Author's note: I haven't written fanfiction in years. However, I've started getting back into HTTYD, BIG time. I have artwork related to the story that I will eventually link to, so you can see how I imagine Ladhra and her family, etc.
I hope you enjoy! Please leave a review!
Pronunciation/ Translation
Guth na dtonnta a leanadh (guh nah don-ta a leah-nuv) – Follow the Voice of the Waves
Tá cailín nua (taw col-leen noo-a) – The New Girl
Bóithrín (bor-een) – lane
Ladhra (Lai-rah)
Ó Flannagáin (Oh Flan-ah-gahn)
Dochreidte (doch-rid-eh) – Incredible
Bhí sé iontach (vee sheh in-tach) – It was amazing
Chapter 1: Tá Cailín Nua
"Near Banbridge Town, in the County Down
one morning in July
down a bóithrín green came a sweet cailín
and she smiled as she passed me by.
She looked so sweet from her two white feet
to the sheen of her nut-brown hair.
Such a coaxing elf, I'd to shake myself
to make sure I was standing there."
He listened to the girl as she sang to herself. She was in her own little world as she unloaded her small ship on the docks of Berk. He couldn't help the crooked smirk on his face as he thought about how she seemed to describe herself in the song. She wore a long blue tunic with a brown belt at her waist, simple leather shoes and a gold ribbon tied into her long brown braid. Before he could listen to her finish her song, he was knocked from his seat with a powerful punch from his twin sister.
"Come on, moron. We got training to do! Besides, you're creepin' me out." The young woman gave a shudder.
The twins headed off towards the arena. The new girl never even seemed to notice their presence as she continued to help her parents and little brother unload large wooden crates.
She had heard many stories about the Vikings, but had never actually seen them. The stories frightened her, as she was led to believe they were a violent bunch that killed outsiders first, and asked questions later (if they bothered to ask any at all.) But she was relieved to find this particular island seemed fairly welcoming, at least so far. A few villagers had helped them dock their ship and mentioned bringing the chief down to see them.
"Welcome to Berk! What, may I ask, brings you all this way?" A deep, booming voice greeted the family. The man was larger than any man Ladhra had ever seen. He had a long red beard and a horned helmet, as she expected of the tribes in this region.
They immediately recognized him as the chief and gave quick, polite bows. The father answered, "Good morning, my man! We seek temporary shelter, as our home was destroyed by pirates. We hail from Ireland. My name is Aengus, this my wife Clíona. Our two children, Ladhra the eldest, and Cormac, the boy."
The chief gave a solemn pat on the shoulder to Aengus. "We will help you, in exchange for work, of course. I am Stoick, the Chief of Berk. Come midday, I expect you and your family at the Meade Hall for introductions."
Aengus thanked Stoick, and motioned for his family to carry their belongings up to a small, empty house. There was very little room inside, but it would make do. They were grateful for a roof over their heads. Clíona sent her son to go fishing for their dinner that night, and walked with Ladhra outside to the garden.
"We'll turn the soil and sow some seeds for today, get the garden going. Hopefully by midsummer we won't have to rely too heavily on the villagers."
The women dug into the soft soil to make it workable. Ladhra thought about how cool the weather was, considering it was May. She was happy not to toil away under a hot sun, but she still worked up a sweat and her arms were quickly covered in dirt.
Suddenly she heard a roar and looked up to see five huge beasts streaming through the air, carrying sheep. She opened her mouth to call out about the danger, until she noticed there were people on the backs of the monsters. After a moment, she noticed her mouth was still hanging open, so she closed it. "Dragon riders, mam! They're dragon riders! No wonder we saw so many as we came near the island and they didn't attack us! Dochreidte!"
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and quickly fixed her braid. She took off in the direction the dragons were headed. People stared as she sprinted through the village, but she took no notice. She slowed as she came to the large arena and heard the roars of the dragons and the laughter of their riders. She leaned against the outer cage and stared in awe.
She felt a large hand lay on her shoulder and looked up to see Stoick, a big grin on his face. "Aye, Ladhra. These are our riders, led by my own son, Hiccup. He'll be the one there with the Nightfury."
