Sacrifices

by A.Friend410

Arrangements had been made and now it was up to him to choose. He could deny the request and still live his life unknowing where it would lead him, or he can accept it and cement his future. The only problem was he wasn't the only one who would be affected by his choice. For southernbeauty13 who asked for this story with the pairing of Hiccup and my OC Eira. Hiccup/OC pairing.

4. Part Four

A/n: This part contains sexual activities and language between the characters of this story. If you continue to read this story you are reading this fully well aware of this fact. Enjoy.

Part Four:

Hiccup stood there in shock as he stared at Astrid helping pile another bag onto Stormfly. It was not hers either. The bag belonged to his wife and before he could protest she was getting help from Snotlout to climb on the back of Hookfang. When he made even a gesture to say anything the cousin glared and shook his head. In fact, everyone seemed to be in the same agreement with the Jorgeson. Hiccup even turned to the one person who might have backed him up but was even denied there too.

"She's coming with us Hiccup," Astrid strapped down the bag and turned to face him. Her arms crossed.

"You all agree to this? Eira tagging along?"

When they all nodded, he sighed and tried to make them see his reasoning.

"But she has never trained for any of this. She has never ridden on a dragon on this big of a scale. Sending her in there would be dangerous for everyone.

Everyone seemed annoyed with his speech. Snotlout even rolled his eyes and huffed, "Of course, she's not going to be hunting down a dragon."

"She's not?"

"No, you idiot."

"If there even is one," Tuffnut said.

Hiccup ignored the comment and asked, "Then why would she be coming?"

Ruffnut then screeched, "Are you that heartless?!" When he looked confused and hurt Ruffnut continued, "She wants to go home! Any of us would if we were sent away!"

He blinked and looked at Eira on the dragon. Her head and eyes were cast down. He knew she wanted to go back to her village to see her dad, but the others didn't seem to understand that this was not some vacation they were going on. The Southern Sea Walker Tribe needed their help, not to host a party for a group of teens. Hiccup sighed and was about to speak when Eira's quiet voice rang through.

"I just really need to see my dad."

That pained him and it looked like it caused the same reaction in their friends as well. He walked over to her and when their eyes finally met he could tell she was waiting for his disapproval. He knew if he said so she would not put up a fight and do what he thought was safe. Hiccup was not the type though. Instead, he softly offered her a condition.

"What is that?" she asked.

"You ride with Toothless and me." He smiled at her and offered her his hand.

A big smile washed over her face and tears were brimming in her eyes as she nodded at his request. She took the hand that he offered and was helped off the red dragon. Her foot caught on the strap, and she tripped off, but he was there to catch her. They both chuckled at the moment and only began to blush once Snotlout made a comment.

"Can we move past all your lovey-dovey mush and get moving already." He then mumbled to himself, "I think I'm going to be sick."

The young couple was still blushing, but Hiccup rolled his eyes. He did smile at his wife to give her some comfort. "Just ignore him," he said but he did lead them towards his own dragon. He helped her up and then settled himself at the front to take the reins. Once everyone was settled and ready to go it did not take long for them to start their trip to the Southern Sea Walker Tribe.

Halfway through their trip, they were lucky enough to find an island to rest on. Not only did the dragons need a break, but the humans did as well. Everyone was groaning when they hopped off their saddles, especially the boys. They wouldn't admit it but straddling an 8,000-pound lizard for hours does a number on your groin. Once every stretched and felt a tad energized Hiccup started ordering his friends to get a camp started.

The only one not in favor of this was Astrid and she went to speak to Hiccup. "Do you think this is a good idea to set up camp? We could go for another couple of hours before we actually need to."

The young leader stood firm on his decision, however. When addressing the blonde warrior, he was looking at his wife doing her part to settle down. "Some of us could use the downtime."

She looked at what he was quizzingly and then back to him. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

Hiccup took a long sigh and said, "No." Then he backtracked, "I mean if I'm honest something isn't sitting right."

"What do you mean?"

He stood there for a moment, not too sure himself. He was only thankful to have at least one good friend who was willing to listen. "I just have a bad feeling," he trailed off. His brow forward and his lips pressed together.

Astrid waited. She did know him after all and there were only two ways this conversation would go down. One, he would break and tell her what was eating at him. Or two, he would not but she would pester him enough to where he would tell her. Luckily, she only had to wait.

"It's just strange, isn't it?"

"What is?" she asked.

"For almost a year now Eira has constantly written to her father. I cannot tell you how many times I've dropped off her letters to traders and nothing has come back. Then all a sudden he finally writes? And not to her, but to my dad and how the tribe needs help."

It was odd, but Astrid wanted to keep the guy's hopes up. "Maybe the others were lost in the confusion. I mean a father writing to his daughter isn't a high priority to send."

"See that's what is confusing me," Hiccup countered and pulled out the parchment. "I've read the letter Astrid and it just doesn't sound like this was Illfuss at all." He offered the letter to her so she could see for herself.

Astrid however read the words and she couldn't understand what he was saying. "I'm sorry Hiccup but this just sounds like a Chief asking for help from an ally. She handed the letter back to him.

He sighed and put the letter away. "It does, but I've met the man Astrid. Illfuss doesn't sound desperate."

"Are you sure?"

"What do you mean?"

She shrugged not wanting to step on the boy's toes. "It's just that he was going to every eligible bachelor to marry Eira off, why do you think that was?"

It was his turn to be silent and shrug. He didn't want to think about that. Eira and his betrothal were unexpected, to say the least, but it came to be something he was happy about. During the time spent with her, he never thought he had given up anything, not anymore. A small smile graced him when he caught sight of the brunet gathering small bundles of sticks nearby. His heart started to pick up and he has only pulled away from the happy thoughts of her when Astrid called out to him. "Huh, what. Oh, sorry, Astrid. What was your question again?"

The blonde sighed a bit annoyed. "All I'm saying is that Illfuss might be desperate to save his people. Any Chief would, so his tone might be different than him handing his daughter off to a strange horny teenager."

He took offense to that, "I'm not strange."

"Apparently horny though," she muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing," she smirked lightly punching his arm. "I think you are just reading too much into all this."

"Maybe, but," he trailed, "She seemed so worried when I broke the news to her. She was adamant about coming and now…"

"She's here," Astrid finished for him.

He agreed repeating her words in a worried tone, "And if something goes wrong there Astrid I don't know how I can-"

"Hey," she stopped him, "Hiccup if you are worried about protecting Eira you've got her covered. We got her covered."

He sighed in relief when hearing that. It was a hidden part of his thoughts he didn't know he was afraid of and because Astrid had brought it to life by calming his fears, he thanked her.

She punched his arm again making him rub the sore spot and hiss a bit from the pain. She just smiled and said, "What are friends for?"

"Not punching them would be a great start," he sarcastically said.

"Nah," she laughed.

The two were laughing and moved on from the serious conversation to a more playful one.

In the midst of their talking, Eira came up to the two of them to give Hiccup an update. She paused before going up to them as she saw how joyous the two of them were. It flooded Eira with some self-doubt about her approach. However, when Hiccup's eyes landed on hers, she saw his smile grow a bit bigger giving her the little confidence boost she needed. Walking all the way up to them though Astrid excused herself stating she was going to help Snotlout with gathering fresh water. That confused the other female. "Was I interrupting something?"

The male shook his head and answered, "We were just thinking ahead is all. Nothing to be concerned with."

"Anything you need from me?" she asked.

"Do we have enough firewood?" he questioned.

She nodded, "even the twins helped."

"The twins? Really?"

"Well… in their own way," she cautiously explained a hint of laughter in her voice.

He chuckled and accepted that, "Well, how are the dragons then?"

"Fine, Fishlegs is checking to make sure. Though Toothless does look exhausted more than the others," she sounded concerned with the Night Fury.

At the mention of his dragon Hiccup took notice that the Night Fury had barely moved since the group had landed and immediately went to him. He knelt by his head and gently touched his head. "You doing okay, Bud?"

The dragon roared groggily finally acknowledging how tired he really was.

Eira looked at the two in concern and once Astrid and Snotlout came back she took hers and Hiccup's canteen. She walked back and handed his. She then took hers and offered it to the dragon encouraging him to drink, "Here you go big guy. Drink up."

Toothless lapped up the water in front of them slowly and then greedily until it was all gone.

Hiccup may have been more amazed at the woman beside him. Without missing a beat she was taking care of Toothless like it was no big deal like she had done it a hundred times before. His heart even began beating faster when she started to sing her lullaby to the reptile and stroke his scales lightly on top of his head. It pounded more when the last note was sung, and she turned to smile at him. Of course, he smiled back but his mouth felt extremely dry no matter how much water he was drinking. No sooner did he receive his canteen was it empty, so he stood up right away declaring that he was going to get more.

She chimed in, "I'll go with you. I need to refill mine also."

He gulped but couldn't see any reason to deny her and off they went after getting the directions from Astrid and reassurance from Fishlegs that he would keep an eye on Toothless until their return.

Alone together the young teens felt a bit bashful and nervous around one another. Both knew logically there was no reason to feel this way, but they were. They would turn their eyes away from one another if they were caught glancing at their partner and they would stumble and trail off any conversation they tried to have. It made the young girls think that there was something on the boy's mind. Something that could be troubling him.

Indeed, something was on the young rider's mind, just not what she thought. No, Hiccup's mind was circulating around his wife and how she was making him react towards her. How his heart would race whenever her face would flush when catching their stares. He didn't know what to do about it nor what to call what he was feeling. All he knew was if it didn't stop soon his heart might as well give out. Luckily, it did for a moment when he stabled her back on her feet after she tripped on an exposed root.

"Thank you," she said standing upright once more.

He gulped and said, "No problem. Besides what are husbands for?" he slid a joke in there which in return made her laugh.

"Many things apparently," she stated in a way that seemed flirtatious, especially when she took a step closer to him.

He gulped again as that nervous feeling was coming back. However, it didn't deter his hands from resting on her hips when hers found their way to his shoulders. He didn't even stop her from leaning up to kiss him. It ended too soon as she pulled away, but his heart was beating so fast he was sure that she could hear it. He tried to get some moisture back in his mouth but it felt impossible. He looked at her blue eyes and he wanted to say something yet all he could say was, "I…I…"

"Yes?" she encouraged. The corners of her lips curled up into a smile.

This only caused him to lose focus and his mouth to go drier. Whatever he wanted to say was gone and instead was replaced with, "I think we should continue."

"Continue?" she asked a slight blush forming on her cheeks as her thoughts were on something more risqué than his.

