Field of Ice and Snow {Open}

[Elsa]

So Longleat Field used to be entirely covered in grass and nearly overrun with waist high plants. That was before a bit of walking winter strolled into the new world. Elsa had been following her sister, which meant that she was probably more prepared for the new world than most people. Her long dress had a few layers to help separate her from the world, and her long, icy blonde hair had been tied back into a sensible braid. Frost and bits of snow dropped loosely from her hands. One she held at her side, the other raised at the ready.

"Alright, no Anna," Elsa said, scanning. "Just... a severe lack of groundskeeping," Elsa nudged the ground with her foot, letting a little burst of her magic spread out. The plants began freezing almost instantly, and Elsa tapped them again. She probably could ice the entire field, or at least sections of it, but that might not be the best way to get to meet the locals.

"Assuming there are any locals," Elsa sighed, flipping her braid back over her shoulder and scanning. "Is anyone out there? Anna?" Elsa only took a few steps forward. She was standing in a field, which was about as defensible as she could get without literally creating a fortress of ice.

[Kristoff]

“No! Just Me!” shouted Kristoff.

He had followed the Queen through the portal and had landed in some long grass, some very long grass, face first. The good news was, the grass was not covered in Snow, the bad news was that it had been raining and thus the front of his clothes were now covered in Mud. He had brushed himself down as much as possible before going in search of Elsa, and Anna. Unlike the younger sister it did not take long for him to find the tall blonde.

“Just follow the ice,” he had muttered to himself.

He walked over to her and called out, “any idea where we are?!”

[Elsa]

Well, at least she hadn't lost Kristoff. Which probably meant that the portals were at least somewhat connected spacially and temporally. For not the first time, Elsa wished that she understood more about magic and how bits like that worked. She frowned, waiting while Kristoff moved closer to where she was. Elsa didn't move, not just yet.

"Not in Arendelle," she replied, looking around. "But we seem to be safe, which bodes well for Anna,' she looked around again. "This looks like there used to be buildings here. See there?" She pointed. "That almost looks like extended seating. But outside of that..." Elsa sighed, looking back at Kristoff and smiling sadly. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Elsa looked around for a few more seconds, half expecting a reindeer or a snowman to start following, but apparently the others weren't around just yet. Which left her alone with her sister's.... whatever Kristoff was. Could be worse, she supposed.

[Kristoff]

He couldn’t quite make out if she was happy to see him or not, it was always so hard to tell with Elsa.

He nodded when she confirmed that they were definitely not in Arendelle anymore. “Yeah…not as much ice,” was his wisdom filled contribution to that.

Then continued, “Oh you know Anna-…Princess Anna, your Majesty, she always knows how to find trouble.”

Oh sure, give the anxiety prone ice queen more reasons to be concerned about her sister, what a great idea. Why did he always end up sounding so stupid around her? It was the same with Anna. Somehow he just managed to find the most awkward stupid thing to say, he really was going to have to get better at this. Although he did believe what he just said, Anna did have a habit of finding trouble, the sooner they found her the better. He put on his serious expression and looked around to the places that Elsa was pointing out, nodding as he too spotted them.

“If there are buildings that must mean there are people…or at least…were people…probably were given the state of the place,” said Kristoff looking down at the ground.

He crouched down as something caught his eye, marks on the ground. “Although, these are fresh,” he said looking at the tracks, “people have been here…not too long ago I would guess. We could maybe follow them, see where they lead?”

[Elsa]

Elsa paused for a moment, chewing her lip, as Kristoff reminded her of Anna's trouble-seeking tendencies. He was right: Anna found trouble in their perfectly safe castle, let alone here, in this strange, dead land. The entire area reminded Elsa far too much of when she'd... accidentally... iced over her own kingdom: signs of life having been beaten back by something fierce. Except that this looked a little less... forced. Elsa couldn't help but feel there should be magic here.

