In the days to follow the others had mixed feelings about me. Snotlout was talking to me again, but only barely. The twins were the twins and kept causing trouble for Snotlout. Fishleg seemed down whenever we spent time together, but he enjoyed studying River and learning everything about her. Astrid was back on her warpath and scowled at me whenever she saw me. Hiccup and Toothless had become more cautious around me. They tried not to change their behaviour, but I could tell. I had broken everybody's trust by not hating Viggo and I'd have to make it up to them somehow.
One morning as I was out hunting with River, she suddenly became really alert.
"What's wrong, girl?" I asked as we both looked around. When she started growling I really started to worry about her.
"C'mon, let's go check it out."
I got on River's back and flew into the air. Hiccup had made a saddle and suit for us so it would be easier for me to fly with her while still being comfortable for both of us. We got in the air and went straight for camp.
As we got closer to camp I saw something approaching. It looked like a dragon, although it wasn't one I had seen before. We got in closer and I knew it had spotted us when it hovered for a second before going for a dive.
We dove down with it and landed just behind the stables. From here we should be impossible to see.
"Heather, how good to see you! How've you been?" Hiccup immediately greeted the stranger. If hiccup knows her and is this friendly she's most likely not a threat, but I'd have to reserve judgment and stay hidden until I was sure.
"Hiccup, it's good to see all of you but before we talk I think there's something you should know. I saw something on my way here." She sounded concerned but sweet.
"Viggo's ships?" Astrid asked.
"Hi, Astrid. I wish it was just ships, Windshear and I would be able to take them instantly. No, this.. I'm not even sure what I saw. But.. It looked like a Speed Stinger with wings. You guys should be careful. If they've evolved to have flight, I don't wanna think about the trouble it could cause all over the Archipelago."
"Okay, she's obviously worried about their safety. What do you say we go introduce ourselves?" I asked and River squawked in excitement.
I jumped off River's back, took her saddle off and she ran off ahead of me. I was struggling to keep up as I was scrambling around with my suit on. River ran straight for the stranger and her dragon.
"Speed Stinger! Windshear! Heather yelled and I heard a metallic sound.
"Whoa, wait! Don't attack! She's friendly." Hiccup explained.
"Friendly? When did you guys train a Speed Stinger?"
"They didn't." I answered as I walked into view. I couldn't see much other than my feet, so I only took a few steps forward before putting everything on the ground.
"I trained her."
"Whoah, since when has there been two of you?" Snotlout asked as he approached us. He seemed dazed. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since the twins were following right behind him with huge grins on their faces.
"Snotlout.." hiccup sighed and shook his head.
"It's Heather who's come to visit. What did you two do to him?"
"Nothing. It's not our fault he can't handle the boar pit." Ruffnut explained.
"Yeah. You should've seen it Hiccup. The boars. The terror. It was a masterpiece!" Tuffnut exclaimed immediately after.
After hearing the small group try and explain what happened, I took a closer look at the girl in front of me to try and see why Snotlout would assume we're the same person.
I guess there was a small resemblance, but it was a slim one. We had similar overall physique and green eyes, but that's about as far as the similarities go. The girl in front of me had long, raven black hair that was in a sideways brad over her shoulder. Meanwhile my hair was much shorter, only extending to just below my shoulders. It was also a silver white colour and flowed freely.
"Haley, this is Heather. Heather, Haley." Hiccup introduced us. We looked each other over for a moment and I saw her relax.
"Nice to meet you. If Hiccup and Astrid trust you, then I do too. This is my dragon, Windshear." She smiled and introduced me to her large, metallic looking dragon.
"It's nice to meet you too. Always good to meet another friendly face. This is River. Sorry if we spooked you guys in the air before." I extended my hand and she took it.
"That's okay. To be honest if Hiccup hadn't vouched for you I'd probably have thought you were a Dragon Hunter and attacked you." We shook hands and she let go again.
"There is one thing I have to ask you though."
"What's up?" I had a feeling I knew what her question would be and the heavy feeling in the air only made me more certain.
"How did you and River get in the air? She doesn't have any wings and people don't fly on their own." She reached her arm back and took a hold of the axe on her back, though she hadn't deployed it yet.
