Author's Notes: Here we go folks, the next chapter. I'm glad everyone is still enjoying this story immensely and don't worry. This is still a Toothcup story and I know how this will end and everyone will love it, I hope. Now onto meeting a familiar dragon that we met nearly 10 chapters ago, all grown up of course.

Dragon Training

Next morning

Heiđrún stirred on the floor while she dreamed as the Sun Dragon rose. She dreamed of her being a Night Wing again with Guðbrandr, flying in Nóttu's embrace in her sky. She felt herself smile and purr a bit while her dream continued as she slept.

Astrid was the first awake in the room and looked upon the curled up Hedvig. 'I'm going to find out your secret, Hedvig, and I'll expose it to everyone,' Astrid decided before she rose from her bed, beginning to dress for the day. She gazed at Hedvig one last time before leaving the room and heading down stairs.

"Morning, Astrid. Where is Hedvig?" Astrid's mother asked.

"She's still sleeping. I'm going to eat at the Great Hall and go out to get some practice in before training," Astrid told her mother, grabbing her axe and putting it on her back. "I'll be back tonight."

With that, Astrid left the house leaving Ingeborg to shake her head at her daughter. She climbed the stairs and opened the door to see Hedvig stirring and mumbling on the floor. Ingeborg moved closer hearing Hedvig growl, mumble and mix in Norse in her sleep. "Valka…Skuggi… who is… my father…" Hedvig spoke softly. Ingeborg recognized that first name the child on the floor spoke.

'How could she know that name? I mean, there could be others with that name, but there aren't many other Valkas in the archipelago and I miss my dear friend. Why is she wondering about her father?' Ingeborg thought, reaching down and rubbing the child's shoulder to wake her up.

Heiđrún opened her eyes and didn't startle herself like yesterday. She gazed up and noticed it was Ingeborg that woke her, curiously she asked, "Where is A-Astrid?"

"Oh, don't mind her. She's always been the loner, dear, ever since her Uncle died and lost our family's honor," Ingeborg replied humbly, helping the child off the floor. "Though why are you sleeping on the floor, when we have sheets and a spare cot made up for you?"

"Oh.. I'm more comfortable on the ground. The cot is too different from what I'm used to on a boat."

"That's understandable sweetie, but didn't your parents take you on land too?"

Heiđrún bit her lower lip and nodded slowly, "I still slept on the floor. When you do it so much on the sea, it just becomes normal."

Ingeborg could tell that the child was holding back something from her, but Ingeborg chose to not push the issue. Hedvig wasn't her child, but she knew bringing up the issue might cause the girl to shut out everyone.

"Now hun, get to the Great Hall for some food. You got a long day ahead of you with more dragon training," Astrid's mother remarked, moving to the side to allow the young girl to leave the room. Heiđrún mumbled and sprinted out of the hut, dashing through the village to the Great Hall. As she darted around the small number of Vikings, she wondered more and more how Gobber might know her father and who her father really was more than ever.

She wanted to find out and then leave, after seeing the kind of life she would have had if she had never met her beloved. She couldn't see herself being a Viking any longer than she had to right now. Her best bet was Fishlegs, and that was who she wanted to see and be around during her stay.

Upon entering, she scanned the hall to find Fishlegs, but instead, she was getting called for by the other group of kids. Heiđrún grumbled and, with great reluctance, walked towards the group.

"Morning, everyone," Heiđrún spoke softly.

"Morning, Hedvig," Ruffnut responded first.

"Hey, I was going to greet her first. Why did you take my thunder, sis?" Tuffnut retorted angrily.

"Well, you were too slow."

Tuffnut then smashed the plate on his sister's face and the twins soon started a fist fight with food being thrown at each other. Snotlout laughed as the two of them covered each other in mush and yak's milk. Astrid rolled her eyes and got up from the table, both not wanting to deal with them, nor get covered in any of the food.

Heiđrún shook her head side to side and left the group to go after Astrid. She caught up to the other teen and grabbed her wrist. "We need to talk, Astrid," Heiđrún spoke sternly, letting go of the teen and walking to the side of the Great Hall.

Astrid looked at Hedvig with a face that screamed disgust. She followed over, crossing her arms in front of her chest once she stood in front of Hedvig. "Go on, speak," Astrid snapped.

"I can smell that you don't trust me. I can see that as well in your stance and how you acted last night, too," Heiđrún answered, looking at the teen in front of her.

