I just finished editing this, and while I feel like something's missing, that nothing's happening, adding more scenes feels like shoe-horning and hindering the story more than it helps it. I'm focusing a lot on Elsa in this chapter because that's where there's action. Next will be about Jack... hoepfully.

Where the fairies and dragons roam

Fishlegs hadn't expected, or prepared himself, to be Hiccup's stand-in for the day, but that's how Elsa treated him. He and Astrid had run around most of the day, bringing the queen's apologies to the families who had brought offerings, whom Astrid knew and could keep track of while Fishlegs made careful notes of what the offerings consisted of, how big the family and finally brought everything to Elsa who decided what to give back as compensation.

And without the help of the dragons that Hiccup normally counted on, husband and wife both found out the hard way why Hiccup had gone through the pain of learning their language. Arendelle wasn't a large city by any means, but trying to find people in hiding was a hassle. Not that the queen cared much about human trouble. Fairies were selfish beings.

"We should bring the boy from Dig-Build to the castle," Elsa was saying when Fishlegs came in with the third report. "To keep him contained in case Anna really do sneak out."

"Majesty. Baseless imprisonment was a reoccurring cause of discontent between Queen Morana and Vizier Thora, with the issue only resolving after Queen Morana's daughter was coronated."

Elsa looked at him impatiently. "Don't read mindless history to me, Bookkeeper."

"I certainly am not, majesty. My point is that imprisoning a boy without warrant would not sit well with Vizier Haddock. Also, I am not vizier. The guild can and will likely turn me away trying to retrieve the child." Fishlegs carefully studied the queen's expression and knew she'd stopped listening after realizing she risked making Hiccup angry with her.

"Your point has been noted," she said and held out her hand for the documents the bookkeeper had come to hand over along with his report. He watched as she carelessly stacked everything in a pile and shoved it aside.

The queen's office was a mess and it grated on Fishlegs. During the day he'd learnt that Elsa demanded a lot from everyone else but appeared to care little of her own manners. It wasn't her job to keep her office clean and in order.

'How typical of fairies,' Fishlegs thought.

"How many are left?" the queen asked, returning to the topic of families on the list of compensation.

"Supposing they haven't fled the city out of confusion: three. I only worry about one of them, but Wife is trustworthy and clever."

"Too bad she's just a human. Hiccup would already have resolved this issue."

'And not before now did I understand his desperation to have you removed,' Fishlegs thought as he bowed to hide his expression, in case his face was doing something unseemly as he backed out of the room.

Now was not the time.

Late that night, once Elsa had finally decided she was done and Arendelle's people had been fairly compensated for Anna's lack of education, Fishlegs and Astrid met in the stable, exhausted.

"Hiccup puts up with this every day," Fishlegs spoke, still unable to believe it as he pulled his wife close and just held her.

"You did as good a job as anyone could have, being thrust into the situation as we were."

"Do you know about Hornrattles?"

"It's a small, venomous dragon with a rattle at the tip of the tail," Astrid answered immediately. She might not speak Dragonese, but her knowledge about dragons could even challenge Hiccup's.

"They dig a hole and wait for the unsuspecting nano to pass it. And it can lay in wait like that for however long it needs to."

Astrid was used to her husband keeping more than one train of thought at a time, but it frustrated her when she failed to keep up. "…are we still talking about today or have you entered another topic?"

"No. I mean Hiccup is a Hornrattle."

"Oh… I don't know. I think his line of work requires more than just venom and patience."

"Definitely… eight Hornrattles."

Astrid snorted out a surprised laugh. "You need to sleep. I have a few things left to do."

"For the queen?"

"For Hiccup."

Fishlegs looked at her, and Astrid's heart warmed at all the feelings she could read in his expression. Love, pride, worry that she ran herself ragged, trust. She kissed him before he could start whatever he contemplated to say. She wouldn't tell him what she was doing after all, the same way he wouldn't say what he was really thinking. It felt safer this way.

The day before Fishlegs hadn't had the chance to give the thought room in his head, but had been careful to keep it near, within reach. Now he had once again been called to the queen's archives, to continue the work he'd started yesterday, and the silence of the night had allowed the idea to grow and take form.

