One of those chapters I'm not entirely happy with. But I know if I don't just type it, I'll probably never it done. (And I have too many discontinued stories to my name already.)

Chapter 11

Jack woke up a little before drawn, just as the sun finished coming over the horizon. He was still exhausted from three nights without enough sleep – no, make that four nights. Nightlight had had to practically drag him out of bed to make sure they wouldn't be late for the border dispute negotiations with Spring.

So what he wanted to do was roll over a go back to sleep for a couple hours. They were close enough to the Autumn border they could afford that much. And he could see that Rapunzel was sound asleep, wrapped up in the bedroll, and her ridiculous lengths of golden hair.

But something told him to get up.

So with a sigh, he forced himself to push back the cloak and roll to his feet.

The fired had died down to embers, allowing the cold to seep into the cabin. When he checked outside, he was relieved to see that his emotion induced storm the night before hadn't lead to much accumulation.

Returning to Rapunzel, he touched her shoulder gently. That was enough to make her stir, and she cracked open on green eye.

"Time to head out," he said.

"Already?"

He nodded. "Can you pack up while I saddle the horse?"

"Mm-hmm." She propped herself up on her elbow. "What aobut breakfast?"

"Help yourself," he said. "But we need to head out soon."

"Okay." She sat up fully.

Satisfied that she was awake (and that she wouldn't do what he usually did: just lie back down as soon as he turned around), Jack stood up from his crouch. He stopped at the saddlebags on his way out, grabbing a piece of bread and a handful of dry fruit.

"Jack?"

Hand on the doorknob, he looked back. "Yeah?"

"Are you still mad?" she asked, her fingers tangled in a lock of hair. Her eyes were wide and earnest as she looked at him.

Jack had the urge to go back over and hug her. He got the impression she could use a real hug – she probably hadn't had many of them. But the move would have felt overly forward, so he resisted.

"No," he said. "I'm not."

She sighed in relief. "Thank you."

He couldn't help but smile as he opened the door. "Just don't do it again."

"I won't!" she said emphatically.

And he believed her.

#

He remembered that he had promised himself to talk to Rapunzel about their connection… but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

For the first few hours, he suspected that she was drifting in and out of sleep as they rode. Once she was fully awake, she was so busy questioning him that he didn't have a chance to bring it up. All the questions about his powers that she had been too tired to ask the night before now came tumbling out.

Could he feel the cold? Yes, but it didn't bother him.

Could he catch colds? He had a couple of times, but wasn't sure how it worked.

Did heat give him something like a cold? No. He preferred cooler climates, but heat didn't affect him too much.

Did his powers have limits? Yes.

Could he control the wind? To an extent. The wind usually had a mind of its own, but often let him direct it.

If his emotions could create a storm, could they stop one? He had never tried. He theorized that he could stop a small one, but it would probably wear him out.

What did his powers feel like? That one took a while to answer, since it wasn't something he had ever had to put into words before.

"What do yours feel like?" he asked, both out of curiosity, and stalling to give himself time to think.

Rapunzel considered that question.

"Warm," she said finally. "When I sing, I feel like it fills me up with warmth and light all the way down to my toes, until I just can't hold it in anymore, so it spills out through my hair."

There was something child-like about the words, and Jack loved it.

"It's kind of the same," Jack said. "But more… violent." He wasn't entirely sure that made sense, so he tried to find the right words.

For the first time in years, he looked inside himself mentally, focusing on the sensation of his powers that was always at the back of his mind. They could go dormant, but he never lost touch with him. "I can always feel the frost inside. When I call on it, or I lose control of my emotions, it grows until I can't keep it in anymore."

Once her questions about his powers were done, she turned to history and geography.

Many of her questions he simply couldn't answer, since he had barely paid attention to his tutors when they tried to teach him. And that had been years ago.

By the time her questions slowed, they were too close to the border to get into a deep discussion.

As they got closer, she started to fidget behind him in the saddle.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Are there really dragons in Autumn?"

"Yeah," Jack said. "I think they look down on us a little, since we're still riding horses, while they're riding dragons."

"They ride them?" Rapunzel asked. He didn't have to look back to know that her eyes were wide.

"They're easier to ride than horses," Jack said, not wanting to admit that dragons were more intelligent, since he was pretty sure the horse was listening. "Faster, too."

"Have you ridden one?"

"I have my own," he said. "It stays in Autumn, since they don't like the cold. But he's still mine."

"You have a dragon?"

He laughed at her tone, which was some cross between horrified and excited. "Frostfire. I'm hoping he'll meet us at the border."

She considered that for a moment.

"Does that mean I'll get to ride one?" Her excitement far outweighed her nerves, if he read her tone correctly.

