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shipmistress9 · 4 years

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FTLOAP: Chapter 46: I’ll Make It Up To You

Fandom: HTTYD

Theme: Hiccstrid - Medieval-style AU - Romance - Angst/Hurt/Comfort

Summary: Reduced to little more than a stable boy, Hiccup, despite his noble birth, has few prospects for more in life. But when he meets a girl who came to look at the horses, being a stable boy might not be enough anymore. Together, they have tough choices to make and great risks to navigate if they want to survive and be together.

Rating: Explicit

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Discord-server for discussions and questions

Part 1: Prologue; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7; Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10; Chapter 11;

Part 2: Chapter 12; Chapter 13; Chapter 14; Interlude 1; Chapter 15; Chapter 16; Chapter 17; Chapter 18; Chapter 19; Chapter 20; Chapter 21; Chapter 22; Chapter 23; Chapter 24; Chapter 25; Chapter 26; Interlude 2; Chapter 27: Chapter 28 ; Chapter 29 ; Chapter 30; Chapter 31; Chapter 32; Interlude 3; Bonus 1; Chapter 33

Part 3: Chapter 34; Chapter 35; Chapter 36; Interlude 4; Chapter 37; Chapter 38; Chapter 39; Chapter 40; Interlude 5; Chapter 41; Chapter 42; Chapter 43; Chapter 44, Chapter 45

Alpha/Co-author: @athingofvikings

Taglist: @drchee5e @hey-its-laura-again @thepixiedustfactory

. – * – _ . o O o . _ – * – .

AN: Yay, finally a new chapter! ^^ I'm truly sorry that I couldn't finish this as announced in November. But my daughter decided to come a little earlier than expected, throwing off many of our plans... We're both doing fine though. :)

This chapter... Is, for the most part, self-indulgent fluff. I hope you won't mind. ;) But there's also another bit, one I know many of you have been waiting for since forever. ;) The title comes, again, from an Imagine Dragons song, 'I'll make it up to you' this time. It's a rather fitting song for Hiccup right now, don't you think?

. o O o .

After their long discussion about how County Ravenledge could be claimed and improved, Astrid and the others having left, Hiccup was left with a chaotic whirlwind of emotions.

On the one hand, he was excited and elated by this apparently simple and direct solution to their problems. They had a plan, and if everything worked out, there was nothing in the way of him and Astrid being together. It would be a difficult path to follow, for sure, with the overwhelming prospect of ruling an entire county of people whose culture and customs he hardly knew. It was more than a bit intimidating, the more he thought about it, especially given the conditions of the place. But if that was what the Gods demanded of him, then he would do it.

But on the other hand... he was anxious, so much so that his hands wouldn’t stop clenching nervously, no matter what he did to distract himself. Eret, Dagur, and even Astrid seemed convinced that Grand Duke Oswald and the King would agree to give him the title without much resistance, but in the privacy of his own thoughts, he wasn’t so sure about that. Those powerful men knew about his life, knew enough to know how much of a failure he was, in pretty much every aspect. Why would they agree to support him so openly?

It wasn’t as if they could win anything out of this, could they?

Later, as he helped Eret get out of the elaborate and dust-and-sweat-fouled day-clothes he was wearing, he couldn’t keep from asking the question which had buzzed in his mind like a bee. “Why are you doing all this for us?”

With a pained groan, Eret laid back on his bed as Hiccup brought the bowl of warm water over from the hearth. It was essential to keep the wound on Eret’s chest as clean as possible, and since it was difficult for Eret to do so himself, it was Hiccup’s responsibility to help him. “What do you mean?” he replied, sounding puzzled and tired after a long exhausting day.

“Everything,” Hiccup said after a short pause, shrugging. “I understand that you care for Astrid and want to see her happy. But all this goes far beyond that. Supporting me in this… You know as well as I do how that could backfire and weaken you, politically I mean. So… why?”

The plan was that Astrid, Dagur, and Eret would speak with their fathers in the morning, during or possibly even before their common breakfast. It made sense, of course; it was better to wait until then instead of approaching them now in the middle of the night and dealing with them while they were grumpy. They’d talked for a long while and by now, half the castle had to be asleep already. But waiting until the morning to get the confirmation was hard. And even though Hiccup knew that Eret might have his own reasons for supporting him, reasons that wouldn’t necessarily convince the most powerful men and leaders of the Kingdom, he still hoped that his answer would ease his mind at least a little bit.

Eret chuckled, interrupted by the occasional wince as Hiccup cleaned the area around the cut on his chest. “Two reasons,” he eventually replied. “First: I know you. And I trust you. We trust you. You’re a good man, Hiccup, honest, reliable, and diligent. You’re going to be a good leader to those battered people. As Dagur said, it’ll take time. But I’m sure that, under your leadership, County Ravenledge and its people can thrive again. So supporting you is definitely not a waste of time or effort. It’s for the good of the people, and that’s what our main interest should be, right?”

Hiccup nodded, inwardly hoping that he could live up to this trust, these expectations. “And… the second reason?” he asked cautiously.

Eret sighed, his eyes falling closed. “The second reason is that we know only too well how it is to love without hope. Dag and I… we knew right from the start that our love had no future. We were prepared. But even though we always knew our time would be limited… Actually having it come to an end with the wedding just… just hurt! And even though we’ve got a reprieve of some sort now, we know it’ll end someday. Just thinking about it is driving me insane.” He paused and took a deep breath before letting it out again. “For you, it’s different though… for you, there’s hope. It might be a slim hope and the road to reach it will be hard, but it’s possible. So we want to help you in whatever way we can, simply because that is something we can do.”

Hiccup nodded again, putting the water away and handing Eret a piece of cloth to dry himself up. “Thank you,” he murmured. It was far too little to convey the gratitude he felt, but it was all he could come up with.

However, it seemed to be enough for Eret. “Anytime,” he replied in a light voice. “But now, you better leave. Tuff should be here any minute now. And I want to say ‘Have a good night’, but... but I’d rather it not get too good if you know what I mean, so…”

Hiccup was incredibly glad that he wasn’t facing Eret at the moment, that he wouldn’t notice the blush on his face. “Don’t worry,” he mumbled awkwardly. “I won’t risk losing her again.”

He hadn’t meant to say those last words out loud; they’d slipped off his lips before he’d been able to think about it. And, as expected, there was a confused frown on his cousin’s face when he turned back to face him. But since he didn’t ask, Hiccup didn’t feel obliged to explain himself and quickly changed the topic. “Is there anything else you need? Before I leave, I mean?”

Still frowning, Eret shook his head, so Hiccup quickly bid him good night and left the elaborate bedchamber.

Once the door closed behind him, Hiccup exhaled deeply. Eret’s brief explanation had soothed him, but only a little. His reasons were understandable enough, and Hiccup wanted to believe that, if the situation was reversed, he and Astrid would also do whatever they could to make it possible for Eret and Dagur to stay together. And as for the other reason… He could only hope that Eret was right and that he would be able to provide a better life for the people of Ravenledge one day.

If he even got the chance to try.

He’d been right, Eret hadn’t been able to provide him with the answer he longed for, but at least his words had settled his anxiety to a bearable level. But that helped to ease his chaotic emotions only so much. Because the excitement and anxiety over their plan had only been part of his emotional turmoil. The question about what the months and years to come would bring them was certainly important, but right now, the more immediate future was a little more pressing to him.

He’d promised Eret that there was no reason to be worried and he was dead set on keeping this promise, to Eret and to himself alike. But there were more facets to that promise than Eret thought.

Sticking to what Eret was concerned about and not having sex with Astrid until they were truly married wouldn’t be a problem. They’d managed relatively well so far, and the prospect of not having to wait two more years but only a couple of weeks would make holding out even easier. Theoretically, at least.

Practically though, just thinking about tonight – and if it worked as planned the following nights as well – made his entire body tingle in anticipation. Hours of being alone with Astrid, of being free to kiss and to hold her... Gods, how he missed feeling her soft body against his own, his hands exploring her, tasting her lips and her skin, listening to–

With a low groan, he shook his head, chasing those thoughts away. He couldn’t– no, mustn’t indulge in those fantasies! “Just a few weeks,” he reminded himself in a low whisper, biting his lip in the hope that the pain might help him focus. He had no confirmation of his fears on this matter, no certainty that their getting intimate before had somehow caused their separation. But he also couldn’t shake off the suspicion that that might have been the reason, that his overconfidence had angered the Gods and the temporary separation had been a warning. And he wouldn’t risk losing her again! Even if it meant going weeks or maybe even months without touching her like he wanted to – he would take that unresolved longing over possibly losing her forever at any time. He just hoped Astrid would understand his reticence.

Because on top of everything else, there was one other aspect that might make keeping his promise to Eret a little more complicated. Knowing Astrid, Hiccup suspected that she was going to disagree with him on this point, but he just knew that it was his fault she’d been through so much pain during the past weeks. If he hadn’t been so stupid, hadn’t given up too soon, hadn’t given in to his longing for her in the first place…

Sighing, he shook his head. No matter how much he wished it were otherwise, he couldn’t undo the past. But he was going to do everything to keep any more pain away from her from now on. And furthermore, it meant that he’d do everything she asked for, that he would follow her every wish. To make it up to her.

He was aware of the possible contradiction of these two urges, and his thoughts were still running in circles when Tuff appeared behind one of the elaborate tapestries a little while later. Hiccup rose as he silently beckoned him to follow. Just as Ruff had said, the passage was narrow and clearly didn’t get used regularly, with dust and cobwebs everywhere. But Hiccup didn’t pay much attention to the condition of the space, nervousness and anticipation settling in his stomach. At the end of this walk, he would see her again, be alone with her. And while he was unquestionably looking forward to it, his breath coming fast and even his bad leg moving without complaint in the cramped passageway, there was the point that, as so often before, the night would be a tough balancing act between what he wanted to do and what he had to do.

. o O o .

Agitatedly chewing on her lower lip, Astrid sat at the edge of her bed, her eyes glued to the door. Any minute now, Ruff would lead Hiccup in here. It wouldn't be long anymore, she knew that. But still, every single second of waiting felt like an eternity.

Gods, she was such a mess.

Ever since she’d overheard the Grand Dukes’ conversation earlier that day, all her thoughts had circled around County Ravenledge and how this could be the solution to their problem. But now that she’d presented this idea to Hiccup and their friends and they’d agreed on a plan, practical reality was catching up with her again.

She and Hiccup would spend the entire night together, and in contrast to that night after the ball where she’d fallen asleep in his arms, this time they wouldn’t be too exhausted to do… whatever they wanted to do. The thought made her heart beat faster and she balled her hands into fists to keep them from trembling, crumpling the blanket and her nightgown in the process. Gods, why was she so nervous? This wasn’t the first night she spent alone with him, after all.

But no, she wasn’t nervous. She was excited. And it was because she’d been with Hiccup before that she was so looking forward to this, couldn’t wait for him to finally be here.

What would the night bring?

Would this night be a loving reunion after these painful weeks, with slow caresses and exploring each other anew? She could picture it, softly entangled between the sheets of her bed, celebrating their love until the sun rose again.

Or would they jump right back to how it had been before, heated passionate kisses without preamble? She wouldn’t mind that either. Oh, how she longed for his touch and to feel again the exhilaration only he could bring her.

But maybe… maybe they would continue where they’d stopped more directly. If Hiccup remembered to bring that pot of scented oil, then… She sucked in a quick breath and bit down on her already slightly swollen lip to keep herself from moaning. All too well she remembered how it had felt to have his fingers inside her. Would he insist on preparing her again for tomorrow night or could they… jump right in? Heat rose to her cheeks, and she wondered whether she could manage to stay a little quieter or what Ruff and Tuff would say in the morning.

Although… there also was another option. Not that she expected this night to go that way, no certainly not. But maybe… it was a possibility, wasn’t it? Now that the solution for their problem was within reach, maybe they could even go a step further. They would be married in a few weeks – she vehemently refused to entertain the possibility that it could be otherwise. The date for her wedding was set, irrevocably. Nothing would delay or prevent that, her father had made that clear. Was that also true if an inspection by one of Freya’s Gythias revealed that her maidenhead was broken already? That could have happened at any time, during that accident on the ride for example. Or when she vowed to Fyrir Gothi herself that she’d never been intimate with anyone but Hiccup, her husband-to-be? That could work, couldn’t it? Nobody would want to risk a scandal, after all. So even if she fell pregnant tonight… that wouldn’t really matter, would it?

Astrid’s blood was boiling hotter and her throat went dry at that idea, her vision becoming a little blurry. Gods, why wasn’t Hiccup here already?

In the next moment, she nearly fell off her bed, her heart jumping into her throat and beating furiously, when a knock came from the door. Hastily, she scrambled to her feet, bare on the plush carpet, and called for Ruff to come in.

“Tuff brought something for you,” Ruff announced, smirking when she noticed Astrid’s state, and stepped aside to allow Hiccup behind her to enter. “I’d say I wish you a good night… but–”

“But I’d like to sleep for once,” came Tuff’s voice from somewhere behind her. It made Astrid blush even harder.

Snickering, Ruff shrugged. “There you go. See you two in the morning.” And with those words, she left, pulling the door closed behind her – and leaving Astrid and Hiccup alone in her bedroom.

A heavy silence fell over them, only interrupted by their audible breathing. This was truly happening. Hiccup was here, in her bedroom! A place where – except for the occasional exception of a healer or her actual brother – nobody but Ruff was allowed. Not even Tuff would enter this room without a damn good reason. And now, she was alone here with Hiccup, with the man she loved, the man she was going to marry. The man whose touch and closeness she craved beyond anything else.

And they had all night…

. o O o .

Hiccup barely noticed how the door closed behind Astrid’s maidservant. His head was entirely empty, wiped clean since the moment he’d entered. He’d expected that spending the night with Astrid would be intense, but just being here was so much more than he’d anticipated. This room, so personal with pictures and decorations that just screamed Astrid, the bed, so big and inviting, and Astrid herself, hair loosely bound in her usual nighttime braid and dressed in only a thin night shift – it all made for an incredibly heady atmosphere.

“Hey,” Astrid eventually breathed a little shyly after he’d done nothing but stare at her for... he couldn’t say how long. Long enough, probably.

“Hey.” Swallowing hard, Hiccup managed to reply in the same manner. If she’d hoped for more of a reaction though, he couldn’t help but disappoint her, unable to form coherent thoughts or even to move. His eyes lingered where they shouldn’t, on her parted lips, plush and inviting, begging him to kiss them, and on the curves of her breasts and hips barely hidden by the thin fabric around her.

Freya, how much he wanted her…

His mouth went dry, even swallowing again and licking his lips to wet them not helping in the slightest. He still knew he couldn’t let anything happen, not for real. But it was nigh on impossible to remember that when she slowly came closer, bright eyes filled with warmth and longing holding him hostage.

When she stretched to kiss him, her lips on his felt so soft, somehow softer even than only hours before or during the one night they'd spent together on Eret's couch. They drew a low groan from somewhere deep in his chest, and without his doing, his hands curled around her waist, pulling her closer. Her response robbed him of the last shred of coherence when her hands grabbed at his hair, fingernails scraping, and she tilted her head to deepen their kiss.

Hiccup momentarily lost track of everything. All that mattered was the feeling of her lips, the taste of her skin as his mouth wandered down her neck, and the lovely sound of her gasping his name into his ear, silk and lace bunched up between his fingers as he hurled her closer still. Gods, he'd missed this so much, this closeness and heat, the intimacy of reconnecting with the missing part of his soul, with her, and it felt so completely right.

How couldn’t it be right?

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a small voice was warning him, but it got lost in the flood of sensation she elicited when she gently but determinedly tugged him along. His thighs hit the edge of her bed and without really noticing he kicked off his shoes before they both tumbled onto the soft mattress.

It was all just a blur. They rolled around on the bed until she lay beneath him, her lithe body tight against his and her hand tugging at him until he was where she wanted him. Her hands were everywhere, in his hair, running down his sides, clutching at his back while her lips stole every coherent thought from his mind.

Hiccup shook with desire, her touches sending sparks like lightning strikes through his entire body. Heat pooled in his lower belly, so close to where he could feel her against him. Resisting her was impossible.

Astrid uttered the softest moans when his hands roamed over her body in return, making his head spin and the thin fabric wasn’t enough to keep him from feeling her inviting warmth. He couldn't get enough, was addicted to every noise and every sensation, now after their separation even more so than before. Leaning down, his mouth wandered down her neck, kissing and tasting her, feeling her heartbeat pulsing against his tongue.

A shudder ran through his body when he felt her touch on his bare back beneath his tunic, not hesitant at all where fingers dug into scarred skin. It reminded him of how scared he’d once been of how she would react to his mangled body, to the signs of his failures, and of how much he trusted her now.

But the reminder also brought a brief moment of clarity to his mind, making him realise what they were doing. He lay on top of Astrid on her bed, with her thin night shift making a poor job at covering her body – especially with the skirt bunched up somewhere around her hips and the neckline nearly dropping off her shoulders. With the way she gazed up at him through dazed eyes and that pink flush on her cheeks, she looked breathtakingly beautiful, almost agonizingly. All he wanted at that moment was to give in, to feel her eager touch on his skin, to let her take off his tunic like she was trying just now, and to not care about the consequences.

But he did care, and greatly so.

"No," Hiccup gasped, fighting to keep his clarity of mind and not give in to her oh so tempting touch. He shook his head as if to clear it and then rolled off her with a groan, hands moving to cover his face. "No, no, we can't… mustn't… no…"

Gods, he was an idiot! Why had he let it come this far when he’d known to be wary of the temptation? With brutal force, he pulled up the memory of how she’d looked when he’d left her standing in the armoury, of all the pain he’d put her through. No matter how sweet her skin tasted on his tongue, it wasn’t worth risking her being in such pain again.

Although, it might be too late already. He clearly remembered the pain and confusion on her face whenever he’d pulled away from her before, her insecurities and fear of rejection. Why, oh why, hadn’t he resisted right from the start? If he’d only kissed her without getting carried away and explained himself right away… But he hadn’t resisted, had given in to his desire so readily, and now, he’d done it again, had–

“What is it?”

Her voice pulled him out of his whirling thoughts like nothing else could.

He’d expected her to be disappointed and hurt, but there was none of that. Instead, she sounded mostly calm and even a little curious, throwing him off track completely.

Gulping, he lowered his hands, his eyes finding hers in an instant. They were big, her pupils dilated, and there was a distinct flush on her cheeks, her breath coming a little faster than was normal. But aside from those obvious signs of arousal, she seemed surprisingly composed.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I didn’t mean to… to hurt you or reject you.”

“I know you didn’t,” she replied, her expression turning soft but also a little sad as her eyes dropped back to his lips for a heartbeat.

Hiccup swallowed again and sat up, turning around to better look at hero better talk to her. “You-you’re not… upset? That I wouldn’t...” Breaking off, he only nodded at her, her bare shoulders and neck so alluring that it was hard to even look at her.

Unintentionally taunting him further, she took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling with it, before she sat up as well. It made her shift slip even further down her arm, but she caught it before it could slip off completely and pulled it back up over her shoulder when she noticed him staring at exposed skin. When he looked up at her face again, she was smiling softly, her eyes gleaming.

“Hiccup, I know that you would never hurt me,” she said, that soft smile becoming even more beautiful somehow. “And I… I trust you, you know? In you and in our feelings, in our bond and our fate. Nothing will ever separate us again.” She frowned as if looking for the right words. “It’s… it sounds silly, I guess. Cocky. But I know that you... want me. There were times where I worried, yes, but those are over. So, if you refuse to touch me now… well, then I know it’s not because you don’t want to. I trust that you have a reason, something I just don’t get yet. But I also know that… I know that I can ask you everything. That I don’t need to be afraid or embarrassed, not ever. So… what is it?”

Hiccup could only gaze at her in awe, lips parting but unable to come up with a response. By the Gods, she was perfect! Once again he wondered what he’d done to deserve having her in his life.

Instead of answering, he leaned in and kissed her again. Maybe that wasn’t the wisest thing to do given how much his heart was still racing from their heated kiss only moments before. But he was more careful now, the kiss more controlled this time, fueled by gratitude and love instead of desire as he lifted his hand to cradle her face. She really was amazing. His thumb caressed her cheek as he ended the kiss and he instead leaned his forehead against hers. “I love you,” he whispered hoarsely.

Chuckling, Astrid retreated. “I love you too,” she replied, the warmth in her eyes almost enough to make him melt then and there. Then they lit up with a teasing spark. “But if that’s the reason why you retreated, then you’ll have to elaborate.”

Hiccup couldn't help but snort in amusement at her remark, even as he grimaced. He just hoped she would still be this understanding after he'd laid out his reasons. With a slight nod, he stood up, putting a little more space between them. He needed to explain himself and getting distracted by her closeness wouldn’t do him much good now.

"You're probably going to think I'm overreacting," he began, taking a few steps up and down her room. Casually, he looked around, taking in random details without really registering them. Doing anything just to not get distracted again. "But, this separation... Somehow, I feel like it was some kind of punishment. Or a warning maybe. I mean, sure, Cami said that what we did, getting intimate and all, wasn't against the rules. But even she can't know what the Gods really want." Hiccup paused, warily glancing over at her. But she didn't say anything, sitting at the edge of the high bed and watching him with her head cocked in confusion, so he quickly went on. "It's just… the timing, you know? Right before we were about to take that huge step and do anal sex, this… this major obstacle was thrown into our way.” Agitatedly, he threw his arms up, gesturing wildly. “And I'm having a tough time accepting that to only have been a coincidence. What if it was a sign instead? A sign that we're supposed to wait until we're truly married. Not just with actually having sex, but also with… well, with everything else.”

He could feel her disappointment now, even though she tried hard to not let it show. “Uh, okay?” she replied, a little insecurely. It was as if he could see the cogs in her head turning until she spoke again. “That’s… well, maybe you’re right, but…” She paused again, thinking, then shook her head. “I don’t think that makes much sense. I mean, it didn’t just happen because of what we did. Me getting married and all that, it had been planned for months, since just before the Midwinter ceremony.”

Hiccup nodded; she had a point, after all. But something about what she’d just said still poked at something in his mind. “Since before Midwinter?” How could she be sure about that?

“At least that’s what Eret mentioned,” she confirmed with a slight shrug. “Something about how Daniel had acted differently from one day to the other. Since that day you all went to meet Cami that first time, remember? He said that Daniel opted out of that visit at short notice and had a long talk with Father instead, and after that, his behaviour changed?”

