"To love someone fiercely, to believe in something with your whole heart, to celebrate a fleeting moment in time, to fully engage in a life that doesn't come with guarantees—these are risks that involve vulnerability and often pain. But I'm learning that recognizing and leaning into the discomfort of vulnerability teaches us how to live with joy, gratitude, and grace." - Brené Brown

Chapter 15

We stopped near a small, rocky island. Beyond it, I spotted a battleship unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was huge and decked out with weapons. I wondered how many pirates were on board. Hopefully this visit would give me useful information.

"Here we are at the jewel of the ocean: the Tempest," Harald said proudly. "The captain standing on the bridge of the ship is no less impressive. (You'll find out for yourself soon enough.) Don't mind the bristling weapons or the sense of foreboding dread around the ship. I vouch for your safety, and my word is as good as gold!"

I raised my eyebrows at the ridiculousness of that statement. "On this alone, maybe..."

Harald ignored the quip. "Johann and I will wait for you here, mate. Go on, then - Stormheart is waiting for you."

I climbed on Bolt, but I looked back before taking off. "You will be here when I get back, right?"

"You think I would run away?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I think. You don't exactly have the best track record."

"I will make sure he stays put," Johann said helpfully.

I eyed him warily. "That makes me feel very confident." Well, there was nothing to be done for it. Bolt lifted his wings and took flight.

Apprehension filled my chest as we flew over the Tempest. Maybe I did have nothing to fear at the moment, but I understood the message loud and clear. I landed at the center and slowly dismounted. I spotted pirates everywhere, all fierce-looking and with similar markings. My eyes settled on the woman on the bridge of the ship.

She moved towards me, stopping a good distance away. For a minute, we simply took each other in. She appeared to be a woman in her early to mid-30s with dark skin, brown eyes, and black, braided hair decorated with beads. In addition to the same white markings on her face like Harald had, she also had a thick blue line on her chin. And around her head was a headband with a blue stone.

She was the one to break the silence: "Harald tells me you are a warrior for Hiccup's army and you have his ear. Good. That will make this conversation efficient: my favorite word."

"I am Brennda Axel," I said, though I had the feeling she already knew exactly who I was. "And this is Bolt." I placed a hand on the Skrill's shoulder in a silent message.

"I am Nikora Stormheart, the captain of this vessel. Harald has told me a lot about your exploits with Hiccup and his troops."

"Oh, I'm sure he has."

"From what I understand, Hiccup is a fascinating man. I hope that he is willing to hear some sound advice."

"Hiccup is quite open to hearing from all sorts of people. He is not one to let pride get in the way of good judgment."

Stormheart nodded. She started walking along the length of the ship, and I followed her with Bolt at my side. "I have come to the archipelago for new business opportunities. I hold no ill towards Berk or Hiccup. In fact, I admire your strength and ingenuity."

"Well, thank you." I wondered exactly what Harald had told her. No doubt he wouldn't tell me if I asked.

"We do not need to be enemies."

"That's good. We're not looking for new enemies."

"In fact... We could become strong allies."

Somehow, I doubted this. I bit back a retort about not trusting pirates. I had to at least try to be diplomatic. It was not my place to decide how to deal with her.

Stormheart stopped walking and turned to face me, her expression severe. "But warn Hiccup to stay out of my way. If you cross me... I will not hesitate to crush you."

And there it was. "Understood. We will not bother you as long as you do not prove a threat to us or to dragons." I paused. "But Harald had to have told you that, which begs the question... Why send a crazed Triple Stryke to attack us?" I did not know if I would have risked such an undiplomatic accusation if Harald had not already confirmed it.

Stormheart did not appear phased. "That was... an accident." She moved to stand next to an odd-looking statue. "I have a small gift for Hiccup and his friends; you can consider it a payment for the chaos the Triple Stryke caused within your home. The damage was... unintentional."

I glanced at the statue. "I see..."

"I hope you find it charming. Harald has told me that Hiccup appreciates fine engineering and design. I thought I could share my personal style with this statue... a gift to remind him of his new neighbor."

"I will make sure he gets it." Bolt sniffed the gift as I picked it up and growled.

