Anna's POV

I climbed onto his bed and nudged him on the back. No response. I nudged him the second time, this time it was more like a slap.

"Mmm…"

There he was.

"Hiccup? Wake up!"

He rolled his body to see me. He scrunched his eyes and let out one big yawn. Setting himself to sit on the bed, he looked at the windows and mumbled.

"It's still bright?..."

"Good morning to you too," I crossed my arms.

Within a dash, he turned to me with eyes very much open. "Morning?"

"You missed dinner, you are not going to miss breakfast as well," I grabbed his crutch to give it to him. "Come on."

His eyes rolled to the food cart by the door. "Was that dinner?"

"It was. There will be warmer food in the dining room."

He waved it off. "I don't mind cold food. I seriously don't. I don't want those to be wasted."

I pouted in disagreement. But he was right. Leftovers were no-go for me, so I pulled the food cart to the bed, close enough for him to sit on the edge and utilize the cart as a table. I opened the lid of the dish for him. It was a fish steak with some potatoes dressed with some cream.

"Happy eating!" I gave the Viking a smile.

He scooched closer to the cart. "You're not going to eat breakfast?" He asked, taking a bite of the fish.

"Hmm, I think I'll wait for you to finish," I replied. "I'm nowhere near as hungry as I usually am,"

"Are you on a diet?" He scoffed. The question surprised me a little. With my index finger, I pointed at him.

"You do not ask a lady about her diet, Hiccup," I warned, giving him a bit of a pinch on the arm.

"Aw! Sorry!" He backed off a little, and fixed his position back to return to eat. I pulled some pillows and placed them behind my back to lay on them, while looking at the view outside of the windows.

"Say… what's with the long sleep? You must've slept for more than twelve hours," I asked with a concerned tone.

He stared at his food while having a thought. "I guess I was just really tired. While still kept on the ship, it's safe to say that I had a hard time dozing myself off to sleep. Well, I did have some sleep, but none of those were any comfortable ones. I kept having… dreams… of…" he dragged his sentence, and it didn't take an expert to say that he didn't want to mention about his tragedy.

"Right, okay," I reached for his shoulder to halt him. "I get it."

He glanced to me, giving a slight smile.

"Did you have a good sleep?" I asked.

He shrugged, but then he nodded down. "I did. Yeah, much better sleep than the ones I previously had."

His hesitance made me doubt a little, but I decided not to question about it any further.

"Though, I'd like to ask something, Anna," he used a handkerchief to clean his mouth before taking a sip of the water.

"What's up?" I asked.

Hiccup crossed his legs and faced me. "To be able to live inside a room this fancy… and to live under your care, I just can't do it. If I were to live as an Arendellian, I would like to work as one as well, and not live in the casle," he explained.

I was genuinely taken aback. "It's okay, Hiccup! It really is—"

"I insist, Anna. I'll… find a blacksmith and apply as worker there, and rent a room somewhere. There must be a place to rent a room, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, there is. But Hiccup," I approached him. "It's really okay, don't sweat it just because—"

"Anna. Stop."

His tone sounded stern, so I shut my mouth in defeat.

"Fine… if that's what you want, if it makes you feel better as well," I shrugged. "to which I hope that it does?"

"Yes," he said confidently. "It will make me feel better."

"Alright, let's find you a room at…" I looked at the clock on the wall. "Nine. Be prepared," I gave his back a friendly slap and jumped off the bed. "I'm going to prepare myself—"

"You're coming with me?" Hiccup asked.

I gave him that 'duh' look. "Of course, I know the kingdom better than you do, mister."

"I mean, don't you have… queenly stuff to work on?"

I rounded my mouth. "Oh. Nope. Today is one of those days where I give the whole kingdom a tour to see what's what. The work is not just in the office for this queen, I'm afraid," I toned my voice as proudly as possible. It colored him entertained.

"Right."

"Main courtyard at nine, be early."

I came to the spot earlier than him, dressed outgoing outfit with a bag strapped around me. In the meantime, I took out the object I had prepared for the Viking; a peg leg, very much looking like the one a pirate would put on, but the bottom end had a flat small board attached to it for better balance.

It was something I found lying around in the old toy box of my childhood. We would pretend we were pirates while launching each other 'cannonballs' in the form of mere snowballs. Now, pirates were no fun; a threat to everyone's safety. Gosh, adulthood.

"Hopefully it will fit though…" I spoke of my main concern. He was fairly skinny for a man of his age, but anything was possible.

