I saw Dragons: Race to the Edge a few days ago. Overall I enjoyed it but was disappointing that it lacked an over arching plot. I wanted a grand plot and to delve deeper into the history of archipelago and dragons. Avatar is an example of what I wanted. But my expectations might have been a bit too high seeing as how kung fu panda and riders of berk was like this as well.
Chapter 9: Quiet Nights part 1
"I don't understand why you are doing this," Elsa said tiredly. In the early morning hours, when the sun has yet to light the deep caverns of ice, Elsa chased after Hiccup in the darkness. Running ahead of Hiccup and with her arms out wide, she tried to block Hiccup's way and gave him the scariest glare she could muster.
"What do you mean you don't understand? I just told you," Hiccup replied with an amused look telling Elsa how silly she was being right now. Completely ignoring the queen Hiccup walked around Elsa and continued on his way towards the dragon hangar.
"Well run it by me again," Elsa demanded as she chased after him.
If the world wants to see me then I am going to need some experience interacting with people." Hiccup explained, "Dragons are easy to understand. Anger, sadness, happiness, their emotions are always expressed outwardly. The signs for a human are much more subtle."
"Hiccup, humans are much more complicated than that. You can't expect to be able to understand people in two days. Besides, why would you have to take a trip around the country side? You can learn everything you need to know here." Elsa countered.
"I also want to get a glimpse of the world, through my own eyes. Obviously two days isn't going to be enough but it will be enough so that I don't look like a fool at the party. You would be surprised how primal humans can be."
"So I have to take care of the dragons while you are away?" Elsa asked.
"The dragons can take care of themselves. They know to run away or attack based on the situation. So if anything were to happen just worry about Arendelle, the dragons will be fine until I get back."
"If I am going to do my dragon show, the guests aren't going to run for the hills the moment they see one right?"
"If we tell them what is going to happen, then I don't think they will but let's just keep the dragons a certain distance away from them."
"In that case how about we do it at the palace gardens. I will only be needing the quarter edge of the gardens."
Entering the dragon hanger Elsa could see Toothless all packed with a much bigger saddle. Hopping around from his front feet to his back feet that rustled the bags, Toothless was excited and ready to fly.
"Are you sure you don't want to take more dragons?" Elsa asked as she watched Hiccup double check the buckles of the saddle.
"I will be fine, I promise," he reassured before hopping onto Toothless. "I will return in two days. I will see you in the morning and then we can have the welcome party the same night of when I get back,"
"You should drop by the palace first. Let me give you some gold for emergencies. A map in case you get lost. You should also bring a terrible terror with you as well in case you need to send me a message," Looking down Hiccup watched Elsa list one thing after another to find a good reason to keep him from leaving.
"I know this is sudden, but this is kind of a spur of the moment kind of thing,"
Seeing how stubborn Hiccup was being, Elsa finally relented.
"You two take care of each other now and don't get yourselves into any trouble."
"We'll be fine, stop acting like such a worried mother," he repeated, "you guys take care of each other as well." The dragons behind them gave their roar of agreement. Satisfied that Elsa would be well protected, Hiccup turned back his attention to the distressed queen.
"Can I get a goodbye kiss?"
"No, you don't deserve a kiss," Elsa stated coldly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Refusing to look at him she turned her head away expecting the infuriating man to magically disappear. Leaning down Hiccup gently held Elsa's chin and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Completely taken by surprise, Elsa recoiled away from Hiccup.
"I thought I made myself very clear that you weren't getting a kiss." Elsa yelled as she covered her kissed stained cheek and was in disbelief of Hiccup's blatant violation of her wishes.
"You did and you were very cute and stubborn about it," Hiccup said with a cheeky smile, "You deserve a kiss."
And with a wink that said "I win" to Elsa, the dynamic duo took off, leaving behind a gust of wind in their wake. Protecting her eyes from the wind with her arms Elsa marveled at the speed that they were flying. Already it seemed like there were so far away and were a mere black speck in the sky. She wondered if she could ever come close to that sort of speed with her Nadder.
Watching them disappear into the clouds with a heavy heart, the irony of what just happened did not fly past Elsa. A mere three weeks ago, Elsa wanted nothing more than for Hiccup to leave Arendelle. And now, not ten seconds after they were gone, she desperately wanted him to turn back. To turn around and fly straight back to her.
