Dagur and Hiccup came up to a hut and the Berserker stopped, his face dropping a bit, "Are there any clothes that I can wear from here?" he asked, embarrassed, "I-I don't have anything." Hiccup smiled, assuringly, "We've got plenty. Just wait here and I can get you some new armor." Before Dagur could protest about not getting it for himself, Hiccup rushed off. The other riders came up to speak with the Berserker and he perked up, "Have you seen Bluebolt, lately?" he asked, excitedly. "Not really lately, but we've gone to check on the island a couple a times." Dagur smiled, "I really appreciate that." he said, sincerely. Despite the warning looks that Snotlout received, he kept staring at the Berserker, skeptically, "I thought you'd be taller."
Dagur's smile faded and turned into a snarl, "Kinda hard to grow under those circumstances. What's your excuse?" he questioned. The Jorgenson stammered and Hiccup came up to the group, "Here you go." he handed the new garments to Dagur. "Thanks." the Berserker replied, gratefully. Hiccup turned to the others, "What's going on here?" he asked, feeling the tension. "Nothing." Astrid reassured him, frowning at Snotlout. The riders left and Dagur entered the hut, finding a tub and heating up some rocks underneath the item. When it was warm enough, he removed his clothes and climbed into the water. The heat soothed his muscles and he let himself relax. As he was doing this, Hiccup was going up to see Gothi.
The Berkian knocked on the door and the small lady emerged. "Gothi, I need you to do a physical for a certain viking." Hiccup requested. The shorter viking raised a brow. "He's Dagur. You remember him, right?" Gothi shrugged, nonchalantly. "Well, will you do it?" The heir pressed. The healer slumped, exasperated and wrote, "Don't you think that I have enough patients without healing visitors too? Don't they have healers on Berserker Island?" Hiccup's brow furrowed, "He's my friend, Gothi and it'll take too long for him to wait until he gets back. It's not going to be a regular thing-trust me, he won't like it anymore than you will." Gothi sighed, inaudibly, and complied. "Great, thanks." the heir told her before leaving.
Dagur had just tended to his wounds and exited the hut, contentedly. Hiccup walked over to him, "I got Gothi to agree to look at you." The Berserker eyed him, "And there. I looked at you. Let's consider it all done, then." he went past the Berkian, who sped up to keep pace with the older viking, "You're still limping, though, Dagur. I know what it's like to have leg problems." he reminded him. Dagur did not slow down, "I know, you know. After enough training, it won't be able to hinder me and I'll learn to deal with what's left." Hiccup tried to say something, but Dagur raised his hand to stop him, "If you want to help me, tell me where Heather is. I really need to talk to her." The Berkian was confused by this, but smirked, "Let's make a deal. I'll tell bring you to Heather after you get the checkup. Worst comes to worst, you can get some extra first aid. Everyone knows that Gothi's the best healer in the archipelago." Dagur frowned and the two stared each other down. The heir was unmoving with his stance and the chief was too achy to complain about possible relief. "Okay." he grumbled. Hiccup grinned with satisfaction, "This way."
The two made their way up to Gothi's hut where she opened the door before it was even rapped. The viking's eyes widened at how much the Berserker had changed and, immediately, went into "healer mode". She drew, furiously, in the dirt as Dagur watched her in amusement, "Uh, hello." he offered. She did not raise her head and he looked at Hiccup, "Are you going to tell me what she's saying or-?" he dragged. Hiccup frowned at the message, "Is that really necessary?" She kept writing and he continued, "Do you, at least, have a towel?" Hiccup asked the lady. She huffed and went into her hut. "What was that about?" Dagur asked, totally lost. "She.. wants you to undress." Hiccup told, awkwardly. The Berserker blinked, blankly, "Excuse me?" "That's why I asked her for the towel." Hiccup said, hurriedly, before he lost the viking's compliance, completely.
"I'm not-" Dagur yelled, angrily, and was interrupted by the little old lady handing him a towel. He calmed down and spoke, "I am not going to be wearing only this towel. Whatever you need to do, you can do with my clothes on." he stated, firmly. Gothi crossed her arms and scribbled. "What now?" he inquired, frustrated, and raising his arms. "She says that this is the only way she can examine your wounds. It makes sense." Hiccup defended. The largest pout was on Dagur's face, "I don't want anyone to see my scars." he thought, miserably. "Do you have to be here too?" he questioned. Hiccup thought about it, "Kind of. If I know what's wrong, I'll be able to help you with it down the line." His friend's grunt turned into a regular growl, but he snatched the towel and went into the hut, as Gothi pointed for him to.
