Disclaimer: I don't own Hiccup or Merida, obviously. I'm not making any money off this. Both characters and the movies they come from belong to Dreamworks and Disney, respectively. If you really want to see something to blow you away, go watch the movies. Then think about these two interacting. Then you'll see what I mean.


CROSSING THE HORIZON

The Highlands


Hours after passing into the Highlands, the sailors spied a longship directly ahead flying a green banner that flapped briskly in the breeze. The longship faced the shore and took up most of the space around the river. Hiccup realized that, while the ship was smaller than the snekjja, it was more maneuverable—ideal for river combat. Men in leather armor and bearing short swords were either at the benches or staring directly ahead at the approaching Viking ship.

Stoick signaled for the sailors to stop their rowing. Slowbottom let the sails slacken. A murmur rose amongst the sailors and Hiccup saw many furtively reach for their longswords. Hiccup's hands tightened around the ship's wheel. He was too far from the weapons and even if he had a sword, he didn't know how much good he'd be against seasoned Highland warriors. It was dead silent on the snekjja. Slowbottom, who never shut up, watched the Highland ship with narrowed eyes. Hiccup followed his gaze.

This was the first time Hiccup had ever seen a Highlander. Stoick joked that they were soft and weak, but there was no softness Hiccup could find among the implacable, hard faces gazing back at him. Many of the men were as thick and broad-shouldered as many of the villagers in Berk and bore scowls just as threatening. But what intrigued Hiccup the most was the apparel they wore. They wore leather and bore steel like most warriors, but unlike Vikings, the men wore patterned cloth round their waist that fell to their knees. It looked like a skirt. Hiccup saw many of the sailors murmuring amongst themselves.

"It's called a kilt," Slowbottom told Hiccup abruptly. When Hiccup glanced at him, Slowbottom clarified, "Instead of trousers like proper folk, it's the fashion of Highland men to wear kilts. Valhallarama said you could tell which clan a man is from based on the pattern of his kilt. Highland foolishness." Slowbottom shook his head. "Whatever you do, don't laugh at it. Quick way to set an argument."

The Highland ship drifted closer with the current. From this distance, Hiccup could make out the design on the banner—a sword set against a circular pattern.

"Who goes there?" hailed a strangely accented voice in Norse from the Highland longship. The man who spoke wore a kilt of deep blue and green. Hiccup thought it looked ridiculous, but there was nothing ridiculous about the studded leather armor the man wore around his torso or the skullcap round his head. But more than his apparel, there was a careful nonchalance about his person. Most men, Hiccup knew from experience, tried to make themselves seem intimidating. This man, though he was shorter and older than most of the Viking sailors, was making a deliberate effort to appear friendly—almost as if he was intimidating by default.

"Stoick of Berk," said Stoick, folding his thickly muscled arms. He looked calm and unimpressed. "We were assured safe passage to Clan DunBroch by the king and queen. And who might you be?"

"The King's assurance of safe passage," the man replied. His eyes took quick stock of the snekjja, surveying the shields and dragonhead, focusing on the men and their weapons and finally resting on Stoick. "Mind if I come aboard? I'm to escort you personally to the castle."

Many of the sailors muttered amongst themselves. "Something wrong with your boat?" Stoick asked, ignoring the warning from his men.

"It's yours that I'm worried about."

"What does that mean?"

"The Highlands remember when the Vikings came to raid and plunder," he said in a hard tone. "Even escorted as you are by the King's ship, they're not like to leave a Viking boat alone especially one so armed. I'll be there in case they need…gentle persuasion."

Hiccup blinked and realized the truth of the man's words. The snekjja was outfitted for war. Its men wore their weight in weapons and armor. It hardly looked friendly and neighbor-like. Stoick seemed to be thinking along the same lines as his son. The chief took a moment then called over, "Be our guest."

