Anna finally goes to visit Kristoff's family again, and Elsa finds an unexpected way to use her powers.

Thank you as ever for all your wonderful reviews and kudos. It honestly makes me so happy, and I can't thank y'all enough.

We've got a few new arcs incoming, and a lot of scene-setting for Olaf's Frozen Adventure. Buckle up.

"Ok. You sure I don't need to take anything? I don't know, a potato salad, or a royal decree?"

Kristoff shook his head for what felt like the umpteenth time and led Sven out of the stables. "No. You don't need to bring anything."

"Ok, ok. And I look all right?"

"You look great." Kristoff gave her a wide berth as she swung up onto her horse, keen to not be inadvertently kicked in the face. Why exactly Anna was so nervous about meeting his family again was beyond him. They were trolls, for goodness sake, and the last time she'd met them they'd declared she had bright eyes and strong teeth. If that wasn't an indication they liked her, he didn't know what was.

He pulled himself up onto Sven and they set off. Her horse was nice, he supposed, and it kept pace with Sven, but for his liking, it was far too well-kept and conspicuously antler-less.

"You know," Anna called across. "I don't remember the way at all."

"Well you were freezing to death last time we were there," he replied, lightly. They never really spoke about that trip. It made Kristoff shudder just thinking about it. Anna had a habit of mentioning Elsa's 'French leave', as she called it, very nonchalantly – but the trip back to Arendelle itself they never discussed. "It'd be impressive if you did."

"That and I have a truly awful sense of direction," she grinned. "I'm amazed I can find my way to the children's home so well."

The Valley of the Living Rock was across the fjord. A very straight shot when it was frozen over, but in the bright winter light they had to go around. Kristoff had tried to ignore the intrigued looks they'd drawn as they passed through the town together, and breathed a sigh of relief once they were out in the country, away from prying eyes.

It was cold, despite the bright sun, so Anna was wearing a hat, gloves, and that magenta cloak. She'd insisted it was so the Trolls would recognise her, but that hadn't stopped Elsa blanching a little when they'd passed her in a corridor on their way out. For his part, Kristoff rather liked it – it reminded him of their time in the mountains, and of how hard he'd fallen for her there – though when she was framed against the snow-capped crags round the fjord, he did find himself looking at the place her hair used to be white more than usual.

They raced each other, cantered along and paused varyingly. The sky was incredibly clear, and they had the whole day. At one point, Anna declared the water looked so blue that she wanted to wade in, and Kristoff had to remind her that it was in fact, November, and that he would take no part in explaining to Elsa how Anna had lost toes.

As they approached the Valley, they slowed horse and reindeer to a walk. Kristoff could tell Anna was getting nervous again: her babbling had almost reached top-speed.

"…so then I tried to explain to Olaf that fruitcake is overrated, but he wouldn't believe it, and then told me he'd tried to eat some whole nutmeg from the kitchen, and – "

They rounded the corner, and they were there. Kristoff dismounted and hollered out a greeting.

The minute he did so, they were swamped.

"Kristoff!"

"Come here and let me look at you –"

"I grew another mushroom!"

"It's been too long – "

"I'll put a pot on!"

And as for Anna – well, Anna was surrounded by towers of trolls, trolls jumping up and down, intrepid trolls climbing up the horse's saddle to say hello –

"All right, all right," Kristoff waded through a sea of aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings to get to Anna. He rescued her from their curious hands by lifting her down off the horse.

She barely seemed to notice this is she tried to answer every question his family threw at her. It made his heart swell to see how utterly delighted she looked.

Luckily, her horse seemed relatively unphased, and trotted off after Sven, who'd already begun a game of fetch with some of the young trolls.

"Ok," Kristoff held up his hands, looking around at his family very seriously. "Remember we talked about this. No grabbing, no dressing up, limited singing. All right?"

The sea of trolls nodded.

"Right. Everyone, this is Anna. Anna, this is everyone."

Anna waved.

They were whisked over to what Anna supposed was a seating area – the ground formed a series of natural steps, worn down by countless troll butts. Two rough wooden cups were thrust into their hands, and Anna took a sip of the steaming liquid inside. It wasn't tea, but it was restorative just the same.

"How are things at the castle Anna? We heard about your trip to Corona!"

Kristoff's favourite aunt, Ora, was looking at them with bright eyes, some of the steaming liquid being ladled into her own cup by another troll.

