Quick note, readers: Normally I will try to update as close to 8 - 8:30 PM GMT as I can - maybe slightly before or slightly after. Anyway, on with the chapter! (By the way, to the review that said they expected Valka to be the Kristoff character, I completely agree - I didn't think about it at the time when I was writing this but I agree it would have made sense, especially for the song in this chapter. Unfortunately I've already finished writing this so Valka will sadly not be making an appearance. Sorry!)

Dragons are Better than People

From the hull underneath the Shop Cabin, the sound of a lute floated gently through the hot ember filled air. It was Heather who was a remarkable musician when it came to the stringed instrument which she had also gotten off Johan some time ago. She was currently playing it whilst lounging back on a few sacks of winter clothing Johan had put into storage and it was remarkably comfortable whilst Nix had curled up near some barrels nearby. It wasn't as cool as the Shop Cabin above but it was nowhere near as hot as it was outside. Heather smiled at her emerald-green and purple-patterned dragon as she played a lullaby she'd written herself.

Dragons are better than people.

Nix, don't you think that's true?

Nix poked her head up and smirked in her dragon way, leaning her head over to her friend as she chewed on a tuft of dry grass. Heather switched her voice from her musical soft tone to a raspier one which she always used when she was talking for Nix – the pair shared a bond which was so close Heather usually had a good idea what the Changewing was saying.

Yeah, people will beat you and curse you and cheat you.

Everyone one of 'em's bad except you.

"Aww, thanks, girl," Heather smiled, pausing in her playing to gently stroke the Changewing's snout. Nix purred happily in reply before Heather continued.

But people smell better than dragons.

Nix, don't you think I'm right?

Nix smirked at her rider as Heather began singing her response.

That's once again true

For all except you...

Heather smiled gently as her felt her eyelids beginning to droop.

You got me. Let's call it a night.

(Nix) Good night...

(Heather) Don't let the frostbite...bite...

"Nice duet," a voice sounded from the entrance to the hull, shocking Heather fully awake. Heather darted her eyes around until her sight adjusted to the silhouette standing in the entrance and was eventually able to see a young woman with slightly wild blonde hair that had been done loosely into a plait and with the fringe held mostly back by a leather headband. The woman was wearing clothes similar to Heather's, although the skirt was longer and draped more loosely around the woman's waist than Heather's shorter one and she had a telescope strapped to her belt (why? No idea) but there was no mistaking that face. It was Astrid.

"Oh," Heather muttered. "It's just you."

"Again, 'hi' would have sufficed," Astrid huffed. Heather gave her a wry smirk in the dim light of the hull.

"Long time, no see, huh?" she noted, leaning back on her elbows with her lute resting on her lap. "What do you want?" Astrid wasted no time in replying.

"I want you to take me to Helheim's Gate," she requested simply. Heather's face turned into a cynical glare as she slipped her hood over her face and tried to drift off to sleep. She wasn't one for taking orders anymore, at least not if there wasn't any benefit for her in the long run. What did Astrid have to gain by going to Helheim's Gate anyway?

"I don't take people places," she mumbled, closing her eyes but Astrid wasn't giving up so easily.

"Let me rephrase that," the Nordic Blonde growled, throwing a bag which thumped onto Heather's chest, waking her up again. Heather yelped in surprise as her pale green eyes met Astrid's storm-blue ones through the faint fire light from outside. "Take me to Helheim's Gate," Astrid ordered. Heather frowned and inspected the contents of the bag Astrid had thrown at her – she was startled to see that it contained the equipment she'd wanted to buy off Johan minutes previously.

"Astrid, what...?" she began, her dark eyebrows knitting together in confusion. Astrid sighed and interrupted.

"Look, I know how to stop this heat-wave, okay?" she explained quickly. Heather's frown deepened.

"You know how to stop it?" she repeated. "What even started it in the first place?" Despite asking the question, Heather already had a rough idea as to what might have happened – Astrid's answer only confirmed her worries.

"I don't know how, when or why but somehow Hiccup's got dragon and fire abilities," Astrid explained with a nervous grimace. "It was an accident – he got angry and kind of set this whole thing off." Heather's face turned fearful and even sad for a moment but she knew that Astrid had no recollection of the events of five years ago – at least, the memories she had were altered ones. She couldn't let her friend know.

