Eulianna sat silently across Hiccup, holding a mug of water he fetched for her. She had only sipped it once. He pursed his lips, looking down at his feet before he looked up to meet her glazed over eyes.

"So, now you don't want to kill dragons?" Eulianna narrowed her brown eyes at him. Her eyes stared at him, lit by the light of the fireplace.

"Yes?"

"Okay," Eulianna said, doing her best to remain calm and not start a second argument. "And you can't tell me why?"

"Also, yes."

"I need context, Freckles," Eulianna pointed out. "I can't help you or give you advice. And I don't know if you forgot, but hearing you say you don't wanna kill dragons is great news to me."

"I just realised that I really can't kill dragons," Hiccup stammered, eyes flickering around the room.

"You're just repeating yourself."

"Okay, then. I can't bring myself to kill a dragon because…"

"Because?"

"Because I realised I don't have to harm a dragon. Haha! Great! You win! Okay, this was a great chat. I think you should go now. It's getting late," Hiccup laughed nervously as he stood up, hoping Eulianna would comply and leave his house.

"It's afternoon."

"Very late, don't you think?"

"Freckles, I'm not moving until you tell me," Eulianna put the mug down on the table in front of her and crossed her arms and her leg over the other.

Hiccup bounced on the balls of his feet as he swung his hands back and forth, linking his fingers together then unclapsing them, eyes not looking anywhere near Eulianna.

"Okay, but let me ask you something first," Hiccup sat back down. "You think dragons are interesting, right?"

"Yeah?"

"And you don't wanna kill them because you're interested in them? And because you want to find the dragon who burned you, because you're interested in them."

"Duh."

"And you think the viking way is probably stupid."

"Not stupid," Eulianna hummed. "Just ineffective. You guys can't possibly kill all the dragons out there. They're gonna keep taking your food."

Hiccup just stared at her before he said, "Okay. I can't do this."

"I said I won't be moving until you tell me."

"I'll… tell you when I'm ready then," Hiccup assured.

Eulianna sighed. "I can respect that," she agreed as she stood up from her seat and headed towards the door.

"Hey," Hiccup called out before she exited his house. She turned to face him and raised her brows. "Yesterday, in the forge, I-"

"Forget about it. I could see where you coming from," Eulianna assented with a small smile.

"Just wanted to say, I'm sorry about that," Hiccup apologised, and waited for a response as she looked at him. Her smile grew as she nodded.

"I'll see you at dinner," she said, walking back to her house to try to play a song on the panpipe with one of the scores her dad wrote in his journal. Her father didn't title any of the songs but rather he simply numbered them.

Her neighbours were growing more and more concerned every time they heard an exasperated groan or scream every couple of minutes and itched to knock to check if she was alright, but held back. It took her at least an hour to play one song properly and three hours to play the same song without taking a five second pause between notes. She thanked the music lessons she used to receive as a child, because she knew without them it would've taken double the time to play just one verse.

—

Hiccup hesitated on joining Eulianna at the table, holding his dinner in his hands. The taller girl was eating her dinner while reading her father's journal intently. He thought what's the worst that could happen. They already made up earlier that afternoon, at least that's what he gathered.

She said 'I'll see you at dinner' so she's probably expecting me to literally see her at dinner, right? Unless she just meant see as in 'Oh, I see you over there, now leave me alone so I can read my book.' Yeah, it's probably the second one, Hiccup thought as he stared in Eulianna's general direction, not realising she was watching him having an internal conversation with himself.

Her eyebrows were slightly turned downwards as she continued to watch him before she called out, "Oi, Freckles." Hiccup snapped out of his daze-like state, his eyebrows shot up in shock and looked at Eulianna who was hunched over and had one leg propped up on the bench to support her arm holding the spoon in her hand. She gestured with her chin for him to come sit down to which he immediately did, almost spilling his food over the bowl.

The two teenagers sat silently eating their food, Eulianna's eyes were back to the journal. Hiccup poked at his food once in a while, wondering if he should start a conversation with her but was glad to find that she started it instead with a question.

"Hey, what's 'mead' like?" She asked and rolled her tongue in her cheek as she looked up at Hiccup who was already looking at her.

Hiccup pushed his cup over to her and she peered inside. "Try it." The colour of the liquid inside looked like honey

Eulianna smelt the drink before wincing, then shrugging then taking a sip of it. "Hmm." She found the beverage to feel like wine, but sweeter due to the honey in the drink.

"You like it?"

"Hmm."

