Honor

by Nyeerg

A lot of things have changed on Berk since the Alpha attacked. Hiccup has to learn how to be a chief, and Astrid is tired of waiting for him to settle their betrothal. Unexpected and unwanted visitors derail Astrid's plans and Hiccup isn't there to fix things, so it's up to the twins and company to get Berk back to normal.

Toothless warbled to himself; eyes closed, he looked asleep, and his behavior had Hiccup worried. "I don't know what's wrong," he told Astrid. She leaned up against Hiccup's bedpost, arms crossed and eyes on the dragon. "He keeps running off by himself. I've found him stuck headfirst into caves and under rocks and he tried to climb a tree yesterday."

"And this is the first time he's done this?" Astrid tilted her head to one side and narrowed her eyes, watching Toothless sleep. "Would Valka know anything about this?"

Hiccup shrugged and stared helplessly at his best friend. "She left this morning to go back to her island. Some of the females went back there to nest. Mom wanted to be there with them when the babies hatched."

"Maybe that's it?" Astrid kneeled next to Toothless and scratched behind his ears.

"What?"

Astrid gave Hiccup a sly look. "Maybe he wants to mate."

Hiccup turned red and stared pointedly at his dragon. Astrid held in an amused sigh; for all that they'd promised themselves to one another, Hiccup was still hilariously unused to the idea that they would be sharing a bed—probably the bed in this very room—and Astrid took every opportunity to make references to their future wedded actions.

"He's never done this before though. Why now?"

"Valka said you're the same age, right?" Astrid left off her stare and make soothing noises at Toothless. "Is that it, buddy? Are you ready to meet a nice girl and come to a handsal with her clan head and move into the Chief's hall and have lots of—"

"Astrid!"

Astrid fought to keep a silly grin from spreading across her face. "I was only going to say babies, Hiccup. What did you think I was going to say?"

"Astrid…" Hiccup shook his head. "I'll settle it just as soon as I have time."

Astrid held out her hand to him and Hiccup took it. She dragged him down next to her and pressed her forehead to his, and forced him to meet her eyes. "The sooner you go see my family and get this contract settled, the sooner we can have the wedding feast, the sooner I can move in here, and the sooner we can—"

"Astrid!" Hiccup's ever-scandalized brown eyes bored into her blue ones.

"The—sooner—we—can—be—together!" Astrid punctuated each word with a headbutt. "I want to be with you, not just next to you, Hiccup! I want them to see you and know you're mine and that I'm yours!" She closed her eyes and they sat there, foreheads pressed together, serenaded by Toothless' warbles to himself.

"I just want to do this right by you, Astrid." Hiccup played with her braid. "The head of your clan hasn't been settled yet; I don't know if it would even be right to start a contract without that dealt with first."

That, Astrid reflected, was possibly the only reason she hadn't yet dragged him into her hall by his belt and announced to her family that they were getting married. Her father had been killed by the Alpha; the next male in her clan was her little brother, who at four years old wasn't old enough to take command of the clan, so it had reverted to Eellegs, Fishlegs' father and Astrid's uncle. He had agreed to act as temporary head until somebody more suitable could take over the clan, but the options were few and far between and as the oldest girlchild, it wasn't too improbable that somebody would eventually suggest that she marry a man from another island and have him move to Berk. The sooner their betrothal was agreed to, the sooner that risk would be gone.

"How about this: If you need to go find another Night Fury for Toothless, maybe by the time you come back, we'll have it figured out?"

Hiccup leaned back against Toothless and sighed. "I don't know if I can. Who'll lead Berk with me gone?"

"How long do you think it'd take to find another Night Fury?"

Hiccup shrugged helplessly. "I've been looking for another one for years, since I found him."

"Maybe if he's really trying to mate and not sick or something, he'll be able to find one?" Astrid scooted over and snuggled under Hiccup's arm. "It's worth a try. You know you can't let him suffer, not if there's a way to fix this."

Hiccup pulled her tight against him and leaned his cheek against her head. The cold metal of her kransen dug into his cheek. "You're right."

"What's stopping you asking Spitelout to lead the village while you're gone?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Spitelout's not as…oh, I don't know. Calm, maybe? As the village needs. Not after everything that's happened."

Astrid chewed her bottom lip and fell silent for a few moments. "You could ask Eellegs to advise him while you're gone. He knows everything there is about Viking law, so between Spitelout's experience and Eelleg's knowledge, they can handle anything that happens to the village."

"Not unless somebody crazy decides to, I don't know, tame dragons and bring them home to live." Hiccup pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

"I think we can safely say that world-shattering revelations like 'dragons aren't evil' probably won't happen again. Not without you here, at least." Astrid returned the kiss, and her hands drifted to his sides just as the door downstairs slammed open.

"HICCUP!" Gobber roared. "YEH'RE NEEDED!"

Both Astrid and Hiccup glared at the door to his room. "I'm coming, give me a minute!" Hiccup called down. "Astrid? You mind staying with Toothless until I get back?"

Astrid nodded and stole a quick kiss. "Go, before they tear the house apart looking for you. I'll stay with him ."

"What would I do without you?" Hiccup favored her with one of those heart-meltingly sweet smiles as she helped him to his feet.

"You'd be dead. Like five times over."

"At least six." Hiccup headed to the stairs. "I'll try to be back soon."

Astrid waved him off and curled up against Toothless. "We'll be fine. Don't worry too much."

"What's up, Gobber?" Hiccup asked. The beat-up old blacksmith thumped into step beside him on the trek down the hill. "Something finicky in the smith?"

"Nah. Weh've got visitors." Gobber gestured out to the ocean; off in the distance, a few hours away still, a tiny boat with tiny sails was barely visible on the surf. "Snotlout reported them; they fired at him when he flew in to see who they were."