Later, there would be questions and answers. For now, she turned to Kristoff, watching as he started tracking. "You can actually track?" she asked, quirking a brow. 'I hadn't thought that a useful trick for ice harvesters," still, she didn't see any reason not to do it. She didn't move, waiting while he followed the tracks for a few moments.

"I don't suppose you're quite good enough to determine if they're heavily armored?" she asked, moving to stand beside him. Elsa stared at the tracks, but they meant nothing to her. She could barely tell that there actually were tracks. "Though any signs of human, or, well," she gave the troll-raised young man a slightly wry smile, "intelligent life, is probably to our interest," she bent low, brushing the grass to freeze a little more. "And we won't have to worry about anyone posing much of a threat." There was a coldness to her voice then, as her harsh blue eyes looked ahead, as if she could picture the owners of these tracks.

[Kristoff]

Kristoff looked up at her from where he was crouched down and frowned. Desperately trying to keep his usual grumpiness out of his tone, he was speaking to a Queen after all, and said, “Yes, and it’s very useful. Where we go is in the wilderness and knowing what tracks are what could be a matter of life or death. Not to mention…if you’re stuck out there you’re gonna want to know which way the foods going so you don’t starve. There is a lot more to ice harvesting than just cutting ice.”

He looked down at the ground and then looked back up at her quickly and added a belated, “your majesty.”

He looked back down at the tracks and said, “One of them is quite embedded, armoured perhaps, definitely heavier than the other.”

He stood up and started following them a little, “They stopped here for a while, you can tell, one of them was pacing.”

He heard the ice in her tone and looked round at her, giving her the most sympathetic face that he could, “We will find her, she’ll be ok…also…maybe…maybe if we do come across, as you say, intelligent life, we could ask questions first and…ice…later.”

He looked down, he looked up, “your majesty.”

[Elsa]

Yes, it did make some sense that there would be more to Kristoff's skillset than simply cutting ice. And it wasn't as if Anna brought much beyond boundless determination to their duo, which had in turn managed to find Elsa and essentially save her. Yet again, Elsa reminded herself to stop overthinking matters.

Instead she focused on Kristoff's information: there were at least two, and they had stopped for a while. "If one's armored, that probably means armed," Elsa concluded, nodding. "But armor isn't going to help them,' she looked to Kristoff as if just realizing his icing recommendation. She held the look for a few beats before turning back. "It's probably best if you just call me Elsa while we're here, at least until we know a little more. If they find out that I'm royal, it may be used against us. Besides," she turned back to him, quirking a brow, "you make it sound almost forced every time it comes out."

She gave him an almost wink before turning, gesturing for him to take the lead. He was the tracker of two of them, after all. She'd follow suit, striding confidently. The grass around her had already started to curl with frost; given Elsa's emotions, she could hardly stop from being a walking cold front. The greenery wasn't ready for her icy-footfalls. Not that Elsa cared, she kept her gaze flickering between Kristoff and the area around them, keeping a sharp gaze out for anything.

[Kristoff]

Kristoff tried not to flinch when she mentioned that it had sounded forced.

It was forced, and perhaps he owed her an explanation for that, the only problem was he was worried that it would make him sound like even more of an idiot. Or worse, disrespectful. He had seen what Queen Elsa was capable in regards to her powers and he did not want to be chased down another mountain by a giant snowman. However…he also didn’t want her thinking it was because of some other reason, like, that he didn’t like her as queen or something stupid like that.

“Good idea,” he said with a nod, standing up straight again, “let’s follow these tracks and see where they go.”

As he followed them for a bit he eventually couldn’t keep it in any longer and said, “it’s not that it’s forced it’s just…I forget…Anna doesn’t really bother about that sort of thing and, when I first met her…I don’t know…it just…doesn’t seem to be a thing with us, so…I forget sometimes.”

Another panic shot through him and said, “which isn’t to say that you’re not queenly, you’re very queenly, digging the whole ice queen look, really. You’re a great queen, and Anna’s a great princess, you’re both great…royals…”

‘Which is the problem’ he thought glumly.