"Is that a yes?"

"It's an 'it's okay.' I'm used to drinking wine. But yeah, mead's okay," she concluded before taking another sip. Her throat was beginning to feel warm. She took a third sip.

Hiccup changed the topic when he spotted something on the page in front of Eulianna. It was a detailed drawing of Gothi, the village elder's hut. The drawing utilised the technique of cross-hatches to create the shadows in the illustration, the light source of the drawing appearing to be the top left of the page, indicating it was drawn in the afternoon. "You're really good at drawing."

"I didn't draw this. My dad did. Gobber gave me a bunch of my dad's things and this journal was one of them. I wish I was as good as my dad."

"So you do draw?"

Ten year old Eulianna was sitting cross legged on the cobble-stoned benches in the centre of the castle's courtyard.

She was sketching one of the castle's watch dogs sleeping soundly by the steps, before the papers in her hands were ripped away by her aunt, who ripped up the drawing. She should've gone to the willow tree behind the castle. Her aunt wouldn't have found her there.

The princess looked at her aunt in shock who just simply said, "Stop spending time on useless hobbies."

"I rarely had time to. Now that I'm here on Berk, I'd like to get back into it. Maybe pick up some new hobbies. Do you draw?"

"Yeah, sometimes," Hiccup replied. "Not that well though."

"I'm sure you're better than me. We should go somewhere and draw something one time."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It'd be nice," Eulianna said, eyes quickly flickering up to meet Hiccup's eyes before she looked down on the table. "When you're not busy dragon training, of course," she snorted as her lips formed a smirk.

"Oh, gods. Here we were, having a nice chat about our common hobby and you decide to bring that up," Hiccup groaned into his hands. "I'm definitely not looking forward to waking up tomorrow morning."

Eulianna chortled and moved her leg down from the seat to the ground and leant back on her palms she placed on the bench. "C'mon. I'm sure it'll be fine. I know you don't wanna-" she looked around to see if anyone was listening in on their conversation and lowered her voice into a hush, "-kill dragons. But you might as well go through with it for now."

"You just wanna see me mess up in the ring," Hiccup's eyes narrowed at her.

"Now, that you say that..." Eulianna looked up, placing her index finger on her bottom lip as she teased the boy, "That would be a sight to see." The boy frowned at her which made her stifle back a laugh.

—

Halvar the spy had departed from the docks of Hjalfadargin hours after meeting with the duchess, straight to the kingdom just east of the island.

Gerda watched his small ship drift away from the window of her bed chambers as she sat at her desk with a quill, the feather of a white swan held between her thumb and index finger. She looked down at the piece of parchment paper in front of her where she had finished writing a new rule she planned to implement now that she was in charge of the kingdom. The woman folded the parchment into threes and took the candle sat on the left of the paper, and poured wax onto the edge of a fold and placed a seal stamp on it as she waited for it to dry. Gerda lifted the stamp which revealed Hjalfadargin's crest on the red wax. The seal stamp was only used by members of the royal family. She pushed back her seat and handed it to a royal guard who was guarding her door. She whispered to him her orders and he nodded, immediately carrying it out.

The guard walked through then out the castle, across the wooden drawbridge and down to the royal court located a few kilometres away from the castle grounds. He passed the parchment on to one of the courtiers at the entrance of the court and told him the orders Gerda gave him, to pass it onto the secretary of the court.

Rorik was nearby the entrance to visit his father when he overhead the guard and courtier exchange a few words and eyed the parchment and the kingdom's seal on it. He silently gulped as he kept his composure and walked into the court, a couple feet away from the courtier. He lost sight of the courtier as the other man headed into the office of the royal court.

The parchment was finally passed on to the royal secretary who stared at the seal on the paper and then nodded at the courtier, a gesture signalling for him to leave the office. The secretary sat at his desk and pulled the wax away from the paper, unfolding the paper to read the contents. His eyes read rigorously the black ink across the singular page and sighed. He knew he couldn't refuse the order from Gerda as she was currently the ruler of the kingdom by law.

He leant back in his seat and stared aimlessly at the space in front of him, then out the window to see Hjalfadarg and Nirhongan village children play amongst themselves and said to himself, "I miss the king and queen."

—

Eulianna woke up the next day, earlier than usual but ready to see Hiccup and the others on their first lesson of dragon training. She was more keen on seeing how Hiccup would withstand training, but more interested in seeing the dragons and perhaps finding the dragon she was looking for.

