That first visit involving the other Furies had gone well, and Eldurberg, Myrkursprenging, and Myrkursprengja had been eager to return. Luckily for them, they were going to be returning quite often.

The next trip, only a few days later, was made in high spirits, at least when it came to the Myrkurs and Eldurberg.

'Three times!' Myrkursprengja almost roared, extremely enthusiastic. 'We can go high enough for that.'

'Maybe four…' Myrkursprenging mused.

'What are they talking about?' Toothless asked Maour. 'I stopped listening to them an hour ago.'

"Putting the twins in mortal danger," Maour nonchalantly explained. "Something about dropping them and letting them fall for a while, and then grabbing them right before they hit the water."

'Can they do that safely?' Toothless asked. 'And why aren't you more worried?'

"Simple." Maour raised his voice. "No real flying with the twins without saddles. They need to be able to hold on." He spoke as if it was final.

'But-' Toothless objected, probably about how the twins didn't need saddles to be caught.

'Maour is correct,' Nóttskarpur interjected, her voice stern. 'And no flying out of sight of the forest, or in sight of the island.'

'But we did last time!' Myrkursprenging objected incredulously.

'And it was dangerous then.' Nóttskarpur growled. 'Stick to the ground today. All three of you.' She cast a glance at Eldurberg.

'Fine by me,' Eldurberg agreed hastily. He seemed lost in his own thoughts.

'Fine, fine,' Myrkursprenging muttered, quailing under Nóttskarpur's glare. 'That limits things a bit.'

'You knew that was going to happen,' Toothless said, flicking Maour's hands with his ears.

Maour pulled his hands back out of range. "Yup. Nóttskarpur wasn't too happy with the flying last time."

A while later, they reached Mahelmetan, dropping in low, using the forest as cover, though it was early enough in the morning that there probably weren't many Vikings up in the village to see them, cover or not. Nóttskarpur disappeared into the shadows as soon as she reached the trees.

'She's really good,' Toothless remarked as they made their way to the makeshift fort that housed the teens. 'Think she can teach me?'

Maour shrugged. "Can't hurt to ask later."

'It could, actually,' Eldurberg disagreed nervously. 'She gave Myrkurheili a scar for asking a question.'

Myrkursprengja growled. 'His question was over the line, even for a Myrkur, Eldurberg. He's my uncle, and I still think he deserved worse than that.'

'Come on, this again?' Myrkursprenging laughed. 'All she had to say was no, and he would have left her alone.'

'It's against pack law to try and break apart mated pairs,' Myrkursprengja retorted. 'He's lucky Nóttskarpur handled him herself.'

That sounded right to Maour, given who Nóttskarpur was currently with. "But did Nóttleiðtogi find out?"

'Of course, she told him after she gave Heili a new scar,' Myrkursprengja replied happily. 'I don't know what Nóttleiðtogi said to our dear uncle, but he didn't so much as look at Nóttskarpur for a year after that.'

With that, they reached the fort. Maour dismounted and knocked on the door, feeling somewhat absurd. The walls weren't even all finished, but he knocked on the door anyway.

A brief scuffle, and then Tuffnut's helmet crashed through the woven twigs and cordage of the door, his head following.

"Yes!" He closed his eyes and pulled his head out, leaving a helmet-shaped hole behind.. "Something to do!"

The Myrkur siblings were laughing, and Maour had taken a hasty step back in shock. "That was odd."

'When you can rebuild the door, who cares if you break it?' Myrkursprenging countered.

'Of course you would say that, Blast,' Toothless retorted.

'Feel free to use that. I like it,' Blast agreed. 'It suits me.'

'Same,' Myrkursprengja agreed. 'Boom.'

'I will,' Toothless said seriously. 'Blast and Boom, if you really want those names.'

Interesting. Well, they were friends. "So will I." Maour was fine with that.

The door of the fort swung open, and the twins burst out, followed by Fishlegs.

"Time for stunts-" Ruffnut sung.

"-thrills!" Tuffnut continued, racing for Blast.

"And death-defying feats of skill!" Ruffnut concluded, reaching Boom.

A beat of silence, as both twins climbed on, holding on precariously.

'Please?' Blast asked sadly, speaking as if to no one. 'We'll be safe.'

'No.' Nóttskarpur's voice came from the shadows of the forest. 'No flying.'

'I almost feel sorry for you guys,' Toothless admitted.

