Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Disney/Dreamworks/Game of Thrones characters, locations, and/or terms. I am just a humble weaver unraveling cloths of stories to thread together and create a new pattern. If you would like to read the info and details of this fic, you may go to the Preface section. Thank you!
NORTH
North peeled the apple with quick precision, discarding the skin on the plate before taking a large bite. As he chewed, he regarded his nephew with annoyance. Jack sat lazily on the chair, legs stretched out in front of him, drumming his fingers on the goblet. The boy looked like he didn't have a care in the world. He probably didn't, considering he was raised around the world by free spirited parents. North found himself regretting he didn't have any sons, but he caught himself. No one was to blame for that. Jackson was his heir, and Animare be damned if anyone denied the boy's right.
"Jack-"
"Master of Laws seems boring," his nephew interrupted. "Isn't that position cursed? From what I remember, there have been two before you who served. Three turns in seventeen years. Seems a bit much, doesn't it?"
"Lord Frollo was a fraud and Lord Desmond would like to grieve in peace. I have no more wife to grieve for."
"And you are definitely an honest man."
North's forehead creased. "Don't mock me, boy. You may be my nephew but I can still kick your arse."
"Have a drink, uncle. Has the position already made you so uptight?"
North sighed. "I'm just worried, leaving you here as the Lord of North Pole. I just hope not to find it in ruins when I return."
Jack raised the goblet with a smirk. "I can't make any promises."
"But Thronos... Thronos is different. A change is coming. I can feel it in my belly," North whispered, jiggling his stomach.
Jack groaned and rolled his eyes before taking another sip from the goblet. "Are you sure you're not just craving for roast beef? They're quite delicious in Thronos."
"This is more than roast beef, Jack." North rubbed his temple. He could sense an impending headache.
"There is nothing more than food, uncle. Nothing more than food and wine and gambling."
"Your life is more than food and wine and gambling."
"Without any of those, there is no life to live."
Uncle and nephew stared each other down. They broke their gaze when the door burst open and North's young daughter bound in. North could see Maester Sandy waving his hands wildly as if he made to stop her but to no avail.
"Sorry, my lord, but the lady insisted-"
"It's all right, Maester Sandy," said North. "Close the door behind you, will you, my sweet?"
His daughter complied with a spring in her step and a grin on her face. "Jack!"
"Tooth!" Jack stood up and hugged her. "That is a beautiful coat you have on. Where did you get it?"
Toothiana twirled, her cloak billowing out, making the colors shift from blue to green to yellow. She giggled. "Father bought it for me the last time he was in Thronos. He said it came from Atlantis. Have you been there, Jack? Oh, where have you been, dearest cousin?"
"I've been everywhere you can imagine!" Jack pointed to a spot on the map carved on the round table. "The Valley of Peace to the east, part of the Black Forest where I dared try to glimpse the Beast of Rhosyn, Arendelle during the crocus blooming season, Corona and the festival of the lights, the Pride Lands and Agrabah and their sweltering deserts. Been across the sea too. Atlantis, Olympus, you name it. I've gotten gifts for you from all over Animare, and I haven't even begun with Animat. Spent more than half of my time touring only the western kingdoms before your father asked me to return."
North cleared his throat. "Tooth, forgive me, but I have to talk to your cousin in private. You can share tales later tonight at the feast."
"Anything you have to say you can say in front of me, father." Tooth stood tall, and North could have sworn he saw her mother right there. "Am I not your daughter? Or is it because Jack is your heir that I have no right to know anything?"
He was taken aback. His daughter was small in stature as her mother, even at sixteen, but the confidence that radiated from her made her seem twice as tall. Her brown hair was from him, but everything else, from her green eyes to her ferocity that could be traced to the Hoffersons of Berk, were from her mother. Two miscarriages and two stillborn before Tooth, and another stillborn after, when the fisherman also took his wife, and, upon his refusal to take another wife, the line of succession passed to North's younger sister, who had a son.
"You… you are my daughter. And though you are not my heir," North paused. "You are a Sigurd, and should know of what is to come."
A hint of a smile on her lips, Tooth took the seat closer to her father. "I already know that you are appointed as Master of Laws on the small council of King Stoick, and the reason Jack is here is because he will be Lord of North Pole in your stead."
"Yes, but I am worried." North turned his back on them. "I have been offered a position in the midst of snakes and spiders. Their poison is deadlier than any that I have faced on the battlefield, a dance to avoid crushing them lest a misstep sends venom coursing through my veins."
"King Stoick is just." Tooth said, confusion and doubt laced in her voice.
"Not all who are just are surrounded by the same people," muttered Jack, and North had to agree with that.
"Your cousin speaks true. Lord Spitelout is competent, but he is not wise and does not see what lies beneath. Lord Murcad is a craven who only defected to Lusine when he knew we were winning. Lord Harold is too frail and pliable to do anything other than count money. The Lord Hand and the Grand Maester at least I know I can trust. But Facilier is who worries me. Nothing much is known about him, except that he is Maldonian. But I have heard that he has shadows, actual shadows, to do his bidding."
"Actual shadows?" Jack laughed. "Uncle, I have been to Thronos, and I have seen the Master of Whispers. He is but a thin man whose goatee is getting out of hand."
"You have seen him, but you haven't met him." North walked to the window and looked down the edge at the sheer drop to the valley below, stroking his bushy white beard. "I have, and there was something about him, like there was something dark in his eyes…"
"Like Pitch?" Jack meant for it as a joke, but North turned to him slowly.
"Yes, like Pitch." North saw his nephew shrug, a bored look on his face, and take another drink. "I will be leaving early on the morrow, and will arrive just in time for Prince Hiccup's name day."
Jack snorted, nearly coughing up his drink. "Hiccup, Spitelout. How do people in Berk name their children?"
North was about to answer, but Tooth spoke first, a trace of animosity in her tone. "They wait two years before they name their children, observing whatever dominant trait will be seen. Did you ever wonder why I was named Toothiana? For the most part of my first two years I kept on yanking at people's teeth. My mother thought it was an appropriate name."
"I meant no disrespect, dear cousin," Jack said softly.
Bristling with anger, North slammed his fist on the table, "Your eighteenth name day is fast approaching. You are almost a man grown, fisherman be damned!" He took a deep breath. North was torn between treating Jack like the boy he was and the lord guardian he ought to be. "Jack, you possess greatness within you. Don't let it come to naught."
He took another deep breath, feeling as if he had run from the base of the mountain and back. "I am needed in Thronos at once. The council is to discuss the issue of..." North paused for a brief moment to glance quickly at his daughter. "Prince Hiccup's betrothed."
Jack leaned back in the chair, tilting his head in Tooth's direction. So, his nephew had seen his subtle action. North nodded slightly, hoping Tooth did not catch it. Jack's face darkened, then he stared out the window.
"The engagement will be announced on the last day of the celebrations."
"Are they making that decision behind his back?" Jack said sharply, turning back to North.
Staring Jack down, North said as evenly as he could muster, perhaps more to himself than to Jack, "It was decided long ago. There is no turning back now."
A/N: Reviews would be lovely :) Thanks!