I don't own Frozen or any of its characters. The cover art is a commission drawn by the super talented princessmimoza on tumblr—please check out her amazing art!

To everyone whose lives were also changed by the snow queen and her cinnamon roll of a sister; this one's for you. Don't ever forget that you are the one you've been waiting for :)

The Next Unknown

1 - With the Dawn, What Comes Then

OoOoO

"Your Highness."

This was ridiculous. He could read the wind with a lick of his finger. He could sniff out a waterhole with his eyes closed. He'd survived blizzards with nothing but his instincts and the frozen rope tethering him to Sven. He could definitely do this.

"Your Highness? Sir?"

Except his foe was not a blizzard. Just another long hallway with the same white doors and the same crocus-patterned wallpaper that haunted the same dreams about running down the same damn hallway, horribly aware that he was late for some important thing except he just couldn't find the right bloody door—

"His Royal Highness Kristoff Bjorgman of Arendelle?"

Kristoff's spine snapped straight as he whipped around. "Y-Yes?"

A white-haired man stood behind him, hands clasped before him atop an obsidian cane. His expression was politely neutral. "Are you lost, sir?"

"Me? No, um, just—" Kristoff winced as his voice cracked. "Just walking. Around. I'm taking a walk around the castle. What do you need?"

As soon as the words were out, Kristoff wished he could stuff them back in the way Anna shovelled pastries into her mouth. The last time he'd accidentally asked 'What do you need?' Gerda had smiled bemusedly and replied, "I need to know what you need, Your Highness."

What he wanted was for Gerda and the other staff to go back to calling him 'Kristoff'. But right now, he needed directions. And to stop making a buffoon of himself in front of this man who, with the multitude of service medals gleaming on his crisp jacket, was clearly not a kindly servant. The man looked old enough to be Kristoff's grandfather (human grandfather, anyway), and though he stood a half a head shorter, his strong, ramrod posture made Kristoff feel like he was the one looking up.

"My apologies for disturbing you. I wondered if you might know where I could find the princess. I hear she has returned."

Oh, thank God. A question he could actually answer. "No, I'm pretty sure she's still down at the school celebrating the opening of the new wing. I can pass on a message for you if you like, Mister… Minister…?"

The man gave him a long look. Crap. Was taking messages supposed to be below him, too? Or was he offended that Kristoff couldn't remember his name? It wasn't personal; since the wedding, it felt like he'd had five hundred names and faces thrown at him. Even Anna couldn't keep them all straight—and she was actually a people person.

Finally, the man offered a thin smile. "Councillor Iver Belland." Councillor. Darn it. "I am aware Her Majesty is still occupied in the village."

Now it was Kristoff's turn to stare. Then it sank in like a stone, and suddenly he wished he could sink through the ground, too.

"Right. You meant Elsa. I'm sorry, I just… never mind. I, uh, haven't seen her around. Today, I mean. We are having games night after dinner, though, so I'm sure she'll turn up…" He trailed off, hoping the man would take it as a cue to speak. No dice. For all he knew, there was probably a punishment for interrupting royalty while they spoke. If that was the case, then Kristoff might as well be on death row for all the times he'd cut through Anna's rambling.

"So yeah," he finished lamely. "Sorry I can't help. But I could still pass on a message."

Councillor Belland smiled again. Trying to read than this man was harder than playing hide-and-seek with trolls. "No matter; my business is not urgent. Thank you for your time, Your Highness. Please enjoy the rest of your walk."

With a bow (that Kristoff very nearly returned out of habit), Belland strode past with a fluidity that belied his age—did he even need that cane?—swept around the corner, and was gone.

Kristoff exhaled. But new footsteps and sounds of chatter had already caught up with him. Now, he knew that it was probably just a pair of maids doing their rounds, and he knew that they wouldn't tease him after three years of watching him stumble through the castle grounds like a blind man… but the instincts that had seen him through every storm so far were now yelling for him to get out of there.

So Kristoff jumped for the nearest door and slipped inside, silently shutting it behind him. He heard the maids pass, laughing.

"Kristoff? What are you doing?"

A mortifying shriek flew from his lips. It was followed by a groan of relief when his frantic gaze landed on his equally startled company. "Oh, thank God it's just you."

The room he had barged into was unusually bright, dominated by floor-to-ceiling windows on the far wall, ushering in sunlight that glowed on the ivory walls. It was minimally furnished by castle standards, populated with numerous armchairs placed around a low, mahogany table. A gold and purple settee had been positioned against the windows—that was where Elsa sat with her feet tucked cosily beneath her, a book in her hands, and a quizzically raised eyebrow on her face. Directed at him.

