The townspeople of Arendelle, while they loved their king and queen, had found it entertaining to make jokes at the royals' dispense, especially the ice harvesters. Growing up, princesses had always been the butt of every joke Kristoff had heard. It was all good-hearted fun, of course, they didn't actually hate the royal daughters or anything. But as the princesses never really left the castle, no one ever really knew what they were like, and this, of course, caused the stereotypes to be tossed around. As a child Kristoff had never really heard anything good about princesses, at least not from his fellow ice-harvesters. And it wasn't exclusive to the two of Arendelle wither, but just princesses in general. The stereotype of a princess was not a good one. In fact, Kristoff was told to stay away from them at all costs (not that they would even want to hang around with a common person like him).
"I had a friend once, he didn't listen to what he was told." A fellow harvester named Eirik had once told him. "He didn't bow down to the queen like he was taught, and you know what they did? They done gone and chopped off his head, they did."
Kristoff had eyed him incredulously. "No way." He had scoffed. "No one is that insane."
"You don't believe me?" Eirik had said, patting him with a little too much force on the back. "Why don't you go up to the castle and find out yourself? Tell me how it turns out, yah?"
So Kristoff had learned to keep his distance. But now, where, of all places, was he? But of course, karting a princess, along with her talking snowman across the mountainside. Kristoff really wondered how he got himself into these situations sometimes. If the ice harvesters knew, they would probably harass him endlessly for it. But so far, things were okay. More than okay, actually. Anna wasn't exactly like all the things he'd heard that princesses were supposed to be.
First of all, he had heard that princesses were stuck-up. You always had to use "Your Majesties," and "Your Highnesses," around them. You must always shower them with praise, even if they just did something as simple as cutting a ribbon to celebrate the opening of yet another summer palace. One wrong step and it was off with your head. They didn't like getting their hands dirty, and they only cared about dancing in their fancy ballrooms with their fancy dresses in arm with their fancy princes. To be fair, Anna did seem like having all those princes and balls. Kristoff was still fuming over the fact that she was getting engaged. Not that he was jealous! No! What reason would he have to be jealous of some dense pretty boy with a fancy title to his name? None. Not him. No. He just hated how she was getting married after knowing they guy for one day, that was all. It really couldn't get more ridiculous than that. However, it was hard to think about that when Anna was so boldly willing to belay off the edge of a cliff, or smack a wolf in the face with a lute. No one had ever told Kristoff that princesses could be brave-even though crazy might have been a more appropriate term in Anna's case.
Princesses were also supposed to be boring. They didn't know how to have fun, or tell jokes. Oddvar (another ice harvester) had once joked that if they dared even crack a smile, their corsets would probably make them self-implode. But Anna was funny in her own weird way. And she liked to laugh-a lot. Even now, as Kristoff walked alongside Sven, he could hear Anna giggling at something Olaf whispered in her ear. Was it weird that he liked her laugh? He'd never really had that kind of feeling before. Up until now, laughs and just been laughs, and they were all basically the same. But he had decided Anna had a nice one. He didn't know what it was, but it just sounded nice. It was kind of like the sound that snowflakes would make-just sort of sparkling and clear and sweet. If that made any sense. Kristoff frowned. It didn't. He shuddered, trying to shake all these thoughts off of him. God, he was turning into such a sap. So Anna had a nice laugh. So what? She was still a princess.
Which brought up another thing; princesses were selfish. They didn't care about anyone but themselves, and they especially didn't care about the peasants below them. They were spoiled, and left any practical jobs up to their parents. They didn't care about the fact that a bunch of people were going to probably freeze to death, or that ice harvesting was quickly becoming a useless profession. All they cared about was trapping everything in an eternal winter, just for their own personal gratification.
Even though...
Anna did care about others. Like when Olaf lost his nose (for the millionth time), she'd spent a whole hour digging through the snow, trying to find it for him. Sven was also warming up to her quite nicely too. Kristoff could tell that he loved it when Anna scratched that one special place behind his ears. And Anna didn't seem to mind when Sven gave her slobbery kisses on her cheeks. And she loved talking to Kristoff about his life, about anything in general. She acted like the act of harvesting of ice was the biggest thing to happen to mankind since the discovery of fire. For once in his life, another human being was genuinely interested in what Kristoff had to say, and it felt great.
Going off of that, Anna wasn't too quiet either, like princesses supposedly were. She loved talking. Kristoff noticed she had an uncanny habit of putting her foot in her mouth. There were several times where she'd finished a sentence with furiously red cheeks, muttering that she couldn't believe she'd just said that. It was amusing, really, to see her get all flustered over simple things like her accidentally saying that she thought Kristoff's freckles were cute (which, they weren't, by the way, but Anna couldn't seem to let it go).
As a matter of fact, Anna wasn't like anyone Kristoff had ever met, and she especially wasn't like any princess he'd ever heard of. Maybe when they finished this journey, he'd go back to the harvesters with a new list. Princesses weren't all bad. Some of them were funny, adventurous, and caring. They were curious, smart, and awkward. They had their quirks and flaws, but once you got to know them, they were some of the greatest people you could ever meet.
"Kristoff!" A voice called.
Kristoff instantly snapped back to reality, a heating sensation picking up in his cheeks. Anna was standing up the path, waving him over with an anxious grin oh her face. "You're so slow!" She laughed.
Kristoff grinned and rolled his eyes. He walked over to where the group was standing. In the middle of the ice there was a large crevasse; it had to be at least 6 feet wide and who knows how many miles deep.
"What do you think?" Anna questioned, coming up to stand beside him. "Do you think we'll be able to get across?"
Kristoff sighed. "Well, there sure isn't anyway we're going around it."
