AN: Big thanks to minnothebunny for asking how it was going with the fic and therefore making me far more motivated to finish the chapter. Also, the first inkling of an imaginary plot happens!

It's only nine in the morning and Anna is already regretting her decisions.

To be fair, the main task is easy enough. Be polite and agreeable and listen to the man in front of her, an aristocrat named Eirik, with a receding hairline and a droning voice. He seems nice enough, as nobles go, but the subject for the day (the price and regional amount of lumber for the coming winter) isn't terribly interesting. Something is bugging her, so Anna's attention isn't where it should be.

The problem could be the dress. It's uncomfortable, stuffy, and far more conservatively cut than anything she usually wears; the collar is pressing against her neck with every breath. She can't wait to remove it.

Or maybe it's the setting. Anna needs fresh air and natural surroundings, not a stuffy room with autumn-sunlight only seen through a window. The trees are lit up in yellow and red on the other side of panes of glass, and she envies them.

Then again, it could be the fact that after this there will be no time to relax. She's going to need to go to Elsa's office and sit down with piles and piles of paperwork. The day will be spent there, until it's time to eat dinner alone, whereupon she'll retire to her room and rest like the dead. Then it will be morning and it will start all over, with no Elsa and no Kristoff.

No Elsa. No Kristoff.

There's the problem.

A whimper escapes her throat. The man who up until a moment ago was talking her ears off pauses mid-sentence and studies the young woman on the other side of the desk. "Your Highness? Is everything all right?"

"I…" Anna pauses, not sure how honest she can be with a member of Arendelle's small nobility. "I'm sorry, it's just I've had so many meetings and… And I can't…" The words lodge in her throat, because this is not proper behaviour, she thought she could do this but she can't… Her gaze falls to her lap in humiliation. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, Your Highness." She looks up, eyes wide, to see Lord Eirik smiling under his mustache. "If I was your age I wouldn't be able to listen for half as long."

"Really? I mean, I'm sorry for not paying attention. I know I should, but it's just…" Anna bites her lip and tries to collect her thoughts. "I just have so much to do. I still have so many piles of letters and suggestions I have to look through and I have to meet so many people today and I just don't know if I can really do it." Her voice is pitifully small. Eirik fixes his gaze on her.

"How much free time have you had lately, Your Highness?"

"Free time?" None, not since Elsa left on a ship nine days ago and Kristoff set off on his final harvesting trip of the year. "Not… not very much." She looks down at her lap again.

"I thought so," he says, and at her expression he clarifies: "You must set aside time for yourself. I know that every noble with the time and energy to do so has asked to speak to you, but you must learn to say no."

"But they said it was urgent!"

"To them it is urgent. They tell you so in order to receive your opinion quickly."

"But… they need my help."

"No, your Highness, they want your help. You decide what is urgent and who needs you. If I may," he says as he begins to gather his documents together, "I suggest you take the day off. Tell the other visitors that you are busy, or not feeling well, and relax until tomorrow. Then I'll be back with more paperwork. Good day." His eyes twinkle as he leaves the room, and it's not long before Kai sticks his head through the doorway.

"Princess Anna? If your meeting with Lord Eirik is done, can I perhaps send for Lady Alva?"

She deliberates. A grin starts to work its way across her lips.

"No, Kai. I think I'll have the day off."

~.~.~.~.~

To Princess Anna Lind of Arendelle

There is a letter in her room. Why isn't it in the pile of other letters, heaped on Elsa's desk? Anna picks it up and folds it over. The wax seal on the back is royal.

Tearing the envelope open she seats herself on her bed, and is about to start reading when someone knocks on her door.

"Come in!" A servant-girl – Ida, the new one that cried her first day – pokes her head in, smiling sheepishly.

"Umm… sorry to disturb you, Princess Anna. Our Ice Master just arrived, and I thought you might want to know-"

"He's here?!" The letter gets thrown across her bed and she bounces over to the door, giving the girl a hug. "Thank you, thank you! I must go, sorry…" Anna runs down the corridor, braids trailing behind her, heading for the stables.

~.~.~.~.~

"Kristoff!"

He startles, and she flings her arms around his waist from behind. Once over the shock he manages to turn around to give her a proper hug. Seizing the moment, Anna throws herself upward, locking her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his. A jolt passes through her as he responds and she presses her tongue against his mouth. She'd have thought she knew how it felt by now, the sliding of tongues against each other, strong arms holding her up without effort, hearing him breathe so hard because of her, but it's been so long. It's been long enough that she feels her stomach flip, long enough for her to press against him, trapping him against the wall. Her hands start to roam through his hair, sending his hat to the floor. When he lets his hands wander lower she breaks away.

