Anna's POV
Fifteen days later.
It's true. Hiccup has been keeping his promise well, to always come to help me with my duty.
I seriously had my doubts, and I still do; what if one day he never comes to work? What if his sarcastic joke about me sending a search party to search for him comes true? I know it's selfish, in a way, to demand him to live life with that amount of burden on his shoulders. It's also his choice as well if he would like to end it, and to be completely frank, I cannot come up with a good reason for him to continue living on life other than it would destroy me.
But right now, it's looking good, though I still make sure by looking out of the window to the main gate every time he leaves, making sure that he's headed to the right direction. Insecurities, you know?
Today's work has been a pain. We barely had time to let out some steam off, and we were late for dinner. Well, Hiccup went home without having dinner just because it was so late.
After I finished dinner, Olaf suddenly stopped me on my track to my room.
"Anna, isn't this Hiccup's?"
The snowman handed me a notebook. It was so distinct, it could only belong to a Viking, and the only Viking in Arendelle would be none other than Hiccup.
"It is, Olaf. I'll hand it to him tomorrow, thank you!"
"You'd better do, seems private and valuable," he turned around and walked away.
"You haven't been reading it, have you, Olaf?" I smirked.
"Nuh uh! Why would I do that?"
Silly snowman.
I looked at the notebook, and curiosity immediately grew inside me. At first, I pulled my fingers away slightly when I was about to open it. However, my curiosity defeated me. I opened the first page, and frowned immediately.
"They're in runes… Of course."
The writings were in runes, which only a Viking could decipher. I ran through all the pages and discovered nothing written in normal alphabets, though I must admit that the runes colored me interested to learn about them.
Maybe I should return it right away.
Why? Because I can.
With that, I made my way to the stable to take Molly out after putting some warm clothes on. Of course, in my way, guards and servants questioned my motivation, and worried over me for going out so late. However, I could convince them easily since I've gone to several dangerous adventures previously.
Having arrived at the inn within minutes, I dropped off to see Lady Olsen by the door.
"Looking for Hiccup?" She asked right away. I nodded.
"He's gone to the dock few minutes ago."
Huh, the dock?
"Thank you, Lady Olsen," I hopped on Molly and set off again. Why would he be at the dock this late? Is there something at the dock that is so urgent or interesting to look at right now?
And then that very thought occurred in my mind, suicide. I gasped at the thought in horror, but then I scolded myself to keep a positive mindset. Maybe the guy is in the need for fresh air, that's all.
Once there, I scanned the surroundings, the very lonely surroundings. The wind sent a chill up through my spine, so I pulled my coat close.
Later, I spotted him sitting on the edge of a walkway. I dropped off my horse, and right away, he noticed my arrival.
"Anna? What are you doing in here?" He asked.
"You left your notebook in the office, Hiccup," I smiled, sitting down next to him after coming over to him.
"I would've just grabbed it again tomorrow, you know. I regularly visit the castle to work," he placed the object away. I smiled cheekily.
"Thought it was a valuable possession of yours. And… I just wanted to see you. We were so busy with the papers, we barely talked about anything else," I admitted while smiling cheekily.
Hiccup scoffed. "Right. How did you know I was here?"
"Lady Olsen told me."
"Ah, yeah, of course."
"What are you doing in here, mister? Shouldn't you be sleeping right now?" I asked playfully
"I wasn't sleepy yet. And the fjord is beautiful tonight," he looked up to the view. Indeed, the night was particularly beautiful.
"… it is."
My eyes rolled at every object there was in the view; the fjord, the mountains, the water, the stars, the moon. My skin sensed the cold wind, though it was almost unbearable, it was relaxing. Enjoying the view from the balcony of the castle is sure nice, but being in the view is a whole different experience.
I stole a look at Hiccup, and discovered his smile. I could tell that his soul was at peace.
Perhaps, it is time to tell him this.
"Hiccup, I think this is the right moment to tell you this…" I sat one leg on the dock to face him. He turned to me to pay attention to what I had to tell.
"While you were out, we interrogated the crew members of the ship that imprisoned—"
He raised a finger to halt me, "Anna, sorry. Listen."
I frowned at him for being rude, but then a noise caught my ears. It sounded… flapping? A bird, perhaps? I looked up to the sky for any sign of winged living being, and one caught my eyes right away. I saw a pair of wings, four legs… birds only have two legs, right?
Could it be?
"BLUE!" Hiccup called. We both had the same idea of who the flying creature might be! After a few attempts, the shadow slowly became bigger and bigger, signing the arrival of it. We stood up to welcome it.
Soon, it landed right in front of us. It was indeed, Blue the messenger Terrible Terror!
"Blue!" Hiccup and I spoke in unison.
Blue the Terrible Terror dragon seemed excited to see the two of us together, as it tippy-tapped the dock with excitement. It didn't take long until it jumped into Hiccup's arms, and into mine next. It stayed in my arms for a while, panting its lungs out. I ran my hands on the dragon's back up and down.
"Aww… it seems tired, Hiccup," I said. "Maybe one of those barrels has some fish in it," I eyed at the barrels near us.
"Right away, milady."
Hiccup went to check the barrels. I sat down on the dock again, and the dragon curled itself on my lap, finding it comfortable to sleep on. The sight melted my heart, the poor dragon must've been flying for so long.
"Sleep, little guy… oh?"
My eyes spotted a scroll of paper tied onto one of the dragon's hind legs. I pulled it and undid the scroll.
I gasped in as many air as I could.
"HICCUP!" I called for the Viking.
"What?" His response sounded echo-y. When I looked at him, his upper half was inside a barrel, most likely trying to reach for something inside it.
"LOOK AT THIS!" I shook the paper.
