"Well?" Heather waved a hand in the direction of the rest of the dark cavern, directing Maour's attention. "Don't you have things to do?" If he was going to go tell a whole pack of Night Furies about Einfari and her linking, he might as well go now. It wasn't like they needed to be watched.

Maour stared at her incredulously. "Are you okay? You're taking all of this… really calmly."

"The way I see it, Maour, this is all low stakes compared to the rest of my life," Heather admitted. "Dragons don't bother me, and the worst thing I've suffered here is a headache. Why should I be bothered by any of this?"

'Practical,' Einfari purred.

Maour let a small smile slip. "I suppose I should have expected nothing less from a potential Nótt." He turned and walked away, disappearing into the darkness.

"I'm surprised he can stomach leaving us without supervision," Heather remarked.

'He is not one to control if there is no need, and he and Toothless need to figure out how to spin this in our favor.'

"He said he won't be doing that," Heather recalled.

A snort. 'He will anyway because he doesn't want to see you dead or me exiled.'

That felt like something she would think if she knew him. And noticing that similarity brought her right back to all of this.

She stood, facing Einfari. "Okay, first off, you need to tell me," and wasn't that strange, to be requesting a dragon explain itself, "exactly what you did, and why it's so terrible."

Einfari whined softly. 'I know. Basically, I built a link between us. I can see what you see, or hear what you hear, and so on, whenever I want. But you can do the same with me, and you can hear me talk, which is why I did it.'

See what she saw? "And I have no say in that?" She didn't have much to hide, at least from this dragon, but knowing her privacy was, as Maour said, nonexistent, was a shock.

'We can work out rules, but the link itself is not limited by them.' Einfari met her eyes. 'Maour and Toothless easily avoid conflicting over it, so it cannot be so hard to work out some common courtesy. And it goes both ways. You can do the same with my senses at any time.'

"Show me." She needed to be sure of all of this.

'There should be a small bundle of oddness in the back of your head,' Einfari began, still looking into Heather's eyes. 'Poke at it. I'm not sure how to get it to work, but that's where it is.'

Heather's attention was drawn to the oddly new feeling in the back of her head, the one she had been ignoring. She did as told, straining to do something as abstract as poking at a mental-

Her vision expanded, shifting to show her… herself. A little ragged, her eyes wide and unfocused, looking somewhat angry. It was not dark in the cavern with this viewpoint, though it was not light, and she had no trouble whatsoever in seeing every detail of herself.

She was seeing herself through Einfari's eyes, and presumably she could access other things…

But she didn't want to. She pulled out, returning to her own vision almost immediately, and making a conscious effort to not look so angry. "Sight, hearing, and..?"

'The other senses, smell, taste, and touch.' A quick snort. 'That's it. We can't read each other's minds, and the other side effects don't start kicking in until later.'

"Side effects?"

'You'll be able to see in the dark, go a lot longer without sleep, hear all dragons, and eventually be understood by any dragon you talk to,' Einfari listed.

That was quite the list of benefits. "Now tell me the downsides."

'There are none.'

She sounded serious. "There are always downsides."

Einfari whined. 'The downside is that you are in a lot of danger because I was impatient. There are no actual downsides to the link except a lack of privacy with one person.'

"You," Heather clarified.

'Me.' She whined. 'So, are you mad?'

"You don't strike me as the kind of person to be too worried about that," Heather observed. "It was necessary, in your mind, so you did it."

'Maybe if it was over I wouldn't care,' Einfari explained, 'but if we work this out, I would rather not be on bad terms with you.'

"Explain to me what we need to do," Heather requested. Hopefully, in the process she would be able to determine if all of this was worth it. It certainly seemed to be, but she did not know enough.

'Fine.' It seemed Einfari was not happy about the subject being changed before she got an answer. 'You want to stay here and so do I. The thing is, you're a human.'

Heather frowned.

'That's fine by me but your kind has done a lot of harm to my kind, my family especially. So we need to convince them of two things.'

"I can guess. That I'm not dangerous, and that I can stand being around dragons." That shouldn't be too hard.