"This was the last trip, right?" She's gasping.

"Yeah." Kristoff grabs hold of one braid and tugs, exposing her neck so he can kiss his way down and Anna presses herself even closer. She doesn't know exactly what she's going for, just that she wants contact, closeness, heat. Teeth scrape across her skin ever so lightly and she mewls. At the sound Kristoff draws back up; for a few seconds they stare at each other, panting. Then he grabs her around the waist and lifts her up proper, depositing her on a nearby hay-bale.

Now they're equally tall, and kissing is much easier. Kristoff's hands cup her face and she moans loudly into his mouth, opens her legs to make room before grabbing his vest and pulling him closer. When he whimpers quietly at the contact she instinctively raises one leg around his hip, but he suddenly draws away and she whines at him.

"Anna," he says, and his pitch is tantalizingly low, drawing a shiver out of her, "What are you doing?"

"I want you close," she says, using her leg to press him against her, and they both moan at the contact.

"I'm pretty sure you're breaking a few courtship-rules there."

"Oh, probably dozens. Don't care, busy." Anna drags his face to hers again and kisses her way across his jaw, to his ear, down his neck, and when she drags her tongue across his pulse point his hands fly down to grasp her rear and hold her to him. She gasps and Kristoff lets go.

"Are you okay? Should I-"

"Yes. Yes you should. Please." He complies and she buries her face against his shoulder. She can feel his hands roaming over her, which sends sparks up her spine, but she feels his body against her far more, how utterly right it feels to hook her legs around his hips. There's friction, wonderful and satisfying friction between her legs, and she knows enough biology to realize what exactly she's grinding against.

She thought she'd be frightened, nervous, need time to prepare. But this is Kristoff, open and unguarded, moaning in her ear with every movement between them, and it occurs to Anna that she definitely wants less clothing constricting that movement. Then another thought occurs to her, and she pulls away a little.

"Uh, Kristoff?" He immediately draws back, eyes wide. "I think, uh… maybe we should do this somewhere else?"

"… Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Here, let me…" He picks her up easily and puts her back down, and Anna is struck by the strange feeling of not wanting to close her legs, and blushes accordingly.

"So," she begins, her lips forming a smirk, "Want to go somewhere else?"

Kristoff blushes and retrieves his hat.

~.~.~.~.~

Anna puts a hand to her mouth, a desperate attempt to keep quiet. Then a hand roves over her chest, squeezes one breast from outside her dress and a moan slips through anyway.

They're learning, at a leisurely pace, how to place their hands. Her little escapade with the castle's wine cellar has resulted in a new boldness in her already adventurous approach, and Kristoff can only be unaffected for so long before he mimics her. She'll drag her hand along his side, from his hip to his ribs, and he'll copy her. When she tugs at his shirt to kiss along his shoulder he'll groan quietly before slipping the collar of her dress down, just a little, and pressing his tongue to her skin.

She's pressed against her own door at the moment. The hand at her chest moves, Kristoff's arm instead circling her waist as he places a kiss to her stomach and lets his other hand wander down, down, following her leg beneath the fabric. When he starts doing the same thing on the way up, minus the dress in the way this time, Anna takes a ragged breath, running her hands across his shoulders.

She's missed this. Not that they're actually doing anything, they haven't even removed a single piece of clothing – yet, she thinks, and a thrill courses through her – but she's missed it anyway. She likes having him close, hearing him respond, seeing him react.

"I missed you."

He looks up, and the sight is somehow so intimate, him on his knees and so close to her, and Anna falls down as well, nestles herself against him. "I missed you so much."

"You realize I'll be here until spring now, right?"

"I know. Didn't make me miss you any less." He chuckles and embraces her, and all around her is his scent and his warmth. She loves him for that. Opens her mouth to tell him, stops; she doesn't dare quite yet.

Just for now, kisses on the other side of a door are enough.

~.~.~.~.~

It's late. Kristoff has gone to his room (after much lingering; in the room, against her neck, by her lips…) and she's finally remembered that letter she got earlier. Sitting down at the desk she unfolds the paper and starts reading.

Dear Princess Anna,

I guess you're wondering why I'm writing. Your sister has just arrived in Corona, and I can't believe all the things she's saying! Is it true she made a talking snowman? Also, what does a reindeer look like? Queen Elsa tried to explain it, but when I suggested a deer she said that was wrong, and there aren't any pictures in the library. Come to think of it, there are a lot of things she's told me about that aren't in the library. Pascal helped me look, but he can't carry any heavy books, and Eugene is always out with Max whenever I try and find him to help me look. I thought that maybe you can help me?

I'm so sorry, I haven't even introduced myself! My name is Rapunzel, and apparently…