Prior to Hiccup's mishap, early that very morning, Princess Merida woke up bright and early with a wide smile on her face as the first rays of sun peaked over the horizon.
Everyday she was a princess, everyday she was to train to one day be the future queen of the kingdom, everyday her life was run by her mother the queen.
Except today, today was her designated free day. The one day she gets every once in awhile when she had no lessons and no duties.
Whenever she had her designated free day, rather than staying at the castle, she would spend her free days doing the one thing she loved to do more than anything in the world.
Being herself.
After dressing, she rushed out her bed chambers, grabbing her bow and quiver on the way out, and nearly knocking over the head maid as the older woman rushed in to deliver the wash..
"Mornin' Lottie, lovely weather today." Merida grinned darting around the woman.
"No different from any other day M'lady" Lottie bowed while Merida continued on her way. "Where are you off to lass?"
"Out" Merida said vaguely as she dodged around a maid carrying clean linens and down the steps into the kitchens.
On her way out the back entrance she grabbed an apple. Her three brothers, Hamish, Harris and Hubert were in the kitchen trying to sneak out an array of fresh baked sweets. They looked up at her with wide eyed, guilty expressions.
"I won't tell if you won't." Merida winked and her brothers made the motion of zipping their lips before scampering away through one of their secret tunnels.
Merida chuckled before walking out the back way and to the stables where her horse Angus was waiting.
"Ready to go boy." Merida smiled throwing a saddle on the horse.
The horse whinnied and clapped his hooves on the ground, already excited at getting to go out for a run.
Merida smiled "You look as eager as I am to get out of here" She hopped on tying her quiver to her hip and taking a hold of the reigns. "Let's go! Yah!"
The horse took off taking a run out the castle gates and taking off for the stone bridge that led to the foot worn forest path that was used to train the kingdom's archers.
Here was where she felt most at home, running amongst the trees with the wind in her messy red hair. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and notched it in the bow, pulling it taut to her cheek like her father taught her when she was a wee lass.
The first target was coming up fast so she released the arrow watching as it hit it's target in the dead center with a satisfying thunk.
The course continued, Merida hitting every target dead on, which wasn't all that surprising. Even though she was a Princess, Merida was the best archer in the kingdom, maybe even better than those from the Sun Kingdom.
She wasn't too bad with sword fighting either.
At the end of the course she steered her horse on a new course, heading into the deeper unexplored woods that would eventually take her to the tall impassable mountain range that separated her kingdom from the Kingdom of Berk.
"I've heard stories that even the women of Berk are proud, fierce warriors." Merida spoke aloud looking gazing up at the mountains in wonder. "The queen herself had died in a noble fight to the death."
Angus snorted in response shaking his mane and getting back his breath.
"They fight Dragons, isn't that incredible?" Merida asked petting the Angus' neck. "Let's go, I want to try drinkin' from the Fire Falls today."
Angus snorted again in confirmation and took off following the line of mountains towards the North.

By the time she returned home, the sky had turned pink as the sun set in the distance. Merida was in the process of brushing twigs and leaves out of her hair as she entered the kitchen with a heaping plate of food.
"Mum! Dad! you will never guess what I-" Merida let the sentence trail off midway when she saw that the King and Queen had a guest sitting at the table to the right side of the king.
The guest looked up as she entered giving the Princess a small smile before standing up and giving her a gracious bow. "Princess Merida it has been a long time."
That guest was me.
"Lady Goose" Merida curtsied respectfully before taking a seat at the table between myself and her mother, Queen Elinor. "What are you doing here?"
It weirded me out, being called Lady by someone five years older than me. There were variety of names people called me even after I told them they could call me Katherine but it hardly made much difference to me. Besides the goose nickname sort of grew on me, since I did ride a Snow Goose to get from kingdom to kingdom.
"I'm here for your brothers" I smiled at her taking my seat at the table. "Your parents feel it's time for them to learn the stories of the land."
"And she's here to record my tale of my run in with the dreaded beast Mor'du!" King Fergus added in with flourish, brandishing his mutton leg like a sword.
"Master Ombric isn't around?" Merida asked looking around the room for the older man.
"Ombric says that now that I'm almost 13, I should start travelling alone. Plus he hasn't quite been feeling well." I said with some sadness poking at the haggis on my plate with a fork. That's a sheep stomach by the way, why they ate that here, I will never know. I much prefered the richer food of the Sun kingdom or the comforting food of Santoff Clausen.