"Oh – good, thank you. I'd never been outside of Arendelle before, so…"

They were curious, and attentive, and their peals of laughter as raucous as ever, but they managed to stay on their best behaviour with only a few pointed looks from Kristoff. He introduced her to everyone, and Anna tried her best to remember as many names as possible – Rockwell, Cliff, Pebble, Soren, Brock – but smiled as widely as she could when she was introduced to Bulda.

"Anna, this is my mum, Bulda."

"It's so nice to meet you again!"

"It's lovely to meet you again too, sweetie! Kristoff's told us so much about you, and I've been telling him for months that he needed to bring you back! Your hair is looking lovely…"

She hopped atop a tower of cousins, examining Anna's hair from all angles, lamenting her own troll-ish lack of curls, launching into accounts of Kristoff's childhood. Kristoff rolled his eyes and warned her not to say anything too embarrassing, but it made him happier than he cared to say to see Anna getting on with his family so well.

When Grandpabbie emerged – presumably from a nap – he smiled at Anna like an old friend.

Eventually, she was whisked away by his mother and a few aunts and by hordes of younger trolls to either be shown about or to play hide-and-seek. She threw him wide-eyed look, but he grinned and shrugged.

"Look after her, ok? And remember the rules!"

Chuckling, Kristoff sat back down and stretched. He enjoyed a few minutes of blissful quiet until he heard the shuffling steps of his Grandpabbie, and opened his eyes to see the old Troll smiling indulgingly across at him.

"Things are good with you, Kristoff."

"Yeah. Yeah, things are going ok."

"For now, all will be well in Arendelle."

"Well that's good to know."

"And the Queen grows in confidence every day. You see this yourself."

Kristoff knew not to question Grandpabbie's seemingly limitless knowledge, so nodded.

"Yeah. She's been teaching me to read. It's great."

Grandpabbie nodded sagely. "You always were a fast learner, Kristoff. Though never one to suffer fools gladly." He leaned forward a little, hands atop his stick, with something Kristoff could have sworn was a mischievous grin across his rock-face. "But at Yule, Kristoff, you must learn to."

Kristoff frowned. "What do you mean?"

The old Rock Troll settled back, apparently very pleased with himself. "Forgiveness, Kristoff, is a virtue."

Before Kristoff could reply, Anna was delivered back to them by a rolling tide of Trolls, giggling like a schoolgirl.

"I will never get used to that. Amazing. Hey!"

"Hey yourself. Did they behave?"

"Of course!" She grinned. "Pebble was showing me all the preparations for Yule."

"Yule! Yule!" Came the joyful chorus of Trolls.

"Oh. Yeah. We go big on Yule."

Anna practically bounced up and down.

"You'll have to tell me more when we get back! We've not had a proper Yule at the castle in forever, but I'm so excited – we'll have the trees, and the bells, and Elsa will take some time off – maybe – and – ohh. I can't wait."

Kristoff grinned in earnest. Yule – and jólaaptann, too – was a huge thing for the Trolls, and despite his own general disinclination for festivities the rest of the year, he made an exception for Yule. He kind of had to.

The rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly enough: Anna was treated to a very brief choral number ("Guys, we spoke about this. Come on…"), Kristoff showed her how to carve a few basic runes ("As if you never learnt runes. How else do you leave cryptic messages in ice caves?") and they were both roped into helping prepare that night's dinner. They couldn't stay – Kristoff had promised Elsa they'd be back for dinner, as she seemed both afraid of and intrigued by the Trolls, and so had insisted they tell her all about their day – but that didn't stop Anna becoming very curious about the intricacies of Troll cuisine ("You do what with the moss? Amazing!").

By the time it was completely dark, they were almost back at the castle, and Anna stopped chattering on about how much she'd liked his family only when the first pale tells of the aurora began to play across the sky.

They still had an hour or so before dinner, so Anna convinced him to dismount and sit to watch the sky for a few minutes from the relative comfort of a nearby bank.

She was uncharacteristically quiet as they watched them – her eyes full of the colours and shapes – and Kristoff tore his eyes from them every thirty seconds or so to look at her.

His heart was so full, he thought it might tear from his chest.

In Corona, he'd realised how easy it would be to love her. Here, on the way back from his family, that cloak scruffy with dirt and moss, her face wide with wonder, sitting under the surreal dance of the sky, he felt himself teeter on the brink.

The rest of the month passed in comparative peace.

Anna buzzed about the children's home, checking in and saying to hello to every new child she found there. She got to know a fair few of the girls – including one who absolutely idolised Elsa, and would bombard Anna with questions about the ice queen whenever she got the opportunity – and one of young boys, who'd been taken on the apprentice scheme at the Ice Harvesters Guild and she couldn't help but see as a mini Kristoff, despite his slightly boisterous nature and mop of brown hair. Most of the others seemed very shy around her, so she tried her best to offer them reassuring smiles whenever she saw them.