With a frustrated sigh of her inner turmoil, Elsa decided to press on. After a quick walk around the mountain to check up on the dragons and to find anything suspicious, Elsa took off on her own dragon to return to Arendelle. It was time for one final decisive council meeting.
OoOoO
Entering the council room Elsa immediately began with her opening.
"As you are all aware, we are preparing a welcome party for Dragon King Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. Suffice to say, after the party things will be very different. It will be the first step to integrate Hiccup into our world. At this critical juncture I believe that it is the best option," Elsa said taking a small pause to catch her breath and for the reveal. "But I would also like to say that Hiccup is currently on a two day sabbatical traveling across the countryside taking only a single dragon with him to study up on how to interact with people."
A collective audible sound of surprise is heard in the room.
"Are you suggesting an offensive is still an option my queen?" the general asked stiffly, "Because if you are there is no better time to attack then when their leader is gone."
"I will let you all decide for yourselves before we make a collective decision," the queen answered. Drawing out her ice powers, ice sparkled around her hand as she created perfect to scale ice models of the dragons she has seen. One by one she went over all the facts of each dragon recalling perfectly everything Hiccup taught her before finally giving her opinions.
Elsa first started with the four dragons that she knew the best. From the beautiful but deadly Nadder, the powerful Gronkle, the twin headed Zippleback and the vicious Monstrous Nightmare. And then she ended with the two most powerful dragons the Bewilderbeast and the dragon granted the title of 'King' of all dragons, the legendary Nightfury. Finished with her report, Elsa gave a final summation.
"The dragons are not mindless beasts. They are capable of understanding basic human language, and are capable of disobeying orderings as I have seen it happen before. They willingly choose to acknowledge Hiccup and Toothless as their leader, and they choose to follow my instruction as you all have seen before. They are extremely loyal to them and for good reason too. Before Hiccup and Toothless had left they were instructed to run if anything were to happen along with probably many other secrets that lie within that fortress. My powers are simply no match for them," Elsa concluded.
"Is this all the dragons?" the general commented. Looking around Elsa could see a few of them agreed as well.
"No this is not all of them, Hiccup had alluded to more dragons. These dragons are very dangerous and he has kept them away from me for my safety and for the safety of the other dragons as well. These dragons he said are much more prone to destruction and their loyalty cannot be gained. They can only be controlled through sheer force of will, he did not go into detail on what that meant and I did not want to push him for more information."
With all the information presented, the room's fell into quiet chit chat discussion to gauge their chances and look for a viable option. After a while it was quite clear what the least suicidal option was.
"I knew our odds against an army of dragons was bleak but this is a little absurd," General Grahm said with a conceding laugh.
"It looks like we don't have any choice but to go through with this welcome party," Councilor Eric said. Murmurs echoed the room as they all agreed.
"Are you people insane?" Councilor Mia yelled. Slamming her hands on the table and getting up from her chair she scanned the room and saw the surrendered faces of her cohorts.
"The dragons are in the sky, the sea and the ground below us! There is nowhere we can hide and nowhere we can run. The Dragon King even has invisible dragons for crying out loud! How do we even know if they aren't any dragons here right now? They could be watching us, waiting to kill us the moment the dragon king decides he doesn't like us."
"Well then maybe you should sit down and calm yourself before he decides to kill you," Reithan joked.
"How can you act so calm and joke around like this?" Mia asked. Looking at the younger councilor, Mia could feel her blood boil as she watched him clasp his hands together and gave her a smug smile.
"Because the Queen of Arendelle is not worried. So why should I?" he reasoned.
Stiffly turning her head the female councilor was surprised to see the find queen calmer than she has ever seen before. Sitting tall, her radiant blue were unwavered as she watched her councilors argue. But this wasn't because Elsa was the trying to be fearless and strong as her position demanded. Everyone single person in the room had worked with Elsa for years and knew what a fake Elsa looked like. The cooler draft in the air, the dulled eyes and the small twitches. The kind of twitches that could be in her leg in one moment and then in her shoulder in another. They were so small that you couldn't possibly notice them unless you were actively looking for them. These signs were all absent from the queen today.
"Hiccup is just a regular human being so it would help everyone if everyone saw him that way too." Elsa said.
