Anna ducked behind the wall of snow she had built just in time to miss a snowball that whizzed overhead. It was a warm March day, but the snow thickly blanketing the ground still showed no signs of melting.
"Olaf!" Anna panted, turning to her right. "Hurry up! I need more snowballs."
Olaf is a small snowman divided in three balls of snow (five, if counting his legs). Three black rocks modeled as buttons are on his body, one on his midsection and two on his backside. Underneath his backside are two stubs of snow that serve as his legs or feet for moving around. He has two stick arms and three twigs on his head that resemble small strands of hair. On each arm are four fingers. His head takes up a third of his body and is oval-shaped with a stretched face. The snow around the top of his mouth is shaped to resemble a buck tooth. In between his eyes and mouth is a carrot nose. His eyes are realistic with black pupils. He also has eyebrows above them.
"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Olaf exclaimed, scrambling his stick arms through the snow and hastily forming lopsided balls of ice. Anna grabbed one and tossed it towards the cluster of trees behind which Kristoff and Sven were hiding. It broke against a tree trunk, sending snow flying.
"You're going to have to try harder than that!" Kristoff teased. He threw a huge snowball straight towards Olaf and Anna's fort. It sailed through the air and plunked onto Olaf's head, knocking off his carrot nose.
"Hey!" Olaf retrieved the carrot, and began making snowballs even more fiercely. A few seconds later, another snowball flew by, smashing into a limb growing from a tree just behind the fort.
"Alright, Olaf. We need a new plan." Anna whispered, bending down next to him. "What if you and I both grab a handful of snowballs and charge them? I'll go around to the left, you go around to the right."
She peeked over the top of the the wall and noticed that it had become suspiciously quiet. She heard no scraping of snow being packed into snowballs, or Sven's restless stomping. Anna's eyes scanned to the right, just in time to see Kristoff charging straight at her fort, his arms filled with snowballs.
"Attack!" Anna shouted, blue eyes glinting excitedly. Together, she and Olaf pelted Kristoff with snowballs. One of them even landed on his nose, but he brushed the snow away and doggedly continued. Suddenly he slid to a stop and laughed.
"What?" Olaf asked in his high-pitched voice. "What's so funny?"
Kristoff just pointed behind them. Anna and Olaf turned to see Sven standing underneath the tree just behind them.
"So?" Olaf declared. "He doesn't even have any snowballs."
Sven smirked, if a reindeer could possibly smirk, and kicked the trunk of the tree.
"Oh, gumdrops." Anna said, glancing at the snow-laden tree branches above her. The branches trembled violently and dropped a waterfall of snow onto Olaf and Anna. When they finally raised their heads and shook the snow from their bodies, they turned to glare at Kristoff, who was laughing wildly.
"You never saw it coming!" Kristoff chuckled. "Sven and I really did it this time, didn't we boy?" He added affectionately, patting Sven, who had pranced up beside him.
Anna tried to maintain her indignant glare, but after a moment, she dissolved into fits of laughter. "You sure did." She admitted, picking her snow-coated woolen hat off the ground from where it had fallen. "But Olaf and I will get you next time."
"If only we had Elsa with us." Olaf noted. "Then, we'd totally win!"
"That would be fun." Anna agreed. "But, running the kingdom keeps her busy most days. Especially today, since she is housing an open reception to any requests or offers anyone has concerning the affairs of Arendelle."
"It's almost five. Do you think she's done by now?" Kristoff asked.
"Why don't we check?" Anna asked. "I'm getting pretty cold, anyway."
For the first time, Kristoff realized that Anna was shivering. Some of the snow Sven had knocked onto her had melted, seeping into her coat and hair. "That's a good idea." He said, pulling her close to him to keep her warm. Anna smiled gratefully and together they walked towards town, their eyes fixed on the castle in the distance. Olaf and Sven quickly followed.
There was a long, dreamy silence, which was finally broken by Anna. "I can't wait for April." She whispered. "We'll finally be married."
Kristoff smiled, and his hand tightened on Anna's shoulder. But after a moment his smile faded. "Do you think Elsa will ever meet... her one and only? I mean, I don't want to intrude into her personal life, but she does seem sort of lonely sometimes."
"What do you mean? She has you, me, and Olaf." Anna said.
"I know, but she's so withdrawn of a person, like she's in a world all of her own. I wish she could find someone who could enter that world with ease and keep her company." Kristoff stated.
"Not to be pessimistic or anything, but I doubt she'll find anyone like that." Anna murmured. "Besides, there's a layer of ice on Elsa's heart that no one can melt. It doesn't mean she's mean or anything. It just means she'll never fall in love with somebody."
Kristoff blinked. "How can you tell?"
Anna shrugged helplessly. "Well... we're sisters, and we're really close now, like old times. So, we can sort of read each other in a way that other people can't do that."
"That's cool." Kristoff replied. He wasn't a very wordy person, but most of the time Anna understood the rest of what he meant to say.
~*~*~
They finally reached the castle. After putting Sven in the stables - Elsa just simply could not allow the muddy reindeer to trod around her castle - they headed upstairs for a warm bowl of soup by a roaring fireplace. Anna and Kristoff chose the tables closest to the fire, while Olaf chose to sit a few chairs away from its warmth. Even with Elsa's protective snow-cloud above him, the fire was hot enough to make him start melting. Olaf watched curiously as his two best friends began eating. The whole process was still strange to him, as snowmen did not need to eat.
"Has Elsa eaten dinner yet?" Anna asked one of the servants as she rushed into the room with a platter of salad.
"No, my princess. She is still busy with the visitors." The servant replied.
"That's fine." Kristoff said, his mouth full of food. He still hadn't fully learned proper royal table manners. "We'll see her later." Nodding, the servant gathered up a few platters of food that Kristoff had already cleaned off and hustled off.