"Yeah," he nodded, "to get water."

"Oh," she sounded a bit taken aback at the real reason they were out there, but nonetheless she respected the decision. It didn't mean she wasn't going to hold his hand though.

Hiccup was happy that they were holding hands, but he was cursing himself inside at his stupid blunder. He couldn't say what he wanted to and not only that he realized at the very least he missed the opportunity to make out with the girl. "Gods, I'm such an idiot," he thought and kept thinking all the way to the freshwater spring they found on the island.

It came to the point that even Eira found his demeanor and facial expressions odd. She stayed silent throughout the trip back and rejoined the other two girls when they returned to the camp as the boy went to his dragon.

The trio of girls worked on descaling the fish, so they were edible. During the work, Eira kept glancing over at Hiccup, who still looked like he was worried. This made her worried and it didn't go unnoticed by the other two.

"What's with the long face?" Ruffnut asked.

Eira shook whatever face she was making and smiled as she said, "Nothing just a lot on my mind."

"Are you worried about going home?" Astrid questioned. The puzzled look on the other girl's face made Astrid explain her thinking, "I mean it has been almost a year since you've been back. A lot might have changed since then."

Looking down she said, "I'm sure not much has changed since my departure." She didn't give them time to question as she took the fish she cleaned and roasted them on the fire pit. Every now and then she would take a glance back at her husband. Looking back, she was happy to see that Toothless was up and playing with his rider. She smiled and walked over to them. She placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder and said, "I see someone's doing better."

Hiccup froze a moment seeing her casually touch him. To regain himself he gulped and nodded. He then spoke up saying, "Yeah some rest did him some good."

"Hope so because the food seems to be ready."

As soon as it left her lips Toothless was bounding towards the fire pit that held all the fish. This left the two teens by themselves.

Both laughed at the dragon's antics. Eira then reached down to help the lad up which he did and brushed off some of the sand that clung to his pants.

"Thanks."

She nodded and they both walked over to go eat the meal. They didn't sit together though. As soon as they were close enough Ruffnut dragged Eira away from Hiccup to sit next to her, something with this not being a romantic getaway. Both just shrugged and went with it.

In the midst of their dinner, Fishlegs dropped a question that no one was expecting but everyone was curious for the answer. "What is the Southern Sea Walker tribe-like, Eira? I've heard stories but is it like they say?"

Of course, it threw her off and she asked him to repeat it. Everyone agreed to the question and all eyes were locked on the poor girl who didn't like the spotlight. Even her husband didn't help as he said,

"I've got to admit I'm curious myself."

"But I've told you what it's like," Eira mentioned trying to avoid the conversation, but Hiccup didn't give her an out. Instead, he made all of them more intrigued by explaining she only mention her family and not the village itself nor the dynamic of how the village handles itself.

She gulped and reluctantly agreed to his claim. She took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself, "Where would you like me to begin?"

"Are there any hot guys?" Ruffnut jumped in making everyone groan and Tuffnut was grossed out.

Astrid was annoyed, "Really, Ruff?"

"What! All I have to look at are these guys." She pointed at the boys in the group. "And that one is taken and he's my brother so what do you want me to do?"

"Not ask?!"

"I feel insulted!" Snotlout chimed, but no one paid attention.

Even Fishlegs looked hurt by Ruffnut's comment.

Yet, all paid attention when Eira answered her question, "They're adequate in my old village. A few might be decent, but everyone follows their old traditional ways."

Hiccup was surprised at her response. Not by her words but by the fact that she was blushing. "Does she like someone back at her old tribe?" he thought, "she told me that she didn't, but then why is she blushing? Do I need to compete with someone else for Eira?" He did not like the sound of that at all. He didn't want any of that honestly. They were together. She had chosen him. Well… when he continued to think about it Eira didn't really choose him, she was more brought and forced. But he chose her and that counted, right?

"Hiccup?"

"Huh! What?" he was now in a panic when he realized everyone was staring at him.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded quickly and then tried to deflect anyone from questioning further by asking his wife, "So what else about the tribe Eira?"

She shrugged, "We're known for our trading skills. My father owns or commands every port in the Southern Seas and even plans to continue to the North."

It took a second, but Tuffnut was the one who figured it out or rudely spouted, "Wait just a second! Your family's fucking rich as Hel!"

"Tuffnut!" Astrid screeched.

"Wait, seriously!" Snotlout was baffled.

Again, Eira bashfully confirmed their suspicion. "The dowery paid to the Haddock family wasn't anything to laugh at, but it wouldn't leave a scratch on my family's or tribe's income."

They all sat there in shock.

"Did you know about this?" Fishlegs asked Hiccup.

He could only shake his head. He had no clue about any of this, yet when he thought about it, it made sense why some of their household belongings were nicer than what even he was used to.

Ruffnut was the one who asked the next question, "So if you're super-duper rich why would your dad come all the way to our frost-bitten village to throw you away to a guy like Hiccup?"

"Should I be insulted by that?" the lanky teen whispered to the blond he was sitting next to.

"I feel like we all should be," said Astrid.

However, the young girl's answer made his stomach flip, "Before our wedding my father told me that Hiccup will be good to me. That he will protect me." She smiled at him making him smile back. She also added, "and our father apparently go way back so there's that."

Snotlout was the one to ruin the mood now, "That's great and all but… do you have a sister?"

She shook her head no.

"A cousin?"

Again, she shook her head no.

"Some form of a female relative?"

Another head shake.

"Oh, come on! I want to be rich. I deserve to be rich!"

"What you deserve is a punch in the face," the Hofferson gritted.

Eira chuckled, "I'm sorry Snotlout but it has always been my father and me. Oh! And my Uncle Cuyler."

"Who's Cuyler?" this was the first time Eira had ever mentioned another family member other than her mom and dad.

"An old family friend. He's been my father's best friend since they were kids. He's also the advisor to the Chief. You might remember him. He tried announcing my father's arrival at the docks." She giggled at the memory of her father cutting the man off.

Hiccup thought about it and then it clicked, "Oh yeah, but he called him Buck though."

She laughed and nodded, "a nickname from when he was a kid apparently. My parents never let it leave him." When asked what happened to give him that name, she explain that when on a hunting trip a deer scared him so bad that he ran all the way back to the village screaming like a banshee. The gang all laughed at that and even joke around about how that could even happen. As the laughter was dying down another question was brought up.

"What else can we expect from the village? What is everyone like?"

Eira didn't like that question. She didn't want to tell them how people in her tribe treated her. She didn't even have a reason for why they did except to make her dad look bad, which she didn't want to do. She loved her father, after all, so she tried to be as vague as possible. "Everyone has a role."

"What does that mean?"

"It means," she tried not to sound annoyed but she really didn't want to explain any of this. She didn't want anyone of her new friends to have an awful opinion of the tribe based on her own experiences. "Everyone has a duty to full fill. The women take care of the people and homes with food and mending clothing. The men took care of the village bringing in trade or protecting it. Of course, the ones with families took care of their families. Everyone worked in some way to prosper the village. The young girls learned from their mothers to be good wives and the young boys learned from their fathers to continue the tribe's tradition and be warriors. And everyone respected the Chief, my father. No one dared crossed him unless you expected to be punished. He was not a Viking you wanted to mess with."

"Don't I know it," Hiccup said remembering the time he went to talk to Illfuss on the beach.

"And what did you do?"

Eira paused in dear for a moment. She didn't want to tell them. Not now, not ever. Yet, what choice did she have? She took a deep breath and said, "I did what the other girls did."

"Learn from their moms?"

"Yeah, but isn't your mom like dead?" Snotlout asked but was punched by Tuffnut. "OW! What the Hel!"

"Dude! Even I'm not stupid enough to mention dead parents like that," he stressed and motioned for the male teen to look at the young girl's face of sadness at his words.

He felt guilty and apologized, but Eira quickly forgave him.

She continued to answer the question though, "I learned from the other teens in my village. They were gracious enough to take time to help me properly learn those traits." She bowed her head trying her best not to remember those gatherings.

"So, what else did you do? I mean you did have fun, right?" Fishlegs asked.

"Yeah," Ruffnut said, "You mentioned boar pits before. You must have wrestled in those."

Eira smiled but corrected her friend, "My father wouldn't allow me inside a ring ever. He didn't want me to get hurt again. I did spectate at all the tournaments though as a representative of the Chief's daughter. I did a few things like that with him." She paused and in her state of annoyance let slip, "He seemed to always do that with me."

"Do what? Have you followed him around the village?" Hiccup asked trying to understand her situation.

"We can say it was like that."

Thankfully Astrid interrupted and went to clarify her words better, "You were basically training to be the next Chief."

She nodded.

Ruffnut was the one to ruin it though, "Thought you said women were not allowed to be the Chief or have much of an opinion."

"Didn't mean she couldn't help her father though or the future Chief that she would marry," Fishlegs answered for her, which made the young couple blush at the mention of marriage since she was married to the dragon rider leader.

Who was now steering the conversation somewhere else, "Eira did other things too, you guys. I mean she enjoyed walking in the forest in her village."

Eira smiled and her heart fluttered a bit knowing that Hiccup remembered something about her. "I did, still do even."

That made Astrid perk up as she asked, "So you would know the terrain. Know where this possible dragon could be?"

"Possibly," she said wavering. "My father didn't allow me to explore a lot, but I did study the maps and know of some locations that others may not."

Astrid was smiling at that and turned to Hiccup, "Told you it was a good idea to bring her along."

"That you did," Hiccup then turned to look at his wife. She was blushing at Astrid's comment, and she looked incredibly nervous about continuing the topic. "Enough talk though. We all know the game plan so some relaxation would be good for all of us."

Everyone agreed except maybe the blonde warrior but that was her fighting instincts kicking in. The rest of the gang was all for this part of the trip and for the rest of the night everyone was goofing off and hanging out with one another. It was something Eira wasn't used to but she was very glad to be a part of something like this now. She could only hope that no one would bring up anything that happen in her past when they went to the village.

In the late evening when everyone was asleep Hiccup turned over and unconsciously went to search for his sleeping mate. However, when his search came up empty his light sleep was shaken off. His green eyes open slowly and through his groggy state was able to confirm that his partner was not beside him. Looking around he was able to find her just far enough to where no one would panic if they searched for her. It made Hiccup be worried about her. It was the reason why he yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He then stood up and went over to where his wife was sitting on the beach.