If Elsa could not approve of a Prince for her sister, albeit one she had just met, then what luck did an orphan ice harvester have?

“What I’m trying to say is,” he said and then cut himself off as another thought occurred, “…they might be armed but it could be arrows…do you think you could freeze one of them…I’m just thinking…Ice shields…might be a good idea?”

[Elsa]

Yes, follow the tracks, as if Kristoff wasn't already thinking the same thing. Elsa nodded all the same, still following along. The queen remained silent, at least for the first few steps, listening as Kristoff explained, explained how casual things had been, were, with her sister, explained about how it wasn't a thing. Elsa knew that, knew it full well.

"Yes, Anna is a princess, even if she doesn't act like one," she offered, keeping her voice level. Her lips had to twitch at the ice queen. "And I am queen," and always would be, of that Elsa was most definitely sure. She was half-tempted to mention, if only offhand, that the chances of Anna inheriting were actually fairly high given Elsa's... preferences, but that probably wasn't something that would be of interest to Kristoff. Elsa could also sense the unease, the discomfort coming from the poor young man. Doubtless he figured that he wasn't enough for Anna, which was utter nonsense.

"So--" Elsa began, pausing at the thought. She waited, even holding still for a few moments. "Ice shields?" she repeated. She did remember her earlier problems. "I can understand the thought, but I'm not sure that looking ready for a fight is a great idea. If they see us coming armed and armored, they may assume the worst," she flicked her wrist all the same, forming a medium sized discus. She handed that to Kristoff. "Given my mood," she explained, "most arrows will freeze before they reach me," bits of cold still rolled off her hand, casting little puffs of mist over the shield, curling into the air.

[Kristoff]

And there it was. Anna was a Princess. Elsa was a Queen. Another reminder that he should feel lucky to even be the Royal Ice Deliverer, never mind actually…whatever he was with Anna. Once Anna was safe home he resolved to do what he should have done a while back and wished her all the best and headed back into the mountains. It had not been the first time he had resolved to do such a thing, it wasn’t even the second time. And yet for some reason he stayed and for some reason, neither of the Royal sisters demanded he left, or at least stopped having dinner with them. Surely it was only a matter of time, Elsa’s patience only ran so far and he would rather leave of his own accord and not encased in Ice.

“Yeah, but I am still decidedly squishy,” said Kristoff, gratefully taking the shield she made for him and staring at it with awe, “so…appreciated…thank you.”

It never ceased to amaze him, the things that Elsa could create, they were amazing. He loved ice, couldn’t do the job he did and not love ice, but he wished he could do the same things that Elsa could. He thought about the little ice sculpture he had been trying to make before Anna disappeared. It paled in comparison to the elaborate things that Elsa did.

“Besides, shields are defensive weapons, hopefully they won’t see it as a threat,” said Kristoff.

He looked at the ice forming around Elsa and thought ‘But they might think you are’.

Realising he needed to try and calm her down, or at least take her mind of things he said, “Sooo…do you ever miss your ice palace? I mean…that thing was amazing.”

[Elsa]

Elsa nodded, accepting his thanks. She could see the wheels turning, and she had to wonder about what he was considering. Maybe he was remembering the threat that Elsa was normally? The shield comment almost made Elsa wonder. She was well aware that she'd literally created monsters before, and that her powers had all but destroyed her home kingdom, certainly locked it down. She brushed the thoughts aside; again: they needed to focus on her sister.

Which was why the question struck Elsa as particularly perturbing. Her brow furrowed, and she looked over her shoulder. "You mean the home I made to get away from everything and everyone?" she asked. "Of course I miss it. But unfortunately some meddling heroes dragged me out of it," she smiled at that, before moving to look around again. "Do you think we should attempt a signal of some kind? If Anna saw a large burst of ice and snow, she'd probably conclude it was me," she frowned, "or we'd be attacked sooner."

