Arrival

As the flames dissipated Elsa saw that she and the others were no longer in the cave-like shrine but rather on a large outcropping of rock on an island, and there was no sign of Aang and his friends here, so thankfully they had not picked up any other travelers on their tour of the ages. Also, Elsa saw no sign of Brooklyn here either, so it seemed that Aion, the Spirit of Eternity who'd bonded with him when Brooklyn unwittingly freed him from the Phoenix Gate, had been correct when he'd concluded that they would likely not accompany them to this destination. Elsa wondered how long it would take for Brooklyn to master the use of Aion's powers enough for him to be able to return to his home. Elsa hoped that it wouldn't be too long for she knew what it was like to be separated from her home and family, and she was missing them so badly now. Of course Anna was currently with her, as was Kristoff, but considering what had happened at their last stop that made her even more desperate to get this journey over and done with.

At least this place smelled much more like home, with the mixture of aromas from the salty sea and the peat moss, and none of the unfamiliar chemical smells that accompanied their time in New York, so even if this wasn't the correct time they were still closer to where they were supposed to be. Elsa heard Anna take a deep whiff behind her, apparently also welcoming this connection to their home as a sign that they were close to returning to it, before she made a small wince in pain. Elsa whirled to face her, examining her closely as she asked, "Are you okay?"

Anna smiled and said, "I'm fine, Elsa. Really, Katara did a pretty good job in healing me. Just a little leftover soreness, that's all. But jeez, that Azula was a real jerk, wasn't she? Makes you wonder what kind of upbringing she had to turn out like that."

Elsa did wonder at that. Part of her had wanted to take up Sokka's offer to remain and fight to win that war alongside them, if only to have another shot at making Azula pay for what she'd nearly done to Anna, what she'd tried to do. However, she'd meant what she'd said about that not being her own time, but also she didn't want Azula or her father the Firelord to have another crack at Anna, and she could not bear the thought of remaining behind while her sister was sent ahead on this journey, wondering if she'd ever made it back home.

"Well try to take it easy anyway, okay? " Kristoff asked her asked her imploringly, "Not everyone gets to cheat death more than once, and you've done it now twice in less than a year. Let's not push our luck any further than we have to, okay? "

"Aww, but dying's so much fun," Anna teased him. When Kristoff didn't crack a smile, and even Elsa looked at Anna in concern, she held her hands up and said, "Sheesh, I was just kidding. I promise I'll be careful. "

"Thank you," Kristoff said gratefully, and Elsa felt herself breathe a sigh of relief. She would have a hard enough time keeping Anna safe with all of the Azula's and Quarrymen in the world trying to get a piece of them without Anna herself seeking out trouble.

Elsa heard the sound of a high pitched shriek behind her, which has punctuated by Anna's gasp of surprise and Kristoff's eyes widening in shock. What now? Elsa thought to herself as she turned around to see what had made that sound and struck Anna and Kristoff speechless. What she saw struck her dumb as well.

Since this journey of theirs began, even before it started, back when an impossible wish to see her parents again came true, Elsa had seen a great number of strange and unusual things: from fairies to living gargoyles to giant, flying bison. This thing she saw landing on the beach below them was a creature of legend! It was an actual dragon! Elsa had heard tales of how their ancestors, the Norse Vikings, had fought such beasts in ages past, and though it wasn't quite as large as those tales made them out to be (though not quite as small as Mushu, the only other dragon Elsa had ever personally seen), this creature matched the description of those tales exactly! This thing was jet black from snout to tail, save for the left side of the fin of said tail, which seemed to have been replaced by a red sail the same shape as the right.

Most notable about the appearance of this creature was the fact that someone appeared to have been riding him, the very person who now was stroking the dragon's head in apparent affection, and though they were too high up to hear him clearly, it seemed from his soft tone of voice that this rider thought of the dragon as a friend. Elsa saw as he removed his helmet, revealing that he was moderately handsome, then watched as he removed something from a pocket on his breeches leg then began pacing back and forth nervously as he started muttering to himself.

