This Icy Force Both Foul and Fair Has a Frozen Heart Worth Mining

On Our Way to Visit The Love Experts

The sun had long since set by the time we reached the Black Mountains. Olaf rode on Sven's back all the way in front of me and Anna, staring up at the open sky with curiosity. "Look, Sven, the sky's awake," he told my best reindeer friend, pointing upwards toward the Northern Lights. 

Beside me, Anna shivered even though it was significantly warmer in the Black Mountains than it was at the North Mountain, or anywhere else in the kingdom right at that moment. She still had her arms wrapped around herself, however, and shivered like crazy. "Are you cold?" I asked Anna, looking at her. 

She acted as though she were trying to put on her best face when her reply came. "A little," she told me, trying to sound as casual as possible. But, I knew she was freezing. 

What was I supposed to do about it, though? I wanted to help her. In my family whenever I was cold, all of them would just pile atop me to keep me warm and I am being serious about that, but that was troll culture. It suddenly dawned on me that I had absolutely no knowledge about how to act around people, never mind interacting with other people. Sure, I knew how to talk to them, but that was pretty much it. I did not know what to do at that moment. Should I have put my arm around her? Would that have been acceptable? Would it have even been appropriate? I can honestly say that I had no idea what to do in a situation like this one. 

I reached out to put my arm around her. But, that would have probably made her uncomfortable. She might not have liked me touching her, so I retracted my arm. She was still cold, however. I looked around, thinking for a bit. It was then that I saw steam rising from cracks in the ground nearby and got an idea. Whenever I would travel to and from the Valley of the Living Rock when I was younger, I would sometimes get a little too cold for comfort. There were also times that my family was not around to help keep me warm. 

That was about the same time I had ever actually discovered these steam cracks in the Earth near the Valley of The Living Rock going both to and from The Black Mountains. It was like my own personal sauna. Yes, of course, I still wore my clothes. It's inappropriate and far too cold in Arendelle and anywhere near for that kind of thing. 

"Uh, uh, wait, uh, come here," I told Anna, running over towards the steaming cracks in the Earth. I put my hands over one of them and gestured for her to do the same. 

Following my example, Anna then smiled in pleasure upon putting her own hands over the steam cracks. "Oooh," she said once she touched it. 

After following my example of touching the steam, Anna also followed me as I followed Olaf and Sven on our way to see my family, and she held her arms out over every last one of the steam cracks as we passed by each of them. 

Suddenly, I felt the urgent need to warn her of what she might be getting herself into upon meeting my troll family. I had never actually introduced even just one of them to anyone before now, and I suppose I was merely worried about how they might react to meeting her. 

Mind you, they were kind of a... lively people... and as fun, loving, and great as they were, all of them could be a little bit... overwhelming... and a little bit meddlesome, at that. I just thought it would have probably been the smartest and the most sensible thing to do to give Anna a bit of a heads up about them. 

"So, about my friends," I began nervously. "Well," I chuckled. "I say 'friends', they're more like family. Anyway, when I was a kid, it was just me and Sven until they, you know, kinda took us in." 

"They did?" Anna asked me. From the way she asked it, she sounded a lot like it touched her. 

"Yeah," I told her. That was right about when I began thinking about exactly what the trolls might do/say the minute I introduce all of them to her. 

Just thinking about it got me so scared of my own family for the first time in my life, I could hardly breathe comfortably. They will probably try to give the princess of Arendelle, of all people, a troll makeover with moss and leaves and mud and... yeesh. Or they might try to make up a song about her hair and how it reminded them of both fire and ice, in the best way, though... or maybe that was just me. Still, it is not like I am making up a song about it, nor am I going to make up a song about it. The trolls could also try to feed her one of their weird troll food concoctions of whatever, like that red... uh, soup?... or whatever it was with the strange chunks of, I still do not know what that weird gray stuff in there was. Of course, Anna, being the sweet and kind person that she is, would graciously eat it. Yikes! 

I had to warn her about them. "I don't wanna scare you, but they can be a little inappropriate... and loud," I warned her, chuckling afterward. "Very loud," I further warned her about their loudness. That was right about when I started rambling like an idiot upon thinking about everything I had ever experienced in my life living with them all throughout my past. "They're also stubborn at times, and a little overbearing, and heavy. Really, really heavy." That was right about when I went from rambling to stammering. "But, they're fine. You'll get it. They mean well." 

I suddenly felt her hand rest itself on my shoulder as though to reassure me that I had nothing to worry about. "Kristoff," she stopped me as she smiled at me. "They sound wonderful." She sounded very genuine. 

There was just no way I could not return that smile of hers back at her. "OK, then," I said, finally ready to introduce Anna to the trolls. "Meet my family!" I positioned out to all of them since we had finally arrived at the Valley of the Living Rock at that very moment. The trolls were all still folded in their rock forms, though. I suppose it would take a bit of coaxing to get them to unfold back into their real forms.