2Kristoff's silent reverie was abruptly shattered by a piercing shriek that could have only belonged to Anna. He bolted upright, every muscle fiber tensed and ready to run to her. His eyes were blinded white by the brightness of the sun and he stumbled as he jumped to his feet, shaking his head to clear his vision. The shriek was indeed Anna's but apparently was merely the result of her swimming headfirst into a small paddle boat, undoubtedly demonstrating the blind crawl stroke to Elsa. She was now vigorously rubbing her head and mouthing to Kristoff "I'm ok!" He sighed with relief before noticing Elsa beside her, clearly choking back a large snort of laughter at her sisters less than impressive swimming demo. Elsa was usually perfectly capable of keeping her feelings under wraps, but she did seem to have a soft spot for Anna. Even then, Kristoff thought as he watched her struggle to gain composure as Anna continued rubbing her head and apologizing to the people in the paddle boat, that must have been pretty damn funny if Elsa was still trying not to laugh. Momentarily thinking it was too bad he missed it, Kristoff quickly remembered why he missed it and was flooded with the happy memories again, which were quickly doused by great alarm at realizing he was showing physical evidence of the pleasantness of his day dreams. He quickly sat back down on the blanket, almost hurting himself in the process, and hugged his knees to his chest, scrunched his face up and concentrated on Sven, his sled, the trees nearby, Olaf's feet, anything but Anna's beautiful soft body wrapped around him.
When he had recomposed himself, he resumed his original position leaning back, spread out on the blanket watching Elsa and Anna in the water. After the initial panic of Anna's shriek had passed, he was reminded of several other swim lessons with Elsa interrupted by similar shrieks from Anna only those times it was usually due to Elsa's inexperience and trepidation at being in water that wasn't frozen.
Finally feeling confident enough in her ability to control her powers, she agreed to let Anna show her what Kristoff had taught Anna about swimming. Anna had described swimming in such vivid detail, the sensation of warm water against bare skin, the weightlessness of floating. It sounded extremely pleasant and Anna had been so insistent that Elsa didn't take much convincing. However, her control over her power was still no match for the intensity of her emotions, and she was unpleasantly surprised when the first time she tiptoed too far in the deep end and lost contact with the bottom of the inlet, she panicked, her heart raced, and the inlet crusted over with ice. Anna's hadn't been the only shriek to ring out in response that day. Unfortunately after that incident, the swimming inlet all but emptied upon first sight of Anna and Elsa approaching. Elsa was extremely sad and disappointed. She had only recently begun to make friends and connections in the town. She was enjoying the newfound pleasures of friendship as people feared her powers less and grew to know her more. The freezing swimming waters seemed a significant setback but Anna quickly blew it off and determined it was best they have some privacy for lessons anyway. Anna showed Elsa how to tread water, float, and do a few simple strokes. Sometimes Anna would shudder with chills when Elsa was nervous, and one time, when Anna made Elsa dive off the dock, she swore she saw a few flakes in the air. But that was the worst of it.
Now word had gotten around that the queen was no longer afraid of the water and remarkably now had the exact opposite effect on the waters she was in. So full of love and joy at being with her sister and feeling, well….. normal, she quite unintentionally warmed the waters even more than the sun could and people flocked back to the inlet to bask in the warmth.
Apparently the paddle boat incident had put an abrupt end to the swim lesson at hand and Kristoff was pretty sure it had more to do with Elsa not being able to focus than Anna's head injury. The two of them waded to the shore and Elsa gratefully took the large beach towel from the waiting attendant and delicately wrapped herself in it. Kristoff smiled as Anna, unsurprisingly, forget – or ignored- this minor formality and began excitedly bounding over to Kristoff in nothing but her swimsuit as Elsa rolled her eyes behind her. Soaking wet, and panting, she flopped down next to Kristoff and kissed him on the cheek. She was flushed from the sun and exertion and sporting a large welt on her forehead. Kristoff instinctively leaned over and kissed the welt, rubbing her wet back and, starting to feel his prior arousal return, promptly stopped.
