Ch7 Old Friends Arrive at DunBroch

When they reached the harbor they saw the ship with Hiccup's father and friends was just arriving. Hiccup was the first to hop off Angus. Merida smiled at his eagerness to see his friends, hopping off as well. The sound of another pair of hoof beats made Merida and Hiccup turn round to see Fergus arrive as well.

"I see we all arrived at the same time," Fergus said hopping off his horse, "Let's go welcome them."

Hiccup nodded as they all started down to the docks. As the boat pulled into the docks Hiccup snuck around Fergus to go see his friends.

Stoick, Hiccup's dad, jumped off the boat and was greeted by Fergus shouting, "Stoick!"

"Fergus!" Stoick shouted back giving his friend a hug.

Gobber was the next off after Stoick and noticing Hiccup he gave him a pat on the shoulder, "Looks like you survived on your own."

"Yeah I did alright," Hiccup smiled at him and waved at his friends that were coming off the boat now. Hiccup heard Fergus introduce Stoick and Gobber to Merida so he went to greet his friends.

"Hey guys, how you doing?" Hiccup asked.

"As well as can be expected," Astrid said sounding a little tired.

"My arms hurt," Fishlegs said rubbing his arms.

"Gobber made us row like crazy," Snotlout said in an annoyed voice.

"It was terrible," Ruffnut said sounding exhausted.

"Yeah I smell like you now," Tuffnut said to Ruffnut who promptly hit him almost knocking into the water. Hiccup chuckled, he'd missed his friends they always made things interesting. After Tuffnut got his balance back he looked like he was going to push Ruffnut off the dock when he stopped with a surprised look on his face. Snotlout was the first to notice and looked in the direction Tuffnut was looking, his face taking the same pleasantly surprised look as Tuffnut's. Hiccup saw the look on Tuffnut and Snotlout's faces and turned around to see Merida was coming over to them.

Hiccup decided to make the introductions, "Guys this is Merida, she's the princess here. Merida these are my friends…"

"Don't tell me let me guess. Hiccup told me about you so I might as well see if I can get your names right," Merida said looking at them then slowly pointing at each of them. "You're the tallest so you must be Fishlegs."

Fishlegs gave a small chuckle and waved at her.

"And you two are obviously twins so you must be Ruffnut and Tuffnut."

The twins nodded and smiled, Tuffnut a little more then Ruffnut and he threw in a wink for good measure.

"Which makes you Astrid."

Astrid gave a small nod eyeing her, not sure about trusting her yet.

"And Snotlout, nice to meet you all."

"Pleasure to meet you," Snotlout said in voice that sounded like he was trying to flirt with her. Merida rolled her eyes, not another one.

"Hey Hiccup where's Toothless?" Fishlegs asked looking around.

"I'm not sure," Hiccup said slightly worried then got an idea. "Merida, can I get a ride so we can find Toothless?" Hiccup asked looking at Angus then back to her.

"Sure ya can," Merida said walking toward Angus.

"You sure she can help?" Astrid asked in a disbelieving voice, "I mean she probably just sits around the castle all day sewing tapestries or something like a normal princess does. She's just some princess, nothing special."

Merida turned around and looked at Astrid rather annoyed, "Oh I am, am I?"

"Uh… she's not what you'd call a 'normal princess' Astrid," Hiccup said suddenly worried a fight might break out, he was close. Merida took her bow off her shoulder.

"Let's see about that," she said walking over to Angus, and hopping onto his back.

"Follow me," She gave Angus a small kick that made him walk to a certain place by the edge of the forest where Merida stopped him. At this point Gobber, Stoick, and Fergus noticed the small parade and walked over.

"What's she doing?" Gobber asked as Merida positioned Angus.

"Ah you might want to watch this." Fergus said as Merida took out an arrow, "She has them all over the place."

Everyone gave him a confused look.

"Has what all over the place?" Stoick asked only to be met with Fergus gesturing to Merida who appeared ready for whatever she was about to do.

Giving Angus another harder kick they took off, Merida quickly stringing her bow, letting the arrow loose it hit the dead center of a target that was hidden on a tree. Except for Fergus everyone's faces showed the surprise they felt of what she'd done. Not one to end it there though Merida raced on shooting bull's-eyes on more targets. Hiccup's surprise was the first to be replaced with a small half smile of astonishment as he watched her. As they watched her everyone else began smiling at her accomplishments too. At one point Merida turned herself on Angus to reshoot at one target which she again hit dead center causing the new arrow to split the old, which made Fergus let out a proud laugh.

"I suppose telling you my wee lass is the best archer in the land is rather pointless now," Fergus was beaming with fatherly pride.

"You might say that," Gobber said wondering if she'd be willing to teach some of them how to do that, always happy to add another weapon to his arsenal.

"She has those targets all over to train?" Stoick questioned wanting to make sure his hunch was right.

"Aye she does and I do like to see people's expressions when she shows her skill," Fergus admitted as Merida turned Angus back round to them.

As Merida steered Angus back to the group she could see on their faces how impressed they were. Even Astrid had it written on her face, though she was trying to hide it under an unhappy look.

"That was amazing," Ruffnut said quite impressed at what had just happened.

"How did you manage that speed and accuracy?" Fishlegs asked curiously.

"Ach nothing a few years of training can't teach you," Merida said trying to sound humble though she was always quite happy about proving people wrong.

"You never said you could shoot like that," Hiccup said with an admiring smile.

"Ya never asked," she stated simply then looked at Astrid and questioned her with a small smirk, "Just sit around the castle sewing tapestries all day do I?"

Astrid just gave her an angry look not wanting to admit she was impressed.

Hiccup tried to hide a smile, "I told she wasn't what you'd call a 'normal princess'."

Everyone, even Astrid though begrudgingly, nodded in agreement

"And glad of it," Merida said putting her bow back over her shoulder.

Hiccup laughed and nodded as she scooted forward on Angus.

"So, ready to find your friend now?" Merida asked holding a hand out to Hiccup.

"Yeah," Hiccup replied grabbing her hand and hoisting himself up.

"Well while you two look for your dragon I'll show this lot around," Fergus said giving Angus a pat.

"All right we'll meet you at the castle," Merida said blowing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes.

Hiccup nodded, "We'll be back soon with Toothless."

At that Merida gave Angus a kick which sent him speeding away as Hiccup grabbed a hold of her again.

"Man how is he so lucky?" Snotlout said sounding annoyed yet honestly curious as to how they'd already become friends.

"I know we should have met her first," Tuffnut said sounding defeated.

"Please like she'd like you," Ruffnut said as if stating a fact, and maybe trying to make Tuffnut feel better somehow.

"Ach now don't sound so discouraged," Fergus said as he started toward the castle, "She's not one to turn down a friend. I'm sure you'll all be friends in no time."

They smiled at that, Astrid though was still frowning as she watched them leave. Astrid thought Hiccup seemed pretty attached to Merida, and her to him, even though they'd only just met. While Hiccup wasn't Astrid's boyfriend he was her friend, the both of them had decided it was better just to be friends, and she didn't want him making a mistake in who he trusted.