The House on the Cliff

A/N: For those of you wondering why Hillevi and Alva's house was so oddly constructed…wonder no more. The answer awaits.

By the way, "ichi," "ni" (pronounced "nee"), and "go" are Japanese words for the numbers 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

Audun felt his heart sink to his feet as he looked down at the note in his hands.

Get over here right now! was all it said. It was written in a hand he knew well: Hillevi had a distinctive style, and he'd often received notes from her and Alva when they wanted to spend some time together.

What bothered him was the short, terse, and clearly angry tone of the letter. Something was apparently wrong. Something that Hillevi wanted him to come and try to settle.

He looked over at the green Terrible Terror who had delivered the note. She was currently playing with Audun's Terror Sundance, who seemed delighted to have a playmate. "So," he said with a sigh, "I forget: are you Ichi, Ni, or Go?"

The Terror, one of Hillevi's three, merely trilled and licked its own eyeball in response. Audun shook his head and held out his arm, allowing the little dragon to scamper onto his shoulder.

He stepped outside into the warm summer day and looked over at the pasture where his horse Mojo was grazing contentedly. "Hey bud," Audun called, and Mojo turned his ears toward him to listen. "You feel like going to visit Aunties Hillevi and Alva?"

Mojo merely continued to graze, turning so that his rump faced his owner.

"I'll take that as a no," Audun muttered. "Love you too, bud."

So he turned and called for Phantom, who squawked in greeting and hurried over. "Hey there," Audun said, grinning. "At least one of you likes to go riding."

He glanced over his shoulder at Mojo and was amused to see that the old gelding was watching him intently. Few others would have noticed, but Audun saw the jealous spark in his horse's eyes. He hated seeing his owner riding any other creature, equine or otherwise. "Sorry, bud, you had your chance," Audun called as he climbed onto his Nadder's back. "Maybe I'll ride you once I get back…if I survive, of course," he added under his breath.

Phantom took off and flew to the cliff where Hillevi and Alva's house stood. Audun sighed as he surveyed the lopsided structure, his eyes roving over its many crooked walls and slanted roofs, wondering not for the first time how in Odin's name the thing was still standing. He slid from Phantom's back, and the Nadder trilled and joined Hillevi's Nightmare Daydream, who was lounging lazily a short distance from the house, and Alva's Nadder River, who was snoozing. Hillevi's Terror – he desperately wished he could remember her name – was still perched on Audun's shoulder.

He walked up to the front door and knocked. "Come in!" Hillevi called from the other side, and Audun pushed the door open.

His first impression, as it always was when he entered the house, was that the walls were alive. At an initial glance, they certainly seemed to be: they shifted and squirmed and wriggled and writhed like no normal solid structure should. But on closer inspection, he could see that the walls themselves weren't moving. The dragons covering it were.

Terrible Terrors, to be exact.

And more of them than Audun could count.

They were all rescued dragons, and their rescuer was sitting in a chair in the middle of the den, her arms folded around a yellow Terror. Alva didn't seem to notice Hillevi, who was standing in the corner, her fists clenched at her sides, her nostrils flared. Or perhaps Alva did notice and was simply ignoring her. Either way, she was cooing and coddling the Terror, who squeaked indignantly but couldn't get free from his rescuer's cuddles.

Hillevi looked up as Audun entered, his eyes taking in the scene and putting the pieces together. The Terror on his shoulder squawked and took off, flying over to her mistress and settling on her head. "Good girl, Ichi," Hillevi said.

Ichi, Audun thought. Gotta remember that. He looked at the two other Terrors, one golden-brown and one dark blue, at Hillevi's feet and mentally added, Now if I could only remember which was Ni and which was Go…

"She's brought another one home," Hillevi said in a tone of forced calm, interrupting Audun's thoughts.

"It followed me!" Alva insisted.

Both Audun and Hillevi gave her "seriously?" looks. "Yeah, I'm sure," Hillevi said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, I couldn't just let this poor baby stay out all alone," Alva said, sounding as if the very idea caused her physical pain. "He was all by himself and wounded…" She gestured to one of his feet, which was wrapped in a bandage. Judging from its size, the wound beneath couldn't have been longer than an inch. "He might have died!"

"Dragons are pretty resilient," Audun pointed out. "I'm sure he'd have been fine…"

"No!" Alva gasped, tightening her hold on the dragon. The Terror's eyes bulged. "This poor baby needs a home!"

"And where exactly do you propose we keep him?" Hillevi asked, gesturing around at the dragons climbing the walls. "We have no more room! You keep adding to this house to accommodate all these dragons, but we can't do it anymore! The house is falling apart and in serious danger of going off the cliff! We can't add anything else to it!"

"Fine," Alva huffed. "Then he'll sleep in my bed with me."

"And how are Nightshade, Ruby, and Emerald going to take that?" Audun asked, pointing down at the three Terrors congregated at Alva's feet, looking murderously up at the intruder in their mistress' arms.

"They'll be fine," Alva said dismissively. "They'll love him. How could they not?"

"Pretty easily, I bet," Hillevi muttered. Nightshade in particular was looking as if she might try to bite the new dragon.

Alva didn't seem to hear her. "I'll call him Daffodil," she said, smiling down at the Terror in her lap. He looked up at her and trilled, clearly pleading to be released, but Alva merely cried, "Aww!" and held him tighter. He looked for a moment like he was having trouble breathing.

Hillevi hung her head and moaned. "Excuse me," she said. "I'm just going to go fetch my mace…"

Audun opened his mouth to reply but paused when the sound of a Night Fury's roar reached his ears. He stepped to the door and peered out to see Hiccup and Toothless hovering overhead. "There you are!" Hiccup called. "I've been looking all over for you! We're about to have a race. You interested?"

"Uh…" Audun glanced back into the house, and then he grinned as a thought occurred to him. "Sure. But first, we need your help down here."

"Why?" Hiccup sounded wary.

"Call it a domestic dispute," Audun replied.

"Oh no," Hiccup said, shaking his head. "I am not getting in the middle of that again! They nearly set me on fire last time!"

"You stepped on a Terror's tail," Audun pointed out. "He was defending himself."

"Hard not to step on a Terror when the whole house is swarming with them!" Hiccup retorted.

"Well, now that you mention it, that's kind of why you need to intervene. Alva's adopted another one."

Hiccup's eyes widened. "She what?!" he gasped. "No! I'm not going down there and you can't make me!"

Audun rolled his eyes. Then he looked over at his Nadder and said, "Phantom, you know what to do."

Phantom screeched happily and took off, and before Hiccup could figure out what was going on, the Nadder had the young Viking in his talons. "Hey! Put me down!" he yelped as he was lifted from Toothless' saddle. The Night Fury descended to the ground, a little clumsily now that his rider wasn't there to adjust the tailfin, and warbled in confusion. Phantom lowered Hiccup and released him so that he stood in front of Audun, glowering. "I really hate you," he muttered.

"No you don't," Audun replied cheerfully. "Now come on, let's settle this before the Terrors start ripping each other apart."

"Oh great," Hiccup huffed. "And you're dragging me into the middle of that why?"

Audun merely grinned and replied, "What are friends for?"