Chapter 41-Must Wait

Hours have passed perhaps, but Elsa was unaware of the time that had gone by. She was enjoying the simple work because nothing disturbed her as she went about her task. Her mind was empty of all thoughts and sound, allowing them to only come when they do, and go without attachment. It took three attempts, but Elsa finally heard Hiccup calling her.

She almost jerked her head up upon the third call. Elsa carefully capped the arrow she was working on and stacked it in with the finished pile of dream arrows before turning in her seat towards Hiccup. "Yes, sorry, what was it that you said?"

Hiccup smiled and shook his head. "I said it's time for a break. Toothless and I may not have to eat. But you do." Hiccup removed his gloves, pocketing them in the leather apron before hanging it up on one of the wooden hooks on a pillar. Next he went over to a bin that was kept at the bottom base of the hearth; Hiccup picked it up, and brought it before Toothless. Elsa looked over the table and saw that the bin was filled with water. "Toothless," he started, "just a small blast now." Elsa saw Toothless' pupils sharpened in an instant, only for a second, before the dragon spat a small ball of energy directly into the center of the water. The liquid reacted in sizzling bobbles for a few seconds before settling down with its surface evaporating into steam. Hiccup tested the water, dipping two of his fingers in. Satisfied, he picked the bin back up and placed it on Elsa's table. "Here, you can use this water to wash your hand."

Elsa thanked Hiccup for the water, and cleared an area on the table so than she could scooch the bin away from the edge. Quickly remembering, Hiccup stopped Elsa from dipping her hands in and made a dash into the back room of the shop. He came back not so long after with a clean wash cloth and a round bar of soup. He gave both to Elsa. "You can wash your hands first; I'll go check on our food."

Elsa was surprised and stopped Hiccup as he made to move out of the shop. "When did you start cooking food? I didn't see you made any preparations since I gotten here."

"Oh. Toothless' favorite pastime is flying, especially at sunset. But with the war and with me at work all the time, that doesn't leave any time for the two of us to go flying freely. So Toothless can get bored or irritated when there's nothing for him to do. But I found the best way to substitute the absent of flying is with food."

"So you are constantly feeding him?"

Hiccup rolled his head with a sheepish smile, "Every six hours or so. But to make it more fun for him, I would cook the food as well."

Elsa couldn't help but also smile. But there was a bit of a devil in that smile she had, and she could feel it too. "If that is the case, then isn't it possible that; Toothless could possibly get…"

"Fat?" Hiccup finished with a grin. Toothless was already up and was raring to go check on the food with his rider. When Hiccup spoke the last word, Toothless snapped his head in Hiccup's direction. However, the dragon didn't look bothered or upset with the word. Not even offended. His ears just perked-up, looking curious. "Well," Hiccup began, as he started walking away again, "one thing good about becoming a Being, is that you'll never lose your figure." He made a show in swinging his hip in one of his steps, "No matter how much you eat." Elsa ended up using the back of her wrist to subdue her laugh.

Hiccup and Toothless both went outside in the opposite end of the shop, and disappearing around the building. As Elsa washed her hands, she could hear Hiccup opening something heavy, like a metal door. Was he cooking using a furnace? She wondered. She never noticed there was one outside the shop before. Elsa then heard him calling to her, telling her where he she may find the plates, cups and utensils, and to make room on the table she was using.

First Elsa cleared out as much space as possible. She carefully moved refilled dream arrows, bit by bit from the finished pile over onto a large shelf that was storing several others. When there was enough room for two people to eat on, Elsa went to look for the plates and utensils and cups needed. She found them rather quickly, and they were all simply made from wood. As a bonus, Elsa also found a water pitcher made from silver for them to use. It was hidden under some cut leftover leathers on one of the small working desks Hiccup had out. How it gotten there was a wonder to Elsa. The only thing she couldn't find was the napkins, but Elsa wasn't too concerned with that. Wiping up a bit of snow, she bended them to form into thick cloth-like napkins. She laid everything down with organizations and neatness.

When Hiccup came back, he whistled an exaggerated tune, in which Elsa could only replied "Impressive with yourself." He carried with him two wooden trays, one stacked on top of the other. They each held four layers of smoked fishes, lined with seven in a roll and three in a celom. Hiccup told Elsa to take as many as she thinks she could eat, and for his share, put only one on his plate. Elsa also only took one for herself. Whatever was left; Hiccup gently poured the rest onto the ground and allowed his dragon to eat.

"I hope you don't mind it just eating smoke fish," said Hiccup as he washed his hands. "Four-hundred years of living and that is still the best I could cook."

"—Oh-no, this is perfectly fine Hiccup," Elsa quickly said. "And thank-you again, for letting me stay."

