Chapter 10
Fairy Tales
Laughter echoed through the halls of DunBroch castle. The ancient gray stone was abuzz with joyful singing as merriment and drunken hilarity boomed from the closed doors of the dining hall. Small brown mice took shelter behind tapestries as heavy footsteps pounded here and there. The whole castle seemed to be awash with excitement. However, just two floors up smaller pair's of feet pattered their way towards the DunBroch library. One was bound in too big brown flats, the other in a pair of hot fur boots, clearly not made for the warmer weather of Scotland.
Hiccup and Merida scampered towards the spiral staircase at the end of the long hallway. "Come on Hic!" Merida panted. "Last flight before the library."
"Oh thank Oden." Hiccup gasped. His knees were starting to sting from all the climbing they had done to get to the west wing. However his mind was taken off his prickling legs when his attention was caught by a pair of eyes, sewn carefully into the tapestry hanging above the doorway to the staircase.
Hiccup stopped his hurried pace to instead look curiously up at the tapestry, a mix of dread and déjà vu winding around the small boys features. "Merry . . ." Hiccup said slowly. Merida who had just reached the door paused at Hiccups sudden anxiety peppered voice. Turning she looked over to see the Viking locked in a staring contest with the tapestry above her head. She didn't need to look up to know who was glaring down at them.
"Don't bother with it Hic." Merida said, attempting to gain the boys attention. "Its just an old fairy tail." She knew she was lying. A horrible fifth birthday told her that, but she didn't want to scare Hiccup away with talk of demons. Hiccup blinked and looked back at her, his eyes misted.
"That's a bit of an eye sore isn't it?" The Viking asked.
"Yeah." Merida sighed and walked to stand next to the auburn haired boy. "Wasn't my idea of putting him here." Both children looked up to the tapestry again. It depicted a giant black bear, claws extended to full capacity and mouth wide, teeth glinting. It was leaping towards the children, eyes glaring from his threaded prison. Even though the bear was no more than a bad childhood nightmare Merida shivered. Hiccup on the other hand had his head cocked, eyes narrowed with concentration.
"One dead eye." He muttered to himself, remembering the pair of haunted eyes he thought he spotted in the forest last night when on his search for Toothless. Merida blinked at this and looked over at Hiccup. The Viking however seem to come back from where ever he was thinking about. Sighing the boy rubbed his knuckles in his sleepy eyes then turned to Merida, expression demisted. "What's it doing hanging over the door to a library?" Hiccup asked the Scot curiously. "I mean something as creepy as that should be above something equally creepy, like the armoury, or catacombs or something."
"Yeah." Merida sighed; she had never understood her mother's placement of the demon bear. "It was ma mum's idea. Dad and I said we should put it in the opening hallway to the main hall, to show our enemies and our allies who they were about to make a treaty with. But she wanted it here." Merida crossed her arms at this, glaring up at the haunting gaze of the bear.
"Why?" Hiccup pressed.
"Oh it was something really daft." The princess sighed. "She said that something like that should be hung above the most dangerous and powerful room in the castle." Hiccup blinked in surprise then looked around the hall to see if there were any other doors beside the one leading to the library. Merida smiled at this. "Yeah that's what I thought." The girl giggled. There's no other door. Just the library." Hiccups face scrunched in puzzlement at this and looked back to Merida, eyebrows raised. "She said that the demon bear Mordu," Merida began, gesturing with her curled head to the snarling bear. "Was so steeped in Scottish fear, that it would ward off any weak blooded soul that stepped foot in this hall. She said that because the library holds the castles knowledge, then it holds the castles power too. So if any a man wishing to use that power for wrong doings, he would have to walk under the scorning gaze of Mordu, warning them what can only befall those looking to use power to punish, rather than protect." Both heirs stood in silence for a moment; eyes once again locked with the dead ones of the demon bear. The Queens reasoning was becoming a bit clearer to Hiccup, though it still seemed like an odd placement. Merida however was getting a bit board staring at a tapestry that had followed her throughout all her life. Sighing she took Hiccups hand and pulled him away from the old, dusty tapestry. "Come on Hic." Merida began. "We don't want to be caught and sent down to lunch." Hiccup obligingly followed her, but his head still teamed with the thought of the glowing eyes he had spotted in the forest last night. Sparks of anxiety shot up Hiccups neck, biting at his muscles and eating at his brain as he and Merida climbed the final staircase to the library. The white and black eye's of the bear were burned into his retinas like sun spots, and no matter how much the Viking blinked, they didn't disappear. Sighing in frustration Hiccup shook his mind for something else to think about. His eyes flew up to Merida, who was three stairs above him, her red hair catching the sunrays seeping out from the small windows lining the walls. He smiled at this, liking the feeling of being with her, and the comfort of knowing that she liked being with him too. It was nice, like warm sunlight on your neck.
