Thank you all for being patient with this adventure. Being a student in this day and age is equivalent to getting the soul sucked out of all your orifices. I hope life is treating you all gently and generously. Thank you all to the reviews, which keep me writing everyday.

Chapter Thirty Two: The Stowaway

The sea was beautiful, as it was everyday that Trader Johann graced himself with her beauty. The waves were calm today, and the clouds were blowing across the sky quickly. He smiled to himself.

"We'll be on time today, Fancy Freya," he said to a railing of his beloved ship. He grinned as he skipped over to his hammock, which was tied between two poles he custom-built for this specific purpose, and climbed in. From his hanging position, he watched the wheel of his ship jerk around ever so slightly this way and that. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled his compass forth, double checking a few things before grinning again. Then, in another jacket pocket, he pulled out a tiny mirror he was gifted by a strange tribe of southerners along with his favourite pot of moustache wax.

Comfy and cozy, Johann twiddled with his moustache as he did at some point every day. After all, there was very little to do on a vessel during the long trips, so braiding and knotting and curling his moustache became almost entertaining.

"Sailing on the Viking Sea in my beautiful ship,

With ne'er a care or worry,

On my way to find where my money is,

Which always makes me merry."

He tittered on in his little improvised song as he braided his moustache, throwing a bead into the mix for further embellishment and pizazz.

"Fancy Freya is my lady, and the sea is her man,

But I am not a jealous fellow,

I let her love her lad through day and night,

And I… well, I don't know a word that rhymes with fellow that makes sense, oh dear…"

Trader Johann gave up singing and stared at his handy work in the mirror. He took advantage of the gentle rocking of his ship until he saw a speckle of islands in the distance. Recognizing the check point, he rolled out of his hammock in an embarrassing fashion and lightly jogged to the wheel. He gave it a theatrical turn as he hummed to himself happily.

"Should be there before the sun falls," he mused. "What to do, what to do…"

He spun on his heel and skipped over to his pile of goods. He hadn't felt need to crack into some of the new barrels the Outcasts and Berserkers had given him. He hated going to the Underground, but business was business. The least he could do was wait until he was far, far away from that hell-hole to even look at what they dared give him.

He lifted his nets to prepare them for when he landed at a fishing camp nearby and pulled some chests and barrels forward. Within those that weren't full of Sun Sap, he found half-rate armour, which he wasn't surprised about, as well as the odd sword and bushel of brittle arrows. There was a small box of trinkets Alvin had gifted him, saying he commissioned them himself. Trader Johann wasn't blind; he could see they were the makings of Berkian hands, along with the elaborate carving of the east and the silversmithing of the west. He wrinkled his nose at the thought of the Battle of Berk, and how it sickened him. Berk was his favourite island. Master Hiccup and his companions of dragon riders proved to be more charitable than anywhere else, both in goods and in favours.

Alvin and Dagur made Trader Johann promise to never venture by those battle-ridden islands after the attacks. And if they had fallen as they had told him, there was no use in trying to sail there, It would only waste time. That is what he told himself, at least, to make himself feel better, even if he always kicked himself for not seeing if there were survivors. Alvin said there weren't.

So Johann shoved the thought out of his mind as he did everyday and rummaged around until he found something very interesting in a box that Birdsong had given him along with the barrel. He grabbed it and pulled the chain forth.

It was a necklace; the chain was made with long silver so fine that it looked to belong to royalty. From it dangled a single small black scale that shined with the tiniest shades of violet and midnight blue. It was a dragon scale and it enraptured Johann. He spun around to look at it in better light, running to the front of the ship.

"What a beauty, what a beauty!" he cried. "Yes, this will do, this will do! What is it? Not many black dragons around, last I checked, but –"

Too excited, he ran down the stars that led into the body of his vessel. He practically crashed into the bucket of mop water he was looking for. He grabbed it and hauled it upstairs back into the light of day. He crouched and dunked the scale into the water, giggling. He washed the scale clean and watched the light gleam off it beautifully.

"It's perfect!" he squealed. "I could buy a new sail for you, Freya, I know it!"

Suddenly, he heard a crash behind him, the sound of barrels falling and tumbling, clunking into the wood of the deck. He jumped violently and spun around. What he saw was the most terrifying and disturbing thing he had ever seen in his entire life.

A body, bloody and unrecognizable, spilled from a barrel. It coughed and wheezed and reached forward with distorted fingers as it birthed itself from the cramped space of the barrel. It tumbled free and Johann screamed. A shrill shriek of the highest and loudest proportion exploded from Johann's chest as the body crawled towards him.

"GHOST!" he cried, his voice so loud, it could crack glass. "UNDEAD! FOUL CREATURE OF THE UNDERWORLD! VALHALLA SAVE ME!"

He scrambled to his feet and raced for the railing, but of course, there was no where for him to go on this little ship. He seized the bucket of water and hurled it at the creature. The water splashed right into its face, and it coughed.

