Hello everybody! Here's an update! Sorry it was so long coming: finals are coming up WAY too fast and I'm freaking out! I just want everyone out there to know I have not forgotten or given up on ANY of my babies...er, stories...yeah. Hang with me, okay?

koryandrs- Thanks so much for telling me about those forums! I will definitely check those out when my schedule gets back under my control.

Rated-T

Warnings

Abuse/torture

Some OOC-ness maybe

I might not get all of their talking entirely accurate so please bear with me

Things you need to know

"Lydia/other Ereborians speaking in Khuzdul"

Disclaimer-I don't own the Hobbit or How To Train Your Dragon.

Here We Stand United

Chapter 9

Another day had passed, and the Vikings had all silently agreed to say nothing of what they had heard for fear of angering the Ereborians. They needn't have worried. As soon as the meeting had been over, Thorin had gone straight to Stoic the Vast with Balin at his side. They had immediately begun discussions and negotiations, and had barely stopped, only to eat had they truly stopped talking.

Astrid sighed as she wandered near the cliffs, but paused when she heard a soft melody floating on the breeze. Curious, she wandered forward and gasped when she saw Bofur perched at the edge of the cliffs, uncaring that, yes, she could fall off, even as she played her flute, her eyes closed as the music poured into the air. Finally the song she was playing came to an end and she turned to Astrid with a smile.

"Come sit here. I won't bite," she teased, patting the spot beside her, and Astrid nervously slunk over and sat, careful not to be too near the edge. Just because Bofur was so confident they wouldn't fall, Astrid wasn't going to take any chances. It could get pretty windy on the cliffs, after all.

"How'd you even know I was there?" Astrid finally asked after they'd sat in silence for a few moments. She brushed her hair out of her face as she glanced at the hatted Ereborian.

Bofur chuckled and said, "It ain't hard, lass. Ye can sneak all ye like, but if yer not aware of the direction of the sun, your shadow will give you away every time." Astrid glanced around, and saw that the sun was indeed setting, casting her shadow over the land and water in front of her. Still...

"You had your eyes closed."

Bofur let out a heart-felt laugh as she replied, "Yeah, for a little while." Suddenly Astrid understood. Bofur had seen her shadow, recognized her by that, and deemed it safe enough to pretend that she was unaware of the Viking teen's presence.

"Where'd you learn that?" Astrid asked.

Bofur didn't answer the question right away, twirling the flute around before tucking it into her sleeve. "Do you know the man with the star-shaped hair? You've seen him around?" At Astrid's puzzled nod, she went on, "Ah, that there is our resident thief. His name is Nori, the middle brother of Ri. Seven years at sea with someone like him? You pick up a few things." Then she smirked. "Of course, no one can beat the master thief. I didn't know you and yer friends were in the rafters spying on us until he told me."

Astrid's face flushed red in embarrassment. She hadn't realized that they'd been noticed. Bofur laughed again and rolled backwards, away from the edge, and popped to her feet. "Nothing to be embarrassed about. No one is mad, and there's not much that escapes Nori's notice."

Astrid stood up as well and wandered with Bofur as the Ereborian woman began walking. "Can I ask you something?" At Bofur's nod, Astrid continued, "You're one of the few women among the other Ereborians. Do they ever...underestimate you? Or try to...treat you like you're weak?"

Bofur's normally cheerful expression turned somber as she considered the serious question. "Aye. It happens. Whenever it does, though, I ignore who says it and then don't talk to them for weeks. I went a month without talking to my brother once." Astrid raised an eyebrow at that but chose not to ask for the story. Bofur paused at the edge of the trees right outside the village, and Astrid followed her gaze. Lydia was facing off with the tall, blond-headed boy who kind of looked like a lion. The Princess of Erebor was twirling a fancy axe that was decidedly not of Viking make. Dwalin and Nori, were watching carefully as the two started circling each other.

"Seems Lydia and Fili are about to have a sparring match," Bofur observed, smiling to herself. Lydia's face was twisted into a snarl as she glared at Fili, and the handsome Ereborian had as fierce an expression as he could muster as well. Nori and Dwalin stood nearby as well, Dwalin barking orders at the both of them while Nori just had a smirk on his face. "Ohh, skill swap," Bofur observed. Before Astrid could ask what she meant, the two Ereborians leapt at each other, Lydia barreling into Fili and knocking him to the ground.