The two tired children finally reached the top of the staircase, Hiccups cheeks a bit redder than before they started their climb. Giggling in excitement Merida grabbed the Vikings hand again and dragged him towards the closed twin doors of the library. She was almost bouncing with anticipation. Hiccup noticed this and gave the girl an amused look, something she narrowed her eyes at. "You have your hobby's and I have mine." The girl said proudly, grabbing the iron door handle.
"What ever you say Merry." Hiccup chuckled, taking hold of the other door handle. With a combined tug the large wooden doors swung open and the two heirs stepped inside.
The DunBroch library was in no way the castles best feature. Unlike the great archives in England or Corona, that listed hundreds upon thousands of topics, from war strategies to butterfly wing patterns the Scottish library had a more humble approach to learning. It was just three rooms, a motley collection of dusty books shelved in the wrong order, with the collection of languages books mixed in with the titles on cooking. There were some books that had pages missing and others had covers ripped off. The chairs and tables in the study were scratched and always seemed to wobble. Altogether the library would make any great scholar faint with shock. But to Merida, it was a sanctuary of nonsense, filled to the brim with fairy stories and magical creatures. To Hiccup it was even more amazing. Berk had a strict rule about learning. It was mostly done through apprenticeship and passing on knowledge by fables. If you could read more than just the basics, you were labeled an idiot. Hiccup was a prime example of this. The only real allowed book was the Dragons manual and even then, that was more a combined scribbling of passing notes and not really written by one specific Viking. But this place that he had just stumbled into had shelves upon shelves of books, more than Hiccup had ever seen before in his entire life. It was enough to make his worries about Toothless and the glowing bear eyes fade away in one startled breath.
"Welcome to the DunBrock library!" Merida declared happily, stepping into the center of the first room and spreading her arms wide. The large window behind her that lit up the space cast even more sunlight on her small figure. Her red hair lit up at the edges, sparking her eyes up like fireflies and making her whole body glow red. Hiccup smiled dazedly, not looking at the books any more. Spinning on her heal so her violet dressed twirled out like flower petals Merida strode over to one of the book shelves, running her fingers over the well worn spines. "We have all sorts in here!" The princess declared happily as she made her way further into the room. "The history of Scotland, How the land came to be, King Douglas and the guard, A collection of plant life, and tons more boring subjects." The princess laughed as she swung herself onto a ladder and pushed it so it ran along a track in the floor, propelling her to the back of the library. Hiccup followed her movements with his eyes, absentmindedly running his fingers like tiny men along the worn sun kissed book spines, a smile dun around his lips. Merida climbed up the ladder and pulled out a large red book from the top shelf of the bookcase she was perusing. The copy in her hands seemed to have been read with much excitement, the back cover was almost gone, hanging by a few remaining stitches. Nodding once to herself the princess climbed quickly down the ladder and placed the book on a table by the window. Two chairs were tucked into it, side by side. Hiccups dazed smile grew as Merida dashed back and forth from the bookshelves several times, each time returning a book to the table, each ranging in size and colour. She looked like wild fire, latching onto pages hungrily and spreading throughout the small library quickly. The girl seemed to know where every single book was, or at least every book that she deemed worthy of her memory. Merida finally noticed Hiccups staring when she returned her last book to the table, a small black one with a white flower sown onto the cover. "What are you staring at?" She then looked behind her as if expecting to see a spider or something.