A bow clattered on the table next to me causing me to jump a little and Queen Elinor giving Merida a withering stare.
"A princess does not place her weapons on the table." She said pointing to the bow. Merida groaned loudly.
"But Moom, it's just my bow!"
"Off." Elinor ordered in a voice that made it hard to disobey. She had a stern air about her, that made her a fantastic queen. People always listened and respected her because she commanded that respect. It seemed the only people that ever argued with her was her own family but even then, they eventually obeyed.
Merida groaned again but took her bow off the table, placing it on the floor.
"A princess shouldn't have weapons in my opinion." Elinor added offhandedly.
"Leave her be." King Fergus said, "Princess or not, learnin' to fight is essential."
The queen looked as if she wanted to protest but was distracted by the head maid whispering something in her ear and handing her three letters.
"Thank you Lottie"
The portly woman bowed before taking her leave.
Merida's eyes lit up as she turned to face her father, "Oh I wanted to tell you! I drank from the fire falls today!"
Judging from the expressions on her brothers' faces; eyes wide, mouths open in a shocked gasp, this was a pretty big deal.
"They say only the ancient kings were brave enough to drink from those waters." Fergus laughed proudly giving his daughter a wink.
Merida turned to her mother looking for some similar type of praise but her mother's attention was on the letters. "What was that you said dear?"
Merida sighed "Nothing, mother."
Reading over the letters, Elinor turned to me and gave a slight nod to the door. "Katherine, I hate to be rude but if you would so kind as to take the boys to their room." She turned to Fergus. "We have something very important to discuss with our daughter."
I nodded politely leaving the dining hall with the three boys in tow. The doors were shut loud behind us. I turned to the three boys suddenly feeling a bit self conscious, this was my first time telling a story, could I do it the way Ombric could? Could I make the stories come to life? Which one should I even start with?
"I WON'T GO THROUGH WITH IT!" The giant doors were slammed open as the Princess stormed through, turning back to glare at her mom. "You can't make me!" She added before storming past us and going off to her room.
The three boys and I watched her go with our eyes and once she was too far away away to be seen we continued following her progress with our ears until she made it to her room, slamming that door as well.
"She knows how to make a fuss, I'll give her that." I commented to the boys, they nodded silently in agreement.
"At least I know what story I should tell you." I smiled ushering the boys to their room. "It's an old tale, you may have even heard of it. It's the story of a proud prince and how he went off to follow his own path..."

Merida, in her own way, had a right to be upset. The three letters were from the lords of their kingdom, offering up their sons for Merida's hand.
Just like that her days of being free, of riding in the forests, shooting arrows into the sunset, were gone. Soon she was going to be exactly like her mother, the thought filled her with dread and disgust.
She pulled out her sword that she had stashed under the bed and began repeatedly striking the bedpost with it, letting out whatever anger had built up. "'Do this Merida. Strive for perfection Merida. Be more like me Merida' Never!" She shouted, the bedpost proving itself to be a sturdy opponent.
The door to her room was opened slowly causing Merida to glance up at her mother. Elinor's face was stern but her eyes gentle and imploring. She was out of 'queen mode' and was now in 'mother mode.'
"Mother, Marriage? Suitors!? I'm just not ready, I don't think I'll ever be ready!" Merida said as her mother shut the door behind her.
"I understand" Her mother sighed taking a seat on the bed beside her. "I had convictions myself when I was married. But this is who we are, we can't just run away."
"'We!?' no there is no 'we' in this at all!" Merida hissed getting off her bed and putting distance between herself and her mother "This is what you want!"
"I'm doing what's best for you!" Elinor said raising her voice in that way that meant she expected obedience. "For this kingdom."
"Why do I even bother talking to you at all!?" Merida groaned feeling her frustration leak through. "You don't listen to me, you are never there for me," She swung her sword at the air, the sword making a whistling sound as it sliced the air. "You tell me what to do, what not to do!"
"Merida you are going to be a future queen. It's time you take some responsibility and act like it." Elinor said going to the door and opening it. "The lord's sons will be here tomorrow. This is going to happen whether you wish it to or not." Elinor sighed suddenly feeling very tired and old. "You will wake up bright and early tomorrow to prepare your outfit. Good night dear." And with that as the final word, Elinor shut the door closed behind her.
