A/N: I know what your think, "Pandora, you've already got two fanfics on the go! Why start another?!" Because I love it, dude.
Anywho, I'm planning with introducing Evi while the teens are still, well, you know, teens, and then going more in-depth when they age a bit, like in Riders of the Edge, so Evi will be 21-22 while Hiccup is 18-19. I'm doing this because I want to, and then the age difference isn't so different between them.
Also, Evi is awesome and childish.
Sometimes, anyway.
Please review! Let me know what you think! I love interacting with my reviewers so if you have a question just say it! Like seriously, you're not annoying me, I feed off attention.
Oh yeah, Astervia is mine and so is it's culture (even if it's had influences which are not mine) and so is Evi and Fadi, Arabic and HTTYD are not mine.
Chapter 1
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Evi cursed as arrows rained from below, narrowly avoiding the rider and her dragon.
The arrows grew closer to the two and a loud ringing sounded in Evi's ears before it reached its crescendo; a cacophony of noise flew around the vicinity – maybe even the archipelago – and Evi let out a string of curses. She covered her ears with her hands, scrunching her eyes shut in a vain attempt to block out the resounding boom, losing her footing and falling low on the dragon's back as a shockwave hit her. And then it was over.
Suddenly, every light in the city area went out and they were plunged into darkness. Evi heard some people below shriek in shock as she herself gasped and latched onto the dragon's harness. Her ears were ringing terribly but Evi felt the distinct need to move, as if her body was in control over her mind.
Automatically, she and her dragon Fadi were preparing for the worst, the large tear in Fadi's wing a clear sign that they were headed for a less than comfortable landing.
"Fadi!" She cried, tears slipping out of her eyes as they fell through the sky, it was mere stroke of luck that they happened to be hit above an island with at least some tree coverage.
But the landing was not going to be pleasant.
If Hiccup had to hazard a guess about the precarious situation he was in then he was certain that death was imminent, but then again, he'd felt that way before.
Of course, he'd never been on the wrong end of a curved sword before either.
The sword was also held by a person he'd never seen before, indeed he'd never seen a person like her before.
Yes, her.
Her skin was brown and her hair was long and white, thick curls held in two buns on either side of her head and intricate tattoos of gold and black decorated her skin. Her clothes were colourful but clearly not made for Viking weather.
She was also incredibly tall, towering over Hiccup's own small stature.
"Uh…" he said cautiously, "hi!"
The woman narrowed her mismatched eyes, one a startling blue and the other a vibrant green, and she stood protectively in front of a dragon he thought never to see; a white night fury.
"Men ayna ant?" She inquired in a strange accent.
Hiccup raised a brow, "Come again?"
She cleared her throat, and appeared to be thinking before speaking once more, "You, where are you from?" still, she held her sword to his throat.
"Oh!" Hiccup said, smiling, "I'm from Berk, a couple of miles that way," he pointed his thumb over his shoulder in Berk's general direction, "who are you? And why are you here?"
Realistically, he felt that he should have been more scared of this strange woman, one who was clearly competent enough to take his should she desire to. But she didn't, her blade at his throat appeared to be more of a warning than anything, but the cowl covering most of her face hid a lot of her expression and as such Hiccup felt it best to stay cautious. He had no idea what she was capable of.
"You are not permitted to learn my name, but I am just passing through." She said and once again Hiccup was curious to her origins. He had never met anyone like her before.
He smiled reassuring, trying to convey his non-threatening nature, "Why don't you come to my village? You can restock and be on your way in no time."
She narrowed her eyes at him, "How can I know the truth of your words?"
Hiccup fought the urge to roll his eyes, instead he focused on placating the woman enough to lower her sword.
His eyes briefly flickered to the white nightfury. Red stained beautiful white scales and Hiccup's eyebrows lowered in concern. The dragon was injured, and as much as he'd love to study it, the wound needed attending to first.
"Your dragon…" he said, trailing off as his eyes kept flickering back to the wound.
"I can heal her." The woman said, not breaking eye contact with him.
Hiccup smiled reassuringly, "I'm sure of it, but please come to the village, we have supplies and care for dragons too. She'll be in good hands there."
Slowly, very slowly, the woman lowered her curved sword and tilted her said slightly, her eyes on the dragon, "Ma rayak?" she said.