Slightly more awake he noticed that she looked very serene staring at the waves and what little moonlight fell on her brought out some of the features he thought were beautiful. He smiled and announced his presence by saying, "You're up pretty late."

The young lady sighed knowing full well that he was standing there beside her. She didn't take her eyes off the sea though. "You can join me if you want," she offered.

He couldn't deny her and settled down next to her. He was going to ask what was keeping her but stopped when he felt her head rest on his shoulder. He looked a bit in disbelief but then smiled and leaned his head on hers. He snaked his arm around her and sighed in contentment.

Both looked at the dark horizon enjoying the peaceful sounds of the waves casually hitting the shore. Yet as they sat there both their minds began to drift and circulate around what was bothering them the past few days.

Hiccup's thoughts around the girl he was holding and how, even now, there was something that he wanted to say to her. He just couldn't pinpoint what it was and every time he thought he had it, it disappeared. Poof, gone without a trace and he was left there in front of her like a babbling fish, scrambling to say something, anything else. He succeeded awkwardly but maybe now since they were alone and in no rush maybe he could say what he wanted to. He shifted to look at her and softly said her name, "Eira?"

"Hm?" the girl didn't look away from the ocean waiting for him to continue.

"I-" he paused looking at her. He was once again fumbling, trying his hardest to tell her what he was feeling. What he was thinking but his brain was frozen, so he said her name again, "Eira?"

This made her pull her attention towards him, "Yes, Hiccup?"

When he managed to thaw some brain function back, he finally spoke a sentence, "Are you excited to see your dad tomorrow?" He cursed himself realizing that it wasn't what he wanted even remotely to say to her.

"A little," was her honest response.

"A little?"

She nodded timidly and also said, "A little nervous too."

"Why so? He's your dad. I'm sure he's going to be ecstatic to have you back."

A smile crept on her face, "I'm sure he will." Then the smile faded a bit. "I just don't want my father to think this arrangement isn't working. That I let him down."

"Hey," he squeezed her hand. "I don't think you could ever let him down." He saw the smile return on her and he smiled back. "Besides didn't your dad call you the "Jewel of the Southern Sea Walkers" ?" Hiccup immediately regretted saying that because her face turned.

She scooted a bit from him looking back at the ocean. She tucked her legs close to her and rested her chin on her knees. "It's one of the titles he has given me." Then she muttered, "not my favorite one."

That intrigued him, "you had more than one?"

She shrugged, "Well, yes. Not ones the villagers called me, but a couple that I favored when having a rough day."

"Can't imagine you having a rough day," he lightly teased softly bumping her shoulder with his. He flashed a smirk at her making Eira smile back.

"Being a "jewel" is a hard thing to live up to."

He didn't want to push that subject again and so he hummed in agreement. He tried to test his luck and moved back closer to her to hold her again.

Thankfully, she didn't deny him and instead went back to lay her head on his shoulder. She even relaxed a bit and brought her legs down. A sigh escaped her as she stared at the ocean and her mind drifted towards the teen holding her. Even though he messed up slightly he was still so kind and understanding or he tried his best to be. She was truly lucky that he agreed to their marriage, she didn't know where she would be if he hadn't.

"Hey, are you okay?" he caught her off by pulling away from their embrace and taking his free hand to wipe away a tear on her cheek.

She wiped away the other tear that fell and was a bit embarrassed that she was caught being so emotional. "I'm fine," she smiled at him hoping he would leave it at that, which he didn't.

He just pulled her into a tight embrace again and whispered, "It's going to be okay. I promise."

More tears fell but she agreed with him, "I know." She took a deep breath to ease herself, but she was scared. She couldn't tell him that. He wouldn't understand, not fully at least. So, she thought about how wonderful he was with her and it calmed her down. "I know because I have you."

His heart picked up when she said that and even more when she looked at him. He licked his dry lips and tried to calm himself, yet it all went out the window when he felt her soft lips on his. It only took a second to realize what she was doing, and he kissed her back.

Her hands rested on his shoulders slowly moving to the back of his neck as she kissed him. She again repositioned herself to sit on his lap facing him, never breaking their kiss. She felt his hands on her hips gently squeezing and rubbing his thumbs in small circles. It only made her want to press into him more, which she did. She grinded into him feeling his shaft harden from her ministrations and in turn, made her turn on. She broke the kiss to hush out his name.

In return, hiccup did the same with hers and took one of his to hold the back of her head to bring her back into a kiss. His other free hand slipped underneath her dress to pull at the hem of her leggings she wore. He wanted her. He wanted her to know how bad he wanted her and with the way she was pulling at his clothing she wanted him just as bad. His hand slipped inside and his fingers found their way to her pussy. He gently rubbed her lips noticing that she was soaking wet and his thumb pressed against her clit. He smiled when she gasped at his touch but was soon doing the same when her slim hand freed his cock and her fingers wrapped around him. When she started to pump him, he slipped two of his fingers into her moving at the same pace as she was to him.

Eira pulled away from Hiccup's lips and rested her head on his shoulder moaning his name softly. Her grip on him not losing as she continued her pace noticing that he was bucking his hips with her. She sharply said his name when he curled his fingers inside her and made herself grind faster against his hand. She continued fucking herself with his hand and her breathing was becoming more rapid signaling that she was close to her climax.

Because of this she let go of Hiccup's cock and placed the hand she was using on his hip balancing herself as she rode his hand.

Although a smidge disappointed in the loss of her touch he smiled when he heard her telltale sign of her cumming. He kissed her temple when she rested her forehead on his shoulder. He was happy that he made her feel good, but their tryst wasn't over yet. He let her know too when he lifted her slightly and placed the tip of his cock at her entrance.

When she looked at him in disbelief, he only kissed her as he lowered her onto him. She groaned in the kiss as he settled fully inside of her.

Hiccup moaned too and told her, "You always feel so good Eira."

Eira smiled resting her forehead against his, "You too Hiccup." She made it clear that she wasn't lying when she slowly lifted herself up to push back down again. She smiled when he moaned and threw his head back.

Both teens slowly matched each other's pace moaning and sighing softly. Every now and then they called each other's names quietly and each found themselves kissing the other. After a while of their thrusting, both were on the verge of climaxing. Hiccup was closer than Eira, but he was doing his best to hold off until his wife came with him. When she did, she clung to him tightly and he followed suit covering her insides with his cum.

He lay down in the sand out of breath with her on top of him. His cock was still inside her as they panted to catch their breath once more. When his blood was returning to his head, he realized something important and it made him curse, "Shit."

She didn't lift her head off his chest, but she did ask, "What's wrong?"

"I-uh, well… I goofed," he said a little embarrassed and worried. He heard her ask why that was and he explained, "I um don't know if you could tell but I uh came inside you."

She giggled, which confused him, "Oh, I definitely can." Her face was red and felt like it was on fire when she said that.

He was still confused and wondered why she wasn't a bit worried like he was. "And you're not bothered by this? Why?" he was really perplexed by her demeanor of stillness. When something like this had happened before both were in a panic. Neither knew what to do and it wasn't until both came to their senses and talked to Gothi about the situation did they find a solution. It also brought up an issue that they hadn't talked about until that day occurred. Kids. Both came to an agreement that they weren't ready. That they were too young. Again, however, her demeanor was different than before and he has to ask, "Did you change your mind?"

That brought her to sit up and quickly tell him, "What? No." She shook her head, "No definitely not. It's just after last time I took some precautions with the help of Gothi and some remedies."

"Remedies?"

"To help prevent pregnancies," she explained, "It's not 100 percent in its accuracy but it has proven its worth with other female members in the tribe."

"So, what does that mean, exactly?"

"It means," she smiled, "you don't need to worry about a goof. Just don't do it all the time. It still would be safer."

He sighed in relief and did state, "okay, no more goofing. Got it."

"Good," she kissed the tip of his nose real quick and then stood up to fix her clothes.

He stood up as well and fixed his pants, so they were on correctly. He saw her yawn and knew what that meant. He took her hand and told it was time for bed. Before he could take another step, her voice stopped him.

"Thank you, Hiccup."

He smiled and brush a strand back into place. "Let's just get some sleep. I have a feeling tomorrow will be interesting."

She agreed and together they went back to their spot in camp to get some rest.

The next morning, as they were drawing near the waters of Eira's old tribe the young girl's hands, were clenching tighter around Hiccup's waist. Her face did nothing to hide how she was feeling at all.

Hiccup noticing this asked over his shoulder, "Are you doing okay? Toothless isn't flying too crazy, is he?"

The Night Fury huffed at the comment. He only flies crazy when his human is in control, but he was also worried about the girl. She was squeezing him too and her nerves radiated off her.

"No, he's fine." She then asked, "How close are we?"

Astrid was the one to answer, "We should be arriving at the rendezvous point soon. Does it look in any way familiar to you?"

She shook her head feeling a bit useless as she told Hiccup, "Everything looks way different from up here."

"It's fine when we land you can look at the map and help us navigate to the village."

"We're not landing in the village?"

"No," answered Astrid again, "the letter stated that our dragons could upset some of the villagers. May spook something that would cause both tribes to be on lesser terms than they are."

The brunette could understand the situation, but what she didn't was how the two tribes were on unbalanced terms. Her marriage to Hiccup was supposed to grow the tribes' bond not further them.

Hiccup's mind was not too far off from his wife's, but he kept that to himself as they continued to their destination.

When they were closer to the ground Eira was a bit puzzled. It became apparent when they landed at the location.

"Is something wrong Eira?" Fishlegs asked.

She was going to deny it but when all the riders were shooting her concerned looks she felt like she owed them the explanation, "I've been here before."

Snotlout rolled his eyes, "Well no duh. You use to live here."

The girl shook her head. It was going to be difficult to explain it to everyone but at least one person in the group would understand. "Hiccup, do you remember that I told you I use to hide Dust?"

He took a moment but, in the end, nodded. "Yeah, it was an abandoned stable."

"This stable," she emphasized. It confused her that the letter said to land here. The only person who knew about the broken-down decrypted area was her mother. Now that her father mentioned it in a letter, she panicked thinking that he also knew about her beloved friend.

"Eira?" Hiccup questioned politely touching her arm gently.

"I want her to be okay."

"You mean Dust?"

She could only nod her head.

"Um, what's dust?" Tuffnut asked.

"You know the dirt that collects on things that makes you sneeze whenever mom asks us to clean," his sister said.

"Ug gross! I hate that stuff! I think I'm going to sneeze just thinking about it!" He acted like he was making everyone grossed out at his antics.

