Kristoff looked from the empty plate before him to the silver platter of lefse, cheese, meats and jams next to it. His stomach gurgled with joy and he had to swallow back the drool at the meal placed in front of him. The food was a sight for sore eyes and his stomach that had feasted on nothing but meat and berries over the last few days.

It was just a little difficult to enjoy his breakfast with the sense of urgency looming over him. There was so much to tell the queen. And yet, it didn't feel like enough.

He now knew where the Ice Maiden resided, but not how to defeat her. He knew she seemed to fear the truth mirror, yet she was trying to put its shards back together. He knew Hans was somehow connected to the Ice Maiden, but Kristoff hadn't found any clue to Anna's whereabouts. Overall, it was a mixed bag of news to share.

Still, Elsa wanted him to eat. So, he would eat.

He hastily picked up a lefse, spread some cheese over it and rolled it up with his fingertips. Then, almost on the verge of drooling again, he drew it up to his mouth. He was just about to take a bite when he noticed the pair of tense, crystal-blue eyes beside him, staring.

"Your Majesty..."

"What is it? Do you want something else to eat?" she asked, looking back and forth between the ice harvester and his plate with growing concern.

"It's just... a little hard to eat with someone staring at me like that."

He watched her cheeks turn a delicate shade of pink. Had he just made the snow queen blush? He chuckled to himself.

Yeah, right.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," Elsa said, staring instead at the dining table now. "I um... a lot's happened since you left. I've been trying to get to know the aristocracy better."

Kristoff chewed on the lefse and took a content swig of milk to wash it down, making sure his mouth was empty before he replied.

"How's that going? I saw Lord Harald is still hovering around."

Elsa let out a strained laugh. "Yes... that's partly why I began meeting with the others, trying to... well, befriend them, I suppose. They called a meeting a few days ago."

Kristoff had been about to take another bite, but he paused first to ask, "What kind of meeting?" He didn't wait to take another sip of milk as he waited for Elsa to explain.

"They think I should get married."

Kristoff almost choked. "G-get married?!"

The pink returned to Elsa's cheeks as she avoided his eyes. "Um... or at least betrothed, yes... to one of them, I think, or some other politically advantageous prospect."

"And you're fine with that?"

"Of course not! But I couldn't say 'no' outright, not with all the tensions..."

Kristoff wrinkled his brow. He'd thought the castle staff agreed to keep the Ice Maiden's attack secret after the missing prince and princess had probably caused a stir, but Elsa made it sound like there was more.

"The meeting wasn't exactly random," Elsa explained with a little cough. "A couple of nights before, someone..." She faltered, anger prickling at her as she thought of the unknown culprit dragging Kai out of the storage room to display for the townspeople to see. Her guilt over Kai was heavy enough without whispers from her own people that she might have cursed her manservant. Somehow, she got through telling Kristoff about Liam and the unpleasant conversation with Harald. When she was finished, Kristoff pushed his plate away and groaned.

"It had to be Lord Harald."

"I thought so too at first," Elsa admitted. "But I'm not sure."

"The man's been slithering about since Hans disappeared. It's like he's waiting for the next thing to go wrong so he can swoop in and take charge."

Elsa couldn't argue with that. "Lady Cathrine doesn't believe that Harald wants to rule." She suddenly remembered that the lord in question was still waiting for her in the library. His servant had said the visit was urgent... and Lord Harald had seemed desperate to speak with her.

She felt bad, but the last time Lord Harald had an emergency was when Kai was discovered out in the courtyard. She could only fear what he'd have to say this time.

"Well, we have even bigger things to worry about."

Kristoff reached in his pocket and pulled out something small, which he laid down on the table.

Elsa stared. "What is it?"

"Do you remember the 'truth mirror' Grand Pabbie talked about?"

The queen slowly nodded. After a second, she jumped out of her seat and leaned over the table to get a better look at the shard he'd put down. "The one they used to send Anna to Hans?!"

Kristoff nodded. "The Ice Maiden has a collection of shards like this. She's trying to piece them together to make the original mirror whole again."

Elsa hesitated, looking torn between hope and bewilderment. Eventually, she said, "Why?"

