The wind blew through the trees on the shoreline by the beach, setting the leaves into a constant back and forth shimmer of green. It was a pleasant backdrop to the sight of multiple unconscious Berserker soldiers, which to Heather was even more of a pleasant sight… as long as they remained unconscious.

"Well, Heather, we need to go now. I do have something of a deadline consisting of eight concussed Berserkers waking up in a few hours." Maour was still holding out the blindfold.

Heather took it and put it on without complaint. She had no desire to make him doubt her intentions. Even if she was planning on waiting for a good chance to take it off and find out what he was hiding. She felt him take her hand and let him lead her into the forest. It was very dense, but he helped by telling her to to step over an exposed root here or duck under a branch there, giving fairly detailed instructions. He was very good at that.

They walked for what felt like hours, though Heather knew it probably hadn't been that long. She heard nothing out of the ordinary on the entire walk. After a while, she felt confident enough to try and talk, and decided to probe some of what she had noticed. "So, how many of you are there on this island?"

"Me, myself, and I." He sounded amused.

"No, I'm pretty sure there were at least two people throwing rocks. They came from different directions." She had realized this while reviewing the entire encounter in her head.

"I can move quickly."

"Right…" What should she ask next? "Why are you here?"
Silence for a moment. Then she tripped on a branch and almost fell face-first, only barely catching her balance. "Hey! Warn me next time!"

"You were distracting me," he countered, sounding a little annoyed. "I can't answer questions and keep you on your feet at the same time."
"You also can't keep me on my feet if I fall and hurt myself," Heather retorted.

"There was a pile of pine needles there. You would have been fine. No more questions."

That shut Heather up, but only for a moment. She didn't have much patience for this to begin with, and she was really tired of the blindfold. So, she stopped walking and pulled her hand away.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm done with this." She put a hand up to the blindfold, only to have it pushed away. "I can keep a secret, and I sure don't have anyone to tell, so quit it with the lies and secrecy!"

Another attempt to remove the blindfold, foiled once again by Maour stopping her.

"I don't know exactly what will happen if you do that, but you probably won't like it." A dark tone.

That made her stop actively trying to take the blindfold off, but it was not enough to make her stop talking. "I don't have anywhere to go, and if you want me to swear to secrecy I will, because a place to hide from the Berserkers is worth keeping any secret you might have." There. She had laid it all out on the table. Except what she suspected. That was still only a faint idea in the dark corner of her brain, and she refused to acknowledge it, especially when she didn't know what calling him out would mean.

"Really? Alright, fine. But before I tell you anything, swear to never reveal any of this. Under pain of death."

Heather held back a taunting smile, not wanting to antagonize him. "You wouldn't even kill those Berserkers. I highly doubt you could kill me for this."

Maour's voice was sad and cold at the same time. "Nobody said I'd be the one doing it."

Heather shivered. Well, there went the safeguard she thought she had. "Fine. I swear on Odin himself to never reveal anything I learn, see, or hear here to anyone without your express permission."

"Great. But I still don't trust you."

That infuriated Heather. "What makes you think I'd break that?!" No one broke oaths on Odin's name, mostly because there was supposed to be some sort of horrible repercussion after one died. What it would be was never very clear, varying depending on what any given person had heard, been told, or just decided to make up on the spot, which made it even scarier.

Maour answered softly. "I made the chief of an entire village swear not to interfere in what I was doing. They lasted maybe two minutes before interfering anyway. What I can show people has a tendency of overriding oaths and promises."

Heather didn't accept that. "Well, I'm not them. I hold to the things I swear. No matter what."

"Even when the world you swore them in is shattered? When everything you thought you knew crumbled apart, and you're faced with a truth you don't like?" Maour sounded curious now, and his words didn't seem spontaneous. They seemed almost rehearsed.

Heather knew she was making another promise here. That she would face whatever truth he was going to reveal, like it or not. "Yes. What is this, some sort of cult?" The things he was saying seemed to fit that.

"No, no religious blasphemy involved here. Well, not that I'm aware of." He seemed to question that. "I don't think so, anyway. Tell me about the world, as you know it."

