Eira took a breath and then began her tale, adjusting the shawl now around her shoulders, still dressed in only that and the various bandages. The bed's blanket was pooled loosely around her waist. "I grew up on a small atoll named Næturfall island. It means Nightfallen. This was the ancestoral home of the Nightfuries." Everyone except Heather and Hiccup gasped. "My clan… we were tasked with being the guardians of the Nightfuries and they were, in turn, our guardians also. Though… we didn't ride them! Hiccup still maintains that title as first dragon rider, as far as I know." Tuffnut slapped Hiccup on the back and let out a huge chortle as he said 'I'm sure our little H is sooo relieved.' Before Eira death-stared him and he shut up promptly. She continued.
"My people and the Nightfuries lived side by side for centuries… our island a haven from the outside world. Humans feared the nightfuries and the other dragons feared our blades, so rarely was an outsider able to step on shore. Till one man lead a ruthless raid. He brought more men than I had ever seen in one place. Eyes colder than a Snowwraith's heart, and a laugh that felt like the Gods had turned their backs to the world." Eira paused and inhaled, steadying herself for what she would say next. "He made me watch as he and his soldiers slit each and every one of my clansmen's throats, and bled them dry. Before he set the whole island ablaze to scatter the nightfuries from their stronghold. Then he set out to hunt down each and every one of them, calling it the ultimate hunt. He left me alive… not realising what I was. That I-" Eira was interrupted swiftly by her brunette best friend.
"was the daughter of the chief." Heather interjected. And Eira nodded, Hiccup watched and realised she wasn't picked at her hands… she's telling the truth. His heart ached for what this girl had been through. Tears pricked at her eyes but she didn't let them fall in front of the others.
"I'm sorry… Heather… can you continue for me… I'm" Eira hid her face for a moment, and a strangled sob escaped her throat. The Berseker stared at her friend for a moment knowing that Eira wasn't faking, but Thor knows Heather was going to use this opportunity. If you wrap a lie up in the truth it will be believed.
"See the thing about the chiefton's family is… they had a special trait. A secret trait if you will. Eira's clan believed that to truly respect the dragons meant to have empathy for them, but to have true empathy is about actions not words. This is the tale their ancestors passed down the generations. And to remind the people of that, the genealogy of the chief would be given a link to that of the dragons. A shared weakness, designed, they believed, to become an emotional strength." Heather explained.
"Is this all true Eira?" Fishlegs asked, his face racked with sorrow, Eira lifted her teary face and nodded. She sniffed, but despite her emotional state she chose her words carefully.
"Every word she has said is true. I've told Heather everything." Again, Hiccup knew she wasn't lying, but at this point he was so wrapped with guilt from how much he'd pushed her that he wasn't analysing her as closely anymore.
"So lass, tell us… what is this weakness you share with the dragons?" Gobber asked, intently.
"It has to do with the arrow which took me down last night." Eira pointed with her good hand to where Heather had put the arrow earlier. Hiccup went over and picked it up, seeing the colour he gulped in understanding. It clicked for him right away.
"No, it can't be." The leader of the dragon riders breathed, unable to believe it.
"What, what is it?" Snotlout asked, fervently, keen to get to the point. Eira looked at him.
"You remember why I was so urgent that you specifically tell Heather it was a hunter's arrow, not just any arrow, when you I sent you to get her help." Eira gently said, easing him into the knowledge.
"Yes but I don't see why that's relevant right now." Snotlout folded his arms. Now it was Gobber and Fishlegs' turn to gasp in realisation. They also understood now.
"Think about it, what makes a hunter's arrow different from a normal arrow" Fishlegs added, trying to get the stocky young Jorgenson and the twins to come to the conclusion on their own.
"That would be that hunter's arrows are dipped in a diluted solution constructed from the essence of dragon root-" Tuffnut began in his oddly knowing way which comes out from time to time, rolling the r pretentiously on the word 'root' and Ruffnut in her corresponding tone of voice finished his sentence off "-to make the most of dragons' weakness to the plant during combat by combining it with a ballistic or long-distance weapon." And as soon as the words came out of her mouth, the twins inhaled too, finally understanding. "Wait…." They said in unison.
"No way." Gobber puffed.
"That's impossible" Fishlegs guffawed
"It's kind of awesome" Tuffnut grinned
"WHAT AM I MISSING HERE!?" Snotlout roared suddenly!