"What is he doing?" Elsa wondered aloud in a soft tone, wary of the young man below possibly hearing them. She hated spying on someone like this, but she couldn't risk heading down there to ask him herself. If there's one lesson she and her sister had learned the hard way, it's that a handsome face doesn't necessarily equal a good person. With her sister here she didn't want to take the chance with this one, particularly if his "dragon" turned out to be the real, fire-breathing kind.

"Looks like he's practicing some sort of speech," Kristoff observed, keeping his voice low like Elsa's.

"What is that he's fiddling with?" Anna asked softly.

Before either Kristoff or Elsa could come up with a guess, Elsa took a deep breath and pulled the other two closer to the rock as she spotted the arrival of another dragon-like creature to the island. This one wasn't as swift or as noisy in its approach, and its appearance was different as well: whereas the first one was black and walked on four legs, this one walked on two and was blue and yellow with a white underbelly, as well as having a spiked frill around the base of its head.

This dragon-like creature also had a rider: a blond female whose outfit was notably lined with fur. While the young man's leather armor was rather non-descript as far as nationality goes, the young woman's attire was most definitely Viking, which confused Elsa even more. She'd heard plenty of stories of the Vikings fighting dragons, but never of any of them RIDING them.

Apparently the young man was too deep in his thoughts to notice the arrival of the other rider, for he wound up jumping so badly that he fumbled the object he'd been fiddling with, a small object that glittered gold as it twirled in the air, before he caught it and stowed it back in his pocket before turning to greet his visitor.

"Wait, was that an…?" Kristoff wondered quietly, trailing off before he finished his thought. Of course Elsa didn't really need him to: she pretty much guessed the same thing. If she was correct in her hunch, then the young man's nervousness as he practiced his lines, a nervousness that only seemed to get worse with the arrival of this young woman, made perfect sense.

Still, assuming that she was correct in that these two were Vikings, Elsa felt rather bad for the young man. From what she knew of Viking culture, the women generally preferred to choose to marry (who were able to choose) men who were big and strong: the bigger and stronger, the better. The only young man Elsa had seen scrawnier than this kid was Aang (though Sokka came close). Judging by how nervous this kid was during his practice, Elsa figured he'd be devastated when his proposal was turned down.

Elsa decided that this guy shouldn't have anyone witness his humiliating rejection, and was just about to suggest to the others that they should turn away as he got down on one knee, when the sound of a pair of menacing growls caused the hairs on Elsa's neck to stand straight up. Looking back down, she saw the two dragons were growling in their direction. Elsa didn't know if they had been too noisy in their observations, or if the wind had shifted and carried their scents to the dragons' sensitive noses, but they certainly seemed to know they were there now.

As she made Anna and Kristoff hug the rock beneath them (Sven lying down beside them of his own accord), Elsa was torn between her fight and flight instincts: on one hand, she didn't want to start a fight with these people, who thus far had done nothing to warrant an act of hostility from her. On, the other hand, Elsa figured that if they decided that discretion was the better course of action, then these dragons would likely give chase, and as she'd seen just how fast they were the likelihood that Elsa and her friends would get away was practically nonexistent.

Just as Elsa had decided on a third option, to reveal her presence alone and apologize for eavesdropping, using the opportunity to decide for herself if these people were friend or foe, Elsa noticed that the dragons weren't growling at them after all. While the dragons were indeed facing the stone monolith Elsa and her friends were on, Elsa saw that they were not looking up at them but rather growling at something at its base.

Craning her head for a better view, Elsa saw a menacing figure of a man make his way around their rocky outcropping and into the sight of the two riders who drew their weapons: the young woman hefting a Viking battle axe, while the young man wielded a flaming sword in one hand and a rounded shield on the other arm. From the way he was holding it, Elsa could not see much of the shield's front beyond a small portion of the edge, but even though there seemed to be nothing about the sword or shield's design that appeared Viking-made to Elsa, she still felt that she'd seen that shield somewhere before…

Just as Elsa felt that the situation couldn't get anymore tense, a huge leviathan rose from the sea behind the larger man, and while the two dragons from earlier were smaller than the tales related, this thing was much too BIG! The size of a small mountain, this thing was an off-white color that was almost grey, had more spines than Elsa could count coming off its face and back, and had an iron manacle attached to its one intact tusk (the other one apparently broken off somehow).