In one smooth motion, Fili twisted out from underneath his cousin and leapt to his feet, hands hanging limply at his sides. However, he looked very uncomfortable, as though he wanted to just tackle his cousin and wrestle with her. As Astrid and Bofur wandered closer, Nori's smirk became a scowl and he called out to Fili, "None of those tactics Dwalin taught you, hear me Fili? This is a practice for the two of you to work outside your normal fighting style!"

"What's going on?" Astrid asked Bofur.

"Hm? Oh! Well, Lydia is Nori's star pupil. She fights like the thief. Could become one if she wanted. Needless to say, Thorin's not too impressed by that. Fili is Dwalin's star pupil. He's a warrior through and through. Everything Dwalin throws at him, Fili tackles and masters. Every so often, their teachers make them switch it up. Lydia can't always fight the way Nori taught her, and if Fili tries to fight like Dwalin all the time he's going to get seriously hurt," Bofur explained as they watched Lydia repeatedly lunge for Fili and Fili dodge clumsily.

Suddenly, it seemed Lydia had had enough, because her style subtly shifted, and as she made another lunge, she instead swept Fili's feet out from under him. As he was falling, she pounced, and had a knife at his neck as he hit the ground. Fili watched his cousin with wide eyes, frozen. He knew when it was over.

"Enough!" Dwalin roared, and Lydia broke away from her cousin, stalking away from the rest of the Ereborians with a snarl even as Nori shook his head while Dwalin roared after her in their native tongue.

"Ah, let it go Dwalin. Ye can't expect the lass to get it on the first try. Letting go of her fighting style is also kind of like letting go of Frerin. Or did you forget he taught her things like that first?" Nori asked as he arched an eyebrow at the warrior. Dwalin growled, but subsided, glaring darkly at the ground. As Astrid joined her friends who had gathered nearby, she saw Bofur slide up to Dwalin with a disarming, cheery smile and a cheeky comment.

Meanwhile, Nori's eyes were sliding over everyone gathered and then his eyes fell on Bifur. When was the last time the disabled warrior had had a decent spar? "Bifur." At the sound of his name, Bifur looked to the thief and Nori continued, "Would you like to spar?" Bifur considered the question, and then gave a swift nod, a look of serious hope on his face.

"I'll spar with him!" Snotlout shouted suddenly, causing Astrid to jump. She didn't think he'd been paying attention to the Ereborians, and that he'd only approached to flirt with her.

"Lad, you don't know what yer saying. No one spars with Bifur except Bofur and Bombur," Dwalin snorted dismissively as Bifur stepped into the center of the semi-circle formed. Snotlout fumed while Bofur stepped forward, her cheerful grin still in place, and Astrid did a double-take. Both Ereborians had their weapons! Bofur leaned casually on her mattock while Bifur clutched his boar spear.

"Hm, been too long cousin. You sure your skills haven't gone rusty?" Bofur teased good-naturedly. Bifur did not reply with words, simply grunted, and then fell into a ready stance, looking to Dwalin for the signal to start.

"You know the rules. Begin!" Dwalin snapped, and then the two rushed at each other. They were a blur of motion, and Astrid found it a little difficult to keep up with the rapid movement.

"Yeah! Awesome!" Tuffnut said enthusiastically, his sister nodding in agreement, and then they bashed their helmets together. Astrid rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the dizzying battle. Bifur and Bofur matched each other strike for strike, looks of intense concentration on both of their faces.

"You're using an attack pattern, Bofur! Our enemies may be stupid but they'll pick up on that pattern eventually! Mix it up!" Dwalin snarled, and Bofur subtly shifted, spinning her mattock to block Bifur's strike, and then lunging forward where before she would have stepped back in preparation for a swing. Instead she used her full weight to knock her cousin back. Bifur adapted quickly, grabbing the shaft of the spear and hefting it up to cross parallel over his chest, catching Bofur off-balance by hooking her mattock and tugging forward. With a shout of alarm, Bofur hit the ground face-first and Bifur pointed the spear at her back. She wisely didn't move, sensing that she had lost the battle.

