As she rode back to the castle, Merida wanted Angus to throw her, hard. She was such an idiot. Why did she have to say those things? Why did she have to drag up those memories?
And why did she foolishly assume that just because her family could practice magic freely that everyone could? For crying out loud, all the magic Hiccup knew was used to hide! That should have given her at least a clue about what it was like for the others.
Fire and sword, the others! What if their lives were like that too? Now that she thought about it, she was the only one with both parents. What if Rapunzel's and Jack's fathers had died the same way Hiccup's mom had?
She let the reigns go slack in her hands and Angus halted her steps. People weren't always accepting of her father's magic. Some of the ambassadors had been flat out offended by it. But what if those countries that hated magic decided to attack them? She could lose her father, mother, three little brothers. There had to be some way to keep them all safe.
Wait. Hiccup could put up wards so no one could see their magic. What if he put one around their castle? A smile began creeping back onto her face. Now she had a plan.
Line Break
Jack hopped onto his staff and pulled Rowena on behind him. He smiled at Hiccup, who stood next to Rapunzel with his arms around Toothless. "I'll see you nigh after tomorrow, then?"
"Yeah," he replied. "Maybe I can bring Dad and have him teach you guys about wards." Jack nodded at the rider's attempt at normalcy and flew off with a mother clinging desperately to his waist.
Rapunzel untied the first two strands of the bola and let loose a length of braid. "Well, I'd better get going to."
"Wait," stuttered out Hiccup. "I could take you home."
"Really?" She asked, tying her braid back up.
"Sure. It's night, so no one will see us, and it'll take less time." He vaulted into the saddle and extended a hand downward.
"I don't know." She looked over at Toothless.
"Hiccup smiled. "Toothless does what I ask, most of the time. I won't let you fall."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Do you trust me?" She grabbed his hand and hoisted herself up as an answer.
As they flew over the forest, Rapunzel ventured a question. "So who was the friend?"
"What?" Asked the boy she held onto firmly.
"The friend you tried to teach to talk to dragons, what was her name?" He tensed under her hands and she slapped herself for her insensitivity. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."
"No, it's okay." They flew for a few moments and Rapunzel thought Hiccup wasn't going to continue when he said, "Astrid."
"What?"
"That was her name."
Rapunzel giggled. "That's a weird name."
Hiccup laughed along with her. "Maybe, but Hiccup's weirder."
The laughter encouraged Rapunzel in her queries. "What was she like?"
He took a hand off the saddle and put it under his chin. "Strong. She taught me how to climb trees. We'd have races all the time, in the trees and on the ground. She wasn't really afraid of anything, not spiders or the bigger kids." He chuckled to himself. "I probably would've been beaten up a lot more if I hadn't had her for a friend."
"Was she pretty?" What did Hiccup find attractive?
"I don't know. I wasn't thinking about it at the time, sine we were so little, and I don't remember what she looked like well enough to form an opinion now. But I do remember that she had blonde hair and blue eyes."
"Kind of like a combination of me and Merida."
He snorted. "Yeah, it's not like color only has one shade."
She frowned at that. "What do you mean?"
"Well, when someone thinks of red hair they think of hair like Merida's. I'm actually red-haired too, but no one notices because I'm not their idea of red."
She arched an eyebrow. "No one notices because the only time they see you is during the night. Not the best time to study color facets, if you know what I mean."
He grinned. "Perhaps we should meet up during the day sometime. We can study each other's' eyes and hair. I'd love to see the different colors Jack hides in that white mop of his." The picture of Hiccup weeding through the other boy's hair looking for something besides white made her laugh out loud with such gusto that she banged into Hiccup. But the boy pondered her idea all the way to her garden home and back to his partially caved in one. What would it be like to see the others in the sunlight, without the need to hide?
Line Break
Ms. Ravenclaw unfurled the map on a table the instant she and Jack were in the house. Jack asked, "Do you think I could go by myself next time?" No response. "Mom?"
Sighing at her ability to become totally oblivious to her surroundings in a matter of milliseconds, Jack conjured a snowball and spilt it down the back of her dress. She yelped. "Jack! What was that for?"
He flew out of her reach and into the rafters. "Well you didn't answer when I asked, so…" he swirled his hand through the air, conjuring more snowflakes.
She glowered at him. "There was no need to dump cold snow on me. You could have just poked me or something."
"I would, except you're immune to it," the boy mumbled under his breath before asking his question a second time. "Well, could I go by myself to the next meeting?"
"Absolutely not!" Shouted the woman up at him, indignant. "That boy has a story and I intend to find out what it is! Besides," she gestured at the map. "I want to know how you plan to find the new magic user. You can't keep me out of the loop, it's my map!" She snatched up said piece of parchment and held it close to her chest.
Jack shook his head at her childish behavior, really, who was the adult in this family again? But he could probably find something to bury her mind in before the next meeting. If she planned to unearth Hiccup's past, clearly full of painful memories, he wasn't letting her near him with a ten foot pole.
The part about hair color is actually me venting. I'm a mix of blonde, brown and red, but the only color people notice is the brown. And for those of you who read through shipping glasses, TAKE THEM OFF! They're not even sixteen yet.
Please review. It's very discouraging to get so little feedback.