A/N-I'm back! Another filler chapter of sorts (and we get to meet another major player in this series, even if only briefly). Remember, reviews are appreciated, even if they're short and simple!

Chapter 16: Settling Down

The temptation of visiting a new world is unbelievably strong, so after a few days of settling back down at home and plugging myself back into the real world (jobs and such, the realities of life), I found myself visiting Berk a lot, nearly every evening, in fact. After a couple of visits, I finally decided to take Holly with me, and discovered another interesting anomaly: girls will be girls, not even a whole planet of difference changes that.

Holly was ecstatic to meet both Hiccup and Toothless, and after only ten minutes of her pestering them in the cove, Hiccup pulled me to the side and whispered, "It's alright, you can keep her." Needless to say, Toothless ended up forcing me to get Holly to calm down a bit lest he leave her in a tree for some peace and quiet. Later on I took Holly into the village, where we eventually ran into Astrid. Even though Holly is only 10 and Astrid 17, they almost instantly stuck to each other like glue. Like I said above, girls will be girls, and as both of them are extremely "fashionable" and argumentative, they had a lot in common.

Some things did not go as well as I had hoped, however. Occasionally I would still get a cross look from someone who still had no trust in me, and many a time disgruntled sentences would be mumbled under their breath when they thought I couldn't hear. When someone started getting really antsy, however, they found themselves receiving a lovely saltwater bath, thanks to Hiccup and Toothless, and occasionally yours truly. After about a week, things finally calmed down as the general populace came to terms with the fact that, no, I would not be leaving anytime soon, and if they were nice enough and didn't get on my or Hiccup's bad side, I might actually lend a helping hand here and there. Of course, not everyone makes and instant friend, so a few certain Vikings still steered clear of me when they could. At least everyone understood that, while a natural lover of peace, I was not one to be trifled with.

About two weeks after my official return to Berk, Hiccup notified me of a very interesting turn of events: the Hooligan's closest affiliates and closest allies, the Bog Burglars, would be coming in a couple days to trade and come up to terms with recent happenings. He was worried in particular about one thing, however.

"What if they find out about, you know, you?" I laughed as we ducked into the back of the forge to talk. "Very few of them, if anyone, are going to find out," I replied. "I'll just hang around the cove when I visit, and you know when I'll be here." Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, there's one problem with that. I've got a friend in this tribe who is very, very stubborn when it comes to finding things out, worse than Astrid." "So bring her with you," I said, turning and inspecting Hiccup's most recent blueprints.

"Are you nuts?" Hiccup said. "First of all, how did you know my friend is a girl, and second of all, she'd probably try and take your head off when she finds out. She was a menace when we still fought the dragons, and she's been labeled as Rome's number one for not capturing because of what she can do." I shrugged and picked up a dagger, sharpening it with a claw. "To answer your question, Bog Burglars are mainly female, right? And second, remember where I come from. The only person who I read actually interacted with you on a regular basis was the heir to the "Chiefdom" in the Bog Burglar tribe, Camicazi."

Hiccup sighed and shrugged. "Okay, okay, fine, I'll bring her with me. But if she puts you in the healer's house for a week, don't blame me."

And so it was that a few days later, I went through the portal and down into the cove to meet with Hiccup before I met the infamous heir to leader of the Hooligan's sister tribe. "You sure about this?" Hiccup asked as I sat down on a boulder nearby. "She's back at the village now, already wondering what I came out here to do." I nodded. "Might as well get it over with then, huh? I'll be hiding in the grove of trees over there, just bring her by and I'll show myself when I think she's ready." Hiccup sighed and nodded. "Be right back then."

A few minutes later I watched from the branches of a small tree as Toothless came gliding in with two passengers. Hiccup was fidgeting a bit as they came down to land, but the other passenger was filled with curiosity. She was just as I had read as well, as short as Holly, skinny as Hiccup and I, and with long, braided gold hair reaching halfway down her back, in much the same style as, but longer than Astrid's hair.

