A Saga Of Ice And Fire

Chapter Twenty-Five - Wounds Unseen

The sun was coming up: the pure , colourless vastness of the overcast sky stretched out over him, indifferent to him or his suffering. Hiccup sat by the window sill of his room , staring out the window and towards the line where the sky met the sea. For almost four months now , the people of Arendelle would wake up to white powder raining down from the skies and it was the first day in a long time that the blue sky could be seen cracking through the dull whiteness. Simply to be alive to watch the sun rise over the sparkling snowcapped landscape would have to have been the greatest luxury to man , yet he, Hiccup , could not appreciate such a treasure: he was still reeling from what had happened exactly two nights ago. He'd always considered Arendelle and everything that it offered him to be a haven and more to his liking than Berk or anything related to his heritage. He'd always thought that he was born to the wrong kingdom and he ought to have been born of Arendelle or something else .

It was never a thing before—he'd often be dreading the day he'd have to go back to the Wilderwest, but for first time in his life, Hiccup found himself thinking about the days left until he could go back Berk again . He let out a long sigh as he looked out over the icy fjord , distant church bells chiming through the calming morning silence from somewhere in the kingdom.

Following the birthday of the officially announced heir to the throne of Arendelle , Hiccup mostly kept to himself up in his room if he could, coming down only for meals or for his tutoring classes or to go walking through the crown wood that bordered the palace banks of the Arenfjord, where he would often be the only human for miles upon miles, a feeling he strangely had come to like. He never used to find it hard to go down to where the others were or anything of that sort but until all the visiting dignitaries and royalties had said their goodbyes and retreated back into their glittering expensive ships , Hiccup found himself spending an inordinate amount of time holding an internal debate about whether he should go down or how he should deal with the possibility of running into Henrik Selvig or any of the other lords or their lordings again. He didn't know if it was due to sheer luck or the fact that he was far too cautious but Hiccup hadn't seen any of them for the two days following the party and he was sure he wouldn't have any nasty surprises now anyways as he, the royal family and the staff were back to being the only ones inside the Arenhall. Most, if not all , of the invited guests were now gone.

Without realising it, he was digging his fingers into his arms , huddled into a ball as if he were trying to resist some physical pain. The sound of the chapel bells meant that it was already probably six in the morning and the castle staff would be getting up to prepare breakfast and he'd have to go down sooner or later, even though he liked the stillness in the room, devoid of any noise or movement apart from his own slow breathing.

It was a welcome change from the troubled thoughts he'd been having for the past two days where he'd end up double checking any Arendellian he walked past or made eye contact with. He never thought he'd ever think like he was at the moment , but he actually missed his home and yearned being the one who others wouldn't spare a second glance at. Not that anyone in Arendelle treated him any different, until they found out he was a Viking, that is , or if they knew beforehand. He'd begun to notice even some of the aged staff in the royal household eye him differently at times and it was not a good feeling to feel, to the say the least, especially after the way his night at the ball had ended ( even if they weren't actually eyeing him with such thoughts in mind).

He knew what Elsa might say if he expressed any of his thoughts to her: You're  just overthinking things and it isn't like what  you think!

But in this case, he knew he was right . Besides, he wasn't sure she'd be all that keen on listening to him as he still felt she was a little bit mad with him despite him apologizing to her about his behaviour the other day during breakfast . The sun was still in it's infancy and he suddenly felt like going out of the palace for a walk before the hustle and bustle of the city of Hovedstad began for the day.