Zephyr woke up to the silence of her hut. She climbed out of bed and headed downstairs. Everything was still and quiet. For a second, she worried something had happened to her family—another attack?

Zephyr heard a noise coming from the dining room. She walked into the room.

"Good morning," Nuffink said to her. He was eating his breakfast.

"Hi," Zephyr said. "Where's everyone else?"

"Well. Since I'm hurt, I couldn't go help dad with writing meeting notices. You were asleep. So that left mom to go," Nuffink said. "Also, she said to tell you that I wasn't supposed to leave the hut."

"What does you not leaving the house have to do with me?" Zephyr asked, hoping to avoid the obvious answer. She was supposed to talk to her dad about her idea!

"I'm under house arrest and you're my guard," Nuffink answered before getting up.

Zephyr groaned. But…maybe this was a good thing. This meant she had time to prepare what she was going to say to convince her father to bring the dragons back.

Zephyr went back to her room. She grabbed The Book of Dragons, a few pieces of paper, and a writing utensil. She headed back downstairs and sat in a chair. Then she began to study. She scribbled several notes on each dragon in the book, focusing on the advantages she thought their unique capabilities could give to humans, especially those in need of defense. She had almost reached the end of the book when out of the corner of her eye she caught Nuffink putting on his boots near the door.

"What are you doing?" Zephyr asked.

"Nothing," he said, standing up and opening the door.

"How dumb do you think I am?" Zephyr stood up and rushed over to the door.

"I didn't until now. I try to leave the hut and you freak out?"

"Mom said—"

"You sailed to The Hidden World and you're not letting me step outside? Correct?"

"Well…" Zephyr mumbled. "I wasn't hurt."

"Yeah," Nuffink said. "Get out of my way." He pushed Zephyr. She hated that he was strong enough to challenge her. He wasn't strong enough to push her aside, but still strong. She did spend all her time thinking about dragons instead of training. And Nuffink was way more active than her. But it was still unfair.

"I'm not letting you leave the hut," Zephyr said.

"Think about it this way," Nuffink said. "If I leave, you get to leave. If I don't leave, we're both stuck in here until dad and mom come back." He gave her a knowing look. "And I assume you want to check up on Fourlegs?"

Fourlegs. Zephyr almost slapped her forehead. How could she have forgotten about Fourlegs, who was her closest human friend? Had he been hurt? She had been too caught up in thoughts about the enemy attack to even worry about what had happened to him. "I…should find out if he's okay," Zephyr admitted. "I guess I could check on Fourlegs and you could check on Spearhead. But you'd have to come right back here after so I don't get in trouble."

"Sure," Nuffink said and exited the hut.

Zephyr followed him. The days were getting colder, but snow still hadn't fallen, even though dark clouds gathered in the sky. They walked down the path that led through the trees to the cliffside homes.

It was still a wreck, but more people were out. Blacksmiths were busy making repairs and…weapons? They looked flimsy but they were none the less weapons. Zephyr peered down at the docks below. Lots of ships were being loaded and boarded.

They neared Fourlegs's and Spearhead's huts. Before they reached them, they saw Spearhead. She was again practicing against a dragon statue, a statue of a Gronckle named "Meatlug." Fourlegs was nearby, sitting next to a wall, reading.

As soon as Spearhead saw them, she stopped throwing her ball. "Nuffink?" Spearhead asked.

Fourlegs looked up from his book. "Zephyr!" He stood up as they approached.

"Are you okay?" Spearhead asked Nuffink, noticing his bandaged neck.

"I haven't seen you since the attack," Fourlegs said to Zephyr. "I wondered if you were all right."

"I was almost kidnapped and a Viking cut me with his sword," Nuffink answered.

"My hut was destroyed," Spearhead reported. She bowed her head, concentrating on the ball in her hands.

"I'm doing okay," Zephyr said to Fourlegs. She turned to Spearhead. "How was your hut destroyed?"

"Two fiery boulders from a catapult hit it," Spearhead said. "Everything was ruined. That's why I had to carve new balls for dragon ball." Spearhead lifted the ball she was practicing with to show Zephyr. It was indeed new.