"Hey! Stop it!" the person complained. It coughed and wiped the murky water from its eyes. "What the hell, Johann?!"

"What are you doing on me ship, you – you – you beast! What do you want? My heart? You'll have to fight me first!"

"What are you talking about?!" Ruffnut asked loudly, spitting the water out of her mouth. She rubbed her face vigorously to clean the dried blood from her skin, then wiped through her shaved hair, cringing.

"I don't take stow-aways lightly, you – whatever you are, and I must ask – you must tell me, I mean – why you are on my ship!"

"Hey man, Birdsong said she arranged a deal with you."

"Birdsong?!" Johann squeaked. "Oh, that sneaky, tricky little minx! Only she would pull something this stupid. Never again! She was always saying that she'd have something special for me, like maybe some jewelry or a – a – I don't know – not a person! Oh gods!"

"You had no idea?" Ruffnut asked. "She didn't tell you?"

"NO, SHE DID NOT."

Ruffnut blew a breath out through puffed cheeks. "Wow. Alright, then. Nice reunion, at least. Do you have any more water you can splash me with, or should I jump out of another barrel first?"

"I am not giving you anything, young lady, until you tell me why you are on my ship."

Ruffnut blinked. "You're… wow, you're really… uh… dense. Dense is the word, right? Yeah, dense."

Johann glared, still terrified. "All I know is that Birdsong gave me a lady covered in blood, so forgive me if I require an explanation."

"Oh for f –" Ruffnut wiped her face again. "Stop it! I'm from Berk, okay? And Birdsong busted me out so I could go back and tell them what's going on."

"Berk? No, that's not possible, you're not from Berk."

"Dense. Definitely," Ruffnut sighed angrily. "Ruffnut and Tuffnut, we rode the Zippleback with Hiccup. Then, there was the battle and Astrid – the Nadder rider and the wife to the heir of Berk and the surrounding islands – was captured along with me. Now, we have to get me back to my brother so I can tell everyone that Astrid is alive. That scale you're carrying? Astrid's wedding token in place of a ring. And if you sell it, you're dead."

Ruffnut crossed her arms as Johann paled hilariously. "Good gracious gods and everything holy," he choked. "Berk didn't fall?"

"I don't really know the answer to that, Johann!" Ruffnut replied. "But we'll both find out. Because you are going to take me home."

Johann laughed nervously. "Haha, well, I don't really think, um, that I can really do that, nope."

Ruffnut only stared at him until he crumpled.

"Alright, fine, but I'm only looking, and I'm dropping you off and I'm leaving."

"Whatever," Ruffnut shrugged. "Now can I have some water to wash myself off?"

Trader Johann blinked and looked at the bucket in his hands. "Uh… yes, but… well, hang tight, I'll think of something."

Trader Johann landed at the fishing camp on time, but with bleaker spirit than before. He let the fishermen wander his boat, grabbing furs and line mostly, along with food while Ruffnut washed herself on the iceberg, cursing and swearing as she splashed cold water over herself as fast as she could. The iceberg slowly grew pink around her, but she managed to wash her hair clean to its natural blonde hue and her face was back to it's normal tone. The fishermen wanted to ask questions, but Johann wouldn't answer. She merely watched them trade and leave as Ruffnut wrapped herself in some clothing Johann gave her. She returned to the deck of the ship and helped Johann push off towards Berk.

"Thanks for the clothes," Ruffnut said quietly. "They're warm."

"You stayed in that barrel for days," Johann immediately quipped.

"Birdsong gave me drugs, what can I say?"

Johann balked. "Uh… well – okay."

Ruffnut shivered as she tried to bring her body temperature back to normal. "How long until we get to Berk?"

Johann groaned. "Do we really have to go? I mean, it's so out of our way and –"

"I can break your neck using only my index finger and cave your ribcage in with my lower back, in case you're wondering." She peered over at Johann with a deadened look in her eyes. Johann squeaked.

"Oh… really? I… didn't know that was… possible," Johann mumbled.

"Neither did my brother, till I showed him. Not so much the broken neck thing, of course, but I'm saving it for when someone really pisses me off. Like if they were, say, to not take me home to Berk.

"Did I say that?" Johann asked with a high hitch in his voice. "I didn't say that. I know it may have sounded like that, but it didn't."

"Uh-huh. Okay."

Johann sighed and looked to the pile of containers on his ship. "Fine. Gods save me. The trip will take us a while. Could take us a week in forgiving weather, but considering Berk isn't terribly forgiving, it's going to take us much, much longer."

"So you'll do it?" Ruffnut asked with a blonde eyebrow raised.

Trader Johann groaned. "I don't want to! But you're here already, and if Berk hasn't fallen… I guess they'd be needing wares. And an apology."

Ruffnut frowned as Johann left the rail to turn the wheel slowly. He pulled a compass out of his pocket and adjusted the wheel slowly.

"Why would you have to apologise?" she asked curiously.

Johann didn't look up. "Besides the fact that I'm plagued with a wrenching feeling of abandonment and self-loathing?"