He should consult Hiccup first. Fishlegs knew this, and he might actually be wrong. Except that the more he thought about it, the less likely it seemed. Some people were born with magic, girls most commonly, but magic ability wasn't inherited, the same way the power of the Ice Sprite wasn't. The power of the ice queen was handed over from queen to crown princess in portions, until all of it resided in the new queen on her day of coronation. It didn't even need to be to a blood relative. In the case of the Ice Sprite it could be given to any fairy strong enough to hold against the force of it. For that theory alone, Fishlegs didn't think he was wrong. Not with the clues he had. Laying some groundwork before getting Hiccup on the case would most likely also help pulling the wool over the queen's eyes. Plus, she'd given him plenty of arguments the day before.

But how to bring it up? Hiccup still hadn't reported in this morning and Elsa, while clearly disappointed in this, seemed content.

Fishlegs threw another glance at the new ice guard. She had made a total of ten since her coronation, both stationary and ones that followed her around, silent as air despite their considerable size. This one was different. It was of a slim, four-legged creature with enormous antlers on its head, made of perfectly clear ice. Its body showed Anna's room where the princess was currently just sitting down to start her first class of the day. History, Fishlegs figured after recognizing the tutor.

Elsa looked smug.

"I hope you don't find my new creation distracting. I thought it would be great to have a little insight in the ongoings around the castle. The technique is the same one as queen… the one who had mirrors as ice guards…"

"Queen Frostgale II, third queen since the founding of Arendelle, majesty," Fishlegs filled in and was rewarded with a bright smile.

"I'm amazed how well read you are."

"I was assigned the role of teacher worthy of enlightening you and the younger princess. I am of the same age as your trusted vizier after all."

"Did you two get the same schooling?"

"No. Hi… the vizier…"

"Please, don't be so formal. You are his friend. It is… liberating to talk about him in a friendly manner with another."

"Of course, your majesty. Thank you. Well, Hiccup's training and education was much harsher than mine. His father wanted to train the perfect advisor to you, majesty."

The smugness on the queen's face deepened. Fishlegs considered himself patient and accepting, but something about that expression ignited a red-hot fury inside him. This woman had no right to look so joyful when Hiccup had suffered all his life because of her.

"May I have the liberty of… posing a… curious question on the matter, your majesty? One of sensitive nature where I may not be allowed an answer."

"What could you possibly want to ask that I would not answer, bookkeeper? You are already going through all the information and history of Arendelle."

"In light of recent events, I have been wondering about Hiccup's successor, my queen. It would ease some strain off his shoulders, yes? I believe the people might feel more at ease knowing you are continuously supported and have a stronger control over… your household."

The queen's face had gone perfectly blank, as though the suggestion was alien. Fishlegs worked himself through a whole cabinet of documents and organized everything in neat order and marked the folders and drawers with the bookkeeper seals.

"Who could possibly replace Hiccup?"

'That's your first reaction?'

"Anyone?" Fishlegs said aloud. "He is only human, after all. Mortal, and he's not getting younger. You will want your own successor to have a reliable advisor, yes? Besides, your annual suitors are due in less than two weeks."

The queen's air of smugness was gone and forgotten, replaced with, of all things, anxiety. Today the bookkeeper stayed silent as he worked alone. The queen had clearly forgotten what she was even meant to be doing.

Hiccup stared at Astrid with his clothes halfway on. "Come again?"

"You heard me, Hiccup."

"I think my mind hasn't woken up yet and might have added a few details to your report." Disbelieving Hiccup pulled his pants the rest of the way up. "How long was I out for? A week?"

"Just two days."

"And the city ended up in an uproar in that time? The situation wasn't so dire before I left."

"Proves just how much you shouldn't underestimate a half-breed fairy."

"You or I?"

Astrid made a face at him but accepted the quip as deserved. "Could you have predicted it? That she would misunderstand something as simple as a greeting?"

"No. Not the way it happened, no." He put on the rest of his gear and reached for his staff. "I think you handled it well, all things considered. So Wild An is properly confined?"

"Yes. Elsa threatened to have her builder boy murdered if she snuck out again."

Hiccup felt his nose twitch. He'd have to figure out a way to work around that, or at least see where Elsa stood on the matter. Damn fairies and their absolute lack of humanity.

"And how is she handling the confinement?" he asked as he moved out into the hallway, on his way to report for duty.

"Husband tells me she looks miserable, but is staying up. The new ice guard isn't transmitting sound."

"How much do you know about the new creation?"

"It uses the same technique as the mirrors, but on a shape rather than a surface. I haven't seen it myself, though."

"And there are only two?"

"Yes, but she made them overnight."

Hiccup asked nothing more. Astrid was clever, and knew him well enough, to make the conclusion that if the queen could make one, she could make more, and clear ice was very difficult to see. If the idea ever struck her, Elsa could very well make such a spy to follow Hiccup around at all times so that he was never out of her sight. So his freedom of movement depended on his appearing the ever so loyal human pet.

