First I want to thank closetnightmares for helping me rewrite the chapters to make a much better story. Check their stories if you can and want. If you already read the last 3 chapters go back and do it again. trust me on that it is a lot better now. ^^ I hope you like it.

Till next time!

It had been a long week for Hiccup and his wife. He was exhausted—between ruling greater Berk, making preparations for the national assembly, and taking care of the arriving chiefs and heirs, it was a lot to handle even for the King.

Astrid always helped where she could, but for most of the things that needed to be done Hiccup was needed to be there to approve of it all. During the last week, all the chiefs from within the empire had arrived at Berk to attend the meeting. It was getting a bit crowded in the city about two-hundred fifty chiefs had come from all parts of the empire, and all of them had brought their family members and guards, too. But now, after a really long week, the national assembly was starting or to be conducted in an hour or two.

"Hiccup? You ready, babe?" Astrid asked her husband with a concerned look while placing her hand on his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. Hiccup looked tired, and at times Astrid felt that he was carrying a whole era on his small shoulders.

Hiccup sighed as he was brought out of his stupor. "Yeah. Yeah, I am. Can you get me my sword and cape?" He turned to give Astrid a peck on the cheek. "Are the Valkyrie guards ready? We really need to give a big impression at the assembly to solidify our standing with the other chiefs." Hiccup inquired, worry lacing his tone.

Astrid came back from the closet, holding the ceremonial dark red cape that bore the emblem of the empire in elegant embroidery. She motioned for Hiccup to stand up, which he slowly did, and she draped the cape onto his shoulders.

"Astrid what about the—"

The Queen put a finger to his lips quickly to silence him. "Shh, Hiccup. Quit worrying so much." She removed the finger. "Everything's ready. I briefed the Valkyrie order yesterday and they're all prepared. The captains will take their dragons in order to watch over the proceedings and also to keep tabs on the air traffic. Each and every one of them has been told exactly what to do in the event of any trouble."

Hiccup heaved a great sigh, as it was as if a huge weight had suddenly been lifted from his shoulders. He managed his first real smile all week. "Thank you, Astrid. I knew I could count on you."

"I'm the Queen of this empire, dragon boy. I'm just as capable as you." Astrid tugged his cape playfully as she walked behind him to go fetch the sword from their personal armory.

"Ooh, scary." Hiccup threw his hands up in mock apprehension.

Astrid whirled with a grin and before Hiccup could even blink, he found himself standing at sword-point at the hands of his wife. Hiccup, wide-eyed, was completely stunned.

"And don't you forget it." Astrid added as she passed the sword to her husband.

Hiccup chuckled and took hold of the sword. "So how do I look, my lady?" he asked, putting special emphasis on "my lady."

"Pfft! Like a doll!" Astrid giggled and skipped over to her husband's side, nudging him playfully. Hiccup turned to look at her, his eyes shining, and for a moment, it felt like the old days. Back when nothing seemed to matter outside of their own little lives.

Astrid leaned in to give Hiccup a kiss, but a knock on the door interrupted her.

Rin opened the door and dipped her head respectfully. "My King and Queen, we need to go to the great hall. The meeting is starting soon and it will take a while to arrive with all of the guards following us," she said while placing here long ax on her left shoulder pads and leaving the small bedroom to join the other Valkyrie guard that were waiting outside the castle gate.

"Ready my lady?" Hiccup asked with an unsure smile, holding out a hand to her.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Astrid answered her husband with a confident smile that made her ten times more beautiful as he took the offered hand. "Now come on, babe. Man up! We're going to crack some skulls!" Astrid said excitedly as she dragged her lover out of the house and to their dragons.

She approached the night fury, who immediately ran to her, crooning. Astrid laughed and scratched his chin affectionately. "Toothless be good for my husband, okay?" The black dragon made a guttural sound that Astrid took as an approval.

Stormfly came closer to flank Astrid and bent down to allow her to mount. "Hey, girl. You ready for this?" She asked her dragon softly. Stormfly gave a small squawk and began to squirm.

Astrid turned to the small army behind them, all of whom immediately saluted. She yelled, "Everyone, move out!" And the group began to head for the meeting.

A while later...

"Long live king Hiccup!" A man yelled.

"May he rule till Ragnarok comes!" A woman cheered.

"King Hiccup! King Hiccup over here!" A group of children exclaimed.

"Look, it's queen Astrid! She looks so beautiful!" An old woman called with a wave at the procession.

From all directions came the cheers and shouts from the citizens who had lined the street down, which the King and his group were proceeding. Two-hundred Valkyrie guards marched protectively around and behind Berk's royalty and multiple dragon riders were surveying the scene from the sky.

"You like the attention, don't you bud." Hiccup murmured to his dragon while giving him a couple pats on the head. Toothless gave a purr in bliss.

