Chapter 12

"Toothless!" Hiccup called early in the morning, the day after his mother's garden party. He saw a black tail sticking out of a large mountain of hay but the Nightfury showed no indication of waking up.

"I have food!" Hiccup then called which caused the tail to twitch and wag a bit but still, the dragon did not budge from within the hay. "Playing hard to get huh?" Hiccup asked aloud to no one in particular. He was in the dragon stables and several other dragons were looking excitingly at the huge woven basket of fish Hiccup had with him. Cloudjumper, his mother's dragon, was on one of the higher rafters overlooking the scene with indifference while Skullkrusher, his father's dragon, was still snoring loudly. Stormfly had perked up and was now sniffing around Hiccup and the basket. He had to keep the basket close or else the Nadder would have snatched a fish or three. It was then that Hiccup got a wicked idea.

People knew that dragons were intelligent, but how intelligent depended solely on the type of species. Nadders, for instance, were one of several species that could understand human speech. "Say Stormfly…." Hiccup began, catching the dragon's attention. "I'll give you the biggest fish in here if you drag Toothless out."

Stormfly gave a squawk as if to say she agreed before diving into the large pile of hay that the Nightfury used to cuddle when sleeping. Hiccup could hear Toothless' surprised yowl before Stormfly came back out, this time dragging Toothless by the tail. Hiccup laughed as he noticed Toothless pouting and set about dividing the fish between the four dragons, giving Stormfly the biggest fish. Skullcrusher had woken up at the commotion and was now eating with the rest of them.

"And here I thought I was the only one who bribed dragons," Came the laugh from behind Hiccup. He turned to see Astrid leaning against one of the posts in the stable. He hadn't even heard her come in but she was clearly amused at the antics of the dragons.

"Milady," Hiccup greeted her and then proceeded to give her hand a kiss causing Astrid to blush. She never could get used to that. After the events yesterday the couple had decided to be better safe than sorry and had given Stoick and Gobber the green light to announce the engagement. Of course those two went all out and before the night was through the Ministers, Governours, Palace staff, knights and even the squires all knew of the new engagement. News traveled fast in the Kingdom and Hiccup had no doubt that it had already made its way through the taverns, merchant guilds and other establishments. Hiccup had felt sad when hearing about the probable schemes of his uncle but with this announcement it would put a bit of an obstacle in Spitelout's way. He was however glad that Snotlout actually had nothing to do with the schemes and surprised to find out he had another cousin as well. Astrid however had been wearing a certain wicked grin all throughout dinner yesterday as Hiccup noticed the Ministers shooting glances at their future Crown Princess. 'She must have been imagining certain individuals choking on their wine as the news hit,' He had concluded.

"So what is the plan for today?" Astrid asked as she gave Stormfly a scratch.

"Well I was hoping you would accompany me to the morning market." Hiccup said. "Dad asked the dragon groomers to come in today so Toothless and the others will be… TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup shouted as he was bowled over as the Nightfury freaked out and ran out of the stables with such urgency.

"Hiccup are you alright?!" Astrid asked as she bent down to give the trampled prince a hand. Hiccup was surprisingly sturdy and once he stood up he muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" Astrid asked as she hadn't been able to catch that.

"I forgot Toothless hates the dragon groomers," Hiccup sighed. "Now he's going to be hiding the entire day,"

"How can a dragon hate dragon groomers?" Astrid questioned. "It's like they are getting a spa day and all the right places scratched."

"I know but he kind of had a bad run in with an apprentice groomer which left him pink for a week." Hiccup sighed. "It will be no use finding him either. He's persistent in hiding when groomers are involved.

"Wait…. Did you say pink?" Astrid tried to hide her mirth. "As in a pink Nightfury?! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

"The other dragons never let him live it down either," Hiccup groaned and then smiled too. It had been a funny sight.

Stormfly looked up from her fish as Astrid waved goodbye at her while she and Hiccup left the stables. Nadders loved groomers and Astrid wasn't about to deprive her dragon of the spa day. She squinted once outside as the morning sun hit her. The stables were a bit off the side from the large garden where the party had been held yesterday. There were numerous other gardens available along with greenhouses as the castle grounds were quite expansive. She and Hiccup walked arm in arm through the gardens and then came upon Dagur who shouted "Stay back you fiend!" At Astrid.

"What in Thor's name is wrong with you Dagur?" Hiccup questioned with a raised brow. Dagur was dressed in a straw hat along with green overalls and gardening gloves while brandishing very large sheers. He held the sheers in one hand while pointing at Astrid with a look of absolute horror on his face.

"She's a fiend!" Dagur proclaimed and then gestured towards one of the maze hedges where Hiccup finally noticed the large hole in it. "Look what she did to my beautiful hedge!" The Royal gardener shrieked. "My poor defenseless baby!"

"That thing has thorns, it's not as defenseless as you'd think," Astrid muttered.

"Is this why you and Camicazi came back covered in twigs and leaves yesterday?" Hiccup asked as it started to make more sense now. His mind had been preoccupied with other key information that he failed to think of how the two women, who had gotten lost in the maze, made it out.

