Eulianna blinked a couple of times, dazed from the sudden movement and took her a moment before she realised something was on her. She shut her eyes and shook her head before opening them and coming eye to eye with the startling eyes she saw nine years ago. An image that has been engraved in her mind since she was six. She looked at the sleek, black scales covering the dragon, matching the size and colour of the scale hanging at the end of her necklace.

To the dragon's surprise, the girl wasn't panicking under his weight nor did her expression show any terror towards him.

"No, she's friendly!" Hiccup approached the dragon and Eulianna. The dragon's eyes began to dilate before Eulianna suddenly moved underneath him. The dragon was alert again and pushed more of his weight on the human girl.

"Freckles, get me a flower," Eulianna ordered.

"Is this really the best time for me to go flower picking?"

"Yes, unless you wanna see my head get bit off," Eulianna turned her head to look at him, earning a growl from the dragon, baring some of its teeth at her.

Hiccup complied and tugged the nearest flower from the soil, handing it to Eulianna's open hand. Eulianna grabbed it and held on the end of the stem and the petals towards the front of the dragon's nose and brushed the petals back and forth over his snout, making the dragon flinch back and to Hiccup's surprise, calm down.

Eulianna reached over to her right shoulder and pulled down her vest, revealing her burn to the dragon, whose eyes widened and then leapt off the girl.

"Toothless, this is Eulianna. Eulianna, Toothless. Though I gathered he's the dragon who burnt your shoulder years ago."

"Do you think he remembers me?" Eulianna sat up and stared at Toothless who stared at her then sniffed her. Eulianna held a breath until the oversized reptile pulled back and stared at the girl again.

Toothless's eyes squinted in on Eulianna's shoulder and opened its mouth, this time showing no teeth and just pink gums.

"Oh gods, he's gonna eat me. He's gonna somehow bite my head off with no teeth. Nice knowing you, Freckles." She lifted her head to see Hiccup standing next to her, his arms out to try to stop Toothless.

"You're not gonna die," Hiccup said, growing a bit more concerned as Toothless inched closer towards Eulianna. "He's not gonna eat you."

"Are you reassuring me or yourself? As my parting gift, you can have all my gold and jewels. I won't need them in my grave."

"Stop being dramatic."

"I'm being real! At least I can say I've met the dragon who burnt my shoulder who will be the dragon who is responsible for my death. I've come full circle. So long," Eulianna voiced out before laying her head back down.

Toothless opened his mouth and Eulianna shut her eyes waiting for the pain to strike but instead Toothless licked her shoulder, coating it in his saliva. Eulianna opened one eye to see the black dragon, completely calm and continuing to the lick the burn scar.

"See, you're alive!" Hiccup rejoiced. "Alive and a shoulder covered in Night Fury saliva."

"I feel like this is somewhat worse than death," Eulianna mentioned.

"He-he likes you!"

"I think he does remember me," Eulianna giggled, growing ticklish from Toothless. "Okay, make him stop. I'm gonna stink of dragon breath which is literally just the smell of burnt fish." Eulianna lifted her index finger under her nostrils in an attempt to block the pungent scent.

Hiccup placed his hands under Toothless's head and pushed it away from Eulianna and the dragon purred against Hiccup's hands.

Getting up for the second time that day, Eulianna didn't bother brushing off the dirt on her clothes.

"Okay, so you need to show Toothless he can trust you," Hiccup informed.

"How do I do that?"

"Just hold out your palm to him," Hiccup instructed and Eulianna held out her arm, her palm facing Toothless. "And let him come to you."

Hiccup watched Eulianna and Toothless gaze at each other before Toothless shut his eyelids and pressed his snout into the girl's palm and pulled back. Hiccup waited for Toothless to huff and run off as he did with him, but the dragon remained in his spot and sat up straight. Eulianna laughed as she approached the dragon and reached up to pet his face, squishing the dragon's face as much as she could.

"Uh, that wasn't how it was supposed to go," Hiccup phonated, feeling a bit disappointed how quickly Toothless warmed up to Eulianna.