"Be right there…" His upper half emerged from the barrel with two fish in his hand. Once he looked at the paper I held, his brow furrowed.
"What's that?"
"A message! It's in runes!"
His green eyes bulged. "What—"
Hiccup placed the fish right next to the dragon, in which its scent immediately drew the dragon from its slumber. It walked off my lap to feast on the fish. I gave Hiccup the paper for him to read it.
I watched his eyes reading the runes, from one end to the other, I followed the movement. Seconds later, they became watery, a smile curling on his mouth. Before I could even ask what the letter said, he pulled me into a hug.
"I-It's…" he stuttered, nearly whispering on my ear.
"What is it, Hicc?" I patted his back.
"It's mother!... She's out there, with survivors!"
The news shocked me; I almost couldn't believe it. Hence, I pulled away from the hug to look at him in the eyes, and they screamed joy and happiness.
"H-Hiccup!" I hugged him again.
We remained like this for a few moments, both of us using each other's shoulders to bury our faces. Hiccup was sobbing of joy, and so was I. I was so happy for him. There really couldn't be better news. Soon, I shifted my face up to see Blue, who looked confused at the two of us. I merely giggled at the dragon's innocence.
Hiccup pulled away from the hug, but our arms remain connected to each other. "I-It reads…" Hiccup read the letter for me.
"Dear Hiccup,
I sincerely hope that this letter finds you at some point. It turned out, not all dragons have gone to the Edge of the World. Blue, this dragon which I'm sure plays the messenger role between Berk and Arendelle, is one twelve Terrible Terrors that we found in Old Berk. We sent these dragons with a letter attached to each to twelve different directions to search for you.
I want to inform you that some of us survived the raid. We are now sheltering in Old Berk, continuing life with a hope that the raiders do not find us. If it is possible, please, find us.
Your mother, Valka."
I smiled and breathed a "wow". "That is the best news… ever… Old Berk, does she mean old archipelago?"
"It has to be. I wonder how it looks like now. But for now, I need a map, a paper, I need to do some math and logistic!" He cracked his fingers.
"Right now?" I asked.
"Yes. Not in the morning, not in the dawn, right now," he replied.
I smiled at his fiery soul. He radiated positivity like never before, and it was a pleasant sight to enjoy. "Hm, to my office then!"
My hand carefully placed the end of the candle on the fire on the old candle, and replaced the old one with the new one. I could've had Blue to lit the candle on, but the dragon was sleeping fast on the couch of the room.
It was now into two o'clock in the morning, and the two of us have been up, calculating and preparing the logistics for the expedition to Old Berk.
One of the main factors that we had to consider was the time. Ships from Berk would usually be pulled by the dragon called Seashocker. With the help from the dragon, a ship carrying shipment would arrive faster than the one with no help from the dragon. That's why whenever a Berkian ship arrived with fur, two seashockers would usually be present but only one was used. The other one would be used to pull an Arendellian ship back to Berk to bring silver in return for the fur. Obviously, dragon power was absent in our situation, hence, traveling time would be significantly longer than usual. That also affected other things such as the amount of food to bring, equipment, and others.
However, we eventually arrived to a conclusion on a piece of paper with all of the preparations needed for the trip.
"It sounds… promising," I read the paper again.
Hiccup placed his pencil away, clicking his tongue in a proud manner. "This trip is a go, Anna. A go."
I placed the paper away and smiled at him. "Indeed."
He sat on the desk. "Are you sure we have to bring Elsa? I'm not sure if she could just leave the kingdom and Nothuldra alone."
"She would insist on coming along, Hiccup. Besides, she would want to protect us with her power," I replied.
"And you don't have to come—"
I cut him right away, raising a finger as a warning. "We're over that, Hiccup. I am coming, and that is final."
"The kingdom?"
"Kai will be in charge while I am absent. Besides, this also involves the safety of the kingdom as well… oh yes, and Hiccup," my own words reminded me of what I had to tell him and yet had done. "I need to tell you something."
"Yeah?"
I sat on the other end of the desk. "While you were out, my sister and I interrogated the crew of the Therondian ship. Prior to this, I did my own interrogation and failed miserably. This time, Elsa used her power to spit some words out from those men's mouths."
Him scooting closer to me was a sign of interest. "That's… weeks ago, why tell now?"
"The reason behind I waited for so long to tell you this is because you haven't healed enough, until now. I feared that you would come up with… unreasonably bad decisions for this situation. I'm sorry, but after I saw you being that close to death, you lost some of my trust, Hiccup. You seemed fine on the outside, but I never knew that you had that kind of intention inside you. And that shocked me to death."
He sighed. "I'm… sorry."
I waved it off. "It's in the past. Anyway, we later learned that you were going to be sold at a human trafficking market."
His jaw dropped open. "Human… what?"
"A market where humans are sold. But, this specific market sells people with titles, or someone unique. They sell leaders from around the world, either kings, or queens, tribe leaders, chiefs, anyone!"
I earned no response or comment. Hiccup was practically frozen.
"Therondia apparently earn some of their earnings through this market. I don't know how and why actual humans would have high values that selling them could maintain a kingdom's economy. This is, I'm afraid, only the first out of two things that we learned from the interrogation. The next one might be scarier…" I warned.
He sat closer to me. "Tell me."
I stared into his eyes before telling him. "They somehow… know about the Edge of the World, Hiccup. And they are going for it."
Hiccup gasped at the news. He looked away onto the table in disbelief. His fist punched against the desk.
"How could they…"
Suddenly, the door of the office opened, revealing Kai the advisor.
"Queen Anna—" he panted.
"What is it Kai?" I hopped off the table to walk to him.
"The Therondian crew… they broke out of prison! They have fled!"
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