The white nightfury purred a little before standing up and carefully limping to the woman's side. She rubbed her large head against the woman's hand and Hiccup thought that the dragon's white scales contrasted greatly with the woman's brown fingers.
"Should you betray us, I will kill you." She said seriously and Hiccup didn't doubt her promise.
He cracked a smile and began to walk towards the village, gesturing to the woman, "Y'know, I still don't know your name."
She fell into step with him but was still tense, her dragon following obediently behind her, "And that will not change."
Hiccup laughed lightly, "I get it! I get it! No names! Okay," he grinned at her, "I think you'll like the village, it's small and the people are grouchy but it has its own charm."
She remained silent, merely assessing her surroundings.
"Not big on conversation either, are ya?" Hiccup teased.
The woman side-eyed him, "Conversation is fine, I still have yet to decide if you are friend or foe." She said calmly, still looking at the trees, "Though, I must admit, your home is very different to what I am used to."
"Oh?" Hiccup said, latching onto the chance of a conversation, "What's your home like?"
"Hot, and sandy, you are so pale that I doubt you'd survive the sun." She said, "The air is dry and thick, spices permeate it and you can taste them in the back of your throat."
Hiccup grimaced, "That sounds…pleasant."
She chuckled lightly, causing the Viking to crack a grin, "It is beautiful too, even if it appears to be dead."
"How far is it?" Hiccup asked.
The woman's eyes widened as the village came into view, a small smile spreading across her face, "Very far. So far that it takes months to get here from there on dragon-back."
"Wow, and you came here all by yourself?" Hiccup said, astounded at how far the woman had travelled.
She nodded, "Fadimiqyas and I travel far frequently."
"Fad-mick-yasin?" Hiccup asked, slightly butchering the name as he glanced back to the white nightfury, "Is that your dragon's name?"
"Yes, though I tend to call her Fadi." The woman answered, watching the Viking villagers stare at the trio, Fadi growled lowly at them and only stopped when the woman placed her hand on her snout.
Berk was small and cold. That was the woman's first impression, and she had seen a wide variety of villages and cultures.
Dragons she barely recognised dotted the place and Vikings stared at her with open curiosity and a little fear, whispering to each other as she and Hiccup strolled through the village. It was only then that she realised she had no idea where she was going.
"Hiccup?" She said and Hiccup decided then that he really liked the way Evi said his name.
"Yeah?" He replied, looking up at her questioningly.
"Where are we going?"
"Oh!" he jumped, grinning, "to see Gothi, she's our resident healer and knows quite a bit about dragon healing."
The woman frowned, "I will heal Fadi." She said sternly.
Hiccup led her up a little path ascending a hill and the woman could clearly see a house built into the side of a cliff, partially hanging over the cliff-face and it appeared as if a strong gale of wind could blow it over.
"Here we are!" The Viking declared as he flung his arms open before knocking on the wooden door, "Gothi? It's Hiccup! I have an injured dragon."
The door creaked open and outstepped a short, haggard old Viking woman and the strange woman felt her jaw drop. She was tiny! The smallest grown person she had ever seen, there was at least two feet difference between them!
The old woman looked at Hiccup's companion and gasped loudly, dropping her staff and leaning against her doorframe to steady her frail figure. She looked at the tall woman in shock.
"Woah!" Hiccup said as he went to steady the old woman, gently pushing the strange woman back with his other arm.
"Gothi! What's wrong?!" The dragon rider called out, eyeing Evi distrustfully, she merely stared back with narrowed eyes, the wrap still covering most of her face.
She knelt down, staring at Gothi, "I am not the first of my people you have seen." She said.
The old woman shook her head, leaning on her staff once more after the initial shock had passed, and gazed into the strange woman's face before scratching something into the dirt.
Evi frowned, peering at what appeared to be writings of some sort.
"I apologise," she said, "but I cannot read your language." She looked to Hiccup for assistance, who looked completely confused.
"Are we just gonna ignore Gothi's freak-out?" He asked incredulously, staring at the two women.
The strange woman returned his confused look, "It is in the past, and whatever conflict there was has been resolved, why reminisce?"
"What?!" Hiccup exclaimed, "It happened less than a minute ago!"
Evi eyed the Viking with bemusement, "I don't understand your meaning." She stated, "But that is irrelevant, Fadi is still injured."
Hiccup shook his head to clear his thoughts, "Yeah, you're right," he turned his attention to Gothi, eyes trained on her scratchings.
