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Chapter 20

Family Affairs

Heather dragged Dagur to put him with the group of prisoners. Most of them looked relieved to have escaped the flood, which had made them twitchy and alert. But then there were men like Ryker who had to be restrained by dragons while they were tied up. Hognose, it turned out, had started climbing one hill when the Berkians had attacked. In the chaos of the fight nobody had paid any attention to his nonthreatening figure crawling away. When the flood had hit he had been high enough to escape it, but had then been caught by Snotlout and Hookfang. He was the only prisoner lying down, still moaning over the injuries to his face. The rest were made to stand as Stoick had them searched and counted.

"Well, well, well. Hello, Dagur," Stoick said with an unpleasant smile, "My prisoner again, I see!"

"Isn't it wonderful? Did ya miss me?" Dagur smiled back, "I'll bet you did! Everybody misses old Deranged the Dagur, just like I've missed my little sister!" he gestured to Heather. Stoick's brow furrowed and he looked at Heather questioningly.

She shrugged "He's been calling me that ever since we started fighting."

"Well, he calls Hiccup 'brother' all the time, for reasons we still don't understand." By which Stoick meant to not bother wondering what Dagur meant. Heather began searching his person for concealed weapons.

"I'm unarmed, Sister! Well, I mean, I do have two arms, but I don't have any arms on me—unless you count my real arms, but I don't have any metal arms—hey, you know, Drago did! Of course that was only one arm so it would be arm, not arms, therefore—hey, here comes my brother Hiccup on top of his brother Toothless! Say, does that mean Toothless is my brother too? I never thought I was related to a dragon!"

Stoick breathed a sigh of relief and rushed over to Hiccup. "Thank Odin, son! What happened to ya? Are you injured?"

"Only materialistically," Hiccup replied, "My prosthetic got bent earlier—"

"Don't you have a spare?"

"I did, but—" he held up the ruined saddle and jiggled one of bags attached to it. They heard metal pieces clanging together. "In addition, my gauntlets have been smashed, and I'll need to build Dragonfly 44 sooner or later."

"You've gone through 43 of those things?" Stoick exclaimed.

"Um…yeah?"

"I thought you'd be in the hundreds by now," Heather commented.

Hiccup quickly changed the subject, "Is everyone else alright?"

Stoick shook his head but his expression was reassuring. "We've had some injuries, mostly stab wounds and arrow wounds, but thank Odin it's nothing life threatening at the moment. We got very lucky."

"I agree. If we'd delayed a few moments we'd have had our brains dashed out. So what's going on here?"

"I'm talking to my sister, Hiccup!" Dagur said cheerfully, "For the first time in years I'm talking to my sister! But you know what else is nice to talk to? Pine cones!" He attempted to dance as he sang "Pine cone! Pine cone! Cute little pinecones that will make the cute little squirrels so happy if I don't rip them to pieces and spew their guts over the island, just like I did to Dad!" he burst into his maniacal laugh. "Yeah! Tear 'em up and send their pine cones to Valhalla and Pine Cone Paradise! Hey, sister, how about we go to Pine Cone Paradise sometime together?"

"Oh for the love of—will you stop calling me that?" Heather shouted, "I don't have any siblings!" She knew she was technically wrong, but she almost never thought of the brother she had only one or two memories of. In fact, now that she thought of him, she wondered if that boy was not just some playmate she had known once.

"Such hostility!" Dagur cried happily, "She's so aggressive and dangerous! Oh, sister, we are going to have so much fun together! She truly is a Berserker, isn't she, Hiccup?"

"Not crazy enough," Hiccup replied evasively.

"Be remedied can that! By which I mean that can be remedied!"

"You really should see a healer about that speaking problem of yours,"

"I kinda like it! It goes well with my nickname! Dagur the Deranged—so deranged he can't even say crazy without sounding sentences!" He tried to strike an over-the-top dramatic pose but the ropes around his hands prevented it and he nearly fell over.

