Hiccup and the gang managed to get out of the desert thanks to the Sandbenders, but the moment they left Valka parted ways with them. Said that the journey was for youngsters and that her age would only slow them down.

They were currently relaxing in a nearby stream as they began to plan their journey to Meridian. Fortunately Valka left them all the scrolls she took from the library and Fishlegs was deciphering them as they spoke.

"Waterbending bomb!" Heather cried as she jumped off the cliff.

She then rolled herself into a ball and slammed into the water creating a massive tundra. Everyone laughed, except for Fishlegs, who was now holding soggy scrolls and parchments.

"These maps of 5000 years old, can you treat them with a bit more respect?" Fishlegs asked.

"Sorry," said Heather apologetically as she rinsed her hair out.

She then used her Waterbending to remove the water from the scrolls.

"So have you found what route were going to take?" Hiccup asked as they surrounded Fishlegs.

"Okay we just got out of the desert, so we must be around here," said Fishlegs pointing at the map. "And we need to go to Meridian which is here. It looks like the only passage connecting the South to the North is this sliver land called the Scauldron's Pass."

"You sure that's the best way to go?" Ragnar asked dubiously.

"It's the only way," said Fishlegs.

"And it's not like that we have are dragons to fly us there," Snotlout added.

Astrid immediately punched him on the shoulder. "Can't you at least try to be sensitive?"

Everyone knew that Hiccup was still taking a loss of Toothless hard.

"It's okay," Hiccup assured. "I know I overreacted and while we were in the desert, but the sooner we get to Meridian the sooner we can find our dragons. Not to mention we can also inform the Earth King about the solar eclipse."

"It's a shame that Valka isn't coming with us," said Heather regretfully.

Astrid nodded. "You heard her, she didn't want to slow us down. Besides she said that she had other business to attend to."

"I wonder what she was talking about?" Ragnar asked folding his arms.

"Either way we should get to Meridian as soon as possible," said Fishlegs as he grabbed their maps.

"Hello there fellow refugees!" said a voice.

They turned and saw a man standing with the pregnant woman, who looked to be his wife and a young girl. The man introduced himself as Gabe and looks quite chipper.

"I take it that you're heading to Meridian as well," Hiccup assumed.

"Sure are," the man nodded. And then began to rub his wife's pregnant stomach. "We are trying to get there before my wife, Cajsa has her baby.

"Great, we can travel through Scauldron's Pass together," said Heather.

Immediately the refugees cringed at the name.

"Scauldron's Pass," Cajsa gasped. "Only the truly desperate take that deadly rout."

"Deadly rout? Is going Fishface," said Snotlout narrowing his eyes at Fishlegs.

"In fairness we are quite desperate," Ragnar reminded.

"You should come with us to Fullmoon Bay," Gabe suggested. "Fairies take refugees across the lake, it's the fastest way to Meridian."

"And it's hidden," Cajsa added. "So the Empire cannot find it."

"Looks like were taking the ferry," said Astrid.


They follow the refugees to Fullmoon Bay and indeed they found many ferries and a lot of refugees as well. The port was buried inside a mountain and the only way to access it was by Earthbending, once they were inside the just at the number of refugees.

"I can't believe how many people's lives have been uprooted by the Empire," Heather stared.

"We are all looking for a better life," said Gabe. "Safe behind the walls of Meridian."


One of these ferries was already leaving and on-board it were Eret and Bjorn.

"Who would have thought after all these years, I would return to the scene of my greatest military disgrace as a tourist," said Bjorn.

Eret wasn't particularly happy. "Look around, we're not tourists. We're refugees." He then began to take a sip of his food, but spat it out at once. "I'm sick of eating rotten food. Sleeping in the dirt, I'm tired of living like this."

"Aren't we all," said a voice.

Eret turned and saw a young man almost his age looking at them with a grain of wheat in his mouth.

"My name is Jet," he said. He then gestured to his two companions, a young roguish girl and an archer with a solemn look. "And these are my Freedom Fighters. Smellerbee and Longshot."

"Hey," said Smellerbee.

Longshot nodded respectfully.

"Hello," said Eret and then turns attention back onto the lake.

