AN. Let's see what Kristoff has been doing since he became The Official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer. I refuse to think he is just a charity case like some people believe. This story is canon and starts at the end of Frozen I (using some scenes from the actual movie, but not much). Anything you recognize is not mine. Most of the plot here are out of my own imagination but inspired by the movie, deleted scenes and some of the frozen comics. I did try to research a bit here and there about European 19th century history, but I won't say this is anywhere near accurate to that place, time and culture. No disrespect intended. I hope you enjoy!

PS. Bear with me, English is not my native language and there was no beta for this. Constructive criticisms are always appreciated. Or, if you'd just say hi in the reviews and tell me what you think about the story :D, that would totally make my day. Hope you are all doing well in these troubling times.

Edit: I just realized I haven't properly put lines in between the scene jumps in this chapter. So I've edited that.

Chapter 1 A New Page

Summer 1844 (two days after The Great Thaw)

The sun was shining in the sky, giving off a warmth that only summer could bring. It was a beautiful day; the sky clear, the waters calm, the air fresh with a hint of blossoming flowers. To be honest, I preferred winter with all the ice and snow. But how could you appreciate the winter without experiencing the heat of summer? And summer always brought more income for ice harvesters. That was surely something to look forward to.

It had been two days since summer came back after what people now called The Great Thaw. I would usually be doing some ice-harvesting this time of the year, but unfortunately, I was still minus a sleigh. I would need to find a carpenter who would give me a loan to buy one. But if in a couple of days, I couldn't find myself a sleigh, I'd probably have to work with the other ice harvesters. Mass harvesting was usually what most ice harvesters do, but I had always preferred harvesting alone. No need to do the small talk, the forced laughing, the sing along, yeah, basically just no need to socialize much. And you always get better income by harvesting alone, no need to divide the money. Only Sven and I, having a good productive time.

Talking about Sven, I was walking to the royal stables to find him. He would love the treat that I had brought him, a handful of carrots for breakfast!

"Good morning, Sven! I've brought you some carr…" I stopped in my tracks, looking around the stables. It was empty.

"There you are Mr. Bjorgman!" said a male voice from behind me. I turned to see Kai walking towards my direction. The head of the royal staff looked as formal as usual. I had to admit, he was a decent guy; the fair, precise and no-nonsense type, which was always good.

"Good morning, Kai. Have you seen Sven? I've brought him some breakfast but he's not in the stables… Oh, and can you please just call me Kristoff?"

As usual, he seemed to ignore my request. "Last time I saw him, he was with Princess Anna, Mr. Bjorgman." He then cleared his throat. It seemed he had some formal stuff to announce to me. "I have come to relay a message from Her Majesty, Queen Elsa. She has reques…"

"Kristoff! There you are!"

As if out of nowhere, Anna was running towards me... and it seemed she wasn't planning on stopping any time soon.

"Woah… woah… slow down!" I quickly put the carrots down and braced myself.

"Umph" she squeaked. And sure enough, I've gotten myself a handful of an overtly cheerful princess in my arms.

"Kristoff! I've been searching all over for you! Where have you been? Come on! I want to show you something!"

"Your Highness," interrupted Kai. "Queen Elsa has requested Mr. Borgman's presence to discuss about his…"

"Shhh! I know Kai, but can you tell Elsa that I'll be handling it. I want to tell him myself. Please, Kai."

Anna had a way with her eyes that could melt anybody's heart. That, I knew. Even just two days of staying in the castle, I could already tell that most of the castle staff was very fond of Anna's antique and it seemed Kai was no exception. He was struggling to hide a smile. "Of course, Your Highness. I will tell Queen Elsa immediately."

"Thank you, Kai!"

Without warning, Anna then dragged me by the hand towards the gates.

"Whoa… slow down." I've lost count on how many times I've said those words to her. But, actually, I don't really mind her speed and feisty spirit. "Where are we going?"

"Come on, you'll see… Oh wait, no, you probably shouldn't see. Here, wear this!"

She stopped and went behind me and covered my eyes with a piece of cloth. Immediately afterwards, we were speeding again towards wherever we were heading to.

"Okay… I'm coming. Ouch! Pole…"

"Oops, sorry!"