Dagur, self-concsiously, exited the home and Gothi motioned for him to sit down in a chair. Grumpily, he complied, shoulders slouched a bit, and she walked over to him. Seeing the Berkian heir walk over, Dagur tried to imagine himself somewhere else, but failed. Hiccup felt a pit in his stomach as he saw all the bruises and scars that coated his friend's body. In one of her rare moments of gentleness, Gothi took some cream and ran her hand over the scars. Dagur tensed at the contact and his eyes had a far away look in them. "Dagur!" Hiccup called for the sixth time, trying to get the young man's attention. The Berserker snappped back to the situation, "Yep?" he asked. The Berkian's face was full of worry, "Um, Gothi said that most of the scars won't cause anymore harm, but the one on your side had damaged a lung. It seemed to heal all right, however just try to avoid any injuries to the area, so that it won't reopen the wound." Rage flashed in Dagur's eyes, "I wasn't trying to get slashed!" he bellowed. Hiccup stepped back and Gothi eyed them both, observingly.
Dagur cleared his throat and calmed down, "Sorry." he apologized, "I'll try to avoid injuries." he said, through a forced smile. He looked at Gothi, "Is your examining done?" She nodded and he reentered the hut to dress. Emerging, quickly, he went back over, "Okay, what's your vedict?" The healer wrote in the dirt. "She says that you'll be able to run still, but your knee was cut too deeply and wasn't allowed to heal, properly. Some of the pain will always be there. The same goes for the limp. I'm sorry, Dagur." Hiccup stated, sincerely. The Berserker's face was blank, "Is that all?" Gothi wrote more, "She says, 'All that I can tell off-hand, but I want to check your eyes. You've been squinting a lot'." Dagur, swiftly, widened his eyes to a normal amount, "What would you do?" Instead of answering, Gothi motioned for him to stay where he was standing and had Hiccup move a large distance away with a scroll. "Can you read any of this?" The Berkian called.
Dagur made a face of discontent, "At that distance, I couldn't have before either." he stated. Hiccup stepped forward, "Anything yet?" he inquired. The Berserker shook his head. This continued and Dagur's heart raced, "It seems like he's standing a foot away and I can't read it, clearly." his breath quickened and he attempted to bring it down, so as to not let it be noticed. "You still can't see this, can you?" Hiccup questioned. Dagur tried harder than ever to decipher what was on the scroll, but could not. His head lowered, ashamedly, and he shook it in response. Mentally kicking himself, he straightened up, "That's only because I was in the dark for so long. The sun, itself, is rather uncomfortable right now. The longer I'm out in the daylight, the more I'll get reacclimated." he said, assuredly.
"Or this is per-" Hiccup began. "-sonally an irritating thing to deal with." Dagur finished, frowning, slightly. He brightened up at a memory, "If that's everything, dear Hiccup, I believe that you promised me a visit with Heather?" Hiccup breathed, heavily, "All right. Follow me." Dagur grinned and waved goodbye to Gothi, "Thanks for the info!" he called, hurrying off to speak with the viking. Hiccup had a question burning in his throat just waiting to be released into the world, "Why are you so persistent with speaking to Heather? You've only met her that one time, right?" The Berserker smirked, "That's what she thinks too. I can't answer your Hiccupy questions until I talk to her. Wouldn't be fair otherwise!" he said, excitedly, practically bouncing with each step. They came up to a hut and Hiccup gestured to it, "This is it. Should I wait out here?" Dagur flicked his wrist, "Nope. I can take it from here, Brother. I'll tell you what this is all about later." he promised. Reluctantly, the heir left the chief and returned to the main part of his village.
Taking a deep breath, Dagur knocked on the door. He heard some shuffling and Heather opened it, smiling and then was, visibly, disappointed to see him, "Oh, hi, Dagur. I thought that you'd be with Hiccup still." She looked past him, trying to find someone. Dagur rocked back and forth, slightly, "I have something that I've been meaning to tell you." Noticing her lack of focus, he stopped, "Is this a bad time?" "What?" she asked, not having heard him, "Oh, sorry. No, this is fine. I'm about to head out in a few minutes, but we can talk now." The chief pursed his lips, "If you're about to head out, maybe I should wait until your schedule's more open." Heather waved the idea away with her hand, "No, now you've made me curious. Plus, it's been three years and I owe you. What do you want to talk about?" She opened the door wider and motioned to a seat.