"Here's the deal," said Jet as he approached him. "I hear the captain is eating like a king while us refugees have to feed off his scraps. Doesn't seem fair does it?"

"What sort of King is he eating like?" Bjorn asked.

"The fat happy kind."

Bjorn's mouth then began to water at the very notion of that.

"You want to help us… liberate, some food?" Jet asked.

Eret looked at the slop in his bowl and then tossed it into the lake. "I'm in."

Jet smiled.


Meanwhile Hiccup and the others were getting tickets for the ferry, but that proved not to be an easy task.

"I told you already!" the clerk snapped. "No vegetables on the ferry, one cabbage slug can destroy the entire ecosystem of Meridian! Security!"

The refugee turned out to be the cabbage salesman that Hiccup and the others keep on running into. They watch as the cabbage salesman watched in horror as a large bear began smashing his cabbages to pieces.

"My cabbages!" he cried.

The security guards then dragged him away.

"Next!" said the clerk.

Hiccup then step forward. "Seven tickets to Meridian."

"Passports," the clerk demanded.

"No one told us we had our passports," said Hiccup.

Astrid then stepped forward. "Don't you know who this is? He's the Avatar."

"Argh, I see 50 Avatar's a day," the clerk grumbled. "And by the way not a very impressive costume."

She then pointed her quill to a group of people that were disguised, very poorly, as Hiccup.

"Now unless you have passports get out," said the clerk narrowing her eyes. "Or do I need to call security."

Hiccup's eyes immediately turned towards the bear, who looked very hungry.

"That will be necessary," said Hiccup.

"Next!" the clerk demanded.

"I'll take care of this," said Snotlout approaching the desk. He then immediately pulled out a piece of paper which bears his family seal. "My name is Snotlout Jorgenson and I need eight tickets."

The clerk's eyes widened upon looking at the seal. "The golden seal the Jorgensons. It is my pleasure to help anyone of the Noble House of Jorgenson."

"I bet you are," Snotlout muttered. "Now as you probably heard my home is now under Empire occupation. As a result I need protection, but I am being hunted by the Empire and I hired the best."

Snotlout immediately gestured towards Hiccup and the others, who immediately stood at attention. Unfortunately the twins were that moment were busy fighting one another.

"And those two?" the clerk asked suspiciously.

"They're my jesters," said Snotlout. "One must have some sort of amusement along the road."

The clerk frowned. "Well normally it's one ticket per passport, that this document is so official I guess that it's worth eight tickets."

She then immediately began stamping eight tickets and Snotlout took them.

"Thank you very much," he said.

"Nice work," said Hiccup as Snotlout handed them their tickets.

"Now all we have to do is wait for the ferry," said Astrid.


They decided to pass the time by going on the battlements and observing the ferries as they left one by one.

"We're very close to Meridian now," said Ragnar as he meditated. "I don't suppose anyone got any idea how we confront the Earth King?"

"I'm sure he'll listen to the Avatar," said Astrid.

Hiccup frowned. "I don't want to use the Avatar card very often."

"It's always worked… well until today," said Snotlout.

"Let's just get to Meridian first, then we can worry about how we contact the King," Heather advised.

"Avatar Hiccup!" a panicked female voice cried.

They immediately looked down and saw Gabe and Cajsa looking up at them with panicked faces.

"You have to help us," Cajsa pleaded. "Someone took all our belongings, our passports, our tickets. Everything is gone."

"I'll talk to the clerk for you," Hiccup promised.


Unfortunately the clerk was very strict and she wouldn't budge an inch, she wouldn't even allow Hiccup to give them their tickets.

Hiccup made his way back to the couple. "Don't worry, we'll get into the city safely. Our lead you through Scauldron's Pass."


They soon reached Scauldron's Pass which was a thin piece of land connecting the south side of the lake to the north side.

"Why did they call it Scauldron's Pass?" Snotlout frowned. "It looks nothing like a Scauldron."

"More likely because this place is indigenous to Scauldrons," Ragnar assumed.

"Lovely," Astrid sighed.

Cajsa then approached the notice on the entrance. "Look at this writing, how awful."