"It must be because we've basically bonded long before you did. Isn't that right, Toothless?" Eulianna gushed at the dragon, raising the pitch of her voice higher when she directed the question to the dragon. Toothless purred against her touch and Hiccup gaped. He felt completely betrayed by the Night Fury.

"So Toothless is a Night Fury you shot down? And you didn't kill him for some reason and now you two are buddies? And that reason is…?" Eulianna urged him to finish her sentence.

"I… just couldn't do it...," Hiccup trailed off.

"Well, I think whatever reason you chose not to harm this cutie," Eulianna cooed at Toothless, "You did it because you realised what I said is right," Eulianna hummed.

"Oh, so you're basically telling me 'I told you so,' huh?"

Eulianna raised her shoulders to a quick shrug and a wide smile on her lips. "Maybe. Maybe not. But for one, I'm glad you're still 'not like the other vikings'. That's the thing about you that stood out to me," Eulianna recalled the day she met him.

Hiccup felt his cheeks grow warm as he fiddled with his fingers.

"So, how'd you figure out how to do the "hand-touch-bond" thing?" Eulianna questioned, shooting a grin towards Toothless who nudged her head his own asking for more pets from her.

"Well, I was just drawing him and he drew me, a very abstract version of me, and instead of trying to pet him, I figured I let him decide on his own," Hiccup recounted.

"You can draw too!" Eulianna said sweetly.

"Okay, okay, that's enough," Hiccup felt himself grow jealous at how Toothless nuzzled against Eulianna and how Eulianna babied the dragon.

Hiccup was relieved another person now knew about Toothless and he was glad it was Eulianna.

"So, he just stays here? He could easily fly away, can't he?" Eulianna inquired Hiccup a question he asked himself days ago.

—

"Please, your grace, I promise you! I will do better! I'll make tastier dishes and I'll even take up other tasks when I'm not cooking up meals!" Erland was close to dropping to his knees as he begged the duchess.

"Here is your last payment," Gerda dropped a small sack of gold at Erland's feet. Erland checked inside the sack and saw she had only given him a quarter of his payment. He didn't bother barging back in and demanding the rest of his gold. Gerda walked off from the flabbergasted chef to the entrance of the castle as the guard, Selby walked past her and bowed to her. He was out of his uniform and in civilian clothing. He was almost unrecognisable without his uniform.

"Selby... You too?" Erland sobbed. "I thought they'd let you stay since…" He didn't finish his sentence as the young guard sighed.

"As long as I got Nirhogan blood in my body, the duchess wants me out of here," Selby answered.

The two of them stood at the steps of the castle before the draw bridge, waiting for it to be drawn so they can cross the moat and leave. Selby was about to speak again when they heard the squeaking of wheels from the doors of the castle.

Jakob and another guard were carrying down the wooden wheelchair of the princess's great-grandfather down the stairs.

"Mr. Cheoha!" Erland rushed to the old man.

"My name is Kamon Cheoha," the man introduced himself for the umpteenth time to Erland.

"Jakob, what's going on? Why is the princess's papa here?" Selby stammered.

"The duchess wants him out of the castle too," Jakob informed with a blank expression, looking completely unsympathetic for the ill elder who had memory problems.

"Where will he stay?" Erland cried out.

Linnea ran out of the castle with a bottle of orange liquid in her hand and called out, "Sir! Your medicine!"

"And who will make sure he takes his medicine!" Erland added. "I didn't think the duchess was going to do this to us, and to the princess's papa!"

Linnea bit her lip and apologised, "I'm sorry. I really wish I could do something about it."

The drawbridge was being drawn open and they all looked towards it, revealing the village.

"This is an act of discrimination against Nirhogans," Selby said, firmly placing his hands on his hips. He raised his voice hoping the duchess would hear, "Something like this wouldn't happen if King Andor was still here!" He caught the attention of some guards by the windows and the duke who was watching the whole time.

"Selby," Jakob warned.

"We are people too!" Selby snapped.

