A Simple Fact of Eternity

By Uniasus

Second in the Fated Universe

Hiccup didn't understand it. They never preplanned when they would next meet, it was hard to know Berk's schedule for him ahead of time and the weather was always a factor, but some how Merida was always waiting for him in the stone circle.

"Hiccup!" she laughed, launching herself into his arms as soon as he dismounted from Toothless.

He swung her around once and when he set her on her feet leaned down to kiss her.

They had both grown in the past two years, and while Merida had been taller when they first met Hiccup had met and passed her. By half an inch. But he liked to hold that half an inch above her. And then Toothless would join in the conversation by rearing up on his hind legs and show that he was the most impressive of the three of them. Neither of them could argue about that.

She pulled away first. "You picked the best time to come, it's the moon planting."

"Moon planting?" That was one of the reasons he loved Caledonia, there was always something new to learn.

"Aren't you planting on Berk too?"

"Eventually. Winter's longer there, but we should be about the time I get back. But when we do plant it has nothing to do with the moon. And our crops aren't nearly as much as yours. We mainly rely on our sheep and fish and what we find in the forest. Sure, most families have small garden plots and there's a community plot on the north side of town but it doesn't provide much. Vikings are meat eaters after all."

"And look at how it makes you fill out." She poked his arm and in a rare show of manliness Hiccup flexed his bicep.

Merida 'oo'ed and 'ah'ed. "Looking less like a wobbly lamb and more like a ram."

"Well, you know, I've been working out." More like forced to. Astrid would pull him away from time to time for training and he went without complaint because she was a friend and also really handy with an ax. He didn't mind, he enjoyed spending time with her and he was surprised at the benefit it had on his daily life. It was easier to lift saddles onto dragons and when he was breaking in a Gronkle the arm strength came in handy.

"Have you been practicing with your bow?"

It had been her second gift to him, and like her others was something he kept hidden. He only practiced when he was sure he would be alone. Which was rare on Berk but common on long flights.

"A little. Still not as good as you."

"Well, I don't think you have trouble pulling the arrow back anymore."

Fergus and Elinor welcomed Hiccup and Toothless with open arms. Ever since his crash on Caledonia they had been welcoming and with each visit to their land he got to know them better. They were different from Viking parents, (okay Fergus could easily fit in at Berk but his parenting style was different) but Hiccup didn't mind. He almost preferred it actually, how they were steering Merida down paths they wanted her take but never forcing her to unless it was a must. His girlfriend was a gown wearing, arrow shooting, poetry writing, and dragon riding princess. She was a melody of several things that didn't go together. Sorta how Hiccup was a mixture of everything not viking.

Fergus talked about how he swore he saw a worm the other month and wanted ideas on how to tame it. Fish was a good start, Hiccup said, and approaching unarmed.

Elinor was telling him about the history of the moon planting. To the Celts, the moon was a scared object. The calender was based on it and it's influence on the tides was well documented. But Hiccup had never heard of it's affects on plants.

"So the moon helps things grow?"

The queen nodded. "The moon's growth and death is mirrored in all life, though it may take longer for some than others. Planting seeds at the same time the moon starts to grow will ensure that the seeds grow along with it."

Hiccup looked to Merida, who nodded. "Tonight's the new moon, so tomorrow the fields will be plowed and when the crescent shows up tomorrow night we'll plant the seeds and water the fields with mare's milk."

He didn't have to ask about the symbolism of that one. Celtic kings were thought to have two wives, a human one and the earth goddess. He had to please both of them to have a prosperous kingdom, and horses were scared to the the goddess. Watering the seeds with mare's milk would be the equivalent of the goddess watering it with her own milk. It might actually be the same, the earth goddess was known to sometimes take the form of a horse.

"The important part," Fergus broke in, "Is the party."

His wife sighed, but Merida's triplet brothers started chanting. "Party! Party! Party!"