"No problem at all, it's nice every now and then to have company beside from our usual group of friends, right bud?" Toothless responded with a burp, liked his teeth, and then purred shortly before he began eating again. "I'm sure there was an 'excuse me' in there somewhere."

For the rest of the time the two of them focused on eating, but they still stopped in between every few swallows to talk to one another. Overall, Elsa was surprised with the fish. It wasn't dry as it looked on the outside, and the fish has been seasoned well enough to balance the sweetness and saltiness. Neither flavors were overpowering the other, or were one too much for Elsa's taste buds.

Hiccup was the second to finish his fish after Toothless. When done, Hiccup took a large gulp of his remaining drink and set the cup aside. "Well Elsa," he began, "Now that you're away from the public, and you got some food in you, how do you feel?"

Raising a hand, Elsa covered her mouth as she chewed the last piece of her fish, and swallowed. "I'm feeling a lot better now, thank-you Hiccup." After taking a sip of her drink, Elsa pointed with her fork to her plate at what was left of her fish. "You surprised me though, this fish was really good."

Hiccup blushed a little. "No need for flattery, it's just smoke fish."

"Good smoke fish though," Elsa said.

Hiccup shook his head. "Fine, I accept your compliment. And I'll admit, to hear that coming from a Queen feels pretty good."

Elsa thought for second. "Well, what about Merida and Rapunzel? They're both Princesses. Haven't they tried your cooking before?"

"Oh—yes, t-t-they have!" Hiccup said while nodding his head. He was also scratching the side of his head with a finger. "I was no cook compare to Rapunzel—but the two of them liked it a lot. Jack too when he tried it—but oooooooh, they're merciless. Especially Merida and Jack, they practically start it every time."

Even though Elsa didn't know what Hiccup was saying, she couldn't help but smile. By now she very much understands that the two of them are the partners-in-crime within their group of friends. "Merciless how?" Elsa asked.

Hiccup turned to face Elsa with a serious look. "Two words," he said, holding up two of his fingers. "Fish Jokes."

"…Fish Jokes?"

"Or Fish Riddles; Rapunzel likes to call them that. Anyway, what would normally happen is that when I serve the fish to them—and because it's just fish, Red and Frost would start making fish jokes. Like this one: 'What is the best way to catch a fish?'"

Elsa thought for a moment and started replying with possible answers: 'with a net,' 'with a fishing pole,' 'bait.' But Hiccup said nope to every one of them. "I can't think of anymore," she admitted.

Clearing his throat, Hiccup said, "The best way to catch a fish, is to have someone throw it to you."

Elsa's eyes narrowed, and her smile broadened. "That's a ridiculous joke," she said with some struggle. Elsa felt herself wanting to laugh.

Hiccup leaned his elbow on the table, supporting his hand with his hand. "Here's another one: 'Why did the fish cross the road?'"

"How could it even cross in the first place?"

"—Ah just try answering," Hiccup said with a smirk. Elsa thought for another moment but couldn't think of possible answers for this one, and so she gave up. Hiccup cleared his throat again before answer, "Somebody threw it!" At that Elsa brought up one of her hands to cover her mouth and shook her head. But her shoulders were shaking, she couldn't hide those. Hiccup then straighten himself up while resting his hands on his knees. "If you think that one's amusing, then you'll love this one: 'What is stranger than seeing a catfish?'" Elsa didn't even try to answer it this round. "Seeing a fish bowl," he said. This time Elsa brought up both of her hands to cover her entire face. Her whole upper-body was shivering. Through her muffling hands, Elsa tried to speak, but all she could produce was the word ridiculous.

"The very first time those three ate my cooking was literally two years ago, and that is when those stupid jokes practically began."

Once Elsa was in better control of herself, she said, "Well, perhaps you can think of those jokes as a sort of motivation to expand your cooking."

"Oh trust me, I had that thought and have tried it. I tried cooking other traditional Viking food as well, except for the baking; I mostly ended up burning those. But when I tried cooking something else, Red and Frost only expanded their topic of jokes—depending on what I served."

Elsa expressed an apologetic look to Hiccup. "That would be something they would do."

Sighing, Hiccup said, "So now I'm stuck with the smoke fish, for my only hope is to be patient and wait. They can't keep making fish jokes forever. They'll run out eventually."

"But in the end once they run out, you'll still be stuck with making smoke fish just to keep them from expanding their topics of food jokes."

Hiccup nodded with a raised brow. "Good point there."

"If it makes you feel any better Hiccup," Elsa encouraged, "the jokes does serve their purpose of making you laugh don't they?—Yes they are…silly, but silly enough that they're amusing right?"

"True-true once again…But on the other hand, you're not the chief those silly jokes are targeted at aren't you?"

Elsa giggled, "No, I'm sorry. I guess I'm not." After a few more giggles, Elsa noticed the way Hiccup was looking at her. He seemed more at ease now compared to when she first came that late morning. Almost satisfy even. "What is it Hiccup?" she asked finally. "You're looking at me in a funny way."