"So where is your new friend?" Camicazi asked. Hiccup jumped down off Toothless and looked around. "He'll show himself soon enough." Cami laughed and went to the pond's edge, admiring her reflection and then looking around her. "So this is where you and Toothless first got to know each other, eh?" Hiccup nodded and looked at the Night Fury. "It wasn't far from here when I met my new friend either." Cami looked over her shoulder at him. "So is your friend a person, or a dragon?" hearing this, I leapt down from the tree and sidled up next to the cove wall, changing back and leaning against the cliff. Cami didn't notice, and I smiled. "Uh, well, he's… he's a person, sort of." Cami stood up and looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean sort of? A person's a person, no matter how he looks."

"Yes, but not everything about a person is always visible," I said nonchalantly, causing Cami to jump. She spun to face me, pulling out a sword not unlike the one Hiccup owned, but a bit longer. I smiled and raised my hands. "Hey now, no need to get all uppity, Cami," I said and looked at Hiccup. Getting the cue, he went up to Camicazi and pulled her sword down. "Uh-um, Cami, this is the friend I told you about. You can put the sword down." Cami eyed me suspiciously, but slowly lowered her sword and sheathed it. I stepped away from the cove wall and held out my hand. "Nice to meet you finally, Camicazi. I'm Hawken."

She tentatively took my hand, and I shook hers. "How-how do you know my name?" she asked. I chuckled. "Oh, talking with friends, reading books, that sort of thing, you get to finding out a lot. And speaking of talking, I heard the question you asked Hiccup." Cami gave me a look that said she wasn't following me. "So? You're a person. Not one from around here, by the looks of it, but a human. I was expecting Hiccup to have befriended another dragon, knowing him." "Uh, that's the thing, Cami, I, uh, I kind of did," Hiccup said. Cami raised an eyebrow at him, then looked at me again. "What is he babbling about?"

I laughed. "Well, you're right, Cami, I am human. Most of the time." "You're making no sense," she said. I nodded. "Stand back a bit and I'll show you." She stepped back, getting a bit suspicious again, and Hiccup sidled up next to her. "Whatever you do," he muttered, "don't try to impale him." Camicazi looked to him for an explanation, but was silenced by my next move.

I stepped back and turned to the nearest rock, and got into a running position. I sprinted to the boulder, took one step up onto it, and jumped into the air, gaining about 10 feet of height. Once I was as high up as I could get, I focused a mental picture and spread two Night Fury wings, powering them down and myself high into the air in one stroke. Below I heard Camicazi yell "Oh my gods!" as I finished the transformation and changed fully to Night Fury. I circled the cove once, then glided down to land next to Toothless. He looked at me with a slightly amused expression. ::I think you overdid it a bit, but her face was priceless,:: he commented. I grinned, and morphed back, sauntering up to Hiccup and Cami again and taking a seat on a nearby rock.

"What. In. The. World. Are you?" Cami said, shocked. "Well, the most important thing right now is that I am a friend to Hiccup and therefore hopefully a friend of yours," I replied. "As for what I did right there, no I am not a witch or sorcerer, as I don't work in the realms of black magic and witchcraft." Cami shook herself and ran a hand through her hair. She glared at me. "Then what was that?" I smiled. "A gift, given to me by the last bearer of the ability, not a hundred feet from here." Cami put her hands on her hips. "A gift? By what, a dragon?" I nodded. "Hiccup can probably fill you in on the details, but yes, a dragon, chosen, like me, to be a sort of guardian for both races." "Uh huh."

It took a while, but in the end Cami finally ended up befriending me, mostly at Hiccup's request. The next couple of days, Hiccup and Cami, occasionally Astrid, came to the cove, and I ended up learning a few fighting skills from the Bog Burglar. I also found out just how much the two girls enjoy picking on each other, much like the twins. Of course, make a comment like that and they both turn on you. I learned that the hard way, and ended up taking refuge at the top of a tree.

Eventually, Cami had to leave, promising to come back and have a proper, in the open friendly duel with me and find out where I came from (that was one detail we had left out for that visit), and life went back to as it was before. Hiccup had a barrage of questions for me every time I came back, and I thought of plenty to ask him and Toothless as well, so combined we probably spent about two hours per visit just exchanging info.

There was one thing that still nagged at me, though, one detail about our new friendship. While I was able to go to Berk just about whenever I wanted, chores notwithstanding, I had not had the chance to return the favor. Hiccup still had yet to visit my house, in my own world.