"You haven't exactly given me much reason to give you any of my trust."

"How about an exchange of information? There's plenty I know that you most likely don't."

"And how do you know that I'll give this information to you?" Astrid questioned whist thinking about this confrontation. 'Is she showing her true colors as a spy? She's asking for information and it has to be about our defenses or something.'

"Because it's close to you," Heiđrún spoke, opening her eyes wider. "Describe what a Flightmare is, and I'll give you what I know about that dragon and its true nature."

Astrid's expression and body language softened when she heard Hedvig's words. This was her chance to get information on the dragon that ruined her family's honor. "I'll tell you what I know about it, which isn't much," Astrid relented. Soon she began to describe what she had seen ten years ago before her Uncle Finn was frozen in fear by the Flightmare. She described the glow, the shape, and its breath attack.

As Heiđrún listened intently, she began to understand the dragon that Astrid was describing. She heard it from Skuggi during their travels around the islands before Tunglið was conceived. She even recalled seeing it for a few fleeting moments. It was haunting, but understanding that it was just searching for food and with its weak scales, the stunning mist being used only for self-defense, made it appear far less nefarious.

Once Astrid finished describing the dragon, Heiđrún divulged the information she had on the dragon. "For me, that dragon is called the Stun Mister. The reason is because the mist that is sprayed stops animals in place so it can run away. It's used for self-defense and anything or any part of a body that touches it, won't be able to move," Heiđrún explained, watching the young girl's face and body change as the description continued. It almost appeared to her that Astrid was about to cry, but she continued talking with her thoughts on Astrid's uncle. "So your Uncle Finn didn't become frozen in fear, he just became frozen, and even if any other person was sprayed with it, the results would have been the same."

Astrid couldn't believe what she was hearing, but if that were true then her family hadn't lost their honor. "How do you know this? Have you faced one?" Astrid inquired, hoping that the answer was 'yes'.

"I know this because my family has seen one do this to a boar that was charging at it," Heiđrún recalled, watching the girl's face contort slightly. Then Astrid's arms wrapped around Hedvig suddenly. The Viking turned dragon and turned back human stiffened at the sudden action, she didn't know how to process it. Then she felt something wet against her cheek and she knew that Astrid was grateful for this knowledge.

After a moment, Astrid whispered into Hedvig's ear. "Thank you and sorry for what I'm about to do. I can't be seen as weak, okay?" Astrid stated, causing Heiđrún to meekly nod. Astrid stepped back from the hug, punching Hedvig's shoulder and mouthing 'sorry' again before returning back to the others.

'Vikings, I'll never truly understand them,' Heiđrún thought, rubbing her shoulder slightly. She strode over and grabbed a plate of food, beginning to eat. While she was eating, Fishlegs came over and sat with her.

"What are you going to do about training?" Fishlegs inquired.

"I'll use what I know about them against them. I haven't fought all of them before, but I've been around most of them my entire life," Heiđrún replied, taking a bite of the bread.

"And what about Astrid? What did you tell her?"

Heiđrún rolled her eyes at the question, finishing her bread before answering. "I told her what she needed to know about her Uncle," Heiđrún responded, looking over at the group of teens. "But I'm still not going to let her know the real me or let them hurt my kind either."

"Would that be difficult? And if you think about it, you are both Viking and…" Fishlegs began, leaning in and whispering. "Dragon."

She took in what he had said, mulling it over and over. 'I am the bridge between our species, but do I really belong with Vikings when they kill dragons so often,' she contemplated, thinking back to the Calm King and how she has a Dragon Soul in her. She then realized something that might be true. Leaning over towards Fishlegs, she grasped his cheeks and stared into his eyes.

Heiđrún knew now what a Dragon Soul felt like in a Viking body and now, her stare into Fishlegs' eyes was to feel if he had one. Fishlegs mumbled incoherently while Heiđrún looked into his eyes. Meanwhile, Tuffnut was in shock from seeing Hedvig grab Fishlegs. Just before he stood up, Hedvig released Fishlegs and moved away from him after she said something to him.

Astrid and the others were perplexed by the scene, but they continued to watch Hedvig as she left the Great Hall. Astrid knew it couldn't be that bad, but she wondered what exactly was going through Hedvig's head.

