Chapter Fourteen: The dragon king
Elsa lowered her arms and opened her eyes. In front of her was a man. He had green eyes and brown hair. He wore an armored suit with a red cape. Elsa noticed stubbles covered his chin and when her eyes lowered she saw that the lower half of his left leg was missing. Instead there was a prosthetic peg leg.
She quickly looked back up at him. His eyes were looking curiously at her. She straightened her back again.
"You must be the new queen of Arendelle." The man said.
Elsa narrowed her eyes. She noticed the smirk on his face and thought that he would think that the new queen of Arendelle might be weak...well, he got a whole thing coming!
"Yes." Elsa said as calmly as she could. "And..." Her eyes shifted to the dragon behind him. It was as big as a horse. The beast was breathing heavily. Elsa quickly looked back at the man when the dragon noticed her staring. "That's a dragon."
The man chuckled. "Yes, it is."
Kai quickly jumped between them as the two didn't make much progress to introduce themselves. He held his hand out towards the king of Berk and said to Elsa; "Your majesty, this is the king of Berk, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third. And king, our queen's name is..."
"Elsa Rosalia Erika Christina Snow...right?"
Kai went quiet. Elsa raised her eyebrows at the man. How did he know her whole name?
Hiccup noticed her suspicious look and rubbed his neck. "I did some research, queen Elsa. Not that I know everything about you, I mean, I only just found out about your powers!"
Kai and Elsa all gasped while Jack narrowed his eyes and glared at the king. He did not trust him.
'He spied on us...' Elsa thought. 'I need to be careful.'
Elsa flashed a fake smile at him. "King Hiccup, how about we go inside for further discussions?"
"Alright." Hiccup sighed. "But we do need to wait for my wife a bit...oh, there she comes!"
A woman with blond hair in a braid down her back jumped from the ship and marched towards them.
"Oi, Hiccup, why didn't you invite me on the damn dragon?!" The woman yelled. She grabbed Hiccup's arm tightly and glared at him. "You think it's fun to sit with those sea-men?!"
When the woman finished yelling at Hiccup she turned her eyes towards Elsa and smiled.
"Queen Elsa, nice to meet ya! My name's Astrid!" The woman made a short bow towards her. She quickly straightened her back again, put her hands on her hips and looked around with a whistle. "Well, the kingdom isn't frozen over like we expected..."
Elsa wanted to say that she wasn't going to freeze her land, but held her tongue back. Now was not the time to argue.
"King Hiccup, Queen Astrid..." Elsa smiled at them. She extended her hand towards the castle. "Shall we go the castle for a cup of tea?"
Hiccup and Astrid both nodded and they walked after Elsa and the servants towards through the town towards the big castle.
Once they were inside they went to the garden and sat down for some tea at a small table.
Kai just finished setting tea and walked off. Jack stayed behind while standing the background. Thiana left to make some potions in her lair.
"Soo..." Hiccup looked over his cup at Elsa. "You have set this meeting up for an obvious reason."
Elsa put her cup down. "Yes. I did. My kingdom has been thriving for the last couple of years. But there is one thing we lack; armor."
"Armor?" Astrid said.
"Yes. The knights armor is getting old. I heard that the armor from your country is one of the best."
"It is." Hiccup answered. "But who says that we're gonna lend it to you? Arendelle isn't a kingdom we normally do business with."
"I understand." Elsa said. "But we can provide you with anything in return. We..."
Suddenly Astrid slammed her cup down on the table, startling Elsa.
"That's sounds all great, blondie, but how do we even know if we can fucking trust you?!"
Elsa's eyebrows shot up at the queen's foul language.
"E-excuse me?" Elsa stammered.
"You are putting up an act!" Astrid yelled. "And on top of that, you're a witch?! Do you know what witches are?! What they did?!"
Elsa stayed quiet. She didn't knew what to think. What did the witches do to them? Did they really hate them so much that they...
"They killed half of the kingdom!" Astrid jumped up and glared down at Elsa. "And the dragons! We had to drive them back! And now one of those witches is ruling a kingdom!"