Ruffnut looked down. "Hey, what gives?"

"Yeah, we've been waiting for days." Tuffnut crossed his arms. "We made a theme song, we were so bored!"

Maour considered intervening.

"Maybe they need a push?" Tuffnut asked, before thumping his boot on Blast's side. It was a petulant move, not a cruel one, but that didn't sit well with anyone.

Blast turned his head to stare at Tuffnut, eyes narrowed. A soft growl built, slowly beginning to shake Tuffnut, who was starting to realize that something was wrong.

Then Boom, who still had Ruffnut on her back, walked over and pulled Tuffnut off of Blast, none too gently.

As she did, she spoke. 'Nóttskarpur, I think an exception needs to be made, just to ensure this sinks in.'

'A short exception,' Nóttskarpur agreed, her voice dark. 'This will not be nearly so gentle next time.'

Now Maour knew what was going on, and he approved. So as to not distract, he and Toothless stayed out of it. Berg and Fishlegs were also watching.

Tuffnut sat up from where he had been dumped. "Hey, what gives?"
Blast turned and very deliberately kicked Tuffnut, hard, in the stomach. The wheeze of displaced air was audible, as was Ruffnut's inhale of shock.

Then Boom twisted her neck to stare at Ruffnut, her eyes challenging.

Ruffnut slowly raised her hands. "I want no part in that."

Boom nodded slowly, her expression softening. She leaped into the air, circled just above the trees for a few seconds, and then set back down, Ruffnut clinging to her back. Making a point.

Tuffnut wheezed in exasperation, not quite able to speak yet.

Then Boom nodded to Ruffnut, and then the ground. Ruffnut quickly scrambled off and went to help Tuffnut up.

Tuffnut pushed her away, his hands on his knees as he stood, bent almost double. "Not… fun."

'Maour, can you explain?' Blast asked sadly. 'I want to be sure they get it.'

Maour nodded. "But do you get why it happened?" He asked Tuffnut promptingly.

Tuffnut groaned, having mostly recovered. "Not really."

"Bro, you kicked him." Ruffnut shook her head. "So he kicked you back."

At least she got that much. "They're not animals, and you can't make them do something they won't or can't do."

"But they flew last time," Tuffnut objected. "And Ruffnut was just in the air."

"And if they don't want to now, maybe there's a reason," Maour answered. "Treat them with respect."

"Message received," Tuffnut muttered. "Sorry, Blast."

Blast nodded. 'We make stupid mistakes all the time. You're no different.'

Maour translated that for Blast.

"He didn't say stupid," Ruffnut accused Maour. "You added that."

Boom shook her head.

"Or maybe he did," Ruffnut amended. "So what do we do all day?" She seemed eager to put the small confrontation behind them.

"There was a pit in the forest that way," Tuffnut mused, pointing off to the South.

"Say no more!" Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and the Myrkurs wandered off in a generally Southern direction.

Fishlegs shuffled his feet nervously and looked at Berg. "I'm not treating you like an animal… right? I'd rather know before you feel the need to teach me a lesson."

Berg grinned and shook his head.

"Oh, good." With that, Fishlegs and Berg followed the twins' general direction. "Let's make sure the twins don't do anything too stupid."

'Oh great, another day of waiting around,' Toothless complained, watching them go. 'But watching them would be pretty boring too.'

"Yeah, we need to figure out ways to pass the time here," Maour agreed. "Luckily, I brought my scythe today. Want to help me get back into shape?"

Toothless grinned evilly. 'Sure. But as your scythe is on my saddle, we'll start with some running!' He darted off into the underbrush.

That second trip ended simply, the dragons and teens returning to the fort at sunset and saying goodbye. The twins were back to normal by then, and the Myrkurs reported no issues, but the incident worried Maour. He brought it up with Cloey and Shadow the night afterward, starting by telling them exactly what had happened. Nóttskarpur was very likely reporting to the pack as they spoke, as it was her turn to do so. She had reassured Maour that this one incident was not a big deal, as long as it did not resurface, but that didn't make him feel much better.

Cloey purred soothingly. 'I wouldn't worry. They got the message across, and you did not have to interfere again. The Myrkurs are just as bad, sometimes.'

'Reinforce the lesson,' Shadow added, less reassuringly but more helpfully. 'Have them work together in a way that puts the Myrkurs in charge for a while, or demonstrate that Toothless is just as independent as you are.'

