The queen fiddled with her dip pen and stared at the collection of export documents on her father's old writing desk, dimly aware of the ticking clock on the bookshelf next to her. She had finished composing several letters of gratitude to various kingdoms that had sent dignitaries as guests to her coronation. Thank you letters were easy enough, but somehow it had taken her hours to complete the task. She'd had to light the lamp above the desk after dusk when she finally noticed she had to squint to see her writing.

Export and import documents were simpler. She merely had to read and sign her approval. She did it automatically, setting aside anything to do with ice until she could have a proper conversation with Kristoff Bjorgman about his new job.

Elsa sighed and set her pen down. She hadn't meant to think about him. In fact, she had been purposely avoiding it all day by completely pouring herself into her responsibilities. She had taken fish soup for lunch but barely stopped to eat until the afternoon had passed her by.

Now she reached for a pocket in her dress and took out the note a servant had handed her early that morning. Laying it flat on the table, she read the poor handwriting. She only knew the contents of the note now after having read it a dozen times that morning. Elsa looked off to the boarded window at the far side of her study, wondering if the repairman commissioned by Lord Harald would really be able to repair all the castle windows by the end of the week.

She sighed, craning her head back in an unrefined manner, but feeling free enough to do so in her own company. How much more bearable things would be if everyone hadn't run off and just left her, she thought. She had sensed the ice harvester's discomfort of the castle, but hadn't anticipated he'd do something as reckless as Anna. The two were more alike than the queen had expected. No wonder they were friends.

Please don't come after me, he'd written. Elsa straightened herself in her seat and looked down at the note again. She couldn't leave the castle again when she had obligations—even though she wanted to. The note assured her that Kristoff did not intend to go up against the Ice Maiden on his own. But that did not put her worries to rest. If Kristoff was able to locate the Ice Maiden, or even to ascertain a way to thaw Kai, it would be a certain advantage to them. But if anything were to happen to him...

A suspiciously cheerful knock on the door pulled her away from her troubles. Elsa looked up. Before she could ask, the door opened and gave way to a waddling Olaf.

"It's just me!" he exclaimed, stopping when Elsa had seen him.

"Hi Olaf," she greeted him, smiling. "Could you get the door, please?" She pointed to indicate that it was still open. With an animated hop, Olaf jumped back to carefully shut the door.

"It's a nice place you've got here!" Olaf commented as he spun slowly to take in the dim study. "But why are you alone? I haven't seen you or Kristoff or Sven all day! Then the kitchens said you were up here... I can see why, I mean! It's kinda cozy! Though no place to sleep... you don't sleep on the floor, do you?"

Elsa giggled at her rambling little friend, shaking her head to reassure him. "No, silly! This isn't my bedroom. This is just a room for me to work in. You know. This is where I do queenly things."

"IIIII get it. Are queenly things hard?" he asked as he climbed up into a single chair by the window. It took him a moment to get his body and bottom properly oriented, but when he did, he sat and gave the queen his undivided attention.

"Hmm," Elsa said as she thought about it. "Sometimes!"

Olaf mouthed a surprised 'oh'. "Really?!"

She nodded, turning her chair around so she could face him if they were going to talk. "Yes... everyone thinks royalty can just do whatever it wants."

"But it can't?"

"Correct. That's how tyranny is born." It was something her father used to say at her lessons.

"Wow," Olaf said. "Well, that doesn't sound good."

Elsa agreed. "So that means I have to put aside my feelings sometimes... and do what's best for Arendelle, even if there are distractions. The kingdom must come first."

Olaf stared at her for a moment, the depth of his eyes betraying pity. Elsa was almost surprised by his understanding until he asked, "What kind of distractions?"

Elsa hesitated as her eyes swept the room for something to gaze at. Olaf was a dear friend, but she was wary of letting him see just how worried she was. She needed to be someone others could depend on.

"Anna's disappearance... Kai's condition... and now, Kristoff and Sven are gone too," she answered, watching the shock fall upon the little snowman.

Olaf shrieked. "Gone?! Gone where?"

Elsa wondered for a moment over whether or not to tell him. If she told him, would Olaf disappear on her too? Then she had to laugh at herself. For someone who had spent most of her life trying to keep herself away from others, she was awfully worried about being left on her own at the moment.

"They've gone to search for the Ice Maiden," she told him.

Again, Olaf shrieked. "They what?! That's crazy! She's trouble, Elsa! We don't even know what she was looking for! What if she was hungry? What if she eats them?!"

Elsa closed her eyes to steel herself against her own more plausible concern. What if the Ice Maiden made an ice sculpture out of Kristoff next?

"Kristoff... seems to have a good head on his shoulders. I don't think he'll get close enough to put himself in danger," she said quietly.

Anxious Olaf put his little stick fingers up to his mouth and just looked at Elsa, still alarmed. To her surprise, he gradually relaxed and hopped down from his seat to go to her. He gave her knee a sympathetic pat and looked up at her, realizing.

