Chapter 6

With a stiff, irritated motion, Kristoff brushed the snow out of his eyes for the eight hundredth time that night. He could barely see Sven in front of the sled, let alone the trail, so he hoped Sven could remember the way to Oaken's despite the disorientation created by the driving snow. He spared a thought for the new queen – first her parents die, and then she is crowned the same day that the region is cursed with eternal winter. He hoped Princess Anna was warm and safe somewhere.

When the first flakes began to fall, it had felt like a confirmation of the fear he had felt seeing Queen Elsa come out of the coronation ceremony. And now that the blizzard was surrounding them and the snow levels were approaching the tops of Sven's legs, he knew he had made the right decision turning toward Oaken's instead of toward home. He wouldn't make it without more supplies.

Night had fallen by the time Kristoff and Sven reached the friendly lights of Oaken's little woodsy shop. That friendly glow was deceiving, Kristoff knew. Oaken was a savvy tradesman who knew that he was the only supplier within 20 miles, and used his folksy sweaters and cheery demeanor to distract his customers from the fact that he was charging ten times the value of his goods. Kristoff steeled himself as he pushed his way through the door.

"Yoo-hoo! Big summer blow-out!" Oaken cheerily greeted him.

To his surprise, there was another customer already inside. He saw the back of the head of a red-haired girl, who was looking, rather despondently, at a blue dress and a pink cape that Kristoff would guess comprised the entirety of Oaken's offerings of winter clothing. Thanking his lucky stars that he didn't need winter clothes, he grabbed a pickaxe and a rope. The girl was standing next to him, still seeming to waffle about the dress. He had no time for this, and she was in his way.

"Carrots," he said to her.

"Huh?" she managed, wide blue eyes blinking up at him in surprise, and he jolted, belatedly realizing two things: the girl was Princess Anna – and she thought he was insulting her bright red hair. He opened his mouth to apologize, and then realized he didn't even know how to apologize to a princess. He thought of the prince he had seen her talking with earlier that day, and suddenly he was filled with frustration. That prince had seemed to know exactly what to say to Princess Anna to make her smile and forgive him after he ran into her with his horse. Kristoff would never be that smooth.

"Behind you," he said, hearing his frustration leaking into his tone as he leaned around her to try and grab the bag.

"Oh, right. Excuse me," she jumped quickly out of the way now and he picked up the carrots and tossed them on the counter with the rest of his things, steeling for a battle with Oaken. This day was starting to get to him – first the queen, then the snow, and now Oaken. And Princess Anna somehow in the middle of all of it. What was she doing here?

"Woah, a real howler in July, yes?" Oaken began, and Kristoff rolled his eyes. The folksy charm was not going to work on him. "Where ever could it be coming from?"

"The North Mountain," Kristoff said bluntly, hoping to cut off any further chattiness from the salesman. He heard the princess whisper North Mountain to herself for some reason but dismissed it, reminding himself he had no business being curious about her.

"That'll be forty," Oaken stated.

Kristoff balked. "Forty?! No, ten," he countered, knowing that ten kroner was too low but also knowing that he couldn't spare any more than that after leaving early and lowering his profits from the party today.

"Oh dear, that's no good," said Oaken. "See, this is from our winter stock, where supply and demand have a big problem."

"You want to talk about a supply and demand problem? I sell ice for a living!" Kristoff argued, gesturing to his sleigh outside, still loaded up with the ice blocks he should have sold today.

Princess Anna piped up at that, somewhat unhelpfully. "Oooh, that's a rough business to be in right now. I mean, that is really –" her eyes met his again as he spun around to stare at her. "Ahem. That's unfortunate," she awkwardly trailed off.

"Still forty," Oaken refused to budge. "But I will throw in a visit to Oaken's sauna!" He gestured to the sauna window, and Kristoff could see Oaken's husband and children sitting happily in the steam, waving at him. "Yoo-hoo! Hi family!" Oaken and the princess waved back.

How long have they been in there? Kristoff wondered. This cabin doesn't have any other rooms. Do they just stay in there all the time? That can't be healthy… He shook his head, trying to remember if he had ever seen Oaken's family outside of the sauna room. He definitely wasn't ever going in that sauna.

"Ten's all I've got," he pleaded with Oaken. "Help me out."

"Okay," Oaken said. He took away the rope and pickaxe and pushed the carrots forward. "Ten will get you this and no more." Kristoff bristled. This was completely unreasonable!

Princess Anna, who was still hovering at his elbow, interrupted. "Okay, just tell me one thing," she demanded. "What was happening on the North Mountain? Did it seem magical?"

Magical? Kristoff pulled down his scarf and allowed himself to really look at her for the first time. What was she doing out here?

"Yes," he confirmed, then turned his attention back to Oaken, wanting to get out of here and get home as soon as possible, to tell Grand Pabbie about all of this and find out what it could possibly mean. "Now stand aside, while I deal with this crook here."