Merida let out a frustrated groan before grabbing a pillow and shoving her face into it, letting out the loudest scream she could manage.
So loud was the scream she failed to hear low rumbling come from the direction of the mountains as Hiccup the Viking and his new dragon companion crashed into their cave.

For about maybe .5 seconds, Hiccup thought last night was all just some crazy dream and he was back at Berk, sleeping in his own bed.
But then he opened his eyes and realized pretty quickly that no, last night wasn't a dream.
From the look of things, he was in some sort of cave, beside him a dragon was sleeping peacefully one of it's wings draped over Hiccup like a blanket.
Hiccup froze and stared at the creature, having never seen a dragon this close without fearing for his life. It was a rather surreal experience, he was half tempted to touch it and see what the scales felt like. But before he could get the chance, the dragon opened it's eyes causing Hiccup to let out a very manly yelp.
"You think too loudly." The Night Fury garbled in a strange language that Hiccup was surprised to find, he actually understood.
"Dragons can talk?!" Hiccup asked crawling out from under the dragon's black wing and backing up a good distance until his back hit the cave wall.
The Night Fury seemed surprised by this, his head alert and his eyes wide as he stared at Hiccup like he was the weird one.
"No don't give me that look! You definitely said something!" Hiccup said pointing an accusatory finger at the dragon.
The Night Fury looked behind him then back at Hiccup, pointing at himself with a questioning look.
"Fine, play dumb then, make me look like the crazy one!" Hiccup spoke exasperated, tossing his arms in the air. "I'm trying to communicate with a dragon, clearly I hit my head harder than I thought."
The Night fury gave a silent snicker, giving the boy a gummy smile.
Hiccup gave a small smile, at least he had a sense of humor, even if it was at his expense. "Where exactly are we?" Hiccup asked looking around at his surroundings.
The cave was very wet, the stalactites dripping water to the cave floor, and very dark. The only light visible was off in the distance in the opposite direction from the opening they crashed through. A giant boulder had blocked the entry way and judging from the lack of light, there were many more around it, keeping the rock in place.
"Well this is just grand now isn't it?" Hiccup muttered sarcastically running a hand through his hair. "We're stuck here. You can't even fly us out of here and back home can you?"
The dragon gingerly moved his damaged tail so he could properly examine it in what little light they had. The whole left tail wing was completely gone, and while he could maybe fly short distances without it, flying over that mountain again with Hiccup on his back would be impossible.
"Can't you build me a new tail?" The dragon asked in his garbled tongue, tilting his head curiously.
"Oh so you can talk?" Hiccup pointed out his arms folded over his chest.
The Night Fury rolled his eyes, but otherwise ignored the comment.
"I could if I had the tools and the material." Hiccup continued patting himself to see what he did have. A small knife, his notebook and not much else. "and it would seem I left my giant smithing hammer at home. Let's go back and get it, oh wait, we can't."
"You don't have to be mean about it." The Dragon frowned his ears drooping. "I was just trying to keep you safe from the Dragon Queen."
"Who?"
"The Dragon Queen, she controls us, makes us do her bidding." The Dragon explained in growls. "She's evil, she wanted me to kill you."
"Why me?" Hiccup sputtered. In all their discussions about the dragons that attacked Berk, the villagers never mentioned any such being.
"You are the chief's son." The Night Fury said, "She wanted a body to display as a symbol of her wrath or something like that."
"Well..." Hiccup looked up a little suspiciously "Are you going to kill me now?"
"If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead!" The Dragon snapped. "For whatever reason she can't control me anymore, I can't hear her voice any more, it's been replaced with yours. That makes you my new master."
"But that doesn't make any sense!" Hiccup exclaimed. "How can you hear my voice all of a sudden, why am I your new master?"
"I know about as much as you do right now." A loud growling sound came from the creature's stomach, he looked down at his belly and then back at Hiccup with a hopeful look.
"Breakfast?" He asked licking his lips.
"Oh... uh, I don't have any food. You aren't going to eat me are you."
"No humans taste gross, I like fish!" The Night Fury bounced excitedly in place like he could hardly keep still.
"Wait, so you've TRIED human once!"
"I just licked him" The Dragon made a disgusted look as if recalling something unpleasant. "I saw other dragons do it, so I was curious. Vikings don't really bathe."
