Noblesse oblige

Part 13

Chapter 13

Hiccup hurried into the Artisan alley as he needed to pick up a very special gift for Astrid. Normally he would have taken her but her waiting in line to get food was the best chance to get IT, get out, and then return to deliver the surprise. And what a surprise it would be.

The Artisan alley was a long street that lay parallel to the market and Hiccup hurried to the nondescript store that was one of the few connected to a personal dock. He could smell the salt of the sea as he knocked on the slightly damp door. Above the store, a small sign hangs that reads 'Kraken's oddities & Curios'. There was also a closed sign but Hiccup knocked anyway.

"We're closed! Who's there?" Came the shout from inside and Hiccup rolled his eyes. The man that ran this place was an eccentric one. The 'Closed' sign was always up but if someone desperately needed something they came knocking anyways. Luckily for Hiccup he was a regular. How the shop stayed in business was anyone's guess.

"It's me!" Hiccup replied.

"Me who?!" The voice asked back.

"Johann do we have to go through this password thing each and every time?!" Hiccup grumbled. "It's not very secret since the whole kingdom knows you do business here!"

"Who is it?!" The question came again.

Hiccup sighed and said "Doris,"

"Doris who?" came the question from inside.

"Doris locked, that's why I'm knocking!" Hiccup shouted. He didn't know why Johann insisted on the password since it never changed and more than half the kingdom's population knew it. Sometimes he thinks the man just does it for kicks. The door clicked open and Hiccup came face to face with an elderly man that sported a graying beard.

"Why young Master Hiccup, so glad to see you!" Johann said once the door was open and the old man recognized the Prince. He stepped aside so that Hiccup could step in. The interior of the shop was cluttered with all types of antiques and a fire was roaring on the firepit in the middle of the room. "So what can I help you with?" Johann then proceeded to ask.

"I just came to pick up that order," Hiccup told the older man who merely chuckled.

"Ah yes, that order." Johann said as he eagerly clapped his hands together once. "I have it in the back room. If you will excuse me for a minute." Johann stepped behind his counter and then through a curtained area while Hiccup was left in the cozy shop which sported way too many clocks on the walls. On the counter itself slept a red Terrible Terror. It was curled up while hugging what seemed to be a stuffed hand-sewn doll in the form of a fish.

"Now Master Hiccup I was quite surprised when you ordered this," Johann said as he returned with a small wooden box that had silver flower etchings in it. "To think you would use the Sapphire of the Seas for this,"

"You knew which jewel it was?" Hiccup raised a brow inquisitively.

"I had suspected," Johann chuckled. "And the Grimborn brothers confirmed it when I brought it to them. They're the best Gem smiths in the Archipelago but even Viggo Grimborn had a near coronary when he laid eyes on it. The Sapphire of the Seas is afterall no ordinary gem."

Hiccup nodded and then took a look at his order. He gasped at the detail of craftsmanship that had gone in it. "Oh my," Johann uttered as his bushy brows shot up. "I knew that from the commission orders you gave that it would be beautiful...... but this is......" he sucked in his breath. "The lady that will receive this is one lucky woman indeed."

Hiccup stared at the gift he had commissioned for Astrid and smiled. He then turned back to Johann who was grinning at what could only be the love-struck blank look on his face. "How much do I owe you for the commission?" He then asked as he took out a pouch of gold coins. One gold coin would have been enough for a normal family to live off for two weeks. The work that went into his gift was definitely worth quite a lot more.