Gobber huddled further into the furs and leathers he had hurriedly wrapped around himself, snow beating against his face. He shivered, his stumps protesting against the cold.

"Of all the nights to be out in!" Gobber shouted, making himself heard over the gusting wind. "Gotta be done though, don' it? We're Vikings! We're reckless! An' if Stoick and Hiccup jus' disappear, there's no telling how reckless some folk'll be. Eh, Grump?"

Grump let out a loud snore.

"What, now? Of all the times…"

Gobber reached forwards, intent on waking his dragon up with a tap on the head. Then he sagged back, his shoulders relaxing. Grump was a Hotburble, and Hotburples — unlike Gronkles and other similar dragons — could fly perfectly fine while asleep. He looked up at the sky, seeking out stars with which to navigate. But it was a cloudy night, and he could barely even see his dragon.

He would just have to trust Grump's instincts to get them home, even as Grump slumbered.

"Sleep well, lad," he said, lightly patting his friend's head.

People misunderstood Grump. He wasn't lazy — far from it. He just got tired easily, as Hotburples often did…though Grump, according to Fishlegs, was an extreme case. Gobber had been inconvenienced by that so many times — he'd lost count of how often Grump had let the forge go cold — but Thor strike him down if he ever thought of replacing his dragon! Grump was both friend and family to Gobber. His snores were the last thing Gobber heard most nights, and the first thing Gobber heard most mornings, and Gobber refused to have it any other way.

Waking Grump now would do no good. Grump needed the sleep, or else he wouldn't be sleeping, and he would only fall asleep again if woken. He'd wake when he was ready, and that was that.

Gobber yawned, leaning forward against Grump and resting his head. The dragon's body was as warm as ever, and it helped to warm Gobber in turn. It would be better to stay awake, Gobber thought, in case Grump got blown off-course by the howling wind…but he couldn't see anyway, and he was very tired…maybe Grump had the right idea…a quick nap wouldn't hurt anyone…

Stormfly circled her opponent, her tail spines bristling. "Come, come!" she chirped, dipping her head repeatedly in a dragon's signal for play. "Fight! Fight with Flies-In-Storms!"

She spread her wings and flared her head spikes, showing her many teeth. She was a strong flier and strong hunter, fit and in her prime, and her opponent would be made to know it! "Flies-In-Storms big!" she squawked, grinning with her tongue lolling out. "Human small! Flies-In-Storms pin human, like hatchling!"

No ordinary human could bring Stormfly down. Only special humans could bring Stormfly down…

Stormfly's opponent smirked, running a dextrous forepaw through her golden hair. "Oh, it's on," Astrid said.

Stormfly's exact words wouldn't have been understood, of course. But their tone had been perfectly clear

They'd gotten to the arena at the crack of dawn as usual. The sky was clear and pleasant up above, with just a few wisps of clouds. That old caged dome had been removed long ago, and any dragon could fly in or out now as they pleased.

Few even called this place the 'arena' anymore. To humans, it was the 'academy'; to dragons, it was the 'practice-place'. But to Stormfly, it remained an arena, and a most excellent arena at that!

Astrid gripped her axe in both hands, spreading her feet slightly. She held a training axe, with blunted edges, and she'd left her real axe in a rack near the arena's entrance. "Ready, girl?" she said quietly.

"Yes-yes!" Stormfly squawked, bobbing her head. "Play with Flies-In-Storms, yes!"

Astrid chuckled. Then she bellowed out a warcry and charged.

Stormfly charged in turn, roaring out a warcry of her own and grinning a dragon's grin.

This was living, right here. The sun was up, so of course their day had begun! Daytime was a time for fights, and adventures, and other sorts of fun with friends. And Astrid was Stormfly's bestest friend of all!

Astrid swung her axe hard. Stormfly caught it in her mouth.

"Agh!"

Stormfly hough-ed rapidly, tugging repeatedly, twisting her head quickly from side to side. Astrid gritted her teeth, just barely clinging on. This wasn't Astrid's real axe, so Stormfly could be as rough with it as she liked! And if she ripped it from Astrid's grasp, she could knock Astrid down and win this right now and then—

"Ha!"