"I didn't get the chance to find out." But he shared what else he learned, like how the Ice Maiden seemed obsessed with the mirror's power. Yet she doesn't seem able to touch the mirror directly anymore, or at least not long enough to make the mirror whole herself. That, at least, seemed to be why she assigned the task to him.

He told Elsa about the visions the shards showed him while he worked on the mirror. It'd all been strange bits and pieces of the past.

Alarmed, the queen sat beside him, glancing at the shard as she spoke. "Kristoff... Grand Pabbie said that the mirror could drive people mad. You probably shouldn't have touched it."

"I didn't have a choice, Your Majesty. Anyway, I don't feel mad."

Elsa thought she saw the surface of the mirror fragment glimmer with faint light. She looked away, afraid of it. Kristoff's voice made her look towards him again, relieved by the distraction.

"Truth be told, it kind of felt like something was protecting me the whole time," he said. He stared off thoughtfully for a moment.

The queen was on the verge of telling him about her protection charm when the ice harvester continued.

"The Ice Maiden is up to something. For whatever reason, she's collecting all these pieces to try and put them together. Now that I'm gone, she'll need someone else to work on her puzzle for her. But I think these mirror shards can also be used against her."

"Oh?" Elsa tried to rein in her impatience. All she wanted was to take the shard to Grand Pabbie.

Kristoff looked at her, taking her by surprise with the haunted look in his gentle eyes. "I've seen her kill for these fragments in the visions. She'll eventually come looking for this one, I think. We need to be ready for her when she does."

Elsa bit her lip. Who knows when that could be? Does he expect me to just sit and wait?!

"Kristoff..." she said. "We can use this to find Anna. Grand Pabbie knows how to use it, right?"

He frowned. "I don't want my family put in danger. If we bring this to them, it could draw the Ice Maiden again."

Elsa sat back in her seat, half ashamed of herself and half furious with Kristoff. But... putting herself in his place, she understood. She wouldn't want to place Anna in danger either.

Determined to change the subject, she asked, "Where's Sven?"

Only, it seemed exactly the wrong question to ask. The ice harvester paused, gazing quietly at his food as he processed her question. Then he shuddered, choking up over the memory of his friend's sacrifice.

"It's... it's okay, Kristoff," she spoke gently, leaning over to put an arm over his trembling back. "You can tell me what happened."

It took a lot out of him, but he did tell her. From the robbers to the journey to the Ice Maiden's fortress, to finding all the ice sculptures in the Ice Maiden's vault and having to leave Sven behind. He wept with guilt. If only he had taken Sven with him, perhaps Elsa could have thawed him.

"But we don't know that. It might have made it worse. What if he just melted on the way?" Elsa asked, hating to see him like this.

But the thought of Sven melting just made Kristoff let out a louder sob.

"Shh," she whispered. Without quite knowing what she was doing before she did it, Elsa slid her hand up to his hair and gently pet him as her other hand held his cheek. Kristoff sat as still as he could manage, still shivering as the queen lightly kissed the tears away from his cheeks. Her lips felt like snowflakes on his skin.

Shocked out of his wits, Kristoff stared at Elsa as she pulled away.

The queen, realizing what she had just done, brought one hand to her mouth and stared back, speechless.

It was mid-afternoon when Anna found herself staring down her gown options for the evening's ball. Each dress was ridiculously puffy, though the colors were nice enough. The first was a lovely red, the second ivory and the last a pearly blue. She would need help getting into any of them, whichever she chose.

"How can you have a same-day ball anyway?" she thought aloud. Wouldn't the king and queen have to send out invitations? Then again, old Arendelle was much smaller than her Arendelle.

There was a knock at the adjoining door. It would be Hans.

Anna debated not opening it. But he knocked again.

She told herself it'd be silly not to open it, though her hand shook a little as she reached for the door handle. "I'm busy here. What is it?" she asked as she opened the door. Not that she was dismissing him, just... well, she was still pretty confused by their previous conversation.

Hans looked past her with a raised eyebrow. Then, he spotted the dresses.

"You should go with the blue. It matches your eyes."

Anna could only gawk at him for saying something so charming.

