Day one of our official hunt of Krogan, and the Riders, like I, were already done with this maniac. I had left Gobber to tend to the town while my mother prepares for her trips. Dagur had left the evening beforehand, leaving just the original Dragon's Edge riders. We were honestly all okay with that; the extra fire power Eret, Dagur, and my brother brought was welcomed but they weren't as aware on our tactics which the rest of us had spent years honing together. Sure, we could get on each other's nerves, but in battle, we had really come together as unit.
"Alright gang, I've given it some thought. In lieu of my mother's idea, we're going to alter our plans slightly. I don't want to risk anything with the inhabitants of Tomorrow before she gets there, so instead we'll head South on our first outing. Towards the Waterlands, east of Swallow. There are a pair of large islands there that we know little about due to proximity to the Hysterics and Berserker Islands, back when we were at war. The Waterlands was mentioned in the notes; and it appears to be an island devoid of a human population. Remember, this is strictly scouting, we are trying to track down Krogan. Once we've dealt with him, we can go back and finish off the trappers one by one." I state. "Questions?"
"What if we find Krogan?" Heather asks
"Switch to capture mission, we'll bring in the A team and do whatever it takes to capture him." I reply with a strong tone. "We aren't putting him in our sights to let him escape. If we find him, this changes from a scout to a capture or kill mission. Capture, preferably." I add
"Why are we wasting time trying to capture him. He's been a pain in the yak for how long now? Can we just be done with it?" Snotlout exclaims and I truthfully share his sentiment with a shrug.
"I'd like to say yes, but that isn't our way. You know that. He knows that. Capture him, turn him over to Dagur. Let him rot in a Berserker prison cell." I reply, glancing to Heather who smiles with a shrug.
"We wouldn't be able to guarantee he'd like his accommodations, but I know my brother would love to host him." She retorts as I shake my head and smile.
"Okay. On that happy note; I'm assigning everyone a buddy, just incase we end up needing to split." I state. "Astrid and Heather; Fishlegs and the Twins, Snotlout with me." I finish as they all nod in acceptance, I look baffled. "That's one of the first times no one has complained about the split." I exclaim as they all shrug and laugh.
"Hey. Can only argue to a point, besides, we've all gotten better working together overall." Fishlegs says, glancing to Snotlout with a smug grin. Yep, those two were still both gunning for Ruffnut, how or why was still completely unknown. Heather seemed genuinely disappointed Fishlegs had moved on from her over Ruffnut.
"That said, we are flying together. We're not splitting up inside any caves, we're not risking that again. We're wings up in thirty, Astrid and Heather, can you make sure the A team is ready just in case we call for them?" I ask, glancing to Astrid who smiles and nods.
"Got it, we'll meet you back at the academy." Astrid says with a lingering gaze and leaves with Heather. The rest of the riders head to the Academy as I track down my mother. She was in the Great Hall with Eret and Gobber with a variety of documents. She smiled when she saw me and waved me over as Toothless stayed close in tow.
"Hello son, we were just going over the wording of our initial greeting. We need to tread cautiously, some of these aren't exactly friendly." My mother states and I nod.
"No kidding. Are you taking ships or dragons?" I ask as she shrugs.
"Both. We'll take the ships, but have the dragons with us in case we need them. Can never be too careful with tribes like the Hysterics. Better safe than sorry. We've outlined a draft if you want to look over it, it is representin' you after all." She adds and I sigh.
"You know, I'm still technically against this." I mutter and she laughs but slides the paper to me as I shrug my shoulders and read it over.
"You are cordially invited to the Summit of the Archipelago.
Since the days of Drago Bludvist have ended, but the threat on our waters has not, the Chief of Berk, Chief Haddock, is officially inviting you to participate in a summit of Chieftains to bring peace to the seas. This is a summit of peace, and as such, all problems of the past will be left at the shore. We intend to forge a future of peace with our neighbors and other inhabitants of the Archipelago. To secure our waters from outside threats and make safe the seas for trade and local inhabitants. None should live in fear of their neighbors.
The precise date and location of the Summit has yet to be determined. Representatives from the Outcast Tribe, the Berserker Tribe, the Hooligan Tribe, the Defenders of the Wing, and the Wingmaiden tribes will all be present.
It is our hope that you will join us in this Summit. The Envoy of Berk, Valka Haddock, Mother to the Chief and Eret, Son of Eret, Advisor to the Chief, speak in the Chief of Berk's name. They can receive your requests and confirmation/denial of attendance."
