"Pache? Pache dear, where are you? Huh, what are you doing?" Valka walked into the cave that was made Pache's bedroom.

"Oh, hi Valka! I'm just adding another tally to my cheek."

"Huh?" When looking at her face, there were five tally's there drawn by charcoal. Then Pache drew one more on her arm, making six. "Why are you doing that?"

"On my birthday daddy would always draw a tally on my cheek for how old I was. Then, he'd measure my height by marking it on a large piece of wood. It was great! Until…" Her voice wandered off and she looked at her feet.

"Your birthday's today? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Well, I didn't want to bother you with it. You've been so kind to me so far, and it's not that big of a deal, so why bother?" Walking up to the young girl, Valka knelt down and lifted her chin up to look into each other's eyes.

"Why bother? Because you, my dear six-year old, are very special. And so we must celebrate. I already have an idea what to get you."

"You don't have to."

"I will. But, first I have to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"It… it's hard to say when we will be able to get you back home. It's quite the distance from here, and with your current situation with Alvin and your powers it's not safe to go out. But, I will only keep you here at your word. So, are you willing to stay here and let me train you?" Forest green met oceanic cyan, and Pache pondered for a while on the consequences and positives that could result from her decision.

"I-I'll stay here." She resulted.

"Are you sure? There's no turning back." Valka said, surprised at her granddaughter's quick response to the life-changing question.

"I am. I don't want to hurt anyone back home, and until I'm absolutely sure that I can't be hurt by Alvin it's best to stay away from him. Besides, I get to stay with you and Salidabio."

"Salidabio? Who's that?"

"That's the bewilderbeast. He understands me, and is a wise leader. I'd like to learn more from him, and you." She smiled. Valka stood up and grabbed Pache's hand, beginning to lead her out of the cave.

"I'm glad you made the choice you did. Now, let's go get your presents."

"YOU DEMAND WHAT!?" The king of Ainstatia shouted.

"You heard me." Hiccup replied in the giant room where all of the nobleman of the kingdom and the riders/dragons of Berk/Freyja had gathered for a meeting. The captain was standing awkwardly between both parties, wondering what to do when suddenly he spotted what he'd describe as the most beautiful woman in the world. With long, braided, blonde hair and a feisty look on her face. "Unless you help us in the finding of my heir and the captains heir we will declare war."

"You can't possibly expect us to make a choice so astutely in such an miniscule quantity of time."

"On the contrary sir. You see, there is no choice." Hiccup said darkly. All of the other dragon riders had stoick expressions, but were nevertheless surprised. All but Astrid, who knew he was bluffing. But bluffing always worked.

"What will go in our favor?" The king all but spat out.

"You will have a strong brand of allies for many years to come, and there will be one less problem in your future." Astrid answered. A messenger terror had to be sent right away to retrieve her from Xaterra after the situation was explained. There was no time to discuss if she found anything there or not.

"Don't be ridiculous, woman. I've had no problems with any other kingdom or tribe before you, so what trouble would come in which you would be involved?" The women in the room were about ready to bite his head off.

"Have you ever heard of Alvin the treacherous?"

"No."

"Eret son of Eret?"

"Somewhat."

Hiccup paused, as if afraid to say the next name. "Drago Bludvist?" The king's face paled. "I'll take that as a yes. You see, Alvin kidnapped my daughter and Captain richard's son. My daughter escaped with a dragon and he's trying to track her using Eret. Eret, if he finds her, will eventually report to his master, Drago, who in turn will want to use my daughter. She has a very important role to Berk and Freyja you see, so it would be disastrous if that occurred. Of course, once he trained all of his dragon army he'll try to take control of the world, and since you are the closest kingdom to the Barbaric Archipelago…"

"Yes, yes, I see your point." Hiccup was cut off. The king took a long sigh before saying, "Very well, we will aid you in your search. But, if any conflict may come to Berk or Freyja, leave us out of it. Ainstatia is only for searching, not schism.