Heather's brow furrowed at seeing him limp over to the chair, "Hiccup's right. You need some first aid for that. Are you going to see Gothi?" Dagur laughed, making the other viking eye him, cautiously, "Just came back from that lady. Think I'll stick with the healers on Berserker Island. Got a few things up my own tunic too." Suddenly, turning serious, he began, "I've been wanting to talk to you about your parents." Heather's face dropped, "They died. We were so close to them getting better-thanks for your advice, by the way-but I suppose that too much of it was right. They stopped believing that they would be the same and that's when it all went downhill." Dagur rose from the seat and enclosed her hand in his, surprising her, "I am truly sorry for that, Heather. It's a terrible feeling to lose loved ones." he told her, sincerely.
Unaccostomed to someone not just telling her that everything would be all right, Heather pulled back and cleared her throat, "Was that all you wanted to tell me?" Dagu diverted his eyes from hers for a moment, "Actually that wasn't part of it at all. I want to talk to you about your biological parents." The young lady looked shocked, "What would you know about them?" she asked, suspiciously. "That horn that you have." Dagur began. "Yeah?" Heather pressed, unsure where that was going. "Stoick gave it to Oswald the Agreeable when his daughter was born. When you were born, Heather." Dagur said. The viking put her hands to hair, messing it up, "That's crazy." Anticipating the Berserker stepping closer, Heather put up a hand to stop him, "I don't believe you. Not for one second." Under her breath she mumbled, "Who's to say he didn't go extra insane in captivity?" Dagur still heard her, "Ask Stoick. He can confirm this." She looked at him, "Fine. I will. Get this settled, quickly."
Heather opened her door and brushed past Fishlegs, who was about to knock. Dagur followed her out and gave a sheepish smile to the Berkian. Going into the Great Hall, Heather found Stoick. He saw the distraught expression on her face, "Heather, what's wrong?" She went by Hiccup and handed Stoick the horn, "Do you recognize this?" He eyed it, carefully, "Where did you get this?" "My dad gave it to me. My first dad." Heather told him, stressing more with every passing second. Feeling, increasingly, impatient, she started, "Dagur said that you gave it to Oswald the Agreeable. His father. That's not true, though. Right?" Stoick looked at the horn, then at Heather, and finally Dagur, who had just entered. The Berkian chief stood from his throne and handed the horn back to her, "It is true, Heather. I gave this to Oswald for his newborn daughter." Heather turned ashen and faced Dagur, "Then...you're..my-" Rage, immediately, took over her shock and she glared at the Berserker.
"Good to finally meet someone from my birth family." she spat, spitefully, "I have some questions that have been bugging my for about my entire life!" she yelled, "Why is it that I needed a foster family? Was I unwanted? Seems unlikely that I'd be the kid that was left behind." Dagur swallowed, hard, "You weren't unwanted." he said, calmly, "You never got to live on Berserker Island because..." All these times, he had imagined telling her, but none of them had prepared him for what it would be like. It was harder to say this than he ever thought it could have been, "Because...I sent you adrift." It physically hurt him to tell her that, but he had always planned to. Absolute hurt was in Heather's and she raised her hands in the air, "Of course you did."
Heather began to storm out of the hall, but stopped and pivoted back around. The viking marched up to the Berserker until she was right in his face, "For these last three years, I've been wondering why you saved my life. Why you would do something so selfless. Do you know why? Because beyond whatever sick reason you had in your mind for doing that, I know that you don't have it in you to do something so unconditionally kind. I know that no one who kills their own father-for a title that they would have inherited anyway!-could care about anyone other than themselves. You ruined my life before I even knew what was happening. Maybe it was just Odin stepping in and making you help me for your own karma." Heather's voice was strained and her eyes were teary, "I don't want to ever see you again and if you come looking for me-" She drew her ax and put it to the viking's neck. Sheathing it once more, she left the building, pulling Fishlegs with her.
Heather's heated speech had garnered the other dragon riders to see what was wrong and an eerie silence had filled the hall. Dagur closed his eyes, momentarily, and straightened his back, "I appreciate you having let me rest here, but I believe that it's time for me to return to my island. Thank you for the accommodations." His throat burned more than if he had garggled with Fireworms and he tried to stay composed. Hiccup stepped forward, wanting to say something, but he had no idea what. "Dagur." was all he could muster. The chief bit his bottom lip to prevent it from quivering and he strode out of the building with all the confidence that he could manage. He waved goodbye to the other riders, but could not look them in the eyes, for then they would see his. Reaching his ship, he took a drink of fresh water, soothing his throat, mildly, and making it easier to stay dry-faced. "You can hate me if you want to, Heather." he thought, setting his course for Berserker Island, "Either way, I'll do whatever I can to make sure that you're okay. If you ever need me, I'll already be there with a plan ready."