'Close, but not quite. We need to convince them that you aren't dangerous to us, and that you are like us.' A soft warble. 'It's complicated. But we should do it soon, before they hear about this from Maour and Toothless. I'll never get a word in if they don't find out before the rest of the pack.'

"So how long do we have before they find out?" Something seemed odd about that. "Isn't Maour going to tell everyone right now?"

Einfari flinched, her eyes widening. 'Yes, he is. We have no time!' But she didn't move.

"Uh, Einfari?" Heather waved a hand in front of the dragon's face.

'We can't do anything until I know,' Einfari grumbled. 'Look, Heather. I think we could be friends, but I screwed all of that up. Can you please just tell me what you want me to do to fix it?'

"You didn't do anything really bad," Heather replied slowly, thinking about it. "But I still feel like I don't even know what's going on around here. I'm just going with the flow, because you and Maour know what is going on and don't want to throw me to the Berserkers, unlike everyone else I know." That was true, but she needed to downplay just how badly she wanted a place like this to hide out. It would not do to seem overeager.

'Then let me make you an offer.' Einfari stood on her hind legs. 'One not connected to any of the things you don't get. Forgive me and let me try again in actually earning your trust, and I'll help you.'

"With what?" Heather stepped up to face Einfari, looking slightly up.

'Killing whoever is in charge of those hunting you.' She spoke as if it was obvious. 'Clearly, they will not stop, from all you have said. Am I right?'

Heather thought of just how doggedly she had been pursued. It did speak of some personal vendetta, though she had never even seen the chief of the Berserkers, Dagur the Deranged. "Yes. He won't stop."

'So he needs to die.' A soft growl. Einfari put out a paw, resting it lightly on Heather's shoulder. 'I will lend you my wings, my fire, and my mind in that endeavor, whenever it occurs. With my help, it won't be hard. Just give me another chance.'

"That's a lot to offer." She wasn't sure why Einfari felt the need to go so far. "What you did wasn't that bad."

'Yes, it was.' Though she didn't seem to enjoy saying it, Einfari was insistent. 'I basically did what the Queen used to do, forcing herself into other people to get what she wanted. That's why Maour was so upset by that part, and why he called it an attack. He and Toothless are changing what the link means, and I just went back to what it was originally used for.'

"I get that part." She just didn't personally feel that attacked. But this wasn't really about how she felt, it was about how Einfari did. If she was guilty, she would act to make it right. And besides...

A safe place to hide for as long as needed, and the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself pledging to help her end those who were responsible for destroying her life? Those alone were worth consorting with dragons, worth having no privacy, worth all of this and more. She would make this deal even if she despised Einfari, which she did not. How could she despise one so much like herself?

"Done." She put her hand on top of Einfari's paw. "He'll never know what hit him."

A deep and threatening growl reverberated under Heather's hand, Einfari's entire body conveying her resolve. 'Agreed.'

Then Einfari shuffled back, fell back onto all fours, and began walking into the dark cavern. 'Come on, we have no time to waste.'

Heather jogged a few steps and caught up, following behind Einfari. Only the silhouette of her tail on the moss provided Heather with a vague indicator of what direction to go.

Einfari was talking the entire time, which made it even harder to concentrate, especially as what she was saying seemed important.

'There are four families. The Svarturs will not be an issue, and neither will the Eldurs. The Myrkurs will go with the rest of the pack. They love chaos like this.'

Heather stumbled, falling onto Einfari's tail, which immediately jerked out from under her, sending her to the mossy stone floor. "I can't see anything in here!"

'Sorry,' Einfari warbled apologetically, turning around. 'Put your paw on my neck. I'll walk a little slower.'

Heather did as told, feeling far less harried as they began moving again. "Four, you said, but that is three."

'You were paying attention,' Einfari purred. 'Yes. The real problem will be the Nótts. My family.'

Well, that was encouraging. "How do we make them not a problem?"

'Most of that is me explaining and hoping,' Einfari admitted. 'But there are a few things you could do to totally destroy our chances, so I can tell you what to avoid.'

