The Gift of the Princess (HTTYD)

Getting to the Bottom of Things

Chapter 31: Getting to the Bottom of Things

Once again, Eira and her friends gathered outside their hut in the morning. None of them had seen Krogan return the previous night, so they were eager to hear what he had learned from Reidun. "She is open to all of our suggestions," he explained. "She said she will think about it."

"She better not take too long to think," Viggo said. "We are running out of time."

"I am sure she will announce her decision as soon as she is ready. Trust her. She is a good person."

"Is that why you were out with her so long last night?" Oliver said with a smirk.

Krogan looked at him. "More or less."

"Hey, there she is now!" Dagur exclaimed before the young boy could reply.

Chief Reidun stopped when she neared the dragon riders. She appeared quite at ease, so Eira hoped for good news. However, the two guards who trailed her were of some concern. "Good morning, visitors," Reidun said amiably.

"Good morning," said Eira. "How are you today?"

"Fine, thank you. Let's get right to business. I know all of you were interested in helping my people learn to better defend themselves - presumably so we no longer need outside help. I do not see a problem with this as long as you are properly supervised."

"Oh, that explains those guys," Dagur said, nodding at the guards.

"And what about the dragon products I mentioned?" Krogan asked carefully. "They could help you create better weapons and defenses."

Reidun hesitated, looking over the group before responding. "I will allow one trip into the forest to obtain the necessary materials, and you may split into two to do that. Afterwards, I will decide where to go."

"Fair enough," said Viggo.

"Thank you, Chief Reidun," Eira said, dipping her head. "We appreciate you giving us this chance to prove ourselves."

Reidun smiled slightly. "Of course. Do you mind speaking with me alone for a few minutes?"

"Not at all." Once more, Eira left her friends to get started and walked through the village with Reidun. She noticed how much better the village looked and how the people almost seemed happier.

"I want to thank you for your help yesterday," Reidun said as if reading her mind. "Even if you have your own motives, you have  brought good to this village."

Eira smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. I have multiple reasons for helping, and one of them is because it is the right thing to do."

"I have no reason to doubt that. Now that I am quite certain in your integrity, I want to know how dragons relate to everything. I admit I am quite confused by your close relationship with them. Why do you care for them so much?" They stopped in the center of the square, in the middle of all the activity.

Eira took the chief's interest as a good sign and was happy to oblige her. "Dragons are our friends, and we treat them as we would human friends. I grew up around dragons and know how to communicate with them without speech. Our relationship with them provides benefits on both sides. They give us the power of flight and fire while we give them safety and security that would be difficult in the wild. We bring out the best in each other."

Reidun nodded. "I see. But doesn't your relationship endanger both of you because you have made yourselves targets?"

"It may seem that way, but I don't think it's true. There is a lot of evil both the human and dragon worlds that would exist even if we remained separate. We have people like Drago who try to control others, and dragons sometimes have alphas who serve the same purpose. The humans who target us are really the same people who fear losing their power. If we didn't have dragons, I believe they would get around to conquering us eventually. With dragons, both sides stand a much better chance. Plus, the deep friendship more than makes up for the negatives. It's kind of hard to explain if you haven't experienced it yourself."