I really apologize for the longer wait this time. I cannot promise that it will be a one time thing because I have been extremely busy lately and it only will continue from this point on.
Three years had passed since the new dragons and former dragon hunter had been brought to the Defender/Berserker Island. Now, Neilson was essentially a helper for various causes. Whatever needed to be done, he would offer his aid. While this greatly rose the trust of many vikings, it did little to sway the minds of the royal family. Dagur, Mala, and Eerika, could not shake the feelings of paranoia that they felt, even if they had wanted. Eerika would always be quite cordial with Neilson, but spent no more time with him than what was necessary to be polite. A small part of her felt bad about that. After all, assuming that he had been telling the truth, he was just a victim of poor circumstances. Oftentimes, the young man would go over to her and try to ignite a conversation. One day was no different from the others and Neilson practically ran over to Eerika, who was on her way to the stables. "Hey, Eerika!" he called, excitedly. A low grunt escaped the princess's lips, but she forced a pleasant expression and turned to him. "Hi, Neilson. How's it going?" The viking leaned against a tree and sighed, nearly invoking another from Eerika. "It's going okay, I guess. You know, just going around and trying to figure out who needs help. Everyone seems to." he laughed, "That keeps me busy, at least."
Eerika chuckled, "Trust me, they really appreciate it. They might not always show it, but they do." That made Neilson smile, brightly, though it didn't last long and turned into a solemn expression. "What's wrong?" the heiress inquired. He heaved a sigh again, "I guess, I've just been kind of tired of only hanging out with people that want me around to help them." he divulged. Eerika stayed positive, "The island's full of vikings, Neilson. You've really won everyone over, so I'm sure if you stayed in one place for a long enough time, they'd be up for something." The boy gave a sad smile, "Thanks. Well, I'm not busy right now. Do you want to hang out?" Eerika thought about it and mentally shrugged, "I was heading over to the stables, but I don't think that they would mind you joining." "This time." she thought. Neilson tilted his head, "'They'?" he asked. Eerika nodded, "Mathias and Xanthe. They're expecting me." The young man gave a nod of understanding and practically skipped after the princess and she kept repeating, "What have I gotten us into?" in her mind. "Come on, Eerika." she mused, "This is the right thing to do. Ignore how terrible a thing it might seem to be." The viking wanted to be optimistic, but Neilson's overly enthusiastic expression did not sway her thoughts.
Eerika was not alone in her thoughts and Xanthe and Mathias looked somehow less thrilled than she did to find a fourth wheel. Neilson waved, happily, then started to look at all the dragons. While he was doing this, Mathias and Xanthe went over to their friend. "Um, not to sound mean or anything, but why is Neilson here for our training?" the Defender inquired. "Because he spends everyday helping and has absolutely no friends." Eerika replied. Mathias looked conflicted, "I guess, it won't hurt for today." He peeked over his shoulder at Neilson, who was pretending like he hadn't been looking at them, "Especially if we're all here." the Berserker added, under his breath. The trio went back over to their dragons and began training with them. "It probably wouldn't be best to try to get you on your own dragon right now, but if you would help us arrange the targets, we can have them practice their accuracy." Eerika suggested. Neilson followed her instructions and looked like he could not have enjoyed himself anymore if he had been made chief. "Your dragon's really cool, Eerika." he commented, watching as Cachée punctured a target with her blade-like blast. "Can I try to ride her?" the boy asked. Immediately, the Stealthgazer snarled at him.
Without missing a beat, Eerika responded, "No." Neilson looked disappointed, "Why not?" "Because I said so." the viking mused to herself, "Because she's a unique type of dragon that doesn't warm up to everyone. Do the wrong thing and she might end up killing you instead of flying with you." He did not seemed convinced and suggested, "You could teach me how to work with her." Eerika shook her head, "I really don't want anyone else to know how to ride her, if they don't need to." Neilson refrained from pressing the matter further. After some more training, Bright Eyes and Allurer rested while Cachée and Eerika flew for a bit. Neilson marveled at her, earning a mild glare from Mathias. "So, Neilson," he said, diverting the young man's attention, "I'm sure that you've had your fix of fixing stuff. What do you want to do?" The thought mildly surprised the viking in question. "I'm not sure. I guess, I haven't really thought about it like that." he admitted, then smiled, "I know that Eerika will end up being queen/chieftess, but I couldn't tell you what I'll do." Neilson waited for Eerika and Cachée to land so that he could walk over to them. "This was fun." he commented, "We should hang out more often. Just you and I." Eerika only smiled back as he waved goodbye. "See ya soon." he called, happily. The trio responded with "Bye".
Frowning, Mathias went over to Eerika, "You don't plan on doing that, do you?" She looked at him as though he had just breathed fire, "Of course not. Today wasn't too bad or anything, but I don't want just he and I to hang out." This seemed to brighten up the young Berserker's face and everyone trained a bit more. That evening, while returning home, Eerika saw Neilson again. He started jogging to catch up with her. "I'll probably have some free time tomorrow. We should go fishing or something. That'd be great." he suggested. Eerika disagreed, "I don't know about that. Maybe we all can do something again some time." "But, fishing has to be done eventually, so how about we do it? Or, it doesn't have to be that. We could hunt some wild boars or you could help me as a farm hand. I'll be around Olaf's chickens." the viking continued. "Neilson, I have my first inspecting of the traders. That'll take up all of tomorrow. I won't have time to do much else." the princess informed him. He nodded, "I know about the inspection. It's a lot of responsibility to make sure that everything goes all right." Neilson paused, momentarily, and cleared his throat, "I'm not saying that we'll waste the entire day by doing random things." Eerika was quiet for a moment and he began to speed up, becoming an obstacle in her path.