An ice guard's eyes flashed and stepped forward as they were about to pass it.

"The queen awaits Vizier Haddock in her office," it said and Astrid let out a sigh, as in relieved it wasn't a summon for her, and quickly went on her way, as if she'd had just happened to be headed in the same direction as the vizier for a while. Hiccup continued on with confident strides until he reached the queen's office, but didn't have time to announce his presence. The ice guards opened the doors, startling him into a halt since that was a function he'd barely been aware they had.

"You don't need a successor. I'll arrange it somehow."

'Oh, the guards opened the doors for Elsa…' Hiccup thought distantly as the queen strode up to him. "Successor?" he spoke aloud, hearing the bafflement in his own voice.

"Nobody can replace you!" Elsa near shouted, and Hiccup quickly lifted both his hands and staff to activate the shield against her powers that shot out of her with her agitation, then quickly covered it with his cape to hide the fact he needed magical protection against Elsa's powers.

She paced around, throwing her hands around wildly. "Who in this country could possibly be as competent as you. I'd have to chase out the dragons. No, that's not good. I don't want to marry either! This land of mine doesn't need a second king. What would I do with him anyway."

Hiccup cursed himself for not realizing it sooner. It was mating season for the fairies, Elsa included. He'd really been too excited about Merida finally finding the other half of the key. But Elsa should know better than to succumb to her breeding instinct.

"Elsa," he spoke over the fairy's mindless rambling. "You're losing control. Do you want to kill me?"

The queen stopped dead in her tracks, her head snapped around, taking in the result of her triad. Saw Hiccup keeping his cape up for protection. Protection against her ice! She had almost covered Hiccup in ice.

Elsa closed her eyes tightly, feeling the old, choking sense of all-consuming staccato of her heart send razor sharp nails through her body in her terror's attempt to tear her mind to pieces. But Hiccup was right in front of her. She couldn't let the sprite win. "Feel nothing. Don't feel, don't fear."

"Breathe," she heard Hiccup's voice both too close when she was unstable and much too far away when she needed his warm body pressed up against hers. "You're stronger than this."

"I am stronger than this," Elsa repeated, trusting her vizier. He wouldn't lie to her. He had promised on his body bound to… on his life that he would never lie to her. And he wasn't dying. Of course he wasn't. He was the invincible Hiccup Haddock. Of course he wasn't mortal. Someone like Hiccup couldn't be bound to the Forest of Bones. Definitely. He wasn't even that old.

"You're not old, Hiccup."

"Depends on what you consider old, Elsa. I am twelve years your senior."

The queen's eyes sprung open and stared, filled with dread, at her advisor. "How long does… humans normally live?"

"I'm hoping to stay around for another ten or fifteen years. It all depends on how well you control the sprite here and now. How is my age suddenly of concern?"

Elsa shivered and closed her eyes again, hugging herself, she wished that Hiccup wasn't human so that he could join the candidates of suitors the fae court sent every year hoping to sire the future queen. She… oh wait. No, she was actually really happy Hiccup was human.

"If you were a fairy I would have eaten you long ago."

"Indeed."

Elsa breathed in deeply, calmed by the fact she could just eat any fae male who tried to spew their sperm inside her. That's all fae men were even good for. Human men were much better for pleasure. Hiccup was superior to any fairy. How could those annual suitors possibly hope to compare?

"I still strongly disagree to your seeking a successor," she said anyway.

"My queen, I have been asleep for how long exactly? I honestly just woke up and I need you to fill me in."

"Oh… of course, Hiccup. Come inside. It's been a few catastrophic days. Just listen to this!"

Hiccup followed Elsa inside her office and cast a look around as he closed the door behind them. The new ice guard was barely visible against the wall, but showed the image of Anna and Fishlegs practicing the sign-language. The princess looked defiant as usual, but determined as well.

Elsa's office looked like a mess. She loved to complain about how dismissive and arrogant Anna was, but clearly couldn't see she had those same issues herself.

"It was utter chaos. It took those two humans all day to settle it and they couldn't even give be a complete report. Instead they came in sections, running around like headless babies and the citizens were too confused and wouldn't listen to them. They just don't have your presence and authority."

Hiccup hummed to sound agreeable as he started on the stacks of reports, taking note of family names in case something happened in the future. "Paranoid Pete got compensated, huh?"

Elsa, in the middle of explaining how thoroughly embarrassed she'd been, trailed off. "…Paranoid?"