Hiccup paled, his heart stuttering painfully. “That…” he muttered. “Gods, that’s even worse.” He took a few deep breaths to calm himself and tried to put order into his jumbling thoughts as it was clear that Astrid didn’t understand. “That night… Don’t you remember? That’s when we started. When Cami told me it would be all right to get intimate with you if we didn’t go too far and when you were waiting for me at the stables then, when we–”

“– when you made me come the first time,” she completed his sentence. There was understanding in her voice now, regret in her eyes.

He nodded again, gulping. “Exactly. And if that’s the night when your father decided to pull your wedding forward and to thwart all my plans to gain a title… Yeah, no, I really don’t believe that’s a coincidence!”

Astrid still didn’t seem convinced though. Chewing her lower lip, she slowly shook her head, thinking. “I don’t know, Hiccup. That’s just–”

“Exactly,” he interrupted her gently, stepping closer and reaching for her hand. “I don’t know either. But I’m not going to risk losing you again.”

At that, all her doubts and worries melted off her features and got replaced by something immeasurable softer. She pulled him closer and firmly intertwined her fingers with his. “You won’t lose me. Ever.”

Hiccup couldn’t help but return her soft smile, squeezing her hand but not replying directly. He wouldn’t take her or their future for granted again.

“So,” Astrid went on after a short pause, “what exactly does this mean now? Will you stay here tonight?”

Sighing, Hiccup nodded. Of course, strictly thinking even him being here and alone with her went far beyond what he should do. He should apologise to Astrid, thank her servants for their help, and leave, should not risk getting overwhelmed by temptation again. It would be the prudent thing to do. But even with all logical reasoning and pondering, there were things he simply couldn’t do – and staying away from Astrid was one of them.

“Yes, I will. I don’t know anymore which rules apply to us, so… Well, in that vision I had, the Goddess told me that I’d have to do what comes naturally to me. So I’ll just have to trust in my own judgement, I guess. And as long as we don’t get carried away, I don’t feel like being here is wrong.”

Astrid visibly relaxed. “That’s good. Because I don’t think so either,” she replied with a breathy little chuckle, but then became serious again. “But what else does it mean? Where would you draw the line? Just… just so I know?”

She sounded so vulnerable…

Hiccup gulped, reminding himself once more of how easily he could hurt her, of the power they both had over each other. He raised his hand to brush a strand of hair out of her face, caressing her soft skin as gently as he could. “I think this is all right,” he murmured, leaning closer. “And this, too.”

His lips brushed over hers and she hummed, mouth twitching into a smile as his tongue poked out to taste her. Slowly, almost despite himself, his hand rose to cup the back of her head, pulling her closer again, deeper into their kiss. Astrid responded with a happy sigh, lips parting to welcome him.

Quickly, the kiss grew firmer, more heated with breathless groans, tongues swirling, and teeth nipping at soft lips. Hiccup trembled with repressed desire; she was just so wonderful, perfect, everything. But he was careful this time, making sure that his hands stayed near her head, dropping only to her neck and shoulders and not lower. He could feel that Astrid wanted more, wanted to melt against him, to touch him, and he greatly appreciated that she held back nonetheless. His ability to resist temptation only reached so far.

When he pulled back again, there was a warm glow in her eyes, something that hadn’t been there just a minute ago but which he felt, too. After the months of exploring each other before her birthday, sticking to only rather innocent kisses like this one felt like not enough. But at the same time… it was enough. The closeness and assurance were all they needed, for now at least. Everything else would come back to them over time.

“Yes, I think it’s okay for me to be here,” he repeated, his voice a little rougher than before. “It’s okay for us to kiss, to cuddle, and to hold each other through the night.”

She nodded and he pulled her closer into his arms, just as she leaned against him too, not resisting when she guided them to lie down again. It wasn’t so they could continue to make out, so it was all right. And it felt so good to hold her like this again! His nose was in her hair, drowning him in that subtle scent of mayweed he’d missed so much, and his arm lightly rested around her waist, her warmth against his chest. He wouldn’t have minded spending the rest of the night like this.

“I missed this,” she whispered after a while. “This closeness, feeling you, and…”

She trailed off, squirming a little in his embrace. It made her rub against him in an incredibly enticing way, and with a small grunt, his hold around her waist tightened, keeping her still. Gods, he wanted…

He could feel how she actively restrained herself, almost trembling beneath his hands with the effort of keeping herself from moving further. “I’m sorry,” she chuckled, embarrassed. “I just… well, I’d hope we… that…” She broke off, biting her lip. Then she sighed. “But it’s... it’s okay. I understand. I think. And it’s only a few more weeks.” She turned her head to look up at him, smiling. “I can wait that long.”

Hiccup’s breath caught in his throat. Lying beneath him with that smile on her face, strands of her golden hair all around her on the pillow, illuminated only by the flickering light of the lantern, and with soft understanding glowing in her eyes… Gods, she was so beautiful, inside and out, irresistible. Almost.

“I’m sorry, too,” he murmured. “For disappointing you and–”

“Hush!” Astrid placed her hand over his lips. “You didn’t. It’s fine.”

Sighing, he closed his eyes and kissed her fingers, softly. It made her giggle, and when she pulled them back again after a minute, he opened his eyes again to look at her. “I love you, Astrid. And… and I promise to make it up to you.” He hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath, but then brought his mouth to her ear, his hand caressing her neck. “Every night, I’ll make it up to you, I swear…”

Astrid’s breath hitched, and for a heartbeat, Hiccup considered stretching his own rules a little, just once. Just letting his hand glide down her barely covered body, playing with her breasts and toying with her clit, just lazily getting her off while stealing the breath from her lungs with his kisses, just this one time. And he almost did it. When she turned her head and her lips found his again, there was a moment when his resolve crumbled and nearly failed him. She clearly wanted, how could he resist her?

But then he remembered the armoury again, the pain in her eyes as he’d left her standing – and pulled away.

“Mmh, I can’t wait,” Astrid hummed, her eyes dazed and dreamy as she looked up at him, panting.

Hiccup resisted the urge to watch her chest rise and fall and instead lay down next to her again, eyes firmly on her face. She didn’t need to know how close he’d been to giving in, how much he wanted to give in.

They made themselves more comfortable and for a long while just cuddled and enjoyed each other’s company before Astrid broke the silence again. “Can I ask you something?”

Hiccup frowned. “Of course. Whatever you want.” Hadn’t she just said herself that she could ask him everything? What made her think she couldn’t ask now?

Nodding, she turned around and eyed him somewhat curiously. “It’s… well, you mentioned a few times now that you had another vision. And I was wondering what it was about. I mean, you don’t have to tell me. I had none, so this one clearly was only for you. I’m curious though and thought, maybe, you could tell me about it? Only if you think it’s okay and want to…”

Understanding sparked in his mind and his features softened. “Sure. I don’t feel like it was meant to be a secret.” He shifted into a sitting position that made it easier to talk which Astrid mimicked, leaning against his side. “I was back at that small house we both saw, in the middle of a forest,” he began, trying to remember as many details as possible. “At first, I thought it was just the same vision again, then I noticed the differences. The door wouldn’t open to reveal you, and…”

. o O o .

Over the course of about half an hour, he told her of the dream-vision the Goddess had sent him, about how he’d needed Astrid's key to open the door, the Goddess wearing her face, and what she’d said to him. He told her everything he could remember and once he’d finished, Astrid was silent for a minute or two, processing what he'd told her.

"How did you know it wasn't just an ordinary dream?" she eventually asked.

Hiccup shrugged. "I didn't," he admitted. "Not right away. I spent the entire night and most of the following day pondering. I’d been so convinced that… that there was no hope left for us. But the night before, I’d talked to Cami and she’d said something that made me hope again, even as that wasn’t how she’d meant it. She’d said that, if we really were connected by a true soulbond, then not even the meddling of a King could separate us. She’d tried to convince me that our bond couldn’t be real because you would marry Eret, that I should let you go and move on... But I couldn’t shake off the thought that it also could mean something else, that nothing can ever separate us, not even your father. Because no matter what she said, I knew that our bond had been real. Is real.” He let his hand drop to her chest, and for once it was easy to ignore how close he was to touching her in a way he mustn’t do. Their bond was more meaningful than any physical aspects of their relationship.

“When I had that dream then…,” he went on. “You’re right, I couldn’t be sure whether it had been only a dream or not, and I spent the rest of the night and most of the following day thinking about it. What it could mean, whether I really was supposed to kill someone or whether that’s just been some imaginary task born from my desperation. I just couldn’t be sure, not… not until your accident and Markor…”

Astrid froze at his words, and he winced when she inhaled sharply, understanding what he was talking about.

“I’m sorry.” He wasn’t sure what exactly he was apologising for, ending Markor’s life or bringing up his death in the first place. Both in a way. She hadn’t brought that topic up so far, but he could imagine how much losing Markor must have hurt her. And Hiccup literally had his blood on his hands, the image of red sticking to his skin etched forever into his mind.

She nodded, shifting closer and eagerly leaned against him when he hesitantly opened his arms and offered a comforting hug. “It’s okay,” she mumbled after a while. “Not that he’s… but I’m okay. You couldn’t have changed anything of what happened and… What I mean is… I don’t blame you, you know? On the contrary, I’ll never forget him and I have you to thank for that.”

She nodded to the side of the bed and Hiccup spotted the wooden horse he’d given her as a Midwinter gift standing on her bedside table. He wasn’t sure how to react, whether to be sad or happy that this gift, that had only ended up in her belongings by chance, now served such an oddly fitting purpose. He’d wanted it to be a reminder of him, but now… It had been him who’d brought Markor into Astrid’s life on that first day at the stables and it had been him who’d taken him away again. Now, this figurine he’d given her was all that was left. Odd how some things fit together sometimes.

“So, until you… until you ended Markor’s suffering, you didn’t know whether what you saw had been real or not?”

Astrid was clearly trying to change the topic and distract herself, so Hiccup complied. “No, I couldn’t be sure. I spent hours pondering whether it had been merely a dream, wishful thinking, or a true vision.” He paused, taking a deep breath, and reached for Astrid’s hand before he went on; though whether to draw strength or offer comfort, he did not know. “I thought about what the Goddess had said… and whether I was capable of killing someone if it meant I could be with you again.”

Her sharp intake of breath didn’t escape him. “And… did you arrive at a conclusion?” she asked, her tone sober, unreadable.

Hiccup gulped, then shook his head. “No,” he whispered. “I mean, I’d do everything for you. But this… I don’t know. Maybe? Depending on the circumstances? I don’t think I could… could simply murder a helpless innocent in cold blood. But…” he paused again, averting his face from her scrutinising eyes. “But now that I know how it feels to lose you… I’d be capable of a lot to keep that from happening again.” He knew that she despised unnecessary deaths, so he wasn’t sure whether that was the answer she’d wanted to hear. But it was the truth nonetheless.

At first, she didn’t respond. After a few endless heartbeats though, she shifted on the bed, leaned closer, and lifted his head with her hand cradling his jaw. “You’ll do what’s right,” she whispered, a sincerity in her eyes that left him breathless. “The Goddess said you’d only have to do what comes naturally to you and I trust your judgement. Everything will be all right.”

Sighing, he closed his eyes and leaned more heavily into her touch, nuzzling against her fingers and softly kissing her palm. “I hope you’re right,” he murmured.

She kept caressing his face, her touch soft as a feather. “I’d go with what the Goddess told you. There’s always hope,” she said lightly, and even though his eyes were still closed he could hear her smile easily enough. “I do wonder what you’re supposed to do for them, though. That bit about them having a purpose in their selection sounded pretty ominous.”

Hiccup nodded, having wondered about that several times already. “I know. But all we can do is wait and see. She didn’t tell me about anything specific I’m supposed to do – except for that ending a life part.” He shrugged, then grimaced. “I mean, maybe it’s just rebuilding Ravenledge and providing a better life for the people living there. That’s going to be enough of a challenge I’d say.”

“Well, you won’t be alone with that task,” Astrid reminded him, leaning forward until her forehead rested against his own. “We can do this, together. No matter how difficult it will be.”

Smiling, his mouth searched hers for a string of light kisses. “Yeah,” he mumbled in-between against her lips. “Together.”

It was a heady thought. The last couple of days still hadn’t been enough to completely wipe away the hopelessness and pain of the two weeks before, and thinking about how they would spend their future and meet every obstacle together from now on – sometimes it still felt like too much to wrap his head around.

“I’ve got to say though,” Astrid interrupted his thoughts, giggling as they lay side by side again. “I’m surprised nothing else happened in that dream-vision of yours.”

“Excuse me?”

She giggled again, a little more teasingly. “Well, you met the Goddess of Love herself! And even though the situation warranted more, you did nothing but talk and cuddle for a bit? Most people would call that a wasted opportunity.”

Snorting, he rolled his eyes. “What was I supposed to do? Should I have kissed her and made out with her? With a Goddess?”

“Why not?” She was still giggling. “She looked like me after all. Nobody could have blamed you, and you said it yourself, you didn’t even know that it wasn’t really me in the beginning. Or that it was more than just a dream to begin with. It would have been perfectly justified.”

Bemused, he shook his head. She couldn’t be serious, could she? Or was there a hint of jealousy behind her amusement, some underlying worries? But no, that wasn’t like her. When he looked at her though, he noticed the teasing gleam in her eyes, the twitching of her lips. Right…

Smiling, he rolled around until he was on his side, propped up on one arm and leaning over her. Astrid looked up at him, eyes so soft despite the mischievous spark and the deep blue almost enough to lose himself in them again.

“You want to know why?” he whispered before he brushed a few strands of hair out of her face and then leaned down to kiss her again. “Because she wasn’t you.”

. o O o .

In many aspects, the night hadn’t been what Astrid had expected and yet she wasn’t disappointed, not really at least. Without a doubt, she missed Hiccup’s hands on her body, his touch on sensitive skin, the heat of intimacy. But somehow, she didn’t mind. The night had passed by in another kind of intimacy, with soft caresses and relatively innocent kisses and with a lightness that she found meant even more to her. They’d talked for hours and about so many things, important and trivial alike, and while it hadn’t been the reconnecting she’d craved, it was the one she’d needed.

When she woke in the morning, she couldn’t keep a broad smile from spreading across her face. Even through her still-closed eyes, she knew that the sun was already rising, but in opposition to their usual routine, there was no need for them to hurriedly wake up and part. There was nothing keeping her from enjoying his arms loosely wrapped around her waist, his low and even breathing in her hair, and the incredibly comfortable heat purring from his body wrapped around her back. There was nothing keeping her from snuggling closer against him, sighing happily as he reflexively pulled her closer.

Nothing except the loud knocking against her door and Ruff’s voice echoing toward them.

“Milady? Are you decent?” There was a short pause, then, “I’m coming in now.”

Astrid rolled her eyes and nestled closer to Hiccup behind her as he stirred awake with a low grunt. She’d talked about this with Ruff the night before and they’d agreed on a few things in advance. Mainly that her maidservant wouldn’t just barge into her bedroom like she usually did to wake her. Sadly, there wouldn’t be anything indecent anytime soon anyway, so it was a little moot, really. Unless Ruff wasn’t alone, then she would say so before opening the door so Hiccup had the chance to hide. But as it was, Ruff was alone when she entered the bedroom, so Astrid couldn’t have cared less. She wasn’t ready yet to leave his warm embrace.

Hiccup, however, jumped awake in an instant. He sat up straight, pulling the blanket up with him, and his face went frighteningly pale as he stared at Ruff before he seemed to remember and relaxed again. Lamenting the warmth, Astrid sat up too and snuggled back against his chest, smiling as he wrapped his arms and the blanket back around her.

Ruff threw them a smirk, raising her eyebrows at the obvious state of them still being fully dressed, but then turned to pull the curtains open. “I’d say ‘Sorry for interrupting you’, but it doesn’t look like I interrupted anything anyway. I knew Tuff was exaggerating. Anyway, time to get up. Your breakfast is waiting for you at your tea table, Astrid. Hiccup, you get yours in the kitchen as usual. Sorry, but there was no way for me to sneak in your portion without raising suspicion.”

Intending to drown Ruff’s babbling out to enjoy her last minutes with Hiccup for the day, Astrid still perked up, frowning at her maidservant’s words.

“What?”

Ruff turned, an insinuating smirk on her face as she rolled her eyes. “I said your breakfast is–”

“No, no, I got that,” Astrid interrupted her, sitting up straighter now even as her mind was whirling in confusion. “But why? Why would I eat here? What about my usual breakfast with the King and the Grand Dukes?”

On so many occasions lately, she’d wished she could simply skip the common meal and eat alone in her rooms, but not today. Today, she had something important to talk about with her father, and not just she. Duke Oswald had to agree to giving County Ravenledge to Hiccup, too, and they needed their and Eret II’s support to rebuild it. Who knew when else she, Eret, and Dagur would get the chance to talk to their fathers? She didn’t want to wait any longer.

She looked up at Hiccup, seeking… she didn’t even know what exactly. Reassurance somehow. But he looked just as confused as she felt. And worried.

“I don’t know, exactly,” Ruff said, shrugging apologetically. “All I know is that there was a change of plan somehow. Today’s hunt got cancelled and instead, your father summoned all of your suitors for an announcement.“

Beneath her hand on his chest, Hiccup trembled. “Oh, no,” he muttered. “That doesn’t sound good,”

Astrid could only agree, but she didn’t want him to fret again. He was already carrying more guilt than was necessary. She shifted until she kneeled in front of him, for once towering over him, and took his face in both her hands. “Don’t worry, okay?” she said with as much conviction as she could muster. “Whatever it is, this doesn’t change anything. Do you hear me? We belong together and nothing will ever change that. Together to the end of the road. Promise.”

Hiccup looked up at her with conflicted eyes, clearly wanting to believe her but unable to fully do so. “I hope you’re right,” he muttered, swallowing, then leaned more heavily into her touch, his forehead resting against hers. “I really do.”

. o O o .

Yes, she didn’t want Hiccup to fret about whatever her father had to announce. However, not fretting about it herself was an entirely different matter. What could be so important that he cancelled all plans for the day?

Struggling to not let her nervousness show, she was standing in the audience room, next to and a little behind her father as they waited for everyone to arrive. As her future husband, Eret was allowed to stand behind her, and now, she understood how hard the previous day must have been for him. Even though the presence of the King certainly kept many from showing their envy and disdain too openly, the looks Eret got for being up here with her were anything but friendly. But even though she wished she could spare him all this, she also was grateful for his presence. It was all that kept her from falling apart.

The last time her father had made an announcement, he’d torn apart all her dreams and plans. He wouldn’t reject her upcoming betrothal to Eret and hand her back to all these leering predators in front of her because of such a stupid rumour, would he? No, certainly not. But she couldn’t help but fear for what he had to say nonetheless.

“Do you know what this is about?” she whispered, her head tilted to the side so only Eret could hear her. Surely his thoughts had gone in a similar direction than hers.

“No idea,” Eret grunted quietly. “Father wouldn’t say anything even though he clearly knows what’s going on. He was excited though, even grinning, so I guess it’s nothing too bad.”

Swallowing, Astrid nodded weakly. At least it wouldn’t be the cancellation of their betrothal. She just hoped that he was right, that it wouldn’t get too bad. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take.

A few minutes later, everyone seemed to have arrived as two servants closed the doors, and Astrid reached behind her for Eret’s hand. She needed her brother’s support, feeling a little lighter as he squeezed her reassuringly.

“I see everyone’s here now,” her father began, smiling broadly at the crowd. He seemed to be in a good mood. “Good. I have exciting news. Even though it’s still over a week until the betrothal ceremony, my daughter has made her decision already, and while I couldn’t be happier about her choice, I also see how it affects the mood and motivation for the remaining challenges.” There was consenting grumbling all over the room, many men throwing disappointed glances at her and Eret.

“I was already thinking about how to solve this problem,” her father went on, “when a note from Oramond reached me yesterday.”

Puzzled, Astrid cocked her head. Oramond was a city located north of Volantis, about a day’s ride away. She dimly remembered having been there as a child as it was famous for its market, the only one where merchants from the Northern Tribes sold their goods. Or used to sell their goods. Over the last ten years, fewer and fewer merchants had shown up until the city had lost its significance. What message from there could be so important that her father changed his plans?

She didn’t need to wait long for the answer.

“As some of you know, the lands north of Volantis still occasionally suffer from dragon attacks. This year though, there were ten times as many sightings as usual already. Livestock was stolen, and last week, one of Oramond’s storehouses was burned to the ground. And while this development is truly unfortunate, it can also be seen as a blessing in disguise as it gives us an unexpected opportunity.”

The King made a short dramatic pause, looking around into the waiting faces before he continued, his voice a little louder now. “Three decades have passed since we last held a Dragon Hunt. But now, the Gods bless us with this impeccable chance. From today on, all upcoming hunts and tournaments until the betrothal ceremony are cancelled. Instead, everyone gets the chance to prepare themselves for in four days from today, we will all travel to Oramond. From there, the first Dragon Hunt since my father’s reign will be held. It will go on for three days before a winner is determined. My daughter’s hand, while a suitable and traditional prize, is not an option anymore, but I think I’ve found an acceptable alternative. I’m happy to announce that the winner of this Dragon Hunt, the man who brings me the head of a dragon, will not only earn himself a pouch of gold and glory beyond any other, but will also receive the right to call himself the Count of Ravenledge.”

. o O o .

AN: Yeah, so… we all knew it wouldn't be that easy, didn't we?

And to all those people who (repeatedly) asked about when I'd FINALLY include the dragons… are you satisfied now? O:)

I can't say how regularly I'm going to update from now on. When a chapter is done, I'll post it.

If you want to support me, buy me a coffee ;) (Ko-Fi)

Next chapter

#FTLOAP #For The Love Of A Princess #Hiccstrid #hiccstrid fanfiction #httyd fandom #httyd fanfiction #fanfiction #royalty au #hiccstrid royal au #medieval au #Hiccstrid Medieval AU #fluff #romance

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angelofbenignmalevolence · 4 years

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Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Thunderbirds Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Scott Tracy, Virgil Tracy, John Tracy, Gordon Tracy, Alan Tracy, Grandma Tracy, Brains (Thunderbirds) Additional Tags: Dungeons and Dragons, Game Night, Fluff, Humor Series: Part 4 of IR Relief 2020 Ficlets Summary:

A massive storm has grounded the Thunderbirds and the boys are bored. When the power goes out, Alan decides to bring his family together for a rousing game night featuring Dungeons and Dragons!