"He didn't recognize the ship? Were they flying a flag?" Hiccup hurried after Gobber, whose ground-eating strides always left him in the dust. "Is Snotlout okay?"

"He's fine. Mighta needed to change his underwear after, if yeh catch my drift!" Gobber leered at him and Hiccup, laughing, shoved his arm. It accomplished approximately nothing, but he had to try.

"Do you think we should consider them a threat?" So soon after Stoick's death, it wouldn't look bad for Hiccup to ask for advice and help from the older members of the village; in fact, the elders would look down on him for not respecting their opinions and thoughts, even if the final decision rested on his thin shoulders.

"Well, that depends, don't it?"

"On?" Hiccup waved to the Thorston twins as he and Gobber passed Gothi's hut. The twins had nets and sticks, and seemed to be trying to capture one of Gothi's Terrible Terrors. "Leave them alone, guys!" he called out.

The twins dropped the nets and caught up with Hiccup to join in on the conversation. "What's up, Chief?" Tuffnut said, squirming between the blacksmith and Hiccup.

Gobber rolled his eyes and shoved Tuffnut back. "To answer your question, Hiccup, they're Vikings. Tha's always a threat."

"It's too small to be an invading force," Tuffnut added from behind them. Since the Alpha incident, he wanted desperately to find a way to distinguish himself and was doing his best to be invaluable to Hiccup. Someday, when they were older, Hiccup intended to formally make Tuffnut his second in command, when Spitelout was too old to effectively manage the Hooligans as Hiccup's second. He had no intention of telling Tuffnut that just yet; it would go to his head.

"Just the one ship?" Hiccup opened the door to the meeting hall and was pleased to see his council and most of the other village adults already there.

"Yes, sir!" Tuffnut said. Ruffnut growled something under her breath and shoved her brother, hard. "Shove off, Ruff!" Tuffnut snarled back.

"Both of yeh, knock it off before I knock your skulls together!"Gobber roared. "Not that it'd do a lick of good but it'd make me feel better."

Hiccup snorted and took his place at the head of the horseshoe shaped table. "Does anybody recognize the ship? Has anybody else gotten close to it?" he asked the group at large.

"It had red circles on the sails," Snotlout announced from somewhere behind the people to Hiccup's left. He shoved his way to the front and stood next to Hiccup, facing the crowd. "With white lines in the circles."

The rest of the Hooligans muttered amongst themselves. Finally, with a resigned expression, Eellegs stepped forward. The man who everybody said Fishlegs looked like at his age wore his heart on his sleeve just as his son did and his expression did nothing to stir good feelings in Hiccup. "Could be the Marauders, Hiccup," Eellegs said.

The hall filled with muttering. "I don't think I know anything about them," Hiccup said slowly.

"You wouldn't." Spitelout crossed his arms, although his angry expression was his emotional default. "Borghild Hofferson ran off with a Marauder woman before you were born."

"Borghild was a scoundrel from the day he was born," somebody else said. "Begging your pardon, Alva."

Alva Hofferson, Astrid's mother, shrugged. The big woman didn't share many of her daughter's fineboned features but the same angry blue eyes were common across the entire Hofferson clan. "He left my mother and ran off with a whore from another clan. I think 'scoundrel' is the least of the things we can say about him."

"So he's Astrid's grandfather?" Hiccup quietly muttered to Gobber, who was in his customary place behind and to Hiccup's right. "Think he's on that ship?"

"Anything's possible with a Hofferson. They're crazy, the whole lot of them." Gobber fiddled aimlessly with his hammer-hand. "Better question is, why are they coming here now?"

"We can't get close to them on dragonback," Tuffnut said. He'd wormed his way up close to the table, a few people down from Hiccup. "Snotlout almost died and none of us ride water-dragons that could get closer to the ship or lay in wait."

Hiccup nodded thoughtfully; he hadn't considered that option. One of them seriously needed to get a water dragon. Maybe they could have some sort of underwater breathing suit…he shook himself out of his train of thought and focused back on the problem at hand. "What about sending a boat out to cut them off?"

"The fishing boats haven't come back today and the warships haven't been repaired yet," Spitelout said. The carpenters had all been busy rebuilding Berk in time for winter after the destruction the Alpha had left. Even two months later, the ice spikes hadn't fully melted.

"What are our other options then?" If they couldn't be approached by the dragons and none of the ships were shipshape, there wasn't much else the Hooligans could reasonably do. Admittedly, Hiccup thought, they were Vikings. 'Reasonable' wasn't in their vocabulary.

"I say wait. See if they're coming here or just passing by. It'll be a few more hours before it's obvious what their plan is," Eellegs said.

"Then we wait. Maybe more ships are over the horizon; we'll prepare like it's an invasion, just in case."

"Solid plan, Hiccup," Gobber said. "We'll make a chief of you yet!" He clapped Hiccup on the back. "Clear out, the rest of yeh! Yeh got jobs to do!"

Hiccup flushed; despite Gobber's best intentions, he needed the people of Berk to look to him for orders. "I'll meet you at the forge after I check on Toothless."

"You do what you need to do." Gobber thumped out to catch up with Spitelout, who waited by the door for him. "I need another apprentice," he muttered under his breath.

The exodus of the rest of the village left the Thorston twins and Snotlout in the meeting hall. In some ways, Hiccup felt like they were his own little council, and he knew he could depend on them to have his back to the death, just as he'd have theirs. "What do you want us to do?" Tuffnut asked.