With how huge this thing was, Elsa didn't understand why it didn't spot her and her friends up here, but then figured that its attention was drawn to those on the beach. In fact, the huge white dragon and the much smaller black one seemed to only have baleful eyes for each other, just as the aggressive stances and tones of voices exchanged between the two riders and this large newcomer made it clear to Elsa that there was no love lost between them either.

As the young woman twirled her axe in her grip, the mountain of a man swung his hooked spear over his head as he bellowed wordlessly. At first Elsa thought that he was using some sort of battle cry, but then Elsa noticed a brightly glowing blue streak speeding towards the island. At first Elsa thought it was some sort of long-range attack, but then the streak stopped abruptly in front of the young woman and her dragon as the lady clearly shouted, "Flightmare!" and Elsa could see that the glow was from yet another dragon around the size of the black one. Then this newest dragon exhaled its misty breath on the young lady and her dragon, speeding away again just as the black dragon fired its pulse-like blast at it. When the mist cleared, Elsa saw that neither the girl nor her dragon were moving an inch.

Why that slimy, no-good, cowardly…! Elsa thought furiously as she started to push herself up from the rock before Kristoff pulled her back down again. When she turned her glare on him, Kristoff returned it to her as he hissed, "No offence, your Highness, but what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to teach that man a lesson!" Elsa hissed back at him.

"And how do you think that will help them?" Kristoff retorted, then after glancing down at the ground again he pointed and whispered, "There, look!"

Elsa did and saw as the young man walked over to his dragon and did something to the saddle that apparently locked the tail-sail thing in place before the ebony dragon took off to confront the ivory monster. Then she watched as the young man carefully laid the young lady down, her arms and legs remaining in the exact same positions as they were when she was standing. So, not dead, then, Elsa thought with relief, just frozen, or paralyzed. "Yeah, I see," Elsa whispered impatiently, every fiber in her being itching to help, "So?"

"So do you think that getting involved would help anything? Would help them?" Kristoff reasoned with her, "That big oaf most likely had that glowy dragon use his breath to paralyze the girl and her dragon in order to force the kid into a one-on-one fight because he believed he stood no chance if they fought together. Probably is holding the girl's life ransom as well to ensure that they don't work together. If we butt in, then he'll likely turn his blade on the girl. I know that you're powerful enough to take the big jerk without much effort, but can you handle him AND his big monster together? Could you ensure that neither of them harm the girl until the paralysis wears off, if it does?"

Elsa didn't have an answer for that. Though she knew he wasn't lying per-se, Elsa heard the false note in Kristoff's voice, and after watching the giant dragon amazingly breathe ice rather than the fire she'd been expecting, her mind connected the dots and surmised what it was Kristoff wasn't saying aloud in the presence of her sister. He's concerned about Anna's safety, Elsa thought to herself, thinking about what had happened to us when I chose to get involved with the Quarrymen's business back in New York, and how close we all came to losing her at our last stop. Elsa badly wanted to help these kids, but she too was concerned about keeping Anna safe until they made it back home, and she could not deny that it may be rather difficult to shield the kids from the man and his dragon should they decide to team up. So even though it felt as though her veins were crackling with the power she was holding back, Elsa settled back onto the rock as she watched the two battles unfold.

For such a scrawny young man who had no apparent powers, the kid was admittedly not a bad fighter. However, once the giant of a man managed to knock the sword from the boy's grip the battle took a turn for the worse, the man punishing him with savage blows from his head and fists. Then the man picked back up his own weapon and set the girl upright again as he began a monologue Elsa couldn't quite hear while the boy was crumpled in pain on the ground. After the boy said something in response as he slowly got back on his feet, the man said one last thing to the boy before he turned to the dragon, pointing his weapon at the kids as he bellowed, "Finish them!"