Elsa ran a hand through her hair, more snowflakes dropping in slow spirals around her. This was getting all the more frustrating. Just as she was about to make another suggestion, however, Elsa heard something moving in the grass a few feet away from them. She turned, hand up, ice already forming, ready to blast whatever it was simply on instinct, if nothing else.

[Kristoff]

Oh. Bad Question. Damn.

He thought it was safe ground, it was ice, she clearly like ice, she was all about the ice. And so was he, Kristoff loved ice, it was cold, it was smooth, it was refreshing, what was not to love about ice? This was supposed to be a completely safe topic, but of course he had completely overlooked the part where said ice palace was kind of a self-imposed prison for the ice queen. Yes…maybe not such a good topic.

“Oh, yeah, right, sorry about that,” said Kristoff, “still…it was a damn fine Ice palace…have you never thought about making another one?”

He mulled over her suggestion and said, “maybe not until we meet other people perhaps? Once we meet them we can explain the plan to send a massive snowball into the sky…if we even need it, they might know where Anna is.”

What he was not saying was that then they could explain ‘here is our queen, she has ice powers, please do not be alarmed and try to hurt her because she will ice you.’

Elsa’s attention was on something in the grass nearby, her hand iced and Kristoff turned in that direction holding up the shield.

[Elsa]

"All the time," Elsa mumbled, almost distractedly. Who wouldn't want to get away from the pressures and responsibilities of everyday life? Particularly when that life involved being a royal. Still, she had better uses for her power, and for now, she was set to use it on whatever lay ahead. Signals and palaces could wait for the time being.

The grass shifted again, moving almost at random. Whatever was there didn't seem to be responding to their voices or the like. "It doesn't seem large enough to be another person," Elsa observed, her body still locked into position. "Maybe it's--' before she could finish, however, a furry shape burst free. Elsa's instincts kicked in, and she shot a blast of cold air and ice at it. The ground before the furred shape turned into blades of ice, and soon the creature was yelping and spinning, a few cuts appearing.

Elsa winced, pulling back, the snow and ice around her dissipating. "You should... you should probably go make sure it's alright..." she said, almost wincing at the weakness in her own voice.

[Kristoff]

“I mean, I was just thinking, actually not long before we left, that the palace might look pretty good with a couple of ice towers, you know, like the one that you made, maybe in each corner,” said Kristoff.

However her attention was completely on the grass now, and when the thing jumped out he flinched as her ice blasts headed towards it. When Kristoff looked up he saw the little creature writhing around on the floor from the blasts. He looked at Elsa who looked panicked and then back at the small furry thing. He nodded and approached it, bending down to see if he could help.

“It’s a wolf, not very old though, I think, hey buddy, it’s ok, it’s ok, let me have a look,” said Kristoff as he approached the creature, it whimpered as he gently looked over the wounds.

Now he had two panicked people on his hands. He really was beginning to miss Sven, he was always cool in a crisis.

“He’s ok,” said Kristoff over his shoulder to Elsa, “just a few cuts, I’ll just see if he’ll let me help him. Although…there could be more of them so it also might be a good idea to keep moving.”

[Elsa]

"A wolf," repeated Elsa, raising her brows. "There are wolves here?" Elsa couldn't help but be a little more afraid. Not for them: Kristoff probably could've handled wolves without even Elsa around, and they were decidedly less likely to do much when frozen. But that meant that Anna was out there with quite literal wolves running around.

More bits of snow had started falling around her hands again. She looked away from Kristoff, as if half expecting wolves to start just popping out. Didn't they travel in packs? "Right," she said, looking around. "It may even be best to find shelter, and I don't mean an ice palace," her eyes scanned again, quickly locating something, anything that would work.

"There," Elsa pointed, "there's some sort of shed," she started walking toward it, "there may be some key as to what sort of place we're at there... or at least gardening equipment," she ran a hand over the grass, freezing sections of it off. Though she didn't want to admit it, watching things freeze made her feel... better, if a little colder inside. Then again, the cold never bothered her.