"Which one is that? I've never seen some of these. There aren't many dragons back where I'm from." She looked to where Stoick pointed and saw the black dragon with the red attachment to his tail and the boy standing next to it, who seemed very much unlike the others around him. "He's so pretty! The Nightfury, I mean." Ladhra smiled.
Stoick chuckled and clapped his hands together. "Well, it is about noon now, and I did tell your father I expect you all at the Meade Hall then. The riders will make their way there shortly, and I will introduce you."
They walked together to the Meade Hall that was carved into a towering hill. Inside was an enormous room with long fire pits lined with tables and benches. Food was being served as they entered and everyone took a moment to acknowledge their chief.
The villagers found seats and ate, all but ignoring the newcomers. Ladhra washed up in a nearby water basin, then moved to find her family and sit with them, ready to dig into her meal. It had been so long since she was able to sit and eat in peace.
After most had finished eating, the chief stood at his throne, commanding the attention of the hall with ease. It grew quickly silent, aside from the gentle crackle of the flames.
"We have visitors!" Stoick bellowed with delight. "A family from another region: Ireland. Their home was destroyed by pirates, and we all know what it is to lose a home and loved ones. Greet them with kindness. I have asked them to join us all here so that we may learn their names and begin to teach them our ways. They may be temporary guests, but they may also stay. That will be up to them, and whether or not they fit in among us.
"Aengus, please bring your family up here so all may see you." Stoick motioned for them to move quickly. Ladhra was nervous, but stood up straight, trying to be a good example for her younger brother.
Aengus cleared his throat. "My name is Aengus Ó Flannagáin." He began, and introduced the rest of the family by name. The villagers gave a roaring cheer of welcome. Ladhra gave a shy smile and put an arm around her brother Cormac's shoulders. This place seemed like a good place to call home, even if it was only for a little while.
Throughout the afternoon the family made their way around the Meade Hall meeting everyone. A round man with a double-braided beard, missing an arm and a leg approached Ladhra and Cormac.
"Oy there lass! I'll take you to the young Vikings 'round here. I don't doubt they would be much easier for you to converse with! And there are plenty o' rowdy munchkins for the lad to play with." He motioned for the two to follow him. "Name's Gobber, by the way. Gobber the Belch. I'm the smithy of Berk. You need weapons, armor, what-have-you, you come to me!"
Cormac seemed fascinated by the man. The six year old walked right in step with him, acting as if he had a peg-leg of his own. Gobber tousled the boy's messy red hair and he grinned ear to ear. They approached a group of six. The tallest of the group, the one Stoick pointed out to her earlier as his son, turned and greeted the three.
"Oh, ah, hi- hi there!" He stumbled over his words a little. Ladhra thought it was kind of cute. She noticed that he was also missing one of his legs. She tried not to look at it. Gobber took Cormac and left her with the others.
"H-hello." She gave a nervous wave and a shy, crooked smile, showing the gap in her front teeth. "I'm Ladhra. Um. I… saw your dragons earlier. They were really cool." She wrung her hands together. She felt immensely small among them, she was of average height where she was from at five feet and five inches tall, but they all seemed to tower over her.
"Why thank you! My dragon is the best, of course!" A rather short and stout Viking piped up, a smug grin splattered on his face. "I am, after all, the number one Dragon Rider on Berk!" Well, at least this one was smaller than her, she thought.
A few of the others groaned. One of the girls, the prettier of the two, quipped "Shut it, Snotlout. You can't even get Hookfang to obey simple commands without lighting you on fire."
"Hey!" Snotlout retorted "He only does that like, two or three times a week now!"
Ladhra laughed a little. This place would be interesting, indeed. Suddenly a tall blond, dread-locked man was in her face, a furrowed brow and mischievous smirk contorted his freckled face. "Snotlout's got nothin' on my Zippleback!" He said, very loudly.
