I have come from this land

It was much later than Hiccup would have liked when he finally managed to crawl out from under the blanket and got dressed. His room smelled of soot and ozone and the air still shivered from the intense heat of the fires. The floor even glowed dark red in places.

Pulling his cape on over his normal attire of red yeti hair suit and dragon scale armour, Hiccup grabbed his staff and turned to the monstrous nightmare.

"Thank you, Magnificent Red."

The blood red dragon hissed at him. Her long, split tongue leaving a kiss on his chin before she crawled through the secret tunnel, back to the wild. It was a good thing he'd called for her last night. Elsa had been unusually passionate this morning, forcing him to plunge deeper than normal. Down until the sensation of cold was burning and further still.

"Fuck it! I finally found the Cave of Wonders and it just mocks me! Just wait. I will get it to open!"

Warmth within the cold. What the hell was that supposed to be?

"I swear, if that warmth is within Elsa then fuck this shit."

"You think so?"

Hiccup snarled at Ruffnut. The twin dragons ignored his warning and happily bit his arms.

"There's no warmth in her. We'd know," Tuffnut said proudly, puffing out his little chest.

"I'm sure you would." Hiccup's eyes darted around. "Where's Toothless?"

"He sulked and went out," Ruffnut reported, and only then realized Toothless' spot on top of Hiccup's helmet was vacant. She quickly seized the spot for herself.

"What about Anna?"

That question went unanswered as Tuffnut realized what his twin was doing and started fighting her.

Hiccup rolled his eyes at them and quickly walked out. This morning he'd suggested to Elsa she'd plant some seeds in the princess's thoughts for his plan to work. Then Anna had barged in on them. It made sense the girl had fled the palace to wreak havoc in the city.

"As if I needed more work."

The gates to the city opened to a wide, vacated area. The houses closest to the castle had no windows, which nobody thought strange considering the ice guards flanking the gates. From here Hiccup had his own way to the underground, sneakily hidden between the two walls of the nearest "houses". Glancing in the direction, Hiccup saw a cloud of smoke and a flash of green come springing from the walls towards him.

"M-m-master. You're out!"

"Toothless. What got you so worked up?"

"S-S-Stromf-f-fly got a human who t-t-took Anna with him."

Hiccup blinked, too stunned to answer right away. "I'm sorry, but did you just say Anna got kidnapped?"

"Anna has-sn't heard of F-F-Freya," the dragon gave as answer and climbed up to his spot on his master's helmet.

Hiccup had to think back on every word Toothless had said, trying to find the red thread in the dragon's train of thought. This was rarely easy since dragon logic and human logic were worlds apart. However, almost twenty years of experience and being good at guesswork, Hiccup took a shot.

"So… this human who took Anna told her Stormfly was Freya?"

"And Anna tried to hurt St-t-tormfly. T-T-Toothless had to wait for Master." So he was right. Someone had told Anna of Freya and convinced her Stormfly, a blue Temperamental, was the silver dragon?

"…I need to see this," Hiccup muttered and started walking again, directing his attention to the dragons overhead. "Has any of you seen wild An?"

"Warm space," a dragon answered.

"Children came," another said bitterly.

Hiccup's steps slowed minutely, then quickened. Curiosity burned in him while worry gnawed at the edges. The warm space, as the dragons called it, was the playground he'd once made for the youngest children in the village, with the help of both dig-build's diggers and orb guild's specialists. It wasn't exactly a secret, as the project was documented and stored in the palace's archives, but Hiccup wasn't fond of drawing Elsa's or Anna's attention to it. He knew they wouldn't understand.

"Hans! You're not allowed to eat today! Stay outside!"

The vizier froze mid-step. He'd circled the outskirts of the village, hoping to attract as little attention as possible, and was now only ten steps from the hollow that held the playground.

"I'm sorry! I'll give you all the fish you want! Let me inside!"

"No! Break him!"

A cacophony of young voices started screaming and Hiccup heard the sound of rock on rock. Then Anna's voice suddenly cut through.

"I am queen Elsa Arendelle, and I bring justice. This man who refuses to feed his kin is not suitable to be responsible for food. Thus he shall face the punishment of fire!"

Death silence followed and Hiccup couldn't stand it any longer. He stepped forward, just as he heard the distinct voice of Stormfly.

"How dumb are you? Fire's not a punishment."

"You're a monster and a dragon. How could you possibly understand how horrible fire is. Especially to these children."

Hiccup stepped around the last obstacle of his view and found a circle of five miniature brick forts full of children, Anna standing on a pile of rocks in the middle, yelling angrily at Stormfly who was lovingly draped across the shoulders of a young builder who by all means should be at the site.