Merida had to lean over so Hiccup could hear her. "We dance all night in the stone circle and have a feast with what is in the stores to celebrate the end of winter. Won't be the tastiest feast, but the dancing is always good."

"I'm not a very good dancer." He answered.

"I'll just have to give you a lesson tonight then, won't I?"

Eager to help out with the plowing, Merida's plots were huge and the sooner they were done the sooner they could spend private time together, Hiccup hooked Toothless up to a plow.

The dragon took to it surprisingly well, but Hiccup suspected that it mainly had to do with some type of internal competition with the oxen working in the neighboring sections. He wondered if perhaps they could turn it into a game on Berk and have dragons help out this year.

Hiccup and Merida rode sidesaddle on Toothless's back, catching up on the months since they had seen each other.

She had gone to visit one of the other tribes and talked about how they differed from hers. While she didn't mention it, Hiccup could feel the hidden tension. Her mom was probably bothering her about marriage again.

So Hiccup talked about how Berk was coming out of a winter that had been particularly hard, he pulled up his shirt so she could see his ribs to prove it, but had figured out a way to fish on ice and that if you have grass on your roof the house stayed warmer. Flower roofs were going to be all the rage in Berk this spring.

Merida had traced her fingers up his side. "I can't image what you arms looked like before winter. No matter, I'll have to make sure you eat a lot tonight."

When they were down plowing the fields, Toothless took them to the top of the Firefall where they spent an hour kissing before heading down to the castle for dinner.

Hiccup didn't know if it was a difference in gender roles for the moon planting or if it was a royal duty thing, but after dinner Merida and her mother disappeared and Hiccup was left alone with Fergus and the terrible threesome.

The viking was watching them build some type of contraption while their father looked through a large chest. As the king said "this will do" and started to pull his head up the triplets whisked away the contraption. Pity. He was about to give them some advice on how to improve it.

"Put this on," Fergus said, shoving a bundle of cloth into Hiccup's arms. Hiccup took a step back at the contact. If Stoick and Fergus ever met, Hiccup was sure they would become fast friends. They liked to talk about the things they had killed and had a habit of knocking him around on accident.

"What is it?" he asked, picking at the cloth.

"Traditional clothing. I know you have your own clothes, but this is a festival and you should wear the right outfit. Those were mine when I was a boy. I hope they fit."

They did not, sadly. Despite his new muscles the shirt was too big for him, wide in the shoulders and reaching past his groin. Which was actually a good thing as the kilt was also too big and wouldn't stay on his hips.

Fergus frowned at him. "Thought it would have fit you a little better."

"Yeah well, you're not the only one." His dad also constantly gave him clothes that were too big and Hiccup had to take them in himself. But he didn't really have the time to do that tonight.

"Boys, see you if can get Hiccup a different shirt." The triplets took off, high voices arguing about who could find the better one.

Fergus returned to the chest and pulled out a chain with a fur purse attached. "These aren't normally used as belts, but I think it'll have to do in your case."

The festivities started at the edge of the field. Just the one closet to the castle was getting a drink of milk, and Hiccup watched as Merida and her mom stepped into the plowed soil. They were both carrying jugs of milk and were wearing waist length green cloaks over their white dresses.

As they reached the center of the field they shed their cloaks and revealed they were only wearing white skirts. The shirts they were wearing were non-existent.

Hiccup felt himself flush scarlet, and judging by the way Toothless tensed beside him it was also something the dragon did not expect. But the Night Fury just chuffed in Hiccup's ears and went back to nonchalantly watching the ceremony. As a dragon, seeing naked breasts was not big deal.

But it was for Hiccup. Especially since he was looking at his girlfriend's breasts, which were nice by the way, but also his girlfriend's mother's breasts, which looked like they had seen better days. Shyly, Hiccup looked up at the king who stood beside him.

"Now watch," he said, undisturbed by his wife's and daughter's body on display for the entire clan, "They're channeling the earth goddess and will water the fields."