"Ohhh, don't stop! That felt good!" Anna cooed, pushing her back towards him, but he blushed furiously and coughed
"Er… maybe later…" and Anna quickly understood and giggled.
"What have you been thinking about over here all by yourself?" Anna eyed him suspiciously with a huge smile "Or have I already guessed?"
"Oh I think you've probably guessed it" Kristoff muttered, straightening up as Elsa approached. Elsa sat down delicately on the blanket and began unpacking the picnic basket. Clearly the lesson had perked her appetite. Kristoff noticed that unlike Anna, Elsa seemed to be untouched by the sun, her skin remained ghostly white but it had a glow to it now that wasn't there months ago. Elsa smiled happily at Kristoff and handed him a sandwich and a very cold beer. He took it gratefully and promptly began asking for a recount of Anna's run in with the paddle boat, which Elsa was happy to re-enact.
Nothing could have surprised Kristoff more than his appreciation and affection for Elsa. After all, he had seen her at her worst. Bitter, alone, angry and scared, she had thrown him and Anna out of her castle and created a giant snowman to chase them off a cliff. He had watched her transform an entire city from solid ice to a warm spring day in a matter of seconds. He had full comprehension of her powers and was appropriately intimidated. However, he also saw how happy Anna was when Elsa was around. And anything that made Anna that happy, made him happy.
Maybe it was the fact that Kristoff had seen Elsa at her worst and stuck around anyway, but Elsa seemed to trust him and open up to him more than other people. Maybe it was their common history of isolation and distrust of people. Maybe Elsa saw how happy Anna was around Kristoff too. He didn't really know for sure, but he just knew he actually enjoyed Elsa's company, and she seemed to enjoy his also. They could spend hours in the library by the fire discussing the finer aspects of ice. Kristoff was amazed at her ability to control ice with pure emotion and Elsa was equally impressed with Kristoff's ability to mold ice to his will by sheer physical strength. For each it was a sublimely spiritual experience that they knew was not understood by most.
Kristoff also worried that his affection for Anna might offend or upset Elsa, especially considering they could be a little, er, careless when it came to being discreet. However Elsa seemed nothing but pleased for her sisters happiness and perfectly content to let their indiscretions slide – although Kristoff felt she did enjoy watching him squirm sometimes on occasion when they would return to the castle together breathless, barely in time for dinner with tiny bits of grass and sand still in their hair. Elsa would simply ignore their excuses, invite them graciously to be seated, and give Kristoff a knowing wink which would make him break out in a full body blush and eat faster than it was healthy, or safe to do.
Having finished her retelling of Anna's paddle boat encounter, Elsa was sitting happily on the blanket enjoying her sandwich, listening to Kristoff's account of a recent trip to the market during which Anna had sent an entire flower display crashing into the street. Anna looked annoyed but like she was attempting to look nonplussed as she vigorously chewed her sandwich. Elsa could only imagine the revenge Anna was concocting in her mind to inflict on Kristoff later as punishment for enjoying the retelling of this story a bit too much at her expense. He must have seen Elsa glancing at Anna, because Kristoff laughed heartily at seeing the expression on her face and with one arm, scooped Anna up into his lap and wrapped his arms around her in a big hug and kissed her between the eyes. Anna's grumpy demeanor dissolved and she began hopping up and down as she remembered a story she had forgotten to tell them she had heard in the market before the unfortunate flower stand incident.
Kristoff and Elsa exchanged sideways smiles at each other. Of course the greatest thing they had in common, even more than ice, was their mutual love for Anna. They had an unspoken understanding between them that they would each do whatever was in their power to make sure Anna was never lonely, sad, or cold, ever again. It was a vow Kristoff intended to keep, and his mind began drifting again to swim lessons and the various ways he knew of keeping Anna warm and happy.