"Merida, I need to discuss somethin' important with ye," Fergus told his daughter before she could run off into the forest.

    "Aye, Da. What is it?" she asked.

    "As ye know, ye broke the arranged marriage tradition 4 years prior," Fergus started.

    "How could I forget? It's not everyday you turn more than half of yer family into bears," Merida replied and chuckled.

    "Well, ye broke that tradition, but there's still another one. A tradition ye might not be able break," Fergus began to explain.

"I probably could," Merida mused and started devising plans.

"I doubt it, Lass. This is the one about ye needing to be married before takin' the crown," Fergus told her and held his breath waiting for her response.

    "That's in less than a year! Besides, why can't I rule by m'self?" Merida asked him exasperated.

    "Ye'll be the ruler but yer King Consort will be the diplomat, ye know that. The rule is that if yer not married before the age to take the crown ye can't become queen and the oldest married of the Lords' children will take over," Fergus explained.

    "Well, that's a stupid rule! Why can't we change it?" Merida huffed.

    "Because it just so happens that the Lords all have younger sons or daughters who are either courtin' or engaged. They're not going to want to change that rule. Besides, if we change it without their consent a war could break out," Fergus argued.

    "How am I supposed to get married to the love o' my life within a year?" Merida asked before quickly adding. "Because I will certainly not marry if love is not involved."

    "How come ye dinnae say 'find' the love o' yer life?" he asked suspicious.

    "What do ye mean?" Merida asked. "That's exactly what I said, Da."

    "Could it be that my dear daughter already has someone in mind?" the king asked and looked her in the eye.

    "Who could I have in mind?" Merida quickly snapped and turned away from him.

    "As a matter o' fact I did think o' someone fer ye. A certain lad ye used to know, what was his name?" Fergus asked and feigned innocence. "A wee lad as small as a lamb."

    "Hiccup?" Merida asked incredulous.

    "Ah, so ye dae remember Hiccup?" Fergus asked.

    "A-aye— so?! What are ye gettin' at, Da?" Merida rambled before regaining her composure.

    "I noticed that certain sketches of ye and him went missing from the library. Then, I just so happened to find one lyin' on your bedroom floor," Fergus explained with nonchalance.

    "Ye went through my stuff?!" Merida asked.

    "No, no, Lass. I was looking for ye when I found it. Perhaps ye want it back since it seems, so important to ye," Fergus teased and got the sketch out.

    "Ha!" Merida scoffed, "Who says that it's important to me?"

She turned away from him and crossed her arms.

    "Then I guess I can burn it," Fergus told her. "Since it's so insignificant."

    "Nae, don't!" Merida spun around and exclaimed while trying to take it from his hands.

    "I'll give it to ye if just tell me the truth lassie," Fergus coaxed.

    "I don't want to marry him or anythin'! I just— I just remembered how much fun we used to have before. We were each other's best friends. I guess that I just never thought o' how lonely I felt without him," Merida explained with slight frustration.

    "I know, what if we invite him and a few of his friends over? I haven't seen Stoick in years! It'll be grand," her dad suggested.

The corners of his eyes crinkled and his voice was filled with warmth.

    "What?! Ye want to call him back after-what?- 15 years? What are ye goin' to say? 'Long time nae see! Marry my daughter even though ye probably already are married,'?"Merida asked.

"How can ye be so sure he's already married?" the king asked.

   "I was supposed to be married 4 years ago. Why not him? Besides, he once mentioned a girl named Astrid," she answered. "She bullied him, and it made my blood boil. But he still defended her. He said she smelled nice."

    "And ye remembered that when he only mentioned her once? Well, never mind that, I never said I was going to call him so ye two could get married. It'll be a great way fer ye to catch up and talk about how ye've been. Last I heard, they had a nasty dragon problem," Fergus explained.

    "Dragons?" Merida echoed. "Since when did ye believe in dragons?"

Her father hadn't believed in magic before he lost his foot to Mor'du, so hearing him mention dragons seemed off to her.

   "Aye, dragons. That's the main reason he had to stay here before," he replied. "Stoick spoke about them, and I had nae reason to not believe him, but I've never faced one."

    "Do ye think it'll be a good idea then?" Merida asked.

    "Aye," Fergus reassured her. "I'm sure Stoick molded Hiccup into a fine, young, dragon killer. Their home could last o' few days without them."

Merida smiled at him. She jumped up and hugged her father while laughing.

