A/N: Hi guys, first ever story. I hope y'all enjoy it! Anyways, there are quite a lot of pre-written chapters, about halfway through the story. I'm going to upload one chapter a week, and hopefully it gives me enough time to finish the story in time. I'm only uploading the first two because there isn't any action in the first chapter. Thanks for reading! (reposted chapter 2 for the author's note)

Chapter 2: The Founders Tribe

"So… what exactly is this tribe?" Snotlout asked.

"Honestly, I don't really know. They just appeared with a messenger and asked us if we would accept a treaty with them. Besides their name, location, and navigation instructions they really didn't tell us anything," Hiccup explained. Snotlout gave Hiccup a quizzical look, clearly upset at the lack of information provided.

Hiccup understood how he felt. He had felt the same way when the messenger provided the message. The messenger - Rallen the Remarkable - had showed up to Berk's shores one morning carrying a scroll from the chief of the Founders Tribe. Much to his surprise, the chief was a female, and while Hiccup did not have anything against this, it was uncommon among Vikings to have a female chief. The scroll mentioned that her name was Kari, and the Founders Tribe was towards the south east of Berk, which meant that this tribe was outside the Barbaric Archipelago - just like New Berk. The scroll was a formal request for a peace treaty signing, and being the adventurous yet peace-loving Hiccup was known to be, he had agreed to head to their tribe to sign the treaty. The travel time by ship was two weeks, and Hiccup had brought along some of the elders of Berk and his ex-dragon riding friends as well as Eret and Gobber along, all of which currently made up the council of Berk. He often wondered if allowing the twins to be part of the council was a good idea, but then again, they seemed to be providing some sort of contribution, although these contributions only appeared once every two months. Being the heir, he had also brought along Zephyr and her betrothed. Nuffink had insisted to come along too, and although Hiccup was not willing to do so initially, after much persuasion and stubbornness from Nuffink that seemed to be inherited from Hiccup himself, he had relented and allowed him to come.

"Hiccup? Are you okay?" A soft, gentle voice filled with concern pulled him out of his thoughts. This voice belonged to none other than the love of his life, the girl he has had a crush on for as long as he could remember, and his current wife, and the mother of his two beautiful children. Astrid Hoffer- Haddock. Gods how he loved that.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just thinking about this unknown tribe. I really wish they provided more information," Hiccup said.

"Me too, but there shouldn't be any problems. If anything goes wrong, we can get out of this together, even though we don't have our dragons."

Hiccup smiled. It was always nice having Astrid by his side. And they had each other's company for the next two weeks, with barely any distractions. This was going to be a relaxing trip.

Two weeks later, their destination was in sight. The island was luscious, filled with greenery as far as the eye could see. Trees grew among the paths and houses, and smaller plants and flowers were grown in wooden boxes along the pathways that led to the docks. In the front of the village was an unnaturally gigantic tree with vines hanging down from the leaves. A small path led to the middle of the tree just below the dense leaves, where a little wooden platform surrounded the trunk of the tree. Handrails were placed by the edges of the platform, and on one side under a shelter there were tables and chairs facing towards an open area. Many benches lay in the open area, presumably for the people to sit on during a tribe meeting. The twins could hardly contain their delight at seeing this. Chants of "Treehouse!" echoed on Hiccup's ship for a good ten minutes, and when Hiccup finally had enough and told them to stop, the echoes continued inside everyone's head for the next hour, giving most of the council headaches.

The streets were large and cobbled. Small paths ran from the main roads into the doorways of the individual homes. The houses had steep roofs, meeting at an apex that lay directly above the center of the houses. Wooden planks ran parallel to the floor, making up the walls and the roofs of the houses. These materials made it harder to keep out the cold during the winters, but being further south than New Berk, which was already much warmer than Berk, this was not a big issue. A fire inside the house would be sufficient to keep the place warm. The houses were bigger than those in Berk and had at least two levels; some even had three. Balconies were common in this village, as many houses had porches on the second or third floor that could overlook the main road that was connected to them.

