"A bear?!" Hiccup gave Merida an incredulous look. He had been silent for her whole story, listening intently. When she had finished, Hiccup's first reaction was this.

"Yeah, not my finest moment. But still, I wouldn't change a thing. What I got from that whole experience was far better than anything I could have asked some witch for." Merida said.

Hiccup nodded slowly then said "But why a bear?"

Merida gave a light breathy laugh. "Fate has a tasteless sense of irony, I guess."

"Well, you're not wrong there" Hiccup agreed, fiddling with his metal foot. "However I will have to disagree with you on one thing."

Merida raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Not to brag or anything, but my tale is a bit more, dangerous, if you will. I mean, come on, dragons." Hiccup feigned a boastful expression and Merida burst out laughing. She defended her case, but eventually agreed his was the better tale, by a margin. Not before giving him a light punch on the arm, though.

They sat for awhile after that, talking about anything and everything that came to mind. Merida and Hiccup found that Berk and the Highlands were quite similar in many ways( 'Yule!' 'oh, you mean Snoggletog!' 'what?!'), with minor differences that always seemed strange to the other ( 'what do you mean, it's the stomach of a goat! You eat that?!). The festival continued on around them unnoticed, the sun retired in to the horizon leaving the sky dark but for the luminescent moon accompanied by a sheen of stars, sending everyone back inside the main hall. Hiccup and Merida had barely noted their absence until a sudden chill breeze made Merida shiver and they realised how late it was.

"Oh no, the feast! Mum'll have my head!" Merida said jumping up and pulling Hiccup with her. By the time they got to the castle, they could tell that the feast had well and truly began. Merida could see her father and Stoick laughing loudly together. Her mother, however, had a very distinctive unimpressed expression on her face Merida had come to associate as the oncoming storm. Her absence had been noted and she would hear about it for the rest of the festival.

"Ach! She knows. Ah well, nothing to be done for it now." Merida turned to Hiccup at the door "I'll talk to you later, Hic." And just like that, she was gone. Hiccup followed her through the doors, but she had disappeared from sight completely.

She called me 'Hic'. Feeling like his head was swimming slightly, he made his way to the nearest table, plomping down next to Fishlegs who was in the middle of a discussion with Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

He picked at his food, looking around the room slightly bored. After a minute or so, he spotted Astrid staring at him suspiciously. He quickly averted her gaze back to his food. 'So someone noticed I was missing too.' Hiccup thought. He looked up at the head of the hall to where his father was sitting with the Bear King, who were now singing a loud and boisterous song about Thor and his hammer Mjolnir. He followed the table along to where the Queen was talking sternly to Merida, slumped in her seat, thoroughly uninterested. She looked up at him and smiled, making Hiccup nervously smile back and quickly return his focus back to his food.

".. told me that the Bear King once killed 20 bears, single-handedly, with out any weapons or help at all" Fishlegs said excitedly.

"That's stupid, no one can do that." Ruffnut said as she rolled her eyes.

"No it's not! It's completely possible." Tuffnut replied.

"Ok, why don't you go out there and wrestle 20 bears then?" Ruffnut said sarcastically.

"I never said it was possible for ME." Tuffnut retorted.

Hiccup silently endured hearing more ridiculous rumours about their hosts, some which struck alarmingly close to the story Merida had confided in him. Finally after hearing someone state they were actually were-bears Hiccup could no longer stand his current company, removed himself from the table, claiming he wasn't hungry and needed fresh air. He walked out the hall, through the entrance doors and back out to the grounds, looking for Toothless. He found him not too far from where he and Merida had sat earlier, chasing some garden lizards. The small dragon growled happily at the sight of his rider and bounded over to meet him.

"Hey, bud. You get a good feed?" Hiccup asked with a small pat on his head. Toothless nudged his head into Hiccups side affectionately, then resumed his hunt. Hiccup sat enjoying the silence and reminiscing on the days events. He had to admit to himself that when he awoke this morning, he was not overly enthusiastic about flying out to meet a bunch of apparent blood thirsty Scots with whom his people had been feuding with for years. Now, however, something was different. He felt oddly optimistic and happy about their allegiance. A tiny part of him knew that it was due to a particular young woman. He felt nervous even just thinking about her, though he conveniently put his nerves down to the treaty going well.

