This is freedom.

That was all Hiccup could think as he climbed higher and higher in the sky. The air grew thinner, and the wind grew harsher, but he hardly noticed. These were the moments he lived for, the moments where he could run from his responsibilities and soar through the clouds with the only other creature in the universe who understood him. Hiccup felt weightless as Toothless began to flap his leathery wings harder to gain even more altitude.

Hiccup reached his arm up and brushed his fingertips through the misty clouds. He realized that he had been smiling ever since he woke up, and his cheeks sort of hurt... Even so, he laughed it off and closed his eyes in content. The cold air was biting at his cheeks, but he welcomed it. This was where he belonged, soaring through the sky with the dragons.

Ever since the fateful day Hiccup found Toothless, he had felt a special bond with the dragon, something he wasn't sure anyone else truly understood. Toothless was more than just Hiccup's pet, even more than his best friend. Toothless's soul reflected Hiccup's, and it was clear how close they were just by watching them fly. Because of Toothless's missing tail fin, he and his rider had to be one mind to properly fly together. Hiccup was the only dragon rider who could sense exactly what Toothless was thinking and react quickly enough. It felt like Hiccup was an extension of the dragon, and vice versa.

As the sun began to rise, the clouds were painted shades of pale pinks and oranges and lavenders. Toothless grumbled in annoyance, and Hiccup let out a small huff as well. Rolling his eyes, Hiccup said to the dragon, "Guess we have to start heading back, bud." When Toothless tried to protest, Hiccup shook his head, "No no, it's not fair of us to leave all of the work for Astrid and Eret." After a few more mumbles and grumbles, Toothless tilted his wings just slightly to begin circling back.

Two years ago, Chief Stoic had been killed during the war against Drago. Drago was a tyrant who used fear to control an entire army of dragons, he even controlled Toothless long enough for the dragon to attempt to kill Hiccup, and succeed in killing Hiccup's father. It was the worst moment of Hiccup's entire life. He had never been so furious or so devastated or so scared. After spending years being scared of becoming his father, he was suddenly terrified that he never could.

After the dust had settled, and the war had ended, Hiccup was named the new Chief of Berk.

Two years later he was still completely clueless. That was why Astrid, and eventually Eret, offered to help him rule the tribe after a few months watching him slowly wear himself out. He was grateful for their help, and Astrid was honestly a better chief than he could ever hope to be. Stoic would've been proud of her.

Hiccup hung his head thinking about it. Time hadn't managed to heal all of the pain he still felt thinking of his dad. He shook it off as they began to approach Berk. Knowing Astrid, there'd be a four foot long list of things written in her tiny handwriting for him to do, and he didn't need to be distracted.

When they landed, Toothless took off to go goof around with the other dragons. Hiccup smiled at the nightfury before jogging towards the workshop.

"Hey Astrid," Hiccup said, ducking to not bang his head against the random tools hanging from the ceiling.

She glanced up quickly from the paper she was reading and replied, "Hiya Hiccup."

Eret, who was sitting up on the table, gave Hiccup a two-fingered salute.

Hiccup nodded at him with a smile. "So, what's going on today? Got any big plans?"

"Nothing's going on here, at least right now," Astrid shrugged. "So we figured we should read through the mail while we have extra time."

"These," Eret handed Hiccup a large stack of letters, "Were all addressed to you personally."

"Lucky me!" Hiccup grinned and took the papers. As he shuffled through and skimmed the return addresses, he saw that most of them were from neighboring tribes, places he recognized and had regularly exchanged information regarding dragons. However, one particular letter caught his attention. He stopped his skimming and stared at the neat handwriting. A tiny part of him vaguely recognized the name, but he couldn't quite place it. "Hey, Astrid?"

"Yeah?" she replied, still looking at her own letter intently.

"Where is DunBroch?"

She looked up at him, blue eyes sparkling with interest, "DunBroch? That's a Kingdom in Scotland."

"Our tribes used to be at war with them," Eret confirmed. "That was back when you two were probably about two or three, you wouldn't remember."

"And you were what? Four?" Astrid teased.

Eret smirked, "I was nine. Old enough to remember."

Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows in concern, "Do you remember why were we at war with them?"

"Probably trying to escape the dragons," Eret laughed. "The Scottish weren't too thrilled with the idea of sharing land with a bunch of Vikings, though,"

"I wonder why their Queen is sending me a letter then," Hiccup frowned.

"Open it!" Astrid said, leaning over the table to peer at the letter.

He tore it open and read the elegantly scripted words aloud, "Dear Chief Hiccup Haddock III, As you know, decades ago, our lands were locked in a deep conflict for several long years. However, new circumstances have arose, and the Kingdom of DunBroch would like to extend the offer to mend our bonds and open up trade with the Vikings once again. We would be delighted to have you and Chief Astrid Hofferson come stay at our Kingdom for a time and discuss terms of a new alliance. Should you care to take our offer, please send a letter informing us of an estimated arrival date. If you would like to decline, please send a letter informing us that you are not interested in an alliance for the time being. We hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, Queen Elinor and King Fergus. P.S. Dragons are welcome."