'Or both,' Toothless added happily. 'I can think of plenty of ways to do that second one.'

Maour groaned dramatically. "This is going to be embarrassing, I can already tell." Ways for Toothless to clearly demonstrate that he was his own person, and didn't by extension have to listen to Maour? That was probably going to involve Toothless doing something Maour would really not like, so as to make it authentic.

'I won't embarrass you,' Toothless amended quietly. 'Not in front of them. You have suffered more than enough of that in the past. But I can still see a few ways to make it work.'

Maour patted his brother's forehead. "I shouldn't have thought you would."

'In front of them,' Toothless clarified further. 'With family, all bets are off.' He pawed at Maour playfully.

"As they should be," Maour grinned. "But first, let's talk more about your ideas."

The third trip, in less than two weeks. Yup, this was getting annoying. This time around Maour at least had another reason for going to Mahelmetan besides the teens. He needed to restock on bread and vegetables, hence the bags hanging from Toothless's saddle, as well as the fairly nice pelt.

Of course, that was pointed out as soon as they took off. 'What are those for?' Nóttskarpur asked curiously.

"Food," Maour explained. "I take these so I don't have to make trips very often." He had actually started a very small garden of sorts in the forest on the island, but that would take time to supply anything edible. It was all necessary, though.

'Fish isn't enough?' Nóttskarpur asked, confused. Eldurberg was listening closely, his face betraying his fascination with any new information. The Myrkurs, on the other hand, were goofing off a ways away from the group, as they all flew towards Mahelmetan.

"Apparently not." He had figured that out a few weeks into the search for the pack with Cloey and Toothless when he had begun feeling sick and fainting for no reason. Other food was needed to remain healthy, it seemed. He didn't like relying on Mahelmetan for that too, but he was taking steps to fix that, and for the time being it was necessary.

'What do these other foods taste like?' Nóttskarpur asked, directing her question at Toothless.

Toothless laughed. 'Some are strange and tasteless, and others disgusting, at least to me. But if Maour needs them, then we get them.'

"Legitimately," Maour agreed, his hand on the pelt rolled up in front of him. "And fresh meat besides fish in the process." They had gone hunting a few days ago on islands even farther out. It had been a week or so since the last trip to Mahelmetan, so they had had time to do so, and it was an interesting break from fishing to pay for things.

'Now that is good,' Toothless agreed, licking his lips. 'Strange, but a nice change every once in a while.'

Maour grinned at the hunger in his brother's voice. "Family cook is my job. That at least never changes." Stoick could burn water.

'I ate it raw,' Toothless countered. 'What did you change?'

"You didn't watch me very closely, did you?' Maour made his voice sly, now messing with Toothless. "I might have added something before you got to your cut."

Toothless faltered in his flight. 'What?'

"That would be telling," Maour countered. "Why would I-"

'I'll drop you in the ocean once we get to Mahelmetan and let you dry yourself off.'

Maour shivered. "Okay, fine. I didn't add anything. Maybe I can next time."

'No way,' Toothless shivered.

"We'll discuss this later," Maour replied. There was probably something Toothless would like if they looked long enough. But that was secondary, for now. A project for later, when they had nothing better to do.

When they arrived, hours later, Maour and Toothless split off, and Maour went into the village to trade and get the various foods he needed, Toothless supplying commentary. It was a routine, and one Toothless apparently found more interesting than hanging around the teens.

"You know, I'm sure there are better things you could do with this time," Maour remarked under his breath, waiting for a merchant to examine the pelt he had brought in. "This isn't fun."

'The others are busy with the teens,' Toothless countered. 'And while I don't dislike them, I don't really feel like hanging around them.'

"You can have friends, Toothless." Maour remarked seriously. "It's not like it's them or me."

'I know that.' Toothless huffed. 'But that doesn't have anything to do with this. I just don't feel like I fit in with any of the people here. Fishlegs and Berg care too much about every little thing, and the twins are just as inane as the Myrkur siblings. Do you blame me?'

"Is there anyone on the island you do like hanging around that isn't a Svartur?" Now Maour was genuinely curious, and the merchant was taking his time, so he had a chance to ask.

'I like pretty much everyone.'