"You just look so . . . happy. I've never seen you like this before." Hiccup said slowly, feeling slightly awkward by the end of his sentence.
"What do ya mean? I'm always like this." Merida laughed good naturedly, tossing her last book onto the teetering pile on the table.
"No you're not, you're different around others, kinda stiff and off kilter, like a badly balanced blade or something." Hiccup was feeling really awkward now, but he didn't look away from Merida. Merida puzzled Hiccups words for a moment, mouth slightly open.
"A badly balanced blade?" Merida snickered her eyebrows raising. Hiccup sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I picked a metaphor."
"It was a weird one."
"I never pretended to be good at metaphors."
"It's a good thing you didn't."
"Hey it's not my fault. You grew up with books, I grew up with blacksmithing, forgive me if I'm not good at metaphors." Merida giggled at this and sank into one of the chairs.
"Well you're not really using a metaphor anyway, you're talking about a simile." Merida snickered, fingers coming up to wind into her hair.
"Didn't grow up with books." Hiccup replied bitterly, voice slightly muffled through gritted teeth.
"Then go educate yourself." Merida laughed, shooing Hiccup off with her hands. "I'm not having a best mate who can't come up with a good metaphor or simile." Smirking Hiccup rolled his eyes again, digging his hands into the pockets of his fur vest as he browsed the books absentmindedly.
"So you're a blacksmith?" Merida asked from her chair, feet resting on the table as she organized her books into piles.
"Yeah." Hiccup sighed slightly bitterly as he knelt down to eye a copy of How the Owl got his Wings. "Ever since I was little, well, littler." Merida frowned at Hiccup's joke about himself.
"You must know how to make some really fine weapons then." The girl pressed, hoping to get rid of the bitter way Hiccup talked about himself.
"Nah just the basics, nothing too impressive." Hiccup said dryly, pulling out a book about the fundamentals of mathematics. Merida narrowed her eyes but continued.
"Oh come on, yah must be great, I bet you even invented things."
"Yeah I did actually." Hiccup said offhandedly, sliding a book about aerodynamics from the shelf and placing it on the book about math.
"See!" Merida said happily, glad she had found a way to give Hiccup some confidence. "That's so brilliant that's-"
"They all didn't work." Hiccup cut her off, now perusing a pile of maps. Merida grit her teeth and shook a fist at the boy's turned back, frustrated at him for not being proud about himself. "You know you're still avoiding my earlier statement." Hiccup said slowly, pulling three maps from the bottom of the pile.
"Statement?" Merida sneered, her nose wrinkling at the official sounding word. "What statement? The one about how I don't act like myself? And when did yah start using words like statement?"
"Well we're in a library aren't we?" Hiccup smiled cockily, looking up to meet Merida's gaze. "This stuff just kinda rubs off on you."
"Well wash it off." Merida frowned, picking up one of her books at random and lifting it to block her face from Hiccup. "You're starting to sound like one of them dung brained lords." Hiccup rolled his eyes at this, cocky smile still securely in place.
"I like you when you're like this, you should do it more often." The boy said happily, carefully rolling up the maps he had retrieved. Merida ducked out from behind her book and blew a raspberry at him.
"Shut up Haddock I'm reading." The girls voice was muffled from behind her hardcover as she pulled it down in front of her face again.
"Your book's upside down." The boy said dryly.
"It's a pitcher book, don't matter if it's upside down." Merida bit back, glad the volume would hide her blush. Hiccup snickered at her stubbornness and made his way over to her, maps tucked under his arm and books balanced in his hands.
"Oh yeah what's it about?"
"Its about punching Viking boys in the face!"
"Weird the title says Fairy Tales of Corona." Hiccup slid into the chair beside Merida just as she slowly lowered the book to glare at him. Hiccup smiled innocently back at her.