“Any younger brother teaching Scott something he doesn’t know” submitted as a prompt by @tsarinatorment for International Rescue & Relief (https://nutty.gumnut.net/irrelief/). If the reception to this is good and I continue, there may also be a hint of "Here be Dragons" as a prompt as well. Hope that a two for one is acceptable!! :D

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This was not your average storm. This storm had been building in power for days and it was one of the very few times that International Rescue had been grounded due to hazardous weather conditions. If they couldn’t safely get the birds in the air, they couldn’t rescue anyone. Even John had come down from Thunderbird 5. If anything went wrong up there while the storm was passing over them, there would be no way to get in contact with Five, and after Scott had heard that communications had been wiped out in the areas that had already been in the storm’s wake, there had been no room for discussion.

This explained why the five Tracy brothers, Grandma Tracy, Brains, Kayo and Max were currently hunkered down in the bunker built under the island for just such occasions. John sat at the table, twisting a hologram of the Earth as he continued to monitor the path of the storm. As soon as it was safe to fly again, there was a very good chance that International Rescue would have their work cut out for them. Virgil sat in front of an easel in the corner, working on his latest masterpiece as he hummed softly to himself. These quiet moments of interlude were often the only opportunities he had to work on his art, and he made sure to take full advantage of them. Brains and Scott spoke in hushed tones about new research and development ideas moving forward. Kayo watched the room silently, her security instincts always on high alert. The Hood had gotten to Tracy Island once. She wouldn’t put it past him to try again under the cover of the big storm. Gordon and Alan sat at the table with Grandma Tracy, a deck of cards between them all.

“Read ‘em and weep boys,” Grandma said, laying out her cards on the table, eliciting groans from the two youngest of the Tracy brothers.

“That’s six games in a row!” Gordon groaned as Grandma Tracy moved the pile of chocolate candies they had been using as the betting pot over to her side of the table.

“What can I say?” she said with a smile as she began to shuffle the cards again. “Your grandfather used to be quite the card shark in his day and I learned to play cards with the best of them. Another round?” Alan pushed away from the table.

“I’m out, Grandma,” he said, moving over to one of the open couches and flopping back on the cushions. His eyes traced the lines on the ceiling. While he was always grateful for a brief respite of constant call outs, Alan was very easily bored. There were only so many card games, so much homework, and so much time sitting around waiting for something to do that he could handle. The storm had knocked out all server connections to his online game, so he didn’t even have his normal escape from boredom. He let out a sigh. Man, this blows. I wish there was something that we could all do together.

The room went dark. The sudden lack of humming from the lights and the quieting of the whir of Tracy Island’s innards was nearly deafening for a few brief moments. The only thing they could hear in the darkness was the distant whoosh of the storm that was currently buffeting the Island.

“What just happened?” Scott asked. Alan heard him getting to his feet in the inky darkness of the room.

“Looks like the power went out,” came Gordon’s voice, the ever-present mischief in his voice not dulled at all by the occurrence. Alan smiled as he swore he could almost hear Scott glaring into the darkness.

“Obviously,” Scott replied.

“The back-up generators should k-k-kick on anytime,” came Brains’ voice, followed by Max whirring as he moved across the floor to where Brains sat, unimpeded by the darkness. Kayo shifted uncomfortably as the several seconds it should have taken for the generator to kick on again stretched into a minute, and then more.

“The generator should have kicked on by now,” she said, all her security instincts on alert.

“It has been awhile since we’ve done a test on the generators down here. It’s p-possible that the redundant generator could have been knocked out as well,” Brains reasoned. The bunker was used so infrequently that the maintenance on the Thunderbirds often superseded the six-month checks on the equipment down on the bunker. And once it had been delayed, it was often forgotten in the hum and excitement of the near constant rescues.

“Maybe I should go check it out, just in case,” Kayo said, and there was the sound of her getting up off the wall. The sound of a chair scraping against the floor indicated that either Gordon or Grandma Tracy had gotten to their feet as well

“Are you crazy?” Gordon’s voice hadn’t moved, meaning the slow footsteps across the room belonged to their grandmother, which was confirmed with a soft oof and a couple muttered words. “It’s pitch black out there. And we don’t know about comms with all of our systems down.” There was the sound of a cupboard opening and some rustling.

“All the more reason for me to check and see why our power is down. If it’s a matter of the storm and there’s something that’s preventing the generator from working, we should know that,” she said. She didn’t voice her concerns that the Hood had infiltrated the Island again. A soft aha preceded a flash of light from the kitchen area as Grandma pulled out a battery powered LED lantern. After the momentary blindness from the suddenness of the light, the whole room was bathed in the muted blueish glow of the lantern. Grandma set it on the small counter and ducked into the cupboard again.

“I know we have a couple of these to spare,” she said. “I can send one along with you, Kayo,” she said, rifling through the cupboard.

“M-M-Max can go with you too. If it is a mechanical failure, he has been uploaded with the schematics of everything and can help you fix the problem,” Brains offered. Kayo nodded to him.

“Thank you, Brains,” she said. Grandma brought over another lantern to her and Kayo turned it on, moving to the door. “C’mon Max.” The little robot whirred happily at being given something to do and rolled away after Kayo. The clunk of the door echoed softly for a moment before the room was bathed in silence momentarily.

“Well,” Virgil said, getting up from where he was sitting in front of his easel. “I guess that’s me being done with painting for the time being. I have to let the layer dry anyway.” He plopped down on the couch next to Alan, moving his brother’s feet to make room for him.

“Yeah, I think that’s most of us being done for the time being,” Gordon lamented as he came over to join the rest of the family. “Not a whole lot to be done in the dark. Except, you know, ghost stories or whatever.” No one else seemed as enthused as Gordon about the idea of ghost stories, but the idea sent Alan’s mind churning. Maybe not ghost stories but…

Alan sat up, Virgil looking at him as Alan’s limbs flailed into a seated position on the couch. That’s a brilliant idea! Alan thought to himself. All I have to do is convince them it’s a good idea too.

“Everything ok, Al?” Virgil asked.

“What? Oh, yeah, everything’s fine,” Alan said. “I was just thinking…there is something that we can do while it’s dark and it would give everyone something to do.”

“Oh?” Gordon’s curiosity had been piqued.

“I’m listening,” Virgil said. Alan hesitated for a moment.

“Well, I was trolling the forums for Cavern Quest the other week and some of the older players were talking about an old school tabletop roleplaying game called Dungeons and Dragons and I was looking into it and it sounded really cool. It’s where you have this dungeon master and they start a story and the players are all a part of it and based on the decisions you make, the story changes and…” Alan started, his words almost blending together in excitement but as his brothers continued to stare at him, he began to trail off. Gordon’s face was the first to break into a smile.

“That sounds amazing! Count me in,” he said.

“Sure, I’m game,” Virgil was next to chime in after a short pause. “It’s better than sitting here in the half-light.” Alan’s eyes lit up. That was two of his brothers.

“Oh, why not.” Alan turned, a little surprised to hear his grandmother agreeing. “I played once or twice when I was in college. Don’t remember much of it but I’ll play. Brains will too.”

“I w-will?” he asked, but Grandma was already ushering him over to the table. Alan’s face broke out into a grin. He had expected to maybe get all of his brothers on board, but this…this was even better! He turned to his other two brothers. He turned puppy dog eyes on John, who sighed.

“If you can convince Scott to play, I’ll join in,” he said. Scott had little time to brace himself for the full force of Alan’s hopeful expression.

“Please, Scott? Pleeeeeeeeease??” Alan asked. Scott internally winced at how hopeful he sounded and how devastated he knew his brother would be if he didn’t agree.

“Al…I don’t know how to play...” Scott tried to sidestep the decision. His brothers were always the more creative ones, whether it was Virgil with his art, Gordon with his pranks, John with his inventions, or Alan, who had a five page backstory written up for his character on Cavern Quest. Scott was much more logic minded, rooted in numbers and systems. Alan was undeterred.

“I’ll teach you, Scott. It doesn’t take that long to get the hang of it. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?” Alan asked again and Scott felt his resolve crumble.

“Alright, I’ll play,” he said and Scott was almost surprised that Alan didn’t launch himself into orbit with the excitement that exuded from him. He took Scott’s hand and dragged him over to the table, mirth in John’s eyes as he followed a bit more sedately. Alan bounced over to where Grandma had stocked a small cabinet full of games and dug around for some dice sets he knew were in the back behind all the boxes. He brought them over to the table and passed them around to everyone.”

“Ok…so first…let’s roll up characters!”

#thunderbirds are go #scott tracy #john tracy #virgil tracy #gordon tracy #alan tracy #grandma tracy #brains #irrelief2020 #irrelief #one of mine #fanfiction #my fanfiction

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wood-warder · 5 years

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Really Long Character Survey

( @yascaret edited/removed some of the questions to make this more FFXIV-friendly )

RULES. Repost, don’t reblog ! Tag 10 ! Good luck!

TAGGED BY. @yascaret and @violet-warder

TAGGING. EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BASICS.

FULL NAME : Pjel Qoet

NICKNAME : NO.

AGE : It’s a mystery!

BIRTHDAY : Summer

ETHNIC GROUP : Viera (Rava)

NATIONALITY : Ivalician (?)

LANGUAGE / S : Common

SEXUAL ORIENTATION : Homosexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : Homoromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS : Much to her own surprise, she’s [re]entered into a relationship with Lofn Yascaret and Aja Hyskaris

HOME TOWN / AREA : Qoet, Golmore

CURRENT HOME : A little house in Shirogane, maybe?

PROFESSION : Dark Knight, monster hunter, adventurer

PHYSICAL.

HAIR : White with peach undertones, long and thick. Generally straight and kept neatly brushed and parted. On rare occasions, she’ll tie the bulk of it up into an enormous ponytail.

EYES : Bright copper.

FACE : Heavy lidded eyes, gently sloped cheeks, and a firm jaw that ends in a rounded point of a chin. Strong expressions are a rare sight as she seems to emote largely with her brows.

LIPS : Full.

COMPLEXION : Dark, brown-grey. A smudge of a paler shade rings her nostrils and beneath the tip of her nose. Dappled with freckles most prominently across the apples of her cheeks.

BLEMISHES : None that are visible at least.

SCARS : Typically hidden. There are a few cuts, gashes, and worse that have left their marks.

TATTOOS : A small marking on the bridge of her nose, the meaning of which is a mystery.

HEIGHT : *Tall*.

WEIGHT : On the heavier side, for Viera, on account of being RIPPED.

BUILD : Marginally wider set than average for Viera. RIPPED, most notably in her core and upper body.

FEATURES : Pjel considers herself fairly plain for Viera. A strong nose and thick brows, combined with her general impassiveness, lends herself to looking fairly severe and unfriendly in most instances. Thankfully, she’s fond of wearing a black face plate which cranks that up a few notches further!

ALLERGIES : None that she’s aware of yet.

USUAL HAIR STYLE : Worn down, long and parted down the middle. More of a mane than a defined style.

USUAL FACE LOOK : Aloof, indifferent, perhaps even bored. In the company of friends, she’s more prone to soft grins that are barely even there.

USUAL CLOTHING : Heavy plate and mail in golds, black, and crimson. Loose shirts, preferably with high collars and low necklines. Trousers and heeled boots. Hyur fashions fascinate her but her sense leans towards crisp, utilitarian lines.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR / S : Nothing. (Except for Garlean war machina, losing herself to Mist frenzy, and failure in general.)

ASPIRATION / S : To live an honorable life, even if she will not be remembered by her home.

POSITIVE TRAITS : Fearless, stalwart, honest.

NEGATIVE TRAITS : Reckless, distant, too quick to trust, might have a bit of a martyr complex.

MBTI : ESTJ-A (Executive)

ZODIAC : Virgo

TEMPERAMENT : Phlegmatic

SOUL TYPE / S : Server

ANIMALS : Lion

VICE HABIT / S : Brooding, gambling, distancing herself from loved ones (whoops!)

FAITH : After a fashion, though not in Eorzea’s gods at least

GHOSTS ? : Yes

AFTERLIFE ? : Sure

REINCARNATION ? : One can only hope

ALIENS ? : ????

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT : Garlemald bad

EDUCATION LEVEL : Enough to get by: basic reading/writing, basic arithmetic.

FAMILY.

FATHER : Somewhere

MOTHERS : Pjel has moved past resentment and settled into indifference. She thinks about them still, but not with any fondness.

SIBLINGS : Many, none of whom she has spoken to in decades.

EXTENDED FAMILY : Certainly. When she knew them, she had little involvement in their lives. Now, she has none.

NAME MEANING / S : Pjel of Qoet. If there is a deeper meaning to her name, it was not shared with her.

HISTORICAL CONNECTION ? : She was born there.

FAVORITES.

BOOK : NO.

DEITY : She respects the reverence of spirits as they do in Doma, but she is not inclined to worship them.

HOLIDAY : ????

MONTH : Summer

SEASON : Summer

PLACE : On the road between places, the interludes between one challenge and the next. A busy marketplace. Gardens and woods.

WEATHER : Bright sunny days. Light summer rains, the kind that get humid and sticky.

SOUND / S: Rustling grass and leaves. Birdsong. The steady drip or babble of water.

SCENT / S : Approaching rainfall. Grasses, leaves, and earth. Flowers. Incense.

TASTE / S : Fresh fish. Grilled meats. Creamy stews full of vegetables and mushrooms. Girlfriends.

FEEL / S : Polished metal. Hard woods. Tree bark. Fur.

ANIMAL / S : Cats. Chocobos, to a lesser extent.

NUMBER : What kind of nerd picks favorite numbers (it’s 3)

COLORS : Greens, browns, blues

EXTRA.

TALENTS : Cutting things the fuck up, teamwork, assessing threats quickly

BAD AT : Thinking things through, seeing the bigger picture, maintaining calm once she’s started to lose her temper, understanding and managing money, seeing through lies

TURN ONS : Women, especially the ones who can beat her up. Meaningful stares. Brief touches of skin.

TURN OFFS : Flirtatious men, chaotic or evil people, cowards, Garleans

HOBBIES : Fishing, mending armor and blades, gambling

TROPES : Lady and the Knight, Blood Knight, Combat Stilettos, Cool Mask, BFS, Emotion Suppression, Rage Breaking Point, Dark-skinned Blonde, Statuesque Stunner, Big Ol’ Eyebrows, You Can’t Go Home Again, The Stoic, Held Gaze...

QUOTES : “Let me make it up to you” is a thing she’s been saying to too many people recently

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 : If you could write your character your way in their own movie, what would it be called, what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about?

A1 : Some cheesy fantasy/action romp where Pjel not only becomes a renowned knight but also the champion of a beautiful sorceress and the rival/bro of another equally renowned knight. It would be called Final Fantasy 8 and everyone in it is gay.

Q2 : What would their soundtrack/score sound like?

A2 : A lot of ambient sounds with light melodies that ramp up into cool battle themes. Basically a Soulsborne soundtrack.

Q3 : Why did you start writing this character?

A3 : I’ve been dying for a viera character since they were teased at Fanfest 2014, and I have a deep love for the whole [dark] knight aesthetic. It’s helped tremendously that I have some really cool friends to bounce ideas and dumb headcanons off of.

Q4 : What first attracted you to this character?

A4 : Viera + DRK = GOOD SHIT, but I am currently living for the Buny Death Squad

Q5 : Describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse.

A5 : She’s very short sighted and has a pretty black and white view of the world which can lead her to being dismissive towards people or ideas. Writing her has presented its own set of challenges because I try to rely more on body language and things like that. Sometimes I get the message across, sometimes not!

Q6 : What do you have in common with your muse?

A6 : I have no connection to my family and I don’t know how to talk to girls.

Q7 : How does your muse feel about you?

A7 : I don’t think Pjel would think of me at all because I am a soft, weak human who has nothing to offer to the world.

Q8 : What characters does your muse have interesting interactions with ?

A8 : Lofn and Aja have been wonderful foils and the chemistry they’ve been trying to rediscover has been so interesting to see. Meeting Anchor got off on such an odd foot (I’M SORRY) but I’ve enjoyed the dynamic there and I’m eager to see where their relationship goes. Likewise with Batuhan and Arasen but yall know I’m a sucker for Stoic Cool Warriors and Bastards, respectively. Nabi and Ghoa have been so delightful in their own ways, and I’m curious to see Pjel learn of Ghoa’s more manipulative tendencies... if she does at all, being the big idiot she is.

Q9 : What gives you inspiration to write your muse ?

A9 : Various battle themes, a lot of stuff from like FF8 and FF9. Soulsborne stuff because I’m weak for it. Also reading anything and everything from RP friends!! Cause yall are inspiring!!!!!!!!

Q10 : How long did this take you to complete ?

A10 : The better part of a day off and on! I saved the tropes bit for last cause I knew that was going to take the longest.

#character development #boy this is a long one

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exydays · 5 years

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Events & Highlights

2019 April Fool’s Event - The advent of June marks the month of April IC! This year, we hosted a largely OOC event in celebration of April 1st. Members were assigned a character to roleplay at random. They were then challenged to write a scene as the swapped character. The task was to navigate a supermarket to gather ingredients to bake a cake. The swapped characters were paired off in teams, with suitably bizarre - and often hilarious! - encounters and mishaps along the way. This event was held from June 1st - June 7th, and was considered non-canon.

Exy Days’ 1 year anniversary - June marks a special occasion and commendable landmark for our server! We officially turned 1 year old as of June 1st, 2019. We’ve seen our share of IC drama, and have experienced the joy of new members since our creation in 2018. This month is dedicated to our members and our server. We hosted mini-games and our first ever award’s ceremony, complete with various prizes for our members.

End of Year 1 - The fall semester is just around the corner! Our server will break for a brief ‘summer break’ interlude beginning the week of July 15th! If you’ve been hesitant about joining us, now is the perfect opportunity! The fall 2019 semester will begin August 1st. For our current members, this will allow those characters who passed finals to advance a year. (Freshmen are now sophomores, sophomores are now juniors, etc.) For those who are just joining us, it gives them a chance to join the team at the start of a new season. We’re looking forward to this season, and another year’s anniversary!

#aftg #aftg rp #tfc #updates

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weaselle · 5 years

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this JUST happened

on Wednesdays I leave and my shift lead closes the restaurant. She’s a 19 year old server with chronic anxiety, and we made her shift lead even though it is stressful because she showed any interest in it and we needed her help. My boss is on vacation and I’m the only manager this week. I’m house sitting 4 towns over, a 45 minute drive each way. I get off work, drive the 45 minutes, get in, feed my friend’s cat, put on some lounging clothes, take a relaxing puff, and I’m almost done eating dinner when my boss calls me. “Heeyyyyyy. I hate to ask you to go back to work right now, but Jazzy locked her keys in the office” Shit. That means she can’t lock the store or set the alarm or put the money in the safe or anything. I pretty much have to go. Fuck that tho, Kie is my name and problem solving is my game. “Okay boss, I’m going to call Jazzy and see what can be done, I’ll go out there if I have to, I’ll text you to let you know how it goes.” This is a puzzle, and I love puzzles. So I call Jazzy. She picks up right away “Kieeeeeee, I know I say this all the time, but I’m dyyyyyyyying, I locked my keys in the office and there’s no way I’m going over the wall I’ll break all my ankles.” The wall the office door is set in only goes up most of the way, there’s a two foot gap between the top of that wall and the office. I think the first owners of the building were going to put those weird top-of-the-wall windows in or something. I’ve gone over it quite easily a few times (real secure office, right? i guess the big iron safe inside helps.) but Jazzy sounds super anxious that I’m going to tell her she has to climb over it. “Okay, Jazzy, don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to go over the wall. Now, I can come unlock the office, that’s a solution we have in our back pocket and we can do that, but it’ll take almost an hour, and I just want to spend a few minutes seeing if there’s another solution. How does that sound?” “okay” “Alright!“ I sound way more positive than I feel. If I was there locked out of the office, there are several things I could think of, but... We spend several minutes going through options; she describes the door jam to me, confirming my memory that the outside is the wrong side to pop the latch with a credit card or knife. A brief exploration into her understanding of how locks function reveals that she’s probably not going to learn to pick a lock over the phone. Then I remember the ladder. Jazzy. In the back bathroom. The ladder in the bathroom is tall enough to see over the office wall, can you set it up and tell me if you can see your keys?” “Maybe, but I still can’t climb down the other side I’ll break all my ankles and probably my whole face!” “It’s okay, you’re not climbing over the wall. I just want you to tell me if you can see them.” a brief, clattery, curse-filled time later “yeah, okay, I can see them, they’re on the desk” “okay, I need you to climb down and position the ladder so that when you are up and looking at your keys, you are physically as close to them as possible.” more thunking and cursing “okay. But I still can’t reach them. By a lot.” “That’s okay. You’re doing great. We’re having an adventure. Okay, so, looking at that distance, I want you to think of something like a rope or a wire or something we could use to hook your keys.” “A rope?” “yeah, or anything, a stick or something. The paddles the cooks stir soup with are pretty long; probably not long enough I s’pose. Or, the chain we lock up the outside tables with is like a rope... I guess the chain is already locked to the tables tho.” “yeah. and the key to that lock is in the office. What about the hose to the mop bucket? It even has a hook thingie on the end we hang it up with. Oh, there’s no way to undo it from the sanitizer pump though, hunh.” “Ah, no, but that would have been perfect! that’s really good, keep thinking of stuff like that!” We wrack our brains, throwing out a few ideas. I have a thought. “Hey Jazzy, it is about as far away as a broom is long?” “I dunno, maybe.” “Alright, go get one of our brooms. the brooms we use, you can unscrew the broom head from the handle. Go do that, and tell me if you can touch your keys with the broom handle.” yet another interlude cluttered with curses and clangs. “It doesn’t reach.” “by how far?” “like, a few inches” “that’s great! Now we just need to tape something hook-like to the end, if we had a big paperclip, or-” “TIN FOIL” “Holy shit, Jazzy! Yes! You complete genius, that’s perfect! Go make yourself a hook from tin foil, tape it to the broomstick, and get your keys back. Text me to tell me how it goes! Good luck!” she texted me back a pic five minutes later of her with her tin-broom harpoon, her keys, and a big grin. And that’s how I solved a problem with Jazzy in twenty minutes from the comfort of this very chair, using communication and cooperative people management, instead of driving an hour and a half in the middle of the night.

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thegrimmrwbyfanblog · 7 years

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Summer and Glynda’s Night Out

Guess who's not dead! That's right!

It's Damien-Kova! He's the one who proposed this story trade to me on the discord server I run/we moderate (that plug was subtle enough, right?)! The idea is that we would both do a prompt for each other as a way to motivate one another (read: me). His request was Summer Rose and Glynda Goodwitch as pole dancers and getting jiggy with it (the kids still say that, right?) in some way while mine is on his blog.