"Nothing yet. When the ship gets closer, stay out of range of whatever weapons they might have, but see what you can and report back to me." Hiccup crossed his arms, worry clouding his thoughts. So soon after Drago's attack, he wasn't sure if Berk was ready to defend themselves again. And with Toothless more or less out of action, their greatest weapon couldn't be counted on. Never mind how the rest of the dragons would react to their alpha going half-crazy over something he couldn't communicate to Hiccup. Gods give me luck, he thought with a quick upwards glance.

"I've got this!" Snotlout said. "Don't worry about it, I'll bring back the best report you've ever heard!"

Hiccup couldn't help a small grin. Nothing brought Snotlout down for long; even being attacked didn't stop him. "Thank you, Snotlout. Tuffnut? You mind staying behind for a minute? Ruffnut, Snotlout, go ahead and get ready in case we have to fight."

"You got it, Hiccup!" Snotlout strutted out, showing off for Ruffnut. She glared daggers at him but followed him out and shut the door behind her. Astrid had brought home a rumor that Snotlout was gearing up to ask her father, Snuffnut Thorston, for permission to court her. Hiccup hoped for the sake of Berk that he did not; he didn't relish the idea of Ruffnut burning the island down to avoid marrying Snotlout. Hiccup sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. He flopped down onto one of the benches while Tuffnut leaned against the horseshoe table. "Tuff, I need you to keep a secret for me."

The blond Viking didn't say anything, but his posture shifted from aloof to concerned in the space of an instant.

"Toothless is acting weird, and Astrid thinks he might be ready to mate. I might need to leave to help him find a female Night Fury soon, and I'm going to leave Spitelout and Eellegs in charge if I do."

Tuffnut nodded. "And you want me to have Astrid's back if you do."

Hiccup startled and stared at him. "Did you read my mind?"

Tuffnut shrugged and grinned despite the seriousness of the impending situation. "There's no way you would leave without asking somebody to have her back. Snotlout's idea of having her back is trying to woo her and beating up anything that comes near her, and that would piss her off and make it worse. Ruffnut would get them both into trouble. That leaves me."

"That's it in a nutshell. If it is her grandfather on that ship, he could potentially step into the hole in her clan leadership, and I don't have the time to stay long enough to see that it gets handled properly. Spitelout and Eellegs will have to handle that as best they can. I don't know how long it'll take to find a female night fury, if they even exist anymore, and I don't want to leave her in the hands of somebody who'd abandon his own wife and children for another tribe."

"I've got it. You don't have to worry about her. If anything, she'll probably have to have our backs to get us out of trouble." Tuffnut crossed the floor in two quick strides and squeezed Hiccup's shoulder. "We'll be fine. You do what you need to for Toothless. Was there anything else you needed?"

Hiccup shook his head. Tuffnut left the hall, leaving him alone with his thoughts. He'd give it more time, but if Tuffnut kept it up, he would be looking at a promotion to second-in-command sooner than Hiccup had initially expected.

Astrid woke up briefly when Hiccup popped his head in to his room and found her curled up on the floor, using one of Toothless' front paws for a pillow and his wing for a blanket. He left without saying anything and Astrid woke up again several hours later on her own. Toothless was burning hot to the touch when she shifted and bumped his scaly stomach with her elbow. "Ow!" she gasped. "Toothless?" She crawled around to his face and pushed her hand against his nose. "Toothless!"

Toothless' eyes flew open and he stared as if she wasn't there. It wasn't the same as when he'd been under the Alpha's control, but like he was so completely zoned out that he didn't even know she was there. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked. Toothless chirped, sounding a little like himself, but then he zoned out again and stared at the wall. She glanced at it, but it was just a wall. "What's going on in there?" she rapped her knuckles against his skull. "You want out?"

Toothless jumped at the suggestion and she opened the door to let him tramp down the stairs. The front door was ajar and Toothless let himself out. Astrid followed along behind him, jogging to keep up. "Toothless, stop for a second!" she shouted after him. He cocked his head at her, more alert now that he was outside, and paused long enough for Astrid to climb into the saddle. "You want to fly?" she asked. Toothless ducked his head and cocked his ears. "I know I'm not the best at this," she muttered as she set the gear. "Bear with me, I'll get us up." She hadn't often had a need to fly him, but as she'd offered on that fateful day when they'd first spied the smoke of Valka's Alpha's assault on the dragon catching base, she would fly Toothless when Hiccup's chiefly duties kept him too busy.

Toothless kneeled down and flapped his wings and they were up. Riding Toothless was completely unlike flying with Stormfly, her nadder. Stormfly wasn't quite so aerodynamic and could never reach the speeds Toothless could, and her wingflaps were strong enough that when she flapped hard, Astrid got a rockier ride than on a wagon down a rock-strewn cliff. Toothless, on the other hand, was as smooth as falling asleep—you barely noticed it was happening.

They flew out over Berk, around the back over the valley she'd first met the dragon in, then past the seastacks and around to the harbor. "Was this all you needed? A good flight?" she yelled to him. He warbled back at her and veered hard to the left—and that's when she spotted the red circled sails. Toothless headed straight for them and no manner of screaming or kicking could get him to leave the ship alone. Despite the wind whistling in her ears, Astrid heard the screams of men on the ships and saw the arrows being nocked into crossbows. "NO! TOOTHLESS!"

Toothless, sensing the danger, rolled, hiding Astrid behind the bulk of his body—but she wasn't wearing the saddle lead and slipped from his back.

They hadn't seen a dragon in hours; hopefully there wouldn't be any more until the ship pulled into Berk's harbor. Dagfinn watched the skies over Berk for any sign of the flying devils, alert and wary, but they were only a few hundred yards from the harbor and the Hooligans had gathered on the pier, bristling with weapons in an alert but calm manner—they were saying that while the Marauders weren't currently a threat, it hadn't yet been taken off the table and they could easily fill the ship with crossbow bolts without much ado.