"You want to be out there with them," he said.

Astounded by the observation, Elsa hid this with a shrug. "I'm just frustrated, that's all."

"Because you're not there to protect Kristoff? Elsa... is that what you meant about royalty not always being able to do what it wants?"

Elsa said nothing, retreating into her thoughts. The ice harvester had been quick to guard her from the Ice Maiden's attack. More than just that, he had been a comfort in Anna's absence. Something about him put her at ease. It could well have been that he was completely graceless, and so she didn't feel the same social pressure to be perfect around him. Even with Anna, she had to play out the role of the older sister. She couldn't relax the same way she could when they were children—when their parents were still alive.

Olaf was talking, but she only started listening in time to catch the end. "… if you could protect him with your magic even from afar," the snowman pondered, pensively tweaking his carrot nose. He paced back and forth at her feet, oblivious to the fact that the queen had not attended each word.

"What did you say?" Elsa asked, suddenly alert.

Olaf froze in one spot and looked up at her. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No... what was that... about me using my magic from here?"

"Oh." Olaf smiled. "Well, you want him to be safe. But you can't be there because you're here. But you have magic! So even though you're here, maybe your magic can protect him there."

After a moment's confusion over Olaf's wording, Elsa considered the possibility. After all, her magic couldn't just be all ice and snow. She had thawed the kingdom with love!

She jumped up from her chair, suddenly smiling with budding confidence. "That's a great idea, Olaf!"

"It is?"

She laughed but sobered almost immediately. "Yes, but if only I knew what I was doing... I, I don't know even where he is, so how can I send protective magic to him?" Her brow furrowed when she hit this snag.

Olaf shrugged and gave it some thought. "Maybe it's enough if you just think about him?"

Elsa pulled a stray lock of platinum blonde behind her ear as she thought all too easily of Kristoff Bjorgman. She imagined him writing the note in her hands. She ignored the warmth that blossomed in her cheeks as she recalled his enthusiasm over ice; how perfect it was, how beautiful and how it was his life.

She shook off the blush as she recalled all he had done for her sister, Anna. If it had not been for Kristoff, Anna might never have had a chance to overcome the ice in her heart. Ice Elsa had put there.

Again, Elsa inwardly chided herself for her thoughts. Cut it out and focus, she thought now. She felt Olaf's eyes on her, but the snowman was wise enough to give her silence so she could concentrate. She thought of the muscular blonde with broad shoulders. She thought of his unaffected mannerisms, his bashful smile and the voice he used to give dialogue to Sven the reindeer. Elsa closed her eyes and found herself smiling again. She recalled the innocent way he'd hugged her when she was falling apart over the attack on Kai. Kristoff Bjorgman had a pure soul that most definitely deserved protecting, she determined.

Then the strangest sensation washed over her. It wasn't a vision exactly. Although she could envision him, she couldn't see Kristoff. But she felt his presence somehow. It was distant, but it was definitely him. She imagined him searching out there, unaware of hidden dangers. Elsa was certain that Kristoff could hold his own in the wilderness. It wasn't the wild she was worried about. It was those creatures under sway of the Ice Maiden.

She could not have explained how she knew to do it, but as she thought about Kristoff, she pulled all her power into her center and began weaving it. She could almost see the silver threads come together, shining. These she wrapped around Kristoff far away, effectively casting a remote protection charm around him. When she felt certain it surrounded him, she knew she had to 'tie' the charm, or it wouldn't work. For this purpose, she wrapped and tied the charm's threads about Kristoff's note. Olaf gasped when she finished. As Elsa opened her eyes, she both felt and saw why. After tying the protective spell around Kristoff's note, the note had vanished from her hands.

"Wow..." Olaf said in a hushed voice, as though afraid he'd put all of Elsa's efforts to waste. "Do you feel better now?"

Elsa nodded, her grin widening with her relief. "Maybe I could try it for Anna!" Why hadn't she thought of it sooner? She shivered with excitement as she closed her eyes to concentrate. Why cast a protection spell for Anna if she could just sense her location and go to her? It had never even occurred to Elsa to try this before! Olaf was practically a genius!

She didn't have to think as hard to call up Anna in her mind. But there was one immediate problem. No matter what she thought about—Anna's freckles, Anna's laugh, the fun they had as children, the sacrifice Anna made to save Elsa—she could not sense Anna's presence the way she had done for Kristoff.

Elsa opened her eyes, frowning. "What could this mean?" Before she could prepare herself, the worst of possibilities assaulted her imagination. Maybe Anna was too far out of reach now. Maybe she was beyond Elsa's protection. Maybe Hans had gotten to her.

She almost sank to the floor in a panicky heap. But the study door banged open. Elsa and Olaf both jumped, closing in toward each other and staring at the doorway.

Elsa stopped herself from asking who dared interrupt her work when she watched the intruder enter the room. She glanced at Olaf and then looked to the door again, feeling the floor beneath her start to ice over as her panic flared.

A/N: Thank you for reading!