Hiccup led Merida to Gobbers shop. The stout man was working on a replacement tooth for a Monstrous Nightmare, clanking away at the long piece of sharpened metal. He looked up as he heard the signature 'thump-clank' of Hiccups footsteps.
"Hiccup! You're back!"
"Yep! We brought you a new patient back too. But she needs a welcome home present first." Hiccup said as he slipped the dirty apron on over his head. Merida looked at him quizzically as he went to a large wheel of thick, brown leather.
"Wha' are yah doin Hiccup?"
"I'm making Bonnie a saddle. It'll be easier for you to ride her then."
"Oh…" Merida quietly looked around the shop. She walked around the inside. She took in every hammer, every lever, and every material. Merida didn't notice the huge, sleeping dragon on the floor and nearly landed on her bum, if not for a strategically placed table. This situation obviously happened on a regular basis.
"Grump! What have I said about laying in the middle of the walk way?" Gobber chided the large dragon who, in turn, flipped on his side and grumbled.
"The first person to ask for you, you're going! I can't take this Grumpy." Said dragon shot a ball of fire to keep the small hearth light, and Gobber shook his head and continued to clang away. Hiccup took out a piece of paper with Bonnies' measurements on it. He drew a pattern on the leather and yelled over his shoulder,
"Is there anything you want special on your saddle?"
"A would like a spot for mah bow, and somewhere fer extra arrows. A would also like a lot of pockets and compartments… Is tha' too much?"
"Not at all." Hiccup flashed Merida a smile and a wink, which caused the young woman's ears to burn.

After fifteen minutes of watching Hiccup cut, fold, sew, and many other tasks Merida couldn't possibly imagine doing, she wondered off. Soon, she found that her feet carried her to her new home. She went inside, grabbed her bow and quiver full of arrows, and made her way around the town. She found herself standing in front of the circular arena. She walked in, staring up at the pieced together, twisted metal ceiling. It did little to protect the inside from the elements, but snow probably wasn't hard to get rid of here, what with all the fire breathing dragons. Merida set her bow and quiver in the center of the arena and began opening all the doors that lined the walls. She smiled when she found what she was looking for, a stack of targets, in the back corner of a large storage room. She dragged them out and set them up around the arena. She placed one on the door where she got the targets from, she set one behind her, one at the highest spot she could reach off to her left, and one on a barrel to her right. She began to look around. She wanted to get a target or two on the ceiling above her. Bonnie was with Hiccup, and she really didn't want to walk all the way back to Gobbers' shop, and she hadn't mastered Bonnies' call yet. Merida sighed as she looked around the large area. She spotted a cape and smiled. She tied a piece of rope around the target and tied it around her waist. She grabbed the cape and swirled it around, coiling it into a tight twist. Merida slipped out of her shoes and climbed on a barrel. She wrapped the cape around a piece of the metal and started climbing her way to the top. It was just like climbing a tree. Merida smiled when she reached the top. She wrapped her legs around the metal, as much as she could and untied the rope around her waist with one hand. Then she set the target flush against the metal and tied it tightly in place. Merida started her decent back down the metal when she was startled.
"Merida!" She snapped her head up, and her foot slipped. Now she was dangling in the air gripping the cape for dear life. In a flash, Hiccup was up there on Toothless.
"A had et. Really I did Hiccup."
"Oh, so when you're hanging in the air, that means you've got it?"
"No Hiccup. A really did have et. You surprised me is all." Merida grumbled and folded her arms across her chest. Hiccup landed Toothless and gave his fiancée a hard stare. After a few minutes of staring at her, and checking to make sure she was okay, Hiccup finally looked to see why she was up there in the first place.
"A target! You risked your life for a target?"
"Like A said before. A. Had. et." Merida turned around, her hands on her hips.
"Trouble in paradise?" A voice sounded from behind them, dripping with sarcasm, which made Merida narrow her eyes at the ground.
"No." She said as she turned to glare at Astrid. "A was just about ta practice." Merida picked up her bow and strung her quiver across her back. Merida hoisted her bow, and placed the arrow on the string. She pulled back the string to her anchor point, right under her chin. She released the string and the arrow shot out, it went flying dead center of the bullseye. She pulled another arrow from her quiver and readied it. Merida flowed seamlessly as she repeated the steps. Hiccup and Astrid watched in awe as she hit dead center of every target, every time. Arrows split down the middle, and soon, Merida was out of arrows in her quiver. She huffed as she set down her equipment. She pulled out every arrow that she could use, except the one in the ceiling, and brushed past Hiccup and Astrid.
"A need more arrows." And with that, the door slammed behind her.
*************************************************

Merida sat on her bed. She was still furious at Hiccup. Had she not proven in the past that she was more than capable to handle herself? She had bested him many times. And not only him, but every man who had tried to win her hand. Who was he to tell her it was unsafe. Well… it was pretty unsafe. If she had slipped, she probably wouldn't get to see the day she became Merida Haddock… But that was completely beside the point. He didn't trust her. And that hurt more than anything.

