Wow...

[ The soft sound is as breathless as it is dazed. Despite a certain weight pitted in the bottom of his stomach, there's no denying the beauty of a million galaxies lighting your way. A distant, far off dream for any Viking — Something that catches in his throat and makes him swallow hard.

The awe labored against twisted uncertainty. For as much as he wants to lose himself in it, he can't ignore the strange feeling of loss that accompanies it. Or the awareness that all he knew was not here. There are strangers here, but he finds no comfort in them, even as they've met at the two crossroads.

The warmth of light calls to him and he turns his head in its direction. But there's something there, too, just under his skin — uncertainty, self-doubt that makes him cast a glance into the other path. Scrubbing the back of his neck with his hand, he grinned dubiously at the person next to him. ]

— So does this [ He gestures to the two separate paths. ] Feel like you're making some important decision you have no idea about or is it just me?

[ It feels like some test. He's not exactly in the mood to be tested. ]

[ They've barely any real time to get adjusted to their surroundings — air so bitterly cold worry of frostbite gnawed at the corners of his mind — when the mountainers and the soldiers appear. Help, maybe? Turned out it wasn't.

The mountainers take some pity on them, but his thanks falls on deaf ears when he takes the blanket. Diligently, they seem to only be listening to the strange black-clothed warriors that came with them. Hiccup can't help the way his gaze falls over them. ]

So not friendly. Check.

[ Given an even bigger check shortly later when they decide to move them on without answering any questions. When he stepped forward to press for more of an answer and was promptly given the short end of a whip — as if he was dangerous. No better than an unknown dragon, to be treated with caution and wariness. Times it by twenty, with extra hostility.

He chooses to bear it and grit his teeth instead, taking the trek down the mountain more carefully than he'd like — Taking survey of those with him, antsy as he asks wryly: ]

Don't think they're taking us to a feast to welcome our arrival, do you?

[ Despite it's attempt at light-heartedness, from the way he speaks he seems almost certain that it's not the case. ]

[ For all that the tribe may have joked he wasn't very viking-like all those years ago, there's one thing that no one could deny he lacked: An independent and free nature. It's not only that he detests being contained, boxed in and trapped, he also hates not knowing what's going on.

Ever patient and always the diplomat, even Hiccup has met the embrace of a whip more times then he would like. They never answer questions, never let them too far out of their eye, and don't treat them as human. It sets every instinct he's gained over the years on edge and try as he might to keep calm he finds himself constantly looking for an answer.

Several days into waiting and he's barely slept a wink, investigated as far as their grace would allow, and through dirt and a stick, remapped the wrote they took. Talk of a ritual feels him with cold dread as he leans fist into cheek and frowns at his drawing.

A breath and he gets up, patting dirt off the white robe uselessly before lifting his face to stare at the canopy. He speaks quietly, to himself, everyone, or no one is hard to say: ]

Here's the real question: Why us?

[ It's a fate hard to fathom and if dreams are to be treated as fact... A sliver of him thinks it'd be better if it was someone else. Or maybe he just doesn't want to be alone. He shoved it down for the moment, turns his head away, and tries to focus on the here-and-now (a way out, answers, but alas none would come just yet). ]

[ Please feel free to come at me with anything else! You can either spin a random thread, PM me for plotting, or message me on plurk sunfiresparks ]