Heiđrún ran through the village towards the arena. 'I just have to know. If it's true, then I think I know what I'll be doing while I'm here,' she determined, arriving at the arena and rushing towards the door of the Boulder Crusher. She cleared her throat and tried to recreate her dragon words, "Cr...ume… here… pee..ase…"

"A Viking… knowing how to speak to a dragon?" the Boulder Crusher asked through the gate.

"Eye… was a… Kni..ght… Wing. Mi.. name… is… Heiđrún," Heiđrún struggled, taking her time to try and pronounce words correctly with the incorrect vocal cords.

The Boulder Crusher came to the gate and sniffed the female Viking. She had a hard time distinguishing the human scent and the Night Wing scent, but she did smell two distinct scents coming from the small Viking.

"Hard to believe it, but it's true. My name is Kaija, what do you want Night Wing Viking?"

"Leet… meeee… sea… oar… eyesss…"

Heiđrún stared at the small cut out in the gate to see the golden Sun Dragon colored eyes appear. She felt it the moment she stared into Kaija's eyes and she smiled gleefully. "Taa...nk you… we will… yalk… ore… swoon…" Heiđrún replied, nodding to Kaija and running away up the ramp, sitting down to wait for training.

"She's a strange girl," Kaija remarked, returning to the back of the pen.

The Spike Shooter, a pen over, had been listening the entire time and she too was taken back by this strange Viking. She hoped to really smell the scent clearly the next time she was out, but she wondered about the few Night Wings she had heard about from her father. 'There aren't many Night Wings around, could she be one of them from the time I was born?' Stromur pondered, preening her scales a bit more under her right wing. 'But how did she become a Viking?'

An hour later, Gobber showed up to the arena looking at the new lass. "Oi, are you that eager to learn, lass?" Gobber asked, hobbling down into the arena.

"Not really, I just wanted to get away from Astrid," Heiđrún answered, tucking her head between her legs and chest, hiding her face.

"If you'd like, you could help me, lass?"

"No, thanks. I'll just wait here."

Gobber scratched his mustache with his hook hand, moved in, and started to prepare the ring for the next exercise. It took him nearly three hours to set up the arena, but it was finally ready for the teens to train. He walked up the ramp, noticing that Hedvig had remained in the same position the entire time. He tapped the young lass on her head, causing her to slowly look up at him.

"Get in here and pick your weapon. The others will be here soon."

Heiđrún rose up from the ground, dusting her bottom off slightly before entering the ring. She saw the maze that Gobber had created and wondered which of her kind this man was going to send in on them. She picked up a sword and found it difficult to lift up at first, but with a bit of focus and effort, she managed to lift it up before it fell back to the ground.

"How can you be that weak, lass?" Gobber inquired.

"Got anything lighter?" Heiđrún responded back. Gobber then brought over a single bladed axe for the teen. She lifted it up more easily and could move it around, so Gobber gave her a wooden shield for her other arm. Heiđrún was geared for the training when the others arrived. They all gawked at her except for Fishlegs. They all kept away from her given how Astrid had punched her earlier; they all took her side and just ignored Hedvig.

Fishlegs came over and whispered to Heiđrún, "They all think Astrid punched you because she was being cool and to ignore you for being so disrespectful to her. But she told me that she doesn't care what they think, she's alright with you as long as you don't get in her way."

"Long as she doesn't follow us, I'm fine with whatever she thinks. We're going to see Guðbrandr after training; he's probably hungry since he told me he hasn't gone out to eat since we got here," Heiđrún whispered back.

Then Gobber opened a gate and suddenly a Deadly Nadder was in the arena with them, causing everyone to quickly dart into the maze. Heiđrún and Fishlegs stuck together since she had no clue what this exercise was meant to do. Thankfully, neither did anyone else they all were just trying to survive.

"Today all is about ATTACK! Nadders are quick and light on their feet! Your job is to be quicker and lighter!" Gobber shouted from above just as the gold and blue Nadder shot the axe head off Heiđrún's weapon.

"Does Gobber really do this with all the trainees?" Heiđrún questioned Fishlegs while they ran through the maze, being chased by the Nadder. "It's like a mother sending her hatchling out in the woods alone at night, which THEY WOULD NEVER DO!"

Just then the Nadder perched itself above the two of them, extending the spikes from its tail and launching a volley at the two of them. They both raised their shields to protect themselves. "AHHHH! I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" Fishlegs shouted up to Gobber while they twisted through the maze, eventually separating from each other.