"Do ya want me to take study of this book and practice on you?" Merida retorted, raising a fist in warning.
"No no no no!" Hiccup replied quickly, though he was still smiling. "I just lost that bruise from yesterday, I don't need another one." Merida lowered her fist, her own smile starting to pull at her cheeks. She flipped the book over and placed it down on the hard surface of the table. She then perched her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands. The Princess was beginning to slip into the fairy tail when Hiccups voiced pulled her from the story.
"Why do you have a book from Corona anyway? That doesn't sound very Scottish."
"Nah its not." Merida sighed, looking up from her page. "Its this small kingdom on the mainland's, near England." Hiccup frowned at this.
"Why do you have it? I didn't think the English and the Scottish got along very well." Merida snickered at that.
"Nah, not really. But Corona isn't in England. The Queen there gave the book to ma mum when she and ma dad were visiting for anaudience. She was pregnant with me then and the Queen wanted me to have this book when I was born. Said she didn't want it to go to waist." Hiccup looked at the book Merida had been reading. It had a gold and purple cover to it and had small painted designs in the borders of the large white pages. It looked like it had been very expensive and well made. Though of course with sixteen years in the possessionof Merida, some of the shine had worn off. Pages were bent and corners folded to act as bookmarks. Dirt was smudged over some of the words and the parchment had faded slightly. Though underneath the grit and creases was a book intended for someone a lot gentler.
"Why didn't her own daughter read it?" Hiccup asked brows knitted. Merida shrugged, pulling the well-loved book into her lap.
"Don't know, I'm not complaining though." Merida smiled running a finger down the painted face of a maiden dressed in white robes. "Its got ma favourite story in it."
"Yeah what's that?" Hiccup asked, his confused face cracking into one of pure interest. Merida blinked at his sudden question then blushed furiously.
"Nah its silly." The girl mumbled, turning a page and attempting to hide behind the hardcover again.
"Oh come on." Hiccup wined. "What's your favourite fairy tail?" Merida sighed and flipped the pages quickly till she stopped on a chapter marked with a blue jay feather. She lifted the book up so Hiccup could see. A large illustration covered most of the page, painted with dark red and black watercolours. It depicted a young girl laying on a rock, black hair pooling out from her pale skin like blood. She was dressed in a red gown with black ribbons wound up the front. An olive branch was resting across her chest, one dainty white hand pressed over the small plant. She appeared to be fast asleep. The title above it was written in spidery black ink and read the words Snow White. Merida pulled the book back towards her, running her hand over the page fondly.
"It's a really daft story honestly." The princess said through a smile, eyes misting over with memory. "Ma mum would read it to me a lot as a babe, she said it was her favourite story when she was ma age." A sad smile grew over the happy one like a weed, and Merida closed the book with a snap. "We don't read it anymore." Pushing the purple volume away from her Merida grabbed the red book she had earlier. Its back cover was losing grip fast as she pulled it onto her lap and began reading a page at random, angry blotches appearing in her cheeks as she did so. Hiccups shoulders slumped at this, running his thumbs over his fingers as he thought of something to say.
"Why's the story so daft then?" Merida looked up from her book, eyes crinkling in a smile.
"Oh the whole ending, you know, with the true loves kiss and all." Hiccups face was blank, causing Merida to frown. "Yah never heard the story of Snow White?" She asked dumfounded. Hiccup shook his head.
"No books on Berk remember." Hiccup replied slowly, sounding like it was obvious. "All my fairy tails were war stories and legends about Humongously Hotshot or other hero's like that." Merida spluttered at the warrior's name Hiccup casually dropped.
"I'm sorry." Merida giggled, "Humongously who?"
"Oh uh, unimportant." Hiccup said quickly rolling his eyes at Merida's giggles. "Really awful singer though." Sucking up her laughter Merida ran a hand through her curly hair. She pushed the Corona book in between Hiccup and her and opened it once more to the page labeled Snow White. The chairs of the boy and girl groaned as they were dragged closer to one another.