So go thank Damien-Kova for this piece.

"And now gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Grace and Harmony!" The patrons of the gentlemen's club cheered as the two starlets of the moment strutted onto the stage on their high heel pumps.

"Really, Summer? Harmony?" Glynda muttered under breath, low enough that the loud thumping music covered it before it reached earshot of the men at the chairs next to the stage. Her large breasts bounced heavily in time underneath the thin sweater she was wearing and every swing of her hips threatened to reveal the strong panties hiding underneath her short mini skirt.

"Shut up, 'Grace'," Summer shot back, wrapping a bare, slender arm around her co-performer's waist. Glynda just rolled her eyes, disguising the motion with a flick of her hair, and reached around her student's waist, letting her fingers brush along the silk dress that she was wearing.

The music began pumping, and 'Grace' smirked as her hand dropped below 'Harmony's' waist to grab a handful of her tight, perky ass. The men applauded and cheered as Summer leaned into Glynda's chest, the blonde moving her other hand through the slit of the brunette's long dress and moving it to the side to show off to their audience how she was kneading and playing with that taut butt. The men and few women were appreciative of the sight, especially when they saw the black and lacy thong in contrast to the white dress that covered it.

However, Summer decided that it was time for her to get a little more proactive, so she tilted her head to Glynda's face and leaned in for a heated kiss. It lasted for only a few moments, but it was definitely enough to get them very excited. They separated and moved to their own pole, putting on a hot routine. Glynda's made sure to emphasize how she was braless underneath that gray sweater of hers, her tits moving wildly with each movement, and how short her skirt was as she bent over and even held herself upside down once or twice to everybody's enjoyment.

Whereas Glynda was wild and passionate, Summer was sensual. Her dress moved like smoke as she twirled on her pole, her smooth pearly skin tantalizing and only brief flashes of the underwear everybody had gotten a good look at. However, now that they knew what lay beneath it, they wanted more of it. Summer took advantage of their desperation, even locking her legs in place at one point to shake her full rear at the audience to loud cheering.

The song came to a close and the two came back together, near breathless and perspiring from their entertaining. But they weren't done yet. They had a set of three songs planned, and in the first interlude, they used the lull between the songs to strip off all of each other's clothes save their underwear.

The second song started picking up and they started moving, Summer moving behind Glynda and running her hands up and down her sexy teacher's body, her fingers teasing at the edges of the blonde's frilly panties before running back up. Finally, she seized Glynda's tits in both hands and started jiggling them before the crowd, Glynda grinding her own firm rear into Summer's crotch. The brunette bit her lip at the stimulation before deciding fair was fair and tweaking Glynda's nipples, drawing a loud cheer from the crowd as the professor cried out.

Unknown to Summer, Glynda had always had very sensitive nipples. The moment she cried out, she had a small orgasm, the crowd cheering as they saw her white panties suddenly grow damp in the crotch. She broke free of Summer's hold on her breasts, spun around, and pulled her student in a fierce kiss, her hips bucking against Summer's. Both groaned as their hands roamed the other's body, searching for sensitive spots to tease and latch onto.

When they broke apart, Summer leaned back, dazed enough for her professor to pull her to the stage side where some patrons had gathered without realizing it. Snapping out of it, she grinned sultrily and spun around, getting on her knees and kneeling forward until she was on her forearms, her delectable rump perky than ever as it jutted up into the air. Beside her, Glynda had gotten onto her knees as well, her amazing rack now at eye level with the men as she crooked her finger at them, beckoning them to come closer. They did happily, their hands filled with single lien chips. One of them stuffed several bills into Glynda's stockings, prompting her to smirk and grab him by the shoulders. She pulled him closer as she leaned into him, letting him motorboat her tits for several seconds and shuddering at the sensation.

Another placed several on Summer's garterbelt as she twerked her rear in their faces. The bills fell to the floor, but they'd get swept up before the next set even started. However, that didn't make her any less appreciative. She looked down between her legs up at one particularly attractive customer and shot him a smokey smile. She balanced her upper body on her head and reached back with her hands, bringing them down on her ass a few times. He quickly got the picture and brought both hands up to bring them down her cheeks with a hearty slap. Summer moaned and her head rocketed up in a mix of pleasure and pain, her face a twisted visage of pleasure with her eyes screwed shut and her lips pursed together.

Glynda saw the patron lay his hands on Summer and noticed security looking antsy at that. She subtly signaled to them that it was fine. The two of them were close to breaking some boundaries, but, she decided, fuck it. This was the only night they were in this backwater town near Mystral as part of their assignment and she was feeling like breaking some boundaries with her student in a very twisted way.

The second song came to an end, and as the third and final song started picking up, she pulled Summer back to her feet, knelt behind her, and pulled down that black thong to everybody's delight. She gave a long and longing lick to one cheek before Summer sauntered a few steps away. Glynda shifted onto her butt, her feet towards audience in front of the stage, as Summer got on all fours to pull away Glynda's own set of panties, presenting her sodden holes to the crowd. She twirled them around on one finger before letting it fly into the crowd, one lucky man catching it and examining the still damp spot in the crotch.

The blonde looked at her in mock surprised outrage before leaning forward and pulling Summer on top of her for another kiss, her legs wrapping around the svelte woman's waist both to ensure that she couldn't escape her this time and to burn the image of two sets of dripping, needy holes, one stacked right on top of each other with tufts of reddish-brown and blonde hair mixing together.

The men whooped and hollered at the sight, lien flying onto the stage in appreciation. However, it only got louder as they rolled around on the stage. They'd positioned themselves so that they were in the middle with one side of the stage getting a great look at their nethers and center stage having the pleasure of seeing two amazing sets of breasts squashed against each other.

"Man, hold my beer. I'm going to the other side to get a better look," they heard one of the patrons say. Summer leaned back at that, a wild look burning in her eyes as an idea came to her. She pulled away from Glynda, but as the teacher moved to stand, the student stopped her with a hand to her heaving chest.

Glynda paused and then smiled a sexy knowing smile and got comfortable on the stage floor. Summer moved sensually as she turned around and squatted down, sitting her dripping slit right onto Glynda's face daintily, almost bouncing that puffy pussy up and down. Glynda, for all her patience, just wrapped her arms around Summer's waist and pulled that perfect ass down square onto her face, eating her out with a fervent passion. Summer moaned loud enough to actually be heard over the music by all before she too decided she'd had enough teasing and leaning down to eat out her professor's muff.

The crowd roared at the live sex act, throwing larger bills to encourage them to keep going. Neither noticed, now lost in their own world of thumping in their ears and their pussies on the other's lips and tongue. Nevertheless, given how'd they'd been working themselves up over the past ten or so minutes, it was almost ridiculously easy for both to cum, a flood of juices spilling into their mouths and onto the stage itself as the song came to a dramatic end.

Twenty minutes later found most of the crowd lounging at the tables away from the stage, having spent most of their singles on the two starlets of the night. The club had significantly wound down after that, especially once security had forced the two back stage and gotten the stage cleaned up. Another stripper was already dancing on stage. To her avail, she was finding that when compared to the other two, the men didn't feel nearly as generous in tipping.

However, one table in the back corner was finding themselves the focus of attention for a couple of lovely ladies, the two men in suits being deemed attractive enough to be given the title of 'seat'.

"So," Summer whispered huskily in one man's ear, leaning back into the man's chest as Glynda copied her, both still naked as the day they were born. The two men groaned as those flawless asses ground into their stiff cocks, the ladies grinning as they realized how big they were. "Who wants a lap dance? Better yet, who wants to take us home after our shift is over?"

#Damien-kova #Glynda #Summer #Story Trade #Full Story

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swipestream · 6 years

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A Computer Security Approach to Changing GMs

I’ve been working in computer security, in some fashion, since the early 1990s. One of the key concepts in this field is to separate processes on computing systems, so they can’t talk to each other or read/write data between each other . . . unless done so in an explicit manner. This can be done via one of three methods: physical, temporal, or virtual. I won’t delve deep into these approaches of computer security because that’s not the point of this site. We’re here to talk about gaming advice, after all.

Now that I’ve set the stage, let’s get to the gaming advice. These three approaches of separating processes and data can be used when changing GMs within the same campaign. It’s difficult to create a smooth flow between a GM change, even when planned, so hopefully what I have to say here can help keep the waters calm and the players engaged.

Physical

In the gaming world, each GM should “claim” a particular section of the world.

In the computing world, this would mean Client A is on computer A, and Client B is on computer B. Likewise, you should run your web server on one server and your email server on a different one. This is an over simplification, but it sets the stage.

In the gaming world, each GM should “claim” a particular section of the world (or continent or city or planes or whatever) and keep their gaming sessions isolated to the part that they’ve laid claim to. The trick here lies in getting the PCs from one part of the world to the next when a different GM jumps behind the screen. This can be done with interludes (Savage Worlds anyone?) or a brief transitional story told by the GM to set up why and how the PCs have traveled to a different part of the world.

The more closely tied the sections of the world are in physical and story space, the easier it is to make this transition. Try to keep the adventures swapping between regions of a single nation or neighboring nations. Even using two different cities that are relatively close to on another is an option.

By allowing each GM to have their own part of the world, this allows each GM to bring their own flavor and style to the game, which is one of the reasons to change up GMs. The trick is to make sure the various GMs work with one another to maintain a continuity in the world.

Temporal

When swapping GMs, a time gap can occur.

In the computing world, there used to be a concept called “time sharing” back when there were a few mainframes in the world. Basically, Client A would “rent time” on a mainframe for a few weeks and then their data would be archived and purged from the mainframe before Client B took over the mainframe. With the ubiquity of cloud computer and “always on” services, this has fallen out of favor.

However, these same concepts can be applied to a game. When swapping GMs, a time gap can occur. Again, the incoming GM can give a brief tale about what happened over the past 2-3 months to set up what the next adventure will be about. Instead of moving the PCs across space, the GMs will work together to shift them forward in time. Of course, the world will change around them, and this can allow each GM to bring in their own story ideas and flavors.

An alternate to having the GM dictate what happens during the “downtime” is to seed the PCs with a few events that are happening, and then ask them what they are doing with this time of non-adventure. This allows for spell research, magic item creation, training, building a stronghold, growing their congregation, and other activities that adventurers (especially the higher level ones) never seem to have time to accomplish.

Virtual

These two characters under a single player should be related somehow via backstory.

With computers, you can easily run web, email, DNS, FTP, shell servers, databases, and other services on a single computer. You can also easily run both Client A and Client B services on a single computer by using virtual segregation to ensure A never touches B’s data and vice versa.

To apply these concepts of virtual segregation in games, I would approach this by having each player control a character for each GM, but only one character at a time. There could be a higher level character and a lower level character in each player’s portfolio. These two characters under a single player should be related somehow via backstory. The easy option that I’ve seen used is to have all of the characters, regardless of which GM is in charge, be part of a single organization. This allows for the story to center around the organization.

By virtually separating the characters between GMs, this allows for the GM that is now a non-player to not have a character for that group. This resolves issues along the lines of, “But what is Gorgash doing while the rest of the party is out adventuring?” Of course, Gorgash would be the current GM’s character in this question. The GM simply doesn’t have a character in the group when she is running the game.

Combining Approaches

As some astute readers have probably realized by now, it would be very easy to shift things physically and temporally in one fell swoop. This is perfectly valid. Feel free to mix and match the various segregation tools at hand to find what works best with your group.

Conclusion

I’ve seen all of these approaches used to good effect when changing GMs. I’ve also seen them when the GM needs to or wants to provide a different flavor to the game. I’ve also seen temporal shifts happen when the entire group consisted of elves, and the PCs universally decided to hang out for a decade or two and then jump back into the fray.

One thing to keep in mind is that the world is a living, breathing character as well. Anytime you shift the PCs around, the world is going to shift around them. This doesn’t mean world-shattering changes happen each time, but there will be shifts and subtle changes going on around the group as they move about.

Has anyone out there tried one of these three approaches? How about combining them? I’d love to hear your stories and further advice in this area.

A Computer Security Approach to Changing GMs published first on http://ift.tt/2zdiasi

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shipmistress9 · 5 years

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FTLOAP - 40: If I'm Not Made For You Then Why Does My Heart Tell Me That I Am?

Fandom: HTTYD

Theme: Hiccstrid - Medieval-style AU - Romance - Angst/Hurt/Comfort

Rating: Explicit

FF-net - AO3 -

Discord-server for discussions and questions

Part 1: Prologue; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7; Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10; Chapter 11;

Part 3: Chapter 34; Chapter 35; Chapter 36; Interlude 4; Chapter 37; Chapter 38; Chapter 39

Alpha/Co-author: @athingofvikings

. – * – _ . o O o . _ – * – .

AN: This chapter... I'm incredibly curious about the reactions! It contains more scenes that have been planned for nearly a year, some were even already written out since November! And... well, I hope that I'm able to get across what's important for me in this chapter. I'll see...

Also, in November, I posted a small spoiler on Tumblr. I was asked to put a warning for when that spoiler would come into play, so that's what I'm going to do now. THIS is the chapter where that spoiler line comes up.

This week's title comes from the song If You're Not The One by Daniel Bedingfield. Ever since this song first came out, it's been one of my all-time-favourites. But it actually took me a while to discover how well it fits this story, especially at this point. I admit that, in the end, it even inspired an additional scene near the end of this chapter. You'll see what I mean.

. o O o .

“Eret? Do you want to marry me?”

After she’d realised what Snotlout was doing, Astrid had wondered about that insanity for a couple of days now. His behaviour had become more obvious – and more obnoxious – with every time they met, and by now, it was impossible for her to pretend it wasn't happening.

He was flirting with her. There really was no other way to describe it, and even though she'd always thought fondly of him, she now couldn't help but cringe whenever she saw him. A part of her wondered how other women before her had endured and even enjoyed his attention – but she also recognised how different his behaviour toward her was from how he'd acted toward others. He was so sure, overconfident even. He obviously knew about the King's wish of her marrying one of the ducal heirs and seemed to think that advertising himself like this would make her choose him.

But did he really want to marry her? She still couldn't believe it, couldn't even think about it without dismay. How could one of her brothers want to marry her? No matter how long she thought about it, it made no sense, and eventually she acknowledged that thinking on her own wouldn’t get her anywhere.

Meeting Eret had been pure chance but a welcome distraction. It was early in the morning, hours before today's tournament would begin, and she'd wanted to enjoy at least a small sense of freedom by taking a walk over the castle's grounds. Now, they sat near Lake Vola, with Tuff acting as chaperone from a distance, and enjoyed both the peace and the comfort. But she didn’t want to waste such an opportunity.

At her question, Eret, who was lying on a sunny but likely not-entirely-dry patch of grass next to the low stone wall where she sat, cracked one eye open and tilted his head to throw her a funny look. After a moment, he returned to his former relaxed position though, eyes closed and head resting on his arms behind his head. “You know, Swanja… In your current position, you should be careful with a question like this,” he said, sounding utterly unperturbed. “One might think you just proposed to me.”

Astrid rolled her eyes and made a half-annoyed and half-amused noise. Eret would know better, after all. “Don’t be daft. You know what I mean.”

Sighing, he turned his head to look at her in earnest. “Yes, I know what you mean. But the answer is not as easy as the question.”

Astrid wanted to snort. She'd fully expected Eret would laugh and answer with a resolute ‘No!’. He had to be joking, right? Because it was insane and impossible and… and…

Except that he didn’t look as if he was joking.

He seemed to notice her bafflement, because he sighed once more and made himself comfortable again before he gave her an explanation. “I see that’s not the answer you’ve expected,” he began, strangely quiet. “And I’ll admit I didn’t expect to have this kind of talk today. But it’s better than not talking about it, I guess…” He paused, gazing into the light blue sky overhead as if it was the most interesting piece of art he’d ever seen. “I’m not in love with you, if that’s what you meant,” he eventually went on. “That hasn’t changed.”

Astrid nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. They’d already been through that three years ago, after all. After Thuggory’s constant teasing over the span of one summer about how close they were and what a cute couple they would make, they’d almost believed it themselves. What followed had been a few awkward days of blushing, of averting eyes and stiff conversations – until they’d decided to put their feelings to the test. They’d kissed, the whole program with gazing into each other’s eyes and cradled faces, with lips and tongues. And then, they had decided that was definitely not what was between them.

Thinking back, the thought made her smirk inwardly. Kissing Eret had felt weird, unnatural. Not really unpleasant, if she was honest; just… not right. And now, comparing that kiss back then with how it had felt to kiss–

Stop right there!

“So, you don’t want to marry me?” she asked, mainly to force her thoughts into another direction. She couldn’t think about that, not now. Not ever again.

“I… didn’t say that,” Eret muttered, still refusing to look at her.

He wasn’t making any sense. “What do you want then?” The question came out more aggressive than intended, but Astrid wasn’t in the mood for beating around the bush, not now, not after everything. She was tired, having cried for almost the entire night again, tired of the games, tired of the verbal dancing and indirect responses. By Thor, she was going to get a straight answer out of someone, even if she had to shake it out of them!

“What I want...” Eret scoffed. “Since when does it matter what anyone of us wants?” He sighed again, shaking his head, and Astrid knew all too well how he felt… “If it were about doing what we want, Dagur and I would just… leave. We’d go, and start a simple life somewhere far away.” Now, Eret threw her a wary glance, as if to see how she would react. But even though the words surprised her, Astrid was beyond showing any reactions, especially not emotionally, and after a minute of silence, Eret continued in a softer tone.

“We’ve even talked it through, you know? What we’d do if we had the options… We’d go somewhere remote where people wouldn’t know who we are. We’d approach the local lord, get a land tenancy, settle down. Build a paddock for a couple of horses and a garden, maybe an orchard. I’d earn us some money by breeding and breaking in horses for the locals, and Dagur would distil his own alcohol from the fruits in our garden.” He chuckled weakly. “It would be a simple life, without much luxury to speak of. Calm.”

Astrid swallowed. “That sounds beautiful,” she whispered. Eret's words reminded her of other plans, other ‘what if's’…

Quickly, she again shook those thoughts off and concentrated on Eret and his words again. On how they puzzled her. She’d always thought Eret and Dagur wouldn’t mind becoming the next Grand Dukes.

“Right?” Eret agreed, but then shook his head. “But it’s nothing but idle dreams. We can’t just drop our responsibilities and leave our homelands in such a chaos. We wouldn’t want to do that. Lavo would become Head of House Jag’r, and while he’s a good man, he’s certainly not a good leader. And House Berserker… If Dagur doesn’t inherit his father’s title, Hel herself will show up down in Southshore to collect the bodies.”

Again, Astrid nodded; the precarious situation with the two Grand Dukedoms was well-known to her, after all.

Eret let out a deep breath. “But that’s not what you wanted to hear right?” He slightly shook his head, lips twisted into a grimace. “The thing is… we eventually have to marry one day. If we stayed bachelors forever, we could simply continue like now, spending time together every now and then. But for the sake of sustaining a line of heritage, we can’t inherit if we refuse to ever marry. And once we’re married…” He shrugged, and Astrid remembered the words she’d heard some nights before.

Marriage is a sacred vow, and one does not break it. I won’t turn you into an adulteress.

Astrid felt as if she couldn’t breathe, the memories like a crushing ring around her chest. But luckily, Eret didn’t seem to notice.

“You asked whether I’d even want to marry you,” he went on, suddenly sounding eerily solemn. “And the honest answer would have to be yes. Yes, I’d like to marry you. Not because I love you, and I’m sorry about that. But marrying for love has never been a real option for us, so I’d opt for the second-best choice – marrying my best friend.” He turned to give her a brief smile, but then continued to stare into the distance. “You’re my best option for a good future. I mean… I know that I won’t be the best of husbands. But unlike any other wife Father could pick for me, you at least already know that. You know that I won’t be your ardent lover. You wouldn’t be disappointed or angry. Or at least I hope you wouldn’t be.” He swallowed, and when he continued to speak, finally looking at her after all, he sounded incredibly vulnerable.

“If you were to choose me, Swanja, then I can promise you that I’d be a good and loyal partner to you. We’d live a happy life together. I won’t be your lover, but I'd be your partner, your friend. I’d do my best to hopefully be a good father to our children, and I’m certain I’d treat you better than most of your other suitors. And... and the same goes for Dagur, if you were to choose him.”

It seemed like Eret was waiting for a reaction, but Astrid was unable to speak, stunned. He was serious!

Eventually, he exhaled a deep breath, and pushed himself up on his legs. With his back turned toward her, he said, “I do love you, Swanja, just not like that. And I want you to be happy. If… if you have someone else in mind, someone you want to choose for yourself... then by all means, please do so. Neither Dagur nor I want you to be miserable for our sake. We will all go our way, one way or the other. But know that we are an option, and hopefully not the worst there is. I’d be happy and proud to bring you back to Eastervale as my wife, and I dare say that living at our stud farm would suit you.”

And with these words, he left her.

For she couldn’t say how long, Astrid sat on that low wall, eyes unseeingly cast over the lake's calm surface, as tears ran down her cheeks in never-ending streams. Gods, she was such an idiot, had only thought of her own problems.

But Eret was right… For all her life, she’d been prepared for a loveless political marriage. And yes, if she couldn’t marry the man she loved…

...then her best friend would certainly be a good second choice.

. o O o .

For once, she didn't need to ponder endlessly. In fact, it was more as if she’d known what to do for a long while already without being able to see it. But when she reached the fighting ground a couple of hours later and saw him hustling about among the other squires and, as always, not even once glancing in her direction… it all became crystal clear. He wasn't an option anymore – and maybe never had been. She would have to pick another path, one that, hopefully, would be bearable.

She paused in her steps, pondering for one last moment, and then gestured Tuff to follow her. Instead of directly going toward her usual seat under the pavilion, she headed for the large tent where the men were getting ready for their fights. Many eyes turned toward her when she entered, confusion and anticipation in most of them, and the tent fell completely silent.

"Sir Eret?" she called out as firmly and clearly as she could manage. "May I asked you to keep me company today?"

Eret met her eyes with an unreadable look, but nodded after a seemingly endless heartbeat. “Of course, your Highness.” He took off his heavy gloves and handed them, his helmet, and his sword to his squier before following her. And not even now, he would look at her.

Astrid’s lips twitched, but she quickly turned away, and, with Eret at her side, made her way toward her pavilion.

At first, they sat in heavy silence, but eventually, Eret audibly cleared his throat. “Are you sure about this, Swanja?” he asked in a subdued voice.