"Welcome to the Founders Tribe!" A loud voice proclaimed as their ship docked. "I'm Kari Peaceable Sollvi, Chief of the Founders Tribe. Thank you for coming Chief!" Kari looked to be in her sixties. She had hazelnut brown eyes which radiated with confidence and exuberance. She had a sharp face, yet it did not show any signs of hostility, but was filled with care and gratitude. Her hair was jet black and tied up behind her in a long ponytail. She wore a long purple robe that had intricate floral designs on it, and around her waist was a metallic belt lined with an intricate pattern. She did not carry a sword, yet the Berkians felt that if anyone had chosen to start a fight with her they would lose, even if they were heavily armed.

Rallen - the messenger and her second-in-command, and three other council members were present on the docks when they arrived. Rallen was a lean man who looked to be in his mid-thirties. There was a scar on the left side of his face running from beside the mouth to the middle of his cheek. His face was serious half the time, and the other half of the time when he was joking he only looked a little less serious. He reminds me of Viggo, Hiccup thought to himself. His self-confidence and seemingly introspective nature certainly drew some similarities to Viggo's. He had a shiny grey metallic chestplate that had the Founders' insignia on it, which was green in colour. He was dressed in a red long-sleeved tunic, and wore black pants. Hiccup diverted his attention back to Kari.

With a smile stretched across her face, Kari extended her hand towards Hiccup. Hiccup accepted her hand, and both of them shared a warm handshake.

"I'm Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, Chief of the Hairy Hooligans Tribe. This is Astrid Haddock, my wife, and this is Zephyr and Nuffink, my children," Hiccup introduced while sweeping his hand towards his family members.

"I'm Snotlout, the strongest and most handsome man on Berk," Snotlout said.

"And the most arrogant," Tuff interjected.

"Shut up Tuff, you're only jealous I have bigger muscles than you."

"Close your eyes Chief Kari, what he's going to do next may disgust you," Tuff said. As if on cue, Snotlout began to flex his biceps and kiss them. Kari watched this exchange with a bemused grin.

Clearing her throat, Kari spoke. "Come with me, and we can show you where you will be staying, and after that we can begin the tour of the island."

"So, would you like to tell us more about your tribe?" Hiccup asked as they began the tour.

"Sure, what would you like to know?" Kari replied.

"How about your tribe's history 'cause as far as I remember you didn't include any of that in your letter?" Snotlout shot.

"Ah, that might be a bit of a problem."

The Berkians on the tour gave her a questioning look.

"It's not that I have a problem telling you our history, it's more of the fact that we don't have much history. You see, I am the founder of the tribe."

The Berkians looked at her with astonishment. There was a moment of silence as they let that fact sink in.

"Why did you start a tribe all of a sudden? I mean, I doubt someone would simply leave their tribe and start a new one. What happened?" Hiccup asked.

Kari let out a small sigh as though she was trying to suppress some dark memories, but continued. "I was part of another tribe in the Barbaric Archipelago. Just like many tribes there, we suffered from dragon raids. At first I was led to believe that dragons were wild beasts and that we should kill them to protect ourselves. But all that changed when I fell off a cliff one day when I was eleven. I thought that I was dead. But at the last moment, a Monstrous Nightmare, the fiercest and deadliest of all dragons, saved me at the last moment and put me down on a flat grassy plains at the back of my tribe's island. Needless to say, I was shocked that a dragon saved me. I spent about two days navigating my way back to the town, and when I got back the first thing that I did was tell my dad about it. He was shocked too since he had seen me fall off the cliff and thought I was dead. He believed me, but he told me not to tell anyone about it as they wouldn't believe me.