Anna let out a nervous breath. "Okay." She said. Kristoff could tell she was trying to sound more confident than she actually was.
"If you want, I can go across first." Olaf suggested, peering down into the split. "You could just throw my parts across."
"As tempting as that offer is," Kristoff said, smirking slightly as Anna rolled her eyes and nudged him, "I think it'd be best if I went first. Then I can help you all across."
The other three looked at each other warily. "Well, if that's what you want." Anna finally said. "Just...be safe, okay?" She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Kristoff tried to ignore the jumping his heart suddenly made in his chest.
"Of course." He said, his voice staying surprisingly cool, considering the circumstances.
He got out his length of rope and tied it tightly to the end of his ice pick. Tossing it, he was able to make a makeshift grappling hook, landing it securely around a large hunk of ice. Praying that he wouldn't die, he took a deep breath and jumped. He heard Olaf gasp and Anna let out a squeal of surprise. To his relief, he felt the rope go taunt as he hung suspended in the crevasse. Anna, Sven, and Olaf's heads peeked down at him from above.
"Did you die?" Olaf called down, his voice echoing off the icy walls.
"No!" He called up, pushing his hat out of his eyes. "Just let me climb up."
"Thank goodness." Anna sighed.
Within 5 minutes, Kristoff had climbed up the rope and had made it successfully to the other side of the gap. On this side there was a hill, some chunks of ice, and of course, more snow for miles. There would be time to explore the terrain later, though. Right now hes had to focus on getting the others across. Getting Olaf to the other side was proved easy, Anna just tossed Olaf's head, torso, and body one by one into Kristoff's awaiting arms, a risky but successful feat.
"Thanks Sven," Olaf grinned, adjusting his head on straight.
"I told you it's Kristoff." Kristoff huffed, eyeing the snowman with a somewhat endearing annoyance. Great, even the snowman was growing on him now.
Getting Sven across the ditch proved to more a more difficult challenge. Kristoff and Anna had spent a good five minutes debating (Fine. Arguing.) over what would be the best way of getting it done until Olaf told them he was getting a headache.
They finally discovered that Sven had long enough legs to be able to jump over the crack, but just for safety, they tied the rope around his middle. It took a lot of coaching, along with some ear rubs from Anna, but Sven finally made the jump. Just as Sven was getting to the other side, however, the rope came undone and upon choosing to either to catch Sven or hold onto it, Kristoff dropped the it. Both he and Anna's eyes widened as they watched it fall into the ominous darkness below.
A beat passed in which all four were silent, the situation setting in on them. Kristoff bit his lip. "Okay, well it looks like you're going to have to jump." He finally said, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. Anna obviously wasn't anywhere near the size of Sven-jumping over this wouldn't be as easy as it had been for him.
Anna gaped at him. "Are you sure?" She said, fidgeting on the edge of the crevasse. "Because that sure is a long drop." She glanced down again, her eyes full of the nervousness she was trying to keep inside.
Kristoff nodded. "Don't worry, I'll catch you, you just have to trust me, okay?"
Anna took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay then, let's do this." She took another peek at the gap and gulped, turning her head away quickly.
Kristoff stood as close as he could to the edge without being at risk for falling in. He extended his arms as far as they could go, making sure to keep an even footing. "Alright Anna," he said. "I'm ready when you are."
"Are you kidding?" Anna said, trying to laugh nonchalantly. "I was born ready." She took a few steps back, so she could have a running start.
"I can't watch." Olaf whispered, placing his hands, or sticks rather, over his eyes.
Kristoff forced himself not to do the same as Anna took a step back, and began running. With one flying leap, she launched herself across the crevasse. The next few moments went by in a blur. In one moment there was a flash of Anna's purple cape flying towards him, and then an impact. He gripped onto her as they rolled over backwards through the snow. He could feel the weight of her pressed up against him as they tumbled head over heels down the hill, her sporadic breaths hitting his neck and her braids accidentally whacking him in the face a few times. This was another thing Kristoff would have to add to the list; Princesses were kind of clumsy. But he didn't mind it so much right now. At least she was okay.
A few moments later, Kristoff found himself panting and on his back. Snowflakes were hitting his face, and he blushed as he realized Anna had her arms around his neck, still holding onto him.
"Are you okay?" He asked, looking up at her.
Anna opened her eyes. "I did it?" She exclaimed disbelievingly. She beamed as she saw that, while covered in snow, she and Kristoff were safely on the other side. "I did it!" She said again, this time with a smile. She beamed down at him, starting to laugh as she realized their predicament. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry." She blushed,. "I'm such a klutz."
Kristoff could feel her heart pounding in her chest. The tiny clouds her breath made fogged his vision, causing everything to seem almost dreamlike. "No!" he said, a little too quickly. "You're fine!" He found himself laughing as well, which surprised him.
"You should see your face." Anna giggled, brushing some snow out of his eyes. "You're covered in snow! It looks like you have a beard."
Kristoff laughed again and smiled up at her. Her eyes were sparkling from laughing so much, and her cheeks were rosy from the cold. He was so close he could see every freckle on her cheeks, every snowflake caught on each eyelash. Her hair was scattered with tiny crystals of snowflakes, giving her an angelic look. Kristoff suddenly found himself feeling extremely nervous.
"You don't look much better." He said back, bushing the snow off of her bangs. "You look like you just took bath in all this snow."
Anna laughed. "I bet I still look better than you."
Kristoff blushed. She was right. That was another thing he'd have to add. After all, if had had to tell the ice harvesters anything more, he couldn't forget that princesses were not just funny and smart, bold and caring, or clumsy and loving.
They were also very, very, beautiful.