Defenders of the Frozen Dragon

New girl

Mala thought that she wouldn't be a good enough queen for the Defenders of the Wing, but she actually got the hang of everything quickly.

Sure it took some time, but with Hiccup and Throk helping her, she got the hang on her own quickly.

Right now, Hiccup and Toothless were flying back home, slowly and easily after a day of helping the dragons across the island.

Hiccup loves the feeling of being this high up in the air. Up there, he can forget all of his worries and troubles being this high up.

As they flew home, Hiccup glanced down and noticed on the beach below them, there was a small overturned boat. An abandoned boat was something unusual in their case.

"Toothless, you see that?" Hiccup asks and Toothless spots the boat.

"That doesn't look like one of ours." Toothless says.

"No, it doesn't. Let's check it out." Hiccup agrees and directed Toothless to land near it.

"Be careful." Toothless begs of him as Hiccup gets off his back and heads towards the boat.

"I'll be fine. What can happen with you standing guard?" Hiccup asks and walked over to looked underneath it.

What he found was a very scared-looking girl.

"Uhh, hey," he stammered. "Hey, there!" She started moving away, frightened.

"It's okay! We're friends!" He tried to assure her.

"Do you have any water?" She asked through parched lips.

"No, but we can take you to where there's plenty," he said.

"We?" she asked and Toothless chose that moment to stick his head under the boat, and the girl pulled back in terror.

"It's okay! He's a friend, too." Hiccup promises.

"That's a dragon!" she gasped.

"Yeah, I'm glad you noticed that. This is Toothless, I'm Hiccup, and you are...?"

"Heather." She introduced herself.

"Okay. Toothless, this is Heather." The dragon sniffed and backed away, his eyes narrowing to slits.

"He's not really good with strangers, but he won't hurt you," Hiccup promised her.

"No promises." Toothless says as he lies down in the sand.

She shook her head in disbelief. "W-where am I?"

"This is Caldera Cay," Hiccup answered. "How did you wind up here?"

"My family and I were on our way home to our island when our boat was attacked by pirates," Heather told him. "They attacked our boat and took us back to our island, laying siege to it. I was able to escape, but my mother and father...they weren't so lucky."

Hiccup extended his hand to her and she took it hesitantly. "Let me take you back to my village. You can get food and water there, and a place to stay. My sister's the queen, she can get you whatever help she can give."

Heather stood slowly and took Hiccup's hand and got out of the wreckage. "Your sister is the queen?"

"Yeah, it's complicated," he nodded. "Our father, the king, he died a while back, and my mother...I never really knew her."

"I'm sorry." Heather apologized.

"It's okay." Hiccup promised her, he then climbed into Toothless' saddle and held out his hand to her.

Heather took it even more hesitantly this time, but allowed herself to get seated on the dragon's back.

"Take us back to the village, Toothless. Nice and easy." Hiccup asks his dragon and his dragon grunted, but flew straight and low to their home. As they dismounted, Heather ran for the nearest water source and took a long, deep drink. She didn't even care that her thick black braid got soaked.

"Oh, that is so much better! Thank you," Heather sighed.

"No problem, but we should inform my sister you're here." Hiccup says.

"I understand." Heather nodded. "While we walk, can you tell me more about this dragon you're riding?"

"I see no harm in that." Hiccup guesses.

They walked through village, Hiccup explained that they would probably be mobbed when he got there, but he'd try to introduce her to as many people as possible. She nodded dubiously, understanding they'd probably want to know who the girl with their prince.

Nevertheless, that was exactly what happened. As he walked down the street, men and women dropped what they were doing to greet him and ask how he was doing. He introduced Heather to all of them and explained they needed to speak to his sister.

Mala was with Throk discussing something when she noticed Hiccup and someone new with him.

"Hiccup, brother. " Mala greets and walks over to him. "Who is this with you?"

"Mala, this is Heather. I found her while flying home on the beach, she was shipwrecked here." Hiccup explains. "Her and her family were attacked by pirates."

"My sincerest apologies, young Heather." Mala tells her. "Me and my brother know what it's like to loose a family ember."

Heather looks to Hiccup, waiting for an explanation.

"Our father, the king, he died saving me from Dragon Hunters." Hiccup explains to her.

"Oh." Heather sees.

"Hiccup, why don't you bring our guest to the healing center to be checked for any injuries and show her around our home?" Mala asks of Hiccup. "We can find her a place to stay for the night later."

"She can stay in my room for now. I hardly use it." Hiccup offers since he spends his nights in the forge or with Toothless.

"No, I couldn't ask you to do that." Heather tells him.

"You didn't ask, I offered." Hiccup replies. "Come on, lets get you checked out." He says and leads her to the healing center.

-

As the sun went down, Hiccup arranged for Heather to sleep in his room until they could make other arrangements.

"Me and Toothless have to spend a little time in the forge," Hiccup tells her. "I'll be back later." He promises her and leaves her to sleep.

Heather stretched out on the bed in Hiccup's room. For the first time since she'd landed on Caldera Cay, she had some time to think.

'My project is off to a good start,' she thought. 'This Hiccup is good at befriending dragons, he rides his own dragon, and he's very trusting. Savage will be happy to hear about him.'

Another part of her thought, 'He's trusting and kind, and he isn't full of himself like most princes or chief sons. Do I really want to hand him over to them?'

'You have to,' said the first part of her mind. 'It's the only way you'll ever see your parents again.'