"Three years later, I returned to the same cliff in the night to think about the things that happened. Suddenly, a Monstrous Nightmare appeared in front of me. I grabbed my axe, ready to kill it, but when I took a closer look, I realised that this was the same dragon that saved me years ago. I lowered my axe, and tried to touch the dragon, and surprisingly, he let me do so. I was so excited that I forgot everything my dad said, and quickly rushed back to town with the Nightmare to show my dad. But when I reached town, a few people saw me, and one of those who did was the chief. He quickly whipped out his sword and ordered the people to kill the dragon and save me. At that moment I realised what I had done. I had betrayed my new friend. I led him to his death. I had to choose whether to save the dragon or save myself, because if I sided with the dragon they would definitely exile me. At that moment, I chose to stay by my new friend's side because without him, I would not be alive. I told them not to hurt him, but they didn't listen. They just pushed me aside and attacked the dragon.

"That's when my dad jumped in to tell them the story of how this dragon saved my life. They stopped for a while to think. However, they labelled him as a traitor and kept attacking the dragon. So my dad…"

Kari paused for a moment, as though she was trying to find the right words. Her quiet confidence was replaced momentarily by a sad and faraway look.

"He gave his life trying to protect that dragon."

There was a moment of silence.

"The Monstrous Nightmare was slain by the people as well. That left a horrible impression of my tribe on me. So when my mother passed away a few years later from an illness, I made the decision to leave the tribe. I left on a ship to any island far away from my tribe, to a place where hopefully people could see the good side of dragons. However, wherever I went, dragon raids were still occurring, and no matter how much I tried to change their minds, very few people believed me. Along the way though, I met a few people who had the same way of thinking as me. So after drifting around for about a decade, we left the Barbaric Archipelago entirely as we believed there was no way we could change their minds about dragons. We found this island, and decided to build our new tribe here. Although it was sad that dragons did not come here, we could at least live in peace with them, neither side hurting each other.

"So when Rallen here - he's my second-in-command - told me that Berk managed to have peace with the dragons, we decided to contact you guys, because if someone could change the minds of the Vikings regarding dragons and manage to protect more dragons from harm, it should be someone within the Barbaric Archipelago, and we want to help you in doing so as much as we can. I'm just surprised that you guys came by ship instead of dragonback which Rallen strongly suggested you would."

Hiccup shared a worried look with Astrid. How was he to tell them that the dragons have returned to the Hidden World? Would they still want to sign the treaty?

"Well we would have come here on dragonback if it wasn't for Hiccup," Tuff suddenly said.

"Yeah, Hiccup wanted us to get rid of all our dragons and let them follow Toothless to a safer place," Ruff said.

"Why is he the one always calling the shots? I mean-" Tuff started to speak, but was silenced by a menacing glare from both Hiccup and Astrid.

The Founders party stopped in their tracks. Kari turned to them, a confused look on her face. "You mean you no longer have the dragons with you?"

The rest of the Founders seemed to share the same sentiments as their chief. Hiccup's face was etched with worry at this question. How am I supposed to tell them about the dragons' safety without revealing the Hidden World? After all, we're supposed to be protecting that secret, and if telling them the truth about the dragons leads to that being revealed we aren't really protecting that secret but not telling the truth might be even worse and I'm a horrible liar and we don't want-

"Chief Hiccup?" Kari asked again, pulling him out of his thoughts. She looked directly at him with her brown eyes, and although her eyes were usually quite expressive, they were completely unreadable at this time. Hiccup did not know if this was a good or bad thing.

"Well, uh- yes, the dragons aren't here with us, but uh- they're around, like, with us, but uh- not here here, as in-" Hiccup's stammering was interrupted by Kari raising an eyebrow.

Hiccup paused for a moment. Kari seemed to read him like a book. Letting out a nervous sigh, Hiccup decided to tell the truth.

"Alright fine, they're no longer with us because it's not safe for them. Berk and the dragons have been attacked way too many times for our liking, and we decided that to keep them safe, they need to leave. So Toothless took them all to a safe place."

