Chapter X: Merida's Discovery
Hiccup had invited both Elsa and Rapunzel to his private lesson with Maleficent on Friday, and he had finally gotten the full understanding as to how his wings and tail worked together. He also had a successful Quidditch tryout with Captain Bogs, who accepted him as the new team seeker. Based off of Hiccup's flying on his broom, Captain Bogs told Hiccup that if he was a dragon in flight, he would be a Night Fury. Of course, Captain Bogs had no idea about Hiccup being an animagus.
With all of this excitement going on, Hiccup was actually happy to meet up with his four best friends in the library to work on a boring old History of Magic paper assigned by Professor Helga Hufflepuff II. Jack hated her class the most out of the five friends. He had too much energy, charged up by mischief, to sit and take history notes. He even snapped during one class and covered up her chalkboard in a think layer of frost while she wasn't looking at it. Hufflepuff was absolutely dumbfounded when she looked back at her board, but was able to remedy the situation.
"Why do they even teach this class? What purpose does it serve?" Jack asked, but his friends didn't have an answer for him.
"Perhaps you need to take a break and then come back a bit later." Hiccup suggested to him.
"You know, that's the best thing I've heard all day." He replied. He closed his book and got up to look around. Maybe he would find a good story to read within the stacks.
"Ye know, I could use a break too. This assignment makes me think o' the lessons my mother would give me about how to be not jist a good princess, but to be perfect!" Merida told her Ravenclaw friends.
"She's still at that? It's like she can't get it through her head that nobody is perfect!" Elsa replied.
"Tell me about it. Oi, listen, I could use a break meself." Merida mumbled before following after Jack.
"Should we take a break too?" Rapunzel asked.
"I just want to get this paper out of the way." Hiccup told her. He checked his left hand and groaned at the sight of the blots of ink smeared on it. With a sigh, he told the girls: "What a joy it is to be left-handed." They just sniggered, and they finished up their papers.
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"Oi, ye lot, check this out!" Merida called out while slamming a book on their table and Jack following behind her.
"What is it?" Rapunzel asked excitedly.
"It's a book I found on mystical artifacts. This is a passage on a rare gem called a Dragonstone." Merida replied.
"A Dragonstone, I've never heard of such a thing. What's so special about it?" Hiccup asked.
"It has many mystical powers, perhaps even more than those already known. It is a created stone made by dragons or extraordinary magic. The book says that it brings strength to dragons, and to humans it gives them the command over dragons and the ability to speak with them." Merida replied.
"Wow, it sounds like the ultimate gift for you, Hiccup, what with you being both human and dragon." Rapunzel stated with eyes showing nothing but innocence.
"Yeah, it does sound nice, but I'd hate to think what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands." Hiccup replied. With his paper finished, he closed his book and set the materials aside.
"Why are you guys so pessimistic? Elsa, no offense, but in the dormitory you come off as a germophobic kill joy; but look at yourself, you are beautiful, and I do believe that you have a sister who admires you for who you are. Hiccup, I understand that you could've been treated better at home, so you don't have to keep re-hashing your personal tragedies; Hiccup you can turn into a dragon, pretty soon you'll be a master of the skies and have all the freedom you could want when that time comes, and you'll have nothing to bring you down as long as you're careful. Merida, you've complained about your mother giving you lessons to help make you a good princess; not only do you have a mother who cares for you, but you also have a mother who wants to make sure you become one of the best Queens in your kingdom's history! Now Jack, what is wrong with doing a bit of homework every once in a while? You know that this is a great chance at education for yourself, you've got friends to help you out, and you know that you'll find something fun to do later on in the day. You guys, before I came here, I only had the company of my overprotective Mother Gothel, and I barely got out of the tower, but I still managed to entertain myself, and develop many talents. So really, is your pessimism really worth what you've been through? Hiccup, I'll give you an exception for what you've been through, but given where we are and what we've done here in these short weeks, don't you think that it is time to find a sense of sheer joy to replace your negative attitudes?" Rapunzel spoke. Her friends exchanged looks as she cleaned up her things.
"You know Rapunzel, you're right. Right now it shouldn't matter what we've been through, and we should adopt better attitudes." Hiccup told her with Jack nodding in agreement. Then Hiccup continued with: "This Dragonstone that Merida brought up, if I had it, I would try to establish peace between the Vikings and dragons, and being a Night Fury, I think I can get through my tribe's stubbornness issues. I'll also share it with you guys so you can understand Toothless or even myself as a dragon."
Jack looked down at his arm, it was still broken, and then told Rapunzel: "Wait, you've just listed several problems between us, but you seem to have certain issues with your hair. You're absolutely terrified of it being cut, even though it is several times longer than you are tall, and it seems as if it has some sort of secret after you found out about my broken arm. Now I will be willing to lighten up about my homework if you are willing to be completely honest about yourself. So Rapunzel, will you please entrust us with your secret?"
She took a great moment of hesitation before sighing heavily and gestured to her friends to lean in close before whispering to them: "It glows and heals when I sing; but Gothel wants me to keep it a secret because she fears that people will cut it if they ever found out about its powers, and when it is cut, it turns brown and its power is lost."
To emphasize the last point, she revealed a short tuft of brown hair that was only a few inches long.
"Wait, who cut off that strand?" Merida asked.