"Hit me."

'What?'

"It's an expression. Maour never uses it?"

'I think that given his past, that would not be taken as an expression by those he lived with, so it makes sense he does not use it.' Einfari growled. 'Anyway. Do not touch anyone aside from me, and even then only when I ask you to. Do not put your paws where they cannot be seen. Do not run or creep. Move slowly and steadily.'

"That's really strict. Why-"

'Humans are dangerous and we are careful. We are the only family that does not host at least one. They need to get used to you before you do anything that could be taken as threatening in the slightest. Otherwise, you might get blasted out of existence.'

Had she told Maour this was lower stakes than normal? She would take that statement back now if she could. Her own life was not low stakes.

"Okay… how likely is this to work?" She needed to know if she should be preparing to run from homicidal Night Furies-

Yeah, she was doomed if that happened.

'About half and half?' Einfari warbled apologetically. 'The bulk of it will be on me. Just look harmless but smart, and you'll probably be fine.'

They reached the outside, where sunlight was just beginning to spill out from the horizon, and began to walk around the outside of the mountain.

'My family cavern section is closer from the inside, but we would have to walk right through the central cavern, so this is safer for the moment.' Einfari began to trot, and Heather followed, now able to see well enough to do so.

Eventually, though not before Heather was entirely out of breath, they reached another small cave entrance, only just big enough for Einfari to fit into.

'It widens on the inside,' Einfari remarked. 'You stay here. I'm going to go get them all out here.'

A few very nervous minutes of waiting followed. Heather didn't feel confident enough to mess with the ability she now apparently shared with Einfari to watch or listen, but she would have done it in a second if she had practice. As it was, she was worried she might get stuck watching from Einfari's eyes and be caught when the dragons came out to meet her.

Eventually, Einfari returned, looking nervous. She walked over to stand by Heather.

Einfari pulled Heather a little bit closer with her tail. 'Don't worry. They can be... aggressive... but they aren't mean. Just cautious, and a bit jaded. They're nice if they know you.'

That didn't reassure Heather much. She watched with apprehension as a group of Furies, all with different shades of grey eyes, filed out of the cavern entrance. She would have to ask Einfari about that later. It made sense for the children, but why would both parents happen to have grey eyes? That was odd.

As Heather watched, the Furies drew near. She could see that there were three adults, and... a small one. Very small, maybe a third of the size of the adults.

Einfari gestured to each in turn, from right to left. 'Nóttleiðtogi, my father.' She pointed at a large Fury with near-black eyes. 'Nóttskarpur, my mother.' She gestured to the second Fury, who was a bit thinner. 'Nóttreiði, my older brother.' That one snarled softly at Heather, and Einfari growled back at him for a moment. He had eyes that were dark-grey. Einfari walked forward and nuzzled the small Fury, who barked happily. 'And Nótthljóður, my baby sister.' She nudged Heather. "Everyone, this is Heather."

Heather waved, smiling a genuine smile at the little Fury. She seemed happy and full of energy, as opposed to the other more hostile members of the group. "Nice to meet you all."

Nóttskarpur purred slightly. She pointed her nose at Heather questioningly, but her eyes were amused. Whatever the question was, it certainly didn't amuse Einfari's father or brother. They both hissed at Heather, and then Einfari. Nóttskarpur swatted Nóttreiði's nose with her paw.

Heather made very sure to keep her hands in view and make no sudden moves. She could feel the danger in the air. What had Maour said? That Einfari's brother had tried to kill him? And her father, but the brother had been glaring at her the entire time, before he even knew what had happened. There was danger there.

These were the dragons that would be in charge of letting her stay, the host family? She did not feel good about that at all.

Einfari elaborated on what had just happened. 'My mother asked me why I was introducing them as if you could hear me. Then they all figured out we had already linked. My mother doesn't seem to mind that much, but my dad and brother aren't happy with either of us right now. My sister doesn't really know enough to care. She's only nine.'

The little Fury objected to that. She growled at Einfari, which might have been intimidating if she wasn't so small compared to everyone else.