Ruffnut twisted her mouth with a dark laugh that tried to escape her lips. "Compared to everyone else I know, you've had it easy."

Johann's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?! I'm sorry, young lady, but when your only source of income – that being trade – and your only way to get your goods around – that being the ocean – is controlled by a young man named Dagur the Deranged or Disastrous or whatever D-word you'd like to label him, it puts me in a very tight spot. You think I didn't want to go back to Berk? That I – I – I just woke up and thought to myself that 'Oh, well, I think I'd like to never go back to Berk again all of a sudden!' No, that's not what happened! If I went back, they'd have my ship! And my head, but more importantly, my ship! I mean… I mean…"

Johann trailed off at the sight of Ruffnut, who lost attention to him a few sentences beforehand. And… she was crying. Only gently, subtly, as she looked up at the sky. She shuddered and swallowed painfully. She used a ragged fist to wipe away a single tear. Johann shifted uncomfortably as Ruffnut trailed the silver linings of the storm clouds with her blue eyes. She ran a hand through her stubbly hair and smiled slightly.

"I missed the sky," she whispered hoarsely. "I… I forgot how big it was."

Trader Johann frowned and hung his head. He twiddled his thumbs awkwardly.

"There's a bed in the pit for you if you want," he offered sheepishly. "I only have the one bed, but I'm sure I can figure something out."

"Thanks," Ruffnut murmured quietly. "I think I'm gonna stay out here for a while longer. Soak it all in."

"Take all the time you need," Johann said quickly. "I don't mean to rush at all! I mean, after being underground for so long, I can imagine that you'd appreciate the fresh air and open ocean and the cold, unless you hate being cold, because if that's the case, then I can fetch a fur or four from the stock."

"I'll let you know," Ruffnut replied politely.

Trader Johann smiled tightly as Ruffnut turned to face him.

"And thank you. For taking me home. In advance. You never know when you get to thank people, you know?"

Johann softened about the eyes and mouth. "Aye. That I do. But now that Master Hiccup is less dead than I thought, I guess I have another chance beside you."

And he smiled as Ruffnut craned to neck to see the sky once more, her eyes drinking in the freedom cloud by cloud. She sighed and smelled the fresh ocean air. The cold prickled against the tip of her nose and she shivered; the Underground had been so hot and stifling at times as the Sun Sap dripped behind the walls, suffocating.

"But," Johan added quickly, "we should make a few rules if we're going to do this."

"Don't touch me would be one," Ruffnut said instantly like a viper, snapping out of her reverie. "And we are going to do this, not if."

Johann shrugged and left her, grabbing a taught rope and spinning around it for fun. "Wrong. If we are to do this, then we need to think smart. We can't just cut across the ocean with food for one skinny man. We need to stop at a couple ports, make some trade, and where there's trade, there's people. People who would prefer to know the truth about our hero."

Ruffnut squinted. "We can't go about telling people Hiccup is alive, either."

"Why not?" Johann laughed. "Oh, I bet that would get the boys boiling! Think about it! Everyone – every little island and the people upon them – believe the legendary Hiccup is dead. Do all people agree with his ways about dragons? No. Do all people agree that Alvin and Dagur need to be destroyed? Probably."

Johann let go of the rope and tugged against it for good measure.

"Besides, with winter rolling in faster than us sailors care for, storms are popping up like babies in springtime. If we hang close to the coast for as long as possible, then we should be fine."

"Should be?" Ruffnut asked with a wrinkle in her nose.

"It's all probable when you're on the mighty waves!" Johann laughed. "So rule number one on Fancy Freya: if there's a storm, you tie yourself to the ship and focus only on your own survival."

"Fancy Freya?" Ruffnut interrupted with a snort. "Your ship's name is Fancy Freya?"

Johann's smile dropped. "Rule number two: don't make fun of my ship."

Ruffnut raised her hands to let it go.

"Rule number three," Johann continued. "I sail the ship, I make the sailing path, I choose the schedule – with you in mind, of course."

"Fine," Ruffnut agreed. "Is that all?"

Johann thought for a second, then nodded gingerly. "I believe so. I'm sure more will come up."

Ruffnut returned to looking in the sky.

"So where are they?" she asked. "Where are all the dragons?"

Johann paused, a rope in his hands, his face twisted ever so slightly at a resistance in his thoughts.

"They haven't been around these parts for over a winter, if I remember correctly. Dagur scouted out his place with his father years ago and rumour has it, he culled the place shortly after his peaceful father died. Any dragons that are native to here are either dead or… back from where you came from."

Ruffnut didn't say anything until a different question entered her mind. "Where are we now?" she asked as she looked between the icebergs in the distance against barren shores, the sky as grey as the water.

"North. North and a tad to the right, farther than anyone dares travel, but you didn't hear it from me. Your arm is bleeding, I see," he said nervously.

"Yeah, it does that," Ruffnut replied quietly, discomforted at the quiet skies above her, knowing Hiccup and the riders had never flown this far from Berk.