Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; if you're on this site, you know the drill. Also, thanks are owed to athingofvikings, who gave me a much-appreciated sounding-board for a few aspects of my planned world-building for this particular crossover; hope you like it.

Feedback: Appreciated as always.

The Dragon of Wanheda

While Clarke had tried to remember to have some concern for Snotlout and Hookfang after the way he'd been worried about his dragon, it was hard to focus on someone else's individual problems when she was finally in a position where she didn't have to take responsibility for those issues herself. She'd already established a good personal bond with Griffin before she even met Hiccup, which at least meant that she didn't have to worry about any of Hiccup's instructions about how to form a bond in the first place, but picking up the hand signals had taken longer than Clarke had expected. She wasn't sure if it was something about Windstrikers or just the fact that she hadn't taught Griffin that much before Hiccup found them, but it had taken him a while just to understand that 'down' meant 'sit', which meant it had taken a while just to get him to stay still long enough for Hiccup to take measurements for the saddle he was going to make for them.

Still, when she was learning how to train an actual dragon away from her old responsibilities, Clarke almost didn't care how long it took so long as she got to spend time with her new friend. Griffin's right wing was still occasionally stiff, but Toothless had given it a few licks the first time they'd observed that and it seemed to have had a positive effect on the other dragon's condition, which she'd confirmed by taking Griffin out for a short test flight with Astrid and Stormfly. She had wanted to try for a longer flight, but Fishlegs in particular had pointed out that it would be better to ensure that Griffin was comfortable carrying her before trying to do anything too long, so Clarke would get more flying-specific lessons once Hiccup had finished making Griffin's saddle.

Even the second night in the tower hadn't been as difficult as Clarke had partially expected it to be. As she'd already told the Doctor, just having her own place after so long living in the Ark, the dropship, and Camp Jaha, or even sleeping outside, made such a welcome change of pace that Clarke had just wrapped herself up in the offered furs and snuggled in against the wall. She'd been too hyped up about the scale of everything that had happened to her that day to really appreciate it on her first night, but the second time around, with a warm place to sleep and a taste of what she could expect while living on the Edge, it had been far easier for Clarke to let her mind rest and take in everything around her.

Her lesson with Griffin and the other Riders yesterday were still focusing on the basics until Hiccup could finish her saddle, such as how to calm dragons down if they were startled or gaining the trust of an unfamiliar dragon, but every moment she spent with her new friend was an experience she wouldn't trade for anything.

"Hey guys," she smiled as she joined the dragon riders in a clearing where they were preparing the dragons for the day's flying. "All OK?"

"Nothing new to report here, anyway," Astrid affirmed. "You?"

"All seemed quiet up there," Clarke replied, indicating her current 'bedroom'. "Just to check, is it actually likely that we'll be attacked?"

"We had a close call once, but that was only a serious problem because it was just me and Astrid to hold the line after they lured the other guys away and captured Ruff," Tuffnut shrugged. "Haven't seen anything since, but you can't really know, huh?"

"Point," Clarke conceded, privately mourning this confirmation that her new sanctuary wasn't safe, even as she swiftly decided not to worry about it. "Saddle coming along?"

"I still need a bit of time to put it all together, but so long as nothing else comes up-"

"Hookfang's gone!" Snotlout yelled as he ran into the clearing. "He broke out of his pen last night!"

"OK, that doesn't sound normal," Clarke glanced over at Hiccup, while privately acknowledging that her saddle was unlikely to be finished today.

"No," Hiccup conceded, turning away from Clarke to look thoughtfully at Snotlout. "This might be more serious than we thought."

"Great; I accept your offer to help in the search!" Snotlout said as he shoved Hiccup aside and practically leapt onto Toothless's back. "Up, bud. Fly, bud! Do something, bud!"

"I get that I'm new here, but I'm pretty sure you can't just take someone else's dragon like that," Clarke said, noting that Toothless was essentially glaring at the Viking currently perched on his back.

"Look, just calm down, OK, Snotlout," Hiccup said. "We'll help you look for Hookfang."

"Oh yeah you will!" Snotlout leaned over to point in Hiccup's face. "It was your idea to leave him alone in his pen in the first place!"

"Right…" Hiccup shook his head before he turned to look at the other riders. "OK, Astrid and I will take Snotlout to look for Hookfang; the rest of you just… keep giving Clarke a few pointers?"

"Check," the twins nodded at him as Astrid climbed onto Stormfly before flying off after Toothless and his two riders.

"To confirm," Clarke looked over at the remaining members of the group, "that Nightmare's always acted up, right?"

"Oh yeah," Tuffnut smiled as he looked wistfully upwards. "I've lost count of the times I thought he was going to eat Snot…"

"Really?"

"More like Hookfang's just picked Snotlout up in his mouth-" Fishlegs began.

"Which is more than any of our dragons have ever done-"

"Anyway," Clarke said before Tuffnut could give her more detail than she wanted to know, "not meaning to make it sound like this should be all about me, but I take it Hiccup's not likely to finish my saddle any time soon?"

"Not until he's sure he's done everything he can to help Snotlout with Hookfang," Fishlegs observed.

"Yeah, that's the Hicster for you," Tuffnut smiled. "Guy just can't leave a troubled dragon alone even when he really should, like that time he got abducted by Meatlug-"

"Abducted?" Clarke looked at the large brown dragon that was chewing on a large boulder off to the side. "By that?"

"She was attracting metal after she ate a bad combination of rocks and Hiccup's leg got stuck to her; she didn't do it on purpose!" Fishlegs protested indignantly, moving over to wrap his arms around Meatlug's head as though trying to shield her ears.

