Meanwhile, while Lightning and Fishlegs didn't seem to be getting along and getting things done, Caverna and Astrid had gotten plenty done and right at that moment, they were sitting on a beach relaxing.
"So, how's the baby thing going?" Caverna asked.
"It's going fine, just tiring." Astrid laughed.
Caverna smiled. "Yeah, I'm sure sex is tiring." She sighed.
"What's up, you're not still feeling off about the whole bad luck charm thing, are you?"
"No, it's not that...Fishlegs asked me to sleep with him last night." She confessed.
"Like, sleep together as in sex or just sleep together as in sleep?" Astrid asked, suddenly sitting up on her knees, staring intently at her sister-in-law.
"Sleep together as in sex." She confirmed.
"What did you say?" Astrid asked.
"Well, I said no." She told her. "And had a mini mental freak out, but he didn't notice that bit."
"Why did you say no?" Astrid asked her. "And tell me the truth, do you not feel ready?"
"I'm scared." She admitted.
"What have you got to be scared of?" Astrid asked, in slight disbelief at what she was hearing, she'd never seen Caverna scared, of anything.
"After what happened, what if he hates me afterwards, after all whatever is left isn't what normal Viking women have to give to the men they love; what if he realises that he doesn't love me after all?" Caverna sighed. "I'm scared to lose him Astrid."
Astrid simply pulled her into a hug, whispering calming words to her in order to make her feel better.
Meanwhile, Hiccup was sat in the Great Hall with Snotlout, and the pair of them was having some lunch as they waited for the girls to come back with news on the other dragon islands.
"So, how are things with Caverna and Fishlegs?" Snotlout asked his cousin.
"Everything is fine as far as I know; it's Fishlegs' relationship with her dragons that's worrying." Hiccup told him.
"What do you mean?"
"Lightning tries to eat him when they're on their own." Hiccup told him, holding back a laugh.
"After Fishlegs confronted Caverna in the Great Hall?" Snotlout asked.
"Yeah." He laughed.
Snotlout burst out laughing, just as the doors to the Great Hall were thrown in and ran in a very red and breathless Fishlegs, and he ran straight up to the cousins.
"Hide me." He wheezed.
"What did you do, piss of Caverna?" Hiccup asked.
"No, it's Lightning; I think he's trying to kill me." He wheezed, before he dived under the table as the doors were thrown open once more by Lightning, and everyone froze when they saw him, before they all pointed over to Snotlout and Hiccup.
As he stalked over, Hiccup and Snotlout moved out of the way, and they watched as Lightning flipped the table with his beak and he stared coldly at Lightning, watching the human who cowered before him, before there was a whistle, and they all turned to see Caverna sat on Snowcap's back in the doorway and she got down as she watched Lightning saunter over to her.
"What are you doing?" Caverna asked him, scratching his chin.
"I think he was trying to terrify Fishlegs." Astrid told her as she walked in and the group walked over to Hiccup, Snotlout and Fishlegs.
"That's...Strange..." Caverna commented, looking at her dragon. "What's the matter boy?"
"He hates me." Fishlegs told her.
"No he doesn't." She laughed, stroking her dragon's cheek, before Lightning limped away towards the door and Caverna helped Fishlegs to his feet.
They were about to say something to each other, when there was a scream from the door and everyone spun around in time to see Lightning pin someone to the floor.
"Lightning, back!" Caverna commanded, and when he didn't, she looked at Snowcap. "Pull him back for me."
Snowcap shook her head and sat down and that was when Caverna realised who it was, if not even Snowcap would move, and then Lightning had trapped the person both dragons hated - Heather. Giving a sigh, Caverna put her fingers to her lips and gave a high pitched whistle, causing Lightning to shake his head and all of the other dragons to do the same, but Lightning limped back to his rider.
"Sorry." Caverna apologised to all of them, before she put her hands on either side of Lightning's jaw. "Boy you have to stop this, no rough housing with the humans, okay?"
Lightning looked at her and he growled quietly, before he nodded and left the Great Hall, leaving his rider and egg sister stood there watching him go.
