Note: I accidentally skipped a chapter. THIS is the real chapter 10. Sorry about that!
As they soared high above the forest, Elsa decided that she quite enjoyed flying. The feel of the wind in her hair and the wide open space around them, the breathtaking beauty of the forest passing below them and the clouds surrounding them, all culminated into a serenity that made her feel totally at peace with herself and the world.
"I finally get it," she shouted into Hiksti's ear, raising her voice over the rushing of the wind.
"What's that?" he asked, glancing back at her with a wildly happy smile on his face. Her heart warmed to see him so joyful and she gave his waist an extra squeeze. He'd been carefully making a map as they passed over the land, marking rivers and landforms and forest boundaries in his notebook.
"Why you jumped off that cliff," she said. "After we saw the trolls. Because this feeling - it's like nothing in the world!"
He laughed at that, clearly agreeing with her.
The Night Light looked back at them with a great blue eye and rumbled something at them, and Hiksti pointed ahead of them toward a castle high on a tall hill overlooking a placid, glassy lake surrounded by willow trees. "Is that the castle you saw?" he asked her.
"Yes!" Elsa cried. "I didn't realize it was so far from the door!"
The castle had no defensive wall, relying solely on the terrain around it to keep it inaccessible. The hillside was steep and rocky, with exactly one clear path leading to the front door. A moat surrounded the walls and towers, and that was it.
But they didn't stop there. The Night Light kept on going until the hills turned into low mountains, and beyond that stretched the sea, an endless sapphire expanse of water glittering in the sun.
Near the ocean-side mountains Hiksti could see cliffs dropping down to the crashing waves far below, and it was to one of these cliffs that the Night Light headed. "Look!" he said, pointing to an enormous cave that emptied into the ocean proper. The Night Light headed directly for it and flew right in.
The cavern was enormous, and smaller tunnels seemed to honeycomb the walls in every direction. Where the sea water rushed in there was a sizable lagoon, and right in the center of that lagoon lay the most gigantic creature Elsa had ever seen.
Mostly white, the creature had an elaborate frill of spines behind a flat face, and gargantuan tusks sloping down and away from its cheeks. Great sails ran the length of its broad back, and spikes taller than Elsa protruded chaotically from its powerful tail. Only part of it was above the water. "It's got to be one hundred fifty meters long!" Elsa gasped. The book he'd written hadn't been able to do it justice.
"Easily," Hiksti agreed.
Directly to the Bewilderbeast they flew, and as they drew close, their Night Light let out a fearsome roar just as she landed on a large boulder jutting out of the water. "Quick, dismount," Hiksti said and Elsa followed right after. "Thank you," he told the Night Light. "Can I call you Brenna?" Brenna apparently didn't mind and gave a chortling sort of growl.
Hiksti made quick work of removing the saddle as the Bewilderbeast's eyes ponderously turned to look at them, and once it had them in its sights Hiksti bowed very low. Elsa did as well, and so did Brenna. A moment later Brenna rumbled something to the King of Dragons that sounded suspiciously like an explanation, complete with body language and rather dramatic facial expressions. Elsa looked around to see that there were hundreds - maybe thousands - of dragons around them, nestled in various nooks and crannies around the cavern wall, some popping their heads out of tunnels, others hoving in mid-air, all paying close attention to the story-telling.
The King listened, its eyes considering them carefully, before he slowly began to stand up. Waterfalls cascaded from his broad back, and dozens of little baby dragons that Elsa hadn't noticed before were spooked into flight. Every movement seemed elephantine in nature, the motions of his great legs seeming slow, but that was deceptive - in reality he was moving at a good clip. He heaved himself out of the water completely and walked up the bank to gaze at the far wall. He turned to look at Hiksti and Elsa and groaned.
"I think he wants us to look at something," Hiksti said. Elsa slipped her hand into his and they made their way along the ledge toward the King. As they passed the saddle on the ground, a passing thought from her had it dissolving like so much summer snow.
There were cave paintings, done in charcoal black against the off-white walls. Crude, but clearly telling a story. A boy, a Night Fury, and adventure upon adventure, all of which Elsa had seen before in the walls of her glacier, now recorded here. Others were there as well, humans and dragons. "It's… it's their history," Hiksti said, extending a reverent hand toward a portrait of a thin, shaggy-haired, one-legged man who was clearly him. Before he could touch the charcoal lines the King of Dragons rumbled a warning, and Hiksti let his hand fall away again. He pointed toward his icon. "This is me," he explained. "When I was a boy, hundreds of years ago."