Einfari snorted. 'What? It's true. You just want someone new to play with.' She laughed smugly as the little Fury deflated, apparently called out.

Heather tried not to lose hope. Sure, half of Einfari'a family already didn't like her, but at least some of them did. And they were smart, to figure out that she and Einfari were linked so quickly. In her experience, it was easier to gain the favor of smart people, if one really just wanted their approval. They tended to not hold as many unfair grudges and were slightly more likely to admit fault.

Einfari's father snorted. Einfari translated for Heather. 'My Father wants to know why you decided linking with me was a good idea.' There was a slight tremble in her voice that implied there was more Einfari hadn't repeated.

Heather tried to answer that as best she could, making up a fictional version of how it happened as she went, keeping the deception that it had been a mutual choice. "I didn't exactly force Einfari to, because that isn't even possible. She seemed so much like me, and I didn't really consider that she might need to get permission first. But we were friends before that, and we still are." Heather figured if she had already lost Nóttleiðtogi, she might as well be unapologetic about that. "And I don't regret it, even if we probably should have waited. Einfari really is like me, and I think we're going to be inseparable soon."

Was that too much? Not really. There was no such thing as too much when her life was on the line. If acting as if she and Einfari were fated to be close friends kept her alive, she would do it without hesitation for as long as needed.

Nóttleiðtogi growled, but his eyes softened, if only slightly. He seemed satisfied with that, if not with the situation. Then he said something else.

Einfari grinned as she translated. 'He says that you at least have a spine, though you should be careful with what you say.' Her smile faded. 'He wants to know about your past. Mind if I tell them? I'd think you'd rather not go through all of that again.'

Heather nodded. Einfari was right about that. She tried not to listen as Einfari told her story, and instead watched the adult Furies. As Einfari spoke, Nóttskarpur seemed to visibly soften. She had been uptight if amused at first, but Heather could see her genuinely relaxing.

At one point, as Einfari was detailing her capture and treatment on the way here, Nóttskarpur slowly walked over to Heather and nosed at her face. Heather remained still, remembering Einfari's warnings and wishing she knew what Nóttskarpur was doing.

Oh, wait, she probably still had bruises there from the Berserkers. That would be it, given where Einfari was in the story. A small gesture, but one that gave Heather a little hope. She didn't really want to be pitied, but it couldn't hurt.

The two male Furies listened impassively, though Nóttleiðtogi seemed to understand why this was important. Once Einfari was done, Nóttleiðtogi spoke once more.

Einfari translated as he did, not even waiting for him to finish, her voice light and incredulous. 'He says that he still doesn't trust you but he's willing to give you a chance-' That was as far as she got before Nóttreiði snarled loudly enough to make her flinch and stop talking.

Nóttreiði continued snarling, his claws literally carving furrows in the dirt at the edge of the cave. He ignored the disapproving growls of his mother and father. But he couldn't ignore his baby sister when she jumped on his back and started pulling on his ears. He seemed unable to stay mad while that was going on, and had to turn and deal with his annoyed passenger, which he did gently and not at all angrily.

Einfari laughed softly. 'Nóttreiði can never stay angry if Nótthljóður decides to stop him. It's usually the only thing that can calm him down. He isn't a bad person, he just has a short temper.' She said that last part loudly, and it was clearly directed at Nóttreiði.

Nóttreiði growled half-heartedly. He stopped when his little sister swatted him with her paw.

Einfari translated. 'He threatened to end you in about a dozen horrible ways if you even consider hurting or betraying any of us. That's his way of welcoming you to the family.' She growled at Nóttreiði. 'If you so much as scratch her I'll blast you.'

Nóttskarpur cuffed Nóttreiði again, this time a bit harder.

Einfari purred. 'And my mother is backing me up. You have nothing to fear from him. He'll warm up to you eventually, and once he does he'd rather die than watch you get hurt.' There was a sarcastic lilt to that last bit, one Heather assumed was aimed at Nóttreiði, who snorted dismissively.

"That sounds pretty unlikely," Heather remarked.

