Hiccup had to think. If Merida wanted a dragon, things were sure to get out of hand quickly. Not that she had really gone out of her way to express that she had an interest in wanting a dragon of her own. Yet. Nor had she been in any way pestering him about owning one, or even riding Toothless. However, for as long as Hiccup had known her and her behavior, it only seemed inevitable that she ask. Her interest in riding in general only encouraged that notion. It had probably not been the best idea to allow her to ride Toothless at the time. He had done the same with Astrid when they first met, and had he not learned anything of the experience? To top it all off, he had yet to tell his father that Merida had been seeing the dragons. Every day, Stoick the Vast had been busy entertaining the Lady Elinor and making sure that she never grew curious of the dragon academy off the side of the island. She had been told that it was the location where they kept the dragons they captured and learned to slay them. She had been told of its usage in the past, not of the present. But if she was ever so curious or as adventurous as her daughter, she would very quickly find that the dragons were no longer our enemies. If she ever thought that Berk was up to no good, the dragons would only prove her suspicions that the village had been quietly scheming, even as they had not been.

His brain had gotten off subject. Hiccup still had to figure out a way to tell his father about Merida. It was only a matter of breaking it to him gently. He found his father holed up in his room. At the end of the day, it was often where he hid, especially now that Lady Elinor was part of his daily routine. It was exhausting work. "Dad?" Stoick jerked up and was clearly relieved to see his son.

"Hiccup, come in. What do you need?"

"I just thought I should tell you something." Stoick's brows furrowed significantly, as if he needed more stress in his daily routine. "It's nothing to be worried about, I swear. It's just a little bit of information I thought you should know." The Chief closed his eyes with worry at the idea of not needing to worry.

"What is it?" he said gruffly.

"The princess knows about the dragons." Hiccup cringed as he spoke the words. He had anticipated that Stoick would begin to yell, but he hadn't. Looking at his father, he seemed too tired to even think about another problem. The large man groaned at the news and rubbed his temples with is left hand.

"I don't even want to think about how that happened right now, he sighed, clearly thinking about how it could have happened. "What are you doing about it?"

"For now, nothing much. Just, trying to keep her happy so she doesn't tell her mom. She seems to really like the dragons."

"Good. Keep it that way. Merida might like them, but I can't say Lady Elinor would." Stoick stood and began to leave the hut. "I need to step out for some air. The DunBroch clan is giving me a headache."


She wondered if he would be still be repairing weapons and saddles. When Merida had last left the blacksmith workshop, Hiccup hadn't appeared to be even close to finishing his work. It had already been a couple of days, but she couldn't be certain how long such an amount would keep him busy for. Her mother had demanded her attention from time to time, occupying her with lessons in history, sewing, music, and public speech. The longer they stayed in Berk, the more of home her mother brought with them, and the stay was no longer considered a vacation period. However, along with the princess lessons came Merida's increasingly diminished patience for them. Thankfully, her mother could only tolerate her attitude for very little longer than she could tolerate her lessons, and she was free form her duties for the afternoon.

There was no echoing clang for her to follow to the blacksmith's this time, and so instead Merida searched for the smoke stack that protruded from the top most of the building. It had been specially carved to resemble a dragon's neck and head so that the smoke was seemingly coming from the mouth of the dragon. Merida wound through the huts and homes until she came upon the blacksmith's and upon two villagers with whom she knew, but knew little. One side of the blacksmith's shop had an open air concept to it, a finely carved roof with six painted columns to support it. Beneath the roof was a large array of weaponry hanging from boards or piled up on tables. Although hesitant to approach it, Merida took a deep breath and greeted Astrid and the older Viking.

"Afternoon," Merida said, trying her best to be friendly. She knew full well of the caution that Astrid continued to possess with her, despite Merida's familiarity with the dragons and the other dragon tamers. The most she got from her was nod of the head and a moody tone of acknowledgement.

"Hey," Astrid managed. The man, who Merida could faintly recall as the chief's right hand, glanced back and forth at the two ladies.

"Good afternoon, Your Highness!" He waved at her with a hand that had been replaced with a hook. The other was holding a board with a bit of paper on it, similar to the one Astrid held. It was obvious the gruff man was trying to break the tension. His efforts were appreciated. "What brings you to the armory?"

"Just looking for Hiccup," she replied honestly, taking note of the fact that the blacksmith's shop was also the armory. Astrid rolled her eyes in a fashion too dramatic, and Merida narrowed hers at the sight.

"Come on Gobber, we're almost done. Let's finish up so I can get out of here." Gobber hesitantly returned to taking inventory with Astrid, very well aware of the disdain she held for the princess.

"So he's not here then?"

"No, no, he's off with the dragons today." Gobber threw his good hand over his mouth immediately at the mention of the dragons and stared at Merida. To his surprise, she didn't flinch.

"Oh, is he?" she asked, trying to hide her excitement. Gobber's brows furrowed.

"She knows about the dragons, Gobber," Astrid explained, clearly peeved at the fact. "She found out the first day here."

"You kids need to tell me these things…" he muttered, trying to piece the concept together. At the very least, the behavior he had witnessed seemed to make sense. "I take it Hiccup is okay with this?"

"He's more than okay with it." It was difficult to tell what exactly she had been upset over considering her tone, but anger was certainly on her mind. An awkward silence fell while Astrid continued to shuffle through the piles of armor and equipment.

"So what does he do with the dragons?" Merida asked, realigning the conversation in her favor. Astrid answered without looking away from her work.