"Hahaha, he looks so content!" Astrid said while laughing at the happy lizard. Toothless now had his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth and it almost appeared that he was smiling.

"Don't make Toothless mad, Astrid. He'll eat you if you do, you know." Hiccup replied half-seriously while Toothless rolled his eyes at the silly things his human was saying to his mate.

"Yeah, yeah, and if I don't watch out, next thing I know, you'll be saying that Snotlout is good at picking up the ladies." Astrid said in a mocking tone. This made the Valkyrie guards snort. "See? Even the girls don't believe you."

"My lady, you hurt me!" Hiccup said in a falsely sarcastic voice while holding his chest.

"Oh Thor, don't be such a drama queen Hiccup." Astrid rolled her eyes at her husband.

Suddenly Toothless' eyes narrowed and his head began to twitch. He snorted and began to growl, every muscle tensing in preparation to fight some unseen enemy.

"Whoa, Toothless. Hey. What is it?" Hiccup asked his dragon while trying to calm him down.

Something came whizzing in and Hiccup heard a splat. He looked over next to him and saw a tomato pierced by a dragon spine from Stormfly. The big crowd that had been enthusiastically watching the parade was completely in silence now.

A voice rose above the silence.

"Hey! You traitor!" An old man somewhere off to the side shouted at the group. "Fucking disgusting you lot are! Damned dragon lover! I hope you die!"

Hiccup sighed as he dismounted Toothless, much to the irritation of his dragon. "Not this again…."

The King broke through the crowd and reached the guards who had pinned the old man down with their axes.

"Release him!" Hiccup said in a commanding voice.

"You're a traitor! Just wait till I inform Stoick of this!" Mildew said while trying to spit on him but missed horribly.

"Mildew, relax. You know that the war is long over. You're getting old, my friend. It's time for you to go back home." Hiccup said with a forced smile.

But then Mildew noticed Toothless, who was crouched behind the King and watching the offensive old man with those devil eyes. Mildew gave a fearful yelp and nearly backed away into the wall of the small bakery shop behind him.

Hiccup stood up with a sigh and summoned a healer to take care of the frail old man that was still trembling in fear against the wall.

Everyone knew Mildew. He was a grumpy old man who lived far within the forest of Berk. He had been fine until his sheep, Fungus, died of old age. Since then, it had gone from bad to worse as he started to forget a lot of things, mostly that Vikings and Dragons lived in peace in the empire. In more recent times, he seemed to have also forgotten that Hiccup was the leader of a whole empire. So every time Hiccup got out, and Mildew saw him, he would call him a traitor and a dragon lover. But the insults of today were by far the worst and most outspoken yet.

The healer finally arrived and came to Hiccup for orders. "You called me, my King?"

"Can you please look after Mildew and get him back to his home safely so he can rest for the day?" Hiccup asked the healer politely with a small smile.

"Of course, my King. He will be taken care of." The healer bowed respectfully as Hiccup gave one more regretful look to Mildew before turning away and dragging his overprotective lizard with him.

Astrid was still looking at the old man with a hate that was so fierce, no human or dragon could survive it's wrath even if they tried.

"Are you ready to go on my lady?" Hiccup asked his wife while getting back on Toothless. She did not respond. "Astrid?" The Queen was still busy metaphorically piercing holes into the old man with her eyes.

Hiccup sighed and reached over to clasp her hand. "Astrid don't worry about it. You know that Mildew is sick."

"But Hiccup—" Astrid started as she turned toward him.

Hiccup cut her off with a raised voice. "I've already put it behind me so you should do the same."

But Astrid could only sigh, "Okay. Fine, but I still don't trust him."

"Don't worry my lady death is allergic to me." Hiccup said with a crooked smile and giving his wife a peck on the lips as the procession started to move once more.

"I wish that was true Hiccup, I really do." Astrid muttered under her breath while following after her husband.

Meanwhile, at the assembly...

Bjorn couldn't believe his eyes. There were hundreds of chieftains assembled in the great hall, and every single one had their heirs. The room has been set up in a way that all chiefs that were from a single province were seated together. Before the rows of chieftains sat the governor of that province and in the very front of the room there were two thrones for the queen and king of the empire. The room's ceiling was carved with a gold silver pattern that was detailing the events of the unification war between warring tribes.

"Dad, do you know all these people?" Bjorn asked his father while looking at the mass of people trying to find the correct seats for their group.

"Hahahaha, no, my boy! I know a lot of the chiefs from our province but from the rest only a few. The empire is too big to know everyone personally." The chief laughed. "Now come on, son, let's find our seats."