That was easier than I thought, he mused. I managed to say why the dragons left without revealing the Hidden World-

"So where have they gone to?" Kari asked.

That question threw off Hiccup's thought processes. The one question he wanted to avoid, the one question that could change the way this treaty signing trip could go, the one question that could endanger the dragons… Hiccup wondered how he should go about explaining to Kari.

After a short while, he finally made up his mind.

"I can't tell you, I'm sorry. Berk has promised to protect the secret of the location to ensure that no one else will be able to harm them."

Silence ensued while the Founders took time to process Hiccup's words. Kari was deep in thought, while Rallen kept shooting questioning glances at both Hiccup and Kari, the former for what he just said, and the latter to try and get a hint as to what her thought processes were.

"It definitely hurts that you can't trust us enough to tell us the location," Kari began. Hiccup and the Berkians braced themselves, preparing for the worst. Would they cancel the treaty? Would they demand for the location?

"But…" Hiccup perked up upon hearing this word. A feeling of hope filled his chest. "Since we both have a common goal to protect the dragons, we can continue with the treaty. If you believe that keeping the secret is the only way to protect them, we will honour your promise and help you to do so."

Hiccup let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you Chief Kari, you have no idea how much it means to me that you intend to continue with the treaty."

"No worries Chief Hiccup. How about we head to the Grand Hall for the feast?"

The feast was a very grand one. It was filled with a wide assortment of foods that made everyone's mouth water. There was boar chops, made the way the riders loved it back when Heather cooked for them on the Edge. There was beef, which they rarely ate since cows could not be found on both Berk and New Berk. The most delicious of them all was a new dish that hailed from the East. As Kari later told the Berkians, Rallen had introduced the dish to them when he first arrived. It consisted of chicken cooked in a manner none of them have seen before. Kari told them it was steamed over boiling water, and mixed with special herbs and spices that hailed from the East as well. Since there was a limited supply of these herbs and spices, they were reserved for special occasions, such as these.

"This dish is possibly the best thing I've ever tasted," Astrid said.

"As much as I hate to do so, I have to agree with Astrid," Snotlout continued, earning him a glare from Astrid.

"This is really nice," Fishlegs commented.

"Thank you," Rallen replied, a small chuckle escaping his lips.

"How did you get the name Remarkable? I always wanted a nice name," Tuffnut said.

"I came here about ten years ago while searching for a good place to stay. Kari was warm and welcoming and she invited me to stay. I originally intended to stay here for a short while, but nonetheless I worked where I could for a living. During this time, many people often said what I did for them was remarkable, earning me my name, and after I got this name I chose to stay on."

"Well you really deserve that name, this dish is remarkable," Hiccup said.

Apart from the food, the mead there was special as well. There was a unique taste to the mead, probably from the different plants that were grown further south. The Berkians drank to their heart's content while managing to stay sober, surprisingly. Gobber had drunk so much that he was more often seen at the toilet than in the hall.

The feast continued late into the night, with conversation flowing and a celebratory mood to the entire affair. Zephyr, Nuffink, and Smitelout had returned to their homes at some point in the night, with Nuffink promising to his father that he will keep his older sister out of trouble and giving her a teasing wink. Hiccup simply smiled and told Nuffink that he had his trust, before he sent a teasing smile to Zephyr too. She simply rolled her eyes and walked out of the hall, much to Hiccup and Nuffink's amusement.

"As you can see, my dear Hiccup, the unique taste of the mead is due to the-" Tuff took a sip of the mead, swirling it in his mouth, "warmer climate, allowing the honey to ferment more during the same period of time."

"Indeed my dear brother, but I'm afraid you're missing one key element," Ruff added.

"And what might that be, my dear sister?"

"The mead is filled with a special substance that makes you more lethargic, dulling your senses and thus making the mead taste better the more you drink it."