"Our Zippleback, numb-nuts!" The other girl, who was most definitely his twin, conked him on the head and scowled. She then turned to Ladhra. "I'm Ruffnut, and that idiot is my brother, Tuffnut. We're the World Class Pranksters and apprentices of Loki himself!" The twins knocked their heads together and cheered.
"Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut… and I think the chief said your name earlier, it's… Hiccup?"
"Yes, that's right. I ride a Nightfury named Toothless. You'll probably get to know all of us and our dragons pretty quickly." He gestured to the pretty girl, "this is Astrid, my girlfriend" (At that, the twins pretended to gag, but Hiccup ignored it.) "She rides a Nadder named Stormfly. We'll let you meet them soon."
A large, nervous-looking man stepped out and waved to her. "And don't forget me! I'm Fishlegs. If you ever need info on a dragon, I'm your guy!"
"He's like a walking dictionary." Snotlout chuffed. "If you don't wanna know every single detail about a dragon, you might just wanna ask someone like me."
The twins started arguing with Snotlout about who was smarter. Their noise kind of drifted into the background. Ladhra was a little surprised at how easy it was to ignore them.
She turned back to the other three. "You will have to tell me all about how you met and tamed your dragons. Back in Ireland, there were a few brave souls who tried, and wound up eaten. I've always thought they were beautiful, but I was terrified of them. Most of us just stayed as far away from them as possible."
"Well we still have plenty of run-ins with the nastier bunch," Hiccup explained, "but having dragons on our side has made life a lot more interesting."
"Hey, why don't we head out to the arena to meet the dragons already?" Astrid suggested.
The others agreed and headed out of the Meade Hall. Ladhra stopped to tell her parents where she was going. Clíona called after her "Don't forget! We need to finish the work in the garden today so don't be too long!" Ladhra waved back to her mother in response, stepping quickly to catch up to her new friends.
As they walked, Fishlegs was chattering up a storm, excitedly rambling on about Meatlug, his Gronkle. He stated facts and stats and went on about how she was the best, sweetest, most cuddly dragon in the world. Ladhra thought it was adorable how much everyone seemed to love their dragons (especially Fishlegs.)
At the arena the group was greeted by five dragons, each one very different from the last, but they seemed to match their riders perfectly. Ladhra imagined what kind of dragon she would ride, if she could. She thought about the Scuttleclaw, and its vibrant colors, or maybe the Prickleboggle and its peaceful nature. There weren't very many species she knew of.
A loud explosion brought her back to reality. The twins were trying to show off "the awesome destructive power of the Hideous Zippleback."
Hookfang, Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare, lit himself on fire and went on the defensive at the noise. Hiccup and Astrid grabbed Ladhra and shielded her from Hookfang's blasts. Stormfly, Toothless and Meatlug worked together to pin the ornery dragon safely. Ladhra peeked out from behind her two protectors. Maybe riding a dragon wasn't such a good idea for her. She was nothing like these Vikings and didn't think she would be able to handle a fire-breathing monster.
When the chaos subsided (as well as the twins' laughter) Hiccup brought Toothless over for a proper introduction. The gentle dragon let her pet him and made noises similar to a cat's purr. He hung his mouth open and let his tongue droop, and Ladhra could see why Hiccup named him Toothless. She giggled at the thought of him being like an old man.
Stormfly grew jealous of all the attention she wasn't getting and nosed her way into the middle of everything, making Ladhra pet her too. Maybe dragons weren't so bad after all. It just depended on their rider. Meatlug soon joined in the mix and Ladhra was being cuddled by all the thick, rough-skinned dragons. She laughed at how silly it all seemed.
"We're going to go on a flight, if you want to join us?" Hiccup offered.
"But… I don't have a dragon." She furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Well you could ride with one of us!"
"Oh! Me! Me! Ride with me!" Snotlout waved his arms frantically. "Hookfang's flight is smooooth as can be!" He exaggerated his movements as he spoke. Ladhra cringed a little. The thought of getting on a dragon that could light its whole body on fire was enough to keep her far, far away from that situation.
"You idiot. She doesn't wanna ride with you! You'd get her killed!" Ruffnut shoved Snotlout.