"We are to call him Hiccup now your majesty?" Councilor Eric asked.
"Hiccup would prefer it that way. In addition it would help everyone to see him as a person instead of some spawn of Loki. So yes I would suggest you all start calling him Hiccup."
"It would help us see him as more human, if you tell us more about what your majesty and Hiccup have been doing in that blasted ice fortress every night," Councilor Mia said snidely.
"Queen Elsa has asked numerous times to keep her private life out of the court, please respect the Queen's wishes," Anna said, having spoken up for the first time since the meeting started.
"It's okay Anna, for this special case I will make an exception. We are dealing with the future of Arendelle, they have the right to know and I think it is important for you to know about my relationship with Hiccup," Elsa said as she gave them comforting smile.
"The truth is, I am no longer capable of making an unbiased opinion of him. I like him far too much. I like him more than any other man I have ever met before. The funny part is that we don't even do anything. He doesn't take me on romantic dragon flights, give me gifts or do anything romantic actually. We are just together," Elsa explained as she took a moment to find the correct words, "When he first declared his reason for coming here, it was unambiguous and made no sense but now it is very clear. His interests are solely of me. During our time together not once did he ask about Arendelle. All he seems to want is for me to be healthy and with him" Elsa said as she took a short moment for all of this to sink into them.
"Sounds to me like we won't be getting used to calling him Hiccup anytime soon. More like King Hiccup," Councilor Reithan joked with a nervous laugh.
"Rest assured I am not hopelessly enraptured with Hiccup, my duty is to the Kingdom of Arendelle. I will not hesitate to follow this council's wishes should they find the Dragon King not whom I thought he was." Elsa assured with an unwavering voice as she declared her commitment.
"Your courage and sense of duty is admirable, my queen," Councilor Eric said, "We will all pray that it will never come to that."
OoOoO
Knocking on the door, Elsa was quickly let into the infirmary. It had been a while since she last visited the infirmary and it brought back fond memories. It was one of the few places Elsa could be with Anna as Master Helgen educated them. But today Elsa was not visiting the infirmary for a lesson. Opening the door, Elsa finds Anna sitting on a stool next to a sleeping Kristoff. With the window cracked open, the gentle wind breezed against the occupants of the room and rustled the loose papers on the desk. With a knife in hand, Anna was peeling an apple before she noticed her sister.
"Elsa, nice to see you here," Anna greeted as she put down the knife down on the table.
"It's no trouble at all Anna," Elsa said as she gave her sister a smile, "How is Kristoff doing?"
"Despite what he may want me to believe, he is in a lot of pain. He kept refusing to take Master Helgen's medicine. I've finally managed to convince him to take it and now he is sleeping like a log."
"Will he be well enough to attend to the party in two days?" Elsa asked
"Probably not, he will be able to stand but he will hardly be able to dance. And Kristoff has never really been sociable in these kinds of parties."
"If he is well enough to stand then I don't think he would want to miss out on Hiccup's dragon show," Elsa said.
"A dragon show!?" Anna exclaimed. Starry eyed Anna could hardly contain her excitement, as she got up from her chair and danced around.
"Careful Anna you are going to knock something over," Elsa said as she tried to calm down her sister but she refused to listen as she kept spinning around on one leg and imagined what a dragon show would look like. But before she could hurt herself, Elsa pulled her sister down on the chair next to her."
"There was so many dragons, how many do you think we will get to see at the party." Anna said practically jumping up and down on her seat.
"I don't know,"
"Can we get dragon rides?"
"Absolutely not,"
"Okay fine, we can at least pet the dragon's right?"
"No,"
How about getting a picture painted with the dragons?
"Anna just because they are doing one show doesn't mean we can turn them into some sort of circus act."
"Booo, you are still no fun Elsa. I thought you've changed," Anna pouted
"What do you mean I've changed?" Elsa asked with a confused look.
"You seem to be less moody and less tense. Like in the council room everyone was stressed, arguing amongst ourselves and you just watched. Usually you are the one who is stressed out the most. You are always trying too hard, scared of losing control and too scared to show any weakness. But today everyone was arguing and you didn't even care. And you asked for everyone's help to judge Hiccup. You never ask for help!" Anna declared.