As soon as Anna and Kristoff were done, they went to Elsa's chamber where she conducted affairs, Olaf trailing behind. Elsa was just sending off a group of three men dressed in crisp, fancy uniforms as Kristoff and Anna walked through the doors.
"Are you done yet, Elsa?" Anna asked. "You promised me we'd go stargazing tonight, and the sky's getting dark."
"Oh, yes. I think they're all gone now." Elsa looked up from a stack of papers she'd been reading over on her beautiful, dark oak desk. Today, she was wearing a professional dark purple and blue dress, and her new crown gleamed on the top of her head. It looked just like the one she'd thrown away back in her ice castle. "Sir?" She called to one of her guards who stood by the door.
"Yes, my queen?" The guard acknowledged.
"Is there anyone left?" Elsa asked.
The guard peered out into the hall. "Just one, my queen." The guard gestured to someone just outside the door, and Anna and Kristoff stepped to the side as a young man hesitantly entered the room. His eyes swept over the room before they came to rest on Elsa, who had raised her head, and was waiting expectantly.
Anna studied him with interest. The person is a young male, who looks to be about 20 years of age, with pale white skin, short jawline-length golden brown hair, and cobalt blue colour eyes with seem to shimmer like diamonds and are speckled with microscopic flecks of gold. He stands 5ft tall, whilst his body is skinny and has broad shoulders. He has on blue leather jacket with a red short-sleeve shirt underneath, as well a pair of black leather pants, plus a set of tough boots. Anna had never seen him before, and he didn't look like a normal townsperson. A foreign envoy, she guessed.
"What is your business?" Elsa asked formally. She did not look remotely impressed by her visitor's unusual if not handsome appearance.
"Queen Elsa." The man greeted with a respectful bow before returning his gaze to her. "My name is Orion, your majesty. I have a request to you. One of my friends brought to my attention that your castle has no huntsmen to acquire fresh game for the castle meals. I would like to offer my services to you, if you would accept them." His voice sounded calm and gentle.
Elsa pursed her lips thoughtfully. "No huntsmen? It is true that we have had very few servants in our service for quite a long time, but..." Her voice grew quieter. "Now that there is nothing to hide, I wouldn't mind hiring out more people." She studied Orion. "Where have you come from?" She asked.
"A city far to the South. I had left home when I was barely nineteen to make a way for myself in the world. It hasn't turned out well, to be honest, so I thought I'd try my luck up here." Orion explained his origins.
Elsa asked several more prodding questions, and Anna realised her sister was trying to find out who exactly she was hiring. After all, it wouldn't be safe to hire a complete stranger. No matter how nice this man looked, he couldn't be trusted right away. Appearances could be deceiving, as Anna had learned the hard way. She shuddered as Hans came to mind. As the questioning went on, Anna realized that Orion had a very vague background. Either he was a simple, solitary wanderer like Kristoff had been... or he had something to hide.
Elsa hesitated in making the final decision. Anna could tell she didn't completely trust Orion, but she didn't have the heart to reject him outright. "Alright, you may stay as a castle huntsman. You will be lodged in the servants' quarters, and will be served the same meals that they are given. The entire land of Arendelle is yours to hunt in, but please hunt with moderation. I do not want all the animals in my kingdom disappearing overnight." Elsa said to him.
"Absolutely, Madame." Orion replied promptly.
"You may go. Ask one of my guards in the outer court to take you to Reidar, my head servant. Once you reach Reidar, tell him you are my new huntsman by the queen's orders." Elsa said to him.
Orion bowed his head and his eyes closed briefly. Anna caught a look of utter relief as it passed across his face. "Thank you, your majesty." She thanked. As he turned, he noticed Anna and her friends. "Good day, Princess Anna." He greeted her. "And you too, Kristoff."
"Hi! I'm Olaf!" Olaf said excitedly. He loved meeting new people.
Orion looked a little startled to see a talking snowman, but not half as startled as most people. He must have heard about Olaf already. "Hello, Olaf." He replied, before leaving the room with a purposeful stride. To Anna's surprise, Kristoff suddenly broke into step after him. Anna quickly followed.
"Excuse me!" Kristoff called loudly. The man turned sharply to him. For a moment, Anna thought she saw a flash of fear in his dark eyes, but it vanished after an instant and she decided she was seeing things. "I was just wondering, do you hunt reindeer?"
"Hmm... not usually. Wild reindeer are extremely hard to find anywhere, sometimes." Orion replied back.
"Well, please don't." Kristoff declared shortly. "One of my best friends is a reindeer and it would make me sick if I ever saw a-"
"It's okay. I understand." Orion interrupted, his eyebrows raised in slight amusement. He gave Kristoff a quick smile before resuming his course down the hallway. For a moment Anna stared after the man. There was something not quite right about him, but she couldn't figure out what.
"Ready to go eat dinner?" Elsa said from behind her.
Anna jumped. "Oh. About that... Kristoff and I already ate."
"That's fine. How about you two go out and start looking at the stars while I eat? I'm sure Olaf will keep me company. Don't forget to get the star charts out of the library." Elsa said to them.
"Don't worry." Anna replied cheerily to her sister. Together, she and Kristoff collected the charts and went outside to find constellations in the sky. "Everything feels so perfect right now." She murmured. She slipped her hand into Kristoff's large, warm one. "Sometimes I feel like nothing will ever go wrong again."
"Oh, but it will," Kristoff said frankly. He squeezed Anna's hand. "But don't worry. I'm sure whatever happens, we'll take care of it. And if we don't, I bet Elsa will. She can handle probably anything by now."
"I bet you're right." Anna replied with a smile.