Hello everyone! I am finally done with the ground work and can at last properly start the story! As much as I love the build-up, it's always rewarding to get to the action. So I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed finishing it!

The Winds from the Sky

Magnificent Red was a majestic Monstrous Nightmare. Her large body glowed a blinding red against the sky, her stripes a golden yellow and eyes of dark green. Perched atop one of the mountains that surrounded the city of fairies she studied her main source of food.

"Great mother, what are those things building down there?"

"Not fairies," Magnificent Red answered. "Fairies don't work."

"Then what are those creatures?"

"The Master calls them slaves."

"What's that?"

"Creatures without will. The Master has explained it to me, but I find it barbaric. Still, those creatures were once fairies too, but now they are not because they don't have will."

The younger dragon, an upstart little puff of smoke who had only just learned how to fly and thought it was special, stared and stared at the town.

"I don't get it. How can anything live without will?"

"That's why I said it's barbaric. The Master explained they experience pain when trying to act on what they want to, but get nothing else."

The younger dragon let up a whine of revulsion. He understood death and pain well enough, but no will? How could they hunt or love without will?

"Why do we call him the Master, anyway!" the little dragon demanded as he turned away from the town and its horrors.

Magnificent Red shook out her scales and reached a claw up to scratch her shoulder. "Because he mastered the speech of dragons. Few mortals have ever managed that and none have used it to aid the dragon race."

"How is he aiding us? He's acting like a dragon king!"

"Is he, really?"

The younger dragon burrowed up its scales and filled his lungs with air to argue that yes, the Master was… unable to use hypnosis and thus couldn't control any of the dragon kind. But he could confuse them! "He made me forget I want to bite him!"

"You want to bite him?"

"NO!" The little dragon had enough, it was humiliated and didn't like it and thus took off to go back to Dragon Cliff.

Magnificent Red didn't bother to follow. Children were so young and would learn their limits in due time. If they didn't they died, simple as that.

Fairies never learned their limits. It's what made Magnificent Red so horror-stricken and wary.

Among dragons, memories weren't passed down in written text like the humans did (an awfully strange way to go about it) but with songs. Some songs held such great significance any dragon knew the song before they could talk. The one of the fairies were one of them.

The song of the Ice Queen was why any dragon was even remotely willing to aid mankind.

Magnificent Red turned her gaze upwards to see a clear sky. She spread her wings and rose towards the blue, and disappeared.

"Pitch! The fairies are coming!"

Jack looked up. Camicazi, head huntress Berta's daughter, was at it again. Pitch, a member of the Death guild, blinked down at the little girl with a frown.

"It's too early," he said softly.

"But they are coming!" Camicazi insisted.

"Of course they are. They always come, but it's so early."

Jack looked up. The sky above the ice was dark, the light still less than two hours this early in the season. The fairies usually didn't come until it was two hours long.

The queue for rations moved slowly but steadily. A daily routine that was as mind-numbingly boring as it was necessary. At least for Jackson, but he could let his mind wander as he waited. The people handing out foods had so many protocols to adhere and notes to make they always had to stay alert. It didn't happen often, but desperation and hunger made people bold. Enough to steal someone else's rations. Bunny could always get Jackson's rations as his father, but the excuse of "sick neighbours" had occurred. That was Death guild's jurisdiction though.

"Pitch is right. If the fairies are coming they are disturbingly early," Bunny muttered unhappily. "We're not ready for this."

"Master won't like it, but if we start preparing now and Camicazi is wrong, we'll hopefully have enough time to make it," Jack said hopefully.

"I'd think so too if that girl hadn't been so icing accurate each time," Bunny muttered.

"That from someone who used to whack me over the head for swearing," the boy snickered and got whacked.

Berta always looked up. The expedition had headed out just before light started to touch the south horizon to scout out the prey. The mammoths had a new leader, had lost two members, and had one calf. Berta glanced at the sky again. They wouldn't be able to hunt mammoth this season.

They had also run into shell beasts. They were harmless, but unkillable even to the deadliest predators. Their mating season was as the light faded, and Berta would be out again by then, waiting for a rival beast to go for the kill so that she and her hunters could bring the loser home.

The skies were still clear.