"That's not what I was asking." Maour pressed it. "Seriously? You don't go find someone specific whenever you're alone with time to burn?" It happened, specifically when Maour was working with Nóttleiðtogi. Maour and Toothless weren't quite joined at the hip. At the tailfin, maybe.

'It depends. If I'm restless, I find a Myrkur. If I'm bored, I find an Eldur, and realize that I wasn't that bored to start with after an hour of them talking.'

Maour chuckled. "Fair enough."

'Honestly…' Toothless sounded uncertain. 'I don't feel like I fit in with the others my age. But the adults, the real adults… Nóttskarpur seems interesting. Myrkurheili has stories of adventures all over the world, though I don't agree with how he handled certain things. He's a Myrkur, for sure.'

That was interesting. "So you fit in with the older, more experienced dragons?" Toothless's childhood might be to blame for that. "What about Nótteinfari?" She was less immature, and though she didn't have a lot of experience with life, her family did.

'She's easy to be around,' Toothless admitted freely. 'Like another sister. Different than Von, but somehow similar.'

Maour crossed that name off of the mental list he was keeping, one of the few things he didn't ever mention to Toothless. Myrkursprengja was already off the list, and it didn't look like Toothless had spared Eldurhjarta a second glance. Time would tell.

"I guess that makes sense," Maour admitted. "You're a little more worldly, a little less silly. As long as you have friends besides close family, that isn't a bad thing."

'And you,' Toothless retorted. 'Fishlegs and the others will be good for you, if they can adapt well enough.'

"That's in the future," Maour cautioned. "But maybe." He really didn't care that much, though it would be nice. He was used to being pretty much totally alone, and what he had now was so much better as to render further improvement unnecessary by comparison. Nice, but not vital.

The merchant finally finished inspecting the pelt, and paid Maour more than enough for it, possibly as an apology for the long wait. Getting what he needed and carrying it back to the forest was a simple task.

If a suspicious one. He always worried that someone would follow him into the forest, wondering what he was doing. Luckily, Vikings weren't a curious people, as a rule, so it hadn't happened yet.

As he walked into the outer fringes something occurred to him. "Toothless, we're being careless."

'How so?'

"No one seems to bother with this forest, but we're not making sure it's empty. We should be watching the village, to be sure some random villager doesn't walk in on something they shouldn't see."

'A very good point,' Toothless agreed, his voice worried. 'But today we need to be around the others. Our plan, remember?'

Maour nodded, though Toothless couldn't see him. "Today. After today, we should probably be sentries. Nóttskarpur can watch the others, and we can watch the VIkings."

'After today.' Toothless appeared from behind two gnarled trees, and the two met halfway, Maour slinging the bags onto Toothless's saddle. Best to be ready for a quick departure, just in case.

Then they waited, passing the time idly. The teens were, as per usual, somewhere in the forest, and the little demonstration Maour and Toothless had planned could wait until they all returned to the fort… which was looking more and more elaborate every time Maour saw it.

Eventually, the sun began to set. It was almost time for the teens and their respective dragons to come back. Nóttskarpur too, though for all Maour knew she was already around.

"Now, I think," Maour said, standing and taking his scythe from the holster on his back.

'Now,' Toothless agreed, sitting down off to Maour's side. 'The normal?'

"Just with you correcting me more obviously than normal." Maour closed his eyes and began the coordination exercise he always used, as a warm-up. It was so easy as to not require thought by now, though he had only recently began to practice again.

'Left,' Toothless barked abruptly.

A slash to the side, a pivot, and he was facing what had been his left, the aimless spinning now deliberate and pointed, always moving forward. It wasn't perfect, and he fumbled quite a bit, but it was a flowing pattern of attack.

'Stop!' Toothless barked, and Maour froze. 'You dropped your guard for quite a while just now.'

"Where?" Maour kept his eyes closed, because this was also teaching something else. He wanted to be able to act in his own body while seeing through Toothless's eyes. To that end, he accessed his brother's sight, now seeing himself from the outside.

'Here,' Toothless specified, a paw poking Maour in the side. 'Keep this spot covered.'

Maour nodded, mentally adjusted his pattern of attack, and continued. He closed out Toothless's sight for that, because he was only just recently becoming comfortable moving with no sight, let alone a different perspective.

And so they went, Toothless directing Maour's efforts, and occasionally stopping him to point a weakness out. Toothless was working from years of observing Vikings fighting, so his advice was actually pretty accurate.

