Chapter Eleven

Astrid stalked back and forth in her cell. Elsa had been gone for three days without any word. Three days! What the gods was Astrid supposed to think about that? They had a moment, or some semblance of one, and then Elsa was gone.

Had the kiss been too formal?

Had it been too soon?

Worry made Astrid pause, her chest tightening. But then she remembered the small smile Elsa had given her before leaving. The tightness unraveled.

No, it hadn't been too soon. Elsa herself admitted there was something between them. Had acknowledged that something lingered. That the emotions, at least the beginning ones, were true. And shared. She let out a whoosh of air from her lungs.

So why was she so tense?

Astrid looked out the window. The horizon grew a pinker, the faint tips of orange and gold ebbing their way into the sky. A smile crept up her lips. She was anxious because she wanted to learn more about Elsa, to begin this budding relationship (if she could even call it that yet), to fly down this path and see where it lead. She crossed her arms and leaned against the window, putting her forehead against the cool glass. She stared across the courtyard at her dragon still locked up in her cage.

Stormfly rustled, shook her shoulders, and looked West. The dragon heaved a sigh.

Astrid, too, sighed. However happy the prospect of a relationship with Elsa seemed, Astrid couldn't stay here forever. She'd already been away from Berk for five days. They'd worry. She'd have to send them a message somehow. Or perhaps she could travel back to Berk and tell them she was okay. But would Arendelle ever let her go? The Council here certainly hadn't asked to talk to her. The guards weren't warming up to her either. Only Elsa seemed to be friendly thus far.

A knock sounded on her cell door. She didn't call out, why would she? The door creaked open, wide open, fully extended on its hinges. The flickering light of torch filled her vision. Astrid tilted her head, shielded her eyes with her hand. She winced. Why hold a torch when the sun was rising?

"Astrid Hofferson."

It didn't sound like a question. She lowered her hand.

"That's me." Her reply came out as a drawl, could be considered sarcastic. Astrid winced. But of course that was her name. Unless these people held many dragon riders in their dusty cells. But on her brief stint out a few nights ago, it seemed like she was the only one down here. Still, she should try to be polite.

"Please come with us." The guard holding the torch backed away, opening up a space clearly intended to be filled by her. She moved into it and tilted her head in a usual Berk gesture of greeting. The guard closest to her, an older man with grey streaking his hair, scowled. The other three were no friendlier. They motioned for her to go forward and fell into step around her, the guard with the torch leading the way.

Astrid cleared her throat. "Where are we going?"

"To see the Council," the woman next to her replied in a low, gruff voice. The woman didn't even glance in her direction, gray eyes focused straight ahead, head held high under her helmet.

Astrid's stomach curled into a knot. She imagined a room full of people staring at her, judging her for her actions, wanting her to pay for attacking the kingdom… for breaking out of her cell and into the Queens bedroom… for bringing fear into this quiet place. A place that probably had never seen fear before.

"And the Queen," the third guard, a young man to her left added.

Some of the tension in Astrid's stomach loosened. At least she'd have someone there to cheer for her. The fourth one behind her didn't make a sound. Astrid peeked over her shoulder at the guard, an older woman with bright green eyes.

The woman winked.

Astrid's breath caught. She turned away to hid her smile. So maybe not all of the guards hated her.

They led her through the tunnel and up the stairs, outside then around to the castle's doors, opening them wide. Before she headed inside, she slipped a glance at Stormfly. Her dragon had risen to her feet and stared at the entourage. Astrid willed her to be silent, to be still. Stormfly, as if reading Astrid's mind, sat on her hindquarters and merely watched them pass.

They entered the castle, the doors slamming shut behind them. The guards led them to another set of doors just beyond the main entryway. The doors swung open, and servants inside gesturing them in. Astrid gasped. The whole of her village could fit inside this single circular room. A Monsterous Nightmare could easily stretch in here. Gods, a Bewilderbeast could romp around and still have room to explore.

