/

"You told Kristoff I called off the wedding!" Anna didn't even know Olaf knew about that, she guessed he must have listened in on her speaking to her ladies.

"I'm so sorry Anna, I didn't know he would get all mad!"

Kristoff was angry at her? Oh no, this was bad, very bad.

She patted the snowman on the head to calm him down, or maybe to calm herself down. "No, its not your fault, is he at his home now? Can I go see him?" She looked to her lady in waiting who only shrugged.

The snowman paused for just a little too long before answering, that's when Anna knew something bad had happened. "Well— He said he was going to the docks."

She grabbed Olaf and shook him, maybe a little too hard. "What for?"

"He said something about-cod?" he shrugged uselessly, Anna was only half-listening at this point, her heart was racing at a hundred miles per hour, as she looked around for some inspiration for a plan.

What would he be doing at the docks? Could he be getting onto a boat to get away from her? Is that how mad he was? Janne reached out to try to comfort her but Anna marched off to grab her cape.

The, she rushed into the stables , Narn was not surprised at all: she was doing a lot of that lately.

This time, nobody followed her to tell her she shouldn't go alone, she supposed that unlike Aagot, Janne was a little less uptight and left Anna to her own devices, she supposd it was for the best since she'd end up snapping at her anyway. She got onto Kjekk, who was a bit disgruntled that his evening nap was disturbed and rode away from the castle, commanding him to go as quickly as he could.

They weaved through the evening stalls at the market, carriages and merchants until the sea was in sight. All the ships were currently docked and not moving except for one, a cruise ship called 'The Cod', which Anna knew because it was in big bright letters on its side. The cod...just like Olaf had said! The Queen caught sight of it just about to depart. She jumped off her horse, rolling onto the ground then got up, watching the anchor of the ship reunite with the boat. "Wait!" she shouted uselessly, running after it, trying to close that gap of several metres between her and the vessel. "Please stop!" Her throat was raw, and her chest ached with how much running she'd just done, the cruise ship just kept getting smaller and smaller, until it faded into the distance. "Please…" she uttered finally, her voice only a hoarse whisper now.

It was too late, the ship was sailing away, and with it went her fiancé.

She fell to the ground panting in exhaustion, tears pricking her eyes and she let them drip onto the stone ground, the feeling of all door closing in on her. It was all her fault; she should've been more straightforward with him instead of delaying the news and being a coward.

Footsteps echoed nearby but Anna was way too in her feels to care about that. "Geez… You must've really loved that random boat," teased a familiar voice behind her.

She gasped and quickly looked back and seeing blonde ice harvester she loved, Sven at his side with an amused grin on his face. She got up and ran to hug him. Kristoff was nearly tossed back by the force of the collision as she held him very close, like letting go might mean he'll float away.

"What? You really thought I was getting on a boat?" he mumbled in her ear as she sobbed against him. Gosh, is that what she thought, that he would just leave the country over their first little fight? Next to him, Sven grunted and shook his head, those two made everything so complicated.

"Then what were you going to the docks for?"

Kristoff began to break off their hug to have a good look at her face, she clung to him, not exactly a very queenly thing to do in retrospect. "Hey, hey, you're getting snot all over my shirt."

She laughed weakly at that and Kristoff smiled. "If you really want to know- I was going fishing-"he nodded to a bucket and a two fishing rods perched near the edge of the water. Oh. Actual Cod.

Anna took out a handkerchief and wiped her nose with it before speaking up again. "Fishing? Why?"

Kristoff didn't even like fish, she thought.

"Well… Ryder said it was a calming activity, that could be fun and while I actively disagree with him, I needed to try something new… to get my mind off of-" he sighed. "Everything."

"I'm so sorry…" she started.

Kristoff's face got serious again. "I should've heard about calling off the wedding from you, not Olaf."

"I was coming to tell you today-"Kristoff gave her a speculative look, after a moment she shook her head. "No, I won't make excuses, you're right, what I did was wrong."

Anna didn't want to cry again, she wasn't the victim in this situation, but tears still welled up in her eyes, she really thought he'd abandoned her. Kristoff brought her head back up, stroking her cheek with his thumb, she strared into his big, brown eyes and then down to his freckles, which you could only see if you got real close. "Maybe this is for the best… for now anyway."