Elsa could not hold herself back anymore. Lurching to her feet (Anna, Kristoff and Sven a half step in following her up), Elsa fired a powerful ice blast at the ground as the boy desperately fried to protect the girl from the ivory giant's avalanche-like breath. For a moment, All Elsa could see of the ground below was the flow of the dragon's breath over it, the cruel man just out of its range. Then, as the dragon ceased its assault, Elsa saw that her blast had struck in time, creating a large ice stalactite that parted the ice breath and prevented it from enveloping the kids and their allied dragon as the paralysis wore off on it and the girl.

After the man exclaimed in surprise and anger, and the girl directed the boy's gaze so that he was looking directly at them, Elsa drew herself to her full height as she glared down at the man. "I'm sorry guys," Elsa apologized softly to Anna and Kristoff, then she raised her voice to a normal tone as she continued, "but I really despise bullies."

"It's okay," Anna assured her before Kristoff could say anything, "I would have asked you to help them anyway if you hadn't beaten me to the punch."

Elsa wasn't sure what Kristoff had been about to say, but it apparently was lost on his tongue as his mouth hung open for a moment. Then he closed it and had a look of resignation in his eyes as he smiled ruefully and said, "Yeah, it's cool. Cat's out of the bag anyway, so we might as well go along with it."

Elsa nodded, then she created an ice slide with a safety rail that wound its way around the rocky monolith they were on, forming her ice glider in her hand as she said, "You guys do what you can for those kids, I'll handle the ice dragon." As Anna and Kristoff nodded in acknowledgement, Elsa gripped her glider and ran towards the cliff-like edge, firing one last blast at the ground directly below her before she soared towards the giant beast.

Hiccup wasn't entirely sure what he was looking at. Part of him though that he might have simply been seeing things (Drago certainly had clocked him hard enough for it to be possible.) The only problem with that theory was that Astrid seemed to be seeing the same things as him. The question that remained then was what was he looking at?

It seemed impossible to him that any human could wield power on par with a Bewilderbeast, much less use it with the skill and precision this woman displayed. His first thought was that she might be one of the frost giants, though he just as quickly dismissed that thought. For one, while she was certainly taller than the other girl with her (and, from what he could tell, taller than most of the women he himself had met in his life) she didn't seem taller than the male companion with her on the rocky monolith, let alone tall enough to be a jotun. Another thing that detracted from the possibility of her being a jotun was that she had clearly helped them. All the tales of the frost giants depicted them as beings who were intent on conquest of these lands, who viewed humans as either slaves or minor obstacles to be squashed, and neither Hiccup nor his father would have been born if Odin and the other gods of Asgard hadn't fought to defend this realm of Midgard. If this woman was in fact one of the Jotnar then she was decidedly different than any of her ilk depicted in the old tales.

Jotun or not, Hiccup could not deny that there was something different about this woman, for as he watched an ice slanted platform of sorts, almost like the things hiccup had created to move water onto the fires inadvertently set by the resident dragons, was created and wound around the rocky protrusion, the woman leapt off it with some sort of winged ice stick in hand, releasing what appeared to be another ice blast from her other hand at the ground before she gripped the stick thing with both hands and started flying. Apparently, this winged stick functioned similarly to his glider suit, but there was a world of difference between the simple gliding he'd been able to manage and the graceful flight of this woman.

"Get her!" Drago bellowed as he jabbed his hook-spear in the direction of the flying woman in the blue dress. The Bewilderbeast, responding to his master's command, raised its head and unleashed an ice blast in the woman's direction. Hiccup was surprised at this young woman's reaction as he personally had experienced the terrifying power of the Bewilderbeast firsthand, and even his mother, who had lived alongside a different Bewilderbeast for years and had even greater knowledge of dragons than he did, even she had been forced to retreat when Drago ordered his great dragon to attack her.

