Snow for the Dragon

Breather

The week that followed was a roller-coaster of trails and figuring out the best way to handle the aftermath of what had happened the night when the Duke of Angmarr followed Elsa into her study. The Vikings had not been allowed to leave since Hiccup and Arnold were the only witnesses, not that anyone doubted what had happened. This, however, was not the only reason why the Vikings stayed, for they would have stayed anyway to see that everything would turn out in the best way. What had surprised them all during the passing week though was the discretion and efficiency that had been shown by everyone at every step of the way.The King of Angmarr, the Duke's uncle, had written the man out of his will and he was disowned . The punishment,banishment from Arendelle, had already been decided and while everything had followed the correct procedure, the judges had never even talked amongst each other, they had simply convicted the Duke for crimes against the crown.He was tried for treason and found guilty and was sentenced to death, only to be stopped by Elsa, who decided death was not necessary. Everyone watched with surprise as this was the man who had almost raped their queen
Hiccup, however, was watching her with proud eyes, even if it was concealed beneath his facade.

True to his word, he had begun teacher Elsa how to protect herself from further attacks. He taught her how to defend using her powers only, upon the insistence of Kai , and he also taught her how to predict unexpected attacks. Hiccup found that she was a quick learner and , to his amusement, she even persuaded him to teach her how to wield and use a dagger without Kai's knowledge. Elsa enjoyed her lessons with him as it was a time she could be truly herself . One more than one occasion, maids would walk in on them when she tripped over her dress and fell on top of him. She had forced the maids into secrecy so they don't gossip and told them nothing was happening. She was just clumsy. Hiccup, in order to prevent future accidents like those and so that Elsa didn't do it in a real life situation, made her a more agile battle clothing, made out of one of her own gowns,mixed with Astrid's boots and Valka's spare armor padded leggings. All in all, he stood back and admired her new getup as she looked slightly like a viking.

It had now been nearly a week since the trail finished and to get the royal family some room to breathe the Vikings had invited them down to the cottage they had rented when they ever felt like getting away from the constriction of the royal castle. Mostly Astrid was the one who used it as she complained that she couldn't sleep properly on her feathery soft pillows.
All of them had eagerly accepted the invitation, Rapunzel immediately planning that they could turn it into a picnic and bring food from the kitchens. It had been good for all of them to get out of the castle, all of them enjoying the simpler setting as they laughed and joked amongst each other.They had all grown closer during the past week, the rest of the royal family extremely grateful towards Hiccup for having seen what they missed.