She gazed upward at the stained glass windows cut away from the roof. Bright blue and yellow glass flowers glowed. Her boots sank into the plush carpet. A row of seats sat on one side of the room and a row of tables sat on the other. Each table was topped with bowls of fruit, vegetables, pastries, and pitchers of differently colored liquid.

It could feed Berk for a month.

Astrid's mouth watered. She swallowed that feeling back. Berk wasn't… longing for anything, they had carved a good life on that rock, but for the first time since Astrid got to Arendelle she realized how valuable a trading partner this kingdom could be.

Finally, her eyes settled on the opposite side of the room, to the magnificent high-backed chair and to the woman sitting upon it.

Elsa.

She looked regal, no, she looked more than regal… she looked radiant. The sight was like a kick to Astrid's gut. It took her breath away. Elsa's purple gown shimmered, catching the multicolored light from the stained glass and transforming the light into something new. On her head sat a golden crown with a single sapphire gem nestled in between its prongs. Her hair, usually down by her shoulders in a braid, was tucked up and away from her neck.

Elsa stared at Astrid. The guards had just brought her inside from the cell. Even in her simple red tunic and rough brown pants, the woman made Elsa's heart pound in her chest. Surely the Councilmen and women beside her could hear it. Astrid's hair curled over her eyes, one strand sticking to her lip. Elsa wanted to get up and brush it away. She wanted desperately to touch Astrid's lips.

Don't fall so quickly. She had to repeat this in her mind, over and over, just so she wouldn't fall. She couldn't fall so easily. She just couldn't. We have to know more about each other first.

She ducked her head, a blush spreading on her cheeks, and smoothed her gown over her knees. A frown momentarily lingered on her lips. The Council had requested that she wear this ridiculous outfit, but Elsa felt awkward in it. It was much too dressed up for a simple council meeting. But if they were to extend an alliance to the village of Berk perhaps this was a monumental occasion… and so did merit such an outfit. She glanced up and noticed that Astrid had not moved and seemed to have not taken her eyes off of Elsa.

She nodded to the guards. They fell back to the door and closed it, waiting on the outside. When the time was right, Elsa would make the announcement of the possible alliance. Until then, the guards didn't need to know. The action seemed to snap Astrid out of her daydream. She seemed to take in the rest of the people surrounding Elsa, the Council.

Elsa, too, glanced beside her. The Councilmen and women hadn't taken her decision lightly. They had fought her over it. Argued for days. Three, in fact. They didn't like forging an alliance with a dragon-rider. Heavens, they didn't even like the dragon. But, Elsa had fought for it… and, being Queen, she had won.

Today, she would prove it was the right decision. Today, she would allow the Council to question Astrid directly, get all their worries out of the way, and then propose a simple alliance, a tentative one.

"We may begin," Elsa said, lifting her voice so it reverberated throughout the chamber.

Astrid visibly gulped. She linked her hands behind her back and planted her boots wide on the carpet, as if preparing for a fight. Her nerves were adorable. Elsa nearly smiled before she remembered her position. "Astrid Hofferson of Berk."

Astrid nodded. Then as if thinking that wasn't enough, she said, "Yes, Queen Elsa?"

"You have been brought here for a Council interrogation in order to weigh the village of Berk's ability to be a threat to Arendelle against the possible worth of Berk being a potential ally of this kingdom." Perhaps she shouldn't have said so much, but she wanted Astrid to be ready for the barrage of questions the Council had prepared for her concerning the attack and concerning Berk.

Again Astrid nodded. And again Astrid said, "Yes, Queen Elsa." Her gaze flicked from Elsa toward the Councilmembers.

Councilwoman Verire started the attack. "If we let you go, how do we know that you won't attack Arendelle again?"

Astrid stared at her. "Because the people of Berk are gentle. We defend our position, if necessary, and do attack when threatened, but we have no intention on starting a war with your people. I only fired on Arendelle because I thought you were harming a dragon. I am friends with the dragons and protect them."

