Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Frozen, Rise of the Guardians, Tangled, Brave or How to train your Dragon.

Ch. 3 A feast on Highlands!

Only when Hiccup and Merida pulled back to share their love and joy did the roar of the crowd reach Hiccup's ears and not only the sheer volume of voices, but of explosive music as well. The music was played by instruments Hiccup had never seen before. As a Viking he knew of drums and quite a few string instruments. Even flutes were played sometimes at some occasions on Berk, but these devises were very strange. They were tartan bags that functioned as musical bellows, transferring the air that was blown into the flute attached to the front and and then out through the pipes on the top over the shoulder. They resembled the flute, but in a very strange way, but the sound made a connection to something entirely different, a string instrument called a Tagelharpa. The sound was sharp and high and, because none of the players seem to know nor care what the others were playing, disorienting. It was clear to note that Highlanders liked it as wild as Vikings did and it brought an amused grin on Hiccup's face.

Merida returned his grin a bit sheepish as she seemed to guess what her new husband had come to realise. "Ay guess that, when it comes tae celebrating, we have as many niceties as Vikings." She said.

Hiccup laughed. "Actually, our weddings are pretty quiet. That is, if the union gets through without second thoughts or fights amongst the families."

"Ma mother wouldn't believe that! Too bad she is not coming with us tae Berk."

"Are you ready to see the traditions I will have to put up with?" Hiccup asked her with a smile that could not entirely hide his foreboding. He couldn't help but picture Gobber and Spitelout replace the role of his father by drilling him through 'the way to be a strong husband'. It would be exhausting and heavy.

Merida didn't seem to mind his discomfort and with an enthusiastic nod, she made herself tall to give him a pick on the lips.
"No pain, no gain, for both of us, right?" She reasoned.

Hiccup's apprehensive feeling towards his second portion of traditions was drowned completely by the arrival of their friends, who had taken the sudden celebrations as an opportunity to ignore their friends' new high titles and smother them with their joy.

"Hiccup, you were amazing!" Rapunzel squealed joyfully and she shamelessly flung herself so suddenly around Hiccup's neck, that he staggered backwards before he could return the hug. Next to them, Merida had been surprised by a less attacking, but just as tight hug from Elsa, leaving Jack and Eugene to wait their turn. Elsa and Merida pulled back to look at each other. Merida's smile was rather watery and she waited for Elsa to speak, which Elsa at her turn had trouble to do. Her mouth was twitching uncontrollably and she kept taking sharp breaths, but no sound came and she decided to express herself with another tight hug.

"We are going to miss you in the morning." She told her softly.

"Awkward feeling and all." Jack agreed with a strange sadness in his grin.

Merida was caught by the throat by just these words, in her joy of today she had forgotten she would not just celebrate with her friends, she would also have to say 'goodbye' to them.
Bravely she let go of Elsa and addressed the two men.
"Look at yu both strapping and nice. Did you two do that for Hiccup?" She asked them, reffering to their kilts and with a true smile that was rapidly reaching her ears.

"Well of course, we did!" Exclaimed Eugene proudly as Rapunzel re-joined him and he comfortably put his arm around her.
"As I reasoned to Jack then, the girls did their best to dress accordingly, why not us?" Eugene was beaming, but next to him, Jack was showing growing shame with himself. He eyed his friend's glee with difficulty. Merida's eyes were drawn by it and soon Jack realised that she was looking at him. He cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders.

"Ahem, I may not be as enthusiastic about this as Eugene still is, but I want you to know, and you too Hiccup, that I am here for both of you. Even if Eugene had not been convincing enough for me to change my pants for a kilt, that doesn't change it." Jack's infectious smile returned as he looked at Merida and Hiccup in turn.

"We know that, Jack, of course we do." Hiccup assured him.

"But, the kilts are a nice gesture on top of it." Merida added.

All seemed to have been said and the six friends were about to fall into a meaningful silence that kindly could have lasted several long minutes were they in a different time and place.