The yeti burrows were next. They were reliable and easy to kill, but Vizier watched their numbers like a hawk. It had taken Berta the mammoth incident to understand why.

A whiteish shadow in her periphery caught her attention.

"Phantom dragons. Dive!" she hissed.

The experienced hunters dove straight into the snow, and waved their arms to cover themselves. The younger ones looked up first to catch a glimpse of the phenomenon before doing the same. Berta, as the head-huntress, was the last to hide and covered herself with only a single mighty swipe of her powerful arms.

The sounds reached them a minute later. The hissing of fairy wings and howling familiars. The queen's suitors.

It was an annual occasion, and Berta would forever remember the one time, her first hunt, when she had spotted the phantom dragons for the first time, and then watched the massacre of the hunting team. She could no longer remember how she had survived, why she hadn't been eaten along with the rest of the team and her father. All she knew was that once she came to, she was back in Arendelle, back at the guild, and former, then only a trainee, vizier Stoick had been there.

Waking up, remembering, was worse than living through almost getting slaughtered by the fairies. What Stoick had told her made her forever look towards the skies.

The sounds of the fairies faded, but Berta waited several minutes before daring to move. First she glanced at the skies. All clear blues. She still waited another few minutes, just in case.

"Clear."

The hunters rose from their cover and shook the snow out of their white furs.

"What was that? In the sky," Salt, a young huntress whispered.

"The phantom dragons?" Berta asked, scanning the horizons.

"Yes. Where they… ghosts?"

"Indeed," was all Berta offered.

"They are the dragons the fairies managed to kill. Their spirits are now haunting their murderers, and appears as a warning to anyone who risk the fairies wrath!"

Berta threw a disdainful glance at Arthur, the old gossip. She wasn't going to share the truth though. Vizier Stoick's words haunted her even now. But no matter how hard she stared at the sky, all she ever saw were the transparent underbellies of dragons.

"The convoy's too early," she muttered under her breath and looked at the orb around her wrist, it's pale yellow light telling her the sun was at zenith, despite the light barely showing at this time of year.

All talking stopped around her.

"Vizier knows when they are coming, right?" Salt asked. This was only her second expedition, and the lockdown that always happened during the suitor's visits were still fresh in her mind.

"If he doesn't…" Berta didn't finish the thought. "We'll reach the yeti burrows tomorrow," she cut through the tense silence. "We have a town to feed."

"Let's hope so," Arthur whispered.

The saving grace of his suddenly full schedule was that Fishlegs knew it was temporary. Once he'd organized the royal archives he wouldn't need to go there again. The princess however was a more uncertain matter. Fishlegs knew Hiccup well enough to tell the vizier would most likely subtly be on Anna's side now that she was doing as she was told and taking her lessons seriously. The queen was the obstacle.

"Stop staring at me like that! What am I doing wrong!? Aren't I doing just as you showed?!"

"You tell me what you were trying to say, and I'll repeat what you signed and where the mistakes are."

The princess looked like she was about to throw a tantrum. But she wiped the tears away and repeated the short segment of sign conversation.

"Good morning. How are you?"

If it hadn't caused such a commotion a few days prior, Fishlegs might have laughed. Now he just felt drained.

"The mistake that you do, your highness, is that your hand turns, which creates a much different meaning. Here's what you do, and what it means. Be hungry. What's your name?"

"My hand is not turning like that!"

"Okay. Let's do this in front of the mirror then. You and I at the same time, and watch what your hand does."

They stood in front of the mirror, Anna glaring defiantly at the glass. The look melted away into astonishment when she saw her own and Fishlegs's hands did indeed not face the same way at the end.

Without being prompted, she tried again. And again. "Why is my hand turning?"

"My guess is that you do what comes naturally," Fishlegs explained, a little more kind now that Anna wasn't trying to work against him. "My wrist also complained a bit when I started learning sign language as a child. This is why we're starting with the signs where you shouldn't turn your wrist, to make you comfortable with it. Let's try it this way."

Anna tried. She tried for the entire lesson. She almost managed a correct greeting.

"Much better," Fishlegs praised her. "Not right yet, but I can see you have at least listened and understood. I appreciate it. My time with you is up, but please keep practicing in your spare time. I can't promise you'll be let out once you learn properly, but I will put in a good word to the queen."

"Sister sees everything I do," Anna muttered.