He didn’t need to elaborate; the meaning of his words was clear enough to her. Her inviting one or more of her suitors to sit with her during the tournament when they weren’t fighting was something she was allowed to do. Without a doubt, it was considered an honour, but the fact that she had never bestowed it on anyone before made her singling out Eret now even more noticeable. She could practically feel the countless eyes on them, could hear the hushed whispers all around the arena. But she didn’t care for any gossip her action might start. She’d never cared about the rumours they’d caused by acting like a couple. At least this time the rumours would be true.

She swallowed, and, unable to meet Eret’s eyes, instead gazed down at her hands in her lap. “You were right,” she whispered. “Marrying for love has never been a real option for either of us. So I’m going to pick the option with the best prospect of happiness and follow the path everyone apparently wants me to take anyway.” Now, she looked up after all and threw him a tentative smile. At least, she wouldn’t have to pretend with Eret. They weren’t in love and never would be. But they would give each other comfort and that had to be enough.

He returned her smile and, as if to prove her thoughts right, reached for her gloved hand and squeezed it. It made her smile turn a shade brighter. Yes, they didn’t love each other. But friendship was a good basis for marriage too, right?.

They watched the first rounds of the melee without saying anything more. Five times, ten men entered the arena and fought until nine had either been knocked prone, unconscious, or had a wound sufficient to spatter the grass with blood. Snot’s turn was in the second round, and he won without any difficulties, sending his opponents sprawling or bashing their faces in so that their noses bled freely onto the grass. There was something to his boasting after all, Astrid reminded herself as he blew her a kiss across the arena before he left it. Growing up in Westhill had turned him into a better fighter than most.

Then it was Eret’s and Dagur’s turn to fight, and it wasn’t until she saw the other eight fighters all ganging up on them that she realised what her open act of favouring Eret had done. Now he had a target on his back, and more than once she gasped or froze when one fighter launched at him. People died in these tournaments! What if someone managed to injure, maybe even kill him, just to get him out of the way? It would be her fault, and hers alone.

She watched the fight with more attention than she had before – and also with a fair bit of anxiety. But her worries were unfounded... for now at least. With Dagur and Eret fighting back to back, the other men had no chance and when it was only the two of them left, they shared a look, a handshake, and then Dagur went to his knee, placing his weapon to Eret’s feet.

The sight made her throat tighten even further. To everyone else watching, it would look like Dagur forfeiting to the Princess’s favourite, probably in hopes of gaining her good will for the future. But Astrid knew it was more than that. So much more… It wasn’t just Dagur giving the victory of this melee to his friend. It was him freely giving up his lover, giving in to the inevitable without struggling and without hard feelings. He knew that he’d lost, and what he’d lost, on the altar of the Kingdom’s Hel-spawned politics. If Astrid would have had any tears left, she’d have cried.

When Eret returned to her after being cleaned up and his armour having been removed, he seemed weaker and more beaten than the fight alone would explain. This time, it was she who placed her hand on his lower arm, in an attempt to comfort him but also to apologise. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled weakly.

She was relieved when Eret placed his hand over hers and asked, “For what?”

“For everything. For making you a target and… and for…” She didn’t dare to phrase the rest, to mention Dagur. Her pavilion offered a certain amount of privacy so that she didn’t expect anyone to overhear their low conversation, but that wasn’t the point anyway. She didn’t want to hurt Eret further.

He hissed out a low and unamused laugh, almost a pained groan, but gave her a reassuring smile nonetheless. “Don’t worry,” he replied. “We always knew it couldn’t last. And as for the target… You don’t need to worry about that either. It’s not that much different than before. They always knew me, Dag, and Snot where your most likely choices, so not that much changed now. Besides, as much as they want to see me defeated… well, let’s just say that my status still offers a certain amount of protection. They wouldn’t dare to attack one of us for real, simply out of fear of repercussions.”

Astrid nodded, but only felt slightly eased by his words. There had been too many accidents already. “I hope you’re right,” she sighed. “And… and I hope this wasn’t the wrong decision – for both our sakes.”

He squeezed her hand once more and scooted a little closer to her. It was weird in a way how easy it was to just continue their usual comfortable closeness under these strangest of circumstances. But then, that was part of why she’d made this decision. She knew Eret, knew that they got along. There’d never been any real shyness or awkwardness between them, and she was relieved that that hadn’t changed.

“We’ll see,” he eventually replied. “But at least we know that Daniel will be pleased.”

There was a certain bitterness in Eret’s voice at these words, one that made her frown in confusion. “What makes you think that?” So far, she hadn’t spent much time thinking about Daniel, not beyond the burning pain she felt over his betrayal.

Eret snorted, and made a vague waving gesture between the two of them. “Well, this is what he wanted, what he’d planned for all along.”

“He… what?”

Now, Eret grimaced, but also noticeably put in an effort to stay calm as he explained. “Oh, he didn’t tell me anything, in case you were wondering,” he scoffed with the same bitter tone as before. “But after that announcement on your birthday and realising that he knew about all this… it started to make sense, you know? A while ago, he became strangely gloomy from one day to the other, and there were so many things he said before he left, things that made me wonder what was on his mind. It all started a few days after Dagur’s accolade. The day we first went to meet Cami, remember?”

Astrid sucked in a breath at those words, but instantly shut her mind down. No, no, no. She didn’t want to remember that day, couldn’t bear it. The first night they’d talk more openly, the first time he’d touched her…

Her hands were trembling, but if Eret noticed, he didn’t react. He just went on with his explanation, suppressed anger tinting his voice, and she was grateful for the distraction.

“Daniel was supposed to come with us, but was forced to cancel his appointment when he received a note. I don’t know what it was about, but it was then when he changed. Late that night, we met him in the corridors. He wouldn’t tell us what bothered him, only that we would learn about it soon enough, that it was better if we didn’t know right away… and that he ‘very much counts on my loyalty for all this to end well’. I didn’t know what he meant back then, but now… And there were other comments, too. Like how he asked me to keep an eye on you until he comes back from Westhill. Or how he blatantly asked us whether we could imagine getting married anytime soon when we all went to the tavern that last night.” He swallowed thickly. “All those small things came back to me lately, but they only started to make sense when… when I talked to Hiccup the other day. Apparently, Daniel told him that he was hoping for us to marry. That we would be good for each other.”

At the mention of his name, Astrid’s mind turned numb out of sheer reflex, but there was still a small functioning part that registered what Eret was telling her. That Daniel apparently hadn’t been happy about this plan and that he’d hoped for her to find comfort and solace with Eret, her best friend. A sob tore itself from her body, making her shiver and tremble, and this time, Eret noticed. His hand around hers tightened, offering her comfort from amidst his own pain and sending a wave of gratitude through her hurting soul.

They didn’t speak much more until the tournament was over, but the companionable silence was proof enough to her. Living with Eret would be effortless. It would be good. Not what either of them truly wanted but better than the alternatives

Daniel had been right, she realised with a grimace. She and Eret were good for each other, the best option they had to ever live a somewhat happy life. Even with how betrayed she felt, she still couldn’t shake off a budding sense of gratefulness that her brother had at least planned this far. And he couldn’t have known better, after all. Daniel didn’t know about the feelings Eret and Dagur had for each other, didn’t know about her and… and… him. He didn’t know how much pain this solution brought to so many people he cared about. But he was right in that it still was the best solution they had.

When the tournament was over, she accompanied Eret back to the tent. She’d meant to directly move on to her own rooms, to get ready for tonight’s dinner. She expected it to be an awkward meal, with the older man congratulating them and the younger all suffering. Idly, she wondered how Snot would behave now, but quickly decided that she didn’t care.

Especially not when someone else stepped into their path all of a sudden.

Nervously biting her lip, she met Dagur’s gaze, expecting to see hurt and pain or maybe anger in his eyes. He, too, had been hurt by this development after all. But he, who always wore his heart on his sleeve, now wouldn’t let his feelings show. He made a hesitant step toward her, even had a small smile on his face, and pulled her into one of his usual bear hugs once Eret had let go of her arm.

Overwhelmed, she clutched at his back, and couldn’t keep herself from sobbing into his tunic. “I’m sorry,” she whimpered against his shoulder. “So, so, sorr–”

“Shh, shh, it’s all right, little sis,” he interrupted her in an equally low voice. “I wasn’t expecting anything else. And I won’t embarrass either of us by asking you to make him happy, but… But I’m asking you to both be happy, okay? As happy as you can be.”

She sobbed again and for a heartbeat clung even tighter to him before they let go of each other. She took a step away when Dagur turned to Eret next, giving them a bit of privacy, when she noticed another figure standing a few steps behind Dagur.

He didn’t say anything, didn’t move. He only looked at her with those incredibly green eyes of his, really looked at her for the first time in days. It made her freeze, with only a fleeting thought about how Dagur and Eret hopefully would be too occupied with each other to pay them any attention. She held his gaze and tried to convey what she felt. Not her pain, but an apology. The apology for, finally and ultimately, betraying their bond and turning down every plan they might have had. She expected to receive some form of pained accusation in return, but none of that happened.

Instead, he just stood there, a weak smile around his lips that wouldn’t reach his eyes, and nodded.

. o O o .

That night, Astrid stayed awake for a long time, but in opposition to past nights, she didn’t cry. She felt too empty for that. Her eyes were fixed on the wooden figurine in her hands, the one that resembled Markor and that he had given her.

“It’s not much, I suppose. But it’s something… personal? Something to remember me by when I can’t be here with you anymore.”

His words rang clear and true through her mind, but for once the pain didn’t hit her as hard as she’d expected. ‘...when I can’t be here with you anymore...’ He’d only meant the months of separation, but now, it felt so much more relevant. Without her help, her hand wandered to her chest, the other caressing over the smooth wood. No matter how much she wished it would be otherwise, she could still feel his warmth in her chest; even though the blazing inferno had simmered down like a glowing coal. A reminder of the former fire that would never extinguish.

“I will always love you, Hiccup,” she whispered into the darkness of the night. It was a last confession before she stowed the wooden figurine away into her treasure coffer. “Goodbye, my love.”

Then she went to bed, determined to move on. From now on, she wouldn’t let herself be in pain all the time anymore. Her mind and soul were so frail and thin by now; more pain would eventually break her apart. So she clung to the only solace left to her. She would be Eret’s bride now, and… and it was good that way. The only path she could take.

She closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep – even as the small part deep inside her was still screaming. And she couldn’t make it stop.

. o O o .

Hiccup hadn’t expected for the pain to be this unrelenting. He’d expected that it would take time, time before he could even consider getting over her. He had expected that seeing her at Eret’s side, her arm wound through his and their obvious closeness, wouldn’t exactly help either. But the reality was so much worse. No matter how many days had passed or how often he’d seen them together since her open preference during that tournament, it was still like sharp pokes to an open wound. Over and over he told himself that it was good, that it was better this way, the best he could hope for for her. And it was! He knew that it was the truth. In Eret’s presence, she was less tense, at least a little more at ease.

But it hurt!

Because he remembered the time, not too long ago, when all he’d wanted was to be the one to make her happy one day, and the constant reminder of how that would never happen felt like getting stabbed over and over and over again.

Every time he felt her presence or spotted her amidst the crowd, all he wanted was to tear out his heart in the hopes that it would make the pain go away. There was a voice in his head that was constantly screaming at him, “Wrong, wrong, wrong. This is wrong, all of it!”, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t smother it. It was tearing him apart.

The worst were the nights. When he was laid out on the couch in Eret’s rooms, so close to where she was, under the same roof and on the same floor even, and yet unable to ever be with her again, he felt the full weight of their loss. It pressed down on his chest like someone sitting there and keeping him from breathing. More than once, he’d caught himself idly playing with her key, which he still wore around his neck on a simple leather cord. He’d thought about taking it off multiple times already but he’d never found the strength to actually do so. He knew that he should, that holding on to it was only his weakness of not being able to fully let her go. It was him clinging to some elusive hope that only kept cutting and hurting him over and over again. Occasionally, he even caught himself getting up, a half-baked plan to sneak through the corridors and into her rooms in his sleepy mind. If only he could see her, talk to her, hold her one more time. Odin, he would do everything if only it meant they would get another chance.

But there was nothing for him to do.

All he could do was watching her attend one event after the other, with Eret always at her side, and remind himself that this was the only way for her to be happy.

. o O o .

“Ah, good evening, Sir Eret,” Fyrir Mala greeted them as they entered Freya’s Temple a few days later. “Sir Dagur, Lord Hiccup. Welcome. You can go right through to Cami’s rooms; she’s already waiting for you.” She nodded at them all with a friendly smile which they all returned dutifully – even as neither of them truly felt like smiling.

More than anything else, Hiccup felt weird to be here again, even though he probably should have seen it coming. Eret’s and Dagur’s days were numbered, so it wasn't really a surprise that they'd wanted to ‘visit Cami’ as long as they could. And of course, they’d invited him to come along too, just like they’d always done. They didn’t know about his own pain after all.

But right now he dreaded the thought of Cami and interacting with her, of the conversations that would inevitably come up. Of how unexpected it was that they were all still here after all, of the latest developments in Eret's life… and her usual questions after his lady love once Eret and Dagur retreated. Because he didn't feel strong enough to lie, to make up some tale about how they enjoyed the reprieve, no, certainly not. Instead, he felt brittle, as if he'd break apart and crumble at even the slightest nudge. He’d even welcome that over the constant pain.

But of course, he wouldn’t simply fall apart and stop existing. There was no way to escape the inevitable.

“Oh, dear Freya!” Cami exclaimed as soon as they entered her rooms and the door closed behind them. She threw herself around Eret’s and Dagur’s necks, pulling them into a tight hug. “I’ve heard what happened, of course I have. And… I know everyone else would deem congratulations in order–” she pulled Eret a little tighter “–but I’m so sorry! For both of you. How are you feeling?”

Carefully but firmly, Dagur and Eret pried themselves out of her arms. They looked miserable and Hiccup was once more reminded of how he wasn’t the only one in pain. As much as he might want to hate Eret for having everything Hiccup wanted – he just couldn’t. Eret was as much a victim of this entire scheme as he and she were, and he was suffering from it too.

“What do you think how we feel?” Dagur asked, noticeably missing his usual joyfulness. “Even with always knowing that it would eventually come to this, it’s…” he broke off, and turned away from them, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Hiccup almost expected he’d turn away further when Eret stepped toward him to place his hand on his lover’s shoulder. But instead, Dagur sighed, relaxed, and leaned into the touch, and Hiccup couldn’t help but look away at their moment of intimacy. Yes, they were both suffering just like him.

“I’m sorry,” Cami said again, sounding truly miserable, but Eret cut her off directly.

“It’s all right. Dag’s right, we knew it couldn’t last. All we can do now is make the best of it.”

“I sure hope you do,” Dagur threw back, an odd mixture of sadness, joking, and sincerity in his voice. “If I hear only one complaint from Swanja about you, I’m going to come and rip off your head!”

Eret chuckled, if a little strained. “Hey, I already tried to do her a favour by convincing her father to arrange that ride tomorrow. I mean, it can’t be long with the ball in the evening, and it won’t be a fast ride either with her having to use this horrible side saddle and at least some members of the party not being experienced riders. But I still think it’s better than nothing. Or I hope so, at least.” He sighed. “Anyway, I’m holding you on to that promise, just so you know. Making sure she’s happy will be my highest priority from now on.”

Eret’s reply made them share a weak but true smile, and even with how numb and hollow Hiccup felt, he still was grateful for the reminder that they did care about her. She was in good hands. That was all that mattered.

“Anyway,” Eret went on. “Before we leave you alone, I wanted to thank you, Cami. For taking our request for an appointment on such a short notice. It’ll probably be the last time anyway.”

She gave him a comforting smile. “Of course. I’ll always have time for you.” Then she frowned. “But why do you think it’ll be the last? It’s still over six weeks until the wedding.”

“Aye.” Eret shrugged. “But the betrothal will become official in two weeks already, and me coming here after that won’t be regarded with any form of leniency. And then there’s the ball tomorrow night. Even with it just being meant as an entertaining diversion, her choice of partner for the opening dance will still be regarded as her making an unofficial choice.” He shook his head, a despondent expression on his face. “No, this will be the last time we come here. It has to be.”

Again, Hiccup had to avert his gaze – to give them privacy when it now was Dagur’s turn to comfort Eret, but mostly to hide his reaction to Eret’s words. He’d effectively pushed aside every thought of this, but he was right. After tomorrow night, she would be considered betrothed to Eret, no matter how unofficially. The thought gave him a new sting, and he almost laughed in surprise at how his heart could still hurt more.

“I see,” Cami sighed. “Well, then off with you two. If you want, we can talk more later. I hope you can enjoy this night as much as possible.”

They didn’t need another invitation and only seconds later, Hiccup was alone with Cami. And no matter how painful the previous conversation had already been… What came next would be worse.

“So, and what’s up with you?” she asked in a noticeably more cheerful tone. “I get why they are so depressed, but I honestly didn’t expect that from you too, not even out of sympathy.”

With his lips pressed into a thin line, Hiccup ignored her words and walked past her to where wine and glasses were already standing ready for them on the small table. He poured himself a glass and downed it in one. Maybe the alcohol would make enduring this easier. Behind him, Cami said his name, clearly confused, but he kept ignoring her. It was only after he’d nearly emptied his second glass of wine before she more firmly demanded an answer.

“Hiccup, what’s up with you?” Her hand was on his arm, keeping him from turning away as she stepped in front of him. “After our last conversation about how much you and your lady love dreaded the separation, I thought you’d be happy about this postponement.”

Snorting, he turned his head away from her anyway. Right… Oh, how much they’d hope for just any way for them to not have to part. Once again he thought about how the prospect of being separated for weeks and months had felt like the worst that could happen to them. How foolish and naive they’d been. And how much he’d give to return to those times…

“Hiccup?”

This time, Cami sounded worried, and almost despite his own will, he turned to look at her. And even though he’d sworn to himself to lock his pain deep inside him, to never let anyone see… right now, he couldn’t hold it back anymore.

“Hiccup, what happened?” she gasped when his mask crumbled away to reveal his pain. She pulled at his arm until he sat down in one of her chairs. “You look… horrible. Gods, did something happen to her? Is she alright? What–”

“She’s fine,” he mumbled, if only to keep her from worrying further. And it was true, wasn’t it? Physically, she was fine...

For a short while, Cami was quiet, watching him closely. “What is it then?” she eventually asked, softly. “You seemed so sure, but… Did you two break up?”

Again, he snorted. “In a way,” he mumbled, remembering the conversations they’d had, at the stables on her birthday and at the armoury on the day after. They had broken up, even as that phrase sounded too weak to describe what happened. Once more, pain flooded his mind and body, and he reached again for the wine, refilling his glass and taking a big gulp. Why couldn’t he turn numb already?

“Why?” Cami probed, and no matter how gentle that one word had been, it still felt like a sting, as if it had torn a hole into his thin layer of protection. From one heartbeat to the other, he wasn’t able to hold back any longer.

“Because she’ll marry someone else!” he burst out, eyes stinging. “Not by choice, but what does that matter? In six weeks, she’ll get married to Eret, and there’s nothing we can do. I lost her.”

There, he’d said it. And now, the desired numbness sat in with full force. He slumped down in his chair, too weak to even hold his head up anymore. For the first time in almost two weeks, tears were welling up in his eyes and he didn’t even try to hold them back. It didn't matter. He’d lost her, forever, and now nothing mattered anymore.

He wasn’t sure how long it took Cami to react again. He was dimly aware of her staring at him with wide eyes and her jaw dropped, but he just didn’t care...

“The Princess,” she eventually whispered, and a tiny sarcastic part of his mind wanted to applaud her. After so many weeks of her trying to pry for any information about his lady love, she now knew. So what? It wasn’t as if things could get worse. “You… are you trying to tell me that this girl you talked about, the one you spent nearly every night with, and who I encouraged you to introduce to sex was the Princess?”

All Hiccup could do was nod weakly, but it seemed to be enough for Cami.

“Are you insane?” she nearly shrieked. “The Princess? H-how… how did that even happen? And what were you thinking? You said you were certain to marry her one day, but… But she’s the Princess, for fuck’s sake. Everyone knew that she would marry for an alliance one day, even she. What in Loki’s name made you believe you could circumvent that?”

Hiccup groaned. Every single one of her words felt like another blow to his battered soul. Yes, they really had been stupid to hope and to dream, hadn’t they? But it had all felt so real…

For a few minutes, Cami went on with her tirade, scolding him, but after a while, it stopped affecting him. He couldn’t take any more, and he also understood that by now, this was more Cami venting out her shock than anything else. Eventually, she stopped, and a heavy silence covered them like a blanket.

“We thought it would work,” he eventually murmured into the silence. “We were so sure… Because… because it had to work…” He could feel that Cami didn’t understand though. And how could she? If he listened to himself now, it barely made any sense to him either. Except… “She and I… we share a bond, one that I can still feel even now when all hope is lost. And we thought… If the Gods bound us like that, doesn’t that mean that we will be together? That it’s our inevitable fate? Isn’t that part of what being soulmates means?” He shook his head, the hopelessness of everything once more crashing down on him.

“Oh, Hiccup…” Cami reached out her hand, hesitated visibly, but then placed it onto his arm after all. “I… I don’t doubt that you thought you’d be soulmates. There are many young couples so madly in love that they feel like that. But… but true soulbonds are rare. So rare that I haven’t even heard of a true one happening in the last thirty years or so. I’m sorry, but… but that wasn’t real.”

Hiccup groaned. He’d known that this would be the most likely reaction to them ever telling anyone. But it still stung to hear her say it. She was wrong, though, he knew that deep in his heart. What he and she shared, that was real. Wasn’t it? “I don’t believe you,” he whispered.

“I’m sorry, Hiccup. But… Let’s think this through. If yours was a true soulbond… then you would have been right. Nothing on Midgard can keep apart what the Gods forged together – not even a King’s decision. So how can you be soulmates when, as you all pointed out, she will marry Eret instead? Her decision falls tomorrow at the ball. Not officially, but binding enough. What made you even believe your bond would be true?”

Almost against his will, his hand wandered to his chest. He could still feel her heartbeat and that spark of her soul deep within him. How could that not be real? But he couldn’t make Cami feel what he felt, so he had to try and put it into words. “I… just know it’s true,” he explained in a whisper. “I can feel her, even now. Right here. And… and I felt her before, too. You remember how she got attacked shortly before Midwinter? I was miles away from her then, asleep at the outer stables. But I still felt her anxiety – her fear and her pain – strong enough to wake me up. There is a bond between us, a connection,” he insisted. Cami still didn’t look convinced though, so he tried to think of what else to tell her. “And we had visions! Well, one vision, but it was the same for both of us. We saw the same thing: our future together in a small house, me coming home after a journey, and she and our son greeting me at the door. That was real!”

