Hiccup picked at his plate of honeyed cornbread as he talked with the girl next to him. Five hours into the feast and his brothers' future wives had already shown up. Hubert's wife, a younger girl from the merchant class named Clarice, chatted with Hiccup about the smith who'd made her bronze pin. "He moved here from a country south of here, and he made the most delicate trinkets. Did he make your pin too?" She pointed at the clasp above his right shoulder.

"No," he answered the older girl. "I made it."

"Really?" Her eyes widened. "Can I see it?"

"Sure." He removed the gold circle and handed it to her, keeping the cloak secured with one hand. He watched as she turned it over and inspected the fastening mechanism, expecting to see her face light up at the fine craftsmanship.

But as the excellent workmanship became more and more apparent, so did her frown. "It's very well made," she said as she smiled at him, not showing her teeth and pursing her lips slightly.

He knew that look. "What's wrong with it?"

"Oh nothing," she answered airily. "I just didn't think the royal family would have to work with their hands much, outside of training."

His high opinion of his newest sister-in-law flew out the window and he prayed to whatever god would listen that he got someone who wasn't after an easy life. At least Hamish's wife knew something about what royal responsibility entailed, having had a taste of it herself due to her higher station. The girl handing back his clasp expected to be a trophy queen and someone who actually helped rule the kingdom. Then a thought struck him and he had to turn away from the girl to hide his smile. That wakeup call would be something to see.

On the other side of the Hubert and his new wife, the king was becoming uneasy. He called one of the servants over. "The banquet's almost over and Hiccup's bride still hasn't shown."

"Well sir," the man appeased, "his shot went straight into the woods. It's possible no one has found it yet."

His Majesty King Stoick huffed. "Then we'll wait all night if we have to! This is how my father, my grandfather, and his grandfather found their brides, and I'm not about to break that tradition just because my son is a lousy shot!"

After about an hour of being ignored by the girl next to him, Hiccup heard a small chirp. He looked up from his plate. Had a bird flown through one of the open windows by mistake and gotten trapped inside the room? Or perhaps it was one of the smaller dragon breeds. They did like the warmth of the hearth. He looked around for a flash of feathers or scales and spotted the poor little thing on top of one of the rafters behind the place where his family sat. He excused himself quietly, not that anyone really noticed, and slipped out of his chair and behind the row of grand seats.

He looked up again and saw a flash of green scales. He smiled. "Come down, I won't hurt you." The dragon gave a sharp whistle and he returned with a whistle of his own. There was a soft fluttering of wings and the little green dragon landed on the floor in front of him. "Hey," he spoke softly as he sat down in front of the small creature. "How'd you get in here?" The dragon turned its head and looked at one of the open windows higher up in the room. Hiccup followed its gaze and chuckled. "Oh. Right."

He looked back at the scaly little thing and noticed something. "What's that at your feet?" In answer, the beast unclenched its talons from around its burden and rolled it toward him as it stared up at his face. He picked up the object and inspected it. It was an arrow with goose fledging. It was the best for arrows, and the kind he liked to use. He took a look at the shaft. It was a straight stick, without knots and smooth to the touch. He reached the arrowhead and stopped. It had a nick in one side.

The arrow he'd shot that morning had had a nick in one side.

A dragon had brought back his arrow.

Well there went his hopes of having a nice, ordinary family life.

The dragon cocked her head to the side and looked at the boy. Why wasn't he moving? He just sat there, staring at her arrow. But while he looked still on the outside, his mind was running a mile a minute. A dragon. He couldn't marry a dragon. He'd just hide the arrow and say that it got stuck in the branches of a tree or something. No, that wouldn't work. If this went on much longer, Stoick would go and check on the arrow to make sure it was in a place where someone could find it. Could he rip off the feathers? That would keep it from being identified. No, the arrowhead was his own forged steel, with the flat leaf shape he used. No one else made their arrowheads that way, and he'd need more than just his hands to get that off. What was he going to do? What was he going to do?!

He was jolted out of his shock by something brushing against his leg. He looked down and saw the little dragon curled up against his good leg. He stared at the miniature reptile and began to notice little things about the animal. The duller green colors marked it as a female, but the fact that its back spines were almost done growing in marked it at around his age. Well, at least that was one good thing about the situation. He reached out gingerly and ran a finger over its scaly side. Smooth, warm, and a little bumpy. The back rose and fell with every breath of the little creature that would spend the rest of her life with him, if his father decided to stick with tradition. And he would. There really wasn't a way out of this for him. Oh well, he supposed it could have been worse. At least this breed of dragon didn't live in the water or bellow.

He slid his hand under her front feet and she raised her head to look at him. He was taken aback for a moment by just how green her eyes were, quite pretty really. She climbed onto his arm and perched there, thankfully using her feet and not claws to stay in position. Slowly, Hiccup got back up and walked back towards the table where his family sat, dragon on one arm and arrow clutched in the other hand.

Once he was right behind his father's chair, he put his head around the massive back and asked, "Dad, could I talk to you for a second?"

"No son, I'm trying to concentrate," King Stoick replied as he brushed off his youngest in favor of conversing with his oldest.

"But Dad,"

"Not right now, son."

"Dad, my arrow came back."

That caught the king's attention. "Well where is she?" He looked around at the various doors, in the crowd.

Hiccup took a deep breath and gave the little dragon the arrow, which she promptly clamped in her jaws. He held out the arm with the dragon so his father could clearly see both dragon and arrow. "Right here."

Stoick laughed.

And so the little lady appears. She's modeled after the version of Toothless from the books. What did you think of her introduction?

Please review! The first person to do so will get one question answered. And if you recognize the folk tale, please withold the twists so you don't spoil it for others.