Chapter 7 The End is the Beginning

AN. To be honest, it was hard for me to choose how to end this fic. I had many ideas in my head but settled down with this one. Hope you enjoy.

Mid-Summer 1947 (Approx 2 months after the previous chapter)

I turned the page of the book I was reading. It was early in the morning and I sat at the dining table, waiting for Anna to come down for breakfast while reading a book about Arendelle's history.

As much as I wanted to do anything other than reading this book, I knew I had to if I wanted to get a better sense on how the council worked. I've attended three council meetings so far and sure enough I got a headache every single time.

Every time Elsa opens a council meeting, the members would just bark out suggestion after suggestion, complaints after complaints. To me it just felt like pure utter chaos. Some would actually give sound advice, especially if the topic concerned something in their expertise, but a few just barked out mad ideas without much thought at all. Or some, I felt, just love to argue about everything and anything. I had no idea how they could have gotten anything done.

Alright, I was probably being unfair. They had been doing this for decades and Arendelle turned out fine so the system must have done something right. But that didn't help with my sense of dread every time a council was going to be held. You couldn't guess what other argument was going to be put on the table. People talking left and right, some clearly not understanding the situation at all. It was such a waste of time to hear those stupid arguments! Mostly, I just sat there in silence, trying not to pinch my nose every time someone talks nonsense, but I had gotten into some arguments myself when trade and industry was discussed.

I felt a bit guilty that I took comfort in knowing that Elsa was doing the heavy lifting of being a referee and judge in all the council meetings. I had no idea how she managed to do that.

I yawned and turned to the next page. I had to remember this book if I ever needed something to help me fall asleep. But I really needed to finish this as soon as possible. It was clear that I had to understand the council and it's members' backgrounds to understand their way of thinking. The tutors suggested this book, so here I was.

At least all those nights spent studying with the trolls had paid off. Even though I never attended any formal school after I left the orphanage, I had a fair share of schooling myself. Grand Pabbie was used to having me sit down for lengthy discussions with the trolls when I was young. He was a demanding tutor. One might think rocks can't teach much about anything to humans, but never underestimate the depth of troll's knowledge.

I startled myself from my book when I heard a shrill voice coming from the doorway.

"That's it! Both of you, you're coming with me!"

I looked up and saw Anna standing at the doorway with her hands on her hips.

"What?" said Elsa. She herself had been buried in a report of some sort. It was our routine now, both Elsa and I would be the first to be at the dining room for breakfast; Anna would be the last to arrive.

"I said, both of you are coming with me." Anna said sternly.

"Now?" I asked.

"Yes, now. Olina, can you please pack the food in a picnic basket? We're having a picnic outside." Anna said to the head of the kitchen who was wheeling in the food.

"Yes, Princess Anna." Olina said, a small smile of amusement on her face while taking the food back with her.

"But, Anna... " Elsa started to argue.

"Ah ah, no excuses…"

"What about today's…" Elsa continued.

"No, Elsa. Reschedule everything on today's list. I'm sure today's meetings can all be done on a later date. Right, Kai?"

Elsa and Anna turned towards Kai who was diligently always by the Queen's side. They both gave him an expected look.

"Umm…" He said, clearly a bit nervous from their glare. After a moment of glancing back and forth between the two sisters, he finally made up his mind. "I must agree with Princess Anna, Your Majesty. I do believe today's meetings could be rescheduled. I will make the arrangements immediately."

"There, you have it!" Anna said, " Both of you, all you have ever been doing these days are working. You guys need a break! On top of that, from now on, no work, books, letters or any other documents on the dining table."

Elsa and I looked at each other for a moment.

Say something! Elsa said to me with her look.

I gave her an apologetic smile and shrugged. To be honest, I was grateful for a distraction. I guess, my pride and sense of responsibility wouldn't allow me to stop any time soon. But all this thinking and studying was really getting on my nerves. Yes, I knew it was important. But if Anna said I had been doing too much, well, I'm glad someone knocked some sense into me.

I put my book down on the table and approached Anna who was still standing in the doorway.

"Good Morning." I said to her. "Thanks for the save, I was about to fall asleep on that book."

"Good Morning and your welcome." She said, giving me a peck on my cheek.

She proceeded to look intimidatingly at Elsa. "Well, come on then. Let's get going!"

With a heavy sigh, Elsa stood up.

We decided to have a picnic at my place. Elsa outright refused to go further than that, saying that we had to be back at the castle after lunch. We chose the usual spot under a tree beside the cottage. The cottage itself blocked the view from town and gave us some privacy, but the view to the fjord was wide open and quite beautiful this time of year.