"Nothing really, I guess you can say I'm just glad." Reaching over to the water pitcher, Hiccup hinted if she wanted some more water. Elsa offered him her cup and he poured.

Taking a small drink, Elsa then asked, "Glad for what?"

"I'm just glad that laughter is still proving to be the best medicine for stress." Next, Hiccup reached out and took Elsa's plate, while also delicately balancing the utensils to keep them from falling off. He stacked her plate carefully onto his own. "So, being thus, I can safely assume two things. One is that Jack's not doing his job properly in temporarily relieving you of your stressors. Or two, he is doing his job well, but your problem lies beyond what his magic can provide for you." Hiccup paused and raised an eyebrow at Elsa. "Maybe even both?"

Elsa's cheerful mood slowly faded away. She knew that this talk was going to come up. She came here for that reason too. But despite knowing what was going to happen, Elsa still couldn't prepare herself for the talk that was to come when it did. For some time, silence convers between them. And in the end, Elsa couldn't bring herself to answer Hiccup. Her gaze and head fell softly down towards her lap, where her hands laid clasped over the other.

"For a while now," Hiccup said, resuming to speak again, "Jack and Rapunzel have been keeping information between themselves about your…pain issues, so Merida and I have been left in the dark for quite some time. You can imagine how annoying it is for us to be left out on important information, especially with the Pact telling us that you're not feeling so good. But Blonde had asked us not to do or ask you anything about your problem; she wanted time to confirm a few things before anything could be done. So, because Rapunzel is our partner and friend, and because the Pact wasn't pulling either of us to take action, we trusted her and Jack to do what was needed and let things be…"

"But now you feel a pull don't you?" Elsa asked quietly, "from the Pact."

Hiccup smiled in kind. "No. I'm not doing this because of the Pact, it's because my friends are in a tight spot. It's more personal now. Jack is action strange, and Rapunzel is getting sicker and sicker as the war goes on. Neither of them is currently in good conditions to be helping you feel better from your pain…Elsa, I don't want make it feel as though you have to talk if you don't want to. But if you don't mind, I would like to help you in any way I can and to the best of my abilities."

"For your friends of course, I wouldn't want them to go through more then what they have too either."

"…You know, I consider you as my friend now too Elsa. So it's not just Jack and Rapunzel's heath I'm worry about."

Elsa was surprised to hear Hiccup calling her a friend. She hasn't spent much time with Hiccup, let along with Merida. And yet he called her his friend…Elsa managed to get herself to look back at Hiccup in the eyes, "But friends don't keep secrets from each other do they."

Hiccup shrugged his shoulders. "Well everyone is entitled to their own secrets. Friends wise, especially if they are your partners in battles, I believe they wouldn't withhold information without good reasons to. I mean, look at Jack and Rapunzel now. They still haven't told me or Merida anything yet."

Elsa nodded her head as she turns her cup within her hands. "They do have a good reason. They've been withholding information for my sake. But it's unfair to you and Merida…So Hiccup, if you don't mind listening to me for a little bit longer; I want to tell you what has been bothering me."

XxXxXx

In the last thirty minutes, Elsa told Hiccup all that had developed between Jack and herself. She admitted that her feelings towards Jack had started growing sometimes during his visits to her in order to perform his Pact. Elsa even told Hiccup about the recent contact between them at her ice palace: how she came to accept and confessed her feelings to Jack, as well as their agreement to only keep their relationship as friends.

When she finished speaking, with a sigh and a massage of his brow Hiccup took a small sip of his drink, and Elsa also follow similar to moist her dry throat. "Soooo…Has Jack started talking to you again after the visit to the Ice Palace?" Hiccup asked with sincerity.

"He has. He's no longer avoiding me during the day but, he keeps our conversation short and he's still not visiting me during are usual night time chat…I guess I shouldn't be asking for more, or rather like, I can't ask for things to go back to the way they use to be..."

Hiccup looked over at his dragon, who was now resting neat at the bottom from where he was sitting. Toothless must have sense Hiccup's gaze, for he made a quick soft sound, and he lifted up his head to rush the side of his rider's leg. Hiccup leaned down slightly in order to pet Toothless. Hiccup said, leaning back up. "During your nightly talk, did jack ever tell you about me or Merida?"

"He did," Elsa said with a bit of guilt. "He told me about the both of you."

At that Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "And to what extent?"

"He told me that both you and Merida couldn't bring yourselves to leave your friends and family after becoming Beings. It took the both of you quite some time before you could leave."

"Alright," Hiccup said, "And did he tell you anything specific? Particularly about me?"