"'Just me'?" she repeated with a quirk of her lips, looking past him. "Where are the wolves?"

The irony was that there had once been a time Kristoff would actually have preferred being chased by a pack of wolves to finding himself alone in a room with Anna's older sister. But she'd had three years to freeze his limbs off, which meant Kristoff had had three years to understand that Elsa wasn't actually, well, icy. Instead, she was a subtle wave of magic flattening the cowlick in his hair right before Anna dragged him in front of a hundred expectant faces, and a meaningful clearing of the throat when another dignitary mistook Kristoff for a stablehand. She was a teary smile giving him her blessing to marry the person at the centre of both their worlds.

"No wolves. Just happy you're back. I thought we'd only be seeing you around dinnertime." Smooth, Kristoff. She kind of lives here, too. "Not that I'm saying you're not welcome at any time. Anna would be kicking herself for missing out if she knew you were here already."

Elsa marked her page and closed her book. "That is exactly why she doesn't know yet. It would only distract her."

"Good call." The door handle was starting to dig painfully into his back. "Speaking of distractions, someone was looking for you just then. One of the councillors?"

Was that a grimace as Elsa tucked a piece of hair behind one ear? "I'm already aware. Thank you, though."

"You are?" Wait. If he had bolted into the nearest room, and Elsa had been in here the entire time… Kristoff blanched. "Did you hear everything?"

"No?" Elsa's brow furrowed in that self-conscious, ready-to-apologise manner of someone accustomed to knowing the answers. "Should I have?"

"Um… no. It's good that you didn't. I was just lost. Again. Always been better with open spaces. Just need another three years to get used to the place. Hah..."

Elsa and Anna had the same eyes, but their gazes couldn't be more different. When Anna looked at Kristoff, he felt seen; when Elsa looked at him, he felt seen through. And the way she regarded him now, head slightly tilted, reminded him that he wasn't simply in the company of Anna's older sister, or even his sister-in-law. Because beneath the relaxed smile, Elsa still bore all the quiet shrewdness and effortless poise of a queen.

That was how Kristoff knew he was far from alone when it came to fumbling Elsa's new—old?—title, the same way he was conscious of the fact that no councillor had ever specifically sought out Princess Anna the way they now prowled after Princess Elsa. Regardless of her abdication and humility, the Snow Queen simply wasn't someone you could 'Your Highness' away.

But then she was gone, and it was just Elsa's amused but kind voice that said, "It is quite easy to get turned around inside the castle. Anna and I are still finding forgotten secret passages, and we grew up within these walls."

"Right? I try to get my bearings by memorising the paintings on the walls; I've just never been in this part of the castle without Anna. I don't know how Olaf does it… what?"

Elsa wore a sheepish look. "Actually, the staff rotate the artwork around the castle every change of season."

"Oh. Oh. Well. That explains a lot."

That was when his stomach chose to release a feral growl of protest, washing away the last dregs of his dignity. Sighing, Kristoff looked up to find Elsa fighting back a grin. "Can you please give me very, very explicit directions to the kitchen?"

"No."

"Thanks—wait. Did you say no?"

"Yes." With that rare smile of mischief, Elsa looked so much like Anna. She held out a plate of sandwiches. Kristoff hadn't noticed upon entering, but there was also a tray of tea and biscuits on the table in front of her. "I can give you more than directions, if you would care to join me."

His stomach grumbled a second time. "Thanks, but isn't that your lunch?"

"With Anna as my sister, I do believe I'm quite proficient at sharing. I'm sure you empathise."

No kidding. Between Anna and Sven, it was a wonder Kristoff hadn't yet starved to death.

Realising he had been hovering by the door like an antisocial dunce the whole time, Kristoff finally walked into the room and sank into an armchair across Elsa. Only when he had taken a bite of sandwich did she sit back with a cup of tea, which she sipped while Kristoff shamelessly devoured the plate. He hadn't noticed how ravenous he was.

"You could have asked the staff to bring you something from the kitchens instead of going down there yourself. Gerda would be appalled if she found out you were wandering the halls hungry."

Kristoff remembered at the last moment to swallow before opening his mouth. "I know. I figured I'd get some extra carrots for Sven while I was at it."

"The staff could also arrange that."

"I know," Kristoff said again, because 'I'm not used to having people do stuff for me' seemed like an insensitive thing to say to someone who hadn't exactly chosen to be raised with their every need attended to. It wasn't like he had a point to prove—if he were being honest, he'd gotten used to the basic luxuries that had come with being a guest of the royal family. Like not having to choose between buying carrots for Sven or replacing his thrice-patched tunic.