Hiccup chuckled and corrected the twin. "You mean who, not what. And it was Eira's pet when she was younger and lived here." He then turned his attention to the girl to comfort her, "I'm sure she's fine. Maybe she's around here still. Do you want to try calling out for her?"

Her heart fluttered at his warm compassion and she was about to answer, but Astrid cut her off.

"We don't have time for that. We have a bigger emergency to handle than finding a lost pet." When looking at the others and receiving some annoying glares she wanted to backtrack, but she also knew she was right. Thankfully, someone did understand her point of view.

"She's right," Eira piped in. "The tribe needs to come first."

Hiccup was about to comment that they could handle both, but another situation occurred.

While all the other dragons were resting after the long flight, one was frantically searching. Toothless was moving in circles all around the area and constantly sniffing. His snout was in the grass, on the decrypted wood, he was even in the dirt. He was searching for something, but no one knew what.

Hiccup was alarmed by his behavior and even tried to calm the reptile down. It only worked for a moment, but the black dragon was back at it. It only made the rider scratch his head. "What has gotten into you, Bud?"

"He's never acted this way before?"

"Never," he answered. Then retracted the statement. "Maybe once when he met you for the first time. Other than that, no. Toothless come on stop you're freaking everyone out." He went to touch the dragon but step back in fear when the big guy snapped and growled at him.

In a second, the dragon realized what he did and immediately bowed his head in shame and apologized in the only way he knew how. He whimpered and went towards his friend to receive a pat from him.

Hiccup did and told his dragon it was okay. He was still worried about his behavior though. Especially when as soon as the rider forgave the Night Fury, the black dragon went right back to sniffing around the stable.

It was weird and no one could deny that, and it was the reason why everyone agreed with Fishlegs' plan to have him stay back with the dragons while everyone else went to search for the Sea Walker Tribe. Being the leader though, Hiccup only agreed as long as Snotlout stayed behind also. He just didn't trust his dragon's behavior at the moment and that killed him on the inside, but he needed to be sure that if something were to happen there was someone else here with Fishlegs.

They were walking for a while and Ruffnut was already starting to complain. "Are we there yet? My feet are killing me."

"Why couldn't we take the dragons again?" Tuffnut whined also and while the others rolled their eyes at the twins, Eira found some humor in their antics.

"Because," Hiccup annoyed that he was explaining it for another time, "The Sea Walker tribe is having a dragon problem. If we bring our dragons, they might think it's the problem and we don't want them to hurt our dragons in any way. So, once we get there hopefully Illfuss can explain to his people that at least our dragons aren't here to hurt them. That no dragon is really out to hurt any village."

"And Vikings are really stubborn and when they are scared it increases," Eira explained. "Not only that but the Sea Walkers are traditionalist. Your way of living with the dragons is quite upsetting to them since they haven't had a dragon problem for years or even seen one. And when they did it was the same instructions, you received when you started dragon training. Kill on site."

Astrid was the next one to speak up, "So if this really is a dragon then we can't have them wanting to kill the poor thing when we should relocate it."

This only made the twins groan when hearing the same thing again.

"Yeah, but I don't want to walk anymore," the girl grumbled.

"Me either," the boy said in the same tone. "Tell me we're almost there."

"Close," Eira answered. "Maybe another mile or so."

"Thank the Gods!" Both cried out.

"You'll be seeing the Gods soon if you don't identify yourselves now."

All the teens were caught off guard and when Astrid went for her ax the person called her out.

"Don't you think about it, miss. You'll be on the ground before you touch the handle."

That's when Ruffnut whispered in the warrior's ear, "See if we had our dragons we wouldn't be in this position."

"Shut it," Astrid gritted.

Unfortunately, the stranger heard the twin's comment. "Dragons? Who are you?" he now demanded.

Hiccup being the leader he was, was about to speak to the man. He paused though when feeling Eira squeeze his hand.

"Hiccup…" she said worriedly.

"It's okay Eira," he encouraged, "We just need to explain who we are."

Before he could speak the hidden Viking did, "Eira? Eira Osterburg? Daughter of the Chief Illfuss and Meriel?"

The teens looked at one another clearly worried, but the female stepped in front of her husband and answered the adult. "Yes, that would be me, sir."

The man finally stood in front of them and looked like he saw a ghost, but he also looked happy as he told the girl, "By the Gods. Eira Osterburg I can't believe you are here. Look at how you've grown."

She looked complex until it dawned on her who she was speaking to. "Cuyler? Uncle Cuyler?!" Seeing his nod, she ran to embrace him.

Everyone was confused by the union until Hiccup put the pieces together and connected the memory of the man. "You're Buck. You were there on the docks when your ship first arrived with Chief Illfuss and Eira."

The large Viking put the girl down and walked up to the teenager. Slightly amused when the boy looked scared when he approached. "I am. To be precise I am the Chief's advisor and right hand on all decisions that the Chief would make. I even helped closely on the Chief's decision to provide you with his most precious gift, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the hope and heir of the Berk tribe and master of dragons."

Hiccup gulped when the man said his full name and title. Clearly, he was not kidding when he said he was a Chief advisor. He bravely asked, "And what was that sir?"

"If you don't know then you must not be treating her well."

Eira came to the lad's aid and held his hand. "He has Uncle Cuyler, and my father will be happy to know it too. You are just scaring him for no reason."

The man smirked but agreed. "Very well, but someone had to do it."

Eira rolled her eyes and scoffed, "And I believe that privilege belongs to my father, which is why we are here. We received his letter."

Hiccup held out the rolled parchment for the older Viking to see, but now he was the one confused.

He took the paper and as he was looking at it said, "Your father? Eira I don't know how to tell you, but your father didn't write this letter. I did."

"You did? Why would you write asking for help? That is the final decision of the Chief. Uncle, do you know what kind of position you have put both our tribes in? My father is not going to be pleased when he finds out." Eira was speaking seriously, but as she was speaking the older Viking was looking more and more like his heart was being ripped out of his chest.

"Eira… do you not know?"

"Know what?"

He didn't have a moment to answer her before his name was screamed across the air and his face became serious and stone-like. His only words to the girl were, "Stay behind me if you can."

She didn't have time to ask when his name was screeched again.

"Buck! Why in Odin's name are you not answering me?!" another teen entered the group's area with what seemed to be a group of other teens around the same age following. The teen calling out to the older Viking to answer had another question when spotting the dragon riders. "Who the Hel are these people?"

Slightly annoyed Cuyler answered the barking teen, "I thought we discussed this already sir. My friends call me Buck. You are to address me as Cuyler, especially in front of guests."

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes but didn't forget what he said about the guest. "And if we have guests, why haven't you introduced me properly? Seems unprofessional as a so-called Chief's Advisor."

Again, Cuyler was annoyed and seemed to bite the inside of his mouth hoping to buy himself some patience with the boy in front of him. "Forgive me, sir. Running into unannounced people on my stroll made it slip my mind." He then did his best to introduce the Berk teens to the teen. "May I introduce you to the Southern Sea Walker tribe's new young Chief. Chief Zarek, son of the late Chief Balder."

"Chief?!" All the Berk teens thought, finding the comment jarring. Everyone except Eira was now in shock when hearing the title for she was the first one who realized what that meant to have this boy stand in front of them and be called Chief.

"And who are these people Cuyler?" the large teen asked crossing his arms and clearly not amused with any of this happening.

Cuyler straighten his stance and ushered to the gang. "Chief Zarek, this is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, son of Stoick the Vast and future Chief of Berk along with his friends."

"And what are they doing here?"

Hiccup was quick to answer, "My friends and I were practicing, and we needed to rest. Lucky for us we stumbled upon your tribe's territory and Cuyler caught us walking towards your village. He offered to help in an extension of you and our alliance we have."

The young Chief seem to study the young leader, but with his inexperience at running into situations like this he had no basis to question anyone's motives, and in an angsty teen format he waved it off. "Whatever, happy to have you here and all that." Before Hiccup could even say a thank you, the other teen continued his rant, "What alliance do we actually have?"

"Especially with a tribe that has Vikings like that?" One of Zarek's friends commented.

"And should we even care?" Another friend snarked making the young Chief chuckle.

He was quick to straighten up when seeing the elder Viking glare at him, though he did not like being challenged or scolded like a small child.

Cuyler did answer the young teen's questions though. "It is through the marriage between our tribe's beloved jewel, Eira and Hiccup, that forged our tribes' alliances. One that our Chief Illfuss was very proud of."

Everyone caught the murmur of Zarek when he corrected the title given to Illfuss with the late Chief and it made the young girl who was hiding behind the advisor gasp in shock and feel completely numb. She didn't even hear how one of her friends went to question the young Chief's word of choice.

But Zarek made it very clear when stating, "Yeah, the dude died back in winter and the "beloved jewel" didn't even show up for his funeral."

Hiccup was glaring at the teen and how rude he was being and so were the others. He even lost his cool when he barked out, "we never received a letter of his passing, so how could have any of us known."

"Exactly," Ruffnut said.

Then Tuffnut added, "how could you be so insensitive when the girl is right here." Without thinking and no one quick to stop him Tuffnut grabbed onto his friend bringing her into the light and notifying Zarek of her presence.

Everyone was in shock when Eira stood there. She looked like a statue frozen in her own grief.

Hiccup desperately wanted to go to her, however, someone was the first to break the uneasy silence and it wasn't someone who was on friendly terms with her.

Zarek snide his comments made his friends chuckle while Eira's friends glared. "Why if it isn't our precious, beloved, shiny jewel of our tribe gentlemen, Eira Osterburg."

"Don't you mean Haddock?" his friend asked.

"Oh, that's right," he snapped his fingers like it just clicked for him, "I guess it would be Haddock now. But hey I guess that's okay. You can still be our perfect little jewel if you want." He strolled up to her and placed his arms around her shoulders. "Right guys?"

All the local teens chuckled and agreed with their Chief.

"See, Eira," he tucked some of her hair behind her ear gently making Hiccup glare at his movements. "Even if you are the worse daughter in this world at least you have a tribe that's accepting of you being a flawless little gemstone." He then squeezed her shoulder tighter and leaned in to whisper sinisterly," even though you and I both know you don't deserve it with how selfish you are that you couldn't even hold his dying hand as he called out for you."

That broke the girl, and she bent her head down as she started to sob loudly.

Hiccup went to go to her for comfort, but the Chief waved him off stopping him as he played the concerned friend. "Let's bring her back to my place. Help her calm down and we can help our guests recover from their travels."

