"Walk up the path, and through the garden gate

you never saw before but once.

And then go home. Or make a home.

Or rest."

—Neil Gaiman, "Instructions"

Two Weeks Later

September 2, 1848—Arendelle Castle Town

Kristoff was going to sweat through his suit.

He waited, shifting from one foot to the other, off to the side of the chapel's small stage, just out of sight, listening as guests began to trickle into the sanctuary. The bishop waited with him, but the older man was too busy reading over his opening remarks to pay much attention to Kristoff, which suited him just fine.

He'd been forbidden from seeing Anna all morning—a tradition he'd decided then and there was terribly stupid. She had managed to send him an encouraging message via Gale, though, but he'd been too keyed up to respond before the Wind Spirit got impatient and left and now he regretted not sending even a quickly scrawled, I love you.

Ah well, she'd forgive him; she knew he was no good with words anyway.

Kristoff passed a hand over his eyes, adjusting his collar for the billionth time. If this were a troll wedding, he'd be wearing much more comfortable clothing and a long cape of moss Cliff would've made just for him. Anna would be wearing a similar cloak Bulda would've made, and Grand Pabbie wouldn't have wasted too much time with the ceremony itself because everyone would be too impatient to get to the party part, and—

He had to bring that train of thought to a screeching halt, breathing heavily through his nose.

The chatter of the crowd died down as the choir above them began to sing, their voices echoing off the tall, wooden ceiling.

Kristoff's stomach lurched. This is it.

The bishop clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Ready?"

Kristoff nodded, not trusting himself to speak. The bishop patted his shoulder again before stepping onto the small, elevated stage. Kristoff followed on shaking legs and resisted the urge to tug at his collar again.

The small chapel, decorated in swathes of icy curtains and sunflowers, was filled nearly to bursting with visiting dignitaries. Kristoff had formally met most of them at Anna's coronation months prior, but, right now, could not have named any of them if he wanted to. But there were familiar faces too—Kai and his wife; Gerda and her husband; General Mattias and Halima; Sven standing in the back, watched closely by a stablehand.

But when Kristoff caught himself looking closer to the ground, searching for gray and mossy faces, an unexpected grief reared up, threatening to choke him. Tears pricked in the corners of his eyes and he blinked them back fiercely.

Of course they aren't here, don't be stupid, he scolded himself. They traded me back, they're done with me, why would they even want—

A loud thump startled him out of his spiraling thoughts. The crowd tittered, and a few people shifted in their seats to look for the source of the noise.

Kristoff's eyes found his family, sitting in the front row. His uncle and father were clearly trying not to laugh and doing a poor job of it, their shoulders shaking. His mother glared down the pew at Solveig, who was currently straightening up in her seat, her face and ears beet red. When she saw Kristoff looking at her, she held a hymnbook a little off her lap by way of explanation. Kristoff snorted behind his hand—she must have dropped it.

"Sorry," Solveig mouthed.

Kristoff winked at her, affection crashing over him like a wave.

As the choir's first song blended into the second, Kristoff straightened his shoulders and fixed his gaze on the doors at the back of the chapel. He took a deep breath and let it out again. His heart thundered in his chest.

And then the doors opened and Anna was there, clothed in white and as radiant as the sunflowers she loved so much. And when she joined him at the altar, and slipped her hand into his, absolutely nothing else mattered.

The End

Notes:

1. Kristoff was too preoccupied to notice, but Elsa walked Anna down the aisle. Olaf was the flower girl/ring-bearer. They would've had Sven be the ring-bearer, but the bishop vetoed that immediately for fear of reindeer poop and would not be swayed, so Anna had him snuck in the back at the last minute.

2. A huge thank you to everyone who followed along with this thinly veiled excuse to read a lot of fairytales. Your lovely comments gave me life (and still do!) From the bottom of my heart, thank you!