It was the being part of the royal family bit that changed things a little. Maybe more than a little.

Elsa set aside her tea and reached under the settee, coming back up with a bundle of knitting. She cast Kristoff a shy glance. "I hid it when you charged in."

"Sorry. Should've knocked." He gestured. "That looks a bit like your mother's scarf."

The comment seemed to please her. "You think so? Yelana's been teaching me Northuldra craftwork." She raised the work in progress for him to see. It was a mossy turquoise, with the beginnings of an impressively intricate diamond pattern. Then again, Elsa didn't seem capable of making anything not intricate and impressive.

"Surprise present for Anna?"

"If she doesn't discover it first." Elsa worked to untangle a snarl of knots that must have occurred as a result of being hastily tossed about. "I wasn't sure about bringing it with me. You know how Anna tends to… appear without warning." She cast a meaningful look towards the door as if wary of jinxing herself. "So it was also a good thing for me that it was just you."

He chuckled. "That explains why you were holding your book upside down earlier."

"Was I really?"

"Yep. Ice harvester's honour. Don't worry, I won't tell Anna."

They lapsed into a companionable silence. Kristoff had seen Anna knit him a scarf in one day ("Thirteen years of me time," she'd said casually. "Wait till you see me play solitaire.") and could tell that it didn't come as easily to Elsa. Her movements were careful rather than automatic, and she seemed fully absorbed in the task.

Kristoff polished off the sandwiches and sat picking bread crumbs off of his palm. Several more moments trickled past.

"Anna is—" he began, at the same time that she asked, "How is Anna?"

They stared at each other. And shared a wry smile.

Kristoff's shoulders loosened. "Well, it's only been three months since her coronation and we just got back from our honeymoon." If a month-long tour through the kingdom counted as a honeymoon; meeting the people, kissing babies, wining and dining with dukes and barons whose names and well wishes had all blurred into one big migraine by the time they finally returned to Arendelle. "You know Anna. She's hit the ground running—literally running. She's taken to leadership like a walrus to ice."

He saw Elsa's hands stop. Get it together. "Which is not to say I'm surprised she's doing such a good job! She did follow you everywhere for three years, and she somehow knows everyone. It's a bit scary to watch, actually… I don't mean I'm scared of Anna. Well, sometimes I am. But most of the time I'm not."

Her laugh startled him. "I'm sorry… 'like a walrus to ice'?"

Kristoff flushed. "It's an ice harvester thing."

Resuming her knitting, Elsa chuckled softly. "Anna and ice. They always seem to find a way into our conversations, don't they?"

"What can I say? It's all I know. And, well, they're both beautiful. When Anna walked down the aisle towards me in that dress you made for her? I kid you not, I nearly fainted. I-In a good way!" Good job. You basically admitted to undressing her baby sister with your eyes in front of the entire kingdom.

"Kristoff?"

Lord help him. "Yeah? I mean—yes?"

"You're very welcome." The amused edge to Elsa's reply seemed to imply, You'd better have been looking at her.

Kristoff blinked back. Then he laughed. Elsa joined in.

And then the door exploded open.

"Elsa, you're here! Oh, and Kristoff! Are you guys having a party without me? How could you—whoa!"

Already hopping on one foot to take off her shoes, Anna was defenceless when Kristoff hastily vaulted over the armchair and swept her off her feet. Her surprise melted into a goofy grin as he spun her around. "Hey, you. Are you trying to get between me and my sister?"

"Wouldn't dream of it, Your Majesty. I've seen what happens to the folks who try."

A discreet glance revealed that Elsa had managed to hide her knitting in time. Anna was still smiling down at him, her hands on his shoulders. Several wisps of strawberry blonde hair had escaped from her bun, some caught on the corner of her mouth. There were flowers in her hair and Kristoff could easily picture her sitting on the grass while schoolchildren clambered all over her. She smelled like sunshine.

It was little wonder he couldn't find his way anywhere—everything led him back to her.

OoOoO

Elsa didn't need to knock because the doors were already wide open.

Technically speaking, there was no physical room for the doors to close at all. The floor of the study was littered with books and papers in precarious stacks, tracing a haphazard maze towards the desk which was, by contrast, unexpectedly uncluttered—barring the Queen of Arendelle sprawled across it on her back, reading a missive held above her head. Her bare feet tapped out a gentle rhythm against the side of the desk; the same eight notes that had stubbornly rained down on Elsa's door for thirteen years.

Elsa stood at the doorway for a moment, soaking in the sight of her sister being both Anna and the queen at the same time. And something unclenched inside her, just a little, while something else tightened in its place. If only Father and Mother could see Anna now.