Astrid darted forward, an outstretched forepaw seeking out the soft spot under Stormfly's jaw. Stormfly leapt back with a flap of her wings, releasing Astrid's weapon. She landed and ruffled her wings, dipping her head some more.

"Rides-In-Storms fight well! Very well!"

She couldn't say Astrid's human name. Many humans had very strange names, and Astrid was amongst those humans, so Stormfly had given her a dragon name.

"Oh I'm not done yet," Astrid said, smirking wide.

The human warrior barreled towards Stormfly, attacking with rapid swings. Stormfly backed away, ducking and weaving her head, avoiding Astrid's every blow and keeping Astrid out of her blind spot. Soon, Astrid would overextend; soon, she'd leave an opening. Then Stormfly would knock her down and pin her, and she would give her hair a thorough nibbling, and Astrid would laugh and scratch her scales with those oh-so-special forepaws…

This was living. This was life.

Astrid swung her axe harder, and Stormfly ducked low to avoid it. There, Stormfly thought. There was her opening! But Astrid followed with a spinning kick that slammed into Stormfly's snout, staggering her and forcing her back.

"Good! Good!" Stormfly chirped.

Astrid dashed in, breathing with exertion, seeking to press her advantage. Stormfly struck out with a wing to make Astrid block, taking back the flow of the fight. Then she went in for a headbutt, ready to knock Astrid down and to end it…

…but Astrid — special Astrid, fierce Astrid — was entirely ready for that.

Astrid dodged, dropping her axe and grabbing Stormfly's nose-horn. Stormfly moved to throw her off, but Astrid was already scratching at that oh-so-special spot, and Stormfly couldn't help but to collapse into a purring boneless heap. It felt so good, she couldn't help it…and she could still win this! She tensed her body, forcing herself to stop purring, and she scrambled to get up—

—and then she froze, as an axe stopped right over her snout.

"Got you," Astrid said. She smiled wide, her golden hair shining in the rising sun.

Stormfly gazed up at her rider, feeling her heart fill with renewed pride. Then she slumped in easy surrender, closing her eyes. Only special humans could take Stormfly down…but Astrid was the most special of humans, and Astrid took her down regularly.

It had taken so many moons to get Astrid to start doing this. She'd dropped so many axes at Astrid's feet, but Astrid had simply not understood. And so one day, during Astrid's early-morning drills, Stormfly had grabbed Astrid in her talons and brought her straight to the arena. She'd bobbed her head and rattled her spines and flared her head-spikes, daring Astrid to swing at her.

Astrid had been mystified at first. Then she'd understood, but she'd refused, her posture and face screaming guilt guilt guilt. Stormfly had crooned and nuzzled her, reassuring her that this was wanted, that it would be fun and maybe useful, that there was nothing to feel guilty about. Then, finally, Astrid had agreed…though she'd insisted on using a training axe.

And now, Astrid was sitting down by Stormfly's head, scratching Stormfly's snout, letting Stormfly nuzzle into her forepaw and purr at the attention.

"You okay, girl?" Astrid said softly.

Stormfly chirped merrily. "Yes-yes! Small hurts nothing. Flies-In-Storms strong. Strong like Rides-In-Storms!" She raised her head to nose at Astrid's cheek; Astrid chuckled, leaning into it, holding Stormfly's head gently in her forepaws. Stormfly did ache in places — both from Astrid's kick, and from collapsing so hard and fast — but they were good aches, of the sort she expected from a pleasant playfight, and they would fade quickly.

This was living, right here! This was what life should be! She had Astrid to thank for this life, and she had Toothless and Hiccup to thank as well.

Toothless and Hiccup…who were still missing…along with Skullcrusher, and Grump, and their humans too…

She looked up at the sky, clucking thoughtfully. It wasn't like Toothless to abandon his nest for a whole night, even if he did refuse to be called alpha. But he was strong and fast, and he had Hiccup with him, and Skullcrusher and Grump had been close behind…

"You worried, girl?" Astrid asked softly.

Stormfly fixed an eye on her rider, not sure for a moment how to honestly answer, before nodding once. "Is strange. Wrong," Stormfly said. "No-Teeth leave nest. Gone all night. Not normal for No-Teeth."

Humans couldn't understand dragons; humans didn't even know that dragons talked. But Stormfly spoke to Astrid out of habit, just as various other dragons talked to their humans, on top of communicating through simple human-ish gestures.