"She says that Fadi needs special treatment from the, uhhh," he squinted at the scratchingss, trying to read them, "Snotlout's pants?" Gothi hit Hiccup on the head, narrowly avoiding taking the strange woman's eyes out, "Sorry! Sorry! Snaplung ant, that's what it is."
The strange woman sighed, "I could have told you that. I said before, I know how to heal her, I just have run out of supplies."
Their attention was snatched from above as a blue deadly nadder touched down, a blonde Viking glaring at the strange woman in distrust as she hopped off the dragon.
"No!" the blonde said, "Not again, Hiccup!"
Hiccup raised his hands in the universal peace sign, attempting to appease the fuming Viking girl as she attempted to kill the strange woman with visual daggers. Evi didn't flinch, merely levelled the girl with a calm, slightly hauty gaze.
"It won't be like Heather, I swear, so just calm down Astrid…" Hiccup vainly tried to keep Astrid from approaching the strange woman and received a twisted wrist in return.
Astrid stormed up to her and glared, standing on her tiptoes to try and reach Evi's towering height. They stared at each other intensely, but the strange woman noticed that more dragon riders seem to appear.
"We were attacked." Evi said after a long pause, not taking her gaze of Astrid.
As if her words were a healing balm, Astrid instantly calmed, but the underlying hint of distrust remained in her icy eyes as she stepped back from the strange woman.
Hiccup stepped forward, "What do you mean you were attacked? This close to Berk?"
The strange woman nodded, "Naäam, yes, an arrow pierced Fadi's wing and thigh, she must be attended to immediately if she has a chance of recovery."
"You are so dark!" Shouted an incredulous voice, belonging to what Evi assumed was a male twin, but she couldn't really tell.
She crossed her arms, raising a white eyebrow, "And you look like snow, what of it?"
"He doesn't mean to offend you!" A chubby, yet still burly Viking said, "Tuffnut just means that we've never seen anyone like you before."
Evi snorted, "That is obvious from the stares."
Hiccup laughed nervously, "Yeah, we don't get many visitors here, you're probably already the talk of the town."
"I am hardly surprised." She said sarcastically.
"Anyway!" Hiccup said enthusiastically, trying to diffuse the tense atmosphere, "Introductions are needed!"
Evi levelled the Vikings with a critical gaze, "So," she said after a beat, "are you going to speak?"
"I'm Fishlegs," the burly boy said, "and this is my dragon Meatlug," the dragon in question flopped it's tongue out, licking the grass by accident, "and this is Ruffnut and Tuffnut with their Hideous Zippleback Barf and Belch."
"Charming names," Evi retorted, patting Fadi behind her as the dragon limped over to the Vikings.
The twins grinned, "Don't you think so!" Tuffnut said, hugging one of the dragon's heads, "We like to instill love in our dragon!"
"I'm sure that they feel that love," the strange woman said dryly before diverting her attention to the one Viking that hadn't been introduced, "And who are you?"
He was short and looked a bit like a pig, Evi thought, as he stared up at her with reverence in his eyes.
"I have died and gone to Valhalla…" he squeaked quietly, taking Evi's hand and kneeling on the floor, "for surely there is a Valkyrie standing before me!" He declared dramatically.
Evi retracted her hand, smiling awkwardly, "I'm flattered but, you're like, twelve or something."
The boy, who Evi discovered was called Snotlout, gasped in horror, "I'm fifteen, I'll have you know!" He shouted angrily.
Evi laughed, "Yes!" She reinstated, "And I am twenty, you are so very young!"
"Anyway," Hiccup said, shooting his friends a glare, "we need to get snaplung ants," he looked at Gothi, "any idea where we could get some."
But it was not Gothi who answered, instead Evi nodded enthusiastically, "Naäam, there is an island to the southeast with an abundance of snaplung ants ready for harvesting," she looked thoughtful, "however is was near that island that we were hit."
Evi was so caught up in her thinking that she didn't notice the Viking teens gushing over Fadi, amazed at seeing another night fury.
"Why is she white?" Astrid asked as they began walking to the village centre, Evi staying close to Fadi with the teens trailing after her. Truthfully, she thought them to be rather cute with their fascination.
Evi stroked Fadi's head, "Fadi is unique in that she is, what is your word? Uhhh," she trailed off thinking about her knowledge of Viking language, "she is…weak to sun? Half blind? Lacking colour? You know, that word!"
