The Strength of the Princess (HTTYD)

Too Little Too Late?

Chapter 53: Too Little Too Late?

Ingrid felt great about her job. She finally helped Eira and Snotlout see that they were better off as friends than lovers. Two weeks had passed since they broke up, and they did not seem to suffer any repercussions. Some of the riders teased them for a bit, but it was all in fun. Snotlout still hung out with Ingrid, who was given permission from her family to stay at Dragon's Edge.

Now it was onto the next stage: getting Eira and Dagur together. Ingrid wanted to wait a bit to give Eira time to think things over. She had to admit, she was a bit worried about Dagur and wondered if she should slip the news of the breakup to him. Or perhaps she should mention it to Heather, who she had not seen in awhile. Speaking of which...

Ingrid was out picking berries when Windshear suddenly landed before her. "Ingrid," Heather said, slipping off the Razorwhip's back, "we have a problem."

Ingrid's eyes widened in alarm. "The others are around here. Let's-"

"Not that kind of problem. It's about Dagur."

Somehow, this made Ingrid feel even more uneasy. "What about him?"

"You know Mala, right?"

Ingrid swallowed. "Yes."

"They're getting married! Dagur is completing the trials to become king right now."

"WHAT?! Why didn't you stop him?"

Heather gave her a look. "Have you tried to stop Dagur from doing something he wants to do?"

"Well, why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

Heather frowned. "I didn't know until now. Dagur has been acting very secretive. He must have known I wouldn't approve."

Ingrid groaned. "Great. And right after Snotlout and Eira broke up..."

"Wait, they broke up?!"

Ingrid smiled weakly. "Yeah, two weeks ago. I wanted to give them time to get over it, but if I knew Dagur was going to pull this, I would have told you sooner."

"This is just great." Heather sighed. "We're terrible sisters."

Ingrid had to agree. She had seen the signs but done nothing about them. She should have known better than to leave this to chance. "Maybe it's not too late. Dagur's not married yet, right? We still have time?"

Heather gave her a weak smile. "Well, if you come up with a plan, let me know."

"If I could get Eira to want to fight for him..." Ingrid knew it could work, but she also knew the chances of Eira going for it were slim. If she wouldn't fight for Dagur when he was available, why would she do so now even if she did break up with Snotlout? This was a disaster.

"You work on Eira while I'll try to knock sense into Dagur. He's moving way too fast." Heather climbed back onto Windshear.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I told Dagur I would take care of things back home while he was gone. Let me know if you make any progress." And she was gone.

Ingrid let out a heavy sigh and started the trek back to camp. Just when things started to look up, everything came crashing down again. It was going to take some serious thinking to sort out this mess. Hopefully, what was meant to be would come to pass with enough effort.

***

Eira watched Ruffnut and Tuffnut use Barf and Belch to drop a huge selection of scrap metal onto a pile. Everyone had worked together to gather the metal, and this was the last of it. Now that she had a break, she wondered where her sister had run off to.