Once the prisoners were organized and secured, and the heat had cooled off a little, Stoick called his people together to discuss what to do with them. Astrid sat between her mother and Hiccup, much to the chagrin of Gustav. Her hearing had improved a little during the past few hours and, while most things sounded muffled to her, she no longer had to shout to hear her own voice. Just yell.

Toothless positioned himself behind his Rider. All of the dragons except Toothless and Cloudjumper were guarding the prisoners. Cloudjumper seemed to think guard duty was beneath his dignity and stayed with Valka, who was sitting next to Stoick. Skullcrusher, by contrast, acted like it was his one and only purpose in life, while the others did this to protect their humans.

Stoick was the only human in the circle standing. "So, we have now 22 prisoners. What are we going to do with them? Suggestions, anyone?"

"Before we begin that," Hiccup cut in, "I'd like to know how you all found us. I didn't include this desert in my letter because we didn't even know we were coming here! So how'd you know?"

"Yeah, and what happened to Queen Mala?" Heather anxiously added.

"And how did you find us?" Tuffnut asked.

His sister shoved him in the ribs. "Hiccup already asked that, dummy!"

"Dummy yourself!"

"Dummy yourself again!"

"And again!"

"Stow it, both of you!" Stoick yelled, "Honestly, we just had a fight! Give it a rest already! Now Mala is, last we heard, being looked after by Gothi. She was dangerously injured when we left, but she'd survived that long, so it's possible she'll recover. On the day we left Berk, we came upon a boat at sea with Defenders on it, and we told them to make for Berk. They've almost certainly arrived by now." Heather looked very relieved to hear this. Now she knew her new tribe was not entirely wiped out.

"As for how we found you," Valka said, "Mala told us where to look. We got your message from Trachyte, but he said you were heading to Gibraltar."

"We deduced that was where the Hunters were going. And we were right!" Fishlegs said brightly, "We passed through it earlier—you really oughta see those rocks, dad! But we had no idea we'd be making for this desert afterwards."

Fishlegs' father spoke, "We decided to chance it and come here instead of make for that…jib's altar was it? Anyway, we skipped that place and arrived here several days ago, and we'd been searching ever since." He shook his head and massaged his temples. Those had been rough days; sick with the heat and sick with worry. "We didn't know if you were even there, or even alive, and every night we'd debate if we should make for the other place, but then, thank the Gods, our dragons suddenly changed direction and brought us to Toothless."

"That would've been after we fell down that hill," Hiccup said, "thanks a lot for that, by the way, Snotlout! And thanks again for pushing me into a cockroach cluster!"

"That was to get you out of the way! You couldn't fight with your leg bent, so I pushed you somewhere safe!"

"And nearly broke my spine doing it," an exaggeration but his back still hurt from the fall.

"And this is what I get for acting selflessly! Next time I let them cut you into ribbons!"

"I for one am grateful to you," Stoick loudly interrupted, "But now back to our prisoners. What should we do with them?"

"Why not just kill them?" A member of the 'A' Team asked, "They attacked us! They're the reason we're all down here in the first place!"

"Yeah, they'd do the same to us!" Snotlout agreed. He sat next to Heather, not by invitation. On her other side was Fishlegs and his father.

A prisoner tried to protest but Fanghook growled at him to be quiet.

"I say kill some of them," Heather argued. "Kill the worst offenders and let the rest go at the next settlement." There were some murmurs of agreement.

"Or we could just leave 'em here."

"Hiccup? What do you think?" Stoick asked.

"I don't think murder is the thing to do," he replied, "We're better than this. Can't we just take them back to Berk and lock them up?"

"That's rich, coming from a devil lover like you!" a prisoner shouted, "You're the one who killed—!"

Hiccup's eyes might have belonged to Medusa. He gave the man such a look the man froze and fell silent.

Everyone looked at Hiccup curiously and there was murmuring.

"Son, what was he talking about?"

"I'll explain later—when those people aren't in earshot. So as I was saying, I don't see the need to kill anyone now—even though it appears some of them are trying to give me a reason."

"Don't kill Eret son of Eret!" Ruffnut cried.

