"You are hereby cordially invited to a ball celebrating the betrothal of Her Majesty Queen Anna of Arendelle and Lord Kristoff Bjorgman of Arendelle," Anna read aloud as Kristoff leaned over her shoulder to look.

"It's so formal," Kristoff commented.

"Of course it is. We're getting married. Not having second thoughts, are you?" Anna teased.

"No! Of course not!" Kristoff wrapped her in a hug.

"Especially not in front of her very protective older sister, who could easily turn you into a block of ice," Elsa teased, raising an eyebrow at Kristoff and twirling a large snowflake above her open hand.

Kristoff laughed nervously; Elsa finally cracked a smile.

"Because it's still cold, I don't expect too many foreign representatives to attend, but that's just as well. They've already been summoned for the festival last autumn, the coronation, and now the wedding...I like to think visiting Arendelle is lovely for them, but they do need time in their own kingdoms as well."

Kristoff and Anna nodded in agreement. Kristoff had spoken with dignitaries and ambassadors before, but had been spared from meeting much of the royalty as of yet-that would likely change at the wedding.

"It will be a great opportunity to have a formal event with Arendelle and Northuldra," Anna mused. "Our citizens can get used to seeing Northuldra represented at important formal events."

Elsa smiled. "I'm glad you feel that way. I'm sure they will be honored to attend. There are still some hesitations about integrating the two lands, and for good reason; but no one doubts your worthiness as queen or the love that you two share."

Kristoff beamed at Anna, who blushed as a result of her sister's praise.

"Of course. How could anyone doubt Anna?" Kristoff asked, winking at his future wife.

Elsa nodded in agreement.

"Aw, stop it, you two! As queen, I have enough flattery coming my way as it is."

"That's just because it's true. But if it makes you feel any better, I can always tease you about your secret chocolate stash or the fact that you slide around the castle in your socks when no one's watching," Kristoff suggested.

"You know, I think I'll pass on that tempting offer," Anna laughed.

While they were talking, Mari slid into the room.

"What's everyone looking at?"

"Invitations for our official betrothal celebration," Anna explained.

"Wait, what?"

"We're getting married," Kristoff translated.

"I knew that!" Mari argued, hands on her hips, "But I thought you were getting married in the summer!"

"Right. This is just celebrating the fact that they're betrothed. Meaning that they're planning to get married," Elsa elaborated.

"But then why not just celebrate when they actually do get married?" Mari asked.

Kristoff laughed. "That's the most valid question I've heard all day."

"She does have a point," Elsa conceded.

"But there's never a bad reason for a celebration, right? The whole kingdom will be welcome there, and there will be food and dancing...it will be fun! You'll see," Anna reassured them all.

"The whole kingdom? That does sound fun!" the little girl exclaimed before running out of the room again to find Olaf.

Kristoff's studies were preparing him for each aspect of the event-dancing, learning names of important guests, reviewing the silverware arrangement (he would probably just follow Anna's lead on that one anyway), and altering his formalwear to match the dress Anna would be wearing (he knew Anna was queen, but how many formal dresses did she need?).

Anna was busy receiving and responding to invited guests' answers, particularly those of foreign dignitaries. Sometimes she would pass letters to Kristoff, showing him that they had sent their well-wishes to both Anna and him. It was odd receiving well wishes from important people he had never met and seeing his name written on such formal-looking documents sealed with wax royal crests.

Still, as he started to recognize more and more of the names, often able to provide a tidbit of information from his studies to go along with them, Anna looked at him with love and pride and he started to think that maybe he could be of some use to her in the future.

The thought made him even more excited for their upcoming marriage.

The wedding itself-the big, formal, royal event-still had him torn. But he was excited about the marriage.

Mari became more and more excitable as well. It became even more difficult to keep up with her lessons when Gerda needed to be of assistance directing the castle's traffic and Mari had an endless string of questions about the preparations that were occurring.

One day, when they dismissed Mari and Kristoff was interrupted in his reading about foreign allies by a heavy sigh from Gerda, Kristoff had an idea.

