Secret of Frost and Moon

Opened to Wonder

Alaia Skyhawk: Ok, I'm going to give up on update estimates. I keep getting side-tracked by Guild Wars 2 at the moment... whoops.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

~(-)~

Chapter 108: Opened to Wonder

It was some two weeks later that found Jack descending from the sky towards Berk. Sveldreki had been keeping an eye on things, and had reported Hiccup had made good his word and flown around the Odin Archipelago to spread word of the things Jack had asked him to. That report received, the Spirit of Winter had sent his Lieutenant straight back to tell the young Viking to prepare for a trip for several days.

That said, perhaps that message should also have included word that packing more than basics wasn't necessary.

Jack had to smother laughter when he found Hiccup waiting out the back of his house. The young man had a huge backpack of gear and supplies.

Jack landed near him, chuckling.

"Hey there."

Hiccup, who had been sat on his bag with Toothless alongside, leapt to his feet.

"You're here! You really came!"

Jack shook his head at that.

"Of course I came, I said I would." He pointed to the bag. "Also, you can put that back in your house. When I said 'prepare', I only meant to tell people you'd be gone a few days. You don't need to bring anything with you except a change of clothing."

The Spirit of Winter now glanced at the nearby dragon. "Also sorry, Toothless. Some of the places may visit, you'd stand out way too much and freak people out besides. You can come along some other time, I promise."

By now Hiccup had hauled his bag back into the house, and came out a minute later with a much smaller one slung across his torso. He paused to pet Toothless on the nose, wistful.

"I'll see you when I get back."

It was now that Jack conjured a cloud of frostdust, it's power carefully reined in so it couldn't give the young Viking a fit of giggles, and then sat cross-legged on top of it. At his gesture, Hiccup tentatively climbed up to sit beside him only to yelp in surprise a moment later. When the cloud glided into motion and soared upwards much faster than a dragon could.

Hiccup clamped his hands onto the misty edges of the obvious hand-holds Jack made for him. His face had blanched white.

"Is this safe?"

Jack chuckled, reaching with his power to conjure an ice-mirror up ahead.

"Completely. Even if you did somehow manage to fall, I'd catch you. There's no need to worry."

The large mirror shimmered with blue light as they approached, showing an expanse of clearer skies when here over Berk it was cloudy. They passed through it and the mirror then crumbled away, but Hiccup didn't notice. No, his wide-eyed gaze was entirely fixed on the expanse of coastline in front of and below him in the mid-distance. It was more land than he'd ever seen in his life.

"I-is that?"

Jack nodded with a small smile.

"The coast of Norway; the 'mainland' as you know it. Your ancestors would have come from another country further south from here, heading north along the shore. But this is about the area they'd have sailed to before heading out across the sea to your islands."