Elsa stared at Astrid with big eyes. She was supposed to be scared, but didn't feel anything.
She leaned on her elbow and let out a dry chuckle. Astrid stared confused at her and Hiccup looked a bit intrigued.
"Sooo..." Elsa shifted in her chair. She put her hands on her lap and looked at Hiccup instead. "...king Hiccup, you don't want to do business with us?"
"Well..."
"Because my husband is from the Southern Isles. If I'm correct, your kingdom does not have a good history with his...but you can mend that relationship if you become one of our business partners."
"We need to think about that." Hiccup said calmly in a low voice. He didn't seem faced at all, which surprised Elsa a bit.
Hiccup grabbed Astrid's arm and pulled her down. "Astrid, come on, let's drink up our tea. We shouldn't fight."
Astrid sat down and sighed. "Okay. Fine." She grabbed her cup again and drank it up.
Elsa noticed that Hiccup stared at her again. She felt a bit nervous under his gaze, but tried not to show it.
The rest of the time they drank up the tea and talked about the weather and other small stuff.
After they were finished with the tea Elsa went up to the office room to read through a few new rules the council had proposed while Hiccup and Astrid were shown to their room.
As she walked into the office she noticed an old painting of her father hanging on the wall. Normally she would just walk by and not pay attention to it, but now she stopped in front of it.
She wished that he could give her advice. If he was still alive then he would surely find a way to communicate with the king and queen of Berk.
She sighed. He wasn't alive anymore. He and her mother died...they would never give her any advice anymore or tell her when she did something wrong...she was alone. Even with Jack, Hannah and her husband...she really was alone.
Elsa took a deep breath before she might cry again.
She walked to the desk and sat down behind it. The desk was filled with letters, old contracts and other things.
Elsa decided to clean up the mess first. She shoved some letters in a drawer, put the old contracts in another drawer and stacked some papers into a pile on the desk.
A knock on the door caught her attention.
"Come in!" Elsa yelled.
The door opened and Hannah walked into room.
Elsa's eyebrows shot up. "Hannah?!"
Hannah smiled shyly as she walked over to her. "H-hey...I, uhh, decided to pay a visit."
"Oh!" Elsa jumped up. She straightened her dress and walked around the desk. "That's nice of you, but..."
Hannah turned her head towards the painting of their father. As she was staring at it Elsa stood next to her.
"The king of Berk is here and..." Elsa continued, but she stopped when she noticed Hannah's saddened gaze.
"I'm sorry." Hannah whispered.
"For what?" Elsa asked.
"For everything. I know I'm not a good sister and I called you a 'monster' and I've accused you of many things..."
"Hannah, you didn't know..."
"No, I...I was just jealous of you."
Elsa was surprised. "Jealous of me?"
Hannah nodded. "Yes." She turned towards Elsa and grabbed her hands. She stared her into her eyes. "Elsa, I thought that you had the prefect life and you were using Jack back then. But now, I know that none of it was your fault."
Elsa felt like tearing up, but held it in. Instead she replied with a weak smile and voice and said; "Hannah...thank you..."
"No problem!" Hannah pulled her hands back and rubbed herself under her nose with an idiot grin. "This is what sisters are for, right? Unless, I'm wrong..."
Elsa giggled a little and Hannah smiled at the sound of her laugh.
Elsa covered her mouth with her hand and waved up and down with her other hand. "No, no, you're right, sisters are supposed to tell each other things."
"Good. Then..." Hannah moved closer and suddenly wrapped her arms around Elsa. Elsa tensed up and it started to snow a bit in the room. Hannah nuzzled against her. "From now on, we need to be closer."
Elsa became red and almost got a nosebleed. Hannah was really close to her and she was not used to hug other people beside Jack or Hans.
Not that she was complaining. It felt nice to be hugged by her sister.
"What do we have here?"
Elsa and Hannah released each other and turned around. They saw Hiccup standing in the doorway. He was wearing a stupid grin on his face.
"King Hiccup." Elsa stepped in front Hannah as if she was trying to protect her. "Is something the matter?"