"Just because she can see it doesn't mean she watches. Have a good day, your highness."

Anna stared at the door after it closed after her boring tutor, then glanced at the new ice guard. It was all clear glass from her end. A beautiful, magnificent creature. A reindeer, she'd been told by that one tutor Anna couldn't even tell what they were trying to tutor her in. The new guard had triggered an entire lesson dedicated to this reindeer thing. All Anna had even cared about was that Elsa could see her through it. She'd imagined Elsa keeping the other guard in front of her at all times, eyes trained on Anna as she struggled through the days of absolute boredom and frustration. But… what if she wasn't? What was she doing if she wasn't watching Anna?

The answer was clear. It was the cage. The one Elsa had put her in and forced her to read the barbaric rules Hiccup had set up in the city. If Anna got out, she would find Elsa with…

The image of Elsa's face as Hiccup moved on top of her naked body made Anna shiver. Her body felt… warm, her legs weak. Anna's hands travelled over her own body, glancing at the bed, then back at the ice guard.

What if Elsa was watching?

What if Elsa had asked her to stay and watch properly?

Anna's disgusted horror at the thought of watching as her sister with a man's organ thrusting into her clashed with the curiosity that wanted to know what it felt like. Jackson's face flashed before her eyes.

Mortified at the thoughts her mind supplied and the question whether Elsa was watching or not had Anna yanking the blanket off her bed and hidden underneath them, mystified as to what her body was even doing. Why did it feel like her womanhood was opening? She was clutching her legs together as tight as she could! What was happening?

Tothn'ail hadn't healed. Not completely, but she had to see the queen. It was important. The queen's scent was strong, her call for a mate unusually insistent. Tothn'ail had to go to her. Soothe her until the suitors came. This time for sure the queen would finally find a worthy fairy male and bring fourth the next generation. This time, for sure, Hiccup's body wouldn't be enough to satisfy her.

"Tothn'ail."

The fairy turned and glared hatefully, baring sharp, white teeth at the lowly human who had somehow managed to slither his way around and into the queen's body.

Hiccup, on his end, had been about to leave when Elsa had suddenly called him back via the ice guards. Tothn'ail had her room in the highest tower, but that's clearly not where she'd been since the trial.

"You're not yet fully healed," Hiccup spoke. "Why aren't you in your room?"

"Twenty years as the queen's aide doesn't grant you permission to talk to me, human."

Hiccup's face remained unmoved, unimpressed and unafraid. "The current queen has only ruled for eight lights. You are aware a new vizier is assigned upon coronation… right?"

Tothn'ail would have lurched for the human if she could. How dared he? A lowly human. He was nothing. Once Tothn'ail had granted the queen the true pleasure and release Hiccup couldn't, she would come to her senses. It would happen today. They would be entangled in passion as soon as they were in the same room! Tothn'ail snarled and lifted her feathers and wings, knowing full well what a magnificent sight she was when all her colours shone about her.

Hiccup blinked slowly, staring at the fairy with a carefully blank face. She was still healing, the bandages around her feet and hands bloody and torn and her wings and feathers roughed up and broken after Elsa's punishment. But Tooth obviously didn't realize how sorry she looked. Her stance, her entire aura, screamed haughty confidence and contempt.

"It would be best if you didn't see the queen right now," he spoke carefully. She had managed to survive for two whole years. Why would she suddenly succumb to…

Hiccup almost cursed. Elsa was sexually frustrated right now and it was mating season. Of course Tooth would come crawling for a chance to hump the queen's foot. In a worst case scenario, it also meant that the fairy convoy was coming too! The city was not ready for this!

Tooth made a last contemptuous noise and turned to keep crawling towards Elsa's office and her fate.

"Your majesty," Hiccup addressed the nearest ice guard. "Tothn'ail is coming with a proposal. Since you have forbidden me from going near you when meeting such proposals, I cannot answer to your summon just now. I will address the latest issues in the city at haste and return at a later hour."

A light flashed in the guard's sockets and Hiccup once again turned to leave with wide strides.

North was going to go bald. Jack watched as the guild master almost crumbled under the stress when he got the news about the fairies early arrival. But North hadn't inherited his title. After a few seconds of vulnerability he squared his shoulders and started handing out orders. They were going to secure their own bunker first, immediately. Second they would call back all the builders and head out to the Hunter, Ice-Breaker and Fishing guilds to maintain theirs before they came knocking. Their security being the highest priority.