"Don't kill us!" Dagur suddenly wailed. "We're reformed men! I'm a reformed man! I'm too young to die! I'm too deranged to die! I'm too…whatever you want me to be, I'm too much of that to die!"

"Dagur, they haven't even decided to kill us yet," Eret growled. "Keep this up and you might persuade them!"

Dagur was not reassured. "Sister! Don't let them kill me! I'm innocent! Innocent I tell you! I only sacrificed your doll to the Gods a few times!"

"WILL YOU STOP CALLING ME 'SISTER'?" Heather roared. "I DON'T HAVE A BROTHER!"

"But Hiccup said—" but Windshear had had enough of him annoying her rider. She swung her spiny tail and stopped it when one spine was inches from piercing Dagur's throat. "Nice dragon, nice dragon!" he squeaked, "you be good to me, I be good to you, deal?" the spine got closer and his voice went up a few more octaves. "All right, all right, I'll stop talking!"

"What did you say to him, Hiccup?" Fishlegs asked curiously.

Hiccup shrugged. "I don't remember,"

"Not true! You said 'I think so'! And I promise I won't say anything else, nice dragon, please don't kill me!"

"Thought so about what?" Someone asked.

Hiccup uncomfortably turned to Stoick, "Can we discuss this privately?"

Stoick shook his head. "Oh no. I've had enough of people being secretive. As a Chief you've gotta learn to trust your people and tell them the truth!"

"Sure, trust your people and tell them the truth. When it suits you, at any rate," Hiccup muttered in Dragonese. But everyone was looking at him expectantly and he could see no real way out of this short of lying.

After a long silence he turned to Heather. "Could I see your horn, please?"

Heather muttered something about "some hunter trick" and reluctantly passed her horn around the circle.

"Dad…this is your seal, right?" Hiccup asked.

"Of course," Stoick said at once. He knew that mark anywhere. For the first time Heather looked curious and her curiosity quickly turned to shock and alarm.

"That's your father's seal? But that was given to me by my father! Hiccup, are you saying...?" her mouth fell opened and she stared at him.

Hiccup turned back to his father. "Dad, do you know why your seal would have been carved into this horn?"

"Probably as a gift, I imagine," Stoick said.

"Did you give such a gift to the Berserkers nearly 30 years ago?" Hiccup pressed.

Valka nudged her husband. "Stoick, didn't you have a horn made for one of Oswald's children?"

Stoick's eyes widened. "That's right, yes I did! It was a gift for his newborn daughter. It's customary for a Chief to send a gift when another Chief has a child, you know."

"And this one was a gift for the daughter of Oswald the Agreeable?" Hiccup asked hoarsely. Stoick nodded firmly. Then he understood what Hiccup was implying and he looked at Heather in astonishment.

Everyone else was downright confused. Most of them knew nothing about Heather's past. Heather herself suspected what was being said but her mind was denying it, insisting she was misreading the discussion. Nervously she asked, "Hiccup, what are you saying, exactly?"

"Oh my Gods," Fishlegs gasped.

"I'm saying that I think you're…I think you and Dagur really are…siblings," Hiccup said at last.

"Are you CRAZY?" Heather shouted, making everyone jump, "How can I be that man's…sister? I'm not a Berserker! My parents weren't…"

"Dagur told me his sister was lost at sea a long time ago, and his sister's name was Heather."

"And you believe him?" she shrieked, "He's a dragon hunter, he's crazy, he never tells the truth—"

"I know that, but how many Heather's have been lost at sea when they were children? And how many of them have horns that were given to the daughter of Oswald the Agreeable?"

"No! I can't be…I'm not…No!" she cried vigorously, but it was clear she was no longer believing her denials. It was clear the pieces were falling into place in her mind. "I'm not!" She suddenly leapt to her feet and backed away from the group.

"You are!" Dagur yelled happily, "You are and you know it! We're going to have so much fun! My little sister and me against the whole world! I can't wait!" But the Berkians had gotten so angry with him that Snotlout and Tuffnut were sent over to gag the man.