Anna nodded and then tidied herself up. "First of all, I need to learn how to use those handkerchief things instead of wiping it on my sleeve."

Kristoff pointed downwards and Anna looked to where she held her handkerchief, now folded neatly and laughed, he always knew how to cheer her up, then she grasped his hand and they looked out into the water for a bit, the sun was beginning to set creating pinks, oranges and purples in its midst. "We'll be ok, right?" he asked, voice full of uncertainty.

Anna nodded and leaned into him; they would be.

/

Although she'd promised Lord Olaf her and Janne would try to be friends they were still sort of just colleagues to each other. As Anna finished looking at some laws she had to reject or put into constitution she put her head up to Janne, who seemed to have finished her own paperwork and was doodling on a spare piece of paper. As she noticed the queen looking she quickly hid her drawings away but what Anna caught a glance of was really good. "So—uh, what are your hobbies-Janne?" she asked, feeling sort of awkward. How did you make new friends? No one she was friends with (close to her age) had those skills: her sister was admittedly usually terrible at it (though she seemed fine in Northuldra), Kristoff mainly hadn't spoken to people all his life and Olaf mostly harassed people with hugs (and was also technically not human).

Janne looked a bit surprised for a bit, her mouth hung open if just slightly, then she answered sort of like she'd had it memorised. "I like Flower arranging, painting and playing the Cello."

Anna nodded, though she'd never really participated in those activities before, except for painting she guessed and she wasn't great at it, but she'd go with that. What did she know about painting? She tried to think… "Hey, have you seen the paintings in the castle?"

Anna knew way too much about those from years of wandering the castle alone. After she said that she wasn't sure if it was the right thing to ask, maybe it was a niche topic...

"I like the one of that girl on the swing," Janne replied passively, wow, that was surprisingly specific.

Anna gasped, which startled the other young woman. "Oh, me too! Have you seen the one with the lady in the flower crown," Janne looked a bit unsure. "With the man behind her?" She imitated his pose as she spoke of it and her lady in waiting's eyes brightened in recognition and she leaned closer.

"One of Jorgan Bierkman's? Of course I have, it's so rare for him to paint people who aren't of royal birth," the queen's face looked so encouraging that she carried on. "-And the way he captures the couple's expressions, you can see how much they loved each other. It's very touching, I can see why he chose to paint them in particular-"

Oh so she was really into painting, she knew stuff about it that Anna didn't!

Janne scratches her head again and backs away. "Sorry your majesty I got carried away—

Anna pounced like a predator to its prey, not exactly giving the best impression. "No! That was interesting! I want to get to know you, Janne. I don't just want a stranger following me around all day- "

Janne turned to her with a thin smile. "You're too kind your majesty." No, why was she being so formal again!

Anna was about to respond when a knock came at the door: it was Chef Remi.

/

They went to the kitchen to speak him, he emerged from the pantry with a whisk which he held like a weapon. "So, there has been a little talk about cancelling the wedding," he began, getting straight to the point.

Anna nodded apologetically, wary of the metal whisk. "We're so sorry Chef, it was a last-minute decision. Please refrain from telling anyone about it until we issue the public announcement explaining the reasoning behind it soon, I know the cancellation is a bit abrupt."

He turned around and signed and then twirled back to them, his hands waving dramatically with him as he spoke. "I don't care about all that! I'm worried about the food! The food" What will we do with it!?"

He was right (though a bit melodramatic about it, non?) , they couldn't just throw all of it away, it would be a waste. Anna creased her forehead in deep thought.

"We can just give it out into the town, I'm sure everyone will appreciate it," piped up Janne, which Anna thought was sensible. Who wouldn't like free food after all?

"How? Just put it out on random tables at the town's square?" he asked, but in a way that made that seem like the most ridiculous thing to do, still waving his whisk around dangerously, Anna only narrowly missing getting him by it once.

She smiled patiently. "Uhh… yeah?"

"TO BE EATEN BY RATS AND OTHER FILTHY RODENTS!" he cried, putting his face into his hands in despair. She awkwardly patted him on the back while she thought, she supposed he had a point.

Hege, who was just there to grab a little snack decided to reveal herself. "Why don't we host a food festival?" she suggested while her mouth was still full of krumkake, not usually the way to address a queen. "My dad has one ever year."

/