"This is amazing! We've never traveled so far for political reasons!" Astrid grinned. "We have to go!"

"Woah, woah," Hiccup gently touched her arm to calm her. "We can't just agree to form a new alliance without discussing it among ourselves. Why would they randomly want us as allies?"

"Perhaps they heard that the leadership changed," Eret suggested with a shrug. "This could be a way to ensure that you two don't decide to try invading again."

"But if she knows about our dragons then she must know that we have no reason to want to invade," Astrid countered.

Hiccup frowned, "Maybe the dragons have spread to Scotland and they need our help to train them?"

"Well, that is kind of our job," she reminded him.

Eret shrugged and nodded in agreement, "You could discover some new species."

Hiccup felt his chest flutter with excitement with that possibility, "It might be a good idea to go and talk to the Queen. Maybe not immediately agree to an alliance, but agree to visit and discuss the possibility of one?"

"That sounds reasonable," Astrid nodded eagerly.

Hiccup smiled at her before grabbing a sheet of paper and some charcoal to draft a response.

xxx

Jackson hung his head and clutched at his stomach tightly. With every rocking of the ship, his urge to be sick grew stronger and stronger. Not that he had even eaten enough in the past few months to be properly sick. He let out a dry laugh that sounded more like retching. Compared to the hell he had just escaped, this boat ride felt like a vacation.

Late last autumn, Jackson's village was stormed by troops from an army none of the people even knew existed. They came to collect the eldest sons of each family, to force... "recruit"... them into General Pitchiner's army. Everyone reacted with varying levels of shock and confusion. General Pitchiner was a completely foreign name, and not a single soul had heard anything about a war. But the men were intimidating, so no one vocalized their protests. Jackson watched as his friends stepped up one by one as their names were called. To his horror, even little Jaime's name was called. His heart broke as he watched the twelve year old march bravely forward to his eventual death.

The only one to protest was Jackson's mother. She shouted at the leader of the troops, her words slipping from Russian to German to Norwegian as she grew angrier. His father quickly grabbed her and pulled her into a tight embrace so she couldn't fight back anymore. When Jack walked forward to join the other recruits, he looked back and saw the anguish in his parents' faces. He had never seen either of them cry like that.

Little Emmie wasn't even awake when the soldiers came to take Jack away. The closest he got to saying goodbye was when he kissed her goodnight the evening before. She had climbed into his bed in tears after a mean nightmare had scared her. He wrapped his favorite blanket around her and held her close, softly singing her lullabies. Even though he didn't like to sing, he would do anything to make her feel safe.

"Don't worry, Emmie. I'll always be right here."

What a joke.

He hadn't been there. He hadn't been there for months. Tears temporarily blinded him as he imagined his parents having to tell her what had happened.

Guilt somehow managed to tighten the knots in his stomach as he realized they had probably already received the letter.

After months of fighting a battle for a man he didn't even know, Jack lost it. Seeing the half-frozen corpses lying in the bloody snow and knowing that he would eventually joined him chipped away at his sanity. He didn't want to die, he didn't want to be another number in the body count. He spent the freezing nights praying to the moon to help him survive, to help him escape.

Eventually, his wish was granted.

Jackson finally decided to run. He felt like a coward, but he didn't care anymore. He didn't care where he ended up as long as it was away from the bloodbath.

When he was caught, he was dragged into the office of General St. North, another man he didn't even know existed. This man was Russian, and Jack instantly felt more at ease in his presence. St. North told him that running away from the army was a crime punishable by death. He then admitted that Jack had probably already been through a fate worse than death. St. North took pity on him, and said that there was a way to get Jack aboard a ship that would take him far, far away from General Pitchiner and the war.

Obviously, Jack agreed immediately.

But then St. North told him that, for this to work, Jackson could never return to Russia. His family would be sent the same letter almost every other family in his village had received. His family would be told that Джексон по суше had died on April 1st, and that compensation for their loss would be sent within a few months.

Selfishly, Jackson still agreed.

He had no idea where the ship was going, only that each wave that crashed against it meant he was farther and farther away from his family.

It had also given him time to think. Now that he was no longer actually about to die, part of him almost wished that he had accepted death. Death couldn't be much worse than never seeing his family again.

What he really wanted was for St. North to be wrong, and that one day Jack could return home. After all, since he "died" on April 1st, maybe he could claim it was just a prank? A really horrible prank that he was truly sorry for... Or maybe he could be honest and tell them that he was a coward and ran. They would forgive him, or they'd just be so thrilled that he was alive they wouldn't care.

The ship was hit by a particularly harsh wave and Jack was knocked off balance. He gulped and took a few shaky breaths before trying to move again. He didn't wait quite long enough, and he winced and fell again. Curling up into the fetal position, he clutched tightly at his stomach and prayed that it would all be over soon.

xxx

Merida laughed out loud and shook her head, the wind blowing her curly hair behind her like a bright orange flag.

