Frozen Heart

A New Friend

Hiccup had no idea what had gotten Toothless so riled up. Normally he was calm when they flew, only getting antsy if there was a threat nearby. But there was nothing around them but the same gray clouds there had been when they entered the area.

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked. "What's wrong bud? What is it?"

The dragon didn't respond, but continued his nosedive towards the ground below. Obviously he had seen something he didn't like, and that worried Hiccup.

Toothless pulled up right at the last second, landing in the snow in front of two people. One was a girl with subtle orange hair pulled into two braids, one on either side of her face. Her face was somewhat circular, with bright green eyes and freckles splashed across her nose and cheeks. She was dressed for the weather, apparently used to this climate. The other person was a blonde man who was slightly taller than Hiccup, dressed in gray and black furs that suited the weather. He was pulling a large sled along behind him. A large reindeer was beside the sled, its mouth curled up in a snarl, its gaze fixed on Toothless. Toothless snarled back at the group, and every one of them took a step back.

"Uh..." Hiccup was at a loss for words. "Sorry. He--he doesn't normally do that." Hiccup dismounted his dragon, and both of the strangers immediately fixed their gaze on Hiccup's prosthetic. Hiccup fought not to roll his eyes; sooner or later, everybody asked about the leg.

"I didn't know dragons still existed," the girl spoke up, shifting her gaze from Hiccup's leg back to Toothless. "I thought they were extinct." She took a tentative step towards Toothless, who growled causing the girl to step back again.

"Who are you?" asked the blonde man, who seemed to be less friendly towards new people as the girl.

"My name is Hiccup. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III." Normally Hiccup didn't like to reveal his full title to strangers, but something about them made him feel unusually comfortable.

"Hiccup...an odd name," the man said. This time, Hiccup gave into the urge to roll his eyes. "Where are you from?"

"My homeland is Berk, an island up north near Scotland." He decided to use present tense, so they wouldn't ask questions. "I'm the chief's son."

The girl smiled. "I'm Princess Anna of Arendelle." She curtsied in respect to Hiccup's title, and the Viking bowed to hers. "And this is Kristoff--" she gestured to the man to her left, "--and Sven." She looked over at the reindeer, who snorted as he stepped closer to Toothless.

"This is Toothless." Hiccup gestured to his Night Fury, who circled Sven as the reindeer circled him, each animal sniffing the other's rear end. Hiccup and Anna couldn't surpress their laughter. Even Kristoff couldn't help but smirk.

The comical moment was broken, however, when a small snowman stuck his head out from behind the sled. "Who's the tall guy?" it asked, making Hiccup jump in surprise.

"It can talk!" Hiccup exclamed. Sure, he had seen his fair share of weird things in his two decades of life, but never had he encountered a talking snowman before.

"Oh, this is Olaf," Anna said, kneeling down beside the snowman and smiling. "My sister made him from snow a few months back and brought him to life with her powers."

"Powers?" Hiccup asked in confusion.

"Yes, my sister has ice powers," Anna explained as she stood up. "She's the Queen of Arendelle, my older sister. You should come with us to the palace, I'm sure she'd love to meet you."

"Anna, remember what I told you about strangers," Kristoff whispered into Anna's ear, but loud enough that Hiccup coud hear.

"I promise I'm not a threat to your kingdom," Hiccup said with a respectful bow, "and it would be an honor to meet the queen."

Anna smiled brightly. "Well come on then!" She began skipping back down the hill, seeming extremely cheerful. Kristoff cast Hiccup a distrustful look before following her; apparently he had heard of the Vikings' reputation as pillagers and barbarians. Toothless chased Sven and Olaf down the hill, having a ball, and Hiccup followed the princess after a slight hesitation, hoping he wasn't getting himself into trouble.