Fishlegs piped up from the back, "Albino?!"
Evi grinned, pointing at the boy, "Yes! Yes! She is that!"
"Albino, huh?" Hiccup said, patting Fadi's head before looking ag Toothless, "she's kinda like you, bud."
The strange woman frowned, "How is she like your night fury?"
Hiccup grinned nervously, "His tail fin is damaged, I fitted a device to help him fly but he needs my help."
Evi frowned, "And who damaged him? Are you after revenge?"
The young Viking's eyes widened, "No! No way!" he laughed nervously again, rubbing the back of his neck, "I kinda shot him down."
"What?!" Evi exclaimed, instantly putting herself between Hiccup and Fadi, "You hurt him!?"
"It was an accident!" Hiccup explained in a panic, "Accident! It was when we were warring with dragons!"
This did not placate Evi like Hiccup had hoped, "You went to war with them?! Why?!"
Hiccup noticed that the villagers had surrounded the two in a large circle, the rest of the riders had fallen back and let Hiccup deal with his vocal slip-up by himself. He inwardly rolled his eyes at his friends.
"Vikings and dragons fought for a long time," he explained, eyes directed on Evi's now raised weapons, the glinting of the curved sword reflected the sun's light, "but that was a while ago, I befriended Toothless," the night fury came forward, nuzzling into Hiccup's proffered hand, "and now I can't imagine living without him."
Evi lowered her swords, uncertainty warring in her eyes as she considered her options.
Hiccup hadn't harmed, nor had he threatened her of Fadi, even with his apparently questionable past with dragons, and although Evi was a skilled warrior she couldn't risk Fadi getting injured any further, which was bound to happen if a skirmish broke out.
Just as she was about to sheath her swords, a big hulking Viking with the temper of a bull appeared, standing firmly between Hiccup and Evi.
"Mind what you're doing with those, lass," he said, clearly a warning, "wouldn't want an accident to happen now, would we?"
His message was loud and clear to Evi; back the fuck off.
Evi did has requested and levelled the Viking she assumed to be the chief with a calm, respectful gaze.
"You are the leader?" she asked evenly.
"Aye, that I am." He said, "I am Stoic the Vast and chief of this village." He glared at Evi, "Who are you?"
Evi relaxed her stance, Fadi nudged her hand with her snout and drew Stoic's attention away from her rider.
"By Odin, is that a night fury?" he asked.
Evi nodded, "Yes, and as for my name…" she looked him up and down before lowering her eyes to Fadi, "You can call me Evi, and this is Fadi."
"Right lass," Stoic said, crossing his arms and pushing Hiccup in front of him, "care to tell me why you were threatening my son?"
Evi's eyes widened, "Hiccup is your son? But you're so…different." She said, glancing between the two in hopes of seeing a resemblance. She found none.
"Aye, that he is, now answer my question." Stoic ordered.
Evi stood straight, "Of course, Hiccup was telling me about how Toothless lost his tailfin and with Fadi in such a poor state, I over-reacted." She knelt on one knee before Hiccup, "I apologise profusely for my rudeness."
Hiccup scratched the back of his head, "It's alright, I'd probably be the same," he quickly walked forward, bending to reach the woman's shoulders before helping her stand, "there's really no need to kneel or anything."
Evi smiled down at Hiccup, "You have my thanks, if it would be acceptable, please can we venture on to find the snaplung ants?"
Hiccup grinned, "Of course!" he looked thoughtful for a moment, "Fadi will have to stay here though, we can gather them for you."
Evi frowned, "Do you know their nesting grounds? What they look like? Or how to capture them?" she inquired.
Hiccup sighed, "Uh, no."
"Okay," Evi said, "then I must travel with you,"
She turned to face Fadi, wrapping her long, brown arms around the dragon.
"I will return to you…" she whispered before laying a gentle kiss on the dragon's snout.
Hiccup smiled at Evi, slightly shocked that even on Toothless' back he only just reached her eye height.
Evi hopped on Toothless' back and held onto Hiccup, "Let us be hasty." She said.
"Right," Hiccup nodded, "C'mon gang, let's go!" He called and with a might push of Toothless' powerful legs, they ascended into the sky, Hiccup mildly surprised that Evi didn't scream.
Review! Review! I like writing but I don't know if other people like my writing so please review!