'Like I said, eventually. It's going to take time.' Einfari nuzzled Heather's hair. 'But the hard part is done. We've got the support of the Nótts.'

Heather sighed in relief. She wasn't sure how much of all of that was Einfari playing her part, and how much was genuine excitement, but it didn't really matter. It was all the same to everyone else, and if she couldn't tell, that meant Einfari was a good actor. But she had a question. "What will it mean when I'm accepted?" More specifically, would that be the last barrier to her officially being allowed to stay here indefinitely?

'The same as for the other humans here. You'll be a member of the family of the Fury you link with, though not related to anyone. That's a bit different, but it doesn't change anything. You'll count as a member of the pack, and when we have to vote on things, you get to participate in our debate, which is how my family decides how to vote. You'll be one of us.'

Heather liked that. "It's like that for all the other humans here?" She felt like there was something Einfari was leaving out. A way her tone had changed slightly at one point.

Einfari nodded. 'All but Maour. He was a special case. Svarturkló and Svarturkappi convinced Svarturskuggi and Svartuvon that adopting him into their family entirely was a good idea. So Maour is actually related by adoption to them. He's Svarturkló and Svarturskuggi's son, and Svartukappi and Svarturvon's brother by adoption. It doesn't change anything officially, but they felt it was appropriate, given his past.'

Given his past… maybe it was appropriate, at that.

'My father is calling me,' Einfari said abruptly. 'Wait here.'

After that, Heather spent a few minutes waiting around as Einfari spoke with her parents at length. That reminded her that she was still very much an outsider. From the pauses and discrepancies in the previous conversation, she knew that Einfari was not translating close to everything.

What Heather had heard was the tip of a dangerous, possibly fatal iceberg, one Einfari seemed to be handling. It was disconcerting, especially given she would be living with the iceberg if this all worked out.

A few minutes later, Einfari led her into the caves, the other Nótts following behind. She could almost feel two sets of piercing grey eyes burning into her back. To make matters more concerning, in here, she was still totally blind. She mentioned that, and Einfari stopped on the spot.

'Why didn't I think of that before?' Einfari sounded annoyed with herself. 'Heather, get on my back.' That was a clear request, so Heather did as told.

'Now, access my sight.'

Heather quickly located the new addition to her mind and did as Einfari said. She gasped at being able to see the entire cave as if it was day, looking through Einfari's eyes. "This is much better."

Einfari laughed as she resumed their walk towards the center of the mountain unhindered by Heather's lack of night vision. 'I thought so. And if you just access my senses of sight, hearing, and smell a little and keep them open, over time they'll... transfer over... to a degree, apparently. But that takes months of having them always open. For now, this is good.' She stopped at an opening to a large mostly vertical cave. 'Here we are.' She flew up to a ledge, sitting off to the side. The rest of the Nótt family sat a bit apart from them. It seemed Einfari, carrying Heather, was not something they wanted to get too close to right now.

Heather took in the view through Einfari's eyes. There were about twenty Night Furies in the cave, of four different families, if she went by eye color. There were two young-adult Vikings complete with helmets standing among the yellow-eyed Furies, and one large Viking with the red-eyed Furies. All three of them looked worn out, though not too tired. Heather also saw Maour with the green-eyed Furies. He seemed nervous.

"Who are the other humans?" She had caught on to the fact that there would be others who had taken this path before her, but this was the first time she was seeing them.

'The two together are the twins, and the large one is Fishlegs. They must have just gotten back, though I don't know why they were off-schedule in the first place.'

They both watched as Maour and Toothless flew to the smooth-topped stalagmite jutting up in the center of the cave. Maour waved at them, almost urgently. Einfari took off and landed on the pillar next to Toothless.

'No,' Einfari rumbled quietly when Heather shifted to get down and stand, 'stay up there. It can only help the appearance we need to create.'

So, Heather remained astride Einfari, still because moving made her dizzy, unable to affect her current vision despite moving her head.