"Anna!"

I turned around to the main entrance of the castle, and there my Viking was, coming out to the sunshine. "Hey!"

Hiccup immediately spotted the object that I held. "Oh, is that for me?"

"Oh no, I was about to chop my leg off for the sake of equality—"

Geez, Anna. Cut the sass.

I looked up, and his face looked like it suspected nothing. Maybe he didn't hear my sass. Good.

"Um, yeah!" I approached him, "let me put it on for you."

I knelt down and pulled the floating left end of his trouser to find the end of his left leg. Right away, my eyes widened at the 'remaining' of his left leg. Safe to say that I was not prepared for the moment, as I've never seen someone missing an arm before other than Olaf.

Nervously gulping, I placed the peg leg on his leg. It fitted!

"Right," I stood up, "test flight. Let me take that…" I took his crutch away gently.

He merely stood there perfectly. Even he himself found it confusing.

"Seems good so far," he commented. He did some tippy-tap, and took a few steps forward and backward. While walking, he looked a bit awkward, as if he had something in his pants that needed to be pulled out.

"Walking will take some time to get adjusted to," he turned around to me. "But I will treasure this forever. At least it will ease the process of making the prosthetic at the blacksmith."

"I suppose," I nodded down in agreement. "Let's go. I've prepared the horse."

With that, I led the Viking to the stable where the royal horses were kept. Once I spotted my very favorite horse, I called for his name, "Molly!"

The horse noticed my call and neighed in excitement. I opened his stable and gave him a rub by the neck before gesturing to Hiccup to climb up.

"Here goes nothing…" He cracked his knuckles and sprung upwards as high as he could. First attempt was a failure, and so was the second time. The third time, I pushed him up by the bottom to give an extra boost, and third time was indeed the charm.

"There you go… Hup!" I jumped onto the horse and commanded to go forward.

And then I realized something.

"Hiccup! You've never ridden a horse, right?" I asked with a small laugh.

He shook his head. "No!"

"Hya!" I gave Molly a gentle kick to accelerate, and he did. Right away, Hiccup circled his arms around me, clinging to his dear life. We galloped through the castle gate on a speed so fast, I was sure one of the guards warned me from a distance to slow down. However, the sky was open, and it would be a waste not to goof around.

Once we crossed the bridge, it was time to slow down. I pulled the harness to signal the horse to do so. Once slowed down, my back sensed a beating, and my ears heard heavy panting, which could only mean one thing.

"Hiccup, the dragon rider, scared while riding a horse?" I let my sass loose, looking at him. Hiccup let go of me and slightly slapped me by the shoulder.

"It's been years since I last had a flight, Anna," he desperately tried to catch his absent breath. The sight was too good not to laugh at, so I laughed my lungs out.

I ended my laughter by clearing my throat. "I had to, I'm sorry."

"Sure you are," he gave a friendly push.

I glanced to him, giving him a dirty smirk. "It's the closest experience I can ever get to riding Toothless," I chuckled. "Well, of course, I do not get the heights, hence I do not get the views and the adrenaline and the rush and the wind on my hair… at least I get the speed, a tiny fraction of it."

"Yeah… I agree. Say, where are we heading to?" He asked.

"The dock. Need to check on the fishermen and the shipments. Need to make sure everything is sufficient—"

"Hello Queen Anna!"

"My queen! Good morning!"

"Queen Anna!"

I was greeted from multiple directions, so I had to smile and wave for a moment. However, more was to come considering I was going through a street where there were activities.

"You're pretty famous," he commented.

I raised a brow. "Is that sarcastic or—"

He pondered for a moment, and gave himself a slap by the forehead. "I—you're the queen, yeah, queen-famous."

What a dork.

As Molly made his way along the street, I kept waving to people who gave me greetings. It's always heartwarming to see my people spreading positivity like this; of course, not everyone was the positivity-spreader type of kind. But if it were to put into a comparison, the amount of nice people out here beat the amount of, let's say, less nice people by a mile. So, stumbling upon someone who was less kind was once in a blue moon.

"Oooo, Queen Anna, picking up a suitor already?" A woman called with a flirtatious tone.

Talk about the devil. I wanted to sass her, but I had to maintain my image as a queen.

"No, Ma'am. Just trying to find a lad a new home," I replied.

"Oh! I have a room; this is my inn!" She pointed at the building behind her. I signaled Molly to stop.

