"Ei? Ei?" Eira's eyes slowly opened and refocused in the warmly lit room. She was in a bed, soft and plush, compared to the wooden floors and sleeping bags she'd slept in the past several years, it was almost soft enough that that gentleness flooded her senses more than the pain. Almost… no, almost doesn't cut it. This is bad. "Eira! You are awake!" Heather's voice sang, as the purple eyes opened, and the read heard turned to face her.
"Heather!" Her voice was hoarse and the breath it took to say the name hurt her ribs, but she knew she needed to talk nonetheless. "Snotlout must have made it in time…. Remind me to thank him." Eira smiled, but found she couldn't smile too wide or risk putting strain on the cut on her cheek. One of the very few injuries not inflicted by the hunters. She cursed her attempt to learn to swim before, now she couldn't even grin at being alive! Her thoughts turned sober as she realised there was much to discuss. "Are we able to talk?" Eira said, knowingly placing emphasis on her words, unable to move to look around and see if anyone was downstairs, though she did note, much to her embarrassment that she was in someone else's hut. Thought she couldn't recognise it from the upstairs sleeping area. But she was glad it wasn't Astrid's.

"If you're asking if we're alone yes we are."
"Something's wrong Heather. That arrow, that wasn't normal dragon root. I could feel it the moment I was hit, it… it's more concentrated… or something."
"Ruffnut brought it in earlier while you were passed out… said you'd need it for something. I'm guessing you wanted to show me." Heather got up to fetch it.
"That and I'm saving it for something else too." Eira scowled, the brunette's eyebrow raised but she didn't press, she was too concerned about the immediate issue at hand. She went over to the offending ballistic.

"You're right. It's different." Heather examined it, "This arrow's way darker than the usual ones. It smells stronger too but there's only one way to check… Pardon what I'm about to do, I know it's been… well inside you and all but …" She licked the arrow, and promptly hissed at how potent it was. "This… if I had to guess I'd say this is 4 or 5 times stronger than the normal dragon root arrows."
"I knew it, I knew it was worse than the other ones." Eira balled her uninjured wrist into a ball and hit down on the mattress, angrily. Not mad for her own state but for what it meant for the dragons. Heather nodded, her face grave.
"This is bad Ei. At this potency… if-if I hadn't gotten the medicine to you when I did … you might have died. You would have died. Heather put the arrow down on a table far away from her friend.

"It's worse than just a what if scenario Heather." Eira breathed, and Heather turned to face her friend, who was now, despite all the strain, despite all the agony written on her face, had sat up. "This means that every dragon the hunters shoots with those new arrows are not just downed. They're dead. Unless we can help them." Her eyes as fiery as her hair.
"We'd need the dragon rider's help for that… But how do we tell them what we know without giving away how we found out about it?" Heather began to pace.

"We need to tell them the truth, Heather, all of it. My secret isn't more important than the lives of those poor dragons!" Eira raised her voice.
"What if there was a way to keep your secret and help the dragons."
"Well I'll all ears you dolt." Eira huffed and moved to fold her arms but the wound in her shoulder from the arrow was beyond painful, and she cried out in pain.
"Serves you right for calling me a dolt."
"Well what's your plan then?!" Eira was getting more restless, then suddenly there was a knock at the door.
"Leave it to me." Heather whispered to her friend before yelling "COME IN!" and the distinctive figure of none other than Hiccup Haddock III walked in, Heather saw who it was immediately but the bedbound Eira couldn't see from her position.
"Who is it, Heather?" Eira remained sitting upright though the pain in her body was intensifying from no longer lying down, Heather noticed this and move to stack her pillowed behind her, and Eira shuffled back to lean against them.
"It's Hiccup" Heather smiled, but by the time those two words has been spoken Eira could see Hiccup ascending the stairs. And her cheeks involuntarily went red.
"Hi Eira" He all but breathed. She mumbled a hi in response. "I'm glad you're awake again. You really had me- us worried there." Eira suddenly and unexpectantly remembered the position they were in his work room before all the drama from the night before unfolded, and she turned even more red. But then she also remembered how she had treated him when she was barking orders for her survival, and her blush went away instantly.
"I'm sorry I told you to shut up." Eira said really quickly, moving forward in her earnestness, but accidentally straining her various cuts in the process. "Owowow!" She hissed.