"No." Hiccup walked up to her. "I just thought you were alone..." He stood still in front of her and noticed a little bit of snow falling from the ceiling. "...I wanted to ask you to show a bit of your powers to me."
Elsa narrowed her eyes at him. "And why would I do that?"
"Because Arendelle is a kingdom I might do business with, right? And you can have a flight on Toothless."
"Wait, who is this?" Hannah suddenly asked, interrupting the conversation. She stepped from behind Elsa.
"And who is this?" Hiccup replied.
Elsa sighed. "Right. This is my...uhm...friend, Hannah. Hannah, meet the king of Berk, Hiccup Horrendous."
"Haddock the third." Hiccup said. "Queen Elsa, I've remembered your full name, you should at least remember mine."
Elsa smiled at him. "Oh, pardon me, king Horrendous."
Hiccup rolled his eyes and turned his attention back at Hannah. He looked up and down her body and smiled at her. "So, you're her friend? Do you visit often?"
Hannah shook her head. "No...I mean, I've been busy lately with work, so I kinda forgot."
"Oh? What kind of work do you do?"
"I work at the whore-hou..."
"She works as a barmaid at some bar!" Elsa yelled quickly. She didn't want the king to know about Hannah's job.
Wait, was she embarrassed of her sister's occupation?
"But I'm not-"
"I'll show you my powers!" Elsa interrupted Hannah again. She walked closer up to the king with a determined stare. The king kept standing as Elsa almost bumped into him. "In return you have to get us the new armor."
Hiccup chuckled. "That's not how deals go, queen Elsa."
"I know, normally we would have to sign a contract, but I'm sure that's not the way vikings do things nowadays."
"But it is the way kings and queens do."
Hannah noticed that the two were almost arguing like little kids. She looked from Elsa to Hiccup as they kept going on.
"Oh yes, you're a king...I almost forgot."
Hiccup took a step closer to her. He was now with his chest against hers and glared down at her. Elsa felt a cold shiver at his angry gaze, but kept her ground.
"Good, you have a deal, queen Elsa. If you show me your powers, then I'll consider giving your kingdom the armor."
"Good."
"Hiccup!"
The three of them turned around to see queen Astrid, a bit annoyed. She walked towards Hiccup and pulled him back. She glared at Elsa.
"What did that witch tell you?! More fucking lies?!"
Elsa gasped and Hannah's did too. Hannah took a step forward with an angry glare at Astrid.
"What did you just say?! A witch?! Elsa isn't a witch!"
"Hannah..." Elsa grabbed Hannah's arm and tried to pull her back.
"Oh, but she is!" Astrid said back. "She is just like those damn witches back at home! Evil and..."
"Astrid..." Hiccup grabbed Astrid's shoulders and tried to pull her back.
"What are you all doing?!"
Kai walked into the room together with Jack. They both seemed shock at what they found; Elsa and Hiccup trying to hold Hannah and Astrid back who looked like they were ready to bite each others heads off.
"Hannah!" Jack yelled. "How did you get in here?!"
Hannah put her hands on her hips and smiled proudly. "I sneaked past the guards, how else?"
"Of course..."
"Queen Elsa." Kai interrupted. "What is going on here?!"
Elsa sighed. "I agreed to show my powers to king Hiccup and queen Astrid in exchange for armor. But just when Hannah showed up, Astrid did too and they got in a fight."
"She called Elsa a witch!" Hannah said.
"Well, isn't she?!" Astrid said.
"Hold on." Kai put his hand up and everyone went quiet. "Even if Elsa was a witch, then it was still out of line to call her that. I understand that Arendelle is different, but we have certainly not treated you wrong. We expect of you to at least show some respect to the queen."
Astrid calmed down and sighed. "Right...I'm sorry, sometimes my temper gets the best of me."
"It's alright..." Elsa said and Hiccup smiled at her.
"And queen Elsa..." Kai continued. "You are not supposed to engage in fights. Of course you can show your powers to the king and queen of Berk if you wish too, but the correct way to make a deal is by contract, not random challenges."
Elsa nodded. "Understood. Still...I want to show my powers to them. I can't back out of that."