I was playing my lute on a random tune while Anna sat silently beside me.

"I'm worried for her, Kristoff."

I instantly knew what Anna meant and looked towards her elder sister who fell asleep not long after I started playing.

"She looks tired," I said.

"She doesn't take care of herself. All she does is work and worry about the kingdom. She is wearing herself thin. And worst of all she feels everything is her responsibility. Can't she see that all of us have roles too. Arendelle can't expect to just be run by her Queen, right?"

I put down my lute and brought my arm around her shoulder. I'm not very good with words. I didn't really know what to say but I've learned that most of the time all Anna needed was to be heard.

"I want to help her more, but I feel sometimes that she doesn't trust me. Or that…I'm not good enough. I'm afraid she'll close the door on me again just like all those years when we were young."

"She loves you, Anna. You know that." I said, trying to reassure her.

"Yes, I know, and I love her too. Very much so."

I gave her shoulder a light squeeze. "We'll just have to keep reminding her then. We'll be here for her, Anna. I think that's all that we can do for now."

She nodded beside me. We sat silently, basking in the comfort from the cool breeze under the shade.

"How are you doing?" Anna said, breaking the silence.

I didn't really like to complain to her so I just shrugged. She raised an eyebrow at that, clearly wanting me to elaborate. "It's a bit rough but I think I'll be fine. I just need to get a hang of it. At least I get to harvest every week now with all my free time after I dropped the delivering work. It's a great excuse to get some fresh air once in a while. I would've gone mad if I couldn't."

"Can I come on the next harvest? Maybe we could ask Elsa to come too, if she wants to, of course."

"Sure"

"Oh, and by the way, I think you're doing great!" she added.

"Really?" She nodded and smiled at me. "Thanks."

"Owh, but don't forget, now that you're officially a lord of Arendelle, you have a lesson with me!"

It was my turn to raise my eyebrow.

"Come on, stand up!" She said, rising herself, her face lit up with excitement.

"What?"

"I'll teach you how to dance!"

"Umm… Here? Right now?" I said, a bit bewildered.

"Yes! Of course, I'll just sing out a tune!"

Astonishingly, it turned out dancing lessons were quite fun, as long as Anna was my tutor, of course.

Early Autumn 1847 ( Approx 2 months later. Early in the Frozen II movie, where the town was evacuated to the cliffs)

The wind was blowing strongly. I never felt such a push from the wind, not even the snow storm Elsa made was like this. The way the wind pushed and pulled felt eerily unnatural. It literally felt like being pushed by a person rather than by the elements. It was even hurling people from inside their own houses. This sure wasn't the works of a normal wind … it was something else entirely, some magic…

We were pushed north, up to the cliffs. The moment everyone was on the cliffs, the wind suddenly stopped. I put Olaf down and made sure Sven was safe. I felt the cool night breeze blow on my face and looked around to see people shivering from the autumn cold. Families huddled close together, children wailing in their mother's arms. Something needs to be done here; fire, bedrolls, camps, even food if we had to stay here longer than tonight. But first, I had to make sure Anna and Elsa were safe.

"Is everyone all right?" I said, starting going around making sure that nobody was hurt, at the same time keeping an eye out for Anna and Elsa's whereabouts. I managed to find Eirik and asked him to come with me.

I found Anna in the middle of the crowd, surrounded by several guards.

"Make a tally. Make sure everyone is out safe." Anna said to the captain of the guards. Not far from her, Elsa was standing; her gaze faraway, clearly in distraught.

"The wind has stopped. Is it not safe for us to go back, Your Highness?" said one of the staff members near the sisters.

"No…" Elsa said suddenly. "We stay here until we know what is happening."

The staff member nodded his head. Somewhere to their right a young boy suddenly wailed out.

"Mama, I'm cold!"

The toddler was about five years old. He was hugging himself while his mother beside him was holding on to a baby in her arms. The father, at a loss, looked up to the sisters, as if they had the answers to their predicament.

"Hey, don't worry," I said, kneeling to the boy. "We'll make a fire soon. Why don't you cuddle up closer to your parents?"

The small boy nodded and was picked up by his father who held him close.

"Thank you, Lord Kristoff" said the father. I tried to hide my cringe at being called that. I don't think I'd ever be comfortable being called by any title, but it was not the place nor the time to argue with someone over a stupid name.

So I only nodded back at him and went to address Elsa. "Elsa, I need people to help me get supplies from the cottage. I've got some wood already stored. We could at least use them for tonight. And some camps and bedrolls would also help a lot."