That was a strange request. "Where do I start?" It was a very vague specification.

"How about the creatures that live in this world."

Heather answered without thought. "Animals of all kinds, humans, dragons... That's it. Animals are everywhere, and dragons are somewhat spread out and rare nowadays. Humans are everywhere too, and settling new places all the time. Humans are the only intelligent ones, and-"

Maour cut her off. "Go back. Something you just said is wrong."

Heather thought about it. Her lingering suspicion started to look more plausible. "Is it about humans?"

Maour laughed. "No, though I'd argue the words 'Viking' and 'Intelligent' don't fit in the same sentence." He seemed amused but also apprehensive.

Heather frowned. "So, animals and dragons. I didn't say much about animals, which leaves dragons."

"Why did you separate the two? Most Vikings see dragons as animals, but you don't." It wasn't a question.

Heather tried to explain. "I didn't do it intentionally. It just seemed right to put them apart from everything else." They weren't animals, though they weren't the demons most Vikings referred to them as. They really didn't bother her, mostly because she always seemed to have bigger problems to deal with.

Maour seemed to accept that. "Okay. Come on." He started to lead her away again.

"Wait, you never told me what part is wrong! And I thought you were going to explain?" Heather was deeply unsettled by this strangeness.

Maour laughed. "Now? We don't have time! I have to relocate eight Berserkers off of this island by sundown!"

That sounded like an excuse, but Heather was starting to feel her repressed weariness return, so she didn't call him out on it. "Fine."

They continued to move through the forest, and after a while, the terrain fell off. Heather felt stone beneath her feet for a moment before something that might be moss, and when the ambient light seen through her blindfold faded, she knew where they must be. "Why are we in a cave?" Something else occurred to her. "It's pitch-black in here. How are you seeing?"

"It actually isn't entirely dark in here, but close enough." He never faltered, so clearly he knew exactly where they were going.

Heather abruptly smelled burning wax, and when Maour stopped she tried to figure out how many candles there were. She had nothing better to do because he still hadn't allowed her to take the blindfold off. Now that he was going to explain, she felt it better not to antagonize him by removing it early.

Maour grunted, his voice drowned out almost immediately by a series of metallic clangs. Once those had stopped, he left, his footsteps fading almost immediately. His steps were muted here. She assumed there was some type of moss on the ground. Now that she thought about it, she could feel it where she was standing too. It seemed quite springy, though it was thin. Maour quickly returned and repeated whatever he was doing several more times. Finally, he stopped and spoke to her. "You can take the blindfold off."

Heather removed the blindfold and quickly took stock of her surroundings. They were standing in a small cave that seemed to have been converted into a workshop of some kind. Desks and shelves lined the cave walls with stacks of blank parchment in a corner. She supposed he had been cleaning the space before. The cave was carpeted in some sort of grey-green moss, which she thought might be giving off a tiny amount of light. The candles in hollows in the walls overpowered whatever light the moss might have provided. Maour was standing in front of the only exit, watching her. Behind him was what looked like a heavy sheet, attached to the wall on one side, and attached to a latch on the other. She pointed to it questioningly.

Maour smiled. "Door. Keeps the light from the candles from spilling out, and doesn't make any noise."

Heather was utterly confused by that. "Why only have this tiny cave lit? We walked through way bigger areas than this."

Now his smile seemed almost taunting. "Because this is the only place I need the light, so that would be a waste of candles. Besides, the smell of candle-wax is annoying if it permeates the whole cave system. So I keep candles to a minimum."

Heather snorted. "Sure, because what seems to be fish and... whatever that is... is so much better." She didn't recognize the second, subtler smell.

Maour didn't answer that. "I don't have any beds, but the moss is comfortable enough. Don't leave this room. You'd never find your way anywhere anyway." He lifted the curtain, enough so that Heather could look out.

It was almost pitch black, but she thought if she squinted she could see the moss. It did give off a small amount of light. "Right. Got it."

Maour gestured to the room. "You probably shouldn't put the candles out. Relighting them without seeing them or having a flint would be tricky. Sleep for as long as you can. Ideally, wake up in the middle of the night. I'll be within earshot, so just yell when you're rested."

