Olaf a small wave. “Hello there.”
“Prince Hans! It’s so good to finally meet you!” Olaf said, clapping his twigs. “I love your flowers!” Hans looked confused.
“Olaf told us how you sent the princess purple heather every week,” Anna said. “He said you were one of the only people who could convince her to leave her room.”
Hans blushed. Or maybe it was just windburn. “It was her favorite flower. They always seemed to cheer her up.” His face clouded over. “Princess Elsa didn’t trust many people. I knew she was unhappy, but I never thought she’d plunge Arendelle into an eternal winter.”
“It had to be an accident,” Anna said as a gust of wind sent snow swirling their way. “She wouldn’t have done something like this to her kingdom on purpose.”
“Have you ever met the princess?” Hans asked. Anna and Kristoff shook their heads. “I knew her well,” he said softly. “She was conflicted, and sometimes very angry. She was having a tough time with this coronation.”
“It’s true,” Olaf chimed in. “Elsa wasn’t happy about her hair. They wanted her to wear it up, and she said, ‘Olaf, should I wear it down?’ And I said, ‘I don’t have any hair.’” He pointed to the twigs on his head.
“She was upset about the crown.” Hans corrected him. “She kept telling me she wasn’t ready to be a queen. I thought she was just having pre-coronation jitters, but she was insistent. She told me she didn’t want to be responsible for the whole kingdom. I tried to reassure her that she’d be a good ruler, and that I’d be there for her, but…”
Anna touched his arm. “It sounds like you tried to help her.”
“I hated seeing her so upset.” He looked away. “The morning of her coronation, I tried to calm her down, but she got angry with me and some of the castle staff. The Duke of Weselton, too. She kept telling us to stay back. That’s when…” Hans shut his eyes tight. “We barely made it out of that hallway alive.”
“She tried to hurt you?” Anna was shocked. Would the princess really try to hurt the man she loved?
“Ice can be dangerous,” Kristoff said. “I should know. I deliver ice for a living. It’s beautiful, but it’s also powerful and has a magic that can’t always be controlled.”
“Exactly. And like I said, she was angry,” Hans said. “She shot ice straight at us, trying to pierce our hearts.” He looked directly at Anna. “The Duke barely got away.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that guy provoked her,” Kristoff said with a chuckle. “He seemed real friendly when we met him.”
“The Duke was almost killed,” Hans said sharply. “How friendly would you be? I’m sorry, but the princess we thought we knew is gone. The one I saw that day is a…monster.”
Elsa wouldn’t abandon her people, would she? Anna felt a sharp pang and held her head. She was getting another flash. But this time it wasn’t a forgotten memory. Instead, she felt pain. Help me! she heard someone cry out. Anna! Help me!
“Elsa?” Anna whispered, and crumbled to the ground.
Kristoff reached for her, but Hans caught her first. Her eyes fluttered open and closed, his face going into and out of focus.
“The princess is in trouble,” Anna said. “I can feel it.”
Kristoff pulled Anna out of Hans’s grasp. “You are going home. Now.” He looked at Hans. “She fell ill yesterday but tried to push on. She’s too stubborn for her own good. She needs to get inside and rest.”
The pain subsided as quickly as it had come, and Anna shrugged away. “It’s just a headache. I can keep going. I have to get to the valley. I don’t know why, but I feel like Elsa could be in danger.”
“Danger?” Olaf looked frightened.
“Valley?” Hans questioned.
“Olaf thought she was on the North Mountain, but now he seems to think she’s in the Valley of the Living Rock,” Kristoff explained. He looked at Hans sharply. “Ever hear her mention it?”
Hans thought for a moment. “No, I’m afraid not.” He looked at Anna. “But if you think she’s there and she’s in trouble, we have to find her. I only have my horse, Sitron, but I have money and things to barter. We can get you a horse, too, and then we’ll locate this valley together.”
“And convince her to come back with us and help her people,” Anna added. She took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. The pain was gone, but