A/N: I'm so sorry for the long wait on this one. I had originally planed to update after school let out but then I got writer's block. Then I was in the hospital for a week and hadn't even touched my computer until practically a month later and I'm still in recovery.

Anyway I tried to fix the accents the best I could, because on the last chapter, it was a bit heavy and a little hard to read. Thank you reviewer for pointing that out. Constructive criticism!

It had been a week since the Highlanders left. Merida had watched the horizon every day since; waiting for them to realize the mistake they had made and come back to get her.

But every day was the same result, a clear horizon.

When she wasn't watching for them she spent most of her time shooting arrows into a few of the many trees in the woods. The forest areas on Berk were similar to the ones back home; however, no matter how similar they were, it wasn't the same.

Back home her days consisted of waking up early for her studies, and then she might have time to go for a ride, there was some excitement there, she could have an adventure. But on Berk everyday was the same.

She would wait until after Stoick and Hiccup left before coming out of her room. When she came down the steps there was always breakfast waiting for her, courtesy of Hiccup. It was a gesture she appreciated, but would never thank him for.

After that she went out the back door, wanting to avoid the village as much as she could. Normally she didn't come back until it was almost or after nightfall.

Although she had brought some of her own dresses from home, she was also provided with some that had more of a Viking fashion. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Viking clothing was more comfortable than her own; it was looser and less form-fitting.

Lately she had been wearing a long green skirt with a darker green sash that hung in the middle. Her undershirt was a loose long sleeved light grey shirt with thick green cuffs. Over it was a green top that matched her skirt with medium sized pendants gathered the straps together.

Berk was farther north than DunBroch, which meant it was colder. Merida didn't understand how all of these people weren't cold with the way they dressed. They weren't dressed for winter, but for the warmer months. She had even seen some children with sleeveless shirts, and not a single shiver escaped them.

Vikings truly were crazy.

~:~

Hiccup's life for the most part hadn't changed; he still had his daily responsibilities. His apprenticeship at the Smithy with Gobber, after he finished there he had to make sure that Toothless was fed.

He hardly saw Merida, and at times almost forgot she was there.

Since there had not been a dragon attack in days Hiccup wasn't needed for much at the Smithy, so he was given the rest of the day off. Normally he would have gone flying, to stay out of everyone's way, but since Merida's arrival he couldn't do that. Having no idea where she went during the day, he didn't know where not to fly, so she wouldn't mistake it for an attack. And having an accidental dragon attack wasn't worth the risk.

Instead they just stayed in the cove. Toothless would watch Hiccup draw up and modify plans for his strange inventions, and at times he would try to get Hiccup to go flying. There was a reason dragons had wings after all.

"I know bud; I want to go flying too. But it's not like I can just go tell her 'Hey Merida, guess what, I have a pet dragon, so if you see him flying overhead don't call a dragon attack or anything.' Things aren't that simple." Toothless huffed, believing otherwise. "Maybe it's that simple for you dragons, but not for humans." Hiccup could have told her aboutToothless the first day, but he had decided to let her get adjusted to her new life before bringing something else new to her attention.

~:~

Merida sat on one of the docks looking out into the water. It was a place that she had to go through the village to get to, but no one ever bothered her. But today her silence was interrupted.

"There she is," Someone said from behind. She turned to see a group of people around her age approaching her. "I was beginning to think that she left when the others did."

The one talking was in front of the group; behind him was a girl with an axe over her shoulder, behind her was another boy who was a bit chubby, and at the back of the group were a pair of twins. At the sight of the axe Merida stood, expecting trouble.

"It's about time I met my cousin's wife. I'm Snotlout."

"I'm nobody's wife."

"But, that's why you're here isn't it? To marry that little runt. Or were you just holding out until you found a real Viking?" he looked at her with a confident smirk.

"I don't want a real Viking, I want tae go home."

Someone snickered. "She talks funny." one of the twins said. The other one joined in laughing.

"Ruffnut, Tuffnut, don't you have something that you should be doing right now?" Snotlout said

They looked at each other a shrugged. "No."

Snotlout rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Merida.

"As I was saying- wait what do you mean you don't want a real Viking? I'm as real as it gets!" He looked at the girl behind him "Tell her, Astrid," she rolled her eyes and said nothing so he turned his attention to the other boy "Fishlegs?" his tone was threatening.

"Y-yea, you're the realest Viking there is, except for, you know, the chief."

"Yea, well I'm going to be chief someday."

"But I thought that Hiccup was th' heir."

Snotlout chuckled "He is… for now. But when the chief finally realizes that he's not fit to lead us, I'll become the heir." He turned from his illusion to Merida. "What do ya say princess? Think you can handle a real Viking?"