Hiccup instantly, albeit gingerly placed his hands on her upper arms, one of the few places without injury and eased her backwards as he chuckled out a 'take it easy.' Eira mumbled out a thanks before reiterating "I really am sorry for being rude…"but Hiccup just grinned.
"Hey, now you listen up. I have a policy, anyone who takes an arrow for me has the right to tell me to shut up."
"Fairly new policy, I'm guessing?" Eira smiled, back and Hiccup laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, before he sat down in the chair Heather had just vacated.
"I'm going to go get the riders and Gobber… there's something Eira and I want to tell you all." Heather said suddenly, and Eira's eyes went rounder than a full moon. But she trusted Heather, even though she hadn't had time to hear her plan, she knew the brunette's schemes almost always paid off. The female Berserker hurried off and suddenly the two realised how alone they were.

Hiccup cleared his throat before continuing some small talk. "Hope the bed is comfy enough for you." He straightened the corner of her blanket nearest to him, in a half-way tucking-in.
"It's the softest place I've slept in years, could you thank whoever leant me their room for me?" Eira smiled and tilted her head back, shutting her eyes, revelling at the plushness.
"You're welcome." Hiccup half-laughed again, and Eira's head snapped to face him again, cheeks blushing in realisation.
"T-this is your bed?! I'm so sorry for the inconvenience! I'll just-" She moved to get up, even despite all her injuries, and found herself wincing terribly but not stopping regardless. Hiccup repeated his actions from earlier, swiftly placing a hand on each of her upper arms and returning her to her nest among the pillows.
"Stop moving, you muttonhead." Hiccup turned stern. "This is the least I could do, giving you a soft bed… I know Astrid's old bed is lumpy like nothing else, she used to say it'd toughen her up" He lied through his teeth, scheming and watching her reaction closely.
"Hah-" Eira let out a single mirthless laugh "Yeah you're right it's like sleeping on cragged rocks." She fibbed and picked at the nail on her index finger… not realising she was falling into his trap. Hiccup steeled himself, he reckoned had learned her tell, but he wanted to test his hypothesis. His theory was that she fussed with her nails when she lied.
"Snotlout was pretty riled up after you got injured, are you guys close?" After registering his words Eira suddenly left her hands alone and looked him in the eyes. Invisible wheels turning as she stared at him like he was translucent deathsong Amber. Has she caught on?
"You're not …. Jealous are you?" There was a mischievous glint in her eye.
"W-what? No?" Hiccup was totally thrown off by that remark. Am I jealous? I'm not… right? Do… Do I even have a reason to be jealous? At least she'd not figured out that I was testing her.

"Yeah I figured not" She outright grinned now, knowing she'd got him. "Cause between that and you learning that Snotlout knew my accommodation secret: the jealousy thing was far more outrageous." Hiccup's jaw dropped, gaping like a fish. She DID figure me out! And she messed with me anyway! Just how smart is this girl? He turned bright red while the curly haired girl laughed and laughed before she continued on with her teasing "Why didn't you just ask me once you knew." Eira rolled her eyes.
"Why didn't you just tell me when you knew I knew." Hiccup parried childishly.
"You messed with me, making me lie first, so I messed with you." Eira shrugged, nonchalant.
"I-I well, you-" Hiccup went to speak but found himself speechless. HIM! Speechless!

"Relax Hiccup" And he noticeably did relax at the melodious sound of his name in her mouth. She smiled, gently this time, not teasingly. "Snotlout wouldn't have told you unless there was a reason he had to, I know that, so I'm not mad."
"You have a lot of faith in Snotlout." Hiccup inquired
"So do you." Eira shrugged back.
"Yes but I've known him a long time." Hiccup didn't know why he was pressing this. But he was nonetheless.

Eira looked down at her wrist, the one she'd injured when it was trapped in the coral as she was drowning right before Snotlout and Hookfang rescued her. She tried to move it a little, wanting to roll the joint around tenderly, but found even that was a strain now. Realising she must have done more damage overusing it in the battle the night before she sighed. Then brought herself back to the topic at hand.

"I'm good at reading people. And I read Snotlout. He's a good egg. A bit of an egghead too… but a good egg nonetheless." Hiccup watched Eira explain herself with a smile that lit up her lilac eyes, her nose crinkling, causing the freckles dusting her cheeks to shift positions as her entire face participated in the smile. She's so beautiful. He couldn't help but think.
"Well… What did you read from me?" Hiccup asked, after some time, almost scared.
"You know what I read from you. I all but told you that night on Berserker's island." Eira blushed in recollection, and Hiccup's face also turned pink in memory.

