Happy Wednesday! :)

"It is a happy talent to know how to play." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

It was very much snowing. Snowing too much for anyone to be outside for very long.

Hiccup wasn't just 'anyone', however, so he was excluded from this rule of the sane people. It wasn't too cold, though, just snowing, so it wasn't so bad. He and Toothless had left an an unearthly hour that morning, leaving Astrid and Irena to themselves for a while, but not for too long.

Jakob and Colby were coming over to play with Irena that day and no amount of snow could keep those kids apart for too long. They were inseparable.

They were playing with Patches and Stormfly and a set of blocks Gobber had made Irena when he was bored one day in front of the fireplace. Astrid was watching them and copying a page of dragon facts from The Book of Dragons into a new book (class was cancelled). Duplicates were good ideas. As long as they didn't fall into the wrong hands, of course.

Patches was happily bounding after the string Jakob was pulling across the floor, Safira was curled in Irena's lap, Colby was trying the block tower he was making to not fall over.

Patches bounded a little too far and knocked over the blocks with a thump and a crash that startled her. She hissed and scampered under Astrid's chair. Colby sighed such a big sigh for a little boy that Astrid couldn't help but smile.

"Sorry," Jakob smiled sheepishly. "I'll help you fix it."

"Me too!" Irena agreed, grabbing a block. The children quickly got back to work on making a new tower.

"It should be a castle." Jakob said.

"What does a castle look like?" Irena asked curiously.

"It's got big towers! And shorter parts in the middle. They're real big."

"Mommy?" Irena asked. Astrid looked up. "Do Merida and Rapunzel and Anna and Elsa live in castles?"

"Yes. They all do. Not in the same one of course."

Irena smiled. "Do you think they're pretty?"

"I'm sure the castles are beautiful. Maybe we'll be able to see one sometime." Merida was adamant in having them come for a visit eventually. Especially after they had written her saying that that Astrid was pregnant.

Irena smiled brighter.

Jakob was watching Irena carefully the whole time, but quickly looked away when Irena came back to building.

"Is your tooth still wig-ly?" Colby asked Irena. He wasn't as shy as he used to be, especially around his best friends.

Irena nodded enthusiastically. "It's really wiggly now."

"I'm surprised it hasn't fallen out yet." Astrid chimed in.

"I've got two loose teeth." Jakob said proudly.

"Does it hurt?" Colby questioned, looking a bit frightened.

Jakob shook his head. He had lost a few teeth already. "Only at the start and end."

Colby nodded seriously. He wasn't even four yet. Irena was nearly five (very nearly. Her birthday and Astrid's were only a few days apart, it turned out) and Jakob was six and a half. Colby was definitely the baby.

Speaking of babies, Astrid's was being super active. Annoyingly active.

Eventually, the children grew tired of blocks.

"Mommy, can you tell us a story?" Irena asked sweetly after they had put the blocks away.

"A story? I'm not good at stories." Hiccup was better at stories, no contest.

"Please?" Irena asked.

"Please?" asked Jakob. Colby giggled.

"Alright," Astrid gave in. She closed both books. "What kind of story do you want?" She was used to a variety of replies from Irena. She hadn't been on Berk for the Bewilderbeast or the Red Death incident, so her answers had a great range. Jakob was just a baby when the Red Death was a problem and Colby wasn't even a thought yet. Both boys were around for the Bewilderbeast (Colby's house was one of the many that had needed major repairs).

The kids shrugged.

After racking her brain, Astrid made a fool out of herself. "What about if I tell you about the time when I made a fool out of myself?"

The kids nodded eagerly.

She knew that was going to happen. "Okay, I was about Ingrid and Ben's age when the dragons started to live with us. It was Snoggletog and everyone was excited." Astrid then went on to tell them about the time she put exploding dragon eggs into people's houses.

The kids thought it was absolutely hilarious.

"Hey Chief!" Eret called from Skullcrusher's back. "There's a ship a couple miles off shore headed this way."

That was surprising. There had been no news from any tribe that anyone was coming. "Can you make out the crest?" Hiccup called back.

"There doesn't seem to be one. Although with all this snow it's hard to tell."

Even more unusual.

Toothless chirped at Hiccup. Hiccup mounted the dragon and clicked his prosthetic into place. "Come on, Toothless, let's check it out."

Toothless took off, joining Skullcrusher in the sky.

There was nothing that stood out more in a white-out blizzard than a black-as-night dragon.