Looking back to my mother as I smile weakly and shake my head. "Is this really happening, oh gods, okay. Well, this looks good. Heavy, but good. Might need more, or less. Gods, I don't know" I exclaim, glancing to Eret. "Not that she needs it, but look out for my mother while you're out there." I state and he nods.
"You got it, Chief. We'll do you proud." Eret replies, clasping his hand with mine as I nod.
"With that, we're beginning our hunt. We'll be resupplying here every night but out for most of the day. Gobber!" I call out as Gobber waddles over. "If I'm needed for anything, tag my door so I see it when I return."
"Ye got it, don't ye worry. Berk'll be fine without ye. We're building more stables for the last flock you brought in." Gobber adds and I nod, smiling. Building stables, fire systems, saddles, it all helped keep the people of Berk occupied and generally very pleased. By this point, every single person had a dragon of their own, some welcomed more than one into their homes. It was a great place to live.
"Alright, thank you. I'm off. Be safe." I state.
"You too, son." My mother replies, taking my hand softly and smiling before I head off with Toothless. Taking to the air, I pat Toothless on the side as he coos.
"What do you say bud, one quick lap around the island before we meet the others at the Academy?" I ask and he nods, and we take off. It was cathartic to make that lap and just feel the wind gusting through my hair. Almost made me forget, even briefly, what it was we were really doing. Of course, reality had to settle in as we finished our lap and landed. The other riders were already there, even a couple people of the A team were there as I landed next to Stormfly and hopped off, moving close to Astrid as she's briefing Gustov and Spitelout. She didn't note my presence verbally, but I felt her shift just a little closer towards me when she saw I was standing there. It was those little things that made me smile even more.
Not long after that, we had loaded up all the gear and were ready to take off. As Astrid moves to Stormfly, I take her wrist and pull her back to me and kiss her on the lips as she melts into the kiss. Breaking it with a smile and a nod.
"Good luck?" She asks softly and I nod, smiling.
"Can never have too much of that." I reply and she shrugs.
"In that case." She pauses, leaning in and kissing me again before we hear the disgusted sound of Snotlout.
"Okay, can you guys not!? We have a mission, don't we? And people say I have trouble focusing." He exclaims, prompting several snickers as we ignore it and let the kiss deepen a second longer before parting, smiling, and mounting our respective dragons. Snotlout was always that way, and by now, it honestly didn't phase us in the slightest.
I'd have to make a note to remember this later, the flight directly south was absolutely beautiful if not dangerous. There were rumors of a collection of islands that formed the Mazy Multitudes but they, along with several other islands such as Sorrow, Crescent and Sunstone were sunken or destroyed entirely by the Screaming Death. Not that we were particularly upset about it, with it being so close to Berk, it made hiding attacking forces easier which always made me uneasy. There was also a time where Berk had a sister island that had been overtaken by Thor during a particularly bad storm season, though that happened before Stoick's time.
Either way, one such island that was of note was Mystery Island. Just north of the Waterlands; it was completely inaccessible by ship so it was automatically checked off our hunting list. The flight over it was absolutely gorgeous, a pristine environment that had hardly seen human contact though was riddled with a variety of dragons that we could see from the air. When the threat of Krogan was done, this would be a stop Hiccup and I took on our retreat. The scenery was short lived as we flew past it.
We knew that further south from The Waterlands was open ocean and the mainland, neither places we cared to tread. Most who ventured that far never returned, and even with dragons we wouldn't risk the inhabitants of the mainland's whose own warring ways were finding their ways to our Archipelago. We had always assumed the warlords were from the mainland's, it makes sense that they'd want to extend their control beyond their borders and the only way to go is out to sea until you hit the end of the world. Explorers though we may be, there are certain places we do not tread.
We were soon over the Waterlands, which was as close to the eastern lands we had ever been. The Waterlands, from overhead, seemed to be a lush environment. Not at all rocky like most islands in the archipelago, this was a forest spread across a flat of land triple the size of Berk, if not more. It was another beautiful environment that was accessible by ship. I remember being told about when I was lost at sea back beyond the Edge, when we first encountered the Hunters. Tuffnut made the note that littering in the archipelago should be illegal; and to this day, I agree. The amount of waste that trappers, hunters, those only concerned with power or wealth, could leave in their wake was breathtaking.