With nothing left for him to do, Hiccup collected some kindling and Toothless lit a small fire for him. He made himself comfortable and pulled out his sketchbook from inside his vest with some charcoal. He flipped through some of the newer sketches, pondering over the latest contraptions he had been working on. Unable to concentrate on any of them, he flipped to a blank page and stared at it for a while. Without consciously thinking, he began to draw. Hiccup was no artist, sometimes his concept drawings were barely legible to even himself. His hands took on a life of their own, they sucked every detail from his memory and filled the blank page with charcoal. When he was done he could hardly believe he had drawn Merida so clearly. He sat looking at his drawing proudly until he heard the sound of people talking. Hiccup quickly closed and hid his sketchbook back in his vest as some of the other young vikings walked pass to their makeshift camp.

"Toothless, time for bed." Hiccup called out to the darkness. The small dragon slinked out of the shadows as Hiccup put out the tiny fire and together they walked over to where the Scots had set up a rather large area solely for the dragons to sleep. Once he was settled and happy, Hiccup left. He began to make his way to the camp before he remembered, being the Chiefs son, he would be staying in the castle. Hiccup redirected his route back up to the castle doors and pushed them.. where they would not open. He stood in front of them for a second and then tried pulling them, instead. This did not help either. He was locked out.

'Great. Locked outside on the first night. What could be worse.' Hiccup sighed. A roll of thunder answered him from above and he made an exasperated gesture. "Oh, come on!"

There wasn't anything left to it. He could either go back to Toothless and attempt to sleep with 20+ dragons on itchy hay. He could go down to the camp but there would probably be no beds left and Hiccup like the idea of sleeping with the dragons more than the camp. Or he could try and find another way into the castle. As the first drops of rain began to fall, he sighed and started to walk around the castle.

Not so far away, Merida had been walking back to her room with her mother and discussing the days events.

"So it's looking good? The treaty, I mean?" Merida said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"It is still only the first day, but yes. It does look promising." The Queen answered with a hopeful expression. "Your father and Chief Stoick are getting along better than anyone could have hoped. Tomorrow and the day after will be the real test though. We will start to work out the details of the treaty and I'm sure there are going to be some disagreements."

"It's okay Mum. Everything's going to work out, I know it."

Elinor cast a suspicious side glance at her surprisingly enthusiastic daughter. "You're remarkably interested, Merida." She said smiling slightly.

"What? No, i'm not! I don't care! I couldn't care less!" Merida rushed.

"Well, regardless, I am going to need your help in keeping the young vikings occupied tomorrow while we hold court. We will not have time for interruptions. There will be activities for them to do as there were today, but they are in your charge. Make sure they are happy. Can you do this?"

"Yes! Of course, yes!" Merida said straight away.

"Yes, I thought you would. Though, please don't spend ALL day with the dragons."

"I wasn't-" Merida had began to protest however her mother cut her off with a knowing look and she stopped. "Okay, I'll try."

"That's all I ask. So have you taken to any of these new young men in our Kingdom?"

Merida nearly choked on her own spit. "What? Mum! No?!"

Her mother laughed at her expression. "What about that young boy you were talking about in the kitchens? The Chiefs son?"

Merida could feel the heat rising in her face again. "Hiccup?"

"Was he the one you kept staring at during tonights feast?"

"I wasn't staring! I wasn't staring at anyone! I was looking at everyone!" The burning sensation had completely covered her head and Merida thought she could probably fry an egg on her face.

The Queen smiled at her and Merida knew she wasn't fooled, but once again she didn't push the subject any further. They reached Meridas room and The Queen kissed her goodnight.

She closed the door behind her and let out a gasp of relief.

