The 'Dragon Master'

Worshipped

Once the twins are done 'praising Loki', they scurry off with their Zippleback. "Well they like you," Hiccup chuckles once they're out of sight. "Lucky me," I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "But now I need to go. I have a meeting with an old friend and they won't be too pleased if I don't show up on time."

I'm not lying; once I help Volcana with her new hatchlings I have to visit Valka, a powerful dragon trainer who also runs a Dragon Sanctuary. It turns out Skyvolt, my Skrill, was under her care before she flew away to evade the dragon hunters I rescued her from. Valka let Skyvolt stay with me on the condition that we could be allies, which I easily agreed to.

We meet up once every moon cycle to catch up and discuss new techniques to use on dragons. She was the one who taught me how to tame Hindsight, my Whispering Death. Who knew all it took was brushing her teeth?

"Wait, a meeting with who?" Hiccup asks. "That's none of your concern," I retort instantly, knowing Valka - like me - doesn't enjoy people knowing who she is. She only trusts me because I followed the same path as her and I'm the same with her. Let's just say us meeting was pretty awkward.

Okay, more like she realised I was flying on Skyvolt when we were near her sanctuary and forced us down.

"Oh, um... okay," Hiccup says slightly awkwardly. "Well, I'm going to find the twi-" he's cut off when the twins hurry to me from the bushes, their Zippleback tailing them. The four of them are carrying random items that they drop at my feet. "For you, my dear Loki!" one twin claims, gesturing at the bundles of flowers and rocks. I then notice something else in the pile and fish it out.

"I believe this belongs to you," I hand Hiccup a metal contraption that causes him to glare at the twins. "You tried to give the Dragon Master my spare leg?!" He shouts at them, taking it back from me.

"He's Loki! We need to honour our god!" The twins yell back. "Well first off, I'm not Loki," I say before immediately questioning why I'm having to tell anyone I'm not a god. "Second, I'm in no way a 'dragon master' either."

"Are you kidding? You can tame Death Songs and Slitherwings and Toothless is crazy about you!" Hiccup argues. "You say you haven't met a dragon you couldn't train! There are so many dragons out there that I can't train, but you've worked them all out!"

I shrug in response and mount Harmony. "Not all of them. I'm positive there are more dragons out there that I won't be able to tame. Now, you remember what we talked about?"

"You're leaving already?" He asks me, catching on. "I was only planning to be here to evade Snotlout and you see what happened to that plan," I reply. "Would you say those two need to be held down as well?" I gesture to the twins, who are fighting over a live chicken. Seriously, a live chicken is in their arms and they are both tugging at it. What is wrong with those two?

"They seem pretty distracted," Hiccup shrugs with a sigh, clearly mirroring my thoughts. "Though they might miss their 'Loki'."

I decide I'll test their reactions, so I tell Harmony to start flying. The moment we're in the air, Snotlout catches on and hurries to Hookfang. "Now!" I tell Harmony, who fires her amber and successfully encases Snotlout in it. The force would've knocked him over if the amber didn't reach the ground as well. "Hey!" He yells in surprise.

"That's to prevent you from following me," I say simply, Harmony turning. I hear a sort of mewling sound and look around to see Saffron staring at me with large, sad eyes. I slyly wink at her. "Thank you for your help," I tell her, but now she's perking up slightly, realising I have something planned. She rawks once and bows as though I'm her leader. I smile to myself as I mimic her gesture.

Did I mention this dragon is wonderful?

"I have one more question," Hiccup says, causing my gaze to switch to him. "If you're not the Dragon Master and you won't tell me who you are, what can I call you?"

I decide I might as well give him an answer to this, so I wrack my brain to find one. Maybe I should let him call me my last name, North? No, too obvious, just like my first name. Then I realise something.

I've never told anyone my middle name.

"If you must call me something, then to you I am Artemis," I tell Hiccup. He nods, surprised - probably because he's only now realising I'm a girl - and looks like he's about to say something else when he's cut off by Snotlout's yelling.

"Hookfang, blast me out of this thing! That guy's crazy, trapping me in stupid Death Song amber!"

Hookfang looks between me and his rider, then rawks loudly and slumps to the ground. Hiccup's eyes widen. "Did you just do that?" He asks me. I hold back a laugh. "He's worn out after chasing me halfway across the archipelago and some more due to a thoughtless rider," I reply. "I don't control a dragon's every move."

"Oh," he says sheepishly, clearly more than a little embarrassed at what he just said as he turns Hookfang's exact shade of red. I decide to save him even more embarrassment and gently tap Harmony with my foot to signal that we can go. She rawks at everyone before turning to leave. "Let's go, Harmony," I say to her happily once I think we're out of earshot. "We'll circle round and go back tomorrow, though I can't wait to tell everyone they thought I'm the god of mischief and pranks."