Her excitement was contagious. I just had to laugh despite being hit quite hard on the head. But it's fine, I have a thick skull anyway. From the sound of it, it seemed that we were running through the town, maybe towards the docks.

After running several minutes, we stopped.

"Okay… here we are."

I just stood there smiling, waiting for whatever this surprise was supposed to be. My blindfold was released.

In front of us was a beautiful sleigh. I knew it was one of a kind, trust me, I would've known a custom-made sleigh when I saw one. It was the standard size for ice harvesting. With beautiful carvings on the front and the side. It was built to look elegant and slender but it had the structure that made sure it was going to be very sturdy. On top of it all, it even had a red lute on the front seat. Out of nowhere, Sven walked up to the sleigh with his head held high, clearly showing off this new sleigh.

"I owe you a sleigh." Said Anna beside me.

Wait a moment, this was for me? Really? "Are you serious?" I glanced at her quickly, she looked so excited. I looked back at the sleigh. It never took much to make me impressed. I love the simple stuff just like the ice and snow and this was the most beautiful sleigh I've ever seen.

"Yes! And it's the latest model!"

Wait, No! They had given me a place to stay for a couple of days in the castle, complete with a few sets of clothing for me to change into. They even let Sven sleep in the royal stables. I've slept there the first night staying at the castle, it was quite comfortable and warm. I appreciated their gesture, but I didn't want to be a burden.

"I can't accept this."

"You have to. No returns, no exchanges. Queen's orders. She's named you the Official Arendelle Ice master and Deliverer."

"What? That's not a thing." I said.

There was a gleaming silver medal around Sven's neck. He sure looked quite proud wearing that medal. But really, it wasn't a thing. I was an ice harvester after all; I'd know if there was such a title in Arendelle.

"Oh, sure it is!" Anna said and as if it was going to explain everything, she added, "And it even has a cup holder." She paused for a second and asked me with an uncertain voice. "Do you like it?"

I snapped out of my daze.

"Like it? I Love it!"

I was so happy; I literally didn't know what to do. It felt like I wanted to run, or to shout my undying love of the world. Well, no… not really. But I was extremely, extremely happy. So, I turned towards her and lifted her up by her waist. I twirled her around and she laughed melodically.

"I could kiss you!"

Wait… did I just say that out loud?

I put her down immediately. "I could. No, I mean. I'd like to. I'd … may I? We, me… I mean, may we? Wait, what?"

This was going great. I was so embarrassed. I thought I should just leave or something. I was just turning my head away when suddenly I felt the briefest light-feathered touch on my cheek. Did she just kiss me?

I turned to see her smile that wide smile of hers. Her beautiful blue eyes even brighter than how I remembered them to be.

"We may"

I've said it before, I'm a simple guy. There wasn't much more that I needed. I had a family back in the valley, I had the best friend ever in Sven, and I was doing a job that I loved. I thought that was how life was supposed to be and I was content with it. Never in my life I thought I would want something more, especially if you said I needed some decent human contact. Really, I didn't, despite what my family kept saying. Or, well, maybe I was just in denial?

Never in my wildest dreams had I thought that I'd actually be happy spending time with someone, showing them around town. Let alone a gorgeous, funny, brave, brilliant, have I mentioned beautiful? … I could keep going on… woman. I guess you'd never know what you have been missing out on until it actually hit you in the face.

We ended up walking around town until the sun was right above our heads. I had showed her around the docks, the market, the shops. She was amazed by everything. The smallest details and the simplest facts could make her smile like a ray of sunshine. She greeted and smiled at everyone. It was such a breath of fresh air for me to see someone so genuine and full of life.

We came back to the castle after a small lunch in town. She had to go back because she promised the Queen to accompany her on a council meeting this afternoon. I was standing in the front courtyard just staring at the castle doors that she just disappeared into.

One of Sven's leg suddenly came into my view as he waved it in front of my face. I reluctantly averted my gaze from the doors and saw Sven looking at me with a knowing look, one of his eyebrows raised in mirth. I knew exactly what he's trying to say.

"Oh boy, you've fallen hard" I voiced for him.

And for once I didn't have a comeback to give.

It turned out, The Official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer was a thing. Well, technically, Queen Elsa made it a thing.