Dark haired and tall, built like a true Viking with broad shoulders and a strong jaw, Dagfinn Sigson represented what was left of his clan on Calder. A horrific dragon attack had destroyed his family hall where his family sheltered; Dagfinn was the only survivor of the hall's collapse. He'd agreed to travel to Berk with old Berghild Hofferson as protection and to potentially find a wife and new clan, now that there wasn't much left for him on Calder.

He stared off to the side of the island and spotted a tiny black dot high in the sky. At the distance, he couldn't tell if it was a bird or a dragon, but they were so close to Berk, and the Hooligans were so well-armed, he didn't feel like it was enough of a threat to point out to the crew. The speck veered away and seemed to be riding the air currents around the island; it was probably a bird. He stepped back from the rail and turned to watch their welcoming party.

Borghild had talked some of the village on the trip over from Calder; it had been some twenty years since he'd left, but he'd described the chief as being a great big man with a long red beard. Dagfinn couldn't see anybody matching that description, but the man at the forefront of the group, curiously unarmed, held himself like he was in charge. He was a bit…small…to be the chief, so no doubt the chief was the taller, bulkier man with dark hair and face stubble instead of a beard. The group consisted of about ten adults, both men and women, and several younger teenagers. Not a large threat but enough people to do serious damage to their crew if they saw the need.

A curious reaction of pointing and shouting from the Hooligans on shore prompted him to turn around—to see a black dragon bearing down on them. "DRAGON!" Dagfinn roared. His own crossbow was close at hand and he grabbed it and fired the way he'd done a thousand times at home. The dragon rolled to the right and something plummeted from it—something screaming high-pitched Viking obscenities. The dragon dived down and snatched the falling Viking with its clawed feet and veered back towards the ship. Dagfinn struggled to reload his crossbow but before he could, the dragon flew over the ship and dropped the person again—right into Dagfinn.

He fell backwards, his arms full of squirming blonde Viking and oofed as she got an elbow into his stomach. Above them, the mast cracked as the dragon hit it, and the dragon and mast both went over the side of the ship into the water. The dragon hit the water with an angry but immediately recognizable screech—Night Fury!

" TOOTHLESS!" the Viking woman screamed, her hand going for the axe strapped to her back. "YOU USELESS BLOODY REPTILE!"

"Don't!" Dagfinn scrambled to his feet and grabbed for the woman as she charged towards the other side of the ship. His shipmates also went for their weapons and crowded around the rail, looking down at the writing, screeching creature trapped in the sails. "It's too dangerous!"

The woman turned a scathing look on him that froze the blood in his veins and slammed the flat of her axe into his stomach. "Shove off! Hold this!" She ran across the deck, dodged several of Dagfinn's fellow Marauders who attempted to lay hands on her, and climbed up onto the broken mast.

"You can't go after a dragon unarmed!" Dagfinn chased after her, her axe gripped tight and ready to throw to protect the girl, and tried to grab her off the mast. "It'll kill you!"

The dragon screeched and floundered in the water and the crowd on the beach started screaming things as well. Dagfinn's attention briefly left the Viking woman trying a balancing act on the bobbing mast and stared at the beach. Several more dragons—dragons with people on their backs—rose from the island. He turned back to the girl, who was nearly level with the dragon in the water. The girl was completely insane, going after a downed dragon without a single weapon!

"Toothless!" she called again. The dragon tried to flap towards her but was caught too badly in the sails and rigging. Dagfinn dropped her ax, grabbed his knife out of its holster and followed the blonde up the mast, and caught her at the very edge. He wrapped am arm around her waist, thankful for the width of the mast, and tried to drag her back towards the boat. "GET OFF ME!" the girl screamed. She kicked at him, spied the knife in his hand, and wrested it out of his grasp. She kicked his shins and swung the knife towards his jaw, over her shoulder. Dagfinn dropped her and she launched herself off the mast and onto the back of the dragon.

"Lunatic!" Dagfinn swore. The girl, having stolen his only knife, was on her own. Her axe, not weighted for his hands, would be too dangerous to swing in such a confined area, with a writhing dragon throwing her around left and right. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

A huge blue Nadder slammed into the deck behind Dagfinn and sent him reeling. He slipped off the mast and managed to grab ahold of it seconds before he would have hit the freezing water. It didn't seem to be affecting the girl, who was drenched but fighting the wet rigging off of the dragon's back.

"Stormfly!" The girl screamed, catching sight of the Nadder. "FETCH!"

The Nadder lifted off and swooped down on the girl and Night Fury. The girl threw herself sideways, fully into the water-soaked sails, and the Nadder caught the Night Fury in its claws and lifted it out of the water. The night fury screeched an angry complaint, but it could claw its way out of the nadder's grip. Dagfinn's eyes lit briefly on a bit of red canvas dangling on the dragon's tail, and the saddle it wore across its back.

Two more dragons landed, a Zippleback and one Dagfinn couldn't place. Vikings adorned both dragons like decorations. A young man slid off of the back of the second dragon and rushed towards the downed girl in the water. "ASTRID!"

She tried to fight through the heavy canvas but the icy cold was getting to her and she was struggling. "Hiccup, help me!" she screamed, fear inundating each word. "Get me out of here!"

"Ruff, Tuff!" the young man called over his shoulder. The Zippleback, responding to a mumbled order from the right rider, poked its long head over the side of the boat and the rider hauled the wet Viking out of the water and onto the dragon's neck in front of him. "Get her to shore, get her warm!"

"Got it, Hiccup!" the other Viking, a young woman with a surprisingly raspy voice, yelled. "Barf, go!" The dragon buffeted the Vikings on the ship with its wings and soared off over the crowd on the beach, up into the village.