It was decent in size, and across the building itself, a blacksmith, as it happened. I looked to Hiccup, tilting my head.

"We can check it later. Let's do your errands first," he replied. "It seems promising, if you ask me. There's a blacksmith across, it looks perfect."

"Aight, we'll come back to you later, Ma'am," I said.

"Your boyfriend will very much be in safe hands, I assure you that."

I slightly frowned at the statement, giving her a dirty look. Replying nothing, I signaled Molly to go.

Once again, along the way, I was greeted by more pedestrians. It really was a tiring job to keep a smile up throughout the journey. After several minutes, the dock finally came to sight, and I could finally let my facial muscles relax.

"Here we are, finally."

I stopped by a pole so I could keep Molly secure. I seamlessly dropped off the horse first, and signaled Hiccup to drop.

"I got you, come on," I extended my arms to soften his landing. After jumping, my hands caught him by the arms. He let out a small grunt.

"Oof, did it hurt?" I looked at his peg leg.

"A tiny bit. I'll have to place some padding in the slot later on," he tapped his peg leg against the ground. "But it's okay."

With that, I began my errands. I checked on every ship, every boat, every captain, and every fisherman. With my notebook, I wrote down every important thing I learned along the way, mainly in form of numbers of profit, loss, those stuff. Never did I ever forget to cheer every single man and woman involved in this part of the kingdom's economy, for I knew how much of a dangerous place the sea was.

Hiccup himself was engaging throughout my survey; he gave tips to many fishermen and sailors, reminded the wind pattern of the ocean, and more. For someone who has flown a lot in his life, Hiccup was very experienced as well with the water.

"You sure are one experienced sailor as well," I commented as I carefully walked down the wooden plank to get off the ship I was on.

"One needs to explore the sea as well, not just the sky. The fish swim in the water, not on the air," he replied.

"You sounded pretty wise for a moment, did your head hit something?" I snorted, hopping onto the dock.

"Funny—"

"Right," I placed my hands on my hips. "Now we go to the field to check on the crops."

"Is there another one after that?"

"Um… several, actually. The local shops, the farms, the ice harvester…" I named more and more things to see his reaction, and I saw exactly what I wanted.

"Oh goodness, there sure are plenty," he let out a sigh.

I curled a smile on my lips, a victorious one. "Got you. The ones after the ice harvesters were made up. I'm still a human being, you know."

His face brightened. "Oh. Haha. Right, let's get going."


"Excuse me, do you know what time it is?"

"Oh, your majesty! Uhh… honey? What time is it now?" The man called for his wife inside the house.

"Almost half to ten! Why?" Her wife replied from inside the house.

"Nothing! Half to ten, your majesty. You should come back to the castle, it's not safe," the husband warned.

"I'm on my way," I pulled the harness on Molly to signal him to go. "Thank you."

Hiccup and I had been tirelessly wandering around in the kingdom for more than twelve hours, surveying every corner of the kingdom because as a queen, I felt that I was obliged to. Yes, my servants are to give me report every day, but sometimes, seeing things from the naked eyes assure me more than the numbers did.

Besides, it's an excuse for me to have fun outside as well. And with Hiccup by my side, today has been amazing. Having him as today's companion reminded me of how much of a good man he was, how much of a funny person he was, lovable as well, and how much he didn't deserve whatever happened in his homeland.

You could say that cheering the guy up had been a side-quest as well throughout the day as I progressed with my survey. I did use my sass occasionally, but it turned out to be an okay device to make him smile, though it might not be really appropriate to sass someone who had gone through a lot within one night. However, he smiled, heck, he laughed!

"There's the inn," I spoke.

"I think I might as well spend the night there, Anna. Give it a test flight as well right away, you know," he suggested. I turned to see his face.

"The only thing you'll be testing is the bed, you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure! I mean, people spend many hours on the bed throughout their lives. Though it sounds not so important, a comfortable bed is a great investment in your life," he explained. I could only shake my head while smiling.

"I can't believe you just made sleeping sound scientific, when it's very much my hobby," I said.

"Hahaha…"

We stopped in front of the inn, and the madam, the owner of the place, was just about to flip the open sign to close from behind the door. We were right on time.

"Ma'am? Can we still rent a room?" I asked immediately.

She looked up to me through the window of her door. Her face brightened, and she opened the door right away. "Oh, your majesty! Yes, you still can!"

"Alright, thank you! Molly, stay."