Astrid sighed and looked away, patting Stormfly's snout. "Hey, they'll be fine. You'll see. It's Hiccup. And Toothless. And Stoick, and Gobber, and their dragons. They probably just…they probably just took shelter from the wind. The weather was awful last night, remember?"

Stormfly indeed remembered. But Astrid sounded far from sure, and her posture looked far from sure at that.

"Besides," Astrid said, leaning against Stormfly's head. "Eret's still hiding something. Even I can feel it. I feel like…I feel like he's trying to send us into a trap…"

The evening before had been a storm of activity. Astrid had passed Stoick's orders onto Gustav, who then rushed off to organise his riders into patrols. That had left Astrid and the others to interrogate Eret. And Eret, after being threatened again with being dropped from up high, had given up much information with very little fuss.

Thanks to Eret, they knew where Drago's base was. They knew he had a sizable army of humans, along with an equally sizable army of enslaved dragons. They knew that Drago had many ships, made of metal to resist dragons' fire. Eret had even given up a supposedly-safe spot on Drago's island to land in, where they could go under the cover of darkness and sneak in.

But all throughout, Eret's postures and smells had been wrong wrong wrong. Everything but his words had screamed lie instead of truth, and Stormfly had made that known to Astrid with several shakes of her head. Eret had been confused by that, and he'd made some most funny faces. But he continued to swear he spoke the truth, and he swore he'd told them everything he knew.

"Let's try again, girl," Astrid said. "Let's go back to Eret and…huh?"

Barf and Belch came soaring over the arena's lip, and started circling round and round overhead, with a shouting Eret Son Of Eret held tight in their claws.

"I said put me down!" Eret said, his voice about as high-pitched as Stormfly had heard it. "Put me down now or I'll…I'll…"

"...fall?" Tuffnut suggested.

The Zippleback flew low and let go of the hunter, who just barely managed to stay on his feet. Then the Zippleback turned sharply, revealing the two twins riding on their back.

"What the…what is he doing here?" Astrid shouted.

"What was he doing in a cell?" Ruffnut countered, looking down from her dragon with the silliest of grins. "He's mine. I claimed him first. Duh."

Eret Son Of Eret muttered, shuddering a little and looking away.

Stormfly tilted her head thoughtfully. Ruffnut had been expressing her interest to Eret almost non-stop, both on Berk and during the flight back, and Eret had made it quite clear — repeatedly, by then — that he wasn't interested.

"Not-wanted courting," Stormfly clucked quietly. "Rude. Not funny."

Some standards just had to be kept, even if Eret was a trapper of dragons. So when the Zippleback touched down, and when Ruffnut leapt off their back in Eret's direction, Stormfly promptly got in the way.

"No. My toy. Mine," Stormfly chirped, as Ruffnut broke out into a downright impressive pout.

"Awwww, come on, Stormfly. Let me through!" Ruffnut backed up slightly, as Tuffnut came up behind her. "Tuff? Make Stormfly move."

"Hey, no, you don't take a dragon from a toy," Tuffnut replied.

Ruffnut turned to her brother. "No, it's 'you don't take a toy from a dragon'. Duhhh!" She threw out her arms in an exaggerated way.

"That's stupid. How would I take a toy from a dragon?"

"How would I take a dragon from a toy? That is stupid."

"You're stupid!"

"You're stupider!"

Barf and Belch picked up their riders by the scruffs of their tunics; the two began kicking and punching at each other in earnest, trading insult after insult, held too far apart to connect. Astrid groaned, running a forepaw down her face.

Eret, by this time, had moved around Stormfly to watch. "She's mad," he said quietly, staring intently. "They're both mad."

"True," Stormfly clucked, to herself and to him.

Meatlug and Fishlegs came flying into the arena then, followed swiftly by Hookfang and Snotlout. Both humans gave the fighting twins a passing glance, before heading over to Astrid. Stormfly shrugged, before walking over as well.

"What's he doing here?" Snotlout went, thumbing towards Eret. "Didn't we lock him up?"

"We did. Along with his men," Astrid said, sounding distinctly resigned. "Hey, Ruff and Tuff! Tell me you left the others locked up!"

