1: Haust
Hiccup had never seen her before, but when a dark-haired woman draped in the storm clouds seats herself next to him on his perch, he knows who she is. It is a conscious effort from his part not to fall to his knees and bow his head low, and only his experience as a Chief and an Alpha help him to resist the initial urge and instead to politely nod his head, it was enough to acknowledge the more powerful entity but not to offer his loyalties and submission so easily.
But the woman clearly wasn't bothered. A serene smile was firmly fixed on her long pale face, as she inclined her head to greet him back, long raven-colored locks tumbling down her shoulder. Hiccup had a feeling that she didn't expect him to speak nor she was going to rush into talking herself. He turned his head away from her to look ahead, but keeping her presence in his peripheral vision. But she just sat there next to him, on the highest branch overlooking the forest bathed in the golden-orange light of the sunset, that made the autumn leaves flare with inner fire, creating an illusion of the burning trees. And it felt like they were the only ones in the middle of that dancing fire, that smelled of rain and earth.
The wind tugged the cloak wrapped around Hiccup's shoulders, lightly touching the woman's hair in curiosity, before racing over the tree tops, making them sway like fiery waves.
"You have questions."
Her voice (Soft like shuffle of leaves and loud like thunder during the storm, it rolled over him as a whirlwind and touched him like a first ray of sun.) startles him so bad, he almost slipped from the branch, but wind helpfully blasted him in the face to keep him upright, to which he murmurs a quite 'thanks bud'. But even that fumble can't stop the words slipping past his lips.
"Yeah, I do. And how helpful is it, that you decide to answer them so fast. Only some 200 years later."
He really couldn't help it. Not only his social skills became incredibly rusty after so much time with almost (absolutely) zero human interaction, but the sarcasm was his natural defensive and offensive mechanism. Years (centuries) of habits are hard to break.
Though, when he expected lightning and doom, and wrath worthy of Odin himself, he was met with an unladylike snort coming from his seat-fellow.
"I doubt you would have listened, if we approached you before."
"Well, thank you for deciding things for me." Hiccup really didn't know when to close his mouth and keep quiet, but so far he wasn't incinerated on the spot, so he counted it as a win. "I could perfectly decide myself, if I want answers for my 'condition' as soon as it happened and not some odd centuries later."
"Would you have listened to me?" she asked. There is no accusation in her voice, but her eyes are dark and knowing, and Hiccup subdued almost as fast as he reeled up.
He wouldn't have. Not really. He would have probably panicked and raged (though he did it either way) and did something reckless (Although he was tempted to do something stupid now too). He knew it and she knew it, but it didn't stop Hiccup's irritation as he remembered those first couple of frightening decades, with nothing but distant memories of his past and his new name.
"Though, I agree that Manny ought to give a little bit more information during the initial… acquaintance." She murmured almost humorously, casting a glance at the evening sky, where a barely visible pale disk hung. "But I am more of an opinion that the freshly made ought to have time for their own, to explore, discover and understand, before stepping up to their duties. I hope you enjoyed your free time."
Hiccup in fact, did enjoy it. Even his situation couldn't quite quench his wanderlust and desire of knowledge, when he discovered that he could travel high and far, unseen and undisturbed, he did indulge his urges. But the world was big, and his desire sometimes was overcome with melancholy and memories. So it was no wonder that while he traveled and saw as much as possible, the fact that he had all the time in the world now to do so, made the novelty of the situation fade. Now he was content enough to travel whenever the wanderlust stirred his heart, but settle whenever possible, to think and just remember.
His companion looked at him, her dark eyes understanding, but her last words finally registered in Hiccup's mind.
"Duties?" Hiccup was pretty sure he was pulling a face, like he unconsciously did with his father when he was young and Stoick would go on and on about the duties of the Chief. It was really more of a reflex, since he perfectly understood what duties were and what they entailed.
She inclined her head, one white slender hand reaching out from the folds of the cloud cloak to gently pick an orange oak leaf from the branch and bring it up to her face.
"You travel across the lands, trailing fallen leaves behind you, settling the world to langr hǫfgi* through the cold and snow, so it could unfurl itself from the embrace of the dream to start living again with the arrival of warmth. You are the preparation for umskipti* of the world, the part of the natural cycle of life and death." The woman sighed lightly, letting her breath catch the shimmering leaf and tug it swirling into the air, where it was joined by others, disturbed by a sudden foreign gust of wind that flapped Hiccup's short hair but didn't disturb a single lock of hair on her head.
"It is time that you inherited your predecessor, even though she is long gone now, I am sure she would have approved of our choice." Suddenly she was near him, so close that her hair fell in a curtain around his face, obscuring his vision. Her lips touched his forehead, before she murmured to him in a quiet, echoing voice.
"Be strong, Haust*. For you are first of the new, and it is not always easy to bring change as the first one."
He blinked and she was gone, with only the smells of the storm and flowers left behind. The sun was setting and everything was bathed in the twilight shadows. He stood up on the branch, his prosthetic thumping against the bark. The wind raced back to him, playfully nipping his face with cold flecks and twining around him.
He paused thoughtfully looking at the spot that was previously occupied by the woman, before shaking his head with a huff. Next to him, the branch dipped under the sudden added weight, and suddenly instead of chilly wind, a puff of warm breath touched his face.
"Yeah, I know bud." Hiccup murmured, turning his orange-red eyes to stare into the toxic green ones of his partner.
"It looks like we have work to do."
Author's note: ROTBTD crossover has somewhat taken over my life, and out of a crazy number of plot bunnies in my head, this one seemed to be more reasonable to be posted as first story after my long hiatus on this site. I do not promise that my other stories will be updated (I actually noted on most of them that they are left unfinished), but maybe while the inspiration for this one is alive, it will be updated as frequently as possible.
This fic is a series of one-shots connected with each other and written in one SeasonalSpirits!AU, and I'll try to keep them somewhat timelined, but I can't really promise that. The size of one-shots will vary. Maybe there will be accompanying artwork for this AU. The current cover is temporary, but it was drawn by me and can also be found on my DA account along with my other ROTBTD art.
And yes, I borrowed Mother Nature appearance from Guardians of Childhood books, but it is not, I repeat NOT the same character of the canon (I didn't even read the book. Honestly, I'm just loosely playing with her characterization and her physical appearance (taken from Wikia).
If any other fans of this AU would like to ramble and discuss it, or just share their preferences, they are free to do so, because it is really interesting to know other people's views. Maybe we even share them? Who knows.
Author's note (02/19/2016): Uploaded a fixed-up Chap1, because I found a couple of mistakes that irked me.
Sorry for my english, but to be fair, I'm a foreigner. ;D
Old Norse: umskipti* - change
langr hǫfgi* - long sleep
haust* - autumn