"Well here." Merida said smoothing out the first page of the fable, "We can read it together."
The Princess and the Viking shared the fairy tale between the two and spent an enjoyable hour together reading the absurd but lovely fable. Hiccup liked it, though not as much as Merida. He had never been a fan of hero stories and much preferred the oddities Gobber had told him when the blacksmith was half drunk and desperately trying to think of a way to keep toddler Hiccup out of trouble. Though their plot was not nearly as intricate as Merida's fairy tales, they had a charm of rusted morals and chipped conclusions that Hiccup had always enjoyed. This story was very different from his childhood ones and confused the Viking boy to no end. But there was no doubt a warm feeling was left over in his chest when the two of them finished the final page.
Merida closed the book and pushed the ratted purple cover aside. She then looked up to see Hiccups face scrunched in puzzlement.
"What?" Merida asked, slightly miffed at the Vikings negative expression.
"You can't wake up from a kiss." Hiccup replied, his brain still pondering the idea. "I know you said it was in the book but I thought they would explain it or something."
"They do explain it yah wally. They loved each other and it was that love that broke the spell." Hiccup didn't look convinced so Merida pressed on, rolling her eyes as she did so. "It's not suppose to make sense Haddock, it's just a story. Your suppose to see the kiss as a promise, that they will always be there for one another, not some gammy doctor cure, its suppose to be taken with a grain of salt."
"But- but- but why would she wake up? And she barely knew that guy isn't it kinda creepy or something." Hiccup stammered, his cheeks flushing with frustration.
"Oh for the love of-." Merida muttered running a hand over her face then turning in her chair to face Hiccup properly. "It's not supposed to be takenseriously, its just there to give you a nice feeling, like hope or some bloody good feeling shit like that." Hiccup snickered at the princesses random cursing but decided to drop the subject.
"Your story's are a lot different than mine. You were suppose to take everything seriously in ours." Merida blinked at this and cocked her head.
"Yeah never had any feel better stories?" The girl asked, a lock of red hair coming loose from behind her ear and falling in front of her pale blue eye. Hiccup's attention was momentarily broken as he watched the red curl but then shook his head, digging his way out from his daze.
"Nah Berks children were told stories of hero's and Viking wars. They were like small history lessons before bed and we were supposed to live up to every single detail." Hiccup smirked bitterly at this, shoulders stiffening with long remembered disappointment. "Which honestly is really ridiculous. Parents always want you to be the great hero, first one to spill blood on the battlefield type of crazy, what's wrong with being normal for Thor's sake? Is it really too much to ask to only be so-so at things?" Merida's features brightened at this, her lips un-sewing themselves from the stiff anxious line to a half moon smile, her eyes glowing like will o the wisps. Silent giggling shook her form as she pulled a manicured hand to her laughing mouth, bits of dirt still outlining her nails.
"Hiccup." Merida choked, cheeks turning red, "You have got to be the most amazing person I have ever met." Hiccups eyes widened at this, but he too began giggling. The laughter the two shared was not as loud nor as hard as the one they shared in the forest the evening before, but it meant much more to the both of them then that first encounter had. This laughter was going to last for a long time, maybe for the rest of their lives, because they were now never going to be laughing alone again.
After that the two children spent a long while simply reading together. The occasional word would be said, and a rare look would be given. Finally when Hiccup brought out his large map of Scotland and the lands around it, did the conversation pick up again.
"So where is Berk?" Merida asked, shifting her chair over so she could get a good look at the large yellowed map, landmasses stretching out like paint chips on walls. As an answer, Hiccup pointed to a small, rather unsuspecting little island about four finger widths away from the mainland of DunBrock. "Is that it?" Merida asked in disappointment.
"Yeah" Hiccup sighed, green eyes looking down at the small spit of land with dissatisfaction. "It doesn't really look like much, even on a map."
"What's it like there?" Merida asked, resting her curled head on her hand, big blue eyes looking up into Hiccups shocked green.