Finally, finally, she had been allowed a break from the web of politics she somehow found herself caught in. The moment she was released, she ran down to the stables, hopped onto her horse-Angus-and took off. The entire day she spent riding through the thick, mysterious woods and practicing shooting her arrows.

When she looked up at the sky, she saw the clouds beginning to turn fiery shades of orange and red as the sun slowly descended. Off in the distance, she spotted a few large creatures soaring through the sky, and she grinned. Recently, dragons had been spotted more and more frequently in the Kingdom. It alarmed Queen Elinor, but Merida just found them fascinating. They didn't look at all like the strange flying lizards of legend. She really wanted to see one up close, not just as a small silhouette in the distant sky.

After watching the dragons for a while, she stood and climbed back onto Angus, "All right, time to go home."

The first person to greet her was Rapunzel, her lady-in-waiting and best friend.

"Good evening, Princess," Rapunzel smiled.

"Good evening!" Merida chirped, jumping to the ground.

"How was your ride?"

Merida grinned, "Wonderful, as always." She grabbed a brush and stroked Angus with it to clean off the dirt.

It used to be that there was a stable boy to clean her horse after a ride. But one evening when they were alone in the stables, he attempted to "woo" the Princess, pathetically hoping to marry into her power. The next day he was sent to a Kingdom in the South, and Merida had been doing the stable chores ever since. She didn't mind, however. She enjoyed it actually-part of her had even considered telling her mother not to bother getting another stable boy. But one was supposedly already on his way, so Merida decided to let it go.

Rapunzel fumbled to catch the brush when Merida casually tossed it over her shoulder. Rapunzel set the brush back in its proper place and grabbed the rake to shuffle some fresh hay around.

"So, did my mother say anything to you?" Merida asked, lifting a bucket of water and carrying it over to Angus.

Dropping the rake and rushing to help Merida with the water, she replied, "She told me you're allowed to just grab some dinner and go to bed if you'd like."

The princess couldn't help but smile, "I got the water, it's okay."

"Well, would you like me to fetch dinner for you?" Rapunzel asked, a bit too eagerly.

Merida chuckled, "Punzie, you know you aren't my maid, right? We can get ourselves dinner together."

"That sounds good," Rapunzel laughed sheepishly and tugged on a strand of her long, brown hair.

After Angus had been taken care of, the girls went to the kitchen and each grabbed a large plate of food before retiring to Merida's chambers.

Rapunzel gently touched the bedposts scarred from an angry Merida's sword, "So, how are the tribes doing?"

"Young Macintosh has apparently been married, to a Princess in France," Merida informed. "Mum is a bit upset we weren't invited to the wedding, but I told her it wasn't worth starting a war over."

"Well of course not."

"Oh! We did receive a response from the Chiefs of Berk!"

Rapunzel's green eyes lit up with interest, "What did they say?"

"Within a week they'll be arriving-on dragon-and are willing to discuss an alliance with us!"

"It'll be so incredible to see a dragon in person," Rapunzel mused. "Do you know what they look like?"

"Who?" Merida asked. "The chiefs? Or dragons?"

"Dragons. Although, if you know what the chiefs are like I wouldn't mind hearing about that."

"I've seen a few, but they all look so strange and indescribable, especially from so far away," Merida wrinkled her nose slightly. "But from what I've heard, Chief Haddock is basically a King of Dragons, the first one to truly learn how to train them. And the stories say his dragon is the offspring of lightning and death itself. That's how they defeated two alpha dragons.. Whatever that means."

"Perhaps we'll get to hear those stories from him.." Rapunzel said with a dreamy look in her eyes. "What about the other chief?"

Merida shrugged, "Her name is Astrid Hofferson. Supposedly she's very mature and diplomatic. I'll probably be talking to her the most."

Rapunzel nodded, "I suppose that makes sense.. But I hope we'll still get to hear Chief Haddock's stories.." She trailed off as she began to imagine soaring through an endless sky on the back of a dragon. "Do you think we'll get to ride the dragons? After Chief Haddock helps us train them?"

"I can't imagine Mum would really let that happen," Merida wrinkled her nose slightly. Seeing her friend's face fall, she quickly added, "But I could always ask! That would be a lot of fun, honestly. Probably even more wonderful than riding Angus."

"Maybe," Rapunzel agreed.

After their evening ritual of Rapunzel making a valiant attempt to tie back Merida's hair, only to gracefully accept defeat and let it spring free, the brunette retired to her own chambers right next door and fell asleep. Meanwhile, Merida remained awake, staring out the window and thinking about the dragon-riders that were possibly on their way that very moment. Rapunzel's inquiry about riding dragons had gotten the princess thinking.

What would it be like to ride a dragon?

After thinking and day-dreaming (or night-dreaming?) about it for a while, Merida decided on how it would probably feel.

It'd feel like freedom. Pure, unbridled freedom.