She made her way to the training grounds to see the other dragon training recruits by the entrance. Astrid, Snotlout, the twins, and Fishlegs were all waiting by the iron gate, chatting amongst themselves except Astrid who just listened.

Eulianna came into Snotlout's sight and his eyes brightened. "Morning, princess! Did my royal majesty sleep well?" He stepped aside for Eulianna to join the small circle.

"Fine, thanks," she said with no sincerity towards him.

"You're gonna be dragon training with us?" Fishlegs gasped. Eulianna had gathered that the other teenagers haven't gotten over the fact she was a princess which wasn't surprising to her, but she wished she wasn't constantly reminded of it. Albeit, she didn't mind the reminder when she was able to use it to her own advantage.

"Woah, a princess killing dragons?" Tuffnut snorted.

"No, I won't be. I'll just be observing," Eulianna clarified, and their surprised faces relaxed. "A princess can't kill a dragon," she added with the intention of being sarcastic but that flew over their heads.

"Just wait 'til I get in the ring. I'm pretty close to a princess, as you can obviously see," Ruffnut snickered as she pushed a braid behind her shoulder, earning an eye roll from Astrid.

"Oh for sure, my queen. Don't worry, I'll kill all the dragons just for you," Snotlout pointed to himself with a thumb and smiled flirtatiously at Eulianna.

"I'm sure you will," Eulianna deadpanned.

"You know it," Snotlout said and clicked his tongue. "Did you see me at the raid? I put out all those fires."

Snotlout bringing up the raid reminded Eulianna of how Astrid put out the fire that could've enveloped her small hut.

"Right! Astrid," Eulianna turned to the blonde girl who flashed her eyebrows, or her visibly eyebrow, back at her, showing she was listening. "I forgot to thank you for putting out the fire that would've ruined my hut. So... Thank you. I truly appreciate it." Eulianna offered a small smile at the girl.

"It's no problem," Astrid smiled back, a smile smaller than Eulianna's. "I was just doing my job."

"I totally would've put out that fire!" Snotlout jumped in. "But I was too busy wrestling a Gronckle, so you understand," he lied through his teeth, and looked at Astrid to see if she was about to swoon at his feet.

Astrid scoffed at his blatant and completely obvious lie and looked away from Snotlout, shaking her head.

The teenagers were interrupted when Gobber arrived at the ring and lifted the gate, revealing a broad, stone arena and they all walked in, except for Eulianna, taking in the sight. Eulianna noticed Hiccup and smiled at him and wished him good luck before going to stand behind the iron enclosure, poking her head through the space and resting her elbows on the railing.

"Oh great. Who let him in?" Tuffnut complained after Hiccup made his presence known.

"Let's get started!" Gobber yelled, preventing any more nasty comments from the teenagers.

Eulianna wore her father's satchel on her and had her father's and her own journal in it. She took out her journal and a pencil and opened it to a fresh blank page. Gobber had the recruits line up as he began listing the species of dragons Berk had kept in the arena behind massive locked doors.

"And...the Gronckle," Gobber said and placed his hand on the lever of the last door.

"Whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first?!" Snotlout asked, panicked, causing the other teenagers to be more alert.

"I believe in learning on the job," Gobber stated and pushed down the lever.

A Gronckle bursted into the arena and the teenagers reacted by running away from the direction it was flying in. The Gronckle's wings were small compared to the size of its body and so instead of being able to change directions, it smashed into the wall. Eulianna felt the ground slightly shake when the Gronckle hit the wall, almost making her drop her pencil in the arena. She tightened her grip on the pencil and drew four circles on the page varying in sizes, matching the body of the Gronckle. Eulianna intended to continue drawing the Gronckle, but her arm moved as if it had a mind of its own to draw two rounded triangles. The triangles that were in the shape of the dragon six-year-old her met. Her pencil circled in the middle of the triangles, drawing the pupils of the dragon.

"Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?" Gobber started quizzing them.

"A doctor?" Hiccup said.

"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs suggested. Eulianna held back a snort from the two teenager's obviously wrong answers.

"A shield," Astrid answered. It was clear that she was the only one prepared for today's training.

"Shields. Go," Gobber commanded.

The teenagers in the ring scrambled for a shield. Gobber helped Hiccup with his shield as the twins decided it would be the perfect moment to fight over one shield, despite the bunch of shields surrounding them. The Gronckle shot the shield between them as they were sent spinning and fell to the ground.

"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!"

Gobber continued the lesson as Fishlegs was the next to be out, then Snotlout, leaving Hiccup and Astrid as the last two standing.