"I do ask for help!" Elsa quickly corrected, "Sometimes. But what about you? The one acting weird here is you. You've always been very vocal about wanting Hiccup to leave but you hardly said anything during the meeting," Elsa said.
"I've decided to hold my opinion. He did save my life after all. I will wait until after I talk to him." Anna spoke haughtily, as only a brilliant princess such as herself could come to such a logical decision.
"Of course Anna. Be sure to ask Hiccup all the questions that you have for him," Elsa said giggling at Anna's silliness.
"I do have one question for you. Why Hiccup? What makes him so different than everyone else?" Anna asked.
"Compared to all my past suitors, Hiccup is just so refreshing. There have been men who wanted the seat of power of Arendelle, or those who wanted me for my ice powers. Everyone calls me beautifully talented and strong. But Hiccup is different; for the first time there is a man who sees me for more than just my attractive traits and he treats me as one single human being. The Queen of Arendelle, The Snow Queen, Hiccup sees only the one person known as Elsa. Another important to remember is that it's not just Hiccup. Just like with Hiccup, I have built a bond with the dragons of the past month. The dragons are my friends and I don't want either of them to leave.
"Do you love him?" Anna asked, the usual cheerfulness that surrounded her little sister was absent as she went straight to the point.
"Maybe,"
"What kind of quack answer is that?" Anna said incredulously.
"A truthful answer," Turning around Elsa is surprised to see Anna angrily pouting at her.
"What do you expect me to say? That he is funny, handsome, and smart? Because he is all that but there is so much more to him than that.
"But so was every other guy," Anna added.
"And that is exactly my point. He is like every other guy but at the same time he is completely different. There is something that attracts me to him. I feel some sort of connection to him. It's hard to explain but something is drawing me towards him. Strangest of all is when I look at him. When I look into his eyes I feels like he is seeing something inside of me, something greater. I want to know what that is," Elsa explained.
"Fine I will let it go for now but don't think I have yielded so easily Elsa. I am totally prepared to say I told you so the moment things turn bad," Anna said as she pointed her finger at Elsa.
Taken by surprise of her sister's unexpected challenge, Elsa couldn't help but laugh at Anna's inexorable attempts to get the even with her older sister.
"Deal," getting up from her chair, Elsa left Anna alone to take care of Kristoff
OoOoO
Returning to the ice fortress, Elsa felt good about herself. Having just finished checking up on the dragon who were lazily lounging around with their masters gone, Elsa happily skipped through the fortress. Elsa relished the fact that it was just her and the dragons, to her it felt like it had been forever since she could be alone and just relax as she took a nice dip in the pool.
Surprisingly and best of all she didn't miss Hiccup at all. His warming smile, his easy going attitude. Elsa wasn't missing it at all.
Sleeping alone for the first time in a long while, Elsa was excited for her first calm hearted sleep. Hopped into bed and covering body with the bed sheets Elsa closed her eyes with smile. But unfortunately, even without Hiccup, nothing ever goes as expected.
An hour and half into her 'good night's sleep' Elsa turned to her side for the eighteenth time. No matter what she tried she couldn't fall asleep. Continuously fidgeted in restlessness, the Snow Queen racked her brain on why she couldn't fall asleep. Her body cried of fatigue and yet the young queen couldn't fall asleep. After exhausting all other possible reasons as to why she couldn't sleep for the third time. Elsa couldn't help but let out a frustrated groan and slammed her arms onto the bed.
"I do miss him!" Elsa cried at the top of her lungs. She couldn't, wouldn't, didn't want to believe it. She had only been sleeping with Hiccup for about a month and now she found herself unable sleep without him. Grabbing an extra pillow, Elsa used it as a body pillow and felt the comforting pressure pressed up against her body. But it wasn't the same. The pillow was a heat sucking vampire. The warmth that she felt with the heat that she provided to the pillow is nothing compared to the enveloping warmth that Hiccup provided. Despite trying her best with the poor substitute, Elsa couldn't sleep because she felt like something was still missing.
Opening her eyes, she spied the chest full of clothes that Gerda made for Hiccup. And then it finally hit her. It was the air. The crystal clear air was suffocating. Taking a slow painful breath, she could feel her throat and lungs crying out from the prickling pain.
