cried as he was taken away. “Weselton!”
While Elsa prepared for a new coronation and worked on fixing things in the kingdom, Anna took a few days to travel home to her village and see her parents. Kristoff escorted her and was surprised that the villagers were as excited to see him as they were Anna. The two of them spent a long night in front of the fire, telling everyone about their journey and about the curse that had separated the princesses. But mostly, they marveled at Tomally and Johan for so faithfully keeping the king and queen’s secret. When the fire died down, people retired to their homes, and Kristoff and Sven headed to the barn. (Kristoff said he was most comfortable there.) Then Anna sat with her adoptive parents in their living room and heard the story of how she had arrived on their doorstep. Her parents weren’t sure if she’d ever been kissed by a troll, but they knew trolls had played a part in her journey.
“Leaving you with me was the hardest thing your mother and father ever did, but they did it out of love,” Ma told her. “We were entrusted with keeping you safe till the time came for you all to be reunited.”
“She started to think that day would never come,” Papa added. “I always held out hope you’d be reunited. But then…”
“The king and queen perished at sea,” Anna finished.
Accepting what had happened to her parents would take time. Knowing she’d lost so many years with them was painful, but she reminded herself that she’d had her mother in her life without even realizing it. “Freya” had loved her fiercely, and so had Tomally and Johan. Her life had been blessed in so many ways. Finding the joy in their shared stories kept the tears at bay.
“So you mean to tell me that in all the years ‘Freya’ visited, no one noticed she was actually the queen?” Anna asked her parents.
Ma laughed. “One time, Mr. Larson came into the shop while she was here, and he actually bowed because he was so certain she was the queen, but your father convinced him otherwise.”
“I said she was a distant cousin with terrible breath,” Papa told her. “That made him leave!”
The three of them roared with laughter, and Anna knew without a shadow of a doubt that they truly were her parents in every sense of the word. How fortunate she was to have had two sets of parents who loved her enough to set her free.
Anna left the village with promises to return and talk of Ma and Papa visiting her at the castle.
“We wouldn’t miss your sister’s coronation for the world,” Ma said, hugging her tightly before letting her go to Kristoff, who was waiting to take her home. It was nice to see him out of his snow clothes, which he’d traded for a teal shirt and black vest. His blond hair shone bright in the sunlight.
Home. It felt strange to use that word about a place she hadn’t lived in since she was a child, but the castle felt more familiar than she had expected. She quickly became reacquainted with the layout, her bedroom, and all the other rooms, even visiting her old friend Joan in the portrait gallery. The truth was, home was anywhere Elsa was.
She just hoped someone else would be comfortable staying nearby, too.
“Okay, here we are!” Anna said.
“Now can you unblindfold me?” Kristoff grumbled.
He’d spent the last half hour of their journey back to the kingdom unable to see. Anna didn’t want to ruin the surprise, so she had insisted he let her lead the way. Now they were standing on the waterfront.
“Yes!” She pulled the blindfold off. “Ta-da! I got you a new sled to replace the one that got destroyed.”
Kristoff’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”
Anna squealed excitedly. “Yes! And it’s the latest model.”
It wasn’t just a sled. It was a state-of-the-art custom-built sleigh that had so much varnish Kristoff would never have to polish it with spit. Sven marched in front of it, almost as if the sled had been his doing. She’d wrapped the sleigh with a ribbon and placed a new lute on the seat. There was also a sack in the back of the sled filled with an ice ax, rope, and everything she could think of that he’d lost.
“I can’t accept this,” Kristoff said, blushing.
“You have to!” Anna insisted. “No returns! No exchanges. Future queen Elsa’s orders. She’s named you