The Gift of the Princess (HTTYD)

Brave and Bold

Chapter 43: Brave and Bold

"Don't worry, Toothless," Eira said to the Night Fury, "Hiccup isn't abandoning you."

"That's right," said Ingrid. "Sometimes friends need to be apart, and that's okay. You'll see him tonight." Toothless snorted in response. The three of them were gathered outside the Great Hall, where hordes of Vikings met in groups to discuss their plans. "So, who else do you think would join us?"

Eira looked around. "Well..."

"There you two are!" Valka broke from the crowd to approach the sisters. "I would like to join you on your quest."

Eira and Ingrid exchanged glances. "You know part of our mission is to rescue Drago, right?" Ingrid said.

"I assumed as much. I may not be able to offer much help in that regard, but I will not impede you. I may, however, be able to help with your Night Furies. I may not know much about that particular species, but I did live with dragons for over 20 years. I should be able to communicate with them."

"That makes sense," Eira said. "You can join us."

"We should ask Snotlout too," Ingrid said. She turned to the crowd and began to wave her arms. "Hey, Snotlout! Come join us!"

Snotlout stopped on his way to Astrid's group and looked at her. "No way! I don't want to go back to that island. I'm going to be a warrior. That's what a real Viking would do."

Ingrid rolled her eyes. "No, a real Viking would go where he's needed."

"Exactly. I'll let you ladies handle this one." With that, he continued on to the training group.

Ingrid groaned, shaking her head. "And here I thought things were going so well. I thought we agreed to support each other. Now he's back to this." She looked in Snotlout's direction with dismay.

Eira cast her sister a sympathetic look. "I'll talk to him." The two of them had not spoken in awhile, and maybe she could get something out of him as his friend that he was unwilling to tell his girlfriend. She glanced at Toothless. "Care to join me?" The Night Fury growled his ascent, and the two of them set off for Astrid's group.

"Sorry, Eira," Snotlout said when he saw her, "I'm busy right now." He turned to face Astrid, who appeared to be giving instructions to the large group of Vikings. Toothless walked all the way around to face Snotlout and snarled. "Okay, fine! I'm sure Astrid can fill me in later." He turned to Eira. "What's on your mind?"

"That's what I was going to ask you," said Eira. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Never felt better! Why do you ask?"

Eira frowned. "Because you just blew off Ingrid, and it upset her."

Snotlout's face flashed with concern for a second before being replaced by indifference. "She'll get over it. I'm doing this for her."

Eira eyed him skeptically. "How do you figure that?"

"I'm showing her my strength and courage as a Viking. She won't have to worry about anything, and she'll never leave."

"But you don't need to do this to impress her. She already likes you, and she's not going to leave."

"That's not enough. Our relationship will remain stagnant if we're stuck at 'like.'"

Finally, Eira thought she understood what was going on. He was trying to take the next step in his relationship, although he was going about it all wrong. "Instead of doing all this, why don't you try talking to Ingrid about how you feel?"