Chapter 21 here :) This chapter jumps ahead to when Dagny is four years old, this is when she starts showing some more individuality, her adventure has only just started, can you guess what'll happen next? :) Enjoy :)

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Chapter 21

Braiding

"Where are you, little one?" Hicca called out in a sing-song voice.

Just behind the chief's house, where the edge of the forest met the edge of the village, Hicca was playing with her daughter. It was a nice day today, so Dagur had moved a desk outside so that he could do his work while watching his family play. Hicca and Shrieker were playing Hide-and -Seek with their daughters, while Toothless sat with Dagur and watched as the Berserker chief looked over the records for the new dragons.

Every time the sound of giggling reached his ears, Dagur would look up from his work and chuckle at the sight of his wife and daughter.

Hicca and Shrieker pretended to look for Dagny and Spark as the two little ones hid under Dagur's desk, it seemed that even though she was very bright for a four year old, Dagny didn't seem to grasp that she couldn't hide herself and a small dragon behind a table leg.

"It really is strange Shrieker, it's like they just disappeared into thin air," Hicca said to the dragon.

Shrieker just rolled her eyes and gurgled in response, which caused Hicca to chuckle. "Well, I guess there is one place we haven't checked yet," she said with a smirk.

Hicca heard another quiet giggle from under the table and slowly bent down to see underneath. Dagny was now sitting on the ground next to Spark, one of her arms thrown over her eyes and the other covering the young dragons yellow eyes.

It was an interesting approach, and Hicca took a small moment to watch her daughter. It was funny that Dagny failed to realise, just because she couldn't see her mother, didn't mean the reveres was the same. But Hicca also found it interesting that Dagny shielded Spark at the same time, these two had grown up together, they really were great friends.

Hicca smiled, then she threw her hands towards Dagny, "There you are!"

Dagny gave a squeal and tried to run, but Hicca picked her up and brought her out from under the table, then she held her daughter high in the air as she stood up straight. At the same time, Shrieker leapt forwards and nuzzled Spark's soft underbelly, tickling her mercilessly and drawing tiny roars and yelps from the small Skrill.

"Again! Again!" Dagny yelled in her loud childish voice, her small arms reached out to her mother. Spark wriggled out from underneath Shrieker, and ran around Hicca's legs, obviously wanting to play some more.

Hicca bent her arms and brought Dagny closer to her, it was hard to think that her daughter was already four years old.

At her age, Dagny spent a lot of time exploring and playing with Spark and Doglegs. She was already showing artistic talents, and loved making as much noise as possible. Another habit of hers, was hiding from her three grandfathers, giving Stoick, Gobber and Harold several heart attacks along the way.

Dagny's appearance had definitely changed as she'd grown. Her hair now reached just above her shoulders and was a gorgeous red colour, her eyes were like large shining emeralds, and her smile could melt anyone's heart. Her clothes consisted of a blue long sleeve tunic with green trim, dark grey leggings, and brown fur boots that were a little too big for her.

Dagur and Hicca loved these small family moments between the three of them and their dragons, but since they were chiefs, the peace and quiet couldn't last long.

"Hicca!"

"Dagur!"

The two turned to see Tuffnut and Ruffnut running up the hill towards them, they were both covered in soot from the forge, but they didn't looked worried or concerned, they looked very excited.

"We finally figured it out!" They both yelled once they were close enough to Hicca and Dagur. Hicca watched them cautiously, while Dagny just giggled at the sight of the two frazzled and messy looking twins.

"Figured what out?" Dagur asked as he stood from his desk.

"Okay, so we were at the forge testing weapons," Ruffnut started.

"And we were just talking randomly, about things and people," Tuffnut said.

"Eventually we started talking about Doglegs."

"We realised that since he's Fishlegs and Ruff's kid."

"He'll definitely be a Hooligan."

"Right..." Hicca and Dagur said, only just following the back-and-forth conversation between the twins.

"But Dagny here is going to be something completely different," Ruffnut started again.

"What do you mean?" Hicca asked curiously.

"Well, you're obviously a Hooligan," Tuffnut said gesturing to Hicca.

"But Dagur is a Berserker," Ruffnut said pointing to Dagur.

"Which means Dagny will be a mix of the two," They both said together.

Dagny didn't quite understand the entire conversation, but she did recognise her name amongst the larger words. "What's zat?" She asked curiously.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut looked at each other excitedly, then they faced the two chiefs again.

"A Berserk Hooligan!"

There was a pause for a moment. Neither Hicca nor Dagur knew how to react to such a thing. In the end it was Dagny who spoke up, "What's a Buzzer Hooliga?"

Ruffnut just giggled in response, "That's you, little one." She tickled Dagny under the chin, making her giggle.

Dagur thought for a moment then he chuckled to himself, "I like the sound of that, out daughter will be the first of her kind."

Hicca nodded, "it does sound impressive, if a little strange."

"That's what makes it so great, she'll be just like you two," Tuffnut shouted happily.

Hicca couldn't help but laugh at the twins behaviour, while the dragons just watched them curiously. She looked down at Dagny in her arms, and thought for a moment.

Many years ago, Dagur and Hicca had agreed that their relationship was a weird one, the things they accomplished and their methods were far outside the norm. It made sense that with parents like them, their daughter would also be somewhat obscure.

"What do you say, little one?" Tuffnut asked as he bent closer to Dagny.

"Do you want to be just like your mummy and daddy?" Ruffnut asked as well.