In what was probably meant as a comforting gesture, Cami squeezed his arm. “I don’t doubt that you believe that,” she repeated her words from earlier, sighing. “But that doesn’t change the facts, Hiccup. She will marry Eret, as it had always been meant to be. Your bond can’t be real.”

. o O o .

Until deep into the night – with Eret and Dagur still not having returned from the temple – Hiccup kept pondering over Cami’s words.

They made no sense.

He knew, without a doubt, that their bond was real. Vividly, he remembered how her fears had reached him even though he’d had no idea that something had been wrong. He hadn’t made that up. And it was the same with their vision. They both had seen the same future without even knowing each other. That hadn’t been a coincidence. It can’t have been!

No, their bond was real. The longer he thought about it now, staring at the decorated ceiling above him, the clearer it became to him. It wasn’t just a fluke or a pipe dream. It couldn’t be.

But if Cami was right and nothing could ever overcome a true soulbond, what did that mean in return? Did that mean that… that there was still hope after all?

The mere idea made Hiccup’s heart stutter painfully. Had he given up too soon? Should he have fought for her after all? But how? If only he knew what to do. He’d do everything for her, whatever it would take.

The facts remained the same though. He couldn’t think of a solution, no chance, no way for them to be together. And he was running out of time. If there was something he could do then what was it?

So what if Cami had been right after all and he was chasing nothing but a dream. Was it possible that they’d interpreted too much into their feelings? Or maybe it was something else entirely, something he’d thought about before and that Cami hadn’t mentioned. Not even a King’s decision could overrule the Gods’ will, she’d said. But what if the Gods changed their mind? Was it possible that them getting intimate had angered them enough to part them again?

Groaning, he covered his face with his hands. All this pondering wasn’t doing him any good. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought about uncountable options already. But he couldn’t think of a way out and he wasn’t optimistic about getting an epiphany anytime soon either. And it would have to come soon, before tomorrow night preferably.

“Please,” he murmured a prayer into the darkness of the empty room. “Please, if it is your wish that we are together then send me a sign. I’d do everything for her, but I need your help. Is there still hope for us? What can I do?”

But it didn’t seem as if the Gods had heard him, or maybe they just didn’t care. There was no sudden lightning strike, no foreign voice speaking in his mind, nothing. For over an hour, he kept pondering and wondering before sleep eventually overcame him.

. – * – _ . o O o . _ – * – .

He found himself in a forest that he didn’t recognize. Pine, fir, some oak, with light underbrush. Nearby, a mighty tree had fallen in some years past, and there was a cluster of saplings reaching up towards the gap and the light, with blackberry bushes around them. He noticed that he had a heavy basket in hand, filled with the berries, and without thinking, he set off down the well-beaten path behind him. Birds fluttered around in the air above him and he heard squirrels and woodpeckers hard at work.

Then he emerged into a clearing, and the moment Hiccup recognised the small but neat house with a garden of flowers, vegetables, and herbs around it, he knew that he was dreaming. He’d only seen this place once before, and just for a fleeting moment, but it was enough. His heart was beating furiously as his feet led him closer. If this was the same like the last time, then there should be the noise of a barking dog at any moment and then the door would open to…

But this was not a repetition of the vision he’d had some months ago, he realised. There was no barking dog, not even when he reached the still-closed door. He waited, and when nothing happened he lifted his hand to open it himself. It was locked though, so he knocked instead, eager to see her. Maybe indulging in this dream wasn’t a wise idea, but he honestly didn’t care. He only wanted to see her…

But still, the door didn’t open. Instead, he heard a voice in his head, old and gnarled somehow.

I am locked.

With a start, he looked around, but there was nobody. Shaking his head in puzzlement, he knocked again but had no time to even wait for a reaction from inside when the voice spoke again.

Still locked.

Somehow, it sounded amused this time, and finally the words started to make sense, even as nothing else did. But this was a dream, Hiccup reminded himself. Things didn’t need to make sense…

“Can… can you open up for me?” He felt stupid talking to a wooden door, but it also felt weirdly right.

The voice in his mind chuckled. No, I can’t do that.

Hiccup’s shoulders slumped. He had the strong feeling that this was more than just an ordinary dream. The answer to his questions was inside this little house, their future home. But if he couldn’t get inside, then–

But you can open me.

Hiccup blinked and reflexively tried to open the door again. But it wouldn’t budge, only rattled a bit. “No, I can’t. You’re locked.”

Don’t you have a key?

“No, I don’t. Why would–” he broke off when the door’s voice again chuckled in his mind.

I think you do.

Hiccup didn’t understand. How was he supposed to have a key, either to this enchanted door or it’s future counterpart? He had no keys at all, had nothing on him except the clothes he’d fallen asleep in – the basket had vanished at some point without him noticing – and–

With a start, he scrambled for the cord around his neck. For her key.

See? the voice chuckled again, then faded away. He didn’t expect to hear it ever again.

Instead, he looked down at the key in his hand. It was bigger than in reality, sturdier, but it very clearly was the same key. With shaking fingers, he pushed it into the lock and wasn’t even surprised when it fit perfectly. With an audible click, the door unlocked and opened without his doing, revealing the person standing behind it.

“I’m so glad you made it,” she said in her usual slightly nasal voice, her blue eyes beaming and her pink lips stretched into a loving smile.

Hiccup could do nothing but stare. It was her. She was here! Joy bubbled up inside him and a wide grin stretched over his face. It might just be a dream, but still. Looking at her, openly and without having to hide anything, was balm for his soul.

“Come with me,” she said, smiling, and took his hand to lead him around the house and into the garden. It was bigger than he’d realised, with a patch of soft grass beneath an old tree where they made themselves comfortable. The branches and leaves build something like a roof above them, with only small spots of sunlight dotting the ground and dancing when the breeze caught in the tree overhead.

On their way, he took the time to look at their surroundings, her hand in his warm and reassuring. To their left, there was a stream and a little lake and to the right, he spotted the edge of the thick forest he’d come out of. Behind the building and the garden was a steep wall of solid stone that stretched to surround the clearing in a wide arc on nearly all sides except for a narrow opening somewhere in the forest. A caldera?

He shook his head, inwardly laughing at himself. Finally, he had the chance to spend time with her again, or something close to that at least, and he wasted it by looking at the scenery? Quickly, he focused on her again, on her hair, her face, the feeling of her hand in his – and frowned. Clearly, it was her, but at the same time, she was… different. He looked at her more intently, trying to pin down what exactly it was that threw him off. She certainly didn’t look the same as when he’d seen her earlier that day. She was older by some years, more grown up. Her face had lost a bit of its roundness and was more defined, her golden hair a shade or two paler. But that wasn’t what bothered him.

Somehow, she didn’t feel right. Of course, she wasn’t real, was just a product of his dream, but still there seemed to me more. She was too alive for a dream, and she was different. As if it wasn’t his soulmate at all sitting there at his side, but instead someone else.

He pushed the thought aside as something ridiculous. This was a dream. None of this was real and nothing needed to make sense. A part of him tried to convince himself that it would be better to simply wake up. It would be too easy to get lost in this fantasy and the longer he indulged in it the more it would hurt when he woke up again. But even with her not feeling right, being here in this beautiful garden with her to simply enjoy their time… it was too wonderful, and he couldn’t bring himself to even try to wake up.

She didn’t say anything, only watched him with that warm smile of hers that he loved so much as his hand cupped her cheek, his eyes taking in her achingly familiar features. He savoured every moment of the illusion of being so close to her, of feeling her warmth beneath his hand, and of the faint mayweed scent surrounding her. Even if nothing of this was real, it still felt real enough to pretend. For a few minutes, they continued like this, with him marvelling how well their hands fit together and how their soft caressing each other made him shudder, until he invited her into his embrace and she followed without a moment’s hesitation. At that moment, he didn’t care how much this dream might pain him once he woke up. Simply holding her like this was worth everything, and it only strengthened his resolve to keep fighting for her in case he ever got the chance.

“I miss you,” he murmured a good while later. It was hard to tell the passing of time, but he would say that at least an hour had passed with them simply cuddling in the comfortable grass. By now, he lay with his head cushioned in her lap, her hand carding through his hair. It felt good, so peaceful and right. He never wanted to leave again.

“I know,” she replied. “I felt your pain and I heard your plea. That’s why I came to you.”

Hiccup frowned at her odd choice of words. She’d come to him because of his plea? What plea? And how had she come to him, when this was only a dream? It didn’t make sense, unless–

“But don’t give up,” she went on, interrupting his line of thoughts. “You were right right from the beginning. Don’t give in to doubt now.”

With wide eyes, he looked up at her, at her face, beautiful as always yet with an intense, almost divine inner glow... None of this made sense, unless it wasn’t a dream after all. Was this the answer he’d asked for?

He took a deep breath to calm himself. If he was right...

“Is there still hope then?” he asked breathless yet carefully, unsure what he even was allowed to do in her presence.

Smiling, she nodded. “There is always hope.”

Hastily, he scrambled up to his knees to look at her. “Please. I… I need your advice, Oh Fair One. I don’t know what to do.”

She smiled at him, and there was no question to him that this wasn’t Astrid, for all that She wore his love’s form. “Do what comes naturally to you.”

“I... I have been,” he said, pained. “But it isn’t enough!”

“I know it feels that way,” she said, and her eyes seemed to gleam with an inner radiance, blue like the sapphires he’d once seen in a shop held up to sunlight. “Foresight is a painful gift, but We had a purpose in Our selection...”

“My Lady...” Hiccup began, and her head jerked towards him, a wry smile on his beloved’s lips.

“Yes?”

“Please. Please. It hurts so much being parted. All I want is to hold her again. Is there a way?”

She scoffed. “You are strong enough for the work ahead, although I know the path is difficult. Do Our work and know that your reward will be yours.” She motioned to the clearing and the house inside it. “Success–or failure–is entirely in your hands.”

“Then why are you here?” he asked.

“You called,” she said simply. “And in answer to your question... do you want to know? Truly? Foresight is a painful gift, as I said.”

Hiccup didn’t hesitate and knelt. “My Lady, please. You bound my heart to her. Just tell me what I must do to hold her again.”

She patted his head and said softly. “So We did. Well then. Yes, you can hold your beloved in your arms again. Soon. But first, you will end the life of someone dear to her.”

. – * – _ . o O o . _ – * – .

It was strange, Hiccup thought the next morning, how little it bothered him to prepare Crusher for Eret. Even though he was incredibly grateful Eret had rescued him, it had always pained Hiccup to tend to his father’s former stallion and to hum his mother’s lullaby to calm the beast. But today, it barely affected him at all. His mind was too occupied with that dream. That vision.

You can hold your beloved in your arms again. Soon. But first, you will end the life of someone dear to her.

She’d said that and he’d woken, and in the hours since, the words of the Goddess had continued to echo through his thoughts. There was barely anything else that registered in his mind. Every stroke down Crusher’s silken black fur and every movement to bridle and saddle him was done through pure force of habit, just like it had been with Cassie before. What did those words mean?

Was he supposed to kill someone for her? That… that seemed rather crass and he couldn’t see how that would be good for her in any way. She hated pointless deaths... Besides, he didn’t even know who. Eret maybe, so he couldn’t marry her in his stead? Or her father, in revenge for his decision and to render it useless? Or someone else entirely; Dagur, or Daniel, or someone he couldn’t even think of right now?

His heart was thrumming with hope, with the prospect of how maybe they still had a chance after all. But the circumstances were daunting, to say the least. He’d thought he was ready to do everything for this chance, but this… Could he kill someone, just out of the hope that it would somehow get them back together again? And if he could do it… Who and how and when?

The whirling thoughts in his mind made him dizzy, and he had to sit down for a minute. More out of reflex, he rubbed his twinging leg as he gazed into the distance with unseeing eyes. End the life of someone dear to her… Was this really what he had to do? Or had he just imagined it all, had it been nothing but a dream made up by his desperation? Gods, he couldn’t even trust his own mind anymore!

His hand wandered to his chest, feeling for the key and her warmth beneath. Last night, in that dream or vision or whatever it had been, holding her in his arms had reminded him of just how much he needed her in his life. If there was a chance for them, then he just had to take it.

But did that mean that he could murder Eret if it came down to that?

“Hey. You all right?”

Hiccup jumped when, unexpectedly, Eret’s voice cut into his thoughts. He looked up at his cousin, a spark of panic flaring up inside him. Would he be able to read Hiccup’s thoughts from a moment ago on his face?

“H-hey,” he stammered in greeting. “Yeah, everything’s good. Fine. Uh, Crusher is ready, but if you want you can check him over again. I’m feeling a bit fried – rough night – so I’m not all here right now. I-I hope I made no mistake.” Oh, wouldn’t that be ironic? If he killed Eret by accident simply because he hadn’t correctly taken care of his kit? Or would that even count as an accident, with a small dark voice in the back of his mind demanding him to do it? A shiver ran down Hiccup’s spine, and he averted his face when he felt Eret’s scrutinising look on him.

“Hiccup... what’s wrong?” He paused for a moment before he went on with a low sigh. “Listen… You don’t have to come along today if you don’t feel like it. This is just a joy ride, nothing more. You’ll really be needed as squire at the ball tonight, so you’d better rest until then.”

Hiccup grimaced as Eret’s words brought a new idea to his mind. Could he kill Eret simply by not being around when he needed his help? These thoughts were driving him insane!

“No, I’m good, really,” he muttered and tried to force something like a smile on his face. “But still, you better check that all buckles and straps are where they should be.”

“As if you’d make a mistake when it comes to horses,” Eret snorted. “No, I trust you. Besides, we don’t really have time for that anyway. I’m… well, I slept too long and I fear the rest of the party is already waiting. Let’s get going.”

With a tight smile, Hiccup nodded and was glad when turning to get Cassie provided him with a welcome excuse. Interacting with Eret had never felt this awkward before, and he was certain that his unusual tension hadn’t escaped Eret’s notice.

He had to admit, however, that going for a ride was a wonderful diversion from their other activities lately. Hiccup rarely ever felt as free and relaxed as when on horseback, and even with how anxious he was today, Cassie’s familiar movements beneath him filled him with a certain calmness.

As Eret had predicted, it was nothing but a slow ride through the countryside, hardly a joyous ride; in fact, it was more of a discomforting plodding, which Hiccup knew that she and her brothers all hated from how they’d reacted over the last few months. But it couldn’t be helped, given the number of riders in the party. Most of the hundred and more suitors were riding with them, and their horsemanship left much to be desired, especially as they crowded around her, unable or unwilling to just yet accept that they’d lost. But that was understandable, as they were the survivors of the contests so far, after the injuries during the tournaments and hunts had killed nearly two dozen, with that one boar having accounted for four deaths all on its own, and another two dozen-plus were wounded or maimed. They wouldn’t give up that easily, not now, not after everything.

From his place close behind Eret, he could barely even see her on Markor’s back where she rode at the front of the party next to the King. And their speed wasn’t helped by her having to use that ridiculous side saddle for this official event. He figured she wouldn’t be all too happy right now from that, but hoped that she’d at least find some form of comfort by being allowed to ride again for once.

Trying not to focus too hard on her and trusting in Cassie to stay in her place amidst the group, the slow pace gave Hiccup the chance to further brood over the riddle She had given him – even as the sober thought of the Goddess Herself having appeared in his dreams nearly made him hysterical. It all felt so surreal, impossible, and only left him more confused than before. Yes, he’d asked for help, for a hint at whether and what he could do, but had that vision – if it had been a vision at all – really helped him? He wasn’t so sure about that. She’d been right. Foresight was a painful gift.

For well over an hour, they rode along the shore of Lake Vola while Hiccup’s thoughts still whirled around in circles. He hadn’t paid their surroundings any mind, but from one moment to the other that changed. There was a commotion at the front of their party; a horse whinnied and others snorted, men yelled, and there was abrupt movement among the packed riders, some halting and others urging their steeds on.

Then a sudden shriek of pure agony rent the air, and it was only by dint of long experience that Hiccup kept Cassie from bolting in panic. A number of horses did bolt, sending their riders tumbling out of their saddles or carrying them off, and shouts of surprise and dismay joined the agonized cry of someone in mortal pain.

And from the sound, Hiccup knew, knew who it was...

. o O o .

Right... and I'm back into hiding...

Next Chapter

#For The Love Of A Princess #FTLOAP #hiccstid #hiccstrid fanfiction #fanfiction #httyd #Hiccup and Astrid #medieval au #Hiccstrid Medieval AU #hiccstrid royal au #royalty au #Romance/Angst/Hurt/Comfort/Fluff

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shipmistress9 · 5 years

Text

FTLOAP: Chapter 31: I Am Strong When I Am On Your Shoulders

Title: For The Love Of A Princess

Fandom: HTTYD

Theme: Hiccstrid - Medieval-style AU - Romance - Angst/Hurt/Comfort

Rating: Explicit

FF-net - AO3 -

Discord-server for discussions and questions

Prologue; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7; Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10; Chapter 11; Chapter 12; Chapter 13; Chapter 14; Interlude 1; Chapter 15; Chapter 16; Chapter 17; Chapter 18; Chapter 19; Chapter 20; Chapter 21; Chapter 22; Chapter 23; Chapter 24; Chapter 25; Chapter 26; Interlude 2; Chapter 27: Chapter 28 ; Chapter 29 ; Chapter 30

Alpha/Co-author: @athingofvikings

. – * – _ . o O o . _ – * – .

AN: There's one announcement I almost forgot but is probably better to make. There won't be an update on the 1st of February. Why? Because I'll be gone over the (longer) weekend, visiting a friend in the UK, meeting more friends, and watching the film, of course. (It. Will. Be. Awesome! :D) Just so you know ;)

This week's title, as well as that of next week, is from 'You Raise Me Up' (originally) by Secret Garden. It took me a while to pick these titles, but this song and lyrics embrace exactly what I want to convey with these chapters.

. o O o .

Riding on the ridiculous and uncomfortable side saddle, Astrid’s hands around Markor’s reins were tighter than was necessary, the leather creaking beneath her gloves, as she rode amidst the slow procession following the Fyrirs. After ritualistically lighting the holy fire in the palace’s sacred grove, the highest representative of each of the main Orders now carried their torch through the ever-growing darkness back toward the High Temple. It was an awfully slow ride, even with the elderly Fyrir Gothi being helped along in a sedan chair, her ten-foot-high torch being carried by her aid, and Astrid tried to focus on enduring rather than on anything else. This day had been bad enough already with the endless reception in the morning, and the socialising afterwards hadn't been any better. But now? She gritted her teeth, and for once didn’t fight to keep her mask from slipping into a scowl. That was one advantage of this ride through near-total darkness, after all. Nobody could see her, not with every light in the city doused in preparation for the blot.

It shouldn’t have surprised her. She knew that this was an official event, that today, she was even more of a royal adornment than on most other days. But it still had needed Eret’s smug grin as they were on their way to the horses outside to realise that, of course, she would have to ride on that ridiculous side saddle, like a proper Lady.

Astrid grimaced down at the uncountable glass beads which occasionally caught the light of the torches, then sighed and tried to focus on something positive. Like how there at least was no real danger of her ruining the dress or the saddle with how incredibly slow they were riding!

She wanted to scream.

Yes, of course, they couldn’t ride faster anyway. The only sources of light were the torches with the holy flame the Fyrirs carried, which were at the front of the procession, and those of the Stellari, the direct subordinates of the Fyrirs, who were scattered among their group. All other lights all over the city had been doused at sunset, celebrating the darkness, the end of this year’s cycle, and the coming return of the light. They didn’t even have the light of the moon to help illuminate the way over the cobblestones, with the sky covered by clouds, and besides, their pace was limited to that of the Fyrir. It was a sensible reason to go at this slow pace, and that made it okay. And if she was honest to herself, what bugged her the most had been Eret’s smug grin anyway.

Although, there had been none of that when she’d glanced at him as they’d left the castle’s ground anymore. On the contrary, he’d looks stern, even troubled somehow. Petty as it was, she was almost glad that her threat from all those weeks ago had become true. That, if she actually had to ride at a slow trot with this saddle, Eret would have to suffer the same agonising pace.

She tried to focus on that, on Eret, the saddle, the slow pace, the annoying day… anything if only it helped to keep her from thinking about what had happened just now.

Gods, she’d died a thousand deaths the moment Hiccup had touched her!

What had he been thinking? Getting so close, touching her so intimately, and in front of so many people? Her father had seen it, as had Daniel and who knew how many others? That surely hadn’t been what Daniel had asked him to do, judging by the stony and stunned expression on his face. But then…

Astrid inhaled deeply and then slowly let the breath out again. Daniel might not have liked it, but he also hadn’t done anything to punish Hiccup right away. Maybe it was because they had no time right now, with the procession and the grand blot, but she hoped that she’d been convincing enough in not minding the contact. Daniel looked more at ease now; not like he was about to order a death sentence the moment they got off their horses, at least.

And well… It wasn’t as if she’d truly minded the contact anyway.

Freya, it had been so good to feel him after this day, to feel his warmth, the ghost of his breath on her skin as he’d lifted her up, so easily as if she weighed nothing. She knew that he was stronger than he looked, had felt his wiry muscles move beneath his skin, but still. She’d been sorry when the contact had ended – far too soon – but she also knew that there hadn’t been another choice. Making him sit behind her on Markor’s back so that they could cuddle and whisper and kiss during this boring ride… that definitely sounded great, but wasn’t really sensible.

Sighing, she sat up straighter, her smile truer now. No, that wasn’t sensible at all – but she could dream about doing all that once they met at the stables tonight again. What were these boring hours compared to those of bliss and lightness she shared with him?

And, well, this part of the day wasn’t that bad anyway. Aside from riding on this uncomfortable saddle, she quite enjoyed this ride through the darkness. It was so quiet and peaceful, the only sounds being those of the horses and the torches. The city itself was eerily dark and quiet too, with most people having gathered at the smaller temple buildings all over the city where the only sources of lights would be tonight, all waiting for the darkest hour and for the ceremony itself. It always had been something mysterious, this calm darkness, and Astrid enjoyed it greatly.

. o O o .

With a grateful nod, Astrid accepted a glass from the serving girl’s tray, and took a sip of the light wine. It’s sweet tasted rolled over her tongue, making her close her eyes, to fully enjoy it – and the brief moment of solitude it brought her.