"Heather?" Fishlegs said nervously.

She looked terrified, but took a deep breath and spoke with forced calmness. "I want to be alone,"

"If you want to—"

"I said I WANT TO BE ALONE!" she shouted. Then she turned and ran into the desert.

"Heather, wait! It's getting dark, you'll get lost!" Fishlegs yelled. Windshear was already flying after her. Fishlegs was ready to follow but his father grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Let her be for a moment, son."

Astrid turned angrily to Hiccup. It was only until Heather had started shouting that she had understood what was going on. "How long did you know?"

"I didn't know until just now," Hiccup said sharply. Her tone had rubbed him the wrong way. "But I've suspected since before we last visited the Bog Burglars," he added lamely.

"That long? And you didn't tell me?" Astrid shouted, "What happened to us not keeping secrets?"

"Astrid, do you seriously expect me to share every little thing I think of? We wouldn't have time to do anything else if I did that!"

"This is not exactly a 'little thing'!"

"At the time it was! It was just some conjuncture and suspicions I had! What was the point in telling anybody when I couldn't prove any of it and when I myself didn't know if it was correct? And not long afterwards other things came up and I completely forgot about it—until today! And we weren't exactly idle today, were we?"

"I hate to break up your little argument, but Heather has just found out her brother is a dragon killing maniac and she's now wandered off into the desert! Don't you think that's a more urgent problem than your secret sharing issues?" Fishlegs shouted.

They all agreed but as Heather had wanted to be alone, Stoick told them to respect her wishes for a little while.

Heather just ran as fast as she could, as if it would get her away from what she had just learned. She just could not believe it, and she tried to tell herself it was all some cruel prank. She tried to reason out this idea. After all, could not Stoick have given such gifts to others besides Oswald's children? Dagur was obviously nuts so he could easily have been mistaken. And could not Hiccup have made a false assumption? Unless he knew something she did not.

She came to an abrupt stop and kicked a rock as hard as she could. No. There was no way out of this. Hiccup would never have suggested such a thing if he had had any doubts about it. And she knew it fitted. She knew she had been found in a shipwreck and adopted. Was it really possible that her family were the former Chiefs of the Berserkers? Was it possible her brother was an enemy?

These questions swirled about in her head like a gale and the more they did the more distressed she became, because she could not wholly answer them and was terrified to think someone else, like Hiccup, could. She did not want it to be true and she did not want to be related to a nutcase who stood among her enemies.

"Who am I really?" she screamed at the horizon. She grabbed some sand and threw it away viciously, as if it was her memories. "Who am I?"

She looked around at the sand, as if that would answer the question. Instead, Windshear landed next to her.

"Who am I, Windshear? Who am I?" she flung her arms around the dragon's metallic neck, only to recoil and fall on the ground in surprise because of how hot her scales were.

She burst into a weak laugh. "I can't even turn to my own dragon for comfort here! That's just rich! As rich as me being Dagur's sister. As rich as being locked up by Outcasts and losing my people at sea, and then almost losing the Defenders! What is wrong with me?"

She took a shirt from her bag, wrapped it around her hands, and hugged her Razorwhip without injury and let the tears fall.

For several long minutes, the Berkians who had not been involved or concerned in what had just happened looked around uncertainly. Finally Stoick said feebly "So…what are we going to do with our prisoners?"

They started debating unenthusiastically, until Hiccup struggled to his feet. "Oh, take 'em back to Berk and lock 'em up. If we're that anxious to kill some we'll have plenty of time to do it later. I think we've waited long enough. C'mon, guys, let's go find Heather."

"Oh no you don't!" Astrid said flatly. "You and Toothless are staying here. You're in no shape to look for anybody now."

Everyone whose opinions Hiccup respected agreed with her, and he reluctantly complied. Snotlout also was not allowed to go, as Stoick put him to work helping guard the prisoners. This threw him into a bitter sulk.

