29. Meetings, again.
The weather went bad again in a few hours. Hiccup was on his way back to the island when the rain started up again, he knew that he would probably need to wait out until all of the villagers went inside the hall. He had been with Storm for the most of the time, but she had ridden out to observe the storm and that left Hiccup alone.
Spending the day inside wasn't what people wanted to do and a little rain never bother anyone, but with the promise of another harsh lightning storm they conceded and the whole tribe was in the Meade hall.
During the break in the storm the people had done the best to do the most. The trio that were sent to check on the dragons were one of the groups sent to make sure everything was in order. Stoick had sent out multiple groups around the village, to check on the livestock, to take care of the few buildings that were destroyed, he even sent out Astrid to try to find the 'demons'.
Stoick had given Astrid the instructions to find the pair's camp, he wasn't stupid, he knew they had one somewhere on Berk. He didn't know these people, he knew only their less than stellar reputations and they were practically living in his back yard, that didn't sit right with him. Sending Astrid to find them served a dual purpose: finding their camp so he knew where they were and demanding their presence as soon as possible. Or it would have served a dual purpose if she had found them, she only found an old campsite with no clues of where the 'demons' went.
Surprisingly Snotlout had come back with the news that the pair would show up during the next storm break. Also, the female 'demon' was supposedly an expert on storms and told Snotlout that the harsh weather would last a bit longer.
In the evening the weather cleared up again. Stoick had prepared his most trusted people from his council, Snotlout and Gobber, for the fact that the 'demons' would show up. This meeting he wanted was going to be quite personal for him, if everything went well that is. Not telling anyone else that the pair would show up was an oversight on his part.
Nobody else had expected the hall's door to open as all of the tribe was inside. People dropped what they were doing to stare at the 'uninvited' guests. The pair were all dressed up in their gear confidently walking towards the Chief, unintentionally commanding all attention to them. A few of the Hooligans were standing up or moving towards the pair in preparations to either demand why they were there or stop them completely. No one got the chance as Stoick obviously beckoned the pair to a table that was further away from all of the others.
Hiccup felt the eyes that were on him. He didn't know whether it was because they already knew who he was or just because he and Storm made and imposing sight, because he knew that they made quite an image in their full gear and confident stride, after all they had spent a reasonable amount of time nailing the act. Because after all – the rather ruthless, unapproachable, distant, serious air they carried was all an act.
Sitting at the table, his father, uncle and Gobber, the person he held in the highest regard, was intimidating. Having Storm next to him was a blessing, he knew that she would take everything they dished out and give everything back ten-fold. He felt bad that he wasn't strong enough to be indifferent in this situation, stacking the responsibility on his sister even when he knew she would also be affected.
"Thank you for agreeing to move the meeting up," Stoick said after clearing his throat, "We have some things to discuss."
"Your heir made it seem like it was an order, not a request, but were happy to be here," Storm said with an awfully too-sweet voice. Her message was clear, they did not enjoy being ordered around and the awkward atmosphere remained. Stoick cleared his throat again.
"Ah, well, let's not waste any time. The thing I would like to discuss would be Drago, and how we will deal with him."
"What about him?" Hiccup prompted.
"He is a direct threat to all of us. To Berk as a whole and, from the stories I heard, a threat to you two. You promised to help us with the dragons, so I assumed you would help us with him if needed."
"Assumed, hmm, you assumed correctly. But make no mistake, with or without you, we will get rid of him eventually, we already had plans to do so, Berk is an unforeseen advantage." Storm kept up the sickly sweet tone that irritated Spitelout and Stoick, while Gobber knew better and let a small smile grace his face.
"So Berk is just a tool for you?" Spitelout aggressively demanded, standing up and hitting the table with force. The noise once again brought most of the attention to them, the air turned hostile all around. Hiccup took a deep breath to calm his nerves, placing his elbows on the table, a gesture mirrored by Storm. Neither dignified Spitelout with an answer, their disposition and featureless helmets building a figurative wall, a boundary, making a statement: aggression will get you nowhere.
"Your 'help' also injured my son! It makes me think, really think that you are in league with the mad man! Your only task is to divert our attention and make us more vulnerable!" he raged on, not caring about the attention his rant gained. In his eyes they were a danger to Berk. Being held in league with Drago enraged the pair.
"Enough!" They said at the same time, their disposition hadn't changed. Their outburst silenced the angry man.
"You asked for our help – " Hiccup ignored his own discomfort, the anger was more prominent.
" – you sought us out –" Storm's voice held the same rage.
" – you wanted to use us – "
" – do not try to act high and mighty, we are helping you!" She finished the statement with a jab in his direction. They sat in silence for a few moments, Spitelout sat down in shock, he expected to have them stuttering and proving their innocence in which he did not believe in.
