The New Dragon Rider

Chapter 21

"Hiccup, introduce my dad to your dragons. I want him to see them." Hiccup didn't argue and lead my dad towards the dragons.

"Wait, Gustav, you said Hiccup promised you to become a dragon rider right?" Astrid questioned.
Gustav nodded.
"And you said you found us to join the dragon riders?"
Gustav nodded again.
"But wouldn't you go to Berk to find us? How would you know to go to Odin?" Astrid asked.

Gustav's checks flushed red and his eyes got bigger. His lips were pressed together as if unable to speak.

The gang circled Gustav with curiosity wondering how he found us.

"Well you see, Hookfang and I were flying around the archipelago when we saw Astrid, Fishlegs and the new girl flying past us. So we followed, saw the fight, saw you get tied up, got bored and beat them up after remembering Hiccup's promise." Gustav was clearly too nervous to confess he was spying on us-or Astrid-but we just went along with what he said and forgot about it.

Once finished meeting the dragons, my father followed Hiccup back towards us.

"The new girl is Hadley." Hiccup said to Gustav. Gustav spun around and got a quick glance at me. His shoulders relaxed and his mouth slowly opened. He didn't say anything, he just stared at me.

"What?" I had no idea what he was thinking, but I wanted to know. "She pretty." Gustav mumbled. "She pretty?You're supposed to say she's pretty." Fishlegs corrected. "Doesn't matter." Gustav's words were just slurring out of his mouth.

"What about Astrid?" I could hear the hint of jealousy in Snotlout's voice. "She pretty too." Gustav said, still staring at me with droopy, love sappy eyes.

"This is getting weird, I'm not one to watch love stories. Yuck." Tuffnut said climbing onto Belch. Everyone followed. "Hadley, where are you going?" Axel asked. "I'm going to Berk. These people took care of me when I was away." I explained.
"But they were also the ones that took you away." He feared.
"Daddy just come with me, let me show you what Berk is like. Believe me when I saw it's not what you'd expect."

I stuck out my hand and my dad climbed on. My dad wrapped his buff arms around my waist and hugged me close. He was shaking a little and he was taking deep yet short breaths. "You're okay, it's not that far and nothing will happen." I was trying to calm my dad. He didn't really reply or do anything as a response, so instead Windspike slowly and gently lifted into the air.

Windspike was pretty cautious while flying, as well as smart. She avoided Gustav as much as possible. But somehow he ended up being beside me no matter where we went. My dads hug grew tighter and he rested his head on my back for comfort.

When we flew over Berk, Windspike angled herself down, but didn't fly as fast or as steep as the other dragons. Instead she took her time slowly easing down.

She landed softly and I assisted my dad off of her. He patter her side and then hugged me once again.