"Will it be safe though?" Anna immediately interrupted.

"It's the closest place from here. I think it'll be safe enough." I said. Anna didn't look convinced, so I continued, "We will be taking out supplies as quickly as possible, I promise. If things start up again, we'll leave and head straight here."

She nodded. "Do you think your supplies would be enough? Should we also brave a party back to the castle to get more?" She said quietly enough so only Elsa and I could hear her. There was no use in making the townspeople more panicked.

"For tonight, yes. But if we're planning on staying here longer, then we would need to gather more supplies…"

"I'll accompany a party tomorrow to the castle. My powers can help protect them if need be." Elsa said.

I could already see Anna was going to argue on the notion, and come to think of it, there might be a safer option to gather supplies, at least enough for a couple of days if we rationed carefully.

"We have able woodcutters and ice harvesters here. They are familiar enough with the woods and can help gather supplies from there. More wood for tomorrow night and some fruits, berries and maybe even hunt some game. And there is a stream a bit further to the north that we could access. I think I have enough gears at home to be useful and I'll tell the guilds to gather and schedule rotations on gathering from the woods. If we're lucky we can go back home tomorrow, but if not, at least we have more supplies for a couple of days." I said. The sisters agreed to the plan.

Eirik and I, with a few guards, went to my cottage. I knew those strange elements could come anytime soon so we really had to be quick. If the elements hit the town again and destroyed the cottage and storages, then it would be harder to scrape for the supplies. I literally asked them to take everything, put them on carts and wagons according to their use. One for bedrolls, blankets, bedsheets; anything to keep warm. Another cart was filled for all the wood that we had. We also took all the food storage that we had kept for autumn and winter along with some cooking appliances and all the containers to help gather water for later. It wasn't much, but at least we had something for one light meal tomorrow. Lastly, the smallest cart was filled with all the outdoor gears and tools. I personally went to Anna and Elsa's spare bedroom and mine, and jumbled all our spare clothes in a big bag. It was good that we prepared some spare clothes in the cottage just in case we wanted to have an impromptu outing to the mountains.

When we came back to the cliff, the guards busied themselves starting up fires in various spots. The head guard passed by and I was relieved to hear that everyone from town was safe. Eirik and I helped with distributing the bedrolls and blankets.

"Is everyone safe, My Lord?" said one of the elderly women from town.

"Yes, everyone's out and safe. Here take one of these."

"Thank you."

"You okay there, Olaf?" I said to Olaf, who was being dolled up by a group of children.

"Oh Yeah. We're calling this, controlling what you can when things feel out of control"

I smiled at that, at least, the kids had someone to occupy their time.

I had just finished handling out the last bedroll when I saw Anna and Elsa a bit further from the edge of the crowd. They seemed to be arguing about something. Just as I was heading towards them, I felt a well-known rumble of the earth beneath my feet.

"Trolls?" I said bewildered. Trolls rarely ventured anywhere near humans, yet alone a town full of them. There was something really big brewing if they dared coming here.

And I hated to be right sometimes…

AN. You know of the adventures in frozen 2, I won't be retelling it here :D I'll just jump to the part where I want to end this fic. disclaimer: Some parts are taken from a deleted scene.

"Arendelle's okay." I heard Anna say to Lieutenant Mattias.

We were ready to head back to the wagon and go home. We could have rested for awhile here; Elsa said that she had told the townspeople that they could head back to the town, but Anna was adamant to be there with them as soon as possible. Not to mention, we didn't think Lieutenant Matthias and his men would appreciate waiting any moment longer before heading back to Arendelle.

Realizing that Anna wasn't beside me, I turned back and saw the sisters hugging each other near the standing stones. I smiled at the scene; I was beyond relieved knowing that they were both well.

After a while they separated, Elsa looked back at the Northuldra. She turned towards Anna again and smiled softly at her but looked a bit hesitant. Just before Elsa could say anything, Anna beat her to it.

I could hear them faintly from where I was standing, and what Anna said next shocked me.

"You're not coming back, are you?" Anna said to her sister.

"Ahtohallan changed me. I don't know how the forest and the spirits need me now, but I want to be there when they do."

"You found your place, that's good." Anna said. Despite her words, I could still hear the slight tremble in her voice. But she steadily continued, "I'll be okay," she said again, glancing towards me. I gave her an encouraging smile.

"I belief in you." Elsa said.

"But promise me you'll come visit?"

"Of course. And don't you think I'll let you have all the fun with the wedding preparation. I'll come by and help out."

Anna smiled and took her sisters hands in hers again.

