Elinor scared Hiccup.
This said a lot, considering Hiccup grew up with an enormous, temperamental Viking father who routinely killed the village "pests", which were big, fire-breathing dragons
She was just so proper, so clean, so expectant. Even as she gave Hiccup a tour of the castle, she did everything perfectly. Her brown eyes scanned the halls, looking for any trace of dirt, grime, or garbage. The servants that they passed all looked at her with awe and respect. She was able to silence anyone with a widening of her eyes, even the dogs.
Except Merida.
Throughout the whole tour, Hiccup's mind kept straying back to her. Not in a lovey-dovey way, but in a more who-would-dare-defy-the-queen-and-live sort of way. Even though the villagers, the servants, and even the king seemed afraid of her, Hiccup was not. He knew it wasan attempt to look tough, a hard outer shell. He decided he would break it.
"And this," Elinor said with a proud smile, "is your room." She opened a heavy oak door, revealing an enormous, lavishly decorated bed room. A king-sized bed was at the far end, and on the right wall there was a huge window that showed a view of the castle yard, and the forests and meadows beyond. Against the left wall was a beautifully carved desk, with three big shelves filled with books. A thick wool rug stretched across the center of the room, and next to the desk there was a fireplace which was empy, because it was summer.
"I personally oversaw the decorating of this room," Elinor said, "and what went in it. The desk has blank writing paper and utensils, and you'll find a few blank journals to record anything you need. If you need spare blankets or anything like that, you may ask one of the servants." She walked towards the door, her green dress swirling around her slender legs. "Dinner is at 6:00 sharp. And Hiccup, dear, don't worry about Merida." The kind woman but her lip. "She's a bit feisty, but hopefully it's just a phase."
Hiccup smiled gratefully at her. "Thank you for everything. The room will do fine, and I think I can handle Merida. I'm used to dealing with feisty girls anyways." His eyes suddenly went sad, and he turned away, memories of Astrid and her betrayal plagueing him. "I will see you at dinner, Madame."
Elinor immediately sensed his conflicting emotions, and she smiled gently at him. "You may call me Elinor, Hiccup."
And with a swish of her dress she was gone, leaving Hiccup at a loss of what to do. The room was almost too enormous for him. He could get lost in it, and with his luck and clumsiness, he would.
He tried to entertain himself in various ways. But his brain wasn't coming up with invention ideas, and his eyes kept straying to the window, where he could see the forest, and the hills. Finally, he decided that he may as well pay Toothless a visit, and see where his faithful dragon was being stabled.
After taking three wrong turns and getting hopelessly lost twice, Hiccup found his way into the castle yard. It was a busy place, but people still found the time to stare at him as he walked by. He shot them all a friendly grin and kept on walking, but he could stil feel their eyes on his back. It creeped him out.
The scottish accents still confused him slightly, but he found it pleasing in a way. So much different than the harsh dialect of the Vikings. He found that the men weren't so overly muscled and tough, and actually smiled once in a wile. In other words, he felt that he belonged.
Hiccup was just wondering who to ask where Toothless was when one of the triplets ran up to him, stepped right into his path, and stared at him wordlessly.
"Uh... Hello." Hiccup said awkwardly. The little boy stared at him still, his freckled face open and friendly, but his mouth still closed.
"Hamish!" A girl's voice snapped. "I told you not to stare at peo-" Her voice cut off when she saw who the boy was staring at.
"Hi Merida." Hiccup greeted her politely. "I was just looking for Toothless. Where are they-"
"Shut it." She snarled. "Hamish, you get back into the house. And stop staring, for goodness' sake. It's creepy, and people don't like it." She slapped a bright red curl out of her eye, and for a moment Hiccup was entranced by the way the sun lit it up...
"Ahem!" Merida was staring at him, her hands resting expectantly on her hips. "You asked me a question?"
"Right." He shook the thoughts away. "Where is-"
"In the horse barn behind the castle." She sighed. "Geez. Angus doesn't even get to stay there. Why is the stupid dragon allowed?"
Hiccup clenched his jaw. He didn't like it when people insulted Toothless, which is understandable.
"Maybe," he said, "it's because Toothless is valuable, extremely rare, my best friend, and the key to us finding the other dragon that's been burning down houses around here."
Her eyes glinted angrily. "He is not valuable, he's a giant lizard!" She tossed her mane of curls indignantly. "And as for him being the key to finding this dragon, it's impossible. There is no such thing as a Scottish dragon, and there never will-"
"DRAGON!" A man screamed, running in through the caslte gates. "A dragon has set my house on fire! Help, please!"
Hiccup raised his eyebrow at Merida. "You sure about that?"
Elinor sat at the head of the huge table, Fergus at the other. Hiccup and Astrid were each on a side, waiting for their instructions.
"This time, Merida, we have proof of a dragon." Elinor said. "That villager caught it red handed. Luckily everyone made it out of the house unharmed, but.." She shuddered. "Who knows what'll happen next time."
"Yes, mother." Merida mumbled. She wouldn't meet Hiccup's eye, afraid of an I-told-you-so smirk. She didn't realize how mature Hiccup really was, and how the chances of such a smirk existing on Hiccup were low. "But how are we going to catch a dragon with such a clumsy dragon tamer? He fell twice on the way to this room, once on an invisible line!" She rolled her eyes and turned to Hiccup. "If you screw this up, I swear that I will kill you."
"If Toothless doesn't kill you first, you mean." Hiccup said calmly. Merida stared at him a moment, and then stood up rapidly, knocking over her chair in the process.
"I'm going to go saddle up Angus," She announced, "and you can do whatever you need to do with... Your dragon. I'll meet you at the front gates." And then she was gone, her bright red hair streaming behind her.
"Finally," Fergus said with a relieved sigh, "someone can stand up to her who isn't a monarch."
Hiccup gave them a crooked grin, and then excused himself to saddle up Toothless. He only got lost once, but tripped twice.
"Why am I such a klutz? He asked himself as he led Toothless to the castle gates.
Merida watched him approach. His steps were well-placed and confident, his hands calm and steady. He hopped gracefully onto Toothless's back, despite the fact that he was missing a leg and was instead using a metal contraption.
How can someone be so clumsy, yet so graceful? She asked herself.