Maour spoke, probably for Heather's benefit. "We need to go over two things tonight. Both are urgent, and both were unexpected. I figured we should start with the..." He trailed off. "Well, I guess the phrase would be 'new human in the room'. I really need to modify a lot of my old sayings, none of them fit now. Saying 'the dragon in the room' when dragons are normally in the majority just doesn't work."

Toothless nudged him, and he got back on track. "Anyway, that. Heather here has been on the island for a few days," he quickly turned to face Fishlegs "which is why you don't know who she is. We had decided to speed up the whole process because of that, but..." He frowned and paused for a moment. "Einfari apparently decided even that wasn't quick enough. She and Heather reached something of an understanding behind my back."

So, he would hold up the small lie. Good. She didn't want to have to contradict him in front of so many possibly hostile dragons.

There was something of an uproar over that, although not as much as Heather had expected. She listened carefully as Maour continued.

"So, now we're here. I think Heather is trustworthy, though I haven't had much time to get to know her. I'll let Einfari speak for her, and then you can ask any questions of either of them you might have." He and Toothless stepped back, and Einfari stepped forward.

Heather listened as Einfari told a somewhat modified version of how they had met, and why she thought Heather was trustworthy, along with Heather's past. Basically, the same stuff she had just told the Nótts, though phrased very differently, painting herself as impatient to be sure either way, not manipulative.

After that, the Furies were supposed to ask questions. Heather was surprised when the large Viking spoke first, in a surprisingly non-deep voice. He must have been younger than she thought. Which made him huge, even by Viking standards. A Viking of around twenty, from what she could tell, that big already.

"Uh, the Eldurs have picked me to speak, so that Nótteinfari doesn't have to translate. We want to know why Dagur was after you. Do you have any idea whatsoever? Any interactions with Berserkers that might have made them mad at you before they started hunting you?"

Heather spoke bitterly. "I wish I knew. But no, I had never even spoken to a Berserker that I know of. I had no enemies, except the Outcasts, and I don't think they were involved."

Fishlegs held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Hey, we believe you. Dagur is called 'the Deranged' for a reason. I know that from personal experience. We just thought it was odd he has apparently fixated on a random girl he's never even met." He apparently heard something from his group. "Okay, we don't have any more questions. I mean, they let the twins in, so the bar isn't too high. You just have to like dragons and be friends with a Night Fury."

One of the twins objected from their ledge. "Hey, don't make me come down there. We had to go through the coolest trials ever to get in here! There was definitely a bar, and it was held between two flying dragons, while we walked across it. And that was just one of the trials."

The other twin joined in. "Yeah, that bar was at least a thousand feet up. So definitely a high bar."

Fishlegs groaned. "It was a figure of speech. I wasn't talking about an actual bar. And I'm pretty sure Blast and Boom made up those tests on the spot."

The male twin spoke. "Eh, doesn't matter. Still awesome. Anyway, a question for the woman in the middle of the cave. What was your name again?"

Before Heather could answer, the other twin socked her brother, almost knocking him off the ledge. "Ignore him, he's an idiot. So, you're cool with all of this? Becoming one of us, living with dragons, eating fish three times a day..." She shuddered dramatically and was then slapped by one of the yellow-eyed Furies. "I'm kidding. It's not all fish all the time. But still, it's a big adjustment."

Heather wasn't sure if this was a question from the family or if the girl was speaking for herself. But it was a good one. "It'll take some adjusting, but I think I won't mind. I like fish anyway, and I'm definitely not a picky eater." That was an understatement. Living a year on the run had driven any squeamishness about food straight out of her. She had been forced to subsist on rotten bread for a few weeks at one point because it was all she could afford.

The female twin nodded. "Cool. Well, that's pretty much it. Oh, and you do realize that if you live here, you are agreeing to be pranked by the Thorston-Myrkur Quintet at least once a month?"

Maour interrupted. "No, she isn't. You can try, but you know the rules. No destruction you aren't willing and able to fix, and you have to quit it if she asks." He seemed amused, though his words were serious. "And I'd watch it if I were you. You've already figured out that messing with the Nótts usually doesn't end well."