"It must take all of Kai's self-control not to come in and tidy this," she said.

Anna's head turned, the joy in her eyes illuminated by candlelight. "Oh, he tries. But then I tell him, 'If I can't find last year's shipment records where I left them next to the window with my pet rock on top, I won't be the one explaining to Elsa why we can't import the nice chocolate from Switzerland.' Works like a charm. Am I late for charades?"

"Not yet. Olaf is still going around asking the staff to write more words. Also, please stop terrorising the kingdom in my name."

Anna scoffed and raised a finger to make a point. Then stopped to sniff the air. She shot upright. "Is that hot cocoa?!"

Elsa held the mug out of reach. "It looks to me like our chocolate imports are faring quite well indeed."

"Looks to me like I'm the one being terrorised." Anna's give me motions intensified.

Elsa gestured for the missive that had fallen into her sister's lap. "I'll trade you."

"Be my guest; it concerns you more than me anyway." Anna proceeded to pour the beverage down her throat. "Ack! Hot hot hot!"

Sighing in fond exasperation, Elsa reached over and wrapped a hand around the mug to cool it. Then she leaned back against the desk beside Anna's crossed legs and skimmed through the letter. She grimaced.

Anna nudged her, mirth swimming in her voice. "Well? Should I write back to Lord Nilsen and tell him it would be my honour to have his son as my brother-in-law?"

"You should not. Lord Nilsen's son could easily have been my brother-in-law. I received his proposals for your hand year after year."

"Too bad, already spoken for. You, on the other hand, are not. Are you sure you don't want to give what's-his-name a chance? I hear he's quite a looker!"

"He is." Elsa refolded the parchment along its creases. "We met him two years ago, do you remember? He attended Buferdsdagen with his father."

"Really?"

"You played hide-and-seek with him."

"… I what?"

Elsa handed the letter back to her sister, trying not to laugh. "If I remember correctly, Tobias Nilsen just turned twelve years old."

Anna blinked. Then she dissolved into snorts and giggles. "Twelve! That's worse than the old baron who wanted to make me his third wife!"

"Fifth wife." Elsa rescued the hot cocoa.

"Twelve!" Anna screeched again, collapsing over Elsa. "Everyone wants their own Snow Queen," she giggled, wiping her eyes. "Well, they can't have her. She's all mine." Her tone descended into mischief. "... Unless she's interested in someone?"

"I assure you she most definitely is not."

"What about Ryder?" Anna took one look at her expression and moved on. "Yeah, can't see that happening either. Honeymaren? Because you know I'd be totally cool with that—which is not to say that you need my approval to be interested in anyone… well. Maybe. Actually, yes. Let me at 'em."

"Anna." Smiling, Elsa tugged on a pigtail. "I'm not interested in anyone, or in anything more than what I already have. I am spoken for; I have a sister I love more than anything, even if she is at times unbearably nosy."

"Nonsense. You love my nose." Anna rested her cheek atop Elsa's head. "But you'll tell me if that changes?"

"My sentiments on your nose?"

"You know what I mean!"

Don't I tell you everything? It was there on the tip of her tongue. It was so easy to say.

Until another voice stole over hers. But you didn't. You haven't.

I won't. I can't.

Tell her you're making her a scarf. Tell her why. Tell her that you know.

Hiding her clenched fists in the folds of her dress, Elsa heard herself say, "Who else would I tell, silly?"

Maybe if Anna hadn't yawned at that moment, she would have noticed something. But she only rubbed her eyes and said, "I don't know, sis—the way you've been starting to smell like reindeer, it's only a matter of time before you start talking to them like Kristoff."

"You're incurable." Elsa's voice softened. "Tired?"

"Nope. Maybe. Kinda. But I'll not be called a workaholic by you of all people. Unlike you, I know how to delegate. This is all I have left for today!" Anna made a grand sweeping gesture at the modest stack of missives on her desk. "Which reminds me: I need your advice on a few things… well, alright, a whole mountain's worth of things. But we can go over it later. How long are you staying this time?"

It was her effortlessly light-hearted tone that gave her away. On any other person, it could have been a question about the weather. Anna, though, was neutral about exactly nothing, especially when it came to Elsa. And Elsa had to bite back the urge to say 'As long as you need me to' because Anna, of all people, had managed not to ask 'Can you stay?'

They were both dreadful liars. But Anna was getting very good at being queen.

Elsa straightened, steadying Anna before she could tumble off. Then she turned around and raised a hand to her sister's face, gently brushing away a curl.