"Like mummy an' daddy?" Dagny asked in confusion.

She wriggled in Hicca's arms and looked up at both of her parents. Her mother was tall and slim, with long shiny hair, and soft pale skin. While her father was large and broad, with darker hair on his head and face, and he had rougher skin. How was she supposed to be like both of them?

Dagur saw his daughter frowning slightly, "What's wrong, sweetheart."

Dagny grumbled to herself as she thought hard, how was she supposed to be like both of her parents at once?

As she looked back and forth between her parents, she noticed something. They may have different hair, but they both had long twisty bits. Dagny raised her hands to her own hair and gripped the ends in her hands, she'd seen her mother do the twisty thing to her father's beard before, how did she do it?

"Dagny? What wrong?" Hicca asked with concern.

"Twisty" Dagny grumbled cutely as she pulled on her hair more.

Dagur and Hicca didn't really understand, but the twins did.

"Hey, Ruff. You think what I'm thinking?" He said with a sly smile.

"Always," She said returning the smile. "Hicca, hold Dagny still for a second."

"Huh? What are you two doing?" Hicca asked.

But instead of answering, the twins reach over and took a section of Dagny's hair, Ruffnut on the right, and Tuffnut on the left. Then they skilfully started to braid the small girl's hair. Dagur and Hicca just stayed quiet and watched for a second, as the twin's nimble fingers weaved through the small girl's hair, twisting and twirling the red strands around each other.

Once they were finished, Ruffnut undid her two smaller braids, and tied the two thin ribbons around the end of Dagny's new braids. Then they stood back to admire they're work.

Dagny reached up to her again and felt the new patterns in her hair, then a huge smile grew on her face, "My hair's twisty!"

When realisation finally dawned on Hicca and Dagur, they both let out a loud laugh. "She wanted her hair braided?" Hicca asked through her giggles.

"Well of course," Tuffnut answered matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, if she's going to be like you two someday, she might as well start by looking like you," Ruffnut added. She styled Dagny's hair a little more until she was happy, Dagny's braids now fell over her shoulders with the shorter hairs now framing her face.

"She looks so cute," Hicca squealed happily and hugged her daughter tightly.

"Yeah," Dagur agreed. Then he turned to the twins, "Thanks you two."

"Any time chiefs," Both twins responded, then they turned and ran back down the hill towards the forge.

Dagur frowned slightly, "Did they come all the way up here just to tell us that?"

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Dagny loved her braids, and even after a year, she still had them hanging over her shoulder.

One night when Dagny was five, Hicca and Toothless were summoned to Talon to check on the new academy. The construction had been finished a few months ago, and now the extra details and the equipment had recently been added, so now everything just needed to be double checked before the first lesson started in a few weeks.

This left Dagur at home with Dagny, they sat at the table in the main room with the fire pit roaring away. Dagur was finishing up the records while Shrieker was curled around his chair, Dagny sat across from him in her own little chair, her feet high off the ground as she scribbled across her parchment with her charcoal stick. Spark was lying across the table in front of her, stretched out lazily.

Then Dagny leaned back in her chair and gave a large yawn, making Dagur chuckle, "Looks like someone's getting sleepy, maybe it's time for bed."

Dagny didn't want to go to sleep just yet, but at the same time she was too tired to argue. Dagur lifted her up and carried her upstairs to her room, he made sure she washed her hands and face, then he lay her in bed and pulled the covers up to her chin.

Dagny just watched her father for a moment, as she thought about many random things, a question began floating around in her head. She was going to be just like her parents one day, but how did her parents... become her parents?

"Daddy?" Dagny spoke up sleepily.

"Yes sweetheart?" Dagur asked as he knelt by the bed.

"How did you and mummy, become my mummy and daddy?" She asked curiously.

Dagur paused for a moment, he hadn't been expecting such a question out of the blue. He sat on the edge of Dagny's wooden bed and thought for a moment, "Hm... Well... You mother and I became you're mummy and daddy, when we fell in love."

But Dagny just look confused again, "What's love?"

Dagur smiled to himself, "Love is when you want to be with someone for a really long time. You want to do a lot of things to make them happy, because they make you happy."

Dagur had a far off look in his eyes as he thought about Hicca, and everything they'd been through over the years. "You also want to change yourself, so that you can be good enough for them. But then you realise that, if they love you back... that they love you just the way you are."

Dagny watched her father with wide eyes, he spoke so softly, it was very different to how he normally spoke. "You really love mummy, don't you daddy?"

Dagur had a huge smile on his face as he turned to Dagny, "I do, I've loved your mother since the moment I first saw her. But now there's someone else I love too."

Dagny looked up as her father with wide eyes, "Really? Who?"

Dagur leaned over Dagny and pulled her into a tight hug, "I love you, my Berserk Hooligan girl."

Dagny smiled widely and wrapped her arms around her father's shoulders, "I love you too, and I love mummy too."

Dagur held her for a little while longer, he was about to say something else, but then he noticed that Dagny had become limp in his arms. Dagur smiled as he watched his daughter's sleeping face. He lay her down and pulled the covers over her once more, then he stood and made his way over to the door, but before he went back downstairs, he turned to watch her for a little longer.

She was growing up so fast.

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So yeah :) Bit of a time skip in this one but I hope it was still a good chapter :) Dagny's still growing up, and there's still more to come :) Let me know what you thought of this chapter, and see you all next time :)