Chapter 3

The males stared at the girl in stunned silence. The night fury beside her had her pupils narrowed to slits and her lip tugged away from her teeth in a growl. Toothless returned the growl, but in a friendlier note. The girl turned to the dragon, stroking her ear. "Easy, Dusk...we'll get this sorted out..." She turned her gaze on Hiccup and he swallowed nervously. He could face down a monstrous nightmare without batting an eye, but when it came to girls, especially fierce girls like Astrid and this one, he wanted to hop on Toothless and fly away. He wasn't a coward, it wa just easier dealing with a fire-breathing dragon than a teenage girl, even if they were kind of similar. "You're the dragon conqueror, right? Why do you have, Sliversky?"

Hiccup held up his hands in his defense. "First off, I'm a dragon trainer, not a dragon conqueror." Why did everyone call him that? "Second, I found Sliversky alone and being bullied by some changewings. We saved her." The tiny dragon squeaked and nodded in agreement. "We never would have hurt her. We were just trying to figure out where she came from." Dusk grumbled and Sliversky hopped off Fishlegs's shoulder and scurried over to her mother timidly. The mother night fury gave her daughter a stern look then purred rubbing her chin on the baby's back, much like a cat would.

The girl smiled at the pair and stooped down to stroke Sliversky. The dragon smiled and pounced, knocking the girl off her heels with a laugh. "Easy, girl!" She held the tiny dragon to her chest and looked to the stunned men and dragons. "My name is..." She paused and Hiccup saw something flash across her eyes. "Well, I prefer the nickname Ursa. You've already met Sliversky and Dusk." She gestured to the dragons, then turned to them. "Who are you?"

Gobber and Fishlegs still seemed to be at a loss for words, so Hiccup spoke up. "My name is Hiccup. This is Toothless. Meatlug. Fishlegs. Gobber." The skinny Viking gestured to each in turn. She nodded at each one in recognition.

Just then, a roar was heard and they all turned to see the royal blue changewing from earlier round Gobber's shop. It glared at the Berk citizens and scurried over to join Ursa, Dusk, and Sliversky. It hissed, nudging Ursa, and she whispering softly to it, stroking its jaw. Hiccup was amazed as he saw her use the techniques he'd often use on the dragons. She was patient with the changewing until it calmed down. Her gaze remained on the dragon. "This is Swift." She placed a loving kiss between his eyes, earning a contented hiss from the dragon.

Fishlegs watched the exchange then blurted out his confusion. "Hiccup? Didn't you say a royal blue changewing had been attacking Sliversky? Is this, uh, the same one...?" Fishlegs trailed off as the dragon turned to him and hissed in annoyance, eyes narrowing.

Ursa's brow furrowed and she looked at the husky viking. "Swift would never hurt Sliversky. They're friends."

"Well, that's not exactly what I saw..." Hiccup quickly filled her in on what he had witnessed.

The girl smiled and when Hiccup was done, she was happily laughing. Fishlegs and Hiccup both smiled, it was a sweet laugh. "My, oh, my what a misunderstanding..." She smiled and all of her previous fierceness was evaporated. Hiccup was surprised, to say the least. The girl that stood before them wasn't the same one that had appeared earlier. This one had an inviting smile on her lips and a playful challenge in her eyes. Her stance was delighted, as though she was bursting with excitement. Earlier, she had seemed like a typical viking, gruff, tough, and blunt. Now, she seemed sweet, silly, and curious. A complete transformation had taken place and he had somehow missed it. She approached them, still stroking Sliversky, flanked by her dragons. "Can we talk about this somewhere cozier?" They nodded and started heading to the Great Hall. Halfway there, Snotlout, Astrid, and the twins caught up. After a few minutes, everyone was caught up to speed. Hiccup mentally sighed in relief that Astrid hadn't started something with Ursa and that none of the dragons had started fighting. Now it was time for some answers, but somehow Hiccup felt the answers he got would open a hundred new questions.

They all settled around the table comfortably. Toothless and Dusk, now not quite as on edge with one another had started a fire. Dusk was still uneasy around Toothless, but he was good with Sliversky, so she was coming around to him. The teens, Gobber, and Stoick, who they figured should be included in the meeting gathered around to hear Ursa's tale. She took a deep breath and began. "Swift and Sliversky are my closest friends. We'd often play, just the three of us. Tag, hide and seek, you name it. It was always so much fun!" She grinned and both dragons chimed in agreeing from their places by the firepit. "We'd cause such trouble. Believe it or not, I don't exactly fit in. Well, at first it had just been Swift and me. The island I was born on, well, to say I wasn't accepted is an understatement. One day, I met Swift and we became friends. So one day we took off and flew. We flew until I was afraid what would happen if Swift didn't stop to rest. We ended up landing on what you call Misty Isle. It's a beautiful island. We made it our home. It even turned out..." She swallowed and stared at the ground. "My mother lived on the island. I had only lived with my father until I ran away."

Everyone was quiet absorbing all this. Stoick, surprisingly, was the first to speak. "It must've been tough. It's hard on a child, not to have their mother around." He placed a hand on his son's shoulder and Hiccup gave his dad a small smile.

The girl nodded. After a moment, Ursa continued. "For a while it was just my mother, Swift, and I living together on the outskirts of the village there. I befriended many dragons, Dusk being one such dragon." At the sound of her name, Dusk stood and loped over, purring and nuzzling Ursa. She stroked her head and the dragon returned to Toothless and Sliversky. "After Sliversky was born, I helped care for her, and we'd play a good deal. One day, there was a bad storm. We had been flying at the time. Swift carried us back as fast he could, but the wind was too strong. We fell into the water. The current was so strong..." Her eyes glazed for a moment as she remembered. "I put Sliversky in my fish carrier and latched it. My mother is an outstanding weaver and that carrier is waterproof. I knew she'd be alright. Swift and I returned to shore, with no sign of Sliversky. I sent Swift and some other changewings to search for her. You see? They were just excited to find her, but she's young and was shaken up. Because she's so little, she didn't recognize all the dragons and was afraid and confused."