Heather had a question. "Seriously? Why the middle of the night?" As if she could even tell night and day in here.

"Night works better for me. And trust me, you don't want to leave this room." He left with those ominous words, closing the heavy curtain behind him. Heather noticed that it didn't cover the entire hole, leaving a healthy gap between its bottom and the mossy floor. She supposed that was so the person on her side wouldn't suffocate.

Heather was starting to wonder something, a more fundamental question. What exactly was Maour? He seemed normal enough, if a bit odd sometimes, but that was pushing it. Why request she sleep in the day and wake up at night? And he could somehow see fine in near pitch-black caves, apparently. She decided that she'd find out later. Her exhaustion was returning full force, and the moss now looked quite inviting.


Maour stood in the cave, just out of sight of the curtain. He wasn't particularly worried that Heather would go anywhere. She really wouldn't be able to see anything and by extension would be stuck there, but the pack was not taking any chances.

A Night Fury walked up to him, one with grey eyes. "Einfari," he greeted politely. "You're the guard?"

'My father says he wants a Nótt to do it.' Einfari shrugged her wings expressively. 'Mother was his first choice, but she said I should.'

"You're fine," Maour reassured her. "Just sit here and watch the curtain until she yells for me. I'll send someone to replace you if that takes more than a few hours."

'What is she like?' Einfari asked curiously.

"Beats me, I don't know much about her." Maour shook his head. "Don't let her know you exist. I didn't get the 'dragon hater' vibe from her, but she still might freak out, and it would really limit our options."

'Oh,' Einfari replied as if she had just thought of something, 'my father wants to talk to you.'

Maour sighed. "I figured as much."

Einfari's father, Nottletogi, was the patriarch of his family, but his distrust towards humans was so deeply rooted that his instinctual fear-induced aggression towards humans was almost impossible to overcome. Still, he was smart and logical and put forth a great effort in working with Maour to overcome his fearful instincts around humans. He was making progress but Maour was still concerned about him around Heather. She was an unprecedented example of one who entered the Night Fury caves without the whole pack first voting to allow it, hence the need for a guard.

Besides Maour, there were a few other humans on the island who had bonded with a dragon. Fishlegs would have made a good sentry as he was calm and observant but he and the others had recently flown off. They should actually be back by the end of the night, now that he thought about it. That would be helpful. It would be good to have more non-dragon people to deal with Heather.

For now, though, he had work to do, a lot of it. On that note... "Who's going to relocate the Vikings?"

"The Eldurs are doing it," Einfari replied. 'They say they've got it, and that they place full confidence in whatever the pack decides in their absence.'

Well, that was nice, though actually having the Eldurs around to support him would have been better. "All of them?"

"No, Eldurský is staying with the hatchling." Einfari laughed. 'Did you forget about Vartha again?'

The Eldur hatchling, who was less than a year old. "It's easy to do when I've never even seen her." No one outside the Eldur family had. That was just how things worked, it seemed. He wasn't stupid enough to question it. Not when the entire Eldur family took turns guarding the entrances to their section of the caves most of the time.

"Have fun," Maour quipped as he headed deeper into the caves, toward the central cavern. He didn't hear any response from Einfari as he left.

"Toothless, how goes things in there?" He knew his brother was already giving the pack his half of the report, which wasn't much.

'We've been done for a few minutes. Hurry up, Nóttleiðtogi is not happy right now.'

Great. He wanted to catch any possible relapse Nóttleiðtogi might have early. Another bout of panicked paranoia would not be fun for anyone... except maybe Nóttreiði, Nóttleiðtogi's son. He was still spiteful towards Toothless and avoided the human residents of the island as if his life depended on it.

Toothless met Maour at the base of the cave and flew him up to the spire that rose in the center, the perfectly-formed place for one to be seen by all. With Einfari busy guarding Heather and the absence of the twins with their bonded dragons, not to mention the entire Eldur family, the ledges on which the whole pack normally gathered were not as full as usual. There were still enough of them there to handle this.

'Maour, how goes the prisoner?' Nóttleiðtogi got straight to the point, his voice on edge.

