Astrid spent the night at the cheapest inn she could find. The villagers were much more likely to remember her if they thought she had gold, which was exactly what she didn't want. Besides, people were sure to talk and gossip in this kind of place, and she needed some information. The next morning, she went down to breakfast and casually joined a conversation with a bunch of ladies who apparently were the entertainment during the night. She didn't hear anything about Nemo, which didn't surprise her; he was obviously a man who kept to himself, or Viggo wouldn't have chosen him. That didn't deter her, however; there had to be a way in. Everybody had one.

After some time, she excused herself and walked around the village for the rest of the day, buying a few supplies, and chatting with as many people as she could. Most of them knew plenty of details about their neighbours' lives, but nobody had any idea of what Nemo did. She was considering going back to the inn and continuing tomorrow, when she overheard a woman speaking to a sailor.

"So how's Gayle doing?" the man asked, and the woman scoffed.

"Still with her head in the clouds, I'm afraid. She thinks I don't notice the little glances she throws when we walk past Nemo's hut. I've told her there's no future for her there, but she doesn't listen..."

Astrid had heard enough. She committed their faces to memory and then went to lean casually against a wall, pretending to be busy. When the woman walked past, she quickly snatched a handkerchief she had hanging from her pocket. After ensuring nobody had noticed, she went back to the inn. The following day, she walked to the port and found the sailor that had been speaking to the woman.

"Excuse me", she began. He looked at her curiously. "I saw you speaking to a woman yesterday evening, a brunette? She had this..." She showed him the handkerchief, and the man's face brightened.

"Oh, yes, Nairi! That's hers, where did you find it?"

"She dropped it yesterday when she was leaving. I saw it but there were a lot of people blocking my way and I couldn't warn her. Could you tell me where she lives so I can give it back?"

"Of course!" Once she got directions, she thanked the sailor and promptly set off, finding the house easily enough. It looked pretty beaten up; some planks were torn off, and scratches could be seen on the wood that did remain. A poor family, then. She knocked on the door, but nobody answered. She knocked again, and this time a young woman opened. Obviously this was Gayle; she was the spitting image of her mother.

"Hello?" she said uncertainly.

"Hello", Astrid replied with a charming smile. "Is your mother home?"

"Uh, no. Who's asking?" It didn't escape her notice that Gayle gripped the door tighter. She seemed almost scared.

"Your mother dropped this, and I wanted to return it to her." She showed the handkerchief, and almost immediately the girl relaxed. Astrid deduced she was probably used to unknown people meaning bad news in her house.

"Yes, it is hers. Thank you."

They talked a bit more, and the girl ended up showing Astrid around the house. From what she could see, it was clear that this family struggled to survive. Gayle confirmed this when she mentioned that her father had died with a lot of unpaid debts.

"We often get people who want their gold back. Sometimes we have it. Sometimes..." the girl trailed off and shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Sorry to bother you with this."

Astrid smiled. So her theory at the door had been correct. "Don't worry about it."

While she walked out of the house, a plan was already forming in her head. She knew exactly how to get Nemo to cooperate with her. It would involve moving a few assets here and there, but nothing too complicated. And Hiccup's skills could also be used, she decided.

"Rise and shine, bitch."

Heather blinked awake slowly, as one of the hunters slammed the bars of her cell with a metal rod, producing a loud noise. At first, when they did that, she'd wake up with a start, but after all the times she'd heard it, she'd grown used to it. She had no idea of how long had passed since she'd been captured. At least a few weeks, probably more than a month. Enough time that Astrid had probably already started looking for her. The question was, would she find her?

The guard tossed a piece of bread into her cell. She waited until he was gone before tearing into it. Starving her, it seemed, was the newest way they'd found to try and break her. From the moment they'd first caught her alone, they had attempted several ways to get information from her. The man in charge of this particular hunter establishment loved brutality, and seemed to take it as a challenge. She'd suffered through various forms of physical punishment, from simple punching and kicking to whipping. She had expected rape to come up, but apparently the general (or whatever his rank was) didn't consider it bloody enough, which was a relief to her.

