Nothing's in my way

Chapter 9

Sven ran relentlessly for a long time with us in tow until we entered an area without snow and where the terrain was riddled with steam vents. Kristoff got off Sven's back and scooped me up, propping me up right next to one of those wonderful, warm jets of steam.

"Try to temper yourself a bit here. We are almost there."

"How did you know that I was cold?"

"I had you close enough to distinguish your shivering from Sven's boats," he said as if being stuck to me seemed like the most normal thing in the world.

"Well, thank you. Now I feel much better."

I gave him a smile and he gave me another back, but it didn't last long; as the landscape was being covered with moss, his face became tenser and tenser.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to see your family?"

"No... is not that at all. They're very good people and I haven't been here for quite a while. It's more like... they're pretty special, you know?"

"That's not bad."

"Yeah... Do you remember I told you that they adopted me?"

"Uh-huh..."

"When I was a kid, it was just me and Sven until they, you know, kinda took us in."

"The both of you?"

"Yeah..."

'But, how old is this reindeer?'

"I don't wanna scare you, they can be a little inappropriate, and loud, very loud. They're also stubborn at times and a little overbearing, and heavy, really, really heavy. But you... you know, you'll get it. They mean well."

As funny and cute as it was to see him entangled in his own words, I thought the best thing would be to stop him.

"Kristoff, they sound wonderful."

"Okay, then," he said taking a deep breath as if trying to muster up some courage with it. "Meet my family."

'I should have imagined that he couldn't be that good...'

There he was, that man who had kept me in heaven for four days, in the middle of the forest talking to a bunch of rocks as a colleague.

I watched the deplorable scene for a few seconds until I listened to my survival instincts and began to back away.

"No, no no! Anna! Wait!"

At that moment, like by some sort of magic, the rocks began to roll towards him to stop right at his feet and become short, chubby stone people who..., yes, did speak.

"Kristoff's home!!"

All those peculiar beings enthusiastically celebrated the return of their adopted son while I slowly processed what my eyes saw. 'At least he's not crazy.'

"Trolls. They're trolls!"

That huge amount of trolls turned to me and made a real fuss at the idea of Kristoff taking a girl. It seemed that, in that sense, I had nothing to worry about. They shook me and inspected me. They spoke wonders about his son and also told me about his more private shames, and, if we had let them, they would have even officiated our wedding right there.

Despite how funny their enthusiasm seemed to me, the cold inside me grew unstoppable and they did not stop to hear the objections of their son who tried to explain to them we needed help. It wasn't until another twinge in my chest weakened me even more that they stopped trying and attended us properly.