As if he just realized it himself, Hans cleared his throat. He quickly said, "One thing I'm going to have to get used to about this time period is the horrendous fashion. If they think I'm going to wear a wig this evening, they have another thing coming."

At first, Anna chortled at the mental picture of Hans in a powdered wig. Then his comment actually hit her and she frowned.

"You still intend to stay here then?"

He surprised her by smiling, although there was something sad in his face.

"Do you want me to go back with you?"

Anna almost fell over at the question. There was... something in the way that he asked. Was it truly what he was asking?

"If... if we can find a way back—"

"Do you want me to?"

She blushed at his frank interruption, preparing some sharp response. But as she looked up at him and the raw look on his face, she stopped herself. It looked like his heart depended on her answer.

Bewildered, she had to take a step back both literally and emotionally.

"Hans, there's something going on with you. More that you're not telling me. I can feel it."

He just stood there, silent as a ghost. Starting to feel as though she'd said the wrong thing, Anna quickly continued.

"Yes, I want you to go back with me where we belong. But... only if you tell me the truth. No more games, no more lies—"

"I want to tell you everything."

"So tell me," she blurted out, more frustrated than ever.

All the words were there. She could see the truth on the tip of his tongue. But his mouth shut as he looked at her helplessly. Something held him back.

"Ugh, what is it?! Guilt? Fear? What?!"

"I thought I could do this, but it seems like too tall an order to fill. You're better off going home without me."

Anna was stunned. Shocked. Furious. How dare he come in here as if he wanted to talk to her. How dare he ask if she wanted him to go back with her, when he just planned to let her down again. How could he toy with her like this?

"Get out."

She watched the surprise on his face at her trembling, angry order. He hesitated for all of one second... and then he was gone, the door shutting behind him.

Anna stormed past the ball gowns and stopped at her bed where she fell upon her pillows and cried.

And cried.

The queen stared at the ice harvester, and he simply stared back. A minute passed in silence, maybe more or less than that. To Elsa, it felt like an eternity, for her cheeks felt like they'd caught on fire.

What had she been thinking? More importantly, what was he thinking now? She was stunned by her impulsive behavior. He could only be flabbergasted.

In all truth, she hadn't thought at all. The man, a man she happened to care for and had been setting up daily protecting reinforcements for, fell apart in front of her and it just seemed natural to comfort him. So, she'd gotten a little carried away. As she tried to go back and relive her emotions of the moment, all she could recall was the urge to ease his pain.

So... she just felt sorry for him, right?

Even so... she was a queen. He was an ice harvester. What was she thinking?

She made a sound but cut herself off as she tried to think of a way to explain her impulse. First, she would have to apologize. Then she'd have to explain herself very clearly. It wouldn't do for him to misunderstand.

Finally, she worked up just enough courage to speak again when the two of them heard a piercing scream from elsewhere in the palace. They exchanged a single glance before they both jumped out of their chairs and ran from the dining hall. Elsa immediately caught sight of a few running servants at the opposite end of the hall. She followed them all the way to the library, dread building up within her with every step.

Elsa had to push past several servants to reach the center of the room, where she found a guard knelt next to a fallen Lord Harald. Foam dripped from the corner of the noble's mouth.

She gasped and began to turn away, but forced herself to be steady. This was not something she could run from.

"What happened?" she asked the guard. "Is he...?"

The guard removed his glove to feel for Lord Harald's pulse. Then he looked up at Elsa. "Alive, but barely."

"Get him to a guest room, quickly. Someone send for the doctor."

Another guard stepped forward to assist the one with lifting Lord Harald. Elsa stepped out of the way so that they could carry him out the door. She looked back, meeting Kristoff's eyes. Her heart hammered against her chest as reality sank in.

What just happened?

A/N: Welp! Anna's not having a great time, but the Kristelsa moments were fun to write. Basically, everyone's acting like emotional goofs. If they would all just be honest about their feelings, they'd be better off. Alas, they all have issues. 😀 And now Elsa's about to face more issues!

It'll be interesting to see if this update shows up in the feed this time. -grumble- Anyway... the ball will be in the next chapter, don't you worry! Thanks for following. :)