"W-why would you want to know that?" Hiccup asked, slightly taken aback by the girl's genuine curiosity. Merida raised an eyebrow at him.
"Because that's your home." She said simply as if it were obvious. "You're my friend and I want to know about your homeland. Is that really so weird?" Hiccup looked surprised.
"No." He said. "I guess not." There was a pregnant pause and then Merida gestured with her hand to start. So Hiccup did. "Berk is this really weird little island where there isn't actually a line between the earth and the sea. They kinda bleed into one another and keep biting off chunks of each other's territory. The seasons don't really like the idea of taking turns either. You can have a summer in the morning and a winter in the afternoon, then after dinner a strange mix of spring and autumn before you go to bed. It's a place you never really intended on living on, I don't even think Berk the island really wants to live with itself. In fact that's the history of my tribe. The Hairy Hooligans were shipwrecked on the land and never thought of a way to leave it. So we're kinda stuck with are unwanted home now." Merida snorted at this, but didn't say anything. "Anyway I never really called it home to start with, besides because of the dragon raids there isn't anything left standing of home since last Monday. You need to get use to rebuilding your village a lot if you're going to live on Berk."
"Why wouldn't you just leave?" Merida asked. "I mean look!" She pointed to all the tiny islands scattered around Berk and the Barbaric Archipelago "There's tons of those dinky little islands, just pick one. " Hiccup chuckled at this. He decided not to mention that all those islands belonged to the Bog Burglars, Meathead and Outcast tribes, but felt it necessary to defend his tribes three hundred years of stupidity.
"That's what most people would do." The boy started, drawing the princess's eyes again. "But we're Vikings, we have stubbornness issues and have decided to protect our wet hunk of rock for as long as we can possibly stand."
"Why?" Merida asked, her brows frowning. "By your description of it the place sounds terrible." Hiccup bit his lip at this and once again rubbed at the back of his neck, pondering the princess's question.
"Well I guess the common Vikings thinking of it is this place is maybe beaten and burned to bits but its ours, and we won't let it go for anyone, partly out of pride and partly out of fondness for the place."
"So why do you stay then?" Hiccup looked up to meet Merida's eyes. He hadn't had an answer for that question in a very long time.
Because I don't have anywhere else to go." He said simply. Another silent moment passed, this one hung on for a lot longer than the first. "What about you?" Hiccup asked finally, his small voice cracking the silence. Merida flushed, small white hands pulling at the expensive violet cloth choking her figure.
"Wh- what do you mean. I'm princess here I-" Her voice slowly died away. "Do I really look that unhappy all the time?" Hiccup sighed in thought as he shared a stare with the red headed girl, more curls tumbling into her ghost blue eyes.
"It chips through some times." Hiccup said slowly. "When you think no one is watching." The princess bit her lip, rolling her eyes in a determined reflex. She blinked quickly then faced Hiccup again.
"I like it here." Merida said strongly, a bitter smile etched over her face, carved like knives in wood. "Ma mum can't be in all places at once, and I have become very good at being in those places when I need to be." Hiccup smiled, the mood loosening.
"Yeah I have a place like that." The boy sighed, memory morphing back to the now dusty image of the cove. His eyes flicked up to Merida, who still appeared slightly pale from his question. Her expression had dipped from determined to empty again. Getting an idea Hiccup slid his chair over to right beside Merida, pulling the map along with him.
"Here," Hiccup pushed the map in front of her, "Lets pick me a new home."
"What?" Merida asked, looking over to the smiling boy beside her, goofy grin fixed back in place.
"A new home." Hiccup said with sarcastic importance. "This is a new land to me, I need the best and the brightest to help me choose." Merida chortled, snorting once or twice at the end. "Come on your princess of this fair green sponge, you must help me choose where to found my new kingdom."
"Oh my of course." Merida replied, her own false dignity tone now in place. "Anything for such a brave adventurer like yourself." Smiling the girl looked down at the map, fingers coming to rest on the folded corners. "So," Merida sighed. "What kinda place are yah looking for?" Hiccup positioned his folded arms down on the desk; chin coming to rest on his wrists.