"Fine," she grumbled, slumping back down on the sacks to go to sleep. "We leave at dawn." The trip would take about a day and a half with Nix so Heather wanted to be as rested as possible. There was one thing missing though. "Oh, and, uh, by the way, you forgot the scallops for Nix...OOF!" she grunted as another bag, this one clearly full of shellfish, landed squarely on her nose.

"Sorry!" Astrid winced before regaining her composure. "No – now. We leave now. Right now," she instructed before striding out of the hull to wait for Heather and the Changewing. Heather stared after the girl as Nix chomped on a scallop. Wow...Astrid really did suit the whole 'Chief's Right Hand' role.

/\

"H-YA!" Heather grunted as she kicked Nix into flight. The Changewing began speeding a few metres above the simmering landscape in front of the group heading towards Helheim's Gate. Heather was controlling Nix's flight whilst Astrid was sitting just behind her as the passenger. Heather's new equipment was strapped to Nix's saddle but the sled had been left in a safe cave not far from Johan's ship – for now it was too much to worry about.

"Hold tight, Astrid!" Heather called over the rush of the wind. "Nix and I like to travel fast."

"No problem!" Astrid called back with a slight grin on her face. "I like fast!" she added, holding her arm out as she playfully let the skirt and the cape of her new outfit billow backwards because of the speed. Heather didn't approve and slapped her arm down.

"Hey! Tuck your skirt in and put your arm down!" she snapped. "We're weighed down enough as it is! Seriously, don't you know anything about flying effectively?" she added in a huff. Astrid glared at her.

"Yes, I think I know a thing or two about flying," she growled, wishing that she still had Stormfly with her. She rearranged her headband slightly and tucked a few stray bangs behind her ear – whilst the head-band and her plait kept most of her hair out of the way there were always a few strands that flew into her eyes whilst flying.

"So, what turned Hiccup into a pyromaniac?" Heather asked as Nix shot across the solidified ocean. Astrid adjusted her new get-up slightly and fiddled with her headband again before answering.

"Well..." she trailed off momentarily. Oh, might as well be out with it. "Not gonna lie here. It was my fault," she admitted. "I mean, I got engaged during the coronation party but then Hiccup freaked out because I'd only just met the guy, you know, that day and he said that he wouldn't bless the marriage..."

"Wait a second," Heather interrupted with a frown on her face. "You got engaged?" Astrid made a face – yes, she'd just said that. "To a man you just met that day?" Heather added when Astrid confirmed this.

"Yes," Astrid huffed. "Anyway, I got mad so then Hiccup got mad like I've never him before and then I took his glove..." she rambled.

"Hold on!" Heather snapped, taking her attention off flying to turn around and stare at Astrid incredulously. "You mean to tell me that you got engaged to someone you just met THAT DAY?!"

"Yes, pay attention!" Astrid retorted, paying little heed to Heather's tone. "But you see, the thing is that Hiccup wore the gloves all the time so I thought: 'I don't know. Maybe he's just developed this thing about dirt...'..."

"What happened to you and Hiccup?" Heather cut across again, hardly listening. Astrid glared at her – not Heather too. How had anyone gotten the idea that she and Hiccup had ever been an item?

"We were never together," she growled. " Why do people keep asking me that?" Heather turned away and looked dejected.

"I overdid it..." she mumbled, barely loud enough for Astrid to hear.

"What was that?" Astrid snapped. Heather shook herself out of it.

"Nothing," she protested defensively. "But didn't your parents ever warn you about strangers?" Astrid made a confused face and crossed her arms. She hated it when her parents were brought up – she'd still hadn't quite gotten over losing them.

"Yes, they did and you know that," she muttered. Heather rolled her eyes – oh, she remembered, alright. Astrid's face quickly turned smug. "But Eret is not a stranger," she smirked.

"Really?" Heather scoffed dryly. "What's his last name?"

"Pfft! Please," Astrid snorted. "Son of Eret, of the Shivering Shores."

"Favourite food?"

"Sandwiches."

"Pets?"

"Speed Stinger called Sven."

"Best friend's name?"

"Probably Olaf."

"Eye colour?"

"Brown and dreamy," Astrid couldn't help but giggle to herself on that one. Heather wasn't finished.

"Foot size?" she asked slyly. Astrid glared cynically at the woman over her shoulder.

"Did you really just ask what I think you asked?" she grumbled. Heather ignored the question and bit back with another one.

"Have you had a meal with him yet?" she asked before continuing without waiting for an answer. "What if you hate the way he eats? What if you hate the way he picks his nose?"