At one point, Toothless huffed. 'We have an audience. Keep going.'

That was the plan, so Maour wasn't surprised when Toothless began intervening more obviously and more often, apparently ignoring the others. This was a way to reinforce the perspective of dragons as people for the twins, though they professed to have already learned that lesson. They would see a dragon clearly correcting and leading a complex activity, his orders followed by a human.

But it was also just what he and Toothless did on a daily basis anyway, now that he had his weapon back. Not usually in such a public setting, but it wasn't unheard of for someone on the island to happen across them, so all of the Furies knew about it. Eldurberg and the Myrkurs, consequently, were content to watch and wait.

By the time Toothless ended it, Maour was drenched in sweat, despite the very strong chill in the air. He had to be always moving with this style of combat, and it really took some stamina to keep up.

He opened his eyes to see three very impressed faces, and three bored Furies.

'Can we go now?' Eldurberg asked after a moment. 'I told my mom I'd be home before sunrise.'

Maour grinned. "Sure. My form was sloppy today, so Toothless took longer than normal to correct me." Not really true, but it subtly explained to the twins and Fishlegs what had been going on, if they hadn't figured it out yet.

Fishlegs looked very, very curious, so Maour wasn't surprised when he spoke up. "He teaches you?"
"He's seen plenty of Vikings fighting, and he is a Night Fury," Maour deadpanned. "He's pretty qualified. See you guys next time!" With that, he hopped onto Toothless and the Furies made their exit.

Toothless chortled. 'I think you just made him more curious with that, and now he'll have to wait a week for answers.'

'I'd say that worked,' Nóttskarpur added approvingly. 'And you are beginning to look dangerous yourself, Maour.' That had a bit of an edge to it.

"I have a long way to go to even match a Night Fury in self-defense," Maour admitted, hoping to defuse Nóttskarpur's worries. "And my weapon is mostly for fighting Vikings anyway. If I wanted to really fight dragons, I'd learn to use a bow." For creatures with built-in range, that seemed the only logical choice… which explained why so few Vikings ever went for it.

'As well that you do not,' Nóttskarpur agreed. 'Anyone on our island could still tear you apart.'

'That's kinda awkward,' Blast added. 'Given your son tried to do just that.'

Nóttskarpur winced. 'True. My apologies.' She nodded to Maour. 'It seems you had reason to want to defend yourself even on our island.'

"Eh, best to be prepared." Maour waved a hand as if to dismiss the subject. "Speaking of which, Toothless and I realized that we're being careless." Now seemed to be a good time to bring what he had realized earlier to Nóttskarpur's attention. They needed to be making sure no villager approached unnoticed.

'Do tell…' Nóttskarpur growled.

The fourth trip, in as many weeks.

'How many of these do you think this will take?' Toothless shook his head, circling in on the forest. 'This is getting really repetitive.'

"Well, it's going to be more repetitive after today, so hopefully not too many," Maour agreed. "You know what we're doing today."

'And so do we!' Boom declared happily. 'Ruffnut will have fun with this.'

Maour smiled at that. He hadn't actually been sure if the Myrkur siblings would each bond with one twin in particular, or with both as a unit, but it seemed that they were opting for the one-on-one approach without even thinking about it.

"Well, let me tell them about it and you can get started," Maour agreed. He looked down to see the teens already assembled outside the fort, which now sported a reinforced roof, by the looks of things.

"What's with the roof?" Ended up being his first question.

"Berg sat on it and broke it last time," Tuffnut supplied helpfully. "Now it's Night-Fury-proof!"

Berg jumped onto the fort and shifted, sitting on the center of the roof. 'Yup.'

"Cool." Maour crossed his arms. "Today we've got something planned."

"Flying?" Tuffnut asked eagerly.

Maour winced. "Not today." That restriction still hadn't been lifted, and for good reason. Too much of a chance something would be seen. "Today, we have a game of sorts planned."

"We're listening…" Tuffnut motioned for Maour to go on.

"Three teams," Maour listed. "Fishlegs and Berg, Ruffnut and Boom, Tuffnut and Blast. No flying. No leaving the forest. No injuries beyond bruises, and no fire."

"Way to make it no fun," Ruffnut muttered rebelliously.

"You all want this," Maour continued, and pulled a small roll of cloth from one of Toothless's saddlebags. "And yes, it's flammable." That had been intentional, to prevent cheating.