"What does it say?" Fishlegs asked.

Heather then approached it and read it out loud. "'It says abandon hope.'"

"Well, that's cheery," said Snotlout.

"How can we abandon hope? That's all we have," Cajsa cried as she sank her head into a husband's shoulders.

"If we abandon hope or not, it doesn't change the fact that we need to focus on crossing this path," said Hiccup as he crossed the entrance.


Soon they began making their way along the track, unfortunately the power took them on the western side of the pass.

"The Empire controls the Western Lake," Astrid informed them. "Rumour has it, they are working on something big on the other side and they don't want anyone to find out what it is."

They turned and indeed they saw Fire Empire Navy vessel sailing across the water. Thankfully they were pretty high up so the crew weren't able to see them, but then a piece of rock gave way just as Gabe placed his foot on it. He would have fallen to his death if Snotlout hadn't created a platform for him to land on he then slammed his foot on the ground and launched Gabe onto the path.

"I'm okay," he assured his wife.

Unfortunately the rock that gave way for the attention of the Navy vessel and they didn't waste any time preparing trebuchets.

"They spotted us!" Ragnar yelled.

Ragnar then quickly propelled himself into the air and knocked back the flaming boulder with his staff. The flaming boulder then struck the Navy vessel setting it on fire, but that didn't stop the crew from firing another one.

This time it actually hit the rock face causing a landslide, Hiccup quickly tried to destroy several boulders with his Firebending, but they were just too many of them. Snotlout, managed to stop the landslide by creating a barrier over them.

With that done the continued running down the path in order to get out of sight of the Navy vessel and Ragnar quickly followed them on his glider.


They hiked quite a distance, but it was getting late and so they made camp on one of the peaks on the trail. Thanks to the rock formations they were completely hidden from both sides of the cliff, meaning the Empire could not see them.

Gabe tended to Cajsa, whose feet were sore and everyone else was getting their blankets out.

"Hopefully will be able to get to the other side by morning," said Fishlegs looking at the map.

Hiccup frowned. "I still don't know what makes this place so dangerous. I mean we only had one bad stumble and that was just sheer dumb luck."

Astrid agreed. "It is strange."

"Let's just take this journey one step at a time," Ragnar suggested. "We still have a long trek ahead of us."


Meanwhile on the ferry, Eret was a board he and Jet were putting their plan to steal from the storehouse and motion. He, Jet and Smellerbee snuck past the lookouts and made their way to the food storage room.

Eret and Jet made their way to the food storage room while Smellerbee held back to remain as lookout. Jet then stabbed the hilt of his blade into the door and with a quick turn he was able to open it.

Immediately the two of them entered inside and Jet sliced some chickens off the rack. Eret found some bowls of food and then sacked them on top of one another with his blades skilfully. He then tied the bowls together with a ribbon and Jet smiled impressed with his skills.

"Guard coming," Smellerbee warned.

Immediately there was of this food storage room met up with Smellerbee towards the edge of the deck. On the lower deck was Longshot, who fired an arrow with a rope tied to it, and it landed on the beam. They then slammed the food down and skidded down the rope themselves, Longshot then pulled the rope back before the guard turned round the corner leaving him none the wiser.


Meanwhile at the campsite, Hiccup was looking out over the lake on the edge of the cliff and soon Astrid went to join him.

"You're thinking about, Toothless, right?" Astrid assumed.

Hiccup sighed. "I'm that obvious?"

Astrid shrugged. "It's okay, I'm worried about Stormfly as well." She then looked at him. "What I don't understand is what you're trying to hide your emotions, back in the desert or you could think about was rescuing Toothless and the others."

"And I lost my temper in the process," Hiccup added. "I snapped at everyone, even you when you were trying to keep everyone together. That is supposed to be my job."

Astrid then placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You were emotionally upset, there's no need to blame yourself."

Hiccup then walked off. "I appreciate your concern Astrid."

Astrid sighed.


Meanwhile on the ferry, Jet was distributing all the food they managed to steal from the storage room.

Bjorn looked at Smellerbee. "So, Smellerbee. That is an unusual name for a young man."

