"Who is she?" Snotlout flirted.

Arya stood at the mouth of the arena behind Hiccup, wearing a displeased look.

"But really, who is she?" Ruffnut added.

"This is Arya, We found her yesterday in the cove."

"So just because you find something means you can bring it to practice?" Snotlout said.

"I found a cabbage under my bed… well I hope it's a cabbage," Tuffnut said, scratching his head.

"Remember the last time you showed an outsider this stuff?" Astrid said bitterly.

Hiccup looked at her blankly.

Astrid groaned—"Heather?"

"This is different—" Hiccup pulled Arya forward. "We can trust her,"

Astrid scoffed.

"Thanks for letting me do this with you guys today—" Arya turned to Astrid and flashed her a friendly smile. "I assure you it will only be today."

Hiccup rolled his eyes playfully, "We'll see… "

"So what are you going to make her do?" Fishlegs added, his voice quiet.

"We'll start from the basics," Hiccup said proudly, leaving Toothless's side. "Just be friendly, make Toothless respect you."

Hiccup paced away from them, then spun on his heels to see toothless sprawled on the ground happily with his tongue out of his mouth.

"What happened?"

"While we were ignoring you—" Snotlout said rudely, "—the new girl got on your dragon's good side."

"Wow, that was fast. How'd you do it?" Hiccup shrugged.

Arya backed away from Toothless. "Dragons love a good scratch behind the wings," she said. Toothless sprung up and stood in Arya's shadow.

"How'd you know that?" Astrid butted in.

Arya paused—"Well, its just common sense I guess."

"Yeah, okay…" Astrid said sarcastically, she folded her arms and scoffed.

"Anyways… go ahead and get on him," Hiccup said, walking over to Toothless.

"Umm… it seems to late to ride, don't you think?"

"The sun isn't even down yet, we have plenty of time!"

Arya stared at Hiccup. He saw worry in her eyes, and decided not to force her to ride.

"We can continue ground work with you today, but tomorrow you'll get a chance to ride," Hiccup said, raising an eyebrow.

"This does not count against the bet though, today doesn't count as one full day," Arya said with a smile.

"As long as you don't give up on training dragons, I'm happy."

Arya smiled.

* * LATER* * *

Hours of questions about her past, hours of lying; Arya sat alone in her borrowed room, thoughts racing through her mind. Her eyes drifted to the window, where the navy sky wrapped around the horizon. Before she knew it, Arya was crawling off the roof. She broke out into a run. The forest appeared under her feet. Her breath was heavy, and her heart beat at her chest, but still she did not stop running.

"The cove" she whispered, trying to think of a safe place.

Bugs chirped, illuminating the forest with life and commotion. Everything seemed amplified in Arya's ears, rattling in her head. Frogs croaked, and the slight buzzing of a sleepwalking Gronckle's wings hummed all around.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Arya roared, crashing to the ground on her hands and knees. The dirt softened her collapse. She closed her eyes tight. All the sounds blended together and screamed in her ears.

"Cant this hold off until next week?" She muttered through gritted teeth.

She exhaled with relief and allowed the forces of nature do what they were trying to do. Her eyes began to glow brighter, and her hair gleamed as if it were reflecting sunlight. Her body began to take a new shape.

A long slender body rose from where the human girl used to be in a wave of gold light. Vibrant scales gold and bright like the sun lined the gossamer surface of the creature. Moonlight reflected of the long crème colored horns of the beast, protruding behind the massive head. Golden feathers and long strands of amber hair created a mane on her neck, the hair glimmered in the light of the night. Feathered wings with shimmering amber feathers and downy crème colored feathers stretched high into the sky. Silver talons dug into the soft ground. A piercing roar broke through the beast's mouth, ringing through the cove. It ended the call with a snarl and leaped into the air, her muscles rippling under the dancing scales.

With a shrieking roar, the dragon flew out of the cove, and towards the sea.