She looked out on the deck of her ship. The cold wind was slowly through the ship, sending shivers down her spine. They usually didn't fly at night, they would either camp out somewhere and rest, or dock and find a tavern. Her crew lay slumped over railing and objects, Sithera sitting against a crate. Happily snoozing away. Ray was slumped over the Typhon, almost looking dead. Brynn was still awake, keeping Hicca company. She was leaning against the large air pump, which supplied the balloon with how air. It was silent on the ship, only the gentle, cold breeze of the wind silently howling as it passed along the wood, steel and rope construction.

"So what happened?" Brynn asked as she pushed herself off the pump walking towards Hicca. "Why did we had to leave so quickly?" "The parlay went south." Hicca answered as she pulled the wheel, steering the airship slightly to the left. "We didn't agree on the terms." "What did he want anyway?" Brynn asked as she walked over to Hicca, taking a position besides her and sitting down on the small metal railing that protected the captain's spot. "And why did we have to run?" "They wanted information about me." Hicca explained as she lowered the speed of the aircraft. "And we had to leave because they knew we were there." "He spooked you, didn't he?" Brynn asked. "I've never seen you in such a hurry." Hicca locked the wheel. Letting the ship gently continue its direction.

"He saw me." Hicca said softly. "He recognised me." "Who? That Hofferson lass?" Brynn asked. "But he already knew we were a crew right." "I don't mean that he recognised this." Hicca said as she pointed to her attire. "He recognised me." "As in 'you' you?" Brynn asked, slowly starting to understand the problem. "Yes, me." Hicca said. "He looked at me and saw Hicca Haddock, daughter of Stoick 'the Vast' Haddock." "Ow." Was everything Brynn managed to add. "That could prove to be a problem." "He looked so happy too." Hicca said sadly. "He was so glad to finally see me again." "What did you do?" Brynn asked. "He didn't let you just run away." "Imayhaveknockhimout." Hicca said really quickly. "What?" Brynn asked. Hicca sighed. "I may have, like, knocked him out, cold." She said as she shifted from one feet to the other. "I'm sure he'll understand." Brynn said with a small grin on her face. "And don't feel sorry for hitting guys, I never do." "It's different though." Hicca said with a sigh. "You don't like the boys you hit." "I hit Ray often enough." Brynn argued. "Never felt sorry for it." "That's because you know he can have it." Hicca replied. "He'd tough and used to this sort of thing." Brynn snorted in laughter. "From what you told me about that Aster guy, I think he can have it too." She said between laughts. "He'll be fine."

"He might even respect you more." Brynn added. "Since you're now this fierce, independent sexy pirate chick." Hicca chuckled at the statement. "Don't ever call me that again." "I cheered you up, good." Brynn replied with a chuckle. "So where are we going?" "Halfway to Stadt, then a few degrees south." Hicca replied as she looked at her map. "Then we move towards Fenrir's Teeth." She moved the wheel a bit to the left, making the right engine produce more power. "The next linkup?" Brynn asked, which earned a nod from Hicca. "Aye, we should all be able to fit in there." She said as she studied the maps which had usual wind streams on it. "If we deem it safe enough we might make it a usual." "That would be handy." Brynn added. "A usual meeting place would speed things up, we might even be able to make some docks."

"Wouldn't that be something?" Hicca said as she yawned, the lost night finally taking its toll on the girl. "I think I'm going to lie down for a while, can I trust you with it?" She asked as she pointed to the wheel. "I think I'll manage." Brynn answered as she moved her hand over the weathered wheel of the ship.

: : : : : : : :

"Hey, wake up lad." He heard a voice say, but his head hurt too much to care, he felt like Thor himself had dropped Mjolnir on him. "Wake up." He groaned loudly, stating his discomfort. He didn't want the voice right now, he wanted to just lie here and rest. "Are you okay lad?" He heard the voice ask, it sounded like some local, and the accent indicated that. Leser's inhabitants had a slightly different accent from other towns. He opened his eyes, being greeted by the view of the polished floorboards. He flipped himself on his back, hitting his head on the ground. "Aaaah." He hissed as he grabbed the throbbing pain on his back. "What happened?" He asked the voice that he heard, now searching for the man to match it. "You we're knocked out cold mate." He found the man leaning over him. "And good too, luckily the blood has stopped."