"Oh, Master," Stormfly purred, turned around and bit the builder's arm before flying over to Hiccup.

The young man screamed in as much surprise as pain. Anna swirled around, her face morphing into her usual expression of disgust and hatred.

"You! How dare you show your face after what you did this morning!"

The vizier ignored her in favour of letting his eyes glide over each individual face, recognizing all of them, before his gaze landed on the young man.

"Congratulations," he said to him in a light tone. "You seem to have won the affections of a Temperamental."

"Don't ignore me!" Anna shouted and stomped her foot.

Everyone else looked lost. Stormfly had taken a seat on his staff, and Hiccup when jerked his head in her direction the young faces dawned with understanding, before they went nervous. They probably still didn't know what a Temperamental really was, but the name was sort of self-explanatory. Hiccup stepped further into view, never shying away from their stares, but also let his eyes take in the forts they had built and the heap Anna was currently standing on.

Anna stepped forward and opened her mouth. She truly never learned. The silence spell was old, muting her for the hundredth time, but the freeze and replace spells he'd learned the day before. He decided he liked them very much.

The eyes in front of him grew larger. Except for one pair that narrowed, and Camicazi decisively stepped forward.

"Hans is making excuses to not hand out food again!"

The vizier rolled his eyes. Again indeed. Another point on the already too long to-do list.

"Thank you for bringing it to my attention. So, anyone interested in telling me what's going on here?" his gaze moved meaningfully towards Anna. "Or would you all want me to make up my own conclusions?" His gaze landed on the young man holding his arm. "You are too old to count as a child, little builder."

The young man, if he was even that, opened and closed his mouth before hesitatingly pointing towards where Hiccup had placed the princess. His eyes tried to convey a message without words.

The vizier tilted his head slightly with narrowed eyes. "By telling the tale of Freya?"

"That was…! I mean… eh, you know… actually…"

"Yes or no," Hiccup barked.

The young man startled. "No! I caught myself!"

Of course Hiccup had already figured the story of the silver dragon had gone untold. If Anna had heard the village's version of Freya there was no way she would have been here peacefully playing with them. He'd just wanted to know the motives behind the actions. But the young man's eyes didn't shift nervously towards Stormfly, but rather towards Hiccup's chest, trying to avoid his direct gaze in a show of submission.

He truly hadn't planned any of what had happened today.

"Did you volunteer?" Hiccup asked with a quick glance towards the princess, and appreciated how fast the other was on the uptake.

"Y-yes."

The boy's brown eyes shone with relief when Hiccup made the sign of forgiveness and the children started to relax.

"Get back to work. Children, rather than forts to keep out a bully, shouldn't you build a home for all of you to fit in?"

He turned to leave, to do what he'd set out to.

"But… v-vizier! What about…?"

Hiccup looked over his shoulder at the young man who stood there, uncertainly looking between him and Anna.

"Leave her. The ice queen wants to talk to her and I'd rather she doesn't for as long as possible. Now, I don't like repeating myself."

The youngster nodded and took off, ducking his head low.

When he'd gone three blocks, Jack slipped in between two houses and sat down to gasp down air and slow his heartrate. Things had gone smoothly once they had all started building and Jack had smiled to himself as he'd listened to some of the other children's very serious talks on how to build their forts. The princess though had never worked a day in her life and had a hard time understanding the concept of building. She was the kind of person who thought things would work just because she wanted them to. Thus what she built fell apart repeatedly and even though she asked Jack why, still made the same mistakes.

It had been a strange sense of satisfaction when Anna finally, silently, admitted defeat and looked to Jackson. He'd showed her the most basic way to build a wall and pointedly ignored the princess's glances at Jamie and Greta's much more advanced brick-braid work.

In the end, they had a knee-high wall with rock guards on each corner. Anna had looked so proud.

Then the game had started, and Anna had stepped forward and, rather than the vizier they usually acted as in these games, played part of queen.

"But how is fire a punishment?" Jack asked out loud. To him, to everyone present, it had sounded like a reward.

The image of the vizier flashed before Jackson's eyes again, tall and red and… curious. The thought, the memory had Jack bury his head deep between his knees trying to breathe through the feeling of hysteria and panic. In difference to Anna, the vizier was someone Jack had spent the past ten years of his life studying from the safety of Bunny's arms. He remembered the man without a beard with blood on his face. He remembered how Cuppake had come to their guild, holding the vizier's hand. Jack had never once seen the vizier when his eyes weren't sharper than blades. The curiosity that had widened his eyes had made him look, softer. Gentler.