"How did you hold up?" Zephyr asked Fourlegs.

"My family's fine. Tunabreath and Nuthead were no help after the attack though." Fourlegs' brothers could be rather troublesome. Especially after a big event. Zephyr had seen them firsthand.

"Hey," Spearhead said, tossing her ball to Nuffink. "Want to try out the new balls?"

"Sure," Nuffink agreed.

"Wait!" Zephyr interrupted. "You were supposed to go back to the hut."

"It's just one game," Nuffink argued. "Just one. Then I'll go back." He gave her a look that said he was going to do what he wanted to anyway.

Zephyr sighed. "Fine. But only one."

Nuffink and Spearhead hurried off to go back to the forest.

An awkward silence descended. Fourlegs didn't speak and glanced at his book. But he didn't sit down and read it either.

"Okay…" Zephyr said after some time had passed. "Um. I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm glad you're okay, too," Fourlegs said. "Were you there when Nuffink got hurt?"

"Uh…yeah," Zephyr answered. All the guilt she had felt at not helping her brother came rushing back. She backed away. "So, anyway, I've got to go now. So…bye."

Zephyr ran down the street. The cold wind blew her hair back as she ran. She stopped running when she saw the Great Hall. She had to talk to her father. He had to see there was a better way to protect them than arming the villagers.

Zephyr pushed through the doors of the Great Hall. Her mother and father were sitting at a newly made table writing notices for the meeting coming up in two days. No one else was in the room. She walked over to the table.

Her mother looked up. "What do you need, Zephyr?"

"I need to talk to dad," she said.

Her father looked up. "What do you need?"

"So, how are the war—"

"Where's Nuffink?" her mother asked.

"He's…taking a nap," Zephyr lied. "Anyway, how are the war preparations going?"

"Fine," her father said. He handed his stack of meeting notices to her mom. "Can you deliver these?"

"Sure," her mom said. "I'll go check in on Nuffink while I'm at it."

"Wait!" Zephyr yelled. "Uh…I mean…"

"Where is he?" her mother asked resignedly.

"With Spearhead," Zephyr said. "You know what he's like. You can't expect him to stay in the hut all day."

Her mother sighed and left the Great Hall.

"So," Zephyr said, sitting down next to her father. "Do we have enough people to defend New Berk? Will we have enough weapons to defend New Berk?"

"I don't know," her father said.

"Training with a weapon does take a while," Zephyr said. "And building ships takes a while too."

Her father looked quizzically at her.

"And our enemy had lots of trained warriors and dozens of ships. They're probably preparing for their next attack right now."

"Are you trying to depress me?" her father asked.

Good. She was showing her father all the odds were against him. "My point is we're most likely going to lose," Zephyr said. "Unless we have a weapon way more powerful than the attackers."

"At the war meeting in two days, Tuffnut and I will discuss how to make new weapons," her father said.

"Okay. But making and training with those weapons will take a while, assuming you manage to come up with any. As I see it, we need an immediate answer."

"My next meeting is starting in three minutes."

"This won't take long! There's a weapon more powerful than any sword or ship. Dragons."

"Absolutely not!" Her father stood up. "We are not bringing dragons into this."

"But they're powerful!" Zephyr argued, standing up as well. "If we had them, we wouldn't have to fear any other Vikings. You've seen what they can do! You and Toothless won hundreds of wars."

"Yes, we did," her father said. "But we almost died countless times. I lost my leg. My father died. Toothless was the target of every dragon hunter. If we bring dragons back it won't be long before the enemy takes them. Dragons will start dying and being hunted again. We left them in The Hidden World for a reason, Zephyr."

"If we don't use them, we could lose everything!" Zephyr retorted.

"I made a promise to protect the dragons," her father asserted. "And I am going to keep it."

Zephyr stormed off through the hall doors out into the mostly empty streets of the marketplace. Her father didn't understand! They really could lose everything. They had to do whatever it took to stop their enemies, even if it meant using dragons.