Eerika maintained her pace and brushed by Neilson. "I'm not doing any of that. Certainly not tomorrow, at least." The boy's brows commenced furrowing, "I didn't think that I was asking too much." he stated, irritably. "Well, for it to be accomplished then, you are. I can't make promises when I don't know all the factors and besides, I'm not obligated to do that, even if I am available." Eerika replied, feeling a growing sense of anger. Neilson stopped walking and glared instead. He was promptly ignored and Eerika reached her hut. She gave an upset huff when she entered, accidentally drawing her parents' attention. "What's wrong, Eri?" her father inquired. Eerika opened her mouth, then closed it without having said a word. "I might be looking too far into this." she thought. "Nothing too bad is wrong. I am a bit annoyed, but who isn't sometimes?" she answered. Dagur and Mala looked at her, skeptically. "If you find that you want to elaborate on the cause, please do." the queen requested, in her customary way. "Thanks, Mom, but I think that I can handle it." From the corner of her eye, Eerika saw that Dagur was looking out of the door to see if he could find who the problem was. He looked like he had not seen anyone and closed it again, but not prior to a mild scowl forming on his face. "Are you ready for tomorrow?" he asked, beginning to grin.
Nerves started rushing into Eerika's body, "Maybe. I hope that I can make sure I don't pick someone with poison." Dagur laughed, "Yeah, that would be for the best. There's no real way to know beforehand, though." Mala shook her head in agreement, "You must rely on your instincts and judgings of the traders' characters." While Eerika appreciated the advice, it did not make her feel any more confident. Before long, she went to bed and saw herself picking out a trader. As soon as she had selected him, he transformed into what she had heard Traitor Johann looked like. Hunters piled onto the island in swarms and carnage ensued. Eerika jolted awake and decided to start training, finding herself unable to return to slumber. A couple of hours passed before Xanthe showed up. "Should you not be getting ready at the docks?" she asked, "I was just going to do a quick, new battle move with Allurer." Her friend frowned at a punching dummy and kicked it, "Neilson was acting strangely after we all hung out yesterday. He would not stop insisting that I spend time with only him." Xanthe rose a brow, "Did you tell your parents?" After seeing the other viking shake her head, Xanthe crossed her arms, "And why not? Your parents are the king and queen! With a snap of their fingers, they could end this situation." Eerika hit the dummy again, "I'm aware, but that's almost why I didn't say anything. I'll be ruler one day, so I can't rely on them to fight my battles now."
Xanthe's tone turned serious, "They are still your parents, Eerika. No one would think less of you for simply bringing this to their attention. They might not even do much." Eerika scoffed and looked at her, doubtfully, "Please. They already don't like him. If they think that he's going to be an issue in regards to me, either one of them might kill him, if not, both. I'm not even sure if he were that angry, so I wouldn't feel right if I were to over-dramatize it all and have him pay." Xanthe still seemed ill at ease, but knew that there was little she could say to dissuade her companion. As time drew closer to when the choosing had to be done, the friends split up and Eerika began going to the Hall. She was to meet her parents there first, and then they all would go to the docks. It was a stressful trek, but not so much so as to obstruct her from sensing that someone was coming up to her. Nearly hidden by the shadows of the buidings, it was Neilson, but also a small child. The kid appeared to be terrified and Eerika quickly saw the reason: a blade was against his throat. She knew better than to attack and raised her hands, peacefully, "Why are you doing this?" she inquired, with a calm that shocked even herself. Neilson's face was stern and his eyes were colder than she thought they even could be. "Because, I'm finishing a plan that I started years ago. Now, let's go over there, so we won't be in plain sight."
The three went between some old buildings that needed to be repaired. Hardly anyone went near them, so they were an ideal location to Neilson. "Toss your weapons onto the ground." he instructed. Eerika disarmed, though kept her blades concealed on her. A chain was flung at her feet. "Don't think that I haven't heard about your father's reputation for getting out of ropes. Chain your wrists. together." Neilson ordered. When he assumed that she was hesitating, he pushed the blade slightly into the young boy's neck, provoking a whimper. "I'm doing it." Eerika assured him. Once she had, Neilson tied up the kid and went over to her. He made sure that the chains were actually locked and then stared at her, thinking. "I've also heard about that whole 'having a lot of knives on you' thing." he said. The vikings patted her up and down, taking a few too many precautions and too long. Eerika fought the urge to squirm and just bit her lip. He noticed her uncomfortability and smirked, "This wouldn't be so awkward to you, if you had ever agreed to know each other better." He found five knives and it almost amused Eerika that he had missed so many. "Thank you, Dad." she mused. Neilson led her down to the coast, avoiding any and every viking.
It was an odd path, but one with very many cracks and crevices; however, all them could be covered by the wood splinters that were practically piled outside the buildings. With a swift and unnoticeable quick amongst the various sounds of other vikings, Eerika knocked them into the small holes. They reached the coast and Neilson had a boat waiting for them, then told her to get in. He started rowing them away as Eerika's bravado felt as small as her home began to look.