"You'll do great." Elsa siad, "And don't worry, I'll be right here. I'm sure Gale would love to help us with our letters. Right Gale?"

Just then, a breeze swept by and tousled both of the sister's hair. They both laughed.

We walked back to our wagon up the hill; Elsa still beside us, intending to send us off.

"What would you like to do back home, Lieutenant Mattias?" Anna asked.

"There are some unfinished business I have to get done." He said with a wistful tone. We made it to our wagon and I went with Sven to help him get hooked up.

"… But, if you are willing, Your Majesty, it would be an honor, for me and my comrades to serve the next Queen and King of Arendelle."

I suddenly felt my heart skip a beat. My hand stilled, my feet rooted solid to the ground. I could hear my own heart beating loudly in my chest. My head tried to wrap up on an important detail that I seemed to have missed. If Elsa intended to stay here, then Anna would be appointed as Queen of Arendelle... did that mean they expect me to be...

King… King of Arendelle?

In a drastic panic moment, I tried looking towards Elsa who was standing beside the Lieutenant. For once I was grateful that Anna had her back towards me, I didn't want her seeing my expression. She was still talking to the Lieutenant.

Elsa must have sensed my plight because the moment I looked at her; she caught my eyes. I knew she must have known what I was thinking.

King?... I… can't…

Elsa gave me a calming stare back. She discreetly nodded her head, her face full of encouragement. I knew what she was trying to say:

You can do this…

I gulped; my mouth suddenly dry. My expression must have been quite shocked because even the Lieutenant was now looking at me, a slight concerned frown on his face. I didn't care at the moment; he'd know about me soon enough. Maybe I'd have to tell him later myself; I hated how people make up weird stories about me. But that's for another time.

I saw Anna head towards the edge of the hill, facing the Northuldra who were waving at us in goodbye. She eagerly waved back, fortunately still unaware of my predicament.

I had made peace with the notion of being some sort of prince if I married Anna. Elsa and Kai managed to pull me aside and talk about this after I gave my decision to be a Lord of Arendelle. I wouldn't have the power or duty as a family member born into the royal family but I would still be third in line for the throne until either Anna or Elsa's children were born, much to my embarrassment behind the implication.

Elsa even came clean to me that she had been trying to "groom" me all along, knowing that I would be a likely candidate to marry her sister. She admitted that she originally made the Ice Master title as an excuse to have me taught the royal customs, easing me to the life near the royal family. At first she just intended to stop there, feeling basic royal customs would be enough to ease me into the prince role. But seeing how far I had gone she decided to go all the way and planned - or might I say - plotted to make me a Lord, all the while hoping I would accept the offer. I had to admit, I felt quite cheated when I first knew, but I understood where she was coming from. I knew it was a necessary step to make life easier for both Anna and me. So I've accepted my fate back then.

But, that was when I thought I would just be a prince in name, and Anna and I would both be there to support Elsa as Queen. But this? I would be married to the Queen and be her right hand. Whatever title they would give me - whether it was a Prince or King - I wouldn't be able to just blend in and help from the background anymore. I would always be in the forefront as husband to the Queen.

I took a deep breath. Trying to steady my heart.

I love Anna. That was the one thing I was sure about. I had said to her that my love wasn't fragile. I guess this was the time to prove it. I had refused to back down on any excuse, nor would I start doing so.

If being a king was the price I had to pay so I could be there for her; to help her in any way I can, to make her happy, and to spend the rest of my days with her, then that was a price I was willing to pay. As long as I'm beside her, then that was more than enough for me. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

I took another steadying breath and looked towards Elsa. I gave her a small nod. She gave an encouraging smile in return.

Slowly, I approached Anna and took her hand in mine. I smiled down at her when she looked up.

"Come on, love. Let's go back home."

AN. Thank you to everyone who read this so far, and a big thanks to the favs , follows and reviews. This is the first multichaptered fanfic that I have managed to complete. Your feedback and thoughts would be highly appreciated :D

I have many ideas in my head on a new frozen fanfic and even managed to write a few outlines. There is one about Hans, and also about Queen Iduna and King Agnarr. I'm even thinking of making a fic where the late Queen and King could get to meet Hans or Kristoff. There are so few of these type of fics out there, and I would love to read more on them.

But unfortunately, I have no idea when I would be able to write them T.T . Real life is quite demanding at the moment. And if I have the time, I think I would probably focus on finishing my first fanfic about Aladdin. You can check that one out in my Bio.

So, yeah... Hopefully, until next time... I pray that everyone reading this is safe and well, and if not then that you will be given the strength to face the hardships at the moment. (heart)