A Saga Of Ice And Fire

Chapter Nine - There And Back Again

Elsa felt someone softly stroking her head , gently easing her awake. For a while, she attempted to ignore it but the person seemed relentless at their task, even peppering her cheek with a few kisses. Struggling to do it, the young princess opened her eyes to her mother smiling warmly down at her. "Rise and shine, darling."

"Jus. . . .Just five more minutes, please?" Elsa grumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes vigorously until her mother grabbed her hands, forcing her to stop.

"You said that fifteen minutes ago. " Iduna chuckled .

"T-Then just wake Anna up first." Elsa mumbled , fighting to pull her blanket over herself again rebelliously.

" Oh, she's already awake—" Iduna said, turning to glance at her younger daughter but stopping mid sentence when she realised that the tiny red head was snoring soundly again, her face burried in her pillow and her butt sticking up towards the ceiling like a small mountain. "—Or. . . .she was, anyway. "

"Honey," Iduna sighed, noticing that Elsa was drifting back to sleep, " I thought you'd be more excited for today?"

"Mmmmhhh. . . .Wha-What day's today?" Elsa rolled onto her back, stifling her yawn with her fist.

"Hiccup's ship is going to dock any moment now. " Iduna said , helping Elsa to sit upright in her bed.

"T-Today . . . .Ship's hiccup is. . . .coming ?" Elsa mumbled sleepily , eyelids drooping down as she smiled at her mother .

"Yes. " Iduna nodded, acutely aware her daughter was still basically asleep and had no idea what she was saying. " You said you wanted to go recieve him at the docks this time ."

"Hmmmm." Elsa nodded , struggling to keep her eyes open. "I did?"

Ship's Hiccup? , she thought groggily. That didn't make any sense, now that she thought about it.

Wait. Ship's Hiccup? Ship. Hiccup.

Elsa's eyes suddenly shot wide open as the realisation of what her mother had said finally dawned on her.

Hiccup's ship? Hiccup!

"Hiccup's arriving today!" she exclaimed , sudden giddy excitement bursting out of her.

Bounding out her bed, the eight year old princess leapt towards the window sill , squinting her eyes slightly due to the sudden bright sunlight. There, just breaking past the line where the sky and sea met, she could see a ship headed in their direction.

"Hiccup's coming!" Elsa squealed excitedly , unable to control her happiness.

"Yes , yes, he is, dear. So go get to the wash fast , if you want to meet him at the docks. Gerda's there to give you a bath." Iduna remarked as she picked Anna up from her bed, slowly rocking the sleepy redhead awake.

Racing out of her bedroom and down the hallway, Elsa couldn't wait to meet her friend again. In all honesty she'd begun to slightly forget what he sounded like and were his eyes blue or were they green ? She couldn't fully recall. It'd been over three whole years since she'd last seen him but it felt much longer , weirdly enough. And this time, he would be staying with them for over three whole months!

Quickly hurrying through her bath, Elsa yanked her dress over her head and smoothed it out as best she could and just as Gerda was done doing her hair into a neat braid, the young princess was off, leaping down the staircase at an almost dangerous pace.

Sure, she did have other friends now. But that didn't stop her from feeling excited all the same. She wondered how much he'd changed since they last saw each other. He'd probably grown taller like she had and from what she remembered of him, the boy was very interested in mathematics so he was probably much better at that subject than she was. Whether he'd changed much or not , she was sure he definitely hadn't experienced as much change as she had from the last time he was in Arendelle.