"Fishie's got a girlfriend!" Snotlout yelled as he burst into Kiara's hut, making her jump from the table she was at. "Wait, what's all this?" he asked, stalking over to the table. On it were pens, a notepad with a hastily scribbled list, a dismembered phone—her phone which has been out of battery for months now—and chicken cawing suspiciously as Snotlout neared, but the main and most bizarre attraction was a scatter of potatoes connected by thin metal wires jabbed into the potato flesh with metal spikes. "It's...A flop," Kiara groaned. "See, I'm trying to make a battery but the only one I ever saw being made was a useless potato one, which doesn't even—"
"Yeah, yeah, lost interest," Snotlout waved her away and leaned against the tabletop. "Now back to me —uh, I mean Fishface!"
"So he beat you to a girlfriend," Kiara said, smirking. "That's hardly surprising with your charm."
"Ha-ha. FYI, I have heaps of charm."
"Of the woman-repellant kind."
"Like you'd know."
"Oh I do," she said, "And so does every Defender of the Wing you tried to hit on." As he grumbled something, she plumped into her chair and crossed out something on her notepad. "What's surprising is that he found someone while we're all living out here," she mused, then abruptly dropped her pen and snapped her head to face Snotlout. "Ruffnut?!" she asked, astonished. Chicken squawked indignantly.
"Pfft! Not even close," he laughed. "No, no, I just discovered he's been pen-pals with Heather the whole time she's disappeared on us."
"Wait seriously?"
"And more importantly, disappeared on me! She was gonna be the future Mrs Jorgenson. We totally had a thing going."
"As if," Kiara snorted. "But hey! Since Fishlegs has contact we can invite her back!"
"We already did while you're here... poking potatoes or whatever. Hey, where are the twins? They're the ones I HAVE to tell. But they disappeared on me! I mean, seriously, what's the point of Fishlegs having a love life if the three of us can't annoy the crap out of him for it?"
"They left early in the morning to find Harald."
"Huh?"
"The guy that—"
"Your hunter buddy!"
"Yup."
"So they took on your wild goose chase. Ha! Muttonheads."
"I dunno. Our sleuths extraordinaire were confident they can pull it off." She pointed her pen at him. "Even said they's be back within hours."
"And you believe them?" Snotlout asked, fiddling with pieces of her dismantled phone. Kiara rapped her pen against his knuckles. "Oi!"
"Hands off. And yes, I believe them. I think they have a dodgy contact or two who has dealings with the hunters."
"Hmm. It's probably Gruffnut." Snotlout had said it as an offhand comment but when Kiara thought about what she knew of the twins' troublemaking way-faring cousin Gruffnut, the explanation fit. "You know, you can be smart when you're not trying," she said.
"Well, you can shove—wait that was a compliment? Ew." He shuddered. "That feels icky coming from you."
"Well occasionally you're bearable," Kiara said, shrugging, then scrunched her nose and turned away, "when I can't see or hear you, of course."
"Ha, better."
"Come on, chicken," she beckoned and the oversized bird jumped into her arms. "Let's get ourselves to a bearable distance from Snotboy."
"That's SnotLOUT! And you can't escape me!" He followed them out the door. "Why go after this Harald? You think you can convert him to our side?"
Kiara was glad and a bit surprised to hear no judgement behind that loaded question. She breathed out and proceeded to give him a sincere answer as they walked along the path to the clubhouse. "I don't know, Snotlout. I just want to talk things out. Find out where we stand. It's all up in the air right now, but I'd like to think we're something like friends."
"Try long-lost friends. He's a commanding hunter whose operation we decimated. (Yay us by the way), but yeah, there's no telling where he'll be stationed now."
"The twins will find out."
The wind rushed against them and pulled at their hair as Barf and Belch landed in their path. The twins loomed above them on their saddles with victorious smiles and Kiara knew they'd gotten a location. She smirked at Snotlout. "Don't say it," he grumbled, at the same time as she verbally jabbed him with an "I told you so."
-
Heather and Windshear's arrival later that afternoon had the island in high spirits. The dragons followed Windshear around like a scaly bundle brimming with curiosity—the poor razorwhip looked overwhelmed at all the attention. The riders left the dragons to their shenanigans and gathered in the clubhouse, passing stories and tossing jokes.
Kiara was glad to properly meet Heather but she also appreciated the jolly uproar as an excuse to avoid awkward conversations with Tuffnut. She caught his eye across the clubhouse and quickly glanced away. Frustration simmered inside her. They'd never been awkward around each other before, but now the memory of their last one-on-one conversation drummed up a conundrum in Kiara's mind. She wanted to yell at him that he was wrong and let him know just how terribly difficult leaving would be for her... but she knew that if he realised how much she loved being here he'd make it even harder to leave. She'd settled with ignoring those thoughts entirely but quickly found out that not talking about what was on her mind is the birthplace of awkwardness. She hated it. When Astrid suggested girl time, with axe-throwing of course, Kiara was quick to jump at the opportunity to escape.
When the four women arrived at a meadow lined with trees perfect for target practice, Kiara held up her axe, but couldn't help but puff her cheeks at how clunky and unbalanced it felt. "Not much of an axe girl, are ya?" Heather asked.