"Merida, lass!" Merida's father came running with his arms ready to scoop up the new queen and completely burry her in his fatherly affection.

"Dad!" Greeted Merida him heartily as Elsa pointedly stepped aside. Merida's eyes lit up even brighter and she ran into her father's arms.

"Ye did it, lass! Ye did it! Ye will be a fine queen, ayam sure of that." Fergus boomed as he swung Merida from side to side when she hooked her arms around his thick neck.
"And yu, lad!"
Hiccup was startled. He had not expected to be addressed so quickly and had allowed himself to let his mind wander while Merida had a moment with her father.
"What a speech yu made!" Fergus said to him heartily. "Yu completely blew us away. Ay had a feeling the moment yu made yerself known tea us ye would be a good change fer us!" Fergus gave him a broad smile as he put his daughter back onto her feet. Hiccup felt a wave of relieve and showed the man this in his smile, but Fergus was not done. Before Hiccup knew it, he too was lifted up in the air by the big gruff man that only moments ago had become his father-in-law. Hiccup braced himself for the momentarily danger of his ribs and backbone to be bend inwards, a danger that once occasionally was caused by his own father. The sudden realisation gave him a misplaced second of mourning.

Moments later they were all ushered to the castle where a very loud dinner party took place, complete with a brawl of the old generation of Clan Lords that, they learned from Merida and was confirmed by the lay-back attitude from everybody else, was sort of tradition. The musicians brought their music inside and each one of them seemed even more determined to decide the melody. The brawling morphed soon into dancing as king Fergus escaped punishment by joyfully taking his cross wife by the hand and lead her into a spirited dance that made her frown vanish completely. It was a merry sight and Hiccup was grinning, assuming he could enjoy it from the sightlines, until Fergus noticed him and took it upon himself as a fellow one-legged man to show Hiccup how to dance. Merida was soon lost in the crowd, in a quick dance that moved her from person to person. Rapunzel happily joined in and Eugene didn't even try to uphold his pride and let her drag him along. That left Jack and Elsa unsure, however.

Jack felt oddly out of place in the fun. He was afraid to bump into someone now with so much ice cold skin of him showing and he could sense a similar fear holding back Elsa.

Jack caught Hiccup's eye and his friend excused himself immediately to come to them.
"Is everything alright?" He wanted to know and he looked at them both with concern.

Elsa startled and gave him a quick smile to ensure him. "Of course." She replied timidly. "Don't mind us. This is a party for you and Merida to enjoy, so don't worry."

"Yeah, but I am sure Merida too wants you to have a good time." Hiccup argued and he didn't try to keep his voice down. He let out a sad smile but then managed a calm friendly one.
"If this party wasn't for Merida and myself, I would probably be long gone because I felt out of place, just like you do right now. Why don't you step outside for a bit? It won't be long before we leave for Berk anyway."

"Thank you, Hic. We will see you in a bit then." Jack took Elsa by the hand and the pair of them left for the exit and, no doubt, a wintery wonderland.

Hiccup turned away from the exit with a small feeling of envy in the pit of his stomach and plunged himself back in the merry crowd. Where, luckily, he was soon reunited with Merida, Eugene and Rapunzel.

"Where are Elsa and Jack?" Rapunzel asked excitedly. She was obviously happy to have Hiccup back with the group and wanted them to be fully complete.

"They stepped outside for a bit. I guess with Jack's problem with everyone else's body heat and the fact that they both aren't used to large crowds, they do not feel at place here." Hiccup explained with a hint of self-conscience. He knew the ice couple didn't hold anything against Merida or himself for having a party this crowded, but still, he was aware of himself being the reason and that they felt very uncomfortable.

"Oh." Rapunzel's face fell with compassion for her absent friends. This was not what Hiccup had wanted to cause, so he added:

"We will leave for Berk soon anyway. They will be with us then. Besides weddings on Berk are usually held outside."