By this point, the two ships drifted close enough that only a few feet of water separated them. The Highlander spoke a few words to another sailor in low tones before shaking his head. Then he walked to the railing of the Highland ship and with an impressive leap jumped aboard the snekkja. He ignored the surprised, hostile stares of the sailor around him and took a long, searching look around the snekjja. His brow lifted when he spotted Hiccup behind the wheel but other than that flicker, his expression gave nothing away. For a man armed with only a short sword and outnumbered by hostile Vikings, he seemed impressively at ease. He approached Stoick. Behind him, Hiccup could see the Highlanders reaching for weapons on their own boat. The Viking sailors realized it at the same time. The atmosphere grew thick and tense. Hiccup's pulse started hammering in his throat.

"Stoick the Vast. Chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe," said the man. "You probably don't remember me, but you're a hard man to forget." He smiled then and executed a deep, respectful nod. It was as if a breath was released. The Highlanders visibly relaxed.

"I know your face," said the chief. His eyes flicked once to his men and he nodded. The Viking sailors slowly put down their weapons. "Fergus's man. The Queen's favorite champion."

"Aye, the King's man through and through," said the man, laughing. "But I'm too old to be championing anything. The name's Kincaid and I'll be your guide. Shall we?"

The sailors were quiet as they rowed against the current and sailed deeper into enemy territory. They watched Kincaid with mistrustful gazes but otherwise made no comment. Slowbottom manned the sails himself while Stoick paced the length of the boat. Every now and again he'd relieve a sailor who needed a break from rowing or talked in low tones with others. In sharp contrast to the increasing beauty of their surroundings, the Viking chief grew tenser and tenser.

Hiccup could see why the Viking clans wanted to conquer the Highlands. It was a land of gently sloping hills, breathtaking heights, winding rivers, verdant green, deep forests and an abundance of wildlife. They spotted several sizeable herds of cattle and sheep that could feed Berk comfortably if they had the means to transport them back. The breeze that blew past was warm and gentle, filled with the heady scents of strange flowers. He missed Toothless now, more than ever. There was just so much to take in and see and he knew he could explore it all on Toothless's back. Hiccup felt like he was drowning in the intensity of the colors and the richness of the scents in the air.

"Careful, lad," said the Highlander. "If your mouth hangs open any wider, you'll catch a fish jumping out of the river." Hiccup started badly, then blushed. He'd been so absorbed staring at everything around them that he hadn't even noticed the Highlander approach the ship's wheel. The man laughed, not unkindly, at Hiccup's reaction. "You'll never see her like no matter how far you travel. Is it your first time?"

"The first I remember," Hiccup replied, careful to keep his voice unhurried and clear. "I was told that I visited the Highlands when I was little."

"I thought I recognized your face," Kincaid said. "You could pass for your mother."

Hiccup blinked. Was the stranger making fun of him or did his words just translate badly from his own native tongue to Norse? "Was it the slender hips or the long flowing hair that gave it away?" Hiccup asked dryly in slow Gaelic. At Kincaid's confusion, he repeated the man's earlier words in Gaelic.

Kincaid guffawed at his own mistake. "Pardon, lad," said the man. "I'm not as fluent in Norse as I used to be. Where did you learn Gaelic?"

"I apprenticed under the blacksmith in Berk who knew the language. He wanted me to be fluent so that I could watch out for … bad traders."

"So a blacksmith, a trader, a linguist and a beauty," Kincaid smiled. It was hard to remember that he was, technically, a possible enemy. Kincaid's face was open and friendly. He could be another Gobber, Hiccup thought.

"I'm not a very good blacksmith or linguist," Hiccup shrugged, suddenly worrying that he had revealed too much of himself. Slowbottom's word of warning sounded in his mind, and he affected a casual nonchalance. "I am a beauty, though."

"Think much of yourself, do you?"

"Some men have their tempers. Others their appetites," Hiccup said, "I have my vanity. I can't say I've seen a prettier face than the one I see in the water."

Kincaid laughed out loud again, "If you were this spunky when you were little, I can see why the princess liked you so much."

"Did she?" Hiccup asked, curious in spite of his resolve to be more wary. He knew Elinor and Fergus by reputation but little had been said of their daughter.

"Aye," Kincaid said. "Just a few months back, I was telling her how she swore she wouldn't come down from the top of the tower 'till you returned."

