And now things are getting interesting

One day, during a short lesson with Hiccup about Berk's naval history, one of his friends, Fishlegs, rushed into his study, absolutely winded. The rotund beefcake of a Viking nearly keeled over, catching his little winged helmet just before it fell off his head. His round cheeks were bright red and glistening with sweat from running.

"Fishlegs! Easy breathing buddy, what's going on?"

"Nasty… altercation… on the… piers." Fishlegs gasped out. Hiccup and I glanced at each other, he sighed and stood from his chair. I hid my annoyance that my lesson was interrupted, as I had requested to learn more about sailing through the perspective of a Viking to see how it compared to my own knowledge. It would be beneficial, as when I eventually decided to get on a boat again, I would know how to man the ship.

"Want to come with?" With a slight shrug, I followed him and Fishlegs down the scaffolding on the cliff sides down to the piers. It was a long walk, and as we made our way down, I glanced around at the seemingly endless construction going on. Hiccup had told me they were working on a pulley system to make moving stuff to the village more efficient from varying heights. Through some trial and error, it was finally working.

As we made it to the piers, I could already see a group of men gathered together next to a ship, and I could hear them arguing, their deep voices overlapping. I no longer understood a single word they were saying.

Hiccup yelled to get their attention, and upon doing so, they clamored to explain what was going on. I listened closely to what they were saying. The captain of one of the ships began to describe that they caught what they believed to be a stowaway rummaging through their cargo, they had no clue how he'd snuck on without being caught until they pulled into port. With a sigh, Hiccup assured them that he'd help resolve it. There was an opening through the crowd of men, and upon walking through it, Hiccup and I finally saw what was causing all the commotion.

Before us, two burly men held a young man between them in an iron grip. He was blonde, with fair skin and a growing beard. He was covered with freckles, and two scars marked his face; one on his right cheekbone, and the other crossing the bridge of his nose. He wore a leather vest held together with small buckles, braces on both his forearms, with a glove on his right hand. And one sword on his hip.

But the feature of his that caught my attention the most was his eyes. They were an extremely light hazel color, but in the sunlight, they almost seemed to be golden. I'd never seen such eyes before. Somehow even lighter than Ana's or Konall's. And I caught him staring at me as Hiccup approached him.

"Young man, what in Odin's name is happening here?" Through gritted teeth, the young man spat out a reply.

"Just… a misunderstanding." Hiccup crossed his arms.

"What kind of misunderstanding?" The man attempted to pull away again but was held back.

"None of your damn business. Let me go."

"You were found rummaging through cargo. How do we know you're not attempting to steal?" One Viking demanded, roughly pulling him back. I slightly grimaced at the imagined discomfort of his shoulder being yanked like that.

"Maybe because you should mind your business." The man snapped, narrowing his eyes in irritation, not willing to explain himself. Shocker.

The anger intensified in his eyes. Hiccup could tell that a simple interrogation wasn't going to get him anywhere. With a sigh, he then ordered the man to be taken to the holding house adjacent to the great hall.

"What're you going to do?" I asked, following Hiccup as he bid goodbye to the captain and his men.

"Well, we're going to figure out who he is, and what he wants. And see if he's going to be any trouble."

We made it back to the Haddock household. Everyone else was home for the evening, and when Hiccup's mother Valka asked what he'd been up to, he explained the commotion on the piers. As Zephyr served everyone food, I couldn't help but wonder about the man. What could he be searching for?

"Laeli? Hello?" I blinked hearing Nuffink call my name and snap his fingers in my face.

"Huh- what?" I blurted.

"You zoned out, you good?" He asked. I blinked to refocus and nodded.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just lost in thought."

"What about?" Astrid asked. I sighed, taking a bite of food.

"Nothing of importance, I suppose," I replied. A half-truth, I didn't feel the need to tell them about my curiosity about the blonde stranger. But I decided to ask what would be done about him for tomorrow.

"Well, anyways, the stowaway was brought to the great hall and I'll be talking to him one on one. And maybe you can come to help out if he won't talk to anyone." Hiccup offered. I raised an eyebrow at the offer and glanced at Zephyr, which Hiccup noticed.

"Zephyr, if you'd like to come with, you're more than welcome to." She grinned.

"Sure, dad! Love to! Should be interesting." The conversation about the stowaway ended after that, and I listened to the Haddocks talk about other things during the rest of dinner. Every chance I could, I'd listen to them chat to improve my Norse, even though I'd been told I was practically fluent.

After an early morning which began with me in Hiccup's study eating breakfast, Hiccup brought Zephyr and me to the great hall. After talking with his circle of advisors, we sat down at the table of the chief. Zephyr and I sat on either side of Hiccup. In front of us was a lone chair.

"Alright, you can let him in." Hiccup said. A few feet away I saw the man being shoved in. He stumbled for a moment before he awkwardly stood there. Hiccup gestured to the chair, and he awkwardly took a seat.

Zephyr and I shared glances at each other as Hiccup started asking him questions.

I had watched mom and dad have their fair share of resolving issues with trouble-making villagers before, and I had some experience with it myself.

I was mildly amused seeing the young man look both awkward and irritated at the same time. I didn't actively pay attention to what Hiccup was asking the man, but through his facial expressions alone I could tell that he didn't care about answering anything. And as if I predicted it, he finally gave up.

"Enough of the questions already!" He exclaimed as he stood up, knocking the chair over. Hiccup stood as well, narrowing his eyes and furrowing his eyebrows together.

"I will not have an outburst from you, young man!"

"Like I give a shit."