We both hopped off Molly and walked our way to the entrance of the inn. The main lobby was lit by the candles placed on the walls and the chandelier on the ceiling. Aside that, there weren't much, but the walls had lovely patterns to which I was sure they were hand drawn. The interior screamed simplicity.

"Welcome to Olsen's~" the woman greeted, walking to the counter. "A room for two, your majesty?"

I raised a brow. "Oh, no. Just for him, and he is going to live here for a while," I explained. "You may send the bill to the castle, I will handle it."

"Aww, that's a shame," no it isn't, woman. "Very well, a room for the scruffy man. What is your name?" She readied a pen.

"Hiccup Haddock," he answered.

The woman briefly snickered, writing down the name on her book. "Hiccup… Haddock… Very well. What kind of room would you like?"

"The cheapest one," he replied.

"You sure? I seriously don't mind, Hiccup," I asked with hesitance. "Who knows how the cheapest one really is."

"We're about to find out," he smiled reassuringly.

Lady Olsen took us to the upper floor where the room was. After passing several doors, she stopped at one at the very end of the corridor. With her key, she unlocked it and let us in.

"Single bed, the bathroom is over there, a wardrobe, a table, a chair, a mirror, a fireplace, a compartment. The window giving a view to the fjord is free, as it is available in every room," Lady Olsen casually explained. I hung my bag on the coat hanger behind the door to inspect the room corner to corner. For something labeled as the cheapest room there was, I was rather okay with it. And I imagined if I was okay with this, Hiccup would be,

"Perfect. I'll have this one."

"Deal, it is… I'll send you the bill later, Queen Anna," she said.

"Please do. Thank you," I nodded.

She left the room, leaving the two of us alone. "You sure you're okay?"

"Mhm. It kind of resembles my old house, to be frank," he replied.

I stick my bottom lip out. "If it really does, I suppose that's a good thing."

He walked to the mirror to see himself, and proceeded to fix his hair nonchalantly in the silence. I snuck from behind and wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him.

"I'll see you later, yeah?" I asked.

He turned around to return the hug. "Sure thing."

We remained like this for a few seconds until the two of us started coughing in unison, pulling away from each other.

"You need a shower," we spoke to each other in unison. We proceeded to laugh about it for a moment. I ended my laughter before him, and watched him continuing it. Joy filled my heart to see him like this.

"Alright, I have to go. Everybody must be looking for me," I walked to the door, grabbing the handle to shut it.

"Hahah… Right, yeah. Good night, Anna." He bid.

My smile for him grew wider. "Good night, Hiccup."

I shut the door gently, and rushed my way down the stairs. I bid Lady Olsen farewell before exiting the inn. Once hopping on Molly, he galloped to the castle.

Luckily, the street was empty, allowing me to speed along it without having the need to bother the pedestrians. It merely took me a minute or so to reach the bridge, but then I realized something absent.

"MY BAG!"

I cursed under my breath and pulled the harness on Molly to slow down. I turned around and rushed my way back to the Olsen's Inn. The trip took the same amount of time.

Once there, I hopped off to see nobody at the counter. I peeked through the window, but Lady Olsen was nowhere to be seen. I knocked the door several times and called for the lady. I earned no response. That's when I decided to try the handle, and to my surprise, it was unlocked.

"Oh."

I walked my way back to the upper floor, through the same corridor to Hiccup's room. I stopped at my track when I saw Lady Olsen planting her ear by Hiccup's door.

"Lady Olsen, what are you doing?"

She looked to me and her eyes widened. "My queen! Why are you here again?"

"I forgot I left my bag in his room. I came to get it back," I approached her.

"My queen! I heard glass shatter from this door, but it's locked. I fear something has happened!"

Oh no.

I shoved her away from the door and tried twisting the door handle. It's locked tight.

"Hiccup?!"

I tried barging the door with my shoulder, but it would not budge.

"Help me! Come on!" I told the lady, and we readied ourselves in a position.

"On three. One, two, three!"

We charged, and it still wouldn't budge.

"Three!"

No luck.

"THREE!"

The third time's charm resulted in me kissing the floor after using force to open the door. I looked up and I saw horror. Hiccup, lying on the floor, his back facing us. I quickly got up to check on him.

"Hiccup—OH!"

Blood, flowing from his slit wrist. He was holding a piece of glass which was from the mirror on the wall, very much shattered into pieces.

"HICCUP!"