"But you like fish? You know what... never mind, I'm not going to question it." Hiccup sighed walking to the other side of the cave, where the sun's morning rays were shining in from outside.
"Do you have a name?"
"I've always been called Night Fury, but if you want, you can give me a name."
"Hmm..." Hiccup pondered it over carefully. "Blackie?"
The Night Fury gave him a dead panned expression that just screamed 'no.'
"You said I could pick." Hiccup stated.
"That doesn't mean I'm not going to have an opinion." Toothless growled baring his teeth.
Hiccup blinked leaning in a little closer and squinting his eyes to take a look at the Night Fury's mouth. "You have teeth?" Hiccup asked scratching his head as he straightened up. "You didn't before."
"They're retractable see?" The Dragon opened his mouth wide retracting and revealing his teeth for Hiccup to see.
Hiccup watched in fascination before an idea lit up in his eyes. "I'll call you Toothless."
"But I have teeth!" The Dragon now named Toothless whined.
"It's either that or Blackie." Hiccup said as they neared the exit of the cave, the sound of rushing water roaring in the din of the cave.
"...Toothless is a fine name." Toothless frowned. "Do you have a name, human or shall I come up with one for you too?"
"Just call me Hiccup" The boy smiled holding out a hand the dragon's head. Toothless flinched expecting to be hit, ready to apologize for whatever he did or said wrong. But Hiccup just lightly scratched behind his ears in a way that almost made him purr.
"No need to look so scared, if I wanted to kill you, you would have been dead already." Hiccup smiled flexing his noodle arms for emphasis. "I just can't keep this raw, Viking-ness contained."
Toothless gave a little snort that may have been a laugh and roughly nudged Hiccup's shoulder with his nose.
It was ironic how he felt more free than ever, even when he was robbed of flight.

After leaving the dank cave they found themselves a short way from a large cliff waterfall, the morning sun making it glow bright gold.
"A waterfall means a river and a river means-"
"Fish!" Toothless leapt around Hiccup excitedly running to the water before running back. "Are you gonna build a super fish catching thing?" Toothless asked crouching down like he was a dog wanting to play.
Hiccup chuckled slightly shaking his head. "If you mean a fishing pole or a net, I could if I had rope or something."
"We don't have that?" Toothless asked curiously.
"No I left my rope and everything I would need at home." He sighed feeling exasperated at having to repeat himself, "I'm not sure how we're going to catch fish."
Toothless frowned sitting back on his hind legs while Hiccup paced.
Toothless suddenly got an idea and trotted over to the river.
"What are you-"
Toothless narrowed his gaze at the river, zeroing in on a good sized salmon before launching himself into the river and splashing water every which way. Hiccup blinked in surprise as Toothless lifted his claws up hesitantly and huffed at what he saw, or rather, didn't see.
"I missed..." Toothless mumbled turning to look at Hiccup with a pout.
Hiccup covered his mouth with his fingers and turned away trying to contain the laugh that was bubbling up from his chest. What would the village think if they saw the 'deadly' Night Fury acting like a household cat. They probably wouldn't believe it.
Toothless spotted another fish and crouched down as if a cat about to pounce, another splash. "I missed again Hiccup!" Toothless called out in a snarl. "They're really fast!" and Hiccup couldn't take it anymore.
He let out a laugh, probably the most uncharacteristic laugh he had ever made.
"It's not funny Hiccup! I'm hungry!" Toothless snarled but his sad pouty face made him look much less ferocious.
"Ok ok, I'll try to help get out of the water or you'll scare them away!" Hiccup chuckled. As his laughter died down he wiped the corners of his eyes with a sleeve. "Let's walk down stream a bit, maybe we'll find more."
Toothless perked slightly and followed Hiccup keeping his ears tuned in for any danger.
"Everything I've been told about Dragons, it's completely wrong isn't it?" Hiccup asked picking up a large stick as he walked, turning it in his hands, wondering if he could make something with it.
"Depends, what do they say about me?" Toothless smiled moving up so his head was level with Hiccup's.
"That you are the unholy offspring of Lightning and Death itself and that you are dangerous"
"Then I wouldn't say they are COMPLETELY wrong" Toothless growled softly in what could have been a pleased purr. "I am dangerous and very scary."
Hiccup rolled his eyes "Toothless the Nightfury, eater of fish" He shivered sarcastically "Gives me a little chill just saying it."