I met with Kai again late in the afternoon. He told me all about the job. My main job was keeping stock of the palace's ice. Contrary to having a snow/ice-powered queen as ruler of Arendelle, the queen and her council were wise enough not to disrupt the economy by making an endless easy supply of ice. Instead, they let everything go as it had been before. And you couldn't have the queen do all the common work, right? So, if the castle was low on ice, then it was my job to restock them. At first, Kai suggested that I buy ice blocks from the market just as how they have usually done in the past. But, no way! I harvest my own ice, thank you. And I'm quite proud to say my ice is one of the best in town. As hard, clear and clean cut as you can get. Not to mention I hold the record for the most ice blocks in one trip. So, no way was I going to buy ice from somebody else.

Having settled that, I was also appointed as the official deliverer which entitled me to deliver stuff deemed important by the queen or bring royal objects during ceremonies and such. Actually, this official deliverer thing did really exist, but since they closed the gates and cut off a lot of contact with the outside world, the job was long empty. Occasional delivery was only done by the guards, which even that was seldom.

So, my routine began. I usually harvest at the start of each month. On the first week of the month, I would take three trips up the mountains, getting a day of rest in between. Usually that was enough to keep the castle's ice stock until the next month. The other weeks, I would have to be on the castle grounds or nearby so when delivering services were needed, Sven and I would be ready to go.

The salary each month was really good and on top of that they still gave me payment for each block of ice that I brought with me. I was welcomed to eat in the castle with the other staff and take carrots for Sven to eat. They also gave me a room to stay in the staff's quarters. But being me, I preferred to stay in the stables with Sven. Though, Kai insisted for me to take a bath the following morning every time I've slept the night there.

Yeah, I understand. Reindeers do rub a smell on you. But hey, I do clean well, it's just… I hang out with Sven a lot, so you can imagine why I usually smell like a reindeer.

I also got two days off each week which I thought was overly generous, but Kai insisted the Queen would not take no for an answer. So yeah, that's okay by me. I would usually use the time to visit the Trolls back home. Or I could just harvest ice for the local market which was still allowed for me to do so as long as it didn't interfere with my work in the castle. I really appreciated that. Ice harvesting wasn't only a job for me, it was more like a hobby, really. A hobby that fortunately could also give me some income.

Sometimes on those days off, Anna would also ask Sven and me to accompany her through the city. Or I would sometimes ask her to come with me and visit the trolls, to the trolls' enthusiasm. On other times, she even managed to convince me to bring her ice harvesting or to teach her mountain climbing. We all even managed to have a picnic together; Anna and her sister, Sven, Olaf and me. It seemed Anna had some sort of to do list she wanted to get done. It was nice to have that extra something to look forward to every other weekend.

"Thank you, Kristoff, dear" Said Olina, the head of the kitchen. I was helping them pack up some supplies in the kitchen storage.

"No problem, Olina".

It had been two months since I started working in the castle. Some days, there weren't anything for me to deliver so I would go around the castle helping with anything I could. I hated being idle. Usually I helped with some labor work because most of the staff weren't young anymore. They were hiring more staff now that the gates were always opened, but Kai & Gerda were quite picky on who they would hire. So, there were a lot of stuff to help around. But it was fine, I had the muscles to help out anyway and I liked the good exercise. Amazingly, I came to like the castle's staff. Most of them were quite friendly and close knitted, like one big family. Most knew each other's name and stuff. I even managed to hold a decent conversation with a few of them, which was quite an improvement to say the least.

I dusted myself off. There was flour all over my shirt.

"Well, now, we can't have that. Why don't you clean up before dinner? Its family game night, isn't it?" Olina said to me.

"Yeah, I should probably do that. Thanks, Olina."

"Oh no, dear, Thank you. Now hurry up along then!"

I went to my room to clean up. It's been a couple of weeks now for Anna to invite Sven and me to have dinner and play some games together. Olaf would be there too. Usually it's every Friday night if the queen could spare the time.

So overall, life was good. Sven and I had a good paying job, a place to stay and meet people who are actually quite nice.

I heard a knock from the door.

"Kristoff, are you there? It's time for dinner!" Anna's voice came from the closed door.

"Coming, Anna!"

AN. Okay this was a brief chapter. Consider these first two chapters as an introduction. The next chapter should already be up :D ...