"Thank you for your time. I have no doubt that you will get my message to Hiccup faithfully. Remember: our paths need not cross, for we look towards different goals on the horizon. Do not cross me and I will not consider you an enemy."

I stared at her long and hard. Just like with Harald, I sensed layers of subtext behind her words. This was certainly going to be interesting. "Let us hope it does not come to that." When she said no more, I mounted Bolt and got out of there as fast as I could.

Johann was on me as soon as I returned to Harald's boat: "What an unsettling place, and a chilling captain to boot! Did she tell you why she has arrived within these waters?"

"She said something about 'business opportunities,'" I replied. And if she shared Harald's definition of 'business,' that could only mean trouble.

"I wonder if she is planning on challenging Hiccup or the dragon hunters for supremacy. (She certainly could, with these weapons.) Did she tell you anything about fighting the dragon hunters?"

"Nope. Not a word. And while I'd love to speculate with you, why don't you ask your new best friend?" I narrowed my eyes at Harald, who gave me an innocent smile. "What have you done?"

"I believe the words you are looking for are 'thank you,'" Harald said smugly, seeming mighty pleased with himself.

I rolled my eyes. "No, the words I'm looking for are 'never trust a pirate.'"

Harald smirked. "And who taught you that?"

"I wonder..."

"In any case, we are enemies unless you choose to be."

"I'm sure..." So, they were trying to put everything on us. Very sneaky. Well, if he insisted on playing word games, I could use it to my advantage. "You're going to stick with that? You and I are not enemies? We can be friends?"

"I do not see any reason why not."

I took a deep breath. I had to do this now before I lost my nerve. I had my own plan to enact. "Then prove it. This was all business, right?" I swept my arm towards the Tempest. "Can I talked to you on a personal level? That is what friends do."

Harald looked me over before responding. "I suppose I could find time for you in my busy schedule..."

I rolled my eyes. "Harald."

He smirked in amusement. "Fine. After you finish reporting back to Hiccup... meet me at Hobblegrunt Island. We can talk there."

I nodded. "Good." I glanced at Johann and noticed he had been watching us intently, but he quickly looked away when I caught him. "Will you be alright, Johann?"

"Do not worry about me, Miss Brennda," Johann said. "I will be fine. Go inform Hiccup!"

After one last look at Harald, Bolt and I took off. I wondered if I could trust him to keep his word to meet me. It was not like there was anything at risk, but still... I do not know how long his over-friendliness would last and when he would return to claiming it was best we stay apart. I had to take advantage of this while I could.

When I landed at Dragon's Edge, I was met by Hiccup, Astrid, Heather, and Dagur. "Brennda!" Hiccup greeted me. "Welcome back. Heather told us that you went on an errand with Johann. What's going on?"

I hesitated. Where did I even start? I looked around the group of friends, stopping at Heather. "Well, it looks like I do have have a specialty: pirates."

"Oh no," Astrid groaned.

"Pirates?" Dagur said. "That sounds exciting."

"More like annoying," I said dryly.

"Hold on," Heather said. "Pirates? As in plural?"

"That's right."

"What is Johann doing with pirates?" Hiccup said in confusion.

"That's what I would like to know. Since he's a world traveler, you'd think he'd know pirates don't make good trade partners. If you ask me, there's something off about him..."

"Well, your pirate can be pretty convincing," Heather said.

I shrugged. "True." I stopped short when I realized what she said. "Hey!"

"You have a pirate?" Dagur said.

I shot Heather a sharp look. "No. That's not-" I groaned and shook my head.

"Brennda, did you or did you not see Harald?" Hiccup asked.

"Yes! Johann took me to Harald, who took me to meet the crew of pirates he brought with him... including their captain."

Hiccup frowned. "And you went to face this... pirate captain without backup?"

I blinked. "Well, yeah. Harald said it was safe."

"And you believed him?" Astrid said in astonishment.

"Yes."

"But it's Harald!"

"Exactly."

"Brennda."

"Calm down, Astrid," Heather said. "Harald wouldn't hurt her... or let anyone else, for that matter."

Astrid crossed her arms and frowned. "How do you know that?"