Sunset over the desert was quite spectacular. The clouds on the horizon were a blood red and the land was either deep blue or golden, depending on where the sunlight reached. It was also the way Fishlegs and his Gronkle found Heather. Meatlug spotted the sunbeams reflecting off of Windshear.

When Fishlegs approached he saw the Razorwhip lying on the ground and Heather leaning against her, staring into the expanse of sand with unblinking eyes. Judging by the tracks, Heather had been pacing around a lot in an agitated fashion, but now she sat perfectly still. She barely even reacted when Meatlug and Fishlegs approached.

Comforting a woman was not Fishlegs's area of expertise. If it was Hiccup and Astrid, he thought, they would probably talk, punch each other, hug and kiss, and talk some more. But while that certainly sounded appealing, except for the punches, he doubted it was what Heather would want. He could think of no better way to start than to say "Hey,"

"Hey," she said monotonously.

"What are you thinking about? Wait, let me rephrase that—I know what you're thinking about—um…what are your thoughts on what you're thinking about?"

Heather smiled slightly at his words, but it did nothing to improve her mood. "I just can't believe it," she said heavily.

"Me neither, really," Fishlegs admitted, "I mean, aside from eye color and a similar build, you two hardly look anything alike."

"So what am I supposed to do about it?" she cried. "Ignore it? Act like we've been best of friends for years? Try and be a sister to him? What do I do, Fishlegs, what do I do now?" Her voice trembled with those last words.

Fishlegs had been wondering that too. "It's really…up to you, of course..."

"That's not good enough," Meatlug interrupted. "Pretend you're in her skin. What would you do?"

Fishlegs cringed uncomfortably. "Well...if Dagur turned out to be my brother…if he sincerely wanted to try to be a proper brother to me, I think I would let him. But if he just stayed the way he's always been…I'd acknowledge him as my brother by blood, but I'd do my best to stay away from him. Or…I don't know."

Heather sighed wearily. "You know, at first I thought Hiccup was going to reveal that he was my brother. I really wish he had. I wouldn't mind in the slightest having him for a brother…it would certainly be preferable to Dagur!" she spat. "Is it true he murdered his father? Our father?"

"Well…he's hinted that he did, but I've never heard any details. But then, of course, if he didn't kill him, what did happen to Oswald? Unless Oswald died naturally and Dagur just wants everyone to believe it was murder."

"And why would he do that? What kind of world do we live in where pretending to kill your own father is acceptable?"

"That's the Berserker world, and it's pretty twisted,"

"Then I want nothing to do with it." She got to her feet. "He can call me 'sister' all he wants, but I owe him nothing. My loyalty is to Queen Mala and the Defenders, and if Dagur stands against us that is his affair, not mine." Her firmness now wavered. "But what's going to happen to him? You're not going to kill him, are you?"

Fishlegs shook his head. "We're going to take him back to Berk and lock him up. I don't know what we'll do with him later on, but that's for the Haddocks to decide,"

"Good…I guess."

She resumed her seat and they sat in silence for a while.

"You know what I did?" Fishlegs suddenly said. "When we were prisoners, Hognose started talking about you—"

"Who?"

"You must've seen the prisoner with the injured face. He was one of our old bullies. He has a very perverted mind; you should ask Astrid about him sometime. Anyway, he hasn't changed, and he said a few crude things about you and Astrid…so I spit in his face. I couldn't just stand there and let him insult you."

"What brought this up?"

"I don't know. I guess I just wanted you to have an example of us sticking up for you."

Heather told him Hognose was not worth the trouble, but she was secretly flattered.

"We'll stand by you, regardless of how you perceive Dagur." he promised.

"What would you do?" Meatlug asked Windshear.

"Fly away and never see him again, if he's as bad as they say he is," the Razorwhip replied grimly. "But I'm more worried about what'll happen to me and Heather. Her Queen didn't want me around, but I don't wanna leave her!"

"Of course you don't," Meatlug said gently, "And maybe our actions today will persuade Mala to let you stay."

"I hope so." She suddenly chuckled humorlessly. "And all of this trouble for a tube with glass lenses!"