Both twins stopped, giving Astrid downright mystified expressions. "Of course," Ruffnut said. "What do you think we are? Stupid?"

Fortunately, both twins resumed their fighting — or at least, their attempted fighting — before anyone could answer. Barf and Belch continued to hold them by their tunics, grinning wickedly to each other.

Quietly, though still loud enough for a dragon's sensitive hearing, Eret muttered something else about them being mad. He was still watching them, looking utterly transfixed.

"So, uhhh…who won the spar today?" Fishlegs legs, touching his forepaws together.

"Yes, yes, who win?" Meatlug trilled, padding towards Stormfly.

Stormfly and Astrid both answered at the same time.

"Rides-In-Storms win! Rides-In-Storms strong!"

"Oh, me this time. But, I'm sure Stormfly will—"

"Pah! You think that's impressive?" Snotlout said, puffing his chest out. He thumbed towards Hookfang. "This guy is five thousand pounds of lean, flaming muscle. And I could wrestle him without even—aaaaagh!"

Snoutlout went flying across the arena, smacked by Hookfangs tail, and Eret watched him with a truly amazing expression that Stormfly would just have to remember! Snotlout then landed in a rolling heap, and Hookfang houghed rapidly. The word 'mad' soundlessly passed across Eret's mouth.

"Boar-Breath small," Hookfang said. "Sharp-Fang big." He then broke out into even more houghs.

Meatlug huffed in response, her posture drooping. "All humans small," she said. "Boar-Breath human. Boar-Breath need protecting, not hurting."

Hookfang hissed at that, his grin disappearing in a flash. "Boar-breath fighter like Sharp-Fang! Boar-breath strong! No soft like Fish-Legs! No need protecting!"

Snoutlout picked himself up and marched back over, muttering about his 'stubborn' dragon.

"Soft no bad. Soft good. Fish-Legs good," Meatlug whimpered, before nosing at Fishlegs for attention.

Stormfly preened a wing, wondering how this little flock was still Berk's top team of dragons and riders. Astrid had a lot to do with that, she was sure… as did Toothless and Hiccup. But for now, Astrid simply looked on aghast, as the twins bickered and swung at other from off the ground, as Snotlout and Hookfang stared each other down in their endless tussle for dominance, as Fishlegs fussed Meatlug and soothingly called her his 'best girl'...and as Eret crept unnoticed to the exit, taking advantage of everyone's distraction.

Oh, no. Not a chance. That was not happening. Not on Stormfly's watch! She leapt and winged into the air. "Human no escape! Flies-In-Storms fast!"

Eret looked back, swore, and ran.


Gobber mumbled to himself, his eyes opening slowly. "Mmm…tha' feels better…wha' was I…somethin' about…"

He remembered at once, and he bolted upright.

"Eh? How long was I…"

The sun was already coming up, and the moon was nowhere to be seen. The sky was almost cloudless now, and the ocean rolled gently below. The wind remained chilly so high up, but it was far calmer and quieter than before.

Gobber blinked, rubbing the back of his head as understanding dawned.

Far from having a 'quick nap', he'd slept all night. And Grump was still snoring, so Grump had probably slept throughout as well. He saw a smattering of islands around them, but none immediately looked familiar, and Berk should not have been an entire night's flight away. Which, putting it all together, would mean…

"Agh, Grump! Ye missed Berk!" Gobber shouted, his arms up high. "Wake up, ya lump!"

Grump croaked, rousing from his slumber and looking around all over. Then he looked back at Gobber with dozy eyes, crooning apologetically.

"Agh, it's fine lad," Gobber said, letting his arms fall back down. "Ah shouldn't 'ave dozed off when I did." He gave his dragon some encouraging pats on the back, the Hotburple already looking far more alert. "Now, I don' suppose ye can get us to Berk?"

Grump looked around some more, sniffing at the air. Then he turned sharply and shot forwards, straight as an arrow, his head held high. His wings beat rapidly, their steady flutter filling Gobber's ears.

"That's it, lad," Gobber said quietly. "Get us home."

Hopefully, he'd get news to Berk before anyone decided to be reckless. But already, that seemed like a fool's hope. Vikings were reckless people; it was in their blood. And even for Vikings, Berkians were as reckless and bull-headed as they came…