For @fericita-s
I am your Secret Santa.
***
The mountains are tall and high, but Kristoff knew the secret ways through them. And so, when he took Anna up to the Valley of the Living Rock on that cool December night, he showed her all the places unknown to Man – the hidden and forgotten places, the places known only to trolls who burrow through the earth…
He guided her through caverns measureless and vast. In another’s company, she might have felt afraid – but she felt the warm press of his great hand in hers and took heart.
He would not let her come to harm.
She felt the tenderness in his hand, even beneath his thick gloves.
That tenderness and warmth flowed from him into her, blooming in her like the warmth of a mountain spring.
He showed underground springs to her, their waters luminous and blue as starlight there in the heart of the earth.
Crystals glowed there – some green as emerald, some blue like the shimmering water, some red as burning coal.
He knew deep places of the earth that blazed like rainbows and he shared them all with her.
In the gleaming light, they saw histories painted on the rock – troll histories in tapestries of stone. Anna gasped and marveled, for not even the finest paintings she had chatted with in youth held such an enthralling power.
The glistening patterns of paint glided along like the unending stretch of the sea, preserving stories in reaches no humans could discover…
No humans but these two…
Anna was awed and humbled.
“Thank you, Kristoff,” she murmured. “Thank you for sharing this with me.”
He smiled. “Thought we’d take the below-ground scenic route… Mum used to take me to these caverns to play. But we haven’t even gotten to the best part. Come on, the party is just beginning!”
He drew her on. At last they came to a crack in the mountainside, through which Anna saw flashes of color more vibrant than the glow of crystals. Kristoff pulled her into the light and, for a moment, she was almost blinded by the splendor of the aurora borealis.
It was as though the sky itself had caught fire and yet it was a fire unlike any upon the earth. For its flames were green as well as golden, were blue and rich purple and tinged with silver that intertwined with the shining greens and the yellows more haunting than the sun… It was as though some god had spread his great cloak over the world, bathing its people in divine luminescence. The wine-dark violet of the sky only made the lights burn more brightly. Their hues swirled and dovetailed with the hues of the heavens. In the aurora, Anna saw the inspiration for the murals she had seen down below. She saw how the swirls of paint matched the whirling brilliance of the Northern Lights, how the trolls paid homage to such celestial beauty.
She felt a great rush of appreciation for troll culture and squeezed Kristoff’s hand.
He was smiling and she was glad to see him smiling, so happy and proud of his family and their traditions…
The trolls themselves were below the lights, dancing and rolling and rolling and dancing so that the earth trembled with their raucous delight. In the center of their festivities was a great likeness of Flemmy the Fungus Troll, nostrils already well-stuffed with tufts of grass. Kristoff swept Anna into the celebration, all the trolls overjoyed to see them both. A gaggle of troll children flooded around them and Anna beamed down at them. Bulda embraced her son.
“Oh, my dear boy!” she cried. “Let me hug you! And Anna too! Anna, you really should try the Flemmy stew! Come, let me share some with you!”
She spoke with the purest and most sincere excitement, tugging Anna over to a great cauldron of stew and handing her a ladle. Anna spooned some stew into a bowl and tasted it. Really, it was quite good! She thanked the sweet troll mother graciously.
The crowd of children kept flocking around Kristoff’s legs, imploring him to add his voice to the chorus singing the Ballad of Flemmingrad. He delightedly obliged with passion and flourish. And when the ballad was done, he took Anna by the hand once more and spun her around the Valley of the Living Rock. How they danced, caught up in the thunderous energy of dozens of trolls! Their dance was like the spectacle above their heads – boisterous and glorious, with dips and dives and twirls that mirrored the kaleidoscope of lights in the overhanging firmament.
Kristoff gathered Anna into his arms and kissed her, kissed her with a passion that burned more brightly than the aurora.
They continued their dance in the magical light, snowflakes glinting in a rainbow of colors around them…