Anna's curious stare melted into a contented smile as she pressed her cheek into Elsa's hand. "What's up?"

There you are.

Elsa shook her head and smiled back. "I will be around long enough that we can postpone games night until tomorrow."

"What about the tomorrow after that? And tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow?"

"Yes, Anna."

Now Anna's expression was radiant. "And Olaf's birthday?"

"I'm always there for Olaf's birthday."

"But you'll be around until then?"

Elsa cupped Anna's face in both her hands and leaned in so their foreheads touched. "Yes. I'll be here."

"Okay," her little sister whispered.

Elsa wished she could freeze this moment and carry it around in a bottle.

Then Anna jerked up and her nose cracked against Elsa's brow. "Wait—why are we postponing games night?"

OoOoO

"… and then she told me to grab you and go on a date because apparently we both looked like we needed one, and she kicked me out of the study. My study."

"Uh huh… I still don't get it."

"Really? Which part?"

"The part where we had to climb the castle wall. And sprint across the bridge while Olaf distracted the guards."

"What? That was the only part that made sense! How else were we supposed to sneak out without Mattias siccing a whole battalion on us?"

"On you," Kristoff corrected. "He's only posted guards on all the exits because you keep giving him the slip. Poor man's just trying to do his job."

"I know, I know. Hang on, let me put my shoes back on." Taking Kristoff's hand, Anna hopped back into her flats. Boy was she glad she'd thought to change into trousers beforehand. "It's just hard to walk around town flanked by soldiers. It intimidates the folk and it's not like I'm going to get attacked in my own kingdom. Elsa didn't have a personal guard."

"Elsa can kind of shoot ice from her hands. You kind of have a tendency to run into fire and other things in various stages of collapsing on you. While pissing off creatures ten times your size."

"Exactly! Sneaking out of my own castle is child's play in comparison. Besides…" Anna rose on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. "I have a valiant pungent reindeer king to protect me."

Kristoff rolled his eyes, but there was a fond smirk on his chapped lips and moonlight dancing over his blonde curls, and it occurred to Anna that Elsa was right. They were long overdue for a date.

"Prince consort, remember? Not a king."

"Look at you go, Mister I-Hate-Formalities." Anna counted the planks beneath them, gaining a spring to her step as she avoided the cracks. "You know what? Let's play Truth or Dare instead of charades tomorrow."

"Why?"

She shot him a sideways smile. "So I can dare you to tell me what's been bugging you. Or get you to just tell me the truth."

Kristoff blinked at her, and then shook his head with a rueful grin. "It'd be a waste of a turn. Nothing is bugging me."

"Nice try. Normal Kristoff would have said—" Anna deepened her voice and puffed out her chest. "'Nothing is bugging me except you, Feisty Pants!'"

"Please. I don't sound anything like that. Ow! What was that for?"

Anna withdrew her karate chop from his side, her nose tipped upwards. "You missed your cue to say 'I would never say that about you, darling! I worship every word that leaves your beautiful lips!'"

"Honey," Kristoff drawled with a smile in his voice—at least she'd gotten him to smile. "That's something only Sven would say."

Anna could think of someone else who would say that; someone who had once looked at her with nothing but sincerity in his dreamy green eyes. Someone she'd met on this very dock, come to think of it. The first time she'd been out of the gates—the first time she'd felt seen. But, like the idiot he'd pegged her for, she had failed to see him, and she hadn't listened to Elsa's 'You can't marry a man you just met'. She hadn't seen who he really was until 'Oh, Anna' and it had almost been a good thing that he'd extinguished the fire, because the cold had numbed her too deeply to cry. He'd stolen her heart and nearly her sister and kingdom, but at least she'd never given him the satisfaction of her tears.

Even Anna could tell her voice was a little too bright. "I had a great time at the school today! We made cookies. I just maybe ate them before I could bring some back for you. Your fault for not being there. The children missed you and Sven."

"About that." Kristoff tugged at his ear with the hand not holding hers. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it. Getting my portrait done took forever because I couldn't make my face do what the painter wanted, and then I got lost in the castle."

"Wait, portrait? What portrait? Don't we already have one of you? After the wedding?"

"I don't know. Didn't think to ask. Maybe the last one didn't turn out well?"

"Trust me, it turned out very well." Perhaps Kai had mentioned something to her and she'd forgotten all about it. Oh God, did that mean she had to sit for another one, too? Mother used to love reminding her that their first family portrait had taken a whole month, on account of Anna bouncing off of every surface. If only photographs could be enlarged to the size of a painting. "You could have just said you had business to attend to and rescheduled the sitting. Jorgan is a sweetheart; he wouldn't have held you prisoner."