"She's a normal human," Maour answered honestly. "I can't judge much on ten minutes of talking in these circumstances."

'What can you judge? Your brother says she did not lie.' Nóttskarpur warbled curiously.

"That she's willing to keep any secret I share with her, and that she wants to stay here." The problem was, he couldn't really feel her interests out without giving something away, and he couldn't give anything away until he had figured out her possible opinions on the subject.

'We need more to go on,' Shadow agreed. He was Maour's adoptive father and patriarch of his family. He flashed a grin at Mour.. 'But she will keep the truth hidden?'

"She swore a pretty strong oath voluntarily, with the hope that it would get me to talk." Maour grinned back. "That's pretty helpful." He wasn't sure what they'd do with her if she turned out to be some rabid dragon-hater, but once she had found out about what really lived here, she couldn't just go back into the world. She would remain here until she was not hostile, one way or another.

'All of this could be manipulation,' Nóttleiðtogi objected.

Maour winced. Paranoia, even if that was an appropriate response, was not good. "Yes, it could."

'Then we must tell her the bare minimum, and gauge her reaction," Shadow concluded. "The things that are common knowledge elsewhere."

'If we must,' Nóttskarpur agreed, casting a look at her mate. 'I speak for us in this decision.'

It seemed Nóttleiðtogi was not going to let his own fears affect how they handled all of this too much. That was smart, though Nóttleiðtogi had the advantage of having gone through all of this before. He knew which mistakes to avoid this time around. It was his fault, after all, that Maour had been able to bring Fishlegs and the twins in on all of this without any real argument, an earlier maneuver on Nóttleiðtogi's part gone wrong.

'The Eldurs support us,' Cloey announced, having just entered the cave. 'Eldurský says to be careful, but not too careful.'

'The Svarturs support this,' Shadow announced as his mate joined him on their ledge. 'Von is not present at the moment, but I don't think she would object.'

'You know our opinion on things like this,' one of the Myrkurs yelled out. 'Go ahead!'

"And Blast and Boom aren't even here," Maour wryly muttered to Toothless. "Or the twins."

'So?' Toothless shook his head. 'Just be glad they're with us, not against us.'

That was true. This was a difficult enough decision without the Myrkurs deciding to object.

'So it is decided. Maour will tell her of his past, but nothing else. We will all hold to a no-flight rule until further information is determined.' Shadow shook his head wryly. 'Fishing is necessary, but we should all do it off the far edge of the island, and stay close to the water. We need to stay out of sight.'

With that, most of the Furies left, the Myrkurs almost rushing for the exits. They, as a rule, didn't like to sit still very long.

Maour nodded to Nóttleiðtogi, who had caught his eye.

'You're going to deal with him now?' Toothless asked carefully.

"Help, but yes." These sessions were private, which also excluded Toothless. His brother understood the need, even if he didn't like it. Nóttleiðtogi was a private person.

Without any further words, Toothless let Maour onto his back and took off, following Nóttleiðtogi out another way, through the caves on foot, and then back into the air, headed for the forest.

They set down there. Maour got off of Toothless, who promptly walked off into the forest, leaving Maour and Nóttleiðtogi alone.

Nóttleiðtogi slumped slightly. This was the only time Maour ever saw him relax, though he assumed relaxed was normal when Nóttleiðtogi was at home. The dragon never let outsiders see behind the front he put up.

'Maour,' Nóttleiðtogi greeted civilly. 'I cannot blame you for this one... not much, anyway.'

"Togi, we both know I couldn't just let them leave with her," Maour sighed. Years of therapy and Nóttleiðtogi still was not over his fears... and Maour still didn't know the full story. Nóttleiðtogi had never told him, and he had not pressed the older dragon. It was a huge concession when Nóttleiðtogi had told him he could use the name Togi in these sessions at all. Short names for dragons were only used by friends or family.

'Yes. And now I must not...' Nóttleiðtogi shook his head, growling. 'This is no different, but it feels different. We do not know anything about her. She is dangerous.'

"Not that dangerous," Maour objected. "No weapon, no night vision, and no way off of this island."

'Help me,' Nóttleiðtogi whined, losing his composure entirely. 'It has been years since I have felt this fear, and I do not know how to push it back again.'