The questions, almost exactly like the first one, came one after the other. Astrid answered them quietly and without anger. She seemed the picture of a nonthreatening person. Finally, after an hour of this, Elsa held up her hand. "Move on to a different topic, Council, I believe you have your answer to that particular question."

This time Councilwoman Mira spoke, "Why did you break out of your cell and into the Queen's bedchambers?"

Elsa's fingers tightened on her armrest. How did she know? Itemas must have told them. But why? He was a discreet person, and the only one who seemed remotely on her side on the matter, why would he jeopardize this alliance by giving that information up? A suspicion wormed her way into her heart. Or had Anna? Bringing it up here, in this official interrogation, and not in the countless meetings they had beforehand caused a spike of anger to travel through Elsa, washing away the suspicion. How dare they bring it up now. She glanced at Astrid, hoping she'd tell the truth.

After an endless stream of questions about the attack, which Astrid felt like she successfully answered, this particular query threw her. Any way she looked at it, that night was a mistake. It could prove to be the undoing of their alliance. Hiccup always said something simple could break an alliance, especially at the beginning. Especially since that was their second impression of Astrid and her first impression wasn't terribly good.

She stepped forward, just once, then stilled. "That was a mistake on my part. I had no right breaking out of the cell and I had honestly not meant to go into the Queen's bedroom. I was actually trying to find a way out of this castle, to figure out a way to break Stormfly free, and to leave this place. When I found myself in the Queens… chambers… I acted on impulse. I knew, by then, I'd be caught, so I just wanted to make sure Stormfly wouldn't get hurt because of my recklessness."

The skinny woman growled, "So you admit you attacked the Queen?"

Astrid shook her head. "I didn't attack her."

She leaned forward. "You grabbed her."

"Yes, but—" She looked hopelessly at Elsa, who winced at the confession.

"You held her forcibly against her will—"

Astrid interrupted the woman. "But then I let her go and didn't threaten her again. We sat and talked. That's all, I swear."

The woman did not seem convinced, but Elsa held up her hand once more and spoke over both of them. "What she says is true, Councilwoman Mira. We spoke. That is all." She took a deep breath then continued, "As you well know I suggested that we propose an alliance with Berk. What are you feelings on this subject?"

Astrid arched an eyebrow. Judging by the looks of anger on the Councils' faces, it was pretty clear how they felt about it. But then a plump man on the end leaned forward and smiled. "I would like to second the alliance… if Ms. Hofferson agrees to it."

The angry woman, Mira, frowned. "But, Itemas, how can we trust her?"

"She seems sincere, Mira. Let her actions from this day forward be the judge of who she really is. Let us have a tentative alliance and see what the people of Berk do."

"The people of Berk would be open to fording and alliance with Arendelle," Astrid said, once the commotion died down a bit. "Though, I am not the person who should forge it. Our chef, Hiccup, should be the one. He speaks for the entire village, I am only a member of it." There, Astrid thought, that should please Hiccup. I'm not taking his duties away from him any more, am I? "If you'll let me, I can go back to Berk and bring Hiccup here to continue this discussion."

This simple suggestion caused another outrage, this time from the angry woman who spoke up first. "Let you leave? What if you come back with an armada of dragons and try to take over Arendelle?"

A needle of anger jabbed Astrid's forehead. How could this woman be so mistrusting? Though, after an hour of conversation, perhaps Berk would be mistrusting too if the tables were turned. Astrid took a deep breath and let it out, letting the anger wash through and out of her. Hiccup always said that using anger would get nowhere.

"I will not do that," she replied. "I give my word. A Dragon's Code."

"Dragon's code…" the woman scoffed, but Elsa gave her a sharp look. The woman wilted under Elsa's glare and inclined her head.

"Astrid." Elsa's voice drew Astrid's gaze. "You mentioned it took one entire evening of dragon flying to reach Arendelle from Berk, correct?"

"Yes."