Dagur was still wailing about his baby and how he was not going to have it ready in time for the flower viewing party in several days when Hiccup asked "Can't you,... You know… just make a new maze path?" Dagur sighed and then tugged Hiccup by his arm towards the hole and gestured to it. Hiccup looked and saw several more holes though the hedges forming a straight line. Astrid really had bulldozed through. "Uhm….. I see your point," It wasn't much of a maze if there was a straight line path available. "I'm sure you'll think of something though," Hiccup tried to cheer Dagur up. "In fact, why don't you go all out," The Prince then suggested. "You know…. Surprise everyone,"

Dagur's eyes lit up like a kid on Snoggletog and Hiccup just realized the faux pas he made when he gave Dagur an all out pass. He hadn't had time to take it back either as the gardener whooped in joy, grabbed his sheers and shouted while heading for the shed "THIS IS GOING TO BE EPIC!"

"Uhm Hiccup," Astrid asked as she looked at the giddy gardener making his way to his tool shed.

"Yes Astrid…." Hiccup answered.

"I might not have been in the Palace long but…"

"Yes Astrid…. This is going to be mayhem." Hiccup answered. "I think we should avoid the maze during the flower viewing party."

"Agreed," Astrid said before the couple ventured to the courtyard where the carriages awaited.

The ride to the market was relatively quiet and Astrid and Hiccup had a lot of time to talk, something they hadn't done much of in the last few days. Too much had been going on to have a proper conversation. After twenty minutes or so Astrid noticed that she could already hear the hustle and bustle of Berk's morning market. It was near the harbor so there was a lot of fresh fish for sale as well as oddities from other kingdoms. Hiccup told the coachman to park a street away since it was so busy. When they disembarked Hiccup held a hand out for Astrid to help her down the wooden step. Her Ladies-in-waiting had picked out a sky-blue dress for her this time with a white lace trim around the neckline. The skirt was a bit wide and normally Astrid wouldn't wear this design but it was surprisingly easy to move in. The wide skirt also afforded her the chance to hide a dagger strapped to her lower leg in a leather scabbard. Normally the skirts would brush against it and the outline could be seen then. It wasn't exactly considered lady-like to be armed but Astrid would be damned if she got mugged. As safe as the kingdom was, with regular guard patrols around the towns and districts, it never hurt to be careful.

Soon the couple reached the main part of the market and Astrid noticed some streetfood that she hadn't tried in a while. She happily indicated towards it and told Hiccup she would get him some too. The stand was quite popular and a line was forming. As she waited in line Hiccup asked if he could be excused for a few minutes. Apparently he had a surprise for her and needed to go pick it up. Astrid was curious now as she watched the prince dash towards the Artisan's alley of the market where antiques and the likes were sold. She also wondered if people recognized the Prince. They probably did as Hiccup waved to several vendors on the way here, greeting them warmly. It seemed he wasn't a stranger to this place and the people didn't bat an eye at a prince shopping for fish.

What Astrid missed however, too engrossed in the smell of food, was a carriage coming to a screeching halt and a woman stepping out of it without an escort. She also missed said woman holding her head high and marching towards the line astrid was currently in. There was a tap on her shoulder and Astrid turned to see a woman, about her age and height, giving her a glare that would have most scurrying for the woods. Astrid wasn't 'most' and held her ground.

"Can I help you?" She asked while putting on an indifferent face.

"What were you doing so close to the Prince?! How dare you even associate with him! He's mine!" The woman asked while coming into her personal space. The people in line were now all watching the exchange and Astrid signed. She didn't know who this woman was and frankly she didn't care. All she wanted was some fish sticks.

Astrid didn't answer that question but instead uttered "Will you stop screaming like a damn wench. No one will buy what you're selling." This caused several people in the vicinity to 'Oooh' since they caught on to what Astrid was referring to. The woman must have too because she started sputtering and gaping. Astrid saw an older man now pushing his way through the crowd that was forming while the young lady uttered "Do you know who I am?"

"My guess would have been a salmon since you were doing a perfectly good imitation of it," Astrid retorted. Hiccup's sass was rubbing off on her. This however seemed to be the wrong thing to say as the woman drew her hand back to slap Astrid in the face.

Astrid's reflexes were quicker however and she proceeded to punch said woman in the face before the slap even reached her. The woman fell down in a heap on the cobblestone street just as the older man arrived. Astrid cracked her knuckles and asked one of the women in line with her to hold her fan. This was going to get messy.

AN: there was some major damage to the undersea fiber optic cables these last 3 days. So that was why my internet regressed back to the age of dial-up. Having to wait 4 hours to download 64MB is not fun. :( But anyways here is a new chapter. I hope you all enjoy!

AN2: (Watches Harrypanther walk past with an icepick and hammer)
Me: "What are you doing?"
Harry: (Is busy hammering a block of ice with a frozen Porg in it) "This is not what I thought you meant when you said you had Porgs on ice!"
Me: "What did you expect? Porgs in sequins skating to music?"
Harry: "YES!"