Death guild held the largest bunker and would bring in as many as they could, primarily children. The Orb and Wood guilds had to secure their valuable research and work in their guild house and then bunker with Dig-Build. The rest of the citizens had their own foxholes, and if the fairies really were only a day or two away… even Jack knew they wouldn't make it. Those two days they would be eaten up by the guilds.

"We have to call for the vizier," Jackson whispered to Bunny.

"Bloody ice, no," the elder hissed back, but his face was pale and grim. He knew it too. They had no choice.

"Only the vizier can…"

"M-m-master! V-vizier Haddock…!"

All activity stumbled to an abrupt stop as the man himself shoved the guard aside, then he slowed, blinked and took in the scene.

"Vizier. I can explain the situation here…" North started breathlessly.

"If you're referring to the state of your guild house, I'm aware. I'm more interested in what appears to be… that's where your bunker is, if I don't misremember. Who informed you of the incoming fairies?"

Jackson saw North involuntarily glimpse his way, then he was buried in Bunny's arms.

"Vizier Ha…"

North's sudden silence was answer enough. The vizier had always been too sharp to fool, even Jack knew that. That one glance was all it took to turn Vizier's attention straight at them.

"It was the head huntress's daughter," Bunny's voice spoke, the vibrations of his voice and racing heart transported through Jack's being with a sense of doom.

"…Camicazi?" The vizier's voice was low and pressed at Jack's lungs like a weight. He felt Bunny's head shake positive. "Who told her?"

"I… don't think she needs telling," Bunny answered slowly, but it sounded like a question. "She's always been able… to tell. She went to Pitch today. I-I heard her speak to him. We-e came back and from getting rations to rep-p-port and st-tarted right away. To prepare."

Bunny's arms were like a vice, his body trembled so hard he could barely speak, and Jack wished he could see. He'd been under the vizier's undivided attention once, and while it had left him weak in the knees the rest of the day, there was a strange part of his psyche that wanted to repeat the experience.

"Good."

Bunny's arms slacked at once.

"It's great, please keep working," the vizier repeated, his voice a little distant. "I came to warn you myself. It will take the convoy a total of three days to make the journey from their city to ours if they don't get distracted. I'll buy you all the time I can, but don't expect it to be more than half a day. Tell me what you need and I'll try to provide all the help I can offer."

Bunny was still slack, and Jackson finally got to see what was happening. The vizier had his attention on North now.

"The citizens," the guild master said immediately. "We only have time to ensure the guilds are on lockdown. Only our bunker can be secured from the inside."

"Is the lock mechanism complicated?"

"Not terribly," North offered. "It takes a human mind though."

"Perfect. I'll send someone over. Tell them how the lock works. I'll make an official announcement as soon as I'm back at the castle and ask the citizens to prepare their bunkers without your help and assure them they will be secured as usual. I'll take a quick detour to the Wood guild as well. It will be your reward for acting so quickly."

Then those green eyes were suddenly on Jack.

"While I'm here," he said and strode over to him and Bunny who slowly closed his arms around Jack again. "The princess caught quite a liking to you, young builder."

"I-I'll take respons…" Bunny started, but his voice cut off, his body froze and his arms opened so that Jack tumbled out of the embrace. The image of Anna, silent and stiff, was suddenly very clear in Jack's mind. Vizier Haddock's eyes were as intense as last time, but thoughtful. As if he studied Jack closely and seeing him.

"Being considered the princess's friend is not necessarily a bad thing," the vizier started. "The city is my jurisdiction and the queen won't touch you without me knowing. If you are called to the castle you will be under my direct protection."

"W-why will I be called… to the castle?"

"To motivate the princess. Cheer her up. Give her a break. The queen has been hard on her since her confinement."

Anna was confined? The thought had honestly never occurred to Jack. He'd heard the queen's promise of punishment but hadn't really thought she would go through with it. It was her own little sister after all.

"The queen is a fairy too," the vizier spoke, his eyes a flare of warning. "Never forget that."

When Jack went to sleep that night, he had yet to stop shivering from Vizier Haddock's gaze.