It was dangerous. It wasn't good to think of the vizier, the shadow ruler, the executioner, as gentle. He was much too smart for that. Too smart to trust. Or maybe that's what Jack should do? He didn't know. He was just thankful he was still alive, despite being bit by a dragon.

Jack touched his arm, the skin underneath his clothes void of pain. He couldn't tell Bunny. Not ever. How would Jackson even phrase it? What had even happened? What had the vizier said? Affections? Jack had won affections. The dragon bit him because it was affectionate? Bunny would have a heart attack if Jack ever told him.

Somehow, in his unstable state of mind, Jack found that thought disturbingly hilarious. He even heard himself laugh and quickly choked it.

"Hey, what you doing over there?"

Surprised by the gruff, unfriendly voice, Jack pushed up on his shaky legs. "Sorry, Pete. I'll take my leave now."

"What happened with the princess?!" Pete demanded. "I hear you took her away this morning! What were you thinking?"

Jack took one deep breath and turned back to the agitated man with as much calm as he could muster. "Dig-Build couldn't risk another incident. I already reported to the vizier."

Pete snapped his mouth close, his face red with fury when his threat was rendered useless before it was uttered.

Jack made a polite sign of goodbye and left with his back straight, knowing full well that Paranoid Pete would still spread the word that Jack would be the death of all of them.

Elsa was had spent the past four hours finding nothing useful and six long-winded letters her great grandmother had received from the Fae King describing their situation with the dragons. Considering she'd found about five of them yesterday, all issuing the same polite demand the ice-queen hunt the dragons to extinction, Elsa was starting to suspect these letters were annual. If it wasn't for the time-stamp Elsa could swear it was the sixth time she found the same letter. Not to mention she'd received several similar ones herself every two or three years.

The Fae were nothing if not persistent. They'd complained for hundreds of years about the dragons hunting them at the tail end of their mating season. They should just get used to it. Accept the way of nature and move on.

"It's horrible," Tothn'ail whispered somewhere behind Elsa.

Catching a glimpse of what her spy was reading, the queen rolled her eyes so hard it hurt.

"My queen, how long have your family had a dragon whisperer as a vizier?"

"Hiccup is the first, so twenty years, give or take. Why?"

It was the kindest response the queen could come up with. Hiccup had pointed out she shouldn't bully Tothn'ail when the fairy was willingly helping her in the archives. It was a bit hard though, especially when the fairy had no qualms shoving blame at Hiccup every chance she got.

Before Tothn'ail could answer, an ice guard stepped forward. "Princess Anna has returned."

Elsa hid a smile and handed over the letter she'd been reading to Tooth. "Make a file and gather all such letters in it sorted by date of arrival separated by ruler."

"Y-yes, my queen."

Opening another drawer of files at random, Elsa was suddenly pleasantly surprised. This one drawer did have some sort of system with marks and labels. Not that Elsa understood any of it, what with the labels being simplified symbols. She still grieved for the inventor that had done this just for this system to be abandoned after death.

The doors slammed open.

"SISTER!"

Elsa slowly looked up, very much not amused. Anna's flushed red face and blazing eyes betrayed the princess' mood, but she still stood tall and smug.

"I'm sorry to leave you waiting. Hiccup tried to stop me from coming home."

Elsa slowly closed the drawer and marked it with an ice symbol to remember where it was. "Really? Because I believe that if it wasn't for Hiccup you wouldn't even be home right now."

Anna stiffened, her face slacked, then twisted with fury.

"According to my vizier, or to use a simpler term, my advisor, you are so easy to manipulate it's ridiculous. You have just proven him right. So, what now? Are you going to be useful to me for once or just throw another useless tantrum?"

"Sister, you have no idea what that man has done in the city!"

The ice sparkled and cried and Anna flew through the room, landing hard on her back. Elsa slowly walked towards her. Her little sister looked shell-shocked and trembled from the pain. For the first time, Anna was quiet and pliant.

"Go ahead, Anna. Enlighten me. What has Hiccup done in the city that I am not aware of?"

Startled and fearful, Anna stood on shaky legs, her eyes glassy. "He… he has set rules. He holds power over the citizens. They obey his rules as if he's the king!"

Elsa stared at her little sister, hardly able to believe it. Anna seemed to take her disbelief as something good.

"Nobody is able to enter the castle and ask for an audience with you since permission must be granted by the queen. Hiccup is using that to his advantage and he has dragons that can speak like a human."