When he had gone, and Heather had been calmed down, Astrid and Snotlout walked over to Snowcap and Caverna.
"Should you go after him?"
"I'm going to let him calm down for a while, he'll return when he's ready, and if he isn't back by tonight then I'll go and find him." Caverna told them, just as Gobber hobbled over to the group.
"Caverna, lass, Gothi is looking for you, apparently Iris wants to see you." He told her.
"Alright, Snowcap and I will go."
Snowcap looked at her and she nodded, before she allowed Caverna to climb onto her back and they both flew off out of the Great Hall. When they landed outside of Gothi's place, Caverna dismounted, before she touched her dragon's head.
"You go and have some fun; I'll call you if and when I need you." She promised, watching her dragon nod and fly off, before she walked to the dog and gave a knock.
A few seconds later, she was let into the hut by Gothi who gestured to Iris and started to draw in the sand.
She can go to the village now if she wishes; she is healing well, but must do anything difficult, only simple tasks.
Caverna nodded. "Alright." She looked at Iris who was watching them curiously. "Gothi says that you can come down to the village now, but you aren't to do anything difficult, only simple tasks, but you are healing rather well."
"Great...But I have no where to stay."
"You can come and stay with me." Caverna told her as Iris got to her feet and thanked the elder, before the pair left the hut and started to walk.
"I wouldn't want to intrude on you, are you sure that I would be alright staying with you and your family?"
"It is just me in the house, my dragons sleep in the stables, but I would be glad of the company." Caverna confessed.
This seemed to please Iris and the pair spent the rest of the day with Caverna showing Iris around the village, before bringing her up to the house, bringing her into the spare room, that used to be Hiccup's.
"This will be your room." Caverna told her. "I'm sorry it's plain, it used to be my brother's until he married and moved into the marital house. But if you need anything, my room is upstairs and at the far right."
"Oh...So, what do you do now?"
"Usually I train, or fly, or read." Caverna shrugged. "I eat up in the Great Hall with my friends and family, if you would like to join us."
Iris nodded and she excused herself to go and get used to her new room, and Caverna simply shrugged, going up to her room and she took her jacket off and picked up a book, lying back against the pillows as she started to read.
She was there for a while, before there was a soft nock on the door, and after using a thin piece of wood to mark the page in her book, she walked over and pulled it open, finding Iris on the other side.
"Is everything alright?" Caverna asked.
"Um...Yeah...I just...Uh...I have a confession to make." She told her.
"What confession?" She asked, letting her into her room and Iris walked in taking a few minutes to appreciate the beauty of Caverna's room, from the handmade blanket, to the pictures on the walls, to the weapons beautiful handcrafted and sitting in certain places of the room, to the small amount of books. Carefully, Iris sat on the edge of the bed as Caverna sat on the windowsill.
"What do you have to confess Iris?" Caverna asked, her voice holding both curiosity and calmness that unknowingly helped Iris to keep calm and think straight.
"You know when you found me in the boat, and I was being attacked by Dagur?" Iris asked.
"Yes?"
"Well, there was a reason why he was after me...and well...Um...you see...I'm with child." She whispered, though Caverna still heard.
"And it's Dagur's?" Caverna asked.
Iris nodded, putting her head in her hands, which had Caverna walking over and putting a hand on her shoulder as she sat next to her.
"No matter what happens you'll be fine, and you have my protection." Caverna promised.
"There's something else." Iris whispered.
"What else?" She asked.
"The child wasn't meant to be conceived; he only bedded me because I look like you, it was your name he called out in passion." She told her. "He said such cruel and horrid things about what he wanted to do to you, he said that he wanted you to relive what happened to you and to know that it was he who done it."
The words of her confession made Caverna's blood boil and she wanted to snap Dagur's next for this, but she also knew something, if Dagur was going to go through that much trouble to burn her alive for the sake of killing the child, what else would he do now that she was on Berk? All she knew was that she had to protect Iris and her unborn child, maybe at the cost of her own life, but she knew that Berk needed to be ready for a war, a war that they might possibly lose.