Smellerbee narrowed her eyes. "Maybe that's because I'm not a man, I'm a girl!"

She then got to her feet and walked off in a huff.

"Oh, now I see! It's a beautiful name for a lovely girl!" Bjorn yelled apologetically.

Longshot got to his feet and stopped her and gave her forceful look.

"I know," Smellerbee sighed. "You're right. As long as I'm confident with who I am, it doesn't matter what other people think. Thanks, Longshot."

Longshot merely nodded.

Jet then went to join Eret and Bjorn. "From what I heard, people eat like this every night in Meridian. I can't wait to set my eyes on that giant wall."

Bjorn nodded. "It is a magnificent site."

Eret looked at him. "So, you've been there before?"

"Once… when I was a different man," Bjorn sighed.

"I've done some things in my past that I'm not proud of," said Eret looking at the two of them. "But that is why I'm going to Meridian, for a new beginning. A second chance."

"That is very noble of you," said Bjorn. "I believe people can change their lives if they want to, I believe in second chances."

They then continue to eat their meal in silences.


The next morning, Hiccup and the rest of his party were continuing the long trek across the path, unfortunately as the path dipped it immediately came to an end. The rest of the path was covered in water and there was no telling how deep it was.

Heather immediately stepped forward. "Everyone in single file," she ordered.

Everyone then stood behind Heather and then she began to part the water with her Waterbending. Hiccup remained behind so that he could bend the water behind them to make sure that it did not in case them.

As they were walking down the path they could see fish swimming outside of their protective bubble. However, they then saw a dark shadow within the water.

"What is that thing?" Heather gasped.

Suddenly shooting out of the water was a very large Scauldron and that broke both Hiccup and Heather's concentration. Thankfully, Snotlout acted almost immediately and raised the rock they were standing on to the surface.

Now that they were in fresh air they could see the movement of the Scauldron swimming through the water and it was beginning to surround them. Its head and immediately submerged from the water and it roared at them loudly.

"At Titan Winged Scauldron?" Fishlegs gasped. "I've never seen one before."

"And you might not ever again if we don't get out of this alive!" Snotlout yelled at him.

He then immediately began to pounce on them, but Ragnar immediately swatted aside with his staff.

He then looked at the others. "I'll distract it, Hiccup, you and Heather get everyone across," said Ragnar as he activated his glider.

He then immediately took off just as the Scauldron tried to take a bite out of him. Immediately Hiccup and Heather began to freeze the water to create a pathway all the way to the other side. Immediately they all walked upon it and made their way as quickly as they could to the other side.

Heather then immediately jumped into the water and froze the water beneath her and use our bending to propel herself towards the Scauldron that was trying to bite Ragnar. Hiccup did the same with his Firebending preparing himself up into the air with fire exiting from both his feet and hands.

Ragnar was flying around the Scauldron and probably would have beaten him whole if Hiccup had not launched a fireball last directly at its cheek. In the confusion Heather skidded over towards it and used her bending to freeze the water in case in its stomach in ice. However, it proved too strong and easily smashed through the ice in an instant and then began to follow her.

Hiccup and Ragnar then landed on the water and began running around in a circle and Heather did the same. Together the three of them then created a powerful whirlpool that ensnared the Scauldron and it spun so fast they exited out of it and slammed its head against the cliffs. The beast clearly had enough and immediately surround away, with possibly the worst headache in history.

Ragnar then immediately jumped into the air and activated his glider and Heather immediately grabbed hold of him. They then began to fly back towards the cliff with Hiccup in tow preparing himself with his flames and they all landed on the cliff and everyone cheered.


Eventually they managed to exit the pathway, all them completely exhausted from the journey.

"There's the wall!" Fishlegs cried.

Everyone looked up and indeed saw the great wall Meridian, it had to be a good 400 feet tall and it spread across the landscape as far as the eye could see.

"Guess now it's nothing but smooth sailing to Meridian," said Snotlout.

Cajsa then gasped immediately clutched her stomach. "Oh no."

"You had to say it," Ragnar groaned.

"What's wrong?" Snotlout asked.

"The baby is coming," Cajsa panicked.