"So we just take it?" Tuffnut inched forward, his hand slowly moving towards the yellow cloth.

"Nope." Maour shook his head. "Not until Toothless and I leave the area. Whichever team has it at sunset wins."

"Any other rules?" Fishlegs looked nervous.

'Now for the fun part,' Toothless chuckled.

"The dragon on each team is in charge, and only a human can take the cloth from a dragon, and vice-versa." Maour waited for the reaction to that.

Fishlegs smiled slyly, clearly happy that it would be Berg who was the target of the Ruffnut and Tuffnut. The twins, on the other hand, seemed upset… until they thought about it.

"We're taking orders from someone we can't even hear talk?" Ruffnut asked, to clarify.

"Yup. How well your dragon partner can give the orders depends on how good you are at understanding charades." Maour smiled. "To make it fair for the non-pranksters of the group."

Now Fishlegs looked positively smug. "Good luck with that, you guys." He nodded to Berg. "We spend whole days communicating."

"Great minds think alike, Fishy," Tuffnut countered. "We'll see who's better at that."

"Are we playing against you two?" Fishlegs asked Maour. "That seems a little unfair."

"No, actually. We need to watch the edges of the forest to make sure no one stumbles across any of this." Maour shrugged. "Good luck, and the game doesn't end until sunset, when we leave."

'Prepare to lose,' Blast declared, staring intently at the cloth in Maour's hands.

'Says second place to first,' Boom retorted.

Berg purred and said nothing, clearly letting Blast and Boom fight it out.

Maour was beginning to feel particularly unsafe, holding the target all three Furies were staring at so intently, so he dropped it. "As soon as Toothless is out of sight, the game is on."

Nobody moved.

"No hurting each other," Maour clarified, feeling worried about what he might have started.

'Yeah, yeah, get going,' Blast mumbled.

'We should probably run,' Toothless joked. With that, Maour dropped the cloth and walked quickly away, following Toothless. The sounds of conflict and laughter followed him.

'This I kind of want to see,' Toothless commented.

"Yeah, too bad there's not really any way to watch." Even if they didn't have something else that needed to be done, they would only be able to follow one group at a time in the forest, and would possibly mess up whatever convoluted plots involved stealth. "We'll be getting a play-by-play though, I'm sure."

'True.' Toothless huffed. 'Off to watch the borders.'

The forest was not an interesting place for the villagers of Mahelmetan, it seemed. No one so much as looked in its direction over the course of that day. But at least now they wouldn't be caught by surprise.

It was boring, however. So both Maour and Toothless were looking forward to sunset, and were back at the fort well beforehand, ready and waiting.

'Any bets?' Toothless asked conversationally, sprawled out on top of the fort, taking advantage of the dragon-proof roof. 'I'll say Ruffnut and Boom.'

"Fishlegs and Berg," Maour countered. "If the others didn't completely overwhelm in the first five minutes."

'I say Blast and Tuffnut,' a hidden voice called out. 'They're closest, and the cloth was changing paws pretty quickly.'

"No fair, you were watching."
'Not well,' came the annoyed reply. 'It was impossible to keep more than one team in sight for more than ten minutes. Today has been extremely frustrating.'

Well that made Maour feel much better about not following along. "What direction?"

'East,' was the reply.

A moment later, a black shadow moved out from behind a tree a short distance away and darted for Maour, only to be tackled by another black mass, a yellow cloth stained with mud and dirt fluttering to the ground.

Then a third Fury plowed through both of the tussling dragons and their riders, who Maour was just now seeing were also fighting off to the side, grabbed the cloth, and skidded to a stop right in front of him.

The cloth really was stained. What had they done to get it that bad? Maour wasn't sure he wanted to know. The Fury had red eyes, though Fishlegs wasn't anywhere nearby.

"Is Fishlegs still alive?" Maour asked nervously.

'Of course. He was distracting them over that way,' Berg nodded to the side.

'But that's the opposite direction,' Toothless objected. 'How did you guys get over there?' He pointed to the ongoing dispute.

Berg shook his head, still panting. 'I really don't know. It's all a bit of a blur.'

'Should I break this up?' Toothless indicated the struggle.

Berg shook his head. 'Nah, let them fight it out. Things got pretty heated today.'

'Any lifelong bonds shattered?' Toothless sounded morbidly curious.