"Family always remembers," Elsa said quietly, recalling the words of the kind farmer, Otylia. She put her hand on his back and he gave her a bitter-sweet look in return.
"Look," Elsa said, pointing to another figure writ large on the cave walls. A man with a long beard and robes and a tall staff in one hand. It showed him leading the dragons through the magical doors. "This must be Myrddin." Hiksti nodded, silently agreeing with her as his eyes took in the story, trying to decipher it. The castle was there as well, nine towers on a steep hill, and nine long-haired women with crowns upon their heads and upraised arms.
"The Fairy Queens," Hiksti guessed. They were depicted more than once, always with their hands upraised and lines of power shooting from them toward some landform or body of water. At one point they escorted a crowned man laid out in a boat, which Elsa thought looked rather like a funeral. The nine queens all laid silently on some sort of platform, dead or asleep, it was hard to tell.
"I'm not very familiar with Aurthurian legends," Elsa said slowly. "One of these is Arthur's sister, though? Morgan?"
"Morgan Le Fay," Hiksti said. "Mab. Titania. Diana. Gloriana. Nimue. Argante. Uonaidh. Calista."
Elsa just shook her head, impressed by her husband's near encyclopedic knowledge of trivia and legends. "And Gothel," she said, her tone turning sour.
"What?" Hiksti asked. He looked away from the Fairy Queens to a woman with wild, curly hair who appeared to be murdering a dragon. "That's her? The witch you told me about?"
Elsa nodded. "She found her way to the doors and would come here on occasion to kill a dragon and… harvest." She shuddered. Then she turned to look up at the Bewilderbeast. "She's dead," she told him. "She died a few years ago. You won't have to worry about her doing that, any more."
The Bewilderbeast rumbled a pleased note, and all around them dragons raised their voices in a brief celebration. Then the Bewilderbeast blew a breath of cold, misty air at them, a frosty benediction of sorts, and he turned and lumbered back into his pool to relax.
They spent hours there, meeting dozens and dozens of curious dragons. Elsa may have been influenced by her husband's obvious preference, but she liked the Night Lights the most. Sleek and fast and curious and intelligent, they just had so much personality that she couldn't help but enjoy their company. When night fell, however, they decided to make their camp on the top of the cliff, overlooking the ocean. The dragons left them alone after that, going about their own business.
They ate and made love, a joyful, wild joining that left them both out of breath and exhausted. As they cuddled afterward, Elsa noticed something. "Hiksti, you're glowing," she said.
"Yeah, well, you have that effect on me," he said, his eyes closed and a delighted grin curling his mouth upward.
"No, I mean, actually glowing," she said.
He opened his eyes and looked at himself, and then her. "You, too," he said, sitting up. And Elsa realized that he was right - they were both bathed in a balmy, faint golden glow. They looked at each other in wonder - there was something about the glow that felt safe and warm. After a minute it faded away.
"I wonder what that was about?" Hiksti said. But, not feeling threatened, he just lay down and opened his arms again, and Elsa snuggled up to rest her head on his shoulder.
"Something to do with our love-making," she murmured. "Something to do with the power here. It's so strong. It feels like Ahtohallan, only bigger, somehow, as if this entire world is made of magic."
"Maybe it is," Hiksti said. "Maybe that's why you can create a real saddle instead of an ice saddle."
'Hmm," she sighed. "I wonder if I could…" she stopped herself and shivered.
"What?" he asked, curiosity piqued.
"No, I… that's just hubris," she said. "I shouldn't even go there."
"Well, now you have to tell me."
"No, I don't," she countered.
"If you don't tell me, I might actually die of curiosity," he informed her seriously. "And you don't want that, right? Not after all the trouble of making me swear to live out my life and breaking my curse and getting married to me and whatnot. Right?" He jostled her. "Tell meeeeeee," he pleaded.
Elsa giggled. "Fine," she said. "I was just wondering if… if I could create… a real life." She paused. "Like, instead of a snowman, could I create a person? A living, breathing, person, with a heart and a brain and… and tear ducts and a liver, all of that." She shook her head. "But… like I said. Hubris."
Hiksti was silent for a very, very long time, and Elsa was just beginning to wonder if he'd actually fallen asleep.
