Siren

I turned the pages of the book I was translating to from Nordic to Japanese and flipped through its pages until I found where I left off. I began writing down the translations from the original book, which was open in front of me.

I was about halfway through the first page when the door burst open. Al was standing there, panting a bit, and rubbing his forehead. He had a fur coat on top of his greenish black tunic, and leather pants. His arms were bulging, and I suddenly felt a bit insecure about my messy hair. What if he didn't like it?

"Siren," he said, standing up straight, "we've got a problem."

I set the pen down and looked at Al. "What's going on? Is it something with the kids?"

"No," Al said, closing the door behind him. "It's something worse. Remember all those people who worked for Drago until you killed him?"

"What about them?"

"Where are they going to go? They won't listen to me because I didn't kill him."

Now you know what I meant when I said that killing Drago brought on a lot more than I thought it would bring on.

"Al," I said, "take the books and put them on the desks. Then take me to where the people are." It had only been three days after I broke my ankle, and half the time, it would throb with pain while the other half, it would feel sore.

Al took my books and laid them on the desks so I could work on them later. Then, he carried me, putting one arm behind the knees and another behind my back.

The sun was bright, and kind of blinding since I hadn't been outside in three days. It felt rather unusual to be carried down stairs because now I couldn't walk. I was so used to running around and riding Toothless that it just seemed surreal. That's how I can best describe the experience.

Al put me onto Toothless. I could hear him purr loudly and joyfully as he put me down.

"I'm happy to be with you too, bud," I said, laughing a little just at the idea of being on Toothless. It felt like a million years since I was on him. It was like I was back to being five in less than two minutes, still young, still so innocent, still fresh and full of hope.

Al climbed behind me and we took off.

As we approached Meathead Island, I could see huge lines of men, women, children as young as two and babies being held by their mothers standing one by one, their faces appearing solemn and waiting.

Toothless landed with barely a sound, and Al pulled me off him after he dismounted first. I made sure to put all my weight on my left foot while Al held my hips to keep me standing. One of Drago's former soldiers came forward, his head high as I steadied myself, breathing heavily. I stared the soldier in the eye and immediately recognized him: It was Llewlyn.

"We've got no home to return to," Llewlyn said, his face solemn, "Drago burned down our villages and towns, killing our chiefs. Now that he is dead, we look to you. You were the one who killed him, after all."

They had nowhere to go, I thought. Where could I put them? There were lots of islands that had no people and very few dragons on them. Then again, only a fraction were owned by Berk, and I had no idea how many of these soldiers there were. There were also the rice fields, but how many would be fit to work on them?

Just have some work on the rice fields to earn their keep since you can't anymore, and move as many as possible to the islands owned by Berk.

"Alright," I said, my voice raising itself, "who's the strongest amongst all these people? I ask you to come forward with your families."

The soldiers whispered amongst themselves as many strong, sturdy men came with their ladies and children, as well as some other relatives.

"Separate yourselves!" I demanded. "Strong sturdy men and families on the right, the others on the left!"

It took about ten minutes for both of them to separate themselves, then when they were in two distinct groups, I began explaining to them that their jobs would be to work on rice and vegetable farms with their families, and the oldest child would be the one to get the farm when the head died.

"I can't promise that there will be enough crops for everyone, but I'll see to it that as many families as possible get a farm. As for the rest of you, there are other islands in the archipelago that are uninhabited. I will see to it that you get a home on those uninhabited islands. Any questions?"

"Is your father is the Dragon Conqueror?" one small little dark haired girl asked. She had a very interesting accent, one that sounded similar to Drago's, but distinct in its own way.

The little girl's family was in the farm family section, and her father hushed her, speaking in their tongue while her mother and someone who looked like her older sister were scowling.

"Yes," I said, without a moment of hesitation. "I am the daughter of Hiccup, the Dragon Conqueror and Chief of Berk. I am Siren of the Hooligans."

"More like king," one of the men remarked. "Any man who has to deal with these many people living on their lands can't call himself a chief."

"I suppose that makes you a princess," Al whispered.

"Shut up," I hissed.

"You may have killed Drago, which is what your father failed to do," the little girl's father said, "but you've still got a lot to live up to. Something as big as being the Dragon Conqueror is hard to live up to, even if you manage to kill Drago Bludvist, of all people. Remember that."

I nodded. "I will."

For the rest of the day, we loaded all the strong, sturdy men and their families onto the ships and sailed to Dragon's Edge, which took well over two hours. By the end of the day, about half of the rice fields on Dragon's Edge had been given to one family per rice field, and some of the trees were chopped down to build the houses.

"Hopefully after everyone's found a home, I can get back to teaching and translating the books," I said, as Al put me in my bed for the night.

"I'm going to be carrying you a lot, princess," Al said, with a cocky smile. "Unless you're able to walk very soon."

"True," I said with a smile. "True."

Al sat on the edge of the bed and began to undo my braids, spreading my hair out and running his fingers through my hair.

"Such curly hair," he said, as he began to braid it.

"You know how to braid hair?" I asked, full of surprise. I honestly wasn't expecting him to know. Not that it made it unpleasant. In fact, it was a very pleasant surprise.

"My cousin Brunhild taught me."

"Okay."

As soon as he finished braiding my hair, we said good night to each other and went to bed.

Little did I know how much my life would change after killing Drago, and how it would lead me back to my father.