna scanned the trees for any others, but it seemed this was a lone wolf.

She wanted to turn and run but she doubted she could outrun the animal. How long had it been watching her? Perhaps she had startled it.

What do I do? She had completely forgotten about wolves, bears or other dangers she might face. Now she felt like a fool. Worse, she was a scared fool; a scared fool out in the wilderness by herself.

The wolf took a couple of steps toward her and that was when Anna completely lost it.

"…for the FIRST time in forever," she suddenly sang at the top of her lungs, balling her fists and holding them up while she bore her white teeth.

"I will fix things, make them right!
For the first time in, well—everrrr, I'm well-prepared to fight…
Don't think one ol' wolf could stop me just because I'm all alone!
'cause for the first time in forever… I'm in the combat zone!"

This musical outburst of course bewildered and then frightened the wolf into yelping and high-tailing it south through the woods. Anna cackled as she watched the creature flee, invigorated by how swiftly the danger passed. After a second, she realized how close she could have come to being mauled to death and that was enough to make her collapse in a fit of jitters.

"I have to keep moving. I'm almost there," she assured herself. She thought of Elsa back at home, wrought with fear of Hans's escape. She remembered Kristoff's lips upon her cheek. "I have to keep moving."

It wasn't easy, but Anna picked herself up and kept walking. She started humming to herself after finding that it calmed her. She liked to think it kept other wolves away too. She was lucky the one had been alone and that it wasn't winter, when the animals were all more desperate for food.

Yes, she was most certainly lucky.

Anna let herself stop to rest only twice. After the encounter with the wolf, she did not want to linger too long in one place. But when she stopped the second time, she allowed herself to snack. She nibbled on some of the cured meat she'd purchased back at the trading post. It wasn't until she ate that she realized how hungry she was. But with no telling how long her journey might last, Anna ate very little so as to have more food for later.

As she pressed on, she fantasized about hauling Hans back to Arendelle. Elsa would be angry with her for going off on her own…at first. But then she'd see how resourceful Anna had been! Kristoff, too, would naturally be impressed that Anna had taken care of everything all on her own. Hans would know never again to trifle with either Arendelle or the royal sisters.

Anna was so lost in thought, she jumped when her next step took her into a world of dusk. She jerked her head around, gawking at the sunlit path behind her. Then she looked forward into the blue trees beyond. She took one step back. Sure enough, she felt the warmth of the afternoon. But when she stepped forward once again, the air immediately cooled. How could that be?

There was only one reasonable explanation.

Anna walked on, hurrying as she saw an end to the trail in the distance. Yes, that must be…she thought, breaking into a run. She came to a vespertine valley that stretched out to grassy rock terraces against surrounding cliff faces. Everywhere she turned, there were boulders. Some of the larger standing ones leaned against each other as artistic structures. The smaller, rounder ones were spread evenly apart all across the valley.

"Ahem…" Anna cleared her throat. "Hello again!"

There was no immediate response.

"It's Anna—Kristoff's friend?" she tried. At this, the smaller rocks all trembled in place. Anna grinned as one by one, they rolled toward her and transformed into the tiny, stocky creatures she had met before.

"Anna! Anna's here!" a few of them cried, skittering over with big, toothy smiles. Some had more teeth than others.

"She's still sweet as a cupcake!" one voice yelled out. Others cheered in agreement, hopping up and down.

"D'aww." Anna blushed. She felt a sudden tug on her skirts and looked down.

One of the baby trolls looked up at her and asked, "But where's Kristoff?"

An unexpected pang of guilt came over her for not taking Kristoff with her. If she were to be honest, the thought of bringing him along hadn't occurred to her. True, they'd had an adventure together. There was even the promise of something more once she returned. But that was part of the reason she had set out to hunt Hans down. She needed to close that door before she could open another, or it just wouldn't seem right. Even if closing the door to Hans simply meant seeing that he was arrested.

"He's a guest at our castle!" Anna exclaimed, giggling at the 'ooooo's and 'aaaahhh's this news received. "I couldn't very well pull him away from nice baths and copious food!"

"Kristoff is taking baths? No way!" Bulda snorted. The rest rolled their head backs, laughing. "It must be your influence, hmm?"

"Oh, what? Me? Wait, what?" Anna gave a nervous laugh.

An ancient voice suddenly spoke above the others. "I'm glad to see your heart is now unfrozen, young lady." The giggling and teasing ceased, but the alertness of the group magnified as their leader stepped forth to greet Anna. "But you seem different than last time…"

"Huh?" Anna asked. She recognized the troll Kristoff had called 'Grand Pabbie'

"You were worried before, but you were... happy, in spite of the ice in your heart. Now… you have a sad look about you. What's happened?"

"I… came here to ask for help."

"Tell us."

She hesitated. But with a little encouragement from the younger trolls, Anna soon found herself relaying the tale of how Hans had broken her heart, left her to die and nearly murdered her sister. She told them of Kristoff's chivalry in getting her back to Hans, then of how Olaf helped her get out of the castle. She tensed as she described the events on the fjord in detail. Things got a little fuzzy when she'd turned to ice, but it was easy to describe the warmth and bliss she felt when her own act of true love had thawed the ice in her heart.

"Elsa was able to dispel the blizzard after that. But Hans disappeared before he could answer for his crimes. I need to find him before he causes any more trouble."

"Whaaaaaaaat?!" Bulda interrupted, incredulous. "Color me confused, dear. You want to find the scoundrel who tried to kill you?"