As they were walking Astrid mentioned to the advisor about their friends and dragons back at their rendezvous point. The man told the teen he would handle it and make sure that nothing would harm any of their animals. He walked between the two groups of teens trying his hardest to keep his composer whenever looking at his young Chief. Whatever, the teen said to Eira was still making her upset. Though he wanted to commend her because she was holding herself better than anyone he would know when given that type of news. "She's just as strong as her mother," he thought with pride.

Hiccup picked up his pace and went to walk next to his wife, who for some reason was still allowing Zarek to hold her by her shoulders. He wanted to ask about her wellbeing, but he couldn't bring himself to ask without sounding too overbearing. Thankfully, he didn't have to as she took a glance at him and said,

"I'm okay Hiccup."

"Are you sure?" he asked noticing that the tears were brimming to the surface again.

She felt Zarek pinch her arm and she answered the way that he wanted, "Yes." She took a deep breath, "I'm fine Hiccup."

"Eira," he said sadly but was cut off when they reached their destination.

When she looked up, she was surprised. "This is my home."

"Actually," Zarek said, "it's now my home. Being the Chief and all has its perks."

Eira looked confused and turned to Cuyler.

The man could not look at the girl. Instead, he ushered them all in and all were offered to sit at the long table that was in the room. Once sitting Cuyler walked over to Zarek and whispered something into his ear.

"Seriously?"

"Yes, Chief. It is how they came to our shores. Why Illfuss made a treaty with them."

"Huh," the teen smirked staring at Hiccup almost like he was trying to believe the information he was given. Yet Hiccup paid him no mind as he sat next to Eira and made sure Eira was alright. "Interesting," Zarek said and then gave his command. "They can come here, but in the west field. I don't want those Hel beasts near the farm animals. Don't know how bloodthirsty they are."

Astrid heard the comment and couldn't bite her tongue anymore, Chief or not. "Dragons are far from bloodthirsty."

That made the arrogant Chief smirk at her. He liked a challenge in a woman and so before one of his friends could speak to the girl, he did. "You know it is not polite for women to eavesdrop on a man's conversation or to speak out when they have not been spoken to. Especially, in the Sea Walker tribe."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not a part of your tribe."

"But you could if you were with me," he flirted and leaned on his elbows smiling at her.

"And I just threw up in my mouth," she explained and took a sip of water from the mug that was offered to her.

This display made some of his friends snicker and 'ooo' at the rejection. Unfortunately, it made the quiet Eira laugh which brought on the anger of Zarek.

He glared at her and snapped, "What are you laughing at?"

She quickly looked down at the table and folded her hands in her lap. "Nothing."

"Nothing… what?"

"Nothing, Chief." She corrected.

He grinned at that even more so when noticing her new friends' faces of bewilderment at her actions. Even her so-called husband looked like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. This gave him an idea. "Say, Eira your friends are new to our tribe they might not know how things work around here. Do you want to relay it to them?" he asked seemingly innocently enough.

She sounded a bit scared when answering, "I believe I already disclosed the tribe's traditions to them before we came into the village."

"Yes, I believe you, but wouldn't you think a demonstration would help them understand exactly what we expect from our people?" He stood up and went up to her.

Everyone noticed how tense she seemed, and Hiccup was being wary of what the other teen would do. Even Cuyler wasn't sure what his young Chief meant when bringing this proposal up.

Zarek grinned at his friends. They all know what was going to happen since they all have done this before.

The Chief was next to her now his hands leaning on the back of her chair. "Now if I recall back when we were kids the first thing, we helped you with was how to sit properly in front of a Chief. How did that go again? Oh, yes. The first thing was you had to sit straight." He grabbed her shoulders and yanked them back. It was a harsh move that made Hiccup jump in disbelief, yet the treatment continued as Eira didn't make a noise or even a face of discomfort. She even took a glance at her husband which made him think that she could handle whatever was coming toward her. That didn't make the young Viking pleased at all. "Next, well your hands are in the proper position, but your head. You should be looking down," he pushed the back of her head to the point where her chin was touching her chest. Again, this was another rough jester on the boy's part, and everyone was still dumb struct at what they were seeing.

Cuyler tried to intervene but with a quick comment he was shut down and Zarek continued.

"Now do you remember the final part?"

She didn't answer knowing the hidden rule that she shouldn't be speaking. This only annoyed him, but he answered for her, "That's right, you have to be against the table." He slammed her against the ledge of the wood structure hard enough that she lost her composer and gasped at the pain.

This was the last straw for Hiccup as he stood up and squared himself to Zarek. "What the Hel do you think you are doing?"

Zarek smirked and acted like nothing was wrong. "What I'm just helping an old friend out, like when we were kids."

"If you put another hand on her…"

Hiccup didn't have time to finish his threat as Zarek put his hands up and said, "Hey, it's all good she's sitting like a proper future Chiefess for you. Her mother and father would be so proud of her, which is surprising with her whole back thing." When Hiccup looked at him slightly surprised, he used it to his advantage to humiliate the girl more. "Oh, did you not know?"

The dragon rider knew about the scars on his wife's back. He also knew how she felt about them, yet with how the situation arise the way it did make Hiccup seem like a baffling fool that Zarek continued his information.

"It was a real tragedy. Young Eira here couldn't follow her father's simple orders and ran out during a raid. A dragon caught her, which kind was it Eira?"

When she didn't answer he said her name again clearly wanting an answer. Eira took a breath and told all of them, "A Monstrous Nightmare." She took another breath, her head still bowed and clearly not wanting to look at any of her friends. Though now it all made sense as to why Eira took a while to adjust to Hookfang and all the Nightmares that called Berk home.

"Exactly," the Chief said, "A Monstrous Nightmare found you didn't it and your poor mother ran after you. Did everything she could to reach you, to save you, and instead of you being almost cut into pieces it was her."

"Chief Zarek," Cuyler warned seeing how Eira was about to break. He was almost the same when remembering that night of losing Meriel. "I don't think it is wise to continue bringing this memory back into the light."

He didn't listen to his advisor, "It was a heartbreaking loss for our entire village. Meriel was one of the best Chiefess we could have asked for, but she was gone all too soon and all because little Eira couldn't stay inside. But hey you did get an ugly scar on your back, didn't you?" She didn't answer and he said it forcefully to make it clear that he wanted one, "Didn't you?"

She nodded holding back her tears, "I- I did." She gulped and continued her answer to him. "From my shoulder and all the way down."

He turned back to Hiccup and described it to the young teen, "Looks like horrible cracks in a gem. Takes away from her beauty really, but hey good for you for not letting it bother you at all. Me, personally, I just don't think I could get it up when looking at it. Guess you now know why I denied your proposal Eira." He patted her shoulders and said, "I just need an heir you know. I mean you get it, don't you Hiccup?"

Hiccup wanted to punch the guy, but he stood there in shock. Eira wanted to marry this jerk. She was willing to put up with this treatment with this guy as her husband. He just couldn't understand what she was thinking. Then he looked at her. Being with her for so long he could see it when she was trying to hide her emotions and damn she was doing a good job, but he could see. She was ready to break and if he didn't do something soon it would kill her more to let these assholes see her fall apart. Just when he was about to do something Zarek spoke again.

"Must be why you never answered your father's letters or came to his funeral." He went back to sit in his chair at the head of the table. "I mean it makes sense why he boosted you up so much growing up. He knew what kind of daughter you were deep down."

"Zarek!" Cuyler called out. "I believe that is enough and even though you are the current Chief you will not slander another's decisions for this tribe or how they raised their families."

Before the young man could speak young Eira stood up and with all her strength told everyone, "I am going to get some fresh air."

Well, Zarek was not having that. He was enjoying reconnecting with an old friend and didn't want her to leave. "I'm sorry Eira, but the Chief hasn't dismissed anyone to leave yet. So, sit. Back. Down."

Eira took a moment to breathe. He was right. It was considered rude to leave before the Chief, but then she remembered one thing that happen when sitting at her father's table one night and she was going to use that to her advantage. She called out to her husband, "Hiccup."

"Yes, Eira?" He was a bit confused about why she was speaking to him.

"May I be excused from this meeting?"

He agreed to whole heartily. "Of course, go and get some air as long as you need."

The advisor smiled at the girl's quick thinking while the Chief rolled his eyes. He scoffed and murmured, "We were just having some fun."

Hiccup was about to go off on him but stopped when Cuyler cleared his throat making Hiccup catch the shake off his head.

"Chief Zarek about our guest's dragons?"

"What about them? I said they can be in the stupid field." He then ordered two of his friends to go and fetch their missing friends and the dragons. Acting quickly Hiccup also sent Astrid and Ruffnut to go with them to help, as the rider liked to phrase it, but in reality, Hiccup didn't trust any of the Sea Walkers now.

The young Chief sighed as Cuyler gave another suggestion to the lad.

"Maybe sir it would be wise to seek advice for another issue that is at hand in our village."

"We have that under control," he dismissed, but the older Viking did not see it that way.

"Control would be your people not sharing scraps and arming themselves every night waiting for a battle." His irritation was growing but he held his cool as he continued, "Now as your advisor I would advise you to ask the people who have dragon knowledge to help us with our situation."

Zarek's face was in pure anger at the man's speech, but he begrudged did what was told when his friend spoke up.

"Say Zarek that wouldn't be such a bad idea. My little sister is getting pretty upset every day. It's getting to the point where mom is concerned that she's not even sleeping."

"Fine," he said shortly.

Tuffnut whispered to Hiccup asking, "Are we sure we want to help this dick considering everything he just did?"

Hiccup looked back at the door Eira left out of and really did consider telling the guy to fuck off, but it wasn't in the teen's nature. Innocent people seemed to be hurting because of this one rogue dragon and Hiccup couldn't turn them away. They had to help, and he listen to Cuyler as he explained the severity of the situation.

Apparently, a rogue dragon had made its home by the tribe's borders and every night would come into the village and scavenge and destroy storehouses. It at first was a nuisance everyone hoped it would disappear once they hid the resources in a more secure location, yet it found a way to obtain the food. The village was in shambles for the first time in years. Illfuss years ago, had somehow ridden the beast from their shores, though no one is certain exactly how he was able to achieve this, they also didn't question the past Chief they were just thankful that the fighting had stopped and they could focus on their trading industry. Now though they were all scared and looking for any type of answer to why this was happening to them. Some believed they may have insulted the late leader by not having his daughter come to the funeral, though none spoke up about this in the presents of their current leader. All agreed though the devil was needing to go no matter how difficult it was to catch. It only came out at night and when it did it was cunning and fast. Not even their fastest horses could catch up with it. They only knew it was in town because of the loud whistle it made before it broke into a shed.