As Elsa now looked at the people surrounding her there was no cold in her heart anymore, it was still there more often than not, but among these people she had finally allowed herself to feel accepted. At times, the bad memories of the night when the Duke had come into her study surfaced to the front of her mind and would weigh her down. Amazingly though, it had turned out that Hiccup had become very good at reading her, often sending her an encouraging smile across the room or a pointed look that helped her break out of her dark memories, memories of his warm arms and their talk by the pond pushing them away. If anything good had come out of what had happened, it was her friendship with the Chief. After their talk down by the Fjord, they had gotten a deeper understanding of each other that had changed their friendship. Hiccup had also shown her more of his work and ideas when she had told him of her own deep love for architecture and soon they had been in a deep discussion about one of his drawings, both of them coming to realize how much they had missed someone to discuss their ideas with. Hiccup and Elsa had begun a routine where they would sit and discuss his blueprints and his work as they were doing at the moment. It usually didn't end well as Elsa would try and push her point of view onto him and his stubbornness wouldn't give in. Half the time , Elsa was right, half the time, Hiccup was right. This was such an occasion, as everyone were engrossed in chatting in the cottage, suddenly, the room went quiet when they heard Hiccup's frustrated groaning. He got up and turned to walk out the door when Elsa did what everyone expected her to. She froze his metal foot onto the floor. She had done it a couple of times already. To their confusion, everyone saw that Hiccup had a smug look on his face. "One thing you underestimate, my queen, is that I learn from my mistakes. " and before anyone had any idea what he was talking about, Hiccup leaned down and flipped a new switch on his prosthetic leg gauntlet that everyone knew wasn't there before. He just crossed his arms with a smirk on his face as he looked at everyone. Nothing happened. Then Astrid saw something strange. "Look!" She exclaimed. The metal part of his leg began glowing red as it heat up. Soon enough, he was able to pull his leg out of the ice block that crumbled to the plywood floor. He then flipped his switch again and the leg folded inwards along an in built rotor chain and a new,more flatter metal stump extended out . Everyone looked at his genius work with awestruck eyes. "You have got to teach me your way brother! " Eugene exclaimed and got up to shake his hand. Everyone's eyes darted to Elsa, expecting her to burst into a furious rage at being bested. Instead, what they saw surprised them. Her face was red in embarrassment. It was very rare to see Elsa embarrassed and it was always a little fun when it happened . Elsa cleared her throat, her face still clearly showing her embarrassment at being bested. "Well... I guess I owe you an aplogy for freezing your leg. " .Everyone besides Hiccup and Elsa burst out laughing. Hiccup merely chuckled along, catching his mother's eye. "Apology accepted. ". And they both joined in on the laughter. What they missed however was the grateful look Elsa sent to Hiccup and the small smile he sent in reply, or everyone missed it except for Astrid who felt her stomach clench slightly at the sight. Why am I feeling resentment at Elsa? She's a good person. Astrid thought. Wait....am I getting jealous? She tried to brush off her strange feeling by teasing Hiccup. "Good thing it was your metal leg and not your real one, Knucklehead. ". Soon, they were all playing a game of dragons and ladders, a game the vikings only knew about because trader Johann had brought them a board from one of his journeys two years back and taught them how to play. Soon, everyone was out except Hiccup and Elsa . It was neck and neck until Hiccup finally placed his pawn on the finish line and he punched the air in victory. "Yeah!". Elsa crossed her arms and scowled at him playfully. Then, they heard someone yelping and they both jerked up , ready to stop whoever it was. But they relaxed as they saw no one else besides a seething Astrid. Kristoff and Eugene were rolling around laughing.
"W-what happened?" Hiccup asked. Seeing the confused look on his and Elsa's face, Rapunzel obliged to elaborate. "You see Astrid and Eugene were betting on how would win the game. Astrid bet on Elsa and she lost. Now she has to wear one of my most girliest dresses to the dinner tonight. And there will be young Lords visiting to discuss trade sanctions with Elsa . You...get the picture?". Elsa still stood there, confused as she saw Valka chuckling softly as well. Hiccup , on the other hand, burst out laughing just like the other two and Anna shrugged at Elsa, not knowing what the big deal was. "Why. .." . Hiccup placed his hand on her shoulder as he tried to compose himself. "Astrid is the last girl you would ever think would put on a dress. It is true! The world is coming to a an end! She will wear a dress!" . Elsa beamed at Astrid. "She doesn't have to if she doesn't want to.". Hiccup shook his head.
"Y-you dint understand. She's too proud of a person to not comply with deals ... even if she lost. ". Then, to everyone's surprise, Astrid picked up her mace and bolted after Hiccup as he sprinted out of the door, fearing for his life. "YOU LITTLE MUNCH EATING BARREL RIDING RASCAl ! I DON'T CARE THAT YOU'RE THE CHIEF! I GONNA KILL YOU, HADDOCK!!". Everyone laughed heartily as they watched the two running around the cottage, the dragons peering curiously at them. Elsa also found this funny and her heart began to feel happier, and fekt a great weight being lifted off her chest. She liked this so much. She also began chuckling. She didn't want this day to end. Unknown to everyone, one other person was thinking the same thing, Astrid. She felt so happy to see Hiccup like this, running, happy again. She saw the old , goofy and clumsy Hiccup she grew up with. The one she had a crush on at the age of thirteen but decided to push it down as she feared it would hurt her friendship with him. She didn't want this picnic to end. Telling herself this, Astrid once more reminded herself that they were soon going home to Berk and hopefully things would go back to normal.Hopefully the lighter side of Hiccup she had started to see again the past week would remain so they could go back to where they had been before all of this started.

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Elsa's new battle clothing that Hiccup sets up for her is the one in the picture .