For the next few days, the Vikings (and Merida) were idle. They had orders from Fergus to not venture out yet, as Merida's leg had not healed and there were no reports of attacks. Fishlegs hated this. All he wanted to do was get out of the "huge stone jail cell" and test his new potion on the dragons. But Fergus was sure of his decision, so instead, everyone stayed around the castle.

Stoick and Gobber often sayed up late, discussing the recent events. The huge Viking chief had noticed Hiccup's mood change, the way he moped around, often going to bed early and not talking much. Merida was similiar, but busy. Elinor was arranging a meeting between Merida and the English Prince, Phillip. Gobber suspected this had something to do with Hiccup's mood.

"Merida, though?" Stoick asked Gobber, raising an eyebrow. "You think Hiccup loves Merida?"

Gobber nodded vigorously. "Have you not seen those two? They're love-sick. And now Elinor has ruined everything."

Stoick sighed. He knew there was nothing he could do about it.

Two days after Merida told Hiccup about the Prince, she was woken up very early by her mother.

"What is it, mum?" She asked sleepily. A quick glance out the window told her it was still extremely early, and she knew that they were not going to search for dragons that day.

"You've got to get ready," Elinor said, helping Merida out of bed and tugging her to the closet. She selected a pretty turquoise gown, one that brought out the fire in Merida's hair and the blue in her eyes.

"For what?" Merida asked, stepping into the down and pulling the soft, flowy material over her. Are we going somewhere?

"No, we're having visitors." Elinor clasped a gold necklace around Merida's neck and then told her to go to the kitchen table. "Get some breakfast. The king is coming."

"The king?"

"Of England." Elinor averted her eyes. "He's bringing Phillip."

Merida felt her jaw drop, especially when Elinor hurried away. She began to realize that her getting married was real, and it was going to happen. She was going to get married.

Deep breath, eyes closed, clenched fists. It's for the best, Merida told herself.

But was it?

She hurried down to breakfast, not saying anything to anybody about what she was wearing, although there were many questioning looks. As she was picking at a breakfast soup, Elinor walked in. Instantly, everyone, even Fergus, straightened and tried to look a little better. Elinor sighed and stood at the head of the table, clearing her throat.

"Today, we are having a special meeting. Not you Vikings, but Merida and Fergus and I." She glanced around the room. "We can't have anything go wrong. That means that everyone, especially you twins, need to be out of my sight until dinner."

Tuffnut and Ruffnut glared at her. "What's that s'posed to mean?" They asked in unison. Bread spilled out of Tuffnut's mouth, causing Ruffnut to snort with laughter and point at his mess. Her elbow caught on a mug and sent its contents, hot milk, spilling across the table, ending in a puddle on the floor. Elinor glared right back.

"Should we uh, just go out and patrol or something?" Hiccup asked. "Maybe look for the dragons?"

"No looking for the dragons," Elinor said sharply. "You're not doind that without Merida, as she knws the laws and rules around here. She will be busy. You may, however, patrol the edges of the kingdom. If a dragon does come, send someone back here to me and try to ward it off without violence."

"How is that even possible?" Snotlout asked Astrid. She shrugged, staring at Hiccup, who was pale and had black rings under his eyes. He obviously knew what the meeting was about.

Everyone finished their breakfast, and the Vikings hurried off to theur dragons while Merida and Elinor waited in their private sitting room. Fergus hurried off, mumbling about some unfinished business.

"Merida, I'm so sorry," Elinor said quietly. "We'll see how this goes. It's just... We need good ties with England, and I..."

"I get it," Merida said sadly.

"I know you liked Hiccup."

Merida didn't respond to that.

It was a few minutes before a servant informed them that the Royal Carriage had started to come through the kingdom. At that, Elinor and Merida stood up and waited in the enormous entrance hall. Elinor reached over and squeezed Merida's hand once. Both were nervous.

What will he look like? Merida wondered. Will he be nice?

And then the two enormous oak doors swung open, a parade of servants and footmen and guards streaming in, all surrounding two people, two men. The King and his son, Prince Phillip.
...

Astrid flew her dragon closer to Hiccup, carefully navigating around Snotlout.

"What's up?" She asked gently.

"If you're going to insult Merida or something stupid like that, don't even bother," he snapped. He clenched his jaw. "I've had enough."

"So have I," Snotlout called over. Astrid shot him a look and then sighed. "Sorry."
Hiccup stayed silent.

They all seperated around the forest-bordered edges of the kingdom, so they were all fairly close.

Hiccup was on the far right side, with Fishlegs 100 or so feet to his left. They stayed on the ground for a few minutes, and then back to the air, and then back to the ground. After an hour, Fishlegs got extremely bored. He sneaked over to Hiccup.

"I can't take it," he hissed. "I'm getting out of here."

Hiccup stared at him. "Where are you going?"

"To test this!" He pulled out a little glass vial, bound to his writst with a leather strap. "It's more help than sitting around here, anyways."

"You can't go by yourself," Hiccup called after him. Fishlegs shrugged, causing Hiccup to sigh. He followed reluctantly, drawing the attention of everyone else. Where Hiccup went, they went. And so they followed Fishlegs, into the heart of the forest, looking for a victim to test their new visibility potion on.
...

"Welcome," Elinor said graciously. The King, Edward, nodded just as graciously and introduced himself.

"I am King Edward," he said with a warmth-lacking smile. "And this is my son Phillip."

Elinor and Merida curtsied politely.

"I am Queen Elinor, and this is my daughter, Merida." Merida grinned wildly at them, and then realized that they were royalty, like her. She quickly stopped grinning, but nodded her head.