Kristoff gave her a dry look. "Oh yeah? And why didn't you simply order the guards into secrecy so we could walk into town like civilised beings?"

Anna opened her mouth, came up empty, and shut it again. "Okay, fine; we both need to get better at saying 'no' to people. We'll ask Elsa for lessons."

"Elsa is also tragic at saying 'no'," Kristoff pointed out. "Especially to you."

"Well, yes. But have you heard her Snow Queen voice? Like that time the ambassador from France wanted the bishop to toss holy water on Olaf? Boy, her magic was not the coldest thing that day."

"Hah. You weren't there that time the head chef of some fancy restaurant complained that the ice I'd delivered smelled like horse manure."

Anna's head snapped around. "Who said what to you?"

"Not important. Elsa totally handled it." Kristoff released her hand to clasp his together and narrowed his eyes in such a shockingly accurate impression of an unimpressed Elsa that Anna couldn't help giggling. "First of all," he said in a clipped and dangerous tone. "Sven is a reindeer."

"She said that!? Oh my God. I can't breathe."

"Oh, there's more where that came from." Kristoff grinned as Anna, wheezing, clutched him for balance. "You remember that fancy ball in the Great Hall last year?"

"Which one?"

"The one where some prince from I-Forget-Where cut into our dance and spent the rest of the night stepping on your toes."

"Oh my gosh, yes. Don't remind me."

"Well… you remember how he slipped and fell into the kransekake?"

"He did, didn't he! I was so surprised it wasn't me who… hold on. Are you saying Elsa did that?"

Kristoff nodded smugly. "She made sure I was close enough to catch you first. Made me look real smooth, didn't it?"

"You… what? I can't believe you guys. How did you two get into so much mischief without me? I am the mischief!"

"Honestly, I have no idea. Elsa somehow always showed up when I was in a tight spot." Kristoff's voice grew pensive. "I guess I didn't realise until recently how much she looked out for me."

Anna knew that feeling.

She bit her lip and looked up at Kristoff. "You'll tell me if anyone is giving you a hard time, won't you?"

His lips quirked. "And what would you do about it, Queen Feisty Pants?"

"Whack 'em with a lute."

"No flaming bedrolls? I'm shocked."

"Proof of my maturity," Anna flicked a pigtail over her shoulder, making Kristoff laugh. "I'm serious, though. Promise you'll tell me if you need a break from anything. You're probably still shell-shocked after the honeymoon tour—it drove me bonkers. And I know you have these thoughts about not being good enough which is absolutely not true, but if it makes you uncomfortable, you don't actually have to sit with me in court every day because only, like, a tenth of council meetings are actually productive. Oh God, how are we only having this conversation now? And why are you smiling like that?"

"Because," he chuckled, "you're acting like I'm going to realise this isn't what I signed up for and run off screaming."

"To be fair, we didn't know that Elsa was going to abdicate when you got down on one knee."

"I also didn't know you were a princess when you chucked a bag of carrots at my head three years ago."

"Hey, I said I was sorry!"

"Look," Kristoff said lightly. "I'm an ice harvester, okay? I was raised by trolls and my best friend is a reindeer."

Anna crossed her arms. "And I can fit eighteen marshmallows in my mouth. Your point?"

"I'm just saying I'm not good with people, let alone—rich people. Even after you bought me a new sled and Elsa gave me a fancy title, I couldn't figure out how to play that power game. It's easy for them to make jabs at me for wearing my fluffy neck thing wrong because I do. And they're so pompous and subtle about it, half the time I don't realise I shouldn't be smiling and nodding back until you or Elsa start throwing death stares. So yeah, it gets me down every now and then. People don't usually sign up for things that make them miserable, Anna."

Her chest tightened. "Is that what you are, Kristoff?" she whispered. "Miserable?"

"What? No!"

"You just said—"

"Don't you get it? Was life simpler when all I had to worry about was me and Sven? Heck yes. But was it better? No." Kristoff gripped her shoulders and bent so they were level. Holding her gaze, he said very slowly, "I didn't sign up for royalty, Anna. I signed up for you."

She wanted, so badly.

She wanted to say 'Aww!' and rib him for his cheesiness. She wanted to throw her arms around him and fight anyone who dared to suggest that she'd let Arendelle down by marrying for love. She wanted to escape into the mountains with him and build a cosy little cabin next to a lake, surrounded by singing birds. But she also wanted to do more for her home, her people, so at the very least she wanted to be able to protect Kristoff the way she could reject outrageous proposals for Elsa's hand. A queen should be able to do that much.

