The next morning, Hiccup woke up early. He decided to go to the clearing where he'd last seen Nina. Upon arriving, he couldn't find her. He noticed the trail, but decided against following it in case she hadn't gone down there.
"Nina?" he called, looking around. He heard something down the trail and, against his better judgement, followed it. He came across her camp with the brush shelter's entrance facing away. "Nina?"
A scrambling was heard then her raven crested head poked up from behind the shelter. "Hi!" she said a little too excitedly. "Hiccup, I wasn't expecting company. Meet me at the clearing. I'll be right there." He was curious about why she was so eager to get him away from her campsite. A small gurgling was heard, similar to a puppy growling. Nina's eyes widened. "Uh, I haven't had breakfast, yet. I-"
"I brought something for you," he said. "I left it back at the clearing."
Her curiosity perked up. "Oh? I'll meet you there, just give me a minute to clean up a bit."
"Okay." He turned and headed back down the trail. Once he was out of earshot, she bent down and looked at the Terrible Terrors.
"Guys, you can't be noisy when other people are around. They're not as friendly as I am," she murmured to them. The dragon that had slept in her arms nodded and chattered at the others. "Stay here. I'll be back I promise. I've just gotta go make sure he's not suspicious of this stuff. His father runs the village I'm from. If it's found out that I'm friends with dragons, they'll either kick me out, or kill you guys and make me watch." More chattering followed. She stood, walked down to the stream and splashed her face with water, shivering at the cold. Then she headed back to the clearing where Hiccup was waiting.
He had a small basket with him and they sat down to eat breakfast together. Afterwards, they sat around and talked before he headed back to the village. Nina sighed after he left, then ran back to her campsite. She still had to figure out what to do with the Terrible Terror's corpse. At first she thought about burning it, but decided against it. Her next idea was to bury the little dragon. Again, she scratched the idea. Finally she settled on a rock cairn. She built the first layer and then wrapped the body in a cloth she had with her. She carried it to the burial site and then piled the rocks on it.
The rest of the day was spent getting to know the dragons she had met. She continuously took notes. Maybe I should make them a place that's safe for them to go that I can hang out with them too, she thought to herself. A house in the middle of the forest would be highly conspicuous, but time-wise a tree house would take too long. She settled on digging a bunker. She set about clearing an area and stopped. She didn't even have a shovel, how in Thor's name was she supposed to dig a bunker big enough for her and about twenty dragons the size of large house cats. She sighed. "I'm heading into town, guys," she told her dragons. She smiled a little at the thought. Her dragons, she liked the sound of the thought. "Stay here and stay out of sight. When I get back, we'll start work on a safe place for you guys to live without worry of discovery. There'll be plenty of escape routes and tunnels for you guys to nip down and into."
She steeled her nerves when she reached the clearing. It was only a two minute walk before the village came into view. She knew where the shovels were kept in her house and didn't want to bother anyone. She squared her shoulders and made her way through the streets to the building she was dreading entering. She gathered her strength for a moment with a hand on the wooden handle. Finally she took a deep, steadying breath, and pushed the door open. She quickly grabbed some tools that she knew she'd need, then threw a hammer and a bag of nails into a basket. Shouldering this, she looked around one final time, and then left.
She ran into Hiccup once again as she was leaving town. He looked questioningly at the tools on her back.
"Hey," he said, surprised. "What are you doing in town? I thought you said you weren't coming back for a week."
"I decided to build a bunker. It's gonna be really small, but it'll be a safe place in case I can't stand being in the village anymore," she said in explanation.
He nodded understandingly. As she turned away again, he hugged her close. She returned his spontaneous hug and then they separated. She waved just before she headed into the woods. She arrived at the clearing and then followed her path to her campsite. She looked around to ensure she wasn't followed, then set to work digging. Peeling the grass back and flopping it behind where she was planning on digging, she dug straight down, using sticks to create a small ladder. She lined the walls to about an inch below where the cover was going to be with wood.
Then she used some planks and sturdy lumber she felled with her ax to create both a doorway as well as a support beam for her bunker. The Terrible Terrors helped her by taking small baskets of dirt far from the clearing, and away from the village. When she had cleared an area about twelve foot by ten foot, the Terrors set about digging little tunnels and she began putting up support beams everywhere. She laid two stretching the length and width of the room, notching them appropriately where they intersected. She also used the hammer and nails to knock them together a little more firmly. Nina paused a moment to take a breather in the bunker and wiped her brow, sweat beading there. She was preparing to turn and leave the bunker when a Terrible Terror broke through opposite her, purring with pride. It moved out of the hole and a luxuriously cool breeze blew past her.
She climbed out of the hole and realized she had a whole new kettle of fish to deal with. How was she going to disguise the cover and make it hard to discern from the rest of the clearing? One thing in her favor was that it was a relatively rocky area, being about four hundred feet from the base of a mountain. She found a pretty good sized rock and set about carving a small tunnel in it. When she was satisfied with the results, she threaded a small rope through it, then built a quick hatch to put over the hole. It was little more than six boards across with two shorter bits of wood stretched across the others, held there by nails. She used her knife and bored a hole in one of the boards and slipped the rope through it. She set the hatch in place and began carefully putting the grass back where it belonged. When it came to the rope and rock combination, she paused, thinking for a bit. She felt a little pat on her knee as she was sitting down, and saw the Terrible Terror she had first befriended with her knife in his mouth. She assumed it was a he because it was a bit bigger and she noticed a small slit in his belly.
"Cut a small slit in the grass to cover it?" she asked. He nodded. "Well, little dragon, I'll do that. It sounds like a great idea." She started to work on it and he climbed up her back and sat on her shoulder, watching her actions. She finished and sat back, admiring her handiwork.
"Hrrrb," gurgled the dragon on her shoulder, seemingly pleased with her work.
An idea struck her. "Would you be alright if I called you Herby? The sound you just made sounds like it," she asked him. He tilted his head and looked skyward, thinking for a bit. Then he seemed to smile a little smugly, looking down at her then nodding, licking her cheek again. "Awe, thank you." She picked him off her shoulder and gave him a gentle hug.
Herby purred and tried to return the gesture by pressing his nose against her chin and wrapping his paws as far around her face as he could, using his tail when that failed. They looked at each other. "Let's get to furnishing our little bunker," she said to him. He nodded and climbed up to her shoulder. She looked at the sun and saw it was rather low on the horizon. She hadn't realized she'd been working all day. Her stomach grumbled hungrily and she went down to the stream. As she was fishing, her mind was tickled and nagged by the realization that she had to feed not only her mouth, but twenty others as well. The thought was daunting, and she caught ten fish, all she managed to catch.
An earpiercing scream made her jump when she set down the fish. The Terrors set on it like flies to poop. She grabbed her knife and set Herby down. She ran back up her trail and found a rabbit struggling for all it was worth. She grabbed it and wrung its neck, killing it instantly. She skinned it, dressed it, and threw the guts to the small dragon flock she had befriended. They seemed excited about the new treats. She set about preparing the rabbit and started cooking it on the fire. While it cooked, she stretched the rabbit skin out on a makeshift drying rack and positioned it so the flesh was facing the flames, both cooking it as well as drying it out. She reached into a small bag of salt she had found and rubbed some coarse salt on the sinew of the rabbit skin, using it to further dry it out. She knew Trader Johann was coming soon, and she wanted to have something to trade with him. After she did that, she ate some of the bunny meat until she was satisfied, went down to the stream to get a drink, and then returned to her campsite and climbed into her lean-to, falling asleep as the Terrors draped themselves across her.