"What?" Snotlout stared. "Now! Can't you hold it in or something?"

Heather approached him. "Snotlout, calm down. I helped my grandmother lots of babies came home."

"Yeah, arctic seals," said Tuffnut.

"Yeah, it's a real human… thing," said Ruffnut.

"It's called a baby," said Heather narrowed her eyes. "And I hope my grandmother plenty of those too." She then looked at all them. "Hiccup, get some rags. Ragnar I need water. Snotlout, I need you to make an earth tent… a big one."

Snotlout step forward and immediately created a large earth tent around Gabe and Cajsa.

Heather immediately approached the entrance and looked at Astrid. "Astrid come with me."

Astrid nodded and followed her inside leaving the others to guard the entrance.


Meanwhile on the ferry, Eret was standing at the front of the ship and Jet went to join him.

"You know the soon as I saw your face, I knew exactly who you were," said Jet. Eret for moment was concerned that Jet knew who he really was. "You're an outcast, like me. And outcasts like us have to stick together, we have to watch each other's backs, because no one else will."

"I've realised lately that being on your own isn't the best path," said Eret.

Then soon coming into view was the great wall Meridian.


Meanwhile Heather was assisting Cajsa were delivering the baby, Gabe and Young woman travelling with them grabbed her hands as she panted heavily.

"You're doing great, Cajsa," said Heather encouragingly. "Will someone give me that water!" She then turned her attention back onto Cajsa. "Now get ready to push… one… two… three… Push!"

Snotlout chose that moment to emerge with the water and he immediately fainted.


Several hours passed as Hiccup and the rest of the boys and Ruffnut waited outside. They then heard the cries of a baby and knew that it was all over.

"It's a girl," Heather smiled.

Ragnar looked at Snotlout with a smirk. "So… you want to go see the baby or do you want to paint again?"

"No, I'm good this time," said Snotlout getting to his feet.

"Well, I want to see the baby," said Fishlegs excitedly and immediately entered the tent before anyone else.

Astrid then emerged and looked at Hiccup, who remained outside. "Hiccup… you have to come see this."

Hiccup knew there was no arguing and got to his feet, he then made his way inside and saw Cajsa holding her new daughter in her arms.

"She sounds healthy," Ragnar smiled.

"She's beautiful," Heather smiled.

"It's so squishy looking," said Snotlout looking appalled at the sight.

"What does she do?" Tuffnut asked.

Hiccup's eyes fell upon the baby and a smile appeared on his face.

"What should we name her?" Gabe asked.

"I want our daughter's name to be unique, I want it to mean something," said Cajsa.

Tears immediately appeared in Hiccup's eyes and he brushed them off with his sleeve. "I've been going through a really hard time lately, but you've made me hopeful again."

Cajsa then looked at her husband. "I know what I want to name our baby now. Hope."

"That's a perfect name," Gabe smiled. "Hope."


Everyone decided to wait for Cajsa to get her strength back and Hiccup pulled Astrid aside.

"I thought I was trying to be strong, but really I was just running away from my feelings," Hiccup admitted. "Seeing this family together… so full of happiness and love… it's reminded me how much I feel about Toothless, my Dad and my Mum." He then looked directly at her. "And how I feel about you."

Tears then began to form in Astrid's eyes and immediately the two of them had one another.

Hiccup then looked at Ragnar and he nodded handing Hiccup his staff. "I'll try and find our dragons as soon as I can. I really have to do this."

"Then we'll meet you in the big city," said Ragnar.

"Make sure you bring back my, Meatlug," Fishlegs pleaded.

Heather placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "If anyone can find them it's you, Hiccup."

"I know," Hiccup nodded.

Hiccup then immediately activated the glider and took off into the air and in no time at all he reached the great wall and began flying up it. However no sooner had he got onto the battlements that something caught his eye and fear began to seep in.

Heading towards the wall was a giant drill bearing the Empire insignia and riding beside it as an escort were several Fire Empire tanks. The Empire was attempting to break through Meridian and judging from the size of that drill, they might very well succeed.

Hiccup sighed. "I'm sorry, Bud. You'll just have to wait."