Avalon

In the weeks that followed, Berk was rebuilt and its people recovered from the battle. Those who had died had their respective funerals and those who had been wounded were well taken care of. They were thankful for the commotion and being so busy, it kept their curious minds occupied until the only witnesses who could tell them what happened between Hiccup and Dagur were conscious. In the meantime, their mothers and the Night Furies kept a vigilant watch over their recovery. Merida was the first to wake up, soon revealing that she had taken Toothless to rescue the only dragon on Dagur’s ship, the female Night Fury which she had named Morrigan, and had returned to find Dagur and Hiccup locked in battle.

“Toothless insisted upon helping Hiccup battle Dagur, though he probably had it taken care of. Morrigan and I helped Toothless fend some archers off, but I think they had orders from Dagur to kill only Hiccup, and we were keeping them occupied long enough for Hiccup to have a fair battle. One did manage to slip past our defenses and shoot at Hiccup. I don’t know what I was thinking besides needing to save Hiccup, but, I-I jumped between Hiccup and the arrow.”

“Merida! That was …”

“Foolish, I know, I know,” sighed Merida.

“One of the bravest things you’ve ever done.” Elinor smiled proudly at her daughter.

“Really?” Elinor nodded, and Merida hugged her, “Thanks Mom. Anyway, Morrigan took out that archer before he could take another shot, and suddenly Dagur was there. He began talking to Morrigan, trying to get her to leave me so he could finish me off, but I don’t think Morrigan liked being in that cage since she refused to budge. Thankfully Hiccup engaged him before he could come up with a plan to move Morrigan away from me.”

“Wait, wasn’t Hiccup already fighting Dagur?”

Sunrise came too soon for everyone as Hiccup began to lose his ability to speak bit by bit. Once the sun had fully risen in the morning sky, Hiccup could only grumble and growl like a bear, but thankfully he was still Hiccup. Merida was cautious though, explaining to him first and later everyone else, that the bear traits would start showing up pretty soon. But Hiccup managed to get through the day by concentrating on getting the Scots their own dragons. The triplets each got a changewing and a terrible terror, but Merida had none at all by the end of the day. Hiccup would have liked to have worked more on getting Merida a dragon, but everyone’s thoughts turned to changing him back into a human as he now had one day left.

“What would be a good selfless act for him to do?”

“Hasn’t he already been selfless?”

“Maybe the witch had something specific in mind.”

“That, or someone does a selfless act for him.” This and other such conversations echoed throughout Berk, each person trying to come up with a selfless act for Hiccup to do, or for someone to do for him. In the midst of it all, Hiccup was trying to keep from panicking, he was having short lapses during which he acted like a bear. To make matters worse, seven unknown Viking ships were sailing into their port, their leader sending a message asking to speak with Hiccup.

The group traveled quickly for the first three days, taking very little time for breaks before nightfall. Hiccup wanted to time it perfectly, getting to Berk after sunrise, so he could have some time to talk to his people and explain as much of the situation as he could before leaving it to Merida, Astrid, and his mother. Hiccup and Toothless switched riders only a few times, Hiccup usually ending up with Merida and Toothless with the triplets. This gave Hiccup time to instruct Merida on what she would need to do if he couldn’t return to human form before he stopped talking. They knew they were getting close on their fifth day out as the weather grew snowy, and the rivers were icy, if not completely frozen.

“Alright, we have maybe another three days before reaching Berk. We’ll keep traveling as we have before for the next two days. On the third day, Toothless will go ahead with Merida to see how far out we are from Berk, and we’ll adjust our speed to get there on the fourth or fifth day after sunrise. Any questions?”

“Yeah, you thought much about how you’re going to explain why you accepted the spell from the witch?”

Hiccup winced, “No, not really besides saying that I didn’t know what it would do.”

Merida groaned, “Hiccup, you’re going to have to tell them the truth. Maybe your clan can help you with being more like your dad while being you. Besides, that’s part of undoing the spell, remember? To become a human requires a selfless act, be yourself and make the pact.”

“Yeah, I know, I really am trying, you know? There’s only so much a bear can do.”

“But there’s still a lot that Hiccup can say, right?”