"It's about the only thing I do know for certain about him," I said. "Besides, he's trying to act like he's our friend now. He wants us to remember that he tried to help us at Dragon Island."

"Only because he had to. And he tried to stop you from working with the Eruptodon, and he enraged the Green Death."

"Honestly, I don't think he cared either way if we succeeded in our plans. But on both those occasions, he was just trying to keep me safe."

"Who is this Harald guy?" Dagur said in frustration. "I hate being out of the loop!"

"Harald Forkbeard," Heather replied. "You remember him, Dagur, don't you?" She noticed one of the wanted posters and pointed it out to him.

Dagur's face lit in recognition. "Oh, I remember him! He double crossed a group of dragon hunters. Very clever, that one. I like the way he thinks!"

"You understand how he thinks?" I said.

"Of course!"

I sly grin spread across my face. "Then maybe you can help me figure him out."

"I would love to help you. It sounds like you have an extensive history with him. Tell me everything!"

"You two can gossip about Harald all you want after Brennda finishes her story," Hiccup said.

"Oh, sorry," I said. I did not usually get distracted like that, but Dagur got me excited. I did not know why I did not consider him an ally in this before. He might be the only one here who could truly understand. "Anyway... Harald took me to this huge warship to meet his new captain, Nikora Stormheart. She was... interesting to say the least. She said we don't have to be enemies as long as we don't cross her. And she took responsibility for that Triple Stryke attack earlier, but she said it was unintentional. Oh, she wanted to give you this as an apology." I brought the statue out and showed it to him.

Hiccup nodded. "Thank you, Brennda. I don't trust Harald, but he's right; he did try to help us at Dragon Island. Maybe we don't have to be enemies with Nikora. I'm sure she didn't mean to drive the Triple Stryke crazy, so we'll help her stop that. And this statue is... uh... interesting. It's not what I prefer, but I see why she likes it. I don't know where we can put it; let's leave it here for now."

"'Accidentally'?" Dagur scoffed. "Sorry to butt in, brother, but I can't watch you be hoodwinked. Stormheart appears and 'apologizes' for what happened right after. It smells fishy... and Dagur doesn't like fishy. I'd wager my new axe that Stormheart did this on purpose as a warning. And I do love the way she slices through the air... Ooooh!"

"You're right," Astrid said. "I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I don't like how this feels. And this statue is too weird. Hiccup, I know you try to see the best in people, but that might get us in trouble this time..."

"What would you suggest we do, Astrid?" Hiccup said. "We can't attack her without cause."

"That's probably what she wants us to do," I said. "She chooses her words as carefully as Harald does, and that means she plays the same games. We can't let her force us to make the move she wants."

"It would help if we knew her goal," Astrid said.

"We'll just have to be prepared for anything," Heather said.

Sensing the conversation was at an end, I returned to Bolt. "If we're through here, I have a prior engagement."

"Don't tell me you're going to meet Harald," Astrid said.

I paused with my hands on Bolt's saddle. I could have denied it, but lying did not seem like the way to win her over to my side. "Does it matter if I am? Hiccup agrees we're not enemies."

"I also said I don't trust him," Hiccup said.

"And you have every reason not to. But staying away from him isn't going to help me figure him out."

"You guys know you can't stop her, right?" Heather said. "Besides, we worked on a plan."

I grinned at her. "That's right."

"Hold on!" Dagur protested. "You said you were going to tell me what's going on!"

"I'll tell you later." When he still looked unhappy, I glanced at Heather. "You can give him a summary if you want."

Heather nodded. "He'll probably annoy me until I do. Good luck!"

Luckily, no one tried to stop me as I took. Bolt flew faster than normal as if he knew what awaited us at Hobblegrunt Island. When we were close enough, I spotted Harald's ship in the same location as earlier. My heart skipped a beat. He had actually come.

Bolt landed at the base of the hill. Harald stood several yards away. For a minute, we simply watched each other. I knew I needed to do something. I was the one who asked him here. But now that we got to this point, I was unsure how to proceed.

