The ride to Lake Freyja was shorter than Elsa had anticipated; it had gone through the forest away from the main road. They could hear splashes and the twinkle of a child's laughter before they could see the lake. The sisters trotted their horses through the brush and Elsa's breath caught when they emerged.

The lake was a pure crystalline blue that reflected the mountains behind it like a mirror. It was huge! It looked like a miniature ocean had been trapped by the mountains surrounding it. The forest encircled the lake; they stood like sentinels on the outskirts, proud and evergreen. Boulders lay strewn about on the shore, with pebbles of various sizes acting as the beach. Some boulders were situated in the perfect way, halfway out or completely in the water. They were great vantage points for someone to jump off of into the water.

In fact someone was jumping off of those boulders. Or was going to anyway.

Anders stood, crouching on the smallest rock wearing a dark green swimming suite that had sleeves that covered his shoulders. Kristoff stood below him wearing a dark grey suit similar to his son's, chest deep in water encouraging him to jump. Elsa had to stifle the urge to shout for him not to. They must've been doing that since they arrived. Indeed, it looked like all they had done when they got here was unhook Sven and jumped into the water. Of course Sven had followed them in, and was even encouraging the little boy to jump as only he could.

Anders' grin could be seen from the brush where the sisters had to hobble the horses close to the sled. Close enough to the beach and to grass and shade for their animals. Anders jumped, Elsa felt her heart jump with him, and landed in his father's arms making a big splash as he did so. Laughter echoed from both of them.

"Hey guys!" Anna called happily, waving like a maniac.

"Mama! Aunty Elsa!" Anders wriggled in his father's grasp and fell into the water with a plop, going under.

"Anders!" Elsa cried in a panic. Anna held her back just as his head popped out from under the water and he began to swim towards them.

"See," Anna released her sister's arm, turning to unload the sled, "he's fine."

"Where's Kristen?"

"Probably climbing the – there she is."

Elsa watched with mounting dread as Kristen took the place her brother had occupied on the boulder mere moments before. She waved at them much the same way Anna had earlier and jumped straight into Kristoff's awaiting arms.

"They're fine. Stop worrying, would ya?"

"Hmm…" Elsa didn't trust her voice. A wave of adrenaline and ice had rushed through her when she had watched them jump. Especially Kristen with her red hair and Anna-like character... It reminded her of the time Anna had jumped form the snowdrifts she had made when they were little.

"A lil – ugh – a lil help, please!" Anna grunted behind her.

Elsa glanced away from Anders already making his way over the pebble beach to see that Anna wasn't in any real need of help. She was just overloading herself because she didn't want to make more than one trip from the sled. The youngest huffed when her sister kneeled to grab her nephew in a big hug. She placed her bundle back on the sled and leaned against it watching her sister and son fondly.

Anders released her now slightly wet sister and skipped towards his mother; Anna kneeled and hugged him too.

"Oh, you're so cool." She hummed, hugging him closer.

"Yeah! The water's really great, you guys should come in!"

She released him, now slightly wet as well, and stood up to smooth the red hair plastered to his forehead. Then he started tugging on her and Elsa's hands with enthusiasm.

"Come on! Come on! Come on!" he struggled to get his mother and unmoving aunt towards the lake.

"Hold up there, kiddo." Kristoff said, walking towards them with Kristen in his arms. "Let's help them unpack first."

"Aww! But –"

"No buts. The lake's not going anywhere."

"We'll make it a game, alright?" Anna suggested as Kristoff placed Kristen down.

"A game?! I wanna play too!" Kristen gave Elsa's knees a quick hug and bounced toward her brother and mother.

"Alright," Anna kneeled before them, looking around in thought. "first one toooo…clear a spot of pebbles for the blanket is the winner."

"Okay!" They jumped on the balls of his feet, eager.

"Is it just gonna be me and Kristie?" Anders asked.