"So loud, young man," Kamon whined as he stared into space.

"I'll take care of the princess's papa," Selby said and Linnea sobbed, thanking him.

"Selby… are-are you sure?" Erland stuttered.

"Erland, you have a wife and children to look after. I'm sure my father would understand why the princess's papa will be staying with us. If you are that worried, you can always visit," Selby reassured Erland.

"We hope we can see you again," Erland said to Linnea and Jakob. Linnea was tearing up and pulled a handkerchief from her apron's pocket to dab away the tears whereas Jakob just stood there looking at Selby, his now former fellow guard.

Selby took the medicine from Linnea and moved behind Kamon's wheelchair and pushed it across the drawbridge with Erland next to him.

"I haven't seen the village in years," Kamon commented. "I can taste fresh air," the old man laughed. "Where are we going, boy?"

"Your new home, sir."

"I'm moving houses again?" Kamon sighed.

—

Ilda was in her garden, feeding the Ivarsson's watchdog when she noticed a group of three familiar Nirhogans walk past. She recognised Selby, the biracial guard out of his uniform and an adult Nirhongan looking down beaten. Selby was an esteemed guard whose father knew the queen. It was one of the reasons he landed the job of the royal guard, albeit he displayed an unswerving loyalty to the family and devotion to his duties. He was also responsible for the reason the rest of the royal guards knew a decent amount of combat skills due to Selby's interest in Nirhogan martial arts. He was known by some of the Nirhogans as being one of the few royal staff who was of Nirhogan descent. Ilda and Selby met briefly through Eulianna. He had once fetched Eulianna from Ilda's garden one night to bring her back to the castle when she had past curfew.

But what shocked her the most was the old man being pushed by Shelby who she realised to be Eulianna's great-grandfather. Eulianna had mentioned him before to her. Eulianna would ask Ilda for some sentences she could use when talking to him as Ilda was fluent in Nirhogan.

Ilda hurdled over the cobble-stone fence and jogged over to the three Nirhogans and called out Selby's name. The young man turned and his face faltered when he saw Ilda's concerned face before explaining their situation.

—

That night, Hiccup and Eulianna were in the blacksmith forge in a stall tucked away at the back, hidden away from any vikings to see. Hiccup was shaping steel for a saddle he had designed for Toothless and Eulianna made herself useful by sewing pieces of leather together to the best of her abilities. It wasn't as perfect and neat as Hiccup hoped it to be, but as long as it held together, he deemed it fine.

Hiccup further worked on the rest of the harness's pieces such as the foot pedals to connect to the prosthetic wing and handles.

"It's amazing you're doing this, Freckles," Eulianna spoke up after she finished the stitching.

"Uh… you think so?" Hiccup stopped hammering.

"Yeah. You could've just let him there to die. But you're doing the right thing. I bet he's gonna be ecstatic to fly again."

"Thanks… for not running off and telling anyone and helping me out right now," Hiccup mumbled.

"I have nothing better to do, honestly. And it's good to actually put my time into helping someone, or in this case a dragon, out. Imagine if-"

"Hiccup!" The two teens froze at Gobber's booming voice outside the room.

Hiccup moved to stand, but Eulianna held her hand out to stop him and she instead exited the room to see Gobber looking around for his apprentice.

"Gobber! What are you doing here?" Eulianna shot a smile at him.

"Is Hiccup here?"

"Nope. He just left," Eulianna fibbed. "He headed back home."

"Wait, what are you doing here?" Gobber narrowed his eyes to Eulianna. She opened her mouth and looked around the room before her eyes landed on an empty crossbow.

"Crossbow! I mean, I was looking for a crossbow. I've been practicing using my dad's bow and arrow. I wanted to try use a crossbow instead. Looked easier." Eulianna has yet to loose an arrow from her father's bow, nor has she even taken it out of his chest ever since Gobber brought it to her.

"Bow and arrow, crossbow. Both require skill and either isn't easier than the other. You can't go wrong with a bow!" Gobber advised and Eulianna nodded.