Bjorn nodded and started walking after his father. From what he knew, the national assembly had two objectives. The first one was to know the plans for action and desires of the King and Queen. The second was to give everyone in the empire a neutral meeting place in which to quickly form alliances or trade agreements with other chiefs from far lands. These agreements and alliances could be on paper or could be sealed with a more personal bond like a marriage contract.

Bjorn secretly knew why his father had brought him along in the first place. It was to practice his skills as the heir to the Misty Skull Tribe, but also so that he would be able to find a good bride with whom to sign a marriage pact. The idea didn't totally bother him since it was just another actuality that he would be forced to pursue someday, but he wasn't entirely ready to go talk to a bunch of girls that he didn't know with the intention of marrying one of them...

Suddenly, the massive doors burst open and two dragons shot into the room. They gave a synchronized roar and flew directly to the thrones, where they each took their respective places. On the left sat a black dragon with piercing green eyes that, to Bjorn, felt ice cold. He thought that if he stared too long, his soul would freeze and break. On the right, there was a blue and yellow deadly nadder looking at the humans in the room with eerie slitted eyes that had the power to pin a person to their chair.

After a second, the hall began to echo with the pounding of countless of feet. Bjorn stared as the first three Valkyrie guards entered, walking in a row and in complete unison. The first three girls held a flag: the crest of the Haddock family, the flag of Greater Berk and the flag of the Valkyrie order.

More of the order began to file in behind the three flag bearers. Bjorn tried counting but lost it when he got into the high forties.

At the end of the column, marched the king and queen who were flanked by their personal bodyguards. Chiefs, governors, and heirs alike all started to bow when Berk's royalty passed by.

Most of the chiefs didn't like that their two chosen bodyguards were from low birth. Many tried to convince Hiccup and Astrid to take one of their burly sons as a replacement, but the King and Queen always refused, saying that they couldn't have asked for better guards than Nobu and Rin.

After a moment, the King and Queen took their seats at the head of the meeting in their respective thrones. Hiccup sat on the left and Astrid sat, as his right hand and queen, to the right. The sounds of the city outside could even be heard amidst the silence among the many rulers of the archipelago. Bjorn was awestruck that so many Vikings could be so quiet for so long.

Hiccup cleared his throat. "I want to thank you, my dear chiefs and governors, for coming on a short notice to the capital. I only hope your voyage here was without any trouble and hardship." There was a bout of murmuring, however, no complaints were raised. "I'm sure you are all wondering why I have called this meeting, so I will waste no time in telling you. The times are changing again like they did fifteen years ago. Our parent and grandparents fought for this land till their dying breath against humans and dragons alike. No threat was too big for us." At hearing this Toothless made a sad gurgling sound and looked at his human with widened eyes. Hiccup smiled and gave his friend a scratch under his chin. The dragon purred contentedly at all the attention he was receiving from his human.

Hiccup turned back to the expectant group of people before him. "We, as a people, have come together and formed one of the greatest empires in the world, but now after eight years of peace, there are gathering dark clouds above us. I have recently received some reports from governor Fishlegs telling accounts of Christian missionaries entering his territories." At the mention of the missionaries, a lot of people from the western provinces started to nod in tense acknowledgment. Unease began to spread through the crowd by means of half-whispers and hushed murmurs.

"Dad, what are missionaries?" Bjorn asked in slight confusion. The word was foreign to him.

"Hush, Bjorn! Just listen to the King."

Hiccup raised a hand for silence. "I'm sure some of you are unfamiliar with this, so let me explain. They are holy men from the mainland that preach things in the name of their God."

Some of the chiefs started shouting. "That's false! Lies, I say! A bunch of damned lies!"

"They've been sent by Loki himself!" Another called.

Someone else yelled, "What a load of bullshitters!"

The hall erupted in a loud shouting match that quickly escalated. Fists were being thrown on tables angrily and hundreds of angry voices swirled together. Astrid, with a frustrated sigh, stood up from her throne and motioned to her dragon, who gave a loud shriek. Everything immediately became silent again and everyone took their seats once more.

"All of you listen up! Either you be quiet and listen to your King or else I will personally kick your ass out of this hall." Astrid snapped with a scowl as she retook her own seat.

"So where was I?" Hiccup asked himself. "Ah yes, I know a lot of you probably don't trust them, but as an empire, we are going to give them a chance like we gave the dragons a chance." The murmuring started up again, but this time, Hiccup did not choose to silence it. "I don't expect any you to change your ways, I only want us all to give them a warm welcome and please, in Thor's name, don't harm them." There were a few nods of agreement from the governors and chiefs. Hiccup continued, "This is also why I have invited them to come here to Berk." The hall erupted into a fury. People stood and pointed at the King and yelled their disagreements, but no one person was able to be heard above the masses. It was chaos.