"Gothel said that it was the work of a barber who was trying to give me a trim when I was just a baby, but they were alarmed when it suddenly changed color." Rapunzel replied with those innocent eyes. Her innocent gaze prevented any of her friends from speaking of any doubts or suspicions.
"So, Hiccup, ye said yer on the Quidditch team now, are ye excited for it?" Merida asked.
"Yeah, in fact I've got a practice to go to after breakfast tomorrow. You guys are welcome to watch if you want." Hiccup replied. He took another look at the book Merida brought over. With the word 'dragon' in its name, Hiccup found himself wanting to learn everything he could about the Dragonstone, including where he could find one.
"What are you thinking about, Hiccup?" Elsa asked.
"The possibilities that can come from getting one of these stones." Hiccup replied. He pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote down a condensed version of the passage on the rare gem and also illustrated a picture of it before folding it up and tucking it one of the pockets in his robes.
"Wow, ye really took an interest in that gem." Merida stated.
"If dragons aren't really what my tribe thinks they are, then I'm taking it upon myself to find out whatever I can about them and anything related to them. I've even scribbled down notes about Night Furies after our visits with Toothless and my private lessons with Professor Maleficent. Needless to say, I know far more about Night Furies than any Viking in our Archipelago." Hiccup replied.
"You sounded like a real Ravenclaw right there." Jack stated. Hiccup smirked back at him.
Hiccup, Rapunzel, and Elsa stuck around the library to help Merida and Jack finish up the History of Magic assignment before packing up and going back to their respective towers.
The Ravenclaw friends were quite pleased to find out that their owls: Hulda, Polaris, and Annabelle have returned with responses from their parents:
Hiccup,
Terribly sorry if the bird took so long to get back to you, I wanted to give her time to rest her wings and catch some pesky rats before she got back to you.
Thank you, for telling us about your new friends about establishing trade with them. I've found out that they've contacted their parents and informed them about us, good thinking son. It really makes me proud that you still find the time to think about us and the best for your tribe; and you'll be happy to know that the kingdoms are interested in establishing a trade route with us. Keep this up and you may make a good Chief.
Stoick
Oh, and Gobber wanted me to send you his regards! He says he misses having an audience to sing and tell tales to.
"Wow, this is the nicest thing he's ever said to me." Hiccup told Elsa and Rapunzel and he read the letter out loud.
"That sounds great, Hiccup, and our parents agree that your tribe sounds like a rather charismatic lot but are happy to begin trading with them." Elsa replied.
Hiccup was happy to hear that and decided to write another letter to tell Stoick that he'd been recently recruited in a sporting team, surly that will impress his father, but then he decided that before he got in-depth with it, he should at least find out what he was really getting himself into first. So he decided to wait until after his first practice to write it and get a hold of a game schedule so his father could figure a time to come and see one.
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Before going to bed that night, Hiccup took one last look at the passage on the Dragonstone he copied and he looked outside. He wondered if Toothless knew a thing or two about this gemstone, or if the Professors knew something else about it. He tucked the parchment in his trunk and went to bed. Somehow, he knew that this stone would help him out in a way he couldn't even imagine.
"What's that you're reading?" Scythe asked from his bed.
"Not your concern, Scythe." Hiccup replied.
"Is it a letter? C'mon Hiccup, if you just say what it is, then I'll no longer be curious!"
"It's just a passage out of an artifacts book I copied. I just thought that it was interesting."
"Oh, come on, do tell, Hiccup, c'mon lets have some detai-mph!"
Kay had thrown his pillow onto Scythe's face. Though it was only a couple seconds later when he threw it back to Kay.
"You know, Scythe, why don't you tell us how you got that nickname?" Ivan asked.
"It's a long and dreary story." Scythe replied.
"There is nothing dreary in a story where a character gets called 'Scythe'." Kay said.
"Fine! I'm a farm boy, we grow wheat and barley mostly, heck some of the grains we use to brew our own beer, and I live out in the countryside outside of villages but we're prone to getting bandits. Well I was out reaping grains when a small group of bandits started trespassing through the barley, they often do that to get off the trail and sneak into a neighboring village, trampling the crops while they're at it. I dropped the scythe and started running for our house to get my dad to come out with his musket. They caught up and caught me, but I suddenly found the scythe in my hands, as if I had summoned it! I saw my dad running for me, musket in hand, but he's not the best shot! So, out of defense, I swung the scythe and the toe of the blade, also the tip, slit through their leader's throat! The others dropped me and soon fled."
"You killed a man!" Ivan exclaimed.
"I didn't mean to! I just wanted them to get away from me! I was only nine when that happened! As for the corpse, that's when the story gets both juicy and disturbing. My father strung him up a tree with a sign on his chest that read: TRESPASSERS BEWARE! Now his skeleton is a scarecrow for bandits."
"How barbaric!" Ivan replied.
"It may not be the most civil thing to do, but it has made bandits turn away from our fields, and now we don't have to worry about them ruining crops as much."
"Couldn't your family put a protective barrier around the field?" Hiccup asked.
"I'm the only wizard in my family. Ever since that day, my father pretty much re-christened me 'Scythe' and the name just stuck; but I like it."
"Thanks for the bedtime story!" Kay called from his bed. The boys dropped their heads on their pillows and went to sleep
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A Dragonstone!
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