The wind howled and the snow blew into Anna's face. She struggled to guide her horse up the frozen mountain path. She was determined¹ to find Elsa. Anna was sure her sister would thaw² the fjord and bring back summer. The whole kingdom would celebrate, and the two sisters would live happily ever after. The thought encouraged Anna as she rode through the snowdrifts.

 

"Elsa!" Anna called into the blizzard³. "It's me, Anna. Your sister who didn't mean to make you freeze the summer!" She paused, shivering in the cold. "Wow, that's a sentence I never thought I'd say. Anyway, I'm sorry! This is all my f-f-f-fault."

 

A wolf's howl interrupted Anna's cries.

 

Her horse stopped and looked around nervously⁴. Anna tried to convince herself that the sounds were just puppies playing.

 

"Of course, none of this would have happened if she'd just told me her secret," Anna said with a sigh.

 

A tree branch snapped, and the horse panicked. It whinnied and kicked up its front legs.

 

"Whoa, whoa!" Anna commanded, pulling back on the reins⁵. She flew off the horse into a snowdrift! She sat up, spit snow out of her mouth, and looked around just in time to see her horse running away.

 

"No, no, no! Come back!" Anna called, but the horse was long gone. "Okay," she said to herself. She had to keep focused. She struggled to stand up and dusted the snow off her dress.

 

"Snow, it had to be snow," she grumbled⁶. "She couldn't have had a tropical magic that covered the fjords in white sand and warm..." A welcome sight interrupted Anna's rant⁷. She saw smoke rising in the distance. "Fire!"

 

Anna took one more step and stumbled down a steep hill. She began to roll like a snowball, layering on more and more snow as she went.

 

Anna landed with a splash in an icy stream and the snowball broke apart. She got to her feet, shivering. "Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold... ," she muttered. She was standing⁸ next to a small building. A wooden sign hung in front of her: WANDERING OAKEN'S TRADING POST. A lump of snow fell off the sign. "And sauna!" she said, reading the end of the sign.

 

Anna hurried inside. The little shop was stocked with summer supplies — after all, it was technically⁹ still summertime. She gazed at the goods, looking for warm clothes.

 

"Hoo, hoo!" called a blond man behind the counter wearing a bright sweater. His name was Oaken, and he was the owner. "Big summer blowout," he said hopefully. "Half off on our swimming suits, clogs¹⁰, and a sun balm of my own invention, ja?"

 

"Oh, great," Anna said, looking around the store. "For now, how about boots? Winter boots and dresses?"

 

"Well, that would be in our winter department," the man said in a thick accent.

 

Anna darted¹¹ toward the single rack of warm clothing. "Oh, um, I was just wondering," she said, trying to sound casual, "has another young woman, the queen, perhaps, I don't know, passed through here?" She brought a pair of boots and some clothes to the counter and set them in front of Oaken.

 

"Only one crazy enough to be out in the storm is you, dear," Oaken said in a pleasant voice.

 

At that moment, the front door opened and a gust¹² of frigid¹³ air blew in. A large, broad man entered. He was dressed for the arctic cold and completely covered in snow, with only his brown eyes showing. It was Kristoff, and he was looking for supplies, too.

 

"You and this fellow. Hoo, hoo," Oaken sang out. "Big summer blowout."

 

Kristoff pushed past Oaken and went straight to Anna. "Carrots," he demanded. "Huh?" Anna asked.

 

"Behind you," Kristoff said crossly, pointing.

 

"Oh, right," Anna said. "Excuse me." She moved out of the way, and Kristoff grabbed a bag of carrots from a shelf behind her. He gathered a few other supplies as he moved briskly around the shop.

 

"A real howler in July, ja?" Oaken said, trying to make conversation with the stranger. "Wherever could it be coming from?"

 

"The North Mountain," Kristoff replied.

 

"The North Mountain," Anna repeated to herself. Was that where Elsa had gone?