"Lose the attitude. You're here because we need to know if Berk is safe with you here!"

"What, like I'm a criminal?

"Never assume that I would think otherwise. How do I know if you're not dangerous?" The man arms and watched Hiccup carefully, smugly raising an eyebrow.

"Would it matter?"

"In fact, it would. I've been hearing word of vigilantes and vagabonds on the mainland stirring up trouble and bringing their trouble into the archipelago. I won't have it on my island." The man scoffed.

"You may not think it's a big deal, but it is. It's been my life's work and mission to make the archipelago safe for everyone. It used to be for Vikings and dragons… but that time has long passed us." I noticed that the word 'dragon' caught the man's attention, as his demeanor shifted.

"Wait, dragons and Vikings… world safe for both…" I watched him closely as he thought hard, and then something dawned on him, "shit… you're chief Hiccup!" The mentioned nodded his head.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, first dragon rider of the archipelago." The man looked panicked suddenly, pacing. "May I inquire of the sudden anxiety?"

"Um… you're probably not going to like my answer."

"And why would I not…?" Hiccup trailed off, indicating he wanted the man's name so he could properly address him.

"Eyarr." The man replied.

"Eyarr… why would I not like your answer?" There was an awkward pause as Eyarr figured out his reply.

"Because… I have a dragon-" silence, "and he's in the woods." Hiccup was left in stunned silence. This changed the whole situation at hand.

"There's one… here?" Eyarr nodded in affirmation without another word. Hiccup swallowed hard and waved his hand in dismissal. Zephyr and I turned to each other, her eyes were wide.

"Meeting adjourned. Please show me where your dragon is."

Eyarr led us into the woods on a rather overgrown path. As we walked, I could hear Hiccup muttering under his breath about the utter disregard for the safety of dragons, and other similar complaints.

I wasn't sure what to expect, since after all, I'd never seen another dragon other than Thundersong. How big would this thing be? Obviously big enough for a human to ride one. Hiccup and his friends had described seeing dragons as large as mountains, and some that could sit in the palm of your hand. I was slightly jealous, as we had nothing as spectacular as that back home.

I could hear the sound of wings flapping and heavy footsteps trampling through the towering pines. Eyarr sprinted up ahead, with Hiccup close behind. Zephyr and I lagged behind, neither of us in a rush. As we were walking, Zephyr reminisced of the time her family journeyed to the Hidden World; it was something she and her brother loved to talk about with me, and to be honest, I loved to hear about it.

As we neared the end of the path, Hiccup shared with us that this path used to lead to old dragon stables, when the dragons still lived here.

Finally, we came to a clearing, and I spied a partially collapsed structure on the edge. At first, I didn't see anything, but when Eyarr stepped into the clearing, I jumped upon hearing a screech and the sound of wings flapping. Zephyr put her hand on my shoulder to calm me down, and I saw Eyarr glance at me briefly.

And then I saw it.

A deep blue figure emerged from the woods, smoke wafting from its nostrils. Its eyes were a brilliant orange, much like the embers of a fire. The deep blue of its scales was contrasted with bright streaks of orange, red, and pink across its body and wings. It bore a brilliant crown of spikes and two massive horns, with spikes trailing down its spine. Upon further inspection, I spied smaller spikes lining the thighs and a row of them parallel to each other on the underbelly. I had to admit, it was a magnificent creature.

I also noticed a sturdy-looking saddle on its back, with several large packs secured to it. I guessed it was survival necessities.

Glancing over, I noticed the look of wonder and awe on Hiccup's face. Eyarr approached his dragon, giving it a gentle scratch under the chin. Hiccup sighed and approached the pair, and they started talking, about what, I couldn't hear.

"I swear dad went through like all 5 stages of grief today from this guy." I snorted at the comment.

"Seems so. I do feel bad, though, since he had such a tight bond with his dragon."

As Hiccup and Eyarr talked, I kept noticing Eyarr sending me weird looks. And Zephyr noticed it too.

"Why's he looking at me?" She shrugged.

As she replied, Hiccup came back.

"What's going on, dad?" Hiccup gave a quick recap of the discussion, explaining that Eyarr has been on the run and was told that New Berk was a good place to stay until he could figure his situation out.

"Unless he's one of the best liars in the world, I believe him." He told us.

"Maybe you should talk to mom and Gobber. You know Mom has strong opinions about that kind of stuff." Hiccup apprehensively nodded.

"You have a point."

"Where is he going to stay in the meantime?" I asked.

"He could stay with us?" Zephyr offered.

"No, until I talk to your mother and Gobber, that won't work out." I felt them both turn to look at me.

"What?"

"Don't you have a spare room downstairs in your place?" Zephyr asked. I blinked and nodded slowly.

"Uh, yeah? What? You want him to stay with me? Why not with Zyrah and Konall? Or Ana and Dustin?" I asked in mild bewilderment. We barely knew this guy and he might have to stay with me?

"Zyrah doesn't need the additional stress of a stranger in her house that she can't see, and I don't want to burden Ana. As soon as we get this straightened out he won't have to be there, I assure you." Hiccup assured.

I finally had my own place. I'd moved out of the Haddock's maybe two-ish months ago. It had everything I needed for a place of my own, along with whatever survived from the wreckage of my boat. I had made it the home I needed, and now I had to bring a potentially hostile stranger inside?

I thought about it for a long while. I wasn't willing to just let Eyarr in.

No.

"Can I think about this? I'm not going to just jump into a decision like this."

"Of course, it's not problem if you don't want him in your house, we'll find a solution." Hiccup assured.