"He left me for dead, actually. I had a frozen heart if you remember, so there wasn't much trying required… which might actually make the whole thing much worse but, um, my sister is very distressed about the whole thing; we're supposed to ship him back to the Southern Isles—that's his kingdom—so they can put him on trial. Plus, who knows what he could be up to if he's out on his own somewhere? But actually, I also want to make sure I didn't accidentally kill him by pushing him into the fjord."

After this speech, the trolls all stared at her with their mouths open, saying nothing. Then, they slowly drew each other into a huddle to talk amongst themselves. Every now and again, one would glance back at Anna, scrutinizing her before rejoining the hushed conversation. Eventually they broke away from the huddle, forming a semi-circle with Grand Pappie standing in front and center to address Anna.

"We may have something that can help," he said.

He and Cliff took her by the hands with Bulda following as the other trolls backed away, seeming to preoccupy themselves with other troll matters as Anna was led up the terrace steps to a cave in one of the cliffs. Anna was grateful for the guides once they were deep enough in the cave. She could barely see anything! But seconds after she had the thought, the way was lit by a soft, blue glow. She spotted the source of the light as they turned around a bend in the rock wall. There were crystals, hundreds of them, sticking out of the cavern walls and ceiling.

Anna gasped. "This place is beautiful!"

"Thank you," Bulda said.

But before Anna could ask if Bulda had anything to do with the crystals, Grand Pabbie let go of her hand. They had stopped in front of a hole in the wall that apparently led into a room. Grand Pabbie was small enough to just hop through, but it was a tight squeeze for Anna. She was almost certain Kristoff could never have entered the place, except for when he was a boy.

The place she entered reminded her of the castle chapel except that the pews were replaced by smooth chairs carved out of rock. Instead of trusses and beams, the ceiling was made of all gleaming crystals that stretched higher than Anna could fathom.

"Anna, here."

Grand Pappie turned to her from a shelf built into a far wall. In his hands he held a single, large fragment of glass with five sides. No, Anna realized upon closer look—it was a mirror fragment, not just glass.

"Um… thanks?" Anna said, carefully taking the shard from him.

"You don't see him?" Grand Pabbie asked. "Let me see that, young lady." He snatched the mirror fragment back and scratched his head in puzzlement. "You're sure you don't see him there?"

Anna shook her head no, worried now that she was wasting time while Hans could be getting farther away.

"There's only one possible explanation, Grand Pabbie," Bulda called. She had her head poked in through the entrance hole in the wall.

"But how could he? He's a human! Humans can't…" Grand Pabbie turned the mirror one way and then the other. "You're sure you can't see him?"

"I'm sure! What explanation? What's going on?"

"It appears that magic is involved."

Anna's heart flopped in a panic. "HANS has magic?!" she asked, thinking of all the terrible things he might do with it.

"I don't know. Although you can't see him in this mirror, we can. But some magic is keeping me from seeing his surroundings… so I cannot tell you where he's located."

"I see…"

"The only thing we can do is send you to him."

"Send me to him?" Anna asked, though she knew better by now than to be surprised by anything when it came to magic…or trolls.

Grand Pabbie nodded. Bulda and Cliff entered the room, standing on either side of Grand Pabbie.

Anna hesitated. Was it a good idea? No. Did she have all the time in the world to consider it carefully? No. Lord only knew what Hans was planning if he'd got his hands on some kind of magical powers.

"Do it, please," she finally said.

Grand Pabbie exchanged a look of uneasiness with both Cliff and Bulda.

"You won't regret this?" Bulda asked.

"I… I don't know. It's a risk I have to take, for my sister's sake. For Kristoff."

"For you," Grand Pabbie added.

"Yeah… sure."

Grand Pabbie studied her for a second. He turned his eyes back over to Cliff and Bulda, coming to some silent understanding. Then he took the mirror fragment and bent down, using the fragment to draw a circle around Anna and confusing her as he did so.

"You must stay in the circle. Think of Hans and concentrate on the last moment you saw him," he instructed.

Anna made sure her feet were firmly planted before she closed her eyes and imagined Hans. First she saw him at the port. Then she saw him at the coronation ball. She saw him singing on the rooftop of the castle. Then she shook her head. She thought of Hans leering over her in the library after he'd put out the fire. She heard the words, 'Oh, Anna… if only there was someone out there who loved you.' and felt her blood run cold; felt her head swim, her heart break. She vaguely picked up on the trolls' chanting around her, but their voices grew distant as she thought of Hans on the fjord, approaching a weeping Elsa with his sword gleaming overhead. He'd been prepared to kill her. For what?

But, no… the last moment Anna had seen Hans was when he'd seen that she was alive. She recalled the shock on his face as she threw a punch at him. She saw him fall overboard. She'd heard the splash.

Something sounding like several whips cracked through the air, startling Anna out of concentration. A bitter, gusting wind wrapped around her and then tore away from her, leaving her chilly.

Anna opened her eyes to a world of white and trees.

"Pabbie? Bulda?" she called. "Hello?" She looked around, shivering. Only the shivering made her notice the snow.

"Winter again? Oh no…" she groaned. "I must have been sent to the wrong place."

She looked ahead, seeing now that she was in the middle of a forest clearing. There was a foot of snow on the ground, and it was still flurrying. If she had known this was going to happen, she would have bought from Oaken's winter blowout sale. She hugged her body to warm herself and started trudging forward when a loud roar sounded out behind her.

Anna looked back and screamed.

A/N: Oh my! A cliffhanger! I'm terrible. Any guesses as to what Anna just saw behind her? I wonder if anyone will guess.

I'll post the next chapter soon... :) Thanks for reading!