It seemed that Toothless was experiencing the same shock as he was hovering in place and watching as the young woman continued her aggressive approach, looping tightly around the Alpha's arctic breath as though she had nothing to fear from it before she released her glider and landed agilely on his intact tusk. Then she raced along it at incredible speed, sometimes running at such an angle that Hiccup at first wasn't sure how she managed to avoid falling off into the ocean below, that is until he noticed that she was creating a handrail of ice before her that she held onto, the same creation that dissolved into snow and mist behind her, and though it was difficult to tell from this distance it appeared to him that her feet also left a trail of ice behind her.

When the Alpha realized its target was on it, it shook its head to try to throw her off. However, the woman used the momentum of the movement to launch herself high into the air, unleashing a pair of ice blasts from her hands into the Bewilderbeast's face, then she gripped her ice glider as it swooped within her range again and flew around the giant dragon's left side as it roared in pain.

The roar snapped Toothless out of his inaction and he quickly joined the woman in her dangerous orbit, the pair of them diving and climbing as they dodged the Bewilderbeast's furious blasts as it turned in place trying to hit them. Just as Hiccup came to the conclusion that he and Astrid should climb onto Stormfly to help them out, he felt a tremendous tremor under his feet, followed shortly by another. He and Astrid turned towards the sound and their mouths fell open. Now that was a Jotun! Granted that he had never seen one before, nor had any Viking in the last century as far as he knew, but there was nothing else that it could be! A gigantic humanoid creature of ice and snow, it nearly blocked the stone monolith behind it from view as it plodded its way towards the Bewilderbeast, but the dragon seemed too intent on its pursuit of the woman and his Night Fury to notice its approach.

With that observation, all the pieces fell into place. Now Hiccup understood why the woman was so aggressive in her approach and is now taking a more defensive maneuver: she was getting the dragon's attention! While this Jotun, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, certainly seemed to be powerful, it was also definitely rather slow, and while it was about as tall as the Bewilderbeast when it stood an all fours, the Alpha had much more heft to it. If the Jotun tried to take the Alpha head on it would have been blasted by ice breath before it even got close, that is if the Bewilderbeast didn't just gore it with its single tusk or rear up and smash it underfoot instead. By distracting it beforehand, the woman gave the Jotun the opportunity to get close, where its power could do some good. Then Hiccup recalled the ice blast the woman unleashed before engaging the Bewilderbeast. She must have done that to summon the Jotun here. Could it be that she's their Queen? Is it only the warriors of the Jotnar that were giants of ice?

"No, NO, NO!" Drago exclaimed in disbelief and fury, apparently coming to the realization that his well planned ambush was falling apart. Rather than going to the aid of his dragon, however, Drago glared at Hiccup in hate and fury as he swung his hook-spear at him. Hiccup was ready for the blow, however, and he blocked it with his shield as Astrid rolled towards his sword and threw it back towards him. Then Hiccup reignited his blade as Astrid hefted her axe, and the battle was rejoined anew.

As Elsa and the black dragon circled around the huge white one and dodged the attacks it unleashed, she saw that her tactic was working. She knew that the one attack she'd unleashed on it would not cause it any lasting harm, but the pain it caused had enraged it enough that its entire focus was on her. It was so intent on bringing her down that it was ignoring the approach of the largest Marshmallow she'd created yet. Of course she hadn't counted on the black dragon joining her in this plan, but she found its involvement an unexpected blessing. The potshots it used on its larger earthbound brethren kept it enraged enough to continue trying to attack them, allowing Marshmallow to get closer and closer unopposed.

Of course she saw as the larger man once again attacked the smaller one, but Elsa would have to deal with this larger problem before she could help him. Besides, the one boy's girlfriend was no longer paralyzed, and from what Elsa could see her combat skills were not to be dismissed, not to mention Anna and Kristoff were now about halfway down the ice slide and would be able to provide further aid (though Elsa hoped to send this big dragon packing before it came to that).