So Merida stayed in bed the rest of the morning. She had tried to go to sleep, but all that she could do was stair at the ceiling and count the pieces of straw. On number 343, she heard Stoick come in. On number 548 he left. She never said a word, and neither had he. But in the pit of her stomach, she knew that Hiccup had already told him what happened.

*After Merida left*
Hiccup stood there staring at the door dumbfounded. From the corner of his eye he saw Astrid cross her arms and turn to him.
"I feel sorry for you tonight."
"What is your problem?" Hiccup yelled and turned on Astrid. She took a step back, visibly shaken by the sudden outburst. "I mean, you've been nothing but hostile since she got her. What has she done to you? Absolutely nothing! It's not like she's "competition" for you. She's marrying me. ME Astrid. Not Tuff, not Snotlout, not Fishlegs. Me. I doubt she's said more than ten words to you this entire time. And you've tried to drop a sheep on her. A FUCKING SHEEP ASTRID! What did she do to you to make you so bitter?"
"What hasn't she done to me? She comes here and everybody goes ga-ga over her. This stupid little princess. She took you away from me. She took my chance at actually being something here! Without you, I have no chance. You took away my first prize, being the best dragon killer. Then you kept upstaging me at dragon training." Hiccup opened his mouth to say something, but Astrid held a hand up to silence his voice. "Yeah, I get it. You've been at it longer than I have. But I don't care. Then you keep getting better than me at flying. Always have to one-up me, don't you? Now, you're in the spotlight, again, for being the one who won the unwinnable princess."
"I did NOT win her. She's not a prize, Astrid. She's a person. And honestly, you're jealous of her because she's got ME? After all these years, and now you finally tell me how you feel? Wait, no. You don't feel that way. You just want to be Chieftess." Astrid didn't say anything, but her face twisted into an unreadable expression. "Yeah. That's it. Well get over it Astrid. Merida is here. She's going to be my wife. I love her. Something you would never understand." Hiccup turned on his heel and ran through the doors. Astrid shook her head and wiped her eyes.
"If only you knew how wrong you are…"

Hiccup ran through the village, but she was nowhere to be found. Bonnie was at Gobber's shop, getting casts made of her teeth. Hiccup had looked in three of the four places she knew how to get to, and he was on his way back to his house when his dad stopped him.
"What's going on son?"
"Merida is upset with me. And I kind of deserve it, but I was worried about her." Stoick looked at his son straight faced then laughed, a deep, hearty, belly jiggling laugh. Hiccup looked up at his father, confusion written all over his face. Stoick shook his head and clapped Hiccup on the shoulder.
"I promise that it's going to be okay. What happened son?"
"Well, I was making Bonnie's saddle and she walked off. Which is understandable. When I found her, she was halfway up one of the pieces of the ceiling of the arena, hanging. I thought she fell. So I rushed up to her on Toothless, and got her down, and she was angry with me. Then Astrid came in and said something stupid to her and made everything worse. She shot her arrows, which was amazing. She went through thirty in about three minutes. But anyway. So she storms off and I just. I don't know what to do. What if she decides to go back home?" Stoick shook his head.
"Listen son, it takes a long time to understand women. Each one is different. But I know you know her well enough that you know what to do. You should probably give her some space. When she's ready, she'll talk to you. It's going to be okay." Stoick clapped his son on his back again, and the two went off to monitor construction on the new building for Hiccup and Merida.
*************************************************************

Merida calmly walked through the village, smiling as she saw all the bright faces. Those who saw her waved, and she waved back with a smile and a 'hello'. She finally found her way to the Great Hall for lunch, and she walked around the edges of the room. She made her way to an empty half of a table. She saw the slumped shoulders and wild hair. She'd spot that braid anywhere. She slid next to him, and elbowed him in the ribs. He jerked upright, his head snapping to her.
"A-" She was cut off by Hiccup folding her into his arms. His hand found the back of her head and pushed her face into his shoulder like she was something precious he'd lost and finally found.
"Listen, I'm so sorry. I know you can handle yourself, but when I saw you up there, all I could think about was you falling and me not getting there soon enough to catch you. I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt when I could do something about it."
"Hiccup, Am ur sorry. A just… A got so angry that you didn't believe that A can take care of mahself, that A forgot that it was a pretty big deal. If A was to find yah like that, A probably woulda' freaked out too." She kissed his cheek and smiled at him, her azure eyes glittering in the dim lights of the torches. Hiccup leaned down and watched as Merida's eyes fluttered shut. He kept leaning in, wanting nothing more than to feel the silk of her lips against his.
"Ew! Gross!" Ruffnut sat down across from them, knocking the table around as she did. Not far behind her was Tuff.
"Really, you guys should do that at home. No one wants to see that here." Snotlout fallowed behind, catching Hiccup on the shoulder with a rough hand.
"Way to go slugger. Get it!"
"Guys. They're going to be married. I don't see any of you with someone. Let them kiss… It's only human." Everyone sighed at Fishlegs' comment and Hiccup and Merida scooted away from each other. The lunch was served, and everyone pretty much ran to the food table.