This time, to settle everyone down again, Hiccup gave the order to his already irritated Night Fury. Toothless shot a plasma blast into the middle of the hall, and it exploded above everyone's head with a thundering howl.

Hiccup stood up, this time, prompting everyone to give him their full attention. "I want to make one thing absolutely to all of you. We will not bend to them, but we will not be hostile to them either. I do not want to hear any, and I mean any, accounts of ill-conduct between you and our guests."

A large man stood from his seat, his hands clasped before him. "My King, are you sure about this? We can't just change our beliefs for them. What shall we do if they become hostile? Or decide that it is better to invade us?" Multiple chiefs exclaimed their support for this man's ideas.

"Governor Fishlegs." Hiccup started, "Don't worry, we need not change our beliefs for them, but only be civil about it. They have a lot of grudges against us, since, in the past, some of you have raided their holy places. I think it is fair to hear them out and give them a warm welcome. But should they show any signs of attacking us, I hope you will all support me when will respond just as our fathers and forefathers did." Hiccup paused for effect. "We will declare war."

The hall erupted in boisterous cheering. Someone started an old Norse chant and soon the whole hall was singing together in remembrance of what had been termed Berk's Glory Days. Through the years, the portrayal of the many wars that Berk had fought had become slightly twisted and glossed over to offer a more glorious view of the past. Only those who had lived through those times truly understood what the reality was of war. The blood, the chaos, the dead, the husbands and children that never saw the light of dawn. But that still didn't take away from the thrill of having a few hundred people united in their cheers for success.

They all finally settled down to conduct the smaller bits of business, such as the technicalities regarding economics, housing, food supplies for the coming winter, taxes, the slave trade and go on. Bjorn almost nodded off a few times. It was boring in all the senses of the word.

After the meeting...

Bjorn and his dad finally stood up from their seats and started heading for the exit of the hall, but were stopped halfway by an old chief and his wife.

"So how is it going Skuldron did you already pay tribute to the king for this year?"The older chief asked with a smug grin on his face.

Bjorn scrutinized this man, quickly trying to size him up. All he knew was that this chief made him undoubtedly uncomfortable.

His dad flatly replied with, "Yes, I did, Chief Travis."

"Oh. What did you give him from your measly village this time? One sheep?" The chief said in a mocking tone while his wife chuckled at the crude insult.

"I'll have you know—" Skuldron stopped talking as he felt a hand clap down on his shoulder.

"Chief Travis of the Storm Caste! I haven't seen you in ages. And Chief Skuldron, what a nice surprise. What are you lot talking about?" Hiccup questioned with a sense of false innocence. "I do dearly hope it was about your tributes."

The old man and woman from the Storm Caste immediately got on one knee for the King and Skuldron tried to follow suit, but was stopped by the King with a small shake of his head.

"If I may ask, Chief Travis, what have you brought for me this time?" The king leaned down to question the old man with a vicious smile.

Bjorn watched the scene unfolding with a sense of unease. He wasn't quite sure yet how all of the chieftains felt about each other, but if the current situation meant anything at all, then he could safely assume that this Chief Travis was not well-liked.

The boy suddenly felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked over, expecting to see one of his tribe's guards and tried to come up with a suitable reason to tell them to get lost. But he was surprised to see that it was a girl who had come up to him. And he knew her, too.

"Princess Ari?" Bjorn exclaimed, his eyes wide.

Ari placed a finger to her lips. "Shh! Come with me. Trust me, you really don't want to stick around when Dad gets angry. It's never pretty." She grabbed his hand and started to drag him away from the scene.

In all honesty, Bjorn was thrilled to have a reason to leave. He couldn't stand when people insulted his tribe just because they came from a smaller island. When Bjorn had accompanied his father to a meeting on a nearby island once, he had gotten into a fight with the heir of the other tribe over whose clan was more powerful. It had taken months of apologizing to get his father to even agree to take him anywhere. Bjorn shook his head to banish the memories from his mind.

"So, where are we going?" he asked, running comfortably alongside Ari. The two of them swiftly moved in with a small group of Valkyrie guards that were now vacating the hall, blending in with the young women easily.

Ari leaned over to whisper in Bjorn's ear. "It's a secret. So you'll just have to follow me." She skipped forward a few steps as they exited the hall and went out into the bright sunlight, turning back at the last second to grin at him. "If you think you can handle such a secret, that is!" The girl took off skipping down the pathway.

"Hey! Wait up!" Bjorn chuckled and started jogging to catch up with her.

From his position at the head of the meeting, Toothless had seen his human's hatchling leaving the great hall in secret. And dragging a boy with her!

Toothless didn't like if there were unknown people with his little playmate, so he decided to follow them in secret.

No one can play with my little girl before talking to me! Toothless thought while slipping out the great hall and following stealthily after the giggling two children.

End of chapter 4