Hiccup turned his attention back to the two women, looking at how ample Merida was he couldn't really call her a girl, and tried to get over his embarrassment at watching but it seemed he was the only one in the crowd to feel that way. He supposed because this was a Celtic ritual that happened every year.

Wait - had Merida showed her breasts to the clan the previous years too?

Toothless, sensing his stress, wuffed in his ear and Hiccup turned to bat the dragon's head away. But the dragon was right, it was nothing to be nervous over. This wasn't sexual, and hey, even that he was well versed in. You didn't live and work with livestock without seeing something.

Hiccup turned back to watch Merida, focusing not on her body but what she was doing with it. She was cupping her breasts and pointing them towards the far off fields, her mother doing the same, before bending down to pick up the jar of mare's milk at her feet. Walking in a circle and saying something in a language Hiccup didn't know, she dipped her hand in the milk and scattered it handful by handful. Eventually the clan joined in on the chanting, a four line prayer or spell that Hiccup guessed had something to do with encouraging a good harvest in roughly six month's time.

When the jars were empty, both royal women redoned the cloaks and joined the rest of the clan as they made their way to the stone circle.

Hiccup looked for Merida, but even with her bright red hair she was hard to find. Well, she could find him. Toothless was probably easier to spot.

He blushed again, thoughts of her jumping automatically to how her breasts looked. Astrid had them, but Merida was older than her and had more to show for it. Plus, the girl viking was all pointy in the hips and shoulders, even without the metal accessories. Merida was softer, and with her slim waist where Astrid didn't seem to have one, her breasts seemed all the more obvious. Hiccup tried to walk behind Toothless's crest to hide his burning face and the naughty thoughts that went with it, but he ended up tripping on everything and getting in Toothless's way to the point that the dragon stepped to the side and left him.

Some best friend.

But it did provide a distraction and by this time there were almost at the stone circle. Hiccup could smell the lamb cooking. Toothless seemed to smell something good too, and in an effort to get there faster he picked up Hiccup by the back of his borrowed shirt and bounded to the head of the party.

Thankfully, he had spent enough time in Caledonia that people of the area knew to get out of the way. The clansmen just shook their heads in bemusement as they went past. Hiccup concentrated on keep his kilt flat against his thighs.

Merida found him a short time later near the tables full of food. Toothless was off somewhere eating a goat and Hiccup was having a hard time deciding what to eat himself.

"Is that a kilt?"

Her voice startled him to the point he almost dropped his plate and she laughed at his clumsiness. It was a trait that she strangely found enduring; everyone on Berk found it annoying.

"Yeah, your dad made me wear it."

"It looks good on you."

"Really? It's like, ten times too big!"

"But it shows off your leg and thus how amazing you are."

He turned around to look at her, absently noticing she now had a top and that he was slightly disappointed at that fact. While he was no stranger to being called amazing on Berk, it was usually related somehow for his skills with dragons. Not the ability to withstand amputation, which frankly was pretty common on Berk, or to design fake legs and better water filters. It had taken him awhile to learn she really meant it, but Merida liked him for him. Hiccup had the feeling that if he had never found Toothless and she was living on Berk, they still would have wounded up as a couple.

Hiccup kissed her, not one of the chaste kisses they usually displayed in public but a deep throated one of the sort they usually reserved for when in the forest.

"You're amazing Merida. The most amazing person I know." He leaned closer to her ear. "Even better than Toothless, but don't let him know I said that."

She pushed him back with a grin and then set about getting her own plate. Hiccup suddenly found his dilemma about what to get vanished, he could just steal from hers if she got something he didn't.

After eating, Merida dragged Hiccup into the center of the stone circle. He hadn't been lying when he said that he sucked at dancing, but she was okay with dancing around him while he kinda wiggled in the circle. Through out the night the circle grew and shrank as people came and went. Sometimes he was in the middle by himself, sometimes with a stranger or strangers, and other times with Merida.