There really was no crest on the sail at all, as far as Hiccup could tell. It wasn't just a fishing boat, it was too big, but not big enough to be a warship.

Toothless anxiously cooed. He didn't like the feeling that ship gave him.

"I don't like it either, bud." Hiccup replied, patting the dragon.

"What do you say we do?" Eret asked.

"I want every dragon rider to watch that ship." Immediate change from Hiccup to Chief Hiccup. Preferably from a cliff if you can manage, it's too windy and we don't need anyone getting hurt. If anything changes, I want to know immediately."

"You got it, Chief." Eret nodded, turning Skullcrusher into the wind and flying off to get the twins, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Valka and anyone else he could find on short notice.

Toothless grumbled at the ship that was slowly growing in size.

"Who do you think it is, Toothless?" Hiccup asked.

Someone not good, thought Toothless.

It was sometime

It was sometime later, after Jakob and Colby had gone home, and Hiccup was on the ground, taking care of some business that had nothing to do with the unmarked ship sailing into port that was worrying him so much.

A shadow crossed over him.

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs yelled from Meatlug. "The ship docked."

"Thanks, Fishlegs." Hiccup said, getting on Toothless' back.

"You need back-up?" Snotlout asked.

"From a distance." Hiccup replied grimly. "We don't know what they want. I want every dragon grounded until further notice."

"You got it." Ruff replied. They all landed their dragons. Valka and Eret landed behind them.

Hiccup and Toothless took to the sky, soaring towards the docks.

They landed next some of the fisherman, who were looking perplexed.

"Who's that, Chief?" Mulch asked, looking at the ship.

"I don't know. Keep your distance. Please." Hiccup slipped off of Toothless, fixed his prosthetic and waited. Mulch and Bucket had left the area, the other dragon riders were far back, waiting.

Toothless growled at the boat. It smelled bad. It smelled wrong. It smelled oddly familiar. He didn't like it at all.

Hiccup put his hand on Toothless' snout. "Easy, bud."

The snow had let up some, but it was still coming down. It had left the world covered in a blanket of white.

The ship's small crew had stayed aboard, but someone had told the most important visitor that they had arrived.

Hiccup hoped somewhere in the back of his mind that this person was just lost and needed some help, even though the more logical part of him knew that wasn't possible. A lost, goodnatured Viking would have been at the helm of the ship, apologize for coming, explain their situation, ask for directions and then probably eat dinner and the Great Hall and then be on their way. Not so mysterious.

A soft creak nearly echoed in the stillness. Toothless snarled lowly and crouched, ready to pounce, shoot, or fly at a second's notice. He was Alpha. He would protect Berk's dragons and their people at all costs, just as Hiccup would. He would only listen to Hiccup at a time like this. Hiccup was better with people and Toothless didn't smell any dragons. But he did still smell that strange odor, the one he didn't like.

Out of the shadow came a figure. A tallish, sort of broad figure.

"Hiccup, long time no see."

Hiccup's stomach dropped and he ran his free hand through his hair anxiously. It was cold and wet, like he was. Toothless snarled louder. Now he knew where that smell was from. It was an old memory, but a strong one.

"Dagur," Hiccup replied, trying to sound polite, but failing miserably. Hadn't they gotten rid of him?

"I heard about your father," Dagur said breezily, stepping onto solid ground. "What an unfortunate way to become chief."

Hiccup gritted his teeth, his hand still on the Night Fury's snout. "I've noticed."

"Look at you, all grown up." Dagur commented with a sly smile. "How've you been, old friend?"

Hiccup was fed up with this. He was freezing. He wanted to go home. He was done. "What do you want, Dagur?" he demanded.

Dagur laughed shortly. "Ah, yes, I'm sure you want the reason I'm here." he folded his hands behind his back diplomatically and walked forward, closer to Hiccup and Toothless. The dragon let out a low warning growl and smoke curled out of his nostrils. Hiccup eyed the other young man suspiciously. "Word around the Archipelago is that you have something of mine."

Hiccup sighed tiredly and rubbed his dragon's snout. "We've been over this, Dagur. Toothless is my dragon."

Dagur glared at Toothless, who growled again, before looking back to Hiccup. "It's not the dragon I'm after this time, Hiccup."

Then what did he want? Toothless growled low in his throat again. A deep, menacing growl.

Before Hiccup had time to ask, Dagur spoke again, a malicious glint in his eye.

"Where is my daughter?"

:)