"Hmmmm." The boy hummed, eyes hooding in sleepy thought. Somewhere with mountains." Merida smirked as she started examining the landmasses before her.
"Big or small island?"
"Big. With a beach or two for nice days."
"Okay." Merida muttered, eyes flicking from place to place on the yellowed map. "Anything else?"
"Uh . . . Some nice views of the sunset."
"Can't really see that on a map Haddock, can you be a bit less specific." Hiccup smiled up at Merida's turned head, chin still in arms.
"Well I guess I would need a forest, and some good fishing spots." Merida nodded, gesturing with her hand to continue. "Fields, cliffs, open places to build. If the island could have like some cool secret cave system that would be great."
"They don't have that specific title in the legend." Merida snickered, fingers sliding from island to island."
"Ah they should. What sane person would not want a cool tunnel system under their island?"
"I don't think it's the sane people who decide to go exploring." Merida replied. Hiccup rolled his eyes but his smile stayed in place. "Okay Haddock, any left over requests?"
"No I think I'm good. Unless skipping rocks are included in that official legend of yours?"
"I'm afraid not." Merida responded with a dramatic forlorn sigh. "And that is not the only bad news Hic, your perfect island doesn't exist."
"What?" Hiccup sat up and looked over Merida's shoulder at the map.
"There's no island in the lands of Scotland nor the Barbaric Archipelago that fits your description." Merida offered him a sad smile as she lifted up the map. "No place like the one you described."
"Oh." Hiccup sighed. "Well I guess that's to be expected." The boy fell back to his seat, face slightly twisted in disappointment. Merida's smile wilted and then a frown took over.
"Oh sod it." Merida snapped. Standing up so her chair growled against the floor the redhead walked quickly over to a cupboard by one of the bookshelves. With her back to Hiccup she rummage hurriedly through the drawers, blue eyes jumping from object to object in her search. Hiccups facescrunched in curiosity as he stood, trying to see what Merida was looking for. A grumble of disgust came muffled from the girl's turned back and she absentmindedly flung a sheet of parchment over her shoulder. It fluttered down to show a charcoal drawing of a small girl and a woman. The picture was very clearly a child's sketch, with large heads and spidery arms and legs. The girl and woman were holding hands. "Hiccup!" Merida said, snapping the Viking out of his thoughts. The princess walked briskly back to her seat, stepping on the child's drawing as she did so. Merida had a wide grin spread over her features and a feather pen and inkpot clutched in either hand.
"What are you gunna do with that?" Hiccup asked as the girl slid back into her seat. Merida set the ink bottle down and the white doves feather's pen beside it. She then turned to Hiccup.
"Where do you want your island?" A smile curled around both children's lips.
Hiccup pulled the map closer to himself, eyes scanning the rough waters of home. His brow furrowed.
"There." The boy's finger was positioned to an open patch of sea, much closer to DunBrock then the Barbaric Archipelago.
"You got it." Merida smiled and penned in the large island. "You said you wanted mountains." Merida mumbled. She drew four triangles indicating the landmass.
"Don't forget the forest." Hiccup added, leaning back in his chair as Merida scribbleddown the symbol for trees.
"You also said something about a beach?"
"And some cliffs."
"Yeah I got it." Merida replied, tongue between her teeth as she drew. "And finally." The princess sighed, moving her pen over the whole island and drew a long curving line over the entire surface. "A cool secrettunnel system." Hiccup laughed quietly to himself as Merida added the appropriate symbol to the legend. The Princess stretched her neck and pulled her fingers out in front of her till they cracked. Merida smiled down at the island now inked into the one hundred year old map. "It's done!" Merida called to Hiccup who immediately sat up in his chair. The boys green eyes wrinkled in a smile as he looked down at Merida's handiwork.
"I like the name you gave it." The boy chuckled. Next to the large round island was the cursive handwriting of Merida, spelling out the words, 'Hiccups Island.'