Elsa couldn't tell if Hiccup was asking due to curiosity, or if he was mad that some of his more personal information was revealed. "Jack also told me that you had a sweetheart—one of the Viking girls named Astrid. You often visited her in her dreams in order to help her create a future for Vikings and dragons."

At that Hiccup chuckled softly and said something in a whisper, but Elsa didn't catch what it was. "Well Elsa, I don't really know what to say for situations like yours, other than I can understand what Jack is going through…I sometime wonder if what I did was the smart thing to do."

Gripping her cup harder, Elsa asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean my visits in Astrid's dreams. I'm already dead and yet at the time I was still trying to live like I was among the living. Or would the term human be more suitable? In a way, I was holding Astrid back from living her life naturally. I was influencing her. Sure I mean, I could justify and say I was doing it for the good of my people and the future of dragons. But how would have things progress if I didn't interfere? I had no doubt that Astrid could lead the Vikings and Dragons into a whole new era, but she spent so much time listening to me, sleeping in order to see me, and even spending less time with our friends when awake just to accomplished my ideas…And she never did get married. Astride was the only child to carry her family's name—so she adopted an orphaned girl in placed for the lack children but…I always wondered, did she ever really wanted to lead the new ear of Vikings and dragons, or did I made her felt like she had to take charge? And I wondered the most; if it was really her choice to remain single, or did I had some influence over that decision..."

Elsa felt her throat becoming dryer. "You mean she held on to her feelings for you?" Elsa asked, but she was afraid to hear the answer.

Hiccup smiled and shrugged. "Maybe. But then again, how could Astrid's feelings develop further for someone who's already gone, and is forever a boy in her memories, as well as in her dreams while she grew older? Most likely I'm just overestimating myself. It could be that I was the only one who was falling deeper for her as time pass."

Elsa felt as though a needle had stabbed itself into her stomach. What Hiccup just said was similar to what Jack had told her that one night. Elsa couldn't help but lower her head. I really can't imagine anything about a Being's life, let along understand their pain. Elsa thought. Their conversation went silent from there. It was as if Elsa couldn't hear anything at all. There were no sounds of birds, no sounds of winds, no sound of creaking wood from the shop, and Toothless's complete stillness was making her more uncomfortable. She wanted something to fill in the silent.

Hiccup eventually made a sound that flooded Elsa's ears that brought back noise, and it drew her attention. He had simply placed his cup down on the table and pushed it away from the edge. Next, Hiccup hopped off his seat and walked over to Elsa, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. Hiccup gently removed her cup and placed it aside before taking her hand into his. "You know something Elsa?" Hiccup asked in a soft voice. "It's ironic really, I'm the Guardian of Change and yet there are just some things I can't change. Like past actions; what's been done has already been done. Once Astrid was gone, or rather, the moment I decided to deliberately enter her dreams, I realized that I was going to affect her life beyond the grave. I knew better to have not interfered, but I did it. I could have not interfered at all—or I could have just stopped visiting her at any point but I didn't..."

Elsa hadn't realized it, but until she felt that one drop of tear land on hand, she didn't notice that she was crying. Her eyes were closed with moist, and her jaw was clenched tightly, trying to suppress the tiniest sob from escaping.

Hiccup leaned in close to whisper into one of Elsa's ears. "And Elsa, even though I still have doubts about the consequences of what I've done, I had to accept the result at the end no matter what. I had to accept it, because I can't change the result either. After Astrid was gone, it took me a while to accept the fact that the way how Astrid had lived her life was ultimately her choice. Yes I influenced her, but whether it was because of my visits—or if it even had anything to do with me at all, she still made the choice to lead and she also made the choice to remain unmarried.

"So what I'm trying to tell you Elsa is that you've already acted. Neither you nor I can change things back to the way they were between you and Jack. I can't help change the way how you feel about him, and I can't help change Jack's feelings towards you—whatever they may be."

Elsa swallowed hard; her eyes shut tighter, and her grip on his hands hardened, just barely shaking. "I don't mind about those," Elsa said quietly. "I don't mind if you can't change the past, or the feelings that we hold—I wouldn't want that anyway, but…I just want something to change for a happy end. I don't have to get the romance but just, something. Change something so that both Jack and I don't have to be hurting over this anymore."

Hiccup waited until Elsa had calmed down a bit before asking her to look at him in the eyes. It took a few more encouragements before she did, and Elsa was met with sad smile, but a hopeful expression within his light green eyes. "Like I said Elsa, you have already acted, there's no changing that. But because you acted, you planted the seeds for change, either for the better or worse between you and Jack. It's just all about waiting now. You just have to wait for Jack now."

Elsa swallowed again, and smiled with uncertainty. "Can you tell me one last thing Hiccup, about your past?"

"What else would you like to know?"

"Was Astrid happy in the end? Was she happy with her life despite your interference?"

Hiccup smiled. He only smiled.