Kristoff sat on a fallen log, with his campfire between him and the edge of the mountain pond, feeling the heat against his face and hands. Outside of the fire's circle of light, moonlight painted the trees and rocks silver-grey. It was well into the middle of the night, but despite Sven's occasional encouraging nudge (that almost knocked him off-balance), he still didn't feel like climbing into his wagon to pull the tarp over himself and go to sleep.

It was one of his favourite places in Arendelle, a deep pool high up the North Mountain, just below the snowline. It was one of the first to freeze over, and the ice-cutters would swarm like bees once the weather turned, but for now he had the quiet and beauty to himself.

Until the clop-clop of hooves echoed across the pond towards him.

As he saw the horse and its slight rider coming around the pond, he filled a pot with water and tealeaves, and put it on the fire. It was boiling by the time the horse had been hitched to a nearby pine.

"Um, hi," said Anna as she stood before him. She made a timid wave, then clasped her hands in front of herself again.

"Hi," said Kristoff, nodding. He didn't get up, or offer her a seat.

"Um, Kristoff? Can we talk?"

He paused as if about to say something, then simply nodded.

"Okay. Good. That's good." She sat cross-legged in the dirt, facing him and the fire, and tucked her skirt to preserve her modesty and protect her from the evening's chill. "Okay." She cleared her throat. Kristoff watched her, patient and impassive. "So. Here's the thing. I, um, have this theory. Well, I got it from Elsa, really." She thought for an instant. "Who I think actually got it from Ingrid. Anyway. Not the point. So." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "The, um, other day. When I kind of kicked you out of my bedroom. And the castle. And the capital. Well, you know. When you... When I..." He didn't show her any anger or pain, but he wasn't offering her a single particle of help. She took a breath. "You weren't doing anything with Lissi, were you."

Kristoff shook his head.

"In fact, you probably...you didn't even know she was in there."

He nodded.

"And when you were all nervous, and you had me face away, and you knelt down on the floor, you were..." She looked around as if the trees or the stars could help her, then turned her face to Kristoff again. "Kristoff?" She wrapped her arms around herself. "Were you going to, um, propose? To me?"

He nodded.

"Oh my god, that's, well I don't know what that is. It's kind of great, that you weren't doing anything with Lissi. And it's kind of horrible – well, actually really super-horrible – that I was so horrible to you. And you were going to ask me to marry you, well, that's just – wow. That's – wow. I, um..." She tightened the grip on herself, her head bowed. "I'm really sorry, Kristoff. Really, really sorry. For what I said, and what I did, and just everything. I am so, so sorry. I just can't say how sorry I am." She raised her eyes to him, looking for a reaction and not finding one. "Sorry." She dropped her gaze again and waited for him to say or do anything.

After a long, awkward pause, she heard a metallic clatter. Kristoff had taken a blue enamelled mug from the bag behind him, dipped it into the pot on the fire, and offered it to her. "Tea?"

Smiling for the first time since she'd left the castle, Anna said, "Yes, please," and reached for the mug.

"Careful, Anna. It's wet. And hot."

She took it by the rim, dried it off with her skirt, then held it by the handle and gave it a cautious sip. "Whoa! Hot hot hot hot hot." She blew on it, then sipped again.

"We're gonna have to share. I, um, only brought one mug."

Anna gave him a crooked, apologetic grin. "I guess you weren't expecting company."

"I wasn't counting on it, no." She handed the mug back to him and he took a drink.

"Anyway, I was wrong, very wrong, and I want to make it up to you. You're, um, not banned from the city anymore. Or the castle. And you can be Royal Ice Master and Deliverer again. And if you want a royal proclamation of apology, it's yours." She took the mug from him again. "And...the other thing."

"What 'other thing'?"

"The, um, proposal. I, um, that is, yes. Or 'I do.' I will. I accept your proposal. Of marriage. I will marry you." She broke eye contact, staring into the mug she had wrapped her hands around, trying to warm them. "If you'll have me."

She glanced up to see him looking at her thoughtfully. In a matter-of-fact voice he said, "Why?"

"What? 'Why' what? What 'why'? That is, 'why would you have me' or 'why do I want to marry you'?"

"Do you want to marry me? I mean, why did you come up here? Because you miss me and love me and can't wait to be Mrs. Anna Bjorgman? Or because you messed up and you want to fix it, and you think this is what you're supposed to do, to make it up to me?"

"I mean, of course I love you, and I – that is – "

"'Cause you didn't seem to enthusiastic just now."

"Well, I have been pretty upset – not as upset as you, of course – and a lot of stuff has happened since – "

He held up a hand. "I'll make it easy on you. The, um..." He set his jaw firmly, forced himself to look her in the eye. "You don't have to marry me. I withdraw my proposal. Or, what would've been my proposal if...you know." Anna stared at him, wide-eyed. He gestured at the mug. "Could I, um..."

"Oh! Sure. Sure, of course." She handed him the mug. "But I, um, I said I was sorry. I am sorry. I mean, if you're still that mad at me I understand. I think. I suppose if someone was as big a jerk to me as I was to you, well, I guess I understand if you don't love me anymore. Sorry."

"...I still love you," he muttered.

"Wait, what?"

"I do." He sat up straight. "And you still love me, too, I'm pretty sure. But sometimes that's not enough."

"I don't understand."