Dagfinn struggled back onto the mast and stumbled back onto the solid deck of the ship. "What the Hel is going on?" he demanded. He spotted the girl's axe on the deck and brought it up against the last dragon on the deck.

"Please put your weapons down!" the brown-haired young man ordered. The Marauders, led by Sharptooth, closed in on him, weapons at the ready. Dagfinn saw Sharptooth's mouth open to call the attack, but something much more important caught his attention. The young man pulled something from a pocket at his calf and, with a sorcery that Dagfinn had never seen nor heard of, turned it into a full-length sword.

"What the-"

Two more dragons flew at the boat, both Gronkles, and landed with ship-shuddering thuds behind Dagfinn. He whirled around to face them, the girl's axe the only thing standing between him and certain death, and snarled, "I'll kill you!" at the closer Gronkle. The stupid creature stared at him, its long tongue lolling. "I'll kill you all!"

The Viking who rode the other one slid off its back and idly fiddled with the hilt of the sword at his waist. "I'd put that axe down, mate," he said, his accent unlike any Dagfinn had heard before. "These Hooligans, they're completely nuts, but they know their dragons. You won't win."

Dagfinn snarled at him and swung the axe at the dark-haired man. He dodged backwards and Dagfinn realized too late that his back was now to the dragon. He turned just in time to see the Gronkle launch itself at him. It knocked him down and pinned him to the deck but instead of sinking its nasty teeth into him, it just drooled. The axe skittered harmlessly across the deck, out of reach. The Gronkle's rider slid off his back and leaned over Dagfinn. "Oh, he likes you!" He patted the dragon's meaty neck. "Whosa good boy?"

"Get it off me!" Dagfinn roared. Nobody listened to him except the strange-accented man. "Don't just stand there!"

"I've been in your place, mate," he said sympathetically. "At least they didn't play fetch with you as the toy."

Dagfinn pounded his fists ineffectively on the dragon; it ignored him.

"I won't say it again," the man with the fiery sword yelled. "Put your weapons down and we won't hurt you!"

Finally, Dagfinn caught sight of Borghild Hofferson, the old man, stomping across the deck. Amazingly, he didn't seem fazed by the presence of dragons on his ship. "Who are you, boy?" he demanded.

"Hiccup Haddock," he said.

"And I'm Snotlout Jorgenson!" Another one, wearing a ridiculous two-horned hat, chimed in. The names meant nothing to Dagfinn but Borghild chuckled. It was dry, unpleasant sound, without any true humor.

"Eret, son of Eret," said the one with the strange accent.

The last man, the fat blonde Viking, realized it was his turn a moment too late and flushed. "I'm Fishlegs Ingerman."

Borghild looked around at them and waved the Marauders down. "We're among friends, then, my boys," he told his men. "These are definitely Vikings of Berk."

Fishlegs Ingerman glanced down at Dagfinn and grinned. "Sorry about that. Up, Meatlug!" The Gronkle flapped its tiny wings and lifted enough for Dagfinn to roll out and bounce up to his feet.

Borghild waved his wrinkled hand at the Vikings assembled on the shore. "I don't see Stoick. You greet peaceful visitors without your Chief's order?"

"Stoick the Vast has gone on to Valhalla." The brown-haired man, Hiccup Haddock, spoke with a clearly pained look.

"Who's Chief of the Hooligans, then?"

"I am." The brown-haired man stared straight at Borghild, ignoring the attitude he gave him. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, son of Stoick the Vast and Valka the Peaceful."

Dagfinn's jaw dropped. There was no way this man, who was twenty if he was a day, was the Chief of the Hooligans, whose reputation spread from end of the archipelago to the other!

"I don't believe it!" Borghild stayed well back but pointed his finger at Chief Hiccup's face. "You are no son of Stoick! Lies!"

Snotlout Jorgenson shoved his axe into Borghild's face. "Hiccup's the best chief Berk has ever seen!"

"Yeah! And he's the Dragon Master!" Fishlegs said, shoving past Dagfinn to protect his Chief.

"So shut your mouth before I shut it for you!" Snotlout and Fishlegs stepped forward in unison, their weapons both pointed at Borghild.

"Snotlout, Fishlegs, please calm down," Chief Hiccup said, his hands held out to placate both of them. "Let's all just calm down and talk about this."

"What's there to talk about?" Borghild demanded. "You've attacked us with your dragons and insulted the honor of the Marauders!" The Marauders brought their weapons up again and rushed forward.

"NO!" Chief Hiccup did something to his sword and a gust of greenish smoke spread outwards. Another quick motion set it alight and the cloud exploded, sending the Marauders running for cover. "PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN! Snotlout! Set fire to the ship if they don't!"

"Wait!" Hedgefire, the ship's captain, made a show of putting his sword down. "Don't burn my ship down!" If they fell into the water, they'd die of hypothermia before they could get to land, and if they did swim to land, their end would be painful. "Lads, weapons down."

"You're giving up?" Borghild shoved past Sharptooth towards Chief Hiccup. "No! This puny fishbone isn't Chief of Berk! Where is Stoick?"

Hedgefire jerked his head at Dagfinn; Dagfinn stepped forward to try to placate Borghild. "It's possible that he's telling the truth, Borghild," he said as soothingly as he could. "Why don't we just talk to him? It's been years since you last heard news of Berk, it stands to reason that he could have died."

"Borghild?" Chief Hiccup asked. His expression grew darker. "Borghild Hofferson?"

"What do you know of me, boy? Your parents were barely even wedded when I was here last!" Borghild tried to shove past Dagfinn but he had a foot in height and a hundred pounds of muscle on him and he didn't let Borghild past.