It all intrigues the dragon rider, but it was hard to come up with a game plan if they didn't know what species it was. That was why Hiccup suggested they scope out the village and then come up with a game plan.

"Maybe we could set up an area of food in a clearing so we can classify the dragon. It would help us out in deciding our first steps."

"Excellent idea."

"Fine, whatever you want," Zarek said, but then added, "As long as I get its head. Oh! And maybe it's skin for a rug."

The riders looked horrified and were unable to speak. One thing that was clear was that would not be happening, and this was now, in Hiccup's mind, a rescue mission for this dragon to get it off this tribe's coast before it was too late. Before any of that could take place, however, he needed to check on someone.

Stepping out of the house Hiccup saw the rest of his friends and their dragons heading to what he believed was the west field. The person he couldn't see however was his wife Eira. He knew she stepped outside for air, but where he didn't know.

"She is most likely by Forest edge," Cuyler came behind the future chief and explained, "It is a place her mother took her to play when she was a child. A large white boulder signifies its location just northeast of here."

He was appreciative of the information, but Hiccup had to ask the man something for clarity. "Was what Zarek said true in there? About Eira's scars on her back?"

"Did you know about them?"

"Yes, of course," he answered. "I just never pressured her to tell me how she got hurt. She always became upset."

The older Viking had a sadness wash over him. "What he said was true. Cruelly said, but true. I lost my closest friends in this world too early. One protecting the one thing she loved the most on this earth. She did everything for her daughter and taught her everything." He paused and chuckled when remembering a memory of the two girls. "I remembered when she was teaching little Eira how to make bread. Both were covered from head to toe in flour, but by the Gods were those two girls the happiest people that I had ever met. Meriel somehow even got me involved in their little fun. Had flour in my ears for weeks." When he noticed that Hiccup had a look of questioning on his face because of his smile he straightened himself and continued with what he was saying to him. "And the other from a sickness he had been fighting for years, yet when winter came, and the beast started hunting our supplies my best friend sacrificed his well-being over the tribes. He refused to see anyone suffer." He took a pause in his tale, "I questioned why he was so determined to set Eira up in an arranged marriage, but then I realized exactly why he did. He didn't want his daughter to see what he went through. He didn't want her to suffer by watching a sickness take him. But then I asked him, why you? Why leave Meriel's greatest gift that she gave him to a boy like you? Someone who is clearly not a picture of a Viking. Someone who looks like they couldn't hold an ax or sword to protect anyone."

"Well, aren't you full of confidence boosters," Hiccup said sarcastically.

"Do you know what he told me Hiccup?"

He shook his head still not pleased with what was said before.

"That I shouldn't question a Chief final decision," he said. "And that there are more ways to protect someone than what we believe. He was right Hiccup. So, while you may not be able to lift a sword or take down a bear with just your hands, you can protect her." He placed a hand on the lad's shoulder and gave him a smile making the young boy believe his words.

The teen took the compliment, but only made the man chuckle when he said, "but she doesn't need protecting."

"You may be right, but you are still willing to."

"Of course," he did not hesitate to say but froze when he realized what he was about to tell the man, "I lo-" He gulped down his words and nodded. "Yeah."

"Ah, I see," Cuyler smirked and lived up to his title as an advisor. "Did you know that the best piece of advice I ever got was to always say what's in your heart to the people you most care about."

"And how did that work out for you?" Hiccup asked sarcastically.

"I never followed it and made the greatest mistake of my life by doing so." Hiccup was shocked by his confession but Cuyler didn't let him dwindle on what that was and dismissed the boy, "Now you might want to find your wife before the sun goes down."

Hiccup did find her right where Cuyler said she would be. She was sitting next to the boulder almost leaning against the stone. When he came up to her, he could hear her softly sobbing. "Eira," he called softly.

She quickly tried to clear her face with her sleeve and her hardest to stop her tears. She was even trying to smile for him.

He sat beside her and took her hands in his. He shook his head, "you don't have to pretend with me, remember?" He held her close when she nodded in agreement and more tears welled up in her eyes. "It's going to be okay." He rubbed her back gently as she cried into his chest.

She continued to sob but managed to croak out, "I knew something was wrong. I just- just-"

"Shhhh, you couldn't have known. No one could have."

"I should have been here. Why wasn't I here?"

"Eira…"

"I never go to say goodbye."

Hiccup squeezed her a bit in a hug as she kept crying. He even tried to find some words to soothe her. "Your dad loved you Eira. I-" he stopped the words caught in his throat. "I know he did, and he knew how much you loved him. There is no doubt about it."

She kept crying as he held her, then after a while, her tears began to slow down, and her sobs and breathing was calming down with each breath. Soon she was tired enough to stop crying and just relaxed into his arms. The ache she felt never subsided and that's why she whispered, "I'm all alone now."

He moved her carefully and made sure she could see him as he told her, "You are not alone. You have friends. People who care about you. People who," he paused when realizing she was finally looking at him, soaking in everything he was saying. He took a deep breath looking into her dark blue eyes before he started again. "Eira, I.." he took another breath. "I…"

She gave him the smallest of smiles, encouraging him to continue.

He smiled back just the same. He was finally going to tell her what he couldn't before. He finally realized what he wanted to tell her. "Eira, I just need you to know that I lo-"

Everything hurt in a split second as Hiccup was shoved to the ground. When he shook off the confusion and pain all he heard was Eira screeching for him. Looking up while holding his head all he saw was something large and black. He also saw that Eira was being carried about by the thing.

"Hiccup!"

"Eira?" he called and when he realized what was happening through his splitting headache he screamed, "Eira!" He scrambled up and ran after her. He chased them into the trees calling out for her, yet he was losing them. Whatever the thing was it moved like a fish in water, while he was stumbling and falling like a new baby lamb. Getting up again he paused and grasped he needed help. "Toothless. Toothless!" he screamed and ran back towards the village calling for his dragon.

The Night Fury met the rider right at the tree line and so did the other dragon riders.

"Hiccup what's wrong?"

"What's going on?" Astrid asked as he was hoping onto his dragon.

"What is happening over here?" Cuyler and a few of the other Vikings arrived asking the same question as the others.

Hiccup was in a panic as he did his best to explain, "Something took Eira."

"Something?"

"The dragon?" the advisor tried to confirm.

"Yes, maybe. I don't know," he was frustrated and snippy with everyone. "It was just as you described it and it took her."

"Why would it-"

"I DON'T KNOW!" he screamed, "But it has her and we need to get her back!" he took to the skies and scanned the lush tree tops looking for any sign of movement from below. Sadly, there wasn't any. All there was, was the gentle sway of the wind. He slumped on the saddle with frustration as he heard Astrid tell him.

"We'll get her back Hiccup."

"How Astrid? We have no idea where it went."

She smirked, "No, but Stormfly is the best tracker around."

He looked back at her and then smiled. Clearly, someone had a plan moving forward and not someone in a panic.

Some of the Sea Walker men, Cuyler, and to their disdain the Chief were joining Hiccup and Astrid on the forest floor in the morning. The others were going to search in the sky and whoever found their missing friend first would send up a signal with their dragons. It was a standard search and retrieve mission something all the riders were familiar with. There were just concerned with their leader. This was maybe the only time he seemed to waver in his decisions. Astrid was the only one able to keep him leveled-headed.

"We are going to find her Hiccup."

"I know," he said with a sigh. "All I keep thinking is that I knew she should have stayed behind at home."

The blonde didn't know what to say. She felt guilty about convincing the teen to bring his wife along and more so with all the treatment she had received from her old tribe mates. If any of them knew what she had gone through here then none of the riders would have done what they did when she first step onto Berk. Well, Astrid still would have been distant, but the other would have made up for it. Now all she could do was bring her back to her friend.

"We'll find her," she declared. She then turned her attention to her Nadder, "Come on girl, fetch."

They were searching for hours. The sun was already close to midday. What didn't help was a certain teen with a power complex kept up his useless squawking and Hiccup finally lost it at his last comment.

"I thought you guys were dragon experts. By the rate, we are going your wife is most likely like her mother. Dragon chow."

Toothless growled at the young Chief when Hiccup turned to yell at him. "Enough with your useless talking! You are not helping and are making this ten times harder! Haven't you ever been hunting before!? If you had, then you would know that any noise will alert the animal and scare it away. Now once we find Eira we will also find your dragon problem and we will handle it, but until then please for the love of Thor shut the fuck up!" he then turned around leaving a stunned Zarek standing there and continued to search.

Zarek, once he regained his sensibility was going to yell back but stopped with Cuyler putting a hand on his shoulder.

The man shook his head, "you already insulted the boy's wife enough. If you continue, then no one will blame him for what he would do next." The Chief was going to argue but again Cuyler stopped him, "May I remind you, sir, he is on the back of a Night Fury one of the most dangerous and allusive dragons out there."

When reminded of that Zarek gulped as the black dragon looked back at him and glared. He then chose to listen to his advisor and keep his mouth shut.

The search continued and as they were looking Toothless began to sniff the ground as well. He found the strange scent again. He moved a bit irregularly and he was moving at a quicker pace as he began searching for a stronger scent. When he found it, his pupils narrowed, and he began to run and the only thing that could barely keep up was Stromfly.

The rider barely held on as his dragon bolted, but he didn't stop him. Whatever the Night Fury found he was trusting him that it was what they were searching for.

After running for 15 minutes Toothless halted almost sending Hiccup flying off the saddle. He stopped right before a small clearing that had a weird collection of branches, logs, and different size rocks. He was breathing heavily getting large amounts more of that scent he was following. It made his pupils narrow and round each time he took a breath until he shook it off and regained his function back. He felt his rider pat the side of his neck and heard him say,

"You doing okay there, Bud?"

Toothless just shook his rider off the saddle gently and once the Viking was down he cautiously made his way to the clearing.

When Astrid and Stormfly arrived, she asked the same thing Hiccup did earlier, but the other rider just shrugged as he watch his dragon's movements.

Toothless popped his head up to see if he could look over the makeshift collectibles or what he now believed was a nest, when he couldn't he ducked down really quick and took a few steps closer. He listened to the changing of noises, making sure that whose ever home this wouldn't sneak up on him. He also made sure that he was downwind so as not to alert the animal that was there. When closer he popped his head up again and saw in the middle of the structure was the top of brown hair. Not only that but he heard the familiar soft hum of a certain female. It made his tail wag at the sight of her, but he didn't realize she had a guest.