“And this is a good friend of mine, Baroness Corrine of Blackshire,” the Countess of Whitevale continued her introduction. “Her son Jake, the heir to his father’s barony, rose to the position of a captain in the Royal Army this year, isn’t that right, my dear?”

“Oh, yes, it is,” Lady Corrine affirmed enthusiastically. “He is such a good boy, and we are so proud of him. And handsome too, if I as his mother may say so. I’m sure you would like him if you met him, your Highness.”

Astrid’s smile felt more artificial than ever as she gave a slight nod. “I’m sure I would,” she replied politely, then added not quite as courteous, “but I hope you’ll excuse me now.” She nodded at the Countess and her friends who all curtseyed before her, clearly disappointed about her leaving them – escaping them – already.

This was another part of the Midwinter festivities that used to be bearable, but by now was only dreadful. The hours between nightfall and midnight were traditionally dedicated to forming new connections, new friendships. People introduced friends to one another and new ties were built for a new beginning once the sun returned. Or at least that was the idea. As a child, she’d liked these hours when she’d met so many other children and had been allowed to play with them. But none of those friendships had ever lasted longer than these hours, and by now, forming new ties mostly meant people wooing for her favour to support their agendas or to advertise possible future husbands to her. And she’d definitely had enough of that today already.

It was practically customary; the dark and cold winter nights without much fighting or fieldwork to distract them seemed to make many a man think about marriage, and these days of official mingling always called forth those who thought addressing her directly – in addition to an official proposal sent to her father, of course – would give them a better chance.

During the last years, she’d been annoyed at this. As if she had any say in who her father would choose! No matter how much thought a young man put into proposing to her, her opinion wouldn’t matter much.

But this year, things were different. This year, she’d accepted their fine words, their gifts to win her favour, and the exaggerated manner in which some of them proposed – because, by Frigga, they’d been ridiculous this year – with nothing but a polite smile, knowing that all their efforts would be in vain anyway. Although she had been amused by that one southern countess who had introduced her son as a potential groom, with the incredibly unsubtle bride price of a fleet of trading ships and the contents therein. What her father would even do with fifteen ships laden with silks, spices and tea was beyond her...

She looked around the dimly lit room, searching for the one face in the crowd that would settle her nerves, when a highly unwelcome person approached her.

“Good evening, Milady.”

The voice alone made her groan inwardly. Quickly, her eyes darted around, finally finding Daniel, Eret, and the others, but they were busy talking to a larger group of noblemen at the other end of Odin’s Hall. Too far away to flee to without making a scene, and she couldn’t do that. Not here and not now, not during these peaceful hours of forming bonds.

So she turned, slowly, and said in as composed a voice as she could muster, “Good evening, your Grace.”

Duke Thuggory smirked. “Why so formal, Milady? We’ve been friends for so many years now; don’t you think it’s time for you to leave the stiff titles aside?”

“I wouldn’t say that we are friends, Duke Thuggory,” she said in a low voice, so quietly that nobody but him would be able to hear her.

It only served to make Thuggory laugh, however. “You’re very right, Milady Astrid. Friends is surely not the right word to use. But thinking about it… I wouldn’t mind my wife to show proper respect, so feel free to continue addressing me by my title. And if you’re good, I might even support your love of riding by allowing you to ride me,” he added with an insinuating smirk.

Astrid’s eyes squinted at the last comment, not able to make any rhyme or reason to it, but quickly decided that now was not the time to think about it. Instead, her hands balled into fists at her side. “I will never be your wife,” she hissed. “What makes you even think–”

“Oh, but I think my chances aren’t so bad. The Crown needs strong alliances to keep the Kingdom stable. And isn’t that what you want, too? To support your father and brother in their goal to care for the people?”

Astrid’s mouth clamped shut, her teeth gritting, as she forced herself to stay composed. “This is not about what I want,” she brought forth, surprising even herself with the calmness in her voice. “My Father will, with the Gods’ advice, decide who I’m going to marry, not me.” It was a safe thing to say, better than that the Gods had already chosen. That she already knew who her husband would be one day. She almost laughed as, in that moment, she finally understood what Hiccup had meant a while back. It was part of the Gods’ plan that they belonged together, and nobody, not even Thuggory, would be able to change that – and that gave her a good feeling.

However, her words only made Thuggory laugh again, low and patronising. “Oh, don’t underestimate your… power, Princess. If you said you wanted to marry me, that would have quite an effect on the King’s decision.”

“And why would I ever do that?” Thuggory had to be delusional, if he really thought she would...

“I am a very powerful and influential man, Princess. Agree to marry me, and with my support, the Crown would gain more strength than you can ever imagine. But make me an enemy, and you will bitterly regret it. It’s your call, Your Highness. Think about it. I’d certainly be of more value to you than the Houses that already stand loyally to you, or any of those other sorry milksops that were scraping before you today. And don’t even get me started on that cute admirer of yours.”

She had endured his monologue with a stony expression, intent on not giving him the satisfaction of reacting at all. But the last words made her frown in confusion. Cute admirer? What was he talking about?

“That boy earlier,” he elaborated, seeing her confusion. “I can hardly tell them apart. Somehow, they all look the same. You seem to have a type, I’d say.” His grin grew menacing. “Will we see him dangling off Odin’s Tree soon, too? Or have you gotten tired of that show by now, and have something more drastic planned for him?”

Astrid blanched as she understood what he was talking about. He’d noticed… Thuggory had noticed! He knew about Hiccup, knew–

“But he really is cute, in a puppy-like way,” Thuggory went on, unperturbed. “And so in love.”

Astrid’s heart was racing, but she knew only one way out of this. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she stated nonchalantly as she chanted inwardly, Play ignorant. Throw him off. Nobody can know…

And it seemed as if her efforts were successful.

“Oh, you haven’t even noticed?” Thuggory jeered. “The poor boy. He obviously has such a huge crush on you. Always has his eyes on you wherever you go, and you didn’t even notice…” He chuckled, but it didn't sound friendly at all. “But then, that's probably for the best, given your… history, Milady. And luckily for him, he’s not bold enough to just take you like a man, even though I almost thought he would try. Did you know that he’s been seen frequenting an Ástir who’s impersonating you? He really must have it bad for you.”

Suddenly feeling a little calmer, Astrid took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh again. She wasn't sure what Thuggory had intended by saying these words, but whatever it was, it wasn't working. On the contrary, if the general impression was that Hiccup had an unrequited crush on her… then that wasn't so bad. As far as she knew, that was true for many. She also couldn't quite grasp what the sense behind mentioning Cami had been, but Hiccup had told Astrid all about her; who she was, what she did, and how she ultimately was responsible for the wonderful nights she’d been spending with Hiccup lately. No, if Thuggory had meant to make her feel uncomfortable, then he'd failed – and that knowledge made her feel even better.

“I've heard Ástir impersonating me are quite popular these days,” she commented offhandedly. The thought was weird, but… well, that was how things worked. Even if she wanted, she couldn’t change it, and it didn’t really affect her anyway. Especially since she knew that those close to her who had interacted with Cami had other reasons to do so. “Maybe you should visit one too, given your fixation. But you’ll have to excuse me now, Your Grace. I have more pleasant company to seek.” She curtsied again with an almost mocking smile, then turned and left him standing.

It was a good feeling to do so. She was strong enough to stand up against Thuggory now when she’d barely been able to do so a week ago, and it brought a confident smile onto her face as she strode through the dimly lit Hall. She hadn’t even thought about where she was going, but her smile widened when she spotted her brothers laughing and beckoning her over when they saw her – and Hiccup who stood a little to the side. His eyes were gleaming when they fell on her even though his expression stayed the same as before.

Thuggory’s words crossed her mind again, about Hiccup obviously having a crush on her and her not even having noticed. Oh, if only he knew how wrong he was. But the fact that he didn’t know – and nobody else either – brightened her mood even further.

Astrid took her place among her brothers with a smile and a polite nod at the strangers they were talking to, vividly aware of Hiccup’s presence only a couple of steps away from her. She wasn’t fooling herself, knew exactly where her strength and confidence was coming from. It was him, his support, his trust, his love glowing in her chest, and the dream of their future. He made her strong, and that feeling was indescribable.

. o O o .

When the time for the grand blot had arrived, Astrid followed her father out of Odin’s Hall to where the Fyrirs already waited at the centre of the sacred grove. Daniel was walking at her side, and once they’d taken their places in the first row, more noblemen flowed out of the Temple buildings, the plaza filling rapidly until every last bit of space was occupied. Astrid knew that even the road outside the temple would be packed with people, all waiting for the holy fire to bring back the light into their world.

The Fyrirs stepped forward, their torches the only light on the dark plaza, and Astrid felt a shiver run up her arms. Not because of the cool night air, but because this moment always captivated her. On an invisible signal, all Fyrirs – or in case of the mute Fyrir Gothi, her highest Stellari – began to speak, reciting words as old as the oldest stories, their voices weaving into one another until they seemed to become one single voice that carried far over the assembled people.

“The old year is coming to an end. A new year begins. May it be full of light, of justice, of truth, and of happiness. May it be full of new life, of good crops, of laughter, and of love. May it be victorious, so that it ends in peace.“

Then the torches holding the holy fire were thrown onto the pyre behind them. The wood, partially soaked in lamp oil, began to burn instantly, and only moments later the bonfire calling back the light into their world burned high into the night sky. More speeches followed, each of the Orders giving individual blessings for the new cycle. Then the sacrifices were brought forward, a bag of corn, a basket full of fruits and vegetables, a barrel of mead, and a goat. Astrid didn’t enjoy watching the animal get killed, but Fyrir Throk was skilled about it, not causing unnecessary pain, and it was over quickly. Each Fyrir picked one of the offerings and gave it over into the flames, before the rest got carried away, being brought to the kitchens in Freya’s Temple as Astrid knew. Nothing would go to waste.

After that, the ritual five minutes of silence followed as the offerings burned and each and every person would be sending their individual wishes and prayers to the Gods. Astrid shakily let out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding. As always, she prayed for a merciful year that wouldn’t take anyone dear to her away from her. In previous years, she’d felt a little sad at the thought that, before her grandfather had reestablished the old beliefs, these words and ritual hadn’t been held here for many years. It had made her melancholic, but also proud that now the light of the Gods was brightening their land again where it had drowned in darkness and corruption before.

But this year, she also felt something different. The words of the ritual rang through her mind once more, making her feel a far more personal connection to these words. A year of happiness, love, and peace… Yes, she prayed with all her heart that this would come true.

When Daniel touched her arm, she looked up, dazed and overwhelmed. “Let’s go over there,” he murmured. “And give the people more space.” He indicated to the slow procession of people, commoners mostly, who came forward to light their torches on the bonfire. Most of them directly transferred the flame to a candle or lantern to safely carry it back to their home, to light their hearth with it. To bring back light and warmth into the world.

Astrid nodded, and followed Daniel to where a couple of stone benches formed a slightly secluded bit of space amidst the sacred grove. When she looked around, she realised that nearly her entire family was waiting for them. Her father and Daniel, but also Dagur and Eret with their fathers, a couple of servants along with her governess to watch over her, and, of course, Hiccup. Rachel and Timothy were missing, as were Uncle Spitelout and Snot. But she would see the twins later tonight, and she knew that her other honorary uncle and brother couldn’t always make it to the capital for the Midwinter festivities. The people of Westhill needed them, needed to know that their Grand Duke would always stand with his battered people. But that didn’t change that almost everyone she cared about was gathered here, and that only heightened her feeling of solemnity. It was, indeed, a good start into the new year. Into a good year, hopefully.

Her eyes flickered over Hiccup where he stood halfway behind Eret. As if knowing the perfect moment, he looked up just in time to meet her gaze, the briefest of smiles gleaming in his eyes before he lowered them again and the other men stepped between them. Both she and Daniel were hugged in turn by their father, a rare gesture, before he turned to speak to them all.

“My friends, brothers, family. It is, as always, an honour and a pleasure to spend this special day with you. Let us celebrate tonight, both for the beginning of a new cycle and for those who can’t be with us tonight.”

There was approving murmuring from everyone, before they exchanged their gifts, meant as good wishes and lucky charms for the upcoming year. Astrid received a new necklace from her father, with fitting bracelets and earrings from the Grand Dukes. The jewellery was remarkable, heavy gold with countless stones in varying shades of blue set into intricate patterns. The set surely was more valuable than most of her other pieces; the men had clearly outdone themselves.

In return, however, Astrid felt self-conscious as she handed her gifts to her father, uncles, and brothers. Not being able or allowed to get them anything meaningful or personal, her governess had – like every year – insisted upon her making pretty good luck charms, stripes of valuable cloth she’d embroidered with traditional motives over the year. It always pained her to gift these, it wasn’t what she wanted to gift to her family, but everyone thanked her nonetheless.

It was a blessing really that her brothers knew about her pain. It meant they’d stopped getting her any extremely valuable things in return too to not make her feel left out. Instead, they usually got her small things, practical or sometimes self-made things – or sometimes something especially inappropriate, just to annoy her governess. Like the relatively small and light, but incredibly sturdy composite bow Eret gave her, with a simply decorated quiver full of fitting arrows from Dagur. Astrid accepted both pieces with a wide grin. She probably would never get the chance to use them, but they would make for a wonderful decoration for her rooms, and the horrified expression on her governess’s face alone was the best gift anyway.

“Wait, there’s something else I have for you,” Dagur announced as Daniel was about to speak, and waved a servant over with a heavy-looking wooden box. “Technically, this isn’t a gift though, not really. It’s just a replacement for your previous coffer. I’ve heard someone broke it.” He winked, and threw a short, falsely-dark glare at Hiccup, knowing perfectly well what had happened, that Hiccup had broken the lock on purpose.

“Oh, that’s great,” she chuckled. “Very practical to carry everything back to the castle,” she announced cheerfully, and unceremoniously let the cushioned box of jewellery and the bow and quiver fall into the coffer as if it was nothing but a simple carrier box.

“Very practical indeed,” Daniel agreed with a twinkle in his eyes. “But I hope you’ll be a little more careful with my gift, and won’t just dump it in there like that. Because that might render a great deal of work useless, and that would be a real shame.”

Astrid raised her eyebrow at her brother. “You put a lot of work into making me a gift?” she asked, a little disbelievingly. Smart and talented as Daniel was, anything including delicate craftsmanship and dexterity wasn’t really his thing.

And sure enough, he immediately backpaddled, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Well… No, I didn’t, but… I arranged for it, and… well, I hope it’ll make you happy.” He beckoned to someone behind her, a servant she assumed, but was pleasantly surprised – and little startled, to be honest – when Hiccup stepped toward them.

He bowed deeply, appropriately for this setting, and murmured a low, “Milady,” in greeting. Then he held out his hands that held a bundle of cloth.

Astrid hesitated, and threw a puzzled look at Daniel, but he just smiled encouragingly and nodded. With slightly shaking hands, she reached to pull the bundle Hiccup still held open. It wasn’t that she was nervous about the gift; she had an idea what it might be after all. But she was acutely aware of how close her hands were to Hiccup’s and how her brothers were all watching them. Act indifferent!, she reminded herself.

As expected, amidst the protecting cloth appeared her music box. It looked just like it had when Hiccup had taken it from her rooms, but she knew that it would be mended. He wouldn’t give it back to her if it were otherwise. “It’s working again?” she asked nonetheless, just to say something and with an undeniably hopeful tone in her voice.

“It is,” Daniel confirmed in Hiccup’s stead, and shrugged. “Which is entirely to Hiccup’s credit though; I only made sure he had the time and means.” He gave her a – completely atypically for him – self-conscious smile.

A little overwhelmed, Astrid threw her arms around Daniel's neck. “Thank you!” she sighed, unsure how else to convey just how grateful she was.

Daniel chuckled, and returned her affectionate hug. “You’re welcome,” he murmured back. “I know how much it means to you, and I wanted to know you have it back before I leave – before we all leave you alone here again.”

She hugged him tighter, snivelling slightly, then pulled back to beam at him. Daniel returned the smile, and no further words were needed between them. Having her music box back was the greatest gift of all, more valuable to her than the bow and even the jewellery – and Daniel knew that.

“And thank you to you too, Hiccup,” she said after turning toward him and the box again, looking at him with all the gratitude and love she felt, for once not afraid what those around her would think it weird. They’d write it off as her joy over the gift, and she thrived in the moment.

“You’re welcome, Milady,” he murmured, smiling happily over her apparent joy. When she reached to testingly wind it up though, he pulled back to do so himself, and a moment later, the tiny dancer began to move. Over the noises of the bonfire and the people not far away, the melody was inaudible, but Astrid's mind provided it easily in time with the dancer's movements. Humming quietly, she watched the figure until, entirely on reflex, her arm rose as the dancing pattern reached the point where it would get stuck – except it didn’t.

With wide eyes, Astrid stared at the figure as it easily swirled and turned around, back and forth in to her unknown ways. Her mind was completely blank, unable to form coherent thoughts or provide the melody anymore. Then her head whipped up, and she gaped at Hiccup. “You repaired it!” she gasped, finally grasping the full meaning of those words.

Hiccup frowned slightly, and shrugged. “Yes, I did?” he acknowledged, hesitantly.

Before she could think twice about it, Astrid all but leapt forward, threw her arms around Hiccup’s neck in an equally enthusiastic hug as Daniel’s before, and gasped a breathless “Thank you!” into his ear. Hiccup froze in her embrace, his breath leaving him with an audible gasp, and – too late – Astrid realised what she was doing. She pulled back in an instant, but the damage was done.

Panic rose inside her, and she pressed one hand over her mouth as she first stared at Hiccup, seeing sparks of longing and fear dance behind his eyes, then at Dagur and Eret, who stood frozen solid and looked completely flabbergasted, before her eyes landed on Daniel. He had a stony, unreadable expression on his face, that tightened even further the moment their gazes met.

. o O o .

Next Chapter

#FTLOAP #for the love of a princess #hiccstrid #Hiccup and Astrid #hiccstrid fanfiction #fanfiction #Hiccstrid fluff #fluff #HTTYD #httyd fanfiction #httyd fandom #medieval au #Hiccstrid Medieval AU #royalty au #hiccstrid royal au

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shipmistress9 · 5 years

Text

FTLOAP - 26.5 - Interlude 2: The Price To Pay

Title: For The Love Of A Princess

Fandom: HTTYD

Theme: Hiccstrid - Medieval-style AU - Romance - Angst/Hurt/Comfort

Rating: Explicit

FF-net - AO3 -

Discord-server for discussions and questions

Alpha/Co-author: @athingofvikings

. – * – _ . o O o . _ – * – .

AN: What's this? An unscheduled surprise update? YES! And with good reason:

~ . o O o . ~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, @deathberryhime ! From the both of us. :D

~ . o O o . ~

So, what do we have here? Another interlude, from Daniel's POV this time. So sorry, no Hiccstrid progress yet ;P

And before we get started, I want to freshen up a few names. In this interlude, we'll meet the father's of our chaos squad again, so here are their names once more to hopefully prevent confusion. We have: King Osmond, father of Daniel and Astrid Grand Duke Oswald, father of Dagur Grand Duke Eret II, father of Eret III, which is the Eret we usually deal with. (This is not the old goat/scarecrow of a man Eret 'the Elder' who's the Grandfather of both Eret and Hiccup. That one doesn't show up here.)

Also: YES! The Dagret ship is floating! It might be barely more than a two-(wo)men-rowboat, but we love it. :D

. o O o .

As Daniel hastily left the bathhouse, having donned his clean tunic and trousers in a hurry, still tightening down his belt as he went out the door, he couldn’t help but feel triumphant. Finally!

Finally, he’d made progress.

Finally, he’d know for sure.

Finally, he’d be able to act.

Grim satisfaction filled his heart as he crumpled the inconspicuous note in his fist. He wasn’t fooling himself, as he knew perfectly well that this small note was only the start of a long and probably ugly process. But that didn’t change how pleased, even excited he was to finally get started. After months and years of escalating incidents, he finally had the chance to crack the shell of the conspiracy that was rotting the kingdom from the inside out.

With sure strides, he walked down the corridors and several staircases until he reached his goal: the castle’s dungeon. The guards that stood at the door to the side corridor he was heading at greeted him with a silent nod, and opened the door without a single word only to firmly close it behind him again. Not a word of what was spoken in here would reach unintended ears. The corridor behind the door was a short one; only a few strides deep with one door on each side, leading to further rooms. The left one was a cell, the one to the right an additional guard room. Daniel paused, gritting his teeth as he glanced at the cell, but pulled himself together and entered the other room. He would get his chance to deal with the prisoner soon enough.

“Ah, I see the note reached you, Your Highness.” Fyrir Alvin greeted him with a nod as he entered, his deep voice barely more than a low rumble. The broad man filled a considerable amount of the small guard room, but as it was otherwise empty except for the small and hunched form of Fyrir Gothi and Daniel himself, it wasn’t much of an issue.

“Fyrir Alvin. Fyrir Gothi. Yes, I got your note; thank you for sending for me directly. So, he finally gave in?” Daniel asked, excited. He’d been waiting for this note to reach him for days now.

Frigga’s old Fyrir nodded, mutely as ever, and stepped forward to hand Daniel a folded piece of paper. Both Fyrirs stood quietly as he quickly unfolded it and scanned its content. As expected, it was nothing but a quickly scribbled list. A list that made him grit his teeth in hatred, yet at the same time made his heart thump eagerly. It was a list of names.

After scanning it twice, Daniel nodded and safely stowed it into the front pocket of his jacket. “Thank you for your efforts,” he said with a grim smile. “Hardly any name here comes as a surprise. Especially not...” he trailed off, gritting his teeth, but then gave a small nod. “I want to speak to him once more.”

“We didn’t expect anything else,” Alvin nodded, and led the way over to the cell and its resident.

Gunter Erwinsson still wore what had to be the remnants of his formal court attire, but after several days now, it had lost a great deal of its former dignity. The formerly neat trousers, tunic, and west were stained with dust and sweat, the fabric dishevelled and partially torn. The former Count Ravenledge had been offered clean clothes as Daniel knew, but he had refused to wear anything that would diminish his status.

The man sat on a low pallet, an empty bowl at his side, and looked up as the door to his cell opened. “Ah, what an honour,” he sneered in a low and raspy voice. “The Crown Prince himself again. This is it then? Is my time up?”

Daniel scrutinised the old man. Directly after his imprisonment, he’d used every opportunity to fight his way out, but it seemed like he’d given up by now. Or he’d accepted that he had no chance of escaping anyway with Fyrir Alvin blocking the way.

“Not yet,” Daniel replied solemnly. “We’re still waiting for our couriers to return with a more accurate assessment of County Ravenledge’s current state. You still have a few days left.”

