By the way, my profile pic is a Wind Chaser if you haven't noticed. That's why it shows as the book's cover too.

xXXx

The trio trudged through the forest in silence, the Haddock twins ahead of Astrid who was looking thoughtfully at them. She hadn't expected them to just come and offer to be let in on their secret. The warrior kind of thought them more selfish than that. They'd been the bane of her career from the moment they stepped into that ring and she had stopped seeing them as nothing else but two dirty deceiving glory thieves. It had been so frustrating to see them getting praised for underhanded tactics no one could figure out and their obvious avoidance of answers only aggravated it more. They should be teaching their tricks to the rest of them so they could protect their home! Not keep those for themselves to get fame and glory!

Except, now they were going to show her. Turns out all she had to do was let them. Or ask. She felt a little like an idiot, not that she'd admit it. They might have had a reason for not telling. If, if, it was a good one she would apologize. At least mentally.

Whatever it was she'd hear them out. That was a promise.

The twins halted as one when they reached an opening in a rock formation. They turned to look at her and Astrid wondered if something was wrong. Then she realized they looked at her axe with contemplation. Were they thinking how her weapon could be used in the training they did? Because they had to have trained somehow. But no. Kernel bit her lip for a moment before she came to a decision and opened her mouth.

"Could you leave your axe here?", Astrid tensed, "What we want to show you… well", she rubbed her arm awkwardly and shrugged a shoulder.

The viking girl relaxed again. Her axe would just be in the way. She understood.

"Fine", she said and propped it against the ravine like opening's wall.

When she stood, the twins were smiling with something like relief in their eyes. Had they been afraid she wouldn't listen? The two still looked very nervous when they started walking towards the ravine's other end. There was light there. Hiccup filled the silence with instructions.

"Okay, so. What we have here is quite… shocking. Just please listen and try to understand before making any decision. I know it goes against a lot of things vikings believe in and… well. Better to just show you", he told her and as they reached the beautiful cove looked to Kernel with a 'go ahead' look.

Before Astrid could even form a thought to contemplate what she had just been told Kernel walked towards the edge of the cliff they'd arrived at and shouted.

"Springer! Catch!"

And she jumped.

Astrid reached out, heart in her throat, only to choke on her scream of alarm as she heard a dragon screech. Right from where Kernel jumped. She feared the worst and then… A light brown dragon with turquoise lines on its wings shot up. Astrid was about tackle Hiccup to the ground so they'd be safe when she registered what she was seeing. The dragon was flying in front of them with steady wingbeats and four wings. She didn't know any dragon with four wings. But that wasn't what caught her attention. Not by a long shot.

Kernel was riding it.

Kernel, a viking girl, was riding a dragon. An unknown dragon at that.

Astrid's mind was blank for a second because, what. Then it was turning over the new information until it was the only thing she could think. After which her anger was boiling over because how could they. Dragon's had been raiding their village for three hundred years and these two siblings were clearly on their side. On the enemy side.

They were enemies. Hooligan village had to be informed.

She was about to turn and run but came face to face with Hiccup who had a concerned and pained look on his face. Astrid paused. She had promised to hear them out. They had scared the life out of her and were riding dragons but Astrid had promised. She kept her promises.

"What are you two thinking!? Dragons have been raiding our village, killing us, for three hundred years! Three hundred years! And you're on their side?", she raged at the boy who was not on a dragon. He wasn't as scary but she turned and glared at his twin too because having her back against the danger wasn't a good idea, "You betrayed us!?"

The twins had the grace to look a little guilty and Astrid got the questions off her shoulders. And, of course, had her payback for scaring her like that. You did not go jumping off cliffs without warning. But she was still willing to hear them out. She had promised. If not aloud, then in her heart. She took a deep breath to calm herself and glared at the two more calmly.

"Explain yourselves. Now", her wary eye turned to the dragon a few feet away, "And get off that- that"

Somehow the twins looked relieved and gave her sympathetic and thankful looks. But they complied like nothing was wrong and they hadn't just shown her that at least Kernel rode a dragon.