"Well I'm glad." Merida giggled, "I worked long and hard on that name, and I think it suits the land nicely."
"Yeah." Hiccup sighed, tracing a finger over the made up home. "I really love it."
Then the door banged open. Both boy and girl sprang apart. They had not realized how close they had become in the last three hours but their position had become all too clear as the door to the library was thrown open. Merida toppled right out of her chair, head hitting the hard stone floor with a smack that left her feeling light headed. Hiccup had attempted to stand up, only to bang his knees hard on the table, drawing a string of bizarre curse words from the boy's lips. "Son of a barbaric barnacleloving bit- ohhh."Hiccup managed to catch himself, eyes growing as wide as gold coins, vision fixed on the woman in the doorway. Queen Eleanor was looking in on them; hand on mouth and eyes blown wide with shock. Oh thank Oden I didn't finish that sentence. Hiccup thought dully. Merida however was not as adept at biting her tongue as Hiccup was.
"Shit that hurt!" The princess gasped, still laying on her back on the floor of the library. Her body was blocked from her mother's view but the Queen still bristled at the familiar voice. "Dammit that- what the hell was that?" Merida moaned, pulling herself up by placing her shaking palms on the desk. "What stupid mother fuc- MOTHER!" Merida had dragged herself up to eye level with a seething Queen Eleanor.
Most unfortunately for the two cowering children, this silent moment was not nearly as long as the previous ones. "What possessed you two to be in the library? I and your father," Here she looked pointedly at Hiccup, "Have been looking for you children for a near hour and a half!" The Queen barked some hair coming loose from her neatly kept braid.
"Oh" Hiccup moaned, the image of his dads disappointed face rising like bile to the top of his mind.
"I highly recommend you make your way sharply down stairs and join the rest of the festivities!" The queen snapped, her eyes boring into both children's pale faces. There was a pause as Merida and Hiccup together wondered if it would be best to just make a break for it out the window. "Right now!" The Queen shouted, her cheeks blistering a bright red. That got the boy and girl moving faster than the crack of a whip. Both scrambled out from behind their desk barricade and ran past the Queen, heads ducked so as to escape the stinging look the woman gave the both of them.
Only when the pattering noise of the Viking and Princesses footfall had disappeared did Eleanor allow herself to relax. Her straight back posture slunk into a more comfortable one and her tensed up shoulders loosened. Sighing the Queen ran a hand over her pink face. That had not gone as well as she had hoped. The tired Eleanor was about to turn her back and leave the now darkening library, but her attention was caught by a familiar looking parchment laying dead on the ground. Frowning the Queen walked slowly over to the paper. Two smiling faces looked up at the weary looking woman, black charcoal eyes glinting like beetles at now sorrowful empty ones. The Queen stooped down and gently picked up the child's drawing, handling it like it was something fragile and may easily break. A shoe print was now visible, smudging the girl and woman's faces so they appeared slightly blurred. Eleanor sniffed once then slowly walked over to the cupboard. She slid open a drawer at random, and carefully placed the sketch inside. Eleanor looked sadly down at the drawing for a small moment, eyes misting over with more than just memories. But then she remembered the party still taking place downstairs and the speeches and greetings she would be required to do. So, straightening up her posture again and blinking away the long repressed Sunday afternoons now floating in her hazy eyes the Queen closed the cupboard door with a snap. She then picked up her green gown and quickly left the library, closing the door behind her.
Authors Note: Many apologies for the lateness of this chapter. I have started University and because I'm paying for my education now I kind of need to do really well in it. So school is coming before fanfiction unfortunately, and Midterms are also really really scary. Anyway I just want to point something out about this chapter before anyone does in the comments. Yes I am aware that Snow White would not in any stretch of the imagination be in Merida's library. That story is relatively new in the grand scheme of things. However the fable comes back later in the story so please history buffs don't be too upset. Final thank you to everyone for getting my story to 20,000 hits. Thank you thank you thank you for reading and reviewing my writing and clicking on my story 20,000 times. It really means a lot. :)