“This isn’t going to be easy, is it?” grumbled Hiccup. The two had returned to find Elinor trying to calm the clans down while the triplets were awake and distracting Toothless with a game and fish.

“You have to remember, we are Scots, we are different from Vikings. Family is important to us.”

“It’s important to us Vikings as well. What we need is a way to incorporate each other into our families. Dragons were supposed to be that link, but I guess it’s not enough.”

“Hmm … maybe a link in our history?”

“But I don’t know what would work.”

“Stay out of sight, I’ll talk to them for a bit. Maybe they’ll say something that will help.”

Hiccup nodded, “Alright, we’ll try it.” Merida moved out into the midst of the chaos while Hiccup only moved close enough to hear, staying well out of sight. Everyone seemed to quiet down when Merida made her way to where her parents sat. The questions came once she turned around to face the clans.

“Where’s the Viking, Merida?”

    “Oh Mom, it’s happened again!”

    “What do you mean, Merida? What’s happened again?” Merida led her mother through the door.

    “Look, that’s Hiccup!” Hiccup, now a brown bear, waved and grinned as best as he could with his bearish features.

    “Oh no, you’re going to have to get him to the cottage and see what needs to be done to reverse this.”

    “You know how to get back?” Elinor glanced at him, her mouth opening wide.

    “Yeah, there’s that too. Hiccup told me she gave him something to drink instead of something to eat. The spell’s different so he can talk, but I don’t know for how long.” Elinor’s lips closed into a determined line.

    “All the more reason for you two to get back to the cottage immediately, come on.” She led the way out, Hiccup following Merida as steadily as he could, still getting used to his new, big body. Elinor took them down several corridors and tight passages, ending up in the kitchen.

Hiccup groaned as he plopped on a bed, “Ugh, who knew Vikings and Scots are so similar.” Toothless only gave a snort before curling up on the floor to go to sleep. He filled up half of the room, so when Hiccup heard a knock, he had to squeeze his way around the dragon to get to the door. “Oh, hello princess, can I help you  with something?”

“Well, first of all, you can call me Merida, and secondly, considering that this is my castle, I don’t think you need to help me.”

“That is true, Merida, but I can help you by listening to whatever it is you have to say.”

Merida grinned, “Good, because that’s exactly why I’m here. Since you will be staying with us for another day, Mom was wondering if you would like a tour of the countryside. You will need a place to set up your dragon school.”

“True again. Did you just come here to tell me about all this?”

Merida placed her hands on her hips, “No, silly, I came here to see if you wouldn’t mind if I take you on a tour of the DunBroch land.”

Hiccup laughed, “Ah, so that’s what this is all about. I would be delighted to take the tour, as long as you don’t mind taking a dragon.”

“Now that I don’t mind at all. Meet me at the stalls after breakfast tomorrow. Have a good night … if you can get back to your bed.” Hiccup’s eyes followed her glance at Toothless, snoring away on the floor.

Hiccup shrugged, “I got around him to get to the door, I can get back around him to get into bed. If there’s anything I’m great at, it’s being inventive. Well, good night, Merida, see you after breakfast at the stalls.”

“Right, well, I’d better let you go invent another way around your dragon.” As she spoke, Toothless moved around, Hiccup’s first path now blocked.

“Ugh, Mom!”

“Don’t ugh me, Merida, you have to look nice for the ambassador. It isn’t every day we get a visitor from one of the further countries. Besides, you should on the bright side, this means that there’s more prospects for eligible young men.”

“Well, there is that. Maybe he knows someone I might become friends with.”

“Ah yes, I mean to ask him about the young women of his land as well, perhaps we may find you one just as high-spirited as you. There, done. Turn around … oh Merida, you look lovely.” Merida grinned as she turned around in the pale green dress. It fit much more comfortably than her mother’s previous attempts at dressing her in something fancy, she felt like she could actually move in it. Her mother opened her mouth to say something when a knock was heard at the door. Elinor went to open it. “Yes Maudie?”

“The ambassador is almost here, milady, he was sighted just a few minutes ago.”

“Thank you, Maudie. Come on, Merida, quick!” Elinor lead the way out of the room, the three dashing to the throne room where Fergus already sat.

MERICCUP WEEK DAY 5