"'Picks his nose'?" Astrid repeated incredulously.

"And eats it?" Heather added with a sly look. Astrid's defensive glare hardened.

"Excuse me, madam," she retorted. "He's the son of a chief."

The two women stared at each other for a second, Astrid with an irritated glare on her face and Heather with a smug smirk on hers.

"All Vikings do it," Heather shrugged.

"Eww!" Astrid winced before gathering herself. "Look, it doesn't matter, okay, Heather? It's true love!" she protested.

"Doesn't sound like true love to me," Heather remarked – she almost sounded sad. Astrid was too irritated to notice.

"Oh, what? Are you some kind of love expert all of a sudden?" she snapped. Heather paused before answering.

"Not quite but I've got friends and family who are pretty good," she noted.

"You have friends and family that are love experts?" Astrid scoffed. "Not buying it."

Nix suddenly stiffened in mid-flight – Astrid didn't notice but Heather, as the main flier, instantly picked up on her friend's distress and landed the Changewing to inspect the situation.

"Quiet!" she hissed at Astrid.

"No, really – I'd like to meet these..." Astrid began when Heather clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Stop talking!" Heather snapped as she stood up on the saddle and squinted against the orange hue surrounding the landscape. Astrid opened her mouth to speak again but Heather hushed her with a sharp hiss. The woman's pale green eyes flickered around for the source of Nix's distress and she soon found it when she spotted a blur come to a sudden halt and the orange light of the fire around them reflect on multiple pairs of yellow eyes.

"Nix, go!" Heather ordered, jumping back onto the saddle and snapping her dragon into flight – the movement was so sudden that Astrid nearly fell off.

"What is it?" Astrid yelled as she regained her balance and the blurs began moving again...right towards the trio.

"Wild Speed Stingers," Heather replied, not skipping a beat. Astrid suddenly wished that Eret was with them – no doubt he'd find a way to control these things. Nix was flying at full pelt but it wasn't quite enough to get very far ahead of the flightless dragons who were trying to down Nix at every opportunity. Astrid would have suggested flying higher but Heather's equipment was weighing them down so Nix was still very much in stinging range.

"What do we do?" Astrid asked as Heather grabbed her pickaxe.

"Just...try not to fall off and don't get stung," Heather replied, smacking a Speed Stinger over the head.

"But I want to help!" Astrid protested, reaching for anything that she could use as a weapon (idiotically, she'd left her axe back on Berk...she hated to admit it but she really hadn't thought this venture through) but Heather stopped her.

"I don't exactly trust your judgement right now!" she snapped.

"Excuse me?!" Astrid huffed back indignantly.

"What kind of girl marries a guy she just met?!" Heather pointed out, kicking a Speed Stinger away whilst hanging onto the side of the saddle. Her distraction gave Astrid enough time to grab Heather's lute.

"IT'S TRUE LOVE!" Astrid shrieked as Heather raised her head again, swinging the lute in Heather's direction. The raven-haired woman yelped and ducked out of the way but it turns out that Astrid had been aiming for a Speed Stinger Heather hadn't noticed anyway, clunking it on the head and sending it sprawling to the ground.

"Wow..." Heather blinked in surprise when a Speed Stinger grabbed her skirt in its jaws and pulled her from Nix's side – she was barely able to grab the dragon's tail in time. "WHOA!"

"HEATHER!" Astrid yelped, spinning around to help. Heather was kicking the Speed Stingers away with everything she had but she was dangerously close to getting stung.

"JUST KEEP YOUR EYES FORWARD!" Heather shrieked back. Astrid was less concerned with flying – Nix was smart enough to know not to head straight into a magma flare or anything like that. Thinking fast, Astrid pulled what looked like a staff of some kind from Heather's equipment time – most likely used for hiking. Pine. Easily replaceable. Hanging onto Nix's saddle, Astrid scrapped the staff along the ground until it caught an ember and was set on fire. Astrid then grabbed Heather's blanket from Nix's back and set it alight with her makeshift torch before throwing it and the staff at the Speed Stingers after Heather.

"DUCK!" she yelled. Heather yelped and quickly ducked as the blanket and the staff hit the Speed Stingers behind her and sent them tumbling to the floor. Needless to say, Heather wasn't overly impressed with Astrid's daring move.

"You almost set me on fire!" she snapped, pulling herself up Nix's tail and back onto the saddle.