"I know you aren't welcome on Berk." The Berk Vikings bristled, their chosen weapons still held high, although Eret, son of Eret, looked more bored than anything to be where he was.

"Be that as it may," Hedgefire said, "Your dragons did damage my ship. May we have your permission to dock and make sufficient repairs to return to Calder?"

"Eret, you were a sailor. How long do you think it would take to make the repairs they need?" Chief Hiccup looked over at Eret, who sighed and made a show of inspecting the broken mast and rails. "Maybe three weeks, Hiccup. At the outside. You've got the tools and wood here on Berk to fix it."

Three weeks…it was pushing it, but without an invitation to stay on Berk, it was the best they could do. Dagfinn hoped he could find a way to make himself useful enough to earn the right to stay longer.

"You have three weeks, then. You may have the use of our mill and tools, but you will sleep on your ship and earn your keep." Chief Hiccup put his flaming sword away and stepped up into a small foothold on the side of Snotlout Jorgenson's dragon. "Three weeks and not a day longer." The dragon lifted up, followed by the two Gronkles, and returned the four men to shore.

Tuffnut cradled Astrid in his arms and urged Barfbelch faster. Her soaked clothes chilled him, but she wasn't talking and couldn't keep herself on Belch's head by herself. "Our hall's closer!" he called to Ruff. They'd had water heating all day for their baths, taking advantage of several large pots their hall boasted to have enough warm water for both of them and their father. He glanced behind him and saw several of the women from the welcoming committee charging up the hill behind them.

"Got it!" Ruff directed Barfbelch to land at their front door and was on her feet before the dragon landed. Their father, Snuffnut Thorston, raced outside at the usual sound of the twins wreaking havoc, and skidded to a stop at the sight of Astrid. "Dad, bring her in here!" Ruff screamed from inside the hall.

Snuffnut carried the frozen, dripping girl in and set her on one of the benches lining the wall. Ruff thrust a thick blanket at him. "Hold it up," Ruff ordered. Tuff grabbed a clean tunic of Ruff's and tossed it over the blanket Snuffnut held up to block them while Ruff pulled off Astrid's wet clothes.

Dagny Magnusdotter who was Spitelout's wife, and Alva charged in. "I've got it," the tiny woman said, taking the blanket from Snuffnut. "All of you, out!" Alva took over stripping off Astrid's armor and heavy furs while Ruff charged around the small hall gathering all the furs and blankets they had.

"There's hot water over there." Snuff gestured at a thick curtain strung up in the back, as a tiny measure of privacy for bathing. "Is there anything you need?"

"If we do we'll call for you," Alva said. Ruff shoved Tuff out of the door and slammed it behind Snuffnut.

"Freya, why couldn't I have a calm, quiet, well-behaved daughter?" Alva pulled Astrid's stockings off and grabbed Ruff by one of her swinging braids. "Help me help her into the bath!"

Astrid made an odd sort of noise and after a second, Ruff realized it was her half-frozen attempt at a giggle. "S-s-sorry, Ma." She couldn't stand on her own; Ruff and Alva looped their arms under her armpits and carried her to the bath. It steamed—Snuffnut must have been just about ready to take his bath. They set her into it and Ruff started rubbing her arms, hard, to get blood flowing again while Alva did the same to her legs. Dagny stood by with another kettle of warmed water and poured it over Astrid's head.

"Freya help all of us, Alva, with the children she's blessed us with," Dagny said. She rubbed the edges of Astrid's ears and nodded in satisfaction. "You won't lose those, at least."

"I doubt she'll lose anything," Alva said. "Thank the gods for Ruffnut and Tuffnut and their quick thinking."

Ruffnut rolled her eyes at their praise but pumped her fist on the inside. It wasn't the first time they'd had somebody fall into the water, but it was the first time Ruff and Tuff were close enough to jump in and save the fallen Viking. "Try not to die again, Astrid," Ruff said. "Hiccup'd never forgive you if you died."

Astrid snorted, looking more alive as the hot water warmed her blood. She reached out and clasped Ruff's hand. "Thank you for rescuing me," she said, more heartfelt than she usually sounded. "Seriously."

Ruff shrugged and grabbed a drying towel. "Don't mention it."

Astrid stood, a little wobbly, but allowed herself to be dried off and stuffed into the tunic Tuff had thrown at them in an effort to be useful. They bundled her into blankets and set her in front of the fire, then allowed Snuffnut and Tuff back into their hall.

"Astrid!" Tuff bounded across the hall and stared down at her. "Are you alright?"

Astrid smiled weakly but couldn't hide an embarrassed blush. "I'm fine, Tuff. Thank you so much—I don't think I could have gotten out of that one by myself."

"Don't worry about," Tuff said. Snuffnut passed him a mug of hot meade and Tuff sat down next to Astrid to help her drink it.

"You're wet," Astrid pointed out after a minute. Tuff glanced down at his clothes; they were damp but drying rapidly from the heat of the fire.

"It's fine, I'll dry. Worry about not getting sick." Tuff reclined on his elbows next to her and Ruff plopped down on his other side.

"Spitelout, post watches to make sure they aren't going where they shouldn't or wandering around the island," Hiccup said, once he'd landed back on shore. "I don't want any of them going anywhere without one of us knowing."

"Got it, Hiccup." Spitelout grabbed one of the men and sent him running to the village. "I've got it from here."

"I'm going to go check on Astrid. Do you know where she is?" Hiccup stared up at the village; now that he didn't have to worry about his own safety, his heart clenched in fear for Astrid's. It was dangerous to fall into the water at any time of year, but so close to the winter ice setting in, they had mere minutes to get her warm and safe before hypothermia set in.