It was one of the times where she was with him that she said people were wondering if he was part henky.

"Part what?"

"Henky. Henk is the word for limp in the old tongue, and dancing with a limp is a sign that a dancer is really a faeire. Locally, we call them henky. I think they're known as something else in Ireland. But you do dance with a limp, and you have this way with animals. Are you part faerie?"

"We don't have those up in the land of the Norse. I'm just pure viking awesomeness."

"No, you're are you own special brand of awesomeness. The Hiccup brand."

He kissed her again.

In the center of the stone circle was a large bonfire, and as the night progressed the Celts were starting to have a competition of who could withstand the heat the longest. As it died down, Merida said there would be a contest to who could jump over it first, but that was for later shortly before the sun appeared.

Now though, she was pulling him away from the fire and towards the woods. They passed Toothless, who looked at them inquisitively but Merida commanded him to stay and stay he did.

As they stepped under the trees Hiccup heard noises he knew came from people having sex. In a village as crowded as Berk with thin walls, it was impossible to not learn those sounds eventually. So this was why the crowds were never a consistent size.

The fact that Merida was bringing him out here, most likely because she wanted to be with him, made him both nervous and excited. It would be a lie to say he hadn't dreamed of this several times. Never out in the woods where anyone could hear them or come upon them, but Hiccup had imagined the time they would finally lie together.

"Are you sure this is okay?" he whispered. She was a princess, wasn't she supposed to wait for the wedding night?

"This is part of our culture, it's normal for couples to be together."

"But shouldn't you be a special case?"

She didn't answer, and again Hiccup got the feeling there was something going on between Merida and her mother. Something they were trying to deal with, but failing to come up with something that made both of them happy. He needed to try to get his girlfriend to talk about it.

But before he could think of how to broach the subject she had paused and turned to face him. She stared at him, eyes fond, and then began to kiss him slowly. Like always, she was hard to resist and Hiccup found himself kissing her back.

Usually they kept their hands in neutral positions, away from the groin and in Hiccup's case her breasts, but tonight Merida went straight for the edge of his kilt as Hiccup pulled her closer to him. He threaded his fingers in her hair, pleased at feeling the iron dragon clip he had made her, and moved his mouth from hers to travel down her neck.

She was wearing a low cut top, giving Hiccup access to the top of her breasts and he set to kissing the skin there until Merida wrapped a hand around his cock. He tensed as if electrocuted, and then buried his head between her breasts as she stroked him. Hiccup had already been slightly aroused at the noises of the other couples and it didn't take long for Merida to get him to release his seed on the inner side of the kilt.

"You are too good at that, who have you been practicing with?" He panted in her ear.

"The cow. The cook told me it worked the same."

"Lucky cow."

Hiccup kissed her mouth and slid his hands under her shirt, peeling it off and revealing her breasts. They looked so much better up close and he couldn't resist touching them. Merida watched him play with them for awhile before moving to lie on the ground, her shirt underneath her back. Hiccup shed his own shirt and joined her on the forest floor.

When they returned to the fire, glowing from the new knowledge of each other, they were just in time to watch Toothless give the bonefire a boost and start dancing around it. The Celts gave the dragon a wide berth and let him scamper in a tight circle, the rest of them watching him from a wide ring.

"Come on," Hiccup said, pulling on Merida's arm. He felt full of energy all of a sudden and wanted to show that she was his. Together, they ran into the circle and past Toothless to dance by themselves within the dragon's tight dance path. The Night Fury did a couple of revolutions around them before standing on his hind legs and trying to mimic their steps.

Hiccup laughed and Merida stood on her tip-toes to clasp Toothless's claws and the pair of them pranced around the viking. Soon enough, the other clansmen joined in, holding hands and skipping around in ever wider circles. Hiccup suspected that from above they looked like a human target with two bulleyes, him and the bonfire. But he didn't care if someone drew an arrow and hit him dead on. He couldn't be happier.