"I'm sorry for his outburst," Stoick said, giving a calming gesture to all, his eyes widened a little when Storm shock her head.
"No, you're not the one who should apologize in the first place," the glare was trapped beneath her helmet, yet her tone carried enough malice to get her point across. Spitelout huffed, crossed his arms and decided to be stupid.
"You injured my son, our heir, that's trying to harm us, not help us."
"Our third rule," Hiccup stated "You do not threaten us or try to fight us. Your son – Snotlout was it? – threatened a dragon that we led here, therefore he threatened us."
"That's no rea-" The man tried to argue, only to be interrupted by Storm.
"If you don't abide by our rules, we will retaliate. We were clear, we retaliated. This thing we have, this alliance, is a very fragile thing. We live with your tribe's scrutiny, with your suspicion," she looked directly at Stoick, "your distrust. It's a fragile thing the alliance we have, compare us with Drago Bludvist again, it's over."
The statement hung in the air for a moment. Stoick awkwardly cleared his throat, he hadn't spent much time with the pair, but his uneasiness about their overall being was noticed and that unnerved him, because he met them less than five times during their time on his island and he thought he hadn't let any of his feelings show.
What truly bothered Stoick was the pairs willing helpfulness. No one he knows would be so dedicated to a tribe of strangers when they had nothing to gain, well they did gain allies against Drago, but he had a suspicion that allies against that madman weren't hard to come by. So the 'demons' were in this with no gain, they were training his people, they warned them before the storm, they went out in the storm to rescue livestock that they had no ownership over.
They had nothing here, yet to Stoick, it seemed like they were putting everything they had to better the Hooligan tribe's lives.
"We would be more inclined to trust you if you took of those helmets of yours," Gobber decided to finally say something. On his face a kind smile rested, he was the only one truly comfortable sitting at the table. His voice brought a smile to Hiccup's face.
"Unfortunately that's not possible," Hiccup answered him, he missed the black smith and didn't want to pass up even the smallest opportunity to talk to him.
"Why's that? My boy said you took off those things in training, and those things ain't going to scare us." Spitelout said. Storm decided to answer him with the sickly sweet tone of hers.
"We took off our helmets then because we trust our trainees, we don't trust you even a little bit. So the helmets stay on. Anyway, the meeting has gotten of track, let's get back to it, shall we?"
"Right, Drago, how do we plan to deal with him?" Stoick asked, he was prepared to hear out what the pair had planned, for the simple reason they had dealt with these kind of things more often. Storm looked at Hiccup and with his nod started answering.
"We have no set plan," she said and pointedly ignored Spitelout's irritated huff. "We don't know when this is going to go down or what scale the attack will be. All we have is an estimated time frame, but anything could throw it off. We are actively preparing, us with the dragon training, you with the weapons and warrior training, all we have talked about," she gestured to Hiccup and herself, "was a possible fall back plan, but we would like to hear out what you have planned first."
"We don't have much of a plan either," Stoick admitted, he was a little shocked that the pair had thought about this matter so thoroughly. "Our best chance is to take care of any battle on the ground, while the dragon scouts take care of any danger in the air."
Storm hummed in understanding. They were left staring at each other as she was waiting for him to ask what fall back plan they had thought of, she was not going to volunteer information if he didn't think of it as important enough to ask about. Finally it was Gobber who got sick of the silence and asked with a roll of his eyes.
"What 'bout the fall back?"
"We are thinking about reintroducing dragon back on Berk at a wider scale, so that in the case that things go south there would be enough of them to take the people to safety, of course that would need your approval and the tribes cooperation." Hiccup answered him.
"I will need to think about it and bring it up with the tribe as a whole, I have no answer for you yet." Stoick said, he seemed deep in thought. No doubt, a variation on the pair proposition will be circling the people in the end of the day, his people were nosy after all, but at the distance they kept, not everything could be heard. "I heard you have some demands of your own, so out with them."
"Not demands – a request," Storm was quick to correct, she addressed Gobber next. "We need access to your forge, we need to work on some saddles and we do not have the proper equipment ourselves."
"No problem lass, I do have to look at your inventions as was promised, so we will get two birds with one stone," he cheerily replied. Silence once again enveloped them, the pair sat at the table for a few minutes, but after seeing that they were not going to be addressed further went to stand up and leave – the stared were getting quite annoying.
"Wait!" Stoick's rushed voice stopped them in their tracks. "I still have a few questions, about someone you may have encountered in your travels!"
Hiccup and Storm shared a look before sitting down again. Both had an idea about who the man was talking about and they were actually quite interested in what kind of questions Stoick had in mind. They gestured for him to start talking.
