The 'Dragon Goddess'

Trouble On Berk

It turns out we need supplies, so I head out the next day with Volcana, who was surprisingly eager to get out. Her hatchlings must've been driving her crazy or something because she's never been this desperate for a chance to leave for a while.

She's amazed at my sudden ability to morph into a dragon and understand her, so she makes the most of it by chatting to me the whole flight to Berk. "Hey, can you be effected by Harmony now?" She asks me. "Hm... possibly," I reply, now a little nervous.

"Don't worry, you'll be able to work it out," Volcana says before Berk comes into view. We set off a bit too late today, so the sun is already about to set behind the island. Volcana lands near the market place, the fact that I'm the 'Dragon Master' quickly attracting attention as usual.

"Hey! Artemis!" Fishlegs is the only one here that I don't want to just push away. He hurries over to me, Meatlug with him. She starts chatting with Volcana, pleased to have another Gronkle friend. "Fishlegs. Can I help you?" I question.

"You came at the perfect time!" He gushes. "There's something you might like to see! Come on!"

He mounts Meatlug and the pair fly off. Volcana and I follow. He leads us to the Great Hall, where Hiccup, Astrid, Heather, Snotlout, the twins and - to my surprise - Valka are.

When I see Valka, I hesitate. "Is something wrong?" Fishlegs asks, picking up on my uncertainty. "Valka and I are not on good terms right now," I reply. "The last time we spoke she threatened my life."

"What?!" He's understandably shocked. "That's not important, let's just get this over with," I say, wanting to do just that. I dismount Volcana while he does the same with Meatlug. "Do you want me to talk to her or something?" Fishlegs asks.

"As sweet as the offer is, I can face her," I say. "Besides, I'll have to do it at some point." He nods and walks in, me following. "Hey guys! I found Artemis!" He announces, causing all eyes to snap to me. Hiccup and Astrid immediately tense, knowing of the conflict between me and Valka right now.

Valka herself takes a moment to look up, not knowing about me calling myself Artemis. When she does see me, however, she tenses just like Hiccup and Astrid.

"I hear you've found out something interesting?" I decide to just get straight to business. It's what works for me. "Y- yeah..." Valka replies, looking down at something on the table. "Come see this, Ind-... Artemis."

Looks like we're ignoring things for now.

I move over to the table and see the Book of Dragons spread out over a new, empty page as well as a sketch on a separate piece of paper. It looks like a very basic version of a Razorwhip... or... a Morphwing...

"What's this?" I ask, pointing to the drawing. "We saw a dragon last night," Hiccup explained. "It looked like some kind of Razorwhip, but not like any Razorwhip we've ever seen. This sketch isn't too accurate, we didn't get a good look at the dragon since it was dark and it was really fast. Don't suppose you've seen it before?"

I pretend to think. "No, can't say that I have," I say eventually. "Are you going to do anything about it, then?"

"We have to," he nodded. "It tried to take some sheep, though it didn't in the end because we got to it first. If we see it again, we might have to catch it and then see if we can train it. We can't have more of Sven's sheep eaten."

"Hm," I murmur, getting a basic idea of who 'Sven' is. "I don't think capturing the dragon would be a smart move. Some dragons are wild for a reason, Hiccup."

"What do you mean by that?" He asks. "I meant what I said," I reply. "So what do you know about the dragon?"

"They can fire purple flames and they're extremely intelligent, but that's about it," Astrid answers. "Sounds impressive," I remark. "Bet those things would be nice to hang around with."

"How do you think we should train them?" Fishlegs asks me. "They didn't seem overly interested in dragon nip, so that's not an option."

"A little respect never hurts," I point out, knowing that if I offer nothing they'll get suspicious. "Does wonders with a Monstrous Nightmare. If this dragon is as intelligent as you say it is, it'll most likely recognise the gesture."

"Good idea," Heather nods. "You should stick around. You're pretty good at handling dragons. Maybe you'll be able to do something about them."

"Who cares?" Snotlout piped up. "Let's just catch them in a net and knock some sense into them!" "And risk making the situation worse?" I sigh. "Oh how I haven't missed your illogical reasonings, Snotlout."

"To be fair, netting the dragon would make it easier to get close to them," Astrid states. "Not saying we should net it, I'm just saying that it would make our job a lot easier."

"Sometimes the easy way isn't the right way," I point out. "Now is there anything else I should know?"

"I think that's about it," Heather shrugs. "No, not all of it," Valka speaks up. "Artemis, do you mind if we have a little talk? Alone?"

Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs all look to me sympathetically. "Sure," I reply, allowing Valka to lead me out of the Great Hall. Once we're away from the others, I look to her.

"I am so, so sorry about what happened," she says quietly. "I wasn't thinking, I just knew I needed to protect my son."

"It's fine, I understand completely," I nod. "You have a lovely child, Valka. It's very clear why you want to keep him safe. But if I wanted to harm him, he'd be dead already. We both know this. Now I don't recommend coming over for a while, the Alpha isn't pleased with what happened. Please do me a favour and let your son know that I had to leave."

With that, Volcana and I walk off.