"I cannae wait, Da!" she told him.

~~~~ At Berk ~~~~

   "Hiccup, Valka, a letter came in for, umm, Stoick," Gobber informed a bit hesitant as he walked over to Hiccup and Valka's work table.

Papers were scattered everywhere from peace treaties to dragon sketches, and even some papers about supplies. The table was a mess, but its owners still knew where everything was.

    "For Stoick?" Valka repeated.

Hiccup looked at the letter in Gobber's hand, but remained silent. He had become the chieftain of Berk since Stoick's death a few months ago. They were still sending letters out to allied lands, so getting letters for Stoick wasn't rare, but it did sting a little.

    "Just...just put it with the rest," Valka instructed when Hiccup didn't say anything.

    "Umm, I think you'll want to look at this one. It's from DunBroch," Gobber told them before placing it on the table.

    "DunBroch?" Valka asked perking up a bit as she picked the letter up.

    "DunBroch? Where's that?" Hiccup asked confused.

    "It's about a 2 days trip from here by dragon, 8 days by ship. Oh, I haven't heard from them in over 20 years," Valka's voice was filled with nostalgia.

    "I figure we didn't name it, right?" Hiccup joked.

    "No, it's in Alba, or Scotland. We really should visit them, but first let's see what they sent," Valka decided and opened up the letter.

    "Umm, did we raid a few of their villages for years until a few years ago? I'm not big on raiding, but seeing their faces when they see a dragon might be worth it," Hiccup commented.

    "Nah, they're friendly now. Besides, you've been there, although you were only about 6 last time you were there," Gobber reminisced while scratching his beard.

    "What? Really?" Hiccup asked and tried to remember.

    "Aye. Stoick would often drop you off there for a few months since he felt he couldn't handle taking care of you alone. You never did stay put haha. Any who, they had a nasty bear problem, so either place wasn't very safe. Plus, the other clans didn't very much like the idea of their princess hanging out with a viking," Gobber informed him. "As far as I know, they never found out, but they did have their suspicions. You didn't really look like a Scottish servant boy."

    "Princess?" Hiccup asked. "You mean to tell me I was hanging out with royalty and don't remember?"

    "Yeah, what was her name? Mary? Morgan? M-Merida! Yeah, Princess Merida of Dunbroch," Gobber told him.

    "Merida...?" the name did sound familiar to Hiccup.

   He pictured bright blue eyes, but nothing more. At least he remembered something.

    "Yeah, you two would always run off and go hunting for trolls and whatnot according to the Queen," Gobber replied and gave Hiccup a pat on the back.

   Gobber stopped his teasing and they both looked at Valka when they heard her say something.

    "Poor Stoick," Valka whispered and cleared her throat to read aloud, "'Dear Stoick the Vast, it has been quite a while my dear friend, has it not? It has been 15 years since last we spoke. Nevertheless, I want you and some of your people to come for a visit. We can talk like old times and recount stories to make up for all these missing years. How is your boy Hiccup? I know it's quite a burden to take care of a child on your own. But let's not think about the bad. Merida is excited to see Hiccup again. Elinor has been stressed, so I want to surprise her. Merida is as rebellious as us when we were her age, so I'm hoping Hiccup is the same way! Haha, I hope you and a few of your people can come. Sincerely, your old friend, The Bear King'. "

    "They don't know I'm alive...We should surprise them! Elinor will surely be happy," Valka thought aloud. "What do ye think Hiccup? Think you can rework your schedule?"

    Valka looked at her son with pleading eyes.

    "Sure, what could possibly go wrong?" Hiccup agreed hesitantly.

    "We should put Spitelout in charge while we're gone, you're going to bring Astrid and your friends right? It'll be fun, the people of Dunbroch know how to party," His mom coaxed him.

    "Well, sure I guess. If they want to," Hiccup replied.

    "Good, you should go tell them. Gobber would you like to come?" Valka asked him.

    "Eh, I'm alright. I should probably stay and make sure Spitelout doesn't mess anything up," Gobber declined the offer.

    "I'll start packing," Valka informed them and ran upstairs to her room.

"I guess I'll go ask the gang if they want to come," Hiccup told Gobber before leaving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    "Hey guys, which of you would like to come with my mom and me to a far off land?" Hiccup asked his friends who were currently all hanging out at the dragon training school.

    "Will we get to fight?" Snotlout asked.

    "Will we get to terrorize people?" Ruffnut asked mischievously.

     "Why? Is it a new island you found?" his fiance, Astrid, asked.