There was an awkward pause as everyone took each other in. King Edward was tall, very tall, and thin, draped with mountains of colourful robes. At his side, not quite as tall and not quite as thin, stood Phillip. He was a handsome boy, with wispy blond hair and large brown, gentle eyes. Merida guessed he was 19.

To the Edward, Merida was a very strange sight, to Phillip, refreshing. Thick, shiny red curls, curious blue eyes, a round, freckle-sprinckled face, and a slender figure.

"Please," Elinor said with a smile, "come join us for, er, tea."

Merida almost laughed. She knew tea was a big British tradition, but she, being a scot, barely ever had it. Edward nodded and walked next to her. They both hurried ahead, leaving Merida and Phillip taking each other in warily.

"Erm, nice to meet you," Merida said, not sure what else to say. Phillip smiled warmly, instantly putting Merida at ease.

"You, too. Nice place you have here."

Merida shrugged. "Eh. It's alright." She led him to the sitting room, and plopped down in an armchair. She ignored the angry look her mother shot her. She utterly refused to act anymore like a lady than she needed.

Phillip, being a perfect gentleman, sat down properly and smiled at Elinor, but didn't say anything. It seemed he was toungue tied.

"Rather cold, isn't it?" Edward muttered.

"Oh, uh, I'll send someone to make a fire in here," Elinor said nervously. She rung a silver bell, and then sat back. "I must have forgotten to instruct them."

Edward sighed haughtily and glanced around. Phillip sat, twiddling his thumbs. Elinor was obviously trying not to give Edward a piece of her mind for being so rude, not helping relieve the room of its awkward silence. And Merida sat, looking out the window, thinking about how it was going to be such a long day.
...

"Toothless caught a scent!" Hiccup shouted. He allowed Toothless to lead them above a clearing in the forest, and then turned to Fishlegs. "Go ahead."
"I'm doing it?" Fishlegs asked.

"Duh!" Snotlout shouted. "Hurry up!"

Fishlegs nodded, squared his shoulders, and sent his Gronkle into a clumsy, twirly nose dive. He swooped over the clearing, knowing there was a dragon below him somewhere. He held the vial over the clearing, and then circled it, letting drops fall.

The effect was almost instant. Bit by bit, the purply dragon materialized, and then glanced around at the Vikings. It had been asleep. It didnt seem to understand that they could see it.

Snotlout gripped his dragon nervously. "This is terrifying," He mumbled.

"You got that right," Hiccup said.

The dragon, finally realizing that it was, in fact, visible, roared in outrage and started beating its wings.

"RUN!" Fishlegs bellowed. "I mean... FLY!"

Everyone obeyed. "Split up!" Hiccup called. They all broke off, everyone going a different direction. Hiccup rose above, watching where everyone was going. The dragon ended up choosing Snotlout to go for, and began zooming towards the terrified boy. He leaned over his Nightmare and let him go his fastest, but the bad dragon was the same speed, if not faster. It began to gain. Hiccup sighed, cursing Fishlegs, and then whispered one word to Toothless.

"Go."
...

After an awkward tea, Merida took Phillip for a tour of the grounds.

This is Angus," she said, gesturing to the enormous horse.

Phillip smiled up at the big animal and pet him on the nose. "Hi there, Angus," he murmured softly.

"Well, you're nice to him," Merida said with a sigh. "I'm glad my future husband is like that."

Phillip cringed, and then apologized for doing so. "It's just... I didn't want this to happen."

"Me neither!" Merida exclaimed. "I mean, there's a boy here I... Well, you know-"

"I know," Phillip said. "I have a girl back in England. I would have married her if it weren't for, well, you know." He gestured wildly. "This."

"Maybe we could convince our parents otherwise," Merida suggested hopefully. "Like-"

"Merida!" Elinore shouted. She walked toward her with Edward at her side. He glanced around the meadow where the dragons had stayed disdainfully. "We've come to join you for a walk."

Merida and Phillip met them, and they all stopped in the middle of the meadow.

"We were just-"

Phillip was interupted by a loud roar.

"What in God's name-" Edward said. They all glanced up. A black shape shot out of a cloud, followed by a large purple one, followed by 5 others, all different colours.

"Hiccup?" Merida asked. "What is he doing?"

A smaller dragon, the one Merida recognized as Fishleg's, cut the purple dragon off, leading them straight towards where they were standing.

"Duck!" Phillip bellowed. He pulled Merida to the ground. Elinor muttered a few words about how Vikings could not be trusted before drop[ing to the grass. The dragons flew over them, the breeze lifting Merida's curls.

Suddenly, the purple dragon dropped out of the sky, landed on the grass, and slid for 30 or so feet, before coming to a stop, fast asleep. Hiccup and Toothless, who had not been able to control themselves after the chase, bumped to a stop quite close to Merida and the others. Hiccup, extremely dizzy, promptly fell off and rolled, ending up right next to Phillip.

The two boys stared at each other for a minute, before Hiccup seemed to realize where he was. He jumped up and instantly saw Elinor, who was red with anger.

"I'm so dead," He muttered.

It got worse. The twins, who were sharing their dragon, landed next to Toothless. Unfortunately, the tail of their dragonhit Edward, and then knocked him (not too hard) to the ground. Phillip watched as the rest of the dragons all landed, Snotlout with a few words that were not considered gentlemanly at all, Astrid with uncontrollable laughter, and Fishlegs with his glass vial, which still held some potion. He was laughing gleefully and staring at the liquid inside.

"It worked!" He yelled. He began to dance around, laughing and whooping. Finally, Snotlout stopped him, and then gestured at the King, who was glaring at them all with such rage that even Astrid cowered slightly.

They all knew they were in trouble.