Chapter 4

Awake

The first thing she noticed was that everything was different. She wasn't drowning on a smashed, half-capsized boat anymore. In fact, where she lay now was rather comfortable, warm, soft…she was in a bed. That much was clear. The girl quietly groaned, a muted pain in her side making itself known, and opened her eyes.

She was in a bed, like she predicted before, lying within a very sturdy looking house as well. She felt sore all over, and could barely move, her muscles cramped from being still so long, but she carefully propped her head up slowly to look around. There was a main door down a short hallway almost directly in front of her bed, and another door leading into a room off to her left. She looked the other way slowly to see a set of stairs leading up to what she assumed was a second floor.

Lastly, she glanced upward, and found a Terrible Terror sleeping on a rafter up in the far corner by a small window.

The girl yelped, not expecting such a sight within someone's house, but then covered her mouth, not wanting to startle the creature. It was too late, however, as the tiny reptile opened its eyes at the sound and lifted its head, turning to stare down at her. She didn't move, not sure what the dragon would do. The Terror only gave a short chirrup and stood up, climbing over to the nearby window and flying out. The girl blew out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and relaxed, before slowly sitting up in order to inspect herself. She expected to find herself covered in bruises and cuts, especially since she was sure wherever she'd ended up, they'd probably found her floating on a wreck.

She was right, to an extent, as the pain in her side revealed itself to be a bandaged gash, and further along she found a couple nasty scrapes on her legs and upper arms. Whoever had taken her in however appeared to have some experience with medicine and healing, however, and Ember was impressed to find no signs of infection or other issue; her currently unknown caretaker had done their job well.

The girl looked around in more detail, finally spotting jars of herbs and table stands littered with various medical equipment all around the room. An herbal tea that she could smell chamomile in was also sitting in a small mug on the stand closest to her bed, and gauzes and linens were neatly folded on a shelf in a corner. Clearly she was in a healer's house, that much was for certain, but where had yet to be answered.

The front door suddenly swung open, startling the girl out of her thoughts. In walked a slim, but strong looking woman dressed in a thick blouse and sporting a long braid of dirty blonde hair. On her shoulder sat the same Terrible Terror that had been lying on the rafter before.

"Glad te see you're awake," the woman said, before nodding to the dragon, who flew back up to its perch on the rafter. "I do hope Scarlet didn't startle you too much," she continued, gesturing to the dragon. "She lets me know if patients are doing anything while I'm out, but I understand dragons in houses aren't common sights elsewhere." As she headed over to a cupboard and opened it, rummaging around, the girl blinked as she got her bearings again and tried to speak.

"Yeeeeaaaa"- she rasped, then stopped. She swallowed, trying to wet her throat a little, before trying again. "Y-you live with dragons here?"

The woman nodded. "For some time now. Our problems ended with them a few years ago, and they became companions. Do you have dragons where you come from?" The girl nodded, before breaking out into a cough. The woman walked over and picked up the mug of tea, offering it. She took it and drank gratefully, ignoring the bite of some of the herbs. When she was done, she spoke again.

"We…we used to live in peace with them for a few years, but that time has been over for a while." The woman nodded and smiled, taking the mug back and setting it down on the stand. "Well, you can be sure you're safe around them here. My name is Sigrid, and I'm the healer of the village. What's your name, dear?"

The girl hesitated, not sure if she was ready to trust this Sigrid with that information, as she seemed to end up wanted wherever she went. But she hadn't done anything but take care of her, so the girl decided it wouldn't hurt. "Uh, my name-my name is Ember."

Sigrid smiled again. "What a lovely name," she commented. Ember nodded. "I was named for my hair." She looked around again. "If you don't mind me asking, where exactly am I?" Sigrid turned and grabbed up some logs in the corner, going and stacking them in the fireplace by the bed. "You're in the village of Berk, one of the bigger islands in the Barbaric Archipelago, as they call it."

Ember's eyes went wide. "You said Berk?" Sigrid nodded again. "Sure did. We're home to the hero of the dragon war, and his father Stoick the Vast." Ember laid back down against the bed, feeling relieved. She had made it! She had actually managed to drift to exactly where she needed to go.

"Are you feeling okay?" Sigrid asked. Ember nodded. "Yes, it's just…I've been trying to get to here for months now, and I've finally managed to make it here." Sigrid cocked an eyebrow as she took a seat on another bed. "Why have you been trying to get here?" she asked. "It's not like Berk is famous for its vacationing opportunities. Are ye here looking for the person who ended the dragon war, perhaps?"

Ember shook her head. "No, no. I've heard about him too, but I came to find someone else," she explained. "I thought they may be able to help me fix a problem that plagues me. All the rumors I've heard led me to here."

There was silence for a moment as Sigrid sat at the edge of the other bed, before she got up and turned to the linens on another table stand, folding them up carefully. Ember worried she'd said something she shouldn't have, and stayed silent as well.

"We have had a lot of people come here, seeking help or otherwise," Sigrid finally said quietly. "It doesn't always go too well. Do you know who exactly it is you're looking for?" Ember could only shake her head. "No, not exactly. Stories have been trickling south for some time, about a young man who has powers granted by God, who works with the dragons, or something like that. If there is someone who can help me, it would be him, if he exists."

Sigrid went silent again as she moved on to a couple jars of herbs, taking out small amounts to prepare a salve for Ember's injuries. There was a bit of an unofficial agreement between all the Vikings, at least on Berk, that they wouldn't directly disclose the identity of their ally. She sighed and glanced at her patient again, who had laid flat on the bed one more.