"Ah! You're right! How could I miss something that obvious? The skills of one food detective Tuffnut Thorston appears to be diminishing, and this can only be fixed with a lengthy retraining process. We shall begin this training by studying this Eastern chicken. As you can see-"

"It's okay Tuff," Hiccup interrupted. "Food detective Tuffnut Thorston can wait until we return to Berk before retraining starts."

"Are they always like that Hiccup?" Kari asked, with a bemused smile. Over the course of the day the formalities of calling each other chief had been dropped, and they had chosen to call each other by their names.

"Yeah, most of the time. Half the time they're doing stuff like this, and the other half they're pranking some innocent soul."

Kari let out a small chuckle. Suddenly, Snotlout let out a loud yawn.

"Am I the only one here feeling extremely tired all of a sudden?" Snotlout asked.

"Now that you mention it I am feeling quite tired," Kari replied.

"Me too," said Fishlegs

"Me three." "And me four," said the twins.

"I really don't want this night to end so can someone wake me up in ten minutes, I think I'll be better by then," Snotlout said while resting his head on the table. The moment his head touched the table, he was out cold.

"Even though it is Snotlout we're talking about, it is weird for him to fall asleep the moment his head touches the table," Astrid noted.

"She's got a point there sis," Tuff said. "Hey, do you think if I do the same, I will knock out-" Tuff was cut short by his sudden tiredness, causing his head to collapse onto the table.

"Knock it off bro, there's no way that-" Ruff was cut short by the same thing happening to her.

"Uhh Hiccup, what is happening?" Fishlegs asked in a worried tone.

"I don't know Fishlegs, I'm getting really worried too- Fishlegs!" Hiccup was interrupted by Fishlegs passing out too.

"Kari, I think we might need some help here!" Astrid exclaimed. The intensity of the situation could be felt by everyone due to the tone of Astrid's voice. It was definitely not natural for four people to suddenly faint.

"Asger, go get the healer," Kari said to one of the council members present. Her tone was so urgent that it caused Asger to freeze for a moment, before she finally turned around and ran. As she ran to the door, she suddenly stopped.

"Asger what's wro-" Asger fell onto her knees, her left hand on the floor and her right hand grasping her head. Her eyes were screwed shut tightly, and her face was twisted into a look of pain. Barely a moment passed before she fell onto her elbows, and finally ended up lying face first on the ground.

Shock began to pass through everyone present. Rallen was the first to rush to her. He placed a hand on her neck and pulled his head close to her nose. "She's alive," he declared.

Relief was evident in everyone's faces. But the relief was short lived. Kari suddenly gripped her head, her face screwed up into a look of discomfort. Without a warning, she fell backwards, her hand on her head managing to cushion most of the impact. Her face continued to have the same look of discomfort when all of a sudden, her eyes and mouth snapped open. She drew a sharp breath and her eyes rolled backwards as thought she was looking up at something. A blank look could be seen in her face before she closed her eyes.

"Kari!" Hiccup and Astrid exclaimed in unison. As they both rushed to her; Hiccup from his seat beside Kari and Astrid from her seat behind Hiccup, Astrid stumbled. She quickly put out a hand onto the table to catch herself. Hiccup turned around to look at Astrid, worry evident on his face. At a loss whether to help Kari or Astrid, he was pulled out of his momentary shock by Astrid collapsing to the ground like a log falling onto the ground, causing a thud to be heard around the Grand Hall.

"Oh gods, Astrid!" Hiccup exclaimed, running over to the limp form of his wife. But before he reached her, he became a victim as well. His head suddenly throbbed with excruciating pain, and his hand instinctively reached for his head. A hiss of pain escaped his lips as he collapsed to his hands and knees. Drawing a shaky breath, he tried to steady himself, but to no avail. The darkness was calling him. As he collapsed to the ground, he could vaguely hear Rallen calling to him.

"Hiccup? Oh gods, this- this is bad." The voice was muffled, sounding like the words were spoken underwater.

He could vaguely hear the muffled thud of the doors of the Grand Hall closing before unconsciousness claimed him.