"Right…" Clarke nodded, giving Griffin a brief scratch around where the ears would be on a human head- she didn't see anything that could be explicitly ear-shaped, but maybe there was something around a horn- as she looked around at the other riders. "Why do I get the feeling it's not simple keeping a dragon even after you've trained it?"

"Because we're always learning more," Fishlegs nodded at Clarke before he assumed a more professional expression. "Anyway, getting back to the moment, since your saddle's been delayed, maybe we can work on a few other things…"

As Clarke flexed her sore shoulders, she reflected that the training she'd endured when working with the grounders had somehow been easier and harder than this at the same time. The Grounders had given her a few basic pointers but not much beyond that, so she'd had less to learn while being pushed further, but while Ruffnut had put her through a more rigorous training program that included a few weapons, the Viking woman was surprisingly more willing to help correct her when she made a mistake, as opposed to the Grounders just waiting for her to realise what she was doing wrong on her own.

"And you do this… all the time?" she asked, panting as she adjusted her grip on her borrowed sword.

"Some of us like it better than others," Ruffnut shrugged from opposite her, adjusting her own grip on her spear as the girls continued to circle each other. "I mean, Fishlegs has the bulk to hold his own, but he's really not got the right urge to do it, Tuff and Hiccup have a good grasp on what they're doing even if they don't always put it into practise, and Snotlout just tends to charge into things when there's a fight."

"Huh," Clarke said, looking at the female twin in surprise.

"What?" Ruffnut shrugged. "I like to keep things simple; that doesn't mean I don't think at all." She studied Clarke in an assessing manner for a moment before she shrugged. "Anyway, looking at what you've done so far, I'd put you at probably a bit below where Hiccup was when we started officially training; you've got a better build and some experience of a fight, but you're not that sure what you're doing."

"I… didn't get much training when I was growing up," Clarke shrugged as she raised her sword. "I had a few lessons the last few months after we found land, but there wasn't much time to really work on it… I take it Hiccup had some training?"

"Not sure how much, considering we never saw it happening, but he was definitely taught stuff at some point," Ruffnut nodded, even as she raised her spear in response to Clarke.

"Nice job," another voice suddenly said. "Not where I would have started, but Clarke looks like she's doing well."

"Astrid?" Clarke looked around curiously, her smile broadening when she saw Hiccup and Astrid walking towards them. "When did you get back?"

"Well," Hiccup shrugged as he and Astrid looked at the other two women, "the good news is that we found Hookfang."

"And the bad news?" Clarke asked.

"Depends a bit on how you see it, but Hookfang seems to have found a mate."

"Mate?" Ruffnut and Clarke repeated in surprise.

"Are you saying there's a female Monstrous Nightmare on this island?" Clarke asked, wondering at how many dragons could still exist after this long since the nuclear apocalypse.

"And Hookfang actually attracted her interest," Astrid nodded, her expression displaying a certain incredulity at the idea.

"Well, obviously it's hard to be sure, but Hookfang seemed to be very territorial about spending time with her," Hiccup explained. "I mean, we all know he's always been a bit rougher to Snotlout than any of our dragons would be to us, but this time round Snotlout just started talking to him and Hookfang tossed him away."

"You're sure Snotlout didn't do anything to provoke him?"

"Nothing that I could see," Hiccup nodded. "Trust me, I've seen him getting on Hookfang's nerves in the past often enough; he didn't do anything to make that dragon react that violently this time around."

"Yeah," Astrid confirmed with a grim nod. "I have to admit, I'm… not entirely sure how to feel about the idea that Hookfang's turned like that."

"Yeah," Hiccup nodded, glancing back at his own hut, where Clarke only just now realised Toothless was lying on the roof. "I mean, I've always said we shouldn't forget that dragons are still basically wild animals who choose to stay with us, but I don't think… I mean, when Dad let Thornado go it was because he had to…"

"Thornado?"

"A Thunderdrum the chief started training a few months after we all stopped trying to kill dragons," Ruffnut put in with a slight smile.

"OK, that- wait a minute!" Clarke turned to look at Hiccup incredulously as she suddenly registered the implications of Ruffnut's term for Hiccup's father. "Your father is your chief?"

"Uh… yeah," Hiccup nodded at Clarke, obviously embarrassed at the revelation. "I mean, it's not that big a deal; it's not like I'm taking over from Dad any time soon…"

"Yeah, but- I mean, your father's the chief…" Clarke began.

"Like Hiccup said, it's not that big a deal," Astrid cut in. "His dad trusts that this is important, and he trusts us to keep an eye on him; Berk can manage without Hiccup there all the time."

"Hey, I'm not judging; I just… well…" Clarke waved a hand at him uncertainly.

"And here I thought we weren't going to have anyone else doing that 'gesture to all of me' thing once I defeated the Red Death," Hiccup smiled slightly at her, shaking his head and continuing to talk before Clarke could ask what he meant with that last comment. "Anyway, my point is that Thornado had to leave because we'd found a trio of baby Thunderdrums that needed Thornado to care for them, and Dad had to explicitly tell him to leave Berk; Hookfang chose to do all this on his own."

"You really think Hookfang's going feral?" Astrid asked.

"Ah, the cruellest of ironies," Ruffnut said melodramatically, before looking uncertainly at Hiccup. "What's 'going feral'?"

"Going back to his basic animal instincts," Clarke clarified, smiling briefly at the female twin's honest curiosity at the new term before turning back to Hiccup. "So where's Snotlout anyway?"

"I think he's going to give it another shot with Hookfang, but like I said, I'm not sure how much of an impact that's going to have on anything," Hiccup said. "I mean, I don't like the idea of any of our dragons ditching us, but like I said, Hookfang's made his choice."

Seeing Hiccup's solemn expression, Clarke made a note to visit Griffin as soon as this training session was over; if dragons could go feral, she wanted to be sure that her new friend appreciated her company.