"Probably the Thorston's hall." Spitelout turned towards the rest of the assembled Hooligans and started dividing them into groups for watches while Hiccup jogged up the hill. The Thorston's hall was on the edge of the village, backed right up to the treeline, and Barfbelch was settling on the roof as he ran up.

He knocked on the door and Snuffnot opened it and welcomed him in. "Evening, Hiccup," he said. He stepped aside and Hiccup sought out Astrid, huddled up beside the fire with a twin on either side of her. Tuffnut glanced up and spotted him and shuffled aside to let him in next to Astrid.

"Hey," he said, heart pounding. She looked fine—no, more than that, she looked beautiful, beautifully alive and even happy to see him, even though it was his dragon that almost killed her.

"Hey!" she chirped, a cheerful grin spreading across her pretty face, flushed from the fire and the furs they'd wrapped her in. "I'm not dead." Hiccup curled up beside her and framed her face in his hands.

"You gave it your best shot," he said, grinning, quoting Stoick from all those years ago after the Green Death took his leg.

"Nah, if I were trying, it would have have worked." Astrid leaned into his hands but kept the blankets wrapped tight. He spotted her clothes, hung up on the other side of the fire to dry, and realized that she probably wasn't wearing much under the blankets. His face immediately heated up but so close to the fire, it was impossible to tell the cause.

"I—you—agh, Astrid, don't scare me like that!" Hiccup wanted to pull her into his arms and never let her go, but in their current company, in her current level of potential-nakedness, it wouldn't be advisable. There was time enough for that later.

"Sorry, Hiccup." She lost some of her cheerfulness and his heart panged at the thought that he caused her pain.

"Just—don't scare me like that again."

"I'll try not to." Astrid closed her eyes and let out a long breath. "At least not for a little while. I'll give you time to recover."

"Are you staying here tonight?" he asked, glancing at Snuffnut. He hadn't noticed Alva over in the corner, watching them with an affectionate smile, and smiled at her in return.

"We'll take her home in a bit and put her to bed, Hiccup. We want to be sure she's good and warmed up first." Alva smiled fondly at her oldest child. "Who was it on the ship?"

Hiccup had forgotten all about their visitors in his rush to find Astrid and make sure she was alright and the happy smile slipped right off his face. "Bad news, Alva. The council was right—Borghild Hofferson is on that ship."

Alva swore. "You won't let him into the village, Hiccup, will you?"

"No! Not over my dead body. I gave them three weeks to fix their ship and leave."

Snuffnut nodded approvingly. "Smart move, Hiccup. We'll keep an eye on them, make sure nobody steps a toe out of line. It was before your time but Borghild Hofferson is not fondly remembered on Berk. We won't let him get up to anything."

Hiccup, relieved to know his elders had his back, relaxed somewhat. "I'm glad you approve."

"You don't worry about that for right now—keep her awake. We'll be back soon." Alva directed Snuffnut outside the hall, looking for a private place to have a conversation. Hiccup laid back on his elbows beside the fire, matching Tuff, and watched it crackle and pop. It wasn't the way he had intended to spend the evening, but with three of his closest friends there, it wasn't bad.

Dagfinn rose early on the ship and trudged up to Berk's meeting hall to find Chief Hiccup. Something wasn't right; Borghild, despite his treatment last night, was up to something, and while Dagfinn owed him a lot, the old man wasn't really trustworthy. He had stayed up late, periodically cackling to himself and muttering about that girl, Astrid.

Astrid…now there was a girl unlike any he'd met back home on Calder. When she'd first landed on his ship, he'd thought she was nuts for attacking a dragon barehanded, but every bit of her he saw last night only reaffirmed his sneaking suspicion that she would go on fighting long after losing a weapon, being outnumbered and being underprepared. She was pretty, though. Very, very pretty.

And very, very claimed by Chief Hiccup. The possessive looks he gave her and his open authority over her confirmed that much. They weren't yet married, or she would have not been wearing her kransen, but they were likely waiting for their wedding feast.

She was also related to Borghild, though he wasn't sure how yet. Borghild didn't talk about what he'd left behind on Berk, but they had the same blue eyes and were obviously from the same clan. Either way, Borghild had some unpleasant plan in mind concerning her and that had Dagfinn worried. Borghild hadn't acted like he had some great plan in mind on the journey over, but now it was like he was a different person.

Dagfinn rounded the corner of the meeting house and froze. Chief Hiccup and Astrid Hofferson were there, alone, badly lit by the weak morning light. Neither of them noticed him and he stepped back, feeling like he was interrupting something private. Their voices drifted over to him.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Chief Hiccup said. His voice was soft but it carried clearly enough to Dagfinn. Where is he going? Dagfinn wondered if he should interrupt them, but Hiccup kept talking and Dagfinn's curiosity won out. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, please."

"I'm not the one who's good at stupid." The anger in her voice was palpable. What kind of attitude was that towards her future husband and the Chief of her tribe? it was a political marriage, not one that was willing on Astrid's behalf. His heart panged; he knew only too well how badly those sorts went. His parents' marriage had been strictly political and it colored his entire perception of how a marriage was supposed to go.

"Astrid…"

"I mean, really. Let's look at our track records. Who took down a Night Fury and then refused to kill a dragon in front of the entire village?"

"Oh, come on—" That was clearly the beginning of an interesting story, and also explained part of why the Hooligans felt so strongly towards him. Despite his size, Chief Hiccup was strong enough and smart enough to take down a Night Fury. Regardless of Dagfinn's misgivings towards him, Chief Hiccup wasn't somebody to be deciphered in one go.

"Who picked a fight with the maddest madman this side of Hel?" Another interesting story. Maybe he could get it out of Astrid before their ship left to return to Calder.

"That would have happened eventually anyways, Astrid."

"Maybe! Maybe not!"