"Eira's reacts to dragon root the same way as dragon do" Heather said finally.
Eira continued "It's like a bad allergic reaction but one that doesn't involve the respiratory system like in humans, just the immense pain, fever and disorientation that the dragons feel instead"
"Oh, well I mean that does make sense when you consider the - WHAAAAAT?!" Snotlout thundered, and despite the tension Eira burst out laughing. Within seconds everyone else was laughing too, bar the indignant young Jorgenson. Hiccup clutched his stomach he had laughed so hard that his wound from when Astrid stabbed him ached again for the first time in days, and he wiped a joyful tear from his eye. But the ache in his gut brought clarity to his mind.
"Hold on a second…" He said, and the group's laughter died down. And all eyes went to him as he audibly worked through his train of thought. "You knew that when you got in between me and that arrow. You knew you were fighting against hunters and their usual weapons and still you…" Hiccup's eyes got more and more heavy with various dark emotions, but Eira interrupted.
"I would have taken that arrow for you whether it was covered in dragon root or not" She smiled gently, and shrugged, though the motion brought a heavy wince to her complexion "I would have for any of you guys as this point." Eira tried to laugh off what she just said but nonetheless everyone in the room got a little emotional. They'd only known her for a week and yet… "I guess that makes me a sap, but whatever it's the truth." And Hiccup knew it was.
"It doesn't make you a sap, lass" Gobber came over and slapped her on the back, and she visibly grimaced again. "It makes you stronger than all of us, yer hear?" He grinned, and she just laughed in his face.
"Oh, I knew that already, Gobber" The red head grinned playfully.
"Why you little-" He raised his hand pretending to be about to hit her, but she didn't even flinch, since she could read him too. And instead his hand went and tousled her crazy red curls, and she continued to laugh.
"Thank you for telling us shorty, now we can better protect you in the battlefield!" Snotlout began to verbally flex. But Eira shook her head, and Heather took her turn to speak again
"Uhmm.. sorry to burst your bubble Snothat." The brunette interjected, using her brother's favourite nickname for the young Jorgenson. 'Favourite' only since Snotlout hated it so much. But she didn't give him time to react to the taunt and persisted. "We didn't tell you Eira's secret cause we wanted this lovey-dovey moment. No, we told you because we realised we have a problem. And we need you to help fix it. To save the dragons." Heather folded her arms, and Hiccup's eared perked up again, realising that this really must be the secret he heard them talking about before. I guess she's really telling us everything after all.
"What have you found out?" Hiccup was keen to get to the point now that they'd brought it up.
"The arrow I was shot with wasn't just your run of the mill hunter's arrow. It's something else." Eira frowned, and turned her eyes to her chubby blonde comrade who was still holding the arrow. "Fishlegs look closer, smell it too"
"You're right" Fishlegs inspected it closely, and sniffed the arrowhead, he took a moment and then licked it. But his eyes caught Heather's and she blushed dramatically. "What? I mean I get that this has been… y'know… inside Eira and all but this is a matter of scientific importance!" He defended in his Fishlegsy way. And Eira desperately held in her chuckle realising what had happened, not only did he say and do exactly the same thing as Heather had done earlier, that now meant that….
"N-no… I get that… It's just I did the same thing so you and I just…" Heather turned even more red, and Fishlegs did too. Realising that they had not only just had an indirect kiss, but also the weirdest indirect kiss ever. Eira accidentally released her giggle, and the twins two began laughing, but again Hiccup was keen to get to the point.
"Fishlegs whats wrong with the arrow?" Hiccup huffed, and his best human friend snapped back to attention. He sniffed the arrowhead yet again and then moved his fingers to and fro as though he was doing some bizarre smell-maths.
"The dragon root coating this arrowhead is about 4 times stronger than their usual ones"
"I said 4 to 5 times considering the taste." Heather added
"Whatever you two love birds!" Snotlout yelled "What does this all mean!?"
"It means, Snotlout," Eira said, her voice grave "That with these extra strong dragon root arrows, if the dragons they hit don't receive Dagur's special purple oleander concoction within a day… they die." Fishlegs then gasped hearing those words and dropped the arrow as though it burned him.
"And the same goes for Eira" Heather breathed, her voice beyond solemn.
"Oh my Thor" Ruff and Tuff exclaimed in exactly the same tone and timing.
"That is a very big problem" Fishlegs nodded, and everyone in the group stared down at the arrow on the floor, tension thick in the air.