"So the stories are true," Hiccup said, brow raised, "Princesses do wait for handsome heroes on the tops of towers."

"Oh, that's Merida, all right," Kincaid said dryly. "Traditional to the bone."

They passed several ports and small villages. Many fled at the sight of the passing Viking ship—farmers with their ploughs, shepherds with their flocks, fishermen with their nets, women, and children. Those that didn't lined the shores, arms crossed or bearing weapons and scowling viciously. Hiccup spied many of the sailors returning the same gesture, but at least no angry words were exchanged. Those that followed the Viking ship were quick to disperse once they spotted Kincaid walking the length of the boat. Once, a group of boys not much younger than Hiccup followed the Viking longship. Kincaid spoke one angry sentence in Gaelic Hiccup didn't catch, and the boys scattered obediently back to their villages.

Stoick was keenly aware of their appearances after Kincaid's warning. The warriors they crossed on the shore wore leather armor, if they had any, (and none as fine as the ones the king's men wore) and bore clubs or short swords. It looked woefully inadequate compared to the chainmail and longswords the Vikings bore. The further along they went, the more Stoick asked warriors to either shed the chainmail hauberk, their secondary weapon or cover themselves with their cloaks.

"Gods, even as beggared as we are for supplies, we're still better armed than they are," Stoick said to Hiccup, disbelief and amusement in his deep voice. He was careful to keep his voice low even though Kincaid was on the other end of the longship. "I'll be damned if there's a suit of armor in this land as good as my own."

"Glad to hear it," Hiccup said dryly. "That lamellar armor is my newest design."

"You made this?" Stoick blinked, touching the lamellar hauberk he wore.

"I still can't train dragons to kill Vikings…" Hiccup hesitated and continued, "but I will support you any other way I can." Hiccup smiled. "Toothless heated the steel and I used a different pattern of fastening the pieces together. It gives you better protection and has more flexibility. I took an axe to that model and even had Toothless bite it, but it won't give." With the back of his hand, Hiccup patted a place near the chest where, if Stoick squinted, he could see the armor was slightly dented.

"How long have you been working on this?" Stoick asked, brow raised. Lamellar armor was highly prized amongst the Vikings. It afforded better protection than boiled leather or chain mail armor, but the time and effort required to create lamellar armor almost wasn't worth it. Stoick was surprised when Gobber threw the lamellar armor at him during one of his visits to the forge and told him to try it out. He didn't think Gobber had the time or the patience to make it. He should have known this was Hiccup's work.

"A few months," Hiccup responded, eyes carefully not meeting his father's.

Stoick gave him a hard stare, but let it drop. "Is that one of yours too?" Stoick asked, giving his son's leather armor a critical once-over. "It looks… good." By which, Stoick mostly meant unusual. Dark leather armor and shoulder guards covered his son's upper torso. The red shoulder guard was emblazoned with the grinning horned helm of Berk. If Stoick squinted at the red insignia on the strap, he could just make out the shape of a dragon with half of its tail fin missing. Bulky bracers covered his son's arms from elbow to wrist. The armor seemed to not give enough coverage but was too bulky at the same time. Stoick tried tracing the straps to see what they held together but he couldn't make it out.

"Yeah, I finally finished it," Hiccup smiled. "It's a new design mostly for flying with Toothless. It's light, maneuverable and gives me enough protection. Actually, I'm working on a couple of special features that I think you're gonna—"

"That armor might protect you from a short sword, but you're definitely gonna get skewered with a spear," Stoick interrupted, frowning. "You should have used more chain mail for yourself."

"Let's face it, Dad," Hiccup said dryly. "If a Berserker were coming at me, my best defense is to disappear. Chain mail isn't gonna help with the running." Hiccup expected his father to laugh or smile at least. The air between the two of them was much lighter after their conversation days past. Instead, Stoick was frowning hard at Hiccup's armor.

"I need your help, Hiccup," Stoick said, looking up at Hiccup's face at last. "Did you mean what you said… about supporting me any other way you could?"