"Why don't we send her to school? She's picked up on the language pretty well, and it would probably be good for her to be around other kids her age."

Gerda hesitated. "I don't want you thinking I can't do this-I saw to Queen Anna's lessons just fine, and you can imagine how she was as a child!-but it might be a good idea, for her sake."

The next morning, Kristoff brought Mari to the local schoolhouse to talk with Arendelle's lower school teacher.

The woman was skeptical, having heard of Mari's origin and arrival at the castle; but given Arendelle's welcoming nature and the work the girl had done with Gerda, she agreed.

Mari had already joined a group of local children, and was happy to hear the news. He turned back to the school teacher before leaving.

"Thanks again, I really-"

"MR. KRISTOFF!"

This exclamation was followed by the sound of many small footfalls, and he was suddenly surrounded by round, eager faces.

"We're so glad to see you!"

"Why haven't you been here in a while?"

"Are you going to write songs for us again?"

"Where's Sven?"

"How are the trolls?"

Kristoff laughed. It was true that, with Anna's changing responsibilities and then Mari's arrival, he hadn't stopped by the school with her as much as he had in the past.

"How about I stop by after school with Sven? And we'll see if we can come up with a song for An-for the Queen's birthday," Kristoff proposed.

"But isn't that in the summer?" asked one of the older students.

"That's ages from now!" a little one objected.

"Children, it's almost time for class to start! Go in and find your seats," the teacher called.

Kristoff gave her a wave of thanks, and waved goodbye to the children.

Mari just gave him an odd look before rushing inside with the others.

As promised, Kristoff went to fetch Sven from the stables before the end of the school day.

"Hey, buddy. Sorry I haven't been around as much," Kristoff said, approaching Sven in the stables.

"That's ok. Jaska's prettier than you anyway," Kristoff said in his Sven voice, gesturing to the reindeer from Northuldra whom Sven had befriended. The female reindeer looked toward Sven, seeming surprised, but flattered.

Kristoff found himself confiding in his friend, regardless of the looks he was surely attracting as he walked through town.

"It's so hard to stay focused on all of this royal nonsense sometimes...but then I spend some time with Anna, and I actually start to understand what's going on in all of those letters she has to answer, and then it feels like it's all worth it! I'm just not sure if I'll ever really get there, you know? Everything is moving so quickly and so slowly at the same time."

"You can say that again!" he said in his Sven voice. "I loved meeting all of the Northuldra reindeer, especially Jaska. But now I feel torn between here and there. At least here I have a comfortable stable and some carrots," Kristoff gave Sven a carrot.

"And me," he reminded his friend, though he did feel guilty for spending so much less time in the stables.

When the school bell rang and the children ran out into the streets, Sven was swarmed by admirers. He seemed very much in his element. Kristoff was slightly less so, although he did think that kids asked much more interesting questions than adults.

"How old is Sven?"

"How long do reindeer live?" (That one was a little morbid.)

"Do all reindeer have harnesses like Sven's? Did you make it, or buy it?"

"Does Sven really talk, or is it just you talking for him?"

Kristoff laughed when he saw Mari leave the school. She looked happy, but exhausted; and without Gerda's constant reminders and assistance, she had tangled her hair, smudged ink on her nose, and rubbed chalk dust all over her small frock.

As they walked back to the castle-Mari on Sven's back-he heard some stories about her school day. Mostly, she talked about the lunches everyone had brought, and how she shared some pastries that the kitchen staff had sent her.

Elsa came to stay in the castle the week of the celebration, though she occasionally returned to Northuldra to reassure her people that they were more than welcome and to explain what to expect at a formal event in Arendelle.

It was kind of nice to have the former queen back, and seeing her fret over details and praise the staff for their great work brought him back to old times.

It was also nice that, now that Anna was queen, she wasn't preoccupied over chasing Elsa around and looking after her wellbeing. She occasionally reminded her sister not to stress too much over the event, but mostly, Anna had her own stress to occupy her time.