In a split second, the creature that took the girl sat up, growled, and pounced on the Night Fury sending both tumbling into the open.

While both humans gasped and yelled, Toothless was able to manage to get the other dragon off him. Both now circling and sizing the other up with growls and snarls.

Hiccup ran into the scene calling for his dragon. He only stopped when he heard someone call his name. When looking he was shocked and happy to see her. "Eira?"

"Hiccup," she called walking up towards him but stopped when hearing the two dragons growl at one another. She then yelled at the mysterious one, "Dust!"

"Dust?" he was now confused but looked at who she ran up to and was in disbelief. "That's Dust?!" he questioned as he watched his wife go up to the other black dragon in the field. Watched as she gently ran her hand over its hide and tried to calm the dragon down. "That's the pet you lost here!"

"Who's pet?" Astrid moved towards Hiccup trying to get caught up with what was happening since she had just arrived.

"Eira's pet!" he restated waving his hands out towards the trio.

When Astrid saw who Eira was trying to calm down she screamed, "That's her pet! Did you know she had a Night Fury as a pet?" she asked Hiccup.

"No! She never mentioned it!"

"She never mentioned it. Not once?" she was not buying that.

"Well, she did mention to us she had a pet, but I thought it was a cat or something."

"A cat? Does that look like a cat to you?"

"Well, Astrid in a certain light," he said sarcastically and then snapped, "Of course, it doesn't look like a cat Astrid! It's a fucking Night Fury!"

"Guys! A little help?" Eira cried out as she tried to calm her pet from jumping Toothless again.

Toothless wasn't helping either with his guard still up. So, Hiccup and Astrid both tried to calm him down enough to get the other Night Fury to back off.

All it was working out to the human's delight and both Night Furies were not inspecting each other rather than wanting to rip the other's throats out. That is when Toothless noticed something interesting with the other new dragon. It was a female. He was about to take a step closer when a snap of a twig made everyone's guard go up.

"Well, I do have to say that you do keep your promises," Zarek said holding a crossbow ready to fire at the dragon in the middle of the group. Even the other tribe members were ready to fire their own arrows at the dragon that had caused their home so much trouble.

Dust growled at the intruders and bared her teeth. She was ready to defend herself and the girl that she had been waiting for in the past year. She backed off when she felt Eira smooth her leather hide before stepping in front of her and the arrows.

Some of the Vikings waivered at the girl's actions and more did when she pleaded with them.

"Please, she didn't mean to do any of this. She was just alone and scared. She didn't even know that what she was doing was wrong. She was just looking for food."

"Sir, maybe-"

"Are you insane!" the young Chief screamed at his men, still in the position to kill the beast. "Do you not remember what this thing has put us through this past year? Alone and scared? Fuck that! Your families were scared out of their minds! Afraid if they were even going to have food on their plates or even if their husbands or sons would be coming home the next morning."

They all whispered and murmured to one another not sure what to do. The girl showed bravery by standing up to them, but their Chief was right about what the dragon had done to the village. Yet the arrival of the other dragon riders showing that a dragon was no more different than a horse made them question if killing one was even worth the trouble. Then Eira said something that made them all feel ashamed.

"Please, she is the only thing I have left of this place. She is the only good memory I have left with my mother after I lost her. Please. After everything, I was put through from the villagers, from you, all your treatment. Dust was the only thing I could go to for some sort of comfort. Please, let me leave with her."

After the last plead from the girl it would seem that none of the men were on the same side as their young Chief as they lowered their weapons.

Zarek on the other hand was not swayed. His arrow pointed at the Night Fury and it didn't matter if Eira was in the way or not. "Boohoo. Poor little Eira lost her mom, lost her dad, and now may lose her stupid pet."

Dust growled at the insult to her, but it didn't stop the rude teen.

"Who cares! All my life all you were some spoiled little brat who could get away with anything all because your daddy was Chief! The village's perfect jewel could do no wrong. And now I am Chief! I get to say what happens! I get to make the final decisions! Not your dad, not my dad, and especially not you! I do! Me! I am the Chief!" He was breathing heavily as his anger was building up and with his rage, he didn't notice that his arrow was now pointing at Eira more than the original target.

Hiccup realizing that this was getting out of hand and way too personal tried to reason with the young Viking. "Zarek…"

"That's Chief Zarek!"

The rider raised his hands as an apology and continued, "Chief Zarek, killing this dragon won't prove anything. It won't solve anything that you have been going through. Trust me, I know. I know what it is like to want to prove yourself to the people you love the most. To have them see what you can do and be proud of you, but this isn't the way. Let us relocate this dragon away from the Sea Walker tribe. Let us bring her to Berk. Show these men, your friends that you can make a tactical decision that is the best for everyone."

It seemed that Hiccup's words were getting through to the teen, until he looked at the young girl he grew up with, standing there her hand gently petting the dragon. She stood there almost relieved that she may be getting what she wanted, again. It made his blood boil and his quick incorrect way of thinking returned. His hand gripped the crossbow too tight that he was shaking. He was glaring at Eira as he gritted out, "So, you get what you want again? I get to be compared to you like when we were kids. Made fun of, looked down upon by everyone. Even by my own mother and father. Not this time! I am the Chief, and you are nothing but an inconvenience. And I refuse to be told what to do by someone who is an inconvenience!" And without realizing where his anger took him, he fired the arrow straight at the girl.

Eira shut her eyes tightly and Dust couldn't move fast enough to push the young teen out of the way. There was someone who was though.

Toothless quickly jumped in front of the girls taking the single arrow right in the shoulder part of his wing. He roared out in agony as Hiccup screamed. Everyone was in shock at what happened, but Cuyler was quick to react.

He quickly disarmed the crazed young Chief throwing the crossbow out of reach and then pinning the teen on the forest floor with his hands behind his back.

"What the Hel do you think you are doing?!" he screamed trying to get out of the man's hold.

"What are you, Zarek?"

"Let go of me!" he yelled still wiggling to get free. "I am your Chief! I am the Chief!"

No one seemed to care everyone else worried about the down dragon who was still screaming in pain.

Astrid and Hiccup tried to assess the situation and keep Toothless still, while Eira and Dust stood back wondering what they could do to help.

"What can I do?"

"We need him to stop moving. The arrow could dig deeper into him or even rip the muscles permanently damaging his wing."

"Come on Bud, please. We need to take a look at you."

Nothing worked though, Toothless was still in a lot of pain and was trying to remove it himself as he fell to the ground and rubbed the injured wing on the ground hoping it would catch on something to remove it. It only caused him to cry out in pain and frustration.

Seeing him cry out again Eira felt her heartbreak, but she had an idea. "Dust maybe you could get him to settle down?"

The female Night Fury looked at the girl like she was insane. She knew how crazy injured animals were and she was not about to get in the middle. Yet hearing her friend's pleas she relented, not liking the idea one bit. Dust slowly crawled towards the injured male with her head as low as possible and softly let out a low growl-like purr towards him. She did it again when she was closer and Toothless took notice.

He would whine and she would coo and slowly the massive male dragon was beginning to calm down. He calmed down enough to the point he realized how tired he was, and he lay on the cool grass. He rested his head on his forearms and stared at the female before him. Her head was low as his and she continued to purr to keep him settled. Taking a look at the female in front of him he noticed the amber golden eyes she had and the tint of purple in her dark scales. If he wasn't in so much pain, he might have enjoyed how close she was. A loud hiss escaped him when the riders touched his wing and the injury.

"It looks like it's deep in there. We're just going to have to pull it out. There's no other way."

Hiccup sighed but knew Astrid was right. He put a hand on the dragon's neck and said, "I'm sorry Bud." He looked back at Astrid and nodded. "On the count of three."

She nodded her hand tightly wrapped around the shaft.

"One… Two…"

A loud roar erupted making Dust jump away from Toothless as the arrow was ripped out of his flesh before Hiccup even made it to the final number.

Both Vikings working on the dragon put pressure on the wound trying their best not to let a lot of blood his blood spill out.

Eira once she recovered from the sound went up to the teens and took Hiccup's dagger that he kept in his belt. She cut off a large piece of her apron dress and placed the fabric on the wound allowing the others to get their hands free and work on making a bandage for the reptile.

Some of the Sea Walkers went up to the dragon riders and offered to help clean the wound with some of their drinking water so that it could be inspected thoroughly. The help was appreciated, and the dragon rider thanked them for it.

When it was done Toothless was worn out and panting heavily. He needed to rest, and Hiccup could easily tell. The only question was how they were going to get the massive dragon back to the village.

"Our healers can use some salve that will help with his pain," Cuyler suggested and Eira could only agree knowing from experience at how well their healers were with their medicines.

Hiccup once again thanked him but realized they would have to wait until the other riders got to them for there was no way Toothless would be able to walk all the way back in his state. He then suggested that they all start working on a gurney for the other dragons could carry him.

Toothless didn't like the sound of him being weak and he wouldn't allow him to be carried when he knew if he pushed himself, he could make it on his own. So, with all his might he stood up and wanted to walk back and although it wasn't his goal, he did impress a certain female.

"Or he could get up and start walking," Hiccup said in disbelief.

Eira giggled and said, "We'll walk beside him to make sure he's okay. Dust can even help keep him balanced."

"You will do no such thing!" yelled Zarek who was now standing with his arms tied behind his back and two of his men holding him in place. "No devil beast is ever stepping back into my village! Do you hear me!? If one does, then I give everyone orders to kill on site!"

Cuyler walked up to him and sternly told him, "You have no authority to give orders anymore Zarek."

"That's Chief-"

"No, it is not," he cut him off. "All these men, your friends, witnessed what you did and if you studied any of our tribe's laws you would know you are now on trial. You have relinquished your title as Chief until there is a verdict amongst the Sea Walker Council."

"What are you talking about? What am I on trial for?! All I did was try to protect my men from a beast and they will collaborate the same!" he screamed as the two men held him more firmly as he shook.

"For your assassination attempt of Eira Haddock."

"Are you fucking kidding me! I wasn't even aiming for her! I just wanted that thing dead!" he glared at the female Night Fury almost spitting towards it when he spoke. "Besides, she isn't part of our tribe anymore. She's a nobody."

"Yet all your men would testify that they saw you shoot your arrow at her and the speech you said before the arrow was fired does not help your case." He took a step closer to the teen making him nervous. "And if you take any of my advice seriously you will do well not to speak ill of Eira Haddock. She is after all the daughter of our late Chief Illfuss Osterburg and the wife of the future Chief of Berk, Hiccup Haddock."