Both twins squirmed in embarrassment. The male spoke. "I thought we all agreed never to speak of that!"

Maour smiled. "Just thought you might need a reminder."

Heather whispered to Einfari. "What happened?"

Einfari purred loudly. 'I'll tell you later. It was great. They never pranked us again after that little encounter.'

The female twin had returned to her position as the voice of the Myrkur family. "Oh, Heather. One more thing. You should know, we are the rider of the Night Fury."

Heather squinted at her. "Yes, I thought as much." She gestured to the dragons on all sides. "Why does it matter?"

Maour took over. "I've got this Ruffnut. Heather, she means that we are all", he pointed at himself, Fishlegs, and the twins, "the same figure. We make sure to never be seen together or at the same time, and as a result..."

Now she understood. "The rumors can't agree on anything about you, and they all assume there's only one rider. Clever. Yeah, I can work with that. I'll keep that illusion going." An easy promise to make when she had no intention of leaving this island for a long while.

Maour smiled. "Good. The Svarturs don't have any questions. We welcome anyone who can accept our ways, and we definitely welcome the first human to join the Nótt Furies. We weren't sure if that would ever happen." There was an odd edge to his voice, as if there was more that would be said later.

Heather smiled, dismissing the undercurrent. "Well, now you know." She watched as the families discussed her, and as three Furies, one from every family except the Svarturs, flew out and faced her and Einfari. Einfari translated for her.

The Fury from the Myrkurs spoke first. 'We vote yes. There doesn't seem to be any reason to object.'

Then spoke Nóttleiðtogi, who was one of the three Furies. 'We have no objections. We will give Heather a chance to earn our trust. We vote yes.' The dragon visibly wilted as he said that. Yeah, there was definitely more going on here.

A large red-eyed Fury spoke last. 'We have no objections, provided Heather has been truthful and really does not know why Dagur is after her. We vote yes.'

Maour spoke. "So now it is up to you, Heather. Do you accept the offer? Knowing that your new loyalty will be to the pack, and that betraying it is, I'm obligated to inform you, severely punishable?" He sounded entirely serious.

Heather smiled as Einfari looked back at her. "Yes, I do. I'm happy to have somewhere to belong again. It's been far too long." She would put it in a way to seem as content as possible, regardless of whether or not she felt that whole-heartedly enthusiastic about all of this. This was in front of everyone, and she needed to make a good impression.

After a moment, Einfari flew Heather back to the Nótt Furies. Back to the family that had taken her in. Or at least, was willing to try. They set down a little way from Nóttskarpur, who purred reassuringly at Einfari. 'Don't worry daughter, I'm sure your trust in your friend is well founded.' Heather smiled as Einfari relayed that comment.

A few moments later, Heather watched one of the green-eyed Furies fly over, and land on their ledge. She wasn't sure which one this was. She watched as the Svartur Fury and Nóttskarpur had what looked like a friendly conversation, and the Svartur Fury left. She didn't know what had just happened, but Nóttskarpur was eyeing her oddly now.

Einfari wanted to laugh. She had heard what Svarturkló and Nóttskarpur had said, and she was sure Svarturkló had just planted a few ideas in her mother's head. She would have to thank Svarturkló for that later, privately. Much less awkward and pushy than if she had done it herself.

Heather had given her another chance. The pack had accepted her. The final and most worrying sticking point was staring stonily out at the cave, his eyes not really seeing. Her father.

He had put up the front everyone outside the family saw and was clearly trying to follow Maour's advice, but this wasn't going to go well. Hopefully, Maour could do the majority of calming Nóttleiðtogi down before he got her alone. Einfari was dreading the talk he had promised her earlier, even as he was fighting his own issues to give a fair chance to Heather.

That was one small comfort. He trusted that Einfari's judgment was sound, at least as far as she could see. Otherwise, Heather would not still be standing here among them.

Her new friend had no idea how close things had gotten to getting violent during that meeting. Einfari knew that once Heather could hear everyone, there would be no way to shelter her, but for now, she would keep all of the vitriol and dangerously violent comments to herself. That didn't need to be relayed.