Maour strode forward and put a hand on Nóttleiðtogi's forehead. "Calm down. You can still do this, right?"

'You are different. I cannot even do this with the other humans.'

"And that is fine. But as long as you can feel calm around one of us, you don't need to be too worried about one more." He spoke in a soothing tone of voice. "I'm going to figure her out, and if she's like the rest of us by some strange chance, then all is well and good. Would you be okay with that?"

'I am still not sure about the twins,' Nóttleiðtogi griped wryly. 'They do not seem to be dragon lovers so much as lovers of chaos. It just so happens we are chaos, to them. As long as they keep their distance and are not a threat, I can forget they exist.'

That was pretty much the best Maour figured he could expect for now. "You know someday that might not be the case." Einfari, in particular, had actually asked him to keep an eye out for humans who might be a good match for her, though he had never found any.

'If that day arrives, I will deal with it... with your help,' Nóttleiðtogi admitted. 'Today I just need to calm down.'

"I'll get it figured out as quickly as I can," Maour promised. "I don't like not knowing either."

'But at least you do not have to fight yourself every minute she is here.' Nóttleiðtogi spoke simply, not complaining so much as stating a fact. 'Even with Einfari on guard, I worry.'

Maour wondered why Nóttleiðtogi didn't worry more with his own daughter guarding the prisoner, but then again it wasn't like Nóttleiðtogi's fears were logical. The dragon himself was, but his fear was definitely not.

"Maybe look at this as an opportunity to improve?" Maour suggested.

A level stare was his only response.

"Yeah, it was a long shot." Maour grinned. "Do you want to work on it today?"

Nóttleiðtogi seemed to consider it. 'No, not today. I am conflicted enough as it is. You may wish to go check on the Eldurs though, as they might miss something important on the ship.'

That was a distinct possibility. Normally Fishlegs would be with them, but this time they had no humans eyes to check it over. "Good point."

With that, he left the area and called for Toothless, his mind already on their next task. Heather was probably still asleep anyway.


Heather woke up sometime later. She had no idea how much later, for obvious reasons. She stretched and idly decided to pull open the curtain-door, noting as she did that Maour had neglected to provide more water or food. The fact that Maour had said not to open the curtain had slipped her mind.

Beyond the curtain was darkness… and two large, grey eyes, catching the dim candlelight, staring back at her. She numbly backed up, allowing the curtain to fall back down. She figured she must be seeing things in her groggy state. Those eyes were huge!

Heather stared at the unmoving curtain for a moment to convince herself she didn't just see some feral beast. Just as she was content that it was all her imagination, those eyes reappeared as an almost invisible black head nosed the curtain aside to stare at her.

She let out a small shriek and scrambled back, almost knocking her head on a protruding wooden shelf on the far wall of the small cavern, breathing as if she had just run around the island a few times without stopping. It was too close, and too big. She was dead-

If it was not what she dreaded, what she had refused to consider as a possibility this entire time.

The outcast boy from Berk had brought a dragon to heel, and was still out in the world with two Night Furies. Dragons that tolerated and even listened to a human.

What else could explain how she was still not dead? This matched the whispered descriptions she had obtained from Berkians what felt like a lifetime ago, though Alvin had not wanted to hear of rumors so much as solid fact on Berk's defenses. A black dragon, smaller than one would expect. That was all anyone could agree on, and the rest she discounted as fiction intended to impress. It seemed she had been right to be skeptical of the conflicting details, if this was a Night Fury.

If this was a Night Fury… her mind was spinning, her emotions curiously far from reach. She felt as if she could run around the island if needed, but at the same time felt curiously weak. This she knew, the feeling only imminent danger could produce.

The dragon had not moved, still staring with those large eyes.

Dragons always went for the kill. There was not supposed to be hesitation, let alone whatever this was.

But how could she know? It was important to be sure of whether or not this was a dragon that for some reason obeyed a human, as opposed to a feral monster taking sadistic pleasure in her fear before eating her.

How could she know? She was not getting any closer to it. Was there any way to be sure? Something that might give her a sign?