Maybe she should try her father's bow, Eulianna thought.

"Alright, I'll just head out then. Be careful around here! Don't trip!" Gobber warned her and waved a hand to her before he walked out the forge.

"I won't!" She called out after him and waved back, even if he wasn't facing her. Eulianna watched Gobber until she couldn't see him anymore and popped back into the backroom to Hiccup who finalised the harness.

—

Two nights later, the two of them were in the back room of the forge again. Anyone in the village could tell the chief's son and the princess from Hjalfadargin were growing closer and closer by the minute. There was hardly a time you ever saw them not by each other's hip.

Gobber had been walking out of the Great Hall after dinner when he heard a conversation between two vikings.

"They're always together," one viking said.

"Who?" Another replied.

"Hiccup and the princess!"

"Oh, you're right! I always have to go to the docks in the middle of the day and whenever Hiccup finishes his training, the princess is always there waiting for him and they run off together."

"Out of all people she could've been friends with! Hiccup's nothing but a hassle to Berk and well she's… a princess!"

"Two heirs to a position, yet two different people."

"Though, I did hear he's been doing well at dragon training recently."

Gobber left the Great Hall, not bothering to listen to the rest of the vikings' gossiping. He saw the light to the forge open and made his way over, already knowing who may be there.

"Hiccup?" Gobber called out. He wasn't surprised when Eulianna appeared before him again and smiled at him, with both hands behind her back.

"Uh… sword. Sword sharpening," Eulianna took an arm behind her back to reveal her sword to Gobber. "Could you help me with it?" She grinned innocently.

He took the sword from her hand and took it to a grinding wheel, applying pressure to the sword against the wheel and twisting the knob to get it spinning. Sparks produced from the contact of the metal against the wheel and Eulianna silently watched the sparks fly until Gobber spoke.

"You… You and Hiccup seem to be getting close," Gobber started a conversation to fill the awkward silence.

"Yeah! I mean, yes. We're friends," Eulianna said while nodding.

"I've heard people talking saying it's weird you two are friends," Gobber mentioned.

A sigh escaped Eulianna's mouth. "People will talk. Trust me, I've lived a whole life being in the centre of conversations and I've learnt to just ignore it."

"You must be used to it by now then."

"... No, actually. I say I just ignore it, but really I wanna hear what everyone is saying about me. I say I don't care about what they say, but I do and I wish I didn't. I didn't always care. I only started caring when I was about eleven. That's when I realised the shoes I had to fill."

"Or the crown you had to fit."

Eulianna chuckled as Gobber handed her the now sharpened sword. Hiccup was listening behind the curtain that separated the back room to the main area of the forge, wondering what Eulianna was referring to.

"It's good you and Hiccup are friends. I think he really needed one in a time like this," Gobber said, placed an arm over Eulianna's shoulders and patted it twice before leaving the forge and bidding her good night.

Eulianna walked back into the back room to find Hiccup who resumed working on a prototype, not mentioning the conversation he had just heard. He felt like he just intruded into something private and personal and figured that he shouldn't bring it up.

To clear the awkward air, he requested, "I need you to get fish for me tomorrow. For Toothless. Just so he's distracted enough for me to put this on him." Hiccup lifted up another the completed prototype to Eulianna.

"You must be kidding to think I would touch a live fish," Eulianna scoffed as she raised a single brow at him.

"Please?"

"No."

—

Eulianna peered into the full basket of fish as she hauled it all the way to the entrance of the cove as she waited for Hiccup to finish dragon training.

The snap of a twig whipped Eulianna's head to Hiccup who carried the harness. "Wow, you actually got the fish."

"You're welcome."

"Didn't think you'd go fishing."

"Oh no," Eulianna let out a short laugh. "I asked Bucket and Mulch to get these for me."

"Of course the resident princess would." Eulianna ignored that comment. "And no eel, right?"

"No eel."

The two teenagers descended into the cove. Toothless's head perked up as he saw Hiccup approach him, showing the saddle to him.