In the evenings, the three of them took time away from their responsibilities-a rare occurrence back when Elsa was in charge-to simply spend time with their little family.

As usual, the day of the event itself passed in a whirlwind of constricting formal attire, seemingly minute details, and small talk with the nobility.

What was different was that Kristoff felt more confident than usual. He was still nervous, of course, but he felt much better equipped to handle these situations when he knew more about the routine and the procedure. Just like ice harvesting, hosting and conversing at a social event had a specific and delicate set of steps in order to avoid drowning.

While he and Anna enjoyed the food-it was odd to be right next to her at the center of attention, when usually events like this had set her and Elsa apart from him-Kristoff noticed an older couple (Two members of the council, the...Haugens! That was it.) whispering to each other and regarding him with surprise.

He froze. Had he slurped his soup? Used the wrong spoon?

Mrs. Haugen caught his eye.

"So sorry to be rude, Your Majesty, Lord Kristoff, but...is this really the same man from the mountains that you began courting?"

"Um...yes? I mean, I didn't replace him with a substitute. I know the whole thing with Hans went down pretty quickly, but…" Anna stumbled over her words.

"Oh no, I meant no offense! It's just that his manners have improved greatly. Lord Kristoff, it seems your manners have become much more fitting of your future station."

"Um...thank you?" Kristoff wasn't quite sure how to respond to what seemed to be an attempt at a compliment.

Still, it was a relief that he hadn't messed something up accidentally.

After dinner, he and Anna were to walk around the town, greeting everyone who had not made the cut for the official dinner and dancing portion of the evening.

Kristoff spotted Mari, Olaf, Sven, and the young royal staff member who had been assigned to supervise them. Mari and Olaf were running wildly around the town, and Kristoff sympathized with the woman trying desperately to keep up. It was odd seeing someone else in that position.

Still, he had to focus on the task at hand. It took much of his concentration to maintain the same formal posture that seemed to come so naturally to Anna and Elsa.

It was even more difficult once they had returned to the castle for the formal dancing. Unlike past events, he got to be Anna's first dance partner, and he was suddenly grateful for the lessons he had so reluctantly attended.

Anna's face lit up as he led them around the dance floor, still not entirely confident, but more so than usual.

He figured that it would be nice not to embarrass himself in front of the whole crowd; but in the moment, all that really mattered was Anna's smiling face, her cheeks flushed from the heat of the crowded ballroom and the movement of the dance.

Anna was still expected to talk and dance with other guests, but Kristoff figured he could step to the side rather than find another dance partner.

He saw Elsa off to the side as well, standing with Ryder and Honeymaren. Elsa and Honeymaren were chatting about the many differences between celebrations in Arendelle and Northuldra, while Ryder looked rather shell shocked as he stared into the crowd.

"This sure is...something. A lot to take in," Ryder commented to Kristoff as he approached.

"Believe me, I feel the same way. Not exactly what my life was like growing up. Even Elsa and Anna were new to celebrations like this just a few years ago."

"Yeah...being isolated for your entire life, and then finding yourself in a completely different situation...I can understand that," Ryder said solemnly. Kristoff nodded in understanding.

"It's kind of crazy, you know? All my life, I was trapped in the forest, and all we could do was wish that it would change someday...but we had no reason to believe that anything would. And now suddenly the whole world is open to us, but...I don't really know what that means. I keep thinking about how Elsa traded her whole life for a completely different one, and Anna stayed where she was and found her place, and you just got thrown into something completely new…"

Kristoff laughed at that.

"I guess I just...don't know where I fit into all of it. How are you supposed to know?"

That was an interesting question, and one Kristoff hadn't necessarily considered. He paused for a moment before speaking.

"Honestly? I don't think you can know until one day, you suddenly just...do. I was perfectly happy harvesting ice and spending my time with Sven and my family until Anna walked into my life. And she kind of barged in, too. Threw carrots at my head and demanded I bring her up a mountain. It was pretty extreme."

Ryder laughed.

