All around the wall to wall stone hall, colourful tapestries hung each representing a different symbol of; a sword, a cauldron, a rock or a lyre. Dozens of candles flickered around the room, giving a warm glow to the giant hall. To the left of the room, a small group of musicians played an uplifting tune to the dancers that skipped in a circle in the center. All around the edge of the room huge wooden tables and chairs sat families, friends, neighbours and couples either deep in conversation or clapping to the music and cheering at the dancers.

Hiccup watched in fascination at the dance before him. The Scot's feet seemed to twist, turn and twirl in time with the music at such ease. The dancers seemed lost, completely absorbed, not even taking a moment to look down at their feet. Each had a smile on their face, their eyes lit up as they gazed at their dance partners. He must have been staring for a while since Merida's voice brought him back to the Main Hall.

"Av ye not seen dancin before Haddock?"

Hiccup turned to his left to see the flame haired princess smirking at him, her bright cerulean eyes sparkling with delight.

"Well Vikings aren't exactly well known for their dancing talents. Unless you can class throwing an axe at a tree as dancing?" Hiccup inquired seriously.

Merida giggled and shook her head, her soft orangey red curls swirling around her round face. Hiccup smiled as the subject was changed with Merida beginning to explaining who was who in the Main Hall, providing gossip about each lord and lady present and giggling at Hiccup's sarcastic replies.

It was after the Christmas festivities and Hiccup had already spent Yule with his Viking kind in Berk. He was now spending a week with his other family, the DunBroch clan in Scotland. He hadn't realized the other three clans of Scotland joined the royal family in DunBroch to celebrate Christmas. After the exchange of gifts and a huge feast in which Hiccup ate way too much, it was now time for the music, dancing and much merriment.
Whilst the four clan leaders drank, sang, laughed and talked amongst themselves, Hiccup, Merida and Elinor sat at the Head Throne in the stone Main Hall and watched the merrymaking before them.

As Merida grabbed her goblet for a drink, Hiccup opened his mouth to tell a tale of the gatherings in Berk during Yule. His jaw remained open and soundless when he spotted a familiar face approach the young couple.

"My princess, may I av' the honor of you joinin' me in the next dance?" requested Young Macintosh, taking a polite low bow.

Merida side eyed Hiccup before answering through a small and forced smile.

"Why Young Macintosh, it would be ma honor." She answered with Hiccup's equal measure of sarcasm that the young lord did not seem to notice since a wide smile grew on his face.

Merida discretely rolled her eyes at Hiccup as she rose from her chair to take Young Macintoshes hand and be lead to the dance area. The dancers respectfully bowed to greet the princess. Each person took their place, the ladies to the left, and the men to the right. The flute started to whistle and the dance began.

As he watched the wild haired princess dance side by side with the tall former suitor, Hiccup felt a wave of loneliness wash over him. He wished his buddy had been allowed to join him in the Main Hall. Instead he had to leave him at the edge of the woods as some of the guests hadn't taken too kindly to the friendly yet deadly dragon. He hadn't realized how much on a effect Merida had on him. He felt extremely out of place on his own, away from home and away from her. She was but a few feet away from her, but it was in another world.

Scoping his green eyes around the hall, Hiccup realized he hadn't noticed the royal triplets since after the feast; he assumed they had gone to play with the Night Fury. Or at least bring food to him since Hiccup quickly discovered whenever the boys were caught after disappearing, they were typically hiding food.

Taking a deep sigh and resting his hand on his chin while kicking his metal prosthetic leg against the solid wooden table leg, Hiccup continued to gaze at Merida twirl in the arms of Young Macintosh. He wasn't jealous; all three of the lords were now thought of as older brothers to Merida. He did however admit to himself he was jealous of how graceful they could seemingly float in time with the music.

"Why don't ye ask her to dance Hiccup?" A voice called, making Hiccup jump.

He turned to see Queen Elinor smiling at him beside the empty seat where Merida had been. He instantly felt guilty he had forgotten she had been sat there.