Fishlegs had overheard their conversation and asked Heather what would happen to the Dragon Eye now. She had no more idea than he did. He asked her what she would do when they got back and she answered evasively. The only thing she was clear on was that she had no intention of spending time with her newfound brother.

It seemed that every concern they had would only be resolved upon their return to Berk. So they eventually opted to take the first step and return to the camp.

"Thanks, Fish," Heather said, "Really, thanks for talking to me,"

"Anytime," he replied with a warm smile. For a brief moment their eyes met, but then Heather shuffled away to mount Windshear.

While they were talking, another group consisting of the Twins was wandering around looking for them.

"Seems a bit weird, doesn't it? Heather's related to Dagur?" Tuffnut said.

"Makes about as much sense as Hiccup being related to Snotlout," his sister replied.

"But they aren't brothers. They're cousins. But at least nobody can say the same thing about our family, right? We're all very much alike!"

"Mom and Dad are invalids," Ruffnut said shortly, "We've got nothing in common with them,"

"I wasn't talking about them; I was talking about this generation: us and Gruffnut!"

Ruffnut groaned. "We've got nothing in common with him either."

"Sure we do! He's awesome, he's bold and daring, he breaks the rules all the time, he does cool things, a lot more cooler than we do, he—"

"He's good at telling stories. We act; he just says he does,"

"He fought at the Battle of Hastings on the side of the Spanish! How cool is that? And he's also friends with Philip of Macedonia and the Emperor Trajan!"

"Do you even know who those people are?"

"No, do you?"

"No."

"But it sure sounds cool, right?"

"Oh sure, it sounds cool, but that doesn't mean it's true." Ruffnut scowled. "I can't believe you swallow everything he tells you, Tuff. If he told you the world travels around the sun would you believe him?"

"Sure, but he'd never tell me that because we both know it isn't true!"

"And this is why I don't ever like to talk about him. As soon as he's mentioned you get all awestruck, your eyes get big, and you start acting like a chipmunk!"

"Oh ho ho! A chipmunk, huh? Well what about you, talking about marriage with that Eret while he's tied up and pleading with him to 'hold you in his manly hunter arms'? Hah! You make me sick!"

Ruffnut attacked him and he hit back.

"Don't you dare insult my Eret!"

"Don't you dare insult our cousin!"

The 'don't you dares' went on even after they returned to the others. Their fellow Vikings glanced at them curiously and then shrugged, dismissing the argument as more 'Twinsanity'.

"Son," Stoick said, slipping over to Hiccup when he had a free moment. "Come here a minute, let me look at you."

"Not much to look at," Hiccup said dryly, though he was not feeling very humorous.

"Still, I like to see what my son looks like now. And I was wondering—how come you didn't have us celebrate your birthday last winter?"

"Heather's just found out Dagur's her brother; she's going through an emotion crisis right now, and you come to ask me about that?"

"What do you want me to do?" Stoick demanded, "I hardly even know the girl! This is something she's gonna have to sort out herself, and I want to know something about my son. What's wrong with that?"

Hiccup shrugged. "I forgot about it, all right? I haven't really celebrated it in over a decade."

"I suppose dragons don't celebrate birthdays, do they?"

"Nope." And speaking of celebrating, Hiccup wondered if Valka had told Stoick the news of his engagement, but as soon as he wondered this, his face fell. He decided he had better talk to Astrid and make sure that was still happening. He could see Stormfly returning and he hobbled towards her, followed by Toothless.

"Heather, Fishlegs, and their dragons are coming to rejoin us," Astrid announced.

Hiccup held his shield in front of him. "Is it safe to talk to you now?"

"Very funny. Look, Hiccup—"

"Astrid, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Heather, but I was telling the truth earlier. I completely forgot about my suspicions of her parentage until just recently,"

"Will you let me finish? I'm sorry for getting angry like that—and I know this is really minor compared to what Heather must be going through right now—but I just want to know I'm in your confidence! You keep things to yourself too much—and I know you usually have good reasons for it, but I don't want this kind of thing to become a habit! We won't have a successful marriage if we can't rely on each other to be honest and informative!"