    "I hope not, you better not, and no. It's actually a place called DunBroch in the highlands," Hiccup informed them. "My parents were friends with some the rulers."

"Dunbroch?" Astrid asked.

    "Yeah, I was apparently sent there when I was younger for a few months at a time," Hiccup explained.

    "Oh yeah! I remember you would be shipped off, never knew where you went though. Those were the few months we had peace and quiet and could actually get stuff done. According to the adults," Tuffnut told him and quickly added the last part.

    "Gee thanks, I had almost forgotten how much of a nuisance I used to be," Hiccup responded sarcastically.

    "Aww, Hiccup you were just... not very well liked," Astrid told him, trying to be as gentle about it as possible.

    "Gee, thanks. That really makes me feel better. Anyways, they want us to visit so my mom thinks it'd be a good idea for you guys to come. Sort of get an experience of how non-vikings act," Hiccup explained.

    "Ugh, this is supposed to be educational?" Ruffnut asked as she and her brother groaned.

    "I think it'll fun! I've read stories of how the Scots and Vikings use to hate each other. I wonder what happened that made your parents such good friends with them," Fishlegs stated his opinion.

    "Me too. Oh, and my mom also told me the people of DunBroch knew how to party. So who would like to go?" Hiccup asked.

    "Me! Me!" Fishlegs exclaimed enthusiastically.

    "I think it'll be fun," Astrid responded.

    "I reckon Astrid's right," Eret agreed.

    "I guess we'll go too," Ruff and Tuff agreed with a sigh. "New people means we can try out new pranks."

    "Of course I'm going, someone needs to protect you wimps," Snotlout replied confidently.

    Everyone else just rolled their eyes.

    "I'm sure Dagur wouldn't mind taking care of the island without me," Heather reasoned and agreed to go.

    Ever since the Drago Bludvist incident, it was decided that there would be a monthly check up between all their allies. That's the reason she was there in the first place. She was rarely around, since she spent most of her time back with the Berserkers.

    "It's decided then, we're all going to DunBroch," Hiccup told them, "Pack your bags, we're leaving tomorrow morning."

Everyone nodded and waved good bye to Heather since she had to go back to her island to get her stuff and tell her brother. They were all going their separate ways to get ready when Hiccup was stopped by his fiance.

    "Hey, Hiccup, wait!" Astrid called after him.

    "Yeah?" Hiccup asked and stopped to let her catch up.

    "Oh, nothing. How is the whole chief thing going? We hadn't been able to talk much, with you being busy and me leading the Dragon Training school in your absence," Astrid asked and they both continued to walk.

    "I don't know, I'm still not entirely sure I'm doing a good job," Hiccup admitted.

    "I'm sure you're doing fine," Astrid reassured him.

    "Thanks," Hiccup responded and smiled. Astrid wrapped her arm around his waist and put his arm around her shoulder while they continued to walk and talk.

    "Did you ever think we would be together before?" Astrid asked him.

    "You mean back when I was the talking fish bone? Not really, I had hoped one day it could happen," Hiccup thought and said.

    "I'll admit, I never looked at you and thought, 'He seems like perfect boyfriend material'," Astrid chuckled.

    "Is that supposed to make me feel good?" Hiccup asked with a raised eyebrow.

    "Let me finish," Astrid laughed, "But after you showed me how you were different from everyone else, saved me countless times, and showed how much you trusted me, I just fell. I'm glad we're together. The Dragon Slaying Prodigy and the Dragon Training Master."

    Hiccup chuckled a bit awkwardly as well and continued to think.

    "Well, I'll see you in the morning or when I get done packing, bye," Astrid told him once they made it to her house.

    She kissed Hiccup and waved goodbye before entering her home.  Hiccup's smile faltered as walked back to his own home. He went upstairs to his room where Toothless was sleeping. He sat down at his desk and sighed while looking around. His eyes landed on Toothless and he thought about how his life had certainly taken a turn for the best after he met him.

    Then, he started to think about DunBroch and it's monarchs. He didn't remember much about Merida, how ever horrible that sounded, so why did she remember him?  The king had said that she was excited to see him again, but he could have made that up as a way to persuade them into going for a visit. After all, it did sound like something his own father would say.

    After a few more minutes of thinking he decided to stop being lazy. He got up and got all of his things ready for the trip the next day. Still, he though about how strange it was that seemingly best friends could become strangers and faint memories with years of being apart. Maybe he would remember once he got to DunBroch.