"And then this past year, we thought everything was going so well. We were all perfectly fine where we were. And then suddenly Elsa starts hearing this voice and finds out that she's supposed to do something totally different, so now Anna has to do something totally different."

There was another pause while Kristoff tried to come up with some sort of advice about what it all meant.

"I guess you just keep doing what you love, and wait for the rest to work itself out," Kristoff mused, watching the woman he loved twirl across the dance floor to an organized step he didn't recognize.

Ryder nodded. "It's not like I don't enjoy my life. I like working with the reindeer, being with my family...and now that the mist is gone, we're starting to get visitors to the forest occasionally, and visiting here is nice, too."

"That's great! There are so many huge adjustments since the mist lifted. I think it's good to just take time to work through them all."

They stood and watched the dancing for a moment before the door opened, and a shout of "Young lady, come back here!" reached the group gathered by the wall.

In a flash of bare feet and blonde hair, Mari was suddenly standing between Kristoff and Ryder, using her best posture to act like she belonged.

"Good evening. How is everyone enjoying the festivities?" she asked.

Kristoff and Ryder stifled laughs.

"Mari, something tells me you're supposed to be in bed. And by 'something', I mean your pajamas and the woman chasing after you."

The flustered woman stood at the door, trying to gesture to the girl without intruding on the celebration. Kristoff walked over to her.

"If you don't mind, just let her stay here for a bit. I'll bring her upstairs shortly. Thank you for looking after her," Kristoff advised.

The woman hesitated, but nodded, clearly not wanting to contradict him. It was an odd feeling having people simply accept what he told them.

Anna had come back to join them, and was now showing Mari how to do some of the steps from the previous dance. Honeymaren imitated as well, intrigued, and Elsa even joined in with some hesitation.

Kristoff smiled. As long as he had these people in his life, events like this were tolerable.

It took no small effort to convince Mari to leave the celebration. Kristoff enlisted Olaf's help, which worked at first, but soon backfired.

"But why do I have to sleep? Olaf doesn't have to sleep!"

Kristoff blinked. "You're human. He's a magical snowman."

"Can Elsa turn me into a magical snowman so I don't have to sleep either?"

"It doesn't really work that way," Kristoff responded, shaking away images of a frozen Anna.

"If we ask nicely, maybe Sven will read us a bedtime story!" Olaf said with excitement.

Kristoff sighed. "You two go upstairs. I'll get Sven and meet you up there."

"Yay!" the two exclaimed, running up the palace steps.

Kristoff returned to the ballroom to explain the situation to Anna, who was happy to excuse him for a while longer.

When Kristoff and Sven made it back up to the room, Mari and Olaf seemed to be having an intense conversation.

"Maybe she doesn't like parties. Some people are weird like that. Kristoff is," Olaf commented seriously.

"Who's weird like Kristoff?"

"No one!" Mari responded immediately.

"Mari was wondering why her mother wasn't at the celebration," Olaf explained.

"Olaf!" Mari chided, flinging herself down on the bed.

"What? Maybe he can help us solve the mystery! Can you, Kristoff? Or maybe Sven?"

Kristoff deflated. It was obvious that something had been on the child's mind throughout the preparations for the party, and he wished that he had put the pieces together sooner.

"Well, not everyone always comes into town. Sometimes people live far away, or have other things to do…" he trailed off, not sure how to continue. Mari continued to hide her face.

"Look. I don't know exactly how to find your mother, but how about we try? Maybe you can at least visit with her and see her again. Would that be good?"

"Yes," came the muffled answer.

"Do you still want Sven to tell you a bedtime story?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Yay! Ok Sven, ready when you are," Olaf prompted, sitting down in front of the fireplace.

Once Mari was asleep, Kristoff left Sven and Olaf to look after her and returned to the party in time to send off the departing guests.

As soon as the last person departed-not counting Elsa, of course-Anna had her shoes off and was recounting her many interactions, most positive.

Kristoff said goodnight to the sisters before remembering his mission to try to track down Mari's mother once again-not wanting to disturb Anna, he decided to leave a note in her study.