"If you're asking yourself why… it's because I know you… or rather I can recognise something in you. You're a leader, you think you have to lead by example, what's fair is fair and you have to give in return for what you get. But today I'm telling you it's okay to just receive. One day you will want someone to look, but today is not that day … is it Hiccup?"

"It's not fair on you, is it? You keep… being vulnerable and open with me and I keep …. Not doing that." Hiccup sat further back in his chair, remembering more from that night, her showing him her scars. Him not wanting to or being able to show his.
"Oh believe me, the playing field is more level than you think." Eira sighed, averting her gaze. Her expression was now sad again, and Hiccup wanted to just embrace her again and tell her everything would be fine. But he didn't. Instead he went with the pragmatic choice.
"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked, eyes firmly on the redhead. But she said nothing. So he persisted "Eira… I … I know you're hiding something. Something big." He pressed, and instantly she started picking at her fingers, Hiccup was right about her tell it seemed, Eira was clearly trying to come up with a lie. So he tried to get ahead this time. "And before you say anything… I… I heard some of what you and Heather were talking about before I knocked."

Eira gasped, and her face went pale. Ignoring all the pain searing through her body she shifted her weight in the bed, balling her knees up in front of her, and wrapping her around around her legs hugging herself violently. Barely registering the fact that in that one motion she was tearing and reopening several stitches. She was so fearful, so so terrified, everything about her read 'I need to run.' But Hiccup pressed on still.
"I heard you say 'We need to tell them' and 'My secret isn't more important than the lives of those poor dragons!' Eira… what secret, and what dragons lives were you talking about?"

But at those words, instead of her running, like he feared she would, she relaxed a little. Not realising that internally she was elated. He heard basically nothing then. THIS is fixable. And right on that thought Heather burst in, with the riders and Gobber in tow.
"That is exactly what we were wanting to talk to you about!" Heather hollered as she strode up the stairs. But Hiccup's eyes stayed on Eira, who hadn't moved from her defensive pose.

"H-heather" Eira looked at her friend worried, and all to aware that Hiccup's stare was still fixed on her. "I just… I moved too quick too soon and I think I tore a stitch. Can you have a look please?" Heather did a once over on her friend and saw that fresh blood was seeping through a few bandages.
"Oh jeez, woman! What are you doing Ei?" Heather huffed, and then put a hand on Hiccups shoulder. "Do you and the others mind waiting downstairs while I patch her up and then I'll explain everything. It'll only take 20 mins tops, I swear." The riders huffed at the inconvenience but trudged down the steps, but Hiccup lingered a moment. Green eyes still locked on Eira. He wasn't angry. But he wasn't happy. Actually, for once, Eira couldn't read him at all, but she thought she knew why. She couldn't read him before he was too busy trying to read her. And she shuddered at the thought.

After a few more tense seconds Hiccup got up and joined the others downstairs. But he kept his ears attuned upstairs, hoping to hear the whispers of the girls, getting their story straight. But no whispers came. Only the un-hushed words of Heather saying, "It's alright hun, I got this." But he figured that was just about fixing her stitches. He sighed… his chest became heavy under the realisation that if he wanted to get closer to this girl, finding out her secrets by pushing her was not the way to go about it. He thought back to Gobber's words, "what matters is, do you trust her anyway?" and how instant his response had been in the affirmative. Even the very phrase he overheard her say to Heather "My secret isn't more important than the lives of those poor dragons!" indicated her true nature. How kind she was, how devoted to the dragons.

Hadn't he once thought that any friend to the dragons was a friend of his? So why do I keep driving so hard to push this one girl? I don't even mean to I just- Hiccup didn't even know how to continue his own train of thoughts. This woman had left him speechless before but now thoughtless too?! Hiccups' eyes went out the large door to the starry night's sky visible above the tree line. And he was reminded that this time the night before this girl was getting injured, over and over and over again for the sake of his people. So he figured he could leave his questions for another day. Especially if the two girls were going to attempt to answer a few of them in a moment. And now that he'd learned Eira's tell he could know what would need further digging and what wouldn't. But suddenly, and surprisingly it was Snotlout of all people, whose words struck him internally. "She's as much our ally, bleeding in your bed today, as she was playing with Ruffnut in the woods yesterday." And he couldn't have been more right. So, Hiccup took a deep and unsteady breath and resolved himself. He was going to trust his instincts and trust the girl. Even if he knew there was something afoot.

This revelation's timing couldn't have been more perfect, as he heard Heather call out "You guys can come up now."
"I'm ready to talk." Eira's voice reinforced.

And the group walked up the stairs, Hiccup knowing they were about to have some questioned answered. And some not.