She had been lucky, she guessed, that Windshear hadn't been with her when she'd been caught. Of course, the dragon was captured later while looking for her rider, but the hunters didn't think that they were together. If they had, then they would have tortured Windshear to get her to talk. And as much as Heather was loyal to Astrid, she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep quiet if her dragon was harmed. She'd rather not be forced to choose between them.

Windshear was also the reason why Heather hadn't escaped yet. There had been plenty of occasions for her to do so, when her guards were careless, but there was no way she was leaving her dragon alone. She had to free her as well, and she didn't know where the dragons were kept. So she waited, hoping that someone would slip up and reveal that detail to her. She could take the torture. What she couldn't take was the idea of Windshear scared and alone.

Another way in which she'd been fortunate was that nobody among the hunters thought she was very important. They wanted to know on whose behalf she was working, but that was it. It probably never occurred to them that she was on the side of their boss' most dangerous foe. Had they known, they probably would've brought her before Viggo Grimborn himself, and if he recognised her, he would use her as bait. She hated the idea of becoming a liability for Astrid, who she considered a sister. However, that hadn't happened, so she could simply bide her time.

"I see you're done", the guard that had dropped her breakfast spoke, and she looked up. She hadn't noticed him coming. "That's good. The captain will see you now."

A sadistic smile spread through his face. She kept her expression neutral as she was dragged towards the torture chamber. Soon, she told herself. She'd get back at them all soon.

Stoick looked around at the trampled patches of grass and circles of rocks that littered the ground. This had definitely been a camping site, and a huge one at that. So why would all the people here leave? And more importantly, why had Hiccup come here?

When he'd left Berk with Skullcrusher, four days had passed since his son's troubles began. By the time they got near Meathead Island again, it had been almost a week, and Hiccup's scent was nearly gone. His dragon had often been confused by the smells, and it took a lot of guessing for him to find the right track. They'd first ended up at a lonely island with no signs of being inhabited. However, it seemed his son had stayed the night, because the trail got stronger, or at least Skullcrusher appeared more confident. They had then followed the scent to the island they were at now. Stoick had meant to leave immediately, but due to all the different people that had apparently been here, his son's scent was lost among all the others. All he could do, then, was try to investigate this island.

If Hiccup had been here, and probably the Hofferson girl as well, then this was likely a camp where the people who worked for her lived. It made sense that she'd brought him here, then. Perhaps they'd left because they thought he, or someone else, might come after them. In any case, he wouldn't find Hiccup like this. He'd have to start looking around the islands, questioning people, and avoiding the other chiefs who were probably doing the same.

It would be difficult, but that didn't matter. Getting Hiccup back safely was worth it.

"You want me to what?"

Astrid grinned. "You heard me perfectly well. Make the prettiest axe you can."

Hiccup snorted. "I can think of several things that are more important for an axe than being pretty. And who would it be for?"

"You'll see."

"Oh, so I have to work and I don't even know why I'm doing it?"

"What, you thought I was doing all this for you for free?" Hiccup raised his eyebrows, and she laughed. "I'm kidding. But seriously, I will let you see. You can even bring the axe to the person herself, if you want. Honestly, I want to see your face."

That confused him. "My face?"

"Yes, when you figure out why you did it."

He sighed. Really, he should've seen it coming. "I'm just wondering how giving an axe to someone is going to help me prove I'm innocent. Are we trying to get in someone's good graces?"

"You could say that. It's not to help with your problem, though, at least not directly. More of an attack to strike Grimborn where it hurts him the most."

"Gold?" he guessed, and she nodded.

"It won't actually help you, but while I figure out a way to get to him, it's a good idea to try to weaken him."

"All right. So I have to make an axe. Do I at least get some materials?"

"Of course. We even have a few old axes, I think. Maybe you could work on one of those. It might save some time."

"And I have to make it pretty."

Astrid grinned. "You think it's ridiculous now, but you'll see later. I promise."

Hiccup didn't say anything else. It would be pointless, he knew, and the sooner he got to work, the sooner he'd know. Although he couldn't understand why anyone would favour a weapon's appearance over its usefulness. He went over to the forge, where Gerd was working on something, and rummaged through the old weapons. After a bit of searching, he found a suitable axe and began repairing the head.