It was official. Astrid would never get the Haddock twins.

(As they'd find out later, that wasn't quite true. There was no one else who could understand them better. Except for Springer and Toothless, but still)

xXXx

The three vikings and dragon sat on the rock Kernel had jumped off of just under a minute ago. She was petting Springer who laid lazily on the rock beside her. Hiccup was next to Kernel and Astrid sat across from the twins, a good way away from Springer.

"So. Start talking", the warrior demanded.

A shared glance and Hiccup started, "Remember the last raid? When I said I shot down a Night Fury?"

Astrid nodded. Of course she did! He'd accidentally destroyed four houses. One of them her cousin's. She'd been right there when it had happened even. And had watched the twins get escorted home by Gobber.

"Well, I actually did shoot down a Night Fury", he told her and Astrid took a moment to look at him in shock, "We went looking for it that same day right after the raid and almost thought we lost it. Then we stumbled across a fallen tree and found this black dragon lying on the ground, wrapped in ropes from the bola my invention threw"

Kernel continued, "We approached it so that Hiccup could kill it and make his life better but this dragoness here-", she scratched Springer's snout, "-jumped out from the bushes and protected him. We'd never seen dragons do that before, you know? And that got me thinking if they could feel, think and stuff. Like us humans. After that, well… I couldn't just watch him get killed or leave him. So I cut him free"

Astrid's eyes widened. But that… how were they alive!? Hiccup seemed to know what she was thinking and smiled wanly.

"I know, right? Crazy!", he said and got smacked by his sister in protest, "But after that he just jumped in front of Springer to protect her. Just like me when I thought he'd attack Kernel. And that was when it just… clicked. Dragons had families, like us. Those two dragons consider each other family"

Okay. Wow. That had really happened? Astrid could kind of see it. But if that happened then…

"Then why did you come to dragon training?", she asked.

Two grimaces. And one word as if from one mouth.

"Dad", they said.

And that was explanation enough. If the village leader said you went, you went. Like it or not. It was bad luck the village leader just happened to be their father. Astrid felt for them. They'd just found out they didn't want to fight dragons and had to anyway.

Kernel continued, "After that we came looking for them because the Night Fury had been hurt by the bola and we… dunno, wanted to help maybe? Something?", she sent a questioning look to her brother who just nodded in agreement, "Well, we found them here. Both of them. And then we just kept coming after training and they started to trust us and we them and all these things kept piling up until we found ourselves riding dragons"

A moment of silence to let Astrid digest that. Then Hiccup concluded the story.

"When we realized that we were best friends with our enemies and that everyone in our village would kill them once they found out, we came up with a plan of sorts: Try to convince them dragons aren't all they seem and stop this war once and for all… That's pretty much it"

Astrid was quiet for a long moment. That all had happened. Here. With these twins. And they had found a way to stop the hundreds of years old war. She was right to listen to them. Also, if this wasn't a good reason to keep their methods secret she didn't know what was. They were brave and loyal friends to the dragons, and would most likely be to everyone who was like that to them. And the dragons. Just… whoa. She had one question.

"Where's the Night Fury?", she asked, looking to Hiccup.

The twins slumped in relief and grinned at her so widely it had to hurt.

"Toothless! Here!", Hiccup shouted out and was answered by a dragon roar. He stood up and started jumping down the rocks with practiced ease. Astrid stood too with Kernel and the dra- Springer to watch him land on a black scaled dragon that was slightly bigger than the unknown dragon species. The teen took something that was attached to the saddle and pulled it slightly when they took to the air. Astrid watched with awe as they flew a circle and landed on the rock, 'Toothless' looking at her curiously. A moment of structinicing each other and the viking girl grinned slightly.

"Can I try?", she asked and Kernel and Hiccup smiled back, knowing they'd just earned themselves a new friend.

xXXx

The revelation, done. Astrid is with them. Next up should be everyone else... But not just yet.