As he was writing it, he thought of one more topic he wanted to discuss, and jotted that down as well. Otherwise, he might change his mind.

When Kristoff returned to his normal room to change out of his stuffy formal clothes, he was greeted by Olaf, Sven, and a large pile of blankets that turned out to be Mari.

"She wanted to hide and scare you when you got here, but then we all got tired," Olaf explained.

Kristoff sighed, brought the pile of blankets and sleeping child back into a different room, and changed into his normal clothes.

"Come on, Sven. Let's get you back to the stables. I know I could use some fresh air…"

As a result, once he was there-exhausted from the day's responsibilities-he made the decision to sleep in the cooler stables, just like old times.

He woke much earlier than he expected, and the first sight he saw was Anna, leaning over the door to Sven's stall and brushing back tears.

"Anna! What happened? What's wrong?" He scrambled up out of the hay, wrapped his hands around Anna's waist, and lifted her into the stall to press her up against his chest.

She said something, but it was too muffled to decipher.

"What?"

"You left! Olaf said you left!"

Kristoff sighed. "Anna, you know I would never really leave! It's just, I brought Sven inside, so then I had to bring him back, and then the air out here was really nice and I didn't feel like walking back…but I'm so sorry to scare you."

She sniffed. "That's what he said in the forest, too. When I couldn't find you. He told me that you left. I guess it just...brought back memories. And then I found your note, and that made it worse somehow."

"Right. Ok. What about the note? I think it could be a good idea to try to let Mari see her mother again…"

"Not that part."

He hesitated. "Deciding that I might want to see Ahtohallan? Why does that bother you?"

Anna slumped down into the pile of hay. Sven gestured to the door, and Kristoff let him out before sitting back down next to Anna. After a moment, she spoke again.

"Why do you think Elsa left?" she asked.

Kristoff pondered this sudden change of subject.

"I mean, you were there. Magical voice, journey through the forest, something about the fifth spirit, the fact that you deserve to be queen…"

"But what if it was something else?" Anna interrupted.

"There was already so much going on, I don't think there's much room for anything else…"

"Look. I knew Elsa was never fully comfortable in her life as queen, but she was doing so much better! We both were! I thought for once that we could just be happy, and not have everything changing all the time, and now she acts like she was never even meant for that life! You know?"

"...Maybe? I'm going to be honest, I'm not entirely following your train of thought, but I'll do my best. It seems like maybe you should be talking with her about this."

"Kristoff! What if you find something better? A life that suits you more than this one? What if you get sick of this and decide it isn't for you?"

Now he was starting to understand.

"Anna. That's not going to happen."

"But how do you know? Elsa didn't tell me she planned to run off and start a new life either, until she suddenly did!"

"I mean, she did once run off and build an ice palace so she could live alone…"

"That was different!"

"All right, it was different. But so is this. Anna, if Elsa is meant to be there, then you're meant to be here, right?"

"Yes."

"And if you're meant to be here, then so am I. Simple as that."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because it's true love," he said simply.

"How can you be so sure?"

Kristoff was startled by the question. It wasn't like Anna to question true love.

He reached out and grabbed Anna's left hand. Even in her nightdress, with her hair in messy braids that were coming apart and now contained strands of hay, she was wearing her engagement ring.

"Because of this," Kristoff explained, letting his thumb pass over the bright orange stone. "You said yes. We chose each other. And we'll keep choosing each other. Every single day."

Her watery eyes met his, and she sniffed.

"I'm sorry. I'm a complete mess right now," she laughed.

"You're not. You're beautiful, and you always are, and I can't wait to spend every morning like this. Waking up with you. Except somewhere less smelly, and with less hay," he explained, removing a strand from her hair as she laughed.

He continued to move his hands through her hair, untangling the messy braids until it fell in loose waves around her face. They lay there until they both felt better.

Though they did feel slightly bad for the poor stable hand who walked in on his queen and her lover, in their pajamas, tangled up in the hay and kissing passionately.

He was definitely getting used to royal life, but privacy was unfortunately difficult to come by.