The Eternal Valkyrie: War of the Realms (HTTYD fic)

Part 9

Chapter 8

(Asgard- Day 6)

Hiccup stifled a yawn as he walked through one of the palace courtyards that morning. It was nearly noon and he was still pondering a conundrum that Astrid and himself had encountered on their date a few days ago while barely having gotten any sleep.

"Hiccup you are giving me a headache with all your thinking?" Toothless grumbled. "I have to live inside your head you know!"

"Well then maybe you could help me out here." Hiccup told Toothless. "You were living in the Dragon Realm. Do you know of any wars between the Asier and the Jotun?" Hiccup asked.

"Well you kinda have to be more specific." Toothless mumbled. "There have been plenty of wars between those two. Don't know what caused it though. The Dragon Realm doesn't really meddle in intergalactic politics."

"Well then, to the library we go." Hiccup stated.

"Why are you even so interested in this?" Toothless asked.

"It was just something that rubbed me the wrong way during our date." Hiccup told the Nightfury. "It was a great date, don't get me wrong, but it was just some of the waiter's remarks that got me thinking." As Hiccup was walking along he spotted Thor speaking with his uncles Ve and Vili. in the courtyard. He gave them a wave but they were so engrossed in their discussion that they didn't notice him.

After Hiccup arrived at the Royal library he opened the doors to see rows upon rows of books placed on golden bookshelves. "Hiccup don't you dare think of staying so long in here! We can't be late for the feast Odin is throwing tonight." Toothless admonished as the Nightfury also took in the grandeur of the large five storey library.

Hiccup was looking up and didn't see Meixiu spotting him. "Hiccup!" The young Chinese woman called again as she approached him. "What are you doing here?" Hiccup turned to greet her and noticed that Meixiu looked a bit nervous. "Is this about Astrid?"

"What about Astrid?" Hiccup asked as he gave Meixiu a confused look. Upon realizing her mistake, at almost mentioning the stab wound Astrid had gotten, the young woman quickly backtracked. "Oh... Oh... nothing. I was just wondering how your date went." She quickly said.

"It went great." Hiccup smiled fondly as he remembered that night. A lovely candlelit dinner upon the restaurant's veranda overlooking the Bifrost and the waterfalls. "It's also the reason why I'm here as well. I was wondering if this library has any information about Frost Giants."

"You're going to have to ask the librarian about that. Dagur and I mainly stayed in the magic section." Meixiu told him as she pointed Hiccup to a bookish-looking woman. The woman was probably about Hiccup's height and was currently bent over a very very large ancient tome while muttering something under her breath. Hiccup nodded and then just realized something "Wait, you said Dagur was also here?" He looked around but couldn't spot the crazy redhead anywhere.

"Yeah, it surprised me." Meixiu told Hiccup. "I knew he was following me to the library. I thought he might have become paranoid of me or something." She shrugged. "Turns out he wanted to check out the magic section same as me. He should be around here somewhere. I lost sight of him somewhere between the Wind magic section and the Archaic Shadow magic collection." Hiccup nodded and then went over to the librarian who still hadn't looked up.

"Excuse me...." Hiccup spoke softly but that still startled the woman.

"Ahhhhh!" The woman shrieked and held a hand over her heart as she tried to calm down. "Don't do that!" She quickly said as she looked at Hiccup.

"Sorry to startle you. I was wondering if you could help me." Hiccup told her while offering a smile. The librarian, having calmed down somewhat, looked at Hiccup inquisitively before saying "You're also a Midgardian? I haven't seen you before."