No, it was true. Anna viewed the world through a well. Closing her eyes, Elsa took a deep, calming breath, and made a table and chair for her little sister, fully intending on enlightening her, and Tothn'ail too while she was at it.

"Sit down, Anna. I'll show you something interesting."

"What? Elsa, no! You need to listen to me!"

"I am listening. You said that Hiccup has set rules in the city. I'm going to show you how much of that I'm aware of and you can fill in any blanks you find. Deal?"

Anna gaped, then her face slowly lit in a brilliant smile. "Of course!"

Walking over to a cabinet made of bone, marked with Hiccup's insignia, Elsa couldn't help smirking to herself. Hiccup really did know Anna well. He'd predicted every single act of the princess, almost word by word, with acute accuracy. His advices for Elsa were spot on too. She couldn't deny there was something deeply rewarding in seeing Anna obey. For once.

Now for the best part.

From the bone cabinet, the one where the old queens had stored their viziers' reports, Elsa pulled out four folders made from dragon skin. It was disgusting to touch, but was a hardy material that could withstand the cold climate.

"This," the queen started as she held up the first folder and dropped in front of Anna "are the rules Hiccup has set for the citizens. This are the rules, regulations and punishments he has set for the guilds that feed the people. This are the rules for the other guilds. Oh, and this is something quite special. You see, I have been told again and again and I'm going to throw up if I hear another word about it, that the restrictions on the hunting guild should be lifted as well as demands of all dragon attacks on the fae cease. So a couple years ago Hiccup did an experiment. He redirected groups of dragons to other pray. This is the result." The last thick folder landed with a crash when Elsa threw it down on the table with all her might. "Happy reading Anna. Don't forget why you're doing this, or else I swear you are not my sister."

The face that peeked through Anna's arms were drained with tears and alarm. Elsa felt a sting of regret, but not enough to apologize. So the queen straightened and started to turn back to her own work.

"What happened, sister?" Anna's voice was a whimper, a sob, a plea. "That Hiccup… can't you see? He…"

"How could it possibly be Hiccup's fault that you abandoned me long before he was even introduced to the court?"

At the princess's startled look, as if Elsa had hit her again, the queen raised four walls around the younger girl, enclosing her and determined to not let her out before her own work was done for the day.

Between the shelves, Elsa spotted Tothn'ail. The fairy looked like Elsa had attacked her too.

"That's… a lie," the fairy whispered. "The dragon attacks has never…"

"I'll let you read the report when Anna is done with it. If you're not going to help me until then, leave."

Tooth dropped her gaze immediately. "No! I… I'll help. I've already gathered ten letters."

Elsa really wanted to make a scratching comment about Tooth not finding more of them already, but she had given the order only minutes ago. "Thank you for your help. Please keep at it. This isn't included in your duties."

"No," the fairy said. "If I can be of use to you, my queen, then it is my duty."

The queen nodded, pleased. Of course Hiccup was right about the fairy as well. "Thank you, Tooth."

The underground was nothing like above. Down here lived people who weren't people anymore, who weren't watched by the queen and who still survived. Down here the diet consisted of worms, maggots, insects and fairies. It was its own ecosystem, its own system of guilds the queen didn't know about. This was where you were dead if anyone suspected you carried food. Human bones littered the streets as the deceased harvested for meat. No rules, no light. Only the glow of stolen light orbs and the reflection of their light from the rock that enclosed them.

Hiccup moved like a shadow through the streets towards a bar. Alcohol was everywhere, made from the venom of certain dragons and the melted snow that could be found a plenty in the shallow tunnels.

"Well, well, if it isn't the king himself. Haven't seen ye in a good while Heck."

"Sorry to come uninvited Gobber. The usual."

The man behind the bar gave Hiccup a cursory look. Though he wasn't a man. His fur had fallen off years ago and run-ins with the wrong dragon had cost him an arm and a leg. Still, this was one yeti that wouldn't be taken down so easily.

"I would have thought otherwise, Heck. The redhead and all."

"She's dead."

"Oh." Gobber said no more and readied the drink. It was made from the waste of a type of dragon that ate Fire Worm dragons, which in turn made a hot drink. Hot enough to heat Hiccup from the inside.

"Long live the queen?" Gobber asked and set the drink before the vizier. Hiccup downed it in one go.

"Not if I have any say. I swear."

Author's note. So I haven't recieved an e-mail alert in several months, so I'm sorry if I haven't responded to any reviewers. I would still like to ask you all what you think of the clue to enter the Cave of Wonders. I'm sure you all have really good theories and it's good for me to read other thoughts than my own ;) Thank you for reading and thank you again if you review :D