As Merida crunched on her nuts and berries, she noticed Astrid was nowhere to be found. She scanned the room to no avail. She wrapped a turkey leg up in a napkin, and also added some nuts, and berries and tucked it way. She stood up from her seat, which caused Hiccup to look up to her in surprise.
"Where are you going?"
"Am ur going to go check out the forest."
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"Nay. Am ur gonna go with Bonnie."
"Okay. Have fun." Hiccup said and waved goodbye.

Merida found Bonnie at Gobber's wearing her new saddle. Merida smiled and mounted the dragon, noting how different it was to have a saddle. It sure beat riding bare-back. Merida flew Bonnie high into the sky, and started to circle the tops of the trees. She saw a small clearing in the trees and decided to land. She smiled when she saw who she was looking for. Her blonde hair was in a loose braid. She clutched an axe in her hands, swinging it at the thick trees. She yelled every time she made contact, and with her yells, she didn't notice Merida had landed behind her. She sat on Bonnie and searched for what she thought was probably there. She smiled when she found a spare bow in a crease of her saddle, and extra arrows from a pouch. She took one out, drew it back and released it into the tree Astrid was destroying. She whipped around, and glared at the red head in front of her.
"What do you want?"
"You missed lunch."
"So?"
"You can't skip lunch. You need ta eat."
"I'm fine."
"Whatever you say." Merida tossed her the food filled napkin and Astrid's stomach growled with delight. "Not hungry, huh?" Astrid shot her a death glare and tore into the turkey leg.
"Why are you being nice to me?"
"Am ur asking mahself the same question." Then it was silence. Five minutes passed by, and Astrid and Merida stood in awkward silence. "Why are you so crabbit?"
"So, what?"
"Crabbit, bad tempered, mean."
"I'm not mean." Astrid huffed.
"Coulda' fooled me." Merida said, locking eyes with Astrid. Astrid sighed. She knew she had to give it up.
"Look. All my life I've had to fight to be something. I've had to prove myself to my family before they loved me. No one cared about me, until I was great. Now that dragons are our friends, don't get me wrong I love Stormfly to a fault, but now I'm nothing. Hiccup has all the glory, the fame. It's impossible to get any recognition here. Then he goes and wins a fucking princess! I was in the running to become Chieftess, but now you've got it. Hiccup is off the market. I know that it sounds selfish, but really it's not. I've really taken a liking to Hiccup, and I've always had the comfort of knowing he's open and there when I'm ready. But now he's not. Now he's happy, and I'm alone. I hate this feeling. I can't stand it. And I guess I took it out on you. And that shouldn't have happened. I'm an adult. I know it's wrong. So, I'm sorry." Merida nodded.
"Yah know, A've had ta fight ta get recognition too. Like yah said, Hiccup WON me. A had ta fight mah whole life ta have a chance ta be mah own person. You've been yer own person yer entire life. A had ta fight my family fer them ta see that A am a person with feelings, and emotions of mah own. A nearly lost mah family. No, A don' know what et's like to fight ta be loved, but A dae know what et's like to lose everythin'. A may be a princess, but A didn't ask fer et. A didn't ask fer any of et. A didn't know A'd fall in love with Hiccup, especially the first time A saw him." Merida added the last part under her breath. Astrid laughed and Merida smiled. The two girls looked at each other and nodded. In that moment, the two girls understood each other.
"So, do you wanna practice?" Merida grinned at the girl and grabbed her arrows. This was going to be a great afternoon.

Soooo…. I flipped the picture of Bonnie as the Cover Photo, and you can defiantly see her. I really hope you guys like this chapter, I know the beginning isn't that great, but yeah… Tell me what you guys think about Astrid and Merida being friends! The story is approaching the time frame of the second How to Train Your Dragon. All the stuff that happened in the movie will be the same, save for all the Hicstrid. Thank you so much for all your reviews, and thank you for your help with the photo links(: Super appreciated. Alrighty then faithful readers, read on!