"Astrid, I trust you with my life! I have many times. I did it today when I asked that Spitting Terror to give you my message! As for keeping things to myself—it is a habit and it's been one since I was a child! You know that, and you know I've been working on it! But if you feel we won't have a successful marriage—are you saying you want to call it off?"

"What?" She exclaimed, "I'm just saying we need to commit ourselves to trusting each other more. Let's not jump to drastic conclusions!"

"So you still want to marry me?" he asked, a wave of relief flooding over him. He lowered the shield.

"I should punch you for daring to even think of questioning it,"

He raised the shield. "Just don't knock me into a cockroach pile," he shuddered.

"I should punch Snotlout for that too!"

"I'm very glad she's not a dragon," Toothless remarked, "Can you imagine how dangerous she'd be if she could breathe fire?"

"Here they come," Hiccup observed. He sat down in the sand. "And Heather looks more at ease than she did earlier."

"And here comes your mother," Astrid pointed. "And mine too,"

"As if this day doesn't have enough family drama already," Toothless mumbled, "all we need now is for my own sire to show up,"

"That would be interesting, to say the least." Stormfly agreed.

Greta strode towards them, while Valka approached cautiously. "How're you feeling?" she asked at last.

"Well enough," Hiccup replied, "And Astrid—I noticed you're not shouting as loudly as before."

"My ears are improving a bit," she acknowledged, "They'll be perfect by the time we get back to Berk. Speaking of which, mom, how'd you get here? You don't have a dragon! Or were you making friends while we were gone?"

"No, though perhaps I should've. The house was pretty lonesome without you. The Chief was kind enough to let me ride with him on Skullcrusher," Greta replied as she examined her daughter's ears.

"Mom, my ears are fine,"

"Just let me look them over—"

Hiccup looked back at his own mother. "So…did you fly Mala to Berk?"

"Yes. I knew of nowhere else to take her." she shifted her weight, "was it the wrong thing to do?"

"Actually, I'm impressed," Hiccup said genuinely. "How did Dad react?"

Valka blushed.

"Oh, I see! Well, that figures." It made sense Stoick would be more forgiving than he had been. He had always venerated Valka so much. Hiccup had too, but his had been an image of a mother he had never known. Such an image was easily displaced because it had no factual basis. He wondered if Heather was feeling the same way he had when they met Valka for the first time. Probably not, since she looked more cheerful. Whatever Fishlegs was telling her seemed to be working as a distraction.

Of course, whatever the distraction was, it could only avoid the facts, not change them. And the fact was it was not easy learning about an undiscovered family. He and Heather had both learned that on this trip, but all things considered, he had been more fortunate of the two. He decided he had held a grudge and wallowed in self pity long enough.

He struggled his way to get on his feet. "Thanks, mom. Thanks for helping us."

And he let her hug him. And he hugged her back. And then Toothless tried to force his way into the hug and unintentionally separated them, which made Hiccup fall over again. Everyone laughed as Valka helped him up.

"Looks like I'm getting a real mother-in-law after all, girl," Astrid said, petting her dragon.

Stoick had joined them just as she spoke. "What did you say, lass?"

"Yeah, what was that?" Greta Hofferson asked cannily.

"Hiccup? Do you wanna tell them or shall I?"

Snotlout was in a bad mood. He had watched Fishlegs fly back with Heather and felt a twinge of jealousy. Then he saw Hiccup hugging Valka and felt a cramp of jealousy. Then he saw Hiccup hugging Astrid and the cramp became a spasm, and then he saw the Chief come over, laughing happily at the sight, and the spasm became a fever of jealousy. His whole body burned with it. And all the while, he was stuck watching stupid prisoners!

Most, like Eret and Ryker, were sitting sullenly. Dagur was still gagged, so at least he was not a nuisance. Viggo, however, was by far the most perfect prisoner. He had not complained at all, had obeyed every command given to him, and sat perfectly still, as if to say he had no intention of attempting to escape.