Bolt nudged me from behind. I wondered why he didn't enthusiastically run to Harald like before, but looking into his eyes, I thought I understood. It was my turn now. I took in a shaky breath. I remembered the plan I came up with Heather's help. If I wanted Harald to be vulnerable with me, I had to be vulnerable with him... even if it scared me.

My heart pounded as I started for Harald. Halfway there, Leopold flew to the ground from Harald's shoulder and ran to Bolt. The two dragons circled each other enthusiastically like long lost friends. Watching them strengthened my resolve, so I ran the rest of the way to Harald and flung my arms around him upon reaching him. He chuckled, but he wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him.

"What's with the forward greeting?" he said in a teasing tone.

I smiled as I rested my head against his chest. "I just really missed you." The warmth pf his embrace soothed my mind and brought peace to me heart.

"Then maybe I should stay away more often."

I moved back and slapped my hands against his chest. "You better not!" But then I realized what he admitted. He liked being this close to me. He still had not let go of me. He still wanted me...

"Are you going to stop me?" he said in amusement.

"If I have to. I'm not letting you go again." Now that he was here, all my doubts and fears flew out the window. I had a plan, but right now I just wanted to be close to him. I moved my left hand to his right arm. I traced Stormheart's insignia with my finger and then lightly ran my hand down the length of his arm.

Harald sucked in a sharp breath. "What are you doing?"

I moved my hand to his chest, touching the exposed skin by his neck. I smiled when I felt his pulse racing, understanding what it meant. This he could not fake. "If you don't like it, make me stop." I reached up my right hand and placed it against his cheek. He did not resist as I rubbed my thumb across the markings on his face. I stroked his face and let my fingers rest in his hair.

"Are you trying get something from me?" Harald murmured, barely keeping back the content look in his eyes.

My heart hurt at his implication. Had everyone who had been kind to him simply wanted something from him? I cupped his face and bent his head so I could look into his eyes. "Harald, I would never take advantage of you to hurt you. I... just want to make you happy." I brought my hands down to his arms, touching his skin.

Harald smiled at me, making my heart leap. "You're awfully bold today."

"I know what I want."

Harald lifted his right hand and brushed the hair from my face. I shivered in delight when he left his hand there. "And what is that?" he whispered as he brought his face close to mine.

His gentle gaze had my breath caught in my throat. Maybe this was working a little too well. I might be just as weak from his touch as he was from mine. But it was too late to back down now, nor did I want to. I stared into his eyes and said with as much conviction as I could muster: "You."

All fear left me when he smiled at me. And when he brushed his lips against mine, I lost all control of the situation. My hands returned to his neck as I kissed him eagerly. I missed this. I missed him.

Harald used the arm around my waist to pull me even closer to him, to which I had no objections. His lips moved to the corner of my mouth, and he kissed along my jawline. "Brennda... It's working," he said softly.

"What is?" My mind was too fuzzy to remember what I had said. I smiled as he kissed down my neck and back up again. He was very gentle and sweet, and I loved it.

"You make me happy." Harald kissed my lips and then rested his forehead against mine. His eyes blazed with desire and... love? "Very happy."

Out of everything I got out of him, that was his best admission. I grinned at him in joy. I lifted my hands and entangled my fingers in his hair before kissing him. I enjoyed the feeling for a minute before pulling back.

I stroked his face with both my hands as I gazed into his eyes. "You make me happy too." It was truer than he probably realized. Eret had pointed it out first, and he was right. Even when we were fighting, I was happier when Harald was with me than when we were apart. The pleased look in his eyes told me he was as happy with my admission as I was with his. Good. For right now, at least, we were on the same page.

I lowered my hands and nuzzled my face into his chest. Harald kept one arm around my waist and the other he placed against the back of my head, holding me against him. He kissed the top of my head and rested his head on mine. He said no more, but I understood his feelings through his actions. He missed me too. I closed my eyes and took it all in. It was like just how it used to be. Like nothing had ever changed between us. Like we belonged together.

I knew it would not last, but it did prove that what we had was still there. And it strengthened my resolve and reminded me what I was fighting for. Harald might still be a pirate, but Heather was right: he was my pirate.

A/N: There you go. Some calm before the storm. :)