"That sounds nice." Rapunzel remarked optimistically and her eyes sparkled excitedly.
"Well, they already know what we want to give you and if we give our gift now, they can give theirs to you on Berk!" She continued and she turned on her heel to Eugene who was already searching for something in his trusted satchel.

"You don't have to give us a gift!" Hiccup exclaimed awkwardly. He looked at Merida, but she was beaming and had her head already bent towards Eugene to see what he was holding.

"Well we all did, and by 'we all' I mean every couple you know. Royal or not, once or twice a day, it is still your wedding day and we like to give you our good wishes this way." Eugene explained, still keeping whatever he found from Merida's view. "Honey, will you do the honours?" Subtly he gave the present to Rapunzel, who turned to Hiccup and Merida smiling, holding a small phial with golden liquid.

"This is an extract of one of the golden flower's leafs." Rapunzel told them in a hushed voice and she eyed them meaningfully.
"We know you don't like magic, Merida, but since I was born with this magic as a part of me I know what I am giving you. It is a small security, must you ever need it. This will heal any physical wound. We hope you don't need it, but since we won't see each other much anymore, see it as our support and care." Rapunzel smiled and her trust and care radiated from her eyes.

"The flower, or it's magic for that matter, is not to be used or mentioned outside Corona, so know what we entrust to you." Eugene added very seriously. "So, along with our wishes we also give you our deepest trust. If anyone with ill intensions comes to know about the flower, Corona and Rapunzel will be in danger again."

Hiccup gave his friend an understanding smile as he took the phial carefully. "We know, Eugene, thank you." He assured him softly. He may not have been there when Eugene saved Rapunzel from the witch that had abused her gift, but one look in her eyes had told him enough long ago. He wouldn't treat this gift lightly and neither would Merida.

"It's beautiful." His new bride whispered. Hiccup handed the phial to her, but she wasn't looking at it for long. She was staring at her friends as if they had just asked her to take care of their child and she sniffed loudly.
"Ayam sorry, ay don't know what else tae say." She croaked

Jack let himself onto the soft grass and immediately brought back his usual clothes with his magic. Then he let his boots melt away. "Even with these frost boots of my own making, my feet are still screaming for air!" he announced. "I guess I need more practice."

Elsa walked on for a bit longer before she stopped, not sooner had she done that or she felt an icy coolness emanate from the solid ice floor Jack had conjured as soon as he planted both his bare feet on the grass.

"Hey, you're alright?" She heard him ask her and with a gust of wind he appeared into her view, a worried expression on his caring face. "You are not feeling guilty, are you?" He asked on. "You heard Hiccup, he understands how you feel, he and Merida both do. If the party wasn't about them, they would have left before we did."

There was optimism in Jack's voice and Elsa knew he was right, but she had to speak her mind.
"I know that, Jack, it's just that because of who I am, my sister could never have a party like this. Because I couldn't be trusted to be around people, all celebrations were kept minimal and when my sister broke that rule I brought her pain. I just wish I could be normal for occasions like these."

Jack didn't hesitate to step closer and put a caring arm around her shoulder.
"I do too, Elsa." He only said and that was enough. Elsa felt her lip tremble but managed a smile. Then Jack smiled back and froze a cloud above them. It began to snow, only for them. Soft, beautiful sparkling snowflakes swirled around them and fell on their faces while Jack nuzzled her nose with his. Their tiny spot of land became isolated for one second, but the snow was silent and couldn't camouflage the footsteps of someone approaching.

Merida halted cautiously a good while away from the spot of winter and smiled to its inhabitants sheepishly. "We are about tae head fer Berk." She informed in an unusual small voice. The three friends looked at each other silently, each of them realising that this was the last time Merida could interrupt Jack and Elsa's time together.

AN: These scenes made the last chapter too long, so I decided to make it a separate chapter. The chapter is therefore short and doesn't really have much in it, but I still wanted to keep these scenes :) If you enjoyed it, please review!