"I see...then I suggest that everyone is going to the garden and take a seat there. Except you, queen Elsa, I have something to ask of you."
Everyone, except for Elsa, left. When they were gone Kai suddenly seemed a lot more annoyed.
"Queen Elsa, pardon my language, but what the hell was that?!"
"What was what?" Elsa asked.
"You know what I mean. You didn't exactly behave like a queen back there. Why do you try to pick a fight with the king and queen?"
Elsa frowned. "I did not. King Hiccup was...he annoyed me a little. He always stares at me like he's...examining me..."
"Your majesty, the king is probably just a little bit odd. And even if he is, you shouldn't forget that you are a queen now. You represent our country. If we miss this deal, then we won't be prepared for war."
"War?!" Elsa eyes widened.
Kai sighed. "We don't have it now, but one day, in the future, if our kingdom gets into a war and we don't have armor...queen Elsa, we need to be prepared for anything."
Elsa rubbed her neck. "Of course..." She sighed. "I should act more like a queen, you're right. Just...I should go to the garden."
She excused herself and walked off. Kai followed shortly behind her with a frown on his face. He knew that he had been a bit harsh on her, but now that other kingdoms had gotten word that their queen had powers they might be in danger.
King Hiccup and queen Astrid sat down on the bench in the garden. Jack was standing together with Kai next to them. Hannah was sent home.
Elsa was nervously standing in front of them.
"Alright, show us some of your powers!" Astrid said.
Elsa nervously pulled her gloves off. With her hands she then made a few movements.
Ice swirled around. It slowly took the form of a spike. Elsa narrowed her eyes and moved her hands a bit up. The spike grew a bit taller. A leaf grew out of the spike as it slowly turned into a big flower.
It looked like a rose.
"Whoa." Hiccup said.
Elsa lowered her hands and let out a sigh. She turned around with pride. Hiccup and Astrid stood up and stared at the ice flower. The king and queen of Berk were surely amazed. Elsa was confident that the deal would go through.
Hiccup walked up to the ice flower and touched it with his hand.
"So cold..." He whispered.
"Great, right?" Elsa smiled at them. Jack and Kai saw how proud she was and felt a little proud themselves.
"It's..." Astrid sighed. "It's good. I mean, I've might seen better ice art, but this looks fine."
"Astrid, can't ya give someone a compliment for once?" Hiccup remarked.
Astrid shrugged. "Fine. It looks good. For a witch."
"That's barely a compliment." Jack whispered to Kai.
"Thank you." Elsa said. "Now, about our deal..."
Suddenly a big roar interrupted her. Toothless, the dragon of the king, landed in the garden.
Hiccup grinned as the dragon landed. He immediately walked over to pet Toothless.
"Toothless, did you enjoy flying around the mountain?" Hiccup asked.
Toothless leaned against his palm and purred. The dragon seemed to enjoy being petted and wiggled with its tail. But while it wagged his tail the tail hit the ice flower and it shattered into little pieces.
Everyone, except for Hiccup and Astrid, gasped.
"The flower!" Elsa yelled.
"Oh, wow..." Astrid snickered. "That's too bad. Now our deal won't go on."
Elsa frowned. "E-excuse me?"
Astrid walked up to her and poked her against her chest. "Ya heard me, witch. We won't give you any armor. Not that we would anyway. We just wanted to see your powers..."
"Astrid, be nice." Hiccup said with a chuckle. "And queen Elsa, you should have known better than to show your powers. What if we just wanted to use you?"
"You tricked me..." Elsa lowered her head. She suddenly felt angry. Could she trust anyone these days? She was hoping that the king and queen of Berk would be different, but they were all the same...everyone just wanted her for her powers...
The wind picked up around Elsa's body. Little snowflakes started to flow around her. Jack saw that she was getting stressed.
"Queen Elsa!" Jack said. "Calm down..."
Elsa gritted her teeth. She didn't hear Jack.
Jack decided it was best to snap her out of it. He wanted to walk up to her, but Hiccup stopped him by putting his hand on his shoulder.
"What?!" Jack said to Hiccup who shook his head.
"Let her be. It's time we see what she's truly like..."