"You're as perceptive as Astrid. My Speed Stinger doesn't have wings, no. I hope you'll forgive me, but I don't trust you enough to tell you how we flew."
"I don't like secrets being kept from me." She threatened.
"H-hey! Heather, it's been a long time since your last visit, how about you and Astrid hang out for a bit? She's been practicing some new moves with Stormfly and I'm sure she'd love to train with you for a while." Hiccup shot in, trying to de-escalate the situation as fast as possible. Heather glanced at him and sighed.
"Alright, Hiccup. I'm not gonna let this go that easily, but I have missed training with you too, Astrid. Whaddya say?"
"Sounds good to me. Let's go before Snotlout comes along." Astrid got on Stormfly and set off towards the forest with Heather close behind. After the girls left, the twins ran off somewhere again and Hookfang had grabbed Snotlout and left with him.
"Thanks, Hiccup but I could've handled her."
"I don't doubt your abilities, but I'd rather not have any fights in here."
"I can respect that." Since Heather was gone and it was just me and Hiccup in here, I decided to head back to my hut. Hiccup had other ideas though.
"Before you leave, there's something we need to talk about." He said as I turned to walk away.
"What is it?" I asked and looked at him.
"Your position in the team. I can't make the others trust you. To be honest, after what you said about Viggo, I don't fully trust you either. Not with everything else as well."
"Hiccup, I-"
"That being said." He cut me off.
"You're still living with us so you're a part of the team. It'll be hard to bring you along on missions though since your dragon doesn't breathe fire. I guess you have your bow, but I'm not sure how effective it's gonna be when raiding ships."
"Hiccup, it's alright. River and I don't mind staying back while you guys go on missions. We can stay here, hunt and prepare food for when you guys get back. We're excellent hunters and should you need us for an island mission, you know where to find us." I smiled at him which he returned.
"Alright, that settles it then. You'll be our hunter and join us for island missions. I'll let the others know later."
"Right! I'll see you guys later then." Hiccup left and I looked at River. She cocked her head slightly to the right while staring at me.
"What? I had to tell him something. It's not like you were coming with any ideas."
She squawked in a way that could be described as a laugh. I shook my head and smiled at her as we walked back to our hut.
On the door to my hut there hung a note. I grabbed it and took it inside to read.
Dear Haley,
I know you say that you don't have any feelings for me, but it can't be true. All women would be lucky to be together with me, just ask Astrid. She tried to get together with me for years. But I've already forgot her. I want you and only you and I doesn't accept a no.
If you're feeling the same way, or just feeling anything for me, then meet me by the watchtower tonight. I'll wait there for you.
Forever yours, Snotlout.
The note itself was sweet, but this was crossing a line. I stormed out the door and headed straight for his hut. It wasn't that late yet so he was still at home with Hookfang, recovering from the twins shenanigans.
I kicked the door in which scared Hookfang so much he set fire to himself, which caused Snotlout who was washing him to also catch on fire.
"Aaah!!! Hookfang!!" He screamed and ran around before eventually pouring the bucket of water over himself.
"Aahh, much better."
I closed the door behind me as I walked inside. Hookfang extinguished his flames and Snotlout looked surprisingly happy to see me.
"Oh, it's you. Come to your senses about how awesome I am?"
"I see you're feeling better. I've gotta say, that note you sent me? While it was sweet, the spelling was horrible and I'm not changing my mind. You're just not my type."
"What're you talking about? You sent me a note proclaiming your love to me. And my spelling is fine!" We both held up our two notes and stared confused at each other.
"Okay, something's going on here. I never sent you any letter." I told him.
"Neither did I." We both thought about it for a moment before coming to the same realization.
"The twins." We groaned in unison.
"When I get my hands on those muttonheads!" He growled.
"Say hi from me when you find them." He walked out the door with Hookfang and I went back to my own hut.
River was waiting in the fireplace and perked her head up when I entered the door.
"Hey, girl. Turns out the note wasn't from him. It was the twins playing pranks." I laid down in my bed with River on the floor next to me.
"Let's show the others what we can do from here on out."
River squawked a happy tone and closed her eyes. I closed mine as well. While sleeping soundly I couldn't help but see Viggo in my dreams.