The northern shores of the Waterlands seemed pristine, beautiful. The southern shores were littered with countless leftovers from various visitors. Though there was no signs of a permanent base on any of the shores; and no sign there was even recent traffic when we swept lower to investigate.
"Hiccup, I don't think this island has seen traffic recently." Fishlegs calls out and I agree as Hiccup shakes his head.
"Look at this, it's like they dumped their garbage on the beach and left." Hiccup exclaims with a sigh and glances to me as I shake my head, softly smiling towards him to try to appease him. "They don't care about the environment, this is how it gets destroyed. What do they think, their trash just disappears?" Hiccup growls, I could see he was angry, so was I. I hated seeing places like this fowled in such a way.
"We can't do anything about it by ourselves, Hiccup." I call out, resigned as he nods.
"I know, it just is disheartening. Okay, we'll do one more sweep then head west towards Tomorrow. We're just doing a scouting mission, Tomorrow is inhabited and their inhabitants are just as unruly as the Hysterics are." Hiccup states
"Have you ever been in contact with them?" Heather calls out as I glance back to Hiccup who shakes his head.
"No. Not even my father had. He had relations with the Chief of the Shivering Shores, someone my mother is visiting as well. The Hysterics, those of Tomorrow; in fact, we've stayed clear of the southern islands for the most part due to their violent natures." He states and winces slightly, undoubtedly remembering Berserker Island was one such southern island. "No offense intended." He adds sheepishly as I smile.
"None taken!" Heather calls back and nods. "Dagur mentioned our father once had a treaty with the Hysterics back when he waged war; we don't know what came of it. I'm curious if they will attend the summit!" Heather shoots back and I laugh lightly to myself as I watch the exchange.
"Oh, ha, ha, yeah, the summit. The more I think about it, the more I agree that a gathering of Chieftains needs to happen to address the trappers plundering our waters. It also has me nervous." Hiccup states as I fly up closer to him and reach out, he returns the reach and out hands connect as our dragons glide.
"We'll do it together, Hiccup." I call to him and he smiles.
"And you know the Berserkers have your back. Our name still carries a great deal of respect in the Archipelago." Heather adds and he nods.
"It's appreciated." Hiccup returns and our hands break as our dragons flap their wings to stay in the air.
"Hiccup, did you get a look at Mystery?" I ask him as he nods, glancing back to me. I wink at him and smile as he chuckles and nods. He understood my message without saying it; it would be a decent stop on our retreat. I wanted to explore with just him, I wanted to explore more of him. Gods, how my mind can wander even amid a mission, I wonder if his does too. My eyes find his lingering towards me with a passive smile on them that he shakes out of when our eyes connect, prompting us both to laugh lightly. Yes, his wanders as well.
"Alright, gang, to Tomorrow. We'll scout Laya-lout and Danger-Brutes Islands as well, but we'll keep our distance. After that, we'll return to Berk for the night." Hiccup calls out as several riders' shout in joy. His eyes linger on mine for a moment, and I let them linger on his; us both smiling. It was a moment that I swear I could feel him next to me even though we were a dozen feet apart in the sky, and all it made me want to do was sleep in his arms.
Continuing on our flight path, we passed over Swallow and my head seemed out of space with our mission. All I could find myself thinking about was our time in the Forge together, what more we were going to do with each other. Gods, for a while, I must've forgotten we were on mission which is wholly out of character for me. It was that moment, in it, I wanted to hole up from the rest of the world; ignore the conflict outside our borders; ignore the suffering and just be happy with him. Maybe I hadn't been mentally ready before, and we sure weren't ready given the threats to Berk, but I felt ready to marry in that moment. There would always be an excuse why we shouldn't; we aren't ready yet, too much going on, the threat is still there for any children we bring into the world. We surely wouldn't be pressured by Valka or Gobber, it'd be when we wanted. But he could ask tomorrow and I'd probably say yes; and that in of itself didn't fill me with fear, but hope.
Hope that there was a future beyond our time as Riders, battling threats in the Archipelago. Hope there was a time when instead of worrying about the next problem, my biggest worry would be what he and I would do together during a time of peace. A warrior though I may be, I've seen my share of battles and I was ready to imagine a life of peace. It seemed so far away, impossible even, but it was there. With Hiccup as Chief, a time of peace would be the new dawn of our society.