Elsa stood. "Very well. Go back to Berk and confer with Hiccup. Accompany him back here to Arendelle with your answer."

The angry woman, Mira, stood as well. "But if you are not back within a week's time, we will assume your answer is no."

Elsa's mouth tightened into a thin line as she stared at the woman standing next to her. Her eyes narrowed. Before she could speak, though, Astrid did. "Not a problem. We'll be back within four days, three if we push it."

Truthfully a week would be plenty of time. And she didn't want Elsa to get any angrier. These dragonless people had a right to be worried about an attack, however wrong they may be about the Berk folk. After all, Berk had suffered through many dragon attacks before learning how to befriend them.

Elsa's anger ebbed slightly. How dare Councilwoman Verire speak against her turn? The Councilmembers were really starting to grate on her nerves. But Astrid had calmed him down and so she calmed as well. Councilman Itemas folded his hands in his lap and leaned back, giving Elsa a gentle smile. She returned in. And at least he seemed on her side.

She turned to Astrid. "Very good. I will have the guards escort you to Stormfly and you may be on your way."

Astrid nodded. The guards came back inside the chamber and escorted Astrid out, this time not huddled around her, keeping a respectful distance instead. A part of Elsa deflated once the doors closed and Astrid was hidden from view. A part of her wanted to go with Astrid. But that was silly. She was Queen, she couldn't just leave with this warrior woman. She had her duties to attend to. But having Astrid leave without saying goodbye seemed… unfit.

She walked to the doors, throwing her reasoning over her shoulder. "I wish to see if Stormfly has been successfully taken care of before she leaves that way we can better prepare to welcome Hiccup and his dragon when he arrives."

There, that seemed suitable enough. The council didn't question her anyway.

She rushed out of the room as slowly as she could muster. The two sets of doors couldn't open quickly enough. She found Astrid standing beside the cage just as the guards were opening it. Stormfly ambled out and Elsa skidded to a stop a few paces away. The dragon, now outside her cage, seemed massive. Much bigger than before. Astrid stepped forward and rubbed the dragon's face and horns. The dragon leaned into the pet affectionately, much like Icicle did whenever Elsa stroked him.

Astrid spoke a few quiet words to her dragon, then turned to Elsa. "I'm pleased to see that you have come to see me off."

Outside the chamber, hearing Astrid speak so formally almost made Elsa laugh. But she kept her formal tone as well, for the guards' sake. They couldn't appear too friendly, not yet anyway. "I just… wanted to see if Stormfly's accommodations were acceptable. I want Hiccup and his dragon to feel welcome when he arrives. We will not use the cage, of course."

Astrid eyed the structure behind her. "These are acceptable. Although Toothless prefers fish rather than greens if you can manage."

Toothless? Was Hiccup's dragon old? Elsa immediately conjured up an elderly man and an ancient dragon, both white, both withered.

Astrid motioned to the guards. "And I trust there will be fewer guards as well?"

The question could be taken two ways, one in idle curiosity of if their alliance could be trusted and another as curiosity of if they would have time alone. Had she meant it to be what Elsa thought? When Astrid's gaze settled on Elsa, the glint in them made her shiver. Definitely the second option.

Elsa gestured towards the guards. "We always have guards watching Arendelle, but there will be fewer when you and Hiccup return."

Astrid grinned. She swung onto Stormfly's back and rubbed her dragon's neck. "Until then, Queen Elsa."

Stormfly hopped twice, then unfurled her wings and darted into the clouds.

Elsa stared as the clouds swallowed them whole. "Until then, Astrid Hofferson," she whispered.

SQ: Thanks to all the new favorites, followers, and comments! It's late, I know, but as most of my readers know by now, I'm in graduate school and have a freelance editing business so I can't dedicate as much time to this story as I would like. Thanks for those who are sticking with the random updates, though! I really appreciate it.

Please remember to comment on your way out, I always like to know what my readers think of the story.

Until next time!