Well, she could always yell for Maour… if he was close enough to hear her. If this wasn't just a feral dragon that would leap and disembowel her the moment she did anything, or just once it got tired of whatever she was doing that was amusing it at the moment.

No, she couldn't count on help. But she had to do something.

What had his name been? The boy who was exiled, who exiled himself and left on the back of a dragon?

Hiccup. A strange name for a strange person. But she needed to be sure what she did would indicate whether or not the dragon was his.

Surely it would recognize his name. Maybe using the dragon's name would be better, if it even had one, but she didn't know that. Nobody she had spoken to had ever mentioned a name for either of the beasts. The name of the owner was all she had.

"Good… dragon…" she began quietly. No reaction. But what if..? "Hiccup."

Those grey eyes widened, and the ears Heather had not really noticed shot up, a visible notification that what she had just said meant something.

She felt like collapsing then and there, so relieved she could cry. This had to be the trained dragon, one of the two, and Maour had to be Hiccup. She had hoped this was not the case, had actively dismissed the possibility, but faced with the alternative of being cornered by a feral dragon, she would take this in a heartbeat.

The dragon huffed air out of its nostrils. Heather could feel the hot air from her position on the other side of the small room.

Heather knew who Maour was now. Although she was pretty good at detecting lies, and she still thought he had been telling the truth about Maour being his name. Now, maybe, his name was Maour, but it had not always been.

Actually, she was assuming something she shouldn't. There was no reason to think there was only one man on this island. Maour and Hiccup could be two different people.

Well, maybe… "Maour."

A snort, followed by an impossibly human gesture. How in the world had it learned to roll its eyes?!

"Okay…" A sarcastic gesture. If this was a human, it would make sense, as if to say 'you only now figured that out?' But it wasn't a human in this case. The fact that it made sense might be a coincidence, but she could check. All she had to do was insult the dragon in a sweet voice. If it didn't mind, she would know it didn't actually understand anything other than names.

She needed to know what she was dealing with, because it wasn't going away.

"So, you know those names…" she kept her voice soft and sweet, though that was difficult given her current situation. She still felt a little like screaming. "Are you so stupid that-"

A low and threatening growl cut her off, even though she had been speaking as nicely as possible.

She drew in a shuddering breath. It was looking like the reason Hiccup could work with this Night Fury was that it knew what he was saying. That was… unprecedented. Dragons were not that smart… but this one was.

And if it could understand her meaning, she might be able to actually get somewhere by talking. As long as it stayed there, she could try that.

"His name wasn't always Maour, was it?" She would start with an easy question. "Maour and Hiccup are the same person."

The Fury didn't respond.

"Can we just pretend this didn't happen?" She would rather not find out what Maour would do now that his secret was out.

A considering look, and then a nod. That honestly was not at all what she had been expecting. Any chance she was just assigning intelligence to coincidence vanished.

"We can?" She pointed to the curtain above the dragon's head. "You'll just go back out there and forget this happened?"
Another nod.

"Okay…" She wasn't sure what to do now, but ending this surreal encounter sounded great. "Go."

Nothing. It remained flat against the ground, staring intently.

"What? I don't have anything for you." There was a distinct difference between this and an animal begging for food, one of tone and intelligence, but she had no other ideas. "I've got nothing you would want. No food, no water, nothing. I don't have anything at all, including family, friends, a home, or an actual life."

The dragon inched forward, still looking right at her.

"No!" She held out a hand, hoping she wouldn't lose it. This room was way too small, and the dragon way too big, at least compared to her, for it to come in here. She did not want to be in close quarters with one of the most dangerous types of dragon in existence. Not when she didn't have so much as a belt knife to defend herself with.

It stopped, never breaking eye contact. Then the curtain started to rise, a wing lifting it.

"Hey, quit it. Someone might see the light." This was supposed to go unnoticed.

A very, very deliberate nod, and the curtain raised higher still.

Was it actually trying to pressure her into letting it get closer with the threat of discovery?

"I'm telling Maour this was all you," she retorted. "He'll believe me if I start screaming at him about hiding dragons here." This was his dragon, so surely he carried some authority with it.