While he worked, he thought about his situation, something he often did. The past few days, staying here in the camp, hadn't been so bad. Hiccup would've expected the people who worked for a criminal to be more hostile, at least towards strangers, but that hadn't been the case at all. He probably should've learned that, with Astrid, nothing was ever as it seemed. Everyone had been accepting of him, treating him kindly and showing him around the place. Nobody knew what his connection to Astrid actually was, but that didn't seem to matter. He'd spent a lot of time with Einar, teaching him about Toothless and talking about dragons in general. He'd also worked at the forge a few times with Gerd, the blacksmith. Although the man's manner was rather brusque and almost rude, he was excellent at his craft and seemed to like Hiccup well enough. Or at least he appreciated his abilities.

When he spent time with these people, who were no different from Berk's villagers, it was hard to imagine that, if any of them were to get captured by his father or one of the other chiefs, they'd be arrested and thrown in a dungeon. They weren't the brainless, cruel men that Dagur or Drago had employed; they were regular people, working for a criminal. And not one of them seemed to be troubled by it. From what he could gleam, they thought Astrid was a fair boss. They were aware of the illegal nature of her activities, but since she never stole from poor people or killed innocents, they didn't think it was such an immoral business. Like Astrid had said, it was a completely different world, one where things weren't so black and white. And it was clashing with his own world, challenging his own views, making him realise that what he'd always considered set in stone was not necessarily so. That maybe Midgard wasn't divided in good and bad people, like he'd always believed. It was unsettling, to have so much of the foundation of his world just thrown out the window.

With all these thoughts running through his head, he could almost forget that a lot of his former allies were hunting him. However, he remembered it every night when he went to sleep in his tent by Toothless' side. That was when he wished Astrid would come with some news, maybe that she'd figured out a way to help him.

Apparently that's what she was going to do now, with a decorated axe of all things. He was done with the blade, so he stopped to ponder what kind of designs he could carve onto the handle. Gerd, who'd spoken with Astrid, had told him that all their resources were available to him, so he wanted to do his best. He drew a few designs on a piece of parchment, all of them dragons. He was trying to decide which one he liked most, when Astrid's sudden voice beside him made him jump.

"I like that one. Is that a Nadder?"

Hiccup almost dropped the parchment. Glaring at her, he picked it up.

"Can you not do that?"

She grinned. "What's the big deal? You weren't handling anything dangerous."

"If my heart stops and I die, it's on you."

"Fine, so noted. So is that a Nadder?" she pointed at the paper.

"Sort of. I was considering which one to use."

"And dragons is your theme. Which shouldn't be surprising. Hey, Gerd, come here!" she called over her shoulder. The old blacksmith went to them.

"Yes, Hofferson?" His respectful tone was reserved only for her, it seemed.

"If you had to give a lady an axe to get her attention, which of these would you put in it?" She held the parchment to him, and the man looked at it for some time.

"Is this Stormfly? I like this one", he said at last. Astrid smiled.

"It's decided, then. Use the Nadder."

"Very well", Hiccup replied and grabbed the axe. He noticed Astrid eyeing it.

"What?"

"Nothing, I remember the state that axe was in. Nice job."

Hiccup snorted. "Your confidence in my abilities is inspiring, Astrid. Truly. I was the blacksmith's apprentice, you know. For years."

"I know, I know. Learn to take a compliment, for Thor's sake." She rolled her eyes.

"Hard to do when you never got any the first fifteen years of your life", he deadpanned without thinking, and then flinched. He hadn't meant to say something so personal, least of all with Gerd hearing every word. Astrid's face fell. She stared at him for a moment, and when she spoke again, her voice was much softer.

"I'll leave you to it, then. Bye." And as she walked past, he could've sworn he felt her hand on his shoulder for a second.

A/N: I know it's kinda late, but happy Easter! :P You all said last chapter that the different POVs weren't hard to follow, but if you're confused, just tell me and I'll make it clear.