"As if I care!" Jack shook him off. "You might be a king of sorts, but that's our queen who's in danger! I'm taking her out of it!"
He turned to Elsa and marched up to her. Jack grabbed her shoulders and yelled at her.
"Queen Elsa, snap out of it!"
"Don't touch me!"
Elsa looked up at him with angry blue eyes.
Ice spikes shot out of the ground towards him. Jack jumped away just in time as he was almost hit. Hiccup grabbed his sword and cut an ice spike that was coming his way in half.
Then the ice spikes stopped as quickly as it came. Elsa stared horrified at what she had done; Jack was on the ground and Hiccup and everyone stared at her with huge eyes.
Jack stood up and put his hand on her shoulder.
"El..."
Before he could say her name, Elsa shrugged him off and ran back inside.
"I knew she was like the witches back home." Astrid said.
"Please, refrain from calling her that..." Jack said. He glared at Hiccup and Astrid. "Queen Elsa is not filled with hate..."
Hiccup raised his eyebrows. "How can you say that after what just happened?"
"Because...I've seen her grow up in a world filled with hate...her father hated her in the beginning. Eventually he started to care, but only when his end came in sight. And believe me, she has suffered. Everyday, I have to remind her that things aren't her fault. And I have to remind her that her powers are beautiful."
Astrid and Hiccup stayed quiet as Jack continued while Kai slowly walked up to him.
"She..." Jack rubbed his neck. "She was really nervous about meeting you. And now that king Hans isn't here, it's even more difficult for her..."
"Jack." Kai intervened and put his hand on his shoulder. "How about you grab some tea for queen Elsa? I'll go and see where she is."
Jack nodded as he noticed a glint of annoyance in Kai's eyes. "Of course."
He made a bow towards Hiccup and Astrid and left.
Elsa ran into the library.
Normally she would go to her room, but the maids were cleaning hers today. And the library was empty.
She shut the door behind and ran through the room. She then stopped and let out a curse.
"Dammit!" She yelled loudly. "Why does it always have to be this way?!"
She looked at her hands, clenched them and put her fists against her forehead. The cold was still swirling through her body as she tried to process what just happened.
"I...I..." She closed her eyes. The images of everyone staring at her and Jack on the ground flashed through her mind. Elsa took another breath. "I..I'm such an idiot! How could I...I thought I had it under control, dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!"
Ice shot out of her against a table, knocking a chair and freezing the table itself.
Elsa lowered her hands and took several more breaths to calm herself down.
"Okay..." She whispered and she opened her eyes again. "Jack is probably angry at me...and the royals of Berk won't strike a deal."
She looked up at a bookshelf. She knew that she was going to have to find another solution for armor.
Elsa decided to make armor themselves would be better.
She grabbed a ladder and put it against a bookshelf. If she was correct then there was a book about armor and weaponry and how to make them.
She stepped on the ladder. It was wobbly, but she managed. When she stood in front of the section where the book might be, she swiftly looked through the books.
"Where is it..." Elsa muttered under her breath. Her eyes scanned every book, but she could not find it. She did see a few interesting books, which she might needed later, but the book about armor was nowhere to be found.
Just when she was about to give up, she noticed the book sticking out from a shelf up higher.
Elsa bit on her lip as she stood on her toes and tried to reach the shelf. It was high up and difficult to reach...Elsa groaned, but didn't gave up. She stretched her arm further even though she was too small to reach it.
But she managed to grab the book by its bottom and gently tried to pull it out.
However, as she pulled it, she suddenly lost her balance. The book together with ten other books, Elsa and the ladder came tumbling down.
She screamed and closed her eyes, expecting to land on the ground and end up with bruises.
But instead she heard a grunt and was caught in two strong arms.
"Got ya!" A voice said.
The books and ladder fell to the ground. Elsa slowly opened her eyes and became crimson red.
There she was, her hair and dress a mess and in the strong arms of Hiccup, the king of Berk.
He was looking concerned at her, a look which she hadn't seen before.
"Are you alright?" Hiccup asked.
Elsa blinked few times before she quickly pushed herself out of his arms. "Y-yes! I'm fine!"