Gobber picked at his false tooth while continuing to impart knowledge to the young ones. "Look for its blind spot. Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it and strike!"

The twins turned a corner and found themselves right in front of the Nadder. They were squished against each other and moved in time with the Nadder's head to stay in the blind spot. Then Ruffnut made a comment about her brother, "Ugh! Do you ever bathe?"

"If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot!" Tuffnut responded snarkily, shoving his shield backward to push his sister away from him.

Ruffnut then came up beside her brother and started shoving and headbutting him in return. "How about I give you one?" All the while the Nadder watched them, listening to them and wondering about half of what they were saying.

'These two are idiots it seems,' Stromur thought to herself, roaring and releasing a stream of her fire at the twins that moved out of the way just in time.

"Blind spot, yes. Deaf spot? Not so much," Gobber remarked, snickering soon after while Hedvig, Snotlout and Astrid ran by underneath him. They all turned a corner, but Astrid and Snotlout crouched down near a corner. Heiđrún wondered what they were doing until Astrid called her name and waved her over. Astrid peeked around the corner, seeing the Nadder stalking the maze nearby. Soon she tumbled across the opening, followed by Snotlout. They both waved for Hedvig to follow them. She shrugged and tried to replicate what they did only to fail and not finish her roll with the shield holding her back.

Stromur heard the noise and noticed it was the girl that spoke with the Boulder Crusher. 'I knew it was too good to be true. She is nothing but a Viking at heart,' she thought, charging after the auburn-haired liar. While chasing, the scent of the Viking entered her nostrils and caused a memory to be recalled in her mind. She then gave up the chase of the girl and jumped on top of one of the walls to skip over a few locations.

Snotlout and Astrid turned a corner and saw the Nadder land in front of them. Just as Astrid was about to react, Snotlout bumped her out of the way. "Watch out, babe. I'll take care of this," he confidently told her, pulling his arm back and throwing his mace at the Nadder. The mace went wide and hit the wall behind the Nadder near her tail. Stromur gazed at the action with confusion before turning back and looking at the Vikings.

Astrid scrunched her lips in disgust, but this only caused Snotlout to make an excuse. "The sun was in my eyes, Astrid!" Snotlout then darted away, dodging the stream of magnesium flame flying towards him. "What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I could do that, but I don't have time right now!"

The Nadder chased the two, ignoring the male that turned down another alley and followed after the female she was chasing. Stromur couldn't slow herself down enough to round the corner and chase after the Viking, slamming hard into a wall. This caused the walls to start to collapse while she chased the female in front of her. She jumped up and kept after the Viking that she had been previously chasing.

Heiđrún stopped and stared up at Gobber for letting this situation continue on and not caring about the trainees. As the walls continued to collapse, Heiđrún heard her human name called and saw Astrid falling towards her. Astrid's axe slammed into Hedvig's shield and she fell on top of her, the two girls staring into each other's eyes.

Heiđrún heard the Spike Shooter coming first before Astrid and began to act. She removed her arm from the shield and pushed Astrid down while climbing out from underneath Astrid. Heiđrún ran towards the Spike Shooter, growling and narrowing her eyes. "Eye… do knot… want… two… harm… ewe… Stromur…," Heiđrún grunted and growled, remembering the tiny Spike Shooter from nearly a ten winters ago.

Stromur froze when she heard her name coming from that strange Viking. "It's you… isn't it? That Night Wing from the island where your sister was born?" Stromur asked, backing away from the Viking. "How are you a Viking?"

Heiđrún slid under the Spike Shooter and climbed up one of her legs. Stromur didn't struggle, but merely lowered herself down into a submissive position once the Viking was on top of her. "Ca...cage… go… now, please…"

Stromur wondered why, but soon she saw the reasoning. The Viking she had been chasing was returning to her feet and no doubt would continue their assault. Heiđrún hit the top of Stromur's head and jumped off in front of her. The Spike Shooter squawked and padded away as Astrid finally got to her feet.

"You really know a thing or two about fighting dragons, Hedvig," Astrid remarked, moving towards Hedvig. She froze though when Hedvig turned and stared deep into the teen's eyes.

"I won't teach you anything, remember that," Heiđrún barked, running towards the entrance of the arena. As she passed Fishlegs, she told him to bring two fish with him to where she was going. Fishlegs watched as Heiđrún ran out of the ring and disappeared from everyone's view.