The curtain lowered slightly, but the dragon did not look impressed. It snorted, shaking its head.

"What? It would work. It's not like you can tell him differently…"

Maybe that wasn't true. Maybe this dragon did have a way of telling its side, or of straight-up lying and convincing Maour of… whatever it wanted. This simple type of communication wasn't quite enough to do that, but maybe there was more.

She was not used to maneuvering against a dragon, let alone one that seemed to have the upper hand.

"You don't want to be caught either. You're bluffing." Heather crossed her arms. "You definitely have more to lose than I do." Anyone would. She had already lost everything.

A disbelieving look, and a slight tilt of the head. It looked eerily like someone trying to say 'go on' without words.

But if this thing had been living around Maour, it was possible it knew exactly the message it was sending.

Thinking of this dragon as 'it' just wasn't working anymore. "Are you a girl or a boy?"

A considering look.

Maybe she should phrase that differently. "Are you a girl?"

The dragon nodded decisively.

"Are you a boy?" She wanted to be sure it understood.

A glare, and a shake of the head. Okay, it- no, she, understood and was not amused with Heather trying to make sure.

What had they been doing before this little tangent? The dragon was trying to pressure her with the threat of exposure, she had retorted by calling its bluff, and it had almost asked her to explain.

"Put that curtain down," Heather repeated. "I called your bluff, remember?"

A soft warble. That was a sound Heather had never heard before. It was strangely melodic, for such a large creature.

"Come on, do it." She shook her head. "I don't have anything to give you in return. Just a sad story and a promise to not tell Maour about this."

The dragon nodded deliberately. It wanted… well, if it understood her, maybe it wanted to hear her talk? That was ridiculous.

"You don't want to hear about me," she muttered. "Why would you?"

A soft bark. It stared at her, tilting its head.

"You do want to hear my story," she deadpanned. It nodded in return. There's not much to tell." This was not something she wanted to talk about. "I have nothing to lose, because I've already lost everything."

Another tilt of the head. Yes, it was definitely telling her to keep talking.

"Put that down and I'll talk," Heather offered. "Though why you would care…"

The wing and by extension the curtain fell entirely, landing on the dragon's snout. She snorted, sending it away for a moment, though it immediately fell back onto her large black snout.

"Eager, aren't you." Well, a deal was a deal, especially when made with someone who could kill and eat her in an instant if they wanted to. "I lived my entire life on my island with my mother and father. When I was about sixteen, we were attacked by Outcasts while returning from a visit to a nearby island."

A sad whine.

Heather laughed sarcastically. "That's not why I have nothing, but it's a good place to start given my life was normal up until that point. They captured all three of us and wanted me to do something. Alvin wanted me to go to an island called Berk, and find out their secrets, mostly military ones, and tell him. I had to do it, or he would kill my parents. So, he set up a fake shipwreck, and I 'washed up' on Berk."

The dragon seemed entirely engrossed in her story. Heather wasn't sure why, but telling all of it to someone else, even a dragon, made the pain of the rest of her story seem just a little less, so she continued with little difficulty. "I met Stoick the Vast, and his heir Snotlout. And a girl named Astrid, who didn't like me. I was a good actor, so no one suspected anything. I learned things. That the real heir had done... something, and been outcast. That Berk had found the nest, and killed some massive dragon."

This was where her story got a bit strange. She continued quietly. "But something didn't feel right. Eventually, I started hearing other things. Little things. That the real heir, Hiccup, had been crazy. He had left with two Night Furies, and somehow they killed a massive dragon at the Nest. Then he had exiled himself from Berk. Little pieces from different people, told in whispers, as if they weren't supposed to be talking about it. The blacksmith in particular. He seemed to almost be feeding me information, now that I think about it. Still, it wasn't easy, and I really don't know much, even now. Eventually, Alvin pulled me out. I told him everything, but he wouldn't let me or my parents go. We were there for a few months. That was horrible. But my father found a way out after a while, and we managed to sneak off of Outcast island." Heather took a deep breath. "We were happy for a few years, back on our home island, with our small village."

The Fury crooned sadly. It sounded oddly close-

Oh, it had crept forward again while she was distracted.