She stumbled onto the ground and immediately started to search between the books as she rambled; "I was just trying to find a book about armor, since you know, the deal is off! Sorry to have bothered you, you can go back, I'll be fine here!"
Hiccup frowned and he crouched down next to her. With a swift move he pulled the book out of the pile.
"Is this it?"
Elsa's eyes lit up. "Yes, thank you..."
She stopped when she saw his serious gaze. Did she say something wrong?
"I'm sorry." Hiccup suddenly said.
"Huh?!" Elsa's eyes widened.
"Me and Astrid were way out of line. We shouldn't have broken your ice flower and we shouldn't have tried to make a deal like this. Especially with a young queen like yourself."
Elsa blushed. "Well...I shouldn't have been trying to prove myself to you...so, we're even."
"Good. Because I don't want to call our deal off."
"Huh?"
Hiccup moved closer as he grinned at her. Elsa stayed frozen in place with a red face.
"Queen Elsa, I want us to get along. And I do want to give you armor in trade for something small."
"Something small?" Elsa cocked her head.
"Yes. How about chocolate muffins? I don't think we have those in Berk."
A smile formed on Elsa's lips and she started to giggle. She put her hand in front of her mouth to hide her laugh.
"Muffins?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry, what?"
Hiccup chuckled. "That's the first time I've seen you truly laugh, queen Elsa."
"Well, king Hiccup, if you suggest something so ridiculous, I can't help but laugh."
"Oh, but I'm serious."
"Really?" Elsa stopped giggling and removed her hand. "You're insane, king Hiccup."
"So are you. Now, call me Hiccup."
He stood up and helped Elsa up too.
"Alright...then..." Elsa pulled her hand back with a nervous grin. "You may call me Elsa, if you so desire."
"Good...Elsa..."
"H..." Elsa looked away from him with a blush. Should she even say his name? Maybe it would sound weird...but she kinda wanted too. With nervousness she managed to drop the title and say his name as if they were friends. "H-Hiccup."
Hiccup nodded. "Great. Now we are pals."
"F-friends?!" Elsa yelled nervously. "No, wai-"
"And friends..." Hiccup put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "...tell each other everything!"
Elsa put her hand against his chest and moved her head a bit back. "Okay, no we don't need too..."
"Yes we do! Tell me, why does your sister work at a bar?"
Elsa gasped loudly and Hiccup chuckled.
"Come on." Hiccup said. "I heard you two talking before I came in."
"That's...I don't need to tell you that!"
"And how about your servant? He seems to care a lot about you...and I mean, a lot."
"He's...I don't need to tell you that either!"
"But we're friends, aren't we?"
Elsa rolled with her eyes. "Even if, we just became friends two seconds ago, it's not like..."
"Queen Elsa!"
Elsa and Hiccup turned their heads to see Jack and Astrid staring at them with shock.
"Oh, Astrid, I found her." Hiccup said calmly.
Jack marched towards him. He stopped in front of them and put his hands on his sword. Elsa saw a dangerous glint in his eyes and swallowed.
"Let go of her." Jack said.
"Hm?" Hiccup looked at Elsa and saw that his hand was still around her waist. Elsa realized it too and knew that it must have looked like Hiccup was trying to hurt her.
"Jack, stand down." Elsa quickly said in a low and dangerous voice.
"B-but..."
Elsa pushed Hiccup away who released her. She then folded her arms and said; "Do I need to repeat myself? Hiccup was just joking around with me, he wasn't trying to hurt me."
"I'm sorry, queen Elsa..." He made a small bow in front of her. "I was trying to protect you."
"Well, it isn't necessary, Jack." Elsa said coldly.
"Hey, Hiccup!" Astrid grabbed Hiccup by his arm and glared at him. "What the hell were you doing with queen Elsa back there?!"
"I was just joking with her!" Hiccup yelled. "We're pals now!"
"Pals?!" Astrid rolled with her eyes.
"Yes! We call each other by our first names! And Elsa told me all her secrets!"
"I did not!" Elsa said with a flushed face.