Elsa completed her circuit just as Marshmallow came within arm's reach of the great beast. Elsa then swooped over Marshmallow's incoming right hook while the black dragon swooped under it, the pair of them managing to make it past his elbow just as his blow landed on the side of the circling beast's head. Elsa had never before encountered living creatures of such tremendous size, let alone imagined that she'd be so close to a pair of them battling, but the force of Marshmallow's blow was so great that it nearly disrupted Elsa's control over the winds that was keeping her aloft. Since she figured that the distraction phase of her plan was over now anyways, and she was not looking forward to a swim right now, Elsa released her glider once again and released a double ice blast into the ocean below, causing an ice pillar with a wide, flat top surface to rise up and catch her before she could fall too far. Then as Marshmallow continued raining hammer blows on the giant dragon, Elsa aided him by hitting it with one ice blast after another on the exposed part she could see. Apparently the black dragon took this change of tactics as an unspoken invitation, as it landed beside her and joined in by pummeling the great beast with its own powerful blasts. It wasn't long before the giant dragon decided it had enough and it turned to retreat beneath the waves.

With the larger threat gone, Elsa then turned her attention towards aiding the young couple against the big brute who'd started this whole thing. Since her ice glider had fallen into the ocean while she was busy driving off the huge dragon, Elsa prepared herself to create another, but she was distracted by a questioning groan from the dragon beside her. Looking over, she saw it look at her, then down at the island below them, then back at her, lowering its head as it did so.

"You want me to ride you?" Elsa asked the black dragon. In response it looked back at the island and lowered its head, keeping still as it did so. Elsa swallowed past the lump in her throat, feeling more nervous about this than she had been about confronting a beast large enough to swallow her whole. The last time she'd ridden aboard a live animal was just after her sister's accident, when she rode on a horse in front of her father as they raced alongside her mom and sister to the Valley of Living Stones to save her sister's life. Since then she'd stayed almost entirely indoors, and even after her isolation ended she mostly relied on self-transportation and the occasional ride in Kristoff's sleigh (the ride aboard the Jolly Roger was not one of her choosing). Still, time was of the essence, and this creature seemed friendly enough, so she steeled herself and gingerly set herself astride the dragon's back, altering her outfit to one that was more appropriate for this style of riding as she did so, then she gripped the handle grips before her as the dragon gave a mighty flap and soared back towards the island below.

As they landed on the island, Elsa dismounted and the black dragon took an aggressive stance as it growled at the larger man even as Anna, Kristoff and Sven raced to her position. Also it appeared as though the blue dragon had been wanting to help her master out but had been afraid that she might hurt her in the process. However, now that the man was backing away from the growing number of opponents, the blue dragon's formerly smooth tail was bristling with spikes and she had it raised threateningly, apparently waiting for him to make one wrong move.

"Give it up," Elsa told him in a commanding voice, "Your great beast has fled and you're outnumbered. It's over."

For a moment the big man glared at her with more hate than she'd ever seen in anyone's eyes. Then he glanced past her for a second and met her gaze as one corner of his mouth pulled up in a smile as he confidently asked, "Is it now?"

The way he smiled and asked that did not set well with Elsa, so she turned and saw the bright glare of the paralyzing dragon racing back towards them. Elsa raised her hands and reached inside herself for the power to erect an ice wall to block the dragon's breath attack, but before she could create it the dragon quickly slowed to a stop, hovering in place as its head cocked to one side in apparent confusion. Elsa was likewise confused as to why this dragon would suddenly stop in its attack, then she looked at her hands and noticed the cold gathered around them was causing the damp air around them to turn to mist much like the dragon's breath, and the light filtering through the mist reflected off her outfit and made it appear as though it was glowing much like the dragon hovering before her.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the large man's face fall again in disbelief for a moment, then he snarled and bellowed as he swung his weapon overhead a couple of times before jamming the point into the ground. Like a well trained dog, the glowing dragon flew over to him and landed by his side for him to climb on its back. Then he let his baleful gaze pass over the group gathering before him, his eyes boring holes in Elsa's for a moment before he fixed his gaze on the young man who Elsa had come to the aid of and said, "Bear this in mind, boy! Twice now we have met in battle, and both times you have needed help in defeating me. It takes strength to rule, and that is something in which you are sorely lacking. When next we meet it'll be at Berk with my entire force behind me, and at that time I will destroy everything and everyone you love! Count on it, boy!"