Elsa – despite herself – couldn't help but continue to delegate royal duties to Anna. She was so swamped, and Anna was so impossibly eager to help that it felt wrong not to. And besides, she couldn't help but feel proud every time Anna reported back, successful. Responsibility suited her sister.

Kristoff came to her office twice a week for reading; he was getting remarkably good. After, they would play chess, and Elsa found herself relaxing more and more in his presence. She felt they had an understanding, and started to think of him as a friend, rather than just Anna's… unofficial… suitor.

She was also, covertly, trying to use her magic more. Of course, Anna would demand a display at every reasonable opportunity, but Elsa was trying to be more generous with it around others, too. It was frightening, yes, but – people had to see that it could be a peaceful force. She had to see that it could be a peaceful force.

One such opportunity arose, bizarrely, in the first week of December.

"Elsa," Anna wandered into her chambers, complaining. "Elsa, I don't know what to wear."

Elsa looked up briefly from the book she'd been reading. She'd just finished lunch, and thought she'd treat herself to fifteen minutes of quiet before getting back to work. "What's wrong with that?"

"It's just – urgh. Not right."

"Where are you going?"

"To see the Swedish ambassador. The town hall is being used next Wednesday so I need somewhere to hold the kid's choir."

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "And you're hoping the Swedish ambassador will let you use his lobby?"

"Yes! Exactly! It's huge and he never uses it for anything except displaying that ridiculous statue. So I need to look – you know – regal and persuasive."

Elsa noticed that Anna was drifting, slowly but surely, over to the wardrobe. The queen's private wardrobe.

With a slight flick of her wrist, she froze the wardrobe door shut.

"No, no no no. Those clothes are mine."

"But your clothes are great, and none of mine work…"

Elsa sighed, and considered her little sister.

The dress she was wearing was nice, but it just needed a little… something.

After a brief moment of thought, she waved her hands about.

The hem of the bodice sparkled with ice crystals, the plait across the top of Anna's head become wound with frosted ferns that drifted over from a pot by the window, and a clear, delicate layer settled over the skirt, spangled, feather-like ice catching the light.

Anna let out a squeal of delight, reminding Elsa forcibly of when they were children, spinning about and reaching up to feel the ferns in her hair.

"Elsa! Elsa!"

The queen grinned, admiring her work. It had been a while since she'd done a dress, and she'd forgotten how much fun it was. "You like it?"

"Elsa, I love it! Oh my God," breathless and beaming, she practically bounced on the spot. "Look at this!"

Elsa looked back to her book, still smiling. "Regally persuasive enough for the ambassador?"

"Definitely," then Anna gasped, hands jumping to her mouth. "Elsadoyouthinkyoucouldcomedothisforthekids?"

"Pardon?"

"Come do this for the kids! They would love it," Anna rushed over to her sister, pulling down the book to get right in her face. "Please Elsa? Please please please please?"

So, here she was, a few days later, sat as regally as possible in a stiff chair Anna had dug out of the town hall closet for her, waving her hands about, accessorising the dresses of almost all the girls at one of Anna's creative and constructive enrichment activities. The boys had been a little more reticent, but after some encouragement from Anna, their curiosity got the better of them.

A few got themselves some capes before enthusiastically launching into imaginary games, two a series of icy medals, some of the shyer boys what Anna could only describe as snowflake badges and one particularly excited boy of about six asked if the queen could outfit him in a spangled snowflake shirt: he seemed to have been very taken with Elsa's infamous blue dress.

Elsa considered for a moment.

"It may be a little cold for you if I make it look exactly like that dress," she said, "But I can try, uh, augmenting the one you've got."

He seemed perplexed by the word 'augmenting', but that was quickly replaced with utter delight and Elsa covered the surface of his rough grey shirt with little snowflakes.

As he charged off to show everyone, Anna turned to her sister.

"Amazing. Thank you so much Elsa. You know this has totally made their week, right?"

Of course, having seen the rows of icy medals and capes, some of the girls came charging back over, clamouring for ones of their own.

Before getting roped into a game of knights and dragons, Anna remembered how, a few months ago, she'd had to explain to a group of these kids that Elsa wasn't scary. She looked at them now, jabbering on at the queen with awe in their eyes and thought she might cry with joy.

Elsa, despite herself, smiled and laughed, the voice in her head that whispered constantly that she was putting them all in danger all but drowned out by the excited chatter of the children.