"Of course," Hiccup said, glancing up at his father. Slowbottom's words the night before regarding Stoick's motivation for bringing Hiccup to the Highlands flashed in Hiccup's mind.

"We need this trade to go well," Stoick said.

Obviously, Hiccup wanted to say but at the serious look on his father's face, the boy replied, "I understand."

"So could you please not let anything... Hiccup happen?" Stoick winced.

"What?" Hiccup asked, fully turning to face his father properly. Slowbottom barked at him to pay attention to the wheel but Hiccup ignored him.

"We need to present ourselves appropriately to the king and queen," Stoick said in a rush. "Like proper Vikings. We can't afford to have a… disaster happen because the king's hair caught on fire or the forge exploded or the princess got skewered with a spear from a weapon you designed…"

"And I'm the reason all those scenarios happened?" Hiccup gawked. Humiliation swept over Hiccup, but it was a familiar feeling. How many times had he had to tell his father how he screwed up? Still, it was a blow to his confidence especially in light of their last conversation. Hiccup guessed this was one of those moments Stoick was less proud of Hiccup than other times. "Great Odin," Hiccup said softly, exhaling. "I'm not going to screw up that badly. I'm not going to sabotage this mission."

"Son, I know you mean well," Stoick said. "And I know you can't help who you are. But if you can just...not tell any of the Highlanders of certain parts? Like your propensity for disaster? Or doing wild, dangerous things to make a point?"

"Or riding dragons?" Hiccup asked flatly.

"Especially riding dragons," Stoick said firmly. "I think we've learned that that's a secret best kept to ourselves. You know what happened the last time outsiders found out about our dragons."

Hiccup winced at the reminder. Both Alvin and Dagur's reaction to finding out about Berk's dragons, though wildly different, were alarming to say the least. And the Berserkers were supposed to be their allies... Hiccup couldn't imagine what the Highlands' reaction would be to the news that the Hooligans could now ride dragons.

"I can't be honest to a single person over there, can I?" Hiccup sighed.

"Do you even want to be honest to a Highlander?" Stoick asked, raising a brow.

Hiccup huffed. He hadn't been planning on making close friends with Highlanders, but years of trying his hardest to act as Viking-like as possible and having it blow up in his face made him wary of dissimulation. Still... If his own people couldn't understand that dragons weren't weapons, he shouldn't expect any Highlander to understand that either. If his best friend (Hiccup tried not think of her as his ex-girlfriend) couldn't understand him, then he shouldn't expect any better from anybody else.

"Fine," Hiccup relented. "I'm going to put my very best Viking foot forward. It's gonna be great. You'll see."


Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who read/reviewed/favorited/followed the story! EXTRA SPECIAL THANK YOU to LJ9, ForteEXEMaster, merricupshipping and waveringshadow! I'm super excited to hear your reactions to Andres.

LJ: In my opinion, the best protagonist/antagonist relationships occur when there's a certain mirroring between each character (and why I found Drago unexciting for a villain). You got it exactly right. Andres is just as smart as Hiccup if not more with tons of experience, confidence and raw power to back it up.

ForteEXEMaster: Thanks for the read through! I'm so glad you recognize that both Hiccup and Merida have separate problems independent of one another. Like I mentioned with LJ, there's a certain comparing/contrasting between both hence why their chapters are separate for now. As the story progresses, the chapters will get shorter and there'll be tons more interaction.

merriccupshipping: You're so sweet! Thanks for the review :) I've posted this story in Ao3 as well, so if you want to download the chapters, you should look for me there (username: nessalk). Btw, I love your videos!

waveringshadow: I love the relationship between Elinor and Valhallaram too :) I might put up a small flashback between the two of them soon in Liminality. Thanks for the kind words!

I should have mentioned this before, but CROSSING THE HORIZON is the larger story in which the snippets of LIMINALITY take place. Please check out that story if you want to see Hiccup and Merida interacting right away. They still have a ways to go before they meet each other, but hopefully the payoff will be worth the wait :)

Finally, I post snippets of upcoming chapters or thinky thoughts regarding the story on my account nessalk in tumblr. If you want to see more, come check it out!