"You're a sneak, you know that?" She scowled at the dragon. "Do you even care, or was this just a trick to distract me?"

The dragon whined, looking away, before looking back and moving its ears intently. Apparently, it wasn't a trick.

Was reading this dragon's emotions and intentions getting easier, or was it just exaggerating everything to be sure she understood? That wasn't really important, but Heather wondered anyway.

She had gone this far. There was no reason not to finish the story. "Then, about a year ago a whole armada attacked our island. There was no warning, no mercy given. The Berserkers killed everyone they found. I had been out on a fishing trip with a friend, and we came home to find nothing but burned buildings, bodies, and Berserker soldiers. Three of them caught us. And..."

Heather held back tears and forced herself to continue, feeling that she couldn't stop midway through. "They killed my friend then and there, but they took one look at me and spared me. I managed to get away from them before they could bring me back to their armada."

These were memories she didn't think about for a reason. "I managed to take my fishing boat to the next island over. The last time I saw my home, there wasn't a single living person in the burned hull that had been from our village. I thought it was over."

She let out a sad, tired sigh. "It wasn't. They never stopped coming after me. Eventually, they got lucky and caught me. That's how I got here. No family, no friends, nowhere to go, and an insane chief of a powerful tribe setting his entire fleet in search of me." She thumped her fist on the ground. "And I still don't know why. That hurts almost as much as what he did. So yeah, I've got nothing to lose."

The dragon, her eyes wide and not at all threatening, inched forward again. At this point, Heather was pretty sure no one was around to see anything anyway, given how long this entire encounter had been going on, but she didn't really care if the dragon came closer. Like she had just said, she had nothing to lose, and if it had intended to do something, she would be helpless to stop it. Besides…

"You're going to have to explain to Maour where I am if I mysteriously vanish," she warned. "And he's not going to buy that I escaped."

The dragon had the gall to look insulted by that, pulling her tail in under the curtain and sitting upright by the exit, filling more than half of the small cave with her bulk.

"Now what?" Heather shifted backwards, moving away until she hit the desk- all of two feet away from those oddly flat paws and sharp claws.

The dragon snorted, so close that it ruffled her hair, and leaned in, its eyes locked on hers.

She held the stare, refusing to be intimidated… or at least refusing to let on that she was very much intimidated.

Then it leaned back and stuck a paw out at about head-level, inches from her face. She jerked back, not wanting to be scratched by the claws.

A sheepish warble, and the claws retracted. The paw, on the other hand, did not. What was this?

Then the dragon's ears abruptly perked up, and it jerked back in turn, looking panicked. It scrambled out of the room, almost ripping the curtain off of the doorway in its haste to leave.

Someone must have been coming. Heather moved to stand right beside the doorway, straining to hear anything useful.

Nothing. Just a few grunts and warbles she was pretty sure were all from her guard.

Or maybe they weren't. Maybe that was another dragon out there, checking up on her guard. Had they seen anything? She would rather not have the one watching her get in trouble, not for something that was partially her fault.

She was empathizing with a dragon. Could this day… possibly night now… get any odder?

Time passed, but her guard did not return, and Heather was not about to risk opening the curtain again. The other dragon might have come to replace the one she knew, and she did not want to trust her near-nonexistent luck again. Once was enough.

Eventually, she heard Maour talking in the distance, and yelled as he had instructed.

Maour pulled the curtain back and smiled at her. "So ready to learn what you don't know?" He seemed genuinely excited now if still a little wary.

Heather nodded, trying to hide a small smile. She already knew the important part, thanks to her… friend? Acquaintance? Guard? Whatever. She was convinced that dragon was intent on manipulating her.

Author's Note: Fun fact! Heather's horrible backstory, the whole 'village razed to the ground, everybody dead' bit, is almost entirely canon. One of the few times I didn't need to change much to make it as dark as necessary. They snuck that news in via Johann during Heather's reintroductory two-part in RTTE.

As an aside, in case anyone was wondering, I did draw the thumbnail for this story myself. It's a talent I am far less skilled in than writing, but I'm not bad. Also, that's the spoiler-free version of the thumbnail. It'll change a little once the time comes...