Astrid looked at Hiccup. "That does match what we saw." He nodded back.

Ursa smiled as Sliversky came over and she help out some fish to the baby. The tiny dragon chirped its thanks and grabbed it in its jaws, hopping up on Ursa's lap to chew on her snack. Ursa's smile was warm as she pet Sliversky. "I was so worried...as was Dusk, obviously." A low growl of agreement was heard from near the fire.

The twins and Snotlout had been fairly quiet during all this, losing interest quickly, but now Snotlout leaned closer grinning at the small girl. "So, babe, whatcha gonna do now that you've found your little dragon? I could...show you around Berk if you want. Show you all the best spots..." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Ursa blinked, clearly oblivious of his flirting. "Well, I would like Sliversky to be able to rest and heal up after what she's been through. Dusk and Swift have been searching like crazy and have been so stressed out a day or two of rest couldn't hurt either... So, I wouldn't mind staying a day or two if that was alright..." She shyly looked at Stoick and all eyes, human and dragon turned to him.

"Well, I don't see why there'd be a problem. As long as your dragons stay under control, it's fine." There were assorted whoops and roars of delight and Stoick chuckled amused.

Gobber, however, was a bit more practical. "Well, Stoick, I personally don't have a problem with it, but where we gonna fit em all? The baby won't take up much space and I'm sure we could work out something for these two." He gestured to Swift and Dusk, who looked up in curiousity. "But, I don't know where we'd fit the rest.'"

Ursa chimed in happily. "Oh, no worried. I'll send them back home. Swift is my best friend and I'd like for him and Dusk to rest, but the rest of the changewings I've been asking to search in shifts. This batch should be fine to fly home. I'll go send them off then." She stood and hurried out with Swift quickly following. After a few moments, Sliversky scampered after them before anyone could stop her.

Hiccup sighed, standing. "I'll go get her." Hardly anyone noticed. The twins were messing around with the fire, Snotlout was challenging Astrid to arm wrestling, Fishlegs was updating the book of dragons, and Gobber and Stoick had left after their little meeting. Most of the dragons were napping, but Toothless's ears pricked at Hiccup's departure and he quickly followed. He whined and Hiccup scratched his head as the cold evening wind bit at his skin. "C'mon, bud."

As they wandered around looking, they noticed a small blue blotch in the grass overlooking the docks. They headed over and, sure enough, it was Sliversky. Hiccup and Toothless approached, but Sliversky seemed oblivious. Hiccup followed her gaze down to the docks where, on the sandy shore, Ursa was talking to her group of changewings. They were all in the air, except for Swift who stood behind her and a smaller changewing that seemed stubborn not to leave. The wind carried her voice up to them. "I know you want to stay, but I'll be home in a few days. You guys have to let them know we found Sliversky and everything is okay." The changewing growled to her as if arguing. "Hey, no back talk. I'll play with you guys when I get home." Another growl floated up to Hiccup and he watched as she took a step back, surprised at something, turning and he could see her cheeks tinged pink in the fading light. "It's not like that! You and your crazy romances. It's obvious he liked that blonde. I think her name is Astrid... Now, go on! This way you'll still have some light to fly by." The dragon seemed to laugh before it followed the others.

Hiccup looked at Toothless. "What was that all about?" His night fury shrugged in return.

Ursa turned and noticed the trio up on the hill. She raised an eyebrow and quickly hopped on to Swift, who carried her up to the hill. "What are you doing here?"

The skinny Viking looked at her nervously. "Sliversky ran off so we went to go get her!" He hoped she didn't realize she'd been overheard.

She nodded. "Sounds about right..." Ursa turned her gaze to an innocent looking Sliversky. "Will you stop causing trouble? We're guests! Behave." The dragon scowled and looked away, sulking. Ursa smirked and Hiccup felt odd at the unusual smirk on her usually friendly face. "Alright, missy. Guess I'll have to report it to Mama." The baby's eyes widened and she hurriedly shook her head, pleading. "Fine. I won't, but if I don't you have to promise you'll behave. Deal?" Sliversky nodded and Ursa smiled then turned to Hiccup. "Shall we head back?"

He returned the smile and they started back to the great hall, side by side. Swift and Toothless followed close behind, Sliversky curled up on Toothless's back, all tuckered out after her long day. "So..." Hiccup glanced at Ursa, who returned his curious look. "Speaking of telling people things, I heard you talking to those changewings." He glanced at her again. This would decide it. If she got mad, she was the fierce Viking he had first met and he'd have to keep an eye on any fights between her and Astrid. If she answered calmly, then the fierce version was just for show.

She blinked."Yeah, and?"

"Well, it seemed like you were carrying on an actual conversation with one of them."

She blinked again. "I was."

Hiccup wasn't sure if he was more confused or frustrated by her simple answers. "It seemed like you actually understood."

She stopped and rested her hands on her hips. "I did. I do." Ursa crossed her arms.

Hiccup sighed, exasperated. "How can you?"

She tilted her head in confusion. "It's a language, just like the one you and I are speaking right now." He stared back her, still seeming confused so she thought of another way of wording it. "Remember when we first met? You told me you were a dragon trainer? Well, I guess you could call me a dragon whisperer."

Hey, guys! I apologize for the insanely long wait. I've had a lottt going on the past couple months and I haven't gotten a chance to post. Sorry... Anyways, hope you like the story so far! Please keep reading, reviewing, and enjoying!