"Probably."

Before Rapunzel could ask another question, Jack heard the familiar beat of large, leathery wings.

Rapunzel gasped as they both looked up to see a dragon arcing through the air, far over head. The sun was behind it, so Jack couldn't see the details… but he was pretty sure he recognized the bird like silouhette.

"Is that Frostfire?"

He shook his head, trying not to feel nervous about who their welcoming committee was going to be.

A few minutes later they rounded the last bend in the road, and up ahead Jack could see the guard station, where all travelers had to check in before they could cross in either direction. The Winter/Autumn border was the most relaxed, with the most crossover, but his father still took pride in Winter's security.

Off the main road was the outpost. It was mostly homes or barracks for guards, but there was a store where Autumn merchants could trade their merchandise if they wanted to head back over the border quickly. Most of the people who crossed the borders were merchants and farmers, one whom Winter's economy was dependent.

The dragon came to land by the guard station, and Jack swallowed as he recognized the blue scales, accented by yellow spines on the tail. Great.

And, to make it even better, the dragon's rider came down from the guard station porch. Her fur lined jacket hid her lithe build, but her hood was down, so even across the distance Jack could recognize her thick, golden braid. She rested a hand on the dragon's neck before turning in their direction.

"Who's that?" Rapunzel asked.

"Lady Astrid," Jack said. "The King of Autumn's wife."

"So she's a queen." It wasn't a question. If anything, he got the impression she was correcting him for not calling Astrid a queen.

"Technically. But she doesn't like being called a queen," he said. "She made her own name as a warrior, then as Hiccup's lieutenant." A position she still preferred to running the royal household.

"You're late," Astrid called, as soon as they were in hearing distance. "We've been waiting more than an hour."

"I didn't say when I'd be here," he reminded.

"I know," she said, with a confidant grin. "But we've been waiting. Your brother got here last night."

They had just reached the guard station when she said the last part, and Jack pulled up short. "What?"

Astrid looked over as the door of the guard station opened again, and Jack watched his brother come out.

Rapunzel's arms tightened around his waist.

"Great," Jack muttered. "Just great."

Nightlight looked at him for almost a full minute before he sighed, and shook his head.

"What did I do now?" Jack asked.

"I don't even know yet," Nightlight said. "I'm scared to ask."

Jack didn't answer that, waiting for Nightlight to actually ask. Scared or not, eventually she would ask, and Jack would have to start explaining. He really didn't want to – not when Rapunzel was listening, and there was still a lot he would have liked to explained to her in a very different setting.

He noticed a few guards had gathered around, trying to be inconspicuous as they watched.

"I promised Hiccup we wouldn't have any important discussions before we got to the palace," Astrid said, looking at Nightlight as though she had already explained this to him. "Nightlight will ride with me. Frostfire is… there he is."

Frostfire had just come around the corner of the guard station. His white and ice blue scales shimmered as he moved, even in the overcast lighting. He had a long, lizard like body, his finned tail swaying back and forth, but his face was wolf-like. He looked at Jack with amber eyes, as if saying "oh, it's you again."

"Some days it just feels like no one likes me," Jack muttered, dismounting from the horse. There didn't seem to be any way out of it.

Rapunzel was being awfully quiet, taking in the scene with wide eyes as Jack turned back to help her down. He took hold of her waist as she dismounted.

A guard rushed over to take the reins, bowing as he did so. Jack could barely see his face, but he was obviously young. And new to the post, if he kept his head bowed in front of Jack. Most of the guards were familiar with him, and their bows were an afterthought, when they remembered he was a prince.

"Give him a day of rest," Jack said. "Then see that he's returned to the Bennett Inn."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Jack looked back at Astrid and his brother, who both watched Rapunzel. He glanced at Rapunzel again, and was relieved to see that his cloak covered her heart, so the blue glow wasn't visible.

"Well, since everyone else seems to have forgotten their manners," Jack muttered. "Rapunzel, my brother Nightlight, Crown Prince of Winter, and the Lady Astrid of Autumn, yada, yada. Nightlight, Astrid, this is Rapunzel."

"Stars, Jack," Nightlight murmured, staring at Rapunzel. "What have you done?"

Not wanting to answer that (since Astrid had promised Hiccup, thankfully), he looked over at the Queen of Autumn.

Astrid looked Rapunzel over, without staring, but obviously figuring a few things out. She met his gaze again, blue-green eyes sharp as always. (She had to be, in order to keep up with her husband.) And Jack got the impression she had probably figured out more than he and Nightlight combined.

"Let's go," she said, nodding for Jack to mount Frostfire. "Hiccup's waiting for us."