"No! Absolutely not! Not in a million years!" She yelled to herself. Even if she had finally accepted her feelings, her pride would not allow it. She would rather kill herself then to submit to such a humiliation. At this very last point, Elsa put her foot down and put a line across the sand. Her final stronghold, her final stand. Her mind will not lose to her body this time!
Quietly Elsa crept up to the foreboding chest, as if she was scared of getting caught. Her head darted from left and right like a thief in the night. The chest squeaked as Elsa kneeled down to open it. The sound echoed through the frozen room and intensified her embarrassment but nonetheless she carried on. Rummaging through his clothes she found his night shirt, the brown shirt that she drooled on those many nights ago. From that night on Elsa vehemently refused to sleep on top of Hiccup ever again but it didn't stop Hiccup from coincidentally wearing it on most nights just to remind her of her embarrassment. Looking down at the shirt Elsa wanted nothing more than to rip it apart but instead she did the exact opposite. Like the true pervert that she secretly is, Elsa closed her eyes and pressed the shirt against her face to take a deep breath of Hiccup's scent. His earthly scent filled up inside her and warmed her body as she let out a satisfied sigh.
Standing up Elsa took the shirt and returned to bed. Sitting on the bed, she looks at the two items in her hands. The pillow in her left hand and Hiccup's shirt in her right.
"Well, I have nothing left to lose," Elsa thought. Taking the pillow, she stuffed it into his shirt. With her substitute Hiccup now complete, she pulled the cover over her body. Shamelessly once more Elsa rubbed her face against the clothed pillow and wrapped her arms around it. As Elsa exhaustion returned to her, she closed her eyes and wondered where Hiccup was right now.
"He promised that they wouldn't get into any trouble," Elsa reassured herself but her paranoid feelings refused to disappear, "I hope Hiccup and Toothless are safe."
OoOoO
In the darkness Hiccup examined the vibrant village with great interest. Fresh wooden houses were placed spaciously and have yet to see the wear and tear of time. The village was situated at the base of a mountain, a bank on a river and was surrounded by a lush forest. Whether it was the fresh bounties of the river and forests or the protection of the mountains, the village had it all. It was as if the village was blessed by Mother Nature herself.
Thanks to the bright light of the moon and stars, Hiccup was able to take a quick count of the number of buildings and estimated that the population of the village was no more than sixty. Looking up at the moon Hiccup was reminded of Elsa. It was only last night that they were together. With a sigh of exasperation, Hiccup couldn't help but let out a quiet chuckle.
"Elsa is going to kill me when she finds out about this," Hiccup mused. Hands tied behind a wooden pole, Hiccup was helplessly sitting on the ground as he looked up to his captors. They have been arguing on what to do with him for over five minutes now.
"He barely looks like an adult, he can't be a spy,"
"But that's exactly what the enemy wants you to think."
"If he is a spy then what is he doing all the way out here?"
Shifting his gaze past his captors, Hiccup could see a shift in the darkness. Toothless was watching and was waiting to intervene if necessary.
"What are you doing in the middle of the night boy?" The man with a sword on his back asked. He was a large man with a clear air of confidence surrounding him. With striking blue eyes, chiseled jaw and light stubble, he was clearly the acting chief of the village.
"Can't a guy take a walk in the middle of the night in peace?" Hiccup asked innocently.
"This here village is on the outskirts of Arendelle and is surrounded by mountains. Nobody comes here unless they have a very specific reason. So the answer to your question is no, you can't. Walking around in the middle of the night with no traveling gear with you. You my friend are a very suspicious person," the chief replied.
"Ridiculous. Waking up half the village for this. Don't you sleep boy?" A woman asked. Brown hair messily tied back, the aggravated women with bags under her eyes was clearly not happy about waking up in the middle of the night
"I just needed some time to think," Hiccup replied apologetically.
"Well then you will have plenty of time to think until the the regular patrol arrives tomorrow morning. One of the night patrolmen joked.
"Terrible news!" A voice yelled out in the darkness.
Running down the hill to the village was an old man with a grey hair and a terror stricken face. Yelling at the top of his lungs and not caring who he woke up he shouted. Tripping over his own feet, the old man almost fell flat on his face but was quickly saved by the chief.
"Calm down father and tell us what happened," the village chief said but his orders went unheard as the elder shouted.
"Princess! Our precious Princess has gone missing!"
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