Gunter Erwinsson gave a harsh laughter. “How very kind of you. A few days more to wait for my slow and degrading death...” He gave the two Fyrirs standing behind Daniel wary glances, before he got up on his feet, slowly, indicating that he was no threat. “I assume you got what you wanted, Your Highness. Each and every man I know of being guilty of supporting the title disputes, as you requested.”

Daniel nodded, once. “And you swear that all these names are valid? You know these men are guilty?”

The former count snorted. “Indeed. I’ve only been to one of their meetings, but that was enough to get what they’re up to. All they want is chaos and power.”

Again, Daniel nodded. He knew the former count’s story by now. How a certain influential duke had approached him with an offer of power if he agreed to support him, how the count had refused, and how, in retaliation, the duke had arranged for his county to be taken from him.

A part of Daniel saw the value in the former count’s action. He’d been loyal to his position and House Berserker, hadn’t been a bad vassal, all things considered. But that didn’t change the fact that he was a bad man and had been a horrible leader to his people.

“And are these all the noblemen who conspire against the Crown?” Daniel asked calmly. He already knew the answer, but still had to ask.

“Hardly,” Gunter snorted. “But those are all the names I can confirm without a doubt.”

Glancing to the side, Daniel saw how Fyrir Gothi nodded. The former count was speaking the truth. “All right,” Daniel said, turning to leave the cell, but paused when the other man spoke again.

“What about our agreement?” he inquired. “What about my son?”

Glancing back at him, Daniel let out a sigh. “Our agreement stands,” he announced. “You told me what I wanted to know, so I will keep my end of the bargain. Your son Angus won’t suffer any further consequences by your or Harold’s actions. He will remain a knight in the Royal Army, and will suffer no inferior treatment for what his family did. You have my word.”

He didn’t feel comfortable with having the son of this man, Harold’s brother, among his personal guard. But so far, Angus hadn’t done anything wrong, was a good and loyal soldier, in fact. Punishing him just for his relations wouldn’t be right. Although, Daniel would certainly keep an eye on him.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Gunter muttered. He insinuated a bow, before he slumped back down onto his pallet.

Daniel gave him a last look before he followed the Fyrirs and left the cell. The man looked completely broken.

Once back in the solitude of the guard room, Daniel turned toward the Fyrirs again. “You’ve worked on him for several days now. What is your evaluation?” he asked, glancing from one to the other.

Gothi and Alvin shared a look that spoke of decades of cooperating. “He’s telling the truth,” Alvin finally grumbled. “Most of the names he gave us didn’t come as a surprise, and the few that did–” he shrugged, “–well, they aren't exactly known as close allies of the Crown either. And he has no reason to try and twist the truth in any way. His story makes sense. He was loyal to House Berserker, and when he refused to cooperate with the traitors they took away his city, and burned it to the ground when he came to take it back. A punishment and a warning. There was never any loyalty between him and those men; he just tried to get as much out of revealing them as possible.”

Fyrir Gothi nodded in agreement, and Daniel did as well. “Why now, though?” he wondered idly. “I didn’t offer him anything that I haven’t offered him at the beginning already.”

Again, Gothi and Alvin shared a brief glance. “Maybe he realised that you wouldn’t offer him anything else anyway?” Alvin suggested. “Maybe he gave up?”

“Yes, probably.” Sighing, Daniel grimaced. “Either way, we have what we wanted. Now, we just have to decide what to do with this list. Did you send a note to my father?”

Alvin nodded. “And to the Grand Dukes too, as requested.”

“All right. Then I better not let them wait.” With another nod, Daniel bid them farewell, and left the dungeon again.

As he made his way back to his rooms to change into a more formal attire before meeting his father and the Grand Dukes, he felt the same sense of excitement as before growing inside his chest. Finally, they would be able to do something! And there was one name on that list that Daniel was looking very forward to dealing with, one name that hadn’t come as a surprise at all.

Duke Thuggory of Meathead. Of course he’d been on that list of traitors. Gunter Erwinsson hadn’t been able to confirm Daniel’s suspicion, but he was sure that Thuggory had cooperated with Harold to get to Astrid. Just like he was sure that Thuggory was somehow behind the first attack on her all those months ago, too. Daniel had no proof or evidence, not even a hint or rumour, but he simply knew it. The satisfied smirk that had flickered across Thuggory’s face on that day… Even after all these months, Daniel still couldn’t forget that look.

But now, finally, he could get back to him. Maybe not directly for what had happened to Astrid, or how he’d treated other girls, if rumours were true, but in the end that didn’t matter. He would stop Thuggory and his malicious doings, would gladly do whatever was necessary, pay whatever price it took. Everything, if only it meant revenge for what he’d done to Astrid, and would turn the Kingdom back into a safer place to live in again.

A burst of laughter made Daniel look up, just in time to see three familiar figures turn around the corner at the end of the corridor he just passed. For a second, he considered calling after Eret, Dagur, and Hiccup – but decided against it. He didn’t want to ruin their cheerful mood with politics; they’d get the chance to discuss it at a later occasion.

Their cheerfulness made him a little melancholic, though. If only it would be possible for them to spend more time here at the castle than just these brief few months each year. Their presence was so incredibly good for Astrid, Eret’s especially. Ever since his arrival, she was like a completely different person.

Or well… no, that wasn’t true. She wasn’t like a different person. She was herself again. Not the fearful and jumpy shell of a person she’d been during the months after the spring festival anymore, but happy and laughing. So full of life again. If only they would see how good they were for each other…

And, well...Cold-blooded as the dynastic logic was, Astrid would almost certainly be married off to either Eret or Dagur the day she turned twenty anyway. She would be expected to start popping out heirs as rapidly as possible, if only to avoid another succession crisis in one of the grand-dukedoms. No matter how much they all liked to ignore it, those were the solid facts, their future – and the only solace was that she still had two years for her mental and emotional wounds to heal before she would have to accept getting intimate with a man again.

It was the same cold-blooded logic that demanded for Daniel to soon choose a wife, too, with an impeccable bloodline of course, and to sire heirs on her, regardless of his heart. No matter how much he despised that thought, it, too, was a solid fact, a future he was prepared for. And he comforted himself that it was yet another way to make his friends’ lives easier, if nothing else. If anything were to happen to him, he didn’t want the weight of the Kingdom to lie on Astrid’s shoulders. To place a target on her – and her future husband. Nothing cemented an usurper’s legitimacy like marrying the last remaining member of the old royal line, after all. And they surely wouldn’t refrain from turning her into a widow first, either.

Idly, he wondered whether the way the Tribes handled their successions, electing their future ruler, rather than having the succession be merely a matter of bloodlines, was the more prudent way, with fewer intrigues and blood-shedding. Although… that obviously wasn’t how it always worked, either.

Sighing, Daniel pulled his thoughts away from that whole complicated mess. There was nothing he could do to influence the Tribes and their situation, he had to accept that – no matter how much he’d like to. Forcefully, he focused back on things where he could make a difference – the future of his beloved sister. All Daniel wanted was to ensure that she would be happy. But Astrid refused to see Eret as anything but her brother, and the same went for Dagur and Snot. If only she would overcome those sisterly feelings, and see them as something else. Maybe not as a true lover, as marrying for love was a luxury they couldn’t afford, but at least as a partner. Someone to spend her life with. Someone who would make sure she was happy, so that Daniel could stop worrying over her.

Letting out a deep breath, he threw one last glance to where his friends had vanished moments ago, then he continued on his way. There had been a time, a couple of weeks ago, when he’d mildly entertained another hope. He knew his sister well, after all. Lively as she was, she’d still always struggled with opening up to strangers, even before that first assault. So when she’d opened up to Hiccup without any problems, he’d hoped… Surely, she wouldn’t see him as a brother, too. And while he didn’t know Hiccup as well as he knew Eret or the others, Daniel was still convinced that Hiccup was a good man. There had been the hope, that, if he would agree to the union, he certainly would take good care of Astrid.

But Harold’s assault had destroyed that hope. Sure, she wasn’t as jumpy and scared as she’d been after the spring festival. But while her behaviour toward Eret and Dagur, her brothers, hadn’t really changed, the differences in the way she interacted with Hiccup, a relative stranger, were striking. Gone was her playful lightness around him, the joking and teasing. It even seemed like she grew especially tense around Hiccup now, probably because of his physical resemblance to Harold.

Damned be Harold to Hel for what he’d done to her! And damned be Thuggory for pulling the strings from the background; and all just because she’d repeatedly turned him down. He prayed that Nidhogg would gnaw on their entrails.

Daniel let out an angry growl, startling a passing maidservant, and took a deep breath to calm himself again. Exhaling, he relaxed his gritted teeth and clenched hands, and forced himself to relax, to return to his controlled self. Getting angry wouldn’t do him any good, he’d learned that lesson already. Especially back then when he’d arranged for the quick execution of Astrid’s attacker. If only he’d been more patient… if only he’d waited to first question the man. Maybe he could have already put an end to Thuggory’s doing then.

Smiling grimly, Daniel felt for the folded note in his pocket. This time would be different, though. This time, he wouldn’t act too hasty. This time, he would use calm logic and politics to fight. That was something he was good at, after all; thinking and tactics. This time, he would free Astrid and the entire Kingdom of Thuggory. And with him of many others who were a threat to their people’s safety in their own ways.

For that goal, Daniel was willing to pay any price.

. o O o .

“Can’t say any of these names come as a surprise,” Oswald grumbled as he leaned over the King’s shoulder to glance at the piece of paper.

Daniel stood quietly and watched the three men on the other side of the impressive desk. The more agreeable of the two older Erets, his friend Eret’s father, nodded mutely.

“The question is just what we’re going to do about them now that we have confirmation,” Osmond sighed, placing the piece of paper onto the tabletop in front of him.

Daniel gave the list a thoughtful look. “Putting them on trial, as we did with Count Ravenledge, won’t work, right?” he asked, even though he already knew the answer. As much as he prefered such a relatively clean solution – things wouldn’t always be that easy.

“Sadly not,” Eret II confirmed, rubbing his tattooed chin. As so often, it amused Daniel how similar he and his son were, in looks and mannerisms, but today, that wasn't enough to make him smile. “There’s nothing we can accuse them of, nothing solid. Sure, they are the ones to blame, but that doesn’t mean that they ever did more than pulling strings. And even proving that would be difficult. We have, after all, only the word of a convicted criminal who had heard them giving big speeches.” He shook his head. “No, a trial wouldn’t lead us anywhere; if we tried that, we’d almost assuredly fail. And if we give them any excuse to raise their banners in rebellion in retaliation, to start a civil war…” He trailed off, shaking his head. But he didn’t need to explain anyway.

The names on the list – well-placed and well-off counts, and even several centrally-placed dukes – had demesnes that wound their way through the heart of the kingdom. Their fiefdoms were wealthy and well-populated – often with lands stolen from other lords – and their own personal forces, while not nearly a match for the Royal Army, could still inflict a wound on the kingdom that they might never recover from.

Daniel thought of the landscape to the west, of burned-out orchards and skeletal towns. Of overgrown fallow fields and mass graves of the fallen.

The thought of that sort of devastation here in the kingdom’s heart... it gave him chills. And apparently, he wasn’t the only one.

For a minute or three, they all fell silent, thinking, contemplating how they could go about this problem. Daniel followed his father with his eyes as he got up and produced four elegant glasses from a cupboard standing to the side and filled them from a bottle. He eyed the rich amber liquid after his father handed him a glass, then followed the other men’s example and tossed it back into his throat in a single swallow. The Tribal whiskey burned on its way down, and he put the glass back on the desk with a thunk.

There was a slight scoff from the other side of the desk, and Daniel turned his head to look at Oswald’s mildly amused expression. “I remember well how, five years ago, you tried a single sip of that, spat it out, and said that you didn’t understand why we drank it. You’ve surely grown up since then.”

Daniel scoffed in reply. “That was before I saw the battlefield firsthand... and, even worse, politics.”

Both Oswald and Eret II chuckled weakly, but his father just nodded and refilled the small glasses before handing one back to Daniel. “Aye, those can do things to a man. Those, and...” the King trailed off, sighing. Apparently lost in thoughts, he gazed at his own glass, at the sloshing golden liquid, then lifted it. “To absent friends.”

“To absent friends,” the Grand Dukes murmured in reply, raising their glasses.

Daniel chimed in, lifting his own glass, and wondered which lost friends they were seeing. The battles to the west had given him a number of faces that he would dearly love to see again.

A melancholy silence filled the room, and he contemplated suggesting to relocate to the other part of the office, the lower table with the comfortable sofa and chairs around it – but decided against it. For once, this was his father’s office; it would be his privilege to suggest that. And in a way, Daniel even understood why he hadn’t done it yet. The conversation they were about to have wasn’t going to be a comfortable chat among friends after all, but a sober and surely not comfortable discussion about politics and traitors.

“How about...,” Oswald eventually began, though only to trail off again, resolute eyes drilling into the whiskey in his glass, before he sighed. “How about we use assassins?” He looked around, rolling his eyes at the somewhat scandalised looks he earned himself for that comment. “Oh, don’t act so surprised; you all have thought about it, and you know it! We all have our contacts, after all.”

“But sentencing them all to death, just like that?” Eret II asked sceptically.

“As traitors to the Crown, they deserve nothing else,” Oswald replied, shrugging. “We could even make the sentencing official before – there’s reason enough, I’d say. Not to mention the countless murders and other crimes that go on their account. We would just need to–”

“That wouldn’t work,” King Osmond interrupted him quietly. As Daniel glanced at his father, he looked deep in thoughts, concentrated, but also weirdly tired. “You’re right, I have thought about that. If we only had to deal with one man, or maybe up to three, that would be an option. But with–” he glanced down at the list between them, “–well over two dozen men of high ranks? No, I don’t think so. Hiring enough men to deal with them all at the same time is too risky. It would take just one failure to put them on guard, one capture or turncoat, and it would blow back in our faces.” He raised one hand to ward off an interruption by Oswald. “I know what you want to suggest. But even if we use someone who’s loyal and supposedly as invincible as your specialist, then it still wouldn’t work. After the third accidental death of a High Lord at the latest, the others would retreat into hiding. And while that might serve to calm these disputes for a year or two, it surely wouldn’t help on the long run. No, what we want is… is to draw them out! So that we can deal a lethal blow to this conspiracy’s roster and set them back. Many of them don’t have heirs or clear lines of succession, and that would revert them to the Crown, or allow us to judge who succeeds them. If we removed enough of them at once, we could completely hamstring this faction’s aggregate strength of arms and fortune.”

Grumbling, Oswald nodded, clearly not happy but seeing the logic in the King’s words nonetheless.

“Drawing them out… Maybe with something like a tournament?” Daniel suggested thoughtfully. “The prestige of a big tournament surely would be enough to lure them here, and accidents do happen all the time at such events. We’d just need to place the right men as participants.”

“Maybe,” his father agreed hesitantly. “But even then it would draw attention when so many accidents happen. Again, if it becomes obvious which participants accidentally get killed, the others would retreat quickly. The general idea might work, but…” he trailed off, shaking his head.

“How about a Hunt then?” Eret threw in. “Out in the forests, nobody would ever know how certain accidents happened. And we could invite enough other noblemen so that the number of accidents wouldn’t look overly suspicious either.”

“But if it’s such a common Hunt, many of these wouldn’t even participate,” Oswald pointed out, waving at the list. “They would consider it beneath them.”

“Maybe something like the old Dragon Hunts then?” Eret II went on, unperturbed. “Something that’s special enough to lure them out. They might even end up killing each other if the prize is grand enough – they’d all be in this for themselves, and, well, as the saying goes... no honour among thieves.”

“I know you’re fond of old traditions like the Dragon Hunts, old friend,” Osmond remarked with a small smile. “But you know as well as I do that those were nothing but excuses. I don’t think there’s been a dragon killed in living memory during one of those arranged hunts. Maybe Fyrir Gothi remembers one. But there simply aren’t enough dragons around here anymore. And you do remember the one Dragon Hunt we participated in some – oh, was it almost thirty years ago already? When we spent the entire three days of the Hunt in that tavern next to Freya’s Temple?”

Eret and Oswald shared a glance and Eret snickered like a young man for a moment. “Aye, just like practically… everybody else did too,” he added, then glanced at Oswald and clapped him on the shoulder. “And you can’t say it didn’t work out for Oswald here!”

Osmund rolled his eyes as Oswald flushed slightly. “Aye, and now her daughter works here as one of the best bakers in the city.” Daniel blinked at his father’s words. Oh. Was that where Uncle Oswald had met... he shook his head, trying to stay focused, despite the whiskey and the old gossip. “But that’s the problem. No dragons, no prize or prestige worth the effort, and unless you think that they’ll die of exhaustion in Freya’s Temple, there’d be no risk to them.”

“Ah, but that’s not a fair comparison. Wasn’t that at your father’s fiftyth birthday celebration? Those were stressful days and that Dragon Hunt really was only planned as a break for everyone from the weeks of feasting and socialising. I mean, that was…”

The other men drifted off into memories about the old days and teasing Oswald, but Daniel wasn’t paying close attention to that. There was something in what Uncle Eret had said, something that sparked the hint of an idea, something–

“How about this,” he said thoughtfully, interrupting the other men’s joking. “I think we all agree that drawing them out in order to thin their ranks is what we need to do. A tournament, though, would be too random and obvious, and a Hunt possibly too common. But how about we do both? We could host a grand event, like what was done for grandfather’s birthday, something stretching over half a month or more. Something where accidents can happen every now and then, where people might tragically disappear in the forests, and where the glory at stake is high enough that some of these greedy lords turn on each other. Divide and conquer is a tactic I’m familiar with; we do that in the West all the time.”

Daniel felt his heart beat faster as his idea more and more took shape in his mind. “When we know that there are several groups of bandits, raiders, and enemy soldiers in the area – especially when they’re from different Malarian princedoms – then we place some kind of bait to lure them out and let them fight each other over it, so we only have to deal with whoever’s left. We could do that here, too. Host such an event, lure them out, let them fight each other, and deal with who’s left.”

There was a moment or three of silence, before Eret II nodded. “I think that might work. We just need the right bait.”

“Exactly,” Daniel agreed eagerly. “Too bad that we already offered County Ravenledge to Lord Gregson, that might have been just what we’d need as a bait.”

“Don’t overestimate the value of that county, son,” Osmond said grudgingly. “From the little we’ve gotten so far, it’s in a pretty sorry state. But even if it were in a better one, men like Thuggory wouldn’t compete for such a county themselves. They’d send their vassals instead, and then control the land by controlling them.” He shook his head, grimacing. “No, we’d need something else. Something so big, so valuable that they’d want it for themselves.”

For a few minutes, they threw around several ideas like a chest of golden coins from the royal treasures, trade contracts, or other admissions. But nothing appeared to be suitable, nothing that the greedy lords would want for themselves, instead of being content to control it through pawns. Eventually, they ended up sitting and standing mutely, all thinking, but without being able to come up with further ideas.

Until Eret II spoke up.

“I… might have one last suggestion for what we could use as bait,” he said quietly. He’d had his eyes glued to the ground, but now raised his head to look at them all in turn. “But you’re not going to like it.”

. o O o .

Hours later, Daniel stood in front of the window at the end of the corridor outside of his room and gazed out into the distance. When he’d been younger, he’d used to do that often. From here, the view over Lake Vola with the broad shores of white sand and the surrounding hills and the forest was breathtaking.

But tonight, he barely registered anything of that. Not because it was dark night outside, no; there was enough light from the moon and the stars to make out the shapes and to reflect on the waves. The reason why he didn’t pay any mind to the beauty surrounding him were his distraught and troubled thoughts.

The price was too high!

He’d thought he was ready to pay whatever price he had to, but he’d been wrong. The option uncle Eret had suggested was too high a price, and he hadn’t been ready for that.

And yet, it was the only option.

They’d spent hours discussing it afterwards. Even though they’d build in a loophole that made it bearable, Daniel knew that nobody, not he himself, not the Grand Dukes, and certainly not the King was happy with their decision. And yet, they’d committed to it anyway.

Because it was the only way forward that they could see.

With his hands clenched into tight fists and his eyes pressed shut, he let his head fall against the cold glass. I’m sorry! he thought desperately. I’m so, so, sorry…

But, of course, his apologies wouldn’t reach the person they were meant for. And never could, not until it was too late.

He didn’t really notice the passing of time as he stood there and gazed out into the darkness. But he figured it must have been a while when suddenly a familiar hand landed on his shoulder.

“Hey, you’re still up?” Eret asked. “That must have been quite some news if they kept you up for so long. Were you able to deal with whatever it was?” He had a lazy grin on his face, similar to Dagur’s behind him, but when they noticed Daniel’s despondent expression, they sobered up in an instant.

“What happened?” Dagur asked, stepping closer as well, but Daniel just shook his head.

“It’s… nothing of importance right now,” he tried to placate them. “Yes, everything’s dealt with… or at least plans are made.” He swallowed, then shook his head. “But let’s not talk about that now. How was your night?”

Eret gave him a scrutinising look. “It was good. Kaden sends her thanks and gratitude.” He hesitated for a moment, but then went on, “You know you can tell us what bothers you, right? And if it’s some political secret we’re not yet allowed to know, you at least can vent, if that helps. We always have an open ear for you.”

That brought a small smile to Daniel’s face. “Yes, I know.” He paused, honestly considering for a moment, but then shook his head. “And it’s actually not ‘you’re not allowed to know’. You’ll learn about it soon enough, I guess. But…But I think it would be better if you didn’t know just yet.”

“What, you doubt our loyalty?” Eret asked, theatrically pressing a hand to his heart as if he was hurt. But Daniel wasn’t in the mood for joking.

“Believe me, my friend, your loyalty is the last I’d ever doubt.” he placed one hand on Eret’s shoulder and gave him a strained smile. “In fact, I’m very much counting on your loyalty for all this to end well. But it is also because of this loyalty that I can’t tell you just now.”

There was confusion on Eret’s and Dagur’s faces, and it pained Daniel to not be able to clear it. But he also knew that, sometimes, not knowing something could be a blessing. And he didn’t want to inflict that kind of pain on his friends. They shouldn’t have to be forced to choose to whom they were more loyal.

. o O o .

*jumps back into hiding and waits for the explosion*

Next Chapter

#hiccstrid #hiccstrid fanfiction #Hiccup and Astrid #royalty au #hiccstrid royal au #medieval au #Hiccstrid Medieval AU #httyd #httyd fanfiction #httyd fandom #for the love of a princess #FTLOAP

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