"Toothless! I got fish for you!" Eulianna sang as she opened the lip to the woven basket, its smell travelling to the reptile's nostrils. Toothless jumped over Hiccup and darted to Eulianna who toppled the basket over to spill the fish. Toothless didn't wait to gobble up the fish as Hiccup attached the harness to the dragon who obediently complied.

—

Halvar had departed from yet another country after failing to find the princess's whereabouts. Rather than being discreet while sneaking around foreign lands, he disguised himself as a nomad who was looking for a long lost relative. His methods involved himself being believable to any person he came across and acquaintances himself with them. Just enough to get answers out of them, or not he would manipulate the conversation until he got the answer he wanted.

Halvar studied the images Gerda gave him on the deck of the ship, using the moon's beams as his source of light. A small collection of paintings. One of the princess posing in the throne room in an elegant dress with no expression on her face. The other two were separate, crumpled drawings of two larger men - one with a large braided beard and the other with a long braided moustached with prosthetic limbs.

"Vikings…" he muttered to himself. He had come across vikings before and his experiences with them were not pleasant. He found them brash and loud, the type of crowd he hated.

The man in control of the small ship yelled out to Halvar that he saw land up ahead. It was still far from where they were, but Halvar could make out two mounted statues which bore a resemblance to vikings.

Halvar took out his map and found which island was up ahead. It was the one Gerda mentioned to look out for when he met with her before his mission commenced.

"Berk."

—

Hiccup rapped on Eulianna's door at dawn and Eulianna flung the door open, adjusting her satchel on her shoulder.

The two of them silently crept into the forest, not noticing Astrid who had just woken up and peered outside her window, watching the two of them act suspiciously at this time in the morning. She noticed Hiccup hugging a brown object close to his body but it was hard for her to make out what it was. Astrid also noticed a ship coming closer towards Berk's docks. The ship harboured no crest on its flag and she hummed in speculation of who it could be.

She dismissed it off as nothing for now as she decided to sleep for a moment more. She'd look into it later.

—

Eulianna watched Hiccup and Toothless fly out of the cove only to crash shortly after. The girl climbed the rocks, out the cove and took her minute until she found Toothless rolling around in an open field of tall grass and Hiccup staring at a small bundle of grass in his hands.

"Oh my gods, you guys are okay," Eulianna breathed out.

"Yeah, of course, we are," Hiccup replied confused as to why she would think otherwise.

"Sorry for worrying about a friend!" Eulianna said in a defensive tone.

Hiccup didn't say anything for a while before he voiced out, "Hey, last night. At the forge. I heard you talking to Gobber about me."

"About how we're friends?"

"Yeah…" His voice lowered into a whisper.

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"No! It's just no one has ever called me their friend before," he mumbled, finding it difficult to maintain eye contact with Eulianna.

"That's… actually sad," Eulianna teased.

"Wow, okay. I'm never opening up to you ever again," Hiccup frowned.

"But it's actually sad! You know what? In fact, I'd say you're currently my best friend."

"Currently," Hiccup mumbled.

"Well, Ilda, my friend back home, isn't here and we're friends, right? I've established that and so have you."

"Right..?"

"And you're the one I've been with a lot and bonded with. When we first met in the Great Hall, I felt like we clicked instantly." Eulianna realised the way she had worded her sentence after seeing his stunned face and coughed, covering her mouth with her hand. "Forget I said that. That's weird. Nevermind." She forced a cough again and looked away noticing the sun had risen from when they left the village. "You should head to dragon training."

"You can bring him back?"

"Yeah, of course. The cove is literally right there."

"Thanks." Hiccup was about to rush off back to the village before he halted and faced the taller girl."...I'll see you after?"

"Yeah," Eulianna replied, her mouth twitching into a smile. "When have you not seen me after training?"

"Sorry for making sure!" Hiccup retorted back, jokingly before he ran off and Eulianna watched him retreat. Toothless looked at Eulianna's unreadable face before he nudged her back to reality.

A/N: If you're wondering, Cheoha is pronounced 'Ko-ha' with a soft 'h'.