"Well, Toothless, here we are! Welcome to Scotland!" Thunder rolled overhead. "And it's going to rain. Of course." Toothless began to snort. "Ha ha, very funny, but what would you know about rain? You're used to the weather on Berk." Toothless gave a little whine. "You want to see some of Scotland before the downpour?" Toothless nodded with his tongue hanging out. "Alright, well, let's make this quick before the local weather, or the locals, overtake us." Hiccup would paused every now and then to map out the area while Toothless would roll around in the lush, green grass. He sighed after finished one, he wished he could just march up to the Scots and ask to consider an alliance, but they'd freak at the sight of a Viking. Not that Hiccup blamed them, he had heard of several Viking tribes that would plunder just because and strike fear into the villages they attacked. They certainly weren't thinking about making a good name for other tribes who might want alliances, but for most Vikings, the Scots were to be their arch nemeses. But Hiccup figured that it was no different with them than with dragons, he just had to go about it differently as Scots were humans and probably wouldn't get over their fear of Vikings as easily as some dragons. A bolt of lightning flashed through the air, splitting a nearby tree, the resulting thunder rumbled loudly. Toothless and Hiccup jumped at both sight and sound, but Toothless began to whine. "What are you complaining about, you big baby? You're the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself!" Hiccup glanced up at the curling mass of grey clouds, "But, we should find some shelter, and fast, those clouds look like they're about to let loose!" The two rushed through the forest as big drops began to slowly fall from the sky. They found a cozy little cave just as the storm unleashed its fury.
"That was cutting it close," muttered Hiccup before turning to glance around at their haven. Toothless stayed at the mouth of the cave, catching the rain with his tongue. "Hey bud, why don't we explore the cave for a bit . . ." He paused and reached for his sword, he thought he had heard something. Toothless apparently heard it too as he was instantly by Hiccup's side, growling softly. "No, wait," Hiccup whispered.
"Don't move," came a voice from the darkness. Hiccup quickly ignited his sword, taking the redhead by surprise, though her bow and arrow never faltered. "Who are you? And, and how are you doing that?"
Hiccup smiled as he carefully, slowly took a step forward, "I'm Hiccup Haddock the Third, Chief of Berk. This is my dragon Toothless, and I can show you, it helps with training dragons." He glanced down as his boot brushed against a pile of wood. He glanced back up, "Um, may I light it?" She nodded as she slowly began to lower her bow. Hiccup knelt and stuck his sword into the pile of wood. He removed it when the pile started to light, but the wind blew it out fairly quickly. "Ugh, right, give me a second . . . yow!" Hiccup yelped as he jumped back, the girl's horse practically copying him. Toothless let loose one of his fireballs into the firewood, getting a cozy fire crackling. "A little warning would have been nice, you almost seared my eyebrows off!" Toothless and the girl began to snicker.
"Aw, the wee lamb can't stand his own dragon's fire?"
"That's not the point . . . are you Scottish?"
"Well of course I am. What, did you take me to be a Viking?"
"You could have fooled me . . . no, that was bad, sorry. Um, I want to make an alliance between Scotland and Berk, and, well, I want to be learn about the ways of Scotland so that I can prove to the Vikings that we're really not all that different. Could you, uh, teach me, miss . . .?"
"Merida Dunbroch," she replied, shaking his hand. "And could you tell me about the ways of Berk? Perhaps I can help persuade the chieftains to consider your proposal."
"Well of course!" The two got comfortable around the fire, Toothless, and Merida's horse Angus, curled up while the two talked. When the rain cleared up, the two said their farewells and left, hoping that what they found out about each culture was enough of a start to convince their peoples to agree to an alliance.