"Completely understood, thank you your majesty. That's all I require. I shall take my leave now and will be here tomorrow at dawn." He motioned for the others to follow him out the giant doors, and once the last person was out, a knife was suddenly flung at the king's head, barely missing him by a couple inches. He stared up at the weapon embedded into the wall where the initials H.H.H. III were embedded. Turning to the person who threw it with an incredulous look on his face, Hiccup said one final note. "If you ever insult my wife or any other members of my domain for stupid reason like sexism, you will pay." Hiccup said in dragonese, which came out as a terrifying rumble/growl.

He honestly didn't know what it meant, but Toothless had used it when addressing enemies, so why not. Besides, it obviously made the man who he threw the dagger at shake in his shoes.

With those words, he walked out the room, shutting the door behind him and leaving an exasperated group of men behind.

Perhaps this deal will be good after all. If he can scare me then as an ally I have no fears after all. Better united than apart.

"This is WONDERFUL! Oh, I LOVE it!" Pache said, admiring her new dragon rider outfit Valka had given her.

"If you're going to stay here and train as one of us you must have have the proper uniform." She had said, and gave Pache a new outfit. She was twirling in a dark red, spaghetti strapped dress, matching the red stained at the tips of her hair from the blood, giving her a deadly appearance. The length of the bottom went about an inch and a half above her knees. Underneath that she wore a pair of black, grey, and brown mixed leggings. On her feet were blue and purple flats, and the bands on her wrists were different colors. On the left side it was black, and on the right side, it was white. Around her waist was a leather belt, and she also had a leather vest on, giving a tough but sophisticated look. Finally she had a white mask that covered her forehead, her temples, and her nose, and at the top was two horn-like objects sticking out.

"This is the best present EVER! My daddy never got me clothes this nice, and when he did it wasn't the full outfit. And it was always boy clothes too. I love this dress!" Pache couldn't stop spinning, and eventually fell over from dizziness. "Whoo! Head rush!"

Valka couldn't help but laugh at the goofy child. "Don't make your head explode young one, there's still more."

"MORE?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"You need a weapon, don't you?" Valka grabbed a large basket that was on Cloudjumper's back, and emptied the contents onto the ground. There was a variety of clubs, spears, axes, and bows that could be chosen.

"That's a lotta stuff." The six-year old marveled.

"You can choose the one you find most fitting. In order to protect yourself a weapon that you can use efficiently, and easily. So try some out and see what you like."

Astrid and Hiccup were standing there awkwardly, looking at the ground, wondering who would make the first move. Finally, Hiccup looked at Astrid and said, "I…

"Hey, Hiccup!" A voice interrupted. The couple turned their heads to see the captain running toward them.

"Oh, yeah Richard?"

"I had a question for y… Oh, who is this?" He asked, turning to Astrid.

"I am Astrid, Hiccup's wife." She answered.

"Your a lucky man. My wife died giving birth to my son. He's the only thing I have left of her. And, I wanted to say thank you for helping me find hi..."

"Astrid!" Ruffnut shouted, cutting off Richard as she ran toward the group.

"Yeah Ruffnut?" She asked.

So that was the beautiful woman who I saw at the meeting. (Author note: You thought the blonde-haired-beautiful woman was Astrid didn't you?! HAHAHAHA!) The captain thought.

She looked at the guy staring at her, his mouth agape, and smiled a flirty grin. "Well, Grrowwll." Ruffnut said, making the captain blush.

"Ruffnut, focus. What did you want to tell me?" Astrid said, snapping the nut out of her trance with the captain.

"Oh, right. Anyway, Tuffnut is roughhousing with somebody and I can't get him to stop. I don't have my mace because I left it back on Berk, so there wouldn't be any fun in it."

Astrid sighed. "Let's go break it up."

Ruffnut led Astrid, Richard, and Hiccup to where Tuffnut and a man were wrestling in the middle of a large crowd.

"You half-brained, idiotic, stupid, destructive…"

"don't forget dunce, ignoramus, dolt, halfwit…" Tuffnut was throwing insults at himself now instead of the stranger.

"SHUT UP FOR JUST TWO SECONDS!"

Two seconds later… "Okay, now what?"

"UGHH!"

"Tuffnut, stop IT!" Ruffnut shouted at the same time Richard shouted, "Martin, stop IT!"

"What? Who's Martin/Tuffnut? My twin brother." They said in unison, and stared at each other's eyes a little longer than one usually would.

"Whoah." Again, in unison