"I'm afraid I can't too much help you myself. There are a handful of heroes, warriors with many stories about them in these northern islands here, and they mostly keep to themselves when they can. We can send notices to them, but they'll have to find you before they'll be convinced to help in any way."

Ember groaned inwardly, having come all this way for what it seemed may be another dead end. She didn't get to wallow in her thoughts for long however before the front door swung open, revealing what to her eyes was a very unorthodox group.

The door to Hiccup's room burst open as Spitfire came racing in. Hiccup, Toothless and I all jumped up immediately and turned to face him.

::She's woken up,:: the Changewing said. ::Scarlet just informed me.:: I nodded and glanced over at Hiccup. "Our castaway is awake," I relayed. "Should we go say hello now?" He nodded and grabbed his current notebook, while I eliminated my usual draconic features and hid the mark on my forehead. We walked downstairs and out the door, only to run straight into Astrid.

"Well, what a coincidence," she said. "I was just about to come get you three." "Did it have to do with the girl?" Hiccup asked. Astrid lifted a finger and began to answer, before stopping herself. "How did you know?" she asked. I smirked and jerked my thumb toward the barely visible outline standing on the grass nearby. "Spitfire let us know." " Ah. Well, anyway, my mom sent me to get you guys, in case you would be of any help."

We hurried through the village and down to the Hofferson household. I could pick up both Sigrid's voice and a much younger person's conversing as we approached the door. Astrid opened it and walked in first, followed by Hiccup, me, and lastly Toothless.

Lying on the bed, but most definitely awake, was the girl we'd rescued. "It's about time," I joked. "It's been three days since we found you." The girl blinked. "I've been out that long?" We nodded. "Plus however long you were out on that boat," Hiccup added. The girl rubbed her eyes, before coughing.

"She's still dealing with hypothermic aftereffects," Sigrid reminded, "so don't bother her too much."

After the girl stopped coughing, she looked back at us. "Pardon my asking, but who are you, anyway?" "My name is Astrid," said person introduced, "and this is where I live as well. You can thank my mother for bringing you back around." The girl looked at Sigrid, then back to Astrid. "Well, I can certainly see the resemblance," she commented. "You two looked a lot alike." Astrid nodded, then there was a moment of silence before she elbowed Hiccup.

"Oww! Okay, sorry, a little patience please," he quipped, stepping forward. "I'm Hiccup Haddock, son of the chief, and this is Toothless," he introduced, gesturing to said dragon, who gave our guest a gummy smile. The girl's eyes widened. "You…you were the ones who ended the war up here, weren't you?" Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, why?" The girl shook her head. "I-sorry, I thought you'd be a little…uh…a little bigger, that's all."

Hiccup groaned as Astrid and I sniggered. "Why does everyone say that?" he questioned. "Because you're a twig like me," I replied, giving him a friendly pat. Then I focused back on the girl.

"Okay, before I introduce myself, can I ask your name?" The girl smiled sheepishly. "Oh, sorry. My name is Ember. I'm, uh, not from around here." I nodded. "Figured as much. That impressive tan you have kind of gives it away." Ember looked down at her exposed arm, then back at me. "So, who are you? Pardon my saying but you don't strike me as a Viking either, you don't look much like them." She glanced between me and Hiccup. "Though you could almost pass as his brother."

I chuckled and nodded. "No, admittedly I'm not 'from around here,' as you say, but I am a local friend. My name's Hawken, and if you happen to need me, well, look for either of these two," I said, and gestured to Hiccup and Astrid. "Uhhh, right," Ember said. "I'll remember that. So, it was you guys who found me?" We nodded, before I looked up and spotted the real hero here looking in through the window.

"Actually, it was Spitfire who found you," I said, gesturing to the dragon. Ember glanced up and spotted him. "A Changewing? I thought those guys were really rare." I shrugged. "Well, he's the only one I've ever seen, though I'm sure Hiccup has run into them before." "Yeah, thanks for reminding me," he muttered.

Ember chuckled and shook her head slowly. "This is going to take me a while to wrap my head around all this. I thank you for helping me, but I'm afraid unless someone can tell…oww!" She yelped as she shifted her position, putting her hand to her side. She looked down at the bandage and sighed. "Well, I guess I'll be here a little longer than I thought," she muttered.

I cleared my throat and looked at the other three, gesturing toward the door. "Well, as I can see you need some more rest, so we'll be taking our leave for the moment." I nodded to Sigrid. "If you need me, send Scarlet." She nodded, and our little group exited the house, leaving Ember to rest again.

As we stepped out, I looked to Hiccup. "That was kind of weird. Usually most people think right away I'm related to you. How'd she know so quick?" He shrugged. "Well, she's from quite the distance away from here, so maybe that has something to do with it." I shrugged, and we glanced back at the house again.

Ember glanced over at Sigrid again. "What did he mean by 'if you need him'?" Sigrid chuckled. "Oh, Hawken has a number of talents, not the least of which are general healing. He helps me around here rather often when we have patients here."

Ember sighed and laid he head back against the pillow again. He was certainly different from the rest, she thought, even just how he acted. Maybe he's the one. I'll bet at the very least if not he and Hiccup can help me find who I'm looking for.

A/N-And we finally know our castaway's name. Care to guess exactly how she got it?

As always, make sure to leave a review, let me know what you think! And, keep an eye out, as later this week there will be an extra chapter!