Though she kept her gaze fixed on the brute, Elsa could have sworn that his dragon was staring at her with some sort of longing. Regardless, at the man's command the dragon lifted up from the ground and took off, quickly vanishing from sight. Elsa thought the young man had looked troubled by what their attacker had said, but once it was clear that they were gone and not coming back he took a deep breath and turned to Elsa and said, "Thank you. If you folks hadn't come along when you had…"

"It was nothing, really," Elsa told them, "We couldn't exactly see something like that happening and stand by doing nothing."

The young man smiled and nodded as he said, "My name is Hiccup, Chieftain of Berk, and you've already become acquainted with Toothless, my Night Fury, and this is Astrid and her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly."

Elsa was somewhat mystified at this revelation, considering that she thought these people were Vikings. From what she knew of her ancestors, the Vikings highly valued strength, and those in charge were usually the strongest of the lot. This kid was as far removed from that image that she could get. Then again, she had never heard of Vikings riding or commanding dragons. Regardless, Elsa returned his smile and said, "Nice to meet you. I am Elsa, Queen of Arendelle, this is my sister Anna, her boyfriend Kristoff, and this big guy is Sven."

Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other before Hiccup asked her, "Arendelle? Is that a province in Jotunhelm?"

Elsa didn't understand this reference, so she asked politely, "I'm sorry?"

"Jotunhelm? Realm of the Jotnar?" Hiccup clarified. When Elsa and her friends still looked clueless, Hiccup clarified further, "The frost giants?"

Those Elsa had heard of, and Elsa groaned internally that she would be associated with them by someone who may be her own ancestor. "No, we're not from Jotunhelm," Elsa assured them.

Hiccup nodded like he agreed, saying in a thoughtful tone, "I thought that your mannerisms were odd to be one of those Thor and his fellow Asgardians defended our realm from."

"Perhaps that's it," Astrid suggested, "Maybe they're from Asgard, like your shield."

At that mention, Elsa got a good look at Hiccup's shield for the first time and her breath caught. She had seen that shield before, in the memories Julian had shown her from his time in New York! It was wielded by the soldier who fought alongside the powerful green giant and the man in the flying armored suit! This only served to confuse Elsa further, as that was an event from the future and they were supposed to be in the distant past. How did that get back here? "No, I'm not from Asgard either," Elsa told them, "Nor do I think that shield is either. It's hard to explain, but it's enough to say that we're currently a long way from home. We were trying to make our way back when we came across you guys."

"You know something about my shield?" Hiccup asked her, his interest peaked, "My father, Stoick the Vast, former Chief of Berk, had found it on a battlefield and it survived one of Toothless' plasma blasts point blank! What can you tell me…?"

"Sorry to interrupt, but I don't think that this is the best place to have this conversation," Kristoff told them earnestly, "especially if that creep manages to locate his huge beast and come back this way."

"I agree," Astrid said, "plus we really need to get back to Berk and warn everyone of Drago's attack."

Hiccup nodded, then he looked around at everyone and their own dragons as he said thoughtfully, "There isn't really any way that our dragons could carry all of you, so we'd have to get someone back home to bring a ship back home for all of you. Of course I suppose you could get your Jotun to carry all of you instead, but he's kind of slow to be following us, and as big as he is the ocean gets to be rather deep between here and Berk…"

"No, I agree. There's no way that Marshmallow could carry us to where you're going," Elsa said with a small smile, reflecting on a similar problem they'd encountered at their previous stop and how they'd worked it out, "but If you can lead the way, I have another idea…"

The two dragons and their riders flew low over the ocean, and closely behind them Sven ran over a rapidly forming ice bridge pulling an ice sleigh with Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff riding inside. As they neared a craggy island, Elsa saw colorful buildings arranged on the side facing them.

"Is that…?" Elsa said as she pointed ahead of them with the hand that wasn't creating the bridge.

"Yes," Hiccup confirmed as they drew nearer to the stone sentries guarding the harbor, "That is Berk, our home."