"Kristoff, please I don't want to." Anna pleaded with the mountain man as he led her to one of the smaller lakes which he would harvest later in the week. The ice was plenty thick, and when Kristoff had suggested they go out to the ice, Anna had been happy to get out of Arendelle's city and up into the mountains, she loved being there, especially with Kristoff. Even when the cold winter breeze licked and nipped at her nose, her heart was warm with Kristoff's affections and truly that was all she needed. However she had been less enthused in the past few minutes after Kristoff had pulled both of their ice skates from Sven's saddle bag.

"Anna, you told me yesterday you wanted to learn." He wouldn't force her to skate, but he knew that she honestly did want to learn. She was just being shy, something he saw so rarely from her it nearly bowled him over with the shock of it.

Taking the pair of white ice skates he handed her. It was the pair she had gotten as an early Christmas gift from Elsa. She had planned to ice over the courtyard soon to serve as an ice rink for the citizens living in and around the castle, she was slowly but surely beginning to understand her subjects, and though she didn't always know how, she wanted to please them. Unlacing the skates Anna frowned lightly, but knew that Kristoff was right. She did want to learn, but in truth she was just afraid of falling. She hated the thought of slipping again and again out on the ice. However the thought of his help, and him lifting her up each time she fell down, was rather appealing. She sighed and sat down upon a fairly snowless rock, pulling off her boots and replacing them with the skates. "I do. It's just been a long time since I really ice skated." She of course wasn't counting the most recent time she had skated, as Elsa had helped her stay standing the entire time. Before that the last time she had gone skating was when she was five years old. When her parents had closed the gates and Elsa had retreated to the solitude of her bedroom she hadn't been able to do much for winter activities and sports.

Kristoff understood her worries, but he knew that this would in the end be fun for her. Putting on his more beat up old leather skates, lacing them tightly, he smiled at her. It wasn't a normal plain smile, but rather the sort of smiled that told her not to be afraid, the type of smiled that said he had her back every step of the way.

Anna, finishing the lacing of her skates returned Kristoff's smile, standing up and walking towards the ice as he did the same mere feet behind her. She tried to get used to the feeling as well as she could before she got out onto the ice. Her feet were tied tightly into the beautifully crafted skates, and looking down at them she recalled their similarity to her childhood skates. She was certain that Elsa, the Queen of not only Arendelle but also of memory and little touches, had remembered this when having them made. Anna smiled, confident in her memories of skating as she stepped out onto the ice for the first time in over a year.

Kristoff watched as Anna's skate met the ice, but he could not react in time before she fell down entirely. Less than a second was all it took for her to put her foot on the ice and fall onto her rear. Kristoff normally would have laughed, teasing her for her usual clumsiness in the sweetest and most charming way possible, but she had fallen hard. "Anna!" He shouted, rushing forward to her, falling to his knee beside her, "Anna are you alright?"

Her eyes were full of tears as she looked up. She was in shock, how had it been that in one second she had landed herself on the ground? How did it even happen? The last thing she remembered was standing up, walking, thinking of her childhood skates confidently, and now she was on her rear end on the ice at the very edge of the frozen lake.

Kristoff saw the tears in her eyes, her face turning from a face of utter shock to one that looked as if she were about to cry. He chided himself for taking her out to the lake, she had just said a few minutes before that she didn't want to learn to ice skate, and now she was on the ice, probably in pain. She hadn't answered him, and he was about to ask her again if she were alright when tears started to roll down her cheeks. She began to laugh.

Anna saw the look of shock on Kristoff's face as she started to giggle and it made her laugh harder. She was laughing, of course, at her own failure. She hated to fail, just like anyone else, however she didn't let one fall stop her, and she knew that the best thing she could do was shake it off. "Wow, that was dumb." She said as she laughed, reaching a hand out to Kristoff to let him help her up. "And now my butt hurts."

Kristoff, helping her up to her knees, then to her feet started to laugh as well. There was no breaking Anna at least it was hard to do so physically and certainly it was impossible to break her in spirit. "No," He said as he held her waist supportively before slowly bringing them out further from the ice's edge "actually what you did was pretty smart. You almost feel correctly which was what I was going to teach you first."

Anna smiled, "Well at least I remembered something."

Kristoff laughed, "Well almost anyway. You did a good job trying to fall back and take the fall on your hip and backside. That's where your body is really built to take a fall. You landed on you back a little that time which is dangerous, so try to go more on your butt or hip. If you go down hard that way, you'll get a bruise, but that's about it. If you're falling forward, let yourself slide forward on your knees. The slide takes away some of the force. Or if you're falling forward you can always try to go sideways as you fall, so that you catch yourself on your butt." This wasn't the first time he had taught someone to ice skate, after all ice was his life, if he couldn't skate on it what kind of ice master and deliverer would he be?

"Can I let you go for a second to show you?" He asked, releasing a bit on her waist where he had been holding her to ensure that she could stay upright while he demonstrated for her.

Anna nodded, though she wasn't sure how long she could stay standing without his help. She tried to stay entirely still as he released her. She did miss the pressure of his mitten covered hands on her waist the moment that he let go, but she was happy for his teaching, even if only to watch him skate around on the ice.

"Okay." Kristoff said making sure Anna was steady before taking off. He kicked off first going out, before turning slightly so that she could see well. He had been skating for years, and he wasn't actually going to fall unless he forced himself to, so he just went down on his knees, knowing it would be uncomfortable, but feeling the need to show her before she fell again and actually hurt something more important than her rear end.

Anna noted that he even fell gracefully on the ice, surprising for his large figure, but she could tell he was plenty practiced. She grinned as he got up again and skated back towards her, this time falling back on his butt before standing again and skating back directly towards her. Panicking, Anna lost her balance and fell backwards, this time firmly on her bottom as Kristoff slid to a stop directly where she had been standing.

"Good, you did it right that time." He said smiling, obviously this had all been part of him plan.

Anna pouted and stood back up with his help before he started off again, this time with her. She was moving only by his force and directly forward, he was moving slowly, and his touch made her smile, even though part of her wanted to yell at him for scaring her.

"Okay now we'll try to get you going a little bit." He slowed even further and pulled himself in tight behind her so that she could feel his motion. He, being behind her could not see her blush, something that Anna was thankful for. He was right near her ear as he spoke, and she could feel his warm breath against the bare part of her neck that was left uncovered by her hat and scarf, she was grateful that she had not worn a hooded cape as she had originally planned.

"Find your center." He said softly, "You need to get balanced first."

Anna shifted lightly, somewhat back into him and she transferred some of her weight to her left foot rather than her right. Feeling for the first time balanced since getting out on the ice she stiffened, wanting to keep that position.

She felt one of Kristoff's hands leave her waist to touch her lower back. Even through layers of fabric she melted a bit into his touch, apparently, again what he had planned. "Yeah, that's it, don't stiffen up, be natural. If you're too stiff it just makes moving harder."

"Now put your arms out." He said, still holding on to her tightly but beginning to move at a more rhythmic pace. "Okay now put your weight on your weak foot, your left, and push out with your right at an angle."

Anna did as he asked in relative sync with him and for some reason it just felt natural to her.

"Yeah, just like that." Kristoff said grinning, "Just make sure you always go blade first, don't let the pick dig in first it'll throw off your balance." As they slid along in that way Kristoff kissed her neck lightly. It would be a while before he could let her go completely, though he wasn't completely sure he wanted to release her at all. It was strangely intimate to move across the ice with her so close to him. He was so proud of her, and was happy that with all he was learning about her world, he was able to teach her a small thing or two about his.