"Oh erm I can't exactly dance erm Yo-Your Majesty." mumbled Hiccup feeling awkward at looking at her directly. He turned his attention back to watching a beaming Merida who was somehow now dancing with Young Macguffin whilst Young Macintosh glared in the background.

"Is tha' so?"

"Well I think losing a leg kind of effects your balance. And besides the closest a Viking gets to dancing anyway is after a few pints of ale and the dancing usually starts on a table and ends with a pile of Vikings on the floor."

Hiccup felt his face heat up, hoping he hadn't spoken out of term to the Queen. But he heard her softly laugh and he slowly relaxed. He turned to look at her and this time she was watching her daughter.

"When Merida was a wee lass, I could never get her ta take her lessons seriously. She always fought, bickered, argued or ran off. But anythin' that didnnae involve sittin' in the same position for a while, she didnnae seem ta mind. I actually think she enjoys dancin, but of course she'll tell ye otherwise." Elinor recounted, still not taking her eyes off her daughter but a faint smile playing upon her lips. Hiccup couldn't think of how to answer but found himself slowly nodding in agreement. That was something he could image Merida doing. Find a joy in dancing but hate the taste of admitting it was a joy.

The two sat silently as they observed the spin of dresses, the clap of hands in time with the fast paced music. At times the ladies on the floor held hands and walked in a giant circle in the center of the stone floor whilst their dancing partners did the same in the opposite direction. Merida's bouncing curls seemed to take life as the ladies broke from the circle to join their partners and be held at the waist and lifted in mid-air. Macguffin was able to pick her up easily but as he placed her down to hold her hand and dance side by side, Wee Dingwall suddenly appeared from within the crowd, elbowed him out of the way and swiftly took his place. Merida was shocked for a second then carried on with the dance, leaving Young Macguffin to join Young Macintosh in glaring at the third young lord.

Hiccup felt the clouding frustration fade as he realized he wished he could dance with her. He wanted to be able to make her smile as they showed the hall, the clans, the world that they were together and nothing could stop them. He wished he had the strength to pick her up in mid-air and bring her back to the ground with effortless care. He wanted to make her blush as he held her hand and mirrored each step without having to think about each movement. But you can't, you are a walking, talking fishbone he reminded himself and the image of the dream disappeared. You are a one legged walking, talking fishbone. You will just have to spend your time watching her and hoping your wit is enough.

"Ya know Hiccup, it never stops Fergus frum joinin' in somethin' he wants to do," Elinor remarked a few moments later as the dance came to end. Merida quickly curtsied in thanks to the three young lords who bowed in return. As she turned to take her seat again, the young lords started to bicker to each other as the sound of applause surrounded them.

"And besides, ye aren't like most Vikings anyway are ye?" Elinor quietly added whilst her daughter was still out of ear-shot.

When Merida joined them, red-faced and grinning from ear to ear, she asked what the two had been talking about.

"Oh nothing in particular my darling," Elinor answered giving a wave of her hand in dismissal," just teachin' the young Viking here tha' there's more than one way ta pierce a heart."

Hi! I did this ages ago! I'm a massive Mericcup shipper and I just really fancied having a go at FanFic writing!

Ok, so erm stay with me but I know these songs aren't Scottish at all but these are the songs I picture in my head whilst thinking of this. Or this is what happens when I listen to these songs. . .whichever.

So for the song played at the beginning:
/F-mc2jwbmD8

And the song for when Merida is dancing:
/XYfySVrQxto

I like to think of the dance as a mixture of traditional Medieval Dance with a hint of the dance seen in Tangled and a bit of the dancing seen at the end of Quest for Camelot. You know that side by side dancing?

Anyway this is from my imagination.
Oh and finally: I know about the whole Snoggletog business but from what I've researched, Vikings celebrated Yule so I'm gunna go with that. . . Please don't give me history lessons, it's only a fanfic. Take it with a pinch of salt and keep thinking this is my first ever fanfic. There is a second part to this but I want to see how recieved this is first.