Aster looked next to him and saw a small puddle of blood, he removed his hand from the back of his head and found it red and moist. "Who did this?" He asked, his knew very well who had, but he wanted to know if the innkeeper knew anything. "Don't know mate." The innkeeper's voice was heavy and calm. "I think you got in a tussle with the wrong people." "Yea, I guess." Aster's mind was replaying everything that happened. The talk with the captain, the green beautiful eyes that had stared at him, filled with fire and energy. She looked so full of life, so energetic, so Hicca.

He remembered her outburst, what she said. She didn't want to be found, she wanted to be free. She wanted to be where she belonged, with her friends and crew. "Are you okay lad?" The innkeeper broke his thoughts. "You went all glassy eyes on me there." Aster stared at him for a second. Before gently shaking his head to clear his mind. "Yea, yea, I'm fine." He quickly said as he stood up, stumbling lightly. "Careful now lad, you've been out for most of the night." The innkeeper warned as Aster slowly walked down the stairs. "I need to get to my ship." Aster replied, ignoring the warning. "Thanks for your help." He said as he waved the man a goodbye and walked towards the docks.

She had hit him quite well, since his head was throbbing painfully and he was stumbling through the streets, knocking things over and bumping into people.

: : : : : :

Gobber was already at the wheel, the master was waiting for his order to release the ship. All he was waiting for was one of his crew. "Where can he be?" He yelled to Fishlegs, who was leaning against the field gun at the front of the ship. "Maybe he got lost." Replied the boy. "It's a busy town." "Maybe he got kidnapped!" Tuffnut yelled. "Or Killed." Ruffnut added. "Yea or killednapped!" They replied in unison as they made an awe sound like they just invented the best thing ever. "Are you imagining it too?" Ruffnut asked her brother. "Yea, and it's awesome!"

At this point Aster stood in the doorway, having recovered enough from the blow to his head to walk safely on the docks. The crew were all focussed on his beaten look. Gobber decided to say nothing, but if he had to give his technical explanation for his appearance, it would be that he looked like shit.

Aster slowly waddled towards the ship and sat down on a crate. Staring at everyone. Only now did Gobber see the large red stain in his blonde hair. "Sorry I'm late." Aster said dryly. "Got knocked out." Gobber walked over to inspect the damage to his head. He lifted some hairs to find that it was a just a small harmless wound. Head wound always looked way worse than they were. "Someone got you good." Gobber muttered as inspected the wound, before turning back to Aster. "By Thor lad, what happened?"

"Like I said, I got beat up." Aster said calmly. "I tried to parlay with the privateers." "The pirates." Gobber corrected him. "What did you learn?" "Not much." Astrid lied. "They didn't want to give information, knocked me out as I tried to leave." Gobber sighed, he wasn't happy to see his best man hurt. But it was a perfect excuse. "We'll be heading back to Berk." He said as he signalled the dock master to release the ship. "You need to rest."

The ship sunk a bit when the metal stamps retracted from the hull, quickly hiding back into the wood and steel frame of the docks. "Good sailing!" The master called from the controls as he headed towards the main staircase. "Aye, 'till next time!" Gobber called back as he steered the ship out of the hangar. "Full speed to Berk lads." Gobber said. "I want to be there by sunrise."

AN :

Quick update in the middle of the week. Haven't seen one of those in a while. :D

I've had a bit more time to write lately but don't expect these often, I'm in my last year of school and it's time that I start saving my grades. It'll be like putting a forest fire out with a small, and I do mean small, water pistol.

Anyway, I'll still update once a week at least, in the weekends. If a chapter arises in the middle of the week it's a bonus. So YAY!

Do send OC's before the next linkup. I'll try to add them.

Does anyone had a clue on gobbers secret appointment. Or what Aster is planning? Who knows!

Take care

R4y