Eulianna saw Hiccup exchange a few words to Astrid before Astrid avoided the Gronckle as the sent Hiccup's shield flying away with a blast of fire, before Hiccup was sent to the ground. Hiccup got up and chased the shield rolling away, the Gronckle chasing after Hiccup.

Eulianna gripped the pencil, tighter to the point her nails were digging into her palms and yelled out, "Gobber! The Gronckle!"

"Hiccup!" Gobber yelled worriedly.

Hiccup was pinned against the wall by the Gronckle inching closer and closer towards the boy who began breathing heavily and felt his heart beat increase by tenfold, who was ready to blast the boy into smithereens. To his luck, Hiccup was spared when Gobber took his hook hand into the Gronckle's mouth and pulled the dragon away from Hiccup. The Gronckle reacted as it jerked up and blasted the stone wall above Hiccup's head, sending bits of rock showering Hiccup who shielded his head with his arms.

"And that's six," Gobber said, slightly confusing Eulianna cause she wasn't listening at the start, but she took a sigh of relief. The Gronckle gnawed at Gobber's prosthetic hand. "Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage!" Gobber yelled as he swung the Gronckle around before launching it back into its cage.

Gobber locked the door and turned to the other recruits who gathered together, except for Hiccup who was still sitting on the ground. "Remember... a dragon will always," he turned to Hiccup and changed to a stern tone, "Always go for the kill." Gobber grabbed Hiccup by the arm and lifted him up to his feet, before walking off to exit the arena with the rest of the teenagers.

"So, did you see me there?" Snotlout approached Eulianna who was staring at Hiccup who gazed at the blast behind him and only a sketch in her book. She shut her book and tucked it away before Snotlout could make conversation about that.

"I saw you get blasted by the Gronckle, yeah," Eulianna said, making it clear to him she was unimpressed.

"Astrid distracted me!" Snotlout cried. Astrid grumbled at him, and he turned to her, "I mean, I could totally see how you were intimidated by me, babe. You were great today too."

Hiccup speed-walked past the group of teenagers, Eulianna taking notice before deciding not to follow him, deciding he needed some time alone after almost being killed by a dragon.

"Astrid was the only one who knew what she was doing," Eulianna pointed out matter-of-factly, shooting a smile to Astrid. "Now, I must go," Eulianna quickly declared to get not another word out of Snotlout's mouth.

Euilanna jogged off to see if she could find Hiccup but when she made it back to the village and spun around trying to find the boy. There was no sign of where he could've gone off to. Dejected, she walked back to her home and decided she'll just talk to him at dinner.

—

Everyone was already clearing out the hall as dinner had ended and headed to their homes as the thunder rumbled outside and the rain beat the grounds of Berk. Eulianna sat at the table next to the recruits as Gobber was talking to them about today's lesson.

Eulianna blocked out their conversation, focusing on finishing the drawing she started earlier that day, adding the Gronckle's teeth which stuck out of its mouth, with two teeth longer and thicker than the rest of its teeth. She hummed quietly as she added more features but stopped when she saw Hiccup who was drenched in rainwater take a seat at the other end of her table.

Eulianna tapped her pencil on the table towards his direction, grabbing Hiccup's direction and gave a small wave to which he smiled weakly back.

"He's never where he should be," Astrid said, glancing at Hiccup. Eulianna realised they were discussing Hiccup and how he performed, or underperformed, at training that morning.

"Thank you, Astrid," Gobber said and stood to place a book down. Eulianna recognised it as the Book of Dragons. "You need to live and breathe this stuff. The dragon manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of."

Hmm, so the book goes by different names, Eulianna thought.

Thunder rumbled again. "No attacks tonight. Study up," Gobber commanded, leaving the great hall and the teenagers staring at the book.

"Wait, you mean read?" Tuffnut asked, shocked that Gobber would even suggest such an activity.

Ruffnut followed her brother's question with another. "While we're still alive?"

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Snotlout questioned frustratedly as he pounded his fist against the table.

"What is their education system here?" Eulianna mumbled to herself.

Fishlegs perked up and mentioned, "Oh! I've read it like seven times. There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face." Snotlout and the twins stared at Fishlegs distastefully as he chatted excitedly. "And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week-"

Tuffnut interrupted, "Yeah, that sounds great. There was a chance I was going to read that…"

"But now…" Ruffnut finished off.

Snotlout stood up. "You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." He started walking off, the rest of them followed him out of the hall.

