When Time Collides

Chapter Eighteen

Hiccup

Hiccup was having difficulty wrapping his head around just how many things he might have ridden off as insignificant, that he was discovering to have supernatural and even a little part magical, properties.

On another day, in another time, he might have snorted and slapped himself on the upside of the head.

But a lot of strange and miraculous discoveries had been made both yesterday and today, and he wasn't sure anything more would ever be able to surprise him after all this.

" So how do you do it?" Hiccup queried the jolly, mountain of a man beside him; whose steps were so large he was having to hobble along in something close to a full out run just to keep up.

One metal leg plus marble flooring equals trouble. Slippery, frustrating trouble, he grumbled, and picked up his pace as much as his metallic foot would allow.

North brought them before the platform that overlooked the spectacularly large globe, and rested his hand on a small squarely shaped podium that none of them had noticed before that point. North's fingers grasped the thin circular handle and flicked his wrist. A small clanked of gears and coils could be heard as he spun the colourful knob and pushed it down.

" That is how lights work."  North expressed as he removed his hand.

Rapunzel was the first to take notice of the brilliant display in the sky, thick and as rich as looking into a kaleidoscope might be.  She gasped, and pointed in the direction of the workshop roof's open hatch. The others too brightens upon seeing the sky dance with an array of violets, sapphires and emerald hues.

Merida whistled. " That's grand."

" It's ravishing." Rapunzel murmured.

" It shouldn't be long now before Tooth, Bunny and Sandy get here." North assured them, though truthfully, his words crawled in one ear and then fell out the other. They were entranced by the lights, and the showcase displayed across the sky.

North shook his head in quiet disbelief. He didn't understand these four youths in front of him. They were enthralled by the simplest of things, and completely composed with others that he would have thought to be appalling or at least shocking for them. But these four mortals challenged every prejudice and opinion he might have had beforehand, and had surprised him at every turn.

Perhaps not all is lost, North decided with hopeful optimism. These four - with some serious team training and a little bit of luck, could very possibly save the world from the current ominous threat Father Time posed.

" What's all this ruckus about, mate? Don't you have any respect for my work? I've got my eggs to see to!" The dry frustration in Bunny's tone was unmistakable and the group turns to see him emerge from a rabbit hole that appeared in the tile and the teenagers blinked when it closed up after him.

Bunny carried in his hand - or it is paw? Hiccup want entirely sure - a dripping egg, and twirled a paintbrush with impatient grace in the other.

" That's something you don't see every day." Merida muttered, and her comment was directed more towards Hiccup's ear, behind a raised palm, than it was to the rest of their group of five. " How do you think he manages to do that? That was a good couple of feet of solid marble tiling that just fell away for him -and it disappeared just like that!"