Hiccup and Toothless spent a couple more nights at the castle. Sometimes all three of them would go exploring, sometimes it was just Hiccup and Merida in the forest again. The third time they coupled under the cover of trees they were surrounded by small blue flames. Wisps, Merida called them. Based on her stories, Hiccup knew that they typically led someone to where they were destined to be. He had no idea what a ring of them meant.

"I'm going to guess and say the spirits approve." Merida said, not pausing in her rocking.

"Well, even if they didn't I'm not letting you go."

The morning of his departure, Hiccup was woken up early with a knock on his door. Expecting Merida, he sleepily called 'come in' and did nothing to hide his bare chest. But it was Elinor at his door instead and when she walked through Hiccup hastily clutched the covers to his chest to hide his lack of shirt.

Merida's mother took in the sight with stride. That is, pretending he was fully clothed and sitting properly in a chair and not blinking with sleepy eyes and waking from an obviously nice dream. She cleared her throat, and Hiccup immediately knew the woman before him was here as queen first and foremost.

"How fond of you of my daughter?"

"Very. I like her more that Toothless likes fish."

Elinor nodded, as if she had expected that answer.

"I have allowed Merida to push off marriage for this long, but she can't delay for much longer. The kingdom needs to know who will take Fergus's place, and while we have broken tradition in terms to the selection of a betrothed it's not proper for her to reach the age of eighteen without her hand promised to someone."

Hiccup swallowed. He knew he should have pressed his girlfriend harder about what was bothering her.

"While I know Merida likes you, and you her, I want you to consider the next step. Come her next birthday we'll be announcing her husband. I know...this might be sudden, but think on it."

And then Merida's mother turned and left the room, leaving Hiccup's heart to flip-flop. Merida getting married? He wouldn't allow it to anyone but him! But didn't that mean eventually taking Fergus's place and becoming king? Hiccup was worried enough about following Stoick's footsteps, and he was just a village chief. But if the other option was to see Merida give her hand to another...

He shock his head. He wasn't expected to give an answer now, just before Merida's birthday. There was no way he could even make the choice now, there was too much to think about. Instead, Hiccup pushed the matter and everything relating to it aside. He could think about it on the flight back home and for now just concentrate on enjoying the last few hours with his girlfriend.

Just before getting on Toothless and flying back to Berk, Hiccup gathered Merida in his arms and held her tight. "I love you," he said and she pulled back to look into his eyes. It wasn't a promise, he wasn't committing to any future act just yet, it was just a simple fact of eternity. No matter what happened, he loved her in this moment and would from every moment beyond this. And in her eyes, Hiccup could tell Merida understood that and she reflected it all back him. "Me too."

A/N: While I am writing this in an Internet vacuum, I do have at my finger tips an encyclopedia of all things Celtic that I used when researching for one of my WIP novels. (It's quite an awesome book actually, and if you're interested you can download it for free. Tis called the Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore.)

That said, a lot of the Celtic ceremonies you see here are correct. The moon was linked with planting, Celtic kings were said to be married to the local earth goddess (the Celtics are connected by language more than by culture actually, each tribe had it's own rituals and goddesses but it was common for kings to be linked to the land through goddesses), and the Scottich people did dance in stone circles. Whether the dancing the moon planting happened the same night, I have no idea. And I also took liberties in terms of watering the crops with milk; while I've heard of other cultures doing it but my book didn't say anything of the sort. Henky is a word used for the Fair Folk, but it was only used in Scotland. As for the coupling in the forest, it was a common practice during the major seasonal festivals such as Beltane and the like. It usually was a commoner activity, but Merida's never been one for following the rules of royal etiquette. Plus, the marriage issue was riding on her.

As for the marriage issue that's cropped up here, stay tuned for the next fic. ^_~