"That would be playing a god," he said. "And you might attract their wrath. I'd maybe not do that, if I were you."
"Okay, agreed," Elsa said quickly.
"We can just create a life together, someday," he said, kissing her head. "The old fashioned way."
"Someday," she agreed.
The next morning they were up with the sun, and Hiksti caught them some fish for breakfast. As they cooked it, the occasional curious dragon popped in for a visit, staying for a minute or two and then leaving again.
"So… are you planning on bringing any of the dragons back with us?" Elsa asked him curiously.
He gave her a look. "Not really," he told her. "They're happy here, and safe. Why bring them to our world where they'll only be feared and hunted and killed?" He shook his head. "I only wish Myrddin were still alive, I would give him my entire treasure horde for saving them."
Elsa nodded and propped her elbows on her knees and rested her chin in her hands. "When we get home I can make us a snow dragon," she suggested. "Like Olaf and Marshmallow. No one will hunt it because it'll be my creation and everyone will know that."
"Hm," Hiksti said. He thought about it while he took the fish away from the flames and handed one to her. She fetched her knife from its sheath and started to eat, blowing on the hot carcass. "Arendelle is surprisingly accepting of your creations, and the Northuldran, too. Maybe you could," he conceded. "Or you could give wings to the Nokk."
Elsa smiled. "Only if he'd let me." She couldn't imagine a creature of the water taking kindly to being so far removed from his element. The few times she'd convinced him to come onto the land he'd always radiated a palpable relief to be back in the water.
A Night Light landed next to them, and Hiksti and Elsa smiled at it. "Hey, there, bud," Hiksti said. He held out his hand and the dragon nudged it with its nose, and they were friends. Hiksti tossed it a bit of fish, which it gulped down. This one was mostly white, with black legs and black around its eyes, black ear-like plates, and a black tail. Its great, green eyes stared relentlessly at the fish, practically begging for more.
Elsa giggled. "It looks like a panda," she said.
"Hah, you're right!" Hiksti agreed. "We'll name you Panda, then. Do you like that?"
Panda didn't seem to mind one way or another.
"Is it a girl or a boy?" Elsa asked curiously.
Hiksti squinted at it, thought for a moment. "A boy," he told her.
"I don't know how you know that," she said, shaking her head.
"There are some small differences," he explained. "The heavier eye-ridges, the size is a bit bigger, and the shape of the wings and tail fins is sharper."
Another Night Light flew up from below their cliff-side and landed. "A girl," Elsa guessed.
"You're right," Hiksti said, giving her a proud smile.
This Night Light was about half-white, half-black. She had a solid stripe down her back which was inky black. The black became dappled with white until it gradually blended into her snow-white underside. The tips of her wings and tail fins were white, but the rest was black. She had sky-blue eyes. When she landed, Panda stood up to greet her, and she rubbed her chin along his cheek and then snuggled her way under his chin until she was past him. She circled to the other side of the fire and sat there to watch what was going on.
Elsa picked up the half of the fish she hadn't gotten to, and held out her hand. "Would you like this?" she offered. The Night Light very politely took it, not even drooling on Elsa's hand in the process. Elsa grinned. "Can I name this one?" she asked. Hiksti nodded. "Dapple," she declared. "Aren't you beautiful?"
Dapple clearly agreed with Elsa's assessment as to her good looks, and grinned at them with retracted teeth.
"Panda and Dapple seem to be a mated pair," Hiksti said. "They way they greeted one another. It's how I saw Toothless and his mate greet each other a few times."
"Well, it's our first double-date!" Elsa laughed.
"I think…" Hiksti was quiet. "I think there must have been more Night Furies in the world," he said. "I never found any, as long as I lived. But there are so many with so much black in them… it doesn't make sense that the trait would be so strong after so many generations."
"Perhaps Myrddin found them," Elsa suggested.
"Yeah, perhaps. He had certain advantages over me." Magic, primarily.
"Were there other Light Furies?"
"Yeah," he said. "By the time I left there were a few who'd made it to the Hidden World. They ended up being Toothless's children's mates, which was good because I was worried about inbreeding."
Elsa grimaced at the idea. "Hey, I've got an idea," she said. "We could go and visit that castle."
"Yeah, I was thinking that!" Hiksti said. He rubbed his chin. "But first, a shave. It's hot in Avalon."