"I've been talking it over with Sven, and he makes some good points, but it comes down to this. I was okay with how much you and Elsa love each other. I was even okay with the fact that you love her more than you love me. A lot more. I was happy for you. Am. I am happy for you. But I thought it would at least be close. That I'd be in the same ballpark."

"Kristoff, what are you talking about?"

"You don't believe in me the way you believe in her. You don't have faith in me."

"That's crazy talk, Kristoff! What do you mean – "

"You spent most of your life waiting for Elsa. She shut you out, she ignored you. I mean, she had the best reason for doing it, or she thought she had, but from your side it had to look so cruel. Heartless. And you never lost faith in her. You always believed she couldn't be that way. You knew she loved you, and you loved her, and you had faith in her."

He stopped, drank the rest of the tea, and dumped the leaves out onto the dirt. Fiddling with the empty mug, he continued. "You saw me in what, I admit, looked like a pretty bad situation, but you had no faith that things maybe weren't the way they looked. You didn't have faith in me. Not enough to stop and wonder if..." He shook his head ruefully.

"I'm sorry." Anna wanted to touch him, put her hand on him, to comfort him. But he wasn't in reach, and getting up to move over to him would be too weird. "I'm sorry."

"You said that."

"I mean, I'm sorry for not trusting you. For thinking you could ever do...what I thought you did. And for all the other stuff. I just act before I think. I'm a terrible person."

Kristoff sighed. "It's not that simple. I mean, you don't hesitate. You do what you think is right, the instant it occurs to you. You never second guess yourself."

"Not never."

"Well, not very much. And that's a great thing about you. It's what makes you so brave, and honest. But it can also go wrong. And that's something anyone who loves you will have to deal with. I mean, if I was cheating on you, what you did would be exactly what I'd deserve."

"Not all of it."

"All of it."

"No. I – There's something else I have to apologize for. When I..." She grabbed the hem of her skirt and twisted it in her hands. In a low voice she said, "When I called you...that name. 'Sami bastard.' I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. That was... I really don't like myself for saying that. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I've been called worse."

"Not by me. And you shouldn't be. Not by anybody. I'm...I can't come up with anything better than 'I'm sorry,' but I am. Sorry."

"Well..." He turned away, to put the mug back in his pack. "Just don't do it again, okay?" She nodded.

They sat in silence for a while, both staring into the flames. Sven tried to shove Kristoff towards Anna, but he pushed Sven's muzzle aside and said, "Not now, okay buddy?"

Anna cleared her throat. "So. About me loving Elsa more than you."

"It's okay." Kristoff smiled lopsidedly. "I knew all along you two had a special connection. I thought that, with Elsa away and you just having a huge success as Regent, that maybe you wouldn't need her so much and that you and I could build on what we had." He shook his head again.

"Hey. It's not impossible."

"No, it kind of is."

"I thought you were raised by love experts."

He shrugged. "Well, that's the thing. It's hard to be a love expert for yourself. Much easier to see other people clearly. I mean, like you and your sister. Can't miss it. You have so much love to give her, and she loves you so much, and so deeply, it's..." He chuckled. "Man, if the two of you ever did get intimate like she wanted to, hoo boy! All bets are off. Kind of a good thing that'll never happen, I guess."

He expected her to scoff, or roll her eyes or give him one of her adorable awkward smiles, when he looked at her again. He wasn't expecting that guilty look as she bit her lip and turned away. "No way," he half-whispered.

She said nothing, simply twisting the edge of her skirt again.

"You did, didn't you."

"What? No!" said Anna, suddenly brightly animated again. "Me? And her? Like that? No! Of course not! I mean, that's just silly." She forced a laugh. "I mean who'd ever believe a thing like that, right? There you go with your crazy talk again. There's ol' Kristoff, with his...crazy..."

He was surprised at himself, that he didn't want to use this to get back at her. But despite everything, she was still that sweet, clumsy girl he cared about, and he couldn't change that. He made room for her on the log and patted the space beside him. She hesitated, then came over and sat down, her shoulder pressing against his bicep.

"So," he said gently. "How'd it happen?"

"I, um. Do I have to talk about it?"

"Not if you don't want to, no."

She nodded, then stared into the fire. "I was feeling really hurt right after you – I mean, when I thought that you – Anyway, I was feeling like, well, first Hans playing me along and not really loving me, and then it looked like you didn't love me either, and I was feeling like nobody ever would. Love me. Like that, I mean. For real."

"You know that's not true."

"Well, that's how I felt." He nodded, and she continued. "And there was one person who I knew would always love me, and who loved me like that, and I just really needed someone to love me, you know? So I... I asked her to come to my room. And she was super slow and careful and stuff, and it felt really safe being with her, and good, and..."

"You know what? I don't really need to know all the details."

"Yeah."

"But you couldn't have waited a day or two?"

"But it really hurt, Kristoff. And I didn't know what to do."

"People survive getting their hearts broken, Anna. It does hurt, but we survive."

She turned to him, and put a hand on his arm. "I am so sorry, Kristoff."

He gave her a small smile. "I know." He sighed. "But I don't think you were really being fair to Elsa. I mean, even if she wanted to be there, you were still using her."

Anna gazed into the flames again. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, at first, anyway. But it really did feel good. Not just the bedroom stuff. Being romantic with her. It felt super super good. And right." She pushed back a strand of hair. "I mean, until I found out she'd fallen in love with Ingrid."

"WHAT?"