"How 'bout Aunty Elsa joins you?" Anna proposed, she stood straight and looked at her sister.

Elsa stood staring at the lake with her back to her family. She had made no move to acknowledge that she had heard what Anna had said. Anna frowned when Kristen touched Elsa's arm causing her to flinch the tiniest bit. To a normal person, it barely looked like a flinch. But Anna knew her sister well enough to see the little things that made her tick.

She smacked her husband on his upper arm to get his attention. He paused his scrutiny of the sled to frown at her. When he opened his mouth to retort, he closed it when she gestured to her sister.

Elsa's posture was rigid while Anders and Kristen were waving their arms towards the pebbles with obvious excitement. When Elsa smiled, Anna knew she didn't want to partake in the game she had suggested, so before her sister could refuse, Anna stepped towards them.

"Kids," she called, drawing their immediate attention. Their doe brown eyes locked with hers. "Wha'd'you say about going up against me?" she spared Elsa a glance and saw her relief, "I bet I'd get more rocks out of the way than you two together."

"You're on, mama!" they took off towards the beach where the pebbles would be the smallest.

Anna followed at a slower pace, throwing Kristoff a raised eyebrow. He nodded his understanding at her silent command, and she smiled at Elsa before leaving them with the sled. As casually as a reindeer making his way across a frozen fjord, Kristoff tried to make small talk.

"Sooo," he rummaged through the sled, getting the blanket and basket out. "Nice place here, this? Wait what?"

"It's beautiful." Elsa's gaze swept the mountains and mirror, flitting over her family.

"Yeap," he cleared his throat, "Found it while ice harvesting one time, brought Anna here sometime after that….and yeah, been comin' here ever since.."

Elsa hummed her response.

Kristoff sighed. He always had been more of a straight forward man, "Are you alright?"

Elsa stood tall and said, "I'm fine."

"Sure you are, and I'm a flying reindeer with a red nose called Rudolph." He deadpanned, looking straight at her.

"It-it's nothing," she moved to hold the blanket in her hands, "I'll be fine."

"Elsa."

She didn't respond except to look down at the ground and rub her thumbs across the blanket.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just nervous about the swimming." She answered too quickly; he narrowed his eyes when she looked at him. "I am."

"That might be true," he grunted, hefting the huge picnic basket out of his sled, "But that's not the only reason. You don't have to tell me, I can't make you do anything. But just know that we are here for you. And we're not that easily fooled." He stepped up to her, "We love you and we can see when you're hurting."

Elsa turned to look out to where her sister, niece, and nephew were scrambling to clear a big space for their picnic. Even Sven was helping by clearing the site with his antlers. Elsa hugged the blanket tightly.

"They…the twins…well, Kristen just reminds me of Anna when she was little…" she drew in a shuddering breath, "it's been two decades since the first accident…but," she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, "I guess I still freeze up every now and then."

"In that case," he smiled at her, a warm and loving smile. "let's go and thaw you."

He turned form her and made his way towards the other half of his family, basket held by his two thick arms.

"Jeeze, Anna!" he called, stumbling over the pebbles, "What did you put in here?!"

"I think the proper question is: what didn't I put in there!" Anna called back with a smirk.

Sven bounded towards the struggling man, baying for a carrot. Kristoff managed to shove his shout away from the basket as he reached his wife and son.

"Aunty El-sa!" Anders cried, looking up.

"Are you coming!?" Kristen finished his sentence.

The woman smiled and walked out from the shadows of the forest towards her family in the sun.

Heh...so yeah, this...this took way longer than I thought it would.

It's been over a year (facepalm) I'm so sorry, life and university, and life kept getting in the way. My inspiration all but died a bit. I'm not so sure if I'm completely back yet but here is the next chapter. This one was already written, the one after this is kinda already written, doesn't really have an ending yet. But yeah, heh.

I'm super thankful for those who reviewed and followed this 3 I hope it doesn't disappoint :)