"She wants to ride with us! We are the experts here!" Tuffnut jabbed his thumb to his chest, his head held high.
Ladhra looked at Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs. "Umm… I don't think I want to ride with any of them…"
Fishlegs let out a loud belly-laugh. "I don't blame you! Your safest bet would be one of us three, by my calculations. Meatlug and I are slow and steady, Astrid and Stormfly are sure to keep you in your seat. And Hiccup, well he is the most experienced of all of us!"
Ladhra glanced at Hiccup. Beneath his shy smile she saw how proud he was to be the first one of Berk to tame and ride a dragon. "Could I ride with you and Toothless?" She asked.
"A-absolutely!" He said and everyone mounted their dragons. Ladhra stumbled onto Toothless' back, mumbling 'sorry' a lot as she accidentally kicked the poor beast a few times in her struggle. "Alright, Ladhra, hold on tight!"
Ladhra did as she was told and hooked her arms around Hiccup's waist. Her heart pounded in her ears and the next thing she knew, Toothless made powerful strokes with his wings and they were lifted into the air. She tried not to scream and closed her eyes.
"Ladhra! Open your eyes! We're steady now, it's not so scary."
She did as she was told and slowly opened one eye, then the other. They were sailing over the water, next to the cliffs of Berk. She tightened her grip, but didn't close her eyes again. She took in her surroundings. The summer grass was as green as could be. Waves ebbed and flowed against the sandy beach near the docks, and lightly crashed against the rocky cliff sides.
She felt Hiccup's leg move against hers, and heard a click. Toothless tilted upward and started flapping his wings to get higher. They kept going up and up and up… It seemed endless! They soared above the Meade Hall. At the peak of the hill the hall was carved into sat a small house. It seemed almost inaccessible to anyone without a dragon. She pointed at it and asked who lived there.
"Ah, that would be Gothi! The Elder! She doesn't have a dragon, but she makes the trek up and down the side of the peak like it's nothing!"
Ladhra remembered being introduced to a tiny old woman earlier that day. She seemed so fragile. But Vikings are always stronger than one might think, she supposed. She looked down and saw all the villagers leaving the Meade Hall. She tried to spot her parents in the crowd but found it too difficult.
She looked around at the others flying close to them. They seemed to really be enjoying themselves. It made her want her own dragon even more. They continued to fly across the island, Hiccup making note to Ladhra that it was more than just a leisure flight. They were also there to keep an eye out for any looming threats.
After a while they landed their dragons near Ladhra's house, and she dismounted rather ungracefully from Toothless, landing on her rear in the dirt. She stood and dusted herself off.
"Thank you all so much for that. Bhí sé iontach!"
"Well, maybe one day you'll meet your own dragon," said Hiccup, "and then you could join us as a Rider."
Ladhra smiled at that. Her mother came out from the garden. "Well there you are! Come on! I told you we need to finish our work today!"
"Ah, sorry Mrs. Ó Flannagáin! That was our fault." Hiccup waved to Clíona. She gave a small wave back and disappeared back to her garden.
Ladhra thanked the group again and ran off to help her mother.
When she got to the fence she saw that her mother had recruited Cormac to help out, but he seemed to just be playing in the dirt, smudging it all over his face and arms.
"Looks like someone will be getting a bath tonight!" Ladhra teased.
"No way!" Cormac pouted. "Baths are the worst!"
Clíona chuckled. "Well now that you're here, he can go inside with his father." Cormac stuck his tongue out at Ladhra before scuttling into the house.
Before she knew it, the sun had begun to set and the day's work was done. She and her mother went inside and washed up to prepare dinner. Ladhra had grown tired of fish from spending so long at sea, but she was hungry and ate anyway.
The family settled in for the night, a fire going in the sitting room. Ladhra gave a deep, contented sigh. She eventually moved to her and Cormac's bedroom to get ready to sleep. It had been a long journey to reach this island, and Ladhra couldn't wait to sleep in a solid bed without waves rocking everything. She plopped down on her bed and snuggled under the covers. Within minutes she drifted into a deep sleep, dreaming of riding Toothless across her homeland.