The 'Dragon Master'

Wonderful First Impressions

"You're here again?" She asks me, surprised. "A certain man with a Night Fury decided to kidnap me," I reply, glaring at Hiccup, who raised his hands in a pointless show of defence. He is never going to live this down, I'll make sure of that.

"You kidnapped the Dragon Master?!" Astrid yelled at him, waking Valkyrie up. She begins shrieking, so I rock her gently like you would with a human baby. She quickly calms down, nuzzling into me. If she hasn't interacted with anyone, she may see me as a genuine mother figure. I smile beneath my mask at the thought.

Astrid looks to me. "So... did Hiccup call you Artemis? The boys aren't exactly the best, are they?" "Hiccup is the only one of the pair that I'm concerned about," I reply, earning a laugh from Astrid and Toothless. Hiccup scowls but doesn't say a word, knowing he can't defend himself in this situation.

"I'd offer you a ride somewhere but Stormfly doesn't work too well with strangers riding her," Astrid says. "I don't know, we'll just have to see about that," I tell her, looking to Toothless. He seems to get the message because he roars out something to Stormfly, which causes her to rawk excitedly before running over and nuzzling me affectionately.

As Valkyrie joins in with all the hugging, Astrid appears to be in a state of shock. "How did you..?" She trails off, watching Stormfly. "Like I said, I have my ways," I reply with a chuckle.

Suddenly there's an axe at my throat. "What did you do to my dragon?" Astrid demands, very much recovered now. "I know Stormfly and she would never just run up to a stranger like that! What did you do to her?"

I'm about to speak when Valkyrie whimpers. I look to her as best I can without cutting myself on the axe. The blade is actually touching her, little tufts of her fur dusting the blade. This causes anger to surge through me. "Remove your axe from my dragon before I personally make sure you don't see the light of day again!" I rage out thunderously.

She looks to Valkyrie and gasps before obeying me. Valkyrie is whimpering a lot now. I part her fur as gently as I can to check if Astrid cut her. There's no blood, though there is a slight scratch, and I let out a sigh of relief. "It's okay, girl, I'm here," I coax her softly. Her cries slowly stop and once they do I turn to Astrid, a murderous look in my eyes.

"You monster! Threaten me all you like, attack me all you like, but never even think about harming one of my dragons!" My voice is laced with venom with every word I spit. I can't believe Astrid would sink so low, even to a stranger, just for her dragon not being very cautious around me.

Speaking of Stormfly, she's looking back and forth between us, not sure who to support. I nod to her and she rawks at me, hurrying over to Astrid's side.

"Astrid, Toothless knows something about Artemis, I think he's telling it to all of our dragons," Hiccup informed Astrid. "Even Hookfang acted like this around her and you know how he is."

"Wait, even Hookfang?" Astrid cocks an eyebrow at me. "You know, she looks a lot like Heather," she remarks after eyeing me up and down. "I've been getting that a lot recently," I shrug. "I'm hoping it's a compliment."

"Not where Snotlout's concerned," Astrid mutters to herself. I have to agree there as from what I've seen he's unbearable to be around for even a few minutes. The amount of times he's tried to unmask me... it's very annoying.

"Well this has been enjoyable and all, but I'd prefer not to have to revive another island due to my partners not being able to find me there," I say, turning to leave. I'm stopped by Toothless and Stormfly. "How will you get down? We're pretty high up, you know," Hiccup says, mounting Toothless and offering me his hand.

"Well aren't you a gentleman," I roll my eyes at him but take it, keeping Valkyrie close to my chest. Hiccup helps me onto his dragon and within moments we're in the air. I cover Valkyrie's eyes since she's most likely lived in the cave for her whole short life and would be blinded when she saw the sun properly. After a moment I slowly let her see more and more until she was fine on her own.

"You really care about Valkyrie already," Hiccup remarks. "Of course I care for her, wouldn't you?" I ask. He looks thoughtful when he nods in confirmation to my question.

Suddenly a roar breaks me from my thoughts. I look to the side to see Snotlout riding Hookfang, who is trying to alert me to what's happening.

"How nice of you to join us," I say sarcastically to him, startling him. "Why do you wear that stupid mask anyway?" Snotlout demands. "Because if you knew who I really am, I would be vulnerable and therefore so would my partners, which cannot happen," I reply simply. "I never do anything without a good reason as otherwise the action is pointless."

"Snotlout, stop pestering her!" Hiccup scowls at the Monsterous Nightmare's partner. "Wait, he's a she?" Snotlout's confusion causes me to laugh. "Yes, I'm a 'she'. Is this enough to keep you off my hide for a while?"

"Actually, I think we got off on the wrong foot," he smirks in what I think is supposed to be a seductive manner. Hookfang rolls his eyes and I can't help but do the same. "You don't even know my name yet you think I'll just fall into your arms at a moment's notice. How naive."

"How can I be naive when I can see your beauty perfectly?" He attempts to flirt. "You thought I was a man," I remind him without missing a beat, causing Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, Stormfly and Hookfang to laugh.

This might not be so bad after all.