But Kristoff was only in the firing line because she was the queen. And he still wanted to be the one standing next to her.

She absolutely, definitely, did not want to cry. They were in public. She was the queen. He was a sweet-as-nectar dork.

She burst into tears.

"Whoa! Anna? I-I didn't say I wouldn't try to learn the game! Once I remember who's in the council and figure out what I can actually do, I can help you. Who else is going to keep you from installing a chocolate fountain in the square, right? So you don't need to worry about me getting bullied, okay? I just have to prove myself to them. Anna?"

She bawled even harder.

"Oh God. What else? Um… oh! Olaf and I have been reading up on, you know, useful stuff! Like which knives and forks to use at dinner! And I've started carrying a handkerchief! Wait. I'm carrying a handkerchief."

All Anna could make out was the blurry outline of her husband spinning around and slapping all his pockets. God, he was hopeless. He was hopelessly hers.

She barrelled into him from behind and buried her face in his back. "You're a dork," she mumbled. "And I love you."

She felt him sag in relief. "Well, that's reassuring."

Anna squeezed him tighter and closed her eyes. Home, she thought to herself. It was Kristoff and Elsa, and Olaf and Sven. It was Kai and Gerda and Joan. But sometimes she forgot that it was also a night out on the streets she loved so. It was creaky ships and the salty breeze blowing through the fjord. It was the sound of gentle waves lapping against the dock.

Anna's eyes flickered open. "Kristoff? Do you hear that?"

His look of confusion and scepticism told her that he didn't.

She released him and stepped towards the fjord, head cocked. "I definitely heard something. There's this… voice."

Kristoff's eyebrows bunched together. "I hear nothing. Must be a sister thing. A fifth spirit tingle."

"What? That's not a thing." She walked to the edge of the boardwalk and peered into the dark water. "I swear I—"

It sliced through the air then, weak and faraway. Yet so shrill and raw that Anna nearly fell into the fjord. Kristoff's hand seized hers and when their wide eyes met, she knew that he'd heard it, too.

Screaming.

OoOoO

There was no point pretending that she didn't miss some parts of it.

The stubbornly uncomfortable chair. Their father's portrait on the wall. The royal seal in the top drawer. The endless list of tasks and matters to follow, one by one, day by day. The monotony. The surety.

Anna seemed to have misplaced her old letter opener, so Elsa fashioned one from ice and savoured the satisfying schlik it made as it sliced open the first envelope. She unfolded the parchment and scanned it with a practiced eye—wax seal, signature, first line of each paragraph. Seconds later, she placed it on the larger of the two piles before her.

Then she deliberated. A herd of escaped cattle was terrible for the farmers and would inflate market prices until the losses could be recouped, but Elsa's instincts told her Anna would be delighted the animals had been given a second lease on life. She transferred the missive to the good news pile, and reached for another.

She missed the reading. The Northuldra were an oral people and Elsa didn't think it respectful to attach a wagonload of books on the Nokk. She didn't have the time to read in the Forest, anyway. But each time she managed to coax another folktale from Yelana, or followed the spirits to yet another unknown, Elsa's fingers would itch for pen and paper to write it down. And when her mind wandered sleeplessly beneath a too-silent canopy, it didn't help that her only reading material was her trove of Anna's notes.

She missed the sound of Anna's carefree laughter wafting through the open window, and the racing footfalls that announced her sister long before the doors slammed open.

Schlik. Good news. Schlik. Bad news.

"Hi, Elsa!"

She looked up and smiled. "Hello, Olaf. Come join me."

He was already skipping inside. Elsa began to tell him to be careful, but Olaf swiftly navigated the labyrinth of paperwork with ease. At least Anna seemed to have a regular visitor. "Guess what? I helped Anna and Kristoff sneak into the village! They're having a date. Are we having a date right now?"

"We can call it that if you like." She set the letter opener down and gave Olaf her full attention. "How have you been?"

He let out a weighty sigh. "I'm older."

"That's… very relatable, Olaf."

Then he perked up. "But at least summer's just around the corner! Which means it's my birthday soon!"

It also meant four years since her coronation. Since losing her glove and fleeing to the North Mountain towards what she'd thought was freedom. Since building a snowman without her sister's help for the first time in ever. Four years since Anna—

"I love birthdays!" Olaf beamed.