'Maybe a few made.' Berg laughed. 'You should have heard the insults both pairs of siblings threw at each other. A common enemy, I think.'

"That wasn't really the intention…" But if it happened to work out that way, all for the better.

Fishlegs stumbled out of the forest, breathing heavily. "Did it work?"

Berg nodded, gesturing to the cloth at Maour's feet.

"Yes!" With that, Fishlegs collapsed.

"What..?" Maour began.

"You don't want to know," Fishlegs gasped. "If that's what war is like, I think I'm a pacifist."

Later that night, on the flight home, after breaking up the fights, the Myrkurs were too wiped out to say much.

'But did it work?' Toothless asked, frustrated with the lack of information. 'Did they treat you as equals?'

'Is that the only reason you want to know?' Blast asked wearily. 'Yes, it was great. Not enough to win though!'

'I'm going to spend the entire week thinking up tactics for next time,' Boom growled, flapping more energetically, as if motivated by that.

'So am I!' Blast retorted.

"Next time…" Maour shrugged. "Feel free, but I think you might have trouble getting Fishlegs to participate."

'No, no, just between us four. We need to settle this.' Boom shook her head.

'Fine by me.' Berg sounded immensely relieved.

The games, or more accurately grudge matches among the twins and the Myrkurs, continued for the next few weeks. Maour and Toothless went from wanting to participate to being glad that they had the legitimate excuse of watching for Vikings. The matches were grueling, and at one point Nóttskarpur actually had to clandestinely intervene on the grounds that the Myrkurs would be literally too tired to fly home that night.

But time moved on, and with their new responsibility of guarding the others, Maour and Toothless remained mostly unaware of the events that occurred, hearing about them second-hand.

During that time, no one ever even came to the forest. But eventually, their diligence was rewarded.

Generally, the villagers of Mahelmetan had no reason to go to their scrawny and worthless forest. But today, some lucky villager had decided he wanted to avoid paying for wood.

At least, that was what Maour assumed his motivation for approaching the woods with an ax was.

'So now what?' Toothless was crouched beside him, watching the oncoming villager. He didn't sound too worried. Nóttskarpur was not with them today, watching the twins and Fishlegs. The teens still had no idea she was around.

"Now… we get the twins and Fishlegs on their dragons and spend a few hours away from here." Even as he said it, Maour saw several flaws in that plan. There were no good places to set down close by yet out of sight, and they couldn't take the teens to their home. The other Furies couldn't afford to spend several hours in the air either, needing as much energy as possible for the long return flight, the Myrkurs already pushing it. Aside from that, there would be no good way to know when it was safe to return without observing the villager… which would mean someone needed to stay behind. That, in turn, brought its own problems. Maour was stealthy, and so was Toothless, but there weren't many easy hiding places in this particular forest. Nóttskarpur was very good, to remain unseen for so long. If either of them were caught spying, it would endanger a life or Maour's reputation in the village. Nóttskarpur, on the other hand, lacked the communication over any distance Maour and Toothless shared, meaning her remaining to spy would be even more dangerous, as they wouldn't even know if she had been spotted.

A complicated situation. They would have to get the others out of here despite the risks and uncertainties. Toothless departed, headed towards where the others usually hung around. Maour remained, watching from the shadows.

A few minutes passed. The villager was right at the edge of the forest now, moving into the fringes.

'Maour, I can't find them.' A frustrated tone. 'Even Fishlegs and Berg are gone.'

Maour, too close to risk speaking and possibly being heard, couldn't resist sighing. Of course, it wouldn't be even that easy. "Keep looking," he whispered. Then he began to move, slowly trailing the villager.

Seriously, what did this guy want? They had passed a dozen good trees, even in this pitiful forest. But he kept going, deeper and deeper in. Not on a path that would take him to the fort, but still. If Toothless couldn't find the others, that meant they were somewhere here in this same forest, unaware of the possible danger of discovery.

A thump, a suspiciously heavy one. Both Maour and the villager froze. Maour really hoped that it wasn't-

Nope. Another, identical thump, and a black mass moving through the trees. Indistinguishable for anyone without enhanced vision at the moment, but getting closer.

The villager tensed, hefting his ax apprehensively. From what Maour had picked up, dragons rarely visited Mahelmetan, for obvious reasons. There was nothing here a dragon would want, not when there was no Queen driving them. So this man probably didn't have much personal experience with them. But the stories were the same, so he must suspect what was around.