"I'm sorry," he said unexpectedly. It took Snotlout a moment to realize who he was talking to.

"Sorry? Sorry about what?"

"I'm sorry to see you so distressed."

"I'm not distressed!"

"Forgive me, but I thought you were."

"Well you thought wrong."

"Actually, I think not, and I'm sorry for it. I know what it feels like, Snotlout. I know what it's like to not be loved."

"Do you?" Snotlout asked doubtfully.

"My father always favored Ryker the most," Viggo said sadly, "Ryker came first and was always the best fighter of us. Nothing I ever did was good enough for my father. He never really appreciated my true talents. But then again, nobody did at first,"

"That sounds more like Hiccup than it does me,"

"Does it? It doesn't seem that way now. I don't see Hiccup looking underappreciated. I see his parents looking at him proudly, I see his lovely wife-to-be hugging him, I see his best friend licking and nuzzling him…while his own cousin sits over here with only prisoners for company."

"All right, sure, he looks happy, but he's earned it," Snotlout said, "I mean…after all those years where his dad only paid attention to him when he messed up and when people bullied him, he's earned the right to a few good years, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh absolutely. But haven't you earned such a reward as well? Hognose told me you and your father fought shortly before he died, and that your mother died a long time ago. He told me you always wanted to marry Astrid. And from what I've seen, you and your dragon do not seem to have the same kind of bond your cousin has."

"What are you getting at?" Snotlout asked suspiciously.

"I'm merely wondering why Hiccup should get everything that you've lost,"

Snotlout looked warily at him but kept listening.

"Tell me, Snotlout, does Hiccup treat you well?"

"Of course he does!"

"Oh. I'm glad to hear it. I was under the impression he never takes you into his confidence, or trusts any assignments to your special abilities,"

"Of course he—" but Snotlout had to pause. The fact was, throughout this trip he had been getting the feeling Hiccup did not trust him and deliberately kept him out of things. "Well…he's secretive by habit. You must've heard Astrid earlier—he keeps things close to the chest most of the time."

"Yet couldn't he trust you with important secrets? Could he not trust and involve his own cousin more than others?" Viggo stroked his bead. "I wonder why they let Fishlegs go look for Heather and not you. Surely a Monstrous Nightmare would be the better choice than a Gronkle for a potentially long search…but then again, perhaps they don't want you around Heather,"

"What?"

"Perhaps they've made up their minds Fishlegs would be a better suitor and want to keep you away from her."

Snotlout did not deny he and Fishlegs had had a small rivalry over Heather, but he had never thought that the others might take sides.

But then he shook his head vigorously. "No. The Chief doesn't care who romances who, and he appointed me here, not Hiccup. Hiccup may have…a lot more family than I've got now, but he trusts me even after all I've done to him. He gave me another chance, and I'm not betraying it—especially because a known enemy of ours tells me to. Now don't say another word or I'll gag you too."

Viggo nodded and remained a perfect mute. He knew the seed had been planted, and trusted that in time it would be nurtured and grow. Thoughts at times were a person's worst enemy. Suspicious thoughts could perceive connections that did not actually exist, turn the slightest gesture into an act of sinister meaning, misinterpret the most innocent words, and make the smallest problem become immense and personal. Unchecked thoughts could drive people to destroy themselves and those around them. He did not intend that this alone would bring about the end of Berk and the Dragon King—he certainly was not going to rely solely on Snotlout's thinking. It was simply a small investment that might pay off nicely later on, but if it did not he did not lose anything significant.

He paused a minute with his thoughts. Bring about the end of Berk and the Dragon King? Was that truly necessary? He pushed the doubts aside. Certainly it was necessary. The Dragon King stood in the way of his business. Did not people remove rocks so they could put a road in place? Hiccup, the Dragon King, was one of those rocks in his road to success, and since Hiccup was from Berk, Berk would have to be removed as well, somehow. And it would be their fault for getting in his way.

How he would get free, he did not know yet. But he would watch and wait. Being a good businessman meant being an opportunist. And he was a good businessman.