"But I didn't," Astrid pointed out smugly. "Trust my judgement yet?" she asked when Nix staggered mid-flight. Astrid and Heather turned around to inspect the damage and saw that a Speed Stinger had caught Nix's tail which froze. "How come Nix isn't falling?"

"It takes more than one sting to down a Changewing," Heather explained but with Nix's tail out of action, they were in trouble. "Come on, girl! Faster!" she begged. Astrid shot her eyes forward and saw an outcrop which would serve as perfect refuge from Speed Stingers which couldn't climb terribly well. Without a second thought, Astrid slid down Nix's tail and prepared to help the dragon make a sharp upwards turn.

"Eyes forward, guys!" she called. Heather caught on and cut her remaining equipment from the saddle – it was a hindrance more than anything else and as long as she had some rope and her pickaxe she should be okay – it wasn't like her rock-harvesting business was doing terribly well now anyway plus getting to Hiccup to stop the heat-wave was more important.

"This had better work, Astrid!" Heather yelled back at her friend. The trio reached the bottom of the outcrop and the Speed Stingers were closing in – now or never. "PULL UP!" Heather screeched, yanking Nix's harness upwards as Astrid manoeuvred the tail to pull off the move. The Speed Stingers, going too fast to stop, crashed head-first into the column of stone as Heather, Astrid and Nix came to a relieved rest at the top. For a while the flightless dragons remained snapping hatefully up at their escaped prey whilst Astrid and Heather stared smugly down at them.

"They'll be off soon – it's gotta be nearly sunrise," Astrid remarked. Heather nodded in agreement before going to check on Nix whose tail was as stiff as an oak branch – it was clear that there was no way she'd be able to fly for at least a day. Astrid winced when she saw the damage. "Hey...uh...I'm sorry about Nix and...I'll replace your equipment," she offered.

"Don't worry about it," Heather replied simply. The expressionless tone made Astrid feel a bit unwanted.

"Listen...Heather, I...I'm really sorry," she sighed. "And...I understand if you don't want to help me anymore." There was no answer but Heather's face was steely. "I'll...go once the sun rises." Astrid headed over to the other edge of the outcrop to get her bearings whilst Heather slumped to the floor in an irritated huff. Nix narrowed her eyes in concern and cooed gently.

"Of course I don't want to help that girl anymore!" Heather muttered out of Astrid's hearing. "What's gotten into her, Nix? First this whole 'true love' business...when did Astrid ever believe in that stuff?"

"Well, you're the one who made the potion," Heather replied to herself in her 'Nix' voice.

"I get that," Heather huffed, ignoring Astrid muttering to herself in the background trying to find the direction to Helheim's Gate. "I didn't think I'd overdone it to the point of erasing her memories of her relationship with Hiccup and I most certainly did not expect it to do this!" She sighed and tucked her legs under her arms in frustration. "I can't help someone who's not themselves," she grumbled.

"But without a dragon or guide you know she'd probably die out there."

"It won't be on my head."

"But it's not gonna look good for you if she's dead."

Heather glared at her Changewing for a moment.

"Sometimes I really hate you," she growled. She noticed that the sun was now rising and Astrid was preparing to climb down the outcrop. "Hold up, Astrid!" Heather called. "We're coming!"

"You are?" Astrid called back, almost sounding surprised. She caught herself though and corrected her sentence as Nix bounded over happily. "I mean...sure! I'll let you tag along for now."

Heather chuckled. So the independent-spirited Astrid was still there.

Bonus Blooper:

Astrid: Eret is not a stranger.

Heather: Really? What's his last name?

Astrid: Pfft! Please. Son of Eret, of the Shor-vering...blah...

*beep beep*

Astrid: Son of Shore, of the...grr-ah!

*beep beep*

Me: Take 423...

Astrid: I'm gonna get it this time, I promise.

Heather: Don't worry.

Me: Actually, worry. I'm running out of film. And...Action!

Astrid: Eret is not a stranger.

Heather: Really? What's his last name?

Astrid: Pfft. Please. Shore of E...ARGH!

Have to say, I loved writing that scene between Heather and Astrid - somehow the idea of them having this kind of argument worked for me. And so the quest to find Hiccup really begins! 'Olaf' character to be introduced next chapter - small hint for you guys: this character has already made a very brief appearance. All shall be revealed on Wednesday as the full party comes together. See you guys Wednesday!