Elsa smiled back faintly and wondered if Olaf was able to sense her magic throbbing at her fingertips. "We know you do, little guy. See? Getting older isn't so bad. You learned how to read." She lifted him onto the desk. "Would you like to help me sort Anna's mail? She'll read it properly later, but it will be much easier for her if we first organise everything by urgency. That way, she can prioritise her time. She loses focus easily, so to keep her interested we're going to divide it—"

"Into good news and bad news!" Olaf clapped in delight. "How exciting! That's exactly how Anna used to sort your mail. She said the rule was you must take one from each pile so you weren't stressed by consecutive bad news. Oh my—that's the first time I've said 'consecutive' out loud. Con-se-cu-tive. Such a snazzy long word!"

She didn't miss the sleep deprivation and endless buzzing thoughts about the next pressing matter. She definitely did not miss the constant meetings with strangers from foreign lands, or the way negotiations always seemed to end with dignitaries requesting a show of her powers, as if they'd come expecting a circus act. She did not miss the bottomless pressure on her shoulders, reminding her that she was perpetually only one misstep away from messing everything up.

But those precious three years had been the only time in her life that Elsa had wished for absolutely nothing at all to change. And that, she missed infinitely.

Schlik. Good news. Shlik. Shlik. Shlik. Bad news.

"Elsa?"

"Yes, Olaf?"

"I don't know what to do with this one. It's kinda weird."

"How about you summarise it for me and I'll decide?"

"Well… I think someone is, um… dead? And it's signed by the king of… hmm. Gosh, this handwriting is appalling. Horrendous. Atrocious?"

Elsa caught a flash of a familiar wax seal. Her blood chilled. "Olaf. May I see that?"

"Most obligingly!"

She didn't skim it. She read the whole thing, every word. Twice. On the sixth read, she could have sworn the serpent on the seal was watching her, the gemstone around which it was coiled gleaming sinisterly.

A snowflake dissolved into the parchment.

The chair scraped loudly as Elsa shot to her feet. She held it together long enough to assure Olaf that everything was fine; she just had to find Anna because he was right. This letter didn't belong in either pile.

This letter was not just a letter.

Out in the hall, Elsa seized her dress and ran.

She very nearly collided with General Mattias leaping up the stairs. They stared breathlessly at each other for a moment, then started talking at the same time.

"Thank goodness; your timing is impeccable. We need to call a council meeting. Have you seen Anna?"

"Your Ma—Highness. We have an emergency."

Suddenly, Elsa became aware that the night's peace had already been shattered. There was so much noise outside; raised voices, horns blowing, boots stampeding. "What happened? Is Anna safe?"

Mattias must have heard the brittle ice in her voice because he hastened to say, "She's fine—well, she's a little wet. Very wet. But very safe. Even though she would have been safer if she hadn't snuck past the guards for a night of romance."

"That may have been my fault." Elsa continued hurrying down the stairs with the general hot on her heels. "Why is she wet?"

"It appears she jumped into the fjord."

Elsa spun around incredulously. "To swim?" Surely Kristoff wouldn't have indulged her recklessness.

"To save lives."

"... I beg your pardon?"

Mattias's dark eyes were sombre. "There are people in the water, Your Highness. Men, women, children. Swimming. Drowning. Anna mobilised all available guards and boats for the rescue effort. Every person we fish out is saying the same thing; that they came from—"

"The Southern Isles," Elsa finished softly. The letter crumpled in her glistening fist.

It was already far, far too late to wish that nothing else would change.

A/N: Yoohoo! Big Frozen 2 hangover! This story was born out of a hunger for more of our favourite sisters after the movie's ending, which opened so many doors for 'Frozen 3' fanfics. I just happened to tumble through one of them—because if I had my way, the sisterly love and icebros moments would never end.

I would love to know what you think of the story so far and appreciate all feedback, good or bad. As always, thank you so much for reading and I truly hope you'll enjoy this story as much as I plan to.

I have a tumblr (themarshmallowattack dot tumblr dot com) where I reblog Frozen content + upload scrapped scenes and other fic-relevant stuff. I sometimes (attempt to) draw scenes from the fic. There's a pinned masterpost with everything related to The Next Unknown.

A note on The Sky Is Awake: five (six?) years ago I wrote a story reimagining what it would have been like if Elsa had let Anna in after their parents died. That was an AU and this is canon-compliant so the two fics aren't related.

I will be using some minor side characters from TSIA/references though (what can I say… I'm lazy). TSIA knowledge isn't at all necessary to follow this story but I'll mention their links in the notes in case you'd like the extra context. The chapters are practically standalone oneshots, so you can jump straight to a specific one without going through the whole fic. For example, Councillor Belland is from chapter 18 of The Sky Is Awake

If you ever catch any other The Sky Is Awake references, just think of it as an Easter egg 'thank you' for journeying into the unknown with me again :)