"A troublesome figure," Hiccup explained as he read Fishlegs's notes. "The stablemaster must know so as well, the compensation is against what you ordered for him and instead ensures he won't become even more trouble. Clever of her."

Elsa was quiet for so long Hiccup managed to through all the reports before she found her voice again.

"How was it clever to go against my orders?"

"Your orders were flawless coming from the crown, but Stablemaster knows the individuals and has adjusted the compensation accordingly. That is not going against your orders. It is ensuring the best possible outcome for everyone involved. People are satisfied and support for you ensured."

Elsa's cheeks coloured, and threw her gaze away and towards the new ice guard. If Hiccup hadn't known her so well he might not have noticed, but she clearly wanted him to see her new creation and praise her.

'Obedient pet,' he reminded himself and looked. "What's that?"

"My new ice guard, using the same technique as Queen Frostgale II's mirrors but on a moveable form."

Hiccup nodded as he took in Anna's great frustration, saw her force herself together and, with wet eyes, gave Fishlegs her hands to guide her movement.

"What have you prepared as Anna's reward?"

"Reward?!" Elsa sputtered. "For what? She'd done absolutely nothing to deserve it."

"She is taking her classes seriously," Hiccup said carefully.

"For now. I don't expect her to keep it up. Let's not give her ideas."

"What if praise made her even more compliant?"

The look on Elsa's face said she found such a notion absurd. "Don't be a fool, Hiccup. Rewarding her will simply bring her right back to her old ways. You want that even less than I do."

"If you say so. But I must fight you if you punish the princess further. She is doing what you ask her to. Anything more than that is just your own spite and will only cause confusion and, in a worse case scenario, she will rise against you. Don't forget she is your own flesh and blood, killing her might hurt you enough to explode, and then Arendelle is no more."

Elsa just looked frustrated and Hiccup lowered her gaze in submission. He knew he hadn't done any of what Elsa wished he did, he hadn't pitied her plight when she complained, hadn't agreed with her that Astrid and Fishlegs were useless and wasn't praising her for neither the new creation or Anna's confinement.

Thus Elsa changed tactics. "Anna has caught a liking to one of Dig-Build's young boys. What say you we bring him to the castle? We can keep him here."

"Why?"

"To make sure Anna stays put."

"Isn't she?"

"She won't much longer. I can see how frustrated she is."

"She is a fairy too, Elsa, same as you. It is mating season and she is becoming a woman. Her body is responding to it and it will pass soon."

Another alien thought to process for the queen fairy. "You care about others too much," Elsa mumbled, then came what Hiccup dreaded. "I wish you would only care about me."

Even as he approached, Hiccup thought that somebody needed to care about everyone aside from the queen, or they would all be long dead. But he wondered if he would walk away alive this time too. Last time had been almost too much.

Astrid was hard at work. Due to the tunnels the underground community was much vaster than the city. People made burrows like animals, lived by the light of either stolen orbs or burning dragon and yeti waste. But the fairies were coming, and that was a real threat, and chance, to all of them. Not everyone cared about the yeti giving themselves up so that people above could eat and stay ignorant of their help. Not everyone cared how or from where they got food.

Fairies either ate them, or they would eat the fairies. The humans disadvantage was that they didn't eat live things the way fairies preferred. This was where the dragons played their most important role as fairy hunters.

"All tunnels to the yeti burrows have been sealed," Hero reported, his face streaked with the evidence of his distress.

"I see," was all the stablemaster said as she pushed a large rock with all her might into position, sealing off another opening, the yeti by her side carefully covering all openings with dirt. "What about the western ones? Have everyone been evacuated?"

"There are traces someone went to the Forest of Bones."

"To fill it up?"

"No."

Astrid sighed and shook her head. "Was it just one?"

"I don't know."

The woman wasn't about to speak ill of those who went to die in such a horrible manner, but there was always some nut who thought they were enlightened, thought the roles of fairies, humans and dragons held some greater value and that something would change, or otherwise happen if they went to the Forest of Bones.

"We're done here. Thank you, Ida. Keep up your work as well, Hiro. As soon as Hiccup is available he'll send dragon scouts to ensure all entrances from above are hidden. I'll start the preparations for the ambush. Let's hope for a big haul this year."

"What about the Forest of Bones?"

"Leave it open. Imagine the look on any escaping fairy actually escaping that way."

If nothing else, the morbid joke did reward her with a spiteful laugh from Hiro.