'Usually just spends time with them. Tries to calm down any of the ones that are causing trouble. Otherwise he just checks up on them and observes them. Measurements, health, counting teeth. I don't know, I don't pay much attention to it."

"Does he do anything that doesn't involve dragons on the island?"

"Hiccup? Probably not."

"So what did he do before the dragons? He wasn't a fighter, that's for sure." Merida recalled the scrawny boy she had once known as a child.

"He worked here with me!" said Gobber. "As the blacksmith's apprentice. I'm the blacksmith." Merida laughed at his excessive explanation but continued to give her attention to Astrid.

"He wasn't a fighter, you're right. He was the worst fighter there was. He was so focused on catching them instead of killing them. It just wasn't the Viking way."

"Aye, the lad was different, that's for sure. Who'd have known we'd be the ones changing to accommodate him huh?"

"Well he did discover that the dragons were tamable. Of course that would change everything."

"Right…"

"And he's not lacking in Viking stubbornness that's for sure. Or loyalty. It was pretty admirable of him to protect Toothless." Merida's lips thinned and she wasn't sure what to say. It had been the first time she noticed that anyone could have considered Hiccup in a positive manner other than Toothless himself. She hadn't talked to the other dragon tamers outside of whenever she spent time with their dragons. And most of the time, Hiccup was there right alongside her. It hadn't occurred to her that perhaps Astrid had feelings for Hiccup.

"Yea…" Merida acknowledged, fully aware of Hiccup's stubbornness and loyalty without Astrid having to tell her. Gobber felt the air thicken and looked worriedly at the two standing before him. Neither looked at the other and he truly did not want to be in the middle of their mess. He already had Stoick and Hiccup to deal with as it was.

"Well… you two obviously have a lot you need to talk about so… I'll just, I need to go… I'll just be over there." Gobber excused himself to the inside of the armory to give the two some space.

Both ladies stood in silence next to each other while they waited for Gobber to return, knowing full well that neither will have said a word by the time he checked up on them. There was much to say but neither wanted to initiate anything in fear that the first to speak would be considered the weaker of the two. Dominance would be lost. When the older man returned, he paused to view the spectacle, rolled his eyes, and groaned dramatically. It had not been the first time he had beheld such an annoyingly, unnecessary amount of tension between two people.

"Astrid just wants to say that she's sorry for acting unreasonable. She's just being cautious because the dragons mean so much to her," he said, adding a mumbled follow up Merida could barely make out, "Not to mention she dated Hiccup for a little bit, so that's been complicated." Astrid glared menacingly at Gobber before looking over at Merida to see if his statement had stirred any reaction. She didn't check for very long and it appeared that the inventory sheet was of much greater interest.

"We're not dating. I'm over it. I'm just worried about the village," Astrid amended.

"Right, apologies," Gobber said sincerely. "And Merida wanted to say that she understands your concern but hopes that you can learn to accept her in the future." Merida shrugged, which was likely meant to mean that she agreed with whatever it was Gobber had said. They stood in silence a while longer before Merida decided to take her leave.

"I'm going to the dragon academy."

Once the princess was a safe distance away, Gobber found it safe to speak once more.

"You two seem on good terms," he commented.

"I don't trust her," Astrid replied bluntly, looking through the armor hanging on the columns. Gobber's head shook as if to move his face away from the shock he experienced in the moment. "What you said was mostly true. I was acting openly rude and it was because of the dragons. But that doesn't mean I trust her. It doesn't mean I have to trust her." He moaned while rubbing his temples and wondered why it had been necessary to make the situation so complicated.

"I have to admit that it's a bit of a worry to have her running about with the best of 'em. But why bother to put up with her then? Not as if you've ever held back on anyone before."

"I trust Hiccup." It was a statement so simply said that it seemed almost unexpected. It was however in her nature and in the nature of all Vikings to be loyal to their own. "He's never led us astray before and I hope for his sake he knows what he's doing."

"Well I'm sure it's safe to say he knows what he's doing for the dragons, but I have to ask, does he know what he's doing with her?" His implications were clear. "You know he's never been all that great with women. I mean, you'd know –"

"I try not to ask for details," Astrid interrupted, putting a hand up to Gobber's face to stop him from speaking. "But like I said, I trust him to know what he's doing; with her and with the dragons."

Author's Note: Hello readers! Yay for faster updates! I'd like to apologize a million times over for the fact that I am actually the worst at updating in a timely and consistent manner. And for those who have stuck with me, I am insanely grateful.

Special thanks to Dimitian, who sent me the idea for a large majority of this chapter

As a side note, I may have made a geographical error regarding the blacksmith and armory, in that I did not realize they were one in the same. In the first movie, when Hiccup was still developing Toothless' saddle, there comes a point in time when they accidently get stuck together. Hiccup comes back to the village to find something to cut them apart and Astrid nearly catches him. He heads into a hut that had half doors and kind of uses it to hide Toothless before being pulled in. Now, I could be mistaken again, but the armory shown in the second movie has no such doors, but instead a counter. It's still kind of a half door but not. Anyway, in researching the armory, I discovered that it used to be the blacksmith from the first scene of the first movie and now it's the armory where Stoick tried to teach Hiccup how to be chief in the second movie. I goofed.

For those who haven't seen it, this is the section of behind the scenes footage where I got my information: videos/life/movies/2014/11/11/18849365/

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you all for reading and helping me put everything together. I love hearing from you all and it's very heartwarming to see the continued support and the ever present readers despite my inconsistency. Hope to interact with you soon!