The Broken Link

Three

Anna leads us to a huge living room, where she builds a fire. We've barely been here five minutes, but already Anna has talked up a storm. Astrid finds it annoying, but I like Anna. She's very bubbly and cheerful, a big uplift ever since I've left Berk, where most of the Vikings are big and beefy.

"There, there! Sit on the couch!" Anna says, pointing to a couch in the middle of the room in front of a blazing fireplace. For once, I am glad to see fire.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Hiccup says.

"Oh, it's no problem! If it was a problem, I would tell you. But it's not!" Anna says. Her green dress that she is wearing sways a little as she talks. I notice that in one of her braids she has a bright white streak of hair, which stands out against her strawberry blonde hair.

"I'm Hiccup," Hiccup introduces herself, and Anna giggles a little.

"Are you serious?" Anna asks.

"Deadly," Hiccup sighs.

"Oh. Well, now that I think about it, Hiccup is a lovely name. I wish my name was Hiccup."

"Anyways," interrupts Astrid. Anna bites her lip a little, and I can tell Astrid intimidates her. "I'm Astrid."

"Hi Astrid. I like your, um, armour."

"Ooh, introductions!" says Milo, rubbing his hands together. "I'm Milo."

"And I'm Merida." I finish. "So names out of the way, that was magic, wasn't it?"

Anna's eyes grow round. "How did you know? Do you have powers too? I've never, ever, met anyone else with powers! Elsa will be so excited!"

"Slow down," says Astrid. "Magic? Powers? Kid, you're insane."

"Coming from the Viking who has a bloody dragon!" I snap back. Astrid glares at me.

"Oooookay," says Anna, giving off a nervous laugh. "Merida, do you have powers too?"

"No," I say, and Anna's shoulders droop a little in disappointment. "But I have seen magic. Before today." And I'm sure of it. Somewhere, sometime, I have dealt with magic. I wish I knew more to the memory, but I don't.

"I should get Elsa." Anna decides.

"Who's Elsa?" I ask.

"My sister. The queen," Anna tells me.

"The Queen?" Hiccup repeats. "Wait a minute, do you have a Prince Flynn here?"

"No, they don't," replies Milo. "Wrong kingdom, trust me."

"That aside, I'll be right back." says Anna, and walks out of the room.

Exhausted from the storm, I curl onto the couch, letting the fireplace warm me up. Hiccup and Milo sit down too, but Astrid remains standing.

"Seriously?" Astrid complains. "We're just going to sit here, while Princess Talks-A-Lot goes to fetch some magical queen? We could be attacked at any moment!"

"Astrid!" I snap. "Lay off of her! She's helping us!"

"She did seem pretty harmless," chimes in Milo.

"Guys, stop fighting!" Hiccup says. "Let's not start anything we'll regret later."

Anna comes back into the room, followed by a girl who must be her sister. But they don't look anything alike.

The sister, or the Queen, is stunning. Absolutely stunning. She has on a blue dress that shows off her petit figure, and her platinum blonde hair is pulled back into a braid, showing off her ice blue eyes and pale complexion. But her eyebrows arch, her lips pucker, and she nervously twists her dainty hands as if she's worried about something.