"Enough!" Nori finally snapped, and Bifur blinked for a minute, and then stepped away from his cousin. Bofur punched the ground with her fist before she hauled herself to her feet with a scowl, retrieving her fallen mattock as well, even as Oin approached.

"I don't remember telling you lot Bifur was okay to spar," the healer stated, arms crossed and a very irritated look on his face. Bifur perked up at the sound of his name and started signing things at the old healer. Oin blinked at the rapid sign language, taking a moment to decipher it, and then shook his head and barked at Bifur in what the Vikings had figured out was their native tongue.

"Ah, Thorin says everything's ready to go! Supplies are well stocked, and if we ration correctly there'll be more than enough food for until we reach Ered Luin," Gloin called as he drifted over. He seemed quite proud and excited about the idea. The other Ereborians sprang into action, their sparring forgotten as they rushed around, scooping up any weapons they'd dropped and heading for their ship, communicating in their harsh language and moving seamlessly as one to get everything done.

The Viking teens thought it wise to remove themselves, so they did. The Ereborians seemed terribly excited. It'd be cruel to get in their way and slow them down. Although, if they missed their home so much, why hadn't they returned before then? What was Ered Luin? Why did they need supplies from there?

Mysteries just seemed to crop up whenever the Ereborians were concerned, and Fishlegs was especially intriguied. They all wished they could learn more, but no one was about to interfere with the fierce warriors. Hiccup went to talk to his dad while the other Viking teens wandered off.

*THIS IS A PAGE BREAK*

"We appreciate all you are willing to do to help us. Thank you," Thorin Oakenshield was saying as Hiccup walked into his home. The dragon rider looked between his father and Lydia's father in puzzlement. Thorin seemed very grateful and sincere, though grim, and Stoic seemed especially somber.

"Take care of them...please," Stoic said, shaking Thorin's hand, and Thorin nodded grimly.

"Like they were my own subjects."

"Dad? What's going on?" Hiccup asked, making his prescence known. The two adults seemed startled, as though they hadn't heard Hiccup enter, and likely they hadn't, so caught up in their own seperate thoughts.

"Hiccup. Thorin and I have come to an agreement. The men and I will distract Alvin, prevent him from getting too far, while the Ereborians return to Middle Earth to guard their home. I have agreed to send some dragons with them," Stoic began. Hiccup immediately saw the flaw in the plan and interrupted.

"Dad, the only one of them who knows how to train and ride a dragon is Lydia, and she only did it by pure luck. I don't think sending wild dragons is going to work out-"

Stoic the Vast held up his hand, and Hiccup fell silent. He knew well enough that his father's patience was starting to run thin. "Let me finish, Hiccup. You, and the other dragon riders will accompany them." Silence fell as Hiccup struggled to digest that information. On one hand, he was excited. Travel opened all sorts of possibilities to discover and document new dragons.

One the other, he was wary. No one around knew anything of the mysterious Middle Earth. The rumor was that the land was shrouded in mist that was easy to get lost in. Ships that sailed for the strange land were never seen or heard from again. Sea monsters and dragons supposedly plagued the seas, and others said that the inhabitants were savages who slaughtered any forgeiners who touched their shores. Likely, though, other ships were just lost to the mists, crashed on the rocks. Although, if the Ereborians were from Middle Earth, they'd have a map to get there...

Hiccup looked up at the other two people in the room and put a slightly strained smile on his face. "Of course, dad. Great. An adventure. I'll go tell the others."

Well there you have it! The dragon trainers are heading for Middle Earth. Now, keep in mind, they don't know every detail of what is going on. They just know Alvin wants to conquer Middle Earth and he must be stopped. They don't know about Smaug, or the Lonely Mountain. They just know that everything the Ereborians say is only a half-truth and that they are not numerous.

Don't worry; they'll find out eventually.

Everyone who has been with me, and I know there are a few out there, you rock for sticking with me! Review, or I'll sic Dwalin on you!