Hiccup wiggled with his eyebrows at Elsa. "Oh really? Because you said that Jack and you..."
Elsa quickly clapped in her hands. "Okay, how about we talk about something else?"
"Oh!" Astrid released her grip on Hiccup and looked at Elsa. "Witch, I wanted to ask, can you fight with a sword? If you want we can fight for fun."
"F-fight?!" Elsa yelled.
"Yes!"
Elsa smiled nervously. "I have followed lessons, but I'm not that good yet. Maybe Jack should fight you?"
"The servant?" Astrid turned her head towards Jack. "Why? Is he good?"
"I think so..." Elsa said. "I mean, he does give me lessons..."
"Lessons?"
"That is correct. I can not always rely on my powers. And a good leader does need to have some swordsman skills. My father used to be one of the best, but he was very busy so Jack was assigned to teach me."
Hiccup raised his eyebrows. "So...Astrid, hon, do you want to take on Jack?" He put his hand on her shoulder. "Then the queen and I will watch while we're going to gossip about you two."
"Okay, we're not going to gossip." Elsa said with a cold voice and Hiccup chuckled.
"Ready, set...!"
They were in the garden. Elsa and Hiccup were sitting on a bench, while Jack and Astrid stood in front of of each other with wooden swords in their hands.
"Go!" Hiccup yelled.
The two immediately raced towards each other. Astrid raised her sword above her head as she aimed for Jack.
But Jack dodge it. He spun around and struck Astrid in her side. But Astrid didn't back down.
She stood as she took the hard blow. Jack looked up in confusion at her. Wasn't she supposed too...?
Before he could ask himself that question she kicked him against the leg, and when he fell to his knees, she struck him against his side with her wooden sword.
Jack fell on the ground. Astrid looked down at him with a dark look in her eyes.
"And that's supposed to protect the queen of Arendelle...don't mess with me!"
She swung her sword down, ready to strike him. But Jack quickly rolled out of the way. He came to a halt against a tree. Elsa wanted to stand up and help him, but Hiccup quickly told her to sit down.
"You don't need to throw yourself between them." Hiccup whispered as Elsa sat back down.
"B-but..." Elsa looked on with worry. She saw that Jack stood up slowly.
"Damn..." Jack smirked a little. He clenched his sword tighter in his hand and ran towards Astrid. Astrid quickly avoided his attack, but Jack suddenly grabbed her lower right arm with his left hand.
"You're good..." Jack whispered lowly.
Astrid's eyes widened as Jack pulled her down. With his sword he hit her against her head and Astrid fell to the ground with a loud thud.
"Astrid!" Hiccup said a bit worried.
Jack put his foot on Astrid's back and glared down at her. "Oh and to answer your previous question; I am supposed to protect the queen by orders from the deceased king."
"You little jerk!" Astrid raised her hand, made a fist and hit Jack against his shin.
She hit him hard.
"Aaargh!" Jack stumbled onto the ground. "What was that for?!"
"You know what it was for!" Astrid yelled and she threw her sword forward, making Jack spreading his legs as the sword landed between his legs.
Hiccup and Elsa both exchanged a tired look and sighed.
"Okay, okay..." Hiccup walked over to Astrid and pulled her up by her arm. "That's enough..."
"I was almost beating him!" Astrid said.
Elsa walked over to Jack who stood up on his own. She looked at him with a frown. "Jack...are you alright?"
Jack grinned at her. "My ankle hurts a bit, but I'm okay. Were you worried?"
"A little bit." Elsa said with a soft voice.
"Well, I'm alright, princess. I'm always alright." Jack said with a smile.
"Don't lie..." Elsa whispered, but Jack didn't hear it. The servant looked at king Hiccup and queen Astrid.
"I almost got him!" Astrid yelled.
"Sure, sure..." Hiccup said. He put his hand on Astrid's shoulder. "Except that you didn't."
"You..." Astrid hit Hiccup against his arm with a smack. "Don't patronize me!"
Elsa chuckled. "You two are really an interesting pair...but anyway, how about we have some lunch?"
"Of course!" Hiccup said. "Then we can immediately talk about how we're going to trade."