 

狂风怒吼，雪花拍打着安娜的脸。她努力拉住缰绳，让马沿着冰冻的山路向山上前行。她决心要找到艾莎。安娜相信姐姐会融化冰封的峡湾，带回夏天。整个王国都会因此庆祝，两姐妹从此以后可以幸福地生活在一起。安娜在暴风雪中奋力前行，想到这里她备受鼓舞。

 

“艾莎!”安娜在暴风雪中呐喊道，“是我，安娜。你妹妹不是故意逼你把夏天变成寒冬的!”她停顿了一下，在寒风中颤抖着。“哇，我从没想过会说这句话。我很抱歉，都是我的错——”

 

一声狼嗥打断了安娜的哭喊。

 

她的马停了下来，紧张地四处张望着。安娜尽力安慰自己说这只是小狗玩耍的声音。

 

“当然，如果她早点告诉我这个秘密，就不会有这些事了。”安娜叹息道。

 

一根树枝突然折断了，马儿吓了一跳，长嘶一声，前蹄乱踢起来。

 

“吁!”安娜叫道，拉紧缰绳。她从马上摔下来，重重地掉进了雪堆!她坐了起来，吐掉了嘴里的雪，连忙看看四周，发现马儿跑走了。

 

“别，别!回来!”安娜叫道，但是马儿早已跑远了。“好吧。”她自言自语。她不得不集中精力顾着主要的任务。她挣扎着站了起来，掸去了衣服上的雪。

 

“雪，干吗非得是雪，”她喃喃道，“她干吗不能用热带魔法，把峡湾变成白色的沙滩和温暖的……”突然，安娜停止了抱怨，她看到远处空中升起了烟雾。“火!”

 

安娜又走了一步，失足滚下了一个陡坡。她像雪球般滚着，身上沾了越来越多的雪。

 

安娜最终掉在了一条冰冷的溪流中，溅起了一片水花，雪球也散落开了。她颤抖着站了起来。“好冷，冷，冷，冷……”她嘟囔着。她就站在一座小屋边，前面挂着一块木牌：流浪的奥肯商栈。一大块雪从木牌上落了下来。“还有桑拿浴室!”她看到牌子上露出剩下的几个字。

 

安娜赶紧进了小屋。小店里摆放的都是夏天的东西——毕竟，现在就是夏天。她仔细看着这些货品，想找件温暖的衣服。

 

“呼呼!”一个穿着亮色毛衣的金发男人从柜台后露出了脑袋。他名叫奥肯，是小店的主人。“夏季减价大酬宾哟，”他满怀希望地说，“我们家的泳衣、木头拖鞋和我自己发明的防晒霜都半价哟，怎么样?”

 

“哦，太好了，”安娜边说边环顾四周，“不过有现在穿的靴子吗?冬天的靴子和衣服有吗?”

 

“呃，这些都在我们的冬季服装专柜里，”老板声音低沉地说道。

 

安娜径直走向只有一排架子的冬季区。“嗯，我随便问问，”她尽力用一种随意的口吻问道，“有没有一位年轻女子经过这里，也许是女王，也许吧，我也不知道?”她拿了一双靴子和几件衣服走到柜台，放在了奥肯面前。

 

“敢在这种暴风雪的天气里出门的也只有你了，亲。”奥肯调侃道。

 

正在这时，小店的门被推开了，一阵刺骨的寒风迎面袭来。一名高大结实的男子走了进来。他全身裹得严严实实，身上全是雪，只露出了棕色的眼睛。是克斯托夫，他也是来找补给品的。

 

“呼呼，还有那位家伙，”奥肯大声吆喝道，“夏季减价大酬宾哟。”

 

克斯托夫没有理会奥肯，径直走向安娜。“胡萝卜。”他直愣愣地说。“啥?”安娜问道。

 

“被你挡住了。”克斯托夫没好气地指着安娜的身后。

 

“哦，好的，”安娜说，“不好意思，”她连忙让开。克斯托夫从她身后的架子上抓起一袋子胡萝卜。他在店里很快地扫了一圈，又拿了几样东西。

 

“七月下这么大的雪，”奥肯想跟这位陌生的顾客套套近乎，“雪是从哪儿来的呢?”

 

“北山来的。”克斯托夫回答说。

 

“北山。”安娜暗自说道。这会不会就是艾莎去的地方?

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