Astrid oofed and Dagfinn shook his head at the unambiguous sound of kissing. There was no mistaking Chief Hiccup's power over the girl—most women wouldn't let a man that was not her husband be so free with her, and would not hesitate to beat him bloody or demand her rightful compensation for the assault.

"Astrid?"

"Yeah?"

"The first thing I'll do when I get back is negotiate our betrothal. I mean the very first thing I do. I'm tired of waiting."

Dagfinn held in a surprised huff. They didn't even have a contract yet? What kind of clan head would allow one of his women to be so manhandled without even a contract to back the woman's reputation? Poor Astrid! If Chief Hiccup threw her over, it was unlikely that any man would take her without a significant hit to his clan's reputation.

"You'd better." Again came the kissing sounds. Hopefully that was the furthest Chief Hiccup had forced on the girl; there was no coming back from her willingly giving up her maidenhead. And no doubt Chief Hiccup could worm 'willing' out of her if he wanted. "Go! Ma said to give Valka her love."

"I will. I love you, Astrid."

"Love you more, Hiccup."

A leathery sound took Dagfinn a minute to figure out—it was the dragon's wings, taking off. The black bodied dragon veered over the meeting hall and out over the island, in the opposite direction the Marauders had taken to get to Berk.

Dagfinn leaned against the building, arms crossed. Maybe, if he gathered every bit of money he had with him and worked hard in Berk, he could present her clan head with enough silver to pay the mundr and rescue her from Chief Hiccup. On Calder, the minimum was twelve silver pieces; he'd need to find out what it was here.

A shadow crossed him and he glanced up. It was Astrid, and she did not look pleased to see him. "What are you doing up here?" she asked, suspicion marring her pretty features. "Shouldn't you be fixing your boat to leave?"

"I was looking for Chief Hiccup. I'm not a carpenter or a sailor; there's not much I can do to help the ship." Dagfinn shoved his hands in the pockets of his vest and tried not to stare at her. He got the vague impression that it would be dangerous to his health.

"Hiccup's gone," Astrid said shortly. "You can talk to Spitelout Jorgenson if you need something." Astrid turned on her heel and headed down into the village.

"Astrid!" Dagfinn called after her. She turned and glared at him in response. "May I call you Astrid?"

"I don't have any other name." She stared at him, her blue eyes like pieces of flint. "What should I call you?"

"Dagfinn Sigson." Dagfinn stepped forward, maintaining a respectable distance from her as much for her honor as his safety—she had tried to stab him, after all—and tried to radiate politeness from every bit of him.

"No relation to Borghild?"

Dagfinn shook his head. "No, Borghild has no children on Calder."

"But he did here. Didn't seem to care much about her though." Despite her attitude, she didn't leave, but instead crossed her arms and gave him a look that would convince a troll to think twice. "What do you want with Berk? Why are you here?"

"Uh—" Dagfinn stuttered, taken aback. "Borghild's wife died. He wanted to come back to Berk to spend the rest of his days."

"Why are you here? You said yourself you're not a sailor, so what are you doing on a ship?" She set off again, this time with the implied invitation for him to join her.

Dagfinn fell into step alongside her and debated whether or not to tell her why he was there. It wasn't a secret, and he didn't mind talking about it—death was a part of being a Viking—but if she was so tightly wrapped around Chief Hiccup's finger, he wasn't sure if she could be trusted with private information.

"Well?" she asked. "I'm not going to wait all day."

Dagfinn gave in. Chief Hiccup was gone, so maybe he could try to get onto her good side before he came back. "I don't have a home on Calder anymore. My clan was killed in a raid. There's nothing there for me anymore so I asked Borghild if I could accompany him here. I thought maybe I could find a new home."

Astrid gave him a soft, almost caring look. "Wow. That's…really sad. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to dredge up bad memories."

Dagfinn shrugged and kicked at a rock in the path. "It's been months. I was looking for a reason to leave when Borghild announced his plans to come back here."

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Dagfinn wondered if she was looking for a reason to leave him when she stopped before a tree in the village. "This is my dad's," she said, pointing to a small metal mjolnir hanging from a lower branch.

"What is it?"

Astrid stared up at the tree. "It's my dad's tree. He planted it years ago, when I was a little girl. He died two months ago."

"I'm sorry," Dagfinn said. "Is that why mjolnir is there?"

Astrid nodded and hugged her stomach. "Hiccup made it for me after my father died. Stoick's is right here." She pointed at another tiny mjolnir, higher up in the tree. "He used to be the blacksmith's apprentice. He made my axe too."

Speaking of her ax… Dagfinn had meant to bring it along, since he'd been unable to return it last night. "Would you like me to bring your axe to you later today?"

"I'll come down to your ship when I have time. I've got too much to do right now. I should be going, actually." Astrid abruptly turned away from the tree. "I wouldn't go too far from your ship. It would be smarter for your people to stay on it if you aren't working to repair it."

That didn't really surprise him, but it would make it a lot harder to earn both her and the rest of Berk's trust before Chief Hiccup returned from wherever he went. "Thank you, Astrid."

She shrugged, looking awkward. She turned away from him and whistled shrilly. Dagfinn cocked his head—the blonde woman from last night, Ruffnut, had whistled to call her dragon. He'd thought only her and her brother, and Chief Hiccup had riding dragons, although dragons of all sorts were all over Berk. Perhaps it was a sign of status to own a tamed dragon.

A bright blue dragon rose from the forest and swooped down on Astrid. His heart jumped in his chest, but the dragon only landed and allowed Astrid to climb onto its back before taking off again.

He had a lot to learn about Berk, and he didn't know how much time he had to learn it. Rescuing Astrid from Chief Hiccup would be a hard-won fight and he needed more knowledge to do it.