It was early afternoon when Hiccup entered the boiler room containing the fire worm dragons and stood there to allow the intense heat to warm his hands and face. He'd managed with prolonged foreplay and Elsa's pent up sexual frustration to avoid penetration and still get the queen off, but it still took a toll on his hands and arms. He was actually quite amazed he still had ten fingers. He couldn't feel any of them right now.

"Oh, Hiccup. I thought the library got hot all of a sudden."

The vizier realized he'd closed his eyes and now couldn't open them as the glow through his eyelids said the little dragons were glowing almost as bright as the sun. It was wonderfully warm though.

"I have a few things to ask you," Hiccup started without moving away from the cage of fire worms.

"Hiccup, please."

He reluctantly removed himself from the heat source and entered the library. There he leaned on the table and looked very carefully at Fishlegs.

"Thank you for your hard work the past… three days? Right. Elsa mentioned something interesting. You're cleaning the archives for her?"

"Her majesty requested I help her 'organize' the archives."

"Those were her words?"

"Indeed, and I can't tell you if she'd forgotten what she was actually doing before the request or after I asked her about your successor."

"Me neither," Hiccup said and rubbed his face. "I did expect her to haul the work over on anyone else, but I had expected Tothn'ail. But right now mating season means every or every second thought in a fairy head revolves around sex. So let me ask you this; what the actual fuck is this about my successor?"

"I figured out the riddle," Fishlegs answered calmly, mirroring Hiccup's stance in leaning his fists against the table. The vizier's face was hard as stone as he stared back without reacting. "Do you remember the means Valhallarama used to protect herself against the Ice Sprite?"

"Valhallarama?" The gears turned in Hiccup's head for a second. "That?! You think the Heartstone is needed? That doesn't make any sense."

"I'm quite sure you remember how to make a Heartstone," Fishlegs and sat down now that Hiccup was no longer in as confrontational a mind.

"Yes, but I refuse to…" Hiccup stopped, and Fishlegs read his face as the vizier too connected the dots.

Slowly, the redhead sat down and sat in silence for several minutes. The bookkeeper hadn't expected his friend to be happy or even grateful. He wasn't even happy about it himself. The machine Hiccup handled already had too many moving parts and they were running out of time. The Ice Sprite had effectively killed Hiccup's chances of ever siring a child, and after him there really was nobody who could continue the work of getting people out of the ice desert. The Haddock clan had worked long and hard, sacrificed both blood and lives and pride and dignity and family to have and hold their current position at the queen's side. Hiccup's magic had been hard earned, but if there was nobody to continue his work, it would have been in vain. That's why Hiccup had betted everything he had left on the Cave of Wonders.

"Until the mating season is over and the suitors gone, Elsa won't accept anyone coming near me," Hiccup said slowly. He rubbed his face again and stared into space in despair. "Who can even be convinced to become the next vizier?"

"The best option would be to find someone born with magical affinity," Fishlegs spoke carefully. "But a seed should be enough. Let's talk through it?"

Hiccup closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, then placed his hands on the table and stared at the ceiling. "So the one locked up in the cave of Wonders is the most powerful Enchantress to have ever lived. She accumulated so much magic other Enchantresses… felt threatened?"

"I'm envisioning ten Ice Queens, one gaining more power than the others and them ganging up on her in envy of her power," Fishlegs shared his nightmarish fantasy and punctuated it with a horrified shiver.

"Yes, possibly." Hiccup nodded. "But magic ability has to be shared willingly or the magic becomes uncontrollable. If your theory is right and Enchantresses sent their apprentices into the cave to gain more magic, or just help their seeds grow, the only possibility is that the Enchantress was killed but her magic contained and sealed away."

"Or a contract? She would be released once her magic power was less than theirs?"

Hiccup leaned forward on his elbows again, his eyes clear again. "That's a lesser possibility. The Enchantress must be immortal if she's still alive today. The cave is magic, held up by it, and thus proves there is still something inside."

"So we need to find a seed of magic," Fishlegs sighed.

"That's what I put Elsa up to."

The bookkeeper's full attention zeroed in on the man opposite him. "I beg your pardon?"

"You know I thought from the beginning that I needed someone with magical affinity. If there is any history of people with magic the former queens will have records of how they were delt with. Having you in the archives makes things a lot easier."

Hiccup smiled innocently, seeing the look on Fishlegs's face that told him he'd both lost a lot of respect and simultaneously gained it right back for the exact same reasons.

"Get out. I'm going to spend the rest of the day and all night being grateful there's only one of you, and that you're human."