Many thanks to those that have read, reviewed, alerted, or added this story to their favorites. You guys are awesome! And how awesome is Riders of Berk?! This would have been finished sooner, except that my computer has been hating the triple digit heat we've been have where I am.

Under the Stars

To say that we had been in trouble would be an understatement. Stoick told Gobber to take Hiccup back to their home, barely giving his son a glance as he fumed. Hiccup glanced at me before Gobber herded him away. Seconds after they headed off, Halla had grabbed my arm in a tight grip and had not released me until we were back inside her home with the door closed. For the first time since I had met her, she looked pissed. The short ax in her hand only made her more terrifying.

"Are ya daft, girl? I told you to get to the Hall," she said. That was the worst part about her anger. She did not yell at me. She did not need to.

I hung my head slightly. "I was on my way there when I ran into Hiccup-"

"Hiccup. Of course," Halla muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. "The boy is a bad influence, always getting in the way, running around with his strange ideas…you should have just ignored him and gone to the Hall."

I lifted my head, no longer feeling bad about defying her. Didn't they see what they were doing to him? How much their shunning probably hurt him? He was just a kid, a kid that wanted nothing more than to be wanted and accepted. "What, you want me to shun him like everyone here does? Just because he doesn't think like you guys do?"

Halla opened her mouth to say something more, but was cut off by a knock on the door. Whoever it was did not even wait for confirmation before entering. It was Stoick, though he no longer looked angry. He looked weary. He glanced between Halla and I before his gaze settled on the healer. "You're needed."

Halla nodded before going about, grabbing a few things and putting them into a small basket. I then realized they were healing salves. There had been injuries, and from the way Stoick looked, they were pretty bad. After she had grabbed a few things, she headed to the door and followed the chief out. As she closed it, she looked at me. "Stay here. I'll be back in a few hours."

Before I could even respond, the door closed and I was left alone. I groaned and walked over to the bed, dropping down onto it. Someday they would see Hiccup as more than just a hindrance, an oddity. Someday his father would realize just how amazing his son was and stop trying to get him to be something he wasn't. But I had no idea how far off that day was. How far ahead of the movie had I been dumped? A month? A few days? A year? I laid down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

I could still hear shouting outside. Sheep belting. I have no idea how long I stayed there, just staring up at the ceiling, looking at the grain of the wood that had been used to build the floor of the second story above my head. Ooh, what a pretty knot in the wood. It was when I started seeing eyes staring down at me in the knots in the wood that I knew I had to get up. There were no eyes in the wood. Blame it on too much Doctor Who.

I pushed myself up and stood, glancing around the quiet house. There was still shouting outside, but it was quieter now. And the yelling was further away now, perhaps down a few levels. I headed for the door. I needed fresh air. I opened the door and stepped outside. There was no one near Halla's and in the East, the edge of the sky was beginning to lighten. I glanced around and found a nice patch of grass just to the left of her door and sat down, pulling my legs up and leaning back against the house.

Sighing, I dropped my head back against the house, looking up at the sky. Stars shinned against a dark blue backdrop, so many more than I was used to seeing back home in Arrowhead. Though the town was in the mountains, we still got the light pollution from the valley. You were able to seem more stars than you could down in the cities, but it was nothing compared to this. Here there was no such thing as light pollution. And I was seeing some that I had never been able to see at home.

The sound of approaching footsteps made me look away from the sky and my eyes landed on a figure that paused his walking when I looked at him. I gave him a small smile. "Hey."

"Hey," he responded quietly before crossing the last few feet and sitting down beside me, his shoulder just a few inches from mine. "Sorry I got you in trouble."

I shook my head. "Hey, I was the one that decided to go with you. I got in trouble because of something I choose to do, not something you made me do."

Hiccup said nothing and looked away after a moment. I sighed and looked up at the sky again. It was beginning to lighten, but plenty of stars were still visible. "I've never seen so many stars."

I heard Hiccup move, but did not turn toward him. "You don't have many where you come from?"

I shook my head, looking at an odd pattern in a clump that I could not make out. "They're there, you just can see them all."

"Why can't you see them all?"

I lowered my head and looked over to see that his green eyes were locked on me. "Where I come from," I began. I worried my lower lip and turned my eyes back to the sky. "It's a lot different than here. The cities are bright and full of lights that sometimes make it hard to see the stars, even where I live in the mountains."

The young Viking said nothing, but I heard him shift beside me again. After a few minutes he asked, "Do you miss it?"

Did I miss it? Did I miss home? Even with all the pressures that my parents on me and teachers that gave out way too much homework? The long hours I worked at the local grocery store when I was not at school? But my parents loved each other and me, my coworkers were pretty cool, and I had some awesome friends. "Yeah," I replied softly. "I miss my parents." And indoor plumbing, I added in my head.

"No brothers or sisters?"

I removed my gaze from the sky as I shook my head. "Nope."

He was looking toward the sky as well, though looked toward me after a moment with a small smile. "Me either."

"Kendra."

I froze at the sound of my name and saw Hiccup's eyes go wide and fix on something just over my shoulder. I turned around. Just before the door to Halla's was the women herself, looking weary and when her eyes landed on Hiccup, slightly irritated. "Hiccup."

Hiccup quickly got to his feet. "Sorry, I was just…I'll be going now." He quickly moved past Halla and toward the level above where his home was.

I pushed himself as Halla stood watching me. She said nothing as I moved past her and went into the house, her a few steps behind me.

"What was he doing her?" she asked the second it was closed.

I stopped next to the bed and turned to face her. "He came to apologize."

"Just as he should," she said with a curt nod. "Pulling you into his schemes, making you look back before the village."

"And like I told him, I chose to follow him. He didn't make me go with him, or ask me to. I wanted to go with him."

She looked almost stunned for a moment before the stern look in her eyes returned. "I hope you choose better next time. Because of you being there, Mildew is already calling for you to be sent away from Berk."

I glared at her. "I made the right choice tonight. His invention would have worked perfectly if he had fired it a few seconds sooner."

She said nothing, just looked at me with her stern gaze. After a moment she turned and headed for the stairs. "Get some sleep. We have work to do in a few hours."

Once she disappeared upstairs, I turned and groaned, running a hand through my hair. Why was she being so-ugh! I kicked the end leg of the bed. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

I hopped on one foot and sat down on the bed, only to help as something sharp poked me. Still stick in my skirt, with dirt on the end, was the Nadder's spike. Somehow I had not sat on it outside. I yanked it from the fabric, which left a good sized whole, and set it down on the table near the bed.

I sighed and flopped back against the bed, my food still throbbing. Someday soon she would see. Someday soon they all would see. The day he would shot down Toothless would be the day everything changed. But until then, Hiccup would be frowned at and I would bang heads with Halla about hanging around him. I rolled onto my side and closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to come to me.