Merida cringed and then sputtered out a small laugh. "I think I'll pass." Deciding that now was the best time to leave she made her way back into the village.

"Yea, alright, see you later!" Snotlout called after her. "She'll come around. I mean, how can she resist this?" he then proceeded to flex his muscles.

~:~

Merida walked through the big doors of the chief's house and up to her guest room. She removed the bow that was hung across her shoulder and placed it with her quiver on the floor.

The last few rays of sun light shone through her window; it was a bit early for her to be back, but there was something in the air that made Merida uneasy about staying out too long after dark.

"What are you doing here?" someone said behind her, people really needed to stop doing that.

She turned to see Hiccup standing at her doorway. "What dae ye mean why am I here? Hae ye missed recent events?"

"No, what I meant was, usually you're not back until it's dark"

"Th' sun's going down; it's basically th' same thing."

"Right, ya, of course."

A silence fell between them

Merida cleared her throat. "Sae is that all or…?"

"Nope, uh, nothing else." He moved to walk away but stopped. "Actually there is something else." Now was a good time as any, and the sooner he told her the better. A week was enough time to get adjusted to a new life right?

She crossed her arms "What is it?"

"You know that Berk is subject to dragon attacks."

"Yes, even though there hasn't been a single attack since I got here." The only dragon she'd seen was the one she wanted to forget about.

"Right, well, there's something that you should know…about me."

She looked him up and down.

Before he could continue the front door was heard being closed.

"Um, I'll be right back." he told her before he made his way down stairs.

She peeked out from her doorway and heard Hiccup and Stoick talking. Mainly about food she figured because a few different options rose to the top of the stairs where she could hear them clearly.

Their shadows moved and she closed the door. She expected the knock that came shortly after.

"Merida?" his voice was muffled by the door. "We're going to eat soon, if you want to join us."

"I'm nae really hungry right now, maybe later. Ye guys go ahead 'n' eat without me."

Truthfully she was hungry, but it wasn't anything that she couldn't wait out. However unlikely it was, she wanted in no way to become comfortable around these people.

He said nothing else and Merida heard him walk away.

She went to hang up her cloak, only it wasn't there. Maybe it had fallen onto the floor, she looked under her bed. It wasn't there either.

It was then that she remembered earlier when she was shooting arrows she had taken it off.

"Shit."

Immediately she headed for the door, but quickly stopped. If she wanted to avoid them then she would have to wait.

In the meantime she would have to figure out how she would find her way in the dark.

~:~

When the moon reached its highest point in the sky Merida crept downstairs. She noticed that the fire was still going, and there was also a pot hanging over it. She got closer and saw that there was enough food for a bowl or two. She had no doubt that this was Hiccup's doings.

He tried so hard to make her feel welcome, it didn't make any sense. He should hate her like she hated him. Frankly all of this irritated Merida, if he thought that his little gestures were going to get him anywhere he had another thing coming.

Quietly she snuck out of the house. During the day normally she would wander aimlessly into the woods, not keeping track of where she had been or where she was going. This method was great for wasting time but horrible for finding lost items. As far as lighting went, luckily tonight was a clear full moon sky. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. She couldn't exactly take a torch with her at the risk of being spotted, and having false accusations made against her.

By the time she found the cloak it was the dark early hours of morning, and Merida was exhausted, fortunately finding her way out a lot easier than going in to search. When she came out of the woods she was far from the chief's house, which sat at the top of the hill.

She was half-way there when she stopped. She stood there for a few moments and listened. Slowly she took her bow off and drew an arrow. Turning her head she saw a small flock of resting sheep, suddenly one was snatched into the air. Her eyes went wide.

"Dragons." She whispered.

The alarm sounded. It wasn't long before nearly everyone was awake and fighting. Merida went unnoticed as she fought amongst them.

A green Gronckle flew in her direction. "Hello beastie." She pulled back an arrow.

"Watch out!" losing her concentration the arrow flew and only grazed it. It was the boy from yesterday, the real Viking.

"Move aside honey, a delicate princess like you should get inside." But while he was talking the Gronckle flew straight at them. Merida glanced back and forth to the weapon he held and the dragon. Quickly she grabbed the weapon and pushed him away, causing him to fall. The unexpected weight caused her to drop it to the ground; she picked it up and spun, hitting the dragon just in time.

Merida turned to the boy and pointed the spiked club at him. "Stay out of mah way Foot gout!" she threw the weapon at his feet and made her way to the armory, she would need a better weapon to fight with.

"My name's Snotlout." He said but she couldn't hear him

~:~

She would have used her own sword but the armory was closer and now was not a time to be picky. "I need a sword." She said when she got to the window.

"Sure thing, just hold on a-…Merida?"