And, in true Viking fashion, he didn't do the smart thing and run away. Instead, he moved forward, a grim smile crossing his face.

Great, it seemed they had gotten the idiot who preferred glory over life. With Vikings that wasn't surprising, but it was annoying. Scaring this guy away would be difficult-

Another thump, this one resounding with a hollow crack. The Viking crumpled to the ground, a rapidly darkening bruise forming on his forehead.

Fishlegs stepped out from the shadows in another direction. Berg followed cautiously.

Maour blinked. Really? Neither of them knew he was there. He decided to watch and see what they would do.

"Nice shot, Fishy!" Ruffnut crowed, coming from the direction of the black mass. Of course, those two thumps had been Blast and Boom, and Tuffnut was with her. They both had sticks in their hair, but that was almost not worth wondering about.

Fishlegs shrugged. "I had a good angle. Besides, he saw you guys way too early."

"Is it my fault I wanted to scare him like Maour did?" Tuffnut shrugged. "So we got a little overexcited. It all worked out."

Ruffnut picked up the rock Fishlegs had thrown. "This guy wasn't a real Viking."

"Why do you say that?" Fishlegs seemed to be dreading the answer.

"This is sandstone," Ruffnut continued. "Vikings break rocks with their skulls, but it's not even cracked." She proceeded to smash the rock on her brother's forehead. "See? Thick skulls!"

Tuffnut stumbled unsteadily, but was caught by Blast. "Yup."

'Maour, I think I see them,' Toothless commented. 'Please tell me the Viking hasn't noticed anything.'

Maour stepped out into the open. "That's debatable."

"Oh, hey." Ruffnut waved. "This guy isn't supposed to be here." She pointed at the unconscious Viking.

"Actually, we're not supposed to be here," Maour corrected. "Any ideas on how we play this one?" He was at a loss. They couldn't just kill the guy, and he was going to wake up sooner or later.

"Sure," Tuffnut answered, stumbling away from Blast to stand on his own feet, however unsteadily. "Just break off a big branch and leave it by his head. He'll assume it fell on him."

"But the bruise is on his forehead," Fishlegs objected.

"So? Vikings aren't the smartest," Ruffnut countered. "Give him an easy explanation and he'll take it."

'Are we doing that?' Toothless asked, walking up to the group.

"I guess so." Maour nodded. "Okay."

Boom jumped onto a tree to get a branch, putting her weight on one until it snapped. Then Ruffnut carefully arranged the Viking, setting the branch with the broken end facing him, right next to his head.

"It's all in the setup," she explained as she worked.

Maour was not about to question that.

The rest of that visit went fine, though they cut it short so as to not tempt fate. There was still a Viking in the woods, after all. Soon, five Furies and one human were flying away from Mahelmetan.

Nóttskarpur pulled up beside Toothless and Maour. 'Today was interesting.'

'How so?' Toothless sounded bored. 'Just a Viking someone knocked out before I even got there.'

'I believe it is time,' Nóttskarpur continued, 'as we cannot test them more effectively than that.'

"How was that a test?" Maour could think of a few better ways to test the teens… though most of them were pretty extreme. Besides, he felt that the teens were ready anyway.

'I was watching them. It was Fishlegs who first noticed among the humans, with Eldurberg's assistance.' At that Eldurberg, who was listening, nodded in agreement. 'And the first reaction of the humans was worry, from the smell. That is a very good indicator of loyalty. Worry for one's friend above oneself is very good.'

'That doesn't seem like a very big thing to base this decision off of,' Toothless objected.

'And that is why I am doing so.' Nóttskarpur chuffed, explaining in a calm tone. 'We cannot base this off acts of heroism or loyalty, because those can be faked. No one took Maour's story alone as proof of what he was for that reason, my family only the most… vehement in not doing so. All of that can be faked. A small thing, a true emotion in a moment where no one would know to fake something that they are not aware can be sensed… it is a little detail even a master manipulator would miss. And if Fishlegs, the smartest of the three, is not faking, the odds that the twins can or would be are nonexistent. This is all the proof I need.'

"So you think it's time we brought them to the island?" Maour didn't disagree, but for Nóttskarpur to say so… "And you can convince Nóttleiðtogi?"

'He agrees it is my call to make,' she purred. 'So yes. Next visit, we bring them back for the pack to question.'