"W-who cares about that," he asked still half afraid of what could actually be done to him.

Cuyler was now frustrated, "Zarek just for once imagine if you did hit her. Imagine the war you could have started between our tribes. So, if I was you, I would be thanking every God that a dragon took the arrow instead of her and all that you can lose is a title as a Chief." He turned to the men holding him, "Now take him back to the village and inform the council of what transpired. I'll help our friends from Berk with their dragons."

Everyone from the hosting tribe followed the advisor's orders, but the guests were shocked at what they heard, even Eira was a bit puzzled at the man's words.

"I never heard of such claims Uncle Cuyler."

The man smirked and told her, "Things have changed a bit with your father's passing little Eira. He made some changes that he took from Berk and Chief Balder continued them. Zarek on the other hand, well, after three weeks of listening to him squawking about I knew he was going to mess up. I am just sorry that it turned out this horrible. What he had said to you Eira I should have stopped him because none of it is true." He turned to her and happily said, "You would have made your mother and father very proud today at how you handled yourself."

When hearing that she ran to him and tightly pulled him into a hug. She then whispered, "Thank you."

He hugged her back and when he pulled away, he advised that they get moving before the Night Fury's wound gets infected.

After getting the remedies needed for Toothless; everyone from Berk, including Dust, was on the docks getting prepared to set sail. The Sea Walker tribe was nice enough to lend one of their large ships to the riders since one of their dragons was unable to travel through the air and the other was not willing to leave the human female's side. They thanked all of them profusely, but Cuyler waved them off.

"We should be thanking you for helping us with our dragon issue." He motioned towards Dust, who slank away behind Eira. It made him smile when seeing the girl comfort the beast by touching her head and petting her gently. "Just like her mother with animals," he thought, then he spoke again. "Which if I had known you had become an expert so fast Eira I would have written a lot sooner. Your father would be proud."

She smiled, "I guess my father didn't feel the need to share my letters with you then because I know I told him how well Hiccup and Fishlegs have been training me in the art. But thank you that means a lot to know that he would be." She took a pause before asking, "Uncle Cuyler?"

He was confused at her last statement but acknowledged her.

"Did my father? Did he…" she couldn't finish the question, but he knew the answer.

He sighed giving himself a moment before answering, "He fought as long as he could, but in the end, he went peacefully in his sleep."

She tried not to cry but a few tears did fall. She cleared them away when Dust nudged her, and she gave her best smile that she could muster. She nodded and whispered to him, "Thank you for being there for him. You really are a good friend."

"Eira," Hiccup called walking up to her, "the ship is ready to sail and Toothless has a thing about being on boats, so it might be better to leave sooner rather than later."

She agreed and turned back to the older Viking, "Goodbye Uncle Cuyler. I hope everything turns out well for the village and you." She took her husband's hand and walked towards the boat with the female Night Fury following close behind.

Before the older Viking could blink the boat seemed to be on the horizon, but one thing still puzzled him. He had no clue what Eira meant by sending letters to her father and he should of all people know about the Chief receiving letters. He was responsible for reading and receiving all documents posted for the leader. And as he thought about it more, he knew that he had personally written to Eira about her father's passing, so where did that letter disappear to? It was a mystery that he was going to figure out no matter what.

On the ship, Toothless was not at all happy and he hated that he could not fly with the other dragons and their riders. He looked annoyed as he watched them just a few yards away in the bright blue sky. He huffed in aggravation. The only perk he received by being on the wooden boat was he had a lovely companion, who looked as equally as excited as he did. He watched as she dug her claws into the boards a little more whenever the boat would rock a bit too hard for her liking. He also noticed how she would growl or tense up whenever something spooked her, whether that was the shadow of the dragons above or a sound of a wave crashing into the ship's side. He wanted to ease her mind a bit, but it was a good gesture that ended up badly. A hard wave knocked the boat and sent him tumbling into the girl instead.

Dust quickly shoved him off of her and once she was up, she bit a growl out towards him and backed away. She was clearly not happy about any of this.

Toothless shook it off and whined softly as an apology as he still laid on the boards.

The female dragon was a little ashamed of her reaction towards him and in her state of mind decided she needed to apologize. She carefully went up to the male and decided to whine back. That got the male's attention and perked his head up to acknowledge her. She carefully sniffed the male in front of her and took a step closer but stopped when he began to sniff her back. When he froze, she tried again. She carefully inspected him, circling around his whole body. She had never seen another being that looked so much like her. He intrigued her, especially when she came up and sniffed his prosthetic tail made by his rider. She had no idea why he had something like that, but she turned her nose at the metallic smell. She then walked back towards the front of him only stopping when seeing his bandaged wing. She sniffed the wound whining sadly when she could smell the blood coming from it. The whole thing made her feel guilty. She felt weak when she lacked the speed to rescue her friend but was grateful that the male was. It was a good quality in her eyes at least.

He could only brush it off like it was no big deal, which at the time it wasn't. he liked his rider's female and would protect her again if given the choice. But it also didn't hurt that it gave him some points towards the female in front of him.

"Looks like those two are getting along," Eira commented seeing both Night Furies interact. She leaned against the same railing Hiccup was as she talked to him.

He smiled noticing that they were. "I still can't believe you never told me Dust was a Night Fury."

"You never asked," she said.

"Asked?" he then gestured to all of them with their dragons, "Have you seen where we live? I thought you would have felt comfortable mentioning you have a dragon. Raised one even."

She shrugged and watched her dragon become more relaxed around the other. A chuckled even escaped her when Dust jumped towards Toothless when another noise scared her and she pressed herself against the male for some safety. This only made the male stiff at the contact. "I guess I was used to always hiding her."

"Protecting her you mean," he hinted lightly bumping into her arm with his. This made her laugh and agreed with him. He sighed happily when watching the two dragons interact more. "Imagine what this means for them." When he saw her questions glaze, he explained, "they're not alone anymore. They can be together, maybe even as a family. And think of what we can learn from them. Another Night Fury, who would have thought Toothless wasn't the last one."

Eira smiled, "You did." When he gave a confused look to her it was her time to explain, "You always were looking for some sort of sign that there was more out there. Lands, dragons, Night Furies. I don't think I've met someone more determined than you when it comes to your friends Hiccup."

He blushed at his wife's compliment not used to receiving them so freely, even now after all the years and everything else he had done for his village hearing someone praised him made him feel a bit awkward.

Seeing him shuffle about made the girl smile as she grabbed his arm and told him, "Relax Hiccup and just enjoy the trip back home with the family you made." She closed her eyes resting her head on his shoulder and allowed the sea wind to wash over her. For once she was enjoying being on the ocean herself.

This only made the lad blush more and the feeling was once again returning to him. The small feeling that he had been wanting to tell her this whole trip but couldn't. He couldn't now either when he thought about it. Eira was happy in his arms and so was he. Words, no matter what they were, were not needed in this moment.

In the quiet sailing, Eira's mind drifted. She drifted from being happy that she had her dragon back, to the boy that she was holding on to, and to her parents. Thinking about her parents and her dragon was slowly upsetting her to the point that she didn't know that she was crying. How could she have known that wanting to make sure her reptile friend was safe during a raid would have cost her, her mother's life? She wouldn't have gone out if she would have known. She wouldn't have agreed to her father's proposal of finding her a husband if she had known how horribly sick, he was. She would have argued that she would have been fine in the Sea Walker tribe with no money or title if she was with him in the end. But it was not what her father wanted and him spending months on the waves making sure she was secure in life was more important than her saying goodbye in his final moments.

"Are you okay Eira?" Hiccup asked trying to see her face as soon as he felt his tunic become wet from her tears.

She didn't even know she was crying until she realized that tears were running down her cheeks and it wasn't the spray of the water from the ocean. She tried to wipe them away, but more kept replacing them making her a liar as she tried to say she was fine.

Hiccup wrapped his arms around her and held her tight as she began to sob into his chest.

Hearing what was going on with the humans, Dust courageously went over on shaky legs towards them forgetting about the other Night Fury in the name of her human girl. She heard her friend crying and concluded that it might have been the human boy's fault for causing her duress. So, she wiggled her way to separate the two and then curled her body around the upset female, happy when she felt her arms around her neck.

The rider stood there in disbelief and when he went to go help the Night Fury growled in his direction and shielded any view of Eira with her tail.

"Oh, poor, poor, Hiccup."

When he looked at who was speaking to him, he rolled his eyes. "What do you want Snotlout?"

"Oh, nothing," he said while looking for dirt underneath his fingernails. "Just giving Hook fang and my butt a break from flying. Though I never expected to see our great leader being replaced by a dragon."

"What are you talking about?"

The cousin ushered towards Eira and Dust to make his point. "Them. Now that Eira has her dragon back to comfort her in her worse times why would your wife need you anymore?"

Hiccup looked over at the two girls and for the briefest of seconds, he was worried that the Jorgenson was right. He might even be a bit jealous. Quickly he shook the negative thoughts aside and told him, "Come on Snotlout, Eira and Dust just have a deep connection with each other, like Toothless and I or even you and Hookfang. No one needs to be jealous."

His cousin smirked, "No one said anyone was jealous."

A loud thunk was heard on the ship as Astrid sternly told the Monstrous Nightmare rider, "Knock it off Snotlout and go back up there to patrol like you are supposed to." This saved Hiccup from the conversation altogether with the family member.

"Thank you, Astrid," the leader said as soon as Snotlout begrudgery went back to the others flying.

She brushed it off, but then asked, "How is she doing?"

"How would anyone be doing if they found out their father died months ago and then you almost getting killed because of an asshole with a power complex wants your dragon dead, the same dragon that is your only friend and had been harboring in secret for years because apparently, your village are a bunch of dickish trolls?"

Astrid sighed and leaned on the railing, "So she really had no idea that he passed?"

He shook his head.

"Damn," was all Astrid could say as the two now sat in silence. That is until Astrid chuckled making Hiccup raise an eyebrow, "Well, you two do have something in common."

"What's that?"

"Both of you are willing to risk your life, your reputation, all to protect your pet dragons."

He laughed once it sank in that she was right.

"Now, if I were you, I would try to get on her Night Fury's good side as soon as possible. It's going to be a long boat ride back to Berk." She hopped on the back of Stormfly to return with the rest of the dragon riders.

He looked towards the dragon and when their eyes met, he could feel the death glare throughout his whole body, and he gulped. It was going to be a long trip back indeed.

A/n: Thank you for your patience. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed this part of the story.