"Hiccup? What are ye doing here?"

"I work here, actually I'm an apprentice."

"Oh, well since ye work here, hand me a sword."

"It's not safe out here, you should get inside."

That struck a nerve. "Ye think that just because I'm a girl I can't fight? Or that I'm juist some delicate little princess that needs protecting? Ye'v got some nerve; I don't see ye oot there fighting. You're in here hiding like a coward. Now give me a weapon." Her voice was even, but the anger in it didn't go undetected.

At that moment a sword flew through the air, having missed its target, and logged itself into the side of the armory. However by the time she removed it from the woodwork the dragons were leaving. The sun had started to rise. She watched as the silhouettes of the flying beasts disappeared.

A sudden pain shot through Merida's arm, it was as though a fire had entered her veins. Dropping the sword she lifted her sleeve, which she now noticed was spotted with blood. It was either a scratch or a bite, she couldn't tell through the blood and the vein-like markings following the fire in her arm.

"You were bit?" Hiccup asked, although it was more of a statement than a question.

"I don't even remember it happenin'."

"It looks like it's poisonous, come on-" Hiccup had moved out from behind the stall and started to move her but she stopped him.

"Where are ye taking me?"

"Old Wrinkly, he'll know what to do. He can help."

~:~

Old Wrinkly lived in an old hut that, thankfully, wasn't that far from the armory. Merida waited in a room while Hiccup went to search for the old man. The fire had now made its way up to her elbow.

"He's coming, he was just- …you probably don't even care, do you?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came.

"I'll just get out of your hair then. My dad will want to know where I am, and what happened." He walked past her.

"Hiccup, -"

"I don't think you're weak. If you were weak you wouldn't have made it."

A door closed, taking Merida's attention away from Hiccup. When she looked back he was walking away.

"So Hiccup tells me that you were bit. Mind if I take a look?"

Old Wrinkly was, of course, an old man who had a long white beard that nearly touched the floor. He carried a walking stick that had a hook like curve.

She rolled up her sleeve. "It burns."

"Well that's expected, especially if you were bit by a venomous dragon."

He took her arm in his hands and examined it after he cleaned the blood off.

"Ah! I have just the thing for this." He waked over to the other side of the room where numerous bottles were shelved. He muttered to himself as he looked through the selection, finally he picked a bottle filled with a green substance.

"What is that?" Merida asked.

"You don't want to know, but it will make you better." He got some bandages out of a drawer. "You're just lucky that the cure's not a potato, nasty that one."

"A potato?"

"It's a long story." Old Wrinkly said as he placed the supplies on the table. He pulled out a chair for Merida and sat in the one across from it. She took a seat and held out her arm.

"Old Wrinkly, ye people hae the strangest names."

"I'm old and I'm wrinkly, it fits" he said.

As he placed the green goo on her arm Merida looked around and noticed that the place was nearly deserted. "Where's everyone else? Surely I can't be th' only one with injuries."

"Most people usually get a few scratches and bruises here and there, but they tend to take care of those themselves. I must say that you're the first case I've seen like this in a long time."

"Why's that? Don't other people get bit or scratched by poisonous dragons?"

"Nope. We've got these," he held up his arm to show his forearm cuff. "It's made from dragon's skin. They can't burn, bite or scratch us as easily with these."

He finished tying up Merida's bandage and gathered up his stuff to put back where it belonged. "Keep that on it for a couple of days and you'll be right as rain."

She thanked him and got up to leave.

"Oh, before I forget, tell my grandson to stop by later. I want to talk to him"

Merida looked confused. "Um, who's yer grandson?"

"I thought that you would know. It's Hiccup"

"Yer Hiccup's grandfather?"

"Sure am. On his mother's side"

"Oh, okay, I'll let him know. I'll juist let myself out now."

"And Merida, go easy on him, I know that you feel like you got the rut of all this, but he's still in the same position as you."

"How did ye even-"

"Retired soothsayer, it's all in the fire." he said with a smile.

"Why are ye being nice tae me then? If ye don't like the way that I've been around him why would ye even help me?"

"That's what families do; they look out for each other. And even though it's not official, I consider you family. Because, when you take all of the other stuff away family's all you got left."

~:~

By the time Merida reached her room she didn't even bother to change out of her clothes. She collapsed onto the bed, but sleep did not find her. Old Wrinkly's words about family played in her head.

It shot her like an arrow, the realization that they really were gone. She wouldn't be able to sword fight with her father anymore, or teach her brothers archery, or watch the effects of their many pranks; she would even miss arguing with her mother. The things she would give, just to go back home. But she couldn't, she was a Highlander who was now stuck in a sea of Vikings, and she feared she would drown.

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