Astrid was left and Hiccup saw it as an opportunity to talk to her. "So I guess we'll share-"

"Read it," Astrid quickly said and pushed the book towards him, getting up and walking out as well.

"All mine then. Wow, so okay. I'll see you-" Astrid slammed the door shut, leaving Hiccup and Eulianna left in the hall. Other vikings were seated on surrounding tables either napping or just minding their own business. "Tomorrow." He sighed, shoulders deflating.

"Smooth," Eulianna added. "So… Astrid." Eulianna got up and walked over to the table Hiccup was by.

"Yeah, we're not doing that," Hiccup coughed. "I'm gonna go…" Eulianna raised a brow at him. "...Now."

"Okay. You go ahead then. I'll just read this book," Eulianna placed her palm on the cover of the book.

"For real?"

"Nah, I already did. I'm gonna have another read through," Eulianna said and sat at that table.

Hiccup nodded. "I'll see you later," before walking out of the hall into the rain.

Eulianna watched him leave before grabbing her journal and opened it alongside the manual, opening the manual to the page on the Gronckle. She just needed a drawing reference.

—

Night continued to fall and Eulianna had finished her drawing and shut both books before resting her head on the larger book, deciding she would take a quick nap before heading home but instead fell into a deep slumber in the Great Hall. Eulianna had her hands folded beneath her head as she lightly snored. Some other vikings cleared the table of dirty dishes and lit a single candle nearby her, just to make sure she wouldn't be shocked if she were to suddenly wake up in complete darkness.

Hiccup walked into the Great Hall and walked towards the lit candle with his own candle in hand. He saw Eulianna still in the hall, fast asleep. He thought by now she would've been in her home and it would've let him read the dragon manual alone. But seeing as the girl wasn't awake, he should be able to still read it.

Hiccup placed his hands on the edge of the book and slowly wedged it out from under Eulianna. She stirred in her sleep, groaning a little making Hiccup back away until she was still again. He exhaled once she stopped moving and made a second attempt of getting the book. He looked at Eulianna's sleeping face taking in how relaxed and peaceful she looked. It's the first time he's been this close to her face and he noticed the barely visible freckles she had on her cheekbones. He looked to the mole in the middle of her cheek, a feature he noticed the first time he saw her face.

He pulled the manual out slowly, making sure her head wouldn't hit the table under her. He opened up the manual to the first page and read aloud, "Dragon classifications. Strike class. Fear class. Mystery class."

Eulianna was dreaming about the willow tree back home and how she would lay against the trunk and just nap or relax when she felt her head heat up. Except in her dream, the startling eyes of the dragon she encountered were within the tree's trunks. As if the tree had carried the soul of the dragon and its eyes were the windows to the forest around it. The eyes blinked at her, its pupils widening from narrow slits to rounded shapes. The willow tree was accompanied by a small lake a couple of feet away from it which sparkled when the sun hit it.

She used to believe the lake was a magical portal away from reality. The willow was a special place to her as her and her parents would spend time there, acting like a normal family. It was also her parent's special place. Her mother would tell her stories of her and father and the willow. The willow was always mentioned in their stories. Whenever they were at that part of the forest, their troubles and responsibilities would vanish momentarily. Her dreaming was interrupted when Eulianna heard Hiccup's voice next to her.

"Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight…"

Eulianna's eyes slowly opened to see Hiccup right next to her, focused on the dragon manual. She gazed at his side profile, her eyes following the curve of his nose, then looking at the furrow of his thick brows, then to the freckles all over his face.

He spoke again, "Night Fury. Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you." The boy pulled out a book from under his vest and opened to a page and placed the small book down onto the manual.

"Must you read aloud?" Eulianna finally spoke, spooking Hiccup as he jumped in his seat.

"Why didn't you say anything?!" Hiccup exclaimed and looked at Eulianna who didn't even move from her sleeping position.

"I just did," Eulianna replied. "So Night Fury. The one you shot down?"

"...Yeah," Hiccup hesitantly answered.

Silence hung in the air for a couple seconds before Eulianna asked, "Did you find it?"

No response.

"I'll take that as a no, then," She murmured, tracing her finger in circles on the surface of the wooden table.

Hiccup returned his book under his vest and bid her goodnight, before leaving the Great Hall a second time that night.

A/N: Updates will be slower due to the term starting. I apologise in advance :(

These are hard times for many, many people right now. Please stay safe and keep fighting for justice for those who lost their lives. BLM.