"You were the one to name me." Toothless mumbled a protest.
"You didn't have to accept it." Hiccup pointed out tossing the useless stick aside. "I think it suits you more than Nightfury, you aren't scary, you're adorable."
"You are one to talk, little human Hiccup." Toothless grinned nudging his back and nearly knocking the boy on his face. "You are small and fragile, but also a surprise, like a hiccup."
"That's not really why I'm named Hiccup back home." The boy chuckled but it wasn't all that strong as before.
"Why were you named Hiccup then?" Toothless asked genuinely curious.
"..." Hiccup didn't respond his mind racing with mixed emotions, grief, anger, disappointment, love, hatred all twisted together and either aimed at himself or towards others. Toothless wondered if maybe he should pry, but thought better of it.
Some secrets were best left unshared and this was clearly a sore subject.
After about five minutes of following the river bank they arrived at a spot where the river was not only the widest but also dropped down becoming a small waterfall. A vast number of salmon jumped right out of the water attempting to jump the small ledge and continue their journey upstream.
"I don't think we could get it more perfect than this" Hiccup grinned toeing off his boots and rolling up the legs of his pants "Let's see if we can catch one."
The boy stepped carefully along the ledge, taking care not to slip on the loose rocks while Toothless waded in the deeper water pulling himself up on the secure, dry, and well placed rock in the middle of the ledge.
The dragon crouched waiting for a fish to jump towards him, when one got close he snapped after it, catching it by the tail fin, tossing it back and swallowing it whole, looking way too pleased with himself as he licked his lips.
"Good catch Toothless" Hiccup smiled leaning over to catch one himself but instead of landing in his hands the fish over shot and hit him smack in the face knocking Hiccup back into the water with a yelp.
Toothless let out a little snicker while Hiccup pushed a fringe of wet brown hair out of his face and fixed the dragon with a glare.
"You think you're funny do you?" Hiccup said rubbing at his face where the fish hit as he stood up.
"It was pretty funny" Toothless admitted catching another fish and swallowing it whole.
Hiccup tried a few more attempts, missing each time, while Toothless caught about three more. Getting a bit hungry and frustrated, Hiccup gave a slight sigh and gave up. He walked to the shore and laid out in the sun, attempting to get dry. His stomach growled in protest at the lack of food, and Hiccup knew he really should eat something, especially if he was going to figure out how to get home from... wherever it was they were, Hiccup wasn't all too sure himself.
Toothless watched the boy with some concern and managed to catch one more fish in his mouth before trotting to the shore.
"Ate your fill huh?" Hiccup asked sitting up and eyeing the fish in Toothless' mouth. Toothless smiled around the fish in his mouth before dropping it on Hiccup's lap. Hiccup stared at the offering then up at Toothless looking a bit confused.
"For me? I would think you would want me to starve." Hiccup said taking the wriggling fish in his hands and standing up.
"Why would you think that?" Toothless asked.
"It must hurt your pride, having to listen to a scrawny Viking like me."
"You don't make me do anything I don't want to do and you are funny." Toothless smiled sitting back on his hind legs. "I know Dragons and Vikings aren't supposed to be friends, so lets not be a Dragon and a Viking. Let's just be Toothless and Hiccup."
Hiccup blinked a little in surprise but then his face cracked into a grin. To trust a dragon, it went against everything Vikings believed in, but right now they needed each other so there was no harm in a temporary partnership.
"I don't see why not." Hiccup said, "Do you think you can light me a fire so I can cook this?"
Toothless smiled a matching grin and was about to say something when his ears perked and he got down on all fours into a low crouch, fixing an angry glare at the trees behind Hiccup.
"Get behind me." Toothless ordered his eyes narrowing to slits and his teeth bared.
Hiccup spun around and saw for himself what Toothless saw.
A girl, maybe about Hiccup's age, was standing in the shadows of the trees. Little pinpoints of light that broke through the trees, reflected against her bright red curls, otherwise the details of her face were shadowed by the trees. The one thing Hiccup did notice was that in her hand she had a bow, an arrow notched and pulled back, ready to fly the second she let go, and she had the point of the arrow aiming right at Hiccup.
Hiccup felt trapped, unable to move an inch as the two stared each other down, a single thought entered his mind at that moment that pretty much summed everything up perfectly.
'Dadada we're dead.'