"Bingo," she replied. "I'm more fond of staffs, but hey, I've picked up some axe tricks too thanks to Astrid's brilliant training." She gave Astrid a wink, who proceeded to roll her eyes. Kiara felt a wash of relief when a smile slipped through the eye roll; she knew Astrid wouldn't stay mad at her forever, but speeding the process along with tonnes of compliments felt good. Stepping back, Kiara spun the axe in one hand, which looked impressive for a total of two seconds before it veered off balance and she had to grab it with her other hand. "Hah, oops." She tried it again, successfully this time, and flung it away. It hit the base of a tree.
"Not bad," Heather chuckled. "How's this?" She flipped her axe once then unfolded it, revealing its double axe form. "No way," Kiara gasped, eyeing the extended weapon. It was beautiful, balanced and deadly sharp. With a confident smile, Heather spun it like a staff and flung it through the air. There was a thunk as it embedded itself into the dead centre of that tree's trunk.
"Sister, you have GOT to make me one of those," Ruffnut said, slinging an arm over Heather's shoulders.
"It's not too hard actually," Heather began explaining how she'd made it.
The day continued with flying axes, reclining on the grass and gossip, the highlight being Heather calling out Astrid and Hiccup's almost-relationship.
Clouds had engulfed the sky, masking the sun's descent, but the girls' rumbling stomachs told them that it was getting late. "I'll handle dinner," Astrid declared. The other three glanced at each other. "Define 'handle'," Ruffnut cautiously asked.
"Cooking, duh."
Kiara, Heather and Ruffnut felt their stomachs sink. "How about no," Ruffnut said. Kiara elbowed her.
"Thanks, Astrid," she said.
"She means no thanks," the other grumbled.
"I could do it," Heather offered. "Or help at least."
"Yeah, Heather's food was the best!" Ruffnut exclaimed.
"Aw, thanks, Ruff."
"I'm not making you cook on your first day back," Astrid said as she started walking away. "Besides I've already prepped so I won't be long. And Heather: rest up, relax!"
"Thanks," Heather called after her.
"I'll make sure something at least edible is brought back," Ruffnut said and jogged after Astrid.
And that left two on the field.
"So, other-worldly girl," said Heather playfully, "what's it like on the other side?"
"Less pretty with all that concrete taking over nature," Kiara joked. "And with 100% fewer dragons, but hey, it was home... beautiful in its own way."
Heather leaned forwards, intrigued. "It was?" she probed.
"I mean it is!" Kiara hesitated when Heather raised an eyebrow. "I guess the Edge is my home now as much as it is for the other riders," she admitted, "but just like for them it won't be home forever. They'll eventually go back to their families on Berk and I'll go back to mine, hopefully soon."
Heather nodded sympathetically. "You must miss them."
"Yes, terribly."
"I'm happy for you. I mean, Thor knows there's nothing I wouldn't do for a chance to see my parents again. Birth and adoptive."
Kiara smiled in understanding, but then a crease formed between her brows as she realised, She said parents, not family. "What about your brother?"
Heather's expression darkened. "It's best that I never lay eyes on him again. For both our sakes."
"He can't be all bad. He helped you escape, didn't he?"
"Only because he was sick of being bossed around by the Grimborns!" Heather was quick to rebuke Kiara. Anger-fueled words tumbled from her mouth. "I was just a way to piss them off on his way out. You have to understand, Kiara... He doesn't care about anyone but himself and does whatever he wants to get whatever he wants..." Heather closed her eyes momentarily and when she continued, her voice was smaller and a bit broken. "He couldn't care less about the endless death and destruction he leaves in his wake."
"He sounds..."
"Evil?" Heather scoffed. "Yeah. He is."
Or maybe that's just what you see. Kiara thought, remembering the way Dagur stood up to Ryker for her, like any protective older brother. She held her tongue though, not wanting to offend Heather.
Heather shifted away, reading Kiara's silence. "You disagree," she stated.
"Well, it's just... recently I found that things are almost never so black and white." She looked towards the cloudy horizon as she contemplated how she once thought all hunters were evil, especially the hunter who'd killed Thornado. She was consumed with rage that even the wise words of the Berkian chief couldn't quell. But Harald had stopped her from making her biggest mistake and knocked sense into her with a simple conversation between herself, him and Gunnar. "Hey, Heather?" Kiara suddenly said as she was hit with an idea. "I'd like to take you someplace tomorrow."
"What for?"
"To meet a friend. Would you and Windshear be up for that?"
Heather thought about it for a second, then smiled. "Sure. Why not?"
.
.
.
------------
Hey D.L.s!
How are ya? Hope it's going great<3
This chapter felt like a soft filler but we all need some calm before the storm. I for one loved writing Kiara and Snotlout's new dynamic (they've grown! AAaah!)
There was a scene between Kiara and Ruffnut too but I felt there was too much talking going on in one chapter so I got rid of it. but gosh I love Ruff so much and I think this is the only time I showcased her character without Tuff by her side so I want to incorporate it or something similar elsewhere in the story. until then, or maybe forever, it will remain in the deleted scenes pile. hmm. it's only 250 words, so maybe I'll paste it at the end of this A/N if it goes nowhere. LMK if you guys want it
Stay safe my kings and queens x
-Tan