'She's so embarrassing sometimes..' Merida changed into her nightgown, lit the oil lamp beside her bed and climbed in. She grabbed the book from beside her bed and began to read lazily, listening to the thunder outside. Unable to focus on the book, she tossed it aside, went over to the window and opened it fully. She loved the sound of the thunder and rain, how it reverberated through her body and made her feel alive. As she stood by her window enjoying the cold wind, she noticed something down near the ground of the castle. Someone was walking around the outskirts of the castle. She squinted to try and see against the rain, when she seen the glint of metal where a foot should have been.

"Hiccup?!" Merida yelled down at the figure.

They stopped for a second and looked around then continued on walking.

"Hiccup! Up here!" Merida yelled again, louder this time.

Hiccup heard it again this time and looked up to see Merida half hanging out of a window not too far off from the ground. He waved awkwardly.

"What are you doing?!"

"I.. uh, got locked out!"

"Go to the kitchen doors! It's back the way you came! I'll let you in!"

Hiccup nodded and began to make his way back. Merida ran across her room, out the door and through the halls towards the kitchens. When she reached them, it was empty and dark, all the servants long since retired to their own beds. She lit one the lamps and walked over to the door. Hiccup was walking up the tiny steps as Merida opened the door for him.

"Oh, gods, look at you! You're absolutely drenched! Here, sit down, I'll get you some blankets." Merida forced him into a chair at the kitchen table, leaving and returning with a bundle of animal skin blankets.

"Thanks." Hiccup said as Merida draped two over him, trying not to shiver like a little child. "For awhile th-there, I thought you all l-left the castle."

Merida chuckled softly at his joke and he felt the warmth return inside his chest. She put a hand on his cheek and he froze at her sudden touch. Merida frowned slightly.

"You're still really cold." She got up from her seat next to him and walked over to the hearth and lit a fire.

The warmth was immediate but his cheek seemed to burn with intensity.

"Are you hungry?" Merida asked. "I don't know about you but I could do with a bite."

"Yeah, I could eat." Hiccup nodded.

Merida gathered a few of the dishes that were left over from the feast.

"We usually give the food that is left over to those who cannot buy or grow their own in our kingdom. I'm sure they won't miss one dish."

"That's really thoughtful."

Merida shrugged. "It's either that or it goes to the pigs. And they eat anything. Might as well help those in need."

She set the platter full of assorted meats and vegetables on the table and they both helped themselves straight away. Once they were done, Merida cleared the table and sat back down next to Hiccup.

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thanks."

"So.. how did you get locked out?"

"I, er, was with Toothless and lost track of time." Hiccup answered. He didn't want to tell her he had been distracted drawing her resemblance.

"We never used to lock the castle doors. We never felt the need to. But after what happened to me and Mum, my dad got a dozen more guards and made the security around the castle so much tighter. It's made it that much harder sneaking out."

"So you don't sneak out anymore because of a few more guards?" Hiccup asked, disbelievingly.

"Of course I do. It's so boring around here without a little challenge." Merida replied with a sly smile and Hiccup laughed under his breath.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You don't sneak out? At all?"

"I don't have to anymore. But I used to, when I was younger. All the time. Though I hardly call it sneaking out, so much as simply walking out the door."

"Hmm.. I guess you could get the same feeling from riding dragons."

"Hmm.. yes, I guess you could, more or less."

They sat in silence for a second then laughed, rather loudly. They sat talking for a little while longer until they both had began to yawn, the fire making the drowsy. Merida suggested they call it a night and Hiccup agreed, now completely dry and longing for a comfortable bed. They walked through the dark, silent halls together, towards Hiccups room. Every now and then their hands would bump against each other and they would both try to ignore it. When they finally reached the room, Merida asked Hiccup if there was anything he needed, to which he jokingly replied for something to forget his embarrassment for the whole day. Merida laughed and bade him goodnight, then returned to her own room.

As she lay in her own bed, attempting sleep she could not help but relive everything that had happened that day. Seeing the dragons, meeting the dragons, meeting the vikings.. meeting Hiccup. Merida smiled into her pillow, thinking she had all of tomorrow to go through it again.

A/N: Thanks for sticking around so long you guys. I really appreciate it. I'm sorry chapters are so randomly dispersed, if I was a better person I would meet deadlines. Next chapter will be up soon. If you liked it, please leave a review. Thanks.