Elsa nodded. "Yes, I mean, I don't think that we can trade it for muffins, right?"
Hiccup laughed. "Right!"
Jack and Astrid both looked at them with a jealous stare.
During lunch they had a long conversation. Elsa, Hiccup and Astrid all agreed that the kingdom of Berk would give Arendelle armor and weapons, while Arendelle would give Berk their studies for magic, science etc.
"But you can't do that!"
That evening while Elsa was walking down the halls, ready to go to bed, Thiana ran up to her.
The sorceress expressed her disdain about the trade.
"Queen Elsa!" Thiana said. "I can't give my findings away to Berk! Do you know what the vikings would do if they found out what witches are capable of?! And what if they turn one of my healing potions into a weapon? Or use it to make their dragons stronger?! I..."
"Thiana!" Elsa abruptly turned around with a glare. Thiana immediately went quiet. "Why are you questioning my plan?"
"Plan?" Thiana asked.
Elsa smirked a little. "Yes. We are going to give them your findings, but..." Elsa looked around. She moved closer and whispered into her ear; "not your strongest potions."
Thiana's eyes widened. Elsa leaned back again with a soft smile.
"Isn't that a lovely idea?" Elsa said with a calm voice.
For a second Thiana saw both her father and mother in the young queen's heart. The danger of her father, but the kind and caring heart of her mother.
"Yes..." Thiana slowly smiled too. "Then I'll better prepare!"
She bowed and hurried down the hall again. Elsa sighed and rubbed her neck. Being a queen was more tiring than being a princess.
She looked up at a portrait of a her father that was hanging on the wall.
"It used to be all more simple..." Elsa whispered. "If you were here then you would know what to do. If you were here..."
"Do you miss him?"
Elsa turned around when Kai appeared next to her.
"Kai!" Elsa said.
Kai put his hands behing his back and looked at the painting. He sighed.
"If he was here, then he would surely scold you. But...if I'm allowed to speak from my heart, I think that the king would do the same as you. The vikings might be rash and rather dangerous folk, but they do have some good weapons."
Elsa nodded. She looked up at the painting of her father.
"But..." Elsa bit on her lip. "What if I turn into him?"
"You don't have to." Kai said. "You can decide for yourself who you can be and what will become of Arendelle."
Elsa frowned. "I see..."
"Anyhow, don't worry too much, queen Elsa. Remember to take care of yourself. Speaking of...it's already 12 pm!"
Elsa smiled nervously. "K-Kai, you know, since I'm an adult..."
"A queen needs to be aware of her appearance...and if you're losing sleep..."
"B-but..."
"And I only want the best for you, your majesty."
Elsa grimaced. She knew that Kai was right and she hated it. But he only looked after her. If her father and mother were alive, then they would surely scold her for staying up so late.
"Of course. I'll go to my room." Elsa sighed. "Goodnight Kai."
"Goodnight, queen Elsa."
Kai made a small bow and left.
Elsa glanced one more final at the portrait. She touched the portrait with her hand as she could her father's voice running through her head.
"You should have respect for a king!"
"Don't stutter."
"You will rule just like me, it's in your blood."
"Stories are for children, Elsa."
"I'm...sorry..."
Elsa leaned with her head against the portrait. She heard her father's voice ringing through her mind as he spoke his last words.
"I...should...have...loved...you...more...Elsa..."
Elsa lowered her hands and closed her eyes.
"Aah...Elsa...take...good...care...of...Anna...tell...her...that...I...love...her...too..."
Elsa opened her eyes again. She straightened her back and looked up at the painting while clenching her fists.
She knew that whatever would happen, Anna was the one she had to protect. Her sister was her only family left and even though they still didn't had a solid relationship, she had to protect her little sister.
Elsa took a step back and let out a trembling breath. She looked up at the painting and whispered; "You were such an asshole. But...you also cared about me, even though you hid it from me for years...father..."
They would never come back...but her parents advice would always stay with her. Until her final days.
Elsa made a small bow to the portrait. She then turned around and walked further down the hallway to her bedroom.
She didn't notice that a little ice trail was left behind by her feet.
To be continued