Oaken's eyes darkened in anger and he pushed himself upward. Kristoff realized, with some trepidation, that he had been mistaken in his assumption that Oaken was standing behind the counter. He had been sitting, and now that he was standing, he stood well over seven feet tall.

"What did you call me?" the fuzzy-sweatered giant asked in a low, threatening voice.

Oops, Kristoff thought, as Oaken lifted him over his head with one arm. "Okay, okay, I'm –" Clonk! Before he could apologize, his head bashed into Oaken's sign as he was tossed bodily out the door and into a snowdrift. "Ow!" he protested.

"Bye-bye!" Oaken called as he disappeared back inside.

Kristoff looked over at Oaken's barn in defeat, knowing that, without the supplies, he and Sven would have to spend the night in the barn before they could safely continue the journey home in the morning. As he and Sven settled into the barn, he resolved that, no matter how much he wanted to know what Princess Anna was up to, he wouldn't let anything else delay his journey home.

Oh my, Anna thought as Oaken settled back into his seat behind the counter. She hoped the ice harvester would be all right. How would he make money now? Who could have known that by starting one little argument with her sister, she could wreak such havoc on the livelihoods of their people?

But he knew the storm was coming from the North Mountain. And he thought it was magical. That had to be where Elsa was.

"I'm sorry about this violence," Oaken apologized. Despite the brute strength he had just exhibited, Anna could tell that the shop owner was a soft-hearted old teddy bear. "I will add a quart of lutefisk, so we'll have good feelings," he offered, holding up a jar of pickled fish. "Just the outfit and boots, ya?"

But Anna knew what she had to do to get to Elsa. She was slightly afraid of the gruff mountain man she had just met, and he didn't seem to like her at all, but she didn't have a lot of options at this point, so she steeled herself and tossed the ice man's rope, pickaxe and carrots back onto the counter. Oaken looked at her in surprise but she had plenty of money, so he did not question her. She quickly changed into the winter dress and boots in an alcove and then raced out the door, hoping the ice man hadn't gone too far.

He hadn't gone anywhere. There was a lantern burning in the barn next to Oaken's shop. As Anna crept toward the doorway, she heard the mountain man strumming a lute and singing a song. As she got closer, she realized he was singing a lullaby to his reindeer. She pressed a hand to her mouth to cover her giggle when she realized he was singing a two-part song, putting on a different voice to pretend to sing as his reindeer.

Reindeers are better than people

Sven don't you think that's true?

Reindeer voice: Yeah people will beat you

And curse you and cheat you

Every one of them's bad except you

Oh thanks buddy

But people smell better than reindeers

Sven don't you think I'm right?

Reindeer voice: That's once again true, for all except you

You got me, let's call it a night

Reindeer voice: Good night

Don't let the frostbite, biiiiiiiiiiiite

She paused outside the door to let him finish his song as a warm feeling crept into her heart. Maybe he wasn't so tough and untouchable after all.

That thought bolstered her courage and she pushed open the shed door – quickly, so she wouldn't chicken out.

"Nice duet," she began. The ice man and his reindeer had started at her entry and she realized they thought she was Oaken, here to kick them out again.

"Oh, it's just you," said Kristoff, striving for a brusque tone. "What do you want?"

"I want you to take me up the North Mountain," she responded, matching his brusque tone and defiantly raising her chin.

No, thought Kristoff. She shouldn't be anywhere near the North Mountain right now.

He lay back down on his hay bale, covering his face with his hat to hide his expression. "I don't take people places," he said, hoping that would be enough to discourage her from the whole idea entirely. Even though he'd only known her for two minutes, he probably should have known she wouldn't be that easy to sway.

"Let me rephrase that," she said, and tossed a big sack onto his chest. "Take me up the North Mountain," she ordered, clearly trying for an imperious tone, which she ruined when she tacked on a "please" that seemed to burst out of her against her will.

Kristoff opened the bag and realized it was the supplies he hadn't been able to afford in the store.

"Look, I know how to stop this winter," she pleaded.

Kristoff didn't know how to respond. He laid back down and covered his face with his hat again for a moment to think. She clearly wouldn't be dissuaded. And as much as he didn't like the idea of taking her up the North Mountain, he liked the idea of her trying to get up there on her own even less. Whatever was up there was dangerous, and she should stay as far away from it as possible. But since she clearly wouldn't, and there didn't seem to be a prince anywhere in the near vicinity to help her, Kristoff supposed his help was better than no help.

Anna wanted to scream. Every moment wasted here allowed Elsa to get further and further away from her – figuratively and literally. What was the matter with this ice harvester?!

But then, just when she thought he'd decided to go to sleep and ignore her altogether – "We leave at dawn," he finally said from underneath his hat. "And you forgot the carrots for Sven."

She tossed the bag of carrots, although her aim was off. The bag hit the ice harvester in the face.

"Oops!" she cried. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't–" She caught herself and then tossed her chin again and said, with all the authority she could muster, "We leave now. Right now." Before her resolve could weaken again, she flounced out the door, praying against all odds he would follow her.